That was a painful game, visually and (from the looks of it) physically. But since this is a fantasy blog, let's cut out the emotion and stick to the cut-and-dry fantasy facts--specifically, shifting player values heading into Week 4.
Starting with the victorious Cowboys, Cooper Rush once again was entirely adequate. And he also can't be trusted as a fantasy starter in 14-team leagues, even in a favorable matchup against Washington next week. After that, assuming Dak Prescott isn't back, Rush will face the Rams and Eagles on the road. Not good news. If he makes it to Week 7 against the Lions, fantastic. Josh Allen, Matthew Stafford, Jalen Hurts, and Kirk Cousins will be on a bye. So if you know you'll need a QB, and the best one available is Marcus Mariota, you could do worse than stashing Rush (if you have room) for that Week 7 matchup.
Meanwhile, heading into last night, the Cowboys had rushed for over 125 yards only twice in their previous 15 games. By late in the second quarter, they'd already exceeded 125 yards. I wouldn't call this a get-right game, because Zeke Elliott and Tony Pollard beating up on the Giants isn't a sign of things to come. CMC averaged 6.8 YPC against New York. Even Derrick Henry shook off the rest in the opening drives of Week 1 (10 yards on four carries) before finding his sea legs (is that still a phrase?). So yeah, the biggest thing about Zeke and Pollard is that you can now trade them for better value.
Speaking of which, I saw a tweet from an analyst lamenting that Pollard wasn't getting more work. Look, I get it. Many of us have been on the Pollard bandwagon for three seasons. And . . . he never handled a heavy load in college (maxed out at 5.6 carries per game in his final year). Last night's 13 carries was one shy of his all-time high. As tempting as it might be to throw him into a bellcow role, I think Dallas knows what it's doing--and I'm not saying that sarcastically. This is why I'm not uber-high on Pollard in dynasty. Wherever he ends up, I don't see him as a 250-touch RB.
And CeeDee Lamb did what he needed to do, though the dropped passes didn't help in the first half. Still, he's "the guy" in a poor-passing offense. There are worse things. We'll see what he can do when Michael Gallup and Dalton Schultz return. Although more importantly, when Dak returns, the offense should return to top-10 form, meaning CeeDee, Gallup, and Schultz should get enough looks to feed two or three nearly every game.
For the Giants, Daniel Jones is on pace to take 74 sacks this season, which would put him two short of David Carr's record. We know what happened to Carr. Jones deserved better in his first four NFL campaigns. He'll probably be a backup next year. Still, given a good offensive line and a decent pass-catching RB, he could become what Mitch Trubisky somehow hasn't: a dual-threat QB and top-18 fantasy option.
Saquon Barkley was the biggest surprise for me. I hedged a bit in the DFS lineup I broadcast on PFN's website yesterday, listing Saquon in my DraftKings "MVP" slot (1.5x points), along with CeeDee, Zeke, Richie James, and both kickers. It finished 575th out of nearly 200,000 people, less than three points short of first place. Barkley seemed like the safest "good" option. It turns out he was more than safe. Pushing past Dallas is no small feat.
And Sterling Shepard went down at the end with a knee injury that looked bad. As of this writing (a little past midnight), I can only speculate. If he misses significant time, James could become the short-term #1, with Daniel Bellinger getting a boost (don't sleep on Bellinger, who realistically could/should be a top 20 TE). And the high-ceiling Kadarius Toney would get the biggest bump, whenever he makes it back to the field. Kenny Golladay? He looks more like OBJ wrapping up his Browns tenure than a guy poised to bounce back.
Finally . . . the winner of the closest-score competition. There were many great guesses. Really, some of the best guesses I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of guesses over the years, including whenever I get a ping alerting me to a new work Slack message, and I guess who might have sent it. Then I see it was a group message, and I feel let down. But then I get back on my feet, wait for the next ping, and make an even better guess. Yes, it's an interesting life.
So the winner of the closest score is: me. Yes, I picked 23-16 Dallas. That makes me the first two-time winner of the young season, as you can see in this conveniently updated spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13SZPKEL8x861lE5yy4_E8fPS5D9jVXmMf1d7BXi9Aws/edit#gid=1358794746
Don't be discouraged if you didn't win. You'll get another chance in two days. Hopefully my victory will motivate you to crush me, and then your victory will motivate me to crush you, and so on, until we're all winners. Because that's how it works.
Have a fantastic Tuesday.
Starting with the victorious Cowboys, Cooper Rush once again was entirely adequate. And he also can't be trusted as a fantasy starter in 14-team leagues, even in a favorable matchup against Washington next week. After that, assuming Dak Prescott isn't back, Rush will face the Rams and Eagles on the road. Not good news. If he makes it to Week 7 against the Lions, fantastic. Josh Allen, Matthew Stafford, Jalen Hurts, and Kirk Cousins will be on a bye. So if you know you'll need a QB, and the best one available is Marcus Mariota, you could do worse than stashing Rush (if you have room) for that Week 7 matchup.
Meanwhile, heading into last night, the Cowboys had rushed for over 125 yards only twice in their previous 15 games. By late in the second quarter, they'd already exceeded 125 yards. I wouldn't call this a get-right game, because Zeke Elliott and Tony Pollard beating up on the Giants isn't a sign of things to come. CMC averaged 6.8 YPC against New York. Even Derrick Henry shook off the rest in the opening drives of Week 1 (10 yards on four carries) before finding his sea legs (is that still a phrase?). So yeah, the biggest thing about Zeke and Pollard is that you can now trade them for better value.
Speaking of which, I saw a tweet from an analyst lamenting that Pollard wasn't getting more work. Look, I get it. Many of us have been on the Pollard bandwagon for three seasons. And . . . he never handled a heavy load in college (maxed out at 5.6 carries per game in his final year). Last night's 13 carries was one shy of his all-time high. As tempting as it might be to throw him into a bellcow role, I think Dallas knows what it's doing--and I'm not saying that sarcastically. This is why I'm not uber-high on Pollard in dynasty. Wherever he ends up, I don't see him as a 250-touch RB.
And CeeDee Lamb did what he needed to do, though the dropped passes didn't help in the first half. Still, he's "the guy" in a poor-passing offense. There are worse things. We'll see what he can do when Michael Gallup and Dalton Schultz return. Although more importantly, when Dak returns, the offense should return to top-10 form, meaning CeeDee, Gallup, and Schultz should get enough looks to feed two or three nearly every game.
For the Giants, Daniel Jones is on pace to take 74 sacks this season, which would put him two short of David Carr's record. We know what happened to Carr. Jones deserved better in his first four NFL campaigns. He'll probably be a backup next year. Still, given a good offensive line and a decent pass-catching RB, he could become what Mitch Trubisky somehow hasn't: a dual-threat QB and top-18 fantasy option.
Saquon Barkley was the biggest surprise for me. I hedged a bit in the DFS lineup I broadcast on PFN's website yesterday, listing Saquon in my DraftKings "MVP" slot (1.5x points), along with CeeDee, Zeke, Richie James, and both kickers. It finished 575th out of nearly 200,000 people, less than three points short of first place. Barkley seemed like the safest "good" option. It turns out he was more than safe. Pushing past Dallas is no small feat.
And Sterling Shepard went down at the end with a knee injury that looked bad. As of this writing (a little past midnight), I can only speculate. If he misses significant time, James could become the short-term #1, with Daniel Bellinger getting a boost (don't sleep on Bellinger, who realistically could/should be a top 20 TE). And the high-ceiling Kadarius Toney would get the biggest bump, whenever he makes it back to the field. Kenny Golladay? He looks more like OBJ wrapping up his Browns tenure than a guy poised to bounce back.
Finally . . . the winner of the closest-score competition. There were many great guesses. Really, some of the best guesses I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of guesses over the years, including whenever I get a ping alerting me to a new work Slack message, and I guess who might have sent it. Then I see it was a group message, and I feel let down. But then I get back on my feet, wait for the next ping, and make an even better guess. Yes, it's an interesting life.
So the winner of the closest score is: me. Yes, I picked 23-16 Dallas. That makes me the first two-time winner of the young season, as you can see in this conveniently updated spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13SZPKEL8x861lE5yy4_E8fPS5D9jVXmMf1d7BXi9Aws/edit#gid=1358794746
Don't be discouraged if you didn't win. You'll get another chance in two days. Hopefully my victory will motivate you to crush me, and then your victory will motivate me to crush you, and so on, until we're all winners. Because that's how it works.
Have a fantastic Tuesday.