You may watch Thursday Night time Soccer: Cowboys vs. Giants at 8:20 p.m. ET/5:20 p.m. PT on Amazon Prime Video.
Thursday Night time Soccer takes us from the AFC East final week to the NFC East in Week 4 as bitter rivals, the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, sq. off on primetime.
After all, rivalry is perhaps pushing it a bit; the Cowboys have been an NFC East powerhouse for a lot of the Dak Prescott period, whereas the Giants have been something however. Regardless, there are fantasy angles aplenty right here — let’s get to the story of the tape. And talking of tales …
A story of two WR1s
CeeDee Lamb was in consideration for the No. 1 choose for a lot of the summer season (and in hindsight, he would possibly’ve been the most secure choice of all, as Christian McCaffrey has been on the shelf with a critical Achilles damage and Tyreek Hill misplaced his beginning quarterback for the foreseeable future). Malik Nabers was a mid-round choose, with a lot of the group accepting the foregone conclusion that Daniel Jones would restrict Nabers’ in any other case lofty ceiling.
Via three weeks, Nabers is the WR1 in all of fantasy soccer. Lamb is all the best way down at WR19.
My colleague Scott Pianowski predicted the Giants could be focusing on Nabers the second he acquired off the bus this season. That prediction has rung true so far; Nabers leads the league in WR targets. This, in my view, is what has held Lamb again this season — targets. He solely has 24 complete by the primary three weeks, and simply 13 catches. That’s nowhere close to sufficient for 2023’s general fantasy WR1. And contemplating the Cowboys aren’t precisely flush with go catchers — to not point out Jake Ferguson has been hampered with accidents — it is no shock the Cowboys offense hasn’t discovered their stride to this point (positively excluding rubbish time in Week 3).
The Cowboys, little question offended about their Week 3 loss in opposition to the Ravens — Lamb himself has apologized for his efficiency and frustrations in that sport — ought to win this matchup. If the Giants have any probability on the upset, they are going to proceed doing what they’ve carried out this season: flood Nabers with targets. However possibly Dallas ought to take a web page out of New York’s guide and do the identical with their All-World famous person receiver.
I count on Lamb to place up his finest efficiency of the season on this sport.
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Is Rico Dowdle beginning to run away with the RB1 job?
The Cowboys have been lambasted by followers and speaking heads alike for his or her negligence at addressing the operating again place this offseason. In any case, they may’ve signed Derrick Henry (who tore by the Dallas protection in Week 3) or drafted Braelon Allen (who seems to be like he could possibly be a starter if there wasn’t a Breece-Corridor-shaped impediment in his method). As an alternative, the staff determined to roll with unproven Rico Dowdle and the ghost of Ezekiel Elliott.
Issues have not precisely labored out for Dallas in that regard. Startlingly, Dallas is averaging the third-fewest complete speeding yards per sport within the NFL.
Now, you would possibly assume, by the header of this part, that I’ll pose the situation of Rico Dowdle saving the day. That is unlikely. This offense, at the least this season, ought to reside and die by the arm of Dak Prescott. However at the least Dowdle has proven some enchancment within the backfield, and, if given the keys, might function a strong complement to the passing sport. And people keys would possibly’ve inched additional in Dowdle’s course in Week 3. He out-carried Zeke, 8-3, and added one other three receptions for 53 yards.
Certain, the Cowboys had been enjoying catch-up for a lot of the day. We’ll see how the backfield distribution shakes out in opposition to the Giants, which ought to be a constructive gamescript for Dem Boys. However Dowdle now has strung two consecutive weeks of extra backfield work than Elliott. If he takes over this backfield in full, Dowdle will leap from fringe-flex choice to RB2 territory.
His workload and subsequent manufacturing might be one thing to observe on TNF.
Begin: Devin Singletary
It is not precisely the sexiest suggestion, to begin Devin Singletary should you’re debating a flex choice, or to proceed beginning him should you’ve had no selection. In any case, it seems like he is a journeyman at age 27 and he was a operating again you possibly can choose round choose 100.
But, all he does is produce, in 2024 and all through his profession.
Singletary has scored a landing in consecutive video games, and he is been producing at a 4.7-yards-per-carry clip. Certain, the Cowboys will undoubtedly be trying to deal with their run protection points after Derrick Henry crushed them for 174 complete yards and two touchdowns — the Cowboys have the worst speeding protection by three weeks — however it could behoove the Giants to feed Singletary and burn clock to maintain Prescott and the Dallas offense off the sector. And the best way the Jones-Nabers connection has been clicking, Singletary has a excessive probability at a 3rd straight landing. Hearth him up.