Thursday Night Football Cowboys vs. Giants: Fantasy Football Breakdown

You can watch “Thursday Night Football: Cowboys vs. Giants” at 8:20 p.m. ET/5:20 p.m. PT on Amazon Prime Video.

Thursday Night Football takes us from the AFC East last week to the NFC East in Week 4, where bitter rivals the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants face off in primetime.

Of course, the rivalry might push it along a bit; The Cowboys were an NFC East powerhouse for much of the Dak Prescott era, while the Giants were anything but. Regardless, there are a lot of fantasy aspects here – let's get to the story of the volume. And speaking of stories…

A tale of two WR1s

CeeDee Lamb was considered the No. 1 pick for most of the summer (and in hindsight, he might have been the safest option of all, with Christian McCaffrey sidelined with a serious Achilles tendon injury and Tyreek Hill losing his starting quarterback for the foreseeable future). Future). Malik Nabers was a mid-round pick, and most players accepted the foregone conclusion that Daniel Jones would cap Nabers' otherwise high ceiling.

For three weeks, Nabers is the WR1 in all of fantasy football. Lamb is all the way down at WR19.

My colleague Scott Pianowski predicted that the Giants would target Nabers as soon as he gets off the bus this season. This prediction has so far come true; Nabers leads the league in WR targets. In my opinion, that's what has held Lamb back this season – his goals. In the first three weeks he had just 24 total catches and just 13 catches. That's not nearly enough for the 2023 overall fantasy WR1. And considering the Cowboys don't exactly have a ton of pass-catchers — not to mention that Jake Ferguson has been hampered by injuries — it's no surprise that the Cowboys' offense hasn't gotten going so far (definitely without garbage time in week 3).

The Cowboys, no doubt upset by their Week 3 loss to the Ravens – Lamb himself has apologized for his performance and frustrations in that game – should win this matchup. If the Giants have a chance at pulling off an upset, they'll continue to do what they've done this season: flood Nabers with goals. But perhaps Dallas should take a cue from New York and do the same with its all-world superstar receiver.

I expect Lamb to deliver his best performance of the season in this game.

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Is Rico Dowdle starting to run away with the RB1 job?

The Cowboys have been criticized by fans and speakers alike for their negligence in filling the running back position this offseason. Finally, they could have signed Derrick Henry (who tore through the Dallas defense in Week 3) or signed Braelon Allen (who apparently could be a starter if there wasn't a Breece Hall-shaped obstacle standing in his way). . Instead, the team opted for the unproven Rico Dowdle and the ghost of Ezekiel Elliott.

In that regard, things didn't quite work out for Dallas. Amazingly, Dallas averages the third-fewest rushing yards per game in the NFL.

Now, based on the title of this section, you might think that I'm going to present the scenario where Rico Dowdle saves the day. That's unlikely. This offense, at least this season, should live and die under the direction of Dak Prescott. But at least Dowdle has shown some improvement in the backfield and could serve as a solid addition to the passing game if given the keys. And those keys may have trended even further toward Dowdle in Week 3. He beat Zeke 8-3 and added another three balls for 53 yards.

Sure, the Cowboys spent most of the day playing catch-up. We'll see how the backfield layout performs against the Giants, which should be a positive scenario for the Dem Boys. But Dowdle has done more backfield work than Elliott two weeks in a row now. If he fully takes over this backfield, Dowdle will jump from edge flex option to RB2 territory.

His workload and subsequent production will be featured on TNF.

Start: Devin Singletary

Starting Devin Singletary if you're considering a flex option or continuing to start him if you had no other choice isn't exactly the most attractive proposition. After all, at 27 years old, it feels like he's a journeyman running back with about 100 to choose from.

But all he does is produce, in 2024 and throughout his career.

Singletary has scored a touchdown in consecutive games and is averaging 4.7 yards per carry. Sure, the Cowboys will no doubt try to solve their run defense problems after Derrick Henry pounded them for 174 total yards and two touchdowns – the Cowboys have their worst rushing defense in three weeks – but it's up to the Giants to Feeding Singletary and burning the clock to keep Prescott and the Dallas offense off the field. And the way the Jones-Nabers connection has developed, Singletary has a strong chance of a third straight touchdown. Cheer him on.