Giants @ Cowboys
Final Score: Cowboys 27, Giants 20
Senior Writer: Benjamin Haller (@benjaminhaller1 on X, @benjaminhaller1.bsky.social on Bluesky)
Would this game between two teams with little left in their season to play for turn into a Thanksgiving turkey? Well, maybe but there was enough to keep us entertained for the majority. The prospect of Tommy DeVito against Cooper Rush was bad, but with the Giants backup quarterback ruled out earlier in the week, what we ended up with was a Drew Lock disasterpiece. The downtrodden Lock, usurped as the supposed starter after Daniel Jones‘ benching and release, struggled mightily against a rejuvenated Cowboys pass-rush and was responsible for two key turnovers including a pick-six that turned the momentum towards Dallas early in the second quarter.
Rush, on the other hand, played smart football by getting the ball out quickly and relying on easy completions to move the offense downfield against a Giants defense that had missed 10 tackled by the second quarter. Yikes! Rush didn’t take a sack and threw a third quarter touchdown to the returning Brandin Cooks to effectively seal the game for his team. Job done.
Three Up
- Rico Dowdle – after a miserable October, Dowdle enjoyed more room to rush on the ground and set a new career-high in yards on the ground thanks to a number of tough runs up through the middle. He benefited from atrocious tackling from the Giants but a nice milestone to go over 100+ yards for the young rusher
- KaVontae Turpin – leading the Cowboys in yardage, Turpin once again looked the wideout most likely to make a big play for this offense. His 30-yard catch-and-run on third down setup the game-sealing touchdown in the third quarter. Trending up!
- Malik Nabers – the superstar rookie Giants wideout wasn’t exactly electric but he made a couple of “WOW” plays and made the most of a lot of inaccurate, poor
Three Down
- Drew Lock – he is not an NFL quarterback and he hurt his team at key moments in this game and took six sacks. Where do the Giants go from here the rest of the way?!
- Wan’Dale Robinson – a reliable fantasy flex producer so far this season, he was hardly involved with Lock under centre. Putrid
- CeeDee Lamb – a total fantasy dud from Dallas’ star wideout, whose two grabs were a season low. Three dreadful drops didn’t help matters and he was on the sideline, uninvolved midway through the third quarter after re-aggravating an injury that limited him through the week
New York Giants
Quarterback
Drew Lock: 21/32, 178 Yards, INT, 6 Sacks, Fumble (Lost) | 4 Carries, 57 Yards, TD
15.82 fantasy points (in Yahoo!) is a minor miracle considering just how bad Lock was at quarterback in this contest. It could have been better too as an early 29-yard scramble from the former Broncos and Seahawks backup was initially ruled a touchdown before being overturned and classified as down at the Cowboys one-yard line. Lock looked competent on the scripted opening drive, in which he dink-and-dunked the team to a 13-play, 80-yard touchdown. Things got decidedly worse from there, however, as six straight first half drives resulted in just 27 yards with three punts and a pick-six on a screen pass that Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown batted up and caught before running it all the way back into the endzone. He backed that up with a fumble on the first drive of the second half that the Cowboys took advantage of and scored the first of back-to-back touchdowns to go up 17 points midway through the third quarter. Game over!
Lock’s decision-making was terrible and his inability to protect the football is nothing new. More than anything, Lock was just too slow to progress through his reads meaning he was often throwing off-balance or under distress, thus making him inaccurate. A late fourth quarter scramble out of the pocket to the goal line salvaged his fantasy day, but there was little from this performance to warrant any fantasy consideration.
Running Back
Tyrone Tracy Jr.: 9 Carries, 32 Yards, TD | 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 32 Yards
The Giants’ rookie running back, Tyrone Tracy Jr., was the only unheralded player to come out of this game for the Giants with a slightly positive spin as he scored a touchdown, was the more effective runner on the ground, and made a couple of nice highlight reel play pass-catching out of the backfield. Still, it was his worst yardage total on the ground since Week 7 and the presence of Devin Singletary has made this a split-backfield. The only saving grace was the reversed touchdown play on the opening drive, which he immediately benefited from with a one-yard score. He is risky business in fantasy, however.
Devin Singletary: 7 Carries, 23 Yards | 1 Target
The veteran running back has seen a bump in involvement over the past few weeks mainly due to Tracy’s fumbling issues but his effectiveness has been minimal. He only mustered 10 yards last week but hit pay dirt. This week, it was Tracy’s turn. There is very little joy in this backfield and you can see it on the field.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Malik Nabers: 13 Targets, 8 Receptions, 69 Yards
After his comments drew attention last week, head coach Brian Daboll came out in the media and said it was his responsibility to get Malik Nabers the football more. And, he tried. A team-leading 13 targets, eight catches and 69 yards were all positive. He showed amazing hands to pull in a dart from Lock down the sideline for a big 18-yard gain, however that was with the Giants down 17 points. That was his point when he spoke last week. He isn’t being given a chance to impact the game when his team still have a shot. Nabers also had a big gain called back for a holding penalty, one of 13 overall penalties for 98 yards. An offense can hardly function like this no matter what the talented wideout is capable of.
Theo Johnson: 5 Targets, 5 Receptions, 54 Yards
The rookie tight end Theo Johnson has shown an improvement across this season in his route-running and ability to create separation. He also charges full-steam into contact for extra yards and he was very effective over the middle as a pass-catcher, particularly in the second half as the Giants played underneath more trying to chip away at a big deficit. That is where Johnson’s value lies, however, and not as a touchdown threat.
Darius Slayton: 6 Targets, 2 Receptions, 8 Yards
The underrated deep threat, Darius Slayton, has seen his production nosedive after the benching of Jones. He came into the game with just three grabs in his last three games and could only corral in two of his six targets. The main reason was Lock’s inaccuracy but he also had hands on a deep ball down the sideline that he couldn’t haul in under a contested situation, the impact with the ground forcing the ball out of his hands.
Jalin Hyatt: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 8 Yards
Wan’Dale Robinson: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 6 Yards
Dallas Cowboys
Quarterback
Cooper Rush: 21/36, 195 Yards, TD | 5 Carries, 0 Yards
This was the kind of conservative, mundane performance that the Cowboys needed (and we all feared) to ensure there were no mistakes to let an inept Giants team back in this game. Rush got the ball out of his hands at an alarmingly quick rate and allowed his receivers and backs to do the grunt work on his way to a turnover-free, sack-free performance. Rush has been a solid fantasy contributor over the past two weeks as the Cowboys were involved in shootouts against better opposition. There was no such worry today and it was a “get the job done” effort that failed to inspire from a fantasy point of view. A third quarter throw wide to the sideline in the end zone found the returning Cooks for his only score of the game, which also meant he probably didn’t kill you in your matchup. This was as vanilla as it comes, however.
Running Back
Rico Dowdle: 22 Carries, 112 Yards, TD | 3 Targets, 3 Receptions, 11 Yards
A career-best performance on the field and on the stat sheet for Rico Dowdle, who shook off a number of disappointing, unproductive weeks with his first career 100+ yard effort than was topped off by a rushing touchdown late in the game to seal the victory. Dowdle enjoyed good blocking and open lanes during his season-high 22 carries and looked powerful between the tackles on two separate runs in the first half for ripped off long 22 and 18 yards. He averaged 5.1 yards per carry and broke off multiple 10+ yard gains with some downhill runs and fighting legs. It was also significant that his effort was Dallas’ first 100+ yard rusher since Week 3 of the 2023 campaign. He has the run on the lead rushing job, albeit with a low ceiling.
Ezekiel Elliott: 1 Carry, 4 Yards
Hunter Luepke: 3 Carries, 4 Yards
Wide Receiver/Tight End
KaVontae Turpin: 5 Targets, 4 Receptions, 53 Yards | 1 Carry, 2 Yards
The majority of KaVontae Turpin’s production was on a 30-yard catch-and-run that setup the Cowboys’ first third quarter score that put them up 20-10 after Lock’s fumble. It was much like his touchdown-dash last week, catching the ball early and then sprinting away from defenders. This one was just down the sideline rather than over the middle. He caught another ball on the next touchdown drive to finish as the key contributor through the air in what was a stingy passing offense on a night when the Cowboys defense was the real star. Turpin’s emergence as a speed threat has been so far underutilized and his four catches were tied for his most in any contest this season. So tread ahead with caution.
Jalen Tolbert: 4 Targets, 2 Receptions, 41 Yards
A 36-yard deep ball on third down in the third quarter was Jalen Tolbert’s big contribution on a night when the Dallas offense centered their attack on the ground game. There was a time earlier in the campaign when Tolbert looked to be emerging as a WR2 option but Turpin and Cooks both provide healthy competition for Tolbert right now in a low-volume passing offense. He’s caught no more than three balls in any of his last six contests. “Not great, Bob!”
CeeDee Lamb: 6 Targets, 2 Receptions, 39 Yards
A miserable night for CeeDee Lamb was bookended by poor catches that drew groans and boos from the home crowd. The last was difficult but the first was inexcusable as the superstar let the ball bounce off his hands under no pressure. What made it worse was that it was in space on the weak-side of the field so he had the potential to take it deep downfield for a huge play. Instead, he was restricted to just two catches for a measly 39 yards. No Thanksgiving feast, here. Lamb was forced from the contest late in the third quarter after landing heavily on his shoulder. He had been nursing a sore AC joint through training last week so it wasn’t an ideal outcome with plenty of the game still left to play. Not that the Cowboys were going to risk him with a 17-point lead. Keep your eye on the injury report for next week’s games.
Luke Schoonmaker: 6 Targets, 5 Receptions, 33 Yards
Another solid effort from the young tight end, Luke Schoonmaker, as he caught five of his six balls for a mediocre 33 yards. Disappointingly, all these catches were hauled in in the first quarter. He then totally disappeared from the offense for the rest of the game despite a healthy snap count. Again, Schoonmaker worked over the middle of the field on short routes to move the sticks. He has 14 catches for 144 yards and a score in three games and remains a streaming option at tight end.
Brandin Cooks: 7 Targets, 3 Receptions, 16 Yards, TD
A healthy if albeit unimpressive return for the veteran receiver, who caught a touchdown pass, dropped three easy passes and made a sensational catch to get the first down that iced the game for Dallas in the fourth quarter. He drew the most targets of any Cowboys receiver and has an immediate opportunity to be fantasy relevant, especially if Lamb is to miss any time.
Jonathan Mingo: 4 Targets, 1 Reception, 2 Yards
Jalen Brooks: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 0 Yards