What We Saw: Week 5

Green Bay Packers vs Dallas Cowboys

 

Green Bay Packers

 

Quarterback

 

• Aaron Rodgers: 22/34, 238 yards | 4 carries, -1 yards

 

Aaron Rodgers started the game looking pretty good even though his line wasn’t giving him much time to make plays. That being said, some of those plays were vintage Aaron Rodgers. He had an amazing side-arm throw just before getting sandwiched and the ball somehow made it to Jones for a great gain. He had to flip the ball a few yards ahead to his running back plenty of times because it was his only option with plenty of pressure coming towards him. The Packers continued their hot-and-cold streak with plenty of blown possessions in the first half when they should have been burning the clock with their comfortable lead. Instead, they did a poor job keeping the ball and gave the Cowboys plenty of chances to get back into the game. Rodgers wasn’t terrible, but zero touchdown throws didn’t help his poor fantasy performance. 

 

Running Backs

 

• Aaron Jones: 19 carries, 107 yards, 4 TD | 8 targets, 7 receptions, 75 yards
• Tra Carson: 6 carries, 14 yards | 4 receptions, 4 targets, 18 yards

 

Aaron Jones had a fantastic start and stayed solid throughout the game. He showed good awareness whenever Rodgers faced quick pressure and needed a quick target. Jones showed good vision on his first touchdown. He cut into a nice block and easily made his way around defenders to reach the end zone. The Packers continued to trust Jones when it mattered. He came up with another big run on a drive that resulted in his second touchdown of the night. The second TD was similar to the first, a good block helped Jones make two touchdowns on his first four carries look easy. Overall, the Packers were running the football much better. They had more rushing yards in the first half than they had all last week. 

Jones had a cool bobble catch where he secured the ball just before the contact to convert a third down and the Packers continued to trust him in the second half. Aaron showed good shiftiness on his third touchdown. Jones was left one-on-one with a defender in open space but he easily juked away to the point that he literally waved to the defender on his way into the end zone. He made his fourth touchdown look easy too. Jones took the contact well, fell forward, and stretched the ball across the line. Jones was an absolute beast tonight, putting up a career game. 

Tra Carson got thrown into the mix plenty of times but it was likely only to make sure Jones would stay fresh. It’s looking like LaFleur is committed to a two-back game plan but fantasy owners can’t complain much when Aaron Jones is playing so well and still the trusted back when it matters. 

 

Wide Receivers/ Tight Ends

 

• Marquez Valdes-Scantling: 4 targets, 1 reception, 18 yards
• Geronimo Allison: 6 targets, 2 receptions, 28 yards
• Jimmy Graham: 3 targets, 3 receptions, 41 yards
• Marcedes Lewis: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 17 yards

 

Marquez Valdes-Scantling started the game with a nice sure-handed catch for 18 yards but, unfortunately, he didn’t have anymore catches for the rest of the game. I was expecting the Packers to rely more on Valdes-Scantling with Davante Adams inactive this week but it just didn’t happen. MVS had a deep target where he easily beat his defender with impressive speed but Rodgers threw the ball so short that it hit the defender’s back instead. Jimmy Graham had a pair of nice catches in the first half, one for an important first down. Many fantasy fans were expecting more from Graham in this one, but most of the Packers’ receivers had pretty slow days. Geronimo Allison was the most targeted receiver with only six. Even Allison had a tough go of it with only a few catches to his name. Marcedes Lewis had a pair of catches but he isn’t going to be fantasy-relevant this year.

 

Dallas Cowboys

 

Quarterback

 

• Dak Prescott: 27/44, 463 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT | 4 carries, 27 yards

 

Dak Prescott didn’t look too bad but two interceptions on his first three possessions isn’t pretty. He found Cooper for a nice gain up the seam on his first possession. Unfortunately, the Cowboys’ offense took a while to heat up because the Packers’ defense kept coming up with big plays. Prescott’s first interception wasn’t his fault but his second was a bad decision/throw. A few bad plays from the offense kept abruptly ending their drives just when they got rolling in the first half. 

Prescott couldn’t get it together until there were about three minutes left in the third quarter and even then his deep ball to Gallup looked like a desperate throw. Be that as it may, he started piecing together some good drives to bring the Cowboys back into the ball game. Just when it looked like the Cowboys couldn’t be stopped, Dak threw his third interception. It looked like his timing with Gallup was off and the ball went right into the defender’s hands. It may have looked ugly at times, but all those yards and a few nice touchdown passes helped Prescott put up 23 fantasy points. It could leave a bad taste in some fantasy owners’ mouths knowing Dak left plenty of points on the board. 

 

Running Backs

 

• Ezekiel Elliott: 12 carries, 62 yards, 1 TD | 4 targets, 2 receptions, 29 yards
• Tony Pollard: 4 carries, 19 yards

 

Ezekiel Elliott started the game with a nice 12-yard gain straight up the middle of the Cowboys’ first drive. He continued to gash the Packers right up the middle whenever he got the ball. Although Elliott was having good efficiency, he wasn’t getting too many carries in the first half likely because the Cowboys’ offense had plenty of drives cut short due to silly mistakes. Zeke was scripted out of most of the second half because the Cowboys had to pass the ball. He did have a great 26-yard catch to wrap-up the third quarter though. His touchdown helped save his fantasy performance because he would have only totaled around 11 fantasy points without it. The touchdown wasn’t anything special, he only had to punch it in from a few yards away after the Packers defense gave the ‘Boys great field position from multiple penalties on one play. 

 

Wide Receivers/ Tight Ends

 

• Amari Cooper: 14 targets, 11 receptions, 226 yards, 1 TD
• Michael Gallup: 14 targets, 7 receptions, 113 yards, 1 TD
• Randall Cobb: 6 targets, 3 receptions, 53 yards
• Jason Witten: 4 targets, 3 receptions, 29 yards

 

Amari Cooper had a fantastic game but gave up an interception on a play where the ball was catchable and he had plenty of room. The ball bounced off his hands and right into the defender. That bad drop to give up an interception turned out to be the one negative to an otherwise amazing performance. On his next target, Cooper had a nice big play where he was wide open for 46-yards. He kept having some wide-open catches and had over 20 yards on his first three receptions. His touchdown was a beautiful 53-yard catch-and-run where he somehow shook two defenders and stayed in-bounds on his way to the end zone. It was nice seeing Michael Gallup back in the mix after missing the past couple of weeks. He started with a few catches here and there but heated up when the Cowboys made their late-game run. Dak relied on Gallup often and fantasy owners should be excited to have him back, healthy, and putting up his best fantasy performance of the season. His 40-yard touchdown was a beautiful double move on the outside with good coverage all over him. 

Jason Witten did not have a catch until the fourth quarter and has been trending downward the past three weeks. He’s getting four targets every single game so far this year, but it’s looking like he won’t put up a relevant fantasy stat-line unless he gets a touchdown. Randall Cobb didn’t have his first catch until there were about eight minutes left in the half. The 25-yard catch was his first reception but fourth target. Cobb was facing good coverage on most plays and had difficulty getting open. Four straight games of 8.5 or fewer fantasy points is not encouraging for fantasy owners. 

 

–Ryan Kruse (@ryanpkruse)