What We Saw: Week 8

Cowboys @ Eagles

While most of us expected Dallas’ offense to struggle with rookie QB Ben DiNucci at the helm, they were surprisingly able to triple their scoring output from last week! Obviously, I’m kidding – three field goals rather than one doesn’t make for a much more impressive performance. DiNucci and the Cowboys failed to find the end-zone for a second straight week and fell to the Eagles 23-9 on Sunday night. Philadelphia was able to secure the win despite 4 total turnovers from QB Carson Wentz, and fantasy managers with Cowboys’ skill players on their roster found themselves thinking something they never thought they would coming into this season – ‘Man, I hope Andy Dalton comes back next week.’ Let’s dive into what we saw:

Dallas Cowboys

Quarterback

Ben DiNucci: 21/40, 180 yards, 2 fumbles, 4 sacks | 5 carries, 22 yards

None of us expected much fantasy relevance from Cowboys’ third-string QB Ben DiNucci in his first NFL start. At best, we hoped that his play wouldn’t be so bad that he wouldn’t completely tank the value of our other Cowboys’ skill players – but we weren’t even that lucky. As I mentioned above: Dallas failed to find the end-zone for a second consecutive week and DiNucci holds practically zero fantasy value moving forward. Whether it’s DiNucci or QB Andy Dalton under center next week, it would be wise to steer clear against a stout Pittsburgh defense.

Running Backs

Ezekiel Elliott: 19 carries, 63 yards | 2 targets, 1 reception, 10 yards

Tony Pollard: 7 carries, 40 yards | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 24 yards

Cowboys’ RB Ezekiel Elliott may just be the only Dallas skill player worth starting at this point in your fantasy season. Even though he had a quiet night against the Eagles, Elliott finished with 20 touches and over 70 scrimmage yards – both of which led the team. Whoever is under center for Dallas in the weeks to come, it’s widely expected that the offense will run through Elliott, and so he should at least maintain a relatively high ceiling – even with Dallas’ offensive struggles. RB Tony Pollard served in his usual change of pace role behind Elliott and continues to hold more value as a handcuff than anything else. 

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Amari Cooper: 5 targets, 1 reception, 5 yards 

CeeDee Lamb: 5 targets, 4 receptions, 27 yards | 1 carry, 19 yards

Michael Gallup: 12 targets, 7 receptions, 61 yards

Dalton Schultz: 8 targets, 6 receptions, 53 yards

The absence of QB Dak Prescott continues to haunt the Cowboys’ pass-catching group, and Sunday night’s matchup with the Eagles was no exception. Some of us likely had to rely on these players in some capacity this week, and even though we didn’t expect much, we were still left with disappointment. WR Michael Gallup overwhelmingly led the group in fantasy production this week – he had more than twice as many targets as WR Amari Cooper and WR CeeDee Lamb combined and nearly twice as many receiving yards as those two combined. TE Dalton Schultz turned in his third-highest fantasy output of the season with 11.3 PPR points even though most of his production came in once the game was out of hand. But the biggest story of the night was the absolute dud from Cooper. His 1.5 PPR points likely denied plenty of fantasy managers a chance at a win this week. This is a tough situation, particularly due to the fact that it feels like there’s no end in sight. This WR group will be a headache every week since any of these three have a chance to produce the most fantasy value, and yet it’s probable that none will produce very much. In any case, it’s safe to assume that Andy Dalton will give these pass-catchers a better chance to produce than DiNucci does.

Philadelphia Eagles

Quarterback

Carson Wentz: 15/27, 123 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs, 2 fumbles, 4 sacks | 4 carries, 17 yards

Eagles’ QB Carson Wentz was able to lead his team to a win on Sunday night, but he probably didn’t lead many of his fantasy managers to a win in the process. Wentz has been a low-end QB1 to this point in the year, but on Sunday night he turned in his worst performance of the fantasy season thus far – including a head-scratching 4 turnovers. To be fair, one of his lost fumbles happened on 4th down which would have given Dallas possession either way, but Wentz lost the points in the end. While Wentz and the Eagles are on a bye next week, he should have a bounce-back performance in Week 10 against the Giants.

Running Backs

Boston Scott: 15 carries, 70 yards | 2 targets, 2 receptions, 9 yards

Corey Clement: 5 carries, 24 yards | 2 targets, 1 reception, 4 yards

Eagles’ RB Boston Scott has performed fairly well in RB Miles Sanders‘ absence this season, so when his managers saw Sanders would be out against Dallas’ porous run defense, they were licking their chops. Ultimately Scott wasn’t able to match his production from last week against the Giants, but he still provided a respectable flex performance – totaling almost 80 total yards on 17 touches. RB Corey Clement only mustered 6 total touches of his own, even after recording his second-highest snap share of the season (32%). With Philadelphia on their bye in Week 9, it’s expected that Sanders will be ready to return from his knee injury in Week 10 against the Giants. If that’s the case, we can expect Scott’s and Clement’s fantasy values to dip considerably.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Travis Fulgham: 7 targets, 6 receptions, 78 yards, 1 TD 

Greg Ward: 5 targets, 3 receptions, 10 yard| 1 carry, 2 yards

Jalen Reagor: 6 targets, 3 receptions, 16 yards, 1 TD | 1 carry, 6 yards

Dallas Goedert: 1 target, 1 reception, 15 yards

This Eagles’ pass-catching group provided the most fantasy value from either team on Sunday night. Rookie WR Jalen Reagor found the end-zone for the first time in his young career, and he nearly caught a second TD late in the fourth quarter that was knocked away at the last second by a Cowboys defender. WR Travis Fulgham continues to prove that he is legit and has become a fixture in several fantasy lineups out there. Fulgham caught his 4th TD in his last 5 games – on a pretty route that found him open in the back left corner of the end-zone:

A TOUCHDOWN! TO TRAVIS FULGHAM!pic.twitter.com/2Y0MTLYb6D

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) November 2, 2020

It’s safe to say that even when WR Alshon Jeffrey returns from his injury that Fulgham and Reagor appear to be the 1-2 punch of the future at WR for Philadelphia. TE Dallas Goedert failed to provide much production in his return from his ankle injury that had kept him sidelined since Week 3. It was safe to assume that Goedert may have a more limited role while being eased back into game speed, but he was actually on the field for 83% of the Eagles’ offensive snaps. Goedert will have even more time to get back to speed after Philadelphia’s Week 9 bye.

— Corey Saucier (@Deputy_Commish on Twitter, LightsKamaraAction on Reddit)