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Thursday Night Recap

Watched Cowboys-Giants so you don't have to

This was the kind of Thursday game we're used to, I think. Low-scoring, field goals, defense. The Cowboys are now 2-2 and the Giants are 1-3, and both teams have some great fantasy choices -- and some not so great ones. Oh, and I can confirm that there were a lot of penalty flags.

QUARTERBACKS:

Dallas came out running the ball, and when that of course failed to work, they switched to the short passing game, with Dak Prescott operating out of the shotgun. The first half featured 7 rushing attempts and 16 pass attempts, 14 of which were completed, nearly all of the shorter variety. The offensive line isn't as good as in past years, so they were working to get the ball out quickly and keep him from getting hit too often. Worked out (he was sacked only once all game). The 55-yard touchdown pass was a short throw with a nice move/missed tackle. It's an approach that worked, for a half anyway, which was enough. Dak (who finished 22 of 27 for 221 and 2) didn't kill you if you started him, and this is an offense that's clearly going to be scoring the vast majority of touchdowns on passes rather than runs.

I was coming around to some appreciation for Daniel Jones. He was horrific in Week 1, but we now understand that the Vikings have a really good defense that's gone on to cause problems for Brock Purdy and C.J. Stroud. He played well enough to beat Washington, the kicker injury cost them that game. And he was very good in Cleveland. Last night he threw for 281 yards on 29 of 40, with his interception a Hail Mary.

But it was a lesser performance. He didn't run (4 carries for 3 yards), they weren't especially close to finishing any drives with touchdowns rather than field goals, and when he did take shots downfield, they floated and were typically short (and got his receivers blasted). One of those deep balls should have been intercepted, it looked like the defender tried to catch the ball with his elbows. Jones was accurate on short throws, which was nice, and obviously the ground game was zero help to him. But we've still got an incomplete grade on whether he'll still be starting here a year from now. This was a winnable game. More running would have been nice.

RUNNING BACKS:

Can we not? OK, we'll talk about them. First, those who thought Rico Dowdle would surpass Ezekiel Elliott were correct. It's a really low bar, but Dowdle started and had some decent runs, averaging 4.2 per attempt (11 for 46). I don't think there are a lot of touchdowns in his future, but he did a nice job weaving through defenders on his touchdown reception. If you started him (anyone?), you're happy today. Elliott played less than half as often and had 5 carries and a short catch. Looks like they've determined Dowdle is better. Interesting, there were lots of plays with neither on the field, and fullback Hunter Luepke getting 2 carries and 2 receptions. He finished with just 2 fewer yards than Elliott (24-22), which says all you need to know about Elliott going forward. When the ball is near the goal line, any one of these three could potentially carry it. (Last night they only ran two plays inside the 10, and it was Dowdle on the field.)

Devin Singletary flopped hard against a defense that had been horrible against the run the first three games. I'm not sure if all the blame should go on him (as a team New York carried the ball 24 times for 26 yards), but he wasn't elevating the position. He was fortunate to avoid a fumble on a very close review, which would have been his third straight game with a fumble and might land him on the bench before long. Some teams might have thrown their running backs more passes (Singletary and Tyrone Tracy each got 1 target), but the Giants instead peppered their wide receivers with balls). In any case, Singletary's dud last night in a seemingly favorable matchup will probably prevent anyone from starting him again anytime soon. Things should have been better, they were not. Giants have a few extra days to get things sorted out, maybe we'll see Eric Gray some next game, but unlikely it will go much different.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Here's what you've all been waiting for. Right up front, I'm willing to take the L on Malik Nabers. I knew he was great, loved him in dynasty like everyone else, just figured there was no way he'd put up great numbers with Jones in the Giants offense. Welp, he's averaging 9 catches for 97 yards, with 3 touchdowns in four games. It looks a lot like he's going to shatter the rookie records that Puka Nacua set just last year. Nabers slammed his head to the turf late and left with a concussion, but was up and talking after the game and has a few extra days to clear the protocol, so I'm cautiously optimistic he'll be out there in Week 5. With 44 percent of the team's passing yards and 75 percent of the touchdown passes, Nabers clearly does not need Jones to put up big numbers to do so himself.

Wan'Dale Robinson caught 11 passes for 71 yards. This is a lovely day in PPR leagues, and his third in four weeks with 6-plus catches (in the fourth game, he scored). You wonder a little if it will continue since it's not helping the team win; there were so many plays where Jones, faced with a 3rd and 9 or 10, completed a 4- or 5-yard pass to Robinson who was promptly dropped by two defenders. But it's clearly a significant part of the offense and probably not fully going away. New York's other wide receivers have no value, Jones isn't completing anything downfield these days.

CeeDee Lamb had a nice game, still a little short of the monster numbers you want I guess. But 7 for 98 and a score is pretty good, and he's running a little too. Better than his 4-catch days in the blowout losses. We can stick a fork in Brandin Cooks I think; it's over. Jalen Tolbert played almost as much and caught all 3 passes thrown his way. Still not enough, but he's the other wideout to consider here, not Cooks.

TIGHT ENDS:

Jake Ferguson had a solid game, 7 for 49 including a target near the goal line. No scores yet but back to back games with at least 6 catches for him (following fill-in Luke Schoonmaker's 6-catch game when Ferguson was out).

Third wide receiver Darius Slayton isn't doing much of anything, but his 10 catches are twice as much as Theo Johnson and Daniel Bellinger combined. The rookie Johnson is the one playing the most, by far, but there hasn't been much effort to throw the ball his way.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Greg Joseph had a 5-field goal game, suggesting he'll have a job somewhere when Graham Gano gets healthy. Brandon Aubrey missed a late field goal (enabling the Giants to cover the 6-point spread, thanks Brandon) but was good from 60, he's now 2 of 2 on such kicks this season. ... Micah Parsons left late with ankle injury, he was also shaken up earlier in the game. Something to monitor, there was a high-ankle sprain report floating about. Not that the Dallas defense has done zippity do dah since Week 1, but it will look especially unusable if Parsons misses time.

Dallas is at Pittsburgh next, so a tough matchup for the offense. The Giants are in Seattle, which could also be tricky. I think the clear starts on these teams are Nabers, Lamb, Ferguson and Aubrey, with Wan'Dale and Dak maybes. And that be it.

--Andy Richardson

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