Cowboys vs Eagles Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 6

The Worksheet, a fantasy football overview by Rich Hribar, breaking down everything you need to know for the Week 6 Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles Sunday Night Football game.

Dallas	Rank	@	Philadelphia	Rank
4.5		Spread	-4.5
18.75		Implied Total	23.3
18.6	24	Points/Gm	27	5
14.4	3	Points All./Gm	17.6	7
58.8	25	Plays/Gm	71.2	2
66.2	27	Opp. Plays/Gm	62.8	17
5.1	23	Off. Yards/Play	5.9	7
4.7	5	Def. Yards/Play	4.7	3
46.94%	9	Rush%	52.25%	4
53.06%	24	Pass%	47.75%	29
37.76%	8	Opp. Rush %	33.76%	3
62.24%	25	Opp. Pass %	66.24%	30

The Cowboys have reached the red zone (or scored prior) on 13-of-57 (22.8%) of their drives, tied for 30th in the league.
Just 19.6% (11-of-56) of the drives against Dallas have reached the red zone (or scored prior), the lowest rate in the league.
44.4% (24-of-54) of the Philadelphia possessions have reached the red zone (or scored prior), sixth in the league.
The Eagles lead the NFL in yards per passing play on first down (9.3) while Dallas ranks second (8.5 yards).
The Eagles are allowing 4.6 yards per passing play, second in the league.
The Cowboys are allowing 4.7 yards per passing play, third in the league.
35.0% of the offensive scoring plays for Dallas have been touchdowns, the lowest rate in the league.

Quarterback

Jalen Hurts: Hurts managed to get over with another top-five scoring week, finishing as the QB3 (27.7 points) last week in Arizona despite having his worst game of the season.

Hurts threw for a season-low 6.6 yards per pass attempt and failed to throw a touchdown pass for the third time in five weeks, but once again had his legs as a fantasy out, popping in two 1-yard sneaks for scores to go along with 61 yards on the ground.

Hurts had a season-low depth of target of just 3.8 yards downfield as just 41.7% of his pass attempts traveled five or more yards downfield. Hurts did not throw a single pass between the hash marks while 65% of his passes were outside of the numbers.

The Eagles picked up a host of offensive line injuries during the game that impacted things. They already were without left tackle Jordan Mailata entering the week. Then left guard Landon Dickerson left the game after 26 snaps. Center Jason Kelce was banged up as well but returned to the game. With the Eagles nicked up front, Vance Joesph blitzed Hurts on 50% of his dropbacks and the Eagles resorted to quick hitters and wide receiver screens on repeat. We will follow the status of Mailata and Dickerson this week, but you are going to want to enter a matchup with Dallas with an offensive line that is at full strength.

Dallas leads the NFL in pressure rate (41.9% of dropbacks), having 14 more defensive pressures than the next closest team in the league. As a byproduct, they lead the league in hurries (75), quarterback hits (49), and are second in sacks (20).

Hurts has had an excellent start to the season, but he has still been impacted by pressure. When pressured this season, Hurts is 16-of-38 passing (42.1%) for 200 yards (5.3 Y/A) with zero passing touchdowns.

While Hurts and the Eagles were far from clean last week, it was still just another testament to how good Hurts is for fantasy since he does not need everything to go right because his rushing production is so strong for the game. This is what keeps him locked in as a QB1.

Dallas has had an excellent start to the season defensively, but also has faced the Bengals, Giants, Commanders, and Rams the past four weeks, teams that struggled to move the football and score points against everyone outside of facing the Cowboys.

Cooper Rush: I am entering the week still anticipating that Dak Prescott misses another week, but we will circle back here if Prescott ends up returning for this divisional showdown.

Rush keeps stacking quarterback wins, but the Cowboys still are reluctant to put as much on his plate as they should. On Sunday versus the Rams, Rush attempted just 16 passes in total. Over his four starts, Rush has averaged just 11.9 fantasy points, finishing higher than QB18 in just one of those games.

Only three teams have run fewer first down passing plays than Dallas this season. Only Ryan Tannehill has had a lower rate of his pass attempts come on first down than Rush has (30.5%).

When the Cowboys have let Rush throw on first down, Rush is 27-of-36 (75%) for 359 yards (10.0 Y/A). On all other downs, he is 45-of-82 (54.9%) for 480 yards (5.9 Y/A). Dallas has not been pressed on the scoreboard and had to pass their way through a game, something still in question with Rush despite the team’s undefeated record with him under center.

Even if forced to throw, the Eagles are allowing just 0.22 passing points per attempt (sixth) and have allowed just 10.9 passing points per game (ninth), leaving Rush as only a 2QB option.

Running Back

Miles Sanders: Sanders ran cold on Sunday, rushing 15 times for 58 yards (3.9 YPC) while adding two receptions for six yards.

Sanders once again dominated backfield touches (a season-high 85%), but this was something we have talked about in this space every week with him. The Eagles have not trailed in the second half at any point this season, so Sanders is able to keep stacking opportunities given his role in the offense. But because he isn’t involved as a pass catcher (10 catches for 41 yards on the year), he is forced to live reliant on being a hyper-efficient runner while needing to score touchdowns, something Jalen Hurts impacts.

In the two games Sanders has reached the end zone, he has scored 18.5 and 29.6 PPR points. In his other games, he has scored 11.6, 5.4, and 8.4. This is why he only has one RB1 scoring week on the year despite averaging 19.4 touches per game.

That keeps Sanders as a touchdown-dependent RB2 against a Dallas team that can be run on a bit despite their early season success defensively. The Cowboys are allowing 4.5 YPC to opposing backs (17th).

Tony Pollard: Pollard has the three highest scoring fantasy games from this backfield so far this year. The only rub is that he has lived on the strength of splash play to get there. Over the past month, Pollard has had gains of 46, 46, and 57 yards, the latest being a touchdown run that put the Cowboys up for good last week against the Rams.

Pollard has gotten more run this season and looks electric with his touches, but he still has only is averaging 10.2 touches per game and has just seven receptions on the year. If Pollard does not connect on a big play (like he did in Week 4), we are holding the bag for fantasy, leaving him as a boom-or-bust FLEX.

Ezekiel Elliott: Elliott’s highest-scoring week this year so far has been the RB29. I don’t believe Elliott has even looked that bad subjectively, but he has not been an active pass catcher (five catches for 27 yards) and Dallas is creating next to no scoring opportunities.

Just 3.5% (3-of-86) of Elliott's touches have come inside of the red zone, trailing only J.D. McKissic (2.4%) among all running backs with 20 or more touches this season.

With no catches or money touches, Elliott has been dependent on rushing efficiency, which just hasn’t been there. Elliott is averaging just 3.8 YPC, averaging over 3.6 YPC in two of the opening five weeks. The Eagles are 3.8 YPC to running backs over the past four weeks, keeping Elliott in the back end RB2/FLEX area.

Wide Receiver

CeeDee Lamb: Lamb managed to secure 5-of-8 targets for 53 yards on Sunday (with one bad drop), the first time that he failed to register a top-24 scoring week since Week 1.

The positive news is that Lamb did see 50% of the team targets, but Dallas just threw the ball 16 times.

The Cowboys have consistently been good at getting Lamb opportunities when they do have to pass, something they should be pressed to do here at the highest rate with Rush under center.

Lamb leads all wide receivers in target share (35.0%) while he is fourth in target rate per route (32.7%), which is a great sign once Dallas gets Prescott back and puts the ball in the air again.

Lamb’s usage makes him a fringe WR1 expecting Dallas to throw the football more here, but the matchup from a top-down stance is not endearing while we are still at the mercy that Rush can just be bad when pressed to throw out of structure.

Philadelphia is allowing 6.8 yards per target to wideouts on the perimeter (fourth in the league) and 6.0 yards per target to wideouts from the slot (third). Lamb is playing 55% of the time in the slot and 45% out wide.

A.J. Brown: After highlighting how good Brown’s floor has been this season, he came out and caught just 3-of-7 targets for 32 yards on Sunday.

The silver lining is that Brown still did see 20% of the team targets, giving him 20% or more of the team passing looks in every game this season.

On the year, Brown still sits sixth among all wide receivers in team target share (29.6%), seventh in target rate per route (29.4%), and third in yards per route run (2.85). His workload still warrants WR1 consideration weekly.

Dallas has been good defending lead wideouts, allowing 13.6 points per game to opposing WR1 (12th). That said, Mike Evans (5-71-1) and Cooper Kupp (7-125-1) did find their way to productive fantasy days as part of that sample.

DeVonta Smith: Smith took advantage of Brown having his worst game of the year, collecting 10-of-11 targets for 87 yards on Sunday.

Smith’s targets have not been as consistent as Brown’s, seeing 14.8%, 22.6%, 35.3%, 16.7%, and 32.3%. But with the Eagles having lower overall passing volume (22nd in pass attempts), we are going to run into some variance there behind the lead target, which has led to Smith having weeks as the WR120 and WR69 paired with spike weeks as the WR1 and WR12 (with a WR25 week peppered in).

Dallas has been strong against wideouts to open the season, allowing 7.1 yards per target (seventh), a 58.7% catch rate (ninth), and a 3.7% touchdown rate (14th). Opposing quarterback play has been a contributor there, btu we also inherently know this is a solid defense. In two games against Dallas a year ago, Smith had games of 3-28-0 and 3-41-0.

Smith is a volatile option on the WR2/WR3 line.

Michael Gallup: After running a route on 82.8% of the dropbacks in his debut in Week 4, Gallup got a little more work on Sunday, running a route on 89.5% of the dropbacks. He caught 4-of-5 targets (31.3%) for 44 yards in the game, limited by the lack of passing volume as mentioned here multiple times.

With Rush under center, Gallup is still a WR4/FLEX in this tougher matchup, but the target share was encouraging for Gallup was encouraging moving forward while his usage per passing play coming back to the field so early from his ACL surgery has been a major positive signal.

Gallup’s return has led to Noah Brown having his lowest route participation rates (75.9% and 84.2%) of the season, trailing Gallup in each game. Brown is only in play for single-game DFS.

Tight End

Dallas Goedert: Catching 8-of-9 targets for 95 yards, Goedert had his fourth straight top-10 scoring week among tight ends. The past two weeks, Goedert has collected 25% and 26.5% of the team targets after being below the 20% mark the opening three weeks of the season.

It is in early in the season, but Goedert is averaging a career-high 67.0 yards per game with career mark in yards per target (11.6 yards) and catch rate (82.8%). Goedert is third among all tight ends in first down or touchdown rate per target (51.7%), second in yards per route run (2.33), while leading the position in yards after the catch per reception (11.3 yards). Goedert is a set and forget TE1 in barren landscape at the position.

Dallas is allowing a league-low 3.9 yards per target to opposing tight ends with zero touchdowns, but they did allow a TE8 scoring week to Tyler Higbee last week, the only TE1 they have faced early in the season.

Cowboys TE: With Dalton Schultz aggravating his PCL injury last week, we cannot count on him being 100% this weekend. Schultz was already impacted with just two catches for 18 yards since Week 1, so we were hardly leaning on production here in the first place.

With Schultz playing just 10 snaps, the Cowboys once again split time with Peyton Hendershot (37 snaps) and Jake Ferguson (35 snaps). Neither were targeted in the game with Dallas keeping things tight to the vest offensively.

When Schultz missed Week 3, Ferguson led the backups in snaps (53) followed by Hendershot (38). Despite the snap edge favoring Ferguson, Hendershot ran 15 pass routes compared to 14 for Ferguson, with Hendershot catching all three of his targets for 43 yards while Ferguson caught 2-of-3 targets for 13 yards. Both of the Dallas backups are only single-game DFS dart throws.

More Week 6 Fantasy breakdowns from The Worksheet: