The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 6 matchup between the Chargers and Cowboys on Monday Night Football.
Find a breakdown of every Week 6 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| Dallas | Rank | @ | LA Chargers | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -2.0 | Spread | 2.0 | ||
| 26.5 | Implied Total | 24.5 | ||
| 26.8 | 8 | Points/Gm | 27.5 | 7 |
| 16.6 | 7 | Points All./Gm | 26.0 | 24 |
| 66.2 | 8 | Plays/Gm | 67.0 | 6 |
| 57.2 | 3 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 68.8 | 28 |
| 4.9 | 21 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.8 | 6 |
| 5.1 | 14 | Def. Yards/Play | 5.9 | 28 |
| 47.13% | 6 | Rush% | 42.16% | 16 |
| 52.87% | 27 | Pass% | 57.84% | 17 |
| 48.25% | 28 | Opp. Rush % | 36.73% | 7 |
| 51.75% | 5 | Opp. Pass % | 63.27% | 26 |
- The Chargers have allowed 47.7% of opponent possessions to reach the red zone or score prior, 30th in the league.
- 40.9% of the Charger possessions have reached the red zone or scored prior, ninth in the league.
- The Cowboys have scored a touchdown on 3-of-26 possessions in the second half, 29th in the league.
- The Chargers are averaging 5.8 sacks plus takeaways per game, second in the NFL.
- The Chargers are averaging a first down or touchdown every 3.2 plays on offense, seventh in the league.
- The Chargers are allowing a first down or touchdown every 3.1 plays on defense, 29th in the league.
- The Cowboys are allowing a first down or touchdown every 4.0 plays, fourth in the league.
- The Chargers have allowed 18.3% of the completed passes against them to gain 20 or more yards, 31st in the league.
Trust = spike production for that player
Quarterback
Justin Herbert: Herbert has been a top-10 scorer in all four games this season.
When we last left off in Week 4, Herbert got there in a unique fashion.
He completed a season-low 54.2% of his passes for 167 yards, but he added two rushing touchdowns to boost his line.
The Raiders gave Herbert fits by pressuring him on a season-high 48.4% of his dropbacks and taking away the middle of the field without Mike Williams available.
Herbert through for just 5.6 yards per pass attempt over the middle of the field in Week 4.
The Chargers have had their bye week to calibrate, but it will be something to monitor moving forward if Josh Palmer or Quentin Johnston cannot step up without Williams on the field.
Herbert does get Austin Ekeler back here to alleviate some of the underneath work.
We also have the unknown impact of Kellen Moore facing a defense he is clearly familiar with going against.
If you have Herbert you are riding him out in any matchup as a QB1, but out of respect to the Dallas defense, we still are not going to project many spike weeks against them, even after allowing Brock Purdy to walk all over them last week.
Dallas is still first in the NFL in pressure rate (50.9%) and third in passing points allowed (9.4 per game) despite last week’s setback.
Dak Prescott: Prescott has not finished any week this season higher than QB17.
He and this offense were absolutely erased on Sunday Night. Against the 49ers, Prescott completed 14-of-24 passes for 153 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions.
The Dallas offense has had one of the weirder starts to the season.
They essentially have not played in a real game script outside of one week this season. They have played in four blowout games.
Dallas has run the fewest offensive plays (84) by a wide margin with the game within seven points in either direction.
In the second half this season, Dallas has run zero offensive plays with the score within seven points in either direction. On the flip side of this matchup, the Chargers have run 108 such plays.
That said, the few times that we have needed this offense to look functional in neutral game scripts, they have failed. The fact that this passing offense failed against Arizona still is something I cannot shake.
This game has back-and-forth matchup appeal and this Charger defense could be the elixir this passing game needs.
The Chargers are 31st in the league in yards allowed per pass attempt (8.3 Y/A) and that includes coming off facing Aidan O’Connell in his first start.
Opposing passers are averaging 14.4 yards per attempt on throws over 10 yards downfield against the Chargers, which is 30th in the league.
Prescott’s body of work this season does not inspire confidence to use him in 1QB leagues, but this matchup and the potential of playing in a neutral game script that could feature scoring is enough to give him another shot as an upside QB2.
Running Back
Austin Ekeler: Ekeler has not played since Week 1, but he is expected to be back in action coming out of the bye.
Ekeler will immediately work back into the RB1 conversation.
We do have some matchup concerns when it comes to chasing a spike week, however.
Dallas has allowed zero rushing yards on 24.4% of the rushing attempts they have faced, which is third in the league.
They just bottled up Christian McCaffrey for 2.7 yards per carry on Sunday Night, just about the only thing they did well in the game.
We will need Ekeler’s receiving ability to show up here.
There is still a world in which Ekeler is the primary beneficiary of the Mike Williams injury.
With Williams off the field last season (and Keenan Allen on), Ekeler was targeted on 27.3% of his routes.
Tony Pollard: After opening the season with weeks as the RB5, RB11, and RB13, Pollard has been the RB26 and RB29 for the past two weeks.
He has just 14 and 12 touches in those games.
This offense has to be better, but as mentioned above with Prescott, it is hard to fully gauge the Dallas offense since they have played in such wonky game scripts through five weeks.
Pollard has played just 23-of-57 second-half snaps the past two weeks due to the blowouts.
This game provides a path to a potential shootout and a better matchup than last’s layout against the 49ers.
This is another spot where I would go back to Pollard as an RB1.
The Chargers are allowing 4.16 YPC to backs (20th).
Over their past three games, they have allowed Josh Jacobs (RB3), Alexander Mattison (RB10), and Derrick Henry (RB13) all to flirt with RB1 production for fantasy.
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Wide Receiver
Keenan Allen: Allen caught 3-of-5 targets for just 32 yards in Week 4, but he managed to find the end zone for the third time to anchor his line.
We did not see Allen last week, but he still sits as the WR6 in target share (31.0%) and has been targeted on 28.0% of his routes (WR9).
Even with the bye and a limited Week 4, Allen is tied for eighth among all wide receivers with 35 receptions.
Continue to roll out Allen as a WR1.
Dallas is second in the NFL in points allowed to opposing WR1 targets (10.6), but Allen is head and shoulders the best wideout they have faced paired with good quarterback play.
