Cowboys vs Eagles Showdown DFS: EMac's Week 7 MNF Top-10

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Dallas Cowboys Overview

Offensive linemen Drew Shelton and Matt Hennessy are out, as is kick returner/wideout KaVontae Turpin. On the defensive side linebacker Dee Winters is the key starter who will miss tonight, with several depth pieces already on the IR across all three levels.

Quarterback

Philadelphia is allowing the eighth most yards (363.8) per game this season, ranking around league average ceding 22.8 points per game. That is promising for Dak Prescott, who is the maestro of the potentially high-powered Dallas offense.

Potential is the key word as Prescott has tossed just one touchdown pass in each of the last four games, after piling up six in the first two tilts. He is averaging 296.3 passing yards per game in this period, though the four interceptions are a little concerning, but we need to keep in mind that is the cost of doing business with 45.3 attempts per appearance in this timeframe.

Prescott is mobile in the pocket and will extend plays and though designed runs are well in the past, he will tuck the ball for a quick scamper every now and then when the defense loses track of him. For reference, he has 10-plus rushing yards in eight of his last 25 regular season games, with two touchdowns – which is about enough to mostly offset any interceptions.

Running Back

Expect to see a lot of Javonte Williams, who is usually on the field for 75% of the offensive action. Tyler Goodson is serving as the RB2 and his best path to relevance would be via mop up duty. He is likely to see a handful of low-leverage opportunities, but unless something befalls Williams in-game, we are counting on a broken play or other semi-outlier for him to pop up in the optimal lineup.

Williams has 85 of the 104 backfield rushing attempts, with a stellar seven scores. He is fifth on the team with 22 targets and while his 5.4 yards per catch is better than the 3.9 from last year, it is still anemic. He has one touchdown reception.

Hunter Luepke serves as a blocking H-back, though he did have three of his four targets in Week 6. Sadly ha has just three carries on the season and is best left to those crafting north of 25 lineups.

Wide Receivers

CeeDee Lamb is fourth in the league with 96.2 receiving yards per game and George Pickens is 14ths with 71.3. Lamb has the touchdown edge 4-1 and his seven catches of at least 20 or more yards is one more than his counterpart. However, once we factor in the $2,000 discount for Pickens on DraftKings and the $2,400 savings on FanDuel, the decision is much closer. This duo can be employed on the same lineup.

Ryan Flournoy has consolidated the WR3 role and also pushed former security blanket Jake Ferguson down a couple of pegs. The third-year wideout should be on the field for 60%-to-70% of the offensive action and he has a path for more opportunities should something happen to either of his dynamic position-mates.

Jonathan Mingo did not see much of a change in his playing time last week with Turpin out, though he is likely to be the punt returner tonight. He has just seven targets on the season, with none in Week 6.

Tight Ends

Ferguson is fourth on the team with 24 targets, but that is a dozen fewer than Flournoy and in the last two games his nine are barely ahead of the seven earmarked to Brevyn Spann-Ford. Spann-Ford signed a decent offseason deal as the team wanted to lock him up for his blocking prowess, but if Ferguson continues to languish, he could become a projectable part of the offense.

It is worth noting that in Week 5, Ferguson had his highest snap-share (86%) and six targets, so we need to see if Sunday Night Football was a changing of the guard or just a blip on the radar of a long season.

Luke Schoonmaker will pop up here and there, but his three looks are well behind even Spann-Ford’s 11.

Kickers and DST

Brandon Aubrey surprisingly did not have a field goal attempt in primetime last week and the same result transpired in the opener. That is likely happenstance and he remains the best in the game, even with some pundits worried that he already has three misses.

Keep in mind those were 59 and 62-yard attempts that were blocked, while his other miss was from 65 yards. How many other kickers in the league get those kind of chances once or twice per season and he already has three.

Dallas has just eight sacks on the season, tied for the second fewest and the Cowboys are also last with just three takeaways. Of course, tonight they are going against an inexperience quarterback, who is missing several key skill-position players and a beleaguered offensive line that is allowing nearly three quarterback takedowns per tilt.

Philadelphia Eagles Overview

This is a lost season for the Eagles, with pretty much every skill position player having missed time. Jalen Hurts (blood clots) is likely done for the year. Leading wideouts DeVonta Smith (hamstring) and Dontayvion Wicks (ankle) are out tonight, with Tank Bigsby and Will Shipley both still on the IR.

Saquon Barkley (hamstring) is getting closer to a return, which could be tonight and tight end Grant Calcaterra (IR-back) is close as well, which would get another veteran on the field.

Will Shipley and Tank Bigsby both have more time on the IR

Starting cornerback Michael Carter II (abdomen) and linebacker Nolan Smith Jr. (concussion) are key defenders who are out, with linebacker Jonathan Greenard (ankle) questionable.

Quarterback

Tanner McKee is a pocket passer and in his 10 preseason games, he has 10 carries for a total of 16 yards. He also has been sacked 13 times, with five passing touchdowns against two interceptions on 207 attempts.

Tonight will be his fourth NFL start, with a pair during Week 18 each of the last two seasons and of course last week against Carolina. In these games he has six carries for four net yards, though it is also important to point out that he has attempted 41, 40 and 45 passes, tossing four scores his starts, with only one interception. He has two other touchdown passes in mop-up duty.

Most books have set McKee’s passing yardage threshold at 196, his rushing at 4.5 and he is around -135 to throw multiple touchdowns.

Half the quarterbacks facing the Dallas defense have had multiple touchdown passes, though only Jaxson Dart (230/3/0), C.J. Stroud (347/2/0) and Jordan Love (276/1/1) have eclipsed 190 yards.

Running Back

Barkley is expected to return and while there is no reason for him to come back early with the season in shambles, he could be eased back into things and provide extra pass protection for McKee.

The 2024 Offensive Player of the Year has now had two injuries, suffering a stinger in Week 2 and now the current hamstring issue. A couple of good showings could have some teams interested in trading for Barkley before the Nov. 10 deadline, though that would also be creating a $26 million dead cap marker for Philadelphia, though it may be time to tear everything down with the house of cards looking like it will completely collapse before Thanksgiving anyway.

Dameon Pierce had all the offensive opportunities last week, while playing 95% of the snaps. Kansas City castoff Carson Steele was the only other running back to see the field and he had three offensive plays.

Tonight is probably a 60/40 split with Pierce on the shorter side, though that could easily be flipped. Best guess is that the high leverage opportunities are Barkley’s, though it is important to note that in just two games, Pierce has out-targeted Barkley 10 to seven.

Wide Receivers

Rookie Makai Lemon and second-year UDFA Darius Cooper will be leading the way with journeymen Marquise “Hollywood” Brown and Elijah Moore filling in the gaps. Brown’s only action was 22 plays in Week 2, though he did not see any targets. Moore has played in each of the subsequent games, though he has 36 total snaps in these four appearances, with both targets in the last game with McKee under center.

Lemon and Cooper are cheap and will be on the field a lot. Lemon has 6, 7 and 6 targets in the last three games and that is at least promising, while also putting him only four behind Wicks, despite being injured for most of training camp and being slow to pick up the offense.

Tight End

Dallas Goedert had nine targets in London and then eight last week. We know that rookies and inexperienced quarterbacks often lean on their tight ends as they are usually the closest and biggest friendly targets. He was on the field for 81% of the offensive action, with Johnny Mundt the TE2 at 30% and E.J. Jenkins popping up for four snaps.

Kickers and DST

Dallas has allowed only seven sacks in six games and the Eagles have the fewest in the league with eight. The turnover front is also bleak with Philadelphia collecting three interceptions and no fumbles and the Cowboys are ceding just over one giveaway per game.

NFL DFS Week 7 MNF Showdown: Top-10

1. Dak Prescott: The maestro of the mayhem.
2. Javonte Williams: Volume trumps efficiency in his case and he has eight scores.
3. George Pickens: Not that we need the salary savings, but it is helpful in some builds to pivot from Lamb.
4. Tanner McKee: Should push towards a dozen fantasy points.
5. CeeDee Lamb: Keep in the multiplier mix.
6. Saquon Barkley: If he were completely healthy coming into this game, he would be ahead of McKee. He may very well be ready for a full workload and be effective, though we will not know for certain until after the game is underway.
7. Dallas Goedert: Steady veteran presence for a green quarterback.
8. Brandon Aubrey: No weather concerns in Philly tonight on a mild fall evening.
9. Makai Lemon: Should see volume and the future is now, out of necessity.
10. Ryan Flournoy: Starting to be featured I some play sequences.
11. SECONDARY TARGETS
12. Darius Cooper: Meh, but we and the Eagles are running out of viable options. Returned kickoffs last week with Covey as things were thinned out by the absence of Bigsby and Shipley.
13. Dameon Pierce: It is hard to envision Barkley with a massive workload and the savings provided by Lemon/Cooper mitigate the salary, which was elevated for a potential Barkley miss. If for some reason Barkley is out again, then Pierce moves up to his slot above.
14. LOTTERY TICKETS
15. Philadelphia DST: Homefield advantage, but will need a fortuitous touchdown to be a difference maker tonight.
16. Dallas DST: This unit will also need a score to be relevant, but it is not hard to envision with McKee and the rest of the backups.
17. Tyler Goodson: RB2 and should return kickoffs with Turpin out.
18. Brevyn Spann-Ford: It will be interesting to see if his increased targets continue.
19. Grant Calcaterra and Zac Ertz: Only one will be active, Calcaterra has been practicing and is trending towards being available to be activated from the IR tonight.
20. Elijah Moore, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, Johnny Mundt and Britain Covey: First two will provide depth, Mundt is the likely TE3 and Covey is the main kick returner, though he has yet to step between the lines on offense this season.
21. Jonathan Mingo, Luke Schoonmaker, Hunter Luepke and Emari Demercado: Mingo returns kickoffs and will be on the field for a 10 or so snaps, there is a decent chance Demercado is inactive once again, the other two are live for a target, with Luepke an outside shot at two.

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