Evan Silva’s Matchups: Week 4

Thursday Night Football

Dallas @ N.Y. Giants

Team Totals: Cowboys 24.5, Giants 19.5

The Giants kept in check enemy signal-callers Sam Darnold (QB14 fantasy finish), Jayden Daniels (QB19), and Deshaun Watson (QB15) in their first three games while playing to low-scoring results of 28-6, 21-18, and 21-15. Dak Prescott has visited MetLife Stadium to face the G-Men only twice over the past four-plus seasons, managing fantasy-point totals of 7.2 and 14.8. Dak is a fringe QB1/2 starter here. … Game flow majorly impacted Dallas’ backfield usage in Weeks 1-3. Yet all told on the season, Rico Dowdle has logged 95 offensive snaps versus Ezekiel Elliott’s 75, and 31 touches against Zeke’s 24. Dowdle and Zeke are both touchdown-dependent FLEX options against the G-Men. New York has been slammed by the run, so far yielding 60/321/1 (5.4 YPC) rushing to opposing running backs.

Dak’s Weeks 1-3 target distribution: CeeDee Lamb 24; Jake Ferguson and Jalen Tolbert 16; Brandin Cooks 15; Dowdle 11; Luke Schoonmaker 8; Elliott and Jalen Brooks 7; KaVontae Turpin 6; Hunter Luepke 5. … In Week 3, Lamb lost a second-quarter fumble deep in Ravens territory and got boxed out, pushed around, and bracketed by Baltimore defenders. Especially in scoring position, Prescott stopped looking at Lamb in the game’s second half. Injuries to Giants No. 2 CB Nick McCloud (knee), slot CB Dru Phillips (calf), and No. 4 CB Adoree’ Jackson (calf) soften Lamb’s Thursday night draw. … Ferguson is tied for second on Dallas in targets despite missing Week 2 entirely. Excluding Week 1 — where he got hurt — and including last January’s playoff loss to Green Bay, Ferguson’s last two stat lines are 6/95/0 and 10/93/3. He’s flashed volume-commanding ability. … Over Dallas’ last two games, Tolbert turned 14 targets into 9/124/1 receiving versus Cooks’ 4/35/0 on eight looks. Tolbert may be eclipsing 31-year-old Cooks as the Cowboys’ primary No. 2 wideout.

Daniel Jones has turned in back-to-back quality starts, banking QB6 (@ WAS) and QB12 (@ CLE) finishes in Weeks 2-3. Dallas yielded Weeks 2-3 fantasy finishes of QB3 (Derek Carr) and QB4 (Lamar Jackson). No longer at risk of an in-game benching for Drew Lock, Jones is a confident two-QB-league starter. … Devin Singletary banked Weeks 1-3 touch counts of 14, 17, and 20. On the season, Singletary is handling over 80% of the Giants’ RB touches. New DC Mike Zimmer has done nothing to solve Dallas’ run-defense woes; the Cowboys are surrendering 5.4 yards per carry and the most fantasy points in the NFL to running backs. Singletary is a confident RB2 play in Week 4 based on usage and matchup.

Jones’ Weeks 1-3 target distribution: Malik Nabers 37; Wan’Dale Robinson 24; Singletary and Darius Slayton 10; Theo Johnson 7; Tyrone Tracy 5; Jalin Hyatt and Daniel Bellinger 2. … Nabers leads the league in both targets and Air Yards share (56%). As Giants HC Brian Daboll has focused on scheming Nabers into the coverage of opposing No. 2 cornerbacks, Nabers looks likely to frequently encounter late-camp Vikings castoff Andrew Booth on Thursday night. Usual Dallas No. 2 CB Caelen Carson (shoulder) appears unlikely to play. … Slot man Robinson banked Weeks 1-3 receiving lines of 6/44/0, 2/18/1, and 7/61/0. As Jones’ highest-percentage target, Robinson warrants full-PPR WR3/flex consideration here. … Slayton has put little in to-date box scores but is playing far ahead of Hyatt as New York’s “sacrificial X”. Slayton offers enough theoretical big-play potential for one-game DFS slate discussion. … Johnson continues to operate as the Giants’ primary tight end but has two catches on seven targets to show for it. He’s a single-game DFS tournament dart throw.

Score Prediction: Cowboys 24, Giants 20

New Orleans @ Atlanta