The Worksheet, a fantasy football overview by Rich Hribar, breaking down everything you need to know for the Week 11 Dallas Cowboys vs Detroit Lions Sunday afternoon game on November 17, 2019 at 1 pm ET.
DallasRank@DetroitRank
-5.5Spread5.5
27Implied Total21.5
27.96Points/Gm24.114
18.96Points All./Gm26.324
65.89Plays/Gm65.710
62.715Opp. Plays/Gm67.631
44.1%9Rush%39.6%18
55.9%24Pass%60.4%15
39.0%10Opp. Rush %41.6%22
61.0%23Opp. Pass %58.4%11
  • Dallas is averaging 8.4 yards per pass play, the most in the league.
  • Detroit is allowing 7.3 yards per pass play, 25th in the league.
  • Opponents are averaging 12.6 red zone plays against Dallas, the most in the league.
  • Opponents are averaging 11.7 red zone plays against Detroit, the second-most in the league.
  • The Lions are allowing 2.3 red zone touchdowns per game, ahead of only Atlanta (2.4).
  • The Cowboys have scored a touchdown on 31.5% of their drives, trailing only the Ravens (35.2%).
  • Since joining the Cowboys in Week 9 last season, Amari Cooper’s 13 receiving touchdowns are the most in the NFL.

Trust (spike production for that player)

  • Dak Prescott: Prescott has 18 or more points in eight of nine games this season, with 20 or more points in seven of those games. He’s coming off a QB5 (25.9 points) against a solid defense with back-to-back games with three touchdown passes. He gets another favorable draw here against a Detroit pass defense that is 29th in passing points allowed per game (19.5).
  • Ezekiel Elliott: After three straight 100-yard games, Elliott posted his lowest-scoring game of the season (8.3 points) against the Vikings in Week 9. Elliott now has two or fewer receptions in six games this season, but runs into a strong bounce-back spot this week. Detroit is 27th in rushing points allowed (16.9) and 31st in receiving points allowed (14.6) to opposing backfields.

On the Cusp (proxy of a player’s average)

  • Amari Cooper: Cooper is third in points per game (14.1) at the position through nine games. He still has top-heavy home splits, going for 88 or more yards in all five games at home with five of his seven touchdowns coming in Dallas compared to being held to 80 yards or fewer in all four road games with two touchdowns. Cooper runs 86% of his routes on the outside where he could draw Darius Slay in shadow coverage, but Slay hasn’t exclusively shadowed all wideouts and the Lions have allowed double-digit points to four WR1 options in the seven games Slay has been active.
  • Michael Gallup: Gallup is coming off his best game since returning from injury, receiving 21.3% of the team targets, catching 4-of-10 passes for 76 yards and a touchdown. His 10 targets were anchored by the team throwing 47 times, the most for Prescott in a game this season, but Gallup has now had just one game all season in which he finished lower than a WR3. 
  • Kenny Golladay/Marvin Jones: We’re expecting Jeff Driskel to make another start here. Although the matchup is not good once again, we saw last week in a tougher matchup the Lions are so pass-heavy that both guys are still starting options, even if their ceilings are lowered through the quarterback change. Golladay (WR20) and Jones (WR27) caught 8-of-15 targets for 134 yards and a touchdown against the Bears. Dallas is allowing just 10.3 receptions (seventh) and 123.7 yards (fourth) to opposing wideouts.

Bust (down-week production for that player’s standards)

  • Danny Amendola: Amendola was targeted eight times last week (4-29) and remains an option for target volume with the Lions forced to play so one-dimensionally. Dallas is not a strong option to target opposing slot wideouts, however, ranking ninth in points allowed to interior receivers.

If You Must (intriguing bench option or deeper league play) 

  • Randall Cobb: Cobb has just two games this season with double-digit points, but he has at least six catches and eight targets in each of the past two games. He gets the best individual matchup of the Dallas wideouts. Cobb runs 87% of his routes from the slot, where Justin Coleman has allowed 32 receptions third-most) for 310 yards (fourth-most) and four touchdowns (most).
  • J.D. McKissic: McKissic has been a top-20 scorer in his past two games. With Ty Johnson in concussion protocol, McKissic handled a career-high 16 touches. He turned them into just 54 yards, but he had six receptions on seven targets to inflate his floor. If Johnson can’t play this week, the Lions will likely add another back to hedge McKissic’s 10 rushing attempts, but McKissic has worked himself into a floor-based FLEX option in PPR formats.
  • Jeff Driskel: Pressed into duty hours before the game, Driskel turned in 18.1 fantasy points on the road against the Bears. He threw for just 5.8 yards per pass attempt, but his 52 dropbacks were third in the league last week. He also added 37 rushing yards. Detroit passers have now drop backed 45 times per game over the past four weeks. Dallas is sixth in passing points allowed per game (12.6), but Driskel holds some 2QB appeal with the volume the offense should be pressed into once again.
  • T.J. Hockenson: Hockenson has games of 3-56 and 3-47 over the past two weeks after failing to top 32 yards in any of his previous six games. He’s had at least six targets in each game, but still grabbed three or fewer passes in seven games. Dallas is 29th in receptions allowed per game (6.4) to opposing tight ends and has allowed a touchdown to the position in three of their past four games.  

More Week 11 Fantasy breakdowns from The Worksheet:

PIT at CLE | HOU at BAL | NO at TB | ATL at CAR | DAL at DET | JAX at IND | BUF at MIA | NYJ at WAS | DEN at MIN | ARI at SF | CIN at OAK | NE at PHI | CHI at LAR | KAN at LAC