Cowboys vs. Giants Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 13

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 13 matchup between the Cowboys and Giants on Thanksgiving Day.

Find a breakdown of every Week 13 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Quarterback

Cooper Rush: Rush bought some runway as the starter with a win last weekend and has now provided 2QB gamers with more than usable weeks in the past two games.

Rush was QB11 (18.0 points) in Week 12 after a QB18 (16.4 points) week in Week 11.

He completed 75% of his passes (24-of-32) for 247 yards (7.7 Y/A) with 2 touchdowns.

We will not run wild with Rush as a 1QB streamer in a week with no byes, but he has another favorable spot this week for those gamers who have been using him in 2QB formats.

The Giants have been a target for us for fantasy purposes since their pass defense entirely depends on pressure.

When the Giants have pressured the opposing quarterback, they have allowed a 41.8% completion rate (3rd) and 4.4 yards per attempt (2nd).

When Rush has been pressured over the past four weeks, he has completed 48.3% of his passes (19th) for 4.2 Y/A (30th).

But when they have not gotten pressure, they have allowed a league-high 81.8% completion rate and 8.9 Y/A (31st).

Rush was pressured on a league-low 11.8% of his dropbacks on Sunday.

When Rush was not pressured on Sunday in Washington, he connected on 21-of-29 passes for 7.7 Y/A with a touchdown.

Overall, the Giants are 22nd in passing points allowed per attempt (0.467).

Drew Lock: Lock will get his shot at the starting job with Tommy DeVito ruled out due to a forearm injury.

Lock started two games for the Seahawks last season, closing those weeks as QB18 (15.3 points) and QB24 (12.1 points).

He completed 63.2% of his passes for 7.1 Y/A with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.

DeVito was pressured on 43.6% of his dropbacks on Sunday, the third-highest rate for a passer in Week 12.

With Andrew Thomas off the field, the Giants have allowed a 41.1% pressure rate, 31st in the NFL.

For his career when pressured, Lock has completed 41.0% of his passes for 4.7 Y/A with 4 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

He was a bit better in his 2023 sample under pressure, completing 14-of-23 passes (60.9%) for 8.7 Y/A with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions.

Lock is a back-end QB2 for fantasy, but the overall layout is not dissimilar for him than Rush.

Dallas can still get after the quarterback.

They are eighth in the NFL in pressure rate (36.7%).

They are another defense dependent on getting to the passer.

Without pressure, Dallas has allowed a 74.4% completion rate (25th) and a league-high 9.0 yards per pass attempt.

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Running Back

Rico Dowdle (TRUST): Dowdle had another solid outing on Sunday, matching a season-high with 22 touches for 98 yards.

He did lose a fumble, but with Dallas operating in the positive game script for the first time since early in the season, we saw Dowdle work as the feature back.

As a result, Dowdle handled a season-high 84.6% of the backfield touches.

Dowdle has hit 70% of the backfield touches four times this season.

He has been the RB3, RB8, RB29, and RB17 in those games.

Dallas has another path to controlling the game script (or at least remaining close to a neutral script) as a home favorite.

Dowdle also gets a matchup we have circled weekly to attack with backfields.

The Giants have allowed a league-high 5.08 YPC to running backs.

In addition, they are 24th in receiving points allowed per game to backfields (9.5 per game).

Only the Panthers (162.8) allow more yards from scrimmage per game to running backs than the Giants (158.5).

Over their past five games, the Giants have allowed 208 yards and 3 touchdowns to the Tampa Bay backs, 174 yards and a touchdown to Carolina, 155 yards and a touchdown to Washington, 190 yards to Pittsburgh, and 269 yards and a touchdown to the Eagles backfields.

Giants RBs: Tyrone Tracy led this backfield in snaps (23), touches (13), and yards (70) on Sunday, but by losing his second costly fumble in as many games (this one at the goal line), Tracy opened the door for sharing work.

You would think a team already swapping to Tommy DeVito as a quarterback would not bench their rookie running back, who is still transitioning to the position, but that is what happened.

After his third-quarter fumble, Tracy only had four touches while Devin Singletary had three and Eric Gray had 2.

When the Giants got back down to the goal line, Singletary received the scoring opportunity, which he converted.

The game was already way out of hand when Gray led the team with 11 snaps in the fourth quarter, so Tracy is hopefully not in the doghouse.

However, we do have to proceed with some guesswork about whether he gets the next goal-line carry.

That leaves Tracy as a matchup-based RB2/FLEX, but if Tracy is given another shot as the feature back, that matchup is worth pursuing.

Dallas is a run defense that we have targeted for fantasy points, as well (this game is the Spider-Man meme on so many levels).

The Cowboys have allowed 17.7 rushing points per game to backs (31st).

That is even with last week’s strong outing factored in when they allowed 57 yards on 17 runs to the Washington backfield.

Dallas has allowed 14 touchdowns to running backs (tied for the third most).

They did hold this backfield to 60 yards on 21 combined touches when these teams met in Week 4, with Singletary leading that backfield with 15 touches for only 38 yards.

Wide Receiver

CeeDee Lamb: We may have lost Lamb's WR1 ceiling with Cooper Rush, but he has still found some stability as a volume-based target.

He grabbed 10 of 12 targets for 67 yards on Sunday.

Lamb has double-digit targets in six straight games.

Lamb enters the week leading the NFL in targets (118) and receptions (77).

He has not returned the maximum value on his offseason ADP, but this is not due to a lack of volume.

He has been targeted on 31.9% of his routes with Rush under center, but Lamb is only averaging 1.56 yards per route run and 7.4 yards per catch on those opportunities.

With Dak Prescott, he was targeted on 27.8% of his routes with 2.29 yards per route run and 12.7 yards per catch.

He has found a fantasy floor through volume these past two weeks, posting back-to-back top 20 weeks.

Lamb has dipped down as a volume-based WR2 that has added floor in full-PPR formats.

Keeping with the theme of this matchup being mirrored, that is not far from what has happened to Malik Nabers.

The Giants have had their issues slowing down lead targets.

They are 19th in fantasy points allowed to WR1 targets (15.3 per game).

They have allowed 9.7 yards per target (30th) and a league-high 10% touchdown rate to those lead targets to offer some matchup appeal.

With Prescott in this Week 5 matchup, Lamb pulled in 7-of-8 targets for 98 yards and a touchdown.

Malik Nabers: Nabers collected 6-of-9 targets for 64 yards against Tampa Bay.

He did not have a target in the first half and ensured everyone knew about it after the game.

Nabers finished the game with 30% of the team targets and 50.3% of the air yards.

He has been targeted on 30.7% of his routes (fourth in the NFL) but has been unable to overcome this offensive environment and recapture his early-season ceiling.

After three WR1 scoring weeks in Weeks 2-4, Nabers has not finished higher than WR24 in a week since.

He has not entirely bricked due to his consistent target opportunities.

Nabers has been a top-30 scorer in five of those six games.

He has at least six catches in four straight games but averages 8.9 yards per catch since returning to the lineup from his early-season concussion.

He has not scored a touchdown since Week 3.

Nabers is also a volume-based WR2 with an added floor in full-PPR formats.

He also has an excellent matchup to turn that volume into more upside.

Nabers suffered a concussion when these teams met in Week 5.

Before leaving that game, he had collected 12 of 15 targets for 115 yards.

Dallas has allowed a 70.6% catch rate (30th) and 9.5 yards per target (28th) to outside receivers, where Nabers plays 78% of his snaps.

Wan’Dale Robinson: Robinson caught all five targets for 47 yards on Sunday.

Robinson has seen a reduction in target opportunities of late.

He has had games with 13.5%, 15.4%, and 16.7% of the team targets in three of his past four games.

Robinson did catch 11-of-14 targets for 71 yards when these teams met earlier in the season, but we know what we have with Robinson as a floor-based FLEX in full-PPR formats.

He is averaging 7.2 yards per catch and has not matched the yardage total from that Week 5 matchup in a game since.

Cowboys WRs: Jalen Tolbert grabbed 2-of-4 targets for 22 yards and a touchdown on Sunday.

It was his fourth touchdown of the season and his fourth straight game with fewer than 25 yards receiving.

He has still been on the field for 91.8% of the dropbacks with Rush, but outside of Lamb’s 25.9% target share, Tolbert is second on the team with only 11.6% of Rush’s throws.

KaVontae Turpin is next at 9.5% followed by Jalen Brooks (8.8%) and Jonathan Mingo (5.6%).

Turpin has 142 yards with Rush in the game, which is second on the team behind Lamb.

Dallas is also expected to get Brandin Cooks back on the field, further complicating this group.

The ancillary Dallas wideouts are only dart throws on the Thursday DFS slate.

Giants WRs: Darius Slayton did not catch a pass on Sunday, drawing two targets.

He was only on the field for 52.5% of the dropbacks, his lowest rate in a game this season.

It was likely due to the scoreboard, but Jalin Hyatt matched Slayton in routes and failed to draw a target.

Hyatt ran 18 of his 21 routes after halftime.

Outside of chasing a big play on the Thanksgiving slate, there is little to latch onto here.

Tight End

Dallas TE: With Dallas playing on a short week, we will tentatively enter the week expecting Jake Ferguson to be held out another week with a concussion he suffered in Week 11.

With Ferguson off the field, Luke Schoonmaker caught 3-of-4 targets for 55 yards and a touchdown.

Schoonmaker was only on the field for 58.8% of the dropbacks, but he maintained his high target rate when on the field.

He has been targeted on 21.9% of his routes this season with 1.46 yards per route.

That rate spikes to 23.8% with Ferguson off the field.

He has had games of 6-43-0, 6-56-0, and 3-55-1 in his three games where Ferguson has missed or left early.

Schoonmaker has undoubtedly had a near-perfect runout on his opportunities since he runs so few routes, but he is on the board as another option in Thursday's DFS slate.

I would be more cautious in seasonal leagues using him as a streamer with no byes.

Brevyn Spann-Ford was on the field for 47.1% of the dropbacks, catching two targets for 24 yards.

The Giants have allowed only 3.5 receptions per game to tight ends (second in the league) and 1 touchdown, but they have allowed 8.4 yards per target (24th) to the position.

Theo Johnson: If you are taking a shot on a passing game piece outside the core targets, Johnson has had target rates of 23.1%, 18.8%, and 20% over the past three games.

That has not resulted in output to move Johnson into reliable streaming status, but games 3-51-1, 4-37-0, and 3-39-0 put him on the radar for the Thursday slate as a cheaper-end option.

There is matchup appeal here as well.

Dallas has only allowed 3.7 receptions per game to tight ends (fourth) but has allowed 8.7 yards per target (27th) and a 10.9% touchdown rate (31st) to the position.

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