The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 4 matchup between the Cowboys and Packers on Sunday Night Football.
Find a breakdown of every Week 4 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| Green Bay | Rank | @ | Dallas | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -7.0 | Spread | 7.0 | ||
| 27.25 | Implied Total | 20.25 | ||
| 21.3 | 18 | Points/Gm | 24.7 | 10 |
| 14.7 | 1 | Points All./Gm | 30.7 | 27 |
| 57.0 | 25 | Plays/Gm | 68.7 | 1 |
| 62.3 | 22 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 61.3 | 19 |
| 5.5 | 11 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.7 | 7 |
| 3.8 | 1 | Def. Yards/Play | 6.5 | 31 |
| 50.29% | 4 | Rush% | 33.98% | 30 |
| 49.71% | 29 | Pass% | 66.02% | 3 |
| 32.09% | 2 | Opp. Rush % | 47.83% | 27 |
| 67.91% | 31 | Opp. Pass % | 52.17% | 6 |
- The Packers have led for a league-high 72.5% of their offensive plays.
- Dallas has led for 4.9% of their offensive snaps, 29th in the league.
- Dallas ranks 31st in defensive EPA (-40.3) through three games, ahead of only the Dolphins (-40.7).
- Dallas is allowing 3.07 points per drive, 31st in the league.
- The Packers have allowed 1.47 points per drive, third in the league.
- Green Bay is the only remaining team that has not allowed a touchdown in the first half this season.
- The Packers have allowed two passing plays of 20 or more yards, the fewest in the league.
- 56.9% of Green Bay's sets of downs have reached third down, 30th in the league and ahead of only the Titans (58.1%) and Browns (61%).
- The Packers have converted 47.5% of their third downs, second in the league.
- The Cowboys have allowed opponents to convert 53.7% (22 of 41) of their third downs, the highest rate in the league.
- Green Bay running backs have a run of 10 or more yards on 4.5% of their attempts, ahead of only the Bengals (3.6%) and Panthers (1.6%).
Trust = spike production for that player
Quarterback
Jordan Love (TRUST): Love ran into a tough matchup in Cleveland last week and did not make it through for fantasy purposes.
He ended last week as the QB26 (11.1 points).
Love was pressured on 45.2% of his dropbacks, going 4 of 9 for only 17 yards (1.9 yards per attempt) on those snaps.
When he was kept clean, Love was effective, going 14 of 16 for 166 yards (10.4 Y/A).
That should be the case this weekend.
The Cowboys are 26th in pressure rate (29.6%).
When the Cowboys have not gotten pressure on the opposing quarterback, they have allowed a perfect 158.3 rating, allowing those passers to complete 32 of 41 (78%) throws for 589 yards (14.4 Y/A) and 5 touchdowns.
The Cowboys are allowing a league-high 20.7 passing points per game.
They have allowed a top-eight scorer in each week to Jalen Hurts (24.3 points), Russell Wilson (30.3 points), and Caleb Williams (29.1 points).
Dak Prescott: Sunday did not go as planned for Prescott.
Things fell apart for him in a great-looking matchup entering the week.
Prescott did complete 31 of 40 passes on Sunday, but he only managed 6.3 yards per pass attempt while throwing 2 interceptions.
The Cowboys lost CeeDee Lamb six snaps into the game.
Lamb will miss at least the next two weeks with an ankle injury.
Over the past three years, Prescott has averaged 5.7 yards per pass attempt with Lamb off the field.
They entered the week with center Cooper Beebe on injured reserve.
Now, they will be without first-round guard Tyler Booker for four to six weeks with an ankle injury.
That is no bueno entering this matchup.
The Packers are fifth in the league in pressure rate (45%).
With Micah Parsons on the field, it is 47.1%.
With Parsons on the field, the Packers have allowed a 59.0% completion rate, only 4.4 yards per pass attempt, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions (63.0 rating).
With Parsons off the field, they have allowed passers to connect on 30 of 39 attempts (76.9%) for 5.8 Y/A (still good) with 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions (107.4 rating).
Without Lamb, two offensive linemen, and one of the most challenging early-season matchups, Prescott is a back-end QB2.
Running Back
Josh Jacobs: Jacobs ran into a stout Cleveland run defense last week, and it showed, with him rushing 16 times for 30 yards (1.9 YPC).
Despite the low-level rushing efficiency, Jacobs found a way to contribute in the passing game, catching 5 of 9 targets for 44 yards.
Jacobs has not found much room to run to open the season, rushing for fewer than 4.0 yards per carry in all three games.
His 36.2% success rate ranks 28th among backs with 20 or more runs this season, while he has rushed for 10 or more yards on 5.2% of his attempts (31st).
To be fair to Jacobs, he has played three teams that have stopped the run in all of their games to open the year, not just him.
He also has worked behind a banged-up offensive line.
The Packers did get both Aaron Banks and Zach Tom back last week, but they didn't stay on the field for long.
Tom only played one snap before exiting, while Banks played 46% of the snaps before he left the game.
We will follow their status this week for Sunday night.
The good news is that Jacobs has sustained a high workload, handling 20 or more touches in all three games.
This implied game environment should bolster another high workload and provide scoring opportunities for Jacobs as a volume-based RB1.
For as poorly as Dallas has performed in defending the pass to start the year, they have played the run well.
They have allowed 3.5 YPC to running backs (8th) and 10.9 rushing points per game (13th) to opposing backfields.
They have been more vulnerable to backs through the air, allowing 8.9 receiving points per game (21st), so it would be great to see Jacobs' Week 3 passing usage roll over another week.
Javonte Williams: Williams turned 15 touches into 92 yards on Sunday.
He rushed 10 times for 76 yards, catching all 5 of his targets for 16 yards.
He did lose a fumble, while he conceded more backfield work than he had to open the year.
After handling 77.3% and 77.4% of the backfield touches to open the year, Williams accounted for 55.6% on Sunday.
A significant amount of that work occurred in the second half as Dallas trailed.
Williams played 71.9% of the snaps and had 11 of 15 backfield touches in the first half.
He then played 51.4% of the snaps in the second half, getting out touched 8 to 4 by Miles Sanders.
The issue with that is that this is another spot where the Cowboys are expected to play catch up.
Dallas has played three teams that have struggled to stop the run outside of their matchup.
Green Bay has been sturdy against the run to open the season, allowing 3.4 YPC to running backs (6th).
If Williams can make a dent as a back-end RB2 this week, it will be in the passing game.
The Packers are 22nd in receiving points allowed (9.2 per game) to running backs.
Wide Receiver
George Pickens: Pickens replicated his Week 2 stat line on Sunday, catching 5 of 9 targets for 68 yards and a touchdown.
He did have a costly drop that resulted in an interception.
With Lamb sidelined, Pickens will be elevated into a larger role.
With Lamb off the field on Sunday, Pickens was targeted on 24.3% of his routes.
His rates to open the season were 12.1% in Week 1 and 16.4% in Week 2.
Pushed to a leading role, Pickens is a WR2, but we are dinging him towards the WR2/WR3 line based on the matchup.
The Packers have melted receivers to open the year.
They have allowed a league-low 5.1 yards per target to receivers.
On deep targets to wide receivers (20 or more yards downfield), the Packers have allowed 0 receptions on 9 targets.
Packers WRs: In the first game after the injury to Jayden Reed, the Packers operated with Romeo Doubs and Matthew Golden as their primary receivers, with Dontayvion Wicks picking up the work Reed left behind.
As expected, Doubs was on the field for a team-high 93.5% of the dropbacks, catching both of his targets for 25 yards.
Golden did not light up the box score in a tough matchup (4-52-0), but it was his best game of his rookie season while his playing time was extended.
After running a route on 56.5% and 67.6% of the dropbacks in Week 1 and Week 2, Golden was on the field for 83.9% last weekend.
Wicks was on the field for 67.7% of the dropbacks (2-21-0), playing 75% of his snaps in the slot. Essentially, the same role Reed had.
This is a smoke ‘em if you got ‘em layout for these wide receivers.
Coming out of last weekend's stingy matchup, things flip to the other end of the spectrum here.
Overall, Dallas is allowing a league-high 2.71 fantasy points per target to receivers.
Doubs is a touchdown-based WR3/FLEX.
Wicks is a floor-based FLEX in full-PPR formats.
The most exciting player in this specific matchup is Golden due to his downfield ability.
Based on his usage spike last week, Golden is a matchup-based and upside WR3.
This could be his breakout game.
Dallas has been incredibly poor at defending vertical targets against wide receivers.
On throws 20 or more yards downfield to wideouts, Dallas has allowed 11 receptions on 15 targets (73.3%).
The next closest team has allowed 6 of those receptions.
The league completion rate on those throws is 37.2%.
They have also allowed 5 touchdowns on those throws.
The next closest team has allowed 2.
Cowboys WRs: With CeeDee Lamb sidelined, KaVontae Turpin and Jalen Tolbert will get larger roles.
With Lamb off the field last week, Tolbert was on the field for 88.6% of the dropbacks (3-24-0 on six targets) while Turpin was on the field for 75% (2-64-0 on 3 targets).
Due to the matchup notes listed earlier, both of these are only options for deep formats and single-game DFS.
Tight End
Tucker Kraft (TRUST): Kraft gave us a scare with a late-week knee injury in practice, but he was able to get on the field on Sunday without any real restrictions outside of the matchup.
Kraft was on the field for 74.2% of the dropbacks after rates of 78.3% and 82.4% to open the year.
He only had 3 catches for 29 yards, but the passing game as a whole did not find much success.
That should change this week.
Dallas has been a zone-heavy defense, playing Cover 2 at the third-highest rate (23.9%) and Cover 3 at the fifth-highest rate (46.2%).
It is still only a three-game sample, but Kraft leads the team in targets against those coverages with 3.10 yards per route run.
Dallas has allowed an 82.4% catch rate to tight ends (29th) while not facing a tight end target in Kraft’s class to open the season.
Jake Ferguson: Ferguson has seen 12 (9-78-0) and 14 targets (13-82-0) come in his direction the past two weeks.
Ferguson is only averaging 6.8 yards per catch to open the year, but full-PPR and TE-Premium gamers are living their best lives with Ferguson right now.
If there is one Dallas pass catcher who has some matchup appeal, it is Ferguson.
We expect the ball to come out quickly again here due to the Green Bay pass rush.
Ferguson has been targeted on 27.3% of his routes when Prescott has been pressured.
While the Packers have nuked opposing wide receivers, they have allowed tight ends to catch 21 of 29 targets (72.4%) for 215 yards and a touchdown.
A tight end has led the team in receiving all three weeks against the Packers.
The ceiling may be limited by his low yards per catch and not getting into the end zone, but Ferguson is a volume-based TE1 with a greater lift in those PPR and TE-Premium formats.
More Week 4 Fantasy Breakdowns From The Worksheet:
| Matchup | Time |
|---|---|
| Seahawks @ Cardinals | Thursday Night Football |
| Vikings vs. Steelers | Sunday -- 9:30 a.m. ET |
| Commanders @ Falcons | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Saints @ Bills | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Browns @ Lions | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Panthers @ Patriots | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Chargers @ Giants | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Eagles @ Bucs | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Titans @ Texans | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Colts @ Rams | Sunday -- 4:05 p.m. ET |
| Jaguars @ 49ers | Sunday -- 4:05 p.m. ET |
| Ravens @ Chiefs | Sunday -- 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Bears @ Raiders | Sunday -- 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Packers @ Cowboys | Sunday Night Football |
| Jets @ Dolphins | Monday Night Football |
| Bengals @ Broncos | Monday Night Football |