Cowboys vs. Saints Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 2

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 2 matchup between the Saints and Cowboys.

Find a breakdown of every Week 2 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Quarterback

Dak Prescott: Between a tough matchup on the road and a game script that allowed the Cowboys to coast, Prescott closed the opening week as QB17 (11.5 points).

He averaged just 5.6 yards per pass attempt, which would have been his second-lowest rate a year ago.

His 59.4% completion rate would have been his third-worst outing from a year ago.

While the matchup in Cleveland was tough, my one concern with Dak was slightly illuminated.

That is if this offense cannot get the ball successfully to CeeDee Lamb, how strong can the passing game be?

This is a thin pool of pass catchers that can break games after Lamb.

Now, this offense could potentially be without Jake Ferguson.

I am handling Prescott as a fringe QB1 in a game that could be a fistfight but also has the potential to be high-scoring.

The Saints should provide us with more of a sample in the challenging category.

After ranking 10th in passing points allowed per attempt in 2023 (0.371), New Orleans was second in that department in Week 1 (0.079).

This should also give us more information on the Saints’ defense since they will not be at home against Bryce Young.

They also could be without Marshon Lattimore, who suffered a hamstring injury in the season opener.

Lattimore has missed 278 dropbacks since the start of last season.

On those dropbacks, the Saints have allowed a 58.0% completion rate (2nd) but a 4.0% touchdown rate (18th).

At home last season, Prescott led the NFL with a 120.0 rating, completing a league-high 73.3% of his passes and a league-best 22 touchdown passes.

Derek Carr: Carr was excellent in Week 1, finishing as the QB6 (21.3 points).

All offseason we talked about how few “easy buttons” the 2023 New Orleans offense had in it with hopes Klint Kubiak would correct things.

For one game, we got what we were looking for.

Carr had the highest rate of dropbacks with motion and set a new high in play action rate since he joined the Saints.

36.0% of Carr’s dropbacks in Week 1 resulted in 1.0 EPA or more, the highest rate in the league.

We have seen far worse quarterbacks than Carr run this system efficiently, so there is a path for Carr to be a value option for those who grabbed him as their QB2 this summer.

It is more than in the range of outcomes for Carr to have a season comparable to what Jared Goff had a year ago.

I would be willing to continue to play Carr as a mid-range QB2 here because this game could end up shooting out.

That said, let’s see everything right that the Saints did in Week 1 at home against a listless Carolina defense carryover on the road against a Dallas defense that was still plenty strong in Week 1.

The Cowboys were third in the NFL in pressure rate in Week 1 (41.2%) after leading the league in 2023.

Dallas generated pressure on 43.6% of their snaps without blitzing, third in the league in Week 1.

Carr was pressured on a league-low 12.0% of his dropbacks in Week 1.

Part of that is Kubiak (see Mike McDaniel and the Miami OL), but Carr was sensitive to pressure a year ago.

Under pressure last season, Carr completed 49.0% of his passes (20th)) compared to a 75.3% completion rate (4th) when kept clean.

Kubiak was with the 49ers a year ago when we had similar concerns for Brock Purdy, and they carved the Cowboys.

If he can do the same for Carr here, we will have a lot more faith in Carr as someone who can be started regularly in 1QB leagues.

Running Back

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