Recapping the fantasy impact of Cowboys 33-10 win against Panthers

The Dallas Cowboys continue their winning ways. Heavily favored to beat the Carolina Panthers , the Cowboys took care of business in Charlotte and soundly beat the lowly Panthers. The Panthers put up a decent fight through most of three quarters before the Cowboys pulled away late.

The talent disparity between the Dallas defense and Panthers offense was evident as the Cowboys swarmed Panthers rookie signal-caller Bryce Young. The offense was vastly less productive than last week, yet serviceable for some of the Cowboys rostered on your fantasy team. The Dallas Cowboys won, and hopefully, your fantasy team fared as well.

Here is your fantasy recap of Sunday’s game.

QB, Dak Prescott – 20 fantasy points on Yahoo As a whole, the Cowboys’ offense saw a downturn in its potency. One factor is that Carolina yielded a lot of penalty yardage (eight penalties for 90 yards) that took yards away from the offense. The Cowboys’ offensive approach was intentionally conservative. Prescott attempted only 11 passes over 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage and completed just six. Luckily, two of those completions were for touchdowns, but overall, the Cowboys were content with getting the ball out quickly and not being as aggressive.

Prescott’s 189 yards versus Carolina is his third-lowest passing yard total this season. Prescott’s two red zone passing touchdowns salvaged a lack of explosive plays, but Dak also didn’t contribute much as a runner. Prescott could be back among the top QB finishes in Week 12 with the Washington Commanders on Thanksgiving.

RB, Tony Pollard – 17 fantasy points on Yahoo In a favorable fantasy matchup, Tony Pollard didn’t have an eruption against the Panthers, but he did what was expected. He had 17 fantasy points, which exceeded his projection of 14. In total, Pollard had 80 yards from scrimmage. That is the most he has had in six weeks. An added positive is that Pollard got more involved in the passing game, catching four of his five targets. The highlight of Pollard’s day was his 22-yard rushing touchdown.

This TD run by Tony Pollard

: FOX pic.twitter.com/zukxBuexpL

— FOX Sports: NFL November 19, 2023 When assessing Pollard’s game, it’s important to note that aside from the game script, his workload is intact. Pollard continues to see a prominent role in the red zone, which will likely remain the same as the Cowboys insist on making things work with Pollard on that end of the field. Rico Dowdle did have eight carries versus Pollard’s 12 carries, but some of those came after the game was all but decided. You’ll take a double-digit game from Pollard. However, it may be time to reassess Pollard’s fantasy ceiling.

WR, CeeDee Lamb – 15 fantasy points on Yahoo, Brandin Cooks – 7 fantasy points on Yahoo The good news is that Dak Prescott spread the ball around and completed a pass to eight different receivers. The bad news is that Prescott didn’t make Brandin Cooks or CeeDee Lamb a focal point of the offense. Per usual, Brandin Cooks was efficient with his targets and caught three of four of them for 42 yards.

CeeDee Lamb was given a few more chances than Cooks. He was targeted nine times and caught six passes but gained only 38 yards. As stated, penalties from Carolina took points off the fantasy stat sheet, and nobody was affected more than CeeDee Lamb. Lamb was interfered with by cornerback Donte Jackson on an unofficial deep pass attempt that resulted in a penalty and could have been a significant gain down the field. Again, a restrictive game plan that handcuffed the deep passing attack hindered CeeDee Lamb and left much to be desired on the fantasy scoreboard.

TE, Jake Ferguson – 6 fantasy points on Yahoo The touchdown streak for Jake Ferguson has ended. The key to Ferguson’s underwhelming output was a need for more chances in the red zone. Playerprofiler.com had Ferguson among the most targeted tight ends in the red zone. That trend did not continue Sunday, as he got zero targets in the red zone, yielding those chances to another tight end.

On an identical route that Ferguson scored down the seam against the Los Angeles Rams , Dak Prescott and Ferguson’s tight end counterpart, Luke Schoonmaker, hooked up for an 18-yard touchdown. It wasn’t all bad for Ferguson. He flashed his downfield potential with a 24-yard connection with Prescott. However, outside of that, it was all she wrote for Ferguson on Sunday. It’s important to avoid overreacting to this game from Ferguson since Carolina allows the third-fewest fantasy points to tight ends, and this was a very challenging matchup for both Schoonmaker and Ferguson.

DEF/ST – 34 fantasy points on Yahoo The star of your fantasy roster is easily the Dallas Cowboys’ defense. Though they gave up some yards on the ground to Chuba Hubbard and Miles Sanders, Carolina was no match for Dallas’ defense. Bryce Young faced a daunting task against the defense, and they made him look like every bit the rookie he is. The Cowboys got to Young for seven sacks, including 2.5 from Micah Parsons.

Per Seth Walder, Parsons had a 40% pass rush win rate versus the Panthers and blew past the offensive line. The Cowboys’ defense found its way into the end zone for another week. Cornerback DaRon Bland recorded his sixth interception and fourth pick-six of the season. For added context, the Dallas defense is the third-highest scoring defense in fantasy.