- Dallas Cowboys stars lead them to victory: Javonte Williams rushed for more than 150 yards, while CeeDee Lamb caught two touchdown passes, leading Dallas to a road win.
- The Philadelphia Eagles finish the game without their top five running backs: Tank Bigsby, Will Shipley, and Carson Steele are on injured reserve, while Saquon Barkley and Dameon Pierce couldn't finish the game.
- Makai Lemon steps up: The rookie receiver had the best game of his career as the Eagles played without DeVonta Smith and Dontayvion Wicks.
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Dallas Cowboys @ Philadelphia Eagles
Saquon Barkley plays a limited role due to a hamstring injury: Barkley returned to the lineup after missing back-to-back games.
The Eagles lost Barkley earlier in the season, and their running back depth quickly took a hit. Tank Bigsby and Will Shipley both landed on injured reserve, leaving Dameon Pierce as their top back. Carson Steele served as his backup before also landing on injured reserve. Jaydon Blue was another option on the roster, but Philadelphia waived him Tuesday before bringing him back to the practice squad Thursday. The Eagles also signed Elijah Mitchell to the practice squad Tuesday and activated him Monday. That left Philadelphia with Barkley, Pierce and Mitchell available for this game.
Barkley started and played five of the first six snaps, suggesting Philadelphia expected him to handle a significant role. Pierce took the next nine snaps, however, and served as the featured back for most of the remainder of the game. Barkley made occasional appearances, often getting the ball before heading back to the sideline. Cameras also caught him receiving attention from trainers and entering the blue medical tent several times throughout the game.
Early in the fourth quarter, Barkley was officially ruled questionable to return with a back injury. To make matters worse, Pierce also exited in the fourth quarter. He was able to walk off the field under his own power but headed to the locker room and never returned. Barkley put his helmet on as if preparing to reenter the game, but Philadelphia ultimately turned to Mitchell for the remainder of the contest.
Mitchell becomes a waiver wire target this week, as it's unclear how much time Pierce might miss. Given how this game unfolded, there's also no guarantee Barkley will be available. That could leave Mitchell as the Eagles‘ top back, and any starting running back is worth considering in fantasy football, especially with bye weeks still in play.
The Eagles adjust without their top two receivers: DeVonta Smith (hamstring) and Dontayvion Wicks (ankle) were unable to practice all week and were inactive.
The Eagles have used Smith and Wicks as their top two receivers, with first-round rookie Makai Lemon primarily playing in the slot. When either Smith or Wicks has been injured, Darius Cooper has stepped into an every-down role. This was the first time this season that both players were sidelined, forcing the Eagles to dig even deeper into their depth chart. Fortunately, Hollywood Brown returned to the lineup after missing four straight games with an ankle injury.
Unsurprisingly, Cooper was one of the team's top receivers. It was encouraging to see Lemon emerge as the other primary option, considering how rarely he had played in two-receiver sets before this week. That suggests there's at least a chance Lemon could become the Eagles‘ second receiver at some point this season. He still primarily lined up in the slot when Philadelphia used 11 personnel.
Brown typically lined up as the third receiver in 11 personnel, while Elijah Moore rotated in occasionally and served as the primary wide receiver in 13 personnel. Britain Covey was the only other receiver on the roster, but he suffered a knee injury on a special teams play early in the game. It's unclear whether he would have had a role on offense had he remained healthy.
Lemon delivered the best game of his career, catching seven passes for 67 yards and a touchdown. He probably shouldn't be a top waiver-wire priority, since several other rookie wide receivers have gotten off to better starts without needing injuries to earn additional playing time. However, if you're looking for help at wide receiver and miss out on the other top rookie options, Lemon is a solid consolation prize.
Eagles shake up their tight end room: Grant Calcaterra and Eli Stowers were activated from injured reserve and made their season debuts.
Philadelphia began the season with Dallas Goedert as its primary tight end in 11 personnel, with Johnny Mundt joining him in 12 personnel. Mundt occasionally took snaps from Goedert in 11 personnel, while Jenkins accounted for 29% of the snaps in 12 personnel that otherwise would have gone to Goedert. When Goedert missed two games, Zach Ertz became part of the rotation, but Ertz is now on the practice squad. Jenkins was waived Thursday to make room for Calcaterra and Stowers and landed on the Atlanta Falcons practice squad earlier today.
Calcaterra's return and Stowers' addition had little impact on Goedert's playing time. Calcaterra took over Jenkins' role as an occasional tight end in 12 personnel on running plays while also replacing Mundt as the backup in 11 personnel. Stowers played Philadelphia's first snap in 11 personnel, suggesting he could have a significant role, but he didn't see another snap until the second half.
The new tight end rotation shouldn't have any immediate fantasy implications. However, if the Eagles fall out of playoff contention, Stowers could begin cutting into Goedert's playing time. Stowers is viewed as the team's tight end of the future, while many expect this to be Goedert's final season in Philadelphia.
Jake Ferguson’s reduced role sticks: Ferguson’s playing time dropped significantly last week, and it stayed down this week.
Ferguson played 72% of snaps over the first five weeks, with 62% of the early-down snaps in 11 personnel, 96% on third downs and 75% of the 12 personnel snaps. Brevyn Spann-Ford has been the primary backup and the man joining Ferguson in 12 personnel, while Luke Schoonmaker mostly took the other 25% of Ferguson’s snaps in 12 personnel, as well as some snaps in 13 personnel.
Spann-Ford has graded notably better than Ferguson this season as both a receiver and blocker. This led Dallas to make a change last week. Ferguson and Spann-Ford split the early down 11 personnel snaps. Ferguson’s playing time on third downs dropped to 79%, and Luke Schoonmaker out-snapped Ferguson in 12 personnel. This week, the splits weren’t as extreme, in part because Ferguson played so much during the two-minute drill to end the first half. However, the rotation in this game more closely resembled last week than the first five.
Ferguson was held without a catch this week, while Spann-Ford caught both of his targets for 11 yards. Ferguson is a player to drop in any league where he is still rostered.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Dallas running back Emari Demercado was a healthy inactive for the second straight game.
- Javonte Williams rotated out slightly more often than usual. This was partly because Hunter Luepke saw more third-down work, but also because Williams broke off several strong runs, prompting Dallas to give him a breather after some of those plays.
- Cowboys wide receiver KaVontae Turpin didn't practice all week due to a rib injury and was ruled out Saturday. Jonathan Mingo stepped into his role as the fourth receiver, while the playing time of CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens and Ryan Flournoy was unaffected. Camden Brown was active for the first time in his NFL career but didn't see any playing time on offense.
- The Eagles made a change at backup quarterback, with Joe Milton active as the backup while Cole Payton was inactive as the emergency third quarterback. Those roles were reversed last week. Milton served as the Cowboys‘ backup last season and was on their practice squad before the Eagles signed him after Jalen Hurts was placed on injured reserve.
Table Notes
- Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, such as offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats exclude these plays.
- Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy is a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may credit the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
- Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.
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