NFL Week 1 Fantasy Football Game Recap: Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Giants

• Tony Pollard: 14 carries, 70 yards, 2 touchdowns; 2 receptions, 12 receiving yards

• CeeDee Lamb: 4 receptions, 77 receiving yards

Tony Pollard dominates snaps for Dallas: Pollard lived up to expectations as the clear starter without Ezekiel Elliott.

• Pollard played 32 of a possible 43 snaps over the first three quarters, only losing a few snaps to Rico Dowdle and Hunter Luepke. 
• He was the only running back to play a snap in the first quarter but slowly started losing snaps over the rest of the game while Dallas continued to grow a lead.
• Pollard had played over 65% of offensive snaps just twice in his career, and they were both in close games where Dallas needed its top player to play significant snaps.
• It’s certainly possible Dallas will rely even more on Pollard when they need to.
• This was a great start towards Pollard potentially being a top-five fantasy running back this season.

Jake Ferguson leads Dallas in targets: Ferguson was targeted seven times but caught only two passes for 11 yards.

• His usage wasn’t quite as high as many anticipated coming into the season.
• Peyton Hendershot took significant snaps out of 11 personnel, and when Hendershot was on the field, Dallas often threw the ball. When Ferguson was on the field it was more of a mix.
• This meant Ferguson wasn’t on the field for roughly half of the Cowboys' passing plays.
• This kind of player usage is likely to continue, while Ferguson’s ridiculously high target rate will likely decline.
• Rookie Luke Schoonmaker was the third tight end this game. He is coming off of injury and could see more playing time as the season progresses.
• There is certainly a chance Ferguson can break out this season and earn those snaps over Hendershot, but this was not as good of a start as the seven-target game might look like.

Darren Waller is limited due to injury: Waller was limited in practice on Friday with a hamstring injury and was questionable heading into this game.

• Waller played in 33-of-37 offensive snaps in the first half as the Giants mostly in 12 personnel.
• The Giants stopped using him as much in the third quarter when New York was down 26-0. Waller played only five of a possible 16 snaps in the third quarter and was done playing by the fourth quarter.
• Waller was still Daniel Jones’ favorite target despite the injury, and he caught three of his five targets for 36 yards.
• The yardage total and targets both led the team.
• Waller should be fine by next week, but hopefully, the Giants’ offense as a whole is playing a lot better.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Cowboys rookie running back Deuce Vaughn only began playing in the fourth quarter when the game was already decided.
• The Giants wide receiver rotation went exactly as expected. Isaiah Hodgins and Darius Slayton were the starters, Parris Campbell was the slot receiver and Jalin Hyatt and Sterling Shepard both rotated in as backups.

Table Notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.

• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give 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.