Ezekiel Elliott has been the best fantasy football asset out of Dallas, currently sitting at RB3 on the season. With Elliott questionable with a back injury, what should we expect from this offense in Week 6?
The Dallas Cowboys are proving not to be what we thought they would at the beginning of the season, at least not for fantasy purposes. Yes, they’re 4-1. Yes, they’re atop the NFC East by two games only five weeks into the season. While the Cowboys are looking like a good football team, they aren’t looking like the high-flying fantasy football juggernaut that we expected.
Is Ezekiel Elliott going to play in Week 6?
Right now, it looks like he will. Elliott was able to practice in a limited capacity all week, and all reports say that he should be good to go against the New England Patriots. That said, back injuries aren’t to be taken lightly.
If he does play, I’d expect Dallas to treat this game with closer to an even split in backfield touches between Elliott and Tony Pollard, who has been solid in his own right. Pollard leads all running backs with a minimum of 50 carries with 6.4 yards per carry. Between Weeks 2-5, Pollard has averaged 14 touches per game.
New England hasn’t been a favorable matchup for running backs, however. While they’ve been middle of the road in rushing yards surrendered — allowing opposing teams to run for 111.0 yards per game — they’ve held opponents to just 3 total rushing touchdowns on the year. For fantasy purposes, they’re allowing only 15.0 fantasy points per game to the running back position, ninth-best in the NFL.
If Elliott does play, it doesn’t appear to be a great matchup for him. If he doesn’t play, then Pollard becomes an RB2 for Week 6.
The Cowboys running game might not be asked to do much on Sunday
Something of note that most people didn’t expect — the Cowboys’ defense has been shockingly good this year, highlighted by cornerback Trevon Diggs and his league-leading 6 interceptions. It’s been a “bend but don’t break” sort of approach for Dallas, as they’ve given up the most passing yards per game at 311. Yet, they’ve held opposing offenses to only 79.4 rushing yards per game, fifth-best in the NFL.
Rookie quarterback Mac Jones has thrown 5 interceptions in the last three weeks. If the Cowboys’ defense can force Jones into turning the ball over, they might be content to lean on their defense after their elite receiving corps gets points on the board early in this one.
CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper will continue to do what they do (which is be very good at football), and the emergence of tight end Dalton Schultz, the TE4 through five weeks, will give Dallas all the firepower they’ll need. This is an offense that averages the second-most points per game (34.0) behind only the Buffalo Bills.
Typically, positive game scripts equal more opportunities for running backs. Still, in a split backfield against a stout rush defense, I don’t expect there to be many opportunities for Elliott to post his top-end RB1 numbers. If he plays, you play him, but the ceiling might not be there in this one.