The second full week of the Andy Dalton era for the Dallas Cowboys will take place in Washington against the Football Team.
Dalton’s first start with Dallas was largely a disaster as the Cowboys committed four turnovers in a 38-10 home loss to the Cardinals. Ezekiel Elliott lost two fumbles and found himself on the bench for a while as a result. He saved his PPR owners with eight catches. Dalton gave Elliott, Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb at least 10 targets each. The two wideouts each caught seven passes while Cooper got into the end zone. The Cowboys (2-4) are 7-1 in their last eight meetings with Washington. Their average margin of victory is 13.7 points.
The Football Team (1-5) lost to the Giants on Sunday, 20-19. QB Kyle Allen played his first full game under center for Washington and threw two touchdowns. Running back J.D. McKissic was a useful safety value as he caught six passes for the second consecutive week. Wideout Terry McLaurin is still stuck on one touchdown for the year, but he did see double-digit targets for the third time in six games, catching seven passes for 74 yards.
TV Info
Date: Sunday, Oct. 25
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
Channel: FOX
Broadcast map
Notable Statistical rankings (Football Outsiders)
Cowboys: #26 Overall — #24 offense, #28 defense, #25 special teams
Washington: #27 Overall — #30 offense, #7 defense, #23 special teams
DraftKings Sportsbook odds
Cowboys: +1, -107
Washington: -1, -107
Total: 47.5
Injury report
Cowboys
Coming Saturday
Washington
Coming Saturday
Fantasy football start/sit advice
Cowboys
Andy Dalton, QB, $6,000
Dalton is the 15th-most expensive QB on the slate, so while he may not be a fantastic bargain, he does allow you some cap space if you want to pay up elsewhere. Washington is among the top 10 in most DraftKings points allowed to quarterbacks on average. Dalton is going to make some mistakes as we saw Monday, but with the weapons at his disposal, he should return a serviceable box score.
Dalton Schultz, TE, $3,900
As with nearly every tight end in the game, Schultz is a hit-or-miss fantasy option. That’s just the nature of the position right now. But his matchup against the Football Team, who have the second-worst opponent rank against TEs, shouldn’t hold him back from having a productive afternoon. The Cowboys clearly want to play it safe with Dalton; Schultz was Dalton’s preferred option early in Monday’s game before the Cowboys needed to push the ball downfield in order to catch up. If positive game script allows, Schultz should see plenty of short passes head his way versus Washington.
Washington
J.D. McKissic, RB, $4,600
Washington is getting both McKissic and Antonio Gibson consistently involved as receivers, but McKissic out-snapped the rookie for the third time in four weeks and garnered more touches, 14-13. McKissic has caught 19 of 22 targets over the past three weeks and has reached double-digits fantasy points in each game. He is a high-floor, low-ceiling RB2 in PPR, even against a Dallas defense that is giving up just 20.6 receiving yards to RBs per game.
Terry McLaurin, WR, $5,800
Despite the turnover at quarterback in Washington, McLaurin remains heavily involved. He has seen at least seven targets in every game and has accrued double-digit fantasy points in all but one. As long as Allen can put the ball near him, McLaurin should feast against Dallas’ poor pass defense.