Fantasy Football Preview Week 3: Dallas Cowboys at Houston Texans
Dallas Cowboys (0-2) at Houston Texans (2-0)
Sunday, September 26th, 2010
1:00 p.m. EST kickoff
Current line: Houston by 4
The Texans are off to their best start in franchise history while the Cowboys have not lived up to their preseason expectations. Can Tony Romo and the Cowboys turn it around, or will Andre Johnson and the Texans continue their quest for the playoffs?
Onto the fantasy predictions...
View All of My Week 3 Fantasy Game Predictions:
- Fantasy Football Preview Week 3: Philadelphia Eagles at Jacksonville Jaguars
- Fantasy Football Preview Week 3: Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints
- Fantasy Football Preview Week 3: Pittsburgh Steelers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Fantasy Football Preview Week 3: Dallas Cowboys at Houston Texans
- Fantasy Football Preview Week 3: Cincinnati Bengals at Carolina Panthers
Dallas Cowboys: Passing Game
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A pick by many top experts to play at home as the NFC’s representative in the Super Bowl, the Dallas Cowboys are now 0-2 and fighting to keep their season alive. There has been poor play across the board, but it won’t be long before the media does what it does every season and starts blaming quarterback Tony Romo.
Romo, who has thrown just two touchdown passes so far this season, is struggling with a career-low quarterback rating of just 83.5. Prior to this season, his career low quarterback rating was 91.4. He still has time to turn that number around, but he will need receivers outside of Miles Austin to step up their game.
Though Romo is currently second in the NFL in passing yardage, he hasn’t connected particularly well with any receiver other than Austin.
Jason Witten, the team’s leading pass-catcher in each of the past three seasons running, has just eight catches for 78 yards, and has not scored. Meanwhile, rookie Dez Bryant and veteran Roy Williams have also failed to reach the end zone in the passing game.
With Romo having so many yards passing, the Cowboys need to start putting it together near the end zone.
The medicine for the struggling Dallas passing game, however, may be the Houston Texans defense. Currently ranked last in the entire league in pass defense by nearly 100 yards and having yet to force an interception, Houston cannot be excited to have to stop a quarterback like Romo.
Opposing quarterbacks currently have a combined 113.4 rating against the Texans and Romo has a good chance of making that even worse.
Dallas Cowboys: Running Game
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Following a season in which the Cowboys ran the ball at a pace of over 130 yards per game, the wheels have fallen off. Now rushing at nearly half that amount at 69.5 yards per game, the Cowboys’ running game has gone from something to fear to something to ignore.
Running backs Marion Barber, Felix Jones, and Tashard Choice have all struggled to run the ball, with none of them having cracked even 75 yards rushing through the first two games with zero touchdowns. It’s hard to decide exactly what the problem is, but the offensive line play and even the playcalling are partially to blame for the anemic running game.
If the Cowboys expect to get back in the win column, they are going to have to start moving the ball not only through the air, but also on the ground. This is particularly important in the red zone, where the Cowboys have been extremely lackluster.
Look for a better ratio of run-to-pass in the upcoming weeks, but in Week 3's contest against the Texans, it is very likely that the Cowboys will attack the Texans’ weak point and continue to lean on their passing game.
Dallas Cowboys: Fantasy Projections
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Tony Romo – 365 yards passing / 2 TD / 0 INT
Marion Barber – 40 yards rushing / 1 TD
Felix Jones – 20 yards rushing / 0 TD / 30 yards receiving
Tashard Choice – 15 yards rushing / 0 TD / 5 yards receiving
Miles Austin – 145 yards receiving / 1 TD
Dez Bryant – 75 yards receiving / 1 TD
Roy Williams – 40 yards receiving / 0 TD
Jason Witten – 30 yards receiving / 0 TD
Martellus Bennett – 25 yards receiving / 0 TD
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Houston Texans: Passing Game
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Matt Schaub and the Houston Texans passing game took a week off in Week 1's game against the Colts as the emergence of Arian Foster happened, but that didn’t last long. Schaub got back on track, throwing for 497 yards and three touchdowns in Week 2's win over the Washington Redskins.
Schaub, who led the entire league in passing yardage in 2009, remains an elite fantasy quarterback in 2010 and his confidence is only getting higher and higher with each Texans win.
A confident, healthy, talented Matt Schaub can spell trouble for opposing defenses—especially ones like the Cowboys’, who haven’t forced an interception yet this season and had just 11 throughout the entire 2009 season.
Perhaps the league’s best wide receiver, Andre Johnson has continued to prove why he was the top receiver selected in most fantasy drafts. After a disappointing first week to the season, largely due to the Texans’ lack of a need to pass, Johnson destroyed the Redskins defense with 12 catches for 158 yards and his first touchdown of the year in Week 2.
Aside him were receivers Jacoby Jones who caught six passes for 53 yards, and Kevin Walter who caught 11 passes for 144 yards—both players also scored a touchdown.
There is no doubt that the Houston Texans’ passing game is as good as ever, and the Cowboys’ secondary doesn’t appear to be a matchup that would knock them off course.
Currently ranked 18th in the league, Dallas will need to get constant pressure on Schaub in order to have a chance at stopping this high-powered aerial assault.
Neither cornerback Terence Newman nor Michael Jenkins has the ability to cover Andre Johnson one-on-one, so look for the Cowboys to drop additional coverage his way on as many plays as possible.
This could lead for additional opportunities for Jacoby Jones, Kevin Walter, or even tight end Owen Daniels who is still getting his legs back under him after season-ending surgery in 2009.
Houston Texans: Running Game
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An unbelievable Week 1 performance from Texans running back Arian Foster had the fantasy world buzzing. With 33 carries, Foster ran over and through the defending AFC champion Indianapolis Colts’ defense for 231 yards and three touchdowns as the Houston Texans got just their second win in franchise history over their division rival.
But Week 2 told a different story—though Foster still ran fairly well, the Washington Redskins defense keyed in on stopping him, holding him to just 69 yards on 12 rushes, and kept him out of the end zone for the entirety of the game.
Though he still leads the NFL in rushing yardage at this point in the season, one has to wonder how many carries he’s going to get on a week-in, week-out basis, so long as the Texans remain a pass-heavy offense led by quarterback Matt Schaub and receiver Andre Johnson. Foster has contributed some in the passing game, but his skill set is best used primarily as a runner and in pass-protection.
The Cowboys’ run defense, currently ranked sixth in the league at just 63.5 yards per game, has allowed opposing running backs an average of just 3.0 yards per carry and they have not allowed a touchdown on the ground yet this season.
Dallas has also done an excellent job limiting big plays on the ground, with the longest rush against them thus far being only an 18-yard rush by Clinton Portis in Week 1. A run defense led by Pro Bowl nose tackle Jay Ratliff, the Cowboys also ranked fourth in the league in rush defense in 2009.
The Cowboys will need to do everything in their power to contain the passing game, so there should be holes for Arian Foster to break through—it’s just a matter of if he can find them, and if he gets the ball enough to exploit them.
Houston Texans: Fantasy Projections
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Matt Schaub – 335 yards passing / 3 TD / 1 INT / 15 yards rushing
Arian Foster – 75 yards rushing / 0 TD / 30 yards receiving
Andre Johnson – 140 yards receiving / 1 TD
Kevin Walter – 60 yards receiving / 0 TD
Jacoby Jones – 55 yards receiving / 1 TD
Owen Daniels – 40 yards receiving / 0 TD
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