The Report: Game-by-Game Breakdown for Week 4

Patience is a virtue, especially in fantasy football. It’s easy to get caught up in the rapid pace of an NFL week and forget the big picture, but don’t fall prey to that line of thinking. If a player has a bad game, oh well. It happens. One game can be a fluke, and we shouldn’t hold that against a player who we did seven months of evaluation on before the season started. Patient managers realize that you have to sit on some players through this first month of the season and trust your evaluations.

Of course, part of the process of being patient is knowing what the stats are telling us, and what we should expect each week. So, let’s dive into what you need to know for all the games on the Week 4 NFL slate.

Each week in The Report, I’m going to go through every game and give you the information you need to make the most informed decisions possible for your fantasy football rosters. I’ll provide some key about matchups, trends and anything else we need to know about each contest.

Note: The Report will be updated as I finish writing up each game, so be sure to check back throughout the end of the week. Games will be periodically added until Friday afternoons.

Dallas @ NY Giants

Dak Prescott has been one of the NFL’s most prolific passers since 2023, tying for the most games with 300 or more passing yards at six. He’s coming off his first top-five fantasy finish of the season, though he faces a mid-pack matchup against the Giants. However, New York allowed two passing scores to Sam Darnold in Week 1 and Deshaun Watson last week. Prescott is a mid-range QB1 play.

Despite ranking second in the league in receiving yards per game since the start of last season (98.4), CeeDee Lamb really hasn’t gotten going yet this season outside of his long Week 2 touchdown. However, he should see plenty of attention from Deonte Banks, who allowed two scores to Amari Cooper last week.

Ezekiel Elliott has owned the Giants over his career, rushing for a touchdown in six of his last seven games against them. Unfortunately, Elliott isn’t the player he used to be. He’s looked sluggish out of the gate and last week was outsnapped by Rico Dowdle 32-14. At this point, it’s tough to even roster Elliott. Meanwhile, Dowdle isn’t startable as anything more than a flex play, though that could change if he manages to put some quality stat lines on the board.

Daniel Jones is coming off a strong performance, completing 24 of 34 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns. For the first time in his career, Jones has recorded back-to-back games with two or more passing touchdowns and no interceptions. His clean performances have moved him into streamer territory in 1QB leagues.

The Giants’ backfield has primarily featured Devin Singletary, who led the team with 20 touches in their recent game, followed by Tyrone Tracy with seven and Eric Gray with one. Singletary has rushed for touchdowns in back-to-back games. No Giants player has rushed for touchdowns in three consecutive games since Wayne Gallman in 2020. He currently leads the NFL in tackles avoided with 21, although he also has the most fumbles lost (2) among running backs this season. With how running backs have fared against the Cowboys this season, Singletary is in the RB2 conversation.

Malik Nabers enters the week leading the NFL in targets this season with 37. Last week, he made history by becoming the youngest wide receiver in NFL history to record two receiving touchdowns in a single game at just 21 years and 56 days old. Nabers’ rapid rise continues, as he now holds the second-most targets through a player’s first three career games since 2000, trailing only 2023 rookie sensation Puka Nacua, who had 42 targets in his first three games. Nabers figures to see plenty of Trevon Diggs this week, but don’t overthink this one.