This article is part of our NFL Reactions series.
Dak Prescott finally threw an interception, but he also completed two-thirds of his pass attempts and had three touchdowns in a win over the Packers, improving the Cowboys to 5-1, including 3-0 on the road. The 'Boys have won five consecutive games since losing Week 1 to the Giants, and they haven't had top wideout Dez Bryant since Week 3. Prescott set the record for the most passes to start a career without an interception, passing Tom Brady's mark of 162, before his 177th pass was finally picked off. The return of Dez Bryant, which was apparently close to happening Sunday, will only make the Cowboys' offense even stronger, and it also gives the team little reason to immediately insert Tony Romo back under center when he's healthy. There is already talk that the Cowboys are going to wait until Romo is 100 percent healthy before making a decision, which certainly gives them an easy way to keep rolling with Prescott. Unfortunately for fantasy owners, Prescott and the Cowboys are off in Week 7, so they won't be able to keep utilizing him until Week 8 against the Eagles.
Speaking of strong Cowboys rookies, running back Ezekiel Elliott had another monster game, rushing 28 times for a career-high 157 yards, his fourth consecutive game with at least 130. Elliott continues to show that the Cowboys made a great decision when they picked him fourth overall in this year's draft, as he's scored at least one touchdown in four
Dak Prescott finally threw an interception, but he also completed two-thirds of his pass attempts and had three touchdowns in a win over the Packers, improving the Cowboys to 5-1, including 3-0 on the road. The 'Boys have won five consecutive games since losing Week 1 to the Giants, and they haven't had top wideout Dez Bryant since Week 3. Prescott set the record for the most passes to start a career without an interception, passing Tom Brady's mark of 162, before his 177th pass was finally picked off. The return of Dez Bryant, which was apparently close to happening Sunday, will only make the Cowboys' offense even stronger, and it also gives the team little reason to immediately insert Tony Romo back under center when he's healthy. There is already talk that the Cowboys are going to wait until Romo is 100 percent healthy before making a decision, which certainly gives them an easy way to keep rolling with Prescott. Unfortunately for fantasy owners, Prescott and the Cowboys are off in Week 7, so they won't be able to keep utilizing him until Week 8 against the Eagles.
Speaking of strong Cowboys rookies, running back Ezekiel Elliott had another monster game, rushing 28 times for a career-high 157 yards, his fourth consecutive game with at least 130. Elliott continues to show that the Cowboys made a great decision when they picked him fourth overall in this year's draft, as he's scored at least one touchdown in four of six games in addition to his impressive yardage totals. He may not be catching a ton of passes, but he's getting more than enough touches to make a major fantasy impact. In fact, he has the second-most rushing yards in the first six games of a career, trailing only Eric Dickerson's 787 in 1983 (he went on to rush for 1,808 yards and 18 touchdowns on a ridiculous 390 carries; oh, and he also caught 51 balls for 404 receiving yards and two TDs). Unfortunately, as with Prescott, fantasy owners will have a big void to fill in Week 7.
That won't be the case for those who have LeSean McCoy, who was absolutely dominant Sunday against the 49ers, rushing 19 times for 140 yards and three touchdowns. McCoy has flourished under new offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn, topping 100 total yards in four straight games while scoring six touchdowns. Amazingly, McCoy has rushed for 110, 70, 150 and 140 yards the last four weeks, but he hasn't reached 20 carries in any game over that span. Up next is a Week 7 matchup against the Dolphins, who had allowed the most rushing yards this season heading into this weekend, though 11 teams allowed more than their 4.2 yards per carry.
Speaking of the Dolphins, Jay Ajayi rushed 49 times for 187 yards and one touchdown in nine games during his rookie season, and then he rushed 31 times for 117 yards and two scores in his first four games this year. So, naturally, he rushed 25 times for 204 yards and two touchdowns Sunday against the Steelers, while Arian Foster rushed thrice for three yards. Ajayi's second touchdown was a 62-yarder with less than a minute left to put the Dolphins up two scores, a fairly impressive total given that his previous season-high
for a game was 42 yards, and he needed 13 carries to get there. Foster's return was supposed to limit Ajayi's touches, but after Sunday's performance, it seems entirely plausible that he could start next week. That said, it might be tough to trust a guy who had failed to get even 10 carries in a game until last week, even if he does have 38 in his last two.
Ajayi and McCoy were two of six running backs to score multiple touchdowns Sunday, as they were joined by the Ravens' Terrance West (23 carries for 87 yards and two touchdowns), Carolina's Jonathan Stewart (19-85-2), Seattle's Christine Michael (18-64-2) and the Patriots' James White (eight catches for 47 yards and two touchdowns). While McCoy may have been a pre-game guess of who would reach that mark, it seems unlikely that many would have chosen the others. It was even more surprising for the wideouts who scored two touchdowns, as Odell Beckham led the way with eight catches for 222 yards, but he was joined by Kenny Britt (seven catches for 136 yards), Terrelle Pryor (9-75) and Cole Beasley (6-58). Brandin Cooks, Golden Tate, Julio Jones and Kendall Wright were the other receivers to reach at least 100 receiving yards and score a touchdown, but the next highest mark of players who scored touchdowns after Wright's 133 was Michael Thomas' 78. In fact, of the 20 wide receivers who scored touchdowns Sunday but failed to reach 100 yards, only five caught more than three passes, including four who only caught that one. Quarterbacks really spread their scoring passes around, which limited the fantasy production of many receivers, including the three who caught at least 10 passes: Cameron Meredith (11 for 113), Amari Cooper (10 for 129) and Ty Montgomery (10 for 98).
But the man who got the most attention was the previously mentioned Beckham, whose scoring plays went for 75 and 66 yards, including the game-winning touchdown with 1:24 left in the fourth quarter. And in what has become classic Beckham, he was flagged for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the score for taking his helmet off and ... yelling ... about ... being happy that he scored the game-winning touchdown? Seriously, though, the NFL's unsportsmanlike conduct penalties have gotten completely out of hand. After Sunday's early games, Dean Blandino, the NFL's Senior Vice President of Officiating, released a video regarding Beckham's penalty and one earlier in the day by Vernon Davis, who was flagged for shooting the football over the goalposts like he was playing basketball.
Two plays from Sundays games involving demonstrations after TDs #unsportsmanlike#PHIvsWAS#BALvsNYGpic.twitter.com/xosBs9vEzl
— Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) October 17, 2016
I realize that some players can take taunting too far and that the line has to be drawn somewhere, but it seems crazy that this is where the line is being placed. We teach kids that taunting is bad because it can hurt someone's feeling, and I think it's time the NFL fully acknowledges what they're trying to address when they flag someone for such a heinous act: call the penalty for hurting someone's feelings.
"Personal foul on the offense, number thirteen; hurting the feelings of the players on the other team because he took his helmet off and yelled that he was happy because he scored a touchdown. The penalty will be assessed on the kickoff."
