• Nico Collins’ returns: The Houston Texans’ top wide receiver was back and instantly boosted the team’s offense.

• CeeDee Lamb bounces back: Lamb had one of the worst games of his career last week, with 21 receiving yards, but he scored 17 PPR points as the Dallas Cowboys’ main source of offense in this game.

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PFF’s fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2024.

• Joe Mixon: 20 carries, 109 yards, 3 touchdowns, 2 receptions, 43 receiving yards
• CeeDee Lamb: 8 receptions, 93 yards

Nico Collins returns to the Texans: The Texans’ star receiver was on a snap count but led the team in receiving production.

Collins spent four weeks on injured reserve with a hamstring injury and was inactive last week. He returned against the Texans and would have scored a 77-yard touchdown on the game’s first play, but an ineligible downfield pass penalty negated the catch-and-run.

The Texans chose to ease Collins into action, as he played just 13 of the first 34 plays over the Texans’ first five drives. He was in a rotation with Xavier Hutchinson for the X-receiver spot and was consistently on the field on third downs over that span. Collins was on the field for the two-minute drill to end the first half and played more frequently in the second half.

In recent weeks, the Texans have fallen into a general pattern of Robert Woods playing as the Z receiver in two-receiver sets, Tank Dell having that role in three-receiver sets and John Metchie III playing in the slot in three-receiver sets. Collins’ return didn’t disrupt that strategy.

Given Collins’ increased playing time as the game went on, it’s safe to trust him to play at least 70% of offensive snaps going forward. He normally played between 70%-80% last season. The hope is that he will be back to playing 80%-85% of snaps like he was at the start of the season.

Rico Dowdle earns and loses feature back role: Dowdle dominated snaps early in the game but was rotated out more frequently later on.

Dowdle played 71% of the Cowboys’ offensive snaps in Week 9. That fell to 52% last week, but only because the Cowboys were in a lot of passing situations, where Hunter Luepke is the primary back. The big takeaway is that the Cowboys stopped rotating their running backs by drive.

Everything was looking strong for Dowdle heading into the night. Head coach Mike McCarthy declared him the “lead back,” and the team didn’t activate Dalvin Cook from the practice squad for the second straight week. Luepke was inactive with a calf injury, so Dowdle was expected to have his largest role of the season.

He played 30 of 33 snaps on the first five drives. He was off the field only for three third downs, but he also stayed on the field for a few other third downs. However, Dowdle averaged around only 2 yards per carry. This led to Ezekiel Elliott taking the final drive of the half. In the second half, both Elliott and Deuce Vaughn got more involved. Vaughn had been either a healthy inactive or a special-teams-only player since Week 5.

Dowdle will likely remain Dallas’ lead back, but Luepke should get his pass-game role back once he’s healthy. Plus, other running backs will likely get opportunities if the run game isn’t successful.

Jonathan Mingo makes his Cowboys debut: The former Carolina Panther was held without a catch in a backup role.

The Cowboys traded for Mingo two weeks ago and made him inactive last week. This week, Mingo was active with Jalen Brooks as a healthy inactive. Brooks had played at least 35 snaps in each of the Cowboys’ past five games as their third receiver, with Brandin Cooks on injured reserve. He has caught only eight passes for 107 yards and no touchdowns on the season, so Dallas was ready for a change.

Sixth-round rookie Ryan Flournoy stepped into the third wide receiver role for this game. He caught one pass for 15 yards. Mingo and KaVontae Turpin were used as the primary backups, and Turpin stole the show with a 64-yard touchdown reception.

Ideally, Mingo will earn more playing time as the season progresses, as the Cowboys’ third wide receiver spot seems wide open, at least until Cooks returns. Once Cooks is back, Mingo won’t have a strong path to playing time.

Monitor Jake Ferguson’s health: Ferguson suffered a concussion early in the game and was immediately ruled out.

Ferguson played seven of a possible 10 snaps on the first two drives. He caught one pass for 11 yards. After the injury, Luke Schoonmaker and Brevyn Spann-Ford took over. Both tight ends became favorite targets for Cooper Rush, but they were used interchangeably. There were no strong tendencies for their situational usage, with them each largely taking a few plays before rotating.

The Cowboys play again in six days, so Ferguson will have one fewer day to make it through concussion protocol. If he does miss time, it’s probably best to leave the Cowboys’ other options on the waiver wire. Their rotation makes it difficult to trust either player.

Miscellaneous Notes

• The Cowboys placed quarterback Dak Prescott on injured reserve after he underwent season-ending hamstring surgery last week.
• Dallas activated tight end Princeton Fant off the practice squad for this game. He played a few snaps after Ferguson’s injury in multiple tight end sets.
• Eleven Cowboys received at least one target in this contest, which was tied for the most by a team in a game this season.
• Dameon Pierce was active after missing the past two games with a groin injury. He returned to being the primary backup on early downs.
• The Texans released running back J.J. Taylor to make room for more defensive players.
• With Nico Collins back, wide receiver and returner Steven Sims was a healthy inactive.

Table Notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.

• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver while this data will not.

• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.