The Week 12 matchup between the Carolina Panthers and the Dallas Cowboys features a surprise undefeated team facing off against an opponent with a surprising record for the wrong reasons. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 12: Panthers-Cowboys featuring Cam Newton, Jonathan Stewart and Tony Romo
We break down the Week 12 matchup between the Carolina Panthers and the Dallas Cowboys.
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Carolina Panthers
It doesn’t seem like anybody is going to stop the Carolina Panthers anytime soon. They topped Washington last week, giving the team an impressive 10-0 record. The end result of the game exhibited a pretty decisive score and quarterback Cam Newton tossed a franchise high five touchdown passes in the game. The bottom line is that Washington didn’t even present a challenge to the Panthers. The same won’t happen on Thursday against the Cowboys, however. It should be a good contest, and Newton has been impressive overall this year. Fantasy owners can only hope he rises to the occasion once again.
Hopefully, running back Jonathan Stewart benefits from Newton’s solid play once more. Stewart himself has put together back-to-back strong performances. Against Washington last week he posted a 100-yard rushing game for the second time this season and the week before that he rushed for 91 yards and a touchdown. As good as the Cowboys are against quarterbacks and passing games, they are equally generous to running games. Stewart could be the Panthers’ most effective player in Week 12.
Dallas Cowboys
The NFL is a quarterback-focused league, so the fact that Tony Romo is back under center benefits not only his fantasy owners, but anybody who owns the services of a Dallas Cowboys player. Romo didn’t exactly put up big time numbers against the Miami Dolphins last week. 227 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions probably hurt owners more than it helped. That said, the Cowboys did find a way to win the game. Perhaps starting him against the Carolina Panthers this time around isn’t the greatest move, but it’s certainly better than starting Matt Cassel or Brandon Weeden. Maybe Romo delivers the Panthers their first loss of the season this week. If he does, fantasy owners will likely be happy.
One man that is definitely happy is wide receiver Dez Bryant. He’s got all the talent and ability in the world, but even he still needs a good quarterback throwing him the ball. Bryant caught four passes for 45 yards and a touchdown last week against Miami. He will no doubt have to face off against Josh Norman in Week 12, but given Washington’s DeSean Jackson went for a huge touchdown play last week, it is still possible that Bryant delivers value. Fantasy owners should curb their expectations for Dez, but he’ll definitely still be in all lineups against Carolina.
