Atmosphere was electric last night, amiright? Cowboys almost pulled off a shocker, but the Eagles charged back. OK, I'll stop.

These teams don't like each other, as the old saw goes, and we saw that before the first offensive snap when Jalen Carter was ejected for spitting on Dak Prescott. We've come to learn that Carter's shockingly poor decision did not occur in a vacuum, since Prescott spit on the ground in the general direction of Carter just before that. ("There was a second spitter...") I'll let Cowboys and Eagles fans hash out who was more at fault, regardless the Eagles losing their Pro Bowl tackle certainly had a ripple effect that impacted the rest of the game. As did the hour-long lightning delay (no points were scored after that). Anyway, on to the recap.

QUARTERBACKS

So Dak Prescott exceeded expectorations -- sorry, I can't help myself, expectations -- marching the offense up and down the field for most of the game. He moved well in the pocket, avoiding sacks and getting the ball to his main receivers. Unfortunately, from a fantasy perspective, his actual numbers were lousy because of a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs, a couple of drops, and a couple of near-misses in the end zone (not drops; there were defenders there to blast his receivers). With no touchdowns and Dak not actually running (3 yards), a rough outing, but the guy looked good and arguably should have come away with a win.

Jalen Hurts had a worse day throwing it but a great game in fantasy leagues, that's what running will do for you. He went for 62 yards and a pair of touchdowns, neither of the Tush Push variety, just heady scrambles when there weren't receivers open. A well thrown 51-yard bomb to his third receiver. Credit due to the Cowboys secondary (a talented group, all this defense is missing is a pass rusher ala a Micah Parsons type). It is fair to say that Hurts was the MVP of this game by a pretty wide margin. Even though you’re miserable today if you started either of his main wide receivers, which I’ll get to in a minute.

RUNNING BACKS

Not really surprising that Saquon Barkley didn't have a great game. He was a defensive focus, Cowboys added Kenny Clark recently, etc. But he got you a touchdown, as franchise running backs do, and there will be big games in his future.

I have Javonte Williams everywhere and started him in a couple of places. Liked him more early in the offseason but had it slowly driven out of me by some Jaydon Blue hype (inactive last night). Javonte's not great (even last night, 3.6 per attempt), but neither was Rico Dowdle. Obviously the Eagles losing their run stuffer in the middle of the defense was a factor in Williams scoring a couple of touchdowns. Congrats if you also drafted and starter him. It won't always be that good, but clearly Miles Sanders (a 49-yard breakaway run, but also a critical red-zone fumble) isn't going to push for more work because he's Miles Sanders, and if Blue is going to be a factor at some point, that's still a ways down the road.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Milk cartons are filled with the faces of A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith this morning. With Brown I legitimately wondered if he was even playing, because he wasn't even targeted until there were 2 minutes left in the game. In fact, he played all but 8 snaps. Smith caught a few harmless short passes. Brutal. Just one game, I guess that's what you have to say. Hurts running the ball a dozen times won't be happening every week.

CeeDee Lamb was his usual elite self, although there were a couple of costly drops -- defenders in the area on a couple of them, but I imagine he said he should have made the plays. Could have gone for 150-plus if he had. And Dallas would have won. But hard to blame the loss on Lamb. George Pickens, a disappointment, but he did get mauled on a couple of longer chances by Quinyon Mitchell. I think we'll see Prescott throwing for more yards most week and Pickens doing better.

Third receivers merit some mention here. There was preseason hype for both Jahan Dotson and KaVontae Turpin. Dotson had the biggest receiving play of the night and Turpin got 4 offensive touches (2 receptions, 2 runs), so that wasn't just talk. I don't think either guy actually looks great to use, but they're going to be drags on the value of the top 2 on each team. Turpin is also going to hurt Javonte a little on short receptions and runs.

TIGHT ENDS

Nobody wanted to draft Dallas Goedert in any of my drafts. I have him everywhere, even the leagues I didn't particularly want him in. I never understood it. Yes, the Eagles shopped him and made him take a paycut, and yes he gets hurt some. But let's give him a break on the injuries because last night you saw why, with him routinely making short catches over the middle and getting blasted by two defenders.

Goedert's game did highlight the importance of knowing your scoring system. In standard, it was a 4-point night; in half-PPR, it was just 7. Fortunately I had him in a pair of TE-premium leagues, where he was good for 15 points. But those who ignored him in other formats can say, "See?" In any case, he's a very good option in PPR leagues and underrated by the majority of the fantasy community. No question.

Jake Ferguson, nobody much wanted to draft him either. Similarly, he was fine last night in TE-premium and serviceable in PPR. But the key thing to note is he had a couple of near-miss touchdowns: one he had his hands on but the defender was right there, the guy's helmet was in the way. The second was your classic hospital ball where he got blasted by the defender that drew a flag; the Sanders fumble immediately thereafter messed things up. But a good and nearly great game for Ferguson.

MISCELLANEOUS

The league is apparently going to crack down on poor sportsmanship. We saw that early on when Nolan Smith dropped Sanders in the backfield, stood up and kind of flexed over him, and drew a 15-yard taunting penalty. Not to sound old and curmudgeonly, but come on. It's an emotional game. Nothing really bad happened there, Sanders probably didn't even notice, and I really don't buy that it was the kind of situation that could influence little kids watching the game to act like Nolan Smith. If these are the kind of flags that are going to be regularly thrown this year, we're in trouble. Just wait until a team gets a fourth-down stop in the final minute, the guy that made the tackle stands up and yells in happiness, and gets flagged 15 yards because he was facing in the direction of the guy he tackled. It's coming, and it will decide the outcome of a game at some point. Funny to think of the NFL dutifully trying to be trendsetters in terms of class.

Kickers: Brandon Aubrey did his usual thing, while Jake Elliott bombed in a 58-yarder that basically won the game ultimately. Kickers count. Defenses: Dallas played the run well (Kenny Carter in) but couldn't contain Jalen Hurts (Micah Parsons gone). The Cowboys' secondary did a great job, the Eagles' looks flawed (having dumped Darius Slay and C.J. Gardner-Johnson), and some teams will be taking advantage of it, like CeeDee mostly did. No big kick returns, with the Eagles clearly looking to avoid Turpin, which they did successfully.

Football is back. Eagles escaped with a win, but I think we're going to see a competitive NFC East.