Matchups To Look At In Week 7
Welcome, #4EYEDfans!
You want the edge in your fantasy football matchups each week? Then you’ve come to the right place!
In these articles, we’ll highlight the players that may or may not have the best matchups to exploit this week in order to help you know how to set your lineups with confidence!
Let’s examine some important matchups on offense in Week 7!
Quarterbacks
Jared Goff vs. Chicago
Goff topped 33 pass attempts for the first time this season last week. It was the first time he failed to complete 20 passes or throw for more than 200 yards this year. He has scored less than 15 fantasy points in three of six games and it gets no easier this week against Chicago. Chicago is allowing a league-low 12.5 FPPG and only four touchdowns to quarterbacks this year. This matchup screams to leave Goff on the bench.
Justin Herbert vs. Jacksonville
Herbert now has over 22 fantasy points in three of four games this year. He averages over 35 pass attempts a game and on a per-game basis is QB8. The Rookie is averaging 298.7 passing yards per game with a 9-3 TD-INT ratio. That ratio is 7-1 over the last two weeks. Jacksonville is allowing 20.8 FPPG to quarterbacks while allowing a dozen passing touchdowns. The Jags also allow the fifth-most fantasy points per game to running backs through six contests. The Chargers ground game taking over would be the only reason Herbert doesn’t show out on Sunday.
Matthew Stafford vs. Atlanta
The Falcons are allowing nearly 30 fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. They’ve allowed a league-high 18 passing touchdowns and have also let quarterbacks rush for three touchdowns this year. Falcons are the only team in football to allow over 2,000 passing yards to quarterbacks through the first six weeks of the season. Teddy B and Kirk Cousins have combined for nearly 45 fantasy points and over 600 passing yards against Atlanta over the last two weeks. Stafford has yet to throw for over 300 yards this season, but Week 7 offers one of the best chances he will see.
Running Backs
David Johnson vs. Green Bay
Start running backs against the Packers always! Here is what Green Bay has allowed running backs to do to them in 2020!
J.D. Mckissic/James White
These two are grouped together for a reason. Neither has upside, but both have shown solid floors in PPR formats. Both players basically play wide receiver with a running back tag and that comes in handy when in the trenches of bye weeks. James White has 15 catches over the last two weeks after returning from an absence due to a tragic car accident involving his parents. His 20 targets this season ranks 19th among running backs and he’s only played in three games.
McKissic on the other hand has racked up a solid 19 catches on 22 targets over the last three weeks. J.D. McKissic has now played over 50% of the snaps in four straight games. Antonio Gibson has reached that mark just once during that span. Don’t get me wrong I would rather own Gibson all day, but with bye weeks and the many injuries, I’m comfortable with these two unless we see the receiving load decrease. Once again this is strictly a floor play, but that is better than a dart throw!
Wide Receiver
Christian Kirk vs. Seattle
The Seahawks have given up 167 more receiving yards to wide receivers than any other team. By the way, they’ve only played five games! Kirk is coming off his best game of the year in which he caught two balls for 86 yards and found the endzone twice. On the bright side, he has 5 or more targets in three of the five games he’s played in. The other side is that he has more than three catches in just one game this season. If Kirk doesn’t make your lineup with this matchup, I’m not sure he will ever find a way in this season.
Cole Beasley vs. New York Jets
Cole Beasley is coming off a four catch, 45-yard game in which he found paydirt. Beasley now has 3 or more receptions in each contest this season. He has now gone for over 50 yards or scored a touchdown in each game. Beasley gets a Jets team in Week 7 that is allowing nearly 175 receiving yards per game to wide receivers. I like his chances to turn his 4.67 targets a game into a decent little fantasy day.
Tim Patrick vs. Kansas City
Tim Patrick is averaging 17.56 yards per catch over the last four weeks. He’s averaging 94.8 air yards on the season and PlayerProfiler has his 11 deep targets as sixth among wide receivers. He is seeing a team-high 27% of the teams air yards with an 18% target share. Patrick is averaging 5.8 targets per game and Drew Lock has shown that he loves to let it fly. Drew Lock’s 12.6 air yards per attempt is tops among quarterbacks granted he has a smaller size due to injury. He is coming off back to back 100-yard games. Kansas City’s secondary has looked the part all year, but in a game that Denver should trail throughout, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tim Patrick came down with a couple of balls on Sunday.
Tight End
I’ve been dreading about having to write about the nightmare that is the tight end position all week! I started looking at the crapshoot of matchups for Week 7 and decided to shake it up a bit. This week I’ll break down which teams are defending the position the best and which teams struggle vs. tight ends through the first six weeks of the NFL season.
-Falcons, Bills, Saints, and Eagles have all conceded six or more touchdowns to the position
-Only the Bengals, Falcons, and Bills have given up over 400 receiving yards to tight ends
-On a per-game basis, no one gives up more fantasy points to tight ends than the Saints (18.6 FPPG)
-Evan Engram has a 4.8 aDOT
-Colts and Seahawks are the only teams not to allow a touchdown to a tight end this season
-Only two tight ends have gone for over 30 receiving yards against the Steelers (Fant Wk. 2- 4 rec./57 yards, Hooper Wk. 6- 5/52)
-Colts, Patriots, and Lions are allowing 3.0 receptions per game or less to the position
-Logan Thomas is sixth among tight ends with 289 air yards
-Austin Hooper has three straight games with 5 catches
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