Photo: USA Today Sports
Reader's Guide
As you read, you may run into some colors in the text. Blue text is a good matchup for that team's offensive players. Red text is a bad matchup. Some other key items are below:
- All red/blue highlighting in tables is relative to the entire NFL, even when showing only a limited number of teams.
- All reference to fantasy points assumes DraftKings scoring rules unless otherwise specified.
- All stats reference the full 2018 season unless otherwise specified.
- All fantasy points rankings in the matchup graphics are on a per-game basis to account for bye weeks.
This week, we'll discuss the following topics:
- Follow the Targets
- Playcalling Preferences
- The Weakest Links
- How Will They Score?
- Going Deep
- Dealer's Choice: Shootout of the Year?
- Dealer's Choice: Can Two RB1s Co-exist?
- Dealer's Choice: Cheap Quarterbacks and a Fool's Gold Shootout?
Follow the Targets
In this section, we'll examine how the worst passing defenses in the NFL allow their production.
| RBs | WRs | TEs | ||||||||||
| Team | Tgt% | YdsRk | TDs | Tgt% | YdsRk | TDs | Tgt% | YdsRk | TDs | |||
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 19.5% | 26 | 3 | 58.6% | 29 | 13 | 21.8% | 32 | 4 | |||
| Atlanta Falcons | 31.6% | 32 | 3 | 51.3% | 25 | 11 | 17.1% | 15 | 3 | |||
| Kansas City Chiefs | 21.3% | 31 | 3 | 59.6% | 23 | 7 | 19.2% | 30 | 3 | |||
| New Orleans Saints | 19.5% | 15 | 1 | 62.7% | 32 | 12 | 17.8% | 2 | 1 | |||
| New England Patriots | 21.7% | 25 | 3 | 55.9% | 16 | 9 | 22.4% | 22 | 5 | |||
| Cleveland Browns | 17.5% | 18 | 0 | 61.7% | 26 | 9 | 20.9% | 19 | 2 | |||
| Philadelphia Eagles | 22.5% | 28 | 0 | 63.1% | 28 | 9 | 14.4% | 1 | 2 | |||
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 14.9% | 2 | 2 | 60.9% | 27 | 11 | 24.3% | 29 | 4 | |||
Commentary
- New England is the only team on this list not in the bottom-10 of per-game yardage allowed to wide receivers.
- New England is allowing 63.1 yards per game to tight ends, 11th-most in the NFL.
- New England is allowing 0.6 touchdowns per game to tight ends, tied for third-most in the NFL.
Photos provided by USA TODAY Sports