It’s New England Patriots domination as the NFL schedule barrels into the weekend of Week 8.
Before Tom Brady and the Patriots threw down with the Miami Dolphins on Thursday Night Football, most major names on the team ranked highly and had quite the matchup to love against a starting defense.
The result? Brady scored 30, Julian Edelman 20 and Rob Gronkowski 17. It’s the latest example of rankings and the right matchups reigning supreme over the landscape of fake football.
Week 8 Schedule
Quarterbacks
Other than Philip Rivers getting a shot at the Baltimore Ravens, it’s all about NFC South quarterbacks this weekend.
Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints has looked good since returning from injury, scoring 15 or more points three times since Week 4. He’s almost guaranteed solid production against the New York Giants at home.
The Giants rank well but have crumpled in the face of strong quarterbacks, letting up 18 or more points to Tony Romo, Matt Ryan and an odd Colin Kaepernick outing.
Speaking of Ryan, he gets to breeze his way through a woeful Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense this weekend. Those Buccaneers allow the fourth-most points to quarterbacks and in their last two outings have permitted 28 and 29 points—to Washington and Jacksonville gunslingers.
Running Backs
CJ?K isn’t such a punchline anymore.
So it goes at running back, where it takes a simple change of scenery, a different blocking scheme or something else to turn a plummeting career into RB1 material.
Such is the case with Arizona Cardinals lead man Chris Johnson, fantasy’s sixth-highest scorer at the position with three trips to double digits to his name.
Now Johnson continues his revival tour against the miserable Cleveland Browns, the defense allowing the second-most points to backs on average. With Johnson avoiding the committee approach last week, he’s in one of the week’s top matchups.
So is Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks, perhaps the exception to the rule—Beast Mode can run anywhere, anytime.
Especially against the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas ranks right behind Cleveland in terms of points allowed on average to backs and has coughed up six touchdowns to them. Lynch won’t have a problem on the road producing like an RB1.
Wide Receivers
It feels like what, six years ago? Johnson leads most backs in rankings and Detroit Lions wideout Calvin Johnson leads most at his spot.
Good times. Megatron’s on fire as of late, having scored a touchdown in each of his past two contests to total 22 and 14 points, completely erasing his slow start to the season.
Now Johnson gets to take a road trip to Kansas City for an encounter with the Chiefs, a unit allowing the most points to wideouts on average. Each wideout corps fortunate enough to play the Chiefs has totaled at least 20 points—Johnson might do that on his own.
Keenan Allen might, too. The No. 1 wideout for the San Diego Chargers gets to pair with the aforementioned Rivers to torch the Baltimore Ravens.
If that sounds like a guarantee, well, it is. The Ravens rank right behind the Chiefs in points allowed to wideouts and have let up 11 touchdowns in seven games to the spot. Allen’s one of the league’s most dangerous target monsters, so expect him to rank among the top five scorers.
Tight Ends
Cowboys tight end Jason Witten might not tout the ceiling to rank No. 1 at his position, but the floor’s the best of any.
Which is really what owners should seek out at such a volatile spot, anyway. Witten has five or more points in five of six games this year and at least four catches in each despite a miserable quarterback situation.
Which is what makes Witten so great—the quarterback doesn’t matter. This week his target-happy ways pair well against a Seattle defense letting up the second-most points to tight ends on average.
Seattle has allowed four double-digit outings to groups of tight ends this year. Witten could smash the threshold on his own.
Defense/Special Teams
When it comes to defenses, it’s all about the St. Louis Rams this weekend.
Owners of three double-digit outbursts already, the Rams have forced five picks, eight fumble recoveries and scored twice. In fact, the Rams are almost like Witten in that the floor is great with seven points or more in every game except one.
It’s going to be another day at the office at home this weekend against the San Francisco 49ers. Kaepernick has thrown five picks this year to just six scores, and his team’s offense has scored 18 points or fewer four times already.
At home, the Rams will force a healthy amount of turnovers and keep the 49ers in check.
Kickers
Those leaky Ravens will allow one of the week’s highest scorers at kicker, too.
San Diego won’t have any problems moving the ball up and down the field, which should mean big things for kicker Josh Lambo.
Lambo has a pair of double-digit outings and boasts a decent floor with seven or more points in all but one game this year. These Ravens allow the absolute most points to kickers, having surrendered 15 or more points to the position four times.
At the least, Lambo will reach his floor and post one of the week’s top performances.
All scoring info courtesy of ESPN standard leagues, as is points-against info and ownership stats as of October 30. Statistics courtesy of ESPN.com. Buffalo, Philadelphia, Washington, Jacksonville on bye.
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