Notes: - All games will be available Friday
- Green highlight indicates plus matchup (top eight)
- Red highlight indicates negative matchup (bottom eight)
- Injury notes, Lines and Totals updated Sunday morning
As noted by Falcons beat reporter Marc Raimondi, we got good
coach speak on Pitts this week from Atlanta’s OC Zac Robinson
who stated that Pitts has made “huge strides” and has become “our
No.1 guy that we’re targeting.” That has definitely been the case
over the last two weeks with Drake London out, as the Falcons
are scraping the bottom of the barrel at the wide receiver position.
Pitts has 18 targets and 172 yards during that span and it would
be a shock to see his target share decrease on Thursday night.
The Bucs are a neutral matchup against the position and the Falcons
don’t have any other options. Fire up Pitts as a TE1 this week.
On the Fence: N/A
Fade: All Atlanta Wide Receivers
With London dealing with a stress fracture in his foot, it looks
like another week of David Sills, Dylan Drummond and Darnell Mooney
as the top three wideouts for the Falcons. Last week, those three
combined for 13 targets, 4 catches and 27 yards. Yikes. The Bucs
represent a softer matchup but until Cousins proves he can find
a stable connection with one of these fill-ins, they are a hard
pass for you fantasy lineup.
ATL FPts Allowed vs. QBs: No.14
ATL FPts Allowed vs. RBs: No.15
ATL FPts Allowed vs. WRs: No.11
ATL FPts Allowed vs. TEs: No.31
Bucky finished as the RB12 in Week 14 thanks in large part to
a receiving TD, but he did get nicked up with an ankle injury
and only handled 47% of the running back touches. Rachaad White
played the same numbers of snaps as Bucky (36) and Sean Tucker
got a goaline score. The fact that he was able to return to the
game is promising for his outlook this week and we should expect
another 17-20 touches in game where the Bucs are favored. Atlanta
is a neutral matchup against RBs and with Baker and the passing
offense struggling, this should be a game dominated by the Tampa
Bay running backs.
The slump for Egbuka continues but it’s not for a lack of involvement.
The rookie wideout has seen at least 8 targets in seven-straight
games. He’s just not connecting with Baker on the mid-range and
deep throws they had success with earlier in the year. Since Week
6, Egbuka has just one game scoring double-digit fantasy points
(Week 10), committed numerous drops, and has just 1 TD in that
span. He did post a 4-67-1 line in Week 1 against the Falcons
so there is some room for optimism. With Mike Evans and Jalen
McMillan available to play, they might cut into Egbuka’s target
share and further diminish his fantasy outlook.
Godwin was up to a 69% snap share last week and had a 28.6% target
share in his third game back from his leg injury. He would be
a more tantalizing option with Evans on the sidelines but becomes
a riskier play with the Bucs’ receiver room back to full
strength. The Falcons represent a decent matchup and have allowed
the 4th most receiving TDs (16) to the position.
It’s been a struggle for Mayfield ever since Week 6. He’s
thrown for less than 200 yards in four-straight games and in five
out of his last six. The last time he threw multiple TD passes
was Week 10 against the Patriots. He’s been out of sync
with Egbuka and the return of Godwin hasn’t jump-started
his production. We can blame the injury to his non-throwing shoulder
but that hasn’t stopped him from running the last two weeks
(6-27-0, 6-42-0). The inability to connect on downfield throws
could be helped with the return of Mike Evans, but I’d be
looking for other options at the QB position this week.
Speaking of Evans, I'm going to take a wait and see approach
unless we get clarification closer to gametime that he'll be a
full time player. If so, he'll be a nice WR2/3 option but I'm
currently expecting him to be limited in his first game back.
