Ok, we are in the home stretch towards the playoffs now. Still another four teams on a bye, and more players out with injury, meaning every week is hyper critical. This is the time to really figure out what your team is. Are you middle of the pack and need to start winning out to make the playoffs? Or are you in great shape and assured of the postseason? If you’re middle of the pack, you need to focus on winning now. Every week matters, so your focus should be about maximizing your roster and bench for this week, and the next, not hanging onto some project that we hope will pop in a few weeks.
Conversely, if you KNOW you’re making the playoffs, you can start stocking up on backups to your stars and looking for/trading for players with good playoff schedules. If it’ll help, here’s Fantasy Life’s rest of season rankings so you can evaluate what you have or want to acquire.
And before we start, a quick reminder – any Utilization stats you read below come from Dwain McFarland and his incredible Utilization Report on FantasyLife.com.
A reminder to catch Fantasy Football Happy Hour every weekday at Noon ET on YouTube and of course, it’s also available on Peacock, NBC Sports NOW, and wherever you get your podcasts. And every Sunday morning we do Fantasy Football Pregame from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on Peacock and the NFL on NBC YouTube channel.
Let’s get to it.
Thanks as always to my producer Damian Dabrowski for his help at various points in this column. Here we go.
These are the 10 Facts You Need to Know Before Week 10:
1 So far this year, Justin Herbert is averaging 34 rushing yards per game.
1A. He is also third in the NFL in passing yards per game.
1B. Quarterbacks facing the Steelers this year are averaging 299.5 yards per game.
1C. In fact, the last three QBs to face Pittsburgh (Daniel Jones, Jordan Love, and Joe Flacco) have all thrown for at least 340 yards.
1D. The Pittsburgh Steelers have allowed at least two total touchdowns to every single QB they’ve played this year except… Dillion Gabriel.
1E. Justin Herbert is not named Dillon Gabriel.
2 Since Week 4, the second best QB in PPG is… Matthew Stafford (23.3)
2A. He’s scored at least 25 points in four of his last five games.
2B. Since Week 5, the San Francisco 49ers allow 21.3 PPG to QBs.
2C. Four of the last five QBs to face SF have scored 19+ fantasy points.
2D. In Week 5, Matthew Stafford had 389 yds and 3 TDs against San Francisco.
3. Rico Dowdle has had three games this year with 20+ touches.
3A. He’s scored 28+ points in each one of them.
3B. Last week, with Chuba Hubbard active, Rico Dowdle played 74% of the snaps and had 27 touches.
3C. The Panthers only had 32 RB touches total.
3D. RBs that have seen at least 15 touches against the Saints this year are averaging 17.3 PPG.
4. In three of his past four completed games, Quinshon Judkins has gotten at least 24 touches.
4A. In the Browns’ last game before their bye, Judkins left early with a shoulder injury.
4B. He is off the injury report this week.
4C. Since Week 2, the Jets are giving up the fourth-most rushing yards per game to opposing RBs.
4D. And that was BEFORE they traded away some of their best defensive players.
5. Since Week 3, no team in the NFL has allowed more rushing touchdowns than… the Las Vegas Raiders.
5A. This week, the Denver Broncos are 9.5-point home favorites against Las Vegas, via DraftKings.
5B. Over the last five games, J.K. Dobbins has seen 71% of the Broncos’ red zone rush attempts.
5C. He’s also seen 75% of the Broncos goal line attempts.
5D. Okay not a fact, but listen, I get it. I have a ton of Dobbins this year. It’s been super annoying watching RJ Harvey get like eight touches but then three of them become scores. But they’re not goal line work and it feels more fluky than anything. I’m hanging tough with Dobbins this week.
6. In the five games since Tyreek Hill’s injury, Jaylen Waddle has at least 80 receiving yards in four of them.
6A. He’s averaging 15.3 fantasy points per game during that stretch.
6B. Buffalo has allowed at least 16.9 fantasy points per game to an opposing WR in four straight games.
6C. The Dolphins are 9.5-point underdogs to Buffalo.
7. In games where’s he’s seen 7+ targets this season, Chris Olave is averaging 15.6 PPG
7A. The Saints current depth chart at WR behind Olave: 32-year-old Brandin Cooks, Devaughn Vele who has five receptions on the season, and Mason Tipton, who has zero.
8. Since Week 6, Wan’Dale Robinson has a 30% target share.
8A. He averages 8.5 targets per game.
8B. No team allows more touchdowns to the slot than the Chicago Bears.
9. For four straight weeks, Oronde Gadsden has finished as a top 12 fantasy tight end.
9A. He’s averaging 17.9 PPG during that stretch.
9B. So far this season, the Steelers rank bottom five in the NFL in terms of most receiving yards and most fantasy points allowed to opposing tight ends.
10. Since Week 5, Harold Fannin Jr. is the 10th best tight end in fantasy on a PPG basis.
10A. In three of their last five games, the Jets have allowed 20 or more fantasy points to opposing tight ends.