Fantasy Football Pointsfest: Lamar Jackson, Ravens Outlast Ja'Marr Chase
In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by New Era, Ravens-Bengals is an instant classic, Start-Sit recommendations, and more to prepare for Week 10.
In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by New Era:
The anticipation was a high-scoring game between the Bengals and Ravens on Thursday night with lots of fantasy points. The game delivered with some massive performances and the Ravens rallied from a 14-point deficit to defeat the Bengals, 35-34.
Lamar Jackson passed for 290 yards with 4 touchdowns, Derrick Henry rushed for 68 yards and scored a touchdown for the 10th straight game, Joe Burrow passed for 428 yards with 4 touchdowns, and Ja’Marr Chase had 11 catches for 264 yards with 3 scores.
After Chase scored his third touchdown of the game with 38 seconds left in regulation, the Bengals went for the two-point conversion and Burrow threw an incomplete pass. Here is the Friday FAQ:
How did Chase Brown do coming off 32 touches on Sunday?
Brown showed he can handle a big workload on a short week. Against a staunch Ravens run defense, Brown got it done through the air. He had 13 carries for 42 yards with a touchdown and caught 9 passes for 52 yards on 11 targets. Khalil Herbert had one carry, fumbled the exchange from Burrow and didn’t touch the ball the rest of the game. Brown will lead the backfield the rest of the way.
Mike Gesicki was a popular play at tight end this week. Did it work out?
It was disappointing considering the offense in the game. Gesicki has benefited with Tee Higgins out this season. Gesicki had 9 targets and caught 4 for 30 yards in a great matchup against the Ravens. In the last two games without Higgins, Gesicki had 7 catches for 73 yards and 5 catches for 100 yards with 2 touchdowns.
Who led the Ravens in receiving yards?
Zay Flowers? No. Mark Andrews? No. Rashod Bateman? No. Tylan Wallace came out of nowhere to lead the way, mostly off an 84-yard TD pass. Wallace had 2 catches for 31 yards coming into the game and had 3 catches for 115 yards on the night. Andrews came through with 6 catches for 68 yards with a touchdown. Andrews has 5 touchdowns in the last five games. Bateman had 6 catches for 54 yards with a touchdown and Flowers had 4 catches for 34 yards.
Can Ja’Marr Chase play against the Ravens every week?
Those with Chase on their team wish. Chase had 55 yards or fewer in three of the last four games. He has three 100-yard games this season and two are against the Ravens. In the first game against the Ravens, Chase had 10 catches for 193 yards with 2 touchdowns. Chase has 457 receiving yards in two games against the Ravens. Start your receivers against the Ravens.
WEEK 10 NFL PLAYER PROJECTIONS
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What else is in today’s newsletter?
- Stat of the Day: This Ladd is on fire.
- Start/Sit Decisions for Week 10: A trio of sneaky starts …
- Watercooler: Buy/Sell/Hold
11/08 Stat of the Day: This Ladd Reaching for New Heights
Ladd McConkey has posted a target share of 25% or better in five of nine starts this season. McConkey has been stellar in his rookie season. Through eight games he’s now accumulated 35 catches and 440 yards, while posting at least 5 catches in five of his eight starts. Those may not seem like huge numbers, but remember that the Chargers are one of the heaviest run teams in the league and only throw the ball on 52% of downs (24th in the league)
Via our Utilization Tool, McConkey has done extremely well with limited opportunities, posting target shares of 25% or more on five occasions to date
- Week 1 - 28%
- Week 3 - 30%
- Week 4 - 27%
- Week 6 - 25%
- Week 9 - 27%
The Chargers have also seen a clear uptick in passing of late (59% pass rate over their last three games), perhaps tied to the improving health of Justin Herbert. If this trend continues, it would make McConkey an underrated asset the rest of the way in fantasy, and a great trade target for those looking for some better upside at wide receiver.
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The latest analysis and insights from our merry band of football nerds:
❤️ You haven’t seen everything until you read Week 10 Love/Hate.
🐻 Watch the Week 10 Studs, Sleepers, and Start-Sits show. You’ll never see Freedman and Winnie the Pooh the same again.
👀 Time to sell high on Kareem Hunt? Kendall and Ronis have thoughts.
🎯 Are Chase Brown and Cade Otton here to stay? Check out cooterdoodle’s Buy, Sell, Hold to find out.
🤔 Start this player or that player? Check out our updated rankings.
💪 Is Josh Downs a flex play no matter the QB? Lawrence Jackson makes his recommendations.
🚀 Will Tyrone Tracy keep climbing? Denny Carter weighs in with his Week 10 Regression Files.
A Deep Sleeper To Start At WR and Laghezza’s RBs To Boot
By Gene Clemons and John Laghezza
Welcome to the world's greatest Start/Sit column, where John Laghezza and Gene Clemons dig deep into their fantasy football bag of tricks with non-obvious, outside-the-box lineup advice. John's a numbers guy (who writes our betting newsletter), Gene is a literal football coach (who is on both our Tuesday LG show and Sunday morning SiriusXM program)—what more could you ask for?
Let's jump in!
Laghezza's Week 8 RBs To Start
Using a weighted mix of over a dozen different advanced stats on each side of the balI, I reverse-power-ranked every defense in the league—all to point fantasy gamers of any league size toward the right start/sit answers this weekend.
Giants (at Panthers)—Carolina tops the menu for tastiest RB target again, with good reason. The Panthers sit dead last in defensive success rate, rush yards/game, rushing TD, and fantasy points allowed to RBs—but CAR’s offense also reeks, setting up weekly positive game scripts for opposing backfields. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Queue up Giants RB Tyrone Tracy Jr. for a monster week. He's completed his rookie flippening by dominating recent touch shares. Remember: When Panther is on the menu, it’s often a meal for two. Desperate deep leaguers with poor bye placement might also consider widely discarded Devin Singletary as a pop for a TD.
Falcons (at Saints)—Hard to even think of a whipsaw more massive than the 2024 Saints. From hanging 90-plus points through two weeks to racking up seven straight losses, it’s been quite the fall from grace. In that span, they’ve stopped precisely no one on the ground, ranking stone-cold worst in yards allowed/rush, yards before contact/rush, and 20-plus-yard carries. While I know first-rounder Bijan Robinson is never sitting, he’s in line for this weekend’s overall RB1. Good chance enough meat is left on the fantasy bone to start Tyler Allgeier if pressed for production as well.
Gene’s Bold Prediction: Start Daniel Jones
Yes, I know what I said. Yes, that Daniel Jones. This really doesn't have anything to do with his fantasy points last week—although 24.4 points is impressive. It's the way he was utilized in the game against the Commanders. Thanks to the performance of Tyrone Tracy Jr., when Jones runs those run read plays he has much cleaner lanes to escape through. It was a key to his success with Saquon Barkley. Jones' rushing upside has become a real asset for fantasy managers to (once again) consider. He's averaging 4 yards per carry, so if he gets close to double-digit rushes, there’s a good chance Jones is going to add 5-11 points to his fantasy total.
Another reason to start Jones is his opponent—and the location. The Giants are playing the Panthers in Germany. The Panthers are surrendering an average of 22 fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. That alone would make me roll the dice on Jones, but then you consider that the three biggest games against the Panthers came from quarterbacks who can run the football.
Now, mix that with the atmosphere in Germany, where Jones should be able to play free without the pressure of the Giants fans or the media. All signs point to the embattled, polarizing signal-caller having a great day in fantasy. If you need a QB because you don't know Jordan Love’s status—or Joe Flacco didn't give you anything more than Anthony Richardson—then Jones may just be what you are looking for.
More Start/Sit Answers for Week 10
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