The Colts’ pass defense has yielded a league-high 23 touchdown
passes this season and Lawrence should add to that total. Ignoring
his ugly performance last week against the league’s best
Bills’ pass defense, Lawrence has thrown at least one touchdown
pass in six of seven games. The Jaguars as a double-digit dog
will likely be behind and throwing which is frequently good for
fantasy owners at garbage time. Jamal Agnew is coming on to give
the Jaguars three decent receivers for Lawrence to target. I’m
expecting 250 passing yards and a pair of scores.
Assuming Tagovailoa is out there (game-time decision due to finger
injury) the Ravens’ pass defense is not what it once was. They
rank 22nd for the season and 28th over the past five weeks. They
have injuries at every level. Meanwhile, you might be surprised
to know Tagovailoa ranks sixth among fantasy QBs since Week 5
averaging 25.8 FPts/G. If it ends up being Jacoby Brissett under
center, look elsewhere.
The Browns defense has been surprisingly mediocre this season
as we expected much more out of this squad. They rank just 18th
for the season and are headed in the wrong direction. Since Week
5 they rank 27th yielding 11 touchdown passes and 1368 passing
yards over five games. Jones hasn’t produced much the past
two weeks, but that was expected facing two of the top-four defenses
in QB fantasy points allowed (Carolina and Los Angeles Chargers).
Previous to that he had thrown seven touchdowns in four games
and averaged 260.5 passing yards.
The Eagles have shifted the emphasis of their offense from “pass-first”
to “run-first.” Hurts has averaged just 15.5 passing attempts
over the last two games compared to 34.6 attempts the first seven
games. For the season the Broncos rank No. 3 against opposing
QBs (18.7 FPts/G). They have allowed just four touchdown passes
at Empower Field at Mile High. They have yielded just 109 rushing
yards to opposing QBs in eight games, including just 28 yards
and no touchdowns to Lamar Jackson in Week 4.
I think the division-leading Cardinals give Kyler Murray another
week to heal which means McCoy is under center against a tough
Panthers’ defense that ranks fourth against opposing quarterbacks
(19.3 FPts/G). McCoy was decent last week against the 49ers with
249 yards and a touchdown, but this is not a good matchup in what
should be a low-scoring affair.
No OBJ, no Nick Chubb, no Kareem Hunt and Jarvis Landry dealing
with a knee issue though he’ll likely still play. Which
means the offense will depend on D’Ernest Johnson, Mayfield
and Donovan People-Jones. Mayfield has just eight touchdown passes
in eight games and averages 239 passing yards. The Patriots rank
sixth against opposing QBs yielding 20 FPts/G, including a league-leading
13 interceptions.
