Game Previews: All Fantasy Relevant Players For Week 6

Steelers vs. Bengals

Steelers

The Steelers travel to Cincinnati for an important early-season divisional matchup, having won 6 straight games against the Bengals. These games are typically close in score and filled with big hits and personal foul penalties. With the NFL’s increased scrutiny on player safety, it will be interesting to see how the rivalry plays out this year. The Steelers need a win to avoid falling too far behind in the divisional race.

What type of performance can we expect from Big Ben this week?

The Bengals and the Steelers haven’t produced shootouts lately, with the last time that either team scored 30 points coming in 2015. The over/under sits as the third highest in the league this week, however, at 53. Both teams have similar profiles with top five scoring offenses and below average defenses according to points allowed and yardage.

Ben Roethlisberger is well known for his road struggles in his career, but in 2018 he has had success both at home and on the road. Roethlisberger’s last road game against Tampa Bay produced a 79% completion percentage, 353 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception. While the Bengals defense is certainly better than the Buccaneers defense, the Bengals have still allowed top 10 points to the QB position in fantasy this year.

Roethlisberger has been a top 10 fantasy quarterback this year and should continue to be started in all leagues. Pro Football Focus has graded Roethlisberger poorly so far this year, however, raising some minor concerns over his outlook. Some of this certainly passes the eye test, as Roethlisberger has thrown some awful interceptions in 2018. While I would expect Ben to improve his play as the season goes on, this could hint at a possible age-related decline. This may be more of a real-life football problem than a fantasy football problem for now, but is an issue worth keeping an eye on.

Which targets in the passing game will Roethlisberger favor this week?

Last week was a get-right game for Antonio Brown, as Roethlisberger fed him with targets on the way to a two-touchdown game. The Bengals have historically done a decent job keeping Brown under control, with Brown scoring 6 touchdowns in 15 career games against Cincinnati. Nothing about this matchup should scare Brown owners, however, as the Bengals had allowed big games to the opposing team’s #1 wide receiver up until last week’s game against the Dolphins. Brown remains an elite WR1.

JuJu Smith-Schuster has leveled off the last two weeks with 4 catches for 60 yards against the Ravens and 4 catches for 35 yards and a touchdown against the Falcons. A down game against a tough Ravens defense can be expected, and last week the Steelers jumped out to a big lead and focused their attention on making Brown happy, leaving Smith-Schuster left out of the action. Despite the last two games, Smith-Schuster remains WR13 in PPR leagues and is an every week start. He is heavily targeted in the red zone and can produce big plays from anywhere on the field, giving him huge upside.

Are there any other dependable receiving options for the Steelers this week?

Not really. Vance McDonald probably deserves another start at tight end in fantasy leagues because of the lack of other options at the position. But after last week’s 1 catch for 6 yards on 60% of the offensive snaps, fantasy owners can’t feel great about starting McDonald. The hope is that last week was game flow dependent, as Jesse James was more useful than McDonald as the Steelers ran the ball frequently with a big lead. The Bengals have been given up slightly above average tight end scoring this year and last, so this is a decent matchup. Fantasy owners should still be looking for better options.

The rest of the Steelers’ pass catchers have been unable to sustain any fantasy relevance and should not be started. James Washington hasn’t topped 25 yards in a game this year, and Ryan Switzer needed 7 catches to produce his season high of 32 yards, and only caught 1 pass for 5 yards last week. Jesse James has not caught more than 2 passes since week 2.

Which James Conner will we see this week?

Despite some struggles in weeks two through four, James Conner finds himself as the RB5 in PPR leagues this year. Conner has scored five rushing touchdowns in 5 games and has provided a receiving floor of 3-5 catches and 30-70 yards each week. The Steelers made an obvious attempt to feature him last week, and Conner responded with 110 yards on 21 carries and 2 touchdowns, along with 4 catches for 75 yards.

I wouldn’t quite expect a repeat performance from last week, as the Bengals defense is in much better shape than the Falcons decimated defense that has been lit up by opposing running backs. But Conner continues to soak up all of the running back work and should post another solid game, and a touchdown would likely make him an upper-tier running back for another week.

Can we start the Steelers’ defense or kicker in fantasy?

While the Steelers have had some impressive sack totals this year, a road game against a Bengals offense allowing the 10th fewest fantasy points to opposing defenses doesn’t seem like a good matchup. The Steelers’ D has come through in subpar matchups already this year, but you can likely find safer bets on the waiver wire.

Steelers kicker Chris Boswell should be avoided for now, as he has missed 3 extra points on the year and is only 3 of 6 on field goal attempts. It’s never a good sign when the coach has to publicly support the kicker, as Tomlin did this week. Wait for Boswell to get things straightened out before playing him again.

Predictions:

Boom Pick: JuJu Smith-Schuster

Bust Pick: Vance McDonald

Sleeper Pick: N/A

-Erik Smith

Bengals

Andy Dalton has been really good—will he keep it up?

Yes, Andy Dalton, believe it or not, has looked really good so far this year. He’s thrown multiple touchdowns in every game except one (last week, which was a defense-dominated game for the Bengals), and he’s eighth in the league in DVOA, ahead of names like Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and Cam Newton. This week, he’ll be up against a Steelers secondary that’s given up the second-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks in the league. I think he’s a pretty interesting QB1 this week in what should be a relatively high-scoring game.

What can we expect from the wide receivers?

I really like A.J. Green‘s matchup this week, likely against Artie Burns. Green has four inches of height and about 13 pounds on Burns with about equal speed, meaning Green is going to be hard for Burns to cover. Similarly, I like Tyler Boyd this week too. He was disappointing last week, but this week he’ll likely be matched up against Mike Hilton, which is great news for Boyd, as Boyd has five inches of height and about 13 pounds on Hilton, which should make him tough for Hilton to cover well. As for John Ross, I’m not as interested. He’s a boom-or-bust guy (mostly bust this year) and will likely be shadowed by Joe Haden. While that’s not as terrifying for a receiver as it used to be, it’s still bad news for Ross.

How will Joe Mixon do against a tough Steelers run defense?

So far this year, the Steelers have not given up more than 20 fantasy points to a single running back yet, and they’ve yet to allow more than 100 total rushing yards. Their secondary, however, has been awful, and as a result, I could see the Bengals attacking the Steelers more through the air than on the ground. That being said, Joe Mixon is still an amazing talent and should be a low-end RB1, just temper your expectations.

Will any tight ends be worth starting?

If you’re going to start a Bengals tight end, it should be C.J. Uzomah, but I’m not huge on starting him or Tyler Kroft this week. Uzomah hasn’t been great and he’ll likely be matched up against Sean Davis for much of the game, who’s played pretty well. If you’re absolutely desperate, you could give Uzomah a shot, but I’d generally avoid him.

Picks

Boom: A.J. Green

Bust: Joe Mixon

Sleeper: Tyler Boyd

-Ben Palmer