Atlanta Falcons vs Houston Texans
Houston Texans
Quarterback
- Deshaun Watson:28/33, 426 yards, 5 TDs | 4 carries, 47 yards
Deshaun Watson is fun to watch. His playstyle, similar to that of Russell Wilson and Carson Wentz, lends itself to incredible plays but is also hard to sustain with regularity. This is exactly why we see 53 points this week and 10 the week before. Watson was at it again today and it was pretty obvious what a healthy Keke Coutee and Will Fuller V do for Watson. This suite of receivers has the ability to get open against even the best defenses and has the ability to torture unprepared defenses. The Falcons fall into the unprepared bunch as they had no plan for Fuller and had quite a few coverage busts that lead to the explosive all-around output. Watson’s 158.3 perfect passer rating speaks for itself this week, the Falcons had no chance.
Running Back
- Carlos Hyde: 21 carries, 60 yards, 1 TD
- Duke Johnson Jr.: 9 carries, 59 yards; 1 catch, 8 yards
This backfield is driving me nuts. I was excited for Duke Johnson after the trade but the arrival of Carlos Hyde continues to block all of Johnson’s fantasy utility. The Falcons defense looked abysmal but was more than able to bottle up Hyde. On the first drive of the game, Hyde had a brutal fumble that cost the Falcons nearly 20 yards and then went on to finish with an unexciting 2.9 YPC. Hyde ended up sneaking into the end zone capping off a decent fantasy performance. While Hyde is not the focus of this offense, he is the lead back and will continue to see the vast majority of the goal-line work, as was the case this week. Johnson made the most of limited touches but with such little volume, he is not worth rostering in most leagues.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
- Will Fuller V: 16 targets, 14 catches, 217 yards, 3 TDs
- DeAndre Hopkins: 8 targets, 7 catches, 88 yards
- Keke Coutee: 4 targets, 3 catches, 72 yards
- Darren Fells: 2 targets, 2 catches, 20 yards, 2 TDs
WILL FULLER V! Raise your hand if you started Fuller this week. Coming into this week in 4 games Fuller had 23 targets, 14 catches for 183 yards and 0 TD so it is likely that Fuller was riding the bench across the nation. So what the heck happened? The Texans rolled into Atlanta with a clear gameplan to get Fuller the ball. On the long touchdown, the Texans ran a deep crosser with DeAndre Hopkins and Fuller. As they crossed, the safety and three other defenders drift towards Hopkins leaving a gaping hole on the backside. On more than one occasion, the Texans stacked Hopkins and Fuller together, which often lead to plenty of space for Fuller. Beyond using Hopkins as a distraction, I noticed that in the red zone, the Texans were lining Fuller up on the wide side of the field by himself. The Texans clearly saw something on film that pushed them to isolate Fuller whenever possible.
The big question will be how teams adjust to this explosion. A better defense will likely have an easier time containing Fuller, but this kind of performance could create some unusually favorable matchups for Hopkins moving forward. As for Hopkins owners, do not be worried. Watson still looked his way plenty and the touchdowns will come back. Darren Fells found the end zone twice (THAT HELPS NO ONE) but those were his only targets. Keke Coutee had a nice afternoon but remains buried on the depth chart.
Atlanta Falcons
Quarterback
- Matt Ryan: 32/46, 330 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT, 1 rush TD
Another poor performance by the Falcons as a team and another solid fantasy week for Matt Ryan. Ryan threw another interception but at least this one was late, with the game pretty much out of reach. Ryan, as always, made plenty of good throws and showed off his vintage accuracy on intermediate throws. As has been the case with previous weeks, Ryan helped himself to some garbage time stat stuffing. This might generally be a cause for alarm, but this seems to be the norm with the 2019 Falcons and Ryan should continue play from behind and sling the ball. The offensive line has been subpar this entire year and although it did not limit the scoring overall, it did shut down a few drives. As a Ryan owner, keep plugging him into the lineup even if the team result is ugly.
Running Backs
- Devonta Freeman: 11 carries, 30 yards | 5 catches, 40 yards, 1 TD
- Ito Smith: 5 carries, 19 yards | 6 catches, 45 yards
Matt Ryan may benefit from the pass-happy game script, but these backs do not. In most games, this season the run game has been both anemic and forgotten. But who can blame anyone? Devonta Freeman put up a decent fantasy week but has clearly lost the explosiveness that made him a dynamic RB1. The Falcons 50.0 PFF run block grade is not helping the cause as both backs have had very little room to operate. That being said, Ito Smith looks like the better running back and I would not be surprised to see him eventually take over in this backfield. Coming into this week Smith had broken 6 tackles on 18 touches, whereas Freeman had 9 broken tackles on 47 touches. This game was no different, it is time for Smith to get more touches.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
- Julio Jones: 7 targets, 3 catches, 42 yards
- Calvin Ridley: 9 targets, 5 catches, 88 yards, 1 TD
- Mohamed Sanu: 5 targets, 5 catches, 42 yards, 1 TD
- Austin Hooper: 9 targets, 5 catches, 56 yards
On the positive side of things, it was nice to see Calvin Ridley perform well after two very quiet weeks. Ridley displayed some impressive route running today and his long touchdown was magnificent. Although Ridley has the skill set to be a consistent fantasy stud, he tends to be more boom or bust in an offense that will always feature Julio Jones. Speaking of Julio, he had an awful game. Even on the receptions he did haul in, he was creating almost no separation from his defender. After starting the year off scorching hot, the last two weeks have been puzzlingly poor. Often times it is hard to determine what the coverage is doing without seeing the All-22, however from what I could gather the Texans were not sending anything special towards Julio, rather it seemed his teammates were more open. Mohamed Sanu beat man coverage in the red zone which leads to his score. Sanu is a wonderful third/fourth option for Ryan that has more real-life value than fantasy. Austin Hooper is unexciting but is always involved in this offense. With the Falcons often forced to throw Hooper is a relatively safe play every week.