HOUSTON (vs. Cleveland)
Houston has scored at least 33 points three weeks in a row, and it's in contention to keep that streak going. The Browns rank 26th in scoring defense, and they've allowed all those points despite not playing any good offenses ...
... The Steelers, Ravens, Bengals, Colts and Jets all rank outside the top 20 in scoring. The Texans have the hot hand, and best to leave them in fantasy lineups to do their thing. ... Those looking for a plug-in tight end should think about Ryan Griffin. Not that he's a superstar talent, but he caught 50 passes last year, and he's caught 9 passes for 96 yards and a touchdown in three games as a starter this year (since C.J. Fiedorowicz was placed on injured reserve). He's got some ability, and the Browns have been comically bad against tight ends. Cleveland is 1-20 under Hue Jackson, and in its last 18 games has allowed 18 touchdowns to tight ends. Jesse James and Tyler Kroft ...
This report is taken from today's Week 6 edition of Fantasy Index Weekly. The newsletter includes our player rankings and 18 pages of camp reports, plus stat projections and custom rankings for the games being played this weekend.
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... each caught 2 TDs against this defense in September. Austin Seferian-Jenkins caught 6 passes and a touchdown on Sunday. Ben Watson in Week 2 caught all 8 passes thrown his way against Cleveland. Griffin is probably sitting available in most fantasy leagues yet grades out as a top-10 type tight end for this week. ... Cleveland ranks 5th in run defense, believe it or not, but that's probably due to scheduling. They've played against bad teams. And even those teams have had some success anyway. The Ravens ran for 136 yards, and the Colts ran for 92 yards and 3 TDs. So we're not getting scared away from Houston's running game. Since putting Deshaun Watson in the starting lineup, they've averaged 153 rushing yards. The quarterback is averaging 41 of those yards himself, of course, but his mobility has also helped open things up for the running backs. Lamar Miller has averaged 67 rushing and 26 receiving yards in his last four, with 2 TDs. While the Browns held both the Steelers and Jets under 40 rushing yards, we're thinking Miller should be just fine. D'Onta Foreman has averaged 36 rushing yards off the bench the last four weeks. ... It's always a little nerve-racking starting a rookie quarterback. Deshaun Watson looked shaky in the first half against Kansas City, completing only 4 of 12 passes for 60 yards. But with his run-pass ability, it's tough to keep him down for long. Other rookie quarterbacks in recent years have finished with top-5 numbers in their first year -- RG3, Cam Newton -- and Watson right now looks like one of those guys. He's averaged 282 passing and 32 rushing yards in his last three games, with 12 TDs. Browns rank 17th in pass defense (yards allowed) but they've got a lesser defense. All five quarterbacks who've started against them have put up at least 2 TDs, and none of them have been top-10 quarterbacks this year: Roethlisberger (struggling this year), Flacco, Brissett, Dalton, McCown. ... We're slotting the wide receivers higher than usual. We'll have to work in the possibility that the tight ends are more likely than usual to score, but DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller are both really good. Hopkins is a target monster; he's averaging 7 catches per game, with 5 TDs. Fuller isn't as involved but is one of the league's best deep threats, with 2 TDs in both of his games -- 4 of the 6 balls he's caught have gone for touchdowns. Wide receivers have caught only 4 of the 11 touchdown passes allowed by the Browns, but best to leave Hopkins and Fuller in to do their thing. ... Bruce Ellington has beat out Braxton Miller for the third receiving job, and he looks above average in comparison with other No. 3 receivers around the league. Ellington has caught 9 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown in his last three games. ... The Texans Defense lost two of its best players on Sunday night -- J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus -- but we're ranking it higher than usual anyway. Cleveland is using young quarterbacks and a menagerie of young pass catchers, so there should be opportunities for some interceptions. The Browns have thrown a league-high 11 so far. DeShone Kizer threw 9 of those, and he got benched on Sunday, but Kevin Hogan doesn't look like he'll be much better (2 of his first 38 pass attempts have been picked). Hogan should be better at not getting caught holding the ball too long, but also a decent-enough matchup for sacks. And Houston is about as likely as anyone to score on a kick return. That might sound strange, with Tyler Ervin less than two weeks removed from a season-ending knee injury, but Chris Thompson had a 42-yard kickoff return against Kansas City, while Will Fuller had a 49-yard punt return. ... The matchup looks good for Ka'imi Fairbairn. Almost too good -- Cleveland's defense has been so bad that opponents haven't tended to need to attempt field goals. The Browns thus far are allowing only 5.6 kicking points per game, 4th-fewest in the league. But Fairbairn is a safe bet to give you at least something and he scored 7, 15 and 15 points in his last three games before the team fell apart on Sunday night.