CLEVELAND (vs. Kansas City)
Only 26 teams play this week, and the Browns might finish with better offensive numbers than half of them. They're unlikely to win, but they're facing a defense that's been awfully leaky for most of the season. Kansas City has ...
... held only two opponents under 23 points, and both of those games were played at Arrowhead. Overall they're allowing 432 yards per game, 2nd-most in the league. ... Nick Chubb might put up top-10 numbers. Big and fast, he's averaged at least 7 yards per carry in half of his games, and he's facing a defense that's struggled against the run. Kansas City ranks 25th in run defense and has allowed at least 159 rushing yards in half of its games. It's also allowed 10 rushing touchdowns. Cleveland's offense is a little up in the air, with Hue Jackson and Todd Haley both fired, but Chubb should be a big part of what they do. The Browns so far rank 9th in rushing, and only four teams have scored more rushing touchdowns.
| RBs against Kansas City | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Run | Rec | Tot | TD |
| Gordon, LAC | 64 | 102 | 166 | 0 |
| Conner, Pitt. | 17 | 48 | 65 | 1 |
| Breida, S.F. | 90 | 27 | 117 | 0 |
| Lindsay/Freeman | 136 | 10 | 146 | 2 |
| Yeldon, Jac. | 53 | 69 | 122 | 1 |
| Michel, N.E. | 106 | 0 | 106 | 2 |
| Mixon, Cin. | 50 | 1 | 51 | 0 |
| Lindsay, Den. | 95 | 17 | 112 | 1 |
It's also probably an above-average matchup for Baker Mayfield and the passing game. Kansas City has allowed more passing yards than every defense except Tampa Bay and Cincinnati. Those numbers are inflated by three games on the road against Hall of Fame type quarterbacks (Rivers, Roethlisberger, Brady), but there should be some plays to be had. Kansas City has ...
This report is taken from today's Week 9 edition of Fantasy Index Weekly. The newsletter includes our player rankings and 17 pages of matchup previews, plus stat projections and custom rankings for the games being played this weekend.
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...improved some recently, with just 5 TD passes allowed in its last five games. It caused all kinds of problems for Andy Dalton. But this defense hasn't played a good game on the road all year. Mayfield has averaged 254 passing yards in his five starts, with 8 TDs. He's tailed off some recently, with only 215 and 180 yards in his last two. How much he's affected by a new offensive coordinator remains to be seen. Freddie Kitchens has been in the league for 13 years, but always as a positional coach (TE-RB-QB). He doesn't have Todd Haley's experience. About 240 yards and 1-2 TDs sounds about right. ... We're ranking the pass catchers higher than usual, given the matchup. Jarvis Landry is their No. 1 option, but he hasn't lit it up recently. He's averaged only 50 yards in the five games Baker Mayfield has started, with 2 TDs. Antonio Callaway has elite athletic traits but he hasn't gotten over the hump. He's caught 11 passes for only 91 yards in his last four games, with just 1 TD. He's finished under 40 yards in five of his last six games. With more experience, Rashard Higgins is probably better than Callaway right now, but Higgins has missed the last three games with a knee injury. Higgins didn't practice at all last week. Filling in for Higgins, Damion Ratley has caught 10 passes for 126 yards in three games. ... David Njoku got shut out in Pittsburgh, but we're giving him a mulligan for that game. He went for 52-69 yards in all four of Baker Mayfield's other starts, with 2 TDs. This looks like an average-type matchup for him. Kansas City has allowed touchdowns to tight ends two weeks in a row (but just one such touchdown in the first six weeks of the season). ... We're flagging Greg Joseph as a bottom-10 kicker. Kansas City's defense was giving up a lot of yards and points early in the season, but it's been better recently. Other than a shootout at New England, opposing kickers have scored only 2, 4 and 5 points against Kansas City since Week 5. Joseph has gone four straight games without scoring more than 6 points. ... The Browns Defense has exceeded expectations. It's on pace to finish the year with 40 sacks and a league-high 24 interceptions. But Kansas City's offense is operating at exactly 50 percent of that rate -- on pace to finish with 20 sacks and 12 interceptions. Unlikely Cleveland finishes with more than 2 sacks and a turnover.