Mike Williams isn’t playing. I don’t think Keenan Allen is playing either. And I am very interested in Josh Palmer and DeAndre Carter this week. They look like lesser players who could come through nicely, given their matchup.
The Chargers have been a huge disappointment, of course. They’ve had some injuries, (most notably Allen and tackle Rashawn Slater). And there are design or structural problems with their offense. They don’t have a dynamic speed receiver, making for a stodgy attack.
But they’ve got Atlanta on Sunday, so I think we can put a lot of those issues on hold for a week. The Falcons have been dreadful against the pass – especially against wide receiver. Atlanta ranks last in pass defense, and it’s been wide receivers who’ve tended to do the damage.
The chart below shows every wide receiver who’s caught a pass against Atlanta. They’re in chronological order. Every receiver who’s caught a touchdown, I put a black dot in front of his name. Every receiver who’s gone over 70 yards, I’ve given a dot. And the same for each with at least 5 catches.
After eight games, I see 12 wide receivers with at least two black dots – 1-2 per game.
With Williams (ankle) and Allen (hamstring) shelved, the Chargers will be going with Palmer and Carter as their two main wide receivers. I’m expecting they’ll be generating some black dots.
| WIDE RECEIVERS AGAINST ATLANTA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tm | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD | PPR |
| •• Michael Thomas | N.O. | 8 | 5 | 57 | 2 | 22.7 |
| •• Jarvis Landry | N.O. | 9 | 7 | 114 | 0 | 18.4 |
| Chris Olave | N.O. | 3 | 3 | 41 | 0 | 7.1 |
| ••• Cooper Kupp | LAR | 14 | 11 | 108 | 2 | 33.8 |
| • Allen Robinson | LAR | 5 | 4 | 53 | 1 | 15.3 |
| Ben Skowronek | LAR | 3 | 2 | 16 | 0 | 3.6 |
| Brandon Powell | LAR | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | -1.0 |
| •• DK Metcalf | Sea. | 12 | 5 | 64 | 1 | 17.4 |
| •• Tyler Lockett | Sea. | 11 | 9 | 76 | 0 | 16.6 |
| Marquise Goodwin | Sea. | 5 | 2 | 31 | 0 | 5.1 |
| Penny Hart | Sea. | 1 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 2.5 |
| •• D. Peoples-Jones | Cle. | 9 | 5 | 71 | 0 | 12.1 |
| David Bell | Cle. | 3 | 2 | 35 | 0 | 5.5 |
| Amari Cooper | Cle. | 4 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 1.9 |
| • Chris Godwin | T.B. | 6 | 6 | 61 | 0 | 12.3 |
| • Mike Evans | T.B. | 8 | 4 | 81 | 0 | 12.1 |
| Scott Miller | T.B. | 7 | 4 | 35 | 0 | 7.5 |
| Russell Gage | T.B. | 6 | 2 | 20 | 0 | 4.0 |
| ••• Brandon Aiyuk | S.F. | 11 | 8 | 83 | 2 | 28.3 |
| •• Deebo Samuel | S.F. | 10 | 7 | 79 | 0 | 16.0 |
| Jauan Jennings | S.F. | 3 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 3.8 |
| ••• JaMarr Chase | Cin. | 11 | 8 | 130 | 2 | 33.0 |
| ••• Tyler Boyd | Cin. | 9 | 8 | 155 | 1 | 29.5 |
| •• Tee Higgins | Cin. | 7 | 5 | 93 | 0 | 14.3 |
| ••• DJ Moore | Car. | 11 | 6 | 152 | 1 | 27.5 |
| • Terrace Marshall | Car. | 9 | 4 | 87 | 0 | 12.7 |
| • Laviska Shenault | Car. | 6 | 5 | 26 | 0 | 7.6 |
—Ian Allan