This article is part of our On Target series.
Last week's highlighted matchups were pretty interesting, and I think all five played a part in the outcome of their games. Demaryius Thomas was allowed little space against Arizona while Emmanuel Sanders ran roughshod over the Cardinals. Jarvis Landry ate M.J. Stewart's lunch and the Browns almost got another win. Dede Westbrook and the Jaguars fell apart against an improving Texans defense, though my boy Josh Reynolds didn't get to go against Richard Sherman as the cornerback was inactive. T.Y. Hilton scored twice against the Bills but did not have a big game outside of that.
Let's get into the good, the bad and the interesting here in Week 8!
Adam Thielen vs. P.J. Williams
An unstoppable force meets the most movable object in all of football. Thielen has been the best WR in fantasy through seven weeks and has seven straight 100-yard games. He is tops in the league in all the important advanced stat categories and has a target share that would make Calvin Johnson blush. Williams is the exact opposite; he has allowed 0.42 fantasy points per route run against and a 64 percent catch rate. He has a PFF grade of only 40.9, which is quite poor. Simply put, this is the best spot that Thielen could ask to be in all year long.
It seems mean to keep picking on poor Stewart, but as long as he keeps helping my readers make money, than he is going to keep
Last week's highlighted matchups were pretty interesting, and I think all five played a part in the outcome of their games. Demaryius Thomas was allowed little space against Arizona while Emmanuel Sanders ran roughshod over the Cardinals. Jarvis Landry ate M.J. Stewart's lunch and the Browns almost got another win. Dede Westbrook and the Jaguars fell apart against an improving Texans defense, though my boy Josh Reynolds didn't get to go against Richard Sherman as the cornerback was inactive. T.Y. Hilton scored twice against the Bills but did not have a big game outside of that.
Let's get into the good, the bad and the interesting here in Week 8!
Adam Thielen vs. P.J. Williams
An unstoppable force meets the most movable object in all of football. Thielen has been the best WR in fantasy through seven weeks and has seven straight 100-yard games. He is tops in the league in all the important advanced stat categories and has a target share that would make Calvin Johnson blush. Williams is the exact opposite; he has allowed 0.42 fantasy points per route run against and a 64 percent catch rate. He has a PFF grade of only 40.9, which is quite poor. Simply put, this is the best spot that Thielen could ask to be in all year long.
It seems mean to keep picking on poor Stewart, but as long as he keeps helping my readers make money, than he is going to keep appearing here. The terrible slot corner will be matched up on the road this week against the talented Mr. Boyd. Boyd has one of the best slot performance grades that PFF has given out this year, while Stewart has allowed an obscene 0.52 fantasy points per route run against. That basically means if someone is being covered by Stewart, they are starting out with a baseline of 12 or so fantasy points.
Jermaine Kearse vs Bryce Callahan
Maybe you fell victim to the Kearse bagel last week but still realize that he was on the field almost the whole game, and you want to go back to the well in a deeper league or a large-field DFS contest. This may just not be a great bounce-back spot for Kearse, unfortunately. Callahan grades out as a solid slot corner; he only allows a target about 12 prcent of the time when he drops back in coverage and has a 75.1 PFF grade, which is one of the highest of all defensive backs. Robby Anderson might make sense as a pivot this week.
Martavis Bryant vs. Nate Hairston
While all of the palace intrigue going on in Oakland right now is about Jordy Nelson and Jalen Richard, I actually expect Bryant to make the biggest leap in fantasy value. The athletic freak has only been active for five games for Oakland and is the best pure talent in the WR group, and that talent should reveal itself. He matches up this week with Hairston, one of the 20 lowest graded cover corners in the NFL by PFF who allows an 81 percent catch conversion rate while in coverage. This should be a good spot for Bryant's first game as a starter.
Josh Gordon vs. Tre'Davious White
White keeps making this list, but for the opposite reasons of Stewart. The Bills CB is supposed to be an "elite" or shutdown corner, but he has allowed some good fantasy games against him this season. Gordon appears to have earned the trust of Tom Brady and the Patriots coaching staff but will have a difficult matchup against White, who has allowed only 0.23 fantasy points per route run against and under a yard per route covered, both of which are great numbers. Gordon had his best game as a Patriot last week, but this will be his toughest test yet.
