Table of Contents
You can watch Thursday night football: Jets vs. Texans at 8:20 pm ET/5:20 pm PT on Amazon Prime Video.
Two teams with opposing records meet on TNF tonight, as the New York Jets (2-6) host the Houston Texans (6-2). The Jets find themselves mired in another season of high expectations and disappointing results, while the Texans, once again atop the AFC South, are trying to stay afloat while dealing with a plethora of devastating injuries.
Let’s go to the story of the tape.
Will the Jets offense finally take off?
Much of the fantasy football offseason was spent surrounding the hype of Aaron-Rodgers (green) ships. The math was simple: Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall were proven, elite individual talents, held back by the abysmal play of the Jets’ quarterbacks. A healthy Rodgers, fully recovered from his Achilles injury, along with a restructured offensive line, would be the missing key. That belief catapulted Hall into the top five of most fantasy drafts, while Wilson was a common pick at pick 1-2.
Until now, that belief has remained just that: a belief.
Instead, the Jets sit at 2-6, mired in controversies between coaches and front-line starters with an overwhelming sense of wasted potential. Their latest debacle: losing to the Patriots, who were previously 1-6 and without Drake Maye, 25-22.
Aaron Rodgers has been a shell of his former self; Not even the addition of his old friend, Davante Adams, has helped him deliver an excellent performance in the last two weeks. One wonders if the fact that Tom Brady is so good at 40 years old set the bar too high for other older quarterbacks.
The offensive line has been in the middle of the pack in pass protection, slightly above the middle in run blocking. And although Hall currently ranks fourth in total fantasy running back scoring (half PPR) and Wilson is 11th, it seemed like more was expected of both players per game (Hall is 16th among RBs; Wilson is 14th among WRs). ).
It all goes back to Rodgers. Sure, it hasn’t been terrible, but, as mentioned, we were all expecting more.
Subscribe to Yahoo Fantasy Forecast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube either wherever you listen.
Is this the game where he shines and the Jets offense pulls it off? Well, it wouldn’t be for lack of pressure. The Jets MUST win this game to stay alive in the playoff chase. They’re welcoming a hobbled Texans team that has cluster injuries on the offensive line and receiver, which is great news for a much-maligned Jets defense. The Texans’ defense is not the most friendly to the opponent’s passing games, but it is not the most difficult obstacle to overcome either.
The fantasy managers of Hall, Adams and Wilson are no doubt looking forward to all those easy Fantasy matchups coming up, and maybe that’s some consolation. But again, it all goes back to Rodgers. If their play doesn’t improve, then we’ll continue to see those stars’ season-long ratings look good, while the per-game ones tell the real story. If Rodgers doesn’t deliver in this game, with (for all intents and purposes) the real-life season on the line, fantasy football coaches should start lowering the expected ceilings for the big names in Gang Green.
Who will step up for the Texans?
As mentioned, the Texans enter this contest comfortably atop the AFC South, but I’m sure if you ask anyone on the team, the vibes are anything but pristine.
After losing Nico Collins for a month to a hamstring injury, the team lost Stefon Diggs to a season-ending knee injury. Most teams couldn’t survive losing their two best receivers. Tank Dell is not back to his explosive self as he continues to recover from an injury. And we haven’t even mentioned the injuries on defense and the offensive line.
Fortunately for the Texans, they have CJ Stroud.
Stroud will be needed to play his best football against a desperate New York team with its back against the wall. And a Stroud at the peak of his powers, even without a full stockade of weapons, is still dangerous. But even he needs help.
The obvious candidate to step up and help Stroud in this game is Joe Mixon, and the veteran running back has done just that. And it would probably behoove the Texans to avoid challenging the Jets’ secondary and instead attack the defense on the ground. But when it’s time to die, who will Stroud turn to? Dell still exists, but as mentioned, it hasn’t been itself; He has more games with fewer than 10 fantasy points this season than he has receiving touchdowns. Maybe Dalton Schultz will continue to see his target percentage increase and Stroud will attack the Jets up the middle. Or maybe another receiver like Xavier Hutchison or John Metchie III or even the ghost of Robert Woods delivers.
I’m not optimistic. This isn’t the easiest thing to write, but for Week 9, I would bench Stroud in this game in favor of Matthew Stafford (54% of roster) or Joe Flacco (10%).
Bye-bye pick-and-play TE week: Tyler Conklin, New York Jets (20% on roster)
Missing George Kittle’s services tonight? Well, why not give Conklin a chance?
The Texans have been tough against opposing tight ends this season, there’s no doubt about it. But if you look deeper, you’ll find they’ve allowed four receptions or a touchdown at the position in four of eight games this season. Those other four? The Colts twice (who don’t have a target-winning TE and had Anthony Richardson under center in both games), the Jaguars (without Evan Engram), and the Bills (the Bills’ entire passing offense was swallowed whole in that game ).
Now, this isn’t to say that Conklin is suddenly going to demand targets from Adams, Wilson and Hall, or that he’s going to “figure out” the Texans defense, or that he’s even a top-tier fantasy TE option. But we’ve seen Rodgers look toward Conklin in the red zone this season; has five goals within the 20 this year; That’s a lot if you take into account Adams, Wilson, Hall and, of course, even Lazardo They have sent red zone looks on this team. He’s also on a two-game touchdown streak, so since the Jets aren’t good at converting rushing touchdowns in the red area, I expect Rodgers to look to the tight end for scoring opportunities. There may not be a floor, but there are advantages if you need one with Conklin.