Happy and healthy Thanksgiving everyone! Week 12 is upon us and potentially the last week to make a move to get a playoff spot, or perhaps, like my big money league, you have two weeks left. Either way time is running out and getting those all important red zone plays in your lineups can upgrade your chance of posting touchdowns and winning your playoff-clinching games. Let’s see who has been the most consistent in the skill positions over the last few weeks inside the opponents 20-yard line.
Red Zone Passing
Justin Herbert LAC - Despite making news this week before the game for his new haircut, the pimply-faced rookie had his best red zone showing of the year in Week 11, which shouldn’t be surprising against the Jets. He posted 11 passing attempts though three were inside the 10 and two went for touchdowns. Two more games against the AFC East in the next two weeks linger with Buffalo and New England followed by Atlanta and Las Vegas so it’s not as though they face the toughest pass defenses down the stretch.
Andy Dalton DAL - Dalton was back under center for the Cowboys and it made a big difference in their offense. His seven red zone attempts in Week 11 was one less than Ben DiNucci and Garrett Gilbert combined for in his absence the last couple of games. Of those seven, three were inside the 10 and three went for touchdowns. His return to the lineup for the Dallas weapons makes them much more fantasy viable again down the stretch but there are some tougher matchups against Washington on Thanksgiving, Baltimore in Week 13, Cincinnati in Week 14 as the easiest, and San Francisco in Week 15.
Jared Goff LAR - Goff was heading into a tricky match-up on Monday night with a team that likes to pressure the quarterback and Goff not previously doing well against pressure, but that didn’t stop him from having a good week. He posted eight red zone passing attempts, his most since Week 1, with five of those coming inside the 10 and three winding up in the endzone. They play San Fran next week in a tough match-up again but then go on a stretch against Arizona, New England, the Jets, and Seattle to wrap up the fantasy playoffs and with as much talent as they have he should have more strong weeks near the endzone again.
Derek Carr LV - Carr went pass-for-pass with Patrick Mahomes on Sunday Night Football until the final attempt of the night which ended the game but in the process, he had his best red zone week since Week 4. The seven attempts are tied for second-most on the season and five of those were inside the 10 with three going for scores. While the prior few weeks haven’t been up to what the first several weeks of the season were for him, the remaining schedule for the Raiders is a pretty easy one with the Colts being the only really strong defense left to face.
Taysom Hill NO - Obviously his biggest topic of discussion during the week was his position eligibility of either QB or TE depending on the DFS or seasonal site you were playing on but his on the field performance speaks for itself. He had five red zone passing attempts and also ran the ball four times inside the 20 with two carries going for scores. The overall play was efficient and obviously he’ll be a different type QB than Drew Brees but the red zone play was good too and there’s clearly weapons for him to use as well as his legs to capitalize with as well making him intriguing for the next couple of weeks.
Red Zone Rushing
Josh Jacobs RB LV - Jacobs is one of only three running backs in the NFL to have posted at least three red zone carries in each of their last three team games along with Dalvin Cook and someone else in this section. Jacobs has been a volume back all season and that’s not surprising and he’s had three individual weeks with more red zone carries than the five he had in Week 11 but it’s the consistency we’re focusing on here. He carried it four times inside the five on Sunday night and punched one in for a score. There are some tougher rush defenses coming up for Las Vegas but the volume alone helps make the case for him to keep up his current pace.
Kalen Ballage RB LAC - Ballage is the only running back in the league to have at least four red zone carries in each of the last three team games played which is impressive since he’s on his third team just this year. The Chargers appear bent on using Ballage the most in the backfield right now as Joshua Kelley is still not that impressive when he carries it. With Ballage being used this much right now and the Chargers facing some softer rush defenses down the stretch he could continue to see Flex appeal even when Austin Ekeler comes back as there’s no guarantee they rush him back in.
Antonio Gibson RB WAS - Washington has been overlooked most of the year including Gibson but he’s been seeing more and more work each of the last few weeks in the red zone including being one of only six backs with at least three carries in each of the last two games. Gibson looks to be the favorite in the backfield right now. Alex Smith has the offense moving once again and that bodes well for his chances of getting shots at punching in scores like he did once on Sunday. There’s a mixed bag of rush defenses coming up for Washington but they are squarely in the hunt for the NFC East expect them to keep riding the hot hand.
Kenyan Drake RB ARI - Aside from Week 1 and the week that he missed with an injury, he’s had at least three red zone carries in each game and led the team in that stat each week too. Even when Chase Edmonds has split work with him the last few weeks, Drake has still easily out-snapped him and out-carried him and gotten far more goal line touches. Drake remains an RB2 or Flex option going forward given how they’re using him in the offense and the lack of carries he’s losing especially inside the 20.
Red Zone Receiving
Mike Evans WR TB - Evans is the only receiver in the league that has seen at least two red zone targets in each of the last three weeks and 10 of his 17 on the season have come in that span as well. He caught all three on Monday including one for a score. The fact that they’ve brought in Antonio Brown and Chris Godwin came back from injury and yet Evans still got the targets and was covered by Jalen Ramsey for most of Monday Night is encouraging and means he has very good fantasy value down the stretch.
Michael Thomas WR NO - Thomas led the league in red zone targets this week with four and caught two of them and his four targets accounted for 80-percent of the total red zone passing attempts from Taysom Hill . He’s also been a progressively bigger part of the offense for the Saints since returning to action three weeks ago and that is seen in his doubling of red zone targets in that span too going from one to two to four. Hill was pretty clearly trying to get the ball to Thomas every chance he got and that shouldn’t change as he’s easily the best weapon in the passing game for him to use.
Tyreek Hill WR KC - It was a shootout in the desert this weekend and Hill was a beneficiary of that with three targets going his way. Coming off the bye week, that represents the second straight game with three red zone targets for Hill making him just the second receiver to pull that feat off this season to this point with only Davante Adams being the other one. The Chiefs have the top passing offense in the league and there’s no real sign of them slowing down though they have a bit of a mixed bag of games coming up in terms of opposing defenses but Hill is regaining his number one wideout value in the most important part of the season.
Jonnu Smith TE TEN - Everyone loves to say that Smith is having a disappointing season and to a degree he is but here’s the thing, he’s one of only two tight ends to have multiple red zone targets in two of the last three games this year. He’s also third in the NFL in red zone targets this year with 13 on the season behind only Darren Waller (15) and Travis Kelce (14) and tied with Jimmy Graham . Nearly half of his red zone targets have come in the last three games as well even with A.J. Brown and Corey Davis healthy so he’s still getting work in the most important part of the field and he even ran in a score the other week.
Red Zone Defense
Seattle Seahawks - Seattle’s defense hasn’t been good. We can all agree to that. However, there are some interesting things that make them a buy low team to watch for red zone performance. They’ve registered 13 sacks in the three games with Carlos Dunlap and have made teams put longer drives together instead of picking apart the secondary as easily. They also face some of the worst offenses in the next three weeks which could really help their percentages in terms of red zone conversions allowed.
New York Jets - There is very little the Jets defense or really the entire team is doing right at this point but one thing they are doing better than most teams is stopping opponents from scoring in the red zone. They have the fourth-best red zone conversion percentage in the league at 52.5-percent meaning they only allow just over half (21-of-40) opponent trips to their 20 to wind up in the endzone. The other interesting thing is that 17 of the 21 allowed touchdowns have come from inside their five-yard line meaning their defense is pretty good at closing gaps in the shorter field and making it tough on opposing offenses.