Bills vs. Raiders Fantasy Football QB and WR Advice

The Buffalo Bills and Oakland Raiders passing games could not be any more different. Derek Carr is fifth in the league in passing yards while Tyrod Taylor is 29th. Carr has thrown for over 1,000 more yards than Taylor this season. The Raiders thrive through the air while the Bills have the number one rushing attack in the league.

Buffalo has 20 rushing touchdowns this season and 11 passing touchdowns. The Raiders have almost the exact opposite stats with 22 passing touchdowns and 12 rushing touchdowns.

Derek Carr is quickly becoming one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. As mentioned before he’s thrown for the fifth most passing yards, has the seventh most touchdowns and the seventh most total points for quarterbacks in standard yahoo leagues.

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There is some concern about his dislocated thumb but he finished up the game last week and led his them to victory. NFL.com reports that he doesn’t want to talk about his thumb.

“The Oakland Raiders quarterback, with his hands in the pocket of his hoodie during Wednesday’s news conference, repeatedly replied “It’s great, thanks for asking,” to each question.”

Carr thrives throwing to his top two targets Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree. Cooper is fifth in the league in receptions and sixth in yards. He isn’t as dominate of a fantasy player because he has just the third most receiving touchdowns on his own team with just three. Both Seth Roberts and Michael Crabtree are ahead of him.

Crabtree is putting up another good year. He has six touchdown receptions which is tied for eighth best in the league with several other players. His 711 receiving yards has him on pace to break 1,000 yards on the season.

Tyrod Taylor doesn’t put up a ton of stats throwing the ball but in his defense, no one at the wide receiver position can seem to stay healthy this year. Due to the fact that he leads all quarterbacks in rushing yards this season, he manages to be the 17th best quarterback in average points per game in standard yahoo leagues. While things are looking up for Taylor with the return of Sammy Watkins, the unit on a whole remains too injury plagued to trust Taylor as a starter.

Percy Harvin who is suffering from migraine headaches after a concussion has been ruled out. Robert Woods who has a sprained knee was ruled out at well. That leaves Sammy Watkins and Marquise Goodwin as the Bills top two targets.

Goodwin has proven to be a big play threat but little else and he cannot be trusted to start in fantasy leagues. The Bills other receivers will be Brandon Tate, Justin Hunter and recently called up Dez Lewis. Neither of them merit a start either.

Sammy Watkins remains the Bills only viable receiver to consider starting in fantasy football. He returned last week and had a decent game on the whole. He had three receptions for 80 yards with 62 of them coming on one long play up the sideline. He’s still not 100 percent and might not be for the rest of the year.

According to BuffaloBills.com, Watkins admitted to some pain following last week.

"“Playing the game I came out of it a little bit sore after being out for eight weeks. So we expected that and I expected that myself. Right now it’s feeling okay. Two days ago I would’ve said it’s sore. Right now the focus is to keep rehabbing and get ready for the game.”"

Watkins remains a huge question mark. Offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn confirmed Watkins still has a broken bone in his foot so fantasy owners should proceed with caution. According to the Buffalo News, Lynn said:

"“Well, I mean, the guy has a broken bone in his foot. I don’t know if he’s going to play one play or 20 plays. So we’ll just see how big his role is. I’d like to keep him in there the whole time, but I can’t say. He’s tough, he’s very determined to stay on the football field, but he has a broken bone in his foot at the end of the day.”"

It doesn’t sound great for Watkins but he should get healthier and healthier as the season goes on. The Bills don’t really have anyone else to throw to and so even at 75 percent or whatever he is, he’s still not a bad option in fantasy leagues.

Next: Bills vs. Raiders Fantasy Football Running Back Advice

If you have Watkins, Carr, Cooper or Crabtree, I would start them, otherwise the rest of the players in the passing attacks in this game I would leave on the bench.

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