Fantasy Football QB & WR Outlook for Bills vs. Browns
By Dennis Moody
The fantasy football QB & WR Outlook for Bills vs. Browns is extremely bleak. Proceed with caution.
What do you do when the 28th best passing attack in the NFL faces off against the 31st best passing attack in the league? You leave a majority of the players involved in the passing game on your bench. Part of the reason why Cleveland and Buffalo have struggled so badly this year is due to their inability to move the ball through the air.
The Browns have had six different players throw a pass for their team this season. This week against Buffalo it will be Robert Griffin III who has played two games for Cleveland and hasn’t been able to generate some of the magic he did earlier in his career. He hasn’t thrown for over 200 yards in either game and has an interception in both. He doesn’t belong on your fantasy roster but if he is, he should be on your bench.
Griffin threw for just over 100 yards last week and Terrelle Pryor Sr., who is having a nice year suffered because of his play. He had his worst game of the season with just one reception for three yards.
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Pyror has 858 yards receiving this year which is pretty incredible considering how bad Cleveland’s offense is. He isn’t a bad option as a WR3 in fantasy football but his five total touchdowns this season are the reason why he doesn’t have more value.
Cleveland tight end Gary Barnidge exploded last year for 1,043 yards receiving and nine touchdowns. Unfortunately, that is looking more like an aberration as he has just 495 yards this season with one touchdown. Since October he hasn’t had more than 27 yards receiving in a game and he can’t be trusted in fantasy football.
Buffalo averages over 9.1 more points per game than Cleveland but that’s mostly due to their rushing game. Tyrod Taylor continues to struggle to find the open receiver and it’s no longer certain he is supported as the starter by everyone in the organization. He’s playing for his job and so that Buffalo might pick up the enormous option on his contract which could motivate him. Cleveland has given up the second-most points in the NFL but Tyrod is still not startable in fantasy leagues despite his 471 yards rushing with six rushing touchdowns on the season.
Sammy Watkins continues to play through pain and a broken foot limiting his production since his return from injured reserve. He finally got into the end zone last week but he remains a risky play. He is startable as a WR3 but he is a high risk, high reward type of start. In the fantasy playoffs, that’s a difficult thing to swallow. You need to decide based on your opponent whether the gamble is worth it.
Robert Woods and Watkins saw the field for the first time together last week but Woods was unable to capitalize on the focus put on Watkins and finished with one reception for 29 yards. Bills tight end Charles Clay finally found the end zone for the first time this season against the Steelers, but over the last two years, it’s been proven that Tyrod Taylor is unable to utilize his talents in the passing game. Neither Woods or Clay are good starts this week for your team.
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The Bills will look to run the ball against Cleveland who has the second worst rushing defense in the league which doesn’t bode well for fantasy production in the passing game. If you have Sammy Watkins or Terrelle Pryor Sr., you can start either as a WR3 but I wouldn’t be overly excited about playing them this week.