Paying attention to who is getting targeted and/or getting carries in the red zone and down near the goal line are both very important in all fantasy formats. Touchdowns are major point boosters in PPR leagues and even more so in standard. The weekly report will be a one-stop shop where you can find all the information you could possibly need when it comes to the red zone. Let’s dive in!
Red Zone Targets
JuJu Smith-Schuster – JuJu had a great day at the office as he had 13 receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown came on one of his EIGHT red zone targets. He hauled in five of those red zone targets and if he continues to see this type of volume near the end zone he will almost certainly have double-digit touchdown receptions this year. He had 15 red zone targets in 2017, meaning in just this one game he had more than half the targets he had all of last season in his rookie campaign.
A.J. Green – Green was targeted in the red zone three times this week and he managed to haul in two of them for a pair of touchdowns. Green has always been a strong goal line asset and his ability to go up and make tough catches is a big reason why. Last season he had six touchdowns in the red zone on 16 targets. He already has four touchdowns this year and, barring an injury, appears to be heading towards setting a new career high (current career best mark is 11).
Michael Thomas – Thomas had another impressive performance this week in the red zone; he caught three of his four targets and scored two touchdowns. Through two games Thomas already has seven targets in the red zone and has produced very well on them with six receptions and three touchdowns. Brees fully trusts Thomas to make plays on any route or play drawn up in the red zone, meaning fantasy owners can continue to expect Thomas to score touchdowns often.
*The below tables are the top-10 in targets for the season in the red zone and inside the 10 yard line. Take note that targets inside the 10 are also included in inside the 20. These tables will be made Thursday’s as to not include Thursday night games.
Inside the 20 | Inside the 10 | |||||||||
Targets | Receptions | Catch % | Touchdowns | Targets | Receptions | Catch % | Touchdowns | |||
JuJu Smith-Schuster | 8 | 5 | 63% | 1 | Michael Thomas | 4 | 4 | 100% | 3 | |
Michael Thomas | 7 | 6 | 86% | 3 | Cooper Kupp | 4 | 3 | 75% | 1 | |
Cooper Kupp | 6 | 4 | 67% | 1 | Marvin Jones | 4 | 1 | 25% | 1 | |
Davante Adams | 5 | 3 | 60% | 2 | David Johnson | 4 | 2 | 50% | 0 | |
Marvin Jones | 5 | 1 | 20% | 1 | JuJu Smith-Schuster | 3 | 2 | 67% | 1 | |
Alvin Kamara | 5 | 3 | 60% | 1 | Melvin Gordon | 3 | 3 | 100% | 2 | |
Theo Riddick | 5 | 5 | 100% | 0 | A.J. Green | 3 | 2 | 67% | 2 | |
Nine tied with | 4 | John Brown | 3 | 1 | 33% | 1 | ||||
Austin Hooper | 3 | 2 | 67% | 1 | ||||||
21 tied with | 2 |
Red Zone Carries
Todd Gurley – Gurley was handed the ball 10 times in the red zone this week, yes 10! He turned those 10 attempts into three touchdowns and through two weeks he has nearly DOUBLE the red zone carries of any other running back. It’s not even like he needs these carries to be on the goal line to turn them into touchdowns either (as you will see below). Gurley has the talent to do things that almost no one else can do on a football field. There is a reason this guy went number one in your fantasy draft.
Feed Gurley! @TG3II punches in his first touchdown at the #RamsHouse in 2018! pic.twitter.com/Oqu7ahoC4k
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) September 16, 2018
Jay Ajayi – Ajayi had four red zone carries this week, with three of them coming inside the opponent’s five yard line. He rumbled one of those carries into the end zone for his third rushing touchdown of the year. He had just one rushing touchdown in all of 2017, so this start to the year is a very good sign for his fantasy owners. Thus far, he is eighth in red zone carries with six, sixth in carries inside the 10 with five, and tied for first in carries inside the five with three. Keep in mind though that he is questionable this week with a back injury and is unlikely to play.
Melvin Gordon – Gordon only had three red zone carries this week, but he did manage to turn one of them into a touchdown. The reason he lands here is because he also had three red zone receptions this week and he was able to take two of them to the house. Six red zone touches and three touchdowns are all positives for the late first round fantasy back. Gordon has had double-digit touchdown campaigns the last two seasons, so his owners can expect a lot more to come.
*The below tables are the top-10 in carries for the season in the red zone and inside the five yard line. Take note that carries inside the five are also included in inside the 20. These tables will be made Thursday’s as to not include Thursday night games.
Inside the 20 | Inside the 5 | |||||||
Attempts | Yards | Touchdowns | Attempts | Yards | Touchdowns | |||
Todd Gurley | 15 | 52 | 3 | Todd Gurley | 3 | 4 | 2 | |
Adrian Peterson | 8 | 12 | 1 | Adrian Peterson | 3 | 4 | 1 | |
Alvin Kamara | 7 | 12 | 1 | Joe Mixon | 3 | -2 | 1 | |
Joe Mixon | 7 | 5 | 1 | Alfred Morris | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
Alfred Morris | 7 | 10 | 0 | Jay Ajayi | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
Jay Ajayi | 6 | 20 | 3 | James Conner | 3 | 5 | 2 | |
Ezekiel Elliott | 6 | 22 | 2 | Carlos Hyde | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
Lamar Miller | 6 | 5 | 0 | Seven tied with | 2 | |||
Four tied with | 5 |
Red Zone Passing
Ben Roethlisberger – Big Ben had an insane 14 pass attempts in the red zone this week with five of them coming inside the 10 yard line. He turned two of those 14 attempts into touchdowns. This huge volume game moved him into the number two spot in red zone pass attempts and gave him his first two red zone touchdowns on the year. Remarkably, the 14 pass attempts were not the only thing he did in the red zone, as he also scrambled from the three yard line and dove in for a touchdown. It was a monster fantasy game from the veteran QB.
Blake Bortles – Bortles is one of least consistent quarterbacks in football, but he brought his A-game in the Jaguars 31-20 win over the Patriots in the AFC Championship game rematch. He had a very strong performance in the red zone, as he tossed two touchdowns on seven attempts. Both scores came on pass attempts inside the five yard line and they should be big confidence boosters for him going forward. Leonard Fournette being out for this game had a huge factor in why Bortles had so many red zone attempts, but he did not disappoint.
???? @Aesj88
— NFL (@NFL) September 16, 2018
????: CBS #DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/4OpfH0VCRW
Patrick Mahomes – Mahomes makes his second straight appearance here and with good reason; he tossed FOUR red zone touchdowns on just six attempts. He now has six red zone touchdowns through two games and leads the NFL in that category. He also leads the NFL in touchdown passes inside the 10 with four and is fourth in red zone completion percentage with his 73% mark. This guy has simply been incredibly and is the early MVP favorite. With his electric arm, talent, and surrounding weapons there is very little reason to believe that he will not have continued success.
*The below tables are the top-10 in pass attempts for the season in the red zone and inside the 10 yard line. Take note that pass attempts inside the 10 are also included in inside the 20. These tables will be made Thursday’s as to not include Thursday night games.
Inside the 20 | Inside the 10 | |||||||||||
Attempts | Completetions | Comp% | TD | INT | Attempts | Completetions | Comp% | TD | INT | |||
Drew Brees | 18 | 12 | 63% | 4 | 0 | Jared Goff | 10 | 5 | 50% | 2 | 0 | |
Ben Roethlisberger | 16 | 8 | 50% | 2 | 1 | Matt Ryan | 9 | 2 | 22% | 1 | 0 | |
Jared Goff | 15 | 9 | 56% | 3 | 0 | Drew Brees | 7 | 5 | 71% | 4 | 0 | |
Matthew Stafford | 15 | 7 | 44% | 2 | 0 | Matthew Stafford | 7 | 1 | 13% | 1 | 0 | |
Joe Flacco | 13 | 9 | 69% | 4 | 0 | Philip Rivers | 7 | 6 | 86% | 4 | 0 | |
Jimmy Garoppolo | 13 | 7 | 41% | 2 | 0 | Mitchell Trubisky | 7 | 4 | 57% | 2 | 0 | |
Matt Ryan | 13 | 5 | 36% | 2 | 1 | Joe Flacco | 6 | 3 | 50% | 2 | 0 | |
Philip Rivers | 12 | 10 | 83% | 6 | 0 | Andrew Luck | 6 | 5 | 83% | 3 | 0 | |
Andrew Luck | 12 | 8 | 67% | 3 | 1 | Patrick Mahomes | 6 | 4 | 67% | 4 | 0 | |
Mitchell Trubisky | 12 | 7 | 58% | 2 | 0 | Blake Bortles | 6 | 3 | 50% | 3 | 0 | |
Sam Bradford | 6 | 3 | 50% | 0 | 0 |
Team Defense Red Zone Stats
Carolina Panthers – The Panthers failed to stop the Cowboys from their lone red zone attempt in week 1 and that carried over this week as the Panthers failed to stop the Falcons on all four of their red zone drives. Through two weeks the Panthers have failed to stop either team from finishing off a red zone drive with a touchdown. The miserable five-for-five is only worse than one team (more on that later). This defense simply isn’t very good.
Kansas City Chiefs – The Chiefs are the only defense worse than the Panthers in the red zone thus far. This week they let the Steelers score touchdowns on all four of their red zone drives. After allowing the Chargers to have a perfect two-for-two on them in week one, the Chiefs have now failed to stop any opposing offense in the red zone on six attempts. This defense lacks talent and it’s likely that they will continue to be torn apart.
*The below table shows the red zone stats for all 32 teams. How many attempts have been made against each team, how many touchdowns were converted, and the percentage of how often those red zone drives result in touchdowns. I organized this a bit differently this week; it’s now by touchdown percentage instead of attempts.
Team | RZAtt | RZTD | RZTD% | Team | RZAtt | RZTD | RZTD% | |
Chiefs | 6 | 6 | 100% | Patriots | 8 | 4 | 50% | |
Panthers | 5 | 5 | 100% | 49ers | 6 | 3 | 50% | |
Bills | 10 | 9 | 90% | Broncos | 4 | 2 | 50% | |
Bucs | 8 | 7 | 88% | Colts | 4 | 2 | 50% | |
Steelers | 7 | 6 | 86% | Rams | 2 | 1 | 50% | |
Chargers | 5 | 4 | 80% | Raiders | 9 | 4 | 44% | |
Redskins | 5 | 4 | 80% | Eagles | 7 | 3 | 43% | |
Falcons | 5 | 4 | 80% | Cowboys | 7 | 3 | 43% | |
Seahawks | 4 | 3 | 75% | Packers | 7 | 3 | 43% | |
Bears | 4 | 3 | 75% | Giants | 5 | 2 | 40% | |
Cardinals | 10 | 7 | 70% | Jets | 5 | 2 | 40% | |
Texans | 6 | 4 | 67% | Lions | 9 | 3 | 33% | |
Bengals | 6 | 4 | 67% | Jaguars | 4 | 1 | 25% | |
Ravens | 5 | 3 | 60% | Dolphins | 4 | 1 | 25% | |
Saints | 5 | 3 | 60% | Vikings | 9 | 2 | 22% | |
Browns | 7 | 4 | 57% | Titans | 6 | 1 | 17% |