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. Each week I will point out some notable performances for that week and then include season totals. Let’s dive in!
Red Zone Targets
Jordan Reed – Reed was targeted twice in the red zone this week and hauled in one of them for a touchdown. That’s not a lot of volume, so why did he crack this list? Simple, Reed’s touchdown came on a pass from Colt McCoy after he took over for an injured Alex Smith . In fact, Reed and McCoy appeared locked in together as McCoy targeted Reed three times and Reed hauled in all three passes. The Redskins take on the Cowboys on Thanksgiving and McCoy will once again be under center. The Cowboys defense has been solid this year, but they have struggled against tight ends and Reed could be in for a strong game.
Larry Fitzgerald – Fitz was only targeted two times in the red zone this week, but both targets resulted in touchdown receptions. They were his only two receptions on the afternoon, but he made the most of them. For the season, Fitz has hauled in 7-of-11 red zone targets for four touchdowns. His red zone target percentage of 32% ranks sixth in the NFL, but unfortunately for Fitz’s owners the Cardinals are not in the red zone too often.
Kenny Golladay – Golladay was targeted three times in the red zone and he caught one of them for a touchdown. Overall, Golladay racked up a season high 14 targets and eight receptions. The touchdown was his fourth red zone touchdown of the season. In fact, he has yet to catch a ball in the red zone and it not go for a touchdown as he has four red zone receptions on nine targets for the year. Golladay should be in line for another high volume day on Thanksgiving in a matchup with the Bears stout defense.
*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.
Inside the 20 | Inside the 10 | |||||||||
Targets | Receptions | Catch % | Touchdowns | Targets | Receptions | Catch % | Touchdowns | |||
Alvin Kamara | 21 | 16 | 76% | 3 | DeAndre Hopkins | 13 | 6 | 46% | 3 | |
JuJu Smith-Schuster | 21 | 11 | 52% | 2 | Michael Thomas | 11 | 9 | 82% | 5 | |
Davante Adams | 20 | 9 | 45% | 8 | T.Y. Hilton | 9 | 4 | 44% | 4 | |
Michael Thomas | 20 | 17 | 85% | 6 | Jared Cook | 9 | 7 | 78% | 2 | |
Odell Beckham | 18 | 6 | 33% | 4 | Chris Godwin | 9 | 4 | 44% | 4 | |
Zach Ertz | 17 | 10 | 59% | 5 | Corey Davis | 8 | 2 | 25% | 1 | |
DeAndre Hopkins | 17 | 10 | 59% | 6 | Melvin Gordon | 8 | 6 | 75% | 3 | |
Travis Kelce | 17 | 10 | 59% | 6 | Austin Hooper | 8 | 6 | 75% | 3 | |
Eric Ebron | 16 | 8 | 50% | 7 | Eleven tied with | 7 | - | - | - | |
Jarvis Landry | 16 | 7 | 44% | 2 |
Red Zone Carries
Saquon Barkley – Barkley had himself a day on Sunday and had a huge usage rate in the red zone. He plunged in two touchdowns on eight red zone rush attempts and also added in a receiving touchdown. His nine red zone touches led all running backs, as did his three touchdowns. Barkley has had no issue living up to his preseason hype as he now has 158 carries for 728 yards (4.6 YPC) and seven touchdowns on the ground and 64 receptions for 540 yards and three touchdowns in the passing game.
Mark Ingram – Ingram picked up six red zone rush attempts this week and turned two of them into touchdowns in the Saints 48-7 blowout win over the Eagles. Ingram received five more carries in the red zone than backfield mate Kamara and he made the most of them. Ingram gets a larger chunk of the action when the Saints are up big. The Saints have a matchup with the Falcons in Week 12 and it should be a high scoring affair with both Ingram and Kamara being heavily involved. However, this does appear to be more of a Kamara game than an Ingram one.
Leonard Fournette – The Jaguars only had three red zone plays on offense in their 20-16 loss to the Steelers. All three of those plays were carries by Fournette and he managed to go over the top of the Steelers defense for a touchdown. Fournette has shown the ability to be a deadly red zone threat and seemingly gets into the end zone on any carry inside the five yard line. He now has 250 total yards, seven receptions, and three touchdowns in two games since returning to action.
*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.
Inside the 20 | Inside the 5 | |||||||
Attempts | Yards | Touchdowns | Attempts | Yards | Touchdowns | |||
Todd Gurley | 55 | 175 | 13 | Todd Gurley | 15 | 9 | 7 | |
Alvin Kamara | 37 | 108 | 9 | James Conner | 11 | 10 | 7 | |
Saquon Barkley | 30 | 78 | 5 | Kareem Hunt | 11 | 18 | 6 | |
James Conner | 30 | 87 | 8 | Alvin Kamara | 10 | 14 | 7 | |
Kareem Hunt | 27 | 69 | 7 | Carlos Hyde | 10 | 6 | 5 | |
Adrian Peterson | 26 | 45 | 5 | Saquon Barkley | 9 | 5 | 3 | |
Ezekiel Elliott | 25 | 65 | 4 | Mark Ingram | 9 | 7 | 3 | |
Sony Michel | 23 | 52 | 3 | Ezekiel Elliott | 8 | 5 | 2 | |
Lamar Miller | 23 | 39 | 2 | Sony Michel | 8 | 7 | 2 | |
Christian McCaffrey | 22 | 50 | 4 | Jordan Howard | 8 | 7 | 4 | |
Alfred Morris | 22 | 22 | 1 |
Red Zone Passing
Jared Goff – Goff led the NFL in red zone pass attempts this week with 13. He managed to throw three touchdowns on those 13 attempts and he also ran one in on his lone red zone rush attempt. Goff now leads the NFL in red zone passing attempts with 74 and he has thrown 19 touchdowns. The downside is that he has thrown two red zone interceptions, which is third most in the NFL only behind Big Ben and Keenum. The Rams offense continues to fire on all cylinders and Goff should have plenty of action in the red zone for the remainder of the season.
Patrick Mahomes – Mahomes tossed three touchdowns on four red zone pass attempts. He also ran the ball three times in the red zone, but failed to find the end zone on any those attempts. The three touchdowns give him a league-leading total of 25 in the red zone. He also leads the NFL in red zone passing yards with 347 and has just one interception. As incredible as Mahomes has been overall this season, he’s been even better in the red zone. His arm strength allows him to laser the ball into tight windows on the goal line.
Cam Newton – Newton attempted five passes in the red zone this week and three of them went for touchdowns. Newton is 25th in red zone pass attempts this season, but when he does pass he has been phenomenal. He has completed 25-of-34 (68% - second best among QBs with 15+ attempts) red zone passes for 15 touchdowns and zero interceptions. Despite being 25th in pass attempt, he is sixth in touchdowns and he has the second most red zone touchdowns of any quarterback who hasn’t yet thrown an interception (Brees). His playmaking ability makes him nearly unstoppable near the goal line.
*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.
Inside the 20 | Inside the 10 | |||||||||||
Attempts | Completetions | Comp% | TD | INT | Attempts | Completetions | Comp% | TD | INT | |||
Jared Goff | 74 | 45 | 61% | 19 | 2 | Jared Goff | 40 | 20 | 50% | 13 | 2 | |
Drew Brees | 71 | 50 | 70% | 18 | 0 | Deshaun Watson | 34 | 15 | 44% | 10 | 0 | |
Andrew Luck | 70 | 43 | 61% | 23 | 1 | Drew Brees | 32 | 23 | 72% | 13 | 0 | |
Patrick Mahomes | 65 | 43 | 66% | 25 | 1 | Andrew Luck | 31 | 24 | 77% | 14 | 0 | |
Eli Manning | 62 | 29 | 47% | 12 | 1 | Patrick Mahomes | 30 | 17 | 57% | 14 | 0 | |
Ben Roethlisberger | 56 | 30 | 54% | 12 | 3 | Derek Carr | 29 | 19 | 66% | 6 | 1 | |
Deshaun Watson | 55 | 27 | 49% | 14 | 0 | Tom Brady | 27 | 11 | 41% | 9 | 0 | |
Kirk Cousins | 51 | 32 | 63% | 13 | 0 | Mitchell Trubisky | 26 | 15 | 58% | 9 | 0 | |
Tom Brady | 51 | 27 | 53% | 12 | 0 | Philip Rivers | 25 | 13 | 52% | 8 | 1 | |
Aaron Rodgers | 49 | 21 | 43% | 12 | 0 | Matt Ryan | 25 | 13 | 52% | 9 | 0 | |
Matthew Stafford | 49 | 24 | 49% | 11 | 1 |
Team Defense Red Zone Stats
Tampa Bay Buccaneers – The Bucs have been a regular in this section this year and not for strong defensive play. This week they allowed touchdowns on all four of the Giants red zone drives. The Giants bolstered a bottom-5 red zone offense entering Week 11, but the Bucs can make any offense look good. The Bucs have given up a touchdown on 32-of-36 red zone drives for an absurd touchdown percentage against of 89%! As I’ve said on multiple occasions thus far this year, keep stacking against the Bucs in DFS.
Tennessee Titans – The Titans have been one of the top red zone defenses in the league this year, but not this week. They failed to hold the Colts out of the end zone on four of their five red zone drives. The rough week knocks the Titans off the top spot in touchdown percentage against, but they still rank second with a very strong 43%. The Colts have a top-10 red zone offense this year, so we can the Titans defense some slack. This week they have a much easier matchup on paper as the Texans offense ranks in the bottom-5 of red zone touchdown percentage.
*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.
Team | RZAtt | RZTD | RZTD% | Team | RZAtt | RZTD | RZTD% | |
Bucs | 36 | 32 | 89% | 49ers | 40 | 23 | 58% | |
Panthers | 27 | 22 | 81% | Dolphins | 35 | 20 | 57% | |
Texans | 27 | 20 | 74% | Jaguars | 28 | 16 | 57% | |
Falcons | 38 | 28 | 74% | Steelers | 30 | 17 | 57% | |
Saints | 30 | 21 | 70% | Cardinals | 32 | 18 | 56% | |
Chiefs | 39 | 27 | 69% | Packers | 34 | 19 | 56% | |
Rams | 32 | 22 | 69% | Raiders | 37 | 20 | 54% | |
Bills | 31 | 21 | 68% | Colts | 30 | 16 | 53% | |
Browns | 36 | 24 | 67% | Jets | 32 | 16 | 50% | |
Bengals | 39 | 26 | 67% | Eagles | 39 | 19 | 49% | |
Ravens | 27 | 17 | 63% | Giants | 37 | 18 | 49% | |
Bears | 24 | 15 | 63% | Redskins | 31 | 15 | 48% | |
Patriots | 35 | 21 | 60% | Chargers | 34 | 16 | 47% | |
Broncos | 32 | 19 | 59% | Cowboys | 28 | 13 | 46% | |
Seahawks | 29 | 17 | 59% | Titans | 28 | 12 | 43% | |
Lions | 33 | 19 | 58% | Vikings | 35 | 14 | 40% |