If you read the red zone pieces in the NFL Draft Guide this offseason, you’ll know just how strongly I feel about what role the red zone plays in fantasy football. So each week during the season we’ll have a breakdown of the most intriguing and fantasy relevant performances we saw inside the 20 from the previous week’s games so we can take advantage of those showings in fantasy and DFS come Sunday. Below you will see the tables and the stats that these breakdowns come from.

Red Zone Passing

Tom Brady, QB TB - Welcome back Brady and all of his weapons as he led the league in pass attempts inside the red zone with 10. Of those seven were completed and three went for scores. A hallmark of his career has always been his efficiency inside the 20 and he's picking up right where he left off on the Super Bowl run from last year. With all of the weapons he has, there's no doubt the Bucs should be the best red zone offense in the league this year.

Jameis Winston, QB NO - It was a showcase game for Winston and he lived up to it with a remarkable performance that included being perfect in the red zone, going 6-for-6 with four scores in the rout of the Packers. Whether or not he can keep these types of performances going is yet to be seen given the lack of weapons around him aside from Alvin Kamara and to a degree Marquez Callaway

Josh Allen, QB BUF - Allen may not have had the biggest passing day in the loss to the Steelers on Sunday but he was still all over the stat sheet inside the 20. He put up six pass attempts and a score while completing four of them but then also carried it four times as well which amounted to 80-percent of the Bills red zone runs. Now when Devin Singletary comes back will that number drop, it's unclear given the red zone rushes and rushing touchdowns Allen put up last year even with a healthy set of backs.

Teddy Bridgewater, QB DEN - Sure there are some other good showings we could talk about like Kyler Murray's seven attempts but Bridgewater stands out given the circumstances. Bridgewater had seven attempts in his own right and completed five of them including two for scores. That's impressive for a guy that lost his clear top target midway through the game in Jerry Jeudy and yet still put up good numbers. He faces Jacksonville this week who allowed a big day from TyRod Taylor last week.

Red Zone Rushing

Austin Ekeler, RB LAC - Ekeler may have disappointed those in PPR formats with less catches than normal and less targets too but he made up for it in the red zone rushing department with seven carries, which led the league. Those carries accounted for nearly 60-percent of the Chargers total carries and gave him a score in the process. The interesting part of the line is that he only put up 12 total yards on those seven carries compared to Chubb's 43 on six which indicates it's tougher for Ekeler to rack up the yards in short field situations.

Nick Chubb, RB CLE - What was that about Chubb not being a league-winning running back? In my book a guy that puts up 100 yards a game and has red zone work in his favor is a guy were leaning on in fantasy. Chubb had six carries and two scores with 43 yards inside the 20. Those carries were 60-percent of the Browns' total and his carries inside the five also amounted to two-thirds of the Browns' total as well. Facing the Texans in Week 2 should be a good day for him as well.

Mark Ingram, RB HOU - The question in Houston was what would the running game look like after so much turnover in the backfield. Ingram came out in Week 1 and took the lead role and wound up with six carries and a score inside the red zone which amounted to three quarters of the Houston total rushing attempts in the red zone. There were plenty that were hoping for David Johnson to get the first crack but it appears that Ingram fits the role better and certainly does in the red zone as his biggee frame helps in the short field situations.

James Conner, RB ARI - Remember when Conner was a lead back for Pittsburgh and we then thought he was washed up? Well he led the Cardinals in red zone carries in Week 1 with four, accounting for 67-percent of the total for the Cards. He didn't punch it over the goal line but the fact that he outpaced Chase Edmonds may speak to their roles going forward as Conner is looked at as more of the traditional back while Edmonds gives a bit more versatility.

Red Zone Receiving

Keenan Allen, WR LAC - Why does Allen continue to fly under the radar so much for fantasy football, both seasonal and DFS? All this guy does is produce and that includes games that might appear low scoring like the game on Sunday was. Allen had four targets of which he caught three. Those four targets were 44.4-percent of the team total and he did see all of the targets inside the 10. While he didn't score, at least inside the red zone, the volume is clearly there even with Mike Williams, Jared Cook, Austin Ekeler, and even Josh Palmer on the field.

Chris Godwin, WR TB - Yes we already talked about the orchestrator of the Buccaneers offense earlier but now it's time to break down his favorite target from Week 1. While Antonio Brown led the way on the rest of the field, Godwin was the go to guy inside the 20 with four targets out of the seven that Brady tossed in total. Godwin caught all four and turned one into a score. His lone target inside the 10 represented half of the Bucs attempts inside the 10. Going forward it's hard to see Godwin's role inside the 20 dropping off given how targeted he was last year as well.

Tim Patrick, WR DEN - Patrick didn't get the start on Sunday but came in and played a big role after Jerry Jeudy went down with the ankle injury. Not only was he targeted a fair bit in the passing game but he also led the team in red zone targets with two, of which he caught both including one for a score. With Jeudy out for several weeks, Patrick will be an important part of Denver's offense but it's also clear that Teddy Bridgewater is already looking his way near the end zone.

Darren Waller, TE LV - Waller saw an abundance of targets on Monday night in the thrilling game against the Ravens but only a couple inside the 20. He saw two catches and caught both including one for a score. Those two targets did represent 33-percent of the total passing attempts for Derek Carr and the most of any receiving target on the team.

Red Zone Defense

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Dallas put up a good fight on Thursday night but came up just short and a big part of that was a lack of touchdowns. The Bucs allowed Dallas to make it to their 20 four separate times but only once did the Cowboys punch it in the end zone and that made all the difference in the game. The Bucs face the Falcons in Week 2 and based on Week 1 it might be tough for the Atlanta offense to muster much in the way of scores, at least inside the red zone.

New York Jets - The Jets held tough against Carolina as things could've been worse with them allowing four trips inside their 20. However, even with all of the ways the Panthers have to score, they only punched it in the end zone once in those four trips. Among the teams that allowed more than two trips into the red zone, they were tied for the best percentage of shutting down the offense.