Red Zone Passing

Joe Burrow, CIN - You’d have thought that the 51 points posted in Week 7 would give Burrow more red zone attempts than the game against the Jets with 20 fewer points, but that wasn’t the case. He had 10 red zone attempts last Sunday with five of them inside the five and three of them going for touchdowns. The passing offense is in full force in Cincy and that’s not likely to stop anytime soon and that means more red zone work coming for Burrow which ups his touchdown upside even more.

Carson Wentz, IND - Wentz has been the center of a lot of talk the last few weeks but this conversation is about how well he did inside the 20 last Sunday. His eight passing attempts in the red zone were the most in five games and three of those went for scores. He has all the weapons he needs to produce all over the field but his up and down volume of passing in the red zone might reduce his touchdown upside going forward.

Justin Fields, CHI - It was the best that Fields has looked all season and it might not be a coincidence that it’s when Matt Nagy wasn’t on the sideline. That best he’s looked applied to the red zone too as he posted six attempts, which is a season-high for him. It’s hard to say whether the growth will continue as Nagy returns but the upside is there from the 10th overall pick to be better than he’s been and he certainly has the targets to utilize inside the 20 as well.

Red Zone Rushing

Damien Harris, NE - As good as the Pats’ offense has been of late, it’s been bolstered by the work inside the red zone by Harris and his eight carries there last week. Coming into the season he was pegged as the back to have in that backfield and as the season continues he’s showing more and more each week why that was the case. The other thing to keep in mind is that to keep the pressure off of the young Mac Jones in the shorter field, the run game will remain important.

Darrell Henderson, LAR - Henderson had a season-high carries inside the 20 in Week 8 and that’s even more clearly solidified his lead role in the Rams’ backfield even with Sony Michel getting some work too. The LA offense is clicking on all cylinders right now and Henderson will continue to benefit from that, add to that the potential short field the offense will have more often with their defensive prowess and that helps Henderson too.

Boston Scott, PHI - What was that about Kenneth Gainwell being the lead back and the one to have with Miles Sanders on IR? Scott has had five red zone carries in the last two weeks and really benefitted from the Eagles blowout of the Lions and them running more. While Gainwell might be getting more yards, Scott is getting the workload near the end zone and those are the more valuable touches.

Red Zone Receiving

Cooper Kupp, LAR - Is it odd that for as good of a season that Kupp is having, Week 8 was the best week inside the 20 from a volume standpoint that he’s had. He saw five targets on the day as the Rams housed the Texans and those five targets accounted for a quarter of his season total which now sits at 20. Yes Robert Woods shared the volume with five targets of his own but he’s still at 14 on the year overall.

Sterling Sheppard, NYG - It was a nice return to playing for Sheppard as he saw three targets in the game inside the 20 which ties a season-high for the Giants’ number one receiver. Sure it was in a tasty matchup but it was still impressive coming off an injury and picking up right where he left off.

Cole Kmet, CHI - It’s a first time appearance for Kmet in this piece and for good reason, he hadn’t really done anything to deserve inclusion previously but last week he saw three targets inside the 20 and that amounted to half of Fields total on the afternoon. If Fields can repeat his performance in Week 8 again, the big target Kmet should be a factor inside the 20 going forward.

Red Zone Defense

Of the seven teams that are allowing 50-percent or less of opponent trips into the red zone to result in scores, there are two teams that stand out. The Seahawks and Rams have allowed 31 and 28 trips to the red zone respectively yet both are holding teams under 50-percent scoring on those trips. Compare that to the Broncos who are allowing exactly 50-percent of trips to score but they’ve only allowed 16 total trips inside the 20 all year. While teams are making into the red zone more frequently against Seattle and LA, they’re scoring percentage-wise less often.