Last week, like most in the NFL, was another crazy week with surprising outcomes and surprising performances all over the field, but especially in the red zone. As I state frequently, the red zone is perhaps the most important real estate to pay attention to for fantasy as volume there usually leads to a lot of touchdowns and fantasy scoring.

Red Zone Passing

Russell Wilson, SEA - Where did this game come from for Wilson? After struggling for the last several weeks since his return, he all of a sudden backed into his previous self and posted nine red zone pass attempts. In fact, that week was so good, it was the most attempts he’d had in the red zone in a game all year. Two of those attempts turned into scores as they beat the Niners to keep their streak against them alive. Whether he can keep that going is a big question as prior to last week he’d shown no signs of turning things around but facing Houston should be a good match-up to at least string two good games.

Jared Goff, DET - Week 13 was his best week since Week 4 when he posted eight red zone attempts. His six attempts in Week 13 also included the game winning touchdown as the clock expired. While he only completed three of the passes, two went for scores and that was all they needed for their first win. This week’s game is against the Broncos who are mentioned down below, which could easily put a damper on any good Goff did last week.

Patrick Mahomes, KC - Mahomes isn’t on here for a surprisingly good showing, it’s quite the opposite actually. His three passing attempts were the fewest since Week 7 and second-lowest of the season. He did have a rush for a score but still, not all of the woes of the offense have been figured out yet. Given what Mahomes has done in the red zone the last few years in terms of percentages of his touchdowns and points, we need him to start producing those numbers again to boost his fantasy value.

Red Zone Rushing

David Montgomery, CHI - So the two weeks that have been the most productive for the Bears in terms of red zone offense is when either Matt Nagy or Justin Fields haven’t been involved, hmm. Montgomery had his biggest volume day of the year in Week 13 with six carries and one catch and one score. While it wasn’t in a win, it’s still good to see him get this kind of volume and not just rely on the yardage output for fantasy value. The Bears’ offense is still hard to trust on a week-to-week basis but at least we know that Montgomery will get his fair share of the workload regardless of game script.

Adrian Peterson, SEA - On his second team this year, he scored his second touchdown as well. He clearly didn’t do much other than score the touchdown but, he did get five carries inside the 20 against the Niners and that’s enough to get him on here. With the state of the Seahawks’ backfield at this point, don’t be surprised if they keep sprinkling Peterson into the play calling as he’s the biggest back they have at this point. He’s clearly not sexy nor should be rostered but for a flier in DFS as an MME play, there’s worse options.

Sony Michel, LAR - It was a fill-in role for Michel last week as Darrell Henderson was technically active but was really just the emergency back. Michel didn’t disappoint. He had, for the third time this year, four carries inside the 20 which accounts for a quarter of his season total of 20. Of those four rushes, three were inside the five and one became a score as the Rams walked all over the Jaguars. He’s gotten usage throughout the year when when he’s not been the starter or lone back but it was good to see him get this kind of workload on short notice no less. The schedule toughens up for them over the next few weeks but there will still be a use for him in the offense regardless of opponent.

Red Zone Receiving

Gabriel Davis, BUF - Wait…the Bills only scored 10 points on Monday, how is there anyone from their offense in this piece? Well Davis still produced inside the 20 even though his team as a whole couldn’t muster much in general. He saw three targets in the red zone which is his most in a single game and accounts for a third of his season total. In the windy conditions he did only catch one of the targets but it was the one that accounted for the only touchdown on the day for the Bills. Davis is a complete boom-or-bust type player and he really relies on strong coverage on Stefon Diggs to have any value for fantasy or DFS but in those spots, he can produce.

K.J. Osborne, MIN - Here’s a guy that’s been on the tips of everyone’s tongue the last couple of games, including Thursday’s game with Pittsburgh. Turns out when you get on NFL Red Zone channel a lot, recently, people tend to pay attention. Osborne has just five red zone targets on the year total but three of them came last week against Detroit. While he did only catch one of them, it was one that mattered as it went for a score. Osborne isn’t a guy that we can count on down the stretch as it takes certain match-ups for him to do anything, but as a flier, we at least know he’ll see some balls thrown his way in the most valuable part of the field.

Chris Godwin, TB - Godwin has 23 red zone targets on the year, second-most in the league, so what’s so surprising about his performance? The three targets he saw against the Falcons were the most in a single game since Week 6. He did manage to catch all three targets including two inside the 15, but not one went for a score. Instead Brady hit up three different guys, one target each, for the passing touchdowns. Since Brady got to Tampa, Godwin has arguably been the most consistent weapon for him and that’s been especially true in the red zone. If that keeps up down the stretch, his value remains high.

Tyler Conklin, MIN - Baby Gronk, as it’s affectionately known, stuck again in Week 13. He had his biggest volume day of the year against the Lions with four targets in the loss. Conklin did catch three of the four balls thrown his way in the game but none went for a score. This was the third game out of the last four in which he’s seen targets in the red zone and while the production hasn’t been consistently there, the chances have been as he remains a streaming option.

Red Zone Defense

New England Patriots - We all saw what the Patriots are capable of doing on Monday Night Football last week, though they did get some help from the weather. In general though, this is looking like a Pats team of old and using the defense to carry the team. They’ve been doing an excellent job of it all season and especially in the red zone. Teams have only managed 16 red zone scores against them all year, and keep in mind that’s 13 games as they haven’t had their bye week yet, and the 45.7-percent conversion rate allowed is the second-best, only to Baltimore, in the league. After facing the Colts and Bills after their bye week, they finish against the Jaguars and Dolphins which shouldn’t be that tough of a test.

Denver Broncos - For as much maligned as the Broncos’ offense has been, their defense has been more than making up for things be keeping opponents out of the end zone. They’ve allowed just 14 touchdowns inside the 20 on the year and just 26 total trips to the red zone as well. There are some tough tests coming down the pick for the rest of the season that will continue to test just how well they can keep opponents out of the end zone but in general, it’s not be a shock as to why they’re allowing so few points a game this year.

Baltimore Ravens - The Ravens are allowing the fewest touchdowns in the red zone of any team in the league with just 13 in 29 attempts. That’s also the lowest conversion rate allowed in the league as well at 44.8-percent. That might go up over the last stretch of the season with the loss of Marlon Humphrey last week and his pivotal role in the secondary. That being said though, be weary of starting your fantasy players against them in certain spots down the stretch if you want touchdowns from your team.