In what was likely the last week of the fantasy football season for you and your league, there were some serious offensive showings across the league. If you’re one of the leagues that goes until Week 17 for your championship, like one of mine does, it might be important to see if any secondary players got Red Zone work last week in case the starter in front of them isn’t playing in the final week of the regular season.

Red Zone Passing

Daniel Jones, QB NYG – Jones missed a couple of games with the ankle injury but he made sure to make it back in time to face the QB many thought should’ve been taken in front of him in April’s draft. He didn’t disappoint in his return. He had five passing touchdowns on the day and three of those came inside the Washington 20. He also posted eight passing attempts in that area of the field to go with three Red Zone rushes as well. At least in their first match-up of their young careers, Jones looked to be the part better than Dwayne Haskins on the day, though it was a fairly close affair when all was said and done. New York is looking to finish strong and take down their rival in Philadelphia in Week 17.

Andy Dalton , QB CIN – Dalton has come back and not missed a step as he’s been in this report a few times already in the last several week. This week he had the most Red Zone pass attempts in the league with nine as he led the wild comeback against the Dolphins in Miami on Sunday. Dalton might not be long for Cincinnati at this point but he’s certainly been making the most of his weapons and had one of his best weeks of the year on Sunday. They get the Browns in Week 17 so it should be another fairly easy match-up for Dalton to have another good day in.

Ryan Fitzpatrick , QB MIA – Fitzmagic has been in full effect the last few games and this one was no exception as he put up over 400 yards through the air and accounting for seven Red Zone attempts resulting in three of his four touchdowns. For sure this week’s opponent is a lot tougher than last week’s was in the Bengals as Miami heads to Foxboro to try and keep the Patriots from getting a bye in the playoffs. The Patriots defense has been beatable at times late in the season but don’t expect the same effort Miami had against the lowly Bengals.

Red Zone Rushing

Marlon Mack , RB IND – Mack has been a very good producer this year, when healthy, and Week 16 was another strong week for him with five more Red Zone carries. He used one of those carries to score a touchdown on the day. There isn’t much of anything to play for with the Colts in Week 17 but Mack should still get the bulk of the work against the Jaguars who haven’t done well at stopping the run this year.

Joe Mixon , RB CIN – Reports surfaced before the game that Mixon may be battling a stomach bug down in Miami, but that ultimately didn’t slow him down on the day. He had five carries in the Red Zone though none for touchdowns. The five carries are the second-most he’s had in a game all season and the second time in two weeks he’s reached that mark. He and the Bengals get the Browns in the finale so assuming he’s over the stomach bug, he may be in for a big day given how soft the Browns rush defense can be and how effective Mixon has been since Dalton returned under center.

Adrian Peterson , RB WAS – With Derrius Guice having been ruled out for the season a few weeks ago, Peterson has returned to the lead back role and he was the beneficiary of the high-scoring overtime game in New York this weekend. The four Red Zone carries he had this past week were the most he, or anyone on Washington, has had since Week 6 and he used one of those to get into the endzone. Washington draws Dallas in Week 17 and they have a stiffer rush defense than did the Giants which might make Peterson’s day tougher than Week 16’s was.

Red Zone Receiving

Michael Thomas , WR NO – Thomas has been a stud all season long but in Week 16 it made the first time all year that he saw three or more targets in back-to-back weeks. He caught all three of them including one for a score that iced the game for the Saints and one of those also resulted in him setting the single-season receptions record at 145. Thomas is arguably the best receiver in the league at this point and that won’t change this week facing a weak Carolina defense that, as you’ll read below, has been torched inside the 20 all year long.

Steven Sims Jr., WR WAS – There has been a different receiver that’s received much of the talk in Washington this year in Terry McLaurin , but last week it was Sims that saw the most work in the Red Zone. He saw three balls thrown his way and he caught two of them, both for touchdowns, in the shootout in New York. Washington faces Dallas in a must-win scenario for the Cowboys so it might be tougher sledding this week for Sims and company but he surely helped you out with a flier in DFS last week.

Kaden Smith, TE NYG – The rookie tight end has been a surprising part of the Giants’ offense since Evan Engram went down. He saw eight total targets last week, three of those were in the Red Zone, but the most impressive part of the day was that he caught all three targets inside the 20 with two going for touchdowns in the shootout with Washington. The Eagles have been one of the strong teams against TEs this year, but they suffered a few more injuries last week that my hamper their defense for the season finale and work in Smith’s favor.

Davante Adams , WR GB – Adams waited until Week 16 to have one of his best games of the season and that extended to the Red Zone too. He had three targets, the second time in four games he’s reached that mark, and caught two of them. He didn’t have a touchdown on the day but the volume was a good sign heading into a week that the Packers still have a lot on the line and facing a beatable Lions defense.

Red Zone Defense

Why are the four defenses below the ones we’re talking about? They all play teams who are still alive for the number one seed in the NFC playoffs this weekend.

San Francisco 49ers – By far, the stoutest Red Zone defense of this group of four has been the Niners this year. They’ve allowed the second-fewest trips to their 20 in the league at just 36 on the year. The 21 opposing touchdowns they’ve allowed is fifth-fewest in the league as well. However, when you get the percentage, they’re actually more middle of the pack than you’d expect, ranking 16th at 58.3-percent of trips ending in the endzone. Seattle is usually a well-running offense, however they’re down Chris Carson , C.J. Procise, and Rashaad Penny in the running game putting more pressure on the still-evolving passing game.

Detroit Lions – While Detroit’s defense has been a bit hit-and-miss this season, they were good in the Red Zone the last time they faced their Week 17 opponent. They faced Green Bay in Week 6 and only gave up one Red Zone score to them, though on the season they’ve averaged allowing 2.1 touchdowns inside the 20 a game. On the whole, they’ve allowed 55 trips to the Red Zone on the year, fifth-most in the league, and allowed 60-percent of those trips to end in a touchdown. The Packers have their weapons fairly healthy coming into the game so, this could be a tougher task than it was for the Lions in Week 6.

Seattle Seahawks – A home game in Week 17 with a division and a potential number one seed on the line? That’s what the old Legion of Boom used to get hyped for, but this isn’t the Legion of Boom by any stretch of the imagination. Seattle has allowed the eighth-highest scoring percentage in the Red Zone this year at 61.2-percent. They’ve allowed the 11th-most opponent touchdowns (30) and the 15th-most trips inside the 20 (49) as well. The last time they face the 49ers, in Week 10, they did a very good job of stopping the Niners offense from scoring, so they have that going for them.

Carolina Panthers – Carolina has allowed the most opponent trips to the Red Zone this season at 61 in their first 15 games, for an average of just over four trips a game. They’ve also allowed the sixth-highest scoring percentage on the season as well at 62.3-percent of trips resulting in touchdowns. Considering their opponent is the New Orleans Saints the weekend and they have a pretty robust offense, it’ll be a tall task for them to step up and change what they’ve been doing all season to this point.