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
Odell Beckham – Beckham, surprisingly, makes his debut to the red zone report this week. He was targeted five times in the red zone and hauled in two of them. One of those two receptions resulted in a touchdown (his first red zone touchdown of the season). Beckham had been abysmal in the red zone prior to this game and still only has a 25% catch rate when targeted in the red zone. He is simply too talented to not improve on this number – even with Eli as his QB – and more games like this one should be ahead.
Trey Burton – Burton hauled in both of his red zone targets this week and one of them was a touchdown, his third red zone touchdown of the year. Burton hasn’t been a volume monster in the red zone this year, but he has performed very well when used. He has caught five-of-six targets (83% catch rate). Burton has a real knack for the end zone, with nine touchdowns on 47 receptions since the start of last season. There is a reason that a lot of us here at Fantasy Alarm were high on this guy and he is showing why.
T.Y. Hilton – Hilton was only targeted twice in the red zone this week, but he did catch both balls for a pair of touchdowns. Hilton now has four receptions on eight targets in the red zone this year and all four of his receptions went for touchdowns. His red zone target percentage of 15% is the lowest of any player with at least four red zone touchdowns. Look for Luck to start targeting Hilton in the red zone more often going forward.
*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 | 16 | 11 | 69% | 1 | DeAndre Hopkins | 10 | 4 | 40% | 2 | |
JuJu Smith-Schuster | 16 | 9 | 56% | 2 | Michael Thomas | 9 | 8 | 89% | 4 | |
Davante Adams | 15 | 7 | 47% | 6 | Jared Cook | 9 | 7 | 78% | 2 | |
Eric Ebron | 14 | 6 | 43% | 5 | Melvin Gordon | 8 | 6 | 75% | 3 | |
Michael Thomas | 14 | 12 | 86% | 4 | Chris Godwin | 8 | 4 | 50% | 4 | |
Zach Ertz | 13 | 6 | 46% | 2 | Cooper Kupp | 7 | 4 | 57% | 2 | |
A.J. Green | 13 | 5 | 39% | 3 | A.J. Green | 6 | 2 | 33% | 2 | |
Todd Gurley | 13 | 7 | 54% | 3 | Corey Davis | 6 | 2 | 33% | 1 | |
Jarvis Landry | 13 | 5 | 38% | 2 | Marvin Jones | 6 | 2 | 33% | 2 | |
T.Y. Hilton | 6 | 4 | 67% | 4 |
Red Zone Carries
Kareem Hunt – Hunt had a monster game in the red zone this week which was a key cog in his big day. He finished with three carries and a touchdown on the ground in the red zone. He also caught three passes in the red zone which resulted in two more touchdowns. Hunt now has eight total red zone touchdowns (five on the ground, three through the air) and is making good on his early draft selection in fantasy this season after somewhat of a sluggish start.
Marlon Mack – Mack had six rushing attempts in the red zone and pounded one of them into the end zone in the Colts 37-5 Week 7 win over the Bills. Mack had a fantastic game and was the only Colts running back used in the red zone, which is a great sign for him going forward. He has one of the better red zone YPC in football at 4.0 with 44 yards on 11 carries. He is trending up and based on what he has done over the last couple weeks he is worth plugging into your lineup.
Ronald Jones – Jones was handed the pigskin four times in the red zone this week and delivered one touchdown. Jones was the only Bucs running back to touch the ball in the red zone and it appears he is slowly gaining steam. He is worth stashing, but it is still too soon to trust him in any of your lineups. He has been pretty dreadful this year, but the touchdown and red zone usage give us at least a slight reason for optimism.
Todd Gurley – I am sure you guys don’t want to see me talk about Gurley every week, so I just added him in as a bonus this week (as he deserved to crack this section again). He finished with six red zone carries and two touchdowns while also adding in a receiving touchdown.
*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 | 43 | 124 | 11 | Todd Gurley | 12 | 7 | 7 | |
Alvin Kamara | 25 | 70 | 4 | James Conner | 10 | 8 | 6 | |
Sony Michel | 21 | 49 | 3 | Carlos Hyde | 10 | 6 | 5 | |
Adrian Peterson | 19 | 33 | 3 | Kareem Hunt | 8 | 15 | 5 | |
Kareem Hunt | 18 | 46 | 5 | Sony Michel | 7 | 7 | 2 | |
James Conner | 17 | 36 | 6 | Adrian Peterson | 6 | 6 | 3 | |
Carlos Hyde | 17 | 33 | 5 | David Johnson | 6 | 6 | 4 | |
David Johnson | 16 | 36 | 5 | Saquon Barkley | 6 | 1 | 2 | |
Saquon Barkley | 15 | 29 | 3 | Alfred Morris | 6 | 3 | 1 | |
Melvin Gordon | 15 | 92 | 6 | Javorius Allen | 6 | 4 | 3 | |
Marshawn Lynch | 15 | 29 | 3 | |||||
Lamar Miller | 15 | 29 | 1 |
Red Zone Passing
Patrick Mahomes – Mahomes has taken the league by storm this season and this week was no different. He had 10 pass attempts and four touchdowns in the red zone this week, giving him 16 red zone touchdowns for the season (one behind Luck for the NFL lead). No matter what criteria or stat you use/look at, Mahomes has been one of the best quarterbacks in football this year and should be the MVP at this point in the season (sorry Gurley).
Mitchell Trubisky – Trubisky had seven pass attempts in the red zone this week and two of them went for touchdowns. He also scrambled once in the red zone and it resulted in possibly the longest eight yard touchdown in NFL history (he ran about 70 yards). Trubisky is completing 57% of his passes in the red zone this season and had eleven touchdowns to just one interception. He is one of the hottest quarterbacks in football right now, ride the hot streak.
Tom Brady – Brady, like Beckham, surprisingly makes his debut to the red zone report this week. He had seven pass attempts and three touchdowns in the red zone this week as he led the Patriots to a victory over the Bears. Brady is now third in the NFL with 12 red zone passing touchdowns and he has thrown zero interceptions. Tom Terrific isn’t having his best season, but he is still getting the job done at age 41 and his red zone stats are some of the best in football.
*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 | |||
Andrew Luck | 52 | 32 | 60% | 17 | 1 | Deshaun Watson | 27 | 10 | 34% | 7 | 0 | |
Patrick Mahomes | 50 | 30 | 56% | 16 | 1 | Derek Carr | 24 | 14 | 58% | 4 | 1 | |
Drew Brees | 50 | 34 | 65% | 10 | 0 | Patrick Mahomes | 22 | 11 | 46% | 9 | 0 | |
Jared Goff | 47 | 30 | 60% | 10 | 2 | Drew Brees | 22 | 17 | 77% | 9 | 0 | |
Eli Manning | 43 | 18 | 39% | 6 | 0 | Jared Goff | 22 | 11 | 50% | 6 | 2 | |
Deshaun Watson | 41 | 17 | 35% | 8 | 0 | Andrew Luck | 20 | 15 | 71% | 11 | 0 | |
Andy Dalton | 38 | 23 | 59% | 11 | 1 | Mitchell Trubisky | 20 | 11 | 55% | 7 | 0 | |
Joe Flacco | 38 | 23 | 61% | 9 | 1 | Philip Rivers | 20 | 11 | 55% | 6 | 1 | |
Tom Brady | 37 | 22 | 55% | 12 | 0 | Joe Flacco | 19 | 10 | 53% | 5 | 1 | |
Derek Carr | 37 | 25 | 66% | 7 | 2 | Tom Brady | 18 | 11 | 55% | 9 | 0 |
Team Defense Red Zone Stats
New England Patriots – The Patriots walked away winners in Week 7, but in no part because of their defense. They gave up 31 points and failed to stop the Bears from finding the end zone on any of their four attempts. Despite this rough game, the Patriots are still in the middle-of-the-pack with their 58% touchdown rate against in the red zone and have a great matchup on tap this week as they head to Buffalo to take on the Bills.
Cleveland Browns – The Browns fell to the Bucs in overtime 26-23 and had their defense stopped the Bucs from converting all three of their red zone drives into touchdowns, it likely would have been a different result. The Browns defense has been very average both overall and in the red zone and are the not a useable option this week in a matchup with the Steelers. The Steelers bolster one of the best red zone offenses in the NFL, meaning it could be another rough week for the Browns red zone defense.
*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 | 21 | 18 | 86% | Bears | 14 | 8 | 57% | |
Saints | 19 | 14 | 74% | Broncos | 21 | 12 | 57% | |
Texans | 19 | 14 | 74% | Rams | 18 | 10 | 56% | |
Panthers | 15 | 11 | 73% | Raiders | 23 | 12 | 52% | |
Falcons | 32 | 23 | 72% | Ravens | 16 | 8 | 50% | |
Bills | 23 | 16 | 70% | Jaguars | 20 | 10 | 50% | |
Redskins | 16 | 11 | 69% | Chargers | 24 | 12 | 50% | |
Bengals | 25 | 17 | 68% | Lions | 19 | 9 | 47% | |
Cadinals | 23 | 15 | 65% | Colts | 24 | 11 | 46% | |
Packers | 17 | 11 | 65% | Dolphins | 27 | 12 | 44% | |
Chiefs | 25 | 16 | 64% | Giants | 25 | 11 | 44% | |
49ers | 32 | 19 | 59% | Jets | 23 | 10 | 44% | |
Browns | 27 | 16 | 59% | Eagles | 26 | 11 | 42% | |
Steelers | 22 | 13 | 59% | Vikings | 27 | 11 | 41% | |
Seahawks | 17 | 10 | 59% | Cowboys | 19 | 7 | 37% | |
Patriots | 26 | 15 | 58% | Titans | 18 | 6 | 33% |