Fantasy Football Matchup of the Week – Week 6

Week 6 is here and the Fantasy Football Matchups of the Week continue to showcase the week’s biggest storylines. Last week’s matchup between Dallas and San Francisco saw the 49ers exact their dominance over their NFC foe with a 42-10 stomping. After that masterful performance, San Francisco now stands alone as the favorite to win the Super Bowl. Despite the strength of the defenses, there was fantafsy gold to be mined, and you got it from the miners themselves.

Turning the page, Monday Night Football looks like the matchup of the week, but I’d like to reach a bit higher than the Cowboys/Chargers’ low-hanging fruit. Besides, I just featured Dallas and they did nothing but disappoint. Instead, this week’s choice is a meeting between two teams on the rise. One team is averaging nearly 33 points a game over their last three games, and the other just proved to the world that they do know how to play football, and they’re back! I’m of course talking about the…

Seattle Seahawks vs. Cincinnati Bengals

Coming out of their bye week, the Seahawks have been putting the screws to their opponents since their Week 1 loss to the Rams. They rebounded in a big way, putting up 37 points in victories over the Lions and Panthers. Ultimately, they slid easily into the bye week with a 24-3 win in the Meadowlands versus the Giants.

The Bengals, on the other hand, were in a shame spiral with their 1-3 start, looking inept beyond belief having only one game all year with more than 19 points. Many people were beginning to lose hope until last week when Joe Burrow decided his calf didn’t hurt anymore. Cincinnati played their best football of the season, and now are welcoming the soaring Seahawks to town.

Quarterbacks

There was a lot of offseason hype for Geno Smith this year for fantasy football. He showed that he is capable of leading a prolific offense in 2022 with over 4,600 total yards and 30 passing touchdowns. This year, it’s been a much bumpier ride for Smith; he’s only put up one satisfactory fantasy game thus far — Week 2 when he went 32 of 41 for 328-2.  I think this is a bounce-back game for Smith. They haven’t needed him to do much thus far, but he can put up numbers when the game situation calls for it. As long as the Bengals played like they did on Sunday, then this game will certainly call for it. Geno is a solid streaming option this week, one I’d play over Jared Goff, Dak Prescott, and CJ Stroud. 

It’s been brutal to watch Joe Burrow before this past weekend. He’s looked timid, indecisive, and inaccurate. How much of that was a result of his preseason calf injury? I don’t know. What I do know is that when Burrow plays at the high level he did on Sunday, the level we expected him to play coming into the season, then the Bengals are one of the top offenses in the league. He looked like he was over his calf injury against Arizona, and hopefully, he’ll build on last week’s performance. You can fire Burrow back up confidently in this matchup.

Running Backs

The primary reason the Seahawks went on a tear before their bye was 100% because of Kenneth Walker III. He’s been phenomenal, averaging 19 touches, 96 total yards, and scoring five touchdowns in his last three games. This week, he gets the Bengals’ middle-of-the-pack rush defense (16th) that just let undrafted rookie Emari Demercado rush for 45 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Deploy Walker III with confidence as an RB1. He’s all but guaranteed a touchdown in this contest.

People are still holding out hope for Zach Charbonnet to make his impact on this team, but unfortunately, there isn’t any sign of his role changing without a catastrophic injury ahead of him. Charbonnet is a high-value handcuff with next to zero standalone value. Fortune favors the patient.

Joe Mixon has been good, but not great this season. He’s provided a safe enough RB2 floor, but we’re still waiting for his big game. He only has one touchdown on the year, so he’s certainly due for an endzone spike. He gets plenty of volume in a hopefully renewed Bengals’ offense; he’s averaged over 16 rushes and three targets per game. He hasn’t disappointed you so far, and he won’t start that this week. Fire him up as a solid RB2 with RB1 upside in a possible high-scoring affair.

Wide Receivers

Seattle

The undisputed leader of Seattle’s receiving corp has had either a touchdown or 75 yards receiving in every game so far this season. DK Metcalf hasn’t blown up like Tyreek Hill or Stefon Diggs, but he’s been a solid fantasy producer nonetheless. Having scored double-digit points every week (in PPR formats), owners weren’t considering benching Metcalf. I’m here to say that Metcalf will go off for over 150-2 sometime this season, and it could very well come this weekend.

Seattle’s second-in-command, Tyler Lockett, has been what he’s always been for fantasy: boom or bust. In the first month of the season, he’s had three busts and one boom.  The last time we saw a boom-or-bust candidate in the Matchup of the Week was Gabe Davis in the Dolphins-Bills game in Week 3. I recommended starting Davis with the potential shootout on tap. I’m going to repeat that sentiment this week and recommend that you play Lockett in this high-upside matchup. I like Lockett over DeAndre Hopkins, Chris Godwin, and the aforementioned Gabe Davis this week.

One of the toughest things to do for fantasy managers is wait for a rookie breakout. We see the untapped potential of an elite talent sitting on our bench, and it drives us crazy knowing what we have but can’t play yet. Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the poster boy for this frustration. He’s posted 12-62-0 on 20 targets through four games this season. For whatever reason, Pete Carroll hasn’t found an effective way to incorporate JSN into their run-first scheme, and perhaps that’s the problem right there. I’m taking a wait-and-see approach with Smith-Njigba. I like the matchup, but I’d rather see a game from him first before I can trust him in my starting lineup.

Cincinnati

19 targets, 15 catches, 192 yards and 3 TDs! That is what Ja’Marr Chase is capable of putting up on any given week. You don’t need me to tell you that you never sit Chase. Even if he puts up two weeks of sub-40 yards like he did in the first two weeks of the season, you don’t sit Chase. Play him with confidence and be ecstatic that you have a generational talent in a fantastic matchup against Seattle’s 30th-ranked pass defense.

Tee Higgins missed Week 5 with a rib fracture and is not likely to play this week considering the Seahawks are on bye next week. If he does suit up, I’d be hesitant to start him. He has only had one noteworthy game this season, and there’s always a risk of re-injury. Don’t plan on using him this week, active or not.

Waiver wire streamers were in short supply last week, and many people took to Tyler Boyd to fill their rosters thinking he’d step into a larger role with Higgins out. That effort resulted in a rather pedestrian line of 6-39-0, which is pretty representative of his weekly production even when Higgins was playing. Because the matchup is great and I foresee a lot of points in this one, I would consider rolling Boyd back out there for another go, but only in PPR leagues. I’d consider him over Michael Thomas, Drake London, and Jahan Dotson.

Tight Ends

Seattle’s tight end of note is former Bronco Noah Fant. After putting up a goose egg in Week 1, Fant has been surprisingly productive for the little volume he’s received. In his last three games, he has caught 10 of 11 passes for 160 yards for a 16-YPC clip. If I needed TE streaming help this week, I’d seriously consider Fant as a high-upside option. You can’t really say that about tight ends off of waivers. I like Fant this week over Chigoziem Okonkwo, Dawson Knox, and Hunter Henry. 

Irv Smith Jr. is the TE1 on the Bengals’ roster. That’s all there is to say positively about Smith Jr. this year. Plenty of fantasy enthusiasts liked Smith Jr. when he was still with Minnesota, and it always felt like once he was healthy, he was going to get his shot. That time has long passed and the allure of what Smith Jr. could be has worn away. Now we’re looking at him as an option after missing Weeks 3 & 4 with a hamstring injury, and receiving no targets in last week’s redemption game. No, thank you. Go grab Fant if you want a waiver TE option in this game.

Vegas currently has this game as a 44.5 over/under. That’s a conservative line in my opinion and I’ll be looking to smash the OVER in this one. If you agree, check out @FFFaceoff on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get more news, analysis, and advice. We upload content daily, and we always have our Free Fantasy Football Tools to help give you an edge over your competition. Good luck and high scoring!

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