The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 18 matchup between the Saints and Falcons.
Find a breakdown of every Week 18 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| Atlanta | Rank | @ | New Orleans | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 | Spread | -3.5 | ||
| 19.0 | Implied Total | 22.5 | ||
| 19.0 | 26 | Points/Gm | 22.1 | 14 |
| 20.3 | 9 | Points All./Gm | 19.4 | 6 |
| 64.5 | 10 | Plays/Gm | 65.9 | 3 |
| 64.0 | 19 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 62.1 | 10 |
| 5.1 | 18 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.1 | 21 |
| 4.9 | 6 | Def. Yards/Play | 5.2 | 16 |
| 48.16% | 4 | Rush% | 42.18% | 17 |
| 51.84% | 29 | Pass% | 57.82% | 16 |
| 45.31% | 26 | Opp. Rush % | 43.96% | 22 |
| 54.69% | 7 | Opp. Pass % | 56.04% | 11 |
Playoff Scenarios: Both of these teams are still alive to win the NFC South.
The Saints win the division with a win or tie and a Tampa Bay loss while they can also win the division with a win and a Tampa tie.
The Falcons need to win this game and for the Buccaneers to lose to the Panthers.
The Falcons can only make the postseason by winning the division.
The Saints can still make the playoffs as the No. 7 seed via:
NO win + TB win + GB loss/tie + SEA loss/tie
Or…
NO tie + TB win/tie + GB loss + SEA loss
Quarterback
Derek Carr: Carr was efficient on Sunday but nondescript for fantasy as New Orleans received no push from the Buccaneers.
Carr completed 24-of-32 passes (75.0%) with a pair of touchdowns but only threw for 197 yards.
Closing as QB15 (15.6 points), Carr has two QB1 finishes over his past seven games.
That includes a QB21 (10.9 points) effort against Atlanta in Week 12.
In that game, Carr did have 304 yards and averaged 8.0 yards per pass attempt. He failed to throw a touchdown, which limited his fantasy day.
Atlanta has allowed multiple passing touchdowns in only five games this season and more than two touchdowns through the air three times.
Carr will have to throw multiple touchdown passes to push past the higher-end QB2 area where he resides.
Falcons QB: Atlanta turned the offense back over to Taylor Heinicke on Sunday with lackluster results as they were whacked in Chicago.
Heinicke also suffered an ankle injury that forced him to leave the game in the fourth quarter.
He was 10-of-29 passing before leaving the game.
If Heinicke cannot play this week, we get Desmond Ridder back under center.
Regardless of which Atlanta signal caller we get, that player is a thin fantasy option outside of 2QB formats.
The Falcons have had multiple passing touchdowns in one game this season.
Ridder has the four highest-scoring fantasy games between the pair here, but three of his four QB1 scoring weeks also came attached to a rushing touchdown.
Ridder was QB25 (9.7 points) when these teams played in Week 12.
The Saints are ninth in passing points allowed per game (11.8).
Running Back
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