The Worksheet, a fantasy football overview by Rich Hribar, breaking down everything you need to know for the Week 15 Tennessee Titans at Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday afternoon game.
| Tennessee | Rank | @ | Pittsburgh | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -2 | Spread | 2 | ||
| 21.8 | Implied Total | 19.8 | ||
| 24.9 | 15 | Points/Gm | 20.9 | 21 |
| 22.3 | 15 | Points All./Gm | 24.8 | 22 |
| 67.2 | 3 | Plays/Gm | 64.9 | 9 |
| 63.2 | 14 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 64.1 | 20 |
| 5.2 | 21 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.1 | 25 |
| 5.4 | 15 | Def. Yards/Play | 5.8 | 27 |
| 47.31% | 3 | Rush% | 36.49% | 29 |
| 52.69% | 30 | Pass% | 63.51% | 4 |
| 35.69% | 3 | Opp. Rush % | 43.82% | 24 |
| 64.31% | 30 | Opp. Pass % | 56.18% | 9 |
- The Steelers have led for 20.4% of their offensive snaps, 29th in the league.
- 62.9% of the points scored by the Steelers have come in the second half, the largest percentage in the league.
- Ben Roethlisberger has scored a league-high 87.1 fantasy points in the fourth quarter.
- Allowing 4,827 yards, this is the most yardage the Steelers have allowed defensively through 13 games in any season in franchise history.
- The Titans are allowing a league-low 28.6 yards per game on carries of 10 or more yards while the Steelers are allowing a league-high 74.5 per game.
- The Steelers are averaging 72.1 fewer rushing yards per game than their opponent since Week 8, 31st in the league.
- Tennessee is averaging a gain of 20 or more yards once every 26.5 offensive plays, the lowest rate in the league.
Trust = spike production for that player
Quarterback
Ryan Tannehill: We saw more of the same from Tannehill on Sunday in that he is just limited by the state of this offense. Tannehill threw for 191 yards and 6.2 yards per pass attempt against the Jaguars. He did add 29 yards and a touchdown rushing but failed to throw a touchdown pass. Tannehill has now thrown one or fewer touchdown passes in all but two games (both against the Colts) this season.
The Steelers are not a defense to run away from at his stage. They are still only allowing 14.6 passing points per game (13th) but are allowing 7.5 yards per pass attempt (25th) and 11.7 yards per completion (25th). While that does not shut the door on Tannehill being a floor play, he has not shown the requisite upside to be considered in 1QB formats.
Ben Roethlisberger: Roethlisberger has now used late-game flurries to produce three QB1 scoring weeks over the past four games. You have had to wait until the fourth quarter and jailbreak scenarios to get there, but the points still count all the same.
The Titans are not an offense that we can fully count on putting the Steelers in a massively negative script, but they have also allowed a QB1 scoring week in four of their past seven games to the likes of Carson Wentz, Trevor Siemian, Mac Jones, and Tyrod Taylor. Roethlisberger is a floor-based QB2 that can flirt with fringe QB1 output.
Running Back
Najee Harris: After a small lull Weeks 11-12 in which he had 96 total yards, Harris has bounced back with 26 and 23 touches for 107 and 104 yards the past two weeks. He also found the end zone twice last Thursday, giving him nine scores on the season. Harris even added his longest rush of the season in that game of 23 yards.
Harris and his massive volume have kept him in play as an RB1 option and he will need that here. The Titans are allowing just 3.9 yards per carry (eighth) to backs and 8.7 rushing points per game (seventh). Opposing backs have scored 27.2% of the points allowed by the Titans, the lowest rate in the league.
Titans RBs: The Titans ended last week with a three-way backfield split, but there was more that we can hopefully pull from things looking under the hood. Jeremy McNichols led this unit with 27 snaps, but seven of his eight touches came in the fourth quarter. His only burn in the first half was in the two-minute offense.
The team opened the game with D’Onta Foreman and Dontrell Hilliard, with Foreman handling the first seven backfield touches in the game, capping the opening drive with a five-yard touchdown run. Foreman was banged up and carried the ball just twice in the second half. He stated that he was good after the game, but it is something to keep tabs on throughout the week since he would be the Titans back we would want to look at with all three backs available and his role would then elevate Hilliard if Foreman were forced to miss Week 15.
The Steelers have been getting run over of late and are allowing a league-high 4.9 yards per carry to opposing backs while allowing 190.2 total yards per game to opposing backfields over their past five games.
If Foreman is able to play, he is on the RB2/FLEX line and will need to miss the game to give Hilliard or McNichols viability as fantasy options.
Wide Receiver
Diontae Johnson (TRUST): Johnson caught 5-of-10 targets for 76 yards last Thursday with a two-point conversion. He left points on the field with a dropped touchdown, but once again stacked opportunity and turned in his 16th consecutive game with double-digit PPR points. Johnson has now seen 10 or more targets in five straight games and in all but two games this season.
The Titans secondary is where they have been the most vulnerable for fantasy. Facing a league-high 23.7 targets per game to opposing wide receivers, they are also 20th in yards allowed per target (8.3 yards) and 22nd in touchdown rate (5.2%) allowed on those targets.
Chase Claypool: Claypool made plenty of mistakes last Thursday, but for our game he was still plenty relevant, catching 8-of-9 targets for 93 yards. Claypool now has seen 20% or more of the Pittsburgh targets in three of the past four games and has been a WR4 or better in all four games, finishing as the WR33 or better in three of them. Claypool still only has one touchdown this season after 11 as a rookie despite leading the team with eight end zone targets. He is going to find the paint here if that holds up.
The only thing to still keep an eye on with Claypool is that he has played just 63% and 59% of the snaps the past two games as he keeps dealing with a turf toe injury. The Steelers have done a good job getting him rest in the run game as the target share has stayed relevant, but we still have that Week 13 game (2-52-0) as a cautionary tale that Claypool is still playing with an injury. He gets all of the same matchup benefits listed above but is an upside WR3 option playing through the injury.
Julio Jones: The Titans played things cautiously with Jones in his return to the lineup. Game script aided the necessity to push Jones, but he played just 45% of the snaps and ran a pass route on 60.5% of the team dropbacks, closing the game catching 4-of-6 targets for 33 yards.
We should expect the Titans to continue to ramp up Jones, but we also have to inherently know this team has been looking at the big picture and is unlikely to dial Jones’s playing time up to an 11 anytime soon. Julio has more than four catches in one game this season, which was also his only game reaching 60 yards receiving. Jones is a good bet to lead the Titans in targets, but he is stuck on the WR3/FLEX line as he continues to work back into the lineup.
Tight End
Pat Freiermuth: Freiermuth only caught two passes for 32 yards in Week 14, but his scoring ability was unable to be denied again. Freiermuth made one of his catches count with a 15-yard touchdown. That was his seventh touchdown on the season and sixth score over his past seven games. Freiermuth has not had more than 44 yards in any of those six games, which keeps him as a touchdown-dependent option.
The Titans are allowing a league-low 4.9 yards per target and a 57.1% catch rate (second) to opposing tight ends.
More Week 15 Fantasy breakdowns from The Worksheet:
KC at LAC | LVR at CLE | NE at IND | CAR at BUF | ARI at DET | NYJ at MIA | DAL at NYG | WFT at PHI | TEN at PIT | HOU at JAX | CIN at DEN | ATL at SF | SEA at LAR | GB at BAL | NO at TB | MIN at CHI
