The Week 3 matchup between the Houston Texans and New York Giants features two teams headed in opposite directions. We've got the fantasy projections for you courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 3: Texans-Giants featuring Victor Cruz, Andre Johnson and Arian Foster
We break down the Week 3 matchup between the Houston Texans and the New York Giants.
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Houston Texans
The Houston Texans are off to a 2-0 start this season, and a lot of their early triumph has to do with the success of running back Arian Foster. Foster has 241 rushing yards on 53 carries so far this season, including a touchdown, which he scored last week in Oakland. Coming into the season, football experts in fantasy owners alike pegged Foster as if he might take a step back this year in terms of production, but that hasn’t been the case to this point. He should see the ball a lot against the New York Giants, a team that’s currently giving up over 22 fantasy points per game against running backs.
Foster's early-season production has perhaps come at the expense of wide receiver Andre Johnson, as the Texans aren't throwing the ball as much early this season as they have in past years. That said, Johnson is making the most of his targets. He caught six out of seven passes thrown to him last week for 74 yards. While those were very efficient fantasy statistics, they are not the type of monster numbers we're used to seeing from a receiver of Johnson's caliber. Nevertheless, this could be the breakout game of Johnson's season as the Giants have given up the most fantasy points in the NFL to wide receivers so far this year.
New York Giants
The New York Giants have been absolutely abysmal so far this season on both sides of the football. The team's lackluster play in all areas of the game has surely affected the fantasy value of wide receiver Victor Cruz. Cruz has just seven catches for 84 yards this season, which would be considered a solid total if not for the fact those numbers are spread across two games. Regardless of his low numbers, cruise is the most reliable offensive weapon that quarterback Eli Manning has and Cruz's 10 targets last week indicate that he will still be getting opportunities to produce regularly moving forward.
The inconsistency of the Giants passing game has led to consistent use of running back Rashad Jennings, who amassed a total of 22 touches against the Arizona Cardinals last week. He's only averaging 55 yards on the ground to the team's first two games, but as long as there's no big competing with Jennings in the Giants backfield, he should be in starting lineups in deep leagues. The Houston Texans rank in the middle of the pack in terms of their run defense, so Jennings will get his fair share of opportunities, particularly with the team's quarterback still struggling to execute plays through the air.
