The Week 13 matchup between the Houston Texans and the Buffalo Bills features a pair of star receivers who are on their game. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 13: Texans-Bills featuring DeAndre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins and LeSean McCoy
We break down the Week 13 matchup between the Houston Texans and the Buffalo Bills.
Houston Texans
The Houston Texans find themselves competing in the AFC South largely because of the team’s defense. But that doesn’t mean the Texans don’t have at least one star player on offense. His name is DeAndre Hopkins. He’s one of those rare players that can produce no matter who is playing at quarterback. Unfortunately for fantasy owners however, Hopkins is actually coming off of his worst game of the season. He caught just five passes for 36 yards last week against the New Orleans Saints. His low totals are largely because of the fact Houston jumped out to an early lead and didn’t need to throw the ball. A game against the Buffalo Bills will be much more competitive. Although the Bills boast a scary defense, Hopkins should be back to his superstar numbers in Week 13.
If he struggles again, Alfred Blue will have to keep the ball rolling on the ground for the Texans. He’s been impressive in the last two weeks. Last week he rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown. Blue certainly won’t produce at the clip that teammate Arian Foster is capable of, but it’s obvious that on a team lacking offensive talent outside of Hopkins, somebody’s going to have to get touches. And it looks like that somebody is Alfred Blue. Facing off against Buffalo won’t be ideal for his fantasy owners, but in deeper leagues Blue is worth starting.
Buffalo Bills
Fantasy owners likely aren’t happy with the season that wide receiver Sammy Watkins has managed to put together this year. It’s not all his fault. The sophomore has struggled with injuries and some inconsistency at quarterback, which should have been expected considering Tyrod Taylor had never been a starter in the NFL prior to this season. Nevertheless, there is good news. Watkins is coming off of his best game of the season. He caught six passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns against the Kansas City Chiefs last week. His talent speaks for itself. Hopefully the Bills can keep him involved in the offense against the Texans. Watkins has some catching up to do if he is to live up to his 2015 fantasy projections the rest of the way.
More than likely, what will happen is that Watkins’ numbers will drop down a bit to earth against and running back LeSean McCoy will probably provide the better value. McCoy only ran for 70 yards last week but he did manage to throw in three catches for 31 yards. Like many running backs that can catch passes, McCoy provides some added value in PPR leagues. Houston’s defense has been hot lately, but McCoy has to be the engine that drives the team’s offense if the Bills are to top the Texans.
