The Week 13 matchup between the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers features two teams in the middle of the pack in the NFC South. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 13: Falcons-Buccaneers featuring Julio Jones, Mike Evans and Doug Martin
We break down the Week 13 matchup between the Atlanta Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Atlanta Falcons
Few would have pegged the Falcons as a 6-5 team going into the game against the Buccaneers this week after the team started the season winning five straight games. Unfortunately, the team has cooled off and a big reason for that is the play of quarterback Matt Ryan, who just hasn’t been good lately. He’s thrown a combined five interceptions in the last two games, which has killed drives and forced the defense to be on the field a lot more. Ryan will need to do a better job protecting the football against the Buccaneers in order to keep his team in the Wild Card race and keep fantasy teams from dropping him before the start of the playoffs.
Fortunately for owners of wide receiver Julio Jones, Ryan’s play hasn’t completely killed his own stats. Jones was held to just 56 yards and five catches last week, but the week before that he caught nine receptions for 160 yards even though Matty Ice was brutal. Jones needs his quarterback to play better without a doubt, but even an average performance under center still makes Jones a lethal fantasy threat on any given Sunday.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
After it looked like running back Doug Martin’s fantasy value might be withering away in the middle of the season, he’s come back with two straight solid performances. Last week he ran for 97 yards and had a 2-yard touchdown called back because of a penalty. This week Martin faces a Falcons run defense that has allowed the most fantasy points in the NFL to running backs. Martin could be in for a huge day. His fantasy owners certainly hope so.
Even if Martin does dominate the touches on offense for the Bucs, teammate Mike Evans should still see his share of looks. Evans has been held under 65 receiving yards in each of the last two weeks after going over 125 yards receiving yards in three of the previous four games. He’s too good to be held down for too long, but fantasy owners should know that the Falcons are good at limiting wide receivers. It might be another off week for Evans.
