Fantasy football projections, Week 15: Eagles-Ravens featuring Ryan Mathews, Jordan Matthews, Joe Flacco, more

The Week 15 matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Baltimore Ravens features two teams looking to get back in the win column. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.

Running back Darren Sproles is in the NFL’s concussion protocol. It’s an unfortunate bit of news considering how electric he was against Washington last week. His likely absence from the lineup against Baltimore means teammate Ryan Mathews will have to lead the backfield in Week 15. Mathews rushed for 60 yards on 15 carries against Washington. It was only the third time that he’s rushed for at least 60 yards this season. With Wendell Smallwood also dealing with an injury, Mathews could get 20-plus touches against the Ravens. If he averages four yards per carry in Baltimore, like he did last week, Mathews could surpass his projections. He will however need a touchdown to do so. That makes him a risky play at this point in the fantasy postseason.

If anything the expected absence of Sproles will cause the Eagles to focus more on the passing game. That should allow wide receiver Jordan Matthews to see plenty of targets once again this week. Mathews was targeted 10 times last week and caught eight of those passes for 79 yards. He’s averaging 9.6 targets over the last six games. You would think that volume would get him over 75 receiving yards every game, but he’s only done it twice over that stretch. Fantasy owners will definitely start Matthews as a low and option in PPR formats as well they should. In standard formats it’s hard to picture him challenging his projections.

Most agree that the Ravens had little to no shot of beating the New England Patriots on the road last week. From a fantasy perspective however, playing catch up most of the night paid off for owners of quarterback Joe Flacco. He attempted a season-high 52 passes against the Patriots and turned those attempts into 37 completions for 324 yards and two touchdowns. While he has thrown an interception in each of the last three games, Flacco also has seven touchdown passes over that stretch. Taking the good with the bad has worked out for Flacco’s owners of late. Heading into the game against Philadelphia, he’ll be facing a defense that has given up at least two touchdown passes in each of the last three games. The game flow in Week 15 won’t necessitate as many pass attempts, but Flacco should perform slightly above his projections this week.

Rookie running back Kenneth Dixon can be expected to do the same. He is still somewhat sharing carries with teammate Terrance West. He out touched West by a 19-6 margin against the Patriots. Eight of those touches were receptions. Dixon obviously won’t catch as many passes against Philadelphia as the game will be a lot closer, but it’s clear he’s taking over the backfield for the immediate and distant future. While West will still garner some of the carries, Dixon should see enough action to beat his projections against the Eagles.