Fantasy football projections, Week 13: Buccaneers-Chargers featuring Mike Evans, Melvin Gordon, Philip Rivers, more

The Week 13 matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the San Diego Chargers should feature plenty of points being put up on the board. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.

Doug Martin has yet to rush for more than 87 yards in a game this season. The good news is he accomplished that feat against the Seattle Seahawks in a Week 12 upset win by the Bucs. Heading into Week 13, Martin faces a Chargers defense that has given up the second-most rushing touchdowns in the league. That number is 14, to be exact. Surprisingly, San Diego is one of the best teams in the league at limiting rushing yards. So at the end of the day, while Martin probably won’t go off for 100 yards against the Chargers, he’s actually a good bet to score his second rushing touchdown of the season. If he does, that will be enough for him to surpass the expectations of his fantasy owners.

While Martin’s success does depend on touchdown production to some degree this week, wide receiver Mike Evans is expected to go a lot further than that. Not even the great Richard Sherman could stop Evans from catching eight of 11 passes for 104 yards and two touchdowns last week. He has now scored four times and crossed the 100-yard receiving plateau three times over the past month. Only five teams have given up more yards to receivers than the Chargers. Evans will exploit their secondary all afternoon long and should impress for the third straight week. He may just finish as the league’s top receiver in Week 13.

Quarterback Philip Rivers has had some trouble taking care of the football over the last couple of weeks. Fortunately for him and his fantasy owners, Rivers has managed to throw for at least three touchdowns in back-to-back games. Tampa Bay has been generous to opposing passing games all season long, ranking near the bottom of the league in touchdowns allowed. If good things come in threes, Rivers could find another trio of touchdown passes in Week 13. A repeat of his recent performances would put Rivers well above his projected totals and make fantasy owners very happy heading into the postseason.

Maybe continued inspired play from Rivers will help spark running back Melvin Gordon. He’s been held to exactly 70 yards rushing in each of his last two games. He’s also only found the end zone for a rushing touchdown once in the last four weeks. The good news is he still continues to get lots of touches and the Buccaneers give up just under 116 rushing yards per game this season. Gordon could very well run wild against Tampa and should finish Sunday’s game well ahead of his estimated totals.