- Allen reigns supreme: Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen has looked unstoppable on his way to working as the position’s overall fantasy QB1 through six weeks.
- Burrow playing well despite lack of deep ball: Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow had a nice bounce-back game in Week 6, but this offense still hasn’t managed to connect on the deep ball at their usual level.
- Prescott in a smash spot in Week 7: Don’t be surprised if Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott picks up where he left off last season against the Detroit Lions’ arguably league-worst pass defense.
Estimated reading time: 19 minutes
Week 7 is here, so it’s truly a great day to be great. Today’s goal is to break down the week’s key fantasy football questions facing the quarterback position before producing the group’s specific rankings. Updated rankings throughout the week from myself and the rest of the PFF Fantasy crew can be accessed with PFF+.
“Why be a king, when you can be a God. – Eminem” – Josh Allen
Through six weeks, Allen has peeled off the following fantasy finishes QB2, QB4, QB2, QB5, QB1 and QB2.
The latter performance featured yet another sterling performance against the Kansas City Chiefs. Allen truly hasn’t missed in his last three performances against Patrick Mahomes and company:
- Week 5, 2021: 315-3-0 passing,11-59-1 rushing
- AFC Divisional Round, 2021: 329-4-0 passing, 11-68-0 rushing
- Week 6, 2022: 329-3-0 passing, 12-32-0 rushing
Allen is well on his way to an incredible third-straight overall QB1 finish in fantasy land. The only other quarterbacks to do that in NFL history: Steve Young and Brett Favre — not too shabby.
Quarterback competition in New England?
Probably not, but that doesn’t mean rookie Bailey Zappe shouldn’t be lauded for his efforts in relief of Mac Jones (ankle). While Zappe hasn’t been flashy, he’s taken care of the football and led the offense to 24, 29 and 38 points in his three extended appearances under center. Small-sample size be damned, he’s been one of the most efficient quarterbacks in football:
- PFF passing grade: 77.0 (No. 8 among 38 quarterbacks with 50-plus dropbacks)
- QB rating: 111.4 (No. 1)
- Yards per attempt: 8.5 (No. 3)
- Adjusted completion rate: 81.8% (No. 2)
- Big-time throw rate: 0% (tied for No. 37)
- Turnover-worthy play rate: 1.2% (No. 2)
Again, Zappe’s solid start shouldn’t confuse him as the next Justin Herbert or Patrick Mahomes, as evidenced by his zero big-time throws this season. And yet, one could argue that metric more so measures style than how objectively good someone is at the position.
Points are points, and Zappe has helped the Patriots score an awful lot of them over the past three weeks. At a minimum, he deserves plenty of credit for keeping the 3-3 Patriots afloat, and at a maximum Jones better not disappoint too severely upon being healthy enough to return.
Is this San Francisco 49ers offense good or not?
Of course, the 49ers have good players on offense. Hell, they have great players on offense. Rumor has it that Deebo Samuel has never been tackled — he simply decides when the play is over.
Deebo such a beast lmao pic.twitter.com/Q9WS76L04o
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) October 17, 2022
Still, this offense ranks 19th in points per game and 17th in EPA per play. Head coach Kyle Shanahan, reputation be damned, has only produced four offenses ranked inside of the league’s top-20 scoring units since 2010.
Don’t confuse this as Jimmy Garoppolo slander. The veteran signal-caller dealt with a myriad of drops and mishaps in Week 6 and played far better than the box score indicated.
And yet, this remains a run-first offense (25th in pass-play rate in non-garbage time situations) that has struggled to be as efficient as usual behind PFF’s 24th-ranked offensive line in run-blocking grade. Obviously, getting back all-world LT Trent Williams (ankle) will be a major boost, but just realize the offense’s mediocre results have been a bit of a team-wide issue to start the season.
It’s annoying how good this Atlanta Falcons offense apparently is