Fantasy Football: Week 12 red-zone report

Sorting the Seattle Seahawks backfield in a positive matchup: Zach Charbonnet has been the lead back in the red zone this season and will be the favorite to score out of this backfield committee.
Derrick Henry draws a great matchup to find the end zone for a second-straight week: After breaking his two-game scoreless streak last week, Henry should create a scoring streak now thanks to a favorable matchup.
Unlock your edge with PFF+: Access Premium Stats, dominate fantasy with in-season tools and projections and make smarter bets with the new PFF Player Prop Tool. Get 25% off your PFF+ annual subscription with code PFFFANTASYPODCAST25.

Estimated Reading Time: 40 minutes

The high-scoring areas of the field are the most valuable areas of opportunity for our fantasy football assets. This report will keep track of each team’s top performers in that area of the field, as well as the players getting the most opportunities in the red zone. Adding even more fantasy value to this report, we’ll also include each team’s opponent and their effectiveness when defending in the red zone to identify our best matchups.

Note: Plays called back due to penalties or plays with pre-snap penalties will not be included within the player data.

JUMP TO A TEAM:

ARZ | ATL | BLT | BUF | CAR | CHI | CIN | CLE | DAL | DEN | DET | GB | HOU | IND | JAX | KC | LVR | LAC | LAR | MIA | MIN | NE | NO | NYG | NYJ | PHI | PIT | SF | SEA | TB | TEN | WSH

Arizona Cardinals

Week 12 opponent: Jacksonville Jaguars
Total red-zone plays faced: 100 (14th)
Red zone successful pass plays allowed: 51.7% (32nd)
Red zone successful run plays allowed: 22.5% (2nd)

Arizona WR/TEs:

Position	WR/TE	RZ Route Rate	RZ Target rate	RZ Carries	RZ TDs	RZ FF PTs
TE	Trey McBride	94.9%	27.0%	0	7	65.0
TE	Elijah Higgins	25.6%	15.0%	0	0	-0.3
TE	Tip Reiman	6.4%	0.0%	0	0	0.0
TE	Travis Vokolek	3.8%	0.0%	0	0	0.0
TE	Josiah Deguara	1.3%	0.0%	0	0	0.0
TE	Pharaoh Brown	0.0%	0.0%	0	0	0.0
WR	Michael Wilson	87.2%	8.8%	0	1	12.6
WR	Marvin Harrison Jr.	69.2%	18.5%	0	4	34.9
WR	Greg Dortch	46.2%	19.4%	3	3	31.7
WR	Zay Jones	38.5%	6.7%	0	0	0.0
WR	Xavier Weaver	9.0%	14.3%	0	0	1.9
WR	Simi Fehoko	9.0%	0.0%	0	0	0
WR	Andre Baccellia	3.8%	33.3%	0	0	1.5

Arizona RBs:

RB	RZ Carries	RZ Carry Rate	RZ TDs	RZ Routes	RZ TGTs	RZ FF PTs
Bam Knight	13	31.7%	3	20	5	24.7
Michael Carter	6	14.6%	1	19	2	7.9
James Conner	5	12.2%	2	6	1	14.9
Emari Demercado	5	12.2%	1	14	4	11.4
Trey Benson	3	7.3%	0	7	2	2.4

The Jaguars have been night and day different in the red zone when defending the run versus the pass, ranking dead last when it comes to pass defense.
Trey McBride is going to be licking his chops at this matchup. As the league-leader at his position in red-zone touchdowns this season, he’ll be a heavy favorite to score in an ideal matchup this week.

Atlanta Falcons

Week 12 opponent: New Orleans Saints
Total red-zone plays faced: 94 (20th)
Red zone successful pass plays allowed: 43.2% (28th)
Red zone successful run plays allowed: 36.0% (20th)

Atlanta WR/TEs:

Position	WR/TE	RZ Route Rate	RZ Target rate	RZ Carries	RZ TDs	RZ FF PTs
TE	Kyle Pitts	97.3%	13.9%	0	1	8.5
TE	Charlie Woerner	21.6%	0.0%	0	0	0.0
TE	Teagan Quitoriano	0.0%	0.0%	0	0	0.0
TE	Feleipe Franks	0.0%	0.0%	0	0	0.0
WR	Drake London	91.9%	32.4%	0	6	48.1
WR	Darnell Mooney	67.6%	12.0%	0	0	2.1
WR	David Sills V	40.5%	0.0%	0	0	0.0
WR	Casey Washington	27.0%	0.0%	0	0	0.0
WR	KhaDarel Hodge	2.7%	0.0%	0	0	0.0
WR	Dylan Drummond	2.7%	0.0%	0	0	0.0
WR	Jamal Agnew	0.0%	0.0%	0	0	0
WR	Deven Thompkins	0.0%	0.0%	0	0	0

Atlanta RBs:

RB	RZ Carries	RZ Carry Rate	RZ TDs	RZ Routes	RZ TGTs	RZ FF PTs
Tyler Allgeier	22	53.7%	6	9	1	43.4
Bijan Robinson	20	48.8%	4	27	8	36.4
Carlos Washington Jr.	0	0.0%	0	0	0	0.0
Nate Carter	0	0.0%	0	0	0	0.0

The Saints' red-zone defense ranks well below average at allowing successful plays, specifically against the pass.
The Falcons have found next to no success outside of Drake London through the air in the red zone this season, as the lone top option remaining is Kyle Pitts, who owns the only other team receiving touchdowns among the wide receivers and tight ends, which was his lone score on the year. He’ll at least be more of a focal point this week in a favorable matchup.