The Worksheet, a fantasy football overview by Rich Hribar, breaking down everything you need to know for the Week 2 San Francisco 49ers vs Cincinnati Bengals Sunday afternoon game on September 15, 2019 at 1:00 pm ET.
San FranciscoRank@CincinnatiRank
1Spread-1
22Implied Total23
317Points/Gm2021
1710Points All./Gm2113
6020Plays/Gm706
6520Opp. Plays/Gm493
53.30%3Rush%20.00%32
46.70%30Pass%80.00%1
40.00%18Opp. Rush %51.00%27
60.00%15Opp. Pass %49.00%6
  • The Bengals ran 70 offensive plays in Week 1 (sixth in the league) after ranking 30th (58.6) and 32nd (57.9) per game over the past two seasons.
  • Andy Dalton’s 418 passing yards in Week 1 were a career-high and the most by a Bengals’ passer since Carson Palmer’s 440 yards passing in 2006.
  • Dalton led the league with 17 play-action drop backs (19) in Week 1. 
  • Jimmy Garoppolo’s 5.5 average depth of throw was the lowest for all Week 1 starting quarterbacks.
  • The Bengals had the highest sack rate (16.7% of dropbacks) for any defense in Week 1. They ranked 29th in sack rate in 2018 (5.5%).
  • George Kittle accounted for 37% of the San Francisco passing-game targets, the highest rate for a tight end in Week 1.
  • Matt Breida handled 11-of-17 backfield opportunities with Tevin Coleman out for the second half in Week 1 while Raheem Mostert handled the other six.

Trust (spike production for that player)

  • George Kittle: He led all tight ends in team market share and had two touchdowns taken off the board due to penalties. The Bengals weren’t tested by a tight end presence in Week 1 at Seattle, but were dead last in points allowed per game to the position in 2018.

On the Cusp (proxy of a player’s average)

  • Tyler Boyd: 11 targets (21.6 percent of the team total) are what we expected, but they were largely all intermediate to low-value types of looks (7.6 aDOT) outside of a missed touchdown opportunity on a double move where he was underthrown. He’ll get the best individual matchup inside this week, where the 49ers allowed the best game to Chris Godwin a week ago. 
  • Joe Mixon/Gio Bernard: Mixon left Week 1 with a left ankle sprain. His status is up in the air this week although early reports are positive it wasn’t a serious injury. That said, this may be a week where you want him to rest so you don’t potentially have to force him into lineups less than 100%. Bernard is more than capable of handling the load as well. In the four games that Mixon has missed over the past two seasons, Bernard has averaged 17.5 touches for 88.8 yards from scrimmage, 19.4 fantasy points per game, and has been a top-20 scoring back in all four games.
  • Matt Breida: He didn’t do much with his touches in Week 1, but we’ve seen this system churn out production plenty of times to know he belongs as an RB2 option with Tevin Coleman sidelined. Breida has reached 15 touches in a game just four times through two seasons, but when he has, he’s averaged 102.5 yards from scrimmage and 16.0 fantasy points per game. Raheem Mostert is deeper FLEX option who still could be involved in the goal line and a potential speed bump for Breida’s ceiling outside of being attached to a road dog.

Bust (down-week production for that player’s standards)

  • Jimmy Garoppolo: On the road back-to-back for another Eastern Time Zone start, this time with an early kickoff. Jimmy G has one real passing-game weapon we can have faith in while he hasn’t regained the fantasy output he had over those final weeks of the 2017 season. 
  • 49er WRs: San Francisco was 28th in Week 1 in target dispersal rate to their wide receivers. Deebo Samuel was the only one who had more than one reception on the day with three catches for 17 yards. Until Garoppolo shows signs of life, Kittle is the only receiving option to stock here. 
  • CIN TEs: In a similar situation to the Colts, both C.J. Uzomah and Tyler Eifert hurt each other from elevating into starting options. Uzomah played 54 snaps while Eifert played 38 in Week 1, with Eifert running 26 pass routes to 24 for Uzomah. 

If You Must (intriguing bench option or deeper league play) 

  • Andy Dalton: The use of personnel, tempo, and play-action in Week 1 was a positive indicator that Zac Taylor and his staff gets it. It’s doubtful the Bengals throw the ball at an 80% rate again in Week 2 as a home favorite, but the matchup is here for Dalton to prove Week 1 wasn’t fluky outside of volume. He’s a mid-to-high QB2 option.
  • John Ross: Another Week 1 performance from out of nowhere. The Bengals are going to be a heavy 3WR-based team and Ross played 82 percent of the team snaps, leading the team with 12 targets, He turned those looks into seven catches for 158 yards and two scores. We should expect the overall passing game volume to drop in Week 2 and not expect Ross to score multiple touchdowns, but Ross has now found the end zone in six of his past nine games played.  Ross is the preferred dart out of he or Damion Willis.

More Week 2 Fantasy breakdowns from The Worksheet:

TB at CAR | SF at CIN | LAC at DET | MIN at GB | IND at TEN | NE at MIA | BUF at NYG | SEA at PIT | DAL at WAS | ARI at BAL | JAX at HOU | KC at OAK | CHI at DEN | NO at LAR | PHI at ATL | CLE at NYJ