The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 17 matchup between the Bengals and Chiefs.
Find a breakdown of every Week 17 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| Cincinnati | Rank | @ | Kansas City | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.5 | Spread | -7.5 | ||
| 19.0 | Implied Total | 26.5 | ||
| 21.2 | 20 | Points/Gm | 22.2 | 11 |
| 23.0 | 21 | Points All./Gm | 17.7 | 2 |
| 61.1 | 25 | Plays/Gm | 64.5 | 13 |
| 63.3 | 11 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 59.6 | 3 |
| 5.3 | 14 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.5 | 9 |
| 6.1 | 32 | Def. Yards/Play | 4.8 | 6 |
| 35.04% | 31 | Rush% | 37.91% | 28 |
| 64.96% | 2 | Pass% | 62.09% | 5 |
| 43.20% | 20 | Opp. Rush % | 41.39% | 13 |
| 56.80% | 13 | Opp. Pass % | 58.61% | 20 |
Trust = spike production for that player
Quarterback
Patrick Mahomes (TRUST): In a season filled with offensive struggles, things found a way to get worse for Mahomes and this passing game on Christmas Day against the Raiders.
Mahomes ended the week as QB18 (16.7 points), the sixth time over his past seven games that he was not a QB1 scorer for fantasy.
He averaged 3.6 air yards per attempt on Monday, his fewest in a full game over his entire career.
43.2% of his pass attempts were at or behind the line of scrimmage, the third-highest rate for a game in his career.
Averaging 5.3 yards per pass attempt, Mahomes has had just three games with fewer yards per attempt in his career.
Despite that, I have to go back to Mahomes this week because this Cincinnati defense has been that bad.
They have allowed the two highest passing yardage games to the Steelers type of bad.
They allowed a career-high 20.0 fantasy points to Mason Rudolph type of bad.
They allowed 9.2 yards per pass attempt to Nick Mullens type of bad.
This Bengals defense is allowing a league-high 8.2 yards per pass attempt and 12.4 yards per completion.
They also are allowing 3.9 rushing points per game to quarterbacks, 25th in the league.
Mahomes has faced one defense this season worse than Cincinnati in passing points allowed per game, and that was the Chargers.
That was also the best fantasy week (33.0 points) for Mahomes in a game this season.
Jake Browning: Browning did not have a late-game flurry in him in Week 16 like he did the week prior.
He ended the week as QB24 (13.4 points). He threw for 335 yards, but he had just one touchdown pass to go with three interceptions.
Browning has now thrown five interceptions over the past three weeks.
Over the past two games, Browning has dug some big holes. He has a 61.4 rating in the first half of games, ahead of only Case Keenum and Sam Howell.
Things do not get easier this week for Browning as a back-end QB2.
Kansas City is fifth in the league in passing points allowed per game (11.5) and eighth in passing points allowed per attempt (0.363).
The Chiefs have allowed only three QB1 scorers this season.
Running Back
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