Cardinals vs Saints Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 8

The Worksheet, a fantasy football overview by Rich Hribar, breaking down everything you need to know for the Week 8 Arizona Cardinals vs New Orleans Saints Sunday afternoon game on October 27, 2019 at 1 pm ET.

Arizona	Rank	@	New Orleans	Rank
9.5		Spread	-9.5
19.25		Implied Total	28.75
23	17	Points/Gm	23.4	16
27.4	28	Points All./Gm	21	11
66.6	6	Plays/Gm	62.9	18
65.7	23	Opp. Plays/Gm	60.4	9
39.5%	20	Rush%	41.6%	15
60.5%	13	Pass%	58.4%	18
42.0%	21	Opp. Rush %	35.9%	5
58.0%	12	Opp. Pass %	64.1%	28

New Orleans is 19-3 in October games since 2014, including winning 11 consecutive games while covering in 16 consectuive October games.
The Saints have allowed fewer than 300 total yards in four straight games for the first time since 2010.
Michael Thomas leads the wide receiver position in overall points, but just 11.5% of his points have come from touchdowns, the lowest rate of the top-17 scorers at the position.
Thomas’s 62 receptions match Keenan Allen‘s 2015 season and trail only Adam Thielen’s 67 catches for the most receptions through seven games of a season.
Kyler Murray has been under pressure for just 17.3% of his dropbacks the past three weeks, the lowest rate in the league. Murray was under pressure on 31.6% of his dropbacks through four weeks.
Chase Edmonds had as many 20-plus yard touchdown runs in Week 7 (three) as David Johnson has in his career.

Trust (spike production for that player)

Drew Brees: We’re going in early on with Brees scheduled to return. Teddy Bridgewater would be in the streaming conversation if he plays, but Brees will walk right back into the top-10 if he’s cleared. Arizona ranks 30th in completion rate (69.8%), 27th in passing yardage (285.6) and 31stt in passing points allowed per game (20.9).
Michael Thomas: Thomas has held a WR1 floor despite failing to score a touchdown in five games this season. Thomas runs 30% of his routes in the slot, where he’s caught 24 passes for 276 yards so far this season. That can keep him away from Patrick Peterson, who played just two slot snaps in Week 7 despite the Giants having nearly no outside wide receiver presence. As a rookie in 2016, Thomas caught 7-of-10 targets for 52 yards and a touchdown against Arizona, but had zero catches in the coverage of Peterson. Brees’s return would raise the upside for everyone in the offense given the rising tide in scoring opportunities.
Latavius Murray: We’ll have to monitor the injury situation with Alvin Kamara, but with the Saints on bye next week, this could be an opportunity to ride Murray as a bell-cow one more game as a huge home favorite. Murray played 83% of the snaps last week while handling 32-of-37 backfield touches. Arizona has allowed 128 yards from scrimmage per game to lead backs over their past five games.

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

Kyler Murray: Last week was his first fantasy dud as the Cardinals never needed him to do much. Murray has had a nice run of soft defenses that are in the back half of the league in pressuring the quarterback, but that changes here with the Saints ranking fifth in pressure rate (29.8%). Murray has at least 10 rushing attempts in each of his past three games and has 249 rushing yards over his past five games to elevate his floor.
Chase Edmonds: This game seemingly has nearly all of the injury news we’re waiting on. David Johnson played just three snaps last week and now this week the Cardinals have added Alfred Morris. If the signal is that Johnson is more injured than let on or that they are down depth given that D.J. Foster also has a hamstring injury remains to be seen. But if Edmonds gets the nod again as the lead back, he has been a top-15 scorer in each of the past three games. The Saints are not as soft as the Bengals, Falcons, and Giants, ranking sixth in rushing points allowed per game (9.5) to backfields, but do rank 26th in receptions allowed (43) to the position.
Larry Fitzgerald: He had just one catch for 12 yards last week in that game where the air was not raided. That was Fitzgerald’s first week lower than a WR3 option. The Saints are expected to be missing P.J. Williams (suspension), Eli Apple (knee), and Patrick Robinson (hamstring) this weekend in their secondary while Marshon Lattimore has traveled into the slot – where Fitz runs 91% of his routes — for just 3.5% of his snaps this season.
Christian Kirk: This is the third straight week we’re cautiously anticipating his return to the lineup. All of those injuries to the Saints secondary also impact Kirk if he returns to the field because Kirk also runs 82% of his routes from the slot given Arizona’s offensive scheme.

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

Josh Hill: Another injury situation we’ll need to monitor is the status of Jared Cook, who is dealing with an ankle injury. If he’s good to go, then he’s a locked-in starting option. If he’s out once again, Hill ran 19 pass routes last week to 14 for Dan Arnold, but Hill was the only tight end targeted in the game, catching three passes for 43 yards and a touchdown. The Cardinals did allow a touchdown to Rhett Ellison last week (putting them at eight touchdowns allowed to tight ends on the season) but have had two positive games against the position over the past three weeks after shaking up their secondary, allowing 2-39-1 to the Giants tight ends last week and 4-30 to the Bengals tight ends in Week 5.
Ted Ginn: Ginn has been a WR3 or better in eight of his 11 games played in New Orleans during the regular season with Brees as his quarterback, averaging 60.4 receiving yards per game.