Eagles vs Steelers Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 5

The Worksheet, a fantasy football overview by Rich Hribar, breaking down everything you need to know for the Week 5 Philadelphia Eagles at Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday afternoon game.

Philadelphia	Rank	@	Pittsburgh	Rank
7		Spread	-7
19		Implied Total	26
21	26	Points/Gm	26.7	13
26.8	20	Points All./Gm	19.3	5
70.2	4	Plays/Gm	68	8
69.2	25	Opp. Plays/Gm	61	4
38.1%	25	Rush%	44.1%	11
61.9%	8	Pass%	55.9%	22
40.8%	14	Opp. Rush %	33.3%	3
59.2%	19	Opp. Pass %	66.7%	30

The Steelers are averaging 2.4 more rushing yards per play than their opponents, the best in the league.
Ben Roethlisberger is averaging 4.5 more yards per pass attempt under pressure (10.9 Y/A) as opposed to when he’s kept clean (6.4 Y/A), the largest difference in the league.
Philadelphia is ahead of only the Jets in rate of offensive snaps run from inside of the red zone (9.6%).
42.6% of Carson Wentz’s fantasy points have stemmed solely from rushing, which trails only Kyler Murray (48.9%) and Cam Newton (54.4%).
The Eagles are allowing 5.8 combined sacks plus turnovers per game offensively, the most in the league.
The Steelers are first in the league in blitz rate (51.2%) and pressure rate (46.5%) defensively.

Trust = spike production for that player
Bust = down-week production for that player’s standards

Quarterback

Ben Roethlisberger: Roethlisberger has at least 18 fantasy points in all three games this season with multiple touchdown passes in each game. The Eagles are 18th in passing points allowed per game (16.9) and are 23rd in passing yardage allowed per game (273.8). Outside of facing Nick Mullens and Dwayne Haskins, the Eagles allowed a QB11 scoring week to Jared Goff (23.9 points) and QB12 week to Joe Burrow (20.4 points). Ben has been the QB9, QB17, and QB14 to start the year. That fringe QB1/high QB2 area is where he is in play again in Week 5.

Carson Wentz (BUST): Working with a skeleton crew on offense, Wentz has been the QB11 in back-to-back weeks on the strength of adding 12.5 and 9.7 rushing points. Banking on a rushing touchdown per week from Wentz may be asking for too much while from a passing perspective, Wentz is 27th in passing points among quarterbacks. The Steelers rank first in the NFL defensively in blitz rate (51.2%) and pressure rate (46.5%) to challenge all of the injuries Philly has had up front. The Eagles may get at least DeSean Jackson back this week to potentially help out, but with the Steelers having extra time to prepare and are harassing passers once again to start the season, Wentz is a QB2 option in this matchup.

Running Back

James Conner: Conner has returned to have 18 touches for 121 yards and 22 touches for 149 yards with a score in each of the past two weeks as he has completely reclaimed control of the backfield. Averaging 6.3 yards per carry in those games, Conner draws a tougher matchup than the ones he has had to kick off the season.

Philadelphia is seventh in yards per carry allowed to opposing backs (3.66 YPC), but 17th in rushing points allowed per game (13.9) as they have allowed four rushing scores to the position. Conner does not have the ceiling here as he has had the past two games in soft matchups, but is a volume-based RB2 option.

Miles Sanders (BUST): Sanders finds himself in a similar spot as last week when he was the RB32, turning 15 touches into 76 yards. After facing the top team in points allowed to backfields in San Francisco, Pittsburgh is second in the league and allowing a league-low 2.33 YPC to backs. After just four targets last week, Sanders needs to get back to the seven and eight targets he had in his first two games to help out his floor and yardage potential here. Melvin Gordon was able to manage a top-15 scoring week versus Pittsburgh by finding the end zone and having 84 yards on 21 touches. Sanders has too large of a role and pass-catching ability to avoid, but this is a week where he is a mid-RB2 option coming in, needing to find the end zone, and be involved out of the backfield.

Wide Receiver

JuJu Smith-Schuster: JuJu has yet to reach 70 yards in any game this season while failing to reach 20% of the team targets in any game as well. But he has found the end zone three times, matching his season total from 2019 already through three games. Even with Diontae Johnson leaving Week 3, Smith-Schuster had a season-low five targets (12.2%). Smith-Schuster has been efficient with his opportunities, catching 17-of-19 targets (89.5%), but also has a career-low 9.4 yards per catch through three weeks. Working from the slot, Smith-Schuster will avoid Darius Slay, keeping him in play as a WR2 aided by touchdown potential. The top slot options to face the Eagles so far have been productive, with Tyler Boyd (10-125-0) and Cooper Kupp (5-81-0) having the top-two yardage games against the Eagles this season.

Diontae Johnson: After exiting Week 3 with a concussion, Johnson had extra time off with the impromptu bye week to not end up missing another game. Johnson had 10 and 13 targets to open the season for 6-57-0 and 8-92-1. Johnson runs 87% of his routes on the perimeter, meaning he will contend with Slay most of the Pittsburgh wideouts should Philadelphia deploy him to shadow. top boundary wideouts Terry McLaurin (5-61-0), Robert Woods (2-14-0), A.J. Green (5-36-0), and Brandon Aiyuk (2-18-0). Smith-Schuster has the matchup advantage between the Pittsburgh wideouts, with Johnson as a WR3 option.

James Washington/Chase Claypool: With Johnson exiting after 10 routes in Week 3, Claypool (31) and Washington (27) set season-highs in routes run. Claypool turned four targets into just 1-24-0 while Washington had a 5-36-0 line on seven looks. The Eagles have allowed just two wideouts to have more than 61 yards in a game this season, with both being primarily slot wideouts. With Johnson returning to the lineup, both Washington and Claypool are WR5 options chasing a potential touchdown.

Eagles WRs: Greg Ward (4-38-0), Travis Fulgham (2-57-1), and John Hightower (2-22-0) were the Philly wideouts in Week 4. The Steelers are not a defense we target frequently with questionable options, but they have been allowing some production to wideouts. In three games, they are 28th in points allowed to opposing wideouts per game (44.1) and 26th in yardage allowed per game (192.7 yards). Pushing any Philadelphia wideouts up here is still tough, even with that production. Ward is a WR4/FLEX option in PPR formats only.

Tight End

Zach Ertz: Through four games, Ertz is averaging 4.8 receptions for 34.8 yards. The receptions per game are his fewest since 2014 while the yardage per game is his fewest since 2013. He also has career-lows going with 7.3 yards per catch and 4.8 yards per target. Opposing tight ends have caught 11-of-22 targets for 124 yards and a touchdown in three games. It is hard to bury Ertz because of the target potential he has given this depleted offense at a position that is lackluster to begin with, but Ertz is a mid-TE1 option based on target opportunity over ceiling potential.

Eric Ebron: Ebron has seen his targets climb from two to five to seven to start the season while his receptions have gone from one to three to five and his yardage has gone from 18 to 43 to 52. He also reached the end zone for the first time in Week 3. That target spike could also have been impacted by Johnson leaving the game, but Ebron does have a favorable draw here based on how Philadelphia has covered tight ends to start the season.

So far, opposing tight ends have reeled in 26-of-30 targets for 286 yards and five touchdowns versus the Eagles through four weeks. George Kittle’s 15-183-1 line last week accelerated those overall numbers, but Logan Thomas and Tyler Higbee were involved in the end zone prior to Kittle smashing last weekend. Ebron is a high-TE2 streamer that has had his role grow to start the season.

More Week 5 Fantasy breakdowns from The Worksheet: