The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 17 matchup between the Patriots and Bills.
Find a breakdown of every Week 17 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| New England | Rank | @ | Buffalo | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.5 | Spread | -12.5 | ||
| 14.25 | Implied Total | 26.75 | ||
| 14.1 | 32 | Points/Gm | 26.9 | 6 |
| 21.5 | 16 | Points All./Gm | 18.4 | 4 |
| 60.6 | 26 | Plays/Gm | 64.7 | 12 |
| 64.0 | 15 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 60.9 | 6 |
| 4.7 | 28 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.8 | 5 |
| 4.8 | 4 | Def. Yards/Play | 5.1 | 12 |
| 40.70% | 22 | Rush% | 45.26% | 6 |
| 59.30% | 11 | Pass% | 54.74% | 27 |
| 41.77% | 14 | Opp. Rush % | 39.93% | 9 |
| 58.23% | 19 | Opp. Pass % | 60.07% | 24 |
Trust = spike production for that player
Quarterback
Josh Allen: Allen led all quarterbacks in scoring last week (24.9 points).
He did not have to do a lot of passing again (237 yards with a touchdown and an interception), but he did average 11.3 yards per pass attempt, his second-highest rate in a game this season.
Allen also added two more rushing touchdowns, giving him 13 this season. He had 13 rushing touchdowns combined over the previous two seasons.
Those rushing scores have gone a long way as Allen has thrown multiple touchdown passes in just two of his past seven games.
His 251.9 passing yards per game are his fewest since 2019 while his 2.9% interception rate is his highest since his rookie season.
All of that and he still leads all quarterbacks in fantasy scoring on the year.
Allen is a front-end QB1 for fantasy gamers.
He was QB4 (24.3 points) when these teams played in Week 7.
In that game, he was 27-of-41 for 265 yards (6.5 Y/A) with two touchdowns and an interception, rushing for 17 yards and a touchdown.
New England is playing man coverage on 39.9% of passing plays, second in the league.
When they played man coverage in Week 7, Allen was 14-of-20 for 144 yards (7.2 Y/A) with two touchdowns.
When the Patriots dropped back and played coverage, Allen was 13-of-21 for 121 yards (5.8 Y/A) with an interception.
Bailey Zappe: Zappe leads the NFL in completion rate (72.8%) since taking over as the starter three weeks ago.
While efficient, he is also 28th in air yards per attempt (6.0 yards) over that span.
32.6% of his passes have been behind the line of scrimmage (31st) with just 22.8% traveling over 10 air yards (31st).
That said, this offense has performed better under Zappe than what we were consistently getting from Mac Jones.
Unfortunately, that has not led to fantasy points as Zappe has just one game in the front half of weekly scoring.
Zappe is only an option for 2QB gamers.
Buffalo keeps finding a way to hold things together defensively.
The Bills have allowed 6.0 yards per pass attempt over their past eight games, fifth in the league.
Running Back
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