The Buffalo Bills lost a tight game to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, falling 21-17 in a back-and-forth affair. While the team was certainly disappointed that they fell short, there were some signs of improvement in multiple areas, especially on the offensive end.
Buffalo’s young team is making strides on offense, having turned in a 475-yard effort in Week 13. Of course, one man accounted for nearly all of those yards. Here’s how the Bills fared in fantasy football this week.
RB LeSean McCoy
We’ll go backwards this week, as the Bills really only had two big-time fantasy producers this week. McCoy was the third-highest scoring player for Buffalo, but he did not have a big day. He managed to rush for 52 yards on 15 carries, and he caught all four of his targets for 12 total receiving yards. McCoy’s 8.4-point performance was another disappointing day in what has been a tremendously disappointing year for the shifty runner. There were times where he looked like he had room to run on Sunday, but either due to hesitation or a loss of speed, he was unable to hit the creases and rip off big gains like in years past. With 478 rushing yards and two touchdowns to his name this season, 2018 is by far the worst year of McCoy’s illustrious career.
WR Zay Jones
Right position, wrong player, as Jones took the mantle of highest-scoring receiver from teammate Robert Foster this week. While the Dolphins focused on taking the deep ball out of Buffalo’s offense, limiting Foster to one 27-yard catch on the day, Jones was able to make some fantastic plays. He caught four passes for 67 yards and two touchdowns on the afternoon, and he was targeted nine times—so the day could have been even better. Of Jones’s catches, three of them were just great grabs, as he made a toe-tapping catch on a third down along the sideline to convert a first down, and then made another toe-tapping grab in the back of the end zone for a touchdown. His second touchdown catch was a beauty, as he found a crease in the Dolphins’ zone defense and then fought through some defenders to hit pay dirt. Jones scored 22.7 fantasy points, which was fourth among all wide receivers, trailing only Keenan Allen, Dante Pettis, and Antonio Brown. Jones is available in 98% of Yahoo! leagues, and with some soft fantasy match-ups upcoming, the burgeoning chemistry he has with Josh Allen may be something to exploit in the last four games of the season.
QB Josh Allen
Buffalo’s rookie signal-caller was fantasy football gold this week. While he lost four points on two interceptions—one of which was a desperation Hail Mary at the end of the first half—he accounted for 366 yards of Buffalo’s offensive output on the day. Allen completed 18-of-33 passes for 231 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions; however, he scored most of his fantasy points with his legs. He ran nine times for 135 yards on the day, and he also converted a two-point play on a pass to Jones. His 30.74 fantasy points was more than all quarterbacks other than Patrick Mahomes, and higher than every player in fantasy football aside from Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Allen is only owned in 5% of Yahoo! leagues, and while I would be hesitant to add him as my starting quarterback right away, he’s certainly someone worth stashing as the fantasy playoffs continue. If you’re like me and you have a stellar quarterback (Drew Brees) whose team may have nothing to play for in Weeks 16 and 17, and your league plays a Week 17 championship game, someone like Allen could save the day seemingly out of the blue.