The Week 16 matchup between the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills features one team still fighting for a playoff spot while their division rival plays out the season. We've got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Miami Dolphins
Wide receiver Jarvis Landry hasn’t been targeted nearly as often in the second half of the season as he was in the first half. Fortunately for fantasy owners he’s managed to turn limited looks into lots of fantasy production over the last two weeks. Landry has 100 receiving yards in back-to-back games. Last week against the New York Jets, he turned a short pass into a 66-yard touchdown and finished the game with three catches for 108 yards despite seeing only four targets. It’ll be hard for Landry to repeat that against Buffalo, a team allowing just 225 passing yards per game this season. Landry has done his best to be consistent this season but it’s time to leave him on the bench for the fantasy finals. He won’t hit his projections in Week 16.
The player more likely to do damage on Sunday is running back Jay Ajayi. Although Ajayi’s number of opportunities hasn’t changed much since he emerged in the middle of the season, his yards per carry average has. Ajayi has been held to 61 rushing yards or less in each of the last four games. He rushed for 214 yards against Buffalo back in Week 7. The Bills are going to be hungry to avenge that on Saturday. Ajayi may reach his projections in Week 16, but don’t expect a 200-yard game.
Buffalo Bills
Fantasy owners of LeSean McCoy may very well be in the finals this week. That’s because Shady had a big game against the Cleveland Browns last week. He rushed the ball 19 times in the contest and ended up with a season-high 153 yards rushing and two touchdowns. He added three receptions for 16 yards to his rushing totals. Over the past month, McCoy has rushed for over 100 yards three times and scored five rushing touchdowns plus a two-point conversion. Throw in his pass catching ability out of the backfield and McCoy is going to be an absolutely monster during championship week.
The only other player worth starting in fantasy lineups on Buffalo’s roster is wide receiver Sammy Watkins. While McCoy was running wild on the Browns, Watkins saw just four targets in the victory and caught one pass for a 10-yard gain. It’s clear his foot injury is still bothering him. Watkins did not practice on Tuesday and is certainly at less than 100%. Fantasy owners in deeper leagues will probably still start him but it’s tough to expect Watkins to surpass his projections against Miami.