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The Week 6 matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and the Detroit Lions features one team looking to bounce back from a loss while the other looks to start a winning streak. We've got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Los Angeles Rams
Running back Todd Gurley touched the ball 26 times against the Buffalo Bills in Week 5. He turned that into 108 total yards and a touchdown. The fantasy community knows this guy is the real deal. Unfortunately he plays on a team with an anemic offense. Gurley is averaging just 2.7 yards per carry this season. He’s facing a fairly good Detroit Lions run defense in Week 6. The good news is that the volume is going to be there all year long. Fantasy owners would be nuts to sit Gurley even though it’s hard to watch him struggle. Surpassing his projections will be difficult in Detroit, but his talent makes all things possible.
Perhaps if wide receiver Tavon Austin can pick up his play a little bit, it would help create some running room. Austin totaled 85 yards on 10 touches against the Buffalo Bills in Week 6. Few can question his athleticism; Austin is one of the most versatile receivers in the NFL. The problem in Los Angeles is the team doesn’t really have any other consistently reliable targets in the passing game. Quarterback Case Keenum’s play is also up and down. Putting all of that together, it’s difficult to know whether or not Austin will be productive week to week. As such it’s hard to imagine him surpassing his projected totals in Detroit.
Detroit Lions
Quarterback Matthew Stafford has at least three touchdown passes in three out of five games this season. The Los Angeles Rams have allowed just seven touchdown passes this year. Week 6 is obviously going to be quite the test for Stafford. The fact that he did not turn the ball over against the Philadelphia Eagles is an encouraging sign. It’ll be interesting to see whether Stafford can actually challenge his projected totals coming off a pretty efficient performance. Hopefully he can steady his play for fantasy owners and find some consistency as the season goes along.
One thing that would help Stafford along is the continually improving play of running back Theo Riddick. Riddick managed 82 total yards on 17 touches against the Philadelphia Eagles. Those numbers hardly rocked the fantasy world in standard formats. In PPR formats however, Riddick made owners smile. He caught all six of his targets for 33 yards and two touchdowns. Repeating that success against the Rams will be difficult. The good news is that newly signed Justin Forsett is only going to be a complementary piece going forward. Riddick is the Lions’ No. 1 running back for another few weeks. Fantasy owners may have to re-evaluate things once Ameer Abdullah returns from injury.