Week 1 Fantasy Jackpot: Houston Texans vs. New Orleans Saints

by
Lukas Kacer
September 7, 2019

This matchup has Game of the Week written all over it, as two high-powered offenses square off in the Superdome on Monday night. The Houston Texans will look to unleash their newly-acquired offensive pieces in Carlos Hyde, Duke Johnson, Laremy Tunsil and Kenny Stills. The New Orleans Saints are leaving last season behind, after the heartbreaking loss to the Rams, and are looking full steam ahead as this could be Drew Brees’ final season.

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Game Details

Houston Texans (0-0, 0-0 Away) vs. New Orleans Saints (0-0, 0-0 Home)
Date: Monday, Sept. 9, 2019
Time: 7:10 p.m. EST
Over/Under: 52.0

Houston Texans

Even though the Saints are one of the top football teams in the league, they bode extremely well for the opposing team racking up fantasy points, as they allowed the most points to fantasy wide receivers in 2018. With as good of a wide receiver corps as there is (DeAndre Hopkins, Will Fuller, Keke Coutee, Kenny Stills) I expect lots of points for these players and for Deshaun Watson. Via Pro Football Focus’ matchup charts, all three wide receivers were given a matchup advantage above 14%, which is very good. Saints were good against the run last year, ranking top five in fantasy points allowed per game, but I expect Duke Johnson to catch enough check-downs to receive good fantasy production. Watson and Hopkins are top plays, if not the top plays at their positions this week.

New Orleans Saints

As we all know, the Saints have a core three when it comes to fantasy football: Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas. These three guys are auto starts week in and week out, but this week I am going to add one or maybe two to that list. The Texans allowed the sixth-most fantasy points per game to tight ends last season and I fully expect Jared Cook to have a solid game. as he is in a way the WR2 on this team. Latavius Murray could also be a sneaky flex play, if he is positioned into Mark Ingram’s vacated role. Thomas is licking his chops for his matchup this week, as he has been given a 26% matchup advantage, ranking him third for the week in that area.