New York Giants - Fantasy News

Fantasy Football Key Stat: New York Giants vs. Tight Ends

by Adam Markowitz

11/17/17

NFL

New York Giants

The Kansas City Chiefs, Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Chargers and Green Bay Packers have combined to allow three touchdowns to tight ends this season. The New York Giants have allowed more than three times that figure all on their own.

The G-Men might be a disaster at 1-8 and are surely headed toward a rebuilding project in 2018 and beyond, but at least they've been charitable for fantasy footballers.

On the surface, the Giants are poor defensively. They are one of two teams in the NFL to allow at least 400 yards per game, and they're No. 28 in the league in scoring defense. For as much music to the ears of Dober fantasy players as that might sound, the real kicker comes when you dig into their stats against tight ends.

Literally every single team that has faced the Giants this season has put a tight end in the end zone.

Though that stat seems indefensible, we'll at least come to the aid of Ben McAdoo and point out the fact that his squad has had to play against some of the best tight ends in the NFL this season. But this stat goes significantly farther than the fact that the Giants have let Jason Witten, Eric Ebron, Zach Ertz, O.J. Howard, Cameron Brate, Hunter Henry, Jeff Heuerman, Jimmy Graham, Tyler Higbee and Garrett Celek score touchdowns against them.

The truly disturbing trend is just how easy it has been to get tight ends the football against New York.

Opponents have targeted tight ends on 74 passes against the Giants defense. A whopping 66.2 percent of those attempts have gone for completions while 13.5 percent of all throws to tight ends have gone for touchdowns.

It's not like the Giants are merely giving up touchdowns to tight ends in the red zone either. Three of their scores allowed to the position have come from at least 20 yards out, tied for second-most in the NFL.

Of the 12 tight ends that have come into games with Projected Fantasy Points totals of 3.0 or higher against New York this season, 11 have posted wins on Dober Play Cards.

That, of course, opens up the door to Travis Kelce, a man averaging 13.57 Dober Fantasy Points per game this season.

Kelce has a ridiculously high PFP of 14.0 this week, but it would be hard to justify a play against him. The Giants linebackers are slow and aren't going to be able to keep up with him in the middle of the field, and should Kelce step outside and play more of a wide receiver role, a thinned-out secondary that is still playing without Janoris Jenkins should get outmuscled.

Kelce has scored a touchdown in each of his last three games, totaling 18 receptions and 239 yards in that span. In three games against NFC East opponents this year, he has 22 catches for 287 yards and three touchdowns.

Simply put, this matchup is too good to miss out on. The Giants' streak of consecutive games with a touchdown allowed to a tight end will surely end sooner rather than later, but it's not a good bet to assume that will be the case in Week 11.