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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Chris Roling

Expert says don’t worry about Joe Burrow and Bengals in fantasy football

Sometimes real-life advice and fantasy football advice align quite nicely.

This is one of those times — don’t fret over Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals going into Week 2.

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Yes, Burrow and the offense were miserable in Week 1 and yes, somebody like Tee Higgins caught zero of his eight targets.

But NFL.com’s Joel Smyth brought out some evidence while telling fantasy footballers not to panic:

Burrow had five games where he threw for fewer than 225 passing yards last season. In the weeks immediately following those games, he averaged just north of 325 yards. Plus, in the franchise quarterback’s young career, he’s averaged six fewer fantasy points in Week 1 games versus all others and four fewer fantasy points versus his Week 1 division rival, the Browns, versus other opponents.

Smyth also spotlights Higgins for the same reason — he’s usually averaging around 20 fantasy points in games with eight or more targets, making Week 1 very much look like an anomaly.

Granted, a game against the Ravens is never simple, but the Bengals don’t struggle against them nearly as much as they do the Browns in recent years.

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