NFL Week 5 Recap: Instant Fantasy Football Takeaways from Falcons-Buccaneers Thursday Night Football

• Wide receivers shine in a shoot-out: Mike Evans, Darnell Mooney And Drake London All scored at least 23 PPR points.

• Kyle Pitts Bounce Back: D Atlanta Falcons The tight end posted his best numbers of the season, which should land him in the fantasy starting lineup.

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

PFF's fantasy football recaps focus on player usage and stats, breaking down all the important information you need to find fantasy success in 2024.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Atlanta Falcons

Kyle Pitts Returns: Pitts playing time and statistics bounced back after a season-low injury last week.

Pitts didn't catch any of his targets last week, and his playing time has slowly but surely decreased each week. Charlie Warner's run had a general tendency to come into play, but Warner ran seven routes last week that could have gone to Pitts, whose role last week was still better than most tight ends in the league, but the downward trend was the subject.

This week, Pitts posted his second-best snap rate of the season, behind only Week 1. Considering how many plays the Falcons ran, it was particularly impressive that his snap rate was high. Pitts caught seven passes for 88 yards, his best fantasy performance of the season despite not having a touchdown. While that was partly a product of the Falcons running a lot of plays, Pitts was still more involved than usual early in the game.

This game doesn't mean he'll be an asset to fantasy directors every week, but his combination of target rate and snap rate is enough to keep Pitts in the fantasy starting lineup.

Buccaneers running backs split: Rachad is white Led the team in rushing yards for the first time this season.

White typically played at least 80% of the Buccaneers' offensive snaps last season. In the first three games this season, it dropped to 70%-74%. Bucky Irving White has been outplayed so far, with his playing time dropping to 58% of Tampa Bay's offensive snaps last week. This includes White playing fewer snaps in early downs and passing situations.

This week, the rotation was similar to last week, as White played slightly more than Irving on early downs while splitting the two short-yardage situations. The biggest difference in their usage from last week is that White was consistently on the field in third-and-intermediate or third-and-long situations, which was not the case last week.

The big difference in the performance was White broke a 56-yard run, but he ran the ball outside of that play. Nine times for 16 yards. Irving was consistently making positive gains. Irving averaged 4.8 Four yards per carry in five games this season, when it was Fourth Time was white average 4.8 or better His 39-game career. Both players got some opportunities as the Falcons won the possession battle and the passing game was generally successful.

Both players will be borderline fantasy starters depending on the opponent.

Adjustments at Buccaneers wide receiver: The Buccaneers did not have three of their top six wide receivers.

Jalen McMillan He missed his second straight game with a hamstring injury Trey Palmer Was out last week after suffering a concussion. McMillan was the team's third option, behind Mike Evans And Chris GodwinWhen Palmer took over as the third option last week.

experienced Sterling Shepardwho started the season on the practice squad, was signed to the active roster and served as the team's third wide receiver throughout the game. He was expected to rotate at least a little bit with the undrafted rookie Cameron JohnsonBut Johnson suffered an ankle injury on his first offensive snap and did not return. the former Seattle Seahawks' Cameron Johnson Promoted from the practice squad, he became the primary backup throughout the game and did not play much. He signed with the Buccaneers in June.

This left the team almost entirely dependent on their reliable weapons – Evans, Godwin and the like Cade AutonShepard did score a touchdown though. The Buccaneers' third wide receiver should largely be avoided in redraft leagues, but they have a good playing chance because of how much the defense has to focus on the other wide receivers.

Miscellaneous notes

• Til Robinson Continue to rotate with Tyler Alger A little more than earlier in the season, but it's worth noting that he's been on the injury report with a hamstring injury and has been limited in practice. Also, she had a short week.
• Drake London Missed 13 plays in the second quarter while being evaluated for a concussion. He was able to return to the game. After returning to the game, he never left the field and reverted to his usual role.
• London caught eight passes for 117 yards and a touchdown from the slot. In both 2022 and 2023, he had just 22 receptions from the slot and scored one touchdown in the two seasons combined. His previous high in receiving yards from the slot was 55, which was two weeks ago Kansas City Chiefs.
• London dropped out of the second-to-last game due to injury. He looked good during a post-game interview on the field immediately after the game. Khadarel Hajj, who replaced London earlier in the game, replacing London again to score the game-winning touchdown.
• Cade Auton Caught 16 passes in his last three games, the most for him in any three-game stretch of his NFL career.

Table notes

• Snaps include plays returned due to penalties including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. These plays are removed from the other three figures.
• Goals may vary from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear throw-away pass, where the NFL would target the closest receiver, though this data would not.
• Carry is only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles will not count toward total carries in the game.