Patriots @ Raiders Week 6 Game Preview

New England Patriots @ Las Vegas Raiders

If no one watches this game, will there be any proof it happened? 

Obviously joking, but these are two of the least exciting teams in the NFL at the moment. 

Both squads rank poorly in passing and rushing efficiency, with New England, in particular, in a tier of their own at the bottom of the league.

The Patriots have been outscored 78-3 in their last two games and look completely inept on offense. Naturally, this means none of their skill position players have had much fantasy value. In fact, it has been so bad that no one on this offense has managed to put up double-digit PPR fantasy points in either of their last two games. 

At this point, you can’t feel great about starting many players from the Pats, with Hunter Henry probably the best bet. Rhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott are stuck in a committee backfield on one of the league’s worst offenses, so it will be tough for either to produce much value while that remains the case.

They have a good matchup this week against a Las Vegas defense that struggles to slow down opposing offenses at every position.

The Raiders are coming off a win on Monday Night Football over the Packers but have yet to score more than 18 points in any game this season.

The offense continues to concentrate around three primary pieces, with Josh Jacobs handling the vast majority of work on the ground while Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers have accounted for a whopping 57% target share and 75% air yard share.

All three players are startable in fantasy, but this game environment doesn’t scream shootout, with a 41.5-point game total and a decent New England defense on the other side.

After a relatively down game for Adams against his old team on MNF, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a bit of the squeaky wheel treatment and have a monster game against New England. 

Both teams are already on the outside looking in of the AFC playoff picture and need to pick up a win to try to stay in the hunt for a Wild Card spot later in the season. 

The Raiders are field goal favorites at home and are certainly in better form than the Patriots (literally everyone is), so I do think they are likely to come out of this game with the W. 

Unfortunately for the rest of us, this would make a Davante Adams trade less likely as it would get the Raiders to 3-3 ahead of a winnable matchup with the Chicago Bears in Week 7.

If anything, the under seems like the way to play this game, with two of the NFL’s lowest-scoring teams taking the field.