Colts @ Bengals Week 14 Game Preview
Jonathan Fuller breaks down the Week 14 matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals from a fantasy football and betting perspective.
Indianapolis Colts @ Cincinnati Bengals
Jake Browning might not be a complete disaster after all. It was just one game, but it’s fair to say he shocked the football world by dropping 354 passing yards on Jacksonville during Monday Night Football.
That may very well end up being the best game of his pro career but the fact that performance was in his range of outcomes is encouraging for anyone with a Bengal on their fantasy team.
At 6-6, Cincinnati isn’t eliminated from the playoff picture either. Although it would be a long shot for them to get a Wild Card spot, knocking off a Colts team that is currently in the 7th playoff would be the first step.
Vegas certainly thinks the Bengals have a shot in this one, as the Bengals are just one-point underdogs at the time of writing.
From a fantasy perspective, this a good matchup for the running games as both the Colts’ and Bengals' defenses rank in the bottom seven of the NFL for rush EPA allowed per play.
As a result, both Zack Moss and Joe Mixon rank as top-20 RBs for the week in the Fantasy Life consensus rankings.
In the Bengals' passing game, Browning targeted Ja’Marr Chase early and often, and I wouldn’t be surprised if his 33% target share from Week 13 is indicative of the volume he will get with Browning at QB. Chase is talented enough that he remains an every-week starter for fantasy, but he’s more in the weekly WR2 range now rather than the elite option he was with Burrow.
Tee Higgins returned to just an 8% target share last week, but he did have an 81% route participation, and his presence should benefit the rest of the offense as he works back up to full speed.
The Colts continue to find ways to win games and are firmly in the playoff hunt at 7-5. Gardner Minshew posted his third 300+ yard passing performance of the season and yet again produced multiple fantasy-relevant pass catchers.
Michael Pittman remains one of the most consistent WRs in the league and should see his usual workload of around ten targets. His chemistry with Minshew helped extend his streak as a top-20 fantasy WR to seven consecutive games in Week 13, and he should be in your lineup again this week. Fantasy managers just have to hope he can get in the end zone to take his fantasy output from good to great.
You don’t want to rely on anyone else in this Colts passing attack. Alec Pierce popped up for a good game last week while Josh Downs fell flat again, but neither player seems all that compelling to me in a game where I expect Indy to lean on their rushing attack.