Antonio Brown Week 3 Fantasy Football Outlook
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown is the best in the business right now, and it’s almost ridiculous how well-rounded his game is. I don’t think there’s a single player capable of shutting him down mano-a-mano, and I don’t think there’s a single defense that can put together the type of team effort that it would take to shut him down. Brown racked up nine receptions for 133 yards and a touchdown against Malcolm Butler and the New England Patriots in Week 1 before putting up a jaw-dropping 195 on the San Francisco 49ers last week to pace a 43-18 blowout victory.
ALSO ON SPIN ZONE: Who Are The NFL’s Most Important Players?
Brown’s Week 3 test will come against another NFC West team, but the St. Louis Rams look better-equipped to prevent him from going over 150 yards than the 49ers did. All three of their top cornerbacks (Janoris Jenkins, Trumaine Johnson, and surprise star Marcus Roberson) have played at a high level this season, and the Rams have held opposing No. 1 receivers to 51.0 yards per game through two weeks.
More from Pittsburgh Steelers
- Pittsburgh Steelers rookie sleeper everyone should be talking about
- Kenny Pickett looks amazing going into year two for the Steelers
- 3 players the Pittsburgh Steelers gave up on way too soon
- Rest of NFL will regret letting Steelers land this steal of a rookie
- Steelers would be ideal landing spot for Caleb Williams, Drake Maye
The problem is that they haven’t faced a wide receiver like Brown yet, and the only true No. 1 receiver they faced, Pierre Garcon, barely did anything. The Rams held Garcon to just six receptions for 23 yards and a touchdown on seven targets, but Garcon was used as a gritty chain-mover with Kirk Cousins at quarterback. I mean, the Washington Redskins ran the ball 37 times for 182 yards, so it’s not like they needed to use their “X” receiver more.
Tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. ET, the Rams defense will be under much more stress, and it’s clear that Ben Roethlisberger and Brown are playing as well as any QB-WR tandem in the NFL right now. Roethlisberger currently leads the league with 11.1 yards per attempt, and the NFL’s best vertical passer’s dominance has been so pronounced that nobody else is in his stratosphere when it comes to Y/A.
Meanwhile, Brown has clearly benefited from Big Ben’s excellent work so far this season, and it goes beyond the fact that he owns a robust 18.2 yards per reception. Only Atlanta Falcons beast Julio Jones has more first downs than Brown, who has had nine catches in each of his two games, taking full advantage of the added targets that Le’Veon Bell‘s and Martavis Bryant‘s absences have afforded him.
Bell is back in the fold for tomorrow’s game, but Brown remains a lock for over ten targets. He’s had 11 targets in each of his first two games, and it’s impossible to see that changing. The Steelers basically use him the same way every week, because the “same way” when it comes to Brown means using him in a variety of ways, taking full advantage of his incredibly versatile skill-set.
It’s this skill-set that makes it so difficult for teams- even teams with plenty of depth at corner and a good safety duo like the Rams- to contain him. Antonio Brown is so freaking good that he hasn’t caught less than seven passes in a game since October 5th of the 2014 season. There are plenty of receivers who would be cool with that being their streak of games with at least three receptions, much less seven.
But that’s the type of week-to-week consistency that Brown brings to the table for the Steelers, and we almost take it for granted. There’s no doubt that the Rams have talent in their secondary, but literally no team has proven capable of stopping him. In fact, you have to go back to 2012 to find the last time he was held under five receptions in a single game.
Jenkins, who has a league-leading six tackles this season in which he stopped a wide receiver short of the first-down marker on pass that was five yards or less, and the Rams have the talent to contain some receivers. They did a great job of keeping Garcon in check, after all, and Garcon is no slouch.
Sep 10, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown (84) avoids a tackle attempt by New England Patriots outside linebacker Jamie Collins (91) during the third quarter at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stew Milne-USA TODAY Sports
The problem is that no player in NFL history has had a longer streak of 50+ yard games than Brown, who is currently sitting at 34 of them. There’s just no way this streak stops now, especially with how often the Steelers use him.
That said, you can be legitimately concerned about his ability to hit 100 receiving yards tomorrow, because Aaron Donald and the Rams elite defense could throw off Roethlisberger’s rhythm enough to prevent enough of those big plays. The Rams secondary has, again, held up very well so far this season, and there isn’t a better DT duo in the business right now than the Donald and Michael Brockers pairing in St. Louis.
That said, I think we’ll see a 9/90/1 line from Brown, who could have more of a possession-type day against a Rams defense that has surrendered a league-low 8.3 yards per reception thus far. Brown, of course, is on a different plane than the other receivers the Rams faced, and more importantly, he will be targeted more aggressively than the other WRs the Rams have faced in this young season.
The upside is clearly there for Brown to put up 130 for a third straight game, but I have a feeling the Rams will focus on him as much as possible. They won’t stop him, but they have as good of a shot as anyone at limiting his big plays.
Next: Is Brown The Best Fantasy Play At WR This Week?
More from NFL Spin Zone
- Dallas Cowboys made the trade everyone else should have made
- Pittsburgh Steelers rookie sleeper everyone should be talking about
- Anthony Richardson putting jaw-dropping talent on display immediately
- Denver Broncos’ stud wide receiver might be out for a while
- Washington Commanders: Three takeaways from win over Ravens