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Aaron Rodgers, Jarvis Landry and The 5 Scariest Matchups on Halloween Weekend

By Joel Childers

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Sep 13, 2015; Landover, MD, USA; Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jarvis Landry (14) returns a punt for a touchdown against the Washington Redskins during the second half at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Ryan Allen vs. Jarvis Landry

For the last several years, New England’s Ryan Allen has been one of the top punters in the NFL. Part of that is simply the fact that he plays on one of the league’s top teams, but the undrafted rookie out of Louisiana Tech has certainly made his name in punting circles. Last February, he set the record for longest Super Bowl punt with a boot of 64 yards.

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So far this season, Allen has been 13th in punt yard average in the league, and 7th in net yardage. The Patriots have allowed only 5.5 yards per punt return on Ryan Allen punts this year. His stats may be blessed by the fact that he’s only had to punt 17 times this year, but he’s a key piece of one of the league’s best teams, and he has never had a punt returned for a touchdown.

That could change this week though, as he faces off against one of the league’s best return specialists: Miami’s Jarvis Landry. Landry is third in the league in yards per return this season, and is one of only six players who have run a punt back for a touchdown. He hasn’t scored on a punt return since Week 1, but anyone who watched Miami’s thrashing of the Houston Texans last week got a pretty good view of Landry’s open-field ability on a short pass that Landry took 50 yards into the end zone in the first quarter.

The Dolphins are in 3rd place in the AFC East, and are in need of a huge upset of the Patriots in Week 8 if they want to get back into the divisional race. If the Dolphins want to hand Tom Brady his first loss of the season they’ll need all the scoring help they can get, and some big plays from Jarvis Landry would go a long way.

Miami and New England face off in the Thursday night game, so we’ll have to see if Allen has Halloween-night nightmares about Jarvis, or if it’s going to be the other way around. I expect Allen to try to keep the ball out of Landry’s hands, but if the speedy return-man can find a seam, he may get the best of this matchup.

Next: Fantasy Football: Week 8 Tight End Rankings

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