Last week, the Buccaneers remained steady from a fantasy football standpoint, in their 23-20 overtime win over the Falcons. QB Jameis Winston saw his second-straight 19-fantasy-point game, his highest of the season. RB Doug Martin's fantasy hot-streak cooled a bit with a 71-yard outing resulting in eight PPR points. He was coming off three-straight fantasy performances of at least 19 points. RB Charles Sims and WR Mike Evans each came away with seven fantasy points.
Meanwhile, in a game in New Orleans against the Saints, the New York Giants offense went off. Four players had 18+ PPR fantasy points, led by a 39-point game from WR Odell Beckham, Jr., and a 38-point game from QB Eli Manning. Beckham caught eight balls for 130 yards and three scores, Manning threw six TD passes. RB Shane Vereen led all NYG backs with 20 fantasy points, which all came in the receiving game (8 receptions, 60 yards, 1 TD).
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Must Starts
WR Mike Evans – While the Giants offense had a field day, they allowed even more to the Saints, who won the game, 52-49. The Giants defense allowed 25 or more fantasy points to three different NO receivers and 78 fantasy points to WRs in that game. Their previous high points-allowed total was 47 in Week 2 against the Falcons. This week, Evans will look to be among the highest-scoring fantasy receivers, completing the NFC South trifecta of remarkable performances vs. the Giants.
RB Doug Martin – As stated above, Martin had three big games (24, 36, 19 points) going into the Falcons contest. This week he faces the Giants' defense that is allowing the fifth-most points to opposing RBs. In the last three weeks, the top-scoring RB against the Giants have scored 24, 24 and 15 points. The Bucs will look to get Martin back on track in this game.
New York Giants Must Starts
WR Odell Beckham Jr. – Always start your starters. After leading all non-QBs in fantasy points last week, Beckham faces the Bucs defense allowing the fourth-most fantasy points to WRs. He shouldn't be on your bench in any week.
QB Eli Manning – With a high-scoring WR usually comes a high-scoring QB. Manning is coming off a brilliant fantasy game to face the Bucs who allow the third-most points to QBs. Falcons' QB Matt Ryan managed 19, but in previous weeks, WAS's Kirk Cousins and JAX's Blake Bortles each put up 29 and 28, respectively.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sleepers
QB Jameis Winston – Winston has gone three straight games without an interception and has been a model of consistency over his seven-game career. He has 19 points in each of the last two weeks and will face a defense that gave up 44 points last week, the highest single-game fantasy total of the season. Winston's ownership is growing, now up to 31.2%. Another solid outing will grow that number even more. With six QBs on bye this week, Winston is starting-caliber in Week 9.
TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins – The TE is listed as questionable going in, but should he play, he will be going up against the defense allowing the second-most points to tight ends this year at a clip of 18.6 per game. In Seferian-Jenkins's first game of the season (his only full game), he grabbed two touchdowns and 110 yards, a 28-points performance. After missing five games, his injury has him owned in just 19.7% of leagues. He could well blossom into a weekly must-start, starting with a great matchup against the Giants.
New York Giants Sleepers
WR Dwayne Harris – Though Harris had just three catches last week, two of them were in the end zone. The dangerous return man has not made huge waves in his career as a receivers, but with Victor Cruz ruled out and Rueben Randle questionable, he could see much more time than he is used to. Against a defense giving up plenty of catches, he could see a season-high number of targets. Owned in just 10.7% of leagues, if you are struggling with bye weeks or a rash of injuries, Harris is an intriguing option this week.
TE Will Tye – Tye is the sleepiest of sleepers this week, owned in just 0.3% of leagues, all that he as added to this week. The reason: starting TE Larry Donnell is listed as out for this game. Active in just three games, Tye has caught four passes for 29 yards. He should see his biggest work load because of Donnell's absence, but also because of the injuries at receiver. He is a long shot, but will be a fun name to know so you can say "told you so" on Monday morning if he does happen to find the end zone. It is worth noting that the Buccaneers were among the stoutest teams against TEs over the first five games of the season (7.2 TE points allowed per game, NFL average = 11.9) but in the last two contests TEs have had performances of 33 points and 27 points. The Bucs will look to get back to shutting down TEs on Sunday.
