Ravens, Texans Divisional Round Fantasy Football Takeaways: Lamar Jackson, Justice Hill, Zay Flowers, C.J. Stroud, Nico Collins and More

The Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs opened with a pair of games on Saturday.

Let’s look into the first game of the day, a matchup with the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans, and discuss some things from a fantasy football perspective.

Ravens Roll Behind Lamar Jackson

It looked like a fantastic game was brewing through a half, only to have the Ravens outscore the Texans 24-0 in the second half to win 34-10. There were no turnovers in the contest.

Likely soon-to-be MVP Lamar Jackson was at the heart of the big day for the Baltimore offense. He scored all four of the team’s touchdowns and accounted for over 250 yards of offense.

Jackson was 16-of-22 passing on the day, going for 152 yards and two touchdowns. He did not throw an interception or fumble. Jackson also gained 100 yards and scored twice across 11 rushing attempts.

Jackson’s efficient day is one of the reasons why he’s the favorite to be named MVP. He simply doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, and because he can add value as a runner, he’s a pretty safe fantasy option every week he’s out there. He’s not as talented a passer as some of the elite quarterbacks in the league, but there’s also not many guys that can put up the well-rounded games he does.

Jackson is trending upward for fantasy football drafts for next season. He’s pretty comfortably in the top five, and probably will most often be the third QB picked, behind Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts.

While Jackson hit 100 yards rushing, he wasn’t the only one to flourish on the ground for Baltimore. The Ravens finished with 229 rushing yards, which makes them a tough team to eliminate and the favorite in the AFC.

With Dalvin Cook in the mix, people were wondering how the backfield touches would shake out. It went about as expected, with Cook, Gus Edwards and Justice Hill all factoring in.

Hill led the way with 39 offensive snaps played, which was 57% of the team’s total. He attempted 13 rushes for 66 yards and caught both of his targets for an additional 11 yards.

Edwards was on the field for 23 snaps (34% of the team’s total). He rushed 10 times for 40 yards and caught one of his two targets, but the reception went backward a yard.

Cook was on the field for nine offensive snaps (13% of the team’s total). He got eight carries, going for 23 yards, but had a long run of 19.

The Ravens’ backfield figures to remain a mess for the remainder of the team’s playoff run. We’ll cover the situation more in upcoming outlook stories, but a thing to note is that Cook didn’t get any carries until the fourth quarter, when the game was out of reach. The lopsided game kept us from seeing how things might also look moving forward.

When a team passes for 152 yards, it’s not surprising that not many pass catchers stood out.

Zay Flowers had the most targets (5) and finished with four catches for 41 yards. Rashod Bateman tallied 39 yards on three catches and targets. Nelson Agholor finished with 12 yards on two catches and four targets, with one of his grabs being a touchdown. Odell Beckham only had 12 yards on one catch and target.

Mark Andrews didn’t end up playing for Baltimore, so Isaiah Likely was the top tight end option. Likely had 34 yards and a touchdown on two grabs and three targets.

It’s no surprise that Flowers led the way in most of the stats, but his closing numbers weren’t very impressive, especially without a touchdown. He’ll be the guy to start among the group that played this week, but the rookie isn’t a super confident play. If Andrews plays, he might immediately go back to being a must-start fantasy option. We’ll cover that later in the week, so be sure to check back for that.

Texans Fall Flat in Second Half

Many people didn’t give the Texans a chance, but they hung around for a couple quarters. Houston only finished with 213 total yards of offense, and didn’t have an offensive touchdown (instead scoring on a 67-yard Steven Sims punt return), so it’s not surprising that not many individual players stood out. The Texans were flagged 11 times for 70 yards and only held the ball for 22 minutes, 25 seconds.

Rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud finished the game 19-of-33 passing for 175 yards. He didn’t have a touchdown or interception. Stroud rushed three times for 9 yards.

It wasn’t a terrible showing for the quarterback, but it definitely wasn’t a strong fantasy showing. Like he did most of the season, Stroud took care of the ball and avoided negative plays, which is always a positive for fantasy owners.

Stroud went from mostly being an undrafted guy this season to a QB who is likely going to go in the second or third tier of QBs going into next season. He’s a special talent and will be one of the faces of the league for years to come.

Devin Singletary had a decent day overall. He rushed nine times for 22 yards, with a long of 16 yards. He caught 5-of-6 targets for 48 yards to finish with 70 total yards.

Singletary looked like the team’s No. 2 option for the season, but he overtook Dameon Pierce during the season. Singletary is a free agent this offseason, but definitely showed enough to earn another chance with either the Texans or another team. His fantasy outlook will depend on where he lands, but he should have the chance to win a starting job somewhere.

Pierce didn’t end up playing a single offensive snap in the Divisional Round. He got one special team snap on the day. I doubt Houston would go into next season with Pierce as the favorite to be the team’s starter, but maybe he can improve this offseason and carve out a decent role for next season.

Nico Collins and Dalton Schultz were the team’s top pass catchers. Collins caught half of his 10 targets for 68 yards. Schultz had 43 yards on five catches and seven targets.

Collins led the team’s pass catchers most of the season, and looks locked into that role for the foreseeable future. The team is definitely going to need more options, and Tank Dell’s return from injury should help that next season.

Schultz turned in a fine season in his first year with the Texans. He’s a free agent this offseason, and I’d imagine that Houston will try to bring him back. If not, he should land in a decent offense and be a solid fantasy option again for next season.

Robert Woods had four targets in the game, but only had one catch for 6 yards. Tight end Brevin Jordan didn’t catch his only target. Xavier Hutchinson went backward 3 yards on his two catches and targets. Dare Ogunbowale was the only other player involved offensively - he rushed twice for 7 yards and caught his only target for 13 yards.

Along with Dell missing the end of the season, Houston’s offense was also missing Noah Brown. Expect the Texans to keep building around Stroud and giving him plenty of weapons to work with. Getting the running back position lined up for the future will be one of the biggest priorities for the team this offseason, and then getting him more pass-catching option will set the organization up for years..