NFL Week 16 Fantasy Football Recap: Tennessee Titans vs. Houston Texans

• Derrick Henry: 23 carries, 126 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 receptions, 0 receiving yards

• Brandin Cooks: 4 receptions, 34 yards, 1 touchdown

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ATL@BAL | DET@CAR | SEA@KC | NO@CLE
HOU@TEN | CIN@NE | NYG@MIN | BUF@CHI
WSH@SF | PHI@DAL | LVR@PIT

Treylon Burks’ return: Burks suffered a concussion in Week 13, causing him to miss Week 14.

• He played more than 75% of offensive snaps for the first time in his NFL career.
• He played 14 of a possible 18 snaps in 12 personnel, which made the difference for him compared to previous weeks.
• He reached 10 snaps in 12 personnel once (Week 3) prior to his first major injury of the season and hadn’t regained those snaps when he returned in Week 10.
• Those snaps came at the expense of Nick Westbrook-Ikhine.
• This didn’t necessarily lead to more production. He didn’t catch either target, and the Titans' passing game was held under 100 yards total.
• Burks had a 15-yard carry.
• The Titans have a much more favorable matchup against the Dallas Cowboys next week.
• Dallas has allowed the seventh-most fantasy points to wide receivers this season, and the Titans will likely need to pass a lot more in that game.

Brandin Cooks returns to the Texans: Cooks returned after suffering a calf injury in Week 12 and regained his starting job.

• His playing time had ever so slightly been on the decline throughout the season, and that continued.
• He was the clear leader in targets on the team, seeing more than double the targets of any other Texan.
• Chris Moore had been a star in recent weeks and was able to keep his starting job.
• Nico Collins was placed on injured reserve Friday with a foot injury, so Moore will likely keep the starting job over the rest of the season.
• He’s a fine waiver wire target because the Texans have a matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
• Houston will likely be playing from behind, and the Jaguars have allowed the eighth-most fantasy points to wide receivers.
• Moore is a lot less safe of an option due to a lower target share.

Monitor Teagan Quitoriano’s health: Quitoriano suffered a knee injury early in the second quarter and didn’t return.

• The fifth-round rookie had led the Texans’ tight end room in offensive snaps since joining the lineup in Week 9 as the team’s primary blocking tight end.
• His role on early downs led him to run 18-21 routes most weeks, but he’s caught only four passes all season.
• This led both Jordan Akins and Brevin Jordan to see more playing time this week.
• O.J. Howard has been a healthy inactive. He would likely take Quitoriano’s role if the injury is serious.
• This makes the Texans’ tight end situation one to avoid, despite the injury.

Texans backfield goes as expected: In their second game without Dameon Pierce, the Texans used their running backs similar to the last three quarters of Week 15.

• The Texans initially turned to Dare Ogunbowale on early downs last week but eventually shifted to Royce Freeman being the primary early back.
• Rex Burkhead remained the third-down back, as was the case last week and has been for most of the season.
• Freeman is an OK waiver wire target for fantasy managers desperate at running back. The Jacksonville Jaguars have allowed the 10th-most fantasy points to running backs this season, and we can be decently confident he will lead the team in carries.

Table Notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.

• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.

• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.