Houston Texans Fantasy Football: Best And Worst Fantasy Picks For Week Seven

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Here are a few thoughts on Texans players for their Week Seven matchup on Monday Night Football with the Steelers.

First, taking a look at the Steelers this season, they rank twelfth in yards allowed per game this season (337.0), tenth in passing allowed yards per game (225.4), and fifteenth in rushing yards allowed (111.2). Football Outsiders ranks the Pittsburgh defense twenty-second against the pass and nineteenth against the run. They have allowed the twenty-eighth fewest (13.3) fantasy points on average to quarterbacks, fifteen-fewest fantasy points per game to running backs (16.5), seventh fewest fantasy points per game to wide receivers (17.2), and seventh-most points to tight ends per game (10.3).

The image of the Steelers' aging defense being a cakewalk in fantasy may be overblown.  At the same time, they are not the Steel Curtain of old.

QB: Ryan Fitzpatrick - Time and time again Bill O'Brien has said Fitzpatrick is his quarterback going forward. Fitzpatrick's inability to go down field, be accurate under pressure, and not throw to the other team is a death wish for his fantasy value.

RB: Arian Foster - Foster has accounted for a hundred plus rushing yards and two touchdowns in two straight starts coming into Monday night. He will be coming off nine days of rest, which can only help with his lingering injuries this season. Push all your chips in on Foster this week in fantasy.

WR: Andre Johnson - Andre Johnson caught seven passes for 91 yards and a touchdown after I said to look for better options if you have them last week. Johnson leads the team in targets for six straight weeks.  He is still Fitzpatrick's security blanket and at the very least a flex in fantasy lineups.

WR:  DeAndre Hopkins - While Johnson had 12 targets last week, DeAndre Hopkins had just two. Hopkins has the talent to be the Texans' number one wide receiver; the only thing holding him back is the number of looks he gets. Hopkins is also a flex play or third wide receiver at this point with the inconsistent focus from Fitzpatrick.

TE: Garrett Graham - Once again, Garrett Graham has a great matchup for tight ends this week, like he did with the Cowboys and Colts. Yet Graham only had one target over those two games. As a matter of fact, the entire tight end group has had just three targets total over the last two games, one each to Graham, Ryan Griffin, and C.J. Fiedorowicz.

K: Randy Bullock - Bullock missed his lone field goal attempt on Thursday night against the Colts. Bullock's chances this season have come few and far between; he is not worth the risk in fantasy.

Team Defense: Texans - The Texans face a quarterback that is basically a tree stump in the pocket with nice weapons around him. The key for the Texans is to get pressure on Ben Roethlisberger.  It will disrupt his timing with his young receiving corps. Houston hopes they found the answer at nose tackle with Ryan Pickett, given the threat of Le'Veon Bell running wild.

Summary: Don't over think it.  Start Foster and Johnson for Monday night. Hopkins is also a start as a third wide receiver or flex if you need it. Start the Texans defense because you probably don't have a better option on the waiver wire. As always, skip Fitzpatrick and Bullock. Graham is a play if you are in desperate need of someone, but the track record shows Fitzpatrick isn't looking at the tight ends in the passing game.

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Editor's Note: Editor's Note: FanDuel is hosting a $250,000 one-week fantasy football league this weekend. It's $5 to join and the top 9,680 teams win money. League starts Sunday 1 PM ET and ends on Monday night. Here's the link.

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