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Fantasy Football Six Pack: Here's why Ezekiel Elliott isn't actually terrible

It may not be the six-pack you want, but it's the six-pack you need in your fantasy life. Here are a half-dozen stats that might just help (and probably can't hurt) ...

80 - Over the past four weeks, Ezekiel Elliott has averaged 80 scrimmage yards per game and 5.1 yards per touch while scoring a pair of touchdowns. He is definitely not killing anyone's fantasy team, nor is he holding back the Cowboys offense in any obvious way. It's fine to daydream about a world in which Tony Pollard is a full-workload featured back, but that's not where we live.

Here, in our universe, Zeke is firmly established as a capable runner who's gonna continue playing 60-65 percent of the snaps each week. There's enough anti-Elliott sentiment in the fantasy streets right now to make him something of a buy-low, even though his production has been entirely acceptable.

42.2 - Matt Ryan is averaging 42.2 pass attempts per week with a third of the season behind us and he's coming off a 58-attempt game. We can definitely question the wisdom of asking Ryan to put the ball in the air so often at this stage of his career, but we also have to react to the fact that it's happening.

It's good not only for Michael Pittman Jr. and Alec Pierce, but it also means any defense facing the Colts is worth streaming. Generally speaking, when we make D/ST decisions in fantasy, we're chasing passing volume. Here's the upcoming schedule for Indy, for those of you planning ahead: At Tennessee, Washington, at New England, at Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, at Dallas.

41 - Denver rookie tight end Greg Dulcich played 41 snaps in his season debut on Monday night, absolutely dominating the playing time at his position. Eric Saubert was on the field for only a single snap while Albert Okwuegbunam was inactive. Dulcich ran 27 routes, catching two of his three targets, including a 39-yard score:

A hamstring issue had sidelined Dulcich for several weeks, but, now that he's healthy, he deserves your attention. Really, any tight end who manages to get his name in a boxscore this season becomes a player of interest for fantasy purposes.

27.6 - Aaron Rodgers has connected on only eight of his 29 pass attempts traveling at least 20 yards downfield, a ghastly completion rate of just 27.6 percent, among the worst in the league. His passer rating on such throws is just 69.8.

Overall, Rodgers has completed 67.0 percent of his attempts, but his Y/A has cratered, sinking to a career-low 6.7. This obviously has as much or more to do with his receiving corps than with the reigning MVP himself. He needs a trade deadline gift in the worst way.

12 - Not that we had any doubts about the talent of Kenneth Walker III, but he led all backs with a dozen missed tackles forced in Week 6 per PFF, a ridiculous single-game total. He gained 73 of his 97 rushing yards after contact and four of his carries went for 10 or more yards. Just look at this nonsense:

You know a guy is good when the play-by-play guy is dropping fish comps. If we were redrafting today, Walker surely wouldn't make it past the third round.

9 - Jamaal Williams has handled nine carries inside the 5-yard line already, the second-highest total among all running backs behind Joe Mixon's 10. Williams, of course, has only played five games because his team just had its bye. You'll recall that Williams was seeing goal-line work in the opening weeks of the season, back when D'Andre Swift was entirely healthy. Williams has established himself as the primary goal-to-go rushing option on a team that currently ranks third in the NFL in scoring (28.0). He's a guy you can start with confidence, regardless of Swift's status.

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