Fantasy football players seem to get smarter every year. The leagues get deeper. The competition gets better. That's partially because of the sheer amount of information available to fantasy geeks willing to put the time in.



But it's not always easy to find sound fantasy advice on players making up the back ends of fantasy depth charts. That's where we'll try to help fill in the gaps by providing you with information we've gleaned by being on the Patriots beat.

MARQUEE MATCHUP

Josh Gordon vs. Giants secondary

Here are Josh Gordon's fantasy-point totals through five weeks in point-per-reception leagues: 16.3, 3.9, 14.4, 7.6, 10.9. If he's been on your team, you've been riding the wave, and you're probably wondering whether or not this is the week you should coast back to the beach, park it under the nearest umbrella, and wait until Week 7 to get back in the water. After all, the wind is supposed to be nasty at Gillette Stadium on Thursday night, which should make an outside-the-numbers target like Gordon tougher to hit. But Gordon isn't strictly a down-the-field threat. In fact, on two of his longest three receptions over the last two weeks came on shallow crossing routes he turned up-field after being targeted just beyond the line of scrimmage. His average air yards per target, according to Next Gen Stats, is 10.4, which is the same as slot targets Jarvis Landry and Sterling Shepard and a tick below other pass-catchers who often work between the numbers like Emmanuel Sanders (11.2), TJ Hockenson (10.9) and Eric Ebron (10.5). Gordon's ability to shield off defenders on slants and comebacks -- as well as his ability to run over defenders on quick-hitters at the line of scrimmage -- make him a short-passing game threat in bad weather. Then when you consider his competition, it becomes clear you've gotta start him. The Giants are allowing a league-low 11.4 yards per attempt when opposing receivers are targeted this season, according to Sharp Football Stats. They're 30th in football, per Sharp, in success rate allowed (63 percent) when wideouts are targeted. Gordon's seen at least seven targets in each of his last three games, and he figures to be a key part of the plan Thursday as well -- even in the bad weather.

POPPERS

JULIAN EDELMAN

All those numbers we just listed about the Giants being horrid when defending the pass? Yeah. They apply to Julian Edelman, too. Maybe even more so. Edelman's average air yards per target number is 8.5. He's a key part of their short passing game, and what he did last week with banged-up ribs should make you feel good about the fact that he'll grind through whatever he's dealing with on a short week to be a productive player once again. I'm not convinced the Patriots will stick with the game plan we saw in the second half last week against Washington (we'll get to that in a moment) so I'm expecting them to chuck it all over the lot once again. That should mean healthy fantasy production from the 33-year-old wideout.

JAMES WHITE

Contrast James White's production with what we've seen from Gordon, and the guy is the picture of consistency. He's averaging 13 fantasy points per game (he missed Week 3), and he's never notched fewer than 11.9 points in PPR leagues. Again, when the winds are whipping, Tom Brady is going to be happy to throw short, meaning he'll be happy to go to one of his most trusted pass-catchers again and again. And as bad as the Giants are against receivers, they're almost as bad slowing down backs in the passing game. Pat Shurmur's defense is allowing 10.2 yards per attempt when backs are targeted, which is worst in the NFL. They're also allowing a 56 percent success rate when backs are targeted, which is 28th in football. If Rex Burkhead plays, that could impact White's fantasy value, but Burkhead is still dealing with a foot injury and is questionable for the game.

TOM BRADY

As a general rule, it's wise not to bet against Tom Brady. But particularly on Thursday night, it'd be a good idea to roll with him. The guy who said this week that playing football is "like riding a bike" is 8-0 when given only three days to prepare. He's also 11-2 on Thursdays, and he has a 107.2 quarterback rating on Thursdays. His yards per attempt on Thursdays (8.21) is better than any other day of the week and he has a 28-to-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Against perhaps the league's worst pass defense, Brady has to be in your starting lineup.

DROPPERS

SONY MICHEL

Sony Michel is coming off his best game of the season. With an average yards per carry number of 5.69, he blew away his previous high of 3.95 (Week 2). He was also finally used as a receiver, catching all three of his targets for 32 yards. So why have him in our "Droppers" category? I'm not sure the Patriots are built to sustain the Week 5 game plan that allowed their yards per carry number to shoot from 2.7 in the first half in Washington to 4.8 for the game after they set out to impose their will at the line of scrimmage in the second and third quarters. To me, there was a reason they came out and tried to run essentially a spread college offense in the first half last week: The numbers from Weeks 1-4 told them they were a better spread team than a power running team. That didn't work out. They only had 12 points at halftime with that pass-happy approach. But what's more likely? That the Patriots are the team we saw through all of September that had trouble running the ball? Or that they're the team that ran it at will for 30 minutes in Washington? I'm going with the former, which means it's hard for me to trust Michel as anything more than a touchdown-dependent flex option this week. The Giants are a middle-of-the-pack run defense -- much stingier than their pass defense -- and their best defensive player might be rookie interior lineman Dexter Lawrence.

GOLDEN TATE

Back off a four-week suspension, Tate has a few things going for him from a fantasy perspective. He'll be one of the few players on the field with fresh legs after a short week of preparation. He'll also be one of the few legitimate pass-catching options that Daniel Jones has to work with since Saquon Barkley, Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram have all been ruled out. Here's how the Patriots have stacked up against No. 1 receivers in PPR leagues through five weeks: JuJu Smith-Schuster had 13.8 points; DeVante Parker had 0.0 points; Robby Anderson had 4.1 points; John Brown had 11.9 points; Terry McLaurin had 8.1 points. That's an average of 7.6 points per game to No. 1 wideouts. Tate is a dangerous player with the ball in his hands, and the Patriots have had a tough time tackling at times over the last two weeks, but you can't feel good about his chances of fantasy production Thursday when he's going to be one of the focal points of Bill Belichick's defensive game plan. I'd expect him to be doubled in key situations (third down, red zone), and even when he isn't he'll be going against either last year's First-Team All-Pro Stephon Gilmore, Pro Football Focus' top-graded corner Jason McCourty or their No. 4 graded corner Jonathan Jones.

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