Evan Silva’s Matchups: Texans at Panthers

Houston @ Carolina

Team Totals: Texans 23, Panthers 20

Eviscerating the silly narrative that Ohio State quarterbacks can’t succeed in the NFL, C.J. Stroud comes off Houston’s bye with a strengthened supporting cast ranked No. 13 among quarterbacks in per-game fantasy scoring. Stroud’s 96.4 QB rating is No. 10 among passers with at least 100 attempts, while his 7.8 yards per attempt are No. 4 in the league. Stroud has earned legitimate QB1 consideration here; Carolina is missing an extraordinary amount of pass-defense talent with CB Jaycee Horn (hamstring), CB Jeremy Chinn (quad), every-down LB Shaq Thompson (broken fibula), and EDGE Yetur Gross-Matos (hamstring) all on I.R. Sidelined before last week’s bye, first-string safeties Xavier Woods (hamstring) and Vonn Bell (quad) are at best up in the air. … Devin Singletary surprisingly operated as the Texans’ lead back in their pre-bye win over the Saints, out-snapping Dameon Pierce 34 to 21 while they split touches evenly (13). The Panthers have been slaughtered for the NFL’s second-most fantasy points by enemy backs, including 5.3 yards per carry and 13 all-purpose TDs in six games. Singletary and Pierce are both flex-playable.

Stroud’s 2023 target distribution: Robert Woods 43; Nico Collins 42; Dalton Schultz 33; Tank Dell 28; Pierce 12; Noah Brown 9; Singletary and John Metchie 7. … Woods’ matchup stands out as favorable, and his volume looks positive on paper, but his playmaking ability is nearly nonexistent at age 31. Woods hasn’t cleared 35 yards since Week 2.