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New Orleans Saints wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling had a massive game in Week 10. He caught all three of his targets for 109 yards and two touchdowns. It was quite a surprising game, considering that he hadn't scored 20 or more PPR fantasy points in a game previously since Week 15 of 2021.
Perhaps no one in the fantasy football space saw this game coming, but he made the most of his opportunities when he got them. And he helped propel the team to a shocking 20-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons, who seemed poised to batter NO and take a commanding lead in the NFC South.
So why did Valdes-Scantling have a huge game? Will he keep dominating? Was this legit or a fluke, and should you pick up or start him for Week 11?
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Why Did Marquez Valdes-Scantling Have a Huge Game?
There were a few key factors that helped him do so well, seemingly out of nowhere, in Week 10. The first was the injury situation for the Saints' receivers. They lost breakout star Rashid Shaheed (knee) to a season-ending knee injury, lead WR Chris Olave (concussion) to a hospital pass from quarterback Derek Carr, and rookie Bub Means (ankle) to injured reserve.
🚨UPDATE + possible sleeper play
New Orleans #Saints WR Chris Olave is seeking options on his concussions and is headed to IR, with the saints season over he’s pretty much done for the year.
Notable Saints WR injuries:
- Bub Means (IR)
- Cedric Wilson (Out)
- Rashid Shaheed… pic.twitter.com/rpLSeZV9va— My Mind Is A Weapon FF (@SleezBallFF) November 9, 2024
They also didn't have Cedrick Wilson (shoulder), who was out with a shoulder injury. The decimated WR group was thus led by the former Kansas City Chief and Green Bay Packer, who hadn't garnered serious starting consideration in fantasy football since his days with Packers QB Aaron Rodgers boosting his value.
He did have a few nice games in KC with Patrick Mahomes II leading the show, but he's never finished above WR54 in fantasy, meaning he's been a WR5 at best. He's made a few big plays here and there in his career, though, so the double-digit fantasy days have made him a waiver-wire target at times.
Another big factor was the offense he plays in. First-year Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak showed that he could engineer an explosive passing attack in Weeks 1-2 before the team began losing offensive linemen to injuries. It collapsed pretty quickly after that.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Welcome to the DOME!
📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/QRmg5SRBZn
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 10, 2024
Carr has long had an excellent deep-passing ability, and he's showcased it plenty of times -- even in his age-33 season, he still has a rocket launcher of a right arm. This has allowed the team to attack defenses vertically. MVS has long been a speedster and big-play threat, so it makes sense that he was able to haul in some long balls.
I forgot about Marquez Valdes-Scantling. pic.twitter.com/FV6dRRIsqL
— SM Highlights (@SMHighlights1) November 10, 2024
Lastly, the Atlanta Falcons secondary played perhaps their worst game of the season. They're bottom-10 in passing yards allowed and fantasy points allowed to opposing wide receivers this season. Being burned by a 30-year-old vet who's never been a premium starter in the league was whatever the opposite of a magnum opus is.
Will Marquez Valdes-Scantling Continue to Dominate?
It seems like a long shot for this to happen. As was already mentioned, he's 30 years old. Receivers north of the big three-zero don't really break out and have dominant seasons after a big game. Flukes happen, and this could easily have been one of them. It's doubtful that he'd even have had his targets if there weren't so many injuries.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling is not worth a Waiver Wire Pickup.
I don’t care that he just scored 26 points, that was the most fluke game I’ve ever seen pic.twitter.com/dyuKVm0V5L
— Bryce DeGroat (@NFL_Convo) November 12, 2024
It's important to note that players often have long careers of fantasy-irrelevance, yet sprinkle in a few fine performances along the way. There are countless examples of players like this. Former Packers WR Geronimo Allison scored double-digit fantasy points in all of his first four games as a pro. After that? It happened just twice more.
Valdes-Scantling's performance is more of a testament to the poor play of the opposing Falcons secondary and the genius of Kubiak's scheme. The 40-yard missile he caught in triple (yes, triple) coverage was an inexcusable mistake by the opposition and is the type of play that gets players benched and coaches fired.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling is up to 24.4 fantasy points in the first half of the game 😳
He's available in 100% of Yahoo leaguespic.twitter.com/XzbKmUctOP
— Yahoo Fantasy Sports (@YahooFantasy) November 10, 2024
So was the two-yard TD he scored to break past 20 FPTs. At least Atlanta had a lot of warm bodies in the general vicinity of the pass! Not that it mattered. Terrible defenses have a way of allowing ridiculous games to opposing players, who outperform the rest of the games of their season by a huge margin.
One example is the Los Angeles Rams defense, who allowed Arizona Cardinals pass-catcher Marvin Harrison Jr. (29.0 PPR FPTs in Week 2), San Francisco 49ers wideout Jauan Jennings (46.5 PPR FPTs in Week 3), and Seattle Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba (37 PPR FPTs in Week 9) to absolutely embarrass them.
Marvin Harrison Jr. - All 8 targets from Week 2 vs the LA Rams pic.twitter.com/d7Xj1CaDO2
— Kyle Lindemann (@LuckIsMadeFF) September 16, 2024
What Will the Rest of Marquez Valdes-Scantling's Season Look Like?
Probably not quite as good. Flukes happen, and they happen often. But against soft defenses, we could see a few more highlight-reel plays from him. Kubiak has proven that he can deliver, and the Saints are capable of being explosive. They're healing up quickly as well, and they're set to get back key offensive linemen from injury.
Final Saints injury report. Only two players ruled out. #Saints pic.twitter.com/HB3lsnzYCU
— Jeff Nowak (@Jeff_Nowak) November 15, 2024
Most crucially, center Erik McCoy logged a full practice on Friday. If he can return, he'll provide a massive boost to this offense, who was dominating before he went down. Pressure up the middle is one of the most difficult things for a quarterback to deal with.
It's worth noting that Atlanta is one of the worst teams at generating pressure in the league. This could have been a big factor in helping MVS have such a big day, and shouldn't be overlooked. Most NFL quarterbacks are ridiculously accurate when not pressured.
Should I Pick Up or Start Marquez Valdes-Scantling Week 11?
In deeper leagues, he's worth a shot as a bench stash. But for all the reasons described above, it's likely his game was a fluke. There's a chance he could have more big plays, and you can't count out the Saints excellence on offense in the right situations, but starting him is a big risk.
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