Fantasy Football: 5 Bold Predictions for Week 11

John Ross Is Going to Breakout

Fear not, all you John Ross truthers out there. This is finally the week he puts it all together.

Not everyone can finish a season with negative fantasy points, but that's exactly what Ross did in his rookie season. He battled a string of injuries, fumbled on his first career touch, and was then promptly sent to the injured reserve with his negative points total. He started this season off pretty injured as well (and as of this writing has been limited in practice all week), but this week he's going to reward the Cincinnati Bengals for investing a first-round pick in him in the 2017 NFL Draft.

Now, the Baltimore Ravens are very stingy on defense. They're a top-three pass defense according to numberFire's power rankings, and they haven't allowed a single player to record 100 receiving yards on them yet this season. But in Week 11, that's exactly what's going to happen -- John Ross is going to go off for over 100 receiving yards for the first time in his career.

Ross was a non-factor the first time these two teams matched up, but things are a little different now. Superstar A.J. Green is hobbled by a toe injury, which caused him to miss last week and will likely cause him to miss this week as well (he hasn't practiced yet as of Friday morning). In the one game Ross has played that Green missed, he actually had a low-key good game.

The Bengals got wrecked by the New Orleans Saints last week, but Ross had a good game when you look deeper than the box score. He only converted 2 of his 6 targets, but did manage to turn those 2 catches into 39 yards -- 19.5 yards per reception -- and a touchdown. More importantly, he finished the week with a top-10 Weighted Opportunity Rating (WOPR) according to AirYards.com, which means he was a real focal point for the Bengals passing game. His 0.74 WOPR was actually higher than what Green (0.67) himself had been getting before his injury.

Those are the kind of underlying metrics that can help spot a blow-up game before it happens, and they're pointing in that direction for the sophomore receiver regardless of the defense he is facing. With world-class speed, Ross is going to take the lid off the Ravens' defense and finish with over 100 receiving yards.