Fantasy Football Week 7: Calvin Johnson and 5 TD Targets You Must Play

As important as it is for your players to rack up yardage to play consistently, the true key to fantasy success may be touchdowns. Gaining tons of yardage is nice, but there's nothing like picking up a quick six points when one of your players reaches the end zone.

For some players touchdowns can come in bunches, and that's fine, but the real value is in players that are capable of scoring in any given week, much like Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson. That type of production is a true luxury for any fantasy owner.

Several players are beginning to emerge as weekly touchdown threats, and here are five such players who must be in your lineup this weekend.

Miles Austin: WR, Dallas Cowboys

Despite missing two weeks with a hamstring injury and an additional week due to a bye, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin is among the league's leading touchdown-scorers at his position. While three of his four scores came in one game, he simply has a nose for the end zone.

Austin now has a week under his belt after returning from injury so he should be even more active in Week 7. In addition to that, Austin has a phenomenal matchup against the St. Louis Rams. The Rams have been a complete mess this year, so the Cowboys may look to make an example of them.

While the likes of Dez Bryant and Jason Witten tend to steal targets from Austin, they also help since opposing defenses can't key on one player. That is likely to be the case this weekend as Austin is a strong bet for at least one and possibly multiple touchdowns.

Ray Rice: RB, Baltimore Ravens

There are few better all-around running backs in the entire NFL than the Baltimore Ravens' Ray Rice. The diminutive Rice is equally adept at catching the ball as he is running it, and because of that he has tons of opportunities to score in any given game.

Rice has two rushing scores and two receiving touchdowns so far this season through five games and is sure to get plenty more moving forward. The Ravens will face the beleaguered Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 7 on Monday Night Football.

The Ravens have a very well-balanced offense so Rice should be involved as a runner and a pass receiver. I would suspect that Baltimore will get an early lead that will quickly turn insurmountable in this contest, so Rice will get plenty of carries in the game's latter stages and thus plenty of chances to reach pay dirt.

Eric Decker: WR, Denver Broncos

Denver Broncos wide receiver Eric Decker burst onto the scene this season to become a useful fantasy contributor, and now after the trade of No. 1 receiver Brandon Lloyd to the St. Louis Rams, he may be worthy of every-week-starter consideration.

Decker has five touchdowns this season between receptions and returns, and he will now be the focal point of Denver's revamped aerial assault with Tim Tebow at the helm. Decker has an extremely favorable matchup in Week 7 against a Miami Dolphins secondary that everybody has been able to pass on.

While Tebow may not be as good of a pure passer as Kyle Orton, he adds much-needed flare and pizzazz to the offense. The Broncos really don't have much else in terms of weapons in the passing game either, so with Decker as the only game in town, Tebow will make sure he gets the ball to his best playmaker.

Darren McFadden: RB, Oakland Raiders

As it he wasn't already the focal point of the Oakland Raiders offense, running back Darren McFadden will likely be featured even more heavily than usual this weekend against the Kansas City Chiefs with quarterback Jason Campbell out with a collarbone injury.

The Raiders acquired Carson Palmer from the Cincinnati Bengals, but there is no guarantee that he will play immediately, and even if he does he will need time to get acclimated to the offense. Because of that, the Raiders will want to stick with what works, and that is McFadden.

Kansas City hasn't been particularly good against the run this season either so McFadden has major potential this weekend. He is already 10th in the league with five touchdowns despite being hampered by a hamstring injury for a couple games, and that number figures to increase this week.

Calvin Johnson: WR, Detroit Lions

Here's a newsflash for you: Calvin Johnson is really good, and I mean downright scary good. Not as if you would ever even consider leaving him out of your lineup, but as always he has incredible touchdown potential this week, particularly against the Atlanta Falcons' porous secondary.

Johnson leads the NFL in touchdowns with nine and last week was the first game in which he failed to score, although he still ended up with seven catches for 113 yards. The reason why Johnson is able to score so many touchdowns is because his size and physicality give him a huge advantage in the red zone.

Even when he is double- or triple-covered, he is still able to come away with the ball, and he has done so on several occasions this season. The Falcons will obviously make a concerted effort to stop him, but there have been so many breakdowns in their secondary this season that I seriously doubt they will be able to keep him out of the end zone this week.