Week 14 Thursday Night Showdown on DraftKings
Patriots vs Steelers Drafrkings Showdown
Showdown Captain mode is a DraftKings tournament where you have $50,000 to create a lineup using 6 players from a standalone single game. One of those players will be your captain. The captain costs 1.5 times their salary and will accumulate 1.5 times the points. As with every slate, GAME THEORY IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT. Even more so in Showdown, you want your lineup to tell a story of how the game will go. There are a lot of options based on how you see the game going but ALWAYS make sure there’s correlation between your players.
Patriots @ Steelers
Spread: PIT -6
Over/Under: 30
Injuries to Monitor
Rhamondre Stevenson injured his ankle on Sunday and will be out for this game.
Demario Douglas sat out with a concussion last week and will be missing again on Thursday.
Juju Smith Schuster is also questionable with an ankle injury.
DeVante Parker was a limited participant all week and is listed as questionable.
Keystone Boutte has been ruled out with a shoulder injury.
Najee Harris sat out Tuesday and Wednesday and is questionable.
Kenny Pickett had surgery on his ankle and will be out for this game.
Breakdown
After the best Thursday Night game of the season we get this disaster. The 2-10 Patriots head to Pittsburgh to face the 7-5 Steelers.
The Patriots were just shut out at home against the Chargers and they’ve scored a combined 13 points in their last three games. They’re dead last this season averaging only 12.3 points per game.
The Steelers aren’t much better averaging only 16 points per game on the season and 12 points per game over their last three games. Things probably won’t get much better with Kenny Pickett having surgery and Mitchell Trubisky starting.
This game has a ridiculous total of 30 and honestly that might be too high. From a DraftKings standpoint the defenses and kickers will probably be incredibly popular. I’ll definitely play them. In a lower scoring game the skill position players can still pay off though. On a lower scoring slate a skill player with 12 points could be one of the higher scoring players compared to 25 on a normal slate. Just keep that in mind while everyone is playing for Kickers and Defense to be optimal. We’ve also seen plenty of standalone games that have just not been what we expected so who knows maybe this one somehow goes way over???
I’m playing way less lineups than I normally do. The bulk of my Captain shares will go to Zeke and Warren. I will pair them with their respective defenses but I’m also gonna have a couple lineups with a slightly higher scoring game script as well. I like Parker the most on the New England side and will sprinkle in Henry. As for the Steelers I’m willing to play ONE Mitch Trubisky lineup and I’ll pair him with Diontae Johnson who has played better with Trubisky.
Captain/Flex
The Punters
No seriously though this game is gross
Jaylen Warren $12,000/$8,000
The Patriots have been very good defending the run especially lately. In a low scoring game I just like the guy who can get the most yardage on the least amount of touches. Warren is averaging 5.9 yards per carry and has forced the 2nd most broken tackles this season. Obviously if Najee can’t play Warren becomes an even better play but also becomes super chalk.
Ezekiel Elliott $14,100/$9,400
Zeke had 21 touches last week with Rhamondre out. He should absolutely see that amount of work again this week and more importantly most of the passing work. Pittsburgh just allowed James Conner to run for 105 yards and two TDs last week.
George Pickens $15,000/$10,000
Similar to the case I made for Warren, give me the guy that can get there on limited touches. Pickens is averaging 17 yards per reception and a 13.4 yard ADOT. He has a 22% target share and is in the top 20 in air yards.
DeVante Parker $8,400/5,600
With every other Patriots WR banged up, Parker should get a healthy target share. He had nine targets last week. He’s averaging 12 yards per reception and the Steelers have allowed 14.3 yards per reception to WRs which is 4th most in the league.
Flex
Diontae Johnson $9,800
Diontae has actually had a better target share with Trubisky averaging double digit targets with him. New England has been great defensively recently so I’m not crazy about the Steelers passing game.
Mitch Trubisky $9,200
Bailey Zappe $9,000
These two are disasters. Plain and simple. However on a one game slate QBs can easily be some of the highest scoring plays. I don’t like their ceilings enough to use them at captain but I do think you can sprinkle them in with their pass catchers. I won’t have both of them in the same lineup.
Najee Harris $8,400
New England has allowed a league low 52.3 rushing yards per game over their last three games. He hasn’t been practicing. I’m personally fading him even if he plays. He’s likely very low owned if he goes but is a risky play.
Pat Freiermuth $7,400
I love Freiermuth and think he’s very talented but I worry about him in this one. The Patriots have only allowed one TD all year to opposing TEs. I think he’s at a good price point which brings him into play but I won’t have much of him.
PIT DEF $6,600
NE DEF $5,000
Play one, play them both, play them at captain. A lot of people will likely play them at captain. I personally won’t because I don’t see the reason for the savings. Could they be on of the highest scorers sure but I’m not going Captain. I slightly prefer New England over Pittsburgh but as I said will play both.
Calvin Austin $2,400
Tyquan Thornton $3,400
These two will see limited opportunities but have big play upside. They could pay off their prices with one play. Thornton could see a little bit more paying time with all the Patriots injuries.
Juju Smith Schuster $3,800
Allen Robinson $3,000
Hunter Henry $5,200
You’re basically hoping for a TD from one of these guys otherwise they have a ceiling of like six points even in the best of conditions.
Ty Montgomery $2,600
Montgomery could mix in for a few touches with Rhamondre out especially in the passing game.
Anthony McFarland $400
Godwin Igwebuike $200
One of these two could get some work if Najee is out. McFarland has been a healthy scratch and Godwin has mainly been a special teams player. It’s hard to know who it would be or if they just split the leftovers.
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