NFL Prime Time Games: Showdown Week 1 Monday Night Football Game 1 | DraftKings

Greetings, Gamers! Welcome to the Awesemo NFL DFS Single-Game Prime Time series for FanDuel and DraftKings Showdown slates. For each of the featured games, typically Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights, we will be providing a free analysis for the single-slate action on DraftKings and FanDuel. This will include team capsules as well as player rankings and comments for all your daily fantasy needs. We have loads to get into on this Monday Night double header with the first game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Giants with thoughts on Saquon Barkley, James Conner and more picks for your NFL DFS lineups.

Don’t forget to check out the NFL DFS  Live Before Lock Show with Kyle Dvorchak and Your Ol’ Pal EMac at 6:00 p.m. EST. Every single game slate we’ll have a live before lock show for ya for the 2020 season.

NFL DFS Picks: Pittsburgh Steelers at New York Giants (+5.5), O/U 45.0

These two teams last met in 2016, so there is not much to go on there. Key items will be the health of Ben Roethlisberger‘s elbow and Golden Tate‘s hamstring. Conner is back and healthy, as is JuJu Smith-Schuster. 

For Monday’s Titans and Broncos breakdown click here

Pittsburgh Steelers: 25.25 implied points

Quarterback

Last year Steelers Nation got a glimpse of the future when they would be without Roethlisberger under center. Yes, he seemingly misses a game or two each season, but never when being replaced by passers like Devlin Hodges and Mason Rudolph.

Roethlisberger is now 38 years old and this will be his 17th campaign. In 2018 Roethlisberger had career highs with 5,129 passing yards, 34 touchdowns and 675 attempts, which were 114 more than in any previous season.

It all comes down to how he responds after being on the shelf for nearly a year. Word from camp is that he looks good, but this was also the same message last year before it later came out that the venerable signal-caller had been harboring an elbow injury.

Running Back

Conner is reportedly healthy after knee and thigh injuries cost him six games last season. The message from the coaching staff is that he will be the bell cow back once more. That sounds nice, but we want to see it in action. Benny Snell is the backup with rookie fourth-round selection Anthony McFarland Jr. as the change-of pace-option. Jaylen Samuels is listed as fourth on the depth chart, and with all of the tight ends healthy, there is a slight chance he could be inactive on Monday. Of course, we know to take depth charts with a grain of salt, and he really could be the RB2.

Conner is checking in as a fringe RB10 in full-PPR scoring systems, and it seems reasonable that he should be in the mix for 12-17 carries, 60-70 yards, a handful of targets and a solid chance to score.

AwesemoOdds Sunday Night Betting Preview

Awesemo’s sports betting expert Zach Brunner breaks down the best bets of the game for you to build your sports betting card around. You can also check out the available player props on OddsShopper by Awesemo.com.

Wide Receiver

Smith-Schuster missed four of the final six games and had nagging thigh and foot issues most of the season. Defenses were able to key on him without Antonio Brown in the mix, and once Roethlisberger went down, it became a completely lost season. At just 23 years old with a Pro Bowl appearance under his belt, Smith-Schuster should bounce back in his fourth season.

Things get a little cloudy with the roles and workloads for Diontae Johnson and James Washington. They are the WR2 and WR3, though there is some dispute among pundits and prognosticators which is which. Regardless, as long as Roethlisberger’s elbow is fine, this duo will each see 4-6 targets for 50-65 yards and about a one-in-three chance of finding the end zone.

Tight End

Offseason acquisition Eric Ebron is slotting in as the lead tight end, but Vance McDonald will still be in the mix. We know that the Steelers, and Roethlisberger in particular, love to use the tight end as a safety valve. Nick Vannett is with the Broncos, but this looks like a two-man show. 

Defense/Special Teams

Most projection systems have the Steelers as a fringe top five D/ST this week. In seven games last year the Giants allowed at least three sacks and had the third-most turnovers with 33 total (17 interceptions and 16 fumbles). Not only did Pittsburgh lead the league with 54 sacks, they also were tops with 38 takeaways.

New York Giants: 19.75 implied total

Quarterback

This is not going to be an easy row to hoe for Daniel Jones. Last year the Steelers had a top-five DVOA against both the pass and the rush. Looking at the OddsShopper player props, Jones’ projected passing yard total is in the 242-245 range. He does have a little rushing upside and should add 20-25 yards on the ground. In his 12 rookie season starts, he had 24 touchdowns and a dozen interceptions with two more scores on the ground. He should be able to make things happen, but this is a fierce veteran defense that he will be going against.

Running Back

Barkley played in just 13 games last year, but he still topped the 1,000-yard rushing mark for a second season. He had just eight touchdowns after getting 15 in his rookie season, but that should turn around. However, as noted several times already, this is a tough matchup. Fortunately Barkley is active in the passing game and he should see half a dozen targets for a handful of catches. Dion Lewis will be the change-of-pace back with Wayne Gallman in his usual reserve role.

Wide Receiver

If Tate is out or even limited with his hamstring injury, Darius Slayton and Sterling Shepard will be the direct beneficiaries. Both are very capable receivers and should be in the mix for 4-5 receptions and 50-60 yards. The upside is a negative game flow and/or Tate being out of commission. Behind them is former Cleveland receiver Damion Ratley, who may be inactive, depending on Tate’s hamstring.

Tight End

Evan Engram is essentially the primary receiving option for the Giants and an excellent red zone target. Jones will spread things around, but it is hard to see backup Kaden Smith encroaching too much on Engram’s opportunities. The second-year man missed the back half of the season with a foot injury. His rookie season wast interrupted with hamstring, MCL and foot issues costing him five games.

Defense/Special Teams

Roethlisberger does not throw a lot of interceptions, and he is still hard to bring down. Last season the Giants had the third-fewest takeaways with 16, and they were in the bottom third of the league with just 36 sacks.

MNF NFL DFS Showdown + Single-Game Strategy

This is a unique situation we are in tonight. We have no preseason games to draw from, and it has been a couple weeks since the enhanced scrimmages. We also have some incredibly top-heavy, massive-field NFL DFS tournaments for our first foray into Monday Night Football. The rankings below are best utilized for building out single-entry and three-max lineups and also for head-to-head and three-man formats. They provide a nice barometer for player value — but for those of you who are taking the MME approach, remember that correlation with your lineups is key.

This means matching a receiver or two if you have a quarterback in the Captain/MVP slot. This also works conversely with pairing a Captain/MVP pass catcher with their signal-caller.

We can absolutely utilize this information to create our player pool preferences for the Monday Night Football doubleheader.

EMac’s Single Game NFL DFS Rankings

Top 10

1. Saquon Barkley: How can we not go with a game-flow-proof running back, even in a tough matchup.
2. James Conner: He should be healthy, and we know that the Steelers like to lean on him whenever possible.
3. JuJu Smith-Schuster: We know he will be the focal point of the Pittsburgh aerial game, and the Giants secondary can be exploited.
4. Darius Slayton: This is more of a personal preference, as I think he is poised to have a very solid season. The masses will be joining me if Tate is inactive. For FanDuel he drops to the bottom of the top 10.
5. James Washington: We get at $1,500-$2,500 FanDuel savings over Slayton, Tate, Shepard, etc. On DraftKings the difference is just as pronounced.
6. Daniel Jones: The savings on DraftKings gives him the nod there; on FanDuel I would still prefer Roethlisberger for just $500 more.
7. Ben Roethlisberger: It makes sense that coach Mike Tomlin will be more content to focus on the rushing and short passing games, which can enable the Steelers receivers to have good games and not bring Roethlisberger along for the ride.
8. Eric Ebron: Pittsburgh is not afraid to use their tight ends, so Vance McDonald will be in the mix, but we all know about Ebron’s nose for the end zone and ability to work from the slot. The savings are also very helpful.
9. Sterling Shepard: Basically a tie between his projected production and Slayton’s, but the salary difference is huge.
10. Diontae Johnson: Similar to the Shepard/Slayton duo, Washington and Johnson’s rankings come down to price points.

Secondary Plays

1. Chris Boswell/Graham Gano: Solid price savings, and we know it just takes two field goals and a couple extra points for kickers to be viable.
2. Pittsburgh D/ST: Last year they led the league in sacks and turnovers and they get to go against a green quarterback.
3. Anthony McFarland: This spot is solidified if Samuels ends up being inactive. The fourth-rounder out of Maryland will be returning kicks. He was great in his two years as a Terrapin, averaging 6.7 yards per carry with a dozen touchdowns.
4. Jaylen Samuels/Benny Snell: If Samuels is active, I prefer the discount on DraftKings even with the uncertain role. If Samuels is out, it does not do much to boost Snell, so this is the correct ranking for him either way.
5. New York D/ST: At least they will be on the field.

Lottery Ticket

1. Golden Tate: Still limited in practice, my guess is that he will not play. If he does, the hamstring is concerning considering he has not been at game speed yet. This is a pretty aggressive stance by me, I understand if you think it is too much. The conservative approach would be to have him at the top of the Secondary Plays section.
2. Vance McDonald: He will still have a role in this offense, it just comes down to if he is on the field enough to make a difference. An in-game injury to Ebron would slot McDonald into that ranking, so it makes sense to not play this pair on the same roster. Also, if you are going the MME route, then make sure to have a few scenarios built out where McDonald gets the workload over the newcomer.
3. Kaden Smith: He had double-digit fantasy points in full PPR in four of the final six games after Engram went down.
4. Dion Lewis/Wayne Gallman: We need a random touchdown or in-game injury to Barkley for this duo to matter.
5. Chase Claypool/Ray-Ray McCloud: McCloud is on his third team in three years but a good special-teamer. Claypool is a second-round selection out of Notre Dame coming off a 66/1,037/13 senior season.
6. Derek Watt: Sadly we don’t get points for him being the younger brother of J.J. and T.J.
7. Cedrick Wilson: Second-year man will be returning punts for the Cowboys. He did see eight targets for 5/46/0 in half a dozen appearances last season.
8. Zach Gentry: Go buy an actual lottery ticket.

As always, you can reach out to me in Awesemo.com Premium Slack or Twitter @EMacDFS if you have any questions.

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