NFL Prime Time Showdown: Week 15 Monday Night Football Steelers at Bengals | DraftKings + FanDuel

Greetings, NFL DFS Gamers! Welcome to the Awesemo daily fantasy football Single-Game Prime Time series for FanDuel and DraftKings Showdown slates. For each of the featured games, typically Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football and Thursday Night Football slates, 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 of your daily fantasy needs. We have loads of information and NFL DFS picks to get into for both DraftKings and FanDuel on this Week 15 Monday Night Football slate between the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers.

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NFL DFS Picks: Week 15 Monday Night Football DraftKings + FanDuel

Pittsburgh Steelers: 27.0

Quarterback

This is a nice matchup for Ben Roethlisberger against the 29th passing DVOA. The Steelers are clearly a pass-first offense these days, and we have seen Roethlisberger with at least 42 pass attempts in five of his last six games. He also has multiple passing touchdowns in all but two games, with 29 on the season.

The Bengals have allowed multiple touchdowns to opposing signal-callers in nine of their 13 games. When these two teams met in Week 10, Roethlisberger posted 333 yards passing and four touchdowns.


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Alex “Awesemo” Baker’s projected stats (part of Awesemo+) have Ben Roethlisberger with 28.5 completions, which makes the over 26.5 at -110 on OddsShopper an intriguing way to hedge some our DraftKings and FanDuel DFS lineups. Click on the image below to start shopping for the best edge in betting and check out all the player props available for the Monday Night Football action between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.


Running Back

James Conner (quad) has been limited in practice this week, but he is expected to play. The Steelers are two-touchdown favorites, so it would not be a surprise if they limit the workload for Conner, who has been dealing with injuries and/or COVID-19 this season. They will need him fresh for a deep postseason run.  Update: Conner has been ruled out, Benny Snell will be starting in his place. Snell is appropriately priced for this role at $6,200 on DraftKings and $9,500 on FanDuel. Samuels gets a boost on DraftKings as an $800 option, he is a 25+ lineup option on FanDuel at $7,000. 

Cincinnati has the 18th rushing DVOA and is allowing 4.6 yards per carry, which is the sixth-highest rate in the league. While he is not exciting, things are lining up for Benny Snell to be a viable option. We need to remember that the Steelers have topped 20 carries only once in their last seven games. Jaylen Samuels is finally healthy, and he will be lurking in the background, ready to step forward for a handful of opportunities. On DraftKings Snell is just $400 less than Conner at $6,200, while Samuels is $800 and really opens things up. On FanDuel Conner is $11,000, Snell is $9,500, and Samuels is $7,000. Tune in to Live Before Lock for all of the updated Pittsburgh backfield information kicking off at 6:45 p.m. ET on the Awesemo YouTube channel.

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Wide Receiver

Last week on Sunday Night Football, Roethlisberger spread things around, with four receivers and a tight end getting between five and seven targets. Diontae Johnson had double-digit targets in five straight games before having only seven last week, which still led the team. JuJu Smith-Schuster has been solid after disappointing for the first five games of the year. He has at least seven targets in all but one game since then, and he has scored in four of his last six appearances.

Rookie Chase Claypool has six targets in six of his last seven games, though his snap count seems to have stabilized at 60-65%, which can be a little concerning. James Washington has been the main beneficiary of Claypool’s reduced playing time, and he has 10 targets for 109 yards in his last two games, making him a viable salary-relief option.

Tight End

Eric Ebron continues to lead the way for the tight ends in his first season as a Steeler. He is averaging 6.2 targets per game and has seen fewer than five only twice. Vance McDonald is back after missing time with COVID-19 in November, but he has just two targets in the last three weeks.

Defense/Special Teams

Pittsburgh leads the league with 45 sacks and is tied for first with 25 takeaways. The Bengals are fifth in the league with 22 turnovers, and they have allowed the second-most sacks with a whopping 46, behind only the 53 ceded by the Eagles.

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Cincinnati Bengals: 13.0

Quarterback

Brandon Allen (knee) is out, so third-stringer Ryan Finley will be under center. This is going to be a tall order, with Pittsburgh posting the best overall and passing DVOAs and the third-best rushing DVOA. Finley has seen spot duty in three of the last four games, and last year he was under center for Weeks 11, 12 and 13. That included facing the Steelers, who held him to 192 yards passing and a touchdown. For Week 15, the Awesemo projections have Finley as a bottom-three quarterback, within a half a point of Sam Darnold and Colt McCoy.

Pittsburgh leads the league with 17 interceptions, and they have allowed only 19 touchdowns passing. This is shaping up to be a disaster for the Bengals.

Running Back

Giovani Bernard had an early fumble last week and for some reason the coaching staff decided to play both Samaje Perine and Trayveon Williams their most snaps of the year. For perspective, in 112 career games, Bernard has fumbled six times, losing four of them.

Williams led the team with 12 carries for 49 yards, but he too had a fumble. Perine is on his third team in four seasons and may get a longer look, but neither he nor Williams is an exciting option against the Steelers. Of this trio, Bernard would be my preferred option unless one of the other running backs is named the starter. The veteran gives his green quarterback the best chance of pass protection and as a safety valve in what is likely to be a negative game flow.

Wide Receiver

A.J. Green finally had a positive game last week, with six catches for 62 yards and a score against Dallas. He has missed a few games with injury but could finally be healthy for the first time in two seasons. Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins are the future, but with Finley under center against the best defense in the league, we are hoping to get lucky with a broken play or busted coverage.

On DraftKings we at least get a bit of a price break for Green, who is $5,400, compared to Boyd checking in at $8,400 and Higgins at $6,400. On FanDuel Higgins stands out at $10,000 when compared to the $12,500 for Boyd and only a $500 savings with Green.

The Steelers have allowed eight different receivers to top 90 yards, including Higgins back in Week 10. However, that was not with a below-replacement-level quarterback leading the way.

Tight End

Drew Sample is holding down the fort as the main tight end this season. C.J. Uzomah would have been the lead, but he was lost in Week 2 with an injury. Cethan Carter will be on the field for about a quarter of the snaps, but he has just one target in the last five games. Sample has at least four targets in each of his last four games, so there is merit using him as a discount dandy.

Defense/Special Teams

Pittsburgh has allowed just one sack in their last six games. On the season, Roethlisberger has just nine interceptions, though five have come in the last four games. The Bengals’ 12 takeaways are the second fewest in the league, as are their measly 15 sacks.

Sunday Night DraftKings Showdown + FanDuel Single Game NFL DFS Strategy

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.

EMac’s Week 15 Monday Night Football DraftKings + FanDuel NFL DFS Rankings

Week 15 Monday Night Football Top 10 NFL DFS Picks

  1. Ben Roethlisberger: The 38-year-old veteran projects well above anyone else in this game.
  2. Diontae Johnson: He is 3 points behind his quarterback on DraftKings and 5 on FanDuel.
  3. JuJu Smith-Schuster: Still carries a bad rap in DFS for his first five games.
  4. Chris Boswell: We need the savings, but he is well ahead of his counterpart.
  5. Pittsburgh D/ST: They have a hefty premium but have double-digit fantasy points in four of their last seven, and they hung a season-high 18 on Cincinnati with Joe Burrow under center.
  6. Ryan Finley: As long as he can stay upright, he has a shot for double-digit fantasy points.
  7. Eric Ebron: Dominates the position for the Steelers.
  8. A.J. Green: Better on DraftKings for the savings. On FanDuel flip him with Higgins in these rankings.
  9. Chase Claypool: We are paying full freight for someone playing two-thirds of the snaps.
  10. Giovani Bernard: As long as we get word he is starting, he lands here.

Week 15 Monday Night Football Secondary NFL DFS Picks

  1. Austin Seibert/Randy Bullock: Pay attention to which Bengals kicker is active.
  2. James Conner/Benny Snell: I do not believe that Conner is healthy and see no reason for the Steelers to push him, so that means I should look to Snell. Conner is out, I would flip Snell with Bernard on both sites now.
  3. Tyler Boyd/Tee Higgins: Share a line with similar point-per-dollar projections.
  4. Trayveon Williams: Gets a slight bump ahead of Perine since he was actually drafted by Cincinnati, albeit in the sixth round last year.
  5. Samaje Perine: Whichever Bengal running back is starting moves up to the No. 10 slot.

Week 15 Monday Night Football Lottery Tickets NFL DFS Picks

  1. Drew Sample: Comes at a discount and should be on the field for 70-80% of the snaps.
  2. James Washington: Paid off his backers with touchdowns the last two games. Hard to count on a third straight.
  3. Jaylen Samuels: Move him up to Snell’s line in the event Conner is inactive. Conner has been ruled out, at $800 on DraftKings, Samuels moves to the top of the secondary section, he is projected for 6-8 total looks, so this is by no means a slam dunk.
  4. Cincinnati D/ST: Hoping for a kick return for a score with how few turnovers the Steelers have this year.

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Eric "EMac" MacPherson won the 2007 Fantasy Baseball grand prize (trip for two to the MLB All-Star game) in the Roto format on ESPN. He won again in 2008, this time in the H2H format. As one of the early adopters of daily fantasy sports, EMac has been providing content for baseball and basketball as well as both professional and college football since 2012 for a variety of websites including DraftKings Playbook, FanVice, RotoWorld, Daily Fantasy Bootcamp, and RotoGrinders. He is well into his third decade of fantasy sports and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Follow him on Twitter @EMacDFS or contact EMac by emailing [email protected].

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