Monkey Knife Fight: Thursday Night Football Picks

Monkey Knife Fight: Thursday Night Football Picks

This article is part of our DFS NFL series.

We have a star-studded matchup for Thursday Night Football this week with the Buccaneers hosting the Ravens. To add to the excitement, we get another opportunity to play on Monkey Knife Fight.

Three Game Types are offered, including "More Or Less," "Rapid Fire" and "Stat Shootout." For a full breakdown of the rules for each game, see the House Rules page. Let's dive into some of the contests within each Game Type and discuss how things might play out.

More Or Less Contest

Kicking things off is a 2/2 goal for 3.5X the prize. We have to pick a side on Leonard Fournette 16.5 fantasy points and Mark Andrews 16.5 fantasy points. Let's take the under for Fournette, who only had 19 rushing yards on eight carries last week against the Panthers. He's had more than 65 rushing yards in a game once this season, and he has three games with fewer than 40 rushing yards. While he can put up valuable numbers in the passing game, the Ravens have allowed a combined five touchdowns to running backs, either on the ground or through the air.

For Andrews, give me the over. The Buccaneers' secondary is decimated, with Antoine Winfield (concussion), Logan Ryan (foot), Carlton Davis (hip) and Sean Murphy-Bunting (quadriceps) out. Coming off of a catch-less performance against the Browns last week, Andrews could be set up for a monster stat line. He has four games with at least 89 receiving yards this season with his five total touchdown receptions.

Rapid Fire Contest

A 2/3 goal for 1.7X the prize gives us battles between Tom Brady and Lamar Jackson passing yards (with Jackson receiving a +75.5 passing yards bonus), Fournette vs. Gus Edwards rushing yards (with Edwards receiving a +1.5 rushing yards bonus) and Chris Godwin vs. Mike Evans receiving yards (with Evans receiving a +2.5 receiving yards bonus). The Ravens have allowed the seventh-most passing yards per game in the league, so despite Jackson receiving the hefty bonus, I'll go with Brady to win their matchup. Also, Jackson has thrown for fewer than 220 yards in six of seven games.

For the running backs, look for Edwards to outproduce Fournette. As mentioned, Fournette has produced some duds on the ground this season. Edwards was heavily involved in his first game coming off IR, rushing 16 times for 66 yards and two touchdowns against the Browns in Week 7.

Stat Shootout Contest

Finally, let's examine a contest in which three players have to combine for 20.5-plus receptions for 2X the prize. First up, let's go with Andrews. Despite his disappointing stat line last week, he has four games this season in which he has recorded at least seven receptions.

Let's also go with Godwin, who is healthy and back to his productive ways. He's received at least 10 targets in three of the last four games, propelling him to at least six receptions in each of those four matchups. To complete the trio is Evans, who had nine receptions against the Panthers last week. He was targeted a whopping 15 times, which was the second time in the last four games that he has received at least 10 targets. If the Buccaneers' injury-riddled defense puts the team in an early hole, both Godwin and Evans could be busy in the second half.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Mike Barner plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: FanDuel: mbarner, DraftKings: mbarner51.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Barner
Mike started covering fantasy sports in 2007, joining RotoWire in 2010. In 2018, he was a finalist for the FSWA Basketball Writer of the Year award. Mike also won the 2022-23 FSGA NBA Experts Champions league. In addition to RotoWire, Mike has written for Sportsline, Sports Illustrated, DK Live, RealTime Fantasy Sports, Lineup Lab and KFFL.com.
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