DraftKings Fantasy Football features a showdown between AFC Championship contenders in Week 9. The DFS main slate may be in the books, but there is plenty of DFS action available for Sunday Night Football. Check out the NFL Showdown Slate DFS picks for the Week 9 Sunday Night Football matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals.
Set your DraftKings fantasy football lineups here: NFL $1.25M Sunday Night Showdown [$300K to 1st] (BUF vs CIN)
SHOWDOWN STRATEGY
Captain’s Pick
Joe Burrow (CP $15,300)
All doubt has been erased. The Bengals’ early season struggles have vanished from memory. Everyone is on board. For the few that are not completely sold on the Bengals’ resurgence and the explicit stat sheet evidence, there’s two key points that close the case. Burrow was injured to start the season. He could not line up under center. This severely limited the offense. Not having play-action is a big deal. The second issue was the Bengals’ wide receiver scheme. They now run an interchangeable system. No one is a slot receiver. They all will play slot, flanker and wideout. They line up anywhere. The receivers had trouble adjusting in the first several weeks. Now, defenses are having trouble adjusting.
Burrow is great and healthy. He has great weapons and a dynamic scheme. What does Buffalo have? The Bills have an injured secondary and a defensive line that received terrible grades from Pro Football Focus in their Week 8 matchup with the Buccaneers. It’s Joe Burrow in primetime. Pay his price or pay the price.
FLEX Plays
Ja’Marr Chase ($10,800)
He’s in the slot! That’s right. Look out, Tyreek Hill. Ja’Marr Chase is stealing your brand. DFS fans have only been given a taste of what Chase can do. He’s about to explode on the stat sheet. What’s a better time to go off than on Sunday Night Football against one of the AFC’s perennial contenders? The timing couldn’t be much better with Buffalo’s secondary in sub-par shape.
Tyler Boyd ($5,400)
The Bengals offense scored 31 points and gained 400 yards at San Francisco. This offense is in sync. Boyd is one of the cheaper ways to get a piece of the action. Burrow is going to heavily target Ja’Marr Chase. Joe Mixon ($8,000) is going to get plenty of work. There will still be left-over volume in this offense. Tee Higgins ($6,600) is coming along and Irv Smith Jr. ($1,600) actually showed up against San Francisco. Boyd, on the other hand, has been producing all season. As the other pass catchers come alive, Boyd will only get better. If he was producing when defenses didn’t have their hands full with multiple offensive threats, then he could terrorize defenses that are on their heels. A perfect example is the last two weeks. Opposing defenses had to pick and choose who received their attention. With less attention, Boyd scored a touchdown two weeks in a row.
Tyler Bass ($5,200)
The Burrow-Chase combo is not cheap. Any top-tier tandem is going to put a hurting on the wallet. So where is the value? These teams have stars, and the stars hog all of the volume. The dirt cheap options aren’t really options. That means the kickers are in play. Evan McPherson ($4,800) is a great option, but he does not fit the Bengals stack. First of all, NFL DFS players must select a player from each team. Bass fulfills this requirement. Furthermore, if the Bengals light up the scoreboard, then that means the offense is scoring touchdowns not field goals.
Fades
James Cook ($6,200)
The Bills have a lot of running backs. Damian Harris is out, but Leonard Fournette ($200) has arrived and is fresh. It seems like Lenny has been around forever, but he’s only 28-years-old. Latavius Murray ($2,600) has also withstood the test of time. Making matters worse for Cook is that Buffalo is a passing team. With Harris out in Week 7 and Week 8, Cook still did not receive 15 carries in a game. He hasn’t been that active in the passing game either (four receptions). He did score a receiving touchdown in Week 7. That was his only receiving TD of the season. His rushing stats are the same (one rushing TD). That’s not surprising. Buffalo passes. Josh Allen ($11,400) rushes in the red zone (13 carries for five TDs). Murray has 12 goal line carries (two touchdowns). Cook is a terrific young running back, but he doesn’t have much appeal in this Sunday Night Football DFS contest.
THE OUTCOME
This game could go either way. Both teams are stacked. The advantages seem marginal, but the Bengals have enough of an edge. Home field advantage is always significant, but the biggest edge is one man — Lou Anarumo. The Bengals defensive coordinator will be a head coach next season. He disguises his scheme brilliantly. This system works perfectly against Josh Allen. It’s kryptonite to the aggressive, mistake-prone quarterback.
Final Score: Cincinnati Bengals 31, Buffalo Bills 26
Set your DraftKings fantasy football lineups here: NFL $1.25M Sunday Night Showdown [$300K to 1st] (BUF vs CIN)
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