Week 12’s Sunday Night Football showdown will involve an AFC North matchup as the Cleveland Browns face the Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore currently sits as the No. 2 seed in the AFC while the Browns are now outside the playoffs looking in. Both teams are limping into this game with a myriad of injuries on each side.
Let’s look at this game from a Showdown perspective.
Set your DraftKings fantasy football lineups here: NFL $1.2M Sunday Night Showdown [$300K to 1st] (CLE vs BAL)
SHOWDOWN STRATEGY
Captain’s Picks
Lamar Jackson ($18,600 CP) - Now clear from his illness, Jackson should be the clear choice for the 1.5x position Sunday night. He’s averaging 38 pass attempts over his previous three starts, and the Cleveland pass defense is giving up around 32 per game. The Ravens are passing it just under 62% of the time, which is likely a correlation between opposing defenses guarding against Lamar’s ability and propensity to run. Speaking of which, he’s averaging 82 rushing yards per game over his past three, which has resulted in three top 10 performances, one of which was QB1 in Week 9.
Marquise Brown ($16,200 CP) - He’s put in limited practices during the week, which puts him on track to play against the Browns’ secondary. If Brown can play, consider rostering the speedster against Cleveland, who conceded 13 targets to Ja’Marr Chase and 98 receiving yards to Kendrick Bourne over the past couple of weeks. While they haven’t given up a ton of DKFP to wideouts throughout the season, they’ve been exploited over the past few games. On a per-game basis, Brown ranks 11th in air yards (112), 12th in target rate (29.2%) and first in deep-ball passes (2.3) amongst all wide receivers.
FLEX Plays
Nick Chubb ($11,200) - Kareem Hunt ($7,000) practiced all week, and the team believes he’ll be activated off IR and will play on Sunday. Still, Chubb is playing well, and Ravens DL Calais Campbell hasn’t practiced all week due to a concussion he sustained in Week 11.
David Njoku ($4,000) - He and Austin Hooper ($7,800 CP; $5,200) are pretty even when it comes to snap count, but Njoku is grading out higher than Hooper and has a passer rating of 110.7 when targeted. Baker Mayfield ($14,700 CP; $9,800) is hard to trust with a ton of injuries, and I don’t expect him to hold onto the ball for very long. The Browns’ TEs should be heavily involved, especially considering the Ravens rank fourth in DKFP given up to opposing TEs this season.
Fades
Devonta Freeman ($6,800) - He’s been touchdown-dependent over the past month, hitting the painted area in four of his previous five games. The one time he didn’t score a TD, he ended up with 8.8 DKFP. Cleveland’s speed and front seven could easily thwart Freeman’s ability to get anything going.
THE OUTCOME
Both teams are coming off mediocre wins scoring 16 points or less last week after embarrassing losses the week previous. Mayfield has a laundry list of injuries heading into this matchup, but I’m not sure it’s much of a downgrade from Mayfield to Case Keenum ($9,000 CP; $6,000) if he enters the game. Still, Jackson’s ability to make plays out of thin air could be the deciding factor, even though it’ll probably be a close game.
Final Score: Baltimore Ravens 26, Cleveland Browns 20
Set your DraftKings fantasy football lineups here: NFL $1.2M Sunday Night Showdown [$300K to 1st] (CLE vs BAL)
Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game.
For sports betting, head over to DraftKings Sportsbook or download the DK Sportsbook app.
The contents contained in this article do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL).
Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-888-532-3500 (VA), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org/chat. (CT).
21+ (18+ NH/WY). AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/MI/NH/NJ/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for full terms and conditions.