Divisional Playoffs Short Slate Survey

After Steve’s massive wins on the Thanksgiving 3-game slate and the Early Only short slate on in Week 12, we are doing a weekly Short Slate Strategy Surveys. Check out our favorite QB stacks, values, contrarian plays, fades, and more for the Sunday 3-game (including Steelers/Bills) Wildcard Weekend slate! You can always find all our Daily Fantasy content here!

 

FAVORITE QB STACK?

STEVE:

 

 

FAVORITE GAME STACK? 

STEVE:

Buccaneers vs Lions

 

TOP 3 VALUE PLAYS (ANY POSITION)?

STEVE:

 

TOP 3 CONTRARIAN PLAYS (ANY POSITION)?

*Note:  Ownership tough to judge at this point for Saturday Only.

STEVE:

 

TOP 3 FADES (20% OWNERSHIP OR HIGHER)? Or Underweight?

*Note:  Ownership tough to judge at this point for Saturday Only. Not necessarily full fade on small slate, could be underweight stand too.

STEVE:

 

FAVORITE DEFENSE?

STEVE:

 

OVERALL LINEUP STRATEGY FOR EARLY ONLY?

STEVE:

Texans vs Ravens:

Houston- While in a short slate, everyone is at least worth considering, I’m not going to be playing a lot of the Texans, even at reduced ownership. Houston is a great story, but this is a young team, on the road facing a much more seasoned opponent. The lone exception for Houston that I will consider is Nico Collins. The Texans should spend most of this game trailing, and Baltimore will be without multiple secondary pieces. Collins should have a massive target share, and can dominate even in a loss.

 

Baltimore- I like playing Lamar on this slate, but don’t feel the need to go heavy on the Ravens in most of my builds. The RBs are both projected to be low owed, so that is interesting, and I do think Likely is a good TE option with Andrews out. As for the Ravens receivers, in some Lamar stacks I’ll take shots, but won’t play them much without Jackson in my line-up.

 

Packers vs 49ers:

Green Bay- Over the last 6-7 weeks the Packers have been as good as any team in the NFL, and they have put together some signature wins in that time frame. This could be where the bubble bursts though, as the 49ers have also dominated most of their opponents this season. I won’t be playing much Jordan Love, but the upside is intriguing.

Aaron Jones is coming off a monster game, but I’m not sold he’s repeating that performance this week or coming anywhere close. If the Packers are down, Jones might not see the volume he did a week ago. The biggest question on the Packers’ side is what WR do we want to play. With everyone healthy, they have 4 legitimate options in Reed, Watson, Doubs, and Wicks. Any one of these four could be the guy this week at a reasonable price. I’m just going to sprinkle all four in my line-ups where they fit, and then have some line-ups that fade the Packers and hope that none go off in a big way.

 

San Francisco- Give me as much exposure to the 49ers’ key pieces as I can fit. This offense is dynamic when they want to be, and I think they could use this game to ensure all rust is off after the Week 18 rest week, and the bye last week. Purdy is my favorite QB to stack this week, and I like getting him with two of their big four weapons. CMC could absolutely dominate the RB scoring, but is a fade option if you think SF spreads it out this week. If you do fade McCaffrey, I’d make sure I have 2 other pieces in your line-up.

 

Buccaneers vs Lions:

 

Tampa Bay- I see the Bucs passing offense still being effective in this match-up vs a bad Lions secondary. Baker is in play as are Mike Evans, Chris Godwin (check injury report), Cade Otton and Trey Palmer. Palmer is interesting as this game has the most shootout potential, and the cheap WRs on the Lions side (Reynolds/Williams) are going to see ownership north of 20%, but Palmer might not crack 5%.

If anything I’d expect the Bucs to pass more than the Lions as well. White is mostly going to be a fade for me, he will struggle to do much on the ground in this match-up. So you will really need him to get multiple TDs and some extra catches to make up for the lack of yardage upside.

 

Detroit- I love the Lions as well, but I’m not as keen on Jared Goff. Goff probably isn’t as likely to throw for 300 yards or 3 TDs, and he adds almost nothing on the ground. He could get around 20 DK points, but that might make him QB 5 or 6 on this slate.

As for the rest of the Lions weapons, I’m more interested. Both RBs are solid options, with Montgomery carrying far less ownership. ASB is my favorite overall WR and LaPorta is a strong TE option. Williams/Reynolds offer salary relief if you are ok with them being owned as well.

 

Chiefs vs Bills:

Kansas City- I know this game could be a defensive slogfest, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see decent points as well. The Chiefs offense hasn’t been pushed as much this year, but that could change this week. I can see Mahomes putting on show, and if his weapons actually catch the ball, there could be some more TDs scored. Pacheco is one of my favorite RB options on the week, and I’m high on Kelce and Rice as well. I don’t want to mess around with any of the lower guys, as I imagine Mahomes will look to force the ball more to his playmakers.

Buffalo- Josh Allen has the chance to keep this run going, vs a big rival at home. I know last year he didn’t show up in the game vs the Bengals, but I think we see him have a big game this week. He’s adding so many points on the ground that his floor is very safe. I’m not too worried about the Chiefs defense in this game. For me I’ll mainly stack him with Shakir and Kincaid and have some James Cook onslaughts with him as well. Diggs is going to see decent volume, and his ownership is low, but the yards and TDs aren’t there lately. As a leverage play he’s fine, but I wouldn’t go crazy with him.