Week 6 might have some of the best matchups we have seen in the National Football League, to date, but this type of competitive schedule doesn’t always work well for crafting fantasy lineups. We are probably in line for a series of close games, which usually plays well for the more reliable stars in the league.
Sporfolio’s NFL Daily Fantasy Sports game-by-game analysis columns are driven by expected game flow. Based on a combination of our Week 6 NFL picks against the spread and our expectations for a given game, we project the actions necessary to make these picks come to fruition. We aim to pinpoint players integral to our predicted game flow for each game of the week.
Luke May is our resident NFL DFS expert, and Mario Mergola operates Sporfolio as our expert for NFL Picks Against the Spread.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons
Luke’s DFS Take: The matchup between the Buccaneers and Falcons is about as straightforward as possible. You have two offenses with plenty of talent and arguably the two worst defenses in the NFL. The obvious direction is to assume this one is high-scoring, and I can’t see any reason to think otherwise. Atlanta is at home, and coming off a game where their offense seriously disappointed. I expect a big ‘bounceback’ game from this group as they are desperate for a win at this point if they have any hopes of making it to the playoffs this year. I think they win, and it will be through a big offensive performance. Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, Mohamed Sanu and even Austin Hooper are in-play. Jameis Winston is back under center this week after Ryan Fitzpatrick ran out of gas in Week 4. It remains to be seen how much better Winston is at this point, but either way, the matchup and game flow are too good to ignore for the Buccaneers’ offense. Winston should be plenty fresh off his suspension and bye week, and he is going to be throwing a lot this week. He, Mike Evans, DeSean Jackson, Chris Godwin, and Cameron Brate – assuming O.J. Howard is, indeed, out as expected – are all good options.
Mario’s DFS Take: I don’t like using a player returning to the lineup just for the sake of using a player for returning to the lineup. With that, I am currently placing Jameis Winston atop my list of quarterbacks for Sunday. The irony is that I generally don’t like what Winston brings to the table, and I am much more prone to sell than buy. But, given the porous nature of the Falcons’ defense – allowing the fourth-most yards and second-most points-per-game – don’t I have to set aside my long-term projections for Winston and roll with him on Sunday? After all, the Falcons will score against a Buccaneers defense that is even worse than their own – enter Julio Jones – which forces Tampa Bay’s offense to press harder. As an organization, the Buccaneers live to heave the ball downfield – which was one of the reasons why I loved Ryan Fitzpatrick and DeSean Jackson on Opening Day – so the high upside remains intact. I would be fine pairing Jackson or Mike Evans with Winston on Sunday. For Atlanta, besides the obvious addition of Matt Ryan to the conversation and the aforementioned Jones, we can’t forget that Tevin Coleman will, once again, be unchallenged in the backfield. His value increases with his pass-catching ability as games grow more high-scoring, so he could be one of the better bargains of the day.
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