If you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.
We take this adage to heart when it comes to playing NFL DFS. The Fantasy Alarm Playbook isn’t just about handing you a list of players and a lineup to use each week. It is designed to help you learn to be a better DFS player. It’s about teaching you the process used in selecting which players to scout and, eventually, which ones to use.
Therefore, we will begin each week with the Weekly NFL DFS Watch List. We’ll still have our Weekly DFS Rankings, but the Watch List is designed to keep tabs on marquee names, chalk plays and, of course, the weekly bargains who may not see the same coverage and exposure. This piece will be continuously updated based on the most recent news and injuries which means you may see a name or two removed as we get closer to kick-off. You may also see a few late-week additions who pique our interest for some reason too, and by the end of the week, this watch list will eventually become your Playbook. Again, it’s about teaching you the process.
With Week 9 data in the books, it's time to start looking ahead to Week 10 and see who looks good.
PLAYERS ADDED -- 11/8 @ 10:15am ET (see below for breakdown)
Thursday Night Thoughts:
Carolina Panthers at Pittsburgh Steelers
Panthers: Run D – 7th Pass D – 20th
Steelers: Run D – 14th Pass D – 22nd
Passing:
The Panthers aren’t a heavy passing team, but Cam Newton has now thrown for an average of 245 yards and two touchdowns per game over his last three. The Steelers may have stifled Joe Flacco and the Ravens this past week, but they’re still allowing 258 passing yards per game and have given up 17 passing touchdowns. Newton also has the ability to take one or two into the end zone himself.
Ben Roethlisberger had a solid day on the road against the Ravens Sunday and could be in line for another strong performance against the Panthers who are allowing 251 passing yards per game with 17 touchdowns through the air this season. It’s tough to not lean on James Conner , but if there’s one thing Big Ben does well, it’s sling the rock at home.
Rushing:
Conner had himself another outstanding week, racking up 163 all-purpose yards with one touchdown against the Ravens and gets another strong run defense to match-up with here. The Panthers do rank 12th against running back pass plays, so we may not see a similar split for the running back – 15-plus carries with 8-10 targets. Could just be a run-heavy week for him, at least from the onset while the Steelers attempt to establish the ground game early. He makes for a solid play, obviously, but how much can he take with such a short turnaround? The guy is averaging 22 carries per game over his last four.
Christian McCaffrey is in a similar situation with the heavy workload, but he’s not carrying the ball as often as Conner, so it may be slightly less taxing for him on the short week. He stays very heavily involved in the offense and he does have a formidable opponent this week as the Steelers allow about 90 yards per game on the ground and rank No. 1 in the league against running back pass plays according to DVOA numbers.
Receiving:
The first match-up everyone is going to look at this week is JuJu Smith-Schuster versus Captain Munnerlyn , especially after what Adam Humphries just did to the Panthers pass defense this past week. Antonio Brown should see plenty of work as well even matched up with a James Bradberry shadow. The real key is going to be deciding which tight end to use. The Panthers rank 27th in coverage against the position and they have allowed the third-most fantasy points per game to them. But will it be Vance McDonald or Jesse James . If you're playing the Showdown, you may want a second lineup just to keep covered. If just one, then I may tilt towards James. McDonald has the edge in snaps since Week 4, but he's got just one red zone target to four for James over the last four games.
For the Panthers, it looks like Devin Funchess , D.J. Moore and Curtis Samuel could be decent options this week as the coverage numbers for the Steelers are pretty weak. They rank 10th against the WR1, but are allowing an average of 80 yards per game to them, while the WR2 and slot coverage is weaker but also with fewer yards allowed. The big one, however, could be Greg Olsen as the Steelers rank 26th in tight end coverage and are allowing an average of 74.1 yards per game to them.
Stacks
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