Time to take a look at some Monday-Thursday short-slate DFS. As always, I encourage you to check out Justin Mason’s Weekly Previews to get a deeper look into tonight’s action. In the meantime, here’s a snapshot of each game. Take a read and go build some lineups – remember, I only play GPP tournaments for short slates – then come back and compare to the ones I am leaving here as examples. As always, these are meant to serve as a comparison tool for your own lineups. These aren’t to be taken and submitted into contests as your own.

Here's a breakdown of the two games involved:

New York Giants at Atlanta Falcons

Giants: Run D – 22nd Pass D – 27th

Falcons: Run D – 31st Pass D –29th

Passing:

Starting with Matt Ryan is the no-brainer here. Over four home games this season, Ryan is averaging 355 passing yards per game and has 13 touchdown passes to just one interception. He’s got an array of weapons at his disposal, a solid, supportive ground game behind him and the Giants have the fourth-worst pass rush in football, according to numbers from Pro Football Focus.

Investing in Eli Manning is a much more daunting task, but funny enough, should be considered here if looking to avoid the chalk on a short slate. Given the options Thursday, it’s either Ryan or Manning under center and while the Giants offensive line has been terrible, the Falcons have the third-worst pass rush in the game and have also allowed a whopping 16 touchdowns through the air this season. Opposing quarterbacks have posted a 104.6 passer rating against Atlanta this season which poses the question – if everyone else can do it, why can’t Eli?

Rushing:

The Giants are allowing 121.7 rushing yards per game and have given up five rushing touchdowns on the season. Tevin Coleman should be able to find holes and break through at times, but we always have to be conscious of the fact that Ito Smith poaches the work inside the red zone, more importantly, inside the 10-yard line. Both can find success here, but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that this game will be dominated by the aerial attacks and Smith will steal the goal-line work.

For the Giants, it’s all Saquon Barkley and you really don’t need to know more than that. The Falcons are giving up 121.3 rushing yards per game, they’ve given up eight rushing touchdowns and they rank 26th against running back pass plays, giving up an average of 73 yards per game to them.

Receiving:

So neither team’s pass defense is any good which means you have to dig deeper to figure out where they are the most vulnerable. The Giants rank 27th in coverage against the opposing WR1 and 30th against the WR3. That puts Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu directly on your radar. You could think about Justin Hardy if you wanted to get uber-contrarian here, believing Sanu may not get the full complement of snaps due to his hip issue. The Giants rank 11th against the tight end this season, so Austin Hooper isn’t my first choice this week.

For the Falcons, they rank 19th or worse against all three wideout spots while also ranking 15th against the tight end. Odell Beckham will certainly be a popular choice and while many will look to Sterling Shepard as the pay-down, I’m tilting more towards Bennie Fowler out of the slot. Nice match-up and the ownership rates should be lower on him. As for Evan Engram , he’s definitely a better play than Hooper it seems, though still not sure if he’s my TE of choice this week.

Miami Dolphins at Houston Texans

Dolphins: Run D – 10th Pass D – 11th

Texans: Run D – 2nd Pass D – 22nd

Passing:

Are we really thinking about Brock Osweiler ? The Texans secondary is their defense’s Achilles heel and they’ve allowed 14 passing touchdowns on the season. Opposing quarterbacks have posted a 95.7 passer rating against them and while the Texans have recorded 19 sacks on the season, the Fins have only allowed 15. Houston’s pass-rush ranks 15th in the league, so if Osweiler can actually get some time to set up in the pocket, he could have some interesting value.

As for Deshaun Watson , the match-up isn’t as strong given the Miami secondary. They do allow an average of 269 yards per game, but they’ve only given up 11 touchdowns through the air and opposing quarterbacks haven’t exactly been lighting them up. The offensive line issues are the major concern. Watson has very little time to set up and throw and that’s definitely hurting his value.  

Rushing:

Lamar Miller is coming off his first 100-yard effort of the season and he also found the end zone for the first time. Miami is extremely vulnerable up the middle, as evidenced by what Kerryon Johnson just did to them and Miller, if the offensive line can help pave the way, makes for an interesting option. Few people like using him, so perhaps some low-ownership can help return value.

The Texans run defense is their strongest asset and even though they rank 15th against running back pass plays, it’s difficult to put your faith into either Frank Gore or Kenyan Drake . Since you’ll likely be using Barkley, using one of these guys seems unlikely for your second RB or even a flex play.

Receiving:

The Miami secondary is their strength and we expect to see Xavien Howard shadowing DeAndre Hopkins throughout this game. That, plus the DVOA coverage numbers, tilts me more towards Will Fuller than Keke Coutee and considering the Fins rank sixth in covering the tight end, neither Ryan Griffin (if healthy) nor Jordan Akins are on my radar.

We’re going to have to wait to see who’s healthy for Miami here as there’s a nice match-up for whomever ranks as the new No. 2 on the roster. Danny Amendola seems like a possibility, as does Jakeem Grant should Albert Wilson be out with the ankle issue he left Week 2 with. The numbers certainly aren’t gaudy but they may be worth exploring. Same with tight end Mike Gesicki . Houston ranks 30th against the tight end and are allowing the 11th-most fantasy points per game to the position. We also saw some interesting plays run this past week that involve the rookie tight end, so perhaps a breakout game is in order.

Example Lineups will be posted approximately one hour prior to kickoff Monday night.