Welcome to the NFL Week 5 Monday Night Football Showdown Slate!

For all you history buffs, we’ve got a great game tonight as the Indianapolis Colts head back to Baltimore for the eighth time since Robert Irsay packed up the trucks in the middle of the night and moved the Colts from Baltimore to Indianapolis on March 28, 1984. Traditionally, this is a game the Ravens and their fanbase get fired up for and they’ve won the last three in Baltimore. With momentum on their side, you know head coach John Harbaugh, Lamar Jackson and the rest of the team are looking to continue their winning streak, not to mention, that 100 rushing yards per game streak that caused such a stir between Harbaugh and Broncos coach Vic Fangio.

Now before we begin, please take a moment to understand what exactly you are getting yourself into by playing single-game Showdown Slates. We love to have some skin in the game, for sure, but these slates are, for all intents and purposes, a lottery ticket. Sure, there are times when the chalk hits and everyone shares in the prizes, but, more often than not, you need to hit on that random dart-throw that differentiates your lineup from that of the herd in order to claim the top prize. As a result, we encourage you to play responsibly and not over-invest. Stick to the GPP contests (single-entry preferred), don’t blow your whole bankroll, and understand that, unless you are a max-entry player, you should prioritize having fun.

OK. Lecture over. Let’s get to tonight’s action.

Indianapolis Colts at Baltimore Ravens

Spread: Ravens -7

O/U: 46

Weather: mostly cloudy with temperatures in the high-60s; winds ENE 6 mph

Notable Injuries:

Indianapolis Colts

Braden Smith, RT – foot (out)

Kwity Paye, DL – hamstring (out)

Rock Ya-Sin, DB – ankle (out)

Khari Willis, SS – groin (questionable)

Baltimore Ravens

Ronnie Stanley, LT – ankle (out)

DeShon Elliott, FS – quad (questionable)

DVOA Defensive Rankings

Colts

vs Pass: 26th   

vs Run: 5th  

Ravens

vs Pass: 14th 

vs Run: 10th  

**Please note that players not listed below are not necessarily a complete fade and any player listed can certainly be used as the MVP/Captain. These are merely suggestions for players to use when setting Showdown lineups.

MVP/Captain

Lamar Jackson, QB BAL – Pricey in the top spot? Absolutely. Worth it? Most of the time, yes. Obviously, the rushing totals and ability to score on his own put him as a top option, but Lamar has also thrown for an average of 269 yards with one touchdown per game. With his weaponry and this match-up, it’s going to be tough to pivot off of him.

Marquise Brown, WR BAL – How does this guy get so open downfield all the time? Seven of his 19 receptions have gone for 20-plus yards and two of those for more than 40 yards. With the injuries and struggles within this Colts secondary, he should be a lock for your lineups. He’s got three touchdowns in four games and should have had more had it not been for those horrendous drops in Week 3. But Jackson went right back to him the next game and it paid immediate dividends. Could be the same for you tonight. 

Michael Pittman, WR IND – He’s averaging nine targets per game and finally has a healthy quarterback. Wentz put in full practices this week and he and Pittman seem to be in lock-step. He’ll see plenty of Marlon Humphrey which should be a great physical battle between the two (Pittman does have a size advantage), but look foor the Colts to get him opposite Anthony Averett whenever they can. That’s a match-up that definitely favors Pittman.

Mid-Tier

Carson Wentz, QB IND – You can throw him into your top spot if you like, but knowing how the Colts are going to try and assert themselves with the run early, we’ll just wait for Wentz to start slinging the rock in the second half and, hopefully, take advantage that way. He put in his first full practices this week since the preseason and is coming off a strong effort against the Dolphins secondary. Pittman and Pascal should be regular targets and he should also pad his stats with Nyheim Hines catching passes out of the backfield as well.

Jonathan Taylor, RB IND – Taylor has averaged close to 15 carries per game and is coming off a strong effort against a soft Miami run defense. The Ravens are limiting the opposition to fewer than 90 rushing yards per game, but they have yet to face a true bell-cow back of Taylor’s quality. With DL David Wolfe on IR for the Ravens and their outside linebackers coming in from the outside, Taylor should see ample opportunities to run it up the middle. The offensive line with help him find the holes.

Latavius Murray, RB BAL – Seems to be the lead runner out of this backfield, but who knows, amirite? We have no clue what Harbaugh is thinking with regard to Ty’Son Williams or whether they’ll try bringing Le’Veon Bell up from the practice squad again, but Murray seems to be the guy who has seen the most consistent work. Three touchdowns in four games is nice, although the Colts have only allowed one rushing touchdown on the season, so be aware.

Nyheim Hines, RB IND – If/when the Colts fall behind, Hines steps onto the field for most of the passing downs and we should see plenty of that tonight as the Ravens rank 26th in DVOA against running back pass plays, allowing an average of 54.1 receiving yards to them. Hines can be a dynamic player when given the opportunity, so if Taylor struggles, expect more snaps for him.

Zach Pascal, WR IND – He’s an incredibly versatile receiver but the Colts tend to use him primarily out of the slot where he’ll match up against Tavon Young. Pascal has a very distinct size advantage over Young and grades out with an advantage in coverage according to our friends over at Pro Football Focus. He sees roughly five or six targets per game and nine of his 23 targets this season have all come inside the red zone, hence the three touchdowns on the year.

Mark Andrews, TE BAL – The Colts haven’t allowed a ton of fantasy points to the tight end position this season, but they’ve allowed two touchdowns to tight end through the first four weeks and in both those cases, the opposition features a tight end in it passing attack. Indy ranks 17th in DVOA and is giving up just over 40 receiving yards per game to them. With the way Jackson seeks out Andrews in the red zone, we like for him to do a little end zone dancing tonight.

Jack Doyle, TE IND – While the Colts use multiple tight ends, Doyle is the guy who gets the most snaps, runs the most routes and has seen the most targets. The Ravens have allowed the most fantasy points per game to the tight end position, so there is hope that both he and Alie-Cox can eat, but if we have to pick one, we’re going with the guy who is more of a fixture in this passing attack and blocks less.

Dart Throws

Mo Alie-Cox, TE IND – Well, of course we’re going to look at Alie-Cox as well, but for more of a dart-throw this week. He still plays behind Doyle and while he’s got the size and the hands to do damage inside the red zone, he still isn’t seeing a strong number of targets. He saw five last week but only two in each of the previous three games. He could end up scoring, but don’t expect much in receiving yards.

Parris Campbell, WR IND – He’s the ultimate of dart-throws in this Colts passing attack as Campbell has only seen 10 targets though three games (he missed Week 2 with an injury). He’ll go back and forth with Pittman as to who has to face Humphrey the majority of time, but can easily hold his own against Averett.

Sammy Watkins, WR BAL – He’ll probably see a lot of Xavier Rhodes which actually isn’t all that bad. Rhodes really doesn’t have the speed to stay with Brown so the Colts will likely push him towards Watkins most of the time and that could open the Ravens wideout for some extra targets. We still haven’t seen that one breakout game Watkins is usually good for, so perhaps this is the one where he catches more than just four passes for middle-of-the-road yardage. 

Devin Duvernay, WR BAL – This could be an intriguing dart-throw if the Ravens were to throw the ball a little more often this week. Kenny Moore is not a very good slot corner and if Duvernay can gain position on him in their match-up, he could take advantage of the soft coverage. Duvernay plays a little emore than 50-percent of the snaps, so if you believe the Ravens throw more, this makes for some decent salary relief.

Justin Tucker, PK BAL – He’s the most-reliable kicker in the NFL and he set the record for the longest field goal (66 yards) in NFL history. In a week that was an absolute disaster for kickers, perhaps Tucker helps restore people’s faith in the legs of the league.

LATE ADD – Miles Boykin, WR BAL – If you missed the Fantasy Alarm Show, you missed hearing that Boykin is active for the first time this season. Min-priced on a Showdown slate, Boykin has connected with Jackson several times over the last two seasons and if you want to go with a birthday narrative on top of that, well, it's his birthday Tuesday. Let's go!!!!

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