Good afternoon, Family! Are you ready for some Sunday Night Football? What better way is there to end your week than a little NFL DFS Showdown on DraftKings and FanDuel? We have a fun one tonight as Joe Burrow and the Bengals visit Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. The home home team Ravens are a one-point favorite in a 47.5 current game total. This AFC North battle has playmakers on both teams who can set up your DraftKings Showdown lineup for success. The Bengals have Burrow and one of the best young wide receiver corps in the NFL and will show up on prime time to try to dethrone one of the all-time DFS kings- Lamar Jackson. So, something must break between these two powerhouses, and we will witness it all tonight on Sunday Night Football DFS Showdown! There is a full rundown of players and suggestions below and you can always take a look at our Weekly Match-Up Report and use NFL DFS Tools like our DFS Lineup Generator (a.k.a. the DFS lineup optimizer). We have everything you need to build a winning DFS lineup.

 


First, from the words of our fearless leader at Fantasy Alarm, Howard Bender:

Now before we begin, for those who are new to the process, 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, often, 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, now let’s get to tonight’s action.

CINCINNATI BENGALS @ BALTIMORE RAVENS

Spread: Ravens -3.0

O/U:

Open- 48.5

Live- 47.5

 

Weather: M&T Bank Stadium

Temp: 54 degrees

Humidity: 54%

Precipitation: 0%

 

Notable Injuries:

CINCINNATI

Tee Higgins, WR – Ankle (Q)

Hayden Hurst TE- Groin (Q)

Devin Asiasi TE- Ankle (Q)

Evan McPherson K- Groin (P)

 

BALTIMORE

Justice Hill- RB – Hamstring (O)

JK Dobbins, R- Chest (P)

Rashod Bateman, WR- Foot (O)

Josh Bynes, ILB- Hip (Q)

Justin Houston, OLB- Groin (O)

Marcus Peters, CB- Quad (Q)

 

2022 DVOA Defensive Rankings:

Bengals

Vs Pass: 8th

Vs Run: 7th
 

Ravens

Vs. Pass: 14th

Vs. Run: 22nd
 

KEY STATS

Points Per Game

CIN- 22.8

BAL- 29.8
 

Points Against Per Game

CIN- 17.5

BAL- 25.0
 

Yards Per Game

CIN- 346.8

BAL- 359.3
 

Yards Against Per Game

CIN- 327.5

BAL- 425

 

**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 (BAL) Lamar may be pricy, but he is DFS gold. I have been playing the dual threat stud in the Cash Captain spot for years now in prime time and he very rarely disappoints. Another season is upon us and who is the best DFS player after four weeks- Lamar Jackson of course. The CIN defense is tough but not this game should shoot out and I want Lamar leading my Cash ship.

Ja’Marr Chase (CIN) Chase is my leverage GPP Captain tonight. Between his high price tag   and other strong plays such as Lamar, Mark Andrews, Tee Higgins and Joe Mixon we will see Chase come in lower owned than normal at the top spot. The Ravens secondary can be beat as they allow the most fantasy point to opposing wideouts and my gut call is a big night for Chase. 

Joe Mixon (CIN) Lamar will be popular, but you can save almost $5K in DraftKings salary with Mixon who also has a favorable matchup against this Ravens defense. Mixon has been consistent but not great with 224 yards on 84 carries on the season (14.3 DKFP average) and is still looking for his first 100-yard rushing game. He is still on pace for career-highs in rushing and receiving volume and with this price drop this is the week to pounce. 

Joe Burrow (CIN) Burrow makes for a nice contrarian pivot off Lamar in the FanDuel MVP spot. Looking for his third straight week of 20+ DKFP against a vulnerable Ravens defense that has allowed an average of 22.5 fantasy points to quarterbacks over the last eight games dating back to last season (most in the league!). 

Mark Andrews (BAL) Rashod Bateman is out so Jackson will be looking Andrew’s way A LOT tonight. He is the real leading receiver for Baltimore and is an elite play. With Rashod Bateman out he is comparable to Chase and Tee Higgins in this game and the Bengals have not done well against TEs, allowing 13.7 DKFP per game to the position (3rd worst in the NFL).  

 

UTILITY/FLEX

Devin Duvernay (BAL) Duvernay and J.K. Dobbins are my favorite leverage plays. He has a tough $5.6K salary on DraftKings which will keep the masses off him but with Bateman out he should see an uptick in targets. Duvernay is averaging about four targets a game and he is touchdown dependent but if he scores you will get a bump over the rest of the field- oh and he also has as many EZ targets as Andrews (4). 

JK Dobbins (BAL) Dobbins may have a bit of a higher floor than Duvernay but his price tag will also keep him away from the popular cash builds tonight. He has been playing behind an ineffective offensive line plus has to deal with Lamar stealing some of his action, but Dobbins has been getting touches where it matters- in the red zone. Last week he only had 63 total yards but scored two touchdowns- Showdown Gold

Tee Higgins (CIN) Higgins gives us a 34% discount to Chase on DraftKings and 12.5% discount on FanDuel. e the last time we saw them on an island game). Higgins and Chase are both stud receivers and are basically identical plays so I will be leaning more of my exposure towards Higgins in Cash at a significant discount and the much more expensive and lower owned Chase in tournaments.

Evan McPherson (CIN) I will usually take the discount and have one kicker in my Cash lineup. McPherson is slightly cheaper than Justin Tucker and one of the best kickers in the league with 12 field goals made out of 14 from 50-plus in his career.

Justin Tucker (BAL) Tucker been money on his last nine field goals over 50 yards 

 

VALUE

Isaiah Likely (BAL) With Bateman out Likely should see more snaps and targets. He is coming off a 23 snap game last week (second highest of season) and his $1.4K price on DraftKings puts him into lineup consideration especially when he runs a route on 45% of Jackson drop backs (per ETR) and is consistently being praised by Ravens staff. 

Demarcus Robinson (BAL) My value play of the day. Robinson has a plus matchup against Chidobe Awuzie and will see the field more with Bateman out. 

James Proche (BAL) This is a DraftKings only play due to the $200 dirt cheap price tag. With Bateman out he may see a target or two and it will not take much to make value at this price- he makes a lot of DFS lineups work tonight. 

Baltimore/Cincinnati DST- Both teams will need a pick six today to be worth a roster spot in what should be a high scoring affair.

MME Player Pool Options Only

Tyler Boyd (CIN) Has become an afterthought with a low floor/moderate ceiling, but its primetime and weird things happen

Kenyan Drake/Mike Davis (BAL) One of these two will back-up Dobbins- Drake is a much better value at only $1K on DK

Hayden Hurst (CIN) If healthy he also has a low floor/moderate ceiling

Tylan Wallace (BAL) Can switch out Proche for Wallace on DK (same $200 tag)

Mitchell Wilcox (CIN)

Devin Asiasi (CIN) 

Samaje Perine (CIN) Will see a handful of touches behind Mixon