Thursday Night Showdown Slate Article- Eagles @ Packers

Not an ideal start to the season for a Philadelphia Eagles team with deep play-off run aspirations.  They found themselves down in week 1 to the lowly Redskins before coming back, then losing to the Falcons and Lions the last two weeks.  This week they head to Lambeau and the Packers are off to an outstanding start with impressive wins in Chicago and against the Vikings.

Last week when Jeffery and Jackson were both out Nelson Agholor predictably became the #1 receiver and had a huge game with 24 points.  Thursday Jeffery is expected back, and that will cut into the massive targets Agholor has been getting (11 in week 2 and 12 last week), but I still think he will be a factor. None of the Eagles have great match-ups this week, but Allen Robinson was able to put up solid numbers in week 1.  The Packers have been extremely stingy against the tight end position (5^th least DK points allowed), but you have to take into consideration that they played something called Adam Shaheen week 1 against the Bears, Kyle Rudolph with the Vikings who has not been involved in any of his three games this season, and the combination of Noah Fant and Jeff Heuerman last week.  What I am trying to say is they haven’t been tested.  I love Zach Ertz in this game as he is my favorite Eagles option.  He has been getting the targets (7,16,7) , just not the production yet.  The Eagles figure to be down in this game (Packers -5), so they will be throwing often.  I will have Ertz as my Captain on 20% of my teams as well.

As long as we think the Eagles will be throwing a lot we better have some exposure to Wentz who has been great for DFS purposes having scored at least 19 DK points in each of his first three games.  There is a ton of talk about how great the Packers defense is, but to be honest I am not sold yet.  Sure they might be very good, but it has been a small sample size against non-explosive offenses and less than average quarterbacks (Trubisky, Cousins, and Flacco).  Let’s see what the likes of Wentz, Rivers, Dak, and Mahomes do to this defense in future weeks before we anoint their ass.

The Eagles have a full blown running back by committee backfield as Sanders, Howard, and Sproles are all splitting time and carries/targets.  The Packers have been beaten up by the Vikings and Broncos back to back weeks on the ground.  The tough part is determining which back to take.  Sanders should get the majority of the carries, Howard the goaline looks, and Sproles the late game targets.  I am going to own Miles Sanders as well as Darren Sproles.  Sanders has the highest ceiling by far of any of them, but Sproles will likely be in late in the game getting cheap catches against the Packers prevent defense and plus he is only $2,800.

On the other side of the ball Davante Adams is in such a smash spot here.  Underwhelming so far this year, Rodgers is going to want to showcase him in Primetime and they will do whatever they want against the Eagles secondary of Rasul Douglas, Avonte Maddox, and Sidney Jones.  I have no doubt Marquez Valdez Scantling is going to get plenty of targets and I will own him as well, I just think Adams has been quiet so far this season and this is an excellent opportunity for him and Rodgers to change that.  I am going heavy on Adams in the Captain spot.

I haven’t liked Jimmy Graham for several years now, but investing heavily into Adams, Ertz, and Rodgers leaves us limited funds for the three remaining roster spots.  Jimmy Graham is serviceable and only $4,400.  His best game surprisingly was in Chicago (12 DK points), since then he has literally done nothing.  Its not a great option, but one of the better ones in the price range. Allison is also an option at 4,200 and although not high volume he could easily get in the box, which would easily pay off the price.

The Packers defense has been sensational so far in real life and DFS scoring 14, 12, and 13 points consecutively.  Fire them up for Thursdays match-up for only $4,800 because they will likely get opportunities for sacks and interceptions with the Eagles winging the ball.

For lineup composition, you should be developing game scripts in your heads, and building lineups accordingly.  I would not be afraid to include some Eagles offensive stacks, because I would not be shocked if they came out sharp and bring the Packers defense back down to earth.  I will of course have stacks the other way in case the Eagles come out flat again and the Packers just run over them as most expect.

Here are a few lineups that I like initially:

Captain- Adams, Rodgers, Ertz, Sproles, Packers D, and Graham

Captain Adams, Rodgers, MVS, Sproles, Crosby, and Jeffery

Captain Ertz, Agholor, Wentz, Rodgers, Allison, and Elliott

Captain- Rodgers, Adams, MVS, Sanders, Sproles, and Packers D

QB:

Rodgers $10,800

Wentz $10,000

 

RB:

Sanders $6,200

Sproles $2,800

 

WR:

Adams $11,000

Valdes-Scantling $7,600

Allison $4,200

Hollins $2,400

 

TE:

Ertz $9,200

Graham $4,400 (** Make sure he is active as he has been dealing with a couple of injuries)

K:

Crosby $3,600

Elliott $3,400

 

DEF:

Packers $4,800