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2018-19 NFL Daily Fantasy Tips: Conference Championship Round
What a fantastic weekend of NFL football in the divisional round! The Patriots, Chiefs, Rams and Saints all came out victorious and will face each other this weekend for the right to play in Super Bowl LIII.
The folks at DraftKings will be hosting a massive $2,000,000 tournament for the Conference Championship round and as usual, we are back with our best daily fantasy tips for the two game slate below!
NFL Playoffs: Conference Championships Daily Fantasy Tips
Must Have: Michael Thomas (New Orleans) Travis Kelce (Kansas City)
The best receiver on the board this weekend by a country mile is Michael Thomas from the Saints. Thomas had a monster game against the Eagles in the divisional round, racking up 171 yards and a touchdown to score 38.1 point, his third highest score for the season. Coincidentally, his highest score of the season, a 211-yard, one touchdown, 42.1-point performance came against the Rams back in Week 9 of the regular season. The Rams have an underwhelming pass defence and Thomas should be the premium receiver this weekend.
We thought that Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski would come to play in the playoffs, but it seems that he might not have much left to give. His poor output at the moment means that there is just one reliable tight end on the board this weekend and that is Travis Kelce. Kelce racked up 108 receiving yards and 20.8 points as the number one target for Patrick Mahomes in the win over the Colts. Has a good matchup against the Patriots this weekend, who are in the top ten for points allowed to TE this season.
Sleepers: Sony Michel (New England) Phillip Dorsett (New England)
Sony Michel had a breakout game in the divisional round against the Chargers, rushing for 129 yards and three touchdowns for a massive score of 35.8. It was the second time in three games that Michel has surpassed the 20-point mark and the running back has a great matchup against the Chiefs this weekend, who allowed the fifth most points to running backs of any team in the NFL throughout the regular season. The premium running backs in Todd Gurley, Alvin Kamara, Damien Williams and CJ Anderson all have tough matchups against top 12 run defences this week so we think Michel is a great cheaper option at RB.
Since the departure of Josh Gordon from the Patriots line-up, Phillip Dorsett has become the number one deep option for Tom Brady. He has scored 16.0 and 14.1 in his last two games for the Patriots, both including a touchdown and has averaged five targets in those two games. Doesn’t need to be involved in the game much to score well as a deep threat. His longest plays in each of his last two games have been 34 and 41 yards respectively.
Stay Away: Todd Gurley III (Los Angeles) Defences
CJ Anderson had an absolute monster game in the divisional round, compiling 123 yards and two touchdowns for 27.3 points against the Cowboys. He should continue to get some reps and share the load with Todd Gurley III and with a tough matchup against one of the better run defences in the league in New Orleans this weekend, we think Todd Gurley is not great value as the No.1 priced running back on the slate. New Orleans allowed just the second fewest rushing yards per game in the 2018-19 regular season and when the two teams met back in Week 9, Gurley had just 68 yards on 13 carries.
If you’re in a competition where you’re not required to pick a defence this weekend, steer well clear. The four teams playing in the conference championship games this weekend were ranked as the four toughest teams to score points against as a defence and we predict both games to be fairly high scoring. In the three games involving two of these four teams throughout the regular season, there was an average of 89.33 points scored.
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