It has been months since the last time we had fifteen games on our fantasy slate, but such is the case for Week 13. With that, the possibilities are virtually endless. We have potential ‘upsets,’ blowouts, and the game flows that go with each, respectively.
Sporfolio’s NFL Daily Fantasy Sports game-by-game analysis columns are driven by expected game flow. Based on a combination of our Week 13 NFL picks against the spread and our expectations for a given game, we project the actions necessary to make these picks come to fruition. We aim to pinpoint players integral to our predicted game flow for each game of the week.
Luke May is our resident NFL DFS expert, and Mario Mergola operates Sporfolio as our expert for NFL Picks Against the Spread.
Minnesota Vikings at Atlanta Falcons
Luke’s DFS Take: The Falcons finally did what we’ve been expecting them to do last week, which is force feed the ball to Julio Jones, and let him go to work. Jones produced to unfathomable heights which should remind everyone just how dominant he can be. Unfortunately this week, he has an infinitely tougher matchup than the one he exploited last week, and Minnesota should be keying on him. I expect the Falcons offense to be slowed down this week by this tough Vikings defense, even though they seem to be starting to find their rhythm. With that said, the team is still in a good groove right now, and I expect them to find a way to pull out a win. The Vikings offense has been surprisingly solid under Case Keenum, but any given week that is possible to reverse. The Falcons’ defense has had a quietly respectable year, and I think they’ll be up to the task this week, and make for a decent flier option. I see this game being an offensive letdown for these teams as compared to previous weeks, so the defenses are my only targets here.
Mario’s DFS Take: I am not comfortable choosing between the respective strengths of the Falcons’ offense and Vikings’ defense, and the head-to-head nature of the battle knocks both off my list – after all, Minnesota ranks top-five in both points and yards allowed. The better value lies in the opposite side of the game, as the Falcons’ defense has quietly improved to the point where it is now ranked tenth-best in yards-per-game. The Vikings’ offense has been outstanding, of late, but the Falcons appear to be peaking and the time is now for a Case Keenum regression.