We’ve got a Thursday night matchup between two teams that have surprised so far. Frankly, the expectations coming into the season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was that they were invincible, and even though they’re not the offensive juggernaut many predicted, they’re still averaging 372 yards yards and 30 points per game — which makes them the ideal team for DFL DFS picks. On the other side, the Chicago Bears have made a change at quarterback, and according to Matt Nagy, it’s permanent. With that comes a learning curve for Nick Foles, and it showed in their 19-11 loss to the Colts.
What’s going on with the running backs?
I know we’re banking on Bears running back David Montgomery. Like most of Chicago’s offense, Montgomery didn’t accomplish much last week against the Indianapolis Colts. But he’s seeing double-digit touches on a weekly basis, and his role should only continue to expand with Tarik Cohen (ACL) out. Montgomery was targeted six times and made three catches in Week 4, meaning he may be more of a three-down back going forward. That should be valuable against a tough Tampa Bay defensive front that likely won’t give up a lot on the ground, so confidently lock Montgomery in your NFL DFS lineups for Thursday.
On the other side, Ronald Jones was a one man band for Tampa Bay last week. If LeSean McCoy and Leonard Fournette are out this week (both have ankle injuries), he could exceed his 26 touches and 128 scrimmage yards from last week. This isn’t a scary Bears defense: They allowed 408 rushing yards and four scores to running backs. I may lean towards putting him in a captain spot.
Tampa Bay injuries
There’s a lot of banged up bodies for the Bucs. In the backfield, McCoy and Fournette are battling ankle injuries (Fournette could be a game time decision), and Chris Godwin is heading towards missing his second straight game with a bad hammy. Mike Evans (ankle) didn’t participate in Tuesday’s practice, nor did Justin Watson (chest) or Scotty Miller (hip/groin), but the biggest concern is Godwin. Even if he’s active, I’m fading him, but the short week is going to be troublesome for all of them.
Brady’s Back?
He was washed up after two weeks, right? HA! The future Hall of Famer has been very uneven, but let’s take into account that there was no preseason, so the hiccups are going to be made during the regular season and for all the world to see. He’s looked much better the past couple of weeks. Two weeks ago against the Broncos he threw three touchdown passes and finished just shy of 300 yards in Week 3 at Denver. He then piled up 369 yards and five touchdowns in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
He’s attempted at least 38 passes in the last two games and has averaged almost 8.0 yards per completion during that span, up a couple of yards from Week 1. That tells me that he’s getting a little more comfortable in the offense, and we need to remember that this is his first year away from New England.
