Fantasy Football Thursday Night Football Preview, Week 8

The Houston Texans and Miami Dolphins are set to clash tonight on Thursday Night Football and even though the matchup is far from great, there’s fantasy goodness to be had.

I’m not going to sit here and pretend this Thursday Night Football game is anything other than the donkey that it is. Miami travels to Houston in a game that really lacks any juice whatsoever and the only star power is really on the side of the Texans. It’s not a game many have a big interest in watching on a normal night but fantasy implications will be immense just like any other game. Let’s go to work and see what gems we can pull out of this game.

Miami Dolphins

I have to admit that Brock Osweiler is playing better than I thought with two straight games of at least two touchdowns. The first game against the Bears came out of nowhere and even though a lot of his 380 passing yards came after the catch, that’s the way Miami is built on offense. Because of that and due to injuries to Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson, Danny Amendola is a very attractive option tonight. I do prefer him in PPR formats but he’s seen 18 targets in two games with Brock Lobster under center. Now that there’s less mouths to feed, you have to feel comfortable with the volume staying the same for Amendola in this one. He’s been good for at least 13.9 DK points these past two weeks. Players like Jakeem Grant and DeVante Parker are hard passes for me in all formats. Parker might see some work because the Dolphins would like to trade him. However, Parker’s agent just eviscerated coach Adam Gase in the press. That probably didn’t go over well in the locker room.

The running backs are still avoids for me at this point. Both Frank Gore and Kenyan Drake are really unplayable. Gore has been getting more carries but hasn’t been doing enough with them other than one game against the Bears. Drake saw six carries last week. That’s it, six. Even though he broke a long touchdown run, that’s not enough to get excited about and feel like you can definitely start him.

Starters – Danny Amendola

Possible Starters – None, really unless it’s DFS. If it is, you could consider Drake as a GPP play.

More from DFS

Houston Texans

The Texan side of the ball is a lot more fun to talk about and they should be able to put up some points after a relatively quiet game in Jacksonville. Deshaun Watson continues to fight through a myriad of injuries and even though the fantasy points haven’t been there, they have a chance to make a comeback in this one. Miami has been tough on quarterbacks so far but the combo of DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller is hard to defend for four quarters and not give up points. I do expect Fuller to see close to his eight targets he saw last week since Keke Coutee is out with a hamstring injury. Hopkins and Fuller should be back to commanding right around a 50 percent target share. The passing game is fairly self explanatory with what the Texans have available.

Lamar Miller rose from the fantasy graveyard last week to actually hit 100 yards rushing and score a touchdown. He gets a much better matchup this week against a Miami defense that gives up the fourth most rushing yards and the fourth most points to running backs. Miller was on the field for over 70 percent of the snaps this past week and appears to have taken back the reigns in the running game. Alfred Blue could see a little more work since it’s a quick turnaround but he should be capped at around 10 touches. That’s not enough to really warrant consideration given his talent level.

Starters – Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins, Will Fuller, Lamar Miller

Possible Starters – Houston D/ST, Alfred Blue in a GPP

Next. DFS NFL Week 8 Game by Game Breakdown. dark

Stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all of your DFS and season long fantasy needs!