Fantasy football is more than just the weekly head-to-head game we’ve all grown to love. On Underdog Fantasy, managers can put their player-projection skills to the test by predicting player stats. Here are my top Underdog Pick’em plays for the Carolina Panthers vs. Atlanta Falcons Thursday Night Football Pick’em contest.
Underdog Pick’ems allows fantasy managers to predict stats and fantasy-point totals for almost all fantasy-relevant players. You can make two picks that pay out 3x your entry fee or add more selections to your entry for higher payouts.
The levels are 3x, 6x, 10x, and 20x, progressing with each additional pick’em you add to your entry. Let’s take a look at this week’s Underdog Pick’ems.
Drake London Lower Than 34.5 Receiving Yards
Since Week 4, Drake London has posted the following receiving yardage totals: 17, 35, 40, 9, 31, 23. The 31 came against these very Panthers just two weeks ago.
Of course, London has the talent to pop off for a huge game in any given week. Unfortunately, the Falcons’ offense is not one designed to unlock London’s talent.
MORE: Should You Start Drake London vs. the Panthers?
This has nothing to do with the opponent or matchup. This is simply a wide receiver on an offense that does not throw the ball.
The Falcons run the ball 57% of the time, the second-highest rate in the league. What’s even more outrageous is their 54% run rate in negative game-script situations. It simply does not matter what the score is — Atlanta is going to run. As a result, London’s targets are limited. Until we see something change, going lower is the move.
PJ Walker Lower Than 6.5 Rushing Yards
PJ Walker does not like to run. In his four starts, he’s taken off to scramble just twice, with one going for 20 yards while the other went for six.
I like Walker’s lowers tonight, in general, because in addition to the potential for him to just play poorly, he could also get benched again.
Admittedly, the Falcons’ defense isn’t exactly one to force opposing quarterbacks out of the game. Nevertheless, Walker was benched for Baker Mayfield last week.
Carolina has no allegiance to any of its quarterbacks. One bad interception could result in Mayfield entering the game once again, which would lock up all of Walker’s lowers.
Cordarrelle Patterson Higher Than 55.5 Rushing Yards
When a non-elite running back returns from injury, platforms like Underdog often struggle deciphering how much volume that player will get. Last week, Cordarrelle Patterson’s rushing-yardage projection was set extremely low at 37.5. He sailed past it, rushing 13 times for 44 yards.
The last time these teams met, Tyler Allgeier and Caleb Huntley combined for 130 yards on 30 carries.
Given that this game is on Thursday night, I expect the Falcons to at least be as run-heavy as they usually are, if not more. The Panthers are allowing 4.5 yards per carry to opposing runners, and Patterson is quite efficient on the ground, averaging 5.4 ypc.
I’m expecting at least 12-14 carries for Patterson, if not more. He only played 39% of the snaps last week. That should increase as he’s another week recovered from his injury. If I like passing and receiving lowers, it stands to reason the rushing totals will go higher. We like correlated props over here.
