Monkey Knife Fight: Thursday Night Football Picks

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Published on October 13, 2022

The NFL starts Week 6 with a Thursday night matchup between the Bears and Commanders. Both teams have struggled on offense, which could lead to a low-scoring affair. With that in mind, let's dive into the options on Monkey Knife Fight.

Three Game Types are offered, including "More Or Less," "Rapid Fire" and "Stat Shootout." For a full breakdown of the rules for each game, see the House Rules page. Let's dive into some of the contests within each Game Type and discuss how things might play out.

More Or Less Contest

For this contest, let's examine a 2/2 goal for 3X the prize. We need to pick a side for Curtis Samuel 50.5 receiving yards and Darnell Mooney 45.5 receiving yards. Let's start with Samuel, who had at least 55 receiving yards in three of his first five games. He showed an ability to be explosive at times during his tenure with the Panthers, but his debut season with Washington was mired by injuries limiting him to just five games played.

With Jahan Dotson (hamstring) out Week 5, Samuel caught six of eight targets for 62 yards. The short week didn't help Dotson, who has already been ruled out. With Samuel receiving at least seven targets in all five games, give me the over on his total.

I'll also take the over on Mooney, which is a bit riskier. The Bears love to run the ball, and quarterback Justin Fields is also dangerous on the ground. Still, Mooney had at least 49 receiving yards in both of the last two games. Without question, he's the top receiving option for the Bears.

Rapid Fire Contest

Let's look at a 2/3 goal for 1.5X the prize. The options are Carson Wentz vs. Fields fantasy points (with Fields receiving a +2.5 fantasy points bonus), Terry McLaurin vs. David Montgomery fantasy points (with McLaurin receiving a +0.5 fantasy points bonus) and Samuel vs. Mooney fantasy points (with Mooney receiving a +2.5 fantasy points bonus).

First, let's go with Fields over Wentz. The Bears have allowed the second-most rushing yards per game, but they have allowed the ninth-fewest passing yards per game, which could make things difficult for Wentz. Fields may not rack up a lot of yards through the air, but he has 42 carries for 194 yards and a touchdown.

For the second pick, let's go with Samuel over Mooney. While Fields could score more fantasy points than Wentz, that's more because of his rushing abilities than anything else. Wentz should still finish with more passing yards, which would favor Samuel over Mooney. Samuel has 32 catches for 281 yards and two touchdowns this season, while Mooney has just 10 receptions for 173 yards and no touchdowns.

Stat Shootout Contest

With offense potentially being difficult to come by in this game, let's focus on three players to combine for 3.5-plus sacks for 1.5X the prize. The Bears have a makeshift offensive line, so I want to roll with both Montez Sweat and Jonathan Allen. Sweat has 2.0 sacks this season, while Allen has 2.5 sacks. Sweat had 5.0 sacks in 10 games last season, and his career high for sacks in a single season was the nine he finished with in 2020.

For the third player, I'll select Robert Quinn. While he only has one sack this season, he's the Bears most dangerous pass rusher. Last year, he recorded 18.5 sacks, which was the fifth season of his career in which he had at least 10 sacks.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Mike Barner plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: FanDuel: mbarner, DraftKings: mbarner51.