Week 8 First Look

Photo: Charles LeClaire, USA Today Sports

In our Wednesday morning first look at the Week 8 Main Slate, we start by taking a big-picture view of the slate as a first step in our preparation process. The goal here is to give you some information-packed visualizations to quickly set the table for the much more in-depth breakdowns and player recommendations that will come later in the week. In addition, we want to start identifying the teams and players who are most likely to be popular so we can narrow our focus as soon as possible and start digging deeper into some of the players who stand out as potential top options.

Our Week 8 First Look will start by breaking down the lines and team totals. We are looking at the best spots overall and which teams are projected to score more than they typically do. We will also identify the players that are popping out as top values in the early-week Footballguys consensus projections. Lastly, we will dig into some usage stats and how each player on the slate ranks in key metrics.

Implied Team Totals and Spreads

The above visualization shows each team’s implied team total and how much they are favored by (negative numbers for underdogs).

• The upper right-hand quadrant shows teams that are favorites and expected to score an above-average amount of points. Players from these teams are prime targets for our DFS lineups this week. There are a whopping 11 teams in this quadrant this week. Of the 13 teams favored on Sunday, all but two are also projected to score an above-average number of points.
• The bottom right-hand quadrant contains favored teams but in what are expected to be low-scoring games. These are spots where the game scripts may favor the running backs. This week sets up well for Breece Hall and Bijan Robinson.
• The upper left-hand quadrant is teams that are underdogs but still expected to score an above-average number of points in games with shootout potential. The game script should set up well for the passing games of these offenses. For only the second time this season, no underdog is projected to score an above-average number of points.
• The bottom left-hand quadrant is teams that are underdogs and not expected to score much. We want to approach rostering players from these teams with caution.