FlurrySports gives the best Underdog Fantasy NFL DFS picks for the Texans vs Patriots NFL Playoffs Divisional Round game, including Drake Maye.
The first game on the Sunday of the Divisional Round series features a great matchup between the Houston Texans and New England Patriots. With the Texans being the hottest team in the NFL, can they continue the streak against MVP-candidate Drake Maye? Or, will the vaunted Houston be enough to stiffle the second-year quarterback, pushing the Texans to the AFC Championship?
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Underdog Fantasy NFL DFS Picks: Texans vs Patriots NFL Playoffs
Christian Kirk HIGHER 38.5 Receiving Yards
With Nico Collins suffering a concussion last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Houston Texans are entering this game without a true number-one, go-to wide receiver. That leaves a big hole to fill for a Texans offense that has struggled at times. While the Texans have a flurry of options to help fill this void, it appears Christian Kirk has as good a shot as any Houston receiver to produce in this game. Looking at what Kirk did last week against the Steelers, recording eight catches for 144 yards, it appears that 38.5 is too low an entry.
Christian Gonzalez is set to play in the game for the Patriots, which, on paper, seems like a bad thing for Texans receivers, but for Kirk, it should be a benefit. With Kirk lining up in the slot, he will see more targets, as CJ Stroud avoids throwing to Gonzalez’s side to avoid any interception opportunities. Gonzalez will also take away one of Houston’s other options, giving Kirk that many more chances to go higher here.
Woody Marks LOWER 52.5 Rushing Yards
Woody Marks put together the best game of his career last week against the Steelers. The USC alum finished the game with 112 yards and a touchdown on 19 rushes. While it was nice to see Houston establish a run game, they should have a much more difficult time doing so against the Patriots in this game. New England has been great against the rush this season, as they rank sixth in the NFL in rushing yards given up per game. In fact, New England has held each of its last two number one rushers to fewer than 52.5 rushing yards.
The game plan for the Texans this week needs to be to get the ball to their strong pass catchers underneath and let them run. The Patriots feature one of the NFL’s most underrated front sevens. Milton Williams, Christian Barmore, Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss have all been as big of a part as Drake Maye and the offense to getting the Patriots to the two seed. Given the strong play of the front seven, Houston will find out quickly that the run game is not going to work this week, and will need to abandon it quick, especially if they get behind in the game.
Drake Maye HIGHER 35.5 Rushing Yards
Drake Maye certainly looked like one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL this season. Looking back on his rookie year, it is obvious that he made the big jump, as with a lot of rookies, after the first read is not there, they elect to run. This was the case for Maye, but now you can see that if the first read is not there, he is a lot more comfortable with looking to the second and third reads. I am saying all of this not to say that Maye is never going to run the ball; in fact, I believe that given the strong defense from the Texans, the Patriots are going to need Maye to run.
For whatever my money is worth, this current Texans team has the best defense since the Legion of Boom in Seattle a little over ten years ago. With Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson, Maye is going to be pressured for the majority of this game. Add in Jalen Pitre and Derek Stingley and there are not going to be many receivers running wide open. That leaves Maye to be the one to make the magic happen. Maye is not the only quarterback that applied to this season, as the Texans have given up 334 rushing yards to quarterbacks this season, which ranks as the 10th-most this season.
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