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FanDuel NFL Best Bets: TSN staff picks for Week 18
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Each week, members from our betting team will share their best bets from the slate of NFL games in hopes of building the ultimate 8-leg parlay on FanDuel.
You can ride the parlay or play the picks on their own, but we made sure to leave an empty space in the box for you to join in and add your biggest lock for the week! Just save the image below and add your own pick to the middle square if you want in on the parlay.
Here’s what we’re rolling with for Week 18 of the NFL season.
Domenic Padula: Buffalo Bills ML -158
It wasn't that long ago that the Bills were +1400 to win the AFC East at FanDuel.
After stringing together four straight wins to improve to 10-6, Buffalo is now the favourite to win the division heading into a highly anticipated showdown with the Dolphins on Sunday Night Football.
Josh Allen has dominated Miami throughout his career, including earlier this season when Buffalo beat the Dolphins 48-20.
With Tyreek Hill, Jayden Waddle and Raheem Mostert all banged up on the Miami offence, and the Dolphins defence missing Bradley Chubb, Jaelen Phillips and Xavien Howard, I'll take the Bills to complete the season sweep and clinch the AFC East title on Sunday Night Football.
Eric Cohen: C.J Stroud over 262.5 passing yards
The Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts were not expected to be playoff teams but here we are Week 18 and the winner of their match up on Saturday night will be in the postseason.
For the Texans it's all been about C.J. Stroud who will win Rookie of the Year following this incredible season. Earlier this year Stroud threw for 384 yards against the Colts in a loss Week 2. With the spread for this game around a pick em you can expect Stroud to be throwing throughout this must win game.
Before Stoud suffered a concussion against the Jets on December 10th he had gone over this number in 5 straight games throwing for 470 yards versus Tampa Bay, 356 yards versus the Bengals, 336 yards versus the Cardinals, 304 yards against the Jaguars and 274 yards against the Broncos. It has almost been a month since Stroud suffered that concussion and I expect him to be back to the form we saw earlier in the season.
Win or lose it's been an incredible season for Stroud and the Texans and Saturday Night in Primetime look for another outstanding performance from the second overall pick!!
Even Render: New England Patriots -1.5
Here’s a couple fun trends outlining even further how much New England has dominated the Jets:
-Jets haven’t beaten Pats since 2015
-Jets haven’t beaten Pats in regulation since 2010
-Jets haven’t beaten Pats in New England in regulation since 2006
Let’s face it, both of these teams stink, but there’s a clear coaching discrepancy between Bill Belichick and Robert Saleh, and this might be Belichicks’ last game as Patriots head coach. The motivating x-factor!
Earlier this season, New England was a 3 point favourite in New York in a game they won by 5. Fast forward to January and they’re just a 1.5 point home favourite? I’ll take the home team with the much-improved defence and an offence that’s actually put up some points with Bailey Zappe at the helm.
I don’t see much of a path for New York to score more than 10 points here.
Give me New England -1.5 as my best bet and lets finish the year on an 8-1 run.
Christian Marin: Rachaad White Anytime Touchdown (-130)
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered the season with the longest odds to win the NFC South and a projected win total of 6.5, and now they control their destiny heading into the final week of the NFL regular season.
Tampa Bay has the juiciest matchup out of any team looking to book a playoff spot as they pay a visit to the lowly Carolina Panthers and I like Rachaad White to step up in the contest.
The Panthers are giving up an average of 123 rushing yards per game, and they’ve allowed a league-high 25 rushing touchdowns this season. I’m not expecting White to go off for 100 or more rushing yards, as there’s a chance the Bucs take a comfortable lead and bench their starters, but I am expecting him to be part of the reason for Tampa’s early lead.
White picked up 84 yards on the ground and added 22 receiving yards earlier this season against Carolina, and he also scored a touchdown in the game. On top of that, Carolina has given up at least one touchdown to opposing running backs in 12 games this season and 2+ touchdowns to opposing running backs in seven games.
I’ll take Rachaad White to score a touchdown as my best bet in a must-win game for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Connor Ford: George Pickens Over 3.5 Receptions (-108)
Over the last two weeks, George Pickens has flashed his immense upside in a big way. The sophomore receiver is coming off back-to-back games with over 130 yards and I like him to keep it rolling against the Ravens in Week 18.
Pickens’ role in the Steelers offence has clearly grown with Mason Rudolph at quarterback. Since Week 16, he leads the team with 11 receptions and a 32.6 percent target share. For whatever reason, Rudolph loves to get Pickens the ball.
Sure, this Ravens defence is stout. But they’ve also allowed the fifth-most receptions to the wide receiver position this season. Back in Week 5, Pickens went off for six catches and 130 yards against this same defence. The Steelers are fighting for their playoff lives, so expect them to play with a sense of urgency.
In a game of this magnitude, Mike Tomlin will surely look to get the ball to his best playmaker. I’ll take Pickens to go over 3.5 receptions as my best bet. Let’s finish the regular season off with a bang!
Chris Brieda: New Orleans Saints ML
In a week with plenty of suspect games, I’m taking a home team with something to play for.
New Orleans needs a win over Atlanta this Sunday for a chance at a playoff spot, and potentially the NFC South title if Tampa Bay stumbles against Carolina.
The Saints may have hit their stride last Sunday, completely shutting down a red hot Buccaneers squad in a 23-13 road win.
I also didn’t mind the Saints recipe on offence last week. Nothing flashy, just a well balanced attack supported by strong defensive play.
On the flip side, the Falcons are an absolute mess right now.
Atlanta’s inconsistencies at quarterback should lead to another successful Sunday for the Saints defence, giving Derek Carr plenty of opportunities to to score.
Drew Morrison: Detroit Lions ML
Den disrupted.
Last week’s end of game debacle in Dallas is sure keep any complacency at bay.
Coach Dan Campbell was pissed! And although he briefly lost his mind when he decided to go for 2 again from the 7 last week, he was going for the win. And that’s what they’ll continue to do against the Vikings this week.
MCDC told reporters, “We're gonna use our full arsenal and go win this game. That's the objective here.”
I’m sold. Roar.
Luke Bellus: Justin Fields Over 261.5 Passing + Rushing Yards
I don't know if Justin Fields will be with the Chicago Bears next season, but I do know he's playing some inspired football.
Since returning from injury in Week 11, Fields has gone over this number in four of his five games.
And this week he takes on a Packers' defence that just looked incredible in primetime.
But that was mainly thanks to Minnesota starting Jaren Hall, who was just 5 for 10 with 67 yards in the opening half.
Outside of that, this defence hasn't looked great lately.
They gave up 312 passing yards to Bryce Young in Week 16 and 381 to Baker Mayfield in Week 15.
Tommy Devito had 70 rushing yards in Week 14, meanwhile Justin Herbert and Jared Goff both easily went over this number in Week's 12 and 11.
With Fields playing at a higher level right now I'll end the season betting on him to go over this prop one last time with the Bears.
The odds on this 8-leg parlay are +10329* and $10 would pay $1032.92 on FanDuel Canada.
*Odds subject to change.