The Eagles are two-touchdown favorites when they travel to Houston to take on the Texans on Week 9 “Thursday Night Football” (8:15 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime Video). That means they are set up for a fantasy football bonanza, but start ’em, sit ’em questions remain for players on both teams.
The Eagles will try to channel the Phillies, who are showing great power at home against the Astros in the World Series. Philadelphia’s NFL team is coming off another massive offensive performance against Pittsburgh to get to 7-0 ahead of this matchup with 1-5-1 Houston.
Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown hooked up for three passing TDs last week. The Texans, however, were gashed by Derrick Henry and the Titans and are giving up a league-worst 186 rushing yards per game.
With all that in mind, here’s breaking down the entire start ’em sit ’em picture for Thursday night, including a couple of DFS lineup suggestions for FanDuel and DraftKings:
Eagles: Who to start or sit in fantasy football on Thursday night
Start: QB Jalen Hurts
Hurts put up a huge passing day against the Steelers and only padded his stats with only two rushes for 10 yards. Here he can probably do anything he wants in this game with his big arm and quick legs. It’s also notable that Hurts will want to be relentless in going off given he’s a Houston native and this is a rare homecoming chance.
MORE TNF: DK lineup | FD lineup | Cooks update
Start: RB Miles Sanders | Sit: RBs Boston Scott and Kenneth Gainwell
Sanders may not run for 12 percent of a mile like Derrick Henry did last week, but he should be a shoo-in for 100 yards and a TD barring injury. If you’re desperate, you can hope the game script allows for Scott to clean up with a late run-out-the-clock TD, but Gainwell is not usable with Scott back in the mix.
WEEK 9 PPR RANKINGS:
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers
Start: WR A.J. Brown
Brown might see a good chunk of impressive rookie cornerback Derek Stingley Jr., but that doesn’t matter given he split double-teams to dominate the Steelers. The Texans’ cover-two zone will try to limit his big plays, but Brown can remain an intermediate force through the red zone. Don’t expect another monster outing, but 100 yards and a TD make sense for him.
Start: WR DeVonta Smith
When Brown has gone off this season, Smith has done little. Brown’s big Week 8 should draw heavy coverage attention and open up more favorable targets for the Eagles’ talented No. 2.
WEEK 9 STANDARD RANKINGS:
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers
Start: TE Dallas Goedert
By the numbers, the Texans aren’t bad against the tight end, but they have struggled against similar big, athletic targets Evan Engram and Gerald Everett. Goedert should have a solid game working vs. the cover-two.
WEEK 9 DFS: Best stacks | Best values
Sit: K Jake Elliott
Elliott is attached to the Eagles’ offense, but he’s averaged fewer than seven points per game because Philadelphia is such a good red-zone team and doesn’t need him too much for field-goal chances. You can do much better than a kicker who might be relegated to five or six extra points.
WEEK 9 DFS LINEUPS: DraftKings | FanDuel
Start: Eagles D/ST
You have to like everything about this matchup for Philly, and the game script will lead to major tee-off time for sacks and takeaways.
WEEK 9 FANTASY PICKS: Sleepers | Busts | Start ’em, sit ’em
Texans: Who to start or sit in fantasy football on Thursday night
Sit: QB Davis Mills
Mills has two first names and two last names at the same time. We’re not sticking out our necks for him anymore. The Texans should bench him. You definitely are.
Sit: WR Brandon Cooks | All other healthy Texans WRs
If Cooks can cope with the fact he’s still in Houston, then he can also come to terms with the fact that he can’t get open often vs. Darius Slay, James Bradberry, and Avonte Maddox. With no Nico Collins (groin) again, there’s no one to trust outside of a Phillip Dorsett dart throw in single-game DFS contests.
Start: RB Dameon Pierce
Pierce has another tough matchup, but he’s getting it done with ample volume. And last week, he even got some key receiving work that helped him salvage his day. The rookie should not be sat anymore. He’s too good and too involved.
Sit: TEs Brevin Jordan, O.J. Howard and Jordan Akins
Jordan would have been an interesting sleeper had he stayed healthy early and not returned to this mess of a random committee.
Sit: K Ka’imi Fairbairn
According to Scottish lore, his last name means “Handsome Child”. The dude is good-looking and is just outside the top 12 in kicker scoring so far, but points will be hard to find in this matchup.
Sit: Texans D/ST
Houston, we want to avoid using the cliche line from Apollo 13 here. Guess we kind of just did.
Eagles vs. Texans: FanDuel single-game lineup
- MVP (1.5X): RB Miles Sanders $13,000
- AnyFLEX: QB Jalen Hurts $17,500
- AnyFLEX: WR Brandin Cooks, $11,500
- AnyFLEX: Eagles D/ST $10,000
- AnyFLEX: RB Boston Scott $7,500
Philadelphia will have a ton of success running, so it made sense to cover all the bases there with Sanders, Scott, and Hurts. Cooks is always a candidate for a long TD, especially in garbage time. The Eagles’ D is the cherry on top.
Eagles vs. Texans: DraftKings Showdown lineup
- Captain (1.5X): RB Miles Sanders $15,600
- FLEX: QB Jalen Hurts $11,800
- FLEX: WR Brandin Cooks $7,200
- FLEX: Eagles D/ST $7,000
- FLEX: TE Dallas Goedert $6,600
- FLEX: RB Boston Scott $1,800
This looks very similar to the FD approach. If Cooks doesn’t play, pivot to Phillip Dorsett for potential late garbage points.
