Thursday Night Football Preview New Orleans Saints @ Los Angeles Rams: NFL Best Bets and Props, Matthew Stafford, Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave and More

Last week we saw the Las Vegas Raiders just straight molly-whopped the Los Angeles Chargers. This game was 42-0 at halftime. Unfortunately, it wasn't thanks to a bunch of guys that everyone was starting in fantasy. Davante Adams ended up with a nice day, but other than that, there were a lot of bench and waiver points in that one. This week we should have somewhat of a better game with the New Orleans Saints heading on the road to take on the Los Angeles Rams. Both these teams look close to fully healthy seemingly for the first time all season so this should be a good game to kick off week two of the fantasy playoffs. 

Week 16 Thursday Night Football Best Bets

Aside from Michael Thomas, the Saints have their entire offense together, which hasn't happened often this year. Derek Carr will be under center, Alvin Kamara will be the lead back, Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed will be making plays on the outside, Juwan Johnson is in at tight end and Taysom Hill will serve as the wild card gadget guy. This is a potentially dangerous offense when they are all together, so this should be fun to watch. 

You won't want to be starting Carr, but if you are desperate to stream a QB, at least he has all his weapons in this game. Still, if you're starting Carr in round two of the playoffs, you may be in bad shape. The Rams are very tough against the run, nevertheless, that's not an issue for Kamara, who is a PPR machine and more than capable of finding the end zone. You are starting him every week. Olave you are plugging into your lineup as long as he is active after missing last week. He's fully expected to play as of Thursday morning. Shaheed is a boom-or-bust desperation flex option. You probably don't want to start Hill or Johnson at tight end, however, they do both have upside in this game. 

The Rams have even better fantasy options and almost all of them will be started this week. Matthew Stafford has been red hot and should be in your lineup if you don't have another outstanding option, even with a tough matchup. Kyren Williams is started every week on volume alone. There is no way you're ever keeping him on your bench. Both Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua should be in your lineup as well. They aren't the world beaters they once were because they hurt each other's value, nonetheless, you are almost certainly playing both. Tyler Higbee can also be streamed at tight end if you are desperate. 

As for the game itself, we are hopeful we'll get a good one. As far as points go, this could be a bit more of a defensive battle or a full-blown shootout. It's a tough game to gauge, but we're hoping for a shootout. At the end of the day the Rams should win this one. They are at home and have the better quarterback. The Saints have been a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde team this year though and are capable of surprising us. 

The Picks

New Orleans Saints +4 (-110)
Los Angeles Rams Moneyline (-198)
Over/Under O46 (-112)

Player Props of the Night

Prop #1: Alvin Kamara, Over 4.5 Receptions (+114)

We expect short passes to Kamara to serve as the primary rushing attack for the Saints in this game. It just plays much better into this team's strengths and against the Rams' weaknesses. Kamara has also had at least five receptions in eight of his last nine games and in all but two games the entire season. To get this at plus odds is a great bet. My guess is the line was dropped a bit because all the weapons are healthy in New Orleans, nevertheless, this game lines up perfectly for him to catch a ton of passes.  

Prop #2: Matthew Stafford, Over 1.5 TDs (-135)

We really like the Rams' pass-catchers in this game and that's because we think they are going to catch TDs. Even the running back catches plenty of TDs on this team. Stafford has thrown for multiple TDs in four straight games and we don't expect that streak to end this week. Kupp, Nacua, Williams and Hignee among others are all candidates to catch TD passes this week and Stafford will make good use of his explosive playmakers.   

Prop #3: Derek Carr, Over 234.5 Passing Yards (-115)

Carr should pile up a lot of yardage in this game, especially trying to keep up with the Rams' offense. We already mentioned how we expect Kamara to catch a bunch of passes which will be a big boost for Carr. Olave is also going to shine as the WR1 and Shaheed is good for some big plays week in and week out, so 235 yards is a very reasonable number to expect Carr to get to this week.