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The No. 6 seed Cleveland Browns will take on the No. 3 seed Pittsburgh Steelers in the final Super Wild Card Weekend game on Sunday night at Heinz Field (8:15 p.m. ET). These two teams split the season series, with the Browns winning the latest matchup in Week 17.
The Browns (11-5) clinched their first playoff berth since 2002 with a win last week. In that game against the Steelers, Cleveland leaned on their ground attack as running back Nick Chubb led the way with 108 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown. Quarterback Baker Mayfield also played a clean game under center, completing 17-of-27 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown.
However, it might be tough for the Browns to win two-straight games against the Steelers. On Tuesday, the team announced that head coach Kevin Stefanski was one of five members of the organization who tested positive for COVID-19. Due to league protocols, Stefanski would missing Sunday’s game, meaning that special teams coach Mike Priefer will be the acting head coach.
As for the Steelers (12-4), they sat starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the regular-season finale but he should be ready to go on Sunday night. Roethlisberger will look to attack the Browns’ pass defense, which has been known to give up big plays. The Steelers’ run defense, which has been one of the best in the league will try to slow down the duo of Chubb and Kareem Hunt.
TV Info
Date: Sunday, Jan. 10th
Time: 8:15 p.m. ET
Channel: NBC
Broadcast map
Notable Statistical rankings (Football Outsiders)
Browns: #18 Overall — #9 offense, #25 defense, #27 special teams
Steelers: #8 Overall — #22 offense, #1 defense, #14 special teams
DraftKings Sportsbook odds
Browns: +6, +220
Steelers: -6, -265
Total: 47.5
Fantasy football start/sit advice
Browns
Nick Chubb, RB, $6,700
Even though the Browns are going against one of the best run defenses in the NFL on Sunday, Nick Chubb is still a good play in DFS. Last week, Chubb had 19.8 DraftKing points, which is good for an RB1 in Week 17 of DFS. That being said, the 25-year-old running back will likely be one of the higher valued running backs during Super Wild Card weekend. But he’s worth the price of admission, despite the Steelers’ defense only allowing 19.1 DraftKing points per game to opposing running backs.
Jarvis Landry, WR, $5,800
The Steelers’ defense has been good at covering opposing teams’ tight ends only allowing three touchdowns this season. This means that Jarvis Landry should be the optimal play in DFS for a Browns receiver/tight end. Landry missed Week 16 due to COVID-19 contact tracing but returned on Sunday with a solid stat line of five receptions (six targets) for 51 yards and a rushing touchdown. The veteran wide receiver scored 16.4 DraftKing points, which was better than his first performance against the Steelers, where he only posted seven DraftKing points.
Steelers
Diontae Johnson, WR, $6,200
The second-year wide receiver out of Toledo has received a ton of targets in the last five games of the regular season. Johnson had 31 receptions (50 targets) for 340 yards and three touchdowns in that span of time. In last week’s game, Johnson had three receptions (four targets) for 96 yards, which equaled out to only 12.6 DraftKing points. On Sunday, Johnson will be going against a Browns’ secondary that allowed 40.7 fantasy points per game to opposing wide receivers.
JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR, $5,500
After a disappointing performance on Monday in Week 15, where he was held to only three receptions (six targets) on 15 yards. Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster has bounced back in the last two games. The former first-round fantasy pick has scored a touchdown in back-to-back games, along with 24.6 and 18.5 DraftKing points, respectively.
With starting tight end Eric Ebron still on the reserve/COVID-19 list, we could see the Steelers opt to give more targets to Smith-Schuster, Johnson, and rookie wide receiver Chase Claypool