We get three games on Thanksgiving, which will make this a unique week every football season in The Owners Club. We also don’t have the options from Kanas City or Arizona this week, as both teams are on their bye. Given some of the matchups on this slate, we may end up having some unexpected high scores at certain positions this week.

Analyzing Thursday

Buffalo quarterbacks posted a 36.7 score last night, which would have been the third highest score at the position last week and the second the week before that. Both the Dallas and Las Vegas quarterbacks posted solid scores just above 29 points, but we already know those totals have been beaten by Buffalo. The rest of the quarterback options from Thanksgiving Thursday are unplayable, while the New Orleans quarterbacks score of 11.82 is just a bit too high for Lowball.

Las Vegas running backs led the way at the position on Thursday with 20.2 points, which more than likely won’t be high enough to compete for a top spot in this week’s Main Event. New Orleans running backs scored a meager 3.7 points, making them a rock solid Lowball option. Las Vegas wide receivers posted a solid 37.3 points that would have been the third highest scorer at the position in each of the past two weeks. The rest of the options at both running back and wide receiver had more middling weeks, making them underwhelming options in our contests, including Lowball.

Dallas tight ends posted an excellent score of 19.6 points that would have come in second last week at the position and it would have led tight end scores in Week 10. Considering that some Main Event winning lineups have posted single digit scores at the tight end position, this option is close to a lock for your best lineup this week if you have access to the Dallas tight ends card. Tight ends from Chicago (15.9 points) and Buffalo (15.2) are also rock-solid options at the position this week. Las Vegas tight end Darren Waller was injured early and did not return, resulting in a Lowball worthy score of 3.6 points for the Las Vegas tight ends card.

The Buffalo defense posted a solid 14 points, which is a score that would land outside of the top 5 at the position most weeks. The Las Vegas defense posted a score of 2 points, which makes them a Lowball worthy option. The rest of the defenses that played on Thursday posted between 7 and 9 points, making each of them average at best options at the position.

Potential Game Stacks

Indianapolis vs Tampa Bay: Despite Tampa Bay’s top ranked run defense, we are now at the point where the Indianapolis running backs card should be played in one of your best lineups regardless of their matchup. With that said, if Tampa Bay defensive tackle Vita Vea is back in action this is truly the best run defense in the league. With that said, this game environment has me higher on both the Indianapolis quarterback and their wide receivers than I normally would be. Antonio Brown is not yet back for Tampa Bay, but their wide receivers remain one of the best options at the position and the Tampa Bay quarterbacks card is still set up to potentially beat the Buffalo quarterback score from last Thursday. Gronk returned to action last week, which gives the Tampa Bay tight ends card more upside going forward. I would frame this as an average matchup for Tampa Bay running backs, though this ultimately is a late November indoor game with some shootout potential, so they should not be outright ignored, especially considering the middling scores at the position from last Thursday.

San Francisco vs Minnesota: If you want to get contrarian at the quarterback position this week, the San Francisco quarterbacks card is an interesting option against Minnesota as both their wide receivers and tight ends have above average upside in this potential high scoring affair. Minnesota wide receivers showed their considerable ceiling last week as they finished just behind the Green Bay group in total scoring at the position during the shootout between those two teams. Minnesota’s quarterbacks card has been good, but not quite good enough throughout the year as they have yet to surpass 35 points in any given week. With that said, this is another good matchup for the Minnesota passing game in San Francisco. Minnesota’s running backs card is led by the highly talented Dalvin Cook, but the group as a whole has underwhelmed in The Owners Club to this point. The Minnesota tight ends card should be considered a very contrarian option given the high score that the Dallas group posted on Thursday.

Green Bay vs Los Angeles (National): After shredding Minnesota last week, Aaron Rodgers hosts one of the best defenses in the sport that’s had two weeks to prepare for him (Los Angeles is coming off their bye). Given the difficulty of the opponent and Rodgers recently announced broken toe, he has been carrying this offense his whole career but there is more downside in this matchup than against just about any other opponent. The same could be said for Green Bay’s wide receiver group, who led last week’s slate at the position. The Los Angeles wide receivers have been the top performer at the position to date while their quarterbacks card is just outside the top five. Given Matthew Stafford’s familiarity with Green Bay, I like the Los Angeles passing game stack in this one.

Let’s Discuss

Carolina: After a disappointing loss at home to Washington last week, Carolina goes on the road to face a Miami team that might be surging a bit right now. The return of Cam Newton has changed this offense in a number of ways, which I wanted to discuss at length. First, the return of Christian McCaffrey has been an obvious boon to the Carolina running backs card, as he brings tremendous value as a pass catcher on top of his rushing production. With that said, Newton’s rushing ability will create some opportunities for Carolina backs as having a rushing quarterback can sometimes open up lanes for running backs that pocket passers simply cannot. On the other hand, Newton will also take some touchdown equity away from Carolina runners, as Newton has always been an asset in goal to go situations. So far, Newton has helped Carolina’s wide receivers though that group is still not getting close to reaching their full potential. Against Miami, we can reasonably expect Carolina to be more run centric, though we can also expect Miami to blitz Carolina similar to how they blitzed Baltimore two weeks ago. Carolina has a capable defense that should at least be on your radar against Miami this week.

Uncorrelated Plays

Baltimore Quarterbacks: Baltimore hosts Cleveland this Sunday night, and when these two teams squared off in primetime last year the scoring got out of hand. While there is absolutely no guarantee that happens again here, especially not with the way Cleveland has been playing on offense recently, Lamar Jackson and his pass catchers have some serious upside here.

Denver Running Backs: Any running backs group that is facing the putrid Los Angeles (American) run defense should be considered in our weekly contests. Since Denver gives two good running backs significant volume, that makes this group a very interesting option in this particular matchup.

Jacksonville Running Backs: Jacksonville gets Atlanta this week in a game that has some interesting scoring potential as both teams have below average defenses and both teams have been performing below expectations on offense throughout the season. Since the Jacksonville passing game has been a true disappointment this season while being down both D.J. Chark and Jamal Agnew, I’m more interested in their running backs group in a plus matchup.

Philadelphia Running Backs: Philly has (finally) been leaning heavily on their running game for several weeks and that’s a primary reason they have put themselves into the Wild Card race. When they head to New York this week they will be facing an average at best run defense from their division rivals. Further, Boston Scott has killed New York and their slow linebackers several times in the past. Since Philadelphia has been using multiple runners over the last several games, this group could see considerable collective volume on the ground while potentially getting an opponent specific boon from Scott as a pass catcher in this matchup. As a reminder, Jordan Howard has been ruled out for this contest, but Philadelphia can still roll out three running backs with Scott, headliner Mile Sanders, and Kenneth Gainwell likely stepping in for Howard.

Cleveland Running Backs: This week’s trip to Baltimore isn’t the greatest matchup for this group, but they have put up major production against their division rivals in the past and Kareem Hunt appears set to return this week. It wouldn’t be a major surprise if Hunt was eased back in this week, but his return will certainly be a major plus for this card long-term.

New York (American) Wide Receivers: If you want to play something very contrarian this week, this group in Houston would be at the top of my list. New York’s starting running back Michael Carter is out for the next few weeks, New York’s tight ends group lacks a headliner, and New York will have their three best receivers ready to go against one of the worst defenses in the league in Houston. In other words, we could be seeing concentrated volume against a bottom teir opponent for New York’s wide receivers. Given the matchup against Houston, I also like that rookie Zach Wilson is returning to action, as he’s generally more aggressive than Mike White or Joe Flacco.

Seattle Wide Receivers: This offense has struggled mightily in each of the last two weeks since the return of the great Russell Wilson, so we cannot trust any component of this offense until they get back on track. With that said, this matchup in Washington on Monday night comes with a lot of potential for this group.

Atlanta Tight Ends: We know that we have to beat a pretty considerable score of 19.5 points at the tight end position this week. We also don’t have the option of the Kanas City tight ends card and we already know the disappointing score the Las Vegas group put up this week. That puts Kyle Pitts and the Atlanta tight ends group against Jacksonville as one of the options that has the best shot of approaching the score Dallas tight ends posted on Thanksgiving.

New York (National) Tight Ends: I’ve been saying it all year, Philadelphia is not well equipped to deal with athletic tight ends. While the New York offense is the very definition of unreliable, they have an athletic tight end in Evan Engram and the more stable Kyle Rudolph could also come away with a few catches and possibly a score.

Defenses with Potential Running Back Correlations

New England Running Backs with New England Defense vs Tennessee: While this game is a matchup between two very similar, physical teams as Tennessee head coach Mike Vrabel is a disciple of Bill Belichick, Tennessee is banged up and is now a full 7-point road underdog in New England. There’s a pretty solid chance that this one ends up being pretty low-scoring and potentially running back centric for New England.