Week 1 Game Scripts to Target in Daily Fantasy Football

New Orleans Saints vs. New England Patriots

Over/Under: 54.50
Saints Implied Team Total: 24.00
Patriots Implied Team Total: 30.50

This game doesn't quite have the highest implied team total on the slate, coming in just a half-point behind the Green Bay Packers-Seattle Seahawks game. But, it is the most stackable on-paper game, as it's the only contest with two teams owning an implied team total above 24 points.

Marcus Mariota, QB, Tennessee Titans

FanDuel Price: $7,800

The Tennessee Titans made it a priority to get Marcus Mariota some upgraded weapons this offseason, using the fifth overall selection on Corey Davis and an early third-round pick on Taywan Taylor, along with signing proven red zone weapon Eric Decker. This might be the season we finally see the training wheels come off for the talented young quarterback.

Despite playing for the team with the fifth-highest implied team total, in a matchup against an Oakland Raiders team which ranked 25th against the pass last year according to our opponent-adjusted Net Expected Points (NEP) metric, Mariota comes in as just the 10th-most expensive quarterback on the slate. When examining his numbers in other shootouts, it becomes quite clear that he is one of the strongest on-paper quarterback plays this week.

In his career, Mariota has played in just one game in which there has been an over/under of at least 50 points, so we're going to expand the sample size a bit. He's played in five games with an over/under of at least 47.5 points, and he's averaged almost 10 more FanDuel points per game than in all other instances, according to the Rotoviz Game Splits App.

It's also worth noting that in seven games in which he has been at least a two-point favorite, Mariota has averaged 26.5 FanDuel points. In the four home games he has played as at least a two-point favorite, that number has jumped to 31.2.

If you choose to stack this juicy game in tournaments, it needs to start with Mariota.

Michael Crabtree, WR, Oakland Raiders

FanDuel Price: $6,900

While any of Decker, Davis, Rishard Matthews, or Delanie Walker are fine pairing options with Mariota, it is tough to tell how exactly this new-look offense will operate in terms of how the passing volume will be distributed. Instead of playing the guessing game, soak up all those players' stats in Mariota and pair it with a strong correlation play from the other side of the ball -- namely, Amari Cooper or Michael Crabtree.

Now, I know the big-play ability and youth of Cooper makes him the sexier option, but until proven otherwise, Crabtree is the one who sees the majority of the high-equity targets in this offense. That is who we should be targeting in cash games.

Among wide receivers on this slate, only Jordy Nelson saw more red zone targets than Crabtree last season, who has out-targeted Amari 36 to 20 in the red zone over the past two years. Even though he's seen nearly double the volume, Crabtree has also been more efficient with his red zone targets -- he's scored on 8 of his 36 targets (22%), as opposed to Cooper's 2 touchdowns on 20 targets (10%).

Crabtree's just seen flat-out more targets than Cooper over the past two seasons, outpacing him 291 to 262. Both dudes are firmly in play, and Cooper's big-play ability makes him the preferred tournament option, but for my money, give me the guy who is cheaper and scored more FanDuel points last season.

Others to Consider

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