One of the biggest Week 12 NFL storylines heading into Thanksgiving Weekend was how the AFC North would shake out after all four teams played against each other on Sunday. The Steelers and Bengals were included in the early slate of games, but the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns take center stage on Sunday night. Cleveland has its bye in Week 13, but it plays Baltimore again in its return to action on December 12. When the two teams last played on December 14, 2020, they combined for 878 yards of offense and in a 47-42 Ravens win.
Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson led all rushers with 124 yards on just nine carries and scored two touchdowns in that game. This year, Jackson is coming off of a non-COVID illness that kept him off the field last week. Which players will step up to lead their teams and NFL DFS lineups on Sunday night when the two sides meet again? Before finalizing your Ravens vs. Browns NFL DFS picks, be sure to check out the NFL DFS advice, strategy and projections from SportsLine daily Fantasy expert Mike McClure.
McClure is a legendary professional DFS player with almost $2 million in career winnings. His methodology has led to enormous cashes on FanDuel and DraftKings. He took down two high-stakes tournaments on FanDuel in 2020 and recorded a pair top-10 finishes in tournaments with over 130,000 entrants on DraftKings. His lineups also finished inside the top 1 percent in more than a dozen other tournaments last season.
He uses a powerful prediction model that simulates every snap of NFL action, taking factors such as matchups, statistical trends and injuries into account. This allows him to find the best DFS values that he shares only with members at SportsLine.
Now, McClure has turned his attention to the Ravens vs. Browns and locked in his top daily Fantasy football picks. You can only see them by heading to SportsLine.
Top NFL DFS picks for Browns vs. Ravens
We can tell you one of McClure’s top NFL DFS picks for Sunday Night Football is Jackson. In two starts against the Browns last season, Jackson completed 73 percent of his passes for 438 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions — his best numbers against any single opponent.
He also finished with 16 total carries for 169 yards in those games with two touchdowns. Last week, the Browns barely escaped with a win against the Tim Boyle-led Detroit Lions, despite only giving up 77 passing yards. The prior week against the Patriots was a different story, as the QB combination of Mac Jones and Brian Hoyer combined for 283 yards and four touchdown passes. Jackson can beat any team with his legs, but decent passers can carve up Cleveland’s secondary as well, which makes Jackson extra dangerous on Sunday night.
McClure’s optimal NFL DFS strategy also includes stacking Jackson with receiver Rashod Bateman, who could be the lead receiver in the Ravens’ offense for a second-straight week as Marquise Brown continues to work his way back from a thigh injury. Brown has been trending towards playing, but Bateman still was targeted six times last week in a low-volume passing night from Tyler Huntley.
Since making his debut in Week 6, Bateman has been on the field for 64 percent of Baltimore’s offensive snaps and hasn’t had fewer than six targets in a game. Bateman has hit the 80-yard mark in two of the five games he’s played this season, and five of his 21 receptions have gone for 20 yards or more. The Browns’ defense has given up 35 explosive pass plays so far in 2021, so Bateman is a candidate to rip off a couple of big ones on Sunday night.
How to set NFL DFS lineups for Ravens vs. Browns
McClure is also targeting an undervalued player who is set to explode for huge numbers on Sunday Night Football. This pick could be the difference between winning your tournaments and cash games or going home with nothing. You can only see who it is here.
So who is Mike McClure putting in his optimal NFL DFS lineups for Sunday Night Football? Visit SportsLine now to see optimal NFL DFS picks, rankings, advice, and stacks, all from a daily Fantasy expert with nearly $2 million in winnings, and find out.
