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We’re heading into the second half of the season, but that means there’s still 8 more weeks to keep your DraftKings acumen razor sharp, or play your way through satellites, or just start crunching week 17 numbers for the HUGE WEEK 17 MILLIONAIRE GRAND FINALE DraftKings is throwing to end the regular season. I’m trying my hardest to win my way up, but guys keep getting hurt on my squad!  Good thing my DraftKings triage heals every week, and why playing in daily leagues erases the injury pessimism into brand new healthy optimism.  Start anew every week!

I’ll be playing in another $1-$2 contest and hopefully winning a big hunk of change to enter into some Millionaire satellites.  I still haven’t won anything big, except all my pride after beating Nick every week!  I think Nick is done…

Getting all confused like Primer to last week’s picks:

QB – Peyton Manning  30-44  354 Yds  4 TDs  3 INT (28.86 Pts)

RB – Marshawn Lynch  23 Rush Yds  1 Rec  4 Yds  (3.7 Pts)

WR – Brandon Gibson  1 Rec  4 Yds  1 TD  (7.4 Pts)

FLEX – Jordan Reed  8 Rec  90 Yds (17 Pts)

TOTAL: 56.96  (previous weeks’ totals: 51.34, 42.48, 49.3, 73.38, 24.4, 70.24)

Well, it wasn’t a terrible week, but still not a good week.  First off, I haven’t been more bummed out by an injury in a while after seeing Gibson go down.  He scored Sunday’s first touchdown, looked primed for another big game and making me look like a genius being my big breakout pick, then gets hurt later in the first quarter and lost for the season.  This was going to be his career year.  Man NFL is getting tough to swallow at times with all these injuries.  Speaking of injuries, the Seahawks have lost both starting tackles and their line looked atrocious on MNF.  Lynch was brutal, but at least spending big on Peyton saved me the week.  Optimism JB!  Here’s who I like for week 9 in DraftKings action:

QB – Cam Newton ($9,200) – Man, this was a tough decision.  But I’m going with Cam on Sunday at QB in what should be a pretty close divisional game.  While on paper the Falcons have been terrible and my Panthers are playing great, we usually play down to our opposition, which I think keeps Cam scoring.  We also have been playing better at home, so I think that helps overall efficiency.  Cam isn’t getting the rushing TDs we’re used to seeing, but he’s still producing and will be against a banged up D.

RB – Matt Forte ($8,000) – Another tough decision with how to allocate my money at RB, but I’ve typically gone a “stars and scrubs” type approach with the big name guys I feel confident in flanked by deeper value plays.  Forte is having a great season, and with Jay Cutler hurt he’s going to get a lot of work both rushing and passing in a tough game at Green Bay.

WR – Terrance Williams ($5,300) – Why I like to spend big up top.  Value picks can be found week-to-week, and T Will has been phenomenal lately and I think keeps it up again this week.  He’s probably a top 20 WR now, and all for a great value to get into your line-up.

FLEX – Le’Veon Bell ($6,000) – Losing Wilfork and Mayo on that NE defense has really hurt their run D, and Bell is set for a big workload on Sunday.  Looking back the past three weeks, the Pats gave up 120 rushing yards to the Saints with 53 and a touch for Khiry “no one knows who you are” Robinson, the ridiculous 52 rushes for 177 yards to the Jets and their inept offense giving Chris Ivory his only useful game, then Lamar Miller has one of his best rushing days and Daniel Thomas catches a TD out of the backfield against the Pats last week.  That was my long-winded way of showing how inconsistent scrubs are getting it done against the Pats on the ground, and Bell is both better and an actual lead back compared to the games listed above.  I know the Steelers offensive line is horrifically injured, but I’ll take the risk given the assured workload and matchup.

Shoot your DraftKings questions below or tweet me @jbgilpin.  Good luck this week!