You can watch “Thursday Night Football: Rams vs. 49ers” at 8:20 p.m. ET/5:20 p.m. PT on Amazon Prime Video.

This is it, my fantasy football colleagues – the first Thursday Night Football game of the fantasy playoffs. If you nailed the dance, congratulations; If not, it’s time to learn something for next season.

Luckily, the first game of this all-important week turns out to be a breeze. Both the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers still have chances in the NFC playoff race, but both are just one loss away from failure. With all the fantasy relevant names on both sides, hopefully we get a barn burner.

Let’s get to the history of the tape.

Maybe the answer to the 49ers’ backfield woes is…

Deebo Samuel Sr.

Yes, I said it. Just give it more carrying options and designed rushes. Let’s let Isaac Guerendo heal completely (He reportedly intends to play tonight) and stop trying to make Patrick Taylor Jr. a reality. The people are longing for more Samuel Rush attempts!

See that 92 up there on the player card? These are rush yards. That’s right, Samuel only has 92 rush yards this season, 11 games played – not to mention just one rushing TD.

To put this into perspective, in 2021, he rushed for 365 yards and eight touchdowns as he finished as the WR2 overall in fantasy.

What is there? Is Deebo injured? Are the 49ers trying to force him into a more traditional WR role?

I don’t understand it. The moment With both CMC and Elijah Mitchell out, I was expecting these cheat-coded exotic rushing packages to be unleashed on Deebo. I was completely wrong.

Samuel recently posted on social media about his frustration at not getting the ball more often (he has since deleted it). So maybe we’ll see a Squeaky Wheel game tonight. Or maybe we’ll get his fifth straight game under five fantasy points.

Since Guerendo looks like he’ll be fit tonight (and looked great as a starter last week), Samuel is more of a flexible option to me this week rather than an auto-starter. But I’ll be watching him closely tonight to see if his upside comes from his dual-threat ability, as Guerendo may not see full usage at less than 100 percent. And hey, at least Samuel’s quarterback is on his side.

And for those of you debating starting Guerendo, here’s Andy Behrens’ take from today’s Get to the Points newsletter:

This game could further solidify Jauan Jennings as a must-have in the fantasy playoffs

Getting wide receivers off the waiver wire during the fantasy football season is usually a matter of streaming. Matchup-based additions are fairly common; It’s so rare that we pick a wide receiver that ends up becoming a weekly star in fantasy lineups, especially if that receiver isn’t a rookie.

And yet here we are, and Jauan Jennings is one of the waiver wire heroes of 2024.

Jennings went undrafted in most leagues but is currently WR18 in half-PPR (WR14 in PPG).

How did we get here? Well, a perfect storm of things had to happen for Jennings to get that opportunity. Brandon Aiyuk’s loss this season definitely played a role, as did injuries to the 49ers’ backfield and minor injuries suffered during the season by players like Deebo Samuel Sr. and George Kittle. This was a common theme throughout Jennings’ career; When his number is called, he delivers.

Jennings was always considered a distant fourth in the 49ers’ offensive weapons hierarchy, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the talent to be higher on this list. We finally see it now. Jennings hasn’t scored fewer than 6 fantasy points since Week 6, and he hasn’t scored fewer than 5 targets since Week 5. He has evolved from being a pure third-down chain mover and a random red zone threat.

He is currently the 49ers’ WR1.

Let’s not forget that Jennings stepped up despite injury in Week 3 and delivered a truly monstrous 41 points – those are Ja’Marr Chase’s numbers.

His opponent back in Week 5? Exactly these Rams.

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I highly doubt Sean McVay has forgotten Jennings’ 11-175-3 blitz against his team, but even with extra attention paid to him defensively, Jennings is good enough to produce, especially with Kyle Shanahan giving him the ball has leaked. Jennings starts tonight with full confidence.

Are we getting a classic car explosion game from Cooper Kupp?

There has been a lot of talk about the recent production of Puka Nacua – as it should be. Nacua looked like a machine and also produced highlight catches and stats. The Los Angeles Rams team may not say this themselves, but it has become clear to every critical observer: Puka Nacua is now the Rams’ WR1 – not Cooper Kupp.

But maybe that’s not a bad thing.

Sure, Nacua got all the headlines, but aside from a poor game against the Saints in Week 13, Kupp had a top-notch performance as the WR2 with the advantage as the WR1. He had a high of 25.60 fantasy points in Week 11, his highest total of the season, and since Week 8 he has scored more than 10 fantasy points in every game except the Saints game (which was Saints -Play more about… was). The Rams’ running game and defense dominate their opponents.

Sure, maybe Kupp isn’t shooting at targets like he has in the past with Nacua around, but it’s not like he’s been left out to dry; During that aforementioned stretch of play, Kupp averaged 10.8 goals per game, compared to 10.14 at Nacua. McVay plans to touch his two elite wideouts and move them around the formation. And hey, maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world that Nacua demands extra defensive attention; which leads to more free lanes for Kupp.

You’d have to be incredibly, miraculously deep at wideout to even think about using Kupp in what is essentially a must-win game for both teams.