Thursday night sees a battle of the AFC East where the Miami Dolphins will be going to Massachusetts to take on the New England Patriots. The Patriots are currently undefeated at 6-0 while the Dolphins have recently begun to turn around their season and are sporting a 3-3 record. The Patriots are currently 8.5 point favorites, and they have the home field. This does tilt the odds strongly in their favor, but the Dolphins have had a ton of good things happening for them lately, which sets the stage for an interesting game.

First, know that the experts expect this to be a high scoring game. The over/under is 51.5 points, and because both teams have been scoring a lot of points lately, that rules out drafting either of these defenses for your daily fantasy football teams. However, there are a lot of great offensive picks. Let’s start by looking at quarterback.

New England QB Tom Brady is having a great season, one of the best of his career. And with the holes in the Miami defense, he could be a great choice for your team. The downside is going to be his price. In Thursday night leagues, Brady is going to be expensive because of the fact that he is playing so well. If you can make up for this in other areas, he’s worth the price, though. Looking at Miami, QB Ryan Tannelhill has had some struggles. Part of the issue is his team. The Dolphins do not have the same level of standout players that the Patriots have. But this is starting to turnaround for Tannehill. He completed 18 of 19 passes last weekend against the Houston Texans. The Patriots’ defense is a bit better than the Texans’, so it’s unlikely that he will have the same kind of showing this week that he did last week. Still, he could be a very high value player if you can find a good price for him at your daily fantasy sports site, he’s a good choice. Just don’t expect the same kind of performance that he had last week.

The Dolphins’ wide receiver Jarvis Landry has been a nice surprise. As a mid-tier WR, he’s definitely not the best in the game, but he’s a decent price, and he’s been playing well, especially now that Miami has been revitalized. It’s very possible that he could have a breakout game soon, and while the Patriots might not be the team that he does it against, it is a possibility.

New England has been battling injury on many fronts. It has weakened them a little, but they’ve also not faced a team with the same kind of momentum that the Dolphins have. For example, the Dolphins had 1 sack under head coach Philbin. After he was fired and Campbell took over, they’ve recorded 10. Their defense is a completely new team, it seems. With injuries going against them, this could be the key to a Dolphins victory, as unlikely as the experts and handicappers think this might be.

As always, look to the New England offense for fantasy points. Tight end Rob Gronkowski had 11 receptions last week and a touchdown, totaling over 100 yards. WR Julian Edelman is also having a good season. He had 5 receptions on 9 targets last week, for a total of 54 yards. He’s scored 4 touchdowns for the year, which has helped to boost his fantasy value quite a bit. If the Dolphins’ defense keeps playing at the same level as they have the last two games, he will not be a good choice, but then again, the Dolphins haven’t faced a team of this caliber yet.

The Patriots are the clear favorite as stated above, but this should be an interesting game, if only to watch how Miami responds to a top team.

Gronk photo credit goes to.