NFL Fantasy Football: Week Thirteen Start ‘Em and Sit ‘Em

We’re heading into the last week of the regular season in most on-line fantasy leagues, so it’s do or die for a lot of team owners this week. Here are some things to keep in mind as you set your weekly rosters.

Start ‘Em!
QB
Eli Manning: Green Bay gives up a lot of yards in the passing game. I get the feeling that a lot of it is due to teams having to throw it a lot just to keep up with the Green Bay offense. Manning has had better receiver line-ups in the past, but he’s got enough with the emergence of Victor Cruz to, at least, rack up plenty of garbage time points

Kyle Orton: And speaking of racking up plenty of garbage time points, Orton has the receivers and should get plenty of opportunities to do that as well against Chicago.

Cam Newton: He’s sort of leveled off in the mid-teens the last few weeks. Still good but off the heady performances of the early season. But I think he breaks the 20 point barrier this week against Tampa.

Matt Stafford: Shootout against the Saints? Yeah, I can see that.

RB
Ray Rice:  Sure, Cleveland has a pretty good pass defense. But their run defense? Not so much.

Frank Gore: Gore is almost completely healthy and he’s playing the Rams with the worst run defense in the league.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis: The law firm also gets a patsy of a run defense to beat up on with Indy leading the Suck for Luck Sweepstakes.

LeGarrette Blount: He’s done pretty well the last two weeks against respectable run defenses. And Carolina’s run defense isn’t. He could pay off big, really big.

WR
Reggie Wayne: Orlovsky is more capable than Painter and they’ll be behind. Last week with Orlovsky at the helm Wayne finally busted out. Combine last week’s revival, the Pats statistically bad pass defense, and the huge likelihood of being far behind and having to throw it a lot just to keep from getting embarrassed, I think Wayne has the shot to put up big numbers again this week.

Eric Decker: Other than Tebow’s very first week and a little side trip to Revis Island, Decker has hit double digits since Tim Terrific has taken over, even with the emphasis on the run game. Plus Minnesota’s pass defense isn’t the best.

Laurent Robinson: I’m riding the bandwagon until Miles Austin gets back and I might stay on it even afterwards. Between the attention Bryant and Witten get and the threat of the run with DeMarco Murray, Robinson keeps getting a lot of sweet situational match-ups and he’s been taking advantage of them.

Brandon Lloyd: He’s the lone bright spot in the Rams passing attack. Lloyd has been on a scoring streak and against the Niners I expect him to keep it up, at least once, with the Niners concentrating on bottling up Steven Jackson on the ground.

TE
Brent Celek: Hey, VY has done a good job of finding his TE. I think he keeps that up tonight.

Antonio Gates: While the Jags defense limits big plays downfield, they won’t have the answer for gates and the shorter stuff in the middle of the field. Gates should roll.

Vernon Davis: While I think that the Niners will be running a lot, it doesn’t take much passing to make a TE fantasy relevant, relatively speaking. And when the Niners are in clear passing situations, the Rams will be focusing on Crabtree, not Davis so much.

Sit ‘Em!
QB
Joe Flacco: He’s been so-so this year, mostly underwhelming. Against a division rival and a team with a good pass defense in the Browns, I don’t think he’ll even break double digits this week.

Matt Ryan: Wade Phillips has whipped a bad unit in Houston into a pretty good defense even without an off-season. Plus the Texans are fighting to stay in the lead in the AFC South and make the playoffs, finally. I don’t think Matty Ice will get a lot of chances to put up many fantasy points against them, even if he wanted to. Texans should grind it out with their ground game to protect T.J. Yates to eat up the clock and keep the Falcon offense on the sidelines.

Andy Dalton: Hello! He’s playing Pittsburgh.

Colt McCoy: Hello! He’s playing Baltimore. There’s that damn echo again.

RB
Steven Jackson: I know he’s a stud, but lately, teams have focused entirely on him and bottled him up. The news only gets worse this week with the Niners’ #1 run defense  on tap.

Michael Turner: First he’s a little dinged up, so there’s a chance he might not play or see limited duty. And like I said about Ryan, I think Houston does their best to control the clock and win the time of possession. Between that strategy and a tough defense, teams usually have to abandon the run game and try to make the most of their limited time with passes and catching passes out of the backfield is definitely not Turner’s strong suit.

Cedric Benson: Last time he played Pittsburgh, three weeks ago, he scored 5 points. ‘Nuff said.

Willis McGahee: I know the Denver run game is what’s been keying Tebow’s success. But the Vikes have a pretty good one. They’re going to try and shut down the run, which they are capable of, and dare Tebow to win it with his arm. So, things aren’t going to look good for McGahee this week.

WR
Vincent Jackson: He’s been up and down, mostly down, this year.  But with Del Rio getting fired, I think that motivates a Jags defense to play harder for their own jobs’ sake. Combine that with a zone defense that limits big plays downfield and I think V-Jax is down again this week.

Lance Moore: Don’t be seduced by the big output last week, and the possibility of a shootout with the Lions. There’s too many targets for Brees to rely on him that heavily two weeks in a row.

Jabar Gaffney: Personally, given how rusty Santana Moss was last week, I think he gets the Revis Island treatment.

Michael Crabtree: I think the Niners will be so busy running the ball against the Rams, who also don’t give up a ton of passing yards, that Crabtree’s modest numbers become even more modest.

TE
Owen Daniels: Third string QB, T. J Yates. ‘Nuff said.

Fred Davis: I’m afraid Davis is going to have to block more than go out for passes against the Jets pass rush.

Dennis Pitta: He’s been getting more attention than Dickson lately, but this week, against the Browns pass defense, both of them will be blocking.

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