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Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em Week 12: Advice for Unfavorable Fantasy Football Matchups
- Updated: November 26, 2016
Week 12 of the 2016 NFL season is well underway, and the fantasy football playoffs are right around the corner. This means that many of you lucky enough to still be in the postseason hunt are likely facing some important roster decisions.
There are plenty of factors we can use to help us make roster decisions. Past performances, player roles and straight-up talent can often be the most important of them. However, matchups often play big roles, especially when our best players are facing tough ones.
The problem is that overanalyzing a matchup can be costly. How many times have you decided to sit a quarterback or a pass-catcher against a top defense, only to have that player waste 30 fantasy points on your bench?
Sometimes, though, difficult matchups do cause your top fantasy players to struggle. The unfortunate aspect here is that it becomes difficult to determine which players to start and which to sit against difficult matchups.
We’re here to help you sort things out with our start ’em-sit ’em guide for Week 12’s unfavorable matchups.
Start ‘Em: Matt Ryan, QB, Atlanta Falcons
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In most weeks, we wouldn’t even consider sitting Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. The guy has sliced through defenses this season with regularity and has amassed 3,247 yards with 24 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Yes, having a target like Julio Jones does help.
The problem is that Ryan is facing an Arizona Cardinals team that is allowing an NFL-low 190.2 yards passing per game. The Cardinals are also the only team to have forced Ryan into throwing four or more interceptions in a single game—and they’ve done it twice.
However, we’re going to stick with Ryan this week for a couple of reasons. For one, he is playing at home and does have weapons like Jones, Mohamed Sanu and tight end Austin Hooper at his disposal. Also, he has talented running back Devonta Freeman, who is excellent at catching passes out of the backfield—and those passes still count as passing yards for Ryan.
We’d expect something in the neighborhood of 250 yards and two scores with an interception or two for Ryan. Those aren’t great numbers, but they aren’t bad enough to warrant a benching.
Sit ‘Em: Alex Smith, QB, Kansas City Chiefs
We are going to suggest sitting Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith this week against a tough Denver Broncos defense. Denver is rated seventh in pass rush and third in pass coverage by Pro Football Focus for the season.
The problem for Smith, though, isn’t just the Denver defense. The former No. 1 pick hasn’t played …
