Fantasy Football Start ‘Em/Sit ‘Em Playoff Style

Welcome to another installment of who to start and who to sit while making your weekly fantasy football lineup decisions for the 1^st week of the playoffs.  We went 17-11 in the start ‘em portion and 9-5 in the sit ‘em portion, not too bad. Let’s get to this week’s list;

Start ‘Em

• Nick Foles – Keep riding the hot hand
• Josh McCown- Same as above but even better matchup.
• Alex Smith- He is another who has been a top 8 QB the past 4 weeks.
• Joe Flacco- He has been middling but if you are desperate he has a great opponent in the Vikings.
• DeMarco Murray – The Bears may have the worst rush defense in football plus the Cowboys have a new commitment to the run.
• Le’Veon Bell- He has been cleared and should roll this week.
• Ben Tate – He finally broke out last week and the Jaguars while playing better still have run defense issues.
• Giovanni Bernard – This is more about matchup with the Colts but should be a solid RB2.’
• Ray Rice – He continues to get touches and has a fantastic matchup vs the Vikings.
• Fred Jackson – He just plays and scores points each and every week, trust him for your playoffs.
• Bobby Rainey – He had a solid game and while the Bills have been better he will get plenty of chances.
• Lamar Miller – He ran the best I have ever seen him plus is getting almost all the carries even inside the 10.
• Andre Johnson – He spoke up and got more targets and always play your guys vs the Jaguars.
• DeSean Jackson – The Lions looked good vs Flynn but this will be a different world.
• Alshon Jeffrey – He will continue to roll vs the Cowboys bottom 2 pass defense.
• Torrey Smoth – He has been as consistent as you can be and should put a TD on top of his yards vs the awful Vikings secondary.
• Larry Fitzgerald – The Rams continue to give up well over 65% to wide receivers.
• Kendell Wright – He has been in the top 10 in targets since early in the year and they should have to throw vs the Broncos.
• Michael Floyd – He is becoming a star and gets the awful Rams secondary.
• Dwayne Bowe – He continues to get targeted and the Redskins make all receivers look good.
• Rueben Randle – They will have to throw vs the Chargers and he should get plenty of action.
• Jared Cook – If you are feeling lucky the Cardinals have made every tight end look good all year being the worst team defending them.

Bench ‘Em

• Tony Romo- He has been better in real life than fantasy and the Bears are pretty good vs the pass.
• Philip Rivers – He has been very good but in the last 6 weeks the Giants have been a top 8 defense against QB’s.
• Ben Roethlisberger – I expect a ton of running and limited passing as Miami is tougher vs the pass.
• Andrew Luck – He continues his slide and the Bengals are top 8 against QB’s.
• LeSean McCoy – I know you have to start him but the Lions have been nasty against Rb’s, temper expectations.
• Alfred Morris – He is just not getting the touches especially in the red zone.
• Chris Johnson – Denver has been good vs Rb’s and I would not want my fantasy hopes in his hands.
• Zac Stacy – The Cardinals at home plus their very good run defense slows things up for Rams Rb.
• Frank Gore – Even with good matchup he is not producing and the Seahawks are back in stride.
• Demaryius Thomas – It would be very tough to bench a Bronco but the Titans are #1 vs the pass in the fantasy world.
• Vincent Jackson – He is way too much up and down lately plus a tough matchup and a lingering injury.
• Eric Decker – Expect a huge crash back down to earth this week.
• Keenan Allen – The Giants have been very tough vs receivers, hopefully you have better options.
• Roddy White – Sure he broke out last week but has way too many weeks where he is a non-factor.
• T.Y Hilton – Still living off the big games early, a non-factor the past 4 weeks.
• Marques Colston – Another guy who has had an awful season living off his name.
• Steve Smith – No more than 65 yards in forever.
• Tony Gonzalez – Just not seeing enough in his last year, there are better options.

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Have a great week and let me know if you have any questions.

Fantasy Mike

Mike Dietrich

Mike Dietrich is the fantasy football columnist for JetNation.

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