Fantasy football start/sit advice, Week 12: Jaguars vs. Texans
Sunday’s matchup between the bottom two teams in the AFC South could potentially double as a race for the draft’s No. 1 overall pick.
Rick Stewart
The Jacksonville Jaguars, unsurprisingly, are the worst team in the NFL this season. Just behind (ahead of?) them, far more surprisingly, are the Houston Texans, who, after starting 2-0, have lost eight straight games and are only a game better than the Jaguars heading into their in-season matchups, with the teams playing each other twice in three weeks. The first of those games comes Sunday when Houston hosts Jacksonville in a 1 p.m. ET game. Luckily for fantasy players, there are more interesting (and successful) players involved in this game:
Jaguars
Start in every league: ...
Start if you're desperate: Maurice Jones-Drew
Bench: Chad Henne, Cecil Shorts III, Ace Sanders, Mike Brown, Josh Scobee, Defense/special teams
Jones-Drew has been disappointing this season, but the team has made a point to get him touchdowns lately. Even if he can’t get yards, a single touchdown makes value. They’re hard to count on, but hey, if he scores, he scores.
As for the rest of the Jaguars, the only player to even consider starting is Shorts, and he’s been awful in consecutive weeks and now faces a Texans team that is strong against wide receivers. Henne, Sanders, Brown, Scobee and the Jaguars’ defense are all too awful to even really talk about.
Texans
Start in every league: Ben Tate, Andre Johnson
Start if you're desperate: Garrett Graham, Defense/special teams
Bench: Case Keenum, Matt Schaub, DeAndre Hopkins, Randy Bullock
Even with Arian Foster out, Tate has yet to be really impressive, but he gets to face a Jaguars team that has allowed more rushing yards than any team in the league this season. On sheer quantity, Tate should produce. ... After a slow start to the season, Johnson has been a stud wide receiver lately, with 382 yards, five touchdowns and 66 fantasy points in his last three games. He's not benchable.
Graham finally had a big game Sunday, with 136 receiving yards and a touchdown. A third of his yardage (and his score) came on a single play, though, so it’s not as impressive as it might look at first glance. Facing the Jaguars is always nice, but there are no guarantees. ... The same can basically be said for the Texans’ defense, which hasn’t scored more than seven fantasy points since Week 4. Still, the Jaguars have only allowed fewer than eight fantasy points once all season.
No matter which quarterback starts or gets the most time Sunday -- Keenum or Schaub -- it’s long past time to be starting either of them, even against a team like Jacksonville. ... Hopkins has averaged fewer than four fantasy points in his last three, and without a touchdown -- far from a sure thing -- he’s not worth using. ... Bullock had his best game of the season Sunday, but still has missed nine field goals on the season. He’ll have to have more than one good game to work his way back into good fantasy graces.
• Week 12 fantasy football position rankings: QB | RB | WR | TE | D/ST
