Fantasy football start/sit advice, Week 13: Steelers vs. Ravens
Thursday night’s AFC North battle has become surprisingly relevant in the playoff hunt as half the AFC fights to be the worst playoff team on record.
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After Week 9, the Baltimore Ravens were 3-5. The Pittsburgh Steelers have been both 0-4 and 2-6. Now, both teams are 5-6, tied for the AFC's sixth seed, and facing off Thursday night in a Thanksgiving matchup that could go a long way toward deciding the playoff picture in the AFC. The Ravens host the Steelers at 8:30 p.m. ET, and fantasy owners will be hoping for some strong performances as well:
Steelers
Start in every league: Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Shaun Suisham
Start if you're desperate: Le'Veon Bell, Emmanuel Sanders, Defense/special teams
Bench: Jerricho Cotchery, Heath Miller
Against all odds, Roethlisberger has been a top-10 fantasy quarterback this season, ranking ninth in overall points, with two games of 26 or more fantasy points in his last three outings. He went touchdown-for-interception through his first four games (five touchdowns, five picks, with the same number of each in each game), along with four fumbles, but since the Steelers' Week 5 bye, he has had 14 touchdowns, five interceptions and only one fumble. He's a must-start. ... Also a must-start is Brown, who has averaged 18.5 fantasy points a game in his last four, including a big performance Sunday even when manned up by star cornerback Joe Haden. ... Suisham has had double-digit fantasy points in his last three games and five of his last seven. He missed two field goals in Week 8, but hasn't missed any others all season.
It’s been a successful rookie season for Bell, who has averaged just under 11 points a game in his eight games this season, which would be good for 12th among running backs over a full season. The downside, though, is that he is facing a Ravens defense that is third-best in the NFL against opposing running backs. They shut down the running game as well as anyone, and that pushes Bell’s value pretty low. ... Sanders spent some weeks as the Steelers’ nominal No. 3 receiver, but he jumped back up Sunday, and if the team really hopes to make a run, it’ll need Sanders’ production. ... The Steelers’ defense was awful early in the year, with only five fantasy points through four games, but has scored double-digit points four times in the seven games since, with only a negative-seven output in Week 9 as an abject disaster. It’s a quickly improving unit.
After a few hot weeks, Cotchery slipped back into fantasy afterthought status Sunday, not getting a single catch against the Browns. He’s so tough to rely on that it’s hard to run him out there with anything more than hope. ... Miller hasn’t scored more than eight fantasy points all year, and has only one score on the season. He’s not usable.
Ravens
Start in every league: Torrey Smith, Justin Tucker
Start if you're desperate: Ray Rice, Defense/special teams
After averaging 12 fantasy points a game through the season's first five weeks, Smith hasn't scored more than 10 in any game since Week 5. He averaged more than five receptions a game during his hot early season, but only 3.5 since. All that said, it's only taken Smith from a high-end WR2 to a low-end. Smith is pretty obviously the Ravens' top offensive option; if they're going to make a run, they'll need him. ... Tucker missed two field goal attempts in Week 2 against the Cleveland Browns; he's had a perfect season otherwise, including four converted kicks a week ago. He's fantasy's No. 5 kicker, and he's a weekly must-start.
The Steelers are the 11th-worst team in the NFL against opposing running backs; it's true that Rice has been terrible for most of the year, but he does have two different games with 19 or more fantasy points. He's as far removed from the fantasy sure thing he once was as anyone but Trent Richardson, but there is at least a chance he could get back to fantasy relevance. ... The Ravens' defense has had double-digit fantasy points in two of its last three weeks, and has the 10th-most fantasy points among defenses. The Steelers haven't given up a lot of points to opposing defenses lately, but there's still potential.
Flacco ranks 20th among fantasy quarterbacks. He has averaged nine points a game in his last three, and only has one game of 20-plus points all season. The Steelers are the 11th-best team against opposing quarterbacks. There’s not much fantasy upside to Flacco. ... Pierce has had all the poor performance of Rice this season, only without the workload to help out. He hasn’t scored more than four fantasy points in a game since Week 3. ... Jones is coming off his biggest game of the season Sunday, but was averaging barely three fantasy points a game in his other six games. That big game seems like a fluke. ... Brown had a dead-cat bounce in Week 9, with two scores, but otherwise has been fairly awful and/or hurt since Week 2. ... The Ravens have to be desperate for tight end Dennis Pitta’s return, if it ever happens, because Clark and Dickson have been looking longingly up at mediocre all season.
