The Jacksonville Jaguars have won two of their last three games after starting the season 2-9, pulling themselves out of the NFL cellar and the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Browns have won four games this season -- three in games started by Brian Hoyer, one started by Jason Campbell, and exactly zero started by Brandon Weeden, who will start in Sunday's game. The game will be played at 1 p.m. ET Sunday in Cleveland and, as might be expected from two poor NFL teams, there isn't much to get excited about in the fantasy game, either:
Fantasy football start/sit advice, Week 13: Jaguars vs. Browns
The Jaguars are on a hot streak of late, while the Browns are going in the other direction. Either way, Sunday’s game is a matchup of two of the league’s worst teams.
Jason Miller
Jaguars
Start in every league: Defense/special teams
Start if you're desperate: Maurice Jones-Drew, Cecil Shorts III
Bench: Chad Henne, Mike Brown, Ace Sanders, Marcedes Lewis, Josh Scobee
It feels crazy to say that the Jaguars’ defense is a must-start this week, or any week. But it is one of the most-improved defensive units in recent weeks, with a 10-point and a 16-point outing in three games since Jacksonville’s Week 9 bye, and the Browns have allowed at least 20 fantasy points to opposing defense in both of their last two games. Brandon Weeden is something of a defense-maker, it seems.
It's been a nice bounce-back of late for Jones-Drew, who has scored a touchdown in three straight games, has double-digit fantasy points in four of his last six, and is coming off of a season-high in both rushing and receiving yards in Week 12. All that said, Sunday's yards-per-carry average of 6.0 was his first time all season topping 4.1, and without a single 44-yard run in that game, he's barely over 3.0. Combine that with the fact that the Browns are decent against the run, and MJD becomes dicey. ... Shorts is the most talented receiver Jacksonville has (at least for now, with Sanders on the rise), meaning he'll draw cornerback Joe Haden for most of Sunday, and that doesn't bode well.
Don’t start Henne. Why would you start Henne? That’s silly. ... It looks like Brown could likely be back the field Sunday, but either way, he’s impossible to count on, and the question of his attendance makes Sanders too tough to expect much from either. ... It’s all well and good that Lewis is back from injury -- you always like to see guys make it -- but in five games, he has seven total fantasy points. ... Scobee ranks 31st among kickers, which should be enough information.
Browns
Start in every league: Josh Gordon
Start if you're desperate: Jordan Cameron, Defense/special teams
Bench: Brandon Weeden, Willis McGahee, Chris Ogbonnaya, Davone Bess, Greg Little, Billy Cundiff
Gordon has 128 fantasy points on the season, good for eighth among wide receivers. He missed Weeks 1 and 2 to suspension; his scoring average of 14.2 is second-best at the position. When Weeden came in Sunday, Gordon was his first, last, and middle look, leading to 237 yards for the second-year receiver. He’s an every-week start without question.
It’s been a rough go for Cameron in recent weeks, averaging less than two fantasy points a game since Week 8 after 11.5 points per up to that point. Still, he does have the upside he displayed earlier in the year, and the Jaguars are the second-worst team in the NFL against tight ends. ... The Browns’ defense was pretty awful Sunday, but has overall been the league’s 11th-best unit, and defenses tend to fare well against Jacksonville.
Hey, remember earlier, the Chad Henne stuff? Same for Weeden. Just don’t. ... Ogbonnaya is probably going to be more productive than McGahee, but after the former’s fumbles of late, neither one is going to be trusted enough to do much in fantasy. ... If the Browns were facing a team with a Joe Haden/Darrelle Revis-type cornerback, it’s possible Bess and/or Little would get Gordon fallout, but that’s not the case here, and all they’ll get are the scraps. ... Cundiff has only one double-digit fantasy day all season, and sits at 28th among fantasy kickers.
