Fantasy football sit/start advice, Week 14: Rams vs. Cardinals

We take a look at who you should start when the St. Louis Rams take on the Arizona Cardinals.

Dec 8, 2013, 1:07 PM UTC

John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals will face off in an NFC West matchup on Sunday. St. Louis is essentially out of the wild-card running at 5-7, but it can spoil things for the Cardinals, who are 7-5 and still have a shot. The Cardinals will have to win out to do it more than likely, and beating the Rams is the first step.

Your fantasy leagues will end before they know if they’re going to make it, though. This game should feature some solid fantasy options, and we’ll talk about them below, starting with the home team:

Cardinals

Start: Carson Palmer, Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd

Palmer has been playing well of late, which is a stark contrast to earlier in the season. He’s coming off an injury, but he’s a must-start at this point. Larry Fitzgerald is Larry Fitzgerald, and Michael Floyd has become a favorite target of Palmer’s. The Rams do not have a strong secondary.

Deep Start: Rashard Mendenhall

Mendenhall has been subpar this season, but with Ellington banged up still, he’ll likely get the lion’s share of the touches. Whether or not he does anything with them is still a bit iffy, so he’s a deep start.

Sit: Andre Ellington

Ellington has been electrifying when the Cardinals give him the football. But he’s banged up, and the Cardinals already had a mind to limit his touches in each game. He’s not a smart start until he shows otherwise at this point.

Rams

Start: Zac Stacy, Jared Cook

Stacy has been solid this season, and while the Cardinals are incredibly good against running backs, he should be started. He’s earned that much at this point. Cook should be the main pass catcher for Kellen Clemens, and the Cardinals allow the most fantasy points to tight ends per game.

Sit: Kellen Clemens, Chris Givens, Tavon Austin

That’s right ... you should stay far, far away from Clemens. He’s not a good quarterback, and he’s not going to put up big numbers against the Cardinals. Austin can’t rely on the huge big play in every game and Givens won’t get much if Clemens throws for under 200 yards.