Fantasy Nation Week 12

[eagle eye]

To start off the week we have a sleeper to tell you about and the Saints-Falcons game on tonight.

First, the Indianapolis Colts signed RB Chris Rainey yesterday. The 2nd year back from Florida was with the Steelers since he was their 5th round draft pick in 2012. He had a decent season in Pittsburgh but an arrest for simple assault resulted in Pittsburgh releasing Rainey in January. The Colts did background check and found that Rainey is a good kid off the field. He doesn't drink or smoke and the trouble he got into was more wrong place wrong time rather than any character flaws. The Colts got a bargain with Rainey who came out of Florida highly touted and at 5'9" 190 lbs he isn't an imposing back until you think about the 4.3 40 time he posted at the workout he did in Indy prior to his signing. Local fans in Indianapolis were making comments about Trent Richardson heading to the practice squad with fans expecting the Colts to ride with Donald Brown and Rainey. With his talent and speed I wish the Cowboys had signed him but they are having problems keeping defensive linemen on the roster much less another running back.

New Orleans is playing Atlanta tonight. In fantasy I don't see much of a reason for not playing the usual suspects for New Orleans Brees, Colston, Graham, Thomas and Sproles although you may need to see the game time injury list because Sproles tweeked his ankle last week against the 49ers. I would consider playing the Saints defense too. I am a seller on the Falcons. Matty Ice isn't all that when all his weapons are out. Harry Douglas may be a play as is Tony Gonzalez but if you have better matchups I wouldn't waste a spot on a Thursday game.

[eagle eye]

Here are the Starts and Sits for Week 12. Most league playoffs are beginning in just a couple of weeks. Less than that for some leagues. If you have trade deadlines it is likely passed that line. The good news is this is the last week of byes so everyone's rosters should be back to full strength next week. You still have this last week to deal with so I may toss out a pickup or two that I feel could have an impact -- for this week anyway.

QB Starts

Scott Tolzien vs Minnesota (He didn't do much last week but he should fare much better against the Vikes)
Mathew Stafford vs Tampa Bay (We'll see if 1st place in the division is a comfortable fit for the Lions)
Case Keenum vs Jacksonville (Last week had to be a huge disappointment--Keenum finally gets his first win)
Eli Manning vs Dallas (My Cowboys can't stop the pass and lately they can't stop the run. This could get ugly.)
Kellen Clemens vs Chicago (Clemens has had a bye week to practice with breakout WR Tavon Austin)

Sleeper Play: Tony Romo vs NY Giants (Coming off their bye week with the taste of a whooping by the Saints should make for another 33-30 type of game Sunday)

QB Sits

RGIII vs San Francisco (The Niners should terrorize Griffin with their pass rush which may lead to a couple of picks)
Josh McCown vs St Louis (McCown has been pretty good since taking over for Jay Cutler but the Rams pass rush could put the clamps on the Bears offense.)
Ryan Tannehill vs Carolina (The Panthers D is on a roll and the Dolphins O is not.)
Jason Campbell vs Pittsburgh (Cold weather and a resurgent Steelers defense don't add up to a good day.)

Beware Play: Phillip Rivers vs Kansas City (The Chiefs defense is for real.)

RB Starts

Zac Stacy vs Chicago
Frank Gore vs Washington
Andre Brown vs Dallas
Knowshon Moreno vs New England
Bobby Rainey vs Detroit (Emerged after two other players, Doug Martin and Mike James have fallen)

Sleeper/Play with Caution: Ben Tate vs Jacksonville

RB Sits

Ryan Matthews vs Kansas City
Lamar Miller vs Carolina
Ray Rice vs NY Jets
Rashad Jennings vs Tennessee
Alfred Morris vs San Francisco

WR Starts

Tavon Austin vs Chicago (Austin had his breakout game on offense just before last week's bye)
Victor Cruz vs Dallas (Cruz always has a good game vs the Cowboys)
Danny Amendola vs Denver (Patriots try to prove they made the right move by feeding Amendola the ball.)
Wes Welker vs New England (Welker will want to burn his old team and show Belichick he made a mistake letting him go)
Andre Johnson vs Jacksonville (Johnson and Keenum have some chemistry)

Sleeper Play: Miles Austin vs NY Giants (Declared 100% healthy Austin does well against the Giants)

WR Sits

Mike Wallace vs Carolina
Steve Smith vs Miami
Torrey Smith vs NY Jets
Alshon Jeffery vs St Louis
Eric Decker vs New England (Decker has become the forgotten man in the Broncos pass attack)

TE Starts

Jason Witten vs NY Giants (Witten seems to shine most against division foes)
Vernon Davis vs Washington (Davis is THE go-to guy for Colin Kaepernick and Washington is vulnerable to TE's)
Garrett Graham vs Jacksonville
Jared Cook vs Chicago
Colby Fleener vs Arizona

TE Sits

Martellus Bennett vs St Louis
Jordan Cameron vs Pittsburgh (Cameron doesn't have great chemistry with Jason Campbell)
Charles Clay vs Carolina
Rob Housler vs Indianapolis

Here's a couple of sleeper picks apart from the ones I mentioned earlier;
> WR Kenny Stills vs Atlanta
> RB Pierre Thomas vs Atlanta (The Saints have had their No 1 RB all along even though they've tried to replace him for years. Big week ahead for Thomas against a weak Falcon's run defense.)
> RB Chris Ogbonnaya vs Pittsburgh
> WR Rueben Randall vs Dallas

[eagle eye]

Here is are the inactives for today's early games from NFL.com

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24TH
1:00
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BUCCANEERS AT LIONS

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Mason Foster MLB Inactive
Gary Gibson DT Inactive
Steven Means DE Inactive
Carl Nicks G Inactive
Patrick Omameh OG Inactive
Lonnie Pryor RB Inactive
DETROIT LIONS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Jonte Green CB Inactive
Leroy Harris C Inactive
Corey Hilliard T Inactive
Austen Lane DE Inactive
Mikel Leshoure RB Inactive
Kellen Moore QB Inactive
Micheal Spurlock WR Inactive
1:00
PM
ET
VIKINGS AT PACKERS

MINNESOTA VIKINGS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Jeff Baca OG Inactive
Chase Baker DT Inactive
Josh Freeman QB Inactive
Erin Henderson MLB Inactive
Josh Robinson CB Inactive
Kyle Rudolph TE Inactive
Rodney Smith WR Inactive
GREEN BAY PACKERS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Don Barclay T Inactive
Chris Harper WR Inactive
Johnny Jolly DE Inactive
Nate Palmer OLB Inactive
Nick Perry OLB Inactive
Aaron Rodgers QB Inactive
Sam Shields CB Inactive
1:00
PM
ET
JAGUARS AT TEXANS

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Justin Blackmon WR Inactive
Mike Brown WR Inactive
Stephen Burton WR Inactive
Abry Jones DE Inactive
Jacques McClendon G Inactive
Jeremy Mincey DE Inactive
Ricky Stanzi QB Inactive
HOUSTON TEXANS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Andrew Gardner T Inactive
Kareem Jackson CB Inactive
Tim Jamison DE Inactive
Elbert Mack DB Inactive
Jawanza Starling SAF Inactive
Cody White G Inactive
T.J. Yates QB Inactive
1:00
PM
ET
CHARGERS AT CHIEFS

SAN DIEGO CHARGERS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
King Dunlap T Inactive
Kwame Geathers NT Inactive
Lavelle Hawkins WR Inactive
Jarret Johnson OLB Inactive
Willie Smith T Inactive
Brad Sorensen QB Inactive
Brandon Taylor SS Inactive
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Jon Asamoah G Inactive
Tyler Bray QB Inactive
Mike DeVito DE Inactive
Eric Fisher OT Inactive
Nico Johnson ILB Inactive
Eric Kush C Inactive
Dunta Robinson CB Inactive
1:00
PM
ET
PANTHERS AT DOLPHINS

CAROLINA PANTHERS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Kenjon Barner RB Inactive
Chase Blackburn OLB Inactive
Ben Hartsock TE Inactive
Charles Johnson DE Inactive
Tavarres King WR Inactive
Marvin McNutt WR Inactive
Chris Scott G Inactive
Drayton Florence CB Active
Greg Hardy DE Active
MIAMI DOLPHINS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Isaako Aaitui NT Inactive
Pat Devlin QB Inactive
Mike Gillislee RB Inactive
Jonathan Martin T Inactive
Dimitri Patterson CB Inactive
Mike Pouncey C Inactive
Danny Watkins OG Inactive
Chris Clemons SS Active
Dannell Ellerbe MLB Active
Reshad Jones FS Active
Rishard Matthews WR Active
Koa Misi OLB Active
Derrick Shelby DE Active
Daniel Thomas RB Active Thomas (ribs) is active and should see touches.
Mike Wallace WR Active Wallace (hamstring) is active and is a WR2 at best.
Jimmy Wilson SAF Active
1:00
PM
ET
STEELERS AT BROWNS

PITTSBURGH STEELERS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Richard Gordon TE Inactive
Landry Jones QB Inactive
Brett Keisel DE Inactive
Derek Moye WR Inactive
Stevenson Sylvester LB Inactive
Shamarko Thomas SS Inactive
LaMarr Woodley OLB Inactive
Kelvin Beachum T Active
Ramon Foster G Active
Heath Miller TE Active Miller (non-injury) is active and has sleeper potential.
Emmanuel Sanders WR Active Sanders (foot) is active and is a low-end WR2.
Fernando Velasco C Active
CLEVELAND BROWNS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Armonty Bryant DE Inactive
Reid Fragel OT Inactive
Garrett Gilkey OT Inactive
MarQueis Gray TE Inactive
Patrick Lewis C Inactive
Craig Robertson ILB Inactive
Martin Wallace T Inactive
Tank Carder OLB Active
Paul Kruger OLB Active
Spencer Lanning P Active
Willis McGahee RB Active McGahee (knee) is active, but is a low-end RB2 this week.
Jason Pinkston G Active
Mitchell Schwartz T Active
Fozzy Whittaker RB Active
1:00
PM
ET
BEARS AT RAMS

CHICAGO BEARS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Lance Briggs OLB Inactive
James Brown T Inactive
Jay Cutler QB Inactive Cutler (ankle) is inactive. Josh McCown will make another start.
Stephen Paea DT Inactive
Jay Ratliff NT Inactive
Jonathan Scott T Inactive
Cornelius Washington DE Inactive
Isaiah Frey CB Active
Patrick Mannelly LS Active
Shea McClellin DE Active
Jordan Mills OT Active
Craig Steltz SS Active
ST. LOUIS RAMS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Matt Conrath DT Inactive
Harvey Dahl G Inactive
Barrett Jones OG Inactive
Mike Person T Inactive
Quinton Pointer CB Inactive
Daryl Richardson RB Inactive
Gerald Rivers DE Inactive
Cortland Finnegan CB Active
Matt Giordano FS Active
Chase Reynolds RB Active
Darian Stewart SS Active
1:00
PM
ET
JETS AT RAVENS

NEW YORK JETS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Oday Aboushi OT Inactive
William Campbell G Inactive
David Garrard QB Inactive
Alex Green RB Inactive
Jeremy Kerley WR Inactive
Garrett McIntyre OLB Inactive
Willie Colon G Active
Antonio Cromartie CB Active
Kenrick Ellis DE Active
Stephen Hill WR Active
Santonio Holmes WR Active
David Nelson WR Active
Greg Salas WR Active
Kellen Winslow TE Active
BALTIMORE RAVENS INJURIES
Player
Position
Status
Comments
Omar Brown DB Inactive
Asa Jackson CB Inactive
Ryan Jensen C Inactive
Bernard Scott RB Inactive
John Simon LB Inactive
Deonte Thompson WR Inactive
Brandon Williams DT Inactive
Marlon Brown WR Active
Haloti Ngata NT Active
Daryl Smith ILB Active
Brandon Stokley WR Active
Lardarius Webb CB Active

[eagle eye]

The 49ers polished off the Redskins last night 27-6 with ease. The controversies surrounding RGIII probably didn't help any but the Niners bullied the 'Skins all night.
From a fantasy standpoint Colin Kaepernick, Anquan Boldin, Vernon Davis the Niners D/ST were hits for the Niners and only Pierre Garcon for the Redskins was a so-so fantasy player was the only bright spot for fantasy owners. The 49ers arrow is pointing up as players come back from health and other issues while the 'Skins arrow is pointing down with issues around RGIII and the Shanahans there seems to be too much crap for a so-so team to overcome.