If you’re like me, you’re playing the streaming game with quarterbacks. It’s part of the deal when you don’t value the quarterback like others in fantasy football drafts.
It hasn’t been a bad thing, either, but it’s a minor annoyance since my de facto quarterback – Jameis Winston – is worrying more about a possible suspension than playing time. Streaming options haven’t been terrible, though. Blaine Gabbert was the top streaming option from week 11 for me, and he finished in the top-10 among quarterbacks in fantasy scoring.
This week, though, doesn’t offer many solutions. So you’ll just want to avoid a complete failure. Here’s the week 12 quarterbacks start ’em, sit ’em guide in fantasy football.
Andy Dalton vs. Cleveland Browns
We’ll start in the semi-streaming mode with Dalton. If he’s on your waiver wire, pick him up. He’s facing a Cleveland team that is incapable of stopping a semi-competent passing game (notice how I said semi-competent, excluding Jacksonville from the list).
The Browns will stop the run, but they won’t stop the Bengals from passing. And while that generally doesn’t equal too many yards, Dalton has quietly been pretty good in recent weeks.
If you take away his four-interception outing in the first week of the season, he only has four interceptions on the entire year. So he’s taking care of the football to go along with throwing touchdown passes — nine since week 7.
The biggest issue with Dalton is that he’s touchdown-dependent in the quarterback position. Last week, he registered a top-10 showing among quarterbacks in fantasy scoring, but he threw for only 154 yards. He has less than 160 yards passing in three of the previous five games.
This week, though, gives him an opportunity to do work against a team that has allowed the second-most touchdown passes this season. The Browns are giving up the seventh-most fantasy points per game against quarterbacks, so he’s your best bet if he’s available as a streamer.
Ben Roethlisberger vs. Green Bay Packers
Roethlisberger turned back the clock in week 11 with a precision-like performance against Tennessee. He was sharp and the Steelers asked him to march up and down the field with his arm. That’s a good sign for fantasy owners with Roethlisberger as an option.
This week, he’ll get another team that has faded against the pass. Don’t look at week 11 as a shining example of Green Bay’s pass defense. Baltimore’s pass offense is once again atrocious and that game was all about not turning over the football for Baltimore. Pittsburgh has far more weapons and will look to move the ball through the air, rather than on the ground.
Green Bay is giving up 260 yards per game passing in the last three games, and that includes an effort where they gave up just 161 yards last week to Baltimore.
Roethlisberger has 299 yards passing or more in two of the last three games, so he’s getting back to the point where he’s producing major yardage totals. If he can throw in a few touchdowns, he’s easily a top-12 fantasy option in week 12.
Jacoby Brissett vs. Tennessee Titans
This is for the streamers out there who can’t count on Dalton. It’s a tough world out there this week, and if Brissett doesn’t play because of a concussion, I would roll the dice with Ryan Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick has solid highs, but incredible lows. There’s no rhyme or reason to his successes and failures, so that’s why I would rank him below Brissett this week.
Brissett hasn’t been terrible in recent weeks. He has at least two touchdown passes in each of his last three games. And two of those three games came against fairly formidable pass defenses in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
He’s coming off a bye week, so he should be ready for divisional foe Tennessee, which is entering its second road game in as many weeks. And the Titans haven’t been good against the pass recently, giving up 269 yards per game through the air in the last three games.
The matchup isn’t a bad one for Brissett and company, but one item that worries me is the Titans’ pressure against the Colts’ terrible offensive line. How will Brissett handle the Titans’ blitz packages? Will he act like a young quarterback and take sacks and make bad decisions? Or will he be like Roethlisberger last week and throw into the blitz, and carve up the secondary? I’m hoping for at least something in the middle.
Sit
Eli Manning vs. Washington Redskins
I know this is mostly about streaming options, but at this juncture of the season, there aren’t too many decisions to make. That’s unless you’re playing the streaming game.
And once upon a time, Manning was a decent streaming option. I even streamed him in week 10 against San Francisco to decent results. However, don’t fall for him as an option in week 12 based on Washington’s recent results.
The Giants offense is terrible. Somehow, someway, they pulled out a win against Kansas City, but it wasn’t because of anything the offense accomplished. That’s been the calling card for the majority of the season. In plus-matchups in recent weeks against San Francisco and Kansas City, he has two touchdowns and one fumble. And one of those touchdowns was in garbage time against San Francisco.
So in another plus-matchup, I’m not buying Manning. The Redskins have been terrible against the pass lately, but I can’t trust the Giants’ weapons. This game won’t have the same game flow of Washington’s previous two games against Minnesota and New Orleans. Expect more defense, limiting Manning’s ability to attain production through volume.
Dak Prescott vs. Los Angeles Chargers
Dallas is having an identity problem without Ezekiel Elliott. The offensive line doesn’t look anywhere near the unit we saw last year and Prescott is having to do more from the quarterback position. That hasn’t worked out so well for the second-year pro.
He threw three interceptions in week 11 and now has six total turnovers in the last two weeks. This isn’t a knee-jerk reaction to sitting him. It’s more of a wait-and-see approach.
There’s still too much mystery surrounding this offense for him to get the starting nod on your roster. The offense looks confused, and without that run-first identity that made them so potent last year, the Cowboys are mediocre at best on offense.
That’s a problem against a Chargers defense that has been good all year against the pass. Los Angeles is giving up less than 210 yards per game through the air, and quarterbacks are averaging less than 14 fantasy points per game against them.
A short week will create major problems for Prescott. He should get a seat on the bench until we know more about where he stands in 2017.
Josh McCown vs. Carolina Panthers
McCown’s prowess at the quarterback position actually has him owned in more fantasy leagues than Manning and several other fantasy quarterbacks. So this serves two purposes — as a streamer or as a backup, go ahead and keep McCown on the bench this week.
Carolina is one of the best defenses in the NFL against quarterbacks. They allow the eighth-fewest fantasy points per game to quarterbacks and they allow less than 200 yards per game through the air.
The Jets lack serious enough weapons to compete with Carolina in week 12 in the passing game. And in three of the last six games, McCown has thrown for less than 210 yards.
This is another game where he won’t have many passing yards, so you’re relying on touchdowns. And against one of the better pass defenses in the NFL, that’s not a good idea to count on.
