Fantasy football advice Week 12

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By Marcus Allen Krause@krause_marcus Nov 24, 2012, 10:25am PST

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Undeniable Truth of the Week

You should always keep going with whoever has the hot hand. This is some wisdom that Jim Harbaugh definitely agrees with, since it appears he will be staying with the hot hand Colin Kaepernick. After what Kaepernick did in his first NFL start against the Bears, he looks like a solid fantasy play this week against the Saints.

There are other instances that are good examples of this too. One would be Josh Freeman, who for a stretch of time there was one of the highest grossing fantasy scorers in the entire league. When you see a player like Freeman having a hot hand its usually a good idea to play him the following week. That is of course unless you have one of the elite like Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady as your starter.

Yet another example of a player that is currently streaking and therefore a good idea to play is Dez Bryant. In his last three games he has 23 catches for 377 yards and 4 touchdowns. If you had him on the bench during this stretch you probably are kicking yourself. Since he has been doing so well, stick with the hot hand and make sure you have him in your line up in Week 13.

Best Match-ups of the Week (Yet to Play)

Cincinnati against Oakland: This is another game featuring the Oakland Raiders that has the chance to be a very high scoring game. Neither defense is on the half of the league that they want to be for their rankings and both teams have strong vertical threats to stretch the field. Although last week was a dud for players on the Raiders side I expect them to play better this week and therefore I expect a lot of fantasy points in this match up.

Cincinnati Bengals

Record

5-5

Offense

#17

Defense

#22

Overall

#18

Oakland Raiders

Record

3-7

Offense

#24

Defense

#28

Overall

#30

Tennessee against Jacksonville: Both teams are anything but Juggernauts. That often is a great sign for a fantasy match-ups though because the two teams are fairly equal opponents. Chris Johnson loves to run on the Jags and the Jags have one of the worst defenses in general. The Titans defense isn't anything to write home about either. If you have Cecil Shorts on your team this is a good week to play him, same goes for Kenny Britt and Nate Washington of the Titans.

Tennessee Titans

Record

4-6

Offense

#22

Defense

#26

Overall

#27

Jacksonville Jaguars

Record

1-9

Offense

#30

Defense

#30

Overall

#31

Indianapolis against Buffalo: This game has shootout written all over it. Indy just gave up 59 points last week to the high powered New England offense and Buffalo has been giving up points all year to everybody they play. Indy will want to show everyone that they are still in the heart of the playoff race at 6-4 despite their recent beatdown from the Pats and Buffalo is always a team that has the chance to put up a lot of points.

Indianapolis Colts

Record

6-4

Offense

#11

Defense

#31

Overall

#21

Buffalo Bills

Record

4-6

Offense

#13

Defense

#29

Overall

#23

Worst Match-ups of the Week

Minnesota at Chicago: Chicago just got embarrassed on national television last Monday against the 49ers and their defense is going to be angry. The only Viking worth playing this week is Adrian Peterson and thats just because he is too good to take out. The Bears might have some decent offensive output but this inter-division rivalry always is a tough match. I don't expect much fantasy points from anybody in this game.

Minnesota Vikings

Record

6-4

Offense

#18

Defense

#21

Overall

#17

Chicago Bears

Record

7-3

Offense

#27

Defense

Overall

#14

St Louis against Arizona: The Cardinals have one of the best defenses in the league and the most uninteresting QB competition as well. St Louis has little to work with on offense besides Danny Amendola and has to go against that staggering Arizona defense. This is also an inter-division rivalry which are often hard fought. I expect this to be a pretty boring defensive battle without much fantasy football interest at all. The Rams defense isn't very good but they have the ability to disrupt the passer and the Cardinals passers are easily disrupted.

St. Louis Rams

Record

4-7

Offense

#21

Defense

#23

Overall

#22

Arizona Cardinals

Record

4-6

Offense

#32

Defense

Overall

#25

San Diego at Baltimore: This too promises to be a defensive battle although there is far more opportunity for an offensive explosion in this game compared to the Cardinals/Rams game. San Diego always plays the Ravens well and both defenses are pretty evenly matched. Ray Rice is the only player in this match-up that is a definite must start every week player. I expect this one to be a hard hitting match-up without a whole lot of scoring. Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin are good enough to start even though its a bad match-up, but I don't know if there is a single Charger other than Antonio Gates that I would risk starting in this game.