Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em Week 12: Advice for Unfavorable Fantasy Football Matchups

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Matt Rourke/Associated Press

Start-or-sit debates in fantasy football might as well be called make-or-breaks.

The way you handle your lineup on the fringes often makes or breaks your entire matchup. And since the stakes are peaking in Week 12 of the 2021 NFL season, it is critical to ace as many of these exams as you can.

Coming here was a good start, as we’ll spotlight two starts and two sits for the upcoming slate.  

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Rusty Jones/Associated Press

Anyone with the foresight to pounce on Cam Newton when the Panthers brought him back is already counting their riches.

In Week 11, his second game of the season and first start since January, he scored the eighth-most fantasy points overall and tied for fourth-most among quarterbacks, per FantasyPros. Granted, he had a favorable matchup then with Washington, but he gets another good matchup in Miami, which has allowed the seventh-most fantasy points to quarterbacks, per Yahoo.

Newton’s floor is elevated by his involvement in the rushing game (particularly near the goal line), and his passing potential can increase his production. When he hits on both fronts, he’s a fantasy force like few others.  

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Mark Zaleski/Associated Press

Know how many times Ryan Tannehill has thrown multiple touchdown passes this season? Twice. Know how many times he has gone without a touchdown pass? Also twice.

The Titans have tasked him with game-manager duties whenever possible, and it has worked to relative success in the real world. But in the fantasy realm, he’s pretty forgettable. Nine different quarterbacks have more fantasy points this season. Change the metric to fantasy points per game, and he is left looking up at 16 signal-callers.

When the conditions are right, he can produce. They aren’t even close at the moment. Tennessee’s offensive line can’t pass protect, Derrick Henry isn’t around and now A.J. Brown is out of the equation, too. If that wasn’t bad enough, New England is a nightmare matchup and has allowed the second-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks on the season.  

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Derik Hamilton/Associated Press

The Eagles didn’t bother easing Miles Sanders back into the action when he returned from a nearly month-long absence with an ankle injury.

He promptly paced Philadelphia’s running backs in touches (16) and yards (94). And his workload could be heading up, as the second-most used running back in that game, Jordan Howard, has already been ruled out for Sunday with a knee injury.

Sanders could have the green light to really run wild. His Week 11 work came against the New Orleans Saints, who have one of the NFL’s stingiest run defenses. Now, he draws a much more favorable matchup against the New York Giants, who have surrendered the seventh-most fantasy points to running backs.  

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Ben VanHouten/Associated Press

The Seahawks have scored more than 20 points once since Week 4. That’s the game in which they lost Chris Carson, and it’s no coincidence the offense flat-lined almost immediately. Seattle has scored just 13 points combined over its last two contests.

The Seahawks need someone to fill Carson’s shoes, and Alex Collins keeps proving he’s not the right fit. Or not a good enough fit to be a fantasy factor, at least. Despite getting double-digit carries in seven consecutive contests, he has only cleared 50 rushing yards once. He has two touchdowns on the season and hasn’t hit double-digit receiving yards since early October.

His volume is consistent enough to theoretically be interesting, but it just isn’t translating to enough fantasy points to matter. That seems unlikely to change this week against a Washington defense that has allowed the third-fewest rushing yards to running backs.