Fighting Chance Fantasy's Start/Bench Week 15

Quarterbacks

Start: Tyler Thigpen, Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Diego Chargers. If you would have told me in September that I would be starting this article for Week 15 with Tyler Thigpen I would have laughed in your face. Hell, if you had told me I would be talking about Thigpen at all I wouldn’t have believed it. But here we are doing just that, and I expect a good game out of him this week. His stats have fallen off a little in the past couple of weeks even against poor defenses in Oakland and Denver, but this week he will face a defense that he took apart just five weeks ago. In his first meeting with the Chargers, Thigpen was 27/41 for 266 yards and three touchdown passes. San Diego will probably have a little better grasp of what to expect out of him this time around, but I don’t see them being able to hold him under 250 yards or two TD throws.

Start: Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles vs. Cleveland Browns. Last week I wrote a short article declaring that even though McNabb had that good game against the Cardinals that you shouldn’t get all excited about him again and count on him to score you big points this year. Well, a guy is allowed to reconsider once in a while isn’t he? Here’s my thinking. The Browns are down to their third string QB, and have nothing to play for except for their coach and I don’t know how much that means to them at this point. In the last few weeks of the season you need to look for teams that have already started to set their tee times after the last game and the Browns fit that mold perfect. They have little chance to compete, they know that, so I don’t see them playing that hard. Even a McNabb that I’m not high on should have a good game against the Brownies.

Sit: Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens vs. Pittsburgh Steelers. You gotta love what this rookie has been doing, but you can’t love this matchup for him. The Steelers have made quite a few good quarterbacks look bad this year (hello Tony Romo, Donovan McNabb, and Philip Rivers), and you have to believe that Flacco doesn’t stand much of a chance to have a good statistical game. Joe didn’t have a great game last week against Washington where he didn’t even throw for 150 yards and had just one touchdown. Look for the same type of game this Sunday against the Steelers, and there is a good chance he will turn the ball over two or more times.

Sit: Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens. This game should be a good old fashioned smashmouth AFC North showdown for first place. Well, this division isn’t exactly known for it’s passing game. You can bet that by 4:15 on Sunday in Baltimore that it will be as cold as a witch’s…..well, you know, really cold. Big Ben has had four games where he didn’t even throw a touchdown this season, and he only had one to go with 191 yards in their first meeting. He was sacked three times, intercepted once, and fumbled once, and you can expect another hard hitting, low scoring game this time around. Try to find a better option than Roethlisberger.

Running Backs

Start: Joseph Addai, Indianapolis Colts vs. Detroit Lions. I know, I know, it is an easy call to start anyone against Detroit. I wanted to pick one Colts player in this matchup and I thought given his recent struggles that Addai would be the one who is the least bit of a no brainer. He did split some carries with Dominic Rhodes in Week 14, but don’t forget that they also did blow out the Bengals so they didn’t really need to keep him on the field too much. There is a danger to that happening again versus the Lions, but they are the worst defense against the run by both yards and touchdowns so how can you not play Addai? Look for at least 75 yards on the ground, plus four catches and a touchdown either on the ground or through the air.

Start: Stephen Jackson, St Louis Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks. Again, if we were doing this article back in Week 1 you all would be emailing me and saying “Joseph Addai and Stephen Jackson, way to go out on a limb by saying start them!” But at this point, both studs coming into the season have been anything but studly. Jackson has been good since coming back from his latest nagging injury however, and you gotta love the fact that the guy WANTS that ball in his hands. He got back into the end zone for the first time in a while last week, and seeing that Seattle gives up over 120 yards a game on the ground, look for Jackson to have his first 100 yard game in nearly a year.

Sit: Marshawn Lynch, Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets. Both of these teams are really struggling the past couple of weeks to score points, so when they face each other don’t expect fireworks. Out of the two teams in this game I would expect the Jets to be the team to turn it around and have a decent finish if either one of them will. The Jets have stuffed the run most of the year and should do the same again on Sunday. The first two times that these teams met Lynch had his worst game of the season in which he rushed just nine times for 16 yards. I don’t expect it to be that bad, but I would think he will go too far over 50.

Sit: Michael Turner, Atlanta Falcons vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. When a team excels at one facet of defense like the Bucs do against the run, and then they get embarrassed on defense like the Bucs did on Monday night by Carolina, you can bet that the next week they come out they will do everything they can to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. Tampa allowed under 100 yards a game and had only allowed one rushing touchdown before that game. Carolina ran for just over 300 yards and had FOUR rushing TDs in that one game alone. You better believe that Monte Kiffin will be focusing on run defense this week in practice, even if he has one foot out the door to go to Tennessee. Turner has struggled some against good run defenses (duh, that’s what makes them good run defenses), but his first game against Tampa he ran 14 times for just 42 yards, and I wouldn’t expect him to rush for too much more than that on Sunday.

Wide Receivers

Start: Wes Welker, New England Patriots vs. Oakland Raiders. I’m not exactly sure why, but Welker just hasn’t gotten the credit he has deserved this season. Throughout all the turmoil from the loss of Tom Brady and the learning curve of Matt Cassel, Welker has still only had ONE game where he had less than six catches. I have to be honest, I didn’t think he would be able to repeat last year’s performance, but the guy is making a full time believer out of me. That being said the Pats should eat the Raiders alive and look for Welker to have 7-8 catches for near 100 yards an most likely a touchdown.

Start: Greg Jennings, Green Bay Packers vs. Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jags have been a pretty decent pass defense as far as yardage is concerned (just over 200 a game), but they have allowed 21 touchdown passes this season which is third worst in the NFL. Aaron Rodgers has taken a bigger step forward than anyone could have anticipated, and I see him having a big game on Sunday. Jennings should be a big recipient of this production. Look for Jennings to have six catches for 115 and a score.

Sit: Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions vs. Indianapolis Colts. It is always hard to suggest someone to sit a guy with the physical gifts that Calvin Johnson possesses, but here are the reasons behind it. The Colts defense allows just over 185 yards through the air which is good. But in 13 games this season they have allowed only FOUR passing touchdowns! Is that incredible or what? I just don’t see Daunte Culpepper breaking that great statistic up no matter how good Calvin is. He has a world of talent and is already over 1,000 yards, but I think you might have a better option this week.

Sit: Laverneous Coles, New York Jets vs. Buffalo Bills. The Jets are a mess. First, they lose to the Broncos, no big deal right? Then they lose to San Francisco and suddenly their fan base is in panic mode. In the game against the Niners, Coles had his third game this season in which he registered just one catch and his production has been far too inconsistent to recommend playing him. In the first meeting of the season against the Bills, Laverneous had just three catches for 40 yards. He also apparently went on some radio station and said the hardest passes thrown to him come from the machines in practice. I guess that was supposed to be a shot at Favre since his relationship with his new quarterback still isn’t the same as it was with Pennington. Hey Laverneous, if you loved Chad so much, how come you didn’t mind leaving him when you took that big free agent contract to go to Washington? Stop crying and play football!

Tight End

Start: Chris Cooley, Washington Redskins vs. Cincinnati Bengals. Like the Browns, the Bengals have also packed it in as their season has been a disaster since Carson Palmer went down and was unable to return from his elbow injury. Cincinnati has been giving up points in bunches lately, and even though I have absolutely no faith in Jason Campbell, even he should be able to pass pretty easily on this defense. Cooley has been a massive disappointment with only one touchdown catch, but before last week against Baltimore he had six straight games of at least five catches and in five of those games he was also over 50 yards. Look for Cooley to find pay dirt for the second time this year.

Sit: Tony Scheffler, Denver Broncos vs. Carolina Panthers. After five catches in three games when returning from injury looked like his value was gone, Scheffler has turned it around with twelve catches in the past two games. However, this week he gets the ultra tough Panthers’ defense and I don’t see Jay Cutler being able to throw the ball around whenever he feels like it. Carolina has only given up an average of one touchdown pass per game and the Broncos have a bunch of other options that I would bet on before Scheffler.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours.