Week 16 Start 'Em / Sit 'Em

Welcome back to Start ‘Em & Sit ‘Em, Week 16. Either you're in the Super Bowl or you have some sort of sick addiction to fantasy football. Congratulations either way and good luck this weekend. And let me take this opportunity to wish you a very merry CHRISTmas. May you find peace and rest and new meaning in this season...

This is my last Start Em / Sit Em of the season. Thanks for coming along for the ride this year... it's been a fun one. Hope you've had as much fun as me. Good luck to everyone!

*Start of the Week – All Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals*
You surely remember what happened the last time these teams met. Carson Palmer threw 6 TDs… and lost. Sure there may be some inclement Ohio weather this weekend that interferes with the fireworks, but you’ll want to have as many Browns and Bengals in your lineup as you can find anyway. That means Anderson, Palmer, Lewis, Rudi, Housh, CJ, Braylon, Winslow, and even guys like Henry and Jurevicius are decent starts.

*Sit of the Week – Aaron Stecker vs Philadelphia*
You’re probably sitting there pretty excited to play Stecker after what he’s done the last two weeks with 250+ combined yards and 2 TDs, but buyer beware. Both those games were against very poor run defenses while Philly has been one of the best, and Stecker is not just going to pop off 5 yards a carry this week. He probably won’t flop completely but don’t go benching your stars to get this hot RB into your lineup.

Quarterbacks

Start 'Em – Tom Brady vs Miami
I am shocked to have to do this again, but yet again I see a lot of questions with people thinking about benching Tom Brady. Do you really believe NE has nothing to play for? The team has been pretty average for a month and has little momentum right now, plus Brady and Moss are still within close shouting distance of all time NFL records. And before you object, the Boston weather is supposed to be in the 40s and sunny on Sunday. Brady will be back to himself with 4 or more TDs and plenty of yards.

Start 'Em – Jon Kitna vs Kansas City
Kitna has pretty much been as expected this season with plenty of yardage, plenty of mistakes, and just enough TDs against bad or average defenses. This week’s matchup fits the bill with a good shot for 300 yards and 2 TDs, and remember Kitna will be playing in the safety of a dome.

Start 'Em – Matt Hasselbeck vs Baltimore
Baltimore is not the defense it once was, and while I don’t have much respect for Seattle, this team at home is going to absolutely destroy the Ravens. They won’t do it by running the ball though, so Hasselbeck could even see 3 or 4 TDs.

Sit 'Em – Vince Young vs NY Jets
Young has been a bit better of late and the Titans continue to make a run, but he is still just far too inconsistent to be a fantasy player of value at this point in his career. The Jets 3-4 defense should confuse and keep him in check.

Sit 'Em – David Garrard vs Oakland
I don’t expect Garrard to have a bad day so much as him not needing to do much as Jacksonville’s RBs pile on for a huge day.

Sit 'Em – Kyle Boller @ Seattle
But Baltimore will be behind and passing all day! Yeah, so will Cleo Lemon, and you’re not playing him. I hope.

Running Backs

Start 'Em – Fred Taylor / MJD vs Oakland
If it weren’t for the Ohio Bowl this week, these two would absolutely be my Starts of the Week. Oakland is a terrible run defense to start with, and now you add in another Pro Bowl scam with Taylor missing the game yet again and the 10-4 Jags, a top five team in the league right now, not even getting a single player on the roster. Look for the Jags to make a statement this weekend, especially Freddie Taylor.

Start 'Em – Ryan Grant @ Chicago
Ride your horse one more game. Grant should be a top 10 RB yet again, a workhorse against a pretty average run defense. It will be a tough physical cold game, so the Packers will have to run the ball to have a shot to win.

Start 'Em – Kolby Smith @ Detroit
Kolby has actually been very solid as a starter thus far outside of the one game against Denver when he probably should’ve sat out with injury. He’s averaging about 90 yards a game the other three weeks and should pass that against this weak run defense and also score a TD.

Sit 'Em – Frank Gore vs Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay’s defense is killing people right now, and Gore is just missing something that he had this year. In a week where you have somehow survived to play in your Super Bowl despite having one of these three top 6 picks crapping out all season… I say congratulations, but don’t succumb to name pressure now.

Sit 'Em –Steven Jackson vs Pittsburgh
SJax is clearly the best option of these three RBs. He has been hot lately and the Steelers are clearly a worse team on the road. Still, barring another long TD, SJax should be a pretty average start this week, and he is benchable if you’ve got another good option.

Sit 'Em – Shaun Alexander vs Baltimore
Shame on you if you’re even considering Alexander this week even as a long shot flex option. Fork, meet Shaun. Baltimore’s defense is not great anymore, but they’ll still kill Alexander.

Wide Receivers

Start 'Em – Marques Colston / David Patten vs Philadelphia
The Saints are red hot again on offense and they’re doing it behind a big passing game yet again. Colston has been as good as any receiver in the league over the last month and just got shafted out of a Pro Bowl spot, so watch out. Patten is a good plug and play if you need a flex option.

Start 'Em – Joey Galloway @ San Francisco
I find it hard to believe that Galloway would not be an every week option at this point, but he ought to be. This week he should be especially solid against an atrocious San Fran secondary.

Start 'Em – Roddy White @ Arizona, Dwayne Bowe @ Detroit, Reggie Brown @ New Orleans
Three young options for you if you are struggling to fill out your lineup card for your championship. Roddy White is a must start. I know he really disappointed you last week, but he will return to form and put up another big game against the Cards. Bowe will get plenty of looks in Detroit and Brown has quietly become the go-to guy again for Philly. All great matchups, all good plays.

Sit 'Em – Steve Smith vs Dallas
Like some of the RBs above, if you managed to survive your way to the title game despite spending an early pick on Smith, congrats to you. But he wasn’t the reason you got there, and he won’t be the reason you win it… unless you sit him out against Terence Newman and play a better option.

Sit 'Em – Lee Evans vs NY Giants
Evans has been a lottery ticket all season long, and most often a losing one. It’s just not even worth the risk at this point, especially with the weather factoring in. It’s time to move on.

Sit 'Em – Justin Gage / Roydell Williams vs NY Jets
You just don’t know which of these guys is going to have a good game each week, and with the Titans lack of a consistent pass game, it has often been either. Against a solid secondary, this should be one of those weeks.

Tight Ends

Start 'Em – Tony Gonzalez @ Detroit
The stud TEs should all come out to play this weekend. Gates and Witten have great matchups and Winslow could put up monster numbers against Cincy after missing the Pro Bowl, but Tony G should be as good as all of them yet again with a great matchup.

Start 'Em – Dallas Clark vs Houston
I know you are worried about your Colts, but Clark looks like a fairly safe option as a guy who should keep getting looks even if stars like Reggie Wayne leave early, and against the Texans offense, the Colts will score points.

Sit 'Em – Alge Crumpler @ Arizona
Crumpler put up a goose egg last week and has done the same too many times this season. Against a team that has controlled opponents’ TEs, you need another option this week.

Sit 'Em – Owen Daniels @ Indianapolis
Sage Rosenfels just isn’t looking to Daniels as much as Schaub did when healthy, and he should struggle to find many yards or TD opportunities.

Kickers

Start 'Em – Josh Brown vs Baltimore
Seattle is going to score points at home but Baltimore’s defense may still be good enough to hold a few times in the red zone, so Brown should have a really big day.

Start 'Em – Rob Bironas vs NY Jets
The Titans’ MVP should have one more big day if the weather holds up as the Titans are good enough to get him on the right half of the field and, too often, not much more.

Sit 'Em – Jason Elam @ San Diego
Resist the temptation to go get that known name just so you can have someone on MNF in your championship on Christmas Eve. Elam and the Broncos have been too inconsistent, and the Chargers are too hot right now.

Sit 'Em – Kris Brown @ Indianapolis
I’m not a big fan of the Texans again this week if you haven’t figured it out just yet.

Defenses

Start 'Em – Arizona vs Atlanta
Atlanta is so bad that they allowed Tampa Bay to return a kickoff for a TD for the first time in 1865 kick returns in the franchise’s 32 year history. Arizona should make a couple big plays and can be a big waiver play.

Start 'Em – San Diego vs Denver, Seattle vs Baltimore, Tampa Bay @ San Francisco
All three of these defenses have been hot lately and should already be in your lineup. Keep it that way. Each of them gets a terrible opponent this week prone to plenty of mistakes, and there should be plenty of fantasy points to go around.

Sit 'Em – Baltimore @ Seattle
The Ravens shouldn’t even be on your roster anymore, no matter how bitter you are about using that early pick on them. Hope you learned your lesson. If you play them in Seattle, you are just giving away points this weekend.

Sit 'Em – NY Giants @ Buffalo
The Bills are the most conservative and most boring team in the NFL with lots of runs and short passing routes. That means that they don’t score much but they also don’t make many mistakes, and the Giants fantasy defense should struggle.