Fantasy Football Week 12: Complete Thursday Night Preview

Talk about opposites not attracting?

Yes, the Oakland Raiders host the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night. And that’s about the only thing these two NFL franchises have in common at the moment.

Andy Reid’s team has won five straight and seven of its last eight games following a 0-2 start.

Oakland has dropped eight in a row following a 0-2 start. The Raiders are not only winless at 0-10 but have lost 16 straight games dating back to last season.

You would be hard-pressed to find many Oakland players on fantasy rosters these days. Meanwhile, more than a few Chiefs are making their fantasy owners happy these days.

So what can we look forward to in this clash? Enclosed are our best guesses.

Starting Quarterbacks

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Kansas City Chiefs: Alex Smith

One season after setting single-season career marks for passing yards (3,313) and touchdown passes (23), the first overall pick in the 2005 draft isn’t putting up electrifying numbers this season.

Despite the team’s 7-3 record, Smith has thrown just 11 touchdown passes (four interceptions) in 10 games. He has yet to total 300-plus passing yards in any contest this season and has amassed less than 200 yards through the air in three straight outings.

That’s not to say he hasn’t been efficient. Smith has been picked off just once in his last nine games, and 10 of his 11 scores through the air have come over that span. Versus the Raiders’ disappointing pass rush, perhaps this is the night that he has a breakout game of sorts in terms of fantasy numbers.

Fantasy Prediction: 19-of-24, 211 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT. 4 carries, 31 yards, 0 TD.

Oakland Raiders: Derek Carr

The 34th overall pick in May’s draft has had his expected ups and downs as a rookie. For the season, Carr has completed 59.8 percent of his throws for 2,075 yards and 13 touchdowns. However, the second-round pick has also committed 11 turnovers, including nine interceptions.

Last week in a 13-6 loss to the Chargers, Carr completed a season-low 47.1 of his passes. He’s also thrown for less than 200 yards in seven of his 10 outings this season.

Fantasy Prediction: 23-of-38, 185 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT. 5 carries, 18 yards, 0 TD.

Running Backs

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Kansas City Chiefs Starter: Jamaal Charles

The NFL’s touchdown leader from 2013 was banged up earlier this season, but the Pro Bowl performer has made up for lost time as of late.

Charles has totaled 10 touchdowns in his last seven games, including at least one score in five consecutive contests. Dating back to the start of last season, the standout runner has reached the end zone 29 times in his last 24 regular-season tilts.

The Chiefs’ leading rusher in 2014 (692 yards) comes off a season-high 159 yards on the ground in last week’s win over the Seattle Seahawks.

It’s worth noting that in last season’s sweep of the Raiders Charles touched the ball 43 times, totaling 343 yards from scrimmage while scoring seven touchdowns (three rushing, four receiving).

Fantasy Prediction: 18 carries, 118 yards, 2 TD. 4 receptions, 43 yards, 0 TD.

Kansas City Chiefs Backup: Knile Davis

With Charles hurting earlier this season, the 2013 third-round pick totaled 214 yards rushing on 55 carries and reached the end zone three times in the team’s first three games.

For the season, Davis ranks second on the team with 421 yards on the ground and five scores. Unlike Charles, Davis is not really a big factor when it comes to the passing game. The second-year pro has totaled only 11 catches for 65 yards this season.

Fantasy Prediction: 10 carries, 65 yards, 0 TD. 2 receptions, 10 yards, 0 TD.

Oakland Raiders Starter: Darren McFadden

The fourth overall pick in the 2008 draft still hasn’t played an entire 16-game season during his NFL career. Could this finally be the year?

In 2014, McFadden has totaled 393 yards rushing and another 183 yards receiving (via 29 receptions) in 10 contests, totaling a pair of rushing touchdowns. The talented performer has yet to run for 100 yards in any game this season; therefore, it’s no surprise that the Raiders rank dead last in the NFL this season in rushing yards per game.

Fantasy Prediction: 15 carries, 55 yards, 0 TD. 3 receptions, 21 yards, 0 TD.

Oakland Raiders Backup: Maurice Jones-Drew

We haven’t seen a lot of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ all-time leader in touchdowns scores. Jones-Drew’s first season with the Silver and Black has been like the team itself—extremely disappointing.

The nine-year performer has totaled only 70 yards rushing on 33 carries and caught just eight passes for 48 yards in his eight appearances this season. Perhaps he’ll be a little busier given this is a short week.

Fantasy Prediction: 5 carries, 24 yards, 0 TD. 1 reception, 6 yards, 0 TD.

Wide Receivers

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Kansas City Chiefs: Dwayne Bowe

The former Pro Bowler has played in just nine games this season due to serving a one-game suspension on opening weekend.

Bowe leads the team with just 41 catches for 509 yards. But like every other wide receiver on the Chiefs, he’s yet to snare a touchdown pass in 2014.

You get the feeling that will change in Oakland on Thursday night given the fact that the Raiders’ pass rush has been virtually non-existent this season. Look for Bowe to get his opportunities and finally reach the end zone.

Fantasy Prediction: 5 receptions, 101 yards, 2 TD.

Kansas City Chiefs: Frankie Hammond

Injuries to Donnie Avery (who has missed six straight games) and A.J. Jenkins (inactive last week) forced Hammond into the starting lineup last Sunday against the Seahawks. He’s totaled just two catches for 31 yards this season but may see more passes his way this week.

Fantasy Prediction: 2 receptions, 12 yards, 0 TD.

Kansas City Chiefs: Junior Hemingway

Hemingway ranks sixth on the team with 11 catches for 104 yards and zero scores. The Chiefs wide receiver corps has been depleted by injuries, but don’t expect Hemingway to benefit from that. He’s failed to catch a pass in five out of 10 games this season.

Fantasy Prediction: 0 receptions.

Oakland Raiders: James Jones

The one-time Green Bay Packers’ standout is in his first season with the Silver and Black and leads the team with 49 catches and 498 receiving yards.

Still, it’s worth noting that while Jones scored touchdowns in each of the team’s first two games this season, he’s reached the end zone just once in his last eight contests. Jones has totaled 100-plus receiving yards just once in 10 games in 2014.

Fantasy Prediction: 5 receptions, 63 yards, 1 TD.

Oakland Raiders: Andre Holmes

He’s become the team’ top deep threat in recent seasons, and this year he leads the Silver and Black with four touchdown receptions.

In 2013, Holmes averaged 17.2 yards per grab on 25 catches and scored one touchdown. This season, he ranks fourth on the team with 27 catches and is second only to Jones in receiving yards (419), averaging a nifty 15.5 yards per reception.

However, Holmes has caught just two passes for 19 yards in the team’s last two games.

Fantasy Prediction: 4 receptions, 50 yards, 0 TD.

Oakland Raiders: Denarius Moore

After he was targeted 20 times and caught just eight passes for 60 yards in his first three games, we haven’t seen a lot of Moore, who one year ago ranked second on the team with 46 receptions and a team-high five touchdown catches.

For the season, the fourth-year wideout has totaled a dozen catches for 115 yards.

Fantasy Prediction: 2 receptions, 14 yards, 0 TD.

Oakland Raiders: Brice Butler

A seventh-round pick in 2013 from San Diego State, Butler caught nine passes for 103 yards during his rookie season.

This year, Butler has done it a little better so far, totaling 13 receptions for 203 yards (15.6 average) and a pair of scores.

Fantasy Prediction: 3 receptions, 30 yards, 0 TD.

Tight Ends

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Kansas City Chiefs Starter: Anthony Fasano

The veteran tight end ranks fourth on the Chiefs with 20 catches for 173 yards. And one of his two touchdown receptions this season came while he was lying on the ground.

Fasano was inactive last week and is listed as questionable for this contest. We’ll play it conservatively and keep you updated. You could be seeing Phillip Supernaw in the starting lineup once again, but he’s not considered a fantasy option.

Fantasy Prediction: 1 receptions, 6 yards, 0 TD.

Kansas City Chiefs Backup: Travis Kelce

He’s been the big-play performer in Kansas City’s passing attack this season, averaging 12.8 yards on his 37 catches.

Kelce ranks second on the club with 37 catches and leads the Chiefs with four touchdown receptions. He should prove to be quite the test for the Raiders’ young linebacking corps.

Fantasy Prediction: 5 receptions, 39 yards, 0 TD.

Oakland Raiders Starter: Mychal Rivera

This season, Rivera ranks second on the team with 37 catches, and his 326 receiving yards are third-best on the club. The second-year performer has reached the end zone (with glee) three times in 2014.

Dating back to his rookie season of a year ago, Rivera has totaled 75 receptions for 733 yards and seven touchdowns.

Fantasy Prediction: 5 receptions, 41 yards, 1 TD.

Oakland Raiders Backup: Brian Leonhardt

David Ausberry is out this week. While Leonhardt has been available all season, he’s been targeted just eight times but caught six passes for 35 yards and a score, with his lone touchdown coming in the lopsided loss to the Miami Dolphins in London. He doesn’t expect to have much of an impact in this contest.

Fantasy Prediction: 0 receptions.

Defense/Special Teams

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Kansas City Chiefs Defense/Special Teams

The Raiders have only allowed 12 sacks in 10 games this season, but they’ll have a tough time containing this Kansas City pass rush. The Chiefs have totaled 30 sacks in 2014; one dozen of those are by outside linebacker Justin Houston, who leads the NFL in that category.

Andy Reid’s team has totaled at least three sacks in six of 10 outings this season. Along with forcing Oakland rookie quarterback Derek Carr into some turnovers in this game (the Chiefs have only eight takeaways this year), look for Kansas City’s defense to do a little scoring of its own via a safety.

Fantasy Prediction: 14 points allowed, 4 sacks, 2 INT, 2 FF.

Oakland Raiders Defense/Special Teams

Here is a number that is perhaps a little frightening to those who have this unit on their fantasy roster. The Raiders have totaled just 10 sacks in as many games this season—two less than Chiefs outside linebacker Justin Houston (12).

Add in the fact that Tony Sparano’s club has totaled only eight takeaways in 10 contests, and this group has been a major disappointment this season.

Fantasy Prediction: 33 points allowed, 1 sack, 0 INT, 1 FF.

Best Sleeper Adds

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There’s not a lot to choose from when it comes to these teams in terms of late additions, but we’ll throw out a few suggestions.

1. De’Anthony Thomas, Running Back, Kansas City Chiefs (Owned in 0.8 percent of ESPN leagues)

He’s run the football just seven times for 73 yards and a touchdown and caught eight passes for 50 yards this season. He's a bigger threat on special teams. Is it possible Andy Reid could give the rookie some extra playing time with this being a short week?

2. Brice Butler, Wide Receiver, Oakland Raiders (Owned in 0.1 percent of ESPN leagues)

Is it time for the Raiders to start giving their young players more of a look-see? Butler has totaled 13 receptions for 203 yards and a pair of scores in 2014, with both of those touchdowns coming in the team’s last six games.

Injury Report

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We always take the time to look at the key injuries for both teams and how it could affect your fantasy lineups. The complete list for both the Chiefs and Raiders can be found at NFL.com.

Kansas City Chiefs
Player		Status
Donnie Avery	WR	Out
A.J. Jenkins	WR	Out
Chris Owens	CB	Out
Anthony Fasano	TE	Questionable
Travis Kelce	TE	Probable
Tamba Hali	LB	Probable
Sean Smith	CB	Probable

We know all about the Chiefs’ depleted wideout corps, and it will be interesting to see if tight end Anthony Fasano sits out another week. Recently signed Phillip Supernaw may be in the starting lineup (along with Kelce) for a second straight game.

Oakland Raiders
Player		Status
David Ausberry	TE	Out
Travis Carrie	CB	Out
Carlos Rogers	CB	Out
Gabe Jackson	G	Questionable
Derek Carr	QB	Probable
Miles Burris	LB	Probable

Ausberry has missed the last four games, and Carrie was injured in last week’s loss to the Chargers. Rogers will miss his fourth straight game. Jackson’s availability could be a game-time decision.

Sit or Start

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Is there a key player or two on each team that may be on your roster that you can’t decide whether to start or not? Here’s a little assistance on that matter.

QB Alex Smith (Chiefs): The numbers won’t be overwhelming, but Smith can’t help but take advantage of a depleted Oakland secondary and feel comfortable in the face of a struggling Raiders’ pass rush.

Verdict: Start

WR Dwayne Bowe (Chiefs): Thursday night is the night. Although Smith hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass in each of his last two games, we look for Bowe to not only score once but twice.

Verdict: Start

RB Darren McFadden (Raiders): Kansas City’s run defense is ranked 25th in the NFL, so you figure the opportunities will be there for McFadden. But the Raiders could also find themselves down early, which will make the running game ineffective.

Verdict: Sit

WR James Jones (Raiders): We expect Jones to reach the end zone for the fourth time this season. We just won’t promise if it will be early or when the game may be out of reach (as if it matters in fantasy football).

Verdict: Start

Some statistical support provided by Pro-Football-Reference, ESPN.com and NFL.com. Depth-chart info provided by Ourlads.