Daily Fantasy Football Week 12: Best Lineup Advice, Matchups for 1-Week Leagues

This week, video game nuts were treated to several huge releases, from Far Cry 4 to Dragon Age: Inquisition and even the PS4 and Xbox One rerelease of Grand Theft Auto 5. And this is the week after Assassin's Creed Unity was released and just a few weeks before Destiny's first expansion, The Dark Below, goes live.

So I had to make some decisions. Tough decisions. Which game did I really, truly want? Which would I play the most? What game would give me the most value?

I'm still trying to figure it out. But ultimately, daily leagues are no different than my gaming dilemma. You have multitudes of brilliant options in front of you and, somehow, you have to separate the great choices from the good ones. 

As you try to do that with your lineup this week, I'm here to help by parsing out the best values and matchups to exploit in daily leagues this week. Maybe you all can do me a solid if you've played any of the above games and leave your own suggestions in the comments. Decisions, decisions...

Lineups

Position	Player	Team	Price
QB	Jay Cutler	Chicago Bears	$8.8k
RB	LeSean McCoy	Philadelphia Eagles	$7.7k
RB	Rashad Jennings	New York Giants	$6.6k
WR	Josh Gordon	Cleveland Browns	$7.8k
WR	Sammy Watkins	Buffalo Bills	$7.5k
WR	Torrey Smith	Baltimore Ravens	$6.5k
TE	Coby Fleener	Indianapolis Colts	$5.4k
K	Billy Cundiff	Cleveland Browns	$4.5k
DEF	-	Buffalo Bills	$5.2k
			Total = $60k

Position	Player	Team	Price
QB	Jay Cutler	Chicago Bears	$7.7k
RB	LeSean McCoy	Philadelphia Eagles	$6.2k
RB	Rashad Jennings	New York Giants	$5.1k
WR	A.J. Green	Cincinnati Bengals	$7.3k
WR	Sammy Watkins	Buffalo Bills	$5.6k
WR	Torrey Smith	Baltimore Ravens	$5.4k
TE	Larry Donnell	New York Giants	$3.9k
FLEX	Denard Robinson	Jacksonville Jaguars	$5.6k
DEF	-	Indianapolis Colts	$3.2k
			Total = $50k

Matchups

Let's start with one thing—you might want to avoid anyone from Washington this week. Not only do the Redskins have a tough matchup against the San Francisco 49ers but, well, just watch above.

They're a mess. Stay away.

As you can see, I'm high on Jay Cutler, LeSean McCoy, Rashad Jennings, Sammy Watkins and Torrey Smith in both formats this week. Some of that boils down to value—in a week when many of the top quarterbacks have really tough matchups, Cutler is a potential steal at his price, for example—while some of it is all about them matchups. 

If the crazy weather in Buffalo permits a football game, I love Watkins against a terrible New York Jets secondary he torched for 157 receiving yards and a score in Week 8. Or how about LeSean McCoy facing a Tennessee Titans defense that has given up a whopping 557 rushing yards and six total touchdowns in its past three games?

Sign me up for that matchup, please. 

If you are playing the matchup game, it's a bit tough to get too excited about any of the top quarterbacks. Peyton Manning faces a Miami Dolphins defense that has given up just four touchdown passes in the past five games. Tom Brady faces the ferocious Detroit defensive line. Matt Ryan gets a very good Cleveland pass defense. Russell Wilson faces Arizona's excellent defense.

That's why guys like Cutler, Tony Romo against the New York Giants, Joe Flacco against the New Orleans Saints and even Josh McCown against the Chicago Bears—yes, Josh McCown—are all potential values this week. All have solid matchups against defenses that have been quite accommodating to opposing quarterbacks.

Or, you could just start Aaron Rodgers and cut corners on your budget elsewhere. That's always an option, too.

The aforementioned Titans are a great matchup to exploit, though I'd hesitate to recommend Darren Sproles. He's been too streaky to rely on this season, and McCoy seems likely to get a ton of carries in this one.

This might be a week to spend big on one elite running back. DeMarco Murray faces the Giants' 32nd-ranked rush defense. Jamaal Charles plays the Oakland Raiders, which is really all that needs to be said there. If Arian Foster is healthy, he faces a Cincinnati Bengals team that has given up 12 rushing touchdowns on the season, tied for 28th in the league with the Indianapolis Colts (hence my selection of Denard Robinson in my DraftKings lineup).

Many of the quarterback matchups worth exploiting also provide wide receiver matchups worth noting. I love Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery this week, for instance. Mike Evans is trending up, so you can't get great value on him any longer, though a long touchdown or two against Chicago would take care of that.

And then there is A.J. Green, who has a great matchup against a Houston Texans defense that has given up 506 receiving yards and four touchdowns to opposing wideouts in their past two games.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

As for tight ends, focusing on matchup is a bit trickier. Generally, great tight ends produce against anyone they face, and decent tight ends produce when the game plan favors them. I do like Larry Donnell against a Dallas team he caught seven passes for 90 yards against in Week 7, however, especially because the Cowboys have struggled with tight ends all season. 

When picking a defense, when in doubt pick the team facing the Jacksonville Jaguars. Seriously, it's foolproof. In pretty much every fantasy format out there, the Jags give up the most points to opposing defenses. This week, don't be afraid to ride with the Colts for that very reason.

All statistics via ESPN standard scoring leagues, FanDuel or DraftKings leagues. Hit me up on Twitter—I'll answer your fantasy questions and make some corny jokes, too. It's more fun than being Aaron Rodgers right now. OK, not quite. Fine, it's not like that at all. Jeez.