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

A handful of fantasy football elites qualify as matchup-proof.

For everyone else, start or sit decisions often hinge on the quality of the opponent.

In Week 11, you might have pounced on the opportunity to start Jimmy Garoppolo against the exploitable Arizona Cardinals. If you did, he rewarded you with 424 passing yards and four touchdown passes.

In Week 12, though, you probably want to steer clear of the San Francisco 49ers when they host the Green Bay Packers, who allow the ninth-fewest fantasy points to the position, per Yahoo Sports.

But with four teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings, on a bye, you might not have the luxury of cherry-picking only players with favorable matchups. So, we'll frame this weekend's start-or-sit decisions around those with tricky matchups.

Start 'Em

QB: Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys at New England Patriots

RB: David Montgomery, Chicago Bears vs. New York Giants

WR: DeVante Parker, Miami Dolphins at Cleveland Browns

TE: Greg Olsen, Carolina Panthers at New Orleans Saints

D/ST: Denver Broncos at Buffalo Bills

Sit 'Em

QB: Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers at San Francisco 49ers

RB: Joe Mixon, Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

WR: John Brown, Buffalo Bills vs. Denver Broncos

TE: Noah Fant, Denver Broncos at Buffalo Bills

D/ST: Dallas Cowboys at New England Patriots

Start: Dak Prescott at New England Patriots

There are tricky matchups. There are terrifying matchups. And then there's a date with this New England Patriots defense.

Bill Belichick's stoppers have been stingy against everything. The Pats allow the fewest yards and the fewest points per game. They're an equal-opportunity stone wall, too, sitting second in passing yards allowed per game and 10th against the run.

So, why in the world are we giving Dak Prescott a chance? Because he's on an absolute heater right now—nine touchdowns against two interceptions his past three games—and the only way the Cowboys pull off the upset is if that continues.

"If the Cowboys are going to win this game, they’ll likely have to do it with Prescott through the air," The Ringer's Danny Heifetz wrote. "That usually means deep passes. Prescott leads the league in pass yards before the catch and pass plays of 20-plus yards and is tied for first in pass plays of 40-plus yards."

It only takes a few chunk plays for Prescott to have a valuable week, and with Randall Cobb emerging alongside Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup, Dallas might have enough weapons to give New England's defense some problems.

Sit: Aaron Rodgers at San Francisco 49ers

We get it.

You drafted Aaron Rodgers to be your weekly starter. And on occasion this season, you've felt really good about that decision, like when he put a combined 734 passing yards and eight touchdowns on the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs in back-to-back weeks.

But even you'd admit, Rodgers hasn't been what you hoped he would be. In his last two games, he has a single touchdown pass and 394 yards combined. Expecting him to get right against a 49ers defense allowing a league-low 142.5 passing yards per game is a recipe for disaster, as NFL.com's Michael Fabiano explained:

"Rodgers is no longer the plug and play quarterback we had come to know and love in fantasy leagues. Instead, he's now a matchup-based starter who has scored fewer than 15 fantasy points six times this season. Next up is a date with the Niners, who have allowed the second-fewest fantasy points to enemy quarterbacks this season."

Player rankings are fluid for a reason. Between Rodgers' lack of momentum and the dominance of San Francisco's defense, don't let your draft-day investment cloud your judgement about his Week 12 outlook.

Start: DeVante Parker at Cleveland Browns

Fantasy points can be found anywhere, folks.

Yes, even on the two-win Miami Dolphins.

Given the team's overall abysmal performance, DeVante Parker might be having one of the better fantasy seasons that no one is talking about. Take out his zero-point performance against the Pats in Week 2 and he's had at least 56 receiving yards or a receiving touchdown in every contest.

He's the No. 25 fantasy performer at his position, which makes it mind-boggling to see he's still available in more than 40 percent of ESPN leagues, per FantasyPros.

But his underwhelming ownership percentage is a discussion for a different day. The primary takeaway here is that he's clearly worthy of a starting spot this week, even against a Browns defense allowing the 10th-fewest fantasy points to wide receivers, per Yahoo Sports.

The Bills and Chargers are among the nine stingier defenses against wide receivers. Parker has played them a combined three times. He had 16 receptions for 260 yards and two touchdowns in those contests.

Look for another quietly stuffed stat sheet this Sunday.