Fantasy Football Start Em & Sit Em: Week 15

In all my years of playing fantasy football, I have seen a lot of crazy things happen.But, never, and I repeat never, had I witnessed a tie in a fantasy playoff game. That is until last week.

Making things even more bizarre is that the tie occurred in my league that awards fractional points, a final score of 106.5 to 106.5. Please take this as yet another reminder that every point counts. As such, to optimize your lineup, please check out the Week 15 Start Em & Sit Em below.

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QUARTERBACKS - START 'EM

Peyton Manning (Indianapolis Colts) vs. Detroit

Against the Detroit Lions, a team that allows 31.8 points per game, good for last in the league, nearly any quarterback makes for a must play. Heck, even Tarvaris Jackson managed solid numbers against the Lions in Week 14, going 8-for-10 for 105 yards and a score while leading the Minnesota Vikings to victory. Peyton Manning? Well, he's just a tad better than Jackson.

In fact, take away that one point stinker he put up in that bad Ohio weather against the Cleveland Browns, and Manning's been one of the best QBs in the NFL over the past seven games as he's gone for at least 220 pass yards and two scores in six of them. 220 yards and two scores is just the tip of the iceberg against the Lions.

Philip Rivers (San Diego Chargers) @ Kansas City

Coming off three straight losses while heading into Week 14, it would have been easy for the Chargers to roll over against a bad Oakland Raiders football team, but the Chargers, led by Rivers' 214 yards and three passing TDs, didn't. Instead, they routed the Raiders 34 to 7, keeping their slim playoff hopes alive.

That's good news for fantasy owners as it should give the Chargers plenty of motivation to get the job done again this weekend against the Kansas City Chiefs. Once again leading the Chargers' charge will be Rivers, who has already gone for 316 yards and two TDs against the Chiefs this season.  

Tyler Thigpen (Kansas City Chiefs) vs. San Diego

Thigpen has regressed just slightly over the Chiefs' last two games, going for just a combined 384 passing yards, one TD, and one INT. A matchup with the San Diego Chargers is the exact thing he needs to return to that fantasy quarterback that racked up 17+ points for five weeks straight from Week Eight to Week 12.

Included in that streak was Thigpen's best outing of the season, a 24-point day against the Chargers. Now, do you see why we believe Thigpen will rebound in Week 15.

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QUARTERBACKS - SIT 'EM

Brett Favre (New York Jets) vs. Buffalo

Take away his six TD, 33 point effort versus the Arizona Cardinals, and Favre is averaging a very human 10.4 fantasy points per game. What has to be even scarier for his fantasy owners is that when the Jets have given him a chance to produce and put the ball in his hands these past two weeks, Favre hasn't been able to deliver, leading to disappointing losses to both the Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers.

No doubt, the Jets are aware of the connection, meaning a strong emphasis on the running game moving forward. That won't bode well for Favre's numbers, especially this week, as he'll be battling a team that allowed him just six fantasy points back in Week Nine.

Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh Steelers) @ Baltimore

Big Ben has been taking better care of the ball recently, totaling four TDs to just two turnovers the last three weeks. Don't expect that trend to continue as the Steelers head to Baltimore. The Ravens are tops in the league when it comes to intercepting opposing quarterbacks with 22 picks on the season.

That combined with the fact that they're giving up just 15.4 points and 176.4 passing yards per game is enough to make us look elsewhere for our Week 15 QB. 

Matt Schaub (Houston Texans) vs. Tennessee

Welcome back, Matt Schaub! In his return game from an MCL injury, Schaub went to Lambeau Field and threw for 414 yards, two TDs, with just one INT while leading the Houston Texans to a victory over the Green Bay Packers. Racking up 24 fantasy points in the effort, Schaub's owners couldn't have asked for a better first game back.

Hopefully, though, they enjoyed it because things won't go so well in his second game back as Schaub will be taking on the Tennessee Titans. Not only do the Titans boast the third best pass defense in the league, but they also left Schaub with just two fantasy points in their prior meeting this season.

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TO FIND OUT WHO TO START & SIT AT THE OTHER POSITIONS FOR WEEK 15, CLICK THE LINK BELOW...

Week 15 Start Em & Sit Em