Fantasy Football Week 11: Chris Johnson and Must-Sit Late-Game Flops

Fantasy football teams will lose this weekend because the following players will fail to live up to their big names.  If you still have the opportunity to send them to your bench, do it immediately.  This trio has put up big numbers in the past, but this Sunday they won’t be able to muster memorable performances.

Here are three must-sit late-game players in Week 11:

3. Chris Johnson

CJ1K has been the disappointment of the NFL this season.  Through nine games, he only has 496 rushing yards and two touchdowns on just 3.4 yards a pop.  Johnson is coming off of a season-best 130-yard performance vs. the Carolina Panthers, but he won’t replicate that success this week.

The Atlanta Falcons run defense is a different animal.  While the Panthers field one of the worst run-stopping defenses in the league, the Falcons rank third in the league, surrendering only 90.3 yards a game on the ground.  Expect the Tennessee Titans to abandon the ground game early yet again.

2. Larry Fitzgerald

Larry Fitzgerald isn’t putting up the numbers that many expected him to produce after the Arizona Cardinals dealt for Kevin Kolb.  Before his breakout game against the Philadelphia Eagles, he had only found the end zone three times in the previous eight games.  Matching up with Carlos Rogers and the San Francisco 49ers defense this week, Fitzgerald will go touchdown-less yet again.

John Skelton won’t be able to get him the football effectively against Rogers, who is having a breakout season with five interceptions.  The 49ers defense has been absolutely dominant this season.  San Francisco’s pass defense may bend on Sunday, but they won’t break as the unit is ranked No. 1 in the league in points allowed with 15.3.

1. Philip Rivers

Over the previous three years, Philip Rivers’ name deserved mention among the top five quarterbacks in the league.  This season, his play has been unrecognizable.  2011 has been Rivers’ worst season as a starter, as he’s thrown just 13 touchdowns compared to 15 interceptions.

Against the Chicago Bears’ rapidly improving defense, Rivers won’t be able to shed his slump.  In two out of their last three games, they picked off Matt Stafford and Josh Freeman four times each.  Charles Tillman and company are on fire after a four-game winning streak while Rivers’ crew is ice cold.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer. Follow him on Twitter.