Week 12 Start Em Sit Em: Matt Leinart and More Injury Replacements to Avoid

As more and more NFL starters fall by the wayside with injuries, fantasy owners scramble to land the backups who will suddenly find themselves with prime playing time. These three former reserves, however, aren’t worth a fantasy starting spot in Week 12:

Matt Leinart, Houston

Matt Schaub’s season-ending foot surgery puts Leinart in charge of the Texans’ offense this week. Even against lowly Jacksonville, though, don’t count on Leinart to put up big-time fantasy numbers in his regular-season Houston debut.

Even with Rashean Mathis out of commission, Jacksonville’s fourth-ranked pass defense will be no pushover. Expect the Texans to lean on Arian Foster and Ben Tate, with Leinart getting few opportunities and fewer valuable stats on Sunday.

Toby Gerhart, Minnesota

Even Adrian Peterson would likely have had a down week on the road against Atlanta’s surprising run defense. Facing a team that ranks second in the league in stopping the run (85.4 yards a game), the untested Gerhart is in for a lousy time of it in his third career start.

The second-year man out of Stanford has just 24 carries on the season, and 31 of his 118 yards came on one play against the Buccaneers. He’ll get plenty of chances against the Falcons, but don’t expect him to turn them into worthwhile fantasy production.

Michael Bush, Oakland

Bush has been terrific in relief of Darren McFadden, and all indications are that McFadden will be out again for Sunday’s home date with Chicago. Even so, Bush isn’t a good bet against a Chicago defense that has shut down opposing runners all year.

The Bears are 11th in the NFL against the run, allowing just 101.2 rushing yards per game. Add in a secondary that’s heating up (and has a great chance to force turnovers against erratic Carson Palmer), and it’s hard to like the Raiders’ chances for any kind of fantasy numbers in this matchup.