Fantasy Football Start 'Em 'Sit 'Em Week 13: Good and Bad Situational Matchups

Fantasy football is sweeping the nation and fans are starting to look into matchups to best satisfy their needs for the upcoming week. 

Owners understand that the amount of points that a player can achieve is largely based on the situations that are at hand.  This brings about tough decisions such as whether or not to start Tom Brady against the Steelers or Alex Smith against the Cleveland Browns. 

These decisions could mean the difference between a narrow win and a loss.  Therefore, understanding who looks good and bad can help determine who to sit and who to start.  

Here are some good and bad matchups coming this week.  Some players will thrive and others will struggle with these interesting matchups.

(Good Matchup) New England Offense vs. Indianapolis Colts Defense

Tom Brady and the New England offense is in for a treat this Sunday when they face the Indianapolis Colts. 

As most fans already have seen, the Colts (without Peyton Manning) are an embarrassing team.  They are yet to win a game and show no passion to do so in the near future. 

With the second best pass offense in the league, the Pats show a clear edge over the No. 18-ranked pass defense of the Colts.  Along with that, the No. 15-ranked rush offense of New England shows another edge against the Colts' rush defense which ranks second to last.

If any owners possess players from the New England Patriots offense, I highly recommend starting them.  Whether it is Tom Brady, Wes Welker, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Rob Gronkowski or Aaron Hernandez, there are going to be big numbers put up in the Pats' favor.  

(Good Matchup) San Francisco 49ers Defense vs. St. Louis Rams Offense

The St. Louis Rams offense is struggling.  Steven Jackson is getting worn down and Sam Bradford is not playing nearly as well as people had expected after last season. 

The pass offense of the Rams is ranked 26 overall with the rush not too far behind at No. 21.  This does not help considering they are playing one of the most ferocious defenses in the league. 

San Francisco has the best rush defense in the NFL.  Steven Jackson is going to struggle, which will put most of the pressure to score on Sam Bradford and that passing attack. 

Although the 49ers' pass defense is ranked fairly poor at No. 23 overall, they go up against the 26th-ranked Rams' passing attack.  Even with the defensive flaw the 49ers have, the edge still goes against St. Louis. 

The San Francisco 49ers defense will be a great start for the upcoming fantasy week.  

(Good Matchup) Baltimore Ravens Defense vs. Cleveland Browns Offense

Typically the Baltimore Ravens defense is always a good bet regardless of the team they play.  This week is no exception to that rule.

The Ravens go up against the Browns' struggling offense and have the definite edge in this battle. 

The Browns' pass offense is ranked 24th overall while the rush is ranked 29th.  That offense goes up against a Ravens' pass defense ranked fifth overall and a rush defense ranked third. 

If the Browns can score anything more than a few field goals, it would be considered a pretty good day for them. 

Starting the Baltimore Ravens defense will pay huge dividends this weekend.  

(Good Matchups) Dallas Cowboys Offense vs. Arizona Cardinals Defense

The Dallas Cowboys are on a four-game win streak and it does not look like they are slowing down (on offense at least).  Tony Romo is showing his second-half stride and the defense is starting to pick up its pace as well. 

On Sunday, the Cowboys will travel to Arizona to play the Cardinals and their struggling defense. 

Arizona’s rush defense is ranked 21st overall while the pass defense is ranked 27th.  Both rankings are fairly poor in terms of output.  Dallas however, is streaking and has the seventh-ranked passing attack along with the 12-ranked rushing offense. 

Romo will lead his offense to some big numbers against this spotty defense.  Playing in a an atmosphere like Dallas Stadium does not hurt either.

Players such as Tony Romo, DeMarco Murray, Jason Witten, Felix Jones and Dez Bryant will all have pretty big days on Sunday.  

(Good Matchup) Philadelphia Eagles Defense vs. Seattle Seahawks Offense

The Seattle Seahawks offense is struggling to say the least.  The pass is ranked 25th overall and the rush is ranked 27.  Needless to say, none of these players should be started in any league. 

With that in mind, the future matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles looks grim for this offense. 

The Eagles' pass defense is 16th overall while the rush defense is 15th.  Although these numbers are not too impressive and they have struggled all year, an Andy Reid defense will not quit (especially against statistically lesser teams). 

Philadelphia still has the talent and coaching to perform well regardless of their previous play.  Playing against the Seahawks will be a good boost to their numbers.

If anyone owns this defense, it looks to be favorable this week against the Seahawks offense, which is woefully led by quarterback Tarvaris Jackson.  

(Bad Matchup) Denver Broncos Offense vs. Minnesota Vikings Defense

The Denver Broncos have been winning recently under the new system of option plays on offense.  However, this is sadly about to end (at least for this weekend). 

The Minnesota Vikings rush defense is ranked in the top 10 and, let's be honest, the run is all the Broncos have.  If the Vikings can stop the rush of the Broncos, they will force Tebow to start throwing the ball more.

As history has shown us, Tebow throwing the ball means a stall on the offensive side of the ball.

The Broncos offense will struggle against the Vikings defense.  Sit most players on the offensive side of the Broncos' lineup.  

(Bad Matchup) Drew Brees vs. Detroit Lions Defense

It is tough to tell owners to sit Drew Brees, however strictly in terms of matchups, it does not look good for this elite quarterback.

The New Orleans Saints are going up against a tough Detroit Lions defense this weekend.  The Lions are ranked sixth overall in opponent passing yards and 24th in opponent rushing yards.  This means most of the plays will probably be run-related to exploit Detroit’s holes. 

Not to say Brees will have a bad game, but most likely his numbers will not be out of this world due to this matchup.  

(Bad Matchups) Miami Dolphins Defense vs. Oakland Raiders Offense

The Oakland Raiders are also a team that is generally based around the run.  They have great backs in Michael Bush and Darren McFadden and are ranked fourth overall in run production.

This is all good, however they play the Miami Dolphins who allow only 97.5 yards rushing per game.  This is seventh in the league and looks to pose problems for the running backs of Oakland. 

With this in mind, most plays looks to go through the air with Carson Palmer.  This will hurt the production and numbers of those backs. 

Fantasy owners should look to sit the backs of the Oakland Raiders due to the matchup coming up.  

(Bad Matchup) New York Giants Defense vs. Green Bay Packers Offense

Another bad matchup looks to be the New York Giants defense against the Green Bay Packers offense.  We obviously know that the Packers offense is obliterating defenses, however this game in particular will showcase what they can do.

As seen on Monday against the New Orleans Saints, a high-octane offense is fully capable of torching this Giants defense. 

Green Bay has the third-best passing attack in the league only behind New Orleans and New England.  The rush is fairly weak ranked 28th overall, but does not seem to be a big factor in the production of the offense overall. 

The Giants' pass and rush defense are both ranked 20th in the league which is pretty low going against Aaron Rodgers, who is playing at a record-setting pace. 

Sit the Giants defense.  

(Bad Matchups) Houston Texans' Rush vs. Atlanta Falcons Defense

The Houston Texans are in a quarterback scramble.  With the No. 1 and No. 2 quarterbacks injured, they start a no-name quarterback in T.J. Yates. 

What this shows is that they will rely heavily upon the run game, which they have done anyways throughout the year.  The rush offense of the Texans is ranked third overall gaining 151.7 yards per game on the ground. 

However, they are going against the Atlanta Falcons defensive front that allows 83.5 yards per game on the ground ranking second overall in the league.

With a new quarterback at the helm, look for the Texans to run a bunch more.  As a result, look for the Falcons to do a good job at stopping it with their stout defense. 

Sit the backs of the Houston Texans.