Week 13 Fantasy Rankings: Projecting the Week's Best Wide Receivers

We are heading into what is the final regular season week for most fantasy football leagues—Week 13. By now, at least one person in your league has given up and probably won't even update their roster.

Others, like yourself, are gunning for the playoffs and need all the production you can get.

That said, you must hope weather conditions don't affect your WRs or that they play in a dome or warm weather city.

These will be the top four WRs of Week 13 due to some very favorable matchups.

4. Steve Smith, Carolina at Tampa Bay

Only three times this season have the Carolina Panthers scored fewer than 20 points. This is pretty impressive, considering they have no actual rushing attack (Newton scrambling) and just one legit receiving target (Steve Smith) for Newton to throw to.

Steve Smith is proving his value to the Panthers by having already hit over 1,000 receiving yards and five TDs to go with his 59 receptions.

Carolina ranks No. 6 in pass offense, whereas Tampa Bay—their Week 13 opponent—ranks No. 28 against the pass.

The Buccaneers allow 255 passing yards per game, and Smith averages almost 100 himself. Even if Ronde Barber is covering him, Smith will still produce solid numbers.

But if Tampa wants to slow him down, they must double him with two of their younger defenders and let Barber help in run support.

Either way, it won't work as the Bucs are just too horrid against the pass.

Regardless of how much pressure they muster, Newton will buy time and play backyard football with Smith all day.

3. Laurent Robinson, Dallas at Arizona

In his past five games, Cowboys WR Laurent Robinson has scored seven TDs and caught 24 passes.

Prior to that, he had a 100-yard receiving game but only 117 combined in three other games.

The Dallas offense has basically been plug-n-play after having dealt with injuries, and Robinson has arguably stepped up the most.

His seven TDs lead the team, and he's second with 38 targets and third with 554 yards.

This week against Arizona, the Cardinals put their No. 25-ranked pass defense to the test against the Cowboys' No. 7-ranked pass offense.

Arizona has no legit pass rush, so Tony Romo will have ample time to sit in the pocket.

Expect another great day from Robinson, because Dallas just has way too many weapons for Arizona to account for.

Follow John Rozum on Twitter @ Sportswriter27

2. Calvin Johnson, Detroit at New Orleans

Although it's against the Saints, who will most likely outscore the Lions in Louisiana, Detroit will put up some points and somewhat keep pace with the Big Easy.

Much of that will be because of Calvin Johnson.

Currently, New Orleans may rank No. 1 in pass offense but they also rank No. 27 in pass defense. And as we saw against the Giants, teams can throw the ball against them.

No one in the New Orleans secondary can match up with him one-on-one. Even if he's double-teamed, all Matthew Stafford has to do is throw it up and let Megatron out-jump everyone.

Only twice this season has Calvin gained fewer than 80 receiving yards. He's gone over 100 yards five times and has 12 TDs.

For Detroit to have any shot at keeping pace with the Saints, he must be targeted all game long.

1. Wes Welker, New England vs. Indianapolis

Through 11 games, Wes Welker has 1,143 receiving yards to go with eight TDs and 82 receptions. Two of those stats—yards and receptions—lead the NFL.

This week, the Patriots play host to the 0-11 Indianapolis Colts and you have to expect New England to come out firing. Why?

They want to win, obviously, but secondly, they don't want to be the first team to give one up to the Colts.

Therefore, anticipate a heavy dosage of Welker early and often because none of Indy's LBs can cover him underneath. And none of the DBs can match his quickness on outs and curl patterns.

Not to mention the Colts rank No. 18 against the pass.

But that's only because they rank No. 31 against the run, so really why bother throwing the ball against them?

That's now how the Pats do things, especially with Tom Brady still under center.

New England will throw until they feel they have a comfortable enough lead to hit cruise control, so the odds Welker dominates is significantly high.