Fantasy Football 2015: Start Em, Sit Em for Week 13

Nov 29, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks running back Thomas Rawls (34) picks up a first down during the first quarter in a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports

Week 13 of the 2015 NFL season is here, and that means it is time to take a look at those fantasy football lineups.

This is my Start ‘Em/Sit ‘Em article where I try to help you make some tough lineup decisions, whether that means starting a players that normally doesn’t start for your team, or benching a player that is normally in your starting lineup.

With all of these injuries happening, you could probably use all the help with your lineups that you can get. I know that I’m the same way.

Here are my Start ‘Em/Sit ‘Em picks from LAST week. To get to Week 7’s start/sit picks just go to the next slide of the article.

Last Week’s Start ‘Em

Seahawks’ first-year running back Thomas Rawls has been extremely impressive thus far this season. He has filled in for the consistently injured Marshawn Lynch multiple times this season, and the offense hasn’t seemed to miss a beat.

Rawls ran Christine Michael, who the Seahawks really liked a lot, out of Seattle as he was traded to Dallas and he has also put long-time Bills’ stud Fred Jackson at the third spot on the running back depth chart.

Week 12 was the fourth start of the season for Rawls, and against the best run defense in the NFL thus far this season he put up 14 fantasy points, a second straight double-digit fantasy performance.

Javorius “Buck” Allen is the new starting running back for the Baltimore Ravens since Justin Forsett was place on injured reserve with a broken arm. The first year back out of USC took advantage of his first start at the NFL level. He had 84 total yards and added a receiving touchdown as well for a total of 13 fantasy points in standard-scoring leagues.

Allen should now be considered a solid #2 running back, barring injury, for the rest of the season. The Ravens are really banged up right now on the offensive side of the ball. Without Steve Smith Sr., Joe Flaaco, and Forsett in the lineup, Allen should be one of the primary options left for Baltimore.

Alfred Blue is filling in for the injured Arian Foster, who was placed on injured reserve a few weeks back. Blue has been splitting with teammate Jonathan Grimes, and has yet to break through as the better back in the Texans’ backfield.

In Week 11 though, he had his first solid game and broke into double-digit fantasy points for the first time this season. Last week, he did it again.

In Week 12 against New Orleans, Blue put up 13 fantasy points and got into the endzone for just the third time this season. Blue should have more success ahead of him as the Texans have a pretty favorable schedule for the rest of the season.

Last Week’s Sit ‘Em

Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons have struggled mightily after having a good start to the season. Ryan has been right in the middle of their struggles, as he himself has been very erratic at times in the pocket.

Last week, Ryan and the Falcons went up against the red hot Minnesota Vikings defense and had the second worse performance of the 2015 season. The Vikings defense is much improved this season, and with a struggling offense, there is no way Matt Ryan should have been in your active fantasy lineup.

Welp, I got this one way wrong.

Sammy Watkins was coming off two very mediocre performances in which he combined for just 4 total fantasy points and had a matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs who came into the game on a 4 game win streak and have been playing much better defense during those games.

Watkins proceeded to put up 27 fantasy points, breaking the 20-point mark for just the second time this season. Watkins torched the Chiefs’ secondary with ease and really made them look obsolete, even though they have been playing great as of late.

Hopefully you didn’t sit Sammy last week.

Next: Scott Chandler