Here is our Week 11 Fantasy Football Start and Bench Advice for the 2009 Fantasy Football Season. Start ‘EM & Sit ‘Em Advice was meant to be bold, yet calculated. We know that and we understand that. We also understand that fantasy owners aren’t looking for answers to the obvious questions, which is why we have addressed more dilemma-like situations entering Week 11 of the 2009 fantasy football season.
Despite last week, Aaron Rodgers is HOT. In the last four weeks he’s thrown for 988 yards and 9 TDs, with 3 interceptions, 116 yards rushing and 2 rushing tds The 49ers give up 248 ypg against the pass and have a stout run defense. Seven QBs have thrown for more yards than Rodgers; Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Jay Cutler and Tony Romo among them but only Kurt Warner has more TD passes to go along with 3 more interceptions. Compared to this group, in the last four weeks, including a bye, Ben Rothlisbergher has gone for a pedestrian 582/4 albeit against much tougher competition. Though Ben gets a pass defense giving up 234 ypg I expect Rashard Mendenhall and company to get a crack against a run defense giving up 141 ypg on the ground. Ben will bounce back this week but I expect Rodgers to have the better fantasy day.
Aaron Rodgers is very likely the top scoring QB in your league – if not, he is very close. This in spite of taking a league leading 41 sacks and Greg Jennings being relegated to a decoy. Combine that with a defense which ranks 29th against the pass and you have a perfect fantasy storm. It’s not that Ben Rothlisbergher hasn’t been good, but I can’t give him the nod over a guy who has been playing lights out so far this season.
Thomas Jones has run for 510 yards in the last 4 games with3 tds and is getting a New England after a stunning loss where the Head Coach showed no confidence in them. I believe they reward Belichick with an appropriate performance against a traditional rival who’ll be happy just to win a game. Knowshon Moreno was in for a big day last week before Kyle Orton went down to an injury. Defenses will force Chris Simms to prove that he can beat them and until that time Moreno and company will face stacked lines of scrimmage. Advantage Jones.
Both of these guys have already seen their opponents once this season, and neither was able to do much in those games. Honestly, I don’t see a whole lot from either the second time around, but if I have to pick one I’ll go with Thomas Jones on a hunch. The Jets always seem to play the Patriots tough and I think they will try to keep this one close with a top heavy ground attack lead by Jones. If you play PPR, I really don’t see it any differently, the thought that Knowshon Moreno would have more value in those scoring systems has not really been the case – he only has 13 receptions so far.
LaDainian Tomlinson has run for 245 yards in four games and has had multiple td games two of the last three weeks but gone are the days of receiving out of the backfield as he has 4 receptions for 10 yards in those same game. Denver has surrendered at least 100+ ypg to RB1’s in the last 5 games and I expect that to happen again. Rashard Mendenhall has emerged as the RB1 in Pittsburgh but he hasn’t scored in the last three games, has run for 105 yards and 2 games, and 155 in one. While he has had a bye Mendy faces a generous KC run defense allowing 141 ypg on the ground. Pittsburgh will want to get both Ben Rothlisbergher and Mendenhall involved as the Ravens are on deck in week 12 but I expect them to go with the hot hand in order to win the game. I start LT in this game as Mendy has had only one 20 carry game in the last five.
LaDainian Tomlinson seems to be coming around a bit, last week’s outing was his most productive so far. There is no guarantee it continues, but I think San Deigo is on a mission this week to reclaim the division lead against the Broncos and LT will be a big part of that. Rashard Mendenhall is also a good start against a bad Chiefs team which gives up lots of real estate on the ground. Tie goes to the opposing defense this week, and that means I’ll give Mendy the nod to start – I like him to go well over 100 yards and score twice.
Here are the defensive ranks against the run through Week 10.
Rk |
Team |
G |
Yds |
Avg |
Yds/G |
TD |
1 |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
9 |
624 |
3.4 |
69.3 |
2 |
2 |
Cincinnati Bengals |
9 |
751 |
3.9 |
83.4 |
4 |
3 |
San Francisco 49ers |
9 |
789 |
3.3 |
87.7 |
8 |
4 |
Green Bay Packers |
9 |
838 |
3.5 |
93.1 |
3 |
5 |
Baltimore Ravens |
9 |
845 |
3.5 |
93.9 |
5 |
6 |
Minnesota Vikings |
9 |
851 |
4.2 |
94.6 |
2 |
7 |
Miami Dolphins |
9 |
877 |
3.7 |
97.4 |
10 |
8 |
Arizona Cardinals |
9 |
909 |
4.2 |
101 |
6 |
9 |
Philadelphia Eagles |
9 |
917 |
3.7 |
101.9 |
7 |
10 |
Dallas Cowboys |
9 |
928 |
4.1 |
103.1 |
4 |
11 |
Seattle Seahawks |
9 |
945 |
4.3 |
105 |
8 |
12 |
Denver Broncos |
9 |
950 |
3.8 |
105.6 |
4 |
13 |
New York Giants |
9 |
958 |
4.5 |
106.4 |
12 |
14 |
Houston Texans |
9 |
978 |
4.7 |
108.7 |
12 |
14 |
Indianapolis Colts |
9 |
978 |
4.3 |
108.7 |
7 |
16 |
Tennessee Titans |
9 |
984 |
4.4 |
109.3 |
8 |
17 |
New England Patriots |
9 |
990 |
4.5 |
110 |
3 |
18 |
New York Jets |
9 |
1,004 |
4.1 |
111.6 |
6 |
19 |
Detroit Lions |
9 |
1,031 |
4.7 |
114.6 |
9 |
20 |
New Orleans Saints |
9 |
1,038 |
4.5 |
115.3 |
12 |
21 |
Chicago Bears |
9 |
1,066 |
4.2 |
118.4 |
8 |
22 |
Jacksonville Jaguars |
9 |
1,068 |
4.3 |
118.7 |
6 |
23 |
San Diego Chargers |
9 |
1,070 |
4.1 |
118.9 |
7 |
24 |
Washington Redskins |
9 |
1,131 |
4.3 |
125.7 |
5 |
25 |
Carolina Panthers |
9 |
1,153 |
4.6 |
128.1 |
9 |
26 |
Atlanta Falcons |
9 |
1,173 |
4.6 |
130.3 |
8 |
27 |
Kansas City Chiefs |
9 |
1,272 |
4.6 |
141.3 |
9 |
28 |
St. Louis Rams |
9 |
1,281 |
4.5 |
142.3 |
13 |
29 |
Oakland Raiders |
9 |
1,400 |
4.4 |
155.6 |
14 |
30 |
Cleveland Browns |
9 |
1,492 |
4.7 |
165.8 |
13 |
31 |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
9 |
1,506 |
4.9 |
167.3 |
10 |
32 |
Buffalo Bills |
9 |
1,557 |
5.1 |
173 |
14 |
Here are the defensive ranks against the pass through Week 10.
Rk |
Team |
G |
Yds |
Yds/G |
TD |
Int |
1 |
Washington Redskins |
9 |
1,464 |
162.7 |
9 |
5 |
2 |
New York Giants |
9 |
1,512 |
168 |
15 |
8 |
3 |
New York Jets |
9 |
1,530 |
170 |
6 |
7 |
4 |
Carolina Panthers |
9 |
1,678 |
186.4 |
11 |
11 |
5 |
Denver Broncos |
9 |
1,680 |
186.7 |
9 |
7 |
6 |
Green Bay Packers |
9 |
1,703 |
189.2 |
17 |
13 |
7 |
New England Patriots |
9 |
1,751 |
194.6 |
13 |
9 |
8 |
Chicago Bears |
9 |
1,758 |
195.3 |
16 |
9 |
9 |
Buffalo Bills |
9 |
1,800 |
200 |
7 |
16 |
10 |
Philadelphia Eagles |
9 |
1,850 |
205.6 |
14 |
15 |
11 |
San Diego Chargers |
9 |
1,870 |
207.8 |
13 |
9 |
12 |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
9 |
1,873 |
208.1 |
9 |
8 |
13 |
Baltimore Ravens |
9 |
1,880 |
208.9 |
10 |
9 |
14 |
Oakland Raiders |
9 |
1,904 |
211.6 |
8 |
6 |
15 |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
9 |
1,907 |
211.9 |
19 |
12 |
16 |
Indianapolis Colts |
9 |
1,926 |
214 |
7 |
10 |
17 |
Houston Texans |
9 |
2,012 |
223.6 |
10 |
8 |
18 |
Dallas Cowboys |
9 |
2,047 |
227.4 |
14 |
6 |
19 |
New Orleans Saints |
9 |
2,049 |
227.7 |
8 |
17 |
20 |
Cleveland Browns |
9 |
2,055 |
228.3 |
10 |
4 |
21 |
Cincinnati Bengals |
9 |
2,079 |
231 |
10 |
11 |
22 |
Seattle Seahawks |
9 |
2,097 |
233 |
14 |
8 |
23 |
Minnesota Vikings |
9 |
2,107 |
234.1 |
14 |
6 |
24 |
Kansas City Chiefs |
9 |
2,108 |
234.2 |
14 |
5 |
25 |
St. Louis Rams |
9 |
2,126 |
236.2 |
13 |
8 |
26 |
Jacksonville Jaguars |
9 |
2,150 |
238.9 |
16 |
7 |
27 |
Miami Dolphins |
9 |
2,155 |
239.4 |
11 |
8 |
28 |
Atlanta Falcons |
9 |
2,166 |
240.7 |
13 |
7 |
29 |
San Francisco 49ers |
9 |
2,235 |
248.3 |
9 |
11 |
30 |
Arizona Cardinals |
9 |
2,281 |
253.4 |
15 |
10 |
31 |
Tennessee Titans |
9 |
2,434 |
270.4 |
23 |
11 |
32 |
Detroit Lions |
9 |
2,445 |
271.7 |
20 |
6 |
Be sure to check out our 2009 Fantasy Football Weekly Player Projections, which are updated daily.
Our player projections include over 100 offensive player projections each and every week.
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