Start Em / Sit Em - Week 12 - Thursday Game

By Brad Kruse

In this Start Em / Sit Em column each week, I'm looking to find some fringe players that you might consider starting each week and comment based on their matchups. Early on, I'll base my selection of candidates on where they were with respect to ADP. I'm not going to try to pad my stats by suggestin your start Drew Brees each week, but instead trying to dig deep and find some nuggets for players to avoid or to go after. These are coin flip guys and if I can finish the year at better than 60% I'll consider it a success. My metrics to get the start decision are: QB 20 pts or more, RB, WR or TE need to score 12 pts or more for a successful endorsement. Defense/Special Teams should put in 8 points or more to get those picks right. I'll look at ~4-6 players on each Thursday night's game and ~ 6 players for the rest of the week to get you going. Good Luck this year!

Player	Pos	Team	Opp	Start / Sit	Comment
Alex Smith	QB	KAN	OAK	SIT	Oakland's an average opponent for a QB. Kansas City will likely be in control of this game with their defense and their running attack. Don't look for too many heroics from Alex Smith
Derek Carr	QB	OAK	KAN	SIT	Carr has had a couple of startable weeks this year, but don't look for week 12 to be one of them. KC is one the tougher matchups for a QB and Carr has not proven to be consistent enough even when given garbage time to pad his stats.
Dwayne Bowe	WR	KAN	OAK	SIT	I'd sit Bowe this week. He's turned in four startable weeks in the 9 games he's played. His floor is probably decent enough if you're desparate but the upside is clearly limited.
James Jones	WR	OAK	KAN	SIT	As is the trend this week, I'm not looking at starting many fringe players on this Thursday night's game. Save your bullets and starting spots for better matchups on Sunday.
Kansas City D/ST	D/ST	KAN	OAK	Start	Oakland's been a good matchup for opposing defensive units. Look for KC to continue that trend.