Fine or Pine, Week 13

By Adam Filadelfo (@FNTSYArchitect)

For most fantasy owners, week 13 marks the final week of the regular season and perhaps the final shot at the playoffs. Every decision is weighed just a little more heavily and every lineup move means a little more. With three games on Thanksgiving, there will be plenty for fantasy owners to be thankful for. While you sit back and eat your turkey and stuffing, get ready to march your team into the fantasy playoffs. And be thankful that The Fantasy Sports Brain has you covered.

Quarterback

Fine- Tony Romo- Dallas Cowboys- A Thanksgiving tradition every year, the Cowboys host the Eagles this year and this game promises to be a treat for fantasy owners. With Tony Romo averaging almost 22 fantasy points per game and the Eagles defense allowing the most fantasy points per game to opposing signal callers, Romo is a must start in week 13. Romo has been one of the more consistent fantasy quarterbacks all season and has failed to score double digit fantasy points only three times this season.

Pine- Colin Kapernick- San Francisco 49ers- Fantasy owners need to be fed up with the 49ers signal caller at this point. Going on two seasons now, the 49ers offense has become far too conservative for Kaepernick to thrive for fantasy football purposes. Add to that, the 49ers play the Seattle Seahawks who happen to allow the least amount of fantasy points per week to opposing quarterbacks at 14.1. It also doesn't help Kaepernick's cause that the Seahawks have had his number since he was named the starter mid way through the 2012 season. Looking back to two years ago, Kaepernick has not scored 20 fantasy points versus the defending champions and was even held to negative fantasy points in week seven of the 2012 season. Fast forward to 2014, and Kaepernick has not posted a 20 point fantasy points game since week six versus the Rams. He's become too volatile of a fantasy player to trust on a weekly basis.

Wide Receiver

Fine- Justin Hunter- Tennessee Titans- Now that Zach Mettenberger has taken over the reigns in Tennessee, the offense moves a little bit better and Justin Hunter is back on fantasy radars. Hunter is coming off of a 12.4 fantasy points game in week 12 versus the Eagles and now gets a defense in the Texans that is allowing the most fantasy points per week to opposing wide outs. With his chemistry with Mettenberger growing and a bad Texans pass defense, fantasy owners can expect a good game from Justin Hunter this week.

Pine- DeSean Jackson- Washington Redskins- Maybe the quarterback change in Washington will get D-Jax rolling again but for now, it's difficult to trust him in your lineups. The last two weeks have not been kind to DeSean or his owners while he's scored 3.7 and 3.9 fantasy points respectively. With the playoffs a week away for some fantasy owners, there's no place for that kind of output from a receiver who was dominating the beginning of the season.

Running Back

Fine- Andre Ellington- Arizona Cardinals- While Ellington hasn't exactly been lighting up the fantasy world as of late, he has a very favorable matchup this week in the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons are allowing over 30 fantasy points per week to opposing running backs and if Ellington can't get the job done this week, when can he get the job done? After a disappointing two weeks of 6.6 fantasy points and 6.3 fantasy points, owners can look for Ellington to get back on track versus a poor Falcons run defense in week 13.

Pine- Bishop Sankey- Tennessee Titans- With the Ravens allowing the second least amount of fantasy points to running backs, and Sankey averaging six fantasy points per game, this week doesn't look like a good week to start the rookie tailback. Sankey has only two double digit fantasy points games so far this season and facing a stingy Ravens run defense isn't going to help any.

Tight End

Fine- Jason Witten- Dallas Cowboys- Last time Witten faced the Eagles was week 17 of last season and he torched the defense for 12 catches for 135 yards while scoring over 13 fantasy points along the way. He's also scored nine or more fantasy points the last two weeks and figures to be involved in a Thanksgiving day shootout this time around. The Eagles also allow 9.5 fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends so start Witten with confidence if you have him this week.

Pine- Tim Wright- New England Patriots- I'm not benching Tim Wright because he's a bad player. I'm benching him because this is Gronk's world and we're all just living in it. Wright had his chance to shine last week versus Detroit and he took the opportunity and ran with it. With a healthy Gronk in the mix, it's hard to count on Wright making much noise two games in a row. Week 12 saw Wright receive the second most targets he's seen all season with six and with the Packers allowing over 12 fantasy points per game to the tight end, fantasy owners can expect Gronk to get back on track for week 13.

D/ST

Fine- Indianapolis Colts- Facing the Redskins these days is a reason to start the opposing defense each and every week. The Redskins are a mess regardless of who's under center and the Colts defend against the quarterback pretty well allowing under 18 fantasy points per game.

Pine- Dallas Cowboys- While the Cowboys defense has been a top ten defensive unit all season, they do face a team in the Eagles who happen to score the third most points in the NFL this season at 31.1 points per game.  Most fantasy owners are expecting a shootout and plenty of points to be scored in this game. While both defenses have been more than useful for fantasy owners up until this point, it will be wise to sit both defenses this week and let the offenses do their things.