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Saints quarterback Drew Brees kept it rolling with a huge game against the Baltimore Ravens on Monday. Brees finished with 420 yards, three touchdowns and 28.30 Fantasy Points (FP) on NFL.com. That was tops for any quarterback, and Brees is now the fifth-best QB with a great chance to surpass Russell Wilson for fourth place. The Pittsburgh Steelers defense isn't something to fear as it was in the past. The Steelers are middle of the pack in Fantasy Points Per Game (FPPG) allowed to quarterbacks, surrendering the seventh-most touchdowns (19). Brees is locked in and has one of the best remaining schedules with Pittsburgh, Carolina, Chicago, Atlanta and Tampa Bay.
The Steelers' defense is in the middle for FPPG allowed to running backs, which is good news for Mark Ingram having more breathing room this week. The Steelers have allowed the eighth-most red zone "goal to go" attempts in the league at 23. That gives not only Ingram a good chance to score, but as we saw on Monday night, Pierre Thomas is back and heavily in the mix. Thomas had five carries for 19 yards and eight passing targets for six receptions and 37 yards. Ingram is a locked-in RB2 against the Steelers, and Thomas is a solid RB3/Flex in standard and RB2 in PPR. Travaris Cadet converted his two targets for receptions. He will have deep-league PPR value.
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Saints receiver Kenny Stills stepped up big with his opportunity. Stills finished with a receiver-high nine targets for eight catches and 98 yards in Week 12. Marques Colston also had one of his best games with 82 yards and a touchdown. Colston finished as the 11th-best WR with 14.20 FP, Stills was 30th with 9.60 FP and Joe Morgan was 13th thanks to the reverse that netted him 67 rushing yards and 12.90 FP. As with quarterbacks and running backs, the Steelers are only mid-level against receivers, allowing 21.70 FPPG on NFL.com. With the high usage for Stills, you can consider both him and Colston solid WR3s with upside for more. Morgan is an intriguing deeper league play. If the Saints continue to look for ways to use him, Morgan could be a sneaky game-changer. Don't forget about Nick Toon. The big receiver snatched three of his five targets for 42 yards and saw some red zone looks. Like Morgan, if Toon finds the end zone, deeper league teams would reap the rewards.
Tight end Jimmy Graham's Fantasy value was on full display, as once again, Graham finished as Fantasy's top tight end of the week. Graham had 16.70 FP on NFL.com thanks to his two scores. The tight end matchup is the one area where the Steelers are quite forgiving. They allow the seventh-most FPPG to tight ends at 9.49 per with the fourth-most touchdowns (eight). Graham will come of out Week 13 on top of the tight end position yet again.
The Steelers don't allow many Fantasy Points to opposing defenses. There are good matchups coming for the Saints DST, as mentioned above with Brees. Ben Roethlisberger did have three interceptions in two games before the bye, but they had a week to prepare and Roethlisberger still threw for 550 yards and two touchdowns. The Steelers do allow the seventh most FPPG to kickers, and Saints kicker Graham should have a few opportunities to knock some balls through the uprights.
If you haven't bought into Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill, it's about time that you did. Not only is Tannehill the eighth-highest scoring QB on the year, he faces a Jets team allowing 20.48 FPPG to quarterbacks - tops in the league. Tony Romo will win teams league championships. He has the second-best QB matchup this week (Eagles) and sees the Bears, Eagles again and Colts afterward. The same goes for Matthew Stafford. Don't lose hope, as no one has a better four-game set (Chicago, Tampa Bay,Minnesota, Chicago).
Expect a nice bounce-back game for Andre Ellington. The Falcons allow the second most FPPG to running backs on NFL.com (23.74) and have allowed the fourth most receiving yards to RBs at 555. Tre Mason will continue to have RB2 value and help owners down the stretch, as the Raiders give up 22.84 FPPG. Even with shared touches, Bengals running backs Jeremy Hill and Gio Bernard will both have value again this week, as the Bucs allow 20.71 FPPG, which includes 62 receptions for 443 yards. Now that Bills running back Fred Jackson is back near 100 percent, he has to be in all of your lineups. The Browns are a middling defense against the run.
Keenan Allen has two double-digit scores and 9.2 FPPG over his last four games. The late-season value will help his patient owners, especially now that he faces a Ravens team allowing the most FPPG to receivers (27.52). Malcom Floyd is a solid WR3 in that matchup as well. Kendall Wright has WR2/3 upside this week, as the Titans face a Texans team allowing 27.45 FPPG on NFL.com, which includes the most receptions in the league (167). Two undrafted receivers bring high upside for owners in Week 13. John Brown has taken over in Arizona, and the Cardinals have a great matchup with a Falcons team allowing 25.65 FPPG. Charles Johnson is the other, as he faces a Panthers team allowing 25.39 FPPG and the second most receiver touchdowns (15).
The tight end position has been highly touchdown reliant outside of the studs. With that in mind, Charles Clay faces the Jets, a team with more touchdowns (12) against than anyone else does. The other players with opponents allowing the most touchdowns include Vernon Davis (vs. Seattle, 10), Eric Ebron (vs. Chicago, 10), Zach Ertz/Brent Celek (vs. Dallas, 9) and Jordan Reed (vs. Indianapolis, 8). Julius Thomas and Graham both face teams with eight touchdowns against, but you know to use them always.
For the DST streamers, you have a few high-end choices. The Rams are only 55.7 percent owned on NFL.com and face a Raiders team allowing the second most FPPG to defenses. The Dolphins are the fifth-best scoring DST, yet only 40.1 percent owned, and the Jets allow 10.73 FPPG to DSTs. The Colts makes for another good play this week against the Redskins. The Giants are the high reward/risk play of the week, as they face the Jaguars, a team giving up 13.36 FPPG.
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