Latest Sports News: Fantasy Football Week 13 Start ‘Em & Sit ‘Em: Sam Darnold keeps flying – CBS Sports

This is a good time to remember everything we’re thankful for as Fantasy managers heading into Week 13. And hopefully all of you enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with your family and friends.

For Fantasy purposes, I’m thankful for players like Lamar Jackson, Christian McCaffrey and Michael Thomas. I’m thankful the bye weeks are over.

I’m thankful we haven’t dealt with too many serious injuries this season. I’m thankful for bad pass defenses like the Dolphins, Cardinals, Raiders, Bengals and Buccaneers and bad run defenses like the Chiefs, Lions, Jaguars, Packers and Panthers.

I could go on and on, and in a few weeks we’ll thank all the players who lead us to a Fantasy title this year. The playoffs start in most leagues in Week 14, so hopefully you’re ready to win this week and advance.

Unfortunately, many of you will be eliminated from your Fantasy leagues this week, but I wanted to thank you for sticking with us all season, even if it didn’t work out as you hoped. We appreciate your dedication in reading our columns, watching our videos and listening to our podcasts.

You make our job great, and hopefully we’ve entertained you along the way. So if this is the end for your Fantasy season, thank you for your time. And if you didn’t make it to the Fantasy playoffs this year, we’ll do our best to help you get there in 2020.

For those of you still alive, here are the usual suggestions to help you win in Week 13. Good luck.

Start ‘Em & Sit ‘Em

Imagine saying in Week 2, when we found out that Sam Darnold would be out for an extended period of time with mono, that he would be a must-start quarterback in Week 13 with the Fantasy playoffs on the line. Well, here we are. 

Darnold has been exceptional of late, scoring at least 23 Fantasy points in three games in a row against the Giants, Redskins and Raiders. He’s scored at least 31 points in his past two outings, and he’s feasting on a favorable schedule.

That should continue this week against the Bengals, who have allowed seven of the past eight quarterbacks to score at least 21 Fantasy points. For the season, Cincinnati allows an average of 23.4 Fantasy points a game to opposing quarterbacks.

I’m hoping that Andy Dalton’s return for the Bengals will make this game a shootout, which would be fun, and I expect Darnold to thrive if that happens. He’s continuing to improve as a quarterback, and he’s utilizing all his weapons in Jamison Crowder, Le’Veon Bell, Ryan Griffin, Robby Anderson and Demaryius Thomas.

It took some time for Darnold to come around after being out three games with mono. He surprised us with 23 Fantasy points against Dallas in Week 6 before some meltdowns against New England and Jacksonville.

But he’s cooking now, and you should buy into him as a starting Fantasy quarterback against the Bengals. This is a big week with the Fantasy playoffs on the horizon, and Darnold is ready to deliver once again in a big way.

I’m starting Darnold over: Deshaun Watson (vs. NE), Matt Ryan (vs. NO), Baker Mayfield (at PIT), Tom Brady (at HOU) and Dak Prescott (vs. BUF)

Eagles (at MIA)

• Panthers (vs. WAS)
• Chargers (at DEN)
• Jets (at CIN) 

49ers (at BAL)