Cincinnati Bengals - Fantasy News

Steelers at Bengals Start 'Em / Sit 'Em

by Aaron Bowers

11/29/17

NFL

Cincinnati Bengals

A.J. Green

Week 13 caps off on Monday Night Football with an AFC North battle between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.

After a slow start to the season, Pittsburgh has rattled off five consecutive wins. With their defense playing at a decent clip, the Steelers have finally figured things out on offense, scoring more than 30 points in each of their last two games. At 9-2, Pittsburgh has all but locked down a first-round bye in the AFC playoffs, but they need to win this game to keep pace with the Patriots for home-field advantage.

Despite very mediocre play to start the season, at 5-6 the Bengals are in the hunt for a Wild Card spot in the weak AFC. They haven’t surprised anyone this season, beating bad teams and losing to good teams while playing tough defense and trying to keep Andy Dalton from losing games.

Pittsburgh Steelers Week 13 Projected Fantasy Points
Ben Roethlisberger: 17.5 PFP
Antonio Brown: 16.5 PFP
Le’Veon Bell: 16.0 PFP
Chris Boswell: 9.5 PFP
Martavis Bryant: 7.0 PFP
Jesse James: 5.5 PFP

Cincinnati Bengals Week 13 Projected Fantasy Points
A.J. Green: 14.5 PFP
Andy Dalton: 14.5 PFP
Joe Mixon: 10.0 PFP
Tyler Kroft: 8.0 PFP
Brandon LaFell: 7.0 PFP
Randy Bullock: 6.5 PFP
Giovani Bernard: 5.0 PFP

Start 'Em: Le’Veon Bell (16.0 PFP)
Dober Fantasy Points Per Game: 18.05

We endorsed targeting Le’Veon Bell in this article last week, and he paid off. We’re going back to the well again for this game, riding with the best running back in the game.

The Bengals have given up 19.77 DFP per game to running backs and have allowed 63 receptions to tailbacks this season, fourth-worst in the league. That bodes well for Bell, who has 61 receptions on the year, including 21 in his last two games.

We’re locking him in for another game with more than 100 yards from scrimmage and several receptions, making a touchdown superfluous for getting over his PFP this week.

Sit 'Em: Ben Roethlisberger (17.5 PFP)
Dober Fantasy Points Per Game: 16.65

Seemingly every year, Ben Roethlisberger is good for a two-game stretch where he sets the league on fire. In his last two outings, Big Ben has scored 57.5 DFP. Last season he had a similar stretch where he scored 63.1 DFP, and in 2014, another two-game sample yielded 80.48 DFP.

All three of these streaks have two things in common. First, all six of those games were at home and second, the hot streak didn’t continue past two weeks.

Outside of the last two outings, Roethlisberger had one game with more than 17.5 DFP. Heading on the road for a divisional game, we expect Big Ben to crash back to earth, so we recommend fading him on Dober Play Cards.

Start 'Em: Joe Mixon (10.0 PFP)
Dober Fantasy Points Per Game: 10.02

After a slow start to the season, Joe Mixon has come on of late. Since Jeremy Hill was lost for the year in Week 8, Mixon has scored more than 10.0 DFP three times in his last four games. In those games, Mixon has touch totals of 16, 10, 22 and 26.

It’s taken far too long, but the Cincinnati coaching staff has finally realized that the rookie out of Oklahoma is one of the best playmakers on this team. Pittsburgh was gashed for 27.5 DFP by Jamaal Williams of the Packers last week, and Mixon looks to be a far superior player. Look for him to continue his recent string of strong play and get over a very manageable PFP.

Sit 'Em: A.J. Green (14.5 PFP)
Dober Fantasy Points Per Game: 13.13

It’s a dangerous proposition to fade a player as talented as A.J. Green, but we’re recommending to do just that this week. Green has scored more than 14.5 DFP just three times this season, and he has failed to score that many points in his last five games. If there is a team poised to take away Green, it’s the Steelers, who know him better than any team in the league and have allowed the fourth-fewest DFP per game to opposing wide receivers.

Andy Dalton is legendarily bad on national television, and we expect the Bengals to lean on the running game as much as possible in this matchup. Big games are certainly ahead for Green, but in front of a national audience, we don’t think this is one of them.