Week 11 marks the start of the home stretch of the fantasy football regular season. With a month left before playoffs start, fantasy managers are scrambling to secure wins by any means necessary. NFL schedule makers must have had Week 11 circled on their calendars; it kicks off with a marquee matchup between two teams from the league’s best division and ends with a game between arguably the best teams from each conference. There’s no shortage of playoff-caliber matchups and divisional rivalries.

It certainly would be easy for me to choose Monday Night Football‘s battle of the behemoths in Philadelphia at Kansas City as my Matchup of the Week. Heck, I was thinking I was going to all week long leading up to the writing of this article. Instead, I decided to let the other sources cover the low-hanging fruit, while I go after an underrated option for a possible shootout. This week, I chose to go with a matchup where, over their last five meetings, they averaged a combined 47 points a game. My Fantasy Football Matchup of the Week is…

Fantasy Football Matchup of the Week – Week 11

Arizona Cardinals vs. Houston Texans

It feels a bit awkward featuring the Houston Texans for the second week in a row, but when you have a rookie quarterback who is performing at an elite level this early in his career, and he’s accommodating multiple high-level fantasy options, much like the Miami Dolphins this year, it’s hard to look away. Stroud is deserving of a second week in the spotlight, and I’m eager to keep talking about him and the Texans provided they keep surprising us all.

Quarterbacks

Last week, Kyler Murray played his first game in precisely eleven months after tearing his ACL last season. He didn’t set the NFL on fire in his return; in fact, he barely lit a candle. He completed 59% of his passes for 249 scoreless yards vs Atlanta. Despite that, I’m quite encouraged by what Murray can do with another week of practice with his first team. Part of the optimism stems from the fact Murray ran six times for 33 yards and a rushing score. Yes, the rushing stats are great for fantasy, but moreover, he’s simply running around at all. His knee looks to be fine, and Murray looks nearly back to form. This is a great matchup for him to display his arm talent. I’m firing Murray up over Sam Howell, Joe Burrow, and Lamar Jackson.

Coleridge Bernard Stroud IV, better known as CJ, is making a powerful statement for himself in his first NFL season. He’s currently on pace to be the best rookie quarterback in NFL history, and that’s not something we can say very frequently. He’s averaging nearly 292 passing yards a game and has scored at least two touchdowns in six of his nine games this year. This week, he faces the 9th best matchup for quarterbacks. Neither Arizona nor Houston’s defenses are very stout, so Murray and Stroud might just throw haymakers back and forth all game long. Start Stroud with confidence.

Running Backs

The fantasy community rejoiced when James Conner returned to action last week after his IR stint for his knee ended. Emari Demercado and Keaontay Ingram did their best to fill in, but I think we’d all agree that we’d rather just start Conner and log out than try and play the backup Cardinals running back game. Similar to his quarterback, Conner’s return to action wasn’t spectacular, but it wasn’t anything to ignore either. Conner ran for 73 yards on 16 carries and was uninvolved in the passing game. I like Conner as an RB2 for his solid floor with touchdown upside, particularly in Standard formats.

The Dameon Pierce vs. Devin Singletary battle rears its ugly head once again this week. After Singletary redeemed his poor performance two weeks ago with a 30-carry, 150-yard effort (both career highs), fantasy football managers are praying Pierce takes one more week to get healthy.  Arizona represents the 3rd-easiest matchup for running backs, and if Pierce finds his way back onto the field, this RB decision goes from a slam dunk, auto-start to a muddy, unstable headache. Since the decision is easy if Pierce sits, let’s break down the scenario where Pierce plays.

Before going down with an ankle injury, Pierce was not playing well. Over his last four games, he had rushed 69 times for 227 yards and no touchdowns. That’s a 3.3 YPC average, rounded up. That is not going to get it done. My belief is that if Pierce comes back, he’ll return to the lesser half of a timeshare, probably about 60-40 in favor of Singletary. With the good matchup on hand, and a high over/under, I’d still be willing to play Singletary in my flex. If I had Pierce, I’d sit him and wait to see how this week’s timeshare plays out. If you’re desperate and need the start, you can plug in Pierce, but don’t count on him returning RB1, or even RB2 numbers.

Wide Receivers

Arizona Cardinals

Last season, when Marquise “Hollywood” Brown and Kyler Murray last played together, they had a pretty valuable rapport that was great for fantasy. Over the first six weeks of the 2022 season, when DeAndre Hopkins was suspended, Brown averaged 7 catches on 10 targets for 81 yards and half a touchdown a game. Those are the sort of numbers we should expect from this duo; they just need to get on the same page. Houston’s middle-of-the-pack pass defense could be the chance for them to do that. Hollywood has been bad if he hasn’t gotten into the endzone this season, but I like him to do so in this game. Personally, I’d play Brown over Amari Cooper, Courtland Sutton, and Diontae Johnson.

Michael Wilson, Arizona’s rookie wide receiver, has steadily been involved in this offense all season long. He’s only had one game of fantasy substance (7-76-2 back in Week 4 @ SF), so it’s hard to trust him as anything more than a deep PPR flex play. The positive spin is that he has yet to really build a rapport with Kyler, so basing his potential on his talent and opportunity, he could turn into a solid, fantasy WR2. But as long as Hollywood is healthy and playing, Wilson will be Murray’s 2nd WR option, but more realistically, Murray’s 3rd option behind Trey McBride.  Treat Wilson as a risky boom-or-bust flex play; he may not go off, but he probably won’t goose you.

Rondale Moore is a gadgety player who might have a glimmer of allure now that Murray is back at the helm. Last week, he did put up season-high totals in targets, receptions, and yardage. The truth of the matter, though, is those “highs” only amounted to a 5-43-0 line on 8 targets, certainly not something to get excited about. I have no confidence Moore, or anyone else deeper in this WR room can do anything of fantasy relevance. Brown, and maybe Wilson, are as far as you go with this corps of wide receivers, even in this potential shootout.

Houston Texans

The Houston Texans wide receivers need to stop drinking from the same water cooler because this injury bug that they have going around their locker room is not helping anyone. Nico Collins, Houston’s WR1, missed last week’s game with a calf injury but practiced Wednesday in a limited fashion. Noah Brown missed Wednesday’s practice with a knee injury, but played last week and went wild. Robert Woods missed Wednesday’s practice too with a foot injury but played last week. Tank Dell is the only Texans wide receiver you can trust from a health standpoint.

It might sound confusing, but ultimately, their situation is pretty straightforward: Dell – play him as a high-upside WR2; he’s been great and he should have a great game. Collins – play him if he plays. Starting off the week limited is a great sign of his progress, and if he gets in a full practice by Friday, he probably won’t have a designation at all for Sunday. Collins has been a stabilizing asset in lineups this year, and he should return right back to that role with Stroud on fire. Brown – I’m playing him if he’s active. Woods – he’s out regardless of whether he’s active or not.

Brown is really the only hard decision to make when considering their receiving options. I believe Brown has carved out a role for himself in this prolific offense. There are a lot of mouths to feed, for sure, especially when everyone’s healthy, but the way I see it is Brown is Houston’s knockout punch. They go to him when they need a big play, as evidenced by the fact that Brown is averaging the most yards per catch this season (20.9). He only needs a few catches at that clip to be start-worthy, and with him putting up 6-153-1 and 7-172-0 in his last two games, I’m willing to risk a dud for that high-end production. I’m starting Brown over Gabe Davis, Jahan Dotson, and Zay Flowers.

Tight Ends

Both tight ends in this matchup are great plays. Trey McBride proved to be Murray’s best friend in his first start in 2023. McBride erupted for 8-131 on 9 targets and there’s no reason to think that type of involvement doesn’t continue in Houston. Murray has always had his tight end be a preferred target; look back at what he did with Zach Ertz the last few years. Ertz is still on the team but is out for at least one more week on IR. Take advantage of McBride in your lineup while you still can. Personally, I believe he is a top-5 tight end this week.

It looks like Dalton Schultz has been sneaking into Houston’s wide receiver room and drinking their water, because he finds himself on the injury report alongside his teammates. He logged a limited practice on Wednesday with a hamstring injury. As long as his hamstring doesn’t keep him out, Schultz will be a solid play this week at TE. He’s been heavily involved over his last six weeks, scoring four times and averaging 5-62. I recently traded for Schultz and am excited to get him into my lineup in this hopeful contest. Personally, I’m starting him over Cole Kmet, Luke Musgrave, and Evan Engram.

The Cardinals and Texans don’t play each other very often, and that unfamiliarity bodes well for fantasy production. Murray and Stroud are fully capable of trading bombs, and that’s the sort of thing you look for in a matchup. If you want to know what else to look for, be sure to visit fffaceoff.com and check out all our articles, videos, and podcasts. Our helpful free fantasy football tools and metrics will set you apart from your league mates, and give you that winning edge. You can find me @WSFilosofee. Good luck and high scoring!

---