Who Should I Start? Joe Flacco or Jameis Winston

Saturday, November 22, 12:03 PM

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco (shoulder) practiced in full on Friday and doesn't carry an injury designation for the Week 12 meeting with New England. He has been dealing with this injury for at least a few weeks but has played through it, so few were worried about his availability. Instead, the bigger concern is the one-week suspension of Ja'Marr Chase, leaving the veteran signal-caller without his top receiving option for Sunday's contest. With Joe Burrow (toe) out for at least one more week, Flacco may be making his final start of the 2025 campaign. To his credit, he's played well during his time with the Bengals, throwing for 1,453 yards, 12 touchdowns, and three interceptions while completing 63.4% of his attempts. He struggled in the recent loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Sunday's game versus a potent Pats defense might be one of his toughest challenges of the season, especially without Chase in the mix. However, several quarterbacks are already ruled out due to injury (there could be more), and others like Justin Herbert and Bo Nix are off on a bye, so a bigger argument can be made for Flacco to remain starting in all fantasy formats. He'll still have Tee Higgins, who has scored at least one touchdown in five of his last six appearances. Andrei Iosivas has also proven to be reliable (at times) when given an expanded role, and Chase Brown's pass-catching prowess should help even more. Granted, not having Chase isn't an ideal scenario, but Flacco still has an excellent chance of staying competitive with Higgins, Brown, and Iosivas as his primary targets in Week 12.

Saturday, November 22, 9:18 AM

New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston is set to make his second consecutive start in Week 12 against the Lions, with Jaxson Dart (concussion) ruled out. Winston was serviceable last week against the Packers in his first start of the 2025 season, completing 19 of 29 passes for 201 yards, one interception, and one fumble to go along with three carries for 10 yards and a touchdown. The veteran had a few turnovers like usual, but otherwise kept the Giants in the fight in a one-score loss. Winston started seven games for the Browns last year and delivered legit fantasy value, producing one top-five QB week, three top 12 weeks, and ranking as the QB12 in points per game (18.8). He gets a solid matchup on Sunday against a Lions defense that has allowed the 12th most fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks, and ranks as RotoBaller's QB24 for Week 12.