With Monday Night Football and NFL Week 10 behind us, Thursday Night Football and Week 11 are just around the corner as fantasy managers tackled the tumultuous highs and lows of the Fantasy Football season. Week 11 kicks off when the New York Jets (2-7) take on the New England Patriots (8-2) on another installment of Thursday Night Football. Ahead of the action, see which players we're starting and sitting for this AFC East divisional tilt.
The New York Jets come into Week 11 following a resilient 27-20 victory over the Cleveland Browns. A 42-yard receiving touchdown from RB Breece Hall early in the fourth quarter secured the win as the Jets' defense fended off a late-game comeback effort from the Browns. Winning their first two games of the season in consecutive weeks, the Jets will look to build momentum and turn the tide.
The New England Patriots are looking like one of the elite contenders in the NFL following a 28-23 win over the 6-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Remaining consistent and scoring a touchdown in each of the four quarters, quarterback Drake Maye and rookie RB TreVeyon Henderson ran the show accounting for four total touchdowns. They'll look to continue their dominance in the AFC East with a win here.
Sportsbooks are billing the New England Patriots as 11.5-point betting favorites at home. The implied game total for both teams is projected at 43.5 points.
Jets vs. Patriots Week 11 – Start ‘Em
Must-Start Players: RB Breece Hall (NYJ), QB Drake Maye (NE), WR Stefon Diggs (NE)
Patriots' Drake Maye currently ranks as the No. 4 quarterback in fantasy, averaging 20.8 pts/game on the season. His last two outings have been sub-par by his standards with modest fantasy totals of 16.36 and 18.1 For three-straight weeks prior to that, Maye has scored 23.0 or more fantasy points consecutively – start him without question despite two off weeks.
The same can be said of Jets' RB Breece Hall, who logged a solid 19.5 (PPR) fantasy points in last week's win. His 42-yard receiving touchdown was the cherry on top as Hall moves into top-12 territory, a mark he's been creeping around all season. Continue to start him week to week as he's the most explosive players on this Jets' offense.
Patriots' RB TreVeyon Henderson
The first 10 weeks of the season haven't exactly been the breakout many were expecting from rookie TreVeyon Henderson, he may have finally proved his lead-back potential with 14 carries for 147 yards and two touchdowns against a strong Tampa Bay defense. With starting RB Rhamondre Stevenson still dealing with a toe injury, Henderson certainly made the most of his opportunities, logging 75% of the offensive snaps in the backfield.
With the short week of rest heading into the Thursday game, the Patriots may err on the side of caution and allow Stevenson the added week to fully recover from the injury. Henderson has clearly shown that he can be effective as a workhorse back and having both players healthy heading into the playoffs may be the main focus for head coach Mike Vrabel and his team.
New England Patriots D/ST
After back-to-back lackluster weeks of allowing 23 points (ATL, TB), recording no takeaways, and totaling just 4.0 combined fantasy points, the New England Patriots' defense could be in-line for a big three weeks with the Jets, Bengals, and Giants on the schedule before their much-deserved Week 14 bye. Prior to that, their defense totaled 20 points against the Titans and 12 points against the Browns.
While they've improved over the last two weeks, this New York Jets are still allowing an average of 1.2 giveaways per game. They're bound to see their struggles against a stout Patriots D/ST that currently ranks No. 4 in fantasy football with 79.0 total points. Feel confident starting this unit as they should hawk the ball during the short week of practice.
Jets vs. Patriots Week 11 – Sit ‘Em
Jets' QB Justin Fields
While at the center of a quarterback “controversy” throughout the season, Justin Fields has managed to keep a cool head and lead his team to two consecutive wins. The Jets seriously have a chance to make light of a bad situation and Fields is the most capable quarterback to help them do so for the time being. He's seriously picked up his play and is making smart decisions at key points of the game.
The reality, however, is that Fields just isn't a reliable fantasy starter with how dependent he is of the matchup. Despite beating the Cleveland Browns in a strong effort, Fields' 54 yards passing, 28 yards rushing, and single touchdown translated to just 6.96 total fantasy points. Despite all he does in a multi-faceted approach for this offense, it hasn't been able to translate well to fantasy this season.
Patriots TE Hunter Henry
Hunter Henry has been a major boom/bust candidate throughout this season, particularly through the first four weeks. However, since then, he's only found the end zone once and has yet to surpass 10.0 (PPR) fantasy points since Week 4. There's always a chance Henry could cash-in on his opportunities as a reliable redzone option for Drake Maye, but the consistency hasn't been there for a while to confidently start him as a weekly TE1.
