FANTASY FOOTBALL IN-SEASON FEATURES

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Prediction: BAL 17, CLE 23 (Line: BAL by 3.5)

Players to Watch: Greg Little, Trent Richardson

This is a replay of week four when the Ravens won 23-16 while the Browns visited. The Ravens are coming off a bye week which will help them but the Browns are playing better and came without seven in Baltimore. The Browns offense has been improving while the Ravens defense has worsened and allowed 72 points over their last two games.

The Browns have not beaten the Ravens in their last nine meetings back to 2007.

Pregame Notes: The Ravens lead the division and even though the defense has suffered notable injuries, the remaining schedule may smooth over the effects. That would be fortunate since the offense has been less than expected and yet still has all the same players healthy. The new offense had "the wraps" taken off and it still looks pretty much the same. If even that good.

Joe Flacco hasn't passed for more than one score since week three and stands at nine touchdowns against six interceptions. Problem too is that over the last four games, Flacco only threw three touchdowns and lost four interceptions. And it is not as if the rushing game is taking over and consuming the offense. Flacco passed for 356 yards when the Browns visited five weeks ago with one passing touchdown and his only rushing score on the year.

Ray Rice is decent this year with five touchdowns though each came in one of three home games against either the Cowboys, Patriots or Bengals. He comes off his worst game of the year with only 56 total yards in Houston but he almost always totals 100 yards every week even if he's only scored in three games. Even odder has been that his last three games only averaged about two catches for 24 yards in each when his first four match-ups averaged about six catches for 44 yards each week. Losing those catches hurts Rice's ability to produce as consistently as he has in the past. Versus the Browns, Rice rushed for 49 yards on 18 carries and added eight receptions for 47 yards.

Dennis Pitta started the year as one of the surprise tight ends but has evolved back into just another player. He's not been able to gain more than 33 yards since beck in week three and his slide started when he was blanked against the Browns with no catches on his two targets.

The low scoring and marginal passing yardage by Flacco has left the wide receivers with minimal fantasy value. Torrey Smith showed up for two nice games - both at home - but is marginal in all others and was held to fewer than 42 yards in each of the last three games. One of those good efforts was versus the Browns when Smith ended with 97 yards and a score on six receptions. Anquan Boldin hasn't scored since the season opener and varies greatly from week to week with as good as 131 yards (against the Browns) and only seven yards in Philadelphia. One qualifier to the big game when Cleveland showed up - that was without Joe Haden who is back now.

Flacco took advantage of the Browns missing Haden in week four and while Boldin gained 131 yards on the Browns earlier this year, he only managed 32 yards last year in Cleveland while being covered by Haden. The passing defense is much better in recent games since the Browns have not allowed a passing score since week six. They have also not allowed a rushing touchdown at home.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
QB Joe Flacco, BAL	@CIN	0	0	0	0	0	230	1	1
Flacco opened the season with 299 and 2 against the Bengals, but that was at home; he's topped 232 yards just once on the road (200 yards just twice) and thrown multiple touchdowns in one of six away from Baltimore. The Ravens are playing for seeding so expect to see the regulars, with Flacco sticking around at least long enough to collect the 217 yards he needs to reach 4,000 for the season.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
RB Ray Rice, BAL	@CIN	60	1	3	20	0	0	0	0
The 30 touches Rice saw last week should keep Jim Caldwell employed for at least another week, but with the postseason looming that large a workload here would surprise. Rice had 13 touches in the earlier meeting with Cincy but scored twice on them so fantasy owners didn't complain. This time around, they may not be so forgiving.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
RB Bernard Pierce, BAL	@CIN	30	0	2	10	0	0	0	0
Pierce's 123 yards last week were a season high for a Baltimore back, and with the postseason looming he could take another bite out of Ray Rice's workload this week--just not as big or as productive.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
WR Torrey Smith, BAL	@CIN	0	0	5	70	1	0	0	0
Smith scored last week against the Giants but will find the going tougher against a solid Cincy secondary that's allowed only four WR TDs in the past two months.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
TE Dennis Pitta, BAL	@CIN	0	0	5	50	0	0	0	0
Pitta scored in the earlier meeting with Cincy, but the Bengals haven't allowed a tight end touchdown since Week 9 so a repeat performance might be asking a bit much.

	Opp	fga	FGM	xpa	XPM	ConFac
K Justin Tucker, BAL	@CIN	3	2	2	2
Tucker is seeing multiple opportunities more often than not, but with Baltimore's offense going through some changes you're bound to find bigger numbers elsewhere.

Pregame Notes: The Browns come off a win over the Chargers that makes them 2-1 over the last three weeks thanks in great part to a defense that has played far better. A win this week won't change the fact that a losing season is pretty much a certainty but playing well at home is the first step forward and there is only a bye waiting next week to heal everyone up and assess where they are at.

Brandon Weeden was unable to score last week in the rain and wind but was on a three game streak of two touchdowns per week prior and while he did not score on the Ravens in the last meeting, he threw for 320 yards with only one interception in his fourth game ever played in the NFL. And that was previous to the many defensive injuries suffered by the Ravens. The Ravens secondary has lost their best cornerback and Ray Lewis is gone. And they have not been nearly as good as their ranking may suggest thanks to playing the Chiefs in week five. Weeden is still developing and will the rest of the year but he's much better than he was only five weeks back. The same cannot be said about the Ravens.

Trent Richardson has bruised ribs and was no lock to play against the Chargers but gutted it out and ended up with his best game of the year. He rushed for 122 yards on 24 carries with one touchdown. This was his second 100 yard game and while he only gained 47 yards on 14 runs in Baltimore, he scored once on them and added 57 yards on four runs. Now at home versus the Ravens missing their leading tackler Lewis, he's sure to have at least marginally better yardage and could show up big again as he did when the Chargers showed up last Sunday. WIth a bye week to heal up the ribs looming, Richardson should provide decent numbers this week as a fulltime back and could surprise yet again..

Tight ends have not held much importance in the game plans this year but notable is that the best performance by any of them this year was when Benjamin Watson gained 52 yards on five receptions in Baltimore. In most weeks, neither he nor Jordan Cameron have more than a catch apiece.

The rains of last week ended a nice streak for the wide receivers. Josh Gordon scored in three straight games before the Chargers tilt though he never caught more than three passes in a game and is just a deep threat that seems to score well. Greg Little even produced a season best five catches for 52 yards and a score in the week seven game in indy before succumbing to the weather limitations in the Chargers match-up. Travis Benjamin and Mohamed Massaquoi will be back soon and will only serve to give Weeden more targets and yet make the receivers even less reliable individually.

The Ravens were steam rolled by the Texans who scored on them using both the run and the pass with equal ease. On the road, the Ravens have allowed each opponent big games for their running back and well over 250 passing yards to everyone. This should be better than a Browns-Ravens game normally is.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
QB Brian Hoyer, CLE	@PIT	0	0	0	0	0	180	0	2
Figure Hoyer gets a chance to show what he can do as the #2 next year after the Cards bring in someone else.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
QB Thaddeus Lewis, CLE	@PIT	0	0	0	0	0	140	0	2
The practice squad player got called up with both Brandon Weeden and Colt McCoy questionable with shoulder injuries. Needless to say, not a great start no matter what.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
RB Montario Hardesty, CLE	@PIT	40	0	2	10	0	0	0	0
With Richardson out, Hardesty will take the start in maybe the worst possible venue to play.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
WR Greg Little, CLE	@PIT	0	0	2	20	0	0	0	0
Little was held to just one catch for six yards in the last meeting. This may not be that good.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
TE Kellen Davis, CLE	@PIT	0	0	2	20	0	0	0	0
On the one hand, only three teams have given up as many TE TDs as the Lions. On the other hand, the Bears ignore the position as evidenced by Davis' one catch for three yards in the earlier meeting. So once again follow Jay Cutler's lead and ignore Chicago tight ends.

	Opp	fga	FGM	xpa	XPM	ConFac
K Shayne Graham, CLE	@PIT	2	2	3	3
The Texans put up 29 on Indy a fortnight ago, 17 of them courtesy of Graham. With Houston still playing for home field, plenty of reasons to like Graham's prospects again this time around.

	Opp	fga	FGM	xpa	XPM	ConFac
K Phil Dawson, CLE	@PIT	2	1	0	0
Never in PIT.

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