Courtesy of NFL Fantasy, the Gridiron Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em is your weekly guide to how real-life match-ups influence your fantasy football squads.

Players like Antonio Brown, Todd Gurley, and Rob Gronkowski will never be featured in this article because they should be in your line-up every week, regardless of match-up. Instead, we’ll touch on some borderline fantasy start-sit decisions in this column.

(All fantasy data is based on point-per-reception (PPR) scoring)

Quarterback

Start: Marcus Mariota (vs. Colts)

The Titans are out of the doldrums of their schedule, and Marcus Mariota is back to performing near his ceiling. With two top-eight weekly QB finishes in Weeks 9-10, Mariota now faces a Colts’ defense that was just whacked by Blake Bortles (320 yards, 2 TDs, 112 passer rating) in Week 11. Mariota is also averaging a career-high 29.8 rush yards per game, buoying his floor if he struggles as a passer. Simply put: Mariota is dripping with fantasy upside in a likely competitive affair against a bad Colts defense that ranks dead last in pass success rate (43 percent).

Running Back

Start: Alex Collins (vs. Bengals)

As their injury situation has worsened across the board, the Bengals defense has fallen apart over the last five weeks. In this span, Cincinnati has surrendered an enormous 365.5 passing yards per game (worst) and 5.5 rush yards per carry (fifth-worst). The Bengals are surrendering chunk plays left and right, as 16 percent of all carries have gained 10 or more yards (eighth-worst) while 14 percent of all passes have gained 20 or more yards (third-worst) in Weeks 6-10. Collins has scored in three of his last four games and is coming off a season-high 51 percent snap rate. Giddy up.

Wide Receiver

Sit: Golden Tate (vs. Saints)

Until we see his usage spike, Tate needs to be on fantasy benches. In his debut with the Eagles last week, Tate played on less than 30 percent of Eagles snaps and saw just four targets. Outside of one deep crosser, three of Tate’s four targets travelled less than five yards in the air as Philadelphia apparently did not feel comfortable asking much of the former Lion. The Saints offer a fantastic matchup for Tate, but there is no way to feel comfortable playing him as anything more than a WR4 in Week 11.

Tight End

Start: Ricky Seals-Jones (vs. Raiders)

Tight end is an abject disaster this season and the Week 11 slate is brutal with six teams on a bye. If you’re desperate, see if ‘RSJ’ is on the wire. Granted, Seals-Jones has yet to find a consistent place in the Cardinals pass attack. His last five games have bounced all over the place (0/0, 5/69, 2/12, 2/12, 5/51) as his target share has been uneven with rookie signal-caller Josh Rosen. Week 11, however, could be a positively spiked week for Seals-Jones. The Raiders are hilariously permitting 2.51 PPR points per target to enemy tight ends, by far the worst clip in the NFL. The Chargers rarely use their tight ends and only managed 3/48 to Antonio Gates and Virgil Green last week, but Oakland was demolished by George Kittle (4/108/1) and Colts TEs (10/133/3) in their two prior contests.