Two weeks remain in the fan­ta­sy reg­u­lar sea­son, mak­ing Week 12 an all-or-noth­ing propo­si­tion for own­ers scratch­ing and claw­ing their way into the playoffs.

The good news is that there are no bye weeks, giv­ing own­ers an unlim­it­ed land­scape to work with. On the oth­er side of the spec­trum is the real­i­ty some will face if fail­ure dur­ing the Thanks­giv­ing Day games fails to offer a need­ed springboard.

START: Derek Carr, QB, Raiders: Eas­i­ly the best stream­ing option at the posi­tion, Carr is in line to have a big Sun­day at the expense of a Fal­cons defense which remains the most fan­ta­sy friend­ly unit against oppos­ing quar­ter­backs. Only the Sea­hawks have allowed more pass­ing yards than Atlanta, which also ranks tied for 30th with 22 touch­down pass­es allowed.

SIT: Kirk Cousins, QB, Vikings: Cousins may be with­out WR Adam Thie­len — the league leader with 11 touch­down recep­tions — expect the Min­neso­ta offense to be heav­i­ly run-focused against the Pan­thers, who rank 27th in fan­ta­sy points per game allowed to oppos­ing run­ning backs. That means a hefty dose of RB Dalvin Cook, so don’t look to Cousins to con­tin­ue a hot streak that’s seen him throw for eight touch­downs in the past three games.

START: David Mont­gomery, RB, Bears: Week 12 may be the oppor­tu­ni­ty for Mont­gomery to reward his frus­trat­ed own­ers. Sched­uled to return off con­cus­sion pro­to­col, Mont­gomery gets a favor­able matchup on Sun­day night when he runs against a Pack­ers defense that is third worst in fan­ta­sy points per game allowed to oppos­ing RBs and has allowed an oppos­ing back to rush for at least 90 yards in four of their past six games.

SIT: Ronald Jones, RB, Buc­ca­neers: Out­side of his huge Week 10 per­for­mance against the Pan­thers, Jones has been a fan­ta­sy dis­ap­point­ment, hav­ing rushed for 34 or few­er yards in four of his past five games. Don’t count on the good times to sud­den­ly return as Jones and the slump­ing Buc­ca­neers run head­long into a Chiefs run defense that is less fan­ta­sy friend­ly to oppos­ing run­ners over the past month than they were ear­li­er in the season.

START: Jalen Reagor, WR, Eagles: There’s risk here, espe­cial­ly with the incon­sis­ten­cy of QB Car­son Wentz, but Reagor is the one Philadel­phia wide­out most capa­ble of exploit­ing the matchup against a Seat­tle defense that con­tin­ues to allow the most fan­ta­sy points per game to oppos­ing receivers. Fan­ta­sy own­ers will­ing to take a gam­ble could find them­selves strik­ing gold Mon­day night.

SIT: Jako­bi Mey­ers, WR, Patri­ots: Mey­ers’ reign atop the New Eng­land WR peck­ing order was brief as N’Keal Har­ry and a sol­id Week 11 out­ing from Damiere Byrd result­ed in him being an after­thought. His chances for a Week 12 rebound are slim despite play­ing against a Car­di­nals defense that has allowed the sev­enth-most fan­ta­sy points per game to oppos­ing wide­outs. Adding to Mey­ers’ woes: he’ll like­ly be shad­owed by All-Pro CB Patrick Peterson.

START: Daw­son Knox, TE, Bills: Why take a chance on a TE that has been injured all sea­son and has just 16 total tar­gets? Sim­ple: Knox has a very favor­able matchup as the Bills meet a Charg­ers defense that has allowed at least one touch­down pass in four straight games to oppos­ing tight ends. With much of the focus going toward slow­ing down WR Ste­fon Dig­gs, Knox should emerge as a stealth option, espe­cial­ly as Buf­fa­lo gets inside the red zone.

SIT: Robert Tonyan, TE, Pack­ers: Tonyan scored for the first time since his three-TD per­for­mance in Week 4, but remains an after­thought in the Green Bay offense, hav­ing been tar­get­ed just 10 times in the past three games. The Bears are the ninth-worst fan­ta­sy defense against oppos­ing TEs, but have yet to allow one to eclipse 65 yards in a game this sea­son, a feat Tonyan has achieved just twice in 2020.

START: Michael Pittman, Jr., WR, Colts: The rook­ie has pulled in 14 of his 18 tar­gets for 223 yards and a touch­down over the past three games, slow­ly emerg­ing as the go-to option for QB Philip Rivers. Pittman has an excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­tin­ue evolv­ing into a fan­ta­sy threat when he lines up against a Titans defense ranked 28th in fan­ta­sy points allowed per game to oppos­ing WRs along with being tied for 28th with 21 touch­down pass­es allowed.

SIT: Tom Brady, QB, Buc­ca­neers: This is not the week to gam­ble with Brady, who takes on a Chiefs defense that allows the 10th-fewest fan­ta­sy points per game to oppos­ing quar­ter­backs. The fact that Brady has not com­plet­ed a pass attempt of bet­ter than 20 yards (0 for 19) over the past month is also unnerv­ing to fan­ta­sy own­ers who rely on Tam­pa Bay wide­outs Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

START: Nick Chubb, RB, Browns: Back-to-back 100-yard games since his four-game absence is a clear sign Chubb has re-estab­lished him­self as a must-start run­ner. A third straight 100-yard game is in the off­ing when Chubb and Cleveland’s pow­er run­ning attack gets to feast on a Jaguars run defense that gives up the ninth-most rush­ing yards per game. Even bet­ter for Chubb’s fan­ta­sy own­ers is the fact Jack­sonville is the fifth worst in fan­ta­sy points allowed per game to oppos­ing RBs.

SIT: Antho­ny Miller, WR, Bears: The tar­gets are there (26 in the past three games), but the pro­duc­tion has fall­en short for Miller’s own­ers, who have yet to see him score a touch­down since Week 3. Miller hasn’t had a 100-yard game this sea­son and it’s unlike­ly he’ll do so Sun­day night against a Pack­ers defense that gives up the ninth-fewest fan­ta­sy points per game to oppos­ing wideouts.

START: Coop­er Kupp, WR, Rams: Tar­get­ed a whop­ping 40 times over the past three games, Kupp will remain the hot hand in the Los Ange­les pass­ing game when the Rams take on a 49ers team that held Kupp to just 11 yards and three recep­tions in Week 6. Don’t bank on a repeat per­for­mance now that the Rams appear to have opened up their pass­ing game.

SIT: Matt Ryan, QB, Fal­cons: Ryan has either thrown just one touch­down pass or failed to do so five times this sea­son, includ­ing three of his past four. With WR Julio Jones (ham­string) pos­si­bly miss­ing the game, fan­ta­sy own­ers should look else­where for bet­ter pro­duc­tion at the position.

This col­umn was pro­vid­ed to The Asso­ci­at­ed Press by Sports­Grid Inc., www.sportsgrid.com