Thursday Night Football: Fantasy Versus Decision Maker 

The Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens are set to kick-off week 4 in the NFL on Thursday Night Football at 8:20 pm est. on NFL Network. As if things couldn’t get any worse for the struggling Browns passing game, they will be without their number one receiver Mohamed Massaquoi (hamstring). Expect rookie Josh Gordon to get the start in his spot.

Baltimore on the other hand has looked pretty stout on offense, which is lead by Joe Flacco who is having a career season thus far. Star running back Ray Rice has been his normal self with 395 total yards and 3 total touchdowns.

Here is Week 4′s Thursday Night Football Fantasy Versus:

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Quarterbacks

Joe Flacco (Ravens) vs. Brandon Weeden (Browns)

Outside of Week 2′s impressive performance against the Cincinnati Bengals, Brandon Weeden has looked less then stellar. In those two other games Weeden has thrown a total of 6 interceptions while completing only 50% of his passes.

I’m not sold on Joe Flacco at all, however you’re starting him over Weeden tonight against Cleveland.

Running Backs

Trent Richardson (Browns) vs. Ray Rice (Ravens)

I had my doubts about Richardson entering the season, as I believed he was going way to early for a running back, a rookie nonetheless. After a rough first week, Richardson has put together back-to-back good fantasy games, and he could have had even a bigger game last week if the Browns didn’t get down early and completely abort the run.

You know what you’re getting out of Rice, so there’s no need to divulge into his impressive stats.

I like Rice over Richardson in this match-up, although I think Richardson finds the end zone tonight, and still should be starting in almost every league.

Wide Receivers

Anquan Boldin (Ravens) vs. Jacoby Jones (Ravens) vs. Josh Gordon (Browns) vs. Greg Little (Browns)

Torrey Smith is in a class of his own out of these receivers, and you’re going to start him in the majority of fantasy leagues. Consider him a No. 2 WR tonight.

It seems to me like Jones has surpassed Boldin at the clear cut number two receiving threat behind Smith. Jones has more fantasy points and the same number of touchdowns as Boldin, as well as out gaining Boldin in two of three games this season.

As already mention above Massaquoi is out for tonight’s game, so look for Little and Gordon to see the bulk of the targets. Little has been a huge disappointment this season after being on a lot of experts preseason sleeper lists. If he doesn’t get a grip on dropping passes he could very well be headed for the bench.

For tonight’s game I’ll rank them Jones, Little, Gordon, and Boldin.

Tight Ends

Dennis Pitta (Ravens) vs. Benjamin Watson (Browns)

Pitta was not thought of as a break-out candidate for tight ends this season, but after three weeks, he has clearly inserted himself into the top 10 fantasy tight ends moving forward. He is averaging over 10 targets through three games, which puts him in the class of guys like Jimmy Graham and Rob Gronkowski.

I like Pitta over Watson, but keep your eye on Jordan Cameron, who the Browns seem to like in the passing game.

Kickers

Justin Tucker (Ravens) vs. Phil Dawson (Browns)

Rookie kicker Justin Tucker has emerged as a top 5 kicker thus far in 2012 after going 7-for-7 earlier on. Old man Dawson still has good accuracy and a good leg, but he’ll not get the chance to kick field goals on a consistent basis.

I’ll roll with Tucker.

Team Defenses

Cleveland Browns D/ST vs. Baltimore Ravens D/ST

The Ravens are a top 8 defense week in and week out, give me Baltimore’s defense.