Welcome back to another week "In The Trenches."
Every week we will take Bitonti's offensive line rankings and compare them to Mosqueda's defensive front rankings, and combine the two with the goal of isolating and discussing the choicest matchups. All of the matchups are listed at the bottom of the article.
Please note that this week we only have a limited amount of super choice matchups (2 rather than the usual 4). That's how the projections worked out this week. There are decent plays in the upper yellows, the +15 and above region.
Let's get after it!
DEFENSIVE FRONTS TO TRUST
PIT +30
Pittsburgh vs. Green Bay - Sunday 1 PM ET
BIT: Green Bay Packers' right tackle Justin McCray (a former Arena league guard who is subbing for Bryan Bulaga) left last week's home shutout loss with a knee injury. McCray has been practicing in drills but it is not certain he can start this weekend at Pittsburgh. In McCray's place, recently activated Jason Spriggs was flat out bad. This unit has seen more than it's share of injuries this season and while they are getting healthier (David Bakhtiari and Lane Taylor recently rejoined the lineup) this is an extremely unfavorable road matchup for what has been a sub-standard offensive line for most of the season.
OFFENSIVE LINES TO TRUST
ATL +27
Atlanta vs. Tampa Bay - Sunday 1 PM ET
BIT: The Falcons' offensive line is built around an outstanding center in Alex Mack and two above average tackles in Jake Matthews and Ryan Schraeder. Schraeder actually is coming off an injury which caused him to miss several weeks. But when he is healthy, he is an All-Pro performer. But all is not perfect for this offensive line as Atlanta's guard duo of Andy Levitre and Wes Schweitzer are getting flack for their unsteady performances last week in Seattle. This week they will again have a tough matchup against Gerald McCoy, the stud of the Buccaneers' defensive front. Still look for the Falcons' line to quietly roll along and allow the skill position players to create fantasy points.
OFFENSIVE LINE MATCHUPS
| Team | Unit | Rank | Team | Unit | Rank | Favors | Diff | NOTES | |
| Atlanta | offensive line | 2 | vs | Tampa Bay | defensive front | 29 | OL | ATL +27 | |
| Minnesota | offensive line | 13 | @ | Detroit | defensive front | 32 | OL | MIN +19 | |
| Tennessee | offensive line | 8 | @ | Indianapolis | defensive front | 24 | OL | TEN +16 | |
| Los Angeles (N) | offensive line | 10 | vs | New Orleans | defensive front | 25 | OL | LAR +15 | |
| Pittsburgh | offensive line | 6 | vs | Green Bay | defensive front | 21 | OL | PIT +15 | |
| Philadelphia | offensive line | 18 | vs | Chicago | defensive front | 30 | OL | PHI +12 | |
| Washington | offensive line | 3 | vs | New York (N) | defensive front | 14 | OL | WAS +11 | |
| Kansas City | offensive line | 15 | vs | Buffalo | defensive front | 23 | OL | BUF +8 | |
| Jacksonville | offensive line | 19 | @ | Arizona | defensive front | 26 | OL | JAX +7 | |
| Seattle | offensive line | 12 | @ | San Francisco | defensive front | 18 | OL | SEA +6 | |
| Dallas | offensive line | 1 | vs | Los Angeles (A) | defensive front | 6 | OL | DAL +5 | |
| Carolina | offensive line | 11 | @ | New York (A) | defensive front | 15 | OL | CAR +4 | |
| Indianapolis | offensive line | 25 | vs | Tennessee | defensive front | 28 | OL | IND +3 | |
| New Orleans | offensive line | 5 | @ | Los Angeles (N) | defensive front | 8 | OL | NOS +3 | |
| Baltimore | offensive line | 24 | vs | Houston | defensive front | 27 | OL | BAL +3 | |
| Miami | offensive line | 31 | @ | New England | defensive front | 32 | OL | MIA +1 | |
| Buffalo | offensive line | 16 | @ | Kansas City | defensive front | 17 | OL | BUF +1 | |
| Oakland | offensive line | 4 | vs | Denver | defensive front | 5 | OL | OAK +1 |
DEFENSIVE FRONT MATCHUPS
| Team | Unit | Rank | Team | Unit | Rank | Favors | Diff | NOTES | |
| Pittsburgh | defensive front | 2 | vs | Green Bay | offensive line | 32 | DEF | PIT +30 | |
| Cincinnati | defensive front | 10 | vs | Cleveland | offensive line | 28 | DEF | CIN +18 | |
| Jacksonville | defensive front | 1 | @ | Arizona | offensive line | 17 | DEF | JAX +16 | |
| Carolina | defensive front | 7 | @ | New York (A) | offensive line | 22 | DEF | CAR +15 | |
| Washington | defensive front | 16 | vs | New York (N) | offensive line | 30 | DEF | WAS +14 | |
| Baltimore | defensive front | 13 | vs | Houston | offensive line | 23 | DEF | BAL +10 | |
| Miami | defensive front | 11 | @ | New England | offensive line | 20 | DEF | MIA +9 | |
| Atlanta | defensive front | 12 | vs | Tampa Bay | offensive line | 21 | DEF | ATL +9 | |
| Dallas | defensive front | 22 | vs | Los Angeles (A) | offensive line | 29 | DEF | DAL +7 | |
| Cleveland | defensive front | 20 | @ | Cincinnati | offensive line | 27 | DEF | CLE +7 | |
| Oakland | defensive front | 19 | vs | Denver | offensive line | 26 | DEF | OAK +7 | |
| Seattle | defensive front | 3 | @ | San Francisco | offensive line | 9 | DEF | SEA +6 | |
| Minnesota | defensive front | 9 | @ | Detroit | offensive line | 14 | DEF | MIN +3 | |
| Philadelphia | defensive front | 4 | vs | Chicago | offensive line | 7 | DEF | PHI +3 |
DEFENSIVE FRONT RANKINGS
| RANK | TEAM | NOTES |
| 1 | Jacksonville | |
| 2 | Pittsburgh | |
| 3 | Seattle | |
| 4 | Philadelphia | |
| 5 | Denver | |
| 6 | Los Angeles (A) | |
| 7 | Carolina | |
| 8 | Los Angeles (N) | |
| 9 | Minnesota | |
| 10 | Cincinnati | |
| 11 | Miami | |
| 12 | Atlanta | |
| 13 | Baltimore | |
| 14 | New York (N) | |
| 15 | New York (A) | |
| 16 | Washington | |
| 17 | Kansas City | |
| 18 | San Francisco | |
| 19 | Oakland | |
| 20 | Cleveland | |
| 21 | Green Bay | |
| 22 | Dallas | |
| 23 | Buffalo | |
| 24 | Indianapolis | |
| 25 | New Orleans | |
| 26 | Arizona | |
| 27 | Houston | |
| 28 | Tennessee | |
| 29 | Tampa Bay | |
| 30 | Chicago | |
| 31 | New England | |
| 32 | Detroit |
Looking for the Offensive Line Rankings? Click Here: Week 12 Offensive Line news and full rankings
If you have a question about a player, team or matchup not specifically talked about in this article, please feel free to contact us via Twitter.
