Week 5 Sunday Night Football Fantasy Picks: Start 'Em, Sit 'Em for Bengals vs Ravens

Two AFC contenders looking to get over the .500 mark meet on Sunday Night Football in Week 5 as the Baltimore Ravens host the Cincinnati Bengals. FanDuel Sportsbook's NFL odds list the Ravens as 3-point home favorites in a game that features no shortage of exciting playmakers.

If you need some help with your fantasy lineups, here's our start 'em, sit 'em advice for this Week 5 AFC North showdown.

Joe Burrow Fantasy

Start Joe Burrow, QB, Cincinnati Bengals: Quarterback Joe Burrow has a chance to light it up on Sunday Night Football. The Ravens are allowing the most passing yards per game (315.3) as well as the 10th-highest yards per completion mark (11.1) in the NFL. Keep in mind this is a matchup that Burrow dominated in 2021, too. The former LSU standout picked apart Baltimore's defense to the tune of 941 yards, 7 touchdowns and only 1 interception across two head-to-head matchups. If that isn't enough reason to start him, the Ravens are also giving up the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing QBs. This one is a no-brainer.

JK Dobbins Fantasy

Start JK Dobbins, RB, Baltimore Ravens: Fantasy managers that invested a mid-round draft pick on JK Dobbins started to see what he can do when fully healthy in Week 4, when Dobbins racked up 63 yards on 17 touches and scored 2 touchdowns against the Buffalo Bills. Seeing that kind of workload while only appearing in 50% of the offensive snaps goes to show how much head coach John Harbaugh trusts his starting RB to get the job done. Cincinnati's rush defense has been solid in 2022, but the Bengals have already allowed 2 receiving touchdowns to opposing RBs. Look for Dobbins' fantasy production to come through the air in Week 5.

Hayden Hurst Fantasy

Sit Hayden Hurst, TE, Cincinnati Bengals: The Ravens are getting torched by opposing passing attacks, but that helps out the Bengals' wide receiver corps more than it does tight end Hayden Hurst. Baltimore has allowed the eighth-fewest yards to the TE position (135) through four weeks of action. It's important to also note that Hurst heads into Sunday night dealing with a groin injury and only practiced in a limited fashion this week. It wouldn't be surprising to see his snap count drop a bit. Hurst has only scored double-digit PPR fantasy points once this season, so the downside outweighs the upside in this situation.

Baltimore Ravens D/ST Fantasy

Sit Baltimore Ravens D/ST: The Ravens enter this weekend as the seventh-highest scoring defense/special teams unit in fantasy football. That is thanks in large part to their 10 takeaways on the season, which is tied with the Philadelphia Eagles for the league lead. It's going to prompt some fantasy managers to view them as a defense to start in any matchup, but that shouldn't be the case. Baltimore ranks outside the top 20 NFL teams in statistical categories such as yards allowed and points allowed per game. The Ravens also gave up 41 points to the Bengals in each of their head-to-head matchups in 2021. Stream a defense with a higher ceiling instead.

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Larry Rupp is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Larry Rupp also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username phillyfan424. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel. 

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