FANTASY FOOTBALL: Remember during fantasy playoff run that Bengals only want to run

Take a pass on Bengals’ air attack

Anybody whose fantasy football playoff run still includes Carson Palmer and Chad Ochocinco has a big problem: They aren’t all that important to the Bengals’ playoff run.

Of course they do play crucial roles in Cincinnati’s offense, just not in that statistical way that’s ever-so important to fantasy geeks. The Bengals are 8-3, dominating their division and apparently playoff-bound thanks to that age-old formula of running the ball and playing good defense.

Palmer and Ochocinco could bounce back this week against Detroit’s NFL-worst pass defense, but the Bengals have shown they’d just rather not throw. In last week’s win over the Browns — who also have a terrible pass defense — Cincinnati ran almost twice as much as they passed. They went for more than 200 yards on the ground while Palmer put up a JaMarcus Russell-like 110 yards passing and Ochocinco was nonexistent. Over the past four games, Palmer has two TD passes and two 100-yard games. Ochocinco is averaging four catches and hasn’t scored in that stretch.

Now that Cedric Benson is coming back from a hip injury, and Larry Johnson and rookie Bernard Scott have proven they can handle a heavy load, the Bengals have even less reason to throw. All three could get work in those key fantasy playoff games of Week 14 and Week 15, when the Bengals face the Chargers’ No. 21 run defense and the Chiefs’ No. 27 run defense.

While you wonder what Ochocinco will do to get himself on TV without catching the ball, here are some players to consider starting and some to sit in Week 13: