Sleeper Watch

Plaxico Burress is out again this week, which means that Antwaan Randle El will once more take his place in Pittsburgh’s offense. Randle El played well in last week’s game in Jacksonville, catching five passes for 71 yards, and could be a useful emergency fill-in in deep leagues this Sunday.

Randle El’s Steelers hosts the 9-3 Jets in one of this weekend’s most eagerly anticipated matchups. The Jets have allowed just 191.1 passing yards per game this season thanks to a solid, opportunistic secondary that will pose a stiff challenge to Ben Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh’s receivers. But New York has to devote much of its attention to stopping the Steelers’ powerful running game, and the defensive backs should concentrate most of their efforts on Hines Ward, creating opportunities for Randle El to do damage.

The speedy receiver should also continue to return punts, a nice bonus in many scoring systems. He clearly isn’t among the top WR starts this week, particularly facing a unit like the Jets, but if you need to replace Burress, Ronald Curry or another injured receiver, you could do worse than to take a chance on Antwaan Randle El.