The Dolphins-Lions Week 8 Matchup from a Fantasy Perspective

The Miami Dolphins will look to improve to 5-3 on the season when they face the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Sunday, and one of the many ways to examine the matchup is through the fantasy football perspective.

With that in mind, let's look at Sports Illustrated Fantasy Editor Michael Fabiano's Week 8 Start 'Em and Sit 'Em as they pertain to the Dolphins-Lions battle.

We'll list the players mentioned in the matchup with Fabiano's comments and offer our take on that particular projection.

Start 'Em

QB Tua Tagovailoa: Tagovailoa scored a decent 15.9 points in last week’s win over the Steelers, but I think he’ll be better against the Lions. While their defense did hold Dak Prescott under 13 points last week, four other QBs have scored 18-plus points against them, including two who went over 27 points. This should be a smash spot for Tua and the entire Dolphins offense.

Our take: Tua absolutely figures to be sharper in his second game back, and the Lions certainly would appear to represent a favorable matchup for him to put good numbers.

RB Raheem Mostert: Mostert has taken over the Dolphins backfield, seeing more than 41% of the backfield touches in two of the last three games. He should find continued success this week, as the veteran has a great matchup in Detroit. The Lions' defense has been shredded by runners, allowing 10 total touchdowns and the third-most fantasy points to the position this season.

Our take: Mostert undeniably has become the Dolphins' top back and he can put up stats as a runner or receiver.

Sit 'Em

TE Mike Gesicki: Gesicki went off last week, as he scored a pair of touchdowns and 24.9 fantasy points. That’s the good news. The bad news is that he had failed to score more than 4.3 points in four of his previous five games. So while he can have a high ceiling, Gesicki’s floor is low. Also, just one tight end has scored more than 9.6 points against the Steelers this season.

Our take: Our friend Michael often has this thing about Gesicki, but he's probably in suggesting we need to see big production from him in consecutive games before trusting him in fantasy football.

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FOR EVEN MORE COVERAGE ON THE MIAMI DOLPHINS, CHECK OUT SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S MIAMI DOLPHINS PAGE ON SI.COM

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More starts

-- Lions QB Jared Goff

-- Lions RB Jamaal Williams

-- K Jason Sanders

-- Dolphins defense

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SI.COM WEEK 8 FANTASY RANKINGS

QB Tua Tagovailoa — 6th

Lions QB Jared Goff — 13th

RB Raheem Mostert — 16th

Lions RB Jamaal Williams — 20th

Lions RB Craig Reynolds — 39th

RB Chase Edmonds — 45th

WR Tyreek Hill — 4th

WR Jaylen Waddle — 9th

Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown — 12th

Lions WR Josh Reynolds — 38th

Lions TE T.J. Hockenson — 5th

TE Mike Gesicki — 18th

K Jason Sanders — 7th

Lions K Michael Badgley — 24th

Dolphins defense — 9th

Lions defense —26th