Streaming your 2-QB fantasy football team’s QB2 position is a decision you can’t take lightly, because that second starting quarterback slot could sometimes be the deciding factor between a win or a loss.
Not every 2-QBer goes the route of QB2 streaming though, but if you do, then you already know how important it is to hit on your QB2. You want to second guess yourself as little as possible, and that’s what the QB2 By Committee Match Game column hopefully helps you do.
For Week 2, the top twelve fantasy quarterbacks are ranked pretty standard in the fantasy community, and those are guys you probably aren’t going to bench this week.
If you saw my rankings for the quarterback position this week on XN Sports, you’ll notice two QB2 options made my top twelve: Michael Vick (QB5) and Eli Manning (QB9). If you take those two players out of the equation, that leaves us with the following QB2/QB3 options, ordered by my rankings:
Carson Palmer
Jay Cutler
Sam Bradford
Terrelle Pryor
Chad Henne
Matt Schaub
Andy Dalton
EJ Manuel
Alex Smith
Joe Flacco
Josh Freeman
Philip Rivers
Ryan Tannehill
Ben Roethlisberger
Brandon Weeden
Geno Smith
Jake Locker
Christian Ponder
This would be a good week to keep everybody on the above list from Roethlisberger down on your 2-QB league bench, leaving us with the following QB2 streaming possibilities:
Jay Cutler versus the Minnesota Vikings
Sam Bradford versus the Atlanta Falcons
Terrelle Pryor versus the Jacksonville Jaguars
Chad Henne versus the Oakland Raiders
Matt Schaub versus the Tennessee Titans
Andy Dalton versus the Pittsburgh Steelers
EJ Manuel versus the Carolina Panthers
Alex Smith versus the Dallas Cowboys
Joe Flacco versus the Cleveland Browns
Josh Freeman versus the New Orleans Saints
Philip Rivers versus the Philadelphia Eagles
That’s 11 viable QB2 streaming options to choose from. Nine of them, highlighted in blue, have favorable match-ups, according to Pat Thorman’s chart, while only two, Dalton and Flacco, have unsavory match-ups.
Even though Dalton had a “tough” match-up last week against the Chicago Bears, he was still able to produce almost 300 yards of passing offense, to go alongside two passing touchdowns, and two interceptions. That’s a good sign, and something to keep in mind if you’re struggling with the decision to start Dalton or not this week in his unfavorable match-up versus the Pittsburgh Steelers.
With only one week of football played we still don’t have a solid grasp of which quarterbacks are more stable than others, and which fantasy defenses provide the best match-ups for fantasy quarterbacks. However, what we saw should at least help us decide which QB2 option is the way to go. For this week anyway.
For instance, we saw that even though Terrelle Pryor isn’t the world’s best real life quarterback, he was able to finish the week as a fantasy QB1, depending on your league settings, and that kind of upside can’t go ignored in fantasy football. Especially if you play in a standard scoring 2-QB format, which could make your QB2 streaming option easier, if Pryor’s in the discussion.
