Week 8 Fantasy Football Defensive Matchup Exploitation: QB

Eli Manning
Eli Manning
Oct 21 2013 East Rutherford NJ USA New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning 10 throws pass during the first half against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium Jim OConnor USA TODAY Sports

With six teams on their bye week and quarterbacks like Sam Bradford and Nick Foles going down on Sunday, there’s a good chance you need to do some lineup tweaking to get through Week 8. There’s no better way to do that than by exploiting good defensive matchups and avoiding bad ones.

Luckily, the quarterbacks facing the toughest matchups aren’t particularly startable. Mike Glennon, Chad Henne, Ryan Tannehill, Jason Campbell, Thad Lewis, Alex Smith, Geno Smith, and whoever starts for St. Louis are all being thrown to the wolves this week and should be avoided if possible. Terrelle Pryor has a touch matchup as well, especially against a defense that has only allowed 51 rushing yards to quarterbacks all season. They’ve held Jake Locker and Geno Smith to under seven fantasy points and gave up 11.46 to Jay Cutler and 13 to Joe Flacco. They’ve ceded a couple of solid games to quarterbacks against Andy Dalton (16.2) and Matt Cassel (18.42) but if you can avoid starting Pryor, you should.

Tony Romo faces a Lions defense that was tough early on but has allowed at least 16 fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks in four straight games, including one to Brandon Weeden, so Romo should be started.

On the favorable side, Matt Stafford, Michael Vick, Eli Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Robert Griffin, Colin Kaepernick, Tom Brady, Cam Newton, and, of course, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees have excellent matchups and should all be started this week.

Carson Palmer and Christian Ponder have favorable matchups too but they’re only startable in 2QB leagues and as sneaky daily fantasy plays.

Let’s take a look at all of the fantasy football quarterback matchups in Week 8.

Browse Matchups by Position: QBRBWRTE

Highly Unfavorable, Unfavorable, Neutral, Slightly Favorable, Favorable

Rank
vs
QB

AVG
QB
FPS
Allowed

Defense

Week 8 Opponents

1

11.3 Panthers Mike Glennon

2

11.64 Steelers Terrelle Pryor

3

12.73 Seahawks Kellen Clemens? Austin Davis? Brady Quinn?

4

12.91 Titans BYE

5

13.91 49ers Chad Henne

6

13.96 Patriots Ryan Tannehill

7

13.98 Colts BYE

8

14.11 Texans BYE

9

14.17 Chiefs Jason Campbell

10

14.26 Saints Thad Lewis

11

15.13 Browns Alex Smith

12

15.19 Lions Tony Romo

13

15.79 Bengals Geno Smith

14

16.28 Bears BYE

15

17.03 Rams Russell Wilson

16

17.4 Ravens BYE

17

17.42 Jets Andy Dalton

18

17.56 Cardinals Matt Ryan

19

17.96 Raiders Ben Roethlisberger

20

17.98 Buccaneers Cam Newton

21

18.44 Dolphins Tom Brady

22

19.58 Bills Drew Brees

23

20.26 Redskins Peyton Manning

24

20.32 Jaguars Colin Kaepernick

25

20.79 Packers Christian Ponder

26

21.05 Broncos Robert Griffin III

27

21.34 Falcons Carson Palmer

28

22.02 Vikings Aaron Rodgers

29

22.27 Eagles Eli Manning

30

22.7 Chargers BYE

31

23.55 Giants Michael Vick

32

24.39 Cowboys Matthew Stafford

*Values based on Yahoo standard scoring.

Browse Matchups by Position: QBRBWRTE

author avatar
Igor Derysh
Igor Derysh is Editor-at-Large at XN Sports and has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Herald, Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sun-Sentinel, and FantasyPros. He has previously covered sports for COED Magazine, Fantasy Alarm, and Manwall.com.