Week 10 Fantasy Football Defensive Matchup Exploitation: QB

Last week was one of the rarest weeks in fantasy football as it seemed like just about every quarterback put up massive fantasy efforts. Week 9 was an outlier, however, and good defenses will limit quarterback production more often than not.

This week, Matt Ryan has the most statistically unfavorable matchup but the averages don’t tell the whole story. Though they were vicious against Colin Kaepernick in Week 2, the only other quarterbacks they’ve held under 12 fantasy points have been Chad Henne, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Kellen Clemens. They’ve allowed 12+ points to Cam Newton and Carson Palmer and 16+ points to Mike Glennon, Andrew Luck, and Matt Schaub. Ryan isn’t going to explode on them but he is startable.

The same can be said for EJ Manuel, in 2QB leagues and daily leagues, against the Steelers. They held Jake Locker, Jay Cutler, and Geno Smith to minimal efforts early on but gave up 18.12 points to Terrelle Pryor in Week 8 and 33.18 points to Tom Brady last week.

Colin Kaepernick faces a Panthers defense that has yet to give up more than 16 points to a quarterback this season so he isn’t likely to have a big day on Sunday. The same can be said of Tony Romo against a tough Saints defense. Outside of two big games by Matt Ryan in Week 1 and Jay Cutler in Week 5, the Saints haven’t allowed more than 15 fantasy points to any quarterback they’ve faced this year. Similarly, the Titans have allowed two big games, one to Colin Kaepernick and one to Matt Schaub but have kept Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, Alex Smith, and Geno Smith to under 12 points so I would definitely stay away from Chad Henne. Cam Newton has been solid but the Niners have been fairly stingy with quarterback points this week so he’s not a lock either.

I would definitely stay away from Mike Glennon against a Dolphins D that hasn’t given up more than 11 fantasy points to quarterbacks since Week 4. I’d also stay away from Kellen Clemens, mostly because he isn’t very good. Seneca Wallace has a “favorable” matchup but likely isn’t startable until we’ve seen he can hold his own.

The Texans started out well but have allowed at least 17 points to quarterbacks in three straight weeks so Carson Palmer could be a sneaky start but by no means likely to explode. Joe Flacco, Andrew Luck, and Eli Manning all have tough matchups and certainly aren’t optimal starts. Andy Dalton, however, faced a Ravens defense that has given up a ton of points to quarterbacks since Week 4 and should be started.

The best matchups belong to no-brainer starts like Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, and Robert Griffin. Ben Roethlisberger, Jake Locker, Ryan Tannehill, and Terrelle Pryor all make for strong starts as well. Even Christian Ponder could be a sneaky 2QB or daily league play against a terrible Redskins defense.

Let’s take a look at all of the Week 10 fantasy football quarterback matchups.

Browse Matchups by Position: QB – RB – WR – TE

Highly Unfavorable, Unfavorable, Neutral, Slightly Favorable, Favorable

*Values based on Yahoo standard scoring.

Browse Matchups by Position: QB – RB – WR – TE

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.

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