Week 10 byes: Cleveland Browns (Jason Campbell), Kansas City Chiefs (Alex Smith), New England Patriots (Tom Brady), and New York Jets (Geno Smith)
It was another week of hits and misses when it came to Week 9’s QB2 streaming options. Last week I chose Terrelle Pryor, Alex Smith and Jake Locker to be my primary QB2 streaming options for the week.
In standard scoring leagues both Pryor and Locker finished the week as QB2s, with Pryor a high end QB2, at QB15, and Locker a low-end QB2 at QB22. You can consider those “wins”.
Locker’s day could have been worse if he didn’t score a rushing touchdown though, while Pryor could of had a much better week.
A fantasy stat line of 16.92 standard points for Pryor is nothing to sneeze at in fantasy football, but Pryor did that without getting a single touchdown, and he also threw two interceptions. Either a rushing or passing touchdown would have put Pryor in the QB1 category for the week, so it could have been a much better fantasy week for him.
Alex Smith though. Oof. That was a bad one.
It just wasn’t clicking for Smith last week, and the Chiefs’ offense in general was playing in cruise control. When you can rely on a defense and special teams unit to put up points on the board, it creates a lack of urgency to score.
Smith and the Chiefs played like that for most of the send half, and Smith wound up scoring only 5.66 standard fantasy points, or 2.18 points more than a garbage time Matt McGloin.
Now that last week’s QB2 streamers have been dissected, it’s time to move onto this week’s QB2 streaming candidates of choice, but before we do that, make sure you take a look at my full quarterback rankings for 2-QB leagues in Week 10.
Week 10 QB2 Streaming Circle of Trust
Nick Foles
This might seem like a gimme pick, after Foles threw for seven passing touchdowns and 406 yards, but it’s not a gimme matchup. On paper the Green Bay Packers might seem like a great matchup for opposing fantasy quarterbacks, as they’ve given up the 13th most fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks.
But they’re a defense on the rise with the return of cornerback Casey Hayward, and they’re also expected to get the services of linebacker Clay Matthews this week. Those two players make the defense a much more dangerous one.
Still, it’s hard to forget what Foles did in Week 9 against the Oakland Raiders, shredding them for 406 passing yards, and seven touchdowns. It’s not likely Foles will put up similar numbers, but a methodical Josh McCown threw for 272 yards, and two touchdowns versus the Packers last week. If Foles can produce similar numbers, QB1-type fantasy numbers are within reach.
Christian Ponder
Fellow XN Sports scribe, and friend, Rich Hribar highlighted Christian Ponder as a player he trusts this week in his weekly Trust or Bust article, and I’m endorsing Ponder as a QB2 streamer, as well.
In Week 9 Ponder finished the week as QB13 in standard scoring leagues, and the week before he was QB12. In his last start before that, all the way back in Week 3, he was QB6. Passing wise, Ponder’s nothing to get too excited about, but it’s his rushing ability that intrigues me.
In his last three starts, he has rushed for a total of 113 yards, and four rushing touchdowns, which equates to an average of 11.76 fantasy points earned through the ground. When you can get at least ten fantasy points from running the ball alone, your fantasy value is going to go up.
Ponder is also aided by a matchup with the Washington Redskins this week, a team that has had difficulty stopping quarterbacks this year. Only once have they held a quarterback to under 200 yards passing, and that was Tony Romo’s 170 yards in Week 6.
The Redskins have also allowed a passing touchdown in every game this season, and when faced with mobile quarterbacks, they gave up 54 rushing yards and a score to Michael Vick in Week 1, and 33 rushing yards to Josh McCown in Week 7.
It might be hard to trust Ponder in your starting line-up, but you could do worse at the QB2 position this week.
Seneca Wallace
This pick is more match-up based than anything else, but a part of it also has to do with the faith I have in Green Bay Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy and his ability to create an offensive game plan around Seneca Wallace.
McCarthy attributed Wallace’s unflattering Week 9 performance to lack of practice time, and he could be onto something. McCarthy said it’s up to him and the coaching staff to ensure they build a game plan around Wallace’s skill set, and if they do, Wallace has a shot at surprising fantasy owners this week.
Playing against the Philadelphia Eagles doesn’t hurt either, as they’ve haven’t really been able to stop any quarterback this season. Eli Manning’s 246 passing yards and zero touchdown performance was the worst any quarterback has played against the Eagles this year, but that was still good for 9.74 standard fantasy points.
They even allowed Matt McGloin to throw 88 yards again them last week.
In his career as a starter, according to 4for4.com’s John Paulsen, Wallace has averaged 193 passing yards, 1.28 touchdowns, .62 interceptions and 14 yards rushing. Wallace has a chance to build on those numbers this week, and a plus match-up will be a much better environment than coming in unprepared as an injury replacement.
Stats used in this article from FantasyData.com, Rotoworld, and Yahoo! Fantasy Sports
