Week 16 of the fantasy football season is like that scene in The Jerk, where Navin R. Johnson jumps up and down with joy when the new phone books have arrived.
There is nothing in the world Navin was more excited about that the new phone books entering his life, and that’s how fantasy football owners who made the championship game of their league feel this week.
If you made it this far, and have a chance at winning fantasy glory, congratulations!
No matter what happens after this week, you can at least say you made the championship game, and got a chance to take home the crown. Only one other person in your league gets to say the same thing.
Below you’ll find my Week 16 quarterback rankings for 2-QB leagues, followed by my weekly Stock Watch report.
Good luck in your quest to bring home a fantasy title, and don’t be afraid to make a not-so-conventional move, if you feel it’s the right one for your team.
No matter how much fantasy advice you take, it’s your team, and you set the line-up. You don’t always have to dance with who you came to the dance with.
Week 16 Fantasy Quarterback Rankings for 2-QB Leagues:
1. Nick Foles VS Chicago
2. Jay Cutler @ Philadelphia
3. Russell Wilson VS Arizona
4. Peyton Manning @ Houston
5. Alex Smith VS Indianapolis
6. Kirk Cousins VS Dallas
7. Ryan Fitzpatrick @ Jacksonville
8. Andy Dalton VS Minnesota
9. Philip Rivers VS Oakland
10. Jason Campbell @ New York Jets
11. Colin Kaepernick VS Atlanta
12. Mike Glennon @ St. Louis
13. Matthew Stafford VS New York Giants
14. Drew Brees @ Carolina
15. Ben Roethlisberger @ Green Bay
16. Cam Newton VS New Orleans
17. Ryan Tannehill @ Buffalo
18. Tony Romo @ Washington
19. Matt Schaub VS Denver
20. Andrew Luck VS Kansas City
21. Tom Brady @ Baltimore
22. Eli Manning @ Detroit
23. Joe Flacco VS New England
24. Matt McGloin @ San Diego
25. Matt Flynn VS Pittsburgh
26. Matt Cassel @ Cincinnati
27. Carson Palmer @ Seattle
28. Matt Ryan @ San Francisco
29. Kellen Clemens VS Tampa Bay
30. Thaddeus Lewis VS Miami
31. Geno Smith VS Cleveland
32. Chad Henne VS Tennessee
Week 16 Quarterbacks on the Rise in 2-QB Leagues:
Alex Smith
Our good friend Alex Smith had his best fantasy day of the season, thanks in part to connecting with Jamaal Charles on four touchdown passes, in route to a five passing touchdown day overall.
Smith’s five passing touchdowns was the most he’s thrown in one regular season game in his entire career, and his 287 passing yards was his third highest output in that category this year.
On a five game hot streak, Smith has thrown for two touchdowns or more in each of his past five games, and has a 14:2 touchdown to interception ratio during that span.
Only one quarterback scored more fantasy points than Smith in Week 15, and that was Nick Foles.
A plus Week 16 match-up versus the Colts is on deck for Smith and his 2-QB owners, giving Smith another chance to have a decent fantasy day.
In their past eight games, the Colts have allowed three 300+ passing yard games, and an additional 275 passing yard performance.
The Colts have also given up multiple passing touchdowns in five of those eight games, and only one signal caller, Case Keenum, wasn’t able to throw a single passing touchdown versus them.
Jay Cutler
After all the hair pulling by Jay Cutler and Josh McCown owners going into Week 15 of the NFL season, Cutler was able to ease the concern of his fantasy owners who were willing to throw him back into the fire, and start him last week.
It wasn’t an easy start for Cutler, and he did have his ups and downs during the course of the game, but at the end of the day, Cutler finished the week as a Top-12 fantasy scoring quarterback in standard scoring leagues.
Now that Cutler owners in 2-QB leagues have seen Cutler finish a complete game for the first time in weeks, their patience will be rewarded with a plus fantasy championship match-up versus the Philadelphia Eagles.
On the year, only two starting quarterbacks have failed to score double digit fantasy points versus the Eagles, and they were Eli Manning in Week 8, and Matthew Stafford in a blizzard Week 14 game.
Sandwiched in between Stafford’s game are two 300+ passing yard games against the Eagles, with one coming from Carson Palmer, and the other Matt Cassel. In those two games, the Eagles have given up five passing touchdowns.
Cassel torched the Eagles defense last week for 382 yards, and two passing touchdowns, while also added a third score on the ground. Cutler has a shot at finishing the week as the highest scoring fantasy quarterback in Week 16.
There’s some talk Marc Trestman might bench his starters Sunday Night, so make sure you’re updated on Sunday’s actions, but it does seem highly unlikely Cutler doesn’t play a significant amount of snaps Sunday.
Kirk Cousins
The Washington Dumpster Fires took the field against the flightless Atlanta Falcons last week, and were a two point conversation attempt away from winning the game.
Kirk Cousins finished the game with a 29-of-45 for 381 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions day, and finished the week as QB8. There were both good and bad moments to Cousins’ 2013 NFL starting debut, but not enough concerns to not feel confident starting him this week.
Going up against the Dallas Cowboys, Cousins has another shot at producing a QB1-like stat line.
In their past two games, going up against Josh McCown and Matt Flynn, the Cowboys have given up a combined 647 passing yards, and eight touchdowns, and they only have interception to their name. McCown was also able to add a rushing score in Week 14.
If you’re trotting out Cousins as your QB2 this week, you might have yourself a QB1B on your 2-QB team.
Week 15 Quarterbacks on the Slide in 2-QB Leagues:
Case Keenum
Ruled out for Week 16’s game versus the Denver Broncos due to a sprained thumb injury, The Case Keenum show might be on hiatus for the rest of the season.
If it wasn’t for a rushing touchdown versus the New England Patriots in Week 13, Keenum would have went five straight games without scoring double digit standard fantasy points.
His back-to-back three passing touchdown games in Weeks 10 and 11 seem so long ago, and even if he wasn’t ruled out this week, it would have been difficult to trust starting Keenum as a QB2 in your 2-QB league championship game.
Matt Ryan
We looked at Matt Ryan’s Week 15 match-up versus the Washington Redskins, and put our faith in him to put up a quality fantasy start, but Ryan had other plans.
Facing a Redskins defense allowing eight straight opposing quarterbacks to put up at least 12 fantasy points against them, Ryan ended up scoring less than ten fantasy points, and had his worst fantasy showing since week 9.
A Week 16 match-up versus the San Francisco 49ers doesn’t bode well for Ryan’s prospects this week, and if you have a better QB2 option on your bench, you might want to start him over Ryan this week.
Eli Manning
It’s been quite the disappointing season for Eli Manning, as the man who was once King of the QB2 Hill, currently sits at QB22 in standard scoring leagues for the season.
If it wasn’t for Jay Cutler and EJ Manuel missing multiple games due to injuries, Eli could easily find himself outside of the QB2 tier entirely, and it could still happen.
On the year, Eli has thrown 25 interceptions to 16 touchdowns, with 25% of his touchdown production coming in Week 1 versus the Dallas Cowboys, and as the season has progressed, that doesn’t seem like much of an accomplishment.
It all came crashing down in Week 15 against the Seattle Seahawks, where Eli set a season high in interceptions, throwing five of them, and putting up his first negative fantasy points stat line on the season.
His 156 passing yards, while not pretty, wasn’t even the lowest amount of passing yards he has thrown for in one game this season.
In Week 3 Eli threw for 119 yards versus the Carolina Panthers, and in Week 10 he mustered 140 passing yards versus the Oakland Raiders.
Eli couldn’t be in a lower place than where he is at right now, but facing the Detroit Lions in Week 16 could give Eli a chance to give his 2013 season a rare bright spot. However, Eli has had plus match-ups before in recent times, and he wasn’t able to do a whole lot with them.
*Stats used in this article from FantasyData.com, ESPN.com, and Yahoo! Fantasy Sports. As always, TwoQBs.com is a great resource if you’re looking for a different set of 2-QB rankings.
