Week 12 Byes: Buffalo Bills (EJ Manuel), Cincinnati Bengals (Andy Dalton), Philadelphia Eagles (Nick Foles), and Seattle Seahawks (Russell Wilson)
Week 11 was just another ordinary week in the NFL, where undrafted quarterback Matt McGloin made his first ever NFL start, torching the Houston Texans’ defense for nearly 200 yards passing and three touchdowns.
McGloin finished the week as QB8 in standard scoring leagues, joining the likes of Nick Foles, Alex Smith, EJ Manuel, and Mike Glennon as QB1s for the week.
It’s been that kind of season, where some of our once shiny looking QB1s from August are losing their shine, such as Colin Kaepernick, who was QB20 in Week 11, and quarterbacks we never even heard of before, like McGloin get to join the ranks of the QB1 tier, even if for one week.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again, fantasy football is a weekly game, and if you rely on overall numbers, you’re going to wind up near the bottom of your league. You need to be on top of your fantasy team each week, and weekly match-ups play a large part of your strategy every week.
Even though it might feel dirty starting a McGloin, (Scott) Tolzien, or (Case) Keenum, and no that’s not a rock band, the computer system that tabulated the fantasy points at the end of the week can’t tell the difference between an Aaron Rodgers or a Ryan Fitzpatrick. Only you can, and hopefully you’re okay benching a brand name QB1, when the match-up dictates it’s the right call.
Below, as always, you’ll find my weekly quarterback rankings for 2-QB leagues, followed by my weekly Stock Watch report. Don’t forget to give TwoQBs.com some love, if you’re in the market for a different set of quarterback rankings perspective.
Week 12 Fantasy Quarterback Rankings for 2-QB Leagues:
1. Matthew Stafford VS. Tampa Bay
2. Drew Brees @ Atlanta
3. Peyton Manning @ New England
4. Case Keenum VS. Jacksonville
5. Cam Newton @ Miami
6. Mike Glennon @ Detroit
7. Colin Kaepernick @ Washington
8. Eli Manning VS. Dallas
9. Scott Tolzien VS. Minnesota
10. Andrew Luck @ Arizona
11. Tony Romo @ New York Giants
12. Tom Brady VS. Denver
13. Alex Smith VS. San Diego
14. Ben Roethlisberger @ Cleveland
15. Josh McCown @ St. Louis
16. Ryan Fitzpatrick @ Oakland
17. Robert Griffin III VS. San Francisco
18. Christian Ponder @ Green Bay
19. Carson Palmer VS. Indianapolis
20. Jason Campbell VS. Pittsburgh
21. Matt McGloin VS. Tennessee
22. Philip Rivers @ Kansas City
23. Matt Ryan VS. New Orleans
24. Joe Flacco VS. New York Jets
25. Ryan Tannehill VS. Carolina
26. Chad Henne @ Houston
27. Kellen Clemens VS. Chicago
28. Geno Smith @ Baltimore
Week 12 Quarterbacks on the Rise in 2-QB Leagues:
Mike Glennon
Since becoming the starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Glennon has scored at least 15 standard fantasy points in five of his seven starts.
In three of those five games he’s finished the week as a Top-12 fantasy scoring quarterback, or a QB1, as we like to call it.
His debut versus the Arizona Cardinals in Week 4 might have scared fantasy owners off, but for a freebie quarterback, he has rewarded 2-QB league owners that have stuck with him up to now.
A match-up versus the Detroit Lions, a defense that recently let Ben Roethlisberger throw for 367 yards and four touchdowns against them, is next on the docket for Glennon.
Week 12’s game versus the Lions will give Glennon a good chance at putting up QB1 numbers again, but after that, his rest of season schedule is no cakewalk. Only one plus match-up versus the Buffalo Bills in Week 14 is left, after the Lions in Week 12, so if you have a trade deadline coming up, you might want to shop Glennon before it’s too late.
Matt McGloin
Matt McGloin: Dream Chaser, can now be named Matt McGloin: Starting Quarterback.
The Oakland Raiders were looking for any excuse to give McGloin an extended look at what he could do as the team’s starting quarterback, and his performance versus one of the top ranked defenses in the NFL was exactly what they needed for that to happen.
The team already announced McGloin as their starter this week versus the Tennessee Titans, in what should be another tough matchup.
The Titans are allowing only 0.7 passing touchdowns per game, best in the NFL, and alongside the Carolina Panthers, they are the only two defenses to allow less than one full passing touchdown per game.
What’s even crazier about that stat for the Titans, is three of the seven passing touchdowns they’ve allowed came in one game from Matt Schaub.
Also, five quarterbacks (Alex Smith, Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick, Chad Henne, Andrew Luck) didn’t throw a single passing touchdowns when they faced the Titans this year. Although, Kaepernick and Luck did scoring a rushing touchdown each.
It’s going to be a difficult match-up for McGloin this week, but we thought that last week, too, and look how that turned out.
Cam Newton
Cam Newton had to put the offense on his shoulders Week 11 versus the New England Patriots, and he did exactly that, going 19-of-28 for 209 yards, and three touchdowns. He also added 62 yards on the ground, which lead to a total of 26.56 standard fantasy points. Those numbers were second best to Ben Roethlisberger and his four passing touchdown day.
The next two games for Newton have him squaring off versus the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, so he has a couple of more chances to keep his stock up, before a daunting three game stretch versus the New Orleans Saints (twice), and the New York Jets during the fantasy playoffs.
Week 12 Quarterbacks on the Slide in 2-QB Leagues:
Geno Smith
Well, it happened again. Geno Smith followed another good game, well only an okay game really, in Week 9, with a bad game in Week 11. And his latest bad game was was a truly bad game.
There were a number of categories Smith had a season low in during his abysmal Week 11 performance, including completion percentage, quarterback rating, passing yards, and passing yards per attempt.
Smith also shot blanks in the passing touchdown department, while adding three interceptions, and a lost fumble. Those four total turnovers added to the turnover body count for Smith, and he now has a total of 20 turnovers on the season (16 interceptions/4 fumbles lost).
With the New York Jets still in the playoff hunt, Head Coach Rex Ryan can’t afford to lose games because of his rookie quarterback’s inconsistency, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Smith wind up on the bench again at this point in the season.
The only thing keeping that from becoming a permeant move is because Matt Simms is the team’s back-up quarterback. Smith has a chance to turn his play around, and if his good/bad game routine continues, Smith will turn in a good performance versus the Baltimore Ravens this week.
In their last three games the Ravens have given up an average of 18.4 fantasy points/game, and that was to Jason Campbell, Andy Dalton, and Josh McCown. Now it’s up to Smith to see if he can keep the trend going.
Terrelle Pryor
A lot of hopes were pinned on Terrelle Pryor early in the fantasy season, after his blazing hot start to the season, thanks in large part to his rushing ability. However, his passing was much improved, too, making many a believer out of Pryor.
The lustre began to wear off though, at a certain point, when his passing game declined, and he was relying solely on his feet to make plays, and score fantasy points.
We don’t care how we get our fantasy points, and if Pryor wanted to rush for 100+ yards, which he did twice this season, we’ll take it.
NFL decision makers, such as head coaches, and general managers, do care how their players perform though, and Pryor’s injury, coupled with his recent on the field play at the quarterback position, led to a quarterback change.
Out goes the #KonamiCode king Pryor, and in comes the undrafted McGloin.
In just one game, McGloin threw three passing touchdowns, and zero interceptions.
Pryor hasn’t thrown for more than two passing touchdowns all season, and only has five passing touchdowns in total on the year. Also, Pryor went four straight games throwing at least one interception, getting picked a total of eight times in his last four games.
The Raiders are giving McGloin another start this week, and if he performs admirably well, Pryor might have lost his starting quarterback job permanently.
Jason Campbell
It was a great start to Jason Campbell’s turn at the quarterbacking wheels for the Cleveland Browns, putting up two games of 20+ fantasy points, and finishing as a fantasy QB1 both of those weeks.
Week 11 was a different story though, as Campbell saw himself finish the week as QB28, after throwing three interceptions to only one touchdown versus the Cincinnati Bengals.
A match-up versus the Pittsburgh Steelers this week will give Campbell a chance to redeems himself.
Even though the Steelers are allowing the ninth fewest points to opposing quarterbacks this year, they’ve allowed an average of 22.64 fantasy points/game in their last three, and that included surrendering a combined seven passing touchdowns, and one game of 400+ passing yards (Tom Brady), and another 350+ passing yards game (Matthew Stafford).
Campbell isn’t in the same league as Brady and Stafford, but Joe Flacco and Matt Cassel were each able to score at least 14 fantasy points versus the Steelers this year, and Cassel finished the week as a QB1 when he faced the Steelers.
Stats used in this article from FantasyData.com, ESPN.com, Rotoworld, and Yahoo! Fantasy Sports
