Week 10 Fantasy Football Defensive Matchup Exploitation: QB

Nick Foles
Nick Foles
Nov 3 2013 Oakland CA USA Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles 9 drops back for a pass during the first quarter against the Oakland Raiders at Oco Coliseum Ed Szczepanski USA TODAY Sports

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: QBRBWRTE

Highly Unfavorable, Unfavorable, Neutral, Slightly Favorable, Favorable

Rank
vs
QB

AVG
QB
FPS
Allowed

Defense

Week 10 Opponents

1

11.83 Seahawks Matt Ryan

2

11.96 Panthers Colin Kaepernick

3

12.91 Steelers EJ Manuel

4

13.49 Saints Tony Romo

5

14.03 Titans Chad Henne

6

14.53 Texans Carson Palmer

7

14.77 Patriots BYE

8

14.96 49ers Cam Newton

9

15.04 Chiefs BYE

10

15.53 Dolphins Mike Glennon

11

15.75 Colts Kellen Clemens

12

16.3 Bengals Joe Flacco

13

16.51 Rams Andrew Luck

14

16.76 Ravens Andy Dalton

15

16.92 Browns BYE

16

17.27 Raiders Eli Manning

17

17.38 Cardinals Case Keenum

18

17.43 Lions Jay Cutler (Q), Josh McCown

19

17.85 Bears Matthew Stafford

20

18.29 Jets BYE

21

18.64 Packers Nick Foles

22

18.94 Giants Terrelle Pryor

23

19.78 Eagles Seneca Wallace

24

19.86 Falcons Russell Wilson

25

19.92 Buccaneers Ryan Tannehill

26

20.25 Redskins Christian Ponder

27

20.29 Broncos Philip Rivers

28

20.73 Vikings Robert Griffin III

29

20.74 Jaguars Jake Locker

30

20.86 Bills Ben Roethlisberger

31

21.2 Chargers Peyton Manning

32

22.87 Cowboys Drew Brees

*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.