NFL Fantasy Football Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Week 10: Quarterbacks

Carson scored single-digits against the Cowboys in Week 8. But I’m not going to hold that against him. I mean, he was going against the Cowboys in the game right before his vacation. You always mail it in the day before vacation, why should you expect anything different from Carson? I can’t blame him for that. If anything, it makes him more relatable. Besides, he scored more than 27 points against the Giants in Week 7. He’s starting to get his buddies back. Dallas Goedert and Jalen Reagor rejoined the club before the break. Miles Sanders is expected to play against the Giants. If anything, this seems like a good place for the Eagles to make a run to the playoffs. Where they will eventually play the Bears again and make my life miserable.

Lock has put up some impressive stat lines against the Chargers and Falcons in recent weeks. Which is great. I mean, it does have that feeling of beating your friends in Madden who aren’t really into it as much as you are. And once you have to start playing somebody who plays as much as you and labs all the time, then you might find yourself in trouble. But I do like this matchup against the Raiders who have allowed the sixth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks this year. Lock has posted three consecutive games with three touchdowns. His receivers are looking great. We all had confidence the Broncos were going to be good offensively this year. We are finally starting to see it over the last couple of a weeks. Hey, sometimes you just need a couple of tune-up games to get your stride. That’s what it looks like for Lock.

Look, I’m trying to show a little restraint by not immediately jumping to the “who is playing the Seahawks” quarterback. Because it’s rather obvious. And almost doesn’t need to be listed in this space. But I did want to talk about Jared because he was sort of dreadful in Week 8 before his team’s bye. If fact, he’s scored less than 17 fantasy points in three consecutive games leading up to the bye. It’s like one of those things where you play Goff because the matchup is so good, but he ends up giving you just 15 fantasy points while Joe Burrow somehow gets 30 points against the Steelers. That’s not a knock on Joey, who we love. But the reality of the situation we are in. But remember. Josh Allen was in a huge fantasy skid and the Seahawks put him back on the map. There’s a term for what I’m thinking of, but I’m not going to use it here. But you know exactly what I mean. So start Goff this week.  

It feels like we are so close to having our Tua breakout game this season. He was good last week at Arizona. He threw for 248, a pair of touchdowns and also rushed for 35 yards. His touchdown pass to Mack Hollins was incredible. It carried a completion probability of 16.4%, the most improbable completion by a Dolphins quarterback over the last three season according to Next Gen Stats. And the Dolphins employed Brock Osweiler over that stretch, and you want to talk about improbable. Tua has the Chargers this week who have allowed the fourth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. And honestly, you look at the way these teams are trending and I want all sorts of Tua this week.

Mayfield posted single-digits in two of his three weeks before the break, having a 30-point day against the Bengals sandwiched in between. But we’ve been very good about when to use Baker this season. It’s like having a favorite lunch spot and you know the best times to go there. This sets up as a pretty good opportunity for Baker. Nick Chubb is expected to return and the Texans have given up the third-most fantasy points to running backs this season. However, they have also given up the fifth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks. This won’t be the kind of day where Baker gives you 40-plus points or anything like that. But I’m thinking of a solid 250 with a couple of scores makes him a nice streamer this week.

I don’t want this to come off like an overreaction. Because many of us are upset that Brady cost us the week. Well, not me. I defeated our defending champion Colleen Wolfe despite getting negative points from Brady (we do the 6:4 TD:INT ratio). But even if you look at this game and say to yourself, well, the last time they were embarrassed, they crushed the Packers. Which is true. But Brady threw for 166 and a pair of touchdowns. And this is different than his “on to Cincinnati” years where, when the Patriots had a bad loss, they had a system. The Patriots Way, which made everything all right. The Buccaneers don’t have that. You have an all-star team. You don’t have a “circle the wagons” team that has been through this before. I have him as a low-end No. 1 this week. I’m not dropping him to pick up Baker (who we like). But I have some concerns.

I hate to do this to my guy who has been fantastic during his rookie season. But his one blemish this season was on the road at Baltimore. So I’m going to avoid him on the road in Pittsburgh, too. He’s going to throw the football, which is good. He’s attempted one more pass than Patrick Mahomes this season, despite playing in one less game. But he has 11 touchdown passes, while Patrick has 25. This isn’t a knock against Joey. He’s a good player. But having a really hard time justifying him as a start this week.

I’m going to just put this out there. But the sit quarterbacks are the guys you weren’t going to start anyway, just to throw that out there. Maybe Teddy, who I started last week to some success. But this is a tough matchup for Bridgewater, even though the Buccaneers FPA will be skewed because Drew Brees and Taysom Hill were so good on Sunday night. But until that time the Tampa defense was one of the best in the league against opposing QBs (having allowed the second-fewest heading into Sunday night). I mean, they have still given up the sixth-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks, so let’s leave my guy Teddy on the bench.

You might be tempted to start Jones this week because he scored over 20 fantasy points the last time they played in Week 7. But let’s take a moment to really think about that game. What one play really stands out to you? That’s right. It’s this one. Jones had 92 rushing yards in that game (most on that play, obviously). Jones has rushed for just 24 yards in the past two games combined. Don’t chase those Week 7 points, especially since he continues to turn the ball over. Although he had only one turnover last week, so it feels like progress is being made.

I’m very nervous about this one right here. The Bears statistically are good against opposing quarterbacks. And if we’re being upfront, Ryan Tannehill wasn’t necessarily great against the Bears last week. But Chicago has lost three consecutive games. Its offense isn’t moving the ball which creates more opportunities for other teams. And there is a chance the Vikings roll into Chicago and put up 40 points. Again, I’m not feeling good about this one. However, waiting for Monday night and Cousins to put up a huge game gives me just as much anxiety the other way, too. I’d look for other options. 

You all keep asking about why you can’t flex Taysom Hill in fantasy. So we created this PSA.