NFL Fantasy Football Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Week 8: Quarterbacks

We’ve been doing well with Teddy Two Gloves going by the book. I mean, outside of that game against the Bears (where the world knew not to play him), he’s been a solid contributor with at least 19 points in three out of four games. And I realize last week was a spot start for a lot of us in a desperate play, but he was good. Kind of like when you’re hungry and the only thing open is Taco Bell. Not that Taco Bell is bad. I would never suggest such a thing. But you probably didn’t wake up that day hoping to go to Taco Bell. Unless you’re 19. Then, I get it. The point is, Teddy was good. He scored more than Patrick Mahomes last week and now he’s got the Falcons who have allowed the most fantasy points to quarterbacks this year. I know it wasn’t that great for Matthew Stafford last week (more on that in a moment).

Dude. MJD was heated last week when I picked up Wentz on Thursday Night Football to start him against the Giants. I had Tom Brady and I wasn’t 100% sure the Bucs and Raiders were even going to be able to play, so I went with Wentz and MJD was big mad. Even more so when the Bears defense scored a cheapie touchdown to win the game for me against him late on Monday. Back to Carson, he has been better than a lot of people are giving him credit for after going over 27 fantasy points in back-to-back games, and 21-plus in four of his last five. A reason why? He’s rushed for five touchdowns this season. I know that one designed play call was sort of brutal. But give the Eagles credit for trying to get him into the end zone. The Cowboys have allowed the 10th-most fantasy points to quarterbacks this year.

Does this qualify as a Tom Brady REVENGE GAME? Going up against the hated Giants? And beating the Giants with an Eli Manning lookalike is kind of like going out with a person who looks like the person you just broke up with. So I’m looking forward to Brady throwing like five touchdowns in this game. One thing you really have to admire about Bruce Arians is that he loves to put the ball in the air a lot. Even in games where they are scoring a lot of points. Brady has been smoldering lately with at least 32 fantasy points in two of his last four. He’s been a top-10 QB three times this season. And the Giants have allowed the eighth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks this year. And also, REVENGE GAME.

He’s been too hot lately to even think about putting him on the bench, save for the most extreme cases. I know some of you are juggling Herbert with guys like Aaron Rodgers or Josh Allen. Maybe even Mahomes. This is going to be a situation all year unless you can deal one of those signal-callers. In the meantime, I’m asking you to check the rankings before you make a final decision. Or just go with your gut. Because here is what we do know about Herbert this season: He’s averaging 25.16 fantasy points this year, which would make him the QB4. The only thing that might give you pause is the altitude in Denver and the weather. But dude played college ball at Oregon, so he’s good. For the record, he played in the Pac-12, but never started a game at Colorado. Did play two late-season games at Utah, though, but those games weren’t cold. But he did have six touchdowns and no picks. Which doesn’t mean anything, really. But wanted to show that I went through his college career to help you out. You’re welcome.

How fun is this combination of Joey Burrow and Justin Herbert? The Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson of this year’s quarterback class, crashing the fantasy rankings like it was a wedding. Herbert is getting a lot of love (rightly so), but let’s not dismiss Joey either. His per-game numbers are a little down because of that disaster of a game against the Ravens. But Burrow has 300-plus passing yards in five of his last six games. He’s also scored a rushing touchdown in two straight. Love him this week against the Titans, who have allowed the seventh-most passing yards to quarterbacks this season. He’s a top-10 quarterback for me.

Brees has been fine this year. He’s averaged just under 19 fantasy points per game, which puts him right in the middle of the pack. But it’s fair to point out Brees has been much better at home than he has on the road. And I know it’s not always easy to play those narratives, but it’s true. That’s just the numbers. And speaking of numbers, the Bears have been very good on defense this year. The Bears have allowed the fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. They have allowed just six touchdown passes to quarterbacks this year. Two of them were from Jared Goff on Monday night. This is going to be a tough one. I know people want to pretend the Bears are the worst team in NFL history right now. But didn’t this same Bears team beat the Bucs? Who then embarrassed the Packers the following week? Stop overacting to the week-to-week and focus on the moment. This is going to be a competitive low-scoring game.

Stafford is your friend who you put all of your faith in to meet up with you for lunch, but you know that you’re getting a text at 11:50 in the morning to tell you that he’s not going to be able to make it. The only problem is, you’re halfway through a basket of chips and have ordered a pitcher of margaritas. (Don’t worry, I took a Lyft.) He’s currently the QB22 this season, with an average of just over 17 points per game. He’s got the Colts this week who have allowed the second-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. Watch, this will be the game where Stafford comes through because it always happens when you least expect it.

It's a shame that we have a quarterback for an undefeated team and his numbers just don’t translate to fantasy. Roethlisberger is really efficient right now. Part of it stems from the Steelers defense being so good, there isn’t the need to throw 600 passes this season. Roethlisberger has become that old guy who just sits there and throws for 250-270 with a pair of scores. Like that old head in your pickup basketball game who camps out at the 3-point line and doesn’t do much else. Like maybe play a little defense once in a while? No? Cool. I’ll grab your guy. But I’m going to pass (pun intended) on Roethlisberger this week. The Ravens have allowed eight touchdown passes this season. The fourth-fewest in the NFL. And then consider four of those touchdowns were courtesy of Patrick Mahomes. And you’re even more impressed. So bench him.

Cousins did have a decent point total against the Packers in Week 1 and, wait a minute, this divisional rivalry is going to already be completed by the halfway point of the season? Well, props to the NFL schedule makers who realized the Vikings would be hot garbo this year and just got them out of the way. But I will say Cousins did have a nice stat line against the Packers in Week 1 and if you never watched a down of that game you might have thought he was pretty good. But he wasn’t. The Packers were all up in his business in that game. And if you start Cousins this week, you’re basically hoping for another round of garbage time. Because the Packers have allowed just two top-10 quarterbacks since Week 2. And honestly, Cousins' only other great game was against the Falcons.

I’m only listing Jones here because I want to have the conversation about who is the fastest player in the NFL right now? And why is it Daniel Jones? Just kidding. Jones did have some pretty good speed in his rush down to the 10-yard-line. Wasn’t able to stick the landing though. The Bucs have allowed the third-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. I already feel bad for Danny. Like tripping on Thursday night wasn’t bad enough.

Fine. You want to know what to do with Tua? I would add him this week because we’ve seen enough of these young quarterbacks to know that he can be something special. I don’t necessarily love this matchup against the Rams who have played really well on the East Coast this year. I will tell you to always check the rankings, but I would start Tua over all of the “sits” on this list, however. Make of that what you will.