NFL Fantasy Football Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Week 11: Quarterbacks

Roethlisberger had been pretty efficient this season, but still didn’t have that one blowup game. Until Sunday. After he spent the entire week on the COVID list, his status in doubt, Roethlisberger threw four touchdowns. (And apologies to anybody who had to start Ryan Tannehill on Thursday night just to be safe). I don’t want you to think this is merely point chasing, either. Roethlisberger was a look-ahead sleeper given his matchup for those who have Josh Allen on a bye this week. And maybe you even started him in some other circumstance (it was just 25 percent of you, so don’t front like it was you). But we love this matchup against the Jaguars who have allowed the third-most fantasy points to quarterbacks in the last four weeks.  

Cam has become the Star Wars movies of NFL quarterbacks. Because nothing he ever does will be good enough, and people are just going to take to the internet to complain about him. He was good against the Ravens. He ran for a touchdown. He passed for a touchdown. And if it wasn’t for Jakobi Meyers stealing a touchdown pass from him, it could have been even more. But considering how many rushing touchdowns he steals from his running backs, we’ll have to call this one a wash. But he was good. Not excellent. But good. And we told you not to start him anyway because of the matchup and weather, so what are you complaining about? We will say to start him this week, however. The Texans have allowed the second-most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. 

Hmm. Maybe I should have said Cam was The Force Awakens of NFL quarterbacks, which would make Lamar The Last Jedi of quarterbacks. And before you say anything, The Last Jedi was both a visually stunning and a great movie. Told a great story. And honestly, I wish either J.J. Abrams or Rian Johnson had done all three. Because there would have been more continuity with the three. But that’s not what we’re talking about right now. The two Sunday night quarterbacks were good, and it would have been even better in decent weather. Lamar outscored Cam on Sunday night, and topped 20 fantasy points for the first time since Week 6. His 55 rushing yards was his lowest total since Week 5 when he ran for just three yards. The Titans have allowed just 36 rushing yards to quarterbacks over the last month but the ninth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks over that stretch.

Justin has been so consistent and excellent this season, even when he has a bad game – at least his worst game as a professional – he’s still pretty damn good, as he threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran for one. At some point, and I say this from a place of empathy, I hope the Chargers aren’t so, what’s the word I’m looking for? Chargers-like. Check it out: Herbert is the leader in the clubhouse for OROY, but his team has won only once during his time as a starter. I mean, that’s awful. The Jets provide not only an opportunity for a win, but more fantasy points, as they have allowed – on average – the fifth-most points to the position. And Herbert has scored at least 20 points since Week 3. 

Alex making his first start in 700 days was pretty cool. And if you weren’t rooting for him, I’m not sure that we can be friends. Because it was cool. He was also pretty good, as he threw for a career-high 390 yards against the Lions. He didn’t have a touchdown, as he was magnanimous enough to allow Antonio Gibson and J.D. McKissic to run for scores. He’s got the Bengals this week who have allowed a lot of production to quarterbacks this season. A team so desperate for help in the secondary, they tried John Ross at corner. He got hurt and is out for a couple of weeks. The Bengals have allowed 10 passing touchdowns over the past four weeks. If Smith can, I don’t know, throw some touchdowns to go with all of those yards this week, he could be a nice streamer this week.

You’re going to make me do this, aren’t you? Fine. I would start Cousins this week. This feels like when one of my friends convinces me to go to Fatburger instead of In-n-Out. I don’t think it’s terrible, but it’s just not my first choice. But Cousins has been consistent with at least 17 fantasy points in three of his last four games. He’s had multiple touchdown passes in four of his last five games. And the Cowboys are allowing 2.2 fantasy touchdown passes per game this season. That’s the third-most in the NFL. It’s a safe floor. So the question for you is how dangerous do you want to be?

I’m going to take a provisional shot with Jameis this week. Obviously we will continue to monitor the health of Drew Brees. But if Jameis gets the start, I might be rolling with him. I do want to say the Falcons defense has played much better in recent weeks. They are certainly not the layup they were early in the year. But this is still a favorable matchup as the Falcons have allowed the 10th-most fantasy points to quarterbacks over the last four weeks. And I understand there is going to be some hesitation with the specter of Taysom Hill getting a few chances here and there. But I like Jameis enough to get him into the lineup if he’s the starter.

UPDATE: Hill is starting and expected to get many of the reps. And if you’re looking for a “Danger Zone” type of play and want to risk it, then that’s certainly an option. But if you’re on the more conservative side, you’re probably going to want to look for some streaming options like Roethlisberger if he’s available. (And yeah, I’m still starting Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas.)

We took a chance with Tom last week, which I know seems weird to say about the G.O.A.T. But he’s clearly a week-to-week starter at the moment. Listen, this isn’t some Hollywood social club where you're granted status because you once starred in Boy Meets World. (And of course I’m talking about Ben Savage, because Danielle Fishel is still an A-lister, especially at the PWG shows she attends with her husband.) However, if you’ve been rotating Brady this season, you might want to keep him on the bench this week. I mean, I would love to, but my other quarterback is the next player on this list. So if you can, I’d avoid Brady against the Rams, who have allowed the second-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. They are fresh off a game where they harangued Russell Wilson and cost me the dub in my Second City League.

So Goff is going to be the one guy who isn’t going to take advantage of the Seahawks this season? I mean, I can feel that. One year while I was playing basketball in high school, I was the only player on my team who hadn’t scored in our matchup against Norte Vista High School. And coach was all, “let’s get Rank the ball so he can score.” I wanted to throw up. And this was with like three minutes left in the game. I finally got the ball in the basket with around 40 seconds left (and then eventually ended up with six points because I’m a ball-hog like that). The anxiety of just thinking about that moment still gets to me. So I feel for you, Jared. That’s a lot of pressure. And I will forgive you for last week (but won’t forget). I also won’t start you this week against the Bucs, who have allowed the seventh-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks.

I thought this season was set up for Wentz to make a run at the MVP award, given how well he finished last year playing with a seemingly anonymous cast around him. But he’s been awful this year. All right, that’s not fair. He was great against the Ravens in Week 6 and the Giants after that. But he’s posted back-to-back games with less than nine fantasy points. NINE FANTASY POINTS. And now Cleveland has turned into Ice Planet Hoth and no quarterback is putting up points against the Browns because the weather is turning into the 12th man. Benching Carson is a gimmie. My biggest question will be what to do with Travis Fulgham this week because he suffered.

My favorite Broncos YouTuber is Brandon Perna. He’s great. He tweeted out an astute observation about Lock. It’s not that he needs to come out and dominate. But you want evidence the team is moving in the right direction. I’m not seeing that. Brandon is not seeing that. So we are going to look other places. Lock has had some nice fantasy outputs, which has been great. But second-half rallies are unsustainable, just ask Tim Tebow. You need to see something. This Dolphins defense was good against Justin Herbert last week, and he’s a better quarterback than Lock, so I’m going to look past him as a streamer this week.