Those were all-time performances in week 8 by Drew Brees and Eli Manning. Brees went for seven touchdowns, while Manning totaled four touchdowns.
Don’t go too overboard with Brees and Manning just yet. Sure, they’re good starts on a weekly basis, but both have been inconsistent this season. Brees tallied 46.54 points in week 8, but he’s only reached the 20-point plateau one other time this season.
And Manning went for single digits in the two previous weeks before throwing six touchdowns against the Saints.
So, temper your expectations with these two quarterbacks going forward.
Here’s our week 9 start ’em, sit ’em list for fantasy football quarterbacks.
Daily fantasy start of the week
Ben Roethlisberger vs. Oakland Raiders
Wow, were we wrong about the Raiders this past week. We pushed in all our chips against Oakland as a viable fantasy football candidate and we got that stuffed in our face.
So, like all good prognosticators, we’re not learning our lesson.
Big Ben wasn’t good in his first week back from injury. But that’s to be expected, especially against a tough Cincinnati defense.
Without Le’Veon Bell, Roethlisberger will have to carry the team on his back, so expect a lot of throws. And with the specialty players still on the Steelers’ roster, we anticipate that will be a good sign for Roethlisberger owners.
We don’t like the Raiders having to play the early afternoon game, going from the West Coast to East Coast. Also, Oakland’s defense is the second-worst pass defense in the NFL.
Expect plenty of points in this game and don’t bank on the Raiders going for three straight wins.
Start
Jay Cutler vs. San Diego Chargers
We know you’ve about had it with the Chicago Bears and its starting quarterbacks.
But consider this.
Since week 4, the Chargers have allowed 22.24, 12.52 (Mike Vick), 19.60, 23.86 and 22.96 points to opposing quarterbacks.
The Chargers aren’t good on defense. In fact, San Diego isn’t any good at running the ball either, meaning the opposition will have plenty of cracks at their secondary.
And sure, Cutler isn’t a top option anymore, but he’s gone for 17 or more points in his last four starts. If Matt Forte misses extended time with an injury, the Bears may have to utilize Cutler more.
Jameis Winston vs. New York Giants
Maybe you have a bye week for your quarterback. Or maybe you have an option that just doesn’t work well.
You could do a lot worse than Winston.
The rookie is quietly becoming more efficient.
In his last three games, with two of them being on the road, he’s thrown four touchdowns compared to no turnovers. He has 15.26, 20.38 and 19.48 points in his last three games.
And in week 8 on the road against Atlanta, he led the Buccaneers to a victory without two of his top three receivers.
And did you see what the Giants did against New Orleans in the pass game? This will be back-to-back road games for New York and Tampa Bay is slowly becoming a tough game on a consistent basis.
Winston is becoming more comfortable and the Giants will offer little resistance.
Daily fantasy sit of the week
Aaron Rodgers vs. Carolina Panthers
Uh oh, Green Bay fans.
If that’s the Rodgers we see against quality defenses this year, the Packers won’t be going to the Super Bowl.
Rodgers was limited to single digits in fantasy points for the first time this season, and the matchup was too much for him and the rest of the team to overcome. We sat him last week and we’re sitting him again this week.
The Panthers can get after the quarterback, similar to Denver. The Panthers have the 13th-most sacks in the NFL, and are limiting opposing quarterbacks to a quarterback rating of 67.
Rodgers will do better this week, but he won’t be worth the price in DFS leagues.
Sit
Josh McCown or whoever suits up for Cleveland vs. Cincinnati
We hate road teams on Thursday nights. We especially hate them with a banged up quarterback.
McCown has been a viable fantasy candidate for most of the year, but after being hit continuously in week 8 against Arizona, we’re having our doubts about his future.
He still tallied 18.24 points against the Cardinals, but we’re wondering if he’ll even play against the Bengals.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati is undefeated and making things hard on opposing quarterbacks. The Bengals are allowing a QBR of 86.5 and have made things difficult on quarterbacks recently.
The defense has five interceptions in the last three games, so it doesn’t look good for McCown, or whoever the Browns truck out there for Thursday.
Blake Bortles vs. New York Jets
We’ve been impressed by Bortles this season. He’s gone for double-digit points in every week since week 1, and he’s gone over 19 in four of his team’s seven games.
After a bye week, it would seem that Bortles would be a good play, but we don’t like the matchup against the Jets.
We were all over the Jets last week to no avail. That will change this week as the defense should tighten up and should lock down on the Jaguar receivers. Let’s face it, the Raiders have more talent at that position than the Jaguars.
Look for the Jets to return back to being the Jets on defense, making life difficult for Bortles.
