Russell Wilson and Blake Bortles continue to be the best bets for quarterbacks in fantasy football. Wilson led all quarterbacks with 32.28 points in week 14 against the Baltimore Ravens. Wilson was our top start in DFS in week 14 and he’s looking like a good option again this week against the Cleveland Browns.
Bortles also continues his offensive onslaught and was on our start list last week. He’s been hot lately and that should continue with the quality offense in Jacksonville.
With the playoffs continuing for fantasy football owners, here’s our week 15 start ’em, sit ’em guide for quarterbacks.
Daily fantasy start of the week
Tom Brady vs. Tennessee Titans
There are several juicy choices for DFS starters this week with Cam Newton against the New York Giants, Wilson against the Browns and Bortles against the Atlanta Falcons.
Expect some big returns for quarterbacks this week, but for our money, we’re going with Brady to torch the Titans.
The weapons are getting healthier for the Patriots and Brady sliced through the surging Houston Texans defense last week. With a home game against the Titans, which will play its second straight road game, we like the Patriots’ offense to win out. And in the last three games, the Titans have been extremely vulnerable to the pass.
Tennessee has allowed 11 touchdowns through the air in the previous three games, while giving up 263, 322 and 330 yards passing respectively in the past three games.
With Brady’s weapons coming back, we can’t imagine the Titans’ secondary will do anything against Brady and the Patriots.
Start
Kirk Cousins vs. Buffalo Bills
You may be smirking at this suggestion, but follow us on this one.
Buffalo is playing back-to-back road games after losing a game in which they expended plenty of energy to win one for LeSean McCoy. The defense, known for being a top unit in the NFL, is actually ranked in the bottom-10 in passing defense. And the Bills have been susceptible to the pass recently.
Last week, Sam Bradford totaled 247 yards with one touchdown, and Brian Hoyer went for 293 yards with three touchdowns the week before.
Sure, Cousins has thrown up some bad performances this season, but when he’s on, he can score in fantasy football. He has five performances with 20 or points, and three of those have come in the previous five games. He’s a better quarterback at home than on the road, and we believe he can exploit the Bills secondary this week.
Phillip Rivers vs. Miami Dolphins
If you’re tired of the River carousel this season, get ready for another wild ride this week against the Dolphins.
Rivers has eaten up bad defenses, while struggling mightily against quality defenses. Luckily for Rivers owners, the Dolphins are a bottom-10 defense against the pass, and have to go cross-country on a short week after playing on Monday Night Football.
The Chargers have faced five teams in the bottom-1o of pass defenses. He hasn’t gone for less than 20 fantasy points in any of those five games, and he has 15 touchdowns compared to three interceptions.
His weapons and offensive line are getting a bit healthier, so Rivers should have a much better outing than he has these past few weeks against quality pass defenses.
Trust the recent numbers for Rivers and go with him this week against the Dolphins.
Daily fantasy sit of the week
Ben Roethlisberger vs. Denver Broncos
Denver’s a tough defense to exploit in DFS. Even with possibly the best receiving corps in the NFL, we still don’t believe Roethlisberger will be able to go for big numbers against the Broncos.
Denver still owns the best passing defense in the NFL and has shown the ability to sack the quarterback at a rate better than any defense in the NFL with 44 sacks.
And while we were impressed with Roethlisberger’s effort last week, connecting on 30-of-39 passing last week, he failed to register a touchdown against a depleted Cincinnati secondary. The Broncos will have a better unit than the Bengals, and should compete better.
We like the Steelers and Roethlisberger, but we don’t like for this game to feature many points for the quarterbacks involved.
Sit
Ryan Fitzpatrick vs. Dallas Cowboys
Fitzpatrick has feasted on bad defenses recently. He’s gone for more than 20 points in three consecutive games, but don’t lose sight of who those numbers were posted against.
The three opponents have been the New York Giants, Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans. The Giants own the worst pass defense in the NFL, while the Dolphins reside in the bottom-10. We already discussed the Titans’ recent deficiencies against the pass, so we don’t have to go too much in depth about how bad that defense has been.
Now, Fitzpatrick will have to face a competent pass defense. The Cowboys rank fourth in the NFL in pass defense and have only allowed 14 touchdown passes this season, one of the lowest numbers in the NFL.
Teams also attempt 32.5 passes per game, one of the lowest numbers in the NFL.
The Jets have weapons, but we’re not sold on the Jets offense this week coming off a short week. Take the defense in this case.
Jay Cutler vs. Minnesota Vikings
We haven’t been as down as some on Cutler. He’s been fairly consistent with holding on to the football and has put up decent numbers at times, including last week with 20 points.
But his final three games this season are against top-10 passing defenses. And while the Vikings have been dismissed for much of the season by the experts, they’ve shown consistently to play good pass defense.
Even with injuries on defense, we still like the Vikings’ matchup against Cutler. Cutler threw for only 211 yards passing during the last meeting and with the Bears’ season likely finished, and the Vikings fighting for a playoff spot, we like Minnesota’s chances.
We believe Cutler and the Bears will give up now that their slim playoff chances were dashed in the past two weeks at home.
