Week six was dominated by big performances from quarterbacks, with one quarterback going over 500 yards passing and another throwing for four touchdowns.
Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford led all scorers with 33.90 points with his four-touchdown performance. Phillip Rivers’ performance in Green Bay netted him second place with 28.12 points.
Even our DFS bargain of the week, Ryan Fitzpatrick, turned in a top-four performance with 25.22 points.
There are more teams on bye for week 7, so make sure you have the right quarterback on your roster. Here’s our week 7 start ’em, sit ’em for quarterbacks in fantasy football.
Daily fantasy start of the week
Andrew Luck vs. New Orleans Saints
That’s the Andrew Luck we anticipated this year when he was graded as a first round fantasy football selection.
When he’s not turning the ball over, he can be deadly in the wins column and for fantasy football owners.
He threw for more than 300 yards against New England and totaled three touchdowns for the week’s third-best performance.
This week, we’re expecting similar results.
New Orleans owns the 10th-worst defense against the pass and we can’t forget what it did the last time on the road against Philadelphia.
Sure, Sam Bradford threw two interceptions, but those were mostly his own fault, and for the majority of the game, he sliced through the Saints defense.
The road woes will continue for the Saints and the Colts’ gameplan should feature plenty of Luck.
Start
Phillip Rivers vs. Oakland Raiders
We likely don’t have to mention Rivers as a must-start anymore after putting together another solid performance, but he’s been teetering on the start, sit line for the majority of the season, so we’re making sure you pull the trigger with him, especially this week.
The Raiders have been an absolute dumpster fire against the pass. Oakland ranks third from the bottom as a pass defense and teams pretty much abandon the run against the Raiders.
The opposition is throwing 41.2 times per game against Oakland, and as we noticed against Green Bay, the Chargers have all but forgotten about the run.
Rivers threw 65 times against Green Bay, and although we don’t anticipate that happening again, his streak of at least 20 fantasy football points should stay intact. He’s now gone over 20 points for three straight games.
He’s now a firm start for the majority of rosters and this week he should be one of the best plays in the NFL.
Teddy Bridgewater vs. Detroit Lions
There’s been a lot missing from Bridgewater this season. He’s not hitting on the deep ball and the lack of weapons is weighing him down.
Oh, and having Adrian Peterson in the backfield is limiting his opportunities.
But this week, the matchup is ripe for Bridgewater to start getting into a groove. Detroit isn’t giving up the most passing yards per game, but the other defensive statistics tell the story.
The Lions are giving up the highest quarterback ranking for a season at 110, the highest completion percentage at 73 percent and the most yards per completion at 9.1.
We’re not going to get too hung up on Bridgewater’s inability to produce much of anything this season. Charles Johnson could return this week and Stefon Diggs has emerged as a high volume target in the offense. The Vikings still found a way to win last week without Peterson doing much, so we believe it’s just a matter of time before Bridgewater gets going.
He should prove to be a good start this week at Detroit.
Daily fantasy sit of the week
Tom Brady vs. New York Jets
Not many fantasy football quarterbacks have been more reliable than Brady this season.
The veteran New England signal caller has the third-most fantasy football points among quarterbacks, so it may be a head-scratcher why we’re avoiding him this week against the Jets.
But in DFS, it’s all about matchups and this one just doesn’t work for Brady.
We’re not saying he will have a disaster, but we don’t anticipate he will be in the upper echelon of performers. The Jets are just too good on the defensive side of the ball.
New York is second-best against the pass this season, which will likely force the Patriots to utilize the running game more than having Brady pass.
The price will be too high for Brady to expect that big of a return in DFS. Go ahead and avoid him this week and wait for better matchups in the future.
Sit
Sam Bradford
We’ve liked the last few matchups for Bradford, but this week doesn’t work for the Philadelphia quarterback.
And while Bradford is looking better than earlier in the season, we’re still concerned with his inability to avoid turnovers. He has nine touchdowns to go along with nine interceptions. That won’t work well against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
The Panthers have been stellar against the pass, limiting opposing quarterbacks to a 68.8 quarterback ranking. The Panthers also create turnovers, generating the third-most interceptions in the NFL.
That’s bad news for Bradford, who just can’t seem to get away from throwing interceptions. The Eagles are improving on offense, but it won’t be enough to pass well against the Panthers.
Derek Carr
There’s something about the San Diego Chargers’ defense that should worry opposing quarterbacks.
We anticipated Aaron Rodgers to do pretty much anything against San Diego last week and he had a fairly average day for Rodgers’ standards with 255 yards passing.
The week before, San Diego shut down the Pittsburgh throwing attack (albeit without Ben Roethlisberger). In fact, two quarterbacks went beyond their capabilities this season against the Chargers – Josh McCown and Andy Dalton. Both quarterbacks are having good fantasy years, so we’re starting to take notice of the Chargers.
The Chargers own the seventh-best defense against the pass and are limiting opposing quarterbacks to a 60 percent completion percentage.
Also, after registering back-to-back quality performances in weeks 2 and 3, Carr has cooled off considerably, notching 11.84 and 9.86 points respectively in the last two games in fantasy football.
Carr may have his moments this season, but his inconsistency can’t be trusted. Go with the better matchup and stay away from Carr this week.
