Getty Ryan Tannehill of the Tennessee Titans
Welcome to Fantasy Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em for Week 8 of the NFL season. In this week’s quarterback edition, we feature a recently appointed starter in Nashville gifted with a welcoming matchup. Plus, a former first overall draft pick that continues to take a slide down fantasy relevance.
* Reminder: Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em is intended to present you with the non-obvious choices for your fantasy lineup. We dig deep into player matchups, scoring trends, and other factors to best help you with your fantasy decisions. Superstars such as Patrick Mahomes will not be found in this column. If you’re looking for players of his caliber check out our weekly fantasy football quarterback rankings.
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QB: Start ‘Em
Start of the Week: Jared Goff vs. CIN
Jared Goff bounced back in a big way in Week 7 following a horrendous showing the game prior. Goff, who finished as the fifth-highest scoring player at his position a week ago, has now averaged 22.5 fantasy points in three of his last four contests. Cincinnati is the fifth-worst defense in fantasy football at defending quarterbacks. Over their past three games, they’ve allowed an average of 25.6 points to the position, with no opposition scoring less than 21 points over that span.
Teddy Bridgewater vs. ARI
Bridgewater surprised many by picking apart the once-vaunted Chicago Bears defense one week ago. This coming week he has a welcoming matchup with an Arizona Cardinals defense that allows the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. The Cards have allowed seven total touchdowns to the QB position over the previous three weeks. Bridgewater has accounted for the same amount of touchdown over the same time frame.
Josh Allen vs. PHI
Josh Allen returned from a bye week in stellar fashion for fantasy owners one week ago. While the Buffalo signal-caller only threw for 202 passing yards, it was the quintessential Allen fantasy performance where he found the endzone multiple times and ate up yardage on the ground. Allen has now scored 18.46 points in all but one game since Week 1. If you eliminate the Luke Falk game from the Eagles resume, they’ve allowed an average of 22.97 fantasy points to quarterbacks this season.
Sleeper: Ryan Tannehill vs. TB
Ryan Tannehill started his first game for the Tennessee Titans last week. The improvement to the team’s passing game was abundantly noticeable. Tannehill only threw six incompletions on the day, finishing with 300+ passing yards and 20+ fantasy points. Tampa Bay has allowed just one quarterback over their last four games to score under 23.68 fantasy points (Kyle Allen – 17.38). Since Week 3, opposing QBs have averaged three total touchdowns per game vs. the Bucs.
QB: Sit ‘Em
Sit of the Week: Baker Mayfield at NE
Are you seeing a trend? Last week our sit of the week was Sam Darnold, this week it’s Baker Mayfield. Is it a coincidence that they both had/have matchups with the New England Patriots defense? I think not. The Pats D is on an all-time great trajectory at the moment. They rattled Darnold so bad last Monday night that he sounded like a freshman quarterback making his first start for the varsity team. Mayfield has turned the ball over six times in his past two games. New England has allowed a putrid 3.62 point average to opposing QBs over the previous three weeks.
Jacoby Brissett vs. DEN
Jacoby Brissett is good at football. Not many people would have predicted the Colts sitting atop their division seven weeks into the season amidst the unforeseen Andrew Luck retirement, yet here we are. Brissett is coming off a four-touchdown performance one week ago. However, Denver surrenders the third-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. The Broncos have allowed just two QBs to score 8.58+ points against them since Week 1.
Buyers Beware: Carson Wentz at BUF
Wentz and the Eagles are coming off a horrendous showing in Week 7. The Philly QB has struggled to connect with his main target Zach Ertz all season long, and has struggled even more to push the ball down the field. Wentz has averaged just 180 passing yards per game in three of his previous four contests. Buffalo has held half of their opponents this season to 183 passing yards or less. They’ve also had yet to allow more than a single passing touchdown in any game this year.
READ NEXT: Fantasy: Quarterback Rankings Week 8