Fantasy Football Rankings, Week 4: Quarterbacks

That was an amazing and crazy weekend of football! On the down side, the elite quarterbacks had a very disappointing week. According to ESPN's standard scoring, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rodgers and Cam Newton all finished outside of the top ten quarterbacks for Week 3. I was personally killed in all the leagues that I own Cam Newton. It's still early in the season, so don't start jumping off the elite quarterback wagon just yet. But if there are owners that are naive or are desperate at certain position in your league and own Brady, Rodgers or Stafford (all sit outside the top ten in quarterback scoring for 2012), make them an offer. These quarterbacks are not going to struggle every week and it would be better to have them on your team, than have to face them.

The bye weeks begin this week with the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers getting the week off. That shouldn't cause too much disruption for your fantasy team. A bigger concern is the Matthew Stafford injury. Last season, he was able to start all sixteen games for the first time in his career. His status will not be clear until later in the week and presently that looks like Friday. I really like his matchup against the Vikings at home but if he's not able to go, Shaun Hill will get the start. Hill is a very capable quarterback and in the games that he has started for the Lions, knows that he must target Calvin Johnson.

My predictions for quarterbacks to have a positive Week 4:

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bills - Fitzpatrick will be facing a Patriots defense that gave up close to 400 yards passing and three touchdowns through the air. CJ Spiller will probably be missing this one and Fred Jackson's status is up in the air, which points to more of a reliance on the passing game.

Christian Ponder, Vikings - Ponder is coming off his best game of the season and gets to face a weak Lions pass defense. He will also have a new target in Jerome Simpson, who should stretch the field.

A couple other quarterbacks that I think could break out this week with decent games are Josh Freeman (Buccaneers) and Kevin Kolb (Cardinals).