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Week 10 doesn’t have too many bye-week issues with the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots and New York Jets sitting this week out. Tom Brady owners will get a week to sit and marinate on whether or not his Week 9 eruption of 432 passing yards and four TDs was a fluke.
Now that we’re approaching the playoffs, fantasy owners also have to start being aware of what their quarterback could be looking at for Week 15 in the fantasy semifinals or in Week 14 for teams that have quarterfinals. It’s almost pointless to break it down on which players may have bad matchups like the Seahawks vs. 49ers in Week 14, so owners might just want to take a look for themselves. Here’s a list of teams that are worth mentioning as good and bad matchups, though (based on a combination of sacks, passer rating, TD passes and yards allowed):
Good matchups: Eagles, Cowboys, Broncos, Vikings, Redskins, Chargers, Bills
Bad matchups: Panthers, Texans, Chiefs, Seahawks, 49ers, Steelers, Titans
Nick Foles (owned in 24 percent of leagues)
Where do we start? Foles lit up the Raiders on Sunday to the tune of 406 yards and seven passing scores on 22-of-28 passing. Those numbers are good for a 158.3 perfect passer rating, which doesn’t even do Foles’ game justice. To elaborate, a quarterback needs the following criteria for a perfect passer rating (Foles’ numbers in parentheses): a completion percentage of 77.5 percent (78.6 percent), no interceptions (no picks, obviously), a touchdown approximately once every nine attempts (Foles had one in four) and a yards per attempt of 12.5 (14.5). It’s kind of pointless to talk about picking up Foles since he has to be added in all leagues. Plus, his schedule is nice with Green Bay, Washington, a bye, Arizona, Detroit, Minnesota, Chicago and Dallas the rest of the way.
Terrelle Pryor (owned in 57 percent of leagues)
It was a tough day for Pryor. He watched Nick Foles carve up his teammates while he couldn’t hit pay dirt. However, he did put up some nice yardage totals with 288 passing yards and 94 rushing yards. Pryor’s completion percentage has taken a dip in his last three games, failing to complete over 54 percent in any of those outings. On the bright side, he seems to have figured out his progressions and the messy WR rotation in Oakland is becoming solidified. That’s important because a quarterback needs a routine and should know where his guys are on simple routes. You might have heard it’s not easy to play quarterback in the NFL.
He gets a couple nice matchups on the way, which is all owners can ask for with a backup fantasy quarterback. He gets this Giants and their easily burned secondary in Week 10, the Cowboys in Week 13 and the Chargers in championship week.
E.J. Manuel (owned in 5 percent of leagues)
He’s going to return to the lineup and was cleared to return to practice on Monday. The Bills didn’t have any home improvement with Tuel Time and Jeff Tuel, so their star rookie quarterback will be a welcomed sight. Manuel will have all of his weapons this week with C.J. Spiller reportedly healthy after Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs, while Robert Woods is also not banged up.
Case Keenum (owned in 10 percent of leagues)
Houston Texans quarterback Case Keenum almost put up a case of points via TD passes on Sunday Night Football, finishing with 350 passing yards, three scores and no picks on 20-of-34 passing. He was looking downfield a ton and his completions were good for a whopping 17.5 yards per average. The best part of this line, at least for Texans fans, is that Keenum didn’t throw any picks and he was only sacked one time while being hit six times.
The Texans simplified the playbook so far for the inexperienced Keenum, who has a fairly good arm to get the ball down the field. A go-to receiver is a quarterback’s best friend and he targeted Andre Johnson 13 times, good for 229 yards and three scores on nine receptions. They get a subpar matchup against Arizona, but things are looking up with the Jaguars twice, the Raiders (see: Foles, Nick) in Week 11 and a couple other above-average matchups along the way.
Jake Locker (owned in 38 percent of leagues)
Chris Johnson actually got the ball moving with a 150-yard, two-score game, but it didn’t translate to Locker putting up stats yet. The good news is that he had a solid 8.4 yards per attempt, and like with Pryor and the Raiders, the Titans finally have their WR depth chart figured out. Tennessee said that Kendall Wright is the team's best receiver, which was reflected on the stat sheet with his three catches for 69 yards on five targets. Nate Washington was shut down, but that shouldn’t be the case as the season moves along.
If you’re someone who looks at the schedule, you’d be hard pressed to find a quarterback in a better situation than Locker. He gets the Jaguars at home this week, the Colts at home in Week 11, heads to Oakland in Week 12, goes to Indianapolis for Week 13, then Denver in Week 14, before finishing against the Cardinals and Jaguars.