Fantasy Football Week Eight Rankings: Quarterbacks

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Week Seven in the NFL brought about some interesting developments at the quarterback position.

The San Francisco 49ers were down big against the Houston Texans until Alex Smith was brought in off the bench, nearly leading the team to a come-from-behind win. As a result, Smith has been given the starting position over Shaun Hill for this week’s game against the Indianapolis Colts .

In other news, the Buffalo Bills have decided to stick with Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback for Week Eight over Trent Edwards , who is still nursing symptoms from his concussion.

Then there’s Derek Anderson of the Cleveland Browns and Jake Delhomme of the Carolina Panthers , who are both hanging on to their starting jobs by a thread. As for JaMarcus Russell of the Oakland Raiders , he is just flat-out terrible, and don’t be surprised if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers start to ease rookie Josh Freeman into the mix with Josh Johnson .

Having said all that, there are some intriguing matchups this week, so to find out where your quarterback stands, continue reading the Bruno Boys Fantasy Football Week Eight Quarterback Rankings .

1. Philip Rivers (San Diego Chargers) vs. Oakland

The San Diego Chargers aren’t playing up to their potential this season, but one player on the team that is playing well is quarterback Philip Rivers . In his last three games, Rivers has thrown seven touchdowns with no interceptions, and he hasn’t had a pick since Week Two.

This week he’ll be playing at home against the Oakland Raiders , a team that he threw for 252 yards with one touchdown and one interception against in Week One. The Raiders put up a good effort in that game, but they’ve only gotten worse since then, and they are 25th in the league in points allowed. Look for a big day out of Rivers.

Point Projection: 22 Points

2. Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints) vs. Atlanta

Not even a 21-point, first-half deficit can slow down quarterback Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints offense. This past Sunday, Brees led the Saints to a 46-34 come-from-behind win over the Miami Dolphins , a game in which all he did was throw for 298 yards with one passing touchdown and two rushing touchdowns.

Sure he also had three interceptions, but his performance still equated to 19 fantasy points. Brees won’t throw three picks again this week against the Atlanta Falcons , and it’s likely he’ll get a couple touchdowns as well. Atlanta hasn’t given up a lot of points this season, but did yield 37 in this past week’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys , plus the Falcons are just 25th in the league against the pass.

Point Projection: 21 Points

3. Peyton Manning (Indianapolis Colts) vs. San Francisco

The season isn’t even halfway over yet, but if it ended today, then Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning would be the MVP. He’s playing at a level he’s never played at before, and with an average of 2.5 touchdown passes per game, you know he’s going to rack up the fantasy football points. The only question is "How much will he get in a given week?"

Well, this week he gets to play at home against a San Francisco defense that started out the season strong but has been pretty bad recently, including a performance in which they gave up 264 yards and two touchdowns to Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub in a loss this past week. Thus, you can expect another solid game out of Manning, who might be limited this week if the Colts get out to an early lead.

Point Projection: 19 Points

4. Jay Cutler (Chicago Bears) vs. Cleveland

It’s easy to be fooled by the Chicago Bears’ lackluster performance last week against the Cincinnati Bengals

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