Fantasy Football Week 13: Top 15 Quarterback Rankings

Thursday Night Football simply did not deliver in terms of fantasy points scored by quarterbacks. Drew Brees and Matt Ryan, two top-10 options at the position, combined to complete 46 of 83 passes for 506 yards, one touchdown and five interceptions.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, Brees was not the owner of the touchdown pass—ending an incredible streak of regular-season games with a TD toss that began in 2009.

Philip Rivers (San Diego Chargers vs. Cincinnati Bengals) and Carson Palmer (Oakland Raiders vs. Cleveland Browns) have tough fantasy matchups at home against Ohio-based NFL squads. In its last three games, Cincinnati has allowed just 549 passing yards and one touchdown while picking off three passes.

Cleveland has surrendered a not-so-grand total of 1,005 passing yards in its last five contests, in addition to two touchdowns and three picks. The trifecta of AFC West quarterbacks to avoid in Week 13 concludes with Brady Quinn of the Kansas City Chiefs—largely because he hasn’t thrown a single touchdown pass in five games.

The guy you can trust in the AFC West is a top-five fantasy quarterback this week. Read on to see where Peyton Manning stacks up with the best options, but first check out who didn’t make the cut below.

6. Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers (at Kansas City Chiefs)

7. Tom Brady, New England Patriots (at Miami Dolphins)

8. Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions (vs. Indianapolis Colts)

9. Colin Kaepernick, San Francisco 49ers (at St. Louis Rams)

10. Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts (at Detroit Lions)

11. Matt Schaub, Houston Texans (at Tennessee Titans)

12. Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals (at San Diego Chargers)

13. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Buffalo Bills (vs. Jacksonville Jaguars)

14. Josh Freeman, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (at Denver Broncos)

15. Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens (vs. Pittsburgh Steelers)

5. Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys (vs. Philadelphia Eagles)

Tony Romo’s Week 13 opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles, have not intercepted a single pass in their last five games. Romo’s inconsistency can be forgiven with a matchup against Philly on the horizon—he’ll be throwing a lot at home to exploit the Eagles’ awful pass defense.

4. Eli Manning, New York Giants (at Washington Redskins)

With a healthy Hakeem Nicks, Eli Manning and the New York Giants offense came out rolling in Week 12 against the Green Bay Packers. Manning threw for 249 and three touchdowns at home and will face a Washington Redskins defense on the road that allowed 441 yards passing to go with three touchdowns and two interceptions last week.

Tony Romo threw 62 times to accomplish that, but Manning should be a solid fantasy bet in Week 13 without having to chuck it quite that often.

3. Robert Griffin III, Washington Redskins (vs. New York Giants)

The New York Giants aren’t the best of matchups for opposing fantasy QBs, but Robert Griffin III has proved himself to be matchup-proof in his rookie season. The young passer has thrown for four touchdowns in each of the last two weeks.

That’s really all you need to know.

2. Peyton Manning, Denver Broncos (vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have surrendered an average of 339 passing yards in their last four games.

They’ve also given up nine passing TDs against six interceptions in those contests while stopping the run pretty well. Running backs haven’t totaled 100 rushing yards as a backfield unit in any game since Adrian Peterson and the Minnesota Vikings did so in Week 8.

The Denver Broncos are going to throw the ball. Peyton Manning does that very well.

1. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers (vs. Minnesota Vikings)

The best quarterback to have on your fantasy team is an angry Aaron Rodgers. It really doesn’t matter who Rodgers’ opponent is coming off an embarrassing prime-time loss to the New York Giants. He gets Greg Jennings back this week against a division rival, and the Green Bay Packers are still fighting hard for playoff positioning.

He’ll be at home against the Minnesota Vikings, who have allowed three passing touchdowns in three of their last four games (10 total) while intercepting just two total passes—so the opponent doesn’t hurt, either.

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