Week 3 Fantasy Football Rankings: 5 Quarterbacks with the Best Matchups

The first two weeks of the 2011 NFL season have been characterized by passing yards, passing yards and more passing yards.

There have certainly been a lot of them, and many of them have come from a select few quarterbacks. In fact, Gregg Easterbrook pointed out in an ESPN Page 2 column that there are currently five quarterbacks on pace to break Dan Marino's single-season record of 5,084 passing yards.

Upon reading this, every fantasy football owner in the galaxy simultaneously mumbled, "Sweet..."

I couldn't agree more. The only question now is who the big producers are going to be in Week 3.

Well, I don't have the crystal ball required to answer that question, but I can tell you which five quarterbacks have the most favorable matchups.

5. Andy Dalton vs. San Francisco 49ers

If it's okay with you, I'm going to kick this list off with a little bit of a wild card.

In case you missed it, Dalton was very impressive against the Denver Broncos in Week 2; he completed 66 percent of his passes for 332 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Now he gets to face the 49ers.

The Niners did not have a banner day in pass defense on Sunday. They gave up 427 passing yards to an injured Tony Romo and Jon Kitna, who is Jon Kitna.

That's not a badge of honor and it goes to show that San Francisco's domination of Tarvaris Jackson in Week 1 was a little misleading. Just as Jon Kitna is Jon Kitna, Tarvaris Jackson is Tarvaris Jackson.

On Sunday, Andy Dalton will be Andy Dalton. In case you're confused at this point (I don't blame you), that's a good thing. So far, anyway.

4. Mark Sanchez vs. Oakland Raiders

It's hard to classify the first two games of Mark Sanchez's 2011 season. He hasn't been great, he hasn't been bad. What he has been, I guess, is better.

The Raiders are going to find out for themselves on Sunday. After having their way with Kyle Orton in Week 1, the Raiders were picked apart by Ryan Fitzpatrick in Week 2. He was able to do so because the Bills started running an offense that neutralized Oakland's pass rush with short routes and quick-developing plays.

Because Oakland's secondary is pretty horrendous without Nnamdi Asomugha, I'm thinking the Jets will take a hint and follow the blueprint the Bills just devised. If Sanchez can execute it, he'll have a good game.

3. Ryan Fitzpatrick vs. New England Patriots

Speaking of Fitzpatrick, he and the Bills have a date with the Patriots on Sunday. Lucky them.

No, really. As brilliant as the Patriots are offensively, their defense has been less than stellar in the first two weeks. Chad Henne passed for over 400 yards on New England and Philip Rivers followed his lead with a 378-yard performance.

And now here comes Fitzpatrick, who has been far better than advertised this year. Seven touchdown passes and a 109.6 QB rating is pretty darn impressive.

Fitzpatrick will get his chances against the Pats, make no mistake about that. There's no time for running the ball when you have to keep up with Tom Brady.

2. Tom Brady vs. Buffalo Bills

Since we're on a "speaking of" train of thought here, we may as well talk about Brady. The first two games of his 2011 season have been brilliant. He currently leads the league with 940 passing yards. That puts him on pace for something like 7,000.

Brady probably won't get there, but he should be able to have another Brady-ish game against the Bills. After enjoying a relaxing day against Matt Cassel in Week 1, the Bills got torched by Jason Campbell, particularly on deep balls.

Yeah, I think Brady can follow suit.

1. Philip Rivers vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Our "speaking of" train of thought now takes us to Mr. Rivers. He is also on a fine pace this season; he is currently sitting on 713 passing yards through two games.

That number will go up against the Chiefs. They just haven't done well against the pass (or in any other phase of the game) this season, and it's certainly worth noting that they have given up an NFL-high eight touchdown passes.

The odd part is that the Chiefs have only given up 523 passing yards. That probably has something to do with how they tend to give their opponents a short field to play with, which in turn would explain the eight touchdown passes.

Either way, Rivers is going to be in charge. He'll be the chief, if you please.