Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Top 5 Quarterbacks: Week 1


The football season is finally here. Many of us die-hard fantasy football players have waited months for this, and have done our best to build a great team. With the season less than 24 hours away it's time to check out the best week one match-ups for quarterbacks.

My No.1 quarterback for week one is Drew Brees.

He was the number one quarterback last season, and should get off to a great start again this season. He will face off against a weak Lions defense week one. Last season the Lions defense gave up an average of 15.6 points to the other teams quarterback. That was third worst in the league las season.

Another plus for Brees is that it's a home game. Last season he threw for 300 or more yards in all but one home game. He also had an astounding three or more touchdowns in six of those eight games.

Drew Brees is good enough on his own that he doesn't need to be facing a weak defense. The fact that he's facing the Lions makes him a lock as the number one quarterback for week one.

My No.2 quarterback for the week is Kurt Warner.

Kurt Warner will face the San Francisco 49ers week one and should have a pretty good week. Last season he had 46 points against the 49ers defense for an average of 23 points per game.

With the game being played in Arizona's dome it should be optimal passing conditions which should lead to a big week out of Warner. In the dome last season Warner had 33 points against San Francisco and could put up numbers similar to that this season.

Overall the 49ers defense was 12th worst in points allowed to quarterbacks with an average of 13.4. Warner has above average wide receivers and should have a really strong start to the season.

My No.3 quarterback is Aaron Rodgers.

He starts off the season against the rival Chicago bears in prime time on Sunday Night Football. Now the Bears were tied for 14th best against quarterbacks last season with a 12.5 average, but nobody told Rodgers that.

He put up 39 fantasy points against the Bears last season. If he sticks to that he should have 19 or 20 points in week 1. I think that it's possible he does even better than last season. Green Bay's offense looked great in the preseason and will look to carry that over to the regular season.

I expect big things out of Aaron Rodgers this season, and I expect him to start off his season in a big way.

My No.4 quarterback is Phillip Rivers.
Last season Rivers threw for 43 fantasy points against the Raiders. He only threw for 11 in Oakland, but I expect him to do better than that this time around.

The Raiders were tied for the 13th best against quarterbacks this season and shouldn't be much worse this year. One key for the Raiders is that
Nnamdi Asomugha will play the game with a "club" on his hand. This could slow him down a little, and could hurt his range. With him not at 100 percent the Raiders secondary takes a huge hit.

Rivers will look to take advantage of the beat up Raiders secondary and should put up pretty good numbers in prime time on the west coast.

My No.5 quarterback is Tom Brady.

The Bills were tied with the Raiders for 13th best against quarterbacks last season. That probably won't affect Brady too much in week one.

Playing on Monday Night Football in his first game back should boost his numbers. He will probably be determined to show everybody that he is healthy. Brady will have numerous weapons to sling the ball to on Monday and should put up great numbers.

He easily could be higher up, but I'm going to say he starts off a little rusty. There is no reason to sit Brady, and if you drafted him you better use him.

Well, there you have it. My top five quarterbacks for week one. Nothing too out of the ordinary here. Good luck to all fantasy footballers and thank God, football is finally here.