Week 2 QB Rankings

What a weird Week 1 in the NFL, huh?  Peyton Manning breaks fantasy football on Thursday, Pittsburgh-Tennessee set the offensive football back two decades on Sunday, and we got to end the weekend with a trio of fantastic shoot outs.  All over the league, QB play was at a reasonably high level.  Week 2 features a ton of QB friendly matchups all over the league.  Keeping the list to 25 spots was tough, but here's how I see Week 2 shaping up:

1) Peyton Manning, Denver
2) Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay
3) Matt Ryan, Atlanta
4) Cam Newton, Carolina
5) Drew Brees, New Orleans
6) Tom Brady, New England
7) Eli Manning, NY Giants
8) Joe Flacco, Baltimore
9) Matthew Stafford, Detroit
10) Michael Vick, Philadelphia
11) Andrew Luck, Indianapolis
12) Tony Romo, Dallas
13) Philip Rivers, San Diego
14) Robert Griffin III, Washington
15) Russell Wilson, Seattle
16) Colin Kaepernick, San Francisco
17) Carson Palmer, Arizona
18) Jay Cutler, Chicago
19) Terrelle Pryor, Oakland
20) Matt Schaub, Houston
21) Sam Bradford, St. Louis
22) Josh Freeman, Tampa Bay
23) Alex Smith, Kansas City
24) Andy Dalton, Cincinnati
25) Chad Henne, Jacksonville

Peyton Manning is #1 on this list until further notice.  If you take peek at his upcoming schedule (@NYG, OAK, PHI), it's pretty easy to bet that Manning is going to be a high 20 to low 30 point scorer for the next few weeks.  Plug him in and forget about it.

Drew Brees doesn't fall out of my Top 5 very often and this week is no exception, but I am a believer in the changes Tampa Bay has made on the defensive side of the ball, and I just think they're going to play a lot of slugfest type games like they did in Week 1.  I am never ever benching Brees, but the two 4 TD performances he had against Tampa last year are probably not going to happen again this time around.

Joe Flacco cracks my Top 10 this week because I fully believe that after last week's thrashing in Denver, the Ravens will be primed to absolute pummel the visiting Browns as they raise their Super Bowl banner.  I'm pretty much avoiding Cleveland players as a rule, but this week is the best opportunity to avoid them as a whole.  As for Flacco, I'm seeing a nice 300+ yard/2-3 TD type performances.  This might be one of the weeks he poaches a rushing TD from Ray Rice too.  Start him with confidence.

Michael Vick at the number 10 spot is a book we've all read before, but if the Eagles are going to run that style of volume offense with any degree of success, the opportunity Vick has to be fantasy elite is back.  He was pretty damn good Monday night, the running game has to be respected and stopped first, and Vick's eyes are always downfield.  Start Vick with confidence at home against a Chargers team making the dreaded West to East trip for a 1:00 PM EST start time.

I have Russell Wilson a spot ahead of Kaepernick because I think the San Francisco-Seattle rivalry has reached that stage where every yard is going to be gained in the midst of a barroom brawl.  Both QBs are middle of the road this week, and if you have better options, I'd give that a look see.

Terrelle Pryor was leading the NFL is rushing before Monday's games started.  He's going to continue to run for his life with the shamble of an offensive line he has in front of him, but he benefits from also being able to throw forward passes.  I'd look for Pryor to be a fantastic bye week fill in and to exploit matchups like the one he faces on Sunday, at home against (in my opinion) the WORST team in the NFL, the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Jacksonville's QB Chad Henne, by the way, cracks my Top 25 because of shear potential for volume.

Conspicuous by his absence, Ben Roethlisberger fails to be ranked on a list of mine for the first time ever.  His line is terrible, his running game is non-existent right now, and his matchup with a physical pass rush like the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night smells like a beat down waiting to happen.  Cincy didn't sack Jay Cutler at all during Week 1's contest.  I'm willing to bet they get to Big Ben 5-6 times.

Follow me on Twitter @BernacK6 to chat Fantasy Football all the time.  You disagree with my rankings?  Let me hear yours!