Streaming Quarterbacks: Week 7 Targets

Oct 14, 2014

It was undoubtedly an elite performance against a secondary that could be elite in the annals of the NFL's all-time worst secondaries.

Is Joe Flacco elite? I'll leave that for TV pundits with bad haircuts and three-sizes-too-big suits to decide, but for one week, he served our purposes quite nicely, eviscerating the Tampa Bay secondary to the tune of 306 yards and five -- FIVE -- touchdown tosses. Flacco was on pace for 16 touchdowns against the Bucs, but let's not get greedy.

Every statistical sign pointed to the Bucs as prime streaming targets, including completion rate against Tampa, schedule-adjusted points allowed through five weeks, fantasy points per pass attempt (FPAT) against and the volume of throws the Bucs had faced headed into their tilt with Baltimore.

We're going to continue to find our weekly streaming quarterback picks through this numbers-based filter and trust that, over the long haul, we'll be right much more often than we're wrong.

Our other Week 6 streamers didn't fare nearly as well as the Elite One, as Carson Palmer put up a decent line, but Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger tanked in ways that seemed unimaginable going into Week 6.

Streamers highlighted in this space are now averaging 16.3 fantasy points per game (QB9 numbers), roughly equivalent to what Drew Brees and Colin Kaepernick have posted this year. Optimal quarterback streaming options have scored 27.2 points per game, or QB1 numbers.

Here are three guys I'm targeting in Week 7:

Carson Palmer (ARI) at Oakland Raiders

Palmer, the apple of our streaming quarterback eye, at long last returned last week from a nagging nerve issue in his throwing arm. He threw for 250 yards and two scores, though his efficiency against one of the league's worst coverage units (Washington) was a tad concerning. He posted a paltry 0.40 FPAT on 44 pass attempts. That's less than stellar.

Palmer's 0.51 FPAT through two games in 2014 is still solid though, and he faces a fine matchup in Week 7. The Raiders are allowing 7.5 yards per pass attempt to opposing quarterbacks -- the fifth worst mark in the NFL. Signal callers are completing a whopping 70.3 percent of their passes against the Raiders' secondary.

My one concern here: Teams are attacking Oakland on the ground, and for good reason. In fact, quarterbacks are throwing an average of just 30.2 passes against the Silver and Black, and no team sees more weekly rush attempts (36) against them than the Raiders. Palmer will have to be efficient in this one. I suppose that's not too much to ask.