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November 13, 2025, 8:23 amLast Updated on November 13, 2025 8:23 am by Jon Mosales | Published: November 13, 2025
Now that we’re 10 weeks in, it’s worth looking at the opponents that we’re targeting and avoiding when we have to make narrow sit/start decisions at the quarterback position.
There are seven defenses allowing at least 20 points to QBs per game this season. They are:
- Dallas (by a mile) – 25.4 PPG
- Jacksonville – 22.3
- Chicago – 22.2
- Cincinnati – 22.1
- Washington – 21.7
- New York Giants – 21.4
- Pittsburgh – 20.6
I feel good about basically any QB against these seven teams, with the exception of dicey backups or the real bottom dwellers. Ironically, none of the elite QBs face any of these teams this week, and it’s actually Week 10’s disaster Jordan Love who has the best combination of matchup and fantasy cache.
On the flip side, here are the QB matchups it’s wisest to avoid, allowing under 15 points per game:
- Houston – 12.3 PPG
- Denver – 13.1
- Buffalo – 13.6
- Los Angeles Chargers 13.9
- Cleveland – 14.6
- Arizona – 14.7
I straight up will not start a QB against Houston this season. That is far and away the most suffocating defense that absolutely murders high-scoring game scripts. Denver isn’t quite on that level, but you risk total shutdowns like what happened to Justin Fields in London earlier this season. Of the others, I’m most intimidated by the Chargers and Browns.
With that out of the way, let’s go through the rankings for Week 11 as the fantasy season heads toward its most important weeks.
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Premium Access RequiredPlayer Team Opponent Notes 1 Josh Allen BUF TB The Bills took a shocking L in Week 10, but Allen still scored 20 fantasy points. He and Mahomes are still slightly ahead of any other QB, and Mahomes has a brutal matchup this week. 2 Jalen Hurts PHI DET The Packers nerfed the Eagles offense in a grinding game typical of their style. The Lions will likely do the opposite, and Hurts in an open, flowing game is an incredibly ideal option. 3 Drake Maye NE NYJ With Mahomes on bye, Maye ever so slightly became the overall QB1. He sits 4th in PPG, which feels more accurate. The Jets should offer little resistance, but it could be a game script favoring running.4 Patrick Mahomes KC DEN These are two great defenses with a 45-point total, which is indicative of a game that could go either way offensively. You have to trust the defacto QB1 off a bye regardless. 5 Justin Herbert LAC JAC Love this matchup for Herbert, who offered encouragement in a Joe Alt-less future on Sunday Night. He has the strongest matchup among the elite QB1s this week. 6 Lamar Jackson BAL CLE This is a tougher matchup for Jackson, who is clearly still somewhat hampered, given his practice miss Wednesday. This is also a sub-40 point total. It downgrades Jackson somewhat. 7 Caleb Williams CHI MIN There’s a large drop after the top six, and I prefer Williams of the next group, coming off consecutive top-five weeks. 8 Dak Prescott DAL LVR Hopefully the bye week was good for Prescott and the Cowboys. This should remain the highest total of the week, and only Javonte Williams rushing touchdowns can hurt Prescott. 9 Baker Mayfield TB BUF High total, good quarterback, so it’s probably not worth overindexing on the Bills defense being strong against QBs. 10 Jordan Love GB NYG Walk with me here, because it’s going to take balls to play Love after his embarrassment on MNF. This Giants D is just so vulnerable in all facets. I’m trusting Love in this cake spot. 11 Matthew Stafford LAR SEA Stafford is on a complete heater, with a QB1 performance in five of his past six starts. The Seahawks defense poses a challenge, but this game between these elites should be fairly back and forth. 12 Joe Flacco CIN PIT Flacco is the best streamer this week, so much so that I have him as a QB1 with Daniel Jones on bye. Nothing about this PIT team scares me. 13 Sam Darnold SEA LAR Darnold remains on the outside of the fantasy QB picture looking in because of lack of opportunity. This should be a closer game that doesn’t zap his volume like recent blowouts have. 14 Jared Goff DET PHI I like investing in Goff now that the Lions have put Dan Campbell in charge of playcalling. Even in a tough matchup, I’d trust this to be a high-scoring affair. 15 Bo Nix DEN KC Nix should have a big fourth quarter in this one, at least. He’s still the overall QB6, despite the (correct) narrative about his inconsistent play. 16 Marcus Mariota WAS MIA I like Mariota as a playable guy in good matchups among the players firmly in the QB2 tier. He’s an interesting stream in Madrid. 17 Aaron Rodgers PIT CIN Really tough to trust Rodgers right now, but similar to Love, this is a gift matchup that everyone smokes. 18 J.J. McCarthy MIN CHI I’m very anti-McCarthy as a fantasy QB right now, but there’s only so low you can push a QB facing the Bears down. 19 Geno Smith LVR DAL Similar logic applies to Smith, who is significantly banged up, but gets the matchup every QB dreams of Monday vs. Dallas. If he is confirmed in by Sunday kickoffs, he’s going to put up points. 20 Jacoby Brissett ARI SF SF’s defense is a shell of its former self, and even when the Cardinals got shellacked by Seattle, Brissett stormed back for a solid game in chase mode. He’s been reliable. 21 Mac Jones SF ARI There is decent Brock Purdy momentum right now, but if Jones gets another start and gets Ricky Pearsall back, he’s a solid backend QB2. 22 Justin Fields NYJ NE It’s so depressing trying to talk yourself into a QB who can’t throw and has no weapons to throw to. He’s still got some rushing floor, I guess. 23 Trevor Lawrence JAC LAC Bad matchup for Lawrence here. He isn’t offering a ton of hope that he can excel against legit defenses. 24 Jameis Winston NYG GB So good to have Winston back in our lives, but it’ll be a bummer if we only get one week against a great defense. He’s only startable if you’re desparate. 25 Michael Penix ATL CAR Penix is an inaccurate pocket passer, so his path to a QB1 week is extremely narrow. Carolina will try to suffocate this game. He remains off my radar. 26 Tua Tagovailoa MIA WAS Tua in an overseas game sounds like such a trap, but Washington’s defense is legit horrible, so maybe he has a spike week. 27 Davis Mills HOU TEN It seems like it’s going to be Mills this week with C.J. Stroud still in concussion protocol. You don’t want to play Davis Mills, but he’ll probably score some points, and had nearly 30 in last week’s furious comeback.28 Bryce Young CAR ATL The Panthers will have to run, run and run some more to win this game. No chance I’d start Bryce. 29 Cam Ward TEN HOU Ward in a the worst matchup there is is totally off the table. 30 Dillon Gabriel CLE IND Gabriel is liable to be bench for Sheduer Sanders if this gets any worse. 31* C.J. Stroud HOU TEN If Stroud plays, I’d be very interested in him as a streamer and rank him below Nix and above Mariota 32* Brock Purdy SF ARI I do not trust Purdy’s health, so if he does play, I would rank him below Lawrence and above Winston. 33* Kenny Pickett LVR DAL If Pickett plays, he’d inherit the easiest matchup on the board, which is really hard to rank. I don’t trust him as a passer, so I’d ultimately move him about 2-3 spots below where Geno Smith is.
