RADIO
Should this really even be a temptation? Not only is Brock Osweiler preparing for just his second NFL start, but he’s having to plan to take on Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Who in their right mind would be naive enough to give Osweiler the nod in their fantasy league? Well, if looking for some names, here are a few: Greg Cote of the Miami Herald, Pete Prisco of CBS Sports and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, just to name a few.
In fact, when asked earlier this week, five of the eight on-staff fantasy football writers at CBSSports.com chose the Broncos to take down the Patriots at Sports Authority Field in Denver, Colorado. You don’t have to follow suit. Don’t try and be a fantasy football hero.
Rest assured, Osweiler’s performance come Sunday evening isn’t going to be one of those unforeseen, yet nonetheless jaw-dropping performances that are frequently highlighted on ESPN Classic. He’s not Peyton Manning and, come the end of his career, probably won’t have done enough to have his name mentioned in the same sentence as the older Manning brother.
That said, all you care about is Week 12, not the totality of the young quarterback’s career. Sure, Osweiler deserves credit for his performance when he and the Broncos took down the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. In that game, Osweiler threw for 250 yards, two touchdowns and—here’s the best part—zero interceptions. Clearly a great performance, but the Patriots are as relentless as they come.
Seriously, this year, the Pats have allowed only Eli Manning to score more than 12 fantasy points in standard leagues in the past four games. Even more impressive, over that four-game span, Malcolm Butler and the Patriots’ defense have scored three touchdowns themselves and nabbed three more interceptions to go along with them.
Though Osweiler could be considered as a potential outside option in two-quarterback leagues, if Emmanuel Sanders’ ankle keeps him from playing, he should be passed on altogether. Needless to say, Osweiler will have his work cut out for him with the nation watching on Sunday Night Football.
