FANTASY FOOTBALL ARTICLES

The Ease of Fantasy Schedule (EOS) this year actually differs slightly between the Fantasy Football Handbook 2005 and this page. The reason - after examining it over and over I decided that using the weeks of three through sixteen would give a better indicator of how defenses fared (I used the final nine weeks in the Handbook excluding week 17). I also used the top and bottom 11 defenses as opposed to the ten I used in the Handbook.

The changes were almost non-existent in this position. The Colts squeaked in as an "Easy" defense which is appropriate while the Chargers remained as "average". There was only 0.3 points separating the Buccaneers and Bears, but I am comfortable with that delineation. These numbers are all purely what happened statistically from weeks three through sixteen in 2004 for quarterbacks.

One factor to remember - if the rushing game is going well and the team has the lead, then almost no quarterback will post big numbers since there is no need. Conversely, when a team is behind and the game is drawing to a close, the quarterback is guaranteed to be throwing. Only the extremes here really matter.

FULL SEASON: The Cardinals and Kurt Warner get the easiest schedule thanks primarily from having the least amount of bad match-ups. The Browns will be a big unknown this season and in their first season under HC Romeo Crennel, the offense will likely sputter anyway. Notable is that Marc Bulger and Donovan McNabb end up with the next best schedules - a definite fantasy consideration. The worst schedules belong to Kerry Collins and his new toy of Randy Moss and Tom Brady. This is not anything to be overly alarmed about for Brady - he has terrible schedules almost every year thanks to playing in the AFC East.

THE DOREY RULE / FIRST SIX WEEKS - The best schedules belong to Carson Palmer, Donovan McNabb and Marc Bulger. All three of those teams like to throw though McNabb would be affected if Owens continues his holdout. The slowest starts could well belong to A.J. Feeley (or Gus Frerotte) in Miami, then Trent Green and Chad Pennington. Combined with a tough rushing schedule, Green's bad start to the year could well end up depressing what has been great passing numbers every season in Kansas City.

FANTASY PLAYOFFS: Matt Hasselbeck gets two good match-ups and no tough defenses though the same is true for Shaun Alexander which may decrease the need for Hasselbeck to throw. Byron Leftwich goes against San Francisco, Indianapolis and Houston and if Taylor is still a problem for the running game, he may actually need to use that lighter schedule to notch the win. So long as Joey Harrington can hold off Jeff Garcia and make use of his triplets, he could surprise as well. The toughest schedules when you need them the most belongs to Kerry Collins, Tom Brady and Daunte Culpepper. In the case of Brady and Culpepper, the schedule has not bee a major factor anyway in the past.

Best QB Schedules - Full Season

Worst QB Schedules - Full Season