At this point in the season you probably have a pretty good read if your team has playoff potential or if you need to start planning who you will take with next year’s first overall pick. For those of you in the latter group, you will have to check back in about eight months. For fantasy owners who see the playoffs in their future it is never too early to start planning for the stretch run. Consider acquiring or shipping the below listed quarterbacks who either have a very favorable or very unfavorable set of match-ups over the last four weeks of the season.

* Match-ups between weeks 13-16 were used in  judging the value of each players. Week 17 is not included as most leagues, due to NFL teams sitting their starters, have their championship game Week 16.

Trade For

QB Matt Schaub, Houston Texans – Of the four teams that Schaub will face over the last four weeks of the fantasy season, three rank in the bottom 10 in defending quarterbacks. The worst match-up that Schuab will face during this stretch are the Seattle Seahawks who are giving up 251 yards passing and 1.3 passing touchdowns per game. Week 16 Schaub faces the Dolphins who are giving up 247 yards passing and 1.8 passing touchdowns per contest. There are legitimate concerns over what the loss of Owen Daniels will do to the team’s passing game, but Schaub’s favorable schedule is hard to ignore.

Warner could have your team looking up come playoff time (photo by azcentral.com)

QB Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals – Warner faces four teams over the last four weeks of the season who rank in the bottom half of the league in defending opposing quarterbacks. His two best match-ups during this time are the Lions (Week 15) and Rams (Week 16) who combined are giving up 253 yards passing and 1.7 passing touchdowns per contest.

QB Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers – Rivers has the best match-up possible Week 16 when he faces the Titans who have held just one quarterback to under 300 yards passing and 299 yards passing and 2.8 TDs per game. Considering that his worst match-up is against the Cleveland Browns Week 13, Rivers has a stretch run difficult to ignore.

Trade Away

QB Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons – Ryan has put together a solid second season averaging 236 yards passing and 1.7 touchdowns per game. However, if you are eyeing a championship run you might want to look to move him. The best match-up that Ryan has over the last four weeks of the season is against the Philadelphia Eagles who are giving up 216 yards passing, 1.6 passing touchdowns and have forced two interceptions per game this season. In Weeks 15 and 16 he faces the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets, the top two teams in the league defending against opposing quarterbacks.

Romo may be hot now, but he may cool off by December (photo by romosucks.com)

QB Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys – With the emergence of wide receiver Miles Austin the Cowboys passing game is starting to click and Romo is averaging 289 yards passing and three touchdowns per game over the last two weeks. Those numbers will be hard to duplicate over the last four weeks of the fantasy season when Romo faces three top 10 pass defenses.

QB Eli Manning, New York Giants – How much of Eli Manning’s struggles are tied to his foot injury and how much of it is tied to a tougher schedule lately is up for debate. What isn’t up for debate is that Manning’s numbers have taken a nosedive. Over the first five weeks of the season Manning averaged 242 yards passing, two passing touchdowns per game and had just two interceptions. The last three games, however, Manning has averaged 214 yards passing, one touchdown per game and has three interceptions. There is still time for Manning to turn it around, but it will be difficult to do over the last four weeks of the fantasy season when he faces three teams that rank in the top 10 in defending the pass.

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