Fantasy Football Week 9 Rankings: QB

It's been a tough stretch of games for owners of elite quarterbacks, starting with a Week 5 that saw Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler on the sideline and going through last week's off-week for Tom Brady, Carson Palmer and Ben Roethlisberger. Rest easy, because the rigorous fantasy games featuring backup QBs are over.

This week, only Brett Favre gets a seat on the bench in terms of QBs you'd want to use in normal-sized leagues. Next week, you just have to make it without Matt Schaub. For owners of the seven QBs in the previous paragraph, it's smooth sailing unless an injury strikes.

Week 9 Fantasy Football Rankings: QB | RB | WR | TE | K | DEF | Sleepers

1. Tom Brady, NE vs. MIA
2. Peyton Manning, IND vs. HOU
3. Aaron Rodgers, GB at TB
4. Donovan McNabb, PHI vs. DAL
5. Drew Brees, NO vs. CAR
6. Philip Rivers, SD at NYG
7. Matt Schaub, HOU at IND*
8. Joe Flacco, BAL at CIN
9. Carson Palmer, CIN vs. BAL
10. Tony Romo, DAL at PHI
11. Matt Hasselbeck, SEA vs. DET
12. David Garrard, JAC vs. KC
13. Ben Roethlisberger, PIT at DEN
14. Kurt Warner, ARI at CHI
15. Matt Cassel, KC at JAC
16. Jay Cutler, CHI vs. ARI
17. Matt Ryan, ATL vs. WAS
18. Alex Smith, SF vs. TEN
19. Eli Manning, NYG vs. SD
20. Kyle Orton, DEN vs. PIT
21. Jason Campbell, WAS at ATL
22. Vince Young, TEN at SF
23. Matthew Stafford, DET at SEA
24. Josh Freeman, TB vs. GB
25. Chad Henne, MIA at NE
26. Jake Delhomme, CAR at NO

* With both Marlin Jackson and Bob Sanders out for the Texans game, Schaub sees a considerable uptick. You have to like him more today than my yesterday self did in the passage below.

• Think the Saints will have any trouble covering one little ol' receiver? Sorry Jake, you're the worst of a bad bunch at the bottom of the barrel.

• Donovan McNabb carries a 9/1 TD/INT ratio into a Sunday night game against the Cowboys. He's thrown for 664 yards and four TDs in his last three games against Dallas, with no interceptions to blemish his resume. The Cowboys secondary hasn't gotten any better, so I expect McNabb to keep rolling. He had three first-half TDs in the New York game last week, and I can see another three-TD game in line.

• Matt Schaub loses Owen Daniels, and now he has to take on divisional juggernaut Indy? I'm not a fan, even with the stellar numbers Schaub had put up all season before last week's stinker. Unless you're lucky enough to have a great QB2 though, I think you start him. I wouldn't bench him for the other Matts (Matt Hasselbeck and Matt Cassel), that's for sure.

• Ben Roethlisberger stands a good chance of outplaying my ranking, but the Broncos have proved to be the toughest opposing defense for QBs this season. I really think you have to consider Hasselbeck or David Garrard over Big Ben; with that, watch him throw for another 400 yards.