The Week 8 matchup between the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos features a battle between two quarterbacks who are both regular season MVP candidates. We've got the fantasy projections for you courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 8: Chargers-Broncos featuring Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning and Demaryius Thomas
We break down the Week 8 matchup between the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos.
Doug Pensinger
San Diego Chargers
Philip Rivers played two different games against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 7. In the first half he looked like the MVP candidate he's been all season long, particularly as the half came to a close. He found tight end Antonio Gates in the end zone to give the Chargers the lead going into the locker room. In the second half, he was contained by the Chiefs' defense and threw a late interception that ended the Chargers comeback attempt. He'll be counted on to sling the rock against a potent Broncos offense in Week 8.
That likely means a lot of action for the aforementioned Gates, who managed to score for the third game in a row against the Chiefs. Though he only managed three catches in the game, he is the most reliable receiver the Chargers have. The Broncos don’t shy away from giving up points given how much they can score, so there’s no doubt Gates should see a fair amount of action in Week 8 and is a good bet to end up with his eighth score of the season.
Denver Broncos
Quarterback Peyton Manning was already considered one of the best of all time going into his Week 7 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers, and then he broke Brett Favre's record for career touchdown passes in the first half when he found Demaryius Thomas in the end zone in the second quarter. Manning had four touchdown passes in the game and now has 11 of them in the last three weeks. Manning is currently on pace to throw 50 touchdown passes this season, which would be the second best mark of his career, coming just five short of the NFL record he broke last year. To say the least, he's the king of fantasy quarterbacks no matter who he's playing against on Sunday.
Fantasy owners of Demaryius Thomas don’t mind that at all. After a surprisingly slow start to the season, Thomas has amassed an incredible 521 receiving yards to go with 5 touchdown catches in the last three games alone. He’ll be up against a Chargers’ secondary that does a good job limiting fantasy production for wide receivers, but let’s face it, nobody can stop Thomas with Manning throwing him the ball. Thomas being in starting lineups on Thursday Night Football is as much of a no-brainer as could possibly be right now.
