Week 8 Matchups That Matter: Can We Trust The Broncos Offense?

Welcome to Week 8’s Matchups That Matter.

Want a peek behind the curtain?

This article walks you through the process that powers our weekly projections and rankings. Below, you’ll find the key metrics and data we lean on to set those numbers, so you can make sharper start/sit calls every week.

When you’re ready to set your lineup, hit the Week 8 Rankings and your Team Intel page for personalized advice.

Good luck in Week 8!

Jump to:

• Game Totals
• Projected Points
• Projected Plays
• Pace
• Weather Concerns
• Quarterback Matchups
• Running Back Matchups
• Wide Receiver Matchups
• Tight End Matchups
• Defense/Special Teams Matchups
• Kicker Matchups

Highest Game Totals

1. Cowboys at Broncos (51.5)
2. Titans at Colts (48.0)
t-3. Commanders at Chiefs (47.5)
t-3. Bills at Panthers (47.5)
5. Buccaneers at Saints (46.5)

Lowest Game Totals

11. Giants at Eagles (43.5)
12. 49ers at Texans (42.0)
13. Browns at Patriots (40.5)

Projected Points

We can use Vegas lines to calculate how many points each team is projected to score this week.

Here's how each team stacks up:

Most Projected Points

1. Colts (31.25)
2. Chiefs (29.75)
3. Broncos (27.5)
4. Bills (27.25)
5. Falcons (25.75)
t-6. Bengals (25.5)
t-6. Eagles (25.5)

Fewest Projected Points

21. Jets (19.0)
22. Dolphins (18.75)
23. Giants (18.0)
24. Commanders (17.75)
t-25. Browns (16.75)
t-25. Titans (16.75)

Projected Plays

The chart below shows how many plays we're projecting each team to run vs. the league average for the week. More plays = more chances for fantasy points.

Most Projected Plays

1. Broncos (63.9)
2. Chiefs (63.8)
3. Falcons (63.5)
4. Cowboys (63.1)
t-5. Giants (63.0)
t-5. Bills (63.0)

Fewest Projected Plays

22. Texans (60.7)
23. Steelers (60.3)
24. Commanders (60.2)
25. Titans (59.3)
26. Dolphins (59.2)

Pace Matchups

The chart below displays how each game stacks up in terms of pace vs. the league average for the week. Pace is calculated by averaging the situation-neutral seconds per snap from both teams in each game. Faster-paced games often produce more plays, which means more fantasy points.

Fastest-Paced Games (Average of neutral seconds/snap)

1. Buccaneers at Saints (26.3 seconds)
2. Cowboys at Broncos (26.6 seconds)
3. Jets at Bengals (27.4 seconds)
4. Titans at Colts (27.6 seconds)
5. Commanders at Chiefs (27.9 seconds)

Slowest-Paced Games (Average of neutral seconds/snap)

t-9. 49ers at Texans (28.5 seconds)
t-9. Bears at Ravens (28.5 seconds)
11. Dolphins at Falcons (28.7 seconds)
12. Packers at Steelers (29.1 seconds)
13. Bills at Panthers (29.4 seconds)

Weather Concerns

No weather issues this week.

Quarterback

Passing Matchups 

The chart below plots each team's pass offense DVOA vs. their opponent's pass defense DVOA.

5 Best Passing Matchups (sum of pass offense DVOA and opponent pass defense DVOA)

1. Colts vs. Titans (+74.5%)
2. Falcons vs. Dolphins (+62.0%)
3. Chiefs vs. Commanders (+56.9%)
4. Buccaneers at Saints (+54.8%)
5. Patriots vs. Browns (+47.5%)

5 Worst Passing Matchups (sum of pass offense DVOA and opponent pass defense DVOA)

22. Browns at Patriots (+6.8%)
23. Panthers vs. Bills (+5.3%)
24. Vikings at Chargers (+2.2%)
25. Dolphins at Falcons (-25.5%)
26. Titans at Colts (-34.1%)

5 Best QB Matchups (based on 2025 adjusted fantasy points allowed)

1. Bo Nix vs. Cowboys (+48.2%)
2. Jordan Love at Steelers (+27.8%)
3. Caleb Williams at Ravens (+27.5%)
4. Cam Ward at Colts (+27.0%)
5. Justin Fields at Bengals (26.2%)

5 Worst QB Matchups (based on adjusted 2025 fantasy points allowed)

22. Marcus Mariota at Chiefs (-19.6%)
23. Dak Prescott at Broncos (-20.3%)
24. Drake Maye vs. Browns (-21.3%)
25. Tua Tagovailoa at Falcons (-37.3%)
26. Mac Jones at Texans (-44.8%)

Running Back

Rushing Matchups 

The chart below plots each team's run offense DVOA vs. their opponent's run defense DVOA.

5 Best Rushing Matchups (sum of rush offense DVOA and opponent rush defense DVOA)

1. Panthers vs. Bills (+14.2%)
2. Colts vs. Titans (+11.4%)
3. Vikings at Chargers (-0.9%)
4. Packers at Steelers (-5.0%)
5. Bears at Ravens (-5.3%)

5 Worst Rushing Matchups (sum of rush offense DVOA and opponent rush defense DVOA)

22. Bengals vs. Jets (-31.3%)
23. Texans vs. 49ers (-31.6%)
24. Saints vs. Buccaneers (-36.8%)
25. Browns at Patriots (-40.8%)
26. Patriots vs. Browns (-58.4%)

5 Best RB Matchups (based on adjusted 2025 fantasy points allowed)

1. Bears at Ravens (+39.0%)
2. Broncos vs. Cowboys (+37.5%)
3. Jets at Bengals (+36.7%)
4. Falcons vs. Dolphins (+31.0%)
5. Colts vs. Titans (+29.3%)

5 Worst RB Matchups (based on adjusted 2025 fantasy points allowed)

22. Bengals vs. Jets (-18.0%)
23. Browns at Patriots (-20.2%)
24. Bills at Panthers (-23.7%)
25. Steelers vs. Packers (-24.1%)
26. Patriots vs. Browns (-34.3%)

Wide Receiver

5 Best WR Matchups (based on adjusted 2025 fantasy points allowed)

1. Broncos vs. Cowboys (+51.1%)
2. Packers at Steelers (+36.9%)
3. Titans at Colts (+36.8%)
4. Bears at Ravens (+15.3%)
5. Browns at Patriots (+15.2%)

5 Worst WR Matchups (based on adjusted 2025 fantasy points allowed)

22. Vikings at Chargers (-17.9%)
23. Bills at Panthers (-21.0%)
24. Cowboys at Broncos (-24.9%)
25. 49ers at Texans (-27.9%)
26. Dolphins at Falcons (-29.6%)

WR/CB Matchup Upgrades

Bengals WRs Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins vs. Jets CBs Brandon Stephens, Jarvis Brownlee, and Azareye'h Thomas

Chiefs WR Rashee Rice vs. Commanders CB Mike Sainristil

Falcons WRs Drake London (questionable) and Darnell Mooney vs. Dolphins CBs Rasul Douglas, Jack Jones, and Minkah Fitzpatrick

Ravens WRs Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman vs. Bears CBs Tyrique Stevenson and Nahshon Wright

Bears WRs Rome Odunze and D.J. Moore vs. Ravens CBs Chidobe Awuzie and Marlon Humphrey

Chargers WRs Quentin Johnston, Ladd McConkey, and Keenan Allen vs. Vikings CBs Byron Murphy, Isaiah Rodgers, and Josh Metellus

Broncos WRs Courtland Sutton, Troy Franklin, and Marvin Mims vs. Cowboys CBs Kaiir Elam, Trikweze Bridges, and DaRon Bland

Patriots WRs Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte vs. Browns CBs Denzel Ward, Tyson Campbell, and Myles Harden

Packers WRs Romeo Doubs and Matthew Golden vs. Steelers CBs Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey

Titans WR Elic Ayomanor vs. Colts CBs Mekhi Blackmon and Cameron Mitchell

WR/CB Matchup Downgrades

Cowboys WRs CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens vs. Broncos CBs Pat Surtain, Riley Moss, and Ja'Quan McMillian

Vikings WRs Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison vs. Chargers CBs Donte Jackson, Benjamin St.-Juste, and Tarheeb Still

Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle vs. Falcons CBs A.J. Terrell, Mike Hughes, and Dee Alford

Commanders WRs Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel vs. Chiefs CBs Jaylen Watson, Nohl Williams, and Trent McDuffie

Giants WR Wan'Dale Robinson vs. Eagles CB Cooper DeJean

49ers WRs Jauan Jennings and Kendrick Bourne vs. Texans CBs Derek Stingley, Kamari Lassiter, and Jalen Pitre

Bills WRs Keon Coleman and Khalil Shakir vs. Panthers CBs Jaycee Horn, Mike Jackson, and Chau Smith-Wade

Browns WR Jerry Jeudy vs. Patriots CBs Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis

Tight End

5 Best TE Matchups (based on adjusted 2025 fantasy points allowed)

1. Jets at Bengals (+61.4%)
2. Steelers vs. Packers (+36.6%)
3. Packers at Steelers (+27.7%)
4. Titans at Colts (+26.2%)
5. Chiefs vs. Commanders (+23.9%)

5 Worst TE Matchups (based on adjusted 2025 fantasy points allowed)

22. 49ers at Texans (-15.6%)
23. Giants at Eagles (-36.0%)
24. Commanders at Chiefs (-38.6%)
25. Panthers vs. Bills (-57.3%)
26. Dolphins at Falcons (-65.2%)

Defense/Special Teams

5 Best DST Matchups (based on adjusted 2025 fantasy points allowed)

1. Bengals vs. Jets (+103.8%)
2. Chargers vs. Vikings (+99.2%)
3. Colts vs. Titans (97.2%)
4. Patriots vs. Browns (+86.9%)
5. Falcons vs. Dolphins (+69.3%)

5 Worst DST Matchups (based on adjusted 2025 fantasy points allowed)

22. Saints vs. Buccaneers (-45.0%)
23. Ravens vs. Bears (-46.7%)
24. Commanders at Chiefs (-64.7%)
25. Broncos vs. Cowboys (-78.3%)
26. Titans at Colts (-100.0%)

Kicker

5 Best K Matchups (based on 2025 fantasy points allowed)

1. Evan McPherson vs. Jets (+51.7%)
2. John Parker Romo vs. Dolphins (+34.4%)
3. Cairo Santos at Ravens (+28.5%)
4. Will Reichard at Chargers (+22.1%)
5. Harrison Butker vs. Commanders (+19.0%)

5 Worst K Matchups (based on 2025 fantasy points allowed)

22. Matt Prater at Panthers (-11.3%)
23. Tyler Loop vs. Bears (-17.8%)
24. Joey Slye at Colts (-20.7%)
25. Ka'imi Fairbairn vs. 49ers (-39.0%)
26. Eddy Pineiro at Texans (-72.9%)