2013 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 3 Quarterbacks (QB)

Sam Bradford: Bradford followed up his Week One 299-yard performance with an even better Week Two stat line.  352 yards, three TDs and 55 pass attempts.  He has thrown the ball 93 times in two starts and the Rams are looking like a pass-happy offense.  Bradford completed passes to 10 different receivers, including five completions to four players.  Tavon Austin is already sizing up as a real threat and Austin Pettis is an emerging WR option, too.  With a weak schedule ahead, look for more 300-yard games from Bradford.

Matt Schaub:  In his first two games, Schaub has had 45 and 48 pass attempts, putting him second in the league in PA behind only Joe Flacco. Schaub benefits from a stud offense with Arian Foster, Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins that will open up the field and score points.  The Texans put up 298 passing yards against the same Titans' defense that held the Steelers to fewer than 230 total yards.  With six TDs already, the Texans have shown that they use the passing game to extend defenses and to score.  In addition to the big WRs, Schaub also has reliable TE Owen Daniels who has a three TDs already on the young season.

Philip Rivers:  Rivers's Week Two performances against the over-discussed Eagles more than made up for his subpar Week One game against the Texans.  Rivers eviscerated the Eagles D, going for 419 yards, three TDs and a 76.6% completion rate.  Upcoming games against Tennessee, Oakland, Dallas, Indianapolis and Jacksonville are not particularly worrisome.  Rivers did a great job of mixing up his targets by distributing his passes evenly to his TE (Gates), WRs (Eddie Royal and Malcolm Floyd) and RB (Woodhead with eight receptions).  Use him in his matchups for the next several weeks as he can feast against weaker teams.

Alex Smith: Andy Reid favors the passing game and it looks like he is already rejuvenating Smith’s career.  Through two games, Smith has utilized a conservative passing approach that has him completing 42 out of 70 passes for an average yards per completion of 5.66.  He is going to be careful with the ball and favor short passes over longer attempts to stretch the field.  Furthermore, Smith’s scrambling ability was useful in Week Two, as he rushed for 57 yards and a TD to help beat the Cowboys 17-16.  He is not sensational, nor is he a player with particularly high-end potential.  Reid should use him conservatively to manage games and put the Chiefs in position to win.  He makes an interesting play in certain weeks, either to hold down the fort on a bye for your regular starter or as a streaming option as you contend with bad mathcups elsewhere.