Potential Busts for Week 8: Ranking the Top 5 for Fantasy Football

It's Week 8 RotoBallers, and that means that about half of the fantasy football regular season is behind us as we race towards the start of the playoffs. Some of us have been on cruise control, while others are scrambling to make trades and waiver wire pickups to save their arse (and fantasy season).

Ultimately, we can't guarantee anything in life besides death and being annoyed by your wife/girlfriend, but we surely can do some hardcore matchups analysis about some of the NFL's biggest name players, and tell you who we think won't perform up to the lofty standards that are expected of them in Week 8.

Without further ado, please enjoy our top 5 potential fantasy football busts for Week 8. Good luck RotoBallers!

Top 5 Potential Busts & Disappointments for Week 8

1. Matt Ryan - QB, Atlanta Falcons

This has been far from a vintage year for Matty Ice and his Hotlanta Falcons. The main problem is their offensive line, which ranks 22nd overall in pass block efficiency based on Pro Football Focus's grading system. For Week 8, they face the Detroit Lions suffocating defensive unit that is only allowing 6.6 yards per attempt to opposing quarterbacks (4th in the NFL).

When you take the poor Falcons blocking, and add in the Lions ferocious defensive front, Week 8 is a recipe for a huge Matt Ryan blowup and we urge you to consider a safer option if at all possible.

2. Andy Dalton - QB, Cincinnati Bengals

After coming out of the gate with a 301 passing yard game and a win versus Baltimore in Week 1, The Red Rifle has not been as fortunate in 2014 since losing A.J. Green. The week to week inconsistency has killed some of his fantasy owners (especially in 2 QB leagues) and the once promising must-start option has turned into a questionable matchup play.

In Week 8, the Bengals get a rematch with the Ravens at their home stadium, but we are not expecting the same strong game Dalton produced in Week 1. This is mostly because the Ravens grade out as one of the NFL's top defenses, and Dalton is a mere 13th overall in quarterback efficiency rating according to Pro Football Focus. It's possible that A.J. Green returns, or that Mohamed Sanu has a big game, but since Green missed practice again Friday we are strongly recommending you find a Week 8 fill-in for our favorite ginger.

3. Chris Ivory - RB, New York Jets

Even though Jerick McKinnon had a nice showing agains the Bills stout defensive unit in Week 7, there is not a very high percentage change that the Jets and Chris Ivory will put up superstar fantasy numbers against them in Week 8. The Bills defense have turned opposing fantasy running backs into the 32nd best when facing them (that's best in the NFL kids), and give up an extremely stingy 11.27 fantasy points per game to the opposing backs. If 1+1 = 2, then Chris Ivory plus the Bills equals a must bench and potential bust for Week 8.

4. Alfred Morris - RB, Washington Redskins

Although experts reference flimsy stats about Morris to prop up his alleged fantasy value (such as the fact that he was 3rd in NFL in rushing yards since 2012), we are not big fans at all of this running back. In Week 8, the plod thickens for Alf Morris as he gets to face the Dallas Cowboys extremely studly defense against fantasy running backs.

The Cowboys defense allows a total of 15.3 fantasy points per contest to opposing running backs (10th best), which may not leave much room for a guy who loses a ton of snaps to Roy Helu due to how often the Redskins are chucking the rock playing come-from-behind. If you have any better running back options for Week 8, we suggest to plug them in and leave this overrated back to the bench. Dallas will most likely jump out to a lead here, and Morris may not even have a good chance to rack up fantasy points.

5. Brandon Marshall - WR, Chicago Bears

Although "Revis Island" isn't quite as hard to get off as Alcatraz these days, Brandon Marshall is still in for one of the most pestering weeks of his 2014 season as the Bears head to New England to face the 5-2 Patriots. While Revis grades out as the 32nd best cornerback according to Pro Football Focus, he has only had 31 targets thrown his way and only 19 total receptions against his coverage thus far in 2014.

Net net bottom line, Revis is the guy that many quarterbacks avoid throwing to even though he's not quite the stud he once was. That being said, he's still a #1 corner on a good overall pass defense that allows the second fewest fantasy points to opposing wide receivers. We can't tell you to bench this dude, but we are pretty much guaranteeing that Alshon Jeffery will have better stats. Marshall may end up being a Week 8 disappointment for fantasy owners.