Week 2 is here and there are a lot of things for us pretend football players to pay attention to. I’ll go through a few here and then hook you up with some prime links and maybe give you a puppy (I won’t give you a puppy).
While I have you here I’d like to give some shout outs to our writers at Razzball. They are doing some awesome work and their stuff often gets buried pretty quickly on the site. Clint Chugg, Joseph Buccellato, Mark Lee, Tim Brodeur, Josh Vitale, Jonathan Gilpin, Matt Jones, Trevor Gallo and Jeff Brubach have all contributed some bad ass work of late and I can’t thank them enough. You should scroll down and see what they had to say this week and if their names have a little hyperlinkage up above you should click and follow them on the Twitter.
Do you want to take me on in FanDuel? Well, do ya!? Ok, ok, here’s the link if you do.
Make sure you aren’t starting any dudes who aren’t playing by checking out our Week 2 Injury Report.
Ok, enough of that. Here is some fake football schtuff:
Cam Newton: Really, if he doesn’t completely fall apart against the multiple disguised blitzes of Dom Capers lead by Fabio, then his stock rises considerably. I’m on the fence right now with him. His upside is great, but I’m worried about his inconsistency. If he can pull out a halfway decent game against Green Bay he should be pretty safe to use as your sole backup.
James Starks/Ryan Grant: Week 1 was all Starks as far as amount of time on the field and productivity and I don’t think that is going to change, hence my high ranking this week, but this week should help shore up the idea that Grant is more of a handcuff than a committee member.
Saints Receivers: I’m a big Lance Moore fan this year, but he got off to a slow halt with his groin injury. Let’s hope this week it’s not a growing injury (I am so funny). If he starts and plays the whole game we should have a little clarity on that situation. I believe if everyone is healthy (fat if) Meachem, Moore and Graham will be the guys to own there. We’ll see if that is how it plays out today.
Antonio Brown/Emmanuel Sanders: Brown saw the bulk of the targets last week, but Sanders made the most of the few he received. My horse in this race right now is Sanders, but if Brown gets close to 9 targets again and Sanders gets 3, well, I’ll have to change my thinking.
Donald Jones/David Nelson: Jones was on the field last week a lot more than Nelson, 63 plays to 35. I’m interested in the Bills offensive progress this week. They were on point last week and under Chan Gailey have the opportunity to carry some fantasy points, but I’d like to see some consistency and hopefully for a #2 receiver to step up.
Percy Harvin: The 39 yards put up by Donovan McNabb last week was just depressing. And for some reason Percy Harvin didn’t see the field on running plays. Yes, he may not need to be out there for them to run, but they seem to be telegraphing their plays, but anyway. I’m hoping to see a lot more targets for their best receiver this week. I’ll start getting a little worried if he doesn’t.
Shonn Greene: He didn’t show much against the Cowboys, but also wasn’t in the best of positions to succeed. This week the Jags offense won’t be able to do nearly as much as the Cowboys so the Jets should be close or in the lead for much of the game. That should give Greene more opportunities to run. If he gets the opportunities and does nothing with them then it’s time to start biting your nails. Or someone elses so you don’t mess up yours.
Earl Bennett/Johnny Knox: They aren’t in direct competition, but with Roy Williams most likely out it will be interesting to see how they are used since Williams should be demoted at some point for being old. Devin Hester is still on the field way too much as well, but thems the breaks. Knox and Bennett are the only two I think can have fantasy relevance and I’m hoping they start to dominate the targets.
Jared Cook: I’m not sure how much we’ll get out of this game if the Baltimore defense dominates, but if the Titans can get something going I hope they try harder to get Cook involved. Him and Britt are easily their best receivers and should be targeted 1st and 2nd, let’s see if that happens. If not I’ll have to start waning on my Cook love. And burn my I’m cooking with Cook BBQ apron.
Dwayne Bowe: The Chiefs offense without Weis coordinating them has been pretty offensive. Bowe isn’t going to do what he did last season, but he’s still a good receiver. Can Cassel get him the ball? I think they’ll be behind to the Lions high powered offense and will need to throw it quite a bit. If Bowe can’t piece together a good game in that scenario then we might have a problem.
Indianapolis Offense: I have no faith in the Manningless Colts, but I’m not willing to drop them all quite yet. We need to see what kind of value we have here first. Last week they were just beat all the hell up by the Texans and I don’t think we learned much, except what we already knew, that they sucked without Peyton. Collins didn’t have much time to learn the offense or even play in the preseason, so maybe against the Browns we can get a better picture of how they are going to look here on out.
Kevin Ogletree: It’s looking more likely that Dez Bryant won’t play (stay tuned, he’s a game time decision) and Ogletree might get the start. I’ve always thought Ogletree had some ability and it will be interesting to see how he plays. That’s all I have to say about that.
Willis McGahee: I really didn’t like what I saw out of McGahee week 1, but he will get the chance to be the guy in week 2 with Knowshon Moreno most likely out. The Bengals defense isn’t horrid, but if you are the #1 running back, getting all of the work, you better be able to put up at least flex startable fantasy numbers.
Patriots Tight Ends: Herkowski put up huge numbers in Miami, but how valuable will they both be from week to week? The Chargers pass defense is tough, but they consistently are beat by tight ends. It’s going to be hard to keep both out of the top ten tight end rankings each week until something changes. We’ll see if anything changes this week.
Owen Daniels: The Texans ran the ball a whole lot and Andre Johnson saw most of the few passing targets. The Dolphins should put up more of a fight than the Colts and Kevin Walter is out so we should see much more from Daniels. If not, there is something wrong in Whoville.
Jacquizz Rodgers: The backup position behind Michael Turner is pretty fluid right now. Jason Snelling had 2 runs and 6 targets and was on the field for 36 plays. Rodgers was at 2, 5, 22. Plus, Jacuzzi had 2 red zone looks to Snelly’s zero. If Rodgers’ numbers rise and Snelling’s fall in this game, I think that may be the direction they are going.
Lance Kendricks: I’m hoping his week 1 drops were rookie jitters and I believe they were. He has shown good hands in the past and that isn’t just going to go away. He is set up to have a very nice rookie season if he can get his head screwed on right.
Hot Links:
As usual, Evan Silva’s Week 2 matchup article over at Rotoworld is a must read every week.
Our old Yahoo pal Andy Behrens takes a look at week 1 in his article Five up, five down: A plea for patience, a call for panic. Read it and leave a comment that has nothing to do with football.
This young up and coming writer has a detailed Targets and Touches article that you should read.
The Cold Hard Football Facts take a look at today’s slate of games.
I heard an interview with Patton Oswalt the other day where he said he watches Gale Sayers highlights to help him write. Yeah, he writes comedy. That’s how good Gale Sayers is.
This is old, but very much worth the read. Malcolm Gladwell, author and darn good thinker, is interviewed by ESPN and you’ll get smarter just by clicking here.
The NY Times Fifth Down Blog takes a look at the Week 2 Matchups.
For all you Dynasty leaguers out there you should take a look at Chris Wesseling’s column Dynasty Hot Sheet.
FanDuel is putting out some great stuff and the winner of our The Next Great Fantasy Football Writer Josh Vitale is doing his thang over there as well! Check him out!
Pro Football Weekly has a look at the Ten Most Intriguing Players in week 2.
Our friends over at Sharapova’s Thigh take a look at week 2 for fantasy. Check it and don’t, if you can help it, wreck it.
Carl does some stuff below.
