Sunday Morning Huddle: Week Two

Ken Kelly

spillerAfter a great opening week, it’s time to get busy with week two. Just like in real football, we have fantasy teams desperately looking to avoid an 0-2 start.

Let’s face it, there’s an enormous amount of information out there this morning. We’re not going to waste your time by repeating the news and notes about who’s in or out this week, since that’s really not what you visit us for. We’re also not going to do another article on starts or sits this week – we already have the personalized lineup advice for you on the premium content. Again, there are 100 places you can go for that, so we do something different on Sundays for our Premium Content subscribers every year.

The Sunday Morning Huddle goes through each game and states what we’re looking to see from a dynasty perspective. We’ll pick one player from each team who we have our eye on and describe why their weekend performance is a key one for them in relation to their dynasty value.

Early Games

St. Louis at Atlanta

Isaiah Pead returns to the lineup this week and it’s going to be really interesting to see what kind of time he gets in the backfield. Daryl Richardson was mediocre at best last week and the Rams could really use a solid ground game to control the tempo today. Richardson owners need to hope for a better day today.

For the Falcons, Steven Jackson will face his old team today and look to prove he still has some gas left in the tank. Jackson had a decent season opener with 77 rushing yards and 45 receiving yards, including a 50-yard run against the Saints last week. The Falcons need to avoid going 0-2 and Jackson will most certainly be a big part of the game plan.

Carolina at Buffalo

The Panthers have promised to unveil a new “less conservative” passing attack today and owners of Cam Newton have to hope that jump starts his season. Newton looked tentative in last week’s home loss to the Seahawks, but much of that needs to be attributed to the Seahawks defense. Is Newton off to another slow start or did he just happen to face the toughest defense he’ll face all season in week one?

In Buffalo, all eyes are squarely on CJ Spiller after last week’s 41-yard dud in a loss to New England. Spiller is being counted on by his owners to be an elite option in dynasty leagues this year and another putrid performance will continue to open the door for Fred Jackson to get time. Look for a bounce back performance from Spiller this week.

Minnesota at Chicago

It’s easy to just pick Christian Ponder or Adrian Peterson for this column, but we pretty much know what they already, don’t we? Let’s instead focus on Greg Jennings. We mentioned last Sunday that it was going to be interesting to see if Jennings could maintain his dynasty value being the first option in the passing game in Minnesota as opposed to the second or third in Green Bay. If last week was any indication (three catches for 33 yards), he is going to have some really limited upside this season.

For Chicago, Alshon Jeffery is emerging to become a legitimate second option for Jay Cutler.  Jeffery posted five catches for 42 yards last week and his owners simply want to see more in this new Marc Trestman offense.

Washington at Green Bay

The Redskins are going to need to keep the Green Bay offense on the sidelines and the player most important to doing just that isn’t Robert Griffin III, it’s Alfred Morris. Last week’s performance was one to forget for Morris who had just 45 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. The stat line isn’t terrible, but Morris fumbled early in the game, then botched a pitch and had to jump on it  – that play resulted in a safety. Morris needs to get going this week and have a solid afternoon. He’s in no imminent danger of losing any time to Roy Helu, but he still needs a good day to keep his owners confident moving forward.

Speaking of running backs, Eddie Lacy didn’t have the greatest of debuts last week. Lacy looks like he simply gets what’s blocked and didn’t show much dynamic ability last week. Was that because he was playing an elite defense on the road or is Lacy simply a grinder who may not be quite as good as many thought he’d be?  We’ll see soon enough.

Miami at Indianapolis

Of all the disappointments from last week, Lamar Miller is right at the top of the list. Miller had just three yards on ten carries and split time right down the middle with Daniel Thomas last week. Thomas wasn’t much better (14 yards on eight carries), but those who believed this wouldn’t be a time share at the beginning of the season looks to have had their bubble burst. Miller needs a good day. Badly.

It looks like Dwayne Allen is very doubtful to play today and owners of Coby Fleener are salivating. Fleener has been an afterthought in this offense and needs a solid performance to reclaim some if his dynasty value. After just one catch for seven yards on his lone target last week, Fleener is looking like a dynasty league bust early on in his career.

Dallas at Kansas City

Owners of Dez Bryant likely threw up in their mouths when they saw Bryant sprain his foot in last week’s contest against the Giants. It looks like Bryant has avoided anything significant, but foot injuries and wide receivers don’t typically go well together. Bryant will be watched closely as he’s in line for a dominant season if he can remain healthy.

The new look Chiefs had an exciting opening day win against the Jaguars last week. Unfortunately, Dwayne Bowe wasn’t a big part of that success. Owners of Bowe have good reason to be concerned about Alex Smith and his check down tendencies as Bowe’s game looks to be suffering. Let’s see if he can get himself on track this week.

San Diego at Philadelphia

When the Chargers went up by three touchdowns last week, I actually sent a message to one of my friends telling him this is now perfectly set up for them to lose and amazingly (or not), they did.  The Chargers need to avoid digging an early season hole and the inevitable thoughts of them being cursed that would come with that. Front and center in dynasty owners minds is going to be the performance of Ryan Mathews. He played in 20 snaps last week, compared to 25 for Ronnie Brown and ten for Danny Woodhead. Is this still Mathews’ backfield or do we have an ugly timeshare on our hands?

The Eagles offense had a great debut last week and it’s going to be exciting to see what happens now that a team has a week to prepare for them. All eyes in dynasty leagues are squarely on LeSean McCoy, who looked like a legitimate MVP candidate last week. The problem? He can’t handle 30 or 40 carries each and every week. Will Chip Kelly get Bryce Brown and Chris Polk more involved?

Cleveland at Baltimore

The Browns inexplicably went away from Trent Richardson last week. If they do it again this week, Norv Turner will reclaim the throne of most hated person in fantasy football.

For the Ravens, Joe Flacco needs to earn his money. He looked like the Flacco of old last week with some great plays mixed in with some clunkers. Yes, he needs young players like Marlon Brown to step up, but Flacco is under a lot of pressure, especially since the Ravens couldn’t bring back a lot of their players due to his salary.

Tennessee at Houston

Speaking of quarterback play, the Titans need more from Jake Locker. With a need to score some points today, Locker really needs to step up. The value of Kenny Britt and the rest of the receivers is going to be in flux until the light goes on for Locker. Today is a huge day for his dynasty value as the Titans can’t afford to wait much longer for him to really step up and lead this team.

The Texans gave Arian Foster a bigger workload than expected last week, but the star in the backfield was Ben Tate. If Tate continues to eat into Foster’s time, this is going to get interesting in a hurry.

Late Games 

Detroit at Arizona

For the Lions, Reggie Bush looks like the real deal again, especially in PPR leagues. However, keep your eye on Joique Bell, who is quickly showing everyone he’s much more than just a handcuff. The Lions suddenly have some balance on offense and dynasty league owners are cashing in.

The Cardinals look to get their own running game going this week as Rashard Mendenhall looked less than spectacular in his debut last week. The depth chart for Arizona is rich with mediocrity as Mendenhall finds himself joined by Ryan Williams, Alphonso Smith, Stepfan Taylor and Andre Ellington. Can one of those four players make a run at more playing time if Mendenhall can’t get going?

New Orleans at Tampa Bay

Kenny Stills looks like he could really be a gem of a find for New Orleans. After a great preseason, Stills posted two catches for  a whopping 86 yards last week. What does have in store for an encore?

Lost in the disappointing performances of David Wilson, Stevan Ridley and others last week was a very average game from another elite dynasty league player in the form of Doug Martin. Martin had just 65 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries, good for a 2.7 yards per carry average against the Jets in the Bucs opener. While the Jets defense is underrated, Martin’s owners surely need more to win their leagues. If he can’t put up a monster performance against New Orleans, it will be pretty frustrating. This all goes without even mentioning the growing problem with Josh Freeman in Tampa.

Jacksonville at Oakland

The Jags are putrid on offense as their defense has actually scored more points (two on a safety) than they have this season. Chad Henne takes back over, but this game is all about MJD. If the Jags can’t get any type of passing game established, defenses are just going to throw the kitchen sink at Jones-Drew and dare anyone else to beat them – not a great recipe for success in dynasty leagues.

For the first time in years, the Raiders have some hope for the quarterback position after Terrelle Pryor turned in a solid performance last week. Can he turn in another good game or will he just end up being Tebow 2.0? We’d say everyone will be watching, but really, nobody wants to see this game.

Denver at New York

We’ve seen Peyton Manning be good before, but his seven touchdown opener was simply ridiculous.  Can this offense look that explosive again? If so, Manning is going to have an MVP season in both reality and fantasy.

There will be no player under more scrutiny this week than David Wilson. It’s not even close. Wilson needs to have a great day of protecting the football and producing on the field or this is going to be a disaster in dynasty leagues.

Sunday Night Football

San Francisco at Seattle

In this week’s “Game of the Year,” the 49ers travel to Seattle after their epic offensive show against the Packers last week. Colin Kaepernick beat Green Bay with his arm, not his legs last week. If Kaepernick can travel to Seattle and have another great day of fantasy success, we could be seeing the beginning of an elite QB1 career with a player who could single-handedly bring some championships to dynasty owners.

For the Seahawks, it’s time to get Marshawn Lynch out of first gear. Lynch had just 43 yards on 17 carries against Carolina last week and he’ll need to have a much better day if the Seahawks are to beat San Francisco this week. The 12th man in Seattle will be incredible this week and Lynch needs to flip the switch to “beast mode.”

Monday Night Football

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati

The real key for the Steelers is their makeshift offensive line here. Since they don’t score points in fantasy leagues, we’ll focus our attention on Ben Roethlisberger, who can only have success if they do. If Pittsburgh gets handled by the Cincinnati defense and falls to 0-2, all bets are off.

For the Bengals, dynasty league owners want to see more from Giovani Bernard. His rookie debut featured four rushes for 22 yards and one catch for eight yards – that’s not exactly inspiring owners to get him in their lineups. Meanwhile, BenJarvus Green-Ellis had 15 touches. Look for Bernard to start making the most of his opportunities and gain some more playing time – this could all start on Monday Night Football.

Good luck this week!

 

ken kelly