Sunday Morning Huddle: Week Three

Ken Kelly Posted On September 22, 2013

rgiii After 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

Green Bay at Cincinnati

For the Packers, dynasty eyes are going to be on James Starks, who came out of nowhere last week to rush for 132 yards and a touchdown after Eddie Lacy went down with a concussion after his first carry. Starks has been a major fantasy tease throughout his career and was most likely this week’s hottest dynasty league pickup. Will he flop again or make a case to get some work even after Lacy returns here shortly.

The Bengals finally took the training wheels off Giovani Bernard last week and he responded with 38 yards rushing, 27 yards receiving and two touchdowns. There have been rumblings this time share with BenJarvus Green-Ellis will soon be 50/50, so this week could be key as long as Bernard’s minor injury keeps him at less than 100%.

St. Louis at Dallas

The Rams may finally have two receivers to feed as Tavon Austin emerged last week, joining Chris Givens as a legitimate threat for the team. It will be interesting to see how the balls from Sam Bradford are distributed to Givens, Austin and Jared Cook moving forward.

In Dallas, Dez Bryant busted out last week by torching Brandon Flowers of the Chiefs to the tune of nine passes for 141 receiving yards. To be a truly elite WR1, we need to see more, especially with a game at home Dallas should win.

San Diego at Tennessee

Philip Rivers of the Chargers is experiencing a major career renaissance as he’s thrown for 614 yards and completed nearly 66% percent of his passes this year. Throw in his seven touchdowns and just one turnover so far and you’re seeing an ex-legitimate QB1 rounding back into form. Sure, it’s only a two game sample size, but what will game three bring us?

For the Titans, where has Kenny Britt gone? In the first two games, he’s posted just five catches for 43 yards and no touchdowns. Extrapolate those numbers across a whole season and we’re looking at a disappointing 40 catches for 344 yards and no scores. In a contract year, this is a tragedy. It’s amazing to think those dynasty league owners who drafted him have had to endure five years of amazing ups and downs and very little consistency.

Cleveland at Minnesota

In a game made for family members of these players, the Browns and Vikings clash in a battle of major early season disappointments. For the Vikings, we’re getting close to Christian Ponder’s last stand here. He’s been unable to consistently move this offense and time is running short for him to be the leader of this franchise.

In Cleveland, the “Tank for Teddy” campaign starts today as the Browns begin their quest to seemingly give up on the season and position themselves for Teddy Bridgewater of Louisville after trading away Trent Richardson to the Colts this week. Brian Hoyer gets the start and the running back committee will be manned by Willis McGahee, Chris Ogbonnaya and Bobby Rainey. On the plus side, we’ll finally get a chance to see Josh Gordon.

Tampa Bay at New England

Speaking of possible quarterback eras coming to a close, the rift between Josh Freeman and Head Coach Greg Schiano seems to be widening by the day. The 0-2 Bucs are in desperation mode and one more loss could start the Mike Glennon rumors in Tampa. Freeman hasn’t been great this year and patience is running thin.

For the Pats, this has to be the week the youngsters step up or Tom Brady’s head may actually detach from torso from an uncontrollable blood rush of anger. Kenbrell Thompkins, Aaron Dobson, Zach Sudfeld and the other diaper dandies need to get on the same page or their opportunities will be officially squandered here quickly. The offense may just turn into throwing the ball to Julian Edelman 50 times and seeing what happens.

Arizona at New Orleans

The Cardinals need to get some juice going in their running game and have started to sprinkle in players like Alphonso Smith, Stepfan Taylor and Andre Ellington. Rashard Mendenhall could use a decisive perfromance on the road to keep the young guys from nipping at his heels.

In New Orleans, Pierre Thomas continues to outplay Mark Ingram and it’s finally looking like it’s time to officially call Ingram a bust. Thomas is one of the most undervalued players in dynasty leagues and time is running out if you want to get him on the cheap. Let’s see what the distribution of carries looks like today.

Detroit at Washington

Dynasty league owners are again focused on the running game here. If Reggie Bush plays, he has a juicy matchup against a Redskins defense that would have trouble stopping Betty White running the football. If Bush sits, Joique Bell becomes a chic pick for unsung hero of the day.

It’s a huge day for the 0-2 Redskins and all eyes will be on Robert Griffin III. Washington has had some terrible starts and it’s time for RGIII to shake off the rust and display some confidence. If this turns into a Detroit blowout, all bets are off for the Redskins this year.

NY Giants at Carolina

In what could be the game of the day, the Giants (0-2) travel to Carolina to face the 0-2 Panthers. For the Giants, it’s time for Eli Manning to pull himself off the mat. While he has five touchdowns this year, he also has a league leading seven INTs – that’s just not going to get it done. Needless to say, it’s a big day for the G-men and their signal caller needs to deliver.

The Panthers also need a win and the dynasty community will be watching Cam Newton very closely. Over his first two years, he’s averaged a total of 31 touchdowns through the air and from the ground combined. At this point, he’s on pace for just 24 and hasn’t looked like the dynamic player we’ve all come to know. It’s not time to panic, but Newton could use a good day here soon.

Houston at Baltimore

The Texans haven’t dominated by any stretch of the imagination, but they’ve managed to get themselves to 2-0 anyway. The big news from last week was the emergence of DeAndre Hopkins. If Hopkins can build on his performance from last week, he may just become a WR2 before we blink.

In Balitmore, the story here for dynasty leaguers will be the first career start for Bernard Pierce. With Ray Rice hobbled, this will be our first chance to see what Pierce can do as a featured back. The dynasty community is salivating as Pierce has long been seen as much more than a handcuff.

Late Games

Atlanta at Miami

The Falcons will be without Steven Jackson this week, so it’s going to be up to a committee of backs to get the job done. The real story here is going to be the health of the receivers as Julio Jones and Roddy White are both at less than 100%.

The surprising Dolphins are 2-0 and the person in the spotlight here remains to be Lamar Miller. He bounced back with a decent game last week, but his owners need to see much more to feel comfortable with him as a player to build around for their dynasty teams. The book is still very much out.

Buffalo at NY Jets

This one can be done together as the two players under the microscope in this game will both be the rookie quarterbacks – EJ Manuel and Geno Smith. While Manuel has looked fairly sharp, Smith has been less than stellar and now has some in the Jets community calling for Matt Simms to take over. And you wonder why the Jets always struggle?

Indianapolis at San Francisco

Trent Richardson will make his debut for the Colts today. The only question here will be just how much he’ll be able to contribute this week. After this game, expect him to get a healthy dose of touches from this point forward.

The 49ers were embarrassed in Seattle last week, so look for Colin Kaepernick to have a huge bounce back game this week and prove to any doubters that Seattle is truly just a house of horrors for opposing teams.

Jacksonville at Seattle

I’d pick a player for the Jags, but I honestly don’t see how they score in this game. Seriously. They’re averaging 5.5 points per game (five on offense if take away their Safety) and that’s just terrible. The Seahawks are allowing five points per game and are coming off giving the high octane 49ers only three last week. The spread on this game is right around 20 points and that even seems generous.

For the Seahawks, this should be the game where Russell Wilson breaks out of his early season point scoring funk. He’s been fine enough to win and good in reality, but we want to see great in both reality AND fantasy.

Sunday Night Football

Chicago at Pittsburgh

Jay Cutler is still prone to the head scratching mistake, but he’s also very quietly putting up QB1 numbers in this new offense. Let’s see if he and the Bears can really put the Steelers in a big-time hole.

For Pittsburgh, it’s truly up to Ben Roethlisberger to get them a win. The running game is non-existent, the offensive line is struggling and the defense is having a hard time stopping anyone – fair or unfair, it’s up to Big Ben to rise up and be the QB1 so many dynasty league teams need him to be.

Monday Night Football

Oakland at Denver

With the Broncos, it’s easy to say Peyton Manning or pick any of the 1,000 pass catching weapons they have, but let’s go with Knowshon Moreno. Yet again, the other backs on the roster have failed to capitalize on their opportunities and it’s left Moreno as the first option again in Denver. Can he really take advantage, stay healthy and become a viable weapon in fantasy leagues?

For the Raiders, Darren McFadden had his best game in memory last week with 129 rushing yards against Jacksonville. Is that an anomaly, or is the old DMC back?

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Ken Kelly

Co-Founder at DynastyLeagueFootball

Ken is a corporate trainer by day an a tireless editor of dynasty content by night. His passion for the World Champion Seattle Seahawks is second only to his love of fantasy football and the dynasty format.

Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK