Sunday Six Pack: Week Two

Jarrett Behar

sixpack

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We’re with you every Sunday to provide the Sunday Six Pack, an article featuring six of the biggest storylines heading into each and every week of the season. Keeping tabs on these events will keep you prepared and informed throughout the season – just don’t drive within six hours of reading this.

Can #1) Gold Rush

Much to the chagrin of everyone like me who had the Bears in their survivor pools for week one, the Bills were able to run all over the no-longer-vaunted Chicago defense for 193 total yards on 5.8 yards per carry.  The Bears picked up right where they left off, unfortunately.  The 2,583 rushing yards they gave up in 2013 was the worst in the NFL by over 400 total yards.  Now the Bears face off against the 49ers dangerous duo of Frank Gore and rookie Carlos Hyde, not to mention the running threat of quarterback Colin Kaepernick.  Hopefully the wide receiving duo of Brandon Marshall (ankle) and Alshon Jeffery (hamstring) can get healthy for this game.  Otherwise, we may see a lot of the 49ers grinding the game away on the ground in the second half.

Can #2) Charles Should Be In Charge

[inlinead]In the Chiefs’ week one loss to the Titans, stud running back Jamaal Charles saw just 11 total touches on seven carries and four targets (all of which were hauled in).  Mediocre-at-best wide receiver Donnie Avery saw 13 total targets of which he caught seven.  Now, I’m not a professional football coach by any stretch of the imagination, but when Avery gets more targets than the far-and-away best player on your team gets touches, something has gone horribly wrong.  This week, playing at Mile High against the Broncos, the Chiefs are going to need all the points they can get.  The only hope they have of scoring is getting the ball to #25 early and often.  If the Broncos defense allowed Trent Richardson to exceed three yards per carry (six carries for 20 yards, good for 3.33 ypc), Charles should average at least seven yards per cary, right?

Can #3) A Giant Mess

Unlike the Buffalo Bills, who were able to put a shaky preseason on offense behind them, the Giants continued their preseason offensive struggles into week one.  Eli Manning threw for just 163 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions against an injury depleted Lions secondary that wasn’t all that great to begin with.  Victor Cruz only saw six targets and only managed to secure two of those with at least two bad drops and breakout candidate Rueben Randle caught two of three targets for a whopping one yard.  The only bright spot was the somewhat emergence of Larry Donnell as the Giants’ main tight end.  Although Donnell appears to be a major part of the Giants’ red zone offense drawing a fade target and catching his touchdown on a fourth and goal from the one yard line, he is a certified plodder who is largely going to be touchdown and garbage time dependent from week-to-week. This week’s game against another banged-up defensive team, the Arizona Cardinals, figures to be more of the same unless the Giants’ patchwork offensive line can figure out a way to keep the pressure off of Eli.  The Cardinals didn’t register a sack against the Chargers at home in week one, so we’ll have to see which weakness prevails.

Can #4)  How Many Watts Does It Take to Light Up a Black Hole?

One J.J. Watt almost single-handedly blew up the Redskins in week one, recording one sack, two tackles for loss, one batted ball, five quarterback hits, one fumble recovery and, for good measure, a blocked extra point.  This week he enters the Black Hole and gets a Raiders team that gave up two sacks, only recorded 158 yards of total offense in week one and will be missing top running back Maurice Jones-Drew who is recovering from hand surgery. This could get ugly.  The one bright spot from a dynasty standpoint is that with MJD out, it appears we will finally get a look at atheltic second year running back Latavius Murray, who spent last year on injured reserve with a foot injury.

Can #5)  The Quick and the Dead

Week one certainly didn’t go the way the St. Louis Rams planned.  Shaun Hill was surprisingly ineffective before he got “hurt,” and things didn’t get much better after that.  We did, however, get some initial clarity on the battle to be the Rams number one outside wide receiver taking place between Kenny Britt and Brian Quick.  While Britt finished the day with a big fat goose egg, Quick caught seven of nine targets for 99 yards, the lone bright side on an otherwise forgettable day.  I still believe in Hill as a fairly effective quarterback, but he’s questionable for this week’s tilt with the banged-up Buccaneers, so Quick is definitely more of a “continue to monitor,” rather than a “insert into your lineup” play unless you have some injury issues that you are dealing this week.

Can #6)  Carne Asiata

Hat tip to our own Ty Miller for that one.  Everyone is aware of the Adrian Peterson indictment at this point, and it looks like AD could miss multiple weeks while this situation sorts itself out.  Meanwhile, at least for this week, backup Matt Asiata, who clearly ran ahead of athletic, but raw, Jerick McKinnon in the preseason will get the first shot at starting.  Asiata started two games last year in place of an injured Peterson and had two completely contrasting games – an inefficient but effective 30 carries for 51 yards and three touchdowns against the Eagles in Week 16 and 14 carries for 115 yards in Week 17 against the Lions.  He added five receptions on eight targets for 13 yards in those two games.  This week he gets a Patriots team that gave up 191 rushing yards to the Dolphins last week.  He’ll almost certainly get the bulk of the work as a surprise start with an inexperienced backup that is still learning the position.  He’s an acceptable replacement for anyone in need of a spot starter in week two.

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