Week 2 Recap
Week two kicked off with the Battle for Ohio. The Browns and Bengals faced off on Thursday night, with the Browns winning by a close margin 35-30. This game featured first overall selections at quarterback, Baker Mayfield and Joe Burrow. The Browns run game is the story in this matchup, with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt having wonderful days. Chubb finished with 124 yards rushing, 2 touchdowns and 1 reception for 9 yards giving him 26.3 points in a PPR format. While Hunt had 86 yards rushing and a touchdown, with 2 receptions for 15 yards and a touchdown, giving him 24.1 points in a PPR format. During the game, the plan seemed to be get Odell Beckham Jr. involved, as was evident with the targets and fact that he had an impact on the score sheet this week. I guess the squeaky wheel got the grease. Beckham finished with 4 receptions, 74 yards, and a touchdown giving him 17.4 points in PPR formats. Mayfield was the lesser of the quarterbacks in this duel, but this seemed to be heavily caused by a glaring weakness in the Bengal’s rush defense. Mayfield finished the night with 219 yards through the air with 2 touchdowns, an interception, and 5 yards rushing, which tallied 15.26 points.
On the other side of this game was rookie quarterback Joe Burrow, who was under fire all night. I know poise doesn’t provide fantasy points, but it should. The Bengal’s offensive line seemed to be no better than a revolving door, and in fact five revolving doors might have been better at stalling the onslaught from Myles Garrett and company. Little could be done in the rushing game for the Bengals with Joe Mixon only gaining 46 yards on the ground, and Burrow running for his life gaining 19 yards on seven runs. Burrow had a day through the air with 316 yards, 3 touchdowns, and zero interceptions on 61 pass attempts, finishing the night with 26.54 points. His main target in this offense is not A.J. Green, although numerous targets were thrown his way, but rather Tyler Boyd who finished with 7 receptions, 72 yards, and a touchdown on the day for 20.2 points. In this game starting tight end C.J. Uzomah looked like a steady target for Burrow, but a torn achilles in the 4th quarter has ended his season prematurely. Although Mixon did not have the best night, he was still a major piece for this team as they tried to get him involved in the passing game as well. Mixon finished the night with 12.6 points in PPR formats. A.J. Green does not seem to be the same person we all wanted on our teams, as his age and injuries seemed to have caught up with him. Green finished with a depressing 5.9 points in PPR formats. As was strongly on display during this game the Bengals run defense was miserable and something teams with good blocking and running backs will take advantage of.
The surprise of the week came during the Falcons Cowboys game during the early slot of Sunday’s games. At the end of the first quarter the Falcons were up 20-0 and the game seemed like a runaway. However, little by little the Cowboys stayed alive and clawed their way back to a win with a last second field goal winning 40-39. Atlanta seemed to be the better team early in this game. Matt Ryan was wheeling and dealing completing 24 of 36 throws for 273 yards, and 4 touchdowns. Ryan ended the day with 28.52 points. Ryan in the past couple of weeks has looked like his MVP self and a must start in every league. Ryan’s go to target in this offense has been Julio Jones in the past and Ryan still does look to him but a disaster of a day with 2 receptions for 24 yards is concerning. The better option in this offense is the young Calvin Ridley. Ridley had a day catching 7 passes for 109 yards and two scores. These stats provided 29.9 points in PPR formats. A change of scenery for Hayden Hurst seemed to be what the doctor ordered. Week one for Hurst was not a high scoring day but was an intro into this system, but week two he looked like a first rounder. Hurst notched 5 receptions for 72 yards, and a touchdown for 18.2 in PPR formats. Hurst is someone that needs to be in consideration for TE2 numbers and a solid starter if you do not have one of the tier one tight ends. This week saw another lack luster week for Todd Gurley. He had 61 yards rushing, and was not a factor in the pass game. At this point he seems to be a low end running back option, maybe a flex.
The winning Cowboys (which pains me to say) stayed in this game after 20 unanswered points. Dak Prescott had a monster day through the air with 450 yards passing, but only 1 touchdown. Prescott’s fantasy points came on short runs near the goal line, where he snuck in for 3 touchdowns. Prescott ended his day with 41.8 points. With a trio of very talented wide receivers, Amari Cooper and rookie CeeDee Lamb stole the show. Lamb had a big day with 6 receptions for 106 yards, ending the day with 16.6 points. Cooper had a similar stat line catching 6 passes for 100 yards earning 16 points. With Blake Jarwin out for the year with a knee injury a vacancy developed at the tight end position. Second year player Dalton Schultz stepped up and filled this void. Schultz was a consistent option for Prescott throughout the day catching 9 passes for 88 yards and being the sole recipient of Prescott’s passing touchdown. Schultz amassed 23.8 points in PPR formats. These numbers by Schultz make him an intriguing target for this weeks waiver wire. Ezekiel Elliot had a solid day during this game rushing for 89 yards, one rushing touchdown, with 6 catches for 33 yards. Zeke showed why he is a top running back in the league. Elliot had 24.2 points in PPR formats.
Injuries
Well 2020 reared its ugly head again this week in the NFL with numerous injuries and ones to big stars in this league. This week seemed especially bad with serious voids now being created at the skill positions.
Saquon Barkley- During Sunday’s game Giants running back Barkley suffered a serious knee injury. This injury creates quite a massive hole in not only the Giants team but many fantasy teams that drafted the stud running back in the first round. If you are trying to replace him with his “handcuff,” veteran Dion Lewis is your choice. Lewis should be available in a majority of leagues, and although he is not Barkley he will be an asset in both the run and pass.
Christian McCaffrey- And the hits keep coming to the running backs. Panthers star McCaffrey suffered an ankle injury in Sunday’s loss to the Bucs. This injury can side line McCaffrey for several weeks. The team stated that they believe back up Mike Davis has the ability to assume the role, as he is a solid runner and has been a threat receiving out of the backfield.
Raheem Mostert- Mostert’s knee injury does not seem as severe as the ones listed above. A MCL sprain was reported for the 49ers running back and could put him on the shelf for a couple of weeks, which is good news. His back up Tevin Coleman also left the game with an undisclosed knee injury leaving the work load to Jerick McKinnon. For the short term McKinnon might be worth a roster spot.
Davante Adams- Packer’s star wide receiver Adams left Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury. There is no word yet as to the severity of this injury, but with the Packers up big and the game well in hand this might have been a cautious decision to keep him out. However, if Adams is ruled out and the hamstring is a lingering issue look to Allen Lazard and Marquez Valdes-Scantling as options.
Courtland Sutton- Sutton suffered what many thought was just cramps and a minor injury to his knee. This injury turned out to be much more. The star wide receiver has torn his ACL and will miss the remainder of the year. Sutton, who was poised to have a great year building off of his time last season, is now done. For those looking to pick up on the targets that will be available in this offense look to last weeks sleeper Jerry Jeudy. Jeudy will assume the role as the top wide receiver in this system, but be cautious starting quarterback Drew Locke as he is also sidelined for 2-6 weeks with a shoulder injury.
Parris Campbell- One of my favorite under the radar players dodged a major hit this week. The fear was a torn ACL, however it has been reported that Campbell has suffered a PCL injury. Although this could still limit his involvement in the offense it is not a season ending injury. I still would leave him on your bench as his upside is there. Once Campbell went down the Colts turned to rookie wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. Now Pittman Jr. might be a deep sleeper and not necessarily worth a pick up in 8-10 team leagues. But in deeper leagues this could be a sneaky addition.
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