Welcome to Week 2! Week 1 was a scoreboard-spinning bonanza — the highest scoring opening week in the Super Bowl era, with teams averaging almost 25 points per game. Wow. That barrage of offense translated to a ton of fantasy points. Sixteen players scored two of more touchdowns last weekend. Hopefully your team was in on the fun, and wasn’t full of players who whiffed such as Matt Stafford, Drake Maye, Ja’Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, Kyle Pitts, Sr., and Colston Loveland.
For some, seeing those names
in print might make you wince. Remember, it’s just one week. Don’t panic…yet.
You’re getting a slightly abbreviated column this week. Sorry about that.
Stats of the Week:
- Chicago’s 59 points was the second highest scoring output ever in a season-opening game. The Bears had 291 rushing yards, averaged 7.5 yards per carry, and scored six rushing touchdowns.
- Chicago 59, Carolina 37 is a scorigami (first time ever for that final score), and at 96 points, the highest scoring Week 1 game in NFL history.
- The Jets and Giants are both 1-0 for the first time since 2009.
- Josh Allen now has nine career games with two of more rushing TDs plus two or more passing TDs. That’s five more than anyone else in NFL history. He’s also 20th all time (among all players) in rushing TDs.
- On Sunday, Derrick Henry had his 26th game with 100+ rushing yards and multiple rushing TDs. That broke a three-way tie for most all-time (Jim Brown, LaDanian Tomlinson).
OK, Week 2, here we go!
Bye Weeks: NONE
Week 2 Rides, Fades and Sleepers
For those who are familiar with this column, you know the drill. For everyone else: The Rides, Fades, and Sleepers is an analysis of players that I think are primed for an especially strong or poor performance, often as compared to consensus expectations. This isn’t a straight-up Start/Sit exercise. As a general rule, start your studs. I’ll rarely list the most obvious names at a position as “Rides” because those players are almost always expected to have strong performances. You don’t need me or anyone else telling you to start Jahmyr Gibbs. While this analysis is intended for season-long play, it works for DFS formats too. Half PPR scoring and Expert Consensus Rankings (ECR) are used for the column.
Each week, I’m picking a Ride, Fade,and Sleeper of the Week. The rules: The Ride of the Week can’t be a truly elite option, the Fade can’t be someone who nobody is starting anyway, and the Sleeper must be an actual sleeper, from down in the rankings.
This week, since the column is short, I’m doing two of each.
Last week, my Ride of the Week (Chris Olave – 182 receiving yards) and Fade of the Week (Drake Maye – 1 TD, 3 INTs) delivered. My Sleeper of the Week (mike Washington, Jr.) was OK, but not worth a spot in starting lineups.
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Rides of the Week:
D.J. Moore (vs. DET). If it ain’t broke…I might just pick “No. 1 wide receiver going against the Lions” as my Ride of the Week all season, or at least until they get their starting safeties back. This contest has shootout written all over it, and like Olave last week, D.J. Moore is primed for a big game against this unit. He had 100 yards and a long TD last week against Houston’s elite secondary, and should be able to build on that (and on his rapport with Josh Allen) against a defense that allowed the fifth-most fantasy points per game (FPPG) to opposing WRs last season. They’ll be lucky if they aren’t ranked worse than that by the time this season is done. Moore is listed as the RB13 this week and he’s Top-10 for me.
Brock Purdy (vs. MIA). The extra rest from the Australia trip will do the 49ers good, although they might be itching to get back out there quickly after they dismantled the Rams so convincingly. This game shouldn’t be competitive, but that won’t stop Purdy from running it up early on an overmatched and very inexperienced Miami defense that just made Kirk Cousins look pretty good (although they did turn him over a couple of times, which kept the game closer than it should have been). He’s got enough healthy weapons to light up Miami this weekend.
Fades of the Week:
Drake London (@CAR).
London was a sit for me last week, and as long as the Falcons’ QB options are the pu pu platter of Cooper Rush and Tua Tagovailoa, I’m staying far away. The Panthers gave up 59 points last week, but most of the fantasy points went to Chicago’s quarterback and running backs. Look for Atlanta to hand the Panthers a lot of Bijan Robinson. It’s a good matchup for London, but I can’t get past the abysmal QB situation.
Sam LaPorta (@BUF). LaPorta is always a volatile fantasy option, and in Week 1 he was just OK (5-48-0). His eight targets were encouraging, but this week’s matchup is a horrible one and he’ll probably need to find the end zone to give you a TE1 finish. The Bills were the single worst matchup for TEs last season (fewest catches, yards, and FPPG allowed), and they held Dalton Schultz in check in a Week 1 shootout (four catches for 35 yards)
Sleepers of the Week:
Quentin Johnston (vs. LV) is listed as the WR30 this week and for me that’s too low. No team suffered a bigger embarrassment in Week 1 than Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers. Mike McDaniel’s high octane offense struggled against an Arizona defense that everyone — and I mean EVERYONE — expected them to dominate. Ladd McConkey might miss this game. Look for a bounceback and a solid WR2 performance from Johnston in what now feels like a must-win game for the Chargers, who have a brutal schedule coming up.
Carson Wentz (@CHI). Yeah I know, it’s Carson Wentz, who makes lots of mistakes and is now a career backup. I also know that he threw three TDs last week, has dangerous weapons at his disposal, and is facing a Bears’ defense that just allowed four total TDs to Bryce Young. Ben Johnson is serious about setting the points record, so this could be another shootout. Any QB playing against Chicago’s suspect defense warrants a look, and if you need a second QB in a Superflex this week, Wentz is a live play.
Other Rides and Sleepers:
Going beyond the obvious elite options at each position, here a few more Rides for me this week:
QB: D. Prescott (vs. WAS), J. Daniels (@DAL), J. Dart (@LAR), P. Mahomes (vs. IND), B. Mayfield (vs. CLE), J. Love (@NYJ).
RB: K. Walker III (vs. IND), J. Williams (vs. WAS), K. Williams (vs. NYG), C. Hubbard (@ATL), J. Mason (@CHI), J. Croskey-Merritt (@DAL), and if you need to dig deep: K. Black (vs. MIA) and G. Holani (vs. ARI).
WR: G. Pickens (vs. WAS), C. Watson (@NYJ), G. Wilson (vs. GB), T. McLaurin and S. Diggs (@DAL), and if you need to go deep, D. Samuel, Sr. (vs. MIA), D. Vele (@BAL), and D. Wicks (@TEN).
TE: D. Kincaid (vs. DET), D. Goedart (@TEN), I. Likely (@LAR), and if you need someone from down in the rankings, T.J. Hockenson (@CHI), C. Okonkwo (@DAL), and A.J. Barner (@ARI).
Other Fades (among players who a lot of people might consider starting this week):
QB: J. Burrow (@HOU – not expecting anyone to sit him, but that defense is going to bounce back, so temper expectations), D. Maye (vs. PIT), M. Stafford (vs. NYG), D. Jones (@KC), J. Brissett (vs. SEA).
RB: B. Tuten (@DEN), Q. Judkins (@TB), J. Warren (@NE), M. Lloyd (@NYJ), T. Pollard (vs. PHI).
WR: J. Waddle (vs. JAC), D. Adams (vs. NYG), R. Odunze (vs. MIN), D.K. Metcalf (@NE), B. Thomas, Jr. (@DEN), M. Harrison (vs. SEA), C. Tate (vs. PHI).
TE: J. Johnson (@BAL), K. Pitts, Sr. (vs. CAR), B. Strange (@DEN).
Good luck in Week 2!
***This column appears each Thursday here at Big Blue View. Each Monday, my Waiver Wire column appears here, and on Fridays you can find my weekly Prop bets of the week for the Giants. ***
