Only one word to describe this week. Pain. SQB, Chubb, Burrow, Aiyuk, Waddle, Adams, Montgomery, and Williams all faced injuries this week. I'm sure I missed a few others but it was a brutal week nonetheless. We're still two weeks away from bye weeks and the IR spots are already filling up. This is where seasons are won and lost, the waiver wire. Some say I'm responsible for Chubb getting hurt because I picked up his backup Jerome Ford a few hours before kickoff. But it was just a savvy vet move in my opinion. If the NFL had an injury slider like Madden, it would be unanimous that we would turn it off. No one wants to see injuries, especially to a guy like Nick Chubb. It hurts to see but the reality is - next man up. We didn't get the five 2-0 teams, but we did get four 2-0 and four 0-2. The South has shown to be the more dominant division early into the season, flaunting an 8-2 record while the North being 2-8. However, the 'points for' between the two divisions are close with the South only outscoring the North by 32 points. 124 points is the league average per team through 2 weeks. Scoring is down, passing yards are down, interceptions are up. The oldest starting QB in the NFL is only 35 years old and we have a slew of young QBs who are on the rise. With so many young QBs, defenses are thriving as they take advantage of inexperienced QB play (unless you're the Chargers).
13 defenses have scored over 20 total points through two weeks, three teams over 30 and the Cowboys being the highest at 56pts. The Cowboys are currently third overall in fantasy scoring. For reference, only seven TEs have scored over 20pts total this year. Your defensive choice is arguably more important than your TE or flex position right now.
Alright, let's jump into it.
WEEK 2 PAYOUT WINNER
Best Loser - The team that loses their weekly matchup with the highest point total.
Justin - 135.01pts
While Justin's second loss was established on Sunday evening, he was able to hold off both Spencer and Jere as they started to creep up via MNF players. I guess losing doesn't feel as bad when you get $20 as a bonus when you lose but this loss may be the difference between making it into the playoffs. Justin has been the top point scorer for the losing teams in both week one and two. Should we have swapped to the 'Extra Game against League Median' this year, here is what the standings would be: Spencer: 3-1 Justin: 2-2 Nick: 2-2 Jere: 0-4 Jared: 0-4 Worzie: 4-0 Commish:3-1 Nathan: 3-1 Probst: 3-1 Ryan: 0-4 Nothing changes for teams like Jere, Jared, Worzie, Probst, and Nick. But, Justin would have 2 wins, Spencer with 1 more. Those three losses ended up in the South division. This explains what is mentioned in the intro, the difference between the wins from North to South is dramatic but the point totals between the two are within 3% overall. This will be something we follow throughout the year to see what the differences would have been.
START OF THE WEEK
Probst, Nico Collins - 27.60pts
Going undrafted in our league, Probst picked up Nico during the first waiver period and immediately slid him into the starting lineup. The dividends have already been paid out as Nico performed as a WR1 helping Probst capture a win to remain undefeated. CJ Stroud has relied on Nico as his primary target and has looked like the best rookie QB... At least of those who have stayed healthy.
Honorable Mention
Jere, Jared Goff - 30.42pts
Although Jere couldn't find a way to win this week. He has officially jumped off the Fields bandwagon. I didn't agree with him keeping Fields but I understand the upside he had should he have improved as a QB this offseason. He did not make any improvements as a passer and it seems they've cut his legs from him as well. Through 2 games, he's only rushed for 62 yards and 59 of those were in week 1. Adapting quickly and taking emotion out of fantasy is important for making decisions and picking up Goff who has quietly been one of the most efficient QBs over the past year should improve his team immediately.
BLUNDER OF THE WEEK
Justin, Chris Godwin - 10.80pts
While 10.80pts is nothing to be ashamed of, choosing to play Godwin over a couple of his bench options cost Justin the win this week. I can acknowledge the reasoning behind it, though. The Bucs are playing a weak Bears defense and you just hope Baker throws Godwin's way more than Evans, unfortunately, it didn't play out that way. His other options? Kyren Williams who he dropped 23 FAAB on (a discount looking at it now) but he was against the Niners' defense and then Lockett who was against a stingy Detroit defense. Playing either this week over Godwin would have been the difference between a win or a loss, showing that reasonable logic isn't always a winning formula. With Kyren playing 95% of the snaps and Cam Akers on the verge of being traded, we can expect Kyren to land a starting spot in Justin's lineup moving forward.
Dishonorable Mention
Ryan, Tank Bigsby - 0.00pts
I almost swapped this into the main Blunder of the Week because scoring zero is almost an automatic Blunder. He just didn't have many other options worthy of starting. Mims would have won him the week but Mims saw 27% of snaps in week one and Jeudy returned to the lineup this week, pushing him further down the depth chart. Mims did see a decrease in snap count to only 24% but made the case he should see the field more often with a couple of explosive plays, one ending in a 56-yard TD.
GAME-CHANGING PLAYS OF THE WEEK
Nathan, Garrett Wilson
Justin started Sunday morning with a nice run of Josh Allen, Davante, Walker III, and Montgomery scoring solid points. This quickly turned as Aiyuk, Davante, and Montgomery all got injured at some point during their games. Nathan was falling behind early but via CMC, James Conner, Mike Williams, and Andrews, he found a way to come back and take a lead. The kill shot from Nathan is the play below. A throw from Zach Wilson to Garrett Wilson that ended in a 70-yard TD and a quick 15pts.
Jere, DJ Moore
Jere was on his way to making a MNF comeback but fell short as Deshaun Watson turned the ball over multiple times, taking away the chance for Elijah Moore to make an impact. Losing by less than seven points, we're going to take a look at a play that would have covered that difference if Fields would have chosen to pass versus taking the ball in himself. While Fields did my father no good in week one, he still managed to screw him over in week two sitting on his bench. In the play below, you'll see DJ Moore lined up tight and then rolled across to the right corner of the end zone which could have been a simple pass for any NFL QB. Fields took the easy route, understandably given his inability to pass the ball, and ran it into the end zone himself.
THE LEAGUE POWER RANKINGS
LOADING... COMING AFTER WEEK THREE.
MATCH-UP FOR WEEK 3
Jere (0-2) vs Ryan (0-2)
Every year I talk about the chances of making the playoffs after starting 0-3. It's nearly a death sentence for the rest of the season. Jere is still the only person to make the playoffs starting 0-3, he's done it twice. Ryan nearly made the playoffs last year after starting 0-3 but missed out due to a tiebreaker by a total of 10 points-for at the end of the season. After this week, one of these teams will have dug themselves a hole that just might be a little too deep to get out of.
Commish finished with a 2-3 prediction record after week one.
Commish vs. Nathan: Nathan Jared vs. Nick: Nick Jere vs. Ryan: Jere Justin vs. Spencer: Spencer Probst vs. Worzie: Probst
WEEK 3 WEEKLY PAYOUT
Run Forrest Run! - Team with the RB with the most combined rushing and receiving yards
A lot of RB injuries early have put some teams at a disadvantage here but we have had some surprise RB performers each week. Anyone's game here.
Good luck to everyone in week 3. Except you Nathan, little bitch. My team is head-hunting this week and we're coming for that 3-0 record. Bolt up.
