Week 2 of the season was a wild one as owners who had Philip Rivers, Matt Schaub, Frank Gore, Chris Johnson, Andre Johnson, and Vincent Jackson were elated, but those who have Matt Hasselbeck (I know), JaMarcus Russell, Matt Forte, Ray Rice, Eddie Royal, and Randy Moss are left wondering where their players were at on Sunday. Let's go through some winners and losers that were expected and unexpected and try to figure out what went wrong exactly.
Winners
##### Losers
JaMarcus Russell: What a difference a week makes! This week Russell came out and threw for a robust 109 yards and no TDs, but managed to take two sacks in the process. Granted, neither sputtering offense did very well in this game, but there were four RBs that had more yards than Russell did.
Matt Hasselbeck: Hasselbeck had to leave the game after taking a nasty hit from Patrick Willis, and was ruled out of the game almost instantly. But, before he was injured, he managed to go 10/18 for 97 yards passing while adding 12 rushing yards. I honestly believe that he would have ended the day respectable had he not got hurt, but that doesn't matter since he finished with the stats he did.
Matt Forte: Jay Cutler managed to throw for 236 yards and two TDs, but Forte only found time for 13 carries for 29 yards and five receptions for 33 yards and no scores. The Bears may have won this game, but if Forte only gets 13 carries again they will not be so lucky and fantasy owners will be fire selling him soon after.
Ray Rice: I am already done with Baltimore's running game and will be selling Rice for whatever I can get for him. Even though Willis McGahee is in the final year of his deal and will likely walk next season, the Ravens found it appropriate to give their "featured back" (Rice) eight carries for which he gained 36 yards and five passes for which he added 46 yards and no scores. McGahee is a redzone TD vulture and someone needs to clue Baltimore in on who is the future and who isn't.
Eddie Royal: Yep… I'm done here too. This week Royal was able to pad his stats to the tune of three receptions for 20 yards and no scores. There is a reason why Brandon Marshall was willing to kill any future contract value he had in order to get out of Denver, and Kyle Orton is his name.
Randy Moss: Nothing like a top two WR going for four catches and 24 yards to sober you up. Yes, Tom Brady was in the game, but the Jets defense shut the Patriots offense down and that hurt everyone involved.
Zack Miller (OAK): Hey, Russell was terrible at best, and that filtered over to Miller as well. I guess maybe this is why you never get excited over week 1 stats as Miller went for… well… nothing. No catches, no yards, no fantasy points. THANKS MR. RUSSELL!
Philadelphia Eagles Defense: It's not like we thought they were going to stop, or even slow down, the Saints offense. That being said, New Orleans still hung a 48 point total on the scoreboard and that is good enough for a goose egg in the points allowed category.
In the end, I missed on Rivers, Edwards, Gage (Chris Johnson stole the show but Gage was targeted 4 times on the day), and Barber. I was right on McFadden (the TD made it worth playing him), Matt Ryan (220 yards and 3 TDs), Fred Jackson (163 Rush Yds), Dustin Keller (scored a TD), Falcons Defense (just 20 points given up and they picked off one pass, forced a fumble, and recorded a sack), Mark Sanchez (163 and 1 TD aren't starter numbers), Jay Cutler (yes, 236 yards and 2 TDs, but there were 12 QBs with more yards and five with more TDs… he was a QB2 today and people think he is a QB1), Steve Slaton (59 total yards), T.J. Houshmandzadeh (62 yards and no TD), Heath Miller (3 receptions for 27 yards), and the Bengals defense (24 points allowed, no interceptions. 5 sacks and a fumble help, but 24 points allowed means for 1-2 fantasy points only). So what about Berrian you ask? Well he was targeted six times and caught all six passes, but he totaled only 46 yards. So, all you PPR leaguers out there were able to finish with roughly 10 points and that is not a wrong pick for a WR.
I make 16 predictions per week and finished with 12 right picks and just four wrong ones, so 75% isn't bad for week 2.
