WEEK 2 RECAPS - PART 1
WEEK 2
And we’re back for some GW Bush League Entertainment – the Week 2 edition. It was another enjoyable week in the NFL as well as our fantasy league. We had some highs, some lows, some new developments and some interesting performances. For Week 2 I’m going to keep it simple - I’ll just make three observations about each team and we’ll end with another interview. Andennnn
The GOAT and His Kids defeats DalvinCooKens AfricanRhino 131.9 to 114.4
Down: The hot streak continues for Kev and he remains in 1st place for the second week in a row. Kev’s on a tear right now and is averaging 147 points per game to open the year. This is just a hunch, but I’m really starting to think this is the year Kev makes a deep run in the playoffs. His team is really good and he’s got some serious reinforcements coming between Mark Ingram (Week 5 return), Alshon Jeffery (seems close) and LeVeon Bell (TBD).
Set: Kev’s WR group led the day once again and his trio of Mike Evans, AJ Green and Jarvis Landry contributed 54.1 points in Week 2. That accounted for over 40% of his points and Kev has to feel good about those three. AJ Green got Kev off to a huge start on Thursday night with 3 touchdowns against the Ravens – I don’t think anyone who had AJ Green lost this week. The Bengals star receiver had 12 combined touchdowns in 26 games from 2016-2017, but has 4 already in 2 games this year. Guess who’s team he was on in 2016/2017……
Hut: Despite losing LeVeon Bell, Kev’s been able to find plenty of production from the RB position. This week Marshawn Lynch and James Conner combined for 36 points - not bad for a 6th and 15th round pick. They combined for 55 points in Week 1 and Kev has to be happy with the output thus far. Conner has been a life saver and finds himself as RB3 through the first two weeks.
DalvinCooKens AfricanRhino falls to The GOAT and His Kids 114.4 to 131.9
Down: From the only 2-0 team to the only 0-2 team, let’s take a look at Robby D’s squad. It’s been a tough start to the season for the Buffalo Bob D’s and he’s gotta be slightly worried about his outlook for the season. He’s currently dead last in points scored with just 207, or an average of 103.5 per week. Week 3 isn’t a must win for him, but it’s about as close as you can get this early in the season. I guarantee he beats me this week though – my cumulative record vs. Bob D is about 1-100.
Set: His early round picks have been the biggest problem to start the year. Rob’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd picks combined for just 30.2 points in Week 2, which is discouraging to say the least. They did slightly better in Week 1 (36.4), but that’s not saying too much. Odell will be fine, but Dalvin Cook and LeSean McCoy are both on the hot seat right now. Both RBs are outside of the Top 25 in RB scoring and are both currently Questionable for Week 3….. which means they’ll both put up 30 next week.
Hut: Lucky for Rob D he may have one of the biggest steals of the draft in his FLEX spot. Chris Thompson has been a beast and is currently RB8 in our scoring. While his rushing numbers are on the low end (9 for 66), his receiving numbers more than make up for it. Through two weeks Thompson has 19 catches for 155 yards and a TD. Those would be good for a WR, never mind an RB. The RB catch totals were absurd this week, but Thompson’s guaranteed for 6-8 catches per week regardless of game script. Not bad for an 8th round pick.
The West Canaan Coyotes defeat DeAngelo Vickers 153.5 to 133.5
Down: After getting the short end of the stick in Week 1, my team said “NOPE, not happening again” in Week 2. Despite a strong 133 point effort from DeAngelo Vickers, The West Canaan Coyotes were able to pull off the victory and get the high score for Week 2. Winning the $25 doesn’t feel that good when I already have the money in my bank account, but it beats the hell out of having to pay it to the team that just beat you (my fate last week thanks Kev). While I’m staring down a 1-2 start, it’s nice to lead the league in points for the time being.
Set: My running backs were the main reason for the W this week, huge thanks to Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey and Lamar Miller. Those three put up 55.3 combined points and Saquon won me the game on Sunday night. I mentioned the absurd catch figures for RBs Week 2 and my team is a prime example of that – the three totaled 30 receptions on Sunday. Highly doubtful they’ll ever get that again, but it was cool to see them so involved in the passing game.
Hut: Every year I have one position on my team that absolutely sucks. This year it’s my WR2 and it’s going to be a huge weakness on my team all season. I started off with Crabtree in Week 1, but he only got 11.3 points. I went to Corey Davis last week and he stumbled his way to 8 points. This week I’m not sure who I’ll go with. Maybe I’ll look to the waiver wire for some help. Anyone have a bench WR for sale?
DeAngelo Vickers falls to The West Canaan Coyotes 133.5 to 153.5
Down: Fantasy football works in mysterious ways – last week I was the sore loser and this week I passed the torch to Guy. Despite scoring 133 points on the back of Todd Gurley’s 3 TD game, Guy took the L on Sunday. He was the highest scoring team to lose this week and would have beat 7 of the 8 other teams. Vickers will be fine though, I honestly think it’s the best or second best team in the league.
Set: Tevin Coleman is one of the most annoying fantasy players. He always goes around the 6th-8th round and comes out with little fanfare. Despite the low cost on draft day, he always finds ways to have huge weeks and ends up rewarding his owners. Coleman put up 21 points vs. the Panthers in Week 2 on 107 yards rushing and 4 catches for 18 yards. He’s a top 10 RB while Devonta Freeman is out with an injury which figures to be at least 2-3 more weeks. Honestly at this point he’s probably better than Freeman.
Hut: Guy made a late lineup change this week and it bit him right in the ass. Over the weekend he put Kenny Stills in his WR2 slot and took out Allen Robinson – he actually texted me to tell me he did it sorta like Babe Ruth calling his shot. Stills was coming off a huge Week 1 (26.6 points) and he was looking like a good play in Week 2. Unfortunately he was a bigger let down than Taco Bell’s Waffle Taco and scored just 2.7 points. Meanwhile Guy got 13.3 from Allen Robinson and 19.2 from Nelson Agholor on his bench. I think Agholor has to be in the starting lineup going forward, but Robinson isn’t a bad option either.
You Done Messed Up, A A Ron! Defeats SLAMMY TWATSKiNS 126 to 108.8
Down: There was a ton of parity in the league this week and Frader was one of the four 0-1 teams to pull back to .500. An 0-2 start isn’t the end of the world, but Frader has to be happy about the win – especially since it came vs the most anti-Semitic league member (too far?). Frader has his WRs to thank for this win – the combination of Hopkins, Michael Thomas and JuJu scored an incredible 73.5 points. Michael Thomas is looking like a top 5 WR and has 28 catches through two weeks – that’s most in the NFL and 8 more catches than any other player. JuJu was also a beast on Sunday (13/121/1) and appears to be truly breaking out in his second year. If you throw in his 2 bench WRs, Frader totaled 102.4 points from the position.
Set: While his WRs are tops in the league, his RBs are towards the bottom. The situation is so dire that he had to start two RBs on the same team – Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen. That’s not a bad strategy in a 12, 14 or 16 man league, but it’s definitely not ideal in a 10 man league. The two of them combined for only 19.9 points, but Frader still got the win. His bench RBs didn’t do much better as Chris Carson, Sony Michel and Alf Morris combined for 22 points. Michel looked pretty good in his first game though, I’m looking forward to seeing him develop.
Hut: You done fucked up A-Aron! Rodgers proved he was immortal this week and put up a very solid 21.1 points against the Minnesota D. He nearly tore his ACL in Week 1, but Frader had the guts to start him in a bad matchup with a bad knee. While the 21.1 isn’t a huge day, it’s better than anyone expected. Carson Wentz is coming back this week and Frader has to be confident in his QBs right now.
SLAMMY TWATSKiNS falls to You Done Messed Up, A A Ron! 108.8 to 126
Down: Speaking of disappointing RB performances – David Johnson scored just 8.2 points this week in another blowout loss for the Cardinals. While other RBs were coming down with 10, 12, 13, 14 catches on Sunday, DJ only secured 1 catch for 3 yards. That makes a ton of sense…. he only caught 80 passes in 2016….. His other RB Royce Freeman had a bad game, but at least he eclipsed the 10 point mark – albeit it in an ugly performance. Without a 1 yard TD, Freeman woulda had just 4.4 points. One positive here – Matt Breida scored 28.6 points from Lamone’s bench and appears to be a stud.
Set: While his RBs were piss poor, his WR1 and WR2 did even worse. Keenan Allen disappointed with 10.7 points (6 for 67), while Demaryius Thomas puked on himself and scored only 4.3 points. Thomas had more catches (5) than fantasy points (4.3) which is never good. The only silver lining is that he’s had 10 or more targets in both games this season. Better days ahead for these two.
Hut: It was a wasted performance from Lamone’s kicker/defense which has to be frustrating. The Bears D put up 17 points on MNF and Matt Prater scored 6.5. You normally win when the kicker/DST score is 23.5 to 8.5, but not this week. Despite a 15 point handicap, Lamone put up the league low in Week 2.
