Week 2 Where to Put em

Thursday, Sep 16, 2010 at 12:00 pm ET

fantasy football rankings
Where to Put 'em is the Fantasy Football Nerd's look at the best and worst matchups for the week. Decisions are based upon the FFN rankings and matchup analysis. Given the known conditions, these matchups are the ones to watch and/or avoid.

Just a quick note as it's the first Where to Put 'em for this season: you won't often find your stud players on the Start 'em list. We make the assumption that you'll be starting them regardless of the matchup. You may find them on the Sit 'em list if they have a particularly bad matchup, but the Start 'em list is really geared for picking out the guys that you may be wondering if they deserve a starting spot. With that said, here's our Week 2 Where to Put 'em:

Put 'em In The Game: Michael Vick
Kevin Kolb hasn't been able to clear a concussion test and Vick has been practicing with the first team this week. In his time under center against the Packers, Vick looked like the Vick of old rushing for more than 100 yards. This weekend he faces the Lions, who have certainly upgraded their defense but will not be able to stop Vick and the Eagles. Expect Vick to pass for more than 200 yards with at least a score and tag on 50 yards or so rushing. He's a great play against the Lions.

Put 'em In The Game: Matt Ryan
Rookie Sam Bradford did fairly well against the Cardinals last week, so expect a better fantasy performance out of Matt Ryan this week. His stats last week were decent (252 yards), but not having any scores doesn't help. Expect a better week out of him and Michael Turner.

Put 'em In The Game: Brandon Jackson
With Ryan Grant out for the season, the starting job in Green Bay belongs to Brandon Jackson. Jackson has a great matchup against the Buffalo Bills who gave up 132 yards on the ground last week.

Put 'em In The Game: Ahmad Bradshaw
We like Ahmad Bradshaw this week for a number of reasons. First, he was clearly "the back" last week with 20 attempts. Second, the Colts just let Arian Foster run wild all over them. Finally, Bob Sanders is out for the Colts which isn't likely to help Indy. You should be able to start Bradshaw without hesitation.

Put 'em In The Game: DeAngelo Williams
Neither DeAngelo Williams nor Jonathan Stewart posted decent numbers in last week's season opener, but you should be able to expect a better week this week. 16 attempts for a paltry 62 yards is not what you envisioned when you drafted Williams, but he faces Tampa Bay this weekend and when you consider what he did against them last year, he becomes a very attractive start. He rushed for more than 300 yards and scored 4 times against the Bucs in his last two games against them. We're expecting a much better weekend out of Williams than last week and so should you.

Put 'em In The Game: Dez Bryant
It was clear that Romo and the Cowboys tried to get Dez Bryant involved early and often in the passing game. His 8 receptions for 56 yards are indicative of their interest in getting him involved, however several passes were short where the expectation is to simply get him the ball and let him make the play happen. He was targeted 12 times in the Week 1 opener and that should be roughly the number of targets he sees against the Bears.

Put 'em In The Game: Visanthe Shiancoe
Brett Favre didn't light up the world in the NFL's 1st game of the year but he sure didn't have any difficulty finding Visanthe Shiancoe who caught 4 of Favre's passes for 76 yards and a score. What more could you want out of a fantasy TE? He should fare better against a Miami defense that isn't as stout as the Saints defense that he faced last week.

Put 'em In The Game: Todd Heap
One thing that was pretty evident in last week's game was that regardless of the plethora of receiving options, Joe Flacco certainly favored Heap who saw more targets than just about every other TE in the league. He pulled down 6 catches for 72 yards and should have had an extra catch and a score but just missed an endzone catch.

Put 'em On The Bench: Alex Smith
A 52.5 QB rating to open the season is not what you want to see out of your fantasy QB. His 225 yards, 2 picks, and no scores is not reassuring. While the talent is certainly there, if he can't perform against the Seahawks, how on Earth can you expect him to perform against a defense like New Orleans? We're not ready to cut Smith but we sure don't intend to start him either.

Put 'em On The Bench: Jay Cutler
After throwing for 372 yards and 2 TD's, how could we put Cutler on the bench? Cutler isn't facing the Lions again. He's facing Dallas and the Cowboys do a much better job of taking away the passing game. Dallas kept Donovan McNabb in check and limited him to 171 yards and no TD's. Granted, Cutler is not McNabb but the Dallas D is going to put a lot more pressure on him than Detroit could and we know what happens to Cutler when there's a lot of pressure. Obviously you're going to play Cutler if he's your only QB, but we're tempering our expectations.

Put 'em On The Bench: Beanie Wells
Wells couldn't play last weekend and there's little evidence to believe that he'll be in great shape this weekend for the Falcons. Tim Hightower is the featured back and has more upside this week than Wells. Many fantasy owners drafted Wells ahead of Hightower making Week 1 a disappointment. We anticipate Week 2 being disappointing as well.

Put 'em On The Bench: Marion Barber
Neither Barber nor Felix Jones looked good last week against Washington. Barber managed just 38 yards on 8 carries and a meaningless 2 receptions for 1 yard last week. This week he faces the Bears who did a pretty good job of stopping Jahvid Best holding him to just 20 yards on 14 carries. Barber is just not an exciting option this week and should probably ride the pine for most fantasy owners.

Put 'em On The Bench: C.J. Spiller
Picked by many to be one of the top sleepers this year, CJ Spiller managed just 6 yards on 7 carries and 4 catches for 8 yards. Hardly the turnout that many had hoped for. This week he faces a solid Packers D that will look to shut him down. It's not all doom and gloom though. Spiller's fantasy career hasn't ended before it began. It's just on hold.

Put 'em On The Bench: Devin Hester
Devin Hester's 1 catch for 17 yards wasn't worthy of his spot in the Bears depth chart. Devin Aromashodu and Johnny Knox were clearly better options last week. For the same reasons that we don't like Cutler against Dallas, we don't like Hester against Dallas either.

Put 'em On The Bench: Mark Clayton
If Mark Clayton didn't belong to someone during the draft, he most certainly got picked up during the week on the waiver wire. He saw 16 targets last week and pulled down 10 catches for 119 yards which is a great day by any standard. There's only 1 problem with this week: Nnamdi Asomugha. Asomugha will blanket Clayton this week and that will translate to a far less satisfying fantasy day.

Put 'em On The Bench: Jermaine Gresham
Jermaine Gresham had a decent week last week with 6 receptions for a paltry 25 yards. It was decent because he had a score and also saw 10 targets. It is certainly the Ochocinco show in Cincy and we're tempering our expectations on this week's target numbers. Gresham shouldn't see the same number of targets against a Ravens Defense that will be gearing up for Palmer and company.

Put 'em On The Bench: Owen Daniels
We're big fans of Owen Daniels, but until he's completely healthy, he's a question mark...plain and simple. He was limited in practice again today and his 1 reception for 9 yards last week leaves a lot to be desired. There are much safer options this week.

Join the Discussion

amizel CommentedSep 17, 2010 11:00 am

michael vick is a beast soon he will be the starter on the eagles

Nerd CommentedSep 17, 2010 11:00 am

I have to agree on Vick. Even though Reid is pretty high on Kolb, I'd be surprised if Vick doesn't have the starting job even when Kolb gets back. To me it looked like Vick had not only a commanding presence for that offense, but he also took the game to another level that frankly, I would not expect Kolb to be able to do.

We'll see what happens.

hac CommentedSep 18, 2010 11:00 am

Not sold on Vick. A lot of his throws were off. He does add a different dimension to the offense though. I still want to see Kolb in another game. I think Kolb is still the better player in that offensive scheme.