Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Week 2 Results: The Return Of The Bloodbath

Green Bay Packers v Minnesota Vikings : News Photo 
Sunday, Bloody Sunday reared its ugly head again as teams left and right were hit with injuries all day and night Sunday. Danny Woodhead, Jonathan Stewart, Thomas Rawls, Donte Moncrief, Doug Martin, and the biggest name of them all Adrian Peterson all suffered injuries that pulled them out of their matchups early and dented teams chances of winning week 2. Also people were losing depth guys like Arian Foster and Ameer Abdullah who both got hurt as well. Then there's QB's that got hurt that if serious could affect the other skill players that teams own. Josh McCown and Andy Dalton were both injured and if there's any chance it's serious, you can downgrade all the skill positions for both of those squads. Just brutal. If you survived week 2 unscathed, bravo to you. The rest of us are licking are wounds. Here's the Week 2 Results

Bigger Balls (2-0)            108.64
Bay Area Tanners (1-1)     97.12

First thing first, since it's my league, I'm the only one who publicly puts out their thoughts on a weekly basis, good or bad, better or worse. Am I pessimist by nature, yeah I'll admit it, but I don't pick against myself to do a "reverse jinx" or because I'm "overreacting", my picks are based on research and probability. I look at the players/matchups I have, I look at the players/matchups my opponent has, and based on that pick a winner. I don't like the misconception that I pick against myself for any other reason other than that and that I'm not having "fun". It sure isn't fun to lose, but it doesn't mean I don't have a good time. The irony of being called out to just have fun and calm down is funny because if I had a dollar for everytime I got texts from others in the league saying "I'm done" or "that's it" after a few plays from the first afternoon games of the day or overreacting to things in the league in general, whether it be trades, injuries, rules etc, I'd never have to look for another job again. We're all human and it's human nature to react like that when something isn't going your way. Yet, mine get scrutinized because I make mine available for all you to read. It goes with the territory, I know. More often that not, I bet if you go back (and trust me, I'm such a stickler for being right, I thought about it) and historically look at my picks on my picks on my team I bet I've got a pretty damn good record. I'm not 100%, I've been wrong before (on both winning and losing, and I always hope I'm wrong when I pick me to lose) but I just hate some of comments I get for picking against myself, like it's the worst thing in the world someone can do and for me to "lighten up". They're picks people..nothing more nothing less. Anyways end of rant, just felt like I had to defend myself a little and I apologize for being long winded. So yeah, the Matt Forte 30 point game was too much to overcome and even though Mayra didn't have a great week overall (none of her 3 receivers, Antonio Brown, DeSean Jackson, and Amari Cooper scored over 10 points, in fact Brown and Jackson didn't even score 6, Lamar Miller barely scored over 10), the combination my guys just sucking hardcore (surprisingly Eli Manning, who threw 0 TD'S AGAINST THE SAINTS SHITTY DEFENSE!!) and Matt Ryan saving the day with a 31 point performance got her the win. My running back situation is as shitty as you can get. Foster gets hurt, Rashad Jennings sucks, and Spencer Ware will be relegated to timeshare duty the second Jamaal Charles comes back. Combined that with a mediocre start to LeSean McCoy's season and yeah, you bet your ass I'm worried. The strength of my team is my receiving group and for the most part they came through. Hopkins was a beast, Evans had a nice game against a tough opponent, and though Michael Floyd had 2 catches for 8 yards, he did at least score a TD. Plus, my pet project, 13th round pick Devante Parker played his first game and he had over 100 yards on my bench so that's nice to have as I might flex him next week in a good matchup against the Browns. Also, I might have solved my Tight End problem, as Dennis Pitta looks to be healthy and he's getting a ton of looks from Joe Flacco. He had a nice game. So if everything goes to plan tonight, Mayra should once again be on top with the best scoring of the undefeated teams left and she'll have a very winnable matchup against my struggling Dad's 0-2 team next week. I'll take on Albert, who's looking to bounce back from a horrific sub 70 point performance. (Spoiler Alert: There's a chance at pick myself to lose)

Game MVP
Matt Forte (Bigger Balls)
100 Rushing Yards, 3 Rushing TD's, 2 Receptions, 9 Receiving Yards, 29.90 Points
New York Jets v Buffalo Bills : News Photo


SCLSU MudDogs (1-1)             112.52
Channel 4 News Team (1-1)        67.98

I'm tellin ya...Alex's team has this Eugene vibe going as I crapped all over his team during the draft results, yet after two weeks he's looking really impressive. He went toe to toe with Mayra, and scored the 2nd most points in the league, and now he easily decimated Albert in what should be the blowout of the week. I honestly thought Albert's win would be a lock, but I was dead wrong. I might have been wrong on Alex's team as a whole, but I told you Travis Benjamin would end up being a valuable piece on his team. Especially with Danny Woodhead now hurt, along with Keenan Allen, Benjamin's going to busy most week and he did not disappoint with 2 TD's and 115 receiving yards. It was one of those solid but not spectacular performances as a whole for Alex, as outside of Benjamin, noone had more than 20 points, but 5 of his other 7 players scored at least 11 points, with two of those (Larry Fitzgerald and Delanie Walker) scored 17. Drew Brees was disappointing considering the matchup and the running backs were awful (13.2 points combined) but Hyde had a difficult matchup against the Panthers and in one more week Le'Veon Bell will be back so that will be HUGE. For Albert, nightmare game. He lost Doug Martin early to a hamstring injury, and as of now, there's no telling how serious it is and if he'll miss any time. Andrew Luck couldn't do anything against Denver, A.J. Green was shut down by Pittsburgh, as were Hilton (tied to Luck) and Doug Baldwin. LaGarrette Blount was Albert's best player with 123 yards and a score, while at least the bright spot being the Will Fuller was great again with 104 yards. I definitely think this was a combination of bad matchups and injuries and Albert will bounce back. Losing Doug Martin might be a problem though. He'll take on me next week, while Alex has yet another tough matchup as he takes on yet another undefeated team in Ryan (Alex's opponents records so far after two weeks will be 5-1). 

Game MVP
Travis Benjamin (SCLSU MudDogs)
6 Receptions, 115 Receiving Yards, 2 Receiving TD's, 26.4 Points
Jacksonville Jaguars v San Diego Chargers : News Photo 

Rocket Man (2-0)           100.02
No Soup For You (1-1)     96.20

As predicted there's a Lawrence that's undefeated....it's just not the one everyone assumed. It only took till game 2, but Leland's dream team has already been stopped and it was against his brother nonetheless. I can't imagine the sting of this loss as losing to a sibling makes it hurt a little more. It was the closest matchup of the week as Eugene eeks out a win by less than 4 points. How Eugene was able to stop the machine with a mediocre Aaron Rodgers is just one of those things that you chalk up to football being unpredictable. Julio Jones was once again the key cog with over 100 and a TD and Melvin Gordon just might be relevant after all as he punched in another TD and went over 100 yards. He's also going to be slated for a ton of work as Danny Woodhead suffered a season ending ACL injury. The rest of Eugene's team really didn't do much as Jordan Matthews did his best to keep this close by dropping a crap load of passes but still got enough to get the W. For Leland just a disappointing week from his All Star Squad. Like I said in the draft results recap, it's going to be tough to chose which receivers to go with week to week because Leland has TOO much depth there. He has 5 legit starters and that's not even including a flex worthy 6th receiver in Michael Thomas. He sat Damaryius Thomas this week and though that worked by starting Sterling Shepard (8 for 117) and Marvin Jones (8 for 118), Thomas scored twice more than Randall Cobb (who looks just as bad as he did last year so far) and Brandin Cooks (barely put up over 10 points this week in a plus matchup against the Giants). Who knows who Leland decides to start next week, it'll be a challenge for sure. Also...this is the 2nd game Todd Gurley was mediocre it has to be a concern now. It's not that he's not good, it's his team's offense is SO BAD that defenses don't respect anyone on that team in the least and just focus on shutting Gurley down. At least David Johnson is living up to the hype as he did great with 143 total yards. Matthew Stafford had a decent game that could've been better with only one TD pass. And with alllllll those "bad plays" Leland still only lost under 4 points. That's why I wouldn't be too worried if I was Leland (and I know he's not). He's got enough talent to cover for Gurley and he can afford to gamble with him and keep plugging him due to that depth. Leland's sure to bounce back against Mark, who just lost a huge player in his offense in Danny Woodhead for the season. For Eugene, he'll try to keep the undefeated magic going against Mike next week.

Game MVP
Julio Jones (Rocket Man)
5 Receptions, 106 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving TD, 19.10 Points
Atlanta Falcons v Oakland Raiders : News Photo
Hoosier Daddy (2-0)          87.36
THE SPOILER (0-2)         62.16

Well....this was as ugly as can be. Despite scoring the 2nd least amount of points in the league, Ryan still picks up the win because he played a team that's just in a complete tailspin in Drew. This could've been even WORSE, had Ryan Mathews not gotten two late 1 yard TD's. Ryan's record is really a smoke screen as he hasn't really faced any good teams yet and his best player so far has been a guy who he can only use for one more game. But hey, if I'm Ryan, I'm not giving a damn how I'm winning, or how I look winning, I just want the W's. Deangelo led the way with 132 total yards and a score. Roethlisberger also had 3 passing TD's and 259 passing yards. It's still concerning the Zeke Elliott is a volume rusher and hasn't looked great and once again a TD saved what would've been a mediocre rushing day. It's also concerning he fumbled twice and led the Alfred Morris getting more run. It's definitely a situation to keep an eye because once Deangelo is relegated to handcuff duty, Ryan's going to have to have Zeke be the guy he thought he'd be when he drafted him #2 overall. Michael Crabtree scored but only had 31 yards, and right now that's Ryan's best receiver. Mark Ingram is beyond awful so far and he's not even involved in the passing game as much as the Saints like using Tavaris Cadet. That and the nightmare Atlanta backfield and no tight end (Celek with a big goose egg) highlight the many problems Ryan faces the rest of the season. As for Drew....man what can you even say? Two straight weeks of scoring the least amount of points. Just a bunch of underachievers and injury. Allen Robinson and Eddie Lacy just haven't been able to get it done the first two weeks, and though I can't see this lasting for Allen Robinson, he'll bounce back, Lacy did this same crap last year and it's looking like more of the same. On top of that, Adrian Peterson, who's been horrible himself, got hurt and is now out indefinitely. That's a huge blow and a team that's already struggling to score points. Kirk Cousins is ok (20 points) but still I just don't like him as a week to week starter. Coby Fleener still sucks and basically the only guy that bothered to show up was Ryan Mathews but even he was bailed out with two 1 yard scores. He only had 32 rushing yards. I don't know what Drew's going to do, it sucks being that's only week 2 and feeling that the season is lost already. Unfortunately, with the events that have transpired it kind of looks that way. Ryan gets another winnable matchup where he's favored against Alex next week, while it's the battle of the winless when Drew takes on Matt next week.

Game MVP
Ben Roethlisberger (Hoosier Daddy)
259 Passing Yards, 3 Passing TD's, 2 Int's, 14 Rushing Yards, 23.76 Points
Cincinnati Bengals v Pittsburgh Steelers : News Photo 

Shock The Monkey (1-1)       116.22
Light's Broken Bots (0-2)      108.36

Closer than I thought it would be. Mark escapes with a victory over 8 points against Matt's "Broken" team. It didn't come without consequences though as Mark lost Danny Woodhead to a torn ACL so his season is over. Big blow for Mark as Woodhead was a nice luxury as a flex play. Besides the Woodhead injury and Gary Barnidge not doing much, it was nice balanced attack from Mark, led by Carson Palmer who obliterated the the Bucs for 300 yards and 3 scores. Mark's receivers all came to play as Dez bounced back from his 1 catch 8 yard game and had 7 for 102, Alshon Jeffrey had 5 for 96 and Jarvis Landry did what he does in PPR, catch passes. He had 10 catches for 137 but did lose a fumble. The Murray brothers continue to produce for Mark as they combined for 27.10 points. So far so good, though it's a little concerning that Latavius is starting share more work with both Jalen Richard and Deandre Washington. Regardless, he's still producing with the workload he's getting and that's all you can ask for. This is the kind of unpredictability I was talking about with Mark though. One week, he's scoring the 2nd least points in the week. Then the next week, he's scoring the 2nd most. It's so wildly inconsistent and I expect that throughout the season. For Matt is was a great effort, with another week of not Gronk or Jamaal Charles. Matt got great performances from Isaish Crowell (continues to be a pleasant surprise, with 133 rushing yards and a TD), Tyrell Williams (61 and a score), Jordy Nelson (73 and a score) and the best of the bunch Kelvin Benjamin (7 catches for 108 and 2 scores). This is why Matt will be scary when his guys get healthy. Matt though benched Corey Coleman after he had played him last week and Coleman went off for 104 yards and 2 scores. Had he played him over Tyrell Williams, Matt wins, though it's understandable why he did. Russell Wilson continues to suck and maybe it WAS a good idea that Matt has Brady ready to go as backup in Week 5. Jeremy Hill did nothing of note and neither did Dwayne Allen. Matt might have to go another week without Gronk as it's a short week (Pats played Thursday night) but he could very well pick up his first win as he plays Drew's team which is even more decimated than his. Mark plays Leland next week and who knows what team shows up, the low scoring one, or the high scoring one.

Game MVP
Carson Palmer (Shock The Monkey)
308 Passing Yards, 3 Passing TD's, 27.32 Points
Tampa Bay Buccaneers v Arizona Cardinals : News Photo 

Woe Is You (1-1)          123.26
BigBadBob (0-2)            99.92

Mike bounces back from his week 1 loss and wins easily and scores the most points of the week as he takes care of Dad in week 2. Didn't matter that Mike lost Keenan Allen for the season, as Stefon Diggs took a MAJOR step to fantasy football stardom with a breakout performance. He had 9 catches for 182 and a score. With Adrian Peterson being out indefinitely, they will lean on the passing game even more. Odell Beckham STILL hasn't had a game worthy of his draft status, but he put up double digits. Derek Carr had another great game with nearly 300 yards passing and two scores. C.J. Anderson continues to look legit as he had 93 total yards and a score. Of course we covered Eric Decker's 21.6 point game in the Thursday Night Overview. The only worrisome news is that Mike might be out Jonathan Stewart for a couple weeks as he got hurt. Still we haven't seen Jordan Reed or OBJ go off yet and it's crazy but if Diggs is going to step up in the Keenan Allen role as a target monster, I don't think losing Allen will end up being too big of a deal after all. For Dad, it's been a disappointing start as basically it's been Cam Newton and Greg Olsen doing the heavy lifting while everyone else does little. Newton was once again amazing, with 353 Passing Yards, 4 Passing TD's and 37 rushing yards. Greg Olsen caught a  75 yard TD pass and ended up with 122 a yards. Willie Snead continues to be a pleasant surprise as he had 54 and a score. Dad's receivers though...are just brutal. Golden Tate has been a major bust and the QB situation in Denver severely limits Emmanuel Sanders upside. It's basically Brandon Marshall or nothing for Dad. The running back situation is even worse. Thomas Rawls is looking like a complete bust, while Jeremy Langford scored a cheap 1 yard TD, he looked awful and lost a fumble, which is something that John Fox doesn't take lightly. Dad's in trouble big time and it doesn't get any easier next week as he takes on Mayra's undefeated team. Mike will take on Eugene and his undefeated team next week. 

Game MVP
Stefon Diggs (Woe Is You)
9 Receptions, 182 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving TD, 28.70 Points
Green Bay Packers v Minnesota Vikings : News Photo
 
 
 



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