- See my Intro to understand what this is all about.
- See my Draft Recap to learn where my team started.
- See my Week 1 Recap to get all caught up.
My Rationale Beforehand
Predictably, panic has set in as King Flippy Nips looks to rebound from a heartbreaking week 1 defeat (blowing a 20-point lead because Derek Carr sucks). The longer I go without winning a game, the more panic moves I’m going to make.
There’s been a little roster shuffling already. For starters, Yahoo has let me put Greg Olsen in my IR spot, as he figures to be out for a number of weeks. This freed up a spot which I used to put in a waiver claim on Nick Foles. At this point, it’s anybody’s guess as to when Carson Wentz comes back, and I can’t rely on Dalton and Carr alone to get me through. I need quarterbacks I can COUNT on. Foles and the Eagles are going to Tampa this week and the Bucs’ defense doesn’t impress-ah me much (as Shania Twain might also agree). After some first week struggles, I fully expect Foles to bounce back, so he’s going right into my starting lineup in place of Derek Carr (who is going to Denver in another impossible defensive matchup).
That leaves my other QB spot with Dalton, playing Thursday Night against the Ravens. I don’t love it. I have no data on this, but it feels like Dalton always shits the bed whenever he’s playing in a nationally-televised game (Bengals fans, back me up here!). I’m trying not to over-react to the Ravens’ defense, as they had a cupcake matchup against the Bills last week, and literally any defense would’ve looked at least almost as good. I’m sticking with Dalton even though I made another move this week, dropping my beloved sleeper Kenny Stills to pick up Joe Flacco. Flacco had a great week 1 as well, but again, I’m trying not to over-react to the fact that he played against Buffalo’s defense. I think Cincy’s defense is a lot better, plus the Bengals are at home. So, for now, I’ll stash Flacco on my bench (also, not for nothing, but my opponent might’ve been in the market for someone like Flacco, as he only has 2 healthy & active QBs, and Mariota is questionable this week; so preventing my rival from filling his squad is always ideal), and mix-and-match between all my QBs going forward based on matchups until I can settle on two guys I can trust.
For what it’s worth, I have a ton of wide receivers on my roster. I have to start Tyreek Hill and Adam Thielen every week, and I really like Demaryius Thomas (who will be my FLEX guy for the foreseeable future). After that, I had two receivers on my bench – Stills and Robert Woods – and I just like Woods a LITTLE bit more (plus he’s on an offense I know is going to be great all year, while I’m still unsure about Miami long term). So, we’ll see. I do expect Stills to be picked up by someone, but I think there’s a chance we’ve seen the best out of him already.
SUNDAY MORNING UPDATE – No one in my league picked up Stills on waivers, so I grabbed him as a free agent and re-waived Flacco. The perfect crime!
Anyway, here’s my lineup:
- QB1 – Andy Dalton vs. BAL
- QB2 – Nick Foles @ TB
- WR1 – Tyreek Hill @ PIT
- WR2 – Adam Thielen @ GB
- RB1 – Ezekiel Elliott vs. NYG
- RB2 – Adrian Peterson vs. IND
- TE – Jordan Reed vs. IND
- FLEX – Demaryius Thomas vs. OAK
- K – Robbie Gould vs. DET
- DEF – Chicago vs. SEA
My bench consists of Carr, Flacco, Wentz, Woods, Stills, and Leonard Fournette.
The big choice this week was AP over Fournette. Well, given Peterson’s dominant week 1 performance, combined with the fact that Fournette got injured in last week’s game and didn’t practice all week, sort of made up my mind for me. Fournette was slated to be a true Game Time Decision, and unfortunately his game started in the afternoon, while AP’s game started in the morning. So, I had to go with the sure thing and just pray the Jags would give Fournette a week off to rest. That being said, don’t believe for a minute that I didn’t obsessively check Twitter for any last-second updates on Fournette’s condition.
This week, my opponent is TheGangUnderperforms, which I’m assuming is some sort of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia reference(?), crossed with his usual brand of self-effacing humor. He’s the 9th place team in our league – having scored the second-fewest points in week 1 – so it sounds like his team’s name is as fitting as they come. He’s the poor sap in our league who’s stuck with Le’Veon Bell, with the unfortunate kick in the crotch that he failed to draft James Conner (even though, in real life, he’s a big Steelers fan and should’ve known better). I should also point out, before week 1, I offered him a trade of Adrian Peterson and Robert Woods for Bell (who made it known he wasn’t going to come back to the team in time for the game) and he shot me down! It must be his immense pride that has prevented him from crawling back to me asking for a re-do on that decision. When will Bell return to the Steelers? Maybe never! And here I’ll be, reaping the rewards of a rejuvenated Adrian Peterson (with the security blanket of a Robert Woods on my bench for potential BYE week & injury fill-ins).
In spite of some injuries and depth issues on his bench, TheGangUnderperforms still has a pretty talented squad that is FULLY capable of wiping the floor with my ass. In the next section, we’ll get to the results.
***
Week 2 Results
The week got off to a tremendous start! Andy Dalton is a wonderland! He nearly doubled the points of Flacco and absolutely doubled his projected point total. On top of that, my opponent’s kicker – Justin Tucker – only managed 7 points, three below expected. I started the week a coin flip, and after Thursday I was a 65% favorite heading into the weekend.
TheGangUnderperforms’ lineup looked like this:
- QB1 – Ben Roethlisberger vs. KC
- QB2 – Marcus Mariota vs. HOU
- WR1 – Julio Jones vs. CAR
- WR2 – Larry Fitzgerald @ LAR
- RB1 – Kareem Hunt @ PIT
- RB2 – Jamaal Williams vs. MIN
- TE – Gronk @ JAX
- FLEX – Emmanuel Sanders vs. OAK
- K – Justin Tucker @ CIN
- DEF – N.Y. Jets vs. MIN
It looked marginally dicey early when Ben Roethlisberger threw non-stop on a pathetic Chiefs defense; fortunately I was saved because Mariota didn’t play and my opponent didn’t have any room for any other QBs on his roster (aside from the rookies he has on his bench who aren’t starting yet, and Jameis Winston, who’s still suspended). Nevertheless, Roethlisberger scored enough points to cover both QB spots, as he pushed 50 on the day.
TheGangUnderperforms didn’t have any help anywhere else though. Gronk and Fitzgerald had bad days, Julio stayed true to the team name and underperformed, and everyone else was just sort of average.
My team, meanwhile, did even better than the week before!
Foles and Carr were about the same, so that didn’t bite me in the ass as both had around 20. My receivers – Thielen and Hill – absolutely torched the competition once again, for a combined 50+ points. My kicker doubled his kicker; my Chicago defense had a field day; Zeke had a solid game. And, while AP, Demaryius, and Reed didn’t impress, they also gave me SOMETHING, in the range of 6-10 points.
All told, it was a 194.59 – 130.90 drubbing!
I’m currently in 3rd place with a 1-1 record, though I have the second-most points in the league behind the guy who kept Mahomes, Rivers, and Kamara (clearly getting more out of his keepers than anyone else in the league). As chance would have it, I have to go up against that juggernaut this very upcoming week. Luckily, it looks like I get Carson Wentz back, as well as (hopefully) Leonard Fournette.