Fantasy Football: Week 2 whirlwind

Written by TiVo on September 20, 2005

What’s the deal?

I introduced the Whirlwind concept last week. Basically, my job is to read about football all day Sunday and Monday, so here’s what stood out from my oh-so-grueling shifts:

Studs
Carnell Williams, Stephen Davis, L.J. Smith, Thomas Jones, Donovan McNabb, Carson Palmer, Chad Johnson, Terrell Owens

Duds
Daunte Culpepper, Trent Green, Peyton Manning, Jamal Lewis, Kevin Jones, Joey Harrington (Like Daunte, 5 INTs), Willis McGahee

Go pick up
Smith, Davis (if you’re in a shallow league). Dayne, Charles Rogers, John Kasay, the Chicago defense or Dante Hall in deeper leagues. Make a pitch for Cedric Benson now. You may be able to get him if owners are fooled by Thomas Jones’ big game, but Benson ran 16 times for 49 yards and should get more carries.

Got broke up
Bubba Franks’ hip injury seems to be the worst of the week. David Akers pulled a hammy. J.J. Arrington was inactive.

Quote of the week
This came from my man Seth as he watched one of those Burger King commercials while the Vikings were stinking it up against the Bengals: “I’d rather have the King than Culpepper right now!”

Guess you had to be there.

Passing panic
How many TD passes have top-five QBs Culpepper, Manning and Green passed for this season? Two, both by Manning in Week 1 against Baltimore. Trent Dilfer (four), Gus Frerotte (three), Anthony Wright and Tim Rattay (two each) are outperforming the big three in TD-heavy scoring formats. Which should remind you not to panic … or at least make your trade shrewdly.

Trading Cul-pooper
What you can get for him after eight picks and no scoring tosses so far is probably a worse option than sticking with him for a few more weeks. And if you’re one of the folks interested in dealing for him, you have to have a plan B. In shallow leagues (12 teams or fewer), Kurt Warner (591 yards, fourth-best in the league, but just one TD), Byron Leftwich or Chad Pennington may be available. Failing that, you may be stuck with a Frerotte, Wright, Mark Brunell or Kyle Orton.

Lam-blow field
The Packers are looking like this year’s Chiefs, in that you must start any player going against their defense. At least while it’s warm and the Packers are far from Lambeau Field. You disagree? Cleveland scrub Trent Dilfer passed for 336 yards and three TDs this week. Tight end Steve Heiden had six catches for 104 yards and two TDs, including a lumbering 62-yarder, and rookie Braylon Edwards added three for 107, including an 80-yard TD.

Getting defensive
Carolina held the Patriots to 39 rushing yards. The Bucs allowed just 147 total yards to Buffalo, while the Eagles were just as stingy to San Francisco, allowing 142. The Jags actually let Indy roll up 268 yards. All that is great, but the big points in fantasy often come with turnovers. The Bengals had seven against Minnesota and Chicago five against Detroit. Before you go running out grabbing those teams, consider starting the defenses going against struggling offenses first.

From way back
Pay attention to which games you think will be blowouts. When your fantasy players are on the team that’s crushing, rushing numbers spike. (See Jones, Thomas: 20 carries, 139 yards, two TD). When your RBs team is getting bitch-slapped, it hurts even the must-start backs. Kevin Jones got eight measly carries for 22 yards. That’s both ends of the Chicago 38, Detroit 6 spectrum. Willis McGahee lost 19-3 and had 13 carries for 34 yards. Domanick Davis lost 27-7 and got 15 for 59. Minnesota lost 37-8, and neither Michael Bennett (3 for 36, two fumbles) nor Mewelde Moore (8 for 29) was impressive. Jamal Lewis’ numbers were the ugliest: 10 yards on nine carries in Baltimore’s 25-10 loss to Tennessee.

Likewise, when your team is losing late, passing numbers spike. Brunell hooked up with Santana Moss for two late fourth-quarter TDs and some unexpectedly fantasy-worthy numbers from the Redskins. Moss had 5 catches, 159 yards and two TDs; Brunell 291 passing yards. Favre padded his stats in the fourth quarter, going from 160 yards, a TD and two picks heading into the final quarter to finishing with 342 yards and three TDs, much like Marc Bulger did rallying St. Louis against San Fran in Week 1. And Dilfer of course helped himself in the fourth too. His 614 yards are second in the league after two weeks, behind only Carson Palmer. And the Browns should be behind plenty this year, so he can throw, throw, throw.

Tough guys
John Hall, David Akers, Jason Hanson and Billy Cundiff have not held down the kicking jobs so far, mostly due to injury (I’m pretty sure Cundiff was cut and replaced by Jose Cortez). In any case, it’s led to plenty of auditions for crappy kickers.

Parting words of wisdom
Anyone that used a high pick on Culpepper and isn’t 0-2 should drink a beer or 12 in celebration. Same goes for anyone getting by on Manning’s 376 yards and two TDs, or Green’s 437 and zero. But at least those guys have only thrown one pick each.

Add your thoughts on individual studs and duds on our NFL player update board. And our message board is always percolating. Reach TiVo at Tivo@rotogods.com

-- Written by TiVo on September 20, 2005