Fantasy Football Week 2 Preview

Week 1 has come and gone, and hey, Tom Brady is still playing so this could be Wide Right's year. Then again, the 60 points that Drew Brees put up for The Breakfast Club may beg to differ. With an astounding 168.5 points in week 1 they look to be contenders all season long. Until that Brees injury of course. AnyGivenSunday snuck past the Wandering Jews with a 2 point victory and it came down to the wire as defending champs Dogs and Guns were able to hold off Beer Burgers & Blue by 1 measly friggin point. Now with 11 out of the 12 teams being run by actual owners, we head into week 2. Let's start on the loser side of things.

Mr. Scott's F**k Ups (0-1) vs. Beer Burgers and Blue (0-1)

Mr. Scott certainly got f**ked up last week at the hands of Drew Brees. The 102 point loss will be tough to topple for this year's beatdown award. But that was when the team was on it's own, without any direction. They had a name, but no one running the show. Sort of like the Oakland Raiders. Now that Mr. Scott is standing up for his namesake he's making some changes. Gone are Plaxico Burress and Donte Stallworth, in is Osi Umenyiora (although he's not in the starting lineup) and DeVry Henderson. Brian Urlacher was lost for the season in week 1 and it will be interesting to see how the F**kUps try to replace his production. This week WRs Randy Moss and Terrible Owens both look to have big games. Although the Jets defense is solid, they did run their mouths (I'm looking at you Kerry Rhodes) and usually when you do that to Moss you wind up on SportsCenter looking foolish. TE Chris Cooley is always a consistent play and against the Rams efense (no d for a reason) he'll likely be Jason Campbells security blanket and have a good game.
You've had a rough first week of fantasy football when your #1 QB scored less points than your opponents QB... who threw 4 interceptions! Such is Matt Schaub who now finds himself on the bench thanks to a very vindictive owner who lost games in 2 leagues because of the "sleeper" QB. Perhaps calling Vick's Vet Service to have Schaub put down would be best. (Funny bit of irony, Schaub used to be Vick's backup in Atlanta). Anyway, in steps the traitorious, ageless Brett Favre with a simple goal - don't f**kup against the F**kUps. RBs Ray Rice and Steven Jackson are facing formidable opponents but should be able to put up some numbers and the WRs could be in for a big day with the Jets focusing on Moss, the great white hope Wes Welker should have room to operate. If Favre can connect on a long score to Bernard Berrian, it'll be double your pleasure, double your fun for BBB.

In the other battle of teams looking to get their first W
NYDAs Office (0-1) vs. Giant Ten Pins (0-1)

The DAs Office got out-dueled in week 1 thanks to some costly 0s on the board and some less than stellar production from Brandon Jacobs, Donnie Avery and Laveraneus Coles (no longer on the team). This week they look to rebound with Peyton Manning in primetime on Monday Night. Jacobs will likely get the ball 20+ times as the Giants try to tear up the field at the new Texas stadium and TE Jason Witten is likely to have a big game, because all pass catching TEs do against the Giants. It's just how it goes. RB Cedric Benson showed signs of returning to life and relevance last week and should factor heavily into how this game goes.
The Giant Ten Pins fell in week 1 after getting a combined 6.5 points from their running backs. The 10 total points from the WRs didn't help much either. But that was just week 1 and now they're hoping for some better production. Clinton Portis should find it delightful running against the Rams after spending last week getting knocked around by the G-men. And while Carolina's defense is usually quite formidable, the disarray caused by another craptacular Jake Delhomme game may have left the team focusing more on offense, rather than how to stop Michael Turner. The Steelers Defense should be able to hold down the Bears offense, unless Jay Culter manages to throw the ball to someone on his own team, and could be the deciding factor.

Dogs and Guns (1-0) vs. LT Get Outta My Way (0-1)

D&Gs certainly wasn't impressed by new QB Jay Cutler's actions in week 1, but it was enough to get a win - just not the way the owner is used to. When you are used to having Drew Brees as your QB you tend to ignore that position when building your weekly lineup. Now, faced with questions and criticism, how will the champ deal with the fact that he's not getting 40-60 points each week from his QB? Probably just fine since he still has Chris Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and T.J. Houshmazod (which you know means championship). TE John Carlson just got added to my personal hate list after 2 TDs last week in that soul crushing 1 point loss, but gives D&G something else to fall back on should Cutler forget which team to throw to. Backed by the Titans defense which look very good last Thursday night, could we be looking at a team that will make it 2 straight?
Last week WRs Antonio Bryant and Braylon Edwards didn't show up to play, and it cost LT. Solid production from RBs Frank Gore and Brian Westbrook along with WR Greg Jennings had them in the hunt. This week, despite injuries, they'll be going with the same starting lineup. Unless half of their opponents roster gets hurt before halftime, it's likely that LT will wind up 0-2 at the end of Monday Night (with live scoring no need to wait until Tuesday morning). Such is what happens when a team is left to manage itself.

The Wandering Jews (0-1) vs. The Breakfast Club (1-0)

Facing the Wandering Jews during Rosh Hashannah is either a really good thing, or a really bad thing. I'm sure it's one of those. Last week the Jews got Peterson'd after their starting QB Donovan McNabb got knocked out of his game. RB LaDanian Tomlinson also got hurt putting the pressure on the rest of the roster, who simply were unable to make it up. Sunday, as the high holy days shine down on fields across the nation, the Jews will put their faith in a man named Flacco. It could be worse, it could be Falco, and we all remember what happened in that Sugar Bowl game. If Brandon Marshall shuts his mouth and plays football this team could have one of the best 3 man receiving corps in the league, with Colston and Roy E. Williams. All 3 are number one options for their team and can put up numbers on Sunday. The running game took a bit of a hit losing Tomlinson, and I say a bit because personally I think he's climbed over the top of the hill and is quickly heading downwards (remember Priest Holmes?).
The Breakfast Club comes into this game with as much undeserved confidence as any team that has Drew Brees as their QB should. Not a knock against Matt, I just really hate Drew Brees - fantasy wise. I don't know enough about him as a person to really hate him yet. Anyway, after putting up 60 on the Lions he takes aim at a somewhat reasonable Philadelphia defense, which should serve as a good barometer of what his scoring will look like in an average game. In case you didn't pay attention to his supporting cast week, RBs Ryan Grant and Kevin Smith aren't going to get the name recognition but are both certainly #1 backs on their team, likely to get 15-20 carries a game. WR Andre Johnson didn't do much in week 1 - courtesy of Matt Schaub - but is like a time bomb waiting to go off and make this team even more high scoring. Just what we all needed.

Someone is going to get their first lost
Wide Right (1-0) vs. Any Given Sunday (1-0)

The Brady plan worked for Wide Right, but the running game did not. Half a point, combined. The Jets defense really ate up Houston and Tampa Bay kept Felix Jones down and out. It won't get any easier this week though, as Slaton will go up against the Titans and Felix Jones gets to see Big Blue coming at him. This means that the pressure will once again be on Brady and his receivers - Dwayne Bowe, Lee Evans and the rookie, Percy Harvin. TE Kellen Winslow can be a pass catching offensive weapon and help ease the burden but in his Tampa debut didn't give Wide Right any reason to be confident. Wide Right may need to squeeze out an extra point from each member of the defense and an extra 40 yard field goal from kicker Adam Vinatieri if they hope to squeak by again this week.
After a week 1 win, thanks to Adrian "I look good in purple" Peterson, Sunday has revamped her receivers to better compliment the backfield. Justin Gage and Mario Manningham are the New Editions (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYgxifjHsb8&feature=related) hoping to help the team cool down and take some of the pressure off of Peterson. Even he can't put up 3 TDs every week. QB Aaron Rodgers looked better in the second half of the Sunday Night game against the Bears and this week gets the Bungles defense who gave up that last second miracle to Brandon Stockley. Despite an impressive shutout of the Rams in week 1, the Seahawks defense is getting a much greater test in the Singletary led 49ers who are seriously thinking division championship after beating the Cardinals last week.

And our game of the week, with only 3 project points separating them
The New Good Ones (1-0) vs. Vicks Vet Service (1-0)

The New Good Ones managed a week 1 victory despite RB Matt Forte being basically un-heard from during the game against the Packers. WR Anquan Boldin also made a less than stellar contribution, but in fairness he was a game time decision. This week they're both back and healthy and are looking to help move the New Good Ones to 2-0. Reggie Wayne's performanced dominated the WRs for week 1 and he'll look to do it again on Monday Night Football against the Dolphins. Remember when the Jags defense was something on par with the Steelers or Ravens? Yeah, that's not the case anymore. Anquan Boldin back at full strength means he's a potential 9/110/1 kinda guy, and those numbers can get bigger if Jacksonville puts all their effort into stopping Fitzgerald. Thomas Jones is still the lead dog in the Jets running game but figure Bill Belicheck to know that and have a plan to limit or stop him and force the game into rookie QB Matt Sanchez's hands. However, the biggest matchups will be Forte, who now has to take on the Steelers defense who shut down Chris Johnson in week 1, and Philip Rivers who faces the Ravens. In a game this close, these decisions are what make or break you.
Vick's Vet Service got off to a fast start in week 1 thanks to stupid, f'ing Tony Romo. Key contributions were also made by former Giant Derrick Ward, cold filtered MJD, and WRs Vincent Jackson and Devin Hester. This week though, Romo faces the Giants who would love nothing more than to ruin his homecoming, and start the Texas media speculation again on if he can win the big game. MJD will face the Cardinals, whose defense has improved steadily, but still is not in a position to stop his multi-faceted game. Unless they just tell Karlos Dansby to "follow that guy" all game. WR Roddy White figures to factor more into the action this week as the Falcons travel to Carolina for a divisional matchup, while Jackson and Hester will have their hands full with the Raven's and Steeler's defenses respectively. TE Dallas Clark is sure to make an appearance on Monday Night Football, making his just enough catches for just enough yards infinitely more annoying knowing that there are no more games to make up the points.

Well that's it. The only thing left is to play the games.