Juicy Matchups for Week 2

and one, you may feel inclined to panic. We a little later on, we are going to do a rare diversion from three tough questions down to ten tough questions anden tough questions, all centered around the appropriate level of panic for Week one under producers. And there were so any it could have been twenty guys easily not. This reminds me of the old Fantasy Football almost daily Panic Room. It's very much like the old Panic Room segment. We're gonna break down all the game's fantasy style like we

always do. We'll give you nine players upon whom you can take a chance, and we will offer some premature speculation at the end. Of the show about guys that you will want to pick up. Let's roll right into our matchups, beginning with the Rams traveling to Indianapolis. Matthew Stafford and the Rams surgical in their dissection of the Bears last week, and frankly, the Colts defense didn't make

it look like it's gonna be much of an impediment either. Yeah, the Colts defense, uh, their secondary specifically was missing Xavia Roads. He's been ruled out again. Cornerback, top cornerback arguably for the Colts. So we'll start with the passing game. Let's

start with Stafford. You gonna give him an A just because he looks so happy in l A, doesn't he from roids released from the prison of the Detroit Lions, And speaking of the Lions, with the Lions last your Stafford had three thirty six yards and three passing touchdowns against the Colt to again without Xavier Rhodes, and obviously Stafford has more dangerous weapons with the Rams, so I'm giving Stafford in a this week. Speaking of those weapons, will start with Cooper Cup can give him a B

by everyone. By now everyone knows that Cup and Stafford are breakfast buddies. Have you heard this? They eat breakfast together every day. Oh, I was not. I was not aware of this. They're sharing fruit loops something like that. The chemistry showed in week one and week one Tyler Lockett shredded the Cults from the slot. So you gotta like Cup. This week, Robert Woods like him as well.

I was gonna give him a C just because he's not part of the breakfast club with Cup and Stafford, but with Xavier Rhods ruled out, I'm gonna give Woods a B. Here um benching Van Jefferson into Sean Jackson. Uh, they might go off for a long play, but they're just dart throws and daily at this point. They're bengeable in seasonal formats, and uh, Tyler Higby can give him a B as well. Former teammate Gerald Everett scored against the Colts last week, and Higgbye was very involved against

the Bays. Stafford looked at the ways a lot. He gets a B, and so does Darryl Henderson. Darryl disc Man, Henderson Farley superior. He's no Walkman superior to the Walkerman. I like it's one up from the walk Now I've gotta h I gotta give some love to a fellow Brian J. Brian Jerkison Guilloteen Leagues dot com writer Jerkison j U R C H I S I n J shirt jerseys Brian Brian J another Brian Jay were the

best Brian's with eyes. He said this about Darryl Henderson. UH. Indie's defense was league worst in tackling last week, which adpaired nicely with Henderson rushing for thirty one yards after contact against a vastly superior Bears defense. India was especially juicy up the middle, allowing forty seven yards and only six attempts to Seattle, mirroring Henderson's Week one up the middle success forty four yards on eight attempts. So some good numbers, and I think we may have a Brian J.

Upgrade on our hands. Now come on, now, don't do that yet, but probably in the future, I would hope. So I would love a few more weeks off Brian Jerkinson, if that is your real name, over to the Colts, Jonathan Taylor. I'll give him a b here. Even though right tackle Brandon Smith has been ruled out for Indie. H Taylor left tackle. Yeah, Eric Fisher could make his debut, but it's still very if he. Uh. Taylor played in just fifty of the snaps last week, still had a

hundred and sixteen combo yards against the Seahawks. The Rams did surrender on combo yards to the Bears in Chicago's old line still not nearly as good as Indies. Even if the whole Colts line was out there, probably still better than the Bears offensive line. Uh, not much more to talk about with the With the Colts offense, I'll give Zach Pascal a see uh and Michael Pittman a bench grade. The Colts will have to try and throw in this game, and I'll go with Pascal. He scored

twice last week. Jalen Ramsey should be on Pittman for the most part, so easy bench for Pittman, Jack Doyle and mo Alie Cox. Uh. This is kind of tough because on paper it seems like a good matchup. Chicago tight ends were targeted nine times for six catches and fifty plus yards last week. I had a pause there, but I feel like I'm running along on this matchup and thank you for catching the nine times. But get the button bar button bar? Um these two really kill

each other's value. Doyle and mo Ali Cox. But it's mo Ali's birthday on Sunday, so he gets he gets the edge he gets at the Sea and Carson Wentz gets the bench um. Tough matchup, but I want to stress that Carson Wentz, to my eyes, look shockingly good in that in the game last week and also might take a chance of me. Guy. Paris Campbell had always played the slot and identified this weakness against the slot cornerback for Seattle Ugo Amadi, and I'm like, this is

a this is a burnable opportunity. Well, this year they've decided to kick Paris Campbell outside and let Zach Pascal play the slot and he scored twice. So I want parcel credit part. Can I get both A and I was not exactly right? Can I get both in one? I guess you just did. I just did the Raiders take on the Pittsburgh Steelers map. They'll be going without Josh Jacobs in this game. So what do you think about Kenyan Drake's possibilities as as a probable workhorse back. Yeah,

I'm gonna give him the Old Testament grade. That's a BC. For those of you scoring at home right between there the BC. See what I did there with Jacob's out. Peyton Barber probably factors into the offense this week to probably five to ten touches or so. And Devin Singletary looked okay. He had eleven carries for seventy two yards

against this vaunted Steelers defense last week. They have allowed over seventy rushing yards to each of the last four top running backs on the depth chart that they faced. So I like Kenyan Drake a little bit here. So you're saying Barber is gonna cut into Drake's productions a little just a little bit, thanks, just a little bit. Uh, you know, he was not going to get their production cut too. That's Darren Waller who had nineteen targets last week.

He gets the A grade even against the Steelers, who you know, only allowed four targets, four receptions and forty one yards the Dawson Knox last week. Derek Carr gets a c h. The Steelers came away with the second best pressure rate in the league last week against the nimble Josh Allen, who is pressured on thirty fent of his dropbacks, car put up good numbers in almost seventy minutes against the Ravens, but also had twenty two in completions. He gets the C grade only out of respect for

Darren Waller. All the rest of the receivers are on the bench. Za Jones scored the touchdown, Brian Edwards leading yards with eight one, hunter renfro led in targets and receptions. Henry what Ruggs was the one that people drafted. And then Willie Sneed was in there, and I was like, Willie Sneed still a thing. He had critical drop by Willie Sneed too well, and I was like Willie Sneed on the Ravens because I remember Willie Sneed was on

the Ravens. Whatever. Rather large. Benjamin Roethlisberger, he could say low end C grade from the eye test. He did not look good. Uh neither did his line, who allowed the shortest time to throw, only two point three seconds according to Next Gen Stats. And Lamar Jackson broke the streak of seven straight quarterbacks throwing for multiple scores against the Raiders. So that's why Roethlisberger still gets the C.

I think he can get to two touchdowns here. I think the target distribution of the wide receivers worked out about how we thought it would. Deonta got ten targets, Juju got eight, Claypool got five. Claypool's number was a little bit lower than I think that uh we saw down the stretch last year. I would expect him to

settle in around the eight range for most games. With each of these guys getting around eight targets per game, They're all startable, but the nervousness surrounding Ben in the line makes me not really want to all that much. I'll give Deontay the B since he appears to be the lead dog, with Juju and Chase just getting C grades. The matchups are middle of the road. Any guy could score. It's just been here that I'm worried about. And then finally, Naji Harris, I'm gonna give him a B grade. Here.

The workload was there, sixteen rushing attempts, three targets, No other back had a touch. That's good. The production was dive bar bathroom levels of disgusting, though, Yeah, that's right. And the Raiders allowed a hundred and forty nine totally yards per game to the position last year and just one last week to the Ravens stable of backups just still a lot a lot. Since Harris gets um all of the running back touches, he should be fine here.

Buffalo takes on Miami, a bounce back game coming for Josh Allen, and Alan has crushed the Dolphins in four straight games and especially last year, where he averaged three hundred twenty passing yards and three and a half touchdowns per game. The Dolphins allowed Mac Jones in his very first NFL start, to roll up two one yards last week, and as you'll hear, I like the matchup for Josh Allen's receivers as well, including stuff on Diggs, who gets

an A grade. Miami cornerback Xavian Howard and Byron Jones allowed to combined eight six percent catch rate in the opener, and dig smoked the Dolphins in his two matchups last year, averaging a hundred fifteen yards per game with a touchdown in both of them. Digs one thirteen targets in the opening game, and if he gets another thirteen targets against this secondary, I love digs A grade for him. Cole Beasley comes in with a C grade with a whopping

thirteen targets last week. Running from the slot. He faces the worst of the Miami cornerbacks, Nick need him. If you recall last year we had named him Nick Needless. Last year, Needless allowed a passer rating of a hundred nine on throws in his coverage. He has allowed twelve touchdowns in his coverage between this year and last year. Emmanuel Sanders with a surprise C grade. He was on

the field for percent of Buffalo snaps. He played all three receiver positions evenly, put up fifty two yards last week, and this matchup was far more favorable. So I think he increases the fifty two yards to a better number that puts him on C grade. And because Sanders got all this work, and Beasley did, and Diggs did. I know Gabriel Davis scored a touchdown last week, but I don't see it coming here because he's just not on

the field nearly enough. The only running back you need to worry about Devin Singletary, who comes in with a B grade. With Zack Moss inactive, Singletary got seventy five of the snaps and a massed eighty total yards against a very good Steelers defense. The Dolphins just got shredded by the Patriots runners through the air and the ground, and so I expect another good dual threat game from Singletary, who can catch some His lack of scoring though always

an issue for Singletary. His best season is a four touchdown season. I did see that they are planning on having Zack Moss be active this weekend though, yeah, and I you know, I'm still I'm not dropping Zack Moss. We're actually we're gonna talk more about that later. Well, we'll get back to that one. Let's go over to the Miami side, where I've got a handful of C grades that you can go with. Um, we'll begin with the wide receiver position. Will Fuller is not going to

play in this game. He's been ruled out for personal reasons. We won't speculate as to the nature of those. Let's talk about the other wide receivers. This is a problem. Will Fuller not playing hurts DeVante Parker because Parker looked very good in Week one, and part of it was because will Fuller wasn't there. So I think he got a little extra action and they threw to him deep a lot. But now against the Bills, as the go to veteran downfield presence, I think he gets the shadow

coverage from trade As White, who shadowed last week. I think he shadows Parker here as well. And trade As White is oft any death sentence for opposing receivers, so I only have the C grade and DeVante Parker se grade and Jalen Waddle uh, he was he had He was just one target behind DeVante Parker for the the team lead, and he did score a touchdown for Miami

last week. Now he runs from the slot, He's gonna face Arron Johnson, who seated just forty three scoreless yards last week, but could be susceptible two yards after catch, and Wattle has brings four three speed to the position. So yeah, I think there's a chance that Waddle breaks another one here. And I wouldn't be surprised to be scores a C grade on Jalen Waddle as well. Ta

Tongo Violoa is on the bench. It's very early sample size for this year is just one game, but he looked like the same guy saw last year and was not terribly impressed with. I still am not seeing special arm traits from Tua, but I did like that he pressed the ball down field more. The problem is it's a good bill secondary. They just stimied Ben Roethlisberger last week.

They've allowed zero or one touchdown pass in nine of their last twelve games, and that includes a Week seventeen matchup with Tua in which he put together three hundred sixty one yards. But he had to throw the ball fifty eight times to get to the three sixty one yards. And he's not gonna throw the ball fifty eight times in this game. In weeks seventeen last year, the Bills had everything locked up. I believe that may be correct

as well. I don't really remember, to be honest, Let's talk about Miles Gaskin as we get away from the passing game. Here. For Miles Gaskin, the Bills running running back defense looked much better than their league average unit from last year. They only allowing only forty nine total yards to the Steelers, and it was all Naji Harris. As you mentioned, Matt Gascon average eighty total yards per game with a single score against the Steelers last year.

He was only on the field for of the team snaps, though, and that really bothers me. Malcolm Brown and Salvan Akammed combined for nearly as many touches as Gascon had and that's why he only gets the C grade despite being a workhorse here. And as for Matt Gisicky, Mike, Mike, excuse me, invisible last week. Can't start him until we have some proof of life. Invisibility would be a good

trait for a receiver. That would be a good drafter you catch the ball, yes, that would be That would be extremely well that you can still see the football though unless the invisibility transfers to the football. Well, but your quarterback can't see if we're talking, probably like Harry Potter's invisibility cloak. I think you could get it under the cloak. And oh I like that you get fined by the NFL for wearing a cloak on the field. That's true, unless it's an NFL branded cloak. I'm from Nike,

right exactly. Uhh. That would probably have a hoodie like the kind you see on Bill Bell and all branded invisible hoodie visibility HOODI I like. I like that concept. When we come back, take a chance on me nine players not normally in your starting lineup. We'll tell you who they are when we return to Fantasy Football Weekly. It's a segment we called take a Chance on Me

nine player not normally do. Starting line that many of these guys are available on the waiver wire will unveil some sleepers, beginning at the quarterback position and Matt Harrison. So evidently, when you're down by thirty every game, it has a little bit of an advantage to your yolo style, and that's what Jared Goff was last week. He through

fifty seven times. Last week. Only Dak Prescott through the ball more at When you throw that many times in garbage mode, you can come up with three eight yards and three scores. And he faces an angry Packers team that got blown out by the Saints and Jamis Winston. So either the Packers are gonna show up be really mean and hungry and we're gonna look at a ton of Jared Goff garbage time again, or they'll be what they were last week and give up five touchdowns to

Jared Goff. I also expect Golf to attack Kevin King, who is one of five corners to allow a perfect passerrating in his coverage last week. Let's go Jared Goff, um Brian your take a chance at the quarterback. Of course, I was tempted to go Andy Dalton in a revenge game against the Bengals. But it's Andy Dalton. He's awful. So I was tempted to take what I would imagine is the first backup quarterback and take on history in

justin fields but outscored. I know he probably him this week, probably, but I'm gonna play it safe and do's go with Teddy Bridgewater at the Jacksonville Jaguars. Yes, Teddy just lost his top receiver and Jerry Judy, but who cares. It's the Jaguars to Rod Taylor just put up top twelve fantasy points against Jacksonville, and Denver has better weapons than Houston even without Jerry Judy. So Teddy Bridgewater easy play. Last week, I used Jimmy Garoppolo. He got us to

three yards in a touchdown. This week, I'm going to use Jimmy Garoppolo. He doesn't have elite arm talent, and I think people hold that against him. But it doesn't matter when you've got awesome playmakers like Deebo Samuel who leads the NFL and yards after catch, or George Kittle, who leads all tight end and yards after catch. Just get the ball to those guys. We know Philly cornerbacks Savante Mattis, Darius Slay, Steven Nelson are beatable because we've

seen it many times over. I will take the forty niners receiving unit over those guys every day, and Jimmy Garoppolo will be the benefactor. Let's go to the running back position. Who is your take a chance on me? Runner, Matt? I believe this guy was your premature speculation last week. It's Tony Jones Jr. He just took over the Latavius Murray role Levin Carrey's for fifty yards last week at two.

Last year, Lottavius averaged eleven touches per game. Last year, the Panthers gave up five point two yards per every running back touch. So needless to say, you can count on about fifty six d for for Tony Jones, and that's a coin flips chance that a t D and he could get a ton of mop up duty in the second half as they're trying to keep some of the mileage off of Kmara. So kind of like Tony Jones Jr. Here, all right, I'm with you on that, Brian.

Who's your take a chance of me? Runner? I got Tony Pollard at the Chargers with Tony's You're gonna go with a third Tony Now last week Tony Tony, I like that. Well, it's gotta be tone at the end of the third, Tony's gotta be just a tone. But uh. In week one, the Cowboys are missing right guard Zack Martin and a Zeke Ezekiel Elliott basically was forced to play offensive lineman, and now the Cowboys are missing right tackle le Collins against a vicious pass rush of the Chargers.

So I don't like it. We can see a lot more blocking than rushing from Zeke and Pollard played the pass catching role for UM Dallas last week, and Washington backs were targets seven times against the Chargers in Week one. L A was also top six and targets and red zone targets yielded to running backs in we expect the

Cowboys to be playing from behind in this one. So I like Pollard catching the ball out of the backfield, but he can run the ball to Tony Ken and the Chargers allowed four point six yards per carry last week to Washington. Pollard owns a four point eight yards per carry clip for his career. So Tony Pollard, He's at he's going to do outscores equal Elliott. I like it. That's ball and it's plausible. The way that you just set that up. Well, apparently I'm tone deaf because I

am not using a Tony. I am using ah J. Dylan as he goes up again. But his first name is Anthony. No, not really, we don't know that. I don't know his first name. Let's find out that maybe it is. That would be awesome and angry, humiliated packard team is going to throttle the Lions, staking a big lead, and it's gonna use its second running back during the second half. Al Jeers, Neil William Dylan. It almost came together. So you just took atonement for that atonement singers today.

Dry gave up what we think so Didry gave up one hundred thirty one rushing yards and two touchdowns last week, and we saw two different running backs score touchdowns against the Lions. Dylan look good in the small sample we got of him last week before he got yanked, with the rest of the starters averaging almost five yards per carry and three yards after contact. A J. Dillon might take a chance on the runner, Matt who is you take a chance for me receiver This week, it's Donovan

People's Jones of the Cleveland Browns. Odell Beckham out again this week, still recovering from the a c L. D p J moved all around the field last week, so he'll get a taste of mostly the two outside corners for the Texans. On one side, it's Terence Mitchell, who allowed nine yards the third highest total for a corner last week. On the other side, it's Vernon Hargraves the third and is he bad? And we make fun of him every week because he's not very good at his job.

So it's not surprising that both outside receivers for the Jaguars scored a touchdown last week. I like d p J. This week, I do too, and I just want to chime in on this, uh, you know, because he only had the one catch last week, and Anthony Schwartz had was targeted more and he's an exciting downfield player. But Donovan People Jones was on the field for of the snaps,

only four snaps less than team leader Jarvis Landry. And at the end of the day, I want my receivers to be on the field, and so that's why I'm with you on d p J. Brian, who is your take a chance on me receiver? Speaking of one catch, zero catches is less than one catch and that's how many catches Russell Gauge head of the Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay this week. Now, it's not too often I'll take the third wide receiver on a team such as the Falcons, but Atlanta should start this game in garbage

time against the Bucks. Gauge scored in both games against Tampa Bay last year with good yardage total, So I'll take a shot on Russell Gauge wide receiver three for Atlanta. All right now, I am. I am also attacking the Jacksonville secondary much like you gave us Teddy Bridgewater a few minutes ago, Brian, kJ Hamler is set up nicely

with Jerry Judy out. That's a lot of extra passes to go around in Denver, and Hamdler's got a juicy matchup in the slot against cornerback Tyson Campbell, who allowed a completion rate of one eight passes, eight completions, eighty yards and a touchdown in his coverage last week. Hammler is always a boomberbus guy, and he dropped a touchdown last week. But I'm going boom here because you gotta pick your spots with kJ Hamler, and they don't get any easier than this. kJ Hamdler is our final take

a chance on me player. I don't know why I noticed this, but each of you guys have said juicy on this program already. Today we're very juicy speaking of this Denver matchup. This is a perfect segue, Brian, Let's go to the Broncos and the Jaguars. You already told us a lot about the passing game. You love Teddy, I love kJ Hamler. Are there other receivers you'd like to talk about? Yeah, you gotta give Courtland Sutton in a You look at what Brandon Cooks did last week.

You would think Sutton can repeat those numbers. And Tim Patrick, who's gonna step in for Jerry Judy. I mean, Jacksonville allowed thirteen catches, two hundred yards and a touchdown combined to Houston's receivers last week. Houston's receivers, So Tim Patrick

he might be wide receiver one over Courtland Suton. We're not fully convinced Sutton is all the way back, but I'll give Patrick the b and Noah fense gets a very safe b saw the third most targets among tight ends last week, could be in line for more looks with Judy on the shelf, Houston's Faraoh Brown, who had four catches for sixty seven yards against the Jaguars, who also surrendered the second most touchdowns to tight ends last

year with thirteen. And lastly for the Broncos, I'll give Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon, both of b all three Texans running back scored last week against Jacksonville. Gordon and Williams split snaps fifty fifty right down the middle evenly, so they both couldn't produced juicy machup. It is a juicy matchup. Not too juicy for Jacksonville. I got James Robinson on the bench, played only of the snaps last week,

limited to five carries against the awful Houston defense. But why will they not fall behind the Broncos even quicker who just limited say Kwan Barkley the twenty six rushing yards and the entire Giants backfield to forty six combo yards that we're also scoreless, the fewest total of any team last week. Denver also gets back Bradley Chubb, which makes that defense a whole lot better than it was

last week. So I got Robinson on the bench. I do like the receivers, though, because you gotta love garbage time when it comes to the passing game. I got a B for DJ Shark. Twelve targets last week, but just three catches. That's hard to do. One was for a touchdown. The Giants wide receivers totaled a hardy seventeen catches, two forty six yards and a touchdown against the Broncos last week, and that was in a garbage timey game.

Script likely what we're looking at with the Jags here, and for that reason, I have very positive sees for Marvin Jones and Lavishka Chano. Both were targeted nine times last week. Jacksonville again should be playing from behind. I gotta pause. You can just keep going, don't you really don't? Okay, I'm gonna stress this about Trevor Lawrence's game. Okay, give him a ce real quick thank you, sorry ahead, unless you're heavily penalized for interceptions. Because he had three very

bad ones last week. There's probably enough garbage time for Trevor Lawrence to warrant a c create in this game. I think that may be the case. Overall, I think Trevor Lawrence looked quite good in that game. Um, you know, first ever start, you're gonna have some picks. But the box score I think is not a fair representation of how he looked. He has more special arm traits in one game of work than I saw all last season in Tua. That was his first regular season loss of

his football career. Correct high school forward. And here's the other thing about Trevor Lawrence box I saw six drops in that game by his receivers. D J. Chark talking to you, So I'm telling you Trevor is gonna be fine. I thought he played a good game, especially for the standards of a first start rookie. When we come back, we'll continue breaking down games Fantasy style, including jam Swinston, fresh off a five touchdown explosion in Week one? Can

you expect the same against Carolina? Will find out when we come back Fantasy Football Weekly. Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. Pauled Charchi in, Matt Harrison and Brian Johnson with you. We continue to make fresh new guillotine leagues with alive drafts that happened pretty much every night and basically anytime there's not a football game actively going, we've got we've got new drafts that we're making for Guillotine leagues. If you want to try the hottest new format and fantasy sports.

We've got guillotine leagues of all types and sizes, and you can even start up a fresh new private league with your friends. We support leagues from eight, well normally eight to eighteen, but now that it's week two, eight to seventeen players leagues dot Com. Okay, let's let's jump into our matchups. As we mentioned heading into the last break, Matt Jamis Winston blowing us all away with five touchdowns. I don't think anybody saw that coming nobody and only

a handful of passes. Talk to me about his prospects to repeat anything close to that against Carolina. Yeah, obviously the five touchdown passes was the big story. But here's some things I don't like. He only threw twenty passes. Taysom Hill came in and did throw a pass. He

also had two rushing attempts. It's good that we only saw three meaningful Taysom Hill plays, Yes, but they were only there and they were, but they were there, and Jamis only through twenty passes, and Kevin King is not a member of the Panthers defense, and this game sets up as a running game script for the Saints. So I got Jamis as a B grade in this one. Um, let's talk about the runners. Alvin Camara, he gets an A that's not much, but Tony Jones might take a

chance on me. Like I mentioned, five point two yards per touch for running backs against Carolina, can we trust any receiver in this game? Adam Troutman led the team in targets with six. Juwan Johnson was next with three targets and two touchdowns. Deonte Harris and Marquez Callaway tied for the most wide receiver targets with two. The Panthers did allow four touchdowns to the tight end position in the last seven games, So if I had to start

one guy, it's Juwan Johnson. And I don't know if you saw his two touchdown grabs, but he went up and high pointed both of those are the butches, by the way, the perfect way to throw him the ball. Yeah, and but and one was in heavy coverage. So I like Juwan Johnson. I'll give him A. See, I'm not giving anybody anybody else on that receiving crew a starting grade, though you can trust CMC though I'm still trusting him

with an A grade even against the Saints. In his last two meetings with the Saints, he's them through the air for seven catches and seventy two yards and nine catches for sixty nine yards. And to score in just the pass game. Well, let's hope you can keep that going. Because you can't run on the Saints. The rushing stats are just gravy, though those are good enough numbers in the passing game to start him on that alone. Sam

Donald is on your bench. Though the Saints were able to breaze by the buck tr e Les Packers last week, pressuring Rodgers on of his throws, while the Panthers makeshift O line only had to handle the Jets makeshift defense. If a team can put Aaron Rodgers on his worst game in four years, I don't think I want to start Sam Donald against that defense in the next week unless the inactives come out and there's some big question marks in the secondary here. Slot corner C J. Gardner

Johnson questionable with a knee injury. Marshawn Lattimore is a game time decision with a hand injury. P J. Williams is dealing with a back injury, and it looks like that's good for Robby anders In and d J Moore, who I'm gonna give B grades too. It looks like when either of these guys go outside, they will match up against either third round rookie Paulson Adebo or on the other side. If Latimore or Williams can't go, they'll see Bradley Roby, who was just traded from the Texans

last week. Four of d J. Moore's ten career touchdowns have come against the Saints, by the way, and he's averaging five catches for a hundred yards in his last four meetings with New Orleans. Robbie caught the fifty seven yards score and is always a big play threat, especially with the hobbled secondary. Terris Marshall is like a dart throw D grade in this one. With Gardner Johnson's status in doubt, and there are no other Panthers receivers that we need to talk about at all, because the last

one that we might talk about barely did anything. Uh, he did more than Mike GISICKI and we talked about about how we're not starting him. Brian Um, I want to expand just for a second on this awesome Saints run defense and why I don't have an A grade on Christian McCaffrey. New Orleans is not allowed it one hundred yard rusher since twenty seventeen. But I just staggering. I don't care about the hundred yard rushing. It's Christian McCaffrey in the passing game and the rushing stuff, Like

I said, it's gravy. I'm I'm quibbling with the A grade. He's not startable. McCaffrey has never topped sixty four rushing yards in his career against New Orleans. Sure he will almost certainly catch a bunch of passes. I just don't think you know the A grades to me or when he's facing opponents of what you can do both. I'm gonna quibble with your grades. I'm gonna quibble. Don't touch my quibbles. Instead of gravy, shouldn't the Russian stuff be dressing?

M Russian dressing very good? Oh God, Bryan Man, God physically hurts New England, takes on the Jets and Let's start with the running game here with Damien Harris his twenty three rushing attempts for the most by a Patriot

since how about that they've got their workhorse back. The Jets just allowed nine yards on almost five yards per carry to Christian McCaffrey and Harris managed five yards per carry on double digit volume in his loan game against the Jets last year, So it all rolls together for another solid workhorse game from Damien Harris. Yes, he's not gonna help you much through the air, but with that much success on the ground, he gets a B grade.

I'm quibbling with that. It should be an A because you've almost locked down a hundred yards for him and probably a touchdown. So that's a quibble. Fine, quibble away. I don't even care anymore. Let's talk about mac Jones. You know it wasn't flashy last week, but Mac Jones had an efficient, effective, first NFL start, and I think he builds upon it here with an easier matchup against the Jets. Nelson Aglar pop nicely in the first game. We'll talk more about him, and he's got a good

chance at a repeat performance. And John Smith and Hunter Henry combined for eight catches on eight targets. That was the most by a Patriots tight end since Rob Gronkowski left combined so um and last year, by the way, the Jets give up the most touchdowns two tight ends, and so I think mac Jones has got a lot of opportunities here to have a pretty darn good game. And I've got a B grade on mac Jones. I

mentioned Nelson, Aglar and passing also a B grade. The Jets are starting second year cornerback Bryce Hall and rookie Brandon Ecles on the outside. While they combined to yield just thirty five scoreless yards last week, has a masked has a massive twenty five pound advantage on Echos and that coupled with his inexperience, should leave a lead Aglar to a solid performance. You would never associate size, advantage

and Nelson are with anyone. It is a little scary the other receivers, Jacoby Myers, I've got a C grade on him, lead the team with nine targets but turned it into only forty four yards through one game. Jacoby Myers is a bottom ten wide receiver in average targeted air yards and it's hard to put up fantasy points when you're catching the ball at the line of scram So we're just gonna keep the C grade on Jacoby Myers.

Let's talk about John U. Smith. We're gonna watch his hip injury, but assuming he's okay, he is startable here. The Jets suffered the loss of starting linebacker Jamie and Sherwood, leaving them to rely on delve Sean Phillips, who allowed a completion on all three targets that were sent his way, including a play of over twenty yards to an opposing tight end. If Smith gets ruled out of this game, then Hunter Henry vaults to a B grade. If not, Jon O. Smith gets the C grade. And the last

guy I want to talk about is James White. Last week, the Jets allowed the Carolina backfield to catch all eleven of their targets eleven for eleven for ninety three yards. So I like James White here. Mac Jones seems to have some immediate chemistry with White. They connected on six of seven targets last week. So put that together, I've got a C grade on James White as well. No quibbles there, all right, fine? Thank you from the quip desk.

Let's go to the jet side of this right. I've got um only one player with a starting grade, and that is Corey Davis. He scored twice last week, but a much tougher matchup this week. The most oftensive cornerback J C. Jackson. He's the Patriots best cornerback with Stephen Stephan Gilmore out. Jackson has allowed just one score in his past nine games. But for everybody else, I don't like it. Zack Wilson's on the bench. Although he played gallantly last week, I thought it was it was scraps time.

It was scraps time. His offensive line horrible. God was under durest all the time, constantly, Harry he took. He absorbed six sacks and a mind bending twenty two pass plays with pressure, according to Pro Football Focus. If that weren't enough, his receivers dropped five of his passes, and he lost his left tackle, and he lost his great point. Patriots attack with Matthew Judean and Christian Barrymore and Kyle Vanoy. It's it's a total mismatch here. I don't like Zack

Wilson in this one. I'd like any of the rest of the receivers particularly now that Jamison Crowder is back. He just muddies up the water and thins out the scoring opportunities for everybody else. And then the mismatch of lousy runners for the Jets, Coleman and Johnson and Carter. Patriots are good run defense. They shut down to Miami runners last week, holding them to four yards per carry, none of them scored, and these guys are splitting time.

Are just gonna leave him on the bench. Cincinnati takes on Chicago. Cincinnati coming off a very good game against the rebuilt Vikings defense, and the Chicago secondary looks worse. I like a lot of Cincinnati players in this game, Bryant, Yeah, me as well. I'm gonna start with the running back Joe Mixon, giving him an a thirty three touches last week for Mixing, the only running back to top thirty

across the league. Mixing nearly doubled the touch total of the Rams Darryl Henderson, who had eighty nine combo yards in a touchdown just eight teen touches against the Bears. So give Mixing that plus and we're looking at a monster stat line for Joe Over to the wide receivers. Tee Higgins Jamaar Chase both get bees from me. Both scored last week. Jamaar Chase scored from fifty plus yards. The Bears allowed two wide receiver touchdowns with fifty plus

yards to the Rams last week. Three wide receiver touchdowns and all uh. And for that reason, I give Tyler Boyd a very strong B two. He was quiet and week one. Uh. But look for Burrow to get him involved against the Bears shoddy secondary. Chicago slot corner Marquis Christian looked absolutely lost last week. Brutal like Cooper Cup did to him. Is against the laws of nature. Now wait for it. Tyler Boyd is going to give Marquis the BIZ on Sunday. I got it. There we go.

And for all those reasons, Joe Burrow gets a B too, just because I'm worried Joe Mixon might go off on the ground, uh like the triover receivers. For since the of course, Matt Stafford was airing it out against Chicago last week. He averaged twelve plus yards per attempt. That was the secon highest clip in the league in Week one. So we be for Joe Burrow. He who does Joe

Burrow eat breakfast? With though all three okay, this week, I would think I would have I would invite all my wide receivers to break I think it's weird to like get up and call your friends to come to your house for breakfast. I think you guys, I think that. I think they go into the facility and have breakfast. That would be my guess. It's free. There as much money as they make the NFL players, but they still

want the free food. Trust me, now, I love me A revenge game and there's no better revenge opportunity for Andy Dalton against the Bengals, But he's still on the bench for me if he does not come. By the way, Dalton did not the Bears as a team because Justin Fields did play a little bit. We're not going to fault in for this. The Bears not attempt a single pass longer than fifteen yards against the Rams last week. I don't even know how that's I'm not convinced he

ken anymore. So he's on the bench for that reason. This should be the very the end of his very short era as the starting quarterback in hild Cargo. Hopefully we see Justin Fields at some point. Uh. A couple of starting grades though for some Bears receivers. Allen Robinson, no chance. He doesn't see ten plus targets in this game. Minnesota Whiteouts were targeted twenty nine times against the Bengals.

Granted that was like five quarters of play, basically went all of overtime, but still you're not bending Allen Robinson. Don't do that. I will bench Darnielle Mooney though. Just can't trust Andy dalton Man. You just can't do it. Um Cole commit though, I'll give him a sea in the tight end Wasteland decent five catches forty two yards on seven targets. Less surprisingly active Jimmy Graham did steal two targets, one in the red zone. Absolutely gross. You

hate to see that. Uh. Tyler Conklin had four catches for forty one yards uh last week against the Bengals, so feasible for commit to get to double digit PPR points. And lastly, David Montgomery gonna give him the b give him a B look good against the Rams, I think, and it's weird. Running backs almost never get better in like your three year four I I think I thought Montgomery just had his best game. I was I was gonna about to say he looks like he's getting better

and literally every game he's playing. Uh. It is concerning that Damian Williams did steal ten touches out targeted Montgomery five to one. But Monty is still one of the safer plays when it comes to volume. So be for him. And we warned you about the Williams situation and previous shows. We we expected that to come up. Matt. Let's go over to Houston taking on Cleveland Tyrod Taylor. They had a big game, but it was against Jacksonville. What do

you expect from this Houston offense in this one? Uh? Not much. Uh. I got Tarod Taylor on the bench. Last week's game against the Jags was his absolute ceiling one and two. Seven of the last ten quarterbacks to face the Browns have been held under two hundred and forty yards. Uh. The only receiver of his that you can even fathom starting as Brandon Cooks, who gets a C grade five catches for one thirty two is not terrible from last week. He's gonna keep getting looks this week.

He matches up most see with Greg Newsome, who only allowed one catch for four yards in his coverage last week against Kansas City, but I think he was covering not yea, he did not have Tyreek Hill clearly. Yeah, Danny Amondola looks locked in as the second guy. But no thanks there. And you don't want to start any of the runners. You don't want to play these reindeer games with the Texans running backs mark Ingraham, David Johnson, Philip lindsay All on the bench. The Browns are really

good against the run. Only one back is top sixty rushing yards against them since Week nine of last year, and the Chiefs backs only managed forty nine rushing yards last week. Let's go over to the Cleveland side where I'm gonna play this sound because Nick Chubb is this week's fantasy art vark uh So. Pro Football Focus does this thing where they rate the offensive line versus the defensive line and a matchup both for the run and the past. Now, normally anything with like a thirty percentage

dedvantage is good for the offense. The run advantage for the brown this weekend is one hundred and thirty eight percent. I have a perfect ten out of ten grade on Nick Chubb this week. Only the Jaguars can make the Texans look human. And that's because they completely abandoned the run. Kareem Hunt gets a B grade in this game too. It's it's it's almost at a grade fit isn't Jarvis

Landry He's getting an A grade as well. Since O'Dell went down in Week seven last year, Landry has put up some decently solid numbers, averaging eight targets, five and a half catches, sixty yards and half a score per game. He's a dependable C grade in tough matchups. But when you get Desmond King, who allowed seven receptions on eight targets in his coverage last week, that's great. Donovan People's jones was, might take a chance on me wide receiver.

I'm still not starting any Cleveland tight end as Hooper had three targets in Joke who had five in Harrison Bryant had two, and then finally Baker Mayfield gets a B. I believe the Browns will win by more than a touchdown if you do too. Baker's in a good spot. In the last two years, in games where the Browns have one by eight points or more, Baker's average line was two hundred fifty yards and one point eight touchdowns,

and in those ten wins. He's top three yards a few times, three touchdowns there it is Baker b When we come back. We normally play three tough questions. This week a special edition with ten tough questions. Can you go tend and oh find out when Fantasy Football Weekly continues. It's our number two Fantasy football weekly. I am Paul Charching. You can follow me on Twitter at Paul Charchy, and you have to figure out how to spell charging in And that's part of the that's part of the trick.

That's how we filter out my followers. If you can't figure out charging then apparently you're not worthy of follow me. If you want to follow Matt Harrison at Explosive Output and Brian Johnson, my third co host today at b t x J, you can figure out how to spell that one. I bet I'm still waiting for some kind of corporation to need that. Won't that be nice? Yeah, you've got there. There's probably no iterations of four letters

that are left on Twitter. Normally we play a game called three Tough Questions right now, where I Pepper my co host, with three questions, But this week we're playing a variant speed version, a lightning version, lightning round. It's like a lightning round of tough questions for every one of these, I want you to tell me the appropriate level of concern for the player? Is it none? Is it some? Or is it a bowel loosening level of

existential dread also known as abbreviated. That would be blowed, So you can go non sum or blowed b L l O E D. I was gonna go bled. I like, I like absolutely, I can work with that. Our first player. What is the appropriate level of concern for Trey Sermon? Matt uh some concern? I'm worried that Shanahan is getting Belichick levels of grudginess here, although losing Raheem mostart for the season makes it much more likely that this will turn around quickly. There's a couple of backs who were

active ahead of him last week. That's that's concerning. Yes, it is okay, Brian. Appropriate level of concern for Tray Sermon blowed level concern for me because most people drafted Tray Sermon to be the RB one, and that's counting and redraft leagues, and he didn't even see the field in week one. He was inactive. Certainly blowed last week and we all as we all know him raheem most out of the equation now for San Francisco, but who

he's an unproven workhorse. He's a rookie out of college and he's in a three man platoon of hell full of Sheanana Shannahanigan so blowed level of concern for Tracer The correct answer is some level. I think he's just a lukewarm talent. But for all we know he starts like the next sixteen games. I mean, we just I think it's too early to get a read on it. Is it eyebrow raising that he was fourth on the

depth chart coming into the season. Yes, it was, but we've seen stranger things happen in a Shanahan backfield before. Tough question. Tough question number two. Appropriate level of concern for Ronald Jones, Brian we Are are blowed again because again he was drafted as the supposed RB one for Tampa Bay. We'll talk about this matchup a little more. I guess he is going into week two, but again,

you never know what Bruce arians is gonna do. Leo Fernette still in tow and Jio Bernard is the pass catching back um So Jones is basically never gonna catch a pass. But Bernard had chances to be the bell cow in cincinnat and he wasn't awful, then he could steal early downwards. A blowed level for Jones? All right, matt what's the appropriate level of concern for Ronald Jones in a non best ball format? It's poop your pants time.

We covered it last season. You don't know when to start road, Joe Leo or g oh, it's it's even more messy now. Uh. The appropriate level concern for Ronald Jones is blowed levels of existential dread. And it always should have been this from the beginning. And it's the stuff we've told you about so many times. You just can't ever trust Bruce Arians. He says Jones will start this next game, but keep in mind, Bruce Arians is

a liar. That just means will be on the field for the first snap and then it'll fumble and it won't matter. Tough question number three. Appropriate level of concern for sa Kwan Barkley matt Um after seeing that big forties something yard run on Thursday night, It's a little less, but it's still some. He's definitely not ready for a full workload as evidenced by eleven touches and fifteen tough is in his first two games. So it's just some but I think he's working his way back there alright.

Appropriate level of concern for sake Kwon Barkley Brian, Yeah, Matt mentioned the good run, but then the rest of them are like to three yards and there's really nothing he can do about that. Behind that awful, awful offensive line, the quarterback not much better. I'm not it's not I'm not blowed on Barkley, but there is definitely some level of concern. But his his usage should ramp up. You guys had all my talking points here. He gets ten days off beginning right now. This is day one of ten,

and that will help him. And I think next time we see that offense, Barkley is getting the majority of the work some correct is the correct answer? Tough question number four? What's the appropriate level of concern for Ben Rothless Burger Brian. It was a somewhat tough matchup with Buffalo, but he looked absolutely washed throwing the football. Uh, No mobility left for Big Ben. That offensive line is shaky. He's just gonna get killed back there. Okay, Matt, Appropriate

level of concern for Big Ben. We saw this with pay and Manning. We saw this with Drew Brees. Their arms get to be toast at some point. Uh. The only saving grace for Ben is the schedule isn't terrible for him, but still, even a two quarterback league, I don't want him. It's blowed. It is blowed. Um. You guys hit most of my talking points, and you mentioned a key one earlier. Offensive line so bad. Ben had the league's lowest time to throw just two point three

seconds in the pocket last week. He was the bottom ranked quarterback in time to throw last year as well. Next tough question number five. Appropriate level of concern for Julio Jones, Matt, Um, he doesn't score touchdowns, and I've been saying that for about five years now. That's why I don't have him on any of my teams at this stage in his career. HEP He's probably lost a step or two as well, but it's still just only some concern. And I want to see how he does

this week because I really like the matchup against Tennessee. Brian, appropriate level of concern for Jones. We knew you'd play second fiddle to A. J. Brown in Tennessee. And now the sample size is just one week. It's pretty small, but he's already playing third fiddle behind A. J. Brown and Chester Rogers. But I'm not giving up on Julio just yet. Not like you should drop him or anything, but definitely some level of concern. No level of concern

is the correct answer, aside from the ongoing injury. Concerned they always have had with him, and there's like no new level of concern anyway. The Titans offensive line look bad and that does worry me. Had can't be can't be any worse than it was last week, and the Titans just the fact they only have two real targets Jones and Brown, tells me volume and opportunity will ultimately

be there and he will improve tough. Question number six is appropriate level of concern for Brandon Aiyuke Brian, Well, he had this hamstring thing going into week one, so everyone knows, no targets, no catches for Ayu in week one and maybe you, oh, the hamstring was the thing, but he was returning punts. He was a starting punt returner. You don't do that with the guy who that can be hamstring was not the problem. He's still ran the third most pass routes on the team behind Uh, Deebo,

Samuel and George Kittle will still be top three. I think he gets healthier as the season goes on. So just some level of concern, uh, but not none, some, okay, appropriate level of concern for Brandon Aiyuk. His coach, Grudgy Grudgerton, had him running with the third team wide receivers this week. It was Deebo and Surefield with the first new and Joan Jennings with the second, and Auk alone as the fifth wide receiver on the depth chart. I think it's

full blown panic time on Brandon Aiyuk. Shanahan's calling him out here. The correct answer is the bowel loosening levels of existential dread blowed two years ago. We saw Kyle Shanahan dispose of another high draft pick wide receiver, Dante Pettis and never looked back. A Yuk has gotta work his way back all the way from the bottom of the depth chart. I'm not sure that it happens here and how how long it might take to happen. So let's say it does. Does it take six games? Eight games.

Am I supposed to burn a roster spot that whole time? Very worried about Brandon? Are you? Tough? Question number seven? Mike Evans? What's the appropriate level of concern? Matt None? He had six targets last week, and six targets is okay for a down week? All right? Brian? Uh? Some for me? For sure. He looks like the third option at wide receiver right now, and he could be the fourth passing option behind Gronk, who look great in Week one. So some level of concern for me from Mike Evans.

No level of concern because he does this. He has disappearing games. You knew that when you drafted him, and you need to accept that nothing has changed and he'll He'll have other very good games as well as a high functioning passing offense, of which he is still an important part. Tough question number eight, Nasey Harris, what's the appropriate level of concern? Brian? We mentioned we don't like the quarterback or the offensive line in Pittsburgh that never

really helps the running back. But Najy is young. He was on the field for of the snaps. The volume will be there, but he's gonna gonna have to work for it pretty hard. So some level of concern for me, Matt, appropriate level of concern for Naji Harris. Ditto what Brian said, So and I had all the same talking points to question number nine. What's the appropriate level of concern for Zack Moss? Matt pants pooping panic, he can't beat out

Singletary for touches? He might just be a super ordinary runner ouch, Brian, what's the appropriate level of concern for Zack Moss? Like you charge, I'm a Zach Moss bobo, and I still believe he's the best running back on that team. Devin Singletary is so very ordinary this week Moss shows us he has something, but still some level of concern. I have some level of concern too, and

especially when you can't beat out Matt Britta. I don't know what's going on with Zach Moss and what he did in college should translate to more than this, But I'm I'm very I'm I'm nervous right now to say the least, but I'm not ready to loosen my bowels. And finally, tough question number ten, Appropriate level of concerned Brian for Calvin Ridley. It all goes to the quarterback right now, another QB who's looking very washed. We'll talk

about Matt Ryan very soon. But Ridley still an amazing talent. Very bad defense for Atlanta. They're gonna be throwing a lot. But some concern based on Matt Ryan, but nothing to do with Calvin Ridley. Uh, some concern for me. He's a really good player. If anyone can get him the ball on the team, that's good. However, he might have to go like steal it from Kyle Pitts, because Kyle Pitts is so good, you might have to just go run and jump in front of him and intercept it

from Pits. You weren't here for the A grade Kyle Pitts last week, you know. I was, Oh you were? You weren't here for the as He should have gotten one, but it was all Matt Ryan. It was Matt Ryan's fault. Uh, some level of concern for the reasons you guys mentioned. Matt Ryan is not the same guy our first ever. The all time record holder for most correct tough questions is John Tuby, who got six out of five, which is pretty good. I don't think any of you guys

got did you. I doubt it? I never keep track. No, well, maybe you should. San Francisco takes on Philadelphia next. Let's talk through our situation with the Niners. Jimmy Garoppolo was might take a chance on me quarterback, and I've got a B grade on him. You had already heard me talk about him. Let's talk about Deebo Samuel. Last week he played eight percent of the snaps and saw twelve targets, which was seven more than any other forty nine. No

other forty Niner receiver even played half the snaps. He leads the league and yards after catch. One season after having the league's lowest shortest average throw distance with Nick Mollins and C. J. Bethard, now Deebo Samuel he was he was at two yards last year for average depth of target through one game is at eight yards. What a difference it makes when you get the ball to Depost Samuel downfield. And now he's got the trigger man

for that in Jimmy Garoppolo. A grade for Deebo Samuel, A grade for George Kittle, and it goes without saying he leads all tight ends and yards after the catch right now obvious A grade for him as well, and sticking with the past catchers, the whole a uk Shurefield thing with Mohammed Sanu. I'm laying off all these guys. I need we just none of them got enough playing time. We need to watch the situation shake out. They all split snaps last week and they were all on the

field for less than half of the game. I can't trust any of them. Jamichael Hasty needs a goal line opportunity and he might get it. We've seen Jeff Wilson get gold line carries in the past for Kyle Shanahan and it looks like ja Michael Hasy is that guy now. But you never know if there's going to be an opportunity to run the ball from the one, or the two or the three yard line. So I don't want to start Jamichael Hasty here either. So now the big

question is what are you doing with Elijah Mitchell. He's third in yards after contact in the NFL at seventy three. Right now, Yeah, you're kicking yourself for what you've been on him. That speaks basically anyone out there who won. He had almost all of his consistent success running to the left side of the field, except for his thirty eight yard touchdown, which was on a wide right toss.

The Eagles trot out some of their strongest defensive lineman on that side of the field, Josh Sweat, Derek Barnett, Javon hard hard Grave, and those guys are very good run stuffers. So this might be an uphill battle. And we know Tray Sermon is gonna be active for this game because where he most turns out. So I just have the C grade on Mitchell. I think Mitchell starts this game. He did nothing to warrant him not starting

this game. But I do expect Tray Sermon to play a part in this game as well, and so I don't think he's going to get the overwhelming majority of carries that Elijah Mitchell got last week. So just to C grade for Tray Sermon, I think we gotta wait and see how this thing plays out. It's not a great it's not a great matchup to begin with. He's a week ago he was fourth string and deactivated, and I got fantasy analysts all over my Twitter account urging

you to start Tray Sermon. I think that's because they love Tray Sermon in the preseason and they have an emotional investment to not looking like an ass with their grades in the preseason. Push all your chips in the middle on to Michael Hasty. That's all I know. We might talk about him a little later in the show. All Right, we'll find out. Let's go to the eagle side,

which was very compelling. Jalen Hurts is coming off his best ever game, a dissection of the Falcons that yielded just four in completions, three passing touchdowns, and sixty two rushing yards. Now, it was a lot of short passes, but I don't care because that was It was a great way to build confidence for Jalen Hurts. A fourign completion game. He was last year's lowest completion percent quarterback. So this new coaching step did exactly the right thing.

High percentage passes and let your playmakers run with the ball. I loved it. Lost cornerback Jason Varette, and that pushes safety Dante Johnson to cornerback and pushes rookie Thomas a Ambree or street free agents Drake Kirkpatrick or Josh Norman onto the field. This is a major downgrade at cornerback for them. What's the difference between a street free agent and on a couch is on the couch, I don't know literal home. It's got Hobo on it. Maybe that's like,

let's talk about the targets here. For for Jalen heard who gets an A grade. If I didn't give his grade, it's an A grade. So I want to start with Davante smith Man. Did he looked like a natural? Oh? He looked. You'd never know he was not a veteran. He's so smooth. I loved what I saw. And without Jason Varette, I think his chances of having a second straight very good game are very good. And the forty secondary sure they shut down Detroit's wide receivers last week.

Name name their receivers. I say to that B grade on DeVante Smith Jalen Reagor only a C grade because he's got the league's shortest average target at just one point one yards, which is basically he falls forward, stands up, and then they throw him the ball because we've established you can fall basically a run play. It is basically

a running play. Um he matches up against really each of the Niners cornerbacks because he plays all across the field, but most commonly he's going to see something called Domador Lenore, which, honest to God, I didn't know that was a player in the NFL until earlier this week. I think fifth round rookie making his first ever start coming this week. C grade on Jalen Reagor. Let's talk about those tight ends.

We don't know if zach Ertz is going to play. Um, if you were fully healthy, I would be giving zach Or it's a B grade in this game. But if he doesn't go, that faults Dallas Goddard up to an A grade. San Francisco just give up ninety nine yards on a score to Detroit's tight ends, mostly t J. Hockenson and with zach Ertz if he I think this is a very nice opportunity for Dallas Goddard. You know, for for Arts, that's a hamstring injury, so even if

he plays, he may not finish the game. People aggravate their hamstring injuries all the time. Hurts completed twelve of thirteen passes to his tight ends last year. What do you think of that? I really like it. I do like that to Jalen Hurts. If that game is not a mirage, Jalen Hurts is gonna be a top five, Top six fantasy quarterback was Atlanta Atlanta. It wasn't just we don't but we don't know. Look, I want to believe trust me. You know, you go four incompletions against

any NFL team. I'm pretty impressed Atlanta's picking first. Speaking of Atlanta, we will talk about that team in a brutal matchup with the Buccaneers. Is there anybody you're going to start? Even Calvin Ridley will find out when we come back to Fantasy Football Weekly. Welcome back Fantasy Football Weekly. All my player rankings available for free at Guillotine leagues dot com. We encourage you to check that out because

it costs you nothing. You can also download our mobile app and get my play rankings right there if you'd like. Oh even if you don't play a gaging league and still get my rankings off the app. And that's true, that's worth it just for itself. Cost you nothing Guillotine leagues dot Com. We turn our attention to a group of matchups, beginning with Atlanta taking on Tampa Bay. Brian it was a lousy showing for the Atlanta offense in the first game, and now they have a tougher match

up with Tampa Bay. What do you expect here? Yeah, the lousiness was really Matt Ryan's faults. But I'm gonna I'm gonna give him a sea here. Did not look good against Philly, but in his two games against the Bucks last year passing yards and two touchdowns, also ran for a score in that game. I'm sure that'll happen again. But then he had three fifty six and three in the other meetings. So Atlanta're gonna be playing from behind,

They're gonna be throwing a lot. This might be the last chance, uh for Matt Ryan to save his job, even though he's getting paid for the next like six years or something like that. I don't know, but uh, his receivers are gonna have to do all the heavy lifting. Will start with Calvin Ridley. I guess give him a B. He has scored in three of his last four game aimes against Tampa Bay. Amari Cooper and Ceedee Lamb just

combined for ridiculous numbers against the Bucks. So Ridley should rebound, as should his receiving mate, not running mate, receiving mate Kyle Pitts, who also gets a B. Pits took twenty three snaps from the slot last week fourteen from the outside just twelve in line ran a pass route on eight percent of his snaps, highest among any quote unquote tight end in Week one b for Kyle Pitts. And just because I want to will this game into a shootout, I took Russell Gages and might take a chance on

me wide receiver. But the actual tight end for the Hawks Falcons Hawks uh is Hayden Hurst, and he is on the bench, and so is running back Mike Davis, who did not get bell Cow usage his managers wanted to see last week Atlanta was getting blown out. But that said, this is a brutal matchup. The Bucks shut down virtually every running back they saw last year, and they did the same to Dallas last week. So I

got Davis on the bench. Start him now. Speaking of wanting to bench running backs, let's go over to the Tampa Bay side. All right, that's a good right there. I I honestly don't know what to tell you, guys, or anyone else listening right now, but I'm gonna give every Bucks back a CEE just because they all have the potential to give you. So you're gonna be wrong on two of that canna be wrong on two of them. Again.

Ronald Jones is going to be the starter according to Bruce Arians and he lies and he gets them all starters, by the way, So don't even buy into that. You really have to have no other options. If you got to start a Bucks back, you can start any one of these guys and hope for ce production. But I'm not gonna go to bad for any of them. It's all about the past game for Tampa Bay, starting with Chris god when he gets an A. Fourteen targets led the way for the Bucks. Last week, Davanta Smith and

Jalen Reagor both scored against Atlanta. Godwin has eight touchdowns over his last five games against Atlanta, scoring in every single one, three in his two games with Brady last year. And speaking of three touchdowns across to Atlanta games with Brady, that's what Tonio Brown did last year two, including eleven catches, one thirty eight yards and two touchdowns. In the most

recent game he gets an A as well. And just for fun, I'll throw in the fact that when with Pittsburgh in eighteen, Antonio Brown had six catches, a hundred and one yards and two touchdowns against the Falcons, so very good touchdown scoring history for Brown against Atlanta. Not a good touchdown scoring history for Mike Evans just to see for him. Only two touchdowns across his last five games against Atlanta, and both of those touchdowns came in Week seventeen of eighteen, So Evans on a dry spell

against the Falcons, just to see for him. I'll give Gronk a B though he appears ahead of the pecking order h than Evans m receiving receiving depth chart six catches seventy six yards and a touchdown surrendered by the Falcons to Phillies tight ends last week. Gronk looked great in Week one, So getting up Gronk. And lastly, Tom Brady gets a unless he takes too much botox over the weekend or something that I don't know. Do you ever I had to take take he takes botox, absolutely,

you don't. I don't. I don't know. Work has been done and now we're not talking offseason conditioning. There has been something. You know, when Gazelle goes in, do you think they bo go that? Like? You know, why not? If Giselle is getting work done, why not get a little tom They have their own plastic surgeon like caged up in their basement. For on the me, you live in a suburban neighborhood, do they have botox parties in your neighborhood? You're doing My wife and I were just

talking about this. This has turned into a thing that almost entirely women do. I've never heard of any guys having a botox party, but women are doing that now. Bradies. Ears are burning right now, Minnesota. I can take my jet there. Tennessee takes on Seattle matt And for Tennessee, the opening game could not have gone worse. And this is not a layoup matchup either. What do you think? It's not a layoup matchup? But I got a lot

of good grades for the Titans here. Um. The worst of them goes to Derrick Henry, who I'm only giving a B grade to disappointing week for Henry where the only tallied fifty eight rushing yards on three point four yards per carry and was stuffed at the goal line twice. That's not offensive line was so bad? Last week? Uh? This week he faces a Seattle team that held Jonathan Taylor and Nahem Hines to a very respectable three point

five yards per carry. So I think this is gonna be a shootout though, and uh, there's an over under a fifty four on this game. I got Julio and A J. Brown both at A grades. Both both are physical mismatches for Seattle's five eight starting corner DJ Reid. A J. Brown ran more of his routes from that side of the field, while Julio lined up on the left side of the of the field sixty percent of the time. So he'll get Trey Flowers, who gave up

a passer rating of one oh six last year. I got a grades on both of them, and I got a grade on Ryan Tannehill as well. Uh, Seattle does not deploy Chandler Jones, I have reason to believe. So I imagined Tannehill doesn't get sacked five times by him this week. Uh, he probably will get a little more time in the pocket. By the way, I mentioned this last week, Tan Hill ran in another touchdown, his seventh rushing score in his last eight. With Derrick Henry on roster, right,

you wouldn't think and Henry got stuff twice. This is becoming a trend. Do you think they have a new goal line back. No, but Henry is a perfect decoy. Everybody gears up to stop Derrick Henry and then Tannehill could just squeeze through. So a grade on Daniel. He's gonna get into the rushing score. That offensive line has to play way better. These grades are gonna be nuts. Yeah, it might be Russell Wilson. I'm giving him an a grade,

so is dk Metcalf. Russ is doing some early season cooking head an eighty five percent adjusted completion percentage last week and an average depth of target that was ten point nine, second highest in the league. The Titans just allowed Kyler Murray to go for two eighty nine and four, but also spent December of last year giving up three or more touchdown passes to Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers, and Baker may Field. They're a bad secondary. The alpha wide

receiver always eats against the Titans. Five of the last six of the top wide receivers they faced have gone for at least ninety yards and to score. I'm not even I'm even going to give Tyler Lockett an a grade here because he gets Titan slot cornerback Elijah Molden. He came in one place out of a hundred and twenty eight corners in Pro Football Focus Week one grading, and he gets Tyler Lockett. For the most part, you

gotta pick your spot to lock it. But obviously when he goes Bersark like last week, Gerald Everett, he's on the bench. The Titans did not allow a tight end reception last week, but the Cardinals don't have a tight end since Dan Arnold left, so that's something. Ever, only caught two passes last week, but no tight end has topped fifty yards and only two have scored on the Titans since Week twelve. Of Finally, Chris Carson, I'm giving him a B grade. Nineteen touches last week. That was

the twelfth most in the league. Surprisingly, the cards runners to Old thirty two touches last week for a hundred and fifty nine total yards, and well, Car's got out by the huge leads. Well Carson won't get that many. D J. Dallas and Rashad Penny only had two touches and Penny's hurt. Now he's it's Chris Carson's backfield. Minnesota takes on Arizona. Let's talk Kirk Cousins for a minute.

After seeing what Chandler Jones did to Ryan Tannehill, and knowing the Vikings have a replacement left tackle, I'm worried that Kirk Cousins will need spleen replacement surgery before this game is over. And in case it comes to that, by the way, let it be known that I am not a qualified spleen donor due to my history of

leprosy and oral herpies. Minnesota will need to find creative ways what just happened to get the ball well, because I would normally give my spleen to Kirk uh Minnesota will need to find creative ways to get the ball out of Kirk Kirk's hands very quickly. And I'm envisioning a lot of quick timing routes, dump off passes, and I'm worried that they're not going to be able to strike down feet in this game. And that's why I've got modest B grades on Justin Jefferson and Adam Thelan

similar stories really for both guys. Again, short passes could be an issue here, and they both line up all over the field and they go up against three lousy cornerbacks, you get disappointing second round pick Byron Murphy and the slot diminutive Robert Alford who's played one game since the season, and fourth round rookie Marco Wilson manning the UH as well. That put all those guys together, then there isn't a

lot of talent there. But a j Green and Julio Jones couldn't exploit that matchup because their quarterback then any time, and that could be the whole same scenario here. So just to be great on Jefferson and theland, Dalvin Cook just a B grade if you're you know, obviously you're starting Dalvin every week, obviously, but look what Derrick Henry did last week. Not much. And you know this was a good run defense last year. They were good run

defense last week. Arizona only allowed one hundred combo yards to a running back two times last year. Fortunately, they did allow the ninth most touchdowns. And we know that Dalvin Cook's going to get the ball near the stripe, so we'll hope for a touchdown here and that keeps

him at the B grade level. By the way, are the Titans and the Vikings the most mirror imaged teams and so much so similar agreed Arizona's Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins are obvious A grades, and Hopkins has a ten out of ten in my grading system and Kyler Murray has a nine point seven five out of ten. So I love both guys this week. Let's quibble with that nine point seven five, okay, um, Let's talk about

some of the other receivers. Get this. A J. Green played from the right side of the field one percent of his snaps last week, and he was overwhelmingly on the field. That puts him against Vikings cornerback Bishot Brelan, who got roasted last week, allowing two scores in a hundred seven yards in his coverage. A J. Green gets a sneaky C grade here. And I know I posted this stat mid week and it was like, oh, A J. Green's cooked, But did you see purshot Brelan Green should

have scored last week? It was one of the one of the bad throws Kyler Murray made was an end zone target to A J. Green. Better ball place and he would have scored a touchdown. I was watching rooting for it actively, trust me now, like I had any money on it or anything. No, certainly not. Christian Kirk has has replaced Larry Fitzgerald in the slot and he

faces off against solid cornerback McKenzie Alexander. Alexander is only allowed three touchdowns in the past five seasons, so we will will put just a seagret in Christian Kirk even after the two touchdown game last week. Uh. Then the running backs Chase Edmonds fifteen touches last week, which is gonna be pretty common enough work to start in, but not enough work for explosive output. Thank you, Matt. I thought he ran the ball pretty well most five yards

per carrying. The opener run defense was supposed to be better than it was last week, and it probably does get a little bit better here, but still an opportunity to start Chase Edmonds for a C grade. James Conner actually had more rushes rushes than ed Men's last week, but a lot of that was in a blowout and the Colonels could have a blow out victory here too, but probably not if you believe the Vegas line of only three and a half, so I'm pretty lukewarm and

Connor and just a C grade on him. Rondel Moore running from the slot almost exclusively behind Christian Kirk Kirk and fourth among wide receivers and only ran fourteen routes last week, so he is on the bench when we come back. Premature speculation. Three guys who want to pick up this week that everybody else will be trying to pick up next week. Glamor final segment Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul Charge, Matt Harrison, and Brian Johnson with you. This

is a segment we call premature speculation. We're gonna give you three guys to pick up this week that everybody else is gonna try to pick up next week. But they're already on your team because you're winded the time machine. That's what that sounds was a time machine. There is

Matt who should people pick up? Jim Michael Hasty because Shanahanigans everyone drafted Trace Sermon, then he made him in active in week one because Hasty was out playing him in practice, and then everybody picked up Ali Jam Mitchell to start him this week. But what player has one of the rushing attempts from inside the ten yard line. That's Jim Michael Hasty. He's gonna have a role all year now with Raheem Mostar had gone to so pick him up at LEAs until Jeff Wilson comes back. It's

just a long way off. Brian, I have the Jets, Jamison crowd are only owned and y'ah who leaves all of a sudden off the COVID list. He has a groin issue he's dealing with, but should make his debut this week. And hey, the Jets through the ball over seventy percent of the time last week. That could be uh, that's probably gonna be a trend all year long. And Crowder could be the most desirable receiver on the Jets in a week or two, So go get him now.

Chargers rookie running back Larry Roundtree played twenty one snap on offense. That is double who what everybody that presumed backup Justin Jackson, He ain't the backup. It's Larry Rountree and Josh Kelly got no snaps last week none. Round Tree ran the ball eight times. That is a lot for a first start rookie. With Austin Ekeler's on the team, he's big, he could end up being in some getting

some goal line carries at some point. And here's the real key to the game we just saw with Larry Rountree, despite playing one third of the snaps of Eckler. He had more pass blocking assignments than Eckler did, and he finished his Pro Football Focus is top ranked running back in pass blocking. Larry Roundtree may phase out some third down work from Austin Ekeler, who caught no passes last week. Interesting. Ha, you don't say Larry Rountree backing up a player who

gets hurt often. Let's go back to the matchups, beginning with Dallas taking on the Chargers. Brian starting with Zeke for the Cowboys. Another very tough matchup for Zeke, who will probably be forc into more blocking duty again with Lyle Collins right tackle. Uh to miss this game in multiple weeks. Washington backs UH, mainly Antonio Gibson did go for one seven rushing yards on twenty three carries against the Chargers. UH, so there is some hope for Zeke.

The football team also targeted their back seven times against the Chargers. But that's why I'm going with Tony Pollard. It's might take a chance on me running back over to the Dallas wide receivers of Marii Cooper and Ceedee Lamb. Gonna give them both a b. Even though the return of safety Durwin James has been huge for l A. They held Washington's wide outs to eighties seven total scoreless yards last week. But Dak and his wide receiver weapons will be a bigger test than the football team was.

Michael Gallup, if you didn't know already is on I R so Cedric Wilson could sneak in some production if this game goes to shootout mode. I almost used Cedric Wilson as my premature speculation. I'm gonna give him an official bench grade, but he is a daily dart throw candidate for sure. And Blake Darwin and Dalton Schultz. If we could combine these guys into one person that maybe a top ten tight end, but they are both playing, so they are both on the bench for me this week.

And lastly, Dak Prescott getting give him an a even though it wait, well, well you did, even though you didn't love the receivers so much. He's I think he's gonna throw the ball. Well he gets all of them right. I don't know. If I'm Cooper and Lamb, could DA's gonna throw the ball forty times get in this game? They should probably not even attempt to run the ball. If they do that after making him throw fifty eight

times in the opener. That's malpractice, But uh, we'll give it up a soft A. But speaking of a's over to the Chargers side. Keenan Allen gets an A plus. Mike Williams also gets an A. See what I did there? Yeah, I thought you're gonna give out a Fonzie. Maybe I should have given out a funds if you give out the art Park and well you get the Fonzie. Fonzi is superior to the art Park. Anyway. You know we don't have enough. Why is it that I have? Well,

wouldn't Winkler come after us legally? If A for Keenan Allen, but again in A for Mike Williams as well, no reason not you think these two can't replicate the spanking Chris Godwin Antonio Brown gave the Cowboys last week. Both Allen and william saw ten plus targets against Washington. Jared Cook gets a B two. Gronk scored twice against Dallas. Cook had two red zone receptions against Washington. Also average eleven yards after the catch. Love Jared Cook this week,

and that's available in a lot of leaks. He should not be because tight end is slowly becoming a waste land again or quickly, I should say. And justin air Bear guessing a all he need is the soundbar to justify this play. There you go, air Bear, and now charge you were just poo pooing all over Austin Ekeler. I'm still gonna give him an a despite not being targeted like you said, but uh, that's a scary thing.

But Eckler did have the hamstring issue that hasn't popped up all week so far, knock on wood, so I expect the usage to ramp up a little bit. He did have the goal line touchdown and the Bucks did Uh. The Bucks backs did total seven catches against Dallas last week, so I'm calling a target and at least one catch. Very very bold prediction for Rawson. Give him an though I hope they overcorrect and give Austin Neckler like fourteen targets in each. That would be fantastic. Detroit takes on

the Green Bay Packers. Detroit's offense ultimately was pretty good in garbage time and we already did you give. I gave Jared Goffs might take a chance and the passer h T J. Hockenson is the only receiver I would start here. He gets an a actually might get Waller level targets this year, and the Packers did did give up two scores to Jawan Johnson in the end zone last week. Five different wide receivers had two catches for the Lions. No one wide receiver top three catches for

the Lions. And then finally on the on the Lions side, Dan Campbell did not lie. Jamal Williams and DeAndre Swift were used almost equally, although Swift lad the snap count total almost two to on. Williams touched the ball on over half of his snaps last week and Swift only led the touch count by two. Each had eight receptions. By the way, that's big, that's and I think that's gonna hold up. I think it will to The Saints.

Runners combined for thirty five touches in a hundred and forty four yards against this defense last week, and that's not outlandish for this week based on the usage of

these runners as receivers. So I will give Swift a B grade and Williams a solid C grade in the revenge game on the Packers side, so Jeff Okuda tore his achilles last week, which means Davante Adams gets Pro Football focuses number one, number two, or number nine wide receiver cornerback matchup based on which corner he's going against, whether that's A. J. Parker, if At melafon Wu or Armani or ru Wame I went phonetically on that one. Adams gets an A. I think you can roll with

Marcus Valdez scantling with a B rade as well. MVS led all packers and targets last week with eight. Notably, Randall Cobb had one target, as did Mario Rodgers. Bob Tanyan scored in both of the meetings last year against the Lions. He gets a solid B as well. If I like all the receivers, I like Aaron Rodgers as an A grade. In his last ten games against the Lions, where he started and finished, Rodgers has thrown for multiple

scores in ten of those ten games. A J. Dillon was charged just take a chance on me runner, and Aaron Jones gets an A grade in this one. The Lions are the worst run defense in the league since the beginning of and it didn't change last week with the Niners backs totaling fifty one total yards and two scores on twenty four touches. That's six point three yards per touch for opposing runners. Will take it, Aaron Jones gonna both the whole team's bouncing back with a great

game for the Green Bay Packers. The last time that Aaron Rodgers had a bad game was last year Tampa Bay. His third worst career passer rating game was Tampa Bay last year. Doesn't like playing in Florida. The next week, he threw four touchdowns. Kansas City takes on Baltimore. You already know that Patrick Mahomes, a, Tyree Kill and Travis Kelsey are automatic A grades and this matchup will does

changes nothing that it so juicy, so juicy. Let's talk about some of the players that you actually have to give some consideration to, including Clyde Edwards a laire. If you take away c E. H is two explosive games he's had in his career. One was Houston, one is Buffalo. The rest of his games, he averages forty five rushing

yards and has scored three touchdowns. That sounds just like his forty three yard three yard per Carrie stinker that he gave us last week, you're hoping for receptions from Clyde Edwards a laire and he had seventy receiving yards last year against Balti More and they're in their matchup and the Ravens just allowed eighty seven yards to the Raiders backs through the air. So he might help us

out that way. And that's why I've got a C grade on Clyde Edwards, a layer in the hopes that he does help us out from a PPR pass reception standpoint. Um the other wide receivers, DeMarcus Robinson and Nicole Hardman, it just they're on the field enough, the snap count is there, they should contribute something. But even say it's for years, they never do. So we're just gonna move on. And they've never been reliable fantasy producers and I can't expect it here. Let's go over to the Baltimore side,

where it's a little bit more intriguing. Let's start with Lamar Jackson. Get this, he has not reached two hundred fifty passing yards, which is not that much, by the way, Like Matt Jones just hit it in his first NFL start, Jackson has not reached two d fifty passing yards in nineteen straight games, and I'm not terribly optimistic about his

chances of rebounding against a far superior defense. If the Ravens could not handle Max Crosby, what happens when they face Chris Jones and All Pro left tackle Ronnie Staley is gonna miss this game? And I top all that. Jackson's two performances against the Chiefs over the past two years have been abysmal, averaging a hundred eighty two passing

yards one half a passing touchdown. That's it. You're gonna need Lamar Jackson to rush you to relevance, and he probably will, and his wife still gotta be grade on him. But everything through the air here says to expect very little from Lamar Jackson. Let's go do his receivers. Marcys Brown is going to be a game time decision with an ankle injury. He has scored in six of his past seven games, but Kansas City secondaries really it's actually

very good. They didn't allow his score last week, and ankle injuries are super dicey for receivers, and even if they try to play through it, a lot of times you can't cut on the ankle, and so they can't separate. And that's why I'm not crazy about Markis Brown, and I've got a bench grade on him. I've got a C grade on Sammy Watkins, who continued his Week one

domination with a big game last week. And with Marquise Brown ailing and very little other talent at the wide receiver position, he becomes the de facto go to receiver and he'll need volume against two good cornerbacks, chart Various Ward and Legarius sneed you already know Watkins is a perennial underperformance, so I can only give him a C grade here because it's not Week one, even in the revenge game. Even in the revenge game, Mark Andrews strangely

quiet last week. He ran thirty seven pass routes, which were more routes than he ran in any game last season, but he didn't almost nothing with it was very was hardly targeted. But a plus match up here against the Chiefs, who were just flamed by Cleveland's tight ends for a hundred twenty yards. Kansas City should get Tyrone Matthew back for this game and that should help a bit, but

still a B grade in a bounce back performance. For Mark Andrews, and lastly, the running back situation Tyson Williams and Lottavius Murray. If you believe John Harbaugh, this is a running back by committee and both will be used. I thought Williams look pretty good last week, but he still got benched for Murray in the second half of the game. Missed the key block that was a factor. Chiefs were bad against backs last year. They were bad last week with Chubb and Hunt just running through them.

So I've got starting grades on Tyson Williams and Lottavias Murray even if it turns out they're gonna split time roughly evenly see grades. Thank you for listening to the show, everybody. If you missed any part of it, you can and you're listening over there. Check out our podcast version of Fantasy Football Weekly. Thank you, Matt, Brian Max, our engineer. Appreciate all your help today, Good luck, and week number two. Talk to you a week everybody, Bye bye. Fantasy Football

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