Analyze This ~ Week 2

Two weeks down, fourteen more glorious fantasy weeks to go. Now that two weeks are recorded in the books, NFL teams will start to settle down, find their mojo, and players will start to become more transparent as far as what kind of fantasy performances they will give your team and how well they can perform against tough defenses.

I will take note of certain performances and stats you are likely to see again, and those not likely to occur again. I will try to avoid stating the obvious, such as the likely hood of seeing Adrian Peterson and Frank Gore gain a total of over 150 yards, or how rare it is to see Greg Jennings and Anquan Boldin have a 3 FF point output in any game.

You Will See Much More of This...

Jahvid Best ~ 9 receptions (14 targets)
Mike Sims-Walker ~ 105 receiving yards
Kyle Orton ~ 307 passing yards
Chris Cooley ~ double digit FF points (12)
Matt Ryan ~ 3 TDs/0 ints
Malcom Floyd ~ 31.7 yards per catch average
Aaron Hernandez ~ 6 targets (6 receptions)
Mike Williams TB ~ double digit FF points (11)
Deon Butler ~ 5 receptions (8 targets)
Brandon Jackson ~ 2.9 yards per rush average
Matt Cassel ~ under 10 FF points (3)
Donald Driver ~ 38 receiving yards
Louis Murphy ~ 10 targets (6 receptions)

...And Much Less of This

LeSean McCoy ~ 30 FF points
Michael Vick ~ 108.0 passer rating
Kevin Walter ~ 11 targets (11 receptions)
Jay Cutler ~ 0 ints
Brandon Pettigrew ~ 108 receiving yards
Steve Smith NYG ~ 35 receiving yards
Chad Henne ~ 15 pass attempts (9 completions)
Donald Brown ~ 16 rushes
Hakeem Nicks ~ 2 receptions (5 targets)
Felix Jones ~ 9 total touches (7 runs/2 catches)
Dez Bryant ~ 2 targets (2 receptions)
Jeremy Maclin ~ 26 receiving yards

Thoughts

~The Cardinals offense without Kurt Warner (and Anquan Boldin) is an absolute mess. Look for

Just a Thought ~ Vincent Jackson's Destination

After observing the sputtering Vikings passing offense today with a hobbled Percy Harvin and a lack of Sidney Rice, is there any doubt in anyone's mind that they will trade for Vincent Jackson? Granted Brett Favre completed 22 of 36 passes (with 3 interceptions), but they were mostly short and intermediate passes. Visanthe Shaincoe was his leading receiver for the second consecutive week in both catches and yards, and that is not a good sign for any team, even if it's Philip Rivers to Antonio Gates. Rice is expected to return to the field somewhere around week 8 to week 10, and there has already been some inside information saying his recovery is not proceeding as quickly as it was expected to.

It is very obvious the Vikings are in a "win now" mode. Their entire Super Bowl hopes rely on Favre being their QB (they haven't bothered to draft a quality QB prospect in the last few years), and Brad Childress has been on the hot seat since before he originally convinced Favre to join the Packers' division rival. Jackson has been asking for an extremely high salary--too high for the Chargers and too high for any team to vehemently pursue him--and the Vikings may suddenly be desperate enough to pony up the cash after a dismal 0-2 start. They need a big deep threat WR.

As a Jackson owner in my money keeper league (drafted him in the seventh round and have the option to keep him next year), I have heard all the rumors of the Vikings, Seahawks, Brown, Redskins, and Rams being in the V-Jax sweepstakes and have been strongly pulling for the WR1-less Redskins to pay for his services. From a fantasy perspective, joining the Vikings right now would return Jackson to WR1 status with the ultimate gun-slinger as his QB, but the inevitable return of Rice would cloud that status. Joining the Redskins would assure Jackson owners of owning a top fantasy WR into the fantasy playoffs, since the Redskins don't currently have a true WR1 for Donovan McNabb.

Given the recent Vikings loss, helped along by the paltry passing offense, it seems inevitable that Jackson will be a Minnesota Viking before Wednesday afternoon, which is the deadline for his suspension to be reduced to four games instead of six if traded. If that happens, it is scary to think of what kind of noise the Vikings will make in the NFL once Rice is fully healthy.

Analyze This ~ Week 1

I am really furious that NFL Redzone is now a service I have to pay for. The cable network I pay for made progress before last season when arbitration caused the NFL Network to be included in the regular lineup. Last season that included the NFL Redzone channel, owned and operated by NFL Network. This year, I find out the hard way that I no longer have NFL Redzone in my regular lineup. Instead of enjoying every minute of football I can possibly cram into my head from the first kickoff, while paying close attention to my revamped Lions team, I have to spend about twenty minutes on the phone with my ridiculous cable network to work out the financial details of how I can get the NFL Redzone without paying an extra $8 per month. Needless to say, I will not go an NFL season without my NFL Redzone channel. Have I mentioned that I love what they do?

Typically, the first one or two weeks of the NFL season involves a lot of fluky plays, performances, and outcomes. This first week was certainly no different. Players are jacked up on adrenaline, certain plays still have kinks to work out, timing between QBs and receivers require fine tuning, and generally, teams need to find their identity. I will take note of certain performances and stats you are likely to see again, and those not likely to occur again. I will try to avoid stating the obvious, such as the likely hood of seeing Chris Johnson and Peyton Manning score over 20 fantasy football (FF) points, or how rare it is to see Frank Gore, Michael Turner, and Ray Rice have a 2.2 or less yards per carry average in any given game.

You Will See Much More of This...

Anquan Boldin ~ 110 receiving yards
Jay Cutler ~ over 300 passing yards (372 total)
Eddie Royal ~ 8 catches (10 targets)
Roddy White ~ 12+ targets (23 total!!!)
Visanthe Shaincoe ~ TDs (1 total)
Chris Cooley ~ 6 catches (9 targets)
Dez Bryant ~ 12 targets (8 catches)
Mike Wallace ~ 31.0 yards per catch average
Todd Heap ~ 6 catches (11 targets)
Matt Forte ~ 2.9 yards per run average
Knowshon Moreno ~ 60 rushing yards
Justin Forsett ~ 10 total touches (7 runs/3 catches)
Peyton Hillis & Jerome Harrison ~ 50/50 split of carries (9 each)
Reggie Bush ~ 7 touches (2 runs/5 catches)
Lee Evans ~ 3 FF points

...and Much Less of This

Through the Wire

I have already explained my lack of time for blogging over these last two weeks or so, and this piece will also result in dramatic abbreviation. I was hoping to be able to post this waiver wire article before the start of the season, but time has flown for me.

These players are the players who have gone mainly undrafted, and I believe they will all have some sort of fantasy impact in either small parts of the season or throughout the season. Some will step up when a player ahead of them on the depth chart gets injured, while others are simply overlooked.

Here are the players you should be adding to your scout team...

Louis Murphy ~ the top WR for Jason Campbell.

Mike Thomas ~ performed well his rookie year, and has had nothing but high praise coming into this season. He is a wonderful PPR sleeper.

Jake Delhomme ~ has regained the little bit of arm strength he lacked last season.

Jason Campbell ~ always overlooked, but ended last season with very good performances.

Leonard Weaver ~ is a Mike Bell injury away from being the regular short-yardage/goalline RB in Philadelphia.

Keiland Williams ~ has Clinton Portis and Larry Johnson ahead of him on the depth chart, which causes me to be optimistic about his chances of getting on the field during the season.

Early Doucet ~ ended last year with hot performances, and could potentially outperform Steve Breaston.

Brandon LaFell ~ he will be the second WR and second overall receiving option in Carolina.

Deon Butler ~ Deion Branch is very injury prone, and Butler will step up when Branch is out of the lineup.

Josh Morgan ~ in his third year, and is always overlooked in drafts. He is an excellent