Posts tagged with “week two fantasy starters”

Week Two: Under the Radar Starts

Saturday, 18 September, 2010

By Zack Cimini

notjustagame23@gmail.com

Your heavyweights do most of the damage in fantasy leagues. You expect that. Where wins of the blowout variety come from are the starters under the radar. The depth building guys you drafted in mid rounds with upside. Deciding your matchups on a week to week basis with your number two’s and three’s at running back and wide receiver is a tough struggle for fantasy owners. Here’s some guys we think should do well this weekend.

Quarterback

Kyle Orton- Were not sure how Orton’s settled himself down being a Bronco. Last year he managed drives which translated to a 6-0 start. When Marshall was traded he was discounted by everyone. After a strong preseason and a solid debut, Orton looks as if he is a true veteran quarterback. He is becoming a sneaky start based upon matchups and this week figures to be one. Alex Smith made Seattle’s pass defense look a lot better than it is.

Mike Vick-  He gets the start and with Vick it’ll be boom or bust. Detroit’s young defense is quick but not disciplined enough yet. Vick should continue to excel and add on to last weeks solid performance. Andy Reid hardly ran the football week one and is notoriously known for abandoning the run game. Rolling Vick out to the left or right and letting him high tail it is sort of a running game, right? Expect LeSean McCoy to have a breakout game, and Vick to get enough rushing yards to offset a mediocre passing day.

Josh Freeman- Carolina has a lot of holes on both sides of the football. One glaring is their secondary which gave up big play after big play last week. Part of that had to do with Matt Moore’s mistakes forcing them back onto the field. Well, whether it’s Moore or Clausen the defense will be getting use to that pattern. Freeman doesn’t have the running game you’d like to support a young quarterback. Yet he has some solid young receivers that he should find for a nice fantasy day this week.

Running Backs

Brandon Jacobs- If there’s a guy that needs that big game to work out of a rut, it’s Jacobs. Last years case of blaming injuries and play call selection won’t work two years in a row. Jacobs needs to realize he is a big back that can’t wait for where he is going to go with the football. Attack the line of scrimmage and pick your lane to plow through. That’s the old Jacobs. This week against the Colts he might get away with his subtle moves in the backfield, after the Colts just were torched last weekend.

Shonne Greene- It was not a debut a running back would of liked. Greene had two fumbles and lost his grasp of the split shared carries with LT. He’ll get his chance to shine again as Rex Ryan will do everything in his power to ensure his offense does better. Greene and LT should see heavier dosages of the football as more and more eyes are beginning to distrust Sanchez. New England looked great last week but were not buying into the defense turning it around suddenly with younger legs.

Tim Hightower- Derek Anderson’s still trying to get acclimated with the offense with a non healthy Larry Fitzgerald. Beanie Wells is iffy at being available for this game against Atlanta. Even if he plays it’ll likely be a minimum amount of touches. Hightower will be the main threat, and if he can control his fumbling issues he should have a breakout game. He gets into the end zone at a fairly high rate. Rushing the football he may not get near 100 yards, but yards combined out of the backfield should equate to a decent all around game.

Wide Receivers

Lee Evans- A blowout should occur as the Bills can’t keep up with the Packers. Evans should benefit from that by getting a lot of garbage yards. He is one of the top big play receivers in the league. Unfortunately being in Buffalo he has been hindered. Four or five games a year he is a good start and this week is one of them.

Eddie Royal- Will see how heavy the Broncos look to split carries with Moreno and Maroney. Orton is most comfortable with Eddie Royal and will look for him often. Expect six to eight catches from the Broncos number one receiver. Yardage shouldn’t be a problem. Dividends will be rewarded even more if Royal can make it into the end zone.

Mike Williams (Tampa Bay)- Williams had a phenomenal catch on a tipped ball in the end zone last week. One thing fantasy fans will begin to learn about Williams is he has a knack for catching touchdowns. While at Syracuse he broke the school record by scoring a touchdown in nine straight games. He’ll quickly become Freeman’s favorite option.

Louis Murphy- Campbell played with Santana Moss for years. An inconsistent pattern for Campbell was his erratic play behind center. Raiders fans already saw a glimpse of that last week. Campbell gets a nice matchup to settle himself back down, and restart forward. One thing Campbell is good at doing is mixing up with his tight ends over the middle. By doing that and continuing to pound the ball with McFadden, we think Murphy could slip free for an “I’m back in the NFL” throw from Campbell.