After An Overall Successful Week One, The Pug Brings You His Week 2 Fantasy Knowledge.
New season, but The Pug’s roll of picking waiver wire gems continues as Tajae Sharpe worked out pretty well last week. Overall, last week was successful, minus the bench Kelvin Benjamin call who was a bright spot in the Panthers defeat. Moving on to week 2……
Must Starts
Eli Manning- QB- New York Giants- This is an easy one here. The Giants have a complete receiving core now with the return of Victor Cruz, the emergence of rookie Sterling Sheppard, and of course Odell Beckham Jr. Eli threw for three touchdowns last week, and faces a much softer defense this week in the New Orleans Saints. Last year, Eli lit up the Saints defense for 350 yards and six touchdowns. All signs point to a huge day for Eli and the Giants offense. Even if Cam is your other quarterback, this match up is too good to pass up.
Antonio Gates- TE- San Diego Chargers- This must start is more about circumstance than it is about match up. The Chargers are without wide receivers Keenan Allen and Stevie Johnson now and will be searching for offensive answers. Look for Gates to step up and be the main red zone target from this point on. Gates should see an increase in targets as well, and may just wind up finishing with some of the best fantasy numbers from the tight end position.
Latavius Murray- RB- Oakland Raiders- Murray ran for 59 yards an a touchdown last week and should be in line for a better week this week against the Falcons. The Falcons had major problems trying to stop Jamesis Winston and company through the air, so look for them to try this week to prevent Derek Carr from beating them. Enter Latavius Murray. The Pug believes Murray is in for a big fantasy day in week 2.
High Risk, High Reward
Sammy Watkins- WR- Buffalo Bills- Sammy Watkins is coming off an off season injury but he says he is a full go. There is risk with starting a player fresh off an injury as he may be on a snap count, as he was last week. Since he plays Thursday the short week could still limit his playing time. Also, the Jets defense is good, although A.J. Green had a field day against them last week. Watkins torched the Jets last year in week 17 for 136 yards, but earlier in the year he played them in week 10 and he only mustered 14 yards.Classic high risk, high reward situation.
Jeremy Langford- RB- Chicago Bears- Langford put together an adequate performance last week with 57 yards and a score. He was the bell cow giving up only one carry to another back. This week his faces the Eagles who played well against the Browns, but their defense may be a tick worse than Texans defense he faced a week ago. Risky start, but with risk, comes reward.
Players To Avoid
Jeremy Hill- RB- Cincinnati Bengals- Jeremy Hill has made a name for himself by being the Bengals back that scores the touchdowns. The Steelers have not been as kind to him, however as he has never scored a touchdown against them in his career. The Steelers also held the Redskins to 55 yards on the ground last week. Look for the Steelers to continue their dominance against Hill this week.
Melvin Gordon- RB- San Diego Chargers- Gordon had a great fantasy last week against the Chiefs scoring two touchdowns. However this week with no Keenan Allen to get them close to the goal line, and the fact that Gordon didn’t exactly light up the stat sheet with only 57 yards rushing, don’t look for him to produce against a revamped Jaguars defense. In a caution move Gordon should be benched this week to see how the Chargers offense responds to live after Keenan Allen, because when they did so last year, it wasn’t pretty.
T.Y. Hilton- WR- Indianapolis Colts- With a less than ideal match up against the defending world champs, the Broncos will look to shut down the Colts primary weapon, in other words Hilton. Hard to bet against the Broncos defense not being able to do what they set out to do. See the waiver wire gem of the week if you need a spot start at wide receiver this week.
Waiver Wire Gem of the Week
Mike Wallace- WR- Baltimore Ravens- Mike Wallace had a long touchdown in his week one match up against Buffalo last week. After a few years of fantasy irrelevance, Wallace proved that he still has the talent to break one off. He may be the only true long threat Joe Flacco has, and this week against a weak Browns defense he could break a long play or two off. Start him this week, especially if you were a Keenan Allen owner.
