Week Two Takeaways

It’s time for a few week 2 takeaways now. Who is as hot as a rogan josh and who is cooler than a mint yoghurt side. Let’s tuck in, shall we?

Start your Chiefs and Stream against the Steelers:
The Chiefs may have the most powerful offence in the NFL. So far Patrick Mahomes has been the real deal with 584 yards, 10 touchdowns, no interceptions and 10 carries for 39 yards in his opening two games. It’ll be interesting to see how he copes with the Broncos and the Jaguars coming up in his next 3 games. With Hill, Hunt, Watkins and Kelce all able to pitch in at any moment the options they have are ridiculous and the only negative for fantasy is having to predict which will go off each week.
The Steelers meanwhile are looking like a bit of a mess in defence. They still seem shell-shocked and short of leaders since they lost Ryan Shazier. Nobody has stepped up to be a difference maker. TJ Watt is showing promise at LB but there’s a lot of pieces just not performing. They’re a team I’m happy streaming offensive players against for sure.


Florida is 6-0:
The Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins against all the odds are each 2-0 after 2 games giving Florida a clean sweep of wins so far. Since it’s the only US state I’ve ever set foot in this stat does make me happy and the fact teams starting 2-0 have a better than 60% success rate at making the playoffs, it gives me all the more cause to smile.


The Bills may as well follow Vontae Davis' example:
If you didn’t see it, Vontae Davis retired from the NFL and quit the Bills at halftime of their game against the Chargers. He’s called it “Realising I’m not up to it any more” but perhaps with the workload that the Bills were going to get and the beatings they would receive he just didn’t feel it was worth the money. Either way, the Bills look a mess on both sides of the ball and look set to be the 3rd team to go 0-16 and the first team to do it, having been a playoff team the year before. Something we may never see again in our lifetime.


DJ can’t do it on his own:
A popular narrative behind drafting people like DJ and Larry Fitzgerald was that there were no other options for Bradford to aim at. While it appears that that is true, it hasn’t made the pair particularly valuable this year so far. Bradford has been sub-par (and that’s being kind) and DJ is showing signs that he knows he has to carry the team but he just can’t. In the battle between 2 of the top 4 Fantasy picks Todd Gurley has a huge day despite only recording 42 yards on the ground and 73 yards total. 3 touchdowns will do that for you, something DJ can only dream of right now. I can see a QB change and a coaching change in the not too distant future for the Cardinals.


Fitzmagic is the good news story we never knew we wanted:
In a world of doom and gloom, fake news, negative news and of course injuries, it’s great to have a good news story. Ryan Fitzpatrick has started the season like an elite superstar, beating Drew Brees and reigning Super Bowl winner Nick Foles. 819 yards, 8 touchdowns, one sole interception and 13 rushes for 35 yards have him behind only Mahomes and with the Steelers next week, he has every chance to keep the run going. Jameis Winston may not get a look in for a few weeks even when his suspension ends.
Off the field, Fitzmagic is winning too though. The Connor McGregor getup in his post game interview and the comments were so well played and even at 35, he is adding clips to his career highlights reel.


Vengeance is sweet for Bortles:
For a while, the Jaguars looked like they might blow out the Patriots. It got dicey towards the end but ironically a missed call by the officials for a false start against Jacksonville gifted the Jags the game. In the week the Patriots released a cringe-worthy video to try and banter with @Bortlesfacts and I fully expect that to come back and haunt them as it appears they got spooked by a player parody account. Not like the Patriots at all. Bortles himself had a fire under his ass and with 4 touchdown passes and over 400 all-purpose yards he showed what he is capable of. The Patriots defence without Matt Patricia has got off to an indifferent start.


Austin Ekeler is going to be relevant this year:
Back to fantasy football since that’s what I’m here to talk about. Austin Ekeler took over relief duties for Melvin Gordon once the Chargers RB had got 3 touchdowns and then gone down with a minor injury. That could be a theme but across two games with very different game scripts he has had 23 and 13 points in PPR and his ownership is rising as a result. He was one of the candidates for the hype train station this week but expect that train to pass you on the waiver wire this week, you’re probably going to have to decide now if you want to get on it or not.

And finally... Kickers. Maybe they do matter:
They shouldn't. They shouldn't be in your league, and if they are, this week was a reason should give you a hint of why they are a bad idea.