Time to try and make some semblance of where teams rank after Week 1 of the NFL season. Here are my Week 2 players to start and sit.
Start
Ameer Abdullah, RB, Detroit Lions
Ameer Abdullah picked up right where he left off from the preseason, making an immediate impact on fantasy rosters with 50 yards rushing, 44 receiving yards and a rushing touchdown Sunday against San Diego. The best news of the day was that Abdullah out-touched Joique Bell and Theo Riddick. His role should only increase as the season goes on. This week he faces the Vikings who allowed 168 rushing yards and two touchdowns to running back Carlos Hyde.
Anquan Boldin, WR, San Francisco 49ers
All throughout the preseason the Pittsburgh Steelers showed one thing, they can’t stop the pass. That held true last Thursday when Tom Brady torched the Steelers for four touchdowns and 288 yards. Tight end Rob Gronkowski and receiver Julian Edelman feasted on the Steelers porous pass defense. Last week, the San Francisco 49ers rode Carlos Hyde to victory over Minnesota. Look for the 49ers utilize quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s pocket passing skills against Pittsburgh. Receiver Anquan Boldin should see a large number of targets and hopefully he’ll catch a few touchdown passes.
Related Players to start:Vernon Davis, TE, San Francisco 49ers
Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Arizona Cardinals
Wide Receiver Larry Fitzgerald is the fantasy veteran that somehow continues to produce. Fitzgerald put up a decent six-catch, 87-yard performance in the Cardinals’ season opener against New Orleans. Fitzgerald was the third-most productive receiver in Arizona last year, but he is seeing a boost in targets and workload due to fellow wideout Michael Floyd dislocating three fingers in the offseason. Fitzgerald has a juicy Week 2 matchup against the Chicago Bears who allowed 189 passing yards and three touchdowns to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers last week. Historically speaking, Fitzgerald performs well against Chicago, averaging 117 yards over two games. He has scored twice in those outings.
Related Players to start:John Brown, WR, Arizona Cardinals, Carson Palmer, QB, Arizona Cardinals
Chris Ivory, RB, New York Jets
The Indianapolis Colts allowed 147 yards on the ground to the Buffalo Bills in Week 1. This week, as the New York Jets head to Lucas Oil Stadium to face a fired up Andrew Luck, their game plan will no doubt be to exploit the Colts poor run defense and keep Luck on the sidelines in the process. I expect New York to run the ball early and often which is good news for running back Chris Ivory who out-carried fellow back Bilal Powell 20 to 12 last week. When it’s all said and done, Ivory could be in line for another multi-touchdown day.
Sit
Nick Foles, QB, St. Louis Rams
Last week, a good-looking Dolphins offense was stifled by the surprisingly stout Washington Redskins’ defense. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw just one touchdown against Washington. Now the Redskins face a familiar foe in Nick Foles who used to be in their division with the Eagles. Foles has a meager 4-3 touchdown to interception ratio in four games against the Redskins.
Davante Adams, WR, Green Bay Packers
Packers wide receiver Davante Adams was a guy I was really high on heading into the season. Then the Packers acquired wide receiver James Jones, who had spent seven years in Green Bay before going to Oakland last year. Adams owners know what happened in Week 1. Week 2 should be equally miserable for the young receiver as he’s likely to get covered by shutdown cornerback Richard Sherman. In the Packers’ first game against Seattle, quarterback Aaron Rodgers rarely looked Sherman’s way. In the NFC Championship, he tried to throw a ball to Adams in the endzone. The result? Interception. I don’t expect a much different outcome this week.
Latavius Murray, RB, Oakland Raiders
The Baltimore Ravens were fantasy’s best run defense last year according to and they continued their dominance against the Broncos Sunday, limiting Denver to just 70 yards on the ground between two running backs. The Ravens received Pro Football Focus’s second-best grades in run defense in Week 1, a trend that should continue this week when Baltimore heads to Oakland. With Raiders quarterback Derek Carr returning from a hand injury, expect the Ravens to try and take the run game away from Oakland and force Carr to beat them through the air.
Jeremy Maclin, WR, Kansas City Chiefs
Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin was the second-most productive pass-catcher in the Chiefs’ opener against Houston. He had 52 yards on five catches. Denver was stingy against the pass last year and they were stingy against the Ravens in Week 1. Now they face one of the league’s more anemic pass offenses in Kansas City. Expect Maclin to have trouble against Aqib Talib and Chris Harris. Don’t forget about Denver’s stellar pass rush which will make things even more difficult for the Chiefs to throw the ball.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiam is a section in which I highlight a player or players who fantasy owners probably can’t afford to sit but who have tough matchups.
C.J. Anderson, RB, Denver Broncos
Assuming running back C.J. Anderson is healthy enough to play, it’s going to be a rough week for his fantasy owners. The Broncos’ starting running back probably isn’t someone owners can afford to sit but Thursday’s matchup against Kansas City has me worried. There is some upside to the match. Like I said before, Pro Football Focus graded the Baltimore Ravens as the 2nd best team in the league in terms of run defense last week. Kansas City graded out at 11th.
Secondly, Denver should run the ball more in an attempt to re-balance the offense. An increased running game has long been considered to be a staple of Thursday Night games due to the short week. But that brings up my major issue with Anderson this week, time. For one, he’s injured. Anderson sprained his toe during Denver’s opener against Baltimore. Is four days enough time recover? He’s listed as questionable which means even if he gets on the field, he’ll be less that 100 percent and will likely cede carries to backup Ronnie Hillman. Bear in mind that those two split carries last week, both getting 12 apiece. Hillman has out-performed Anderson since the preseason. And while I have no doubt the Broncos will fix the kinks in their offense, I don’t envision the issues will magically disappear in four days.
Hugh Johnson: 303-954-1037, hjohnson@denverpost.com or
