James Morris hails from Rio Rancho, NM and has been playing fantasy sports for well over a decade. Not only does he write the Bengals fantasy section, but he also does the Jacksonville Jaguars and San Diego Chargers fantasy sections, as well as the Indiana Pacers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz fantasy basketball sections in the NBA. Last season James finished with an 82 percent accuracy rating for fantasy predictions and will be here to answer any questions you may have about your specific team. Just send him an email and he will reply back the same day with your answer.
Week 2 of the season was a wild one as owners who had Philip Rivers, Matt Schaub, Frank Gore, Chris Johnson, Andre Johnson and Vincent Jackson were elated, but those who have Matt Hasselbeck (I know), JaMarcus Russell, Matt Forte, Ray Rice, Eddie Royal and Randy Moss are left wondering where their players were on Sunday. Let's go through some winners and losers that were expected and unexpected and try to figure out what went wrong exactly.
When you look at the Bengals this year two players are really standing out to me, Cedric Benson and Antwan Odom. Benson looks to be legit this year ... I mean really legit. I will admit that I have been burned in the past with him and went into drafts with cautious optimism, but now I am a believer that he is for real this year. Odom, and the whole Bengals defense to a different degree, are opening people's eyes as Odom has seven sacks in two games and that is making IDP leaguers lick their chops.
Carson Palmer isn't lighting it up with the yards just yet, but the four TDs this weekend more than made up for it. Chad Ochocinco made good on his Lambeau Leap promise and what made it even better was that knucklehead Packers fan flipping a finger to the cameras. It just goes to show that not everybody needs to do the things that go through their minds. Chris Henry and Laveranues Coles both caught TD passes, but only accounted for three catches for 14 yards between the two of them.
Philip Rivers: The Ravens have one of the league's best run defenses, which means the Chargers were going to have to throw it if they wanted to move the ball downfield. For some reason I didn't take that into account when making this week's Sit 'Em report and was flat out wrong on this one. Yes, he threw two INTs, but the 436 yards and two TDs more than made up for it.
Kevin Kolb: I don't know a single person that actually picked up Kolb or started him, so this one was unexpected. What he did with that type of hype was go out and burn the Saints defense for 391 yards and two TDs, but he also threw 3 INTs. I'll take the negative six points from the interceptions if it means adding 12 points for two touchdowns.
Chris Johnson: I hyped Johnson in the draft rankings because the guy can just run faster than everyone else on the field and doesn't get tackled. He finished with 197 yards rushing, 87 yards receiving and three TDs. Johnson was by far the best fantasy RB of the day.
Frank Gore: Before Gore went down with a sprained ankle he amassed 207 rushing yards, 39 receiving yards and two TDs. Word is he won't miss any additional time due to the injury, but what a day from a guy that saw his team draft his replacement.
Andre Johnson: Johnson and the Texans offense is so hit and miss that it is frustrating to say the least. Today, however, was one of the hits as Johnson put up 10 receptions for 149 yards and two TDs in a stunning win over the Titans. Johnson is a top tier WR, but this offense runs hot or cold.
Mario Manningham: Super Mario busted out on Sunday Night Football with 10 catches for 150 yards and a TD. Eli Manning was on point as he also hooked up with Steve Smith 10 times for 134 yards and a score. Manningham will see a spike in adds in fantasy leagues by Tuesday morning.
Dallas Clark: Clark busted the opening play Monday night for 80 yards and a touchdown. When the final whistle blew, Clark had totaled seven catches for 183 yards and a touchdown, by far the best stats for any TE in the NFL this week.
Washington Redskins Defense: The Skins held the Rams to just seven points while forcing two fumbles and sacking the QB once. The fewer the points given up, the better the defense is to play.
JaMarcus Russell: What a difference a week makes! This week Russell came out and threw for a robust 109 yards and no TDs, but managed to take two sacks in the process. Granted, neither sputtering offense did very well in this game, but there were four RBs that had more yards than Russell did.
Matt Hasselbeck: Hasselbeck had to leave the game after taking a nasty hit from Patrick Willis, and was ruled out of the game almost instantly. But, before he was injured, he managed to go 10 for 18 for 97 yards passing while adding 12 rushing yards. I honestly believe that he would have ended the day respectably had he not got hurt, but that doesn't matter since he finished with the stats he did.
Matt Forte: Jay Cutler managed to throw for 236 yards and two TDs, but Forte only found time for 13 carries for 29 yards and five receptions for 33 yards and no scores. The Bears may have won this game, but if Forte only gets 13 carries again they will not be so lucky and fantasy owners will be fire selling him soon after.
Ray Rice: I am already done with Baltimore's running game and will be selling Rice for whatever I can get for him. Even though Willis McGahee is in the final year of his deal and will likely walk next season, the Ravens found it appropriate to give their "featured back" (Rice) eight carries for which he gained 36 yards and five passes for which he added 46 yards and no scores. McGahee is a redzone TD vulture and someone needs to clue Baltimore in on who is the future and who isn't.
Eddie Royal: Yep, I'm done here too. This week Royal was able to pad his stats to the tune of three receptions for 20 yards and no scores. There is a reason why Brandon Marshall was willing to kill any future contract value he had in order to get out of Denver, and Kyle Orton is his name.
Randy Moss: Nothing like a top two WR going for four catches and 24 yards to sober you up. Yes, Tom Brady was in the game, but the Jets defense shut the Patriots offense down and that hurt everyone involved.
Zach Miller (OAK): Hey, Russell was terrible at best, and that filtered over to Miller as well. I guess maybe this is why you never get excited over Week 1 stats as Miller went for ... well ... nothing. No catches, no yards, no fantasy points. THANKS MR. RUSSEL!
Philadelphia Eagles Defense: It's not like we thought they were going to stop, or even slow down, the Saints offense. That being said, New Orleans still hung a 48-point total on the scoreboard and that is good enough for a goose egg in the points allowed category.
In the end, I missed on Rivers, Edwards, Gage (Chris Johnson stole the show but Gage was targeted four times on the day), and Barber. I was right on McFadden (the TD made it worth playing him), Matt Ryan (220 yards and 3 TDs), Fred Jackson (163 rushing yards), Dustin Keller (scored a TD), Falcons defense (just 20 points given up and they picked off one pass, forced a fumble, and recorded a sack), Mark Sanchez (163 yards and a TD aren't starter numbers), Jay Cutler (yes, 236 yards and 2 TDs, but there were 12 QBs with more yards and five with more TDs (He was a QB2 today and people think he is a QB1), Steve Slaton (59 total yards), Eddie Royal (20 yards receiving), Robert Royal (1 rec., 13 yards), and the Chargers defense (31 points allowed, one sack and just one INT). So what about Berrian you ask? Well he was targeted six times and caught all six passes, but he totaled only 46 yards. So, you can't really say I was wrong since he did go 6-6 on the day.
I make 16 predictions per week and finished with 12 right picks and just four wrong ones, so 75 percent isn't bad for Week 2.
If you want to have your question answered for all your friends to see, shoot me an email and I will give you some one-on-one attention.
