Week 2 Rankings: Friday Update

So close to having a very good fantasy day...

Well, it was an ugly one last night, but the Patriots pulled off the 13-10 win over the Jets.  If you started New England's defense, you were a happy fantasy footballer.  Geno threw 3 picks and was sacked 4 times, and one of those INTs nearly went for a touchdown.  Other than that, there's not a ton to be overjoyed about from a fantasy perspective, but there's still plenty to talk about.  In my money league, I had an internal debate on whether or not to put Kenbrell Thompkins in my lineup.  Ultimately, I went with him last night, and he ended up with pretty weak numbers.  But even though Dobson got the lone touchdown from Brady, it was Thompkins who looked better running routes and he nearly made a catch that would've been a nice TD in the endzone.  Dobson had 10 targets to Kenbrall's 7, but some of that was due to coverage.  I think it was a promising performance from a rookie who went up against Cromartie all night (Thompkins, that is).  As for my fantasy team, I plugged him in at one of my WR positions, so I'm still debating playing Ryan Mathews over Torrey Smith at my Flex position.  More on that below in this Friday the 13th edition of my rankings update!

QBs

1.Aaron Rodgers

2.Peyton Manning

3.Drew Brees

4.Matt Ryan

5.Michael Vick

6.Cam Newton

7.Matthew Stafford

8.Andrew Luck 9.RGIII 10.Eli Manning 11.Colin Kaepernick 12.Tony Romo 13.Terrelle Pryor

14.Russell Wilson 15.Josh Freeman 16.Matt Schaub   17.Joe Flacco  18.Sam Bradford 19.Carson Palmer      20.Philip Rivers I had Brady ranked 8th, and it turns out that was too high with all of the inexperience he has at the receiver position.  If I own Tommy Boy, I'm a little worried going into Week 3 against Revis Island.  And until Gronk comes back (and Amendola for that matter), he's going to be a little bit of a risky fantasy play with Edelman and a bunch of rookies to throw the ball to.  Again, I like Thompkins to emerge, but he needs to do it soon...like now.  I'm not sure I'll even have Brady in my top ten next week.  That would be crazy... Not even in your Week 3 Top 10 QBs?!?  Waaaaaaaah!!! To fill the void he left in my rankings, I've decided to add Philip Rivers to the bottom of my list.  Hey, it was either him or Cutler.  I don't like either of them, but I feel like I might dislike Rivers a little less.  As far as this week in fantasy, a lot of people think the Chargers will be running the ball a lot to try to slow down that tempo in Philadelphia.  I think the Eagles will get up early and San Diego will be playing catch up, which means some extra passing for Rivers.  As for Cutler, I think he'll have another average game, nothing special.

RBs

1.Adrian Peterson

2.Doug Martin 3.LeSean McCoy 4.Jamaal Charles

5.Matt Forte 6.Steven Jackson 7.Arian Foster 8.Ray Rice 9.CJ Spiller 10.Alfred Morris 11.Trent Richardson  12.Reggie Bush 13.Maurice Jones-Drew 14.Darren McFadden 15.Marshawn Lynch 16.Eddie Lacy 17.DeMarco Murray 18.Chris Johnson 19.Darren Sproles 20.Frank Gore 21.DeAngelo Williams 22.Lamar Miller 23.Rashard Mendenhall 24.Ryan Mathews 25.Daryl Richardson 26.Ahmad Bradshaw 27.David Wilson 28.Knowshon Moreno 29.Joique Bell 30.Benjarvis Green-Ellis 31.Bryce Brown 32.Isaac Redman 33.Ben Tate 34.Daniel Thomas 35.Fred Jackson 36.Giovanni Bernard 37.Donald Brown 38.Bernard Pierce 39.Mike Tolbert 40.Ronnie Brown I said to look for Ridley as a good bounce back candidate for Week 2, but he didn't do much last night.  Some of that was due to the Patriot offense not firing on all cylinders in general.  Some of that could've been due to mother nature in the second half.  But those are just excuses, and I have no reason to make them for Ridley.  He had 40 yards on 16 carries, so nothing to write home about.  I'm glad I lowered him significantly in my rankings, but I guess it wasn't low enough.  Next week he'll get the tough run defense of Tampa Bay, and it looks like he'll be another Patriot who might be falling in my rankings. As for the Jets rushing attack, it actually didn't look too bad at times.  Powell looked pretty average, but he got about half of the work and several looks out of the backfield on checkdown passes.  Ivory showed some explosiveness at times, especially on a couple of 2nd half drives.  He looks like a guy who will ultimately win the job, but we all know the injury risk there too.  I think both RBs should be owned in all leagues, though probably only to be used as a Flex option at this point in time. Breaking News Today: Vick Ballard is out for the season after injuring his knee in practice on Thursday.  Bradshaw gets a nice bump up in my rankings, and I'm adding Donald Brown toward the bottom of the list. Ronnie got his old number back.  Maybe his swagger too?  (whatever that means) With the other three backs I've mentioned off the list, I've added Bernard Pierce, Mike Tolbert, and Ronnie Brown.  If you're in a desperate situation where you're starting one of these guys, I feel for you.  I've been there.  Heck, at the rate my fantasy players are getting injured (so far 1/week...Vereen), I could be there sooner rather than later.  OK, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you never know.  I think the Ravens will have some high volume on the ground against Cleveland, which could mean some extra work for Pierce giving little Ray some breathers.  Keep an eye on Pierce's status though, as he's dealing with a thigh injury and has been limited in practice this week.  I could see Tolbert vulturing a touchdown against the Bills, so maybe some points there.  As for Ronnie Brown, he actually saw more snaps than Mathews on Monday night, so who knows?  He seems to be in the game when they're in the redzone, so I could see him as a Flex play in a seriously deep league.  Oh, I also replaced Jonathan Dwyer with Isaac Redman.  Apparently Tomlin is giving him a second chance at the starting job.  Personally, I don't think he'll do much with it (and that's why they re-signed Dwyer).  I wouldn't be too excited about starting either of them Monday night. WRs

1.Calvin Johnson 2.Demaryius Thomas 3.AJ Green 4.Brandon Marshall 5.Larry Fitzgerald 6.Julio Jones 7.Randall Cobb 8.Victor Cruz 9.Vincent Jackson 10.Andre Johnson 11.Wes Welker 12.Jordy Nelson 13.Reggie Wayne 14.Dez Bryant 15.DeSean Jackson 16.Steve Smith 17.Pierre Garcon 18.Hakeem Nicks 19.Marques Colston 20.Cecil Shorts 21.Anquan Boldin 22.Dwayne Bowe 23.Antonio Brown 24.Miles Austin 25.Mike Williams 26.Eric Decker 27.Steve Johnson 28.Torrey Smith 29.Mike Wallace 30.T.Y. Hilton 31.Roddy White  32.James Jones 33.Lance Moore 34.Denarius Moore 35.Michael Floyd 36.Tavon Austin 37.Vincent Brown 38.Marlon Brown 39.Emmanuel Sanders 40.Leonard Hankerson I already talked about just about every Patriot, but I should mention that Julian Edelman was targeted 18 times last night (and it seemed more like 50).  Granted, most of his gains were 3-5 yards, but this guy is PPR gold (at least while Amendola is sidelined).  For standard leagues like my own, I'll continue to rank him around 20 (right where he was this week).   A couple of injured guys I mentioned earlier this week were Dez Bryant and Roddy White.  Dez is practicing this week and says the foot feels great, so I've moved him back up my rankings a bit.  As for Roddy, I'm still concerned about his high ankle sprain.  Like I said, I'm sure he'll start, but I think he's a risky play at least for a couple more weeks.  Has Torrey lost his mojo...? Two guys I've moved down my list are Marques Colston and Torrey Smith.  I think there's a serious affect on these WRs this week as they face shutdown corners Revis and Haden, respectively.  I alluded to this above, but I'm still thinking about sitting Torrey on Sunday.  It seems crazy to do this with one of my high draft picks, but he didn't light up the scoreboard against Denver, and they were airing it out plenty.  I'm a little concerned they'll be in a defensive struggle against the Browns and maybe there won't be a ton of scoring opportunities in that one.  It's going to be a GTD... Considering my worry over Torrey, I've added Marlon Brown to the bottom of my Week 2 rankings.  If Haden shuts down one side of the field, then someone needs to be catching balls, right?  I also added Emmanuel Sanders for similar reasons.  I could also see the ground game stalling for Pittsburgh, and Big Ben loves to throw.  I don't know if he'll have much time to throw, but he'll throw nonetheless.   TEs

1.Jimmy Graham

2.Jason Witten 3.Tony Gonzalez  4.Jared Cook 5.Vernon Davis 6.Jordan Cameron 7.Julius Thomas 8.Jermichael Finley 9.Greg Olsen 10.Owen Daniels 11.Martellus Bennett 12.Brandon Myers Zach Sudfeld didn't suit up last night (and now I've officially talked about every fantasy-relevant Patriot), so he'll stay off the list until he actually does something in the NFL.  I've added Brandon Myers to the bottom of my rankings.  He had a solid game last week against Dallas, and I'm sure the Giants will continue to pass a lot with those fumbling concerns in the backfield. Jermichael Finley appeared on the injury radar this week, as he traveled to Minnesota to receive treatment on a toe.  I'll leave him in my top-10, but it's something to keep an eye on come Sunday.  Luckily he's playing in a 1:00 game (against my Redskins), so you'll have plenty of time to find a replacement if needed.  It sounds like he'll be good to go though.

DEF 1.Bears

2.Texans 3.Bengals 4.Ravens 5.Seahawks 6.Cardinals 7.49ers 8.Broncos 9.Steelers 10.Cowboys 11.Panthers

12.Browns I already mentioned the Patriots defense, who I had at #4 in my rankings.  They might just end up with the top defense this week, but there's a lot of football left to play.  I wanted to add the Chiefs again, but that might just be wishful thinking against the Cowboys.  That's not to say the Cowboys are so good that the Chiefs won't be a good fantasy defense play this week.  I just mean it's wishful thinking because I want that to be the case against the Cowboys.  Anyway, considering I think the Browns/Ravens game will have about 27 total points scored, I'm going to roll with Cleveland at the last spot on my list. Good luck to everyone in Week 2! Cheers, Bart