From The Godfather: Week 2

Sat Sep 18 9:43am ET
By CHARLIE WIEGERT
Contributing Writer

With Week 1 in the books, use some caution with some of the strange things we saw. Green Bay is not that bad, and New Orleans is probably not that good. Houston might have won their only game of the year, and Jacksonville might not win any. So as I look at the best offenses and worst defenses, I’ll still factor last year in some as one game doesn’t give you a good picture. . . . most of the time!

The top passing team this week should be the Los Angeles Chargers at home against Dallas, who were torched by Tom Brady and Tampa Bay last week. Justin Herbert is no Tom Brady (yet!), but should have his way against a weak Dallas secondary. Keenan Allen, Mike Williams and Jared Cook all have a chance to top the century mark in receiving yardage.

The Atlanta at Tampa Bay game should be a big arial show. Both teams gave up huge passing yards last week, and Tampa reciprocated to win the game. It’s doubtful that Atlanta can hold with them, but they’ll need to get a huge game from Matt Ryan to stay close.

Green Bay gets a great get well card with Detroit coming to visit. While Green Bay should be able to do whatever they want offensively, meaning Aaron Jones could run wild, I expect the Rodgers to Davante Adams show to be the feature attraction.

My other favorite for passing yards based on a bad passing defense is Teddy Bridgewater at home against Jacksonville. If Tyrod Taylor and Houston can dominate the Jags, Denver should light them up at Mile High. With Jerry Jeudy out, look for Tim Patrick, Courtland Sutton and KJ Hamler to have big days.

The tough passing defenses to stay away from if you can this week are Rams (no Carson Wentz), Steelers (no Derek Carr), Broncos (no Trevor Lawrence), Patriots (no Zach Wilson) and Bills (no Tua Tagovailoa).

Rushing plays

Christian McCaffery is always the guy you look to be number one, and of course you play him if you have him, but he’s not a good DFS play at his high salary this week going against a Saints defense that contained Aaron Jones last week. As mentioned above, though, Jones could rebound this week and have big numbers against Detroit. The Chiefs gave up a lot of yards to Cleveland last week and are soft against the run. The question is who on Baltimore will get those yards. Lamar Jackson will probably lead the team, but Ty’Son Williams gets a chance for a big day, also.

Minnesota showed it could be run on last week, which means Kyler Murray could challenge Jackson for the most rushing yards from a quarterback this week. Chase Edmonds should lead the Cardinals rushing attack, but he’ll split time with James Conner, making both good, but not great plays.

Stay away

It doesn’t get any easier this week for Tennessee’s Derrick Henry going against the Seahawks. And don’t expect a repeat performance from Houston’s Mark Ingram at Cleveland. Mike Davis and Atlanta will have tough going at Tampa Bay.

Wide Receivers

It’s not always finding the defense giving up the most passing yards. Sometimes it’s finding the weak cornerbacks, and staying away from the shutdown corners. Such was the case for Bears’ Allen Robinson with Rams Jalen Ramsey covering him last week. This week should be different for Robinson and Darnell Mooney going against a Bengal secondary that gave up 59 points to wide receivers last week. The Bears secondary wasn’t a whole lot better giving up the fifth most points to wideouts last week, so the Bengals receivers should have good days. Slot receiver Tyler Boyd should fair the best, but Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase will get theirs, too.

As mentioned above, the Lions have no way to stop Packers’ Davante Adams. As bad as the Lions were last week, they lost top defensive back Jeff Okudah, so Allen Lazard and Marquez Valdez-Scantling also could have good fantasy days.

There will be an interesting battle as Arizona takes on Minnesota. Former Cardinal Patrick Peterson tries to shut down former teammate DeAndre Hopkins. AJ Green and Christian Kirk might be the better plays. Odell Beckham Jr will miss the game, opening the door for Donovan Peoples-Jones to have a big day as Jarvis Landry will draw tighter coverage.

It could be tough going for Bills wideouts Stefan Diggs and Emmanuel Sanders as the Dolphins could shut them down. And the Colts Zach Pascal will get shadowed by Rams Jalen Ramsey.

Tight Ends

Every week it’s going to be the same five guys - Travis Kelce, Darren Waller, George Kittle, Mark Andrews and T.J. Hockenson. This week the edge goes to Kelce against the Ravens defense that allowed the third most fantasy points to tight ends in Week 1. He is followed by Hockenson against the Packer defense that was fifth in points allowed. The “sleeper” picks could be Chargers Jared Cook against the Cowboys, a team that allowed the most points (29), or Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert against the 49ers, a team that was fourth in points allowed. A really, really deep sleeper would be Texans Pharaoh Brown or Jordan Akins going against the Browns, a team that was second in points allowed last week, although that probably had more to do going against Travis Kelce. And don’t forget Rob Gronkowski, who is on the same page with Tom Brady right now, going against the Falcons.

Streaming D

The teams that allowed the most points last week were Tennessee (take Seattle), Detroit (take Green Bay), New York Jets (take New England), Tampa Bay (take Atlanta) and Green Bay (take Detroit). So this is where Week 1 stats can be misleading. You don’t want Atlanta or Detroit.

The defenses that scored the most Week 1 were Arizona, San Francisco, Washington, Carolina and Dallas. After all those stats, the team I like the most this week is Denver, playing at Jacksonville against a rookie quarterback and coach. I’m expecting two to three picks, and hopefully one returned for a pick six.

Charlie Wiegert was the sixth person to be inducted in the Fantasy Sports Hall Of Fame in 2001. He is a founder of CDM Fantasy Sports and Fantasy Sports Trade Association. He has been playing and winning fantasy baseball leagues since 1984. If you have any questions for Charlie, email them to cwiegert@cdmsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @GFFantasySports.

From The Godfather: Week 2

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