Week 2 is in the books and once again storylines reign supreme. There were some heart-warming moments, some head-shakers, and of course some gut-wrenching injuries. In this segment of the good, the bad and the ugly, we dive into the developments we saw during the latest week in the NFL and touch on its fantasy implications.
The Good
Since 1994, many amazing things have happened in the city of Los Angeles. The Lakers have made the playoffs 18 times and won 5 championships. Even the Clippers, the city’s red-headed stepchild (no offense to those who happen to be redheaded stepchildren) have made 7 playoff appearances and advanced to the Conference Semis 4 times. The Dodgers have advanced to the NLCS 3 times on 9 playoff appearances and the Kings have won 2 Stanley Cups in the last 4 years. I bring all of up because all of this occurred since the last time the LA Rams won a home game. Seattle came to the Coliseum on Sunday and fell victim to the Rams and the 91,000 fans in attendance. In the moment, the city had forgotten about all the accomplishments in the last few years as the Rams return home in style.
Another great accomplishment in week 2 was the Minnesota Vikings beating division-rival Green Bay despite injuries to 2 of their most important players on offense. We all know Teddy Bridgewater is sidelined for the season but after watching Adrian Peterson go down, I was ready to put the nail in the Vikings coffin. Mike Zimmer had other plans, however, as he rallied the troops, and led by the great play of the defense, came out victorious.
The Bad
Piggybacking off the Vikings victory, the performance of their opponent, and one player, in particular, was uninspiring, to say the least. Aaron Rodgers finished the game with 213 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. This is a far cry from what we are used to seeing from the All-Pro QB. We may have over-valued the Jaguars last week when the Packers narrowly escaped with a victory on the road, but it seems we may have over-valued the Packers. Eddy Lacy, despite his alleged weight-loss, has not gotten any better and Jordy Nelson’s addition to the passing game hasn’t yielded the results we expected. Green Bay should pick it up as they have a relatively weak strength of schedule but they certainly don’t look Super Bowl bound like many experts predicted they would be.
The Seahawks offense is similar to the Packers. The defense is definitely the strength of this team, but the offense has always picked up the pieces. After narrowly escaping a home win against the Dolphins in week 1, the offense got worse as they could only muster 3 points against another bad team in the Rams. The Rams have had Seattle’s number in recent years but with Russell Wilson not living up to expectations and the running struggling to get going, this Seattle team could find itself on the outside looking in when it comes to playoff time.
The Ugly
Injuries, albeit part of the game, are something that we all pray don’t happen to anyone, especially the players on our respective teams and on our fantasy rosters. Unfortunately, this is not always the case as we saw again in week 2. The most notable of the injuries was Adrian Peterson as he tore his meniscus in the second half of the Sunday night game against the Packers. The Vikings aren’t ruling out a Peterson return this year, but it’s hard to see him returning to full form.
Other notable injuries include Jonathan Stewart and Arian Foster who exited their respective games early, but both are only expected to miss a game or two. From a fantasy standpoint, check your waiver wire for Jerick McKinnon primarily, as he will likely take over during AP’s absence. Matt Asiata may get goal line carries and take over 3rd down duties, so he may be a decent name to target as well. Fozzy Whittaker will take over for Jonathan Stewart and it’s unclear if Jay Ajayi or Kenyon Drake will be the feature back for Miami while Foster is sidelined but both are decent options if you miss out on the aforementioned RBs.