🌊 2 New Fantasy Stars Emerge
The Rams look different...
The Chargers are an unserious franchise…
In today’s Fantasy Life Newsletter presented by Buffalo Wild Wings:
- There’s a changing of the guard in LA
- Pete’s Weekly Wrap-Up: Danny Dimes, baby
- Injuries to monitor
- Overreaction Monday: Jordan Love has arrived
- It’s 9/18. Take it away, Peter Overzet…
We have a fun MNF doubleheader on tap tonight, but let’s first dig into another wild Sunday of NFL action…
🤯 It’s the “Kyren Williams Show” now
The ink had barely dried on yesterday’s newsletter before Jay Glazer reported that Cam Akers would be deactivated for Week 2 and also placed on the trade block.
A similar scenario played out last year, though Head Coach Sean McVay insists that this time it is different and Akers claims that he’s confused.
Regardless, it opened the door for Kyren Williams to operate as the team’s bellcow back and he did not disappoint:
Zach Evans is going to be an interesting waiver add this week as the “guy behind the guy”, but Williams has true bellcow potential for as long as Akers is in the doghouse.
🤯 Puka isn’t just “legit”—he’s a superstar
What’s crazy, though, is Williams wasn’t even the biggest fantasy storyline from the Rams yesterday. That honor goes to rookie WR Puka Nacua, who continued his scorching hot start to his career with another 15 RECEPTIONS for 147 yards.
A few wild stats to put the start of his career in perspective:
- He now has 25 catches for 266 yards on 35 targets in two games
- He now holds the record for most targets through two games, besting Anquan Boldin’s 2003 rookie campaign
- He nearly broke Odell Beckham’s record for targets in a game by a rookie
This is truly unprecedented stuff and an absolute treat to watch unfold. I would not be sweating one bit about Puka’s production when (or if) Cooper Kupp returns—he’s here to stay and it’s the fantasy storyline of the year…
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The Games Are On At Buffalo Wild Wings
Peter is here to share his six big takeaways from Week 2. Take it away, Pete...
☄️ Daniel Jones, the comeback kid
The Giants got smoked 40-0 in Week 1 to the Cowboys.
They were then down 20-0 at halftime in Week 2 to the Cardinals.
We were all ready to pen our eulogies for last year’s Cinderella story… and then Daniel Jones went full Danny Dimes in the second half and led the Giants to a miraculous win:
He’s currently the QB1 on the week with no one within 4 points. The real test comes on Thursday, though, with the Giants heading to San Francisco on a short week with a banged-up Saquon Barkley.
🐅 Tee Higgins bounces back
Higgins put up a bagel in Week 1 vs. the Browns, but roared back in Week 2 with a monster 8-89-2 TD line vs. the Ravens worth 28.9 fantasy points.
Our Chris Allen saw this one coming from a mile away.
It’s another great reminder that we need to focus on underlying usage when it comes to projecting fantasy performance and not just the box score:
🚀 CJ Stroud to Nico Collins is the next great stack
In another world, we are writing about Anthony Richardson’s breakout party in this space, but he left the game early with a concussion after rushing for 2 TDs.
Instead, we need to spotlight the Stroud-Collins connection, which looks like something we’ll be watching for years to come.
Stroud threw for 384 yards and 2 TDs with an impressive 64% completion percentage, while Collins built on his stellar Week 1 with a 7-146-1 game.
He’s in good company to start the year:
🧓 Mike Evans still has it (so does Keenan Allen!)
All Mike Evans does is score fantasy points. He’s been doing it since 2014, rain or shine, good QB or no good QB…
Forget his streak of 1,000+ yard seasons, Evans might double that up this year at this clip.
Honorable mention: Keenan Allen, who also put up a massive day yesterday.
🤪 The Seahawks have never played a normal game
We were hyped about this game heading into Week 2 and it did not disappoint.
There’s an infamous Kevin Clark tweet about the Seahawks’ inability to play “normal” games and yesterday’s track meet vs. the Lions that went to OT was no different.
Tre Brown dominated on the defensive side of the ball, but there were plenty of offensive fireworks, as well.
A handful of stat lines in a game that saw 68 combined points:
- Kenneth Walker: 17-43-2 rushing
- Tyler Lockett: 8-59-2 receiving
- David Montgomery: 16-67-1 rushing
- Amon-Ra St. Brown: 6-102 receiving
- Josh Reynolds: 5-66-2 receiving
Side note: DK Metcalf and Lockett have enjoyed the big games, but JSN is lurking.
🎉 Welcome to the NFL, Marvin Mims
Do you want the good news first or the bad news?
Ok, how about the bad news…
Marvin Mims ran only 5 routes yesterday vs. the Commanders.
Ok, but here’s the good news…
He had 2 carries for 10 yards and turned his two receptions into 113 yards, including this beauty of a catch down the sideline and this monster TD:
He’ll need to see his route participation grow substantially to be a regular plug-and-play starter, but the Broncos would be legitimately insane not to do so.
✈️ Week 2 Air Yards leaders. Number 8 surprised me.
🚑️ Injuries to watch. It was another rough Sunday.
📺 It’s not too early to prep for Week 3. EVERYTHING you need to know from Week 2.
😭 Don’t catch Brandon Staley after a loss. Chargers gonna Chargers.
📣 Can you pronounce Ka'imi Fairbairn’s name? Good luck.
💰TWO Monday Night Football games? Double the DFS fun.
🤮 I don’t know how to put this…but the Bears defense might be bad.
🔫 Sir, can I see a license for that weapon? Pew pew pew.
🤯 The QB surprising everyone. Impressive stats through 2 weeks.
🦘 Josh Allen, wyd?? Come on, dude.
❌ Breece Hall deleted this tweet. Ya man, same here.
We're humans who play fantasy football, which means we are prone to overreact. Today, Kendall overreacts to three big surprises from Week 2…
It feels like the NFL Gods have corrected a lot from the absolute chaos that was Week 1, so maybe we are moving in the right direction.
Bengals WR Tee Higgins gave fantasy managers the bounce-back performance they were waiting for and finished with 28.9 fantasy points. Philly RB D’Andre Swift was THAT guy for the Eagles on Thursday Night Football and new Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield is actually baking in Tampa Bay… alright that one we can’t totally wrap our heads around but we will get there!
While the ship may not have been righted completely in Week 2, some players seem like they’re already outperforming early expectations:
🏎️ Don’t pump the brakes on Jordan Love
Now before we get into Packers QB Jordan Love, let's agree he is not setting the world on fire, but I think by year’s end he will finish better than the other quarterbacks that also came into 2023 with questions surrounding them – Desmond Ridder, Sam Howell, hell maybe even Justin Fields.
THIS IS OVERREACTION MONDAY AFTER ALL!
The fact of the matter is it’s still early, but Love is now the fourth quarterback in Packers history with at least three passing touchdowns in each of the first two games of a season. He finished Sunday’s game against the Falcons 14-of-25 for 151 yards and three scores and avoided any turnovers.
The Falcons and Bears defenses are nothing to write home about, but this does put Love in a situation where (depending on your league size) he could be a low-end QB1 that makes a difference on your fantasy squads.
Finishing Week 1 with 23 fantasy points and Week 2 with 20.34 definitely adds a double take (discount double check?) element when setting lineups.
He scored more fantasy points than other top-10 options like Fields, Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence.
I’m sorry, we weren’t familiar with your game (This is a meme, please).
Look, we hold ourselves accountable here! So when I went an entire offseason avoiding some players that had stellar starts to the season, yeah, they are owed an apology!
👀 Mike Evans
Woooooof this could be a long season if Mike Evans keeps doing Mike Evans things.
He has 237 receiving yards after two games, which is the best total of his 10-year NFL career.
I hope Evans gets his 10th 1,000-yard season, especially after many wrote this season off with Baker Mayfield under center.
👀 The Giants
LOL, it took the New York Giants six quarters of football to score their first points of the season, but they made an epic comeback against the Arizona Cardinals (I know, I know) scoring 24 unanswered points in their first win of the season on Sunday. This was the largest comeback by the Giants since 1949!
Daniel Jones finished with 30.74 fantasy points and Saquon Barkley ended with 27.20! Something to watch is Barkley’s health – the Giants have a short turnaround and play the 49ers on Thursday Night Football, but Barkley limped off the field with just a minute left in the game.
The Giants had a big (much-needed) win against a lowly Cardinals team, but at least it was a step in the right direction.
