Is it Week 2 when all the big fantasy injuries happen? Or maybe there is no historical trend. But yesterday Jamaal Charles, Knowshon Moreno, Ryan Mathews, A.J. Green and Robert Griffin III were among the big names to get hurt, their injuries of varying degrees.
Just as injuries don't affect all NFL teams equally, some fantasy teams will be crushed by these developments, and some will be lifted up by snagging their replacements. Who and which ones? Let's take a look.
Dolphins at Bills: Knowshon Moreno leaving with an elbow injury is the big news here, probably helping Lamar Miller into a featured role. Damien Williams is the guy who will benefit if Miller flops, which is certainly possible. But actually the big news might be Sammy Watkins, who had the nothing preseason, looking like the star he was expected to be coming out of college. Caught the ball easily (several off-target throws getting gobbled up by sticky fingers), picked up plenty of yards after the catch, looked good. Robert Woods was an afterthought. Buffalo's defense still pretty good.
Lions at Panthers: It's only two games and Carolina at least has a really good defense, but the Lions can't run the ball. I guess this is good news for those holding Stafford, Megatron and Tate, and at least the running backs catch the ball, but it's a concern. Lions lost two fumbles in this game, tough to win on the road turning it over. If you were wondering what it takes for Jonathan Stewart to score a touchdown, apparently it's DeAngelo Williams and Mike Tolbert both getting hurt. If those injuries linger, I guess Stewart become a viable fantasy option.
Falcons at Bengals: That's more like what the Falcons were supposed to be like -- Matt Ryan getting knocked around behind a bad offensive line and struggling some. One of his three picks perhaps should have been caught by Levine Toilolo, but whatever. Good game for Julio Jones, not so much for Roddy White. Bengals D looks like one to avoid in fantasy. Mike Nugent, who I dropped Justin Tucker (4 field goals Thursday) for in a couple of leagues, missed three field goals. Moral is, don't change kickers every week, just find one decent one and stick with him through the highs and lows. I don't know if this means stick with Nugent or go back to Tucker, but I'm not going to try yet another kicker. Although Dan Carpenter is available.... Big games for Giovani Bernard and Jeremy Hill. I don't think you can trust that kind of workload (17 touches) for Hill each week, but there's spot-start value there. ... A.J. Green hurt, Mohamed Sanu goes off. Somebody has to catch passes, and everyone else is hurt. Next up if Green (turf toe) misses time? Brandon Tate? Dane Sanzenbacher? There's not much else.
Saints at Browns: Another nice game for Mark Ingram. He's the back to own here. Can't use Pierre Thomas, don't see Khiry Robinson taking that job away. Same for Terrance West, plus he caught 2 passes, one a nice grab while tightly covered on a broken play. Is Ben Tate better than him? Not so sure. Cleveland has a Week 4 bye so I think we can assume Tate won't play in Week 3, giving West another chance to make his case to keep the job. Huge game for Graham, surprising involvement for Robert Meachem, disappointing game for Brandin Cooks and Marques Colston. Cleveland secondary can play. Hard to trust the Saints' usage of players, but I think retaining faith in Ingram and Cooks is the way to go.
Patriots at Vikings: Surprising to see Matt Asiata actually catch a touchdown, but later an easy pass bounced off his hands like it was on fire and was intercepted (the only one of the four that wasn't Matt Cassel's fault). One more game like that and the Teddy Bridgewater era begins, if not sooner. I have no insight on what's going to happen with Peterson, sorry, but I would be making other plans. And Asiata was a full-time guy, although given the way the game went, who knows whether Minnesota will repeat the game plan or just burn the thing and move on. Another disappointing week for Tom Brady. I've got Philip Rivers on the bench in the league I have him in and am considering making a change, but I'll have to talk to the other coaches first.
Cardinals at Giants: A really nice touchdown catch by Rueben Randle, and at least one terrible drop. Three terrible drops by Victor Cruz. A costly lost fumble by Rashad Jennings when he didn't appear to be touched. And Eli has 4 interceptions through 2 games. But hey, there's some PPR value in Larry Donnell. For Arizona, tough game fantasy-wise. First off, Larry Fitzgerald was heavily targeted, and appeared to catch an early touchdown, but he was ruled down inside the 1, and it ended up being a touchdown for Jonathan Dwyer, who no one started. Because Andre Ellington is so much better and apparently healthy enough, but his 91 rushing yards on just 15 carries didn't get him that short-yardage chance. Just one reception, although really he might have had a touchdown reception if Drew Stanton hadn't missed him behind the defense. Stanton, obvious, is not a good thing for the passing offense, but it's nice to see Ellington healthy. Giants could bounce back with Houston, Washington and Atlanta in their next three, two of which are at home.
Cowboys at Titans: Guess there's some life in these Cowboys, thanks to another huge day from DeMarco Murray. An early fumble, and it seemed the other backs were playing, but he came back in and tore through Tennessee. The Titans looked improved on defense, but they're still disappointing on offense. Guess that's why eventually we'll see more of Bishop Sankey. If they'd drafted Carlos Hyde he'd be starting right now. Can't trust the wideouts, though that Delanie Walker is an every-week tight end right now.
Jaguars at Washington: I was surprised Washington was favored by 6 entering this game. This is why I don't bet games. I'm sure I'm not the first to say that RGIII getting hurt seemed to help Washington's offense. I don't know that Kirk Cousins is any good, but RGIII's confidence looked shot even before getting hurt. The DeSean Jackson injury is the big one, although he and Pierre Garcon seem like afterthoughts in this TE-centric offense anyway (hope you held onto Jordan Reed, surely he'll be back ahead of Niles Paul when he comes back. Uh, right?). Garcon wasn't even targeted until just before the half and finished with 1 catch. This is a guy who caught 113 passes last year! In a different offense. ... Alfred Morris is awesome. If Washington could just win more games, he'd be a fantasy star again. When they're losing he's borderline unusable.
Seahawks at Chargers: Well there's the Seattle overconfident, not paying attention loss; now they'll be fine. Maybe. They'll probably win all their home games, but they were pretty ordinary on the road last year, too. San Diego isn't bad. If they lose Mathews, who had a touchdown erased by a penalty, Donald Brown should fill in OK. Antonio Gates and Eddie Royal being go-to guys certainly fooled Seattle, and fantasy teams who didn't start either of them. (Used Gates in a Draft Kings league LAST week, drat.) If you faced Harvin and lost a close matchup, don't read this next part; he stepped out of bounds on his 31-yard touchdown run. And if you won, feel lucky. How does that not get properly reviewed? Pretty lucky that Marshawn Lynch scored too.
Rams at Buccaneers: Crazy ending to this one, as the Rams let the Bucs catch a pass putting them in game-winning field goal range, but the receiver got shaken up on the play, couldn't get off the field, and the clock expired. I think they'd have had time to spike the ball if he'd simply been able to line up. Unlucky and a tough break for the rookie (Mike Evans). And those who picked the Bucs in my suicide pool, although I personally think they got what they deserved. "Saving" good teams is not good strategy. In my opinion. Just get to the next week. Another good game for Brian Quick. Huge game for Bobby Rainey. (Rams D just doesn't like to play in September, I guess.) Disappointing game for most everyone else. Zac Stacy did OK, though losing a fumble in a 1-point loss isn't.
Kansas City at Broncos: Kudos to Kansas City for showing up and giving the Broncos all they could handle here, but another loss, more injuries, and it's clear that this team is doomed. Jamaal Charles' ankle injury is being called mild, but that doesn't mean he'll be OK for next week or even the week after that. In the NFL, 2-4 weeks can be mild. Kansas City has a Week 6 bye in case you were wondering. Just another injury for a team that's already had more than their share. ... Another 3 TD passes from Peyton Manning. Can you let your running back get some of those, please.
Jets at Packers: Now that's what a fantasy game should look like. Except for Eddie Lacy, but at least you were warned about him in this matchup. Huge game for Rodgers, Nelson, Cobb. TDs from Ivory and Decker. Bad luck for Geno Smith and Jeremy Kerley, who hooked up for a long touchdown that was erased by a timeout apparently called beforehand. Disappointing game for Chris Johnson in a seemingly good matchup. Entertaining, anyway. Nelson is going to have a huge, huge season.
Texans at Raiders: Clearly, Arian Foster fell too far in fantasy drafts. He's not going to have a long career with this workload and maybe won't last the season, but 55 carries in two weeks? Huge. We don't even get a chance to talk about Ryan Fitzpatrick's Civil War era facial hair, because he's not really doing anything. Peeking at the schedule, Houston winning 8-9 games isn't that far-fetched. Having fantasy options beyond Foster, their defense, and Andre however, is. ... James Jones had a big game, lowlighted by fumbling twice on the same play. So that's Rod Streater with a big Week 1, Jones with a big Week 2, and probably somebody else in Week 3. These guys can't be used (plus Streater got hurt). Touchdown for Darren McFadden, hope you didn't start Latavius Murray.
Bears at 49ers: If you blinked, this game went from a 49ers laugher to a Bears win. Pretty shocking. San Francisco totally shut down Matt Forte, Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery were gimping around, Jay Cutler was making sour faces, and the Bears won anyway. Not feeling too good about Colin Kaepernick after he threw this one away. Great defensive plays, sure, but he doesn't need to take those kind of chances with a good defense and big lead. We'll see how serious the Vernon Davis injury is, but in general San Francisco's passing game is struggling anyway.
Monday, Monday: No doubt some fantasy matchups are riding on tonight. I have a 6-point lead in a standard league where I'm facing Trent Richardson. Oddly I feel OK about this, which means he'll probably have his first good game in two seasons. I do think there will be a lot of points in this game, but passing games look better. Colts are home, but I'm still thinking this game will be Eagles, something like 30-21.