I got off to a decent start last week, scoring 194 or so. Seemed great until I saw the number of people scoring well above the Mendoza line. A high-scoring week, and a bunch of fairly easy starts blew up. It won't always be that easy. Or will it? Let's see.
In this competition, each week's high score (standard scoring) will win a $25 Fantasy Index gift certificate, and the season champ will win an enviable prize package, which may be delivered to your door if you happen to live near me.
How to play: Sign into your Fantasy Index account and click the blue "Your stuff" button in the top right corner. Then look for the link to Fantasy Index Blackout on the right side of the page. Pretty simple.
Here's my Week 2 lineup.
Quarterback: Ben Roethlisberger and Deshaun Watson. Watson let me down up in New England. I do not care, I'm doubling down on him against a Titans defense that is typically better against the run. If Ryan Tannehill and his receiving corps can finish with good numbers against the Titans, so can Watson. Roethlisberger is at home (check!) and facing a suspect Kansas City secondary (check, check!). Fantasy Index Blackout Elves having some fun with us, taking Josh Allen off the board, ho ho.
Running back: Alvin Kamara and Melvin Gordon. Kamara should be close to a full-time player against the Browns, barring them putting some fumble or poor-performance prone ex-Bill on the field for a few snaps. Gordon faces a Bills defense that allowed more rushing scores than every other team a year ago. Yeah, it's a new year, they still ain't good. Saquon Barkley in primetime is also appealing, as is James Conner against Kansas City.
Wide receiver: Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham and Tyreek Hill. If the magical elves were having fun with us before, they apparently had so much fun that they passed out facedown in the punch bowl when they got to the wide receiver category. Tough to leave out DeAndre Hopkins or even Michael Thomas, but it seems irresponsible not to use Brown, Beckham and Hill in a likely shootout (and maybe he'll bring a punt back) when I can.
Tight end: Travis Kelce and Zach Ertz. Maybe I shouldn't use both Hill and Kelce from Kansas City, which I suppose is an argument for switching off Hill in favor of Hopkins or Thomas. But with Gronkowski blacked out, I can't really see the 4th-best tight end that I should elevate ahead of either Kelce or Ertz.
Kicker: Justin Tucker and Brandon McManus. Plenty of good choices, but I'm compelled to go with Tucker 'cause he's awesome and McManus because he's facing a lousy Raiders team.
Defense/Special Teams: Bears and Chargers. Chicago hosts a Seattle team that looks like a one-man show these days. If Aaron Rodgers is ruled out of Green Bay-Minnesota I may need to switch to the Vikings against DeShone Kizer. The Chargers burned me badly last week, but I'm doubling down with them against the comically poor outfit the Bills refer to as their offense. You could make a pretty good offense out of players the Bills have dumped/given away/traded in recent years.
Good luck to the rest of you.