If you ever wondered why some kickers hang around the game until their 40s or even mid-40s, the preponderance of young guys letting teams down is your answer. Zane Gonzalez and Daniel Carlson have simply cost their teams wins so far. Veterans have missed some big kicks too, but teams that try to save money with youngsters are regretting it so far.
Panthers at Falcons: Tough to see players ejected for on-field plays, but Damontae Kazee (safety replacement for injured Keanu Neal) certainly earned one for a helmet shot to a sliding (slid, really) Cam Newton. Can't have those kind of shots on obviously defenseless players. Touchdown for Austin Hooper, encouraging for those of us who drafted (although obviously didn't start) him. Nice day for Christian McCaffrey: 37 rushing yards, 14 catches for 102 receiving yards. Both quarterbacks helped fantasy teams, even though few are starting Matt Ryan these days. Relatively quiet game for Julio Jones, everyone else fine.
Colts at Washington: Early touchdown for Eric Ebron, a smile by those who think we're underrating him. And, that was the game! Just when you start to believe in Washington (probably a Survivor Pool pick by some? I shied away due to Andrew Luck intangibles), they score 9 points at home against the Colts. Running back committee for the Colts: two guys double-digit carries, a third the touchdown. Can't use 'em. Good games for Chris Thompson and decent for Jordan Reed, the only receivers Alex Smith seems to want to throw to. Nice for T.Y. Hilton. Ebron caught 2 other passes, so we'll see how things work out this year.
Texans at Titans: Tennessee is starting to look like hands-off in fantasy. Unpredictable usage of running backs and receivers. Dion Lewis catches one pass. Taywan Taylor, after being buried in Week 1, catches 3 balls and a touchdown. Their other score comes on a fake punt to a great football name (Dane Cruikshank). Deshaun Watson pulls out a couple of great touchdown throws to DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller (simply remarkable when on the field) but fall to 0-2. Least the best starts on this team didn't hurt you (and best starts don't include Lamar Miller these days). Offensive line getting Watson pummelled. Blaine Gabbert a winner, just not in fantasy.
Eagles at Bucs: As unlikely 2-0 teams go, the Bucs are right up there, especially opening at New Orleans and against the Super Bowl champion Eagles. But the Bucs leaving Ryan Fitzpatrick in the lineup until he struggles doesn't sound quite so crazy now, after two weeks where he's been lights out; 400 yards and 4 TDs today. Eagles are losing players to injury all over the place, down to very few healthy receivers. Jay Ajayi left early with a back injury but returned to score a touchdown; that's two weeks in a row that those who started Ajayi were cursing early and thanking their lucky stars late. Ugly, ugly performance by Peyton Barber, but there's no running on the Eagles. On the plus side for Philly, a lot of good throws by Nick Foles and great games by Ertz and Agholor. And DeSean Jackson, on my bench, again.
Kansas City at Steelers: Whoa. Presumably nobody will question Patrick Mahomes after this game. Guy did great, looks great, there are zero criticisms of the team trading away Alex Smith today. (I'm not sure how many there were, actually, before this game.) I loaded up daily lineups with Kansas City and Pittsburgh players, to a fault I thought, but nope. Pretty much all you want out of a fantasy game. Well, maybe a little more out of Kareem Hunt would be nice, but you can't have everything, plus he caught a score. Pittsburgh playing catchup all day and that's just fine in fantasy leagues too.
Vikings at Packers: Costly late pick by Kirk Cousins bounced in the air off both of Laquon Treadwell's hands. Just when everyone was dancing on the Vikings graves, Kirk Cousins brought the team down the field and threw perfect passes to Adam Thielen for a TD and then a 2-point conversion. And that was it for the scoring, with Mike Zimmer's icing the kicker timeout working (great, we'll see more of those going forward) and Daniel Carlson missing a pair in overtime, including one from 35 yards that would have won it. (The first was on Minnesota's opening possession, wouldn't have ended the game.) Some preseason discussion over whether Adam Thielen or Stefon Diggs would be the Vikings' best receiver. They actually went back-to-back in a couple of my drafts. Answer: they're both pretty awesome. Strong game playing through injury (and taking some hits) by Aaron Rodgers. Had a touchdown to Jimmy Graham erased on an iffy call. I'm not sure which team should feel worse about this tie (Green Bay blew a late lead, Vikings missed an easier kick), but I think both can reasonably and frustratedly feel they should have won. Ties suck. Gonna be a great battle in the NFC North, though. By the way, yes, Clay Matthews got screwed. Horrible call.
Browns at Saints: Speaking of missed kicks, there was Zane Gonzalez shanking extra points and field goals all over the place. I don't really think he'll be back for next week (maybe not Daniel Carlson, either). You kind of have to feel bad for the Browns, who dominated most of the game until letting Drew Brees and Michael Thomas up off the turf. Another incredible game for Thomas, the best thing about having a late first/early second draft pick this year. I have him everywhere. Tyrod Taylor did throw a bad interception late, but probably did enough to win if his kicker hadn't let him down.
Dolphins at Jets: The Jets playoff talk can take a little rest, as the Dolphins win ugly. Kind of an ugly team, but 2-0 is 2-0 (and they play the Raiders this week). Kenyan Drake didn't hurt you (note his touchdown came on a third-and-1 play near the goal line), no other really viable Dolphins. Good receiving games by Quincy Enunwa (he's Darnold's guy) and Bilal Powell.
Chargers at Bills: I don't know that much needs to be said. Really nice 3-TD games for Philip Rivers and Melvin Gordon, as expected. Gordon left a little early after being shaken up but apparently he's fine, just didn't need to come back. That helped Austin Ekeler have another solid game. Lesser outing for Keenan Allen, and the one Bill anyone started, LeSean McCoy, had a short-yardage touchdown taken by the unusable Chris Ivory. But McCoy was shaken up after a hit; we'll have to wait and see. Maybe ribs.
Lions at 49ers: I hate to be unkind to anyone, but a moment for Theo Riddick, who, with the Lions driving for a possible tying field goal, dropped an easy pass on third down and maybe sort of dropped one on fourth down, too. Is he really a better receiver than I don't know somebody else they could put out there who's actually a threat to run the ball, too? No I don't have Kerryon Johnson on my roster. Just asking the question. Nice game for Matt Breida, looks like in the leagues I drafted Alfred Morris in I should have spent a similarly cheap pick on him. All three Lions wideouts put up good numbers, none of San Fran's did. Lions headed for 0-3 if they can't beat the Patriots next week.
Cardinals at Rams: Again I note that we had reservations about Arizona's Bruce Arians-less offense but they clearly didn't go far enough. They've managed to render David Johnson virtually valueless by not involving him in the passing game. On a team short of receivers anyway, it's unconscionable. Rams looking like one of the league's best teams, they at least will face an NFL-caliber opponent when they play the crosstown rival (?) Chargers next week. Todd Gurley, still winning fantasy matchups all on his own.
Patriots at Jaguars: I thought the Jaguars would win, but not so handily, and a big game by Blake Bortles was particularly unexpected. They're good. Little bit disappointing numbers from the ground game; more Corey Grant than expected. For New England, Chris Hogan rewarded those who started him, James White too. Tom Brady finished with decent numbers. Best way to keep the Patriots out of the Super Bowl is to make them travel in January (check out their road playoff history, it ain't good), and that was step one.
Raiders at Broncos: I've always liked Jon Gruden as an announcer/commentator type guy, and even as a coach his first go-around too, for the most part. So I'm not entirely sure why I'm rooting against him now, maybe it's the undeserved $100 million 10-year contract to set the Raiders back to the Stone Age. At least it wound up being a good game for Amari Cooper (no doubt benched in many leagues), will cut down on the complaints this week. Raiders really should have won this one. Clutch performance down the stretch by Case Keenum and company. Phillip Lindsay looking like the Broncos back to own.
Giants at Cowboys: My sympathies if you also watched this game in its entirety. An offensive performance by both offenses. At the risk of making knee-jerk reactions, I am feeling very bad about my investments in Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram, and would feel similarly about Odell Beckham if I had him anywhere. It's a week to trade all of them, even though Engram used some garbage-time numbers to finish with decent production; maybe he'll have a lot of games like that. Because watching Eli Manning move like he's in slow-motion behind a still-poor offensive line made me think it's going to be a long, tough year for this offense. Dallas has a very good defense, but Eli is going to make a lot of defenses look good. It's like watching Sam Bradford play on one leg against the Bears last year; brutal. Dallas offense only marginally better (please don't pick up Tavon Austin).
Monday, Monday: Should be an interesting game. I think the Bears defense might be great, and certainly Russell Wilson behind a lesser line with very few weapons and a suspect ground game could be an appealing target. I'm up 152-151 in one league and my opponent has Will Dissly. Could go either way! Wilson is a gamer and will keep things interesting and Mitchell Trubisky is far from proven; Seattle's defense is credible as well, gutted as it's been by free agency and whatnot. I'm going to bet on Khalil Mack and company: Bears 24, Seahawks 20.