The days leading up to the second week of the NFL season are always interesting, with most owners broken into two groups: those who won their opening game and spent the past few days taking every opportunity to talk fantasy football and those who lost their opening game and spent the past few days wishing the others would shut up already.
Not to brag, but I fall into the former category. I don’t think I’ve been that annoying, though. Certainly not as annoying as my wife says I’ve been.
Anyway, if there are any fantasy owners out there who lost last week and would like to tell me how it feels, drop me an email (for some reason my wife doesn’t want to talk about it). I’m nothing if not curious. Certainly not annoying.
OK, my thoughts heading into Week 2:
• I am not going to deny the greatness of Robert Griffin III. I learned my lesson last year by doubting Cam Newton. Of course, I went ahead and drafted Newton this year and that has me worried after one game. Should have drafted RG3.
As flawless as Griffin was in the Redskins’ opening week victory, I think Jeff Fisher will have the Rams a little more prepared this week than the interim-interim head coach had the Saints. I expect another couple of TDs out of Griffin, but I predict he’ll have his first two turnovers as well against a defense that intercepted Matthew Stafford three times.
• I’m more sold on Griffin than I am on Joe Flacco. I think Flacco will end up with career highs in yards and TDs, but the flood of stories this week about how the Ravens QB is ready to join the NFL’s elite may be a little premature. Those same stories were written last year after his hot start. If you own Flacco and are thinking of inserting him into your starting lineup, maybe back off a bit and see how he does against the Eagles and the Patriots the next two weeks. His performance in those games should be a good gauge of where he’s headed.
• Don’t fall into the Tuffy Rhodes trap and pick up Cowboys WR Kevin Ogletree. Rhodes, for those who don’t remember, hit three home runs for the Cubs on Opening Day in 1994. He ended his career with 474 career home runs — in Japan. If you take away his Opening Day output, he hit 10 home runs in his major league career. The point is, if you think Ogletree will suddenly become a viable fantasy player because he had the game of his life in the NFL’s season opener against the Giants, then you probably spent the past few days wishing people would shut up about fantasy football.
I’ve heard the argument that he could become a consistent target because starters Miles Austin and Dez Bryant are injury-prone. Well, they were injury-prone last season, when Ogletree played in 14 games and caught 15 passes. His two TDs last week give him two for his career. Does Japan have a professional football league?
• The line of the week goes to Chris Johnson. A consensus first-round pick even after a disappointing 2011 season, the Titans RB gained 4 yards on 11 carries. To break that down, a supposed fantasy star gained slightly more than one foot per carry. One foot!
Last year, his poor performance was blamed on a holdout that resulted in him missing training camp and the preseason. There’s no such excuse this year. That ridiculous line came against the Patriots, a team that despite going to the Super Bowl last year was dead last in the league in total defense. The unit appears to be better — it could hardly be worse — but no one’s confusing the 2012 Patriots with the ’85 Bears. If Johnson doesn’t snap out of his funk soon, he might be done as a viable fantasy starter.
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