Fantasy Smash or Pass Week 2

Welcome into Fantasy Smash or Pass where we preview the upcoming week of football action and discuss which players are looking like smash plays and which players you should pass over when making lineup decisions.

Quarterbacks

Smash: Let's just start with Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen. Do not panic, they will be fine and they will make up for their poor Week 1 instantly with a strong Week 2 performance. Allen has a juicy matchup against the Raiders and after struggling in an OT loss to the Jets, Allen and the Bills offense will look to correct their wrongs and absolutely demolish this porous Raider pass defense. Hurts on the other hand, has a dream matchup. The Vikings secondary is baaaaaad, they made Baker Mayfield look like a competent QB last week. Hurts was the victim of bad weather and an underrated Patriots defense so he should be ready to bounce back with elite production in what should turn out to be a high scoring game. Giants fans and Daniel Jones owners should just erase Week 1 from their memory. Daniel Jones is not the greatest real life QB but he is a good fantasy QB and his fantasy skills should be on full display against the Cardinals this week. The Cardinals defense much like the whole team is rough, last year the Cardinals defense was bottom 10 in fantasy points allowed to QBs while giving up the second most passing TDs. The Giants and Jones need to reestablish themselves as playoff contenders and they will do that with a statement game against the Cards. I am not totally convinced by Jordan Love yet, but boy he did look good on Sunday. Love is more a stash than an actual play but if he puts up another strong line he could become a serviceable starter for QB needy fantasy owners.

Pass: 20.66 standard points may look good on paper for Deshaun Watson, but that is a misleading score with a rushing TD bumping up his line. The rest of his numbers did not look great, passing for just 154 yards; while the Steelers do present a good matchup on paper, I expect the Browns to control this game from the jump, leading to more Nick Chubb and less Watson. Tua Tagovailoa has proved once again that he can hold his own in just about any shootout, but unfortunately this game against the Patriots will not be a shootout. In what should be a grueling game of ball control between this two teams, Tua and the Dolphins will not need or want to throw for 400+ yards again so the lack of rushing baseline in addition to less offensive scoring should lead to a mediocre day for the Tua. How about Brock Purdy??? Well let's not get ahead of ourselves, this week will be the first real test for Purdy. The Rams defense looked rejuvenated and ready to compete last week limiting the Seahawks to their worst offensive game of the Geno Smith era. I expect Purdy to have much more difficulty against this retooled Rams defense so I would suggest waiting and seeing at least one more week before trusting Purdy as your starting fantasy QB.

Running Backs

Smash: Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry had relatively lackluster weeks by their standards but that will not last long. Saquon was shutdown by a bad game script and a tough Cowboys defense, but it will be the complete opposite as the Giants have an easy win against the Cardinals who just allowed Brian Robinson to score 13.6 PPR points so Saquon will absolutely smash his projections this week. Derrick Henry did not have as bad of a week as Barkley thanks to some big plays but he was nowhere close to his best. Henry gets the Chargers this week who were one of the worst teams against the run a year ago allowing the 5th most fantasy points to RBs. The Chargers did fortify their run defense by adding Eric Kendricks but the Titans need to ride Henry to be competitive because Tannehill is toast so Henry's heavy utilization against a weak run defense make him the potential top RB on the week. It is undeniable, when Jahmyr Gibbs' time comes he will be a game breaker, it may not be his time to take over quite yet but he bound to end up with more touches than he had a week ago and given his explosive nature than can only mean good things against a weaker Seattle run defense. Do not get me wrong, Gibbs is not a guaranteed smash but if given the proper opportunity he will win you your matchup this week and with that kind of upside you need this guy in your lineup. Rachaad White has not always looked like the best running back but that does not matter this week as he takes on one of the league's worst two run defenses. Add in the fact that he is the clear lead back for the Bucs handling 68% of the team's RB touches in Week 1, White deserves consideration as a solid flex play at the very least.

Pass: I cannot actually advise you to pass over Rhamondre Stevenson as an option given how high you would have needed to draft him but you should temper your expectations. After looking like he was destined to be a bellcow for the Patriots, Ezekiel Elliot popped up and put Stevenson back into a 50/50 split. There are two redeeming facts heading into Week 2 though. First, he did have a late week injury designation pop up due to an illness so that could have negatively impacted his role and usage. Second, he gets a Dolphins team who just allowed a combined 208 rushing yards and 2 TDs to Chargers RBs. The timeshare is a hit to Rhamondre's potential but he is just too good to actually pass. Until the Cardinals offense can prove it can sustain a drive, James Conner is not coming anywhere close to my starting lineups. Miles Sanders looked way more involved in this offense than I expected him to be, handling 2/3 of the team's RB touches and most importantly catching 4 balls so things are looking bright for his fantasy outlook and he could turn into a reliable flex play, but this week is not the week. Aside from a long screen play, the Saints did a great job bottling up Derrick Henry so Sanders' Week 2 outlook is a bit bleak but bench him this week and rest assured that on most weeks Sanders is a solid play. Alexander Mattison's Week 1 line was saved by a receiving touchdown, but he failed to find consistent room thanks to a tough Bucs run defense. Week 2 does not get any easier for Mattison as he takes on a good Eagles run defense. It was clear that Mattison was the top back in Minnesota so his usage may be good enough to put him in your lineup, just do not get your expectations too high.

Wide Receivers

Smash:  Eagles WRs are primed for a big day against a nonexistent Vikings pass defense so play them with confidence since the Vikings do not have a player capable of keeping up with these guys. Keenan Allen maintained his spot atop the Chargers pass catchers pecking order which will be a nice position to be in when the Chargers take on the Titans this week. The Titans allowed the most fantasy points to WRs a year ago and it did not look like that was likely to change this year after allowing 262 combined yards to the Saints top 3 receivers a week ago so fire up Allen with ease because he is about to go off. Puka Nacua did his best Cooper Kupp impression and he looked damn good doing it. Even with a tough matchup against the Niners coming up, Nacua was the clear cut WR1 for this team so his usage alone makes him a worthy play as long as Kupp is out. Michael Pittman gave fantasy owners the ride of a lifetime a week ago, putting up a goose egg over the first half and then exploding for 23.7 PPR points over the second half. The major takeaway from the Colts in Week 1 was that Michael Pittman was their obvious top offensive option so if he gets featured for a full game he could push his way up to a borderline WR1. There is no better place to start that WR1 push than this week's matchup against the Texans who are tougher against the pass but Pittman will get too many targets to fail and should be a big redzone target sowing the seeds for a big fantasy day.

Pass: I cannot trust either Chris Godwin or Mike Evans in my lineup. They had a dream matchup against the Vikings a week ago which only translated into 116 combined yards. It was no secret that Baker's arrival in Tampa was going to hurt Godwin's and Evan's fantasy output so if you drafted them you should have other options to ride and I would suggest doing so until this Bucs offense proves it can effectively pass the ball. The Bucs receiver situation is bad but it is not the worst in the league. Cardinal WRs and Bear WRs need to be benched until it proven that they have a QB that can reliably throw them the ball, they might be great players but no player who gets a max of 4 targets a game is worth starting. I hate to have this last guy in this section but DeAndre Hopkins's fantasy season is toast. Ryan Tannehill just does not have it and Hopkins is going to suffer as a result. Nuk was the obvious top target for the Titans but 13 targets only led to 65 yards, unless the matchup is so juicy that Tannehill will have some success, it is best to leave Hopkins on your bench if you can.

Tight Ends

Smash: Even after pointing out the entire set of Cardinal and Bear receivers as passes, their tight ends Zach Ertz and Cole Kmet can be played with ease. Both of these guys proved to be their QBs' top target recording 10 and 7 targets respectively which is elite usage for a tight end. Obviously the yardage will not always be there for these guys but they will always be heavily involved especially in the redzone so as long as you do not have one of the top 3 TEs then you can fire up these two up with ease. Speaking of the top 3 TEs, you should not need to be told that you should start TJ Hockenson, but I am giving an extra nod of approval for the Vikings TE. His Week 2 opponent, the Eagles, showed an inability to cover Hunter Henry a week ago thanks to the departures of the starting linebackers from a year ago, so if Hunter Henry was tearing the defense apart, imagine what Hock can do. Darren Waller's Giants' debut was spoiled by bad weather and a Cowboys blowout, but he gets one of the worst teams against tight ends in Week 2 in the Cardinals so expect Waller to assert himself as the Giants top pass catcher and show out against this weak Cardinals lineup.

Pass: I always want to root for Kyle Pitts, he has all the physical tools to succeed but he has always been missing one thing, a QB. This year is no different as the Falcons do not trust Desmond Ridder enough to allow him to pass freely. In just about every scenario, the Falcons think the most ideal play call is a run which leads to a lack of a real opportunity for Pitts to succeed and I do not expect this formula to change anytime soon with Bijan Robinson in the fold so unless you are truly desperate there is likely a better option than Pitts out there. All of a sudden there are a lot of mouths to feed in Pittsburgh and it looked like Pat Freiermuth was pushed out of the fray. He did record a TD in Week 1 but that was his only catch on 4 targets and he now has an injury that will impact his ability to practice which will further limit his usage. At least for the time being, it is best to avoid the Muth.