NFL Fantasy Football 2016 - Week 4 Preview

Week four starts tonight and my Dolphins are looking to go 4-0 to start the season. Up next would appear to be a favourable match-up against the 0-3 FC Barcelona, but due to some tough fixtures for my players this game could be a lot closer than expected, in fact the prediction is for FC Barcelona to scrape through with a victory, 80.50 - 79.26.

Of course we have had the odds against us in previous match-ups but this one feels a little tighter than before. With that in mind let's take a look at some of our likely starters this week.

QB - Andy Dalton

For the first time this season I am leaning towards Dalton as my starter instead of Carr. This decision would have been an awful lot easier had Tyler Eifert been declared fit to play but as he is doubtful there is a lot more room for doubt in my mind than I am comfortable with. However, he does have the more favourable match-up against a Miami defence that is yet to perform anywhere near the levels that their contracts suggest. Adam Gase read the riot act to the team in Miami this week which could kick them into gear, especially as Cincinnati have already allowed Dalton to be sacked 12 times this season, and Miami's front seven are meant to be pass rushing experts.

On the other hand, Derek Carr and the Raiders travel to Baltimore this week against a defence that hasn't exactly been great for opposing QBs. I think Dalton may just edge it but it is a close call.

RB 1 & 2 - DeMarco Murray & Devonta Freeman

They won me the game last week, both putting up massive numbers, and it would be very difficult to sit either of them after their respective performances. Murray is up against a Texans defence that just lost JJ Watt, potentially for the season, which should help him continue as a running and receiving back this week. Devonta Freeman had a massive game against the lowly Saints defence last week, but this week should prove to be a tougher assignment against a smarting Panthers defence. Atlanta vs Carolina will be a battle for supremacy in the NFC South and both sides will be looking to make the most of their weapons available which should be good news for Freeman after he became involved in the passing game last week. My only other option right now is Theo Riddick, with Doug Martin out, and it is just too difficult to sit either of these two starters with Theo looking a little pedestrian right now.

WR 1 & 2 - Travis Benjamin & DeAndre Hopkins

This was a tough call. Benjamin and Hopkins both let me down in a big way last week but once again they have the more favourable match-ups this week, at least on paper. Benjamin is up against the New Orleans defence that allowed the Atlanta Falcons to run amok in week 3 and Oakland in week 1. Nuk faces a Tennessee defence that should be a lot easier for him to pick apart than New England last week. With Matthews and the Eagles on a bye this week my only other options are Alshon Jeffery and Michael Crabtree. Jeffery is once again limited in practice and with a questionable QB situation, and an even worse O-Line, it seems almost impossible to start him right now. The Bears need to turn it around quickly if they want to make this season respectable. Crabtree on the other hand has a very settled situation in Oakland and he was the go to guy last week. The only issue here is that tough match-up in Baltimore, he needs Carr to get him the ball and the question is will he be able to do that in Baltimore?

TE - Dennis Pitta

He was out performed by Gary Barnidge, who I dropped to bring him on board, but still put up decent numbers for a TE. He faces an Oakland D that, whilst they improved last week, are still liable to give up big plays. Joe Flacco is still likely to rely on his big TE and this makes Pitta a must start for my team.

Flex - Theo Riddick OR Michael Crabtree

This one is going to give me a few more sleepless nights. On the one hand Theo Riddick is up against a Chicago team in turmoil and he wants to prove to everyone that he can be the number one back with Abdullah out in Detroit. On the other hand however is Michael Crabtree. Pretty much guaranteed to give me 3 catches or more, averaging bang on 10 points a week and getting the majority of the looks from Carr last week. Both have boom or bust potential this week and in a situation where I need to make every position count both of these options feel like a gamble. Of course I could throw a spanner in the works here in the form of Alshon Jeffery... But let's not get completely crazy.

K - Cairo Santos

He had a quiet week last week, and it could be the same again this week against a Pittsburgh team who were embarrassed by the Eagles in Philly and will be looking to set the record straight. KC should continue to move the ball on offence, it will just be a question of whether or not they can get it in a position for Santos to make something of it.

DEF - LA

The last two weeks the Rams have looked better. Sure giving up 26 points to Winston and co in Tampa wasn't ideal but that was to be expected with someone like Winston slinging the ball out all over the field. Add to that the errors they caused the Bucs to make and it wasn't a terrible performance, just not quite to the same level as the game against Seattle the week before. Up next are Arizona who were shown up by Buffalo last week. Carson Palmer will want to get the Cardinals back on track and LA will need to be back at their best if they want to stop him.

There seem to be a few low expectations for my players this week, so I can only hope that they outperform these and lead us on to a 4-0 start, pushing us on towards exceeding our pre-season prediction of 2nd place.

Hooten and The Lady - Episode One recap

It seems that a lot of TV shows today seem to go out and try and tell adventure/fantasy stories in one of two ways. Either they are ultra-serious, focusing on the imminent dangers that face our protagonists around every corner, or they are ultra-silly, playing up the slapstick for cheap laughs. Hooten & The Lady attempts to traverse the middle ground between these two story forms grasping for the feel of an Indiana Jones film, or Nathan Drake game, in a one hour Friday night scheduling slot. And there is a lot to like about the show. It's a fun romp through an adventure with characters who can be developed into decent protagonists. Add in a few wise cracks, and fewer attempts at being Indiana Jones 2.0, and it makes for some fun Friday night entertainment that doesn't require too much effort to follow.

Turn away now if you want to avoid spoilers.

Episode one sees our two leads on the trail of Percy Fawcett, a late British archaeologist and South American explorer from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Ophelia Lovibond's Alex is working for the British Museum and believes she can track down Fawcett's camp and final resting place somewhere deep in the Amazonian rainforest. Most of the first episode we are lead to believe that Alex is just your everyday British Museum curator with an added thirst for adventure but in the final third of the episode we find out that she is actually "Lady Alex" although she prefers not to use the title. Which leads to one of the better jokes in the first episode "have you met the queen?" a question I heard a number of times while working in the States and to which the person asking the question always seemed somewhat surprised by my answer of no.


In stark contrast Hooten appears to be your stereotypical, cardboard cutout, roguish hero. It felt like the producers were stretching a bit too much to create their Indiana/Drake character and fell back on too many cliches. He's streetwise and more willing to solve problems with his fists than work out a more amicable solution and it is this attitude that leads to the protagonists introductions.

Alex is negotiating details of Fawcett's last known route through the jungle when Hooten, literally, comes crashing into town and inadvertently picking up a sacred gold monkey skull. This misunderstanding leads to the two of them being strung up with Alex facing death by fire ants and Hooten the main course in a meal later. Their only hope for escape? Hooten has to fight the village champion and win... Which he does. As they get ready to leave in Alex's boat Hooten decides to take the gold skull he was originally accused of stealing, well if you do the time why not do the crime, and they have to make a swift getaway much like the opening scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The two of them come to an uneasy agreement that sees Hooten helping Alex track down Fawcett's camp in exchange for taking him back to the nearest supply stop on the river. Of course finding the camp is only the start of the adventure as they find Fawcett's skeleton holding onto a map to El Dorado. Enter the antagonist for episode one, Pascal, a French archaeologist for hire who is supposed to be finding Alex after she disappeared in the jungle. When Alex checks in with details of El Dorado Pascal decides it better to go and claim the gold for himself rather than tell everyone that Alex is safe.

A fall down the mountainside later and Hooten and Alex have found the lost city of Z (Zed, not Zee) but not far behind is Pascal in his helicopter. Hooten is shot in the shoulder by Pascal, as he was coming out of the city with treasure, and our two protagonists are tied up while Pascal goes to claim his prize. Pascal kills the other camp member who accompanied him on the trip and plans to leave Hooten in the jungle to die. He decides that he can be the returning hero by bringing Lady Alex back with him, but surely she would tell everyone what he has done? As they are leaving in the helicopter Hooten makes a miraculous recovery and is able to jump on, and hold onto, the flying helicopter. Not bad for a man with a gunshot wound.

Hooten and Pascal battle it out in the helicopter before Alex falls into the river below and Hooten jumps out after her, just in time for Pascal to crash into a cliff face.

As the episode closes out we find Alex back at the museum with her exhibition on Fawcett a roaring success, while Hooten is in a run down apartment and dropping off most of the money from his adventure at a convent, hinting that there may be more to him than first meets the eye.

Ophelia Lovibond was definitely the star of the show this week. Her character was the stronger of the two and seemed to be less "paint by numbers" female TV show lead. Michael Landes was decent, and I hope that the end of the episode is more of a hint of what is to come from his character, otherwise he could get quite tiring very quickly.

NFL Fantasy Football 2016 - Week 3 - Run to the hills!

If the storyline of last week was the number of injuries to RBs, then this week it was the strong play of a number of defensive units, with the Minnesota Vikings leading from the front. The Vikings were the surprise package this week turning over the Carolina Panthers, although the Bills also did a number on the Arizona Cardinals.

The storyline of this fantasy matchup was the resurgence of 3 players who were being questioned either before the season or over the last couple of games. Before the season began DeMarco Murray had been written off as washed up, Philly gave him away to the Titans for next to nothing and since that move he has started to look like the Murray of old. In recent weeks talk was swirling around Aaron Rodgers, had we seen the best of him? Was he only a good quarterback? 14 straight games without a passer rating over 100... Well he silenced those critics, at least in the first half before Green Bay took their foot off the gas.

Finally Devonta Freeman turned up to the 2016 party. He's still sharing time with Coleman in the Atlanta backfield but this game was classic Freeman. Over 200 combined yards, a receiving TD, the only thing missing was a rushing TD (Coleman had 3). There may be a running back by committee system in Atlanta right now but it was Freeman who was the star of the show regardless of how many TDs Coleman put up.

The Teams:

Devonta Freeman's big game snatched victory from the jaws of defeat on Monday night, hopefully there will be more to come from my first round draft pick.

QB:

JDD 11.86 / JJW 26.40 (- 14.54)

There was always going to be at least one game where Oakland's Offence and Derek Carr stumbled a bit but I didn't expect that to happen against Tennessee. He threw for the fewest yards this season (249) and his first interception but still managed to throw one TD. In contrast to his earlier games this season Carr had a strong first half against Tennessee before he was shut down in the second, this was also the first time that the Oakland D turned up for a game and that could be related to a slower second half showing as Carr and co did not have to chase down a big total from their Tennessee counterparts. He's still a top QB this year, sitting just outside the top 5, and will look to bounce back against a Ravens team that has started 3-0.

RB:

JDD 48.20 / JJW 28.90 (+ 19.30)

I had honestly thought that DeMarco Murray was going to be the talk of the show for my RBs but then Devonta Freeman delivered a show stopping performance on Monday Night Football. He took advantage of a weak New Orleans defence to put up more yards than his combined totals from weeks one and two. Next up for him is Carolina which will be a tougher prospect, especially as they will be looking to bounce back after Minnesota embarrassed them on their home turf.

It would be remiss of me to completely gloss over the performance of DeMarco Murray here. He has been my most consistent backfield performer and this week has been his best yet. His first 100 yard rushing performance with an additional 40 yards through the air. Week on week he is improving his yardage and you would expect TDs to follow. Next up is Houston and their vaunted pass rush defence, Mariota is having a small sophomore slump and may lean on his running game to open up the passing lanes a bit more.


WR:

JDD 11.80 / JJW 14.00 (- 2.20)

Well this was an underwhelming position for both teams. Travis Benjamin and Nuk both struggled to get anything going, although Benjamin eventually put up 82 yards, and then fumbled the ball on the final play of the game. All four receivers were outplayed by the WRs playing the flex position this week, so the less said about them the better.

TE:

JDD 4.20 / JJW 0.00 (+ 4.20)

I had a last moment change of heart and decided to go with Dennis Pitta on game day and he picked up 4.20 points. Clive Walford would have outscored him if he had not had a TD cancelled out by a holding penalty in the Oakland game. I may have given up on Gary Barnidge a week early after he put up 8.60 points against the Dolphins but there will be sterner tests ahead for Cleveland and overall I expect Dennis Pitta to link up more consistently with Joe Flacco than Barnidge with the merry-go-round of QBs in Cleveland.

My opponent, Guy, started Delanie Walker as his only TE option but he missed the game against Oakland putting up a big fat 0.

Flex:

JDD 10.20 / JJW 14.00 (- 3.80)

I had had the better of this matchup for most of the game but a late 55 yard TD for Demaryius Thomas tipped the scales in Guy's favour. With Jeffery limited by a knee injury and Matthews up against Pittsburgh Crabtree seemed like the best matchup for the flex position and so it turned out to be. The fact that Jeffery and Matthews out performed both of my starting WRs is more of a concern.

K:

JDD 6.00 / JJW 15.00 (- 9.00)

In the draft my opponent picked Tucker the pick before I chose Santos, and I had really wanted to grab Tucker in that round. Last week I was grateful for the points that Santos picked up for me but he was outperformed by Tucker this week. 6 points are still a decent return for a kicker and it could have been more if KC had elected to go for a 53 yard field goal early on in their game against the Jets instead of electing to punt the ball.

DEF:

JDD 12.00 / JJW 1.00 (+ 11.00)

The Rams defence once again stepped up for me although they did let 26 points through. 2 sacks, an INT, a fumble recovery and a TD made up the points for me, while my opponents solitary point came from the 1 sack the Texans managed against the Patriots.

Bench:

The only improvements on offer for me have already been mentioned in the WR category. Both of my starters vastly underperformed although Benjamin's numbers would have looked better without the fumble.

Doug Martin figures to sit on the bench for a few weeks while he recovers from a hamstring injury, Charles Sims had a good day against LA and this is something that I will have to keep an eye on going forwards in case he starts to eat into the snap count for Martin much like Coleman has with Devonta Freeman.

I may look to move on Andy Dalton who has consistently put up pedestrian numbers for the Bengals, although this could improve with the return of Eifert. A major concern for him will be the fact that he has already been sacked 12 times this season. With Miami and Cleveland up in his next 4 games he could put up some good numbers, however Dallas and New England could pose a more difficult prospect for him.

Guy will probably pick up The Bucket award this week, leaving a whopping 75.90 points on the bench. Jackson, Sproles and Hill would have tipped the game in his favour and despite Matt Ryan's strong performance he still didn't match Aaron Rodgers for fantasy points.

Best possible lineup, Week Three:

QB: Derek Carr (11.86)
RB 1: Devonta Freeman (26.70)
RB 2: DeMarco Murray (21.50)
WR 1: Michael Crabtree (10.20)
WR 2: Jordan Matthews (7.90)
TE: Dennis Pitta (4.20)
W/R: Alshon Jeffery (7.00)
K: Cairo Santos (6.00)
DEF: LA Rams (12.00)

Total: 107.36 (- 3.10)

Table:

Three teams continue to remain undefeated at the top of the table, and the Dolphins are one of them. I'm not sure my nerves can take many more of these late comebacks, but fate seems to want me to come from behind and win. CFL Sensation still top the table but The Fireballers are chasing them down in second.

The only other team with a winning record are the Newton Haven Blues at 2-1. Andrew's team bounced back well after losing to the Dolphins, beating Skirt Wearing Northern Folks in another nail biter.

At the bottom of the table TBONE picked up their first win of the season against fellow strugglers FC Barcelona. In the top vs bottom clash CFL Sensation defeated the Wapping Wombats to send them to 0-3.

Next week sees the Dolphins take on FC Barcelona who will be hoping to end their 0-3 start. CFL Sensation face 4th and Goal, who will want to turn spoilers after losing to The Fireballers in week three, and The Fireballers themselves will face Skirt Wearing Northern Folk. In the basement battle this week TBONE face the Wapping Wombats who are looking for their first win of the season.

Results:

NFL Fantasy Football 2016 - Week 3 Preview

Week two took it's toll on a number of players and the waiver wire was buzzing with activity. Running Backs were drawing the most attention across the league but for me there was one other position that had to be addressed. So, let's get down to it!

Waiver Wire Transactions:

Add - Clive Walford

I coveted Walford in the draft, but when he was picked before I got the chance to draft him I switched to my backup plan, Travis Benjamin. As things have played out I guess it was a blessing in disguise, Benjamin looks to be a big part of the Chargers offence for the rest of the season and I was able to pick up Walford on waivers. He is drawing a decent amount of targets from Derek Carr and that should continue in week three versus the Titans.

Drop - Gary Barnidge

Sorry Gary but it looks like your time here is done, I blame Hue Jackson. Up in Cleveland it seems that Jackson wants to go against the logic used by the rest of the league and only view the TE position as an additional lineman. With everything falling apart against Baltimore you could have expected one of the top targets from last year to become a bigger part of the offence, but Barnidge had little to no impact on the game for the second week running. This is not a case of a QB having a preferred target, both RG3 and McC(l)own underutilised Barnidge and that has to come down to the coach. Week 3 sees QB number 3 start for the Browns and it just doesn't make sense to keep holding out false hope for Barnidge to break out. If things do pick up then there is no doubt that he will still be available on the waiver wire in later weeks.

Add - Theo Riddick

This pick up was more a case of preparing for future weeks rather than picking up a player to start this week. Green Bay is a tough assignment for any RB right now and with Murray and Freeman starting against Oakland and New Orleans respectively it would be foolish to sit them for Riddick. But with a few tasty matchups in the near future, and Abdullah out for at least 8 weeks, picking up the explosive Riddick was an opportunity too good to pass up. I'm also looking forward to making a few "Chronicles of Riddick" puns when he has some breakout games later this year, don't let me down Theo!

Drop - Oakland Raiders Defence

34.5 points a week. That is the average that they are giving up and it is just not sustainable as a defence. On paper they came into this season as one of the stronger units, they made key additions and should have helped to push the Raiders into playoff contention. Del Rio needs to figure out how to fix this and fast, otherwise all of the good work the offence are doing will go to waste. It may take a gutsy call or two but thankfully the Raiders have Del Rio in charge and he isn't afraid to make the big call. With 20 odd defences still available in our league I don't need to worry about struggling to pick these guys back up if they turn it around.

Add - Dennis Pitta

Bread man is back! After missing two seasons last week was a blast from the past for Pitta and Flacco. Ben Watson is done for the year and that makes Pitta TE numero uno in Baltimore, and let's face it Flacco doesn't have a wealth of receiving options to go to. The Jags are tough on TEs so this may be another pickup for the future but I like the fact that I can now chop and change the TE position. I carried Barnidge through two weeks, now if something goes wrong at the TE position I can't blame the lack of options.

Drop - Justin Forsett

You struggled to get anything going against the Cleveland Browns. THE BROWNS! You may be the self proclaimed number one back in Baltimore but your lack of production through two weeks means that you're off the team in my fantasy league. With Riddick available, and Doug Martin only out for a few weeks, this was an easy move to make.

Week 3 Matchup:

Week three sees my Dolphins take on the 1pt21 JJ Watts team, top scorers in week two. This is a big test for my team with the Watts boasting a number of big name players who could be set to have big weeks. Leading the way are Aaron Rodgers and LeGarrette Blount, Dez Bryant could finally get things going against Chicago while Stefon Diggs will be chasing another 100 yard receiving game.

Fighting my corner the team will be lead by...

QB - Derek Carr

He hasn't failed me in the first two weeks of the season and I don't really see how I can drop him in week three. Tennessee have done well against the QBs they have faced so far this season, but they haven't faced an offence quite like the Raiders yet. Cooper, Crabtree, Murray, Walford... the list goes on (11 different receivers in all), there isn't just one person that the Titans need to shut down if they want to have a chance against this Raiders team. Averaging 31.5 points a game the Raiders should cause Tennessee problems and Carr will be at the heart of that. It is also worth noting that Carr is yet to throw an INT, while racking up 600+ yards and 4 TDs.

RB 1&2 - DeMarco Murray & Devonta Freeman

Murray faces the tissue paper Oakland defence and Freeman faces the patchwork Saints, on paper both should have big days. Freeman will have to share time with Coleman but he is still getting more snaps than his teammate, hopefully a strong start against the Saints will see him get the ball well and truly rolling for this season. DeMarco Murray slowed down a bit in week two, but still put up more than enough points to keep his place in the starting lineup, especially considering Doug Martin is out for a few weeks. This matchup could easily see the all purpose RB put up 20+ points, he can run, he can catch and he is on the comeback trail. Forget what happened in Philly, this revitalised Murray is much more like the Dallas vintage.

WR 1&2 - Travis Benjamin & DeAndre Hopkins

Travis Benjamin had a game for the ages last week, this week he comes up against a banged up Colts secondary. Danny Woodhead is out for the season, of course Melvin Gordon will be the main beneficiary of that injury, which should mean that Benjamin gets even more passes from Phillip Rivers. Another strong performance should be expected this week.

Across from him Nuk Hopkins goes into a tough matchup against the Patriots (edit: this proved to be the case). Belichick is down to his third QB on the other side of the ball so expect to see a lot of run plays and New England eating up the clock. Add to this that Logan Ryan is looking good in that New England secondary and it could be a long day for Hopkins but you can't sit someone like Nuk, it just isn't done.

TE - Clive Walford

Sure he isn't Carr's main target but his matchup against Tennessee is slightly more favourable than Dennis Pitta against Jacksonville. He should still get a decent number of targets in the high octane Raiders offence and anything more than 3 points will be an improvement on Barnidge.

Flex - (WR) Alshon Jeffery

As of writing this Jeffery is still the pick for the flex position despite being limited in practice on Wednesday and this will have to be monitored going into the weekend (edit: Thursday he did not practice which is a concern going into the Dallas matchup on Sunday). With Cutler out injured Jeffery's production will take a knock but he is probably still ahead of Matthews and Crabtree for the role. Matthews' problem is that he has only caught around 50% of passes thrown his way, but he has established himself as Wentz's favourite target. Crabtree is having to share the ball with A LOT (11 different receivers remember?) of teammates, he is a big red zone target with a TD and 2pt conversion but he needs to see more of the ball to remain in contention for fantasy starts. If Jeffery does miss the game it will be difficult to generate points from this position.

Kicker - Cairo Santos

A top 5 kicker so far this season, Santos can be expected to deliver again against the Jets. New York look like they can give up a lot of points every week which should be good for Santos in the extra points and field goal categories. Kansa City will want to kick start their offence this week after managing only 4 FGs last week.

Defence - LA Rams

With Oakland's defence gone the Rams are my only option this week, not that I am overly concerned by that. After the horror show in San Francisco they returned to LA and looked much more like themselves. This week they travel to Tampa where they will face the Buccaneers without number one back Doug Martin and Jameis Winston coming off the back of a 4 INT game. If the LA offence can get Gurley going early and Keenum can manage the game from the QB position then this should be a good matchup for the Rams defence. Winston likes to throw the ball in tight windows and with the pressure that the Rams front seven can generate he could be hurried into some bad decisions for the second week in a row.

This is set to be the toughest matchup so far for my Dolphins but I am confident that the players at my disposal should give my opponent a run for their money.

NFL Fantasy Football 2016 - Week 2 - A Tale of Two QBs

Well week two was predicted to be a close-run affair and so it turned out to be with one position making all the difference in the final result.

The ever reliable Derek Carr vastly outperformed Jameis Winston who imploded after Doug Martin left the game with a hamstring injury. Tyrod Taylor bounced back for the Bills in week 2, but he was deemed only worthy of a bench spot which proved costly for the Newton Haven Blues.

The Teams:

Victory for the Dolphins was confirmed by Alshon Jeffery on Monday night, although the Bears did go on to lose that game.

QB:

JDD 24.96 / NHB 4.62 (+ 20.34)

Derek Carr continues his strong start to the 2016 season. Averaging over 20 points a game, Carr took great strides in the TD category throwing three while continuing to avoid an INT. There was a drop off in passing yards but with Oakland's strong O-Line we can expect his strong performances to continue.

RB:

JDD 16.80 / NHB 18.10 (- 1.30)

DeMarco Murray slowed a bit in week two but still put on a reasonable performance. Currently ranked as the 8th best RB in the league expect him to move up the standings with the high number of injuries to RBs this week.

On the subject of RB injuries, Doug Martin going down with a hamstring injury early in the TB vs Arizona game proved costly to both the Dolphins, in the fantasy matchup, and the Bucs in the actual NFL. It is unlikely to be a coincidence that their gameplan fell apart when the star of their backfield went off injured. Now out for around 3 weeks it will be interesting to see how Charles Sims picks up the workload after managing a meagre 24 yards on 9 carries against Arizona in the absence of Martin.

WR:

JDD 26.90 / NHB 34.30 (- 7.40)

Newton Haven Blues vastly outperformed the Dolphins in the WR bracket, Kelvin Benjamin and Jarvis Landry both putting up over 100 yards receiving. Benjamin also added two TDs to his week 1 score, while on the Dolphins side of the ball Hopkins scored 1 TD and had another questionably chalked off (his knee was clearly down before he touched the sideline, what game were you watching refs?!?!?!) while Alshon Jeffery is still looking for his first TD of the year. That search is unlikely to get any easier with an injury to Jay Cutler's throwing hand although it may be time for the Bears to starting looking for a signal caller of the future as Cutler continues to regress.

TE:

JDD 3.70 / NHB 5.30 (- 1.60)

It may be time for the Dolphins to move on from Gary Barnidge. Cleveland stormed out to a 20 point lead against Baltimore before giving up 25 points without reply. The most concerning thing here is that as Cleveland cycled through plans B to Z Barnidge never seemed to enter the mind of Hue Jackson. After a stellar season last year the big bodied target should have provided a simple outlet to, now injured, backup QB Josh McC(l)own but instead he only had 5 targets and 3 receptions. In stark contrast to some of the more successful teams in the NFL Hue Jackson appears to be ignoring the TE position in gameplans and with 3rd string rookie Cody Kessler starting next week at the Miami Dolphins Barnidge is likely to see even less action.

Flex:

JDD 9.10 / NHB 19.20 (- 10.10)

Michael Crabtree was once again underwhelming with Derek Carr spreading the ball out amongst the Oakland receivers. This week he caught a TD, but only managed 31 yards receiving on four catches (five targets). The short passing game is working well in Oakland but it would be nice to see Crabtree break out some big gains against Tennessee next week after finishing behind Walford, Cooper and Murray in catches and receiving yards against Atlanta. For the Blues DeAngelo Williams destroyed the Bengals, and he is currently the number 1 fantasy RB in the NFL.

Kicker:

JDD 14.00 / NHB 7.00 (+ 7.00)

Cairo Santos came to the party this week and blew everyone away. He opened his account early with a long 50+ yard field goal before Houston stymied the Kansa City offence for most of the game. As the game wound down he added 3 more FGs but it wasn't enough to win KC the game.

Defence:

JDD 11.00 / NHB 8.00 (+ 3.00)

This was the LA Defence that we expected to see this season. Yes Russell Wilson was injured, and yes Rawls and Baldwin left the game but the intensity and drive of this defence silenced the Seahawks who have struggled offensively for the first two weeks of the season. LA looked back to their best here and against a weakened Bucs side they should be expected to do well again this coming week.

Bench:

The points wasted here by both sides could have been difference makers in another game. Travis Benjamin teamed up with Phillip Rivers to destroy Jacksonville and against a decimated Indianapolis secondary this week you should expect the pair of them to combine for some nice fantasy points again. Devonta Freeman looks like he is getting back to his best, although he did share duties with Coleman and this was against an Oakland Defence that has given up 30+ points in both of it's games this season. If Oakland are to make something of this season then their defence need to get themselves sorted out in a hurry.

Justin Forsett vastly under performed as the self appointed RB1 in Baltimore. Cleveland were their for the taking and he only managed a combined 46 yards, expect him to lose the starting job in the coming weeks as the Running Back by Committee system in Baltimore finds a new figurehead.

Andy Dalton had another decent week for the Bengals and he nearly lead a fourth quarter comeback against the Steelers. With the Broncos up next he may struggle a bit but he is a decent QB2 option in any league.

Jordan Matthews continues to build rapport with Carson Wentz in Philly with 71 yards receiving. The Steelers coming to town should prove to be the next step up in challenge level for the rookie QB but he does appear to be taking everything in stride so far.

On the Newton Haven Blues side of things, there were two potential difference makers that were left out. Tyrod Taylor had a great game against the Jets and this was magnified by how badly Winston under performed as the starter. Additionally, Lamar Miller lost his place in the starting lineup to T.J. Yeldon, once again Yeldon failed to generate a lot of yardage for the Jags but this week he was unable to inflate his fantasy points with a TD. With Ivory working his way back into practice this could be seen as an opportunity missed for Yeldon who could have created a bigger role for himself for the season ahead if he had taken advantage of being "The Guy" these past two weeks, maybe he will get one more shot at it in week 3.

Best Possible Lineup, Week Two:

QB - Derek Carr (24.96)
RB1 - DeMarco Murray (14.50)
RB2 - Devonta Freeman (9.30)
WR1 - Travis Benjamin (23.40)
WR2 - DeAndre Hopkins (17.30)
TE - Gary Barnidge (3.70)
W/R - Alshon Jeffrey (9.60)
K - Cairo Santos (14.00)
DEF - LA Rams (11.00)

Total - 127.76 (- 21.30)

Table:

One of only three teams that remain undefeated through two weeks the Dolphins have moved up two spots into third. Week 3 will prove to be their toughest test so far as they come up against the top scorers in week 2, 1pt21 JJ Watts.

Newton Haven Blues remain in fourth despite their defeat with 4th and Goal making the biggest strides forward, jumping up three places. In comparison Skirt Wearing Northern Folks have dropped 5 places down to seventh.

TBONE and FC Barcelona face off against each other in week 3 which means we should have at least one less team without a victory. The Wapping Wombats face the biggest game of the week as they take on CFL Sensation.

Week Two results: