Week 2 Power Rankings
Once is a fluke. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern.
As we curse or rejoice in the performance of our teams after the the first two weeks, it’s important to remember not to overreact. If a player had a bad week, it might just have been a bad week. Same for a player with one particularly good game.
But after two weeks, you do start to wonder, “Is what I’m seeing real or a mirage?” Is it a trend or just coincidence. It’s still early, but by Week 2, maybe we can start to see the faint outline of what this season and the playoffs will look like.
For example, last year at this time, four of the six teams in the top half of the Power Rankings would go on to make the playoffs. Beth Ann and Josh, the eventual leaders in scoring, had already jumped out to a big lead in the points race and were atop the Power Rankings as well. And eventual champion Brandon was not far behind, just one true game back of first place in the Power Rankings.
But there were also some illusions. Remember, Josh didn’t make the playoffs at all. And two eventual playoff teams, Jess and Erik, were tied for eighth in the Week 2 Power Rankings. Jess, who would go on to win her division, the consolation game and finish third, was looking particularly suspect. After two weeks, she ranked dead last in scoring. And one of her breakout performers, Justin Jefferson (eventual WR6), had yet to emerge, scoring just 4.6 and 7.4 points in his first two games.
So yes, celebrate but don’t rest on your laurels. Worry but don’t freak out. In what will be the longest season in league history thanks to an extra week added to the regular season, there’s still a lot of season yet to play.
The Scoreboard
Nick led the league in scoring for a second-straight week.
Back-to-back weekly prizes? Attaboy, Nick!
Another week, another big win for Nick who has now led all scorers for the second-straight week. He along with Alex, Geoff and Whitney advance to 2-0 following big Week 2 wins. Erik was not so lucky, scoring 61.16 points fewer in than he did in his impressive season debut. He now drops to 1-1 along with Brandon, Gray and Josh, the latter of whom had a big bounceback game thanks to the play of Aaron Jones. Finally, four teams have the misfortune of starting the season 0-2, none in more agonizing fashion than Samantha who has now lost both games by an average margin of 5.5 points. She is joined by Beth Ann, Greco and Jess as the league’s four winless team owners.
Power Rankings
Alright, let’s get to the Power Rankings where we’ll start with Nick who is a perfect 22-0 in true wins, just the third time that’s happened in league history.
Nick continues his reign atop the Power Rankings with a perfect 1.000 TW% through two weeks.
1. Nick
2-0, 1.000 TW%, 159.4 ppg
I’ve been telling you guys since the draft, Nick’s team is for real.
With 141.82 points, Nick once again led the league in scoring for the second week in a row, which is pretty rare air. Here’s the full list of teams who have led the league in scoring for two consecutive weeks with the weeks they did it and where they finished:
Gray, 2011 (Weeks 1-4) | 2nd
Nick, 2011 (Weeks 12-13) | no playoffs
Nick, 2012 (Weeks 11-12) | no playoffs
Gray, 2013 (Weeks 4-6, 11-12) | 1st
Josh, 2014 (Weeks 2-3) | 4th
Greco, 2015 (Weeks 7-8) | no playoffs
Gray, 2015 (Weeks 5-6) | 3rd
Greco, 2016 (Weeks 1-2) | 4th
Gray, 2016 (Weeks 2-3, 6-7) | 3rd
Brandon, 2017 (Weeks 5-6) | 1st
Alex, 2018 (Weeks 10-11) | 6th
Josh, 2019 (Weeks 9-10) | 2nd
Geoff, 2020 (Weeks 4-5) | no playoffs
Jess, 2020 (Weeks 11-12) | 3rd
As you can see, only 14 teams have led the league in scoring in back-to-back weeks. And of those 14, 10 (71%) went on to make the playoffs, including two champions. Also, there are some pretty legendary teams included in that group, most notably Alex’s “Thanos” team from 2018 and Gray’s GOAT squad from 2016. Most recently, Jess’ “Power Glove” team achieved this feat toward the tail end of last season.
Even more impressive for Nick, only two have done it to start the season like Nick has this year. Notably, the other two both made the playoffs, and that includes Gray in 2011 who reeled off an unfathomable four-straight weeks with the top score to kick off the Worst League’s first-ever season. That team is still ranked third all time in TW%.
All of which is to say that the sky is the limit for Nick. It’s early and an incredibly small sample size, but Nick currently has two top-6 RBs (Christian McCaffrey, D’Andre Swift) and two top-12 WRs (Cooper Kupp, CeeDee Lamb). And that doesn’t even take into account Damien Harris (RB20) or Tony Pollard who was looking frisky out there for the Cowboys this weekend and is now technically RB12.
The only thing I’m worried about—and I’m seriously nitpicking here—is depth. After an explosive 23.7-point Week 1, Antonio Brown looked ordinary with just one reception on three targets in Week 2. While Chris Godwin and Mike Evans have played 94% and 84% of snaps in Tampa, Brown is clearly the third banana with just 55% of snaps played. That may still be enough in Tom Brady’s offense, but I don’t know if he’s a guy you can reliably count on every week in the flex. And to make matters worse, he just tested positive for COVID-19 today and is being placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
If he’s not available, that doesn’t leave many options for Nick in the flex behind either Damien Harris or new trade acquisition D’Andre Swift. Speaking of which, Swift looked nimble Monday night en route to 11.8 points, but he was notably outscored by his trade partner Tee Higgins (16.0). (More on that trade in Josh’s recap below.)
But what am I saying? I wish I was deciding between Antonio Brown and Damien Harris in my flex spot. Assuming health, I see no reason why Nick won’t continue to romp his way through the Worst League this season.
2. Alex
2-0, .682 TW%, 132.1 ppg
From the team owner with the first pick in the draft we now move to the team owner with the last pick in the draft—Alex.
Thanks to another easy win with above-average scoring, Alex has started 2-0 for the second time in the last three years and the third time in his career. The previous two hot starts both resulted in playoff appearances, which includes Alex’s lone championship season in 2015.
Ironically, as one of only two team owners to spend his first two picks on RB, Alex has actually been led by his WRs. With Saquon Barkley (RB48) producing relatively pedestrian numbers, third- and fourth-round picks Chris Godwin (WR13) and Tyler Lockett (WR2) have been outstanding with five TDs between the two of them.
As a result, Alex has the greatest differential between his RB (25.8 ppg) and WR (56.8 ppg) scoring, currently getting more than double the production from his WRs that he’s getting from his RBs. Another way to look at it? He ranks 10th in RB scoring but 2nd in WR scoring.
That being said, I don’t know how sustainable the WR production is. Corey Davis came all the way back down to earth in relief of Jerry Jeudy, scoring 2.8 points. His TE scoring ranks 10th and is still very much a work in progress. And despite all the points from WRs, he currently ranks tied for ninth with 21.5 receptions per game, an indication that most of that WR scoring has come as a result of somewhat unpredictable touchdowns.
But to be doing this while down two key players in Gus Edwards and Jerry Jeudy is nothing short of remarkable. Not only that, but I expect Barkley’s play to improve. And Jeudy should be back at some point too.
In short, this team is only going to get better. And by starting out 2-0, Alex has already given himself some wiggle room while key players rehab injuries, which means he can afford a loss here or there. As his team’s health improves, Alex will no doubt be a force to be reckoned with this season.
T3. Geoff
2-0, .636 TW%, 136.0 ppg
Geoff is 2-0 for the first time in his career!
It’s never happened before. That’s wild. Literally, every other team owner with his tenure has started at least one season with two straight victories. But in 10 seasons, Geoff had never done it. Until this week. Now relative newcomers Beth Ann and Samantha are the only team owners without a two-game win streak to start their season.
And this week’s game was close, coming down to the wire on Sunday night. Luckily for Geoff, Lamar Jackson and Tyreek Hill outscored Patrick Mahomes, Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Justin Tucker by 4.54 points to help Geoff hold on and defeat Gray. A costly fumble by Edwards-Helaire helped seal the game for Geoff, which makes this just his fourth win in 15 career games against Gray, though it is his second straight. As with all Week 2 opponents, the two will meet again in Week 13.
Also, if you look at the bench, there’s a lot to like. With Will Fuller out another week due to an undisclosed “personal matter,” De’Vonta Smith (3.6 points) got the start in the flex over last week’s starter, Ty’Son Williams (11.3), almost a costly decision. But it was another rookie WR making noise on Geoff’s bench—Rondale Moore (24.4). The 13th-rounder led the explosive Cardinals offense in receptions, yards and targets and scored on a pretty 77-yard TD pass from Kyler Murray.
With Williams, Smith and Moore, that’s a lot of flex appeal, not to mention Nelson Agholor (5.1 points) and Mark Ingram (5.0), two Week 1 studs who regressed a bit this week. The trick will be deciding who to start on a weekly basis. But that’s a good problem to have.
And for once, those problems don’t include losses.
T3. Whitney
2-0, .636 TW%, 122.9 ppg
Sometimes I have to remind myself not to overreact too quickly to a single week or result. Case in point, check out what I wrote about Whitney last week:
It appears the ground game will be a relative strength… But that’s not-so-much the case with her receivers. Next week, she’ll hope for a bounceback game from some of her pass-catchers as none of her starters finished within the top 30 at their position.
Well, one week later and suddenly WR seems like a strength too. With big games for Terry McLaurin (27.7 points), DJ Moore (21.9) and Sterling Shepard (17.5), Whitney led the league with 35 receptions in Week 2. Not only that, but she now ranks third in WR scoring and is the only team owner with three WRs that currently rank in the top 15 at the position.
Shepard, in particular, has been a great find, especially given the injury to Michael Gallup. A 16th-round pick, Shepard was the next-to-last player taken in the entire draft and the 68th of 68 total WRs selected. Yes, it’s early, but he now ranks as WR9 after two games. And props to Whitney for starting him over JuJu Smith-Schuster, who himself had a solid game.
But the biggest news for Whitney entering Week 3 may be an injury to a player not on her roster. That’d be Darrell Henderson who suffered a rib cartilage injury this week. If he’s unable to go, Sony Michel would be an intriguing option moving forward, if not in a tough matchup against the Buccaneers in Week 3.
For now, things are looking up for Whitney. After a year in which both she and Nick found themselves at the bottom of the Power Rankings, they are now near the top. Both are 2-0 and in the top tier of teams. And at third in the Power Rankings, this is the highest Whitney has ever been. But she’s not stopping any time soon.
T3. Samantha
0-2, .636 TW%, 122.6 ppg
Okay, four straight 2-0 teams and then… Samantha who is 0-2?
You bet. Don’t be distracted by her record, Samantha is tied for third in the Power Rankings with Geoff and Whitney. And though Geoff and Whitney have more points scored, only three teams so far this season have finished in the top half of the league in scoring both weeks. They are Nick, Alex and Samantha.
Unfortunately, both weeks she’s been matched up against an opponent who narrowly outscored her. This week, she lost by just 1.48 points to Whitney after T.J. Hockenson came up one five-yard reception short of a victory on Monday night. That’s the closest margin of victory in the regular season since we switched to PPR and decimal scoring.
I continue to be encouraged by the receptions. With 32 in Week 2, she now ranks second in total receptions for the season, trailing only Nick. A big part of that has been the play of the aforementioned T.J. Hockenson. With 23.2 ppg, only Erik who drafted Travis Kelce is getting more from the TE position. And keep in mind that league average this season is 11.7, which in itself is up from last year’s average of 10.6.
Perhaps the biggest reason for disappointment, besides the outcome of her games, has been the “triumvirate” I lauded in her draft preview:
Last season’s QB1 (Josh Allen) could help form a powerful triumvirate with Samantha’s first two picks, Ezekiel Elliott and Calvin Ridley—all of whom could challenge for the top spot at their position this season. In fact, they might be my favorite QB/RB1/WR1 trio in the league. Other challengers would be Nick’s threesome of Russell Wilson, Christian McCaffrey and CeeDee Lamb, Gray’s triad of Patrick Mahomes, Austin Ekeler and DeAndre Hopkins, and Geoff’s troika of Lamar Jackson, Najee Harris and Tyreek Hill.
After two weeks, let’s take a look at how those trios stack up by total points scored:
Nick: Wilson (QB6), McCaffrey (RB2), Lamb (WR12) | 143.58 points
Gray: Mahomes (QB2), Ekeler (RB7), Hopkins (WR10) | 133.2 points
Geoff: Jackson (QB7), Harris (RB22), Hill (WR7) | 118.26 points
Samantha: Allen (QB19), Elliott (RB26), Ridley (WR30) | 86.6 points
So far, Samantha’s trio has been the worst of the group, no question. Nick’s has been the best. And they’ve actually been even better if we sub in Cooper Kupp for CeeDee Lamb, considering Kupp is currently WR1. In fact, that’s the top “triumvirate” I could find currently in the league.
But to bring it back to Samantha, the problem (if there is one considering she’s tied for third in this week’s Power Rankings) isn’t at the bottom. Mike Williams (WR5) and Marvin Jones (WR16) on the bench are actually pushing Ridley and Allen Robinson (WR56) for more playing time. The problem is at the top.
But if you still believe in Allen, Elliott and Ridley, her first-, second- and fourth-round picks (and I don’t know why you wouldn’t when it’s only been two weeks and all the reasons those guys were drafted high still apply), then I sense a rebound coming.
Unfortunately, the only team owner with four-straight 0-2 starts to begin her career must now face Nick, the league’s best team, in Week 3 to avoid falling to 0-3.
6. Erik
1-1, .545 TW%, 141.6 ppg
Erik plummets four spots into sixth place, the biggest drop of the week. One week after posting a career-high 172.16 points, Erik mustered just 111 in a loss to Alex.
Kyler Murray (33.1 points) and Travis Kelce (23.9) continued to be awesome, both #1 at their positions. But almost every other player saw a drop in production. That includes the RBs we doubted, then praised and now maybe doubt again in Joe Mixon and Melvin Gordon who combined for just 17 points in Week 2 after totaling almost three times that in Week 1. Amari Cooper and Kenny Golladay also struggled with three receptions apiece. Only Julio Jones, who was robbed of a TD, looked improved.
Erik now drops to 1-1 and sixth in the Power Rankings, but still notably ranks second in total points scored thanks to a big Week 1. Next week, however, is potentially a get-right game against Greco who has yet to score at least 85 points in a game this season.
T7. Gray
1-1, .500 TW%, 122.3 ppg
Oh no! Clyde Edwards-Helaire, what are you doing?!
With a fantasy and real-life game in the balance, Edwards-Helaire fumbled away Patrick Mahomes’ near-certain chance at a game-winning touchdown, both for the Chiefs and Gray. As long as that score did not go to Tyreek Hill (only three catches on four targets all day), there’s a good chance Gray was coming out on top. Unfortunately, he gets his first loss on the season.
But Clyde Edwards-Helaire aside (currently RB47), Gray’s RBs are actually doing pretty well. He ranks 2nd in the league with 40.0 ppg from RBs. And in fact, Gray is one of only two team owners with multiple RBs in the top nine—Austin Ekeler (RB7) and Darrell Henderson (RB9). And as a sixth-round pick, Henderson is providing serious value, considering he is the only RB in the top nine that was taken outside of the first three rounds. Let’s hope that rib cartilage injury is not serious.
Because while Gray has thrived at RB, the pass-catchers continue to be a work in progress. Gray’s league-worst 15 receptions from Week 1 were up to 23 in Week 2, but that was thanks almost entirely to nine from Austin Ekeler. Granted, they still count. But I don’t think the Marquez Callaway experiment is going according to plan. And I would bet Gray is itching to get the Saints WR out of his starting lineup. (Update: Since I wrote this, Gray has actually dropped Marquez Callaway. So yeah, he’s not a fan.)
Unfortunately, there aren’t many great options in the flex if Henderson is injured. That’s because this weakness at WR (currently Gray is last in WR scoring by a country mile) was a little bit by design, at least early on. After drafting DeAndre Hopkins in the second round, Gray waited longer than any other team owner to take his second WR, selecting Odell Beckham Jr. and Michael Thomas in the seventh and eighth rounds. But neither of those guys have played a single down due to injury.
Fortunately, Beckham could be back as soon as Week 3, especially with Jarvis Landry now out for the Browns. Waiver wire acquisition Zach Pascal or possibly Tim Patrick will get the start this week given that both have found the end zone each week. And don’t forget about Michael Thomas. It’ll be awhile, but he could return as soon as Week 7. Any one of those guys could give Gray the shot in the arm (or the receptions) his team needs.
So count your blessings if you’re playing Gray now. (Whitney, Jess and Nick are his next three opponents.) Because this team could look much improved in a few weeks.
T7. Josh
1-1, .500 TW%, 115.7 ppg
So much for panicking about Josh, something Alex and I both did on the podcast in our “panic or patience” segment on the league’s bottom three teams. The fact is Josh bounced back in a big way in Week 2, defeating Jess and coming within a few points of the weekly prize.
But perhaps all that panic led to a little bit of action. This week, Josh traded away third-rounder D’Andre Swift (along with Christian McCaffrey’s handcuff Chuba Hubbard) for fifth-rounder Tee Higgins and 13th-rounder Rob Gronkowski.
That’s a bold move. Seriously, it takes guts to trade away your team’s leading scorer and potentially the “best overall player” in the deal, especially after a Week 1 dud. But that’s exactly what Josh did. After finishing near the bottom of the league in scoring in Week 1, Josh traded away Swift after he had accounted for over 26% of his total points. And he did it for two players drafted behind Swift less than two weeks ago.
But it looks like that gambit might have paid off. After one week, Higgins outscored Swift 16.0-11.8. Meanwhile, Gronkowski (19.9 points) was a big improvement over last week’s starter Jonnu Smith (6.8 points in Week 2). That’s a net gain of 17.3 points in a matchup that could have been a lot closer had Aaron Jones not scored four TDs on Monday night. If Jones’ production is cut in half, that trade is the difference in the game.
Ultimately for Josh, this trade comes down to what you think about Rob Gronkowski. If you think vintage Gronk is here to stay (currently averaging 24.5 ppg and contending with Travis Kelce for TE1), then whatever downgrade from Swift to Higgins is certainly worth the deal. And if any team owner could afford to trade away a starting caliber RB, it’s Josh who still has both Aaron Jones and Antonio Gibson. But if Gronk reverts to his 2020 form, which saw him finish as TE8 and just 0.6 ppg ahead of TE16 in a tightly bunched group of streamers, then he might have been better off keeping Swift. Right now, it’s looking like he made a smart decision.
And just as a quick aside, for Nick—no matter what happens with Gronkowski—it makes his team better if you believe Swift is better than Higgins. That’s because Gronkowski is likely never going to start for Nick with the sole exception of Darren Waller’s bye week. So truly, I believe this trade was a win-win.
But back to Josh, the win lifts him to 1-1, and he is now tied for seventh in the Power Rankings. Now with the league’s highest-scoring RB group (at least for now), a new receiver in Tee Higgins and a new toy in Rob Gronkowski, the only weakness to address is at QB. And wouldn’t you know it, after an injury to Andy Dalton, Justin Fields will be getting his first start in Week 3.
What a difference one week can make.
9. Beth Ann
0-2, .455 TW%, 116.5 ppg
Beth Ann is ninth in this week’s Power Rankings, but still among a group of tightly bunched teams forming the league’s middle tier all the way up to Alex in second. (For now, I’ll say Nick is in a tier at the top all by himself.)
This week, Beth Ann scored a respectable 127.8 points in a loss to Nick. But her team looked much improved from Week 1, especially Aaron Rodgers who rebounded from a 1.32-point performance to score 26.8 points on Monday night. Even her kicker, Graham Gano, was awesome, putting up 22 points. That was tied for the fourth-most by a kicker in league history and the most since Jess had Greg Zuerlein go for 27 in 2017.
On the injury front, Beth Ann’s team suffered one of the more significant injuries of Week 2 when fourth-rounder Diontae Johnson went down with a knee injury on the final play of the Steelers’ Week 3 loss to the Raiders. That being said, the injury doesn’t appear to be too serious. And luckily, there’s some quality depth that could step up in Johnson’s absence, including Jamaal Williams and Kenyan Drake (who is currently benefitting from Josh Jacob’s absence).
After losing just three games in the entire regular season last year, Beth Ann now finds herself at 0-2 to start the season for the first time in her career. Luckily, she’ll face the team directly below her in the Power Rankings, which is…
10. Brandon
1-1, .227 TW%, 105.0 ppg
All hail King Henry!
The fourth overall pick was unstoppable Sunday with 237 yards of total offense and three TDs. His 47.7 points were the fifth-most in league history and the most since Tyreek Hill’s record 57.9 points in Week 12 of 2020. Most importantly, however, Henry reeled in a career-high six receptions. And if Henry is going to start catching passes, he really could contend with Christian McCaffrey to be the league’s RB1, a spot he currently occupies.
But if not for Henry’s superhuman performance in Week 2, Brandon would have been in serious trouble. Injuries and disappointing play continue to plague this team. After losing Raheem Mostert in Week 1, both Elijah Mitchell and JaMycal Hasty suffered injuries in Week 2. Meanwhile, Brandon Aiyuk continues to recover from a hamstring injury. (At least, we found out this week he’s not in Kyle Shanahan’s doghouse.)
The truth is, aside from Henry, this team is full of players who are either dealing with injury or who are off to slow starts. That includes A.J. Brown (WR47) and Keenan Allen (WR22). In fact, this team does not have another player that ranks inside the top-20 at either RB or WR. And with so much of the bench dedicated to finding a suitable solution at RB2, there’s not much help to be found there either.
Frankly, this is a bad team right now—the first of three with five or fewer true wins that currently form the bottom tier of the league. And based on his TW% of .227, Brandon is very lucky to be 1-1. Until Brown, Allen and Aiyuk start delivering on draft-day expectations, this team will only go as far as Derrick Henry can carry them.
But based on what he did in Week 2, that actually might be pretty far.
11. Jess
0-2, .182 TW%, 102.6 ppg
This is another team beset by injury and disappointing play.
But unlike with Brandon, Jess’ bench continues to outplay her starters. You might recall last week we noted that Jess’ bench literally outscored her entire starting lineup. Their play earned a starting spot for Deebo Samuel, who displaced Mike Davis in the flex. In Week 2, he rewarded Jess’ faith by outscoring Davis 16.1-13.3.
But beyond Samuel (currently WR3 and having the season I imagined Brandon Aiyuk would have), Courtland Sutton is also pushing for more time. In Week 2, he scored 24.9 points with Jerry Jeudy out due to injury. That’s more points than either first-round pick Stefon Diggs (WR24) or third-rounder Robert Woods (WR41) have been able to muster in either of their starts so far this season.
The RBs have also disappointed with second-round pick Jonathan Taylor (RB24) performing well below expectations. And possible fill-in Josh Jacobs missed Week 2 and could continue to miss more time.
Finally, to make matters worse, Tua Tagovailoa suffered a rib injury in Week 2 that will keep him out at least one week. Jess wasn’t relying on him to start. But I think she was hoping to start him in the near future. Remember, she waited the longest to draft a QB this year.
So yes, Jess has more depth than most. And I continue to be encouraged by their long-term prospects. But quantity is not quality, and until they start producing on the field, she’ll struggle to put up points and wins. For now, she finds herself in an unfamiliar position, 0-2 for the first time in a storied career.
12. Greco
0-2, .000 TW%, 83.9 ppg
Finally, on the other end of the spectrum from Nick’s hot start, there’s Greco and her very, very cold one.
After just 83.02 points in a loss to Brandon, Greco drops to 0-2. Not only that, but she has now had the lowest score in the league for the second-straight week. Currently, her scoring average is 83.9 ppg (58.0 pre-PPR), which is not only last, but almost 20 points away from the next-closest competitor. Obviously, that’s not good. And a little unprecedented.
As we did with Nick, let’s take a look at the full list of teams who have finished last in scoring for two consecutive weeks with the weeks they did it and where they finished:
Erik, 2011 (Weeks 9-12) | no playoffs
Jess, 2012 (Weeks 2-3, 9-10) | no playoffs
Jess, 2013 (Weeks 10-11) | no playoffs
Geoff, 2014 (Weeks 6-7) | no playoffs
Terryn, 2014 (Weeks 8-9) | no playoffs
Jess, 2016 (Weeks 9-10) | no playoffs*
Nick, 2017 (Weeks 10-11) | no playoffs
Geoff, 2018 (Weeks 6-7) | no playoffs
Nick, 2020 (Weeks 10-11) | no playoffs
As you can see, nine teams have had back-to-back weeks where they finished last in the league in scoring. Of those nine, none (0%) made the playoffs, though Jess’ 2016 team would have made the playoffs had a six-team playoff existed. That year, she finished 6-6-1 with a not-terrible .483 TW%. So there is hope.
But it’s not a good sign. And who knows where the bottom is? Included in that list are some of the worst teams of all time. Specifically, four of the bottom five are there, including Nick’s 1-12 team from last year, Geoff’s 2018 team that lost Le’Veon Bell to a season-long holdout (formerly the Worst’s worst), and Erik’s 2011 team that saw him go on autopilot in the final weeks, starting several inactive players en route to four of the bottom-eight scores in league history during that Week 9-12 nosedive.
Notably, none of those teams finished with a winning record. But also, none of those teams had as much time to recover as Greco does now. In fact, she’s the first team owner to post back-to-back worst scores to start the season. And with an extra regular season game added to the schedule this year, Greco still has plenty of time to right the ship.
She just needs her top picks, notably Davante Adams (WR27), DK Metcalf (WR33) and James Robinson (RB40) to start playing like it. It also wouldn’t hurt if Justin Herbert cut down on his 2:3 touchdown-to-interception ratio, one of the big reasons why Greco is currently second-to-last in QB scoring with just 14.1 ppg.
Unfortunately, she was dealt one of the other big injury blows this week when 10th-rounder Jarvis Landry suffered an MCL sprain and was placed on IR, meaning he will miss at least three weeks. But the one bright spot for her team is that she may already have a suitable replacement. Eighth-round pick Marquise Brown is playing lights out to start the season and is currently WR8.
Looking Ahead to Week 3
On to Week 3 where you will play the last of your three rivals. Remember, with this new scheduling format, you play the same three opponents in Weeks 1-3 that you will face again in Weeks 11-13. That means your Week 3 opponent will also be the team you face in the last game of the season.
With that in mind, Week 3 sets up for some interesting matchups. As mentioned previously, Samantha (0-2) will be looking to get her first win. But she’ll have to do it against Nick (2-0) who is absolutely rolling right now. Also, I love the matchup between Alex (2-0) and Josh (1-1), two fantasy diehards. And then lastly, Jess (0-2) vs. Geoff (2-0) is interesting as well. Traditionally, Jess has had the upper hand with an 8-2 career record against Geoff. But this year, Geoff has the better team. Can he flip the script?
That’s it for Week 2. Thanks for reading and good luck to all in Week 3!
