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With the second Sunday of the NFL season just around the corner, what can we expect after a wild Week 1? Here are four things to keep an eye on during Week 2.
What will Peyton Manning do for an encore after his 7 TD Performance?
Peyton Manning was by far and away the biggest fantasy stud of the first week of the NFL season, scorching the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens for 462 yards and 7 touchdowns. It is unfair to expect Manning to duplicate his performance from last Thursday this week against the New York Giants, although an injured Tony Romo put up two touchdowns and completed over 73 percent of his passes against them last week. If an injured Tony Romo can have his way against this Giants defense, there is no telling what Manning is capable of.
Will star running backs have a bounce back week after a brutal Week 1?
It was an abysmal week for NFL running backs last week. Going into the season, most fantasy analysts warned owners about just how weak the field of running backs were this year, but that precaution does not even justify just how poorly they performed in week one. Going off of Yahoo’s pre-draft top 10 fantasy running backs, only three of them recorded more than 70 yards rushing last week (LeSean McCoy, Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles). Fantasy owners everywhere are keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that their running backs will have a bounce back game in Week 2.
Will we see more incredible performances from tight ends around the league?
Unlike running backs, tight ends had a field day in the first week of the NFL season. 16 different tight ends caught at least one touchdown pass last week, while five of them recorded two receiving touchdowns. This was a very pleasant surprise as there are usually only a few tight ends each week that will string together a solid fantasy performance. Hopefully, this trend will continue throughout the season, and it is definitely something to look out for in Week 2.
Who will get the majority of the workload for the New York Giants?
Who is going to be the starting running back for the Giants this week? Going into the season, Giants running back David Wilson was destined for a huge season. Not only is a he a speed demon with big play potential but Andre Brown, who he was expected to split carries with, broke his leg during the preseason, which made Wilson the sole starting running back in New York.
However, things did not quite goes as planned as Wilson had a nightmare of a game on Sunday night. He finished with 19 yards on just seven carries to go along with two costly fumbles before he was benched in the second half. To make manners worse for Wilson owners, the Giants signed Brandon Jacobs earlier this week.
Head coach Tom Coughlin has yet to name his starting running back for Week 2, but has gone on the record to say that Wilson has been practicing well this week and has been doing a good job of holding on to the ball. Hopefully Wilson will get another opportunity to prove himself in New York, or else he could go down as one of the biggest fantasy football busts in recent memory.
Jon Keller is a writer for www.rantsports.com. Follow him on twitter @jkell2005.
