A lot has gone on between the games that sometimes it's all anybody talks about. Let's figure out a few things that we learned ON the field on Sunday.
- Jay Cutler and the Bears have reminded us, once again, of the importance of winning the turnover battle. This week, only 3 teams that won had a turnover, and each of those three forced at least one turnover from the losing team. So no matter how favored you are against a team *coughninerscough*, you aren't going to win when you have 4 turnovers and don't force any of your own.
- J.J. Watt can do it all. He's appearing in commercials everywhere, on the SNF intro and now he's catching touchdowns. He currently has the same number of sacks as he has touchdowns. I think they should get him in there every game!
- No one is safe from injury. We saw a flood of injuries throw a stick in the spokes of fantasy football yesterday. Ryan Mathews, RG3, A.J. Green, Carson Palmer, Jamaal Charles, Doug Martin, DeSean Jackson, Vernon Davis were all guys who were fantasy starters, or almost in Palmer's case, who disappointed owners on Sunday. It's a long season guys, as long as I didn't recite your whole roster, you'll recover.
- Never count Aaron Rodgers out, especially at home. At one point in the second quarter, the Packers were trailing 21-3 and had only a 12.2% chance to win. After a beautifully executed two-minute drill to close the first half, he threw two more touchdowns in the second half on his way to being the leading QB of the week, throwing for 346 yards and 3 TD's. Rogers is the only QB to throw over 300 yards on Sunday.
- The Washington Redskins tied a franchise record with 10 sacks of Chad Henne on Sunday. Despite RG3's injury, Washington was able to put up 41 points and break a losing streak stretching way back into last year. My reason for directing your attention here is simple though. Blake Bortles will be starting in Jacksonville sooner, rather than later. Weel ahead of their week 11 bye.
- Arian Foster has shut up all of his draft doubters. After logging another 28 carries yesterday, he's at a league leading 55 carries, with 241 yards and 1 TD (4 rec for 29 yds as well). The Texans are sitting pretty at 2-0 with everything going their way early in the season. Reminds me of a recent season they've had, maybe 2013? While i don't think that Fitzpatrick is going to go on a crazy pick-six streak, don't think for a moment that people in Houston aren't thinking about last year a whole lot right now.
- There will be lots of good pickups on the waiver wire this week. Knile Davis, Bobby Rainey, Donald Brown and Kirk Cousins all performed very well when called upon this week and all, except maybe Rainey, are expected to get the start in week 3. In fact, rumors in Washington are that Coach Gruden prefers Kirk Cousins anyways. He's certainly looked better than Griffin over Washington's last 6 or so games.
- Marc Trestman seems to have a little Belichick in him. After rumors all week that Jeffery and Marshall would not play, including a very bleak outlook on Sunday morning, both of them were on the field to start the game on Sunday night. While Jeffery may have looked like a decoy, he still made a few important catches. Marshall, on the other hand, reeled in 3 TD catches(!) and is tied for the league lead. This is a game that the 49ers had a 98.7% chance to win at one point, definitely the best comeback of the week.
- Antonio Gates is apparently living like it's 2009. He's been targeted 17 times already, has 13 receptions for 177 yards and 3 TD's. As long as he stays healthy, he will be Philip Rivers' security blanket. He's moved firmly back into the higher end of Tight Ends, currently second among ALL TE's in the league. He's going to be a starter every week for the foreseeable future.
- Leaders so far - after two weeks, the leaders at rushing, receiving and passing yards are not surprises by any stretch, none of them are studs that were expected to take this role. Passing: Matt Ryan, 679 yds, Rushing: DeMarco Murray, 285 yds, Receiving: Jordy Nelson, 292 yds. The fantasy points leader is, of course, who we all expected it to be. Jay Cutler. WHAT?!?
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