0-2 - What to Do?

Good morning everybody. Part of this Wednesday's Thundering Blurb Fantasy Football Podcast (9pm PST/6pm PST) will be dealing with how to get yourself out of a 0-2 hole. We'll also be dealing with continuing your winning ways and solidifying a 1-1 team but I thought as Tuesday morning cal be a brutal one in fantasy football, maybe a little early reassurance that it isn't all over might be a good thing.

First of all, as always, don't panic. You can turn a losing team into a winner - and depending upon who you have on your team (or in the case of Tom Brady owners - HAD) you may have a decent team that is battling injuries. I, like many of you, had Marques Colston go down, which has shattered my wide receiver core in a Dynasty league. I, like many of you, had Tomlinson biff it this weekend, which hurt me not once but twice in an Auction/Dynasty hybrid since we played a double-header this week.

So, I feel your pain. But you cannot panic. No hurried trade offers to send half your team for that ONE stud. No jettisoning your whole team for fresh faces like a bad hand in a poker game.

The first thing you need to do is hit the waiver wire. See who is being consistent the first two weeks and see who your leaguemates are not paying attention to. LJ Smith is out there in leagues. He's not setting the world on fire but if your TE is Kevin Boss and Zach Miller, he could be a step up. John Carlson in Seattle - I have spoken about him a ton - lots of targets there and some opportunity.

Have Bernard Berrian as your #2? Not working out too well, huh? Hit the wire - while Tarvaris Jackson figures out the forward pass, you might be able to find Vincent Jackson out of San Diego. Jackson only has a few targets less than Chris Chambers and almost as many yards. Both may be on your waiver wire though I prefer Jackson as Chambers can be inconsistent. But the tagerts will hold as Gates is hurt and frankly, I think Jackson will take a big step up this season.

Running Back is much tougher. In most leagues, even guys we weren't sure about like Julius Jones, Pierre Thomas And Darren Sproles are gone. You may need to dig deep and look for Le'ron McClain who might be on the wire still since Baltimore had a sudden bye this week.

This is where you may have to start looking for a trade. But not the home-run, everything in, sort of trade.

Now, honestly some of you might need that. I don't favor trading a ton of players for one stud as most of the time, you put yourself in a tougher position than you were in before. Very few teams have enough bench depth to make that trade and still have the supporting players to win consistently.

Also, the guys who look like studs now (Aaron Rodgers, Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin, Matt Forte) may not be in a few weeks or at least not coughing up 35 points a week for owners.

So I vote for looking long and hard at your team. How did you lose? By 5 points? By 50? Is it Braylon Edwards hurting you? Did you lose when LT was out for 2 quarters? Or did it all go wrong when Colston/Brady went out?

Once you examine your team and find the holes, you can patch them. And again, it will be very dangerous to sell the whole team for Tony Romo. He may get you top QB points, but if all you have around him is Berrian, David Patten, Laurence Maroney and Steve Slaton - it's just not enough.

But if you were to add a JT O'Sullivan and couple him with another good QB in a QBBC (say, Trent Edwards), that might be worth doing, be a heck of a lot cheaper and leave you with whatever other good players you have.

Remember you need to add more than you subtract. And while it's important to swing for the fences, you have to leave yourself with enough to play the game effectively and well.

So take a hard look at your team today. Take a long, hard look at the waiver wire. Take a very, very long look at the opposition. Who are they using? Who has been on the bench two weeks so far?

Start making moves. The time is now. But choose and act wisely.

If you have a question or want to bounce a trade, waiver move or implosion of a team off me, email me at thunderingblurb(a)gmail.com.

Top Fantasy Studs of Week 2

Some of the top Fantasy Football performances from the second week of NFL action - lots of outstanding QB performances this week:

1. Jay Cutler - 350 yds passing, 4TDs
2. Brandon Marshall - 18 catches, 166yds, TD
3. Phillip Rivers - 377 yds passing, 3TDs
4. Kurt Warner - 361 yds passing, 3TDs
5. Anquan Boldin - 6 catches, 140 yds, 3TDs
6. Aaron Rodgers - 328 yds passing, 3TDs, 25 yds rushing
7. Santana Moss - 7 catches, 191 yds, 1TD
8. Calvin Johnson - 6 catches, 129 yds, 2TDs
9. Eli Manning - 260 yds, 3TDs
10. JT O'Sullivan - 321 yds, 32 rushing yards, 1 TD
11. Darren McFadden - 173 total yards, 1 TD, 1 catch
12. Julius Jones - 141 total yards, 1TD, 3 catches
13. Adrian Peterson - 180 yards, 4 catches
14. Jason Campbell - 321 yds, 1 TD
15. Greg Jennings - 6 catches, 167 yds

That's the top of the cream of the heap of the crop for this week. Of course, studs like Romo, McNabb, Westy, Barber, TO and Witten have yet to go and may change it up tonight.

Top Suprise Fantasy Studs - Week 1

So as always, there were folks who popped up and played staggeringly well in Week 1. Guys who -while we may have had them on the bench as sleepers, got up early.

Here are some of my surprise studs and my thoughts on whether they will repeat in week 2 and beyond.

Michael Turner - 226 total yards, 2 tds
Turner is a guy we knew could do great things. Very few people expected this so quickly. He'll be a good play all year but won't play the Lions all year. He will get the rock, if just to keep the dogs off Matt Ryan who had a nice game himself. Turner remains a rock solid #2, but check your expectations. He faces a much tougher D in Tampa Bay this weekend. Should play well, but the numbers will drop significantly.

Willie Parker - 138 rushing yards and 3 TDs
Now before you rush off and say 'you're crazy, how could Willie be a surprise?', go back and look over most analysts and see how hard they were hedging on him. Also, think about how he was going in drafts - 5th round and on quite often. Viewed as no more than a #2 back, FWP outperformed his ADP significantly this week. I have long said he was way undervalued and the TD total last year was an aberration. The Oline still has issues but Parker will get the lion's share of carries and the matchup this week - Cleveland, who was torched by Marion Barber - is prime. As you picked him up as a #2 in most cases, you could see a season where your #2 plays close to a #1.

Matt Forte - 141 total yards, 1 TD and 3 catches
I can say I missed this one last week. I know the Colts can make a runner look good, but wow did he look good. Forte ran with authority and vision and looked like anything but a rookie. I liked Forte going into the season - he's the #1 RB in Chicago and a good runner. But he played out of his shoes Sunday night. Carolina will provide a stiffer challenge and I think we will see a dip in production but if Orton can move the ball and keep the defense honest, Forte may contineu to put up decent numbers, though I am not ready to crown him a sure thing #2 until I see him vs a better run D. Carolina might provide that test, so be careful this weekend. But high hopes overall for the season on Forte.

Hines Ward - 6 catches, 76 yards and 2 TDs
Everyone assumed Santonio Holmes would emerge as the #1 and Ward would fade off into the sunset. Instead, Ward put up the solid numbers he always does. Still, this was a blowout against a team that was overmatched defensively from the get-go. I like Ward to repeat the catches (he's always Big Ben's safety blanket) and maybe the yards. The TDs are shakier, but do recall cobversations on The Thundering Blurb Fantasy Football Podcast (tonight and every Wed at 9pm EST/6pm PST) and The Drive Block (Thursdays 10pmEST/7pm PST) that since they do not have a sure fire red zone RB, targets in the final 20 could go to the air - and Ward is a guy the Steelers look to in the end zone. Liek with FWP, Cleveland looks to be a godo matchup this weekend for Ward. Incidentally, I expect Holmes to rebound this weekend.

Eddie Royal - 9 catches, 155 yards and 1 TD
Couldn't avoid talking about him could I? I loved his potential but he blew past expectations Monday. Will he repeat? Well, I do think he will emerge as a solid play most weeks, several things factor into his production: 1) Brandon Marshall returns from suspension. Marshall - if he can keep his head together - is the #1 here and will get a lot of the touches Royal did. 2) Defenses (better than the Raiders) will now key on Royal. The rookie might find it tougher when he isn't facing oft burned DeAngelo Hall. Opposing Ds now have tape on him and that will make his life harder. The Chargers - the week 2 matchup - are angry and even without Merriman, will come out firing. I think you need to be careful with Royal from here on out. Play him like you did prior to Monday - don't plug him into your #2 spot (or God forbid, the #1) and benefit from good numbers in your 3, 4 or flex spots.

That's the top 5 (in no order really) - here are the quick hits on the next five -
Chris Johnson could be in the above list easily - (127 total yards, 1 TD, 3 catches) and the thing holding him back most might be being a little banged up, but he should continue to play very well as a #2 or flex RB..... DeSean Jackson saw 6 catches and 106 yards- what is more telling is he got 10 targets. That's more than Westbrook got and equals the targets of TE LJ Smith. I think Jackson will be a good source of fantasy points but like Eddie Royal, keep him in your 3, 4 or Flex spot until we see more work especially since Dallas would be a tougher challenge than woeful St. Louis...... TE Dante Rosario surprised everyone (especially the Chargers on that last TD) with 7 catches for 96 yards and a TD, but I am not buying the hype right now - get him off waivers, but bench him if you have a more consistent option..... Speaking of Tight Ends, Anthony Fasano (8 catches for 84 yards and 1TD) may continue to reap the benefits of a relationship with Bill Parcells and Pennington's weak arm against Arizona, but again, it's early to risk on a guy who never did anything before last weekend.... Hank Baskett isn't a guy I expect to repeat his 102 yard, 1 TD day - it was only 2 catches and damned flukey...

More later - and I have a Daily News Stampede coming at noon EST/ 9am PST and the Thundering Blurb Fantasy Football Show tonight at 9pm EST/6pm PST.

IR reports come out tonight so we will see who pops up on those as well today. See you later

TE Rankings

Here's the last of the rankings for Week 1 - I will try to do a few news updates on the blog before gametime tomorrow morning and kickoff. A few guys (like Jamal Lewis) are even late game time decisions and I will try to keep track of that for you guys as well.

Here are the tight ends for Week 1.

1. Jason Witten, Cowboys at Browns
2. Kellen Winslow, Browns vs. Cowboys
3. Antonio Gates, Chargers vs. Panthers
4. Dallas Clark, Colts vs. Bears
5. Tony Gonzalez, Chiefs at Patriots
6. L.J. Smith, Eagles vs. Rams
7. Jeremy Shockey, Saints vs. Buccaneers
8. Owen Daniels, Texans at Steelers
9. Vernon Davis, 49ers vs. Cardinals
10. Zach Miller, Raiders vs. Broncos
11. Randy McMichael, Rams at Eagles
12. Heath Miller, Steelers vs. Texans
13. Todd Heap, Ravens vs. Bengals
14. Alge Crumpler, Titans vs. Jaguars
15. Tony Scheffler, Broncos at Raiders
16. Donald Lee, Packers vs. Vikings
17. Greg Olsen, Bears at Colts
18. Marcedes Lewis, Jaguars at Titans
19. Alex Smith, Buccaneers at Saints
20. Ben Utecht, Bengals at Ravens
21. Dustin Keller, Jets at Dolphins
22. John Carlson, Seahawks at Bills
23. Desmond Clark, Bears at Colts
24. Chris Baker, Jets at Dolphins
25. Robert Royal, Bills vs. Seahawks

I think people are underestimating Gates this weekend and he's a good start - despite coming off an injury, he'll be ready to go and play well. But Witten is the top start - with a lack of receivers, the Cowboys will look to him a lot this weekend. I think both Jets rookie TE Dustin Keller and Seahawks rookie TE john Carlson could do much better than I have them ranked but in week 1, I won't bet my week on them when we don't know what will really happen in the game plan. But keep them on your radar.

News and notes later tonight (maybe late night for Easterners) and tomorrow morning.

RB Rankings for Week 1

Here it is guys - there will be QBs and WRs later today in some order - probably one in the West Coast afternoon, one in the evening.

I put up the top 35 Rbs here - yes there are more backs you can plug in - but once you get past here, it tends to be really shaky. If you need the top 40 or 5o, leave a comment or email me at thunderingblurb@gmail.com. But this week, there are 35.

I didn't have these done prior to the game last night, so I pulled Portis and Jacobs from the rankings - when we hit consistent Thursday games, players will be back in for those, but this week we didn't make it under the wire and it seemed less useful to show you where I had players who cannot be played anymore.

1. LaDainian Tomlinson, Chargers vs. Panthers
2. Brian Westbrook, Eagles vs. Rams
3. Adrian Peterson, Vikings at Packers
4. Marion Barber, Cowboys at Browns
5. Marshawn Lynch, Bills vs. Seahawks
6. Joseph Addai, Colts vs. Bears
7. Steven Jackson, Rams at Eagles
8. Frank Gore, 49ers vs. Cardinals
9. Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars at Titans
10. Earnest Graham, Buccaneers at Saints
11. Edgerrin James, Cardinals at 49ers
12. Laurence Maroney, Patriots vs. Chiefs
13. Thomas Jones, Jets at Dolphins
14. Ricky Williams, Dolphins vs. Jets
15. Larry Johnson, Chiefs at Patriots
16. Willie Parker, Steelers vs. Texans
17. Reggie Bush, Saints vs. Buccaneers
18. Michael Turner, Falcons vs. Lions
19. Matt Forte, Bears vs Colts
20. Chris Perry, Bengals at Ravens
21. Selvin Young, Broncos at Raiders
22. Fred Taylor, Jaguars at Titans
23. Kevin Smith, Lions at Falcons
24. Ryan Grant, Packers vs. Vikings
25. Ray Rice, Ravens vs. Bengals
26. LenDale White, Titans vs. Jaguars
27. Jamal Lewis, Browns vs. Cowboys
28. Chris Johnson, Titans vs. Jags
29. Darren McFadden, Raiders vs. Broncos
30. DeAngelo Williams, Panthers at Chargers
31. Jerious Norwood, Falcons vs. Lions
32. Maurice Morris, Seahawks at Bills
33. Rashard Mendenhall, Steelers vs. Texans
34. Julius Jones, Seahawks at Bills
35. Jonathan Stewart, Panthers vs Chargers

So there it is - the first of the rankings for today - more later on as the day comes.