Exclusive Week 2 fantasy rewind By Michael Fabiano NFL.com
An interesting trend has started to develop early in this NFL season.
Quarterbacks and wide receivers -- not running backs -- are dominating the box scores. In fact, the 10 best fantasy performances of Week 2 included five quarterbacks, four wide receivers and one running back. What's more, that one runner was not LaDainian Tomlinson, Steven Jackson or Larry Johnson.
It was Jamal Lewis.
Back to the quarterbacks. Carson Palmer and Derek Anderson headlined what was a monster week for signal-callers. Palmer threw for 401 yards and a career-best six touchdowns, while Anderson posted 328 yards and a career-best five scores in a shootout in Cleveland. The difference between these two is evident: Palmer is an established fantasy starter, while Anderson wasn't even owned in most fantasy leagues. Anderson has some tough matchups down the road -- he'll face Oakland, Baltimore and New England over the next three weeks -- but he's still worth a flier off the waiver wire.
Jake Delhomme, who has more fantasy points than Peyton Manning after two weeks, recorded 307 yards and three touchdowns in a loss to Houston. Brett Favre (27 points), Tom Brady (27 points), Tony Romo (22 points), Matt Schaub (21 points) and Jeff Garcia (21 points) also had solid weeks. One quarterback who has fantasy owners worried is Drew Brees. He had a respectable 15 points this week, but the Saints offense looked awful.
While running backs have been a disappointment to this point, there were some nice performances in Week 2. Lewis exploded for 216 yards and one touchdown and led all backs with 27 points. Marion Barber tied Edgerrin James and Frank Gore with 20 points. James is the most productive runner in fantasy football. Rudi Johnson (18 points), Willie Parker (18 points) and Cadillac Williams (18 points) also produced nice totals.
The real tale of the position is the lack of production from LaDainian Tomlinson, Steven Jackson and Larry Johnson. A total of 20 backs had more points than this trio in Week 2, a list that includes DeShawn Wynn, Derrick Ward and Sammy Morris. While Jackson and Tomlinson should bounce back, Johnson could be in for a long season. He has little support from the pass attack, a weakened offensive line and matchups against Minnesota, San Diego and Jacksonville over the next three weeks.
As I mentioned earlier, wide receivers have been real stars in Fantasy Land this season. The top player at the position is Steve Smith, who hauled in eight passes for 153 yards and three touchdowns against Houston. Chad Johnson also recorded a monster stat line with 11 receptions, 209 yards, two touchdowns and one beer bath in the Cleveland Dawg Pound. Braylon Edwards (26 points), Joey Galloway (25 points) and Andre Johnson (24 points) also had huge weeks, as did Randy Moss. He had his second consecutive solid week with 105 yards and two touchdowns in a win over San Diego, and he's already equaled his touchdown total from all of last season.
