Tap's Fantasy Report: Week 2

TFR: Tap’s Fantasy Report Week One

Here at SnoTap, we will be helping you weekly throughout the football season. We will recap what happens each week on Tuesday, and also give you some advice on how to use these happenings to win your league. If you have any questions, put them in the comments below or email SnoTap12@gmail.com, and we will answer them in a future post.

Philip Rivers:  We discussed in the preseason that Philip Rivers is not a top level quarterback, and shouldn't be trusted in fantasy leagues anymore. He has had a huge first two weeks, forcing a lot of people to believe in him again. I may be wrong, but I’m still not buying it. San Diego has always been able to do weird things on the opening week Monday night game that nobody gets to watch, and the Eagles defense is shaky at best.  This may be confirmation bias, but I really don’t think Rivers can produce at this level all season, even though we've seen him do it before. I think he’s risen slightly from our preseason rankings, but he’s still not a starting caliber fantasy player. He’s a solid bye week fill-in, or backup that should be owned in every league, but don’t get crazy and start him over any other stud quarterbacks.

Stevan Ridley: I’m still high on Ridley, and if your league’s Ridley owner is freaking out, go ahead and try to acquire him. The Week 1 concern with Ridley was his fumbles, and Shane Vereen stealing his carries. The Week 2 concern is that he only ran for 40 yards. Looking at both games, I’m not concerned about any of this. Vereen is hurt, the Jets have an underrated run defense that was able to bottle up Doug Martin as well, and the Patriots are going to need Ridley to carry the ball a lot to be successful. The most important stat when it comes to Ridley is that he was able to get 16 carries in the Jets game. Moving forward, he’ll continue to get the ball, and he’ll start finding some yards and touchdowns.

Knowshon Moreno: In the preseason, we talked about avoiding the Denver running back situation, because there wasn't going to be much clarity. After two weeks, it’s now fairly clear what is happening in Denver and how you need to react. Moreno is someone that is going to be on the field a lot, and it’s clear Manning trusts him running the ball and with a few check downs, his upside is limited, but he’s a safe bet. Montee Ball still has the highest upside, but fumbles and pass protection might hinder in certain weeks. He needs to be owned still. Ronnie Hillman appears to be the odd man out until injuries happen, even at that point; I don’t see a lot of value there. Find which type of player you’d most like to own, and go after them.

Eddie Royal: Anybody who says they expected Royal to have 5 touchdowns in the first two weeks this season is lying to you.  Moving forward, it’s most important to determine Royal’s future value, as the vast majority of owners were not able to start Royal leading up to these games. Honestly, I don’t see Royal as having a ton of value long term, as the Chargers offense is likely to slow down a bit, but Royal is still getting a lot of points. There are other receivers who are available in many leagues that I would rather have, but Royal is a must add this week. Although his long term value is likely low, he has some good matchups the next four weeks, playing the Titans, Cowboys, Raiders, and Colts. He might be a good sell high candidate after that stretch.  

Julian Edelman: A lot is being made of the number of targets Julian Edelman got Thursday night against the Jets. With Danny Amendola getting injured again, it seems like there is some room in the slot in New England for someone to step up. Edelman doesn't have immense value in non-PPR leagues, because it doesn't seem like he’s getting deep targets or red-zone targets, but he’s a great depth receiver for your team, and should see some big point totals with all the targets he’s getting. Definitely a solid value moving forward, especially since he seems to be one of the very few receiving options that can hold on to the ball.

Martellus Bennett: I was wrong. Going into the season, I didn't get all the Bennett love, we've been waiting for years for his potential to come through, and we've been waiting for years for a Bears tight end to actually produce. It seemed like Hype-Heaven, where players get big contracts but don’t produce, it seemed like an easy bust selection. I was wrong, he’s got a lot of talent, that the Bears are taking advantage of. He’s a break out tight end, in a year where a lot of tight ends are putting up some big points. If he’s available (he’s probably not) you have to scoop him up, because you’re not going to be able to trade for him.

Buy Low: Anquan Boldin, Stevan Ridley, Danny Woodhead (PPR only), Bryce Brown, Montee Ball, and Robert Griffin III

Sell High: DeSean Jackson and Michael Vick.

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SnoTap's Packer Classroom: Redskins at Packers

As some of you loyal SnoTap readers might realize this is a name change from last week and last season. I made the decision for a variety of reasons, but this is what it will be going forward.  The concept is pretty much the same as Star Ratings with a new name. Hope you guys enjoy it.

A-Game
Aaron Rodgers - There is a line in Gladiator where Maximus goes 'Are you not entertained, ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?' I feel this is Rodgers for the entire game. One of those games where you talk about for the next 20 years of your life. Brett Favre had games like this where he would have deep balls and five or six touchdown games although they never seemed as efficient as what we saw from Rodgers on Sunday afternoon.  He carved up Washington's defense and made it look easy. Cincinnati will be a great challenge for him this week.  

James Jones - While this might frustrate some fantasy football owners, the Packers offense is truly unpredictable. Every game, it could be a new player. After Jones only had two targets and no catches in San Francisco to eleven catches for 178 yards. Pretty solid day at the office for Mr. Jones (Hold your Counting Crows jokes please). They made it a point to get the ball to Jones and he really works well in the middle of the field.

James Starks - This was a complete surprise. I did not see this one coming. When Eddie Lacy went down with a concussion, I figured the Packers would go with an all-out passing assault and ignore the run as they have so many times before. Green Bay used a nice mix with Starks and Rodgers, and the Buffalo product ran his ass off with people reminiscing about his 2010 NFL Playoff performance. If Starks stays at this level plus Lacy hopefully figuring it out, the Packers become even more lethal.

3rd Down Dominance - Some of the numbers were skewed with the fourth quarter as the Packers played more relax than they did in the other quarters, yet they shut Washington down Jon Taffer-style on third downs for most of the game. Whether it be a strong pass rush or their defensive backfield, they made the stops that did not happen against San Francisco.

B-Game
Sam Shields - Sticky played his ass off on Sunday. He had eight tackles, five of them being solo and also had three pass deflections. Washington's passing offense is predicated on running a lot of vertical routes with speedsters, Pierre Garcon and Santana Moss (I use that lightly with Moss as he can soon play in the 55+ leagues) and Green Bay took that out of the equation entirely. Shields and Tramon Williams deserve credit for that. They will have a challenge with A.J. Green this week.

Jordy Nelson - This is where grades could seem a little harsh. Nelson's catches were A-plus do not get me wrong, but he only had three of them for the game. Two ended up being touchdowns and man, did he make all of the catches look pretty?  FOX's Joe Buck seemed like he was falling in love watching Nelson play on Sunday and I really cannot blame him. Jordy is ballin' early on this season.

Mike Neal - My buddy Seth and I have a running ongoing joke about Mike Neal that he is just a workout warrior and would never really pan out for the Packers. Well both of us probably need to stop joking about that one. Neal made the transition to at least play some linebacker this year and he had an interception on Sunday on a fourth down play. Neal is a good player and yes, I still hope every day he stays healthy.

C-Game
Jerron McMillian - Here's the thing. He had five tackles. The middle of the field was still pretty open and I am scared as hell to watch him trying to take on the duel threat tight end group of Jermaine Gresham and Tyler Eifert, but he played better. He did not have the game where it looked like he puked all over himself throughout the game. McMillian might be a player that needs to be put in at different points of the game and not for the whole thing.

Davon House - WE WANT MORE HOUSE.  I have no idea how effective he would be if he played more than House did on Sunday, but his playtime needs to increase next week. House had a sack off the corner, a pass deflection and seemed to be everywhere on Special Teams. House might be the player who will fill the gap for the absence of Casey Hayward.

D-Game
Robert Griffin III - This is the section where I tell you like the 14140 people on the Internet that Robert Griffin III does not look the same player. He clearly does not want to get hurt again making Washington changed their offense entirely this year and the team has been limited. Maybe they figure it out in the coming weeks but next week against Detroit is an absolute must-win.

Don Barclay - Don is going to be the scapegoat of the offensive line this week. They did not play consistently this week and I felt like Barclay was the weakest of the group. He had a penalty on him and allowed too much through.

Iowa struggle is so real - A couple of us ventured to Des Moines, Iowa for a wedding this weekend. It was a grand time honestly, but trying to find the Packer game on the radio coming home was damn near impossible. We tried using a smart phone... no luck.  We had the FOX pregame only to get like an NFL Redzone Channel then it shit out on us sooner than later.  My buddy Brett was reading the play-by-play on ESPN while I was reading tweets from people for awhile. Thankfully, we found a radio broadcast by the second quarter.

F-Game
Josh Sitton... A target? - I have no idea if Sitton's back is the reason for all the holds so far this season, but man, it is becoming a problem. I believe, correct me if I am wrong, but officials watch tape too so maybe Sitton is getting fingered by the zebras as a holder, or opposing teams are telling the refs to watch #71. I think Sitton is fine, but he needs to cut out the holding.

Brandon Meriweather - A dirty player. It is really hard to call Merriweather something other than that. He launched his head at two Packers running backs. He will be fined and if he likely pulls something like this again, Meriweather will probably be suspended.

The whole Redskins secondary - They are so damn bad. Detroit has a great passing attack and Matthew Stafford could go off big time. I have no idea how Washington will stop their aerial attack.

Charlie.

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SnoTap Packer Preview: Washington v. Green Bay

Welcome to a new part of SnoTap where we preview the Packer game throughout and also feature a Packer playlist. The playlist will begin the post and feature anywhere from 17-25 songs.  It is an eclectic mix with all types of music and also features music from Washington DC artists.  

Sunday will start another year at Lambeau Field. This year, it is a bit different as the Packers have added new seats in the south endzone making the stadium over 80,000 strong putting Green Bay third in the NFL in terms of biggest stadiums and it will get loud. The new seats will contain the sound as they do in Seattle and it will be louder than it ever has before in Lambeau. It should be fun to see if Washington has any problems dealing with the snap counts come Sunday.

Both teams come in needing a win badly to avoid start the dreaded 0-2. No one wants to be 0-2 if they want to be in the playoffs in January. Only 13 percent of NFL teams since 1990 have made the playoffs after an 0-2 start. This game is extremely important and honestly, the team who loses this game will probably be the topic of the national media freakout with good reason too as both made the playoffs last season.  

It is weird both teams also have the same issue after Week 1, their secondary.  For the Packers, it is not really the entire defensive backfield.  Tramon Williams and Sam Shields did fine on the outsides covering the vertical routes yet the middle was completely exposed for the entire game. Jerron McMillian will not be starting and Chris Banjo will be in there instead. Banjo is an undrafted rookie going up against Fred Davis and a good Redskins receiving core so that should worry Packer fans. Banjo did have some impressive plays throughout the preseason, but an actual NFL game is far different than playing against his level of talent. 

The Redskins secondary problems are both with their corners and safeties. They were the 30th ranked pass defense last year and in the first game against Philadelphia, it showed everything stayed the same. Washington trotted out multiple rookies like David Amerson and Bacarri Rambo along with DeAngelo Hall whose about as useless as a three dollar bill.  Having two rookies and a washed up corner against Aaron Rodgers and the arsenal of wide receivers could be a disaster for Washington. Rodgers should be licking his chops for this one, and there is no reason Mike McCarthy should focus on the run early on. 

Robert Griffin III did not look like the same player last Monday night. He warmed up in the second half throwing for 276 yards, but RGIII seemed much more like a pocket passer versus being a duel-threat quarterback. Griffin did not look strong throwing the football even if he found receivers open. He did not look strong when it came to his base drawing comparisons to Tom Brady when he came back from his knee injury. I do think Griffin will get into stride again this year, but that will probably happen in October making me happy the Packers face them in the second week of the season. 

The Packers seemed to get away from San Francisco injury-free, but as the week continued, Josh Sitton and Jermichael Finley both came up with injuries. Sitton is bothered by a bad back and Finley has a toe injury. Both have a great deal importance to this team and making the offense run efficiently.  Sitton's absence would be far more significant than Finley. While the Packers are thinner at tight end than you believe, there are enough offensive weapons to survive without J-Mike. Sitton goes out, the offensive line will have to do some massive shuffling on Sunday. It appears Morgan Burnett will be playing, but there is a chance he could still miss the game. All three practiced yesterday although Finley and Sitton were limited, there is no guarantee any three of these players will go on Sunday.   

As for the game, it is always scary to face Rodgers with his back against the wall. It is even more scarier when the secondary of Washington.  The Packers QB will have a big game on Sunday and put everyone on notice. I also think the Packers run defense will come up big again.  Green Bay 31  Washington 20 

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32 in 31: Washington Redskins

Another year of 32 in 31. Sports News on Tap takes the month of August to preview the National Football League. We spend every day of the month looking at a new team and how they will fare in 2013.

One of the more talked about teams in the National Football League this offseason. Whether it be for their controversial nickname that is leading people to just call them 'Washington' or the 'Washington National Football Club', or how the relationship is between head coach Mike Shanahan and Robert Griffin III.

RGIII seems like he will be back for the first game of the NFL season which is pretty incredible given he tore up his knee in mid-January.  The Redskins might heading down the regression train as they play a tougher schedule than they did last year or they might rise above it. Washington bring back a majority of their starters and can find way back to the playoffs.  

OFFENSE
The forgotten man in the Redskins offense is Alfred Morris. If there were not three great rookie quarterbacks last season, Morris is hands down the Rookie of the Year last season.  He had a massive impact on making Washington a successful football team. Shanahan is truly unpredictable when it comes to running backs. Morris could be the big dog again or it could be a combination of Evan Royster, Roy Helu (HELUUUUUU) and Morris.

Everyone is predicting a huge year from Pierre Garcon. I will believe it when I see it. Garcon only had one year where he played in all 16 games of the season. He missed six games last year with injury as well. Garcon looked like a threat playing with RGIII, but he always had some sort of nagging injury. I would expect a good year from him, but let's not get overtly excited about him.

As for Griffin III, he will definitely have teams adjusting to his style of play. No way around it, and it will be up to him and the coaches to figure out new ways to exploit all of his skills. I would be stunned if he keeps running the football as much as he did last season. I know it is part of his M.O. but still, RGIII needs to  spend more time  in the pocket if he expects to finish the season.

DEFENSE
The Redskins defense starts with their linebackers and ends with their linebackers. Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan are two of the best edge rushers in the NFL.  They can create havoc for any team and if the team has a weak offensive line, Washington's defense might be in the backfield more often than not. They also have the established middle linebacker with London Fletcher. I do not know how the linebacker does it in his 16 years of playing football; Fletcher is one of the best underrated players in the last 30 years. After the linebackers, there is a slightly significant drop-off.

Their secondary is truly a problem. They tried to change things by adding three different secondary players in the 2013 NFL Draft, but who knows if any of the three will be able to make an impact. Josh Wilson did not have the impact as much as the team expected him to. DeAngelo Hall is still playing football and he shows flashes of brilliance every now and again. E.J. Biggers is coming from Tampa Bay, but he is a complete unknown honestly. Brandon Meriweather fails to stay healthy, but he defines the term 'big hitter'.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Washington has had their struggles with kicking, but they finally seemed to figure out with Kai Forbarth whom was great after being signed mid-season. Sav Rocca is a fat punter, but he is a good fat punter. Their return game is still unknown after getting rid of Brandon Banks in the offseason.

KEY ADDITIONS
CB E.J. Biggers, DE Phillip Merling, OT Jeremy Trueblood, LB Daryl Tapp - For the first time in a long time, the Redskins did absolutely nothing in free agent minus Biggers whom started 24 games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the last three games.

KEY SUBTRACTIONS
S Madieu Williams, LB Lorenzo Alexander, TE Chris Cooley, CB Cedric Griffin

REDSKINS DRAFT PICKS
CB David Amerson, TE Jordan Reed, S Phillip Thomas, RB Chris Thompson, DE Brandon Jenkins, S Bacarri Rambo, RB Jawan Jamison - Amerson had a bad year leading him to be a second round pick, he has first round potential. I like Rambo strictly for his last name.

GAME TO WATCH
Sunday December 1st: vs. New York Giants 7:30 pm - Washington does not play the Giants until the final month of the season. They play this game and then they close out the schedule with the New York Football Giants. It should be a good one as they played a classic here last year.

WIN TOTAL 
8-11 - The Redskins might be the only team where I put a three win buffer on their potential wins. The reason being is I am unsure with this team just as much as Philadelphia given Robert Griffin III's health plus there is always a possibility of regression.  

Charlie.

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