As there is with every week, Week 2 of the NFL season had some fantasy football surprises, both good and bad.
One surprise on the field of live action took place in Arizona this past week as the Cardinals stomped the Buccaneers by a score of 40-7. Fantasy football heroes were hard to come by on Tampa’s roster as pretty much everyone had a down day.
For second year quarterback Jameis Winston it was a stark reminder he still has plenty of room to grow. After throwing an interception on the Bucs’ first possession of the game it didn’t get any better outside of one touchdown drive, and the gunslinger finished with four interceptions to his single scoring throw.
Starting running back Doug Martin left in the first half with a hamstring injury and has since been ruled out for three weeks. This places Charles Sims firmly in the starting role while Jacquizz Rodgers will play the backup.
None of the running backs finished with stat lines to speak of and fantasy football owners were certainly disappointed with anything they got from Martin and Sims.
For receivers, it was a career day for second year player Adam Humphries who hauled in six catches for 67 yards. The lack of a touchdown keeps his scoring to single digits though as Mike Evans caught the Bucs’ only touchdown strike boosting his fantasy line to an acceptable 16 points in PPR (.5 pts per catch).
The Buccaneers defense was torched for all but seven of the Cardinals’ points as Carson Palmer connected on three touchdown passes including one to Larry Fitzgerald in the endzone despite overly aggressive coverage on the part of one Brent Grimes.
Week 2 is history though, and all involved will look to get better this weekend as Dirk Koetter leads his team into their home stadium for the first time against the Los Angeles Rams.
On to Week 3!
Next: Los Angeles Rams @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers