If you followed the QB2 streaming recommendations I wrote about on XN Sports for Week 1 of the 2014 NFL regular season you were either left with a big grin on your face or blocked me on Twitter for my nonsense.
Quick recap: Jay Cutler, Carson Palmer, Alex Smith, and Geno Smith were the quarterbacks I recommended you stream in your QB2 slot, if you had the opportunity to do so.
This is how they finished the week in standard scoring leagues: Palmer-QB5 (21.06 fantasy points), Jay Cutler-QB10 (17.96 fantasy points), Geno Smith-QB24 (12.64 fantasy points), and Alex Smith-QB27 (9.68 fantasy points).
In Cutler and Palmer you had two rock-solid QB1 performances, and in the two Smiths you had a (just barely) QB2 in Geno in 12-team 2-QB leagues, and a QB3 in Alex. That’s it for the Week 1 QB2 streaming recap, let us move onto possible Week 2 QB2 streamers…
Week 2 QB2 Streaming Circle of Trust
Jake Locker vs. Dallas
Some of us were still skeptical of Jake Locker heading into Week 1. For the non-believers hopefully they bought into Locker more than they had before after he finished the week as the QB6 in standard scoring fantasy leagues. His 20.04 fantasy outing was the fourth time he has scored at least 15 fantasy points in his last seven starts (stat from Rich Hribar).
Courtesy of Adam Levitan of Rotoworld: Locker has thrown 10 touchdowns, ran for two, and has only been picked off four times in his last eight games. Those are stats that make you think a quarterback has broken through.
This week the Tennessee signal caller faces a dreadful Dallas defense that was picked apart by quarterbacks last year, having surrendered the second most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. Colin Kaepernick continued the trend in 2014, scoring 17.14 fantasy points vs. Dallas Week 1 of this season.
Most of Kaepernick’s damage came in the first half though, as the 49ers put the brakes on the offensive game plan once the game was out of reach. It was 28-3 at halftime, and Kaepernick only attempted 10 passes the second half, completing five of them for 44 yards. In the first half he was 11-of-13 for 157 yards and two touchdowns.
Frank Gore and Carlos Hyde combined for 17 rushes the second half, compared to only six they ran the first half.
There is a worry that game script could become a factor in this game away, taking away Locker’s chances at putting up monster numbers. He should hopefully still be able to put up enough fantasy points to see him finish with respectable numbers though.
Geno Smith vs. Green Bay
Yes, Geno Smith was only the 24th-highest scoring fantasy signal caller in Week 1, barely making him a useful QB2. However, he was thisclose to adding a rushing touchdown to his total, having been tackled at the one-yard line vs. Oakland. If you add six points to his Week 1 totals, if he had scored, he would have finished the week as the QB7 for the week.
Smith led all quarterbacks in rushing attempts (10) and rushing yards (38) last week. Dating back to last season that’s three straight games with 10 rushing attempts, and he has at least five rushing attempts per game since Week 14 of the 2013 season.
The Packers allowed four or more rushing attempts to opposing quarterbacks five times last season, with Nick Foles credited with a high of eight rushing attempts in Week 10. Russell Wilson ran for 29 yards on seven attempts in Week 1 of this season vs. Green Bay already.
Green Bay potentially scoring a ton of points, forcing New York to catch up could lead to the Jets having to rely more on the pass. Couple that with Smith’s rushing prowess, and you have a recipe for potential fantasy points for Smith.
Andy Dalton vs. Atlanta
This was a telling stat I came across this week during my research, courtesy of Mr. LateRoundQB, JJ Zachariason: “Andy Dalton’s splits against bottom half defenses are borderline ridiculous, as he scored about 10 points more versus bad secondaries last year as opposed to good ones.”
The Falcons’ defense, Dalton’s Week 2 opponent, is not a good pass defense, as you know. They just gave up 333 passing yards and a touchdown to Drew Brees in Week 1.
With JJ’s words as a guide, I took to the rotoViz Game Splits App to see exactly how Dalton performed vs. top and bottom ranked pass defenses last year…
Just as JJ said, Dalton scored 9.79 fantasy points more/game vs. bottom ranked pass defenses in 2013 than he did against better pass defenses.
Dalton scored 18.34 fantasy points last week, and is currently on a five-game streak of scoring at least 18 fantasy points/game. His averages over that five game span: 290.2 passing yards, 2.4 passing touchdowns, 0.8 interceptions, 13.4 rushing yards, and 23.76 fantasy points. I currently have Dalton ranked as my QB14 for the week, but could see him surpassing that ranking this week.
*Stats used in this article from Rotoworld, FantasyData, Yahoo, ESPN, Pro-Football-Reference, numberFire, and rotoViz
