Buy, Sell, Hold: Week 2 Sep 13, 2012 | More
More articles from Jake Hower

Welcome to the week of overreaction!

Clearly, everyone got the draft wrong. Calvin Johnson, the best receiver in the game? Whatever. That dude has bust written all over him. He couldn’t even score against the St. Louis Rams. Kevin Ogletree is obviously the best wideout in the game. He not only went for 114 yards and two touchdowns, he did it against the defending Super Bowl Champions. I can’t believe you didn’t draft him. Stop lying, no you didn’t. No one believes you’re part of the 0.01 percent of people that actually drafted him.

But the people that spent an early- or mid-round pick on Robert Griffin III, however, belong in Mensa. Griffin III is not only the best rookie quarterback, he’s one of the Top 3 quarterbacks in the entire league. Drew Brees? Keep walking son, not buying it. We’re all stocked up on crazy here. Brees was in the same game and was clearly outplayed by the rookie, by a whole point! And Fred Jackson…please! The guy only played 10 games last season. Anyone who spent a Top 30 pick on him (his average draft position) was asking for disappointment.

Why even bother playing out the rest of the season? I think it’s pretty clear who are the winners and who are the losers. Half of you are dusting off the mantle and adding recessed lighting to show off the league trophy that will inevitably reside there. The other half are Googling the highest bridge in your area, and are on the third draft of your farewell letter. Really, your third draft? It’s a suicide note; no one is going to check punctuation.

Pump the brakes.   It’s only been one week.

Plenty of action still to come.

Here’s who I’m “BUYING” going into Week 2:

Matt Ryan is finally ready to join the ranks of elite quarterbacks. Yes, the hype train has been building steam for some time now, to which I usually give the stink eye, but the weapons are there and firing away (except for Michael Turner).

It feels a lot better popping the bubbly after Week 1 (aka Miller High Life, it is the “champagne of beers” after all), than sweating the possibility of starting off the season 0-2 heading into this week’s matchup. Week 1 and I are just now back on speaking terms.

Adrian Peterson is a freak and should be tested. Not for performance enhancing drugs or anything like that, but to make sure the dude is human.

There will be five-plus new names in the Top 10 scorers at wide receivers in Week 2.

Matchups I like this week:

• QB - Cam Newton. Newton, and the whole Carolina offense for that matter, was far from spectacular last week against Tampa Bay. Did not see that one coming. My guess is he bounces back this week against a New Orleans defense that just got touched up last week by Robert Griffin III to the tune of 320 passing yards, two touchdowns and another 42 yards on the ground.
• RB - BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Green-Ellis ran pretty hard last week against Baltimore. This week he gets a cozier matchup against Cleveland. Green-Ellis is not quite LeSean McCoy, but he does stand a chance to do improve on a strong Week 1 stat-line of 90-plus yards and a touchdown.
• WR - Percy Harvin. The Indianapolis secondary let the Chicago receivers run by them all last week. Now it’s Harvin’s turn to lace up his track shoes. On your mark.

Here’s who I’m “HOLDING” going into Week 2:

Robert Griffin III is the latest and greatest. Yes, he had a phenomenal start to his career in Week 1, but like I mentioned last week, he was walking into a pretty favorable situation. Could he be the next best thing since malted hops? Possibly. I know Washington is hoping he is. He has another good matchup this week. Can we squeeze in a few more rows on the bandwagon? We’re expecting a few more.

Joe Flacco and Mark Sanchez are viable starters at quarterback. It was good to see that both of them are capable of putting up numbers when the reigns are loosened a bit, but I’m not plugging them into my lineup just yet. Using one as a QB2? I’m fine with that, but I’d still probably look at their matchup on my starter’s bye week before making the claim or trade.

Kevin Smith has taken over. A line of 91 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns is a good start. Jahvid Best isn’t around to steal carries and won’t be for a while, if ever. But keep in mind all those points came against the St. Louis Rams (and yes, I am a Rams fan). Besides, if Mikel Leshoure stops eating his greens every time there’s a super trooper in his rearview, he stands a good chance to eat into Smith’s carries.

Kevin Ogletree is this year’s Laurent Robinson. In 2011, Robinson put up 858 yards receiving and 11 touchdowns. Sure, Ogletree is on pace for 1,824 yards and 32 touchdowns at the moment, but it could prove difficult to sustain that type of production. Remember that Robinson also got a nice boost to his playing time last year when all the other Dallas wideouts were held hostage by the training room. While that could easily happen again, my hamstrings tighten up even flying through the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but those are lofty expectations for Dallas’ current No. 3 wide receiver.

Tough matchups for studs this week:

• QB - Michael Vick. You might want to argue the point of Vick being a stud after his performance last week against Cleveland, but the guy’s ceiling is as high as it gets. This week he matches up against Baltimore. The question is whether the Ravens’ secondary will have Ed Reed in it or not?

• RB - Ahmad Bradshaw. He racked up double-digit fantasy points against the Dallas Cowboys last week, but Tampa Bay’s defense just got done dancing with the dates of Carolina’s offensive line. I don’t think the Giants’ offensive line is any better, and Bradshaw will have a tough time finding running lanes. 
• WR - Wes Welker. For whatever the reason, the 'Slot Machine' was out of order last week in Tennessee. Welker could easily bounceback this week, or he could once again be overlooked in offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ downfield attack. The Arizona Cardinals do a decent job against the pass, but is it really up to them? This is a murky situation that I thankfully don’t have any part of.

Here’s who I’m “SELLING” going into Week 2:

Alfred Morris will be the leading rusher for the Washington Redskins this season. Yes, 21 points in standard scoring is a nice week, don’t get me wrong, especially for a rookie. And yes, coach Mike Shanahan tabbed Morris as his starting running back earlier in the week. But if he told you wolverines would make good house pets, would you believe him?   My guess is the Redskins leading rusher by year’s end is probably playing underground rugby somewhere in Venezuela.

Matchups to avoid this week:

• QB - Joe Flacco. Nice job in Week 1. Now you get to face the toughest pass defense in the league. Have fun.
• RB - Kevin Smith. Hope you had a good time against the St. Louis Rams last week. The San Francisco 49ers play in the same division as St. Louis, but their defenses are slightly different.
• WR - Any Cleveland wide receiver. That was ugly. Cincinnati’s secondary is hard to confuse with Philadelphia’s, but still.

Until the next go-round.