As the smoke clears from Week 2, player expectations are becoming a little more visible. Week 1, you can often discard as an anomaly. Week 2, if a player again looks good (or bad), it becomes a pattern. Stay tuned to see if some of the following patterns turn into trends in Week 3. As the smoke clears from Week 2, player expectations are becoming a little more visible. Week 1, you can often discard as an anomaly. Week 2, if a player again looks good (or bad), it becomes a pattern. Stay tuned to see if some of the following patterns turn into trends in Week 3.
Berri good time
Bears WR Bernard Berrian turned in a fine outing vs. the Lions, catching five for 89 yards and a score. Itâs too soon to say with certainty that Berrian will become Rex Grossmanâs favorite target, especially considering he caught only one pass in Week 1 (but that one was a 49-yard TD). But the FT feels good enough about it to drop Kevin Curtis or Ashley Lelie or the like to take a flier on Berrian. That said, we donât expect Grossman to often duplicate his 4-TD, 0-INT outing from this past week.
Rock road
Carson Palmer hasnât been blazing to start, but the FT fully expects him to rebound, especially by the end of the year. That is good for your fantasy squad, because he plays much weaker defenses in the second half of the season than he will for the next eight weeks.
Donât be shocked if the numbers for Palmer, WR Chad Johnson and RB Rudi Johnson are somewhat stagnant for this stretch â at Pittsburgh, vs. New England, bye, at Tampa, vs. Carolina, vs. Atlanta, at Baltimore, vs. San Diego. But rest easy, after that tough run awaits New Orleans, Cleveland and Oakland in a four-week span.
Smooth sailing
On the flip side, the Dolphins have the luxury of facing some lackluster defensive units in the coming weeks â Titans, Texans, Patriots, Jets, Packers. QB Daunte Culpepper should have ample opportunity the next two weeks to get up to speed in his new offense before a reasonable test vs. the Pats. Perhaps weâll see RB Ronnie Brown start producing like we had hoped before the season â though last weekâs 4.7 yards/carry wasnât bad.
Week 3 for the money
The Cardinals have proven they canât defend the pass. So if you have a Rams WR or QB Marc Bulger, this is a week to start them. Isaac Bruce and/or Kevin Curtis might finally have that breakout game weâve been waiting for.
It might only be two weeks into the season, but Donte Stallworth has skyrocketed up the FT WR charts. He is an every-week play at this point. Expect to hear nothing more about Stallworth unless his production dips. But of course, at the end of the season, we reserve the right to brag about our Week 1 call â Stallworth will be this yearâs Steve Smith.
The Saints will be fired up for their return to the Superdome on Monday vs. the Falcons. But a bad defense will only slow the Birds down for a bit. Michael Vick and Warrick Dunn will both run wild. But the only pass-catcher worth a starting spot is still TE Alge Crumpler.
Week links
It appears Smith might play this week for the Panthers. If you drafted him, itâs been killing you having him on your bench. And certainly, as soon as heâs back, he will be an integral part of the Carolina offense. If he does play, you might as well start him. But if you have a solid option otherwise, donât be afraid to keep him out of your lineup.
If youâve jumped on the Chad Pennington/Jerricho Cotchery bandwagon, you might have gotten on a little too early. The Bills caused trouble for Culpepper last week and, more impressively, the Patriots Tom Brady in Week 1. Donât expect another 300-yard outing by Chad, and a quiet out by Jerricho wouldnât be a surprise either.
dloftis@nypost.com