I won the battle but may have lost the war. I got into the win column but lost two of my top players, Saquon Barkley and Courtland Sutton, both to season-ending torn ACLs. After two games it was clear The Giants were already on track to have a dreadful season even before Barkley went down, but he is the kind of talent that despite a shoddy offensive line and game scripts that are going to have them down early and often you figure he still would have generated decent garbage time fantasy points - maybe not at the rate that would justify him being the second highest rated player in the league, but still decent. It's all academic, now. He gone.
Courtland missed the opener but was cleared just before Sunday's game. He is so tall and quick, he instantly started getting targets and catches. Aaaaaand then he was down and out. Not only did I lose them for the season but they went out so early in their games that they left me very little for the week: 8.10 from Sutton and an anemic 2.80 from Barkley.
If it weren't for that weird-ass Dallas game where Dak Prescott dug a big ol' hole and then flipped the switch into video game mode for 41.80 points (15 points over his projection) I would have struggled to get to 100 points, much less have a chance to win. My top-drafted receiver, Detroit's Kenny Golladay, still hasn't played a single snap - though he looks to be on track to start this coming Sunday in Arizona. Carolina's Robby Anderson was my twelfth overall pick but so far has turned out to be one of my best dudes. I took him to be a pure backup for Golladay and Sutton and an occasional flex starter but in my wideout void he has been a savior these first two weeks. Week One he was projected at 9.64 and scored 22.40 and this week a 9.75 projection that yielded 13.40 points. Chris Carson was my second pick behind Saquon and he is doing his share with 21.60 and 18.30 points. He will do nicely as my number one back without Barkley, it's finding a number two that is going to be impossible.
In Week Two I benefited from Wyldesyde19's Wolves having some key guys underperform - The Colts scored 28 points with only three short passes going to T.Y. Hilton and Jimmy Graham was only targeted once by Chicago - plus Raheem Mostert wasn't able to finish his game and add to that amazing beginning. Going into the Monday Night game I had a 70% chance to win, a 21.2 point lead, BUT Wylde had Drew Brees going. I had picked up Saints WR Tre'Quan Smith off of the waiver wire. With Megastud Michael Thomas out of the lineup Smith had a chance of seeing some targets. Most of the "experts" thought Emmanuel Sanders would become the favored receiver in Thomas' absence. How did that work out, Parrotheads? Sanders caught only one ball late while Tre'Quan saw seven targets and had five catches for 86 yard in the loss. Even better for me, since all of those passes came from Brees it essentially negated those points for Wyldesyde. Drew threw a 29-yard pass to Smith and the Wylde Wolves got +1.16 points while I got +3.4 points. The Saints somehow struggled past the first quarter and most of New Orleans scores came on the ground leaving Breesy with only 16.48 points in the loss and 11.10 for me and T-Smith which meant I won by almost 16 points.
But I clearly can't count on Dak Prescott putting up 40+ points per game which means those holes left by Sutton and especially Barkley are gonna be TOUGH to fill. This may be may last win for a while, unless everybody else starts losing two of their top picks for the season (which would be ugly).