ARIZONA vs Sea. Whatever you may think of the Cardinals' offense, best to lower expectations this week. Seattle has one of the league's best defenses, and looked it while holding New England to 277 net yards and 10 points last week. Arizona scored 20-22 points while losing both games a year ago, but that looks like their ceiling here.
Tyler Allgeier started and played about 60 percent of the snaps at
Los Angeles. Jeremiyah Love played about 40 percent, but scored from 5
yards out and had a 4-2 edge in targets in the passing game. Most importantly,
the rookie showed no ill effects from the ankle injury he suffered in the
preseason. It looks like a timeshare, but it was encouraging to see Love appear
both healthy and a factor around the end zone, while also being the favored
receiver, as expected. As for this week, though, it's a pretty tough matchup.
Seattle ranked 3rd in run defense a year ago, allowing a league-low 9
touchdowns, and made Rhamondre Stevenson look bad in Week 1 (18 carries, 51
yards). Operating in a committee won't help matters. Stevenson caught 5 passes
for 44 yards in that game; that and his obvious talent are the best arguments
for Love in this matchup. Arizona's best pass catcher for these games a year
ago, Emari Demercado, caught 5 passes and a touchdown.
Jacoby Brissett started at Seattle last season, completing only half
his passes but for 258 yards and 2 TDs. He had a lot of games like that a year
ago, and another in Week 1 (277 yards and a score while upsetting the
Chargers). Brissett can play, and he's got a nice group of weapons around him.
Best to tread carefully here, with Seattle the 13th-ranked pass defense a year
ago, allowing just 20 touchdowns in 17 games (a quarter of which where thrown
by the league MVP). Above-average yards are a possibility (Arizona shouldn't do
much on the ground), but just 1 TD seems likely. Brissett had an 11-yard run
last week, so he'll run a little, but not a big part of his game these days.
Last season: 12 yards per week, with 1 TD.
Those who selected Trey McBride as the top tight end are feeling
good this week, with Brock Bowers dealing with a troublesome knee and McBride
having one of his typical games at LA (9 for 95 with a touchdown). McBride was solid
in this series a year ago: 7 for 52 in the home game, with Kyler Murray at
quarterback, and 9 for 127 with a touchdown at Seattle, with Brissett.
It was an interesting wide receiver deployment in the opener. Michael
Wilson, Marvin Harrison and Kendrick Bourne all started, and
it was journeyman Bourne (despite playing slightly fewer snaps) leading them in
targets, receptions and yards. Bourne has stepped up with big games in the
past, both for New England and San Francisco (back-to-back games over 140 yards
just last year). It hasn't tended to last, but there's little choice but to
factor him into the top 3, taking some production away from the others. More of
the offense should come through the air this week, giving these players some
potential, but they're probably fighting for just a single touchdown (and
McBride and Love are reasonable possibilities). Harrison scored in both Seattle
games last year, but caught just a single pass last week.
Chad Ryland knocked in 4 field goals at Los Angeles, with another
off the upright (from 54 yards). Lousy spot here to keep things going, with
Seattle allowing just 5.9 points per week to kickers a year ago, and 4 to the
Patriots in the opener.
The Cardinals Defense might be able to make a game of things.
Seattle will be starting Drew Lock, who will be asked to game-manage his way to
a lower-scoring win. Lock took only 1 sack without turning it over in the
opener, but for his career has thrown 28 interceptions while starting 28 games,
while taking about 2 sacks per week. Expectations remain low for Arizona, but
it managed 3 sacks and 2 takeaways at the Chargers.
This report is just a small snippet of the Week 2 edition of Fantasy Index Weekly, part of the In-Season Analyst & Super Fanatic Packages. The newsletter includes our player rankings and 20-plus pages of matchup previews, plus stat projections and custom rankings for the games being played this weekend.
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