Steve and Zack's Week 2 Panic Attack!

Welcome to Week 2 of Steve & Zack’s Panic Attack, where we tell you who to panic on and who to ride the wave with. Unfortunately, we’ve got quite a few repeat offenders making appearances this week; if they're not careful, some of these guys may find themselves booked into the PANIC ROOM next week! Let's look at some of this week’s biggest letdowns, and determine who’s causing us minor heartburn, and who’s causing us to have a full-blown PANIC ATTACK!!

Lions @ Bills

• Jameson Williams
  • 3 targets, 2 receptions, 33 yards
  • Jamo seemed like an afterthought in a game where the Lions were playing from behind the whole time. This is now two straight weeks of lowly involvement in this offense. It seems that Laporta and Amon-Ra are the top 2 targets on plays that Jahmyr Gibbs doesn't touch the ball. 
  • Panic Meter: 5/10. I’m starting to become genuinely concerned about Jamo’s role in the Lions offense. He will have some spike weeks, but it's going to be hard to predict when those will be.

Panthers @ Falcons

• Kyle Pitts
  • 3 targets, 1 reception, 15 yards
  • KYLE PITTS WHERE ARE YOU???!!! The Falcons offense is putrid, unwatchable, and the worst form of professional football since Nathan Peterman. If Penix or Tua don’t return soon AND play well, we could be in for a long and frustrating season for Pitts. 
  • Panic Meter: 6/10. I am scared at this point. What if Penix or Tua IS NOT better than what we are dealing with so far? Nevertheless, there is still hope… but I am scared.
• Jonathon Brooks
  • 5 carries, 16 yards, 1 target, 1 reception, -5 yards
  • At this point, Chuba Hubbard has taken a firm hold of this backfield. Moving forward, Brooks is at best a handcuff with upside. 
  • Panic Meter: 9/10. I'm not sure if this is truly a Panic situation, or more of an acceptance of defeat. He doesn't have much of a role and requires an injury to Chuba to get meaningful touches. 

Vikings @ Bears

• Luther Burden 
  • 7 targets, 3 receptions, 32 yards
  • Let’s hope Caleb is OK.  Even with Caleb in though, Burden has struggled to get involved early this season, despite what was promised by Ben Johnson and all of your favorite X accounts this past offseason. The production is beginning to become concerning, but the fact he saw 7 targets at least leaves a sliver of hope that better days are ahead.
  • Panic Meter: 4/10. I am not panicking yet, but I am certainly worried and keeping an eye out moving forward. Luther may need to be benched on our fantasy teams until we see some production.
• Colston Loveland
  • 3 targets, 1 reception, 3 yards
  • Somehow, Colston Loveland’s breakout seems further away than we thought. He saw the same amount of targets as Sam Roush, and had less receiving yards. It is becoming very concerning especially given the price he was drafted at this offseason in both dynasty and redraft leagues. 
  • Panic Meter: 7/10. It is not over for Loveland, but it is certainly scary. 1 catch for 3 yards over 2 full games is NOT good. Managers may need to leave Loveland on benches moving forward until he produces. He’s still a hold until further notice.
• Jordan Addison
  • 5 targets, 2 receptions, 21 yards
  • The Vikings offense is just not producing enough to support multiple receivers in a week. This week, they barely had to do anything to win the game and mostly ran the ball due to rough weather conditions. Let’s chalk this up to a weather week for now.
  • Panic Meter: 3/10. Not sure anyone expected a whole lot out of Addison this season, but so far it has been less than whatever that expectation was. Addison will have some better weeks, but like Jameson Williams, it will be hard to predict. He is better left on benches for now.

Eagles @ Titans

• Carnell Tate
  • 5 targets, 3 receptions, 27 yards
  • Slow start to the season for Tate, but this is par for the course for most rookie WRs in the NFL. The hope here is that as the Titans offense gets more comfortable, Tate sees more weekly targets. Cam Ward was at least a bit better in Week 2 than in Week 1.
  • Panic Meter: 2/10. Tate is probably going to have a pretty good career given his draft capital, but it might take a few more weeks for us to get the breakout game we are all waiting for. Don’t panic; he’s a rookie. 
• Tony Pollard
  • 14 carries, 64 yards, 1 target, 1 reception, 1 yard
  • Pollard is becoming a TD-dependent option on a weekly basis. He has almost zero involvement in the passing game, and there is some expectation that Nicholas Singleton will progressively see more snaps as the season goes on (he actually had a drive to himself this week so it may be sooner rather than later). 
  • Panic Meter: 7/10. If Pollard doesn't start putting together some better weeks, it wouldn't be surprising for the Titans to test out their younger back Nick Singleton. I am not a big Pollard guy going forward, unless Week 3 proves better than Weeks 1 and 2.
• Makai Lemon
  • 1 target, 1 reception, 14 yards
  • Similar to Tate, Lemon has gotten off to a pretty slow start to the season. Also similar to Tate, I am not yet concerned. Lemon is incredibly talented and most rookie WRs take time to adjust to the NFL. 
  • Panic Meter: 2/10. Lemon will be fine but he needs some time just like Tate. Rookies take time to break out. Be patient; don’t panic.

Steelers @ Patriots

• Aaron Rodgers
  • 23/39, 187 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 1 carry, 5 yards
  • Rodgers and the Steelers have looked pretty awful the first two weeks of the season. The offense has the same number of TDs as the defense. 2010 Brett Favre comes to mind… I am not sure NFL players are supposed to play until they are 42 years old. 
  • Panic Meter: 6/10. Unless we see some drastic improvement from the Steelers offense, this is looking to be a season to forget for Aaron Rodgers… a pretty sad last dance. He’s best left on benches or waivers, even in superflex leagues.
• DK Metcalf
  • 9 targets, 4 receptions, 27 yards
  • Once again, DK got plenty of targets, and once again, he failed to do anything with them. There will be better weeks in the future, but for now, it looks pretty rough out there for him and the Steelers offense as a whole.
  • Panic Meter: 5/10. DK is fine, but at this point we are hoping for a few spike weeks on volume alone, given the Steelers offensive struggles. Hoping for the best is all that can really be said about DK at this point.
• Drake Maye
  • 14/22, 203 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 4 carries, 17 yards
  • Yikes! Two weeks in a row where Drake “The Schedule” Maye has lived up to his not-so-laudatory nickname. Unlike last year, Maye has struggled with interceptions and is looking like a shell of himself. The hope at this point is that AJ Brown will return from injury and Maye will return to form.
  • Panic Meter: 4/10. It is going to be a rough couple of weeks for Maye as he awaits AJ Brown’s return. While Doubs looked better this week, the Patriots offense looked pretty bleak outside of a few explosive plays. There is still reason to hold out hope for Maye, but he might have to ride some pine on fantasy teams until further notice.
• Rhamondre Stevenson
  • 6 carries, 43 yards, 2 targets, 1 reception, 3 yards, 1 fumble lost
  • Mr. Butterfingers himself has returned to grace us with his presence, only this time Vrabel actually benched him for Treveyon Henderson. Hendo immediately took it to the house with a long TD run on the next drive. However, Rhamondre still got some meaningful snaps on passing downs later in the game. 
  • Panic Meter: 5/10. Rhamondre was fine in this game, but the loss of significant volume to Treveyon is concerning. It seems like Henderson will end up leading this backfield in carries most weeks, while Rhamondre gets passing down work and potentially some goal line work.

Packers @ Jets

• Tucker Kraft
  • 3 targets, 2 receptions, 15 yards
  • Despite playing almost every snap and running a route on most of them, Kraft inexplicably was left out of the Packers passing attack. Overall, his involvement in the offense is encouraging and I expect better days ahead.
  • Panic Meter: 2/10. Not too worried about Kraft moving forward. Unlike some of the other TEs on this list, this may be due to Kraft ramping up his workload and getting worked back into the offense.

Browns @ Buccaneers

• Quinshon Judkins
  • 12 carries, 21 yards, 5 targets, 5 receptions, 27 yards
  • Wow, Judkins has looked horrible running the ball this season. Through Week 2, he has yet to have a carry go for more than 10 yards. The Browns offense was actually decent this week, but Judkins is not included in that judgement. 
  • Panic Meter: 5/10. In dynasty, Judkins is definitely a hold as he is still 22 years young. However, I would be benching him in redraft until the Browns figure out how to generate a rushing attack.

Saints @ Ravens

• Travis Etienne
  • 8 carries, 25 yards, 2 targets, 2 receptions, 6 yards, 2pt conversion
  • This is now 2 weeks in a row where Etienne seemingly was in a low upside split with another RB (Kendre Miller in Week 1, now Alvin Kamara in Week 2). Did the Saints really pay this man $48M to barely touch the ball? I find that hard to believe. For now, there is a decent level of concern around his workload.
  • Panic Meter: 4/10. The Saints offense looks good through 2 weeks; let’s just hope that starts to include more Etienne moving forward.

Bengals @ Texans

• David Montgomery
  • 6 carries, 10 yards, 2 targets, 2 receptions, 14 yards
  • After a huge fantasy performance in Week 1, Monty went in the opposite direction in Week 2. He basically split snaps evenly with Woody Marks, and the Texans played from behind (albeit not by much) for most of the game. Regardless of game script, it is still odd that he only got 8 total touches in the game, but it seems that the Texans just gave up on running the football against Sexy Dexy and the Bengals’ defense.
  • Panic Meter: 3/10. This has been the concern leading into the season for Montgomery: The Texans will utilize Woody Marks in the passing game, and in some games, just abandon the run game altogether.. The Texans have a good enough defense to allow for Monty to get some better game scripts moving forward, so expect better days ahead.

Raiders @ Chargers

• Justin Herbert
  • 15/27, 192 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs, 3 carries, 2 yards 
  • This is the second consecutive week where Herbert has been less than advertised, although this week was a bit worse than Week 1. I am starting to grow concerned with the entire Chargers offense, but let's wait until Ladd is healthy again before we go that far. In the meantime, Justin Herbert has struggled against two supposedly bad NFL teams in back-to-back weeks. The Mike McDaniel offense isn't looking too hot so far.
  • Panic Meter: 5/10. Hopefully there will be better days ahead for Herbert and the Chargers, but with their upcoming schedule against the Bills, Seahawks, Broncos, Chiefs, Rams, Texans, and Ravens, they may need some kind of miracle to get things turned around.
• Quentin Johnston
  • 5 targets, 1 reception, 7 yards 
  • Through the first 2 weeks of the season, QJ has 11 targets, 3 receptions, and 24 yards. That is just not good. At this point, QJ needs to be treated like Jordan Addison: We don’t know when, but at some point there will be a big week or two, likely highlighted by big plays. 
  • Panic Meter: 8/10. With the Chargers offense on a landslide, it's best to bench QJ moving forward, and I would even consider a look at the waiver wire in shallower leagues. I am panicking on this one.

Jaguars @ Broncos

• Brian Thomas Jr.
  • 8 targets, 3 receptions, 40 yards
  • For the second week in a row, BTJ produced exactly 3 receptions for 40 yards. Unlike Week 1, this week featured some pretty awful drops and missed connections. BTJ looks arguably worse than he did during last year’s falloff,, and Parker Washington has been incredible. It is beginning to look a lot like BTJ is the tertiary option in this offense most weeks, even if his target count looks good. 
  • Panic Meter: 6/10. It isn't funny anymore. At this point, BTJ’s fantasy value is dropping rapidly. We might see a good week or two in the future but for now, BTJ is likely unplayable on most fantasy rosters. 
• Trevor Lawrence
  • 17/29, 189 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 2 carries, 6 yards
  • The Broncos defense generated a ton of pressure on T-Law, and the difference in his play was palpable this week. When unpressured, Lawrence was great, but he faced pressure on about 40% of his dropbacks and struggled mightily against it. However, this is the norm for the Broncos defense, so this result doesn't scare me too much. In addition, there were some costly drops by T-Law’s WRs that could've had a decent swing on his numbers for the day. I expect plenty of better weeks ahead for Lawrence and the Jaguars.
  • Panic Meter: 2/10. Lawrence looked great in Week 1, and I expect more games like that moving forward. Week 2 should hopefully prove to be a fluke game for T-Law.
• Courtland Sutton
  • 4 targets, 3 receptions, 25 yards
  • 2 weeks in a row, Courtland Sutton has struggled to get much going on the football field. He has 9 targets, 5 receptions, and 36 yards so far this season, but most people expected more in a complementary role to Waddle.  Though viewed as a complementary piece in the offseason, Sutton seems to be playing a “Sacrificial X” role this season, and I am beginning to get concerned.
  • Panic Meter: 6/10. I am tempering my expectations on Sutton moving forward until we see at least one or two better weeks from him. 

Commanders @ Cowboys

• Javonte Williams
  • 12 carries, 30 yards, 4 targets, 3 receptions, 20 yards
  • In a game where the Cowboys seemed to win handedly, Javonte barely got any touches. I am not sure if the Cowboys just felt they didn't need him to win and wanted to keep him fresh, or if they felt the passing game was going so well they abandoned the run game altogether. In either instance, Javonte had a down week. 
  • Panic Meter: 1/10. It isn’t great, but Javonte was coming off of a huge Week 1, so we can give him a pass as long as this doesn't become a trend.
• Terry McLaurin
  • 9 targets, 2 receptions, 50 yards 
  • Terry and whoever is throwing him the ball (Jayden Daniels, Marcus Mariota, Antonio Williams, etc) just cannot seem to get on the same page. He has the highest uncatchable target rate in the entire NFL through two weeks. However, the usage in Week 2 suggests better weeks are ahead. 
  • Panic Meter: 4/10. Two bad weeks in a row, but it feels a bit too early to panic, even with the Daniels elbow injury. Let’s give Terry another week or two to get back on track before we completely lose hope.
• Jacory Croskey-Merritt
  • 12 carries, 43 yards, 1 target, 1 reception, 5 yards
  • The Commanders executed much more of a split in Week 2 than in Week 1, as Rachaad White was significantly more involved, especially in the passing game. This may be due in part to the Commanders playing from behind most of the game. This suspicion could be confirmed in the coming weeks, as they’re expected to be trailing a lot with Daniels sidelined.
  • Panic Meter: 5/10. It seems that Bill is a bit of a game-script-dependent back, which likely limits his weekly upside and significantly lowers his weekly floor. I am not panicking yet, but starting to operate with some concern.

Seahawks @ Cardinals

• Marvin Harrison Jr. (🪿🥚)
  • 1 target, 0 receptions 
  • WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!?!?!?!?!?!?! EVERYONE FUCKING PANIC! IT'S ALL OVER! Through two weeks of football, MHJ has 1 reception for 33 yards. So far (before the Monday night game) there are 216 players with at least 2 receptions… MARV IS NOT ONE OF THEM. The Cardinals passing attack has been atrocious outside of Trey McBride, but that just isn't an excuse at this point. ENJOY YOUR 🪿🥚GOOSE EGG 🪿🥚MARV; YOU EARNED IT PAL!!!
  • Panic Meter: ∞/10. Mazda Marv is dead. if you are a dynasty owner, you are hoping for him to find a way to a new team, or for the Cardinals to suddenly become competent. Once one of the best WR prospects, his career feels like it is at an all time low these days. We can only hope for the best moving forward, but it looks bad.
• Michael Wilson
  • 7 targets, 2 receptions, 18 yards 
  • Michael Wilson, after signing his big contract extension, has produced 14 targets and 7 receptions for 73 yards and no TDs. Trey McBride is basically the only startable Cardinals pass-catcher at this point. Wilson just isn't getting high quality targets from Brissett and that is unlikely to change any time soon.
  • Panic Meter: 4/10. At least he looks better than Marv right? Wrong. Turns out, the age old question of Wilson vs Harrison is Trey McBride. Wilson will be fine, but so far we have seen his floor through two weeks. 
• Jacoby Brissett
  • 17/28, 95 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 carry, 7 yards
  • 95 yards passing. 95 yards. Thank God for Trey McBride, or this Cardinals team might never get a first down. Jacoby Brissett is just barely a starting caliber QB at this point, and the Cardinals are wasting their time with him. However, the Cardinals will likely play from behind most games, so the game script will favor better passing games ahead. 
  • Panic Meter: 5/10. I can’t even blame Jacoby for this, but at this point it behooves the Cardinals not to get a good look at Carson Beck. Not panicking yet, but don't feel great about Brissett moving forward.

Dolphins @ 49ers

• De’Von Achane
  • 20 carries, 74 yards, 6 targets, 3 receptions, 19 yards 
  • Achane is getting plenty of touches, but this Dolphins offense is just putrid and Achane is struggling as a part of it. I expect plenty of good weeks ahead for him, and to be fair, these statlines are only concerning because we expect a lot out of Achane. It is hard for me to see the Dolphins offense getting much better as the year goes on, however. 
  • Panic Meter: 4/10. Achane will likely be just fine this year, which sucks because he was priced at a level where we expect the exceptional out of him. Not panicking on Achane, but he just seems like a less productive version of himself so far this year.

It’s important to remember that we’ve got a long season of NFL football ahead of us.  As more data presents itself, our panic meter will shift with it.  We may look back in a few weeks and realize the concern we had in Week 2 was a bit misplaced.  However, we may also look back and realize we were right to have a PANIC ATTACK!  

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