What We Saw: Week 2

Did your QB survive the week?

Ben Brown
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Titans @ Seahawks

Final Score: Titans 33, Seahawks 30 (OT)

Writer: AJ Passman (@ajpassman on Twitter)

 

Don’t call it a comeback. Except do call it that. All that was missing from this game was the peanuts, caramel, and fudge because Oh, Henry! Ok, dad jokes aside, Derrick Henry blew a hole in the second half of this game after being held to short gains in a frustrating first half for the Titans. Henry’s first 10+ yard rush didn’t come until the third quarter, but THAT’S WHY WE PLAY ALL 60 MINUTES, KIDS! I just needed to get that out.

Both teams got off to a slow start, with a 51-yard pass from Russell Wilson to Tyler Lockett that led to a field goal and a 33-yard field goal from Seattle’s Randy Bullock rounding out the scoring in the first quarter. Spoiler alert! More to come from ol’ Randy later in the game.

The Titans marched down the field in the second quarter, but an illegal motion penalty and a huge Bobby Wagner sack with goal-to-go resulted in the Titans settling for a field goal to go up 6-3.

 

 

Then the Seahawks took control, with a 63-yard touchdown to Tyler Lockett followed by two Chris Carson goal line scores (one after Alton Robinson forced a Ryan Tannehill fumble at Tennessee’s 9-yard line). A highly questionable overturning of a Julio Jones touchdown grab resulted in a field goal, and the Titans were in a 24-9 hole at halftime. As sportscaster Andrew Catalon stated during the game, Seattle is 17-1 when Carson scores a rushing touchdown. Is that Derrick Lamar Henry Jr.’s music?? Henry started off the third quarter with an 11-yard run and didn’t look back, scoring his first touchdown of the season eight plays later. The box score shows it as a 9-yard run, but it was a thing of beauty. Henry had to completely reverse direction when the blocks didn’t develop to the right:

 

 

Simply, the fourth quarter was so fun, they had to play some more. Another Russell Wilson touchdown bomb? Check. A 60-yard score for Henry? You betcha. Henry completed off the comeback with a 1-yd touchdown run with thirty seconds remaining to send it to overtime. The Titans got the ball first, but the Seahawks stepped up their defense, and the famed “12s” stepped up their noise. It was quite the home opener. Tennessee went three-and-out, only to have a rushing-the-passer penalty give Ryan Tannehill a new set of downs. Still, Tennessee couldn’t move the ball, with three straight incompletions (including a drop apiece from A.J. Brown and Chester Rogers) leading to a punt. Then it got weird.

Russell Wilson and Tyler Lockett almost connected again, but Lockett couldn’t get his feet in bounds. After overthrowing D.K. Metcalf on second down, Wilson spun away from a would-be sack, only to be pulled into the end zone before desperately throwing it away to avoid a game-ending safety. The play, in fact, was ruled a sack, but the refs marked Wilson’s forward progress at the one-yard line.

 

 

Backed up in their own end zone, Seattle punted away, giving the Titans good field position at the Tennessee 39. Derrick Henry promptly ran for 12 yards, 4 yards, 1 yard, and 4 yards to put Tennessee in field goal range.

Remember Randy Bullock from the first half? Well, I didn’t mention that Bullock was just signed from the Titans’ practice squad on Monday. The revolving door of kickers in Tennessee may finally be closing, as Bullock nailed the 36-yard field goal to seal the victory.

There were a ton of fantasy points scored in this matchup, so let’s dive in:

 

Tennessee Titans

 

Quarterbacks

 

Ryan Tannehill: 27/40, 347 yards | 4 carries, 27 yards, 1 Fumble (1 Lost)

 

After Week 1’s debacle, it was nice to see Tennessee’s offense was able to move the ball. Still, Tannehill’s scoring efficiency and sneaky rushing ability have been the keys to his fantasy value. In Week 2, he wasn’t able to score through the air or on the ground. But frankly, Tennessee didn’t need him to in the second half.

The good news is that Julio Jones looks like, well, Julio Jones.

 

 

See what I mean? Awesome catch, looks painful, bobble bobble. Sorry, I’m a Falcons fan. But nothing wrong with this one:

 

https://twitter.com/Titans/status/1439698674926317568?s=20

 

If you’re worried about the touchdowns all coming on the ground, don’t be. Derrick Henry and Tannehill have a lot of positive correlation with each other, so it’s not an either/or situation here. Tannehill is still an excellent option for managers who waited until the later rounds of fantasy drafts to sign a QB.

 

Running Backs

 

Derrick Henry: 35 carries, 182 yards, 3 TD | 6 targets, 6 receptions, 55 yards

 

What else can I say?

 

 

After a disappointing Week 1, Derrick Henry once again showed why he’s a top 5 running back in fantasy. The second half tells the real story, though:

First half: 13 carries, 35 yards, 0 TD

Second half: 17 carries, 126 yards, 3 TD

Add 21 more yards in overtime, and you see the full story of his dominance. Henry came alive in the second half, and what’s this? Six receptions for 55 yards? That’s a career-high in receptions for King Henry. If he starts commanding more targets, Henry becomes a favorite to be top 2 overall this season in fantasy. He’s awesome. Let’s move along. Oh, but first, here’s the 60-yard TD run. You’re welcome.

 

 

 

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

 

Julio Jones: 8 targets, 6 receptions, 128 yards

A.J. Brown: 9 targets, 3 reception, 43 yards

 

Julio Jones looked great, and it’s an encouraging sign for fantasy owners to see a very Julio-ish stat line in only his second game. In reality, it probably should have been more. With just over a minute to go in the first half, Ryan Tannehill connected with Julio Jones on what seemed to be a fancy footwork touchdown:

 

 

Upon booth review, the score was overturned. I’m not convinced, and neither were Titans fans.

 

 

That was third down, so Tennesse settled for a field goal.

A.J. Brown had a more disappointing box score. Brown had a couple of key drops that hurt his team and his final line, and he is going to be competing with Julio every week for top dog in this receiver’s room. However, nine targets is a very healthy share, and he should continue to see enough volume to be a weekly WR1.

Anthony Firkser was a late inactive due to a knee injury, and the Titans went full committee at tight end, with Tannehill sprinkling targets to Geoff Swaim, MyCole Pruitt, and Tommy Hudson. None are fantasy-relevant.

 

Seattle Seahawks

 

Quarterback

 

Russell Wilson: 22/31, 343 yards, 2 TD | 3 carries, 16 yards

Smell that? Welcome to Wilson’s. Russell Wilson‘s stat line is very similar to Tannehill’s in Week 2, but the two deep (deeeeeep) touchdowns are the story, both in the box score and on Twitter.

 

 

For the second game in a row, Wilson connected with Lockett for a score. This week, Russ let Freddie Swain join in on the fun, taking advantage of some shoddy defense to the tune of 68 yards. Missed assignment, anyone?

 

 

Wilson threw the ball a bit more than in Week 1, and as long as Shane Waldron and Pete Carroll let Russ cook, he will continue to be a major value for wherever you got him in your draft.

 

Running Backs

 

Chris Carson: 13 carries, 31 yards, 2 TD

Alex Collins: 1 carry, 25 yards

Travis Homer: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 14 yards

 

Two goal-line scores salvaged what would have been an extremely disappointing day for Chris Carson. Carson continued to carry the rushing workload, accounting for 13 of Seattle’s 15 rushing attempts in the game. However, the snap share gives some cause for concern. Unlike Week 1, it was Travis Homer, not Chris Carson, on the field for third downs. It didn’t amount to much for Homer’s stat line, but Carson’s ceiling is capped if he is not going to get the snaps on receiving downs.

 

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

 

Tyler Lockett: 11 targets, 8 receptions, 178 yards, TD

D.K. Metcalf: 11 targets, 6 receptions, 53 yards

Freddie Swain: 5 targets, 5 receptions, 95 yards, TD

Gerald Everett: 2 targets, 1 reception, 3 yards

 

As in Week 1, we saw Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf in lockstep as far as snaps, routes, and targets are concerned. And just like Week 1, it was Lockett who had the big fantasy day. Ole Miss alum Metcalf did seem a little preoccupied in the first half with Kristian Fulton, who went to LSU. Maybe there was just a little SEC rivalry going on there, but it seemed to get under Metcalf’s skin. Either way, it was a disappointing result for Metcalf, but he will be fine moving forward. Lockett is making the case that he is, if not the WR1, the preferred deep-ball threat in this offense.

 

 

Second-year WR Freddie Swain made the most of his targets today. Swain was able to get behind coverage for an easy score, and there are always opportunities in this version of a Russell Wilson offense. Swain is someone to keep an eye on, but he’d have to put together a few games like this to be on the fantasy radar.

TE Gerald Everett only saw two targets in Week 2, but he was on the field for 43 offensive snaps (80%) and ran routes on 29 of those snaps. Simply, Everett is a part of this offense. The targets went to the receivers today, but Russell Wilson has been good for fantasy tight ends before. Everett could be a streaming option in the right matchups.

 

— AJ Passman (@ajpassman on Twitter)

Series Navigation
Introduction
Giants @ Football Team
Bengals @ Bears
Texans @ Browns
Rams @ Colts
Bills @ Dolphins
Patriots @ Jets
49ers @ Eagles
Raiders @ Steelers
Saints @ Panthers
Broncos @ Jaguars
Vikings @ Cardinals
Falcons @ Buccaneers
Cowboys @ Chargers
Titans @ Seahawks
Chiefs @ Ravens

One response to “What We Saw: Week 2”

  1. Voucher Sort says:
    September 20, 2021 at 10:00 pm

    thank you this is great. I just thought I’d let you know there’s a typo in yyour title though?

    Reply

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