By Christopher DiMarino
Fantasy Overview:
After a loss in week 1, the Pittsburgh Steelers will look to bounce back with a win against the New York Jets. Despite Tebow-mania having little to no impact in the first Jets game they looked quite good, especially on offense. Mark Sanchez had a huge day and Shonn Greene ran the ball effectively. The Jets got what they were desperately looking for when rookie speedster Stephen Hill hauled in two touchdowns. The Jets defense had a great day against the Buffalo Bills and gave quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick fits. Fitzpatrick threw 3 interceptions on the day and running back C.J. Spiller added a fumble. The upside for the Bills was that the Jets run defense continued their struggles from last year by allowing Spiller to run for 169 yards on only 14 carries in relief of the injured Fred Jackson. The Jets scored 48 total points because their special teams and defense both scored as well.
You can reference my competition analysis to learn a little more about the Jets by clicking below:
Pittsburgh Steelers:
The Steelers will look to feature the run again like they did against the Denver Broncos last week. Unlike with the Broncos, keeping the opposing offense off the field won’t be the chief focus so passing game might open up a bit. With Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis likely to remain out of action due to his concussion, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger might have a big day. Depending on who Antonio Cromartie covers, the Steelers signal caller will have plenty of other options. Cromartie is also known for jumping routes, which could be a perfect opportunity for the near perfect pump fake that Roethlisberger uses. The Jets are not good at stopping the run, but unless Pittsburgh shows play calling flexibility, you can expect the Jets to come out planning to stop it early on. Head coach Rex Ryan loves to blitz and the amount of time that Roethlisberger has in the pocket could directly impact how close this game is.
New York Jets:
The Jets offense looked good in week one and the Steelers defense did not. The difference in week two is that the Steelers have Ryan Clark back and Sanchez is not Peyton Manning. I don’t doubt that Sanchez could have a big game, but the Steelers will get pressure on him. I also don’t believe the weapons around Sanchez are that great. He might get a big pass off to Hill, and Santonio Holmes will help move the chains on third downs, but there isn’t a big time weapon for the Steelers to have worry about. The worry is that Hill resembles Demaryius Thomas, who isn’t a superstar, but has had huge success against the Steelers. More importantly, if the Steelers are able to stop the running attack, the Jets offense has shown in the past that it can’t survive on the pass alone.
RECAP:
I think this game will start slow but be out of reach by mid way through the third quarter. The Steelers will have success on the ground this week using Jonathan Dwyer a little more and Isaac Redman will fight hard for his job. This will lead to the type of offense that the Jets featured in week 1. I think the Jets on the other hand will struggle to run the ball, and when the pressure starts rattling Sanchez, he will make mistakes. The Jets biggest mistake will be their steadfast dedication to running the ball. They will wait too long before going to a full out passing attack to try and catch up. By then it will be too late.
| Pittsburgh Steelers | ||||||
| POS | PLAYER | YDS | TD | REC | OTHER | PTS |
| QB | Ben Roethlisberger | 275 | 2 | 1 INT | 17 | |
| RB | Isaac Redman | 65 | 1 | 7 | ||
| RB | Jonathan Dwyer | 60 | 1 | 0 | 12 | |
| WR | Mike Wallace | 75 | 3 | 9 | ||
| WR | Antonio Brown | 75 | 1 | 4 | 15.5 | |
| WR | Emmanuel Sanders | 35 | 1 | 2 | 10.5 | |
| TE | Heath Miller | 40 | 2 | 5 | ||
| New York Jets | ||||||
| POS | PLAYER | YDS | TD | REC | OTHER | PTS |
| QB | Mark Sanchez | 225 | 1 | 1 INT | 13 | |
| RB | Shonn Greene | 60 | 1 | 1 | 12.5 | |
| WR | Santonio Holmes | 60 | 1 | 4 | 14 | |
| WR | Stephen Hill | 70 | 3 | 8.5 | ||
| WR | Jeremy Kerley | 25 | 2 | 3.5 | ||
| TE | Dustin Keller | 45 | 4 | 6.5 | ||
Disclaimer:
The fantasy points projected below are educated guesses meant to be used with other inputs to influence your decision of who to start and what each player might be capable of. Unlike the statistical sites, I rounded each stat to clean up the numbers and avoided unrealistic divisions (like 0.2 TDs). There are players that will contribute in the game that I didn\’t cover, but these players aren\’t typically expected to do much.
The above point totals are based on the following scoring convention:
Quarterback –   Yards: 25 = 1 pt   TDs = 4pts        Fumbles = -2pts                               INTs: 1 = -2pts
Rushing –            Yards: 10 = 1 pt   TDs = 6pts        Fumbles = -2pts
Receiving –        Yards: 10 = 1 pt   TDs = 6pts        Receptions = 0.5pts
If you have any fantasy questions, feel free to post them as comments on these articles (I will check them as often as I can) or for a speedier answer, ask me on twitter.
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