Falcons at Vikings:
Thanks to an injury to RB Chester Taylor, Adrian Peterson had the type of game every single person who drafted him in the first three rounds expected. While the 60-yard TD reception can't be characterized as anything but lucky, 100+ yards rushing on fewer than 20 carries cannot be denied.
Jerious Norwood did very well as the back-up to Warrick Dunn. Why Dunn had his number called so frequently is an interesting question. 22 carries and 55 yards smells like a reduced workload in Week Two to me. Norwood had 33 yards on a mere six carries.
Dolphins at Redskins:
Clinton Portis split the rushing carries, 17 apiece with Portis gaining 98 yards to Betts' 58. However, the total yaradge was closer as Betts caught a pass for 16 additional yards. This is something that should be expected going forward - rushing carries being split with Betts getting the receptions.
In Miami, Ronnie Brown got 15 carries and surprisingly, Jesse Chatman got 7. Neither has effective though. However, Brown had six receptions and should remain a vaible Flex in PPRs.
Buccaneers at Seahawks:
Is Seattle WR D.J. Hackett as good as the football metrics predict? One reception for seven yards. 'nuff said. In fairness, he did get hurt. FWIW, Nate Burleson caught two balls for 41 yards. Relative to Hackett, that seems encouraging.
Bears at Chargers:
Grossman threw a drive-killing INT in the first half, but it didn't result in San Diego points. That's a good thing for him isn't it? He did not connect with Devan Hester either. However, Bernard Berrian did grab five balls for 83 yards.
As for another pre-season sleeper, Chargers' WR Vincent Jackson caught three passes for 29 yards. With TE Antonio Gates catching 9 passes and RB Ladanian Tomlinson getting seven, this looks like another year of No-Start Chargers WR.
Lions at Raiders:
Wow. The Raiders defense absolutely sucked. Kitna completed 27 of 36 with three TDs. I do not think that defensive effort is what any football expert thought the vaunted Raiders secondary would allow. To make matters worse, Tatum Bell rushed for 87 yards on 15 carries to lead one to believe if the Lions hadn't had so much success in the air, they would have been able to run the ball equally as well.
Rookie Calvin Johnson caught four passes for 70 yards and a TD.
Giants at Cowboys:
What a passing utopia! For those who punted the elite QBs and settled for the second tier (Romo) and the third tier (Manning) ones, the sense of a strategy well-executed makes-up for some of the other misses during the week.
What was most interesting about the game was the injury to Brandon Jacobs did not result in any extra carries for RB Reuben Droughns. As a matter of fact, the effort by back-up RB Derrick Ward - 13/89/0 with 4 receptions, makes him a very attractive option in PPRs. While Amani Toomer's nine recpetions made him the biggest receiving beneficiary of Tiki Barber's retirement, Ward's effort will make it easier for Eli Manning to keep that RB option open.