The Week 2 matchup between the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills features an AFC East division rivalry that could result in a close finish in the fourth quarter. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.
Fantasy football projections, Week 2: Jets-Bills featuring Brandon Marshall, Matt Forte, LeSean McCoy, more
We break down the Week 2 matchup between the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills.
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
New York Jets
Coming off of a disappointing one-point loss at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals at home, the Jets will look to avenge themselves by picking up their first road win of the season against Buffalo on Thursday. One great thing the Jets have going for them heading into the contest is running back Matt Forte. Most in the fantasy community expect Forte’s production to turn down a notch this season given that he’s getting older but so far he looks like the clear No. 1 option in New York. He touched the ball 27 times against the Bengals last week and produced 155 total yards. Look for him to be the driving force that moves the chains on Sunday even though the Buffalo Bills pride themselves on defense.
One thing that would help the running game a lot is if wide receiver Brandon Marshall were able to put together a big bounce-back performance. He had one of the best years of his career with the Jets last season, but Week 1 saw this year get off to a rough start for the veteran pass catcher. Marshall caught just three of eight passes for 32 yards in the loss to the Bengals. To put that in perspective, last season Marshall had fewer than four receptions or 32 receiving yards just once, in the same game, which happened to come against the Bills. Even still, though, fantasy owners should consider the dud a one-off performance. Marshall should be in old form this time around.
Buffalo Bills
Fantasy owners who drafted wide receiver Sammy Watkins in the early rounds of their drafts have to be a little bit worried about the receiver’s status. Watkins is struggling with a foot injury and he had problems with his health last year as well. He caught four passes for 43 yards against the Baltimore Ravens last week, but against Darrelle Revis and the New York Jets this week he’ll be lucky to surpass those totals. Watkins is generally still expected to play, but given the matchup is on Thursday Night Football there’s not a lot of time left for him to heal.
The situation with Watkins likely means that running back LeSean McCoy will have to carry the load. McCoy was the only productive offensive player Buffalo rostered last week. He rushed the ball 16 times for 58 yards and his first touchdown of the season and also caught all four of the passes thrown his way for an additional 12 yards. He’ll need to drastically increase those yardage totals if the Bills are to walk away with a win in Week 2.
