The Las Vegas Raiders beating the Baltimore Ravens in the first Monday night game of the season was a mild surprise, as quarterback Derek Carr delivered one of the finest efforts of his career and ended it with an overtime touchdown pass. Carr threw for 435 yards against a top defense, and fantasy managers in ESPN standard leagues were so excited headed into the Week 2 road matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers that his roster percentage went up just a shade to 16.5%. He was active in 2.6% of leagues. New England Patriots rookie Mac Jones was more popular.
Things might change for Week 3 after Carr dropped another 382 passing yards on Baltimore's AFC North rival and another strong defense. Carr boasts 48.18 PPR points after two games, the best start of his eight-year career. Sure, it is but a mere two games, but no Raiders passer has ever had this many yards (817) after two games. A confident Carr finally seems nicely synced with the Jon Gruden offense, and things might continue in Week 3 versus a sputtering Miami Dolphins team coming off a 35-0 home shellacking to the Buffalo Bills. Carr is on pace for nearly 7,000 passing yards. Take the under there, of course, but with the team struggling to run the football, perhaps Carr can finally deliver a monster season.
After all, fantasy managers thought they knew all about Carr and that is why he remains so available. He has yet to achieve 275 PPR points in a season, never offering reliable QB1 production, but he has always been better than a QB3. He has been average, mostly. Throwing all over the defensively responsible Ravens and Steelers is meaningful, however. In Week 1, Carr sent more than a third of his passes in the direction of awesome tight end Darren Waller, who enjoyed the 19 targets and turned them into 26.5 PPR points. Waller was relatively quiet Sunday, though, and second-year star Henry Ruggs III turned five catches into 113 yards.
It remains possible Carr -- who averaged 256 passing yards per game a season ago, finishing with a career-best 4,103 yards -- will see his numbers precipitously fall once he has a running game to fall back on, but what if he does not? Josh Jacobs and Kenyan Drake combined for 45 rushing yards against the Ravens. Jacobs missed Sunday's game with toe and ankle injuries, but Drake hardly stepped up. He ran seven times for 9 yards, though he salvaged his fantasy performance with five catches for 46 yards. Peyton Barber rushed for 32 yards. The Las Vegas offensive line has struggled to create running room and stay healthy. Fantasy managers like passers who pile up numbers because they have to.
This is why fantasy managers should at least be curious about Carr and Ruggs, for it is never too late for a veteran quarterback to supply a career season, and having someone as fast as Ruggs around should only help. Ruggs, the No. 12 pick of the 2020 draft, was wide open on his 61-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter Sunday, and the 46 air yards on the Carr throw matched a career best. Waller is tremendous, but having a downfield threat matters, too. Perhaps even the Las Vegas running backs will offer some clarity in the Miami game. Stay tuned!
Injuries to watch
Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa left Sunday's game with sore ribs, with backup Jacoby Brissett failing to lead the team to any points. Whether Tagovailoa plays in Week 3 is uncertain. He is rostered in nearly 50% of ESPN standard leagues, and whether his injury is a long-term concern or not, plenty of managers might opt to move on and add Carr -- or Denver's Teddy Bridgewater and Washington's Taylor Heinicke -- in his place for this week. Keep an eye on injuries involving Indianapolis Colts starter Carson Wentz (ankle) and Chicago Bears "fill-in" Andy Dalton (knee), for that would affect other players as well. Perhaps the Bears start the enticing rookie Justin Fields against the Cleveland Browns.
As for non-quarterback injuries, fantasy managers must know Los Angeles Rams running back Darrell Henderson Jr. (ribs) has a history of missing games, and Sony Michel might start in Week 3 versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Then again, neither player would feature RB2 status for such a tough matchup. Wide receivers Diontae Johnson of the Steelers and Cleveland's Jarvis Landry each hurt a knee on Sunday, and there should be more clarity on their situations Monday.
Saintly concern
Jameis Winston giveth, and he taketh away. A week after the New Orleans Saints quarterback tossed five touchdown passes against a stunningly beleaguered Green Bay Packers defense, and fantasy managers flocked to him for a Week 2 matchup with the Carolina Panthers, Winston struggled. He went from 29.62 PPR points to 8.34 points, throwing for a mere 111 yards, and most of his fantasy points came on a late touchdown run. Winston has 259 passing yards ... in two games! He sure does not look like the 2019 version who threw for 5,109 yards, but this is a reminder that Winston can often be hard to rely on, for real life and ours.
As for other Saints players, running back Alvin Kamara produced only seven PPR points, one of the worst outings of his stellar career, rushing eight times for 5 yards but catching four passes. Yes, the Saints lit up the Packers just one week prior, but they simply do not offer much when it comes to wide receiver play. Even in Week 1, when wide receivers Chris Hogan and Deonte Harris caught touchdown passes, they combined for only one other target and catch, and they combined for only two catches Sunday. August ADP (average draft position) riser Marquez Callaway has 22 receiving yards so far! Move on before the Week 3 game at New England. It will be a while before Michael Thomas is healthy.
Monday night matchup
The final scheduled game of Week 3 features a key NFC East battle between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. While QB Dak Prescott should bounce back from his statistically challenging Week 2 against the Los Angeles Chargers, Jalen Hurts actually has outscored him each of the first two weeks in fantasy. While we are hardly proclaiming Hurts as the better play in this matchup, it does appear he needs to be in fantasy lineups each week. Other than one 91-yard pass to Quez Watkins, Hurts struggled throwing the football in Sunday's loss to the San Francisco 49ers, but he rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown. Hurts has 144 rushing yards after two weeks, a pace for more than 1,000 yards. We like that.