Fantasy Football Week 2 Q & A: Is DeAngelo Williams' Value Killed by Cam Newton?

Greetings, folks, and welcome to our Week 2 Q & A column. The first week of NFL action is in the books, and hopefully you came out a winner. If you didn't, not to worry—there's plenty of fantasy football left to go, and we're here to help turn it around.

Each week I'll be here to answer lineup and matchup questions to try to get you on the right side of your games. There are a few ways you can be involved. First, you can hit me up on Twitter (anytime really) by following @andrew_garda. You can always email me at [e-mail]. Of course, you can also ask your lineup questions below.

The first two could get you space in this column. All three will get you answers as soon as I can get them to you, and I'll happily give you your answers out of the column, even if you also see them again here in virtual ink.

As this is the first column, I drew upon the mighty forces of Twitterdom for questions. There's plenty to talk about it, so let's get to it.

We start off with a question from @ThadCollins which deals a bit with Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams.

Thad puts it real simply:

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Do I start DeAngelo Williams (RB-CAR) vs. Packers or Tim Hightower (RB-WAS) vs. AZ?

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Williams really underwhelmed this past weekend, especially considering that the Panthers were able to move the ball on Arizona. There are a few things I want to point out before I answer Mr. Thad's query.

First of all, Arizona sold out to stop the run and force Cam Newton to throw. He did, but for some reason, the Cardinals never adjusted to stop the pass once it started torching them.

Secondly, Ron Rivera will not run the ball to the extreme that former coach John Fox did. He'll run more than he did last Sunday, in general, but it's not going to be run first, run second, run often. 

Both of those things affected how Williams did on Sunday and probably make Jonathan Stewart nearly useless at least for the foreseeable future.

It won't get better this week either when Green Bay comes to town.

While I wouldn't be shocked if Arizona decides to try to sell out to stop the run and make "Sexy" Rex Grossman beat them, I think the defense will likely learn from nearly losing to the Panthers and balance out more.

What it really comes down to, though, is Green Bay and an outstanding defense. While Hightower might not have a tremendous game, he'll get consistent carries and targets in the passing game. I don't trust that Williams will be able to do either, and once the Panthers trail—and they will—he will find himself with a lot less to do.

I'd avoid Williams if I could this weekend and for you, Thad, roll Hightower on out there.

Next we head to Scotland and Mr. Ooginator who hits me with a two-parter. Gutsy.

"

Jeremy Maclin (WR-PHI) or Anthony Fasano (TE-MIA) in Flex this week? I like both matchups. leaning towards Fasano but think Maclin has bigger upside...What's your take on Jeremy Maclin & Steve Smith from a fantasy standpoint?

"

First off, I think Oogi was thinking ahead of the curve here. You need to start thinking about tight ends who can work for your flex. Crazy? Maybe but more and more teams are using their tight ends with greater frequency and in some cases (New England comes to mind)  will run out two tight ends and use both at different times.

As this continues, more and more tight ends will be playable.

So it's not crazy to consider a guy like Fasano as a flex play.

In this case, though, I'd pass. Fasano had an impressive Week 1, as did many Miami Dolphins. This week is not going to be a repeat. The Houston Texans are a much-improved defense, and I believe you will see a huge regression across the board when it comes to Miami players.

Maclin didn't do a heck of a lot last week, and in part that was him still recovering from his illness, even if he says that wasn't the case.

Another interesting note as I watched the Eagles game (aside from how bad that offensive line was at times) was the change in how Eagles quarterback Michael Vick deals with pressure. Last year, Vick targeted Maclin pretty often when pressured, totaling 404 yards and five touchdowns when Vick hit him during a blitz.

Last week, Vick chose to pull the ball down and run. Also, instead of targeting Maclin in the red zone—something he did all last season long—Vick spread the ball around. Good for the Eagles, rough for Maclin owners.

This dovetails into Oogi's second question, and I have to say I'm a bit concerned about Maclin. I don't like the way Vick is reacting pressured; it worries me he is spreading the ball around, and it's a concern Maclin is losing red-zone targets. Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said they'll get Maclin more involved which is good, but it's on Vick as well. He has to look for him.

As for Steve Smith, he's going to take a little more time to come along and is still healing, even though he was active, which is good and must really cheese off Giants fans.

I love Smith as a possession receiver, but I don't know where he fits here. If the Eagles use him similarly to the way he was used in New York, it's going to hurt Maclin most of all.

This is a pair of situations fantasy owners need to watch closely the next few weeks.

Meanwhile TheMysticSpot needs help choosing two RBs. 

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I start two in a PPR: Hightower (WAS), Best (DET), Blount (TB), S Greene (NYJ), Benson (CIN), C Williams (STL), J Starks (GB)? PLEASE Advise!

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This is actually pretty straightforward. You have to start Jahvid Best against a horrid Kansas City team, PPR or not.

I'd also start Tim Hightower, who we've talked about already.

Instead of rehashing that, let's look at the guys I didn't choose, as some of these players are on your rosters and might be guys you're looking at.

Shonn Greene did not look very good in the few chances he got Sunday night. The Jets want him to be the lead back, but I'm beginning to feel he might not be able to do that. Greene seems to lack burst and almost looks like he's running in molasses. The fact that he was left out of the majority of the snaps when the Jets fell behind while LaDainian Tomlinson got most of the snaps is worrisome.

On top of it, the Jets are throwing more. They came out throwing on Sunday and kept throwing. Ground and pound isn't dead in New York, but they will balance out more than they ever have before and that will hurt an average runner like Greene.

Cedric Benson's very good stats last week were a bit of a mirage. The totals are good—121 yards and a touchdown are nothing to sneeze at. In reality though, Benson wasn't running all that well, having problems gaining yards after contact and only getting an average of 3.5 yards per carry. On his last run, he caught Cleveland selling out to stop him in the middle, and wisely he bounced right and found a giant hole to slip through. With nobody left at the second level, Benson cruised to an easy touchdown.

Now, I don't usually play the "if you take away X then only Y would have happened," but most of the time, he's not going to get that last big run. Had he had to just kill the clock or keep plodding inside, Benson's numbers would have been mediocre. That 3.5 yards per carry worries me. Denver is a great matchup, but I don't trust Benson. Bump him up if rookie quarterback Andy Dalton is out, but otherwise, I'd stay away.

I like James Starks a lot, but I think he is still a couple of weeks away from totally taking over the job. Mike McCarthy isn't a ground and pound guy so the carries won't exactly pile up for Starks. Hold him on your bench another week or two, and he'll give you your points then.

If there is one guy I am seriously thinking about putting in over Tim Hightower, it's Carnell Williams. Caddy looked fantastic against the Eagles last week after Steven Jackson went down with a quad injury. Jackson may still play, but if not Williams should be a solid play. The middle defense of the Eagles has issues, and the Rams were able to pound it right at them to great effect.

The New York Giants have defensive problems as well, though not as severe as the Eagles, in my opinion.

I think the Giants are in a little better shape than the Eagles were and are more capable than the Arizona Cardinals were. So while I really like Cadillac Williams, I also think he might struggle a bit more this week.

That's it for this week—remember, drop me an email or tweet and you can get in on this awesome action for this column. Or just plant a question in the comments below—that works too.

Andrew Garda is a featured columnist for fantasy football and the NFL for Bleacher Report as well as a staff writer for Footballguys.com, one of the premier fantasy football sites on the web. This past year, Andrew was No. 18 out of 34 experts ranked for pre-draft accuracy by FantasyPros.com, and Footballguys were well represented in all categories. Check out Footballguys.com for more than 50,000 pages of content each year, including strategy articles, rankings and projections, and the site offers a money-back guarantee until Sept. 30 if you're not totally satisfied by the features.You can follow him as well on twitter at @andrew_garda.