NFL Picks Week 2: Which Fantasy Football Studs Will Lead Teams to Victory?

After the morning games kick off, a fantasy owner's job isn't done. No, most owners watch their games while simultaneously looking forward to their afternoon players.

As we watch our morning match-ups unfold (and sometimes implode), the adjustments fantasy owners make for the afternoon games cane save a bad day—or at least staunch the bleeding long enough to regain lost ground.

Here are five players who will lead you back from the abyss and to victory.

Brandon Lloyd*** LLOYD OUT

Lloyd has been battling a knee issue since preseason, but despite that he had a solid game in week 1 against Oakland. He'll be facing a Bengals defense which is somewhat underrated but has some questionable players in the secondary. While the defensive line will cause problems for Denver's poor offensive line, Orton will find a way to get his best weapon the ball.

Lloyd had a tremendous 2010 and seems to be on course for another solid year. He's got a good match-up against the Bengals who gave up two touchdowns to Colt McCoy. Expect a big day for yards and at least one score.

*** When you miss, you miss. reports are now that Lloyd will NOT be playing today. So you want your replacement pick? If Eric Decker, Denver's second year receiver is available, grab him. Decker had five targets and did more with them than Eddie Royal did—he'll be the one who steps up and he will be in for a pretty big day.

Matt Schaub

Schaub is at the helm of a fantastic offense and they've only just started. The Miami Dolphins defense was porous last week and while Schaub is no Tom Brady, he's no slouch either. With the return of Arian Foster, the Dolphins will be unable to just lay back and defend the pass.

The Texans will torch the secondary of the Dolphins and the only thing which could slow Matt Schaub down is when they get up enough, that the Texans stop passing.

Mike Tolbert

While the San Diego running backs will split touches pretty evenly and Ryan Mathews will get more passes, Tolbert will get all the red zone looks at a ton of the work. He looked a little better than Mathews last week and has been a consistent force going back to last year.

New England showed last week that they can give up yards and points. While the Chargers will throw the ball, be assured they will run it a lot to keep Pats QB Tom Brady off the field.

Tolbert should get a ton of work today. The Pats gave up 98 yards and a touchdown on the ground last week to a Miami team which is nowhere near as good as the Chargers. Tolbert will be a great start today.

Michael Turner

Gone are the days when Michael Turner was considered a true stud running back. However you rank him, Turner had a very good day against the Bears last week and faces what could be an easier task this week. While the Philadelphia Eagles have a fearsome secondary, their middle defense isn't great.

To keep the potent Eagles offense off the field, the Atlanta Falcons may run an awful lot. Turner will have a huge role in that gameplan of course and could find a lot of room to run through a young linebacker corps.

I could see Turner gaining 100 yards through sheer number of carries and there is a good chance he will see the end zone as well. My only concern is if the Eagles run out to a lead early and the Falcons need to throw.

That said, Turner will get a lot of carries to prevent just that eventuality from happening.

Jermaine Gresham

Two years removed from a severe leg injury, Gresham showed the Bengals faithful why they drafted him in the first place. Tight ends are often a young quarterback's best friend and this appears to be no less true for Andy Dalton in the case of Jermaine Gresham.

Gresham saw eight targets and caught six of them for 58 yards and a touchdown. His target total was second most on the team—more even than heralded rookie wide receiver AJ Green. While I don't expect that to happen often, I do expect Gresham to see a lot of work.

If you're playing match-ups at tight end—or even if you're just looking for a sneaky play—I expect Gresham to have a significant day against the Denver Broncos. I think the Broncos will get after Dalton quite a bit and Gresham will see a lot of dump passes which his sure hands will turn into yards.

He's going to make the difference for a lot of fantasy owners this week.

Andrew Garda is a staff writer at Footballguys.com – check out all their subscriber content – money back guarantee until Sept 30^th!