Fantasy Football: New York Giants Week 3

The Giants offense was not a hot bed of fantasy points last week against the Arizona Cardinals, unless you count the points the Cardinals Defense and Special Teams put up on the Giants.  Eli Manning showed signs of finding a rhythm as he went 26 of 39 throwing the football, but the two interceptions were very costly.  I just can't overlook either throw when trying to convince myself that Eli played pretty well last week.  The first interception was a very poor decision to throw the football over the middle with big bodies flying around.  The fact that the ball went off of Tommy Kelly's shoulder shows what a poor decision that was.  The second interception was a case of Eli not being careful enough with the ball.  The opportunity for a big play to Victor Cruz clouded his judgment as he should have thrown the ball more toward the sideline and away from the defender.

The Giants offensive line failed to get a push up front and it especially showed when Andre Williams checked into the game.  The fact that Williams is so one dimensional had the Cardinals swarming the line of scrimmage and holding Williams to 12 yards on 8 carries.   The drops from Victor Cruz were obviously bad from a real football stand point and an absolute killer in fantasy football.  The only bright spot was once again, Larry Donnell was a startable fantasy football tight end as he caught 7 passes for 81 yards.

Eli Manning-numberFire has Eli projected for 256.77 passing yards and 1.25 TDs and 1.06 Ints

The Texans passing defense is ranked in the top 5 early in the season as they faced a struggling Robert Griffin III in week one and the Oakland Raiders in week two.  The almost super human J.J. Watt poses a difficult challenge to a Giants offensive line that hasn't gotten off to a very good start to the season.  The only upside is that the Texans corners and safeties are not something that Eli and company should be scared of.  With some other QB's having a particularly difficult match up this week, it has me thinking Eli is startable in 2-QB Leagues. His ranking is still in the mid-20s among QBs for the week.

Rashad Jennings-numberFire has Rashad projected for 53.66 rushing yards and 2.33 receptions for 16.87 yards

The Texans Defense is a bit overrated against the run because of the teams that they faced the first two weeks.  In week one the Alfred Morris was having a very good game before the Redskins abandoned the run and in week two they faced a Raiders team that is really struggling.  With that said, I think the numberFire projections are a little low for Jennings this week and feel he's a very solid RB2 option.

Victor Cruz- numberFire has Cruz projected for 4.75 receptions for 58.98 yards and .38 TDs

I'm sure most people don't remember, but Cruz struggled with drops the first few games of his breakout season in 2011.  He of course overcame them to put up huge numbers and there is no reason to panic now.  Cruz is taking a tumble in the fantasy rankings as he currently sits behind rookies like Sammy Watkins and Brandin Cooks in the 31st overall slot.  The good thing is Cruz is getting the targets, as he led the Giants with 10 targets last week.  If he and Eli can be more efficient there is no reason that Cruz can't be a solid number 2 fantasy wide receiver this week.  I am putting Cruz in my lineups over rookies like Watkins and Cooks.

Rueben Randle- numberFire has Randle projected for 2.54 receptions for 34.94 yards and .20 TDs

Rueben Randle owners were distraught after he only saw two targets in week one against the Detroit Lions.  In week two Randle surprised by getting seven targets against a tough Patrick Peterson.  He converted those targets into 4 receptions for 39 yards and a touchdown.  Not bad for someone that was dropped after week one.  He will continue to have his up and down weeks as he is the second option in the passing game behind Victor Cruz. This week he barely cracks the top 50 for me in the rankings and is usable in some situations.  If he continues to get seven to eight targets a game he will move up my rankings.

Larry Donnell- numberFire has Donnell projected for 2.59 receptions for 28.19 yards and .28 TDs

Donnell proved that he is a viable fantasy asset in week two against Arizona.  The nine targets is extremely impressive for a guy that couldn't distinguish himself throughout the preseason.  I was so impressed that I put in a free agent bid for him in the expert Flex Leagues and was just nipped by Mike Florio of RotoExperts.com.  Hoipefully you did the same in your season long leagues as it looks like Donnell has won the trust of Eli.  I feel he has more value in standard scoring leagues, but he's not a bad guy to have in PPR as well.  This week I have him inside my top 15 of fantasy tight ends.  Quite a jump from being number 40 going into week one.

Don' forget that you can see all of my Fantasy Football rankings and articles over at Coachesser.com.  You can also listen to me recap each and every week in the NFL as well as talk fantasy waiver wire on The Fantasy Coach Podcast. The Thursday morning DFS version has already made a lot of money for people playing on FanDuel and DraftKings.