Joel Bartilotta 
Welcome to the Week 2 edition of The First Look for the 2021 NFL season. This article will be data driven and will go under the hood to see if the box scores tell the whole story about what transpired during the weekend.
My goal here will be to either calm your nerves about a player that may have underperformed or cause you to rethink some of the spots you may have taken.
Outside of the MNF game we have a pretty good sense of what transpired this past weekend.
Let’s dig in to the data!
Wide Receiver Targets
Both Terri McLaurin and Brandon Cooks led the way this week with 14 targets each. Of the two McLaurin was the more productive one as he finished the game with 11 receptions for 107 yards and 1 TD. His game helped the WFT to a 30-29 victory Giants.
Newly installed Heinicke preferred throwing to McLaurin way more than any of his teammates. Humphries was 2nd in targets on the team with just 8. This union will be fun to watch as the season progresses.
Next up on the target list for receivers this week was Brandon Cooks. While Cooks was productive with 9 receptions and 1 TD, he still failed to convert on 36% of his targets. Cooks had a massive portion of the target share this week as his targets accounted for nearly half off all the pass attempts for both Taylor and Mills.
While Cooks was a target monster this week we’ll want to keep an eye on Taylor’s status for next week. Cooks is the main guy but my preference in playing him is with Taylor in as QB.
We need to talk about the tandem of Tyler Lockett and Cooper Kupp. Both guys had absolute monster games and now each have multiple 100 yard games on the year. They are both playing like the studs they are.
Locket led the way for all receivers this week with 178 yards and 1 TD. Next up on the list was Kupp with 163 yards but he was able to find the endzone twice.
The last guy I want to touch on here is Courtland Sutton who had a breakout game this week. He was able to convert on 9 of his 12 targets for 159 yards. While this may have more been related to the match up vs. a poor Jaguars team, we’ll want to keep an eye on this new found bond between Bridgewater and Sutton.
In week 1 Sutton only saw 3 targets so before we go all in on Sutton, we need to see this type of productivity this season more than once.
Running Back Targets
Let’s start with the good. Austin Ekeler had himself a day yesterday catching all 9 of his targets yesterday for 61 receiving yards. After failing to get any targets in Week 1 this was the type of performance that Ekeler owners were hoping for.
As the season progresses let’s hope Ekeler continues to be a part of the passing game like he was in Week 2.
Another guy that had an impressive Week 2 was Cordarrelle Patterson who was targeted 6 times and finished with 5 receptions for 58 yards and 1 TD. So far on the year Patterson has 8 targets and has only failed to convert 1 of them into a reception. While he isn’t going to the main back with carries he is someone that has provided action in both the rushing and passing games.
Of all the main backs, have to think that Kamara was the one that let us down the most. Kamara was targeted 6 and was only able to convert 4 of them for a measly 25 yards.
Kamara fantasy owners yesterday had to walk away feeling let down as this was supposed to be a showdown between two of the premier backs in the league. With the Patriots solid defense next week we have to think that next week won’t be much better for Kamara.
Tight End Targets
Jack Doyle and Travis Kelce both led the way among Tight Ends with 8 targets each. What they did with those 8 targets differed greatly tough.
Kelce ended Sunday night football with 7 receptions for 109 yards and 1 TD. Doyle on the other hand ended up with just 5 receptions totaling 64 yards and no TD. Same targets, different end result. But at this point, do we expect anything different from Kelce?
Another Tight End I wanted to zone in on was Kyle Pitts. Pitts had somewhat of a disappointing Week 1. In that game he was only able to convert 4 of his 8 targets for just 31 yards.
Week 2 was a much different story for him. He finished up the week being able to convert 5 of his 6 targets for 73 yards. That improvement had to make his fantasy owners happy and hope it’s a sign of things to come.
Quarterback Target Share
Looking at Target Share %, one thing remained constant when it came to QB’s that favored their RB’s and that was Matt Ryan. For the second week in a row Ryan was in the top 5 with this metric.
In Week 2 Mike Davis and Patterson combined for 13 of Ryan’s 46 passing attempts. If we want to target running backs that get consistent looks, Mike Davis is going to jump close to the top of the list.
Baker Mayfield only threw the ball 21 times this weekend. Of those 21 attempts he targeted his Tight Ends more than 50% of the time. Hooper, Bryant, and Njoku ranked 1, 2, and 3 on the Browns this weekend in terms of targets, with Hooper being number 1 with 5.
In Week 1 Njoku tied for lead on the Browns with 5 targets. We are starting to notice a trend here with the Browns. I’m sure once Beckham is back this will change, but until then we should really look to target Tight Ends here.
When you have guys like Metcalf and Lockett there’s really no need to get fancy and throw to your Tight Ends or backs. Wilson continues to use his receivers almost solely in the passing game. If it isn’t broken, no need to fix it. Do your thing Russell Wilson.
Running Back Touches
One of these is not like the other. That would be Lamar Jackson. I know, he’s not a Running Back. But sometimes he acts like one and when he does we need to highlight it. Last night he did.
He rushed 15 times for 107 yards and 2 touchdowns. Only 3 Running Backs rushed for more yards than Jackson yesterday. He is the Ravens’ offense.
Another guy that I wanted to highlight here was Derrick Henry. If you somehow missed what he did yesterday here’s a recap. 35 carries, 182 yards, and 3 touchdowns. There’s really nothing that I can say that will do his day justice. If you played him in DFS yesterday, you more than likely did well.
Finally, Dalvin Cook was another guy that had a solid day. Of all the Running Backs that had at least 15 carries yesterday, no one had more yards per carry than Cook as he was pushing 6 YPC yesterday. While he didn’t find the end zone he did crack 100 yards and overall had a great day.
Red Zone Rushes
Both McCaffrey and Henry led the way this weekend with rushes in the Red Zone. While McCaffrey did find the end zone once it was Henry who was really able to capitalize the most with his 3 touchdowns. Guys like Taylor and Barkley had their chances as they each had at least 5 rushes in the Red Zone. However, both came away with a goose egg.
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