Fantasy Football Week 2: Steelers at Ravens Takeaways from Thursday Night Football

Thursday Night Football returned on a new network as CBS got the season rolling with a big AFC North clash between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was an important divisional game for both teams, and with all the attention on the Ravens lately, Baltimore needed a win to avoid dropping to 0-2.

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Behind a solid night from Joe Flacco and the Steelers self-inflicted wounds, the Ravens got the win 26-6 in a fairly comfortable win in a series where it usually seems to come down to a last-minute drive or field goal attempt.

There were some interesting fantasy football angles to last night’s game, so let’s take a quick look at some lessons learned before we turn our attention to the rest of week 2 which sets up for a great Sunday and Monday of football for fantasy owners.

The Ravens Backfield

The big fantasy question going into the game was who would step up for Baltimore as they look to reinvent their running game after the departure of Ray Rice.  Bernard Pierce was the heir apparent the last few years, but he was benched week one after a fumble while Justin Forsett emerged from week 1 as another contender for touches.

In this one, it became quickly obvious that Coach John Harbaugh wants Pierce to be the primary workhorse with Forsett as a change of pace option.  Pierce finished the game with 22 carries for 96 yards while adding seven yards on his one catch of the evening.  Forsett was more involved in the passing game catching four passes for a total of 16 yards and running for 56 yards on eight carries.  Most of Forsett’s yardage came on one big 41-yard gain in the fourth quarter, so counting on him for 50+ yards a week may be a stretch.

One issue the Ravens will need to address is who their short yardage and goal line back will be. The Ravens ran the ball eight times from inside the five yard line and never scored a rushing TD.  Forsett had a pair of carries, Pierce took four, and even Joe Flacco had one rush stopped short of the goal line.  The one time Flacco did manage to score a TD on the ground it was called back due to a false start penalty.  If either Forsett or Pierce can be more effective in goal-to-go situations, it would be a huge boost to their fantasy value.

As it currently stands, Pierce is an interesting flex play despite his low yards-per-carry average.  He looks like he’ll be given plenty of work and could creep into the low RB2 rankings when bye weeks start thinning out the ranks a bit.  Forsett may also reach flex levels in PPR leagues if his role remains consistent.  He’s worth owning for now, but he’s a hard call to start at this point since he’s clearly behind Pierce in line for touches.

The Steelers Struggles

After looking great to start the season running out to a 27-3 lead against the Browns, the Steelers have been outscored 50-9 over their last three halves.  Pittsburgh’s offense stumbled throughout the game last night with more drives ending in turnovers (3) than resulted in any kind of points (2 field goals).

Pittsburgh was without top receiver Antonio Brown early in the game as he went through an evaluation for a concussion, but he was able to return after passing the protocols.  He finished with 90 yards on seven catches, but wasn’t able to find the end zone.  No one on the Steelers reached 100 yards rushing or receiving, although Le’Veon Bell did have 100 all-purpose yards with 48 coming on five receptions and 59 more coming on 11 rushes.

Both Bell and Brown will remain top fantasy options, but the Steelers offensive struggles are definitely concerning for the other options around the fringes of starting status like Ben Roethlisberger, Markus Wheaton, and Heath Miller.

Which Smith?

Another interesting fantasy impacting development is the distribution of the Ravens targets.  Last night, Joe Flacco threw a total of 29 passes completing 21 for 166 yards.  Far and away the most targeted receiver was Steve Smith Sr. who had 10 passes thrown his way which was double Owen Daniels target number who was second on the team with five.

Smith converted six of his ten targets into catches finishing with 71 yards.  The “other” Smith, Torrey, who was supposed to be the Ravens #1 receiver was targeted only three times and finished with just one catch for 10 yards.  Torrey Smith did draw a penalty on a deep ball, but other than that had a relatively quiet night.  In the long run, I still think Torrey Smith will turn in some good weeks, but right now it’s apparent that Steve Smith is getting far more targets.  In PPR leagues, Steve Smith is a nice flex option while Torrey remains a WR4 until he gets more regular looks.

Another factor that is eating into Torrey Smith’s production is the focus in the new-look Ravens’ attack on the tight ends.  Last night, it was backup TE Owen Daniels who caught two touchdowns and finished with five catches for 28 yards while starter Dennis Pitta caught three passes for 30 yards. Both tight ends will continue to be involved, and I still expect Pitta to be a valuable piece even though he is now sharing work with his backup.  Daniels’ TD vulturing ways could continue from time-to-time, but Pitta is still the option that has the most upside going forward.