re: Week 2 News, Notes, & Stats

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Speaking Tuesday, Raiders coach Jon Gruden said it was going to be "easier said than done" to spark Amari Cooper going forward

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Nelson Agholor vs. Buccaneers CBs The Buccaneers did a hell of a job torching up this column last week, as Mike Evans had one of my worst projected matchups and he ate Marshon Lattimore alive. But they also were on the receiving end of a massive hit in the column – they gave up one of the most efficient games ever to a WR in Michael Thomas’ 16/180/1 showing last week. In fact, Thomas is the first player since 1992, when the NFL started tracking targets, to be targeted 17 or more times while catching all but one of them. He was a machine. Agholor doesn’t have the kind of size Thomas does to exploit this matchup, but with Alshon Jeffery still recovering from off-season shoulder surgery, he’s also the best option the Eagles have on the perimeter of their passing game. He had just 33 yards last week against the Falcons, but he caught 8 passes, and I anticipate Nick Foles will be better this week in a much easier matchup. The Bucs’ best CB, Brent Grimes, missed last week’s game with a groin injury (he wasn’t even injured when I wrote the column last week), and it’s possible he misses more time this week. Even still, Thomas saw 11 of those 17 targets from the slot last week according to ProFootballFocus, and that’s where Agholor makes his hay, though he played outside more last week with Jeffery out. Tampa’s typical slot corner in Week 1 was Vernon Hargreaves, and he too left the game injured (shoulder). This is a bad Buc secondary that could be even worse given the injuries across the board.

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Kenny Stills vs. Jets CBs Stills was one of the stars of Week 1, scoring 2 TD in a win over the Titans, justifying some of the loud preseason hype he was getting thanks to the demise of DeVante Parker. This week, he gets to take on a Jet club coming off a big win, but one that still had trouble covering Kenny Golladay and Golden Tate last week. One of Stills’ TDs even came from the slot, where Buster Skrine surrendered 5 receptions in Week 1, according to ProFootballFocus. In all, the Jets allowed 50.3 FP to Lion WRs, which ranked 6th-most in the NFL in Week 1.

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Steelers WRs vs. Chiefs CBs The Steelers were in an utter crapfest against the Browns last week, with Ben Roethlisberger playing a horrendous game, but this week they arrive at home to face Kansas City. Pittsburgh has had the Chiefs’ number throughout the recent years, and this is a great matchup to potentially stack some Steelers and win some dough. Even in an impressive win last week against the Chargers, KC’s small corners – led by Steven Nelson and Kendall Fuller – gave up a 7th-most 49.7 FP to the WR position. The big matchup to watch will be Fuller, who still slid into the slot last week and performed pretty well, against JuJu Smith-Schuster, but my guess is the Steelers move JuJu around to exploit the lack of size Kansas City has on the perimeter. And as usual, it’s a good week to use Antonio Brown – it always is.

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Allen Robinson vs. Seahawks CBs This is not a column that has frequently – if ever – targeted the Seattle defense. But that’s changing. In Week 1, the Seahawks gave up a ridiculous 54.3 FP to Bronco WRs, with both Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas absolutely torching them. According to ProFootballFocus, Seahawk CBs Trey Flowers and Shaquill Griffin each finished in the top 10 of receptions allowed in Week 1, with Flowers giving up 7 and Griffin 5. Flowers’ 124 yards surrendered in coverage was also #3 among all CBs according to PFF’s data. The Bears spread the ball around in Week 1, as we expected, but Robinson paced them with 4/61 receiving on 7 targets, and there’s little reason to believe he won’t see some good looks against a Seattle secondary that is just scraping for quality performances at this sta

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