Tristan H. Cockcroft 10y

Brees, Brady off to slow starts

Fantasy NFL

Drew Brees' fantasy owners are hardly in a state of panic following his consecutive 15-point performances to begin the season. After all, his 30 points are still good enough to rank him ninth among quarterbacks (through Sunday's games).

But in a season in which good things were predicted -- including by this columnist, who declared Brees his No. 1 quarterback entering the year -- Brees' numbers aren't quite up to his usual standards. Those 30 points are his worst through his first two games since he scored just 14 fantasy points in his first two games of 2007.

Brees' home/road splits are unmistakable: With his "sluggish" start to 2014, he now has an active streak of 10 consecutive games beneath 20 fantasy points on the road. On eight occasions since the beginning of 2011, he scored 30 or more points in a home game; he had only seven games of more than 20 fantasy points on the road, and only one of 30 or more. And, again since 2011, he has averaged 18.2 fantasy points per game on the road, compared to 26.0 per game at home. Brees' home average during that time leads all quarterbacks by nearly three points per game; his road average ranks just seventh.

Fortunately, there's good news for Brees' owners -- or those considering making a trade offer for him -- and that's that he's one of only three quarterbacks who has all eight of his scheduled home games ahead in his 14 remaining on the schedule: Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and Chad Henne of the Jacksonville Jaguars are the others.

Miscellany

• Speaking of Tom Brady, he has begun the 2014 season with back-to-back nine-point fantasy performances, the first time in his career as an NFL starter that he has finished in single digits in each of his team's first two games; he did score just three points before suffering a season-ending knee injury in Week 1 of 2008. It also gave him three consecutive regular-season games with single-digit fantasy points, something that hasn't happened in his career since Weeks 12-14 of 2001.

Worse yet, the excuse that he hasn't had his full slate of receivers healthy no longer applies; Rob Gronkowski, Shane Vereen and Danny Amendola have all played the first two games of the season. Last year, Brady scored 78 of his 241 fantasy points in the four games in which all three of those players were active, an average of 19.5.

• Through Sunday's games, Giovani Bernard (22 fantasy points) was the week's top-scoring running back, but his teammate, rookie Jeremy Hill, also managed a healthy 15 fantasy points to rank ninth at the position (through Sunday's games). It is the first time this season that one team had multiple running backs score 15 or more fantasy points in the same game, something that occurred on only nine occasions in 2013.

Perhaps this could be attributed to the Cincinnati Bengals' run-heavy offense -- they might run the football 525-550 times -- but perhaps it's also a product of the favorable matchup against a poor Atlanta Falcons run defense? In two weeks, the Falcons have surrendered 71 fantasy points and five total rushing scores to running backs.

• A.J. Green has been a model of consistency throughout his four-year NFL career, his Consistency Rating entering Week 2 the best of any wide receiver during that span (2011-14) and his 11.7 fantasy points per game average second only to Calvin Johnson's 15.1. That's why Green's early exit Sunday was so devastating to his owners, who absorbed a big, fat zero on their scorecard, not only in terms of fantasy points, but also in terms of targets. It was only the second time in his career (of 49 games played) he scored zero fantasy points, only the eighth time he was held to fewer than five, and only the third time he garnered fewer than four targets.

Unfortunately, until it is clear whether Green has a ligament strain or turf toe, his Week 3 status will be in doubt. But his track record of consistency should earn him trust from his owners, even if he needs to rest Week 3 and the Week 4 bye before returning.

• Owners who invested an early-to-mid round pick on the Seattle Seahawks defense -- and it seems that plenty of you did, ignoring our advice, judging by its No. 48 ADP (that as of the Sept. 4 opener) -- couldn't have been pleased with their minus-1 fantasy output in Week 2. That ended a 41-game streak without a negative fantasy point total, which was the longest such active streak in the league. You'd have to go back to Week 9 of the 2011 season for the last negative score by the Seahawks (also minus-1), and the team averaged 11.7 fantasy points per game during its streak.

The San Francisco 49ers now hold the longest active streak without a negative fantasy point total, extending theirs to 25 games Sunday night. The Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers are tied for the second longest, with 18 apiece.

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