2026 Season Week 3

Dear Hebetudinous Members of the Dana Burger Dynasty League,

Who loves injuries? Week 2 was a bloodbath with notable injuries afflicting many NFL teams, and our fantasy teams to boot. A few injury names:

• Caleb Williams
• Jayden Daniels
• Nico Collins
• Jaxson Dart
• Jadarian Price
• Saquon Barkley
• Mike Evans
• Alec Pierce
• Dallas Goedert
• Jayden Reed
• Puka Nacua

And those were just some of the big names among others. But we soldier on, and while Sam's team reigns at the top, the rest of the standings are up in the air two weeks in.

As a new feature this year, our weekly newsletters/emails will contain a regularly occurring feature: one stat per game. It may look at usage, advanced stats, or other things notable that may hint at home teams are utilizing their players. Skip them at your own risk!

NFL Week 2 — One Stat Per Game

Lions 31 at Bills 41

Stat: Buffalo used 13 personnel (one RB, three TEs) on 20 plays for the second consecutive week, and overall had multiple tight ends on the field for more than 60% of its snaps.
Two straight weeks makes this look like offensive identity rather than opponent-specific game planning. That should keep Buffalo's tight ends unusually involved while creating heavier defensive boxes that can benefit Josh Allen and the passing game.

Panthers 34 at Falcons 3

Stat: Carolina's pass protection allowed pressure on only 15.4% of dropbacks, down from 30.9% last season.
The Panthers are simultaneously throwing at the league's fifth-highest rate (63.9%). If the protection improvement survives better opponents, that's an encouraging combination for Bryce Young and Carolina's pass catchers rather than merely a product of Sunday's blowout.

Saints 24 at Ravens 17

Stat: Tyler Shough completed 10 of 13 passes for 113 yards against Baltimore's blitz, while also going 17-of-21 for 139 yards and a TD when Baltimore rushed four or fewer.
In other words, Baltimore couldn't find a pressure answer that bothered him. Shough handling both blitz and coverage looks this efficiently makes Chris Olave and the Saints' passing game considerably easier to trust against aggressive defenses.

Vikings 9 at Bears 3

Stat: Brian Flores blitzed Caleb Williams on an extraordinary 81.8% of his dropbacks; Williams produced a 54.5 passer rating on those plays.
This is exactly the sort of defensive statistic that matters for fantasy: Minnesota is creating an extreme schematic environment for opposing quarterbacks. Until offenses prove they can consistently punish it, the Vikings deserve to materially downgrade borderline QB starts.

Bengals 20 at Texans 6

Stat: Cincinnati generated 27 pressures on 62 Houston dropbacks—a 43.5% pressure rate—with five different defenders recording at least four pressures.
_That's much more important than one defender having a big day. The Bengals may have developed a genuinely deep pass rush, making Cincinnati a matchup worth accounting for when deciding whether to start fringe quarterbacks and receivers.
_

Patriots 20 at Steelers 3

Stat: New England blitzed Aaron Rodgers on 18 dropbacks and allowed only 43 passing yards, 2.7 yards per attempt and a 22.2% success rate on those plays.
Rodgers has now gone five consecutive starts with one or fewer passing TDs. Pittsburgh's inability to punish pressure is becoming a structural concern for the fantasy ceiling of the entire passing offense, not simply a bad Sunday.

Packers 20 at Jets 17 (OT)

Stat: Adonai Mitchell drew a team-high 12 targets—29.3% of Geno Smith's attempts—and ran 41 routes on 50 Jets dropbacks.
That's the kind of underlying usage that matters more than his modest 63 receiving yards. Mitchell appears to have seized the WR2 job opposite Garrett Wilson, and an 82% route rate plus near-30% target share puts him firmly on the fantasy radar.

Browns 23 at Buccaneers 19

Stat: Deshaun Watson averaged +0.25 EPA per dropback, his best mark in any game as a Brown and his best since Week 12 of 2020.
More importantly for fantasy, rookie Denzel Boston has now scored a 45-plus-yard TD in each of his first two NFL games. Cleveland suddenly has both efficient quarterback play and an explosive vertical weapon, making this passing offense worth reevaluating upward.

Eagles 24 at Titans 20

Stat: DeVonta Smith commanded 38% of Philadelphia's Week 2 targets and now owns roughly one-third of the Eagles' targets through two games.
That's bona fide alpha-WR usage. Smith's fantasy value shouldn't be evaluated as though he's merely sharing targets evenly in a crowded offense; through two weeks, the passing game is being disproportionately funneled through him.

Broncos 20 at Jaguars 13

Stat: Bo Nix went 5-of-6 for 110 yards and a touchdown outside the tackle box, producing a perfect 158.3 passer rating and +26 percentage points of completion percentage over expected.
Denver found explosive offense by moving Nix rather than keeping him in a static pocket. If designed movement becomes a larger part of the offense, it raises both Nix's efficiency outlook and the ceiling of Denver's pass catchers.

Raiders 26 at Chargers 14

Stat: Kirk Cousins went 8-of-12 for 181 yards and all three of his touchdowns on throws traveling at least 10 air yards.
That's a major reversal from Week 1, when the intermediate/deep game was Las Vegas' glaring weakness. If Cousins can consistently access that part of the field, Tre Tucker's ceiling rises and defenses have less freedom to crowd Ashton Jeanty's running lanes.

Seahawks 31 at Cardinals 7

Stat: Seattle held Arizona's running backs to 39 yards on 14 carries, then generated 18 QB pressures; Jacoby Brissett managed only 9 passing yards on 11 pressured dropbacks.
That's a useful fantasy matchup flag. Seattle can erase the run without sacrificing pressure, potentially forcing opposing offenses into exactly the kind of obvious passing situations Mike Macdonald's defense wants.

Cowboys 37 at Commanders 20

Stat: All four of Dak Prescott's touchdown passes traveled at least 10 yards through the air, tying his career high.
This wasn't a four-TD game built from screens and goal-line scheming. Dallas rediscovered an aggressive downfield passing profile, which is especially encouraging for CeeDee Lamb and Prescott's weekly ceiling.

49ers 35 at Dolphins 13

Stat: Brock Purdy completed all 10 of his throws of 10-plus air yards for 211 yards and a touchdown—the most downfield completions without an incompletion by an NFL quarterback since 2021.
That's an important distinction from simply crediting Kyle Shanahan's YAC machine. Purdy is attacking and completing passes downfield at an elite level, which raises the ceiling of George Kittle and San Francisco's receivers rather than making them dependent on manufactured touches.

Chiefs 33 at Colts 30 (OT)

Stat: Jonathan Taylor has accounted for 45% and 47% of Indianapolis' combined rush attempts and targets through the first two games.
Sunday's 24 carries, 92 yards and two TDs reinforce what the usage says: this is one of fantasy's purest workhorse roles. Game script isn't removing Taylor, and Indianapolis continues to route an extraordinary share of its available opportunity through him.

Giants 6 at Rams 28

Stat: With Puka Nacua inactive, Davante Adams drew 10 targets and turned them into 8 catches, 195 yards and two touchdowns; no other Rams player caught more than six passes.
The important takeaway isn't simply the monster yardage. Los Angeles showed that when Nacua is unavailable, it is perfectly comfortable collapsing the passing offense around Adams rather than distributing Nacua's volume evenly—making Adams a legitimate volume WR1 whenever Nacua misses time.

That's it for this week. Good luck on week 3, and we're almost at our midseason tournament!!

Yours in Football,
Doug