Week 2 Fantasy Football Quarterback Streaming: Carson Palmer Can Bounce Back
Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals
ESPN Ownership: 11.3%
People are fleeing the Carson Palmer bandwagon after his ugly showing in Week 1. His ESPN ownership was roughly 33% for his opening-week game at the Detroit Lions, but it's getting close to single digits after he completed several passes to the Lions (three, to be exact) in an all-around poor showing.
And now, he's going to be without his top playmaker, David Johnson, for a long time. It's fully justified to be concerned about Palmer for remainder of the season, but we just need him to produce this week, and a road matchup with the Indianapolis Colts gives him a great chance to do just that.
The Colts were sans Vontae Davis in Week 1, and he's not expected to play this week, either. Indy has a bad defense even when they're fully healthy, but without Davis, they're truly horrible.
Vontae Davis played at least 50% of the snaps in 12/16 games last year. The Colts' defense was predictably abysmal in the other four. pic.twitter.com/D0vMSA8LGF
— Jim Sannes (@JimSannes) September 5, 2017
Those numbers don't take into account the whipping Jared Goff -- more on him in a bit -- put on them last week. Goff added his name to the list of quarterbacks who have lit the Colts' D on fire when Davis hasn't played. It's an illustrious list that also includes Nick Foles, who smoked Indy for 222 yards and 2 scores last year in relief of Alex Smith (who had 127 yards and a touchdown before he departed early).
If you need a little more convincing, check out the numbers Palmer has put up in his 30 career games in retractable roof venues (like Indy's Lucas Oil Stadium). For reference, we'll put them up against his outdoor numbers.
| Splits | Games | Yards Per Game | Touchdowns | Picks | Adjusted Yards/Attempt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Re-Roof | 30 | 280.9 | 53 | 23 | 7.73 |
| Outdoors | 132 | 246.8 | 209 | 147 | 6.68 |
Vegas expects the Arizona Cardinals to get right this weekend, making them 7.5-point favorites with a 25.75-point implied total. Is Palmer scary after this week? You bet. But we just need him to deliver one good game.
Palmer is our QB16 for Week 2, and he's more than capable of taking advantage of this pristine matchup.
