Arena Football Quickplay Week 2 Primer

Andrew Nordmeier
Thursday March 28, 2013

Let's get primed for the second week of the Quickplay Arena Fan-Tasy game. San Antonio and Philadelphia are on bye this week so Derrick Ross will have to sit on the bench and some deeper fullback options will need to be played. It also means that options will be limited to Chicago and Iowa in the Central Division and Cleveland and Pittsburgh in the East Division.

The three-quarterback strategy is definitely the way to go this season. Nine of the top 10 teams in the first week used three quarterbacks to
pile up the points. Five quarterbacks posted at least 50 fantasy points in the first week. Erik Meyer of Spokane (62), Bernard Morris of Jacksonville (58), Nick Davila of Arizona (55), Iowa's JJ Raterink had 54 and Adrian McPherson of Tampa Bay (52) each pulled off a fifty-burger. No other quarterback had more than 37 points.

Each of the top five play this week so the hard part is trying to figure out which three of them to put in your lineup. I like Davila because of the weapons Arizona has in the passing game. Chicago just gave up 63 points to Iowa and they host Meyer and the Shock so he looks like a good second option. Raterink would be a good third quarterback for this week.
He's coming off a good first week and with limited options in that division, Raterink sounds like a great way to fill that requirement.

Someone will think about putting McPherson in and I would do that with a caveat emptor (buyer beware) warning sticker on him. In the first week, he ran for five touchdowns but threw for just two touchdowns and less than 225 yards. If a team can effectively use the jack linebacker to minimize McPherson's running ability, it's going to turn into a potential disaster in fantasy. I want to see McPherson look like the other passers in the league with games of six or seven passing touchdowns before I feel more confident on using him.

At the fullback slot, Ross is off this week so this becomes more difficult. Ben Stallings of Utah was the next best back with 13 points. He wouldn't be likely to be used with all of the quarterback talent in that division. Bruce Figgins of New Orleans also racked up 13 points and takes on Iowa. Rendrick Taylor of Jacksonville piled up 11 points and plays against a Pittsburgh team that got skunked in its opener.

Taylor looks like a one-week flyer while Ross is on bye at that spot based on the matchup.

The wide receiver spot is already into two tiers. Eight receivers were above the 25-point plateau last week while 17 others scored between 10 and 21 points in the opening week.

Reggie Gray of the Rush (27 points) and Darius Reynolds of the Barnstormers (28 points) were the only receivers in the top five that reside outside of the Western Division. Gray is a proven player in the league and I would want to see more out of Reynolds before rolling with him in my other spot from the Central Division.

Prechae Rodriguez of Orlando led the league with 176 yards and three touchdowns on nine catches last week. Orlando goes all the way to San Jose this week and Rodriguez should continue his strong start to the season on the west coast. That also fills out the Southern Division on my lineup.

All that remains is the Eastern Division and we're limited to choices of players from Pittsburgh and Cleveland. The team still needs a wide receiver and neither team has great matchups this week. Mike Washington of the Power would be the third choice for wide receiver. PJ Berry got off to a slow start recording two points in the first week; Washington got 16. Perhaps Washington has a good rapport with quarterback Jordan Jefferson or Berry is drawing more coverage based on his reputation.

Kicker Garrett Lindholm of Arizona scored 12 points. Ten other kickers scored between five and nine point on the opening week. Because the kickers are clumped together after one week, I'm going to pick one to fill out my lineup requirements and keep it valid. The choice here is Ross Gornall of Cleveland since he looks to have more chances to score as opposed to Josh Czajkowski of the Power.

This Week's Games:Jacksonville at Pittsburgh, Arizona at Utah, Orlando at San Jose, Cleveland at Tampa Bay, Spokane at Chicago, Iowa at New Orleans

BYE: Philadelphia, San Antonio

This week's lineup for the Unemployed Punters:

Eastern Division Players
1 Gornall K-Cleveland
2 Washington WR-Pittsburgh
Central Division Players
1 Raterink QB-Iowa
2 Gray WR-Chicago
Southern Division Players
1 Rodriguez WR-Orlando
2 Taylor FB-Jacksonville
Western Division Players
1 Davila QB-Arizona
2 Meyer QB-Spokane

Last Week: 194 points (7th), Season Total: 194 points (7th)