Thursday Night Fantasy Football Takeaways: Is Tua Tagovailoa's Career Over? Bills' James Cook and Dolphins' De'Von Achane Lead Teams

Discussing some fantasy football takeaways from the Thursday night game between the Bills and Dolphins.

Week 2 of the NFL season opened up with a battle between the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins on Thursday night.

The game didn’t really go as expected, and now there’s a bunch of questions that need to be answered in Miami. On the other hand, a lopsided win didn’t really result in big fantasy games from Buffalo players.

Let’s break it all down!

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Game Stats

Buffalo erupted for 17 second-quarter points and eased to a 31-10 win.

Buffalo had just 247 total yards of offense, while Miami had 351. Three costly turnovers proved to be the difference.

The Bills rushed for 108 yards and threw for 139 yards, while not turning the ball over or taking a sack. Buffalo only had one penalty as well.

The Dolphins rushed for 139 yards and threw for an additional 225. They were sacked twice and penalized seven times.

Tua Tagovailoa Struggles, Sustains Injury

It’s weird to start a fantasy football takeaway story on a game with the losing team, but this is clearly the top story from the contest.

Tagovailoa struggled mightily in this one. He completed 17 of his 25 passes, but three of his incompletions were interceptions (one was returned for a touchdown). He threw for 145 yards.

Tagovailoa rushed two times for 17 yards, and at the end of his final run, Tagovailoa suffered a nasty looking concussion.

It’s at least the third concussion Tagovailoa has suffered during his NFL career, and it has a bunch of people wondering if it’s now time for Tua to hang it up. It’s unfortunate we even have to have this kind of conversation, as Tagovailoa is a very talented quarterback and can absolutely light it up in this Dolphins’ offense.

This is a situation that will certainly develop over time, and FantasySP will be here to provide insight when we can. If Tagovailoa is able to play again, you can probably just chalk this up to being a rough game, and one that he probably won’t repeat too often. I do expect him to be out for at least a couple games, meaning Skylar Thompson is likely to be the team’s starting QB.

I hate to even bring this up in this story, but we are here to talk fantasy football. If Tagovailoa is on your fantasy team, he can be stashed on IR for the time being - if you don’t have an IR spot, get that latest news on Tagovailoa before making a decision if you want to hold on to him if he misses some games.

I’d immediately start reaching out and looking to trade for another QB if Tua was your No. 1 fantasy option. His future is uncertain, and if he can’t play again, you are going to need someone to carry your team.

Bills’ Offensive Fantasy Players Pretty Unimpressive

The score of the game suggests that Bills’ offensive fantasy players had monster games, but the three picks led to short fields (and six points on the return). That left a ton of fantasy points out there, and made for some average-or-worse fantasy showings.

Quarterback Josh Allen completed 13 of his 19 passes for 139 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions. He only attempted two runs, gaining two yards.

This certainly wasn’t a vintage Allen fantasy performance, but at least he took care of the ball to get you some positive points. His lower fantasy point total might cost you a win this week, but in the long run, there’s nothing to worry about.

Allen will have a number of big fantasy outings the rest of the season. The thing that I like the best with Allen so far is that he’s scored five total touchdowns and only turned the ball over once (a fumble) through two weeks. 

Khall Shakir led the pass catcher group in Buffalo with 54 yards on five catches and targets. He also had a two-yard run, but without a score, it was a pretty blah fantasy performance. 

Shakir remains a streaming option in standard leagues, but is a much better deep league starting option.

Tight end Dalton Kincaid had four grabs on as many targets, but for just 33 yards. It was better than his week 1 performance (one catch, two targets, 11 yards), but so far, Kincaid has not lived up to his draft hype.

I see week 1 as a fluke, and the game on Thursday simply didn’t allow for many big performances. I’m a bit worried about Kincaid, but he’s still a player I trust to start for at least another week or two.

Curtis Samuel had just one grab on two targets for three yards. He was a drop candidate after week 1, and now definitely should be dropped in standard leagues after week 2.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Mack Hollins and Keon Coleman all had one target, but no catches.

MVS remains a boom-or-bust fantasy option, and is only rosterable in the deepest of fantasy leagues. Hollins scored in week 1 before doing nothing this week - he’s rosterable in deep leagues, but not a great starting option right now.

Coleman was a player I really liked coming into the week, but he was also held without a catch. He’ll probably be dropped in a bunch of standard leagues this week, but I’d hold off on that move for at least another week. This game was weird, and I think Coleman is their best wideout still. Give it another week before moving on, or you might be regretting it big time.

James Cook Finally Scores!

One of the few star fantasy performances in this game came from the Bills running back. He’s typically a good starting option, but he’s capped because Allen steals a lot of his touchdowns.

Cook only got 12 touches in this one, but scored three times - that sort of makes up for some of those down weeks, but fantasy owners would surely appreciate some more consistent fantasy outings.

Still, it was good to see Cook get going, and he was extremely efficient. Cook had rushing scores for 1 and 49 yards out, while adding a 17-yard touchdown catch from Allen. He rushed 11 times for 78 yards and then had the 17-yard catch on his only target.

This outing is a perfect example why so many like Cook in fantasy. He typically can produce enough total yards to post solid fantasy totals, and the possibility of a score (or three) makes him hard to sit. He should remain a starting option in all league types for as long as he’s healthy.

De'Von Achane Shines for Dolphins

One of the few bright spots for Miami on Thursday was Achane, who wasn’t even a lock to play this week.

He rushed 22 times for 96 yards, while added 69 yards and a score on seven catches and targets.

Achane took advantage of Raheem Mostert being out with an injury, and already has 265 total yards and two scores through two weeks. The early returns for the young running back have been strong, but injury concerns are definitely still there.

The long layoff before the next game should mean Achane is in store for another big game, especially if Mostert can’t suit up again.

Miami’s Star Wideouts Struggle

Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are about as good a 1-2 wide receiver punch you can get in the NFL, but they struggled to get going Thursday.

Hill had 36 yards on four touches, rushing once for 12 yards and catching half of his six targets for 24 yards. Waddle had 45 total yards on five touches, rushing once for four yards and adding 41 receiving yards on four catches and targets.

It’s not often both guys struggle in the same week, and I wouldn’t worry too much about it happening again anytime soon. What is troublesome is the situation with Tagovailoa. If he’s out a while, Hill and Waddle’s fantasy outlooks would go down a bunch with Thompson at quarterback. 

If Tagovailoa does end up calling it a career, a new quarterback (trade or free agent signing) might be the only thing that saves the fantasy season for Hill and Waddle. Miami is a contender and likely would go all in, but there’s also a chance they go into a rebuild and trade the wideouts, so that’s also a way for them to still be big-time fantasy targets again this season.

Does Miami Finally have a Tight End?

I honestly can’t remember the last time a Dolphins’ tight end was a big-time part of the offense.

Maybe Jonnu Smith can add a third pass catching weapon to the offense after he turned in a solid outing on Thursday. He went for 53 yards on six catches and seven targets.

He’s not one to immediately add because of the team’s quarterback situation now, but I’d at least keep an eye on him.

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