Los Angeles Rams vs. New York Giants Matchup Breakdown For Week 2 Fantasy Football

• Spread: Rams -7.5
• O/U: 47.5
• Score Prediction (from the Fantasy Life NFL Betting Model):  LAR 28, NYG 21

New York Giants Fantasy Preview

Even somewhat bullish presumptions for Big Blue placed them below average under this brand-new regime. Perhaps rumors of the modern game passing John Harbaugh by were greatly exaggerated. Who knows? Anybody can win on a given Sunday, but come on ... raise your hand if you honestly thought it possible to hold the Cowboys’ passing attack to just 5.1 yards/attempt without a single +20-yard completion? Couldn’t be me …

Not to focus too heavily on the defense for an offensive fantasy preview, but it’s the other half of the boomer-ball coin. New York’s taking us back +50 years in macro strategy, where controlling the clock acts as a primary adjective. Speaking of time of possession, NYG finished fourth overall in ToP (35:29) and first in ToP/drive. In fact, the per-drive metric has to be one of the craziest stats to come out of Week 1. The Giants averaged a whopping 5:14 per drive, a number topped only once all of 2025. 

If clock eating’s the name, then running’s the game. New York called 37 total rushes, and frankly the level of playcalling creativity stood out. Cam Skattebo and Jaxson Dart acted as a two-man backfield, often going in opposite directions at the snap to create space for chunk plays. Combining for (29-135-1) on the ground, the dynamic duo’s going to create havoc nonstop — provided the game script allows it.

Regarding Skattebo, I hear the concerns, but there’s much you can do. Any RB commanding +60% of backfield opportunity share plus 100% of goal-line stuff deserves to get started weekly. As far as his targetless outing went, the game script played a role, but he also ran 13 routes. 

Yes, Devin Singletary frustrated Skattebo managers, grabbing all four targets thrown his way for 22 yards plus a score. However, watching the game back, it felt somewhat flukey. All Singletary’s receptions came on a single drive, halfway through the fourth quarter during a rotational drive. 

Up seven points at the time, New York appeared to dial up a bunch of pass plays to throw Dallas off, then just dump off underneath since they’re trying to protect the ball over anything.

Big Blue’s pass attack may lack some volume this year, but the combination of consolidation plus explosivity makes for the stuff fantasy dreams are made of. Malik Nabers (37.5% target/route, 2.88 yards/route) and Isaiah Likely (34.8% target/route, 3.39 yards/route) dominated opportunities with no signs of slowing. Jaxson Dart’s ability to break down a defense to extend plays should allow this pair of dynamic playmakers to eventually wiggle free throughout secondaries all year. Really excited for the narrow stack of Dart, Nabers, and Likely to feed families.

• Start: Jaxson Dart (QB12), Malik Nabers (WR11), Isaiah Likely (TE6), Cam Skattebo (RB
• Sit: Darnell Mooney (WR82), Malachi Fields (WR76)

Los Angeles Rams Fantasy Preview

When it comes to the Rams Week 1 debacle at the hands of the Niners in Melbourne, there’s a million different ways to attack the results — including mine, which is to stick fingers in my ears, scream wildly, and pretend it didn’t happen.

14 points … on 51 plays … and a 41% success rate? What in the world is going on with the Rams? If you’re me, just hand-wave the loss due to travel and prepare for a rocket ride with the highest projected preseason offense. For the non-believers, we can take a closer look.

Obviously, the lodestar of this offense is Puka Nacua, who earned nine targets for 12.4 fantasy points on the usual absurd volume (45.0% target/route, 3.70 yards/route). He’s more than fine. 

Davante Adams may be a bit of a different story. Having constructed a fantasy profile predicated on scoring TDs (which is a skill he possesses), Adams was conspicuously missing from the field in the red zone  — he played just one of seven snaps for a goose egg. Uh oh. Could easily correct going forward but was always a risk to regress.

Again, this game totally flew in the face of all preseason expectations after obsessing about +2-TE sets all summer. Right on brand, Sean McVay pulls the rug on us for a bottom-10 12-personnel rate (29.3%) — a number they’ve only gone under once in their last 10 contests. Once again, it could easily change on a dime. I am staying the course on Colby Parkinson as the Rams’ positional leader in routes, targets, and red zone opportunities.

Death, taxes, and Kyren Williams touchdowns — the few certainties in life. As expected, Williams clearly looked like the Rams’ less explosive runner next to Blake Corum, who outpaced him in every meaningful rush metric. And like clockwork, it didn’t matter. Corum possesses very little standalone value right now, though he only trailed Kyren by four total touches despite playing just one-third of the snaps. Nevertheless, so long as Williams controls 100% of the green zone, he’s the only LAR RB worth starting.

Interested to see if New York continues running such a preventative protection style (heavy two-high safety use, low blitz rate), but it ain’t broke, so they may not fix it. In spite of Abdul Carter, Arvell Reese, and Tremaine Edmunds playing with their hair on fire Week 1, I’m not quite ready to anoint this Giants defense a success story yet. Squash the Rams the way they did the Cowboys, and that’s a horse of a completely different color. 

• Start: Puka Nacua (WR1), Kyren Williams (RB17), Matthew Stafford (QB11)
• Sit: Davante Adams (WR21), Blake Corum (RB35), Terrance Ferguson (TE30)
• Sleeper: Colby Parkinson (TE29)

Next Week’s Bold Headlines, Today

• Take international results and toss them in the waste bin. Newsflash: the Rams are an excellent football team.
• Even though New York loses this one by a touchdown, high hopes are well deserved. Whatever they’re doing is different, but it works …