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Get use to the early line ups for Thursday Night Football. Before you hit that update to your fantasy starting roster make sure to pay attention to this weeks sit em’ players. Don’t get caught glancing at your stat tracker and doing a double take. Yes it’s the fourth quarter and it’s not a system glitch that you are starting at five points from your starting wide receiver. Follow recommendations and sit the following players for week two.

Quarterbacks

Jay Cutler
Cutler is one of those home run or out quarterbacks in the NFL. He has to have things rolling in his favor to have momentum and sustain it for an entire game. Last week he was able to shake off an early pick six and have a stellar game. That is very unusual for Cutler. Maybe this is a breakout career year for Cutler now that he has proper talent surrounding him. I’m not buying it yet. He has been in the NFL too long and become predictable with his play. A quick turn around against a hungry division rival spells turnover trouble for Cutler.

Matt Schaub
The Houston Texans are one of the teams that are going to consistently run over passing the football. Certain teams may bounce around on a week to week basis with their game plan, Houston won’t. Schaub may have been rated a bit high this year for a fantasy quarterback. He is a suitable backup but numbers you would of expected a few years ago are not going to reappear. Arian Foster and Ben Tate are going to keep getting forced fed the football, and take away plenty of opportunities for Schaub touchdown passes. This week against Jacksonville figures to be a game where both teams establish the run for four full quarters. Possessions will be minimized and chances for a breakout game for Schaub is below thirty percent.

Russell Wilson
Chances that anyone flipped their DirecTV package to catch any of the Cardinals vs. Seahawks is like having a double sided coin. The tease was there but it the remote control only kept flipping to the 49ers vs. Green Bay and Atlanta vs. Tampa Bay. Wilson looked caught in the spotlight and struggled mightily against pressure. Bob Ryan is sure to add several blitzes to get the unprepared Wilson caught off guard for the second consecutive week.

Carson Palmer
What in the world happened to Palmer’s arm? He threw more Chad Pennington/Matt Leinart check down throws to Darren McFadden than anyone could of imagined. The offensive game plan vs. the San Diego Chargers seemed non existent. Maybe the offense turned to simplistic throws to cut down on Palmer’s erratic interceptions. Whatever the case, Palmer is on near waiver wire drop consideration with another poor week.

Running Backs

Michael Turner
Big power backs longevity just keeps dwindling. Turner was hardly used as a San Diego Charger, but those days were paired with Ladanian Tomlinson. Tomlinson may have just retired but those years paired together seem like ages ago. With Atlanta’s talented receiving depth and Matt Ryan ready to step up, the Falcons are going to shift to a new identity. One that turns Michael Turner into a lower tier fantasy running back second starter.

Stevan Ridley
Ridley had quite a week one to make the owners that drafted him give the early “I told you so”. Hold the gun on that call. Ridley may have his impressive weeks ahead of him, but a Patriots running back is far from being a sure thing. Arizona has a solid defense that will be up for the test on limiting Ridley from a follow up performance.

Kevin Smith
San Francisco’s defense is going to be one of those defenses that it’s going to take an impressive effort to get over 100 yards on them. It’ll be even harder than last year. Smith keeps reappearing as the lead back in Detroit by default. By midseason he likely will not even be the feature back. Last week Smith gave fantasy owners decent tricky points for those that risked starting him. This is the week where you can boot yourself in the back for drafting poorly at the running back position. If you’re stuck starting Smith, you better hope the Lions find there way down to the one yard line. Even than it may be just a tease. A fourth and goal plunge that falls short.

Maurice Jones Drew
This is the week where the true football shape of Jones Drew will be tested. He came into the fold right before week one, and was used more than expected vs. the Vikings. Overall his week one performance had to be evaluated as an exceeds. Expect a fallback this week though. Jones Drew isn’t a young back and his body was pushed physically against the Vikings. A layoff is a layoff no matter what profession. You can’t get back into the field and have an immediate consistent high impact.

Wide Receivers

Wes Welker
I probably rated Wes Welker lower than anyone had him listed overall at wide receiver. The Patriots went from having Welker and nobody around him to now two premier tight ends and Brandon Lloyd. A decline was inevitable. The stalemate of contract talks between the organization and Welker were valid. Teams would rather have the tight end beat them than chunks of yards over and over again by Welker. The Patriots will run the football more this year because of their short route passing game being taken away a tad. Welker is still a valuable receiver but not as high as people anticipated.

Marcus Colston
This may be the year Brees stats decline and it will not be because of his passing skills. His receivers were boosted over the years because of Brees himself. Colston has shined as a 7th round pick over the years, but was a questionable number one receiver even at his prime. Injuries have began to hinder his performance, and on most teams he would not be a number one receiver right now. Brees frustration will begin to show, as his group of receivers is not the quality you’d expect. Sit Colston this week.

Stephen Hill
What Pittsburgh does frequently to teams better than most is take away a favorable option. Hill was that week one. It was his first game as an NFL player and he caught the Bills off guard. You can believe the Steelers will not allow Hill to be the main threat in the Jets passing attack. Hill is to unpolished of a receiver to excel consistently as a rookie.

Stevie Johnson
This may be a shocker to some, as the Bills do not have many options to throw to besides Johnson. There are just times when a quarterback gets shaken so much, that even facing a defense that will give up yards does not matter. Ryan Fitzpatrick heard all summer that he needs to protect the football better. Week one he had a horrible performance in which he lost David Nelson and Fred Jackson. Two guys he counted on tremendously last year along with Johnson. Now Fitzpatrick has to make NFL throws to unknown receivers and Johnson who will definitely be blanketed all day.