The first week of the NFL season is sort of like Christmas. There is so much build up to it and for many, there is a total let down especially on the fantasy side. For me, there's nothing as loathing as the first week of the NFL season when it comes to fantasy. You basically have nothing to go on since preseason has become a wasteland and you really can't base it all on last season. And it showed last week as I finished a nice round 58th out of 58 in the RotoWire & FanDuel Fantasy Football Championship so for me there is only one way to go which is up. Hopefully, you will fare MUCH better than I in the second week of the RotoWire & FanDuel Fantasy Football Championship.

If you are unfamiliar with the competition, here are the basics:

- 10-week competition hosted on FanDuel
- $10 entry
- Compete against other users and three FanDuel experts (Jeff Erickson, Derek VanRiper, Kevin Payne)
- Finish above the experts and win an entry in the Week 11 Freeroll with over $4,000 in prizes and RotoWire subscriptions up for grabs
- Each qualifying week acts as a double-up with the top 150 doubling up their cash
- This is not a continuous competition, so you can enter every week, and you don't have to have participated in Week 1 to enter this week's competition
- You can sign up for this week's competition here:

There is a separate RotoWire expert competition that is taking place concurrently with the public competition including myself, down all the way at 58th only 66.86 points behind the first week winner Ken Crites (kencrw) and his shiny 126.56. While Ken broke out with the Rams D (28 points), Antonio Brown (23.7) and Todd Gurley (18), I was struggling with the likes of Eli Manning (7.7), Joe Mixon (3.9) and my big winner, Jeremy Maclin (12.6).

You can check out the full expert leader board here, but here's the current top 10:

1. Ken Crites (kencrw) 126.56
2. Tate McIntyre (tamc10) 126.18
3. Chris Smith (smithca28) 121.88
4. Chris Bennett (k30kittles) 121.24
5. Erik Jastrowski (schigidyschwa) 120.92
6. Mike Doria (mikeinlalaland) 119.12
7. Logan Larson (lxlarson) 117.08
8. Kyle Riley (morningwoodson21) 116.24
9. Jason Collette (jasoncollette) 114.40
10. James Seltzer (schweppy23) 112.62

Note the contest includes all and only the Sunday games, afternoon and the night battle between Green Bay at Atlanta. For this week there are no weather problems like last week with Tampa Bay and Miami. Also, don't forget Cards RB David Johnson is out for some time so eliminate his $9.3K salary from your thoughts. The largest scoring game this week is expected to be New England at New Orleans. You can stack (three or four of the same players from a team) of the Pats or to a lesser extent Saints or you can have a contrarian view and go another way since many will be picking Pats or Saints.  DON'T FORGET the deadline for the contest is1 P.M. Eastern Time (Noon Central Time and 10 A.M Pacific Time etc.) Here are the picks for Week 2 of the NFL.

Value Picks

QBCarson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals at Indianapolis Colts

FanDuel Price: $7,500

Most of the money will be on Pats Tom Brady and Saints' Drew Brees in the shootout, but if you want to go on a quarterback for a team that is sure to put up points its Palmer. Rams' Jared Goff put up 16.4 points against the Colts last week. While Goff is better than people give him credit for, there is no doubt that the Colts defense helped out.

QBBen Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Minnesota Vikings

FanDuel Price: $8,000

Big Ben Roethlisberger has become something similar to New Orleans' quarterback Drew Brees, good at home and bad on the road. Well, here is the home game so this is the usual scenario where Big Ben goes off. The Vikings have been usually stingy against the run so the Steelers will most likely have to throw the ball.

RBTy Montgomery, Green Bay Packers at Atlanta Falcons

FanDuel Price: $6,500

The Atlanta defense has been notoriously bad against running backs catching the ball and this is right down Montgomery's alley. The hybrid wide receiver turned running back is definitely one to target this week. The talk of Packers backup Jamaal Williams taking over for Montgomery has died down so it's time to ride the train as long as it goes for Montgomery.

RBMike Gillislee, New England Patriots at New Orleans Saints

FanDuel Price: $6,700

Gillislee showed that he is the real deal as he racked up 22.5 points and this week he will be going up against a poorer rushing defense in the Saints. The New Orleans defense has been bad in the past against the run and that is still true. Vikings Dalvin Cook had 22 carries for 127 rushing yards against the same Saints defense.

WR Chris Hogan, New England Patriots at New Orleans Saints

FanDuel Price: $6,200

There's a good chance that this game will be a shootout and most money will be on the Pats' Brandin Cooks ($7,900), but there should be plenty of balls to catch out there in this game. He only had one catch for eight yards against the Chiefs last week, but did run the ball three times for 17 yards. He was only targeted five times by Tom Brady against the Chiefs, but I am guessing that the Saints will concentrate on Cooks.

WRDeVante Parker, Miami Dolphins at Los Angeles Chargers

FanDuel Price: $6,400

It will be interesting to see how both the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers play this week since they were the only teams that did not play the first week. While it is the preseason, Parker showed that he was the number one receiver for new Fins quarterback Jay Cutler and it should be the case at least for their first game over fellow receiver Jarvis Landry.

TECharles Clay, Buffalo Bills at Carolina Panthers

FanDuel Price: $5,200

Outside of running back LeSean McCoy, the only threat for the Bills offense has been Clay especially since the trade of wide receiver Sammy Watkins to the Rams in the preseason. Clay's nine targets last week against the Jets led the Bills while he had five catches for 53 yards and a touchdown. Last season Carolina was one of the worst defenses against the tight end so Clay should continue to be a target of quarterback Tyrod Taylor.

High Risk/High Reward

QBTom Brady, New England Patriots at New Orleans Saints

FanDuel Price: $9,200

If there wasn't a game that was primed for a Pats route I don't know when there would be even if it will be against the lowly Jets later this season. There is no doubt that Brady and the Pats want to put the naysayers away after the loss to Kansas City. And New England head coach Bill Bellichek is known for pouring it on even when it's necessary so you could see the Pats just unleashing all of its weapons this week. If the Pats offense is deflated against a poor Saints defense, there will be more evidence building on the downfall of Terrific Tom.

Steer Clear

RBLe'Veon Bell, Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Minnesota Vikings

FanDuel Price: $9,000

Sorry I know everybody is on the Bell bandwagon especially now with David Johnson out for possibly the year. But again I hate when skilled players sit out basically the entire preseason which Bell did. In addition he did not show much in the Steelers win over the Cleveland Browns last week, a grand total of 6.2 points. The Vikings defense is much stinger than Cleveland especially on the ground. You can do better in other running backs, be it Cowboys' Ezekiel Elliott ($8,700), Bills' LeSean McCoy ($8,600) and Falcons' Devonta Freeman.