That was some wild Week 1. It was a day when some of our favorite players in the preseason did well, some did not so well, some came out of nowhere, and there were some pretty fantastic actual football games.
The tough thing about the opening Sunday is that although you don't want to overreact, sometimes you have a sense right away about whether your team will be a contender or not. How is it that I didn't draft Julius Thomas anywhere? Am I really going to regret having Tom Brady as my starting quarterback when I could have taken Matt Ryan every time? Stuff like that.
Every Monday I'll recap the action I saw, while noting that I'm not going to have seen every minute of all the games this early; some I'll need to catch up on later in the week. But I'll tell you what I saw in hopes it will help you with your weekly waiver pickups, trades, and future lineup decisions. OK, on to the games.
Saints at Falcons: Did you know these divisional games often turn out to be lower-scoring? This was one of the exceptions. It was not a good week for the Saints Defense, and that ended up being the story -- they simply couldn't stop the Falcons offense. Big games for Ryan, Jones, and White. Touchdown off play-action for Levine Toilolo; don't add him this week unless maybe you're in TD-only leagues. Big committee at running back; all four Falcons backs played, can't use any of them. For New Orleans, nice game for Mark Ingram. A little nerve-wracking early when Khiry Robinson scored a short TD; were they fooling us all preseason? But later Robinson stuffed on goal-line chance, and Ingram eventually scored 2 TDs. Looked good. Huge game for Cooks; they underused him in the exhibitions then unleashed him in Week 1. Hope some of you have him. Brees, Graham, Colston; good games, albeit not enough TDs, and a costly fumble for Colston in OT. Still believe this outcome will prove flukey by midseason.
Bengals at Ravens: Bengals are the better team, but this was a wild one. A pair of crazy long touchdowns to Steve Smith and A.J. Green, real highlight-reel stuff, were the most notable plays, helping Flacco and Dalton finish with cosmetically nice fantasy numbers. Bernard Pierce struggled and fumbled his way out of the starting job. Not surprising. Jeremy Hill barely played as the Bengals favored passing formations and Giovani Bernard. Dennis Pitts caught 10 passes and Smith Sr. can still play. In general, the right players produced and the wrong ones didn't.
Bills at Bears: This game knocked my wife out of a suicide pool. The Bears were just maddeningly inefficient, moving the ball but failing in some critical situations. At one point Alshon Jeffery was sidelined and Micheal Spurlock was the replacement, dropping a critical 3rd-down pass. Good games though for Cutler, Forte, Marshall and Bennett, especially statistically, so you can't complain too much fantasy wise. EJ Manuel, perhaps responding well to pressure, made mostly good decisions and plays, with a rushing TD and a little toss to C.J. Spiller. Nice game for Fred Jackson, though it was a real, three-man committee there with Anthony Dixon. Tough to use any of them.
Washington at Texans: Alfred Morris might be the best thing Washington has going for it. Defense not good, passing game a mess, RGIII getting hit a lot. Washington caught a break on a pretty questionable roughing the passer penalty, too, but then fumbled it away in the red zone anyway, as Griffin tripped while trying to hand if off to Morris. Ugly game for Washington, ugly season coming up. And Jordan Reed injured a hamstring. Houston featured Arian Foster and Andre Johnson, natch. And DeAndre Hopkins caught a long TD on a blown coverage. Not sold on Houston, but they're better than Washington.
Titans at Kansas City: Uh, yikes. Nice game for Donnie Avery! Nobody started him. Disastrous start for Jamaal Charles. Jake Locker looked pretty good out there and threw a pair of touchdowns. May have underestimated the Titans Defense. Touchdown for Kendall Wright, but no real go-to receiver here. Shonn Greene had a Shonn Greene game: 71 yards, no catches, no TDs. But he's the starter here. Not sure if it's time to panic on Kansas City, but what I saw of this game was ugly. They used to be tough at home.
Patriots at Dolphins: Shocker. Good games for our favorite wideout, Edelman, and Rob Gronkowski; touchdown for Shane Vereen on a conventional running play. But rough outing for Tom Brady, who got knocked around pretty good by Miami defense (missing Logan Mankins?). New England will bounce back, but that was a rough game for them. As for Miami, Knowshon Moreno had a huge game. Lamar Miller had a decent game! But Moreno got 24 touches and Miller 15, so that appears to be your breakdown. Big game for Mike Wallace (could have been bigger, he dropped a couple), maybe I've underestimated him.
Raiders at Jets: Jets have two good running backs right now. It won't be every week that both guys score, but there will be other weeks against soft run defenses (Green Bay next week?). Serviceable game for Geno Smith, though he fumbled twice (including near the goal line) and threw a bad interception to set up a Raiders touchdown. Glad I hung onto Rod Streater in dynasty, he is their No. 1 (such as it is). Although I felt bad when he caught Derek Carr's first career touchdown and then threw the ball into the stands. Dude! ... Don't start running backs against the Jets. Jones-Drew (9 carries, 11 yards) might well be washed up, but give him another chance if you happen to have accidentally drafted him.
Jaguars at Eagles: True story: I had a live draft Saturday night, took Allen Hurns in the 15th round, and not only did everyone say "Who?" but there was some derision. So for that very reason I started him, and it was pretty exciting to see him score 2 TDs. One of the high points of playing fantasy football. ... After that, it was mostly Eagles, but the Jags defense did look pretty good for a while, giving some problems to Nick Foles. But Philly then turned it on; tough to keep that offense down for four quarters. ... Glad I don't have Toby Gerhart on any teams. Just not a great running back. Maybe he'll turn things around, but I advise against "buying low."
Browns at Steelers: Figured Ben Tate would be Cleveland's best fantasy option. Instead it was the running backs who entered the game after Tate got hurt. Terrance West, 100 yards rushing. Isaiah Crowell, 2 TDs, on some really nice running. Not sure what Tate's status is as I write this, but debatable if he's actually better than either of his backups. Big game for Andrew Hawkins; he's your No. 1 wideout in Cleveland. ... For Pittsburgh, Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Markus Wheaton -- all looked good. Wish I had Wheaton in more leagues, especially given how late he was available, but you can't have every sleeper. LeVeon Bell looked really good, too. Pitt defense went to sleep, but I think it's more the one that built the huge lead than the one that gave it up.
Vikings at Rams: Wow, the Rams. Maybe they will miss Sam Bradford. That defense has some problems, too. Now, they started out bad a year ago, before coming together late, but you can't wait too long on a fantasy defense. The running back split doesn't matter much if they're always losing. For the Vikings, big play touchdown by Cordarrelle Patterson. It's what he does, why you drafted him, and why you start him if you've got him. Don't worry about Adrian Peterson, he'll get his. Vikings defense might be better under Mike Zimmer, too.
49ers at Cowboys: Underrated the 49ers defense, overrated the Cowboys offense, or both? Maybe both. We knew Dallas would be a train wreck and avoided some of their players, but the way San Francisco's shorthanded defense was breaking through Dallas' offensive line was cause for concern. Still a nice day for DeMarco Murray, but not for anything else connected with Dallas. For San Francisco, it sure looks like they're going to have to get Carlos Hyde more touches, at the expense of Frank Gore. Hyde is ready to play. Gore, well, didn't look nearly as good.
Panthers at Buccaneers: That Panthers defense is still really good. Tampa Bay came on to make a game of it late, even with Doug Martin sidelined, but their line doesn't look that good and neither did their entire offense. It's not overly surprising, but disappointing. Impressive was Derek Anderson -- no quarterback controversy, but Carolina can definitely win games and pass the ball if Cam Newton misses any more time. Wishing I had Kelvin Benjamin on more teams, though if you followed our rankings you probably do have him here or there. Nice game for Greg Olsen, too.
Colts at Broncos: Not much fun going to bed with a comfortable lead facing Andrew Luck and waking up to find out you lost. He's pretty much a one-man team. Make sure Ahmad Bradshaw is on a roster in your league, because there is no way Trent Richardson keeps that starting job for long. Reggie Wayne, still the go-to guy in the passing game. Coby Fleener, a liability. For the Broncos, it wasn't a great showing by Montee Ball in terms of yards per carry, but he handled the full workload pretty well; caught the ball well, blocked well, ran hard. I think C.J. Anderson needs to be owned, but Ball should be serviceable in that offense. If anyone wants to sell low on Demaryius Thomas this week, jump in and grab him. Andre Caldwell played a lot and did nothing, because he's Andre Caldwell.
Monday, Monday times two: Two good games tonight, albeit one that those of us on the East Coast don't get to see much of. I'm looking for a big win for the Lions and a close San Diego-Arizona game. Very interested to see both offenses. Not expecting Andre Ellington to play. Should be lots of passing for both teams, though I think Ryan Mathews could be good against a depleted Arizona front seven.