Ask the Experts

September 11, 2014

What was Week 1's most disturbing fantasy development?

ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly from training camp through Super Bowl with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them: What was Week 1's most disturbing fantasy development?

SAM HENDRICKS

Tony Romo's three picks in the first half versus San Francisco. I think that signifies a long season ahead for Dez Bryant, Jason Witten and DeMarco Murray. The Cowboy defense had everyone worried. Romo's back jumps to the top of the Dallas worry list.

Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips and Fantasy Football Basics, all available at ExtraPointPress.com, at all major bookstores, and at Amazon and BN.com. He is a 20-plus year fantasy football veteran who regularly participates in the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) and finished 7th and 16th overall (out of 228 competitors) in the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC). Follow him at his web site, www.ffguidebook.com.

MICHAEL NAZAREK

The lack of touches given to Jamaal Charles by Kansas City in their Week 1 loss to the Titans. Shocking!

Nazarek is the CEO of Fantasy Football Mastermind Inc. His company offers a preseason draft guide, customizable cheat sheets, a multi-use fantasy drafting program including auction values, weekly in-season fantasy newsletters, injury reports and free NFL news (updated daily) at its web site. He has been playing fantasy football since 1988 and is a four-peat champion of the SI.com Experts Fantasy League, a nationally published writer in several fantasy magazines and a former columnist for SI.com. For more info go to www.ffmastermind.com. Nazarek can be reached via email at miken@ffmastermind.com.

MICAH JAMES

Other than my less-than one point defeat, the most disturbing thing I witnessed in Week 1 had to be Jamaal Charles' 34-yard, 7.4 point fantasy output. The top pick in many fantasy leagues, Charles seeing less than a dozen touches against the Titans is crushing. Hopefully Andy Reid remedies the situation in Week 2 -- single-digit performances from your 1st-round choice is a recipe for fantasy disaster.

James, the Fantasy Football MagicMan, currently hosts the weekly FFToolbox Fantasy Football Radio Show. In 2012, the FFMagicMan won the Fantasy Sports Trade Association’s Preseason Accuracy Rankings Challenge, and followed that performance with a Runner-Up finish in 2013. James posts his in-season rankings on the FantasyPros Experts’ rankings every week, and you can find his latest musings at ffmagicman.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FFMagicMan.

IAN ALLAN

I knew Kansas City would dip. I thought they’d be the 3rd-place team in the AFC West. But I didn’t imagine they’d drop so drastically. They have the look of a 6-10 type team that’s going to struggle in a lot of weeks. The offensive line issues and general team incompetence will make it tough for Jamaal Charles to hang with the elite running backs. And it looks like they gave Alex Smith a new contract at the exact wrong moment.

Allan is the senior writer for Fantasy Football Index. He's been in that role since 1987, generating most of the player rankings and analysis for that publication. His work can be seen in Fantasy Football Index magazine, and also at www.fantasyindex.com.

JAMES SELTZER

This is a tough question because there are a lot of potential answers. The Tampa Bay offense worried me, especially with regards to Doug Martin. Jamaal Charles only getting 11 touches was another disturbing thing from Week 1. However, if I had to choose one thing that most disturbed me, it would have to be the New York Giants offense. The Giants barely looked like an NFL team in their Monday night thrashing at the hands of the Lions. Eli looked completely lost. You would never believe he is a guy who won two Super Bowls once upon a time. Rashad Jennings was the lone bright spot for the Giants, and even he only had 49 yards and a touchdown on the ground. 49 hard-fought yards for that matter. I am especially worried about Victor Cruz, who had had only two minor catches to go along with his four dropped passes. The whole offense just looked so bad, that I am beginning to think the Giants may be a fantasy wasteland this season. Very very disturbing.

James Seltzer is a Writer of NFL content for Rotowire.com. Since 1997, RotoWire.com has been one of the leading fantasy sports resources on the web. Seltzer can be found on Twitter @JamesSeltzer975.

DAVID DOREY

Easily the most disturbing part of the weekend was seeing Tony Romo tossing interceptions and playing so badly in a home game. The defense is going to put Dallas in bad situations anyway but when Romo looks that badly, all Dallas players are going to be affected. The Cowboys have a brutal schedule this year and that was exactly how they did not need to start.

Dorey is the co-founder and lead NFL analyst for The Huddle and author of Fantasy Football: The Next Level. He has projected and predicted every NFL game and player performance since 1997 and has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, radio and television.

SCOTT SACHS

One catch for Larry Fitzgerald was certainly a lowlight. New England blowing a lead at Miami was surprising as was the pitiful 1st half the Browns defense played against Pittsburgh. The worst, in my opinion, was the way GB handed off to Kuhn instead of Lacy in a 2nd and 2 goal-line situation early in the game before he was concussed. This was disrespectful to Lacy as well as a blow to his fantasy owners.

With 2 perfect seasons to his credit, Scott Sachs runs Perfect Season Fantasy Football, featuring LIVE Talk & Text consulting, advice, and opinions. Serving as one of the "Experts" for Fantasy Football Index, was 2011 wire-to-wire winner in Mock Auction Draft League. Also, was named winner of the 2012 Fantasy Football Index Expert's Poll! In 2013 Fantasy Index Leagues, finished No. 2 in Mock Auction, No. 3 in Draft.

ALAN SATTERLEE

I think if you are over-invested in the Washington football team you ought to be feeling a little anxious. In particular RG3 did not look very good. If they are going to require him to play out of the pocket they may as well just put Kirk Cousins in there. Likewise for divisional counter-part, Tony Romo. That was not pretty at all. It was a rough Week 1 for Jamaal Charles. I listed Charles outside my Top 6 and for a few reasons, in part Kansas City lost several lineman this off-season, the team over-played last year on an easy schedule, and they added no new talent to the offense. Charles collected 19 yards rushing on 7 attempts and just 15 yards on four receptions. Don’t panic if you drafted Charles, but if you can get 95 cents on the dollar in a trade I would do it.

Satterlee is Co-Owner and Chief Editor/COO of FantasyFootballWarehouse.com. FFW features comprehensive profiles for all the major 2013 skill-position rookies, its Trading Spaces series, the team Deep Dives, the Speed Bump competition plus draft strategies, rankings, projections and more. FFW runs in tandem with its dynasty site DynastyFootballWarehouse.com.

ANDY RICHARDSON

Where to start? Transplanted running backs Ben Tate and Toby Gerhart was one disappointment. We knew Tate would get hurt eventually, but thought he'd get through one game. The Patriots offense was a mild concern. I think the biggest for me, though, was the apparent trend of coaches not updating injuries. It was Wednesday before we heard anything on Ben Tate. We still don't know what's up with Doug Martin. Alshon Jeffery is another. It's going to really complicate waiver pickups if coaches give us nothing about injuries at their Monday press conferences.

Richardson has been a contributor and editor to the Fantasy Football Index magazine and www.fantasyindex.com since 2002. His responsibilities include team defense and IDP projections and various site features, and he has run the magazine's annual experts draft and auction leagues since their inception. He previews all the NFL games on Saturdays and writes a wrap-up column on Mondays during the NFL season.

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