Week 1 is typically the best and worst week of the fantasy season. The best because you finally get to see the players you were high on all summer in action. And the worst because invariably someone you were excited about comes out and disappoints you. For me one of the Yays was John Brown, a Nay was Jamaal Williams. Hope you had more good than bad.
Bills at Ravens: Anything I could say about this one would just be cruel. The Bills looked absolutely as bad as everyone thought they'd be, and Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense looked as good as the preseason suggested they'd be. Amusing play where a touchdown pass to Nick Boyle was erased by a penalty against Willie Snead, who caught a score himself on the next play. Selfish jerk. Alex Collins lost a soft fumble, later Javorius Allen scored a 1-yard TD from the fullback position, Kenneth Dixon wound up with more carries, but don't read too much into that (ugly blowout). Nathan Peterman fares a little better in the preseason than the regular season, it seems. Granted it's a really tough Ravens defense. Nothing doing for LeSean McCoy.
Steelers at Browns:Big game for James Conner, as expected. Easiest daily play ever given his cheap price. Yes he had a costly fumble late that turned the tide and well kind of cost Pittsburgh the game, but I don't think the Steelers will be begging Bell to return this week. Note that Roethlisberger turned it over 5 times, too. Both teams blew field goals in overtime giving us our first tie in Week 1, I'm guessing that doesn't happen very often. Good fantasy games from the main backs and receivers, despite the weather.
Bengals at Colts: A glance at the final score doesn't tell the story, since the Colts were driving for a possible game-winning touchdown in the final minutes when Jack Doyle caught a pass to pick up a first down but fumbled, and the Bengals picked it up and ran it back for a game-clinching touchdown. Pretty decent game statistically for Andrew Luck, rewarding those who believed in him. And a really nice game for Joe Mixon, which we hadn't seen in the preseason. Bengals have some talent. Touchdowns for Hilton and Ebron, the latter of whom seems to be the de factor No. 3 receiver (No. 2?). Not much happening with the Colts ground game, unsurprisingly.
Titans at Dolphins: Big takeaways here: Kenny Stills is going to be pretty good as Miami's main wideout. The Titans offense has all kind of problems, not least of which is that Delanie Walker (ankle) might be out for the year, and Marcus Mariota is already banged up too. Dion Lewis fits better with it than Derrick Henry, which is not quite as surprising as it might be. And evidently Frank Gore is determined to still play football at a credible level, taking some production away from Kenyan Drake. Who's still going to be pretty good. Because of a lengthy weather delay this goes in the books as the longest football game in NFL history, a record which certainly won't be broken anytime soon.
49ers at Vikings:It's going to be tough for teams to win in the Metrodome this year. Kirk Cousins may be a little overpaid for his abilities, but he's pretty good, and the rest of this team is great. Great defense, nice receivers and running back...they're going to be difficult. People are probably bailing on San Francisco's offense, but not surprising they struggled. Give 'em another week or two.
Texans at Patriots: Texans fumbled on their first play, setting up a Brady to Gronkowski touchdown. Not a recipe for winning at New England. Deshaun Watson wasn't quite as explosive as his last game against this team; didn't have quite as many weapons around him, either. I like Watson, but let's face it: bad line, and the skill players around him besides Hopkins were Bruce Ellington, Ryan Griffin and Lamar Miller. How explosive are they really going to be? Jeremy Hill left with a knee injury, so it was essentially a Burkhead-White tandem.
Bucs at Saints: Let's talk survivor pools. Top pick was the Ravens. No. 2 was maybe/probably Saints at home against the Ryan Fitzpatrick Bucs. Good night, Survivor Pool, in Week 1. Oh but hey, great games for Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara, exciting if you had them on the same team as your top 2 picks. (Yes, I'm talking about one of my teams.) DeSean Jackson blowing up on fantasy benches everywhere, while Mike Evans did it in lineups. I apologize to Drew Brees for theorizing in the preseason he was washed up. I'm going to give the Saints Defense a mulligan (while quietly adjusting their numbers somewhat).
Jaguars at Giants: Later in the week maybe I'll trot out the table about how running backs drafted in the top 10 did in their first NFL starts. Spoiler, a lot of the great ones showed it right away. As did Barkley, on a pretty cool touchdown run. Nice game for Beckham, too, and the Giants D, but a tipped ball at the line led to a yet another Jaguars defensive touchdown. Leonard Fournette left with a hamstring injury.
Kansas City at Chargers: That big day by Philip Rivers could/should have been much bigger. Because he missed Travis Benjamin on a long touchdown, while Benjamin and Tyrell Williams each dropped easy touchdowns. Benjamin's was a beaut in the middle of the end zone (and he dropped another one that I saw, too). Ugly. And as is always the case with the Chargers, special teams were a factor: horrifically botching a punt inside their own 10 after pulling within 31-20, setting up the score that put the game out of reach. Punt return TD by Tyreek Hill, too, one of three on three total on the day. Kansas City seemed to go out of its way to keep Kareem Hunt from scoring, that was the one negative. Scores near the goal line by Hill, DeAnthony freaking Thomas, and another run down there by Patrick Mahomes. Pretty good game by Mahomes, though, while we'll be downgrading the Joey Bosa-less Chargers this week. Fullback Anthony Sherman had more receiving yards than Sammy Watkins (36-21).
Washington at Cardinals: We figured Washington was going to go into Arizona and win, but I don't think anyone expected it to be that one-sided. Sam Bradford looked like we'll see Josh Rosen sooner rather than later, and I just kind of felt bad for David Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald (though at least they finished OK). For Washington, Alex Smith looked like he's going to be a nice fit in this offense, and that running back tandem looked top-notch too. Don't look now but Washington might give Philly a run for their money in the NFC East.
Cowboys at Panthers: Dallas passing game every bit as devoid of playmakers as expected. Cole Beasley a nice PPR day, I guess that's going to be a thin again. Late touchdown by Ezekiel Elliott to save his day but otherwise nothing good for Dallas (and their cheap kicker missed a kick when it was a 10-0 game). Cam Newton had a pretty nice (fantasy) game. Christian McCaffrey got 16 touches, so you know, a little bit less than Carolina suggested all preseason, and Newton scored near the goal line. Greg Olsen, foot injury, unfortunate.
Seahawks at Broncos: Broncos win, but it wasn't pretty; some suspect decisions/throws by new quarterback Case Keenum. And not a great-looking game for those who were high on Royce Freeman, considering Phillip Lindsay (who needs to be owned, stat) looked just as good/better. Rough loss for Seattle, what with Doug Baldwin injuring a knee and the Seahawks on the wrong side of some dubious officiating. I'm not sure Demaryius Thomas got one foot down on the winning touchdown pass, let alone two. Huge game for Von Miller.
Bears at Packers: Me on Saturday: "I drafted Aaron Rodgers in a league...kind of figured, eh, if he stays healthy..." So it was bad when Rodgers suffered what appeared to be an ugly knee injury and was carted off. He surprisingly returned, but let's see what we find out today. Bears defense looked great for most of the game, before collapsing at the end, although it was really just a couple of plays (the TD to Geronimo Allison was an incredible throw): bad gamble and angles on the winning score to Randall Cobb (guess he's not all done), and a dropped interception right before that that Bears fans will be seeing in their sleep. Personally I was impressed by Mitchell Trubisky, who looks like he will indeed make a second-year leap; Allen Robinson too. Disappointing start for Trey Burton (Jimmy Graham too...). But the Bears are going to be improved free of the John Fox regime.
Monday, Monday times two: Two games tonight, and lots of fantasy matchups relying on the likes of Gurley, Tate and Jones. I typically pick the scores of these games, so let's go with Lions 27, Jets 19 and Rams 31, Raiders 17 and see how it goes. Hope your Week 1 was a good one.