It was a wild first Sunday, starting out slow with a lot of duds, improving with some late thrillers, and then ending with a nightmare game (for one team). Every Monday I'll recap the best and worst of what I saw, and readers can weigh in too. Let's get to it.
Panthers at Falcons: Good week for Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier (pictured) fans. The Falcons look like they'll have a great ground game again, and both guys are gonna eat. It won't always be that good, but it often should be. Pretty sweet receiving score by Bijan, you've probably seen the highlight. Not a good week, however, for anyone invested in the passing game and Drake London specifically (with Kyle Pitts you can't exactly be surprised). Miles Sanders featured, Hayden Hurst the leading receiver for Carolina (Sanders 2nd).
Texans at Ravens: J.K. Dobbins tearing his Achilles the big story. Feel bad for the guy, simultaneously proving why he was hoping to get some contract security and why the Ravens didn't want to give it to him. Game itself about as expected. Closer than the final score, for a half anyway, before Baltimore pulled away. Unclear how the Dobbins-less backfield will go; Justice Hill scored twice, but his 8 carries went for 9 yards. Gus Edwards seemed like the No. 3, but probably makes more sense as a lead back (unless or until Baltimore adds someone). Passing game put up some nice numbers in defeat for the Texans, with Nico Collins the top guy but Robert Woods also catching 6 balls. Zay Flowers the Ravens' No. 1 right away. Isaiah Likely: 1 catch. Lots of guys taking Ls on that one, including us.
Bengals at Browns: Ugly performance by the Bengals, particularly Joe Burrow (82 passing yards). Rain was a factor (Deshaun Watson at just 154). Also possible I underestimated the Browns defense, and possible that Joe Burrow's rust was more of a factor than anticipated. In any case, lousy performance by Cincinnati all the way around. Watson made plays with his legs and Nick Chubb had a good game. Moving on.
Jaguars at Colts: This was entertaining, with a Trevor Lawrence/Anthony Richardson battle we might get to see a lot in future years. If Richardson doesn't get hurt, which happened at the end with him absorbing some big hits after a run near the goal line in a game that was essentially over. Lawrence was great and so was Calvin Ridley, drafted fairly early and already looking like it wasn't early enough. Game wouldn't have been quite as close but for a bizarre fumble return touchdown by the Colts that most believed was an incomplete pass, including Tank Bigsby who picked it up and let an Indy player take it away. Bigsby made up for it with a big run later and a score, while Travis Etienne had a nice day. Good game for Michael Pittman, but I'm not saying we were too low on him just yet.
Bucs at Vikings: Last year the Vikings won a lot of close games. Sometime these things even out. Justin Jefferson had a huge game, so did Kirk Cousins and Jordan Addison had a big debut, congrats to those who had faith. Alexander Mattison, ugly day running it, but a pretty nice receiving score, keeping his feet and scrambling in after being hit. For the Bucs, the passing game was a fairly standard Baker Mayfield special, with Evans good because he scored and Godwin 5 for 51. Not a great debut for Rachaad White, so pick up Sean Tucker where you can.
Titans at Saints: Eight field goals in this game; looks like Nick Folk and Blake Grupe will be a couple of the top scorers of the week. Despite that, a nice statistical game also from Derek Carr and three wide receivers: Olave, Shaheed (sidelined all of August with a groin injury, guess he's fine), and also Michael Thomas. DeAndre Hopkins with a typical stat line, but a 3-interception day for Ryan Tannehill and no touchdowns for the Titans. Made a debatable decision to kick a field goal down 4 with under 3 minutes left and didn't get the ball back on offense. Jamaal Williams didn't look good but there's not much running against Tennessee.
49ers at Steelers: Sometimes things just don't go your way from the word go. That was the case here, with San Francisco jumping out to a 17-0 lead while people were still finding their seats. Kudos to San Francisco; everyone looked good on both sides of the ball. For Pittsburgh, there was a pregame report (Ian Rapoport, so I took it with a grain of salt) that Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren would split carries. It ended up being 6-3 Najee, which is too small a sample set to read anything into. Warren caught more passes but the whole second half was garbage time. Whatever, nothing was happening for Pittsburgh today. George Pickens had another circus catch, out of bounds unfortunately.
Cardinals at Commanders: Game was closer than expected, on the scoreboard, but mostly because of a Sam Howell sack/lost fumble/defensive touchdown that were the only non-field goals Arizona managed. Otherwise their offense was predictably dreadful and Washington's offense did enough, aside from being short-circuited by Howell taking 6 sacks, yes, a problem dating back to college for him. Brian Robinson was the noteworthy offensive player in this game. Jury remains out on Howell, I'm sure Ron Rivera will make some changes back and forth this season.
Packers at Bears: Nice start for Jordan Love, Aaron Jones and Romeo Doubs, as well as the Packers Defense. Justin Fields skeptics (like us) feel pretty good, although nothing wrong with his fantasy numbers. The Bears defense was terrible a year ago and early returns aren't good. They were actually favored in this game, which didn't make a lot of sense initially. If you just looked at the box score you'd be excited about Roschon Johnson, but worth noting all of his production came at the tail end of a blowout loss -- didn't touch the ball in the first half.
Raiders at Broncos: If you've ever overmanaged your kicker situation in a fantasy league, and who hasn't, you'll identify with Sean Payton today. Cut Brandon McManus, replaced Brett Maher with Wil Lutz on the eve of the season, lost a game by 1 point in which his kicker missed an extra point and a field goal (long one, but it was at altitude and was certainly makeable). Russell Wilson and the offense looked a lot better than last year; among other things, it did a great job of actually getting plays off before the clock expired, that was a welcome change. But Raiders win. Plenty of positives for both teams, but not the prettiest one to watch. Jakobi Meyers a legit No. 2 though.
Dolphins at Chargers: Game of the day, with all of us wishing we'd drafted Tua Tagovailoa earlier, at least until he gets hurt. But the guy made some fantastic throws in this one, especially late. Top 5 picks on my board were Jefferson, McCaffrey, Chase, Ekeler and Tyreek, and while Chase's dud hurt many yesterday, the other four (including 2 in this game) sure were great. Couple of impressive offensive displays, not so much defense. Keenan Allen lost a touchdown on a questionable reversal, I hate how we have to Zapruder every close touchdown these days.
Eagles at Patriots: This was all Eagles early, but kudos to Mac Jones and company for sticking around. I love the Eagles defense in fantasy but clearly there are some holes in the secondary (this is not a bad thing for Philly skill guys). Should be a higher-scoring game against the Vikings on Thursday. I'm pretty sure Kendrick Bourne won't be scoring 2 TDs in a game again, but I guess he has to be rostered. Kayshon Boutte playing more than expected (Ezekiel Elliott too), though you never know if that will continue. I suppose the same can be said about D'Andre Swift barely playing, but some of us weren't surprised by Kenneth Gainwell being the lead guy (albeit with modest production). Happy to be facing Swift in a couple of leagues yesterday.
Rams at Seahawks: Upset of the week, with a couple of noteworthy developments. First, hope you rostered Puka Nacua where available, he'll be expensive this week. Also standing out was Matthew Stafford, who didn't exactly look washed up while chucking up bombs all over the place. Best was a sequence where he heaved up a 50-yard bomb to a wide open Van Jefferson who appeared to try to catch it with his wrists. A few plays later Tutu Atwell hauls in a 45-yard catch. Seattle secondary some issues. Kenneth Walker featured. Bizarre loss of composure by DK Metcalf at one point. Bad day (really bad second half) at the office for Seattle. Kyren Williams with 2 TDs and nearly a third for the Rams. Knew he'd be the No. 2, but very surprising he had such a big role, especially near the goal line. Kicking myself hard for dropping him in dynasty after keeping him all last season. It won't always be this good but clearly he's got a regular role.
Cowboys at Giants: What can you say. Seldom has a game started out so well -- Giants driving down the field on the opening drive -- only to deteriorate so quickly and thoroughly. Blocked field goal touchdown, Pick Six; it was so brutally awful that even Dallas' offense let everyone down, because the game was over before they had to do anything. I'm not sure what can reasonably be taken from this game beyond the Dallas defense looks very good and the Giants have to go back to the drawing board in some areas. Forgettable night all the way around.
Monday, Monday: This should be a good one, with Aaron Rodgers seeking a strong debut for the Jets, Dalvin Cook versus James Cook, and of course Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, and Garrett Wilson probably deciding a few fantasy matchups one way or another. I pick the scores for the Monday games which sometimes works out fairly well. With this one, I like the Jets defense to come out ahead. I'll go Jets 23, Bills 20.