Sunday Recap

It was really a tough day for most highly drafted players: Adrian Peterson, Reggie Wayne, Larry Fitzgerald, MJD and Frank Gore all delivered the points . Who knew one of my team’s receiving corps of Andre Johnson, Steve Smith and Anquan Boldin who be so terrible? Week one is a week that is rarely reflective of the rest of the year. Some thing are for real, like the Jets’ defence, others are very sceptical, Texans lack of offence. This is the week that provides the best opportunity to “buy low” on panicky owners that are freaking out about Matt Forte, Steve Slaton or Chris Johnson. Play the wait and see game for the first few weeks before truly panicking.

MONDAY UPDATE: Jeff Garcia signs with the Eagles to back up the injured McNabb. Look for Eagles’ receivers to be upgraded with Garcia over Kolb.

Hilarious moment of the day #1: Waking up to see a team name change to “Snakes on a Wayne”. Hilarious.

Very Hilarious

Hilarious moment of the day # 2: Matt Watkins, yes I’m calling you out, proclaiming his genius for picking Cincinnati in his eliminator pool with about 22 seconds left in the game only to be completely devastated about 6 seconds later on what has to be one of the flukiest plays of all time. Hilarious.

Some Musings…

The Saints offence was as explosive as most people thought they would be. I don’t think the ridiculous 6TDs from Brees was expected but it wasn’t surprising. Brees spread the ball around pretty evenly throwing touchdowns to Henderson, Meachum, Colston and Heath Evans. Plus two to Jeremy Shockey. I still think Colston is the guy you want followed by Henderson then Meachum, in that order… Shockey is the interesting one here, if he is fully back and on the same page with Brees he could conceivably grab 10TDs… Mike Bell delivered on the hype with a very useful 28-143 line. You’ll want to start Bell every week if Pierre Thomas remains on the sidelines with one of those telemarketing headsets… What I think is worth noting here is the balance that the Saints showed us. 34 passing plays, 35 rushing plays: if they can continue this type of balance they are going to put a ton of points on the board. Well, more than we already thought they would.

Don’t worry about Calvin Johnson, he’ll basically be what he was last season, a top 5 receiver. He brought in 3-90 and a very encouraging 12 targets. Stafford only gets better as the season goes on go believe in Johnson… Kevin Smith put up one of the best fantasy games ever for a guy with a terrible 15-20 rushing line. I own Smith in every PPR league I’m in and it paid off big this week He ran in a goal line carry 4th and 1 on a terrific call by the Lions‘ OC, I can’t believe I just wrote that. What was really encouraging was his 7 catches for 52 yards. This shows me that however far the Lions fall behind this year Smith will remain productive.

Miami looked terrible, as predicted. Actually that’s not really fair, Anthony Fasano really helped out with 2 catches coupled with 2 fumbles. They had four sustained drives that came to an abrupt end with turnovers. The Dolphins committed 4 turnovers on Sunday which is over one forth of their total from last year’s 13, an NFL record. If this pace keeps up they’re going to be god awful… Devon Bess looks like he can be a real contributor in PPR formats with a stellar 7 catches.

Hotlanta could have been better all around. Miami has a good run defence and got to the Burner. Turner could have salvaged his day if Matt Ryan didn’t play action the ball on the 1 yard line to throw a TD to the newest member of the NFL’s all name team: Ovie Mughelli… Gonzalez looked great as anticipated… Roddy White will only improve on his 5-42 line.

The KC running game was dreadful but that wasn’t hard to predict. Jammal Charles outscored Larry Johnson 37 to 26 yards. … Bowe was having a terrible game until a one yard score to make his line 4-40-1, so in my face I guess. Things only get better both schedule and QB wise for Bowe.

The Ravens’ Three head monster at RB made all of us Ray Rice owners pretty mad but it was encouraging to see that he got 19 carries to McGahee’s 10 and McClain’s 6. Rice just missed a TD and was given some red zone carries so I think things get better from here on out… If you can get good value on McGahee I say do it. This backfield is going to be hard to predict from week to week so if you can get someone who can contribute for your team on a weekly basis I say pull the trigger… Flacco was great as anticipated and looks well on his way to being more than just a match up starter… Another reason to not draft defences high: KC put up points on the Ravens’ D, something that should not have happened.

If you had the Eagles’ defence this week you probably won. 5 picks, 5 sacks, 2 TDs and 2 fumble recoveries makes for a high scoring day… McNabb looked great until he got hurt… I like Celek the next few weeks if Kolb is starting.

Delhomme is now downgraded to a borderline play in “Jakes only” leagues. He now has 9 picks in his last 2 games. If he’s starting next week, which it looks like he is, I’m starting the Atlanta defence... Steve Smith has limited value until Delhomme gets things figured out.. Deangelo Williams had 18 touches to The Daily Show’s 13, a pretty close spilt… I think Stewart is a good option for a Flex or bye weeks despite what others are saying about him. He looked fully recovered from his Achilles problem and he’s getting the ball on a team that looks like they’re going to have to rely on the run.

Misleading good line of the week belongs to Kyle Orton’s 243 yard, TD performance against the Bengals. He was saved on “the immaculate deflection” to Brandon Stokley for 87 yards, his only catch of the day.. Just to note, Matt Prater has a gigantic leg.

Palmer looked terrible. Period… Ochocinco on the other hand looked great 5-89 and he looked explosive. His talent has never been the question so if he is truly focused watch out… Laveranues (who makes up these names?) Coles was dreadful pulling a Braylon Edwards, drops, on anything that came his way… Look for Chris Henry to become more involved when Palmer gets his deep balls working… Cedric Benson, while not looking great, produced a quality fantasy line. 108 total yards and a TD is something I’ll take any week. He’s still probably a match up play but he’s going to get his carries, which is highly, highly, valuable… The Bengals’ defence looked surprisingly good as well this, very surprising.

Favre was more or less unproductive but I think this is the Favre you’re going to see in games that the Vikings win. A heavy diet of Adrian Peterson, who had what could be the run of the year, is what you should get accustomed to. If he didn’t run so many people over I’d start calling him Jukebox; he made 4 or 5 defenders look ridiculous on that 64 yard run… Percy was Harvin a time this week, scoring a TD in his first game. Look for Bernard Berrian to take a chunk of his targets when he gets back to 100% though.

The Cleve did not impress. Hilarious moment #3: Brady Quinn’s backwards throw. Hilarious… Jamal Lewis had a very good 104 total yards unexpectedly… Braylon’s 1 catch wasn’t really his fault. He made an amazing grab for a TD that was called back, mainly because he forgot that those solid white areas by the sidelines are out of bounds. Not really his fault though, I blame the education system… Tight end Robert Royal nabbed a TD along with 4-60, don’t buy this at all.. JOSH CRIBBS!!! Is the best special team player in football today. The Browns tried really hard to include him in the offence, even letting him take 2 Wildcat snaps from the 2 yard line, not a success. The Browns coaching is pretty good. I mean why use your running back, a big fat goal line specialist, when you have a 210 pound former QB to run up the gut. Remember kids, not everyone can be a Mangenius.

What to say about the Jets? Their defence stood aloof from the rest Sunday, despite missing two important steroid abusers from the front 7. Rex Ryan’s scheming was unworldly and threw the Texans for a loop… Sanchez (GO USC!!!) impressed mightily. There’s a pattern here. Flacco, Ryan and now Sanchez all have stellar running games to lean on and all have been successful because of it… The fantasy death of Thomas Jones has been highly overrated. It’s not unusual he was undervalued in every draft but he showed us why he was a top 5 back last year with 107 yards and 2 TDs… We got promised that Ponce de Leon would be involved and we got it. 19 touches is nothing to scoff at. This guy is a playmaker, pure and simple. If he can get 19 touches a game, look for him to end up as a top 20 back this year… Keller will be a top 10 TE this year and he’ll be someone you can trust from week to week… I like the rapport that Sanchez has with Chancy Stuckey, he hit him for a 30 yard TD.

Hilarious moment #4: At the bar where I was watching the games, one of the TVs froze with an image of Matt Schaub, slack jawed, staring blankly at the sidelines right after an Andre Davis drop. This look summed up the Texans entire day. Hilarious.

I say give the Texans a mulligan this week before you get too concerned. They’ll be better prepared next week.

Reggie Wayne looked amazing but that was about all the Colts did right… If they want to be successful, they’ll need to average better than 3 yards a carry on the ground… Breakout candidate Anthony Gonzalez is out for 3 to 6 weeks with a right knee injury, if you can, keep him stashed away for now.

MJD didn’t disappoint in week one by torching the Colts as predicted… Garrard looked terrible… The defence looks improved.

Romo looked great but I’m not completely buying Williams, Crayton, or Austin just yet. All three scored TDs but each one was a long touchdown and none of them did much outside that one big catch. If you need to rely on a 50+ yard TD each week, you’ve entered “THE DEVRY HENDERSON ZONE”, which is not match for 49ers Arnaz Battle’s “BATTLE ZONE”, the NFL's best website. I say temper your expectation, all guys are worth owning but let the season play out a bit first before making them weekly starters… MB3 runs hard and plays hard.

Who’s your Caddy? Carnell Williams, that’s who. The three man time share turned into a two man quickly in this game with Williams and Derrek Ward both scoring… Keep an eye on Michael Clayton who caught 5-93. It’s a good movie too.

Cooley was highly productive. Scoring a TD was a nice sight from week one… Campbell looked lost out there, having to resort to throwing to Randell-El 7 times… Hilarious moment #5: Hunter Smith’s high knees into the end zone. Hilarious.

Steve Smith will be a PPR specialist this year.. Mario Manningham hauled in 3-58-1 but I need to a few more games to see who Eli chooses to focus on… Amhad Bradshaw looked excellent as the new Derrek Ward and could be a consistent flex play from week to week.

The Rams are awful… Bench Steven Jackson against the ‘Skins next week until they can prove some semblance of an offence , they just can’t be trusted right now… That being said, I really liked Laurent Robinson’s 5-87 line. When the Rams find the right offensive balance there will be some decent options, it is just going to take a few weeks.

Here come the Seahawks, at least for this week. I picked right and started their D in every one of my leagues, can’t do much better than a shutout… After the bad start Matt Hasselbeck settled in and posted a quality 279 and 3 Tds, to overcome the 2 early picks… Housh posted the floor of his production from week to week 6-48... Carlson looked awesome, nabbing 2 TDs. He looks well on his way to the breakout season many predicted… Nate Burlson has X factor type ability. He and Hasselbeck have an excellent rapport and I encourage everyone to go pick this guy up… Julius Jones saved his day with a 62 yard scamper in garbage time, he should be a good filler or flex play against bad defences,.

Gore saved his day with 2TDs but looked rather unsightly outside of that… Vernon Davis was named a team captain, guess you can win with him. CAN DO IT. He picked up 5 catches and I think he’s someone to keep an eye on for TE byes… Isaac Bruce had a nice little game and was underdrafted this year. He could develop into Shaun Hill’s favorite target.

If The Texans get a mulligan, so do the Cards. They need everyone healthy to get things on the go… Don’t for a second by into Tim Hightower’s 12 catches, never again.

Rogers looked good, not great. His TD pass to Greg Jennings was magnanimous. He just missed about three other TDs as well… Ryan Grant was solid if not spectacular, scoring a TD… Don’t by too much into Green Bay’s new “dominant” 3-4 defence, I think a lot of it was the Bears’ porous offence.

Hilarious moment #6: Jay Cutler. I think the problem rests with the fact that when Cutler switched teams, he forgot to put what colors the Bears wear into the ol’ database. He was searching for Packers to throw to all night. Quite Hilarious.

Hester had a good game but needs to develop better route running skills before becoming an elite receiver or at least someone you can start from week to week… Earl Bennett had 7 catches, so keep an eye on him in all PPR formats.

INJURIES OF NOTE

Anthony Gonzalez- Colts. Right knee- out 3-6 weeks

Donovan McNabb- Eagles. Broken Ribs-status unknown

Troy Polamalu- Steelers. Knee- out 3-6 weeks

Hakeem Nicks- Giants. Left foot- out 2 weeks

Brian Urlacher- Bears. Wrist- out for year

Reggie Hayward- Jags. Shin- out for year