But, with all that comes some frustration. Week one usually doesn’t tell us a lot about how the season will play out. Last year, the 49ers(5-11) and Titans(3-13) both trampled the Vikings(11-5) and Buccaneers(6-10) in the early weeks of the season but managed to finish far worse than both those teams. The Seahawks(10-6) lost to the Rams(7-9). The Cowboys(4-12) and Chargers(4-12) both won as well. What we do know is that Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are back on TV. Goodbye football and hello naptime. But, let’s not forget that we also saw almost every contest go right down to the wire, with a couple featuring tremendous meltdowns, comebacks and a few bizarre celebrations – that’s you Antonio Brown. Here’s a recap of three games that had me biting my nails all weekend.
Denver Broncos 21 Carolina Panthers 20
This game featured both of last year’s Super Bowl teams. Since the Panthers’ offensive debacle at Levi’s, both teams lost key pieces in Josh Norman and Brock Osweiler. So, it seemed that there was no way the game would end as one-sided as it did last year. And as expected, the game turned out to be more of what fans expected from last year’s episode. The Broncos definitely surprised me. I thought that putting Trevor Siemian in at quarterback behind a struggling O-line against a motivated and hungry Panthers squad would surely have produced a far more lopsided score line.
The Panthers didn’t even play a bad game. In fact, Cam Newton was far better than he was in the Super Bowl and made several impressive plays. But, the Broncos forced turnovers on defense when it mattered and converted on every opportunity they got. In the end, it came down to a field goal and the Panthers got unlucky, but that doesn’t take anything away from the Broncos’ tremendous effort. Oh, and by the way, CJ Anderson will end up being one of this year’s fantasy steals.
San Diego Chargers 27 Kansas City Chiefs 33
The Chargers’ huge 24-3 lead to start the game left me puzzled. How could a team that won only four games last year have a three touchdown lead against a Super Bowl contender? I was also shocked by a few rare Melvin Gordon sightings – not on the sideline but in the endzone. He managed to live up to all of his pre-draft hype in one half of football. Philip Rivers and Keenan Allen also looked very promising along with the Chargers defense for one half as well. The game changed with Allen’s injury. From that moment onwards, the Chiefs looked like the team most people expected to see this year. Correlation may not be the same as causation, but there’s no doubt that Allen’s departure was a factor in halting the chargers offense and jump starting the comeback. Before the season, I had the Chiefs as a first round bye team. I might need to rethink that a little bit, but not too much. They should still make the playoffs. As for the Chargers, losing Allen will be tough. But, firing Mike Mccoy will be easy.
Oakland Raiders 35 New Orleans Saints 34
The Saints’ offense torched the Raiders for 500 yards last week. Now, the silver and black are the worst defense in the NFL. That’s the same Raiders team that everyone hyped up as a dark horse playoff candidate during the offseason. They added the likes of Bruce Irvin and Sean Smith to a defense already stacked with Khalil Mack and big Dan Williams, only to get scorched by a Saints team that many predicted would take a big step back. Very disappointing. Yet, the Raiders still won. They allowed 500 yards as mentioned, but let’s not forget that the Saints allowed only 14 yards fewer. Let’s also not forget that Saints blew an 11 point fourth quarter lead after their defense held Oakland to 13 over three quarters. The game was played by two teams that forgot what good defense looked like. And it was fitting that the evenly matched contest came down to something as bizarre as a go-ahead two point conversion. Let’s be honest — if the game went into overtime, it would have been decided by a coin toss.
When you’re a kicker in the NFL, life isn’t easy. One minute you’re a living legend. The next, you’re the most hated guy in town. This week had a few moments like that for kickers. Arizona’s Chandler Catanzaro missed out on an opportunity to knock off the Patriots. Well, to be fair, that terrible snap didn’t really give him a solid shot. But, Graham Gano missed a 50 yarder against the Broncos and rookie Wil Lutz barely hooked a 61 yarder wide for the Saints. Then there’s poor Dan Bailey who probably could have made a potential 60 yard field goal, if it wasn’t for Terrence Williams’ lack of awareness. With all the misses and kicking blunders out of the way, Matt Prater and Mike Nugent managed to notch home game winners. If anything, week one showed us that kickers are possibly one of the most important players on a team. Sure, in the eyes of some fans, all they do is kick the ball while everyone else is getting hit and scoring touchdowns. But, when it comes down to crunch time, one kick can make or break everything.
Put Them In
Eli Manning: The Giants signal caller goes up against a Saints defense that was absolutely terrible against the Raiders. Last year, Manning tossed six touchdowns against the Saints in the Superdome. Put the Saints historically bad defense up against Eli Manning in Metlife stadium and watch as the two time super bowl champ has a field day.
AJ Green: Fantasy football often boils down to matchups. And, whenever AJ Green has a game against a division opponent, that’s a great matchup. Not to mention, this week the Bengals head to Pittsburgh to take on a secondary with questions all around. If anything, expect at least a touchdown and 100 yards from Green this week, but he could easily go for a much bigger statline.
Leave Them Out
Carlos Hyde: Carlos Hyde carried the Niners and a few fantasy teams to a victory last Monday with his 21 points. Even though that was against the Rams elite run defense, traveling to Carolina this week poses an even tougher challenge. Hyde has shown a knack for making even the best defenses look bad, but the Panthers unit led by the best front seven in the league will hold strong.
Aaron Rodgers: Rodgers is usually a great option, but keep an eye out for road games against tough defenses. Last week, the Packers were on the road against the Jaguars and A-Rod notched home 24 points, but against a stout and impressive Vikings defense in their new stadium Rodgers should struggle. The Vikings also had the most points out of any defense last week with 21.
