Now that the fantasy football train is officially on the move, there were a few surprises, disappointments and yes, injuries to update you about. Let’s go in-depth and look at some action from the first week of the season, and hope for better outings from these players in the next coming weeks.
Please, take this thing from me!
Week 1 Fantasy Must Bust:
Matt Forte & Jay Cutler - Together the Bears offensive duo were completely shut-down extensively at the line and in the air. With no real proven WR’s on the Bears roster, Lovie Smith chose to air the ball out often against the Packers, without much success. Jay Cutler’s 4 INT’s and Forte’s putrid 55 yards on 25 (2.1 yards a carry) carries doesn’t give fantasy owners much to look forward to against Pittsburgh in week 2.
Anthony Gonzalez – With a great match-up against the Jags in week 1, Gonzalez seemed to have sprained his MCL in a freak accident on the field just a few short plays in the game. With all the hype surrounding Gonzo, it doesn’t look like he will play for at least 3-6 weeks. This could potentially be devastating for the Indianapolis offense (and fantasy owners) going forward.
Braylon Edwards – It wasn’t that long ago we were talking about Edwards being a top five fantasy WR, his last years debacle and lack of concentration are killing fantasy owners that can see unlimited potential out of this WR. Let’s hope that Edwards can get into some kind of rhythm with his QB (Brady Quinn) and produce more than 1 reception for 12 yards, that’s not what owners envisioned for a bounce-back candidate.
Larry Johnson - When your averaging 1.8 yards a carry, you are just flat out hurting for a yard or two when you get the ball. Johnson was facing a tough Baltimore defense, but it is blatantly clear he has lost his power, speed and ability to get the job done. With Jamaal Charles waiting in the wings, it shouldn’t be too long before Johnson is irrelevant in fantasy play.
Jake Delhomme – He shouldn’t even have his job after that playoff loss to the Cardinals, but he does, and he showed flashes of his former playoff self in week 1. With the QB situation in such disarray, Steve Smith and company should be punished for it all year long throughout the ’09 season, this guy is DONE! He’s not a fantasy must, but I like writing about how terrible he is.
OUCH!!
Terrell Owens -It wasn’t the kind of game we have come to expect from the elite (Terrell Owens), but he should be worked in more throughout the regular season and produce some decent totals against TB in week 2. The problem with his situation is, his offensive line leaves Edwards such little time to get the ball out to his WR’s, until they (the offensive line) pick it up in the passing-game, it should be a long road for T.O and the Bills…… I will leave LEODIS out of this piece, although he deserves much more attention than Owens.
Michael Turner – Turner may not have ran for over 100 yards and a couple TD’s, but his offense is very potent, leaving Turner with big games in the near future. Against Miami, Turner recorded 22 rushes for 65 yards (3.2 yards a carry) and didn’t give owners the yards or TD’s expected from a top five fantasy back. With that being said, he has elite ability and should get his yards and TD’s throughout the season, just not in week 1.
Steven Jackson – Jackson’s 4.1 yards a carry weren’t all that bad, but his usage in the passing-game and 16 carries suggests he wasn’t the factor we were coming to expect from the focal point of the offense. Jackson should be used more against Washington in week 2, but this was not a good sign or outing from a RB that should be almost impossible to stop. Let’s see what week 2 brings for this fantasy first rounder.
Eddie Royal & Brandon Marshall - I had personally thought they were going to catch a ton of balls this week, that obviously didn’t happen in week 1, instead Royal and Marshall were targeted 11 times for 6 catches and 45 yards. There was a fair amount of talk about Marshall (7 targets, 4 catches, 27 yards) losing his status as the go-to guy in the offense, a role that was supposedly going to Eddie Royal (4 targets, 2 catches, 18 yards), I am squashing that theory after only week 1. Marshall and Royal should be a decent duo throughout the year, if Stokley doesn’t catch their passes for TD’s.
Carson Palmer – Palmer was actually quite efficient throwing the ball in week 1, his biggest problem was shaking the rust off. Palmer and the Bengals WR’s failed to get in the end-zone through the air, and he was picked off twice (one of them by way of hail mary at the end of regulation). The Bengals need to find their groove through the air if Palmer is going to jump back to the elite status of QB’s, he still looked good for taking a year off though.
Malcolm Kelly & Devin Thomas -So much for Kelly and Thomas establishing roles in the offense, after all the pre-season talk about Kelly winning the No.2 job, Randle-El (7 passes for 98 yards) worked the slot and seems to continuously emerge as Campbell’s favored option at the position. With Thomas and Kelly (1 catch for 6 yards) clearly behind in the eyes of Campbell, it will be impossible to see consistency coming from either of these two WR’s throughout the course of the regular season…. I guess they were second round picks for a reason!
With this being the first week of the season, there is no need to panic with some of your top options. Jackson, Turner, Forte, Cutler and Palmer will get their points, we just have to wait until week 2 for some upswing in production. Those who lost Gonzalez and own Tomlinson ( including me for both of the two!) should worry a little based on their week 1 outings, I just hope owners did the smart thing and handcuffed Sproles tightly to Tomlinson ( I made it a priority this year). Options like Delhomme and Redskins WR’s (that aren’t Moss and Randle El) should be searching the waiver wire quickly for substitutions.
