Not a terrible week, but I didn’t kill it either. Per usual, I’m looking for 140+ points from this group of penguins every week – that’s a huge week, but I can pick anyone so while it’s a lofty goal, it’s not impossible. Total for this week……. 114, pretty close, really, just a couple misses (QB, TE, K) hurt me. Here’s the damage:
QB: Kurt Warner vs. San Francisco: Warner didn’t approach 500 yards this time, and he was the 18th rated fantasy quarterback in Week 1. That’s good for 13 points for the old man. He’ll be better I’m sure.
RB: LaDainian Tomlinson vs. Carolina: LT didn’t score. I figured as much, because he had scored every other damn opening day – ha. Anyway, he still managed solid yardage totals, good for 13 fantasy points and he was the 16th rater runner this weekend.
RB: Marion Barber vs. Cleveland: Barber torched the Browns defensive line. He didn’t even play in the 4th quarter as he had a minor injury and the Boys didn’t need him anymore. He still as the 4th overall fantasy back and scored 25 points in Week 1. Not too shabby, 16 carries for 80 yards, 2 scores, and 3 catches for 21 yards as well. My man.
WR: Randy Moss vs. Kansas City: Randy was the 5th rated wide receiver in my ppr league, scoring 21 fantasy points. Even with Tommy out of the lineup, Randy can still do work with the best of them.
WR: Terrell Owens vs. Cleveland: Owens was 7th overall with 19 fantasy points. I can’t complain. I would have liked Dallas to throw it more, but the way they were running the ball, it makes sense to hand it off.
TE: Tony Scheffler vs. Oakland: Tony had a touchdown bounce off his chest, and he got tackled at the 5 yard line after a 72 yard catch and run. Those were his only points on the day, and on a big day for no-named tight ends, this wasn’t a great pick. Still, 8 points isn’t horrible for a TE.
K: Josh Brown vs. Philadelphia: 1 field goal. 3 points. I really can’t pick a good kicker to save my life.
D: Patriots vs. Kansas City: The Patriots ranked 8th overall with 14 fantasy points. Not a great day, but I should have expected KC to play it safe and limit mistakes. Still, 8th isn’t bad.
Papa’s Week 1 SLEEPERS
Matt Schaub: Matt had a tough time of it against a Steelers team that was out for blood. Still, late in the game he tossed a couple touchdowns and ended up the 15th rated passer, scoring 14 fantasy points. He’ll have better days. B-
Aaron Rodgers: Rodgers was super efficient. He tossed 22 balls and completed 18 of them. He also scrambled around a few times and added a rushing touchdown to his passing touchdown. 22 points, 5th overall for quarterbacks, yep – that’s what I was thinking. A
Chris Johnson: The NFL’s version of Usain Bolt killed it in Week 1. Getting half the carries he still put up 21 fantasy points, good for 8th overall. He caught passes, ran well, and scored a touchdown on 93 rushing yards. He’s going to be a good one. A
Maurice Morris: The Hawks were bad, but Morris was getting the carries before he went down with a knee injury that will sideline him for a few weeks. 6 carries for 31 yards is all he could muster. I’ll take a D, it would have been an F if he played the entire game and tallied these totals.
Matt Forte: 7th rated runner in Week 1- I told ya. A
Nate Burleson: Despite getting lost for the season because of a knee injury, Burleson had a nice game. He caught 5 balls for 60 yards and a touchdown. He was in the Top 10 amongst receivers. I’ll take that for a nice: A.
Roddy White: Roddy had 2 catches for 54 yards, and just 7 fantasy points for a receiver in a ppr isn’t good. But the Falcons didn’t have to throw ever if they didn’t want to. He’ll be a better option against better teams, believe it or not. C-
Robert Meachem: Meachem didn’t even play. He was inactive. I don’t know why New Orleans would do this to the kid, talk about crushing any pre-season momentum whatsoever. I’ll take my F, but crap, what a raw deal – for both of us.
Zach Miller: 34 yards for Miller – not the worst thing that could have happened, not like he was Todd Heap or anything (-1 point for that glass man). Still, I’ll take my C- here, it wasn’t good enough.
Bengals: This was surely a sleeper pick I won’t go back to. Still, the Bengals had a nice return score on a fumble and held the Ravens to just 17 points. They had a nice day, and if you started them you probably liked the points you got, but hated watching them play football. B+
LUCKY’S Week 1 Splinter-Butts (bench him, son)
Drew Brees: Brees killed it. 2nd to only McNabb amongst QBs with 29 points. Yeah, I was wrong, okay.
Ryan Grant and Adrian Peterson: Grant had 91 yards and Peterson had 103 and a touchdown. Neither had great days, but both were definitely solid. Still, like I said, if you have a nice #3 option, I would have used him.
Bernard Berrien: Berrien had 30 yards, 3 fantasy points, and the Packers corners owned him again. Still, now might be a good time to go get the speedy receiver, he’ll have better days.
Willie Parker: I couldn’t have missed this by a bigger margin. Parker had 3 touchdowns and was #2 amongst all running backs with 31 fantasy points. He also rushed for 138 yards I reckon.