Week 1 produced several head-scratching fantasy football performances. Whether it was a player performing better than their predicted total, or a star performer not yet ready for the NFL season, we were right and wrong about our predictions.
Here are the ones we either royally screwed up or hit on the head.
Chris Ivory
Verdict: Correct
This didn’t take much effort. Cleveland was horrible against the run last season and it doesn’t appear to have gotten much better. And it doesn’t hurt to have Johnny Football as the replacement quarterback for the Browns, who doesn’t move the ball as well as Josh McCown.
Ivory logged 20 carries and pounded out 91 yards for two touchdowns for the New York Jets during the blowout win. Ivory netted the second-most points among running backs at 22 points, next to Matt Forte, who we also were high on for the Chicago Bears.
Ivory won’t register the same pregame hype for the rest of the season. Although the Jets square off against the Indianapolis Colts, which didn’t fare too well against the Bills this past Sunday, Ivory’s stock will be sharply down from week 1.
Melvin Gordon
Verdict: Correct
We told you to sit San Diego Chargers running back Melvin Gordon. We were worried about him sharing carries with Danny Woodhead.
And we were right to be worried. Woodhead is a solid second running back, and if he has the hot hand, much like did last Sunday, he will remain in the game. Gordon finished with 16 carries, but his fumble helped lead to his 4.70 points. Gordon will get better, but we are slower to raise his value, as opposed to many in the fantasy football community.
Be patient with Gordon and don’t expect him to be a solid starting option on a weekly basis. He’ll have more problems this week when the Chargers travel to Cincinnati.
Damaryius Thomas
Verdict: Wrong
The Denver Broncos passing game is in trouble. We haven’t been big on Peyton Manning in the offseason, but we thought he would fare better early into the season.
We were wrong. And since we were wrong about Manning, we were incorrect with starting Thomas. He finished with six points on the day with 60 yards receiving.
Don’t sell Thomas just yet. He appears to still be the biggest target for Manning, so he should benefit from being the biggest playmaker in the passing game for Denver.
DeAndre Hopkins
Verdict: Way wrong
There wasn’t a wide receiver who had a better day than Hopkins until Julio Jones on Monday night. Now, to try to save face, we did say to start Jones, but we can’t escape the fact that we said to sit Hopkins.
Hopkins absolutely torched Kansas City, aided by the help that the Chiefs got out to a big lead early, forcing the Texans to pass often. And if Houston has to pass, it has to go to Hopkins.
Regardless of who the quarterback is under center, they are looking at only Hopkins. There are no other threats, making him the only option for the Texans.
Joe Flacco
Verdict: Way right
We said to sit Flacco for Sunday’s game against the Broncos. If you sat him, you likely had a better week than if you would have started him.
Flacco finished with less than a point in week 1, throwing for only 117 yards and two interceptions, against Denver.
He won’t suffer like that every week, but without Torrey Smith, and with an aging Steve Smith, it could take awhile for the Ravens to get their passing game in order.
