FANTASY FOOTBALL WEEK 1 4:00 GAMES WRAPUP

Only a few games once the 1:00 outings were in the books but of course a lot to talk about.

-I spoke on more than a few occasions about the nice prospects of new Arizona Cardinals QB Carson Palmer who still has a big time arm but only needed to be surrounded with talent which was not the case in 2012 in Oakland.  However with a terrific threesome of wideouts in Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd, and Andre Roberts, Palmer was certainly going to be put in position to be an under the radar weekly fantasy football starter.  Never shy about throwing down the field, Palmer lit up the solid Rams defense by throwing for 327 yards with 2 TD and 1 INT.  The Cardinals can't run the football so they will throw all day long.  You can do a lot worse than having Palmer as your every week starter and at the very least he is as good as backup as you can get.

-Larry Fitzgerald was a guy I just had to have this drafting season due the arrival of Palmer and how it would instantly turn him back into a top five fantasy football wide receiver.  I just missed out on Fitz in the Experts League draft and watched as he predictably caught 8 passes for 80 yards and 2 scores.  We could be looking at 90-100 catches and 10-12 touchdowns.

Andre Roberts was also a prime beneficiary of Palmer's arrival, catching 8 passes of his own for 97 yards.  Meanewhile Floyd, another decent sleeper, caught 4 for 82 yards.  Big plays all around.  Now in handicapping the second Cardinals receiver in terms of fantasy football, Roberts is the one to own as he the team's number 2 receiver and plays a slot role where he will be open over the middle due to the attention payed to Fitzgerald.

-Sam Bradford was bound to be better this season due to the additions of Jared Cook and Tavon Austin and so far so good.  We are still not talking about Bradford as anything more than a backup, even after throwing for 299 yards with 2 scores and 1 INT.

Speaking of Cook, my goodness was he terrific.  I wrote a SLEEPER piece on Cook early on the summer arguing that he should be drafted as a starter due to the fact the super athletic tight end was completely underutilized in QB-cesspool Tennessee.  Well Cook showed why I was so optimistic as he was one of the offensive stars of the day in catching 7 passes for 141 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Cook should have scored three touchdowns but he had the football knocked out of his hands five yards from the end zone on a breakaway catch.  Pick him up in all formats and in actuality Cook is right there with Julius Thomas as a top tight end add for Week 2.

-I drafted Tavon Austin and had him in there as my WR 3 over Mike Williams who caught a TD for Tampa Bay.  The results were pretty unspectacular as Austin caught 6 nondescript passes for only 41 yards.  There will be some big plays and a decent amount of catches so Austin does all right in PPR leagues but I was a bit too optimistic right out of the gate.

-Rashard Mendenhall still looked slow and ineffective.  Remains as RB 3.  Daryl Richardson meanwhile caught 5 passes which helps for those in PPR leagues but any other setup makes him a bench guy.

-The stars of the day no doubt had to be the combination of San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick and new WR Anquan Boldin.  Coming off his spectacular debut in 2012 when he took the team to the Super Bowl, Kaepernick was a slam dunk top ten fantasy football QB.  I never considered drafting him however as I like to see a second season of top production before I am totally on board.  Well my loss as Kaepernick tossed for a ridiculous 412 yards and 3 touchdowns while also rushing for 22.  Wow.  Kaepernick can do it all and even though the Packers defense is a horror show, this could get crazy good for those who trusted in his skills.

-On the other side Aaron Rodgers was his typical great self.  He was overshadowed by the flash of Kaepernick but still threw 3 touchdowns of his own with 333 yards and 1 fluky INT.

-Eddie Lacy did some good and bad.  The good was the late rushing touchdown and the bad was the lost fumble.  Only 41 yards on 14 carries but the Packers were not running much after the second quarter.

-Anquan Boldin.  Unreal.  Only that word can sum up what he did on Sunday in catching 13 passes for an insane 208 yards and 1 touchdown.  Michael Crabtree's loss is clearly Boldin's gain.  Forgotten during his time in Baltimore which was never a big time throwing operation, don't forget that Boldin was a 90-100-plus catch guy when with Arizona.  Yes he is aging but as long as he is on the field, Boldin could turn out to be one of the very best values in the entire game.  Admit it.  You didn't have one pang of regret when the guy in your league drafted Boldin at the time it took place.  The regret we will feel is settling in now for sure.

-Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb both caught 7 passes for a score.  They both are a clear notch above James Jones.

-Vernon Davis has always been a much better standard league guy than a PPR one but he was an asset across the board in catching 6 passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns.

-Now for the Giants' David Wilson.  I mean where do you begin?   I posed a POLL on who was the biggest bust for fantasy football Week 1 but that was before Wilson's horrendous outing when he rushed for a grand total of 19 yards on 7 carries including two lost fumbles that had Tom Coughlin looking like he would have a coronary on the sidelines.  In addition, Wilson whiffed on a block that resulted in a pancake smash on Eli Manning.  You may think pass protection is not something to concern ourselves with but that is nonsense.  If you can't pass protect as a runner, you won't play as much since team's don't want to get their QB annihilated.  Wilson was rightfully benched for the overmatched De'Rell Scott and really I expect Beanie Wells to be on town this morning.  It was that bad.  Right now if you are a Wilson fan, you are looking at a potentially gigantic bust.  Sure it is only one week but Wilson was as bad as you can get and Coughlin won't deal with the shoddy pass protection and fumbles.

-Eli Manning is feast or famine.  He throws a lot of picks (3 last night) but also pioneers an explosive passing offense as he tossed four touchdowns and 450 passing yards.  Victor Cruz was his main target, catching THREE touchdowns on his 5 receptions.  Hakeem Nicks meanwhile looked good with five catches of his own for 114 yards while looking spry.  Even Reuben Randle got in on the action with 5 catches for 101 yards.  Randle has a lot of potential, especially if Nicks gets hurt again.

-Tight end Brandon Myers picked up where he left off in 2012 by leading the Giants with 7 catches for 66 yards and a score.  With the Giants having no running game, Cruz, Nicks, Myers et al could be getting a ton of looks from Manning in weekly shootouts.  We could be looking at New Orleans-lite.

-I kind of brushed over Cruz but he was ridiculous himself.  Three touchdowns by any receiver is crazy good and Cruz has cemented his status as a number 1 receiver.

-Tony Romo threw for 263 yard and 2 touchdowns with 1 pick and got dinged up before the half.  He returned and finished the game with no issues though.  He finally found Jason Witten near the end zone, getting both of his touchdown passes to the best pass catching tight end in football.  This of course drives me batty since I have owned Witten for the last six years no joke.  I finally gave up on him this season due to the fact he always comes up way short in the touchdown region despite all those catches and than he goes out in the opener and gets two right out of the gate.  I hate this game sometimes.  I really do.

There you have it.  As always let us hear your thoughts.