As the fantasy football season officially got underway on Thursday, September 8 when the Green Bay Packers defeated the New Orleans Saints a few surprise standout fantasy scorers waived their hands vying for attention among the superstars.
It came as no surprise that Saints QB Drew Brees and Packers QB Aaron Rodgers led the way, both having great games and earning massive points for their respective owners. The surprise came in Saints WR Devery Henderson and Packers WR Randall Cobb leading all receivers including Packers WR Greg Jennings.
While Brees would have loved to have WR Lance Moore in action, he was out week one with a groin injury. Brees instead utilized Henderson to his full advantage allowing him to rack up 100 receiving yards and a touchdown. Before the start of the contest Henderson was only owned by 2% of the participants in Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football leagues.
Cobb showed a glimpse of his capabilities as he tied an NFL record in the first game of his career returning a kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown. In addition he logged 35 receiving yards and a touchdown. Cobb was previously owned by 10% of Yahoo! Fantasy league participants.
Both Henderson and Cobb are now on my watch list.
Another interesting observation was Saints RB Darren Sproles (52% owned). Sproles logged only seven yards rushing and 75 yards receiving, but also scored a touchdown on a 72-yard punt return. I will be curious to see his numbers for next week.
If nothing else, this initial game proved that even the most well researched draft would not always catch all the surprises. For me, it is part of the fun to track the surprise performances early in the season, especially when two top tier teams play against each other. If they put up mediocre numbers in the next few weeks we know it was a fluke, but if not the next few weeks may reveal the next little known name into a fantasy powerhouse like Peyton Hillis became last season.
Better yet, you may discover a player better suited for your bench than one who is currently on your roster. I am anxious to see how the rest of this week plays out.
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Sources:
All stats provided by Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football
Paul Rados is the manager of four fantasy football teams and a Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Follow him on Twitter @PSRados