Wherever you live in the USA, you couldn’t escape the NFL this weekend. If you are like me, you welcomed it with a computer on your lap streaming play by play while watching the games on TV with two other games streaming on your desktop computer next to you. Ok, maybe you weren’t like me, maybe my football season life style isn’t healthy, or maybe you were getting steamrolled by someone like me in your league. If you fall into the latter category, you better listen up and prepare for next week. I’m about to drop some truth bombs.

–Lets start out in New Orleans as the Vikings met the Saints for a repeat of last year’s NFC title game. (If you don’t remember what happened last year–HINT: The Vikings didn’t go to the Super Bowl). Thursday’s game didn’t produce a huge fantasy day for either team’s stars. Favre threw for just 171 yards with a TD and an INT. Brees only did slightly better with 237 yards and a TD. Pierre Thomas had a solid performance with 71 yards and a TD. Anyone who thought that the preseason was foreshadowing how the Saints were going to use Reggie Bush got a surprise when Bush was in on only just two rushing attempts. The biggest fantasy impact came from Viking TE Visanthe “The Shank” Shiancoe, as he cut up the field, racking up 76 yards and a TD. Favre leaned on Shank in the redzone last season, and it seems like he will still go for “The Shank” as his favorite weapon.

–Despite Josh Freeman’s disgusting looking thumb, he still managed to throw for 2 TDs and 182 yards as the Buccaneers beat the Browns in Tampa. Take note of his favorite target, rookie Mike Williams. Williams hauled in a TD and 30 yards on his 5 receptions in his NFL debut. Williams is most likely available on waivers, snatch him up, as he will likely be the best receiver on the Bucs. On the other side of the ball, I was very excited to see Jerome Harrison play, because I started him in one of my leagues over Beanie Wells (out with injury). I was not excited to see Peyton Hillis vulture a tuddie away from Jerome, though. Both Hillis and Harrison left the game with 9 carries and similar yardage. Expect Harrison to continue to start, but keep an eye on Peyton Hillis.

–The Miami-Buffalo game seemed to be the makings of a great NFL debut for C.J. Spiller and a great Miami debut of Brandon Marshall. However, both were extremely disappointing. For all the people who drafted Brandon Marshall in the second round, I am fairly certain that 8 catches for 53 yards will be your average outing for Marshall. Just pray that one of those 8 catches is a TD. And as for Spiller, and C.J., you really disappointed me. I’m not mad at you, I’m just disappointed. Spiller ended up with zero fantasy points, gaining 6 yards on 7 attempts and 8 yards on 4 catches. Despite the return of Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson, Spiller was given a ton of chances, he just ended up empty. I’m going to let Spiller take a week in “time out” on my bench.

–Finally a game that has real fantasy impact: The Patriots vs. The Bengals. Right away, the Patriots looked incredible. Brady threw a pair of TDs to Wes Welker, who ended the day with 64 yards on 8 catches. Not to be out-done, Chad Ochocinco dominated with 159 yards and a TD as the Bengals played catch up in the second half. Veteran WRs Terrell Owens and Randy Moss didn’t see the end zone, but each had a good amount of targets and catches, but just 50 yards apiece. Both quarterbacks had huge days. The Bengals’ Carson Palmer had 345 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT, but The Patriots’ Tom Brady ended the day with 258 yards and 3 TDs. I remember talking up the Patriots rookie TEs during preseason, both made immediate impacts. Aaron Hernandez had a big 45-yard catch and Rob Gronkowski ended the game with 1 catch for a 1 yard TD. Until one rises above the other, neither have real fantasy value. My money is on Gronkowski, though.

–I feel like I should talk about Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning’s 433 yard and 3 TD game, but this game was run by the Houston Texans’ break out RB Arian Foster who amassed 231 yards and 3 TDs on the ground. I don’t care how your fantasy points work in your league, but that is a ton of points.  Another huge performance in this game went to Austin Collie of the Colts, who had 163 yards and a TD. Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark each had TDs and close to 100 yards. Peyton will continue to share the wealth–beware if you face any of these receivers. Enough about the Colts. After all, they lost the game. Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson looked rough in the season opener, but expect them to get back on track quickly. This team is still a passing team, but if Arian Foster is running the way he did on Sunday, expect the Texans to continue to pound the rock.

–I’ve always admired the Jaguars’ David Garrard for his poise in the pocket and mobility out of the pocket. If you had the guts to start him this week against the Denver Broncos, you had to be pleased with his 3 TDs and 170 yards. Let’s hope that you also started TE Mercedes Lewis, who was on the receiving end on two of those TD tosses. Very little happened on the other side of the ball. Denver WR Brandon Lloyd racked up an impressive 117 yards and RB Knowshon Moreno had 60 yards and a rushing TD.

–The Falcons and Steelers game went into overtime, and RB Rashard Mendenhall owners must have been ecstatic that it did. In overtime, Mendenhall ended the Steelers win with a 50-yard TD scamper to push his total to 120 yards. Through the air, both Falcons WR Roddy White and Steelers WR Hines Ward had over 100 yards, but no TDs.

–If you watched the preseason, you may have considered drafting the Raiders defense. They made a lot of big plays in exhibition games, but they were no match for Chris Johnson and the Titans. Johnson proved that he isn’t a fluke by racking up 142 yards and 2 TDs.  CJ wasn’t the only fantasy stud on the field, however. Raiders RB Darren McFadden had a pretty big game with 95 rushing yards, 55 receiving yards and a TD. Chris Johnson is an obvious lock, but it might pay off to keep an eye on McFadden. With the off-season acquisition of QB Jason Campbell, Oakland has been keeping McFadden active in the passing game. It is also important to note that he did not split carries in Sunday’s game.

–Since I live in New York, I watched a good portion of the Panthers versus Giants game. It was extremely sloppy on both sides. Giants WR Hakeem Nicks had a huge game–he almost put up Victor Cruz numbers! He had 3 TDs and 75 yards. The Giants are going to air it out all season, and if Manning can get his interceptions down, he’ll be worth a start. Out of the battle of the Steve Smiths, Carolina’s Steve Smith won with 75 yards and a nice TD grab. The other Smith did have 5 catches for 43 yards.

–I’m not even going to get into how fantasy owners should be suing the NFL for robbing Calvin Johnson and the Lions of a game winning TD against the Bears. Lions QB Matt Stafford injured his shoulder and may be out for 4-6 weeks, so bench or drop him if you got him. I would also recommend starting rookie RB Jahvid Best who, despite his 14 carries for 20 yards, had 2 TDs. They will continue to give Best goal line carries. After a huge rookie year and subsequent sophomore slump, Matt Forte looks to be back with 50 rushing yards and whopping 151 receiving yards with 2 TDs. We had all discussed Jay Cutler and the Mike Martz offense, and we were right–lots of highflying pass plays. Cutler looked good with 372 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT.

–If anyone had Cardinals RB Beanie Wells in their lineup against St. Louis on Sunday, you made a big mistake. Wells was recovering from a knee injury. Lucky for you, replacement Tim Hightower made a fool of himself, fumbling two times. Expect Wells to be back this next week. Cardinals QB Derek Anderson had a hard time connecting with WR Larry Fitzgerald. Fitzy was targeted a ton of times, so continue to start Fitzgerald, even though WR Steve Breaston got the bulk of the receptions with 132 yards. The St. Louis Rams don’t have big name receivers, but new acquisition Mark Clayton had a whopping 10 receptions and 119 yards.

–Aaron Rodgers didn’t look like the fantasy star that everyone had been raving about as he faced the Philadelphia Eagles. He threw for just 188 yards and 2 TDs with 2 INTs. To make matters worse, fantasy owners of Packers RB Ryan Grant should scramble to get RB Brandon Jackson off of waivers since Ryan Grant is now out for the season. Both sides suffered huge losses; the Eagles lost FB Leonard Weaver and Kevin Kolb, though the Eagles didn’t need either to put up fantasy numbers. Philadelphia backup QB and former awesome player/dog fight ringleader, Michael Vick, made a strong case for getting the starting spot. Vick threw for 175 yards and a TD and also used his feet to rush for 103 yards. The bottom line is that Vick looked way better than Kolb. The Eagles are a very fickle fan base, so who knows who will start next week if Kolb is able to return. I still recommend picking up Vick on waivers.

–Pete Carroll surprised everyone by leading the Seahawks to victory over the 49ers. The 49ers’ Frank Gore had a very rough game. TE Vernon Davis had just 73 yards on 8 receptions, and the tough 49ers Defense allowed 31 points. The Seahawks didn’t have any breakout fantasy players. Matt Hasselbeck had only 170 yards, but he threw 2 TDs and rushed for another score. I’m going to consider this game a fluke. I think the 49ers are a better team than they showed. Don’t bench Frank Gore or Alex Smith. They will have much better games than this. As for the Seahawks, I like RB Justin Forsett and WR Mike Williams. Williams will probably be on waivers on your league. He had 4 receptions for 64 yards, which isn’t much, but he is the best WR on that team and will get a ton of targets this season.

–Despite the terrible play-calling by the Cowboys, there were still some big fantasy winners in their loss to the Redskins on Sunday night. Tony Romo had an unimpressive game with 282 yards and 1 TD, but his receivers looked very promising. Miles Austin piled on the points with 146 yards and 1 TD. Dez Bryant looked very good, with a lot of targets but only 56 yards to show for it. McNabb had a rough ‘Skins debut with just 171 yards while completing less than half of his passes.

–Monday night started off slow as the Jets and Ravens relied heavily on their outstanding defenses.  The Ravens’ ground game was almost non-existent as Ray Rice got only 43 yards. Flacco also had a tough start with a fumble and an interception. He stayed “Joe Cool” however and threw a ton of passes to WR Anquan Boldin for 110 yards. There is absolutely nothing good to say about the Jets. I would avoid owning anyone on this offense. I know the Ravens have a tough defense, but their secondary is full of holes. Somehow, Sanchez only had 74 passing yards. I don’t know how Rex Ryan can brag about his team with those numbers. Bench everyone on this offense immediately. Especially Shonn Greene, who had 2 fumbles and just 18 yards. The only exception is LaDainian Tomlinson, who had 62 yards. I don’t think he will have enough goal line chances to be a fantasy stud, though. The Jets have to get to the goal line in order for this to happen.

–Finally, in the late Monday night game, the Chiefs upset the Chargers. Any smart fantasy player knows that the Chiefs KR/PR/WR/RB Dexter McCluster is worth his weight in fantasy gold. Though he didn’t put up huge points this week, he did see looks at all 4 of his positions, even scoring a punt return TD that led the Chiefs to victory. Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles also looked very good with 92 yards and a 56-yard TD run.  On the Chargers, Phillip Rivers was very frustrated, but still had a great fantasy day with 2 TDs and 298 yards. Rookie RB Ryan Mathews got involved immediately, gaining 75 yards but had a disappointing fumble on a huge run. Without Vincent Jackson, Legedu Naanee had a huge game with 110 yards and a TD. Naanee could be a great pickup this week. Rivers also hit his favorite target, Antonio Gates, for 76 yards and a TD.

Recommended Waiver Pickups this week:

Packers RB Brandon Jackson
Eagles QB Michael Vick
Chiefs WR Dexter McCluster
Rams WR Mark Clayton
Either Mike Williams! (WR on either the Buccaneers or Seahawks. They are this year’s Steve Smiths)
Chargers WR Legedu Naanee