What You Need to Know From Week 1

Seattle 13 - New England 10

• Sam Darnold left with a glute injury and will miss a few weeks. Drew Lock did his job - throw to Jaxon Smith-Njigba - in relief of Darnold.
• No one else in the Seahawks passing game is worth starting - or maybe even rostering - with Darnold out and Smith-Njigba giving them no reason to go away from him.
• Jadarian Price looked very sharp on his carries, but the team did not trust the rookie on many situational snaps. George Holani got those in Week 1, but as the team gains more trust in Price, his value will grow. Price is still flexworthy in Week 2 at Arizona.
• A.J. Brown left with a high ankle sprain and was placed on injured reserve. It is estimated that he will miss six weeks. Mack Hollins replaced him and is a deep league waiver pickup. Hunter Henry could become a viable streaming tight end while Brown is out.
• Romeo Doubs was a dud in his Patriots debut. He's not an essential hold in short bench leagues and should be dropped in typical leagues if he can't make an impact in Week 2.
• The Patriots' playbook looked stale, and they could not take advantage of a Seahawks secondary missing two starting safeties. Drake Maye isn't getting any help from Josh McDaniels, and his pressing resulted in three picks, including one in the Seattle end zone late in the fourth quarter, losing a chance at a chip-shot, game-tying field goal.  Without Brown, Maye could be a sell low.
• Rhamondre Stevenson was unremarkable, and TreVeyon Henderson returned to practice this week. With the Patriots offense one of Week 1's underachievers, Stevenson is a mere flex, and Henderson's ceiling is lower, although the team could turn to Henderson more in his return to jumpstart the offense.

San Francisco 27 - LA Rams 7 

• De'Zhaun Stribling left with an ankle injury and will miss an estimated four weeks. Demarcus Robinson replaced him and scored a long touchdown. He's a deep league pickup until Stribling returns.
• Deebo Samuel Sr. also got more looks with Stribling (who was leading the team's wide receivers in snaps when he went out) sidelined. He is worth a pickup in short bench leagues and should be considered a WR3/Flex against the Dolphins.
• Mike Evans operated mainly in the short-range areas of the defense and was very effective. He'll be an every-week WR2 as long as he stays healthy.
• Brock Purdy took what the Rams defense gave him and looks like one of the safest weekly QB1 plays. He should have gone earlier in drafts.
• Christian McCaffrey was battling cramps and actually got fewer carries than rookie Kaelon Black, who was effective and could be more than a backup as the team looks to preserve McCaffrey for the stretch run. McCaffrey still caught five passes and had 88 total yards, and the cramps likely limited his workload, but he may not be the elite fantasy RB1 we expected him to be this year because of Black. Black is a priority pickup at running back and one of the most valuable non-starters to carry.
• The Rams' plan of getting in so close to game time in Australia seemed to make them lethargic, so it's hard to know how much that affected their performance, but the offense was ineffective.
• Kyren Williams scored and got the vast majority of the running back snaps. Blake Corum still looked very good and deserving of more work. Hold Corum, as he should get more work in a different game script this week.
• The Giants defense had a good debut against Dallas in Week 1, so it's reasonable to bench Matthew Stafford and Davante Adams if you have good options, so we can see if this result really was a meaningless Week 1 aberration.
• Terrance Ferguson got one target after a summer full of hype about a multi-faceted role. He can be dropped.

Detroit 31 - New Orleans 30 (OT)

• Jared Goff was relegated to more dink-and-dunk passing, and the Lions offense relied on 34 Jahmyr Gibbs touches to power them. That is unsustainable, although if Jameson Williams hadn't dropped multiple passes, it could have made things easier on Goff. We should still be on watch Thursday for the Lions offense to lower expectations if they have trouble moving the ball against Buffalo.
• Sione Vaki was the clear backup to Gibbs and should be added in deep leagues where most backup running backs are carried.
• Amon-Ra St. Brown is going to feast in PPR leagues with the more short-range-focused passing attack. He was also responsible for two scores, although Williams caught a ball at the one.
• The Saints offense was plagued by turnovers early on, but rallied for a big second half and came within a two-point conversion of the biggest comeback in their history and the biggest collapse in Lions history. The Lions defense overachieved for a half plus, but eventually gave up an overtime-aided 410 passing yards to Shough. Shough is a priority pickup if he wasn't drafted, although the matchup against Baltimore this week isn't ideal.
• Travis Etienne Jr. caught seven balls but had the same number of carries as Kendre Miller, who scored the Saints' rushing touchdown. Alvin Kamara will likely be back this week, which will also cut into Etienne's target share. It looks like Etienne is a low-ceiling RB2/Flex at best.
• Chris Olave carried the downfield passing game, but also visited the medical tent multiple times. He will produce like a fantasy first-round pick, but his concussion history gives reason to worry about his ability to make it through the season.
• Devaughn Vele drew a long pass interference (which the team followed by calling his number for a short touchdown) and was the same reliable target he was last year. Kellen Moore said in the offseason that he wished he had gotten Vele more involved, and he did that in Week 1. Vele is a priority pickup and worth a WR3/Flex lineup spot, especially in PPR leagues.
• Juwan Johnson was on the field a lot more than Noah Fant, but Fant had more targets and receptions. Johnson had more yards and red zone chances, and both scored a touchdown. Johnson is still a low-end TE1, but Fant is back on the redraft radar with injury upside if Johnson goes down.

Cincinnati 33 - Tampa Bay 27

• The Bengals won more with their defense, which forced four fumbles, than offense, which was only modestly successful against Tampa.
• Joe Burrow started slow and Ja'Marr Chase even slower. Chase only had two catches for 12 yards. His Week 1 line was similar last year, but that was against the Myles Garrett led Browns defense. Chase should stay in lineups, but if he doesn't bounce back against a tough Texans defense, we will probably escalate DEFCON 4 on the knee injury affecting his season watch.
• Mike Gesicki was the only fantasy success in the Bengals passing game. He's a what-the-heck TE1 play against a Texans defense that gave up a big game to Dalton Kincaid last week.
• Baker Mayfield played better than the outcome indicates. He fumbled once on a scramble close to the goal line (and scored on one), and another fumble turned into a Bengals defensive score. Mayfield's third fumble came at his own 36, and Bucky Irving also fumbled in Tampa's end of the field. Mayfield is still a high-floor QB1 against Cleveland this week.
• Irving dominated passing game looks and scored the only other offensive touchdown for Tampa (Josiah Trotter scored on a pick-six) after Kenny Gainwell's role in both areas was hyped in the offseason. Gainwell isn't an essential hold in .5 PPR and non-PPR leagues, and Irving looks like one of Week 1's big winners.
• No one stood out in the Bucs passing game, but the offense never really got in a rhythm because of the turnovers. Go back to Emeka Egbuka as a WR2 and Chris Godwin Jr. as a WR3/Flex this week. Monitor Jalen McMillan's status after the #3 receiver missed Week 1, still recovering from an early camp knee injury. Rookie Ted Hurst III got going late in this game, and if McMillan missed Week 2, he could build more momentum with Mayfield.

Baltimore 41 - Indianapolis 23

• Lamar Jackson was a maestro in his first game piloting Declan Doyle's offense. Jackson has a long history of confounding defenses constructed by Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, so this wasn't a surprise, but it still looked remarkably easy for this offense to create big gains.
• Father Time is undefeated, but Derrick Henry is ahead on the judge's scorecards. He was prime Henry with three scores, including one from distance. Age ain't nothing but a number.
• Zay Flowers had a massive first half with a 54-yard catch-and-run score and another long gain down the one-yard line. He left the game with a hamstring issue, but is day-to-day and has a chance to not miss any time.
• Rookie Ja'Kobi Lane had a touchdown called back by penalty and then left the game with a fractured wrist that will sideline him for an extended time. He could have been a Week 2 waiver wire pickup if he hadn't gotten hurt.
• Mark Andrews wasn't that impactful, but if Flowers is out or limited in Week 2, Andrews is a good streaming tight end.
• Daniel Jones had trouble moving the ball against a Jesse Minter defense after dominating Minter's defense when he was the Chargers' coordinator last year. That could be a bad sign for Jones, or just a sign that the Ravens defense is for real. 
• The Colts had an ugly four-way split in targets that could make it hard to predict who to play week to week. Tyler Warren's garbage-time touchdown saved him, and Alec Pierce looked good enough in his first game back from offseason ankle surgery to project growth in his role going forward, which is bad for the value of Josh Downs, who led the team in wide receiver snaps and had two big catches early, and then wasn't heard from again. Keenan Allen is only worth a roster spot in deep PPR leagues, although his role could be stable.
• Jonathan Taylor was at the top of his game with two scores and 12 total yards and might be able to transcend this offense to have first-round value even if Daniel Jones and the passing game can't get back to last year's level.

Jacksonville 34 - Cleveland 10