What We Saw: Week 1 2018

Buccaneers vs. Saints

Buccaneers

Ryan Fitzpatrick

Holy guacamole, Batman. Ryan Fitzpatrick had one of the best games of his career and looks to have a real shot at holding down the starting quarterback position after Jameis Winston returns. Fitzpatrick threw for 417 yards and four touchdowns, ran for 39 yards and one touchdown, and had no fumbles or interceptions. Fitzpatrick was consistent all game, spread the ball around evenly to six targets, and was buoyed by an average Peyton Barber as a change of pace. Make no mistake, Tampa Bay won this game on the back of Ryan Fitzpatrick (and Tampa Bay’s offensive line).

The Tight Ends

Cameron Brate did not catch a pass on two targets, but OJ Howard caught both of his for a combined 54 yards. In all, four targets to both tight ends may be more indicative of how the team plans on using its tight ends this season – as blockers, although only one week is too soon to make a sweeping declaration. I believe Brate is still the tight end to be used, but for Week Two – neither tight end should be counted on in any league.

Chris Godwin

Chris Godwin and DeSean Jackson were listed as co-starters and they ended the game with four and five targets respectively (behind Mike Evans’ seven). Jackson caught all five of his passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns, Godwin caught three for only 41 yards and a touchdown. Tampa Bay has three capable receivers on its team and under Ryan Fitzpatrick seems intent on spreading it around to who ever is open. The team had 21 receptions on 28 targets – a 75% completion rate. Look for both receivers to be utilized frequently with Jackson receiving more of the down the field targets. DeSean Jackson went down with a concussion in the fourth – monitor his status headed into Week 2.

Ronald Jones II

Who? Ronald Jones was inactive in Week One as a healthy scratch. Jones has a long way up before he’ll be fantasy relevant this season – although expectations are that he will be at some point. If the offensive line improvements hold up – Tampa Bay’s running game is still in line for gains.

-Brennen Gorman

Saints

When a game finishes with 88 total points, it would follow that many of the players in that game had dominant performances. It also means that the defenses in this game probably ended with negative points for many fantasy owners. As someone who advocated for the Saints defense throughout the preseason, this was absolutely heartbreaking. A matchup against 35-year-old Ryan Fitzpatrick seemed like the perfect matchup to start the season. Nobody could have expected the result on that field yesterday, and sometimes football is weird like that. Trying to justify how this happened is really a fool’s errand. Ryan Fitzpatrick played out of his mind and the Saints need to tip their hats. Moving forward, however, this Saints defense is going to be dropped in a bunch of leagues. If your streaming defenses, or got stuck with a lesser team, the Saints could be a great option now. It is hard to stomach the previous outcome, but the 16 games this team played last year shows more than this one game.

Studs will be Studs

Our Pitcherlist brothers have a phrase when the best pitchers pitch well. “Aces gonna Ace.” For Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas, the phrase should be “Studs will be Studs.” These two are truly fantasy studs and they were already in your lineup. But it does feel good to have those high picks validate their draft price early in the season. The game script was extremely favorable for these two players, which cannot be expected every single week. However, it is clear that Kamara and Thomas will be featured heavily all year. Regardless of the Saint’s defensive capabilities, all Kamara and Thomas owners should be very happy with week 1.

Ted Ginn Jr.

The veteran wideout has won the 2nd wide receiver job—for now. The signing of Cameron Meredith and potential breakout of rookie Tre’Quan Smith cast a shadow for the fantasy outlook for Ted Ginn Jr. In week 1, Meredith and Smith combined for one target, while Ginn drew 6. Ginn hauled in 5 of those catches and managed to find the end zone. This is encouraging for Ginn moving forward, although Smith and/or Meredith could pass him at some point this season. For now, Ginn remains a high-upside, yet risky play, with little consistency from week to week.

Drew Brees and the Fountain of Youth

Will Drew Brees throw enough to be an elite fantasy QB? YES! For those of you that waited on draft day for Brees, congratulations. Although this might be somewhat of an outlier for the season, Brees has shown that he is still more than capable of putting up massive numbers. The Saints commitment to the run game, as evidenced by Kamara’s two rushing touchdowns, still gives some concern for Brees throughout the rest of the season. It will definitely be something to monitor moving forward. At any rate, Brees is not slowing down and his undeniable talent should make him a solid option every single week.

The Rest of the Team

The deficit did not allow the run game mystery to sort itself out. Kamara led the team with 8 carries, with Mike Gillislee carrying the rock 3 times, fumbling once. Jonathan Williams got a carry but did not do much with it. The backfield in this type of game belongs entirely to Kamara, and it remains to be seen if that will change when the Saints are ahead. In the passing game, Benjamin Watson hauled in 4 passes for 44 yards but was undoubtedly the fourth option. Austin Carr and Josh Hill rounded out the rest of the touches with little production. At the moment, this team Belongs to Drew Brees and the two Studs.

Look Ahead

The Cleveland Browns come to town next week which should be another good matchup on paper. The Cleveland defense has shown to be formidable but should be no match for this diverse attack. As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, you might find the Saints defense on the waiver wire this week. That is an enticing matchup against a subpar offense.

-Stephen Dudas