The big fantasy football story in Week 1 was the impact of offensive coordinator departures on previously high-octane machines.

Sans Ben Johnson, the Lions looked like a team that has no connection to its previously near-invincible ways. Is Dan Campbell capable of stepping into the void or does he draw up plays with a pencil that has an eraser at both ends? The joke was Jared Goff remembers all the plays that worked, so who cares about Johnson? Maybe he needs some miracle memory drug from those late-night commercials.

Goff looked like the kid who shows up for class not realizing it’s exam day. We also assumed (rationally) that a team with an offensive line as good as the Lions can’t possibly have a bad offense.

Yes, the alternative explanation is the Packers’ defense is now dominant, but I don’t buy that given Micah Parsons isn’t even up to speed. Maybe this is a top 10 unit, but it’s not some outlier No. 1 group. I’m blaming the offense more than crediting the defense. For now, if you roster Lions, you should be concerned.

The Goff-led offense generated 246 yards, or 163 less than they averaged in 2024. The one bright spot, if you really squint, is Jahmyr Gibbs catching 10 passes. But then you see it was for 31 yards.

The other team that lost an offensive guru at OC is the Buccaneers, who looked only marginally better than the Lions. Tampa Bay won last year with Baker Mayfield throwing for 264 yards a game, a total he missed by about 100 yards on Sunday against an Atlanta defense that was expected to be about average.

I’m not saying it’s hopeless for the Lions and Bucs players, not by a long shot. But we should be more worried than we were on Friday. Maybe David Montgomery isn’t a RB2 now. Maybe Jameson Williams isn’t someone you start now in Flex 9 formats. Maybe Mayfield for now goes back into the QB streaming pool. These are adjustments at the margins until these teams prove they weren’t as OC dependent as we now fear.

Even worse for us, Liam Coen couldn’t export his passing-game design and production to Jacksonville. We’ll see what Johnson can do with the Bears and Caleb Williams, versus the Vikings on Monday night. I worry it’s going to be all pain and no gain.

Giants vs. Commanders: ‘Bill’ pays off

I have to tip my cap to the Jacory “Bill” Croskey-Merritt managers. You paid retail. You bought the hype. Your process was all wrong. Yet it looks like you were right, with JCM getting a team-high 10 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown. The writing was on the wall as soon as Chris Rodriguez was made inactive. The Commanders gave us little to go on all summer with this backfield and most of what they said seems to have been a smokescreen. Very Merritt-orious, that pick (for now).

Imagine being a Giants fan and watching Daniel Jones play basically a perfect game while Russell Wilson produces 231 yards of total offense. Giants fans are already calling for Jaxson Dart and I don’t blame them. I do think this switch to a rookie would likely end up being much worse for Malik Nabers in the near term. A switch to Jameis Winston though …

Ravens vs. Bills: An epic with a lot of (fantasy) winners

Josh Allen makes lemonade out of his lemon wide receiver corps. It’s incredible. The Ravens won the game three times with touchdowns that seemingly were daggers. Their offense is just unstoppable, with Derrick Henry still obviously in top form. It was his first career game with three 30-yard+ runs, even though his fumble in the final minutes cost Baltimore the game — and perhaps so much more given the potential playoff seeding impact. My summer take of waiting for Rashad Bateman because the team committed to him and forgoing Zay Flowers seems really dumb today. Flowers was clearly the No. 1 WR and delivered, though the passing volume was disappointingly low given the score.

Steelers vs. Jets: Fields, Hall shine as Rodgers finds his WR2

Before the Ravens-Bills epic Sunday night, the “Game of the Week” (cue the NFL Films intro) was in MetLife Stadium — Steelers vs. Jets, a barn burner from start to finish. Justin Fields looked like the QB1, or at least someone worthy of a premium QB pick. Uncharacteristically, he also looked like a good QB in reality. He was only sacked once in 23 dropbacks. He averaged nearly 10 yards per attempt. Garrett Wilson was fully engaged and super productive, scoring once and nearly twice (though he was crushed by Jalen Ramsey on the Jets’ final play of the game). Breece Hall (over 100 rushing yards) was too discounted late in draft season even though he had zero of the team’s three rushing TDs. He ran with speed and decisiveness. The Jets’ offensive line looked very good against the highest-paid defense in football by a mile.

Aaron Rodgers was not spectacular but super professional in executing in the biggest moments. We didn’t know who the No. 2 WR in Pittsburgh would be, but it’s clearly Calvin Austin (six targets and a TD).

Texans vs. Rams: Stroud struggles, Rams WRs look heroic

What a disappointing Week 1 for C.J. Stroud, who has mostly been bad thus far in his career, as crazy as that seems given how he started out as a rookie. He could not get anything going with Nico Collins. You can’t even blame the running game and Nick Chubb, who looked competent.

On the other side of the ball, it looks like Puka Nacua is the Batman and Davante Adams the Robin — who cares if you don’t score TDs when you’re turning 11 targets into 23 PPR points.

Panthers vs. Jaguars: Young’s late season a mirage?

That supposed finishing kick by Bryce Young doesn’t look very meaningful today (you need to have ignored yards per pass attempt). Chuba Hubbard managers survived with a garbage-time score. It also looks better than it has any right to for Tetairoa McMillan (5/68/0 on nine targets). Young doesn’t meet the minimum standards for the position, so I’ve always been bearish on him. This wasn’t exactly an acid test for Young given the Jaguars were a terrible defense in 2024.

Even if you back out Travis Etienne’s 71-yard run, which is always unfair, he had a good day. A shockingly good day. He’s a third-round fantasy pick if we’re drafting today, given it’s going to take weeks now for anyone to really challenge him in the Jags’ backfield.

Trevor Lawrence is all prototype but again the production wasn’t there even with the supposedly supercharged receiving corps. He brought his relative struggles with Brian Thomas in 2024 into sharp relief. BTJ had just one catch on seven targets and his TD was on a run.

Cardinals vs. Saints: A bright spot in the Big Easy Crescent City

I thought Juwan Johnson had a chance to have a very productive season on an ugly New Orleans offense because production has to come from somewhere. It seems like the Saints’ new coaching staff agreed from the jump given they immediately threw $30 million at him. Johnson (8-for-76 on 11 targets) was the most encouraging fantasy performer for the once-again “Aints.” He’s a top-12 TE until further notice.

I have no real takeaways for the Cardinals. Most of Trey Benson’s production came from a 52-yard run. James Conner didn’t have much juice. But I’m not changing any rankings in light of this colorless day all around in Crescent City (we won’t call it “The Big Easy” because it was anything but for both squads).

Raiders vs. Patriots: Maye’s day, Jeanty’s debut

Drake Maye had volume. You would have expected him to run more, especially with the game slipping away. These scrambles, the non-designed runs, are not projectable, so I don’t see Maye remotely as a Konami-Code QB. I do stipulate he has the traits to be one. I’ll have more to say about Kayshon Boutte (6/103 on eight targets) after watching the game again and putting together Tuesday’s Market Share Report. I like Mike Vrabel, but it was crazy to think he was going to out-coach Pete Carroll or that the Patriots were better than the Raiders.

Geno Smith was very good but couldn’t convert in the red zone, as usual. Ashton Jeanty had volume and showed great effort on his TD but this was one of those games for a running back that was tough to watch. I guess Jakobi Meyers surprised most everyone except me. I had him in the WR25 bucket. That’s probably going to be light in PPR (8-for-97 on a team-high 10 targets). Man, Meyers would look good with Maye. Oh well.

Dolphins vs. Colts: Two elevators with two distinct directions

I said on my podcast the Colts and Dolphins were at a crossroads, and if one scored 30 and the other struggled, we had to adjust the ranks. Well, move all the Colts up after they scored on every possession. And move all the Dolphins down. This is the kind of game that gets a head coach fired in September. I’m not predicting anything for Mike McDaniel, but if it were to get announced by Adam Schefter tomorrow, I wouldn’t be shocked.

When Daniel Jones won the job, I put my chips on Michael Pittman in my ranks and none really on the other wide receivers. I think Pittman has alpha ability. He looked the part on Sunday against the Dolphins. Right now I expect him to be a low-end WR2 and he could be a low-end WR1 if Jones can play remotely like this going forward. Jones was only sacked once.

I don’t want you to think I’m ignoring Tyler Warren just because he did about what we expected.

Niners vs. Seahawks: JSN a clear No. 1, but ‘Hawks backfield lacks one

This was another disappointing game for fantasy players. The Niners did get a ton of volume and yards out of Christian McCaffrey, but George Kittle, who I expected to lead the passing game, was knocked out early with a hamstring. Juwan Jennings seemed very rusty. Ricky Pearsall and Jaxon Smith-Njigba were clear No. 1 WRs, especially JSN, who had 83% of Seattle’s receiving yards. The backfield was a pure committee with Zach Charbonnet outpacing Ken Walker, not that Charbonnet was a standout. I’d have to rank him above Walker in Week 2, however.

Bengals vs. Browns: The Bengals’ brutal passing day

The Bengals did not seem prepared to play. I told Scott Pianowski on our podcast the Browns were not going to be fun to play against and were underrated. If Joe Flacco could be a top-20 QB, they’d be dangerous. So I can’t trash the Bengals knowing this was going to be difficult. But it shouldn’t have been this difficult — 113 passing yards for Joe Burrow and two catches for Ja’Marr Chase, plus two yards per tote for Chase Brown? Lordy.

The Browns gave it away though, somehow. I was most impressed by Dylan Sampson’s receiving out of the backfield (8-for-64 on eight targets). Harold Fannin Jr. (7-for-63) passes the eye test and is a better bet than the overrated David Njoku right now.

Buccaneers vs. Falcons: Baker’s concerning half-dozen (targets)

Emeka Egbuka had only six targets and the Bucs’ passing offense looked nothing like last year. But two of his four catches went for scores, so the victory laps are thundering now. I need to see 300 passing yards from Mayfield before I fully buy in though, not 167.

I don’t do injury news here but you have to follow the updates on Drake London’s shoulder. I thought Michael Penix looked good and London let him down in the end zone. Penix also threw a perfect ball to win the game but KhaDarel Hodge didn’t finish the route. Penix is good, but he can’t survive without London if he’s out for weeks. He did bring Kyle Pitts to life (7-for-59). It’s fair to say there wasn’t much happening downfield for Atlanta though.

(Photo of Jared Goff, Micah Parsons: Tork Mason-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images)