Late night discussion: Unexpected fantasy heroes and killers

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Photo credit Photo: Reinhold Matay - USA TODAY Sports

Week 1 of the 2019 NFL season included a lot of offense. 19 teams around the league finished their season opener with at least 24 points. A lot of the production came from household names, but there were quite a few instances of unexpected blowup performances. 

Many of these surprise showings saved....or killed your fantasy football matchup. 

Who were those players that unexpectedly took fantasy owners to 1-0, or sent them home with a goose egg in the win colum for Week 1? 

Fans joined in on the conversation to share their nominees on Tuesday's late night discussion. 

Late night discussion: What player unexpectedly won or cost you your Week 1 fantasy matchup?

— WGR 550 (@WGR550) September 11, 2019

 

A familiar name shines for Kansas City:

Sammy won it for me when I had to play him after Brown was inactive.

— Timothy Gough (@TimothyGough13) September 11, 2019

Sammy was riding my bench--

— mark slade (@lugnut862003) September 11, 2019

Many fantasy owners had their games decided by former Bills wide receiver Sammy Watkins. Watkins had a career-performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars, finishing the day with nine receptions for 198 yards and three touchdowns. 

Sammy Watkins was absolutely electric after the catch against one of the league's better group of corners pic.twitter.com/eizPy4QJeF

— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) September 9, 2019

A loss coming from the hand of a player that was once seen as the next great receiver in Buffalo has to sting that much more. 

 

More unexpected Week 1 studs:
There was a wide variety of players that seemingly came out of nowhere with a big fantasy day. 

Austin Ekeler. Knew he would do well, but not almost 40 points well.

— Kelborn (@Kelborn48) September 11, 2019

Ekeler made people quickly forget about the name Melvin Gordon with three touchdowns and 154 yards from scrimmage. 

Josh Jacobs won me two games.

— Jimmy Ferlito (@jimmyferlito) September 11, 2019

Jacobs immediately saw the high-volume workload in Oakland's offense on Monday night, carrying the ball 23 times. The 2019 first round pick (24th overall) also found the endzone twice. 

In his first NFL game, Josh Jacobs posted 113 yards from scrimmage (85 rushing, 28 receiving) and ran for two TDs.Became the first player since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2001 to have 100 yards from scrimmage along with multiple rushing TDs in an NFL debut. pic.twitter.com/t2QDgLum9B

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) September 10, 2019

Pretty impressive start for the rookie. 

Not starting John Ross...guillotined out as a result

— Jim Kyles (@jhkyles) September 11, 2019

Gotta feel for Jim here. Hard to see John Ross going off for 158 yards and two touchdowns. Then again, he was a top-10 pick in 2017 for a reason. 

Lamar! ----

— Bill Dold (@Commander_Billy) September 11, 2019

The most exciting (and unexpected) part of Lamar Jackson's dominating performance against the Miami Dolphins was the fact that he did it all through the air. Jackson rushed for just six yards, but had five touchdowns and 325 yards passing. 

Looks like the "Lamar Jackson can't throw" crowd took a big hit on Sunday. 

Lamar Jackson is on fire: 7/7, 196 yards, 3 TDsThis time it's a 33-yard TD to Willie Snead#Ravens up 28-0pic.twitter.com/MbhXYJ0r9R

— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) September 8, 2019

Scary to think about what he could do this season when he starts running. 

 

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