The first week of the 2015 NFL season wrapped up with a double header on Monday Night Football. As we start to look back at this first week the action provided us with some big time performances as well as some big time surprises. This comes both in the record book as well as in the fantasy stat sheets!

One of those surprises took place during the 1pm ET games as the Seattle Seahawks fell to the St. Louis Rams in overtime. Entering this matchup the Seahawks were one of those teams that many experts had running away with the NFC West in route to another trip to the Super Bowl. In the end the Rams used a botched defensive play from the Rams as Cary Williams fell down on the game tying touchdown to find a way to pick up a week 1 win.

The next big surprise came from both the box score as well as the fantasy side of the industry as Marcus Mariota led his Tennessee Titans to a blow out win in week 1. That matchup was against fellow 2015 NFL draft pick and number one over pick Jameis Winston. In the end the Titans walked away with a 42-14 win on the road as Mariota finished connecting on 13 of 16 passes for 209 yards to go along with four touchdowns.

On Monday Night Football the football world witnessed multiple surprise including a 26-24 win by the Atlanta Falcons over the Philadelphia Eagles. Much like the Seahawks the Eagles were an early favorite to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl in the end the Falcons limited the Eagles rushing attack to just 63 yards on 16 carries while hold DeMarco Murray to just nine yards on eight carries.

Just a few hours later the San Francisco 49ers picked up a 20-3 win at home over the Minnesota Vikings. This game was one of those games that remind us you can never write off a team in the NFL despite having a bad offseason. In this game the guy many had as the fantasy stud of the week Adrian Peterson was limited to just 31 yards on 10 carries while Carlos Hyde led a 49ers rushing attack that racked up 230 yards on the ground.

Hyde finished with 168 yards on 26 carries along with two touchdowns to pace the 49ers offense. The other big time surprise from week 1 includes a lackluster offensive performance from both the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos as they faced off in a defensive battle.

Now that week 1 is in the books we turn our attention to the second week of the 2015 NFL season. As we star to look at this weeks lineup of games the first game we turn our attention to is the Thursday Night contest between AFC West rivals the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs. For many fantasy owners the question entering this contest is whether or not Peyton Manning will have a big time fantasy performance against another stellar defense.

In the end Manning is one of those quarterbacks to avoid in week 2 despite being one of the top fantasy options entering the season. As far as a few other games to watch in week 2 from a fantasy perspective as well as a contest that could see a ton of offense includes the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints, San Diego Chargers at Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons at New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles. All of these contests should be entertaining games with a ton of offense to spread around.

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From the other side a few games that will be more of a defensive battle that fantasy owners might want to avoid include the Indianapolis Colts taking on the New York Jets, Seattle Seahawks at Green Bay Packers and the New England Patriots on the road taking on the Buffalo Bills.

One player to keep an eye on is Marcus Mariota as he looks to continue his rookie success in week 2 against a Cleveland Browns team that struggled in week 1 on both sides of the ball. Other fantasy stars to watch in week 2 include Ameer Abdullah for the Detroit Lions, Marshawn Lynch for the Seattle Seahawks, Matt Ryan for the Atlanta Falcons as well as Julio Jones.

As far as a few big time surprises for the second week of the 2015 NFL to watch for includes a big time fantasy performance from Joe Flacco, the Patriots on upset alert at Ralph Wilson Stadium and struggles from a few of the big fantasy quarterbacks as they face off against top tier defenses.

In all we would all love to be able to predict the next big fantasy performance or all 16 wins each week. Unfortunately that isn’t the case so it reels us in to watch another exciting week of NFL football as we slowly move towards Super Bowl 50.

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