NFL Week 1 fantasy round-up

By BRYAN RUBIN
College Contributor Network

Week 1 was the equivalent to a completion grade.

While a cloud of uncertainty was prevailing over the heads of fantasy football owners this past weekend because Week 1 of the NFL season is more unpredictable than how much money the campus bookstore will offer you for your textbooks at the end of the semester -- you were playing the guys you drafted.

Unless you owned Andre Ellington (who was doubtful) or Cam Newton (who was ruled out Sunday morning) you really didn't have to utilize your bench.

Fantasy is the ultimate "don't get cute" game and that was especially the case in Week 1. Why wear a button-down to the hot and sweaty bar in September, when a V-neck would suffice?

I promise the girl you decide to hit on (disclaimer: who, in ten minutes from drinking the watered-down Red Bull vodka you bought for her, will probably make up the excuse that she has to either go to the bathroom or find her friends, only then to never return) will still let you buy her that watered-down Red Bull vodka -- because it's free. And so are freshmen class t-shirts. Which is why no matter how loser-ish they are, kids still wear them.

Similar to March Madness, fantasy football is about winning and moving on. Plain and simple, you need to take it one week at a time.

While player performances in Week 1 are in no way, shape or form perfect forecasts on how that player will perform throughout the entire season, it is most certainly a good place to start.

Matt Ryan showed up Rob Ryan's Saints defense by throwing for 448 yards and 3 touchdowns, proving that with a healthy Roddy White and Julio Jones, he's still that great regular season stats quarterback he was before last season's debacle.

In the same game, Saints rookie Brandin Cooks (8 targets, 7 catches, 77 yards, 1 TD) proved that a 4.33 40-yard dash time plus Drew Brees throwing you the ball is indeed something to get excited about. Just like class getting cancelled. Because no one wants to go to class. Ever.

Running backs meanwhile, were pretty hit or miss. Four of the top five consensus backs (LeSean McCoy, Adrian Peterson, Jamaal Charles and Eddie Lacy) all had mediocre games, while Matt Forte, Marshawn Lynch, DeMarco Murray, Le'Veon Bell, Montee Ball and Arian Foster beat their projections. Throw in Knowshon Moreno's league high 134 rushing yards in Week 1 along with Chris Ivory, Chris Johnson, Isaiah Crowell, Mark Ingram, Shane Vereen surprisingly solid performances as opposed to Doug Martin, Zac Stacy, Trent Richardson and Toby Gerhart's duds, and that was the way the cookie crumbled in the backfield.

At the end of the day, there is no reason to panic if you lost and really no reason to throw a rager if you won. Fantasy football is a marathon, not a sprint. So for now, sit down, relax and enjoy the check mark on your first assignment.

Bryan Rubin is a senior at Syracuse University. He once ate Chipotle three times in one day and woke up at 3:46 a.m. on a Wednesday mornings to make a roster move to his fantasy football team (while his friends are sleeping) to avoid wasting his No. 1 waiver claim. Follow him on Twitter: @bryan_rubin