NFL Scores Week 1: Results and Top Fantasy Football Stars for Opening Games

It must be the NFL regular season, because rabid fantasy football fans appeared to take down ESPN's servers Sunday.

Millions of players around the world are likely trying to access their teams and leagues, with mostly frustrating results, as For The Win pointed out.

ESPN Fantasy Sports acknowledged the issues during the early slate of games:

Don't worry, though. Your favorite fantasy stars are still racking up plenty of counting stats, and the top players from each game can be found below:

Away	Score	Home	Notable Fantasy Star
Carolina Panthers	20-21	Denver Broncos	C.J. Anderson (92 rush yds, 1 TD; 4 rec., 47 yds, 1 TD)
Green Bay Packers	27-23	Jacksonville Jaguars	Aaron Rodgers (20-of-34, 199 yds, 2 TDs)
Buffalo Bills	7-13	Baltimore Ravens	Mike Wallace (3 rec., 91 yds, 1 TD)
Chicago Bears	14-23	Houston Texans	Will Fuller (5 rec., 107 ys, 1 TD)
Cleveland Browns	10-29	Philadelphia Eagles	Jordan Matthews (7 rec., 114 yds, 1 TD)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	31-24	Atlanta Falcons	Jameis Winston (23-of-33, 281 yds, 4 TDs
Minnesota Vikings	25-16	Tennessee Titans	DeMarco Murray (5 rec., 35 yds, 2 TDs; 42 rush yds)
Cincinnati Bengals	23-22	New York Jets	A.J. Green (12 rec., 180 yds, 1 TD)
Oakland Raiders	35-34	New Orleans Saints	Brandin Cooks (6 rec., 143 yds, 2 TDs)
San Diego Chargers	27-33	Kansas City Chiefs	Spencer Ware (70 rush yds, 1 TD; 7 rec., 129 yds)
Miami Dolphins	10-12	Seattle Seahawks	Doug Baldwin (9 rec., 92 yds, 1 TD)
New York Giants	20-19	Dallas Cowboys	Eli Manning (19-of-28, 207 yds, 3 TDs)
Detroit Lions	39-35	Indianapolis Colts	Andrew Luck (31-of-47, 385 yds, 4 TDs)
New England Patriots	23-21	Arizona Cardinals	Larry Fitzgerald (8 rec., 81 yds, 2 TDs)

Top Week 1 Fantasy Performers

C.J. Anderson

Most of the buzz heading into Thursday's season-opening game centered on reigning MVP Cam Newton and first-time starter Trevor Siemian. It didn't take long for Denver Broncos running back C.J. Anderson to redirect it all to himself.

With a touchdown apiece on the ground and through the air, Anderson doubled his scoring count from the first seven weeks of last season in just one game:

The NFL shared a replay of his receiving touchdown, which came on a screen pass early in the fourth quarter:

Anderson spoke about his performance after the game, per Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post:

"

I’m just doing what I can. There was a lot of negativity about myself and our offense. I’m just trying to do what I can to help out my teammates. The game tonight was kind of like, new offense, new quarterback, what are we going to do? They act like I didn’t have 100 yards all-purpose in the Super Bowl against the same team. That’s how I took it. And had fun tonight.

"

Plenty of fantasy owners had fun Thursday, too. But if you were among the 16 percent who benched him, as ESPN noted, you might want to make some adjustments going forward:

Denver head coach Gary Kubiak looks intent on reviving the old-school running attack he brought to the Broncos as an offensive coordinator in the late 1990s. With the inexperienced Siemian running the show, Anderson has a lot of responsibility on his broad shoulders.

Brandin Cooks

Legendary New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees may have a new favorite target in speedster Brandin Cooks. The third-year wideout from Oregon State finished the game with six receptions, 143 yards and two touchdowns.

He picked up a big chunk of his production on one remarkable play. The NFL shared the highlight video of his 98-yard catch and run:

According to NFL on ESPN, it was the longest play from scrimmage in Saints history:

The separation Cooks got off the line, and then again after the catch, was remarkable. And with a quarterback as accurate as Brees setting him up, Cooks will likely have chances for plenty more breakaways this season.

Jameis Winston

According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston has been studying film of quarterbacks such as Brees, Tom Brady and Eli Manning.  

"I'm a supervillain trying to steal their superpowers,'' Winston said, per Stroud. On Sunday, Winston looked like he already had that mission wrapped up.

The second-year quarterback out of Florida State finished with 281 yards, four touchdowns and one interception on 23-of-33 passing.

He was the first Bucs quarterback to throw for four scores in a season opener since 1987, per SportsCenter:

And he lit up an Atlanta Falcons defense that has been strong against quarterbacks in recent years. ESPN fantasy writer Tristan H. Cockcroft tweeted that it was the best fantasy performance Atlanta had allowed since 2014:

Winston looked steady in the pocket all game long—an encouraging sign for a player who tied for fifth with Ryan Fitzpatrick for the most interceptions thrown last season.

If he continues to drop back, step up and throw with the kind of accuracy and poise he showed in this highlight NFL Network shared, all of the analysts forecasting a breakout year are going to look pretty smart:

This kind of play from the young quarterback and his receiving corps will make plenty of fantasy players happy and could give the Bucs an inside track on an NFC South division title.

Andrew Luck

After a disappointing 2015 season marred by injury, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck appears to be all the way back.

In Sunday's matchup against the Detroit Lions, Luck went for a ridiculous 385 yards and four touchdowns on 31-of-47 attempts.

His last touchdown, a laser that found Jack Doyle in the back of the end zone with less than a minute to play, should've been enough to give the Colts a victory.

But Matthew Stafford had other ideas. The Lions drove nearly the length of the field in less than 30 seconds, setting up a game-winning field goal for Matt Prater (which was followed by a safety on the ensuing kick return).

You can't put this loss on Luck, though. It looks like he's more than ready to do his part this season. It's the defense that needs to catch up.