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Naturally, there are a lot of very unhappy Tom Brady owners in fantasy football right now.

Brady was a win-you-a-championship-almost-by-himself kind of force; an irreplaceable player. You don't simply stroll to most free-agent lists and find a sub of his caliber.

Most.

See, that's the key word because the beauty of the Gridiron Challenge is that if you're a Brady owner, today you're not really that upset. No racing to the waiver wire for Matt Cassel or Trent Edwards, or contacting one of your fellow competitors so he/she can rake you over the coals in a trade.

No, in the "GC," if you had Brady, you simply stroll over to the "Edit Roster" page, click on Brady's mug, then the neat little green cross next to another quarterback, and boom, you replaced him "tout de suite." Fact is, in (almost) no other game can you be a Brady owner this week, and a Peyton Manning owner next week. Now that, my friends, is what I call a high-quality replacement!

Brutal.

There's no better word to describe my Week 1 performance. I rolled out what appeared to be a pretty decent lineup, and come Monday night, a little after the stroke of 1 a.m. on the East Coast, my team had amassed an underwhelming 66 points.

That's right, folks, through one week of the GC season, I rank 124,761th. A six-digit ranking, better than only 18.4 percent of Challenge players.

I can't sugarcoat it; my first week in the GC stunk. Nay, it reeked. Fortunately, there are 16 weeks left to play, plenty of time to catch up. And like Brady, who has faith that his Patriots will pull through their tough times, I have faith in my squad as well.

You might think after a miserable week, wholesale changes are in order, and you, my friend, would be wrong. There's surprisingly little turnover in store for this squad, with Ben Roethlisberger, Kurt Warner, LaDainian Tomlinson and Santonio Holmes sticking around for another week. The matchups are too good; I can't bail on them after one so-so performance. The injured Marques Colston departs, though. So does Marion Barber, who is questionable for Week 2. Don't take chances on players who could be limited by injuries. They're just too risky in this game.

Take a look:

Jay Cutler, QB, Broncos (6.3 price tag): That Oakland secondary didn't scare him one bit Monday, and now he gets a healthy Brandon Marshall back as his No. 1 target. San Diego might seem a brutal matchup, but without Shawne Merriman, the Chargers might not generate as stout a pass rush. It's a chance worth taking based on Cutler's Week 1 effort, especially with the Saints and Chiefs up after that.

Brandon Jacobs, RB, Giants (5.9): It's a two-week buy-in, with the Giants on their bye come Week 4, but it's a good one, with games against the Rams and Bengals next on the docket. Jacobs sure looked like the bruising back we've come to love in Week 1, he's healthy right now and he'll be battling two porous defensive fronts.

Chris Johnson, RB, Titans (5.0): LenDale White lurks to steal his carries, but if you were watching in Week 1, surely you realized that Johnson is the main man in Tennessee, or is going to be in short order. The rookie is a multifaceted fantasy talent, a stud in the making, and back-to-back soft matchups against the Bengals and Texans could be just what he needs to establish himself as an elite force in our game.

Tennessee Titans defense (5.1): Hmm, lots of love for the Titans this week, but this defense can do it all, including stuff opposing runners, menace the quarterback and make plays in the secondary. What's not to love? Even the schedule favors Tennessee; the Bengals, Texans, Vikings and Ravens take them into their bye week, and none of those offenses looked too good in Week 1. It's tough to find yourself a consistent defense, but this might be the one.

Kurt Warner, QB, Cardinals (5.7): Still remarkably cheap -- he costs the same as such guys as JaMarcus Russell and Vince Young. He still faces phenomenal matchups (versus Dolphins, at Redskins) the next two weeks. And he's still productive; last week's 11 GC points should represent his basement level of production.

Plaxico Burress, WR, Giants (@STL, 5.9 price tag): He's Eli Manning's most trusted target, but more importantly, he's healthy right now. Burress at full health creates matchup problems for good defenses; St. Louis' defense is, uh, not good, to say the least. Rams cornerbacks should get a good look at "Burress 17" on the back of his jersey as they're trying to chase him down all day.

Reggie Bush, RB, Saints (@WAS, 6.1): I wonder whether Saints coach Sean Payton has considered lining up Bush up in the slot regularly, as opposed to occasionally because Bush effectively possesses the skills of a good No. 2 receiver. And with Marques Colston now out for a month-plus, Bush's role as pass-catcher should take on greater significance. Washington's defense presents a good time for the Saints to experiment with the mix of parts they have, and I see Bush stepping up and filling the void admirably.

Santonio Holmes, WR, Steelers (@CLE, 5.3): Hines Ward did all the damage for the Steelers in Week 1, and historically speaking, Ward has been the Pittsburgh receiver who has given the Browns headaches. He's the one who scored a touchdown in each of two meetings last season, but I say all that does is increase the chances that Cleveland clamps down on him, letting Holmes squeak free for the big game. This is a funny game; such splits between two very talented receivers tend to even out given enough time.

Larry Johnson, RB, Chiefs (OAK, 6.0): I was pretty tempted to toss him into the "Bull market" section, but can anyone really trust the Chiefs' offense to remain consistently productive? Maybe so, considering their schedule in Weeks 3 and 4 is at the Falcons and versus the Broncos, but I'd just toss LJ in for Week 2, see how he does and make the decision from there.

Aaron Rodgers, QB, Packers (@DET, 5.1): There wasn't a defense in football that put forth an uglier Week 1 outing than the Lions, and to Rodgers' credit, he stepped up with a respectable, mistake-free effort in his own Week 1 contest. Put those two things together and a surprisingly productive Week 2 might be in order for Rodgers, who flashed better running skills than expected in the season opener.

• The Jacksonville Jaguars: Their offensive line was brutalized in the opener: Vince Manuwai suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and Maurice Williams ruptured his right biceps muscle, not to mention backup Uche Nwaneri taking a hit to his left knee. Since then, the team has signed three forgettable replacement candidates: Milford Brown, Chad Slaughter and Todd Wade, and by the way, that Wade couldn't even crack the Redskins' sorry starting bunch speaks volumes for his value (or lack thereof). The impact was huge: In the second half of Week 1, David Garrard was sacked four times and intercepted twice, dominated by Titans defenders Cortland Finnegan, Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch. Buffalo is next on the schedule, and coach Dick Jauron's boys are coming off a game in which they terrorized a comparably bruised Seahawks offense. Look out.

• The Seattle Seahawks: Speaking of the Seahawks, not to take anything away from the Bills' defensive performance in Week 1, but Seattle's offense looked horrible, especially Matt Hasselbeck, who appeared completely out of rhythm with his limited receiving corps. Not to mention the Seahawks lost both Nate Burleson, out for the season with a torn ACL of his own, and Maurice Morris, out for at least Week 2 because of a knee sprain. Does the thought of Julius Jones, Logan Payne and Courtney Taylor as starters excite you? Nah, me neither.

• The Washington Redskins: I don't think there is a warm-blooded (and maybe cold-blooded, too) football fan out there who wasn't watching every minute of the NFL opener last Thursday. So, tell me, wouldn't you agree that, with the exception of the Cincinnati Bengals, there couldn't have been an uglier performance by a team's passing game than what the Redskins showed? I'll be kind and simply say that Jim Zorn's play calling was "questionable at best," and Jason Campbell seemed entirely the wrong fit in this West Coast offense besides. And as I mentioned in the Jaguars' write-up, the Redskins don't feature a stout offensive line themselves. That's why Chris Cooley had a meaningless one catch in Week 1; he had to be kept in to block all night.

Tristan H. Cockcroft is a fantasy baseball, football and hockey analyst for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him here.