Ed Barkowitz: Cowboys' Kevin Ogletree branches out

ON THE LIST of legendary opening-week performances, Kevin Ogletree's isn't real high. His 114 yards against the Giants is less than half the record of 241 Frank Clarke put up in 1962.

But it still was laudable.

There are two things Ogletree and Clarke have in common. One is that they were both Cowboys. Clarke mixed in three touchdowns among his 10-catch effort 50 years ago.

The other is that each guy's performance sent fantasy fans flocking to the waiver wire. Admittedly, more so in Ogletree's case. Clarke, after all, had a solid season the year before and led the Cowpokes with 919 yards receiving and nine scores.

It also was 50 years ago, so let's get back to the present.

Visions of Laurent Robinson are understandably dancing in the eyes of those who plucked Ogletree off waivers. Robinson had a breakout season last year as the Cowboys' third receiver with a team-best 11 TD catches. So why not Ogletree?

"Injuries do provide opportunity," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said referring to the bumps and bruises of starters Dez Bryant and Miles Austin. "I think Kevin and Tony [Romo] played a lot together in the preseason, throughout training camp, and I think some of that showed up [in Week 1]. There's a comfort level Tony has with Kevin."

In January, Ogletree's brother Calvin was shot in the head in the family's hometown neighborhood in Queens, N.Y. Ogletree was able to visit with his brother prior to the opening game at the Giants' stadium in nearby East Rutherford, N.Y., then went out and had the game of his life. His two touchdowns were the first two of his career.

Whether Kevin Ogletree turns out to be Laurent Robinson or Lauren Hart, somewhere in a New York-area hospital Calvin Ogletree smiled. Sometimes, reality is better than fantasy.

Who will have more rushing yards on Sunday, LeSean McCoy or Ray Rice? Give your projection for the rushing totals for each player and whoever selects Sunday's leader and is closest to the two stud running backs' combined total wins a Daily News fantasy football T-shirt. In the event they rush for the same amount of yards, the person closest to the combined total wins. Send an email to FantasyFootball

@phillynews.com or a fax to 215-854-5524 by noon Sunday. One per customer, please. Winner will be announced in next Friday's paper.

Quarterbacks: Jim Brown might have trouble running on the 49ers defense, so look for Matthew Stafford to throw 50 passes. The key, of course, is cutting down on the number he throws to the other team. Dating back to last season, Stafford has thrown multiple interceptions in six of his last 10 games . . . Ben Roethlisberger and the rest of the Steelers offense got good news when guard Ramon Foster and tackle Marcus Gilbert practiced this week. When they went out with injuries in Week 1, the Broncos feasted on their backups.

* Running backs: Keep Giants rookie David Wilson buried on your roster. He was benched after his first-quarter fumble in the opener, but has too much potential to be cut from fantasy rosters just yet . . . Carolina's DeAngelo Williams, coming off a disastrous effort against Tampa Bay, is averaging 116.2 yards rushing in his last five games against New Orleans. While it's understandable to want to bench him, Williams deserves consideration as a flex or a low-end RB2 this week against a New Orleans team that gave up 96 rushing yards to Alfred Morris last week.

* Wide receivers: Tennessee's Kenny Britt will make his 2012 debut this week, albeit in a limited role. He's owned in about 80 percent of leagues and should be added by the other 20. He may not break out this week, but the Titans have some soft spots late in their schedule (Jacksonville twice, Indy) . . . The Colts' Austin Collie (concussions) is practicing again. His injury history makes him a scary play, but his quarterback (Andrew Luck) makes him intriguing enough to use as a WR3 against a Minnesota team that gave up career-highs in completions (23) and passing yards (260) last week to Jacksonville's Blaine Gabbert . . . Roddy White has either a touchdown or 100 yards receiving in his last four Monday Night games. The Falcons host Denver.

FantasyFootball@phillynews.com.