- Chris Cooley (7-83) caught seven passes for the second consecutive game. He’s the only consistent part of the Washington passing game right now.

- Brent Celek (8-104) has 14 catches through two games and is an integral part of the Eagles’ offense. Start him with confidence.

- I thought Tony Gonzalez’s production would take a hit since he had to change teams and learn a new offense, but given his 12-144-2 production over the first two weeks, I’d say he’s doing just fine.

- With Antonio Bryant out, Kellen Winslow (7-90-1) had a big day. He is the Bucs’ best or second-best receiving option even when Bryant is playing.

- Greg Olsen (3-41) was drilled on what could have been a 20-yard catch and slipped in the endzone on a sure TD catch. His line could have been 5-62-1. Stay with him unless you have a great option on your bench.

- Greg Jennings was shut out against the Bengals. Now that’s something I never thought I’d type.

- If Laurent Robinson (6-54-1) is available on your waiver wire, find a spot for him on your roster. He caught five passes for 87 yards last week and looks like the clear WR1 for the Rams, who will be throwing a lot late in games.

- Braylon Edwards (6-92) should be able to put those kind of stats up on a weekly basis given the odds that the Browns will be trailing for most of 2009.

- Santana Moss (3-35) was quiet for the second consecutive week, but this time it was against the Rams. Bench him until he (or the Redskins’ pass offense) breaks out of this funk.

- Mike Sims-Walker (6-106-1) had a huge day in garbage time. He’s worth a pickup if you need help at WR.

- Jason Avant (7-79-1) was heavily involved in the Eagles’ offense with Kolb under center.

- Owners in PPR leagues, especially Wes Welker owners, should pick up Julian Edelman (8-98). If Welker doesn’t play, Edelman looks like a very capable fill in.

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- Pierre Thomas didn’t get a carry, but Mike Bell (17 carries, 86 yards, TD) left the game with a MCL sprain, so Thomas should see his workload increase greatly next week, assuming his knee holds up.

- Wow, 284 total yards and three TD for Chris Johnson. And to think, a couple of owners on our Fantasy Q&A were wondering if they should bench him this week after a subpar outing against the Steelers.

- Beanie Wells fumbled, so Tim Hightower (18 touches, 84 yards, TD) got most of the work in the Arizona backfield. Wells looked more explosive, but Hightower is more dependable right now.

- Leon Washington (16 touches, 76 yards) out-touched Thomas Jones (15 touches, 53 yards), and is a solid RB2/flex start in PPR leagues.

- It might be a good time to make an offer for Steve Slaton (20 touches, 59 yards), who has faced two tough rush defenses in the Jets and the Titans so far.

- Cedric Benson (29 carries, 141 yards) is starting to look like an every-week start. He is running with speed, power and elusiveness, and is turning into the back that the Bears thought they drafted a few years ago. Sometimes a change of scenery is all a guy needs.

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- Matt Schaub (357 yards, 4 TD) is back, and the Titans have been shredded through the air in two consecutive weeks.

- Jason Campbell threw for good yardage (242 yards) but failed to throw a TD, which is worrisome considering that he was facing a pretty suspect Rams defense.

- Matt Cassel (242 yards, TD, 2 INT) wasn’t great in his first game back, but he was serviceable, and should be a decent start going forward.

- Carson Palmer (185 yards, 3 pass TD, 2 INT, 1 rush TD) didn’t look great, but he got the job done. With all the weapons around him, he should have a nice year, assuming he can stay healthy.

- Aaron Rodgers (261 yards, TD) couldn’t get comfortable in the pocket for the second consecutive week. The Packers need to button up their pass protection.

- In two weeks, Byron Leftwich has thrown for 572 yards and four TD and is a viable fantasy QB given the probability that the Bucs will be trailing for much of the season.

- If the 49ers keep playing this kind of defense and Frank Gore runs like he did today, it’s going to be tough for Shaun Hill to fulfill his sleeper potential. He was very productive over the last half of last season, but the 49ers didn’t have a good defense. Now it looks like they do.

- Seneca Wallace (127 passing yards, TD, INT) could be a nice fill in if Matt Hasselbeck (back) misses much time. Hasselbeck looked like he was in considerable pain after taking a pretty good hit to his balky back.

- Jay Cutler (236 yards, 2 TD) looked a lot better against the Steelers than he did in Week 1. He’s back to every-week starter status.

- With the Bucs, Chiefs, Raiders, Saints and Cardinals coming up for Eli Manning (330 yards, 2 TD), he could get off to a very good start this season.

- Tony Romo (127 yards, TD, 3 INT, rush TD) struggled against the Giants, but New York looks like it has an elite pass defense. He has a nice schedule coming up.

Wes Welker is inactive. This is a very surprising bit of news. Welker played last week and looked great. He was listed as questionable, but given Bill Belichick’s history with being coy about injuries, everyone thought he would play. Hopefully, fantasy owners have a good option on the bench. If not, Louis Murphy and Michael Clayton are sneaky good starts this week and may be available on the waiver wire.

Matt Cassel is active. He faces the Raiders, which isn’t a very good matchup, but he can be started if necessary. His situation seems pretty fluid, so be careful.

Pierre Thomas will play, but will be limited. The general consensus was that Thomas wouldn’t play this week, so this is a bit of a downgrade for Mike Bell, though he is still startable as a RB2 or flex. The Philly defense will be a good test for Drew Brees and Co., and the Saints will need to get their running game going. Pierre should stay on the bench, But Bell should get 15-20 carries unless the Saints fall behind early.

Anquan Boldin looks good in pregame and will play. John Clayton is reporting that Boldin has his speed back. Start him as you normally would. Steve Breaston is also active.

Saints beat writer Jeff Duncan speculates that Pierre Thomas’s injury is worse than the team is letting on. Duncan says that HC Sean Payton comes from the Belichick school of releasing injury information to the media. If Thomas doesn’t play, Mike Bell is a decent start even though the Eagles are pretty good defensively. Philly gave up 72 rushing yards to DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, and the Saints have a much better passing attack than Carolina does. This should keep the Eagles off balance and open up some running lanes. Assuming Thomas sits, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bell had 80-90 yards rushing and a TD in Week 2.

Jamal Lewis probable to start. Rookie James Davis is still questionable with a shoulder injury, so Lewis should be a serviceable start against the Broncos, who gave up 108 total yards and a TD to Cedric Benson last week.

Redskins’ beat writer thinks the team will take more shots downfield in Week 2. This would be good news for Santana Moss, who is a big-play receiver. The Giants smothered him in Week 1, but he should have an easier time getting open against a sketchy Rams defense.

HC Haley wants to get the running game on track. Well, of course he does. But it’s good to hear that Haley isn’t ignoring the problem. The Raiders really struggled against the run last season, but played better in Week 1 against the Chargers, so we’re not sure LJ is a sure bet for a good game. He’s startable if you’re in a pinch, however.

Matt Schaub is close to 100 percent. The Titans gave up a lot of yards through the air to Ben Roethlisberger last week, so there is a possibility that Schaub could have a bounce-back game this week. I’m not excited about his prospects, but he’s not a terrible start.

HC McDaniels plans to spread the ball around. He doesn’t want to name a WR1 because he doesn’t want to get into the habit of forcing the ball to a guy that’s double-teamed. In Week 1, Marshall led the way with seven targets, while Eddie Royal, Jabar Gaffney and Brandon Stokley had four targets apiece. Expect Marshall and Royal to lead the team in targets this season.

Steelers to use rotation at RB. Willie Parker will get two series and Rashard Mendenhall one until one player gets a hot hand. Mewelde Moore will be in on third downs and in no huddle situations. It was a little more than a week ago that HC Mike Tomlin said that Willie Parker was his running back. A lot can change in a week.

Vikings intent on involving Bernard Berrian more. Berrian should be a nice play this week against the Lions, but he and Brett Favre haven’t had a lot of time to work together and it showed in Week 1 against the Browns.

Knowshon Moreno says he feels 100 percent. He also says that he ran tentatively against the Broncos, but should be ready to go against the Browns, who gave up a ton of yards to Adrian Peterson last week.

Matt Cassel is feeling much better. The Chiefs haven’t committed to announcing him as the starter, but most of the signs point to that being the case. The Raiders are actually pretty tough against the pass, so if you can hold off on starting Cassel, do so.

LaDainian Tomlinson sits out again. Given the horrible matchup against the Ravens, it would be wise to avoid using LT2 this week. If he doesn’t play and you have Darren Sproles, he could be used as a flex or as a RB2 if you’re in a PPR league.

Brandon Marshall refuses to answer the media’s questions. This could be a sign that Marshall’s attitude isn’t as good as it has seemed over the past couple of weeks and that he’s headed for a meltdown. It could also be a sign that he blames the media for all the problems he’s having in Denver and he’s going to punish them for it. Marshall has too much talent to ignore.

T.O. wants his QB to go deep. “…Trent has to better assess what he’s seeing out there and take some shots down the field. We’re going to do that, and by no means was that the reason that we lost the game.” That’s not quite the controversial Owens that we saw in Philly and Dallas, but we’ll see if it develops. The Bills should have some opportunities to go deep against the Bucs, who were torched by T.O.’s old team last week.

Every week, I will highlight a few players to start and a few players to sit at each position. I’m a firm believer in starting your studs, so I won’t tell you about how Drew Brees or Adrian Peterson has a tough matchup – just go ahead and keep them in your lineup. Instead, I’ll focus on the borderline guys – players you’ll only start under the right circumstances. It’s important to note that depending on your roster and situation, you may not be able to follow these recommendations. For example, if I suggest you bench a solid starter like Tony Romo, only do so if you have a clearly better option on your bench.

The “love ‘em” players are listed in the order that I’d start them this week.

Brett Favre‘s debut with the Vikings was less than stellar, but he had to shake off the rust and the Browns defense is a little better than people think. He has an outstanding matchup with a Lions defense that got torched by Drew Brees last week…Granted, Matt Schaub and the entire Houston offense looked pathetic last week, but a matchup with the Titans isn’t as bad as it might look on paper. Tennessee gave up 363 yards to Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers last week so Schaub should have some success…Trent Edwards should have a nice game against the Bucs, who were torched by Tony Romo last week, but Edwards needs to throw the ball deep to Terrell Owens and Lee Evans…For the desperate, Jason Campbell, Matt Sanchez, Byron Leftwich and JaMarcus Russell all have good matchups this week.

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A. Gonzalez hopes to return Week 7. Well, it could have been worse. Fantasy owners who drafted Gonzalez in the 4th or 5th round expecting him to be a solid WR2 are going to have to weather the storm until he returns. Austin Collie is the Colts’ WR3 and figures to see the biggest jump in targets, though Pierre Garcon could eat into those as well. Neither player did much of anything against the Jaguars on Sunday. The Colts signed Hank Baskett as well. Gonzalez’s absence probably helps Dallas Clark the most since they both work the short game pretty well.

Tomlinson not practicing; ankle in a boot. This is so demoralizing for LT2 owners who drafted him in the first round expecting a bounce-back season. It is especially demoralizing for owners who didn’t draft Darren Sproles in the middle rounds to back Tomlinson up. Regardless, the Chargers have a tough matchup against the Ravens this week, though if LT2 doesn’t play, Sproles is a solid start in PPR leagues due to his ability to rack up catches in the passing game.

Pierre Thomas practicing, still may not play. Fantasy owners that have both Thomas and Mike Bell would like to see Thomas sit until he’s healthy. Those owners who have Thomas but don’t have Bell are rooting for Thomas to return ASAP. The best thing for those owners might be for Thomas to sit out another week and hope Bell struggles against a very solid Eagles defense. The Saints offense is prolific, but I don’t know that it can support three starting fantasy RBs.

Jamal Lewis limited by neck injury. Don’t cut James Davis yet. Davis sat out of practice with a shoulder injury, but Lewis’s neck injury is pretty worrisome considering his age and mileage.

S. Smith tells Delhomme, “I never really liked you as a quarterback.” Of course, the NFL has pulled the video from YouTube. Sigh.

The idea is that each week, you pick up a defense, usually one playing at home against a bad offense. And each week, you get pretty good numbers out of your DT position. (All teams are available in at least 40% of ESPN fantasy leagues.)

Last week, I recommended three DTBWW picks. Let’s take a look at how they performed:

#1: Saints (vs. DET) = 1 SK + 3 INT = 4 fantasy points
#2: Seahawks (vs. STL) = 0 PA (10) + 3 SK + 1 FR = 14 fantasy points
#3: Cardinals (vs. SF) = 4 SK + 1 FR = 5 fantasy points

The Saints and Cardinals didn’t play up to expectations, but when the Seahawks are included, the trio averaged 7.7 fp, which is solid.

Here are my picks for this week:

Pick #1: Atlanta Falcons (vs. CAR)
The Eagles created seven turnovers against the Panthers last week and Jake Delhomme looked awful. No matter who Carolina has at QB, the deck is sacked against them as they face a Falcons defense that posted 14 fp against the conservative Dolphins.

Pick #2: Washington Redskins (vs. STL)
The Rams were brutal last week, and while the Redskins haven’t historically been able to generate a lot of turnovers, they should be able to handle the Rams after going toe to toe with a pretty good Giants’ offense last week.

Bonus Pick: Denver Broncos (vs. CLE)
The Broncos played well against a Bengals offense that has some firepower. I’d expect they’ll fare even better at home against Brady Quinn and the Browns.

Other defenses to consider: SEA (@ SF), SF (vs. SEA), IND (@ MIA)