- Matthew Stafford (296 yards, TD, INT) dislocated his kneecap, but the injury shouldn’t keep him out very long.

- Jay Cutler (141 yards, 2 pass TD, rush TD) didn’t throw for a ton of yards, but was pretty sharp in the redzone, and scored on a gutsy run.

- Derek Anderson (269 yards, TD, INT) had a pretty nice day against the Bengals and should be considered for backup or platoon duty.

- Seneca Wallace (257 yards, pass TD, rush TD) put together a pretty nice game by racking up some yards and scores in garbage time. He’s not a good week-to-week option, but if the Seahawks are outmatched, he should throw up some nice numbers trying to come from behind.

- Chad Henne (115 yards, TD) was serviceable as a replacement for Chad Pennington. When the Dolphins have the running game going like they did on Sunday, they aren’t going to throw much.

- Drew Brees (190 yards) had a very quiet day, largely because the Saints’ defense scored two TDs on Jets’ turnovers.

- It looks like the Broncos defense is for real, so I wouldn’t read too much into Tony Romo’s poor day (255 yards, INT). He should still be in lineups against most teams.

- Kyle Orton (243 pass yards, 2 TD) is at best a mediocre NFL quarterback, but he’s posting pretty good numbers in Josh McDaniel’s offense.

- Shaun Hill (152 yards, 2 TD) had his second straight good game and should be rostered in most 12-team leagues. He’s backup/QBBC material right now, but he seems to be past his slow start.

- Kevin Smith (19 carries, 30 yards, 2 TD) was banged up coming in, but ended up having a nice fantasy day against a pretty good Bears defense. He needs to be in lineups because he’s one of the few true featured backs in the leagues.

- Don’t worry about Maurice Jones-Drew’s lack of touches (9 touches, 40 yards, TD). The Jags jumped out on the Titans and decided to rest him.

- Predictably, Matt Forte (14 touches, 140 yards, TD) had a great game against the Lions.

- Jerome Harrison (34 touches, 152 yards) was the featured back with Jamal Lewis out. James Davis is done for the season, so as long as Lewis is sidelined, Harrison should be the main guy and a pretty good start. He’s especially sneaky in PPR leagues given how active he is in the Browns’ rushing game.

- Darren McFadden (7 touches, 2 yards) was a total bust in a great matchup against Houston’s terrible run defense. The Texans loaded up the box and showed no respect for JaMarcus Russell. Complicating matters, Justin Fargas (11 touches, 38 yards) was productive and received more touches. McFadden will be out 2-4 weeks with a knee injury.

- Steve Slaton (23 rushes, 89 yards, 2 TD) was bound to bounce back after a few tough matchups to start the season and he broke out in a big way. He’s back to Top 10 to Top 15 status going forward.

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- Devin Hester (1-2) almost scored on his one catch, but was knocked out of the game. It doesn’t look serious. Johnny Knox (5-31) was the top Bears’ receiver and scored on a kickoff return.

- Mohamed Massaquoi (8-148) was targeted 13 times by Derek Anderson compared to Braylon Edwards’ five targets. Edwards failed to register a catch. Is Massaquoi the Browns’ new WR1? He certainly had his coming out party against the Bengals.

- Austin Collie (6-65-1) had a very nice game against the Seahawks, including a terrific TD catch. He has caught nine passes for 112 yards and a TD in the last two weeks.

- Mike Sims-Walker (7-92-2) is a stud. He has caught 19 passes over the last three weeks. He fits the mold of a third-year breakout WR, but was on a lot of waiver wires to start the year because he was missing time due to injury late in the preseason. To this point, he looks like the waiver wire pickup of the year.

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- Greg Olsen (1-1, TD) only caught one pass, but he made it count. He was targeted seven times, so he’s still an integral part of the Bears’ offense.

- Marcedes Lewis (4-76-1) is turning into a starter-quality TE. Over four games, he’s averaging 2.8 catches for 45 yards and 0.5 TD. That’s 10.3 fantasy points per game in PPR leagues.

- Vernon Davis (3-43-1) continues to produce and is starting to become an every-week starter at TE. I’m worried about the lack of targets (he had four against the Rams), but since the 49ers led the whole way, they didn’t need to pass much.

- Heath Miller (8-70-2) was continuously open against the Chargers. He’s not always that involved in the passing game, but when the Steelers throw 33 times, he’s bound to get a few targets.

- Antonio Gates (9-124-2) single-handedly won more than a few fantasy games this 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.

Jay Cutler is a must-start against the Lions, who have given up 10 pass TD in the first three weeks…Start Eli Manning this week against the Chiefs, who are 20th against the pass…The Titans have been brutal against the pass (275 yards, 2.3 TD), so David Garrard should be in for a nice game…Shaun Hill had a good fantasy game last week against the Vikings, and he should be able to have some success against the Rams defense, which is 25th against the pass…Brett Favre is a pretty good start this week against the Packers, who are just so-so (2.0 TD allowed) against the pass…For the desperate, Trent Edwards (MIA), Jason Campbell (TB) and Kerry Collins (JAX) all have favorable matchups this week.

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Kevin Smith to be a game time decision. Smith has shoulder and knee injuries, but the shoulder is more worrisome. The feeling from the Lions beat writers is that he won’t play, so Smith owners should make other plans. Glen Coffee is a nice alternative, if available. Tashard Choice should get plenty of playing time with Felix Jones sidelined and Marion Barber banged up. If neither are available, Maurice Morris will get most of the work with Smith out.

Cowboys expect MBIII to play on Sunday. The team says he was close to playing on Monday night, but they decided to rest him another week. With Felix Jones out, I’d expect Barber and Tashard Choice to split the work, with Barber getting the goal line duties and Choice getting a healthy number of carries and most of the third-down snaps. Denver’s defense has played well, but the competition (CIN, CLE and OAK) has been very suspect. Barber and Choice are both decent starts this week.

Glen Coffee should get plenty of work with Frank Gore sidelined. The 49ers do use Michael Robinson from time to time in the passing game, but expect Coffee to get the lion’s share of touches while Gore is out. Coffee is a good start (RB2) this week against the Rams and is a must-grab if he’s still somehow out there on your waiver wire.

Chris Wells isn’t playing much because he doesn’t know the entire offense. HC Whisenhunt says that Wells is behind the curve because he missed time in camp. When the Cardinals trail, they’ve been using Tim Hightower exclusively, which is why he’s been so valuable in PPR leagues. With Arizona on bye this week, Wells should be able to play catch up. It might be a good time to sell Hightower while his stock is pretty high.

The strategy behind DTBWW is that each week, you pick up a defense, preferably one playing at home against a bad offense. And each week, you get pretty good numbers out of your DT position. To see how this approach performed last season, click here.

Last week, I recommended three DTBWW picks. Let’s see how they fared…

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Check out our Waiver Wire Watch to see which guys you should pick up.

Still have questions? Fire away.

(Be sure to provide your starting lineup requirements and whether or not your league awards one point per reception.)

Every week, I highlight a few players that you should target in waivers. I use the ESPN league data when filtering players, so the only players eligible for discussion here are those that are available on the waiver wire of at least 50% of ESPN’s leagues. I’ll list each player’s percentage-owned after their name so you have an idea of how available they are in leagues around the country. I’ll always try to mention a few players that are available in 90% of leagues for those of you in 12-team leagues or leagues with big rosters. I’ll rank them in the order I’d pick them up in a league with a high-performance, PPR scoring system.

Please note that these rankings are for total value through the end of the year. Players with particularly good matchups this week are in bold.

Mark Sanchez (45.1)
Sanchez posted his third-straight solid fantasy day. He’s averaging 202 yards and 1.3 TD per game in his young career. He can be trusted for fill-in duty.
Shaun Hill (8.5)
Hill is going to put up good fantasy numbers when the 49ers can’t run the ball down their opponent’s throat.
Jason Campbell (20.4)
Campbell is averaging 264 yards and 1.0 TD per game. He has a nice matchup next week against the Bucs.
Jake Delhomme (19.2)
Kerry Collins (10.7)
Matthew Stafford (6.7)
It’s probably not a good idea to roster Stafford in a league that penalizes INTs heavily, but he could be okay in deep leagues that don’t.
Seneca Wallace (0.3)
Kyle Boller (0.1)
It looks like Marc Bulger is going to be out for a while and Boller is a journeyman who could put up decent fantasy numbers since the Rams will be trailing most of the time.
JaMarcus Russell (9.9)
Chad Henne (0.3)

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