- Donovan McNabb (240 yards, 3 TD) shredded a dinged-up Giants secondary.

- Mark Sanchez (265 yards, 2 TD) was able to take advantage of the Dolphins young CBs.

- Alex Smith (198 yards, TD, INT) had a better-than-expected game against the Colts’ stingy pass defense.

- Neither Matthew Stafford (168 yards, INT) nor Marc Bulger (176 yards, INT) played well even though they both had great matchups.

- Tony Romo (256 yards, 3 TD) posted big numbers for the third straight week. He has 918 yards and 8 TD over that span, but faces a tough test in Philly next week.

- Jay Cutler (225 yards, INT) had a very disappointing day against the Browns.

- Coming into Week 8, the Titans had the league’s worst pass defense, so David Garrard’s performance (139 yards, 2 INT) is a major disappointment.

- Vince Young completed 15/18 passes (for 125 yards and TD) en route to a nice day. He also ran 12 times for 30 yards. If Young wants to get back to what made him so successful in his rookie season, he needs to run the ball.

- Kurt Warner (242 yards, 2 TD, 5 INT) turned the ball over six times.

- Brett Favre (244 yards, 4 TD) stuck it to his old team. He was sharp, but the Packers weren’t able to put much pressure on him.

- Aaron Rodgers (287 yards, 3 TD) played well in a tough situation, or at least in the second half. He is still taking sacks that he shouldn’t be.

- Remember when Willis McGahee (3 touches, 3 yards) was eating into Ray Rice’s (28 touches, 108 yards, TD) workload? That’s not happening anymore.

- Knowshon Moreno (12 touches, 35 yards, TD) scored, but Correll Buckhalter (14 touches, 46 yards) got more work in the passing game (6-30).

- LeSean McCoy (13 touches, 92 yards) was quiet most of the day, but busted loose on a 66-yards scamper early in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

- After getting shredded by the Miami running game earlier in the seasons, the Jets shut down both Ronnie Brown (11 carries, 27 yards) and Ricky Williams (8 carries, 27 yards).

- The Jets leaned more on Thomas Jones (27 carries, 102 yards) than expected. Shonn Greene (8 carries, 18 yards) fell back to Earth after a huge Week 7.

- Steven Jackson (25 touches, 166 yards, TD) continues to have a Pro Bowl caliber season for a terrible team.

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- The Ravens did a nice job holding down the Denver passing game. Brandon Marshall (4-24) and Eddie Royal (2-10) didn’t do much.

- Braylon Edwards (4-74-1) and Jerricho Cotchery (3-70) were targeted 10 times and 8 times, respectively.

- Reggie Wayne (12-147-1) was questionable coming in, but had a huge game against a 49ers defense did a good job of keeping the Colts out of the endzone.

- Michael Crabtree (6-81) has quickly become quite startable in PPR formats. Alex Smith targeted him nine times.

- Donnie Avery (1-15) was a no show against a pretty bad Lions pass defense and can’t be trusted in fantasy starting lineups.

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- Owen Daniels (1-22) is reportedly gone for the season, though we won’t know for sure until he has an MRI.

- After a rough start, Kevin Boss (3-70-1) seems to be coming on. Daniels owners may want to pick him up.

- After a couple of quiet weeks, Brent Celek (4-61-1) had a nice day against the Giants.

- Dustin Keller (8-76-1) has been quiet much of the season, but busted out against the Dolphins. He’s another guy that Daniels owners should consider.

- Zach Miller (5-52) has been pretty decent over the last four weeks, averaging 4.3-69-0.3 during that span.

Be sure to check back in a bit for the WR, RB and QB positions.

Every week, I’m picking one question from our Fantasy Football Q&A and posting it on Sunday morning. This week’s question comes from RJR, who is wondering if it’s time to cut bait on Terrell Owens.

“Do you think it’s worth dropping TO for any of these WR’s: (Non-PPR) (1 pt/20 return yds) Malcom Floyd, Bobby Wade, Danny Amendola, Chris Henry, Domenik Hixon. Who has more long-term value?”

My answer: No, hold onto TO and hopes he turns it around. HOU doesn’t have a very good pass defense, so there’s a chance he could have a nice week.

It has come to this. Fantasy owners are so frustrated with Owens that they’re actually considering cutting him for the likes of Bobby Wade and Danny Amendola. If you still have Owens on your roster, you might as well hold onto him and see if the Bills can turn their passing game around. Owens is listed as the #40 WR in Footballguys.com’s list of the top WRs going forward, behind guys like Michael Crabtree, Bernard Berrian, Antonio Bryant and Eddie Royal, and ahead of Torry Holt, Lee Evans and Roy Williams. So it all depends on who is available on your waiver wire. Don’t be afraid to cut him for Hakeem Nicks or Donnie Avery, but don’t cut him for Danny Amendola.

Westbrook missing practice, listed as questionable. The general consensus is that Westy isn’t going to play, and even if he did, he wouldn’t be that strong of a play against a pretty stout Giants defense. Make other plans.

Andre Johnson ‘ready to go’ for Week 8. The Bills have a pretty tough pass defense so there’s a chance that AJ isn’t going to have a big game. But this is Andre Johnson we’re talking about, so he should be in your lineup unless you have great option to turn to.

Mario Manningham questionable with a shoulder injury. If he doesn’t play, this is a substantial upgrade for Hakeem Nicks and a minor upgrade for Steve Smith 2.0. The Eagles aren’t a great matchup for either player, but they’re startable, and that’s something.

Calvin Johnson questionable for Week 8. The general consensus is that he won’t play, but with an early kickoff on Sunday, it’s worth waiting for. Since they’re facing the Rams (and it looks like Matthew Stafford will be back) Bryant Johnson and Dennis Northcutt are sleepers if C. Johnson is out.

Jerricho Cotchery expected to return to action. I’m a little worried about how Braylon Edwards’s arrival is going to affect Cotchery’s targets, but he’s a decent WR2/WR3 start this week against the Dolphins, who aren’t great against the pass.

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.

This week, Jay Cutler faces the Browns, who are 24th against the pass and were torched last week by Aaron Rodgers and the Packers…David Garrard has a great matchup this week against the Titans, who have given up an average of 311 yards and 3.2 pass TD per game…Matt Hasselbeck faces the Cowboys, who have yielded 239 yards and 1.7 pass TD per game. Dallas will probably put up some points, so Hasselbeck may post nice numbers in garbage time…For the desperate, Marc Bulger (@ DET), Vince Young (vs. JAX) and Derek Anderson (@ CHI) actually have good matchups this week. Proceed with extreme caution.

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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…

#1 Colts: 6 PA (8) + 3 SK + 2 INT + INT RET TD = 19 fantasy points
#2 Bills: 9 PA (6) + 2 SK + 3 INT + 1 FR = 12 fp
#3 Raiders: 38 PA (0) + 1 SK = 1 fp

The Colts and Bills performed as expected, maybe even beyond expectations. The Raiders? Well, they stunk up the joint. I realized watching the OAK/NYJ game that the Raiders performed well the previous week against the Eagles because Philly doesn’t run the ball. OAK is terrible against the rush and the Jets have a good rushing game.

On the season, my pick #1 has averaged 11.7 fantasy points, my pick #2 has averaged 9.6 and my pick #3 has averaged 7.3. On the whole, DTBWW is averaging 9.5 fantasy points per week, which is DT5-type performance. Not bad.

Let’s take a look at this week’s picks. Keep in mind that to be eligible for DTBWW, a defense must be available in at least 40% of ESPN fantasy leagues.

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Want another take on what happened last week? Fantasy Fallout
Wondering who to pick up? Waiver Wire Watch

Still have questions? Fire away. I’ll assume it’s standard scoring (no PPR) unless you say otherwise.

According to Philly.com, the Eagles are unlikely to rush Brian Westbrook back, even for a big game like Sunday’s tilt against the Giants.

From a fantasy perspective, Westbrook’s owners knew that he was going to miss a few games throughout the season, so they shouldn’t be surprised or angry about this news. LeSean McCoy is a capable backup, but it’s not like next week’s game against the Giants is a tasty matchup for either RB.

Desperate owners should look to Shonn Greene and/or Beanie Wells, who may be available. Greene is going to get most of Leon Washington’s touches and Wells is getting more and more work in the Arizona backfield. He’s a much better natural runner than Tim Hightower, though Hightower has more experience and better hands.

If Greene and Wells are gone, Mike Bell is another option. He is getting all of the Saints’ goal line work and has 27 carries in the last two games. He’s not going to post Westbrook-like numbers, but he should help fantasy owners get by. If Bell isn’t available, Justin Fargas ran really hard against the Jets and has a nice matchup against the Chargers in Week 8.