Author: John Paulsen (Page 805 of 937)

Aside from a few huge performances, it was a rather quiet day in fantasy football. Chances are that owners that started Jamal Lewis, Lee Evans or Chad Johnson will probably win their games this week. Meanwhile, a number of #2-type wideouts had disappointing games, so don’t be surprised if the scores in your league aren’t as high as usual. But enough with the tease, let’s get to this week’s Headliners and Flatliners.

HEADLINERS

Tom Brady (244 yards, 4 TD)
Brady shredded a suspect Green Bay pass defense, throwing a TD pass to four different receivers. In the second quarter, he hooked up with Reche Caldwell for a 54-yard bomb and never looked back.

Honorable Mention: J.P. Losman (340 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT), Carson Palmer (275 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT), Drew Brees (510 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT)

Jamal Lewis (25 touches, 108 yards, 3 TD)
After rushing for just two TD in the first nine games, Lewis rushed for three against the Falcons, who had only allowed six rushing TD all season. Lewis has proved he still has something left in the tank.

Honorable Mention: Larry Johnson (31 touches, 154 yards, 2 TD), Frank Gore (28 touches, 238 yards), Travis Henry (19 touches, 151 yards, 1 TD), Chester Taylor (28 touches, 80 yards, 2 TD), Willie Parker (20 touches, 63 yards, 2 TD), Laurence Maroney (23 touches, 116 yards, 1 TD)

Lee Evans (11 rec, 265 yards, 2 TD) & Chad Johnson (6 rec, 190 yards, 3 TD)
Evans went apeshit in the first quarter, catching two – count ‘em, TWO – 83-yard TD passes from J.P. Losman. Meanwhile, the Saints just didn’t get the memo…you have to cover Chad Johnson. After pulling up with an apparent hamstring injury on a 60-yard TD catch, he proceeded to burn the Saints for another long pass before snatching another TD catch. In the last two games, CJ has caught 17 passes for 450 yards and five TD. Wow.

Honorable Mention: Deion Branch (7 rec, 113 yards, 1 TD), Reggie Wayne (7 rec, 111 yards, 1 TD), Devery Henderson (9 rec, 169 yards), Joe Horn (3 rec, 93 yards, 1 TD), Steve Smith (4 rec, 90 yards, 1 TD), Terrance Copper (6 rec, 87 yards, 1 TD), Braylon Edwards (7 rec, 137 yards)

Ben Watson (5 rec, 74 yards, 1 TD)
Watson continued his strong run against the Packers, and has now caught 23 passes for 299 yards and two TD over the last five games.

Honorable Mention: L.J. Smith (7 rec, 57 yards, 1 TD), Chris Cooley (5 rec, 58 yards, 1 TD)

FLATLINERS

Donovan McNabb (78 yards, 1 INT)
McNabb left the game with a knee injury and it’s now being reported that he’s going to miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. This is obviously a tough blow to his owners.

Dishonorable Mention: Brett Favre (73 yards), Marc Bulger (142 yards, 1 INT), Chad Pennington (162 yards, 2 INT)

Ronnie Brown (12 touches, 2 yards)
While KJ left his game with an ankle injury, Brown finished his game against the Vikings but wasn’t able to get anything going. Hopefully, his owners were scared off by his groin injury this week.

Dishonorable Mention: Kevin Jones (4 touches, 8 yards), Shaun Alexander (18 touches, 39 yards), Steven Jackson (14 touches, 57 yards), Warrick Dunn (16 touches, 57 yards), Ladell Betts (12 touches, 68 yards), Ahman Green (14 touches, 28 yards)

Randy Moss (0 rec)
Moss was a first or second round pick in most leagues and thus far this season he has caught 33 passes for 455 yards and three TD. Moreover, he said he doesn’t want to play for the Raiders next season, which makes me wonder why they even bother playing him.

Dishonorable Mention: Larry Fitzgerald (2 rec, 30 yards), Donald Driver (2 rec, 42 yards), T.J. Houshmandzadeh (2 rec, 15 yards), Muhsin Muhammad (2 rec, 29 yards), Antonio Bryant (2 rec, 21 yards), Reggie Brown (2 rec 31 yards), Jerricho Cotchery (3 rec, 25 yards), Drew Bennett (1 rec, 0 yards)

Alge Crumpler (2 rec, 16 yards)
Crumpler had a pretty strong run going until last week, when he caught only four passes for 37 yards. This week was even worse and it has to make fantasy owners wonder if they can count on him down the stretch.

Dishonorable Mention: Jerramy Stevens (1 rec, 18 yards)

It looks like Santana Moss is going to miss this week’s game with a bad hammy. His outlook isn’t particularly good considering the team doesn’t appear to be contending for the playoffs. He may not rush back to the field if there isn’t anything to play for…Frank Gore has been upgraded to probable (concussion) and is expected to play this week…It looks like Aaron Brooks is back under center for the Raiders. There’s no telling if his second go-around will go better than his first…Ronnie Brown is listed as questionable (groin) but was able to practice fully on Friday…Reuben Droughns is listed as questionable (foot) and it doesn’t look like he’s going to play Sunday…Tatum Bell returned to practice and is listed as questionable (toe). There’s no telling how the carries will be split Sunday night, so be very careful if you are counting on either of the Bells…Only Mike Holmgren knows for sure if Matt Hasselbeck or Shaun Alexander are going to play this week. Reportedly, Alexander has a better chance to start than Hass, but we won’t know for sure until kickoff gets closer…Terry Glenn practiced all week and is expected to play Sunday against the Colts…Joe Horn practiced fully on Friday and is listed as probable…Todd Heap is listed as questionable and did not practice fully on Friday as he normally does. Be prepared to take him out of the lineup if he is inactive tomorrow.

Each week in the Pregame, I’ll provide a few players to start and a few to bench. These recommendations are based on that player’s strength of schedule (SOS) for that particular week or that player’s specific situation.

I’m a strong advocate of always starting your studs, so I won’t be telling you about LaDainian Tomlinson’s tough matchup or how Peyton Manning and company will light it up against a bad defense. Anyone can make those calls. I’ll be discussing marginal fantasy starters – guys that can start for you, but only under certain circumstances.

START

DREW BREES has a great matchup with a Bengals pass defense that has allowed 227 yards and 1.4 TD per game. JAKE PLUMMER, STEVE MCNAIR and JAKE DELHOMME are borderline starters that also have nice matchups this week…REGGIE BUSH and DEUCE MCALLISTER face a Bengals defense that has yielded 127 yards and 1.3 TD on the ground per game. FRANK GORE, WALI LUNDY and ANTHONY THOMAS also have very favorable matchups this week…JOEY GALLOWAY faces a Redskins defense that has allowed the most fantasy points versus opposing WRs over the last six weeks. MARK CLAYTON, DERRICK MASON and CHRIS CHAMBERS also have attractive matchups this weekend.

BENCH

VINCE YOUNG, CHAD PENNINGTON and BRETT FAVRE have tough matchups this week and should be benched if possible…It’s tough to bench RONNIE BROWN, but he’s got a groin injury that has kept him out of practice this week and he faces a Vikings defense that is very tough against the run. LEON WASHINGTON, KEVAN BARLOW and CHESTER TAYLOR also face tough rush defenses this week…DREW BENNETT played well last week, but he runs into an Eagles defense that has only yielded 191 pass yards and 0.9 TD this season. TERRY GLENN is coming off a knee injury and has a tough matchup with the Colts this week.

Check back tomorrow for a complete injury update. In the meantime, feel free to ask a question on our Q & A.