FanHouse AlexSmith

With the beginning of the NFL Network's glorious Thursday night football beginning this week, fantasy football FanHouse is bringing you a preview for each and every Thursday night game from here on out. You've already seen the rankings, but things can change before Sunday. One thing that can't change? Your lineup choices for the guys playing Thursday evening. That's why we're here.

The Bears enter the game having lost three of their last four (the one win was at home over the hapless Browns). Their defense has plummeted from a respectable unit to one pretty easily shredded, whether via ground or air. The Niners come in having lost four straight and five of their last six. They are ranked fourth in the NFL in run defense and 24th against the pass.

PHILADELPHIA -- Brian Westbrook did not practice with the Eagles on Wednesday, nor did he talk about why. His coach, Andy Reid, said Westbrook would practice Thursday and that the reason he was held out Wednesday was his ankle, and not the concussion he suffered in the team's Oct. 26 victory over the Redskins. But if you buy that, I've got a South Philly bridge to sell you, too.

The ankle is a red herring. Westbrook's ankle is a chronic problem, for which he's had surgery, and his ankle probably hurts every day. They can put him on the injury report with an ankle problem anytime they want, and nobody's going to bat an eye. This thing with Westbrook is a case of a player, concerned about his own personal future, taking it slow amid a culture that's only starting to embrace the danger and seriousness of concussions.

NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

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Sorting the Sunday Pile looks back at the NFL weekend that was. It's also an unofficial Brady Quinn blog.

A year ago, Matt Cassel got his chance to be an NFL starting quarterback when then-Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard blew up Tom Brady's knee. Cassel led the Patriots to 11 wins, and played well enough for the Chiefs to trade for him in the offseason.

Smash cut to Cassel tweaking his knee during Kansas City's third preseason game (God's sense of humor is underrated), which forced him to miss the first Sunday of the 2009 season. Any chances the Chiefs -- an outfit that won six times in their last 32 games -- had against the Ravens were out the window with Cassel on the bench.

Sorting the Sunday Pile looks back at the NFL weekend that was. It's also an unofficial Brady Quinn blog.

A year ago, Matt Cassel got his chance to be an NFL starting quarterback when then-Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard blew up Tom Brady's knee. Cassel led the Patriots to 11 wins, and played well enough for the Chiefs to trade for him in the offseason.

Smash cut to Cassel tweaking his knee during Kansas City's third preseason game (God's sense of humor is underrated), which forced him to miss the first Sunday of the 2009 season. Any chances the Chiefs -- an outfit that won six times in their last 32 games -- had against the Ravens were out the window with Cassel on the bench.

So according to 49ers beat writer Matt Maiocco's Twitter feed, the 49ers announced that Shaun Hill, and not former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith, will start the team's first regular-season game three weeks from now. And while this is significant news for those who follow the 49ers -- and while I would never want to downplay the resolution of a training camp position battle since we all spend so much time analyzing them -- I watched the 49ers' game from Saturday night, and my reaction to this move is: YAWN.

Whether the 49ers picked Hill, Smith, you, me or brought Joe Montana out of retirement, whoever starts at quarterback in San Francisco is going to do a whole lot of handing off. They brought Nate Davis in during the second half and the broadcasters said something about, "He's got a big arm and we're going to get to see that," and they looked pretty silly when the first six plays after Davis went in were running plays.

When it became clear that Vince Young wasn't going to get his starting job back from Kerry Collins, the speculation began. Young, selected third-overall in the 2006 draft -- before Matt Leinart or Jay Cutler -- started 13 games as a rookie, leading the Titans to an 8-8 record (including a 6-1 finish). In 2007, Young started 15 times, the Titans won 10 games, and they qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2003. All seemed well.

Then, last season, VY went down with a knee injury in Week 1, Collins came in, performed well enough to keep the gig (the Titans went 13-3 and Collins got a new deal), and the talk turned to Young's future in Tennessee.

Here's to hoping LaMont Jordan makes the Denver Broncos roster. New head coach Josh McDaniels brought in just about every available free agent running back this offseason to compete for a handful of spots.

And in light of the recent news that the Mirage hotel and casino in Las Vegas has sued Jordan over allegations that he owes them $20,000 in gambling debts, well, he could probably use the steady paycheck.

Via the Las Vegas Sun:

With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.

Meet the ...
Perennial sleepers. It seems like almost every season, people are discussing the fact that the 49ers are ready to break out and surprise people and win the NFC West. And then, almost every season, they suck. They might not be great this year either. Mike Singletary brings a more disciplined approach than even Mike Nolan, but you can't possibly expect Shaun Hill or Alex Smith to lead a team to the playoffs. Or can you? Well, actually, for fantasy purposes, who cares? There's going to be a lot of running and a lot of surprises on defense in San Fran this year, and that's going to be where you pick up the value.

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