FanHouse Bob Sanders

There's never a good time to have half of your defensive backfield hurt, but having it happen immediately before facing the Houston Texans' powerful passing attack is close to the worst possible situation during the regular season. But that is exactly what's happening in Indianapolis.

News broke Thursday that Marlin Jackson would be out for the season with a torn ACL -- for the second consecutive year. Friday, the Colts learned that Bob Sanders needs surgery to repair his injured elbow -- which will end his season, according to Adam Shefter of ESPN -- and that starting cornerback Kelvin Hayden has been definitively ruled out for Sunday's game as well.

Much has been made about the Indianapolis Colts and their 7-0 start. As I pointed out in the power rankings, they are actually 82-21 in the regular season since the beginning of 2003. They are an absolute juggernaut. Thus far this season, we've heard lots of talk about how Peyton Manning looks better than ever and the Colts are firing on all cylinders. This week, we're bound to hear a lot about how the Colts are the biggest test yet for a Houston Texans team looking to visit the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

The funny thing is, in a movement worthy of Bizarro-World status, the Texans are actually the first big test for the Colts.

Did the injury bug hit your fantasy football team like it was a car windshield moving at 100 MPH? If so, it may be time to do some Damage Control.

Running Back

• Donald Brown, Colts - Brown left with a strained shoulder on Sunday and did not return. More information will be learned this week.

• Leon Washington, Jets - Washington left Sunday's game with a broken leg. He'll be out for the season, although the Jets say they are going to wait to put him on injured reserve.

• Jonathan Stewart, Panthers - Stewart injured his finger and left the game on Sunday. He did return later in the game but you'll want to watch and see what he does in practice this week. Any kind of hand injury can wreak havoc on ball-carriers.

Still missing wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez because of a knee injury, the Colts' offense suffered another setback Sunday at St. Louis when running back Donald Brown exited Indianapolis' game with a first-half injury. Receiver Reggie Wayne also left, limping off with a groin injury, but returned after halftime.

On the other side of the ball, defensive back Bob Sanders, who continues to make his case for "Most Fragile Player in the NFL", walked to the locker room with a trainer early in the fourth quarter.

Even with all the injury issues, Indianapolis smoked St. Louis, 42-6, to move to 6-0 on the year.

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It's been a long wait for Bob Sanders. The 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year hasn't suited up since last Dec. 18 against the Jaguars, but he'll be back for the Colts this Sunday in St. Louis. In fact, as of right now, he's able enough to start the game. He's close to finally being recovered from offseason surgery on his right knee.

Sanders, when on the field, is one of the best defensive players in the NFL. Back in 2006, the year the Colts won the Super Bowl, they had severe problems stopping the run late in the season. When Sanders returned for the playoffs, they were -- all of a sudden -- able to stuff the run. That's the element he brings to the defense.

Whether it's torn, sprained, broken or just needs to be taped, Injuries to Watch will keep you up to date on injuries around the NFL and how they'll affect your fantasy football team.

Quarterback

• Matt Cassel, Chiefs - Cassel has been limited in practice on Wednesday and Thursday. He feels that his knee is making progress every day but head coach Todd Haley said that he and his coaching staff won't be able to make a decision on whether Cassel is healthy enough to play until Sunday.

• Matt Schaub, Texans - Schaub participated fully in practice on Thursday and his ankle looks much better according to coaches. He's expected to play on Sunday.

Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. " We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

For most franchises, 12 wins is a banner year; one they can hang their proverbial hats upon. For the Colts, 12 wins is a certainly. They have won at least 12 games in each of the last six seasons. They have also had Tony Dungy as their head coach for the past seven years, but now he's gone. In 2009, the Colts will look for some continuity. Can it be provided by the Jim Caldwell administration?

There was much consternation around the NFL when the Vikings brought Brett Favre back. The move raised plenty of questions about Favre's ability to help Minnesota, too -- adding an old quarterback with a partially torn rotator cuff who's coming off biceps surgery was certainly a gamble.

But for the Vikings, it's worth risking the season.

NFL teams need elite quarterbacks to succeed at an elite level. Adding Favre makes Minnesota's offense one of the best in the NFC, if he's used right.

After looking through some Average Draft Position lists as well as my rankings, it's proven difficult to come up with a list of five underrated defenses. In my opinion, the top ten drafted defenses are the right ones to draft. Some may be a spot high or low, but there are no surefire starters out there that are underrated.

What I want to talk to you about today, class, is the ill-conceived strategy of drafting defenses in the middle rounds. In the eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh rounds, you need to concentrate on adding quality value picks before turning to your defensive selection. All it takes is one injury to turn your supposedly-great draft into a mess, so use these middle-round picks to fortify your QB, RB and WR starters. Because in the end, you don't even need to draft a good defense. It's much more cost-effective to cycle through defenses playing at home against inferior offenses.

But leaving you with that would eliminate the fun, so here are a couple of defenses that you should consider adding at the end of the draft.

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 ...
Team under Peyton's leadership for the first time without Tom Moore*. That's right. Peyton's only offensive coordinator for his entire 11-year career has been the venerable Moore. Moore's first year at the helm was Manning's rookie season, so the two grew together. It's going to be interesting to see how Manning fares without his mentor calling the shots.

Of course, Manning's obviously cerebral enough to deal quite well with the transition, and the Colts have enough weapons in their arsenal to remain the high-octane offense we're used to seeing every fall.

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