FanHouse Brandon Marshall

Each Monday of the fantasy football season, we'll cut through the fantasy numbers put up by individuals and tell you what they really mean.

Two weeks ago, the Carolina Panthers went into Arizona and picked Kurt Warner off five times en route to an easy victory over the defending NFC champions. Some began to fear the old man was beginning to lose his touch. If he did, what would happen to the Cardinals' juggernaut of a fantasy football unit?

All they've done since then is score 72 points in two games and looked better than ever.

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

• Jason Campbell, Redskins - Campbell left the Redskins Week 9 game twice with injuries. His ankle injury caused him to only practice on Wednesday in a limited capacity.

• Matt Hasselbeck, Seahawks - Hasslebeck was limited in practice on Wednesday with a host of injuries. The quarterback is just banged up due to poor pass protection. He'll play on Sunday.

Where do breakout receivers like Mike Sims-Walker, Miles Austin and Hakeem Nicks rank in this week's edition?

Going by Austin's last two games, he should be at the top, but it's not a stretch to think his 150-yard, two-TD per game stretch will come to an end this week. Sooner or later, Nicks will have a game where he doesn't catch a long TD; it would have come in Week 7 if not for a lucky bounce off Steve Smith's hands.

I have nothing bad to say about Sims-Walker, except that he'd better make curfew this week!

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In the six months leading up to the 2009 season, the Broncos traded franchise quarterback Jay Cutler, refused to do the same for wideout Brandon Marshall (who subsequently sulked, half-assing his way through the offseason and training camp), and then-32-year-old head coach Josh McDaniels seemed so far out of his element that I wasn't sure he'd make it to Thanksgiving.

At the time, I figured a six-win effort would be a moral victory for the organization, and if nothing else, McDaniels would learn a valuable lesson about managing a group of 20-something millionaires.

Conventional wisdom.

I've tried to avoid it in my 26 years of reporting on the NFL. Yet I find myself following the herd when I search for the NFL's most pleasant 2009 surprise. How can I not say it's Denver at 5-0 after the offseason chaos following Josh McDaniels' arrival?

Look at Brandon Marshall hugging McDaniels, who suspended him for the final two weeks of the preseason after Brandon acted like a child; Kyle Orton, the quarterback the Broncos got when Jay Cutler demanded to be traded, has a passer rating eight points higher than Cutler; and a defense that allowed 28 points per game in 2008, third worst in the league, is allowing just 8.6 in 2009.

So like everyone else, I have to go with the Broncos as the most pleasant surprise.

As for the rest ...

When Broncos owner Pat Bowlen hired Josh McDaniels, expectations for the organization were about as high as they have been in recent years. It only took a few months for McDaniels to burn through a season's worth of goodwill, and between the Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall soap operas, fans and media were preparing for the worst when Week 1 rolled around.

Yet here we are, five weeks and five wins later. The Broncos are one of the best teams in the league and McDaniels, who looked like an overmatched, overwhelmed junior high schooler earlier this summer, suddenly is the boy genius everybody figured on when he arrived in Denver after spending most of this decade working for Bill Belichick.

DENVER -- Eddie Royal epitomizes the transition the surprising 5-0 Denver Broncos have made from what they were to what they have, thus far, become.

With the arrival of new head coach Josh McDaniels this season, plenty of Broncos players had to expect adjusted roles this season. But for the few facing a drastic, unexpected change -- a change that may have been hard to buy into initially -- they faced a choice: Sulk and be left behind.

Or accept it. Like McDaniels likes to say -- well, actually demand -- "Do your job."

So, Royal has.

Move over, Jaws. There's a new breakdown team in town. YouTube Film Session features the finest in amateur film parsing this side of the internet. Mindful of both X's and O's, and Jimmies and Joes.

Brandon Marshall's 51-yard touchdown grab was filthy. That's why you've seen it a million times between SportsCenter, NFL Live and the 17 blogs in your bookmark bar.

But after the jump, Back Porch goes inside the play that had Chris Berman howling, "Whaaaat? Whaaat?"

DENVER -- Wherever Brandon Marshall had been hiding throughout much of the Denver Broncos' 17-10 victory over the overhyped Dallas Cowboys at Invesco Field on Sunday, quarterback Kyle Orton was able to find him at the most opportune time.

With just under two minutes remaining and the score tied 10-10, Orton connected with Marshall along the right sideline on a stunning 51-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass with 1:46 remaining, a play that may help doubters understand how the once-overlooked Broncos are now among the NFL's elite teams at 4-0.

"Yes! Yes!" Marshall screamed as kicker Matt Prater's PAT sailed through to give the Broncos a 17-10 advantage that they would preserve when cornerback Champ Bailey smacked away a potential game-tying Tony Romo touchdown pass to Sam Hurd on 4th down at the Denver 2-yard line in the closing seconds.