FanHouse Brett Favre

It's Thanksgiving, and that means one thing for football fans everywhere: we're going to be subjected to the Lions on television either before, during or after gorging ourselves with turkey and the fixings. For once, the Lions' franchise has real hope on the horizon, but Thanksgiving 2009 is really, really bad timing for them to display their skills to the nation. Matt Snyder and Tom Herrera discuss this, play some musical backfields, give you the "Starting Six-Pack" and leave you with a parting shot. It's all here in the fantasy football podcast. Take a listen after the jump.

The grueling grind of the season is beginning to take its toll on a number of QBs, as several starters have suffered injuries and could potentially miss this week's game. I've tried to factor each injury into these rankings, but we'll likely need a few updates once we have a clearer picture on the health of Ben Roethlisberger and Kurt Warner for Sunday's games, and Kyle Orton and Matthew Stafford for Thursday's games (though I'm almost certain Stafford won't play).

1. Aaron Rodgers, GB at DET
2. Brett Favre, MIN vs. CHI
3. Tom Brady, NE at NO
4. Kurt Warner, ARI at TEN
5. Matt Schaub, HOU vs. IND

---

---

I would argue that Tiger Woods is the most recognizable athlete on the planet. Sure, more people might know the name "Michael Jordan" or "Brett Favre" but I firmly believe that 90 percent of the world's population who get a chance to see Tiger immediately recognize him. (Does that make sense? No? Moving on...)

Anyway, he was introduced at halftime of the Stanford-Cal game Saturday (he's a Stanford alum), when Cal fans decided to boo him. Tiger appeared rattled at first (ostensibly looking around for Mr. Weekley) before recovering and claiming that the Cardinal would take care of business in the second half.

The NFL season officially hit the homestretch late in the second quarter in Denver on Sunday when Josh McDaniels, his Broncos trailing San Diego 13-0, inserted gimpy starting quarterback Kyle Orton for struggling backup Chris Simms.

Denver lost, 32-3, although the offense did get better with Orton leading it.

But that's not the point. The point is that McDaniels, whose team had lost three in a row coming in, felt Sunday's game was so critical that he needed to insert Orton and risk further injury to the ligaments in the QB's ankle, even with another game coming up in four days. It's like George Allen's old slogan for the Redskins of the 70s: "The future is now.'' Except that Allen's slogan worked a lot better than Orton worked for the Broncos -- he certainly was better than Simms, but it didn't matter much.

With attention spans dwindling, we forgo full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. We call it The Once-Over.

The Early Games

New Orleans (9-0) at Tampa Bay (1-8): New Orleans was tested last week -- in fact, they've been tested in each of their last four games. Drew Brees has thrown seven interceptions and only six touchdown passes in those four games. You can expect the Saints to come out on Sunday and look to clean up their act a bit on offense as they play a divisional foe who doesn't have the arsenal to put up much of a fight.

Josh Freeman's play since taking over at quarterback is giving hope for the future in Tampa. He's thrown four touchdown passes and only two interceptions and seems to enjoy throwing to Kellen Winslow who has 11 receptions in his last two games. The Saints defense is a little beaten up, but should be able to hold off the Buccaneers on Sunday.

Pick: New Orleans

We're back. It's "Run, Ricky, Run!" Week here at Fantasy FanHouse, as we witnessed Ricky Williams thrust himself into the ranks of other must-start running backs. First, Ronnie Brown went down for the season, next Ricky provided fantasy owners with a three-touchdown monster performance. Tom Herrera and Matt Snyder discuss much more, though. We talk about possible gifts for those who have been underachieving in fantasy (akin to the positive pregnancy test that seemed to have jump-started LaDainian Tomlinson), major injury fallout and, of course, our Starting Six Pack for the week. Take a listen after the jump.

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

• Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers - Roethlisberger is not listed on the injury report, but he sat out parts of practice on Thursday with his elbow wrapped. He is expected to play on Sunday, but questions of a sore arm have definitely surfaced.

More proof that Brett Favre is everywhere: detainees at a Wisconsin National Guard camp in Iraq are invoking his name solely to get a rise out of the Green Bay Packers-supporting soldiers.

Even in war, Favre is a nuisance. WTMJ reports:

Your No. 1 QB overall isn't Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. It isn't Drew Brees or early-season hero Matt Schaub either. It's the one and only Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers presents the perfect example of why it's unnecessary to draft a QB in the first two rounds. He was a late-third or early-fourth round pick in most leagues and he's performing just as well as the big boys.

Sure, Brady and Manning offer you peace of mind, but with the RB and WR rankings constantly in flux, it's a much better idea to load up on talent at each of those positions, then snag a QB like Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Kurt Warner, Donovan McNabb or Tony Romo a bit later. You could probably win your league with one of these guys and a good group of RBs and WRs. Teams with Manning or Brady and a weaker group of RBs and WRs will likely have more trouble in the playoffs.

---

---

I'll admit, I was wrong. During the offseason, I wrote here at FanHouse that the Vikings' pursuit of Brett Favre was foolhardy. Between his age and the poor finish to his 2008 season in New York, it seemed too risky to put the Vikings' season in the hands of a 40-year-old quarterback.

Brad Childress' gamble has paid off big-time. Favre is one of the key reasons that Minnesota is battling New Orleans for home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs, and he is the reason Childress is talking contract extension instead of worrying about his job security.

Obviously, Brett Favre isn't the average 40-year-old quarterback. He's having the best season a 40-year-old QB has ever had in the NFL and it's not even close.