It was a revelation in Oakland Sunday -- the starting quarterback struggled a bit, but didn't make dumb decisions or do more to beat his team than beat the opponent. Instead, he led his team on a late touchdown drive to tie the score, then got a break to pick up the win.
Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.
Sunday was a tough day for quarterbacks, but it wasn't until Monday afternoon that the fallout from the Week 11 injuries started coming to light. Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger received good news and may be able to play in Week 12. The same can't be said for Marc Bulger and Matthew Stafford.
If I gave out a tough-man award each week, I would have no trouble handing the hardware to Stafford for his heroics on Detroit's final game-winning drive. Stafford sprained his shoulder on the next-to-final play on Sunday and John Niyo of The Detroit News says he will likely miss the Lions' Week 12 game on Thanksgiving day.
After a physical beatdown of the reigning Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cincinnati Bengals were riding high. "Just look at their next three opponents," observers proclaimed -- with good reason, as the Bengals were staring at the Raiders, Browns and Lions in succession on their schedule. The three teams had combined for four wins and 23 losses before Week 10, while the Bengals had won seven of eight since their fluky Week 1 loss.
Facing Bruce Gradkowski and the Raiders offense surely shouldn't be a problem for a team that held Ben Roethlisberger in check, right? Well, that's why they play the games.
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.
Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.
To say this week in Buffalo has been tumultuous would be an understatement. Trent Edwards was told that he had lost his starting job to Ryan Fitzpatrick right before head coach Dick Jauron was fired. The next bit of information gave Edwards new hope as interim head coach Perry Fewell wanted to wait until Wednesday to make a decision. Brian Galliford of Buffalo Rumblings wrote on Wednesday that Fewell had made the decision to go with Fitzpatrick.
Ryan Fitzpatrick is taking first-team reps at quarterback in Perry Fewell's first practice as interim head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Fewell confirmed this fact after practice. That bit of news confirms an NFL.com report from Wednesday - prior to the firing of Dick Jauron - that Fitzpatrick would be the club's starter.
How would you feel if you were an ineffective starter who may only keep his job one more week because the backup is injured? Worse, what if you were so bad that you lost your job to a guy who was injured? Well, Oakland's JaMarcus Russell may be on the verge of finding out how that feels.
After weeks of embarrassing, historic, and somewhat hysterical futility under the guidance of Derek Anderson, the Cleveland Browns have finally completed their quarterback cycle.
Stubbornness sometimes pays off. The Carolina Panthers found this out on Sunday.
One week after giving up on the run way too easily in a loss to Buffalo, the Panthers mercilessly pounded Arizona's run defense into the ground, and their reward was an easy win. Of course, it doesn't mean Jake Delhomme has magically turned his season around. It just means the Panthers have found a way to hide him, while keeping him on the field. Delhomme is off our magical list for now, but other shaky starters aren't so lucky.
Some teams are entirely too stubborn. Not only will they leave bad quarterbacks in to take mental and physical beatings, but they'll insist on running offensive plays that don't seem to take the team's strengths into account, oftentimes leaning way too much on a struggling quarterback to make plays. As the Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns (among others) have now learned, this is a recipe for disaster.
Mark Sanchez had a rough couple weeks. After earning the Jets starting quarterback gig in training camp, and leading the team to 3-0 out of the gate, his rookie season hit a rough patch in October. In a loss to the Saints, Sanchez had a 27.0 passer rating, and last week against the Bills he mustered a JaMarcian 8.3.
The remedy: play Oakland. Sunday, the Jets hung 38 on the Raiders and JaMarcus Russell was benched for Bruce Gradkowski. Sanchez, meanwhile, completed 9 of 15 throws for 143 yards, including a touchdown. Things were going so well that Kellen Clemens got a few late-game snaps allowing Sanchez to take it easy on the bench and enjoy a ballpark frank.
It's often said that a team with two quarterbacks really doesn't have any. With that spirit in mind, FanHouse will keep you updated weekly on NFL teams facing potential quarterback controversies.
Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.
After a physical beatdown of the reigning Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cincinnati Bengals were riding high. "Just look at their next three opponents," observers proclaimed -- with good reason, as the Bengals were staring at the Raiders, Browns and Lions in succession on their schedule. The three teams had combined for four wins and 23 losses before Week 10, while the Bengals had won seven of eight since their fluky Week 1 loss. 
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.
Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.
It's often said that a team with two quarterbacks really doesn't have any. With that spirit in mind, FanHouse will keep you updated weekly on NFL teams facing potential quarterback controversies.
It's often said that a team with two quarterbacks really doesn't have any. With that spirit in mind, FanHouse will keep you updated weekly on NFL teams facing potential quarterback controversies.
Mark Sanchez had a rough couple weeks. After earning the Jets starting quarterback gig in training camp, and leading the team to 3-0 out of the gate, his rookie season hit a rough patch in October. In a loss to the Saints, Sanchez had a 27.0 passer rating, and last week against the Bills he mustered a JaMarcian 8.3. 
