FanHouse J.j.Arrington

While the rest of the NFL is taking part in a free agent spree, the Chicago Bears have been incredibly quiet. I'm not necessarily talking about signing guys, because sometimes that stuff is out of your control. I'm talking about the Bears not being mentioned in any rumors for any free agent or possible trade target.

It's not as though the team doesn't have needs, as I outlined five in the offseason roadmap. I unintentionally omitted another need, which was astutely pointed out by the first commenter -- that they need an able-bodied backup to Matt Forte in the backfield as well. So that makes six pretty important needs.

Despite not being a great real football team in 2008, we always knew one thing about the Denver Broncos: They really matter in fantasy football. You're talking about a team who amassed the second most yards in the league. Only two teams passed for more yards, and -- despite the neverending assembly line of running backs -- they managed to average 4.8 yards per carry on the ground.

Heading into 2009, the team will have a different look. For of all, for the first time since I began playing fantasy football, their head coach will not be notorious alleged fantasy-hater, Mike Shanahan.

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

After astonishing everyone and heading to the Super Bowl last season, the Arizona Cardinals now face truly raised expectations for the first time in memory. We all remember the magical postseason run, when Larry Fitzgerald established himself as the NFL's premier wideout (even if Andre Johnson wants to argue), Kurt Warner polished his legacy, and the defense showed its capability -- one we had not seen much in the regular season.

Though Edgerrin James seemed to have won the starting running back gig back from Tim Hightower in the playoffs, and is due $5 million in 2009, he's likely played his last game with the Cardinals. Thursday, in an interview on Dan Patrick's radio show, Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic said as much.

Apparently, James didn't even fly back to Arizona with the rest of his teammates following their Super Bowl loss. Bickley opined that the Cardinals will cut the former star running back.

The Eagles defense probably felt very comfortable with what Kurt Warner and the Cardinals might try to do in the NFC Championship game, particularly since they whupped them on Thanksgiving, 48-20.

What Philadelphia probably didn't expect, however, was that Ken Whisenhunt would dig deep into the Steelers' playbook. But that's exactly what happened on Arizona's first possession of the second quarter. Warner took the snap, handed off to J.J. Arrington. Arrington ran right, then turned and threw a backward pass to Warner, who promptly heaved a bomb to Larry Fitzgerald. Sixty-two yards later, Fitzgerald was in the end zone and the Cardinals were up 14-3.

With the playoffs less than a week away, here is everything you need to know about Wild Card Weekend.

Atlanta Falcons at Arizona Cardinals

When -- Saturday, Jan. 3, 4:30 PM EST
Where -- University of Phoenix Stadium
Channel -- NBC
How They Got Here -- Atlanta, in a must-win against the Rams in Week 17 for a potential two seed, took care of business behind running back Michael Turner. The first-year Falcon had 208 yards and a touchdown in the 31-27 win over the Rams to secure a playoff bid. Arizona struggled down the stretch but won a lagging NFC West division that only had one team with a winning record.
2008 Meeting -- None
Last Five Games -- Atlanta - 4-1. Arizona - 2-3.
Best Win -- Atlanta taking down a hot Minnesota team in Week 16, 24-17. Arizona beat Dallas in Week 6, 30-24.
X-Factor -- For Atlanta, it is the rookie Matt Ryan. When the play-caller has a quarterback rating of 94 or higher, the Falcons are 8-1. For Arizona, it is the running game. With Edgerrin James being pushed out as the top back, Tim Hightower and J.J. Arrington have been asked to carry the load. Kurt Warner and his great receiving core will get theirs, so it is up to the running game to balance their offensive attack.
Who Will Win -- In terms of least intimidating stadiums to play in, the one in Phoenix has to rack up. Living in the area, I know what Cardinals fans come to expect, and if the team falls behind 10-0 early, you can bet the Card hopefuls will be basically saying to one another, "No surprise here." For Ryan, a playoff game is a different beast, but he has a pretty favorable match-up to get his feet wet. I think the Falcons go to Glendale and beat the Cardinals.

First, a disclaimer. This list is not necessarily a go pick this guy up right now type deal. If you play in an 8-12 team league and you don't have injury or ineffectiveness issues, this list is not for you. If you, however, play in a 16 or more team league with a deep bench, and you have been sitting there waiting on Willis McGahee to show up with a pulse for the past couple weeks, well, I may have something for you.

We call them "Hail Mary" choices because picking up some of these guys would be like throwing a Hail Mary pass. The odds of it winding up helping your team are slim, but there's enough of a chance FTW to hurl it up there. If you have dead weight on your deep bench, let us consider the following dudes.

I've attempted to list them in the order of their likelihood at helping you.

And, actually, the top guy is a sleeper is most leagues for this week ...

Maurice "MoMo" Morris, Seahawks
He's overtaken Julius Jones in the Seahawks backfield. Sure, he's done very little all season -- save for a 100-yard game in Week 12 -- but he gets the hapless Rams in Week 15. You could do worse.

FanHouse fantasy positional rankings are compiled weekly by the staff in order to provide answers to possible lineup questions. These are assuming most leagues use Fleaflicker's standard scoring structure. If you need clarification, you need more players ranked, or have funky league rules, feel free to shoot us an email question.

The Chicago Bears are terrible against the pass, and own the NFL's fifth-best run defense. An amateur would look at these figures and take Adrian Peterson down a few steps due to the matchup. The problem is that Peterson is special. He's only really had one off-game all year -- an aberration against the Saints on Monday Night Football where he was completely bottled up by a terrible defense. Other than that, he's had at least 77 yards on the ground in each game, and averaged at least 4.4 yards per carry.

Oh yeah, and -- as the title laid out -- he does own the Chicago Bears. In three career starts, he's compiled downright stupid numbers against them. I'm talking about 423 yards on 62 carries and seven touchdowns. In three games. So his average game against the Bears is 141 ground yards and a couple of scores. And a yawn.

Um, yeah, he's gonna blow up.

More notes after the rankings.

1. Adrian Peterson, vs. CHI
2. Joseph Addai, at CLE
3. Marion Barber, vs. SEA
4. Thomas Jones, vs. DEN
5. Marshawn Lynch, vs. SF