The New England Patriots and New York Jets are getting ready to punch each other in the face -- perhaps literally and figuratively -- and one player that won't be taking part in the festivities is Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker.
The team announced on its twitter feed that Welker is among the inactive players for Sunday's game at the Meadowlands.
Are you ready for some football? A Monday Night Partaaay? The NFL Monday Night Football season kicks off in grand style with a double-feature, which means double the fantasy impact. Tonight's matchups feature a lot of exciting fantasy angles, so we thought it fitting to provide a quick MNF preview to give you the key storylines.
- Arguably one of the biggest question marks of the 2009 fantasy season rests on the chest of longtime juggernaut, LaDainian Tomlinson. San Diego signed backup Darren Sproles to a mega-contract and Tomlinson posted just slightly less than fantastic numbers in 2008, so his value ground lowered this draft season. Monday night, LdT will prove to all those Forte, Slaton and Turner owners that you should never second-guess a legend.
Four of the best quarterbacks in the league, and quite possibly two of the best ever will suit up on Thursday night as week two of the NFL's preseason gets started.
While both Donovan McNabb and Brady have made headlines for off-the-field issues, (McNabb with his insistence on bringing Michael Vick to the Eagles and Brady with news of his wife Gisele and her pregnancy), none of the four play-callers are huge story line material on the field for tonight's matchups.
From now until the regular season begins, Fantasy Flings is where you'll find interesting story lines about your favorite teams from training camp. If there is a position battle, a nagging injury, a comeback story or a youngster rocketing up the depth chart, we'll let you know the fantasy implications.
Buffalo Bills Wide receiver Terrell Owens returned to practice on Monday, but it was only in a limited fashion. He spent time doing station drills but when the team went 11-on-11, Owens took off his shoulder pads and sat out. He's still listed as day-to-day with a sprained toe. Getting extra time with the first team is veteran Josh Reed. Reed caught 56 balls last season and scored once but is forming a stronger relationship with quarterback Trent Edwards during training camp. CBS Sports reporter Mark Ludwiczak says that Reed has stepped up in Owens' absence. "I've had a chance these last couple of practices to work with him and I just love the way he carries himself, the way he plays the position," Edwards said. It's not terribly likely that Owens will miss regular-season time from this nagging injury, but he is missing out valuable bond-forming time with his new quarterback Edwards. The extra time it's taking Owens to get back to full strength could also foreshadow durability issues to come later in the season.
One of my favorite moves on fantasy football draft day is taking a late-round gamble and letting everyone else laugh at me. You can have the first round, just let me pick late. To illustrate, here's an actual message board post last season after one of my drafts: "Commish Snyder purposefully did not draft a kicker so he could take a flier on yet another long shot (Steve Slaton of the Texans). I'm sure he'll say it will pay off in the long run."
My response? "I'll end up dropping Patrick Crayton (my fifth WR) for a kicker before week 1 when Slaton wins the Houston gig -- unless someone suffers a season-ending injury, in which case I'll drop that person."
I generally hate singling out an entire group of players and branding the list a group of must-have fantasy options. You know, something like "hey, go draft all the 27-year-olds in fantasy baseball," or "third-year receivers always bust out." It's just too lazy of any fantasy analyst to blanket generalize an entire group without considering the circumstances to each individual situation.
Thus, many people out there believe there is one tried and true reality in sports: Players want to get paid. Well, of course players want to get paid. In the NFL, though, players are constantly under the microscope and don't have guaranteed contracts. More matters than just being in a walk year. What we'll do, then, is take a look at the contract-year players and examine how their motivation will translate into fantasy football success.
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 ... Troops of Tom Brady. Yes, there are plenty of guys on this team who matter -- not sure if you've heard of Randy Moss, for example -- but this season it is all about the health of Tom Brady. He's going to be nearly a year removed from tearing his ACL in 2008 when the season begins. Now that Matt Cassel is gone, the weight of the team is on Brady's shoulders.
Really, the picture here is perfect. There are guys in the background wearing the same uniform, but they are a bit blurry. Brady is front and center, and the focus of the photo.
Around this time of the year, friends from college, co-workers and family members all begin to ask you the same question, "You know any good sleepers?" If you're like me, you offer a boring handful of names that the major prognosticators have divulged as their sacred hidden gems for the upcoming season and never share your own secret stash. Some of you have probably already compiled a mental list of players for the annoying guy in the adjacent cubicle. Let me guess, you got Kyle Orton, Joe Flacco, Knowshown Moreno, Ray Rice, Anthony Gonzalez, Donnie Avery and Miles Austin.
If it was a closer friend maybe you would let him or her in on Jamaal Charles, LeSean McCoy, Brent Celek and Jared Cook. The level of sleeper an individual offers you is always a good gauge of your friendship with that person. Today you can consider yourself my best friend because I am offering up my classified list, the guys I feel almost nobody is currently talking about that just might help you win your fantasy league.
Apparently Steelers fans aren't the only ones who are somewhat concerned about the team's lack of depth at wide receiver. Hines Wardis also noticing.
"We are thin at the wide receiver depth," said Ward. "Mike Wallace, Sweed those guys are going to have to help the team and contribute. If myself or Santonio goes down, one of those guys becomes the starter. You have to make sure you understand and help them so they understand. They are next in line. Over the course of 16 games anything can happen.
It's interesting that Ward did not mention Shaun McDonald when listing potential replacements. McDonald had almost 1,000 yards in receiving just two years ago, which makes him easily the most experienced backup wideout.
There is only one professional athlete who should be called The King these days and he's not playing in Cleveland.
Tom Brady returned to practice this week for the Patriots. Brady is the same man with three Super Bowl titles, two Super Bowl MVP awards and four Pro Bowl berths. Say what you want about Peyton Manning being the best quarterback in the league -- all Brady does is win games.
He is one of four men to win three or more Super Bowls and earn multiple Super Bowl MVP awards. Brady has a better career winning percentage than Roger Staubach and Joe Montana in the Super Bowl era. Before his season-ending knee injury in last year's opener against Kansas City, he had started 128 consecutive games, the second-longest streak among active quarterbacks and third-longest all-time.
Are you ready for some football? A Monday Night Partaaay? The NFL Monday Night Football season kicks off in grand style with a double-feature, which means double the fantasy impact. Tonight's matchups feature a lot of exciting fantasy angles, so we thought it fitting to provide a quick MNF preview to give you the key storylines. 
Four of the best quarterbacks in the league, and quite possibly two of the best ever will suit up on Thursday night as week two of the NFL's preseason gets started.
From now until the regular season begins, Fantasy Flings is where you'll find interesting story lines about your favorite teams from training camp. If there is a position battle, a nagging injury, a comeback story or a youngster rocketing up the depth chart, we'll let you know the fantasy implications.
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. 
Around this time of the year, friends from college, co-workers and family members all begin to ask you the same question, "You know any good sleepers?" If you're like me, you offer a boring handful of names that the major prognosticators have divulged as their sacred hidden gems for the upcoming season and never share your own secret stash. Some of you have probably already compiled a mental list of players for the annoying guy in the adjacent cubicle. Let me guess, you got Kyle Orton, Joe Flacco, Knowshown Moreno, Ray Rice, Anthony Gonzalez, Donnie Avery and Miles Austin.
Apparently Steelers fans aren't the only ones who are somewhat concerned about the team's lack of depth at wide receiver. Hines Ward is also noticing.
There is only one professional athlete who should be called The King these days and he's not playing in Cleveland.
