FanHouse LeRon McClain

For those who may use a different term or are new to fantasy football, "handcuff" is the term used when you own insurance for one of your players in the form of owning his real-life backup. It's usually a running back, but you could conceivably handcuff a quarterback. The theory is that some or all of the production is automatically replaced should you lose a high draft pick to injury, meaning you need to insure a high draft pick by grabbing his backup.

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It happens every year at training camp, yet every year seems worse than the ones that preceded it: players get injured, sometimes seriously, and an offseason worth of plans suddenly become meaningless.

The Eagles will be without middle linebacker Stewart Bradley for the season, and things aren't looking good for Falcons wide receiver Harry Douglas (and this is while the club tries to negotiate an extension with Roddy White).

And on Sunday, the Ravens' No. 2 wideout, Mark Clayton, strained a hamstring that will keep him out 2-3 preseason games. Compared to Bradley or Douglas, that's good news, but Baltimore also doesn't have much depth at receiver. More than that, quarterback Joe Flacco is just in his second season. Spreading the offensive burden seems like the best strategy to build on the success he had last year, but that becomes problematic if Flacco doesn't have anybody to throw to. Or maybe it doesn't.

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.

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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...
Team with the most rushing attempts in the NFL last season. With a rookie quarterback and a newly installed ball-control offense, the Ravens ran the ball 592 times in 2008. The team's 11 wins and two playoff victories give proof that the system works. Confidence in second-year quarterback Joe Flacco will be greater in 2009, so you can expect this offense to continue to run the ball at every defense they meet; just maybe not 58% of the time.

The name of the game in Baltimore will still be defense, however, even without defensive coordinator Rex Ryan and linebacker Bart Scott, who both left town to join the New York Jets. New defensive coordinator Greg Mattison should have this unit among the top five defenses in football with an extremely tough and disciplined approach and key additions like Domonique Foxworth in the secondary.

As opposed to quarterbacks, I'm definitely in favor of keeping running backs. In fact, I highly recommend keeping two runners instead of a quarterback, if you have two of my top 20. Running backs are the life-blood of your fantasy team, much like the oil in your car. Two consistent runners on your fantasy team make life so much easier, which is why it's your starting point.

As I said, I'm recommending you keep two from the list, which is why I'm ranking more than I did for quarterbacks or wide receivers.

Ladies and Gents, your top 20 keeper running backs ...

As the Steelers prepare to do the impossible against the Ravens -- beat them three times in the same season -- Baltimore is dealing with its own issues. Chief among them: getting healthy in time for Sunday's AFC Championship game.

I mentioned last Saturday that the Ravens came out of the Titans game pretty banged up, and not surprisingly, a lot of guys are trying to get healthy for Steelers, Round 3.

Although Pro Bowl linebacker Terrell Suggs has guaranteed he won't be sidelined for Sunday's AFC title game because of an injury that team officials termed a strained right shoulder, Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh didn't sound nearly as optimistic about Suggs' status. ...

"I'm not going to sit here and say it's positive, or we're happy about it," Harbaugh said. "We'll just see how it goes. It's going to be close. He's going to work real hard to try to get back. That's all we know."

Suggs would be a huge loss for the Ravens, although defensive coordinator Rex Ryan has an unbelievable ability to just stick anybody out there without the defense losing any effectiveness.

Undoubtedly, the post-game chatter will be about Joe Flacco being the first rookie quarterback to win two playoff games even though, you know, he completed just 11 of 22 passes for 161 yards and the defense, as usual, had almost everything to do with the final outcome.

Whatever your perspective, the fact remains: Baltimore is headed to the AFC Championship game for the first time since 2000. And they'll do it as the most banged-up squad in the league. On Wednesday, the Dallas Morning News' Rich Gosselin wrote that the Ravens finished 11-5 during the regular season "despite losing 64 games by starters because of injury, the fourth-highest total in the league. Baltimore lost 14 more games by starters than any other playoff team."

And next week, whether the Ravens travel to Pittsburgh or San Diego, they could be without a few more starters. Right tackle Willie Anderson, running back Le'Ron McClain, outside linebacker Terrell Suggs and cornerback Samari Rolle were all injured during the Titans game. McClain did manage to hobble his way through the second half, but was mostly ineffective.

Joe Flacco just did something no quarterback in the history of the NFL has ever done: win two playoff football games in his rookie year. That's what makes him the greatest rookie signal-caller ever (if you're willing to only count playoff games when deciding that).

Okay, not really. Dan Marino was better and I think it's pretty hard to forget David Carr's sensational first season with the Houston Texans. But Flacco is hellishy solid (if that can be a compliment), which you can tell by the YouTube of him hooking up with Derrick Mason after the jump.

If you play in a playoff fantasy football league and get to reset your lineup before this weekend, worry not, we got your back. We'll just do a quick run-through of each game.

Baltimore Ravens @ Tennessee Titans
First of all, don't you dare play any defense other than the Ravens. Ed Reed might score the most points in this game. If you've been watching the Ravens' play of late, you definitely aren't laughing at that statement.

I don't see how the Titans generate much offense, outside the possibility of getting Chris Johnson in space. I'd avoid everyone other than Johnson, and I'm not even a huge fan of Johnson.

The Ravens won't be able to move the ball quite as well as they did against the Dolphins' average defense. Your best bet would be Le'Ron McClain, as the Ravens will likely try to control the clock. The Titans are more vulnerable via the pass than the run -- though they aren't really weak anywhere -- but I can't see Joe Flacco playing overly well against this defense.

You could do much worse than either kicker here, by the way. Both Rob Bironas and Matt Stover are sure to be busy, considering the defenses don't allow many touchdowns.

Stay on top of all the postseason action with FanHouse's NFL playoff coverage.

During the regular season, Miami quarterback Chad Pennington threw just seven interceptions, one of the lowest totals in the NFL among starting quarterbacks. On Sunday, during the Dolphins 27-9 Wild Card loss to Baltimore, Pennington was guilty of four interceptions while Miami turned the ball over five times against a swarming Ravens defense. Miami finished the day a -4 in the turnover department, after finishing the season with a league-best +17 margin in terms of turnover differential.

That's not going to get it done.