FanHouse Michael Lewis

Did the injury bug hit your fantasy football team like it was a car windshield moving at 100 MPH? If so, it may be time to do some Damage Control.

Quarterback

• Michael Vick, Eagles - Vick took a hard hit to the ribs and had X-rays. The results came back negative.

• Peyton Manning, Colts - Manning has a sore knee after Sunday's win. The injury isn't serious, which is good news. Better news comes as the Colts now enter a bye week.

• Kyle Boller, Rams - Boller was knocked out of Sunday's game with a concussion. He'll have tests done on Tuesday to see when he can return to action.

• Carson Palmer, Bengals - Palmer injured his left (non-throwing hand) thumb on Sunday. the Bengals don't seem too worried about the injury.

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 ...
Perennial sleepers. It seems like almost every season, people are discussing the fact that the 49ers are ready to break out and surprise people and win the NFC West. And then, almost every season, they suck. They might not be great this year either. Mike Singletary brings a more disciplined approach than even Mike Nolan, but you can't possibly expect Shaun Hill or Alex Smith to lead a team to the playoffs. Or can you? Well, actually, for fantasy purposes, who cares? There's going to be a lot of running and a lot of surprises on defense in San Fran this year, and that's going to be where you pick up the value.

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Moneyball, Michael Lewis' novel about the economics of baseball (to put it in a nutshell), was all set to begin production next week with Brad Pitt and Steven Soderbergh in tow. Read: the nerds have finally won, Lebowski!

Unfortunately that would-be -- and actually fictional -- revolution has now been delayed for the foreseeable future as Columbia Pictures, for all intents and purposes, pulled the plug on the movie.

Michael Lewis's opus The Blind Side is currently filming in Atlanta and slated for release on November 20, 2009. The book recently received a jolt of interest when the primary subject of the story, Ole Miss offensive tackle Michael Oher, who rises from a hardscrabble existence in Memphis to become the top offensive tackle in the nation, was drafted in the first round by the Baltimore Ravens. A major portion of the story focuses on the top-ranked Oher's recruitment by three men: then-LSU coach Nick Saban, then-Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer, and then-Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron. It's a recruiting battle for the ages.

Two weeks ago Bruce Feldman reported that Orgeron would play himself in the movie. Now I can report that Phil Fulmer will be playing himself, having traveled down to Atlanta this past Friday to film his scenes with Sandra Bullock. All that remains to be determined is whether Nick Saban is playing himself. And wouldn't that be great if Saint Nick donned the purple and gold to reprise his role for the film?

"Under The Gun" takes a look at one player from each team who will bear all the pressure for the upcoming '08 season.

The Athletics may be amidst a brand new rebuilding process after trading Dan Haren, Nick Swisher, Mark Kotsay, Stomper, and Billy Beane's first edition of Moneyball signed by Michael Lewis this offseason for all the prospects they can get their hands on, but that doesn't mean there aren't players on the team feeling pressure this season.

If you're Eric Chavez, for instance, you've got a lot to prove to yourself and the Athletics this season. Chavez missed 72 games last season thanks to a whole myriad of injuries. He had three surgeries this offseason alone to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder, one to fix a bulging disc in his lower back, and then for good measure, he had the labrum in his left shoulder fixed as well.

There have been cadavers who've experienced less intrusion.

Chavez obviously struggled in 2007 while battling these injuries, putting up career lows in batting average (.240), OBP (.306), OPS (.752), and RBI (46) to name a few. HIs 15 home runs were also his lowest total since Eric's first full season in Oakland back in 1999.

Considering that Chavez is Oakland's highest paid player at $9.5 million this season, it's also very possible he won't finish the season as a member of the Athletics. Which means if he does perform well, he may have a way out to a contender come July.

Levi Jones is going to be out for the next week or two (or three), and his replacement has big shoes to fill. Jones is probably one of the top five left tackles in the NFL, and as anyone who's read Michael Lewis; book The Blind Side knows, the left tackle is one of the most important positions in the game.

Whitworth isn't going to be as good as Jones, not in his rookie season at least, but he does come with a pretty good pedigree. First of all he has the size to play left tackle in the NFL. He's 6'7 and weighs 334 pounds, which is more than sufficient. Everything I've read about Whitworth says that he has long arms, which is incredibly important at the left tackle position. Being able to create space between yourself and the defender is obviously pretty helpful.

Andrew had a distinguished college career, starting at left tackle for LSU from his freshman year on. He's an all around good athlete, and I've seen reports that he shoots in the low 80's on the golf course, and he was a junior tennis champion in Louisiana. He racked up all kinds of accolades at LSU, including Freshman All American, longest streak of starts in LSU's history, First Team All-SEC in 2004 and 2005, and third team All American his senior season.

There are knocks against him however, mostly concerning his height and a tendency to play too up right. This NFL.com draft summary is full of negatives, saying that Whitworth is "somewhat of a "tweener," who lacks the athleticism teams want in a tackle, and lacks the playing strength to be effective at guard. Whitworth has the ability to be a very good backup tackle who can spot start at times, but is best suited to be a backup."

That all being said, I think I'm pretty high on the guy, although it's possible I'm just blinded by the impressive size. He's going to be tested this Sunday against Julius Peppers, so we'll have a good idea pretty quickly of just how good Whitworth can be. Hopefully he'll surprise us.