The Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants will play a very important game Sunday afternoon. Both teams are part of a 5-4 logjam in the NFC standings. The winner of this tilt is in a very good position to make the NFC playoffs, and the Giants are in desperate need of a win after four straight losses.
The Falcons will reportedly be missing a key player in the game Sunday, as running back Michael Turner will be inactive.
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.
We're back. It's "Run, Ricky, Run!" Week here at Fantasy FanHouse, as we witnessed Ricky Williams thrust himself into the ranks of other must-start running backs. First, Ronnie Brown went down for the season, next Ricky provided fantasy owners with a three-touchdown monster performance. Tom Herrera and Matt Snyder discuss much more, though. We talk about possible gifts for those who have been underachieving in fantasy (akin to the positive pregnancy test that seemed to have jump-started LaDainian Tomlinson), major injury fallout and, of course, our Starting Six Pack for the week. Take a listen after the jump.
Whether it's torn, sprained, broken or just needs to be taped, Injuries to Watch will keep you up to date on injuries around the NFL and how they'll affect your fantasy football team.
Quarterback
• Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers - Roethlisberger is not listed on the injury report, but he sat out parts of practice on Thursday with his elbow wrapped. He is expected to play on Sunday, but questions of a sore arm have definitely surfaced.
With nine games in the books, Ricky Williams -- despite being behind Ronnie Brown on the Dolphins' depth chart -- sits at 13th in fantasy points among running backs. Brown is ninth, so the Dolphins have themselves a pretty dynamic duo. For Week 11, they get to feast on the Carolina Panthers' 25th-ranked run defense Thursday night.
And Ricky's left alone in the backfield. With Brown nursing a foot injury, Williams will shoulder the bulk of the Miami offense. He's quite capable, as we've seen in spurts this season. He had 20 carries for over 100 yards last week. This week, he's gonna get the ball more often and run wild. Only the new "big three" are better options.
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.
Michael Turner, who suffered a high-ankle sprain last Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, thinks it's too early to make a definitive call on his status for Sunday's matchup against the New York Giants.
"I'm not going to count myself out right now," said Turner. "It's only Wednesday. We'll know more as the week goes on."
On a conference call Wednesday, Falcons head coach Mike Smith announced that Turner would not participate in Atlanta's practice and is "day-to-day."
In this past week's fantasy football tailgate (every Sunday from 10:30 AM ET to kickoff, come check it out!), someone asked us what we thought the first round would be for next season's drafts. Since we never want to disappoint, let's check it out. Here is one man's opinion on how the first round will shake out next year in standard scoring formats. This is using what we've seen thus far in 2009, plus what I expect to see the rest of the way. The first pick isn't really a secret, if you've been reading me the past two weeks.
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
• Kyle Orton, Broncos - Orton sat out the second half on Sunday with an ankle injury. He'll be tested early this week and Chris Simms will take a lot of snaps with the first team as we wait to see how severe Orton's injury is.
Running Back
• Ronnie Brown, Dolphins - Brown limped off of the field during the third quarter of Sunday's game. X-rays were negative, but the MRI results have not yet been seen. Brown is believed to have a severe ankle sprain, and unfortunately for the Dolphins, he may not be ready to play in Thursday's Week 11 game. Look for a large dose of Ricky Williams.
• Brian Westbrook, Eagles - Westbrook was knocked out of the game on Sunday in the fourth quarter with another concussion. His season may be in jeopardy.
Here's how it works. We throw some intriguing matchups at the FanHouse staff and ask whether each player will be over or under a certain point total. The result? Fantasy Football Over/Under. Makes sense, right?
Will there be 1,000 points scored in the New England-Indianapolis battle Sunday night? As you'll find below, we really don't think so, as we're high on the usual suspects but a little low on Austin Collie and the running backs in the game. We're also not buying a big game from a Fantasy FanHouse hero this week, thanks to a super-tough matchup.
And what do you do if you have Ladell Betts? If you have him, you likely added him this week, and you're probably itching to play him before he loses value. We'll tackle his case and many others in this week's Over/Under.
The Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants will play a very important game Sunday afternoon. Both teams are part of a 5-4 logjam in the NFC standings. The winner of this tilt is in a very good position to make the NFC playoffs, and the Giants are in desperate need of a win after four straight losses.
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.
We're back. It's "Run, Ricky, Run!" Week here at Fantasy FanHouse, as we witnessed Ricky Williams thrust himself into the ranks of other must-start running backs. First, Ronnie Brown went down for the season, next Ricky provided fantasy owners with a three-touchdown monster performance. Tom Herrera and Matt Snyder discuss much more, though. We talk about possible gifts for those who have been underachieving in fantasy (akin to the positive pregnancy test that seemed to have jump-started LaDainian Tomlinson), major injury fallout and, of course, our Starting Six Pack for the week. Take a listen after the jump.
Whether it's torn, sprained, broken or just needs to be taped, Injuries to Watch will keep you up to date on injuries around the NFL and how they'll affect your fantasy football team.
With nine games in the books, Ricky Williams -- despite being behind Ronnie Brown on the Dolphins' depth chart -- sits at 13th in fantasy points among running backs. Brown is ninth, so the Dolphins have themselves a pretty dynamic duo. For Week 11, they get to feast on the Carolina Panthers' 25th-ranked run defense Thursday night. 
Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.
Michael Turner, who suffered a high-ankle sprain last Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, thinks it's too early to make a definitive call on his status for Sunday's matchup against the New York Giants.
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.
Here's how it works. We throw some intriguing matchups at the FanHouse staff and ask whether each player will be over or under a certain point total. The result? Fantasy Football Over/Under. Makes sense, right?
