FanHouse Patrick Cobbs

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 who invented the Wildcat formation! Cue all sorts of zeal from the dramatic broadcasters. Of course, the formation has actually been around for decades, we just hadn't seen a ton of usage in the NFL until the Dolphins seemed to perfect it -- peaking with Ronnie Brown's ridiculous game against the Patriots.

The Dolphins have a careful quarterback, two solid runners, a good, young receiving corps, and have added a great all-around athlete via draft. It might be tough to predict who is going to consistency amass yardage, but we know one thing: They are going to be fun to watch.

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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.

With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. Click here to go back in time.

The 1s

San Diego (3-3) at Buffalo (4-1): Trent Edwards is back from being concussed (my favorite word), which is probably a good thing, since they absolutely got rolled by the Cardinals two weeks ago after Edwards went down. The bad news is that he has to face a Chargers defense that sacked Matt Cassel four times last week, basically tossing him around like the plastic bag in that video from "American Beauty." Also, always beware of the LaDainian Tomlinson bounce-back game. He's slumped before, but always has that "140-yard, three-touchdown" game when his fantasy owners are about to give up on him that makes us completely forget about what came before. I'm putting this on the table for LDT -- if he doesn't reach double-digit fantasy points this week against a team that gives up 114 rushing yards per game, he cannot appear in any more cool Nike commercials.

Pick: San Diego

Value Machine checks out the overall perceived value of fantasy players. If you want to commit a fantasy felony, you'll sell high on the up arrow guys and buy low on the down arrow guys.

As I said yesterday, this week was really weird from a fantasy perspective. Let's find some buy-lows ...

Edgerrin James -- I'm not a fan, but he's going to do more than 29 yards most weeks.

Steven Jackson -- As the Rams' confidence grows under their new regime, they'll remain competitive in games ... and when they are, Jackson's the focal point of the offense. He just faced a really strong Redskins defense.

Matt Hasselbeck -- As long as he's healthy, he's going to have a big second half. You just have to have the depth to wait on him for a few weeks.

Jake Delhomme -- I have no idea what that crap was all about. He's maddeningly inconsistent, but he also has Steve Smith.

Brett Favre -- Easy Jets schedule coming up. He'll get his.

Steve Slaton -- Detroit and Cincy the next two weeks, and the Dolphins run defense is underrated.

Jason Campbell and Santana Moss -- I'm not bailing just yet.

LeRon McClain -- That entire game was an embarrassment. Just write it off as the Ravens running into the buzzsaw known as the 2005 Colts.

Sunday was one of those days that made me realize why women who don't even like football jump into their husbands' leagues and win them on their first try. The guy who showed up at the fantasy draft unprepared and just guessed his way through it got a victory as well.

Let us count the ways in which we all were too smart for our own good:

The Top Ten Reasons This Week Was a Crapshoot:

1. Adrian Peterson is a stud. The Vikings are a good running team. They faced the Lions, who sported the worst defense in the NFL coming into the game ... and Peterson lost two fumbles without scoring a TD. The 111 yards were hardly a consolation in leagues where losing the ball is penalized.

2. The Colts' awful run defense was becoming legendary before our eyes. The Ravens' LeRon McClain had been running really hard in recent weeks. His owners were rewarded with -2 (yes, that's a negative) rushing yards and a lost fumble. Willis McGahee wasn't much better, either, for those who gambled.

3. The Ravens were the league's top-ranked defense against the pass. Marvin Harrison had seemingly lost a step and the Colts didn't really seem to be in sync thus far. Harrison went for two touchdowns, including a 67-yarder. I think he was seen showing up at the game in a DeLorean.

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around with his finger in the air while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's Studs and Duds.

Here's Week 6 at a glance, where we point out the horses destined for the Kentucky Derby and jeer those headed to the glue factory.

Studs

Drew Brees, QB NO (26-30, 320 yards, three touchdowns) -- Brees is slowly become the elite of the elite at his position, carding his fifth game in six weeks with at least 320 passing yards. The Purdue graduate is basically picking apart opposing defenses week in and week out and is on pace to eclipse Dan Marino's single season passing yardage record set in 1984. After the game, new head coach Tom Cable of Oakland said, "You have to use him as a model if you are the Oakland Raiders." Now 3-3, Brees and the Saints will face an exposed Panthers defense next week and then host a Chargers secondary that gave up 350 yards to Jay Cutler in Week 2. Needless to say, don't expect his numbers to drop.

Weeding through those unwieldy waiver wires requires a keen eye and a quick trigger. Thus, Waiver Wire Wonders provides a weekly snapshot of players worthy of consideration who should be available on a good portion of league waiver wires. Enjoy those pickups...

For all you people out there in fantasy land who insist on perpetually asking "Who is this year's Ryan Grant?" -- week six might have provided your answer. While the waiver wires will likely be relatively quiet this week, there was one Big Montana that will have owners racing to login to those league waivers.

Dominic Rhodes (Indianapolis Colts, RB) - No sense teasing you all any longer, Dominic Rhodes is the gorilla I alluded to in the introduction. Joseph Addai left the game with an "undisclosed" hamstring injury. While it's uncertain at this point how serious this injury is, the "undisclosed" tag is never a good sign. In his place, Rhodes handled 25 carries and gained 73 yards and a touchdown. Get him ASAP if you still can.

Matt Schaub (Houston Texans, QB) - Just days after it looked like Matt Schaub may have lost his job to Sage Rosenfels, Schaub rekindled a magic connection with Andre Johnson and posted giant numbers. He threw for 379 yards and one touchdown and ran for the game winning touchdown on a crafty QB draw. While the two interceptions raise red flags, this offense looked pretty potent. Schaub might not be a bad idea to add for a backup down the stretch.

You had to know at some point that the Dolphins would do this.

The "Wildcat Formation" that has been so successful for the Miami Dolphins has struck for yet another huge play. The formation has featured Ronnie Brown taking the direct snap, Ricky Williams to his wing and Chad Pennington lined up as a receiver. Since implementing it in Week 3, Brown has kept the ball and ran for himself for several touchdowns, he's thrown a TD pass and had Ricky Williams break off some nice runs.

You knew that there was another wrinkle ready and Miami just showed it.

Brown took the snap and immediately handed it off to Ricky Williams. Williams ran parallel to the line of scrimmage looking for an opening. That's when Pennington reversed back behind Ricky, who then pitched the ball back to Pennington. The real quarterback found Patrick Cobbs running free in the Texans secondary and connected for a 53-yard touchdown.

It amazes me how effective this gadget play has worked over the past month for Miami.

One of the more quiet deals during Day 1 of the NFL Draft was Miami trading Lorenzo Booker to the Eagles for a fourth round pick. Booker was selected in the third round of last year's draft, played in just four games but showed he can be a nice third down back.

By the way, Miami used their original fourth round pick hin a deal with Dallas for TE Anthony Fasano and LB Akin Ayodele. Dealing Booker was mainly about the new regime:

"It was really more of a systematic decision," (GM) Ireland said. "I don't think he really fit our system that we're trying to put in place in here. We fielded a call pretty early in the process about him and he's a great kid, he's a playmaker, but at the end of the day he just didn't really the fit the system we're trying to put in place here. We're looking for guys that play a lot of plays, and if you're a third runner it's kind of hard to get that player on the field."

Does this mean that Ricky Williams is still very much in the plans for the Dolphins? Right now, the Phins have Ronnie Brown as the starter with Williams and Patrick Cobbs as the only backups.

Ricky Williams' comeback lasted less time than an ounce of Acapulco Gold at Ricky Williams' house. After a year and a half wandering the globe in search of inner peace and a league that would have him, Williams finally got back into the NFL during last night's slopfest in Pittsburgh. Six carries later it was all over and he'll spend the rest of the season in the trainer's room after tearing his pectoral muscle.

After fumbling, Williams' chest was stepped on in the scramble for the loose ball by Lawrence Timmons of the Steelers. The play seemed incidental, by the way, He returned for one more carry but wasn't seen again as Jesse Chatman, who hurt his neck last night, and Patrick Cobbs handled the running, er, slogging chores for the Dolphins for the rest of the evening. At this rate Larry Csonka will be running the ball for the Dolphins by Week 17.

For Williams this can't help his chances of prolonging his career in 2008. He'll be 31 by the time next season starts and has essentially missed three of the last four seasons. At least he'll have yoga, meditation and other new age pursuits to help him transition to the next stage of life. The rest of us will have to make do with our memories of dreadlocks, wedding dresses, helmeted interviews and enough weed jokes to last a lifetime.