FanHouse Pierre Thomas

We're back, albeit a few days late. Matt Snyder and Tom Herrera bring you the weekly FanHouse fantasy football podcast on a Saturday this week, for various administrative reasons -- none of which have anything to do with fantasy football. We will discuss the return of Brian Westbrook and Calvin Johnson. Snyder defends his love of Steve Slaton, even in the face of adversity, we talk about how Austin Collie is who everyone thought Anthony Gonzalez would be and, finally, why Herrera recently had a Seinfeldian experience in New York (not really, but Snyder is Seinfeld obsessed). Take a listen after the jump.

Am I scared about the prospects of Steve Slaton losing carries to Ryan Moats (and even Chris Brown)? Absolutely. I'm more concerned about the overreactions from across the fantasy football world. Sure, I took it on the chin with Slaton in one league, but last week was hardly indicative of what will transpire from here on out.

Consider the following:
- If Gary Kubiak was going to send a message to his second-year running back with problems holding onto the football, what better opponent than the league's worst run defense?

- Slaton shredded the Colts in Indy last year, and that was without Matt Schaub at the helm to take pressure off him.

- Frank Gore got loose for a 64-yard touchdown against the Colts and added 43 receiving yards. Slaton is faster, more elusive and a better pass-catcher than Gore.

So, yeah, of course last week made me worried about Slaton. But I live by the "no guts, no glory" credo. You'll find Slaton in my top 15. You can have Ryan Moats.

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Every Tuesday night, we'll give you an update on our FanHouse fantasy football league. Who hit on their sleepers? Who made the shrewd pickups? Who's practicing what they preach? In 'House Check, you'll find out.

It sure is nice to be Tom Mantzouranis these days. The FanHouse editor and unabashed Saints fan is witnessing what is probably the best New Orleans Saints team in history. And even though he showed a lot of homerism at our fantasy draft, the picks of Drew Brees, Pierre Thomas and the Saints defense are sure working out, even if a few of them may have seemed overdrafted at the time.

Mantzouranis (owner of My Soul Belongs To Breesus) is currently the only 6-2 team in the FanHouse league, so this may be a magical season for Tom in more ways than one.

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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 England (4-2) at Tampa Bay (0-6): Tom Brady threw for six touchdown passes last week, five in one quarter alone. And to be honest, it gets easier for him this week in London against the Bucs. Expect fireworks from the Patriots offense, as Brady is beginning to click with Randy Moss, and he's extremely happy that Wes Welker is back in action.

On defense, the Buccaneers don't have the speed or skill at the cornerback position to defend against Brady and the Patriots' aerial attack. On offense, the Bucs are young and inexperienced -- especially at the quarterback position where Josh Johnson is already looking in the rear-view mirror at competition from Josh Freeman.

Pick: New England

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

• Eli Manning, Giants - Manning was limited in practice on Thursday but the Giants say it was by design. He's expected to play all four quarters against the Saints on Sunday.

• Matthew Stafford, Lions - Stafford did not practice on Thursday due to his knee injury and will likely not play on Sunday.

For obvious reasons, it's hard for us to let go of LaDainian Tomlinson as an elite fantasy football running back. This was a guy who gained at least 1,776 yards from scrimmage and scored at least 15 times from 2002-2007 -- with peaks being 2,370 total yards and 31 total touchdowns. Yet, he's reached age 30 and has fallen from his lofty perch atop the fantasy world.

Now, after a bye week to lick his mental and physical wounds, we're left wondering if we're gonna see the LdT of old, or just an old LdT. He's got a tough task against the upstart Denver defense, who check in as the sixth-ranked run defense in the NFL and have only allowed 3.3 yards per carry. If Tomlinson appears to have his old burst and agility but doesn't pile up the stats, he'll be a good buy-low with the Chiefs and Raiders on deck. If not, well, have fun keeping the faith. You'll be doing it without me.

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Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.

Thanks to Michael Rand over at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune via the Florida Times-Union, we now know why Mike Sims-Walker mysteriously no-showed for last week's blunder of a football game in Seattle. Apparently, Sims-Walker "missed his bed check," while cavorting with a female friend.

I'm sure Sims-Walker owners -- as well as Jacksonville fans -- would find this story a lot more amusing if it did not occur in the 41-0 utter derailing of the Jaguars at the hands of the Seahawks. In the aftermath of Week 5, owners are dropping David Garrard like a cafeteria tray and Maurice Jones-Drew exploded in a press conference, calling himself the second-highest paid "decoy" in the league. Comically, he also managed to slip a brutal jab in at Reggie Bush as being he top paid decoy in the league.

Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.

We kinda saw this coming. Wouldn't it be nice if Calvin Johnson could transform like the real Megatron and withstand even the most crushing blows? Alas, he's human just like the rest of the stars our fantasy football team depends on. After taking a beating against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Johnson limped off the field with a right knee injury, his second ailment in the past two weeks. Now his status is very up in the air heading into what would be a great matchup with Green Bay. Is it time to get worried about our silver-and-blue crusader?

Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.

In the months of November and December of last year, Pierre Thomas had a coming-out party. He scored nine times in those two months and vaulted his fantasy value into the Top 20 of many fantasy football pundits' preseason rankings.

Unfortunately for fantasy owners that grabbed him early, Thomas missed the first two weeks of play with a knee injury. While gone, Mike Bell stepped into his place and ran extremely well. But, in a twisted turn of events, Thomas became healthy enough to play in Week 3 and Mike Bell has since injured his knee.