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.
Everyone makes mistakes. But when those mistakes are magnified by intense scrutiny of the NFL draft, well, they become much more embarrassing than, say, my typical Friday morning, mustard-stain-on-khakis incident.
Which is why the NFL FanHouse braintrust got together to determine who is the biggest bust for each NFL team. They're not listed in terms of stupidity -- they're all stupid relative to a team's total draft performance. Meaning, of course, some teams "bust" is much different than another organization's; we did it this way to avoid just linking you to DetroitLions.com.
Instead, we're putting it in current draft order, sans trades, and allowing this list to serve as a reminder of each's team's ability to properly execute a fail. The "bust factor" was based primarily on three things: statistical production (or lack thereof), position in the draft and other available options during that year's draft.
Atlanta Falcons running back Michael Turner was reportedly involved in a domestic dispute. Gwinnett County Police responded to a call Monday evening that involved Turner and the mother of his infant child, though no arrests were made.
Gwinnett County Police Corp. David Schiralli said police responded to a call between 7 and 8 p.m. EST Monday, but he would not identify the woman or the site of the incident.
Police made no arrests and do not plan to file charges.
"There is not enough probable cause for us to proceed any further," Schiralli said.
No charges is good news for Atlanta. Turner was the NFL's second-leading rusher this year with 1,699 yards and 16 touchdowns. His Pro-Bowl effort help earn the Falcons an improbable wildcard berth. Only Eric Dickerson and Ricky Williams rushed for more TDs in their first season with a new team.
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
Tampa Bay (9-4) at Atlanta (8-5): It is nice that the the NFC South is playing Nikki Hilton to the NFC East's Paris, creating a competitive rivalry for best division in the league. The South is professional, successful and downright fun to watch, as you could see Monday night. I am still riding the "Matt Ryan for MVP" train directly into the station, and he is getting a lot of help from the likes of Brett Favre, Drew Brees and Kurt Warner, who haven't exactly been lighting it up the last few weeks. Both are coming off a loss last week, so if either one of these teams want to keep playoff hopes alive, they must card a victory.
Explain this to me -- we have flex scheduling but can't make this one a primetime event? I don't get it.
The Bills and Dolphins square off in Toronto this Sunday, and Ricky Williams is definitely looking forward to a return. He played one year for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, and, apparently, really enjoyed himself.
Williams enjoyed the five-hour work days of the CFL, versus the more rigorous 8-9 hour NFL days. He truly loved living with his family in downtown Toronto, within walking distance of his favorite Thai restaurant, yoga studio and homeopathic store.
Well, no one ever accused Ricky of committing himself to being the best football player he could be, so this is hardly shocking. Of course, there are plenty of other things to do in Miami than just play football. Could the shorter work day really be that important? Actually, I'm sure it was, but there's more.
"In America I think people sometimes you're frowned at when you try to be an individual and be yourself,'' Williams said.
FanHouse fantasy positional rankings are compiled weekly by the staff in order to provide answers to possible lineup questions. These are assuming most leagues use Fleaflicker's standard scoring structure. If you need clarification, you need more players ranked, or have funky league rules, feel free to shoot us an email question.
The Chicago Bears are terrible against the pass, and own the NFL's fifth-best run defense. An amateur would look at these figures and take Adrian Peterson down a few steps due to the matchup. The problem is that Peterson is special. He's only really had one off-game all year -- an aberration against the Saints on Monday Night Football where he was completely bottled up by a terrible defense. Other than that, he's had at least 77 yards on the ground in each game, and averaged at least 4.4 yards per carry.
Oh yeah, and -- as the title laid out -- he does own the Chicago Bears. In three career starts, he's compiled downright stupid numbers against them. I'm talking about 423 yards on 62 carries and seventouchdowns. In three games. So his average game against the Bears is 141 ground yards and a couple of scores. And a yawn.
The Miami Dolphins, who stunk up the joint during the 1-15 season a year ago, are entering Week 11 with a winning record. That's right! Miami is just one game back of the AFC East lead.
I cannot explain it. If you watched yesterday's Dolphins win over the Seahawks, you couldn't point to any reason they are 5-4 either. All three of their TDs came on trick plays. A flea-flicker produced a 39-yard touchdown pass to Ted Ginn while the Wildcat offense produced TD runs from both Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown. Aside from that, the Miami offense really wasn't anything to write home about.
The defense did come up with some huge plays -- not the least of which was a batted down 2-point conversion pass late in the game. But the Seattle receivers helped them out by dropping five passes ... including an easy would-be touchdown to Koren Robinson. Even that defensed 2-point conversion has aided by a Seahawks false start penalty on the previous play.
Who cares? Whatever they are doing has put them at 5-4 and in the thick of the playoff chase.
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.
Let's be honest here, Ricky Williams likes him some pot. Like many people enjoy chocolate or caffeine or heroin in the morning, Ricky likes to smoke a little and relax. That's his thing, and it hasn't worked out so well for him in the past.
That is why you have to be a little surprised (and impressed) when you hear that even though he felt the urge to sit back with a baggy and a bong, he didn't during the Dolphins bye week.
"Thursday, coach told us we had Friday off, so automatically your mind, which is so constrained since training camp began -- every day is a grind, it's a grind, it's a grind -- and then Coach says `you're free.' And the mind says, `I'm free, what can I do?'
``So there was definitely an urge. But I just thought about what I have to lose and it was easy. The urge didn't last very long.''
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 face-mask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's our new feature, Studs and Duds: Here's Week 3 at a glance, where we point out the horses destined for the Kentucky Derby and jeer those headed to the glue factory.
For once, T.J. Houshmandzadeh made fans think about a Bengals receiver and not hear the "Cops" theme playing in the background.
Elsa, Getty Images
Perhaps Jared DeVries and the Lions should just consider crossing over the Ambassador Bridge and trying to play some Canadian Football League teams. That way, they might win one once in a while.
Jeff Chiu, AP
Ronnie Brown did it all against the Patriots, rushing for four touchdowns and even throwing for another one as the Dolphins handed New England their first regular-season loss since 2006.
Michael Dwyer, AP
Ben Roethlisberger may be ready to sue his offensive line for non-support, as the Eagles' pass rush harassed the quarterback all game and knocked the star out of the game.
Hunter Martin, Getty Images
The Bills are 3-0 for the first time since the Thurman Thomas days, and they have another talented back to thank. Lynch ran in a pair of touchdowns and helped keep the ball moving as Buffalo rallied to beat Oakland.
Rick Stewart, Getty Images
Maybe Tom Brady is the prozac for Randy Moss, as with the Patriots' star quarterback out with injury, the Pats' receiver seems to have reverted into his sullen Oakland ways.
Jim Rogash, Getty Images
Thanks to Derek Anderson's struggles, Brady Quinn might actually get to put down that clipboard and begin to try to become the franchise quarterback many thought he'd become.
Scott Boehm, Getty Images
Martin Gramatica had the game on his foot against the Broncos. Unfortunately for Martin, his kick was wider than Hurricane Ike's wrath.
Doug Pensinger, Getty Images
Studs
Ronnie Brown, RB Miami (17 rushes, 113 yards, 4 TDs, 1 Passing TD) -- Most of the time, if you can find the end zone on five separate occasions and do so against the Patriots, you will most likely make this list. Brown had a combined 48 yards in his first two games but came out of the gates this week like a new man. Ricky Williams need not worry, he added 98 yards to the Dolphins rushing attack.
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. 
Atlanta Falcons running back 
The Bills and Dolphins square off in Toronto this Sunday, and 
The Miami Dolphins, who stunk up the joint during the 1-15 season a year ago, are entering Week 11 with a winning record. That's right! Miami is just one game back of the AFC East lead.
You had to know at some point that the Dolphins would do this.
