FanHouse Seneca Wallace

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The psyche and impressive football will of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck seems as if it's held together by iron and steel. His body? It's simply not as impervious as his mental makeup.

Those cracked ribs, the chronic disc injury in his back, a sore right shoulder and assorted other aches that would put most NFL quarterbacks on the sideline did not make Hasselbeck a spectator in a runaway 38-17 Dallas Cowboys' victory over Seattle on Sunday at Cowboys Stadium.

When Cowboys defensive end Jason Hatcher plowed into Hasselbeck following a short 3rd-down completion to Deion Branch late in the third quarter, the Seahawks' gritty quarterback crumpled to the turf, grabbing his still-damaged ribcage and signaling to the sideline that his right shoulder also was injured.

Every week we're taking a look at sacks around the league. We looked at Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' sack problem in our main Between the Lines feature this week, but here are some other notes from Week Four.

• If a Dan Marino-style quick release is an offensive lineman's best friend, Seneca Wallace is becoming a lineman's worst nightmare. Wallace stepped out of bounds for a sack on a play where he could have easily thrown the ball away for an incompletion for the second time in two games. In this case, Wallace rolled out of the pocket and had plenty of time to throw. Eventually linebacker Freddy Keiaho, who wasn't a rusher on the play, came up to force Wallace to make up his mind. Instead of simply tossing the ball out of bounds (he was out of the pocket so any pass beyond the line of scrimmage would have not drawn an intentional grounding penalty), Wallace stepped out of bounds five yards behind the line of scrimmage. It goes into the books as the easiest sack of Keiaho's career, and clearly angered the Seahawks' offensive line--center Chris Spencer is seen throwing up his arms in disbelief at the end of the play.

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.

Another week, another batch of surprises. Week 4 acted more as a solidifying week with a number of past luminaries cementing their values, but as always we still saw plenty of activity to keep us busy: a newbie with a funny name emerges, a couple of horrible offenses provide D/ST plays, and a number of position players make their way onto the radar.

Each week, FanHouse takes a deeper look at the obvious -- and not so obvious -- options for your NFL suicide pool. Standard rules apply: pick one team to win straight up (no point spreads), and each team may only be used once.

If you were alive in your pool heading into Week 3, then it's pretty much a given that you're alive as we get ready for Week 4. With no major surprises, and with the obvious pick in the Ravens cruising to an easy blowout victory, even the most inexperienced of players couldn't help but advance.

While there might not be one team that sticks out as the clear-cut, obvious choice this week, a few games should provide the opportunity to make it safely to Week 5. Let's take a look.

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. We call it The Once-Over.

The Early Games

Tampa Bay (0-3) at Washington (1-2): With the Buccaneers winless this season and looking back at their final four losses to end last season, Tampa Bay hasn't won a regular season game since November 30, 2008. Add to that the fact that a new quarterback, Josh Johnson, is taking over for the Bucs and Antonio Bryant still isn't positive he'll play, and the horizon is bleak in Tampa.

Jim Zorn's days seem numbered in Washington. He lost to Detroit last week, which hadn't won since 2007. It might be the kiss of death if he drops a home game to Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Pick: Washington

Since arriving in Chicago, Jay Cutler's been fighting the stigma that he's more of a stat-monger than a winner. The only way to change the feelings of the general public is to go out and win tough games. Anyone can look good during a blowout of an inferior opponent.

For the second consecutive week, Cutler has won close games in come-from-behind fashion. Last week, he led the Bears on a 72-yard, game-tying touchdown drive and then a 41-yard game-winning field goal drive against the Steelers. Sunday afternoon, Cutler brought the Bears back from an early 13-0 deficit to lead 17-13. The Bears lost the lead, but that was of no consequence, as Cutler again led them on a game-winning drive.

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Need a last-minute fill-in for this week? 4th and 26 is here to throw you a couple deep sleepers, guys available in at least 90% of Fleaflicker leagues that could give your fantasy football team a big boost.

I've got to tell you, I must have Wes Welker in virtually every fantasy football league I play in this year. When news broke during our Sunday Tailgate chat (which we do every Sunday starting at 10:30 AM ET), I had many rosters that needed some last second altering. If you're in a deep league (one of those leagues I needed a fill-in was a 16-teamer), you might have to go scraping the bottom of the FA barrel at the last second. Here are some guys that might help.

You unlucky Donovan McNabb owners now have a partner in misery -- the Matt Hasselbeck owners. While he hasn't been formally ruled out of Sunday's game against Chicago, it's highly unlikely he'll play. That means Seneca Wallace would step in for a start -- and that's actually not a bad thing. Wallace did very well starting over the second half of the season, and I think he might actually put up better numbers than Hasselbeck.

The unluckiest among you are without both McNabb and Hasselbeck this week, which assigns extra importance to this week's set of QB rankings. Do you pick up Wallace, Kevin Kolb, or another free-agent QB?

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Everyone loves fantasy football sleepers, but they change depending on league size and availability. We're here each and every week to give you a look at good plays for all types of leagues.

I encouraged you last week to add some Buccaneers, and my main sleeper pick for the week, Byron Leftwich, came up big in his game against Buffalo. Leftwich threw for nearly 300 yards and three TDs, scoring 21.8 points in my Fleaflicker league. Cadillac Williams did most of his damage through the air, catching seven passes for 56 yards and a TD. I also gave you deep-leaguer Pierre Garcon, who caught a 48-yard TD in the Monday night game. The rest of the sleepers didn't come up big, but we'll try and do better right now.

Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck didn't know what exactly was wrong with him after the Niners Patrick Willis delivered a blow to his back Sunday, he just knew that it hurt.

"I couldn't breathe," Hasselbeck told reporters Monday. "I knew immediately that I couldn't breathe."

Hasselbeck suffered the injury as he dove for the goal line in the second quarter. He started to walk to the sidelines after the hit, then crumpled to the ground in pain. Backup QB Seneca Wallace through a touchdown pass to Julius Jones on the next play -- San Francisco won the game, 23-10.