FanHouse TedGinn

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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With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.

A year ago, the Dolphins were coming off a 1-15 record and had locked up Jake Long with the first-overall pick a week before the 2008 draft. Now, one year into Bill Parcells' Reclamation Project, Miami is 11-5, defending AFC East champs, and hold the 25th selection in Saturday's draft.

Franchise tags and salary-cap concerns play a very important role in real-world wheelings and dealings, but what if the biggest-named free agents were matched with the teams that gave them the best chance to make a Super Bowl run? What would that list look like? Glad you asked.

Yes, this is a strictly fictional account, one that requires you to suspend reality for the next few minutes. But, hey, it's the NFL offseason, which means that there won't be any meaningful football for another seven months. What else do you have to do?

The Rams were a significantly better team on Sunday than they had been the past three games. That team was easily worse than the Detroit Lions, but it seemed like Steven Jackson being back changed the complexion of everything, including the defense and special teams. Well, everything except the man taking snaps.

Jackson ran the ball 21 times and gained 94 yards. Josh Brown and Donnie Jones were excellent kicking and punting, and the defense held the Miami Dolphins to only 16 points. Alas, it still wasn't enough for a Rams victory. Marc Bulger -- despite good run support from Jackson and Antonio Pittman -- was simply dreadful. He connected on less than half his pass attempts and was intercepted three times -- including a game-ender on their last-gasp attempt, when he badly overthrew Derek Stanley.

A head-to-head battle between the top two draft picks was also of interest. Jake Long was squaring off against Chris Long. Considering Chris didn't record a single stat, it would appear Jake got the best of Howie's kid. It was a close matchup, though, as Chris wasn't severely abused by any means. Both have worlds of potential in this league moving forward.

Twenty-four hours ago, the Dolphins were 6-4, and one game out of the wild card race. A 20-point loss and some Sweet Valley High action later, Miami is 6-5, wondering where it all went wrong, and have a lot of work to do to keep (the playoff) hope alive for January.

Making things tougher: the team will be without its leading receiver, Greg Camarillo, who's done for the year after suffering a knee injury in the fourth quarter. Head coach Tony Sparano was very matter-of-fact about the whole thing: "It's hard. You don't want to lose a player like him. Somebody has to pick up the slack.''

Not sure who that somebody will be; Ted Ginn is the obvious choice, but who becomes the No. 2 option, Ernest Wilford? That was a joke. Of course he doesn't. Rookie Davone Bess has been a pleasant surprise, hauling in 24 passes in spot duty.

Twenty-four hours ago, the Dolphins were 6-4, and one game out of the wild card race. A 20-point loss and some Sweet Valley High action later, Miami is 6-5, wondering where it all went wrong, and have a lot of work to do to keep (the playoff) hope alive for January.

Making things tougher: the team will be without its leading receiver, Greg Camarillo, who's done for the year after suffering a knee injury in the fourth quarter. Head coach Tony Sparano was very matter-of-fact about the whole thing: "It's hard. You don't want to lose a player like him. Somebody has to pick up the slack.''

Not sure who that somebody will be; Ted Ginn is the obvious choice, but who becomes the No. 2 option, Ernest Wilford? That was a joke. Of course he doesn't. Rookie Davone Bess has been a pleasant surprise, hauling in 24 passes in spot duty.

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.

Hey, I'm with you. I want to scream today as I hear the name, "Lee Evans." He was in my active lineup on two different teams gathering a nice and plump goose-egg. What's funny about fantasy sports is how we end up hating guys about whom we normally wouldn't bat an eye, and most of the time it's not even their fault. Evans barely even got targeted last night because Trent Edwards was overly quick in checking down through his progressions. He was terrified to throw the ball downfield, which, I guess, is what throwing three picks early in the game will do to you.

Either way, I still don't want to give up on Evans. The Bills face the Chiefs, Niners, Dolphins, Jets, and Broncos for the rest of the fantasy season, and that's hardly a murderer's row of pass defenses. If the offensive line can get any sort of pass protection for Edwards -- and they should, considering the running game from last night should attract attention -- Evans will begin slipping through secondaries again.

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.


Joe Flacco - That was a great game, and any fantasy owners who were likely forced to starting him ended up delighted. The Ravens, however, win the game by running the football and playing defense. Their matchups don't even matter moving forward, because Flacco's never going to be a reliable starter in fantasy.

Deuce McAllister - Deuce paid off this past week for fantasy owners, but I'm weary about him moving forward. It's possible he's suspended for this whole steroid fiasco, and the Saints have a bye this week. That's two full weeks in which the NFL could decide upon a punishment. Also, Reggie Bush isn't out much longer. All owners know when Bush is coming back, at which point Deuce loses all his value. That means now is the perfect time to deal him.

David Garrard - He's the hot hand right now, and the Bengals and Lions are on tap for the next two weeks ... hold him. Please.

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 8 at a glance, where we point out the horses destined for the Kentucky Derby and jeer those headed to the glue factory.

Studs

Roddy White, WR Atlanta (8 catches, 113 yards, 2 TDs) -- I think it's worth noting that this is the second straight game I've played against Roddy White in fantasy and the second straight game I found myself asking a friend "Is his first name really Roddy?" Quickly becoming Matt Ryan's -- My New Favorite Player (MNFP) -- favorite target has the Falcons offense looking better than most would have guessed. While I try to avoid adding a losing player to the Studs, this guy deserves it. Sad news though Roddy, you had to play against ....

The Miami Dolphins were a laughingstock last season. Going 1-15 will do that. But the 2008 Dolphins are doing a lot of laughing right now.

Sure, their 3-4 record isn't going to scare anybody, but it is three times the amount of wins they had all of last year. And two of those three wins are against the two teams people feel are the favorites to win Miami's AFC East: the Patriots and Bills.

The Dolphins got it together and dominated late in their 25-16 victory over the Buffalo Bills. Ted Ginn Jr. set a career high with 175 yards receiving, which was a major part of Chad Pennington's 314 yards passing attack -- his first 300-yard game since 2006. Miami scored the game's final 18 points to get the win.