FanHouse Aaron Stecker

On Tuesday the Atlanta Falcons placed 2009 second-round draft pick William Moore on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.

Moore, who Atlanta thought would be ready to immediately help at safety from day one, has been battling injuries since training camp. The 55th-overall selection from Missouri had knee surgery at the beginning of camp, only to recover and hurt his hamstring shortly thereafter. Moore battled through two hamstring tweaks this season before finally succumbing to the final blow that landed the 24-year-old on the injured reserve list.

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 Detroit Lions have allowed 17 rushing touchdowns this season. They are allowing an average of 5.1 yards per carry and 171.5 yards per game. The Carolina Panthers just embarrassed them with heavy doses of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart.

Warrick Dunn is taking over duties for Earnest Graham, who was recently placed on the IR -- ending his season. With Cadillac Williams still not up to speed and no other overly talented options, Dunn is going to get over 20 touches this weekend in Detroit.

When you get that many touches against the Lions' sieve of a run defense, you are a top ten fantasy option. Get him active in all formats.

More notes after the rankings.

1. Adrian Peterson, at JAX
2. LaDanian Tomlinson, vs. IND
3. Marion Barber, vs. SF
4. Matt Forte, at StL
5. Marshawn Lynch, at KC

Reggie Bush is a very unique individual when it comes to his impact on an offense. Even when Tom Brady went down, the Patriots were plugging in a backup to the same position. Obviously, Matt Cassel isn't near the QB Brady is, so the ripples felt through the team and league were significant. The point is, though, that the offense didn't change.

With Bush going down, the entire offensive complexion of the Saints is forced to change, because the dynamic Bush impacts the game on every play. Even when he doesn't touch the ball, the defense must pay attention to him. That element is now going to be missing from the Saints offense for at least the next two games.

So what does Sean Payton do? Does he try to plug Aaron Stecker -- the most comparable player left on the roster -- into the Bush-role? The defense doesn't exactly jump to Stecker the way they would Bush. The other option is to run a traditional offense until Bush gets back. Deuce McAllister would jump into the feature back role, with Pierre Thomas available to spell him, and Stecker picking up third and long duties.

Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.

Meet the ...
The Shootouts (it sounds nicer than the "Aints"). Not that New Orleans can't be good -- they can. And they're a nice unit for fantasy football teams, because, in theory, they have a ton of offense. But theorizing is fine until you end up burning through three top 50 picks, which is what Drew Brees, Marques Colston and Reggie Bush will cost you.

The Breakout
Perhaps I'm being old fashioned, but Deuce McAllister seems to me like the best possible "breakout" option on this team. Sure, he's gone through more ACL's than Alonzo Mourning has kidneys, but the Saints can't function without a strong between the tackles runner. Oh, and he "don't cost nuthin'!" Which, to me, is the ideal scenario for finding a breakout -- cheap, easy and late.

The Bust
I thought that people had stopped sweating Bush, but judging from his ADP (30), I guess not. Seriously, he's going 30th. (30!!!) It just goes to show how much potential, upside, etc can drive someone's fantasy value. Anywho, I wouldn't draft Reginald with your pick, personally. What justifies taking him? The 3.7 YPC last year or the 3.6 the year before? Granted, the 80+ catches per year are nice, and he's a nice RB2 in PPR leagues but let someone else fall prey.

To get you ready for week 17, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is the New Orleans Saints/Chicago Bears preview.

2007 Records:

New Orleans Saints: 7-8 (2nd in NFC South)
Chicago Bears: 6-9 (4th in NFC North)

Last Week:

Eagles 38, Saints 23
Bears 35, Packers 7

When the Saints have the ball: If the Saints want to keep their slim playoff hopes alive they'll need to win Sunday and then get help from the Broncos and Cowboys. If they want to win, they'll need to throw the ball early and often. While Aaron Stecker has done a fair job of filling in for Deuce McCallister and a better job than Reggie Bush, the Bears are most vulnerable through the air. Mark Anderson and Nathan Vasher are both on IR, limiting Chicago's pass rush and their coverage, and the Saints have shown that they can spread the ball around when Sean Payton looks beyond his predilection for screen passes. The weather looks like it will cooperate this week, Mother Nature was the 12th man in Chicago's performance last weekend, which will make it that much tougher for them to hang with the Saints offense. New Orleans will need to account for Brian Urlacher, however. After a middling season, Urlacher's played his best two games in the last two weeks and would love to spoil New Orleans' season.

Reggie Bush has torn his PCL and will likely not start this Monday against the Falcons. In fact, there's a significant chance that he won't play again the rest of the season. From a "real" football perspective, you have to hope he gets better and you also have to wonder about the timing of this whole thing, given things and stuff that may or may not be surrounding his time at Southern Cal.

From a fantasy perspective, you should be relieved. (Look, it's a business. You want the babes, fame and cash that come with it, you gotta be cutthroat.) What has this guy done for you since you made him your early first/late second round pick this season? Because if six total touchdowns, eight fumbles, a 3.7 yard per carry total and under 1,000 yards from scrimmage sound like fun to you, well, invite me to join your Suckball league next year, will ya? And he's too explosive and potential-riddled to find the bench or be droppable, so you were staring down a nightmare of having to start him in the playoffs.

Bush has been a total and complete bust in 2008 after breaking out during the second half of last season, and while some of it might be attributed to Sean Payton checking down his passing attack, there's a large portion of me that wants to keep pointing out how smart the Texans were for taking Mario Williams. But that's not really relevant to this discussion.

You have two to four weeks left - if Bush is the only wiggle room you've got on your roster, drop him. Grab Aaron Stecker, especially if you have playoffs in week 17 as the Saints get the Bears. Otherwise, wait until Bush's meeting with Dr. James Andrews before cutting him loose. Oh yeah, and pat yourself on the back if you're anywhere near the playoffs after drafting this guy.

Previously on Fanhouse: Reggie Bush's Disappointing Season Over?
Reggie Bush Speaks ... And So Do Some of His Teammates