FanHouse Ben Roethlisberger

If you're a Steelers fan, there were a lot of things in Sunday's loss to the Chiefs that would drive a man to drink, but in rewatching the game with an eye on the offensive line play, there was one disappointing aspect that may have been missed when watching the game live.

After not getting any sacks in the first 55 minutes of the game, Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger was sacked three times in the final three minutes of regulation. The first sack came on a third down, forcing the Steelers to punt while the third sack, also on third down, ended Pittsburgh's chances of keeping the game from going to overtime.

Now the frustrating part was that both of those third-down sacks came on the exact same blitz call by the Chiefs, both of which took advantage of a flaw in the Steelers' blocking scheme.

The grueling grind of the season is beginning to take its toll on a number of QBs, as several starters have suffered injuries and could potentially miss this week's game. I've tried to factor each injury into these rankings, but we'll likely need a few updates once we have a clearer picture on the health of Ben Roethlisberger and Kurt Warner for Sunday's games, and Kyle Orton and Matthew Stafford for Thursday's games (though I'm almost certain Stafford won't play).

1. Aaron Rodgers, GB at DET
2. Brett Favre, MIN vs. CHI
3. Tom Brady, NE at NO
4. Kurt Warner, ARI at TEN
5. Matt Schaub, HOU vs. IND

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

Sunday was a tough day for quarterbacks, but it wasn't until Monday afternoon that the fallout from the Week 11 injuries started coming to light. Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger received good news and may be able to play in Week 12. The same can't be said for Marc Bulger and Matthew Stafford.

If I gave out a tough-man award each week, I would have no trouble handing the hardware to Stafford for his heroics on Detroit's final game-winning drive. Stafford sprained his shoulder on the next-to-final play on Sunday and John Niyo of The Detroit News says he will likely miss the Lions' Week 12 game on Thanksgiving day.

Did the injury bug hit your fantasy football team like it was a car windshield moving at 100 MPH? If so, it may be time to do some Damage Control.

Quarterback

• Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers - Even though he was knocked out of the game during the overtime period with a concussion, Roethlisberger was cleared to fly home and early indications seem promising for a quick return.

• Marc Bulger, Rams - After the game, Bulger told the media that he had an injured groin and hamstring. It was a few shots to the head that has the Rams coaching staff worried. Bulger did not suffer a concussion but seemed woozy at times down the stretch. (Update: Bulger is out three to six weeks with a knee injury.)

The NFL season officially hit the homestretch late in the second quarter in Denver on Sunday when Josh McDaniels, his Broncos trailing San Diego 13-0, inserted gimpy starting quarterback Kyle Orton for struggling backup Chris Simms.

Denver lost, 32-3, although the offense did get better with Orton leading it.

But that's not the point. The point is that McDaniels, whose team had lost three in a row coming in, felt Sunday's game was so critical that he needed to insert Orton and risk further injury to the ligaments in the QB's ankle, even with another game coming up in four days. It's like George Allen's old slogan for the Redskins of the 70s: "The future is now.'' Except that Allen's slogan worked a lot better than Orton worked for the Broncos -- he certainly was better than Simms, but it didn't matter much.

After nearly throwing for 400 yards for the third time in his career (he hit on 32 of 42 passes for 398 yards and two touchdowns), quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had to leave the Steelers game in overtime with what appeared to be either a right shoulder or head injury. The Steelers would eventually lose to the Chiefs without him, 27-24.

On a sack in overtime, Roethlisberger was sandwiched between Kansas City's Derrick Johnson and Andy Studebaker and laid on the ground for a few minutes before being helped off the field. He was replaced by Charlie Batch, who did help the Steelers gain one first down before Pittsburgh had to punt.

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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 Orleans (9-0) at Tampa Bay (1-8): New Orleans was tested last week -- in fact, they've been tested in each of their last four games. Drew Brees has thrown seven interceptions and only six touchdown passes in those four games. You can expect the Saints to come out on Sunday and look to clean up their act a bit on offense as they play a divisional foe who doesn't have the arsenal to put up much of a fight.

Josh Freeman's play since taking over at quarterback is giving hope for the future in Tampa. He's thrown four touchdown passes and only two interceptions and seems to enjoy throwing to Kellen Winslow who has 11 receptions in his last two games. The Saints defense is a little beaten up, but should be able to hold off the Buccaneers on Sunday.

Pick: New Orleans

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

• Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers - Roethlisberger is not listed on the injury report, but he sat out parts of practice on Thursday with his elbow wrapped. He is expected to play on Sunday, but questions of a sore arm have definitely surfaced.

Your No. 1 QB overall isn't Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. It isn't Drew Brees or early-season hero Matt Schaub either. It's the one and only Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers presents the perfect example of why it's unnecessary to draft a QB in the first two rounds. He was a late-third or early-fourth round pick in most leagues and he's performing just as well as the big boys.

Sure, Brady and Manning offer you peace of mind, but with the RB and WR rankings constantly in flux, it's a much better idea to load up on talent at each of those positions, then snag a QB like Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Kurt Warner, Donovan McNabb or Tony Romo a bit later. You could probably win your league with one of these guys and a good group of RBs and WRs. Teams with Manning or Brady and a weaker group of RBs and WRs will likely have more trouble in the playoffs.

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"Why does the subjective rating of one NFL team compared to another move folks to anger?'' a fan named Aron Galonsky tweeted to Bob Glauber of Newsday this week after another fan had complained vociferously about Bob's rating of New England over Cincinnati.

"I do not know,'' Bob tweeted back.

Very good question and a very good answer. It's an exchange that makes me wonder why we bother to rate teams every week when the NFL, unlike major college football, has playoffs and a Super Bowl. Actually, I sort of know the answer because when I started in the business, an editor told me "people love lists,'' something I've learned on my own over the years.

Which gets me to this week's top and bottom six and, coincidentally, why I might rate New England higher than Cincinnati this week. (I'm still thinking about it as I write this.)