FanHouse Chris Brown

If you write about the Houston Texans, the No. 1 question you get from fans and fantasy football types is what's up with Steve Slaton? In the last game against the atrocious run defense of the Buffalo Bills, Slaton was benched after only one catch and carry because he fumbled the ball. Yet again. Slaton has a league-high seven fumbles for the year.

Coach Gary Kubiak was up front about the benching, talking about it to Slaton and the team: "I told Steve in the locker room to get his chin up. This team needs him playing well and making plays and I'm expecting him to come right back next week and help us."

Every Tuesday night, we'll give you an update on our FanHouse fantasy football league. Who hit on their sleepers? Who made the shrewd pickups? Who's practicing what they preach? In 'House Check, you'll find out.

Some teams struggle through the bye weeks, limping to a few wins here and there while trying to keep up with the competition. Some people make move after move, searching for a winning combination to turn a season around. Those people are not Will Brinson.

Will took down the previous high-scoring team this week, winning his fifth straight game after starting the season 0-2, with a ragtag bunch including workhorse back Cedric Benson and emerging No. 1 WR Sidney Rice. Other teams might fold when WR1 Greg Jennings struggles, but Brinson perseveres.

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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 percent of Fleaflicker leagues that could give your fantasy football team a big boost.

Our friends in PPR leagues were probably happy with last week's selections in this column, as Dennis Northcutt, Keenan Burton and Julian Edelman all caught at least five balls in Week 6, albeit for limited yardage. This week we'll try to hit on players at other positions as well.

Remember to stop by our Sunday Tailgate chat later this morning with your fantasy questions for Week 7.

Every Tuesday night, we'll give you an update on our FanHouse fantasy football league. Who hit on their sleepers? Who made the shrewd pickups? Who's practicing what they preach? In 'House Check, you'll find out.

With a somewhat subdued NFL trade deadline coming up, the FanHouse league saw a huge trade itself. Matt Snyder traded Andre Johnson away to Doug Bernstein's team, and Snyder picked up Steven Jackson. This was a great trade for both sides, as Ray Rice moves into the RB2 role for Doug, while Snyder's best RB was Joseph Addai. After one week, the clear winner is ... nobody. Johnson put up 135 yards and no TDs, while Jackson notched 128 yards with no TDs.

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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.

Not a whole lot to report on the wires, as the bulk of the action came from repeat appearances by players solidifying their values and abating consistency concerns. For the third week in a row, the wide receiver position provided the most compelling action, so check the waivers to see if you can still catch these trains or if you waited too long at the newsstand flipping through the US Weekly and missed them.

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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.

Whether you're an unlucky Pierre Thomas owner that was late to the free-agent pool for Mike Bell, or someone looking for a Kevin Walter replacement for the week, time is running short to find a player to plug into your lineup. If you're in a standard-sized league, you should have plenty of options -- just check out this week's Passed Out at Your Desk for some. But if you play in a deep league, the FA pool could already be barren. Read on to find a few guys that could have decent Sundays; odds are at least one is available to you.

Today we're focusing on a couple of young running backs who are both primed for big seasons. Many view Chris Johnson as a breakout in the mold of a young LaDainian Tomlinson and it's been said around these parts that Steve Slaton could be in for a Terrell Davis-like campaign. Yes, lofty expectations for both, but who doesn't like either of these guys? You'll find them both entrenched in the Top 10 of our own running back rankings.

However, that doesn't mean we can't agree to disagree as to which guy is the better pick at the end of the first round, right? And so, my colleague R.J. White and I took to the debate. I like Slaton, he likes Johnson ... follow along.

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For those who may use a different term or are new to fantasy football, "handcuff" is the term used when you own insurance for one of your players in the form of owning his real-life backup. It's usually a running back, but you could conceivably handcuff a quarterback. The theory is that some or all of the production is automatically replaced should you lose a high draft pick to injury, meaning you need to insure a high draft pick by grabbing his backup.

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I generally hate singling out an entire group of players and branding the list a group of must-have fantasy options. You know, something like "hey, go draft all the 27-year-olds in fantasy baseball," or "third-year receivers always bust out." It's just too lazy of any fantasy analyst to blanket generalize an entire group without considering the circumstances to each individual situation.

Thus, many people out there believe there is one tried and true reality in sports: Players want to get paid. Well, of course players want to get paid. In the NFL, though, players are constantly under the microscope and don't have guaranteed contracts. More matters than just being in a walk year. What we'll do, then, is take a look at the contract-year players and examine how their motivation will translate into fantasy football success.

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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 ...
Quiet Contenders. With an explosive offense -- last season's third most prolific to be precise -- Houston is a hot topic this season in fantasy terms. Last season, starter Matt Schaub and backup Sage Rosenfels combined for a franchise record in passing offense. Furthermore, rookie running back Steve Slaton proved to be the sleeper of the season.

This year, with an improved defense and a healthy Schaub, the Texans look like real deal contenders. The defense remains the big question mark, but the offense should keep them in contention, and more importantly continue to provide fantasy owners with big-time points.

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