FanHouse Deveryhenderson

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

Gregg Williams hasn't informed a free agent decision for New Orleans yet, hasn't hand-picked the inevitable defensive playmaker the Saints choose with their 14th-overall selection this year, hasn't installed a single scheme in a minicamp. Yet Williams' reputation has preceded him to the Crescent City, and his hiring as defensive coordinator is already considered one of the most important moves in team history.

After almost two decades of guaranteed defensive putridity, the last three of which have revolved around Gary Gibbs' lack of talent identification and bland scheming, the idea of Williams and his history of intelligent, hard-working, active, complex defenses coming to the Superdome is music to the ears. It also might finally push the Saints over the top.

I was talking to FanHouse Head of Zebra Accountability, Matt Snyder, when the Bucs took a 20-10 lead over the Saints with plenty of time left in the third quarter of today's eventual 23-20 Tampa win. To me the game was, for all intents and purposes, over at that point, though Snyder raised the reasonable, logical point that there was plenty of time for one of the league's elite offenses to erase a 10-point deficit.

With most teams, a lead like that with so much time left is practically irrelevant. With powerhouses like the Giants, Patriots, or Colts, you could stick them with a 10-point deficit with less than five minutes left and I still wouldn't close the book on the game. Yet in Sean Payton's three years, the Saints have displayed an inability to overcome adversity. Today's game was just the same ole song and dance for Saints fans who have been able to mark wins and losses in ink by halftime.

Say what you will about Aaron Brooks (and I've said plenty, most of which is not suitable for this space), but he had 16 fourth-quarter comebacks in his career in New Orleans, including five in 2004. Under the Payton/Drew Brees regime, the Saints are a mind-boggling 0-17 when trailing after three quarters. Though Brees is greatly responsible for this one particular loss, he's also orchestrated 12 late-game comebacks in San Diego, so I tend to believe the onus falls on Payton.

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.

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.

Well, that sucked. I'm not one to hide my mistakes, so I'll link the post where I pleaded with fantasy owners to not bench Calvin Johnson. He awarded owners with less than three measly points. Hey, I stand by my reasons. The Bears had been awful against the pass, Nathan Vasher was going to sit, and Charles Tillman was even questionable. So what happened? The Bears defense just physically dominated the Lions offense. Maybe they were tired of giving up passing yards and stepped up their game. Maybe Jon Kitna was too teary-eyed after the departure of Matt Millen. Whatever the reason, Johnson's fantasy owners suffered along with Lions fans in Week 5.

If you stumble across an irrational Johnson owner, now is the time to strike. He's uber-talented and the Lions are always going to be playing from behind. You'll see many more 15-plus point weeks over what you saw last week. Go get him.

Drew Brees has had to deal with losing two of his best receiving options -- Jeremy Shockey and Marques Colston -- early on this season, but the stats are looking quite sparkling thus far. Will it continue? In a word, yes.

Brees carved up the Broncos for 421 yards through the air, with a wildly efficient 39 completions in 48 attempts. His most reliable option has been Reggie Bush out of the backfield, and the losses of Colston and Shockey aren't going to do anything to change that. The reason is that the Saints -- through the offensive scheme of Sean Payton and horizontal field-stretching ability of Bush -- can make a weapon out of nearly any receiver. You know Terrance Copper? Well, you wouldn't had he played for any other team.

Moving forward, you can expect Brees to remain an elite QB in fantasy and in reality. He's facing the Niners at home this week, so I'm calling for at least 300 yards and multiple TD passes.

Let's check out the impact on some other players:

Value Machine checks the current value of non-obvious names -- no Tony Romo or Brian Westbrook here -- for owners looking to scope out the trade market.

For the record, the most egregious thing about Ed Hochuli's snafu is being overlooked by everyone. I officiate high school -- I understand I'm far less qualified to complain than an NFL official, but this does make me more qualified than someone sitting at their computer claiming the "refs cheated" -- and the worst part about the call was the fact that the ball went backwards. Even if Hochuli thought, in real time, Jay Cutler's arm went forward, the ball still went backwards. A backwards pass is a loose ball. How the referee can't see that from even with the QB is beyond me. People keep talking about the whistle, but it's not acceptable to blow it there. I still respect him as an official, because human error is part of the game. Human error like this, though, shouldn't happen in such a high level game.

Even without the extra points, that he never should have accrued, Cutler had another big game. With two young, studly receiving speedsters and a reliable tight end, this isn't likely to change anytime soon. This time, the Broncos actually played a legitimate defense. You don't want to expect around 30 points a week, but it's very reasonable to start expecting 20. Jay Cutler is your top for week two.

When a receiver owned by nearly 98 percent of people goes down unexpectedly, it might not have the Tom Brady implications, but it sure can rattle your cage.

Saints Marques Colston will be out 4-6 weeks with a torn ligament in his thumb, which I heard isn't the greatest injury when your job is to actually catch the ball. With the Saints offense looking to rock like some predicted, this is a huge blow for most. So, while you wait a month before he gets back to Drew Brees' pattern boy, here are a few waiver heroes you should grab.

If you missed the Broncos Monday nighter against the Raiders, you probably have no clue who Eddie Royal is. The rookie receiver out of Virginia Tech looked to be Jay Cutler's guy, catching 9 balls for 146 yards and a touchdown, which equated to 22.5 fantasy points. He is probably the hottest waiver wire guy on the market right now, but is still only owned by 13 percent of fantasy teams on Fleaflicker. The only question will be the return of Brandon Marshall this week to the line-up. Marshall was suspended for the season opener but has proclaimed he will catch 9 or 10 balls a game, every game, this season. If that holds true (rolls eyes), then Royal will be second fiddle in Denver.

Fantasy owners of Jeremy Shockey should be pleased; those who drafted Marques Colston, or are big Saints fans (or both, yeah, today's an awesome day for me) will mourn -- Colston will miss four to six weeks with a torn ligament in his left thumb. He had surgery yesterday to reattach the ligament.

This injury, um, came out of nowhere. Colston was sidelined for a portion of the season opener against Tampa, but there was no mention of him when Sean Payton discussed injuries in the post-game press conference, and so the "no news is good news" theorum was put into practice. And fell flat on its face.

The silver lining, if you can find one, is that it opens a spot for Robert Meachem on the roster. Despite playing well in the preseason, Meachem was inactive last Sunday because he couldn't overcome the team's top three receivers and doesn't play special teams. With Colston out, Meachem will have a chance to be the team's slot receiver behind starters David Patten and Devery Henderson.

But the real winner in this, I think, is Shockey. He will replace Colston as Drew Brees' safety valve and primary red zone target. He's got Colston's size and similarly reliable hands, and will serve Brees well until Colston is ready to return.