FanHouse Mikebell

Am I scared about the prospects of Steve Slaton losing carries to Ryan Moats (and even Chris Brown)? Absolutely. I'm more concerned about the overreactions from across the fantasy football world. Sure, I took it on the chin with Slaton in one league, but last week was hardly indicative of what will transpire from here on out.

Consider the following:
- If Gary Kubiak was going to send a message to his second-year running back with problems holding onto the football, what better opponent than the league's worst run defense?

- Slaton shredded the Colts in Indy last year, and that was without Matt Schaub at the helm to take pressure off him.

- Frank Gore got loose for a 64-yard touchdown against the Colts and added 43 receiving yards. Slaton is faster, more elusive and a better pass-catcher than Gore.

So, yeah, of course last week made me worried about Slaton. But I live by the "no guts, no glory" credo. You'll find Slaton in my top 15. You can have Ryan Moats.

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While there are always going to be matchups we like and others we don't like, we need to remember it's Week 1 of a new fantasy football season. The preseason doesn't matter too much, nor does last season. Sure, we have to use something upon which to base our rankings, and those factors will be somewhat weighed, but we also need to use our brain and not get too cute.

For example, Ryan Grant shredded the Bears last season in Green Bay. Does that mean he's going to blow up again? Considering the Bears' run defense is much stronger than pass, we're saying an emphatic no. That's just one example, and we'll talk a bit more after you've seen the top 50 fantasy running backs for the week.

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The now 0-14 Lions have many believing that a winless season is not only possible, but probable. This is 0for08, FanHouse's eye on the Detroit Lions and their quest for a winless season.

Some fans and pundits have looked at the Lions schedule over the last four or five games of the season and thought that their best chance to get in the win column would come today against the Saints. On ESPN's Sunday Countdown this morning, Tom Jackson -- normally a rational NFL mind -- stood firmly against the rest of the crew in picking the Lions today.

The Lions aren't going to win today.

At halftime, the score is 28-7, and Detroit can't stop a single thing New Orleans is doing on offense. The Saints have scored four rushing touchdowns by four different players (Robert Meachem, Deuce McAllister, Pierre Thomas, and Mike Bell). Meanwhile, Dan Orlovsky has a quarterback rating of 19.6, though that number is damaged by a prayer at the end of the first half which was picked off by Usama Young, and a long touchdown pass to Calvin Johnson that was called back on an illegal formation penalty by Gosder "The Human Penalty" Cherilus.

Still, the game is as lopsided as the score indicates.

UPDATE: It gets worse. After returning the opening kickoff of the second half, the Lions get called for 12 men on the field. Those are your halftime adjustments at work.

That's Sammy Winder. He sure can't help the Broncos can he? Yup, healthy RBs have become scarce in Denver these days.

Like many, who'd been quietly or in my case (not so quietly) – awaiting the arrival/return of fantasy savior Ryan Torain, Thursday night was nothing short of disaster. The Ryan Torain era was something special, now wasn't it? I was just about ready to dish out a round of self high fives as Torain was grinding his way through the Cleveland defense to the tune of 68 yards and a TD early into the 2nd quarter. And then everything hit the skids with the word coming on Friday that Torain is done for the season, torn ACL.

Well, it's simply time to come to grips with the fact that (beep) happens, but you've gotta keep on keeping on. Besides, having all your eggs in the Denver backfield is never a way to go through life. Trust me; I wasn't banking on Torain being a savior, rather a welcome bonus addition. Moving on, what's more important now is sorting out what lies ahead for the Denver offense.

I mean, seriously, they are down to virtually no healthy RBs. They've now lost three RBs in Michael Pittman, Andre Hall, and Ryan Torain to season-ending injuries and Selvin Young is hardly 100 percent and/or reliable. Is this some kind of karmic payback for Shanahan being the Satan of fantasy RBs? Paging Olandis Gary please? So, what options do they have? Let's take a look ...

Okay, for those of you emailing me asking, I just got back from my vacation. My pasty blogger skin avoided sunburn, but unfortunately, almost half the group we went with got some sort of really repulsive stomach bug. I've avoided it so far and am considering covering my entire self in hand sanitizer.

In any event, here's various news I missed this last week:

* Johnson's Groin Provides Big Scare. That's the dubiously titled article from HoustonTexans.com that describes the training camp scare that Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson had in the last public practice on Saturday. (HT video above). After having a circus catch, mid season form sort of practice, near the end he felt tightness in his groin and slowed down. He doesn't believe it was a big deal, and went to go sign autographs afterwards without limping.

Javon Walker will be out of the lineup for the second straight week when the Broncos take the field against the Chargers tomorrow. Walker was ruled out of action by Mike Shanahan after he missed practice on Friday, making it a full week without field work for the starting wide receiver. Walker still has fluid behind his knee that needs draining and the Broncos have a bye next week which means we'll see him back in the lineup on October 21 against the Steelers at the earliest. Brandon Stokely will replace him in the starting lineup.

Walker would have had a field day against San Diego's porous secondary but Jay Cutler should be just fine with Stokely and Brandon Marshall as his main options. Unless the Chargers start rushing the passer with more gusto the Broncos could send out a couple of ball boys and the ghost of Ricky Nattiel and still find their way to the end zone.

In other injury news, John Lynch will return to action after missing last week's loss with a groin injury. He'll be a key as the Broncos try to stop LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates. Running back Mike Bell, who could see time behind Travis Henry now and replace him when his suspension comes through, is a game-time decision because of a concussion.

Just to touch base again, yesterday I posted about the injured Broncos - and just about five minutes after my post, the Broncos released an updated injury report. So here's how it stands now:

Now looking probable to play are both Bells, Patrick Chukwurah, Cedric Cobbs, Kyle Johnson, Kenard Lang, Brandon Marshall, Rod Smith, and Al Wilson. So this sets up another interesting choice for Mike Shanahan. Does he go with both Bells now that they're healthy, or does he activate Tatum, who's had an extra week to rest, and leave Mike Bell, who's had just five days to recover from his grisly performance against the Chargers, on the bench? My money is with deactivating Mike and going with Tatum and Damien Nash, who showed good strength after contact against the Chargers. We may not see another double-Bell game this season if Nash continues to perform.

The questionable players on the injury list are Cooper Carlisle and Darrent Williams, who is still nursing his shoulder. Williams previously said that he might not be fully healthy until he can rest during the off season - but if he's not ready to go, it leaves the secondary badly depleted with Nick Ferguson out for the season. Domonique Foxworth would take Williams' place as the starter, meaning two second-stringers would start in the secondary. That means that Karl Paymah, who's seen little work outside of special teams this season, would take the field as the third cornerback on nickel downs.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs, who's injury list is a total of five players, might get Tony Gonzalez back for the game (he's listed as questionable). If they do, it could really compound the problems in the Broncos' secondary.

P.S. Doesn't it look like President Bush is doing something sinister to those children with that Turkey? Kinda weird...Also, since the game is in Kansas City, does anyone know if you can barbecue turkey? I haven't really thought about it, but does turkey go well with a nice red Kansas City barbecue sauce? If it does, I'm very, very intrigued.

Remember when Mike Shanahan's team was best known for its stellar offensive unit? I don't think the times have necessarily changed, but it would be irresponsible and wrong of me to say that the offense hasn't been a major let-down this year. But let's not forget one important thing about this particular game. The Broncos were playing one of the league's premiere defenses on Monday, and a 222-yard performance is pretty much par for the course against these guys, who like the Broncos, allowed just 34 points in their first four games.

That said, 13 points and under 250 total yards in a prime-time game isn't anything to write home about - but a win is. So what's the deal here? Inevitably, people are going to complain about Jake's performance in the first half, and rightfully so. He was off - but then again, the entire offense was off right off the bat. The weather had something to do with it, but the thing that makes the Broncos offense successful is getting into an established rhythm early in the game, something that, for various reasons, hasn't happened much this season.

When Mike Bell fumbled twice early against the Rams in week one, it canceled out two early possessions where we could have established some type of rhythm. Against Kansas City, Jake played so badly that our first three drives gained less than 20 yards - and at the start of the second half, when we could have regrouped after a pretty good 11-play drive to end of the half, Jake was picked off.

Well, I was horribly wrong. Three weeks ago, I predicted that Cedric Cobbs, the big clothing store owner, would start for the Broncos because of his size and power. Instead, after opening the season with two weeks of tailback indecision, Mike Shanahan tentatively named Tatum Bell, the smallest of the three backs, the starter against New England. "T" answered the call, running for 123 yards on 27 carries against a good New England defense. Even so, questions still remain as to whether Tatum should be the starting back.

Though his career yards per carry average is an awesome 5.3, the knock on Bell has always been his power and stamina. Apparently, the power part of the equation is something that Bell worked on over the offseason, and it's paying some dividends when he runs between the tackles. You don't see Tatum falling backwards very often anymore, but so far he's shown little ability to move a pile in short yardage situations, meaning he needs someone to fill in for him on those third and short situations.

Tatum's other big problem has been his stamina. Most of his critics say that he can't handle more than 15 carries per game, which is a problem for a team that generally runs the ball at least 30 times. Even though he managed to stay effective for 27 carries against New England, I put Tatum's magic number somewhere around 20 carries. This means that if he is going to start, he's going to need another reliable back behind him to carry the ball effectively about ten or fifteen times per game. Fortunately, the Broncos have this in Mike Bell, who brings the missing power to the Broncos' back equation.

I guess what I'm saying in all of this is that Tatum Bell can start for this team - but you shouldn't really think of him as a true starter. Think of him instead of your favorite cousin. Sure, you'd like to spend all of your time just with him, but you still have to see quite a bit of that other cousin you like less (he's probably 'socially inept') because he's always hanging around Tatum. Tatum is going to take the majority of carries, and he's probably going to rack up a lot of yards given his usual yards per carry totals. But he's not going to be the team's only back. He's going to be the speed, shiftiness, and vision half of a pretty good tandem.

P.S. Mike Bell suffered unfairly from my cousin metaphor. I'm sure he's much cooler than that 'socially inept' cousin that always drags the party down, and he's certainly more talented on the football field than this suggests. Also, if any of my cousins are reading this, don't take it personally. It's just a freaking metaphor, okay? I didn't think it would get me in this much trouble.