Wednesday, October 21, 2009

News you can use from around the NFL


A couple interesting tidbits out of New England... First, QB-turned-WR Julian Edelman suffered a broken arm and is out indefinitely. Second, curiously, the Pats released Joey Galloway. Strange they would let him go after Edelman's injury. That leaves the Pats pretty thin at WR (Sam Aiken is now #3 on the depth chart).

Also...Sammy Morris (knee) will likely miss Sunday's game, which you'd think is good news for Laurence Maroney (above). Then again, this is the Patriots we're talking about, so Week 7 could just as easily be Kevin Faulk's or Jarvis Green-Ellis' turn to shine. After Maroney's monster outing in the snow, you have to believe he is in the cat bird seat. But caveat emptor.

Ohbytheway...did you know the Pats and Bucs are playing in London this weekend? Somehow that slipped my attention until just now.

Michael Turner's backup, Jerious Norwood, will miss at least a couple weeks with a hip flexor injury. If you've been holding onto him as Turner insurance, you can safely waive him now if you need the roster space.

Head Coach Mike Tomlin has confirmed that Rashard Mendenhall is the starting RB for the Steelers, over the healthy Willie Parker. No surprise there given Mendenhall's performance over the last few weeks. But don't give up on Fast Willie yet. As we've seen, things change fast around here.

Tashard Choice is slated to get more carries due to his outstanding production in Marion Barber's and Felix Jones' absence. But here's the thing: Both of the above are back and apparently healthy. Jones is the most explosive playmaker of the bunch; but because he's so brittle, he may be relegated to return duties and only occassional carries, according to some sources. The relative value of the Cowboys RBs now appears to be Barber, then Choice, then Felix. All this could certainly change between now and Sunday -- and week to week, for that matter -- so don't make any rash decisions just yet.

Apparently you can go home again...Ahman Green is a Packer! Signed to backup his former backup, Ryan Grant, Green replaces DeShawn Wynn, who is now on IR due to a knee injury. That should be interesting.

Darren McFadden is likely out until at least Week 10. Michael Bush was apparently hit in the back of the head in Sunday's game, which sidelined him and gave Justin Fargas the backfield to himself. Bush should be back this week, so don't expect similar results from Fargas against the Jets.

Looks like Anthony Gonzalez won't be ready for Week 7, so that's more opportunities for Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon to excel with the league's top QB.

Rookie WR Michael Crabtree is expected to start opposite Isaac Bruce on Sunday. That means Josh Morgan moves down a notch in the 49ers' pecking order and should be nowhere near a fantasy roster at this point. Not that he should have been on one in the first place...

As projected, Miles Austin will be supplanting Patrick Crayton as a starting WR in Dallas' offense.

Where have I seen this before? Anquan Boldin will be a game-time decision. Don't count on him being available Sunday night, given the initial diagnosis of a high ankle sprain. Steve Breaston could be a nice spot starter against the Giants.

Finally...and I can't stress this enough...do NOT wait until Saturday to check your starting lineup for this weekend's games. SIX teams are on bye in Week 7 -- Ravens, Broncos, Lions, Jags, Seahawks and Titans. Admittedly, there are probably fewer fantasy studs among those six teams than there were in the four that sat out Week 6, but that's still a lot of dead weight. Be prepared!

5 comments:

  1. Hey Ladd,

    who would be a better start this week, Visanthe Shiancoe or Dustin Keller?

    ReplyDelete
  2. This weeks game may come down to my flex. In my league we play 2 RB's, 2 WR's. TE's cannot play flex so which of the following gives me the most points in week 7? Brandon Jacobs, Pierre Thomas, Hakeem Nicks, Sidney Rice, Tashard Choice or Larry Johnson?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Joe,

    I'd go with Shiancoe, even though Keller has a much better matchup.

    ReplyDelete
  4. bkey242,

    Pierre or LJ. Probably Pierre.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm in a PPr league with return yard points.

    I got D. Hixon with the Giants or Garcon.

    Thoughts?

    ReplyDelete