Week 16 mid-week updates from around the NFL

First off, I just noticed the latest quirk in the NFL schedule, in which there's no Thursday night game, but there's one on Friday night. Am I the only one who didn't know that? Oh well...silly me. San Diego visits Tennessee on Christmas. Make sure Rivers, V-Jax, Gates and Chris Johnson and either kicker are locked in your starting lineup. LT is a maybe.

Potentially HUGE news for owners of Kurt Warner: The Elias Sports Bureau, the ultimate arbiter of these types of things, ruled that Warner's 5-yard TD pass to Anquan Boldin at the end of Sunday's game was not, in fact, a pass, but a Boldin run. If you are the commish of your league, you have an obligation to alert anyone affected by this. Hopefully it won't alter the outcome of a playoff matchup; but if it does, then you need to do the right thing. Unless you're the guy with Warner, and nobody else in your league reads this blog. I'm just saying...

Spare QBs are dropping like flies this week. Fortunately, I doubt the season-ending injuries to Brady Quinn, Trent Edwards and Marc Bulger will have any direct impact on teams competing for fantasy championships. However, the fact that Derek Anderson (Browns), Brian Brohm (Bills) and either Keith Null or Kyle Boller (Rams) will be quarterbacking their respective teams should give you great pause if you were counting on any of their receivers.

Drew Stanton will get the start for the Lions, which can't be good news for Megatron's owners either.

For reasons I cannot explain, the Falcons are preparing as if Michael Turner will start again this week. Since they're already eliminated from postseason contention, this makes no sense. Don't take the bait. We've seen how this plays out before. Twice.

A whole slew of players missed or were limited in practice today. We'll see which ones sit again on Thursday. That will be more telling about their prospects for the weekend. DeAngelo Williams is one we'll be watching closely.

Percy Harvin appears to be back at 100% in practice so far this week and should be a great play against the Bears Monday night.

The Colts are hoping RB Donald Brown, WR Anthony Gonzalez and K Adam Vinatieri will be back for their Week 16 game. Though I wouldn't recommend any this weekend, they could be sneaky plays in leagues where something's on the line in Week 17, as the Colts starters sit out most/all of the final tilt.

(An aside about Week 17. In two of my leagues, we play a "Free for All Bowl" the weekend following our championship game just to keep things interesting. We set aside 5% of the pot, and everyone (even those who didn't make the playoffs) sets their best starting lineup. Highest overall score wins. It keeps hope alive for those who don't win much/any money in the postseason, and it extends the fantasy season an additional week. And that's ALWAYS a good thing! Try it...you'll like it.

Garrett Hartley owners will be relieved to know the Saints have finally cut ties with John Carney. Don't be surprised if Carney finds his way on another roster soon, though. I'm thinking he might now be a Cowboy if he was available a couple days earlier. And if Suisham misses on Sunday, Carney could be wearing the star next week.

I doubt you were relying on 49ers K Joe Nedney; but if you were, note that he'll miss Week 16 with a bad hammy. Someone named Ricky Schmitt will kick for San Fran.