Bears' QB Kyle Orton went down with an injury last week.

The NFL Network starts up their TV schedule this Thursday with the Browns hosting the Broncos. This is a big pain in the neck for fantasy owners. Thursday games force you to submit your lineups before you have the critical Friday practice information for the other games on the schedule. Also, your league’s waiver deadlines may be different this week, so make sure you get your picks in.

 

Snap

 

On Monday, Denver placed two members of its running-back-by-committee on Injured Reserve: Michael Pittman and Andre Hall. For most teams this would make the situation more confusing for fantasy play.  For Denver, however, confusing is the norm and this makes the RBBC more comprehensible. The process of elimination leaves only two running backs for the Broncos, Selvin Young and Ryan Torain. The smart money is on Torain to get the bulk of the carries since Young has not played in over a month. Pick Torain off the waiver wire and start him against a bad Browns’ run defense. That defense will likely be without nose tackle Shaun Rogers who is suffering from a rib injury. Rogers has been a monster in IDP leagues the past couple of weeks with 16 total tackles and two sacks.

 

Chiefs RB Kolby Smith is headed for the Injured Reserve list. Smith suffered a knee injury in the second quarter of last week’s Buccaneers game. Jamaal Charles figures to get most of the carries now, with Larry Johnson still suspended. Charles had 106 yards on 18 carries in relief of Smith last week. He is a good choice as an RB2 against San Diego.

 

Rams RB Steven Jackson is still hurting. He missed his Week 8 game and played sparingly in the second half of last week’s game. Jackson did not practice Wednesday and is questionable for this Sunday’s Jets game.  If Jackson does not participate in Friday’s practice, bench him. Don’t count on Antonio Pittman in any event, however.  He will be out with a hamstring injury. That leaves the Rams’ running to Kenneth Darby and Samkon Gado. Neither one is fantasy-startable against a good Jets run defense.

 

Chicago QB Kyle Orton has a high-ankle sprain and will miss 3-4 weeks. Orton gave the Bears a credible passing game and gave fantasy owners surprisingly good numbers (10 TD, four multiple TD games.)  The Bears offense will go back to the Stone Age with Rex Grossman under center.  Grossman is a turnover machine, so don’t think about starting him or any Bears receiver for a while.  Grossman has started 30 games in his career and has 34 interceptions and 10 lost fumbles.

 

Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger has taken a beating this season.  The Steelers offensive line has surrendered 29 sacks – only Cincinnati and San Francisco are worse. The hits are taking a toll and he reinjured his throwing shoulder Monday night. Byron Leftwich had to take over in the second half and he played well against Washington. The Steelers figure to run a lot against the Colts, so Leftwich is not a good play with Roethlisberger out.

 

Houston QB Matt Schaub has a MCL injury and will be out at least two weeks and possibly a lot longer. Schaub will miss significant playing time for the second year in a row.  Consider cutting him. Sage Rosenfels is a good backup, but he has a very tough match-up this Sunday against the Ravens.

 

Crackle

 

The Colts are very fortunate to be a 4-4 team. They are a few bounces, slips and tips from a 2-6 record. The offense is struggling, scoring less than 21 points a game--  not what we expect from Peyton Manning and company. The good news for Indianapolis is that they are getting back to full strength since RB Joseph Addai returned last week. The bad news is that they have a nightmare match-up, against the league’s best defense: Pittsburgh.  The Steelers held the NFL’s leading rusher, Clinton Portis, to only 51 yards Monday night, so don’t expect much from Addai. 

WR Reggie Wayne has been ice-cold the past three weeks. He has only 10 catches for 118 yards and no TDs. Marvin Harrison has been even worse: 7 for 73 and no scores.  WR Anthony Gonzalez and TE Dallas Clark have shouldered the load as Manning’s most consistent receivers. Forget about RB Dominic Rhodes – he had only four carries last week as a backup to Addai.

 

The Eagles-Giants game pits a hot quarterback against a team that’s had his number of late. Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb has fattened up his statistics against weak defenses, so facing the Giants’ defense will be a tall order. New York sacked McNabb 15 times in their two games last season. Downgrade Eagles receivers accordingly, namely DeSean Jackson and Kevin Curtis.

 

Green Bay RB Ryan Grant has put together four good games in a row. That streak should stop this week against Minnesota’s run defense.  As long as defensive tackles Pat Williams and Kevin Williams are on the field, Grant should be on your bench.

 

Rest your Bengals, Cowboys, Buccaneers and Redskins – all are on a bye.

 

Pop

 

Cleveland coach Romeo Crennel has pulled the plug on Derek Anderson.  Anderson (9 TD, 7 INT, 69 QB Rating) never got the Browns offense going despite having good talent surrounding him on offense. Brady Quinn will get half a season to show what he can do.  Crennel picked a good spot to ease in the young quarterback. He faces a bad Broncos defense, ranked 29th in the league. Against Denver even the inexperienced Quinn is startable as a bye-week replacement.

 

The Lions signed veteran free agent quarterback Daunte Culpepper.  Expect him to start Sunday against the Jaguars. The only question is why it took so long to bring in Culpepper? Maybe it was a lingering stupidity from the Matt Millen era?  A professional quarterback upgrades the value of WR Calvin Johnson, even against a good defense like Jacksonville’s.

 

Monday night’s game was very encouraging for Willie Parker owners. He carried the ball 21 times, compared to only four for Mewelde Moore. The Colts defense is vulnerable to the run, so make sure Parker is in your lineup.

 

Changing of the guard: It looks like Ray Rice has leap-frogged Willis McGahee on the Baltimore depth chart. The rookie running back had 176 total yards last week against the Browns while McGahee watched from the sidelines. Start Rice this week against Houston’s below-average run defense.

 

Changing of the guard, part 2: Tim Hightower is the starting running back in Arizona, pushing aside veteran Edgerrin James.  He has a good match-up this week against the 49ers.