Welcome to Week 10 of “On the Rise, On the Fall.” Throughout the season, I will discuss players whose stock is rising and others who are not having the same luck. I will avoid naming the obvious studs – Anquan Boldin, Drew Brees, etc – and will keep to players whose performance was not as foreseeable.
On the Rise
Thomas Jones, RB, Jets
: Jones has been hot of late for the Jets scoring eight touchdowns in his last five games. However, he has two tough matchups coming up in New England and
Bobby Engram, WR, Seahawks
: A bit of a sleeper pick here, but this one solely relies on Matt Hasselbeck. There was word last week that Hasselbeck could be back this week, so if he does, Engram receives an upgrade. Of course, you may want to see Hass in action before you do put Engram in your lineup.
Ricky Williams, RB, Dolphins
: Should you expect games like Sunday every week? Of course not, but Ricky is not a terrible flex option if you are in a jam at RB. With Ronnie Brown playing QB in the wildcat offense, his RB is Ricky. There is a good chance he is on your waiver wire and he faces
Stud of the Week
Jay Cutler, QB, Broncos
: Thursday Night: 447 yards, three scores? Remember that? Well, that’s worthy to be the Stud of the Week. After putting up mediocre numbers for several weeks, Cutler finally came on with a big game in primetime. He’ll face an underrated defense in
On the Fall
Jonathan Stewart, RB, Panthers
: There were many who thought Stewart would take over for the Panthers at running back at some point during this season. However, it has been just the opposite in
Deuce McAllister, RB,
Saints
: Deuce cannot be trusted any longer, if he ever was, in the Saints passing offense. Reggie Bush is expected back if not this week, the week after. Pierre Thomas and Aaron Stecker additionally received carries on Sunday so that minimizes Deuce’s value. You can hold onto Deuce for one more week (@KC), but after that, he’s not going to help your team anytime soon.
Duds of the Week
Jake Delhomme & Steve Smith, QB & WR, Panthers
: Pretty easy call when your #1 WR finishes the game with one catch for nine yards against a pitiful Raider team. Granted, they have Nnamdi Asomugha in the secondary, but other than that, there are no excuses. Delhomme threw four interceptions in the game after he started hot with a TD pass to Muhammad. These players were a part of one of the most boring games played this season. That is not an odd occurrence for games that are played in
Ladainian Tomlinson, RB, Chargers
: I’m sorry, but 78 yards on 22 carries against the Chiefs is just not going to cut it. We have seen
One Week Wonders
Maurice Jones-Drew, RB, Jaguars
: Don’t get too excited, MJD owners, as his three-TD performance came against the Lions. Jones-Drew has been on and off all season long and you should expect that to continue until season’s end. He faces
,
Patriots: He got the share of the carries with 26 on Sunday, but I wouldn’t put my trust in the Patriot RB group. Sammy Morris should be back soon and Kevin Faulk and Lamont Jordan should also be in the mix.
That’s all for this week’s edition. If you have any questions or comments, e-mail me at
pags2122@yahoo.com. Thanks for all of your e-mails so far!