Detroit
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Lions: Well, well, well they finally got a win. I wasn’t surprised to see them beat the Redskins, but the team did face a big loss when Kevin Smith went down with a shoulder injury. As of right now, it still isn’t sure whether or not Smith will go, but if he can’t
Bears: Jay Cutler did it again last week when he pulled out another victory in the fourth quarter, and if he can do it against the Steelers and Seahawks in consecutive weeks I have no reason to believe that he won’t ruin Detroit’s victory party. Cutler has thrown for 483 yards and five touchdowns to just one interception since his Week 1 debacle and looks to be comfortable in the Bears offense now. He won’t put up Drew Brees-esque numbers this week, but is definitely worth the start.
Cincinnati
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Bengals: The Bengals passing attack was supposed to be the reason that
Browns: I honestly believe that right now the Browns are the worst team in football. Eric Mangini has made a mess of this team and now they are facing the same QB controversy that they had to deal with throughout the entire preseason. Derek Anderson will start Sunday, but Brady Quinn is looming in the distance. After putting up a good fight with the Vikings in Week 1, the team has just gotten worse and worse. There is no end in sight for fantasy owners of any of this team’s players.
Oakland
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Raiders: How bad is JaMarcus Russell? Maybe the fact that last week he had one passing yard in the second half disgusts you. Or maybe it was the idea that he is averaging just over five yards per completion this year. But really, the thing that kills me is that Russell is ranked 33rd in the league in QB rating this year. Can I remind you that there are only 32 teams? The Raiders franchise is drowning and Russell needs to get it together quick or people might be calling him the next Ryan Leaf.
Texans: I think that I just need to keep saying the Texans need to step it up. First I said Andre Johnson had been a disappointment and then he broke out in Week 2 against
Seattle
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Seahawks:
Colts: Peyton Manning continued his aerial assault on every defensive back he faces last week against
Tennessee
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Titans: The free fall continues for
Jaguars: Well the MJD express finally came to town last week. After what had been a mediocre start to the season for the consensus second overall pick, Maurice Jones-Drew busted off almost 150 total yards and three rushing touchdowns. While the aforementioned Titans pass defense has been below average, their rush defense is a completely different story (allowing only 2.2 yards per rush, and yes you read that right). Jones-Drew is the key to opening up the
New York
Giants @
Giants: The Giants flat out made the Buccaneers look terrible last week. They held them to 86 total yards on 36 plays, and on top of that they ran all over Raheem Morris’s defense. Ahmad Bradshaw racked up 104 yards, Brandon Jacobs tromped for 92 of his own and Eli Manning threw for two scores. This team was thought to have taken a step back coming into the year, but they are firing on all cylinders right now. Steve Smith and Mario Manningham are making fans forget about Plaxico Burress pretty quickly and the balanced passing attack is making defenses pay. Manning will have a huge game this week against a frail
Chiefs: At one point in last week’s game against the Eagles, the Chiefs trailed 14-7 and had put together a pretty nice drive, but that’s as close as it got. Matt Cassel has been anything but a franchise-saving quarterback for the Chiefs thus far, and to top it all off Larry Johnson has done nothing to prove he can still be a starter in the NFL. The Chiefs are just bad all around and seeing as they gave up an NFC Player of the Week performance to Kevin Kolb who was playing with a bunch of backups, I think the Giants will manhandle them even more than the Eagles did. Don’t watch this game if you have a weak stomach.
Baltimore @ New England – 1:00 CBS
Ravens: I think most of us thought that Matt Ryan would be the clear leader of the 2008 draft class for many years to come, and seeing as he has all of those weapons in Atlanta there was no reason to believe otherwise. However, Joe Flacco is currently ranked fifth overall among fantasy quarterbacks and is also fifth overall in QB rating. Flacco is taking advantage of the dominant combo of Willis McGahee and Ray Rice in the backfield and using it to exploit defenses.
Patriots: Tom Brady was supposed to be completely healed and ready to guide
Tampa
Bay @
Buccaneers: The honeymoon with Byron Leftwich ended abruptly and the Buccaneers looked like they missed a healthy Cadillac Williams a little more than some expected last week. Josh Johnson is now the main man under center, but one has to believe that the team is close to putting in rookie Josh Freeman. The
Redskins: Well eventually one team had to lose to
Buffalo @ Miami – 4:05 CBS
Bills: Maybe age is finally catching up to Terrell Owens or maybe he just hasn’t developed any chemistry with Trent Edwards, but as of right now, Owens ranks 90th in receiving yards with only 98 on five catches. He does have one score, but that 32.7 yards per game is sickening. Owens came out and passive aggressively addressed the media this past Sunday, which led head coach Dick Jauron to say that Owens needs to get the ball more.
Dolphins: After a miracle turnaround season in 2008 thanks to the Wildcat offense, head coach Tony Sparano’s club is circling the drain already in 2009. The news got worse this week when Chad Pennington went down for the season, but that might be a blessing in disguise. Chad Henne now becomes the starter for the team, and seeing as Henne has been billed the team’s quarterback of the future for a couple of years now, he will be given a chance to prove himself. Pennington was 30th in the league in QB rating so Henne can’t do much worse than his predecessor. The Bills have gotten to opposing quarterbacks five times this year so Henne should have plenty of time to make throws and do his best to lead
New York
Jets @
Jets: I’m not going to jump on the Mark Sanchez bandwagon like other writers, but this kid continues to amaze me. His poise in the pocket is phenomenal, he is making the right reads most of the time and his completion percentage is right around 60. The only thing he has to do better this week if he wants to keep his team in it is spread the ball. Last week he threw eight of his 17 completions to Jerricho Cotchery while Dustin Keller only caught two passes. The
Saints: Drew Brees looked remarkably human against
Dallas
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Cowboys: All the hype in
Broncos: Josh McDaniels is 3-0 in
St. Louis @ San Francisco – 4:15 FOX
Rams: I’ve been preaching about how great Laurent Robinson has been for St. Louis for a couple of weeks now. Well don’t you know that the bad times just keep getting on worse for the lowly Rams. Robinson was put on IR this week, which shoves Keenan Burton into the starting spot across the field from Donnie Avery. However, the team received some good news (in my opinion) when Marc Bulger injured his shoulder. Bulger might still go this week despite a bruised rotator cuff, but in my mind, Bulger should be riding the pine at this point. He ranks just ahead of Kerry Collins, Brady Quinn, Matthew Stafford, Jake Delhomme and JaMarcus Russell in QB rating. On top of that, backup Kyle Boller threw for two touchdown passes last week,
which is more than Bulger can say for the entire season. Bulger is a must-sit this week and I think that he is a must-dump if you own him.
49ers: The Niners are one amazing Brett Favre throw short of being 3-0 right now and I can guarantee that Mike Singletary will have his players fired up to take their aggressions out on the Rams this week. The team lost their best player in Frank Gore to an ankle injury on Sunday, but luckily they have rookie Glen Coffee backing him up. While Coffee may have looked less-than-impressive against
San Diego
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Chargers: Last week we finally saw what having Darren Sproles as a feature back does to hinder
Steelers: Most people have come to realize that the team that loses the Super Bowl has gone on to mediocrity in the following season, but for the Steelers to start out 1-2 is just absurd. This unit barely lost any starters from last year but still has faced two gut-wrenching losses in as many weeks against
Green Bay @ Minnesota – Monday 8:30, ESPN
Packers: After posting a goose egg in Week 2, Greg Jennings was located again on fantasy radar screens last week when he put up over 100 yards on just two catches. The 100 yards is great, but it scares me that he only had two grabs.
Vikings: I must admit that Favre’s numbers so far look pretty good. He has a solid rating of 94.5 and has only thrown one interception compared to five touchdown strikes, including one hell of a throw to Greg Lewis to win last week’s game. The problem I have with it all is that he has not played a pass defense that ranks in the top half of the league yet. He’ll finally get that chance against