Who's Hot: 10 Under-the-Radar Players Heating Up for Round 1

As we enter the Wild Card round of the 2011 NFL Playoffs, there are no doubt going to be certain players that will rise to the occasion of the playoffs and make an impact, especially players that have been relatively quiet throughout the regular season.

In some cases they are backups that have been pressed into greater duties in the playoffs due to injuries, while another guy spent most of the season at home, and now is part of a playoff team roster.

Whatever the reason is that they could potentially be in a position to make some noise in the playoffs, these are admittedly long-shots that have the chance to rise up and play a key role in helping their team advance to the Divisional Round.

Let's proceed to learn which 10 players have been flying under-the-radar and are ready to heat up this weekend in the Wild Card round.

Houston Texans QB Jake Delhomme

We will start off with the guy that I consider to be the longest-long shot to heat up in the Wild Card, Houston Texans quarterback Jake Delhomme.

The reason I am including Delhomme is that I am not entirely sold on rookie quarterback T.J. Yates ability to get the job done. Yates started the last three games and the Texans went 0-3 in those games. His passing totals for the six games since he took over for the injured Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart are hardly inspiring: 70, 188, 300, 212, 132 and 47.

In the beginning, it appeared that Yates was being asked to just be a game manager type of quarterback and was asked to do his best not to lose the game on his own. But now we are talking about the post-season, and he will undoubtedly be asked to step up and do more. Whether or not he can pull this off remains to be seen.

Not lost on me is that this does represent the very first playoff game in the history of the Houston Texans franchise. Are they really willing to risk their playoff lives on a rookie fifth-string quarterback, especially if he starts out cold? I don't know how much rope the Texans are planning to give Yates, but if the Texans start to fall behind by 10 points or more in the first half, I would not be surprised at all to see them pull the plug on Yates, and go with Delhomme.

Delhomme is basically brand new to the team and when thrust into action last weekend, responded with 211 passing yards in limited practice time with the team. He has experience playing in the playoffs as well as the Super Bowl, so if Yates isn't cutting it, don't be surprised to see Delhomme inserted and playing well when he gets his chance.

Pittsburgh Steelers RB Issac Redman

With the news that the Pittsburgh Steelers have placed running back Rashard Mendenhall on injured reserves, due to his torn ACL, somebody from the depth chart will have to step up and assume a greater role in the playoffs.

I expect that person to be running back Issac Redman. While it is conceivable that Redman will be asked to split some carries with Mewelde Moore, I expect to see Redman picking up the majority of the carries.

On the year, Redman has rushed the ball 110 times for 479 yards, which is a healthy average of 4.4 yards per carry. Redman has at least three rushes on the year that have gone for at least 20 yards or more, which is the same number that Mendenhall generated, albeit with 118 more carries.

The scary part about Moore, is that even though he has not carried the ball very often, (22 rushes for the entire season), his average yardage per rush is off the charts at 7.1 yards per carry.

While the Denver Broncos will be expecting the Steelers to be a pass-heavy offense this weekend, the Steelers may want to run the ball just enough to keep the Broncos pass rush honest. That is where Redman comes into play. If the Steelers are sitting on a 10-point lead or more in the second half, Redman could see even more touches, so the Steelers can keep the Broncos offense on the sidelines while they kill the clock.

Cincinnati Bengals TE Jermaine Gresham

When you hear people talking about the Cincinnati Bengals offense, the attention usually goes to rookies Andy Dalton and A.J. Green, in addition to veteran running back Cedric Benson. Due to his recent acrobatic flip, wide receiver Jerome Simpson is also gaining more than his fair share of attention and buzz.

But when it comes to guys that are under-the-radar, I like the way that Gresham continues to grow and expand his game. Even though Dalton targeted Green and Simpson more than any other receiver on the team, it is Gresham that wound up with the second-most catches on the team with 56 this season.

Gresham is also second on the team with six touchdown receptions. He has also come up with 10 catches of at least 20 yards or longer, which is another way that his game has grown this year, as he is helping to expand or stretch the field for the rest of the offense.

As Dalton and Gresham work on their chemistry over the years, expect to see his production continue to grow from here. As far as the Wild Card round, the Texans will be paying due respect to Green and Simpson, which should leave Gresham in one-on-one coverage enough that he could wind up with a big day.

Detroit Lions WR Titus Young

Titus Young, the rookie wide receiver from Boise State, has been highly productive for the Detroit Lions this year. He concluded his rookie regular season last weekend by recording two touchdown catches during the wild shootout with Green Bay.

Consider Young's production for a moment, as he is essentially the fourth receiver in Detroit. For the year he had six touchdown receptions, 48 catches for 607 yards. In looking at the production of fourth-receivers around the league, the only receivers that caught more passes were Ed Dickson (54), Deion Branch (51), Lance Moore (52), Jason Avant (52) and Ryan Mathews (50). In terms of yardage, he only trailed James Jones (635), Branch (702), Moore (627) and Avant (679).

In terms of veteran receivers that Young outperformed this year, try these names out for size: Miles Austin, Andre Johnson, Mario Manningham, Hines Ward and Santana Moss. Pretty heady stuff for a rookie.

When the Lions travel to face the New Orleans Saints in another potential shoot out this weekend, the Saints will be probably trying to focus on stopping Calvin Johnson. It is clear that Matthew Stafford is becoming more comfortable with Young as the year progresses, so it would not be a surprise for him to see a number of targets this weekend, especially if he is left in single coverage, which he should be.

New Orleans Saints RB Chris Ivory

When you think about the New Orleans Saints offense, you think about their All-Pro quarterback Drew Brees, his stud tight end in Jimmy Graham, the mega-talented third down specialist Darren Sproles, first-round draft pick Mark Ingram, and the host of wide receivers that Brees has his pick from. If you keep further down the list, you will eventually come to the name of Chris Ivory, which makes him the perfect player for our flying-under-the-radar presentation.

Unfortunately for the talented rookie running back Ingram, the Saints announced that he will undergo season-ending toe surgery this week. With a crowded running back committee of Pierre Thomas, Sproles, Ingram and Ivory, it was tough for any of them to get the maximum number of touches they preferred every week.

But due to the Ingram injury, first and second-down will now be split between Thomas and Ivory. Would you be surprised to learn that Ivory has been the Saints leading rusher in three out of the four final games of the regular season. This past weekend against Carolina, Ivory became the first Saints back this season to top the 100-yard mark, as he rushed the ball 19 times for 127 yards and a touchdown.

For the year, Ivory has fresher legs compared to most backs. He has only been asked to carry the ball 79 times on the season, and that has resulted in 374 yards, or an average of 4.7 yards per rush. That is a great average, but it is actually less than his career average of 5.0 yards per carry.

While the Detroit Lions are probably expecting to see a heavy dose of Drew Brees passing the ball all over the field, don't be surprised to see Chris Ivory have a strong game as well, because he is heating up at just the right time.

Atlanta Falcons Tight End Tony Gonzalez

While on the surface you might be surprised to see the name Tony Gonzalez in a flying-under-the-radar presentation, it is also possible that you might not have been paying close attention to what is going on lately with the Falcons passing game.

I went back over the past three games to see if any kind of a trend was developing, and was rather surprised to find the following results. Over the past three games, Gonzalez was only targeted for a combined 12 passes in the three contests. In those same three games, the dynamic wide receiver duo of Julio Jones and Roddy White was targeted by quarterback Matt Ryan an unbelievable 66 times.

So, being the math whiz that I am, we can say that for every pass Ryan throws the ball to Gonzalez, he is throwing six passes to either Jones or White. That is a great illustration of flying-under-the-radar. You can also imagine that the Falcons opponent this weekend, the New York Giants have picked up on the latest tendencies as well, and are probably adjusting their coverages this week accordingly.

So, if the Giants pay less attention to Gonzalez, this would then be the perfect weekend for Ryan to go back to the veteran. In an indication that Gonzalez still has something left in the tank, and wants to continue his impressive career, it should be noted that he signed another one-year contract extension to remain with the Falcons in 2012.

The playoff appearances have been few and far between for Gonzalez over his career, so you can imagine that he will be eager this weekend to take advantage of the Giants secondary woes to make an impact on the game.

New York Giants Wide Receiver Mario Manningham

New York Giants wide receiver Mario Manningham has become the forgotten receiver for the New York Giants this year. As Victor Cruz continues his path to string one long touchdown catch-and-run after another, Manningham is the guy that continues to fall further and further under-the-radar each week.

Manningham only appeared in 12 games this year due to injuries. In the Week 17 showdown with the Dallas Cowboys, Manningham played but did not have a catch, nor did the Giants target him with a pass.

Manningham was the Giants leading receiver just one time this year. It was Week 2 on Monday Night Football against the St. Louis Rams. The rest of the season, Victor Cruz led the team 10 different times, while Hakeem Nicks led the team the other five games.

Manningham has 39 catches on the year for 523 yards, an average of 13.4 yards per catch and four touchdowns. He says that he came out of the Cowboys game with his knee feeling fine, and that he would be ready to go this weekend. Whether or not he is actively involved in the game plan is another matter altogether. If he does have a major role, it would probably catch the Atlanta Falcons off-guard, since nobody is really expecting him to have much of a role. That makes him a great under-the-radar guy.

Denver Broncos Wide Receiver Eric Decker

What on earth will the Denver Broncos attempt to do this weekend against the strong Pittsburgh Steelers defense in the Wild Card round of the playoffs? Surely what the Broncos have been attempting the past three weeks hasn't been working very well, so they are undoubtedly working hard to try to identify some new plays or things they can try that Pittsburgh may not be ready to defend.

One of the interesting news items coming out of Pittsburgh this week, is that starting safety Ryan Clark isn't going to be playing in Denver. The word is that Clark has a medical condition that would be affected by the thin air in Colorado, so he is sitting this game out.

Enter Broncos wide receiver Eric Decker. If there is one player on the Broncos offense that can benefit by Clark's absence, it would be Decker. The majority of big plays that Decker has come up with during the Broncos long winning streak, were the result of the secondary biting on a play fake, and watching helplessly as Decker ran past them and caught a long pass from Tim Tebow, racing into the end zone untouched.

Whether or not Troy Polamalu can shadow Tebow effectively, and still try to be in position to defend against a long pass to Decker, will be one of the more interesting developments in the game this weekend.

Decker has the size and the speed to be an effective target for Tebow. The question is how much will Denver be willing to throw the ball, to try to change the way that the Steelers are defending them.

New Orleans Wide Receiver Lance Moore

As we highlighted earlier in the Titus Young slide, New Orleans Saints wide receiver Lance Moore is among the highest producers in the NFL coming out of the fourth-receiver slot.

Moore sat out the game last weekend against the Carolina Panthers due to a hamstring injury. The Saints had little reason to play him last week, preferring to let Moore get healthy for the playoff push.

Moore has caught 52 passes on the year for 627 yards and is tied for second on the team with eight touchdown catches. He averages 12.1 yards per catch and has nine receptions of at least 20 plus yards this season.

On the surface, you would think that kind of production is pretty solid and that Moore really isn't an under-the-radar type of player. Guess again. Based on the Saints offense and weapons available to Drew Brees, Moore is just of many. All of the following players have received at least 50 targets from Brees this year: Jimmy Graham, Marques Colston, Darren Sproles, Robert Meachem, Devery Henderson, Pierre Thomas and Moore.

So, when you consider how many viable options that Brees has available, you can better understand how easy it is for Moore to be flying-under-the radar. Brees likes to throw to him in the red zone, hence the high touchdown production. Needless to say the Lions secondary will have their hands full this weekend.

Pittsburgh Steelers Wide Receiver Emmanuel Sanders

Our final under-the-radar player for the Wild Card round is Pittsburgh Steeler's wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders. Sanders is just one of the many talented wide receivers that Ben Roethlisberger has at his disposal.

The Steelers wide receiver corps are very deep starting with Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, Heath Miller and Hines Ward. Then you throw in to the mix Sanders and Jericho Cotchery. The Steelers can keep throwing out guys with fresher legs throughout the game, while the defense continues to get run down.

We don't know yet how the Steelers will alter their overall offensive game plan due to the Rashard Mendenhall injury. It is not out of the question that the Steelers might even consider throwing the ball more than they do already, given that the running game lacks a proven workhorse, since Mendenhall has maintained the majority of carries all year long.

For the year, Sanders has flashed some good skills in coming up with an average of 13.1 yards per catch. He has caught two touchdown passes and made 22 receptions on the year, which have totaled 288 yards. With so many other receivers involved, it is tough to get many targets every week, as Sanders has been targeted just 43 times on the year.

While it is safe to assume that Champ Bailey and company will be focused on stopping Wallace and Brown, the other Steelers receivers could be in for a field day. Safety Brian Dawkins missed Week 17 due to a neck injury and the other safety Quinton Carter injured his hamstring the week before that. This could wind up being another long game for the Broncos faithful to sit through.