Fantasy Football: Monday News and Notes

Even this late in the season, owners should be able to take something every week of the season to make them better. Using that as our base, let's take a look at a few things that we either learned yesterday, or had confirmed further.'

The AFC West is Miserable
 
Worse than being miserable, you don't know what you're going to get. Yesterday, Justin Fargas breaks out for over 100 yards against the Denver defense but doesn't score. The scores went to McFadden, who pilfered touchdowns after having done nothing on the drives.

In Denver, Cutler had no clue what to do with a shutdown corner matched up with Marshall, nor did they run the ball particularly well against one of the worst run defenses in football.
 
San Diego was able to throw relatively effectively, but even with Tomlinson, they had no threat of a running attack against the Colts last night. They showed the most promise out of anyone in the division, at least in terms of staying with an opponent. Sadly, the Chargers just needed some help on defense.
 
Then we have the debacle that was the Chiefs-Bills game. The Chiefs couldn't have stopped a pee-wee football team from scoring. Never in their franchise's history had they given up that many points in a game.

They still scored enough to have won the game, which is positive for the spread offense being employed with Thigpen at quarterback.
 
Seriously, though, 54 points to the Bills? Just last week we were ready to run Trent Edwards out of town. That should tell you all you need to know there.

The Patriots are Hanging Around
 
The Dolphins didn't learn for 60 minutes why team's are double-covering Randy Moss. You can't take him one-on-one. Just doesn't happen, regardless of the skill that the cornerback has. His three touchdowns were textbook Moss plays. Granted, part of this is Cassel, but the majority is Moss' skill as a wide receiver.
 
Cassel is still available in some leagues. He's now thrown for 400 yards in consecutive weeks. Can we get the guy 100 percent owned? Seriously, it's shameful.
 
That said, the Pats need some help on defense. Chad Pennington threw for over 300 yards and would have had about 70 more if Ted Ginn could have caught three passes in the fourth that he flat-out dropped.

If Miami could have played defense, New England loses that game. The Wildcat wasn't as much of a problem for the Patriots as was their young and suspect secondary.
 
Start using Cassel regularly, and look to their opponents for some help in your passing game.

Good Help is Hard to Find
 
We've touted Greg Camarillo for a few weeks now as a Wes Welker-style receiver. Well, we can stop that now. The Dolphins wideout injured his knee in the second half yesterday and is done for the season.
 
Willie Parker was largely ineffective in the Thursday night game against the Bengals, and his backup is already picked up in most leagues.
 
Felix Jones is done for the year after it was made clear late last wee that he will not be at 100 percent the rest of the way. Correll Buckhalter missed a large portion of yesterday's game following an injury as well.
 
Donovan McNabb and Brady Quinn were both pulled from their games yesterday, as the two were beyond ineffective. For McNabb, it capped a streak of subpar performances. For Quinn, it seemed like a quick hook for a team that is looking to build around the young quarterback. In neither case did it work.

The New Two-Headed Monster
 
All season, the Titans running game has been providing owners with two backs that produced on a weekly basis. We can now certainly add one more to that. The Jets backs, Leon Washington and Thomas Jones, have had solid performances nearly every week for the last month.

Washington, though, is getting far less recognition than he should. Time for him to be owned everywhere.
 
We're almost there with Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. Williams is getting his role increased every week, and managed to catch a touchdown pass this weekend against the Patriots. What you have to view as a positive is that Williams is the one in the backfield on third down. The coaching staff seems to trust his pass-catching ability.
 
The opposite end to this is the Ravens. You shouldn't trust anyone here, because we don't know who will get the carries during any given week.

A Healthy Manning is a Productive Manning
 
I, like many others, do not think Peyton Manning was healthy at the beginning of this season. The timing was off, the throws were off, and nothing looked quite right.
 
Manning has come around in recent weeks. As he gets healthier, his receivers become more valuable. Even when Wayne has been covered, we're seeing more receptions from Anthony Gonzalez and more work for Marvin Harrison. Good to know for owners heading into the playoffs.
 
Gonzalez could be a nice addition to any team.
 
The concern? Have to say that he continues to underthrow receivers, and that's causing some issues in getting the ball to them in the right position to make a play.