The Buzz, Week 15

By Fantasy Phil Eletto, Fantasy Football Insiders Senior Writer

As the season comes to an end, there is still no shortage of replacement players that can come up big for you in the playoffs. Who might those players be? As we do every week, we bring you the buzz…

According to ESPNews, New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush will not play again this season due to a partially torn posterior cruciate ligament. With Bush out against the Falcons on Monday night, Aaron Stecker picked up 100 yards rushing on 20 carries. He also caught three passes for seven yards. Consider Stecker a top 30 running back the rest of the way.

Although New England refuses to run the ball, they probably won’t be punished for their stubbornness against the Jets and Bills. In fact, since they may look to score 10 TDs against the Jets this week, they may end up ruinning the ball once they get their 40 –point lead. However in Week Sixteen, it’s hard to see them playing Tom Brady much in the second half (after he throws 2-3 TD passes). Laurence Maroney could get 30+ touches total these next two weeks.

Clinton Portis is going to face two of the league’s top run defenses when his Redskins take on the Giants and Minesota. It’s going to be very hard for him to come up large for you these next two weeks.

There was some trepidation with Marshawn Lynch for obvious reasons (he had the dreaded high ankle sprain), but for them to activate him tells you his ankle is close to totally healed. And for Buffalo to give him 23 carries when the game was over by halftime tells you he felt good. Unless he has some pain in the ankle this week, he’s good to go and is a must-start this week against Cleveland’s shaky run defense.

Congratulations to Fountain of Youth player of the year, Fred Taylor! Like most games this season, Taylor wasn’t doing much in last week’s game – until he busted off an 80-yard TD run. He needs to score from farther out, since Maurice Jones-Drew gets most of the red zone carries, but Taylor continues to run like a young pup. At this point, since you know he’s been great and since you know he’ll get the rock, you have to use him. The runner up for the Ponce de Leon award would be Joey Galloway, who is second only because he showed no signs of slowing based on last year’s numbers.

Andre Johnson has not been slowed by Sage Rosenfelds taking the reins of the Houston offense and now we know for sure that Johnson can even produce against a very stingy defense with the solid Rosenfelds at the helm.

Another wideout that has not been slowed by a change at quarterback, Lee Evans is a good bet to get 5-6 catches any given week with Trent Edwards in. You have to feel a lot better about Evans now after Edwards showed the ability to get him the ball deep. He may not make more than 1-2 more big plays this year, but he will catch a good number of passes each week and we know what he can do with them. Evans had only four pass targets, and basically made two plays…usually with Edwards in he’s more active.

In week one of the post Roy Williams era, shaun McDonald did a solid job in his debut as the starter on the outside, which is a good sign because he will see tougher coverage compared to when he’s basically the #3. Wideout Calvin Johnson really doesn’t command the ball every week, so McDonald should continue to be very active. He led the team with 12 pass targets and Johnson had 8.

Should you hate Travis Henry or Mike Shanahan? Henry wins his appeal of a positive marijuana test. He is healthy going into the game and scored twice the previous week. The team apparently wanted to limit his action all along, and with Selvin Young healthier and obviously able to do big things, there was no need for Henry in the blowout win. In fact, Young started the game, and the Chiefs had no answer for him. Henry was used early in the game and he did score, but you have to be careful with him the rest of the way because Young could seriously limit his production again. The Broncos have finally realized that they can’t over-extend either, and Henry’s knee isn’t completely healed, so he’s shaky.

When you talk about players who are producing now at the position, and that’s obviously very important this time of the year, Reggie Williams of Jacksonville definitely needs to be in the conversation. He’s playing with a lot of confidence, and he’s really physical with an eye for the end zone. There are many other players getting touches each week, but Williams is making the most of his and his quarterback continues to play very well. If you need him or are on the fence about him, roll with him. He had 9 pass targets, 3 catches of 15 or more yards, and he lost a 23-yard catch to a penalty, costing him a 100-yard game.

Surprise, Jerricho Cotchery goes from questionable for the season (he was listed as doubtful for at least the game) to back to being a very viable option because it appears Lavernaues Coles is still limited with his injury.

Ron Dayne was in and out of the game with his ankle injury, so you have to be concerned about him this week with the short week (they play Thursday). The injured ankle prevented him from participating in Monday's walk-through practice, making it unlikely he'll be able to play this week. However, if he is cleared to play and has no more issues in practice, he would be a viable starter against the Broncos, who have struggled to stop the run for most of the season. Head coach Gary Kubiak is planning on going with Darius Walker and dash of Adimchinobe Echemandu at running back in place of Dayne.

If Frank Gore can rush for 68 yards and average 4.2 yards per carry against the Vikings with Shawn Hill (you are justified in saying, WHO?) in at running the offense, and if he can catch 8 passes for 49 yards, then he’s worth starting for the rest of the season--and should be drafted next season exactly where he was THIS season. Gore gets Cincy this week, then Tampa Bay and finally Cleveland. Start him against all these teams if you’re still in it. If he’s not going to run well, he’s still going to be very active in the passing game (10 targets this past week).

While the juicy story out of San Francisco is the battle between Alex Smith and coach Mike Nolan for leadership of the team, Hill almost certainly will get the first start of his six-year career Saturday night at Monster Park. However, Trent Dilfer could get the nod if he's medically cleared to play after sustaining a concussion in Sunday's 27-7 loss to Minnesota. He was released from Stanford Hospital on Sunday night and reported to work Monday still feeling the effects of the blow to the head. "I can barely think, let alone talk," Dilfer said. One certainty is Alex Smith will not be playing again this year after undergoing season-ending surgery.

One might think it would be tough to endorse Chris Cooley as a “must start” with Jason Campbell out, but you should have enough confidence in Todd Collins to continue starting Cooley and expecting good things. Collins knows the offense well, has a good arm, and he was able to get the ball to the tight end last week. In fact, he could even lean on Cooley even more than Campbell did.

Samkon Gado replaced Jesse Chatman against Buffalo and had 12 carries for 52 yards and two touchdowns to go with two catches for 41 yards. Gado is expected to start in Week 15 against Baltimore and even though the Ravens are a stout run defense, he could have value simply because he'll get the majority of touches. Consider Gado a No. 3 Fantasy running back or a flex option against Baltimore.

Dolphins head coach Cam Cameron will also go with Cleo Lemon, not John Beck as his team's starting quarterback for their Week Fifteen game. The offense has not been able to move the ball at all with Beck at the helm, while Cleo Lemon gave them a bit of a spark last week in Buffalo.

Dallas TE Jason Witten's 15 catches Sunday not only set a team record for a game, but he tied the NFL record for catches by a tight end in a game. Hall of Famers Kellen Winslow (yes kids, ther is another Winslow) and Mike Ditka also had 15-catch games. Witten's final catch was a 16-yarder for the winning touchdown against Detroit. "There's a lot of playmakers in this room on offense, but I want that ball in my hands just like Terrell (Owens) wants it in his," Witten said.

Quick Hits
The injured ribs that Oakland Raiders’ Justin Fargas sustained this past Sunday are not likely to prevent him from playing in this week's game vs. the Colts.

Meanwhile, Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin announced that rookie JaMarcus Russell will not start this week's game, but will still see playing time.

Bobby Petrino doesn’t deserve a headline, instead Petrino should be ashamed. Leaving a Falcons team that has been nothing but turmoil all year is understandable. It certainly is better than holding them up all offseason like Nick Saban did to the Dolphins. But leaving a and singing the schools fight song (on camera) the night after a football game? Considering the leagacy he, Saban and Steve Spurrier left, NFL teams have to be wary of pulling someone directly from the college ranks. Turns out DeAngelo Hall had it right. Oh, yeah fantasy impact, there really is none.

The NFL has moved the Week Sixteen game between the Washington Redskins and the Minnesota Vikings to Sunday night. With the Vikings now at 7-6 and the Redskins at 6-7 the game is certain to have playoff implications, even if both teams lose in Week Fifteen.

Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren indicated Monday that starting running back Shaun Alexander will continue to rotate with backup Maurice Morris.

Place very little faith in Kyle Orton, and with the Bears announcing Monday that Orton will start this week's game vs. Minnesota, he could render Bernard Berrian fairly useless as long as he’s starting.

Seattle Seahawks WR D. J. Hackett (ankle) is ahead of schedule in his recovery according to head coach Mike Holmgren. However, Holmgren did not offer a firm timetable for Hackett's return.

The St. Louis Rams could decide as early as Wednesday afternoon what Marc Bulger’s (concussion) status is for this week's game.

Obviously, Javon Walker’s knee is still a major problem because he was expected to play, yet he was inactive. Walker’s name may look good on your roster, but that’s about all he’s worth right now.

San Diego Chargers fullback Lorenzo Neal will be sidelined for the remainder of the season with a broken right fibula. While it doesn’t downgrade LaDanian Tomlinson much, it certainly doesn’t help.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden announced that quarterback Jeff
Garcia will return to the starting lineup for this week's game vs. Atlanta. Garcia has been sidelined the last two weeks due to a back injury.

“Throw Me the Damn Ball”
Players who had ten or more passes thrown to them this past week:
Jason Witten 18
Michael Jenkins 14
Randy Moss 13
Bernard Berrian 12
Shaun McDonald 12
Larry Fitzgerald 12
Plaxico Burress 12
Brandon Marshall 12
Marques Colston 12
Steve Smith 11
Drew Carter 11
Earnest Graham 11
Andre Johnson 11
Hines Ward 11
Wes Welker 11
Laveranues Coles 11
Devin Hester 10
Ted Ginn 10
Torry Holt 10
Chris Chambers 10
Frank Gore 10
Jerricho Cotchery 10
David Patten 10

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Best of luck in the playoffs, Rock on!