Andy Richardson

It seems like one week each season, there are a whole bunch of injuries, but more often than not, it's early in the year. This year it was week 10, and a lot of people who traded away their depth last week are probably regretting it this morning. Let's get right to it.....

Jaguars at Jets: We went to this game, and the home team didn't win, which was a shame. Lot of interesting stuff though. For one thing, even though Mark Sanchez threw 2 ugly interceptions, I thought he was impressive. And not only because he took the blame for Braylon Edwards dropping a 2-point conversion at the end of the game. Aside from the picks -- I know, they count too -- he made a lot of good throws, including a touchdown to Jerricho Cotchery and a big play to Edwards (who fumbled it), not to mention leading the team on what should ahve been the game-winning touchdown drive. He's a rookie, he makes some poor throws and decisions, but the Jets have a keeper, and both Cotchery and Edwards (and Dustin Keller, who had his second straight big game) should be pretty good with him throwing it to them. Shonn Greene, inches away from a touchdown (that Thomas Jones scored on the next play).

Of course, the most significant fantasy impact involved Maurice Jones-Drew, who had a big game -- with Kris Jenkins out for the year, the Jets can't stop the run -- that could have been bigger. First, he was charged with a fumble near the goal line that probably was on David Garrard; poor exchange. Then in the final two minutes, with the Jets up 1 but out of timeouts, they wanted to let Jones-Drew score, and he took a knee just short of the goal line. Afterward, Jones-Drew (who's a big fantasy football fan) apologized to his fantasy owners, "which include me." Kind of funny. Except if you had him and lost by less than six points, i guess.

Other games: Since I was out, I had to rely on TiVo, three different tuners, and game tapes. It's actually not the worst way to get caught up on a day of football; you have to watch a lot fewer lousy commercials. (Although I admit I do slow down for FOX's dancing robot sometimes. OK, most of the time.) Some of the things I got out of them:

Falcons-Panthers: Michael Turner was on his way to a 200-yard day, most likely, when he got hurt. Bad news for his fantasy owners, obviously, and the Falcons. Probably going to be a pass-heavy approach for the Falcons going forward; Jason Snelling will be a hot waiver pickup this week, but he didn't show much at Carolina. Muhsin Muhammad obviously got tired of my taking shots at him the last few weeks with a good game; without looking it up I think Muhammad's two good games all season have come against the Falcons.

Bucs-Dolphins: Ronnie Brown injured an ankle, which might not affect the Dolphins too much; Ricky Williams looks just about as good these days. Have the Dolphins played a game since week 1 that hasn't come down to the final few plays? Maybe the one game where they worked over the Bills. This was a sloppy affair, with ugly interceptions (Henne, that nearly lost the game) and fumbles (four by Josh Freeman), plus a whole lot of worthless (in fantasy terms, I'm sure they're all nice people) receivers, apart from Kellen Winslow. Bucs running backs, not usable.

Lions-Vikings: If you've got Sidney Rice, maybe you leave him on the bench a lot. It's time to just consider him a No. 1 and start him over some other No. 1s. He's really good, Brett Favre is looking for him almost every dropback, and Rice keeps making plays, including a couple of impressive grabs of deep throws yesterday. I worried the Vikings might come out of their bye flat or rusty, and I guess they got off to kind of a slow start, but when they stepped on the gas, it was over -- they just pounded the Lions into submission. Really good team right now.

Seahawks-Cardinals: We've been waiting for that breakout game from Beanie Wells; maybe that was it. Tim Hightower got stuffed at the goal line and averaged under 4 yards per carry. Wells was a yard and a half better, got around the corner for a touchdown on a fourth and short, and then bounced off three would-be tacklers on his second, game-clinching touchdown. I haven't seen any postgame quotes yet, but I'm thinking the Cardinals won't keep Wells under wraps any longer. Another backup running back, Justin Forsett, will be the hot pickup this week after going over 100 yards replacing Julius Jones, who was knocked out with a broken rib that nicked a lung -- he's going to miss some time.

Cowboys-Packers: Just when you think you've got the Packers figured out -- bullies -- they come up with a mostly strong performance against a mostly strong Dallas team. It wasn't pretty (it was scoreless right before the half), but Green Bay made a lot of plays on defense, took advantage of a pretty curious officiating situation after a Tony Romo fumble -- Felix Jones recovered it but was stripped while down, and it couldn't be reviewed, leading to Green Bay's clinching touchdown -- and looked pretty good on offense. And Aaron Rodgers only got sacked four times, which is below his average. Roy Williams had about the ugliest 100-yard receiving day you'll see, fumbling away a reception and letting another good throw clang off his hands. I don't think the problem is rapport with Romo; it's just that Williams thinks he's better than he actually is.

Patriots-Colts: Wow. I don't like Belichick or the Patriots, so I was fine with them losing, but I could kind of see the rationale for the call. Did the Patriots have a better chance of picking up 2 yards, or stopping the Colts offense? It didn't work out, but it made some sense. As for the game, it just goes to show you that statistics -- like how well the Colts had played the pass all year -- don't mean everything, especially against Randy Moss. Pretty amazing game. Costly goal-line fumble by Laurence Maroney; that's why Sammy Morris or Fred Taylor will be back in the lineup when they're ready.

Monday, Monday: The Browns have basically nothing going for them here, which is why this game will either be stunningly competitive -- maybe Josh Cribbs returns a kick or two, or the Browns somehow exploit a banged-up Ravens defense, or slow a Baltimore offense that comes in too overconfident -- or the ugliest of ugly blowouts. The latter is what I'm betting on, along with about 200 yards of rushing from the Ravens, but then you see a running back take a knee a yard short of the end zone in front of you, and you realize you just never know.

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