24 Hours 'Til Sunday — Andy Richardson

Forgive the week 5 delay; had to attend a Friday wedding. In a way it's kind of nice: you still have the weekend left to you. Better yet, the later publishing time yields some later, last-minute info for the games....

Tennessee at Baltimore: Back in the day, these teams used to play some low-scoring affairs: 13-12, 13-10, etc. This could be one of those games. I'm curious to see which quarterback is rattled more by the opposing defense. Willis McGahee says he'll play; no doubt he's worried about how good Le'Ron McClain looks replacing him, as well he should be. The only offensive player I'm using in this game is Titans rookie Chris Johnson. Titans wideout Justin Gage is also out, but you're a braver man than me if you consider Justin McCareins or Brandon Jones. Tight defensive struggle coming up.

Kansas City at Carolina: Big game in the weekly survivor pool. Panthers will be without both their starting offensive tackles. Kansas City will be without a home game against a division rival with a horrible defense. Advantage, Panthers. I do like Tony Gonzalez and Dwayne Bowe, however, both of whom are trying to squeeze whatever stats they can manage out of Damon Huard before the inevitable and value-killing return of Brodie Croyle.

Chicago at Detroit: Chris Berman picked the Lions to win this game. I'm willing to go out on a limb and risk looking bad by saying I can't see any way, shape or form the Lions don't lose this game badly. They may score some points, but they'll serve them up just as quickly, including a Chicago defensive TD most likely. For the Bears, Brandon Lloyd won't play, Marty Booker probably won't, and if you've got Devin Hester and of course Matt Forte, they're not going to get a more favorable matchup against a lousier defense all season. Except when they play the Lions a second time.

Atlanta at Green Bay: A matchup between two teams who will always regret getting rid of Brett Favre. Wait, is that my bias showing through? Probably. Anyway, Aaron Rodgers is a gametime decision. He hasn't yet entered the LaDainian Tomlinson-Brian Westbrook strata where you wait until the last minute before going with a different player. He's probably going to play; less certain is that he'll play well. Most likely he'll make some short throws here and there and hand the ball off to Ryan Grant. A lot. Finally a favorable situation for Grant, who is presumably now healthy. Green Bay's defense is without so many players right now that I'd happily start Michael Turner and Roddy White. Falcons probably lose, but they should score some points.

Indianapolis at Houston: The Texans have a chance here. If you've got Steve Slaton, start him -- he'll be busy, and the Colts can't stop him. Chris Taylor is out, Ahman Green is in as the backup. Gary Kubiak admits the team can't get Slaton off the field. Might be a decent amount of scoring in this game.

San Diego at Miami: MIami upset the Patriots two weeks ago. Can they make it two straight surprises? Doubtful. Looks like a good week for Tomlinson and Gates, not to mention ex-Dolphin Chris Chambers. For the Dolphins, when you think of all the players they could have taken near the top of the first round last year, the fact that they took Ted Ginn might be something fans lament for quite a while. Paltry receiving talent here, aside from Anthony Fasano. I personally would be loathe to start either Miami runner in a likely committee, but I know that some will do it.

Seattle at N.Y. Giants: No Plaxico Burress, so consider Amani Toomer and replacement starter Domenik Hixon. For Seattle, I see a lot of people happy to start Bobby Engram and Deion Branch. Mike Holmgren admits he's not sure either player will be able to play full-time. My feeling is, if you've waited this long on these players, why not wait one more week (when they're home against Green Bay)? Maurice Morris seems unlikely to go, giving Julius Jones value for at least one more game, although it's a tough matchup.

Washington at Philadelphia: Brian Westbrook is questionable. He practiced Friday. I'd probably lean toward starting him unless I had another compelling option. If Westbrook is ruled out Sunday morning, I still probably wouldn't want to use Correll Buckhalter against a pretty good Washington defense. Sounds like L.J. Smith will be playing; he's had full participation at practice.

Tampa Bay at Denver: No Joey Galloway. Nobody else important for either team will be out. Denver doesn't play defense, and the Bucs don't play much of it on the road.

Buffalo at Arizona: Anquan Boldin is out, making Steve Breaston easily the most added player this week. And he's pretty good, too -- fast, elusive. Got to see him play in that wild Jets-Cardinals game last week. Cardinals are still without safety Adrian Wilson, which helps the Bills offense. Nice to week to have any of these offensive players.

Cincinnati at Dallas: Early in the week people in my leagues were jumping on Ryan Fitzpatrick. Now it appears Carson Palmer will play, saving the fantasy values of Chad Ocho Cinco, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and the just activated Chris Henry. Dallas is a popular choice in survivor pools this week. I'm not as confident; Cincinnati should score some points. Bengals make another curious decision, signing Cedric Benson (based on what?) and releasing Kenny Watson. I give up trying to assign reason to the Bengals' moves.

New England at San Francisco: Bill Belichick's defense versus Mike Martz' offense. I'm not betting on J.T. O'Sullivan and the Niners here. Of course, betting on Matt Cassel leading this offense to another road win also seems unlikely. Could be an ugly game.

Pittsburgh at Jacksonville: A lot of players hurt for this one. In addition to the ones you know about, fullback Carey Davis won't play, making Mewelde Moore even more likely to get most of the carries (since the other options weren't even on Pittsburgh's roster last week). Jaguars are also missing some players in the secondary, but will Roethlisberger have enough time to find his receivers? Watching the Steelers try and protect him you kind of feel for the guy. How long before he gets sidelined for a lengthy period of time?

Minnesota at New Orleans: Monday games, so briefly: Adrian Peterson should have a huge game. Drew Brees should have his latest huge game. Lance Moore definitely and Robert Meachem and Devery Henderson possibly rate consideration. And maybe even Reggie Bush, the top back from the draft prior to Peterson's, will have a very productive game as well as he tries to one-up All Day.

Enjoy the games.

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