Fantasy Football Studs & Duds

QB Reports: It was redemption week for Daunte Culpepper, who made strides toward forgiveness from his fantasy owners for the two-week detour through hell that he took them on. Eight INTs was a pretty big hole to dig himself. But another 300-yard, three-TD, zero-INT performance like the one hung on New Orleans on Sunday, and it's likely that he'll be fully back in our good graces. Donovan McNabb was looking a bit banged up early, which led to some erratic passes, but he still finished up with some big stats and a close victory. No matter how it looks, the results are pretty good. It helps when you have people like Brian Westbrook, L.J. Smith and Greg Lewis along with a stud wideout like Owens. f you thought Palmer has been hot so far, consider that he has to return home now and face the Texans next week where passing touchdowns are only slightly harder to distribute than free $100 bills in front of Walmart. It seems like old times as Drew Bledsoe and Terry Glenn have put up big stats the past couple of weeks, working for the same team in a many years. I'm wondering how long this will last, but both are nice plays, especially if you have stars on bye weeks. We know that Green Bay has issues on offense. The loss of key offensive linemen in the offseason and the season-ending injury to Javon Walker has Brett Favre trying to do way too much. Trent Dilfer and Gus Frerotte were major afterthoughts in fantasy drafts this year, but they're both turning in respectable numbers that they may have value as a backup/bye-week starter.

Running Backs Report: Attention all LT and Alexander Owners. I hate you, and I love you. LT brought me back from 55 pts down in one league that awards nice bonus points. I thought I was done in that league but there's a reason you take LT with the #1 overall pick and never take him out of your lineup. As for Alexander The Great well I thought I had a huge win in my other league as I got nice week 3 performances from all my players, then in the late games Babyburping Alexander goes off for 4 TD's and 140 yds. A second huge straight week for him. This is why these 2 backs are the top 2 backs in Fantasy Football.

Forget about the mere 19 yards that LaMont Jordan picked up on 16 carries Sunday. He's a solid fantasy player, and he is going to have some huge days in the near future. As it turned out, Jordan did enough as a receiver to offset his poor ground numbers. This week, Willis McGahee riddled the Falcons for 140 yards on the ground. And he was able to do it despite QB J.P. Losman posing absolutely no threat to Atlanta via the pass. Losman had 75 passing yards, and his throws were all over the place. Deuce McAllister's rushing yards aren't anything to write home about, but he has scored a touchdown every week so far, which keeps him relatively valuable. It also makes up for some of the strangeness of the Saints offense in which Joe Horn and Donte Stallworth had only one combined catch, while Ernie Conwell had a score. Fred Taylor owners should feel good after Week 3. He handled the ball a whopping 37 times, which was more than his previous two weeks combined (36). If head coach Jack Del Rio feels confident enough in Taylor's surgically repaired knee to give him that many carries. Ronnie Brown is slowly but surely finding his footing as an NFL running back and will try his best to match the numbers of former Auburn teammate Carnell Williams, who now has three 100-yard games in the three NFL starts.

Duds - J.J. Arrington racked up a cool nine yards on five carries and almost doubled his yardage with his one catch for four yards. Arrington continues to prove the proud tradition of the Cardinals that says no running back will excel in the desert unless he is a back-up runner that can then be throw back on the depth chart to start the next year. Steven Jackson is a big back with good quickness who can bowl over defenders in the open field when he is at the top of his game. But so far, Jackson has not been able to consistently break tackles or make much happen after contact on a regular basis when he has been healthy. Jackson, who had to leave Sunday's game with a rib injury, has yet to reach the 100-yard mark in three games

Against the NOW OVERRATED Bears defense this week, Palmer threw three scoring passes and was not intercepted. Palmer has officially vaulted himself into must-start fantasy status. Don't ever bench him or his stud reciever Chad Johnson for that matter, the benefactor of Carson's maturing process. These two guys are destinded for the beach in February. A first for Carson. I can't say enough about little man Steve Smith. He was the MAIN reason I'm trailing by 50 pts in one league yesterday till LT kicked it into gear, but I wish I had him on my team. He is amazing and Delhomme looks for him on every passing play. Keep him in your lineups against anyone. Smith caught 11 passes (170 yards, 3 TDs) on Sunday. Ricky Proehl had one reception, and he was the only other Carolina wideout to catch a pass. Smith is going to have league-leading type numbers by season's end. He'll be up there with Moss, Owens, Torry Holt and Chad Johnson. Trust me.

Rookie Troy Williamson finished with 83 receiving yards and scored on a 53-yard reception. He was given an increased role in the passing game as some Vikings followers had hoped, and Williamson has become increasingly more comfortable in the offense and is now worth at least an occasional start. Brandon Lloyd had four catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns in a Week 3 loss to the Cowboys. Lloyd, a third-year receiver, is finally coming into his own despite the struggles of the San Francisco quarterbacks. He will look to continue his momentum into Week 4 when the 49ers meet the Cardinals in Mexico City.

Duds: Buffalo Wideouts where are you? Bench Lee Evans and Eric Moulds until there's any change in production. Willis McGahee is doing the best he can, but the passing game is pathetic despite some decent talent around. And you've got to wonder if Kelly Holcomb comes in anytime soon.

Wow - Gates is back, and this ex Basketball player outplayed Shockey last night in SNF. Now don't take that the wrong way. Shockey is a MUST START every week on your FFL team, he's playing his best ball ever. BUT, Gates is just that much better. He has the best hands of any TIGHT end in the NFL. Including Gonzo. Witten had a good week for Dallas but only because they were playing catch up in the second half. The same goes for Conwell. Neither has really done much other than in week 3 this year, so monitor them closely.

Promotions For Our Top Online Sportsbooks Nine.com Click the image to check out our Football Sportsbooks Online football promotions. Then check back often to take advantage of the many new promotions to come! In order to begin wagering, you need to make a deposit with them.

New England's Defense: Ok is it just me or do you also think Rodney Harrison is done for the year? You know Rodney is one of the toughest guys in the NFL but you could still see the pain on his face. His face told me, his season is over. This simple fact tells me also that New England's Defense is downgraded bigtime from a fantasy perspective. The Pats just lost their heart. First Teddy now Rodney...this team will have to do a ton to recover. Nice win over Pitt by the way though.

Buffalo's Defense: This just in Takeo Spikes OUT for the rest of the season with an achilles injury --- Buffalo has been struggling as of late, and now, it could get much worse.

Seattle's Offense is still to unpredictable: Except for #2 overall Fantasy STUD Shaun Alexander the Hawks are still a flaky fantasy team. Hasselbeck, and Jackson would appear to be the top options but both failed to find the endzone on Sunday. The Hawks instead of red zone play action, just red zone pounded with Baby burping Alexander. Beware of starting Seahawks. Peter Warrick on the upside though had his first catch from backup QB Seneca Wallace for 42yds. He's going to be the 3rd WR on this team by Week 8.

Moss vs Owens: The Oakland/Philly matchup was supposed to be all about the showdown of top receivers Randy Moss and Terrell Owens. But, while both had more than 80 yards, and Owens found pay dirt, it was the play of TEs Courtney Anderson and L.J. Smith. Smith did just what he did last week, played another great game. Anderson finished with 4 catches for 100yds.

Buffalo Sucks: Evidently the Bills are mainly just going to kick field goals while at home, the only question is if the opponent can score touchdowns. In the case of the Falcons, why yes they can. Willis McGahee had 140 rushing yards and the one score but once again the inability of the Bills to produce a passing game is their downfall.

Cleveland Is For Real and Indy's Offense is Full of Duds: They held Manning in check and the only Colt player that has fantasy relevance so far is Edgerrin James who had 108 yards and one score on Sunday. He has averaged 108 yards in every game so far

Other Week 3 Fantasy Football Duds

Quarterbacks: Chad Pennington, QB, Jets (9-19, 76 yards, 2 INTs; 3 carries, 15 yards)
J.P. Losman, Bills: 10-23, 75 yards, 1 INT; 5 carries, 20 yards
Peyton Manning, Colts: 19-23, 228 yards, 1 INT
Kyle Orton, Bears: 17-39, 149 yards, 5 INTs

RB
Stephen Davis, Panthers: 16 carries, 36 yards; 2 catches, 16 yards
Willie Parker, Steelers: 17 carries, 55 yards; 1 catch, -6 yards

WR
Isaac Bruce, Rams: 1 catch, 11 yards
Laveranues Coles, Jets: 4 catches, 17 yards
Lee Evans, Bills: 2 catches, 7 yards
Joe Horn, Saints: 1 catch, 11 yards
T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Bengals: 2 catches, 13 yards
Eric Moulds, Bills: 3 catches, 18 yards
Donte Stallworth, Saints: 0 catches, 0 yards
Brandon Stokley, Colts: 1 catch, 9 yards

Reasons to watch the Sunday Night Game:

Chargers 45, Giants 23: I love to watch the Sunday Night Games because while its not MNF it is still Prime Time Football, and the players love getting up for games played in front of a National Audience. One of those players is LT, the #1 pick taken in most drafts this year right? Also the guy that didn't do much for 2 weeks as Martyball wasn't quite rolling the way it should. Well in week 3 LT went off. 4 TD's. Count em "4".

Not only did LaDainian Tomlinson absolutely go crazy, but Eli Manning had a game reminiscent of what his brother Peyton is usually capable of. Sometimes you have to keep a close eye on those Sunday night games for huge fantasy performances. Gates was big, Shockey, McCardell, Brees, Manning, Burress all had great performances. In the past Shaun Alexander once had a five-TD game on a Sunday night, while Peyton Manning had a six-TD night in another in recent years. So take it from me, watch the Sunday Night Game because you are playing guys on your fantasy team that are involved in this matchup.