Quickly changing regular season storylines 1

I co-own an NFFC team with my boss, and we debated letting Austin go this week, but I wanted to hold on to him if possible because I still thought there was talent there. (Although we would have happily dropped him for the right player Mohammad Massaquoi and just didn't bid enough.)That's the good news.The bad news is that we had him on our bench in favor of Patrick Crayton and Lee Evans Sunday, missing Austin's most useful moment of his fantasy football life.Hopefully Austin's breakout despite three touchdowns he didn't catch will gain the trust of Tony Romo and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett.Austin is Dallas' fastest receiver and deserves a bigger role.But he's not particularly likely to have the same conditions as Sunday again anytimeso: an easy matchup, with Roy Williams out. It's easy to second-guess now, and it's also easy to understand why Austin is on so many waiver wires. He had four catches for 39 yards in the previous three games combined.But that doesn't make it much easier to stare at the 47 freaking fantasy points he scored Sunday on our bench without wanting to puke. Some Panic is Acceptable 1. The wind was brutal in Buffalo, but Trent Edwards still figured out how to put up 152 yards.The Browns won't turn from Derek Anderson after they won despite his ugly performance, but it's hard to trust their passing game no matter who is at the helm.2.

Maybe it was the matchup, but it was a bad sign for Jerome Harrison's value long-term that Jamal Lewis got 31 carries to only eight for Harrison.Then again, Lewis won't stay healthy for long if he gets 31 carries every week.3. The Redskins will play their sixth straight winless team this week, but Clinton Portis has averaged more than four yards per carry only once this season. Including last year, he's topped four ypc once in his last ten games. The offensive line bears much of the blame, but blame won't score fantasy points. The impressive start to Hakeem Nicks' career is going to hurt Mario Manningham more than it hurts Steve Smith, although it will hurt both a little 6. It's not a great sign for Brandon Jacobs owners when Ahmad Bradshaw is tearing up New York's easy matchups, while Jacobs is just plodding along.Against three of the worst defenses in football, Jacobs piled up 68 for 251 rushing yards and a score He had four receiving yards. This is acceptable, but not overly exciting considering the matchups.Bradshaw had 37 carries for 278 rushing yards and two scores over the same stretch.

He's also not very involved in the passing game, but did take his one catch Sunday for 55 yards. Bradshaw has turned into a quality RB2/flex option most weeks. You can't bench Jacobs because the touchdowns will come, but he'sunder-performing. When good players have bad teammates Steve Smith of the Panthers is on pace for just over 1,000 yards. The Panthers passing attack isn't going to be good enough for him to live up to his top-10 receiver draft value. Some touchdowns will come, and he won't kill owners, but the lack of receiving weapons around him will continue to make life difficult He's more of a WR2 now than a WR1. Real and Spectacular 1 Cedric Benson and the Bengals running game are very real. The only concern for Benson owners is whether he can hold up to the workload.

He's on pace for 370 carries and his previous career high was 214, set last year. That's a concern Benson owners are just going to have to deal with unless you can get top-five value for him in return.2. Ben Roethlisberger and Rashard Mendenhall continued to play to their new status in fantasy football. Roethlisberger is a top-eight option worth starting nearly every week. Mendenhall will be an every-week play until Willie Parker is back at the least. Short, declarative sentences about defenses Baltimore's pass defense is now a plus matchup The Bengals defense shuts down opposing top receivers The 49ers aren't quite as nasty as we thought. Anyone playing Oakland, Cleveland, Tampa, Washington, and St. Louis remain excellent plays. Quickly changing regular season storylines 1.