After Further Review Despite sitting out virtually all of training camp with several different ailments Arian Foster was still a top five pick in most fantasy football leagues, but after three weeks of play he has not performed up to his draft slot. The Texans have a playoff run on their minds with absolutely no interest in appeasing fantasy owners in mind, and consequently, they are easing Foster back in to action as he shares carries with Ben Tate. On most other teams such arrangements would be impossible, given the typical talent gap between backs, but the Texans are blessed to have two capable running backs. Through three weeks Foster has forty-nine carries to only twenty-seven for Tate. Tate has been making his mark with a gaudy 6.8 yards per carry. Don't panic if you own Foster! Foster has been among the best goal line backs over the last several years, but he has only found the end zone once so far this season. He is still getting the red zone carries over Tate and figures to start cashing those in as the Texans utilize him more. Tough match-ups are in store for him over the next several weeks and he could make a nice trade target if his owner grows tired of waiting on him to live up to expectations. It seems like decades since Maurice Jones-Drew led the NFL in rushing yards. It was actually only two seasons ago, but the Lisfranc injury last season and the Jags' anemic offense appear to be taking their toll. MJD did manage to find the end zone in week three, salvaging an otherwise pedestrian performance. Through three games Jones-Drew is averaging only 2.6 yards per carry. The Jags offense seems to be at least a little more efficient with Chad Henne at quarterback, but after seeing Tampa Bay and the New York Giants race out to 0-3 starts (among others), they have announced Blaine Gabbert will reclaim his position as starting quarterback in an effort to tank for the top draft pick next year. I still believe in MJD's talent, but I have major concerns about his surrounding circumstances. Keep a close eye on the Jags' offensive scheme over the next couple of weeks. They looked like they occasionally got away from the newly installed zone blocking approach they had been using and MJD looked more comfortable at times in week three. If they have any hopes of reeling off a few wins, the Jags need Jones-Drew to operate with optimum efficiency. Several media outlets are reporting that Tom Brady has been texting and calling Deion Branch and ...

For unproven players, the preseason matters. It matters for guys like Marcus Easley, David Gettis, Kealoha Pilares, Aldrick Robinson, Zach Line, Michael Cox, Isaiah Pead, and Daryl Richardson. And it really matter for rookie undrafted free agents, guys like Zach Sudfeld and Kenbrell Thompkins. While the RotoViz guys have written a lot on Sudfeld, we haven't written much about Thompkins, except to note that Thompkins is receiving snaps with the starters. I think we haven't written more about Thompkins because, well, he didn't give us much to say about him coming into the NFL. Whereas Sudfeld proved himself in college to be a beast in the red zone, Thompkins didn't really prove himself to be anything except an old rookie on whom his coaches at Cincinnati refused to rely. In short, we haven't said much up to this point because Thompkins really hadn't given us anything to say. (And in all fairness, I should note that while the stat geeks didn't see Thompkins coming at least one tape grinder did. As I've said before, I think analytics will be at its best when the stat geeks and tape grinders supplement each other's work.) Now, after two preseason games, we have something to say about the rookie UDFA. Barring an unexpected late-preseason surge by Aaron Dobson (or Josh Boyce), Kenbrell Thompkins will be the Patriots' starting #2 WR. While some people think of this as the starting X spot, I tend to think of this position differently, since the Patriots often move players around in highly inventive ways. When I think of Thompkins, I don't see a guy playing the X (or split end) position. I see a guy who is reprising the role played by Deion Branch...

The New England Patriots re-signed wide receiver Deion Branch on Friday.

This marks the first NFL weekend since September in which no teams have a bye. Although there are several high TV ratings sort of games, some featured below, Vinnie finds most of the Week 10 lines a tad disagreeable. Regardless, there's enough going on here to make it worth your while. Starting with ... Houston Texans @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+3): The Texans are off to the best start in franchise history, led by a dominant running game and dramatically improved defense. Don't be surprised when Arian Foster and Ben Tate gash Tampa Bay's crippled, clearly under-performing front seven for close to (if not more than) 200 rushing yards. Not that his services will be needed, Matt Schaub may not have had Andre Johnson around lately, but the fifth-year starter has been playing some really efficient football in road games. There's some real blowout potential in this game; Houston has now won three consecutive games in convincing fashion, and is sure to score a ton of points offensively, and matches up quite well against Josh Freeman and the Buccaneers' offense. Gimme the Texans minus the points. New England Patriots @ New York Jets (-1): The Jets have yet to lose at home in 2011, which is precisely where they've managed to rough up the division rival Patriots twice in a row. Shonn Greene's trend toward taking more carries and packing a wallop began against New England earlier this season, and continued into New York's current winning streak. As unreliable as Mark Sanchez's accuracy has been, he seems to have figured out how to feed his better receiving options the ball more often, and faces an atrocious Patriots' pass defense. Whether it's Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski or Deion Branch, someone will reap the benefits of a passing touchdown from Tom Brady. For the most part, though, the Jets are in position to handle this aspect of New England's game plan just fine. Gimme the Jets minus the points. Pittsburgh Steelers @ Cincinnati Bengals (+3): This rivalry game figures to come down to whether Rashard Mendenhall can find any success against an excellent Bengals' run defense, how consistently Ben Roethlisberger can make the throws he'll need to against Cincy's solid but overachieving secondary, how well Pittsburgh's below-average offensive line can hold up against one of the better defensive line rotations in the NFL, who outplays whom between cornerback Ike Taylor and rookie receiver A.J. Green, and how poised Andy Dalton will be against the adverse blitz schemes ...

It is Week 8 my friends and the tide is going out. The time has come to discover who is naked. But before that I would be remiss if I did not point out the obvious. There is a portion of Connecticut that is not having a Fall. The normal fall foliage that is resplendent and colorful is now brown and dingy. Hurricane Irene blew the tops off the trees at sustained winds of 50-MPH for 7 hours and it resulted in this brown mess that I am witnessing now. But go 100 miles to the left or 100 miles to the right et voila! All is beautiful all over again. The time has come to speak of a minor correction. A Tie? I submitted my article after the game two weeks ago and much to my wonderment, something happened overnight. Somehow my opponent lost two points after all was said and done which resulted in a tie. So my record now includes a dash and a 1. Ties are strange Karma in Fantasy Football terms. It breaks tie-breaks, but that is the only good that can come of this. So my record coming into the week was 2-3-1. Can I pull myself up by the bootstraps? It is a bye week, so all cannot be good for me. The Forgotten Five I have five starters on the bench due to a bye week like Michael Vick, Jeremy Maclin and Vernon Davis to name three. Ok...the other two are Green-Ellis and Deion Branch. I call them the forgotten five because you have to forget about them if you want to make a team this week. This is difficult to do but with 7 minutes to go until 1 pm on Sunday, I decide to see what Doug Coutts has on his list of Waiver Wire Wonders article. At the top in the Smokin' Hot section is RB DeMarco Murray. Since Dallas is playing the winless St. Louis Rams, I will take a flyer on that Rams defense and try out DeMarco Murray. And then 253 yards and one touchdown later I am a winner and the forgotten five are forget-worthy this week. My record touches .500 again at 3-3-1. This is not enough to get me out of the basement of my division but the future is so bright, I gotta wear DeMarco Murray shades, right? Preparing For Winter Since the leaves are not cooperating right now, I might as well talk about the 400-pound elephant in the room. On more than one occasion I have heard about the winter yet to come. Why are we talking about it so early? Because winter came in 2010 and boldly lasted for several winter storms with each wrongly predicted on the short side by our fearless weather wonks. One storm was predicting 8 inches of snow and it did not stop until 22 inches later. How can ...

Here are the top six storylines from Week 3. Drum roll, please... 6. SOME STUDS WERE DUDS What do Hakeem Nicks (3-25-0), Philip Rivers (266-0-2), Steve Smith (Car) (2-15-0), Frank Gore (17-42-0 with no catches), BenJarvus Green-Ellis (9-16-0 with no catches), Michael Turner (11-20-0 with no catches), Deion Branch (0-0-0), Rashard Mendenhall (18-37-0) and Santonio Holmes (1-19-0) all have in common? They torpedoed quite a few fantasy teams. Tom Brady throws for 387 yards and four touchdowns, and Branch posts a goose egg. I still can't get over that one. 5. NEW ORLEANS RALLIES TO UPEND HOUSTON After facing the Kerry Collins-led Indianapolis Colts and a Miami Dolphins team that had a letdown following an emotional Week 2 loss to the New England Patriots, the Houston Texans defense clashed with a real offense -- the New Orleans Saints. The result -- Houston's revamped defense needs some more revamping following a 40-33 loss in which the Texans allowed 23 fourth-quarter points. The Houston offense, however, was fine, as expected, with Ben Tate (19-82-0 and 1-8-0) filling in for Arian Foster in the short term. I was not big on Tate when the Texans drafted him, but the second-year pro is far more explosive than I had originally thought. 4. THE MINNESOTA VIKINGS CHOKE AGAIN And Minnesota fans can't blame it on now-former head coach Brad Childress. Two weeks ago, the Vikings flubbed a 17-0 lead and lost 24-20 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In Week 3, the Vikings choked away a 20-10 cushion and lost 23-20 to the upstart Detroit Lions in overtime. On the bright side, Donovan McNabb showed a fantasy pulse, throwing for 201-1-0, which was his best outing in a Vikings uniform. 3. THE DREAM TEAM OFFENSE LOOKED NIGHTMARISH The Philadelphia Eagles were coming off an intense, emotional Week 2 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, and they played like it. How else could they lose 29-16 to the sputtering New York Giants? Neither Michael Vick (broken non-throwing hand) nor Jeremy Maclin (hamstring) was able to play until the end of their team's surprising 29-16 drubbing at the hands of Big Blue. What happened to the all-star Asante Samuel-led secondary? Eli Manning tossed four touchdown passes! Come on! Eagles fans, I don't mean to pile on, but the offensive line blocking still needs work, and the linebacker play was terrible. How do you give up a 40-yard touchdown pass to the "speedy" Brandon Jacobs? By the way, Vick is considered questionable to play in Week 4, and I suspect...