Fantasy Nfc West

Just in case you were thinking your fantasy team was going to get fat and happy against a full-of-upside-but-not-filling-it 49ers team...well, they still could. But you're going to have to get creative and tricky with your roster. Much like me trying to pull off Soulja Boy in the middle of a crowded tailgate parking lot this weekend. Shaun Alexander and Deion Branch will not start nor will they play as the Seahawks look to take their NFC West division leading record to 5-4. (Mike Holmgren confirmed the Alexander rumors on his radio show last night).

What does this mean for fantasy players? Well, first of all, Maurice Morris becomes a very viable starter. Now, in all likelihood, you have already used your two running backs. But if you were waiting to hear about Frank Gore or Alexander, um, now would be a nice time to make a move.

D.J. Hackett returned to the lineup last week and caught a touchdown - if for any reason he's available you should scoop immediately if you need to fill a WR spot, or were planning on starting Branch (or any of the San Fran "wideouts"). Bobby Engram should be good for some serious yardage again this week and is a very nice fantasy play as Matt Hasselback seems to trust him more than anyone else out of the corps. Hasselback himself gets to face a tough set of DB's, but should still go largo as the Seahawks look to air it out more than normal tonight.

After two full days of practice, we still don't know the exact statuses for the players that are injured, but we do know who has and who hasn't been practicing. Here's the breakdown from the NFC, for fantasy purposes, of players that might be affected by injury this weekend:

Arizona Cardinals

• Anquan Boldin (hip) - Boldin hasn't practiced either Wednesday or Thursday. The first day was kind of funny in that "ha-ha" kind of way but missing Thursday is pretty disconcerting. He's probably going to be listed as Questionable and you're probably going to have to plan on starting him against the Steelers unless he absolutely gets ruled out.

For those of you who may have packed it in early for the season, giving up on the Rams, may not even have noticed the incredibly huge monstrous year that Steven Jackson had. Not only did he come out from under Faulks huge shadow that was cast over him for a couple of years, he lunged out at us and defenders like a wild beast just released from his cage.

The first stat alone should slap you right in the face, his 2,334 yards from the line of scrimmage is the fifth most in NFL history. Surpassed only by Marshall Faulk with 2,429 yards in 1999, Tiki Barber with 2,390 yards in 2005, LaDainian Tomlinson with 2,370 yards, and Barry Sanders with 2,358 yards in 1997.

Jackson proved that he was a tough runner between tackles and finally learned the importance of taking what was there instead of dancing around trying to find something or make something happen. Not one single running back had as many first downs as he did in third and one situations, totally a whopping 14 in those situations.

He also became the main benefactor of Linehan's check down mentality given to Bulger in case he found himself in tight situations. Because of this Jackson ended the season with 436 touches, six shy of Eric Dickerson's franchise record set back in 1983.

Coming into the 2006 season, there were a lot of questions regarding Jackson's durability, but he answered that question quite solidly by only missing a couple of plays all season during the Bears game with leg cramps.

He earned Player of the Week honors, Player of the Month Honors, Rams Team MVP and a spot on the Pro Bowl and showed that when he said "Give me the damn ball" he meant it. And this is why Steven Jackson receives an 'A+' for the 2006 season.

Tomorrow: The receiving corp.

The Vikings year has been a strange one at best. How does the team with the league's best rushing defense end up with the league's worst passing defense?

Who cares.

The only thing on Steven Jackson's mind were those same curly battering horns that he has been using with increasing effectiveness at murdering opposing lines. And if there was ever a statement made this season in the NFL, it's that Steven Jackson is seriously for real.

The Vikings came into the game allowing an average of 57rushing yards per game. All they had to do was hold the Rams to under 154 yards rushing today to beat the 2000 Baltimore Ravens record of 60.6 per game allowed. Jackson trampled that idea nearly by himself by rushing for 142 yards. Jackson totaled out with a freakish 166 total yards and four touchdowns. The Rams total of 169 rushing yards left the Vikings staring at a completely starless sky by the end of the day and sent them reeling into the off-season - and happy to be there finally.

Just like his regular game tendency, Jackson has got increasingly stronger at the end of the season and barring injury, will surely be an MVP threat next season.

I'm sure there are plenty of teams happy the Rams got eliminated with that kind of runaway train gathering speed at that pace.

Well here's a shocker. Bears beat the Rams 42-27.

That's not the only shock of the night. The first one came very early at the Edward Jones Dome; on the first play of the game to be exact. It was the sound of ... was it crowd noise? It was, but it was the Bear fans making all the noise. That's no shocker, that's a shame.

Soldier Field is a 300-and-something mile drive from St. Louis and one that the good people of Chicago faith happily made tonight to cheer their Bears on to secure a first round bye in the playoffs and to cheer Rex Grossman up and over the hump of his mini-crisis. God works in mysterious ways to most, but to us, who know our football team we could see the cure coming a mile away. Just ask Edgerrin James, who by the way had his second hundred-yard-plus game yesterday after visiting the Ed.

The Rams tried, they did. But you, I , and everyone else in the country knew far too well what the result would be when the final gun went off. But this Rams team of underachievers put on quite a show - albeit for one half.

There is obviously much work to be done in St. Louis this off-season.

En route to boosting themselves into the best possible position for a playoff run, the Bears stomped the already teetering Rams fingers off the last branch of hope they desperately clung to for some sort of a playoff berth. Though those aspirations were as realistic as the chances of momma's sure-fire lottery numbers, at least they were still there and just like momma and Dr. Martin Luther King, we in Ram-Nation still had a dream. But morning has come and the light of day has revealed undeniable reality that there will surely be no dream this year, but rather extra time to build up optimism for next year.

Congratulations are in order for another step for the historically beleageured Bears organization toward the promised-land, as well as St. Louis' own hero Lovie Smith for doing it his way in Chicago and coming though shining just the way all of us knew he would way back when he first took that job.

As for the Rams, well we alot to look forward to next year.

At least we, like the rest of the Ram-faithful have a few games left to just enjoy seeing our heroes play without any distractions like playoff pressure. That sounds pathetic, I realize, but when you are a true fan as I am, just getting to enjoy another week is still a small measure of decadence.

Go Rams!

There are some guys who can get their point across without even saying a word. There are even fewer who can put people in their places without one thought of putting them down or trying to show them up. And only a select few emerge from that group with the respect of all who are lucky enough to see them pile up their milestones.

But there are none who have done it faster than Big Game.

What Torry Holt has done in just seven-plus NFL seasons has plain and simple, never been done before - period. In his rookie season in 1999, he racked up 788 receiving yards. He has never had a season under 1,300 since.

In fact he is the only player to have 1,300 or better receiving yards in six straight years. This season he is on pace for another 1,450 yard performance and in the Rams last game against the Seahawks, he surpassed the ten-thousand yard mark faster than any receiver in NFL history.

But you will never hear the man brag up his accomplishments. He is a human-highlight reel every Sunday as soon as he steps on the field. A master at running precise routes, there is no cover player that can effectively shut him down on a consistent basis. His catch in the closing minutes of the Seahawks game was a masterpiece of highlight reel material that will be replayed a hundred times from now till whenever, and typical viewing in his footage of countless mind-boggling catches.

It's good guys like Holt who gives the kids someone to truly look up to, and most defensive backs someone to catch up to. What we're all witnessing is a Hall of Fame Career that is just beginning to peak.

While this is the most pressing question on the minds of everyone in Seahawk Nation, until there is a definitive response from the medical staff, this man is the answer.

(EDIT: Lastest news on Hasselbeck is that he'll miss at least three weeks )

This man is Seneca Wallace. Since he is a black man who plays the quarterback position, of course he is known more for his "athleticism" and being a viable run threat, but he wouldn't be backing up the most important position on a Mike Holmgren coached team if he couldn't also throw the ball.

The Seahawks spurned several opportunities in the off season to sign a more seasoned veteran as the back-up QB, which seemed odd in the light of them using Seneca Wallace as a wide out in the NFC Championship game against the Panthers. One could only assume from that decision that although his athletic talents were being mostly wasted on the sidelines carrying a clipboard, Holmgren, the master quarterback evaluator who mentored Montana, Young and Favre, figures Wallace possesses the talent to run this team, and thus was more valuable in his current role.

Or it could be that we were just flush with wide receiver talent?

According to a piece on the Seahawks Insider, wide receiver Bobby Engram is listed as questionable for Sunday's showdown in St. Louis, with a possible thyroid condition. Engram was also out with an injury when the Seahawks got their first win in St. Louis last season.

Matt Hasselbeck was once asked who his two favorite receivers were, to which he replied, "Bobby Engram and Bobby Engram!" That quote must have been from 2003, where Engram amassed 637 yards on 52 catches with 6 touchdowns. In four games this year, he's caught 18 balls for 198 yards and a touchdown.

While the quarterback may be without his security blanket, this opens the door to re-activate second year man D.J. Hackett, who is a bonafide down-field threat, and thorn in the side of the Rams. The official stats from last year's game only shows D.J. with 5 catches for 43 yards, but it was a pass interference call on a deep pass to a streaking Hackett in the end zone, that set up a one-yard Alexander TD run, tying the score at sevens, and setting the tone for the day.

Between Roethlesberger's appendix, Simms' spleen, Ivy's kidney and now Engram's thyroid, this has got to be the strangest season for unusual football injuries.

Running back Frank Gore has become a fantasy geek's dream as he ranks second in the NFL with 460 yards from scrimmage. But that fumbling problem, that is going to cost him. Gore has fumbled four times this season, including a fumble in the 49ers first series at Kansas City that lead to a 41-0 assault by the Chiefs. If the Raiders can get to Gore early, and get in his head, they could certainly take him out of the game. That's what the Chiefs did and that is what Al Davis has stressed this week to the Raiders. (Just make sure that they aren't focusing too much on the big hits, and not wrapping up on the tackles.)

And before everybody proclaims Gore as the next great 49ers running back, take a look at the teams he has had success against. Gore rushed for 87 yards and 2 touchdowns in the opener against Arizona and followed that up with 127 yards against St. Louis.

It is safe to say that Arizona and St. Louis are not going to draw comparisons to the 1985 Bears anytime soon.

Gore has stumbled in games against a playoff team (Philadelphia) and a pedestrian Kansas City team. So instead of the next Roger Craig, think of the next Wendell Tyler--an enigmatic running back who split time with the LA Rams and 49ers, whose career was dogged by a reputation of putting the rock on the ground.

Gore should still be a good test for the Raiders, who rank 28th against run, surrendering 145 yards-per-game. But that stat might be a little misleading seeing that the Raiders are among the tops in fewest rushing first downs and fewest rushing touchdowns allowed. If the Raiders can keep him between the 20s, it should be a favorable day. (Yeah, great analysis.)

In a stunning revelation usually reserved for a Midwest revival meeting or an old Charleton Heston movie, Mike Sando is reporting that Shaun Alexander has heeled his foot through prayer and is now lobbying to make his 100th consecutive start against the Bears this Sunday.

The NFL's reigning most valuable player is crediting the power of prayer for possibly healing the cracked bone in his left foot. The foot stopped hurting Tuesday and word spread as Alexander began alerting friends and family. Alexander's brother, Durran, confirmed this today and said his famous brother plans to undergo additional tests today. -- Mike Sando

While I probably spend too many Sundays on a golf course or in front of a TV, I'm as religious as the next guy, and I want to believe this...really I do. If Alexander's foot is truly healed, and there's no risk of further damage by playing, then by all mean, let's play the MVP.

And, with the recent developments with NFL-badboy Terrell Owens, it appears that God may truly be paying a little closer attention to the grid-iron these days.

Maybe all that pointing after scoring touch downs or making a big play is finally getting through?

Of course, for a true sign that God is really a Seahawks fan, and wants to make a difference in the NFL, I'll be waiting for the breaking story about 12 plagues being leveled on the houses of Bill Leavy and his SB XL officiating crew!