Fantasy Philadelphia Eagles

While I rarely agree with anything ESPN's Bill Simmons says, he did raise an interesting point about Monday night's Cowboys-Eagles game. After all, it was only the most watched cable event ... ever.

Again, it was an extraordinary game. But it wasn't more dramatic or memorable than Baltimore blowing its chance to end New England's undefeated season on a Monday night last December, right? The more I thought about it, I decided the fantasy subplots propelled the Philly-Dallas game to its record numbers. That had to be it.

There were a ton of subplots going in that game. The Eagles and Cowboys may be the NFC's two best teams. Both are fierce NFC East rivals. And there is that whole Terrell Owens-Donovan McNabb thing.

Those all contributed to great numbers of viewers. But fantasy football also brought in a ton of others.

In that game, you had Terrell Owens, Tony Romo, Brian Westbrook, Jason Witten and Marion Barber ... who are all elite fantasy performers. You also had Donovan McNabb who is no slouch himself. Some owners had Patrick Crayton, Desean Jackson, Hank Baskett, Felix Jones, David Akers or Nick Folk. And that doesn't even mention the two defenses who, depsite giving up a lot of points, scored some too.

Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.

Meet The ...
Personal nightmare for Donovan McNabb. Not only have the Eagles become the worst team in a loaded NFC East, but he can't stay healthy ... as much of the city of Philadelphia is now turning on him after learning of his shoulder tendinitis in mini-camp following bouts with a torn ACL, sports hernia, and bum ankle in the past few seasons. Oh, and the receivers aren't exactly All-World. Luckily he's got the ever-explosive Brian Westbrook behind him to provide stability to the offense.

The Breakout
It's tough to tag a rookie as a solid breakout candidate. They are just so unpredictable and the hype that comes with them makes them overvalued in so many situations -- I saw Calvin Johnson picked before Roy Williams last season, for example -- but DeSean Jackson is stepping into a good situation for himself here. Reggie Brown has disappointed more often than not in his three seasons, and Kevin Curtis can't be counted on as more than a big-play threat on the outside. We know Andy Reid loves the throw the football, and Donovan can still sling it with the best. Grab Jackson late and reap the rewards by midseason.

Philadelphia Eagles running back Brian Westbrook made one of the strangest plays of the NFL season when he took a handoff against the Dallas Cowboys, broke into the clear, raced toward the end zone -- and stopped at the 1-yard line.

The Eagles had a four-point lead just before the two-minute warning at the time, the Cowboys were out of timeouts, and after Westbrook's play Philadelphia could just run out the clock with three straight kneeldowns.

Eagles coach Andy Reid praised Westbrook, but not everyone did. Take Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who approached Westbrook at the Pro Bowl and told him, "You ruined my fantasy football team."

Yes, NFL players do play fantasy football, and as Adam Rank of NFL.com writes, Fitzgerald was among the thousands of fantasy football players who were disappointed when Westbrook took away some easy fantasy points for a silly reason like managing the clock late in a close game.

Westbrook's play might have been the most memorable in the history of fantasy football, and Fitzgerald is one of the many fantasy players who was still thinking about it long after the season ended.

The Elias Sports Bureau has changed the official scoring of the seemingly hook and lateral slash fumble play in which they had previously scored it as a catch by Reggie Brown and a fumble recovery for a TD by Correll Buckhalter. The new scoring says that Brown never made a catch but rather tipped the ball to Buckhalter who made the catch. Officially:

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was credited with an additional touchdown pass against the Washington Redskins last weekend after an analysis by the National Football League's statisticians.

The Elias Sports Bureau, official scorekeepers for the league, reviewed tape of the Nov. 12 game and decided that a second-quarter play involving McNabb, receiver Reggie Brown and running back Correll Buckhalter didn't include a fumble, as officials ruled at the time, Elias researcher Santo Labombarda said.

This surely could have some big time fantasy impact for many players who had McNabb as their starting QB last week and lost by a few points. I suppose it could also affect fantasy players who started Reggie Brown or Correll Buckhalter as well.

Did this happen to any of you fantasy players? How did your league deal with the change in official scoring? Did it change the outcome of any of your fantasy match ups?

I posted a link to the video along with some commentary yesterday.

As of Thursday evening, Brian Westbrook was listed as questionable for Sunday's game in San Francisco. Westbrook joined Lito Sheppard, Rod Hood, and Mike Bartrum on the sidelines of Thursday's practice. I wouldn't count on much from Westbrook in your fantasy league.

With Westbrook questionable, Correll Buckhalter could get the bulk of the load against the Niners. With they way Andy calls it, that could be a whole 5 carries for the Eagles running back.

Speaking of running backs, the Niners have a rather unheralded young back in Frank Gore who had a career week last week.

The Eagles held Tiki Barber in check last week. Frank Gore is a very different type of running back and the Birds will likely have their hands full with him.

Andy Reid is throwing newly acquired Donte Stallworth right into the starting line up for Sundays season opener against the Texans. Stallworth obviously has plenty of NFL experience but has had a limited time to learn the Eagles scheme. Andy said he will keep the play calls to basic routes.

It's great to see that Andy thinks highly enough of Stallworth after only a week to get him in as a starter. Donte so far hasn't lived up to the hype of being a troublesome player, in fact he seems to have a great attitude:

"It's his [Reid] decision. He's the guy that's running the ship. He's the captain," Stallworth said. "I'm just a worker. Whatever he tells me to do, I have to do. I'm excited.

Also noteworthy is the fact that Lito or Westbrook could return punts in Reno Mahe's absence if he can't go.