Looks and Touches

Matt Buser at Yahoo Fantasy Sports has a great weekly article that tracks looks and touches every week by the top fantasy players.

I find this tool quite helpful during the season, as it gives me an idea of the recent trends - as an important part of football is opportunity. It's not necessarily the amount of catches a receiver has, but rather the number of opportunities he has to grab the damn ball.

Later in the season, when injuries strike, it may help you find the next waiver pickup in order to save your season.

Downgrade your Dallas defense...

At the beginning of the season there was a lot of talk about how good the defense for Dallas would be - as Wade Phillips was going to be more aggressive in his play calling and they would try to get after the quarterback.

The Dallas Morning news is reporting that Jason Ferguson (the starting nose tackle for the defense) is out for the season with a torn triceps.

This news has likely flown under the radar in many fantasy circles, but it does require some watching. Fegurson's replacement, Jay Ratliff will likely start this week. It'll be his first NFL start - and that leads me to my next point.

If you recognize the theory behind the 3-4 defense, the nose tackle is the key. If you have a dominant nose tackle that requires a double team, that frees up your linebackers to make plays and roam the field. Ferguson had a couple very good seasons the last couple of years, so it's likely he won't be replaced that easily.

With the way Manning and the other parts of the G-mens offense tore up Dallas, I would seriously consider bumping up any of my fantasy players that go against the Dallas defense in the upcoming weeks.

Sleeper alert!

Attention Walmart shoppers! Run...(don't walk) to your nearest free agent pickup wire and get yourself Derrick Martin. Seems as though Brandon Jacobs might have done more than sprain his knee on Sunday night.

The dreaded "MCL sprain" was diagnosed according to this report from the NY Daily News.

In a separate report, the Newark Star-Ledger is saying that all signs point to a sprain and he'll be out three weeks - with a MRI to follow today.

Potentially very bad news for Brandon Jacobs owners - hope you have a backup plan in place for the next few weeks.

Glenn out - is Crayton the new #2?

I picked Patrick Crayton in one of my fantasy league as a late round flier. I figured with two 30+ year old receivers in the starting slots for Dallas, Crayton would be able to fill in here or there.

Terrell Owens hasn't played a full game schedule in his career consistently, and now there is word that knee injury that kept Terry Glenn out of the preseason may be more serious than we thought.

If Glenn misses significant time or is unable to return this season, I would expect a dramatic rise in numbers for Crayton. Romo had a good relationship with him last season - and Crayton's hands are pretty good too.

The bonus is that I might have a better WR than I originally bargained for.

Crayton is in for a big week #1 at the very least.