FANTASY FOOTBALL IN-SEASON FEATURES

Prediction: CLE 13, MIA 23

Update: Brandon Marshall has been able to practice on a limited basis but has not yet been cleared to play. The hope is that with Dolphins trainers aggressive treating him that he will recover enough to suit up. I am not adding him back into the projections yet and may not any way since he will likely be a game time decision regardless. His hamstring has to clear the doctors and pregame warm ups at the very least.

Update #2: Brandon Marshall is still questionable with his hamstring and has been limited in practices this week but may be cleared to play. Chances are if he does play that he would have only a limited role so he is not a safe start.

The Browns squeaked past the Panthers last week but hit the road where they are only 1-4 with their shocker in New Orleans back in week seven. The Dolphins are 6-5 on the season but only 1-5 at home. If the Fins can win out or at least come close, they can still entertain post season dreams but they have to win this week first.

QUARTERBACK: With Colt McCoy out with a high ankle sprain, Jake Delhomme took his first start in seven weeks against his old team and had 245 yards and two interceptions. Delhomme has started three games so far and had only one touchdown back in week one and six interceptions. He'll face a secondary that has only allowed 14 passing scores this year and held most opponents to sub-200 yard games.

Delhomme is not a fantasy start and less so on the road this week. Expect likely no score and marginal passing yardage.

RUNNING BACKS: Peyton Hillis has been so successful this season, that he may force NFL scouts to rethink what they are looking for in the college ranks. The burly Hillis has scored 13 times this year and only once failed to have a touchdown. His rushing yardage has been significantly lower in road games but he still has always come up with that one touchdown or more and added significant production as a receiver. Hillis is the leading rusher and receiver for the Browns and there is pretense about it. Defenses still are unable to do much more than slow him down.

Miami has been about average against running backs and Hillis is going to get the call both as a runner and a receiver. Whatever happens for the Browns is mostly going to come from Hillis.

WIDE RECEIVERS: One of the differences with Hasselbeck is that he will rely more on the wideouts than the tight ends as does McCoy. Brian Robiskie had a season best seven targets and caught them all last week with 50 yards gained.. Mohamed Massaquoi also had a seven passes and caught four for 52 yards. But THese wideouts have only caught three scores all year long and are not worthy of a fantasy start. Robiskie is mildly interesting since Hasselbeck likes him but not enough to merit grabbing him off the waiver wire.

TIGHT ENDS: Ben Watson caught four passes for 40 yards in the win over the Panthers but he is still dealing with an ankle sprain and had no catches in the last road game.

Pregame Notes: The win in Oakland helps keep dimming hopes alive but the remaining schedule is going to be brutal after this week. The final two road games are in New York and New England but the Fins have been a far better team away from home then when they play in Miami. That has been mostly a function of the schedule of course. This week will easily be the softest matchup the Fins have enjoyed all year.

QUARTERBACK: Chad Henne returned to the field last week and posted his season best game of 307 yards and two scores in Oakland. That was partially thanks to the Raiders missing one cornerback and Nnamdi Asomugha playing hurt. But that was also without Brandon Marshall. Henne had only thrown three other touchdowns over the five previous starts and had not thrown for more than 231 yards in those games.

The Browns secondary has never allowed less than two passing touchdowns in a road game and the last four road opponents passed for 250 yards or more. The rushing game will be harder to get on track this week so expect a decent showing by Henne.

RUNNING BACKS: The Dolphins come off one of their best rushing efforts of the year thanks to the Raiders defense but that sort of success is less likely this week against a Browns defense that has only allowed three rushing touchdowns this year and only two runners have topped 100 rushing yards. That is not likely or probably possible with the Dolphins who will split the workload and no Fins runner has broken 100 rush yards this year anyway.

Making matters worse is that Henne used Patrick Cobbs for a passing score last week. Neither back is ever more than a marginal fantasy start even at home with the Browns coming. Both Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown are equally mediocre risks.

WIDE RECEIVERS: Brandon Marshall missed last week with a hamstring strain and is making progress for this game. I will not include Marshall in the projections yet. Brian Hartline has not scored since week two but has been the most consistently productive lately with 60 to 90 yards in most games. Davone Bess fell off when Henne was out but had 111 yards on six catches in Oakland last week. Hartline and Bess have both taken up the slack from Marshall and have been more productive than him in almost every game.

I like the chance that both receivers have a decent game here and both could score. Consider the yardage as very likely but the touchdowns are lower confidence. The Browns have allowed nine scores to wideouts in road games this year already.

TIGHT ENDS: Anthony Fasano has been little used when Delhomme is the starter. No fantasy value here.