FANTASY FOOTBALL IN-SEASON FEATURES

Big Ben is plowing through a dry spell: in eight of his last nine regular-season games, he's thrown for one or fewer touchdowns. This could be explained if Rashard Mendenhall were running well, but he's not, The Steelers will need to generate offense somehow to keep up with the Texans, so look for Ben to step it up against a defense still in shock after being blitzed for 370 and three by Drew Brees last week.

This is a matchup for Mendenhall to exploit... but that's what we said last week. So dial back the lofty expectations, but Mendy is still lineup-worthy against a defense that's allowing better than five yards per carry to opposing runners.

All he does is catch 100-plus yards worth of passes, as Wallace stretched his century mark string to six with 144 and 1 against Indy last week. The Texans have allowed a touchdown to each WR1 they've faced, and Wallace is clearly a WR1, so start him with extreme confidence.

Brown has been the best of Pittsburgh's secondary targets, but that's amounted to just okay yardage thus far. Sanders has a touchdown but 85 yards on the season, and Ward... well, he's a heckuva dancer. None of this brings much to the fantasy table.

Miller is coming off a season-high 71 yards last week, but he may need to stay in and help the injury-ravaged offensive line protect Ben Roethlisberger. There's little upside to his fantasy game, anyway.

With the Steelers' secondary shutting teams down, no reason to look at Houston's "Andre isn't open" guys.

Daniels is starting to look like the Pro Bowl tight end he was prior to last season's injury, with touchdowns in each of the last two games. Casey is a versatile cog whom the Texans are finding ways to get the ball to. Daniels is the safer play, but Casey received more targets than any Texans this side of Andre last week so he warrants consideration as well.

Stafford has multiple touchdowns in all three games and is averaging 325 yards per outing. The Dallas secondary is still a bit banged up, and given their stout run defense you have to expect Stafford to come out throwing. The 289 and 2 Shaun Hill laid on the Cowboys last year would be a disappointment for Stafford this time around.

The Cowboys haven't allowed a 50-yard rusher this year, but they did serve up 73 receiving yards to LT and a receiving touchdown to Tim Hightower last week. Best does his best work in the receiving game, so don't sweat the tough run D matchup; augmented with a healthy dose of catches and receiving yards, Best is a solid start this week.

All Calvin does is catch two touchdowns in a game... at least this year. Dallas hasn't allowed much to wideouts, but Megatron is different than most wideouts. No worries; he'll get his.

Yes, Burleson got into the end zone against Dallas last year as part of a 7-97-1 afternoon. But with Best and Pettigrew targeted heavily underneath and Megatron getting his, there just won't be enough left over for either of Detroit's secondary targets to provide fantasy help.

Pettigrew just set a franchise record for catches in a game by a tight end; now he gets reacquainted with a defense that served him an eight-catch, 75-yard outing last year and has allowed two TE TDs already this season. Sounds like a set-up for success.

Romo wasn't quite as lights out with a busted rib last week, and the Lions have surrendered just two passing touchdowns all year. He's also looking at a depleted receiving corps with no Miles Austin (and possibly Dez Bryant) this week, and he was certainly not on the same page with the backups on Monday night. He's still startable, but you may have a better option on your roster.

Jones gutted out an impressive 114-yard performance on Monday night, but late in the game aggravated his shoulder injury. He's expected to play again this week, but the Lions have given up just one RB TD and held each of the backs they've faced under 80 rushing yards. With the Cowboys demonstrating their willingness to mix in Tashard Choice and DeMarco Murry, using Jones against a good defense feels too risky.

Bryant can't seem to get over the thigh injury he suffered Week 1. He didn't practice on Friday and may not be back to full speed until after the team's bye next week. Too risky to use here.

This duo was targeted a dozen times on Monday night but came away with just six catches for 78 yards. They were on a completely different page of the playbook than Romo, and it would be foolish to count on them catching up.

With Austin out and Bryant gimpy, Witten is Romo's security blanket. He fell short of a third straight 100-yard game last week, but he's being targeted 10-plus times a game and faces a Lions defense that just gave up a touchdown to Visanthe Shiancoe.

Hass has been carrying the Tennessee offense while Chris Johnson finds his legs, but that task will be tougher against an underrated Cleveland secondary that's allowing just 206 passing yards per game.

Johnson has done absolutely nothing to warrant the big contract, but against a Cleveland defense that's allowed 139, 110, and 123 rushing yards to running backs that needs to change. Put it this way: if he doesn't, there's no need to buy low because it's not coming back for CJ any time soon.

Say this for Colt: he's consistent, with 213, 211, and 210 yards this season and one or two TDs in each game. That sort of production from your quarterback position will consistently cost you fantasy games, so look elsewhere for help.

On his rushing alone Hillis is an okay start, but mix in his pass-catching ability and the fact that the Titans have allowed a RB receiving score in each of the last two games and you can plug him into your lineup with confidence.

Hardesty's 14-67 against the Dolphins while Hillis nursed a sore throat has reportedly bought him some regular touches. Expect it to be something in the half-dozen range, not nearly enough to warrant fantasy consideration.

The Titans have surrendered just one WR TD on the year and a whole bunch of mediocre yardage efforts--55, 53, 46, 45, 48--that don't much help anybody. There isn't a member of the Cleveland receiving corps you'd trust to buck those trends, so don't bother.

Tennessee hasn't given up much to tight ends, but they haven't faced anyone targeted as much as the Browns use the position. While Evan Moore and Alex Smith are still involved, Watson is the go-to guy in this group; 10 targets last week and 21 of the team's 40 at the position confirm this. He's a PPR contributor with yardage and TD upside.

Matty Ice threw for three TDs in Seattle last season, and this year he has either 300 yards or multiple touchdowns in every game. Mix in an underrated Seattle run defense that will shift more of the burden onto Ryan and you're set up for a solid fantasy contribution from Matt.

Turner laid a dinosaur egg last week after opening the season with back-to-back 100-yard efforts. He'll find the going tough once again, as the Seahawks haven't allowed a back to top 70 yards against them this season and have kept the last three backfields to visit out of the end zone--including Turner as part of his 25 carry, 82-yard effort last season. He's not unusable, but he's not as bankable as he usually is.

WR1s have gotten theirs against Seattle (Mike Wallace 126 & 1, Larry Fitzgerald 64 & 1) this season, as Roddy did in Seattle last year when he turned 13 targets into 65 yards and a touchdown. White is coming off a 17-target week that netted him 140 yards, so he should be good to go for another solid fantasy outing.

Jones tallied a career-high 115 yards last week; look for a reduction from that number but something still fantasy-friendly against a defense that's allowed the last two wingmen they've faced to top 50 yards and served up a TD to Michael Jenkins when the Falcons visited last year.

Seattle held Gonzo in check last year and hasn't allowed much to tight ends thus far this season. However, with three TDs in two games he's re-establishing his role in this offense and still warrants a lineup spot in TE-mandatory leagues.

Lynch demonstrated a pulse last week with 73 yards, and he has a favorable matchup against a defense that has allowed feature backs to rush for 81 and 95 yards against them the last two weeks. Lynch scored in last year's meeting and is a decent enough threat this time around that he can be trusted with a fantasy start.

Manning has multiple touchdown tosses in each of his last two games and is averaging almost 250 passing yards per game. The Cards have surrendered multiple scoring strikes in two of three this season while serving up an average of 294 yards per game. At the confluence of those numbers lies a solid fantasy start.

The Cards haven't allowed a running back TD yet, but they gave up 218 combo yards to the Redskins backfield and another 107 to Seattle backs last week. Bradshaw is the lead dog in this committee, with receiving yards and well as rushing, and the Cards are no threat to his every-week starter status.

While he's seeing a lesser share of the workload than he did last season Jacobs is doing just as much with it. There should be enough left over after Bradshaw takes his cut for Jacobs to be a fantasy contributor in most leagues.

There's no Nnamdi Asomugha or even an Asante Samuel to deal with this week; in fact, WR1s are averaging 7-116-1 against Arizona. Nicks had a game just like that earlier this year, and after getting in a full practice on Friday to allay lingering concerns about his sore knee he's in line for another one here.

The Cards have allowed secondary receivers to top 60 yards twice, and New York's secondary receivers are infinitely more talented than the WR2s Arizona has faced to date. Manningham practiced in full on Friday, so he and Cruz might bite into each other's numbers. But both are threats enough to score and worthy of fantasy consideration.

There is nothing about Ballard's five targets this season that suggest he's lineup-worthy.

Kolb has been north of 250 all three games this season, with multiple scoring strikes in two of three. The Giants have surrendered 300-yard games twice already, and this one has plenty of outcomes which would lead to Kolb approaching that mark again.

Jabar Gaffney scored on the Giants; so did Anthony Armstrong. Danario Alexander took them for 122 yards and a touchdown. So yeah, Fitzy's in line for a big day.

Roberts and Doucet's yardage combined barely match Fitzgerald's. They're clearly secondary options, ones that can't be trusted with a fantasy start.

Heap was targeted 10 times last week, but King has both of Arizona's TE scores. Just not enough consistency here to rely on for fantasy help.