Chicago Notes

Quarterbacks: Now that Kordell Stewart has that first win behind him, he can work on replicating his fourth quarter of last week instead of the 15 other quarters that he has played this year. Against the Raiders, Kordell threw for 160 yards and one touchdown but had two interceptions in the game. He also added 52 yards on nine runs and overall when the game was on the line, he made the throws that had to be made, including finding Marty Booker finally.

Running backs: You can forget Adrian Peterson now, Anthony Thomas has now put together two consecutive 200 yard efforts together and he is once again locked firmly in place. Thomas rushed for 123 yards on only 22 carries against Oakland after gaining 110 yards on 13 runs against the Packers. With Stewart throwing in his yardage, this team is starting to chew up some ground in games.

Wide Receivers: Evidently the David Terrell experiment is over for now. After getting seven receptions against the Packers and yet holding on one play that called back a Thomas touchdown, Terrell only received two passes last week with no catches. The exciting factor was that Marty Booker once again was making catches. Granted it was only four of them but he gained 94 yards and scored once. Dez White is good for 40 or 50 yards a game but nothing more.

Tight Ends: After a big six catch, 63 yard effort against Green Bay, Desmond Clark fell back to only two catches for 19 yards and was thrown only three passes.

Match against the defense: This should be interesting. The Saints are a top five worst defense against almost every position and should be good for allowing Anthony Thomas to gain his third 100 yard game of the year.

Stewart should also be able to find more time to play with this new "Marty Booker" character from last week and with the Saints likely to rack up some points, by the end of the game Stewart will have to throw. The Saints have been decimated on defense and few if any are due back this week. This should be the best chance so far for Stewart and Booker to post some good yardage and points.

New Orleans Notes

Quarterbacks: Aaron Brooks was declining each week in production but last week he didn't. He did not improve, but he did not get any worse and turned in a 189 yard passing day with one score to Joe Horn. Brooks also ran for 23 yards on four carries, easily his best so far this season.

Running backs: Although Deuce McAllister had the flu and received an IV only ninety minutes before the Carolina game, he still gained 124 yards on 23 carries against a solid defense. He was so strong that he only needed Ki-Jana Carter to share the load on two carries.

Wide Receivers: With Brooks unable to crack 200 yards passing the last four games, the wideouts have been hurt and Donte Stallworth now has a combined total from the past three games of only four catches for 52 yards. Joe Horn has fared little better though he scored last week. Jerome Pathon went from having two straight games with touchdowns to only having one catch for seven yards last week.

Tight Ends: Ernie Conwell has developed into a trusted outlet for Brooks and consistently gets as many passes as any other receiver including Horn. Conwell had four catches for 44 yards last week and six grabs for 88 yards the week before.

Match against the defense: Like the Saints, the Bears place in the top five worst defenses against all the positions except for wide receivers. Deuce McAllister should be a lock for a big rushing game and Aaron Brooks will do no worse than he has. The Bears have been particularly bad against the tight end which should prove a benefit to Ernie Conwell this week.

Game Prediction: This game could easily go either way since the Bears seem to be getting better while the Saints struggle not to get any worse. But while neither team has a good defense, the Saints are at home and with Brooks, Horn and McAllister should be able to generate just a bit more than what the Bears can keep up with this week.

* Fantasy point rankings calculated using standard Huddle fantasy points