FANTASY FOOTBALL WEEKLY FEATURES

GB (3-4) vs WAS (2-4)

Game Prediction: GB 20, WAS 10

This is always a turning point in the season for many teams and both squads are showing signs of life after being considered dead. The Redskins are rushing well once again and the Packers offense finally dried out the gunpowder and have 106 points in the last three weeks.

The Packers are on the road here but with no margin of error left. The Redskins come off a bye week but still will be relying on one of the weaker passing games in the league.

Pre-Game Notes - GB

This is a season of streaks for many teams. The Packers were 1-4 and looking like they had lost the magic and now are scoring like Packer teams of old. Ahman Green is back to obscene rushing totals and the team is starting to turn the corner with only this game in the way of reaching .500 by their bye week.

Quarterback: Brett Favre had a rough stretch earlier this year but has been vintage stud the last three games with six touchdowns thrown and no game less than 250 passing yards. There is a concern that the disclosure that his wife has breast cancer could naturally effect him but she is diagnosed as being able to beat it and hopefully all will be well.

Favre also has a sore right hand from last week but for now appears, of course, to be able to play.

Running Backs: If you only look at the Dallas game, Ahman Green is still the top stud with only 15 carries producing 163 yards and two scores. Just don't look at the three previous weeks. His Achilles tendon had been bothering him the past few weeks but gaining 11 yards per carry last week made his lack of volume an easy to accept fact. Green is still bothered by his injury but can obviously play above it.

Wide Receivers: The duo of Javon Walker and Donald Driver has been a gold mine the past three games and has combined for 662 yards and five touchdowns in that time. Every other week they trade who will be the bigger factor and Driver's turn comes this Sunday. While Antonio Chatman and Robert Ferguson still figure in for marginal production, this is clearly the Driver and Walker show.

Tight Ends: Bubba Franks caught his third touchdown of the year last week but he's rarely getting more than one or two passes a game.

Match Against the Defense: The Redskins pass defense looks like it has done a great job this year but they have yet to face any good passer. Brad Johnson, Warner, Testaverde, Garcia, Boller and Quinn - now there's a way to keep stats low. Expect that Favre will have some success here if his hand is not too injured and likely it will be more on a few long pass plays than it will be a large number of short passes.

The Redskins have also not faced any receiving duo the likes of Driver and Walker. Expect that Walker messes up the every other week trend by outperforming Driver since he has the matchup most attacked. The few receivers that have scored on Washington have been on long passes which plays into Walker's strength.

Ahman Green should find it hard to gain yards this week since the Redskins rush defense is pretty good and only Jamal Lewis exceeded 100 yards against them. If the Packers can get the lead early, Green's opportunities will increase along with his production.

Pre-Game Notes - WAS

The Redskins come off the rare win, last taking down the Bears 13-10 before heading off for their bye week. The rushing game finally caught fire last time and with Brunell now challenging Boller for the weakest quarterback performances of the weekend, the running game better stay good if the Redskins want to even fantasize about a .500 season.

The Skins also may be without Jon Hall again this week. There is still a chance he'll play but until he is clearer, Ola Kimrin looks like he'll get one more week.

Running Backs: Finally Clinton Portis found third, fourth and fifth gear. Against the Bears he rushed for 171 yards on 26 carries and looked to be what the Redskins thought they were buying. A big part of his success was considered to be the improved downfield blocking by the wideouts that allowed runs to continue into the secondary and beyond. With three soft rushing defenses up next, Portis should yield a bigger dividend to all those fantasy teams that had been moaning over his lack of production in the first four weeks.

Wide Receivers: Just brutal. Rod Gardner had a touchdown in the last game, if in fact anyone was still using him but only had two catches for 20 yards in the game which followed his hefty one catch for nine yards the previous week. Gardner has one big game this year back in week four but otherwise minimal fantasy value. Laveranues Coles is the marginally more productive receiver but that only means he'll average around 50 yards per game. When there's less than 100 yards passing in both the previous games, this is a fantasy wasteland.

Tight Ends: The only tight end with a catch in the last game was Walter Rasby and he was rewarded by being released the next week. If any tight end does anything, it is Chris Cooley but that is "if any tight end does anything."

Match Against the Defense: Clinton Portis has a great chance at some big yards here against a team that has already allowed three runners to exceed 148 yards and each scored a touchdown. Coming off a bye week, the Redskins line should be rested and able to find him some room.

The Redskins passing attack will come into play eventually and could prove to be their Achilles heel. The Packers secondary has always allowed passing scores but Brunell has posted very meager numbers lately and the running game appears to be better which only depresses them more.

Rod Gardner has the better matchup but he's been so rarely used outside of the Cowboys game it is hard to rely on as a true option. There could be one passing score and Coles is most likely from his sheer volume of passes than what Gardner gets. This offense has not scored more than 18 points in any game so there are not a lot of scores to share here.