A:

Yes. I would start Tebow over Roethlisberger.

I will discuss in more detail in the mailbag tomorrow.

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A:

I should have addressed this issue in the Weekly. That was an oversight. My bad. While it is clear that Joe Webb is a quarterback right now, I realize there was some uncertainty heading into the season whether he might return kicks or play wide receiver. Indeed, Webb was listed only as a wide receiver in the NFL’s 2010 Record & Fact Book. The issue of whether he would be a receiver or quarterback goes back to before the draft – he has the physical skills to play wide receiver. But with the Vikings, he’s really been a quarterback all along. He was listed as a quarterback in their 2010 media guide. He is listed as quarterback on their roster right now. He has been listed as a quarterback (and only a quarterback – not a “QB-WR”) on the official rosters submitted for each of the team’s 18 preseason and regular season games. So if Webb is eligible to play wide receiver in a fantasy league, it would have to be because of some specific rule in your league’s rulebook (something along the lines of, “players are eligible to play whatever position they are listed at in the NFL Record & Fact Book”). Because clearly, he is not a wide receiver – at least not right now. But I think you are more interested in the secondary issue: If he’s eligible as a wide receiver, then where does he rank? It looks like he’ll start on Sunday, and he’s playing against an awfully soft Philadelphia defense. The Eagles rank 21st against the pass (242 yards per game), and they’ve allowed 30 TD passes – 3rd-most in the league. More notably, Webb looks like he might be the best running quarterback short of Michael Vick. In less than a game’s worth of action this year, he’s carried 7 times for 54 yards and a touchdown. Webb is raw as a passer and weather could be an issue, but I think it’s reasonable to project him to pass for something along the lines of 175 yards, as well as adding another 35 yards rushing. Those, I think, are conservative estimates. So in yardage terms, Webb grades out at 5.25 points in your league. That would be equivalent to White or Johnson finishing with 105 receiving yards. So in yardage terms, Webb gets the edge over either of those guys. In terms of touchdowns, I think Webb is a very safe choice for one touchdown; with his run-pass ability, I think it’s at least 50-50 whether he gets up to 2 (maybe you even get lucky and he scores 3). White and Johnson, on the other hand, are both guys who tend to catch about a third of their team’s touchdowns; according to our projections, each of those guys has a 40-45 percent chance of scoring. The negative points for interceptions pulls it back a little (Webb will throw at least 1 interception and might throw 2-3), but I don’t think there’s any question that you start Webb – if he’s eligible.

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A:

Tebow, believe it or not, actually projects to be even better than where he is ranked. He was the No. 2 quarterback in the initial run through. I had to dumb down the projections significantly to get him to fall a few spots. I’m not saying he’s the league’s next great quarterback; I’m not sure he’ll ever really establish himself as an average, functional starter – I don’t know if he can pass well enough. But right now, I’m just looking at this week, and when I analyze that game, it leads me to believe that Tebow is a very safe choice to be a productive quarterback in a typical fantasy format. Sure, he is inexperienced, but look at who he’s playing: The Broncos are at home against Houston, which has one of the worst pass defenses in the history of pro football. The Texans are allowing 289 passing yards per game, and they’ve allowed 31 TD passes. Kerry Collins passed for 164 yards and 2 TDs against them in the first half last week. So while Tebow is underdeveloped as a passer, I think he has a good chance to throw for 230 yards and 1-2 TDs in this game. It’s his role as a runner, though, that makes Tebow such an intriguing option this week. He carried 8 times for 78 yards and a touchdown in the loss against the Raiders. He’s big and has good mobility, and he’s not shy about taking off – they used him on designed quarterback draws on a number of plays. So it is my belief that he has a very good chance to run for another 50 yards in this game, and if the Broncos score a rushing touchdown, there’s probably about a 50-50 chance that it will be Tebow who runs it in. You did see some of Tebow’s games at Florida, right? He loves calling his own number around the goal line. He ran for an SEC-record 57 TDs in college. If we make the assumption that Denver will score about 22 points against the Texans (who are allowing 28 points per game), then everything starts to point towards Tebow being a very valuable fantasy commodity. I actually had to dial back his projection to 203 passing yards, 38 rushing yards, 1.09 TD passes and .44 TD runs to get Tebow to fall out of the No. 2 spot among quarterbacks. For at least this week, I think he could be kind of a poor man’s Michael Vick.

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A:

OK. Fair question (and please, don’t hesitate to send in these kind of queries when you notice something – that’s exactly what the Mailbag is for). As I outlined in the text of the Weekly, I don’t consider it to be a great matchup for Miami’s passing game. Chad Henne has been playing poorly, so I think they’ll try to run the ball more this week. I saw last week that they dusted off the Wildcat near the goal line, with Ronnie Brown running one in. Detroit’s defense has been surprisingly decent against the pass recently. In their last seven games, the Lions have allowed only 8 TD passes and an average of only 226 passing yards (which is slightly better than average this year). Nevertheless, with Brian Hartline out for the year and Brandon Marshall not having a huge, dominating-type year, Bess is a huge part of that passing game. He got shut down by the Jets, but look at what he’s done in his last three other games. 6 for 111 at Oakland, 6 for 67 against Cleveland and 9 for 78 against the Bills. I think he’s a safe choice to catch a half-dozen passes. I like Bess. Nicks is very good as well, though; if the weather checks out OK in Green Bay, I would have no problem starting Nicks over Bess.

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A:

I’d be looking at Torain and Lynch. Torain is pretty much a full-time player, and he’s going against a Jacksonville defense that was awfully soft against the run last week. Lynch hasn’t made much of an impact this year, but the Seahawks are at Tampa Bay, and the Bucs have really struggled against the run. Tampa Bay is allowing a league-high 4.9 yards per carry, and it’s given up over 180 rushing yards in back-to-back games against teams with lesser ground games (Washington and Detroit).

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A:

Right now, I’d be planning to sit Santonio Holmes. I would consider Reggie Wayne and Larry Fitzgerald safe as starters. I would continue to monitor the weather and other situations with Jennings and Wallace, but I think Holmes is the guy who sits.

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