For a team that's 5-2, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a fantasy football mess right now. If you're struggling with bye week holes in your lineup and you're looking to use one of them, watch out.
QB - Jeff Garcia is looking good. He threw for 310 yards and a TD against the Seahawks, but had decent games against Carolina and Denver before that. He's completed over 75% of his passes and has a QB rating of 105.7 so far in October. If you need him, he should be a solid start against a banged-up Cowboys' secondary. After Garcia, things go downhill fast.
RB - Warrick Dunn - He's getting more action than Joe The Plumber lately with 46 carries for 226 yards over the past three games. That's an impressive 4.9 yd/carry average. The problem is that he's fighting off ankle and back injuries and he's questionable this week.
RB - Earnest Graham - He was expected to be The Man in Tampa this year, but the team moved him to fullback and then (damn!) started winning. Graham should move back to tailback this week with the injury to Dunn, so he's a solid start.
WR - Joey Galloway - Missed his fifth straight game. May be back this weekend, or may not. I hate that.
WR - Ike Hilliard - Spent several hours this weekend in the hospital after a concussion. Should be a "game time decision". I hate that even more.
WR - Maurice Stovall - Hamstring strain. Questionable this week.
WR - Antonio Bryant - He's the last man standing in the WR corps, which is unfortunate because he's not that good (this week's TD aside).
WR - Michael Clayton - Remember him? Hopefully the Cowboys don't either. A very long shot fantasy-wise, but he did have three catches last week.
TE - Alex Smith/John Gilmore/Jerramy Stevens - With all the injuries at WR, I'd normally look to the tight end as a good receiving option. Too bad the damn Buccaneers have three of them! Last week they shared eight catches between them and there's every reason to expect the same this week. I'm taking a shot and putting in a waiver claim on Alex Smith, but Stevens could easily be the best of the bunch.
For fantasy purposes, the only Buccaneers I'd recommend this week are Garcia and Graham. I'd be wary of Galloway or Hilliard even if they are listed as active -- I generally don't like to start a WR coming off a long layoff (Galloway) let alone a concussion (Hilliard). This is a big tight end bye week (Shiancoe, Olsen, Lee,and Scheffler are probably all on somebody's roster) so like me, you might want to roll the dice.