Welcome to Sunday! If you're like me, when people say, "hey it's Friday!" You might reply, "Saturday is my Friday because of football, so thanks for cheering me up, jerk."
Today we're going to try something a little bit different by updating you guys throughout the day. You can check me out on Twitter @MikeSGallagher and I'll also be updating this story for the bigger news that takes more than 160 characters to explain.
Check out first half updates after the jump:
Don't forget you can ask me any question you like in the comment section, but I'll get back to you much faster on Twitter.
Early injury news
Philadelphia inactives: Hughes, Marsh, Tapp, Watkins, Vandervelde, Justice, Parker.
Start Vick and Maclin with confidence.
St. Louis inactives: WR Amendola, CB Hood, RB Norwood, LB J. Williams, TE Spach, WR Salas and DE Ah You.
Danario Alexander and Brandon Gibson are decent options in deep leagues. Gibson has the slight edge.
Detroit inactives: Fox, Fairley, Durant, Davis, Stanton, McClendon and Aaron Berry
This game should have a lot of points. Also with Justin Durant out, this is the perfect chance for Stephen Tulloch to have a big game. Start him in IDP.
Dallas WR news: Dez Bryant will play and Laurent Robinson with start.
Dallas inactives: K David Buehler, WR Miles Austin , FB Tony Fiammetta, CB Orlando Scandrick, G David Arkin, G Derrick Dockery and DE Jason Hatcher.
Start Bryant and consider Robinson in a very deep league. I'd prefer Brandon Gibson though.
Minnesota inactives: Brandon Burrton, Mistral Raymond, Xavier Adibi, Brandon Fusco, DeMarcus Love, Greg Camarillo and D'Aundre Reed.
Nothing to see here.
Carolina inactives: Jimmy Clausen, Chris Gamble, Richie Brockel, Jason Phillips, Andre Neblett, Lee Ziemba and Frank Kearse.
Gamble being out helps the Chicago passing game. The problem is.. which player benefits? Knox is probably the only CHI WR worth starting in most formats.
San Francisco inactives: FB Moran Norris, WR Braylon Edwards, QB Scott Tolzien, Daniel Kilgore, Mike Preson, DL Ian Williams and DL Demarcus Dobbs.
The big news here is Gore is going to give it a go. However, he is not starting. I would anticipate that Hunter leads the team in carries and Gore has more receptions and more red-zone touches. Hunter gets the nod in standard leagues. Both are weak RB2/strong RB3 in a very nice matchup.
Washington inactives: Anthony Armstrong, Leonard Hankerson, Brandyn Thompson, Darrel Young, Markus White, Willie Smith and Darrion Scott.
Santana Moss is a fairly reliable start in standard leagues and Jabar Gaffney is someone to consider in deeper leagues. Fred Davis has a nice opportunity to rebound from his stinker on Monday night.
Houston inactives: QB T.J. Yates, WR David Anderson, CB Sherrick McManis, CB Kareem Jackson, RB Derrick Ward, G Thomas Austin, T Andrew Gardner
You must start Arian Foster if you have him. Ben Tate should be kept on the bench in standard formats as well. Kareem Jackson being out should open up the Pitt passing game a bit. Expect J. Joseph to be on Mike Wallace all game.
Pittsburgh inactives: DL Brett Keisel, CB Bryant McFadden, LB Chris Carter, QB Dennis Dixon, C Doug Legursky, RB Jonathan Dwyer, OT Jonathan Scott
Nothing of note besides Legursky being out. The Steelers are having major issues opening up rushing lanes for Mendenhall, but obviously Mendy has to be starting for you team.
Kansas City inactives: QB Ricki Stanzi, S Jon McGraw, OL Steve Maneri, WR Jerehme Urban, WR Jonathan Baldwin, DL Brandon Bair, DL Jerrel Powe
McGraw being out is a tough blow for IDP leagues since he could have had a big game against Minnesota.
Tennessee inactives: QB Rusty Smith, OT Byron Stingily, C/G Kevin Matthews, DT Malcolm Sheppard, DL Zach Clayton, LB Gerald McRath, CB Chris Hawkins
Nate Washington has a tough matchup and look for Jared Cook to get his season going this week.
Cleveland inactives: QB Thaddeus Lewis, WR Carlton Mitchell, TE Jordan Cameron, T Oniel Cousins, C/G Steve Vallos, LB Titus Brown, S Eric Hagg
Joe Thomas playing is an obvious good thing for Cleveland's offense. Although owners should really only be starting Peyton Hillis in most formats.
Jacksonville inactives: CB Derek Cox, RB Montell Owens, S Courtney Greene, G/C Jason Spitz, DE Aaron Kampman, OT Cameron Bradfield and WR Kassim Osgood
The Jags are going to be under siege all game long. There shouldn't be any Jag starting beside MJD and Paul Poz for IDP.
New Orleans inactives: LB Will Herring, C Olin Kreutz, T Zach Strief, TE David Thomas, WR Adrian Arrington, LB Martez Wilson, DE Jeff Charleston.
Colston is ready to roll. He is more of a WR3 this week since the Saints are likely to give their ground game some practice. Practice?
First half from the early games
Carolina @ Chicago
Cam Newton is really, really, really good. He is showing off all the tools in the first half and has two rushing TDs. He had a bomb to Steve Smith for 53 yards that had a ton of air under it. He is definitely a top-10 QB. Adjust accordingly.
Steve Smith is back, baby. He had 349 yards through 3.5 games after just 554 last year. He is on the cusp of being a true WR1. He's a slight sell-high guy, but you had better be getting a mega stud in return.
Chicago is pounding the rock. Chicago has 12 rushes and four passing attempts at recess. Matt Forte is off to a big day with 94 on the ground and one catch for 11 yards.
The WR picture has not cleared up just yet.
Buffalo @ Cincinnati
Fred Jackson is up to his usual tricks with 48 yards and a TD. He's at RB1 status for the year.
Fitzpatrick is having a tough time getting it going with 10-of-20 completed for 121 and only a 69.0 passer rating.
The most surprising news is that David Nelson has yet to get a target. The Cincy pass D is pretty soft in the middle and Leon Hall and Reggie Nelson are above-average players at their positions. Expect Nelson to get it going.
A.J. Green has two catches for 69 yards (four targets). He should find the end zone in the second half and is on his way to a big game by stretching the secondary.
Tennessee @ Cleveland
Matt Hasselbeck is slingin' it. He has TD passes to Jared Cook (80), Craig Stevens (12) and Damian Williams (four). Hasselbeck is rolling right now and should be considered as a nice backup in most leagues. Jared Cook should be owned in most leagues.
Chris Johnson is doing better with 41 yards on seven carries.
Cleveland has seen Montario Hardesty come into his own. Peyton Hillis owners should have some level of concern.
Detroit @ Dallas
Dez Bryant (two scores) is a beast. That is all.
Minnesota @ Kansas City
Donovan McNabb is playing a lot better today compared to the three previous games. He had a wonderful strike for 34 yards to Devin Aromashodu for a score. His passer rating is a 101 and he has 125 yards passing. He will never be anything more than a backup though.
Percy Harvin has three targets (all caught) for 27 yards. I'm expecting a big second half for him.
Adrian Peterson has a ho-hum 44 yards on 11 carries.
The Chiefs O is much better than advertised today. They have run the ball 17 times (seven by Jones and six by McCluster). The two backs have similar value and McCluster gets the nod in PPR.
Dwayne Bowe has done nothing to this point in the season to show he is a WR2 and that hasn't changed yet. He has two catches for 20 yards (four targets).
Washington @ St. Louis
Mike Shanahan has done it again, folks. The Fantasy Devil now has Ryan Torain in the mix as he scored a 20-yard TD. The carry splits and yards look like this: Torain has two for 27 yards; Hightower has seven for 22 yards; Helu has four for 20 yards. Helu looks like the better back and has shown excellent vision to this point in the young season. Hightower owners: be afraid, be very afraid
Fred Davis has two targets and no catches. he shouldn't have been starting in most leagues, although I don like his upside once he gets it going.
Santana Moss still looks like he is in his prime with three catches for 26 yards and a TD. Sadly, he didn't spin the ball when he scored.
Steven Jackson is back to being a workhorse with 14 carries for 42 yards. He isn't too productive though, however, he is a decent buy-low option.
San Francisco @ Philadelphia
Michael Vick has really been trying to put the team on his shoulders. He is scramblin' like Randall Cunningham and it's easy to see why he has been hurt twice. He did also hurt his hand in this one. He's fine though.
Kendall Hunter has four carries four nine yards while Gore looks like Frank Gore with six carries for 59 yards. Gore has shown some quickness and agility by faking out Eagles, especially Jarrad Page.
New Orleans @ Jacksonville
The Saints are blitzing like maniacs. However, the Jags have done a great job in play design with swing passes and bubble screens.
Pittsburgh @ Houston
Pittsburgh D is not the same. They are no longer in must-own territory. Houston had a 19-play scoring drive to start the game.
Arian Foster looks just fine and barely missed a TD off his finger tips.
Check back tomorrow for Kenny's take on the finals for the early games! I'll have the first-half takes of the late games though.
New York Giants @ Arizona
Both teams are really struggling to get into an offensive rhythm. Hakeem Nicks looks pretty healthy with nine targets and reeling in five of them for 62 yards. Surprisingly, Mario Manningham is a no show with only two targets and no catches.
The Cardinals haven't done much on offense and Kevin Kolb has seen a heck of a lot of Pierre-Paul and Osi. The have a lot of work to do before being considered as a favorable fantasy offense. Beanie Wells looks healthy with 59 yards in the first half.
Atlanta @ Seattle
Michael Turner is dominating with two first-half TDs. The first TD was a gorgeous HB counter to the weak side for a TD. Julio Jones looks like he's the real deal and not a sell-high WR. He is a strong WR3 and should be in WR2 territory in a week or two.
Seattle hasn't been able to move the ball much against the stingy ATL D. They did hit Sidney Rice on a fly route for a 52-yard score. Rice has some nice value right now and is a nice player to try and trade. He will be inconsistent and should get double coverage on almost every play.
Seattle's run game is a joke. Six carries for five yards. You can cut Marshawn Lynch in a shallow league.
Denver @ Green Bay
Denver has been turning to the gadget plays with their best play being a flea flicker. Orton hit Lloyd for a 44-yard completion. The Broncos passing game isn't going to be one where fantasy owners will want to lean on much this year, even though Eric Decker did score.
Green Bay is having no problems moving the ball. Rodgers has two TDs in the air (to Jennings and a bomb to Nelson) and a rushing score. Their offense is a powerhouse in every sense of the word.
New England @ Oakland
Darren McFadden is special. Not only is he one of the most gifted runners in the league, he completely understands how to pick up his blocks and how to maximize yardage at the second level.
Jacoby Ford looks healthy so far with an effective reverse and he should be owned in just about every league. Denarius Moore has yet to make an impact with one catch for seven yards. That should change.
The Patriots could be without Jerod Mayo for a while. He had to be helped off the field and it didn't look good.
Stevan Ridley is getting most of the snaps at tailback, but many might not know it with BenJarvus Green-Ellis' TD. Sell high BJGE and pick up Ridley.
Miami @ San Diego
Chad Henne was hurt on the first drive and Matt Moore has been taking over at the helm. The Dolphins haven't moved the ball much since their opening drive though. Reggie Bush has 38 yards and hasn't done anything to strengthen his case once Daniel Thomas comes back.
Vincent Jackson is tearing the top off Miami's pass D big time. The Dolphins are running a ton of zone coverages and forcing the Chargers to beat them deep. Yeah. Good idea.
I did a Blog Talk Radio after the gruesome loss by the Jets. Check it out here!!!!