Afternoon News Blips

Some quick takes on some new stories...

Steelers
Ben Roethlisberger injured his shoulder on Sunday on a Mario Williams sack, though he stayed in the game and only had one incompletion out of 14 passes attempted. Given his overall stats, 137 yards and 2 TDs and the fact he didn't have to throw much,you have to wonder if it would have affected him more if he had needed to toss the rock more. Expect him to play Sunday, expect him to put decent stats against a Browns team that got torched by Dallas and who was manhandled by the Dallas Oline. I think Big Ben and Fast Willie will be good plays this weekend.

Titans
The after affect of Vince Young's injury is that Kerry Collins is in and the Titans are bringing in other guys as backup. Joey Harrington and Quinn Gray are both coming in today. Gray is intriguing in the event of Kerry Collins melting down but neither guy is worth rostering at this point.

Raiders
I reported earlier that Darren McFadden left the 4th quarter early with an undisclosed shoulder injury. According to Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times, McFadden had a shoulder stinger. He'll be looked at again today but it shouldn't affect his play on Sunday.

What will? That awful offensive play calling. That might do it.

Buccaneers
One thing overlooked in the Brady-Vince Young-Oakland Meltdown-Aaron Rodgers-Favre news blasts was the pretty nice game Ernes Graham had in the Bucs loss to the Saints on Sunday. 91 yards on the ground plus 1 catches for another 27. Not bad for a guy Fantasy owners only had on their lists as a #3 back in many cases. What could be better? Let's ask HC Gruden (or ask the St. Petersburg Times to ask him):

"We have to give it to him more," he said, adding that Graham ran "extremely well."

Warrick Dunn had 9 carries overall, many in the second half so an increase in work for Graham could mean anything from garbage touches to burning the clock out. Whatever it means, if Gruden does follow through, Graham could start to becoem a nice little value going forward.

That's all for now - I'll be back with more news, notes and strategy later.