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Having players go in the Thursday night games gives you a little bit of advantage. If your players do good, you can perhaps be a little more cautions with your team. If your players failed to put up good numbers, perhaps you will want to take a bigger risk, hoping for a bigger reward to make up for it. You also get a feel for your match-up depending on how your opponents players did. Let’s take a look at how fantasy owners will be feeling about their players.
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Top of the World
With the fantasy playoffs on the doorstep, you can’t help but swell with pride based on the numbers these guys dropped.
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Michael Vick – My #1 ranked QB this week did not disappoint. He threw for 302 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 INT. He added 48 yards on the ground. He’s definitely in the MVP hunt (both in fantasy and reality).
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Matt Schaub – Vick did his thing, but Schaub was no slouch. He threw for 337 yards, 2 TDs, and an INT. If you stuck with him (despite my #18 ranking) kudos to you. If you sat him because of me, my apologies.
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Arian Foster - Wow. That’s all I can say. Wow. 109 total yards (83 rushing, 26 receiving) and a score on the ground and through the air. You’ve been counting on  him all year, and he didn’t disappoint.
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LeSean McCoy – Not to be outdone, McCoy accumulated 130 total yards (44 rushing, 86 receiving) as well as a rushing and receiving touchdown. If you own McCoy, you can breath a sigh of relief.
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Andre Johnson –  So he didn’t score a touchdown. His six catches for 149 yards and two carries for ten yards got his owners off to a great start. It wasn’t enough to change your strategy, but it’s certainly a good start.

The Texans are one of the most exciting teams in the league. They have fantasy stars at every turn. Their offseason was marred by the Brian Cushing steroids fiasco. They’ll once again be popular in fantasy football circles.

Fantasy Playoffs Schedule:  Difficult
The Texans face  three pretty tough defenses in Baltimore, Tennessee, and Denver with the latter two games being on the road. It’s not enough to bench your studs, but do note they don’t have an easy path in the fantasy playoffs.

Five Star Fantasy Options
Matt Schaub – Schaub finally broke out last year with 4770 yards, 29 TDs to 15 INTs, a 67.9 completion percentage, and a 98.6 passer rating. As long he stays healthy he should be in for another monster season.

Andre Johnson – Johnson has to be considered the #1 fantasy WR heading into the season. He posted an incredible line of 101 catches for 1569 yards and 9 TDs. He’s big, strong, and athletic. Oh, and even despite not being happy with his contract, he is not causing any problems for the Texans. I’m confident a deal will be worked out and AJ will shine in 2010.

Four Star Fantasy Options
Owen Daniels – If he didn’t tear his ACL for the third time, I would have him as a five star option. He’s that good. In eight games last year he had 40 catches for 519 yards and 5 TDs.

Three Star Fantasy Options
None

Two Star Fantasy Options
Steve Slaton –  If Slaton can hold onto the football and his starting job, he will be a steal in fantasy drafts. His fumbling issues and neck injury are causes for concern though. That and rookie Ben Tate’s presence.

Ben Tate – Tate went in the second round of the recent NFL Draft, and gives the Texans a RB with good size (5’11, 220 lbs) and speed (4.43 forty time). He’ll have to get past Slaton and Arian Foster, as well as make the adjustment to the speed of the NFL, but he’s a good bet to have meaningful carries at some point of the season.

Kevin Walter & Jacoby Jones – Walter had a down year with 611 yards, but he remains a decent WR4 or WR5. He had 800+ yards the previous two seasons. Assuming his hamstring is healthy, he should be more productive. Jones only had 27 catches for 437 yards, but managed to score 6 TDs. Jones has significantly more upside than Walter.

Texans Defense/Special Teams – I like their defensive unit, but they will play four games with Cushing. On the menu this year are the Colts twice, Cowboys, Giants, Chargers, Jets, Titans twice, Ravens, and Eagles. Not exactly fantasy friendly. They also take on the Jags twice and the Redskins, who could go either way. Their favorable match-ups come against Oakland (without Cushing), Kansas City, and Denver.

One Star Fantasy Options
Arian Foster and Ryan Moats – Both RBs had their moments, but will need to see the field regularly to be fantasy worthy. I’m not counting on that at this point. I prefer Foster over Moats.

Click here for additional 2010 NFL Team Previews.

John McClain, not the Die Hard guy, of the Houston Chronicle is reporting that all-world WR Andre Johnson skipped the Texans’ OTAs because he is unhappy with his contract. With five years remaining on his deal, this situation is clearly one to monitor. If he decides to hold out, not only would his fantasy value risk taking a hit, but Matt Schaub’s would as well.

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Image courtesy of Icon SMI

Andre Johnson is great because he’s built like T.O., but doesn’t come with all the attitude and self-entitlement.  At 6’3″, 228 lbs. he is very tough to cover.  His consistency is a little bit of an issue as he had six games of 130+ yards and five games of 55 or fewer yards.  He still managed to have 11 games with either 100+ yards or a TD though, which is why I have him as my #2 WR on the board.  He’s particularly deadly in PPR leagues as he hauled in 115 passes.  He has averaged 6.78 receptions per game the past three seasons.  Now that the Texans have surrounded him with complimentary talent (Steve Slaton, Owen Daniels, Kevin Walter, and Owen Daniels) it is harder to key in on Johnson.

Johnson did the majority of his damage on First Downs, showing how important his role in their offense is.  He had 57 of his 115 receptions (49.6%), 807 of his 1575 yards (51.2%) and 4 of his 8 TDs (50%) on First Down.  He’s not a deep threat as only seven of his receptions (6%) were thrown over 20 yards, but he’s great at getting yards after the catch.  He’s also good in the Red Zone, scoring six of  his TDs there.  He’s never caught double-digit TDs, which is why I have him a hair behind Larry Fitzgerald, but I would have no problem taking him at the end of the first round.

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Hopefully Matt Schaub can hit his WRs this year like he can hit golf spectators.  Kidding aside, it’s a big year for the former Virginia star.  Sage Rosenfels moved onto Minnesota, most likely to backup Brett Favre, so Houston needs Schaub to stay healthy.  He has missed five games in each of the past two seasons with various injuries.  He averaged 276.6 yards per game last year with 1.36 TDs, which translates into 4426 yards and 22 TDs in a full season.  He has plenty of weapons in Andre Johnson, who is one of the premier WRs in th game, Kevin Walter who quietly has back-to-back 800 yard seasons, TE Owen Daniels, and gifted RB Steve Slaton.  Now he just needs to stay on the field.

His early schedule is fairly difficult, but he has a nice back-to-back block in Weeks 5 & 6 against Arizona and Cincinnati.  His fantasy playoff schedule is decent as he faces Seattle, St. Louis & Miami.  Weather should not play a factor.

Schaub is best served as a backup QB and with his matchups in Week 5 & 6 would be a nice compliment to Jay Cutler, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, or Philip Rivers who have byes in Week 5 or Tony Romo or Peyton Manning who have byes in Week 6.  Chicago plays Baltimore and Green Bay plays Pittsburgh in Week 15 so I strongly urge Jay Cutler and Aaron Rodgers owners to try and grab Schaub.  He’ll likely be selected in the 9th-12th round depending on league specifics.  I’m predicting 3400 yards and 20 TDs.  I think he’ll miss at least one game.