Fantasy Football Cut-N-Go: Healthy Falcons This Week?

Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.

The Atlanta Falcons have been without their quarterback and starting running back for the past several weeks. Thus, fantasy football owners of Matt Ryan and Michael Turner were left scrambling to fill their starting lineups down the stretch. If you were lucky enough to survive to this week without Ryan or Turner and still have either waiting on your bench, the payoff may be coming this weekend.

Both Turner and Ryan practiced with the Falcons Thursday. Reports have Ryan looking sharp and likely ready to step back into the lineup. Turner, on the other hand, was limited but still claims he'll play if there are no changes to how he physically feels.

"It's still not quite 100 percent, but if it feels like that, there would be no question that I will be playing," Turner said.

Even if both players are back on the field Sunday, there is bad news for the fantasy owners of either Ryan or Turner: they are playing the Jets -- who are the best defense in the NFL in terms of yards and points allowed. Considering Roddy White is going to be locked down by Darrelle Revis, it appears that only Tony Gonzalez is a sure start for Atlanta. I'd definitely look elsewhere at QB than rolling with Ryan against a physical Jets' defense.

As for Turner, well, if you own him, you probably have to play him. Keep your eyes peeled on our Fantasy Football Tailgate Sunday morning for the updates on Turner and we'll help you decide if he's your best option.

Other Fantasy Football Notes

• Mike Sims-Walker has to be the most frustrating fantasy football player to own. He's the Lee Evans of 2009. The six catches for 64 yards and a touchdown Thursday night were a nice payback for owners who have labored through his recent slide. Once again, he's worth a look against New England next week, but don't be surprised if he turns out a lackluster performance -- or explodes. Your guess is as good as mine.

Oh, and speaking of a nice payback, it was nice to see the Maurice Jones-Drew from the first 10 weeks reappear. Huge game for the playoff semi-finals.

• Cadillac Williams has been removed from the Buccaneers' injury report. He'll still likely get a lion's share of the work and the Seahawks are marginal against the run, so he's a decent flex play in bigger leagues. I'd still be worried about the Bucs getting blown out and having to abandon the run, though.

• Expect Maurice Morris to carry nearly a full load for the Lions this weekend.

"I'd like to see Maurice be able to get those carries," offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said. "He hasn't had a lot of carries this year, mostly as that second role. He basically gets everything that Kevin was getting."

Smith was averaging 19.8 touches per game and the Cardinals (the Lions' opponent Sunday) allow slightly more than 17 points per game to opposing runners. Morris is certainly worth a shot in large leagues where you have injury issues. To marry this bullet-point to the one above, I'd play Morris over Cadillac.

• Hopefully you stuck with your Colts, as they came out in full forces last night. They have three days off before even thinking about next week, so there's no reason to speculate just yet as to how they'll do things next week. We'll tackle that Monday or Tuesday.

• No team in the NFL allows more kicking points to their opposition than the Detroit Lions. Thus, Neil Rackers would have been a great play this week. He will, however, miss the game with a torn muscle in his leg. The Cardinals have signed Mike Nugent to temporarily take over. If you grabbed Rackers for this matchup, go ahead and replace him with Nugent. He'll be a fine fill-in.

• Knowshon Moreno fully practiced Thursday for the Broncos while Correll Buckhalter continued to sit out. Only two teams allow more fantasy points on the ground than the Raiders (Denver's opponent on Sunday), and with Charlie Frye at the helm for Oakland, it appears this is going to be a blowout. Expect Knowshon to get his first 100-yard game as a professional back and find the end zone at least once. He's an elite play.

• Do not give up on Brian Westbrook. He's going through practices and neurological testing this week and will probably miss Sunday's game. But many of the reports out there as to his health seem to point to him improving and getting closer to being on the field. What a bonus it would be for fantasy owners to have him show up in their lineup for Championship Week (Week 16). Still, everything takes a backseat to the status of Westbrook's health. Dealing with a brain injury is no joking matter.

Contained in the same link is that Jeremy Maclin is probably going to miss Sunday's game, but Kevin Curtis is back on the practice field at full-speed. Curtis would be a sneaky plug-in (in really deep leagues) at this point, considering the Eagles face a secondary that can be beaten deep.