Fantasy Football Cut-N-Go: No Rest for the Recently Defeated

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

The NFC playoff picture may have cleared up a little over the weekend, but the teams at the top of the standings still have reason to fight.

When Dallas handed New Orleans its first loss of the season, the Minnesota Vikings were in prime position to gain a game and make this race for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs interesting. But the Vikings lost to Carolina and still sit two games back in the hunt for the No. 1 seed, with two games to play. All it will take is one more win by the Saints to shore up the No. 1 seed and that means all the starters are playing in Week 16, according to quotes from Sean Payton in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

We're 13-1 right now. I think the most important thing is focusing on securing the one-seed. That's what we have to do right now, and obviously we have to look closely at the things that hurt us in a loss like that. The big plays, special teams, offensively -- really we have to look at all those areas and look to try to improve like we talk about improving week to week. I think we'll have our focus. Obviously it hurts to lose a game, but we'll respond to it."

By the looks of it, it's very safe to play your Saints players in your Week 16 fantasy playoff matches, at least those who are healthy. And if your fantasy league isn't finishing up with this weekend's games, it may even be safe to play your Saints starters in Week 17 too. When Payton was asked about momentum heading into the playoffs and if he was worried about rust if he rested players, he danced around committing to a course of action but assured everyone he was playing to win.

"We're not resting them. We're playing right now. There are only two weeks left in the regular season, and we're full speed ahead with this game that we're playing. I'm not really dealing with the hypotheticals, I'm just staying focused on this game right now."

Other Fantasy Football Notes

• Matthew Stafford hasn't officially been ruled out for Week 16 yet, but head coach Jim Schwartz is close to making the call, says Tom Kowalski of Michigan Live.

"Let me hold one more day on that," Schwartz said of a decision to sit Stafford for a third straight week. Stafford is still recovering from a separated left shoulder. "He is improving but mostly not. Let me hold one more day, but most likely not."

The Lions still haven't decided who will start at quarterback -- Daunte Culpepper or Drew Stanton -- if Stafford cannot play.

• Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Inquirer says that even if Brian Westbrook is able to play, he'll only participate in a limited role.

• For the first time in two years, Felix Jones carried the ball 10-plus times in consecutive games for the Dallas Cowboys, says Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News. The Cowboys are learning how to effectively use Jones, who is eating into Marion Barber's carries.

• Tom Cable seems to catch a lot of heat about how he uses the running backs in his stable of runners. When asked by Jerry McDonald of the Oakland Tribune why he doesn't carve out 15 carries per game for Michael Bush, Cable says it all comes down to turnovers. As long as his team has a problem in that area, no one will get enough carries to be fantasy relevant on a regular basis.

• If you've gotten this far in your fantasy football playoffs, you've likely done so without using quarterbacks from the Browns, Bills and Rams. But, just in case you need the news -- Fred Greetham of The Orange and Brown says that Derek Anderson will be under center for the duration on the season with Brady Quinn off to the injured reserve. Jay Skurski and Allen Wilson of The Buffalo News say that Brian Brohm may be forced to start against Atlanta with Ryan Fitzpatrick and Trent Edwards suffering from ankle injuries. And Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says that the Rams aren't yet ready to commit to Keith Null at quarterback for the remainder of the season, but that it's close.