Laurence Maroney doesn't want to elaborate on injury
Maroney, who is listed as questionable for Sunday's game, declined to elaborate on his reported shoulder injury, but he did acknowledge that there are factors which contributed to his subpar Week 5 showing, the Boston Herald reports. "I have my issues. There are reasons. I'd rather not speak about them. But there are reasons." 

While not getting specific, Maroney described the issue as being "a new one." He added, "the coaches know the issue. I know the issue. And we're trying to make the issue better, if we can." Unfortunately, the likes of the Boston Herald, Boston Globe, John Clayton and Chris Mortensen are in the dark about what's ailing Maroney, so until we know what's going on, it's going to be hard to endorse him from a fantasy perspective.

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Brian Westbrook OUT this week
The official team web site reports that Eagles RB Brian Westbrook will be held out of the team's Week 6 game at San Francisco with a pair of broken ribs. Correll Buckhalter is expected to start in his place. "Brian wants to go," head coach Andy Reid said. "But I have to do what I think is best for him and the football team. I think the bye week will help him. I think it will help take some of the sting out."  This means Westbrook will be unavailable to Fantasy owners in Weeks 6 and 7 as the Eagles are on bye next week. Keep him benched, obviously. Buckhalter has a decent matchup against the 49ers and is worth rolling with as a No. 3 RB, with Lorenzo Booker and Tony Hunt last-ditch replacements for Westbrook if Buckhalter can't be used. Westbrook should be fine after the bye, so just stay patient with him.

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Who to Love, Who to Hate in Week 6

Who to Love
Kyle Orton, QB, Bears: Who needs Sexy Rexy when you can just Dial Kyle? I'm still working on the nickname, but in the meantime, in the past three weeks, Kyle Orton has the fourth-most passing yards, and only Brett Favre, thanks to that nutty 6-TD performance, has more touchdown passes. Orton has more fantasy points in the past three weeks than Tony Romo, Kurt Warner and Jay Cutler, among others. Oh, and the Falcons are ranked No. 22 against the pass.

Devin Hester, WR, Bears: Very quietly, a touchdown in two straight games.

Greg Olsen, TE, Bears: Here are some numbers for you: 16, 35, 87. That's Olsen's yardage the past three games. Orton is looking for him more and more, he has one touchdown in his past two games, and only three teams in the NFL give up more fantasy points to opposing tight ends than the Atlanta Falcons.

Roddy White, WR, Falcons: Roddy, Roddy, Roddy, get your adverbs here! (pause) Look, some of these are for you, some of these are for me.

Le'Ron McClain, RB, Ravens: Le'Ron is a Le'Load. And the Colts can't stop anyone. I like McGahee as well in this matchup, but if I have to choose a Ravens runner, it's Le'Ron.

Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams, WR, Lions: If they don't do it this week, they're going on the next atonement list.

Gus Frerotte, QB, Vikings: If ever there was a week to hop on the Gus bus, this is it.

Bernard Berrian, WR, Vikings: If ever there was a week to hop in the Berrian DeLorean, this is it. Hmm. You know, now that I see it in print, I think I'm forcing it a little bit.

T.J. Houshmandzadeh, WR, Bengals: aka: "All they got." If you were truly desperate, though, I could see Antonio Chatman having a decent game here, as I expect the Bengals to be behind and unable to run the ball, so they'll have to use a decent amount of three-receiver sets.
Cedric Benson

Cedric Benson, RB, Bengals: Again, this is only if you are truly, truly desperate and looking for a Hail Mary, but I could see him getting a goal-line carry. If you're looking at a zero otherwise, he's worth a gamble.

Brett Favre, QB, Jets: I forget. How'd Brett do in his last game? Bengals are actually sixth in the NFL against the pass, but you're starting Brett, Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery regardless.

Dustin Keller, TE, Jets: Scores in two straight games, and only eight teams give up more points to opposing tight ends than the Bengals. By the way, any of these "points against" stats can be found by clicking here or just by clicking the "points against" link at the top of this and other fantasy football pages.

Thomas Jones, RB, Jets: Thomas, you came dangerously close to making the list above. Last Chance Saloon for you this week, you dig?

Drew Brees, Reggie Bush, Deuce McAllister, Lance Moore, Billy Miller, Saints: I guess what I am saying is I don't think the bye solved all the Raiders' problems. They specifically give up a decent amount of points to opposing tight ends.

JaMarcus Russell, QB, Raiders: Remember high school geometry? Remember postulates? How you'd have to go through and solve all these long problems but then, once you learned the "why," you could just use a postulate as a shortcut? Like "This equals this because of postulate C." We need fantasy football postulates. Like instead of writing, "Anytime you can get punked by Gus Frerotte, we're starting any quarterback against you until further notice," I could just write "Postulate Gus" and be done with it.

Justin Fargas, RB, Raiders: Back and starting with Darren McFadden still a bit banged-up.

Muhsin Muhammad, WR, Panthers: At 5-foot-11 and 186 pounds, Bucs cornerback Phillip Buchanon will find there's too much Muhsin for the puh-sin. Please see White, Roddy. Move along.

Alex Smith, TE, Buccaneers: If you're desperate, the Panthers already have given up two touchdowns to opposing tight ends this year.

Steven Jackson, RB, Rams: If you have Torry Holt, you have to start him, but Steven is the only Ram I feel confident starting.

Jason Campbell, Clinton Portis, Santana Moss, Antwaan Randle El, Chris Cooley, Redskins: Long live The Zorn Supremacy!

Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams, RB, Dolphins: I expect the Fish to run on the road. And against the Texans, you can do just that.

Greg Camarillo, WR, Dolphins: Has increased his yardage and fantasy points in three consecutive games.

David Garrard, Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor, Jaguars: Postulate Shanahan; Broncos can't stop the run. And their pass defense (30th in the NFL) is even worse.
Sean Astin

Brandon Stokley, WR, Broncos: This is what I said about him on "SportsCenter": "The year was 2004. 'Lord of the Rings' won every Oscar in sight, 'Friends' and 'Frasier' went off the air, and Britney Spears got married and divorced for the first time. It was also the year Brandon Stokley had fantasy relevance, with 10 touchdowns. Well, you never know what Britney will do, but if you're looking for a deep sleeper this week, consider Stokley against the Jags' 26th-ranked pass defense. Eddie Royal and Tony Scheffler are banged-up, and Stokley has 13 receptions for more than 130 yards and one touchdown in the past two weeks."

Felix Jones, RB, Cowboys: You're starting all the obvious Cowboys, but if you're stuck at flex, I have no problem with Felix. Four touchdowns in five games. Just sayin'.

Tim Hightower, RB, Cardinals: Again, if you're looking around for a flex start, the Cardinals' loss at Washington is the only game in which Hightower hasn't scored in this season.

Steve Breaston, WR, Cardinals: This is assuming Anquan Boldin doesn't play, of course, but Breaston's got 16 receptions for 199 yards the past two weeks, and the Cowboys' secondary ranked No. 17 against the pass. And for those of you disappointed that I didn't make the obvious joke, don't worry. It's a long season, and I'll have a whole year to build up a new list of things to atone for.

DeSean Jackson and Reggie Brown, WR, Eagles: This game is a must-win for the Eagles, and their star runner is either gonna be out or at less than 100 percent.

Eagles defense and special teams: You're starting them if you have them, obviously, but this is a good choice this week if you play the Gridiron Challenge or any other salary-cap game. The 49ers have given up the most sacks this year, and the Eagles are tied for the lead with the most. You can probably come up with your own postulate about that.

Isaac Bruce, WR, 49ers: Bruuuuuuuuuuuce!

Ryan Grant, RB, Packers: Here lies the Talented Mr. Roto. He believed in Ryan Grant.

Julius Jones, RB, Seahawks: Hands up, who had Jones as the most productive fantasy guy on Seattle this year? (Scans crowd). Really? No one? Not even you, Julius? Julius: "Hey, dude, I've seen me play. I ain't that good."

Matt Cassel, Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Patriots: Sad that Moss is no longer an automatic start, but no team in the NFL gives up more passing yards per game or has given up more passing touchdowns than the San Diego Chargers. Oh, and they are giving up the second-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks.

Vincent Jackson, WR, Chargers: This one depends on the health of Chambers, but assuming he doesn't play, it's worth noting that Jackson has at least 50 yards receiving in four straight weeks.

Who to Hate
Jerious Norwood, RB, Falcons: You're starting Turner at home, of course, but I'm not crazy about Norwood against the Bears' seventh-ranked run defense.

Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and Anthony Gonzalez, WR, Colts: No. 1 pass defense in the NFL.

Rudi Johnson, RB, Lions: They're not chanting "Ruuuuudy," they're yelling "Booooodi."

Darren McFadden, RB, Raiders: I'm still worried about the toe and about Fargas. Hope I'm wrong on this one. I love McFadden.

Chris Perry, RB, Bengals: There's a couple of ways you can tell things aren't going well at work. No one will look you in the eyes. People ask how your wife's job is going. And you start hearing positive things about Cedric Benson.

DeAngelo Williams, RB, Panthers: Earth, you remember DeAngelo? DeAngelo, welcome back.

Earnest Graham and Warrick Dunn, Buccaneers: What do LaDainian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson, Larry Johnson, Michael Turner and Matt Forte have in common? Well, of course, none of those guys have ever been in my kitchen. But in addition, none of them have 100 yards rushing or a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers this season. The Bucs are normally a strong run team, but consider that the Panthers have given up only one rushing touchdown all season.

Bucs offense: Frankly, I don't want anyone who starts at QB for Tampa Bay in this game, and I'm not real excited about Ike Hilliard, either.

Marc Bulger, QB, Rams: He might wish he had stayed on the bench for this one.

Chad Pennington, QB, Dolphins: In case you were excited about last week's performance, don't be. That was a matchup call, and so is this one. Texans at home and 12th against the pass. Ronnie Brown is more likely to throw for a touchdown than Chad is.

Steve Slaton, RB, Texans: If you have better options, I'd look at them. Only the Ravens and Giants allow fewer fantasy points to opposing running backs than the Dolphins; only Thomas Jones in Week 1 has rushed for more than 100 yards against them, and they shut down Tomlinson last week. Game is at Houston, which helps Slaton, but I expect Miami to concentrate on Slaton and take their chances with Matt Schaub.

Any Denver running back: Oh, I could see one of them having a decent game. I just couldn't tell you who. I guess I'd start Pittman if I had to, but this is a quagmire with a capital quag.

Edgerrin James, RB, Cardinals: Hightower is stealing most of the goal-line carries.

J.T. O'Sullivan, QB, 49ers: Especially in leagues that give negative points for turnovers.
Click here to add the Matthew Berry widget.

Matt Hasselbeck, QB, Seahawks: He'll be OK, actually, especially with Bobby Engram back, but the way to attack Green Bay is on the ground, so I expect a lot of handing off here.

Philip Rivers, QB, Chargers: Looks like Chris Chambers won't play, the Patriots are actually eighth-best in the NFL against the pass, and, in his past two games, Rivers has more turnovers than touchdowns. He also hasn't cracked 200 yards passing in those.

All your Browns: I think this is a low-scoring ground game, and I don't trust any of the Browns against the Giants.

Eli Manning, QB, Giants: Browns are at home, coming off the bye and are top 12 in the NFL in allowing fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. I figure the Giants will run the ball a lot on the road, especially to take the crowd out of it, which will be excited since it's "Monday Night Football" on ESPN and ESPN HD. I am a company man. I wonder if I should atone for that?

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