The Shot Caller's Report strives to identify players that are borderline fantasy plays and clarify whether they should be started or benched. Rather than telling you to start Peyton Manning and bench Patrick Ramsey, the Report looks at those "stuck in the middle" guys and evaluates if they will help your team win.

One team gets very lucky this week. They are probably playing the top team in the league, one who may even be undefeated. The fantasy gods have decided to showcase their benevolence by scheduling this game for the week Tom Brady and the rest of the fantasy-league-dominating New England Patriots are off. Now is the week to pounce and deny that Boston homer who drafted Brady and Moss his perfect season. Brady alone is averaging about 40% more points than his closest quarterback competitor, Tony Romo. Randy Moss is dominating the receiver position, although not as ridiculously. Seize the opportunity while New England takes a week-long vacation. Joining the Patriots on a bye are Houston, Tampa Bay, and the New York Jets.

Quarterbacks

Must Start:

Marc Bulger @ NO: Coming off his team’s bye, Bulger is poised to have a great second half. Steven Jackson is relatively healthy, taking some of the pressure off of the passing game and, more importantly, the easy part of the Rams schedule starts this weekend. Over the next five weeks, they get to play the Saints, 49ers, Seahawks, Falcons, and Bengals. If Bulger’s current owner is sick of waiting, grab him on the cheap and hope that Week 8’s solid performance was just a hint of things to come.

Matt Hasselbeck v. SF: Hasselbeck finally gets all of his receivers back from their various injuries and Coach Holmgren indicated this week that the team will be focusing more on the pass, both very positive developments for the Seattle quarterback. Hasselbeck was solid before these good things started happening, so don’t hesitate to start him this week.

Kurt Warner v. DET: Detroit is the best defense in the league, but only if we are talking about a fantasy league. In real games, they are still horrible and Warner, armed with a couple of amazing receivers, will pick them apart. Detroit is allowing the 3rd most passing yardage in the NFL and has given up 14 passing touchdowns in eight games.

Drew Brees v. STL: Through his first four games, Brees threw a single touchdown to go along with his nine interceptions; not a pretty picture. During the last four contests, Brees has 11 touchdowns and one interception; much better! I don’t know what he did after Week 5 to turn things around, but fantasy owners across the nation are thankful he finally broke out of his early-season slump and began looking like the Drew Brees we all remember from last year’s inspiring performance.

Going Out On a Limb:

J.P. Losman @ MIA: He has gone from high-upside sleeper to bench warmer and is now returning to fantasy relevance with Trent Edwards forced to the sidelines by an injured wrist. Losman has been declared the starter for Week Ten and, if he continues to excel, expect Edwards’ wrist injury to linger a while longer.

Grab A Clipboard:

Vince Young v. JAX: For a young quarterback being touted as exciting and riveting, Young seems to spend most of his time making sure he doesn’t lose the game for his team. The Tennessee defense and rushing attack are getting the job done while Young tries to stay out of the way. His numbers so far this year: 5 touchdowns, 9 turnovers, and 1,020 yards. Hardly exciting stuff….

Brian Griese @ OAK: Four interceptions against an opportunistic Detroit defense certainly dampened Bears fans’ enthusiasm for their former backup quarterback. It’s interesting how quickly a popular backup QB can become distinctly unpopular once he is given the starting nod. If he struggled facing the Detroit secondary, Griese isn’t going to like what he sees this week at Oakland.

Steve McNair v. CIN: It shocks me that anyone would still be considering McNair as their starting quarterback after all the crap I have written about the elderly QB. However, I still get emails asking if he is worth starting against the weak Cincinnati defense. Um, how about 63? What is “63” you ask? That was McNair’s passing yardage last week in Pittsburgh. Welcome to the new and improved Kyle Boller era, coming to Baltimore any time now.

Jason Campbell v. PHI: Here is a guy many had high hopes for this season. He’s had his ups and downs, but mostly downs in recent weeks. I didn’t expect much from him in the game against New England, but facing the Cardinals and Jets he should have done fairly well. His combined numbers from those two games were 237 passing yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions. So, even when playing bad teams he struggles to put up decent numbers.

David Garrard @ TEN: Garrard still hasn’t thrown an interception and he had six touchdowns in the five games he played. Unfortunately, he also averaged just over 200 yards a game and now gets to face what is arguably the best defense in the NFL. Rusty and with little upside, Garrard needs to do something a bit more interesting to be anything more than a poor bye week fill in.

Running Backs