There may not be a more non-descript injury than the dreaded "high ankle sprain" (HAS) in all of football. What does it mean? I know what what it is in medical terms, but how it translates to a player is a totally different story. It could take a player out for a week, 3 weeks, or the whole season. Michael Turner had one last year, and it pretty much took him out of relevance for the last 6 weeks of the year. Julius Jones pulled the high ankle sprain in 2005 and, save for a couple of spurts over the past 5 years, has been nothing but a pedestrian NFL running back. How quickly a player recovers from this injury is totally dependent on the players ability to heal and their ability to withstand pain. TO had one in the Eagles Superbowl year, and came back to play, and play well, just a couple weeks after sustaining it. But he's a freak of nature. For fantasy football players, seeing the guy you drafted highly come down with the HAS has to be one of the most disheartening moments we can live through (in our fantasy lives, which dominates my real life). At least when an ACL get's blown out, you know that player is DONE. The HAS leaves hope, albeit false hope, that your guy will be back shortly and return to the guy you drafted so highly.
Ryan Matthews owners, I hope you picked up Mike Tolbert; I just don't think the kid will be back anytime soon. The Chargers are going to be extra careful with their top draft choice and I'd be shocked if he plays anytime soon.
The only thing worse than the HAS *might* be when a coach comes out and says a player "tweaked" something. Tweaked? Thanks for the hard hitting medical analysis.
Top Starts for This Week You May Not Consider:
1. Donovan McNabb, QB, WAS. St. Louis is weak. He's actually not half bad this year. If you don't have a stud QB (P. Manning, Rodgers, Brees) you could do worse (Flacco, Favre).
2. Matt Forte, RB, CHI. This game against GB is poised for a shootout. Forte is starting to look like a mini-Marshall Faulk. I'd get him in.
3. Darren McFadden, RB, OAK. Despite Michael Bush coming back this week, Run DMC is starting to look like the old Run DMC the Raiders drafted 4th overall in 2008. After what Jason Snelling did to the Cardinals last week, you have to get McFadden in there.
4. Jahivd Best, RB, DET. I know, he's the top fantasy producer YTD. But I've seen a lot of people benching him because of his matchup with Minnesota. Don't do it. He's talented AND has great football sense. Keep him active. The cream always rises to the top.
5. Correll Buckhalter, RB, DEN. If you've been living in a cave you may not have heard that Knowshon Moreno is out this week (first reported as a "tweak"; thanks Dr. Josh McDaniels) against the Colts, and the Colts couldn't stop me or my grandma in the running game. Get him active if you have him.
Best of luck to everyone, except PLOWWWWMAN this week.
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