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 Cleo Lemon, the Report looks at those "stuck in the middle" guys and evaluates if they will help your team win.

Congratulations on making it to your league finals! If this doesn’t apply to you, my condolences. The good news is that either way, the fantasy season is approaching its end. Good news?!?! Of course, but only because it wipes the slate clean and allows us to start formulating our diabolical plans once again. Didn’t make the playoffs this year? Next season provides a fresh start. Are you currently destroying the opposition, sending them down to their doom while they plead for mercy? You will get another opportunity to demonstrate you mastery in just a few more months. Stuck with a crappy dynasty league team? Well, you are just hosed….

Quarterbacks

Must Start:

Kurt Warner @ NO: Who needs receivers? Playing catch with a gimpy Larry Fitzgerald and without Anquan Boldin, Warner still managed to toss three touchdowns passes last week in Seattle. Of course, those five interceptions were hideous and made Warner’s numbers much less impressive. Fitzgerald will once again slip on his medical girdle and play in New Orleans while Boldin’s status will be determined in practice this week. Against the Saints 29th ranked pass defense, Warner would be a good play even with Jerheme Urban catching his passes.

Jeff Garcia v. ATL: If Atlanta’s season wasn’t a train wreck before this week it certainly qualifies now. Facing the twin blows of watching their quarterback get sentenced to 23 months in federal prison and their new coach throw in the towel, the Falcons players managed to make their organization look even worse with their “Free Mike Vick” crap. Yeah, a guy convicted of executing dogs should walk because he’s your buddy. Classy guys, real classy.

Matt Hasselbeck @ CAR: After destroying the Arizona secondary last week, Hasselbeck gets to do the same thing in Carolina. He has multiple touchdown throws in seven of his last eight games and might get D.J. Hackett back. If not, Seattle has enough depth at receiver for Hasselbeck to be successful without one or two of his wide outs. How come the Seahawks have WRs all over the place and teams like Tennessee and San Francisco can’t find a single good one?

Jay Cutler @ HOU: OK, I am finally onboard the Cutler bandwagon. Through the first ten weeks, he threw multiple touchdowns only once, not very titillating for fantasy purposes. Over the last four weeks though, he has eight scores and only three interceptions. Toss in a nice match up against Houston and Cutler needs to be in lineups.

Going Out On a Limb:

Trent Edwards @ CLE: Edwards is not a very good quarterback this early in his young career. Luckily for Buffalo fans, the Cleveland secondary is worse, a lot worse. Edwards was able to torch the Miami JV team for four touchdowns, proving he can hit receivers when there is no coverage in sight. The Brownies are essentially the Dolphins with an offense, meaning the Bills won’t be running the ball all second half either.

Grab A Clipboard:

Ben Roethlisberger v. JAX: I like Big Ben, but I am concerned about his recent lack of production. Against his last four opponents, including three defensive juggernauts (Jets, Dolphins, and Bungles), Roethlisberger has four passing TDs and was held under 200 yards in each meeting. The Jaguars truly are a “bend but don’t break” defense. They rank in the bottom ten for passing yards allowed yet opposing quarterbacks have only managed to throw 15 touchdown passes on them.

Kyle Orton @ MIN: I actually received an email asking if Orton would be a good “sneaky start” this week against the worst-ranked pass defense in the league. Um, no. Playing a QB in your league finals who hasn’t thrown a meaningful pass since 2005 is idiotic. You should lose your game just for asking that question….

Vince Young @ KC: It looks like Young has avoided the Madden curse, unless chronic underperformance can be classified as an injury. He has only missed one game this year, although you will be forgiven for not noticing. The over-hyped star has managed a meager two multi-score games. Those numbers include his scrambling prowess, which has been almost non-existent for most of the season.

Kellen Clemens @ NE: This should be a no-brainer. I am just wondering how bad it could be for the young signal caller. So far he has five touchdowns and ten turnovers even though he is playing with a decent offensive line and some competent weapons. When a quarterback can’t throw a score against the Brownies, something is very wrong. I guess all those Jets fans (both of them) that were screaming for Clemens to become the starter are already looking at which quarterbacks will be available in this years’ draft.

David Garrard @ PIT: Sure, he has thrown only a single interception this year. While that is impressive, his upside is very limited. Garrard hasn’t broken 300 yards passing or thrown more than two scores in a game. His numbers aren’t bad, but he has very little upside and is facing the second best pass defense in the league, the same group who was humiliated on national television by Tom Brady last week. They may have a chip on their shoulder this week, although no guarantees of a win have yet been heard.

Running Backs