Continuing my previous article "Rising and Falling: The Barbarian Unleashed!", here is a list of some of the players who saw the field over the weekend and how their play may or may not have affected their draft status...

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Week three of the preseason has recently become the week where coaches get a longer look at the players they expect to form their starting roster come opening day. With this in mind, it's important to look at the players who are stepping it up this week, as it could be a key indicator of how they will play when the season starts. Below you'll find a list of the players who's fantasy status is "Rising", "Falling", or "Stayin' Put" based on Saturday's preseason action...

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As had been recently anticipated given O'Sullivan's (hereinafter "Sully") unexpectedly decent preseason, head coach Mike Nolan's lack of trust in Smith, and Sully's understanding of the Martz system, the 49ers have done what was near-unthinkable a month ago and promoted a 29-year-old journeyman QB over the 2005 #1 overall draft pick. Smith had been thought of by some as a sleeper pick this season, but unless the Sully experiment tanks quickly, you can forget about him having any fantasy impact this season. As for Sully himself, I'm skeptical and frankly wouldn't draft him, period. Too many unknowns, too many known negatives - most notably San Fran's subpar receivers - and too many other, better options for late-round backup QBs.

As if Donovan McNabb didn't have enough trouble finding a reliable wide receiver to throw to, today it was announced that Kevin Curtis will be out for an extended amount of time getting surgery for a sports hernia. There is no absolute time table on how long it will take Curtis to return, but my non-PHD guess would be that it will take a couple months for him to be back to top form. Obviously this hurts Curtis' draft rank, but it also has a negative affect on McNabb's, as well as a positive affect on the rookie, DeSean Jackson. The other starter in the offense, Reggie Brown, is already out with a hamstring injury for a short while (possibly back to start the season), so Jackson immediately jumps up to the #1 receiver in the offense for the remaining preseason games. Check back in a bit to see where this news affects our power rankings...

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As we approach week three of the preseason, many of you may have been wondering where the star player you plan to draft has been the first two weeks, so I wrote this article to try to put some of your worries to rest. Below are some of the key players that haven't played a snap so far in the preseason and an explanation of why they haven't, which will hopefully allow you to sleep a little bit better (or worse I guess, depending on what you expected to hear):

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Alright, so maybe the score doesn't show that the Giants pounded the Browns, but if you watched the first quarter and a half, it was definitely a lopsided match. With all the "starters" in (I use the term loosely because the Giants were missing Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer and Steve Smith, while Cleveland was without Braylon Edwards), Eli Manning showed that maybe the Superbowl victory was no fluke as he bombed two touchdown passes to receiver Domenik Hixon in the first quarter. Hixon, a third year receiver out of Akron who had only one reception for a measly five yards all of last season, looked like a Pro Bowl player in this one (4 catches for 63 yards and 2 TD), dragging his feet in the endzone on both touchdown grabs and also torching the Browns special teams for a kick off return touchdown. Even with the great game, at this point it doesn't appear that Hixon will be a relevant fantasy player this year...but if injury strikes one of the top three receives on the team, keep his name in mind as a possible late season sleeper.

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Tonight's game between the Browns and Giants will wrap up week two of the preseason, but before we jump into week 3, here are some reactions to the games that took place over the weekend...

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• Just turned on the Carolina vs Philadelphia game...after barely playing at all last week, Delhomme is not having the type of game (2/4 for 18 yards) so far that makes me want to run out and draft him as my starting quarterback. Although he's only had 4 attempts, the offense in general looks uninspired and like something that I want to stay away from going into my upcoming drafts.
• Eagles wide receiver Reggie Brown left the game with some kind of hamstring injury, but no news on the severity yet. Rookie DeSean Jackson is now lined up opposite Kevin Curtis, so we should get a good look at him. He already has one catch for 11 yards.
• The Eagles / Panthers game was looking like a real barn burner (note: sarcasm)...and now it's delayed due to bad weather...awesome!
• Looking at the stats to the Bills / Steelers game, seems as if that should be the game that's on TV, as there seems to be a little more action (Buffalo is leading 14-7 at half).

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Watch out Yahoo and ESPN (and even FleaFlicker!), there's another fantasy football league website in town, this one having the unique concept of being built into Facebook. Jeff Ma, one of the MIT card counters that inspired the book Bringing Down the House (which is a great book by the way) and the movie "21", along with business partner Mike Kerns, have created the company Citizen Sports, Inc., and convinced Sports Illustrated to put its name on the product. The fact that it is a downloadable application on the new Facebook means it will automatically have a potential audience of millions, so there is a big chance that this could succeed...but we'll have to wait and see if it really challenges the big boys any time soon. (More, including a couple screenshots, after the jump...)

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I had originally buried this news in my latest update on the preseason games over the weekend, but I figured it was important enough to break out into it's own post, so here you go...

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