Thanks to these duds, it's been anything but a holiday

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year.

In my family, we gather with family and friends, feast on a wonderful meal and give thanks to God for everything He has blessed us with.

Perhaps drawing inspiration from the holiday, one of the experts on our Web site ran with that theme and told readers the things he is thankful for when it comes to fantasy football.

After reading it - and after thinking about the dismal season I'm going through with most of my teams - it quickly dawned on me there are also plenty of things we are not thankful for, including:

1. RB musical chairs in Houston. I think we have to ask Texans coach Gary Kubiak if he needs a lasik operation. What he sees in Chris Brown, who looks like a stiff piece of cardboard running into the line, is beyond me. Where did Ryan Moats go? He looked a thousand times better than the plodding Brown (3.3 yards per carry) in the two previous games. If the Texans are serious about their running game they should be using Moats or go back to Steve Slaton and pray he can hold onto the ball.

2. Brian Westbrook. The second-round pick in many drafts has been completely worthless.

3. Week 10. This is when, in about a 45-minute span, we lost Ronnie Brown, Michael Turner and Cedric Benson to injuries.

4. Santana Moss. A receiver we could often count on for knockdown, blowout games hasn't given us more than 50 receiving yards in six of the last seven weeks. Oh, and he has a whopping 2 TDs.

5. Jay Cutler's overthrows. Cutler isn't just killing fantasy teams who own him - he's also destroying the value of Devin Hester, Greg Olsen and Johnny Knox. Cutler's bombs Sunday night against the Eagles reminded me of the scene in "Stripes" when John Larroquette's character tells the men to just fire the grenade launcher, not giving a hoot about where the coordinates are set. Well, Sgt. Hulka, who falls about 30 feet from the tower he just climbed, ends up looking like Bears fantasy owners - flat on their back and moaning, "Ahhhh. Ahhhh."

6. Terrell Owens. In the midst of a miserable season, Owens explodes for 197 yards and a TD last week. Too bad 53 percent of CBSSports.com owners had him on the bench.

7. Denver's disappearing offense. After averaging 22.2 points per game the first six week, the Broncos have scored a pathetic 37 points in Weeks 8-11 (9.3 per game). It's made owners second-guess themselves about using Brandon Marshall (2 TDs last five), and it's made all of Denver's other players unusable.

8. The Jets' Darrelle Revis and Raiders' Nnamdi Asomugah. The two best cover corners in the game almost always turn our stud WRs into non-factors on game day.

9. Tough finishing schedules. We've come to expect big numbers from our players on Green Bay, New England and Dallas (although the Cowboys have been awful the past two weeks). Well, things could be really bad as December approaches for these squads. The Packers get Baltimore at home in Week 13, go to Chicago for Week 14, are at home against Pittsburgh in Week 15 and play at home on Dec. 27 against Seattle in Week 16. Dallas (at New Orleans and Washington) and New England (at Buffalo, vs. Jacksonville) either have tough foes or the possibility of really bad weather.

10. The fact that Indy is 10-0. This is definitely the thing we are least thankful for. The Colts are so good that even if your title game is in Week 16, Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark and Joseph Addai may be not be playing a whole lot by that time. Get a backup plan ready because odds are you will need it.

My teams: Can we get to 2010 already? I lost two games by a combined 6.5 points - 94-89 in the DH experts league (7-4) and 52-50.5 in the unit league (3-8). My regular-league team (5-6) did OK but ran into a buzz-saw in a 134-94 loss.

Good bets

• Cowboys RB Marion Barber vs. Oakland. It's finally time to dust off Barber and plug him back into fantasy lineups. Dallas plays Oakland on Thanksgiving, and nobody hands out rushing TDs better than the Raiders (9 in the last four weeks).

• Falcons QB Matt Ryan vs. Tampa Bay. As much as Ryan has struggled, he has thrown at least 1 TD pass in nine of 10 games. He'll throw 2-3 against a unit that's given up a whopping 22 on the season.

• Bears TE Greg Olsen at Minnesota. This could be a huge game for Olsen. The Bears will need to throw to keep up, and only the Dolphins allows more yards to TEs than the Vikings.

Bad bets

• Cowboys WR Miles Austin vs. Oakland. I'm so down on Austin this week that I ranked him 33rd among WRs, below Devin Hester and Laveranues Coles. He won't do much with CB Nnamdi Asomugah shadowing his every move.

• Eagles QB Donovan McNabb vs. Washington. Because Washington's offense has such a hard time moving the ball, it's truly amazing that teams haven't put up better numbers against the Redskins (161.6 pass yards allowed per game). McNabb probably throws for 210 yards and 1 TD Sunday.

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