Now’s time for Brown to be down

Ever since the discovery of the wildcat offense, it's been difficult to take Miami's Ronnie Brown out of any fantasy lineup.

This may be the week where you want to show him the bench, though.

Brown is coming off a 27-yard game - which ties his worst output in 21 games since the unveiling of the high school-style scheme - and returns to the stadium where it all began. Tomorrow, he'll face the Patriots, who surely are still bitter over his 113 yards and four TDs against them in the wildcat's debut last year.

A look at some players to start and sit in Week 9:

Quarterbacks

• Overthinker Alert: Yes, Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger is heading into hostile Denver to face a defense that has allowed just 4 TD passes. But Big Ben has had two weeks to prepare, and it seems chinks are starting to appear in that Denver defense.

• There is very little statistical evidence pointing to a big game for Atlanta's Matt Ryan: The Redskins have the NFL's No. 2 pass defense, and Ryan has struggled of late. Yet it's hard to imagine Ryan's woes continuing and easy to imagine the Redskins further unraveling.

• The 49ers' once-certain first-round bust Alex Smith is looking more quarterbacky all the time. He faces the Titans' league-worst pass defense at home. (That decent outing last week surely was a fluke.) BACK AWAY SLOWLY AND NOBODY GETS HURT:

• Here are Eli Manning's stats during the Giants' three-week skid: 3 TDs, 6 interceptions, 6 sacks. The Chargers aren't too scary on defense, but bench Manning till that offense starts to figure things out again.

• The Jaguars have one of the worst pass defenses around, but don't even consider Kansas City's Matt Cassel. Sure, it's kind of inspiring that he's remaining upright behind that line, but he has one TD while enduring 10 sacks the past two weeks.

• It continues to be a bad idea to have Tennessee's Vince Young on your fantasy team, even if he's undefeated this year.

  Running backs

  ALL DAY LONG:

• You tend to think of the Giants as having a tough run defense, but they've allowed 12 rushing touchdowns. And while LaDainian Tomlinson may never again see 4 yards a carry, your first-round bust seems worthy of a start here.

• The Eagles' Brian Westbrook should put up decent numbers against Dallas. He usually does well after games missed to injury, and he scored on Dallas three times in their first meeting last year.

• Julius Jones (Big Stone Gap) should normally be ignored by all fantasy players, but with Edgerrin James' release and the Lions in town, count me among those willing to ignore his rich history of underachievement.

• Larry Johnson is still out on disgruntlement/offensive remark leave, so Jamaal Charles could be a nice sleeper against the Jaguars' 25th-ranked run defense. (There was a serious look of give-up on many of Chris Johnson's huge runs last week.) RED FLAGS:

• Congratulations if you landed coveted free agent Ryan Moats, but only start him if you're totally out of bodies. Texans coach Gary Kubiak has said Moats, Steve Slaton and Chris Brown all will see action.

• Denver's Knowshon Moreno struggled against the Ravens and now faces the Steelers' No. 1 run defense. Pittsburgh has allowed just two scoring runs.

  Wide receivers

  THROW HIM THE DARN BALL:

• This week offers fantasy bust T.J. Houshmandzadeh a rare opportunity to do more catching than complaining with the woeful Lions in town.

• If the perpetually limping Anquan Boldin can't go for the Cardinals, Steve Breaston is a great start against the mediocre Bears.

• Michael Crabtree has 11 catches in his first two games with the 49ers, and the Titans' secondary is his easiest test yet. SHOW HIM THE BENCH:

• Atlanta is suddenly terrible against the pass, ranking 31st in the league, but Washington's passing offense should out-terrible the Falcons. Don't expect much from Santana Moss.

• If you have any better options, leave Denver's Brandon Marshall on the bench. He was OK when turning Kyle Orton 4-yard passes into touchdowns, but things have been stopping far short of that.

• It's hard to imagine anybody planning to start Roy Williams, but he deserves to be benched based solely on his belief that he's still the No. 1 receiver in Dallas.