Wow, what an exciting week, and even more interesting slate of games if you had the guts to start Cleveland RB Peyton Hillis against the Ravens. There is a lot that we can learn after Week 3. We are 1/6 of the way through the season and we can start following trends that are developing. That’s good news for people who are savvy fantasy football players, and if you read this every week, then you are pretty savvy in my book.

–Who was stunned that the New Orleans Saints lost to the Atlanta Falcons? More shocking, Saints kicker Garrett Hartley lost his job, at least for a few weeks. Time to pick up a new one. Sorry to everyone who reached for him in the 7th round. But, even more shocking than the big loss and Hartley losing his job was the Atlanta running game. Michael Turner had 114 yards and a TD, but backup RB Jason Snelling was on pace for the same. Keep Snelling on your radar. He already has 3 all purpose TDs and 264 total yards, too. That’s nothing to sneeze at. Side note: Saints WR Marques Colston hasn’t done anything yet.

–I forgot all about Ben Roethlisberger after Charlie Bach lit up the Buccaneers to the tune of 3 TDs and 186 yards. I don’t know if he is worth a pick up with the Ravens up next, then a bye and then the return of Big Ben. But what you can take away is that Mike Wallace and the Steelers WR corp are worth trading for. I have always liked Wallace and if you can wait for Big Ben to come back, he can break out like last week’s performance. 2 TDs and 100 yards are pretty good stats for just 3 receptions.

–Either I looked like a genius for starting C.J. Spiller in two leagues, or anyone can look like a superstar rushing against the Patriots defense. Though I want to say it was mostly me, it was really the Swiss cheese New England defense. Spiller was great this week with 2 TDs, but he will only benefit from best matchups. He’ll continue to be explosive, just more explosive against a team like the Patriots and less explosive against a team like the Steelers. What the Pats lack in defense, they make up for in offense. Randy Moss scored 2 TDs and RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushed his way into a starting job with Fred Taylor out, racking up 98 yards and a TD.

–Two of the best fantasy players this last week were products of the matchup between the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens. Ravens WR Anquan Boldin has been good all season, but this week he was absolutely fantastic,catching 8 passes for 142 yards and 3 TDs. In the Cleveland lineup, nobody expected Cleveland RB Peyton Hillis to rush for 144 yards with a TD, along with 36 receiving yards, out of the backfield. It was nice for fantasy owners to see Joe Flacco bounce back after his 3 INT game with a 3 TD game. Flacco looked extremely sharp and with Denver, New England and Buffalo coming up, Flacco will continue to roll.

–Brett Favre didn’t have quite the comeback game that I was hoping for, but he didn’t need to with Adrian Peterson rushing for 160 yards and 2 TDs against the Lions defense.

–Most people hyped up the matchup between the Texans and Cowboys as a good ol’ fashioned shoot out, but it really wasn’t the case. What we are learning about the Texans is that they have a great running game in Arian Foster who racked up 106 yards this week. They also can have a huge aerial game with Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson, but it seems that they can’t have both in the same week. It’s like they have to commit to one or the other. It doesn’t make any sense, but with such great offensive weapons, they will usually manage to score more than just 13 points.

–In preseason, a lot of people thought the San Francisco 49ers would be able to easily win their division, but they are now 0-3 and just as many people believed that their current record would more likely belong to the Kansas City Chiefs, who are actually 3-0. These two matched up this week and it is hard to sort out the fantasy factor in either of these teams. Obviously, Frank Gore is going to get every carry for the 49ers but this week he also got almost every reception with 9 catches and 102 receiving yards to go with his 43 rushing yards. The 49ers will continue to lean heavily on Gore until this losing streak is broken. That means he will be tired and banged up, so watch out for backup RB Anthony Dixon, who was impressive in preseason, to gain more touches. On the other side, the Chiefs are 3-0 but where is the fantasy value? It’s hard to say that QB Matt Cassel is the best option, but in weeks where he can have 3 TDs and 250 yards, yes, he is worth a start. But the three fantasy players that have the most value are the RB duo Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones and the multi-purpose Dexter McCluster. Each week, any one of them can manage 15 fantasy points or more. McCluster seems to be the best bet in my opinion. I’m moving him to my starting lineup after their bye week.

– There was little to talk about as the Redskins lost to the Rams on Sunday, but it was important to note two things about Donovan McNabb’s Redskins. Number one: McNabb loves Santana Moss and Chris Cooley. Both of them are getting a lot of yards and targets. Number two: Though both running backs averaged over 6 yards a carry, they each only got 7 carries. But Clinton Portis’ days are numbered as the starter; Ryan Torain is beginning to snake carries away from him. Pick him up if he’s still available.

–Well, on Sunday, Michael Vick was Michael Vick. He has been a fantasy monster all season. Losing Kolb was the best thing that could have happened to the Eagles this season, but who loses when Vick excels? RB LeSean McCoy, who has had an excellent season until this week, lost quite a few touches this week as Vick led the aerial assault.

–Kyle Orton had a career day, throwing for 476 yards and TD, but he couldn’t get past the Colts. Orton had 2 receivers over 140 yards: Brandon Lloyd and Jabar Gaffney. The problem fantasy-wise is that you never know who will be the man for Orton. On the other side of the ball, Austin Collie is still Peyton Manning’s favorite receiver with 2 TDs and 171 yards. That’s his second game with over 150 yards this year and don’t expect it to be his last, either.

–Run DMC McFadden led another great charge by the Raiders, but it wasn’t enough to get past the Cardinals. A lot of exciting things happened this week as Darren McFadden rushed for 105 yards and had his 3rd game of over 120 all-purpose yards. WR Louis Murphy had 119 receiving yards, and for the Cardinals, Beanie Wells came back in a big way with a 24 yard gain on his first rush, racking up 75 yards to Tim Hightower’s 40. Sorry to all the Hightower owners, but Beanie is back. As long as his knee stays healthy, Wells’ carries will go up as Hightower’s go down.

–Seattle Seahawks RB and kick return man Leon Washington had only 1 carry for 0 yards on Sunday. However, he did however have 2 kick return TDs against the San Diego Chargers. Does that make Washington more valuable or the Seattle Defense more valuable? The jury is out on that one. My bet is on Washington because San Diego QB Philip Rivers easily picked apart the Seattle Defense with 455 yards and 2 TDs with 2 INTs. With the addition of Patrick Crayton to the Chargers receiving corp, Malcolm Floyd remains atop the depth chart with his 97 yard and 1 TD game. These will remain Floyd’s standard numbers. They would be better if someone could guard Antonio Gates. Gates had 7 catches for 109 yards and a TD.

–Both the Jets and Dolphins remain a big fantasy question mark in my book. Jets QB Mark Sanchez has shown flashes of brilliance, even this last week with 3 TDs and 256 yards, but he has also been miserable this season. The Jets’ two fantasy players that I like the most are TE Dustin Keller and RB LaDainian Tomlinson. I still think the passing game is a fluke, but even if it is, Keller will get receptions and remain Sanchez’s favorite target. The Dolphins’ Brandon Marshall finally broke his 50-ish yard vortex and had a huge game with 166 yards and a TD.

–I expect that everyone is still talking about the Bears beating the Packers, but I want to warn you of them. They have been one dimensional these last two weeks. RB Matt Forte saw just 11 carries this week and last week had only 10 and each game, he totaled just 29 yards and less than 3 yards a carry. These numbers are terrible and barring his 89 yard receiving TD in Week 1, he has done very little this season to excite fantasy owners. QB Jay Cutler will take most of the responsibility for his win over the Packers, but if it wasn’t for a few penalties and a dropped interception, his stats could have been a lot worse than what they were. If Cutler can stay calm in the pocket, he will be a great fantasy QB all year. His schedule will get a lot better with the Packers out of the way.