Bills WR David Nelson recently revealed that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick played through cracked ribs during the 2nd half of the 2011 season.  Fitz suffered the injury against the Redskins in Week 8.  He didn't miss any time but threw 16 INTs compared to just 10 TDs from Week 9 on.  Fitzpatrick averaged 18 fantasy points before the injury and just 15 after.  Still, it's tough to lay all the blame for his poor 2nd half on the injury considering he faded down the stretch in 2010 too.

For the 2nd-straight year, Bills HC Ryan Fitzpatrick has struggled in the 2nd half of the season.  After tossing 14 TDs and 7 INTs in his first 7 games, he's posted a 6:9 TD-to-INT ratio over his last 6.  But HC Chan Gailey backed Fitzpatrick in his Monday press conference. ”We’ve all seen him do it," Gailey said.  "We know he can do it. I think as soon as we continue to work on getting everybody on the same page I think Fitz would be fine. If that was my biggest problem I don’t think I’d have any problems.  He had a rough couple of weeks a few weeks back, then I thought he started to play better two weeks prior to this last week.  I have to help Ryan make sure we’re all on the same page and getting the receivers to do the things that he thinks they need to do and get it back to the way it was earlier in the season.”  It's an interesting situation because Buffalo can get out of the final 6 years of Fitzpatrick's contract by declining his $5 million option this offseason.  Unless he picks up his play over the season's final 3 weeks, we wouldn't be surprised if the Bills went in another direction.

Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick took it to the Jaguars on Saturday. He completed 11 of 12 passes for 165 yards and 2 TDs, including a 52-yard scoring strike to Steve Johnson. Fitzpatrick was a top-12 fantasy passer as a starter last year and carries terrific value as a fantasy backup with a 14.01 ADP.

The Chiefs have hired Brian Daboll as their OC.  Daboll hasn't had much success running the Browns and Dolphins' offenses over the past 3 seasons, failing to finish better than 22nd in total yards.  He is familiar with QB Matt Cassel from their days together in New England though.

The Chiefs have named Romeo Crennel their HC, signing him to a 3-year deal.  Taking over with an interim tag for the final 3 games of the 2011 season, Crennel led his squad to 2 wins, including a huge upset over the Packers.  He's a defensive mind, so we'll have to see who he brings in to run the offense.

The Chiefs have fired HC Todd Haley.  Losing OC Charlie Weis last year, and then RB Jamaal Charles and QB Matt Cassel this season, Kansas City's offense really sputtered.  They're currently ranked 28th in total offense and 31st in scoring.  Haley finishes his Chiefs tenure with an 19-26 record.  We're already hearing rumors that Josh McDaniels might be the early favorite to take over in KC next year.  That'd just be salt in Haley's wound.

Update: DC Romeo Crennel will take over as interim HC the rest of the way.

Steelers WR Hines Ward underwent minor ankle surgery to remove bone spurs earlier this offseason.  He'll start working out again this coming week and will be ready for all offseason activities.  The fact that he had the procedure done immediately after the season is another sign that Ward wants to return for a 15th season in 2012.  It's still unclear if that'll be with the Steelers though.

According to Steelers beat writer Ed Bouchette, WR Hines Ward wants to return for a 15th NFL season in 2012.  The 35-year-old finished with just 46 catches, 381 yards, and 2 TDs this past year -- his lowest marks since his rookie campaign back in 1998.  By the end of the season, he'd fallen to 5th on the depth chart.  Ward still has 2 years on his contract with the Steelers, but the team isn't expected to bring him back.  Hines could get a 1-year deal with a team looking for a veteran presence, but he won't be a fantasy factor.

Steelers WR Hines Ward appeared to suffer a concussion in Monday night's game against the Ravens, but HC Mike Tomlin expects him to play against the Bengals this weekend.  With WR Emmanuel Sanders out for a couple weeks, Ward will serve as Pittsburgh's #3 WR.  He's topped 50 yards just twice this season, though, and won't be a fantasy option.

Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski (ankle) put in another limited practice on Friday.  He made it through the past 2 days without a setback.  Gronk is officially listed as questionable but is fully expected to play in the Super Bowl.  Just how effective he'll be is anyone's guess.

Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski (ankle) returned to a limited practice on Thursday.  He reportedly participated in the 2nd half of a 2-hour session.  “He did some things. He didn’t do everything,” HC Bill Belichick said. “We’ll see how he is tomorrow. I think that will be the big key – how he responds to this today... whether that set him back, whether it didn’t and whether he’s able to continue to progress on a daily basis. But it was a good test for him, too, at least. At least he was out here and did some things to see how it feels. We’ll see how it goes.”  We'll have another update Friday afternoon, but the story remains the same: Gronk is fully expected to play in the Super Bowl but won't be at 100%.

Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski (ankle) shed his walking boot on Tuesday but did not practice on Wednesday.  He's still fully expected to play against the Giants on Sunday, but it'd be nice to see him get some work in beforehand.  Otherwise, Gronk will play the biggest game of his career on a 2-week layoff. He won't be anywhere near 100% regardless of whether or not he practices Thursday or Friday.

While QB Peyton Manning has been medically-cleared to resume his footballl career, there are still questions about his ability to return to his previous level of performance.  The issue is with the nerve regeneration to his triceps.  Manning's neck has stabilized, but without a full recovery of those nerves, his arm strength and accuracy would be impacted.  "It's not a safety issue; it's a performance issue," a source told ESPN's Chris Mortensen.  Manning has intensified his workouts and had a throwing session with WRs Anthony Gonzalez and Blair White on Tuesday.  He's certainly making progress, but Peyton isn't out of the woods just yet.

ESPN's Chris Mortensen is reporting that doctors have medically-cleared QB Peyton Manning to resume his football career.  The news comes a little more than a month before Manning's monster $28 million option comes due.  We'd still be surprised if the Colts opt to pick that up, but owner Jim Irsay may have a little more thinking to do now that Manning has been given the green-light medically.  Stay tuned...

Yahoo's Jason Cole hears from 2 separate sources that QB Peyton Manning's career could be over. "The nerves in Manning’s arm are not healing as quickly as hoped and, worse, don’t appear to be progressing at enough of a rate to indicate that he will play again," Cole writes. "He hasn’t shown improvement in velocity on his passes, and the two sources fear he likely never will again... Manning has hit a plateau in his rehabilitation in terms of getting stronger, both sources said. While atrophy in the arm was expected, the fact that it hasn’t improved recently is an ominous sign." We reported way back in early October that the neurosurgeon who operated on Manning described the nerve in his throwing arm as "dead." Sounds like that was an accurate assessment. The talk over the past month has been about whether or not Manning will return to Indy. The more relevant question at this point is whether or not he'll return to the football field at all.