When the Red Wings signed Todd Bertuzzi(notes) to a one-year contract back in August I didn't make too much of it. Just a recycled veteran on his last legs, right? When Bertuzzi won the Nov. 28 game at St. Louis with a nifty shootout score, it didn't mean a lot to me. There's no real fantasy value to be had here, right?

Time to forget all those preconceived notions, gamers. The Todd Bertuzzi Rejuvenation Tour is in full effect and you're going to want in on this.

Bertuzzi has been Detroit's best forward for three weeks now, plain and simple. He's forced his way onto the first line with Pavel Datsyuk(notes) and Tomas Holmstrom(notes) and as unreal as it sounds, Bertuzzi is starting to play like he did in the Vancouver days. He's pushing people around, dominating the corners, getting plenty of shots on goal and lighting the lamp plenty.

Bertuzzi scored his ninth goal of the year in Thursday's 3-0 victory over Tampa Bay, giving him five goals over his last four games. He had the

Playoffs are here, guys are hurt, practices are done. Let's go over the news.

• Calvin Johnson(notes) (knee) and Matthew Stafford(notes) (shoulder) were both held out of Thursday's practice. You can pretty much eliminate Stafford right now - warm up, Daunte Culpepper(notes) - but Johnson has a shot to play against the Cardinals if he can show something Friday. The frustrating season for Megatron owners continues.

• Larry Fitzgerald(notes) (knee) did a little more work in Thursday's practice but he's far from a sure thing for Sunday's match at Detroit. We should know a lot more about Fitzgerald after the Cardinals have the key Friday workout.

• Brian Westbrook(notes) (post concussion) was limited in Thursday's practice and the context clues around Eagles camp point to him sitting out another week. We'll see what Andy Reid offers to us Friday. In the meantime, LeSean McCoy(notes) is a reasonable play Sunday (even against a surging San Francisco defense) and Leonard Weaver(notes) isn't

Thursday's update includes notes on injuries to notables such as Chauncey Billups(notes), Rudy Gay(notes), Derrick Rose(notes), Joakim Noah(notes), Allen Iverson(notes), and... Mikki Moore(notes)?

• Chauncey Billups could be out "a couple games" after suffering a strained left groin on Wednesday. He'll have an MRI Thursday to determine the extent of the injury. Anthony Carter(notes), not Ty Lawson(notes), is expected to get starts if Billups does miss time, but Lawson should play plenty and would be the preferable roster add. In 15 games where Lawson has seen at least 20 minutes of playing time, he's averaged 9.9 points on 51-percent shooting, 0.5 threes, 4.2 assists, 1.3 turnovers, and 0.9 steals. He's worth the deep-league look through the weekend (Friday @NOR, Saturday @MEM) and would gain standard league relevance in the unlikely event that Billups needs extended time off.

• Rudy Gay left Wednesday's blowout loss to the Hawks with a sprained ankle, but said that he could have

New England wide receiver Wes Welker(notes) currently leads the NFL in catches with 105, which is an absolutely ridiculous number.

With three games remaining on the schedule, Welker's 2009 reception total is already 30th on the all-time single-season list. If he manages to catch another 10 passes in Week 15 – as he did last week, and the week before – then he'll move into a tie for ninth place in NFL history with two games left to play.

Not bad for a guy who actually missed two weeks due to injury early in the year. Welker has somehow caught 105 passes in just 11 games. Rookie Julian Edelman(notes), a seventh-round draft pick, hauled in 11 receptions in Welker's absence back in September. If you gave Wes credit for the catches made by a vastly inferior substitute, he'd now have 116. He'd be within reach of Marvin Harrison's(notes) single-season record of 143.

But it's not necessary to play the what-if game in order to appreciate the year Welker is having. He'll almost certainly finish

Brad and Andy return live this week to answer your questions and discuss their flames, lames and deep names for Week 15. Submit your questions for Friday night's "Fantasy Freak Show" via email (Please include name/city) at freakshow670@yahoo.com.You can also dial the studio line starting at 8 PM PT/10 PM CT/11 PM ET at 312-644-6767 or text us at 67011. You can also follow the show, and the Noise, via Twitter.

Each week the Noise highlights eight somewhat obscure, unobvious names who he believes are destined for flame madness or lame sadness. Being an accountability advocate, he will tally his hits and misses and post the results, whether genius or moronic, each week using the scoring system posted here.

More Noise: Foster, the ultimate golden parachute?

FLAMES (Started in 60 percent or under of Y! Plus leagues)

Jason Campbell(notes), Wash, QB (Noise QB Rank: 9, Start: 10-plus team leagues, 14% started)

Matchup: vs. NYG

Over the past several weeks Campbell has undergone an identity

Follow the Noise on Twitter. Your questions, commments and verbal jabs are strongly encouraged.

Three years ago Santa Claus arrived in Houston a few days early to deliver presents to all the waiver-savvy fantasy girls and boys.

However, the mythical elf underneath the Battle Red fur wasn't the real St. Nick (Sorry Virginia), it was Ron Dayne(notes).

That season, the Ground Round of Pound bounced numerous would be tacklers off his jelly-filled bowl en route to one of the most memorable Decembers of the decade. As the Raiders, Titans, Pats and Colts can attest only half-eaten cookies, decorative reindeer nuggets and double-digit point totals remained in his wake.

After being buried on the Texans depth chart due to a midseason injury, the 1999 Heisman Trophy winner was elevated back to into the catbird seat Week 13. From that point on he racked a championship-driving 114 total yards per game with five scores. Owners who risked inserting the portly carrier into their lineups surely sipped

Tracy McGrady's(notes) season debut, Michael Beasley's(notes) big night, and lineup changes in Miami and Portland come into focus as we look around the league after Tuesday night's action.

• Rick Adelman added Tracy McGrady to the Rockets' active roster Tuesday once he "really looked at it." T-Mac played eight minutes in his season debut (3 points, 3 boards) and will continue to be used sparingly for the next few weeks.

"Tracy and I have been talking about this for awhile. When he plays it’s going to be very short minutes. With Trevor out tonight, the more I thought about it, it’s a good time to play him. We have four straight back to backs. I think it’s a good time to work him into short minutes. I plan to work him in to see how he feels and see where he is and it gives us a chance to play our regular guys some regular minutes. Trevor [Ariza's] suspension got me thinking. The more I thought about the schedule, we need people."

So T-Mac is officially back. One theory is that the

If you happen to be reading this sentence while sitting in your cubicle at Fidelity Investments, then you'd better stop. Immediately. We cannot guarantee your safety. You're only one click away from creating a fantasy league, and that would be a serious violation of company policy. In fact, it's a fireable offense.

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fidelity recently axed four league commissioners in the Fantasy Purge of '09.

Cameron Pettigrew, who worked as a "relationship manager in a private client group" (which sounds a lot like the job description of a fantasy commish), was among those terminated:

"Firing a guy for being in a $20 fantasy league? Let’s be honest, that’s a complete overreaction," said Pettigrew, who lives in Grapevine and has an MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington. "In this economic time, especially. To fire people over something like this, it’s just cold."

That does seem cold. But multi-billion-dollar financial services corporations are not