1. Danario Alexander — Just about anyone who's been involved in fantasy football over the last several years could have told Chargers general manager A.J. Smith that Robert Meachem wasn’t going to pan out in San Diego. But Alexander, who sees his surgeon more frequently than most people see their dentist, has emerged as the big-play guy Smith was hoping Meachem would be. Alexander caught five passes for 134 yards last week, including an early 80-yard TD. He now has been productive in two consecutive games, and if his papier-mâché knee ligaments continue to hold up, Alexander could be a useful fantasy asset in the weeks to come. The Chargers will be in Denver this week, where they’ll try to avenge an unsightly Week Six meltdown against the Broncos in which they blew a big lead and lost 35-24 in front of their bewildered home crowd. Alexander could be an inviting target for Philip Rivers this week if the Broncos elect to cover Chargers WR Malcom Floyd with ace CB Champ Bailey.

2. Mike Wallace — Ben Roethlisberger’s shoulder injury clearly doesn’t bode well for Wallace’s fantasy value. The question is whether it merely takes a bit of air out of Wallace’s tires or deflates them completely. It’s a big step down from Roethlisberger to backup Byron Leftwich, but one thing Leftwich can do is throw the ball a country mile, so Wallace owners can at least hope that No. 17 is able to haul in a few of those long-range Leftwich missiles while Big Ben is away. The Steelers host the Ravens Sunday night in the first of the two annual bloodbaths between these bitter rivals. With Antonio Brown expected to be out with an ankle injury, it’s imperative that the Steelers get the ball into Wallace’s hands. But without Brown to be concerned about, the Ravens undoubtedly will give Wallace a great deal of attention in obvious passing situations.

3. Robert Griffin III — The Redskins’ dynamic rookie quarterback is coming off a bye week that might have been just the break needed to recharge his batteries. RG3 has thrown just four TD passes in his last six games, and though he has six rushing touchdowns for the season, he’s had none over his last three games. Another sign that RG3 may have been running low on juice: After completing better than 60 percent of his passes in each of his first seven games, he failed to do it in each of his last two, with an overall completion rate of 53.4 percent in those games. Griffin hasn’t been getting much help from his pedestrian pass-catching corps (or in this case, pass-catching corpse). But perhaps RG3 and his receivers will be invigorated by a home crowd this Sunday and also by a matchup with the flagging Eagles, whose pass defense seems to be springing new leaks every week.