Defensive Upgrades/Downgrades by Brian Roberson and Tom Nadratowski Every week, FootballGuys.com's resident Individual Defensive Player (IDP) Gurus - Brian Roberson and Tom Nadratowski- will be providing you with immediate opinions on what players are stepping up their play, which ones are falling down on the job and which players just happened to have a horseshoe in their pocket for one game. DEFENSIVE LINEMEN Upgrades Andre Carter SAN FRANCISCO (Nadratowski) - Carter has all the tools you want for a keeper or a player in a dynasty league. He's young and he's talented. He had a stretch there about mid way through the season where he went through a sackless slump. But he now has 11 sacks on the year. This is a guy for you to target as a nice value mid pick if you are in a newly forming dynasty or keeper league. Aberrations Vonnie Holliday GREEN BAY (Nadratowski) - It's funny what players use as a motivator. Holliday was fired up today, both because so much was riding on this game and for personal reasons. He has been irritated at his injury-marred seasons. Then, last night, his little cousin died. He came out and took his grief out of Bledsoe's skin, to the tune of five sacks and seven total tackles. Holliday makes an interesting keeper. He has the talent to be a starter for you, but his injury history makes him less reliable than I would like. Downgrades Trevor Pryce DENVER (Nadratowski) - He has now gone five weeks without a sack. After starting out so hot, and getting a big signing bonus in the offseason, this is unacceptable. The Broncos needed Pryce to come up big for them this week against Oakland, with their season and playoff hopes on the line, and he couldn't do it. If Pryce can not generate more pressure the last week of the season, look for Denver to draft a rookie or bring in a vet to compliment or compete with Pryce for a starting job. LINEBACKERS Upgrades Mark Fields CAROLINA (Nadratowski) - Fields and Witherspoon have responded well to the opportunity they got when Dan Morgan went down for the year. As long as Fields can start, he should stay in your lineup. As a keeper I am more leery of his chances. He'll be 31 next season, and isn't a lock to keep a starting job. Aberrations Na'il Diggs GREEN BAY (Nadratowski) - Every once in a while, Diggs comes out of the basement and has a big day. This was one of those days. As long as they keep him as the Sam man, those days will be nearly impossible to predict. He's talented, but his position kills his value. Peter Sirmon TENNESSEE (Nadratowski) - Sirmon's numbers this week were inflated by his 32 yard score from an interception. He would have had an OK day without it (9 tackles, 2 PDs). But there have been a lot of weeks where Sirmon would have only gotten you 3-4 points. Those aren't the kind of numbers, or consistency, I look for when I want a LB for my team. Downgrades Hardy Nickerson GREEN BAY (Nadratowski) - Nickerson will be 38 next season. He has been inconsistent all year, and has only been a stop gap measure since Torrance Marshall hasn't progressed as fast as they'd like. His odds for starting next year are slim and none. DEFENSIVE BACKS Upgrades Andre' Goodman DETROIT (Nadratowski) - In the two weeks Goodman has started in place of Todd Lyght, he has 7-3-0 1FR and 3 PDs. He also just missed an interception this week against Vick. He always seems to be around the ball and is very quick. It seems to me that he isn't quite trusting his instincts yet. As a good player on what should stay a bad team, Goodman will be a nice play next year. Kim Herring ST. LOUIS (Nadratowski) - Herring has had two good weeks in the past three. In fact, he's out-tackling Adam Archuleta at the moment. For that, he gets an upgrade. Aberrations Reggie Howard CAROLINA (Nadratowski) - Howard only snagged five tackles. This had a lot more to do with the inefficiency of the Bears offense than anything else. He should bounce back again next week. Downgrades Chris Cash DETROIT (Nadratowski) - He was playing well coming into this week, with between 6-8 tackles per week. But a nagging injury hurt his performance and he managed one tackle. He should be able to bounce back but for now he gets a slight downgrade.