The official stats list Kansas City running back Larry Johnson as having 26 carries last week, but that's not totally accurate.

Johnson, a mid- to late-round pick, continued to carry a host of fantasy owners closer to their league championship with 143 yards rushing.

This raised the question as to whether there are any Larry Johnsons-in-waiting on NFL rosters who deserve a late-round look in 2006 fantasy drafts.

While the guys below probably won't average 142 yards per game as Johnson has, their emergence as serviceable options makes them worth keeping tabs on these last few weeks:

Greg Jones, Jacksonville: The amount of work for Jones has increased steadily as the season has gone on. At 24, Jones is 5 years younger than Fred Taylor, the Jaguars' oft-nicked starting running back the last 7 years.

Cedric Houston, New York Jets: Backup Derrick Blaylock is hurt and missing out on the playing time created by Curtis Martin's injury. Houston had 28 carries for 74 yards and a touchdown against the Raiders on Sunday. Martin will be the guy as long as Herm Edwards is the coach, but come September, he will be 33. Houston has an opportunity to showcase himself to the Jets, as well as others.

Ciatrick Fason, Minnesota: Fason might never blossom into a draftable commodity, but his size and nose for the end zone could make an impact on the Vikings' regular starter. Of course, that assumes Minnesota will actually settle on one. Still, there are visions of 1999, when Robert Smith ran for 1,015 yards, but Leroy Hoard scored 10 touchdowns.

Chester Taylor, Ravens: Jamal Lewis started the season in jail and will end it on many fantasy leaguers' benches. Lewis is in the final year of his contract and has acknowledged he really doesn't talk to coach Brian Billick all that much. Taylor might not be the next Barry Sanders (or Col. Sanders for that matter), but he will get a chunk of the work the rest of the season.

On Sunday, with Eli Manning in Philadelphia and Peyton Manning facing a seemingly difficult game at Jacksonville, we asked readers to guess how many passing yards the two quarterbacks would compile. Butch Favinger, of Allentown, came closest with a guess of 640. Eli had 312 and Peyton 324 for a total of 636.

Might as well continue the theme.At the beginning of the year, we asked readers to project the top fantasy rookie as decided by the Daily News Fantasy Football staff. There were a couple of guesses for Minnesota wide receiver Troy Williamson, a few for Arizona running back J.J. Arrington, and one reader even reached for Chicago wide receiver Mark Bradley.Capt. Joseph Malizia, a Roxborough native stationed in Maryland, is one of the few who correctly pegged Tampa Bay running back Carnell Williams.Malizia was selected randomly to win a Daily News fantasy football T-shirt.Williams gets the nod despite doing very little over a 6-week, midseason stretch, an indication of just how weak the 2005 rookie class was. Williams leads all first-year players with 924 yards rushing and clinched top honors with his fifth 100-yard effort on Sunday. Miami's Ronnie Brown was the runner-up.

<B>Texans running back Domanick Davis:</B> Funny how the closer Houston gets to winning the Reggie Bush sweepstakes, the more productive Davis has been.<B>Colts' top skill players:</B> The deciding question has to be that, even if they play only the first half, is that better than a full game for your other options?<B>Cowboys wide receiver Terry Glenn:</B> Even if he hadn't posted his first 100-yard game since October on Sunday, Glenn is a favorable play because Washington's secondary is banged up.

It will be Relatively quiet, weather-wise, around the country this weekend. It will be seasonably cold, but dry in Buffalo (vs. Denver) and Chicago (vs. Atlanta). Also, it's a good time to have the Jaguars' defense, as Jacksonville (vs. San Francisco) is expecting rain and 10-mph wind.