The Oakland Raiders are flagged for a lot of stupid penalties. This isn't exactly news to anyone who follows the NFL, and it's been true for so long that it's become one of the team's identifying characteristics. But one of these years the Raiders will come under new management, the new regime will decide that undisciplined aggression is no longer a desired trait, and the team will no longer be among the league's most penalized. Fans might be slow to pick up on it, since the opposite has been true for so long. Shrewd fantasy owners are good at spotting team-based trends before most of their competitors do, realizing when team generalities no longer apply. Here are five such generalities that have become passé:

1. The Baltimore Ravens play great defense. — The Ravens have had a dominant defense for about a decade. Some might call it the best defensive era for one team in the history of the NFL. That's open to debate, and supporters of the "Steel Curtain"-era Steelers undoubtedly believe otherwise. But if you're going to have that argument, the 1999-2008 Ravens deserve consideration. The era of defensive impregnability appears to be over for the Ravens, or at least temporarily suspended. They currently rank 12th in yardage allowed and ninth in points allowed. That's respectable, but it represents a major defensive drop-off for Baltimore. The Ravens' pass defense has looked flat-out bad at times this season; the team ranks 19th against the pass and is tied for 18th in sacks. Some of Baltimore's best defenders are on the downside of their careers, and despite the presence of safety Ed Reed, the secondary has been an Achilles' heel. Watching the Bengals move the ball so effectively during their two games against the Ravens this season, I thought of the scene in "Rocky III" when Rocky avenges an earlier loss to Clubber Lang, peppering Clubber with jabs, repeatedly taunting him: "You ain't so bad! (jab) Ain't so bad!" (jab) Ain't so bad!" After watching their offense get stuffed by the Ravens' defense twice a season for a decade, Bengals fans had to be giddy. The takeaway for fantasy owners is that a player's matchup against the Baltimore defense is no longer prohibitive. You might want to think twice about starting a so-so running back against the Ravens' still-formidable run defense, but there's no longer any reason to avoid starting a quarterback or receiver against them.

2. The Pittsburgh Steelers are a running team. — One of the editors at Pro Football Weekly was aghast when I drafted Ben Roethlisberger fairly early in PFW's in-house fantasy draft. Big Ben was something like the eight or ninth quarterback to come off the board, and the editor seemed to think Roethlisberger was a reach at that point. For years we've been conditioned to think of the Steelers as a run-first team, but that's no longer the case. Pittsburgh ranks sixth in passing yardage, and even with Rashard Mendenhall's 155-yard rushing outburst against the Broncos on Monday, the Steelers only rank 15th in rushing yardage. Pittsburgh's current cast of offensive linemen doesn't run-block nearly as well as the linemen from the Jerome Bettis era. Their pass blocking, while hardly superb, is less objectionable. Head coach Mike Tomlin is less wedded to the running game than predecessor Bill Cowher was, more Don Coryell than Chuck Knox. With Roethlisberger throwing to Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Heath Miller and stud rookie Mike Wallace, the Steelers offer a wellspring of fantasy-football talent in the passing game.

3. The Denver Broncos have an unpredictable RB situation. — After a knee injury ended the heyday of Terrell Davis, fantasy owners found it difficult to predict how Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan would deploy his running backs each year. Just when you thought you had the Denver running game figured out, Shanny would change workhorses. Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, Reuben Droughns, Quentin Griffin, Tatum Bell, Mike Bell, Alexander  Graham Bell … my head spins just thinking about it. The ambiguity has ended. With someone other than Shanahan coaching the team for the first time since 1994, the Broncos have established a clear, predictable pecking order at the RB position. Talented rookie Knowshon Moreno is the man, with occasional relief from oft-injured veteran Correll Buckhalter. If Buckhalter goes down (and he was knocked woozy by Steelers LB James Harrison late in Monday night's game), LaMont Jordan and/or Peyton Hillis would spell Moreno. It's nice to see the Denver RB carousel stop spinning.

4. The Chicago Bears favor a conservative, smash-mouth offense. — With Rex Grossman or Kyle Orton quarterbacking your team, logic dictates that you don't use a wide-open attack. With Jay Cutler quarterbacking your team, different story. Last year, then-rookie Matt Forté carried the ball 316 times, which works out to 19.8 carries per game. That was with Orton at quarterback. This year, with Cutler taking snaps, Forte is getting 15.4 carries per game. The Bears ranked near the middle of the pack last season in number of passing attempts; they rank seventh this season. This also has something to do with a retooled offensive line that no longer can run-block effectively. With the historically run-happy Bears now using a free-flinging attack, Forté's fantasy value has dropped, and Devin Hester, Greg Olsen and Johnny Knox have turned into assets.

5. The Arizona Cardinals' running backs aren't worth fantasy owners' attention. — Their running game may not strike fear in the hearts of opponents (they rank second to last in rushing), but the Cards nevertheless have two running backs whom you wouldn't be ashamed to plug into your starting lineup. Tim Hightower has become a dual run-catch threat, with 283 rushing yards, 307 receiving yards and five TDs. Rookie Beanie Wells is out of the doghouse after an early-season fumbling problem and is gaining 4.4 yards per carry. He still has an outside chance at a 1,000-yard rushing season if the Cardinals continue to shift more of the rushing load to him. It's been rare for the Cardinals to have one running back worth fantasy owners' attention, let alone two. Arizona has long been a desert graveyard for running backs. Thomas Jones was a draft bust for the Cardinals but then flourished after he left. Edgerrin James had a fruitful seven-year run with the Colts, then had one decent (not great, but decent) season with the Cards before hitting the wall. Perhaps the Arizona RB curse is a thing of the past.