FanHouse JeriousNorwood

For those who may use a different term or are new to fantasy football, "handcuff" is the term used when you own insurance for one of your players in the form of owning his real-life backup. It's usually a running back, but you could conceivably handcuff a quarterback. The theory is that some or all of the production is automatically replaced should you lose a high draft pick to injury, meaning you need to insure a high draft pick by grabbing his backup.

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Shortly after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided to part ways with head coach Jon Gruden, Buccaneers players from past and present began taking a place in line for an opportunity to sound off on their former boss. The word "scumbag" was used, while several players suggested that he was, for the most part, a two-faced liar that would tell them one thing and end up doing the exact opposite.

Gruden has remained relatively silent on the matter, but opened up in an interview with Chris Harry of the Orlando Sentinel. Among the topics discussed: the spread offense, Tim Tebow and how a person responds to being called a "scumbag."

You can blame Matt Ryan's two interceptions, or the Falcons' defense's inability to get off the field, but the most shocking part of the Falcons loss has to be Michael Turner's inability to ever get going against the Cardinals defense.

Turner finished with only 42 yards on 18 carries, a 2.33-yard per carry average that looks more like what Chris Perry would do instead of what you would expect from the second-leading rusher in the NFL. And to add to the ugliness, a botched exchange between Ryan and Turner turned into the go-ahead touchdown for the Cardinals.

Turner picked the worst possible time to have his worst game of the season. Twelve of Turner's 18 carries went for two yards or less, and six were for no gain or negative yardage. The Cardinals had a solid run defense this year, but it was hard to expect that they would completely turn Atlanta into a one-dimensional passing team.

Turner had seven carries in the first quarter, eight in the second quarter and only three carries in the entire second half. Jerious Norwood, one of the more dangerous No. 2 backs in the league, got only two carries all night -- his fewest of the season.

But considering how the game was going, you can't blame Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey for junking the run. Atlanta had very few possessions in the third quarter and it was already clear that the running game wasn't working. By the time Atlanta finally got the ball back in the fourth quarter, it was desperation time.

Turner and Ryan carried the Falcons to the playoffs. So it's not surprising that when they struggled on Saturday, Atlanta's season ended.

Stay on top of all the postseason action with FanHouse's NFL playoff coverage.

It's the battle of the unlikely birds.

We have the Falcons, who are just a year away from being the league's laughingstock with a quarterback in prison and a coach who bailed the first time things got tough, against the Cardinals, who make the playoffs about as often as Vanderbilt wins a bowl game.

The Cardinals wrapped up a playoff spot weeks ago, but they're considered potential frauds because of their easy NFC West schedule. The Falcons had to wait a while longer, and they have to carry some skepticism because they've gone from being considered one of the league's worst teams to a playoff team in the span of three months and conventional wisdom often takes longer than that to catch up.

But both of these teams are only three wins away from the Super Bowl. It doesn't matter how they got here, as a couple of wins and fans can start dreaming of a trip to Tampa--even if there aren't enough Cardinals fans to sell out their stadium, much less to travel to the Super Bowl.

One of the lesser noticed aspects of the Falcons success this year has been the team's special teams play. Harry Douglas has proven to be a solid punt returner, while Jerious Norwood's speed make him a threat every time he returns a punt. And Jason Elam has missed only two field goals all season.

But the one you'll likely hear the most about this weekend is whenever the Falcons line up to punt, you'll hear the commentators mention how the Falcons gave up an NFL record 49 yards on punt returns all season. In 16 games, the Falcons allowed a total of 49 yards in punt returns. No opposing returner ever ripped off a return longer than 12 yards.To put it in perspective, there were 28 punt returns of 40+ yards this year and 119 punt returns of 20 yards or more. Atlanta allowed none of them. A league high 27 of Michael Koenen's 47 punts were fair caught.

But while all of that is true, this is truly a case of a junk stat. There's some value in the fact that Koenen's high arcing punts ensured that no team ever got a game-changing return. But at the same time, Koenen was only averaging 40.7 yards per punt, which was 34th out of the 35 NFL punters with 20 or more boots. His net average of 37.5 is 20th in the league.

So there are a lot of things to be impressed with about the Falcons special teams, but if you hear television commentators talk about how great their punting is, don't believe it. It's consistent, but the Falcons aren't winning the battle of field position.

Looking for the 2009 version of Lance Moore instead? Head over here.

Michael Turner was relegated to mop-up and proverbial "change of pace" duties in San Diego. This past offseason, he was free to sign elsewhere, and the Atlanta Falcons swooped in like any good falcon would. Only Turner wasn't prey, he was a beneficiary. He turned out to be a steal, and he'll be taken towards the top of the first round next season in fantasy drafts.

Like any good dynasty league player would do, we need to start examining who could experience this sort of leap in fantasy football before next season. It's much better to be proactive than reactive, so here are some running back candidates who have a shot at gaining the job on their own team or in a new destination.

Leader in the Clubhouse

Derrick Ward, Giants -- He'll be a free agent when the Giants' season ends, so he's the most obvious choice here for the headline. The Giants likely don't want him gone, but they have to keep Brandon Jacobs, and Ahmad Bradshaw can handle the RB2 duties for them. There will be a team out there so desperate for a featured back that they'll break the bank for Ward -- Seahawks? Broncos? -- and the Giants can't justify a huge cap hit.

I'm just gonna be real right now: Your fantasy league should be over. It's one of those things about which we've all pretty much made an unwritten pact. When people like Peyton Manning will likely not be playing because their teams want them to rest, you shouldn't have a fantasy relevant game. That's why we don't play in the preseason.

All that being said, there are leagues out there with a championship game this week. Since we are committed to helping you win your league title no matter what, we'll still be helping you out. In lieu of positional rankings -- due to a limited audience -- we'll sift through each position and give some pointers. We'll also examine guys who need to play well, as well as those who won't factor at all.

Feel free to leave specific lineup questions in the comments section, and we'll answer. We'll also be having a shortened -- yet quite effective -- Tailgate Sunday morning.

Again, we want you to win ... even if that means supporting you when your league is mishandled.

It may not get as much notice as Cowboys-Ravens or Steelers-Titans, but there aren't many games this weekend bigger as far as playoff implications than the Falcons-Vikings' game.

With a win the Vikings will wrap up the NFC North division title. With a loss, the Falcons will likely kiss their playoff hopes good-bye. And if you needed a little extra incentive, this will be an infrequent chance for the Vikings to get a little revenge for the 1999 NFC Championship loss to the Falcons. In that game, the 16-1 Vikings saw their Super Bowl trip derailed when Gary Anderson missed a field goal for the first time all season. The loss was crushing enough that nine years later, CBS' How I Met Your Mother was able to use it as the focus of its most recent episode.

This one matters a lot.

Another NFL Sunday is in the books. And today you're probably relishing in a fantasy football victory, sweating out the MNF results or scouring the waiver wire to rescue your team. Either way, it's always an active day come Monday in the fantasy football world. It just has to be, if you plan to stay on top of the game.

Well, once we let the Sunday hangover wear off a little bit, it's important to take note and observe the many wonderful or not-so-wonderful (if we lost) things that took place over the weekend. That's right, we observe, target and move forward. You simply have to move on, because if you dwell in the past, you'll never be mentally ready for the next week. And that goes for whether you won or lost this week.

Today's hero could be tomorrow's goat. So, with that, let's take a look at how things shook out yesterday and what we can expect moving forward.

If you're looking for coach of the year, hand the trophy to Falcons coach Mike Smith--no matter how many game Jeff Fisher and the Titans wins. If you're looking for a rookie of the year, you could do a lot worse than Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. If you're looking for the free agent acquisition of the year, Falcons running back Michael Turner has to be near the top of the list.

And if you're trying to figure out who from the NFC will be around come playoff time, you have to consider the Falcons. Actually typing that sentence seems almost impossible to believe just a year after the Bobby Petrino fiasco.

The Falcons were clearly the superior team as they laid out a beat down on the Saints, potentially ending the Saints playoff hopes in the process. Pay no attention to the final score--the Saints scored a touchdown in the final seconds to cut the final margin of victory to a more respectable 14 points, but the Falcons led 20-6 heading into the fourth quarter.

Ryan outplayed Drew Brees. Jerious Norwood provided the big play with a 65-yard touchdown catch and Turner had his usual productive day. And after proving once again that they are for real, the Falcons players are having trouble not thinking about the playoffs:

For anybody who wanted to take note, the Falcons defensive end said it's OK to go ahead and pencil the Falcons in the playoffs.

"Definitely, I felt that from the first game and I'm going to keep saying it until we make it," Abraham said. "We play good as a team. That's the best thing that you could say right now."

Atlanta still needs to win at least four games in a very competitive NFC to make the playoffs, but with very winnable games against the Broncos and Chargers in the next three weeks, that looks doable.

The Saints, on the other hand, are just about done. In many seasons, 4-5 would be OK, but with 10 NFC teams at 5-4 or better, it would take a miracle, and a better conference record than their current 2-4 mark to have a realistic shot of turning things around.