FanHouse Laurence Maroney

Weeding through those unwieldy waiver wires requires a keen eye and a quick trigger. Thus, Waiver Wire Wonders provides a weekly snapshot of players worthy of consideration who should be available on a good portion of league waiver wires.

It looks like we have the makings for some steamy waiver wire action as Week 9 provided a host of interesting plays. In the "one man gathers what another man spills" department, we saw a perennial backup step in as a fantasy big shot suffered a concussion, a couple of forgotten old-timers break out for their new teams, a couple of deep-on-depth-chart overachievers make a name for themselves, and we even saw a Lion play a good game. With the trade deadline looming, waiver wire moves get even more important down the stretch, so stay on your toes. Let's go.

---

---

Sunday Evening Wrap checks out players who increased or decreased their value during the Sunday afternoon games.

Riser of the Week: After a five-interception game against the Panthers last week, Kurt Warner owners may have been a bit worried, especially since his next task was facing a ball-hawking defense like the Chicago Bears (which, by the way, is more reputation than actuality anymore). Some people were even talking about taking a flier on Matt Leinart in larger leagues. Sunday, Warner put a stop to that, breezing through the Bears' defense like a knife through hot butter. He ended with five touchdown passes and no doubt he's finishing the season as the Cards' starter.

---

---

It's another session of "Sink or Swim," Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekly look at the underachievers still lurking on many fantasy rosters. You've got the tough choices to make and we help you decide which direction to take. Do you cut the bait or give 'em one more chance to swim?

I'll start off first by stating the obvious, that the fantasy hot seat warning got the message through to Ryan Grant, Beanie Wells and Steve Smith last week. Thanks for answering the call, fellas. However, let's not get too excited -- I'm hardly expecting the suspect candidates this week to make instant amends for their most recent performances. We're gonna do things a little different this week and not pick on the stars, but rather the wannabe stars.

He's baaaaaack. Frank Gore is both back on the field and back among the best fantasy football running backs in our Week 7 rankings.

After getting four touchdowns and 294 yards from scrimmage through two games, Gore owners watched him leave after a single carry in Week 3. They've since been without their RB1 -- likely treading water, at best. This week, not only is the horse back in action, but he's facing the Houston Texans. Yes, the Texans have seemingly righted the ship the past three weeks, but we've seen enough from them to believe they can still be run on. They are the only team in the NFL to have allowed 10 rushing touchdowns thus far in 2009. Plus, Gore will be an integral part of the passing game as well.

---

---

Fantasy FanHouse's "Bust a Move" segment provides quick-hitting insight on the most popular adds and drops across Fleaflicker fantasy leagues between Tuesday and Wednesday of each week. Knowing who is on the move during this 24-hour period often provides a valuable edge with regard to outperforming or underperforming players, injuries and depth chart shifts. So do as the man says, "Don't just stand there..."

The Adds

Laurence Maroney (RB, Patriots, 2,615 adds) - Proving yet again that fantasy football players are gluttons for punishment, Laurence Maroney leads the way as the most transacted player of the week. We already witnessed how this story goes with Fred Taylor and then Sammy Morris, so expect more of the same with Maroney. This backfield is just not reliable from a single-player perspective. On the positive side, both of those two previously mentioned runners suffered injuries, making Maroney's carries likely more consistent, but the Patriots also scored 59 points last week. Tom Brady threw five touchdown passes in a single quarter. Call it Seahawks vs. Jaguars 2.0 and look how the Seahawks followed that up this week. Anyway, Maroney's 123 yards and a touchdown effort may well have been a fluke. We can count on continued performance from Tom Brady, but if Maroney has showed us anything in the past three seasons, it's inconsistency.

---

---

Everyone loves fantasy football sleepers, but they change depending on league size and availability. We're here each and every week to give you a look at good plays for all types of leagues.

We had a couple good calls and a couple bad calls last week, as we usually do. Injury forced Donnie Avery from his game, but not before he caught a TD for your team. Sidney Rice exploded and is now on the verge of becoming an every-week fantasy starter. But the big performance you likely didn't notice came from Leon Washington, who piled up 145 yards against Buffalo while his running mate rushed for over 200 yards.

By the way, the Bills held a QB to two completions and lost that game, and then allowed 350 rushing yards while winning the next game. Very, very odd.

---

---

Every Tuesday night, we'll give you an update on our FanHouse fantasy football league. Who hit on their sleepers? Who made the shrewd pickups? Who's practicing what they preach? In 'House Check, you'll find out.

With a somewhat subdued NFL trade deadline coming up, the FanHouse league saw a huge trade itself. Matt Snyder traded Andre Johnson away to Doug Bernstein's team, and Snyder picked up Steven Jackson. This was a great trade for both sides, as Ray Rice moves into the RB2 role for Doug, while Snyder's best RB was Joseph Addai. After one week, the clear winner is ... nobody. Johnson put up 135 yards and no TDs, while Jackson notched 128 yards with no TDs.

---

---

We know you're itching to pick up Laurence Maroney. Or you could be wondering which fantasy defense deserves your waiver claim this week. Who should you drop? Week 7 presents some tough decisions as six teams are taking their bye. The back end of your bench will likely be emptied this week as everyone will be playing with B lineups.

Come join us at 6 PM ET and we'll give you our opinions on your fantasy football waiver wire decisions for Week 7. If you can't make it today, remember that we're also available to you on Thursdays at the same time, and on Sundays at 10:30 AM ET for our weekly Tailgate.

Each Monday of the fantasy football season, we'll cut through the fantasy numbers put up by individuals and tell you what they really mean.

The Baltimore Ravens are known as a black-and-blue, smash-mouth, old-school, ball control football team. After all, they won a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer at the helm. They had Jamal Lewis as the punishing bruiser for years. Things are a bit different now, to say the least. The Ravens have now attempted 227 passes and 154 runs this season. They have gained more than twice as many yards and first downs through the air. Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron loves to throw the ball in a variety of different ways. Joe Flacco is becoming a Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback. Do the math: the Ravens are a passing team.

---

---

Weeding through those unwieldy waiver wires requires a keen eye and a quick trigger. Thus, Waiver Wire Wonders provides a weekly snapshot of players worthy of consideration who should be available on a good portion of league waiver wires.

Not a whole lot to report on the wires, as the bulk of the action came from repeat appearances by players solidifying their values and abating consistency concerns. For the third week in a row, the wide receiver position provided the most compelling action, so check the waivers to see if you can still catch these trains or if you waited too long at the newsstand flipping through the US Weekly and missed them.

---

---