FanHouse Miles Austin

If you need proof of just how uncertain NFL scouting can be, look no further than Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin and his Raiders counterpart, Darrius Heyward-Bey.

Austin, an undrafted player out of tiny Monmouth, continued his spectacular and surprising season Thursday, racking up seven catches for 145 yards and a touchdown in Dallas' 24-7 win over Oakland. His TD grab was his eighth of the season. On the losing side, Heyward-Bey, the No. 7 pick in last April's draft, hauled in his eighth catch -- matching Austin's season-TD total -- and his first professional TD in his 10th game.

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

Riser of the Week: Terrell Owens came into Sunday with just 26 catches for 366 yards and a single touchdown -- in nine games. Considering the Bills were switching back to Ryan Fitzpatrick, who did no favors for T.O. when at the helm earlier this season, there was very little reason to start Owens in many fantasy leagues. Instead, T.O. reminded us how cruel a mistress fantasy football can be. He's still alive and kicking, as he ushered forth a vintage stat line. Nine catches for 197 yards and a touchdown. Is this 2007? I'm not buying any sort of extended rejuvenation moving forward, but it probably felt good for T.O. -- if only for one Sunday in 2009.

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Sidney Rice, come on down! You're the next contestant on ... Who Wants to Be a WR1!

Rice, you've joined a list of relatively unheralded wideouts that have emerged as fantasy superstars in 2009, along with the likes of Steve Smith (not the one you drafted in the first five rounds in August), Mike Sims-Walker, and most recently, Miles Austin.

What brought you to this point? How about a 201-yard performance on just seven catches; does that do anything for you?

Moving forward, Rice is a clear-cut WR2 that will flirt with bouts of WR1-dom. If he can throw WR1 numbers up on a consistent basis, my Ronnie Brown-less season might be saved.

On to the rankings ...

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During the course of every fantasy football season, we're constantly reminded just how erratic fantasy football can be -- especially when it comes to wide receivers. Thus, when someone like Vincent Jackson is in your lineup, you likely feel pretty good about his chances to keep playing well, especially if you knew Philip Rivers would throw for 231 yards and two touchdowns.

Yet, when you went and checked your fantasy score, you saw a whopping one point next to Jackson's name. Obviously, this brought about a "What the ... ?" You can fill in the blank as clean or vulgar as you want. The point here is that these five wideouts put up seemingly inexplicable stat lines Sunday.

Here's how it works. We throw some intriguing matchups at the FanHouse staff and ask whether each player will be over or under a certain point total. The result? Fantasy Football Over/Under. Makes sense, right?

Will there be 1,000 points scored in the New England-Indianapolis battle Sunday night? As you'll find below, we really don't think so, as we're high on the usual suspects but a little low on Austin Collie and the running backs in the game. We're also not buying a big game from a Fantasy FanHouse hero this week, thanks to a super-tough matchup.

And what do you do if you have Ladell Betts? If you have him, you likely added him this week, and you're probably itching to play him before he loses value. We'll tackle his case and many others in this week's Over/Under.

PHILADELPHIA -- Brian Westbrook did not practice with the Eagles on Wednesday, nor did he talk about why. His coach, Andy Reid, said Westbrook would practice Thursday and that the reason he was held out Wednesday was his ankle, and not the concussion he suffered in the team's Oct. 26 victory over the Redskins. But if you buy that, I've got a South Philly bridge to sell you, too.

The ankle is a red herring. Westbrook's ankle is a chronic problem, for which he's had surgery, and his ankle probably hurts every day. They can put him on the injury report with an ankle problem anytime they want, and nobody's going to bat an eye. This thing with Westbrook is a case of a player, concerned about his own personal future, taking it slow amid a culture that's only starting to embrace the danger and seriousness of concussions.

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.

When peering ahead to the fantasy football draft of 2010, it's easy to envision getting the top pick and taking Adrian Peterson without a second thought. And if you had one, it would probably be Maurice Jones-Drew. After these past two weeks, though, I'm fully behind considering Chris Johnson the top fantasy football player heading into next season. In fact, I'll say it right now: Johnson will end the season with the most fantasy points among running backs and be the consensus No. 1 player on the board for 2010. Unbelievably, it seems to involve the presence of Vince Young.

When the Eagles and Cowboys step on the same field, you know you're in for a battle. This will be the 100th meeting in the series, with the Cowboys entering the fay with a 55-44 lead in the previous 99 games. The Eagles have the leg up in recent years though, culminating in a Week 17 beatdown last year that wound up earning Philly a playoff berth over Dallas. (Not that Tony Romo would have done much had he made the playoffs anyway.)

Both teams are 5-2, and with the Giants losing to both these foes in recent weeks, this game will determine who has the inside track at winning the NFC East. So if you though this would be just another regular ol' 100th meeting between hated rivals, think again.

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It's looking like Anquan Boldin will miss this week's game, so he doesn't appear in our rankings (*until now). Everyone else, including Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, Reggie Wayne and any other injured receiver, has been ranked as if they'll play on Sunday.

Unsure whether you'll actually have your top wideout available to you for Week 9? Join us Sunday morning for our Tailgate chat, where we dole out lineup advice and keep you apprised of all the notable gameday inactives.

And if you're curious, no, Mike Sims-Walker didn't get hurt last week. The Titans finally manned up and played a little pass defense. Is this cause for concern with MSW, or just a blip on the radar? More after the jump.

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Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.

You can take Terrell Owens out of Dallas, but apparently you can't take the immature and disruptive conduct, that Owens was known for, out of the Cowboys locker room.

Clarence E. Hill Jr.of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram knows that Roy Williams is frustrated with his numbers as a receiver this season. And Williams is quick to tell everyone who will listen that it's not all his fault.