Sunday Evening Wrap checks out players who increased or decreased their value during the Sunday afternoon games. Faller of the Week: Steve Slaton was most likely a first-round pick, the centerpiece of your fantasy football squad. Obviously, his being benched after just three touches and a lost fumble had a huge impact on your fantasy game this week, but looking to the future, it's much more scary. Ryan Moats was impressive with Slaton out, which does not bode well for Slaton's future. The Texans are in the midst of chasing their first-ever playoff berth, so they aren't going to run someone out there who repeatedly gives the ball away. It's entirely possible Slaton loses his job at some point this season. Thus, he easily takes the biggest hit in fantasy value for this week.
Sunday Evening Wrap checks out players who increased or decreased their value during the Sunday afternoon games.
Risers of the Week: Alex Smith and Vernon Davis were first-round picks of the 49ers in consecutive seasons (Smith was first overall in 2005, Davis went sixth overall in 2006). They were supposed to be the main building blocks of a highly successful passing attack in the Bay Area for years to come. Instead, each was a colossal bust for several years. Sunday, 49ers fans -- and fantasy owners of Davis -- were treated with a much-belated version of what was originally planned.
Once Smith took over for the struggling Shaun Hill, he threw three touchdown passes, all to his dreadlocked tight end. Davis is clearly a must-start every week at this point. Smith wouldn't be a QB1, but would certainly be worth owning if handed the keys. Wait and see.
Not much has gone wrong for the Minnesota Vikings in their 6-0 start. Brett Favre has been playing superbly, Adrian Peterson is still a stud, Sidney Rice has become one, and the defense continues to impress.
However, if there's a hole on this Vikings team right about now, it's been their pass defense. They were largely shredded by Aaron Rodgers earlier in October, then were absolutely torched by Joe Flacco and the Ravens last weekend. As the Vikings set off on a two-game road swing starting Sunday, there is bad news on the injury front.
Go to your league's ranking page and sort the wide receivers by average production per game. It's probably not a shock to see two Patriots in the top six, but did you realize that there were three Giants receivers in the top 15? Steve Smith has obviously caught our attention, and Mario Manningham has caught TDs in back-to-back weeks to remain fantasy relevant. Coming up in a blaze of points is Hakeem Nicks, who has scored over 10 points in each of his last three contests by catching long touchdown after long touchdown -- in fact, he only had one catch in Week 4 and took it 54 yards for a score for an 11.4-point game. Are all three starter-worthy this week?
Week 7 Fantasy Football Rankings: RB | QB | WR | TE | DEF | K
Everyone loves fantasy footballsleepers, 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.
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.
Sunday Evening Wrap checks out players who increased or decreased their value during the Sunday afternoon games.
Sunday's Top Riser: We've seen this Tom Brady before, and it was in 2007 when he threw for almost 5,000 yards and totaled 50 touchdown passes. So far in 2009, he'd been good, but not great. And we drafted Brady for great in fantasy football. Enter the Tennessee Titans and the worst pass defense in football. Brady, despite playing in a quasi-blizzard, completed 29-of-34 passes for 380 yards and six touchdowns. That's all he'll need to get that swagger back. Next week against Tampa Bay, he's going to put on a show across the pond in London's Wembley Stadium, and he's a bonafide top-three fantasy QB again -- you can take that to the bank.
Things seemed pretty elementary for the Minnesota Vikings through much of their game Sunday afternoon. They held a 14-0 lead over the Baltimore Ravens after a quarter, a 14-3 halftime lead, and then a 27-10 margin early in the fourth quarter -- margins that likely inspired tons of confidence for the Vikes. Who would have thought they would need to be bailed out by a missed field goal as time expired in order to escape with a victory?
Yet that's exactly what happened, because the Ravens, behind explosive plays from Joe Flacco, Ray Rice, Derrick Mason and Mark Clayton, used just 11 offensive plays in 6:24 to score three touchdowns and take a 31-30 fourth-quarter lead. The Vikings did drive down and kick a field goal with 2:00 left in the game, which made the score -- the eventual final -- 33-31.
Everyone loves fantasy footballsleepers, 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.
Usually I like to use this space to talk about some of the previous week's sleepers that paid off. And while we did nail some, like Nate Burleson and his 98-yard, two-TD performance, as well as the shutout posted by the Seahawks defense, there was one pick that most certainly did not come through: Derek Anderson.
The Browns showed signs of life in Week 4 -- then traded away Braylon Edwards. Throw in the awful winds in Buffalo on Sunday, and Anderson had as bad a week as possible for a starting QB, completing two passes in the win.
Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.
At the end of Week 3 Willis McGahee had rushed for 190 yards and five touchdowns. Even now as Week 5 only has one Monday Night Football game left before it's closed out, McGahee leads the NFL with seven touchdowns. The problem for fantasy football owners is for the last two weeks, McGahee has played no part in the offense.
If you combine Week 4 and Week 5 McGahee has rushed the ball only six times for a total of nine yards. He's only made two receptions for 17 yards and a touchdown over that two-week span as well. After starting the season so well, Edward Lee of the Baltimore Sun says that McGahee is confused about his lack of playing time lately.
Sunday Evening Wrap checks out players who increased or decreased their value during the Sunday afternoon games.
Sunday Evening Wrap checks out players who increased or decreased their value during the Sunday afternoon games. 
Not much has gone wrong for the 
Go to your league's ranking page and sort the wide receivers by average production per game. It's probably not a shock to see two 
Everyone loves 
Weeding through those unwieldy waiver wires requires a keen eye and a quick trigger. Thus, 
Sunday Evening Wrap checks out players who increased or decreased their value during the Sunday afternoon games. 
Things seemed pretty elementary for the 
Everyone loves 
