FanHouse Darren Sproles

With attention spans dwindling, we forgo full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. We call it The Once-Over.

The Early Games

Denver (6-2) at Washington (2-6): Denver has lost its last two games and has shown an inability to score against good defenses. Washington's defense is ranked fifthh in the NFL, and that spells a much closer matchup than two teams with such opposite records should be involved in. It's extremely tough to throw against Washington, so Knowshon Moreno becomes a very important factor on Sunday. If he does well, Denver wins -- If Moreno falters, Denver loses.

Somewhere in the privacy of his own home, 70-year-old Kansas State coach Bill Snyder is enjoying this and laughing at those who quietly thought the energy was gone to resurrect the Wildcats.

But as we've suspected for years, the private Snyder is different from the public guy. So it should be no surprise Snyder seems oblivious to the instant success he and the Wildcats are experiencing after he decided break a three-year retirement to return to Kansas State just under a year ago.

The Wildcats are sitting atop the Big 12 North with two regular-season games remaining after being picked to finish on the bottom half of the division in the preseason media poll.

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

When the San Diego Chargers have the ball in the red zone with plans to run the ball, everyone on the planet knows that LaDainian Tomlinson gets the football. Especially, say Chris Jenkins and Kevin Gemmell of the San Diego Union-Tribune, when Tomlinson is playing like the Pro Bowl-caliber back we're so used to seeing. But, on Monday night, instead of calling Tomlinson's number, Darren Sproles got the carry.

The odd part about that was, this wasn't another one of those nights for Tomlinson, not one of those games where every one of his rushing attempts seemed so futile and fruitless and belied his long-held stature as one of the game's truly great backs.

The Steelers pass rush has missing in action for much of the first month of the season and a lot of that blame has started to focus on outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley who has zero sacks in four games after picking up 11.5 sacks last season.

But as Dagger over at Post Game Heroes points out, Woodley's lack of sack production doesn't mean he's not being productive. Against the Chargers, Woodley had only one tackle and no sacks but he did do an excellent job of shutting down the passes in the flat to LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles.

I'm giving Darren McFadden one last chance. You see, I'm guilty for falling in love (in a manly, fantasy football-type way, of course) with Run DMC heading into the 2009 season. After three weeks, let's just say I'm less than confident at his chances of being a prominent fantasy performer from here on out: The Raiders offensive line isn't run blocking as well as they have in years past, JaMarcus Russell is the most inaccurate passer in the NFL -- meaning crowded boxes for McFadden -- and Michael Bush is getting a decent chunk of the carries.

Well, this week McFadden has a good chance to regain some of my confidence. The Raiders are facing the Texans, who have a sieve of a run defense. They are allowing 6.2 yards per carry (last in the NFL), 205 yards per game (last) and more than two touchdowns per game (seven rushing touchdowns, again, last in the league). Expect the Raiders to pound the ball in an attempt to exploit this and to keep the high-octane Houston passing attack on the sidelines. If not, I'm done with Run DMC for '09.

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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: Pierre Thomas was the apple of many a fantasy owner's eye heading into the season, but he was hampered by a knee injury for the first two weeks. Sunday, he reintroduced himself to the fantasy football world -- so let's hope you held onto him if you drafted him. Thomas ran through the Buffalo defense for 126 yards on just 14 carries, scoring two touchdowns. The Saints do have two tough matchups coming (Jets and Giants), but, long-term, Pierre is going to be a solid RB2.

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SAN DIEGO -- It's Week 3 in the NFL, and already the anger is spewing across San Diego over the Chargers' inglorious 1-1 start. Whether it is frustration over coach Norv Turner's play calling, uneasiness over the team's myriad injuries or overall disappointment with a franchise expected to dominate a weak AFC West, there is one player who is holding it all together.

The glue is no longer running back LaDainian Tomlinson's team -- the one-time NFL Most Valuable Player is sidelined a second consecutive week because of a sprained ankle.

Now, the burden of leading this locker room, this franchise, has fallen to quarterback Philip Rivers.

San Diego came into the 2009 season as one of the heavy favorites to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. Those expectations relied heavily on the ability of the Chargers' running-back tandem of LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles to dominate.

But two games into the season, Tomlinson's already dealing with injury, and San Diego is 30th in the league in yards rushing at 60.5 per game.

The situation doesn't appear to be on the verge of getting better, either -- Wednesday, the Chargers announced that starting center Nick Hardwick, a first-teamer on the San Diego offensive line since 2004, will be out for up to eight weeks after left ankle surgery.

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.

Our first big fantasy football trade of the season went down in the hours leading up to the Week 2 kickoff. Doug Bernstein put Peyton Manning on the block Friday, and since I was 0-1 and facing a must-win game in Week 2 without my top QB (Donovan McNabb), I felt I had to act, and act quickly.

I have two No.1 running backs (Steven Jackson and DeAngelo Williams) and good depth behind them, so I packaged McNabb and Jackson in an offer for Doug's No. 2 RB (Reggie Bush) and Manning.

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SAN DIEGO -- Ray Lewis waited 59 1/2 minutes Sunday to make a spectacular play he had created in his mind's eye, a scene crafted through hours of film study dissecting the Chargers' prolific offense. But the play was no fluke: That same game film all but promised the Ravens linebacker that San Diego would give the ball to spark-plug running back Darren Sproles in a short-yardage situation.

And with the ballgame on the line.