FanHouse Jamal Lewis

We're back. It's "Run, Ricky, Run!" Week here at Fantasy FanHouse, as we witnessed Ricky Williams thrust himself into the ranks of other must-start running backs. First, Ronnie Brown went down for the season, next Ricky provided fantasy owners with a three-touchdown monster performance. Tom Herrera and Matt Snyder discuss much more, though. We talk about possible gifts for those who have been underachieving in fantasy (akin to the positive pregnancy test that seemed to have jump-started LaDainian Tomlinson), major injury fallout and, of course, our Starting Six Pack for the week. Take a listen after the jump.

Whether it's torn, sprained, broken or just needs to be taped, Injuries to Watch will keep you up to date on injuries around the NFL and how they'll affect your fantasy football team.

Quarterback

• Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers - Roethlisberger is not listed on the injury report, but he sat out parts of practice on Thursday with his elbow wrapped. He is expected to play on Sunday, but questions of a sore arm have definitely surfaced.

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're shortening up the sleeper column a bit this week. Fear not, because the benefit to the shorter column is ... more sleepers! First we'll take a look at players available in most shallow leagues and some normal-sized leagues. Next, we'll move on to players available in many normal-sized leagues and a few deep leagues. Lastly, we'll throw out some sleepers for your deep league owners.

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.

On the same day that Browns running back Jamal Lewis said he thought coach Eric Mangini was working the team too hard, a Browns practice squad player named Keith Grennan ruptured his patellar tendon during an "opportunity drill." Grennan, a second-year defensive end out of Eastern Washington, will have surgery Monday and will be out at least eight months. Grennan's agent, Cameron Foster, confirmed the injury.

A source with direct knowledge of the incident confirmed that the injury happened during the "opportunity drill" period -- a post-practice time when Mangini puts practice squad players and rookies through additional drills to give them the chance to impress coaches.

Once Jamal Lewis returned to his hometown of Atlanta on Wednesday night, things looked the same from afar. Yes, he is retiring after this season. No, it was not an instant decision based on the Cleveland Browns' 30-6 loss at the Chicago Bears last Sunday -- after which Lewis announced his NFL exit plans.

He left the University of Tennessee after three seasons and the Baltimore Ravens after a Super Bowl XXXV championship and seven seasons. This third season with the Browns gives him 10 full NFL years.

Cleveland is 1-7, but Lewis said his choice would be the same if his team was 7-1.

And though the Browns have a bye this week and Lewis, 30, has quiet time to reconsider, he said he will not.

Jamal Lewis told reporters following the Browns' loss to the Bears Sunday afternoon that he is planning to retire after the 2009 season. Yes, I know what you're thinking: "Woah. Jamal Lewis is still playing football?"

But he is.

And apparently, this will be his final season -- after telling reporters of his intentions, he also added "I mean what I say" which, presumably, is to ward off the possibility of people mistaking him for Brett Favre.

Although it has been to a different extent with each guy, Matt Forte, LaDainian Tomlinson, Larry Johnson and Jamal Lewis have been relatively awful fantasy football options this season. Considering we're finished with Week 7, it's time to start seriously considering the season a bust for anyone who hasn't started to show something at this point. You can't cling to "small sample size" forever. Is it time to throw in the towel on each member of this foursome?

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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.

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Former fantasy football stars Braylon Edwards and Jamal Lewis were left for dead in leagues across the Internet after abysmal beginnings. Lo and behold, a trade and a return from injury (against the hapless Bills) made them both look like their old selves in Week 5. Was it a rebirth or an aberration? Fantasy FanHouse's dynamic duo, Tom Herrera and Matt Snyder, discuss this and many other things (including Herrera's underwhelming movie experience and Snyder channeling his inner 2Pac to forgive Mike Sims-Walker) in this week's cram session.