FanHouse Jamal Lewis

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.

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

Miles Austin (WR, Cowboys, 4,629 adds) - What started with the Big Montana-sized numbers on Sunday just got bigger, as coach Wade Phillips reiterated that Miles Austin will continue to see roughly the same amount of playing time going forward with or without Roy Williams and demoted allegedly Patrick Crayton from the No. 2 spot.

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.

There were many pickups in the FanHouse Challenge league in the days leading up to Week 5, so many that I won't even try to tackle all of them in this space The move that qualifies as the best was made by Chris Burke, who snatched up Austin Collie before Sunday night's game, cutting Justin Gage. Collie went straight into Burke's lineup, where he overcame Roy Williams' injury and Willis McGahee's lack of carries to lead his team to a win. Kudos to Chris for having the foresight to make the move (did he read the 4th and 26?).

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.

Ever since the Colts selected Donald Brown in the first round of last April's draft, fantasy players have been anxiously awaiting him to take over the No. 1 RB role for the Colts' high-powered offense. Well, they'll be waiting a while, because -- in terms of touches, goal-line carries and usage in the passing game -- Joseph Addai is still clearly the Colts' top option at running back.

Addai has 88 touches to Brown's 51. Addai has scored four times; Brown twice. Addai has 26 catches compared to just seven for Brown. This is not a changing of the guard. This is a starting running back being spelled by a backup.

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.

Rarely does the old waiver wire produce the type of numbers it did in Week 5. While a couple of Sunday's performers come as no big shock, the talk of the day comes with regard to the two monumental breakouts: a pair of receivers starting in place of injured teammates to the tune of 250 yards and 142 yards respectively, both with a pair of long touchdowns. Beyond that, we have the usual mix of old dogs coming back out to show they still have it and some sleepers to mark on the radar screen.

Whether you're a fantasy player or just a fan, you could very well be looking for updates on injuries around the league as kickoffs approach.

FanHouse has you covered, as we'll monitor all this week's games and bring you the latest information on injuries right up until kickoff. Reader comments are disabled, but please do check out our live updates after the jump.