FanHouse Kurt Warner

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

Riser of the Week: After a five-interception game against the Panthers last week, Kurt Warner owners may have been a bit worried, especially since his next task was facing a ball-hawking defense like the Chicago Bears (which, by the way, is more reputation than actuality anymore). Some people were even talking about taking a flier on Matt Leinart in larger leagues. Sunday, Warner put a stop to that, breezing through the Bears' defense like a knife through hot butter. He ended with five touchdown passes and no doubt he's finishing the season as the Cards' starter.

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Though most had the Minnesota Vikings as the favorites to win the NFC North heading into the season, nearly everyone agreed that either the Chicago Bears or Green Bay Packers -- or both -- would at least pose a challenge to the Vikes' second straight division crown. Instead, we're taking this division race off life support and putting it to rest after Week 9. The 2009 NFC North champions will be the Vikings. They can now focus on securing home-field advantage in the playoffs.

The reason for the above sentiment is that both the Bears and Packers were abysmal, in different circumstances, Sunday afternoon. The Pack went into Tampa Bay and lost to the formerly winless Buccaneers, while the Bears were absolutely manhandled for the majority of the afternoon by a fickle Arizona squad.

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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?

Let's review my picks from last week and see how awful I did ...

Favremania takes a back seat for the week, but that doesn't mean that we have nothing to talk about. What happened to the Jaguars? You'd think if a guy rushed for 170 yards on seven carries, he might be able to get more than one look in the fourth quarter. What happened to Kurt Warner, and would you be well-served picking up Matt Leinart with Arizona's cake playoff schedule looming?

On Thursday evening, we answered all your fantasy football questions -- everything from trade talk, lineup decisions, free agents calling to you for an add, or tweaking your roster for the playoffs.

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around pointing skyward, while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's Studs and Duds.

Studs

Ted Ginn Jr., WR Miami (6 KRs, 299 yards, 2 TDs) -- Miami fans didn't want him, and how could you blame them for what Ginn Jr. had done so far this season? One touchdown and just 30 yards receiving per game for the former Ohio State star forced a benching by head coach Tony Sparano, only to have Ginn do something on Sunday that had never been done before.

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.

Matt Forte and LaDainian Tomlinson have been albatrosses for most of the season, but both came through to help their fantasy football owners in Week 8. Forte ran for 90 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Tomlinson also scored twice and amassed 56 yards on the ground. If we look deeper, though, neither back did anything to make you think they're all of a sudden going to turn it on and start producing on a consistent basis.

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- They flew all over the field all night, racing to the ball, harassing the opposing quarterback with a variety of aggressive blitzes. The defense was disruptive, deep and energetic, and the main reason its team won the game. All of this was to be expected, of course...just not from this particular team.

On this night, it was the Arizona Cardinals beating the New York Giants at the latter's own game, forcing four turnovers and out-muscling Big Blue 24-17 on national TV in the swamps of Jersey.

"We definitely fed off our defense tonight," Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner said.

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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

New England (4-2) at Tampa Bay (0-6): Tom Brady threw for six touchdown passes last week, five in one quarter alone. And to be honest, it gets easier for him this week in London against the Bucs. Expect fireworks from the Patriots offense, as Brady is beginning to click with Randy Moss, and he's extremely happy that Wes Welker is back in action.

On defense, the Buccaneers don't have the speed or skill at the cornerback position to defend against Brady and the Patriots' aerial attack. On offense, the Bucs are young and inexperienced -- especially at the quarterback position where Josh Johnson is already looking in the rear-view mirror at competition from Josh Freeman.

Pick: New England

When Justin Tuck showed up to watch film of the Arizona Cardinals this week, he was fired up. He knew what he was going to see -- Cardinals QB Kurt Warner sitting behind his line, taking forever to get rid of the ball while a swarm of receivers ran their routes downfield.

"I was licking my chops," said Tuck, the Giants' defensive end. "But then I went in there and...he's not holding the ball as long as he used to. We're looking at an average of 2.2 seconds, which is a drastic change."

You wouldn't think the Cardinals would have to change much, playing in the weak NFC West and coming off a season in which they represented the NFC in the Super Bowl. But starting with an opening-week loss to the surprisingly game division-rival 49ers, the Cardinals found life as defending conference champs to be tougher than they thought it would be.