FanHouse Tony Romo

If you need proof of just how uncertain NFL scouting can be, look no further than Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin and his Raiders counterpart, Darrius Heyward-Bey.

Austin, an undrafted rookie out of tiny Monmouth, continued his spectacular and surprising season Thursday, racking up seven catches for 145 yards and a touchdown in Dallas' 24-7 win over Oakland. His TD grab was his eighth of the season. On the losing side, Heyward-Bey, the No. 7 pick in last April's draft, hauled in his eighth catch -- matching Austin's season-TD total -- and his first professional TD in his 10th game.

---

---

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

• Tony Romo, Cowboys - Romo was limited in practice on Wednesday with a sore back but will definitely play on Thursday.

• Kyle Orton, Broncos - Orton is slowed by an ankle injury but will play Thursday night.

---

---

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

Riser of the Week: Terrell Owens came into Sunday with just 26 catches for 366 yards and a single touchdown -- in nine games. Considering the Bills were switching back to Ryan Fitzpatrick, who did no favors for T.O. when at the helm earlier this season, there was very little reason to start Owens in many fantasy leagues. Instead, T.O. reminded us how cruel a mistress fantasy football can be. He's still alive and kicking, as he ushered forth a vintage stat line. Nine catches for 197 yards and a touchdown. Is this 2007? I'm not buying any sort of extended rejuvenation moving forward, but it probably felt good for T.O. -- if only for one Sunday in 2009.

---

---

Hey, a win is a win. That's all that matters in the end. The Dallas Cowboys get to see a "7" in the win column of the standings after surviving 7-6 over the Washington Redskins Sunday. It wasn't pretty, but the Cowboys gutted out an old school victory.

Coming into the week, the Cowboys had been amassing a large percentage of their yardage via the air attack, behind the arm of Tony Romo. In Week 11, they seem to have decided to transform themselves. Romo attempted 27 passes, while the Cowboys ran the ball 33 times for 153 yards and counted on their defense to win the shortened game for them. It worked.

---

---

Your No. 1 QB overall isn't Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. It isn't Drew Brees or early-season hero Matt Schaub either. It's the one and only Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers presents the perfect example of why it's unnecessary to draft a QB in the first two rounds. He was a late-third or early-fourth round pick in most leagues and he's performing just as well as the big boys.

Sure, Brady and Manning offer you peace of mind, but with the RB and WR rankings constantly in flux, it's a much better idea to load up on talent at each of those positions, then snag a QB like Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Kurt Warner, Donovan McNabb or Tony Romo a bit later. You could probably win your league with one of these guys and a good group of RBs and WRs. Teams with Manning or Brady and a weaker group of RBs and WRs will likely have more trouble in 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

Maurice Jones-Drew, RB, Jacksonville (24 carries, 123 yards, 1 TD): Coaches always talk about wanting players who have "football smarts." MJD certainly fits the bill, and he proved it Sunday against the Jets. With less than two minutes left in the game and the Jags down one, Jones-Drew broke clear for what looked like an easy score -- but, instead, he took a knee at the Jets 1-yard line, allowing his team to run out the clock and kick a game-winning field goal on the final play.

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Nobody had to tell Charles Woodson the Packers needed this game. The team didn't have to call any meetings or make any fiery pregame speeches about protecting houses and separating backs from walls. When they showed up for work Sunday morning, the Packers were 4-4 and reeling from an inexplicable loss to the Buccaneers the week before. The mission couldn't have been clearer if it had been tattooed on the insides of their eyelids.

"I don't think anything needed to be said, " Woodson said when it was all over. "But me, I believe in self-motivation."

So Woodson motivated himself into a frothing frenzy and completely took over Sunday's game. He blanketed Dallas tight end Jason Witten. He forced fumbles, made a critical interception and basically made sure he was everywhere he needed to be -- even if that meant being everywhere at once. If there's one player who's the reason the Packers are 5-4 instead of 4-5, it's their still-hungry 33-year-old cornerback.

---

---

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- You could smell this game as far away as Madison, and the part of it that stunk the worst was the Dallas Cowboys offense. On an afternoon in which everybody -- the officials, the head coaches, the offensive lines...everybody -- seemed to be conspiring to set the game of football back 40 years, it was the Cowboys who came up the smallest, committing 10 penalties and converting just 3 of 12 third downs in a 17-7 loss to the Packers at Lambeau Field.

"This was an impressive win for Green Bay," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "But it was unimpressive the way we didn't execute, especially early, when we still had a chance to get the game going the way we wanted it to go."

But the most disappointing part for the Cowboys was that, by losing this game, they blew a very real chance to get the season going the way they wanted it to go.

---

---

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?

Will there be 1,000 points scored in the New England-Indianapolis battle Sunday night? As you'll find below, we really don't think so, as we're high on the usual suspects but a little low on Austin Collie and the running backs in the game. We're also not buying a big game from a Fantasy FanHouse hero this week, thanks to a super-tough matchup.

And what do you do if you have Ladell Betts? If you have him, you likely added him this week, and you're probably itching to play him before he loses value. We'll tackle his case and many others in this week's Over/Under.

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

The Kansas City Chiefs have finally bid farewell to Larry Johnson. The troubled RB who was once famed and beloved in many a fantasy circle is now simply an after thought. Aside from his horrid play of the field, his off-field antics and foul mouthed tweets were simply enough for the Chiefs to pull the plug. He was cranking up to the tune of less than 3.0 yards per carry on the season. And let's just be honest who cares, because it's been years since Johnson has been relevant.

This news should come as little surprise. However, a funny thing happens away from the reality side of the story. That's right, the fantasy football world begins to turn on it's axis with visions of glory and/or delusions that somehow Johnson being set free could be a blessing in disguise. Where will LJ end up? Is he worth nabbing off the waiver wire? Oh man, the many possibilities, but don't get ahead of yourself. First off, he'll need to audition and then he'll need to prove he's still worthy of a shot. With the season growing towards the end...how excited can you really be about LJ the free agent?