Fantasy Football Sunday Wrap: Ominous Day for Steve Slaton Owners

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

Faller of the Week: Steve Slaton was most likely a first-round pick, the centerpiece of your fantasy football squad. Obviously, his being benched after just three touches and a lost fumble had a huge impact on your fantasy game this week, but looking to the future, it's much more scary. Ryan Moats was impressive with Slaton out, which does not bode well for Slaton's future. The Texans are in the midst of chasing their first-ever playoff berth, so they aren't going to run someone out there who repeatedly gives the ball away. It's entirely possible Slaton loses his job at some point this season. Thus, he easily takes the biggest hit in fantasy value for this week.

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Riser of the Week: A week after inexplicably passing far too much, the Panthers remembered how they can win games: on the ground. Last week, they passed nearly twice as much as they used Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams. In Week 8, they remembered how to win games. Williams took the ball 158 yards on 23 rushes and Stewart turned 17 carries into 87 yards and a pair of scores. In all, the Panthers ran the ball 74 percent of their offensive plays. Talk about committing to it. Maybe John Fox wants to keep his job after all. Whatever the reason, the Panthers running backs are back where they belong (Williams an RB1 and Stewart an RB3/Flex).

Other Shifts in Fantasy Value

Hakeem Nicks - The touchdown streak wasn't going to last forever.

LeSean McCoy - He's a home run hitter, isn't he? Brian Westbrook will come back, but he's likely to get hurt at some point and the Eagles aren't going to stop using McCoy.

Ronnie Brown - Man, that's a rough outing for someone who has been an RB1, for the most part. I expect that bad outing to be an aberration, though. The Dolphins are one of the few remaining running football teams.

Dustin Keller - Thought to be a TE1 heading into the season, Keller has largely disappointed. Sunday, though, he came through with a season-high eight catches for 76 yards and a touchdown.

Michael Crabtree - Well on his way to earning the dollars for which he held out. We've seen steady improvement for the past two games.

Peyton Manning - A sign we're spoiled by him: 347 passing yards and we're complaining because he didn't throw a TD. Seriously, Peyton, c'mon man!

Steven Jackson - Not even remotely surprising. He's an animal who needs help around him.

Maurice Morris / Kevin Smith - Interesting split here. Smith carried the ball 16 times for 45 yards, but he watched Morris rack up 63 yards on just 14 carries. Smith does have a banged up shoulder, so it will be interesting to see how this shakes out in the upcoming weeks.

Miles Austin - This week was just further reinforcement that he's no fluke and is easily Tony Romo's favorite option through the air.

T.J. Houshmandzadeh - Nate Burleson is clearly the favorite target of Matt Hasselbeck and Housh has posted very pedestrian numbers in five of the Seahawks' seven games.

Bears D/ST - Gotta love facing the Browns at home to make everyone forget about last week's debacle.

The Browns - How can I even say anything nice? They turned it over five times, no receiver had more than two catches and their kicker had an extra point blocked (his only chance all game).

Terrell Owens - Caught a season-high five passes and scored a rushing touchdown, not that it's any solace to his obviously angry fantasy owners.

Kyle Orton - Yes, the Ravens have traditionally had a tough defense, but they were ranked 23rd in pass defense entering the game. Orton needed to muster more than 152 yards and no scores in order to keep our confidence in his fantasy prowess.

Ray Rice - 108 total yards and a touchdown against one of the toughest defenses in the league. He's definitely a must-start on a weekly basis.

Mike Sims-Walker - Ugh. The Titans haven't defended the pass well all season and MSW only goes for nine yards.

Vincent Jackson - Big game for VJax against the Raiders, as he cements his value as a WR1.

Justin Fargas - He just gets the job done: 79 total yards and a touchdown this time. He's a definite flex player when you have bye week or injury issues.

Beanie Wells - So much for his growth. Of course, we didn't really get a fair evaluation period due to the Cardinals getting blown out in the second quarter. They were playing from behind all game, so of course they were going to pass. I still like him to get in the 15-carry range when they play in close games.

Sidney Rice - Brett Favre threw four touchdown passes, but none to Rice. Maybe the man is actually not falling in love with Rice?

Greg Jennings - There's the big game we were looking for from Jennings (8-88-1). We need to see more consistency before saying he's back to being a WR1, but he's definitely got the tools.