Fantasy Football Wrap: Jerome Harrison's Shocking Explosion

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

Riser of the Week: Hmm ... did anyone have a huge game that was surprising? Oh yeah, Jerome Harrison put up 47.8 points in standard scoring leagues. That's 286 rushing yards, 12 receiving yards and three touchdowns. He was a hot pickup earlier in the season, but many had moved on to Chris Jennings or even Josh Cribbs in fantasy leagues due to what we'd seen recently and what we'd heard from Eric Mangini. The 36 touches didn't just accidentally happen, by the way. The Browns had to have put together a game plan revolving around Harrison in the run game.

This was a guy who entered the game with just one 100-yard game in his career. He only received seven carries last week. Don't be angry if you had Harrison on your bench -- as I did -- because there was simply no reason to play him in good conscience. Sometimes the unknown happens in fantasy football. The Browns play the Raiders' weak run defense next week, so make sure to get Harrison in there. He won't be repeating this game ever again, but we now know he's Cleveland's horse.

Faller of the Week: Gary Kubiak doesn't have much patience for fumbles. Arian Foster saw three touches on the opening series of the game, but lost a fumble on his third (a reception). He didn't see the field for the rest of the game. That's an awfully harsh knee-jerk reaction, so it's probably safe to say he wasn't as high on Foster as he led on this past week. It doesn't make it easy on fantasy football players when coaches mislead like that, but it's certainly their right. Regardless, one of the hotter adds of the week is, once again, totally worthless.

Other Shifts in Value

Chad Henne - Not loving the three picks, but 349 yards once again reiterates that the offense has to rely on the pass much more heavily now with Ronnie Brown on the shelf.

Justin Gage - Only two catches, but when both occur in the end zone we're forced to take serious notice.

Steven Jackson - Would have loved to see him reach the end zone, but his 123 combined rushing and receiving yards were a nice return from last week's bad game -- not to mention the swine flu.

Michael Turner - Nice "return." He carried just one time for seven yards. Reportedly he tweaked his ankle on that carry and had to leave. Shocker.

Thomas Jones - Bad time for Jones to have his worst fantasy game since Week 3. He had been very consistent and the Falcons have a lackluster run defense, but the output was 52 yards on 19 carries with nary a score.

Matt Cassel - 331 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers? What is this, 2008? Of course, Cassel was facing the Browns. He'll travel to Cincy and Denver in each of the final two weeks, so this was his last productive game of the season.

Beanie Wells - Tim Hightower stole a touchdown, but Beanie took 17 carries to Hightower's six. Wells was running with a purpose Sunday, too, bowling over defenders and making moves in traffic. Expect a big game against the Rams next week in Arizona.

Maurice Morris - I haven't seen Kevin Smith play a single game in his two-year career as well as Morris played Sunday. He was shifting in and out of the Cardinals' defense with ease and was a huge part of the passing attack. The matchup against the Niners in Week 16 isn't great, but the Lions will be forced to run the ball. Morris is definitely worth a look in deep leagues.

Tom Brady - We knew he wouldn't have a great game, but 115 yards was his worst output in three years (other than when he tore his ACL). It's definitely time to worry. Of course, if you own Brady, you probably lost this week.

Terrell Owens - So much for the productive T.O. Just two catches for 20 yards and he's back in the doghouse of thousands of fantasy owners.

Cedric Benson - The Bengals had been riding the running game all season. The Chargers (their Sunday opponent) are much better at stopping the pass than the run. Naturally, Benson only gets 15 carries for 53 yards. This was one of those cases (much like Jerome Harrison) where the numbers told us there was every reason in the world to believe one thing and we ended up with a totally opposite result. Such is the life of a fantasy football analyst. Sigh.

Vincent Jackson - That's two straight weeks of fantasy goodness and he scored for the first time since Week 9 -- and threw in a second touchdown for good measure. It's now safe to trust him again in all leagues, as the hiatus from productivity is clearly over.

Michael Bush - The Raiders gashed the Broncos via the run and Bush was the main contributor. It seems like that's been the case every time he's been given a chance this season, so why not quit straying from him, Oakland? Getting the Browns next week is a good matchup for any running back, too. It's feasible to take a chance on Bush in really deep leagues.

Knowshon Moreno - Just when he appeared to be getting things going, he stinks up the joint against the Raiders. I guess he'll have to keep waiting for that first 100-yard game.

Ben Roethlisberger - Great to see the bounce-back from a bona fide QB1. The stat line is just staggering with 503 yards and three touchdown passes. He'd probably get a lot more ink this week if it wasn't for all the huge games and weird happenings.

Greg Jennings - It was probably far too little, far too late for his fantasy owners, but Jennings showed why he was viewed as a clear-cut WR1 on draft day with five catches, 118 yards and a touchdown.

LeSean McCoy - Good to see the rookie getting back into the mix with 56 total yards and a touchdown (and it was short yardage). The fact that Michael Vick left the game injured means much more chances like this for McCoy.

Vernon Davis - Bad time for the top tight end to relatively disappear. His 43 yards weren't awful, but you expect more from an elite player in your fantasy playoffs.

Kellen Winslow - There was a good chance he was going to miss the game, but he played and came through with 93 yards on six catches.

Matt Hasselbeck - Seriously? Five turnovers against the Bucs? That's embarrassing.

Joe Flacco - Here we thought it would be the Ray Rice show Sunday in Baltimore. Instead, Flacco connected on 21-of-29 passes for 234 yards and four touchdown passes. Huge game if anyone was hanging around and had enough guts to play Flacco.

Finally ...
Everyone on the Bears - I just don't have the energy anymore.