Below, we explore what happened in this past week's NFL games.

ALERT! We just updated our Strength of Schedule Grid on 11/23 to point out strong and weak schedules for the remainder of the 2009 season, so make sure you download it, print it, and keep it by your side to consult for every decision you make. Personally, I like to take a highlighter and highlight out the column for the current week each Monday as to easier see the remaining good and bad stretches.

Ask a question about your lineup in our FORUM. Leave a comment about this article down below.

THURSDAY NIGHT

MIA 24, CAR 17 reality [CAR 27, MIA 17 fantasy]

We thought Carolina would pull out the win at home, but Ricky Williams and the Dolphins running game proved to be too strong in the end. The Panthers were very successful on the ground with DeAngelo Williams gaining 122 yards on just 13 carries, but oddly called on Jake Delhomme to toss the rock 42 times

SUNDAY EARLY

NYG 34, ATL 31 (OT) reality  [NYG 24, ATL 17 (Pick: ATL +7, under 46) fantasy]

Eli Manning and the Giants seem to have corrected their recent offensive woes coming off the bye. Despite going to overtime, this game was really slanted towards New York through three quarters until Matt Ryan remembered how to pass and got the Dirty Birds back into it. Kevin Boss continued his recent success grabbing two TD passes, he should be a nice filler at TE the rest of the way. 

JAX 18, BUF 15 reality [JAX 20, BUF 17 (Pick: BUF +8.5, under 42.5) fantasy]

My poor Bills, they tried their hardest. All the Jags you are starting every week all came through, MJD & Mike Sims-Walker both found pay dirt. Harvard alum Ryan "the Genius" Fitzpatrick, received a vote of confidence from TO earlier this week and it paid off for Owens and his owners. Owens was on the end of 14 targets  which he turned into 9 catches for 197 yards and a touchdown. I thought I was watching a game from 2000 while watching his 98 yard TD pass... vintage Owens.

DET 38, CLE 37 reality [DET 17, CLE 13 (Pick: DET -3, under 38) fantasy]

Who was calling this the Toilet Bowl? This was easily the day's most entertaining game. Matt Stafford tied a rookie record with five touchdown passes including a bomb to Calvin Johnson in which he tried to Shaq the upright in celebration. Stafford injured his shoulder towards the end of the game, which could be problematic going forward, but believe in Johnson. Megatron looked healthy for the first time in weeks and finally had a game that was worthy of his draft position. Don't buy too much into anything Cleveland did on offense... that's a one week aberration.  

IND 17, BAL 15 reality [IND 31, BAL 20 (Pick: IND -1, over 44.5) fantasy]

Everyone Loves Raymond Rice... the guy is a monster. There is no format or match up that he should be benched in at this point. Baltimore had every chance to win this game but decided to inflate the fantasy value of newly signed Billy Cundiff instead. He had five field goals.

NO 38, TB 7 reality [NO 35, TB 31 (Pick: TB +11, over 51) fantasy]

For the all points that the Saints score, they really aren’t really a fantasy friendly team. Sure, Brees is solid and Colston will more than likely put up stats, but after that it’s a crap shoot. This week it was Robert Meacham getting in on the act with 2 catches and 2 touchdowns. Mike Bell was the running back du jour, outpacing “Lucky” Pierre Thomas by a substantial margin. You can count on the Saints to post the points each week, but God only knows who’s going to score them. Not much to say about the Buckos, expect that Kellen Winslow is the best by low candidate around.

KC 27, PIT 24 (OT) reality [PIT 27, KC 18 (Pick: KC +10, under 40) fantasy]

If your league counts return stats towards their defensive scoring, you may want to take a flier on who ever is playing the Steelers.  Their special teams is truly that right now, complete with their own classes where correct answers are rewarded with Worthers’ Originals. The fantasy prospects for KC going forward are actually pretty good. Chris Chambers and Jamaal Charles should both be startable options from here on out. 

GB 30, SF 24 reality [GB 27, SF 17 (Pick: GB -6.5, under 42) fantasy]

God bless garbage time. The 49ers were taken to the cleaners all day, and Alex Smith had 5 passing yards in the first half. That didn’t stop the 49ers from posting points after they had no chance for a comeback though. Alex Smith made winner of anyone who started a 49er. Crabtree, Davis and Gore were all on the end of Smith TD passes late in this game. As per usual, Aaron Rodgers posted his typical high yardage, multi-touchdown game. Rodgers is having a gigantic year and seems to be flying under the radar. He is a top three QB going into next year. 

MIN 35, SEA 9 reality [MIN 27, SEA 20 (Pick: SEA +10.5, over 46.5) fantasy]

What a brutal game. Seattle converted just one of ten third down opportunities. Not a recipe for success. Somehow Adrian Peterson couldn’t find his way into the end zone, but every other Viking did. Sidney Rice was pretending like it was the 60s and decided to score twice in the same day. Rice is a top 10 option at WR the rest of the year. If the trade deadline hasn’t passed in your league, try to get him. 

DAL 7, WAS 6 reality [ DAL 31, WAS 7 (Pick: DAL -11, under 41.5) fantasy]                    

7-6? That’s a glorified hockey score. There wasn’t much to like in this game. Ladell Betts left with an injury, killing many fantasy teams, like my own. Rock Cartwright stepped in an did a decent job as the feature back. If you’re in a  PPR league, make note of his 7 catches. Now that Dallas has had two stinkers in a row, “experts” will officially jump off their bandwagon. That means they’ll light up the scoreboard on Thanksgiving when Oakland comes to town.

SUNDAY LATE

ARZ 21, STL 13 reality [ARZ 35, STL 14 (Pick: ARZ -9, over 47) fantasy]

If you have any stock in the Cardinals you must pray for a speedy recovery from Kurt Warner. The offense looked lost with Leinhart at the helm as ‘Zona couldn’t score a point with him in the lineup. If he can’t get it done against the Rams, what chance does he have against anyone else.  

OAK 20, CIN 17 reality [CIN 17, OAK 6 (Pick: CIN -9.5, under 36) fantasy]

Being so lousy is really paying off for the Raiders. Whenever a good teams travels to the black hole, they figure they can leave their talent behind. The Raiders have now trumped the Eagles and Bengals this season on home turf. As surprising as the upset was, it was even more surprising to see that Oakland’s offense was able to move the ball, kind of, with Bruce Gradkowski at quarterback. 

NE 31, NYJ 14 reality [NE 31, NYJ 17 (Pick: NE -10.5, over 45) fantasy]

Every Patriot got in on the scoring, which was nice to see. Laurence Maroney may not strike fear into everyone but he as replicated Joseph Addai’s blueprint for fantasy this year. Step one: be on a team that scores a lot. That’s really all there is. Maroney may stink in real life but he now has a touchdown in five straight games. When the Pats get near the goalline they, for some reason, feel confident handing the ball to Maroney. Until Sammie Morris returns, Maroney will continue to have value with so many opportunities to score.

SD 32, DEN 3 reality [SD 27, DEN 20 (Pick: SD-4) fantasy] 

Denver has now lost four in a row after a hot 6-0 start. Sorry Josh McDaniels, coaching really wasn’t that easy. The Chargers really didn’t do much on offense, they simply let the Broncos beat themselves. Turning the ball over three times in the red zone qualifies in that category.   

SUNDAY NIGHT

PHI 24, CHI 20 reality [PHI 28, DEN 20 (Pick: -3, over 45) fantasy] 

LeSean McCoy, welcome to fantasy starting line ups every where. When the Eagles play a team that has even a respectable secondary, the Real McCoy will transform into the scatback we all thought he would be. 99 yards and a TD is a line that I’ll take every week but expect McCoy to be a threat to catch passes out of the backfield as the competition gets better as the season comes to a close. This game was also great news for Jay Cutler, with only one pick. That’s impressive stuff. 

MONDAY NIGHT

TEN 20, HOU 17 reality [TEN 24, HOU 20 (Pick: TEN +4.5, under 48) fantasy]

All Texans fans would gladly sign rapper Chris Brown to kick for them and overlook what he may do in his free time if he could just make a field goal. That's two games in a row that the only kicker the Texans have ever known, Kris Brown, couldn't make a game tying field goal at the buzzer. Otherwise, the five players from this game you may have started all had respectable games. Steve Slaton is a fringe top 20 running back for the rest of the season but he'll keep top 15 value in PPR formats. If you are looking for a safe 10-15 points from your QB, don't over look Vince Young. Young has double digit fantasy points in every game since he replaced Kelly Collins four weeks ago.

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Again, ask a question about your lineup in our FORUM. Leave a comment about this article down below.