Welcome to Week 9 of the 2011 NFL season, and the latest edition of the Fantasy Football Feature. If you’re not yet familiar, this is a fantasy football mash-up open thread. Feel free to throw out any sit/start troubles your having, or any other fantasy football related questions, thoughts, ideas you might have or even have live trade negotiation.

Week 8 Big Surprise Performers:

All the major performers this week came from exactly who you expect to have major performances. Guys like Shady McCoy, Steven Jackson, AP, and Ray Rice. Cam Newton is continuing is monster rookie season, which is a surprise to some. Curtis Painter, 11% owned, had an acceptable week with 15.90, but still isn't worth having. 0% owned San Diego running back, Curtis Brinkley had 10 carries for 43 yards and a short TD for 14.70 points as Ryan Matthews suffered from a groin injury. 

Working the Wire:

When there is yet another slow week and not many surprises, generally that'll lead to a slow week on the wire. Keep in mind, owners vary in every league so some of these guys are going to be harder to grab than others. The UDBNFL waiver wire, for example, is still fierce. (*The ownership percentage is going up on these guys every minute, so they are not exact.)

1. Kansas City (DEF-56.00) - Owned in 28% of Yahoo! Leagues - DEEP - Each week it seems a plug-and-play defense makes the list. No exception here, as KC's D takes on Miami who's giving up the third most fantasy points to defenses. 
2. Javon Ringer (Ten-RB-30.40) - Owned in 13% of Yahoo! Leagues - DEEP - Chris Johnson is playing awful, and last week Ringer took half the load. They both had 14 carries and and Ringer did more with them, also caught 5 passes. 
3. Jonathan Baldwin (KC-WR-15.60) - Owned in 10% of Yahoo! Leagues - DEEP - The first round pick had his best game of the year on Monday Night football vs. the Chargers. This might be a sign of things to come in KC. Still a deep buy. 

Fool’s Gold:

1. Kevin Faulk (NE-RB-x.x0) - Owned in 6% of Yahoo! Leagues - DEEP - I keep saying the same thing about running backs in New England. The unofficial league is a deep one, 12 teams, so almost any number 1 back is worth grabbing though. 

Unofficial DBN Fan League Standings:

Good luck in Week 9!

*Scores mentioned in the article are based on the Yahoo! Sports default settings, utilized by the Unofficial DBN Fan League.