FanHouse DonaldLee

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

On its surface, the 2008 season appears to have been an unmitigated disaster for the Green Bay Packers. After the Packers made the NFC Championship Game the season before, fans painfully watched the Brett Favre retirement/unretirement/stick-it-to-Ted saga play out, and then got to see new starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers play well before the team fell apart around him.

FanHouse fantasy positional rankings are compiled weekly by the staff in order to provide answers to possible lineup questions. These are assuming most leagues use Fleaflicker's standard scoring structure. If you need clarification, you need more players ranked, or have funky league rules, feel free to shoot us an email question.

The roller-coaster ride continues if you don't own a top-tier TE. However, even if you do - those once reliable options have been hit or miss at best. Tony Gonzalez continues to flourish in the role as the top dog, but Antonio Gates should be primed for a decent game this week. Meanwhile, fantasy owners can finally breathe a sigh of relief as Jason Witten has a pretty good matchup and -- although he might not be 100 percent -- at least Tony Romo is back.

Yet, once you get past those favorite TE options... it's really a crapshoot. Fantasy pundits fell in love, for some reason, with big John Carlson. He's returned a big helping of nothing in return during recent weeks. Plenty of fantasy owners were banking on Kevin Boss last weekend and he also dished out a helping of bust. Who's the boss now? Ah, yes ... bad, bad joke.

Well, the flavor of the week now seems to be Dustin Keller coming off a breakout stretch of games. Will he also break our hearts? I sure hope not, because I've bumped him up the TE rankings and I'm banking on big things for my own team. So don't blame me if he craps out. Stay tuned.

Quick note: I just couldn't bump Dallas Clark over the "Big Three." Worth mentioning, though, is that San Diego is a funnel for tight ends to have successful days. Just mentioning. On with the ranks...

1. Antonio Gates, IND
2. Tony Gonzalez, BUF
3. Jason Witten, SF
4. Dallas Clark, @ SD
5. Chris Cooley, @SEA

FanHouse fantasy positional rankings are compiled weekly by the staff in order to provide answers to possible lineup questions. These are assuming most leagues use Fleaflicker's standard scoring structure. If you need clarification, you need more players ranked, or have funky league rules, feel free to shoot us an email question.

Just two weeks ago, this position was absolutely depleted; the shallowest of fantasy positions. All of a sudden, Week 10 brought us some incredible success for such a specialized position ... and now looking at this week's matchups, it's really tough to go wrong here.

The top seven are obviously solid plays, especially Tony Gonzalez, who would be a weekly must-start at this point if he played WR.

Look past that group, though. Would you be having any reservations playing Donald Lee against the Bears? Todd Heap, Vernon Davis, and Zach Miller would be decent options, but they are ranked in the 17-20 range.

Dustin Keller and Kevin Boss are beginning to break out in New York.

Visanthe Shiancoe, Greg Olsen, and Bo Scaife have become extremely trusted options for their quarterbacks.

Finally, John Carlson (pictured), the rookie from Notre Dame, will enjoy having Matt Hasselbeck under center again, and I look for him to receive the most targets and catches in Seattle this weekend.

1. Tony Gonzalez, vs. NO
2. Dallas Clark, vs. HOU
3. Kellen Winslow, at BUF
4. Antonio Gates, at PIT
5. Jason Witten, at WAS

Quick: Who had "Packers by 20" for this one?

Yeah, me neither.

In fact, "Colts by 20" seemed like a much more likely option.

But I guess the Packers may have heard a few too many lines this week about their status as a home dog, or their two straight losses at Lambeau Field. Head coach Mike McCarthy has really emphasized winning at home since he got the job, and the results have been pretty good to this point. It made sense that a prideful bunch would step up their game in what was close to a national spotlight, with a large part of the country getting Sunday's game on CBS.

Or maybe the Packers are just pissed about the latest Favre story.

No matter the reason, the Packers played an inspired game today. The offensive game plan was pretty obvious. Green Bay wanted to control the ball and keep Peyton Manning from attacking the Packers' banged-up defense.

As we would find out, the ball-control thing worked well, but the Green Bay defense was the story of the day.

Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.

Meet The ...

Team that won't miss a beat without a certain someone. Yeah, that's right. With Ryan Grant ready to keep this the same balanced offense that he made it in the second half of last season, a QB (Aaron Rodgers) that won't mind becoming a "game manager, and a very strong defense; the Pack is armed and ready to be just as solid as they were in 2007.

The Breakout

Aaron Rodgers has been waiting for his chance for three years, and the timing couldn't be better. Had it been last year that he took the reins, there would have been issues. Now the emergence of Grant makes the offense more balanced, though. The defense is good enough that Rodgers will never be forced to become a gunslinger, and the receiving corps is very solid with the growth of Greg Jennings and expected emergence of a couple young wideouts. He's got a good offensive line that knows how to pass protect, and a reliable tight end ... plus, he's in a place that loves their QBs. As long as he doesn't think of himself as the "replacement," he'll be a fantasy stud before the season ends.

To get you ready for week 11, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is the Carolina Panthers/Green Bay Packers preview.

2007 Records:

Carolina Panthers 4-5 (t-2nd in NFC Sorth)
Green Bay Packers 8-1 (1st in NFC North)

Last Game:

Falcons 20, Panthers 13
Packers 34, Vikings 0

When the Panthers have the ball: I'll defer to John Fox on this one, since I'm not really sure exactly what the Carolina offensive plan is. There isn't a whole lot you can do with Vinny Testaverde (pictured) as a quarterback, much less when he's banged up. To make matters worse, the Panthers' best playmaker on offense, Steve Smith, is hurting and might not even play. Good heavens, without him, how will the Panthers offense move the ball? They probably won't, and back-to-back shutouts isn't out of the question for Green Bay's defense.

When the Packers have the ball: They'll attack as they have the past month, but will probably look to run the ball more than they did in the beginning of the season. Ryan Grant seems to be the answer for the running game, going over the 100 yard plateau two of the last three games. Grant is just another option for the explosive Green Bay offense where Donald Driver, Donald Lee, and Greg Jennings have been lighting it up all year, catching passes from Brett Favre.

Welcome to another successful installment of Five Questions with an Enemy Blogger, where each week, via email, I will be exchanging hot questions and [sometimes] answers with a rival blogger about their team and the upcoming matchup.

This week I sat down with Brandon of Acme Packing Company, a Sports Blog Nation column that covers the Green Bay Packers.

Dan Benton: "Brett Favre, Brett Favre, Brett Favre ... Is there anything that guy can't do?"

Brandon: "Well, he sure can't run. He's always had good pocket presence, ability to avoid the rush, but you sure wonder if he's going to hurt himself on the rare occasion he tries to run for a first down."

Benton: "I know the Packers running back situation is so confusing that fans don't even have a grasp on it, but you have to like what you saw out of Ryan Grant on Monday night. Should we expect to see more of him in the coming weeks?"