FanHouse JasonElam

Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Give Josh McDaniels this much: He's willing to make an impression. Before he's even coached so much as one regular season game, he's assured that he will either be remembered as a bold, brilliant leader who won because he had the courage of his convictions, or as an abject failure whose hiring set the franchise back by years because he had the courage of his convictions. Some of that has to do with Jay Cutler's career trajectory, but McDaniels needs to win and he needs to win quickly.

It's been over a month since we last posted positional fantasy football rankings, so it's time to run our second version. Plus, we added some staff. This is now an average ranking from eight Fantasy FanHouse writers. To view the early version of our kicker rankings, click here.

I'll beat the dead horse here, because I feel like it is my duty. Please don't draft a kicker until the last round and never pay more than a dollar for one in an auction. It's just not worth it because of the turnover from year to year. Check this out:

Top three kickers in '08: Gostkowski, Akers, Carney
In '07: Crosby, Bironas, Folk
In '06: Gould, Kaeding, Scobee
In '05: Rackers, Feely, Graham

I could use a lot more data to continually hammer the point home, but it would be a waste of time. So, uh, yeah. Don't waste a pick until you have to.

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One of the lesser noticed aspects of the Falcons success this year has been the team's special teams play. Harry Douglas has proven to be a solid punt returner, while Jerious Norwood's speed make him a threat every time he returns a punt. And Jason Elam has missed only two field goals all season.

But the one you'll likely hear the most about this weekend is whenever the Falcons line up to punt, you'll hear the commentators mention how the Falcons gave up an NFL record 49 yards on punt returns all season. In 16 games, the Falcons allowed a total of 49 yards in punt returns. No opposing returner ever ripped off a return longer than 12 yards.To put it in perspective, there were 28 punt returns of 40+ yards this year and 119 punt returns of 20 yards or more. Atlanta allowed none of them. A league high 27 of Michael Koenen's 47 punts were fair caught.

But while all of that is true, this is truly a case of a junk stat. There's some value in the fact that Koenen's high arcing punts ensured that no team ever got a game-changing return. But at the same time, Koenen was only averaging 40.7 yards per punt, which was 34th out of the 35 NFL punters with 20 or more boots. His net average of 37.5 is 20th in the league.

So there are a lot of things to be impressed with about the Falcons special teams, but if you hear television commentators talk about how great their punting is, don't believe it. It's consistent, but the Falcons aren't winning the battle of field position.

Before you move any further, make sure to check out Part 1, if you haven't done so. I explain things in the intro. For our purposes on this post, however, there's no need to twiddle the thumbs. Let's dive in:

Wide Receiver

How about that Sunday night game for the Denver receivers? Last time around, they completely schooled the Chargers secondary. Now Eddie Royal has tons more experience under his belt, and Brandon Marshall is still just as talented. Both of them are in line for an obscene stat-line in what should be a shootout.

Only illegal formations by his teammates can stop Megatron. Yes, start Calvin Johnson in all formats. He's just too good to sit.

I'd avoid Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison and Anthony Gonzalez, because of the fact that Jim Sorgi should be under center for the majority of the afternoon for the Colts. It's just too much of a gamble to try and predict where the touches go for Indy.

I'm a Bears fan, and I have absolutely no idea how they can do anything to remotely stop Andre Johnson. He's likely to go berserk. Again.

It's playoff time! In what should be championship week, FanHouse fantasy positional rankings are compiled in order to provide answers to your possible lineup dilemmas. If you need further assistance, please feel free to shoot us an email question.

Joe Nedney is only 11th in kicker points, which means he's useful as a low-end kicker in most leagues.

The thing about Nedney, though, is that he doesn't miss often. He's 26-of-29 on field goals this season, and hasn't missed an extra point. The reason he's not higher in scoring is because he hasn't had as many opportunities as the higher scorers (he's 12th in FG attempts).

Nedney's getting to play the hapless Rams indoors in St. Louis this weekend. The Rams are near the bottom in scoring defense and have allowed 29 field goals, which places them 27th in the league.

In fact, I'm making him number one. No guts, no glory.

More notes after the rankings.

1. Joe Nedney, at StL
2. Stephen Gostkowski, vs. ARI
3. Rob Bironas, vs. PIT
4. John Carney, vs. CAR
5. Jason Elam, at MIN

The Falcons had long ago exceeded any expectations for the 2008 season, but on Sunday, they just added to coach Mike Smith's now-impressive resume.

The Falcons had to wait until Jason Elam's overtime field goal to knock off the Bucs in a key NFC South game, keeping the team's playoff hopes alive, but this was a game that the team had almost wrapped up several times before.

If backup tight end Jason Radar hadn't fumbled at the one-yard line, the Falcons could have put this game away during regulation. If Matt Ryan hadn't actually looked like a rookie on a couple of plays, the Falcons could have put the game away. If Michael Koenen hadn't had a punt blocked in the final three minutes of regulation, Atlanta would have walked off winners without the need for an overtime.

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 Houston Texans defense looked pretty solid against the hapless Jags at home Monday night. Unfortunately they'll get to travel up to Green Bay on short rest this week. The Packers should move the ball with ease in Lambeau, but let's hope the Texans defense can mount a few red zone stops. I think they can. Mason Crosby is the top kicker this week.

More notes after the rankings.

1. Mason Crosby, vs. HOU
2. Jason Elam, at NO
3. Stephen Gostkowski, at SEA
4. Ryan Longwell, at DET
5. Rob Bironas, vs. CLE

The playoffs are either upon us or one week away in the majority of fantasy football leagues. With this in mind, Fantasy FanHouse is examining what you can expect from the fantasy relevant players on each team.

Atlanta Falcons

The opposing defenses: at NO (24th against pass, 19th against run), vs. TB (3rd against pass, 9th against run), at MIN (21st against pass, 2nd against run)
The skinny: The future is bright here, but we don't care about that just yet. The run defenses in the last two weeks pose tall orders, and those usually amount to a mediocre week for The Burner (Bears, Eagles, Bucs). Still, if you've gotten this far with him, you likely can't afford to sit him at this point -- especially with his touchdown potential. I do greatly trust the pass attack for Weeks 14 and 16.
The must-starts: Roddy White, Jason Elam
The likely starts: Michael Turner, Matt Ryan
The spot-start: Michael Jenkins
The no-starts: Jerious Norwood, Harry Douglas
The D/ST: The hills and valleys of performance here have been extreme. They were incredible in Weeks 9 and 10, while brutal in Weeks 4 and 11. Some good and some mediocre stat outputs lie in between. Facing the Saints is not advisable, and I don't like them in the Metrodome (Vikings). Facing the Bucs at home in Week 15, I could see them as a viable start. All things considered, though, I'd rather have a good amount of other teams heading into the playoffs. Check on the Redskins availability.

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.

It's no secret that opposing teams score points on the Lions. The Titans are coming into Ford Field with a massive chip on their shoulder, following a loss at home. They won't find many problems, and that includes their kicker, Rob Bironas. He'll feel quite comfortable inside.

Nick Folk is coming off a 19-fantasy-point day, and the Cowboys get another hapless defense. Hopefully the Cowboys' offense doesn't score only touchdowns.

I also love both night-game kickers, as the Cardinals and Eagles should be able to move the ball. There's a good chance of many kicking points in that game.

All told, four of this week's top six kickers are participating on Thanksgiving.

More notes after the rankings.

1. Rob Bironas, at DET
2. Nick Folk, vs. SEA
3. Rian Lindell, vs. SF
4. Jason Elam, at SD
5. Neil Rackers, at PHI

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 Broncos offense is really good. The Raiders defense is pretty bad, but they've been able to put the clamps on teams in the red zone and in the passing attack recently. The two teams are playing each other in the sea-level-challenged confines of Denver.

I'm smelling a good fantasy kicker! Loving some Matt Prater this week.

More notes after the rankings.

1. Matt Prater, vs. OAK
2. Jason Elam, vs. CAR
3. Jeff Reed, vs. CIN
4. Stephen Gostkowski, at MIA
5. Nick Folk, vs. SF