FanHouse JoshScobee

Fantasy FanHouse's "Bust a Move" segment provides quick-hitting insight on the most popular adds and drops across Fleaflicker fantasy leagues between Tuesday and Wednesday of each week. Knowing who is on the move during this 24-hour period often provides a valuable edge with regard to outperforming or underperforming players, injuries and depth chart shifts. So do as the man says, "Don't just stand there..."

The Adds

Rashard Mendenhall (RB, Steelers, 3,178 adds) - Enough already about the Steelers moving away from their longtime pound-the-rock mantra and relying on the pass. Mendenhall finally showed up and put the backfield debates as to who should tote the ball to bed. Willie Parker's inability to get the ground game moving (3.1 yards per carry) coupled with an inability to overcome injuries finally got the best of him as Mendenhall should see the bulk of the touches going forward with Parker playing second fiddle. It's hard to argue with 165 and two touchdowns -- so why try?

Back in Week 3, these two teams met in Indianapolis. Jacksonville thoroughly dominated time of possession (41:35 to 18:25), yet still needed a last second drive and a clutch 51 yard field goal from Josh Scobee to win it. You can see Scobee mugging the ball-boy here after the kick in one of my favorite pictures of the 2008 season.

The Jags ran all over Indy, as both Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew went over 100 yards on the ground. Also, Rashean Mathis returned a pick 61 yards for a touchdown.

At the time it was thought that this saved Jacksonsville's season, one that carried lofty expectations. The Colts seemed vulnerable, especially because the defense supposedly couldn't stop the run unless Bob Sanders was suited up.

My, how things have changed.

The Jags are dead man walking presently. Taylor and Mathis are out for the season. The Colts are riding a seven game winning streak, and will be headed, yet again, to the playoffs. They have been stopping the run better as of late, even when Sanders is sidelined, due to the emergence of Melvin Bullitt, though Sanders is now back.

Three key questions:

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

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 top two kickers on pretty much every rankings sheet heading into the season were Nick Folk and Shayne Graham. Folk currently sits 16th in fantasy points and Graham is all the way down at 25th. This is why, from time to time, I say this position should be eliminated from fantasy. You can't educate yourself into a fantasy kicking expert, because it's a total crapshoot.

For this week, I think the Bears will find themselves in Detroit's red zone quite frequently, so I'm throwing Gould atop the rankings. The same goes for Lindell, Prater, and Scobee. Those teams have the capability to get into field goal range and then not convert into TDs.

I do expect Nick Folk to be busy, but extra points are only worth one. As for Graham, well, do we really think the Bengals will score? I don't.

1. Robbie Gould, @ DET
2. Rian Lindell, @ ARI
3. Matt Prater, vs. TB
4. Josh Scobee, vs. PIT
5. Neil Rackers, vs. BUF

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, or have funky league rules, feel free to shoot us an email question.

Honestly, no one else even had a chance. When I saw Josh Scobee sprint about 60 yards and mug a ball-dude (pictured here ... seriously, he's ripping at it like he plays for Lovie Smith) for the football which he booted as the game-winner, I knew I had my number one kicker for week four. That was awesome. You know when people say something like, "act like you've been there before?" Well, he has. He had already kicked a long game-winner against the Colts in his career. Whatever. It doesn't matter. He's my boy now.

- Loving the chances of the Titans being held out of the endzone by the Vikes, yet getting close enough in the field position game to give Rob Bironas several long field goals.

1. Josh Scobee, vs. Hou
2. Rob Bironas, vs. Min
3. Nick Folk, vs. Was
4. Mason Crosby, @ TB
5. David Akers, @ Chi

We kind of had the idea the Jags would run wild on the Colts. Matt Forte and Adrian Peterson had their fun against the Colts' porous run defense in the first two weeks, and then Bob Sanders -- one of the leagues most respected run-stuffers -- went down with an injury.

Well, after 236 rushing yards and a downright absurd advantage in time of possession (41:35 - 18:25), the Jags came away with a much needed road victory. Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor, behind quality work from their offensive line, simply owned the game and kept the Colts' offense off the field.

The result was a 70-49 advantage for the Jags in offensive plays, and a game-winning 51 yard field goal for Josh Scobee.

It's hard to draw many conclusions about the Colts' offense, which looked stellar on the first and last drives of the game, with this small a sample against a quality defense. It was so long between possessions all game that it had to be damn near impossible to develop any sort of continuity, though two picks from Peyton Manning is not really included in the usual game-plan.

FanHouse 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, or have funky league rules, feel free to shoot us an email question.

More Rankings: OVER/UNDER | Running Backs | Wide Recievers | Tight Ends | DSTs | Kickers

Welcome to the crapshoot. Generally speaking, with kickers in fantasy, you'd like to have a guy playing for a team that's going to put a lot of points on the board. Of course, you'd rather field goals than extra points, so an offensive machine might be the kiss of death. Good luck to all.

Best value: Josh Scobee. The Jags are good enough to move the ball on the Titans. The Titans are good enough to stop the Jags. Translation: Look for multiple field goals.
Worst value: Rob Bironas. The Titans aren't good enough on offense to pile up the scoring opportunities. You may be looking at a single field goal or extra point here.

The Rankings
1. Nick Folk, Cowboys, at CLE
2. Nate Kaeding, Chargers, vs. CAR
3. Stephen Gostkowski, Patriots, vs. KC
4. Adam Vinatieri, Colts, vs. CHI
5. Mason Crosby, Packers, vs. MIN

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: David Garrard threw all of three interceptions last year. Three. Three. Despite his questionable pedigree from the Eastern part of my fair state, his incredibly efficient performance earned him a pimped out $60 million deal. If the Jags new-old wideouts can ever get healthy, Garrard might actually live up to the lofty expectations he'll be staring down this season. Heat Index: 8

Running Back: When will Fred Taylor stop? Ever? And will Maurice Jones-Drew be ready for a full time gig when he does? Why is Greg Jones getting paid so much to be a glorified quasi goalline fullback? Why do I have so many friggin' questions about a team that finished second in the NFL in rushing yards per game last year at 149.4? Heat Index: 10

Receivers: Guh. The Jags went out and got Jerry Porter in the offseason to give Garrard a "legit" first option and he immediately got hurt. They also added Troy Williamson who has shown a penchant for dropping the ball, but like Mittens in Carolina, we probably have to reserve judgment until we find out if his greasy mitts in Minny were a result of Tavaris Jackson cooties. Heat Index: 3