FanHouse Matt Bryant

With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.

Meet The ...
Team full of new faces both on the field and on the coaching staff. Since we last played "real" football, Tampa Bay has fired their head coach, Jon Gruden, released fan favorites like Jeff Garcia, Warrick Dunn and Joey Galloway, and saw their defensive coordinator Monte Kiffen head north to coach college football at Tennessee. The team brought in Byron Leftwich and created a quarterback competition, Derrick Ward to share rushing responsibilities with Earnest Graham, and Kellen Winslow, a huge upgrade at tight end. The front office hopes these changes help redefine the offense and give it a new energy; something many felt the offense lacked while being run by Jon Gruden.

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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.

Sad news out of New England today, as Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel left the team for the time being after the death of his father, Greg Cassel, as reported by the Boston Globe. It's still uncertain as to how long Cassel will be away from the team, or if it will have an impact on his availability for Sunday's game in Oakland.

"Right now we're just taking it day to day," said Belichick, who said he was not sure when Cassel would return. "He's going to take care of what he has to do." Belichick, whose father, Steve, passed away during the 2005 season, sympathized with Cassel's situation. "It's bigger than football," Belichick said. "I've been through that during the season as well, a personal situation you just have to deal with, and as I said, our thoughts and prayers are with him."

The Patriots are already in California for this week's game, after playing in Seattle this past Sunday, so it's likely that he'll be available for action, as Cassel is from the Los Angeles area. Though, I certainly wouldn't begrudge him if he weren't ready to return to the field.

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.

Despite the possibility of tornado's, and a steady monsoon-like rain throughout the day, the Buccaneers and Saints managed to score 43 points as Tampa Bay kept pace with Carolina in the NFC South, pulling out a huge 23-20 win.

The win improves Tampa Bay to 9-3 on the season, and sets up a huge contest with Carolina next Monday, in a game that very well could decide the NFC South title.

So, while Drew Brees finished the day 25-of-47 for 297 yards and a pair of scores, he also threw three interceptions, including a brutal pick over the middle, in a tie game, with just over two minutes to play in regulation. Jermaine Phillips picked off the Brees pass, returning it 13 yards to the New Orleans 17-yard line.

Three plays later, Matt Bryant booted a 37-yard field goal for the eventual game-winning score.

The Saints final possession ended when Brees threw his third pick of the day, this time when Phillip Buchanon stepped in front of a pass intended for Lance Moore.

While Brees was tossing interceptions, he received absolutely no help from his running game, as the Buccaneers dominant (and extremely underrated) run defense held the Saints to just 44 yards on 18 carries. Their longest run of the afternoon was nine yards.

Tampa Bay managed to keep pace with Carolina in the NFC South on Sunday, outlasting the Vikings for a 19-13 win. The Buccaneers (7-3) remain a game behind first place Carolina, as the two teams will meet on Monday night, December 8, in Charlotte. Hopefully it's more exciting than this game was.

As for today's contest, Tampa Bay didn't get the early Christmas gift Jon Gruden was hoping for earlier in the week in Cadillac Williams, but it did get a rock-solid performance from quarterback Jeff Garcia, as the 38-year old veteran completed 23-of-30 passes for 255 yards. He also ran the ball six times for 21 yards.

It's good for Tampa Bay's sake that Gruden quickly realized he made a tremendous error in judgment earlier in the year, when he came to the conclusion that Brian Griese was a better option for his offense. Clearly, Garcia can still play a little bit, and the Buccaneers are a better team for it.

Other than that, not much else happened in this one except a lot of defense and a lot of field goals.

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.

Nick Folk was pretty much the consensus number one kicker this preseason, no matter where you looked. I have had the pleasure of avoiding the disappointment of owning him, because he was pretty much always taken before the last round and I thankfully have a rule against that.

This week, though, he's back. The Cowboys are coming off a bye week in which they got nearly all their weapons healthy, most importantly Tony Romo. I expect the scoreboard operator to be busy in Washington, and we can't expect the Cowboys to totally be firing on all cylinders, which means a few stalled drives mixed in with the multiple TDs. Plus, Folk's just the best kicker in the league when given the chance to be.

More analysis after the rankings.

1. Nick Folk, at WAS
2. Jason Elam, at ATL
3. Matt Prater, vs. DEN
4. Rob Bironas, at JAX
5. Matt Bryant, vs. 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.

As always, this is the most fickle and unpredictable position in fantasy football. We'll stay the course -- as usual -- and try to find guys who kick for teams that should score a lot of points while hopefully stalling in field goal once or twice. You'll notice the entire top five play for teams with decent offenses against defenses on which they should be able to move the ball. Hopefully you get several extra points and two field goals. That's all you can ask of a kicker.

1. Ryan Longwell, vs. HOU
2. Robbie Gould, vs. DET
3. Matt Bryant, at KC
4. Rob Bironas, vs. GB
5. Jason Elam, at OAK

Sorting the Sunday Pile looks back at the NFL weekend that was. It's also an unofficial Mittens blog.

For most of us, football is a once-a-week respite from the tediousness of everyday life. For Tampa Bay kicker Matt Bryant, it's his job. And Sunday, he was the toughest guy in the NFL. A day after burying his three-month-old son, Bryant not only showed up for work, but he kicked three field goals, including a 24-yarder with 2:28 left that proved to be the difference in the Buccaneers victory over the Packers.

When talking about football players, kickers are often derisively excluded from the conversation. It has seemingly been that way forever, although I suspect Garo Yepremian's attempt to throw a pass in Super Bowl VII pretty much cemented the perception. But what Bryant did against the Packers transcends any vague sense we might have of football toughness.

It's corny and clichéd, but my world revolves around my 18-month-old son. I can't begin to fathom what Bryant's going through; I'd be completely lost, unable to muster the strength to get out of bed, much less entertain thoughts of work. I'm sure football served as a distraction for Bryant -- a three-hour break from an emotional burden that, frankly, had to be unbearable. I can only imagine Sunday was a surreal unfolding of events, blurred together as they played out in slow-motion silence. If nothing else, it hopefully provided an escape, if only temporarily.

What Bryant was able to do yesterday defies words. Thoughts and prayers, man. Thoughts and prayers.

Entering Sunday's game at Raymond James Stadium, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers had not thrown an interception in 158 pass attempts. He ended up throwing three on just 27 passes in the Packers' 30-21 loss to Tampa Bay.

Though, to be fair, the first pick wasn't his fault, as it was a perfect pass to running back Brandon Jackson, who just happened to allow the ball to bounce off the numbers on his jersey into the waiting hands of Tampa Bay linebacker Derrick Brooks.

Rodgers did throw a pair of touchdowns to Greg Jennings, but left the game briefly following the second touchdown due to a shoulder injury. The pass was a perfect strike, splitting the Buccaneers secondary and hitting Jennings in stride as he walked into the end zone untouched. After the pass, however, Rodgers walked off the field with his right arm hanging off his body.