FanHouse Matt Prater

When slotting fantasy football kickers, there are myriad factors which should be considered. After looking at all of them, I've determined my favorite option for Week 11 is Matt Prater. The Broncos are desperately in need of a win this weekend in a pivotal home tilt against the Chargers. With Kyle Orton banged up, expect the Broncos to try and shorten the game by running the ball and making short throws. These kinds of drives often end up stalling in the red zone. Only two teams have allowed more field goals this season than the Chargers, who have allowed 13 of their 16 field goals in 31 red zone trips. Predicting the top kicker for the week is the most difficult of any position because of all the variables that go into kicker points, but I'm rolling with Prater this week.

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What do you get when you have the league's fourth-highest scoring kicker squaring off -- in a dome, no less -- against the team who has allowed the most kicking points in the NFL? An easy No. 1 fantasy kicker ranking, that's what.

Ryan Longwell has only been outscored by three other kickers this season -- and one of them is on a bye this week. He's made 13 of 14 field goal attempts and all 29 extra points. The Lions have been on the receiving end of 27 extra points and 14 field goals thus far in 2009. Expecting double digit points from your kicker is rarely feasible -- due to the fickle nature of kickers -- but you can do so here, Longwell owners.

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Just as we gave you Jay Feely last week, we're going against the Raiders to find a quality kicker for the Week 8 fantasy football rankings. The silver and black have now allowed 14 field goals and 19 extra points in seven games, tying them with the Chiefs for the most points allowed to opposing kickers.

This week, Nate Kaeding of the Chargers gets to kick against the Raiders at home. He's coming off two straight double-digit weeks in scoring, where he's hit six field goals and six extra points. Thus, the veteran is an absolute no-brainer to sit atop the ranks for this week.

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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

Shonn Greene (RB, Jets, 3,866 adds) - No secret here as the Irish eyes smiled upon Shonn Greene this past weekend. Just as it looked like Greene's odds at making an impact in his rookie season were getting close to nil, Leon Washington suffered a broken leg and headed off to the old sawbones. Given his chance, Greene earned his keep with 144 yards and two touchdowns in a rout of the hapless Raiders. Miami should prove a better test in Week 8 as to Greene's real worth, but for now he represents a must-add in all formats.

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With all the offensive stars New England has, you would think someone like Tom Brady would be leading the team in total points. But it's kicker Stephen Gostkowski that's blazing the trail, with 30 points through three games. He nailed all four of his attempts last week against Atlanta en route to a 14-point showing, and with another tough defense on tap his leg should be golden again. If this keeps up, he'll have no problem matching his 148 points from last season.

1. Stephen Gostkowski, NE vs. BAL
2. John Carney, NO vs. NYJ
3. Nate Kaeding, SD @ PIT
4. Ryan Longwell, MIN vs. GB
5. Matt Prater, DEN vs. DAL

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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

Pierre Garcon (WR, Colts, 5,354 adds) -- It's about time. We've only been talking up Garcon for two solid weeks now. Despite the massive attack on Garcon, he's still available in 86 percent of leagues at the time of this writing. After two solid games -- both with touchdowns -- this should change fast. Besides, how can anyone honestly pass up the temptation make waiter jokes in a French accent for the remainder of the season?

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.

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 ...
Kyle Orton Dead Arm Syndrome: a condition characterized by a complete lack of strength in the upper arm. Despite hosting the NFL's second most productive offense in 2008, averaging just shy of 400 yards per game, and the third best passing offense in the league, the introduction of Orton as the starting quarterback puts the kibosh on the productivity. Orton has a weak arm, relies heavily on check-down passes and makes bad decisions. In terms of supporting cast, the receivers are a huge upgrade from his days in Chicago with Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal, but Marshall wants out so be sure to keep a close eye on this situation. Also, new head coach and signal-caller Josh McDaniels runs a spread offense, so he'll need to rely on Orton probably more than anyone would ever want. I don't expect the offense to suffer immensely with a solid new batch of runners, but it definitely takes a dive from last season.

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It's funny how an NFL season can play out. When the Broncos and Chargers played in Week Two, the game was decided on one of the worst refereeing calls in NFL history. One of the many (printable) things that people said was how awful it would be if the Chargers wound up missing out on the playoffs because of that call. No Broncos were quoted as saying that, but, based on the way they've steadfastly refused to win the AFC West, some of them must feel that way.

Because they are so giving, the Broncos must now go to San Diego and play the Chargers for a spot in the playoffs. The division title and the Week Two debacle give plenty of heft to the game, not to mention the long-simmering feud between Philip Rivers and Jay Cutler, which makes it a lot easier to ignore the fact that neither team has proven themselves particularly worthy of a postseason slot this season.

The Broncos certainly didn't today. They couldn't beat a Bills team with nothing to play for today even though they racked up 532 total yards on offense, 260 more than they allowed the Bills. The Broncos, who led 13-0 at one point, made every mistake in the game, however. They missed a field goal, fumbled to set up a Buffalo score and, most damning, Cutler threw a pick to Kawika Mitchell on the Buffalo goal line to erase a chance at a game-tying score.

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