FanHouse MattPrater

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

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.

Once again, we'll try to find a kicker who plays on a capable offensive team ... that has the chance to sputter inside the red zone. I'm going with Matt Prater. The Broncos can throw the ball, but they are likely to be without Tony Scheffler and maybe even Eddie Royal. That means blanket coverage on Brandon Marshall by the Jags physical secondary. Plus, the Broncos haven't run the ball especially well, so the coverage gets tighter as the ball approaches the end-zone and the field shortens. Finally, Matt Prater has a booming leg and kicks in thin air.

I'd like to say that was fun. Still, it's a job ... some more:

- Not sure how the Browns can keep the juggernaut Giants out of the end-zone ... but extra points still count for one, and if the G-Men falter one time you're looking at a nine point day. John Carney is kicking for the Giants this weekend, by the way, not Lawrence Tynes.

- I finally love Shayne Graham. The Jets are just bad enough to allow points, but good enough to stop the Bengals deep.

- Robbie Gould never disappoints. Ever.

1. Matt Prater, vs. JAX
2. Shayne Graham, @ NYJ
3. Nick Folk, @ AZ
4. John Carney, @ CLE
5. Robbie Gould, @ ATL

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

Well, I figured it was only fair since I nominated an All-Bust Team yesterday that I toss some love towards those who've gone above and beyond our expectations. Yes, despite telling you to cut scrubs week in and week out and dolling out awards for the fantasy stinkers, I do have a heart. I'll quickly define a "BUST-OUT" as the obvious -- a player we were hoping to have a big season, but weren't quite sure.

Got it? So, don't get bent out of shape when you don't see me praising Adrian Peterson, Marion Barber, Terrell Owens, Larry Fitzgerald or any of the likes. We all know those guys are the studs, but this isn't a Fantasy MVP summons. So, let's jump right into this and bestow some quarter-season praise on the surprising hero's. Shall we?

QB: Jay Cutler and Philip Rivers

Ironically this would have to be a dead tie between two guys who despise one another. Here are a couple young QBs from the same division that we just weren't 100 percent sure about. Well, not to brag (yes, I mean to brag) - I was all about Cutler during the preseason and I feel vindicated by his early performance. OK, so maybe he was pegged by a lot folks to have the "breakout" season we're seeing right now, but Rivers? Hmm.

The Atlanta Falcons ended their preseason on a high note yesterday, defeating the Baltimore Ravens 13-10. Most of the starters sat out in attempt to avoid unnecessary injury, but that did not take away from the intensity of the game. The reserves hit the field knowing this was their final shot to make an impression; their final shot at winning a job in the NFL.

Although his position was already secure, back-up quarterback Chris Redman went out and played a very good first half. And while he did tail off toward the end of his stint, he ended the night going 13 of 23 for 119 yards and a touchdown. Redman was then replaced by Casey Bramlet who went four of seven for 68 yards -- his statistics look better in the box score than he did on the field. Bramlet holds onto the ball entirely too long and doesn't appear to have very good arm strength.

Wide receiver Vincent Marshall made quite an impression last night with a very beautiful bobbling catch. Unfortunately, he probably won't make the final roster, but could be a very solid practice squad/emergency player.

It also appeared that the kicking battle went down to the wire. Will it be Billy Cundiff or Matt Prater? My money is still on Cundiff, but Prater looked good on both kickoffs and field goals last night (outside of the 44-yard miss).