FanHouse PhilipRivers

With 3:30 left in the game and his team trailing by three points, Philip Rivers had a chance.

He had a chance to win in New York with much of the nation watching. He had a chance to best Eli Manning, a man who refused to play for the Chargers and was eventually swapped for Rivers and another draft pick (which turned into Shawne Merriman). He had a chance to prove he was a winner, despite the fact that his team hasn't helped him win a ring yet. He had a chance to prove he belonged in the same conversation as the game's elite, and that he's just as qualified a quarterback as Eli.

And on the first play of the series, Rivers threw an interception. What happened next, though, rallied San Diego to a 21-20 win and defined the essence of Rivers as a player.

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Sunday Evening Wrap checks out players who increased or decreased their value during the Sunday afternoon games.

Top Faller: Greg Jennings had 80 catches for 1,292 yards last season. His worst game in terms of catches was two. His worst game in terms of yardage was 22. In 2009, he caught six balls for 106 yards in his one game before Sunday. Obviously, at home against the Bengals seemed to bode well for the fourth year wideout. The result was a goose-egg of a game from a player who is a WR1 on fantasy rosters in every single league out there. Keep in mind, angry owners, this isn't going to happen again this year. The Packers play the Rams next week, so there's no reason to get down on him now. He'll
be fine.

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Most of what we discuss here at Fantasy FanHouse revolves around so-called "standard" leagues. Obviously, most readers play in leagues with generally the same rules, give or take a few minor tweaks. Leagues with drastic format differences, though, should be treated differently.

Today, we'll check out oddities revolving around the "flex" position in fantasy football. You could also call the position a wild card. It's an extra player in the starting lineup who can come from different positions. Most leagues allow you to use either a running back or wide receiver. Some let you involve tight ends, but my favorite leagues are the ones where it's all in your hands.

As the season nears, FanHouse's fantasy football team decided to put our heads together for another set of updated positional rankings. First up, the signal-callers.

We've now established thrice what everyone already knew anyway: Drew Brees is heading into the season as the consensus No. 1 fantasy football quarterback. This time around, though, we did have quite the knock-down, drag-out battle for a spot toward the top -- the two-hole. Rivals Peyton Manning and Tom Brady did battle, and their average ranking amongst our staff was a near dead heat (2.5 to 2.67).

Click through to see who emerged -- along with the rest of our top 45 quarterbacks. (Last Updated: 8/27/09)

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Al Davis loves speedy wide receivers and strong-armed quarterbacks. These are well-known facts that explain -- though don't justify -- many of the Raiders' draft-day decisions.

There was a time, 25 to 30 years ago, when Oakland's reliance on the deep pass was integral to its success. But defenses evolve to combat offensive advancements and what was in vogue a few seasons back will almost certainly be obsolete today.

It's an arms race. Unless you're Davis, who still has visions of Kenny Stabler or Jim Plunkett regularly connecting with Cliff Branch. Meanwhile, the reality is that the Raiders are one of the worst organizations in the league, and there's no reason to think that will change anytime soon.

Philip Rivers went to N.C. State, which means that, as a lifelong UNC fan, I have to hate him. That's how it works. That said, I have come to grudgingly respect the guy. I even like him as much as you can like someone who claims to talk smack without cursing (that's like saying you love going to bars to drink Sprite).

He's not afraid to take a hit, he's played through serious injury, and most importantly, he thinks Jay Cutler is a clown, which is something we can all get behind.

And Rivers also doesn't take himself so seriously that if a high school kid embarrasses him at his own camp, he immediately confiscates the video and has the perpetrator waterboarded to send a message to other would-be overachievers.

Moving pictures evidence after the jump.

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 quarterback rankings, click here.

Since we last checked in, there have been a few difference in the quarterback rankings. Not only have OTAs taken place, but we've also had some changes of heart and done a lot more studying -- plus the aforementioned FanHouse staff additions. One thing that didn't change? The top three ... Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning remain intact.

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There's a report the Eagles want quarterback Donovan McNabb to retire in Philadelphia.

The question is: What do you pay McNabb?

"I'm not going to get into that," coach Andy Reid said Thursday afternoon. "I stay away from those contract things. We'll just see how things go down the road here. I think everyone knows that we are very honored to have Donovan here, a lot of our players are, and I think the city feels that way, and surely the organization feels that way."

Well, Thursday night we found out. The Eagles, according to ESPN, have restructured the last two seasons of McNabb's contract.

"We are thrilled that this all worked out," Eagles president Joe Banner said in a statement. "He is a great football player, a great person, and someone who gives back to the community. We are lucky to have him in Philadelphia."

McNabb was scheduled to earn a base salary of $9.2 million this year and $10 million in 2010.

FanHouse's crack squad of savvy fantasy football personnel put our five heads together and amassed consensus rankings for non-keeper, standard scoring leagues. We'll update as the season gets closer, but this is our "incredibly early yet still fun" version.

Was last season the year of the quarterback or what? You still had the old reliables like Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner and Donovan McNabb doing their thing, but a whole new crop of passers have elevated themselves. Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers and Jay Cutler led the way for the youth movement. You could have even waited toward the end of your draft and landed stud QBs in Matt Ryan and Tyler Thigpen (who would have been waiver-wire fodder). Team all that with Tom Brady's Week 1 injury, and we had a really interesting season. Let's see how they fall out presently for 2009.

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