FanHouse ToddHeap

On Second Thought is Matt Snyder's look back at the initial FanHouse staff rankings, which were compiled nearly a month ago. As we all know, fantasy players' value changes frequently, even when no games are being played.

After the big three positions in fantasy football, tight end is next in importance. Since you only play one tight end, though, we'll also fill this entry out by discussing some fantasy defenses as well.

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With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.

In 2007, the Ravens finished a disappointing 5-11, stuck with an offense that created scoring opportunities about as effectively as a broken Brita filter cleans water. A draft later, the Ravens picked up lesser-known Joe Flacco, who fell into the job as starting quarterback and led Baltimore to the AFC Conference Championship, eventually losing to the NFL Champion Steelers. The Ravens filled holes at running back last year when they snagged Ray Rice in the second round.

Now, the Ravens know they can win even with a spotty offense, but it is something they need to focus on. Last year, only one wideout, Derrick Mason, caught over 700 yards, and he is 35.

Last February, the Eagles franchised tight end L.J. Smith even though he was coming off an injury-plagued 2007 season where he played in just 10 games, caught 22 passes for 236 yards and hauled in a lone touchdown.

But the team's 2003 second-round pick had been a key cog in Andy Reid's version of the West Coast offense, and seemed worth the average salary of the league's top-five tight ends, especially since it was just a one-year deal.

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

It was improbable. The Baltimore Ravens made another playoff run in 2008 based on a defense that used the art of suffocation (oh, and Ed Reed) and an offense that improved dramatically over the previous years. John Harbaugh was impressive as coach, putting a rookie quarterback out to toss the ball around and sticking with him through thick (17-29, 248 yards, 2 TDs in Week 9) and thin (11-28, 115 yards, 2 INTs in Week 15).

Now the team has to figure out what to do about a superstar in Ray Lewis, and how they should handle other important positional players (hello Mr. Stover) in order to return to (and move past) the AFC Championship game without their defensive coordinator.

There are several different fantasy playoffs models, so it's difficult to accommodate everyone when doing any set of fantasy advice for the real playoffs. Most common models require you to do a bit of prognosticating as far as the actual game winners. To that, I say good luck. This isn't like last year, where we all knew the Patriots were going to the Super Bowl. This season the playoffs are wide open, and no, I don't think the Giants are a sure thing to make the big game. They are the surest bet, but it's still a bet.

Anyway, we're going to analyze some of the players.

First, here are the regular-season defensive rankings for the teams playing this postseason.

Team (overall rank, rushing rank, passing rank, scoring rank)

Pittsburgh Steelers (1, 2, 1, 1)
Baltimore Ravens (2, 3, 2, 3)
Philadelphia Eagles (3, 4, 3, 4)
New York Giants (5, 9, 8, 5)
Minnesota Vikings (6, 1, 18, 13)
Tennessee Titans (7, 6, 9, 2)
Indianapolis Colts (11, 24, 6, 7)
Miami Dolphins (15, 10, 25, 9)
Carolina Panthers (18, 20, 16, 12)
Arizona Cardinals (19, 16, 21, 28)
Atlanta Falcons (24, 25, 22, 11)
San Diego Chargers (25, 11, 31, 15)

There are several different fantasy playoffs models, so it's difficult to accommodate everyone when doing any set of fantasy advice for the real playoffs. Most common models require you to do a bit of prognosticating as far as the actual game winners. To that, I say good luck. This isn't like last year, where we all knew the Patriots were going to the Super Bowl. This season the playoffs are wide open, and no, I don't think the Giants are a sure thing to make the big game. They are the surest bet, but it's still a bet.

Anyway, we're going to analyze some of the players.

First, here are the regular-season defensive rankings for the teams playing this postseason.

Team (overall rank, rushing rank, passing rank, scoring rank)

Pittsburgh Steelers (1, 2, 1, 1)
Baltimore Ravens (2, 3, 2, 3)
Philadelphia Eagles (3, 4, 3, 4)
New York Giants (5, 9, 8, 5)
Minnesota Vikings (6, 1, 18, 13)
Tennessee Titans (7, 6, 9, 2)
Indianapolis Colts (11, 24, 6, 7)
Miami Dolphins (15, 10, 25, 9)
Carolina Panthers (18, 20, 16, 12)
Arizona Cardinals (19, 16, 21, 28)
Atlanta Falcons (24, 25, 22, 11)
San Diego Chargers (25, 11, 31, 15)

It's playoff time! FanHouse fantasy positional rankings are compiled in order to provide answers to 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.

Not much shakeup at the top, except for one surprise. Yes, it's time to bump Antonio Gates down just a peg. Let's face it, anytime your star tight end puts up a goose egg as he did against Oakland in a critical game, something must give.

The great Tony Gonzalez continues to ride out the hot streak, and he just loves playing the Chargers. Look for Jason Witten and Tony Romo to get back on the same page this weekend after they both took blame for the collapse in Pittsburgh last week.

Climbing up the tight end ladder this week is an old familiar face in Jeremy Shockey. Let me explain. Since he took the scolding from Drew Brees on the sideline against Atlanta, here are his averages in the past four games; five receptions per game and 53 yards per game. Yup, he hasn't scored a TD yet this season, but it could be coming Thursday night against Chicago.

Welcome back to earth Dustin Keller. You can thank your QB for the slippage this week. And now let's tap into the rest of the rankings.

1. Tony Gonzalez, SD
2. Jason Witten, NYG
3. Chris Cooley, @ CIN
4. Dallas Clark, DET
5. Tony Scheffler, @ CAR

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.

Just two weeks ago, this position was absolutely depleted; the shallowest of fantasy positions. All of a sudden, Week 10 brought us some incredible success for such a specialized position ... and now looking at this week's matchups, it's really tough to go wrong here.

The top seven are obviously solid plays, especially Tony Gonzalez, who would be a weekly must-start at this point if he played WR.

Look past that group, though. Would you be having any reservations playing Donald Lee against the Bears? Todd Heap, Vernon Davis, and Zach Miller would be decent options, but they are ranked in the 17-20 range.

Dustin Keller and Kevin Boss are beginning to break out in New York.

Visanthe Shiancoe, Greg Olsen, and Bo Scaife have become extremely trusted options for their quarterbacks.

Finally, John Carlson (pictured), the rookie from Notre Dame, will enjoy having Matt Hasselbeck under center again, and I look for him to receive the most targets and catches in Seattle this weekend.

1. Tony Gonzalez, vs. NO
2. Dallas Clark, vs. HOU
3. Kellen Winslow, at BUF
4. Antonio Gates, at PIT
5. Jason Witten, at WAS

With fantasy leagues around the country defining who has a chance to win this thing and who can basically kiss their season goodbye (thanks Tom Brady), it was nice to have a little help from some of the not-so usual suspects.

This week went to the tight ends, who had 13 touchdowns between 10 guys, a staggering number for a position that doesn't always get the glory they may deserve.

Week 10 started out well, with Tony Scheffler of Denver catching four balls for 92 yards and Daniel Graham grabbing a touchdown from Jay Cutler. Then we had Bo Scaife, Todd Heap and Kellen Winslow have career fantasy days, racking up some serious points for people that were smart (or lucky, one of the two) enough to start the guys.

The craziest part of this whole thing is the top tight end in the league, Jason Witten, was on a bye, so a lot of owners had to search for some replacements.

What does this say for the rest of the year? Well, one could argue it was just a coincidence, that a lot of the same position players had some good grabs and that was that.

The more positive (and fantasy) side might say that quarterbacks are starting to find their favorite targets as the year shortens and playoffs are on player's mind. You know the usual suspects, with Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez and Kevin Boss all scoring a touchdown on 66, 113 and 69 yards receiving, but here are a couple that you might not know but could be interested in starting this coming week.

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around with his finger in the air while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's Studs and Duds.

Here's Week 10 at a glance, where we point out the horses destined for the Kentucky Derby and jeer those headed to the glue factory.

Studs

Thomas Jones, RB NY Jets (26 carries, 149 yards, 3 TDs) -- Three weeks ago the Jets looked absolutely dreadful, losing their third of four games and having people question just about every decision they'd made (i.e., Brett Favre). Well thanks to Jones, who has scored in three straight, all victories, New York looks like they could sneak in the playoffs and play the role of team you wouldn't enjoy seeing on the opposing sidelines. In the largest victory in Jets history, Jones found holes in a pitiful Rams defense and decided to hang out in the end zone three times. Mr. Jones, how does it feel to be the AFC leading rusher?