FanHouse ZachMiller

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

Faller of the Week: Everyone on the Oakland Raiders. The Houston Texans entered the game as one of the league's worst defenses. They were the worst in the NFL against the run. Sunday, the Raiders gained just 165 yards and only a single first down on the ground against those same Texans. I'm done with Darren McFadden. Michael Bush and Justin Fargas shouldn't be considered viable fantasy contributors in any format, and I'd even give up on Zach Miller (which isn't his fault, but he's not going to put up stats for this embarrassingly inept offense). This team is dead to me, and they should be to you, too.

If you're still having trouble finding a decent tight end option at this point, you're doing something wrong. The tight end position has been consistently deep and productive over the first two weeks of the season. The Big Four is becoming more like the Big Dozen -- well, maybe.

There's simply no shying away from what Dallas Clark did on Monday night. He is essentially a No. 2 wide receiver for this Colts offense with Anthony Gonzalez down and out. However, you already knew that, right? And so, we must stick to our guns for yet another week with Mr. Clark leading the tight end rankings.

---

---

Each Monday of the fantasy football season, we'll cut through the fantasy numbers put up by individuals and tell you what they really mean.

In the overwhelming majority of fantasy football leagues this season, Matt Forte was a top-5 pick. He was coming off a sensational rookie season and now had a strong-armed quarterback to stretch the defense and open running lanes for him. Thus far, the payoff for Forte owners has been quite futile. In two games, he's carried the ball 38 times for 84 yards -- without scoring a touchdown.

Be patient, though, because the payoff is on the horizon.

---

---

It's been said in his space on numerous occasions that the tight end position holds plenty of depth this season. The argument was to not panic if you missed out on any of the big names during the draft, because you'd find an equally serviceable option in the end. And if anything Week 1 simply enhanced the notion, with at least 11 of the top 20 projected tight ends going over 60 yards and 11 total TDs mixed in. That's pretty solid if you ask me.

And so, this week we're gonna take the leap for Todd Heap. He was mentioned last week by R.J White as a sleeper for Week 1. Well, nobody should be sleeping this time, as he gets to face the Chargers who were simply awful against tight ends last season. And you may also recall that Zach Miller just throttled them on MNF. That said, Heap appears healthy and has a growing rapport with Joe Flacco. As for the rest of the rankings let's take a look.

1. Dallas Clark, IND at MIA
2. Tony Gonzalez, ATL vs. CAR
3. Chris Cooley, WAS vs. STL
4. John Carlson, SEA at SF
5. Jason Witten, DAL vs. NYG

---

---

Are you ready for some football? A Monday Night Partaaay? The NFL Monday Night Football season kicks off in grand style with a double-feature, which means double the fantasy impact. Tonight's matchups feature a lot of exciting fantasy angles, so we thought it fitting to provide a quick MNF preview to give you the key storylines.

- Arguably one of the biggest question marks of the 2009 fantasy season rests on the chest of longtime juggernaut, LaDainian Tomlinson. San Diego signed backup Darren Sproles to a mega-contract and Tomlinson posted just slightly less than fantastic numbers in 2008, so his value ground lowered this draft season. Monday night, LdT will prove to all those Forte, Slaton and Turner owners that you should never second-guess a legend.

We know over the course of the season, it appears tight end is going to be a deep position, and this week there seem to be a lot of good plays. Sure, it's top-heavy, as the top four form the proverbial "Big Four," but take a look in the teens. There are plenty of viable options this week with a chance to put up numbers rivaling anyone in the top 10.

Of course, we're pretty confident Dallas Clark goes nuts against the Jags at home.

1. Dallas Clark, IND vs. JAX
2. Antonio Gates, SD at OAK
3. Jason Witten, DAL at TB
4. Tony Gonzalez, ATL vs. MIA
5. Greg Olsen, CHI at GB

---

---

As the Oakland Raiders try to move forward from Punch-Gate and put together their first winning season since Jerry Rice was their leading receiver, they have already received some more bad news. Chaz Schilens, who was definitely shaping up as their best receiver, has suffered a relatively serious injury.

According to FanHouse's Nancy Gay (via e-mail), who is in Raiders camp today, Schilens has a fractured 5th metatarsal bone in his left foot. He currently has a boot on it. There is no word yet on if he'll require surgery.

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 ...
Running game that needs help from the passing game. One thing is for sure, the Oakland Raiders can run the football. They finished 10th in the NFL last season in rushing offense. The problem is that they only had nine rushing touchdowns (only three teams had less), which we can attribute to the fact that the Raiders had the worst passing offense in the NFL.

If the Raiders can find a way to stretch the field and move the ball through the air, expect the rushing game to get even better.

---

---

It's been yet another lost season out in Oakland, as the Raiders are already on their second head coach of the year, employees are jumping ship to join the former head coach at his new place of employment, all while they've assured themselves a sixth straight 10-loss season. Good times, indeed.

One of the players who was supposed to help turn this thing around was No. 4 overall pick Darren McFadden. Thus far, his rookie season has been somewhat of a disappointment, mainly because he's been hampered by some turf toe problems -- that may or may not be the result of shoes that don't fit -- and some curious decisions by an agitated Tom Cable.

On Sunday, when the Raiders were absolutely throttled by New England, McFadden didn't play much in the first half, and didn't start getting regular touches until the third quarter when the game was already well out of reach. This isn't sitting well some members of the Oakland media.

Following the game, Jerry McDonald of the Oakland Tribune offered his initial feelings on the lack of McFadden, saying his performance once he got in proves that the turf toe issue is, well, no longer an issue. On Tuesday, Monte Poole weighed in on McFadden's usage, and he too isn't thrilled with the interim head coach.

While doing my daily rounds through cyberspace yesterday morning, I stumbled across a stat on the fantasy sports site, Rotoworld, that I found just a little hard to believe. Apparently, the Oakland Raiders have scored only one touchdown in the first half of their games this season. One.

They didn't provide a link to confirm this embarrassing factoid, so I decided to look it up, just to make sure. And you know what? They were right. Sort of.

As it turns out, the Raiders have actually scored two first-half touchdowns this season, though, only one came with the offense on the field. During the Raiders' Week 4 loss to San Diego, tight end Zach Miller hauled in a 63-yard touchdown pass from JaMarcus Russell. Other than that? The only scoring done by the silver and black before the half this season has been from the foot of Sebastian Janikowski, or on an 89-yard punt return by Johnnie Lee Higgins.

Doesn't that get you excited for tonight's Raiders-Chargers tilt?