FanHouse Donald Lee

Everyone knew it was coming, but I was happy to anoint Owen Daniels to the fantasy tight end elite in this very space last week and he made me look wise. Well, a day late and a dollar short, let's welcome Vernon Davis into the upper echelon. You should feel good using either Daniels or Davis this weekend as they will continue to prove they deserve the praise bestowed upon them.

Also, there's something about Antonio Gates loving to face the Raiders. These occasions tend to bring out the best of times in Gates, who has scored seven touchdowns in his last ten games versus the Raiders. That's usually a good measure that Gates will be looking for the end zone this Sunday. And he very well could find it multiple times. Thus, he must lead the way in our ranks this week.

As for the rest of the ranks...

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With Chris Cooley reportedly out for a while, many fantasy football owners will have to sort through waiver-wire detritus this week to find a replacement. While we all know you can't snap your fingers and replace a top tight end like Cooley, especially with how volatile the position has been, there are fill-ins that could help mitigate the tough loss.

It seems blasphemous to suggest, but the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers could be in for a different kind of slugfest Sunday night.

This isn't a matchup known for its high-scoring games. Instead, the reputation of the NFL's longest-running rivalry leans toward low-scoring games and highly physical football. This weekend's meeting at Lambeau Field is more likely to produce just one of those things.

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.

Injuries are not an excuse. It's also not permissible to point fingers at guys on the other side of the ball when your team has problems. No one in Green Bay will do this, despite the way things went down last year. The Packers lost eight of their ten games by a combined total of 30 points. Despite this, no one in the locker room pinned the blame on the three-ring circus in training camp, major injuries on defense, or anything else.

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- You can wear an Aaron Rodgers jersey in Wisconsin now and it means something. No longer a roster curiosity stalled in waiting behind Green Bay legend Brett Favre, Rodgers has seized the all-important starting quarterback role here and made it uniquely his.

"I think I've won over everyone here," says Rodgers, 25, who has assumed the role of Big Cheese in Green Bay with an admirable mix of humility and dignity, "because I've tried to just be steady, be even-keeled, on and off the field. That's how you get it done."

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 ...
The team that happily doesn't have to wonder if Brett Favre is coming to camp. Following a future hall of famer and face of the franchise isn't east. But, Aaron Rodgers make it look that way. In his first full year, Rodgers started all 16 games and threw for 4,038 yards and 28 touchdowns. Rodgers spread the love to two 1,000 yard receivers in Greg Jennings and Donald Driver and enjoyed a 1,203 yard campaign from his running back Ryan Grant, who battled through injuries and a somewhat slow start to the season. The key players from 2008 are still around heading into 2009 and there's no reason to think Rodgers shouldn't grow as a quarterback and the rest of the crew around him benefit from his experience.

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

On its surface, the 2008 season appears to have been an unmitigated disaster for the Green Bay Packers. After the Packers made the NFC Championship Game the season before, fans painfully watched the Brett Favre retirement/unretirement/stick-it-to-Ted saga play out, and then got to see new starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers play well before the team fell apart around him.

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 roller-coaster ride continues if you don't own a top-tier TE. However, even if you do - those once reliable options have been hit or miss at best. Tony Gonzalez continues to flourish in the role as the top dog, but Antonio Gates should be primed for a decent game this week. Meanwhile, fantasy owners can finally breathe a sigh of relief as Jason Witten has a pretty good matchup and -- although he might not be 100 percent -- at least Tony Romo is back.

Yet, once you get past those favorite TE options... it's really a crapshoot. Fantasy pundits fell in love, for some reason, with big John Carlson. He's returned a big helping of nothing in return during recent weeks. Plenty of fantasy owners were banking on Kevin Boss last weekend and he also dished out a helping of bust. Who's the boss now? Ah, yes ... bad, bad joke.

Well, the flavor of the week now seems to be Dustin Keller coming off a breakout stretch of games. Will he also break our hearts? I sure hope not, because I've bumped him up the TE rankings and I'm banking on big things for my own team. So don't blame me if he craps out. Stay tuned.

Quick note: I just couldn't bump Dallas Clark over the "Big Three." Worth mentioning, though, is that San Diego is a funnel for tight ends to have successful days. Just mentioning. On with the ranks...

1. Antonio Gates, IND
2. Tony Gonzalez, BUF
3. Jason Witten, SF
4. Dallas Clark, @ SD
5. Chris Cooley, @SEA

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

Quick: Who had "Packers by 20" for this one?

Yeah, me neither.

In fact, "Colts by 20" seemed like a much more likely option.

But I guess the Packers may have heard a few too many lines this week about their status as a home dog, or their two straight losses at Lambeau Field. Head coach Mike McCarthy has really emphasized winning at home since he got the job, and the results have been pretty good to this point. It made sense that a prideful bunch would step up their game in what was close to a national spotlight, with a large part of the country getting Sunday's game on CBS.

Or maybe the Packers are just pissed about the latest Favre story.

No matter the reason, the Packers played an inspired game today. The offensive game plan was pretty obvious. Green Bay wanted to control the ball and keep Peyton Manning from attacking the Packers' banged-up defense.

As we would find out, the ball-control thing worked well, but the Green Bay defense was the story of the day.