FanHouse Matt Forte

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.

The 2008 New York Giants were a power football team. They led the NFL in rushing yards with more than 2,500. They had two runners go for over 1,000 yards while another averaged 5.3 yards per carry in limited action. Derrick Ward's departure wasn't supposed to matter, as Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw would continue to spearhead a dynamic rushing offense behind a great offensive line. In theory at least. Instead, the 2009 Giants are a shell of their former selves in terms of running the football.

With attention spans dwindling, we forgo full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. We call it The Once-Over.

The Early Games

New Orleans (9-0) at Tampa Bay (1-8): New Orleans was tested last week -- in fact, they've been tested in each of their last four games. Drew Brees has thrown seven interceptions and only six touchdown passes in those four games. You can expect the Saints to come out on Sunday and look to clean up their act a bit on offense as they play a divisional foe who doesn't have the arsenal to put up much of a fight.

Josh Freeman's play since taking over at quarterback is giving hope for the future in Tampa. He's thrown four touchdown passes and only two interceptions and seems to enjoy throwing to Kellen Winslow who has 11 receptions in his last two games. The Saints defense is a little beaten up, but should be able to hold off the Buccaneers on Sunday.

Pick: New Orleans

In this past week's fantasy football tailgate (every Sunday from 10:30 AM ET to kickoff, come check it out!), someone asked us what we thought the first round would be for next season's drafts. Since we never want to disappoint, let's check it out. Here is one man's opinion on how the first round will shake out next year in standard scoring formats. This is using what we've seen thus far in 2009, plus what I expect to see the rest of the way. The first pick isn't really a secret, if you've been reading me the past two weeks.

1. Chris Johnson, RB, Titans - As I said, I haven't been secretive about this. He's gonna end up with 2,500 yards from scrimmage and close to 20 touchdowns this year. And he's only getting better.

I hate being wrong, but it's bound to happen in this line of work. No one is ever going to be right on 100 percent of their fantasy football proclamations. When it does happen, though, it's nice to be wrong about a player on your favorite team losing much of his fantasy football value. I had completely written off Matt Forte because of the Bears' inability to effectively run the football. The trend continued Thursday night, as Forte gathered just 41 rushing yards on 20 carries.

He did manage to salvage a very solid fantasy stat line, however, due to the Bears' effectiveness in using him on screen passes. He caught eight passes for 120 yards. After watching the game and seeing how he arrived at this total, I'm ready to spin a complete 180 and say he's definitely worth an RB2 slot moving forward. He still has "it," the Bears just need to get him into space so he can do his thing. They have found a way to do so, which is a good sign for Forte's fantasy owners.

Click through to see some more fantasy football observations from the Bears-49ers Thursday night game.

With the beginning of the NFL Network's glorious Thursday night football beginning this week, fantasy football FanHouse is bringing you a preview for each and every Thursday night game from here on out. You've already seen the rankings, but things can change before Sunday. One thing that can't change? Your lineup choices for the guys playing Thursday evening. That's why we're here.

The Bears enter the game having lost three of their last four (the one win was at home over the hapless Browns). Their defense has plummeted from a respectable unit to one pretty easily shredded, whether via ground or air. The Niners come in having lost four straight and five of their last six. They are ranked fourth in the NFL in run defense and 24th against the pass.

Here's how it works. We throw some intriguing matchups at the FanHouse staff and ask whether each player will be over or under a certain point total. The result? Fantasy Football Over/Under. Makes sense, right?

Let's review my picks from last week and see how awful I did ...

Am I scared about the prospects of Steve Slaton losing carries to Ryan Moats (and even Chris Brown)? Absolutely. I'm more concerned about the overreactions from across the fantasy football world. Sure, I took it on the chin with Slaton in one league, but last week was hardly indicative of what will transpire from here on out.

Consider the following:
- If Gary Kubiak was going to send a message to his second-year running back with problems holding onto the football, what better opponent than the league's worst run defense?

- Slaton shredded the Colts in Indy last year, and that was without Matt Schaub at the helm to take pressure off him.

- Frank Gore got loose for a 64-yard touchdown against the Colts and added 43 receiving yards. Slaton is faster, more elusive and a better pass-catcher than Gore.

So, yeah, of course last week made me worried about Slaton. But I live by the "no guts, no glory" credo. You'll find Slaton in my top 15. You can have Ryan Moats.

---

---

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.

Matt Forte and LaDainian Tomlinson have been albatrosses for most of the season, but both came through to help their fantasy football owners in Week 8. Forte ran for 90 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Tomlinson also scored twice and amassed 56 yards on the ground. If we look deeper, though, neither back did anything to make you think they're all of a sudden going to turn it on and start producing on a consistent basis.

---

---

It would be easy to look at the 30-6 final score in the Bears' victory over the hapless Cleveland Browns and think everything went well for the home team. It would be easy to see Matt Forte's 90 yards and two touchdowns rushing and think the running game is back. Let's not do things the easy way and fool ourselves into thinking there wasn't something problematic on display Sunday in the Windy City, because the offensive line is flat-out horrible.

The pass protection was porous. Jay Cutler was sacked four times. He was hurried all day and had to scramble five additional times. The Browns entered the game with just 12 sacks in seven games.