My Dallas Clark Blog

The Houston Texans represent a virgin regarding the NFL Playoffs since their inception into the league in 2002. Head Coach Gary Kubiak and Texans fans have reason to believe that will change in 2008 and quite frankly I am on the bandwagon as well. The team has developing skill positions and a defense that has been built around DE Mario Williams (remember when everybody ridiculed the Texans for taking Williams over Reggie Bush?) and now features first round draft pick LB Brian Cushing out of USC. Basically, the Texans are trying to build a foundation whose main purpose is to stop Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts and I believe they are getting closer towards that objective. Furthermore, the Texans have multiple players who possess significant fantasy value including Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson, Steve Slaton, Kevin Walter, and Owen Daniels. Let's analyze the fantasy prospects for the Texans heading into 2009.

I have never really been sold on Schaub since his departure from Atlanta but I am slowly moving closer in that direction. Schaub is still not in my top 10 QB prospects but depending your particular draft strategy may represent someone that you hone in on come draft day. Schaub obviously has some nice weapons to work with and that improves his draft stock significantly. Johnson, in my opinion is the 4th best receiver in the NFL behind Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald, and Calvin Johnson and always posts amazing reception numbers. Johnson clearly is Schaub's go to guy and there is nothing to say anything will change this year. Schaub has a cannon arm, and is getting much more adept at reading defenses and adjusting accordingly.

Furthermore, teams must respect Slaton with more defenders in the box thus allowing for more open lanes for Schaub to look down field. In summary, Schaub can be a low end number 1 fantasy QB for owners who utilize the drafting strategy of stockpiling RB's and WR's in the early rounds while waiting to get a QB in the later rounds. I am not a proponent of this strategy and do not think it is conducive to winning but as I have mentioned in other articles there are still plenty of ignorant fantasy owners who refuse to try anything different on draft day. As they say the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. All in all though if you miss on one of the elite options at QB then Schaub is more than serviceable.

Slaton was a nice surprise for owners in 2009 similarly to Matt Forte and Chris Johnson bursting onto the scene with 1282 yards and 9 TD's and he also chipped in with 50 receptions for 377 yards and 1 TD. I had the latter 2 ball carriers and they assisted me to a championship and Slaton followed suit by also helping countless owners to their leagues title. Needless to say I don't think that Slaton will be there in the 10th-14th rounds which are probably where he was drafted in 2008. Where should Slaton be drafted in 2009? I don't know if I am completely sold on Slaton yet but that is not saying much because I am not really sold on any of the top tier RB's with the exception of Adrian Peterson and MJD. Bottom line is that Slaton will be picked somewhere in the late 1st round/early 2nd round and that will be good value for him. Personally if I am picking in the 8-12 range where Slaton would be a viable option I will most likely end up taking Larry Fitzgerald or Calvin Johnson.

Regarding the Texans receiving corps the focus lies with Johnson, Walter, and Daniels all of whom are viable fantasy options heading into 2009. Johnson is without question one of the top 5 WR's in the NFL today but he is towards the bottom of that list for me on account of a couple variables. I have had Johnson a couple times throughout the years and both instances he has let me down be getting hurt and missing a lot of time and as a result I have avoided Johnson recently on draft day. Furthermore, Johnson piles up massive amounts of catches and yardage but never seems to score that much as evidenced by his career high 8 TD's in 2008. I like Johnson but not nearly as much as I like Fitzgerald, Randy Moss, and Calvin Johnson all of whom have proved to be TD machines during their careers. Obviously however, you can't go wrong with A.

Johnson as a number one fantasy WR as long as he stays healthy. Walter represents a WR that everyone seems to be afraid of and yours truly was a prime example of this last year. I drafted Walter late in last years draft and I watched him score TD's from my bench week after week while suffering through the inadequacies of Jericho Cotchery from the Jets. For some reason last year I just couldn't pull the trigger playing Walter more often even though he far outshined Cotchery in terms of numbers. The few occasions I did play Walter last year he did nothing but whenever he was on my bench (which was often) he produced in a big way. Don't kid yourself as Walter is entrenched as the number 2 WR on a potent offense with a good QB. Moreover, having Johnson on the other side helps Walter out immensely as he constantly faces single coverage. Consider Walter as and excellent number 3 WR or Flex option in drafts this summer and if you get him late he is an absolute steal. At this time no other Texans WR warrants a draft selection this August.

Daniels is another overlooked option for most fantasy owners despite putting up good stats year after year and despite making his first Pro Bowl in 2008. Daniels caught 70 balls for 862 yards but only had 2 TD's to show for all of his production. There lies owners concern with Daniels. He just doesn't score that much so a lot of his catches and yardage totals go for naught. However, Daniels remains one of Schaub's main targets and you have to think that the TD's will increase and if they do Daniels will be a fantasy stud. In the very least Daniels is a very nice fantasy option if you miss on one of the elite TE's such as Dallas Clark, Jason Witten, or Antonio Gates so keep him in mind on draft day.

Remember when everyone was ridiculing the Texans for taking Williams over Bush? Well, who is laughing now? I believe that would be Charlie Casserly and his former team the Texans because Williams is a Pro Bowler and Bush is rapidly approaching the term bust. The Texans have been improving their defense year after year in an effort to stop Manning and the Colts and I believe that they are getting closer. They continued that trend this year by drafting USC LB Brian Cushing with their number 1 selection in this year's draft. Cushing and Williams along with DeMeco Ryans fortify a defense that is quickly becoming a unit to monitor especially if you are combing the waiver wire looking for a stop gap DST solution.

In summary, the Texans are a rapidly improving team on both sides of the ball and have no shortage of players who could greatly assist your fantasy team in some capacity come this fall. Next up: The Tennessee Titans.

Chris Limburg is the fanatical purveyor of gothicfootball.com: A Oakland Raider and fantasy football blog that provides commentary on everything that is the NFL and fantasy football. Sign up for my free newsletter at: [http://www.gothicfootball.com]

The NFL playoffs are about to get underway and its interesting that most of the early match ups in the playoffs are going to be repeats of the last week's games in the NFL. In this article, I thought it would be good to highlight the teams that made it to the playoffs in the AFC. These teams are the Indianapolis Colts, the San Diego Chargers, the New England Patriots, the Baltimore Ravens, the Cincinnati Bengals, and the New York Jets.

The big front runners in the division are the San Diego Chargers and the Indianapolis Colts. Both teams have byes in the first week and are coming off great seasons with all star quarterbacks. Peyton Manning of the Colts has had a great year and has a tremendous receiving corps with Dallas Clark, Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie all having a great season. The Chargers have a similar strong roster with Phillip Rivers and the likes of Antonio Gates and Vincent Jackson. Both teams have decent running efforts with Joseph Addai and Ladanian Tomlinson respectively, but they are clearly passing teams today.

In the lesser set of teams, it will be interesting to see what the others will come up with. The Ravens have a solid team with a nice mix of strong passing and running. Ray Rice is a Pro Bowl running back and Joe Flacco has had a great year with Derrick Mason. The team has a few holes in their defensive corps but overall they've put up a strong effort. It'll be interesting to see how they fare against the New England Patriots. With Tom Brady, the Patriots have a strong throwing game, but they will have an interesting battle now that star receiver Wes Welker is out. While the game previously looked in the bag for the Patriots, they will have to depend on their running game to step up and make the difference.

On the other side, the Bengals and Jets likely seemed like a no-contest win for the Bengals only a few weeks ago. But after taking down the Colts and the Bengals in a trouncing, the Jets have shown their hungry. Yes, the two teams played down some of their best players. But still, the New York Jets have a top defense, and one of the best running games in the NFL. The Bengals aren't a laughing matter either with Cedric Benson putting up a strong rushing game and a fierce defense that is known to play rough.

All in all, it's an interesting set of teams that could all throw in a good shot at making it to the Super Bowl. The next few weeks will show who has it all.

Martin Fister is an active product blogger, writing for web sites including halo sleep sack and glass tea kettle. In his spare time, Martin also pursues his interests in the music industry as a journalist.

The year 2008 was kind of a down year for the Indianapolis Colts. For the 6th time in his career Peyton Manning was one and done in the playoffs losing 23-17 to the San Diego Chargers in the Wildcard round. Moreover, last year was somewhat of an off year for Manning statistically despite winning his 3rd league MVP award and I witnessed firsthand what it is like to have a QB that is trying to shake the rust off after having off season knee injury. Manning heated up later in the year but unfortunately many owners did not have the supporting cast that I had to hold the fort down and thus missed out on the post season party.

In fact my Manning experience of last year has soured me on Tom Brady this year. You just cannot afford to play without a QB for the first 4 or 5 games of the season and that is what I endured last year. Furthermore, Brady's injury is said to be far more serious than Manning's was a year ago. The Colts will once again be good but will they make the playoffs? I am not so sure as Tennessee is already solid and both Jacksonville and Houston are primed to be far better this upcoming season. But again this is fantasy so I will focus my energy on the Colts position players and what they offer up in terms of fantasy potential in 2009.

As mentioned Manning did not have one of his best statistical outings of his career but he did enough to secure his 3rd league MVP award. I lived and died with Manning for the first 6-7 weeks before he finally started to heat up down the stretch. The Colts are heading into a major transformation this year as Head Coach Tony Dungy has retired and has been replaced by Jim Caldwell and 2 other prominent members of their staff as offensive coordinator Tom Moore and offensive line coach Howard Mudd are expected to retire due to changes in the NFL's pension policies. Moore would be a huge loss for Manning as he represents the only offensive coordinator that he has worked with in the NFL. Nonetheless, despite all of the turmoil in the coaching staff and the departure of Marvin Harrison look for Manning to continue his assault on the NFL's passing records.

Why? For starters, Manning is just that good and he still has most of his weapons at his disposal including Reggie Wayne, Anthony Gonzalez, and Dallas Clark. Furthermore, another major variable in Manning's favor this year is that center Jeff Saturday will be healthy. Ahhh I know what you are saying. "What could a center possibly have to with fantasy performance"? TONS!!!!! I watched most of the Colts games last year and it was painfully obvious that the whole offensive line was completely out of sink without Saturday's presence and this lead to a lack of continuity and rhythm from the whole offense. The Colts will not have it easy this year.

The AFC South is markedly improved than in previous years. You know Tennessee is solid but Jags and the Texans both look to be much improved this year and the Texans in particular are specifically addressing their defense year in and year out in an all out effort to stop Manning and the Colts. Expect Manning this year to post his usual numbers in 2009 of about 4000-4500 yards passing and about 30-35 TD's. Look for Manning to be either the 2nd or 3rd QB taken this summer behind Drew Brees somewhere in the middle of round 2.

Joseph Addai is a complete joke. I have thought Addai has been overrated since his inception into the NFL in 2006 and now I pretty much think he just plain sucks. The Colts were obviously hoping that Addai would be the next Edgerrin James but has not even come close to living up to that standard. For starters, he is injury prone and it seems like he truly doesn't want to play with pain. Furthermore, Addai also vanishes from far too many games for my liking leaving Dominic Rhodes (who has since departed to Buffalo) to do the dirty work. If you remember that is exactly what went down in the Super Bowl against the Bears a few years ago. Rhodes was clearly the main back n that game and I think it is funny because this year someone inevitably will draft Addai high simply because he is a RB. WHY?????? Again, read my article "Draft RB's Early? Buyer Beware" to gain some insight as to why that is NOT a good idea.

Apparently, I am not the only one not sold on Joseph as the Colts used their first round selection on the stud RB Donald Brown out of Connecticut. Brown will immediately step in and at least split carries with Addai if not more and to be quite frank I look for him to be the much more polished back by the end of the year. Personally, I think Addai is no more than a number 3 back or a Flex option for 2009 but you can mark my words he will be gone in most drafts no later than the early 3rd round. I could be wrong but I doubt it. As for Brown, keep an eye on him in the middle rounds and don't be scared to take a chance on him this year. Why??? Well, let me just say Chris Johnson, Matt Forte, and Steve Slaton. Nuff said.

Obviously, all the Colts receivers are solid fantasy options. Wayne, is a surefire number 1 WR and is a model of consistency much in the same manner Harrison was for so many years. Although, Wayne is solid I would caution not to select him ahead of the following receivers: Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, or Randy Moss. That is the crème of the crop in terms of NFL receivers these days but if you go a different route on draft day and get some RB's early you may be looking at the likes of Wayne, Steve Smith, Greg Jennings, or Marques Colston as your number 1 WR. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with that but don't expect Wayne to be a Fitz or Megatron in terms of his big play ability.

Watch out for Gonzalez this year. The former Ohio State product is heading into his 3rd NFL season which is historically when many receivers break out. Add to the equation that Harrison is gone and you realize that '09 could be Gonzo's year. I look for Gonzalez to break the 1000 yard plateau this year for the first time and to pop it in the end zone 8-10 times. Those numbers would make him a nice number 2 fantasy wide out though on draft day don't give him that much respect. Not yet. A year from now may be completely different as we may be talking about Gonzalez in the stud capacity. For now, treat Gonzo as a number 3 WR with plenty of upside and expect him to go around the mid-way point of most drafts this summer probably around the 7th-8th round. The Colts also drafted WR Austin Collie out of BYU in the 4th round of this year's draft. Keep an eye on Collie as he essentially fills the role Gonzalez did a couple years ago when he first broke into the league.

Dallas Clark presently remains one of the elite TE's in the NFL along with Jason Witten, Antonio Gates, and Tony Gonzalez. Not much to say here about Clark. A surefire number 1 fantasy option that will continue to catch all kinds of passes from Manning and well worth the 5th-6th round pick it will take to secure his services this fall.

Adam Vinatieri is a number 1 fantasy kicker based on his reputation, he plays in a dome, and the Colts score a lot of points. That is pretty much my equation for kickers and the ALWAYS represent my final pick in drafts. The Colts DST is intriguing because of Bob Sanders, and Dwight Freeney and can be used in a pinch depending upon the match up. However, in terms of nabbing a week in and week out DST there are far better options at this point than the Colts. Next up: The Houston Texans

Chris Limburg is the fanatical purveyor of gothicfootball.com: A Oakland Raider and fantasy football blog that provides commentary on everything that is the NFL and fantasy football. Sign up for my free newsletter at: [http://www.gothicfootball.com]