FANTASY FOOTBALL IN-SEASON FEATURES

Predictions Summary »  Player Rankings (Projections) »  myHuddle Projections by Team »  Projections Summary by Team »

Prediction: OAK 13, SD 23 (Line: SD by 4.5)

Players to Watch: Terrelle Pryor, Danario Alexander

Just another disappointing year in the AFC West. The 4-11 Raiders are only 1-6 on the road while the 6-9 Chargers sport a 2-5 home mark. This is a replay of the season opener when the Chargers won 22-14 in Oakland.

Pregame Notes: It is bad enough that the Raiders are ending a bad season with only four wins. But they did that without really producing any fantasy players of note. None. Carson Palmer was passable as a spot-fill guy if you did not lose points for interceptions. Denarius Moore and Darrius Heyward-Bey both had the very occasional decent game but not enough to merit taking a risk on them. Worst of all, Darren McFadden not only had injury problems like always but when he had a bad game, it was monumentally "was he even there?" sort of bad.

Palmer is out this week again because of his cracked ribs and bruised lung. Matt Leinart and Terrelle Pryor are splitting first team reps and both will likely play in the finale. Pryor is the more interesting one since the Raiders gave up a third round pick to acquire him. For the last two weeks, they have toyed with the idea of trying out Pryor but only allowed him to throw just one pass last week. The change in quarterbacks makes this team even more devoid of fantasy relevance.

Palmer passed for 297 yards and one score in the first meeting with the Chargers. McFadden rushed for only 32 yards on 15 carries but added 13 catches for 86 yards in that game. He's never had more than four receptions in any other game though.

McFadden has been a huge disappointment this year with only three games over 70 yards and just three touchdowns. The switch by OC Gregg Knapp to a zone blocking scheme was exactly the opposite of what McFadden is good at. Instead of relying on his speed and open field ability, McFadden is trying to patiently wait for holes to open that are never there. It really has been a colossal waste of a year for McFadden with no signs that it is going to work any better next season. Basically, McFadden had big games against the Chiefs twice and then a freak showing in Pittsburgh. Otherwise - marginal at best and in no way proportionate to where he was drafted.

Brandon Myers seemed like a nice find in mid-season when he scored four times and was cranking out 50 yard efforts but he's really been silent for the last three weeks when he failed to gain more than 15 yards in any game. He opened the year with 65 yards on five catches versus the Chargers.

The passing game will be unreliable this week with changes in the starting quarterback likely. The season is ending with a whimper from a team that has not scored more than 17 points in the last six weeks.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
QB Terrelle Pryor, OAK	@SD	10	1	0	0	0	150	0	0
Both Pryor and Matt Leinart are taking first team reps and both may end up playing. No matter - there is no fantasy start here regardless who does what.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
RB Darren McFadden, OAK	@SD	50	0	3	20	0	0	0	0
McFadden only gained 32 yards on 15 runs versus the Chargers in the season opener and has done little since. Three of his road games this year failed to produce even 35 rushing yards and the Chargers at home have been better against the run. McFadden always has potential since he can break a long gainer but has been ineffective in most games this year. He is a huge risk to gain anything more than moderate yardage and has not rushed in a score since back in week six.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
WR Denarius Moore, OAK	@SD	0	0	3	40	0	0	0	0
Moore only caught 3-12 last week with Matt Leinart starting and now Terrelle Pryor may get to play. No reason to consider him.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
WR Rod Streater, OAK	@SD	0	0	4	30	0	0	0	0
Streater actually started the year with a TD vs SD but only caught 4 passes for 24 yards then. He only managed 2-16 just last week with Leinart starting so no reason to consider Streater.

	Opp	fga	FGM	xpa	XPM	ConFac
K Sebastian Janikowski, OAK	@SD	2	2	1	1
OAK using either Matt Leinart or Terrelle Pryor at QB means leave Seabass on your bench.

Pregame Notes: Last week the Chargers beat up the Jets in New York. Before that they were waxed at home by the Panthers. Before that, they beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh. Before that, lost at home go the Bengals. There has been little rhyme or reason to what the Charger did this year other than it was below average in most cases. They know that this is their last game of the year and the last they'll be playing for Norv Turner there. The Chargers have lost most of their talent this year to injury and been inconsistent to the point of near randomness.

Philip Rivers started the year with 231 yards and one score in Oakland. He's scored at least once in all but three games and doubled on touchdown in over half of them. But his 24 touchdowns came along with 15 interceptions and seven lost fumbles and his yardage has been lower this year. In his last last five games, he topped 230 yards only once.

Losing Ryan Mathews didn't really change much since they did not use him much and he was not that effective when he did play. They went with Jackie Battle last week and he only gained 49 yards on 19 runs in New York. Ronnie Brown filled in with five runs for 31 yards as the third down back.

Antonio Gates scored in both of the most recent games but he's topped 50 yards only once in the last nine games and started the year with 43 yards on four catches versus the Raiders. He's become a shell of what he once was but intends on returning next year and claims he just as good as he ever was. Probably not. The worst part was that he's been healthy this whole year and it just did not matter.

Danario Alexander was blanked by the Panthers which signaled that his mini-run was over but then in New York against a good secondary, he scored for the sixth time this year and ended with 69 yards on three catches. Malcom Floyd is on injured reserve and Vincent Brown never made it back. But Alexander has been a surprisingly good addition and remained healthy for nine straight games now.

Hard to call this final game of Norv Turner since the Chargers actually play worse at home anyway. But with the Raiders showing up, that makes the offense that much better. Rivers and Alexander are the only starts here, and maybe Gates if you have no options and can live with his usual 40 yards and no scores.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
QB Philip Rivers, SD	OAK	0	0	0	0	0	220	2	0
Rivers started the year with 231 yards and one score in Oakland. He's been light on the yardage all year and more so here at the end. But the Raiders always allow at least one passing score if not three. Look for just a moderate game here that mostly depends on finding Danario Alexander open.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
RB Jackie Battle, SD	OAK	50	0	1	10	0	0	0	0
Battle is never a good risk but he'll start this week and get the most touches. The Raiders rushing defense has been solid though and Battle has never scored this year.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
RB Ronnie Brown, SD	OAK	20	0	4	20	0	0	0	0
Brown fills in for third downs but hasn't totaled more than 40 yards in the last six weeks and never scored this year.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
WR Danario Alexander, SD	OAK	0	0	6	90	1	0	0	0
Alexander has become the only decent fantasy play for the Chargers though he is not above a bad game as we saw two weeks ago. The Raiders have allowed five TDs to the position in just the most recent three road games.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
TE Antonio Gates, SD	OAK	0	0	3	30	1	0	0	0
Gates won't do much for yardage anymore but he is a decent risk for a touchdown this week. He'll want to end well anyway and the Raiders give up more to TEs on the road anyway.

	Opp	fga	FGM	xpa	XPM	ConFac
K Nick Novak, SD	OAK	3	3	2	2
At home versus the Raiders should be no worse than average points.

 Print