FANTASY FOOTBALL WEEKLY FEATURES

OAK (2-2) vs IND (3-1)

Game Prediction: OAK 17, IND 31

Oakland hits the road where they are winless to face the Colts who haven't lost at home. Kerry Collins - time to get your act together and start throwing. A lot.

Pre-Game Notes - OAK

The Raiders come off a big loss to the Texans and continue to play poorly when on the road. Not only did they lose the game, they also lost RG Ron Stone to a knee injury and Tyrone Wheatley left at halftime with a shoulder sprain.

Running Backs: Tyrone Wheatley had 27 yards on three carries before injuring his shoulder and leaving the game. Pending further reports, I am assuming that he is out this week and will update accordingly. The consensus early is that he separated it but will be undergoing an MRI. In his place Amos Zereoue looked great, running for 117 yards and scoring twice including a 55-yard touchdown run. Zereoue is actually better suited to be the halfback this week anyway on the faster carpet in Indianapolis.

The situation is not yet clear, but for now I assume Zereoue will start with Justin Fargas offering spot relief.

Wide Receivers: Getting the better quarterback should have paid higher dividends for this group last week. Ronald Curry led all receivers with 69 yards on five catches and he's become the receiver of the week. Jerry Porter (2-40) and Jerry Rice (1-18) where relative non-factors in the game and the Oakland scheme is involving five different wideouts now. That makes any one turning in a big game you can see coming pretty tough.

Tight Ends: With nine different receivers in the game, it's predictable that the tight ends have not figured much into the equation and that they have never scored this year. Courtney Anderson (3-37) was the best last week but neither he nor Doug Jolley have much fantasy value.

Match Against the Defense: The tougher part here is determining which Raider offense shows up.

Thanks to the way the Colts gain monster leads, opponents have not been very successful running against them this season because they don't have the luxury of taking that much time. Should hold true here though all teams try to run initially.

Look for Gannon to throw a lot whether by plan or desperation. Indianapolis has yet to hold an opposing quarterback to under 273 yards and have allowed eight passing scores this year. With five different receivers being used, it's not simple enough to match to cornerbacks or even determine the formations that will be used as the game progresses. Expect a good yardage game from Collins if only during trash time and for likely a couple of passing scores that will go to the wideouts.

Pre-Game Notes - IND

Since losing a close game in New England, the Colts have been fairly unstoppable on offense and rather porous on defense. No matter - the way they score points the Colts are safe for now.

Running Backs: Against the tough Jaguars defense - on the road no less - Edgerrin James still managed to gain 83 yards on 19 carries with one touchdown. The only game he has not scored in this season was when he had 171 total yards in New England. Dominic Rhodes only comes in when James needs a rest which could easily happen this week by the fourth quarter.

Wide Receivers: Last week in Jacksonville was a tough matchup and meant the group would only post average numbers with Marvin Harrison scoring once and Brandon Stokley leading receivers with 97 yards on eight catches. After the previous week saw Harrison and Reggie Wayne go nuts on the Packers, the Jaguars proved you still have to remember the #3 guy Stokley or he'll be the one to burn you.

Tight Ends: Marcus Pollard is scoring in every other game but since he just scored, he's not due this week. Dallas Clark played last week but had no catches on his two passes.

Update: Pollard has a sore knee and did not practice on Thursday. Since he is quesitonable to play, I am removing him from the projections at this point and awarding more yardage to Dallas Clark but the tight ends are less likely to figure in this week anyway.

Match Against the Defense: The Raiders have not faced a top quarterback until now and yet have allowed good games for both David Carr and Brad Johnson (his only by the way). Literally all the scoring passes have gone to the #1 wideouts of their opponents regardless of which side they have been one so both Wayne and Harrison have an excellent chance at scoring this week.

The Raiders also come off a week where they allowed Jonathan Wells to rush for 105 yards and score a touchdown. Oakland has only faced PIT, BUF, TB and HOU - hardly the offensive powerhouses that Indianapolis has. If you got 'em, start 'em.