Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

- Written by Kyle Smith
- Edited by Marc Caviglia
- Predictions are based on Staff Consensus

::RANKINGS UPDATED AS OF JANUARY 13, 2012::

Last weekend’s Wild Card games featured a somewhat impuissant collection of fantasy kickers, though that fit perfectly in a slate of games that were – with one exception – pretty mundane. This weekend promises to be different in at least one aspect, because even though it’s impossible to tell how the games will shake out, we do know that the kickers will be of a higher caliber. The Divisional games feature five of the top seven fantasy scorers from this season, with numbers one and two – David Akers and John Kasay, respectively – facing off in San Francisco. Let’s take a look now to see how that pair matches up with the rest of the kickers this week.

Standard Scoring

17-39 Yard Field Goal: 3 points  |  40-49 Yard Field Goal: 4 points
50-plus Yard Field Goal: 5 points  |  Extra Point: 1 point

1.  David Akers (San Francisco 49ers) vs. New Orleans

We have to put Akers at the top, considering he led his position in fantasy scoring by making an NFL-record 44 field goals this season (not to mention the four bonus points he added in Week 17 against the Rams when he threw a touchdown on a fake field goal). Akers missed just one kick from inside 40 yards this year, which is substantial when you consider that he attempted 30 of them, or five more than any other kicker. Obviously, the 49ers do not possess the type of offense that finds them consistently near the goal line, and though the Saints aren’t world beaters defensively, San Francisco will still find themselves needing Akers to put up points if they want to win the game.
Point Projection: 12 points

2. Stephen Gostkowski (New England Patriots) vs. Denver

Gostkowski ended the season tied for third among kickers in fantasy points by accumulating double-digit point totals in each of his last four games. Though he made only one field goal from 50 or more yards, he was tied for ninth in field goals made, and was third in extra points. He had 11 fantasy points against the Broncos in Week 15, which was just one of the games that contributed to Denver allowing the fourth-most fantasy points in the league to opposing kickers this season.
Point Projection: 10 points

3. John Kasay (New Orleans Saints) @ San Francisco

Though Kasay made only one field goal last week against the Lions, he added six extra points, making fantasy owners plenty happy. There’s little chance of him collecting that many PATs this week against the outstanding defense that the 49ers employ, but that should also mean more field goal attempts for him. As long as Kasay’s attempts are from inside 50 yards, he should be just fine, because he was 26-for-29 (89.6 percent) from kicks between 20 and 49 yards this season, but just 2-for-5 beyond that.
Point Projection: 9 points

4. Mason Crosby (Green Bay Packers) vs. New York Giants

Crosby led all kickers in extra points this season, which was the primary reason that he was sixth at his position in fantasy scoring for the year. He didn’t have many down games (three with five or fewer fantasy points), but big games were lacking as well (three with more than 10 fantasy points). Frankly, the Packers just score touchdowns too often to allow him to collect huge numbers of fantasy points – Crosby was tied for 20th in field goal attempts this year. Two of those attempts came in Week 13 against the Giants, and he made one but added five PATs.
Point Projection: 7 points

5. Matt Prater (Denver Broncos) @ New England

Prater made each of his three field goals last week in Denver’s upset win over the Steelers, and it happened to be only the second time this year that he made that many field goals. He made his only attempt when the Broncos and Patriots played back in Week 15, and added a pair of extra points. We have mixed feelings about Prater’s potential this week, because while we don’t think that New England has the secondary to match up with wideout Demaryius Thomas, we also don’t know if we’ll get the 60-yard passing day from Tim Tebow or something a little more befitting of an NFL quarterback. Prater is the wild card among fantasy kickers this week, and has a chance to either bring you a solid number of points or fall flat.
Point Projection: 6 points

6. Neil Rackers (Houston Texans) @ Baltimore

Rackers, who made a 39-yard field goal and four extra points last week against the Bengals, tied for seventh in the league in fantasy scoring this season. He was third in field goals made in the regular season, and hit at least one kick in every game but one – Week 6 against the Ravens. That was the only contest this year in which he neither made nor attempted a field goal, and his pair of PATs marked his only scores of the game for him.
Point Projection: 5 points

7. Billy Cundiff (Baltimore Ravens) vs. Houston

Cundiff was tied for ninth in field goals made this season, and hit 87.1 percent of his kicks inside 50 yards, but was pathetic from beyond that range. He was just 1-for-6 in field goals from 50 or more yards, and because of that was 28th in the NFL in field goal percentage. However, Cundiff’s best game this season was against the Texans, when he made all five of his field goals and two PATs back in Week 6. But Houston also allowed six or fewer fantasy points to kickers in 10 games this season, and there’s little chance that their stout defense will let Cundiff take advantage of them too often this week.
Point Projection: 5 points

8. Lawrence Tynes (New York Giants) @ Green Bay

Frankly, Tynes isn’t that great of a kicker and as such takes the final spot in our rankings. He was 1-for-2 in field goals last week, missing a 32-yarder in the fourth quarter. It’s a good thing that the Giants already had the game in hand by that point or he’d be under a much brighter microscope. Fantasy owners should have less confidence in Tynes than any other kicker this week, because he’s proven throughout the season to be the least reliable.