2012 Fantasy Football Week 13: Kicker Rankings / Projections

It’s been an up-and-down roller coaster for Shayne Graham owners in recent weeks. While the Texans have put together back-to-back overtime victories in high-scoring games, their veteran kicker has missed three field goals in that time, and yet he’s also converted five.

Fantasy owners will take the five field goals, but it is his lack of consistency that forced the veteran to bounce around to four different teams (Giants, Patriots, Dolphins, Ravens) total through the two previous seasons after seven years in Cincinnati.

Through it all Graham’s situation still gives him a chance to tie or even break his career best of 31 field goal conversions (Graham has 20 thus far) in a season. The odds of Graham finishing the season with that total is not out of reach as Neil Rackers converted 32 field goals as the Texans kicker last season.

While it’s hard to feel good about Graham as a kicker, we should take comfort in his situation, and at the kicker position situation is king. That is simply to say, if your team is out by halftime, the odds of your kicker receiving opportunities is next to nothing. Kicking for the Texans, you know Graham’s team will be in every football game and he will continue to receive opportunities. Consider Graham a low-end start the rest of the season.

What Did We Learn From Week 12?

- A rough day for Matt Bryant owners as the veteran missed on two of his three opportunities. The first was a 22-yard chip shot that he shanked to the left just before halftime. The second miss was with 13 seconds left in the game as he had the distance on a 48-yard attempt but failed to convert, wide right.

An early game this week against the Saints, get Bryant in as the Falcons will be back playing in a dome. The veteran is having a career year and we need to have faith that he will turn it around after one bad game.

- Despite losing a close game to the Jaguars on Sunday, the Titans are at least playing competitive football in recent weeks. As a result,  Rob Bironas has come back to life with seven field goals in the past two weeks. Playing at home against a struggling Texans defense, Bironas is a low-end starting option this week and going forward.

Sean’s Week 13 Watch List

- The Giants got back on track against the Packers on Sunday night but unfortunately Lawrence Tynes only converted one field goal. On the other hand, Tynes did have five PAT’s and as long as the Giants continue to play playoff caliber football, Tynes should continue his strong hold on being the leading scoring kicker in the NFL this year.

- While the Seahawks are desperate for a win, and with their corners expect to play this week we should anticipate a possible low-scoring field-goal game. Robbie Gould could easily walk away with three field goals in this game.

1	Stephen Gostkowski	@ Dolphins
2	Justin Tucker	Steelers
3	Lawrence Tynes	@ Redskins
4	Matt Bryant	Saints
5	Blair Walsh	@ Packers
6	Jason Hanson	Colts
7	Shayne Graham	@ Titans
8	Robbie Gould	Seahawks
9	Matt Prater	Buccaneers
10	Dan Bailey	Eagles
11	Jay Feely	@ Jets
12	Rob Bironas	Texans
13	Connor Barth	@ Broncos
14	Sebastian Janikowski	Browns
15	David Akers (I)	@ Rams
16	Nick Novak	Bengals

Week 13 Standard Rankings – QB | RB | WR | TE | D |