Yep, pop it out, and use some carb cleaner and a soft toothbrush - be extremely careful - the sensor is basically a pair of tiny filaments like in a light bulb - these sit in the path of the inducted air. Using voodoo, the ECU can determine the amount of air entering the inlet. If these are gummed up with carbon, the ECU doesn't get a true reading, and thinks it's basically idling, which screws up everything. Break em off and it's time for a new one.

Clean the carbon deposits off the filaments. You might not even need to use a toothbrush - the carb cleaner might clean the filaments well enough to eliminate the MAF from your enquiries. Mind you don't split the rubber flexi hoses attached to it and the inlet. You might actually find that one of those is split anyway, so it might be worth taking a look while you're there.

I think most silver topped Zetecs have the same MAF sensor.