Fantasy Football Daily - 2021 Week 10 Matchup Podcast

Episode Date: November 11, 2021

John Hansen (@Fantasy_Guru) and Greg Cosell (@gregcosell) preview Week 10 NFL action. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoint.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Here we go, ready for the week 10 matchup podcast here at FantasyPoint.com. I'm John Hansen, Greg CoSell, in the film room per usual. We record this on Wednesday, night. 731 Eastern, if you must know. And Greg's been in that film room for two, three days for sure.

Ready to go. A lot of insight. Weird week in the NFL in week number nine. I'm already burning the tape. There's a couple of games. I'm purposefully not going back to watch because I don't believe the teams are going to be doing that. A couple burn the tape games out there. Greg, we move onward and upward to week number 10, which does.

kickoff tomorrow night with the Ravens and the Dolphins. And I don't believe you saw much. No, I've not yet seen Lamar. So that's my tomorrow activity. Yeah. Well. Normally I don't see unless, because I have to on Monday and Tuesday, John, as you know, excuse me, I have to do my matchup show.

And obviously the Thursday night game, you know, is not in my matchup show. I've really got to grind on all that and then try to pick up, you know, other stuff after. So I will see Lamar tomorrow. Well, for what it's worth, he faced this defense. And I don't think they've changed all that much since September 8th of 2019. And he completed 17 to 20 balls for 324 and 5 touchdowns. You're talking about the Dolphins D? Yeah.

It's actually a lot different. Is it? Is it? Yeah. Oh, yeah. From 2019. They don't play anywhere near as much man covering. they play more zone.

Yeah, they're a different D. But they kind of came out this year playing man, didn't they? They did, and then they changed. Yeah, so that changed maybe even this year. I don't expect them to play it. I mean, again, I don't know this for a fact, obviously, but I don't expect them to play a ton of man coverage this week. Right, because that would be a little dangerous against Lamar for sure.

Try and zone it up. They're going to get Wackens back. And, you know, they are. transitioning into more of a passing team. Lamar's throwing it 35 times a game the last four weeks. And we were on that very early. I asked you after like week one, you know, kind of crazy to say, but are they becoming more of a passing team? So overall good matchup. You would think Miami's defense has not really been very good. And then looks like it's going to be no Tua this week. Looks like it's going to be Jacobi Bressette. No, Devante Parker. So it's going to be a tough go for

Jacobi Brissette. So we can move on here. And, well, we'll start with the game last Thursday, which you did, of course, see Colts and the Jets. And check in on Carson Wentz. How did he play another game where was he, you know, decisive and, you know, playing within this offense, within the timing of this offense, well? Yeah, I really thought, you know, again, you know, Wynce is one of those guys that's very polarizing in people's minds. I thought given that He clearly had a lot to do with their loss the week before against the Titans. I don't care who they were playing. It's an NFL game.

Speak to the bills about who you're playing. You know, it's an NFL game. The Jets had beaten the Tennessee Titans this year, by the way, just so people understand that. So people can say whatever they want about level of competition. We know the Jets are not going to be a playoff team. He came out after a bad game. You could see how focused he was. He played, I thought he played really well in this game.

Look, it obviously helps when he. your run game is really good. But hey, that's football too. But I thought that once was, it was another game in which he was decisive getting the ball out within the structure and timing of the past game. He did not get stuck in the pocket. They designed some really good things for him. But you know what? That's also football. That's what teams, you know, do. That's what coaches do. So I thought this was the kind of offensive performance in terms of how they want to play. I mean, is Taylor going to get 172 and run for a 78-yard touchdown every week? Of course not. but I think in terms of how they want to play, this game's really stood out to me.

Boy, they love scheming it up, though. This is probably absurd to say, but I wonder sometimes that they're doing, trying to do maybe a little too much, you know. And this is from Jonathan Taylor, an apologist here where he hasn't gotten the ball a lot. I mean, they do a lot of schemed up things where they get so many guys involved. I mean, I guess that's a positive, right? That's how they play. But yeah, it doesn't. It doesn't work for fantasy, John, because you can't go into a week with them and say, I mean, yes, does Pittman seem like he's the number one? Yes, but he's not a number one in the sense that he's going to get 14 targets. So, you know, obviously it's not great for fantasy. So I don't know what to tell you. But yes, that's the way they play and they're pretty good at it. They are. But, you know, part of the frustration stems from, you know, early last year. I'm screaming this time last year about, you know, give them the ball. And then all the, you know,

sudden look what happened and then early this year same damn thing we got to get marlin maxim carries but that didn't happen the last couple weeks so um i can handle neheim hinds in a in a healthy role obviously but a third back no no we do not need that um and then the jet run d boy they're they're really struggling here uh buffalo may not have zach moss but any thoughts on the jets how they looked against the run obviously it didn't look good on tv and maybe devon Singletary can make some hair. I'll tell you what, without, I haven't seen the Buffalo tape yet either, and that I'll see tomorrow as well.

But obviously we know, you know, you see my notes every week, John. And there's been numerous weeks where when I finish watching Buffalo, I say two things. I say there's two issues that could be a factor in any game. One, they don't run the ball well or enough. And two, their offensive line is not a great past protecting offensive line. You've seen that in my notes. I've been saying that since week two or three, because that's the reality of who the bills are. They put every game in the hands of Josh Allen. And Josh Allen is a very high-level

quarterback with a chance to be great. But it's very hard to say to your quarterback in so many words, you have to be great every week or we don't have a chance. Yeah, especially when the Jaguars look like a top five defense against you last week. Well, this was a game where, you know, it all came together in a negative way. The lack of a run game. both in terms of volume and production, the O-line really struggling, and Allen not playing well, which he freely admitted. The one thing about Josh Allen, which we found out, is that kid's accountable. So it all came together. And you know what? The Jaguars are also an NFL team. So they lost. They only scored six points, and they could not get in the end zone. So, you know, there was a lot of talk this week,

which I'm sure you saw, that there was a big come-to-Jesus meeting of the coaches, you know, with Sean McDermott, and I know Sean known him for years. You know, I guarantee that there'll be, I don't want to say dramatic changes, because look, this is a good football team, and they were one game away from the Super Bowl a year ago. And Josh Allen is a high-level player, so it's not like they're going to say, you know what, we're going to run it 40 times now.

But I think that they need to address those things. It's very hard to play that way every single week. I mean, they drafted Zach Moss in the third round for a reason. You know, bigger back, sturdier back, cold weather guy. You know, I don't know about this week, but, you know, maybe they do come out and try and run just a little bit here. Eagles offense, let's go there. You watch that tape.

Obviously, same thing pretty much every week with Jalen Hertz. Although, you know, obviously. No, not this week. You know, seismic shift in the offense and their identity. And how's that working out on film? Well, I thought this week was the most rhythmic they've looked all season. I thought they put Hertz, they're continuing to put Hertz under center. They're continuing to run the ball under center.

The play action pass game now with Hertz under center is becoming a factor in their offense. The under center play action pass game, John, is so much more effective than the shotgun play action pass game for numerous reasons. We don't need to get into everyone right now, but for numerous reasons. And what you're seeing is more defined reads, more defined throws. you'll see Devontas Smith become more of a factor if they continue to play this way. Goddard, obviously Goddard and Smith are going to be their two main receivers. We'll see if that expands a little bit to include other receivers.

But it probably won't for the simple reason that in an ideal world, I don't think they want Hertz dropping back 35 times. I mean, this was a close game all the way and he only had 24 dropbacks. So, you know, this is the way I think they would like to play. obviously their defense must be a factor. You know, they have to come to the party as well. And I know that a lot of people point at the completion percentage numbers against the Eagles, which are atrocious if you're the Eagles defense.

Yeah. But, you know, again, the Chargers did not put up 40 points. So overall, would you seemingly, and I believe we said this, you said this, like after week two, after week three, this is the optimal usage. do you feel more optimistic that he can play better and keep the job? I think I told you very early on in his season that I thought that the best way to play with Jalen Hertz was to do what the Cowboys did with Dak Prescott when he came in the league. Now Prescott came to a better overall team,

but he was a quarterback that played almost exclusively in the gun in college, was not a great thrower of the football coming out. People forget that. There were significant concerns as to his throwing ability. that's why he was a fourth round pick. And they put him under center and look how, I'm not saying that Hertz's career path will be exactly the same because clearly Dak is a top quarterback in the league now.

But I think that this is the best way to get Hertz to be whatever he can possibly become. And the only time will tell. You know, put him under center, play action, roll them out, define the read. And if it's not there, you probably have spacing to run. run, take off and run. I guess the O line block, better run blocking line. I wonder when Miles Sanders comes back, will they plug Miles Sanders in with this new identity and will it go as well?

I mean, I don't think they're going to change their approach now. I mean, look, the coaches already know more about their players and their offense than I do, John, and I can watch the tape and I can tell you in a heartbeat that their offense just looks better, more rhythmic. it just looks like an NFL offense. It doesn't look like a bunch of random plays. Hurt's still holding guys like Goddard and Devante Smith back, though. Is that fair?

I know he missed Goddard on a big play. I wouldn't say that the last two weeks for the simple reason. It's just sheer numbers, John. The week before against Detroit, obviously they blew Detroit out. He had 17 dropbacks. This week he had 24. So it's the number of dropbacks that are holding those guys back. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, if he had 40 dropbacks, who's to say that DeVant Smith wouldn't have had nine for 170. He had five for 116. But if he's only going to drop back 24 times and therefore only have actually 17 throws because he runs some, then there's only so many targets. So he's not holding them back. It's the number of times they ask him to drop back. Seems like he's missed a good number of throws. He'll always miss some. That may be who he is. Yeah. Yeah. Does Jalen Rager still play in the NFL, by the way, just checking on that. I believe he's on the Eagles, but again, you know, and that's a big debate, obviously,

in Philly, but, you know, there's only so many balls to go around. And we'll see. I still think when I watch him run routes that he looks fast and explosive, but obviously something's missing because he doesn't get thrown the ball. You saw Denver. You saw there

day. You know, they have amazing depth at corner. Now, they lost Bryce Callahan. And by the way, did you know there's a Warren-Sivant song called Things to Do in Denver when you're dead? Yeah, I did. I did. Okay. Just meant, you know, that just seemed like an appropriate thing to say for no reason whatsoever. Well, we are talking Denver. Yeah. And we both will be dead at some point. Your thoughts on how they match up here, that same blueprint. I mean, Denver's got these injuries

at linebacker. They've been run on the last month or so. So they should, in that regard, continue to succeed on the ground? Denver did a really good job against the run last week, against the Cowboys. Now, obviously, the Cowboys couldn't stay with the run. So that's, it's skewed to some degree. Yeah. I think the big issue, yeah, the big issue in this game is two things. It's third and long, okay, which the Eagles will be in third and long. And that's where Vic Fangio is really good, because he just does things with his safeties, with showing one look, they move. It's very, they caught Dak in the fourth quarter on an interception by Caden Stearns, where Dak had no idea that Sterns was going to be where he was.

And Dak's a pretty smart guy and a veteran. But the other factor in this game is Hertz running the ball in long yardage situations. I'm talking about scrambling, not design runs. I thought last week the Chargers did not do a good job at all. They allowed Hertz numerous times to get out of the pocket two is right. That's exactly what you don't want to do. So I think Denver will be a lot more aware of that. You have to, if Hertz is to get out of the pocket, you have to make him go left.

Yeah, that's very surprising. They didn't notice that on tape and prepare for that. How did Teddy look? Obviously, they were successful. You know, there was a moment there where he was hurt and not playing well, but it seems like he's playing better now. He's completing 70% of his passes the last four weeks. You know, it's really funny watching Teddy because Teddy puts up numbers,

and they throw the ball down the field, John. You know, we look at Teddy. He looks slight. He is slight. You know, you don't say, oh, boy, there's a big arm kid, you know, although a lot of deep balls are not big arm throws. But they push the ball down the field. And his numbers are good. You know, the big thing for them will be pass pro.

That's the big thing in this game because they have guys hurt on the O line and the Eagles do bring a good D-line pass rush. So that's going to be the big factor here. Well, the Eagles have also struggled on the ground. And how great did Giovante Williams look last week? at this point are they I know Melvin's been pretty good and you know well Melvin had 20 carries he had more than they he had more than Javante I don't see look I love Javante Williams you know that I think he was the best runner coming out of the draft um but I don't see them changing that dynamic in that equation you know I don't think all of a sudden you're going to see Williams this week with 24 carries and

Gordon was seven carries I don't think that's going to happen I'm clearly not but you know I just wonder aloud if they're hurting themselves a little bit. I mean, Giovante is more explosive. Javante creates better, but, you know, well, I would agree. They're both tough physical attitude runners. They both do what Vig Fangio wants with their running game. So that's what they do. They both do that. I think Williams is better, but Gordon has run hard and well this year. I mean, he's getting pushed by a young stud, I guess, is bringing out the best of them. Well, they have been, look, look.

You and I can agree on Williams, you know, and obviously you would like Williams to get more from a fantasy perspective. But they wouldn't be giving Gordon the number of carries he's getting if they didn't feel that he was really doing the job that they wanted him to do. Yeah. And the Eagles have been run on. I mean, that's for sure. Then on defensive side of things, Darry Slay got hurt. Yeah. And they're playing a lot more man to man. So I was thinking Slay on Cortland Sutton. on the outside. And by the way, I thought Jerry, Judy looked freaking great last week. Yeah, he's, they, they have weapons, even with Hamler done for the year. You know, Tim Patrick is, is, I watch his tape, you know, when I watch Denver every week. And I think good Patrick's a good player. He's just good. He just gets it done. He's the definition of rock solid. Yep.

And then I guess Maddox got hurt too, right? Avantamatics. Yeah, he did not finish the game. So, uh, I don't see anything on those guys. So those are some big injuries to keep an eye on here. But any thoughts on the general matchup here? Teddy and this offense against Philly. They're playing more man to man. They're not giving up, I guess, big plays. But, you know, Teddy should complete 70 plus percent of his passes.

Everyone else does. Everybody does against the Eagles. Yeah. I mean, the Eagles have started to become a little more aggressive. We'll see if they keep moving in that direction, John. I can't answer that. We'll see. Chargers offensively

seemed like it was a good game plan, good approach. I got the ball quickly. You know, he's like a big giant out there. He looked good, Justin Herbert after, you know, a little bit of a slump for a couple games. No, he did. Oh, no, I thought you were going to continue. Oh, no, I was just going to get your thoughts on, you know,

and that's kind of what they are as a pass game. They take a few shots here and there, but their past game is very rhythmic. The ball comes out. It's, you know, as I said to you before, Herbert is kind of, of mechanical robotic in a good way. He knows where to go with it. He doesn't hold it.

He doesn't get stuck. He can move when he has to. They'll take a shot like they did to Williams. You know, that's kind of who they are. That's what they are as a pass game. Another team that doesn't really have that meaningful a run game. Yeah. They must have saw something with the matchup because I was speculating last week.

Maybe it's Mike Williams on Slay. So maybe a big Kenan Allen game. And it was. and then, man, they must have saw something with those darn tight ends because they all did well. So that's something to keep an eye on with the Eagles. Maybe Noah Fent this week and Albert O. Did you know a fan back this? He know a fan's back this week, right?

Yeah. Yeah, he is. Did you notice anything with Williams because. Mike Williams? Yeah, people are starting to wonder because he had that knee issue and his production's kind of falling off a cliff. But, I mean, he looks okay to me. anything there? Do you see anything?

I can't tell just from watching his tape, no. I mean, he did catch that vertical ball where he made a really good catch. Right, right. Well, yeah, he practiced every day in full last week. So, I mean, I can't be that big of an issue. So my point is he's a guy like in fantasy who made me want to trade for this guy. I mean, he was a baller, you know, the first four or five weeks. And then the injury and he's falling off.

And it might be a good get well spot against Minnesota, by the way. I don't know if Minnesota, they're outside corners, how are they going to handle Mike Williams here? Yeah. Right? I mean, Peterson's out. Breelin and Danciler. Good luck, right? I mean, I think they're going to look at the matchups favorably, no question.

And they're not a running football team, so I think that they'll throw the football. I mean, you know, look, I don't know the exact numbers, but I think Herbert's probably throwing the ball on average about 40 times a game this year. I mean, they throw the ball. That's not going to change this week. Especially since they just, they've been looking to find that complimentary runner to Echler, and they just can't get a bigger guy in there to handle some of the more physical carries inside. He's averaging 39 last four weeks, last four games is Justin Herbert here on the Fantasy Points podcast, the week 10 edition rolling through the Great CoSells film study.

And you saw the cowboy offense. How much credit do you give Denver's defense? How much blame do you give the cowboy offense in that one? It's always a combination. I mean, that's... Was Dak off? I mean, how off was Dak? Doc missed some throws in this game.

I mean, you know, and he had one of those games. He missed some throws. So, you know, the question I always have for people, because people, you know, start with here's the blueprint, here's blah, blah, well, you know, how do you account for those plays where he missed open receivers? You know, I'm never sure how to do that. Now, I think the Broncos did an excellent job in coverage doing what Vic Fangio defenses do really well.

They read routes, they match routes, they pass them off. They play what essentially are zone match concepts. That's the Big Fangio template. And there's a lot of other coaches that follow the same template. But, you know, I thought that they're two inside linebackers. They're two stacked backers. One just got there, Kenny Young, and the other's a first round rookie, not a first round eight. a first year rookie from Ohio State Barron Browning,

I thought both those guys played extremely well in coverage. I thought they showed great route and spatial awareness. So was that a fluke for this game? I don't know the answer to that. I thought their rookie edge rusher because Von Miller's gone. Jonathan Cooper from Ohio State really flashed. I thought he showed her a fine ability to rush the quarterback. So I thought they did.

I thought the Cowboys moved Terrence Steele, who'd been really good at right tackle to left tackle. because Tyrone Smith was out, and I thought Steele had a really hard time at left tackle. So, I mean, I think there's a, as you know, John, there's a lot of factors that go into why a game like that plays out the way it did. Yeah, you give some credit to the defense. He could mind Patrick Sartan. Well, you know, I don't think he's going to be going this week. Oh, Sartan.

Okay. I mean. I mean, you can look that up, but I don't think he's going to be going. You know, they've got amazing depth, though. I mean, they still have a lot of depth. They really do. I mean, they still have... But Sir Tann's a really good player.

Kyle Fuller and Derby. Yeah. Pretty crazy, actually. Damn it. I had one other note here. Oh, Cowboys' defense, as you looked at them covering, obviously, Sutton, Judy. You mentioned Tim Patrick. You know, Trayvon Diggs is good, but...

He's been a little up and down in the last number of weeks. Right. Well, that was where I was going with it. I mean, he's obviously incredibly talented, but he's now a good matchup, Greg. Like, teams are picking on them. They're throwing on them. Well, the Patrick touchdown, they picked on him. It was a stutter go, and he got Diggs to stop his feet just enough to get on top of him.

Yeah, I mean, teams, in some ways it's become, and again, I'm not studying Diggs on every play, so I don't, you know, maybe I'm wrong if for somebody who's who's listening who really studies the Cowboys heart. But it seems like Diggs is a little bit feast or famine. and he'll make great, great plays, and then he'll get beat once in a while. Ram offense last week, nightmare against Tennessee. Boy, that Titan front, Jeffrey. That's the best D-line in the league right now as a pass-rush quartet, I guess, would be, you know, what we want to say. They are really, really good.

And they are so multiple with their stunt concepts. They're really fun to watch. I mean, they're like a nasty matchup right now for an offense. They sure are. And New Orleans, good luck there, right? I mean, I don't even know who the hell the quarterback's going to be. Oh, it'll be Simeon. Simian played well this week.

Yeah, I guess. I guess. He did. Simian played well. You know, look, think of it this way, John. You know how it is. I'm not talking fantasy now. I mean, you know, you and I, we just talk ball now.

You know, you turn it into the fantasy with all the bulk crap that I give you. So you turn it into the fantasy stuff. But think of it this way. They're down 24-6 in the fourth quarter, okay? Trevor Simeon leads them on three fourth-quarter touchdowns to go ahead with one minute to go. If that was a quarterback who was well-known and thought of as a really good quarterback, people would be saying, oh, my God, what an unbelievable fourth quarter, right? Yeah.

But it's Trevor Simeon, so no one even knows he did that. True, true. He had a really good fourth quarter. I mean, of those three drives, Trevor Simeon was 11 for 15 for 110 yards and two touchdowns. They were down 24-6, and he led them on three consecutive drives. Now, I'm not, look, we know what Simeon is. He's a ball distributor. He's an executor.

He's a pocket quarterback. He needs the past game concept to present the reeds and the throws. In that context, John, he can line up and run your offense. We've seen him do that in the NFL. Sure. I'm not saying he's a great player, but Trevor Simeon played. perfectly fine last week. Yeah. I'm just a little surprised that

it seems like they're decisively going with Simeon and we'll see if that's the call this win. And he may change. Who knows? I certainly can't get into Sean Payton's head, but what's his name? Hill. Tason Hill did not take many snaps at quarterback. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. At least with Hill, you always have that in your back pocket. But then again, you can go with Simeon. If he has a tough game, you can always pull him too. So, yeah. He's done this before, though, Simeon. When he first started playing like, oh, wow, this guy's pretty good. No, he first started those years in Denver. You thought, hey, you know what?

Give him a run game, let him be part of a complete offense, and he can line up and play for you. If the other parts of the offense start to go down, you know what, John, then Simian will not look good. Tighten offense here. I saw on your notes how much of their struggles were related to not having Derek Henry, or did they get pushed around and the O line under the road? Their O line was bad this week.

It was bad. And they're playing with a bunch of backups. Nate Davis, the right guard will be back. I think the sense is Taylor-Lewan will be back. Look, they won't run it as well as they did with Henry, but I still think they'll try to run the ball. Last week, they were very fortunate. Their defense was so dominant that their offense almost did not need to be a factor in the game.

Yeah, yeah. Peterson seemingly running up in the... I mean, I thought both Peterson and Foreman, to be honest, it looked like they looked spry. They just didn't have numbers, you know, particularly Peterson. but I don't think Peterson looked like, oh, my God, he can't play. I mean, I'm not expecting him this week to go 20 for 170, but I didn't think he looked like, oh, there's an old back who can't move.

He didn't look like that. Yeah. So, yeah, I guess it'll be a one-two punch air hot hand, and we'll see who can take over between those two guys. I thought, I would think Peterson is going to settle in, but maybe four minutes has something to say about that. Peterson, you know, getting like 14 carries a game, 15, 16, something like that. Niners offense.

against the Cardinal defense, George Kittleback, Jimmy G, just not playing well enough. I, I think. Well, again, that game is a classic case of just what we've talked about so many times, Don. They fell behind. Their defense was bad this week, really bad, just so you know. Yeah. And then you get stuck.

They couldn't run the ball. Not couldn't. I mean, they couldn't run it because of the score. not because they couldn't run it. So Mitchell only had eight carries. Right. So they were completely off schedule there. It becomes a drop back pass game.

And Garapolo is not truly a drop. I mean, can he at times? Yeah, we've seen it over the years. But that's not truly what he is. He's, you know, when you drop, when you have to drop back as many times as he would, as he had to this week and as he would have to if they, you know, got behind on a regular basis, you know, he's a pure timing rhythm guy. He's not a pocket mover, which you need to be if you're going to drop back so much. And you don't have second reaction ability, which he really

doesn't have. But he's not a guy, you know, he cannot slide laterally. He's not a guy who climbs vertically to create needed space. You know, when the ball cannot come out within the timing of the drop in the set, he too often gets stuck in the pocket. That's who Jimmy G is. You know. Yeah. And at this point his career, that's not going to change. And I know there's a lot of debate out there, particularly with how Justin Fields seems to be improving. And I haven't gotten to Fields yet. That's another tomorrow watch for me. So we'll talk about that on the stream, you know, live stream tomorrow night.

You know, people are saying, well, if you put Trey Lans in, he'd be getting better just like Justin Fields. And my guess is he would be. But, you know, we're not there every day. So I don't, I don't have an answer. It's easy sitting in my office at NFL film 3,000 miles from Santa Clara to say, Trey Lance should be playing. Anybody can say that. That's easy.

This week against the Rams. Yeah, against the Rams. I mean, I'm not feeling warm and fuzzy about this one here. No, and by the way, their own line wasn't very good this week either. So that's a problem. Going to be tough here. You know, basically it's like the run game is everything. Right?

I mean, is it fair? It starts there and then now you pick your spots. They'll be the first to tell you that, John. And that's not a news flash. Right. Everything about their offense starts with the run game. And when they get in a game where they can't run it because of score, things get a little different.

And it's been really inconsistent this year. And therefore, Jimmy G. has been really inconsistent. Correct. And he's been hurt. So that is why if they lose this week and go to three and six, maybe I'm really close. My prediction was week 12 about a month ago for Lance. So we'll see about that.

Kittle did look good, though, overall. Cardinal offense. So how bad, I mean, what was bad about the Niners D against Arizona? I mean, Colt McCoy looked fine. He always seemed. Well, I mean, the cards did some really good stuff. I mean, you know, when you play a quarterback like Col McCoy, what do you want to do? You want to give him quick game stuff.

You want to define the reads. You want to give him no read stuff, which are screens. And then, you know, you want to give him one read stuff like slant flat, snag flat. It's one read. You know, then you take a shot here and there. So the Niners generated zero pressure. I thought they did a great job in the run game, too, tactically. They spread the formation really wide.

They lighten the box, you know, because the Niners had to react to the widespread formation, and they were able to use zone read action, which, of course, means you don't have to block a first-level defensive end, and they were able then to get numbers in the run game. So I thought they did a really, really good job. job running the ball. And by the way, this team runs the ball well. They're like seventh or eighth in the in rushing yards. And it's not because of Murray. Murray does not have a ton of rushing yards this year. Oh, clearly. I mean, it's mainly James Connor. I love that addition to Rodney Hudson. I know he missed a little bit of time. He seemingly has really helped. How much has James Connor been

helped by just being like in a spread and also not getting too many carries, although maybe he gets some out? No, he did this week because of the game. And because Edmonds was out, you know, and they did give you, you know, Benjamin some, and he'll be, you know. But I think Connor looks kind of like lean and quick. I mean, you know, again, I'm not saying he's going to get a thousand yards, but I think he looked pretty good. Yeah, no doubt. I totally agree.

Quickly, Bengal offense. What happened here? Was that simply, hey, brown defense played really well, and they made it tough on Joe Burrell. Yeah, the Browns are another one of those teams that because of Baker and all the, you know, everything about him and because of Odell and everything now with him, no one talks about their defense. Their defense is good, John. Nasty front.

They've got a really good. They've got a really good front with a lot of depth. I think that Troy Hill is a really good slot corner. You know, they're good. I mean, they're just good, you know. It's good, yeah. I mean, enough said. No one is really talking about them, but they're a good defense.

I mean, Greg Newsom is a nice physical corner. He's a good player. Yeah, so, I mean, this is, this is a good defense. Jordan Love, give us the Cliff Notes version of what the tape showed on Love. You know, I didn't think when I was, I was watching Red Zone. So I just, you know, saw parts of the game, you know, obviously, I just, I just, you know, didn't see all of it. And, you know, after that game ended, and the way people were talking that night and the next day, you would have thought Jordan Love was the worst quarterback who ever

stepped on the field. I watched the tape, and I didn't think he played that badly. I'm not going to sit here and tell you he played great football, but I didn't think he played that badly. It blitz him a lot, right? First of all, the O line was awful, even versus four-man rushes. He was under major duress in the first half. There was too much pressure on him in the first half. Inexperienced quarterbacks almost always show attendance. to play fast anyway, John. That's just normal. But up the middle pressure makes that way worse.

And that is what Love faced on way too many snaps. He had no chance. And then they blitzed him, okay? And the O line did not do a real good job of recognizing who to pick up. There were five snaps of zero pressure. And they picked up the wrong guys every time. When you get zero pressure, almost always there'll be a free defender. But that free defender can't come in the A gap or the B gap.

That's right up the middle. And that's what kept happening. So he was under way too much pressure right from the start of the game. And to his credit, I thought there were stretches in the second half where he kind of settled in a little bit. And I don't think, you know, in other words, if he was the quarterback and he won't be this week. But if he was the quarterback, I would actually say that there's something to build on, not that, oh, this guy stinks and shouldn't be playing. Yeah.

Well, you kind of said something similar about Justin Fields before. Yeah, I told you. And now, and again, I'm not. sitting here John and saying, wow, I'm smart and everybody else. That's not the point. But you got to study the tape. I mean, look, now people after the fourth quarter that Fields had the other night, which I'll see tomorrow, people are saying, oh, see, Justin Fields, he's really good. Well, I kind of saw all this early. I don't know what people expect from young quarterbacks. They're going to be erratic. They're going to be inconsistent. They're going to be up and down.

They're going to have a good snap and three bad snaps. You know, that's what happens. you know, this is a brand new experience for them. This is the NFL. Yeah, Fields, you know, may just be that, you know, I'm a reps guy. You know, when I do something, I need reps. I think he just needed a few games under his belt because I would say this. And, you know, I thought it looked really bad for about three, four games. But these last two weeks are literally exactly what I thought from Fields.

It's not ridiculous, but he's running. They'll keep going and he'll keep getting better. Yeah. That's a wrap here on the week 10 matchup podcast. Just a kind of a sample of the insight that we get from Greg CoSells film study. You can subscribe to the website still. Obviously, we reduce the price for the rest of the year. We go through the playoffs. 21 Hanson 10 is a promo code you could use if you're not a subscriber and you could save an additional 10%. But check it all out there. DFS gambling, player props. I think I went seven and two. week on picks, helping people win. So we'll wrap it here. And, of course, stay, subscribe to the feed and listen to our other podcasts. For Greg Ocell, I'm John Hanson.

This has been the Week 10 matchup podcast in FantasyPoint.com. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. And come join the roster at FantasyPoint.com.