Fantasy Football Daily - 2021 Week 9 Matchup Podcast

Episode Date: November 4, 2021

John Hansen (@Fantasy_Guru) and Greg Cosell (@gregcosell) preview Week 9 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 for 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, the week nine matcha podcast here at FantasyPoint.com. I'm John Hanson. Greg CoSell standing by. We record this on Wednesday evening here, November 3rd. and Greg's been in that film room. Just a little bit of a sample of the insight that we pull from Greg CoSell's film study here.

And we did just lower the rates at FantasyPoints.com, chopped them in half, I believe. Steep discounts here. And you can subscribe to the website for the rest of the year. We go through the playoffs, use the promo code 21 Hanson 10, and save an additional 10% off your subscription. Greg, we are cruising here. I cannot believe it's week nine. How you doing? I know.

Week nine is, I can't believe it, John. You know, it's, I guess it's moving along here, you know? Well, we've been doing this, you and I a long, long time. We've been through many seasons. I do not.

And it's like, it's not like it's just me. You're agreeing. Like, I don't recall a season going this quickly. You know, I don't know if I think that or not, you know, but I guess we'll see. No,

It's absolutely flying. My schedule has something to do with that, but that's neither here nor there. And, well, we do have the Thursday night football game. I know you were just wrapping up the tape from the Colts and Carson Wentz. What did you see out of that? Obviously, it took a step back, trying to do too much yet again. But any insight here from the tape on the cold offense from last week? Yeah, Wence was not as good this week.

And not just because he made a few. of those plays, you know, obviously that's not good. But I didn't think in this game, he was as comfortable on the pocket as he has been through the last month. He was not as rhythmic with the same sense of timing. I don't think he saw things as clearly. I actually, look, the interception that was a touchdown, obviously, we don't need to discuss that play. But I thought the interception in overtime was more reflective of whence in this game. You know, it was a first and 10 play. they called a post cross combination essentially, which is a basic combination versus cover three. And, you know, he just, he never should have thrown that ball.

He didn't, without going to all the details, because I know people can't see it as I'm talking to you. But the Colts played it really well from underneath with along the linebacker and over the top with Byer reading it. And it was just a ball that never should have been thrown. Well, I know Jonathan Taylor was wide open in the middle of the field on that play, Greg. I don't know if you noticed that. Well, he had two checkdowns. He had a check down to Taylor and he had a check down to Moali Cox. Boy, it seems like Taylor is really, really kind of getting into the identity of this team finally.

Do you sense that? And do you also sense it Michael Pittman? I know it's an ongoing thing, but every week a guy can get a lot of targets. but it sure does feel like obviously Wence likes throwing the Pittman and it feels like the passing game. I know they spread it around, but it kind of seems to go through Pittman. To some degree, yeah, that's fair right now. And now Hilton is possibly out again. But, you know, I was surprised that they didn't run it as much as they, I guess I'm just surprised they don't run Taylor more.

He's done well when they run him. That's not the point. I know. I'm suggesting he's not running well. But he's not getting, I'm not suggesting he should be getting 25, 28 carries a game. But has he had 20 carries in a game yet, John? I don't think so. Frank Wright continues to struggle like, what is the identity of the Colts?

They don't have one. Right now I'd say the identity is Carson Wentz's kind of running around here. Well, he hasn't been running around, but I think the identity has become a passing team. Right. And look, Wynce has been very good. play action until this game and he was very poor off play action. So I don't know, maybe they need a reassessment. You know, a lot of people, because of what Wentz did this week, have now, you know, decided,

okay, that's Wentz. He's terrible. Wence is not terrible, but I think he needs to be controlled. And that's kind of what I meant. Yeah, not that he was running per se, but yeah, like, it's a bit much when you have a guy like Taylor. Like, it would be one thing if he didn't have a good back. But he got Taylor.

Like, he's the best. back in the league argument. And quite frankly, they have two good backs. Yeah. So if you felt like you didn't want to hit Taylor to go 23 or 24 carries every week, go 18 and give Heinz, you know, nine. But I mean, I feel like they're a past heavy team. Again, you know me well enough to know that I don't rip coaches.

I don't say they're right or wrong. But I'm just saying what the tape shows is that this team is a pretty past heavy team with a really good back who my senses should get more carries. No doubt. Well, he should this week against these jets. they're actually been decent against the past. Teams get the ball of the runbacks a lot against them for sure. And you mentioned likely no more T.Y. Hilton.

And Corey Davis is likely out. He's doubtful. So we might. And I didn't get a chance yet to watch Mike White. Yeah. Tomorrow morning because it is the game tomorrow night. And I'm going to get asked about it by everybody and his brother tomorrow. So that'll be probably the first thing I watch tomorrow morning.

All right. Well, we'll cover that on the live stream that we do with you and Adam Capil. And on Thursday, early evening, if you will, late afternoon, early evening. We start that at 5.40. And we go about an hour and a half on that. We cover every single game. Patriots and the Panthers and, you know, it just seems like every single week. It's kind of the same story with Mack Jones.

I saw your notes there. He is starting to move just a little bit. And, you know, where are we needing an improvement here? What are your observations on this offense? I mean, is there anything that you hang your hat on with their passing game? I'd say no. They do spread it around. There's no real staples here, Greg.

Well, I think the run game is a staple. Yeah. You know, a healthy Harris is going to get 15 plus carries every week. And he had 23 last week. I think, you know, I think that's what they'd ultimately like. Oh, sure. Sure. Yeah.

So, I mean, I think that, I think that's the staple, quite honestly. you know, look, last week Jones had, you know, close to 40 dropbacks. The game, well, I don't know what the game dictated that. They ran a lot of plays last week. So, but I think that they want to run the football. I mean, I think in an ideal world, they would have 30 plus carries by backs every week. And Jones would be in the 30 range, you know, depending on the number of plays they would get to run based on the game. I would think that they would want Jones to be in the 30 to 33 area for dropbacks and backs to be in this almost the same number area for run game.

You know, and, you know, as long as Harris is healthy, I think you're going to see him get the ball. He gets hard yards. He keeps, he keeps them on schedule. He keeps Jones theoretically out of long yardage. And that allows Jones to play with timing, rhythm. It allows them to use the short intermediate game efficiently. That's what their offense is, John. No doubt, no doubt.

I was talking a little bit more about the passing game. It looked like they were going to be, you know, tight end centric, but then not really. They kind of are, but they spread it around. Like, you know, Kenrick Bourne, they have a bunch of guys here. It's kind of piecemeal together in terms of the receiving court. Yeah, I mean, look, they signed Bourne and Aguilar, and I think they knew what they were getting. I mean, they knew they weren't getting top 10 receivers in the league. Bourne is an efficient player who works the short intermediate area.

can he get over the top once in a while, once in a while, and he does it by route design, not because he can, like when he caught the touchdown against Diggs a few weeks ago with the Cowboys, that was based on route running, not because he's a burner. You know, Aguilar is kind of a big play guy. You know, he caught the 44-yarder this week on a well-designed concept. And, you know, but he's not, he's not a volume target. Myers is really the volume target. Yeah.

And I know before the season, you thought, and many of us thought, that Henry and Jono Smith would be the volume targets. That has not worked out for Smith at all. And Henry's kind of, you know, I guess he's kind of weak to week, but he's certainly more of a target than Smith. Yeah, yeah. I guess Stefan Gilmore won't be traveling with anyone here. That's not the type of offense you would travel or Gilmore.

No, I don't think they have that guy where you say, we better shut him down. Yeah. Let's move on in terms of let's talk, well, let's talk Mahomes because we've been on this, really, from Yeah, you know, let's do it this way, John. Instead of talking about Mahomes the same way, because I think a lot of the same things are present, and I could just use a few different words, but we've done that. I think a couple of things stand out to me. They do not have a run game, okay?

And they ran the ball a little bit last week. one series where they had four or five consecutive runs with Derek Gore. I don't know anything about Derek Gore, so I can't speak to. He looked pretty good, though. Other than what we all saw in that game. Yeah, you know, I don't know what that means. He looked pretty good, though, right? He did, yeah.

And then when does Edwards Eilayer come back? Well, he's got one more week, but there was to go for the IR, but there was talk that it could be extended beyond the IR. All right. So, anyway, so let's just, there, let me put it to you this way so we don't talk about Mahomes again. They've really struggled offensively playing against split safety, particularly two-man coverage, okay? Yeah, you've been on this from day one.

Yes, this I've been on from the very beginning. When I saw the Chargers play two-man week three, and I said, wow, they're really having a hard time of this. And then it made me think back to the Super Bowl when the Fox played a decent amount of two-man coverage. So that's what the issue is. putting aside Mahomes, you know, as I said, we've discussed that. So they've got to figure that out. And, you know, Mahomes clearly has to become more rhythmic.

He has to play better. But I think they need, there's nothing wrong. It's not an insult to a quarterback, John, to say, you know what, let's try to run the ball and be effective running the ball, particularly if we're getting two shell coverages. Sure. they're daring you to run it. You have to be able to... Now, that doesn't mean you have to run for 180 yards.

That's not the point. Oh, yeah. But you've got to run with some volume and some production. I mean, I asked you about... You don't need one back to go 24 for 140. Yeah. But you need to run with some volume and some production. I asked you about this after like week one.

I'm like, I know it sounds crazy. Well, you know, again, you know, the people listening know what I do. They know who I am. I was on this because the film told me that I was on this week one, basically. Yeah. And in the last two weeks, all of a sudden, you know, everybody joined my party. But I was on this because of tape study week one.

I was on it just my own gut feel and observation from, you know, observing everything I watched, which is everything but the film. Then you come on with the film and it jives with what I'm saying. I'm like, yeah, they got to run the ball. Well, I think one where, one area we can go is Kelsey, because he's been a little bit of a bus kill here. But you know what? I can tell you right now that Kelsey should have had two touchdowns this week

and they were both because of Mahomes. So how does he look on tape? Because, you know, he's dealing with his neck. He looks frustrated at times. One thing that teams are doing, which I don't recall seeing very much these last couple of years. And, you know, don't forget, when you have a great offense or a great defense, whatever it is,

coaches study them. And after a while, they come up with some kinds of answers. I mean, these coaches are not stupid. you know, contrary to what a lot of people might think at times if a team doesn't win. But one thing we're seeing more of this year. We saw the Titans do it two weeks ago. The Giants did it is when Kelsey lines up as the single receiver to the boundary, because teams are playing so much split safety,

they are keeping a corner on him and they are jamming him. Yeah. And there was a couple of great examples last week. I'm going to show one in the matchup show this week. The Titans actually did it with a safety Dane Khruchank, who was a corner in college as well. So teams are jamming Kelsey, and they are disrupting his route. So, you know, that's something now teams are doing.

We'll see. The chiefs are going to have to have an answer for all this. Yeah, they're sitting there right now trying to figure this out, probably, Greg. They are trying to figure it out. Yeah. I don't know the answer, by the way. I mean, the easy answer is run the ball and have someone else step up. It's easy for me to sit here and say, like, I'm smarter than the coaches,

and I don't want to come across that way. But, you know, they're going to have to, my guess is, you're going to have to see different kinds of motions, some changes in formation looks, receiver distributions, you receive or locations, you know, just things to change up. So teams, and maybe just take a different section of the playbook with different route concepts because they run a lot of staple routes every week, the same things. And when you have great players and the quarterback's playing the supremely high level, as Mahomes has essentially been. done for three years, all that works. Now, for many reasons, not just Mahomes, although he's a part of it, those basic route concepts, staple route concepts are not producing the same results, John. Well, maybe, you know, part of it is they just dominated for two years with those staple

route concepts and teams are like, finally, like, okay, we're putting that down. Maybe that's part of it. And while he's, like, uncomfortable, teams are playing a little bit better. It's kind of a 50-50 thing maybe there. half Mahomes and half, I don't want to say stale, but I guess we've got to change things up here. Well, you saw the Packer D, and they did a great job last week against a somewhat comparable player in Kyler Murray. How do you think the Packers match up to what we're talking about here? And I don't think they play a lot of split safeties.

How do they match up? Well, I can tell you that right now, what the Packers do, to be honest with you. So if you give me a second, I will. tell you that when I find it in my notes. So I'll tell you. Yeah, Green Bay's D, the pass rush is decent, you know? I thought they played well on Thursday night. So Green Bay, if you want to talk about, whoops, I went to the wrong thing, hold on.

Because I think Green Bay's defense has actually gotten better. Yeah. So Green Bay is kind of, they play a good amount of cover one. but they do play a good amount of cover four and some cover two. So I would expect the percentage of cover four and cover two to increase this week. Just because, well, yeah, just because they're playing Mahomes, and they're struggling with that. You know, until the chief show that they're not struggling with it,

they're going to see more of what they're having a problem with. Oh, no question. And Green Bay has been, for what it's worth, really good against tight ends. lately and on the season here. So no real answers here. Of course, on the other side, we won't have Aaron Rogers. So, yeah, that was that now, speaking of a buzzkill, that was a buzz kill today. But because that game was going to be a really big game. Yeah. What would you expect from Jordan Love in this game? Obviously, they've got a running game and a running attack with AJ Dylan and Aaron Jones that can, you know, really absorb a lot of the touches. As long as the score allows, I would expect a heavy workload in the run game. I do not believe that they're going to ask Love to do a lot.

I think you'll see the play-action pass game. I think you'll see quick game. I think you'll see some play-action boot. They'll take a shot here and there because that theoretically is not risky. But you're not going to see a loaded pass game, as it were, unless the score dictates. Casey, it cleaned it up a little bit against the run lately, but they'll give up catches. beatable on the ground for sure. Aaron Joe's a great on Thursday.

So did AJ Dylan, really, honestly. Moving on here, the Fantasy Points Week 9 matchup podcast with Greg CoSell. And I'm John Hanson, New Orleans Saints. You saw their defense. I did see their defense. Same every week. And I got to think against Atlanta, boy, what do you think, Marshawn Lattimore against Kyle Pitts?

I mean, got to feel that's going to happen, Greg. You know, it could? It could. You know, I don't, you know, that's a tough question to answer. I mean, you and I were speculating. So that's a tough question to answer, you know, because Lattimore is a corner. Pits is obviously their number one target at this point. But I don't know. They're a team that plays a lot of man coverage. So it's, they plays cover one and they play more snaps of two men than any team in the league. They tend to play two men out of dime. So, and they play a ton of dime, by the way. So, yeah, that could be the case, John. I mean, I certainly wouldn't rule that out. Man, this, this Falcon offense without Calvin Ridley is hurting, man. This is not. Well, they just don't have enough weapons.

That's the problem. Yeah. Yeah. That's a real, I actually would sell on Kyle Pitts. Like, I feel like if they don't have Ridley all year, man, that's going to be tougher for the coaches to get Kyle Pitts schemeed open and alike. don't you think? I mean, I know that's basic, but geez. I mean, you want to talk about a marked man? He's also a rookie.

Yeah. There's a lot of stuff that he's not, you know, that he's going to have to read on the move and he's not going to be, he's just starting to become, you know, get used to that kind of stuff. By the way, bouncing around a little bit, scrolling through your notes and you saw the Giants defense. Any thoughts on where they are? They have been. York. Yeah.

Or New Jersey, maybe. They have been a little shaky here on the back end. Any thoughts on that matchup there? The Raiders, of course, you know, it's been a really almost a real week in the NFL. The Henry Rugg situation is just obviously tragic and all that. Game will be played, though. Any thoughts on this giant D against Derek Carr and the Raiders? It's a beatable matchup.

They don't really stress a defense. I don't feel like. They don't pass rush very well. Their coverage hasn't been that good on the back end. No, I think they're probably an execution defense more than, you know, one of those defenses that does a ton and forces you to react to them. I mean, although they're not a low percentage blitz defense. I mean, that's the thing.

It's not as if they never a blitz. They're not high percentage. But it's not as if they never blitz. You know, they're not, they don't play a lot of men. And that's the thing. They're not a man-based defense. They're a zone-based defense. So, you know, I think you're looking at, you know,

they're going to play a lot of cover three. So, I mean, in that sense, they're beatable. But, you know, they don't really use Bradbury as a match-up corner very much. You think they might, but they don't. They did last year, but they're not this year. Right, correct. I mean, it'll be like some Hunter Renfro in this game. I think he's going to be quite busy.

Well, it could be, you know what? I think it's a Zay Jones week. Ah, yeah. Well, he can line up anyway. He's going to play 50 snaps. I mean, he's going to, I wouldn't be surprised. I'm just being honest with you. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a Zay Jones week.

Right. And then, of course, Brian Edwards, like, it's time to put on the big boy pants there. Like, he's got, he's got it in him to be that kind of alpha dog outside X receiver, do you think? You know what? Maybe he'll get more targets now. Yeah, he will. Yeah, he certainly will. No question about it. Moving on here, Greg, the Chargers, you mentioned them, and we talked about the Patriot offense,

but our guy, Wes Euber, nailed this one in terms of Herbert struggling against the coverage shells that New England runs, and obviously we know they do a lot of man-to-man. But, you know, what do you think it is about this matchup that has given Justin Herbert problems? And do you just, like, throw away the tape? Because this is two of his worst performances thus far have come against Belichick. Yeah, well, what Belichick did in this game, and he did it last year as well,

is normally Belichick, if you were to put Belichick's defensive philosophy, you know, the Cliff Notes version, the snapshot of it, and again, I'm very much generalizing, you'd say that he's very multiple with his fronts, but the coverage is relatively consistent with a high percentage. of man. This week against Herbert, his coverages were very multiple. Wow. Showed a lot of different looks, a lot of different movements, made Herbert play after the snap of the ball, and there were times Herbert got caught.

I don't believe that the Eagles will do that. I mean, although I will say this, and I know it was the Lions, and that's easy to say, you know, that's all I've seen on social media this week when anything's been said about the Eagles as well, it was the Alliance. But this was the first week where the DC for the Eagles, Jonathan Gannon, was a little more multiple with what he did in coverage. There were a lot more matchup principles within their zone concept. So he did some more things this week. So as you relate that to this week, might they put Darius Slay on Mike Williams, for example, a lot? As opposed to Keenan Allen? Yeah. And as opposed to zoning it up,

As you mentioned, they're doing a little bit more man-to-man. Yeah. I think you'll see a little more multiplicity in their coverages, just because it worked last week. And I think that he's probably feeling better about his personnel now as we've gotten into the season. But this should be one of those games with Herbert. I don't know if you'll see the head-to-head with Slay on Williams, you know, other than when Williams is on his side.

I don't know. You know, I've been wrong before, obviously, you know, because you never know we're not in the meeting rooms. My gut is you will not see that as a matter of course throughout the game. Okay. Now, you might see it. Here's how I'll answer that. I don't think you'll see it in versus base personnel.

When it's when Alan and Williams are the only two wide outs on the field. I think you could see it in versus Chargers 11 personnel when Alan is more likely to line up in the slot. Yeah, but generally speaking, there won't be no, well, maybe a little, but this is a much easier matchup. Like, generally speaking, pretty cut and dried, like, pretty easy. Well, what's fascinating about this matchup, and we have no idea what it means, they don't necessarily go against each other because they're both defensive guys. But Brandon Stanley and Jonathan Gannon are best friends. That's true. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, I mean, would you say the Eagle D is improving? I would, yeah. Yeah. Now, again, it's Detroit. You know, you've got to say that, you know, as if. But, yeah, so we'll see what happens. But I would say, I thought their D-Line played while this week.

Yeah, I saw a little Carrigan action this week, too, huh? Carrigan had some real, he had four speed to power rushes. Now, again, it's a backup right tackle, but he had four speed to power rushes. They look pretty good. What do you think of the matchup when Jill and Hurts? He's playing a backup right tackle. this week. What do you think of the matchup for Jalen Hertz when they do throw? I'm pretty concerned. I mean, the charges have been very good all year on the back end. They seem like a defense that could,

not easily, but definitely, you know, confuse Hertz and make it look like a tough go here for Hertz. I would agree with that. I mean, Hertz is always a potential fantasy guy because of his running. And look, last week, he had seven for 71, which is good for fantasy. But, you know, I, again, unless he hits a few big plays, which are, I mean, he is an NFL starting quarterback, John, so I don't want to sit here and say, well, he's going to be terrible. He is an NFL starting quarterback, and you can make throws. And I know they have some injuries in the secondary. I'm not sure what Mike Davis status is, you know, we're doing this on a Wednesday. They're a West Coast team. We're on the East Coast. I don't know what his status is if he's even going to go this week. So they could be

down corners. He was, well, that was this week. So I don't have a report myself. I know Asante Samuel, I don't know how much he's playing. He's been ruled out. Has he been ruled out? Yeah. Well, there you go. He's been playing a ton. Asante Samuel is a starter.

Their starters, when everybody's healthy, is Mike Davis is the boundary corner, and Asante Samuel Jr. is the field corner. Okay, yeah, I didn't know. Chris Harris is the slot corner. But if they have injuries now, you know, all that could change. Well, if there's, does Harris only play inside? No, he could play outside. That's what I thought.

Yeah, right. I thought, yeah, right, got it. Well, Samuel, that's one guy that's out of the mix here this week here. And let's take a look here. The Niners' offense. The Niners' offense last week looked like the Niners' offense. It all starts with the run game. They attack the perimeter.

And then the past game works off of it. it looked like the Niners' offense. Now, it always helps when you get an 84-yard play on third and 19 on a give-up screen, but overall it still looked like the Niners offense. How impressed are you with Elijah Mitchell, man? I really like Eliza Mitchell, and you know I liked him coming out of college. Really ran well. Could get Kittle back this week.

Looks like they probably will. Well, I'd love for them to see to get Kittled back truly healthy. Again, they want to win games, and if he's ready to go, one gets cleared by the medical staff he's going to play you know i'd love to see kiddle being kiddle because he's just a fun got to watch no doubt no doubt iuk signs of life did you get i got the feeling watching it that i yuk was kind of back yeah you know he looked fine to me i mean you know you're talking about targets he got targets this week um obviously he had the two point conversion which doesn't does that count for fantasy no um no it does yeah it does it does because

he ran a great route on the two-point conversion. Yeah. Yeah. Didn't he drop a touchdown? Uh, kind of. It was well defended, but it should have been caught. Yes. Right.

Gotcha. Well, how about Fields? You know, I, I'm on the air during the games. I don't tweet much, but, you know, I've been talking so much about Fields. I've been telling you all through this that there was nothing, you know, he wasn't terrible. You kept saying that to me every week, you know, you kind of like him. And it wasn't that I liked him, John.

You know me. I'm not doing a take. The tape told me that there was something there and that with more and more experience, he's going to get better. And I thought he was very composed this week. He looked like an NFL quarterback. He throws the ball well. He's a powerful runner and a fast runner. I mean, he's almost a combination of Michael Vic, not quite that explosive.

I don't want people to think he's that he's not that explosive, but he is explosive. And Cam Newton, because, you know, Fields is 230 pounds. Yeah. No, what I was going to say is, you know, this is why you're around. This is why we pay the big bucks because you, you were able to dig a lot deeper. I was looking more surface and just studying him and, you know, how he, how he carried himself and it just looked just bad. And the results were bad. But last week, I tweeted at like 130, 140 east.

I'm like, it's a different guy out here today. I thought he played with a lot more energy. He was a lot more assertive. I mean, geez, it's weird that Matt Nagy wasn't around, but did you pick up on that? Or was the tape similar to the week before? Yeah, I mean, I'm not studying like, you know, people say to me, how about the play calling? And I tell, like, I got a call from a writer this week about a team. You know, what do you think of the play calling?

He said, I can't speak to the play calling. You know, I'm not in the meeting rooms. I can't do that. But I thought that fields look poised, composed through the ball well. I thought there were a couple of throws where there was pressure and he handled himself extremely well. He had a 22-yarder on the first possession. It was third and 13, first possession of the third quarter, actually, not the game. It was third and 13.

Niners came with a blitz and overload blitz. Fields read it and he made the throw. I mean, he just looked, he looked to me like he's continuing to grow. Now, having said that, John, he could have a bad game. He's still a rookie quarterback. it's going to be dependent on the opponent and on the given game. But I think this kid's moving in the right direction. Yeah.

For me, at the end of the day, it was really about the lack of running, honestly, because that's a cheat code. That's you don't need great coaching. You don't need much, you know, just run, you know. And we've seen it happen time and time again. I mean, Jalen Hertz is the greatest example recently. And he wasn't doing that. And that's why I was just weirded out by it all.

But you're right. and you kept us kind of calm on the trajectory. It was a typical rookie. Yeah. First five, six starts. I mean, give the kid a break, but I saw a breakthrough moment last week. And by the way,

pretty clear Darnell Mooney's his guy, right? I mean, he clearly gets the most targets. Goodwin got some targets this week. Yeah, he did. You know, again, that's always hard for me to know. When you say he's his guy, you know, I don't know if they think in their meetings, hey, you know, we have to make sure we get it to Darnell this week X amount of time.

My guess is they're not saying that, but he's clearly the guy getting the most targets. You know, it's one of those things where, yeah, there's no edict handed down, but these are human beings. Justin Fields or a guy that goes back and, you know, if he, if he's comfortable and has confidence in a certain receiver, he's going to, you know, have eyes for that guy. I mean, I'll give you an example. I would bet that the Rams don't in their meetings say, you know, we better get the ball to cup, you know, in the first series, man, we better throw it to cup or else. I don't think they say that.

I think their past game is super efficient and really well designed and well scheme that cup gets the ball. And then there was a couple, you know, a game a few weeks ago where Woods had 15 targets. I mean, you know, I don't think, I think it's different than, you know, let's say when, you know, the last couple years in Arizona, not this year, but the last couple years in Arizona where you knew, hey, they're going to come out and they're throwing it to the Andre Hopkins. do you notice anything negative with Alan Robinson himself is he slowing down I mean I'm not studying him because he doesn't get the ball a whole lot but I mean so I can't

really answer that right yeah it's absolutely positively baffling and then how about the how about your thoughts on the Derek Henry list Titans here and you know well the issue is schematics and how teams will tactically play them now um Starting back this week's going to be Deante Foreman. Are you aware of that? You think so? I'm thinking Peterson. I've kind of been told it'll be Foreman.

Wow. So again, that's what I was told today. That could change by Sunday. Yeah. Now, is it insane for them to be of the mindset that we understand Peterson, foreman, not Derek Henry, but even, let's say it's Peterson, because I honestly have a little bit more. faith in Peterson. Is it insane for them to have the approach? Okay, it's not Henry. It's the closest

we got. Let's just do what we do and see, you know, see how that goes. I think there'll be a few tweaks because I, you know, I think that they will throw the ball a little more on first down. Henry had far and away the most first down rushes of any back in the NFL. I don't think you'll see that, whether it's former or Peterson. I don't think it'll be that run heavy on first down. Boy, it's, I know Julio practice middle of the week, but boy, do they need Julio now, Greg. I mean, my God, this is, this could get ugly in a hurry if they don't have a Julio thing is very weird. I mean, you know, he's basically had a hamstring for, God, it seems like forever, doesn't it? Yeah, no, I think he's done.

I mean, I'd really do. I think he's week to week. I mean, he can get him a good thing. Think of it this way. Derek Henry had 131 carries. That's what he'll end this season with, okay? excuse, yeah, not 131. He had 131 first down carries.

That's what I was going to say. So eight games. Yeah. And he has 131. So how many? That's like 17 or so. I'm trying to do the quick math. I mean, think of how many first down times he gets the ball in a game.

So what I say, 131 divided by eight. I'm going to do the math real quick. And then we'll wrap up here. That's 16 first down. carries a week, John. I don't think they're going to hand it to a back 16 times on first down this week. But I could be wrong. Especially a 36-year-old or 4-man. Yeah, it could be wrong.

Yeah. But generally speaking, I mean, do you think they, let's say Peterson, because I was told that, well, they signed him, obviously, but I was told that workout went well. He looked very good. He always looks good. is it insane that maybe in a week, three weeks, that they're kind of doing, running the offense as if it were Derek Henry? Maybe as you say, not to, not to, you know, blow you off on that. That is so speculative. I have no way of answering that.

I have no way of answering that. I guess I mean, but by the way I'd answer that is I don't believe they want to change their offense dramatically. Yeah. But I think it's not going to be exactly the same. Right. because so much of what First of all, Derek Henry,

probably from what I've been told by a doctor, probably had this injury brewing for a number of weeks. And if you notice the last couple of weeks, he did not look exactly the same. Exactly. I said that on TV last week, the week before. But they still were giving them the ball.

I just don't think they're going to run the offense exactly the same way. But so much of what they do in the passing game is working off of Henry. How much of a drop-off do we get? You don't know the answer to that. That's what we don't know the answer to. Right.

We just don't know. But it's scary because we don't, we don't necessarily, as much as I've always loved Tannahill, I've always been realistic. We don't want this guy throwing it 39 times a game. Like we just don't. Well, there's a way, you want him to throw it a certain way, that way may have to change. Yeah. Yeah, you want it like a schemed up thing, right?

Right, exactly. Yeah. Like Joe Burrow will go out there. Oh, we're in a shootout, Joe. did a drop back 46 times. You know, not a problem, basically. And we'll see. They may have to get to some more of that. Well, that'll wrap it up here. As Greg mentions here, we did go a little longer than usual,

and we're just kind of scratching the surface on all the insights. Also very early in the week, by the way. So we're all a little bit more educated when we do the live stream on Thursday night. Of course, we're even more educated by Friday, Friday night. I'm always updating all the projections there at FantasyPoint.com. once again if you're not a subscriber to the website uh price is just reduced 21 hanson 10 is a promo code that you could use to get 10% off and uh we'll be good to go you'll be good to go uh throughout the rest of the regular season our dfs optimizer obviously kick an ass that's a real nice tool to you could utilize and we go throughout the playoffs here so 21 hanson 10 the promo code

and i'll wrap it up here obviously subscribe to the feed if you're not already to get all the other podcast here. They are free, of course, wherever you get your podcast, IDP. We do that on Thursday night, Friday morning. Then we do a little DFS, a little waiver wire as well. That'll wrap it up for Greg Cosell. I'm John Hansen. Good luck in week nine. And boy, I can't believe it. Next week, we'll catch you double digits for week 10. And we'll talk to you then. 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 you. the roster at fantasy points.com.