Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Take Talk Episode 13

Episode Date: October 19, 2022

Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) and Steven ORourke (@callmesteveo7) invite Ray G (@RayGQue) to preview Week 6 and talk some dynasty. --- 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. Welcome in to another episode of the Take Talk podcast. I am your host, Brett Whitefield, with my usual co-host Stephen O'Rourke, and today is guest Friday. And we have another splendid guest prepared for. you today. Please welcome to the show, Ray GQ. My man, I'm very excited to have you. So for the listeners

involved that don't know Ray well, I'm sure there's not many of you, but if there are, I absolutely love Ray. My favorite thing about Ray, and the reason he's on the show is because he's one of the only guys in the fantasy space that watches a ton of film and understands it at a high level. It's a huge value add to the fantasy community and his skill set is tremendous and I couldn't be happier to have him on the show. Ray, what's up? Appreciate you, man. Thank you for having me on. You know, we met officially in person during the Senior Bowl in February, man, and just getting a chance to chop it up with you about football, man.

Super knowledgeable. You know your stuff more than I'd say 99.9% of the people. people in the space. Just to chop it up with you in person about ball was good. And I appreciate you having me on the show today, man. Awesome. So guest Friday, we've been mixing it up every Friday with a new guest, kind of jumping into new topics.

I know one of your sweet spots in the space, Ray, is Dynasty and Devi. With that said, I would like to ask you about this season so far. One of the things I love about you, too, man, is like you and I, and we'll have like disagreements about players. But like even when we disagree, your, your reasons are always well-founded. I might be like, I don't see it that way, but like I respect it. But with that said, is there any guys this season that you've, that have actually changed your mind about their outlook, especially in Dynasty?

Yeah, man. Somebody from the 22 class that I wasn't super high on personally coming out as a prospect. I thought he was okay. I thought he was the third, fourth best receiver on his team last year in college football. but Chris Olavé is really, you know, whether it's his utilization, how they're incorporating him in the offense. I didn't think he would be this effective this quickly in his NFL career. I didn't think that they would give him 13, 14 targets, you know, considering they have Camara and Michael Thomas and I know there have been injuries across the board offensively for

the Saints. But just his ability, one of the things that I think I may have underrated. and I need to look at my process is even though I didn't think he had the upside as some of the other receivers in the class, one thing you couldn't deny about Alabe when you watch the tape is the fact that he was a technician, that he was savvy, he was a veteran, he knew how to get open, he knew how to find soft spots and zones. And he's doing that right now in the NFL and he's done that so far this season. So for me, you know, Brett, you and I had a lot of conversations about Traylon Burks the whole time, long before most people caught on. And I think it's one of the things that moving forward, I definitely want to incorporate a little bit more.

Like, if this player is thrust into a situation to where he's forced to be fed the ball as the one or the two, do they have the skill set to do that? And even though I still believe Traylon Burks has a lot of, if I just look at his natural, my personal opinion, right, his natural talent and ability, I think he's got some tools and traits that if developed, he could be a good player moving forward. But there's no doubt, at Olavay, looking back on it, was the more pro. ready wide receiver of those guys. So OLAV has definitely exceeded my expectation so far this season. And I'm encouraged by what they do with him moving forward. And you look at him and you're like, man, can this dude really be a one for the team? But they're utilizing them like that. So who am I to

say no when that's how they're using them? For sure. Ray, we had a lot of talks about Olave and I was right there with you, man. Like I was thinking he was the third, maybe the fourth best, fifth best guy and the team now looking at Marvin Harrison Jr. there. And I did not expect this outburst. I think I had a late second round grade on Olave. Did not see him as this, you know, the Saints traded up to get him at, what, 11? I did not see that type of player.

And he's, he's changed my mind as well. That's a great call. I kind of knew you're going to say that, too. I anticipated that one. So Steve and I have sung Olave's praises so far. Yeah. He has definitely exceeded expectations,

but he's also thriving with what they're giving him. It's pretty hard for a rookie to come in and be that guy, especially when I felt like his skill set was somewhat limited. I had concerns about his competitive, you know, toughness and physicality. And yeah. But man, he's thriving. I mean, he's a legit deep threat already.

And, you know, say the worst case scenario happens. Like, I do feel like he's established himself to where that's going to be a role he has for a really long time with upside, obviously. If you watch the tape too, Brett, one of the things that I've noticed that he's doing well early, I call it the early Hollywood Brown Deshawn Jackson sort of receptions. He catches it and he gets down. Like he's not putting his body in harm's way to get beat up. He's not, you don't really see him lowering his shoulder to run over defenders.

He's finding the spots. He's catching it. You go back to that Minnesota game. I think it was quarter's coverage. And there were three defenders around him. And he goes up and it was like a 20-something-yard catch, you know, to extend that drive and soon as he got it he got down so quick that Harrison Smith and the other safety run into each other and damn there hurt themselves so it's he's been he's savvy he's a technician

he's a pro ready type wide receiver so shout out to Chris Oliva hats off to him he's playing damn good ball for sure and building on that like reviewing my process so one of my complaints with him was like in college he forced one miss tackle last season when guys on his team Garrett Wilson and Jackson Smith, the Jigba, these guys were like over 20 in similar usage patterns. But to your point, maybe this is just a self-preservation thing he does where he's, you know, he's aware of the situation. He's got three guys, brand on him. He's not going to try to, you know, force a big yards after catch situation. And maybe that will serve him well in the long run.

I definitely knocked him for it, though, early on. But I think that technician stamp you've given him is true for sure. And that's where it's valuable to, and I think it's a trait that doesn't often get talked about. But with a receiver and a guy who's not necessarily as big as everyone else, the value in being able to make yourself a small target and never really take on that big hit, it's something that like someone like Devontas Smith is very good at. Like they're quick twitch and they take their chances when they know they have it. But oftentimes they're able to contort their body, move their body in a way that prevents them

from taking those big hits. And that's why sometimes guys like that last longer in the league is because they are so good at that self-preservation. And while sometimes there are situations where you look at it and you're like, the guy could have picked up five, ten yards of yak. But, you know, that's also why he's going to last three, four years longer and you're not going to see him injured a ton is because he can just move his body in ways that a lot of guys can't.

For sure. for sure. Your point on Trayland Berks too, Ray, like, obviously I've been obnoxiously low on Berks. It's more of a bit at this point than anything, you know. It makes for good, fun content on the pod and whatnot. But that was another guy I didn't quite see the hype on. I had like a second round grade on him as well.

I do think there's value to, when you're looking at these college receivers, to checking out their production profile. Like how did they produce the way they did? And that was my biggest issue with Berks. It was like his production profile was just a little fraudulent. Of course, he had flashes on tape that were awesome. You know, you would see that. But the consistency of it I didn't like.

But it seems like Tennessee is going to use him the same way when he's healthy. So while I may have been lower on the player, man, like maybe he is a guy you might want to buy low on in Dynasty. Would you agree with that? Yeah, I was encouraged, man. I'll say this. it feels, it felt like to me. And if you just go back to the draft and look at how that played out, it didn't seem like Braybill really signed off on A.J. Brown being dealt.

And listen, I'd rather have A.J. Brown a million out of a million times over Traylon Burks. So if you're the coach and you find out, damn, I lose an alpha wide receiver. And now I'm forced to pick. And maybe we don't know where Berks was on their board. Maybe he was fifth or, you know, and they're just like, You know, there's no Alave. London's gone. Wilson's gone.

Jamo's gone. We got to take Berks. It just, it felt like Vrable really didn't want him there. I can't, I have no inside information. That's just what it felt like. But I'll say this. If you go back and just look at him through the preseason, and to Traylon Berks's point,

one of the things that I appreciated about him is he came out and said he wasn't prepared for the combine. He also said that he wasn't prepared for minicamp. And he had to lose weight. There was a whole five-minute interview where he said, you know, I wasn't in the best shape that I needed to be in, but he got it together. He came back in the training camp.

He looked good. We saw the speed during preseason. I mean, there were a couple of times where you got the ball, and you're like, dude, that dude can move when he has the ball. He gets in early with Tennessee. They're trying to incorporate him into the offense. He's going to be utilized, right? How much is that worth?

I'm not sure, but I think I saw, I've seen enough early on to say he's going to be a part of this offense. it's a low volume pass offense and there aren't a ton of weapons around them. I think he is a by-low. My only fear is I think Tennessee will draft a receiver next year. I think they're going to try to find another guy. Robert Woods is getting older. I don't know if Traylon.

I don't know if he's a one. He might be a guy that develops into a guy that you can put him out there in a one role for a season or two. Like Jarvis Landry. He was Miami's won for a couple of years, but no one in the NFL viewed him as the same caliber of a receiver as the Julio Jones is in the Mike Evans of the world. Right. Right. Not a middle mover. Right. I think he's going to be a solid player.

Is he going to be an elite difference making alpha type wide receiver? I don't think so. I don't think so. Which is exactly why I didn't like him in the first round because I didn't think he would give a team that ability. But day two, I'm perfectly fine with what he does. one of the things that to give Tennessee some credit to what we've seen is like a lot of what Birx did in college was like hey let's get the man the ball in space and let them work

they've been really creative I know he hasn't played a ton of snaps and very limited sample size but they've been very creative with how they get him the ball running him underneath the formation running those shallow drags with them with three verts to one side so he has tons of space to work with and he's gotten first downs in all of those situations like he'll get the ball he'll make a guy miss get a first down um so credit to like my pet peeve with teams is when they draft the player and then they don't use them the way they you know what their skill set if they should be used so it's credit to tennessee and they're they're using burks the correct way when he's out there you're talking about drake london right a contest a catch guy that can go down the field and he's

only got three deep targets on the season i don't get it and i know marcus mariotta's bad but why not just give him an opportunity just throw it up i don't care right there's no reason London shouldn't have two deep targets a game. Like literally, just I'm jumping all around here, but you look at Hendon Hooker at Tennessee, right? Whenever he identifies single coverage and he sees the safety shading to one side, he's just going to throw a deep every time.

Every time. Texas and Hendon to Hooker, one-on-one coverage, safety's shading to the opposite direction. He's going to give his receiver a chance. London is 6'5, dude. He's 6'5. And for everything that people said he couldn't do, which they said he couldn't separate,

which was a terrible narrative in the first place. Everything, people 100% agree that he's a jump ball guy. He's a contest, a catch guy. Yet Atlanta doesn't give him any opportunity to do that. And I'm just like, why? They run, Brett, I'm telling you all, Stephen and Brett, first 10 plays of the game, they're going to run a tunnel screen or a smoke screen to Drake London every game.

And I'm just like, why, dude? Like, why are we continuing to do this with this cat? I don't, I'm with you, man. I don't know why coaches do this stuff. Ray, like 80% of London's targets so far have been either those smoke screens are talking about the tunnel or Mariotta comes up to the line and, you know, sees off coverage and he'll like audible to some type of quick game and throw him a slant on the backside. That's it. That's like the only way they're getting London the ball. And this is, yeah, he can do those things, but like can we please get the man the ball downfield?

Like look at Winston and Oliva, we already mentioned. Like, come on. I mean, Oliva is like top 10 in yards per target right now. Like he's getting like over nine yards per target. Drake London, the deepest routes they throw to him are like a shake or an out route. Like they'll run 15 yards shake or out route. And like and guess what? He wins every time.

But that's the thing. Like it goes to the same thing with like Traylon Burks. Like Tennessee drafted him. We knew what his skill set was. And they like they utilize it. They at least utilize him. in that hole. They're putting a square pack and a square hole. But with like, but with Drake London, it's like when you have a guy who's as good as he is and is, you know, big and can separate as good as he is,

like, why are we not, why are we not trying to scheme these? Why are we not trying to scheme like these deep balls to him to give him a chance to like make a play? Because we know he can make a play. Yeah, for sure. And he's separating a guy. against guys like Marshawn Ladamore. Like, and that's a guy who's top of the league. Like, why are we not putting him up against these guys who are clearly lesser than Marshawn Ladamore and, like, let him go make a play? London destroyed Latimore in that game.

Absolutely destroyed him. That was like eye-opening to me. I was like, oh, snap, London is ready to go. Right. Like, immediately after that game, if you, like, if you're Atlanta and how you don't come away from like, okay, we have someone who's like a Mike Evans, archetype type player like let here we go let's just like funnel him the ball as much as possible you're seeing it with Kyle Pitts too right like they're they're not getting him the ball either so

is this a Marcus Marioato problem or an Arthur Smith problem right what do you think looks like mariotta because even despite all of what we're saying about how they're utilizing him he is third in the league and target share I mean he's he's getting he's commanding 30 30% of the targets right I think he's fourth in target rate. So when he's running around, like he and Pitts, I believe, are both top five positionally in Target Share. It's just the, it's how they're utilizing them, right? It's screens and five-yard outs and hook routes and curl routes. And they're not, they're not, my thing is just give these dudes a chance, man.

Like there's no reason why if I'm a quarterback and I see him one-on-one backside corner, I'm just going to say I'm throwing it to you. like hot, hot, hot, I'm throwing it up. I'm giving you a chance to make a play. I think it is Marcus Marriota. Dude, he threw a pick a couple of weeks ago, and they ran the ball 14 straight times versus Cleveland. They don't even want him to throw the ball.

I think Atlanta has thrown the ball sub 95 times on the seat. Like, I'm just, they just don't even want to throw. It's like Chicago, right? They just don't even want fields to throw the damn ball. So at least Arthur Smith and him are throwing to the right guy. it's just not the right type of route. And I just, it's, it's, you sit back and you're like, man, I see this. Do they not see it?

Like, why is it not happening, man? Same. I mean, especially because Arthur Smith had a good amount of success with A.J. Brown in creating an offense that fit him well. So why can't they do the same for London and Pitts? It actually blows my mind. Before we let you go, though, Ray, we still got you for about 15 minutes or so. you brought up Hennon Hooker.

I've been wanting to pick your brain on Hennon Hooker for a while because this dude is blowing my freaking mind. I had Joe Marino, our mutual pal, on the show a few weeks ago, and we talked in depth about the QB class, but we talked about C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young and Will Levis and Anthony Eurch said unusual suspects. We didn't get to Henden Hooker. So, man, I know you've tweeted about him.

Lay it out there for me, man, because this guy's impressing me. what are you seeing with Hennon Hooker? So Kyle Crabs and I, we broke him down on the film session yesterday. I think that is dropped today or tomorrow. Oh, snap. I think, okay, a couple of things. He's very efficient, right?

I think he's like, he's not top in the NCAA. I don't really, raw stats in college. I mean, the leading passers, probably somebody that I've never played in the NFL. So, but you look at his QBR, which is third in the NCAA right now, doing it in the SEC. He's an older prospect. going to be the big knock on him. He'll be a 25-year-old rookie. You watch him and you see all the natural talent, man, the arm talent, the arm strength, the mobility. He seems to have a command of that offense. The issue is it is this Josh Hyple offense. And Kyle pointed it out to me yesterday.

He's not doing anything at the line. I mean, they're telling him where to throw. This is what it is. You could just see him. He looks at the sideline. They get the call. He goes up there, make sure their offensive line as the cadence and they just go. Right. I think these next four games will be the deciding factor if Hinden Hooker is going to be a first round pick or not. They've got Georgia, Kentucky, and Alabama, three of their next four games. And then they've got a cakewalk in there. So three of the next four games, he's going to face off against Levis.

He's got UGA and he's got Bama this weekend. if he can come out of these next four weeks where we walk away and say, oh man, they almost beat Georgia. Like he almost let him to beat Bamo, or they did get a win, or he outplayed Will Levis. I think that combined with the fact that he's going to get a senior bowl invite, he's probably going to be the guy that, you know,

the kind of prized get at the quarterback position because of going to be Stroud, Young, Levis, none of those guys will be there. You could see the Macon, Jones type ascension for him like pro ready you can bring a man you look across that what what's crazy y'all is we're talking about the NFL you're supposed to be the best players on the earth and I look across the 32 teams and I see maybe like 10 difference makers at quarterback and then just a bunch of guys right yeah and there are I mean we saw last night I know people I want to and I'm sure we might

talk about them but would it shock you if Chicago's drafting high and they're like look man we didn't draft this field's guy like I you know strouds right here young like it wouldn't shock me I'm not saying it's going to happen but you you look across the board and I think you can throw a hind and hooker in there at Washington and he might give you a little more than what wins has done so I think right now realistically brett I think he's probably like a second round pick but these next four weeks are going to be huge for him and then the pre-draft process I think he's going to crush interviews I think teams are going to like them it's just can they buy into a 25 year old quarterback and can he actually read a defense? And there's some things I saw on tape where I'm like,

all right, I can kind of see you want a little more growth and maturation there, but he's got, he's got three massive games in order to make his case. Absolutely. I love the take about the upcoming schedule too, because that is really going to be the indicator for him. I kind of, when I listen to this guy talk and I see him in interviews, man, he has that Jalen Hurts swagger to me where it's like, this dude just had, he gets it. He gets light. His perspective on life is great. He just seems like such a good dude.

You hear the way his coach talks about him. You're like, this guy is like he's a guy you want in your locker room too. I don't care that he's 25 years old personally. He's a quarterback. If he was like, you know, a wide receiver,

that's one thing. We're not, you know. But man, I just, I really like this kid. When I look at this, you know,

class that's supposed to be excellent in strata, I think they all have flaws. Will Evans has actually played pretty bad this year. And I'm not convinced he doesn't need a scene. your year. You know, so there's definitely opportunity. I mean, like,

yeah, yeah, man. It's this, I don't think Anthony Richardson is going to declare, first of all. He should either. He should not. He is not. I think we were way out over our skis after week one versus, even me. I'm like, oh, this dude's number one

pick in the draft. That's a beating Utah, right? Right. They're not ready, man. They don't want him to throw the ball. They don't want him to throw it, man. Yeah. He's not ready. Young will have questions because of his size. He just is. Absolutely.

Crowd's going to have questions because he has a million hours to throw the ball. He just sits back there. And he has an insane wide receiving more. And one of the things that I don't like to do when I'm scouting is scouting the helmet, right? But it's hard not to look at Ohio State and be like, none of those cats have panned out, right? None of those cats in that time. And I don't, I'm trying to learn the balance between like factoring that in and saying,

dude, that's all baloney, evaluate the player. But I'm looking at these core. I'm with you. Levis, I've been saying it all year. I get the tools and traits. And we love him at the draft network, but he's actually hasn't looked as good to me this year. And I get it. O line is bad.

Receivers are young? Can you, are you taking him top five if you're a franchise? I can't do it right now, man. the comp he gets thrown to is Josh Allen, obviously. But like, Josh Allen, people have to realize he's not the rule. He's the exception to the rule. And he was the seventh overall. And he was probably more polished than Levis is right now.

I have major concerns if you're going to tell me Levis is a top five pick. And that's where people need to realize that when we're saying that he's like Josh Allen, it's Josh Allen when he was a prospect, not Josh Allen what he is now. Exactly. Like that's, those are two completely different players and two completely different outcomes. For sure. Yeah. I, if Will Levis said he's coming back for his senior year, I think then he could get himself in the number one overall conversation because if he develops, you know, obviously, if he's going to be a lock first round pick, he's not, he's not returning to school.

He's going to, he's going to come out. But I'm sure he'll get that feedback from somebody in the NFL. How would you feel about your lions picking him up with one of those? later first. Like, good offensive line, good weapons, wouldn't need to start right away, could sit behind golf for a year. How would you feel about it? I would love it, yeah. Because golf is there,

they have him under contract, and he's coming into a stable environment. Good offensive weapons, good offensive line, good running game, too. So, like, the pressure would be off in all facets, and it would give Levis a time to really work and develop. Yeah. I would feel good about that. Probably, man, if that first pick they have turns into a top five pick, though, that scares me a little bit.

Maybe with the Rams pick where, you know, it might be like late teens or early 20s or something like that. If they turn things around, it could get in the 20s. But right now, the Rams look pretty dead on arrival. So, yeah. Yeah. I do, you mentioned helmet scouting, though, and we just watched a Thursday night football game last night, you know, between the Bears and the commanders. I did want to talk to you about Justin Fields because. everything I've seen from, you know, last year and this year, just it reeks bad.

And I know there's a lot of blame to be put on the bears for what's going on there. But Fields isn't doing himself any favors, Ray. What do you got for me on Fields? I mean, what more do you want me to say? I mean, we're all rooting for Justin Fields. I don't think there's a soul out there that wants him. Like, I can't stand that dude. I want him to fail.

I don't think there's a soul out there that wants that. But at some point, there's got to be some accountability. on him as well. And you look at the stats. I mean, when he's whole, we know the line is bad and we know, and I also want to talk, people talk about how bad his weapons are.

It's not the worst receiving room in the league. Like, it's not great, but there are, you look at what Daniel Jones has in New York, and you tell me, would you rather have Cole Kamet and Darnal Mooney, opposed to David Sills

starting at wide receiver for you, which is insane. But he's holding the ball for 3.35 seconds. Like, you know your line is bad. Getsey, the office, Like, get the ball out of his hands quickly in Fields. I never bought into the narrative that he was the last end, first out guy. But one of the concerns on Fields coming out of Ohio State was he held the ball too long.

He took a lot of unnecessary sacks. And he's doing the same thing in Chicago. I defer to you, Brett, because I've seen more QBs get ruined and developed. And I'm just, I'm starting to look at, okay, last year there wasn't a bunch. outside of the one throw to Pettis for the touchdown, which a beautiful throw. It stood in the pocket. Yeah.

Absolute dime. I've seen, I've seen Mac Jones make that throw. I've seen, I've seen every quarter, but I've seen Daniel Jones drop dimes here and there. It's the consistency, right? When I was on with Kyle yesterday, he told me one thing. Don't grade and judge it and evaluate a quarterback for what they do outside the 20s. Look at what they do inside the 20s.

When they get in the money zones, red zone, 20 yards and defenses are condensed down. You got to make quick decisions. You got to know where to go. You got to throw the ball with velocity. What do they do when they get inside those money situations? And I'm concerned, man. I'm concerned because I don't think they're a player away.

Like they're not one offensive linemen away. And everyone's like, oh, they got $130 million in cab space next year. Who wants to go there? Who wants to go there? Maybe you get a Tyree Kiel that says, I just want my money. And I'm going to go to Chicago and I don't care. Unfortunately, Chicago doesn't have the tax, the tax situation to be able to pull in players like that. And I'm seeing people mock like Jackson Smith and Jigba to him.

I don't know how much he helps. He doesn't help at all. Yeah, I don't know how much he helps, right? Kishon Bouté, this is, this is bad. It's bad. He didn't look good. It's an excellent runner. If that's what you want to do, then they need to build the offense and just say,

fields, you're going to run the ball 15 times a game. And for fantasy, that's great. but you know what it reminds me up? Mitch Trubisky scored his fantasy points for three years, and when they figured out he couldn't throw the ball, they shipped him off. That's what it feels like. I watched every one of his dropbacks from last night twice this morning,

as we were doing our charting. And the one takeaway I had that was super consistent through the whole game is like he doesn't trust anybody, including himself, on that team. he, you know, when he drops back, he's, yeah, he's holding the ball too long. He's also not doing his offensive line any favors. Like, he's dropping, he's drifting to 11, 12, 13 yards deep. Like, dude, your tackles are getting smoked no matter what. I don't care how good they are.

They're getting smoked when you're 13 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Right. There was a few plays where he had, it was like a third and three. He's got a guy running a drag route. Fields isn't trusting his arm to get him the ball. He's wide open past the first down marker. he has really poor manipulation in the pocket. Pocket awareness is bad.

He doesn't know how to step up or slide or hitch. He's not doing any of the small things. He can occasionally make one of those crazy throws. You're like, wow, that was beautiful. He had another one you didn't mention, as I think it was end of the second quarter yesterday where he is under pressure and Darnell Mooney's running like a 15-yard out route.

And Fee gets absolutely smoked when he makes a throw. But he throws it before Mooney breaks and it is on the money. There's an absolute dime. He hits Moody and stride. He's able to get a few yards after catch. So the tools are there. It's just he's not trusting what he's seeing.

Defenses have figured out too that like if all it takes to really kind of slow his processing down is you just rotate a safety. So show a middle of the field closed. Rotate one up. Now you've got open looks and two high safeties or you rotate one down. And we've talked with on this podcast. That messes with Mahomes and Allen. it's going to mess with Justin Fields who doesn't trust anybody even worse.

That's why his time to throw is getting it up into the three and a half seconds. It's, you know, he's getting pressured because of himself and because of his offensive line being poor. It's a both and situation. Isn't it telling when we're all watching the game and I don't care who you are,

you probably were doing the same thing last night. When he completes a pass, you're like, oh, man, he got one. Like he completely, literally like, Oh, man, a 17-yard pickup. Alan does that. You don't even bat an eye. You're like, oh, dude, that's it.

12-yard pickup for you on that completion, Alan. Like, I need 32 more of those so we can win. Literally, I'm watching the game with some buddies last night. And when he completed a pass, like, you're just like, oh, man, he got one. Like, yes. You get excited. Yeah, you're excited. Like, man, he completed.

That's not what you want from a top 15 pick. And looking back on that 20-21 quarterback class. man. It's going to be interesting to reevaluate that in a couple of years because, yeah, yeah, generational, it was not. Yeah, let's, we got to stop buying into the hype like that because, man, like the Mahomes Watson class, those guys were picked at 10 and 12. That was not considered a good class. This class is generational and it's possible all five of those guys stink. Yeah. It is what it is. is, you know. Ray, did you see the tweet I made about fields this morning?

No, what was it? I'm trying to avoid the field slander. I feel so, oh, man. It feels just mean at this point. Yeah, I didn't put any spin on it, but I did say, there's been 81 NFL games have been played so far this season. A hundred and thirty-nine times a quarterback has completed 16 passes or more in a game. Thirty-eight different QBs have done this. Justin Fields, who has started six of those games, is not one of them. That's sad, dude. I feel so bad for the guy. I just retweeted that.

I just hit a retweet on that one. Let's see who you can piss off with that one. I didn't associate blame, though, so I washed my hands in it. And the thing with Fields is that his, like, obviously we all know his ability to, like, get out of structure is part of what makes him good as he is quick. and if he needs to get out of the pocket, he can. But even when he does, I looked, I watched all of his dropbacks last night as well. And there was only one scramble. And it was the one where he ended up, like toward the end of the game,

where he set him up to potentially score to go win the game. But every other time, his eyes were not downfield. The minute he's out of the pocket, that ball is not even in a position to where he can throw it. It's tucked. And he's gone. which like that's a bit that's very concerning to me because that that means that that's a habit that's starting to form and that's a habit that's hard to break because it's hard to completely get a guy to go from not trusting anyone to now getting to the point where he's trusting people

when he's outside of the pocket and now he's trying he's having to like almost relearn those skills out of throwing outside of the pocket because he hasn't like he doesn't do it anymore that's the part that concerns me as far as like development going forward is you're starting to see some concerning trends and traits that are starting to develop that could tank him. Yep. And Ray, I know you'll agree with this too. When you're evaluating a quarterback and he has the skill set fields has, you're attracted to it because of the extra plays it buys you when you break the pocket and your ability to get the ball downfield. because you're letting that coverage break down. If you're not going to do that, though,

it really limits what your ceiling is, you know? And that's, it really, it's a tragic story because Fields has literally all the physical tools you could ask for. Yep. Yep. And it's just, again, sometimes you see more quarterbacks broken than develop. And I hope that's not the case. But honestly, what more is going to change from now to the end of the season? This is their offense.

Yeah. This is it. This is it. People think that they're just going to take a... I don't think people understand how... How do I say this? I don't want to say how little NFL teams practice, but, like, this offense was installed.

Summer, OTAs, mini-camps, training. They're not about to flip the thing in the middle of the season with three days of practice in between weeks. Like, yeah, they've got a bi-week and they can move some things around. And I think Chicago's by-week is week 14. So, I mean, What's going to change between now and then? Not much.

Microadjustments is pretty much all they got left. Well, that's awesome, man. I know we didn't want to keep you past the 30-minute mark. We did go past, but we're going to get you out of here, Ray. I really appreciate you coming on the show, dude. I have one final question for you, Ray. Real quick, tell everyone why there's no quarterback controversy in Dallas. Come on, man.

Just for just. Are people really saying this stuff, right? I feel like there are, and I just, at this point, I just need someone who knows what they're talking about to just put it in plain words. No, there's no quarterback controversy in Dallas. I'll give Cooper Rush's props, right? And this is why I think having a competent backup is important in the NFL because your quarterback's going to get banged up at some point. There's 150 some odd million reasons why that's going to continue to be the starter. he's the better quarterback.

I don't know why this is even a debate by most people. Cooper Rush has done an admirable job of keeping the team afloat. And I'd say Michael Parsons in the defense is really what's keeping the team afloat because they're playing like one of the best defenses in the NFL. Stop. Stop with the Cooper Rush stuff. I didn't have any, Steve, I don't even know how you brought to stuff. I have no, just this is no, no.

I agree. I agree 100%. What I will say is the, I think the Rams game really showed people like, all right, the defense helped it, but do it through for 100 yards, right? Yeah, 16 attempts, I think. In an ideal world, they do just enough to keep the team afloat to where Dak can sit out through the by week, get that hand. Because we saw what happened when Russell Wilson, when he came back too early from the same injury, he was awful, right? I want Dak to be fully healthy when they throw him back out there. So hopefully they can continue to win without it.

him, but the moment he's ready to go, you start Dak Prescott. You start him in the NFL, you start him in fantasy. There is no quarterback controversy. I can assure you of that. I just don't know how it's how that is the conversation and it's not. Holy cow, think of the offense they had with Dak like not too long ago and marry that with the defense currently. Instead, people decide to do what we all, what we all expect them to do.

And that's just go the worst route. and now they've turned it into, we'll look at Cooper, look at the record. QB win, man. QB win. 5 and 0. Yeah.

Give you a break. Yeah. Okay. All right. So we're going to bid Ray a farewell. Ray has a show called Wake Up. Yeah. It's phenomenal.

Please listen to it. It's really good. You can also find them destination Devi, the draft network. Ray, where else? What's your Twitter handle? Ray GQ. GQ.

Ray GQ. Boom. Appreciate you. having me on. Thanks again, man. Appreciate you. Good show, man. Y'all take care. Oh, man, Ray is such a good dude. I'm so honored the dude came on the show, man.

He is like, you know, there's a lot of guys in the fantasy space who they're really good at analytics and numbers. And there's just not many who understand the game and film at the level Ray does. So he's such a valuable dude to our community. And yeah. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I think, yeah, like you said, there is so much value in being able to bring film to the fantasy space.

Because, like, you can play the numbers game as much as you want, but at the end of the day, at the end of the day, it still has to be put onto the field. And that's where, like, being able to go in and watch the film helps because you can kind of refute some of the, like, a lot of the times it's, I feel like it's refuting the upside of some guys with film where it's like, okay, yeah, sure, like, you can put all the numbers there. but the guy just doesn't have it. And that's where Ray can identify those. And then even find those that are, it's like, no, they're stuck in a bad system, like get them somewhere else and they can make things happen. For sure.

Yeah, I'm excited to talk draft with him too when that time comes because he's such a good, unique perspective on how these top college prospects will translate to the fantasy football game. And I know a lot of the listeners will be very curious to hear that. For real, though, guys, if you haven't ever watched Ray's show, wake up, it is, you know, one of the best stream shows out there. Follow him on Twitter, and you will find the link whenever it's available. So, yeah, Steve, I wanted to transition, though. I know we just wrapped with Ray about Dak versus Rush, and that's kind of a joke.

You know, we know Back is the guy. Yeah, complete joke. We know Dak's a guy. But Rush falls into this category, and it's going to be a new segment we're doing. So for you listeners out there, we're going to be doing a segment where it's like, who is securing the bag? Who's making the money that you wouldn't expect to have made the money? I want submissions from the listeners. So if you find me or Steve on Twitter, please send us guys that you think have performed at a really high level and are going to secure the bag.

We're looking at guys that are probably a little more unharalded or on the last year of their deal. Maybe they were disappointing up until this point, but now that they're playing well, they're going to get the bag. Cooper Rush is a guy who falls in that category. Now, we know he's not the starter. We've established that. But I said it a bunch of times of this podcast. He is a dude who has established himself as a legit backup in the NFL, and he's going to get paid like one.

He's on a, what, a vet minimum deal this year. Yeah. He didn't even make their 53, man, actually, technically. He didn't make the initial 53. So this is a guy who's, you know, I'm guessing he'll get a multi-year deal with some guaranteed money. So good for him. He has secured the bag. Steve.

He's looking at the Chase Daniel lifestyle coming up here. Yeah. That's the lifestyle right there. That's a good life. Like, think about it, you could still drink beer in season and be fine, you know? Yeah, as long as you either bring competent backup or you can watch film well. Yeah. You can stick around forever.

Right. And Rush probably has more physical tools than Daniel does. Yeah. My seven-year-old can throw a football farther than Chase Daniel. Especially at this point in his career. But Steve, secure the bag guys. Who has secured the bag in your eyes? Is there any other guys this year who have?

You know who, like, through five games, is Daniel Jones. Ooh, I wasn't ready for that. Yeah. Earth-shattering. I mean, like, through five games, like, he was a guy who, coming into this year, it was like completely, basically completely dead in the water, wouldn't you say? Like, it was a foregone conclusion. Like, New York's moving on from him.

I still think they do. But I think that, like, he took himself from, like, not, like, his futures beyond New York were not great. Like, the prospects didn't look great. But now, I mean, he's a, he looks like he looks like he could be a good transition quarterback. You know, like someone. Bridge. Yeah, like someone, someone like the Jared Gough maybe, and who's maybe not as high level.

But like I think he's made some money in the sense that he's proven that he can be either, you know, a bridge quarterback or someone that like even like, you know, a Cooper Rush, like bring in a high value athletic backup quarterback. And so like I think in the, and that could completely change. There's still a lot of season left. But right now I think that Daniel Jones honestly, has made himself a little bit of money that wasn't on the table coming into the year.

That's a good take. I mean, I would have bet my house, Steve, that Baker Mayfield would be a better NFL QB than Daniel Jones. Thank God I didn't because I'd be out of a house. Oh, man. Yeah, I absolutely. Like, I was with, especially like with Baker Mayfield, I for sure was under like was on the the side of he was hurt last year. You saw it a little bit the year before.

But and like on the flip side thought Daniel Jones was like, Daniel Jones is who he is. There's nothing there. Like he's a turnover machine, move on from him. But now, now honestly, like the narratives have flipped for the two guys. Baker Mayfield, I wouldn't want him hang out of the ball in any situation. And at least Daniel Jones, I can trust him to run in all. offense. Oh, 100%. What, um, we already talked about this guy on Wednesday's show,

so we're not going to go into super big detail. But what about Gino Smith? He secured the bag, right? Oh, yeah. He'll get, he'll get some money. I don't know how much, but I'm guessing he gets $10 million a year. I mean, at least, I'd honestly, it's at the point where if he keeps playing near this level. I mean, Seattle has to have a real conversation of, you know, do you sign him

and keep rolling with him or like let him test free agency and then see what offers are out there? Because I think there's, you could, like, he's a guy that looks like you can kind of build around right now. Yeah. For sure. I got one more.

You ready? Yep. wide receiver from New England. Yeah, he was, he was one of the ones I was looking at. Jacoby Myers. Yes. Yes. If he hasn't secured the bag by now, I don't know what it's going to take.

Yeah. But he signed. If he can play Detroit every week, he's going to be in for a lot of money. But you know what? It's his last freaking like eight starts. He's been outrageously good. Like when healthy, he, he, he, he, He's been so good.

Like totally slept on. He, like you said, in his last, like, few starts, he's been a target hog. He's made catches. He's, like, it's been good. And I feel like it's not talked about enough. For sure. I mean, a guy who plays mostly in the slot, but he can play in the outside, too. He doesn't have a ton of juice.

He's not a guy that's going to win a ton of vertical routes, but he's a super savvy player. He's a easy zone beater. He'll beat, you know, one-on-one matchups in the slot. He's got really sure hands. He doesn't drop the football. I think he's got like, shoot, how many, he had 83 catches last year, dropped three passes. I mean, dude is as sure as it gets.

He's probably in line for close to 1,000 yards again this season. This will be his third in a row where he's over 700. Yeah. He was an undrafted guy coming out of NC State, you know, played on that rookie. I think he signed like a three-year deal, played that out, and then signed a one year, $3 million deal to come back to New England this year. Yeah. And he's been their number one receiver now for three years.

Right. So like he deserves to get paid. I don't know how much. I don't know how valuable that skill set is. I'm not going to commit a ton of cash to him. But listen, if Juju Smith-Schuster's pulling, whatever he's pulling, he's worth at least that. And that's where like, think about him in a lot of. a situation where he's a number two.

Yeah, exactly. He's operating as like a number one right now, basically. So he's getting, you know, most of them. Or even a three, Steve. Right. Like there's, because then, then you can just play him primarily in the slide. You don't even have to think about moving him outside, really. Yeah.

Yeah, I would love to see what he's capable of. I mean, shoot, hot take right now. If the chiefs pursued Myers instead of Jiu-Jist Smith-Juster, they would be way further along. with that offensive development. That team gets like 10% better, 10, 15% better. Because Myers is so much quicker and so much better in space than Juju Smith is. Yep.

Yep. So I think he is definitely a secure the bag candidate. I'll be interested to follow that and see how the NFL views him when he hits the market again. Yeah. I know New England's pretty big on retaining their guys, but I don't know that they're going to have the the ammo to sign him. But we'll see. All right, dude, we're going to keep today's episode pretty short and sweet.

There's two games of note this week that I really want to spend time talking about. Yeah, they're the two biggest games of the season so far. Yeah, and honestly, we're back to kind of a crappy schedule again. Like, there's not a lot of intriguing games this week. Now, I will say it helps up these two games. Like one is the game of the week. Buffalo Kansas City. There will be the prime time, or not the prime time,

but it'll be the most watched 4 p.m. game. Yep. I'm sure they have the top crew on that game as well. And then Dallas, Philly is the Sunday night game. Those two games are bangers. So it helps that we'll get a lot of eyes on those games. People will come away feeling good about the week. I know that's your theory.

It's like whatever games people see, that's what's going to remember. That's what's going to happen for sure. Yeah. but nobody's watching San Francisco, Atlanta, nobody's watching New England, Cleveland, Jets, Packer, like, these are just... Yeah, I mean, the ones with intrigue are like the Jets Packers, Baltimore, New York, other than that,

everything else is pretty garbage. By intrigue, you mean, like, it's moderately better than watching paint dry. Right. Intrigan that, like, you're going to, like, you can learn some things about these teams that are valuable moving forward. forward. For sure.

All right. So let's jump in to Dallas Philly because like this game has a ton of implications, right? Like Philly's 5 and O, Dallas 4 and 1. Dallas is balling out without their starting QB as we've talked about. We've done a pretty good job of chronicling Phillies season so far. Yes. But this game, man, this has division implications. It also, it's going to be a good indicator to see where Jalen Hertz is in his development.

Right. So what has to go right for the Eagles in this game for them to win? What has to go right is that this is a trenches battle, like for sure. I mean, Dallas's secondary is good, obviously, but part of the reason why they're so good is that they're also very good at getting pressure. Like those two go hand, those two things go hand in hand. We all know that. But if they're able to keep Hertz clean in the pocket and give him time,

to throw and keep Micah Parsons, Lawrence, those guys off of him, then at that point, like, I trust that Jalen Hertz can win the overall battle between with his receivers versus their secondary. I think that there's enough, there's enough talent on Dallas's offense that they can beat Dallas. Sorry, there's enough talent in Philly's office that they can beat Dallas's secondary in one-on-one matchups. but I truly think that this is like totally a trenches game.

Philly wants to run the ball as well. And if they can control the line of scrimmage and keep hurts clean, keep their offense to be, you know, have good balance and run the ball and pass the ball. That's where they succeed well. Like that's where that's where they'll win the game is by keeping hurts clean this week. Because that's how Dallas has been meeting people. Yeah. when I think of what the Eagles need to do, balance is the optimal word, but it's not run versus

pass to me. It's conflict. I need the Eagles to be proficient enough running the ball, play action, RPO game that it puts the Dallas defense in conflict. I need to find ways to slow down Michael Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence and Dante Fowler and the squad. I need to find ways to do that. I want the Eagles to roll up with the same game plan they had versus the Lions. Lately, we've seen Eagles resort to too many screen passes.

I want them to be able to get the ball downfield. I think Trayvon Diggs, he's a good corner. You can still take advantage of him, though. He's still susceptible to give it up big plays. I want them to come in, establish a good RPO game, put that

defense in conflict, make that pass rush think about other things, make those linebackers slow, keep them stuck in the mud, get the ball in space to AJ Brown, and then open up those deep shots with the heavy play action stuff. As long as you keep that defense in conflict, I think Hertz can move the ball. Yes. And the good thing for Hertz is that Dallas plays primarily zone. And Hertz thrives against the throw, or the zone.

That's where he is at his best. he's 77% completion percentage against zone 9.7 yards per attempt, almost 1,000 yards. Like, that's where he thrives is picking apart zone. And that's what Dallas plays primarily. And they're going to play a lot of two high, a lot of cover two over the top. So that actually works out for Philly in that they have a lot of guys that they can get into space. and they don't have to rely on a ton of a ton of deep shots to move the ball. They have guys that are able to, you know, get yards after the catch

and operate in that type of an offense that can beat cover too. And so I think that that's the biggest thing. Like I said, I really think it comes out to keeping Jalen Hertz clean because if Dallas is going to sit back in zone for 60% of the game, Jalen Hurts is going to, if he has time, he's going to be able to pick it apart. Like they have the receivers to win against Zone. Like that's where AJ Brown thrives. Yeah, honestly, they have the receivers to win against any coverage.

It's just more, you know, their play design. Like Hertz has been near flawless against Zone. Yeah. Great. Yeah. So managing that pass rush is the biggest thing for me. Also, when things go wrong, I want to see how Hertz reacts. Because that's the mark of a great quarterback, right?

I think we know Hertz is a pretty good quarterback. I want to see if he's a great quarterback. And I need to see when things go wrong and he is under pressure, how does he react? You know, when he does have Micah Parsons in his face, is he able to use his legs to escape and deliver a pass down field? Or is he going to run for first downs? I want to see him throw in rhythm and throw his timing. Those types of things are really important for me to evaluate his development because

we haven't really seen him have to do that. that stuff yet. He hasn't had to be Patrick Mahomes. He hasn't had to be Josh Allen. Everything's worked well enough where it's just, you know, they just kind of play their game and boom, that's it. They win. So I don't. Sorry. I was to say, and that's where, like, obviously this is important against every team, but Dallas more so than anyone, Dallas is amazing at taking advantage of getting turnovers in those pressure situations. Like, they're able to, they're able to turn pressure of a quarterback into a turnover one way or the other. That's what they're one of the,

that's what they're best at. And that's where Jalen hurts. It's going to be incredibly important for him this week to, when he does get off schedule, is just taking care of the ball. Like not trying to, not trying to challenge, you know, Trayvon Diggs in a lot of like breakdown situations.

Because that's where, like I said, that's where Dallas is like thriving as a defense. And so just making the, a smart decision, not trying to get everything back all at once or get everything all at once, like just taking what you're giving, taking what you're given, not trying to force the issue and, you know, give them easy opportunities to get turnovers. Like that's the biggest thing is just if you can retain the, if you could retain the ball, if you can work the ball down the field against them and avoid, you know, getting into situations

where you're now off task or turning the ball over. Like that's, that's where Philly will win the game. Yep. I agree. I also, I think matchup-wise, Philly's defense is better suited to handle Dallas's offense than Dallas's defense is suited to handle Philly's offense. So I think they probably have a double advantage here. If I had to guess, just based on, like, where things match up, I think that Cooper Rush might throw the ball less than 25 times this week. I would agree with that. It might even be under 20 because Philly's giving up almost five yards of carry on the ground.

Against the run, they were, for the longest time, they were one of the most, one of the staunchest defenses against the run. But this year, it's kind of fallen to the wayside a little bit. They have guys on the inside that are better against the pass and, you know, they give up ground in the run. But that's where it's kind of benefited them is that they're able to get out to leads. and so they're kind of able to neutralize the opponent's run game a little bit. But Dallas is going to look to run the ball.

I think that they're going to look to run the ball and, you know, all the way from getting Zeke and to Pollard going downhill to also just trying, like, different wide receiver runs. I think that they're going to try to run it down their throats and see if they can take advantage of that. That interior that isn't as strong as it has been in previous years. They're going to have to, right? because, like, I don't think Cooper Rush has played against a combo of Slay, Bradbury,

Chaunty Gardner Johnson yet. Like, those guys, like, he already, like, Rush has already struggled in zone pretty, pretty strongly. Like, yeah. His pass rating against Zones only, like, 75. Really low A-DOT, too. I mean, he's, they're just not moving the ball well, you know, from against zone looks. And Slay, best zone corner in the league, Bradbury, Chanty Gardner, like, this is a really good

unit. I expect Lamb to have a really tough day. I expect Gallup to struggle. Maybe Schultz slash Noah Brown, but still these are going to be shallow targets. I just, I don't see it happening for Dallas in this game. I think the magic runs out here. Love the story so far, but I think the magic runs out here and then they get DAC back and they're ready to rock week eight or week seven, sorry, against the lines. Yeah, I think this is going to be a very clear game of It's going to show how much they actually miss. Yeah. I think it's really going to be apparent this game because I have a feeling that the, like,

and it's happened already. It just gets, you know, covered up by the fact that their defense is playing so well. And they are like, you know, they're still scoring 20 plus points a game because they have the defense that they have. But I just think that you'll see drives stall out. You'll see Cooper Rush need to make a throw. and it'll be a throw that he can't make, but you'd look at and you'd think to yourself that DAC could make, and it'll be very clear that Cooper Rush did what he came in to do,

but time is up. For sure. All right, so I agree. Are you taking Philly to win then? I am taking Philly to win. I think Philly starts to season 6 and 0. And then Dallas will get a nice bit of redemption, probably with Dak returning week seven against the.

the Detroit Lions who, you know, their defense is quite the mess. Yeah. All right. Keyes City Buffalo. This game has potentially, they have the potential to be top game of the season, regular season. I mean, they still have the last, like, the last best game played, I would say. Like, if I, like, if I were saying what was the best game of last year, like, their play. playoff game is definitively the best game of the year.

Yep. I agree with that. It will be kind of funny because I think everyone's expecting what offensive fireworks, right? Yeah. But both these defenses have been okay. I know Casey's struggled kind of the last two weeks with, you know, random plays here and there. Tampa Bay got them on a few plays. last week, the Raiders

kind of struggled the whole game passing the ball, except for the two plays that Defonte Adams. And one of them was a straight double team. They literally doubled Adams on a play and he still beat him for like a 60-yard touchdown. That's crazy. I don't think

that's not something you can bank on. I'll be interested to see if they give Stefan Diggs the same treatment. If they, you know, call some more doubles. I know the the players next to digs are better, you know, than what Adams probably had. Renfro is a good player, but Davis is an explosive guy who, if you're going to double

digs, that means he's going to probably be one-on-one down the field. Khalil Shakir's looked very good. So I feel like the counterpieces in Buffalo are probably better suited to take advantage of Kansas City than the Raiders were. Yeah. Yeah, Kansas City's defense, the last. three weeks they've given up

71% completion percentage 7.1 yards per attempt 110 10-cuby rating 7 touchdowns and no interceptions like only a 24. 8% pressure rate like

it's been it's been a little bit dicey the last three weeks over there in Kansas City on the defensive side and I don't know it'll be It'll be interesting to see. It'll be interesting to see how their defense attacks Buffalo,

because I know Spagnola loves to scheme up pressure. Like, that's one of the things that he's probably best at as a defensive coordinator is his ability to scheme up different pressures. I think that Kansas City's, Kansas City's cornerbacks blitz at the highest rate in the NFL. Yeah. Like, that's just what he's known for. But Josh Allen also excels against the blitz.

And so it'll be interesting to see how Spacknolo plays, how they play against Josh Allen. Because I think that I have a feeling that they're going to try and keep Aylan in the pocket as much as they can and try to prevent him from beating them with his legs. But I just, I don't know. It's going to be tough because like I said, like I said, I think that, and like you said, I think that Buffalo's weapons are just better. Yeah, I do too. I think it's going to be, like, as good as Buffalo can play zone, and it's hot, it doesn't matter, like, how hot Mahomes has been. I think that zone defense is so good.

It's going to frustrate Mahomes. He doesn't have Tyreek this year. Kelsey's going to have to be big in this game. And Kelsey has put Buffalo linebackers in an absolute blender over the years, especially last year in that playoff game. I mean, Edmonds got absolutely worked by Kelsey in that game. So it's going to be a half. heavy dose of Kelsey for them to win.

But it's going to be another one of those games where Buffalo is going to be patient on defense. They're going to play their, they're too high. They're going to play their scheme. If Kansas City can't run the ball and force another defender in the box, could be a really, really long day for the Chiefs. I'm not saying they won't score points. I think they will, but you're going to have to, you're going to see 13 play drives,

14 play drives. Yeah. I don't think the explosive plays are going to be there. Yeah, and that's where, like, if, like, if, like, If I take both teams at their best, Buffalo's defense is at a much higher level than Kansas City's defense. And that's where, like, as I look at it, I can see a situation where Buffalo could force four or five puns on Kansas City.

I don't see that with Kansas City's defense on Buffalo. Like, I don't, like, it's hard for me to see them getting four or five, like, stops on third down and stopping drives, forcing them to punt. Yeah. They're just so deep. And I like, honestly, I came away from last week's game, and I think that they should. I mean, I think they should have Kalia Shakir and, like, I think he should be starting. I thought he looked, I thought he looked good.

And I think he, I thought he adds, he can add similar to what Isaiah McKenzie can add, but even more in the receiving game. Yeah. I agree. The only thing that could really slow the bills down is if Alan has one of those games where, he just kind of falls apart a little bit, which we've seen. I mean. And that's, I guess, and that's where when you think about it, like Kansas City, that's where their defensive deficiencies are made up for by Spagnolo's ability to scheme.

Because I think he's going to, those safeties are going to be all over the place. Like Thornton Hill and Justin Reed are going to be, they're going to move around a ton pre-snap and post-snap. I have a feeling that, like, they're going to play games with Josh Allen, and they're going to force him to really think through his reads and, like, be able to see what the coverage is, because I know that Spagnola is going to roll that coverage a lot. He's going to move it around. He's going to move the safeties into the box, out of the box. I mean, it's going to be, it'll be kind of like, it'll be a little bit of an intellectual matchup on that side of things,

where I can trust Spagnolo to scheme a good defense to at least give his defense a chance. But then at that point it comes down to the players. And like we said, their secondary has been struggling a little bit. And they need to come off of that dip. They are getting Trent McDuffie back this week, right? Which would be a huge help. Yeah, it would be a huge help. Yeah, who are you taking in this game then?

I'm taking Buffalo. Yeah, I think I am too. I can't. Because I don't want to rely on Allen having a bad game for the Chiefs to be able to win this, but I do think. All I know is that Kansas City needs to, like, use, like, okay, if I understand you how you can't just completely be, like, one-dimensional when you have a certain running back in.

But, man, both of their other running backs are better at running the ball than C.E.H. C.H is great in the passing game, and he makes plays there. But man, do I think that Pachacho and McKinnon have higher upside as runners than C.E.H. I think, I think McKinnon's a better receiver than C.H, too. So I don't understand the value they see in C.H, other than they picked them in the first round, to be honest. Just the way they, like, they're running back usage in general is confusing to me. all around because it like they seems like they start to build a trend or at least it starts to feel like they have they like are using their running backs in a certain way and then you know they get

into a situation like against the Raiders where it's a short down situation and McKinnon who's been averaging like six yards of carry like they take him out put CEH in who I think was at that point averaging like 1.8 yards per carry and then they have him go for the short yard to run. I don't know It's just like it's confusing the way they use their running backs because I feel like we're starting to see where each of their strengths are, but they like don't fully commit to those strengths yet. Yeah. I do agree with that. One other thing of note here with the Chief's offense is they may have figured out something with Mahomes and Valdez Scantling. There seems to be in action there.

Yeah, they've kind of changed what they're doing with Valdez Gantling. They're playing him in the slot a lot more now. Yeah. I think the last two weeks he's got eight slot targets, which is the same as Juju, who's their primary slot guy. So that's pretty cool. And his yards per out run is like three six from the slot over that stretch,

where Juju's like 1.4 or 1.5 or something like that. Yeah. So they may have figured out something there. If they have, that could be huge for them. They need one of those guys to step up and be a dude. Yeah. one of the, whether it's Hardman, whether it's Skymore, Valda, Scantling, juju, it doesn't matter.

They need one of those guys to step up and be a dude. And based on what I saw on tape, too, Valis Scantley looked great. I know his hands are, you don't always trust him, you know? But as long as you're open a lot, I don't care how many passes you drop. I'll keep throwing you the ball. Look at Cooper Cup. The NFL drops last year. He had an historic season.

Deonté Johnson's one of the best receivers in the league, and he drops millions of passes. I was not saying. The drops are a little overstated. A little overstated. You know, if you're a guy who doesn't get open that often, and then when you do get thrown the ball, you drop it, then that's a problem. But if you can get open all the time.

Yeah, I mean, Scaly looked great. He's got the juice, too. They need a guy with some juice. Yeah. Like, for Kansas City to win this game, it's going to have to be Mahomes playing a very Mahomes game. He needs to be flawless. And I think that they'll move.

I think they'll try and move Travis Kelsey around a little bit, see what different matchups they can get. But it just, the outside receivers for Kansas City just, it doesn't, like you said, it doesn't feel like they have enough juice right now. But, you know, if they can, if they can work Kelsey, MVS and, you know, maybe like work the running backs into the passing game, they can get the ball down the field. But I just feel like it's going to be, it's just going to be difficult. to it's going to be difficult and it's not going to come in big play opportunities to move the ball against Buffalo. And I just don't know if Kansas City can hang in there for that long doing that taxing of work on offense. I agree.

I'm taking Buffalo in this game, but I think it should be a good game. So, yeah, I like, no matter what, Mahomes, I feel like Mahomes is always going to keep his team within a touchdown. Like, that's just how it is. like you just can't refute it at this point. Yep. All right. Well, that's the, that's the season preview.

I wanted to make a note here, though. Or could I say season? What is wrong with me? My brain is mush. We're like, thank God we're to the bye weeks. I know my weeks are here. Oh, my gosh.

It feels so good. I'm about to just go lay in my backyard and let the sun hit my face because I'm so happy. That's great. Yeah, go touch some grass. So one thing I wanted to note, though, after the game last night, I was just looking at Carson Wentz's game log.

You know, real basic stat guy here. As one does. As one does. And I noticed he is currently on pace for less than 4,000 yards. That first six games. That flipped. That flipped. It flipped.

Because coming into the game, before yesterday's game, he was on pace for. 46 or 47. So that would have been close. I literally thought about that yesterday before the game, and I did the math real quick. And yesterday. This is a good reminder, though, Steve. Sometimes in life,

you feel real confident about something, but you have to go through some George Costanza. Like, and I feel, I felt like George Costanza a little bit. Like, just think about the pilot. episode of Seinfeld, right? So I don't know, are you a Seinfeld guy? Yeah. Yeah, okay.

The pilot episode of Seinfeld, the story is Jerry and George are talking in their, you know, restaurant they always eat at. And Jerry's telling George about this woman he met in Michigan on a show. And she randomly called Jerry and said, hey, I might be coming to the city. maybe, maybe I'll call you, we can hang out. And George immediately flags this like, dude, she's not calling you to hang out. Like, there's no potential there that this is a girl that wants to date you or anything. Like, he shoots it down right away.

Like, he sees right through it. Like, there's, she said maybe. Like, Jerry, if she was interested, she would have said, let's get together. But no, you're a backup plan. But then, so George makes this hard stamp, kind of like I did with Carson Went. It's like there's 0% chance. He gets over 4,800 yards a season. So George plants his flag, but then things start to happen.

And it looks like for a minute, George is very wrong. She ends up calling Jerry. Jerry, I want to hang out. And then actually, not only do I want to hang out, I was hoping I could stay at your place. So everything is living up to like, oh, crap, George is wrong. This is like Jerry is going to make a move. This is going to be his lady. And sure enough, finally, the story why plays out where she comes over to Jerry's

house, she's sitting on his couch, drinking wine with him, and then she starts telling him about her fiance. Yep. And George has a, I do it moment, you know? Like, I do it. I do it. So that's kind of where this is at, right? So it looked like Carson Wentz was going to, you know, easily truck his way to 4,800 yards

this year. Yes. And now, you know, not so much. You know, he plays a modicum of a good defense and the guy falls apart. he had 99 passing cards last night, Steve. He had five completions through the first half. Right. I played the over on the Terry McLaurin 3.5 receptions prop.

That should have been easy money. Should have. How do you have a receiver of Terry McCluret's caliber and not make sure he gets the ball more than three times? By the way, talk about bad beats too. More George Costanza, you know. Oh, dude. So I played the over on McLaurin.

He gets three receptions. He has three receptions going into the fourth and doesn't catch another pass. I needed one. David Montgomery, I played the under on his rushing yards total. He hit his total on the last carry of the game for him. Bad beats, man. I did hit the Jonathan Allen sack prop, which more than paid for those two other misses. Because it was a, you know, better odds.

That is one thing that I know. with both, with both teams, honestly. They both, and we can get out, we can get out after this, but both teams' defenses knew how bad the opposing offensive line was that the minute there was a third down or a passing situation, I would, I'd have to go back and count it out to be exact, but I think both teams stunted on almost 50% of dropbacks. Like, they stunted their defensive line because they knew that the officer. offensive line couldn't keep up with either of them.

Like, they were, it was, it was embarrassing, like, how much both defensive lines were torching the other offensive line. Yes. And, like, yeah, like, that was. That's why I played the prop. Like, I knew, I knew the Bears couldn't protect the interior of pain and Allen, so. Yeah. And that, yeah, it just, they were picking apart the offensive lines.

And then two quarterbacks that do not handle pressure well, it led to a disaster of a game. and Thursday night football continues to roll on being the comedy it is. Yep. All right, guys. Well, that's going to do it for our week six preview slash guest podcast this Friday. I am your host, Brett Whitefield. This is my co-host, Stephen Rourke, and we are out. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points Podcast.

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