Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Take Talk Episode 22

Episode Date: November 16, 2022

Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) and Steven ORourke (@callmesteveo7) talked NFL Stock Exchange and noted what players are Stock Up and Stock Down. --- 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 FantasyPoints.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. Hello everyone and welcome in to the Take Talk podcast. I'm Stephen O'Rourke and as always I'm with my co-host, Brett Whitefield. Brett has something he wants to lead the show with. Apparently it's something super secretive because he refused to tell me before we started. And he told me to blindly believe in him that this isn't going to be any, who even knows?

I don't even know. So Brett, take it away. What do you got for us? So Steve, as you know, we are doing like an NFL stock exchange type show today. Yes, sir. So I wanted to lead with a stock up that's kind of off the radar and not something we plan on talking about, which is my takes. All right. My takes are stock up.

Because on Friday show, if you remember Steve, you, Chris and I, we had quite the banter about the 49ers Chargers game. Yes. And quote, Stephen O'Rourke said, the 49ers are going to wipe the floor with the Chargers. No, granted, the Chargers did end up losing that ballgame, but at no point in the game where the 49ers wiping the floor with the Chargers, which was my ultimate take. I thought it would be a close game, and I was correct. And in fact, the Chargers even covered the spread of that game. Yes, they did. So it was a good game.

I thought the Chargers, honestly, I thought the Chargers, given all their injuries, they played well. I mean, I, I like. Until this fourth quarter, honestly. Yeah, which I think that, like, eventually it was one of those things where talent just won out. Like if, oh, yeah. Like, if Herbert had, like, a receiver, like, Everett dropped a couple, like, one or two passes that could have changed the game and then got, like, I've seen it on tape outside of, like, Williams, like, their guys aren't that great at separating. And so. Correct.

And then a couple of. that with their offensive scheme where, you know, the last three weeks, Justin Herbert has an eight out of five point three. Yeah. And so like, I don't know. It's just, it's tough because the charges obviously are dealing with a bunch of injuries, but what team isn't at this point in the year? And I don't know. I wanted the chargers to be better than they were than they are right now. And Oh, I think everyone did. I mean, I think like the consensus around the league was like, this is it. This is this is Herbert and the Chargers time to jump into the spotlight.

Here, years of chargering throughout every year. Like, this was supposed to be the year and here they are. Joe Lombardi, nerfing in offense. Herbert like also falling into just not like I don't know he's not as aggressive as he has been before like I feel I feel like he's too he's almost too quick to go to the checkdown even on plays where guys do come open I actually went back and watched um I'm you know we're going through we're going through and doing separation stuff like tracking wide receiver separation throughout the weeks and I actually went back and watched uh Chargers and against Jacksonville from week three. And you see it like Herbert is, Herbert is missing some guys downfield that come open. And he's, he's quick to go to the checkdown where I feel like in previous years, he wasn't as quick and he would take the shot.

Yeah, more of a gunslinger. Yeah. So. I mean, go ahead. I was just, yeah, it's just, it's interesting because I feel like not only is the offense, nerfing them but herbert is not doing any favors to try to correct that at all yeah well i made that point towards the end of the game where i was like you know they got the ball back a couple times with herbert having the chance to to get his team in the right situation or you know

scoring putting points on the board or game winning drive whatever you want to call it yeah and he just looked kind of apathetic almost like very reserved like especially when they're downpin in the goal line like he needed to realize that the way the 4-9ers were playing, he had to do that with his legs. Yes. When you talk about his aggressiveness, that's another area where he's not as, he has not made a lot of plays with his legs lately. He just hasn't. I don't know if he's scared because the injury.

I mean, I imagine it's got to be just. But according to the coach, he's 100%. So, I mean, because there were two plays down on that goal line where the Red Sea parted right in front of him. All he had to do. Like, you know, you pick up four or five yards on. on one scramble, then A, you're off the goal line, so you have a little bit more time to deliver the ball in the next play. But you also, you're in range of another quick scramble for a first down.

All they needed was one first down there, and it would have really changed. They ended up getting one, right? But it just was too late at that point. They had to get it sooner than that. The other thing, more credit to you and Chris, you guys were worried about the Chargers defending that run game, which they did a really good job up until. the fourth quarter, but the 49ers had the ball for like 12 minutes in the fourth quarter.

They literally gave the Chargers no, no reasonable opportunity. Yeah. Put that game away. Yeah. And so the Chargers were winning in that game for, it was something crazy, like 50 minutes or something, 50 minutes of that game. And then they lose by six. But the 49ers just, like, they went on like an eight minute drive to start the fourth quarter. They had another five minute drive somewhere in there in the fourth, or four minute drive in

forth like they really did a good job of just you know we're we're just going to keep the ball away from them and not give them the chance to come up and win this game and it worked it worked so and that's what kudos to them that's what san francisco brings the rest of the year would they i mean they have a three-headed monster two and a half headed monster whatever you want to call it with mitchell mcalfrey and then dbo and that's what i think the 49er that's what getting mcalfrey does is it upgrades your first or second running back to now where you have two guys that legitimately could start for like two thirds of the NFL at least and like that's what that's their strength is that they will have that opportunity of when it comes to like nut crunching time

at the end of the game they can put together an eight an eight minute 16 play drive and just wear you down and, you know, break another team's will. That's what this, that's what this team offers. And that's what, like, bringing McAfrey in and getting Samuel healthy, having, like, having the run game that they have is that it offers them the opportunity to put games away like this. Because their defense is good enough that they're, you know, they're not really going to ever get blown out. And I think their defense is struggling a little bit, to be honest. It's been lackluster.

compared to the beginning of the season when they were on the when they were on pace to be like i mean we were talking people were talking about them as like 2000 ravens ask yeah was their trajectory for the year and that's falling off and yeah injuries have really hurt yeah the back end injuries have hurt and so like i still don't think like i still don't think the 49ers are ever going to get i don't think they're going to give up like 35 points too often and that having the run game that they have, they can bleed clock, they can kind of control the game

with the way that they operate their offense. And that's what bringing in McCaffrey does, despite everyone completely, like, you know, fantasy owners, people kind of complaining about McCaffrey's usage. Mm-hmm. We all, like, you had to know that Kyle Shanahan was never going to have a bell cow back. Right.

It was just to, it really, I think, was just to elevate and have two premier runners in the backfield to where there isn't any drop off there isn't any loss in talent of who you're giving the ball to and it just elevates like every rushing attempt do you happen to know what gropolo's time to throw was in this game uh i don't have as i don't have it on hand let me hold on i can pull it up really really quickly Well, they ran the ball. So designed runs 36 carries in this game for 154 yards.

That's pretty good. It's time to throw. It's 2.7. 2.7? Yeah. Dang. That's actually pretty big for Jimmy. I was just wondering how many quick passes they threw in this game because it seemed like there was a ton of quick passes plus the 36 runs.

Like everything was ball control. Right. My only concern for them, well, obviously their whole season is going to hinge on what Jimmy's capable of down the stretch. Yeah, it always has. I think this beat-em-up run game approach is good against mediocre to bad teams, and the Chargers are definitely a mediocre team. But I think once you start getting to the playoffs, you're playing more elite teams. I do think they're going to have to score more points.

And running the ball, it can probably be a detriment because you don't want to be within a score of a lot of these teams in the playoffs that can outscore you. Right. Especially, I mean, fortunately for them in the NFC, maybe they can get away with this all the way to a deep playoff run. Yeah. Because who's really going to compete with them? I mean, I don't think they're a very good team. I said that on the last pod.

Like, they're four and four for a reason. They've really struggled with some teams. Yeah. But like, I mean, Philly in Minnesota, probably the clear favorites. And they're both, they're very good teams, but they're even flawed. Yeah. You know, they're flawed in their own ways. And so it's like, yeah, 49ers might not be very good, but they're,

game plan might work against anyone in the NFC. And I like, like player for player, San Francisco has one, I mean, sneakily like a top three talented offense in my opinion. Oh, dude. Take away, take away Jimmy G. And just look at their weapons and like, it's crazy. I didn't really, I didn't even really realize it until right now. But now that they're fully healthy.

Yeah. They like, Iyuk, Kittle, Samuel, Elijah Mitchell, Christian McCaffrey. I mean, Joanne Jennings is a very good wide receiver three. Yeah, they're so deep. And that is, that's a big thing going into the playoffs is that they have a good coach who makes some interesting decisions at times, but overall schemes up the offense well. And there will be a time when it comes down to can our guys beat your guys? would put San Francisco up against anyone.

Yeah. Also, you know what? We can segue right into the stock exchange because I got two guys on here that I want to talk about. Debo, Samuel, stock down. Brandon Ayuk stock up. I don't know if you saw Chris's thread on Twitter yesterday. I didn't see it because I'm not on Twitter right now, but Chris sent it to me. Yes.

Brandon Ayyuk has quietly taken over as the clear wide receiver one for San Francisco. Since week five for the listeners, especially you fantasy players out there. Route share favors IUC, 88% to Debo's 80%. Target share favors Iyuk, 25% to 20%. These numbers seem tight, but that's a lot when you're talking about the grand scheme of what, the last eight weeks, basically, seven, eight weeks. Yeah. That's a lot. Five percent difference in target share.

that that is a big difference over the course of that amount of time. Yards per route run favors IUC heavily 2.5 yards per route run to 1.5 for Debo. First read share. Iyuk 35% to Debo's 23%. That's not even close. Yeah. Yards market share. Iyuk has is at 28% of the team's passing yardage market share where Debo's just at 16%.

Debo's In 2021, his market share for the team was 34%. So that's a met. He's almost cut his production in half this year in the passing game on a per team basis, which is nuts. So Iyuk has really quietly established himself as the number one receiver in that offense. Now, a lot of this has to do with the fact that Debo has been in the backfield a little bit more. Yep. So his rushing yardage market share, I'm sure, is a little bit higher than.

although I don't know. It probably actually isn't because McCaffrey before Jeff Wilson, now they have Eli Mitchell. Debo kind of seems roleless right now. As weird as that is, because the season he had last year, he almost seems like he doesn't have a role. Iyuk is the number one receiver and McCaffrey's the number one back.

Like, what do you? He's just a gadget guy? Like, he's just to do everything. He's just a decoy, almost. He's such a freaking weapon, though, man. And that's something like they haven't put in like really any focus on him this year. And arguably it could pay off in the end because if they do like if they decide to, you know, give him a key role in a game, you at least know you can put him in that position and you have historically numbers to show that he can hold a like large share during a game.

and he can be the bell cow, whether it be receiving, running, and getting, like, you know, getting 15 to 20 touches a game or in a game. Here's a great Debo stat for you. Do it. Debo, he only has 34 catches on the year, yet he leads the NFL and force miss tackles in the receiving game with 20. The next closest receiver is Stefan Diggs with 13. and Stefan Diggs has caught more than double the amount of passes.

I was going to say that's got to be on at least double the production. Yeah. And then A.J. Brown is three and Brandon Ayuk is fourth. So it is remarkable what the 49ers have done with their skill players because they, they just have a boatload of guys that are insane after the catch. I mean, Jawan Jennings even is very good. He forces a mistackle. He averages a force mistackle on every.

fourth catch he's got seven on 28 catches and he plays a totally different role in those guys he's more of like a big slot right you know very physical player not necessarily a speed juke you out kind of guy no just like an over the middle yeah put him in space and let a big body go to work like a vintage anquan bolden almost i mean obviously guys not on that not on that level talking talking roll here not not skill you heard it here first juan jennings is an inquis I'm boldly. So I do think it's interesting that Debo still clearly has this skill set. Because there was a lot of talk coming out of camp, Steve, about him being out of shape.

Yep. And overweight because of the contract dispute. They finally got that figured out. And he had a slow start to camp and all that. But, I mean, the results in the field have still been very good. He forces a mistackle at an insane rate. His Adot is only five, which it seems like his skill set perfectly matches Jimmy Garopp. right yes like we don't expect jimmy yeah you don't expect jimmy to to to be a gunslinger and get

the ball down field a lot so cool so we're going to give them guys that just are freaky after the catch and debo is definitely that i didn't i wouldn't didn't debo have um like a certain like usage or carry mark or there was i feel there was something that if he hit it he gets in he gets incentivized in his contract. That is interesting. Keep talking. I'll look that up. Yeah, I remember from the off season during their contract dispute because the big

thing was Debo did not want to go back in the backfield. He didn't want to be used as much. Any season he has 380 or more rushing yards. He gets an additional $650,000. Yeah. Which that's significant. I mean, that's very significant. And if he scores three rushing touchdowns in any one year,

he makes an additional $150,000. Which is interesting because now his... That's almost a million bucks a year in incentives. Right. And how many carries does he have on the year? Because... I'm looking... Hold on, hold on, hold on.

It does feel like... Yeah, it's just... I don't necessarily think it's a knock-on. Debo, in my opinion, it's more of just a testament to the amount of weapons that they have on their offense that Debo can get buried at times. 28. 28 total carries on the year. They've played, what, nine games?

Yeah. No. Is they played nine or ten? They're six and four, right? Yeah. So. They're five and four, aren't they? Yes.

Sorry, yes, five and four. Yeah. So I've played nine games. For what it's worth, he didn't hit 380 last year. in the crazy season he had. But he did have eight rushing touchdowns. So he was averaging over six yards of pop. This year he's still averaging 5.9.

Which interesting stuff. Yeah. Still good. I mean, six yards of carry to a guy. That's, and then add that as a third option to Mitchell, who averaged five yards of carry on against the Chargers. And then McCaffrey didn't have a great game. But again, it's just,

It's so, they're so deep. And it's funny because every, like, it feels like every team, every good team has their fatal flaw this year or something, like something that's keeping them from truly taking over and dominating in some way, shape, or form outside of, outside of maybe the Eagles. And I think that that part of that is just the schedule that they've played that, that nobody. but he's really overly exposed their flaw. But leading it. I think we can see their flaw clearly. And what do you think it is? I think offensively when they get out of sync and the RPO game isn't working,

they're not able to put defenses in conflict like we've talked about. They end up struggling. And for whatever reason, I don't know who, who's responsible, whether it's hurts or play calling, but like they do. just get into these weird lulls where they're not aggressive. Yeah. And we saw that against Washington. Like, they were just not very aggressive.

And by the time they decided to be aggressive, it was too late. Well, it doesn't help that they freaking fumble the ball three times either. Right. That's the thing. That's the thing is take away those take away three fumbles, a fluke fumble by Kwez Watkins. And things like that, that game completely flips on its head. That's not like necessarily a game plan. Like, okay, the way to be the Eagles is we just have to force.

three turnovers, one on a, and make sure that Kwez Watkins trips on a, uh, on a touchdown throw. Like, yeah, they beat him, but like, there's still a lot of things that went Washington's way where the Eagles very well could have been in a position to put up 30 points. But that's, you know, that's the way it shakes out and take care of the ball. but that that to say leak my i'm going to go stock down on the buffalo bills and specifically josh allen right now brett the last three weeks who has you know who has the worst passer rating i'm going to guess josh and it's not close

he's in the last three weeks three touchdowns six interceptions, a passer rating of 67.2, 58% complete or 58.8% completion percentage. And his A dot's absurd. It's 10.4. But he has not looked like the guy that, that had, that was going out there the first seven weeks. No. No, the more concerning thing to me, Steve, is the, the turnover where the plays. Yeah. Like he looks like the, the young Josh Allen.

He actually, I'm pretty sure he leads the NFL and turnover really throws since that time frame you laid out, week seven through 10. 8.8%. Yes, that's crazy. And so like,

wow. And he's made some, like, you saw it against the Jets. He has been making some throws where it is very reminiscent of early, career Josh Allen. I mean, I know we're still early in his career, but like the first two years,

like we're seeing him make throws where, like, all you can look, all you can think is, what are you doing, dude? Like, why are you making that throw? And that's, I mean, it's something to look for, it's something to pay attention to going forward because if John, like, that offense goes as Josh Allen goes. Yeah, absolutely. Same time frame. Same time frame, Steve. fourth and off target throw rate too. Like in not a good way fourth. Yeah. Fourth highest,

fourth highest off target throw rate in that time frame. Among guys with 75 dropbacks. So that's, yeah, he, that offense certainly goes the way he goes. And he has definitely looked flawed. I know he's hurt, but it started before the injury, though. A lot of people are forgetting that because I've seen some chatter about this,

especially in the company Discord here. Yep. He, the bad throws started piling up before he hurt the elbow. And then it just hasn't gotten better since. So, like, yeah, you can maybe you can excuse last game because the elbow, but what about the game or two before that? Yeah, because he, I mean, the game before, he didn't get hurt until the, what, second to last, last, like, it was the end of the game.

He still. He had some agrees to throws in that game. Oh, my God. I mean, like I said, that one where he scrambles out right and he's looking for Dawson Knox and the jets just right in front of him. And like that everyone, I feel like everyone came away saying, like thinking that, oh my gosh, that's a rookie Josh Allen throw right there. Yes.

And then he hasn't really done anything to correct that. And that's the thing with the bills. Their offense, like we said, it goes with Josh Allen. They don't have a run game to really fall back on. They have me Josh Allen in the run game. But it's not. they're a pass-heavy team and that's how they move the ball. It's all predicated on Josh Allen scrambling,

Josh Allen getting the ball to his receivers, and then, you know, couple that with the run game being a minor complimentary piece that they throw in from time to time. And if Josh Allen keeps playing like this, this team could be in trouble. I mean, thankfully, they still have their defense is still very, very good. Yep.

But defense is now, or defense's secondaries now know that they can, if they can muck up the coverage a little bit and force Josh Allen to, it's almost like get him out of structure and make him throw out of structure lately. Right, which is where he was dominating early in the year and all of last year. Right. It's like extending those plays, you just make magic happen. Right. And so, yeah, I mean, he obviously can bounce, he can bounce back at any point. And hopefully that elbow heals up and he's able, and maybe that is a contributing factor.

It probably is to some extent. But it's just something to pay attention to as the season goes forward. And I hope it improves because Buffalo has a, this is like a great opportunity for them to really, you know, go on a run this year. And it's just interesting to see. see him kind of regress back to some of the old decision making that he had in his first two years and just to see if you know how they fix that from a coaching standpoint how they fix that just from Josh Allen's standpoint of maybe you true maybe you tell them to just take off a little bit more rather than force a force a ball out of structure when you're out of the pocket because a Josh Allen scramble is just as I mean just as valuable

arguably as some as and it's more valuable than him you know throwing these lollipops to the to the defenders and throw you know turning the ball over I mean he's at he's in the last three games he has 11 scrambles for 153 yards yeah and so maybe it is just maybe it is just telling him like hey take off a little bit more trust your legs yep I mean, if they're going to hit their ceiling, he has to get back to delivering the ball accurately and taking care of the football. So that's the other thing too, Steve. A lot of these crazy bad throws he's made hasn't cost them a ton yet. No, they haven't.

There's been some dropped interceptions. There's been, so he's had a little bit of luck there despite, you know, and they still have lost two in a row. So with that said, Steve, they, you know, with the Buffalo Bills losing, two in a row and the Miami Dolphins going into the or playing at home against Cleveland Browns and beating the absolute breaks off of them and taking control first place in the division now I think Miami and Tua is a huge stock up this team is rolling right now Steve the level the offensive prowess they showed this game was insane to a average nine yards back, nine yards per attempt.

The running backs were averaging seven yards a carry in this game on like heavy volume, like 28 to 30 carries. They were doing whatever they wanted whenever they wanted to against this Cleveland defense and it was ugly. Every single drive was methodical.

I think I texted you and Chris at one point that every drive they had in that game went for at least 50 yards or more. I don't know if it, I don't know actually ended up finishing that way, but yeah, it looks like it did actually. Well, minus turnovers. Like the drive they

got because of a turnover or something. Right. But every drive where they started after a punt or a kickoff or whatever, that subsequent drive went over 50 yards or more. Actually, 65 yards or more. So it was methodical. They literally just dissected the Cleveland Browns and tore them apart.

Tua is playing out of his mind still. I mean, he... Over the course, he's played eight games, 71% completion percentage, 9.1 yards per attempt, 18 touchdowns, three interceptions, 118.8. And an A-DOT of 8.8. He's doing it all. And just a 3.2% turnover-worthy throw, which is about league average. And he's cut that down in the last four weeks. He's cut that down to 2.3%. so like he's he's getting a little bit better in that regard and i jet like with two at the helm i genuinely don't know what the game plan is to stop this team on it from a defensive standpoint

yeah i mean the the way i would do it steve is you flood the short parts of the field intermediate parts of field and you make to a beat you deep with his arm and hope that tyriek doesn't just moss you to pieces. So almost just play. Because he, because. Just play a cover. Yeah.

Just play a cover to sink and just sit a level of guys at the, at. I don't even know if you can sink because then you'll get all the yak. That's true. That's what the Rams do and they get shredded. Yeah. I, I would probably. Yeah. You have to force two to throw deep and you got to hope your corners are physical enough to

beat Tyreek at the catch point. because too is going to under throw those deep balls we've talked about that at nauseam on this this podcast yeah and he is going to under throw deep balls he's not going to hit guys in stride which is fine he's got the receivers to make plays but you need your corners to get physical at the kentz you got to train that all week like hey we're going to be physical at the catch point physical at the catch point having safeties that are high pointing the ball yeah other like other than that they've looked so efficient on offense they've looked so good Yeah.

And, yeah, and Tua leading the charge. And it's, if they can, if this run game is going to do what it did against Cleveland. Now granted, Cleveland's interior defensive line was an issue at the beginning of the season. It was an issue coming into the season. I think that they purposefully did that in a way because they, I think they took stock and they said, well, if we're going to have one. flaw in defense we can handle it being the interior defensive line because I think their thought

process was our past defense is going to be so good that we're going to make a team one dimensional force them to run the ball and then at that point we can focus on the run their secondary hasn't been what they wanted it to be and their pass rush has been somewhat lackluster as well but either way, if Miami can couple that run game with this pass offense, good luck to the NFL because they are clicking on all cylinders. They're firing on all cylinders right now. And it doesn't seem like they're stopping anytime soon. I have a couple crazy stats for you. If you had to guess who the top five quarterbacks and deep throw rate are, without.

looking who would you guess deep throw rate um all right well minimum 75 dropbacks okay just to just to cut out some guys who've barely played top five i'd probably say to a gno josh allen um two a geno josh alyn maybe lamar and then Patrick mahomes You got one right. I got one. That was Tua. It's brutal. Philip Walker is number one.

He's barely played enough to hit the cutoff, so it is what it is. Tua is number two at 12.9% of his throws have been 20 yards or more downfield. That has got to be the most shocking statistic of all time. Or close to it. That's crazy. I mean, if you do-cudos to them, man. If you told people last year, Tua, like, Tua will get Tarek in his deep, throw percentage will be top two in the NFL.

People would think you're crazy. Here's a, I actually have a third stat too, but anyways, rounding up top five. Jared Goff at 12%, 12% of his passes have been deep throws. Did not see that coming either. Jalen Hertz, 11.7%. That makes sense. I think you probably just forgot to put him in there. Oh, yeah.

That does make sense. The fifth one is wild, though. Marcus Mariotta, 11.3%. I guess it is either deep ball. or bust for him. Like there's no short game. There's no intermediate. There's nothing.

It's just, I'm going to run around like a chicken on the head cut off and chuck it deep and miss Kyle Pitts by five yards. Yeah, right. Who's wide open. Wide open. Mahomes is six, though. Here's the other crazy stat.

Well, then I do have one more. Tua is dead last in the NFL and the amount of yards that have come after the catch. Really? with Jalen Wattle, Tyree Kill, Cedric Wilson, Eric Azuncoma, Mike Gisicki, he ranks dead last in yards after catch.

That stat, I almost couldn't sleep last night thinking about that, Steve. That's mind-blowing. I was so paranoid that this stat was wrong. I actually randomly picked four two-of-games and checked our target yard lines. Just to make sure,

we were right about that because that is insane dead last in the NFL and the amount of yards after catch i can't even bro i have so much more respect for toa than because i assumed a lot of his production was yards after catch you know throw it utilizing that short game having hill and waddle just go nuts because that's what they do that's what those guys are capable of so i guess what I the reason I bring these up to Steve is because I don't even think they've fully reached their pinnacle and it's funny you say that because like as I like reactionary obviously it's like that's crazy but as you think about it they haven't really used any short game with no they throw screens at a really low rate yeah they throw screens at a really low rate um I do think some

of the yard after catch thing is two is arm strength yep a lot of times by the time the time the balls getting to the to the receiver there's a defender closing on them yeah but that will not hold hill and wattle back forever i do think at some point you see those guys start going nuts this and and scheme-wise they're like like we said they're not really scheming the yards after catch wait till they do that right that's the thing is wait till they do that like this this offense has got room to grow still yeah because they could you know if they if they hit a wall and in and in and in half a game in the first half where, you know, the deep ball isn't there. The opposing secondary is kind of shutting things down.

They can switch it up and just say, okay, we're just going to run crossers and we're just going to run slants and we're just going to put Tyreek and Jalen Waddle in open space and just get it to him short and let them go. Yep. And they can open up a screen game. They can do jet sweeps, things like that, that. like open up Yak opportunities,

open up, you know, the opportunity for getting defenses to play them up and then go deep over the top after that. Yes. All right, I've got one more crazy stat for you, especially for you fantasy players out there.

I don't know how I want to present it yet. No, I'll present it like this. All right, if before the season I told you that through 10 weeks, two would have 41 rushing yards, or 41 yards on scrambles, I should say. But despite that fact, he would lead all quarterbacks in fantasy points per dropback with the mark of 0.62. Would anyone on planet Earth believe me?

They'd believe you with this. They'd believe you with the scrambling part and then they and then they wouldn't believe you after that. It is so rare in today's NFL to have a quarterback lead in fantasy points per dropback that literally doesn't run. Yeah. Tua has not really run this year at all. I mean, he's basically just a pure drop-back pocket passer right now. Look at the guys he's surrounded with. So he's number one. Look at the next five, six guys. Patrick Mahomes has 200 rushing yards on scrambles. Josh Allen has 352. Justin Fields has 445. Jalen Hertz has 170. Jano Smith has 170. Lamar Jackson, 156. That's where a lot of these fantasy juggernauts get their points is in the run game and Tua hasn't had to do that.

Right. It's pretty, that's, that stat is also mind-blowing to me. I wouldn't, I did not think in the range of outcomes for this fantasy season was Tua leading all quarterbacks and fantasy points per dropback. That is wild to me. So, hats off to Miami because I, like, until they play Buffalo again, they, they're set up, they're set up to be so, so good the rest of the year. They just continually add pieces to their offensive game that make it more and more dangerous.

Mike McDaniels proving to be a very effective play caller, very effective offensive like schemer. And this is, I don't, like he never had play calling duties either. Like he was always a part of it, obviously, but he was never responsible for play calling. And holy cow, what a way to make your mark on the league and, you know, a number. announce the arrival of you and your offense. Yes, sir. And there was a lot of naysayers, too, when they traded for Tyree Kill. Like, oh, how can, like, this is going to be a run-heavy offense.

How can they sustain Hill and Waddle? And Tua's not that good. And, well, they've literally proven everyone wrong about everything. Yes. It is pretty remarkable. Anyways, let's move on. We spent a lot of time on that. I'm going to throw a stock down.

I got a lot more stock. up and they do down, Steve, but there's one, two more stock downs for me that I really want to talk about. Okay. We'll start with this one. The Los Angeles Rams. Oh, and this is going to transition to my next stock up too. So I'm sorry for stealing a lot of the spotlight right now, but I got two to talk about back to back. That's all right.

And L.A. stock way down. Way down. So the point where like, Steve, are they just going to call it quits for the year? I, like, there is so much. going like going not necessarily wrong but just like injury bad luck on the offense because obviously cooper cup just got put on iR and based on what i saw from our own edwin our in-house doctor at fantasy points like it doesn't it looks like the recovery back from this is not only really hard but it also can lead to some just long-term issues that could affect both his bounce back and his long-term longevity.

Yes. I'm actually trying to find what Edwin's. Edwin said the procedure he's going to go through isn't too bad. What did you say here? Hold on, hold on, hold on. And also, like, I mean, we're still dealing. Tight rope surgery. Okay.

He said it's pretty quick. Unless they're in play for wildcarts, but I can't see him beating five weeks, though, would be Tua-esque and risky. So basically what Edwin's saying is it doesn't matter. Like this is a, in the grand scheme of surgeries you could go on like go through. This is probably a quick one. Right. But Steve, just doing basic math here, let's say they win one or two of the next five games that puts you at four and eight, four nine. why would you bring him back?

And we touched on it a couple weeks ago, or maybe it was last week. I don't fully remember, but they kind of have a gauntlet of a schedule coming up too. It does not lighten up in any way, shape, or form. They have a pretty brutal schedule down the stretch. And we still, and that still is dealing with the, that's not even including everything going on with Matthew Stafford,

being in the concussion protocol. and Sean McVeigh reportedly not knowing what's going on there. Yeah. And so you're down your best receiver who was really the only thing working in this offense. Genuinely, the only thing that worked for this offense. Right. The old. And the offense wasn't good with him on the field even.

Yeah, no, it was still brutal. It was very, I mean, Matthew Stafford is having arguably. his worst year ever maybe it's got to be up there i don't think you're far off either way six point seven percent deep throw rate six point one a dot uh eight eight touchdowns eight interceptions six point one a dot you said yeah so that put that's second worst of his career i think the the lombardi year he was at five nine so so if you're you're putting Joe Lombardi-esque Adot something is terribly wrong in L.A. So, yeah, and yeah, losing, losing cup is really a detriment.

And they have no run game, which apparently is just Matthew Stafford's cross to bear in life is just that, hey, you're just never going to have a run game. It's just the way it is. But it, and this will be, it's going to be a great offseason topic, I think, us and also really plays into what we've been what we've talked about all year with team building is just discussing the just the strategy and how it's played out for the Los Angeles Rams with the way they've built this team and this like they had it's crazy because last year it was the best case scenario fruits of the laborer

everything panning out. And now this year you're getting everything that's wrong with building your team this way. Well, Steve, if they lose in the Super Bowl and then this happens, this looks like a colossal failure. 100%. Absolutely. No, I'm not going to take away the Super Bowl because you can't play that game. They won it. They won the Super Bowl.

So it looks like it's worth it. Yep. The big question is going to be, how long does this approach set them back for in the future? I mean, they, like, if genuinely, if Cup and Stafford miss, obviously, Cups going to miss extended time. If Stafford misses any more time. Yeah. They're looking at giving up a top three picked Detroit. Yeah.

Did I see he's officially in the protocol now? He's been in the protocol. I don't know. No, he's still in the protocol. He's been in it. And again, there's reports that Sean McVeigh doesn't know. they haven't even said he has a concussion yet technically is what I've heard it's just that he's in protocol wow yeah you got it so you got to wonder you hate to speculate too much about stuff but Steve like

cups down they're what are they three and seven yep or so cups down for at least the next four weeks according to dr. edwin here at the sorry three and six three and six okay so they're three and six Cups down for the next four, according to our own Edwin. He's probably five, six weeks out. Yep. They have to go to Kansas City in week 12. I'm sorry. Like, I don't know if Stafford isn't, say he misses this week with concussion protocol.

I don't know. I want to bring him back against Kansas City. He's going to be a sitting duck. That offensive line's terrible. Kansas City's patches is really good. Kansas City is going to score a ton of points. You're going to be behind all game. You really want Stafford dropping back 40 times in that game coming off a concussion?

Nope. Nope. Without Cooper Cup? Nope. You do have to start to wonder, are they just going to shut this thing down? The problem is they don't have their own first round pick. So what incentive do they have to shut it down? Other than let's make sure guys are healthy for next year.

That's, I mean, that's really the play because this is, they're not necessarily doomed for the future. like they still have all like a bunch of their pieces they're not doomed but their window is rapidly shrinking it's it's falling apart quickly with this type of year and it also doesn't help that when you employ this strategy it works when you are hitting on your second third fourth round picks they haven't been doing that they haven't been drafting very well late in like the last two or three years. And that's where, and that's really where I think that this is falling apart in because you can go get the superstar talent.

And that all works. Again, if you start hitting on some of those draft picks and they haven't in the last two years, or at least they haven't hit at a high rate. Let me ask you a question. Yeah. Well, and this is a perfect segue to the stock up team. Nice. That I want to do.

When, approximately when did L.A. lose Brad Holmes and Ray Agnes? know. It was right around the time that they inexplicably couldn't draft second. Two years ago. Yeah, two years ago. So I'm not saying those were the string pullers, but I do know Brad and Ray are great evaluators of college football players. I do know. Phenomenal. I do know that's what they do. Look at the rookies that Detroit is trotting out there right now, especially on the defensive end. Right. they're getting a lot of production out of them. Yeah, they kind of have to. That's all they have left.

They have to, obviously, but they're still, like, they're performing well, too. Yeah, there's not a lot of NFL teams in the league that are starting, what, five rookies? Is that what they're at? Let's see, Rodriguez, Hutchinson, Joseph. Peshall. Pishol.

That's four. I feel like there was another one in there. maybe, but either way, four rookies. Yeah. At like, you know, defensive ends of premier position, defensive line, safety is pretty, like, becoming a little bit more of a crucial position. But all that to say that I'm nervous for, like, I'm nervous for what the Rams are doing going forward.

Yes. And this is, I brought up Holmes in Agnew, Steve, because this is my stock up team, is the Detroit Lions. And the main reason, yeah, the reason why these, the reason why these two teams are connected is because the Detroit Lions own the Rams first round pick next year or this coming draft. And with the Rams literally in a tank right now, unintentionally in a tank, that pick for the Lions is getting better and better to the point where now they've actually leapfrogged. The lion's own pick is now a lower pit or a high, how do you say it?

I don't know. it's a it's a worse pick than the rams pick they're getting back the rams are giving them a top 10 pick at this point and the the lines are just outside the top 10 with their own pick so it's like both these things are happening where the lines are starting to win some games they've won two in a row they win they win into chicago this week they won 31 to 30 picking up dan campbell's first road win and his first back to back so not only are they winning games on the field but they're winning with draft picks that la is giving them that makes that staffer trade look a lot back better too, by the way. And matching their win total from last year already. Yes. And that's a big point I wanted to make. Steve, we've been critical to Lions. You listen to local talk radio. They want everyone fired. But if before the season started, I said, hey, Steve, halfway through the season, they're already going to have as many wins they had last year. There isn't anyone in Detroit that would say that's a bad, that's a, that's a loss of a season. Right. And yet for some reason, people have changed their minds. And two, like two games. They've had two games.

that they were out of, like 100% out of. Other than that, they have been competitive and they have been right there in it at the end of almost every game. And now we're starting to, like, you're starting to see a little bit regression to the mean when it comes to one score games. Yes.

You're starting to see... They lost to the C-Ox by three points. Right. You're starting to see that team pull out, wins, close wins. like they seem to be turning a corner in a way. And on the defensive end, and I've been quietly watching this because I didn't know how much credence there was to it,

but you're also seeing turnover regression. Brett, the Detroit Lions lead the NFL in turnover worthy percentage against their defense at 8.8%. And before, up until I think it was weak, they had had one interception. You know what's crazy though, Steve? You know who's making those plays? It's the young guys.

It's not the vets. It's Jeff Akuta's. It's Kirby Joseph. It's Jerry Jacobs. Those guys are out there laying it out on the line and they're starting to play a lot better. Steve, they've lost four games, or sorry, they've lost six games so far.

As you mentioned, they've been in every game, but two. Of the four losses they have where they were in those games, they've lost those four games by a combined total of 14 points. So we are literally talking about four plays. They are making four plays away from this thing. I know you can't play that game. I'm just simply pointing out this team has been competitive all year.

They're three and six, won their first back to back. Like for sure stock up just on performance on the field. And then you've also, you see the development of the young guys. Hutch is, you know, crucial sack this week in clutch time. Also, he, that Jeff Akuta picked six was pretty much Hutch's play. 100%. Hutch made the play. Akuta finished it.

A beautiful, beautiful read on a tight end screen. Right. Beautiful. Akuta having that pick six. He's been pretty good all year, actually, despite the woes they've had in coverage. You've got Kirby Joseph making play after play now. the secondary. Rodrigo's look great on the field.

So the young guys are coming into their own. They are playing very well, especially in the defensive side of the ball. I'm not ever worried about their offense, by the way. No. I know golf isn't the long-term guy. I think everyone's confident in saying that. But, you know, they've got picks coming out their ears right now. Yeah, I mean, if you told the Detroit fan, you'd have a, you'd potentially have a top three pick at the end of the year.

It'd be like, oh, well, another crap season. here we go. So we've, they've been waiting for the quarterback to get a quarterback in for golf. But here they are. They're in a position to potentially get a top three pick. And they don't need, they can still keep winning.

Yes. Like a top three to five to seven. Like I don't really see Los Angeles getting out of the top seven right now. I don't see a pathway where they're not in the top seven picks. Yep. They have to play, they have to go to the chiefs or Kansas City week 12 to put the chiefs. they have a winnable game this week against the Saints

although I'm not sure any game is super winnable for them right now because they look terrible effort doesn't play I don't want to get back on the Rams but it does hinge on that lion's pick so I am curious at some point I want to sit down and really figure out how low can that Rams pick go

could they get top five I mean they're at seven right now they're at seven They've only won three games. I think they play the Seahawks twice. They got the Chiefs, the Chargers. There's another decent team in there.

They'll have San Fran one more time too, right? Or have they played them twice? I believe that's true, but I'm not 100% sure. Either way. Brutal schedule. No, they played... Sorry. Yeah, I think they play them one more time.

You're right. Yeah. Brutal schedule down the stretch. And, I mean, the biggest thing for what we were asking, and last thing and then we'll move on is the incentive to not shut it down is that they don't have their own draft pick that's like the one thing that would stop them from shutting it down completely is that there's no reason to other than like your second round pick their second round pick could get higher but you definitely don't want to face the backlash of handing off a top five pick to another team and that all right let's let's wrap that yeah that. Yep. Throw out a, throw out another stock up if you got one.

Stock up is Kurt Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings. Okay. I too have the Vikings on here. I know. And I wanted to jump on this because I have never felt better about a preseason take. And I'm going to hang my hat on the fact that I, I've never felt better about a preseason take of saying the Vikings are going to be good. and it's and not because they're necessarily really that good.

It's just going to kind of happen. And that's exactly what's happening. But in the last three weeks, we're starting to see their offense evolve a little bit. Well, yeah, they have the illustrious T.J. Hawkinson now. Yes, yes. He is opening up. He is opening up the entire offense in a way that no one could.

It's for sure not having probably the best. receiver in the NFL who if you throw the ball up to he'll snatch it from anywhere anyone at any time Steve there was a point in this game though I know I don't want to detract from your amazing Vikings take and how great there but just just for laughs there was a point in this game where hawkinson had like seven targets and he was responsible for negative yardage because of his uh because the opi he had like seven targets I think five were catches for like 20 is like five five for 20 on that set line and then an OPI. It was something crazy.

Maybe, yeah, it was something crazy like that. I'm just like, this is hilarious. Oh, he had two penalties in the game, right? Didn't he have a holding call in the run game too? Yeah. Yeah. Which is pretty funny. But you made this, this was a great call, Stephen.

So stock up Steve O'Rourke's takes as well. I thought for a second you were going to get Kastanzad on this take because week one, they looked good. They destroyed the Packers. Yeah. And then week two, watching them in prime time against Eagles, I'm like, there they are. Best of Vikings I know I love.

There's the Kirk I know and love. So I thought you were getting Costanza, for sure. And then no, it turns out you were spot on with this. And like, it's crazy because what do they do really well? I don't know. I mean, Justin Jefferson's the best receiver in football. Well, second best receiver in football. Yeah, they're finally feet.

like this like this week last week they're finally starting to feed him more kirk cousins in the last three weeks his adot is up to 8.2 the previous um the previous six weeks or seven weeks he was hovering around 6.1 5.7 actually 5.7 the first seven weeks up to 8.2 the last three weeks the offense is starting to evolve a little bit Kurt Cousins is pushing the ball down the field a little bit more. And that, I mean, it just lent, it just allows, it opens up the, the running game, which you saw a little bit this week. And they're, I mean, they're just showing that they can win in crunch time because they have,

like, they are the kind of the antithesis to the lions where the lions have lost X a one score games by so true, by so little. The Vikings are pulling out one. score games and winning these, winning these games that come down to one play, one drive, one thing. And it's a combination of being good, getting lucky. I mean, who could have like, who could have seen a Josh Allen fumble at the goal line? Um, well, we'll talk about that in a second. Right. And who could have. We'll talk about that because I want to talk about the elephant in the room. And who could have seen KJ Osborne coming on wide open on a corner route against Detroit.

Like they're, but they're taking advantage. That's the biggest thing. And that's what they NFL's about is taking advantage of like those opportunities they still do one thing that drives me absolutely up a wall though what's that they go through these weird stretches where they just stop targeting Justin Jefferson for like a long period of time yeah and then it's all of a sudden like Kirk realizes you know what I think in order to score we got to throw it to him and then they'll target up like five plays in a row but it's the last few games I've I've like you know what I've been charting live and I'm just like dude I don't like I'll go back and look at the play log like dude they haven't targeted Jefferson in like a quarter and a half and then all of a sudden it's like boom

boom boom and then I want to talk about the catch Steve yeah that was the greatest catch in NFL history I'm talking about the Justin Jefferson one not the Stefan diggs one stephan big's catch was great Justin Jefferson's was the best ever and they were basically the same catch except Jefferson took the ball from a defender with one hand yes given situation and everything I think it is I agree well that too

was the fourth and 18 yeah fourth and 18 the ball was literally in a defender's hands two hands at the top of his jump Jefferson basically does the OBJ catch

the famous OBJ catch except that he had to rip the ball out of the defender's hands with one hand and still catch it it was so unbelievable I actually didn't believe it happened. I was like, there's no way that was a catch, right? That didn't just happen, right?

Which, like, those are the crazy things that are going their way because if that defender's not there, Jefferson doesn't make that catch. You do have to wonder that, right? Like, does the ball just skip off of his hand? Right, because if you look at where his hand, like, he gets, he kind of like weasels his fingertips and kind of like gets his hand corralled around it. But if the defender's not there to make that catch, I don't think Jefferson makes that catch.

if the defender just lets it go over his head or takes a chance and like let's see if he can make an insane catch, which like nobody's ever going to do. Like I'm not saying that that's a reasonable thing to expect a defender to do when you have a fourth. But still, like those are the things that are breaking their way is you're getting catches like that where you, it's the perfect set of circumstances that that catch can happen. Steve, it's a turnover worthy throw. Yeah. Like we charted as turnover worthy.

How many turnover worthy throws do you see happen get caught by the offense without a weird deflection or weird bounce or something? Rare, I mean, rarely ever. Jefferson was the intended target. Kirk overthrows him by a country mile and he still caught the ball anyways. Very rare. Team of Destiny was the phrase I wanted to use. Yes. And it played itself out in this game.

If we just go through what happened into this game, Minnesota is dry. driving. They were down, what were they down? 27, 24. They're down three. Yep. Right? Where is it only three?

This is, yeah, because this is after, this is after, what do you call it, coming back from down 2410. No, so, sorry, they were down four. It was 27 to 23, is what the score was. Okay. 27 to 23 from fourth and one from the Buffalo one

the Vikings tried the most vanilla QB sneak ever to score have they not watched any tape on what the NFL is doing this year? Like even the Eagles even the bills even the Bills even the chiefs with these big huge muscular athletic

quarterbacks are still using the rugby plays. They're still creating the scrum where they put the fullback behind or tight end right behind the quarterback and they're just ramming him up the defense's throat. No.

Vaggy's like, no, we don't need to do that. We got Kirk Cousins, man. A little scrawny, scrawny little whiny guy. We're just going to have him sneak it right up the middle. He didn't even move. He didn't even move. He didn't move his feet.

He just stood there. He stepped the ball and stuck it. He went like this. He took the snap and then just stuck his hands out. Like, that was enough. Like, there's not a wall in front of him. You know, like? Anyway, so he got stopped.

The bills get stopped. the ball back. All they have to do is successfully run a play. And the game is over, basically. Yeah. I think Minnesota had one time out left. So they run two successful plays. And the game is over. And Josh Allen fumbles the freaking snap in the Vikings recover it for a touchdown to kick an extra point to go up by three points. Which I did. Unbelievable. I did see someone say and this is, it's interesting like looking back at how crazy good that play by new england at the end of the super bowl where they intercepted the ball against the seahawks yeah like that just shows how crazy like how crazy good um brady is at cuby sneaks because that was the exact same situation

they're on like the half yard line and that's true type of stuff could have happened either way that's i did see someone say that and i was like oh that i thought oh that's pretty interesting because there are a lot more scenarios where that can go wrong, especially on a QB sneak. Not everybody's good at QB sneaks, and it's a thing. But yeah, I just,

and that's just, you know, back to what we said with Buffalo, like these are the plays that Josh Allen is these turnover plays that you can't let happen. Yep. And Minnesota, on the other side,

like their defense, their passing defense has given up yardage. Like they probably, they've given up like up in the top five, top five to seven totally passing yards over the course of the season. But they're forcing turnovers. They have 10 interceptions. They're, you know, they are making plays when they need to.

And that could come back to bite them 100% playing that. type of that type of defense where you're giving up 7.9 yards per attempt. You're giving up 67% completion percentage. Like in a 7.9A dot, like that can come back to bite you. But if you can force turnovers and if you can, the offense can move the ball, then they're going to, I mean, they're going to keep rolling. And I, what, it's a schedule where they still get, I think every. NFC North team one more time, which the rest of the NFC North is not the best. They're the Packers.

Aaron Rogers declared not dead. The lions we said were stock up. The bears are a frisky team. They're fun. They're going to they're going to make things interesting for almost every game the rest of the way, I think. But not great teams. I mean, Minnesota has a chance to really get themselves into a great position, potentially to. and, you know, maybe the Philadelphia Eagles slip up once or twice more, and now you're looking at a buy and a couple home playoff games. They're set up pretty well for the rest of the year. And especially if, like I said, if Kirk Cousins is going to keep trending toward his ADOT going up and targeting Justin Jefferson more

and doing things like that, then this team's only going to improve. Right. I have two more notes on the Vikings. One good, one bad. Actually, one was about a Bills player after the game. I think he should be banned from football for what he said. Cornerback Christian Bedford said after the game that Justin Jefferson wasn't, quote, that hard to cover. Brother. He just nuked your entire squad. and he worked you for six catches and 87 yards and a pass interference penalty which turned the tide of the game

maybe sit that one out I don't know and you're a rookie and you're like a six round rookie and like yeah he had good moments in there he did have an interception right and I think he had another forcing completion maybe but bro the guy you just gave up 200 yards to him as a team you were responsible for half that

plus a pass interference relax just relax. You don't have to say that. You don't have to be that delusional to say that. In fact, maybe you should just say, really good competitor. Guys, a baller. I felt like we, you know, we did the best we could to contain him. And I think I made a couple of good plays. But man, hats off to Justin for destroying us and single-handedly winning that game for his team. And it's been floating around and I've seen a lot of people touch on it. And I feel I'm just going to touch on it again because it's that impressive. Next-gen stats.

had, I think it was eight targets of Justin Jefferson had a less than 50% completion percentage probability and he caught all eight. So, that's crazy. Okay, so good luck because he's insane. He's insane. And honestly, like, they should, I don't think it's crazy to say that Justin Jefferson should get three to. five targets a quarter no matter what.

Yes. No matter what. They should give. And they don't scheme anything to him. No. They, like, when they go on these long stretches where he's not getting targeted, I feel like they just need to call a screen, a smoke or a screen to him just to be like, we got to make sure the defense doesn't sleep on this guy.

Like, we want to keep him involved, keep him, you know, feeling motivated and like he's in this. I mean, he has, it blows my mind. He has a 5%. 5% designed play to him over the course of the season. Just to give you an idea of guys around him that are of equal value, you've got Cooper Cup has a 23% design percentage. DeAndre Hopkins has had 10% about 11% so far. Tyree kills at 11%.

Stefan Diggs is at 16%. Umanraz St. Brown's at 11%. Like you do have some in there like Devante Adams only has 3% CD Lamb 5.7% A.J. Brown 6.8%. But still like to have a player like Justin Jefferson, I feel like that number should be up at 10%. Yep. 10% a game should be standard. Design a play to go to him because he isn't like he is a great after the catch guy. He can do things with his legs. Like he's a great athlete.

Give him a chance. Keep giving him opportunities to go make plays because he's just one of those guys where if you just keep feeding him, something good is going to happen. Exactly. He's going to break at some point. They can't cover him for the entire game. The only way you can cover him for an entire game is if you let them and that's by not targeting him.

Right. All right. Last Viking player I want to talk about is Christian Derasaw, offensive tackle. The guy is playing out of his mind right now, especially in the run game. I'm in the process of making a like a cut up of some of his blocks, dude. Nice. Holy crap. Holy crap.

I'm going to drop it in the work chat just so people can see the level of dominance. This dude is displayed. He's there's like when you're evaluating offensive linemen, there's always like two different buckets of plays you put things in. Like I want to see how consistently you're not. not missing assignments. So most good offensive linemen do that a lot. Those dominating blocks you see with like pancakes and guys just getting tons of vertical and horizontal displacement, it's pretty rare in the NFL.

Yeah. Not for Derrissau. He kind of has some Trent Williams to him where he is absolutely mauling dudes. A big cop-up line. He's, yeah, he's not missing assignments, but he's also just, just facking people. So that's a huge win for them. they've been desperate for a like a needle mover on the offensive line for years. Years.

I think they have one. They've been, it's, it's been kind of a rotating cast of misfits, throwaways, retreads, just trying to find something. Bad to average. Right. Trying to find something, any type of O line combination that works. And now having an anchor at a premier position like Darrysaw, like that changes how you can, how you can build your offensive line.

Yep. Yep. That's it. Love it. I love it. I'll throw. I have like three players I want to quickly get through. We do have to get wrapping up soon.

Three players of stock up I wanted to get through. And this is pretty fancy later. I'm literally just going to just blaze through it. The third guy that I end on, we can open that up for discussion. One, I just want to mention Joe Mixing. he has kind of turned things around weeks one through six the man averaged 3.3 yards of carry he only forced seven missed tackles on 104 carries averaging less than 1.4 yards per carry or yards after contact per carry it was terrible he had one explosive run those first six weeks weeks seven through 10 completely different story 5.1 yards per carry he's literally doubled the force mis tackle rate. He's had seven force miss tackles.

So as many as he had in the first six weeks in his last three games, which is nice. His yards after contact per carry has gone up. Not enough, but it has gone up. Subsequently, he's scored six touchdowns over that span and he's putting in work. First down rate.

How many of them came against Carolina? Five. Yeah. Well, four rushing. But anyway, so he, that's crucial for the Bengals who have seemed to be coming alive even without Chase the last few games. Mixin's a big part of that. Obviously, I don't think they should run the ball as much as they do, but if they're going to, they need more out of mixing, and it seems like they're getting it.

So just wanted to note that. Another quick one, super quick one, is Terry McLaren. Yes. Massive stock up. Since Tyler Heineke has taken over, he hasn't had less than eight targets in the game. He's had at least 70 yards or touchdown in every game but one. So he's really prefer, especially for you fantasy guys. Huge, huge buy for me right now. And that, in my opinion,

that Washington offense is stock up too. They've looked difficult to define. I hate to say it because Heineke's such a, ugh, I can't stand that,

dude. I can't stand him. I don't know what it is. You know what it is? The end of the Eagles game was a perfect example of why I can't stand Taylor Heineke.

He gets the, he gets the lucky, albeit lucky, roughing the passer, call to effectively end that game. Yep. And he gets up and doesn't just, doesn't just give a minor celebration. Like, woohoo, we won.

The dude just, he goes Baker Mayfield. And you never go Baker Mayfield. Yeah. I think it's a small man thing. It's a small man syndrome thing, Steve. These little quarterbacks, they like, you know, they carry this chip on their shoulder. They think they're against the world. And he can't even recognize the fact that you just won because of luck.

I don't know. He just drives me insane. I just don't like looking at him. Yeah, that's fair. And, yeah, he did pop up and he threw a fist pump. Like, he just went 15 rounds and beat Muhammad Ali. Right, right. Like, he won on a technicality.

Anyways, with him in the game, as long as he's the starter, McLauran stock up, I did see a report this morning that Rivera is considering going back to Wentz. Please God know. Their offense looks way, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel since Heineke's taken over, and this is just, this is just, just a feel thing. I don't necessarily have numbers on this because I don't know how I would have to really dive deep, but I just feel like their offense has been more multiple and they've been more creative with Heineke at quarterback because they kind of have to be. They just do a better job of

staying on task, staying on schedule. Right. Because He makes, doesn't, he's not, he's, he's, he's, has a very small lane of where he operates. It's from okay to okay. Okay. It's okay to. It's okay to a little bit better than okay. Right. Whereas Carson Wentz, his variance is massive boom to massive bust. Yeah. And with the weapons that they have, they don't need a boom or bust quarterback. They just need someone to be okay because they have so many guys at receiver and just guys that can make things happen after the catch, make things happen with the ball that they just need Heineke to be okay because their defense is solid. Their defensive line wreaks havoc.

on teams. And they just need, they just need Heineke to keep him in games. And that's what he's been doing. Yep. Exactly. And, you know, Wence, he,

his whole, his whole career, the number one thing you can say about Wence is he makes the easy things look very difficult. So difficult. And Hineke just does the little things better than Wence. It's sometimes like watching a toddler try to like gain a new skill. You're like, all right, we just have to let him suffer through it and hopefully

they'll just kind of get it. Yeah. And he's, Wence just never gets it, unfortunately. Right. Well, and as far as McCorn goes too, Steve, I, if you watch that game against Eagles, it should be a good affirmation of his skill. Because I think sometimes his quarterback play has been so bad, you start to doubt what he's capable of. even though we've seen, man, he, I don't think a receiver's given Slay the ass kicking that McCoran's given him in years. He's done that. He's done that.

Slay. Like, I swear to God, McLaurin is Slay's kryptonite. Now, I, we talked about it, me, you and Chris, we were talking about it during the game of, like, I don't know what Philly was doing on the back end in their secondary. They were playing, it seemed like they were playing such a soft zone when all year they had been very aggressive. attacking the ball, mugging receivers, just making it, just making it difficult for receivers to get open. They played a lot more of what felt like a soft zone this week. And it had a lot of open space and ability to get the ball to these guys.

And I think not having Avanti Maddox impacted that a little bit because he is. So he is very effective in the slot. But it was just, it was just interesting how they defended Washington. I think that they, if I had to guess, I think that they thought that if they just dropped into a zone and, made Taylor Heineke think they could get him to make bad throws. And he didn't really do that because receivers were getting open. Correct. And I wonder too if they were like,

maybe the game pan was just, hey, we don't trust Heineke to make, consistently make good throws. So we're going to play a little bit further back and just see what he can do. Right. And just force him to complete passes. And I think he just took advantage of,

the situation and it looked decent. But that said, McClellan, massive stock up. Steve, we have just a few remaining minutes here. I had one more stock down, but what do you got on your sheet left? I wanted to just touch on the, on Tampa Bay. As a team, I am pushing them stock up. They love it. You kind of felt, and I think everybody felt it coming after that game winning drive against Los Angeles that it was trending toward oh my gosh the bucks are dead Brady's dead like you know everybody's pronounced Brady dead at some point but it really felt like it was coming this time if they lost to the Rams they went down won the game Brady said that was awesome and now they look they look much more in control they they incorporated Rashad White into the

running game and honestly that it felt like it helped Leonard four net as well having having possibly a little bit like the change of pace back where Rashad White's a little bit more of a twitchy fast mover for net obviously is just a bully ball guy and it felt like it helped there they got they were targeting and getting Julio Jones more involved Brady was making throws that Brady makes like the big time throws and fitting it into tight windows. He was making those throws and doing that again. I just, the way that they're progressing looks very good in a division that is so easily winnable.

Like, it's so easy to get right in that NFC south right now because there's no competition behind them. I mean, Atlanta's their biggest competition. And we've talked to Adnauzi about what we think about Atlanta. So it sets up perfectly that, hey, we've hit the halfway point, and they're starting to evolve. I thought that their defense looked better. They contained that Seattle offense that has been so explosive. They really prevented a lot of those pop-pop runs by Kenneth Walker.

Their run defense looked to be what it had been last year, where they're stuffing the middle. They're really, really making it hard for guys to get to the second level and get to their linebackers. and that's what their defense is predicated on is just stuffing the run in the middle and then they have athletes on the back end that can make things happen and they you know they can then get uh try on shoyanka and guys like that to pin their ears back and get after the quarterback they're they're looking like the team that we all thought they would be this year they're starting to round into form it's only been a game in the drive I understand that.

And there's a lot of time to happen. But it just looks like the scheme, the mindset, everything about that team really changed after that Rams game. And so Biden said, stock up. I wouldn't be surprised to see Tampa Bay kind of go on a little bit of a run here at the end of the year. Yeah, I agree. And I was going to do stock up on them as well.

Was that your last one? No, my last one ties of the stuff perfectly because it's a stock down, and it's the Atlanta Falcons. And when you juxtapose these two in the situations they had, they both had an opportunity to take hold of that division this week.

The Buccaneers didn't, or they took care of business. They went into Germany and beat the Seattle C.Ox 21 to 16. And the Atlanta Falcons, who had an easier path to take control to the division, playing the Carolina Panthers,

they lost by 10 points to the Panthers. So stock down for the falcons, stock up for the Buccaneers. I love it. One of the things I'm really noting about the Buccaneers, Steve, that I absolutely love and think could really change their season is Chris Godwin. Now look, he was coming off of an ACL, you know, repair and recovery. Yep. That takes time. He did not look like the same player for the first five, six games he was back.

now going into week 11 he's starting to look like he's back to himself not 100% but he's getting there this week he actually made explosive plays downfield which when he had his breakout year that's all he did was contested catches down the sideline great set he's so good at disengaging

at the top of his stems yes he's not he's not the most athletic guy in the world he's not going to crush you with some speed or quickness but his technique and his ability to disengage at the top of his stems is top-notch, and Seattle trots out some big freaking corners, and he was still able to do it against them, Tyreek Wollin and Kobe Bryant.

I thought Godwin looked awesome in this game, and I think those explosive plays, they desperately need that in this offense. It is going to help Brady so much, because it's going to start to stretch the field out. We also saw Julio Jones make a good play. Granted, it was a busted coverage. That touchdown he had was a busted coverage.

but what did you see on that play that you haven't seen from Julio in years? Athleticism. The speed, bro. Yeah, the burst. Yeah, it was a busted coverage, sure, but he hit the gas and no one was catching him. Yeah, and that's- We have not seen that from Julio in a long time. And not a dry, I think it was a drive earlier.

Tom Brady overthrew Julio Jones, who had two steps on the corner, on a go route. It was like the first type of the game, wasn't it? Yeah, like, that had big play written all over it. And, you know, Brady just, Brady just misses him a little, overthrows him a little bit. And like that, if Julio Jones starts getting more involved, like, that's another team that has just a stable of weapons. Like, and guys that just win routes.

That's the biggest thing. And that's what, that's why where Brady excels is when he has guys that can just win routes. And having Mike Evans, who's one of the best separators in the league, week, Chris Godwin, who's one of, who's a very, like you said, a very savvy route runner knows how to work in space. And then Julio Jones, who, albeit he's older, but still, if he can show a little bit of pop and, you know, if he can give you three impact receptions a game, whether it be a third down or a deep ball

or a point like this where he gets open in space, like that, again, completely changes the trajectory of the offense. and we had said this like they hadn't really been healthy all year and it's finally you're finally starting to get fully healthy with those receivers and it's showing yep they're the offense is coming together on so many fronts offensive lines tightening up a little bit replacing luke got a key was good although um i think they still have to mask what's going on there guard but still um offensive line is playing a little bit better Chris Godwin getting back to true form.

Julio's showing a spark. Evans is steady Eddie. They need him to be that. He's been that. Rashad White emerging as the player they thought he could be. That's huge for them. And eventually it will leak into the past game as well because he's a very good receiver. Yes.

I know Brady loves four net on those dumpoffs, but Rashad White can certainly do a lot with the ball in his hands in the passing game. But that's huge because they- Kate Otten. Yeah. He's emerged as a really, he, when I, he passes the eye test very well. When you just watch him play, he looks like a baller to me. He was their second round pick, right?

Yes. Or a second round pick? I think they may have multiple, but, um, he looks good to me. K. Doughton looks good. Him and Brady are starting to develop a connection too. I think he's, I think he's had three games in a row now with at least three catches. these are all good signs for the bucks. And when the offense is playing a little bit better,

get your defense off the field a little bit more. Oh, wow, defense is fresh. They're playing better now. Crazy how that works. Vita V-Ve-Ve-It's complimentary football. But real quick, before we wrap things up, it is so important what you said about Leonard Fournett and Rashad White both being effective receivers out of the backfield

because they defenses can't get a tip on who's in the game so with some teams like you wait with their you know running back by committee a lot of the one of the biggest things that people talk about is that hey you can tell you can kind of tell whether it's going to be a runner a pass by who's in there you can't do that with but with tampa no matter who's in there because rashad white is effective in the past game tom brady does love leon or four net in the past game like you can't there's you can't key in on anything from that. Yeah. To decide what way or what they're going to do,

which is huge because it just makes your offense more multiple. Yep. And also, we've seen Brady now for 22 freaking years. And one thing we know about him is when that ball is snapped and he doesn't get what he wants, the play's over immediately for him. Yep. There's no sit around and wait. There's no, as the meme would say,

F around and find out. There's none of that. It's, where's my checkdown? I'm hitting him now. I'm just, we're just, let's get to the next play.

Yep. This wasn't what we wanted. Let's get to the next play. Those running backs become so important because, especially, and I think White's emergence is really going to help with this, because Fort Nett has looked a little bed. Little,

you know, he's been overweight this year. He's lacking a little bit of burst. They need a guy who can maybe force a mistackle or two in the past game. And I think White could really help with that. But that's Brady's thing. is like, I don't like what I see. I'm just going to check this ball down. We're going to get to the next play.

I don't care if it picks up one or two, three, five, whatever. Yep. Get to the next play. Let's live to play another down. That's Brady's entire mentality. That's why he's been so successful. He's one of the few quarterbacks that checks down as often as he does. That doesn't get ridiculed for it, right?

Because he's like, he's just so decisive is what it is. Right. It's not a Justin Herbert thing where it's like, I'm scared of what's happening. So I'm going to check it down. It's just not this play. is done, boom, let's just move on. Yep. And he's always looking for the situation he wants. So

I do think that's very, very important for this offense. And everything seems to be coming together. I don't want to overreact to a game or two, but it does seem like everything is coming together for them. And they're in the driver's seats to win that division. Let's face it. They're going to be a

playoff team. So, yeah, unless something catastrophic happens, I think you can. Well, of course. We can't predict injuries. No, but like that's, The thing, that's what it would take for them to not win that division. Is something unforeseen? Tristan Wirthes goes down, Mike Evans, Brady,

it's, uh, Winfield. Which is a great position to be in when the only thing we can say that's stopping you is a, is a, you know, a fictional injury. Yes. Well, sweet. I, I feel very satisfied of how this segment went. We talked stock up, stocked down for an hour and 31 minutes. it Steve. I didn't see that coming.

We, it's the joy of the NFL this year. It was, you know, we all kind of complained about it at the beginning about how it was all this amalgus. You couldn't really differentiate a lot of teams. It was all this hodgepodge of whatever. But you're starting to see some teams separate and you're starting to see some different things happen. So it's like, it's getting more, in my opinion, like the last three weeks and going forward, it's getting a lot more exciting. because while we said there isn't a ton of teams that are breaking away and a lot every team has their fatal flaw there really isn't like that team that you can really say like they're unbeatable or good luck and that's the joy of having so much parity this year is that any team can

legitimately go in and beat any other team this year which it just feels more like that than any than any of the last like three or four years really It feels like no matter what, you can sit there and look at a game and you can say, all right, well, I think this team is going to win, but you can find a pathway that isn't outlandish for almost any team to get beat. Yep. Agreed. I love it.

Let's get out of here. Steve, we'll see you guys Friday. We do have a special guest Friday. Yes, we do. I don't want to tease it yet, but he'll be fun. He'll be fun. So we're excited about that. But anyways, yeah, thanks for listening, guys.

This was awesome. 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. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. And come join the roster at FantasyPoint.com.