Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Week 2 Matchup Podcast

Episode Date: September 15, 2022

John Hansen (@Fantasy_Guru) and Greg Cosell (@gregcosell) talk player and team performances, and matchup analysis ahead of Week 2. --- 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. What is up, everyone? Welcome to another edition, another year of the matchup podcast here with me, John Hanson, and Greg CoSell of NFL films, of course, active contributor to the website has worked with us for 15 plus years these days. And of course, the prospect guide in year number three this year.

Greg's been in the film room. We're recording this on Wednesday night. So he's been, he's done a good three full days, still going to grind out on Thursday and Friday. So this is just a piece of the puzzle and a piece of the pie. And if you are not yet a subscriber, by the way, to FantasyPoint.com, head on over there. Sign up, get the subscription, the premium one. gets you all the live stream access.

And on Thursday nights, me, Greg, and Adam Kaplan go around. We cover every matchup and every situation of note. But Greg, we're just going to get the Cliff Notes version of your tape study. I cannot wait to get into it. It's been a long offseason, although it did go quickly, but a lot of time spent. I have some action. Just so people understand, you know, not to interrupt, but, you know, early in the season, you know, you mentioned Thursday and Friday.

I'll be here Saturday. I'll be here Sunday morning as well because I'm trying to get through. you know, as many games and teams as I can because, you know, it's not, you know, I'm only one person. It's not humanly possible for me in a three or four day period to watch both sides of a ball for 16 games. But, you know, I try to get through as much as I absolutely can. So early in the season, I pretty much grind seven days a week because I want to see these teams. Yeah, exactly. The more teams, you start kind of laying out a foundation, a base of knowledge here.

And, you know, things change quickly throughout the league. A lot of coaching changes every year. So, all right, well, let's get into it. And, you know, actually, I'm going to start on Monday night. And because I know you saw both teams. So let's start with the Eagles. And, you know, how would you encapsulate the performance? I know the line had some spotty issues.

It wasn't perfect. It seemed, though, that it was an overall good performance. And obviously, the running for Hertz was absolutely dynamic. Yeah, I mean, you know, I thought the Eagles offense was strong. You know, it's really interesting because Jalen Hertz, there's really two things that always stand out when you watch Jalen Hertz. Obviously, he's going to make some throws. He's an NFL quarterback. He's going to make throws. And the throw to Brown down the right sideline where Brown was one-on-one with a backup corner, Walt Harris was a great, great throw. You couldn't have handed it to him any better.

The two points I think that really stand out up at Jalen Hertz is his ability to compensate and camouflage for those snaps in which the offensive line does not perform well. And Eagles have a great old line, but as you and I both know early in the season, offensive lines are behind defenses. So, you know, there were some individual breakdowns, some scheme breakdowns, and he makes plays with his legs, important plays with his legs. and in addition to that, gives you the design running element in critical situations. And the other thing about Jalen Hertz, which stands out, is he doesn't turn the ball over.

Yeah, protects the ball. So even if at this moment in his career, no one's going to say he's Drew Breeze as far as precise pinpoint passing, he does not turn the ball over. So the Eagles get an opportunity to run their offense. They run more plays. Therefore, they can go deeper into their play. playbook and all these things matter. So Jalen Hertz is an improving player. And, you know, he's up against a very interesting defense, John, you know, because I watched that as well.

You know, what I would say about the Vikings, and they have Ed Donatel, who's now their decoordinate, Ed's been doing this a really long time. They can confuse a guy like Hertz, potentially, it sounds like. Potentially, you know, he has a bit of the Vic Fangio mold in his background. He was with Dick in Denver. So what we saw week one, and again, people need to understand it's week one. So, you know, we'll see how the season plays out. But I would say that their foundational approach week one was multiplicity of fronts and consistency of coverage out of split safety quarter structure. Now, having said that, if coaches are listening to this, if someone's listening that really knows back-end defense, secondary defense, when I say consistent,

of coverage. I don't mean they just lined up and did the exact same thing every snap. I mean, they started with a quarters structure look 98% of the snaps. Now, you can do a lot of things from quarters, and they did, but that's the way it looked initially. And there will be some confusing elements to it, not only for Jalen Hertz, but for any quarterback. Okay. Sounds like it could be one of those games where we'll know right away, maybe first drive, it's going to be a long afternoon or evening. And you know, they've got a lot of pass rushers who are long and athletic, by the way. Of course, Danielle Hunter. And now we've got Zadaria Smith. And DJ one of them is long and athletic. I mean, they've got guys. Now, if they can protect and all that and Hurt sees it,

what do you think of the matchup here? You know, and AJ Brown. I think it favors the Eagles big time. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think Patrick Peterson is what he was, which is a shame because he was great and, you know, is likely a Hall of Famer. But he does not have the same speed. He does not have the same man coverage skills. Now, they don't play a ton of pure man, but obviously outside the numbers, it becomes man, you know, in some form or another. You know, I still think Harrison Smith is a really, really good football player. Yeah, Eric Hendricks is still good in coverage. And Jordan Hicks is a really good player, by the way. But I think that secondary can be exploited. Now, then it comes down to, you know, can they protect?

And I think they'll protect better this week, the Eagles, that is, and they did a week ago. Well, I think if they can get Devante Smith one-on-one on Patrick Peterson outside, that would be a go-rout, I would believe. Yeah, I mean, and the Eagles are really good with their play designs. They do a really nice job. They work a lot of half-field concepts, particularly against zone, which they're going to get. So, you know, this could be a really nice game for the Eagles offense. You know, it's obviously it's their home opener. It wouldn't surprise me.

You know, protection's key. But even if they don't protect great, you know, from a fantasy perspective, Hertz can run. Yeah. And J. Dillon ran on the Vikings a little bit. A little bit. And the Eagles will always try to run the ball. Yeah. Yeah, sure.

Now, on the other side, obviously an incredible performance. Now, I'm sure the answer is both. but when you look at the dominating performance, how much of it was a physical marvel, basically, at the position these days in Jefferson, and how much of it was a hell of a job in terms of route combinations and scheming this dude wide-ass open? Well, the reason he was wide-ass open, John, is because there were major coverage breakdowns.

It's funny you say that because we're obviously doing Vikings Eagles in my NFL matchup show, and, you know, it seemingly made sense, you know, before I saw the tape to think, oh, you know, Jefferson's a guy we probably should take a look at. And then you watch the tape and you see, and you see the big plays came on coverage breakdowns and busts. And we don't do busts in the matchup show because we're previewing a matchup. So we're not going to show Jefferson just to show a highlight because everybody knows he's a great receiver. What are we going to say? Well, the Eagles are going to bust too? You know, you can't build a piece around that concept. Well, it wasn't a bust per se because the movable, the jokerness of Jefferson may have

throw him off a little bit? Well, I would say his longer touchdown was a breakdown, a bust, where, you know, to me it was for sure. So maybe the 64-yarder, one could argue that it was not a bust in a strict sense, but still, it was a little problematic. Yeah, yeah. You know, it kind of struck me. And, you know, again, we were blinded with Jefferson because of the damn pandemic that year. And I watched him in Ellis. I'm like, this guy's good. But we didn't get good reports. And we got no visual evidence. So we were screwed that year. But I did tweet. And after his breakout game, he followed it up. I'm like, that's it. I've seen enough. That's it. This kid's a stud. But I feel like he might be low-key, one of the more versatile receivers like we've ever seen or we've seen like 50 years. Well, I'm fascinated by him because on tape he looks like he's 6-5 and he's not. His stride length is truly remarkable.

He has a truly unbelievable ability, which is rare, to cut without slowing down with that stride. Full spread. Yeah, normally guys who are that long with legs like that can't cut like that. He can. He's like, he's like Spider-Man out there. And the other factor, which I feel like the tape really helps, he is so refined with the nuances and details of route running. Little body feints, head feints, sticks with his right or left foot depending on the route. You know, he's just, he knows how to use his vertical stem exceptionally well.

Yeah. So he's the absolute complete package. And with all this said, it's damn near indefensible. you know, how are the Eagles are going to play this? Well, the Eagles are going to do, you know, again, they're also in the Vic Fangio mold. Right. So they're going to play a lot of initial zone looks,

but what they're going to have to do is match and carry. In other words, they can't let him run freely through zones. So they're going to have to match and carry. And that's kind of sort of the way it's talked. It's, yeah, the term that's often used by the Vic Fangio school is match, carry, deliver. So you match, you carry, and you deliver him to someone else. You know, you're not delivering him to no one. You're not just letting him run into a boy. Exactly. Of course.

And you've got to have confidence to let him be delivered to the other guy, that the other guy's there. Right. And that's where I think the Packers had some issues. Right. Well, the Eagles had some issues stopping the run. Sounds like the Viking O line looks like it. I think this is going to be a good old line, John. I mean, they got, they've invested heavily in this all line. All first and second round picks. I think the center is the weak spot to be honest. He's not a weakness in a trick sense. But I really liked Ed Ingram coming out of LSU. People can go back and look at my report in the draft guide. And he's starting at right guard. Cleveland's a second rounder from a year ago. O'Neill was a second rounder a few years back. And obviously, Kristen Darisaw at the left tackle was

the first rounder. I think as the season progresses, this will be one of the better O lines in the league. Well, we've been watching it kind of been being built over the last three years. And it's time to reap some rewards here. You know, you see it in spots, but they haven't really put it all together. Dyrus always hurt. So what do you think about, you know, do you think the Vikings can have more success like the Lions did? And then, you know, again, overall thoughts on, you know, they do have, you know, three pretty good corners now in Philly. Well, the big issue is, first of all, another point to be made with a snapshot of this game is with Kevin O'Connell there now, they played a lot more 11 personnel, which we expected.

Last year, they played the second highest percentage of 21 personnel with a fallback in the league behind the 49ers. Now with Kevin O'Connell there, they're going to play more 11 personnel. So the question is, what are the Eagles going to do with their front? When the Eagles lined up in a five-man front this past week and Jordan Davis was in the game, they stopped the run really well. The issue is the back end. What is your goal? What is your priority?

If you line up, let's say they're going to line up in a five-man front because you say, hey, let's stop the run. Well, that means there's potentially one less guy in coverage. You can drop out one of your ends, but they're not really. coverage players the way linebackers are. You know, you can drop out Hassan Redick. You can drop out one, you know, one of those guys. But, you know, moving backward to get into a zone area is tougher than playing forward. So I'm really curious to see how this plays out and what the Eagles decide to do. Let's head to, actually, we're working backward. Buffalo, Tennessee. That's another really intriguing game.

Yeah. How amazing was Josh Allen. And did you even notice the play calling? I forgot that it was a new play caller into the third quarter. I'm like, that's a good sign. They did a great job. Look, they wanted to make sure that they could eliminate or at least minimize Aaron Donald. So what did they do? It was all quick game. I mean, they really didn't have it. They had two big plays. One came versus zero blitz on third down when he hit Davis for, you know, 40. plus yards, and the other came when Alan left the pocket to his right and threw the touchdown to digs. Other than that, they were not a lot of long pass plays because their whole approach was to get the ball out of Josh's hands quick because they did not want Donald to ruin the game. What do you think of them this week against Tennessee? They got run on last week, obviously. Tennessee is, you know, the loss of Landry's big. You know, I think that Buffalo will try to run the ball. the ball, you know, more so than they did.

Simmons a grown-ass man still. What's that? Simmons is a grown-ass man still. Yeah. You know, we'll see. Simmons, yeah, like you say, he's, he's, he was eating on Sunday. I saw him. Yeah, he was kind of fun to watch.

He gave a rookie left guard, a Zudu from North Carolina, kind of a, he schooled him a bit. Welcome to the NFL. But, you know, I think they might have some advantages. on the outside. It'll be interesting to see because Tennessee starts in their base and in their nickel. The Titans start Roger McCrary, a rookie from Auburn at left corner and a third-year player, Christian Fulton, at right corner. So I think, you know, Buffalo will feel they can throw the football. You know, I think the other side of the ball is really intriguing, too, because what we saw from the bills on the opening Thursday nighter was just a wave of defensive alignment, you know,

at both the end and D-Taco, who all played at a high level. Wow. Yeah, well, they've been drafted, you know, a lot of second, third-round picks, you know, first rounders, Rousseau, Oliver, who else, Eponessa, you know. Epinessa was the second rounder.

I think Boogie Basham was either a second or a third. Yeah. I mean, you know, and Jordan Phillips is back, and he was, he was, had dominant reps on, in that Thursday night game. You know, Tennessee relies, you know, Tennessee actually was outstanding on first down this week. Outstanding. The one thing they missed in their offense, which we've come to expect on a weekly basis, John, was big runs by Henry. Henry did not

have big runs this week, and therefore he did not gain 100 yards. But we've almost come to expect every week that Henry's going to break off, you know, at least two runs more than 20 yards with an opportunity for, you know, the 40, 50, 60 yarders. Yeah, how did you look with your eyeball test? I thought he looked a tad, a tick slower down, you know? You know, I didn't necessarily see that. I thought the Giants defense did a really, really good job of getting bodies to him and not allowing him once he got to the second level to break through, because he did get to the second level.

Okay. Well, you know, that O-Line's been getting depleted a little bit. Yeah, they're not that big. I mean, that's going to be interesting because the bills have, you know, with the exception of Ed Oliver, the bills have pretty big people at D-Tackle. and the left guard for the Titans, Aaron Brewer, is only about 280 pounds. Right, right, yeah. Well, you would think Buffalo is looking to, like, come out, fire and jump out to a big leader,

and then there you go, right? Well, that's what, I mean, Buffalo will play that way, whether it works, it remains to be seen, but that's the way I think they want to play. They want to get ahead of you and be in a situation where they can rush the quarterback with Von Miller because people do slide and try to take care of Von Miller, and that presents opportunities for other rushers. One of my preseason predictions for Tennessee is that rookie Kyle Phillips will be top three in receptions, and we're well on our way.

I mean, I feel like maybe he won't get any targets this week, but I just have this gut feel that that kid, Kyle Phillips, is going to be like the glue that holds it passing attack together a little bit. Well, he made some plays down the stretch, And I think, quite honestly, Traylon Burke's week one game was a positive. I think you'll see him become much more of a factor as the season goes on. Yeah, overall, I was, I guess, pretty encouraging for... I would agree with that.

Yeah. Well, and you saw the Bears, but we can't glean anything. I mean, that game was kind of in a monsoon. I'm not sure what to say. You know, their offense wasn't very good at all. Although I will say this, and I spoke about this two, three, four months. months ago, I think that Herbert is going to end up being a factor in the run game. Montgomery had a very, very bad performance.

I mean, Herbert is a better zone runner, and I think that's what they want to be. That's where Luke gets he comes from in his background. And it would not surprise me, you know, I'm not suggesting Herbert's going to get 20, 22 carries a week. But I think that he will end up being a meaningful, significant part of their run game. I should have, we've discussed this. I was not into David Montgomery. I should have put that in the players that trade and trade for article at fantasy points.com. But there you go.

Trade David Montgomery. I know the value took a hit, but it could get even worse. And by the way, we tease the website there. If you're not a subscriber and you want to get in on this, we have way more analysis and we're going to give on this podcast. Hanson 22 will save you 10% off your subscription. And I guess we can't take too much out of the Green Bay game either. they didn't really run the ball well,

they didn't have no tackles. And, you know, John, doesn't this seem to happen every year? Last year they got hammered week one, and, you know, of course, Rogers came in the press conference and said, you know, hey, don't worry about it. I mean, they're home to the Bears. You know, I think that might even be the Sunday night game.

I would be really surprised if that offense doesn't have a good game. I can't sit here and say what Rogers is going to throw for. I know you make your projections, but they're not going to have a crappy game. Well, based on, Last week, you would think I'd have him at like 20, a quarterback, but I have him at nine. I mean, you saw the first play of the game when Watson ran right by Peterson and dropped a ball that you couldn't have handed to him any better. Yeah, yeah.

I think I don't have to take the lumps with those young guys. Just put them out there, man, because Sammy Watkins, I mean, please. But you got to play them. I mean, you got to play these guys. The rookies are the veterans. I think you've got to play the young guys. Exactly, exactly. They just put Dobbs out there and hell put him Ari Rogers out there.

I mean, enough of Sammy Watkins. But let's move on here. And you did see the Texans. I watched Davis Mills. Okay, anything of note from Davis Mills. I'm not sure. I'm completely agnostic on Davis Mills. I don't know if it's going to get better or he's plateaued already.

What did you see? I thought he was up and down in this game, but he can throw the ball very well. I think this offense, you know, should get better. They didn't run the ball particularly well in this game. You know, obviously for those who were really excited about Pierce, the numbers were not there this week. You know, I think that Mills is going to be a solid quarterback who, from a fantasy perspective, will put up numbers.

They're going to throw the ball. You know, I don't think they're a team that thinks, oh, we're a running football team. I think they feel that they have weapons. Obviously, we know about cooks. I think Collins can be an emerging player, as we've all talked about offseason. We saw what OJ Howard did. You know, they've got tight ends that actually are pretty good receivers because they also

have Jordan. So I think they have weapons. So I think this team will throw the ball well. And ironically. Their old line is better. I thought watching Laramie Tunsell against both Payette and Gakway, I thought he put on a clinic. No crap. Wow.

Hey, no, they've been investing in that old line. They're like top 12 talent-wise and maybe draft capital-wise. You know, I mean, by the way, it really isn't a stress at all if you give him weapons that Davis Mills can't put up, be like a Matt Schaub. Without question. He's a more, first of all, he's a more talented thrower than Matt Schaub. Yeah, yeah, exactly. He's a little more sexier, if you will.

I don't know, Matt Schaub wasn't very mobile, neither is Mills. But let's get to the Rams here because I've, you know, only one game, but I don't know. You have all these issues in the Super Bowl. You have a whole offseason, and then you play in the opener, and well, there are those issues again. I know Van Jefferson, that injury was bad, but what were your impressions?

I'm very worried about the O-Ly. I don't see a lot of support. Well, yeah, and that's the critical issue for them. Do they view this as, hey, it was week one, you know, things were not right. Now we have extra time to work on things and prepare. We can just run our offense and things will settle down. Or, and this is the question.

from a fantasy perspective, John, is, are they going to feel that they have to do some things to compensate for that, which means less empty sets, which means using maybe a tight end Higbee to chip, using a back to chip that impacts your past game, that impacts volume targets for you, you know. So we don't know the answers yet. We're going to condense it, you know.

What's that? Condense it, you know. Yeah. Take it down. You know, obviously, they're working. through that right now. And they're playing Atlanta this week, which doesn't necessarily have dominant pass rushers,

although Dean Peas will blitz. So, you know, that's something we're going to have to wait a few more weeks to get a better feel for as to how they see their own offensive line. But here's another problem. Let's say they go that route and, you know, they, you know, ball up, you know, and, you know, they run away like a frightened turtle, you know. and but they don't have the running backs because we don't know what they have in Cam Acres right now. No.

Darrell Henderson is just, he's really, you got to cap the touches on that guy. Yeah, well, I would imagine Acres will come on a bit more. You know, Sean McVeigh was public in his point that Acres needs more urgency. That was done intentionally. When coaches say stuff like that, John, that's done intentionally. He probably got benched, basically. He basically got benched. That's correct.

I think he played 10 or 12 snaps in the opener. So he's going to end up, I would assume, getting, you know, becoming, you're getting out of the doghouse, as it were, and playing. You know, and it's similar to Alan Robinson. Unless you think the Rams are going to totally implode, then you have to look at Robinson and Cam Acres as critical pieces because they have no one else. Yeah, you can't look at this week one game, which they never really got in any kind of offensive rhythm and say, well, Alan Robinson is not going to be a. factor now. Drop him in all your fantasy leagues. No, he's, that's not going to happen. The opposite will happen, really. I mean, he'll come out and get eight targets this week probably. Yeah, no, I agree with you a thousand percent. It's not, you know, people, I mean, look,

we live in a world of by the second, so people were panicking about Alan Robinson, but that's, he's not going to get, you know, two or three targets a week. That's not going to happen. Well, my, what I wrote is, I do have concerns about him as being a declining player, but I think those concerns can be a suede, a suaged if you give them a lot of targets, and they need to give them a lot of targets, you know? Yep. Because Tyler Higby, boy, and I said all summer, you know, jokingly on the radio, all right, Shaw McVeigh, now you got no choice.

Now you actually have to throw to Tyler Higby. And lo and behold, he had the most targets at tight end in week one. And he dropped like half of them. But we can move on. What did you think of Sequin Barkley and how encouraging? You know, obviously it was unbelievable. I still have questions about whether or not he can sustain it. But I will say, I don't know if I ever thought I'd see the burst again that he showed Sunday.

Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, they had a particular running play that was really successful for them. But Barclay, I also thought he had some hard runs in critical situation, which to me is a better barometer of where he's, what he is and what he's going to be. Because we know that if he does clear the second level of the defense that he does, you know, he can run. You know, that's never been an issue. But, you know, the question becomes, how much do they give them the ball? Is it going to be, you know, a 20-carry, a back game? You know, Jones only threw 21 balls.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's smart. I mean, who the hell was Daniel Jones throwing it 39 times? You know, I thought Jones, I thought Jones is pretty good in this game. Oh, good, good. Hey, I will say this. You were probably out in front of it, but Andrew Thomas, I keep saying, this guy's unbelievable.

He was good in this game. I thought the right tackle, the rookie Neil, had some issues. But Thomas was really good in this game. Yeah. I mean, dare I say, Greg, this kid is trending toward being a best left tackle in football. Well, no, let's not go that for just yet, John, but I know what you're saying. He's trending toward being a guy that you can just line him up and you don't have to help him, and he can just pass protect.

Hell yeah. Yeah. Totally. And that seems, I mean, if it's going to have any chance, he needs that, I think. And defensively under Wink Martindale, they do a lot of stuff. I wanted to ask about the Niners because, wow, boy, I know it's bad weather, but, you know, I like Tray Lance. I like the physical attributes. To me, they kind of jumped off the screen. They were flashy. But, man, he seems to be very rough around the edges. I would agree.

And, you know, it seems to be physical and mental. I mean, what do you think as a mechanics? It seems to be a little elongated these days. Yeah, I would say that he's one of those guys that, you know, there's a little hitch in his throw. And that may never change. You know, that just may be the way he throws the ball. Right. You know, you're trying to put him in situations where you can control the defense with your personnel, your formations, and your play calling.

That's what you're trying to do. And you can't do that on every play, John, as we know. No, but you'd like to get your explosive plays that way because you're not likely to get your explosive plays on third and long. That's not likely to happen at this point with Trey Lance. I mean, he's, he doesn't really, he doesn't have calculated comfortable pocket movement. He's a little frenetic when he has to move. Yeah, it's a deer in the headlight situation.

Yeah, then he moves, then he throws off balance when he sees a guy and it's inaccurate. So he's, he's clearly a work in progress. And I think they know that. You know, look, they didn't run the ball really well in this game. Their defense played well. Their defense played well enough to win that game. So, you know, now that obviously Mitchell is out for at least two months, I assume Wilson will be the number one back.

And then we'll see who the second and third are. It seems as if Jordan Mason right now is ahead of Davis Price, although I really like Davis Price, but, you know, I'm not there. Well, I think that was a function of special teams. Which it very well could be. We'll get a better feel this week. Yeah, but real quick. And by the way, I read that it could rain throughout the game.

You know, I know we're only doing this on a Wednesday evening, but I read it could be raining for that game in Santa Clara this week. Now, Greg, in my old age, I'm not, contrary to what you may think, I'm actually not, I don't think much of a hot take guy, but I am very bold and decisive when I have confidence. And I've been just going for it when I see something. and I think that's what people need. You know, like, what good am I doing people out there

if I'm wishy-washy and play both sides of the fence? So what I'm trying to say is, when I look at this backfield for the rest of the year, I want Ty Davis-Price. I believe firmly that Ty Davis-Price should be the favorite to be the guy to come out of here like Elijah Mitchell last year. Yeah, and again, I did not see Jordan Mason in college, so I couldn't speak to him at all.

I do know that I like Ty Davis-Price a lot, and I think he fits the 49er run game well. Yeah. And Trevor, you did not see Trevor Lawrence, but any thoughts on the lion's offense. Line was good. I think golf was obviously very up and down. Would you see there? Yeah, I mean, they don't throw for a lot of yards.

That's what's interesting. I mean, you know, I think Goff in a game in which they were behind and had to throw the ball, really, they don't throw for a lot of yards. Yeah, yeah. Oh, it seems like only when they're playing from behind, deep, well from behind. Yeah. So, you know, I don't know what to, you know, I mean, Hockinson is a good player, no question about it. You know, St. Brown is, for one, of a better term. He's a possession receiver. He's not going to give you a lot of big explosive plays.

Now, Shark and Reynolds can run, and ideally they can create some explosive plays with those two guys. And by the way, as I'm sure you saw, DeAndre Swift is hurt already. Yeah, I did see that. What? Shoulder. Yeah, so again, who knows what his situation is for this weekend, but I believe he was out of practice Wednesday, today, Wednesday. He was, yeah, I'm going to look that up right there. And I was ankle. Damn it, it was an ankle. And I think he had ankle problems last year.

Oh, boy. Yeah. Well, I had a big decision in my big number one league, Giovante or Swift, and I went Javante. So, and that was a big part of it, you know, the durability of lack there. Real quick, chargers are playing. tomorrow night to kick off week number two, and you saw their offense. Yeah, I saw Justin Herbert. He is really fun to watch. I mean, he just rolled out of bed, and it was like week 19 of 2021. It was like the same guy.

Well, maybe a little sloppier, but he's, you know, I think that what really stands out to me as a tape watcher, John, is not the unbelievable plays where you go, wow, what a throw. Okay, because obviously we know he's capable of all that. Just the steadiness of it every time? It's the way he just executes to perfection, the basic routine plays. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he doesn't, you know, I called in one of my guys from the matchup show while I was watching him today and just said, you know, here's snag flat with the sit route

right over Herbert, right over the quarterback. It's in every team's playbook. He just executes these plays so simply, so easily, so consistently. that's what he does so well. And then you add in the fact that he can be absolutely special. I mean, he made a throw to Keenan Allen, a 42-yarder in the second quarter. That was just ridiculous. But he just executes to perfection the basic routine plays.

And I bet you, if you could build your perfect quarterback for the NFL right now, it would be Herbert over a Josh Allen, right? Because Herbert can do it all. Yeah, I mean, I think when you see, start dealing with Herbert, Mahomes, and Alan, and, you know, it's... But if you were to build a perfect quarterback, I think you'd just go right to Herbert right now. You know, maybe not as twitchy, quick twitchy with the second reaction. I mean, Herbert is really, really good.

But, you know, Mahomes is, you know, you see... Yeah, yeah, you see Mahomes made a throw this week, you know, to Kelsey. That was another one of those throws. That was just ridiculous. I think I'm just talking more traditionalist. I mean, obviously, would you prefer a guy who's 6.5 close to 240 than a guy who's 6-2-215 if the skill set is somewhat similar? I mean, obviously, Mahomes does more things on the move. Not that Herbert is incapable that we've seen him do that, clearly, you know, but I think, yeah, again, you know, the 6-5 or the 6-6, whatever he officially is, that size is a trait.

Yeah, yeah. Well, and no Keenan Allen. Yeah. We're excited about Josh Palmer. Carter, they love Carter. I know. Carter, that was a great touchdown. That was great concentration.

Yeah. He's like the shot play guy, maybe. Well, I mean, he's, you know, so it'll be Palmer, Williams, and Carter. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we like Palmer for sure. I would think Mike Williams, who did not have many targets this week, would be a much bigger factor this week. Oh, oh, yeah.

Oh, you can believe that. I had them way, way ranked lower than everybody else this year. And I had them low this week, but we actually have them very, very high this week. Wanted to ask you also about Miami. You saw to a tongue of L.O. And that offense seemed to be, you know, decent start. It wasn't perfect. But you clearly see what they're doing, you know, to your point in the summer, like,

throw that ball between the numbers, play action, you know, all that. But, you know, I do worry about their running game. Like, I don't know if they have one. Well, they will because McDaniel is a run game master. So they will. You know, whether it's like the 49ers was, no one can answer that, but they will have a run game. You know, when I was watching their tape this week, and I'm actually doing a piece on their past game, because there's some really good examples from this week one game against New England.

The thought, here's the thought that struck me, and maybe I'm dead wrong, you know, because obviously I'm not speaking with Mike McDaniel, and, you know, I don't have a direct line. you know, we don't have the bat phone. You know. But I think the reason they wanted speed is not because you're going to see vertical throws. And when I say vertical throws, you will see vertical throws in the sense of fades and posts.

But I'm talking about not vertical throws. Like, let's say, Josh Allen can make. You know, like the Rock Brothers in San Fran. So what I'm, the reason I think they wanted speed is because defenses will not press those guys because they don't want to get run by. And number two, they used motion this week more than any team in the league.

You get free releases for these guys so the timing of routes is not disrupted and that plays to Tua and the timing and rhythm thrower that he is. So I think they got speed not so much to, you know, run the top off of defenses, but to get guys free off the ball so the timing of their timing and rhythm pass game can't be disrupted.

And you don't want any deep draw. with Tua in that O line anyway. Yeah, and he's not that guy. No. His deep balls lose energy. And he's a little slow back there with the delivery. Is that fair? I wouldn't say slow, but, you know, he's not, I mean, he's not really a mover either.

You want to, you want him to his back foot and feel like he's got a place to throw the football. Well, I think we've covered a ton here. Just a taste of the insight that you can get from Greg Kosell and especially the live stream that we'll do tomorrow night in preparation for week number two with me, Greg, and Adam Kaplan. We got the film room. We got the NFL Insider, all for premium subscribers to fantasy points.com. I mean, me and Kaplan were, you know, in love with Jahan Dots.

And we had non-sexual crushes on Jahan Dotson all summer, Greg. And I must admit, and again, I've been wrong. And when I'm wrong, believe me, people on Twitter let me know about it. But, I mean, all since Sunday, people have just been saying, man, you know what you're talking. about because I told you how much how much I like Jehan Dodson. And it's week one. So I'm not going to sit here and say, wow, he's on the verge of an unbelievable season with a great career. But I think Jahan Dodson's going to be a very good NFL wide receiver. I think the traits are there. I think the mentality is there. His tape at Penn State showed him to be fearless and

competitive. I think he's that guy. Oh, one more. Real quick. Your thoughts on Denver. I mean, is that just throw that thing in the trash? I mean, I didn't see that tape yet. I didn't see that tape yet. Oh, I thought you did. My bad. No, I'm sorry. I saw Seattle's O, Denver's D, but not Denver's O. But I saw some of the game. And the only thing I really took away from it is I just didn't feel watching the game

that their offense had any rhythm to it. Now, I think that'll come, but I didn't feel that had any watching the game on TV. I mean, I don't get this rotation. Like, you want to give Melvin a series every third series fine, but in and out of the lineup is just weird. And, you know, apparently a lot of people agree with that, including. Well, I also, to be honest. honest with you, I didn't feel, and again, this is, I don't rip coaches, you know that. I'm just watching the game. I was expecting to see more running. I thought that the running game,

but again, Russell Wilson, they traded for. Russell has always made it clear in recent years that he wants to be the guy, and I don't think you trade for Russell Wilson unless you're going to play to Russell Wilson. And we'll see how it goes. If they lose games, they may reassess. Kind of seem like the old school yard again with Russ, but, you know, that's me. But again, Hansen 22 to take 10% off your Fantasy Points subscription, DFS, picks, props, all the good stuff, matchup stuff. It's crazy at FantasyPoint.com. Greg, great stuff. We'll talk to you next week. Watch Greg on the Matchup Show on ESPN for Greg.

I'm John. We'll catch you next week. Good luck at week number two. 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 FantasyPoints.com.