Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Week 6 Matchup Podcast

Episode Date: October 13, 2022

John Hansen (@Fantasy_Guru) and Greg Cosell (@gregcosell) preview Week 6 NFL action. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time for the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoint.com. Top-level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room, with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Welcome to the week six matchup podcast here at FantasyPoint.com. I'm John Hanson. We're recording this tonight, Wednesday, October 12. 6.29 p.m. if you must know, Greg CoSell from NFL Films here and joins us every midweek, if you will, to get a midweek check in on Greg's film study here over at NFL Films for the

Matchup Show on ESPN. We've been working with Greg for over 15 years. And if you were not a subscriber to the website, we did just slash down those prices. You can get another 10% off using the promo code Hansen 22 ton of content great tools the optimizer DFS overall going very well here Greg another week in the books here that that sample size is starting to increase we're starting to get a real feel for the league how are you uh John I'm doing okay I think you know we'll we'll see you know I'm day to day gotcha all day to day famously said by Who was that? Damn it.

Charlie Steiner? Was it Charlie Steiner? I think he was quoting. I might be quoting someone, but I remember when Charlie used to do it when he was on ESPN. Is Charlie, is he still the radio announcer for the Dodgers? He is. Actually, I can't believe I did know this. I lost my mind for him.

Vince Scully is actually the first one to do that. That could well be true. I know Charlie said it when he used to be at ESPN on Sports Center, but I know he's been doing Dodgers. baseball for a long time now. Yeah, yeah, no question. Yeah, I listen to Charlie sometimes. Sometimes I like to, in the summer I go to bed, you know, while the game's still on.

I'll just play the game in the background. I'm going to sleep to it. But no one gives a crap about my Dodgers, Greg. But thank you for asking. You're a closet Dodger fan, admit it. You are, you kind of are. But that's neither here nor there. The Washington commanders and the Chicago Bears kick off week six, and you saw both quarterbacks.

Now, let's start with Justin Fields. I did predict that he would show well. You know, hard to define that, but I know it looked ugly at times, but I saw incremental progress from Fields. What did you see? Yeah, it was up and down, but I guess you would call it progress based on what he had done through the first four weeks, John. Look, overall, it's a tough situation for him and the bear's passing game. Because what you have is an offensive line that is young and a work in progress.

They have a second-year right tackle. They have a rookie left tackle and a rookie right guard. Combine that with a second-year quarterback who at this point does not really possess the nuance and refinement to play the position efficiently. So it's going to be up and down. I thought there were moments in this game against the Vikings in which he showed a little more poise in the pocket. So that's a positive. But then there were other moments where I felt like he was lacking in the refined sense of anticipation.

Yeah. Is it better, perhaps, than weeks one through four? Yes, but only very incrementally so. He would show better. I'm sure if he had a good old line like Dak Prescott had, but he's clearly not to the level of Dak. early in Dax career. I was my comp. I thought he was a more athletic

Dak Prescott. By the way, Greg, not for nothing. I don't know if it stood out on film, but that long touchdown run he had called back, he was shot out of a cannon on that run. Yeah, no, I remember the play, yes.

But again, that's great, but that's not what's going to make him a good end of all. Oh, understood. And I would describe it like this. Their margin for error is so small that they probably have only three to four, four opportunities a game to make a bigger play in the passing game. Right.

And, you know, there were, like I said, there were two or three throws where I made notes that, hey, that showed him playing from the pocket the way you need to play from the pocket. There were two or three of those plays. They also put him in empty sets quite a bit, which is interesting, because empty very often forces the defense to declare and the quarterback sees things before the snap. So he was an empty on 12 snaps, which is quite a bit in one game, and was pretty efficient, relatively speaking, in empty sets. Yeah. I mean, not for nothing, but, you know, if he would ever go under center, wouldn't that open up more opportunities for him overall?

You mean under center? Yeah. Well, then you get into the play action pass game becomes more of a factor. Normally, the play action boot game is more of a factor when you're under center. center. So possibly, you know, they're with them every day. We're not. So we don't know. Yeah, it just seems limiting. It seems limiting. You're in the shotgun all the time. Yeah. I mean, a lot of people do believe the shotgun is limiting. Yeah, I'm one of them, for sure. Do you see any progression reading at all? Like, I saw them checked out a couple times.

I thought there was one play in particular. It was in the third quarter early. It was an 18-yard throw to St. Brown, where the play was designed off shotgun. It's funny. We're talking about shotgun. Off shotgun, quick play action. It was meant to hit the boundary X-Petis on the five-step slant. Defense took it away. Fields reset. And then he hit the Z receiver on the other side of the field on an out cut. So that was an example where he kind of reset and went from one side to the other. So that was one of the plays I was talking about. That's a real positive play for fields. I don't know if he stands out to you, but, man, I love Darnel Mooney. I nicknamed him the cat because he is kind of like a cat out there.

You know, the ability, like, he'll do the shake and bake, like, on the top of the route there, man. He's, I feel like he could, if he was teamed with like Aaron Rogers, I mean, he could catch 100 balls for 1,500 yards, I real. If he could. That's possible. That's possible. You think he's, how good do you think he could be that guy? It's almost hard for me to know because there's not much that happens in the context of that passing game. Right.

It's like sneaky good, though, isn't he? I'm not studying. I remember watching him coming out of college. Right, right. And I know he had big numbers last year, you know, relative to the fact that it was a struggle at the quarterback position. But I think he's very good. But I haven't really studied him in hardcore detail. But I think if the passing game were to come around and the O line would continue to improve

and fields would continue to improve, you'd probably see the numbers for Mooney start to increase. You know how Calvin Ridley, not a big man, just wins with his quickness and moves on the line? You see Mooney the same way?

I do. I see Mooney as that type of guy. Yeah, and I don't know if he's quite, you know, Ridley was, and it's a shame that he's not playing and who knows what his future holds. Yeah. But to me, Riddley was so fluid as a route runner.

I don't see Mooney quite like that. Yeah. Mooney might be more explosive vertically than Ridley. Yeah. I thought Riddley was just as smoother as a route runner. True, true. Yeah. He is.

Oh, no, he is. I mean, that's high praise, I thought. But, yeah, very disappointed because it's like, I loved Mooney last year, and we over-delivered on that pick. And I didn't project him to even grow. much basically just sustain it you think really thought that fields and it's only five games and we hope that this past one is a step in the right direction let's put it that way but you expected fields to improve and their past game to improve so i'm sure you felt that mooney would even if

he didn't match the numbers exactly certainly would have relatively close production yeah but they they take shots to him i mean he could have had a touchdown a couple of them in game as you probably saw. Yeah. Of course, his catch was like, I mean, you could. He made a great one-hand catch, obviously, yeah. That might be one of the ten best you've ever seen. Yeah, it was a great catch.

Great catch. How about on the other side, Carson Wentz? I saw on your notes that he has to see it. Speak about see it and throw it, guys. That's Carson Wentz, right? Most part, yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, that's kind of the way he plays. you know, he's, I mean, that's, he's played enough where I don't think that's going to, you know, change at this point in his career. Right. I mean, he does take something off from here to here and there. He can, you know, throws a little touch to it, you know, but. Oh, he made some, I mean, look, he made two great deep throws, two great deep throws to Brown who. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

He had a moth balls and, you know, two deep throws, two deep catches. but, you know, I made the point in my notes. I would say Wynce is not a natural anticipatory thrower. That's just not really who he is. You know, he still makes some throws that are wow throws, but I think wouldn't you agree, John, that at this point in his career, he kind of is what he is? Sure, sure.

It's like me when I was a kid playing basketball. He catch me on the right day. I'm draining three left and right. Next day I can't hit crap. And I mean, he made a couple of those big-time throws in this game. he had McClure for 34 yards to start the third quarter was a really, it was a big time throw and that he still makes on occasion. But.

The throw to Curtis Samuel that he dropped early in the game was a nice throw. Yeah. No, he's more than capable of making those throws. And, you know, obviously he threw the pick at the end and the people who don't like Wence are going to say, oh, there's Wenz. That was really one hell of a play by David Long. I know exactly why he went through the ball. That was not one of those.

oh my God, what are you doing, throws. You know, I understand exactly why Carson wants to do the ball. I bet when he let it go, he thought it was a touchdown. Which quarterback do you think has the easier matchup, by the way, in this game? That's a tougher call. Bears are going to get Jalen Johnson back at Corner. A little Kindle Vildorah making a play last week. That was pretty good play.

Yeah, I mean, the commanders have struggled. Yeah, I don't know the answer to that. Yeah, okay, we'll move on. Niners Falcons, and you saw the Niners, Jimmy G. Coming around a little bit. Yeah, got cattle involved a little bit this week. Making those throws, you know, between the numbers that are a staple of the 49ers' offense that he makes with great, great conviction and that people just don't understand.

how difficult those throws are. And he makes them, he just turns it loose. The Niners were good this week. Jennings got involved. I always liked Jennings. I watched him coming out of college. And I always liked that kid. He's big, he's physical.

He's not a burner, and I think he ran a 4-7 at the combine, and then immediately in people's mind said he's no good. But given that he's the number three on this team, I think he's a pretty interesting player. I mean, he's literally the country. modern definition of a possession receiver without question yeah um so jimmy g get better it's a good matchup here and and they travel a j terell yes they have been this year for sure so got to think they'll be traveling him on mr samuel and they move samuel around a lot so he'll be in motion he'll

line up in different spots it'll be interesting how the the falcons handle that with a jr turel because yes he has been traveling john without question and he's a good corner, but it'll be very interesting how that works out because the Niners are, they motion as much or more than any team in the league, and they're not just going to line up Debo Samuel in one spot. I mean, per fantasy points data, he's, it's almost all, he's inside 23% of the time. So that's, that's a very, almost evenly distribution. He's all over the place. Is Casey Hayward? He seems like he's playing fairly well, or? Yeah, well, he gets the other receiver.

So, I mean, assuming he would probably, he'd get Iyuk. Yeah. Have you noticed Casey Hayward good or bad this year? Not in any, you know, not to say anything of meaning about him. Yeah. Yeah. We have it as an advantageous matchup here. Casey Hayward?

Just for Iyuk. Iyuk on Hayward. That's a slight advantage there to IU. Iyke is looking good this year. I don't know if you. No, yeah. I know, I yuk I've seen. I mean, you know, again, the Niners are an interesting team from a fantasy perspective,

John, as you know, because they don't necessarily throw it a lot. So, you know, from a fantasy perspective, IU could have one week four targets. The next week you could have 10 targets. 100%. You know, and it's just there's no way to know that. It's the way the game plays out. Yeah. It's like two years ago, Debo was out.

Iyke was getting everything. Right. The last year, Iyuk was in the dog house. Debo was getting everything. Now it's like much more week to week. It's a real challenge all over. Yeah, I would think it's a real challenge for you. I mean, I use a good player.

And, you know, I'm sure at some point he's going to want to get paid. But in that offense, he's not going to catch 85 or 90 balls for 1,300 yards. Well, maybe one thing, though, is the defense softens a little bit. And they did just lose Mosley. Yeah. Their defense is really good, though. I doubt Bosa will go this week either. He's got a groin.

Normally soft tissue, you don't play the next week, but I don't know that for sure, obviously. But their defensive line has a lot of depth and a lot of good players, even with guys out. And their defense has been playing great. It's a shame about Mosley, he's a really, he was having a really good season. Both their corners are playing very, very well. Jeff Wilson, you didn't see him. You saw the dropbacks for Jimmy G. I've seen the –

Ray's running well. And you know what? For a guy who's really not that big, and of course the Niner offense demands this. He runs big. He runs hard inside. Yeah, he kind of runs big. Yeah, you know, he's not big and, you know, you hope he doesn't get hurt. Right.

But, no, he, he, and he seems to have a long run every week. Yeah. Well, Ty Davis Price is eligible to return now. So he could play this week then? I mean, they elevated, I think, Tep and Coleman. Yeah, Coleman played the last, he's played the last couple of weeks. Oh, I know, but he's one of those practice squad. up and down things.

I think they actually took the next step. I don't follow that stuff closely, but I think they took the next step, and he's now technically on the active roster. Exactly, yeah. But Ty Davis Price, I guess maybe that opens up a window. Maybe he'll ramp up, but he could be in the mix there. So the depth is improving, and Wilson, clearly, the guy,

Bailey, the guy. He's him too. Yeah, yeah. So I gotta tell you, this kid's shown some grit out there thus far from where I'm standing. What's the film look like? No, no. I think that he's one of the, it's kind of like he was in college. He knows where to go with the ball within the timing and structure of the route concepts. He's decisive. He always knows her his receivers are relative to the defensive coverage. He's got a quick delivery. You know, he doesn't have a very good arm. And, you know,

the one thing in this particular game, which was his first start, is he was hardly ever under any kind of arrest. I don't think he made a contested throw in the entire game. Wow. That's probably coaching too. They probably got rid of it quickly. Yeah. I mean, that's what you, that's what you want to do with him. I mean, you know, his lack of arm strength is certainly a limitation and you just don't know how he'll react when, you know, he starts getting some pressure and he has to make contested throws. I mean, he didn't have to operate in muddy pockets, John, at all. I mean, that's the next test for him. You know, who knows what Mack Jones status is. I doubt he's going to go this week. And when he's ready to go, it's going to be Mac Jones.

But, you know, we're talking Zappi now. But that's the next test for him. Can he make throws when the pocket starts to get a little squeezed? Well, Zappy may look a little crappy this week against Miles Garrett and those guys. So Miles Garrett limited early in the week, clowny still out. But, yeah, this defense, by the way, I don't know what is going on with them, that they have really underwhelmed. Like, I don't get it.

They've been bad against the run and the pass. And all of a sudden, Jacobi Myers is like the star receiver in New England. Yep. He ran some good routes this week. He looked really good. See, I got that one. I was dead wrong on that. I thought they wanted to move away from him, basically, and go more long vertical outside receivers.

Well, Thornton played this week, so he's now back in the mix. and Aguilar dropped a pass that became the only interception that Zappi threw, which was on Aguilar, not on Zappi. He was a perfectly thrown ball that was dropped. So, you know, with Belichick, you never know. I mean, he could make Aguilar inactive this week. You know, you just never know what Belichick's going to do. Let's move on here.

The Fantasy Points Matchup podcast for week number six. I'm John Hansen, Greg CoSell. Not a subscriber of Fantasy Points. This is just a taste of what we get from. I'm Greg every week. We do the live stream on the website every Thursday night. It's about an hour and 20 minutes. We cover all the matchups.

And we really cover, I mean, we probably hit 80% of the really, you know, important fantasy tidbits for every game. Minnesota Vikings. I know you saw the tape there. And, you know, here's a thing where I love it when, you know, I'm a little bit of an independent thinker, but when my thoughts line up with yours, I always go all in. I do. Which thought is lining up this week?

Well, I want to ask you because it's in line with your notes, but I listed Kirk Cousins as a player to trade for because I'm looking at him, and I still think he's a little uncomfortable or not yet totally comfortable with this new offense. Yet, the new offense overall is success. Jefferson looking really good. You're getting Irv involved.

You're getting Osborne involved. The Ellen's still relevant. Dalvin running well, and the O-line looks like it might be looking like top-7-ish. I like this all-line. I liked it from the moment I saw it week one. I knew it would be a work in progress because they're young, but I think they have a lot of good players, and I think this O-line's going to be very, very good as time goes on.

So Kirkke's got what, seven touchdowns, five picks. I think he can end the season with like 34 touchdowns or like 11 picks, basically. You know, he does a lot now at the line of scrimmage, which obviously Kevin O'Connell wouldn't let him do if he didn't think he could do it. Kirk's been around a long time. You know, I think he's 32 years old. So he's seen a lot of things. Oh, yeah. You know, the one thing that really stood out, I noticed this week one or week two, and it's continued, is the change because of Kevin O'Connell coming from the Rams, this is now a team that plays predominantly out of 11 personnel, whereas last year, they were one of the teams that played.

the highest percentage out of 21 personnel playing the fullback ham. Now it's ham does not get that many snaps and they play, as I said, predominantly out of 11 personnel with three wide receivers. Look at a schedule. Miami, Arizona, Washington, Buffalo's tough. Dallas may be tough. New England, Jets, Detroit, Indy, Giants, Green Bay, Chicago. That's pretty good.

You know, quarterback position's a little shaky out there. Not many, how many guys out there you could say, you know, this guy from, you know, might be, as fair to say, like, they, they're ascending this offense. I would think so. I would think as he get, Kirk gets more and more used to Kevin O'Connell, and Kevin gets more used to Kirk with what he, you know, feels he can do well, that this offense will get better, not worse. I think, uh, Jefferson will probably see, you know, a lot of Xavier Howard.

Is Howard back this week? I mean, let's take a look. I didn't see that tape. He could have played last week, so I don't want to be wrong. You know, I did not see that. He was limited on Wednesday. Yeah. So, you know, you got a bunch of guys out here.

But, you know, per our data, he's been giving up some plays here. You get up the big touchdown to T. Higgins a couple weeks ago. They play, you know, oddly enough, per our data, Kirk's been weird against, not as good against. man to man, which normally he is good against man to man. And Miami's still playing a lot of man, right? Miami, yes. Yeah. I can tell you that for sure. Like I said, I haven't seen. They've had a lot of injuries, so I don't want to say that without checking, and I can easily check that right now. So keep talking. No, that's fine. But Dalvin Cook, by the way.

I love watching Dalvin Cook run. He just runs with so much velocity. Yeah. And you know what he still has? And a guy like Todd Gurley lost it, he still has that burst. So anyway, Miami is not playing quite as much man as they have the last couple of years. You know, they used to be near the top of the league. They actually, they're a single high defense. They play about the same percentage of man and cover three, John. So it's not a guarantee that they're going to play cover one.

I had a feeling that was the case because Jones has been out, Howard's been in and out of the lineup. I don't think they feel super comfortable with their corners. They've had to play Needham, Number 40 on the outside. That's not where they'd ideally like to play them. And maybe go over the top or something here to Justin Jefferson here, moving along here on the Fantasy Points podcast. Well, you saw Gino, and, you know, again, it's, I've been skeptical, but at this point I'm ready to raise my hand and say,

Gino Smith is really good. I mean, like, I can't believe how good it looks. He's making some serious throws now. I mean, that's all you can say right now. You know, you know me, and I want to say, wow, this guy now is going to be an all pro. We've played five games, but he's a very comfortable player,

and he always can throw the ball really, really well. That means no. Right. I mean, he threw a couple touchdowns to lock it that were just really kind of big-time throws. And, you know, he's playing at a pretty high level. And I think they're doing a really good job with him as well. Yeah.

They're kind of a, in an odd way, they're kind of a fun offense to watch. You know, they're not, they play a lot with 12 personnel. I thought that he made a throw to fan for 32 yards this week in the second quarter, where he was boot action. And it was an unbelievably good throw. I think the success continues here against Arizona. You've seen that defense. Yeah, Arizona's defense.

They're big-time blitz defense. Now, again, the big issue is will they blitz versus 12 personnel? See, sometimes when you play two tight ends, if you tighten the formation, teams that like to blitz don't blitz as much because it's harder. You know, there's more best protectors there. You know, it's harder to win. It's kind of a perfect environment for him. A little 12 personnel, protect the quarterback,

Let him sit back there, and he's got two receivers that complimented each other really well. Deep ball guy and Lockett, you know, possession guy and D.K. I would think, too, based on what I've seen this year, that they'll go after Marco Wilson. Yeah. So another Lockett game. Well, they don't switch sides. Right, right, right. Where we want to line up over Marco Wilson.

It could be Lockett. It could be met with. Oh, actually, per our data, it would align more with. he'd see more D.K. Okay. I would think you'd go after him. Again, that's a film study comment, not, hey, you know, for people who might think, oh, I just don't like Marco Wilson.

Based on film study, I think that's an area they would look to attack and exploit. Oh, well, you know, I'll say something. You know, did you hear about that Shannon Sharp thing where Shannon Sharp tweeted something about D.K.? You know, something like, oh, you got to step out of battles, man. you know like of course it's like very normal you know casual criticism of done by a Hall of Famer

finally D.K. got all offended about it and like you know threw Shannon under the bus where I'm like come on now. Yeah I mean give me a break anyway I am a little bit of a DK. hater I must say

he does trick you a little bit like there are times where and I think there's just there are limitations to him right I mean that's just the bottom line He can impose his will and dominate with three touchdowns, but he is also a guy that I guess. Oh, yeah. Second one, yeah.

Let's see, what else do I have for you here? I had one other. Oh, well, the Eagles, of course, and the weekly check-in on Jalen Hertz. Do we have a feel yet, by the way, through five weeks, whether or not what the identity of the Eagle offense is? Yeah, I think we do. Okay.

I think they're pretty balanced. I think they're what you want to be in the sense that any given week they can be, they can run it or throw it depending on the way shakes out. Yeah. Because they're effective up to this point through five weeks, John, they've been effective at both. So I think however the game shakes out, they can play that game. Well, I guess. They're facing their stiffest challenge of the year. up to this point. That cowboy front is really tough. The Cowboys stunt far and away more than any

team in the league. They line up in so many multiple front looks. They have guys standing up, guys with their hand on the ground, they move people. You know, this will be their toughest matchup. Would you rather, I mean, of course, in the, you know, of course, the digs got Hertz last year. How do you feel about Hertz against a defense like that that's aggressive and plays a lot of man-to-man? And it feels like it's like feast or famine. Like they can get shut down or they could have some busts or whatever. What's interesting too is they play, they still play a lot of men.

But one thing Dan Quinn has added a lot of this year, far more so than a year ago, is cover two, but getting to it with disguise and latent movement. And he'll do that and see how Jalen handles it. Now, the big question is, if you have to then take it to the next step, what is the corollary to have,

Jaylen Hertz dropped back and doesn't get a clear picture. What's you going to do? He's going to run. Run. And then at that point, you have got to be able to stop him from making those kinds of plays. Because it doesn't do you any good to say, wow, we really showed him some stuff he didn't expect, but then he ran for 20 yards on third and nine. You know, so you have to be able to do both.

You know, you have to feel like, okay, let's show him some looks. He's, he's, that look a little muddied and unclear. But then if he pulls it and runs, we have to make sure. he doesn't beat us on third down running the football. I mean, that was just a clinic right there on where Jalen Hertz is right now, the Eagles and what it takes to slow them down, basically. That was great. That really was.

And last year, I'm calling up the numbers here. It looks like they did a good job doing that, Greg. He did throw for a lot of yards, I guess. Maybe I'm thinking of, you know, Diggs kind of baiting them last year and all that. but he didn't run all that much in the matchup last year. Well, yeah, it'll be interesting because Diggs, who Dallas just played? Oh, the Rams, right?

Yes. Yeah. They didn't match up Diggs. Diggs played one side and Brown played the other side. So, you know, I don't know what they're going to do this week. You know, so. Diggs doesn't go inside a lot, so they probably said, screw it with Cod.

Well, they didn't go inside this week. Everybody who said he did is wrong. The reason he was inside is because they were in empty sets and the running back was outside of Cubs. Diggs did not go inside. No, I said Diggs doesn't go inside. Yeah, he doesn't go inside. But I read that people while like,

Oh, oh. Diggs was playing in the slot. No, he wasn't. It was information that they were an empty and the running back was outside of CUP. So therefore, Diggs was technically playing inside in the slot, but he does not go inside in a normal formation. Yeah, no, I know that.

Yep, absolutely. So I do think, you know, if they've been tracking, traveling him, right? They didn't this past week, so I don't know what they'll do against the Eagles. Well, right, right. But maybe that was because the number one receiver is Cooper Cup. Yeah, that could well be the case. So if you feel that he would travel, are you suggesting it's A.J. Brown?

I don't know at this point, because Devonte Smith has technically probably been a bigger passing threat the last four games. Smith has more targets than Brown. That's what I mean, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, by alignment, in terms of the percentage of when they're on the same side, it would be more Devante Smith per fantasy points data over A.J. Brown. It could be.

Unless they feel that Biggs who's big and Brown is big and physical, that that's the better matchup. And by the way, Brown this year, he's had a big. very up and down career in Dallas. He's had some good moments, some bad moments, some moments where people thought they should just get rid of him. I think he's played well through the first five weeks. I'm not saying he's a great matchup on Devontas Smith and he shut him down.

That's not my point, but he's played better football. Well, per our fantasy points of data, we have him graded just slightly below Dix. And then Jordan Lewis would be the week spot. He was back this week. He's the slide. Right, right. Well, there it is. Well, of course, they could start out traveling digs on Devante,

and if A.J. Brown starts eating, just move digs over to Brown. You know, like do a lot of things, I guess. There's a lot of things, yeah. But the thing is, they count on their front. They're a front-based team right now because the front's so good. We all know about Michael Parsons, but they're getting really good play. Lawrence is playing really well. Armstrong is playing really well.

Fowler's getting good reps. People forget Fowler was the number three pick in a draft, you know, it's like six, seven years ago. I mean, and they move people around. So it's a challenge. The Eagles O' line is really, really good. I don't know if my allot is back this week or not. But it's a challenge. I can tell you that right now.

It's going to be a challenge. Well, we heard it from you and Mr. Kaplan all offseason. They want to be a passing team. So through five games, they've thrown 239, 323, 328, $1,99. 21 to 18. So I guess that was my question. I think the jury is out on whether or not they are a quote-unquote a passing team or maybe they're just going to be a balanced team, like you said.

Well, and balance is a relative term, but I don't think they're going to be just a throwball team. Right, right. And there might be a given week where they feel really good about the matchups. But I don't think that they're going to be a team that feels like, oh, every week we've got to drop back 40 times. Speaking of the cowboy defense and all that, you saw the RAM offense. And, I mean, it's just like Groundhog Day probably every time you watch the tape,

but there's a RAM offense this year. Yeah, they're struggling a bit right now. I mean, their O line is a definite weakness. And they just had, you know, they just played a team that really could expose them. And they did expose them, you know, so, you know, it depends on the matchup. And therefore, I don't think Stafford is a comfortable guy right now. Yeah, I'm not even sure about this week against Carolina. That defense is pretty talented.

Yeah, and they do come after you at times as well. But, I mean, the pocket is squeezed on far too many snaps. He's playing at times too fast mentally and physically. You know, you could see that I almost could feel oozing off the screen that he feels like he's got to make plays all the time. And that's not a good way to play as a quarterback. By the way, Josh Allen feels that way. And how about that throw to Gabe Davis? like one of the all-time great girls.

Both of them were ridiculous. I don't know which one you're talking about. I'm talking with the end zone one. Well, even the other one was a ridiculously good throw. But yeah, the one from the end zone on the third play of the game, I mean, you know, he's a pretty good thrower of the football. It's unbelievable. I was on TV.

I predicted 100 yards in a touchdown from Gabe Davis at like 1257, and I think he had it. It happened almost on the first play. He had it like 104. I'm like, called it. Well, you may recall that, because I know I talked doing Buffalo One Bill's Live with those guys every week, I had talked before the draft, and then when they drafted him that Khalil Shakir would become part of the offense some point this season. I said, you know, whether it happens with injury, whether it just happens, and of course it

happened, unfortunately, with injury. But I love that kid coming out of Boise State. you were the one to really sound the alarm, and he's been impressive ever since he's been on there. Oh, and yeah, yeah. Really good. And he's going to keep playing because of the injuries. And by the way, I think Isaiah McKenzie keep him as a Joker or gadget guy. Possibly.

I mean, I think, look, McKenzie didn't go last week, so they played Hodgins, and he caught a ball or two. So, you know, the point is, is they've got players. You know, Hodgins has been there, so he knows Shakir's a rookie, but I really like Shakir coming out. I just think, Steph Diggs, Gabe Davis, Shakir, mix in a little

McKenzie's, the sexiest combo here. I mean, that's grueific, as I say. Speaking of Guarific, real quick before we end this thing, you know, love Candy Pickett. I just, it's unbelievable

how every positive attribute, you know, he was like a grade of eight out of ten, like almost everything for me. It's like already showing. What are you seeing out of Pickett? I, you know, again, that was not the best way for him to, you know, make his first start. There's no way they wanted him to drop back 55 times. We know that. Yeah.

But given that scenario and the fact that the game got out of hand relatively, I mean, you know, relatively early. You know, I mean, I thought Pickett actually played well. and I thought you saw all the traits that he showed in college. He does everything pretty well. Yeah, he does. Everything. You know, and I mean, he even made a couple of throws. They were not arm-stained throws in the sense you think of, you know, Josh Allen.

So I don't want people to think, you know, oh, man, this guy. But he made a couple of throws where the ball, you know, I guess the way I described it was, and I'm looking at my notes again, and I'm just trying to, I said, the ball comes out. Here's what I said. I said, picket played with good fundamental technique. mechanics, good base and balance in the pocket with a compact throwing motion to release. He's not a strong armed gun thrower, but the ball comes out clean. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, he's one of these guys like, it's not that complicated. Like, he's good, you know? Like. Yeah, and then the question becomes how good, you know, can he become? And again, you know, you get into these conversations after one week. And I hate, I hate doing this because, you know, you never know. So I don't want to sit here and say, man, he's going to be great.

People who follow me know that he was my number one quarterback coming out this year. They know what I like about him. That in no means, by no stretch of the imagination, means that he's going to be a top three quarterback next year. I'm not saying that. But my guess is he's going to be a good NFL quarterback. What a couple of goodness, that remains to be seen. But I'd be very surprised, John, if he's not a quality NFL quarterback.

Totally. We were all on the same page. And we're not lifting off one another on this, you know? Like I said, like, I'm watching. I'm like, I like this guy. I watched him at the Senior Bowl. I watched him practice for two days. He was.

Now, I will say, let's see him in a bad weather game because I did see him throwing in the rain and wind, and it was a little fluttery. And it might be the case because, you know, that's where the small hands might come into play. We don't know that. Yeah. But otherwise, I'm like, this guy is good. I don't get to nitpicking and all that. And you were there. I saw you write up basically the same thing.

I'm like, there it is. You know, like Kaplan, too. So, again, I'm still in the predictive business. I feel very good, very good about our long-term prognosis for Kenny Pickett. And on that note, that's yet another advantage we get here at FantasyPoint.com. So ahead of the curve on so many young players this year, it's ridiculous like Kenny Pickett. Great Costell helps with that as well. So Hanson, 22, if you're not a subscriber to the website, we'll catch you next week.

Check out all the other podcasts. I think we're doing like 12 a week here on the Fantasy Points feed. for Greg Koselle. I'm John Hanson. We'll talk to you next week. 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.