Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Week 8 Matchup Podcast

Episode Date: October 27, 2022

John Hansen (@Fantasy_Guru) and Greg Cosell (@gregcosell) preview Week 8 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. Back again for another edition of the matchup podcast here at FantasyPoint.com. Week 8 is upon us. I'm John Hansen, and Greg CoSell is ready to go. here recording this on a Wednesday night. Greg's been grinding in the film room now

like three full days, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. We check in with Greg. What did he see on the tape? We worked that into our fantasy analysis and the like and Greg continues to grind on that tape. We watch the you can if you're a subscriber to FantasyPoint.com. The matchup points live stream with me,

Greg and Adam Kaplan, where we get the insider notes from Kaplan and Greg's film study. I'm just there to move it along, I guess. And that's all up on fantasypoints.com. So check that out and use that promo code Hanson 22 and save yourself 10%. We did slash the prices. Greg, another week, wild week in the National Football League.

A lot of parody out there. How are you? I'm doing great, John. How are you? I am good. I am seeing a lot of things that have occurred where it's, you know, we're wrong. and I'm like, well, I don't feel that bad because there's no way in hell. I could have predicted that.

So that's where we're at. Anything in particular standing out there in that regard? Gino Smith and Seattle. I didn't see that coming. I don't think anybody saw that coming, John. You're not the only one. Yeah, exactly. That's what I mean.

You know, I didn't see Baker Mayfield ruining DJ Moore, just ruining them. You know, so there's a couple, you know. I thought Baker would represent an incremental upgrade over Sammy Darnold, at least. Yeah, so did I. Yeah. So did I. I mean, maybe that was just a tough situation overall. Who knows the answer to that?

But on a good note, you know, we have gotten a lot of things right, been on the right track with a lot of things. And you're always a part of that. Like your guy, George Pickens, Greg, quickly, I totally bought it too. I met George. I interviewed George. I love George. So when you rated him as the best receiver, I'm like, let's go, right? So how great has George Pickens looked to you this year?

I mean, you want to talk about commanding the ball right out of the gate? Yeah, I mean, as you remember, and you just sort of pointed that out, what I do is watch tape. So I don't get to meet players. I don't interview them. I don't put them through the rigors that teams do. I don't get to do that kind of due diligence. I sit in my office at Enderfield Film and grind on tape.

And I thought purely on bait based on tape study, I thought George Pickens was the best receiving prospect in the 2022 draft class. I had no idea where he'd get drafted. I never know that stuff in advance. As you know, I'm not interested necessarily in mock drafts or making lists. I just love the process of evaluating. And like everybody, I'll be wrong on guys. And, you know, in our social media world, obviously I'm told when I'm wrong on guys.

But I really liked Pickens tape. And you had to go back to his first year at George and I watched, you know, every one of his plays. And then he came back this year and made some big plays down there stretch to the national championship. And I thought his combination of size, speed, hands, contested catchability, body control. I thought he had everything you could want in an NFL receiver. And therefore he was my number one receiver. And I take that information. I've seen Pickens play a bit.

They played a lot of high profile games. I see that. And I'm like, okay, I see it. Then I go to the combine and I chop it up with the kid for 10 minutes. And I'm really good at that. I'm like,

this kid is very confident, boisterous, but not in an arrogant way. Like a, in a very like, let's go out there and play some football way kind of a thing. He was very, very proud of his return from that serious injury.

And, you know, his ability, you know, he thought he showed a lot of toughness with that. But I asked him, by the way, didn't plan on this, but I asked him what drill at the combine did he think would move the needle the most for him? And I thought maybe like the gauntlet drill, you know, like ball skills. Sure. And he said the, he said my speed.

And lo and behold, he ran well, Greg. That's the thing. I mean, this guy runs well. He sure does. He's fluid. He's big. I mean, the body control. the hands. Oh, he's got it all. Yeah, I mean, we live in an era where there's a lot of contested

catch throws, you know. So, and to me, he was your sort of quintessential boundary X, the single receiver to the short side that would get a lot of man coverage and he could defeat man coverage in multiple ways because we think of defeating coverage by separating from coverage. But when you're the boundary receiver, John, as you know, very often, there are contested catches. The ball's thrown outside the numbers, and you have to make contested catches against quality NFL corners. And he can do that. He has great body control as we saw the other night. Just one example of it with the touchdown he caught from Kenny Pickett.

And the hands. He has really good hands. Unbelievable hands. Incredible hands. But not for nothing, but I also noticed like his dad is like really like a great father figure type. he's like really close with his dad and his dad does some stuff on Twitter. Yeah, really liking it. How about Kenny Pickett?

Because I, we've talked about him a million times. But, you know, we're increasing the sample size here. I thought he acquitted himself well again. I mean, you know, some picks. The late one was bad. But what did you see with Pickett? I mean, ultimately I thought that he played a solid game. You can see the natural poison composure.

He's aware. He's decisive with his reads. Yeah, very decisive. Obviously, that interception, not the last. one. The last one, I don't know what happened because it could have been miscommunication. Yeah, that was a miscommunication of some kind. Yeah. But the one prior to that on third and 16 with just over three minutes remaining when they were in the middle of what was a very good drive. That one, you know, some will say, oh, that's terrible. But what the play was, because I made

a note of it as I do, you know, when I send you my notes, sometimes I sort of break down plays because that helps me too. Yeah. The dolphins were playing a loose cover three because it was third and 16, and they were playing the down and distance. And Javon Holland, who's a very good player, by the way, the safety for Miami, he was what we call a hook-to-courl defender. And he read Pickett, who threw to Johnson on the sit route at 14 yards. And actually, Pickett made a throw with really good timing. But the ball did not come out of Pickett's hands cleanly.

It just was one of those throws. And he left it too far inside. So it was poorly thrown coming out of his hands badly and far too hard. and far too inside, and that allowed Holland to make the pick. I don't think he necessarily threw it to the wrong receiver. I just think it was a really poor throw. Well, he's probably not going to gain much on the fastball, so he's going to have to improve, I guess, mentally

and be a little more sharp as he matured. Yeah, and I think that he does fine in that regard. I don't think he's, I think that he's aware. I think he knows where to go with the ball. That'll only get better. I mean, the guy's played, you know, three or four. He sees it. Greg, you know, sometimes he sees it. Yeah.

Got a little Tony Romo in him as well, you know. Some of it you love, some of it you don't. You know what I mean? Though he's pretty scrappy back there in that pocket. No question. And he can be an aggressive thrower when demanded. I mean, then you go to the final possession after the interception, and he hit Fryehmuth for 21 yards.

Oh, there it is. I was going to ask about that throw. Oh. Yeah, it was a great seam ball versus two-man coverage. I mean, that was, you know, And a thing that I like was, I mean, besides the obvious great throw was that it came after an interception. They still had an opportunity. And that was a fourth down play.

So you had to turn it loose. And he did. And the ball placement was as precise as it could possibly be. Pristine. Yeah. Well, a tough matchup this week, though. Yeah. In Philly, you know, Kenny, he may have even grown up at Eagles fan, actually, because he's from Jersey.

Ocean County, New Jersey, which is actually right on the line. I asked him about whether he's from north or south Jersey. I didn't ask me if he rooted for the Giants or the Eagles, because he's literally right on the line. But anywho. Well, the Eagles are going all in, getting Robert Quinn. They want to rush, you know, look, what have we always say? On defense, there's two positions where you never have enough of, pass rusher and corner.

Well, and they got plenty of both. I know. I mean, what is a weakness here? I guess it's ironically, it seems like they're run-dee. I wouldn't call it a weakness. But I mean, like, what's the, what is the one area where you're like, oh, you know, they could improve here? Like, they're, I don't know if they have a specific weakness. Right, right, right, right.

You know, they're a team that you have to, you have to execute well against. You're going to have to make some good plays. You know, when I say good plays, I don't mean just the normal stuff. You're going to have to make good plays when their defense plays well. You know, so in other words, let's say it's man coverage against Darius Slay, your receiver's going to have to win. Yeah. You know. They do the same thing every week, pretty much, Philly?

No. No. Okay. So how much of their effectiveness is coaching? They're expanding what they do. Jonathan Gannon, because he has better players, is starting to be much more multiple and diverse schematically. So they're not one of those defenses, let's say, like Houston with Lovie Smith, where there's no mystery and you know what you're going to get. the Eagles are not like that.

It is truly remarkable the quickness of the turnaround. I mean, you want to talk about this is, they are redefining the reloading notion. You know what I mean? We're not rebuilding. We're reloading. This eagle right here, they're like redefine that. Well, and the other thing I really like about the Eagles, particularly on offense, is I think they do a really, really good job of game planning for a specific opponent. In other words, every team has foundations in staples.

You know, we know that the Tennessee Titans are going to run the ball. We know the Niners offense starts with a run game. You know, we know the bills are going to come out, and for the most part, they're going to be a passing team. You know, teams have foundations and staples. But what I love that the Eagles do is I love the fact, John, that they play with their route concepts, their passing game, even their run game, which is very good.

I want to make one comment about that in a second. Yeah, yeah. I believe they play to who their opponent is defensively. And I think that really helps Jalen Hertz. Because Jalen Hertz is a good player, obviously having an outstanding season. But he's not a special thrower. He's not Josh Allen. Yeah.

So you can't just say, hey, we're going to give it to Jalen, and he's just going to start slinging it around today. Of course, yeah. You can't quite do that with Jalen Hurts. Maybe down the road, who knows what the future holds. The kid's only in his second year as a starter. but he's not that guy right now. So they do a great job of helping him with what they do against specific opponents.

And the other point is their run game. Because of the focus on Hertz, deservedly so, people have kind of lost sight, I think, that their run game is still such a strong foundation. I mean, they had two drives, got to have it drives, one in the fourth quarter against Arizona and one in the fourth quarter against Dallas. The one against Arizona ended up being a 17 play drive, 13 called runs. The one against Dallas was a 13 play drive, nine called runs. So when they got to have it, they can run the ball.

And Miles Sanders is critical because Kenny Gainwell and Boston Scott are really not much of a factor here. Well, it's funny you say that because they do use Gainwell and those got to have it drives. He runs inside hard. Yeah, I'm just, I guess I'm... You're talking fantasy. He's not going to have it. have nine, you know, I know what you're saying. I think I'm just looking to last year.

Like last year, I guess Sanders was banged up in and out. Yeah. You know, I guess that's what it is. And Sanders is not banged up now. So, I mean, he's going to get the majority of the carries. Yeah. I just think it's an amazing build. And, you know, I don't even know if they planned it totally.

But I guess they did because they, they're totally set with depth in the trenches. And they've got playmakers in the perimeter on offense and defense. You know, without question. Without question. I mean, it's a really good, it's a really good team right now, and we'll see how it all plays out, you know, but they're a good team. No matter how it plays out, it's not as if they'll become a bad team. And then how are the Steelers playing defensively right now as we talk hurts? Are they, did you see more man?

Are they going back to the zone? Where are they at? The Steelers, the Steelers are playing more cover two this year than anybody might have figured. In fact, I think they're among the top three defensive teams in the league in terms of percentage of cover two. So, sure, they play man, everybody does, but they play a lot of cover two. What they do really well is disguise and late rotation. That's sort of a staple of what they do to get to cover two and their other zone concept. So obviously, Jalen Hertz and the Eagles pass game will have to work through that because that's what they will get.

And I feel like the Steeler defense very quietly has been getting better, and they're not bad. No, they're not. I know they have some injuries, so we'll see who lines up at Corner this week. I think Levi Wallace is hurt, and he has not played great football, but he's been a starter. So we'll see. The biggest issue they've had, quite frankly, based on tape study, and that's, as I hope people understand, that's what I'm talking about, is that linebacker. Devin Bush has not become what they had hoped.

They drafted him high to be a three-down linebacker. He plays in some nickel situations, but not in the third-down nickel, and he does not play in dime. Robert Spillane is their dime linebacker. Yeah, practice-wise. Ogun Joe B was a DNP today, Wednesday. Witherspoon, though, is back, full practice. Okay, so he's probably going to start it at one corner.

Levi Wallace was a DMP today. as well. And TJ Watt, I guess the window is open for a return. I guess we can't rule out even this week. I don't think he's going to play this week. But again, I don't want to. Right. No, it's fine.

It's only Wednesday. No one's making any big decision. Oh, you said on Wednesday he was playing now. It's like five days from now. Right, right, right. Believe me, I used to be paranoid of that stuff too. You said that. I was like, yeah, it was like Monday, dude.

It was like six days earlier. Right, right, right. Right, right. Let's go to the chief offense and how they're looking these days. And, you know, very low-key, Mahomes, they've made this transition. I guess it kind of started last year with how they're playing. But, man, Mahomes, granted, it's like random perfection. You know what I mean?

Like, it's random, but it's perfect yet somehow with Mahomes. Not this week. This week, he was phenomenal. Right, right, right. I watched him and I thought of Michael Jordan. It was just one of those. One of those performances. He didn't move around much at all.

He played with timing, with rhythm, with feel. I'm not surprised by this. I'm just saying this is what happened this week. You know, it wasn't like, oh, my God, look what he did. The guy's a great player. But he's been running around a little bit outside of structure, but it's been magical this year. No question. And he's very good at that.

But I'll be the first to admit, the people that taught me the quarterback position, the Bill Walshers of the world, you know, I am more. just excited innately in the art of the position. You know, watching a guy drop back, deliver the football with timing within the structure, you know, throwing to the right receiver at the right time with the right kind of throw. Those are the quarterbacks that I enjoy watching. Yeah. And, you know, like I said, it's probably because I'm old and old school and who I've been taught by.

Well, talk about making guys better, you know. Yeah, and I thought Mahomes played a phenomenal game this past week. steam playing from the pocket. It was really fun to watch. And I really enjoyed it. And he's, look, he's obviously a great player. That's not in question. Yeah, and it's not in question that he's putting in the work to be great as well. Correct. Correct. That's the thing that maybe he doesn't get enough credit for. I've actually had a conversation with Andy Reid about him. And he's like, yeah, and also the kid. He always goes back to that. Dude does the work. I saw that you had some notes on Isaiah Pacheco.

He reminds me a little bit of that. Who is the grinder, Alex Collins or something like... Oh, I can see that. Downhill, hard runner, not very laterally elusive. No, no. He's a velocity runner.

He runs really hard. He's fast and he can run through tackles. Right. Yeah, but he doesn't have any zoosu, as we like to say, John. That's not bad, Alex Collins, comp there. That wasn't bad. You know, Alex Collins played in the league

for a lot of years. I mean, Pete Carroll couldn't quit him for years there. I can't quit you, babe. But Pacheco is a certain kind of guy, right? Like, I mean, you don't really see him as a lead guy. I think the style of runner he is is he would be a complimentary type back. Right, exactly, which is kind of what he is. By the way, I mean, it wasn't as if he was a top 50 draft pick.

Oh, yeah, seventh rounder. Yeah, yeah, so, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, people were getting excited because, oh, he was, named the quote unquote starter, which doesn't mean. Well, they're not really, they're a complimentary running team. Totally. Everybody knows. You know, that's not the foundation of what they do. They do run the ball, but that's not how they start their offense. I mean, I liked Edwards Alair this year, not that I was expecting him to get 15 carries a game or I was expecting more

in the passing game. I will admit that. But, I mean, I'm like, he's still the top guy in a damn good offense. So he's just going to get lucky and score almost every week. I mean, which, he has, by the way. Well, and that's great for fantasy. He may not end up with 15 for 95 rushing, but if he scores, we're in good shape. We are in good shape, but it is a little precarious. We did get a few more touches here.

But moving on here, and what we're doing is going over Greg's notes, looking at the teams that he's checked out on film. Well, the Niners in that very same game, I agree with your note here. I thought McCaffrey looked like he had a little bit more juice behind those legs. I agree. I thought he looked really good.

And I would expect him this week against the Rans and what one could argue was a must win. I mean, it's still relatively early, but you could argue that. I would expect him to get far more touches. When I say far more, I don't think he's getting 35 touches, but I would expect him, he had 10 touches and 22 snaps last week, John. He'll play more than 22 snaps and he'll have more than 10 touches. Yeah, sure, probably double it up. Yeah. What about success on gap runs, zone runs, anything there?

I mean, they're going to run the ball. We know that. Right. You know, the question is, will they have enough success running the ball to do what they want to do? Which number one is to control the pace and tempo of the game, to dictate what they get defensively. So then it can lead to positive proactive passing. because when they're stuck, it would reactive passing meeting down in distance, those kinds of things, then they struggle a bit because that's not what Garoppolo is.

Boy, I tell you, Jeff Wilson ran hard. Talk about job security alert, you know. And then IUC has been, he's been flashing all year. Like, this is a different IUC than last year. I agree. And they got Kittle involved this week. Hopefully that continues to happen. But this is all.

great, but we don't have a ton of production to go around, and Jimmy G is not playing very well in film, correct? You know, yes and no. I think he plays well when he can do what Jimmy G can do well, and when he can't. Look, this was the second consecutive week, John, that the 49ers had 42 called passes. I think you and I and everybody listening knows that's not really what they want. Right. Sure. And I don't think Jimmy G. is the kind of quarterback that can do that well. So if he drops back 42 times, there are going to be some bad plays. Yeah, I wonder. It'll be interesting to see how they work in Wilson because, you know, to your point,

they don't want to overexpose McCaffrey either. So they'd give him a series. Do they, you know, how do that? Well, this week he's practicing. Last week he didn't. It wasn't as if he was coming off an injury. He'd been playing in Carolina. So, you know, I would expect McCaffrey to be their feature back this week with Wilson being the guy

who spells him at times. And you might as well. To be, you know, a foundational piece in the offense this week. Yeah, you might as well. By the way, use check is out. Right. So I would expect to see a team that plays a lot of 21 personnel, maybe the highest percentage in the league or certainly close to it,

to be in a lot more 11 personnel packages this week. That's what I would expect. Sure. And moving on to, the cults and Sam Ellinger let's get your thoughts here I know you studied him he's actually a pretty intriguing guy so what does

Sam Ellinger bring to the table and obviously he's a lot different than Matt Ryan and what are what are the residual effects here? All I can tell you is my evaluation when he came out I have heard from some people that he's improved his throwing a bit since he's been in the league people who've seen him but you know I'm not there so you know, he came out of high school in Texas as a classic dual threat quarterback. He's a physical

kid. He's a competitive kid as a runner for sure. You have the design quarterback run game with him, which will absolutely be a part of what they do this week. He can make second reaction runs and throws. But as a pocket quarterback, when you watched him in college, he was unrefined and inconsistent. I ended up coming away thinking he was kind of an average thrower who did not have what you'd call the desired arm strength and consistent ball placement that you'd like. But the more I watched him, and I think I watched one, two, three, seven games in his last year in college. But I kept coming away thinking, God, there's something about this kid that's there. He wasn't ready to be an NFL quarterback then.

And obviously he didn't have to be. So I thought he was developmental. And there was a part of me. They clearly see that too, Greg. They clearly see what you say. Yeah. I mean, and there's a part of me that thought maybe this guy could develop. And then there was another part of me that thought his throwing limitations may always be an issue.

So, you know, I kept going back and forth because there's something about watching the kid that you like. I worry about him supporting a volume receiver and Michael Pittman. And I also. I think their offense is going to be different, John. I don't think, look, Matt Ryan was throwing the ball 50 times a game. That's not going to happen. So you're going to get the design quarterback run game. You'll get Jonathan Taylor with far more carries than 10 this week.

You're going to get the run game. Oh, for sure. And that will, the dual threat situation there should, in theory, open, create some lanes and some space for Taylor. Correct. Who I thought looked good last week, even though he only had 10. carries. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think you're going to see

in an ideal world because they need to shorten these games, they need to help their defense. They need to me, again, I don't, you know me, I don't rip coaches and I don't say here's what coaches should be doing. I think what they're going to do is

go back to what we saw last year where Taylor would have 20 plus carries. Oh, yeah. Well, time to trade for him now, everybody, because people are panicking a little bit. I actually had him as a trade for guy last week. But final thought, we're also thinking, I was thinking, I guess my first reaction is, it need a little bit of a, I mean, gunslinger's a strong word, but like, might he be a guy

who's looking to take shots to, like, Pierce going forward? Because Matt Ryan was not able to do that. Possibly, for sure. Oh, no, no. I think Sam Ellinger, and I met Sam Ellinger a number of years ago when he was actually a senior in high school, and he's a terrific kid, by the way. He's super competitive, super competitive. I like that.

And that will show up. You know, I'm not saying he's going to have a great game or anything like that, but he's super competitive. And, yeah, for sure. I mean, they're not going to condense their offense, John, to the point where it's just, you know, zone read and hand the ball to Taylor. You have to throw in this league.

They don't want to throw it 40 times. But sure, he'll take, he can take some shots. Because, you know, deeper balls, as we've discussed numerous times, are not sure arm-strain throws. Right, right. I think he's got decent downfield ball there. So I'm curious to see him. We shall see.

I mean, that was my initial takeaway. Bad news for Pittman might not be bad news for Alec Pearson. I wanted to see about the Raiders because, you know, my two quarterback picks this year were Burrow and Hertz. And those guys are crushing it. But I loved, I liked a lot. Carr. Where are they with this office? Now, we're going to get Darren Waller back.

but hopefully this week. And I think that's huge. Josh Jacobs show. Yeah, exactly. Josh McDaniels has recalibrated his offense the last three games through Josh Jacobs and the run game. You know the numbers. So I won't recite them.

Everybody who does fantasy knows the numbers. Yeah. But just one point is over the last three games, they've incrementally, not incrementally, they significantly increase the number of snaps for the fullback, Jacob Johnson. And so they're now running. the football out of two backs. And Johnson, of course, was in New England

with Josh McDaniels. So, you know, you're dealing with a back in the last three games that has 69 carries. And he's been the driving force and he looks good, John. Oh, I know. I know. It's literally, this is the opposite

of what I thought. I thought that'd be a throwing team. Maybe they wanted to. I think they started out thinking they would be. Yeah. They needed to recalibrate their offense. And historically, historically, teams when they need to sort of stabilize their offense run the ball. Of course.

They don't toss it all over the yard to stabilize their offense. 100%. Now what we're hoping, I would think, is you keep doing that. Defense has got to respect it. Let's get Waller back and Renfro back. And then all of a sudden now we might have a complete offense. Yes, you could. So the question becomes, how does Josh,

handle, you know, and I'm thinking for you from fantasy, how does Josh handle all that? Because not everybody can put up big numbers. Yeah. I would, I would honestly focus on getting Hunter Renfro going to move the sticks. We all know what Devante Adams can do. But, you know, Hunter Renfro has been a missing element all year. You know, big plays to Waller don't hurt either, you know. Right.

It could be really quite intriguing here. Well, it's always intriguing when we chop it up with Greg. here on the matchup podcast. I'm going to wind down quickly here, a couple of minutes maybe. We're not even at 30 minutes yet. But Trevor Lawrence, the weekly check-in with him. People I work with think I'm picking on the guy. I'm not against him at all.

But again, I'm fascinated by his development. Where was he last week? You know, I thought he made some really good throws. I think he's still in that stage where he's a little up and down. And I didn't, to be honest, I didn't finish that game yet with him. So I have some more throws to watch. So I don't want to say what he did, you know, in the last quarter and a third because I didn't do that. The guy, if I may, the guy who I'm becoming fascinated by just as someone who loves evaluating quarterbacks, John, is Justin Fields.

Oh, I thought you were going to go Daniel Jones on me. Well, Daniel Jones, we've talked about, and I think he's playing really well. Yeah. But Justin Fields is becoming fascinating to me because he's got traits. Everybody knew that when he came out of Ohio State. And the Bears are clearly playing to his strengths, which they have to. They're trying to win football games. So there's going to be the run game element, the design runs.

You know he's going to leave the pocket when he perceives or feels pressure. And he'll make plays. I mean, this week he had 10 design runs for 56 yards. And he looked fast as hell. And he's 6-3, like 225. You know what it is? Greg, he's like, he's almost like Kyla Murray in like a miniature Cam Newton body or a Dak Prescott body.

Yeah, right. So, but here's the kind of stuff I think about. And again, this goes back to how I was taught the position. They're doing the right thing to play to with strengths, obviously, because what's the goal to win games? Matt Eberflush is not going to say. Well, you know what? Let's sacrifice the season just so, you know, Justin can throw from the pocket. So it doesn't matter if he throws 30 picks and doesn't see it. No coach is going to say that.

But then you have the question that goes along with that is how do you develop the pocket elements of his game? Yeah, because he's so good on the run. Right. So because I'm not a coach, I'm not sure what the answer to that question is. but, you know, the traits you want to see him get clearly better at. And I put these in my notes, John, maintain high eye level. Stay poised and calm in the pocket when there is no pressure by NFL standards. Yeah. Develop a better understanding of the route concept versus specific coverages.

Deliver the ball with better timing. You know, how do you develop those things if in the next breath you're going to say, hey, anytime you feel it, just run. And I'm not saying that that's what they're telling him. But you know what I'm saying is there has to be a balance so he can develop as a quarterback because he was the 11th pick in the draft. They expect him to be a really good player. I'm not going to compare him to Patrick Mahomes, but you want him to be able to play a game like Mahomes played this past week. Right.

You're pristine from the pocket. Yeah. And rather than playing like Cordell Stewart on the Steelers in 1997. Yeah. And, you know, but so he's fascinating to me because there's a couple of throws every game, as you know, because you watch it, where you go, wow, that's pretty good. You know, this guy, there's something there to be developed. I mean, he's more talented than Doc Prescott. You know, he throws it better.

What's that? He's very talented. Way talented. But I will say this, comparing, because I do think there's a good comparison with Jalen Hertz, too. I feel like Jalen Hertz from day one saw it. I think Jalen Hertz struggles to see it at times still, probably. But I feel like he saw it a little bit better than Fields because Fields has looked like we're starting at the bottom with Fields. You know, I feel like in that regard.

Well, don't forget this was a brand new coaching staff. Sure, true. So let this staff work with him and for another year and see, you know, barring anything unforeseen, he's not going to get benched. you know and because you could argue he's getting incrementally better there's there's yeah there's you know a little progress yeah and but was that a change from what you saw previously in a film this i wouldn't say it was a change i'm just fascinated by the fact that i see good moments that i feel like man i just want to see more of those because they're there they're there gotcha well i'll crowbar something else and green bay packer offense did you see any good

The Green Bay Packer offense is not there. It's not there. Nothing there. I mean, I don't know what to say at this point, but it feels like. They did not convert a third down in this game. In the last three games, they're eight for 32 on third down. Their average yards to go in that last three games has been 7.4. Their past game has a condensed feel to it.

A lot of quick rhythm throws with the ball coming out of Rogers' hand in less than two seconds. Yeah. dropped most of them last week. Well, he dropped one in particular. Yeah. You know, Rogers has not been as precise with his ball placement as we have seen throughout his career. That's shown up in several games this season.

Okay, yeah. All right. Not thrown to his God Devante. Yeah, it's a combination of a lot of things. It's a lot of things. More of an issue than usual, too. What's that? I think the protection is more of an issue than usual, too.

Yeah. And, you know, it's so it's, there's a lot of factors that come into play when a team is not playing well. Everybody wants it to be one thing, but it's not one thing. Yeah. Oh, no, no question. Well, that's 35 minutes of fantasy related, relatable gold there from Greg Ocell and the matchup podcast here at fantasy points. com for week number eight. And you can subscribe and get this whole segment, if you will, or podcast probably.

times two or three in terms of the content we do on the live stream with me, Greg, and Adam, covering all the games, all the fantasy notes and players of notes. And, of course, check out all the other podcasts here and continue to subscribe. I'll wrap it up here for Greg. I'm John. Good luck in week number eight. And we'll catch you next week. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast.

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