Fantasy Football Daily - The Chiefs are Big Babies and Contenders' Fatal Flaws | Take Talk Podcast

Episode Date: December 13, 2023

Steve O'Rourke (@callmesteveo7) and Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) discuss the Chiefs taking issue with an obvious penalty, then take aim at the current NFL playoff picture with a fatal flaw for each of the teams left. SIGN UP FOR FANTASY POINTS WITH CODE GURRIFIC25 AT CHECKOUT FOR 25% OFF: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ READ DR. EDWIN PORRAS' INJURY [PRO]NE GUIDE WITH CODE INJURYPRONE25: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://injuryproneguide.myshopify.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Want to join a high-stakes dynasty league -- or any other high-stakes league? All new FFPC users get $25 off their first FFPC league of $35 or more, including dynasty orphans, using our affiliate link: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://myffpc.com/cms/public?affid=fantasypoints⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FANTASY POINTS PROJECTIONS ARE LIVE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOR ALL STANDARD AND PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS! Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Use our code FANTASYPTS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- 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 to 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. And we are back with another episode of the Take Talk podcast. I'm your host, Brad Whitefield. We got Stephen O'Rourke in first chair as usual, or second chair I guess. I don't really know. but Stephen, good morning.

How are you, sir? Good morning. I am doing great. The sun is out for the second day in a row for what feels like the first time in months. So that's- The gloomiest past three weeks ever. Oh, it's been brutal. Just sitting in, yeah, just sitting in darkness constantly.

Darkness, rain, gloomy, nasty. So it's nice to see the sun. Yeah. So that's providing a little bit of, yeah, put me in a good mood. Can't complain. Good. We like good mood, Steve. So today we're going to talk. We're going to jump into, we're going to continue talking about the playoff picture.

Specifically, the middle class of the NFL. However, before we do that, got a couple topics of conversation. Steve, the New York quarterback tandem of Tommy DeVito and Zachary Wilson have just been proclaimed the week 14, aFC and NFC players of the week. what is your initial reaction to that? I mean, my initial reaction is, could you imagine telling yourself and people that this would happen like three, four weeks ago? No. You would have been like you're insane or everybody died and they're the only two quarterbacks left alive because you have left tackles playing quarterbacks for every other team.

That's actually close to true. Everyone is dead. I mean, we're getting there. And it seems like it's like a lot of other positions are starting to kind of recover. I mean, there's obviously been some bad injuries, but like a lot of the wide receiver guys are starting to come back, save for Houston. And, you know, other positions are starting to kind of recover from, you know, the midseason injury grind. But quarterbacks are just taking a beating. And some teams are persevering through it.

Other teams are floundering. but I mean, all and all, good on, my biggest reaction is good on Zach Wilson because, like, bouncing back from getting benched saying he doesn't, potentially doesn't want to play, if that was even true that he had said that or whatever. And then putting out the performance that he had where he genuinely played a good game, like genuinely played well and they beat up on what's not a great Houston defense. their secondary still needs some work. But hey, you play who you play and he performed.

And he keeps the Jets semi alive. I mean, like anything can happen as we're going to talk about here soon. So it's, you know, he put one up for if Rogers comes back and keeps him alive. So like good on him. And then the giant, like Tommy DeVito, the kids, the kid's just a dynamo for storylines. Like his agent popping on the screen was, I think, one of the funniest moments where you saw it and everybody was like, of course. Like, yeah, that's exactly who his agent should be and would be. And why would we ever think differently?

Was it a picture of Tony Soprano? I mean, it was darn near. It was at least like it was a cousin Vinny type situation where it's like, oh, his dad, like Tommy made it to the NFL. And he's like, I need an agent. And his dad's like, oh, your cousin is an agent. Let's just call him up. Hold on. We'll hire him because he had like the pinstripe suit with the top hat.

And then the dads are kissing each other on the cheek. And like the agent of dad. Oh, yeah. It's just like the most Italian thing that Italians have ever done if they made it to the NFL. I could see Tommy walking off the field and the agent, Mr. what is it, Stiletto? Mr. Stoletto holding up the ring. He's like, go ahead.

Yeah. Go ahead, Tommy. I put you here, baby. I put you here. You're made mad now. It's funny, though, because now I feel like this has polarized probably the New York Giants fan base. I have not. I'm not close in with the New York Giants fan base.

But you've probably, I mean, listen, we've been in the dumpster before as far as being Lions fans. So we know how this goes. where I'm sure half the fan base is so excited. Like, glimmer of hope. This is great. We love it. Oh, my goodness.

And then the other half is, how in the world could you win that game? You idiots, now we're going to have to, what, start Daniel Jones again next year because we're out of the quarterback sweep. No, no, no. Start Tommy DeVito is the thought process there. They, uh, so, Steve, we have the privilege of our local radio station here. night actually i won't even say the the numbers but uh their uh their afternoon host who's who's

very famous nationally he has a national show with uh with boomer asycin um he's a very italian man and his yes his allegiances are actually to the new york giants he was not yesterday his father surprisingly called the show you were listening to i heard that too as i was driving to the gym yeah it is crazy so we do have a little exposure to giants fans thinking here at steve I was surprised how rallied they are behind Tommy DeVito. Now, this particular radio host himself is not, but the fan base is like pumped for this guy. They're like, yeah, get the,

like they would take Daniel Jones to a guillotine right now and just get it over with. Just they eat the dead cap hit. They'd ride the coattails of Tommy DeVito, man. And Tommy Cutlets is his nickname. So, I mean, that's great. But DeVito's, so let's talk about his play on the field, though. Did he, I personally didn't think,

other than that last drive, he did anything in that game to really warrant being player of the week? I mean, is this just because there is some riding the storylines here? I think so. Like, yeah, what he had like 150 passing yards and 70 yards on the ground. He did, I mean, he did have one crucial rut, like, scramble that got him into, got him to the one yard line. Yeah. You know, he made some plays. I think if anything, it's probably leaning into the storyline and also the other guys that

would have gotten it were in like, you know, like Stafford was in a losing effort. And I don't know why. I don't know why they wouldn't give it to DAC, but, you know, I get it. Hey, you got to capitalize on what's trending. And they were given a layup opportunity where they came back. he led the game-winning drive, which I'm sure that's mostly where this comes in is that, hey, he did actually, he did get the ball down one with a minute 22 left and he took him down the field and they won the game. So I'm sure that's what most of it is rooted in. But yeah, the throw to the high pressure situation was that was a nice throw.

Yes, it was. It was. It was a nice throw. Probably his best ball all the night. It wasn't, you know. Probably the best ball. It's grown so far. True. It's not like you like threw him open or anything. It was just a nice, you know, high leverage

situation, put the ball where it needed to be and made the most out of the place. Yeah, I think it was a, I think it was like a sail route into a cover two look and he fitted in between the corner and the safety. And the window was. It was a big window. It was a big window. But hey, it worked. So I'm not going to. I couldn't make that throw. So, hey, I'm not going to sit here and judge too much. Yeah. Oh. Steve, before we move on, I have to, I have to just get something off my chest. Uh-oh. So coming into this season, I thought the San Francisco 49ers were by far the most annoying team on the planet. Yeah.

Their mouth, their ego, the constant crap talking. Like, I think crap talk is cool to a certain extent. It comes off as whiny and petulant. I hate it. And like that, my hatred for them has grown. this year actually. Yeah. But I got to say, I think

the Chiefs might be doing their best to unseat them as the most annoying team in the NFL. Yeah. And I hate to be knee jerky about it, but like I have lost a little respect for Patrick Mahomes this week, Steve. I hate to say it. It's one of it.

You want to give the guy benefit of the doubt. He's just having a bad day. But holy crap, man, let it go. Let it freaking go. It was a tough look. It was a tough look. and I think that it was a redirection of anger of, well, it's not going to look good if I go after the receivers. If I go like, if I go walk over and start reaming them out like this, that's going to be a bad look for me and for the team. So I'm going to take all of this anger that I have, the anger and jest I have toward my team.

teammates and I'm just going to fire it at this old guy who made the right call in a situation that I wish he hadn't made the right call. I mean, because that's what it comes down to. Cadarius, like, I, everyone, it seems like, seems like everybody agrees with this, which is good. There are not many people that are on the side of Patrick Mahomes, but definitively, a hundred percent. That was an absolutely careless, stupid, dumb mistake by Cadarious Tony, and they deserve to be penalized for it. Mahomes can get as mad as he wants. And guess what?

If he had thrown an interception, he probably would have been pumped and called the penalty. But he didn't. They scored a touchdown on a great awareness play by Travis Kelsey. And it's just like that's the things. Like this receiving room can't get out of its own way for the chiefs. If it's not a drop, if it's not a missed route, It's lining up off sides, which is like literally that's all you, like that's all you have to do pre-snap for Cadarious, Tony,

is line up in the correct spot. And everybody who's played football, everybody who's played wide receiver knows that anytime you, you walk up to the line, you turn your head, you point to the ref, you, he gives you the nod,

you're good, he motions you back, he thumbs down whatever they do you adjust accordingly like it's not that hard it's and it's just i get the frustration from the homes but i just think it was not it wasn't directed the right way and i think that him throwing that what i'm going to classify as a hissy fit was it was dumb and i like then him doubling down on it like tripling down like what come on man just that's the thing that bothered me Steve it's like okay in the moment you know in the heat of the battle it happens you yell at the ref you whine but then Steve he had to be physically

restrained from from going up and then he goes up to Josh Allen and gives him that load of BS which by the way just incredibly poor sportsmanship I hate it I need a degree degree like Josh didn't deserve that like freaking relax and then the post game press conference he's still mouthing off about it how does he not have one person in his life that's gonna say yo patrick shut the hell up like dude take accountability you guys lost the game holy crap i hate lack of accountability is the number one thing that drives me insane in all of life and yes the fact that nobody looked patrick in the eye i was just like bro let just relax and then andy reads doubling down on it in the post game he's doing interviews with media people complaining about it i'm like

how do you guys not understand this like this is This is mind-blowing to me. Like it's a, like the argument of you can't make that call in a high-leverage situation. You can't line up wrong in a high-leverage situation. The thing is, is it wasn't even close. Cadarius Tony had to look backwards to the ball to see where this is. Literally had to look backwards. It wasn't like he was looking parallel to the line of scrimmage.

He was literally looking backwards. I don't. The other funny thing is Joanne Taylor was lined up wrong as well. I know. They could have got them twice. So how about that? It's just all, it's interesting because, I mean, I think in this kind of segues into what we're, what we wanted to talk about today unless you, unless you had something else

you want to bring up. I just wanted to say Patrick's point about you're, you're Robin, a Hall of Fame player of one of the best plays of his career. Bro, will you stop? That is the worst argument. Whatever do it. It's basically like saying like, We should be allowed to break the rules because that was such an amazing play.

Yeah. Like, excitement level does not, like, teeter on how or what they're going to call. Like, that's not how it works. That's not how it works. And, yeah, I mean, at least this hopefully should put to bed all of the, the things of people going around that say that the refs are in favor of the chiefs. at least that should hopefully put that to bed for a bit of clearly the refs don't like the chiefs that much because they could have not done that.

Two weeks in a row a little bit. Yeah, yeah. So at least it quells that and you realize that, all right, Mahomes is kind of playing on the same playing field as everybody else. He's not that heavily favored by refs. That's what the NFL wants you to believe, Steve. Then in the playoffs, you get a recall. It's all a setup.

It is all an elaborate scheme to set up a playoff run by the Chiefs. All right. Let's segue now to the playoff picture discussion. Steve, in a real summarized way of what we're going to talk about, it is crazy. The landscape at the NFL right now, there is no great teams in this league right now.

There's a lot of good teams, a lot of above average teams, teams. But if you are a fan of any team currently in the playoff picture, you can't feel like you're out of it because every team that's even the ones at the very top, they've all had moments this season where it felt like the sky was falling, every one of them. So whether you're like the 49ers, for example, they're currently the one seed. They've, the only team in the league to clinch a playoff spot so far. They had a three game losing streak. Yeah. How many super nine Super Bowl winning teams in history.

I've had a three-game losing streak in the season that they won. It's very rare. I remember 49ers fans freaking out amidst that losing streak. Prock-Pertie looked human for the first time. And guess what? Now they've bounced back. They've won a bunch of games in a row. They've beaten some good teams.

You could go down the list, but like the Cowboys have lost. They lost to the Arizona Cardinals led by Josh Dobbs. What do we do? Yeah. The Lions played terrible football for a month. Yep. The Ravens lost to the Indianapolis Colts and a rookie quarterback. They also lost to somebody else that wasn't very good.

And they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in like a 12 to 7 game. 17.10. Yeah. Yeah. The dolphins, there's moments where the dolphins don't even look like a playoff team. Yeah. But then they'll drop 70 on somebody. So it's like the Chiefs, we can docky.

I mean, they're having a weird season, 8 and 5. The Jags have been way up, the complete roller coaster this year. The point being, the Eagles, the Eagles now have tons of concerns. and is their defense is getting shill act jalen hurts is injured the offense is in as explosive as it was point being every one of these teams has major question marks if you are in the playoff hunt and as a fan of one of these teams no reason to panic you're in it i mean you are firmly in this any team can beat anyone right now as long as you as long as you get a seat at the table you have a chance you genuinely have a chance. It makes me feel like home field is really going to matter in the playoffs.

Yes. I think more so it's not like some point. Yes, it does. But it feels more poignant than ever. Yep. Of like being able to have your fans on your side to swing any ounce of momentum in your favor is a benefit to you. Steve, let's do this. Let's, like on the fly here, I'm going to change the course of this discussion. Let's just go through the top teams, including that whole middle class as well. Let's just quickly acknowledge what that team's fatal flaw is. Yes. That could kill them.

Do you want to do that? Yep, let's do it. All right, let's go NFC first, 49ers. I'll say the fatal clause is their secondary. Yeah, secondary. and yeah, secondary is probably the number one. I would say the, gosh, the fluctuation of Brock Purdy, too, I think is in there as well. Yeah.

He's definitely got his feet back under him after a really weird stretch, but yeah. But he has, I mean, even this week, even this week, he has one to two, one to three throws every single week that could be, pivotal turnovers. And in the three-game losing streak, those went the wrong way. When they're winning, those don't go the wrong way. And that, you know, that's a dangerous way to live. It's a scary way to live. That's true.

And they're still kind of, his dropbacks have been pretty limited. I think he had like 20, what, 30 dropbacks this week? I mean, if they get into a situation where he's got to throw the ball out, you just never know. And in fact, when they were in that losing streak, That's what was happening. Like Minnesota was taking it to him. Purdy had to throw the ball more than he liked to. He threw some really bad interceptions.

So that's definitely a thing. But the secondary for me, Steve, it's like when, and I probably said this too many times, so we won't dwell on this. But when the pass rush can get blocked up, when they play a team with good offensive line or good tackle specifically, the secondary can't hold up because they got to cover too long. So I think good past teams, the Cowboys, the Lions, the Vikings, the who am I missing here? in the NFC. The Seahawks with Gino Smith.

Yeah. Like those, those teams can throw the ball on, on the 49ers. The Packers? I bet. I think the Packers. They're not too.

They're offensive lines. Great. So, yeah, that's a good point. So there's a, they're kind of scared of everybody. The Los Angeles Rams?

Yeah. Rames aren't currently in a playoff spot, but they're knocking on the door of one. Which I think they, I think they still have to play again, the Rams and the 49ers. If I'm not mistaken. That, yeah, they might. They don't.

Just kidding. Okay. All right, Cowboys, quickly fatal flaw. Lai, they do. It's the last game of the year. It didn't load. It didn't load the final game for me. But there it is.

Not used to road in a week 18 still. So Cowboys' fatal flaw. I don't know what it is. They probably are the team playing the best right now league-wide. Maybe it's the aggressiveness of their outside corners tend to kill them sometimes. Like as good as Geron Blaine has been, he's also given up, what, like 5-50-yard touchdowns or something?

It's some crazy stat like that. Yeah. I mean, it's funny because he's mirroring what, like, Trayvon-Diggs's big interception. see the season he had 11 interceptions it's almost like identical where he had the 11 picks but he gave up over like almost a thousand yards received or over a thousand yards of steving and so it's it's either boom or bust um i think it's we're being coached that way clearly obviously yeah i think it's just for the cowboys it's that their defense

looks so good sometimes like their defense looks so good sometimes but then there are other times where they don't and they just there's no consistency with their defense yeah I think they're soft in the middle. Like if they play a team that can take advantage of the middle of their defense, whether that's, you know, a physical run game or a tight end that's really good or a slot receipt that's really good, I think that's where the Cowboys have trouble. They don't have, like Jordan Lewis is in a great slot corner, their linebackers are suspect.

Their de-tackles are good pass rushers, but they're not good run defenders. So I think that's probably. Yeah, if a team can avoid giving the Cowboys defense those splash plays, the sack fumbles, the big interceptions, the, you know, a lot of pressure letting Michael Parsons get home. If you can kind of just stay in phase and, you know, whether the storm not, like I said, not give up the splash plays, you can beat their defense. It's just that those games where they do make those plays, that's when they break it out because their offense is firing out on all cylinder. Stack Prescott's playing incredible. So they kind of feed off each other.

if you let their defense get into a rhythm, you're kind of toast. But if you can stay, hang in there and take a couple punches, not turn the ball over. I think that you have a chance to put up some points because that's, I mean, that's how the Cowboys have lost this year is just when their defense can't get those turnovers. Sure. Lions got to be their pass rush. Pass rush.

Secondary, I thought. But like what we've seen when the pass rush is working, whether they're scheming it up or the four-man rush is getting home, the secondary looks fine. Like the secondary looks great against the Chiefs. They look good against Atlanta. Look good against the first Packers game. But that pass rush is working in all those games. So when the pass rush is bad. I mean, that's true for a lot of teams.

Honestly, if the pass rush sucks, then secondary is going to get exposed. But it's like extra true for the lines, I feel like. Yeah. Probably because their only pass rusher is Aiden Hutchinson. They don't have many other. They have to scheme it up if it's not going to be him. Yeah, it's just the depth and the players that they have right now. And they're hoping for reinforcements down the line.

They're, you know, they're hoping that James Houston comes back and is healthy. But right now at the current juncture, yeah, they can't. And then not only do they not do that, they also are, they play a little bit undisciplined. And that gets into a lot of trouble. So it's, it, they compound. their issues. Yeah. I do suspect

the discipline thing is something they can fix right now. The pass versus probably not because you're not adding a whole lot of personnel there. No.

There's not. There's no Von Miller coming down the line to help them out. Yeah. Tampa Bay Buccaneers because they are currently the horse seed,

which is crazy. I would say, what do you think? Offensive line, probably? Or corners. Corners have played bad. We got big names in Jamel Dean and Carlton Davis, those guys have not been great.

I mean, Zion McCollum is playing his way into beating out into Chimel Dean getting benched right now. He's Zion McCollum played pretty well. But I think the buck, I mean, truly the Buccaneers is probably Baker Mayfield. Ooh, you think that's their weak point? I guess compared to the other. High leverage, high leverage situations. He's made some, he's made some dumb mistakes this year.

Like you've seen he's played well. He's played pretty well, but you've seen the same Baker that you've always known and loved. And he makes some really, really dumb decisions and dumb throws. But I think that I think it goes hand in hand with, like you said, the offensive line. Yeah. Because I think that it's when he gets pressured that.

Well, yeah, that's so I think to that point. So they, they're offensive. That's why I said offensive line. because the offensive line doesn't do anything in the run game. Like they're before contact really low. Their pressure rate is decent. It's middle of the pack.

But then you realize that they get blitzed less than any team in the NFL. And they're still giving up a time of pressure of like 2.5 over the last five games. So I think that's a low-key issue. I think when Baker was balling out early in the year, he was doing really good job avoiding pressure, getting rid of the ball or escaping pressure. That's kind of gone back the other way a little bit, the last six, seven, eight games even. And I think that's why you've seen Tampa kind of struggle a little bit more.

But when Baker's playing well, it is because he's being kept clean. So I think maybe Baker is the bigger issue. I think you're right there. Yeah, because he was, I mean, he was like the number one quarterback under pressure to start the year. Like when throwing under pressure, he was the number one quarterback. And I think pretty sure we said it on the show of like that's probably not going to continue. He's going to regress back to the meet. And he is.

he has and now it's yeah it's just a matter of can they you know can they eat those those um interceptions those things i mean mike evans and having those guys helps but baker just it's he tries to do too much sometimes yes um all right the

Philadelphia eagles the current five seed i think it's pretty obvious what their issue is and that's uh their secondary Yeah. It's going to be. It has to be. And they're trying everything. And bringing by it, yeah, who knows if it changes, but like bringing a buyer didn't help a ton. And it's them even more, or maybe not more so than the 49ers, but when you're seeing them not get home as much this year.

And I think that has that changes, has changed a lot. for their defense. I did 70 sacks last year. Yeah, which that wasn't, that was never sustainable. No, but seven, like their passers still should be better than it is.

It's weird that they're, but like when you get 70 sacks, like those are like analytically speaking, those are drive ending plays. Unless you're playing really bad on the back end. Like typically you get a sack that ends a drive. That's just the way it goes normally. That's a lot of freaking sacks.

So they are not. doing that this year and I think maybe the secondary is playing roughly the same isish. It's just they're not in those super favorable you know third and 16s anymore. Right. Right.

Right. The Vikings definitely QB situation. I don't even think it's... That's not even a question. Especially now that Josh Dobbs has crashed landed back down onto earth and is not even starting anymore. predictably so.

Yeah, Nick Mullins, baby, let's go. Yeah. The Green Bay Packers. I think it's their youth. It's just that, like, you saw it in this game. It was all I could think about watching their offense against New York this week is you can just see that these are just young guys still figuring it out at times. Is there just like mental mistakes, just some simple stuff that slips through the cracks that leads to a drive ending or a dropped pass? Just all of these things where you can just see how young this group is.

And that it just shines through every once in a while. And like, yeah, I saw it at the, I saw it really clearly at the end of the game against New York. You could see moments where, gosh, I first. forget who it was, but they were just like a couple missed routes, a couple like not being on the same page. And it just, yeah, they just, it was bound to happen. I think a lot of people saw it coming what they've done to kind of fix it and gel together has been really good. But it's just that they're a young group, a young group of receivers. And that's going to, that's going to rear its ugly head every once in a while. Yeah. To that point, like Jordan Love,

He still is pretty inexperience. And we know pressure affects quarterbacks. It's not, it's an equal opportunity offender there. Like pressure makes every quarterback worse. But the drop off from love when clean and when pressured is insane. Like his pass around drops off a cliff. Most of his turnover worthy plays have been under pressure.

He, I don't want to say he turns into a pumpkin. He's not two a, but he definitely things get messy for him when he's pressured. So that could, you know, come to bite them. Obviously, when you get in the playoffs, defenses tend to play a little better. So, yes.

Cool. Another crazy thing. So that was all of the teams in the playoffs currently. There's four more six and seven teams in the NFC and a couple five and eight teams. There's only two teams in the entire league eliminated from playoff contention right now. That's crazy. The Carolina fans are the New England Patriots. That's it.

That's the only two teams eliminated from playoff contention. Yeah. Everyone else is still in play. I think the Cardinals get eliminated this week because they play the 49ers. The commanders technically are still in it. You know, if they ran the table, they're still in it. Crazy. But it is wild that there's four more six and seven teams all competing for that seven spot,

which is currently a six and seven packers. Anyways, the Rams, fatal flaw, got to be what, their defense? Yeah. Yeah. Which started not, by the way. They started, they kind of carried them early in the air. and then Stafford went through a lull where he was playing really bad, and now Stafford's kind of back to playing good,

and the defense is back to playing bad. Yeah, Stafford started to light the world on fire a little bit, and you're just seeing that they don't have a lot of dudes on their defense. They just don't. Like, every once in a while, a guy will show up, but they don't have a ton out on the edge of, like, consistent players. Wither Spoon is playing well, but outside of him, their secondary is eh. Like they can get beat up.

Yeah, just overall. I think that like you saw it this week. They got into a shootout. All they needed was, now granted the game ended on a punt return touchdown, but which that also, listen, the Rams are 32nd and special teams right now. So that's not great.

Not a good look. But yeah, it's just getting into a shootout. They can put up points, but it always worries me with Stafford of all it takes is hit. He has that in him where he just, he tries to get too cute sometimes. He tries to fit the throw in that nobody should ever try to fit in ever. And it shifts the game.

And with a defense like that, those plays are even are more poignant than the cost you a better defense. Yeah. Exactly. The Seahawks, I would just say consistency. Like they are so. win consistent. There's games the offense looks great. There's games the defense looks great, but they're not playing complementary football at all. Yeah. Gino, like, sometimes he just looks

horrendous. I know he's hurt right now, but, and then other times he looks, he looks excellent. The run game is super spotty. Kenneth Walker is the king of boom or bust that running back. Charbonnet, you know, his, his efficiency numbers are through the roof better than Walker's, but the problem is a lot of those carries are coming on third and 10, third and 15, where they're just playing field position so it's like yeah defense wasn't really playing the run there from that so yeah but i i think consistency is their big issue yeah i wholeheartedly agree of just they because they have the players like top the bottom other than their pass rushers they you you got to love their roster their offensive line also is probably they're kind of an achilles heel as well yeah

they've been injured a lot of the year and i do think they're getting healthy so maybe that turns around but um but just yeah they have big name guys that just sometimes they show up sometimes they don't who knows what you're who knows what seahawks team you're gonna get week in week out exactly um let's just hit the rest of these six and seven teams we'll move over to the aFC we got to get moving here the atlanta falcons um i think they're their their achilles heel it would be arthur smith yeah i was that's i was good that's exactly where my head was going is Arthur Smith. If you don't want to take it out.

Pick a reason. Yeah. You're right. He could be the play calling. It could be the reliance on, um, the undercard of players and trying to get them involved. I mean, you name it, you got it.

Hard to find the room mentality. Now, if you don't want, you don't like the clever answer of Arthur Smith. I would say Desmond Ritter, but Desmond Ritter is also an Arthur Smith decision. So I'm back to Arthur Smith. Moving on.

Yeah. New Orleans Saints, six and seven playing the Giants this week. I think their Achilles heel is, gosh, I can't believe I'd say this, but is it Der Carr? Yeah,

I mean, they're another team that's wildly inconsistent, though. Yeah, they mean, yeah, they, who know, yeah,

they're another team, they're six and seven, they're another team where it's like, what, what team are you going to get? I think they've beat up on bad teams. I don't think the Saints are a legitimate playoff contender.

I mean, great. They do play in the NFC South. They're literally tied for first place, basically. Yeah, it's gross. It's disgusting that there's a potential that two NFC South teams could make it in. But it's, yeah, Derek Carr and just dumb mistakes. They're another team that just doesn't, they just make dumb mistakes in critical moments, whether it's a, like drop.

passes by Chris Olavet. Derek Carr. Yeah, it's, yeah, they just, there's no consistency. There's no rhyme or reason to what happens. It's just, and I think, I think that's a product of Derek Carr, because that seems to follow him where he goes. Sure. That's it for the six and seven teams.

Let's head over to the AFC. The Ravens, they are currently the one seed. I don't know, I don't know that they have a fatal flaw. They might be the only team. That is the one team, I think. And I, I agree. For me, if I had to pick something, like you made me pick something, I'd say their pass rush. They don't have a lot of guys that just win one-on-ones.

Matabouquet does, but he's an interior guy. Here's the thing. Their passers has been very good in spots this season. So it's weird to point to that. But the reality is they do have to scheme it up to generate it. And they're very good. That's what they've always done. The Ravens have always been scheming it up.

You know, gosh, since Harbao's been there at least and probably even before that. It's just what they do. It's the style of defense they play. But there are games where it disappears for stretches. I mean, shoot, you saw it this week against the Rams. Like, Safford, there were moments where he literally had all day to throw. So, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, so, I mean, it's just, it really comes down to, like, can the quarterback and the offensive line identify what Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen are doing. Because if you like the games where they really blow teams out of the water, you can tell that the center or the offensive line, the quarterback are struggling with identifying what is going on with Patrick Queen and Rochwan Smith. If they're coming, if they're dropping back, what's going to happen? And Stafford's very good at that.

And there are other quarterbacks that they could face in the playoffs that are good at that. And so if you can if you can decipher what their game plan is, if you watch in a film, if you kind of really get into the weeds of what their defense is doing, you can kind of figure it out, not a ton, but you can figure it out enough. And that's what it comes down to is it really is not even on them. It's just on do they play a quarterback that can figure out their tendencies a little bit. Yeah. Um, The dolphins, gosh, their Achilles heels a lot of things, I think. Well, right now their Achilles heel is...

Tyree kills ankle. Literally, a heel. Like, is his heel? Is there Achilles heel? No, yeah, if Tyreek is hurt for a long period of them, that's obviously their Achilles heel. But beyond that, it's got to, like, their offensive lines really banged up right now, and Tua does turn into a pumpkin when he's under pressure. Yeah. And their run game will just, like, they'll just inexplicably go away.

Well, that one game has dominated bad run defenses and it's just been okay against good run defenses. Yeah. If they play a team with speed on the edge, they're toast. But if they can take advantage of teams that don't have a ton of speed on the edge, they beat, they beat people up. Yeah. And it's just like, yeah, they, it, too. if the run game stops working, the whole offense just gets thrown into a tizzy. Like they, it's, it's such a fine-tuned machine that like one little thing just throws it completely off.

Yeah. That's fair. All right. The Chiefs, obvious wide receiver room is a big issue. It's going to probably be there. It didn't hold them back last year, but it probably should have this year. it's definitely, they've shown a lot of cracks because of it. Yes, big time.

Like they've actually lost multiple games because of wide receiver issues. This week's Tony play. A couple weeks ago, it was NVS dropping a bomb. I know Watson had an end zone drop early in the year that cost him a game, I think. Yeah, so I'm just going to go a wide receiver room. Oh, and Skymore literally being nothing. Like, I think my gosh, he's what now, fifth and routes run for the receiver group.

He wasn't even targeted this week. Hey, was he? He was once. No, sorry. No, he wasn't.

Okay. Yeah, I mean, wild. Like, you draft the guy in the second round. You're hoping for a little more than that. So,

Rashid Rice, that's awesome, by the way. He continues to look awesome, but it's one guy. They still clearly don't want to pull the train wheels off of him yet, even though he is playing a starter level, snap amount.

It's just like, what they're asking to do is still pretty elementary. in nature. They're very slowly starting to expand his route tree, but it's not happening as fast as you would like in a room that needs anyone to win at any moment. Right. Like just the way that one super room is in the way he's played, I would fully expect just a big time breakout coming, but they just haven't been willing to pull the training wheels off. So it is what it is.

There is a big trust component. You know, Mahomes is another one of these quarterbacks who requires a certain level of trust before, you know, he unlocks you. So. Yeah. Jacksonville Jaguars. Gosh. Is it their dedication to the run game?

Could be it. That could be it. I don't know why Press Taylor insists on running the ball into a brick wall 30 times a game, but it happens. And their defense has gotten beat up now two weeks in a row, and that's a little bit concerning. Especially with you get beat up by. Flacco and the Browns, that's not great.

And Jake and Jake Browning. Those are the two quarterbacks. They got, they got, they got, they got, running a little bit of them. 65 points hung on them by Jake Browning and Joe Flacco. Yep. That's a tough way to be entering the final month of this, month and a half of the season.

Yeah. It's true. Agreed. Let's go Browns. Their fatal flaws is probably QB player, I guess. Flacco's playing pretty good. I don't know. That's a tough one.

It's, I mean, yeah. It's got to be determined if Joe, because does Joe Flack will keep this up? Who knows? Right. But, yeah, I think it's, it probably just comes down to quarterback. And can you really trust a 38-year-old? Is he 38? I think he is.

38-year-old? Yeah, 36, 36, 38, whatever. He's up there or up there. for NFL players. And can you rely on that? They also just lost Jedrick Wills. Right. And that's that is kind of a frightening prospect.

Because their starting group is really good. But when you start to throw in those backups, then the backups aren't as deep, which is the case for a lot of NFL teams. Yeah. But that could rear its ugly head here because I don't think Joe Flacko is going to hit. I don't think Joe Flacko is the guy you want back there. pressure is going to be coming consistently. For sure.

And it stinks too because their offensive line was really starting to gel. The last five weeks had been their best five weeks for sure. Yes. Yes. Steelers, I'm going to go. I mean. It's their offense in general. It's just their offense.

Yes. Just their offense. Yeah, you can go QB. You could go play calling. You could go run game. There's a lot of issues in Pittsburgh, but offense in general, inconsistent, not a lot of explosive plays, a lot of bad

decisions, a lot of weird play call. Wide receivers care sometimes, other times they don't. Yeah, that's probably contingent on who's playing quarterback, I guess, or whatever, but yeah. Colts. Oh, by the way, the Steelers are the start

of their six, seven, and six teams in the AFC right now. Two of them currently slotted for playoff spots. The rest are all competing for those spots. It's going to be a wild finish in the ASE, but the Colts are also 7 and 6. They have really surprised people, especially if they're losing their starting quarterback. They've been really good with Gardner Minchew. So I think, what do you think they're fatal flaw? Steve, I'm not really sure.

Yeah, I would lean towards saying they're secondary. I think that's correct. I think it's their secondary. They just don't have a ton of. They're really piecing it together, scrapping together a unit, at least that cornerback outside of Kenny Moore. It's been kind of a rotating cast of guys with Julius Brent's going out and then Darrell Baker popping in and out of the lineup. Jalen Jones has played well and, you know, at least for a rookie, he's really kind of stepped up and solidified himself in that unit, but it's their, it's their secondary. Jake Browning was able to pick him apart a little bit this week.

And you can see moments where they just, they just, they're, young. They don't have a ton of instincts back there at times and you can see it. Yeah. I dig with that. I've been picking on that secondary in DFS all season long. So I don't know why I didn't think of that right away.

But all right, now moving out of the playoff teams, but still seven and six, we've got the Houston Texans. Look, they have a lot of issues. I think they started the season really good. The C. DeStraud story is amazing. He's been incredible as a rookie. They've now lost one of their best

weapons on offense, which hurts Stroud, offensive lines beat up. Defense is starting to crack. In fact, the last, what? The last six weeks that defense is lying over 8.5 yards per attempt against them, which is not good. Not good. They're also giving up the sixth most schedule-adjusted fantasy points wide receivers. And I know fantasy points don't equal.

That's not necessarily a football thing. But in this case, point being is it translates. If you have good wide receivers, you can. can take advantage of that of that texan's defense yeah the math works out if you're leading in fantasy points by receivers seemingly the passing game is working yeah so i i think if i had to pick something i would say the defense has kind of gone gotten back to the level we assume they would be remember this is not a great roster guys the fact that they're seven and six is such a testament to demico ryan's bobby sloic and the gm that's putting all this together it really is

but they're kind of like the giants of last year where that roster is just poor. They have good players. I should say they have a lot of exciting young players. And it shouldn't take long for them to be competitors. But right now, these young players are, they're showing their youth. And it's fine. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, that's exactly it. And now Stroud is a little bit banged up. Eagle Collins got banged up. It just, yeah, it was a really, It's a really good story. You know, you hope they can kind of finish out strong. It's going to be really tough. It's going to be tough for them.

But, yeah, it's just their defense, their secondary. The pass rush goes and comes and goes here and there. It just their linebacker unit is not the best at times. They can get lost. They get lost with reading flow and kind of falling into. They can be faked out and just, yeah. And yeah, like you said, Nobody expected them to be there.

The fact that they're even here right now is a testament to everything they're doing there. Yep. Moving on, the Broncos. Broncos are one of these teams where if they wouldn't have started the season so crappy, they'd be firmly entrenched into a playoff spot right now. They're seven and six. They're on the outside looking in currently. But hey,

they get a Lions team this week that's not playing the best football right now. Definitely a winnable game for them. Plus of the whole Sean Payton, Dan Campbell thing. Like Dan Campbell said himself yesterday, Sean's going to come in and try to kill me. He wants to embarrass me. Dan, for those I don't know,

Dan is Sean's protégé. Like, that is the thing. Yes. And there's no bad blood there. But just like if you're the big brother, you want to smack down little brother and show him you're still the boss. Unless you're Bill Belichick. Unless you're Bill Belichick for whatever reason.

But, well, what it is, is he wants to, Belichick wants to falsely prop up those guys. guys so that they get expectations go up then they get fired then he just brings them back yeah i think he's my coordinator that long anyways it's all an elaborate scheme sidebar um but yeah the Broncos have turned their season around dramatically playing good on i mean they're running the ball decently probably not as good as they want to still but it's getting better javanti williams looks explosive he looks physical yeah the past games

come alive the uh the the biggest issue for them right now is they can't freaking pass protect, Steve, and that's the fatal flaw for me. Okay. I was, that I was going to say the run, the run defense is up there too. That's still not solidified a bunch. It's no. Yes. What's being helped now is that their secondary has figured it out. They've figured out the unit of guys that they want in there. It took them a while, but now that they have, they have Fabian Moreau, they have Patrick's or Tan, they've got Jayquan McMillian.

and then, you know, Simmons back there at safety, like they've found their unit in the back end, but that front end can still get run on a lot. The Broncos are weird because their run defense, other than I think the Vikings early in the year ran the ball against them, right? Am I crazy for thinking that? Well, anyways, they play, when they play teams that aren't great at running the ball,

example, Houston, Houston couldn't run the ball against them, the Chargers this week couldn't run the ball against them. The run defense has been fine, They play teams that are above average at all running the football. They get gashed. So it's a really weird dichotomy where it's, you can't really point to, it's just been the opposites basically.

Really good run D or really bad run D. There's really not a lot of games in between. I do think, like we mentioned this week against the Lions, I think the Lions, especially with the way golf has played, they should come out with like a U of M style approach, just cramming the ball down their throat.

I think that would be the line's best course of action there. And history suggests. the Broncos won't be able to stop that. But their pastures been awful, though. I think Russell Wilson's been under pressure the second most in the NFL. Some of that is his own fault. He holds the ball for an eternity on every dropout. But they also have some guys that aren't winning their 1V1s in pass pro.

Yeah. And it's like outside of Cortland Sutton, which he's played incredibly well, but outside of Cortland Sutton, you're not getting a lot of production out of the other receivers. you're not getting a ton from Marvin Mims you're not getting a ton from Jerry Judy you're getting a lot of like the as they've been winning more it's been a lot of big splash plays by Cortland Sutton and so

will that continue can that continue do are they able is Russell Wilson able to get those other guys involved that's a that's kind of a it's a big question for me coming down the stretch here is you just do teams start to focus more

of their attention on Cortland Sutton and say, beat us with Jerry Judy and Marvin Mims. Yeah. The thing with Judy is he's just, he's a middle of the field player. And so, yes, is always troubled with that. He's just not going to get involved. I think Judy looks good. I watch the tape because I keep thinking I missed on this guy.

I loved him coming out. And I keep thinking I miss on him. Then I go watch the tape and I'm like, ah, I don't know yet. I still don't know. I need to see him with the QB who's willing to throw over the middle. and then whatever. But let's move on. We got two teams to get into left.

The Cincinnati Bengals, I think it's obvious without Joe Burrow. That's kind of a death. Browning's played good, though. I do want to give Browning some credit. I was just out. I know we just said that the Indianapolis Colts, secondary is probably their fatal flaw,

but I was just going back this morning and I was watching through all Jake Browning snaps in the All-22. And he is getting through his progression really well. He's really he's good at being patient in the pocket. He does not drop his eyes even with pressure. I was

wildly impressed with his pocket presence and his ability to get through his progressions. Yeah, you know what's interesting about Browning. He's yet another one of these guys, Steve, for your starter in college.

He had 1,500 dropbacks at the college, over 1,500 dropbacks at the college level. So he comes in and you think he's a young and experienced guy. Well, the reality is he's actually a lot more experienced than a lot of the dudes playing in the NFL right now. Four years started, 1,500 plus dropbacks. I think recently we've seen, like,

Brock Purdy is another great example. Like, he comes in. It's not, it's actually, he's not panicking. He's really confident what he's doing. Yeah. He looks great. So maybe that's not a fatal flaw. I just think that eventually it will be.

But I've also said that, about Brock Curtis in the last 18 months and that's fighting for me as currently. So we're good. Outside, like if it's not Browning, let's say he continues playing at this level, which, hey, listen, with their receivers that they have, it's not out of the realm of possibility. And from what I've seen in, you know, the two games that he's played fully, it might not happen, but their defense also can get picked apart.

They can get run on. their defense can their secondary can get picked apart they just haven't been as consistent as a unit as they had been like last year in the year prior you're seeing i they had been and i've talked about it before they had banked a ton on continuity and it's just like at times they just don't have the guys that they need to to make big plays yeah um bills fatal flaw i don't know man like a couple weeks ago I would have said it was the offense and Josh Allen playing really bad but Joe Brady's got them back on track they have identified James Cook as a legit pass game weapon

which it's amazing to me that that wasn't the default position with him when he was like fourth he's fourth in the NFL in yards per route run the last like three or four weeks since Brady took over yeah he's been excellent and it's weird as that was his profile

coming out of college is like he was a past catching weapon who's going to be just okay in the run game. And that's exactly what he is. But when you spread it out like the bills do, and you want to get the, like, Josh Allen's playing his best when he's not holding it forever and making bad decisions when he's getting the ball out quickly.

And then you set up those big plays. They're at their best. They've identified Cook. I hate saying a running back has moved the needle because I'm anti, I'm team running back so matter. But James Cook has really made a difference there, getting him another option. Now he has Diggs,

Concade, and Cook, that all can play within rhythm and structure. And then for those big shots, you've got Gabe Davis, you've got Deante Hardy, Khalil Shakir. Things have come together on offense there. The pass protection has been good. Defensively, Steve, their pass rush has come alive. Like early in the year they were struggling. Their pressure rates up to 37% on the year.

Really solid number. They've had to blitz more than they normally like to to get to that number. I think their blitz rates 24%. I think last year they were down around 10. They blitzed fewer than any team in the NFL. But it doesn't matter. As long as you're getting the pressure, that's all that matters. their pressure rates up.

Secondary, as banged up as it is, is starting to play a little bit better, Steve. Like, we're seeing things happen. At Von Miller. In the AFC? Like, if you are, let's just pick a team, not the Ravens. If you're the dolphins with the two seed and you're catching a seven seed bills, are you freaking just terrified of that matchup?

Horrified, especially considering they beat, I mean, well, again, this is another one where they have a matchup down the road here. last a couple weeks. But I mean, they what? The bills beat him 4023 earlier this year. And that was with, you know, still trying to figure all of this out. No.

Yeah. A big thing is I think Von Miller's finally fully healthy. Like, there's been. Not getting charges apparently. There's been just some of these guys that with the way that injury recovery has gone. and how fast some of these guys come back, we expect them to be at full strength right when they step on the field.

If you're back on the field, you should be at full strength. That's not the case. And you've seen it, you're seeing it really with Von Miller a lot, is that he got injured in week nine last year. He's barely a year removed. He got injured on Thanksgiving Day last year.

He tore his ACL. We are now just over a year removed. The man is 35. Right. And he's just, it just took him some time to recover as it does from ACLs. And I just think that he's finally healthy. And that helps, I mean, that helps their entire defensive line that makes, that allows at Oliver to come alive.

It allows Rousseau to be their second pass rusher who I think he's, he's much better as a, as a complimentary guy rather than your ace pass rusher. Epinessa is making plays now. Like it just, I think that now that he's finally healthy, it just. just changes it. He's one of those guys that just completely changes the complexion of that defense. He keeps, you know, now, now I think teams are going to have to focus more on Von Miller, which frees up their linebackers, which if we're really going to get down to it,

their linebackers are probably the worst unit on that defense. But, hey, if you can keep linebackers clean, most NFL linebackers can play really well. And so I think that, yeah, they're, they're really scary if Josh Allen doesn't turn over. If Josh Allen is playing in phase, they're a terrifying team. To your point about the pastures getting healthy, the last five weeks, their pressure rate has gone up. Let's see, they're at 30, almost 39% the last five weeks. Their blitz rate has dropped under 20% the last five weeks.

So they are, so they're getting more pressure with less guys. That's actually really impressive. I think that is exactly what you've uncovered there with the health. Epinessa developing, Von Miller getting healthy. Maybe it's their run defense then, Steve, because teams can run on these guys. Yeah, that's true. If you had to pick a fatal fall, maybe that's it.

Maybe it's that run defense. Yeah, they are one of the worst run defenses in the NFL. But when you have Josh Allen, that's okay. Because if your team, if your offense can put up a bunch of points, you can negate a team's run offense by just scoring them out of the game. That's split. And we've actually seen them have success against heavy. run teams. Miami tried to do that when they played them and then the bills ran them off the field.

Yeah, it's funny. They get gashed by teams that do they're the exact opposite of the Broncos. They get gashed by teams that have really bad rushing offenses, but they they shut down good rushing offenses, which I guess is kind of a good way to live because a lot of playoff teams aren't going to have bad rushing offenses. Yeah. That's a good point. All right, we have to get out of here. We are 30 seconds until we hit the hour mark. We try to do these shows in under an hour. So with that said, Steve, let's get out of here. Yep, let's do it. Let's get out.

All right. We'll be back next week. Hopefully with some more awesome playoff insights, got a lot of fun games coming. Three games on Saturday, so that's a lot to talk about. That would be cool. Yes. But with that said, guys, enjoy the week. Fantasypoints.com for all the cool stuff.

We are out. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. come join the roster at fantasy points.com.