Fantasy Football Today - 09/23: Injury Updates, Fun Stats, Buy or Sell (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 23, 2019

Dr. Brandon Bowers joins us to give his thoughts on Saquon Barkley's ankle, Julian Edelman's ribs, Cam Newton's foot and more. What are the timetables for these guys? Will Barkley be the same when he returns? Then we bring on Will Brinson and Chris Towers for some Buy or Sell with Keenan Allen, the Browns offense and more. And we've got snap counts and more stats that will help Fantasy owners as we look at who is trending in the right direction and who is trending down. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Welcome to the fun day, early evening edition, everybody. Hope your week three went well. Hope you enjoyed the Sunday night show. Hope you're going to get some pizza for dinner tonight. And if you are, how about ordering your favorite online from Little Caesars and using Pizza Portal Pickup. It's the latest, greatest, and hottest way to pick up a pizza

without even going to the register. And I'll tell you about that a little bit later when we have Will Brinson and Chris Towers on. But right now we have Dr. Brandon Bowers. He's a contributor on Sportsline. Dr. Bowers, welcome to Fantasy Football Today. How are you doing? Adam, I'm doing great.

I appreciate you having me on the show to chat about some injuries here. Oh, I know. I wish we didn't have to do it. But, you know, the number one pick in fantasy drafts and many fantasy drafts, Saquon Barkley, he could... What do you think of the timeline? As We've seen four to eight weeks, high ankle sprain. What are you thinking here for Barkley? Yeah, really the timeline that they've given the four to eight, and I saw four to six before he had his MRI, is really right on par with what we typically see with this type of injury. When we have a high ankle sprain,

it's an injury to the syndesmosis joint, which is a stable joint that's right above the ankle. And when it's injured, it becomes very unstable and becomes problematic. So I'd say four to eight weeks is right on course with what we typically see clinically. And he should be back to being 100% afterwards? Afterwards, he'll probably be a little bit limited. There's a chance that this thing will bark at him the rest of the season. It'll really take probably a full off season for him to get 100% right. But he should be pretty close to 80 to 90% when he does come back after his rehab after the shutdown time of 48 weeks. Now you, like I said, you're a Sportsline contributor. So you write a weekly column for Sportsline? I do. That comes out every Thursday morning and I'll discuss injuries each week. The guys that we're hitting on here today will all be

included in the injury report. I discuss return to play timetables. I'll discuss injuries each week. The guys that we're hitting on here today will all be included in the injury report. I'll discuss return-to-play timetables. I'll dive into the anatomy and physiology of these injuries from a clinical and work side of things. So that way, consumers of the Sportsline content will have good information to help make decisions about their fantasy football teams. So how do you deal with injury reports, with all the questionables? We don't have probable anymore as of a few years ago now. Have you been able to read in between the lines basically with some different coaches, different teams and their injury reports? Yeah, I mean, it can be a little bit difficult at times, but what I rely on heavy is just my clinical experience. When you have an

idea of certain injuries, for example, a soft tissue injury, a hamstring or a quad, which we'll chat about with some guys here in a little bit, tend to be a little more finicky. So it's more of a true questionable in that situation. Other injuries like an ankle sprain or something else like that, questionable, might lean more towards them actually being able to play. But it can still be a little bit difficult to get a vibe with that probable designation having been done away with a couple years ago.

All right, we've got Julian Edelman and Josh Gordon. Edelman with a rib contusion. Josh Gordon who returned with a hand injury. Man, I saw enough of that Patriots game. It seemed like Josh Gordon was taking a hard tumble to the ground almost every time he went out for a pass. He just got beat up, but he did stay in the game, and I think he led the team in receiving.

But do you think we could be looking at absences here for Edelman and Gordon? I think an absence for Edelman is going to be a little bit more likely than for Gordon. Now, I'm not guaranteeing that Edelman is going to miss some time. He's going to have an MRI later today to evaluate the integrity of his rib cartilage. The x-rays came back normal on his actual ribs, so that's good. There's no rib fracture, but the rib cartilage is what they're looking at now. So again, we're early in the week, so I'd say right now he's probably 50-50 for week four. As for Gordon, he's dealing with

a little bit of a hand and a finger injury. He was able to return to the game, which is usually a good indicator that these guys will be okay moving forward. So in terms of either one of these guys missing time, I'd say it'd be Edelman over Gordon if any time needs to be missed. I'm going to ask you about a couple of players who re-aggravated an injury, but I did want to plug Sportsline. I kept forgetting to do that. Sportsline's awesome. You get the injury analysis from Dr. Bowers, but you also get great gambling advice, great fantasy advice. It's just a really cool website. It's only $9.99 a month, but if you want your first month for $1, go to sportsline.com and use the promo code huddle promo code is huddle and I do want to thank everybody for all of your five star reviews

it is so so appreciated and we'll do our best to read your iTunes questions if you leave us a review in iTunes, Apple Podcasts, five star review with a question we'll try to read them on the Wednesday show and the Saturday mailbag which will be start or sit. So please keep on giving us good reviews and helping spread the word, tell your friends, all that stuff, and help us grow. All right, so how do you feel when players re-aggravate an injury, as T.Y. Hilton did with a quad and LeSean McCoy did with an ankle? You know, this is really cause for concern here, Adam,

especially with Hilton in this quad. The quad strain falls into a bucket of injuries that we refer to as soft tissue injuries. So you're pulled quads, you're pulled a limited participant in practice last week, and then he tweaked it again. So what may have initially been a two- to four-week thing may take more in the realm of four to six weeks. So the team doesn't seem too concerned that's going to be the case here for Hilton, but that's what we'll typically see with these re-injuries. When we're looking at a guy like LaShawn McCoy dealing with an ankle sprain to the ankles on the outside of the ankle, again, the team doesn't seem too concerned it's going to be a big problem for McCoy. But anytime you re-aggravate an ankle injury, these ligaments become overstretched again. That stability is compromised. And then we really kind of got to take a couple steps back in rehab to make sure we get this thing right.

So there's definitely an opportunity for both of these guys to extend the rehab and extend this issue further into the season. But time's really going to tell. Keep an eye on their practice participation this week, and that'll give us a good indication of each of their statuses for week four. Finally, Brandon, I want to ask you about Cam Newton, who's already been ruled out for week four. And it doesn't seem like he's all that close, but I just don't know. He's got a foot injury that he hurt in the preseason. He's re-aggravated it. Again, another re-aggravation of an injury. So if you're a Cam Newton fantasy owner, what are you expecting right now? I'm expecting him to miss some time, I mean, to be honest with you, Adam. When we're dealing with these midfoot injuries, especially in Cam Newton, who's a dual threat quarterback who gets it done through the air

and on the ground, this becomes problematic. And what becomes problematic is his ability to plant on that foot and change direction quickly. So I don't anticipate this to be another week or two thing. I really do believe that this could turn into a four or five or six week issue. So if I've got Cam Newton on my fantasy team, I'm exploring other options either within the Panthers organization or elsewhere, because I don't think this thing's going to be resolved here over the next couple of weeks. Yep, could be Kyle Allen for all of you out there if you need a quarterback. Brandon, how can we follow you on Twitter?

Yeah, on Twitter you guys can find me at BLBowers12, and as Adam mentioned, I'm on there doing the Sportsline Injury Report every week that drops every Thursday with details of all the big-time injuries to NFL players and their impact on your fantasy football teams. Awesome stuff, man. Thank you so much. And we'll hope to hear from you again. All right, Adam, thanks for having me on. That is Dr. Brandon Bowers. And we got much more to come as we will now talk to Chris and Will. All right, we're going to bring on Will and Chris now. But have you ordered pizza online from Little Caesars yet? If not, you're missing out on Pizza Portal Pickup.

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But it's only available at Little Caesars Pizza Pizza. Brinson, Brinson, what's up, man? Man, I love Little Caesars because it reminds me of the halcyon days of my childhood. Because Little Caesars, right? You get two pizzas for the price of one. Your parents would always order Little Caesars for sleepovers. Always. And so I love eating Little Caesars. It's delicious. And it reminds me of when you got body slammed by Eric Young during the telethon,

which is also cool. Chris Towers is here. What's up, Chris? I ate a lot of Little Caesars in college. They're not paying me to say that. My body was like 40% Little Caesars during my college. 60% alcohol, 40% Little Caesars. That was pretty much a very healthy combination.

Well, we got some buy or sell from Will and some awesome stats from Chris. Let's react, though, to Saquon Barkley out four to eight weeks. We just talked about it with Dr. Bowers, but out four to eight weeks could be closer to eight weeks, and it's just a huge blow to fantasy owners. So, Chris, what are you writing up on the website right now on CBSSports.com slash fantasy? Yeah, I'm going to be looking at some waiver wire options and some, I think, specifically buy low running backs that you can target to replace Saquon Barkley.

There's no replacing Saquon Barkley, and especially not on the waiver wire, because right now, I would say the top running back that you could go get is Rex Burkhead. Who's 47% owned and is coming off of a very good game, but that was with James White sideline. So that kind of tells you the state of running back. Your other options could be similar like Daryl Williams, Ronald Jones, who has now outplayed Peyton Barber in two out of three games for the Buccaneers, whatever that might mean to you. And then Alexander Madison, if you're looking for some upside, he's not someone that I think you can start on a weekly basis quite yet. But if anything happens to Dalvin Cook, I think it's fair to say Madison right now looks like

arguably the top handcuff in fantasy. But are you putting all these guys ahead of Wayne Gallman? You kind of have to, right? No, I don't think so. I don't know what you guys think. I still think this Giants offense is probably going to be pretty bad. Daniel Jones was very impressive in week one. They get Golden Tate back in week five. Daniel Jones was really impressive in his first game, not week one,

obviously, uh, Sterling Shepard's fine. Evan Ingram's good, but this isn't going to be a team that scores a lot of points. Wayne Gallman. I think he pointed out, uh,

earlier today on Twitter that Wayne Gallman has been one of the three least efficient receiving backs in the NFL since he, uh, became an, uh, a regular player. Doesn't matter. That's that. That doesn't really matter to me. I just don't see him on the jump side.

That doesn't really matter to me. I mean, he hasn't had much passing game opportunity. He hasn't played with Daniel Jones. I just don't think there's enough sample size there. He's not that good. He's not that good. You're such an adorable giant. No, I'm not.

I'm not adorable at all. But are you going to take, I'm not saying I know the answer here, but are you going to take Wayne Gallman who might have a starting job for roughly six weeks or Rex Burkhead who, you know, might, might be pretty limited.

You know what I mean? It's like, you've got a starter here. So I think I probably lean Gallman over uninspiring option. I'd actually go Ronald Jones over a Gallman. Here's why you should go Rex Burkhead over Wayne Gallman. The next four games for the

let's say, Saquon Barkley's probably going to miss six weeks. I think it's six plus. I think it's probably six to eight. Four would be an incredible recovery and that'd be awesome. I think it would probably be more. I think the Giants would be cautious with them. I don't think they want to rush Saquon Barkley back. They know that this season, even though they're now one and two,

they're probably not going to compete. I mean, maybe they think they can compete. I don't know. We'll see what happens. But they get the Redskins, Vikings, Patriots, and Cardinals the next four weeks. Cardinals defense, I think, is a little bit better than maybe it showed yesterday. But the Vikings and the Patriots are tough matchups. The Patriots are allowing – I need to see – I mean, it's only going to go down

because they snuffed the Jets out. They were allowing 0.12 points per drive coming into week three and 19.96 yards per drive. They were allowing less than 20 yards per drive. So them plus the Vikings, you're not getting good matchups with Gallman. And I think when you look at the Patriots, what we've seen in Chris, this is why I would lean towards Rex, Rex Burkhead being a good option is when they've gotten a lead, they have been more than happy to go with Rex Burkhead in these early games because they don't want

to wear down Sonny Michelle and they want to have him fresh for the end of the year. They get the bills, Redskins, giants, and jets over the next four weeks. I think Rex Burkhead is probably going to see a pretty substantial workload over that stretch of time because they're going to be winning those games. Maybe the bills game is close. They're, you know, they're favored by seven on the road,

but if they're up big against these teams, they're going to use Rex Burkett to close things out. And if James White is missing, then they're going to feed him in the passing game too. And, and the nice thing was just out because of the birth of his child. But what if he takes, what if James White takes like six weeks of paternity leave?

He's not Jamie Eisenberg. No, the, but the, the other thing that you want to keep in mind with Burkhead is if James White does get hurt or Sonny Michelle, who has a history of knee issues dating back to high school, misses time.

Burkhead's kind of the guy who bridges the gap between the two of them. They use him in the passing game. They use him in short yardage. They've split him out wide as a receiver in the past. And Sonny Michel's also just been horrendous this season. He has one broken tackle

on 45 carries so far. He has one more broken tackle than I do so far this season. That's a good stat. Good stat. He's just been terrible. There's a chance that Sonny Michel, Dave wrote this in the early Waverwire look

that's up on CBS Fantasy now. There's a chance that Sonny Michel just continues to lose work to Rex Burkhead just on the merits. I guess I'd just say that if there's one guy out there who's most likely to get 15 carries, it's Goleman, but that doesn't mean they'll be good.

I don't like this for daniel jones because i he played really well yesterday but i think uh i think losing barkley's a huge deal for him it's a problem but i would look if you're i mean obviously you know if you're in a two quarterback league you want to snag daniel jones and i mentioned that the the tough stretch there. But I think Daniel Jones is, with the way that Pat Shermer called that game, utilizing read option, the read option plays as much as he did. And with Jones being a willing scrambler, this is a guy who's got a really nice floor in terms of a starting quarterback, even in a 12-team standard league, in my opinion. All right, let's move on.

Let's do the buy or sell. What's your first buy or sell, Will? I'm supposed to have those ready? It's about Keenan Allen. I'm just kidding. I'm going to buy the idea that Keenan Allen and his massive target share can finish the season as the number one

wide receiver in fantasy. It's not even close right now. He is 18 points ahead of Julio Jones. He has 29 catches, 404 yards, and three touchdowns, and 42 targets. And I don't see anyone else who has more than 33 targets. Michael Thomas, I think, is second at 33. That's crazy.

Yeah. And nobody else on that team even has 21. Nobody else has as many as half as him. Austin Eckler has 20. So the next, the number two wide receiver is Mike Evans with 15. The one thing I would say from this is that maybe Mike Evans is, or Mike Williams, sorry, is maybe a buy low in this Chargers offense just because they can't keep giving Keenan Allen 36% of Phillip Rivers targets, can they?

No. I mean, they kind of can, but like the thing about Keenan Allen 36% of Phillip Rivers targets can they no I mean they kind of can but like the thing about Keenan Allen is he's not he's not like Mike Evans like he's a chain he's an incredible route runner he's a chain mover and without Hunter Henry to really be that third down type of guy Phillip Rivers has to lean on Keenan Allen

now maybe I agree with you Mike Williams is a great by low especially because one would think that at some point teams would start, you know, maybe rolling a little coverage Keenan Allen's way. The Texans were Adam Archuleta. Our CBS sports colleague was eviscerating them. The Texas defensive approach and Romeo Crinnell on that broadcast because they were playing like six yards off Keenan Allen. He's just just getting free release off the line of scrimage, and they're just plopping it right to him. 17 targets, 13 catches.

I wouldn't dream of trading Keenan Allen in a PPR situation because I think if he plays 16 games, he can be the wide receiver one. But I don't even know if you can sell high on him because it has to come down some. Yeah, you get DeAndre Hopkins, maybe. Would you trade him for Devontae Adams? I don't. I'd rather have Keenan Allen.

Yeah. I think the Chargers are in a situation where their defense isn't as good as we thought it was. Their running game is fine, but it's mostly supplemented through Austin Eckler in the passing game. And Phillip Rivers is going to have to throw the ball a ton this year. And so, in my opinion, I think Green Bay looks like it's got a great defense and they're fine running the ball and sort of being neutered in terms of what Aaron Rodgers brings to the table. I love Hopkins, obviously. If you can flip Keenan Allen for Hopkins, it's hard not to do it. But what if Deshaun Watson doesn't play 16 games? I think

that's more realistic than Phillip Rivers stopping throwing the ball. Okay. And he's another guy who has had bad touchdown luck in his career. I don't know if it's luck, but he's never had more than eight, and he's already got three Keenan Allen. So that's Julio Jones breaking the mold. T.Y. Hilton so far breaking the mold. All right, let's get to your next buy or sell. Will, do you have it or do you need an assist?

I've got it up. I'm going to buy that Kyle Allen makes the Panthers wide receivers and tight ends, Greg Olson. And obviously, of course, Christian McCaffrey. Startable in fantasy moving forward. Curtis Samuel, DJ Moore. Allen makes the Panthers wide receivers and tight ends. Greg Olson. Um, and obviously of course, Christian McCaffrey, uh, startable and fantasy moving forward. Curtis Samuel,

DJ Moore startable with Kyle Allen under center. We got two targets. That's the one that I would say. Yeah. I think I'm sorry. I'm sorry. DJ Moore, DJ Moore,

my first DFS league, DFS tournament, big tournament using a Curtis, Curtis Samuel, Kyle Allen stack. So suck it. Uh, DFS tournament, big tournament, using a Curtis Samuel Kyle Allen stack, so suck it. No, I don't know. Look, is he better than an injured Cam Newton? Yeah.

Is he better than a good Cam Newton? I would hope. I would think no. One of the reasons why I like Cam Newton so much coming into this season, besides the fact that last year, especially before the injury late, it was the best passing season we'd ever seen from him, was this was the best collection of weapons that he'd ever had. DJ Moore, Curtis Samuel, Greg Olson and Christian McCaffrey. Greg Olson looks to be back to where he was before the foot injuries the last two seasons. So I think for me, it might be more that maybe it's less Kyle Allen makes the Panthers,

uh, skill position player startable. Then they're good enough to overcome whatever Kyle Allen's deficiencies might be, which may not be that great based on what we've seen in his two NFL starts. Well, I think one of the things with the Panthers offense too, is that remember this is not with what they want to do with Christian McCaffrey and DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel. This is not like the old days of Mike Shula where they would run go routes and just try and get separation down the field. They can beat you deep. And Kyle Allen showed that he's like already is a better deep ball thrower than the injured Cam Newton, clearly. But because they like to use those guys in like satellite type of ways around the line of scrimmage you can be accurate and just hope that they get yards after the catch

now i'm not saying that carter i'm not saying carter sam is a wide receiver one but people you know if you draft if you drafted him expecting him to become your be your wide receiver three become your wide receiver two uh i feel like there is a chance of it happening or at least him being a wide receiver three or flex guy with Kyle Allen, whereas 48 hours. But isn't Kyle Allen going to play like one or two more games? I mean, should we even be having this conversation? I am not of that opinion, no.

All right. But you believe for sure when Cam Newton's healthy, Cam's starting, right? Yes. Okay. All right. Give me one more buy or sell will it's gonna think i've made three buys or you want one buyer you want to sell it doesn't matter give me one more and then we'll tell you if we buy or sell but you can obviously

well i was fine uh the browns i guess that game would be more fun the browns is a fantasy for the browns are not a fantasy-friendly offense until Freddie Kitchens gives up the play calling. You're buying. You're saying... No, I'm selling the Browns and buying that idea. Okay, that's what I meant. You're selling the Browns as a fantasy-friendly offense

while Freddie Kitchens is calling plays. But I would also buy low on the Browns right now. I think it's a good time to buy low on the Browns. Man, I think, you know, look, I think a draw play on fourth and nine is actually a great idea. You know, it's probably going to work. He didn't know it was fourth down. He had no idea.

You think so? I mean, it's better than, like, thinking that fourth and draw is a good move. I don't know. So my question. I'm going to sell. Well, I think the offensive line is the problem here. I mean, they can't drop back and throw. He has no time.

But I've seen teams overcome off bad offensive lines before. So I'm going to sell. I'm going to say that the Browns offense is fine, except for Landry. So it's just Mayfield, Chubb, and Beckham I think are really good and will be good. Yeah, who are we buying low on is my question. It has to be Mayfield. I don't think anybody's worried about Chubb,

given the workload that he's gotten. I think he played 98% of their snaps yesterday, if not 100. And Odell Beckham's averaging 96 yards per game. Now, a lot of that came on an 89-yard touchdown. But the overall number... Are you telling me that today, Odell Beckham's owner, who drafted him ostensibly in the first round or early in the second round, is sitting around with his feet up on his desk or her desk, perhaps, going, ah, life is good. Odell Beckham is fine.

And this is fine. I mean, like he's just drinking a cup of coffee in a burning house and isn't freaking out about Odell Beckham at all. Are you sure about that? I think they should be. I think, okay, he had 56 yards on six catches yesterday. That's not great, but that's basically... He's had 11 targets, 10 targets, and 9 targets, so there's no workload concerns.

He's had the one huge game, and then he's had two. If the floor is 11 PBR points, which is what we've seen from him so far, I don't think there's any reason to be concerned about, oh, no, Beckham. Now, if that person is concerned, I'm telling them not to be. Yeah, exactly. I agree.

He's got 30 targets. He has 9, 10, and 11 in three games. If he averages 10 targets per game, if Beckham gets 160 targets, he's going to have a great year. He is historically a slow starter. And he's going to... I think you're... Yeah, hold on.

Last point. He will overcome a bad offensive line. Because Chris Collinsworth pointed it out time and time again last night on the broadcast. When it was taking Mayfield more than two and a half seconds to throw, they were very unsuccessful because their tackles stink.

Guess what? Beckham played his entire Giants career, basically, with a bad offensive line. Last year was okay. So he'll be fine. I think they'll be all right. And I'm not worried about Beckham at all. Oh, no. Like, Oh, we, we can't be sure that Odell Beckham is going to be good with a,

a mediocre quarterback playing bad offensive line. Right. Exactly. I feel like you can't be. Yeah. I guess, I guess you guys are sort of, okay. I don't think that in the mindset of the average Nick Chubb or Odell Beckham fantasy owner right now that they are happy with, like, I think they're concerned about the state of the Browns. I mean, the Browns are just concerning in general. And so my point would be that you could go to said Nick Chubb owner or said Odell Beckham owner and try and make a buy low offer. And I mean, maybe you go and would you offer, would you, if somebody offered you Austin Eckler for Nick Chubb, would you hang up the phone and discuss? No, I take it. I would. Oh no, no, no, no, no. I would rather have Chubb. Would you hang up the phone and discuss? No, I'd take it.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I would rather have Chubb. Easily, I'd rather have Chubb. Me too, but I think that the Eckler, the Chubb owner might contemplate that offer. Sure. I mean, sure. I think we're all on the same page that Beckham and Chubb are good by-low guys.

And Chubb had another, he had a touchdown callback yesterday and he should have had a touchdown on week one, but Hilliard got it. So, I mean, like he's their short yardage guy. He's got 11 catches in three games. It's good stuff for Nick Chubb. All right, Will,

thank you very much for your buyer sales. We're going to get some stats from Chris. We have exciting news that Will won a FanDuel contest and I cashed in all three of my contests on FanDuel. I did a 50-50. I did the million-dollar tournament. I think I made 20 bucks in that.

And I played an hour of Fantasy Football Today League, you know, for just our listeners at FanDuel.com slash FFT slash join. I cashed in all three. And in two of those three, I had Jameis Winston and Mike Evans. And that is just so fun when you have a combo like that

or when you stack a team and you see it all happening. You're like, oh, dude, I got to check FanDuel. And, you know, it's just really fun on Sundays. So there are more ways to win than ever on FanDuel. Please sign up. If you are a new user, you'll get $20 in site credit. You can do 20 tournaments, 20 contests with those $20. You get $5 a week in site credit. And if

you go to fanduel.com slash FFT, deposit 20 bucks and get 20 back, basically. You get an extra $5 in site credit every week for four weeks. Fanduel.com slash FFT, or you can download the Fanduel app. And it's just great. New teams every week. So much fun. Loving FanDuel. Can't wait to compete against you. Go to fanduel.com slash FFT. Well, I got to tell you, you know the music I'm about to play now as Chris gets ready to give us some stats. Kind of a weird moment for me. 35 years old and I found out today

for the first time in my life, I need glasses. I need glasses. I need glasses. So this song is for me. I'm part of the glasses group now. How about that? And I can't see a damn thing because my pupils are dilated. So, Chris, I

can't even read your advanced stats. What do you got for us today? Hey, do you want to hear a funny glasses thing, by the way? My entire family, mom, dad, brother, everyone, has just horrific, horrible eyesight. My mom is legally blind

without her glasses, and I have perfect 20-20 vision. Hey, man, that's what I thought, too. Will you stop telling us to suck it? That's twice.

I told my family to suck it. Anyway, go on with your stats, Chris. Anyway, go over the stats. Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Now things have changed. Go ahead, Chris. All right.

I didn't want to drop this one earlier because I knew we were coming back to it. But you know how good he's been. Forty two targets. We were talking about the huge volume. He's also second in the league in yards per route run. He hasn't just been a volume monster. He's also been incredibly efficient. He's playing

at an absurdly high level. I'm not sure I've ever seen someone with this kind of target volume and that efficiency. It's really impressive what we're seeing so far. Great receiver and it's all coming together. I should mention he had 10 targets in week one. That's when Hunter Henry played. Since then he has 32

in two games. I did not check the past attempts for Philip Rivers, but no Hunter Henry is helping. All right. What else you got? What was the most interesting snap count that you saw in terms of running backs? The most interesting snap count, Cher, I would say was probably Seattle. CJ Proceiss actually played not just more snaps than Chris Carson in week three, but significantly more. He played 55% of the team's snaps compared to 44% for Carson. Now, partially, that was the result of the fact that Russell Wilson, I believe, threw the ball more than 40 times for the first time in the Schottenheimer era. He threw it over 50 times. But partially, I think that has to be the result of the fact that Chris Carson has now fumbled the ball three times in three games.

He's lost all three of them. Losing all three is partially bad luck. I think technically he might have had a fourth fumble that was charged to Russell Wilson, but could have been on him. He seems to be doing everything he can to give this job away to someone. In week three, it was CJ Procise who benefited, but that was because Rashad Penny was out with a hamstring injury. And we didn't mention him during the Saquon Barkley discussion, but he's available in about 22% of CBS Fantasy Leagues. If he's out there, I'm going to get Rashad Penny anywhere I can. I've got him in a couple leagues already.

I think there's a chance he comes back and starts playing 40% of the snaps. I drafted Rashad Penny everywhere and it's cost me early in the season but I think you can tell that he's I think Chris Carson's a panic. If you're a Chris Carson owner and you invested him, you're pretty panicked right now.

That snap count is terrifying. But they were losing. So obviously they've got to get your your pass catching back on the field. After week one, we were all, he had, what, six targets in week one, and we were talking about him like, well, wow, he's going to be a three down back, and Penny's just going to be. But question, do you think there's a difference, though, between him, you know, being on the field in a close competitive game or with a lead and

catching passes there as opposed to okay we're really chasing points we're down three scores let's get the guy who's really not going to get a lot of carries and cj process let's really get him on the field because he's probably a better pass catcher plus i don't know how much process is going to play when penny comes back you know what i mean like if the game were more competitive i would think that carson would probably have more catches. He only had one target and one catch in week three, and he had nine catches in his first two games. But Penny also saw a bigger role in week two.

I think it was after Carson lost the first fumble, it was Penny who came on, had like 10 carries for 61 yards and a big touchdown. So Carson has gone from 76% of the snaps in week one, 55 in week two, 44% in week three. That's the exact opposite of what you wanted to see from Chris Carson, who we were so excited about after week one. Yeah, I don't understand how you wouldn't be.

I agree with you guys. You can't not be concerned about Carson. Pete Carroll did say he sort of made excuses for Carson. He said something like, it's just been perfect punch outs of the football, but that's what Pete Carroll did say he sort of made excuses for Carson. He said something like, it's just been perfect punch-outs of the football, but that's what Pete Carroll does. He's not critical publicly, and Carson hasn't

really been great. I mean, he's at less than four yards per carry. He's a fumble in every single game. At least one, yeah. That's just not going to fly. I mean, it led to the reason he fumbled against the Saints, and they took it to the house, and that led to them being down and him being off the field. fly. I mean, it led to the reason he fumbled against the Saints and they took it to the house,

and that led to them being down and him being off the field. Absolutely. All right, Chris, what else? Let's go with a similar one. Josh Jacobs has gone from 73% of the snaps in week one to 48% in week two, 42% in week three. And I think part of that is maybe the game flow that they've gone with.

Denver, they beat by one score, then they lost to Kansas City. They were up in the first quarter, and then Kansas City just poured 28 points on them in the second. And then they were down 21-0 to Minnesota because Minnesota either has a 21-0 lead or is down 21-0 in every single game so far. It's been incredible. But he only had 10 carries and two targets he was someone that

coming into the season there was some talk about him getting that passing downs work he actually i believe played fewer snaps yesterday than jaylen richard and even deandre washington got on the field for 15 of the team snaps if he's going to be game flow dependent, how many games can you look at on the Raiders schedule and think Josh Jacobs is going to get 15 plus touches? They've got the Colts coming up. That could be one, but then the Bears, a bye, at Packers, at Houston, and then versus Detroit in week nine, November 3rd.

So maybe two of the next six weeks, you can look at Josh Jacobs and say, wow, I feel confident he's going to get a healthy number of touches. It's not a great spot to be in. It's not. It's never a good spot if you're not involved in the passing game is another guy that we thought would be. And he just isn't. He is what?

Three catches this year. Three targets, one catch. Really? Yeah. I thought he had two catches at minnesota for no yards but either way um yeah very disappointing uh i would sell as hard as you can on josh jacobs because the raiders are terrible they're gonna be losing a bunch and they're gonna be passing a bunch and he's not gonna be out there okay yeah Okay. Yeah. What a bummer. Give me another one. Chris towers. Uh, how about Josh Allen? His average depth of target is down to 8.6 yards this season.

He's thrown the ball, uh, more than 20 yards, I believe around 15% of the time. Both of those are way down from last season when he led the NFL in both average depth of target and deep attempts. And his deep attempt rate last season was like, I think the only person in the last 15 years who was even close was Tim Tebow. The one season with Denver, that helps explain why Josh Allen's been a much more accurate passer. He's still, it seems like every week there's one deep ball where he's, I think it was Zay Jones this this week was open on a on a deep pass down the down the right sideline that could have been a touchdown he overthrew him in week two was john brown with one of the most overthrown wide open deep passes i've seen in a long time

but he's been a lot better and they're game planning a lot better uh to to minimize his weaknesses i think and it's made him look significantly better as a passer. Do you think he's good, Will? Because I'm not really... First of all, I said yesterday on the podcast that I don't think the Bills are going to make the playoffs. I just don't think they're very good. And I think a lot of that is I'm not a Josh Allen guy. And from a fantasy standpoint, 17 points at the Jets, 24 fantasy points at the Giants, and 19 fantasy points against the Bengals. Like, I need more. I need more touchdowns.

He's got one touchdown pass in each game. I just don't think he's very good, quite honestly. I think he's better than you're giving him credit for. They're not a very sexy offense, and they're not going to be high volume. I mean, this is a defensive heavy team. Like, he's not going to put up huge numbers against the Patriots next week. He's not going to pile up

touchdowns and gobs because they like to run the ball. And I mean, even at 37 or 36 passing attempts, he's completing a high percentage. I mean, I don't look, you're talking about a guy who's had 26 rushing attempts in three games. That's pretty good. It's very good. He's got two rushing touchdowns. So I think

the thing with Josh Allen is maybe his floor is just higher than we give him credit for. And he's a safe play in fantasy rather than the guy. He's not going to be the guy who led the league in fantasy points in the final five or six games of the season last year, unless he gets on a hot stretch against bad defenses. But I think he's got a good floor. And if you're dealing with like big Ben Drew Brees, he's a very viable replacement. Yeah, he just a very viable replacement. Yeah, he just needs to hit on some of these deep passes. That's the big thing because he's got this cannon of an arm. He's got John Brown, who seems to get open down the field every week.

And John Brown's been pretty good for fantasy. I think he's going to be a viable option moving forward. But if Josh Allen hits on that long touchdown in week two, if he hits on that Zay Jones pass yesterday, he looks a lot different right now. You know, we haven't seen a 300 yard passing game from him, but he could be one play away. And the other thing I would add to, I agree with you. Look at that schedule after the buy. This is a guy who could go nuclear dolphins, Eagles, bad secondary Redskins, they're not good in the secondary. Browns, they're not good in the secondary.

Dolphins again. I mean, that's a five-game stretch where he could put up some mammoth numbers from week seven to week 11, and that's when you're going to be looking for a quarterback who is going to be, you're going to need a quarterback for your bye week replacement. So Josh Allen, I think, is a guy to target if he gets dropped this week because people are concerned that his ceiling

isn't high enough. Okay. All right. Good points there. Let's close with this. Let's close with the Rams. We talked about the Browns a little bit. How about the Rams? Todd Gurley did play 74% of the running back snaps, 74% of the snaps, and Malcolm Brown at 26%. But it was not a good game. And, Will, when I look at the Rams,

and I'm sure I'm going to talk about this with Dave and Jamie on Tuesday's show, I look at them and I'm seeing the Eagles from last year where it's just like something's missing from that magical Super Bowl season. And something's been missing from this Rams offense since their bye week, since Cooper Cup got hurt. And Cup, thank goodness for Cooper Cup, man. But I don't know. I just, they don't have this explosiveness.

Collinsworth, again, I mean, I think he's a great analyst, so I'll cite him a lot. He cited what the Patriots did in the Super Bowl and what the Browns did last night, taking away the outside run plays. And that's hurting the play action game. I don't think golf is playing that well. I think that's pretty obvious. You know, especially as it relates to Todd Gurley. Do we have a problem on our hands here?

Maybe. I mean, if you don't think Josh Allen's good, how can you think Jared Goff is good? Because Goff has been worse than Josh Allen this year by far. Well, it's three games. I mean, I think Josh Allen's never done what we've seen from Jared Goff. Jared Goff is completing 62.9% of his passes. Josh Allen's completing 64.1% of his passes. Four touchdowns and three interceptions.

Wait a second. You know what? This bothers me when people do this. Because you're going to sit here and you're going to give me these stats to tell me that Josh Allen's better than Jared Goff, but I know,

I know, Will, deep down that you think that Jared Goff is better than Josh Allen. So what are we talking about here? Are we talking about in real life or in fantasy? Yeah, yeah, real life.

Who's a better quarterback? I mean, I think that Jared Goff is a potentially very good quarterback, but I think Josh Allen could be good too. Who's a better quarterback? Who's a better quarterback? Who's a better quarterback? I mean, Jared Goff right now potentially very good quarterback, but I think Josh Allen could be good too. Who's a better quarterback? Who's a better quarterback?

Jared Goff right now is a better quarterback, but he's not playing like one. No, he's not. My concern with the Rams all along was that and look, I know that Chris is recording a separate room for me because we're not allowed to be near each other when we're discussing Todd Gurley, but the

offensive line, they replaced two or three. They have two or three new pieces on that offensive line. And Jared Goff is bad down the stretch. He got a little bit of a Super Bowl hangover. I mean, I just, I don't know that this Rams offense is necessarily just going to be magically explosive. Now, maybe that changes over the next few weeks. Maybe they played three decent defenses.

I mean, do we really think that Bill Belichick used the Super Bowl to figure out how to stop Sean McVay's offense and Sean McVay just can't change it and he just can't innovate at all? I mean, Cooper Cup has been marvelous. Brandon Cook's been pretty good. Jericho's just not hitting on these throws. These guys are not as wide open most of the time as they were last year, I think is probably the problem.

And the play-action passing game hasn't been working. And I think, you know, one thing that we've seen a lot is teams using the similar six man front that the Patriots used in the Super Bowl and trying to take away that zone running scheme and as well as the play action game. And Goff isn't necessarily, you know, a Ben Roethlisberger who you just drop back and have him throw it 45 times and they haven't needed him to do it yet. So I do wonder if there are some schematic issues that are limiting them, but I also just throw the ball to Todd Gurley a little more. Yeah, let's do that. Six targets and he's looked pretty good overall, I think. All right, guys. Well, I got to run. Thank you. We got to run.

We're out of time. So it's not just me, I promise. Will and Chris, much appreciated. Good stuff, guys. You got it, buddy. Thanks a lot. All right, cool. Will and I are going to keep podcasting. You're the one who's pushing us off.

We're just going to sit here, no recording for the next 10, 20 minutes. Another awkward outro for Bad Amazer. Thanks for listening, everybody. Waver Wire on Tuesday. Take it easy.