Fantasy Football Today - 11/18: Injury Updates; What's Wrong with the LAR and NE Offenses? (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: November 18, 2019

Dr. David Chao of ProFootballDoc.com and @ProFootballDoc on Twitter has the latest on Marlon Mack, Matthew Stafford and the rest of the QB injuries from Sunday's games. Dr. Chao tells us why Stafford's injury seems different than what he originally thought. And then Will Brinson and Chris Towers come on to answer your questions and talk about some struggling offenses. We give our takes on the NE offense (12:30), the LAR offense (22:00), Sam Darnold vs. Nick Foles rest of season (29:50), Joe Mixon vs. Devin Singletary vs. Tevin Coleman rest of season (32:30) and what to do about Deshaun Watson with tough matchups coming up (36:30). 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. Back here on Monday, November 18th, and we are ready to talk injuries with Dr. David Chow, and then Will Princeton and Chris Towers are joining me in a bit. Hey, remember that Patriots-Rams Super Bowl? Well, these two teams are really struggling on offense, and we're going to get to the bottom of it. Right now, we welcome you to the Fantasy Football Today Road Tour

presented by Little Caesars. Pizza for dinner tonight? 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. Dr. David Chow of ProFootballDoc.com

and you can follow him. You better follow him on Twitter at ProFootballDoc. Doc, he has a podcast. He's got so much great injury information. Welcome back. How are you doing, Dr. Chow? I'm doing good, Adam.

Thanks for having me. It is always a pleasure. Let's start with Marlon Mack. What do you think we're looking at here with Mack and his broken hand? Well, what we said yesterday at Twitter and at theprofootballdoc.com has come true that he broke a metacarpal in his right hand and will have surgery on it. And interestingly enough, he broke it warding off a tackler, and he still gained another 10 yards before he went out of bounds and exited the game. A short week, which makes it very hard, essentially impossible,

to play this Thursday when the Colts play the Texans. But he shouldn't be too long. I mean, the surgery actually stabilizes things. You've got to remember, DeMarco Murray, a couple years ago, I've done this with running backs as well, played the next week. But Thursday is just a lot to ask for. So he should be back as fantasy football playoffs come around.

The worry, though, is how effective will he be being a left-handed ball carrier? Obviously, usually you carry the ball in the outside hand, so when you're running to the right, you're carrying it in the right. But he'll be carrying it exclusively in the left hand. And what will his role be in the passing game? Either catching passes or pass protection. So I think that's what, in fantasy, you have to worry about. Injury-wise, he could return for the Week 13 game,

but you've got to be a little careful there. Okay, that's interesting. I guess if there's one running back, he'd be in a short list of running backs that you, I guess, would be the most okay with having an injury like this because he just doesn't do much in the passing game. But that is a good point. I mean, he gets so many carries and makes up for it.

Meanwhile, Matthew Stafford. So what's going on here is we got a report that, you know, from Ian Rappaport and then ESPN that it could be a six week injury. Are we looking at a season long thing for Stafford? You expressed some optimism last week, I believe. Oh, I totally did. And thank you for the chance to walk it back some. I expressed a lot of optimism based on the reports that it was a transverse process fracture, right? And based on the reports that Matt Patricia said it was up to him if he could play, right? Well, since he didn't practice all of last week and was ruled out, that's not the pattern of a transverse process fracture. Since Matthew Stafford is as tough as they come, right?

His 136-game streak, only Phillip Rivers more. I mean, Derek Carr, Cam Newton, Tony Romo all missed only one week with transverse process fracture. And so if you add it all up and you add in Ian's report and six weeks and so forth, I think he's got more than a transverse process fracture. First of all, upper thoracic transverse process fractures are almost never isolated. They come with associated other injuries. So yes, at this point, this is more than just a simple transverse process fracture down

in the lumbar spine. It's something in his upper spine. And so I have to take back the bucket he's going to play well before Thanksgiving or on Thanksgiving. I think he's iffy on Thanksgiving now. The six-week timeline, maybe you can shave it down to four or five, but he's not playing this next week either. And let's see if he even practices. And then I could come to find out that Bob Quinn said the doctors actually ruled him out the first week. And I don't think you would rule someone out with a transverse process fracture.

So based on reviewing everything here, you know, you got to call a spade a spade. And I think my impressions, although based on other reports of the transverse process, are not going to be correct. Do not count on him for Thanksgiving. Wow. Okay. Sorry, I didn't mean to call you out there, but it's good to update the info. Adam, it's good. You got to own it, right? I mean, it's not like I'm examining Matthew Stafford and perhaps was wrong. And even then, you can't always predict a guy's healing. And so I actually appreciate, A, the chance to rectify what I said, and B, appreciate the chance of being called out. I think it's a lot more authentic to say, yeah, that one wasn't right. I mean, you can't sit here and be one of these guys on Sunday morning radio. Pick me on

1700 and zero against the spread. I mean, it is what it is. Oh, yeah. Oh, it's very important in this industry. You have to own up to it for sure. So that was interesting stuff on Stafford. Now, Deshaun Watson, so you saw something with Deshaun Watson. He's got, obviously, the short week game against the Colts on Thursday. What did you see with Watson on Sunday? Well, once again, videoing on the website, I said, you know, he got a right high ankle sprain.

Now, it's not severe. It probably could be similar a little bit to what Patrick Mahomes got in week one. And we played through and until he re-aggravated in week five and six for Patrick Mahomes. So Deshaun Watson is in a similar boat. It's his right ankle, not his left. Pat Mahomes was his left. But it's a mild high ankle sprain by video. He was lucky to get his foot out. He limped a little bit. He's a great athlete. You could barely tell he

played through. But it is a short week game. I think he's going to play. I think he's going to be fine. But I think he's going to be perhaps a little less noble than typical. What can you tell us about Mitchell Trubisky? A lot of quarterback injuries, I guess, Trubisky. And Jameis Winston with an ankle. Yeah, if I had to rate them, okay, I get a lot of fans are saying, Trubisky hasn't hurt at all. The Bears are lying. I don't believe the Bears are lying about Mitch Trubisky's hip issue. I do think Matt Nagy is embellishing a little bit.

And who can blame him? He's trying to protect his quarterback, right? And think about this. I went and actually analyzed the plays, and you can see them at the website. And he did get hurt at the end of the first quarter when he took a knee to the backside of the hip hard enough for Michael Brockers that he actually dropped the ball as he was going to the ground when he got kneed there. And so that can swell up and be sore. Is his hip hurt? Is he sore there?

Absolutely. Did it tighten up on him? Probably. Is he injured where he couldn't have played the final three minutes? No. I don't think he's injured. I think he's hurt. I think the Bears aren't lying.

But think about this. Deshaun Watts, of the three quarterbacks that, quote, got injured on Sunday, Deshaun Watson, Jameis Winston, and Mitchell Trubisky, I would say Watson's the worst. Next worst is Jameis Winston with a medial ankle sprain, deltoid sprain, which he should do fine from, even though he's limping all over the field. And Trubisky was the least of the three. But given how the Bears' offense has struggled,

do you blame Nagy for replacing a 90% healthy Mitch Trubisky? No. Look, an 80% healthy Deshaun Watson, play the guy, right? I mean, you know, a 90%. So he's telling the truth that I think there is something with the hip. But, you know, to say that it's only the hip and the hip was the only reason, that doesn't pass the smell test for most people. But I don't think he's lying.

He just may be embellishing a little bit. That makes total sense. The Bears get the Giants this week, so either Chase Daniel or Trubisky could actually be a good streamer. And final one for you. Let me tell you, I think the decision, I think this week, you're going to see Trubisky either out or limited practice

because they need to continue the narrative. But the starter on Sunday against the Giants will be who Matt Nagy wants it to be. Trubisky will be available. Okay. That's good insight. And finally, T.Y. Hilton making progress. Some optimism that he might be able to play on Thursday. Do you think we'll see T.Y. Hilton?

I'd love to see T.Y. Hilton. He's as tough as they come. And this is certainly a big enough matchup against AFC South rival, you know, they're going to have to get past the Texans if they're going to try and win the division. And so it's a big game. So maybe, but you have to balance that against the risk of aggravating it and being out another

three weeks versus skipping this game, getting an extra 10 days of rest. So, uh, hard to predict soft tissue injuries. If it weren't the Texans in this big game, I would say no. But because it is, let's keep our eyes and ears open and see what happens. Yeah, and our fingers crossed. And Dr. Chow, thank you very much for coming on. Thank you, Adam. Please follow him on Twitter, at ProFootballDoc, and the website, ProFootballDoc.com. Thank you, Adam. Metrolinx and Crosslinx are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress.

Please be alert as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals. Be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. You ready, Chris Towers? Yeah! Alright! How's Disney Plus treating you? Have you left your apartment since you got it?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I leave my apartment almost every day, Adam. Oh, that's good. I certainly do. Sometimes I have to go to work. I walk my dog. I got all kinds of reasons to leave. Cool.

How you doing, Chris? How's week 11? It was a good week for me. Nice. Things actually went well. Good. Which is a welcome change oh good good glad to hear it glad to hear it uh will is gonna join us in a moment and we're gonna talk about the rams offense patriots offense talk about nick foals and sam darnold as they get ready for the fantasy

postseason and they've got some good matchups coming up uh one thing I know about Will Brinson. Will likes to party. Will likes. Will likes to party. What's up, Will Brinson? I can't imagine. Go ahead. I just can't imagine. I need to meet your family and the people who deal with you on a day-to-day basis.

Just to see what they think. People want to meet my wife just because they're like, how does she put up with you? Here we go. This song is so... I asked for Sturgill Simpson and that's what I got. This song is so fun. I love the Simpsons, but you're not getting the Simpsons today. Okay, let's get into the action

here, because I know Will has to hop off for a radio hit in a little bit. So the Patriots offense. We've got a team that is currently fourth in the NFL in points scored. But if you remove all of their defensive

and special teams touchdowns and one safety, they are like 11th in points scored. And that actually would tie them with the Rams, who we are going to talk about a little bit later. Tom Brady has openly expressed some frustration. And, you know, the schedule looks pretty good for him, but his history of passing in December doesn't look great for him. So those are two competing things there.

But, Chris, you said you wrote something about it on the website. Heath wrote something about it on the website. Where are you on, on the Patriots offense right now? It's been, I mean, you said they're 11th overall for the season, but you know, if you went by just like the last month or so, maybe the last five weeks, four games for them, including their bye. I have to imagine they'd be even worse because this is a team that just really has not been able to move the ball well. They've been below 350 yards of total offense in each of their last four games. And, you know, Tom Brady is having statistically what is probably his worst season, lowest yards per attempt since 2006, lowest touchdown percentage ever, not throwing many interceptions.

So that's a positive. But they also haven't rushed for more than 79 yards as a team in any of their last four games. This is a team that, you know, we coming into any season really with the Patriots, you you want some exposure to them from a fantasy perspective because you know they're going to score efficiently. They might not have an 1,100-yard receiver every year. They might not have a 1,000-yard rusher. But there's always going to be fantasy value here because they're going to be an efficient offense. And I'm not sure that's the case anymore. Will? Yeah, I mean, I would say this.

One, we treated Tom Brady, not I'm not trying to say the Patriots are who we thought they were but like we treated Tom Brady as a backup quarterback like a decent QB too right and that's sort of what he's been I mean he hadn't been explosive he's had some decent games he's got more points than like Matthew Stafford who I know is injured obviously but you've got more points like Carson Wentz. I mean, he hasn't been great, but he's been sort of like you've gotten a decent ROI on him. Certainly, Michelle has been the real bust, I think. But anyone who came into this year expecting the Patriots to magically morph into a workhorse running offense, a rushing offense. You know, I mean, it hadn't been like that since Corey Dillon.

I don't know why you would you would think it would be the case now. Julian Edelman has been a viable wide receiver, too, for them. They don't have a tight end. We knew they didn't have a tight end. And their defense has been awesome. They haven't had to score a ton of points to keep up. I think it will change a little bit down the stretch against some better offenses. But by and large, this is not a great offense right now, and they're sort of figuring themselves out.

But this is also from a real, quote-unquote, real football standpoint. This is where Bill Belichick doesn't mind being. He's a one loss team going into the final quarter of the stretch run of the season and he can figure out the offense and he knows that i mean who the hell knows maybe grunt comes back to the playoffs maybe they figure something out but they have the ability to get hot in the playoffs and that's all they really care about they don't this has never been a really that fantasy friendly of a team outside of the fact that they score a bunch of points i mean like there's never been a bunch of workhorses right well before the season we did expect two starting viable fantasy options at wide receiver and two viable starting fantasy options at running back right now there's one i think overall i'm not

saying one of each i think i think there's edelman, and then James White is a flex in PPR. But other than that, I really don't think – this has been, for fantasy purposes – I mean, Sonny Michel did have a three-touchdown game four weeks ago. I think he had 45 rushing yards in that game on 20-something attempts. If he can get red zone opportunities and goal line opportunities, he can be red zone opportunities and goal line opportunities, he can be fantasy viable, but this offense isn't good enough to get enough of those. I think at this point for him to be anything more than,

you know, maybe a flex. I'll play the optimist and I'll point out that they faced in their last four games. They faced the Ravens who have been an elite run defense when Brandon Williams has been healthy. They faced the Eagles and they faced the jets. The Eagles defense when Brandon Williams has been healthy. They face the Eagles, and they face the Jets. The Eagles and the Jets are currently giving up

the fewest yards per carry to running backs. Plus, the Ravens are like 14th or something, but that number's a lot better if you remove Nick Chubb's huge performance when Williams missed the game. So they have had tough matchups in terms of running the ball, but I don't believe this is a good running team. I do believe that they've had some workhorses in the past, at least on a per-game basis, like Steven Ridley and LeGarrette Blount

and even Sonny Michel last year. He averaged about 16 carries per game. But they are averaging, as a team, 3.3 yards per carry. They obviously don't have a good enough offensive line. They've lost their center. They've lost their fullback. They're getting their left tackle back, hopefully this week, and that's huge. Also, when you look at yards per carry as a team, you do have to consider there are a lot of running quarterbacks now and that helps. And Tom Brady, you know,

obviously doesn't help that, but they just can't run the ball that well. James White, just some fantasy stats. He is on a per game basis, 41st in non-PPR, 39th in half PPR, and he's number 21 in PPR. So he could still be considered a flex, but his targets are going down a little bit since Burkhead and Sanu have come back. That's James White, come back or come over. The optimist in me is

with Tom Brady. He has the fifth most pass attempts in the NFL. The guys in front of him are Cam Newton, Eli Manning, Andy Dalton, and Jameis Winston. He has the most most pass attempts in the NFL. The guys in front of him are Cam Newton, Eli Manning, Andy Dalton, and Jameis Winston. He has the most red zone passes in the NFL. He has the most passes inside the 10-yard line. And he's something like 17th in touchdown passes inside the 10-yard line. So maybe he's been a little bit unlucky.

And he's got great matchups coming up. But my issue is what I said earlier. He's not usually that good of a passer this time of year, or he just doesn't throw as much or the weather is a factor, but December's not usually his month. But you know, look, Edelman,

we're starting all the time. The running backs, we're going to have to look at the matchups, the wide receivers. I don't know how much faith you can have in them right now. You know, they're flyers. So it's comes down to Brady. And, I don't know how much faith you can have in them right now. They're flyers. So it comes down to Brady.

And I want to be optimistic because I love his schedule going forward and the fact that he's throwing the ball perhaps more than ever. I didn't do that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's career high. He's throwing the ball a ton. So I want to be optimistic, and I don't think you should drop him. I'll put it that way, and let's see what happens. Uh, let's see what happens this upcoming week and maybe we'll get more confidence in him. He's right around on pace for the most passive times he's ever thrown.

He's right around 40 per game. Uh, he's never finished a 16 game season at 40 per game. Uh, he came very close in 2012. Yeah, I would. I would caution you a little bit on the narrative that Brady's trustworthy down the stretch. Not that I don't think the Patriots would be good. The Cowboys, Texans, and Chiefs,

I think the next three weeks he can sort of make hay. I would not want to be sitting on Tom Brady for my fantasy championship though. Week 16 against the Bills is bad, but the next four opponents are the Cowboys who have been good against quarterbacks, but not quite as good in their road games. It's a home game

for the Patriots. Houston's 26th against quarterbacks. Kansas City's 23rd, and they're much worse in their road games, and this game's in Foxborough. And the Bengals are 28th. Yeah, look, we're not going to use them in week 16. Let's get there first. But all I'm saying is that, look, I think he'll throw against the Chiefs

because it's at home. It'll probably turn into a shootout because Patrick Mahomes, yada, yada. But the Chiefs are bad against the run, and the way you beat them is by pounding the ball. Can they run against the Chiefs? They can't run against anyone right now. Well, it's fine. The Bengals, I don't think he'll throw against the Bengals.

Well, the thing is they can't really do anything against anyone right now's sort of true they can play defense they can't play defense and that's why there's also there's no panic like they're they're nine and one there's no reason for them like I think one mitigating circumstance could be as Will mentioned maybe Rob Gronkowski comes back but even then it's going to take him a while to to get up to speed he's not going to step on the field in week 12 and automatically turn Tom Brady. But one thing that we have seen over the last six, seven years is that when Tom Brady hasn't had Rob Gronkowski available, he's been a significantly worse fantasy quarterback. It's true. 2017, though, was an exception.

Go ahead. What did you say? He's 42. We saw him slow down last year in late November and December. Remember they lost in Miami, as they always do. I mean, he's slowed down. This is a time of the year where he typically fades a little bit. So I don't think we're going to see some Isaiah Wynn comes back

and Tom Brady starts throwing it around a bunch, especially when he's at a career high in pass attempts. I think the Patriots would love to minimize his throws between now and the end of the regular season so he is fresh and ready to roll to the playoffs. It's possible Patriots would love to minimize his throws between now and the end of the regular season. So he is fresh and ready to roll to the playoffs. It's possible. It looks so dumb.

Yeah, probably. It, you know, it's possible to anyone who writes off Tom Brady before he decides he is ready to be written off. Right. Well,

there's Brady six touchdowns. Is that your Robo? That was pretty good. All right. I love it. Robo is the best, but he's fun out there. Okay, so let's talk about the Rams offense. Before we do that, have you ordered a pizza online from Little Caesars yet?

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amounts of toppings. So it's fun, everybody. Give it a try. But it's only available at Little Caesars Pizza Pizza. All right, the Rams offense. What a strange game last night. What a boring game last night. I thought it played out exactly as I expected. Oh, yeah? Under 40 was the lock

of the week. Beautiful. 24 points in this game. 17-7 Rams. They ran play action on nearly half their snaps. Jared Goff scored four fantasy points, slightly unlucky with Cooper Cup being ruled out at the one with a Josh Reynolds deep touchdown pass getting called back.

But really the story is they just ran the ball. They were just like, yep. All right, Todd Gurley. Here you go. 25 carries, 97 yards and a touchdown, three catches, 36 yards. Whether or not he looked good, I think is subjective, but he got a lot of work. And Will, what do you think of the Rams offense right now?

Are you optimistic on their offense? Yeah, maybe a little bit more than I was before. I mean, I think one of the things I'd be worried about, though, is that we saw after the Rams were really gashing the Bears in the run game early, Chicago switched to that 6-1 defense. And they proceeded to slow down Todd Gurley a pretty substantial amount. I mean, the Rams couldn't do anything in the second half up until that final touchdown drive, which was at that point, it felt like the Bears had kind of given up. The Bears defense is like we've seen enough from Mitchell Trubisky and Matt third and one Nagy. You know, look, they had the the Cardinals Seahawks Cowboy. They're the Ravens first, of course, on Monday night at home.

Cardinal Seahawks Cowboys and 49ers, it's not a terrible group of matchups, but I don't know if it's a great group of matchups considering how the Rams like to establish their offense. I am sure that they will light up the Cardinals because everybody lights up the Cardinals, including Jim Garoppolo. The Ravens' defense is number one in DVOA over the last seven weeks. I would anticipate that the Rams look terrible against them. Seahawks are playing a lot better, and Jadavion Clowney's a field changer and a game wrecker.

So if that offensive line for the Rams isn't healthy, I would be a little wary of that. And then Dallas has bodies up front. So I'm more optimistic about how Jared Goff looked on some throws and how they got the run going in the first half, but I'm not sure that this is going to morph into some high-octane offense down the stretch. They did a couple of things differently.

They changed their offensive line around. They had only one guy in his usual spot, Andrew Whitworth at left tackle. The four other linemen were in different spots on Sunday in Week 11. And as Chris Collinsworth kept talking about, they were running less of their zone-blocking scheme, and they changed things up a little bit,

so they went to more of a power running game, and it seemed to work. I mean, he was less than four yards per carry, but I guess he looked better. He doesn't look like the same. I don't know if you guys recall, but it was, I think, his final carry, Todd Gurley, and they iced it.

They were up by 10. They were driving, and they took a knee after this, but they got the first down on a Gurley carry, and he got tackled on an ankle tackle. he got tackled by the ankle and i just thought to myself man todd girley if he's right he slips that tackle and he scores uh so i still i just don't yeah adam yes i just point out that i used my a lot of time not to do a victory lap on chris towers but instead yeah i don't know i don't know if the game where he gets 130 all-purpose yards and a touchdown is the time to do the victory lap there. I'm just kidding.

What do you think, Chris? I think it all comes down to Jared Goff. The play-action game just has not been effective for them. And they're dealing with a ton of issues with their receiving core right now. I mean, obviously, Robert Woods wasn't there yesterday. We don't know exactly what's going on with him, but Brandon cooks, it'd be surprising if we really see him in week 12 or, or honestly, I'm not even sure.

This is yeah. Like this is a guy who's had a ton of concussion issues to this season. So I just don't know, you know, it's really impacted Cooper cup who looked like, you know, maybe the best receiver in fantasy over the first like six or seven games. He's really fallen back down to earth. And I just it's not a very good offense right now. And Jared Goff, you know, he's been arguably the worst quarterback. He's been a bottom four quarterback statistically passing on play action yesterday. It wasn't any better.

Really? Yeah, he was four for nine with an interception, according to pro football focus. passing on play action yesterday. It wasn't any better. That's interesting. Yeah, he was four for nine with an interception, according to pro football focus. Okay. Well, yeah, he only threw 18 passes, so that is half his passes. I think the Reynolds touchdown was play action.

I don't know. That would have changed things significantly. That was a long touchdown that was called back. But, I mean, that's interesting because it seemed like their play-action game was better, but it was like, oh, this, what a nice game. They scored 17 points.

You know, so, yeah, how many must-starts are there on this team? Do you feel like Todd Gurley's a must-start? Do you feel like Cooper Cupp is still a must-start? Cooper Cupp has 53 or fewer yards in four of his last five games. I can't see a scenario where I'm sitting Cooper Cup or Todd Gurley. We've had so many injuries

at running backs. We've got one or two starters seemingly going out every week. I almost sat Todd Gurley this week for Brian Hill. I ended up putting both of them in. That would have been a disaster. I did it. I did it. And you know Yeah. I'm not sure I'm the only person who was considering doing that. I did it. And that's. Yeah. Like I did this week. Maybe you add Jonathan.

We'll just spend a bunch of fab. It looks like he could be in a really good spot, but you're not going to start him over Todd Gurley. Are you? By the way, the Josh Reynolds pass was off a play action. Just happened to be grinding some tape on that game right now. Uh, guys had it just flipped over to that play. He was play action. Just happened to be grinding some tape on that game right now.

Had it just flipped over to that play. It was play action. Don't worry about it. I would. I would consider starting. I don't know if it's Williams. We'll see if Jordan Wilkins comes back. But I would consider it because Baltimore's run defense is so good.

And Chicago's isn't. So, look, if you can guarantee me 25 carries from Todd Gurley, hell no, I'm not going to sit Todd Gurley. But, you know, we'll get into it later in the week, but I don't think he's a slam dunk automatic start just yet. Not against Baltimore. Yes, against Arizona. Let's get to our next topic so we can get more from Will before he has to abandon us. I'm not

banning you, but why don't you just, I'll just leave when the radio station calls me. I'll just disappear. You don't have to say goodbye to me. I'll just say phew. I'll hang up and answer the call because they're going to call. Okay. Uh, so I know we talked about not replacing people with like injuries,

the Robert Woods thing, man, that is, I mean, like, I hope everything is fine with his personal, like, I don't know what it is,

but like from a fantasy perspective, when there's a late scratch on the Sunday night game and transactions are locked, like I'm going to lose to Jamie Eisenberg in a matchup of a six and four and five and five team because i have tarik cohen on my bench and i couldn't swap him out because now this is my yeah woods not in the flex you know i mean like i just didn't yeah i don't know man no that's tough uh and that's actually i'm glad you brought that up because i should have mentioned that it's hard to judgeff when he doesn't have

Cooks or Woods. Although last year he was missing Cup and he didn't really miss a beat. No, he did though. He was pretty bad after that. We're going back the last five games of the regular season for Jared Goff and then into the postseason

and now pretty much all of this year. Just not that good. So it's a big red flag. Okay, Apple Podcasts, leave us a question, a comment, and a five-star review if you can, and we'll read your questions on our Wednesday and Saturday shows, and listen to our other shows, our other podcasts.

Will Brinson hosts the Pick 6 podcast. That's awesome. We've got fantasy baseball coverage year-round. We've got combat sports. We've got golf. We've got college baseball coverage year-round. We've got combat sports. We've got golf. We've got college football, college basketball. If you need a sports podcast, CBS Sports is your home. Go to cbssports.com slash podcast or podcasts. Either way, it'll get you there.

Ray Martinez says, Who is better rest of season, Sam Darnold or Nick Foles? And they both have very good schedules except Darnold. You're not going to want to use him in weeks 15 and 16, most likely, against Baltimore and the Steelers. But the four games leading up to that, three games, rather, Oakland, Cincinnati, and Miami. Meanwhile, Nick Foles, Tennessee this week,

that's an okay matchup. Tampa Bay after that, that's great. The Chargers, that's bad. And then it's Oakland and Atlanta. Again, I said this yesterday. We thought Atlanta was a great matchup. They are all of a sudden the greatest defense ever. But Chris, I'll give you the first word. Who would you rather have rest of season, Darnold or Foles? Nothing good's happening to your team if you're starting either one of these every week. So I think you're just going to play the matchups. I would rather have Sam Darnold for the next three weeks.

You can say, oh, well, what he did against Miami or the Giants two weeks ago when he had like 23 fantasy points and then last week against Washington. Well, that's just the good matchups. But he's got Oakland at Cincinnati and Miami the next three weeks, as you said. Those matchups aren't any worse. So I think I'll take him for the next three weeks, as you said, those matchups aren't any worse. So I think I'll take him for the next three weeks. I would hope that I don't have to just pencil him into my lineup for those next three weeks.

But if I am in that situation, we've had so many quarterback injuries, I would feel okay given the fact that he's shown over the last two weeks that he can get it done against bad matchups. Good matchups, bad defense. Yeah, and Jacksonville is 12th in the NFL in passing yards per game. I will bring that up. Nick Foles did score 21 fantasy points at the Colts, who had been a pretty tough matchup.

Not that 21 is great, but it's pretty solid. He threw 47 passes, which is not something you can really rely on. They have to run the ball more. Will, why don't you at least make the case for Nick Foles over Sam Darnold? I will not. Really? I will. I don't know.

Actually, here's the case. Here's the case. John DiFilippo has been running, flying around the country, fleeing, scared, running from his addiction to passing and refusal to run. And he loves passing heavy game scripts.

He doesn't care that Leonard Fournette can punish the Colts defense and run all over them and potentially set up a game script that's friendly to Nick Foles by utilizing play action. No, no, no, no, no. He just wants to come out with Nick Foles throwing John DeFilippo is going to keep throwing because the Jaguars are trying to extract every possible like like micro dollar worth of value out of Foles since they paid him a bunch of money this offseason. I'm being mostly sarcastic, but I think he could throw the ball a bunch. I would along that line. Darnold's only attempted 30 passes in three of his last four games. Right. So the volume hasn't been huge there.

True. Yeah. I mean, I think Foles is a better quarterback right now. If they were, if they had the same matchups, I would take Foles because I, you know, DJ Chark's really good. That helps. I would take Foles. But yeah, I think you play the matchups. I think this week we're going to like Darnold better than Foles. Yeah. Let's do, and we got two more questions here. Michael Farson, is Joe Mixon going to be better than Devin Singletary and Tevin Coleman rest of season?

Again, is Joe Mixon going to be better than Devin Singletary and Tevin Coleman rest of season? All three of these guys were started in more than 80% of leagues and Mixon came through the others. Yeah. Singletary is okay. They really didn't. So, Will, you get the first word. Mix Yeah, Singletary was okay. They really didn't.

So, Will, you get the first word. Mixon, Singletary, and Coleman. You know what? I'm not going to buy into Mixon quite yet. I know the usage is there, which is certainly a plus, I think. But one of the things, he was really motivated for that game. I don't know if you guys watched the Raiders game, but he had 75 friends and family members in attendance there

because he's from around Oakland or from Oakland. And he really balled out of that game. I thought he played exceptionally well. The Raiders defense is not very good. The only reason, I guess, that I would take Mixon over those guys is that he's the only option they have. And they tend to go to Giovanni Bernard some, more in the passing game, I guess.

They get the Dolphins in week 16, so that's friendly. You can run against the Patriots in week 15. I don't think they'll win that game, but he could get garbage time. So, sure, I guess I'll – I don't know. I'll take Joe Mixon, whatever. I can't trust Tevin Coleman. This whole thing with the 49 the 49ers is not, it's not, you can't trust anybody on a week to week basis in there.

I just think Kyle Shanahan is going to alter his game plan. You're not going to know who to use and you're going to be frustrated. I'd rather have the, like, I'd rather have Joe Mixon than Saquon Barkley in that deal we did. Oh, it's funny that I've pretty much destroyed you in that deal. Killed me. Yeah. Like going forward, I'd take your side.

But yeah. Barkley and Will Fuller for Diggs and... Diggs and Mixon. Yeah, Barkley and Fuller. That's funny how trades work out. So the one thing to know here certainly is that Devin Singletary and the Bills in general have one of the worst schedules going forward. Denver, Dallas, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, New England

in their next five games, and the Jets in Week 17. Coleman, you know, the schedule's fine, I guess, but it's, I don't know, actually three of his next five run defenses are pretty tough. But, you know, he's got about 14 touches a game. A little more involved in the passing game, which is nice. How would you rank it? Chris, Mixon, Singletary, and Coleman?

I think I would go Mixon, Singletary, and Coleman. The thing with Mixon is he's the only guy that I feel confident is going to get 70% of his team's carries among those two. Tevin Coleman hasn't had more than 12 carries in any of the last four games, even with Matt Breida out and dealing with injuries over the last two weeks. I think I'd go Coleman over Singletary. All right, guys.

All right, Will. Thank you for hopping on. That's Will Brinson. All right, Will's out. So I think I'd go... I don't have a huge preference here, but Coleman, at least I feel more comfortable in him getting goal line work than Singletary.

We didn't really see it in week 11, but we did see a fourth and one play. It was either third and one or fourth and one. And Frank Gore got to carry. So I'm still not convinced that Singletary is their short yardage slash goal line guy. Whereas Coleman appears to have most of that. And Coleman's in a better offense.

Yeah, for sure. And again, Singletary's schedule's awful. Last question is from Engineering Lifestyle. I am not familiar with that lifestyle, Chris. I know nothing about that lifestyle. The engineering people in college are just, it's like you look at them and you're like, okay, you're smarter than me.

I don't think I can be around you. It's intimidating. So, I don't think I'm going to read this question. I think you should read the question. All right. Can I trust Deshaun Watson for the playoffs or should I get a backup quarterback? Of course you can trust him for the playoffs. Don't even read me the schedule.

Like, he's got New England in two weeks. You're not sitting Deshaun Watson against New England. I'm sorry. Like, you're just not going do it it doesn't matter who like yes he had a bad game against baltimore it's like the worst game he's ever had um but he does have three games this year with 12 or fewer fantasy points they were jacksonville carolina and baltimore watson has had almost an entire season of tough matchups. And in some of them, he was great. Some of them, he was bad.

I know he was the number three fantasy quarterback coming into this game. I'm sure he moved down. But either way, he's still been a very good fantasy quarterback, even with tough matchups most weeks. The upside is too high. The rushing ability is too great. You're looking at a stretch before last week where he had at least 32 rushing yards in each game. He's got 50,

60 rushing yard upside in any given week, not to mention the ability to find the end zone on the ground. There are just, there are too many ways for him to score that he could have, he could struggle throwing the ball and still end up with 25 fantasy points because he could rush for a touchdown in 30 yards. Yeah. And historically, this team under Bill O'Brien, they just don't get a lot of rushing touchdowns from their running backs, which is always something that's going to favor Deshaun Watson. And he has big games with Will Fuller too. And hopefully, Will Fuller, he could be back this week. If he's not back this week, I would expect him back in week 13. Chris, can you believe it's week 12 already?

Or like tomorrow? It's flying. I keep like... I wrote a bunch over the last 24 hours, and I keep like, is it really week... Was week 11 yesterday? I know. It's kind of wild. Yeah. It's hard to believe the NFL season.

It's a sprint. And we're, what, three weeks away from the playoffs starting the most leagues? Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's going to be a big week. Well, yeah, we have two more regular season weeks and then the playoffs. So, yeah, three weeks from the playoffs. Yeah, sorry.

Until 2021 comes around and we've got a 19-week regular season where everybody's playing 17 games and the playoffs extend through February and every fantasy writer dies from exhaustion yeah I think that I think that it's kind of funny that there had been this narrative when the ratings were down I don't know what the ratings are now

I don't know if you know they're up that Thursday night football was one of the things that was ruining the fan experience, that there was too much exposure. I don't think they buy that one bit because we're going to get more games and we're going to extend it through the entire month of February. And I don't want football to kind of cheapen the games. I'm against this move. I love the way it is now.

I'm sure it'll be fine. But it's so special. If baseball teams played 16 games, I'd be really, really into baseball. Every game would be huge. It's a pretty unique thing you have. You shouldn't want to expand things too much. More playoff teams, more games. I like the idea of multiple buys.

Hopefully that will help guys get through the season a little fresher. I'd love to see buy weeks before the Thursday night football games so we're not left with quite so many guys missing because they have a sprained ankle that they could have played with in a different circumstance or just aren't healthy. That's what I'd like to see. There are opportunities here is what I'm saying.

Okay. Well, Chris, thank you. Good show, sir. Thank you, Adam. And we will talk to you tomorrow with the waiver wire. Have a great night, everybody. And who are we rooting for tonight? Let's go Chiefs.

Chargers, you blew it last week, so I don't have any affection for you anymore. I don't care if you make the playoffs or miss it. Let's go Chiefs. See ya.