Fantasy Football Today - 11/24 Fantasy Football Podcast: Start or Sit (NFC), Thanksgiving Recap
Episode Date: November 24, 2017Adam tells you why Seattle-San Francisco is more complicated than it appears to be (2:10), we discuss Larry Fitzgerald's chances against JAC (6:00) and debate Dion Lewis vs. Jordan Howard (7:25) ... R...ecapping LAC-DAL (13:55), MIN-DET (20:40) and NYG-WAS (26:48) before our weekly Beat the Waiver Wire segment (33:15) ... TB-ATL (37:08), CHI-PHI (43:14), NO-LAR (47:20), SEA-SF (53:50), JAC-ARI (58:20) and some DFS lineups at the end of the show ... Your emails at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com 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
Transcript
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This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.
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Now, here's Adam, Dave, and Jamie.
Yo, what's up, everybody?
It is Friday, and before I forget, no Saturday mailbag show,
so this is our last show until Saturday night on Fantasy Football.
And, of course, Fantasy Football today, the video show over the weekend.
I'm Adam with Dave and Jamie.
Dave, what was the best thing you ate on Thanksgiving?
I guess I'd have to go with Cajun ribeye.
Cajun ribeye.
That sounds good.
Dave did some steak yesterday.
Jamie, best thing you ate
on Thanksgiving? Turkey.
Come on. No. What about the side dishes?
Well, you asked me
what the best thing was. Turkey was the best thing.
Was it really? Yeah.
It was juicy. It was very good.
That's good. I feel like nobody likes the turkey
best. I like turkey,
but it's not better than the side dishes.
Well, you obviously
weren't at Jamie's Thanksgiving dinner.
It's true.
What about you? What was the best thing you had?
The best thing I had? I really think it was the green bean
casserole. I'm sorry. My wife
killed it. She knocked it out of the park.
In a good way.
She didn't kill it in a bad way.
Happy Thanksgiving, belated to
the two of you. You too. I didn't kill it in a bad way. Happy Thanksgiving, belated to the two of you.
You too.
You too.
And I didn't say this yesterday, but so thankful for all the listeners.
Thank you all for listening to us on this holiday week.
And always, and tell your friends, spread the word.
And, yeah, I mean, good stuff.
Thank you all.
Hope you all had a great, great Thanksgiving.
Let's talk football.
All right, so we got three games to recap plus five games to preview as there were actually three NFC home games last night. I got an interesting Twitter poll. So here are the five games today. And then
I'm going to ask you a question. I want you to give me the answer. The five games today.
When you say you got one, that means somebody sent one to you?
No. What? I got a Twitter. I've got a Twitter poll that I posted that I'd like to talk about.
Does that make sense? I think you say I have a Twitter poll. Sure.'ve got a Twitter poll that I posted that I'd like to talk about. Does that make sense?
I think you say I have a Twitter poll.
Sure.
I posted a Twitter poll.
I posted a Twitter poll.
Also, I have beat the waiver wire coming up.
We have Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia.
We have New Orleans and the Rams, Seattle, San Francisco, Jacksonville, and Arizona.
Which of those five games is the most interesting fantasy game to you?
Which ones again?
The NFC home games that didn't play last night.
So Seattle, San Fran, Jacksonville, Arizona, New Orleans, Rams, Bucs, Falcons, Bears, Eagles.
I'm going to go with Saints, Rams. Yeah, either that or the Bucs game. Can I tell you? The Bucs, Falcons, Bears, Eagles. I'm going to go with Saints, Rams.
Yeah, either that or the Bucs game.
The Bucs game.
Can I tell you what I think, and I was doing the research this morning,
what really struck me is the history, Seattle, San Francisco,
and how bad Russell Wilson and Doug Baldwin have been in San Francisco
in their careers, and how Carlos Hyde has two straight 100-yard rushing games against Seattle,
it's like bizarro fantasy football, and it's just very strange to me.
That struck me as the most interesting thing, the history between those two teams, guys.
Are you respecting that history and suggesting that we sit Russell Wilson and Doug Baldwin?
No, but I removed Doug Baldwin from my FanDuel lineup this morning and replaced him with Brandon Cooks.
But no, you can't.
Yesterday I was like, Heath, come on.
Put Russell Wilson ahead of Tom Brady.
He's number one.
He's got a better matchup.
He's better than Brady.
I don't really feel that way.
I don't know anymore because I couldn't believe Doug Baldwin has, like,
five straight games with four or fewer fantasy points at San Francisco.
And he's a Stanford guy too.
Yeah, it's just weird.
Does that matter to you guys?
How did Seattle run the ball in those games?
Because that's something they just can't do well right now.
That's a good point.
That's the other interesting part about it.
JD McKissick, do I start him?
You know, like, I think that's a really interesting game.
What are your quick thoughts?
We will talk about that game.
What are your quick thoughts on Seattle San Fran?
I will say, not that you made this as a prediction,
but you were talking about how Atlanta had done against quarterbacks.
Yep.
And then Russell Wilson, after a slow start, ripped them apart.
He's just playing at such a different level right now.
So he's not the same guy that faced the 49ers the last couple of years.
Certainly last year he was banged up.
He wasn't healthy.
I wonder what point in the season that was when he played them.
I mean, he was hurt all year.
But it's been every year.
You know what?
Look, just to be clear, I'm not treating the Seahawks like they have a tough matchup.
I just thought it was really, really interesting.
Yeah, no, look.
Statistical trends are what they are for a reason.
And it's been different coaches for the 49ers.
It's been different coordinators, certainly.
I mean, he's faced now.
This is, what, his third coaching regime in San Francisco that he's faced?
Right?
Yeah, I think so.
Or fourth.
No, this will be the fourth.
I mean, here you want to get into the statistical data just so it's out there.
In his last nine games against San Francisco, he's thrown multiple touchdowns once.
Right.
And it was at home.
He's totaled multiple touchdowns once.
Yeah, but to Dave's point, and I'll take it a step further, not only bad running game, but bad defense.
So their defense isn't going to be the same moving forward. So he's going to probably have a lot more on his shoulders. I don't think we should say they, but bad defense. So their defense isn't going to be the same moving forward.
So he's going to probably have a lot more on his shoulders.
I don't think we should say they have a bad defense.
He also attempted under 30 passes.
You mean the Seahawks, right?
Comparing Seattle to Seattle, yeah.
Seattle's defense isn't the same as it normally is.
He also attempted fewer than 30 passes in seven of those nine games.
One of them he only attempted 19 passes.
The thing you said about the Bears game is kind of what just puts me at ease.
No, the Falcons game, because the Falcons, they're good against quarterbacks.
And Wilson, nobody had more than 22 fantasy points against the Falcons
until Wilson last week.
He had more than 30.
All right, cool.
Look, we don't have to belabor that.
Just thought it was pretty interesting.
And here's another interesting thing.
So we're going to talk about Jacksonville and Arizona last.
That's our last game.
So just so you don't have to wait too long, you want to know about Larry Fitzgerald.
He's the most interesting player in that game, I'd say.
Stat of the day.
Three wide receivers have had double-digit targets against the Jaguars.
They are DeAndre Hopkins, Antonio Brown, and Corey Coleman.
All three of them scored eight or more fantasy points in standard scoring leagues.
Coleman had 80 yards.
Hopkins and Brown had big games.
So Larry Fitzgerald averages 9.8 targets per game.
He'll probably get double-digit targets.
He would be the fourth.
Will he also score eight or more fantasy points?
Doesn't seem like you guys have him ranked that way in standard.
I think he can get close to eight, if not nine.
I take the under.
Really?
Who's he going to see in coverage?
I don't think he'll see a lot of Ramsey.
I'm positive he won't see any of Bouye.
Yeah, but they'll bracket him.
So it'll be Colvin.
I wouldn't start him if he can't.
I've got him as a low number three receiver.
Yeah.
Eight or nine would not surprise me.
All right.
Eight or nine is going to put him on the cusp of number two.
In standard, yeah.
Probably.
All right.
That's Larry Fitzgerald.
More on that game later in the show.
Here's the Twitter poll I posted.
I don't have it.
I posted it.
Thank you. Who are you starting this week if you had to choose one?
Deion Lewis or Jordan Howard?
Do you guys see the results, or should I ask you what you think?
I did not see the results.
What do you think the results are?
The results are
probably Jordan Howard, but I would take
Deion Lewis. 60-40 Howard.
52% Deion Lewis,
48% Jordan Howard.
Howard has one of the toughest matchups on the table.
Yes.
I looked up... They're going to lose
by two scores, right? The Bears?
Probably.
I looked up what he's done over the last two seasons.
Five games for Jordan Howard
in which the Bears have lost
by two scores. Pretty sure it's
five games.
He's had good games
in three of the five.
He had 100 rushing yards.
I will double check.
I don't have these. I'll have to search for them.
But he hasn't always been bad
Like last year
He had two games
Against the Vikings
With 100 rushing yards
And one of them
Was a double digit loss
Anyway
No it's interesting
You guys have him close right
Lewis and Howard
Mmhmm
Yeah
Howard almost gets the nod
From me because of pedigree
And because he
Doesn't run for the Patriots
Yeah
But
Yeah
I would take Lewis
Because he's running
Against Miami Yeah Alright that game's Coming up a little bit later Patriots. Yeah. I would take Lewis because he's running against Miami.
Yeah.
Alright, that game's coming up a little bit later.
And eventually I will find the awesome
stat on Jordan Howard.
The touch difference has been over the last month.
For? Two guys.
Which two? Howard Lewis.
I wonder how much. Well, I mean, you kind of
know that Lewis is in that 15 carry ballpark.
Yeah, I just wonder how much different it's been.
Would you like me to tell you?
I'm going to look at myself, you know, Thor.
Yeah, you know something?
You know what I did, guys?
Why I can't find the stat?
I deleted it from my notes.
I meant to copy and paste it, and I never hit paste.
Wow, you're an idiot.
Yeah, so there you go.
I don't have the Jordan Howard stat, but he hasn't always been bad.
I don't know about the last month, but the last two weeks, Howard, 15 carries, no catches.
15 carries, no catches.
He's not involved in the passing game anymore.
That hurts.
Okay, let's move on and get into the news and notes and yesterday's games.
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All right, the news and notes for you.
Matthew Stafford hurt his ankle but stayed in the game.
Hopefully he'll be okay for the Ravens game next week.
Same with Detroit center Travis Swanson.
He left with a knee injury.
And safety Tavon Wilson left with a shoulder injury.
Chargers wide receiver Mike Williams left with a knee injury as they get ready for Cleveland next week.
Jamie, I know I saw it on Twitter.
You loved, loved Minnie McAdoo last night.
It was so funny.
It was so funny.
And they obviously didn't know the camera was on them.
Those two kids didn't break character at all.
It didn't seem that way.
Who was the other kid supposed to be?
Mike Sullivan.
Mike Sullivan.
They did not break character at all.
It was so funny.
They cut to him at least, as I saw, three times.
And every time, the one time, I think it was a little girl playing Sullivan,
did not, the Sullivan smiled a couple times.
But McAdoo did not.
It was the best thing I've ever seen.
Method actor.
Method actor.
That's great.
Yeah, that was really funny.
The highlight of that game for sure.
Are there any key defensive injuries we need to keep an eye on?
I'm looking at the Rams and the Saints in that game.
They're cornerbacks.
What defensive injuries could impact fantasy this week, guys?
That's a big one.
Lattimore's, as of Wednesday, was in a walking boot.
But Vaccaro says he's going to play.
I believe he was back at practice.
So that will help them a little bit.
But not having Okafor is going to hurt.
That's what I think.
Yeah, and the Rams could be without two starting corners.
It's true.
A couple got hurt last week.
I think like two of their top three corners.
I don't think, it's not a big injury week.
So if there's nothing there, do you expect the following players?
I'm going to say no on this one.
Matt Forte against Carolina.
But he was practicing on Thursday.
I saw different reports. There was one that said he was at practice. Then there was one that said Forte against Carolina. Not as a stop, but he was practicing on Thursday. I saw different reports.
There was one that said he was at practice,
then there was one that said he didn't practice.
You know, the one time
I say what we're going to say about
do you expect, I'm wrong.
So Forte, okay,
questionable, but... Forte officially
did not practice on Thursday.
We had seen, I saw something earlier
on Thursday that said he was back
to practice. Manish also
tweeted that no practice
for him. So when I saw that, I was like, okay.
And you want to talk about a defensive player
that's coming back. It looks like Moe Claiborne's
on his way back for the Jets.
And he'll probably see a lot of Devin
Funchess. All right.
Kelvin Benjamin at Kansas
City. No. Devontae Freeman. No. But he got a
limited practice session in, so he just has to get cleared. Okay. We'll give you the scenarios
if he plays, if he doesn't play in a little bit. Jimmy Graham's on the injury report.
Going to play, right? He should. Rob Gronkowski? Should. Chris Hogan?
Should not.
No, I don't expect it.
Jake Elliott?
It sounds like it.
They haven't signed a kicker yet, so.
Okay, Jake Elliott.
Don't, you know, don't have to drop him yet.
Might want to pick him up.
All right, Chargers 28, Cowboys 6.
Holy crap.
Can I just say, it was a frustrating fantasy day.
I mean, I think a lot of people feel that way, but there's a lot of stuff that just didn't make sense.
I think it boils down to the tight ends.
It was so frustrating for tight ends yesterday because a lot of people went with Vernon Davis expecting a big game.
He had one target.
It came on a pass that he ran the wrong route for.
It was just kind of a nightmare.
A lot of people went with him.
They sat Rudolph, who had two touchdowns.
They sat Hunter Henry, who exploded in the first half for 73 yards
and then had one catch in the second half, but it was a three-yard touchdown.
So shows up after weeks of being completely invisible.
Not a big change in playing time or routes run or anything like that.
Yeah, he just had five targets in the game.
And pretty, pretty frustrating.
Yeah, well, I was mostly frustrated with Melvin Gordon,
and I was really pissed off when Rod Smith scored the rushing touchdown
instead of Alfred Morris.
It was funny.
So I was watching a game with my brother-in-law,
who has Ezekiel, I believe, in two leagues,
and handcuffed him with Morris, certainly one,
and he was like, oh, yeah, Morris.
And I was like, oh, that's Rod Smith.
They look similar.
They wear similar jersey numbers. Yeah, 45-46.
The fact that Morris has trimmed down so much
that you're right, their body style looks
somewhat similar, but
yeah. Yeah, very frustrating.
I don't know if, I know
the outcome for Melvin Gordon is frustrating, but
if you were to say 21
carries, three catches, you would have signed
up for that all day. Yeah, but I wouldn't sign up for only eight fantasy points.
I mean, look, eight fantasy points is not going to bury you.
In fact, when I was watching the game, I guess I didn't realize that he had so many total yards.
It felt worse because he didn't have any big plays and he didn't score a touchdown or anything.
But, okay, eight fantasy points is not going to bury you.
But I will ask you about this game.
Who would you rather have rest of season? Phillip Rivers or Dak Prescott?
It's got to be Rivers.
Yeah, schedule sets up very nice for them.
Good matchups coming up for them. Dak looks lost.
He's got
good matchups coming up too, though.
But can you trust Dak Prescott?
Trust? No. The words
Dak Prescott and trust cannot go in the
same sentence. Yeah. I put
in the notes, he must have been 20 of 32.
I put 20 of 72, which probably just went—
No, he was 20 of 27.
Oh, 20 of 27.
Okay, so I put 20 of 72, which is what it felt like, I'd say.
It's probably what he is over the last three games.
Which isn't that bad, except that two of his five incompletions was picked off.
This is amazing.
You're not dropping Dak, though, are you?
Depends what I have on my team.
I mean, you may have a lot of people that have Dak and Rivers.
If you need somebody.
I do feel good about the fact that we identified Rivers a few weeks ago
as somebody who was going to, you know, finish strong,
and so far he's on that path.
They're going to make the playoffs.
They may win the division.
I don't think they're going to win the division. Huh? I don path. They're going to make the playoffs. They may win the division. I don't think they'll win the division.
I don't think they're going to
win the division. Well, look, Kansas City
is falling apart. Raiders
aren't going anywhere. Broncos aren't going anywhere.
All the Chargers have to do is
just hang in there. Nine wins
might take that division.
That battle for the six-seed, if they don't win the division
between them and Baltimore, I think it's going to be fun.
All right.
Keenan Allen. They've got momentum in a big way.
Jamie, you love Keenan Allen.
He had a big game, 11 for 172.
Yeah, I mean, I thought he would blow up against this team because they can't defend slot receivers,
and he was better than I expected.
So I had him ranked fifth.
I probably should have had him ranked third.
Or first.
Or first.
I hope there's somebody better than him, but it's hard to expect that.
But, yeah, he's turning it on at the right time.
Like Dave said, they're gaining momentum,
and his presence the last two weeks is certainly a big reason why Rivers' numbers have popped up.
The targets are up for him, too.
Remember, two weeks ago we were talking about, well,
is he still as big of a part of the offense as he once was
because he was only getting seven or five targets a game.
Fourteen on Thanksgiving and a ton the week before that.
So he's back, baby.
Okay.
I'm sure we'll talk about Hunter Henry in the Waiver Wire show.
So let's talk about Des Bryant.
And do you trust him?
Or is he a sit?
Because they have Washington next week.
It's hard to trust him.
It's hard to trust anybody on Dallas at this point.
It's funny because I have two receivers in a flex league, PPR.
So I started Allen and Dez.
And I see Allen's numbers going off.
I wasn't really paying attention to Dez's numbers exactly.
So I go and I check the score and I see like, oh, 35 points, whatever it was at the time.
I'm like, wow, Allen's really just a monster.
I forgot that I started Dez.
And I'm looking like, oh, there's a six in there.
Yeah.
You know, I mean, people look at Dez Bryant.
He's averaging 10.9 yards per catch.
That's really bad.
He's not having a good year.
Dude, he's gone 17 games in a row without 100 yards.
And I think, you know, he's gone five games in a row without a touchdown.
And that's really why you start him is because he's such a big physical receiver.
And the red zone, he gets
those looks. He hasn't been coming through with them.
So one guy who's
been associated with our show
and our company a few years ago, Chad
Johnson, was just going crazy
on Twitter yesterday, as he's known to do.
But in regards to
just throw it to Dez 20 times a game,
in the absence of Zeke,
he's their best player, which you can make the argument, certainly,
that he still is in that conversation offensively.
That they're giving him chances, but they're not giving him enough chances.
And Romo made a comment on the broadcast when Rivers threw a back shoulder fade to Keenan Allen.
And Romo said that's the one thing missing from this team is that they don't do that.
I don't know if he was referring to maybe when he was still there too.
I don't recall how many times he made that throw to Dez.
I'm sure he did.
But they're not necessarily giving Bryant the opportunities to have a lot of winning chances.
They're throwing a lot of 50-50 balls because there's lack of separation.
But I don't know if they're scheming him up enough to put him more in the slot,
put him in some situations where he's not facing the opposing team's best cornerback.
What I was going to say is, what's wrong with Dak?
What's wrong with Dak?
Is it Tyron Smith?
Is it Ezekiel Elliott?
He doesn't really have good weapons right now.
Their receiving core stinks.
Dez is bad.
He's not a bad player, but everybody else is nothing.
They're not going to help him.
All right, finally, would you rather have Case Keenum or Dak Prescott rest of season?
I mean, again, we're going on a three-game sample size right now
where Case Keenum for the last month has been better than him.
It's only three games, though.
Dak Prescott was one of the true elites before that.
He just doesn't look it.
So you'd rather have Keenum?
Who do they have next week?
Atlanta.
They actually don't have a great schedule.
They've got two more on the road.
Two more in a row on the road, I should say.
Yeah, I'd probably take Keenum.
He looks great.
His receiving core is better than Dallas'.
His weapons are better than Dallas'.
His offensive line may be just as good as Dallas' right now.
All right, let's go to the game then.
Minnesota 30 and Detroit 23.
That's a pretty good little appetizer, a pretty good football game.
Here's an email. It's the best game of the day. Oh, well, yeah. That goes without saying. Here's a pretty good little appetizer. Pretty good football game. Here's an email.
It's the best game of the day.
Oh, well, yeah.
That goes without saying.
Here's an email from Eric in Maryland.
It seems that we keep thinking McKinnon is above Latavius,
but is it finally time to put this to bed?
It seems that Latavius is outscoring McKinnon even in PPR.
We said this going into the game, though.
I mean, after last week, he had to recognize that Latavius looks healthy
with that ankle.
They're giving him opportunities.
It's been five straight games of 15 carries, and the production's just been there
because the team has been great.
So when they're playing with the lead, it's Latavius.
When they have goal line opportunities, it's Latavius.
McKinnon was good early on because they were chasing points.
Yesterday was the 10th and 11th touchdowns allowed by the Lions in the red zone on the ground within the red zone.
Well, it's also, Adam, your stat unfortunately didn't happen for McKinnon because he hit the 13 carries.
But what was it, seven running backs with 13 carries?
Was it 13 or 15?
No, it was 13.
Yeah, I can find it.
But I knew that McKinnon was set up for a big day because he was going to get the work.
Yeah, sorry.
I knew Murray was set up because every running back who's gotten that type of workload against Detroit basically has had a big game.
I guess McKinnon did not.
Here's the note.
It's 11 red zone rushing touchdowns allowed by the Lions in their last five games.
Yeah.
I mean, McKinnon is – and he's not catching the ball that much recently either.
But again, it goes back to game flow for them.
Yeah.
Ravens up next for the Lions.
Okay.
So for the Lions, how about Marvin Jones?
I mean, I think that was the other thing
that really frustrated me.
I've been such a Marvin Jones guy.
I think I won him in three leagues.
I sat him in two leagues.
Yep.
I have him in, I think, three as well.
The only league where I started him was our podcast league. It's have him in, I think, three as well.
The only league where I started him was our podcast league.
It's hard to bench somebody in a 14-team league that gets as many targets as he typically does.
He was outstanding.
There's just nothing you can take away from him.
The catch that he made on the two best cornerbacks for Minnesota.
Right.
That was spooky.
That was crazy. First off, Matthew Stafford, great decision because he saw Terrence Newman couldn't get off the field.
And then Newman actually made a great decision to stay on.
He stayed on the field and went after Jones.
I wonder if he got in Rhodes' way, though, because Rhodes was like, what's happening here?
A little bit.
And then Marvin just made the cast in between both of them, and they ran into each other, and he walks into the end zone.
So he was awesome.
They went after Rhodes early.
He made catches.
The first touchdown was questionable if did he get in, but they gave it to him.
And then that play was just ridiculous.
He's just been a monster.
And I know people are going to say, well, similar to the Vikings running backs,
is Murray better than McKinnon?
Is Jones better than Tate?
I don't know if that's necessarily the case.
Tate had a bad game.
But Jones has just been a superstar.
And Stafford clearly loves him.
Yeah.
But you could look at the game and say it was a fluky performance from Marvin Jones.
He started in 48% of leagues.
They don't have a very good schedule going forward.
At Baltimore, at Tampa Bay, Chicago, at Cincinnati, and Green Bay.
Hold on.
Are any of those matchups ones where you would be nervous using Marvin Jones?
Baltimore, I believe, allows the second fewest fantasy points to wide receivers.
They are very good defensively.
At Tampa Bay, not a chance.
Chicago at home, not a chance.
At Cincinnati, week 16?
Maybe.
That's going to be a tough call.
You have to wonder what Cincinnati's mindset is in that game.
And then Green Bay at home, week 17, if you play week 17.
Look, Marvin Jones, it's the same thing.
We have to put him in the same category as what we've been saying about
Stephon Diggs and Tyreek Hill and any of these other very good to great wide receivers
that you don't want them on your bench based on the sample size of what we've
seen.
Like we said it with Amari Cooper for a stretch.
I don't know if you put him still there,
but those other guys are just good.
Like we said about Diggs going into the game against Washington.
Remember because of Josh Norman and Rashad Breeland,
how those guys are done on the outside and he scores.
This is against Xavier Rhodes.
Next game against Baltimore.
See a lot of Jimmy Smith probably.
Yeah, it's not the – I don't think it's a slam dunk.
But, I mean, I'm just thinking my rankings.
It'll probably be 20 to 25 in that range.
Well, I'll tell you what.
Last thing.
Last thing.
Sorry, guys.
He's got – Marvin Jones has 85 or more yards in five of his last six games.
And he has five touchdowns in those six games.
So he has been unbelievable.
And, yeah, you just have to start him and you have to trust him.
And the other thing is he had that one horrible game.
It was against the Browns, right?
Yep, that's what I was about to bring up.
Two targets, one 22-yard catch.
But they actually, surprisingly, are really bad against one receiver every game, it seems,
and they hardly ever let number two receivers do anything.
So I didn't really realize that until after the game.
I thought it was an easy matchup.
Maybe it wasn't, and it just appears to be a fluke.
So, you know, hooray for Marvin Jones.
Again, that's somebody we were talking about.
It was like going into their bye week.
You know, he was going to get healthy.
He was really under-owned, and hopefully you picked him up
and you're using it to your advantage.
And let's go to our final game, Washington 20.
Oh, actually, sorry.
Is Case Keenum for real?
Yes.
He's playing great.
He's getting really good protection,
and he's got Thielen making big plays for him.
Diggs hasn't been making big plays for him, but he will.
There's a lot to love about Case Keenum right now.
Troy Aikman made a great call on the game
that Terry Austin, the Lions
defense coordinator,
had been beaten by, I don't know if it's
now two games in a row or three games in a row,
but I know Trubisky scored on them last week
on the ground. He said, are you worried about
rushing quarterbacks against you?
He said, no. Then Keenum had
the read option where he ran into the end zone.
I wonder if that's something you keep an eye on now,
is maybe rushing production against opposing teams opposing the Lions.
No, that's not going to happen next week with Flacco, but moving forward.
You never know.
Maybe Dalton.
Joe Flacco.
I think after Joe got his bell rung by Kiko Alonzo,
he's probably not escaping the pocket very often.
Vikings at Atlanta next week.
They're going to need Keenum.
Let's go to our next game.
We've got Washington 20, Giants 10.
All right, let's go to the other games.
Jamison Crowder or Dez Bryant, rest of the season?
Crowder.
Crowder is becoming the guy I expected all season long.
It's awesome. It's awesome!
It's awesome! I love it! I wish he would have
shown up earlier in the year, but
this was what I expected in the preseason.
Him to get a lot of targets.
I don't know, seven for 141,
but scoring more than one time a season.
So he's delivering.
And Doxon, great catch in the end zone too.
I'm kind of okay with Crowder not showing up in the first
half because in all the leagues where I couldn't draft him in,
I was able to pick him up after everybody got tired of him stinking,
and now I've got him on my team.
Very exciting.
Are you concerned about Arlen's dark first bad game in a while?
He only had 11 carries, and the Giants tried to stay balanced.
I'd say they were balanced overall.
23 real runs versus 27 passes for Eli.
I'm not hating it.
I don't think it's over for Orlin Stark.
He's at Oakland next week.
Yeah, I think you kind of know what he is.
He's a number two running back that's going to have the occasional bad game.
He needs to score.
He's not a 100-yard bat.
No, but he had a 70-yard game in there.
A lot of 70-yard games.
Consecutively 70-yard games.
That's not going to kill you. That puts him at the
low-end number two guys
in standard scoring.
We'll get to the tight ends in a second,
but is Samaje P. Ryan
a number one running back going forward?
He's there.
Borderline. He's a must He's there. I mean, borderline.
He's a must-start guy.
I think we saw what life is going to be like without Chris Thompson,
and it's very, very good.
Yeah, the fact that they gave him four targets,
the fact that Marshall had the ball bounce off his hands that led to the interception,
I think that helps him in the passing game.
And they talked about this, that they think he could do more as a receiver than he's probably shown in his college career.
And I think it stands out, too.
I think it's worth pointing out that in the first half, he only had five carries for three yards.
And they kind of decided to have them.
They came out in the third quarter, and they just gave P. Ryan – they fed him.
And he paid off in a major way.
So I think he's kind of earned some trust now with that coach.
He had the fumble, but he didn't lose the ball on the fumble.
And I think that there's a lot to look forward to.
They didn't even credit him with fumbling him.
Yeah.
So at Dallas next week should be good.
Yeah, Dallas, Chargers, and then even Arizona coming over to the East Coast
where they don't play very well.
I'm not sure that's a problem.
I don't think you're going to start him.
How about Denver in Week 16 now?
You're not starting him in Week 16.
That's the only thing I was going to say.
Well, hold on.
Who knows what that Denver defense is going to be like?
Why would it be any different?
They have probably the best run defense in the NFL.
But it's been struggling, though, since it was great.
No.
I'm not ready to rule out P. Ryan in Week 16.
They had a bad game against the Eagles.
Bad game against the Giants.
That's it, right?
I mean, the Patriots guys got some points, but it was a bad yards per carry.
Am I missing a game?
What was last week's game?
The Bengals.
Bengals.
Joe Mixon had 20 carries.
They still have an elite run.
You know what?
Let's worry about it in Week 16.
The tight ends in this game, huge disappointments.
These were two of the three worst teams against tight ends.
It was crazy. And you got a combined
three catches for 18 yards, all from
Evan Ingram, who had some drops. Two bad games in a row
from Evan Ingram. What's your take on the tight ends
going forward?
I mean, look, it's hard to say with Washington
until we know what Reid's status is, so
I think you just have to take it week by week
with whoever the guy is there. They made
a big point of it on the broadcast last night
about how they were using Vernon Davis to block with Trent Williams being out.
He's a very good blocker.
But he didn't do a lot of that.
I think he did.
I don't think he did.
He was chipping.
He wasn't running routes down the field.
Everything I saw of him was right near the line of scrimmage.
I saw him running, especially in the first half, lots of routes downfield.
I agree.
Second half, maybe a little bit more.
Second half, more.
Because you talked about it. They pounded the ball with Pirine. So I think second half he wasn't very that involved in the first half, lots of routes downfield. I agree. Second half, maybe a little bit more. Second half, more. Because you talked about it.
They pounded the ball with Piran. So I think second half he wasn't very that involved in the passing.
But I'd like to know, if you have the stats, how many
routes he ran. 30.
He ran 30 routes? 30 routes.
He pass-blocked six times.
He played 69 snaps.
Nice.
Just an utter
disappointment. Obviously obviously the worst thing
That the only thing that would have been worse
Is if he caught a pass and then fumbled it away
Yes
But what about Ingram guys are you concerned about Evan Ingram
Two duds in a row
He's a rookie tight end I mean these things are going to happen
Not only is he a rookie tight end he's a rookie tight end
Who's the only guy
That is worth using double coverage on
When it's third and long?
Where do you shift your defensive players?
Shift them towards him.
I didn't see a lot of doubles on him, though.
What'd you say, Jim? I didn't see a lot of doubles on him.
His drops certainly weren't with double coverage on him.
No. He just... I think
he's a different player when Sterling
Shepard isn't on the field.
Maybe. Because the coverage is tighter. Hopefully Shepard
back next week as they go to Oakland. Oh, the best games came with Shepard,'t on the field. Maybe. Because the coverage is tighter. Hopefully Shepard back next week. Oh, the best games came with Shepard, not on the field.
The two games after Beckham got hurt before Shepard came back.
Do you think that that's because...
I think he's just a rookie tight end that's hitting a rookie wall probably
that's being asked to do a lot and has a lot of expectations on him.
Well, I'm not dropping him.
Well, no, of course not.
No?
No.
All right, that's it for this game
That's it for the Thursday games
We're going to move on to the Sunday games in just a moment
Go see a game or go to a concert
Go to comedy or theater or whatever
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sites, brings in a bunch of results, finds you the best prices, and makes it really easy to see
the best bargains. It's just an easy app to use. I told you all the story about my friend who bought
basketball tickets. He said,
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Trust me. Nearly identical seats, cheaper on SeatGeek. And then he used the promo code FFT,
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your first SeatGeek purchase. Did not really find anything I loved for Beat the Waiver Wire. Maybe
you guys can help me out. For DSTs, if anyone dropped the Broncos, they're 79% on.
They're at Miami next week.
Kansas City's 86% on, so it's a long shot.
They're at the Jets.
I don't know.
Are you going to trust the Raiders against the Giants next week?
The Raiders DST?
Yeah.
I wouldn't want to.
Yeah.
I don't want to trust the Giants, though.
They play well.
I actually think they're getting it together.
They are not going to be a cake matchup, I don't think, going forward.
I don't think so.
I'm not sure.
I don't know.
You guys can take a look at the schedule, see if there's anything else you like.
I think Devontae Booker is interesting.
He's 78% owned.
He's at Miami.
So if he becomes the leadback,
he'll have a great matchup next week.
I like Rashard Matthews against
Houston. He's about 80% owned.
Zay Jones, a long shot against New England.
Would really depend on
Kelvin Benjamin. I still think Corey Davis,
just speaking of Rashard Matthews.
How many people own Corey Davis already?
It's got to be under 60%.
Yeah, I think it's around there.
I can look that up.
That's not a bad one because I think he could have a good game this week.
I like his matchup against Indy.
Yeah, I would say Corey Coleman, but at Cincinnati, he's not a great matchup.
But either was Jacksonville, and he had eight points.
Cooper Cup at Arizona.
That was actually pretty interesting because Robert Woods almost certainly won't play.
We know we like the guy against Arizona that doesn't get covered by Patrick Peterson.
Yeah, you could stash Cup to see what things look like this week.
Mike Thomas figures to be the other wide receiver.
I don't know that for certain, but he's the one that came in for Woods last week.
Davis is 57% on.
All right, so he's a stash guy. Charles Clay, 45% on. All right.
So he's a stash guy.
Charles Clay, 45% on.
Josh Gordon.
Josh Gordon's a nice one because we're getting closer to that time.
He can play next week.
That's the other thing about Corey Coleman, yeah.
Gordon could play next week.
So that's a beat the waiver wire for next week.
I don't know.
I think that's pretty much all I got.
Oh, and I'm sorry.
Who did I say earlier?
Oh, I was saying Corey Coleman.
Okay, they have Cincinnati this week.
They have Cincinnati this week.
They have the Chargers next week.
At the Chargers next week.
Which is, again, not a great matchup.
No.
Green Bay after that could be really good.
Could be Gordon, though.
Yeah.
But you never know.
Who does Seattle have next week?
Could be Deshaun Kizer.
You can safely cut David Johnson every league.
Right.
Seattle has Philadelphia, so that's not a good matchup.
I was going to look at the running backs there, but no, you don't want that.
That's a game, baby.
That's Sunday night football Philadelphia at Seattle.
All right.
You could pick up, not for that game, but. That's Sunday night football Philadelphia at Seattle. All right. You could pick up,
not for that game, but Mike Davis.
He's still available and may come back next week and be their guy again.
I actually did that in one league in IDP.
Huge benches. All right. Hey, holiday time.
Before we get to the games, Dave,
got any good reading material
for the kids during holiday season?
Well, I'm glad you asked. As you
guys know, my mother, Sarah Lynn Richard,
has written a children's book called Naughty Nana.
It's available for sale at palmcirclepress.com.
So if you need to buy a kid, a good kid, a relative,
a snot-nosed brat, whatever,
something to entertain themselves during the holiday period,
give the gift of reading with Naughty Nana.
I know Jamie has it.
He's read it to his kids.
I know that Adam has it. He's read it to his kids. I know that Adam has it.
He's read it to his cat.
And, you know, make my mom's
dream come true. And if you do it,
let me know. And my mom
will also let me know if you buy a book from
palmcirclepress.com. I'll drop you
an email. Thank you.
Real quick update. Calvin Benjamin
still day-to-day. Unlikely to practice again
today, according to Chris Brown,
who is the lead reporter for BuffaloBills.com.
To the games.
Yes, it took a little longer this time, but we had a lot of games to recap.
So Tampa Bay is at Atlanta.
Stat of the game, 22 fantasy points.
That's the number that we're circling.
By the way, we basically predicted 18 fantasy points for Stafford,
and it came true, so let's see if we do it again.
Tampa Bay has not allowed more than
22 fantasy points to a quarterback in
five straight games. They've done better.
And Matt Ryan hasn't scored
more than 22 fantasy points all season.
So, is Matt Ryan
going to score more than 22 fantasy points?
Yes.
It feels like a
big-time, low-up spot for all of the Falcons. I hope so. Yes It feels like a big time
Low up spot for all of the Falcons
I hope so
Because this
Tampa Bay secondary is beatable
Their pass rush is minimal
And I think
Matt Ryan can chuck it a little bit
He's playing great
Yeah just not the fantasy points
Haven't been there but it's a matter of time.
Okay, that's one quarterback.
How about the other quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, 42% owned.
Interested?
No.
Not particularly.
Sticking with the Bucs, Doug Martin.
No.
I mean, yeah, he's got to get to work.
Would you start?
Four times in five weeks, he's had at least 18 carries,
and he's given you under eight fantasy points per game.
Of course, this will be the week that he does well.
Of course.
Atlanta's got a pretty good defense, I should say that.
Would you start LeGarrette Blunt or Doug Martin?
I think you can make the case for Blunt.
Yeah, I'd probably still start Martin just because he's going to get the work.
I think he'll fall into seven points more than Blunt having to score to get that.
Would you start a Dolphins running back or a Doug Martin?
Martin.
I have Martin and Blunt back-to-back in my rankings,
and they're both ahead of all the Dolphins.
Okay.
All right.
Mike Evans, top 10, must start.
Deshaun Jackson, start or sit.
Deshaun Jackson, last five games he's played with Mike Evans,
not counting the game Evans was suspended,
he's had like around 30 receiving yards in most of those games.
I mean, he's just not – but sometimes he scores.
So start or sit Deshaun Jackson.
He's a number three receiver.
They're going to have to throw a bunch
because they're not going to be able to run it, right?
So Deshaun certainly makes the cut
as a startable fantasy receiver.
Who's a better flex, Doug Martin or Deshaun Jackson?
Deshaun.
More upside. There's more upside with Deshaun, yeah.
Okay. Matt Ryan, we're starting. You guys more upside with Deshaun, yeah. Okay.
Matt Ryan, we're starting.
You guys have him. Do you both have him ahead of Drew Brees?
I believe so.
That's very close.
But you have Matt Ryan around seventh overall.
Oh, Cameron Bray, we're sitting.
He's outside the top 20.
Matt Ryan's seventh.
He's not getting a lot of work.
Seventh and sixth or sixth for our three analysts.
So we like him this week.
All right, tell me about the running backs.
Tevin Coleman and Devontae Freeman.
Give me the if Freeman plays and if Freeman doesn't play start sit advice.
Well, you already know what to do if Freeman doesn't play,
and that's to go with Tevin Coleman without any trepidation.
If Freeman plays, I imagine the Falcons aren't going to let him rip
right back into a 20-touch roll.
It'll probably be right around what he had been getting prior to the concussion,
which is like 12 carries and two or three catches, which isn't bad.
But, you know, look, the matchup is relatively favorable for them,
and I think the game script will be relatively favorable for them and i think the game script will be relatively favorable
for them but there is definitely a chance here where freeman is pulled near the goal line
because they're concerned about him taking hits to the head well are they both sits if davante
freeman plays i think i'd rather go with coleman and i'd say that coleman would be a number two
running back and freeman would be more of a number three. Okay.
If Freeman plays, would you start Doug Martin or Devontae Freeman?
Freeman.
Freeman.
Freeman would be a number two guy for me.
They both would be.
Kind of what they were prior to the injury.
But right now, you know, if we had to guess, probably not going to play.
So that means Tevin Coleman is a top ten guy.
And would you start him over Carlos Hyde?
Yes.
Look, it's now, I'll say the same stat I used last week.
It's five of six games where he's gotten at least 10 touches.
He's gotten you nine or more fantasy points.
And it was ugly last week, but he could have had two touchdowns in that game
against Seattle.
So he should have a much better rushing average this week,
and he should have a much better performance.
I think the weird thing is he's not catching passes.
He's got five catches.
Yeah, but that's been the case with the running backs offseason.
Well, he was catching passes at the beginning of the year.
Now he's catching one a game.
Yeah, but Freeman wasn't doing that either.
To follow up, would you start Hyde over Coleman in PPR?
No, I'd start Hyde in PPR.
You'd start Hyde over Coleman, right.
Okay, Julio Jones
must start. How about Muhammad Sanu?
Is he a better or worse start than Deshaun Jackson?
He's better in PPR.
They're similar in standard.
Do we know what the status is of
the Bucs defensive backs?
Vernon Hargraves actually matters here.
I don't know.
What do you mean you don't know?
Sorry, I don't know.
He hasn't practiced all week.
If he's out, that makes the matchup even sweeter for Sanu.
Okay.
So how about Muhammad Sanu or Jordan Howard?
Howard.
Sanu and PPR.
Really? Yeah, I'll take Howard in both. I mean, Sanu's touchdown dependent? Howard. Sanu and PPR. Really?
Yeah, I'll take Howard on both.
I mean, Sanu's touchdown dependent.
Yeah.
All right, and Austin Hoopa, any interest?
I mean, those two guys, they haven't played well in the same game very often.
Sure.
Yeah, he had a dud last week.
So, I mean, yeah, most people are probably getting away from Austin Hoopa.
Finally, I just want to say that Tampa Bay
has allowed 90 yards or a touchdown
to a wide receiver in every game this year.
If Julio Jones doesn't have a big game,
then, oh man, I'm going to be very angry.
Chicago is at
Philadelphia here. Stat of the game.
The state of Pennsylvania
used to be spelled
with only one N.
P-E-N-S-Y blah, blah, blah.
How about that?
Blow your mind.
So no N at the end of Vania?
Oh.
Good for you, Dave.
Used to be spelled with only two Ns.
I apologize.
Erroneous stat of the day.
So why did they change it?
Do you know that?
I don't know.
Just old-timey.
Used to be spelled that way.
If you look at the Liberty Bell, it says Pennsylvania with P-E-N-S-Y-L-V, blah, blah, blah.
On it.
There you go.
Are you starting anyone in the Bears passing game?
No.
Okay, then.
But keep an eye on Don Charlton.
He had a very good game two games ago.
Tough matchup last week.
So we'll see if he bounces back, gets those eight targets like he had two games ago.
Adam Shaheen is a touchdown or bust type of tight end.
He might be fun to stash, not start.
I guess if you're in desperate times, you can start him.
Next week, interesting matchup against San Fran at home.
Maybe that's one of your beat-the-waver-wire guys.
Okay, nice.
Who's the best flyer this week?
Cameron Brait, Austin Hooper, Adam Shaheen?
I put Hooper first, and then
Shaheen.
I'm not loving Brait. Not with Fitzpatrick.
Who's the best flyer?
Eric Lindros.
That's the only ones I can name.
Is it Rod Brindamore?
Sure.
Carson Wentz, top four.
I'm sorry. It just sounds like he is.
Carson Wentz is top four. Start'm sorry. It just sounds like he is. Carson Wentz is top four.
Start him.
And the Philadelphia running backs.
All right.
Let's talk about it.
Well, rank the Philadelphia running backs and include Jordan Howard in there.
Howard, Ajayi, Blunt, Clement.
We should probably spend more time on Jordan Howard.
Give me some wide receivers you'd start over Jordan Howard.
Marvin Jones.
Thank you.
How about most of the guys that you're already going to start ahead of him anyway?
Jarvis Landry might not be one of them, but I would.
Demarius Thomas, even with the quarterback change there.
How about former teammate Alshon Jeffrey?
How about T.Y. Hilton?
T.Y. Hilton or Jordan Howard?
I'd probably go Howard over Hilton.
Yeah.
How many fantasy points do you expect from Jordan Howard?
Eight.
I think he can get you more than eight.
More than eight?
All right.
So we'll say eight is the floor.
Okay.
It's Jay Ajayi.
How many fantasy points do you expect from him?
A hundred.
No, the problem with Ajayi is that we don't know what his workload is going to be.
We don't know what any Eagles running back workload shall be, but we do know that Blunt was the one who was killing the clock late last week.
I can't help but think that he'll continue to get that job in a blowout situation.
This week, we're talking about the Eagles winning by two touchdowns.
That would favor Blount getting 13 to 15 carries,
somewhere in that neighborhood.
But the Eagles are spreading the ball around all their guys.
It's not really easy to feel good about any of them.
Would you start any of them ahead of DeMarco Murray?
I'd start Ajayi ahead of DeMarco.
But I'm not a big DeMarco guy.
No.
Yeah.
How about Alex Collins or Jay Ajayi?
Collins.
Still Ajayi.
Okay.
You sound excited.
Alshon Jeffrey is a must-start guy.
Nelson Aguilar.
Compare him. No. I'd start Collins. Start Collins. Okay. And Ion Jeffrey is a must-start guy. Nelson Aguilar, compare him.
No, I'd start Collins.
Start Collins, okay.
And I'd start Murray over Ajayi, too.
Nelson Aguilar, Mohamed Sanu, Deshaun Jackson.
Who's the best?
Jackson.
I think Sanu scores again.
Start or sit Aguilar?
Sit.
I would try and sit him.
Okay, yeah, try.
Try all you want.
And Zach Ertz, we're going to start. And the Eagles DST, got to talk to Heath. He's got him. Okay. Yeah, try. Try all you want. And Zach Ertz, we're going to start.
And the Eagles DST, got to talk to Heath.
He's got them 10th.
You guys have them 4th and 2nd, Jamie and Dave respectively.
They're going to put up a huge number here.
Right?
Am I crazy? Very good team.
All right.
So moving on to the Rams and the Saints.
Okay, this is actually a pretty interesting game.
Stat of the game.
No quarterback has scored more than 13 fantasy points at the Rams this season.
And there have only been two good ones.
Kirk Cousins had 13.
Russell Wilson had 12.
Otherwise, you're looking at the Colts, the Cardinals, and the Texans without Deshaun Watson.
But, yeah, what do you think about Drew Brees in this game?
Can he give you a big number?
I think it will be around 20 points.
I think we've seen it from New Orleans the past couple of years.
Most of the time when they go on the road, they want to run the football.
And this year, more than any other year, they've been outstanding at doing just that.
So I think they're going to continue to do it.
One thing that stands out to me on the injury report, I don't know if this means anything or not,
but we've seen guys with an illness miss games.
Aaron Donald missed practice on Thursday with an illness.
Hopefully it's nothing.
Hopefully he's just got a little flu going on or something like that.
How about a cold?
Don't give him the flu.
Just give him a common cold.
I hope he has a sore throat.
We saw this last week with Shepard where it was illness that turned out to be migraines
and he hasn't played for two games.
We don't know the severity. It just says illness.
It doesn't say what the illness is.
I'm hoping for
a common cold or a hangnail.
For all we know, it's hypothermia, but I don't know
how he would have gotten that in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles, probably not.
Drew Brees or Jared Goff? Brees. For all we know, it's hypothermia, but I don't know how he would have gotten that in Los Angeles. Los Angeles, probably not. Probably not.
All right, so Drew Brees or Jared Goff?
Brees.
Brees.
I don't have a lot of faith in Goff.
Goff's missing his number one receiver.
Yeah.
I think it's going to hurt him.
I think it will help Sammy get more targets.
And I think it will help Cup get more targets.
But I don't see how Jared Goff goes out there without Robert Woods and puts up 300 yards and two touchdowns.
Drew Brees or Ben Roethlisberger?
Roethlisberger.
Ben?
Drew Brees or Andy Dalton?
I have Brees a couple of spots ahead of Dalton.
Okay.
So then, are we starting both Saints running backs?
Yes.
Okay.
We could tell you.
What if we told you, no, don't do it?
Would you really not do it?
No, I would do it.
Of course not.
Are you starting Michael Thomas?
Yes.
Are you starting Ted Ginn?
He's in that Deshaun Jackson conversation, number three guy.
I feel the same way.
If I could surprise you with a question, then.
Like, we've talked about Ginn, Jackson, Sanu, all these guys.
Who are, like, the number two wide receivers that you think could have big games this week?
Unfortunately, we saw Marvin Jones and Crowder yesterday, so those answers are off the board.
But are there any, like, sleeper wide receivers that you really like this week?
I would say Crowder's the number one guy there.
Yeah, he is.
I'm sorry.
I don't know if I mean like number two fantasy guys or whatever it is.
We kind of know what you mean, like the guy behind the guy.
Well, no.
I think you mean more like secondary fantasy options that could be blow-up type players.
Yeah, right.
Non-obvious starts.
I've got three ranked in a row in my receiver rankings.
Kenny Stills,
Mohamed Sanu, Mike Wallace.
Okay.
And I'll give you a fourth. Wait, hold on. You like
Macklin more than Wallace?
No, I like Wallace more than Macklin.
I like Wallace more than Macklin and Standard like Macklin more than
Wallace. Alright, who else?
There's another one, and
everybody's going to start him anyway,
but Juju Smith-Schuster is technically a number two receiver.
Hopefully he's healthy enough to play and play effectively.
I mean, in that same game, this should be a good spot for Sammy Watkins.
Right.
Yeah, I mean, I think it's probably our next topic here.
Who do you like better, Sammy Watkins, Cooper Cupp, or Ted Ginn?
Watkins.
It's the upside, right?
It's the potential for him to go off for a couple of big plays.
We're working under the assumption that he's going to get more targets.
Makes sense.
Put it together.
Robert Woods isn't there.
The ball's got to go somewhere else.
I don't think they're going to run it 40 times.
Would you start Jared Goff or Josh McCown?
Goff over McCown? Goff over McCown.
Goff.
There's one more factor here that we didn't even talk about.
Sammy Watkins. Marshawn Lattimore's not going to play.
Yeah, you're right.
If he's out, and Ken Crawley, I believe, is banged up too
for New Orleans. So maybe that's what you
were thinking about with cornerbacks being hurt.
If the top two cornerbacks on New Orleans
are out, and they're missing their second
best pass rusher, it's going to be tough here to New Orleans are out, and they're missing their second-best pass rusher,
it's going to be tough here to contain Sammy Watkins unless they just put a safety over the top every time he runs 25 yards.
I like it.
Sammy Watkins or Jay Ajayi?
I think you'll have more upside with Watkins.
Yep.
And now it comes back to maybe Jared Goff isn't that bad Yeah we kind of talked ourselves into it
I never bought the Saints defense
As a great defense
Well I think you had to buy them
Based on how their defense as a whole was playing
But they came up with so many injuries last week
That's true but they also just didn't play good teams
They had a really easy schedule
I'm checking on Ken Crawley
Because I want to be
And they are banged up.
So, okay.
So, Goff is still
outside the top 15 for you guys.
And would you consider
moving him ahead of Alex Smith?
No.
I'd start Jacoby Brissett over Derek Oxley.
Okay. Okay.
I think I tried to ask this.
I don't know if I blurted it out.
Sammy Watkins or T.Y. Hilton?
I like T.Y. Hilton better.
I have Hilton higher.
Watkins is still a risk just because of the targets.
Heath and I didn't really talk about Kenny Stills enough yesterday
because we weren't really sure who it would be,
but we're thinking it's going to be Matt Moore now more and more.
Well, yeah, get it.
But do you like Stills or Watkins better?
Watkins. Watkins has a higher ceiling, like Stills or Watkins better? Watkins.
Watkins has a higher ceiling, but Stills with Matt Moore has just been fantastic.
You go back to last year, the start of this season,
the three games that Matt Moore has played,
Stills has three touchdowns in those games.
He scored against the Patriots the last two times these two teams have met.
Wow.
So, I mean, he's got a lot of things just working in his favor.
Chasing points, targets have been there.
I mean, Matt Moore has a lot of things just working in his favor. Chasing points, targets have been there. I mean, Matt Moore has a man crush on him.
If Jared Goff liked Sammy Watkins as much as Matt Moore likes Kenny Stills,
we'd be in great shape.
If you have Matt Moore at quarterback, if he's playing,
then Kenny Stills is a great value, at least on FanDuel.
I haven't checked on DraftKings.
Both.
Yeah, both.
Great value then.
Moving on to Seattle, San Francisco.
Start Todd Gurley.
He's got a good matchup to start him.
And Seattle, San Francisco, I mean, I did talk about this game earlier,
so if you missed it, that was at the beginning of the show,
like two minutes in, how interesting I find this matchup
because Baldwin's been so bad with four fantasy points or fewer
in each of his last five games at San Francisco.
And Russell Wilson has never had a—no, just one multi-passing touchdown game against the
Niners.
So if Doug Baldwin's last nine—
If Doug Baldwin has a strong finish, will we say he had a good year?
Yes.
I'd say so.
Has he not had a good year?
He needs to do this.
Why wouldn't we?
Well, because he had a pretty bad year to this point.
Really?
I don't see it that way.
He probably has had a year similar to last year.
Is that a year similar to every year of his career?
Right.
But he usually has a stretch where he's been good.
He just hasn't had that stretch.
You think he's a top 10 wide receiver?
Because I feel like he is.
Statistically?
Yeah.
For the season?
He's 11th. He's 11th.
He's 11th.
It just doesn't feel like he's having, I don't know,
maybe I'm just disappointed by the expectation,
but it looks like he has, what, one, three really good games?
No, look, wide receiver sucks this year, you know, so that's part of it.
He's 11th in standard, but he's probably like 7th in PPR
because he's got 56 catches.
His PPR numbers have been fine.
You're right.
But his standard numbers, there's only three, four with double digits
and fancy points.
Guys, we're going to start, Bob.
We're going to start Russell Wilson.
What about McKissick?
What about the running backs here?
We know how good of a matchup this is.
Well, I'm just looking back at their last three games against the 49ers
and trying to figure out a reason why Russell Wilson hasn't been that good.
And sure enough, the run game has been effective to dominant in this series.
Chris Carson, remember him?
He had 93 yards on 20 carries back earlier this season,
so that took the ball out of Wilson's hands a bunch.
And then last season, Alex Collins and Thomas Rawls combined for 15 carries.
Not a lot of good yardage.
Most of them went to Collins.
They let Alex Collins walk out.
There was a rushing touchdown.
They let Alex Collins walk out.
What about the running backs this week, though?
Are we going to get one?
And then three games.
Hold on a second.
I'm not done.
Three games ago, Kristen Michael had a monster game.
That's another guy.
I know.
Look, it's a great matchup.
They used to run the ball.
Are they going to do it this week?
We haven't seen more than seven carries for JD McKissick.
But also keep in mind that San Francisco can't cover running backs either. It's a great matchup. They used to run the ball. Are they going to do it this week? We haven't seen more than seven carries for JD McKissick.
But also keep in mind that San Francisco can't cover running backs either.
Three running backs have had 72 or more yards against the Niners.
Four running backs have caught a touchdown.
I like McKissick this week.
I think they're going to have to turn to him a little bit more than they have been.
It's just a matter of how many carries he'll get.
Because, once again, Tom Cable this week was the guy talking about Thomas Rawls.
Now he's trying too hard and this, that, and the other thing.
And Eddie Lacy will be back in the mix because Mike Davis is going to play.
But I think in PPR leagues, McKissick is a borderline must-start.
And I'm starting him over Marshawn Lynch in Standard Leagues.
Because you just hate the matchup for Lynch and you know that Lynch isn't going to get a lot of work.
I think they're both about seven fantasy points.
I'll take the chance with the matchup here for McKissick.
I will guarantee that the Seahawks will do their usual token approach to try and get the run game going, and it could be Rawls, it could be Lacey,
it could be both of them.
Neither one of them will get more than 12 carries,
and eventually it's going to be McKissick.
So if you're really in a pinch at running back, McKissick is your guy. And if you have him on CBS, you can start him at wide receiver.
So if you're in a pinch at wide receiver, PPR league
preferably, you can put McKissick in the game. I just don't think you're going to
see him anywhere near the goal line unless it's the two-minute drill
or they're going no huddle or it's third down.
Because he's just not a physical running back.
He is a receiver-turned-running back, just like CJ Prosek.
McKissick or Deshaun Jackson at wide receiver or flex?
McKissick.
I'd go Deshaun.
McKissick or J.J.?
J.J., yep.
McKissick or Carlos Hyde?
Hyde.
Man, this run defense, though, is legit.
He's the only guy we're going to consider starting, right?
You're not really considering Marquis Goodwin?
No.
Okay, so Hyde.
Yeah, Hyde's a start.
I mean, especially in PPR, we know he catches a lot of passes,
but what do you expect from Carlos Hyde?
This run defense is seriously good for Seattle.
80 total yards with a chance to score.
Yep.
Lots of catches.
Okay.
And Goodwin's going to get his shot,
and you know that the cornerbacks are banged up for Seattle.
So I wouldn't be surprised if he did well.
I just don't know if I've got the grapefruits to put him in my lineup.
There you go.
Seattle's DST seventh, ninth, and fifth for Jamie, Dave, and Heath.
Jacksonville at Arizona.
Now we talked about Larry Fitzgerald and McKissick or Fitzgerald? Fitz talked about Larry Fitzgerald. And McKissick or Fitzgerald?
Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald.
Don't start Blake Bortles.
Start Leonard Fournette.
This game is a piece of cake.
Start Leonard Fournette.
Marquise Lee, though, he's actually pretty interesting.
What do you think about Marquise Lee this week?
He usually gets nine targets.
He's had nine targets or more in four of his last five games.
There have been six wide receivers who have had nine or more targets against Arizona.
Golden State, the Golden Tate Warriors scored 10 fantasy points.
Cooper Cup scored 11.
DeAndre Hopkins scored 13.
Kamar Aiken, Aldrick Robinson, and Trent Taylor had horrible games,
five or fewer fantasy points.
But Marquise Lee is closer to the Tate Cup Hopkins group
than Aldrick Robinson, Trent Taylor, or Kamar Aiken. So do you think Marquise Lee is closer to the Tate Cup Hopkins group than Aldrick Robinson, Trent Taylor, or Kamar Aiken.
So do you think Marquise Lee is a sneaky play here?
He's 90% owned, but I don't know how many people are going to be willing to start him.
No.
I don't like him.
I think he'll see a lot of Patrick Peterson.
I think that's a winnable matchup for Patrick Peterson.
And I do think that Bortles will have no choice but to throw at Marquise Lee.
I just don't see Lee catching a pass and breaking it for a big gain.
I don't know how good he'll be inside the red zone because he's pretty easy to cover with more than Peterson if Arizona wants to.
I think he's in for a rough game.
Okay.
And Adrian Peterson, like, no way, right?
No way.
Yeah.
McKissick over him for sure.
Man, that Jacksonville DST.
Jamie, you've got to change your rankings.
Just put him number one.
You've got him number two.
You're way too low.
I'll take the Steelers at home.
Against Brett Hundley.
I mean, come on, the Jaguars.
Come on now.
Jamie, I put in the notes.
Jamie is cray-cray, cray-cramy.
Yeah, thank you for the courtesy laugh.
We've got about a minute left.
Anybody want to give a fan duel lineup?
I can give mine.
Sure.
I'll give you DraftKings one, too.
All right.
I'll go ahead and give a fan duel lineup.
And, Jamie, you can do DraftKings.
And let me just find my updated lineup.
Here it is.
Ben Roethlisberger,
Todd Gurley, Tevin Coleman. I don't
like running backs this week, the depth
anyway, so I do want to have at least one stud.
Roethlisberger, Gurley, Coleman,
Julio Jones, Brandon
Cooks, Rashard Matthews,
although Kenny Stills is looking really good.
Might have to go with him. Delaney Walker,
Chris Boswell, and the Bengals.
If I downgrade from Matthews to Kenny Stills, I might be able to get a better tight end.
I did that in the two lineups that I wrote for the Sleepers column.
Kenny Stills in both of them.
Okay.
So for DraftKings, I have a Bengals stack of Dalton, A.J. Green, and Tyler Croft.
Banking on the Browns being terrible.
Kareem Hunt, I think, has a breakout game against the Bills because the Bills stink.
Deion Lewis is the star of the week, so he's the other running back there.
My other two wide receivers going upside, one is Stills, one is Sammy Watkins.
They're both under $5,000, so they're good prices.
T.Y. Hilton at the flex, again, looking for the blow-up spot against the Titans.
It's the one good matchup he's had this year that he hasn't taken advantage of.
I think he will rectify that at home.
And then the Falcons' defense against Tampa Bay.
They're very cheap at $2,900.
Holy crap.
I forgot the Bonanza.
No, no.
Podcast over.
No, I forgot.
I'm on a four-game winning streak.
It's been a great show.
Don't forget to like us on iTunes.
No, no, no.
Now, you forgot it.
So now you're going to force it.
So it's either you take your Bean Boozled because you forgot it So now you're going to force it So it's either you take your bean boozle
Because you forgot it
So technically you did not plan on one
You just admitted that you forgot it
You just admitted it
Oh he's kind of sinking in his chair
Now I'm thinking right now
What's it going to be
Oh look at this it's going to be an off the cuff
Cuff bonanza
How many Packers have to do well if I choose Green Bay-Pittsburgh?
Oh, God.
How many Packers?
Don't do this to Roethlisberger, please.
I'm on a four-game winning streak.
All right, fine.
Two Packers.
Green Bay-Pittsburgh Bonanza.
Sunday night Bonanza at Heinz Field.
Beautiful.
Guys, thank you for your time today.
Happy Thanksgiving. And we'll talk to you Saturday night for Ion Fantasy Football,
Sunday morning, 11 a.m.
We've got a live show coming up.
Yes, we do have a live show, so I have to go and do my research.
See you later, everybody.
You going to shave?
Yeah, that's the other thing I have to do.
That's what I meant by research.
Bye.
Bye.
It's all right.
I've got Le'Veon.
It's all right. Not George Le'Veon. It's alright I've got Le'Veon It's alright
Not George Le'Veon
It's alright
I've got Le'Veon Bell
Yeah