Fantasy Football Today - 11/27: Thanksgiving Games; Side Dish Draft; Trustometer (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: November 27, 2019

Plenty of Start or Sit questions to get to, but first we wonder which studs you could be benching this week. Are we starting DeAndre Hopkins in a tough matchup against NE? Then let's get some History Lessons (6:15) as we look at matchup history, Thanksgiving football history, home/road splits and more. We'll talk Amari Cooper, Drew Brees, Matt Ryan and more in this segment ... Thanksgiving Side Dish draft (15:00)! Two sides and a pie. Who wins? We let the listeners decide. Then we've got your news and notes (20:42) and a bunch of your Start or Sit emails (24:15) mostly involving the Thursday games ... NO-ATL (35:45), BUF-DAL (45:10), CHI-DET (53:40). Can Devonta Freeman find the end zone? Are Michael Gallup and Randall Cobb good starts? Actually, is anyone in that game other than Ezekiel Elliott a good start? And who do we like in the CHI-DET game? Allen Robinson? Anyone else? Finally we finish by discussing whether or not we trust some key players down the stretch (59:00) ... Your emails at [e-mail] 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

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Here we go! It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Let's go! Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Well, they say the best part of Thanksgiving is the side dishes, right?

We're going to talk about that today. We've got a side dish draft coming up. That's what you came to hear about, right? It's week 13. It's time to get to the playoffs. You want to hear about side dishes? No, but in all seriousness, big show today. A lot of starters sit, previewing the three Thanksgiving games, answering your questions via email and Apple Podcasts, and saying hello to Heath Cummings and Ben Gretsch. And the best part about today, Heath is in some kind of mood. He must be really excited for tomorrow or maybe for the side dish draft. I don't know. But welcome, Heath.

I think it's brave of you to be here doing this this morning after the devastating loss suffered by your Blue Devils last night. But, yeah, I'm in a good mood. Happy Thanksgiving. My Blue Devil? I'm a Blue Devils fan? You're a Yankees fan. I just assumed you were a Duke fan too. I honestly had no idea.

They lost last night? To Stephen F. Austin at home. Wow. Like Kentucky a few weeks ago lost to that team at home. Hey, what's up, Ben? Listen, I'm sorry to tell you that my soundboard is not working right now. so I don't have your intro music. That's fine.

Okay, well, hello. You're not supposed to do it. I believe that team that beat Kentucky was like Evansville, I think? Yeah. The Purple Aces? Something like that. No, I'm excited for this side dish draft. You guys both have terrible food takes, so I expect that I'm going to build a really good side dish team.

It's impossible. It's impossible to build a really good side dish team because Adam violated virtually every concept of a side dish draft. Asked us for our suggestions. Didn't take any of mine. I took Ben's. Seven of the nine things are things that I'm not going to have on Thanksgiving as a side dish. Three of the things are definitively not side dishes.

They're desserts. Okay, it's two side dishes and a dessert. We're going to vote on it. We're going to have the people vote on it during the show. Alright, so Heath wanted to propose a new segment. Would you like to tell us about the segment? He's all about it. He's producing the show today. The Heath is odd, for sure.

Which studs are you sitting? Yeah um which studs are you sitting yeah which studs are you sitting he wants to do this every week i wish he had thought of this in week one but he's which studs are you sitting this week i think the most interesting stud to talk about this week is a format specific stud or maybe a pair of studs and it's des Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins against the New England Patriots. And I'm not saying that I'm definitively sitting either of them. I don't feel comfortable doing that. But it is just a truly awful matchup. The Patriots have allowed one wide receiver all season

to finish in the top 12 in a given week. They've allowed one quarterback. That was Golden Tate? Yes. They've allowed one quarterback all season to finish as a top 12 quarterback. That was Lamar Jackson. Wow.

And it's been like, DeAndre Hopkins has been awesome and is awesome, but isn't quite the same guy that he was the past two or three years. His targets are coming a little closer to the line of scrimmage, and he's not getting as many targets when Will Fuller is on the field. So I don't expect him to get 10 to 15 targets. I think you're probably looking at eight or so.

He's right around where he's been with Fuller. And if his efficiency is down even a little bit, he's a touchdown-dependent wide receiver and non-PBR. So I guess the question is, we can talk about it. We'll preview that game tomorrow. But before that, you've got Kenny Galladay, Marvin Jones,

Cole Beasley, Randall Cobb, Michael Gallup, maybe even Amari Cooper if people were a little nervous about him, which would be understandable going up against Buffalo at home. You've got a lot of wide receivers. Allen Robinson would be in the mix. And obviously, Michael Thomas is going to be ahead of him.

Julio Jones, if he plays, will be ahead of him. But then there's Calvin Ridley. You know, how many of the Thanksgiving wide receivers are you starting over DeAndre Hopkins? How many of the Thanksgiving quarterbacks are you starting over Deshaun Watson? It's a big question. Yeah, I wasn't prepared for that like thanksgiving quarterbacks i would i'd rather start dac against buffalo than watson against the patriot what would you start josh allen would you start i would not start josh allen over okay how about then you get in on this too How about Matt Ryan, who has great history at home against the Saints?

I think you can play Ryan. The one thing we know about Atlanta is they're just going to throw in every single game. I think you take that volume. I would start the Cowboys wide receivers over DeAndre Hopkins. I would start Allen Robinson. These are all non-PPR. In PPR, I think he's still going to catch six passes like he does every single week,

and you probably just start him and hope he scores a touchdown and has a big week. In non-PPR, I think there's a better chance that Robinson scores a touchdown for sure. I think there's a better chance Robinson gets 100 yards than DeAndre Hopkins. So I'd start Robinson. I guess I'm just like like the cowboys guys are facing

the bills and they they give the second fewest fantasy points to wide receivers so you know is it really a better situation i don't think it's the same thing um like they have still allowed a couple of receivers to have good games and the bills like we make fun of the patriots for their schedule the bills have not yet faced a quarterback that is top 12 this season in fantasy points. Yeah, well, that's true.

The best one they face is probably Tom Brady. This will be the toughest challenge for Buffalo, for sure. And probably for Buffalo, it obviously comes down to Tredavious White, who's their star quarterback.

He's going to be on Amari Cooper a lot. Cooper's a lot better at home. That's a tough one that I'm struggling with, but I'm going to be willing to play Cooper at home, even in the tough matchup. He tends to get there at home. Oh, yeah.

In fact, let's look at some history lessons, some Thanksgiving history, some matchup history, some home road history. Amari Cooper is in there, but I'll give you a stat, and you guys tell me what it means to you. Drew Brees on the road on Thursday night, his last three seasons now. This is four in a row. Drew Brees on the road on Thursday night. His last three seasons now. This is four in a row.

He's been on the road on Thursday night, and in those games, he has scored 19, 20, and 9 fantasy points and six points for passing touchdown leagues. But Heath, that's not very good for Drew Brees. It's Thursday night road history, recently anyway. You still, all three of you have him as a top five quarterback against the Falcons, at the Falcons.

Yeah, I think the Falcons defense, still not particularly good. It's better than it was early in the year, but it's really not. It's pretty dreadful. And I'd wonder how many of those Thursday night road games for Breeze were outdoors.

Because I think the outdoors thing may be a bigger thing than the at-home thing. One of them was at Atlanta. I remember that. Oh, okay. And I One of them was at Atlanta. I remember that. And I think last year was at Dallas. Oh, no, I think last year he played at Dallas the week after Thanksgiving.

I'm not sure. Yeah, I expect this to be a high-scoring game. Okay. Ben, you cool with Drew Brees this week? Big game for him? Yeah, definitely. I agree with Heath. I mean, you're in a dome environment.

It should be a good one for Brees. I think this is going to be a pretty high-scoring game. I agree with Heath. I mean, you're in a dome environment. It should be a good one for Breeze. I think this is going to be a pretty high-scoring game. So I'm definitely on Breeze. Oh, look at that lower third. History lessons with Adam Azer. I always wanted to teach something. So here we go. History lesson number two.

By the way, if you want to see the show, youtube.com slash fantasyfootball today. History lesson number two, Matt Ryan. Fantasy points in six- per passing touchdown leagues in his last five home games against the saints, 36, 24, 37,

eight, terrible and 49. So four great, four, very good games. Three of them amazing. And one bad game, but he threw for 331 or more yards in four of those five games.

He's got a banged up Julio Jones on a short week. And Dave and Jamie, I think, are kind of low on Matt Ryan. I think they have him around 13th. But Heath, you've got him, I think, ninth Matt Ryan. Yeah, ninth. Yeah, I'm pretty much just starting him. I mean, I'd rather start Jameis. I would rather start Dak still. But I'm pretty much just starting Ryan. It was a terrible, no good, very bad performance last week that we all paid for, but I'm going right back to him. And again, what I think will be

a high scoring game. Okay. Actually, I was wrong. Dave and Jamie have Matt Ryan's 17th and 16th. History lesson number three. Julio Jones, he has been great against the Saints. 93 or more yards in all but two of his last 11 games but of course only one touchdown in those 11 games so Ben are you cool starting Julio Jones with a banged up shoulder if he plays yeah absolutely I mean I we don't know about Marshawn

Lattimore that would probably make the matchup a little worse but I'm gonna play him regardless I think this again this game environment's gonna to be high scoring. I saw a really interesting stat this week that all the top five receivers in the NFL play in the NFC South. In terms of receiving yards, you have DJ Moore at fifth right now, both the Bucs receivers, Julio Jones and Michael Thomas.

Last week, we had two NFC South matchups. I know that Bucs-Atlanta game shot out a little bit. The Carolina-New Orleans game had some scoring. I'm expecting that again this week. Atlanta's thrown more pass attempts than any team in the NFL. I expect this game to be back and forth. Atlanta doesn't use their backs. We learned that

when they had Brian Hill in there. Even when they were leading against Carolina a couple weeks ago, they kept throwing. There wasn't really a ton of running back value. Yeah, Ryan has had a couple of down games, but that's the one thing when I write stealing signals every week and I look at Atlanta,

it's been super clear all season. Even though their defense has gotten better, they want to throw. They want to feature their receivers. I want to play Julio. Yeah. As someone who considers himself a connoisseur of sneaky humblebrags,

sneaking DJ Moore as a top five wide receiver into that answer was one of your best pieces of work, Ben Gretsch. I mean, anytime I get a chance to talk about DJ Moore. Yeah, that's your guy for sure. More history. Ezekiel Elliott has played twice on Thanksgiving. He scored

23 and 20 fantasy points in non-PPR in those two games. He likes the spotlight. He'll jump into the little bell and do his celebration. Amari Cooper at home. Ben mentioned this. 134.6 yards per game at home this year. Five touchdowns.

35.5 yards per game on the road this year. Two touchdowns. It's a bit of a deceiving stat. He left one game with an injury. He was dealing with injury in another of those road games, but he's been so much better at home. And last year he caught six touchdowns in the regular season with Dallas, all of them at home, though he's been so much better at home. And last year, he caught six touchdowns in the regular season with Dallas,

all of them at home, though he did score on the road in the playoffs. All right, one more, or maybe two more history lessons here. Heath, I need you to learn this lesson. This one, you really need to learn. You have John Brown as a top five wide receiver this week. Okay?

He has had, in my... John Brown is to Heath as DJ more is to Ben. He's had in my estimation, more is better. Five tough matchup this, this year. He's done nicely at all five of them, but he has scored most of them.

He has scored five to nine non PPR fantasy points and 10 to 12 PPR fantasy points in his five tough matchups. The Cowboys are a tough matchup. They haven't allowed a touchdown to a wide receiver at home this season. Like, if you want to be bold on John Brown, I get it. You've been right about John Brown. He's been really solid. He's been very dependable.

You have been the top five. There are no teams I buy. And he has a tough matchup. What are you thinking, man? John Brown is awesome. He'll probably fall a couple spots today. I've said this many times. I have to scramble through Monday to get projections done,

and there's very little Heath influence in that. It's just where the numbers and the over-under and the performance over the most recent month or three-week stretch or five-week stretch leads us. And John Brown has been absolutely awesome. I think that's a little bit of a stretch. This is a tough matchup, but he faced Chris Harris last week and he faced the

Patriots six weeks ago. He had like 30 yards. This is not that matchup. This is a much easier matchup than facing Chris Harris. He had a 43 yard touchdown with like five minutes left and I think he finished with 49 yards on the TD. So he had like six yards through three and a half quarters. It was Chris Harris.

39 yards on a TD, I think. Dallas doesn't have Chris Harris. They have Awuzie, and he's very good. All right, look, the Cowboys just are so much better at home than on the road, it seems to me. But all right, he's going to be a must-start for you. That's interesting. He's all over the rankings.

He's been a must- for you that's interesting uh he's he's all over the rankings he's been a must start all season i mean it's it's five catches for 70 yards six catches for 70 yards that must start um i would say yes it's pretty good it's a good floor like if you have that that basically every week then you're going to score a touchdown every other week or every third week. And you're going to be easily a top 24 wide receiver. My issue with Brown and I, I like Brown. Heath and I have talked about this. He's like, why don't you like Brown on one of the shows a couple of weeks ago? I was like, I do like him. He gets downfield shots. It's just Josh Allen is really inconsistent down the field. I mean, I hate to say that, but, and he doesn't throw the ball a ton. He's been a lot better this year overall, but he doesn't have a ton of pass attempts

because he scrambles so much. And with the inconsistent passes on the field, he basically needs, John Brown basically needs to hit a big downfield play to get the yardage. And the weeks where he hits them, he has great weeks. And the weeks where he doesn't, he doesn't. And last week we saw him score late. He's on pace for like 130 targets. Like it's not like he's a 110, 115 target guy.

He's, he's getting enough to be a must start wide receiver. Oh, clear number one, but clear number one in a way that Cortland Sutton is a clear number one or Alan Roberts is a clear number one, where in my opinion, it,

it, the quarterback is just not as good and consistent. And, and also the volume is just not there. I mean, on the team level, not for Brown. Brown has a clear number one share of the offense.

I totally agree with that. But the Bills just don't throw it to them. This is really important, but are you guys ready to get some side dish drafting going on here? Yes. All right.

Well, let me plug a few things real quick. Our Facebook giveaway this week, which player are you thankful for? Ben, Heath, if you have any people your players are thankful for. Which players are you thankful for?

Player, I guess. I'm going with Mike Evans. He kind of makes my teams go. DJ Moore for you, Ben? Oh, yeah. I mean, DJ Moore, touchdown regression. What more is there to say? The guy's an absolute star.

Heath, who are you thankful for? It's got to be John Brown, doesn't it? I guess so. She has this before that segment. Tomorrow's Thanksgiving, obviously. If you need help with your lineup, 11.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. Eastern. CBS Sports HQ is live fantasy football today.

Dave, Jamie, Heath, you're not on that tomorrow, are you? Tomorrow? No, I'm not. I'm going to start smoking a turkey at 4.30 a.m. The crew will be on at 11.30 a.m. Eastern on Thanksgiving until 12.30, getting your lineup set and all that. And if you want some food, go to omahasteaks.com and type FFT in the search bar.

All right, here we go. We need a trivia question. A trivia question to determine the draft order here. We're going to do a snake draft. We're going to draft two sides and a pie. All right, here's the question. It's from our producer, Andrew Bommer. Lots of talk about Lamar Jackson running wild this year,

but other quarterbacks have improved their fantasy value on the ground. How many quarterbacks have at least 200 yards rushing this season? Seven. We all get to guess, and whoever's closest can pick the draft order um seven seven i will say i will say eight ben you can also say seven or eight by the way i was gonna go high but i'll say six i guess what the six seven eight what's the answer it was a good first guess the answer is eight all right so i should have got that out before you. It's a snake draft. I'm going to take the second pick.

Heath, you want the first or the third? Oh, I 100% want the first because you only put one good side dish on the list. Okay. You have the first pick. You're on the clock. Mashed potatoes and gravy. Thank you. Okay.

That's Heath gets mashed potatoes. I'm going to take mac and cheese. Mac and cheese. Oh, wait a second. I got to that's Heath against mashed potatoes. I'm going to take mac and cheese. Mac and cheese. Oh, wait a second. I got to say what's on the clock. I'm sorry. Mac and cheese or what's on the draft board? Yeah, I got to say what's available, right?

We all know what's available. We've all been to Thanksgiving. We'll just choose things we like from Thanksgiving. Absolutely not. There's a draft board. Yes. Mac and cheese, mashed potato. You know what?

I think I'm okay with that, actually, right? Why do we need a list? I'm like, yes, just pick what you want to eat. Mashed potatoes for Heath, mac and cheese for me. Ben, you're on the clock for two. You guys left the number one overall pick for third, so I'm really glad I had the third pick. It's stuffing.

Stuffing is the number one side dish on Thanksgiving. And then my other pick will be sweet potato. Oh, damn it. I was really hoping sweet potatoes were going to fall. And my plate is crushing right now, by the way. Sweet potatoes and stuffing. I mean, I knew I was going to dominate this draft. I'm going to take green bean casserole.

Love green bean casserole. Green bean casserole to go with my mac and cheese. Heath, you're on the clock. With two picks, you get a side dish. Is this a three-round draft? Yeah, a side dish and a pie. Okay. I will go with bacon-braised collard greens.

Okay. And Founders Canadian breakfast stout. No, you get a pie. You get apple pie, pecan pie, or pumpkin pie. Those are my two choices. Heath, for God's sake, draft a damn pie right now. I will have mashed potatoes and gravy, bacon braised collard greens, and Falunters Canadian breakfast stout. Thank you.

May I have another? Chris shared a fantasy Thanksgiving draft similar to this with a salary cap that you guys must have done on the show a few years back. And Heath jumps into Slack, and there's rules, like pick one turkey, pick one meat, one potato, two sides. He just goes, I'm taking two white meat turkeys, two mashed potatoes, and then he just

picks one more thing. Brussels sprouts or something. He just makes up his own rules when we do these. Stop being such a rebel and just please pick a pie. It's very important to the game,ath uh founders canadian apple what is i'm gonna okay i'll just give you the leftover pie um i'm on the clock i am going to take apple pie which means ben you can have pecan or pumpkin pie i would have taken apple first i'll take pumpkin okay you can have pecan pie pecan pie whatever you want to say.

That will probably be really good with a breakfast. I will post the results on Twitter. For me, it's mac and cheese, green bean casserole, and apple pie. So why can't you just put that I'm having the founders instead of a pie? Because we decided, we determined a game. If you're just going to tweet it. We determined a game because we need people to vote on the same type of criteria. Mashed potatoes, bacon braised, collard greens.

But I'm going to win is the thing if you put mine on there. Well, I don't want you to win. You need to play by the rules. You can't just start three running backs when the rest of us have to start a tight end. And Ben gets sweet potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. I mean, I obviously won this draft. This is not even a debate. I had last pick too. I mean, I obviously won this draft. This is not even a debate. Last pick too. I think you did great. And all of you deserve a great night's sleep.

Okay. Sleep is important. And that's why I'm excited to tell you about Sleep Number, one of our sponsors. Great selection of beds at Sleep Number. And you go to sleepnumber.com slash FFT to get a store near you. But they still have great deals all the time at Sleep Number. So sleep is very important, and Sleep Number is going to help you get that great sleep because their smart beds are just fantastic. Sleep Number beds allow you to adjust on each side of your ideal firmness, comfort, and support. The Sleep Number 360 smart bed senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you sleeping comfortably through the night. So one problem you might have when you're going to sleep is you and your partner, your spouse, you like different mattresses. Well, that's why the Sleep Number 360 bed is great.

You know, you can adjust both sides so it's different for you, for your wife, your husband, whoever. And the Sleep IQ technology inside the bed, it tracks how you're sleeping so you can know every morning how well you've slept and gain insights on your best sleep. So experience the smart, effortless comfort of the Sleep Number 360 smart bed, and you can save some money. Just go to sleepnumber.com slash FFT, sleepnumber.com slash FFT, and find one of 600 Sleep Number stores nationwide near you at sleepnumber.com slash FFT. All right, quick round of news and notes. Then we will read some emails, which are start or sit mostly. And then we will preview the games. And hopefully we'll have time at the end for the faith-o-meter.

But Devlin Hodges is going to start for Pittsburgh. He has not been good throwing the football. He started in week six and he threw 20 times for 132 yards, but James Conner had seven catches in that game for 78 yards. He was the only stealer with more than 14 receiving yards. And last week he had the big pass play to James Washington, which was a joke by the Bengals, and he had 39 yards otherwise on 10 attempts.

Great, great quote from Mike Tomlin as to why they're starting Duck Hodges. What was it again? He hasn't killed us. Yeah, that's right. He kills ducks. Also, important note on Twitter yesterday, James Washington went duck hunting with Duck Hodges

and they posted a selfie from duck hunting with the ducks that they shot. And so I'm pretty sure that means James Washington is his number one option. and they posted a selfie from duck hunting with the ducks that they shot. And so I'm pretty sure that means James Washington is his number one option. Okay. I mean, that's a lot. Are you going to start James Washington over like Amari Cooper in a tough matchup or DeAndre Hopkins in a tough matchup? No.

I'm probably not, but I do currently have James Washington projected for more fantasy points in non-PPR than DeAndre Hopkins. I do think there's something to be said about what Adam said, just to tack on to that. I mean, he did have the long pass to Washington last week, but Hodges hasn't thrown down the field when he's played. He's been really underneath. So it's not a great situation. Okay. Looking at Detroit, not a great situation. Jeff Driscoll has a sore hamstring. David Blau

could start for Detroit. Blau. Dave IM me yesterday and said David Blau. That's his name. That name again is David Blau, which is a great Simpsons reference. Thank you, Dave. Baltimore center Matt Skura is out for the season with a knee injury. They played most of last week's game without

him and, you know, they were pretty good at the Rams. Devontae Freeman practiced in full. Looks like he's going to play. Julio Jones has the shoulder injury. You got to keep an eye on that. It is a short week, and Russell Gage is still only 3% on. Austin Hooper mispracticed, so he's probably not going to play. It's looking good for Adam Thielen.

It's uncertain for T.Y. Hilton. He has the calf issue. He may not play this week against Tennessee. Gerald Everett is day-to-day. So that one popped up, and we know we love the matchup for Gerald Everett at Arizona. Maybe Tyler Higby becomes an option if Gerald Everett can't go. Well, and Higby's been better than Everett the last two weeks

with Everett playing. Yeah, it scares me a little bit for Everett this week. Where do you have Everett? Oh, like with Everett playing. Yeah, it scares me a little bit for Everett this week. Where do you have Everett? Oh, like 19th or something. Oh, really? I have no faith that... I mean, he has three targets in his last two games. I know it's Arizona, but I have no faith that... If I could play Rams

tight end and I get credit for whatever they do together, I'd be all about it. But picking one of them, no thanks. Okay. A few more news items here, Dallas nose tackle Antoine Woods is going to miss this game and Leighton Van Der Esch is obviously out too their run defense has been very good this year

but they played three games already without Antoine Woods and they did well against the Dolphins running backs, whatever they did well against the Saints running backs 3.95 yards per carry, then they got destroyed by Aaron Jones, who had that massive game. TJ Hawkinson limited Aaron Jones, who had that massive game. TJ Hawkinson, limited in practice.

He has a chance to play this week. Not a terrible matchup for Hawkinson, but he's Hawkinson. And Marshawn Lattimore was limited in practice. So let's see what the people are asking right now. Let's help get some lineups set and read some emails and also help with some ad drops. This one's from Robert. Half PPR, rest of season.

Devante Freeman or Kareem Hunt? Freeman. I'm taking Hunt. Oh, go ahead, Ben. I just, I mentioned it earlier. I don't have a lot of faith in the Falcons' ability to generate running back fantasy points. And the Browns are using both their backs

as two of like four players that are touching the ball in the last three weeks since Hunt's been back. No one else in that offense other than Chubb, Hunt, Landry and Beckham has been involved to almost any degree. So Hunt's like has a clear role, even though he's thought of as like an RB2. You kind of have to think about the whole team as a whole. They're playing two back sets. They're getting both guys on the field at the same time.

Don't get so caught up on him being the second running back on his team. He is being used, and I actually think his role is probably more valuable for fantasy than Freeman. Yeah, I just look at how much Freeman was involved in the passing game, and that was mostly before they dealt away Mohamed Sanu. And so I think you're looking at probably six to seven targets. He's going to get 30 or 40 rushing yards he's probably gonna have 40 receiving yards so i mean i think you're looking at pretty close to a floor and half ppr of 10 fantasy points and he does have some upside because they'll be in some high scoring games all right from jay it's gonna be an interesting week for davante freeman we'll get that's the first game we'll preview we'll do that in a few minutes freeman against the saints whose

run run defense is just spectacular but But Jay is in the playoffs. He clicked his ticket for the playoffs. He's got Leonard Fournette, Dalvin Cook, Aaron Jones, Tevin Coleman, and Alexander Madison. So Cook, Fournette, Jones, Coleman, and Madison. Would you drop Tevin Coleman to grab Rykel Armstead, or is that being too conservative? That's definitely not being too conservative, but I wouldn't do that.

Okay, don't do it. Do not do that. Alright, so similar question. Zach in St. Louis has a playoff bye. He has Zeke Cook and Fournette. He has Pollard. Should he drop Robert Woods or Brandon Cooks for Madison or Armstead?

And he's not great at receiver. He has Ridley, Juju, and Gallup. Woo. Man. It's so important to get Madison if you own Cook. Yeah, I wouldn't do it for Armstead for sure. Dude, drop Juju. I...

Man, I don't want to drop Juju. I would probably be more likely right now to drop Brandon Cooks than I would Juju. Yeah, I would drop Cooks, I think, too. They just can't protect Goff long enough for Cooks to get behind the defense. And when they do, Goff's missing the throws. So I'd probably drop Cooks for Madison because I do think Madison is one of the most important bench players to own. And if you drop Cook, Cooks might have a good game this week against Arizona, but Seattle, Dallas, and San Francisco

the next three weeks, probably not going to be as good. Go ahead, Ben. I was just going to say, I have some teams where Juju and Cooks were my top two receivers and are somehow still in contention. I think I have two teams with that situation,

and I've been trying to decide which one to drop. I haven't dropped either of them yet, so I'm going to take Heath's advice and probably also drop Cooks. I think he's right. All right, next email from Dan in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Non-PPR. Select a flex.

Ridley, Chris Carson, Hopkins, and Miles Sanders. Ridley, Chris Carson, Hopkins, and Sanders. See, this is where I don't think you have to play Hopkins. I agree with Heathath on that i chris carson's a tricky one i think i would play ridley i am 100 going with calvin ridley and a lot of it has to do with the uncertainty i'm hoping and i doubt it especially with it being thanksgiving week they'll probably have one less practice or something i was hopeful that we'd get some report about who's taking first team snaps. I think there's a real possibility Rashad Penny just comes out and is the feature back.

And we never hear anything telling us that's going to happen. I also think there's a possibility that Chris Carson has 120 yards on a touchdown this week. So I'm a little nervous. I'd go Ridley. Heath, can you please read the emails and just cut me out of the segment while I tweet the side dishes so people can vote. Oh, yeah. I can. Okay. Ben, do I really play Allen

versus the Cowboys on Thursday? Mayfield at Pittsburgh? Tannehill is out there, but also doesn't have an amazing matchup this week. Which guy would I drop if I did pick up someone like Tannehill? First off, Allen, Mayfield, or Tannehill this week. Who do you like the most?

I think I'll take Allen. I really like that game environment. I think the Cowboys are going to get out ahead, and Allen's going to have to make plays, and he typically does a pretty decent job of that. I think they're going to be in a position where he's going to have to make some plays with his legs and his arm. I don't know that I trust Mayfield enough to play him at Pitt,

and it's going to probably be a slow game. And I don't really trust Ryan Tannehill either quite yet. I agree with you. This is where Allen's schedule turns really bad. But I'm starting him for one more week, and then I'm making plans for the fantasy playoffs because it gets even worse after this week. From Nico, half PPR, four-point passing touchdown league. Dak Prescott versus Sam Darnold. Yeah, it's Dak for me pretty easily.

So Dak last week had a season low. We talk about air yards and it's how far down the field people throw. So if you look at the quarterback, you can say for all of his pass attempts, how vertical were his past attempts how how vertical were his past themselves how far was he throwing the ball down the field that's a stat that Dak has been really high in all year he's had some of the highest single games where he's been throwing the ball down the field it's been great for Amari it's been great for Michael Gallup last week in a total weather game was a season low and we should expect that in a weather game back home against

the Bills I know the Bills are a tough. I do expect that they will send the ball down the field a lot more. He has a lot of upside for high passing yards because of that. Okay, we're going to set this guy's lineup for him. We're going to start with his running back. One running back out of James Connor, Jalen Samuels, David Montgomery, Kenyon Drake, and Jamal Williams.

I'm going to play Drake. I really like Drake. I used so heavily last week i really like his situation in that offense now all the reasons i like david johnson all year it's basically kenny and drake that's got to be playing that in the in the stretch run yeah the only thing that makes me nervous about him is chase edmunds coming back and whether he gets or coming off the buy and they try to see if david johnson has anything left at all for a couple of series but i agree with you drake's the guy i have ranked the highest. Pick one between

Kenny Galladay and Keenan Allen. Full PPR. Keenan Allen. Yep. Keenan Allen for me. So now we've got to pick his flex. James Conner, Jalen Samuels, David Montgomery, Jamal Williams, or Kenny Galladay. If Conner's back back i'm probably going connor but uh i'm not sure on what his health status is so i would i would i wouldn't play montgomery i would wait till closer to sunday and i would make a decision on james connor or if he wasn't i wouldn't play montgomery or golladay i'm fine sending both of them then if if connor wasn't available sunday i'd have to go another way yeah i think you go Jamal Williams.

I feel pretty good about him, full PPR as a top 20 running back. He's just taken over entirely the passing game role for the Packers. He has 13 catches since Devontae Adams came back. Aaron Jones has one. So I think Williams will be just fine. They said they were going to get Aaron Jones more involved, though, right? They said, we have to get Aaron Jones more touches. I'm back, by the way.

Yeah, well, they can try to, but Jamal Williams has been just as good as him. No, that's not true. By the way, it took me a while to figure out how to spell the word. Well, he hasn't scored the touchdowns. He's not been as good in fantasy. He's not as good. So it took me a while to figure out how to spell the word braids but i am back now uh go ahead to the next email unless we're done with uh the last one we're not done i got a team name tuesday on a wednesday oh yeah it's a good

one mouth brita mouth brita's good okay this this email thank you for jack for that one from joe and brooklyn uh fifth and sixth place are both six and six and playing each other this week. Is it okay for both of them to bench all of their players, preserve a tie, and qualify for the playoffs? That is the definition of collusion and you should kick them out of the league.

Absolutely agree. Which one would you bench in half PPR? From Adam. Tevin Coleman at Baltimore. Robert Woods at Arizona. John Woods at Arizona. John Brown at Dallas. Or Christian Kirk against the Rams. It's either Coleman or Kirk for me, right? You're benching Woods? Robert Woods.

Against Arizona? Yeah, that's tough. Wow, I'm surprised to hear that. But I mean, it could be him. I'm not probably going to bench Brown. I might bench John Brown, but we know he's not going to. You're going to bench John Brown for Christian Kirk and Robert Woods?

Christian Kirk against Jalen Ramsey potentially here. Christian Kirk could have Jalen Ramsey. That's a good point. Yeah, Tevin Coleman's got Baltimore. All right, Bench Kirk. All right. We're Benching Kirk. Sal from Scranton, Desha All right. This is a really tough one. All right, we're Benjikirk. Sal from Scranton.

Deshaun Watson, Tannehill, or Sam Darnold? Deshaun. Yeah, I'd play Deshaun in that, too. PPR League, Ronald Jones or John Brown? Ronald Jones. Come on, this is easy. It's John Brown. Dude, the Jaguars run defense.

Ronald Jones might have three carries. Like, we don't ever know what Ronald Jones' workload is going to be in a given week. Yeah, I'm just kidding. I would play Brown. For Mr. Holbear, Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes this week? What? Why do you still have both these guys on your list? You've done a really bad job.

Stop. Just answer the question. I would go Mahomes in six points for passing Lamar Jackson in four. And finally, Carson Wentz or Drew Brees? And is Tyler Boyd a legitimate number two receiver now with Andy Dalton coming back? Brees and yes. Yep.

Certainly in PPR, yeah. All right, guys, we're going to preview the games. But do you ever feel like ticketing websites make getting to the event difficult on purpose? It's like they just don't care about customer experience. They go out of their way to make it hard for you to get to the game, but not SeatGeek. In an industry that tends to stagnate, SeatGeek decided to stand out from the crowd. They built the fastest way to find tickets. You can stop searching for the perfect seat and start enjoying it. And you can take it from me. You know me. I tell you all the time. I use SeatGeek basically anytime I need to go to an event. In fact, I just coordinated with my friends yesterday. We're going to a basketball game on December 17th. 9.30 p.m. basketball game. Gosh, I'm going to be a little off on Wednesday, December 18th, just so you know. It's going to be a messy show. But I'm going to use SeatGeek. I've already looked at the tickets, and the prices are just always better on SeatGeek.

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promo code is FFT. Download the SeatGeek app and again, the promo code FFT for 10 bucks off your first purchase. Adam how much time did you spend trying to figure out how to spell braised? Did I spell it wrong? You should have taken like a minute or two of that time and figured out how to spell collared. Oh crap.

How do you spell that? Take the E out. Oh well. How do you spell like a collared shirt oh well how do you spell like a cot like a collared shirt i think the way you did okay i don't think they're the same thing there's no there's no shirts in colored greens okay okay it's uh there's no there's no collars on greens by the way six votes in and everybody has two 159 votes in let's get an update team. Team B for Ben has 40% of the vote. My side dishes have 36%.

Heath has 24%. All right. We got a good contest here. We could have a good one in Atlanta too. Yeah, I mean, Adam, you did a pretty solid job. I figured you'd come in second. Apple pie also is definitely the nut pie. I'll give you that.

I won if you'd have just put my actual meal there. I'm not going to eat any pie. I am going to drink stouts for dessert, and you are discriminating against me because of my dessert choices. You should have taken apple pie. You'd probably be winning right now, although collard greens is not as stuffing, mashed potatoes. It's kind of – I think it's further down on the list for most people.

I just have to say. All right, stat of the game. Well, it's because most people haven't had bacon braised collard greens. Also, I'm not like – why didn't I just say, oh, bacon braised mashed potatoes? You can't just cheat and make things bacon braised. You can't bacon braise mashed potatoes. Bacon bits with mashed potatoes. That's not the way they would be mashed potatoes anymore.

I just love Heath's response to losing is to go all hipster and say, no one's had the food that I've had. Yeah. Okay, here we go. Here we go. Here we go. It's true. Saints and Falcons.

Stat of the game number one. The Saints have allowed a receiving touchdown to a running back in three straight games. Brian Hill, Peyton Barber, and Christian McCaffrey. Does that mean anything for you? Because that's probably the only chance Devontae Freeman has of having a really good game. He could catch a lot of passes and get some total yards,

but I'd be shocked if he ran the ball well in this game. So, you know, what do you think? No, I think the expectation is he has like 30 rushing yards, like I said earlier, and that's fine because my expectation is he's going to catch five passes for 30 or 40 yards. And I would say he's got a 50-50 shot of getting into the end zone.

I'm starting him with relative confidence in full PPR. In non-PPR, I would treat him as more of a flex that I'm settling for. Okay. We'll start comparing him to some players, and then let's get back into the game and talk about everybody here.

Stat of the game number two. So weeks one and two, the Saints, they struggled a little bit against the pass. But since week three, there's only been one wide receiver that's had a good game against the Saints with less than nine targets, and it was Chris Godwin two games ago. He had three catches, 47 yards, and a touchdown on six targets. Other than that, every receiver who's done well against the saints since week two or really beginning in week three has had nine or more targets um now maybe maybe calvin ridley gets that he did last week maybe two weeks

in a row actually for him but just throwing that out there so i guess we'll start with the falcons then yeah go ahead we we talked about atlanta throws more passes than any team in the league, and they are a lot thinner now with Austin Hooper out and Mohamed Sanu being traded. So we should expect Calvin Ridley to get volume, and he has the last couple of weeks. Yeah, he has. All right, so Matt Ryan is ninth for Heath, and it sounds like Ben likes Matt Ryan too.

Dave and Jamie don't. He's not playing that well. I mean, it's four games in a row where he hasn't played well. He got injured in one of them, but he still threw 27 passes and was horrible against the Rams. 18 points at the Saints. 18 points at Carolina, but Russell Gage dropped a touchdown, and we're talking 24 points there.

So, the Saints... It's hard to know how this matchup is, because the Saints with Lattimore have a pretty good pass defense. Without him, I'm not quite sure. They gave up 28 points to Kyle Allen last week. So we'll just stick with Heath and Benner on the show today. So we're saying Matt Ryan is a

start, and Heath has him one spot ahead of Deshaun Watson, behind Jameis, behind Carson Wentz, who's got Miami, but ahead of Watson, Kyler Murray, Nick Foles, Josh Allen. Devontae Freeman. I mean, this game is the easiest I think of the three. But let's Allen. Devontae Freeman. I mean, this game is the easiest, I think, of the three. But let's talk about Devontae Freeman.

Would you start Jonathan Williams, Bo Scarborough, Rashad Penny over Devontae Freeman? Williams is the only one and only in non-PPR. I'd rather start Freeman over Williams in PPR for sure. I'd start Freeman over Scarborough and Penny. We don't know. Rashad Penny could get four carries, and I wouldn't be particularly surprised.

I wanted to add Penny, and I want him on my bench, but I have no interest in starting him. Okay. How about Devante Freeman or, let let's say Todd Gurley at Arizona? I might play Gurley. I'd go Gurley and non-PPR and Freeman and PPR. I think he is one of the biggest splits in terms of his value in the two formats this week. Okay.

So Julio Jones, is Calvin Ridley a must start? Obviously, Julio Jones, you're going to start him if he plays. Is Calvin Ridley a must-start? Top 12 receiver for me. Ben, Drew Brees, top five. We like him. Kamara and Latavius Murray. How do you see that going? Kamara and Murray. It seems weird

that it feels like Alvin Kamara's not playing that well. He's actually averaging over five yards per carry in his last three games since coming back from the injury, but only like 5.5 yards per catch, which is weird. And he still has only two touchdowns this year. It's the touchdowns,

right? And the, like last week, Murray scored, but Murray scored for like 24, 26 yards out on a, on a run that, that broke open.

They didn't get any, uh, neither of the backs got any touches in the green zone last week. I do, and if you look at a larger sample, Kamara has gotten more touches in that area. I do still think Kamara will be the lead guy in that area. He's always been really good in the green zone. His two

touchdowns is bizarre because the Saints really feature their running backs in close. Obviously, he missed some time, but I really expect Kamara will have some big touchdown games coming. Some multi-touchdown games before the season ends. Look, everybody's starting Kamara, but are you starting Latavius Murray, I guess? I don't want to and wouldn't.

Okay. I don't want to. I think he's a fine flex. In a non-PPR or half-PPR, Devontae Freeman or Latavius Murray? I'll take Freeman. Freeman in both. Okay. And obviously in PPR, Freeman as well. Michael Thomas, the only Saints wide receiver we're starting here?

Yes. All right. Falcons give up the third most fantasy points to wide receivers. A little bit better lately, but still, he's Michael Thomas. And Jared Cook is a top five tight end in non-PPR, top seven in PPR. The Falcons struggle against tight ends. This is a good matchup. Six

catches for 74 yards on 10 targets against the Falcons in Week 10. Not really much to say there. I'm just going to look at the tight ends that you have ahead of him. Kelsey, Kittle, Henry, Ertz, and then it's Jared Cook. That's pretty much it.

So Darren Waller, you have Cook ahead. Would you start Waller over Cook in PPR? I would, and I do think there's a chance that Waller will be better in both. This Hunter Renfro injury could really cause Waller's targets to spike back up. But I think in non-PPR, I'd probably just go with Cook. All right. How much do you like the Saints DST this week? Eh.

Okay. I don't really. Adam, it seems like you think Atlanta's not going to score any points. I'm kind of curious where you think they're going to get their points because you said they can't run, and you seem a little skeptical. No, I'm just wondering. Do you think they're going to have a really bad game? I don't think they're going to score. I don't think they're going to have a really bad game? I don't think they're going to score.

I don't think they're going to have a huge game. I don't. Yeah, if Marshawn Latimer were playing, I think that it might be really, really tough. And he might play. He was limited in practice. But if he doesn't play, I think they should score in the 21 to 24 point range. But I don't think we're going to get

like 35 to 30 or anything like that. How do you think those points come, though? Because you said Freeman has almost no shot to score rushing TDs, so we should expect a couple passing TDs from Matt Ryan. Yeah. I like Ryan. I like him. I think 250 and 2, something like that.

Hopefully Ridley gets one, and hopefully Julio gets one, although Julio hasn't scored since week three. Buffalo is at Dallas, and we're going to take a quick break for a word from our sponsors, and we'll come back and talk about the Bills and the Cowboys. Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League.

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For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Alright, stat of the game for the Bills and the Cowboys. Devin Singletary. He's getting more work lately. He has 15-21

carries in three of his last four games, but he has two carries all season inside the five yard line josh allen has four and frank gore has 10 and the cowboys they do have a pretty good run defense but like i said they will be missing their nose tackle and leighton vander esch so heath starter sit devin singletary and then compare him to davante freeman please yeah i would rather start Singletary. Again, he's in that group of running backs that I would start Singletary over Freeman and non-PPR.

I would prefer Freeman and PPR. I could live without the gold zone carries for Devin Singletary if they just start throwing him the football a little bit more, but he's really lost the target share over the last two or three weeks. but he's really lost the target share over the last two or three weeks. Hopefully that comes back against the Cowboys. He's a low-end, borderline number two running back in both formats. And Ben, I think this is a really tough game because the

Bills' defense has been really good, but this will be the best offense they've faced. Meanwhile, to me, the Cowboys have faced somewhere between two and four difficult matchups on defense, you know, defensively. The Saints and the Patriots, to me, are a tough matchup, especially those were both road games, and they were horrible in those two games. The conditions didn't help out the Patriots, right? They also faced the Eagles, who have gotten better, but at the time they faced them, I don't think that was a very tough matchup. And they faced the Vikings, who have, you know, like a solid defense, and they crushed the Vikings, and they're better at home.

So I just don't really know what to expect from the Cowboys. Do you think they will score? Do you think they will have a good offensive showing against the Bills? Yeah, I mean, we had Jerry Jones have some comments this week. I think they're going to be very motivated. I know that's not something to really hang your hat on, but I'm buying into it. I think they will be more aggressive offensively early. I don't think they'll just settle for a bunch of rushes right up the middle i think they'll be pushing the ball down the field and i do expect that they'll score

quite a few points early frankly and i think they'll get out to a lead now i think josh allen is a kind of kind of quarterback that plays well when he's trailing because he can scramble he can make plays he can be a little bit of uh you know i don't want to go all the way and call him a magician but he's he's a he's a playmaker right so i think this game's gonna end up being kind of high scoring i think dallas being motivated will come out with you know a strong game plan to try to put points up early and make a statement and i think buffalo is gonna have to turn up the the tempo a little bit offensively and so i'm i'm yeah i'm excited about this game actually yeah i can see.

Those are good points. And Josh Allen's two best games were both against the Dolphins. But they happen to be, I think the Dolphins, believe it or not, scored the most points against the Bills this year. So there's a little bit of... I believe it. Yeah, it's crazy.

So, you know, higher scoring games, more fantasy production for Allen. But also, he's rushed for 56 yards in two straight games. So here's a fun one, Heath. Why don't you rank the four quarterbacks in the two games that we've talked about, the Saints game and this game. Rank the four quarterbacks for us. I would go Breeze, Dak, Ryan, Allen,

but all four of them are in my top 13 quarterbacks. So I think Allen, like I put of them are in my top 13 quarterbacks. So I think Allen, I put him right there in that group. I've got four streaming options this week projected right around 22 fantasy points. It's Nick Foles, Brian Tannehill, Andy Dalton, and Sam Darnold. And Josh Allen is just right in the middle of those guys, which to me means you're probably just starting Josh Allen. I'm probably not dropping someone to pick up one of those guys to start over him.

Do you see a chance for Allen and Dak to just have terrible games? Because the Cowboys allow the ninth fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks. Tom Brady just scored 13, but Jeff Driscoll did score 31, and he ran for 51 yards and a touchdown. And then for Dak, the Bills,

they've been outstanding against quarterbacks. It's been crazy. They just haven't played anybody that's any good. I mean, that's true, but they were good against quarterbacks last year. We know they have a good defense. Right. I don't worry as much. I think they are on the

spectrum of defenses that matter, but they matter less when they're not at home. This is a Thanksgiving game, so it's going to be far more entertaining just because it's on Thanksgiving. I could buy into the Cowboys really showing up for this game. Okay, so Devin Singletary,

Josh Allen, we talked about John Brown. I hope he brings him down a little bit in the rankings. I don't know. I don't know. I've got DJ Moore seventh. Is that too high? No. No, that's too seventh. Is that too high? No. No, that's too low. That's too low? Well, I just want to give another stat on Singletary. The last four weeks, well, forget it

because Cowboys are a little banged up on the defensive line. So Singletary, decent starter. Singletary, or how many wide receivers in this game would you start over Singletary? In PPR, probably three. Yeah.

Who would they be? The three good ones. Brown, Cooper, and Gallup. What do you mean, who would they be? Well, excuse me, Randall Cobb has two straight 100-yard games. Nope. Well, he did have two straight 100-yard games. And then he had an 86-yard game last week. Oh, okay, sorry. Three straight 86-yard games. No. Well, he did have two straight 100-yard games. And then he had an 86-yard game

last week. Oh, okay. Sorry. Three straight 86-yard games. He had... Did he have the most yards of any receiver against the Patriots

or did Golden Tate have more? Yep. Oh. One of the two. Or the Cowboys, yeah. He had more than Cooper and Gallup. I thought you were talking about just the Cowboys.

No, he had a great game. I would start Singletary over Cobb. So... So Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup are must-starts too? No. They're not? No. Cooper's close to a must-start.

But I would still start John Brown, DJ Moore, Devante Parker over him. So I have a hard time calling him a must-start. I would call Gallup more of a high-end number three. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Wide receivers against the Bills. Devontae Parker had good games twice.

Jarvis Landry had a good game. Auden Tate. Jamison Crowder had 14 catches for 99 yards. Who struggled against the Bills? The Patriots' wide receivers were terrible. Alshon was terrible. McLaurin was bad. Beckham was bad.

Sutton was bad. Those are elite outside number one receivers that have struggled because they've all gotten Tredavious White, and you named a lot of slot receivers that have been productive. And I do agree, but I still think you bank on, especially if this game environment becomes a little bit back and forth, you bank on Amari at home because he's been so much better at home. That's where I'm at.

And I like Gallup. He won't get Tredavious White. So I actually like him quite a bit. But Randall Cobb, well, here's a cool stat on Randall Cobb. He said seven to eight targets in four straight games. I looked at every wide receiver who's had seven to eight targets against the Bills. It has not gone well. There have been five of them, and four of them were terrible.

Preston Williams had six catches for 82 yards. It doesn't always mean anything, but it's interesting. That's not a good range of targets for receivers against the bills. Ben, Ben, would you actually start Gallup over Cooper? I mean,

I'm close. Like I kind of am a little bit in that range. I, his, his, uh, usage when he's been healthy this year has been really good and comparable to Cooper.

And I like his matchup so much more this week that I don't think it's out of the question. Would you start, let's say, Todd Gurley or Jonathan Williams? Two running backs who, one, has a really good matchup. Williams is going to get a lot of work. Would you start them over Amari Cooper or Michael Gallup? Probably not. The thing with Cooper that we know is that his upside is massive right he can break these big plays he did it on thanksgiving a couple years ago where he was like held out

uh held down pretty much for like three quarters and i think he had two long touchdowns in the fourth quarter ends up and i think the game maybe went to overtime i can't remember the exact details but ends up with like a 35 40 point game that at home i just i have a hard time fading him i just know that his upside is so high. I want those type of guys in my lineup. We've talked about that a lot over the last few weeks. And non-PPR, I would start Jonathan Williams and Todd Gurley

over him, over all the Cowboys receivers. In PPR, I'd prefer the receivers. Okay, then. This game's pretty much done. Start Ezekiel Elliott. Dak Prescott's 11th for Jamie 8th for Dave and 5th for Heath he's still 5th for you I did that yesterday

so might have changed yes it's 5th for you okay I like the Cobb call just to chime in on that and I like you were kind of noting and you named all the players have done well against Buffalo the Ben Slott receivers I like the Cobb call too I think if people are really thin at receiver, I think that's

a pretty good sneaky flex play. Who's a better sneaky flex play, Randall Cobb or Russell Gage? Cobb. I think I'll take Cobb. Alright, can we preview Chicago-Detroit in three minutes before we have to shift over to our audio studio? Easily. It was like a 38 over-under.

Who do you like in this game? There is not a must-start player in this game. There are several that you can start. What about Allen Robinson? Allen Robinson is the best player in this game to start. And I think he's a low-end number two. But there are plenty of guys that were available on the waiver wire or drafted after alan robinson that

i would start over him so i wouldn't call him a start i do prefer him to kenny galladay i mean if david blau starts at quarterback for the lions then you just i think you have to get away from all the lines you can't really even consider them this is a guy who was behind jeff driscoll on the depth chart yeah i think the only guy you could consider would be scarborough he'll probably get 25 carries and they'll just run and the bears have been you know struggling as a run defense so they'll stack the line now let me say something because i thought so too the bears actually without akim hicks in either the games he missed or the game in which he got injured they're giving up 3.73 yards per carry to running backs, but they've given up 10 rushing touchdowns in eight games.

So that's, that's one of those situations where I probably care more about the yards per carry than I do the same fantasy points allowed. Same here. So they really haven't been that bad against running backs. I thought I, cause I thought, it was a good matchup.

I'm not sure that it is, and I'm not sure it's a good matchup for anyone except for Tariq Cohen in terms of running backs. Cause the, you know, the lions defense, they're, they're not that bad against the running either, even though they give up, I think, the third most fantasy points to running backs. Yards per carry, they're not so bad. They give up receptions.

They give up touchdowns. And Tariq Cohen actually did catch a touchdown in the first meeting just a few weeks ago. Montgomery would still be my favorite running back in the game, but I'd go Montgomery, Cohen, and then Scarborough in PPR. Really? What about non-PPR? Montgomery, Scarborough, then Cohen? I mean, Scarborough's still going to get 15-plus carries. I'm not saying... Right, but it's so...

Like, he is... Next year, when Ben writes the trap article, Bo Scarborough is going to be in the cover. And he is the ultimate trap back. Okay, so are Devante Freeman and Devin Singletary ahead of these guys? PPR for sure. Yes, they are ahead of all of these guys for me. All right.

Even with Tevin Coleman. Tevin Coleman. Sorry, Tariq Cohen. Tariq Cohen has three straight games with four more catches, two touchdowns in those three games, and a great matchup. I thought he was kind of sneaky. I think he's kind of sneaky. He's a top 30 back in PPR for me.

I like him okay as a flex. Ben, I apologize. I'm going to cut you out here just to get Heath's thoughts before we end his portion of the show. Allen Robinson or the Cowboys wide receivers? I do actually like Amari Cooper just a little bit more than Allen Robinson, but that might change by the end of the day. They're both in that low-end number two range.

Allen Robinson or DK Metcalf? I'll go with DK. Jameson Crowder or Robinson? I'll go with Allen Robinson there, for sure. I like him. You're just asking me some guys that I probably have ranked a little higher than consensus.

Would you start Anthony Miller over the Lions wide receivers? Which I really don't think is a crazy question to ask considering Taylor Gabriel has a concussion right now and Miller has 20 targets in his last two games. I'm glad you brought up Anthony Miller because I think he's playing a lot better. Pete Prisco was talking about how he's not thinking anymore. And so he's running routes a lot faster than he used to. He just knows what he's supposed to do, and he's talented. If David Blau is the starting quarterback for the Lions, I do think I would rather start Anthony Miller than any Lions wide receiver.

But if Jeff Driscoll is the quarterback, I'm starting Galladay and Jones over Miller. Okay. Miller, Cohen, even Trubisky. These guys are good DFS plays, maybe. They're solid sleepers. They have good matchups. And that's pretty much this game. Hope that was helpful, everybody. Ben and I will finish up the show with a little bit of the Faith-O-Meter.

Bears DST is a top five DST, by the way, so you could start them this week. And bye, Heath. Happy Thanksgiving, buddy. Happy Thanksgiving to you, Adam, and you too as well, Ben. Yeah, you too, man man we'll be right back uh no break enjoy your collard greek right to the uh right to the final portion of the show all right let's check in on the twitter results here which uh is the best combo of thanksgiving side dishes and pie mac and cheese green bean casserole and apple pie has 35 of the vote

stuffing sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie has 40 of the vote. Stuffing, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie has 40% of the vote. And mashed potatoes, bacon braised collard greens, and pecan pie has 25%. So, Ben, you are currently in the lead. Congratulations. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty obvious. It's not, like, I don't even feel, like, comfortable, like, celebrating that I beat you guys

with your terrible food takes in a food draft. I mean, if I didn't win, I would have been disappointed. That's what the expectations were. Mac and cheese is the best. Come on. You got a plate of stuffing and a plate of... It fits in fine, but I don't even think it's a necessity at a Thanksgiving dinner.

I agree. We pretty much never have mac and cheese at Thanksgiving. At least my parents don't, but my in-laws do. I'm pretty sure. That might just be for the kids, agree we pretty much never have mac and cheese thanksgiving well at least in my my parents don't but my in-laws do i'm pretty sure but that might just be for the kids but i eat it every year anyway okay let's do the faith-o-meter zero to ten just in general you've got these guys on your team how much faith you have in them jamis winston oh like eight for fantasy i mean in real life like one but it doesn't matter like last week

was a great example he threw two bad interceptions in the first quarter he also threw a long touchdown and he continued to throw all game and ended up with good fantasy number so it doesn't matter that he's bad he's going to continue to throw a ton yeah so what is it now 300 plus yards in eight of his last nine games which is crazy it's crazy carson wentzz. The schedule is about to get so good. Miami Giants and Redskins. Carson Wentz. Faith in Carson Wentz is probably like a four. I mean, and that's just because the schedule is good.

I do get that the schedule is going to become good, but they don't have any good receiving options. I'm afraid they're going to turn pretty conservative. They will get healthy eventually as well, but just not... Their offense hasn't been right all year. They will get healthy eventually as well, but just not... Their offense hasn't been right all year. They really were counting on DeSean Jackson being a field stretcher and really creating throwing lanes

underneath, and they just haven't had that field stretcher pretty much all year. By the way, just a quick thought here. I forgot to mention Cole Beasley when we were previewing the Cowboys-Bills game. It is a revenge game for Cole Beasley. He's a number three receiver for Dave and Jamie. He's not ranked, at least in PPR, he's not ranked for Heath. Not in the top 48.

Because Heath has every Buffalo Bill target going to John Brown. He's not bad, too. I mean, you've got some Anthony Miller, Russell Gage, Cole Beasley. These guys could be solid, especially Miller and Gage in PPR. Beasley doesn't catch a ton of passes because they don't throw a ton of passes. Back to the faith-o-meter here. Miles Sanders. Let's assume Jordan Howard's out, and let's just do it for this week.

We'll take it week by week. Miles Sanders at Miami. I'm going to say like a six. It's tough. He hasn't been very good running the ball. I think his passing work will bounce back. He's had a really good passing role all year. The Patriots really tried to take him out of that game two weeks ago.

He didn't really have a lot of receiving last week. I think he'll get some more receiving as we go forward, but it's hard to just be completely all in on him. Yeah, it's really, I think, if you're trying to compare Miles Sanders to like Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, Randall Cobb, John Brown, Cole Beasley, these wide receivers who are in tough matchups,

I think it's tough because obviously he's got a great chance. If he has 15 touches against the Dolphins, he could have a really good game. He could score. But maybe they get Jay Ajayi more involved. Maybe Jordan Howard comes back and we won't know that on Thursday. So I don't know what to recommend when it comes to Miles Sanders.

I'd probably start him over Marvin Jones. You know? But I'd start Alan Robinson over Miles Sanders. I'd start Calvin Ridley over Miles Sanders. I think part of it is the third option.

The third option you have too. Because a lot of those guys on Thursday might not have really high upside, and Sanders could if Howard's out again. I think I would prefer Sanders upside if we knew Howard was out. If you have a decent third option that's comparable, you can bench the Thursday guys and hope that Sanders will have the lead role again. But then if Howard's back, you can go to that third option. I think I'm going to start amari cooper though just because of what you've been saying the whole stuff is just so good yeah he's got upside always bo scarborough faith-o-meter

um yeah in the short term it's i i mean he was absolutely right trap back never never gonna see any receiving in the short term in you know in uh in a matchup against Chicago where I think he's going to get – so you mentioned Chicago's been better against rushing than I thought in terms of yards per carry, and I think that's a really good note. I didn't know. But their teams are so afraid to throw against them that they are running a lot. There's a few – like they've had three backs go for over 25 carries against them. And they don't – the Bears don't run away offensively from teams.

So the Lions will be in the game and I feel very comfortable that they're not going to be blown out and that Scarborough will continue to get carries. So he'll at least accumulate rushing yards. You know, he's like a five because he's not going to be like a huge hit, but he's going to run a lot. Ronald Jones, Todd Gurleyley who do you have more faith in going forward uh jones wow just by a little bit but um because i don't really like jones usage but i have more faith in jones as a talent right now i don't know that todd girley

really has as much burst as ron jones frankly and both offensive lines are bad so like they're actually a really good comp i i think jones can overcome his circumstances perhaps better than girly at this point saquon barkley chris carson how much faith you have in them barkley i have faith in the workload so i'll give him like an eight carson is like a six he still played in the passing game after both of his fumbles uh he caught a pass two plays later on the very next drive, although Penny took every carry, all five of the carries from that point on. So Penny seems like he could definitely work in and take a lot of work, but I think they don't necessarily trust him in the passing game yet.

I think Carson will probably still be the guy in the passing game. I still expect Carson to play a decent amount. So I'm worried about him, but he's probably like a five. He's not like a one. Last three games for Barkley have been pretty ugly. He's faced the Cowboys, the Jets and the Bears. And all three of those teams are pretty good against the run, if not great against the run. And the Packers this week are terrible against the run. They give up five yards per carry to running backs and the third most fantasy points.

So I think this will be a pretty telling week for Saquon Barkley. And finally, I will ask you Jamison Crowder and Cortland Sutton, Robert Woods, Marquise Brown, who among that group do you have faith in Crowder, Sutton Woods and Marquise Brown and Brown Brown's schedule, not great the next two weeks. Woods, yeah, whatever.

Anyway, Crowder, Sutton, Woods, Brown. Yeah, I mean, Brown is like an eight. This offense is great. He's their number one receiver. They obviously use the tight ends a lot too. Yeah, but he's got like three straight games with four straight games with four or five targets. You would have said that Jalen Ramsey would shut him down last week.

You just were saying that about. No, he didn't see Jalen Ramsey that much, I don't think. I mean, I was trying to track that. But that's the point. Their offense makes it difficult for. Yeah, but he gets five targets. He has had less than 50 yards in six of nine games. Like, even in this game, he had 42 yards.

He actually had seven targets in this game, but usually it's four targets. Yeah, but this is a different type of offense, right? They're a run-heavy offense, but they can score a ton of points. His profile isn't going to be a high target guy. It's going to be an explosive downfield play guy and a high touchdown rate guy because they're scoring so much. A little unreliable, I think.

Okay. Yeah, that's probably true. Robert Woods I have faith in. Cortland Sutlin, I have way more faith in his talent than in his fantasy production. I'm going to sit him in quite a few leagues this week just because we don't know his quarterback situation. I'm hoping Drew Locke comes back and helps Sutton, but right now, Brandon Allen completed

10 passes last week. It's just not great for receiving work there. Jamison Crowder is right in the middle of the faith. I'll meet him at five. Okay. All right, Ben. Thank you very much. Everybody have a great Thanksgiving. We'll talk to you with another Thanksgiving episode

tomorrow on actual Thanksgiving. But if you're out of town, if you're traveling, have a great trip. We'll talk to you whenever you're back. Bye.