Fantasy Football Today - 12/15: Weekend Recap - The Best of Week 15 (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 16, 2019

What lessons did we learn in Week 15 (2:33)? Did we learn about how to approach players who are dealing with injuries or how to plan for garbage time? We get a little philosophical to start the show ...before we hit the big news (8:00) as an elite WR and an elite RB left with injuries and you need to replace them! Then it's on to the Best of Week 15 (12:00). Jameis Winston, Ryan Tannehill, Kenyan Drake, Breshad Perriman, Jonnu Smith, A.J. Brown and more ... The Unluckiest Player of Week 15 (24:40), an early look at the Waiver Wire (26:00) and some Winners and Losers (28:40) including the SF WRs as losers this week. Then we look at the MegaDuds (36:30) including Melvin Gordon, Julian Edelman, Robert Woods and Phillip Lindsay. What happened!? ... Recapping each game (42:00) with a "Believe it or Not" from Heath ... Email us 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

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Starting point is 00:00:54 at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Quick announcement, everybody. Before we start the show, I made a little bit of a mistake with the recording. Hey, it's week 15. I guess I should probably know by now, right?
Starting point is 00:01:10 But anyway, I'm going to sound a little bit different for the first two to three minutes. After that, it'll sound normal. But if my audio doesn't sound quite the same for the first couple of minutes, just a little bit of an error on my part, I apologize. No big deal.
Starting point is 00:01:24 Let's get started. 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.
Starting point is 00:01:44 And we are on to the Fantasy Finals. Recapping week five. Yeah. And we did it on the backs and the arms and the legs of Mike Boone and Wes Hills and Google to figure out who Wes Hills is. And welcome to the show, everybody. Slippery Rock, right? Yes, he went to Slippery Rock. He everybody. Slippery Rock, right? Yes, he went to Slippery Rock.
Starting point is 00:02:06 He's a Slippery Rock product. He was. He was Slippery Tote the Rock today, scoring two touchdowns for the Lions. That's one of the... Well, we're not really going to talk much about that. We welcome you. We welcome Dave Richard. I'm Adam Azer.
Starting point is 00:02:18 Hey, Heath Cummings is here. What's up, Heath? How are we doing? I think we're doing... Yeah, we're doing well think we're doing yeah we're doing well we're doing fine uh he'll be doing better if uh if his guy michael thomas has a huge game on monday we are i managed to remember how i went up against lamar jackson in three semi-finals this week one of them was against heath heath has lamar jackson in the podcast league i'm beating
Starting point is 00:02:45 him by 28 points thanks to saquon chris carson anthony miller dj moore george kittle and a special shout out to that patriots dst coming back from the dead welcome back gentlemen so if if uh if michael thomas gets 29 or more heath wins. PPR. And it's full PPR. And what did you say, Heath? He's done it like four times already this year? Four or five. I thought I needed 28. I think he has 28 five times this season.
Starting point is 00:03:15 28 is too high. He may only have 29.3. Right. Okay. And I have more bench points. I don't know. The commissioner is not established for the tiebreaker. Higher seed.
Starting point is 00:03:22 Higher seed is the tiebreaker. Always. It's good to knowbreaker. Always higher seed is the tiebreaker. It's good to know now. Oh, like it matters. Higher seed is the tiebreaker. You know I am the commissioner of that league because I understand the leagues that I am actually the commissioner of. Higher seed is the tiebreaker. All right.
Starting point is 00:03:37 So let's talk about some fantasy football. Let's start out with a lesson you learned in week 15. Dave, what lesson did you learn? A fantasy lesson in week 15. Dave, what lesson did you learn? A fantasy lesson in week 15. You know, I've been doing this for so long that I feel like I never learn any new lessons. So I was reminded of this lesson. Josh Jacobs. Do you think Josh Jacobs had a big game?
Starting point is 00:03:56 Yes or no? No. But he played the whole game, right? And he had 20 carries, right? Adam Thielen played pretty much the whole game. It was just a game that got away from... Minnesota didn't have to throw a lot in the game, but he played as much as he possibly could.
Starting point is 00:04:10 He clearly didn't look like he was held back, right? I think when a team puts a player back on the field after an injury, especially in the case of Thielen after an excessive layoff, I think that he'll be okay and he should be trusted. Now, it just didn't work out for these two guys. Jacobs should have.
Starting point is 00:04:28 He had the workload. Thielen did not. I think that when guys are missing time and the team is ready to trust them and put them back on the field, you start them in fantasy. Yeah, and it was really disappointing, I think, for Josh Jacobs, but it was the right move to start him. He got the work, and unfortunately, I think he had like 20 carries for 86 yards, but surprising because really,
Starting point is 00:04:49 against that Jaguars defense, you get that work. Hey, you know, he totaled 100 yards. So maybe it wasn't, it's not what we expected, right? We expected like 100 rushing yards, at least one touchdown, like a massive game. And I know it feels weird for me to say this about Adam Thielen when Thielen, what do you have? Like three catches, 27 yards, like total massive game and i know it feels weird for me to say this about adam theolin when theolin what do you have like two three catches 27 yards like total dud game yeah but i don't think it's
Starting point is 00:05:10 because he was hurt i don't think it was because he was you know slow moving around or anything like that cousins didn't throw much three targets no he did not they didn't have to we have a bet to talk about by the way all right 24 carries for 89 yards for josh jacobs two catches for 20 yards just what the jaguars had been giving up to running backs was so horrible so um all right heath uh yeah we do have a bet to talk about it back to that in a second heath lesson you learned i kind of agree with dave that like learning lessons from an individual week can be very, very dangerous. But this week was a good reminder that talent only matters so much.
Starting point is 00:05:48 Three of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL so far this season, Baker Mayfield, Jared Goff, Ryan Fitzpatrick, all scored more than 20 fantasy points thanks to garbage time. The worst receiver in the NFL over the past four seasons, Rashad Perryman, scored three touchdowns. So talent only matters so much. receiver in the NFL over the past four seasons. Rashad Perryman scored three touchdowns. So talent only matters so much. Opportunity and garbage time certainly counts. And I don't really have a lesson that I learned, but I just want to make an observation. When you look at the top players at each position,
Starting point is 00:06:21 it's really unusual that the top three tight ends in ADP are giving you exactly what you wanted from the top three tight ends, and they've been doing it for weeks. Kelsey, Ertz, and Kittle. I think all three of them kind of had somewhat of a slow start. I mean, sometimes it was just because they weren't scoring. Kittle had some touchdowns called back. Ertz was just flat out disappointing. Now, these three guys are just studs every week, and you just don't see that for this one tier of a position to be that good, for all three of them to be that good. There'd be no upsets there in terms of tight end.
Starting point is 00:06:54 Unusual, and I guess it's good to see. It's good to see those guys are really carrying your teams. So Dave and Jamie made a bet. Kirk Cousins versus Phillip Rivers. Yes, Kirk Cousins versus Phillip Rivers. Yes, Kirk Cousins versus Phillip Rivers. Jamie's offer was to do hair versus hair, where the loser had to have their head shaved. We ended up doing a push-up bet much like you did with Heath,
Starting point is 00:07:18 although I'm sure Heath's got something to say about how that bet wound up. But the loser would have to do the number of push-ups that the winner's quarterback scored in fantasy points and then both quarterbacks went on to have absolutely horrible fantasy days philip rivers was turning the ball over all over the place so kirk cousins won but it's with 13 so jamie owes us 13 push-ups 13 push-ups do you think jamie will do like do 12? I don't understand what you were doing, Adam, because you had to pay off a bet of 15,
Starting point is 00:07:49 1-5 push-ups. I didn't lose the bet. That was the thing. We tied. You both had to do the push-ups. No, you both had to do the push-ups. Neither of us lost the bet. We tied. I didn't feel like I had to do it. I felt like he was making his own rules.
Starting point is 00:08:06 The most common response was, why does anyone make wagers without a mazer? He doesn't ever actually pay them off. So I think that was the lesson I learned from this week. That's not true. I ate the butter figure. I ate the bean boozleds. Are you going to grow the mustache?
Starting point is 00:08:21 I don't have to. Well, it's going to be close. It's going to come down to the wire. Gardner versus Daniel Jones. Let's going to come down to the wire. Yeah. Gardner versus Daniel Jones. All right. Let's promote a few things here real quick. You can watch HQ on demand. You can watch Fantasy Football today on HQ on demand.
Starting point is 00:08:35 You download the CBS Sports HQ app, and it's live noon Eastern, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. Eastern on Sunday. But if you can't watch the Monday through Friday shows live, you can catch them on demand on the HQ app. Congratulations to Jason from Maryland. He is our Facebook group giveaway winner.
Starting point is 00:08:52 We asked you lessons and he said you can never be reminded of this enough. Don't start a Thursday night player in your flex. That is good advice. You want to keep that flex spot flexible after the Thursday game. So Jason and Marilyn, you are the winner.
Starting point is 00:09:08 Big news, Chris Godwin, leg injury. Doesn't look good, according to Bruce Arians, so don't plan on having him in Week 16 against Houston. And Dalvin Cook, shoulder injury. Alexander Madison was already out with an ankle injury for Madison. And they've got Green Bay coming up, and we saw Boone score two touchdowns for the Vikings. Abdullah's in the mix.
Starting point is 00:09:29 Maybe Madison's back. Maybe Cook's back. I don't know. Let's start with Chris Godwin, though. And does Rashad Perryman, Heath, you mentioned on the radio show last night, he's been a really bad player since being drafted. But he's turning it on right now. I mean, are you going to buy into Rashad Perryman now?
Starting point is 00:09:44 What do you make of this receiving core without Chris Godwin? Yeah, if there's no Godwin and there's no Evans, I really do not want to start a Tampa Bay wide receiver in the finals. Perryman would be the best option, but he could just as easily see a game
Starting point is 00:10:01 where he gets 10 targets and catches four of them for 45 yards. So I hope I have better options. Dave, how you feeling? I'm feeling pretty good. Okay, good. What do you think about, what do you think about the Bucks wide receivers? I think Paramin, I think, I think Paramin is the number one guy. I think it's not just about the three touchdowns. It's really just how he's played the last three four weeks or so i don't have his game log in front of me but he had been involved in the offense to a degree and he's playing like uh he's playing like he's never played before and i know it's weird because we've been kind of laughing at rashad perriman for the last several
Starting point is 00:10:40 years but it's happening to davante parker and maybe it's happening now to perriman and there's no one else there's no one else for the bucks to throw to here if evans and godwin are out i mean miller will play and justin watson will be there but and and the tight ends of course but i think perriman's got the guy i think perriman is going to be the guy and will be that top target downfield for jamisis Winston. The only thing I would say to go back to the thing, maybe Brashad Perryman's figuring it out. Before this game, his catch rate for this season was lower than
Starting point is 00:11:14 his catch rate for his career. He had been worse so far this year. I'll give you his game log. Five catches for 87 yards on six targets three weeks ago. Three catches for 70 yards and a touchdown on six targets against the Colts in week 14.
Starting point is 00:11:33 And then Brashad Perryman had five catches for 113 yards and three touchdowns on six targets. So he's had six targets in three straight games. He's turned that into 87 yards, 70 yards, and 113 yards with three touchdowns today, one touchdown last week, and he has caught 13 of 18 targets in his last three games.
Starting point is 00:11:51 I know it's weird, and Heath, you're completely right about where you've gone with Perriman because he's been so bad, but he's going through a really good spell. How about this? According to Pro Football Focus, he's only had one drop all year, and that was a problem with him before is that he just had unreliable hands he's putting it together there's something going
Starting point is 00:12:09 on and they're going to throw against houston because they can't run the ball at all they can't do it they stink at it all right so you know oh do you want to talk about the minnesota running backs yeah it's probably a good idea yeah go ahead what do you have to say about them Minnesota running backs? That's probably a good idea. Yeah, go ahead. What do you have to say about them? I think you go and you get yourself a bottle of Strawberry Hill wine and get ready for Mike Boone to be the lead back here.
Starting point is 00:12:34 And it's a great matchup against the Packers. I'm sure the Vikings will try and take advantage that unlike the Bears really did. And he could end up being, he probably will be the number one waiver wire priority. Assuming Cook's injury is serious, assuming the ankle injury that's knocked out Alexander Madison for this week
Starting point is 00:12:52 keeps him out for next week. We're just not going to have a good idea on that stuff until at the absolute earliest Monday when Zimmer meets with the media again. Let's do it. The best of Week 15. Alright, if you played against Lamar Jackson, you were probably pretty despondent.
Starting point is 00:13:12 But if you had Jameis Winston, it's okay. You know what? It's okay. There were a lot of high scorers this week. There were a lot of players who were terrific. And Jameis Winston, of course, was one of them. So, let's look at some quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends. They are of Week 15.
Starting point is 00:13:30 Jameis is amazing. 40 points this week after 42 points last week. He doesn't need Mike Evans. He didn't need Chris Godwin for all of this game. Ryan Tannehill had a really nice game. You know, Derek Henry had a couple chances near the goal line, couldn't get in. Ryan Tannehill took advantage of that. And that gave Henry a pretty bad game. You know, Derek Henry had a couple of chances near the goal line. Couldn't get in. Ryan Tannehill took advantage of that. And that gave Henry a pretty bad game.
Starting point is 00:13:47 And Tannehill, it went from a good game to a great game. 28 fantasy points. He also had a rushing touchdown. Carson Wentz, I think pretty surprising. 43 pass attempts, 26 fantasy points.
Starting point is 00:13:59 So these are not all of the, you know, best of the best, but the ones that I want to talk about here. Heath, Jameis, Tannehill, Carson Wentz, some of the top quarterbacks this week. I mean, Jameis Winston, high-volume passer against a bad defense.
Starting point is 00:14:15 You've got to feel good about that. And he had Chris Godwin for most of this game, but he did good things with Perryman. He did good things without Godwin. It's going to be really interesting next week against a very bad secondary in the Houston Texans without either of his top two wide receivers. Just how good we feel about him. I'm
Starting point is 00:14:31 probably going to have him as a low end starter next week, but he's someone you could probably feel fine about. Wentz was a weird situation where they were actually playing from behind for a good portion of that game, but it worked out well for him. Washington's actually becoming a pretty decent team here before our very eyes and philadelphia is kind of falling apart right before
Starting point is 00:14:51 our very eyes but i gotta crush them yeah you think so but we've seen dallas um mess themselves up in spots like this before you're gonna keep to keep starting Winston. I agree with Heath. He's going to at least be a low-end starter. If not sixth or seventh in the rankings, he could get that high. Tannehill is still going to be a top-10 fantasy quarterback. Wentz should probably be a candidate to be just outside of the top 12, probably right around 15th. Don't see him being a monster next week against the Cowboys. I was pretty impressed with Ryan Tannehill.
Starting point is 00:15:28 I've been impressed with him for eight weeks now, man. I mean, A.J. Brown was just outstanding. First time all year that he's had back-to-back games with double-digit fantasy points. What a time to come through. Yep, pretty damn good. A.J. Brown is 86% on. He was started in 60%
Starting point is 00:15:46 of leagues. By the way, Josh Jacobs was started in about, I think, 62% of leagues. I forgot to mention that. I thought that was interesting, but he wasn't one of the best running backs. Kenyon Drake was. Carlos Hyde was really good. We'll talk about Miles Sanders a little bit later when we look at winners. Sanders had a
Starting point is 00:16:01 huge week, but Kenyon Drake, 22 carries, 137 yards, four touchdowns and only one catch. But he was doing it all on the ground. He was getting the goal line work. What a game, Kenyon Drake. Heath, you liked Kenyon Drake this week, right? I did. I
Starting point is 00:16:17 liked the volume he was getting. I liked the matchup and he delivered. I didn't expect four touchdowns. But don't let the fact that he scored four touchdowns and that's completely unsustainable distract you from the fact that this is a very good game. It's a pretty decent offense and he is the clear lead back. Someone you should probably start close to regardless of matchup, but definitely at Seattle. I wonder if he's trying to do all that he can to earn the full-time job next year
Starting point is 00:16:44 and force the Cardinals to make a decision on David Johnson and not draft another running back and finally be the lead guy in an offense. I think they've made their decision on David Johnson. Yeah, it seems like they're going. They're trending that direction. But we'll see. Well, after a game like this, you would think so.
Starting point is 00:17:00 But in the four games before this one, he had six, five, seven seven and three non-ppr fantasy points it's true but he was still getting the most touches by far yeah he just wasn't delivering and so if it's pretty clear if you don't deliver in fantasy it's hard to be really good statistically and give your coaching staff and your team a good chance to win this was obviously a little bit different than i wish he could just not have these games with three touchdowns, four touchdowns, and just be a little bit more consistent. Give me one touchdown every week, Kenyon Drake.
Starting point is 00:17:30 Well, look, I mentioned it on the show on Thursday or Friday whenever we previewed this game. It was an NFC home game. So I think we did one on Thursday anyway. But he had had San Francisco twice, Tampa Bay, San Francisco twice, the Rams. I don't remember all the matchups, but this was by far the best matchup that he had had since joining the Cardinals. He had had some pretty tough run defenses.
Starting point is 00:17:55 Absolutely. I have it in front of me if you want it. You were right. Saints, Niners, Bucks, Niners, bye, Rams. Right. Steelers. How could I forget the Steelers? Carlos Hyde.
Starting point is 00:18:06 Yeah, it's another one. Carlos Hyde only started in 23% of leagues. He gets more work and wins. This was a win, but 26 carries, 104 yards, and a touchdown. Dave, what did you make of this game for Hyde? You know, it's just game script worked for him, and he found the end zone. And that's basically how it works.
Starting point is 00:18:22 And when you've got the confidence in him to come through on something like that before the matchup, you start him. It's Tampa Bay next week. It's that run defense. I have a hard time believing that he's going to be able to have another game quite like this one against the Tampa Bay Bucs. All right, Heath, let's look at some of the best wide receivers.
Starting point is 00:18:43 We already talked about Perryman. We already talked about A.J. Brown. So let's go with Terry McLaurin, who had five catches, 130 yards and a touchdown. He also had a 75-yard catch and run for a touchdown. That was the bulk of his production. Tyler Lockett, eight for 120. Yeah, baby, and a touchdown.
Starting point is 00:19:01 How about Julio Jones? He had 20 targets, And he caught a touchdown. The best game of the day. Caught a touchdown with two seconds left to win the game at San Francisco. And Anthony Miller, I know you've been all about Anthony Miller for several weeks now. Massive game for him. Nine catches, 118 yards, and a touchdown on 15 targets at Green Bay. When you look at, I don't know if you want to say anything about Julio Jones,
Starting point is 00:19:23 but McLaurin, Miller, Lockett. Next week, McLaurin's got the Giants. Ding, ding, ding. Lockett's got the Cardinals. Ding, ding, ding. Miller's got the Chiefs at home. That could be great, too. Chiefs are good against wide receivers, but better at home than on the road,
Starting point is 00:19:38 and that's going to be a real game for them. What do you think? What do you think about these guys? Yeah, I mean, Miller's the one I'm going to trust the most with this group because he's basically been a number one wide receiver for the past month. And this is just a continuation of that. Fifteen targets even surprised me, but he delivered once again. Lockett, Pete Carroll had told us that he was finally back to full health.
Starting point is 00:19:58 I'd kind of scoffed at that a little bit because you never know what Pete Carroll says is just being overly optimistic or actually true. But he certainly looked full strength. Russell Wilson was taking more deep shots to lock in the way he's had most of the past few weeks. And then Terry McClure, I mean, really, it was kind of one big play, but you can make one big play and be good against the Giants. So I won't mind him as a boom bust flex again in week 16. By the way, I feel like we should talk about the weather a little bit. So we'll do that in just a second. Let's finally, Dave, take a look at some of the top tight ends. Johnnie Smith. So it's Kelsey Kittle, Darren Waller. Darren Waller has been great. He's jumped into that
Starting point is 00:20:32 group with those guys. But Kelsey Kittle and Ertz, the point I was making was they've just been so reliable. We had an email from a listener that I scoffed at. It was like, hey, I think Ricky Seals-Jones is a sleeper this week and ben gretch and i on the mailbag show we're like no and he had two touchdowns so three catches 29 yards two touchdowns against cardinals but uh john who smith you know a 57 yard run helped and tyler higby three straight hundred yard games with at least seven catches for higby so who stood out to you at tight end well i mean all the studs stood out, including Higby, who did get a lot of catches late in the game when the Rams just, you know,
Starting point is 00:21:11 they're chasing the clock and didn't, it wasn't competitive really for pretty much the whole game. Golf was terrible to begin with, but garbage time counts. So that worked out for Higby. Johnnie Smith was kind of fun to watch. He had 11 PPR points the week before. And I guess we kind of overlooked that this week, but when, when you see a tight end run for 57 yards,
Starting point is 00:21:31 usually that's a sign that he's probably an athletic freak and that he should be more involved in the offense. I'm hoping the Titans recognize that. And he can come through with a third straight game next week. That would really be swell, tough matchup against New Orleans, but we'll see how they come out of their game on Monday night. Seals-Jones, I'm not buying into at all.
Starting point is 00:21:50 And that's really about it. The cream of the crop of the tight end group. I sent this to you, Adam. Right now, the number one tight end in fantasy, Travis Kelsey. This is PPR. Number two, Zach Ertz. Number three, Darren Waller. Number four, George Kittle.
Starting point is 00:22:04 So it's just like you said, for the most part, those stud-tight ends, there were rough patches, but they did come through. And I'm guessing Kittle's ahead of Waller in non-PPR, because Waller has just three touchdowns this year. That's my guess. Sure. For whatever reason, I wasn't able to bring that up
Starting point is 00:22:19 on my machine, because things are weird. How many more catches does Darren Waller have than George Kittle? I have to look that up to get the exact number. Whatever. No big deal. So what did we do with the weather today? Because the weather is, to me, it's the most frustrating thing. It's just hard to know what kind of impact it's going to have.
Starting point is 00:22:38 The bad games were Kansas City-Denver. Chicago-Green Bay was frigid. And the Giants and the Dolphins was very windy which caused me to get away from Ryan Fitzpatrick's, I guess sort of foolishly. Yeah, I think the only game that I adjusted
Starting point is 00:22:55 for weather was the Giants and the Dolphins. I don't think that snow without wind really affects offense negatively and I wasn't that worried about the cold in a game between the packers and the bears two teams that play in the cold a lot so the one game i did downgrade was manning and fitzpatrick i downgraded manning more than i did fitzpatrick mostly because of vegas stuff but like that didn't necessarily work out for fitzpatrick and parker and slayton
Starting point is 00:23:21 so we may have overreacted a little bit to the weather in that instance, but the other games we really shouldn't have downgraded anyone because they weren't situations that generally negative negatively affect offense. Andy Reed was asked about this after the game today. So if you don't want to take it from Heath or for me, take it from Andy Reed, who's been around the block a few times when it comes to football games, quote,
Starting point is 00:23:41 the rain and the wind are the tough ones. The snow is not quite that. The ball feels pretty good, actually, in the snow. And then he went on to talk about how Mahomes did a good job playing in the snow. It's almost easier on the offense to play in the snow than it is on defense, but rain and wind and when your visibility is messed up, that's when that could really affect you. That's when you make changes to your best laid fantasy lineup plans.
Starting point is 00:24:06 Yeah. Sterling Shepard, by the way, over 100 yards in this game. He had an almost touchdown. He almost had a huge game. Darius Slade did catch that touchdown. But I just thought looking at that field, that Kansas City game, I mean, it was covered in snow. It was coming down all throughout the game.
Starting point is 00:24:20 It got worse around halftime. So, look, it wasn't like a great game. Mahomes was fine. He was good. He was good. He wasn't amazing. Tyreek Hill was great. Travis Kelsey was great.
Starting point is 00:24:33 He'll call it touchdowns, but the running games were terrible. Sutton was good. Sutton had the best game of any receiver at Kansas City all year. So, that just tells you a little bit about Cortland Sutton. Let's take a quick break here on Fantasy Football today when we come back and early look at the waiver wire, winners, losers, and we'll do Believe It or Not for every game right after this.
Starting point is 00:24:55 Metrolinks and Crosslinks are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals. Be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. I know you want to take a look at the waiver wire for week 16. It's fun because, you know, you're only competing against one other person,
Starting point is 00:25:27 most likely, unless you're playing into week 17. So that's not as much stress, I guess. But I did want to mention one player. If you didn't see the games, if you didn't see how it unfolded, I thought was the most unlucky player of the week. And that was Kyler Murray, guys. Because he was driving them down the field, and he just kept getting Kenyon Drake, basically.
Starting point is 00:25:48 And he finishes with 17 points. He threw 25 passes for 219 yards, a touchdown and an interception, eight carries for 56 yards. His team scored 38 points. And if you just look at Kyler Murray, it looks like he didn't have a good game. I thought he was extremely unlucky, Dave. I agree with you. He was this week's Ryan Fitzpatrick because last week, Ryan Fitzpatrick going up against
Starting point is 00:26:10 the Jets led the Dolphins into the red zone six times. Another two times they got close and he got Jason Sanders. Duh, because they ended up just kicking a lot of field goals and he didn't have Devante Parker. So yeah, maybe we should do this every week now. An unlucky player, a guy who should have been a lot better. And I thought Kyler played well last week against Pittsburgh. I thought he'd have a better game this week.
Starting point is 00:26:33 I had moved him up in my rankings. But, yeah, he should have had a significantly better game than what he had. A lot of weeks that player would have been Kyler Murray. He came into this game with a 3.5% touchdown rate. That's well below league average, and that number only went down in this game. They've not been great in the red zone, and they've especially not been great passing in the red zone so far this season. Hopefully that's something that gets better in year two for Kingsbury and for Murray. Yeah, I'm looking forward to drafting Kyler in the second half of fantasy drafts next year. All right. Let's take a look at the,
Starting point is 00:27:05 uh, the early waiver wire. So Heath, who are some of the headliners you think that we'll be talking about on Tuesday's waiver wire show? I mean, I think Mike Boone is the guy that's most likely to come up. Um,
Starting point is 00:27:19 it will be interesting to see, like, do we really need streaming quarterbacks with two teams playing in Week 16? Probably not. So I think Boone's the main guy. Okay, Kerryon Johnson could be back next week. How do we feel about him? He's not available, is he?
Starting point is 00:27:35 Or is he? I believe he is available to come back in Week 16, and we all kind of wrote him off. No, I meant, is he available on the waiver wire? Oh, why wouldn't he be? Oh, let's take a look. Let's guess his ownership percentage. Let's play a fun game.
Starting point is 00:27:46 Guess Kerryon Johnson's ownership percentage. I will say 24%. I'll say 31%. 60%. Dave, you cheater. Yeah. 31% owned Kerryon Johnson. Look, I don't know how much I trust him,
Starting point is 00:28:02 but at Denver next week and then Green Bay in week 17. He'll be interesting. Obviously, Prashad Perryman, Perryman might be the number one most added player. I don't know. I don't think A.J. Brown's still available, but he might be. Same with Tannehill.
Starting point is 00:28:18 I kind of like Trubisky against the Chiefs at home, guys. What about you? Anthony Miller's definitely still available. He was like 30% on Friday. Anyone feeling Trubisky as a streamer? I'd rather if it's Patrick. In a normal week, yes.
Starting point is 00:28:36 In a normal week, sure, but there's only two teams playing. How many leagues did you play in this week where you went to the waiver wire for a quarterback? I did that in two of three leagues. I did that in zero of five leagues. I did that in zero of eight leagues. Now you know why my season was not good enough.
Starting point is 00:28:58 I think we should cover it just to cover it, just in case people, what if you play in a two quarterback league and maybe the waiver wire is a little bit deeper? I don't know. But, yeah, we could talk about it. And I think Fitzmagic is the one to go with as long as Parker's healthy, and he is. Yeah. And who does Jacksonville have?
Starting point is 00:29:17 Jacksonville in Week 16 at Atlanta. So if Matt Ryan's on your waiver wire, or are you thinking of Minshew? Gardner, Minshew. Oh, goodness. You and Gardner, Minshew. Oh, boy, did he get lucky today. Gardner, Minshew. Oh, goodness. You and Gardner, Minshew. Oh, boy, did he get lucky today. He just scored 22 fantasy points.
Starting point is 00:29:28 Boy, he got so lucky today. He got lucky. No, we're not going to do the he got lucky when Jared Goff and Baker Mayfield and Ryan Fitzpatrick all need garbage time to do it. He did it, leading his team to victory. Okay, but he did it at the very end of the game. So is there any difference? Yes, there's a huge amount of difference. The defense was still trying to stop him. Those other quarterbacks were playing against
Starting point is 00:29:48 second stringers. I doubt they were playing against second stringers. Okay? They don't have that many guys to be putting in a whole second string. Let's do winners and losers. Heath Miles Sanders is a winner for you. 75% started and he
Starting point is 00:30:03 had 25 touches, 172 total yards. He had two touchdowns, a great touchdown catch in the back of the end zone, and a completely studly performance from Miles Sanders. Your other winner is Brashad Perryman. We talked about him. So let's get into Miles Sanders against the Cowboys next week. Thankfully, I think that we can do away with the Doug Peterson doesn't like to have a feature back.
Starting point is 00:30:25 He just needed one that was good enough to be a feature back. Miles Sanders has been that guy. He was the first running back to play in 80% of the snaps in a Doug Peterson offense earlier this season. And he's basically done it every game since except for last week when he had cramps. And in this game, like right after the week when boston scott maybe became a problem he gets 25 touches and just absolutely dominates he's a top 12 running back for the record i was nervous about using miles sanders this week still had him as a top 24 running back but was a little bit worried about just how much work he was going to get and when the game started and
Starting point is 00:31:00 he was rolling you just knew that he was going to have a monster game. So I'm excited about his future in a major way. We're going to see more huge games from Miles Sanders for years to come. And Boston Scott still gave you double-digit PPR points. So it's not like he was completely out of the game plan. But Sanders was definitely the main guy, and it's great. We'll see how he does against the Cowboys. That would be a nice time to make a statement for him. Statement game.
Starting point is 00:31:26 By the way, Greg Ward is someone we didn't really talk about enough. We should. He's a way to win. Oh my God, he was amazing in DFS. He was at the lowest possible price. And I just kept finding receivers that were a little bit more that I liked better. But he's going to be someone.
Starting point is 00:31:44 He's their number one receiver right now. Dave, we talked about Anthony Miller and A.J. Brown. Should we go right to the losers? Let's go to the losers. Let's give the losers that winning feeling and give them attention. Odell Beckham. Hey, he led his team in receiving. Eight catches, 66 yards at Arizona.
Starting point is 00:32:01 But still not good enough. Not good enough, really. Odell Beckham. Yeah, and now he's got the Ravens next week, so I think we're finally at the point where we can confidently lay him on our bench, pet his hair,
Starting point is 00:32:16 and say, Odell, you're off the hook this week. You're not going to frustrate us. You're not going to make us hate you. We're not going to worry about how hurt you are. We're not going to be worried about your drops or your quarterback making bad throws. We're just going to frustrate us. You're not going to make us hate you. We're not going to worry about how hurt you are. We're not going to be worried about your drops or your quarterback making bad throws. We're just going to let you sit there on the bench. Or you cut them because it's the last game of the year
Starting point is 00:32:32 and you can pick up the good luck charm. Got off the waiver wire. It's very optimistic of you, Dave, to talk to Odell Beckham owners as if they didn't have their souls crushed over the past three weeks by Odell Beckham already. But the problem was that Odell was, was still being started.
Starting point is 00:32:50 People started him today. You're talking about what those guys are going to do with him next week. They're done. I would like to know what percentage of Odell Beckham starters actually are playing next week. I'm one. Yeah. Except he's not going to starters actually are playing next week i'm one yeah except he's not gonna be on my team next week your other loser was jared goff who did jared goff played a third string cowboys defenders for the final quarter of the game and he right so he had a respectable stat 21 fantasy points no but look, he obviously struggled and got lucky.
Starting point is 00:33:28 That was a one for the ages, that Heath side right there. 51 pass attempts to get 21 fantasy points and much of it coming in garbage time. So he was a loser for you, and he's at San Francisco next week. Hard to trust him. Just really hard to trust him after this. Can't consider it. Don't consider it. Nope, no way.
Starting point is 00:33:43 So Ryan Fitzpatrick or Jared Goff? Ryan Fitzpatrick and every other bad quarterback besides Jared Goff. So you'll go Minshew over Goff as well? I went Minshew over Goff this week, and Minshew was better than Goff this week. By one point, let's really put Heath to the test here. Daniel Jones at the Redskins or Jared Goff at San Francisco? Well, I think that Jared Goff's going to
Starting point is 00:34:09 score in the positives, and I don't necessarily think that Daniel Jones is going to play, so I would go with Jared Goff. Okay. All right. So Eli Manning or Jared Goff? Probably Eli. All right. Yeah, it's tough to trust Jared Goff. Now, Heath's losers are Emmanuel Sanders and Deebo Samuel.
Starting point is 00:34:28 Tag team on the San Francisco 49ers. They combine for what? Three catches for 38 yards. Terrible game. And what do you think about Sanders and Samuel? Well, the bad thing is it's not like this is a game where san francisco san francisco's offense was terrible um it worked pretty well it was just the running back and george kittle and more george kittle and more george kittle and it was a reminder that there was a reason before emmanuel sanders
Starting point is 00:34:57 was acquired that no 49ers wide receiver had more than seven targets in a game and it's only happened like three times since then. This offense runs through the running backs and the tight ends, and then maybe we'll throw it to the wide receivers as a third option. And it makes it difficult to trust those two. I think if we go back, just rewind to the winners and speaking on this game, I mean, Raheem Mostert's got to be a winner, right? He had 14 carries. Tevin Coleman had four. Matt Breida had four. And you wonder like Tevin Coleman got some goal line
Starting point is 00:35:27 work. You wonder if they just wanted to get him in the end zone against the Falcons. But Mostert, did he feel like a clear winner to you guys? He was started in 55% of leagues. Yeah. Okay. He's got the Rams next week. Yeah. That fumble
Starting point is 00:35:43 at the end, though. Really? Oh, I didn't see that. Mostert, right? Yeah, Mostert. He fumbled. Final play of the game. It's the kickoff to the game because there was two seconds left. He throws the ball across the field, and it's a fumble that gets returned for a touchdown.
Starting point is 00:36:00 And somebody reached out on Twitter saying, I lost because of that fumble. I saw that. Can you imagine losing your fantasy sem of that. Oh, I saw that. Can you imagine losing your fantasy semifinal? Oh, no. Because of that fumble. I'm using air quotes here. Ridiculous.
Starting point is 00:36:18 I'll take you into a moment in my home today, other than the pushups I posted on Twitter. And I got some guff for wearing champion shorts. I bought them at Target for like 10 bucks. Okay, back off. You're a dad. Yeah, totally. I knew Heath had the Bucks DST. I was playing him in one of our leagues, and they had a pick six.
Starting point is 00:36:33 I was so mad. Like, what business do the Bucks DST have deciding fantasy championships? I knew they had it in them. I knew they had it in them. So I was mad. But I had the Eaglesagles dst who obviously didn't have a very good game but when they scored on the last play of the game i celebrated i made
Starting point is 00:36:50 some lewd gestures like it was really i don't know what came over me i was so happy and like in your face and i was just and my my wife was like, your son is watching. I was like, oh, sorry. So it was just. Lewd gesture. Yeah, it was like. I can only imagine. I don't even want to get into it. Actually, I don't want to imagine that.
Starting point is 00:37:12 I lost my mind temporarily with glee for that touchdown. All right, so Debo Samuel, Manuel Sanders, they were losers. They could have been mega duds. Instead, here are the other mega duds from week 15. Melvin Gordon, two fumbles. Yikes. Terrible game. He got benched for a while.
Starting point is 00:37:31 Yes, sir. He's lucky he got back in. And he still was bad. He did have five catches, but bad game for him. LaShawn McCoy was bad. Phillip Lindsey was bad. Didn't catch anything. Seven carries for 32 yards.
Starting point is 00:37:43 So those are the running backs, Heath. Mega dud running backs, Melvin Gordon, the Sean McCoy, Philip Lindsay. They suck. Yes, they did today.
Starting point is 00:37:55 That's for sure. I mean, I don't know what to make of Philip Lindsay. Gosh, what a frustrating player and gets Detroit next week. You know, Detroit gives up a ton of fantasy points to running backs. I'll probably start him.
Starting point is 00:38:09 Yeah. Alright. It feels a little stubborn because he's been pretty bad in like five of his last six games. Adam, what was the lesson we learned? What was the lesson we learned? Rashad Perryman, Jared Goff,
Starting point is 00:38:24 Baker Mayfield, Ryan Fitzpatrick. I will tell you this. The Lions have a better run defense than the Chiefs. I don't know that that's true. It is definitely. If you look at yards per carry, it's not even close. That's great, but I don't know. Well, YPC for life.
Starting point is 00:38:41 Right here right now, that Lions defense, I don't know if they got it. They did a nice job against Tampa, who just, they don't have a good running back right now, or a good offensive line to block. All right, so let's go to the wide receiver mega duds. Julian Edelman, two catches for nine yards, one of the biggest surprises that I could think of this year. Just the most consistent player.
Starting point is 00:39:03 And maybe it was the injuries, I don't know, but bad game for Edelman, bad game for Landry, bad game for Robert Woods, four catches for 17 yards on nine targets. Horrible game for Amari Cooper. He only had two targets. They didn't have to throw much. I mean, they kind of shut it down.
Starting point is 00:39:20 So, Dave, I got Edelman, Jarvis, Woods, and Cooper. And there are people out there that started more than one of those wide receivers, and they're just wondering what happened. And in the case of Edelman, it's kind of like Cooper, where his team built a pretty big lead, and they were able to run the ball, and they didn't need him. It happens in football. Unfortunately, it happens in Week 16.
Starting point is 00:39:43 Landry should have had a bigger game than he did he had eight targets he caught five balls but the the receiving average was terrible it was disappointing it's the first time in I want to say like eight weeks that Odell had a better game than Jarvis Landry and then Robert Woods did have the game script in his favor Rams were trailing all game long and he just couldn't put together a, another monster game like he had had before. Brandon cooks was involved in the game plan early on. And,
Starting point is 00:40:10 uh, yeah, just one of those things that you're, you're probably, if you made it to the week 16 game with any of those receivers, I'll bet you, you're going to start them in week 16, every last one of them. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:23 I guess maybe not Landry, but probably, no, I mean, I, Oh, I guess Baltimore. Yeah. I guess I just... Maybe not Landry, but probably. No, I mean, oh, against Baltimore, yeah. I guess I just wanted to point out, I don't know that it was Jalen Ramsey
Starting point is 00:40:31 that shut down Amari Cooper. No, it was Dak Prescott that shut down Amari Cooper. Two targets, but it was probably a little bit of Ramsey. I'll give him some credit. And then Heath,
Starting point is 00:40:40 you mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Hunter Henry was a loser. Maybe that was last week. And we're seeing a bit of a trend here where he now has 40 or fewer yards in four of his last five games, and he fumbled in this game. So, yeah, 29 yards in this game on only two targets.
Starting point is 00:40:58 What do you make of Henry's at Oakland next week? Yeah, I mean, he's at Oakland, and he's a tight end, so I'm probably going to start him. There's not somebody I'm picking up off the waiver wire that I'm going to use instead, but it was definitely a disappointing effort, and it was his fourth game in his last five with 40 or fewer yards.
Starting point is 00:41:15 Now, he's been fortunate enough to score a touchdown in a couple of those, but it's been disappointing, really, this entire Chargers team. All right. All right, guys. Let's talk about the games here. Some other news items real quick.
Starting point is 00:41:27 Cleveland expected to keep Freddie Kitchens. According to Ian Rappaport, A.J. Green may return next week. Waver wire at Miami. Why would he do that? Because guys want to play football. They're football players. They want to play football. Yeah, but he's set to have one more huge payday.
Starting point is 00:41:44 And if he goes out there and hurts himself, that payday goes up in smoke. If he goes out there and he doesn't look good, then maybe he costs himself a few million bucks. If I were him, I'd shut it down for the year. He's such a wimp. Houston was called for a terrible unnecessary roughness penalty that gave the Titans first and goal at the seven and led to an A.J. Brown touchdown catch. So you're welcome to the A.J. Brown people who started A.J. Brown. Denzel Ward for Cleveland.
Starting point is 00:42:12 He left with an ankle injury. Not sure if he came back. Xavier Rhodes left with a calf injury, but he returned. While he was out, Mike Williams caught a touchdown on Rhodes' side of the field. Could have been him catching a touchdown over Xavier Rhodes. I don't think it would have been any different, the outcome. Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner left with an ankle injury. That's a
Starting point is 00:42:27 big one, obviously. And Cincinnati tried an onside kick against the Patriots, and it was hilarious. Try to find the video. It was really, really futility at its best. Or worst. Alright, Heath, let's get to the games. Believe it or not, Giants 36.
Starting point is 00:42:44 Oh, gosh. Why? Giants 36. Oh, gosh. Why? Giants 36, Dolphins 20. Good job, Giants. Yay. Believe it or not, Ryan Fitzpatrick is a league winner in week 16 against the Bengals. Believe it.
Starting point is 00:43:02 I believe it. Heath, do you believe it i believe it heath you believe it i am not so certain that i believe it but i think he's a fine option if you got here with a bad quarterback he's a bad quarterback you can use it's another revenge game for ryan fitzpatrick and this he had the type of game that i thought he would have had last week he had against the giants now he's back home, Cincinnati on the road. Their defense isn't very good. And the dolphins still can't run the football.
Starting point is 00:43:29 They just, unless they give it to Gaskin a little bit more, he had a nice stat line. I think Fitzpatrick is going to continue to run a little bit, throw a lot. He's got Devante Parker. He will help you win your league. I would say Patrick Laird was my biggest failure this week
Starting point is 00:43:46 in terms of recommendations. I apologize for that. Gaskin got... Were you going to do push-ups for it? No, just really, he was bad, and Giants' run defense was good again. Giants are facing the Redskins at home, I think on the road actually next week.
Starting point is 00:44:03 I have it at home, but no, they already played them at home, so it's a road game. It's in Washington. I think on the road actually next week. I have it at home, but no, they already play them at home, so it's a road game. It's in Washington. Yeah, so believe it or not, you can't really trust any individual James wide receiver. That was not a sigh. Oh my gosh, am I clipping that? Wow. Devin Singletary was tackled at the one
Starting point is 00:44:27 and Josh Allen stole the touchdown and I am crushed because I need Singletary to score points and I need Josh Allen to not score points. Hey, I'm sorry, man. That's okay. So anyway, you don't know which Giants wide receiver to trust anymore. And it could be none of the above because Daniel Jones could start next week.
Starting point is 00:44:48 Which is good. Why would that be good? For all the wide receivers. What the hell are you guys talking about? Eli. He is a worse passer than Eli Manning. How is this hard for you to grasp? He is not.
Starting point is 00:45:00 Oh my gosh. He is clearly a worse passer than Eli Manning. Have you noticed how lucky Eli Manning has gotten? Let worse passer than Eli Manning. Have you noticed how lucky Eli Manning has gotten? Let's think about Eli Manning the last two weeks. Darius Slayton breaks that tackle, runs and scores a touchdown. Golden Tate has like a 50-yard touchdown on a deflection. I mean,
Starting point is 00:45:15 give me a break. What are you looking at here? I mean, I don't know. I don't get it. Of all the things you used to say about Eli Manning, now you're just doing it to piss me off, I'm pretty sure. Now he's your hero. No, I don't think Eli Manning is I don't think Eli I don't get it. Of all the things you used to say about Eli Manning, now you're just doing it to piss me off, I'm pretty sure. Now he's your hero. No, I don't think Eli Manning is good. I just think he's better at passing than Daniel Jones.
Starting point is 00:45:32 No, he is definitely not. He throws one pattern. That doesn't mean he's good. He throws a slant every time. That doesn't mean he's good at all. Well, anyway, Shepard was the guy this week. Nine catches, 111 yards, nearly scored a touchdown. Slayton did catch a touchdown, but he only had three targets.
Starting point is 00:45:47 So, you know, can you trust a Giants wide receiver? I'll probably start Slayton again. I'll probably lean towards Slayton as well. Tate will be third on the list. All right, Green Bay 21, Chicago 13. Anthony Miller is the 1B to Allen Robinson's 1A. B, leave it. I think it's a very silly statement, but sure, I believe it.
Starting point is 00:46:21 Sure. Well, it'd be a big difference if he was a clear number two in the pass offense but he had more targets over the last month than robinson coming into this game he had more targets in this game it's a situation where there's basically just like two number ones in the chicago offense now and they can't run the ball like once and for all it's been probably part of why the bears have a 500 record is that their run game just sparingly been good. And against Kansas City next week, you'd like to think, oh, well, maybe they can get Montgomery going there. It's not going to happen.
Starting point is 00:46:55 Mahomes is going to do his thing. The Bears are going to have to throw from behind, and that's going to be good for both of the receivers. Believe it or not, this was actually a discouraging game for Aaron Jones. 13 carries, 51 yards, two touchdowns. No catches. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was. I think he got
Starting point is 00:47:16 lucky. He got lucky if he started Aaron Jones. You going to trust him next week at Minnesota? Nope. Yeah, probably. Yeah, you're going to start Aaron Jones next week. He might be a number two running back, but you'll start him. You'll hope that he gets you
Starting point is 00:47:32 40 or 50 yards in one touchdown and I bet he catches at least one pass next week. All right. Good to see from Devante Adams. 100 yards and a touchdown on 13 targets. I didn't think he'd get quite that much. I didn't think he'd get over 100 yards, so that was nice to see.
Starting point is 00:47:47 Or bad to see if he went up against him. Very true. Devontae Adams, good. Deshaun Watson, pretty good. Not great, but he was okay. He had scored 20 fantasy points, had an interception in the end zone. Actually, Ryan Tannehill and Deshaun Watson
Starting point is 00:48:01 had interceptions either in the end zone or right near the end zone that obviously swayed their fantasy point totals. But Heath, what is your believe it or not for the Texans 24, the Titans 21? Believe it or not, AJ Brown is a must start wide receiver, not just a boom bust guy. You have to believe it. You have to buy in. Titans are using him a lot. And if Derrick Henry isn't quite at 100%, then it means Tannehill has to throw more, which is what he did today. How much did you guys watch of Derrick Henry on Sunday?
Starting point is 00:48:36 Whatever red zone showed, so not that much. He had that one good run. Actually, no, I thought he had some pretty good runs. Near the goal line, he got very close to scoring. I thought he looked fine from what I saw. What did you think? I thought he looked a little bit not like himself, and I wonder if that did have something to do with the hamstring.
Starting point is 00:48:55 He was icing up his leg on the sideline when he wasn't in the game. But the worse he does, the better chances A.J. Brown has of putting up numbers. And really, my hesitation with Tannehill and Brown was about the pass attempts. So Tannehill threw 36 passes. That was huge. He had thrown 19, 18, 22, and 27 in his previous four games. So, yeah, I mean, they're facing the Saints next week. I can't imagine he's only
Starting point is 00:49:25 going to throw 22 25 passes probably gonna be over 30 how do you sit aj brown there right well i mean you could say he's taking on marshall latimore latimore is going to line up against him and it's going to be a a shutdown situation but a where aj brown's strength is is is not necessarily like you know the go route it's making plays after the catch. So he could run a bunch of crossing routes behind the linebackers and turn a pass that travels 13 yards into a 30 or 40 yard gain pretty easily. That's what he does. So that upside is going to be there. He won't be nearly as good as he was this week, but he'll be startable. Okay. Okay, and
Starting point is 00:50:05 believe it or not, Will Fuller is a must-start at Tampa Bay next week. Yep. No, I wouldn't call him a must-start. He still has almost no floor at all. He's a boom-bust number three like he always is.
Starting point is 00:50:22 I'd rather start A.J. Brown. I'd rather start A.J. Brown, too but i i think that there's potential there because you know the weakness of oh there's potential defense so that's that's part of the reason why you would start him as a quality flex is because the matchup is favorable it's going to be one where i think houston's going to have to throw a decent amount to potentially a lot if jamis keeps playing like jamis has been playing so absolutely will fuller is going to be in the picture for me he had seven targets caught five of them that was second best on the team behind hopkins i'm i'm pretty convinced that when there's a matchup where they're going to have a hard time running the football will fuller
Starting point is 00:50:59 should be in your lineup and by the way i think think this is so interesting. It's now seven out of nine games I think with Will Fuller where DeAndre Hopkins has had seven or eight targets. It's something like that. He's not the same guy. I mean, he obviously had a very good game. Six catchers, 119 yards.
Starting point is 00:51:20 But when he hasn't had Will Fuller or when Will Fuller was left with an injury, he's had 11 to 13 targets in all five of those games. Well, doesn't that make sense to you? Yeah, but I'm surprised at how stark and how obvious and seemingly predictable it is. I didn't expect it to be... We're talking about four targets per game difference
Starting point is 00:51:41 for Hopkins. That is not... That is surprising. I mean, I think that is a huge deal. Obviously, he's performing, and obviously you start him, but it's really something to keep in mind, I guess, going into next year when he could be like the number three wide receiver off the board. New England 34, Cincinnati 13-Eath. You should not start any Patriots in Week 16, including Julian Edelman.
Starting point is 00:52:04 Buffalo, home against Buffalo. Dave, what do you think? I'm not going to start Brady. I'm going to start Edelman. And James White PPR, it's the same thing that we say every week. So I don't believe it. AJ Brown against the Saints or Julian Edelman against the Bills? It'll probably be Edelman.
Starting point is 00:52:31 But it'll be close. It'll be very close. I'll probably go Brown. Believe it or not, Joe Mixon is a top 20 pick next year. Probably once again. She'll probably disappoint us again. I don't know if it's great lately.
Starting point is 00:52:50 Yeah, he's been really, really good. And working with Joe Burrow, that's what it's looking like Cincinnati is going to have if they have the number one overall pick. Huge upgrade at quarterback. Offensive line will get addressed. And the coaching staff figured out how to use them. There was a great story about it. Man, I can't remember where I saw it. It might have been the athletic about how the coaching staff basically scrapped what they had planned all offseason for Mixon, and they started running the ball a little bit differently. I think they might have gone to more power runs than zone runs, and and taking advantage of it can i say something
Starting point is 00:53:26 controversial please i don't think it's fair to expect any rookie quarterback to be a huge upgrade over andy dalton he's about a league average quarterback and most rookie quarterbacks are below average um yes most of them are but the ones who are pretty good are well above it like i like i'm thinking about kyler murray and he's probably like in terms of fantasy he's probably league average but he's a lot better than any doll below that oh yeah well burrow bur a really special prospect. He's going to be really, really good, Heath. I'm not sure he's going to be as a rookie, though. Yeah, I mean, that's fair.
Starting point is 00:54:12 I think he could be better than what Dalton's been. But here's the bottom line. I mean, Joe Mixon right now is killing it. I mean, here are his non-PPR fantasy points in his last seven games. 13, 14, 15, 7, 12, 24, 15. That's 12 or more in non-PPR in six of his last seven games. I think he has to
Starting point is 00:54:34 really, you know, I'd like to see more in the passing game, obviously. But he can do it. We know he can do it. He's just been great. And I love the fact that they get killed, and they still give him 25 carries. They got killed against Baltimore. They gave him 30 carries. So he's always in the game plan. That's nice to see. Let's go on
Starting point is 00:54:50 to Seattle 30 and Carolina 24. Heath. Believe it or not, Tyler Lockett is back. Believe it. Yep. Yep. Why not? I don't know about nine targets per week back but you're gonna start him you'll we might even have him ranked as a consensus top 12 receiver he's taking on arizona
Starting point is 00:55:14 heath you believe it right yeah i mostly believe it i probably won't have him top 12, but it could be close. Okay. All right, we'll go over to the Panthers. Believe it or not, Curtis Samuel is the most annoying start-sit decision every week. He might, yeah, he's up there. I just don't ever start him. And I know sometimes I'm upset by that decision, but he doesn't really deserve it other than the touchdowns. Yeah, he scores. But he's got 35 or fewer yards in five of his last six games. So I probably will continue to tell people to sit Curtis Samuel.
Starting point is 00:55:59 He has given you 16 PPR points two of the last three weeks. So it's not as easy as just, oh, yeah, just ignore them. Ignore those fantasy points that are sitting on your bench. It really does come down to who else you have and who else you're willing to trust. Also, 11-plus in non-PPR two of the last three. It's touchdowns. Yeah, totally.
Starting point is 00:56:21 Do you think Carolina is going to score a lot of touchdowns against the Colts in Week 16? They might score one. It might be his, well, other than McCaffrey. They might score two. Tampa Bay 38, Detroit 17. Let's do it. Believe it or not, Brashad Perryman is going to break your heart
Starting point is 00:56:39 if you start him in the championship week. No. I believe it's possible, but I believe he's right in that range with Will Fuller as a high-end upside flex. I think I'm fairly confident in him. I mean, I'm more confident. He's been playing great.
Starting point is 00:56:59 I'm confident in Winston, so I have to be confident in his number one wide receiver. I think that's a good part of the argument you're confident in Winston you're confident in Bruce Arians yeah you're confident that they're not going to be able to run the ball it doesn't even matter who they play they just can't do it and so if the ball is going to be in the air a lot Prashad Paraman figures to get a lot of targets now he's going to get defended like he's the number one receiver that's going to be a lot different.
Starting point is 00:57:25 And maybe that's something that we should have brought up a little bit earlier on the pod because all this production that he's had, Mike Evans and Godwin were both there. And then Evans was gone and Godwin was there. And now, yes, he scored. He went crazy.
Starting point is 00:57:38 Even after Godwin left against the lions, that's the lions. Texans are a little bit tougher. So Heath, do you believe it? Do you think Rashad Perryman is going to break your heart, break fantasy owners' hearts? I think he's probably going to break your heart
Starting point is 00:57:51 if you start him in the championship week. All right, let's go to the Lions here. Believe it or not, Kenny Galladay is not a must-start. Huge disappointment here for Galladay. Three catches, 44 yards on seven targets. And next week they are at Denver. Actually, I'll say, believe it or not, Kenny Galladay is a sit in week 16.
Starting point is 00:58:08 Believe it. Yeah. He's going to be tough to trust as a top 24 receiver. I don't know how much I really value Chris Harris these days. Well, how do you value David Blau these days? No, I get that. I don i get that it's just i don't know that it has anything to do with chris harris necessarily it's more about no a lot of it has to do with blau hey speaking of chris harris kansas city 23 and denver 3 heath cummings
Starting point is 00:58:37 believe it or not yes you can start patrick Mahomes with confidence at Chicago. You're going to start him whether you have the confidence or not because you know what the potential is. Well, where is that potential? Because it really hasn't been there since week three. He's had one big game, and he threw 50 passes in that game against the Titans since week three.
Starting point is 00:59:04 I think if you know what to expect, I think you start Mahomes. He was a top five quarterback this week, right? I don't know. He scored 24 points. Could he have been a top five quarterback? If he was, it's because the scores were low.
Starting point is 00:59:19 You know you had Lamar Winston and Tannehill with huge games. Wentz? He was tied with Wentz. Oh, he had 26 points. He made the top five. All right, but still. He had a two-point conversion with Sammy. That's not a huge game.
Starting point is 00:59:32 26 points as a top five, that is low. In fact, that's a big storyline right now because these quarterback scores are low. Two quarterbacks over 30 fantasy points going into Sunday night. Did not even realize that. That is very surprising. Drew Brees will join us. Yeah, but we've got like 17 of them with at least 20, right? Yeah, it seems that way.
Starting point is 00:59:54 But that is surprising. That's one of the lower numbers all year if it stays at two, but it probably won't. It'll be three, I'm guessing, with Brees. It's, yeah. 14 quarterbacks have at least 20. All right, so yeah. I'm guessing, with Breeze. 14 quarterbacks have at least 20. I'm sorry. Believe it or not,
Starting point is 01:00:10 Patrick Mahomes is a must-start. Is that what you said? You start him with confidence at Chicago. Dave, what did you say? You're going to start him anyway whether you're confident or not. That's not just to say. Thanks. I'll say i i will say not i will say you will start him not necessarily with confidence that's what i will say uh because you know you probably you might have another really good option i don't know um heath what do you think believe it i'm very confident that
Starting point is 01:00:43 he's going to score at least 22 points. He's not going to have a bad game. I just hope there's that big ceiling. It makes sense because they also can't run the ball, and the Bears' run defense is obviously good. Before the Broncos, believe it or not, man, something about Cortland Sutton. Don't believe it. Cortland Sutton. Don't believe it.
Starting point is 01:01:06 Cortland Sutton's going over 100 yards with a touchdown against the Lions. Believe it. Yeah, believe it. Number two receiver for sure. Philadelphia, Washington. Philadelphia wins 37-27. Believe it or not, Miles Sanders is going to be drafted before Joe Mixon next year.
Starting point is 01:01:25 I can't believe that next year. I can't believe that right now. I can believe that. Yeah, I believe that. He has actually, and I believe it, in non-PPR, he was
Starting point is 01:01:39 right behind Mixon currently, I believe, in the overall rankings. He's probably ahead of him in PPR because he's caught 10 more passes than Mixon has so far this season. And he was not even the lead back for most of the year. So, yeah, I believe it. All right, and for the Redskins, oh, Adrian Peterson. Probably should have talked about him.
Starting point is 01:02:00 Believe it or not, Adrian Peterson is a starter. He's a top 24 running back even in PPR against the Giants in week 16. Don't believe it. I can't say I believe it in PPR. Not in PPR. I think he can make the cut. He's had five games with Bill Callahan and without Geis. And he's had 66 or more rushing yards in all five,
Starting point is 01:02:27 which is not great, but 76 or more in four of five. And he's had 18 to 27 receiving yards in four of those five games. So you were talking about typically about 90 yards, about two catches, and obviously a chance to score. And he has done it against some very good run defenses, including today against the Eagles. It's impressive
Starting point is 01:02:47 and surprising. And he doesn't look like your typical old running back. No, not at all. He actually looks halfway decent out there. But Phillip Rivers doesn't. Minnesota 39, Chargers 10, Heath. Believe it or not, you're actually starting Mike Boone if Dalvin Cook and Alexander Madison are out. Believe it or not, you're actually starting Mike Boone
Starting point is 01:03:05 if Dalvin Cook and Alexander Madison are out. Believe it. That's an easy believe. No, I don't know, man. He's a pretty good little running back, and he's going to have a good opportunity. Peterson or Boone? Peterson against the Giants or boone against the packers
Starting point is 01:03:27 i'll take my chances with boone i'll probably start peterson okay believe it or not believe it or not austin eckler i'm trying to oh no believe believe it or not, Mike Williams deserves more fantasy love. He's only 75% owned now a touchdown, two straight games. Believe it or not. He's, he's basically become their shot play receiver.
Starting point is 01:03:56 They're taking on Oakland. It's a matchup where I don't know what the motivation is going to be for either team in this game. The Raiders are coming off of their, um, final farewell in Oakland. It was emotional. They lost. Maybe the Chargers rebound
Starting point is 01:04:09 and Mike Williams helps out. Touchdown three straight games for Mike Williams. There it is. Three or two? They probably start Rivers this week and then get a look at Tyrod in week 17. Is that right? No.
Starting point is 01:04:25 I don't know if they need to get a look at Tyrod. It might be Easton Stick they get up. They do not end Phillip Rivers' consecutive game-started streak. That would be a huge insult to the franchise quarterback. Only the Giants would do that. The Giants offered to allow Eli Manning to keep the streak going. He turned the offer down. I guarantee you Phillip Rivers is starting in Week 17.
Starting point is 01:04:49 I don't think there's much chance Phillip Rivers is playing next year, so why does it matter if his streak is one game shorter than it would be? He's playing next year. He's playing with the streak. And he is going to start Week 17. You've got to see what you've got in Tyrod Taylor. You do not. You know what you have in Tyrod Taylor. You do not. You know what you have in Tyrod Taylor.
Starting point is 01:05:05 You're the only one who thinks Tyrod Taylor is good. They were behind by a bazillion points, and they didn't put Tyrod Taylor in on Sunday. Arizona 38. They should have played Tyrod Taylor this week. Right, because he's better than Phillip Rivers. Right? He would not have been worse than Phillip Rivers was in this game.
Starting point is 01:05:19 Probably not. Arizona 38, Cleveland 24. Believe it or not, Kenyon Drake is going to be drafted as a starter next year. Hell yeah. I believe that. It's going to be completely contingent on what the running backs look like in Arizona. He might be a fifth-round pick.
Starting point is 01:05:46 Sure. I mean, he could be a third-round pick if they don't really add anyone, if they're willing to actually give him some work. Right. So they keep Chase Edmonds. They trade David Johnson. They don't draft another running back.
Starting point is 01:05:58 They tack on a couple of new offensive linemen. Okay. I don't even need the linemen. I'd take them before round five. Believe it or not, believe it or not, Heath is totally winging all of the believe it or nots today.
Starting point is 01:06:09 I believe that. Believe it or not, believe it or not, you're done using Baker, Odell, Jarvis Landry, and Ricky Seals-Jones in fantasy. Unless you play in week 17.
Starting point is 01:06:22 But they have Baltimore next week. Yes. And then in week 17. But they have Baltimore next week. Yes. And then in week 17, it's Cincinnati. Adam, we discussed three weeks ago that I was winging the Believe It or Nots and have ever since. Because the problem was that I would plan Believe It or Nots, and then you would talk about all the pertinent things from every game before we got to Believe It or Nots. So I had to wait until after we talked about all the things you wanted to to then come up with things for Believe It or Not.
Starting point is 01:06:50 I don't know. It just seems like I guess maybe usually you're like a little bit quicker. I'm going to give you three seconds to come up with a Believe It or Not for Jacksonville 20, Oakland 16. Starting when? That's it. Believe it or not, Chris Conley is the number one wide receiver
Starting point is 01:07:12 for Jacksonville, Atlanta. You know, I think you can believe that. I'm so mad. Because of Didi? Yes. Ridiculous. No, you know what? I think it's too unpredictable. He didn what? I think it's too unpredictable.
Starting point is 01:07:25 He didn't. I think it's too unpredictable week to week. I just... It's not Didi, it's Dudu. Yeah. I believe it. I believe that Conley's the guy. Heath, do you?
Starting point is 01:07:41 Yeah, I do. He is 15% owned. He's at Atlanta. And could be a good option for you there and believe it or not don't you shouldn't even care about what tyra williams did in this game it doesn't matter correct believe i believe it two catches 45 yards and a touchdown he slipped the tackle he got into the end zone dallas 44 and the Rams 21. Dallas had the ball for over 36 minutes in this game. Heath Cummings. Believe it or not, you should go right back to Michael Gallup against the Eagles. I believe that.
Starting point is 01:08:18 Did the Cowboys learn that they can ride Ezekiel Elliott into the playoffs? I'm answering with a question. All right. Don't give me the soundbite. That's not the way the game is played, Dave. Okay, fine. I don't believe it. I think he'll be awful again because I think Ezekiel Elliott is going to be the focal point of the Cowboys offense.
Starting point is 01:08:40 I don't really believe it either. I'd put him in between Will Fuller and Brashad Perryman in the flex that's probably going to disappoint your tier. I think that if you look at Gallup's game log, which is why I was a little surprised that he did well against the Bears last week, but that was garbage time.
Starting point is 01:08:57 He typically does well in good matchups and he does poorly in bad matchups. And the Eagles look like a pretty damn good matchup right now. So I think he'll, yeah, I think that's what that's one that's certainly worth looking into a little bit further. Believe it
Starting point is 01:09:13 or not, you go right back to Robert Woods next week. Believe it. Believe it. Okay, that's at San Francisco Atlanta 29 in San Francisco 22 the final game to talk about today, and the most dramatic, Heath. Believe it or not, if you have Austin Hooper,
Starting point is 01:09:32 you should be looking for a Week 16 tight end. They're playing Jacksonville. By the way, he had an almost touchdown overturned. That would have given him like four catches for about 30 yards. it with his thighs yeah yeah i thought it should have been a touchdown but it wasn't it doesn't count he's been terrible since he's come back believe it or not i believe you can consider the likes of johnny. Smith and Jacob Hollister and maybe even Noah Fant as options. And if you're not in need of anything off the waiver wire,
Starting point is 01:10:11 then you could pick them up and then make a decision later. I don't think Julio Jones is getting 20 targets again. I'm going to say not, unless Jack Doyle's available, then maybe you go with him. But what do you think, Heath? It may depend on whether Tyler Higby's available, because I think he's actually still available in some leagues. But for the most part, I would say you need to just start Hooper.
Starting point is 01:10:35 Okay, believe it or not, Raheem Mostert is a top 12, top 15, maybe running back against the Rams next week. Don't believe it. Don't believe it. I don't think he'll be that high up there, but he's startable for sure. Alright. Would you like the snap breakdown between those guys?
Starting point is 01:10:56 Yeah. Parting memento. Sure. For what we're doing. I would love it. Heath, would you like it as well? No. Oh, well, how rude. Go ahead, Dave.
Starting point is 01:11:12 All right, Raheem Mostert, ladies and gentlemen, 53% of the snaps. Tevin Coleman, 30% of the snaps. It is an uptick for Tevin Coleman over the last couple of weeks. He did have a very good run in the game.
Starting point is 01:11:25 So maybe that helped buy him a little bit more time. And for the chiefs, by the way, Spencer Ware, 40% Darwin Thompson, 35% LaShawn McCoy, 25%. Wow.
Starting point is 01:11:35 Well, there's not any chiefs running backs. Yeah. Well, maybe Damien Williams. Maybe if he's on waivers, you take a look because they need a running back for sure. Maybe.
Starting point is 01:11:44 That's it for today's show, everybody. Hope week 16 was awesome. Week 15, sorry. Hope week 15 was awesome for you. Week 16 is going to be even better for Dave, for Heath. I'm Adam. We'll talk to you on Monday. Na, na, na, na, na, na, na.

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