Fantasy Football Today - 12/20 Fantasy Football Podcast: Week 16 Tough Calls; "Hey, Real Quick"

Episode Date: December 20, 2017

Do you need a contingency plan if you're looking to start any Eagles this week (2:50)? PHI could have the #1 seed locked up before this week's game ... Recapping the Waiver Wire (5:55) before we look ahead to 2018 with some "Hey, Real Quick" (21:16)! Deshaun Watson or Carson Wentz? Jimmy Graham or Jordan Howard? ... Week 16 tough calls! How are we feeling about DeMaryius Thomas (24:15), A.J. Green (26:20), Jordan Howard (29:01), Dak Prescott (32:34) and more? Then stay tuned for some awesome NFL/Fantasy analysis from our Senior NFL Columnist Pete Prisco (45:35) as he dishes on Julio Jones, what to expect from Ezekiel Elliott in his first game back, if Blake Bortles is legit and more ... 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. Today on the show, we are going to hear from our senior NFL columnist, Pete Prisco.

He'll give you some awesome NFL analysis that might help the fantasy team. We're going to talk about what you do if you have some Eagles, if you're planning on starting some Eagles and they clinch the one seed before their game. We'll recap the waiver wire, do some hay real quick, and make some tough calls for Week 16. And we'll introduce Heath Cummings. What up, Heath? You and me today, buddy. Let's carry it. Let's carry people to their championship today. Very excited.

It's really the only two people they need. Yeah, right? You and me. I've been lobbying for that all year. Yes. Yes. This is going to be probably the best show of the year. And I could not be more excited.

Championship games, best ball leagues coming down to the wire. This week is going to be awesome. Take me through that best ball league coming down to the wire thing because I'm not in any of those. But I'd like to start doing those next season. I'm in 41 of them. Right. And so all you do is draft and that's it. Yes, just draft.

And then I'll check in on my teams occasionally and just see how i'm doing and what i uh i've got nine teams that are within 40 points of winning at all and they end week 16 okay and so i've i've got a little spreadsheet with like what players do i need to do well what players do my opponents have it's kind of like a championship game it's just you're either starting with a 10 or 20-point advantage. There's one of them that over the whole season, 2,300 points have been scored, and there is one point separating first and second. Wow.

So it's just a championship game. How many people are on your team? How many players? 20. 20. So how many quarterbacks do you start? How many quarterbacks? Three?

Well, it's a typical lineup. It's one quarterback, two running backs, three receivers, a tight end, and a defense. No kickers. But you have all these players, and you pick the best one. Part of the strategy behind it is how many quarterbacks do you draft? Two or three. How many running backs? How many wide receivers? I will be drafting three tight ends from this point forward after this disaster of a three tight end season. And then I have three defenses on most

teams. And only the best score counts. Right, okay, right. So the best two running backs counts, the best three wide receivers, the best... Right, so it's fun. I mean, it's fun and it's, you know, no waivers or anything like that. There are definitely going to be some injuries, but you'll be able to... You have 20 men rosters,. There are definitely going to be some injuries, but you have 20-man rosters, so you should be able to make up for it.

But that's cool. I can definitely do some best ball next season. Now, there's a scenario that is less realistic now. Good news for all of the people who want to start their Eagles this week on Monday night against the Raiders. If the Packers somehow beat the Vikings, the Eagles have the one seed. And that game's on Saturday. The Packers-Vikings game's on Saturday.

So if the Packers beat the Vikings on Saturday, the Eagles clinch the number one seed even before their Week 16 game. But Aaron Rodgers is on IR. Brett Hundley's playing. And I was talking with a buddy last night who's worried about this very scenario. I said, I guarantee you The Vikings are going to win the game He's like, I don't know

I guarantee Why did you do this? He said, would you bet your career on it? I said, I would bet my career on it The Vikings are going to beat the Packers With Brett Hundley That was a terrible idea And you've changed my opinion a little bit

But I don't really think it's relevant. And I know everybody's talking about it. I've got a ton of tweets about it. We need to discuss it. This is why we don't play Week 17. I think this is a real risk in Week 17, but Nick Foles has played all of one football game with this offense. Right, I agree. You don't want to sit him two weeks in a row and a bye

when he has one game under his belt. I do not expect that the outcome of the Minnesota game, and I could be wrong, I don't think that game will impact Philadelphia in week 16. Week 17, yes. They're not going to rest Nick Foles two weeks in a row when he's played one game with these guys. No, and really it would be three weeks in a row

since they'll have a bye. Right. And I did read an interesting article on phillyvoice.com and the article said, as we noted last week, over the last 10 years by my count, nine teams have locked up the number one seed prior to week 17 and rested their starters.

They had a combined record of three and six in their first playoff game. Other number one seeds who played their starters week 17 went nine and two in their first playoff game. So I thought that was very interesting. But then the article went on to say that what they would recommend doing is has nothing to do with the Eagles. Just what the author of the article would recommend, is sitting the Eagles starters in Week 16, playing them in Week 17.

So that would be kind of crazy. We've never seen that before. But Doug Peterson apparently is a bit of a wild card. Bottom line is, just root for the Vikings. I guarantee, I bet my career on it, they're going to win. They're going to beat the Packers. And this won't be an issue. And then we'll go from there. What is the payoff on this? You betting your career. What happens

if the Vikings lose now? Well, we have to switch careers. Me and the guy who made that bet. So that's fine. So you'll have a new host to this show next year. And I'll be in finance of some sorts. So better brush up. Better buy a finance for Dobbies book before Saturday's game. All right, Heath, let's take a look at the waiver wire and just recap.

I don't want to recap yesterday's show, but take a look at what fantasy owners are doing right now. Martavis Bryant's the number one most added player. He's at Houston this week. The Bears DST is number two. Keelan Cole is number three. Mike Wallace, four. Ben Watson, five.

So you got Martavis Bryant, Keelan Cole, and Mike Wallace in the top four. And your favorite this week would be who? You know, it's interesting. Oh, for a receiver, it would be Wallace. I already had a thought in my head about the defense thing. It was something weird that happens. It happens often. I had ranked the Cardinals ahead of the Bears and decided the Cardinals were the defense I wanted to get until I went to fill out my own waiver wire claims on Tuesday night.

And I was like, you know what? I'd rather have the Bears. So I had to go change my rankings. All right. Probably can still get them. The Bears are now 68%. The Bears have had three good games in a row, as I mentioned yesterday, and a great matchup against Cleveland.

But you like Wallace the best. And who's going to be a better Pittsburgh wide receiver this week, Martavis or Juju? I like Juju better. Martavis probably has a little bit more boom potential. Yeah. But Juju feels just a little bit more boom potential. Yeah. But Juju feels just a little bit safer. Okay. And I like both of them as starting options.

It's interesting. We've got quite a divergence in our Ben Roethlisberger rankings this week, but I guess we won't argue that today. We won't argue that today. We will talk about that today. It's one of our tough calls. Yeah, and I look at Keelan Cole as a bit risky just because what if

Marquise Lee plays? That's probably not going to happen. But he did get good news on his MRI and he's expected to return for the playoffs if not sooner. That was the latest from Ian Rappaport. But yeah, probably not going to get Marquise Lee. And what if Alan Hearns plays? I don't know.

But we were expecting D.D. Westbrook to have that huge game last week. He didn't. If it's D.D. this week, maybe it's not Cole. Maybe it's two guys again. But Cole makes me a little nervous. I understand picking him up for sure. Yeah, I don't like him as much as Wallace, but he's in the same category as Martavis for me this week.

Okay. Ben Watson, you know, I'm sure people don't want to trust their fantasy playoffs to Ben Watson, but it's a good matchup. You don't have to either. Ebron's out there. Brait's out there. Charles Clay's out there. I'd rather have all three.

You know who we did not talk about is James White. And what if you saw James White on your waiver wire? He's only 64% owned. And look, he's been very uninvolved lately, but before Rex Burkhead came back, he was getting five or more catches a game. James White. Yeah, I do think

he's a decent flex. The thing is in most things, there's only two teams playing this week. You probably don't have a spot for James White in your starting lineup. Yeah. Well, I mean, the thing is we know that the Bills give up the most fantasy points to running backs.

It's mostly ground. In the air, they're decent. Actually, a little bit above average in the passing game. And I just want to take a look at what the Patriots running backs did. They did a great job. Rex Burkhead had three catches for 25 yards. James White had four for 32. So, I mean, I guess in theory he could get a 50-yard game receiving.

So that's just an interesting guy. James White is 64% owned, and if you need someone, especially in PPR, you figure his role should increase with Rex Burkhead out. I don't know. Oh, Pittsburgh DST Heath was added in 3% of leagues. They've been really bad four weeks in a row, and only one of those weeks has been a tough matchup last week against New England. I'm not sure I trust them against the Houston Texans.

I don't really want to trust them either. I have a hard time imagining a situation where I'm picking them up for the championship game, but there may be 3% of leagues where it's week 17. So there's four teams left. And you streamed Buffalo last week. I'd rather have Pittsburgh than Buffalo this week. And then Antonio Gates is 8% owned. Would you rather have Antonio Gates this week or Ben Watson?

I would rather have Gates. Dave and Jamie, I think, both like Watson better. Okay. All right. So Gates is an option for you. 8% owned at the Jets this week. Hunter Henry out for the season. Let's read our email of the day. Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com.

This is from Craig in Portland. Says, hey, some combination. The wife and I are expecting our first child this weekend, and I'm expecting to win my 10-team league championship. I'd like your input on his name. So pick one. This is a big responsibility, Heath. Have you ever named a non-Heath baby?

I think I've had many named after me, but I've never chosen a name. Okay. All right, so here are the four choices that we're getting from Craig. Colton, Axel, Sawyer, Hudson. Colton, Axel, Sawyer, Hudson. Craig, it would have been very helpful had you given us your last name. That would be a big factor in selecting the first name. Let me see if I can get that for you.

I'm going to do away with Sawyer. Miller. It's Miller. Miller? Uh-huh. Let me read them all. Let me read them. Colton Miller, Axel Miller, Sawyer Miller, Hudson Miller. Miller? Uh-huh. Let me read them all. Let me read them. Colton Miller, Axel Miller, Sawyer Miller, Hudson Miller.

I'm partial to Hudson because that's my son's middle name. Okay. So I'm going to go with Hudson. Colton would be my second choice. My brother's name is Colt. So I was going to say Hudson. And I did a Twitter poll to help you out, Craig. And as of now, I did it this morning. I have 1,200 votes. 34% say Hudson. And I did a Twitter poll to help you out, Craig. And as of now, I did it this

morning. I have 1,200 votes. 34% say Hudson. 27% say Colton. 23% Sawyer. 16% Axel. I was going to say Hudson. But now that I know Miller, I think Colton Miller is a better name than Hudson Miller. The thing I will say about Hudson, Craig, because I went through this 18 years ago with my daughter, is we picked the name Caitlin because we thought it was really pretty and nobody was using it. And everyone that year

and for the next five years named their daughter Caitlin and everyone was a Caitlin. That same thing is happening with Hudson over the next couple of years. Hudson's big, yeah. I think it's got to be Colton. Don't think it's unique.

I'm going Colton here. Colton Adam Miller would be a great name, or Azor Miller would be awesome too. Azor's a cool middle name. I'm just going to say it. Now let's help Craig with something more important, his fantasy lineup. Bench one, Kareem Hunt, Ezekiel Elliott, Alvin Kamara, Christian McCaffrey. I'm benching McCaffrey, even if it's PPR. Boy, I mean, these guys are great options.

And McCaffrey is a great option. I mean, the Buccaneers are so bad against pass-catching running backs, but I guess you have to do it. You have to bench McCaffrey. Congratulations on your championship, Craig, and good luck with Hudson. The Zeke owner dropped Zeke. So Craig, Colton's dad, picked up Zeke and now has him on his team. The Zeke owner dropped Zeke in our auction league, and I picked him up,

and I've added him to my roster for this week. Very good. And who are you starting Zeke over? Jamal Williams, so it's pretty easy. That's a good who are you starting? Zeke over. Jamal Williams. So it's pretty easy. That's a good one. All right. News and notes.

So Aaron Rodgers is on IR. Brett Hundley will start. And I'm going to assume there are no Packers you want to start this week. Jamal Williams is an okay flex. Against the Vikings? He's an okay flex. He's going to be more involved in the passing game again now. Right, right.

So that'll help. And I think Randall Cobb is a low-end flex as well. Okay, and we'll see about Devontae Adams. He's still in the concussion protocol. But he's been very good with Brett Hundley. Antonio Brown's been ruled out for Week 16, not a surprise. And you still don't expect Brown for Week 17, right? No, not at all.

Denver has not made a quarterback decision yet. They're at Washington. We would like to see Brock Osweiler at quarterback for the sake of Demarius Thomas. The Steelers signed Stephen Ridley. Doesn't really matter. Thomas Davis' suspension was reduced to one game. They're at Atlanta next week. Hunter Henry is on IR with a lacerated kidney.

Tom Savage is on IR, so TJ Yates will remain Houston's starting quarterback, facing Pittsburgh this week and the Colts next week. Heath, do you expect the following players? Leonard Fournette. Yes. Chris Ivory. No. Tevin Coleman.

No. Damian Williams. No. Mark Eastley. No. Alan Hearns. No. Chris Hogan. No. Amari Cooper. No. Damian Williams. No. Mark Eastley. No. Alan Hearns. No. Chris Hogan. No. Amari Cooper. No. Emmanuel Sanders. No. All right. Remember to stay tuned. The end of the show, the last about 17 minutes or so, will be the Pete Prisco interview. He sat down with me, Heath, and Dave on yesterday's show. Before yesterday's show, we're going to air that today. It's very interesting. He'll tell you about a wide receiver that he thinks is playing hurt. He'll tell you what to expect from Dak Prescott against the Seahawks secondary. Also, it's not too late to get a Christmas present or a holiday present for somebody.

And if you want to get them some awesome gear, go to cbssports.com slash gift, cbssports.com slash gift. You can save 15% on any purchase of $75 or more if you use the promo code CBSFantasy. The promo code is CBSFantasy. The URL is cbssports.com slash gift. All the latest team gear and accessories, cbssports.com slash gift. And one more time, the promo code is CBSFantasy for 15% off a purchase of $75 or more. If you go and do that, then the CBS people might give me a free turnover chain or a t-shirt with a turnover chain on it. So help me get that. That would be nice.

Okay, everybody in? Great. Hey, real quick. Oh, no, actually, before hey, real quick, give me a 2017 performance that you think you're going to be skeptical about in 2018. I was not aware you were going to ask me one. I was preparing to respond to the one you gave. Why don't you give yours first? I'll respond to it and then give you one. For some reason, I just don't understand why Julio Jones has only had one season with more than eight touchdowns.

He only has three this year. Right. I think he could have a 12-touchdown year. I really do. And when he does, he's going to be arguably the most valuable player in fantasy, arguably. So I'm not buying this lack of touchdowns thing for Julio. There will probably be a little bit of an overreaction to it. I think he'll be like the eighth pick

in the draft or something. And I still think he's a clear top five. I guess I have to really consider the running backs. I think he's a clear top three wide receiver. I think you're making an interesting point. Because, and I saw somebody tweet this yesterday that the first

eight picks might be running backs. Or seven that the first eight picks might be running backs. Or seven of the first eight picks might be running backs. So the one thing I might be skeptical of going into next year is that all running backs are more valuable than all receivers again, like they were three years ago. Or was this just another year where things were a little bit of an outlier? Yeah, it's interesting. If you want to go ahead and talk about that, I think we should talk about the running back thing. Go ahead.

Yes, Julio Jones, I agree with you on. If he just had, he's averaged in complete seasons, seven touchdowns per year, which is weird. But if he had seven touchdowns right now, he'd be the number three wide receiver in fantasy. If he had seven touchdowns right now, he'd be the number three wide receiver in fantasy. If he had six touchdowns right now, he'd be the number three wide receiver in fantasy. So even if you just think he's going to be a seven to eight touchdown guy, he's a top three wide receiver, period.

The guy I'll say is- The unfortunate thing, though, for Julio, sorry, Heath, is that the 250-yard game is sort of dragging, is pulling his numbers up, pushing them up. And I think fantasy owners have been pretty frustrated with him because other than that game and a few others – he's had – he's four games with double-digit fantasy points this year. You don't expect that from a top-five guy. I understand that. A lot of the guys that are in front of him are fairly similar in that regard. The number three wide receiver in fantasy right now is Tyreek Hill.

Yeah. A bad year for receivers. Absurd. Yeah. I will say Carson Wentz. Yeah. Pretty easy one for me. It's the reverse touchdown situation, obviously.

He's got a 7.5% TD rate rate i would expect that's probably closer to five next year so if he doesn't get huge volume because they're a very good team he's going to fall to where he's more of a low-end top 10 quarterback instead of a top five guy i disagree i think we're i look forward to having this discussion over the next months uh you know however many i i think he's gonna have more volume next year i think that's gotta be the main premise of my argument they realize what they've gotten carson wentz i have a question i see a superstar so i think the eagles will too right what if nick foals did what he did last week again this week i think that it would only encourage me because it means the system is so

good and you know doug peterson's doing a great job that's what it would mean to me and so it wouldn't change your opinion of carson wentz being a superstar no not really because i think you look at him and compare him to nick Foles. Carson Wentz is like the prototype. I don't know what Nick Foles' height is, but Carson Wentz is tall. He's got a cannon. He has a much better arm than Nick Foles. And he gives you the rushing yards. That's something that has made Aaron Rodgers really valuable, these sneaky rushing yards.

Nick Foles is 6'5", just like Carson Wentz. Okay, well, I mean they're both very tall, but Carson Wentz has the great height. It doesn't matter what Foles is. He's got everything you look for in a quarterback. He's much more mobile than Foles, and he has a much better arm. So if Foles goes out and does a really good job in this system with these players, I got no reason to think that Carson Wentz can't do that again, and I think that maybe they get another

pass-catching running back in there. They get that element going into their game a little bit more. They don't really have that with Sproles out. I think the sky's the limit for him. I think we're looking at a guy that's going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL for years to come. And if it's because of the system, I don't think it is. But he's still going to be in that system. So I wouldn't be discouraged at all if Nick Fultz goes out and does really well.

Okay. I would expect that he's closer to Matt Ryan. Yeah, I mean, I guess the thing with Ryan is that he hadn't been – he had one year, I think, with a top-five finish before last year, and he had been a pretty disappointing quarterback, but you did see the skills. You get the rushing yards, though, from Carson Wentz. You might get two extra fantasy points per rushing yards though from Carson Wentz. You might get two extra fantasy points per game

in rushing from Carson Wentz. And I guess that you can look at what happened last year with Ryan and there was an explanation for it. It was sure a little bit of luck with the stats, but also second year in Shanahan's offense and they got their

center, Alex Mack, and he changed their team. I can see Ryan bouncing back next year in the second year under Sarkeesian, but right now they're running like a stripped-down version of last year's offense, and it's not working for him. Anyway, Heath. Hey, real quick, 2018. Deshaun Watson or Carson Wentz? I'll probably rank Watson higher.

Okay. Hey, I Watson higher. Okay. Hey, I might too. Yeah, I would say they're going to be really close. And I'm skeptical of Watson's performance also, but being skeptical of his performance is being skeptical of 40 fantasy points a game. Yeah. Last five games, 24, 41, 45, 29, and 40 fantasy points a game. Yeah. Last five games, 24, 41, 45, 29, and 40 fantasy points. He had some tough matchups in there, but he was scoring 40 fantasy points.

And then he did it at Seattle when Seattle still had a great pass defense. It's pretty incredible. Both are coming off significant injuries. Watson, more time to heal. Hey, real quick, 2018, Jimmy Graham or O.J. Howard? Does Cameron Brate still exist? Yeah Jimmy Graham pretty easily

I hope that OJ Howard isn't like Well I mean, you can look at Hunter Henry And this is his second year He's clearly the guy Now, Brate's a lot younger than Gates But I just wonder OJ Howard might just be a stud He's clearly the guy. Now, Brate's a lot younger than Gates. But I just wonder, O.J. Howard might just be a stud.

Maybe Brate goes to the wayside. Well, I see here in the notes that you're citing some point-per-target statistics. Yeah, they're fairly useless. I used that argument a couple years ago for Tyler Lockett, who had one of the greatest rookie years ever on a point-per-target basis. It's very difficult to take point-per-target with low volume and expect that to mean anything with good volume. And there's no guarantee that Howard's going to get good volume next year. How about the fact that Jimmy Graham is averaging 8.9 yards per catch? He was down about 5.3 yards per catch from last year.

It's disgusting. Yeah, and that's part of this too. I'm concerned about Jimmy Graham. What's the excuse now? This was the year where he was fully healthy. And he's top five tight end. He's had a great year for you in fantasy, but he's just touchdowns. He's just touchdowns.

And this is coming with Russell Wilson having his career season. So I don't know. Looks like Jimmy Graham is on the way down. But he's going to take Graham over Howard. Alright. Adam Thielen or Mike Evans next year? Hey, real quick. Adam Thielen or Mike Evans? I would guess that I

will go back to Mike Evans. This is an every other year thing for him, right? So he's going to be awesome next year? Yes. Sure. But yeah, Thielen has increased his stock maybe more than any other wide receiver this season. Thielen is number nine in standard, number seven in PPR. You do have to wonder if he'll be as good with Bridgewater.

You do have to wonder if Bridgewater is going to be the starting quarterback. You do have to wonder that he'll be as good with Bridgewater. You do have to wonder if Bridgewater is going to be the starting quarterback. You do have to wonder that as well. It's true. I'll trust Mike Evans. Okay. He's going with Mike Evans. Let's do some tough calls for Fantasy Week 16. Start with Damaris Thomas.

All right. Three games with Brock Osweiler. 70 yards and a touchdown. 44 yards and a touchdown. 64 yards and a touchdown. 13, 10, and 12 fantasy points in standard scoring leagues, and good in PPR. He had five or more catches in all three games. Didn't have a lot of yards, but catches, touchdowns were there.

Five catches for 18 yards with Paxton Lynch starting in Week 12. Trevor Simeon eventually replaced him, but Lynch was awful in that game. So Demarius Thomas is at Washington. They were great against wide receivers for most of the year. They haven't been over the last, I don't know, five games or so. Is Demarius Thomas a tough call for you? I don't think I would classify this as a tough call because we are going to get the answer made or the decision made for us

by the Broncos' decision-making and Emmanuel Sanders' health. If Emmanuel Sanders is out and Brock Osweiler is the starting quarterback, and I can't believe I'm saying if Brock Osweiler is the starting quarterback, it's a good thing for someone, but it's just factually true. If it's Osweiler in, Sanders out, Thomas is pretty close to a must start. If it's Lynch in, I'm probably out on Thomas. If it's Osweiler in and Sanders in, that's probably the only way that this is a tough call. Yeah.

Okay. I mean, I can see that. The matchup is part of it, though. I mean, at the beginning of the year, Alshon Jeffrey, the Rams receivers, the Raiders receivers, Tyreek Hill, Dez Bryant, three or fewer fantasy points. But lately, Baldwin, Thielen, Diggs, Dez, Tyrell Williams, Keenan Allen, all scored

double-digit fantasy points against the Redskins. Michael Thomas and Ted Ginn had more than 80 receiving yards, so it's just different now. And I don't think Josh Norman is not going to shadow him. No, I don't really – I'm not factoring the matchup in as a plus or a minus. Okay. Okay. Moving on to A.J. Green. A.J. Green, is he a tough call for you this week, Heath?

Tougher than I'd like to admit. I have AJ Green ranked as a top 20 wide receiver, but he's 20th. So I don't feel great about it. Green is facing Detroit in his last eight games. Three games

with double-digit fantasy points in standard. One game with more than 77 yards. Four games in his last eight with fewer than 50 yards. But he does have five touchdowns. AJ Green, this is. Doesn't get the targets that you'd hope for for a true number one. It's not bad, his targets, but it's not elite. I would start Mike Wallace over him.

Okay. I think Detroit. Yeah, Detroit does not allowed to touch down to a wide receiver in five straight games. Does that mean anything to you? The only reason it means something to me, not because I necessarily think Detroit's great at keeping wide receivers out of the

end zone, it's because they are so inviting when it comes to their red zone rush defense that teams may go in with the game plan that we can run the ball in on them. Who do you like better as of now, A.J. Green or Demarius Thomas? As of right now, I'm projecting that Brock Osweiler is going to start and Emmanuel Sanders

is not, and so I like Demarius Thomas better. Oh, okay. Would you rather start, let's say, Christian McCaffrey or A.J. Green? I think I'd rather start McCaffrey or A.J. Green? I think I'd rather start McCaffrey. Okay. Let's look at the Bears and the Browns game. Is Isaiah Crowell a tough call for you? His fantasy points in standard scoring leagues in his last seven games, 15, 15, 1, 10, 4, 13, and 7 fantasy points on five carries last week.

The Bears allow the sixth-fewest fantasy points to opposing running backs, but I think this should be a fairly competitive game, and I think you'll get a decent workload from Crowell. So is he a tough call for you? He's a tough call as a flex. I can't imagine that people are in – well, I shouldn't say this, but most people that count on him as a starting running back are not in the championship. You'd think so, yeah.

He is a tough call as a flex. I hate the game script. I don't know that this is a super competitive game because Deshaun Kizer is not getting better. He's getting worse. And there may be some signs that his wide receivers are kind of tired of trying already. Well, that's not a good thing. All right. And the Bears have not allowed a rushing touchdown to a running back in five straight games.

They allowed a receiving touchdown five games ago. So it's four games without a touchdown to a running back, five games in a row without a rushing touchdown. This is a home game for the Bears. They usually play better at home. Is Jordan Howard a tough call for you against Cleveland? I feel a little bit nervous about it, but he's a top 16 running back for me this week. I do think they're going to have a lead.

I do think he should get plenty of volume, and I think eventually he breaks loose against Cleveland. They've been really good on a per-carry basis. They've had some ups and downs, but eventually teams wear them down and a running back scores a touchdown, it seems like. Yeah, if you look at Howard's carries, and he hasn't had a lot of them over the last six or seven games, but he got 15 carries against Green Bay, 15 carries against Detroit.

Both those games were close losses for Jordan Howard and the Bears. Seven carries at Philadelphia, blowout loss. You can understand that. 13 carries against San Francisco. They had the ball in that game for 21 minutes, a little bit more than 21 minutes. They beat Cincinnati. He got 23 carries in that game,

and then 10 carries at Detroit for Howard when they were trailing much of the game. So this is a running back where game script appears to be very, very important. I think it's obvious. I game script appears to be very, very important. I think it's obvious. I'm not telling anybody anything they don't know. And then you look at the Browns, and like you said, if you get the work, it should be good.

But, boy, what a letdown for Jordan Howard last week against the Lions. Like, it's hard to get that taste out of my mouth. It is, but all you can do, like, we can't let emotions come into this decision. We just look at what's the most likely thing to happen in Week 16, and that's who we start. Would you start Jordan Howard or Deion Lewis? Deion Lewis. You have C.J. Anderson ahead of Jordan Howard.

Again, assuming that Brock Osweiler plays, I think that they're going to move the ball okay against Washington, and he's getting all the work. When you talk about being worried about a guy's touches, C.J. Anderson's missed her 20 touches now. All right, how about DeMarco Murray going up against the Rams? Murray got 18 carries last week, and the Rams allow— they now allow the eighth most fantasy points to opposing running backs because Mike Davis only scored three last week, and the Rams allow, they now allow the eighth most fantasy points to opposing running backs

because Mike Davis only scored three last week, but going into that game, I think they were allowing the second most fantasy points to opposing running backs. Is DeMarco Murray a tough call for you? I feel a little bit better about Murray than I did the last couple of weeks. I've got him as a borderline top

20 guy. I do like him more than Isaiah Crowell. It's a tough call, yes. But it's a pretty good matchup against the Rams. And despite what we all think, that Derrick Henry should be the starting running back and get the majority of the work, Tennessee does not feel that way. This does not look like a game where the Titans will have a lead in the fourth quarter where

Murray disappears and they just give all the carries to Henry. It looks more like a game where they'll be chasing the score, and so he should be more involved in the passing game. You hope so. He's not doing much in the passing game lately. In his last three games, he has a combined five catches for 30 yards to Marco Murray. And this has been a pretty good area of the Rams' defense. They've been pretty good against pass-catching running backs,

except for Ezekiel Elliott, Chris Ivory, and Alvin Kamara. Otherwise, no running backs have more than 34 receiving yards. Would you start Jordan Howard and Isaiah Crowell over Murray? I would start Howard and Murray. Over Crowell, okay. Yes. Murray or A.J. Green? That'll probably come down to format. I'll go Murray and standard, Green and PPR. Crowell. Okay. Yes. Murray or A.J. Green?

That'll probably come down to format. I'll go Murray and Standard. Green in PPR. Murray or Keelan Cole in PPR? Murray over Cole. Has Dak Press got a tough call for you going up against Seattle? I'm just sitting him. Let me tell you though, I just think

he's going to be better with Ezekiel Elliott. I think they are a much better team with Zeke. And I know that you're very concerned about volume, and I get that. But he actually threw the ball more with Ezekiel Elliott than he did in these last six games for whatever reason. That's true. And Prescott was the number seven quarterback in fantasy last season. And if you take away the eight passes he threw in week 17 he averaged 21.4 fantasy points per game on 30.6 pass attempts per game not a high volume guy

yeah i i think everybody gets better with zeke back what do you think well and this is something that just kind of popped into my head because i know i agree he should be more efficient with zeke back he's been just awful in five out of six games without head. No, I agree he should be more efficient with Zeke Beck. He's been just awful in five out of six games without him, so I can't imagine he'll be worse. I don't know how I feel about the volume situation, and I

wonder, what weeks did Sean Lee miss? Oh, I will tell you that right now, sir. I'm going to try to pull it up right now, because I feel like the reason he was throwing more earlier in the year is because their defense was awful. He missed weeks 4 and 5 and 11, 12, 13. So 4, okay, well, the 4 and 5 part makes sense. Those were the two games where he threw 36 passes.

And two of... Well, look who he faced, the Rams and the Packers. Right. Two high-scoring teams. So you're not starting Dak? I'm not starting Dak. Okay. How about Ben Roethlisberger at Houston?

Is Ben Roethlisberger a tough call for you? He's not for me. He is for Dave. We're going – I was – would guess tomorrow we'll have a nice discussion about ben roethlisberger but i get the concerns about noah antonio brown i get the concerns about him being on the road houston is awful against quarterbacks against the pass they're just dreadful so i I've dropped Ben just a little bit because I'm trying to find some way

to not have him in my top two because that's where I started out with him. I've got him at fifth now. Really? I didn't know you were that high on him. It's just, really, how worse is the receiving core of Le'Veon Bell, Juju Smith-Schuster, and Martavis Bryant than your average receiving core? I'm more concerned about just the road thing with him.

I know. It's just weird because he's had great matchups on the road this year. He scored 21 fantasy points at Indianapolis, 21 fantasy points at Cincinnati on 40 pass attempts. And what stands out about the Cincinnati game is that was in the midst of his 35 fantasy points every week stretch on 40 or more pass attempts. Yet the one road game, he only scored 21. It's just weird. And last year, Ben averaged like 16 points a game on the road in six-point for passing touchdown leagues.

So it is strange. Yeah. I would have him number one if he was at home. Yeah. Against this matchup. Oh, if he were at home, yeah. Oh, yeah. 100%.

Even without Brown? You know, I agree with you. But he had thrown 40 or more pass attempts in like four or five games in a row, four straight games. And we threw 30 last week against the Patriots. Is that because Brown got hurt and they went to a more run-heavy game plan? Bell had 24 carries, his most since week 10. I thought they were just trying to keep Tom Brady off the field.

Very possible. But maybe they do that with T.J. Yates, Heath. Well, that's possible. I'm starting Ben. I trust the talent, his weapons, and the matchup enough to overlook the other stuff. You're still going Ben over Foles? I'm still going Ben over Foles. I thought I was really high on Foles until I saw that Dave and Jamie both had him in the top five quarterbacks this week.

You do have Stafford one spot ahead of Ben Roethlisberger. Yes. Okay, great. And that makes sense. I mean, it's a great matchup for Matthew Stafford. All right, let's do some emails here. Fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. We'll read some listener questions and then hear from Pete Prisco. This is from Nick in San Francisco. Well, I guess we can't really discuss this right now, but can you please discuss why Dave and Jamie are so low on the Bears DST? Well, I don't know. I mean, Dave's

got him 11th. Jamie has him 7th. Heath has him 4th. And Nick says Sportsline has them by number one by a good margin. Yeah, I noticed in one of my leagues, I was a 17-point favorite yesterday when I looked at the scoring preview. And I looked at it today, and I'm favored by two. I was like, what happened?

They picked up the Bears, your opponent? They picked up the Bears. The Bears in that league are projected to score 22 fantasy points. So, actually, we should probably talk about what's coming up with Sportsline with podcasting, Keith. Yeah. Yeah. If you like daily fantasy sports, we are about to launch the Sportsline Daily Fantasy Sports Podcast. And Heath and I are going to be on it along with Mike McClure, who works for Sportsline and does projections and does a ton of daily fantasy and is awesome at it.

And we're going to do it five days a week. That's the plan. And it's going to be awesome. It could launch as soon as today. We are going to let you know. But this is a new podcast. It will be quicker. It will be like probably a 25, 30-minute podcast.

We'll just give you some lineups, give you some game breakdowns for DFS, a lot of NBA, finish up on NFL, and get into baseball. But, yeah, this is going to be great. And if you like Daily Fantasy, we're going to give you the best Daily Fantasy podcast. There you go. It'll be called the Sportsline Daily Fantasy Sports Podcast. All right, this is from John. Hey, Troy, Abed, and Jeff.

Community, community. Never watched it What were the shows that you recommended to our listener on Twitter the other day? Ozark Very good show Bloodline A show actually based in the Florida Keys Another very good show

Life in Pieces CBS show It's hilarious And The Blacklist. And they're on Netflix? Life in Pieces is on CBS. The Blacklist is an NBC show, I believe, that is now

on Netflix. And then the other two are Netflix originals. I see. Interesting. Why is it so funny to you? Because I said, I was like, I saw Heath recommend those shows and I was like, oh, man, I saw Heath recommend those shows, and I was like, oh, Heath wants you to watch commercials. Get on Netflix.

And you're like, three of those shows are on Netflix. That was funny. All right, here's the question from John. Pick a quarterback, Brady or Goff? Brady. And pick two in PPR. Deion Lewis, Mike Evans, Robert Woods, Jordy Nelson, Carlos Hyde, Chris Hogan, Lewis Evans, Woods Nelson, Hyde Hogan. I'm assuming Deshaun Jackson and O.J. Howard are both out.

That really helped Mike Evans after that happened last week. So I will say Lewis and Evans. Okay, Lewis over Robert Woods? Yes. PPR? Yes. Sure? Okay, Lewis it is.

Irfan from Chicago. PPR, start two. Crabtree, Gordon, Woods, Shepard. Crabtree, Gordon, Woods, Shepard. Again, these always come with the caveat of who we're expecting to play and not play. I don't expect Amari Cooper, so Crabtree is number one for me out of this group. It's a coin flip for me between Robert Woods and Sterling Shepard, but I do have Shepard ranked higher. Okay.

This is Jeff from Littlestown, PA. Start three. Zeke, Hunt Littlestown, PA. Start three. Zeke, Hunt, Kamara, Ingram. That is amazing. I am sitting Kareem Hunt. Oh, okay. This is from Chris. I wanted to share my wife's crazy luck with you.

I created an eight-team family league four years ago, and my wife has won every year. I've never told her who to draft or pick up. I only give her my brief expectation for games when she asks. Anyway, in week 14, she survived Brady and Landry on Monday night to beat my uncle by one and a half points. This gave her the final playoff spot in a matchup against the same uncle in the first round of the playoffs. Well, she needed 30 points on Monday from Devontae Freeman. He scored 31 points in our league.

She defeated our uncle by one point again. Her luck is insane. I'm kind of hoping she loses in the finals so the family will still want to keep playing. Bonus question, Josh Gordon or Mike Evans? Chris, you know who talks about luck? Not the person that's won three state titles. Your wife is extremely talented, it sounds like. And I would start evans

over gordon all right darryl this is from mike in parsippany i don't know where that is dear jeremy john gloria and claire yeah so i looked this up last night because i i was like who is this modern family gloria and claire but there's no Jeremy and John? Oh, it's Wedding Crashers. It's Wedding Crashers. You've seen that movie, right? Yeah. Very funny movie. Start one.

Latavius, Joe Mixon if he plays, Kerwin Williams, or Jonathan Stewart? Latavius. Eric in California. Dear Jack, Sally, and Zero. You don't know any of these, huh? I have no idea, and there's not three of us here, so I don't know who you're talking to. Jack, Sally, and Zero will look it up. I'm Jack, you're Sally, and Dave and Jamie are zeros for not being here. There you go.

Jack, Sally, and Zero are from The Nightmare Before Christmas. The Nightmare Before Christmas. Start two. PBR. Demarius, Crabtree, Pirine, Ajayi, Agalor. Right now I would say Demarius and Crabtree. Matt from San Diego. I lost my semifinal by.1.

Woke up the next morning to a stat correction in my favor. I won by.04. What an emotional rollercoaster. So start three in PPR. Allen, Golden Tate, Diggs, Gordon, Funchess, Duke Johnson. I'm going to go Allen, Tate, and Gordon. What about Funchess? Does he get back in the swing of things this week?

I'm a little bit worried about Funchess. He's more of a flex for me. I expect that he will be third in terms of the target order behind Olsen and McCaffrey. Okay. Here's a question from Brian. Dear Trent, Marquise, Kendrick, and Lewis. Those are all 49ers wide receivers. They sure are.

Should I start both Juju and Martavis in the same lineup this week? Well, that would depend on who your other choices are. You have no idea. What do you think about the idea in general? I feel like if you do that, you're guaranteed to have at least one very good receiver this week. Well, you're not guaranteed anything because Ben could be Ben and not throw a touchdown pass on the road. Nah, I mean, he'll still throw one.

But I do not—here's the way that I treat this situation. Them being on the same team is not going to affect who I'm going to choose to start. If they are my two best receivers, I am going to start both of them. Start three wide receivers from Ryan and Green Bay. Three of these. Michael Thomas, Doug Baldwin, A.J. Green, Juju Smith-Schuster. Oh, I'm going to say to bench A.J. Green, aren't I? Over Juju?

You'd start Juju? I like Juju a lot. All right. All right. And last one. I have no name for this. Start two running backs, two wide receivers, and a flex. So two running backs. All right. All right. And last one. I have no name for this. Start two running backs, two wide receivers, and a flex.

So two running backs. McCoy, Ingram, Lewis, Hyde, Ajayi. McCoy, Ingram, Lewis, Hyde, Ajayi. I'm going to start McCoy, Ingram, and Lewis. He's your flex? Yeah. Over. Green, Evans, Demarius, Thomas, Crowder, and Mike Wallace. Pick two of those.

Green, Evans, Demarius,, Crowder, and Mike Wallace. Pick two of those. Green, Evans, Demarius Thomas, Crowder, and Wallace. I assume this is the championship. Yep. So all that matters is this week. Yep. So I'm going to drop a Jai for Mike Wallace, who is on waivers. Uh-huh. I'm going to drop a Jai for Mike Wallace, who is on waivers. Are you starting Evans and Wallace?

I believe I am. And Deion Lewis is your flex. All righty. Heath, thank you. You are relieved of your duties, sir. Let's hear from Pete Prisco. What do you say? That sounds great. Can't wait to hear what Pete has to say. Let's hear from Pete Prisco. What do you say? That sounds great.

Can't wait to hear what Pete has to say. All right. Interesting interview coming up. I already teased it earlier. So here's Pete Prisco, and we'll be back on Thursday. Start or sit? AFC home games. All right. We are now joined by Pete Prisco.

You can hear him on the Pick 6 podcast, which is hilarious. Pete is the senior NFL columnist for CBS Sports. He also does a radio show in Jacksonville with Tony Buscelli, who teaches Pete everything Pete knows about football. Pete, welcome. What's up, Pete? How you doing, man? By the way, for a 6'7",

former 330 pound guy, he's probably down to about 280 now, I can get under his skin quicker than you can say Adam Azer. Name somebody whose skin you can't get under. Yeah, you get under his skin quicker than you can say adamazer i mean i get it's like name somebody whose skin you can't get you get under him i get i mean he's like it's like easy and it's all in fun because he actually plays along with it but he gets mad and people i'll walk around town and they'll go oh my god you get the silly so angry i know it's all well but that's

also what happens on the pick six podcast which is is the most lively NFL talk podcast that I've ever heard. It is so ridiculous. We have fun. We go nuts. I mean, we go off tangents and everything else. And sometimes we go way off, and I want to bring it back to football. But we have fun with it. I mean, like Will Brinson said Wellington.

I don't know if you guys heard that, but said wellington uh mara mara right and so we me and nick went through a whole deal on him mispronouncing every every name you can imagine and i mean come on it's mara come on man that's pretty bad you're supposed to know this stuff but like a lot of nfl podcasts and not fantasy podcasts because i don't listen to those but the nfl ones that i listen to very boring or they're very snooty or they think that they know everything i don't think you guys even pretend to know everything you just whoa go in you have fun and it's people who have been around the nfl for a long time you you've been around how long have you been covering the nfl It sounded like Doug Marone. Like 15, 20 years?

No. More? We have more Super Bowls in our years. You've been around since the first Super Bowl, right? Yeah. I interviewed Lombardi on the field that day. No, it was me. My first Super Bowl was, you know what my first Super Bowl was?

This is how long ago it was. The 49ers got 55 points, and they were in the locker room after the game screaming, we got the speed limit. We got the speed limit because the speed limit was 55 back then. It was 1989. It was the 49ers destroyed the Broncos. That was my first Super Bowl. So I think I've been to, what does that make me, 28 Super Bowls, I think, 29?

That's fantastic. Okay. So you've been to a lot. Jason, obviously, has been around the league for almost his entire career. A long time, another decade and a half. Yeah, sure. Will and Nick are certainly guys that know what they're doing. So, yeah, the podcast is a ton of fun. All right, cool.

Let's talk football here. So, Pete, obviously, he's very familiar with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and they're a hot topic right now. And you've got Blake Bortles and Jimmy Garoppolo, two quarterbacks who are waiver-wire guys. Bortles is a lot more owned than that now. Jaguars obviously have the best defense in the NFL, and the Niners not close to that. But what are you seeing from Bortles?

Is he trash like Jadeveon Clowney said, or is there real growth here and a reason to believe in him? No, there's real growth and a reason to believe in him, but there's a reason for it. And I went through the stats in the last three games and figured out how many times. It's something I've preached on that show, on the Monday show with Tony, and he'll admit to it. I've been saying, you've got to let him throw in early downs. Let him dictate tempo. He's a different guy.

When you go run, run, pass, and he throws an interception, he goes into the jar. He goes off the ledge. How many times in the green room do I say, here comes a Bortles throw that's going way out of bounds or something, because he doesn't know how to regroup well they've allowed him he's thrown on half of his first down plays in the last three games in the first three quarters that's something they weren't doing and he okay here's another it's that 31 points and when it by the time it was 31 7 the other day of 31 points, 24 came off of drives that started with a pass.

Of his five longest pass plays in the last three games, the 75-yarder, the 73-yarder, 41-yarder, four of them have come on first down throws. He's a different quarterback when they allow him to be. And so I think they will continue to do that. My only concern is once they get to the playoff site, will they decide, oh, we're going to go back to being a run-first team and then play defense. They've got to let him play. But that's why he's playing better.

And his completion percentage in his last three games, 74%, 66%, 72%. That's impressive for Blake Bortles. How about this? Yards per attempt last three games. This is in order. 8.8, 9.9, and then last week against Houston, 11.2 yards per pass attempt. Not a lot of that has to do with yak. That's just how it is, but that's what's helping Jacksonville become this great passing

offense, and it's what's making Blake Bortles' numbers pop. He's got speedy receivers who are making plays. There's no doubt that D.D. Westbrook has played a role in Bortles' improved numbers. And the fact that he's passing on first down, completing a higher percentage of passes in general, is because of that unpredictability factor that you're talking about. They're not running it on first down every single time. And Tony Buscelli made a point. He talked to Andre Ware, who does the color commentary for the Texans.

And Andre came to him and said, oh, my gosh, your team is fast. And that was a problem for them. But Jadon Mickens can fly. Keely Cole can fly. And Westbrook can run. I mean, all of a sudden, now you went from having Allen Robinson, who can't run, Allen Hearns, who can't run, and Mark Eastley, who's pretty quick. And all of a sudden, now you've got a fast team.

I want to shift our focus to another game on Sunday. It's Seattle at Dallas. We'll get Ezekiel Elliott back for the Cowboys. Now I want to remind everyone we're recording this interview on Tuesday morning, so there's going to be a lot of news that breaks between now and then. As of Tuesday, Jason Garrett said he didn't know, between now and Wednesday, I mean when you hear this interview, but he didn't know what Ezekiel Elliott's role would be.

But I do want to talk about Dak Prescott coming off a disappointing fantasy game at Oakland. And I thought Jared Goff, Pete, I thought Jared Goff was going to have a good game last week. Because I just don't buy the Seattle secondary anymore. I think they're beatable. They went on the road and got destroyed by Bortles. And now here's Dallas hosting Seattle. Do you think Dak Prescott is set up for success? Do you think Des Bryant is set up for success in this game?

No, I think the run game is set up for success? Do you think Dez Bryant is set up for success in this game? No, I think the run game is set up for success. Remember, a couple years ago, even when Seattle was really good against the run, Dallas went up there and pushed them around, remember? And in the fourth quarter, they bullied them a little bit with their line. And their line is good enough to push people around. So I think Seattle has problems inside. Richardson's a good up-the-field rusher, and Jaron Reed has been a disappointment inside. I think they're going to be able to run it.

And I think Elliott, you know, it's one thing he's – people keep showing pictures of him all ripped up and everything. It's one thing to be in shape. It's another thing to be in football shape. He has a – I mean, same with Le'Veon Bell. Remember when Bell came back from his injury? Everybody, oh, he's going to be fine. He's in great shape. No, he wasn't in football shape.

So I want to see how much in terms of football shape he's in. But if he's in football shape, they're going to run over him. Is that what you looked like in high school, Pete? What's that? Is that what you looked like in high school? Who, me? Yeah. No.

You went to high school in the 50s when I went in the 50s? Is that what you're trying to say? No. No. Look, he is – let's be honest. He was fat early in the season. Yeah. Elliott was fat early in the season.

I'll say it. Nobody else will, but I will. He was fat. And unlike everybody else who was involved with football or fatball, he's gotten leaner during the season. Yeah. I mean, take a look at – next time you watch a Raiders game, by the way, take a look at the Oakland Raiders offensive linemen

and tell me how fat they've gotten during the season. But, yeah, I think this is an Elliott game. I'll be honest with you. I think you're going to run the ball. How could it not be after what Gurley did last week? Yeah. Huge blueprint that was laid out. I'd like to take you to New England.

And Tom Brady, who fantasy owners have come to know and love, two touchdowns, three interceptions, four interceptions in his last three games. What's going on there? Do you think that he could be? No. Don't dare you say it. Don't even say it. I won't say it.

You know who went there? Will Brinson went there once. I go, don't say it. I don't want to say it either. And listen, he had a nice game against Pittsburgh. He just didn't have nice stats against Pittsburgh. He came close to 300 yards yards only had the one touchdown fantasy owners expect huge numbers from tom brady game after game why isn't it happening well he's also on consecutive road games off of monday night that's

tough to do i mean that that's brutal and here's what you gotta know about the third down has been a problem for the great patriots lately he's been having problems on third down. That's a concern. But when he had the drive, he drove. So it's still there. I mean, wait, Gronk, Gronk, Gronk, Gronk, Gronk. What do you have, 69 yards on that drive, Gronk? Nice drive. And Sean Davis was in man coverage the entire time. What Pittsburgh was doing on that, I have no idea.

You've got to take him away and let somebody else beat you. But, yeah, I think Brady will be – look, this is the week he gets back going again. The only problem with that is the Bills can't stop the run. So this might – I know. And we've seen Belichick play the Bills where he's thrown the ball 50 times and not run it. Right. This might be one of those games where he decides, let me just win the game and I'll

run the ball 50 times again. Which is what I thought would happen against Buffalo last week. I thought that – or I'm sorry. That's what I thought the Patriots would do last week against Pittsburgh. And they didn't. They ended up passing a decent amount of the time. I almost think that it's like coded into McDaniel's DNA now that he just has to throw it tons and tons. And he doesn't have to.

They also haven't had their weapons together. Gronk missed. Hogan's been out. I mean, it's been, you out. Guy's been off and on. If they have a healthy Hogan, Gronk, and Cooks, then I think you can really evaluate Brady.

By the way, the right tackle's hurt, too. He's a good player. He's not playing anymore, so that hurts. Do you like anything about the Buffalo Pass defense? Well, they've got some good players. They're young, though. And I think the safeties are going to be – they both have had decent seasons, both of them. Gronk's just going to destroy them.

He should. Gronk has absolutely killed Buffalo in his career. Every time they play him, he kills him. And he is, what, 180 yards away now from $5.5 million? Is that what it is? They're going to get him that yardage. They're going to get him that yardage. He'll have two games because they'll probably have to play the last week of the season so he'll get it yeah look for i think i'm just concerned that if they run the ball in this

game but you never know what's on my team well here's here's what you never know with belichick though he's hearing all this stuff about brady too so he might say oh normally i would run the ball we're gonna beat him either way so let's get our passing game back going again and let Brady throw it around. You don't know how he's going to act. No, it's true. Pete, we'll let you go in a second, but what do you think about Matt Ryan and Julio Jones? It just hasn't really been there for them. Are you going to take off my restraints and let me go?

Is that what you're going to do? It's almost bedtime for you, man. I sleep less than you do, you little old man. What did you say about Matt Ryan? Yeah, I mean it's just been a tough year for Matt Ryan and for Julio Jones. What's your take on them? I think Julio's hurt. I'll be honest with you.

I think after the season you're going to hear somebody come out and say that screwing his foot has been a problem. He's going to have to redo it again because that can always happen. And when I talked to him, he said the screw in the foot never bothered him. It was when they took the skin off the side or the muscle off the side of his hip that bothered him more than anything. But I think his foot's bothered him. He doesn't play with the same suddenness anymore. He looks slow, and he's not heavy.

He just looks slow. It feels like he's limping off the field at least once again yeah i think there's going to be something after the season plus they don't do a very good job of getting into the football and when he's get get the football he dropped it he should have caught that one ball deep ball last night and and on the other side i think they haven't been into a rhythm at all for whatever reason there's been a bunch of little things happening the right tackle was hurt early in the season um that that really hurt them because he's a good player schrader's a good player people don't know but he's a very good player then then you know you had him get hurt then you had sunu miss time you had colman go out you had freeman go out levitra and levitra so you

haven't had a rhythm there i still think it's there for them now if they get the playoffs they might be one of the most dangerous wildcard teams going it's really true so i do think it's there for them. Now, if they get the playoffs, they might be one of the most dangerous wildcard teams going. So I do think it's there. And it's a big week this week against New Orleans, obviously. And that Saints defense is much better than it's been. But they gave a little up. They were a little concerning last week against the Jets. I think this is a spot

they probably both were looking ahead. You know, I told Nick this last night. Teams that play on Monday night, they've already started. If they have a big game the next week, they've put a ton of work into that game already. Because it's such a short week. You get back in wee hours of the morning, you're already on to Tuesday. So I think that was a little bit what happened on Monday night.

I think they'll be ready for the Saints this week. And really, Matt Ryan struggled a little bit this year, but he's still having a year that's better than his career norms. He's at 7.8 yards per attempt. He's at 65% completion. He just doesn't have the touchdowns. He's just not having what he did last year. Well, he never was.

The last two games have been pretty bad for him, the Saints and the Bucs game. He played poorly. Is that fair to say? It was bad last night. It was bad last night. It was bad last night. But you could also flip it around and say if Julio Hall's in the 60-yarder, right? Yeah, that would have helped. And he should have caught it. All right, Pete, if the Jaguars go to Foxborough in the AFC playoffs, how many points do the Patriots score?

I got my answer. 21. Lower. Lower? Lower. Really? I'll go 38. Yeah, I think they kill him. I don Lower. Really? I'll go 38. Yeah, I think they kill him.

I don't think they're going to get 38. Look, you guys got to remember, in the history of Tom Brady, the one thing that's been a kryptonite for him has been good pass rushes. And you look at the games he lost, the Ravens in New England, they could rush the passer. The Giants, obviously, in both Super Bowls could rush the passer. When the Broncos beat him with Von Miller and gang, they destroyed him in that playoff game because they could rush the passer. Jacksonville can rush the passer. The only concern with Jacksonville's pass rush I have is they don't have that Mike Strahan, Von Miller guy. They got a bunch of good ones, but they don't have that guy.

And usually in the fourth quarter of a big game like that, you need that guy to go get sack fumble game over. 38, you're out of your mind. You are absolutely out of your mind. I was just trying to get you riled up. No, that defense is special. That defense is special. I agree. Again, though, and I nitpicked it last night on that show because they called me out for it,

but they don't have that guy. And usually the great defenses, they usually have the Bears back in the 85 Bears. Of course. They had great guys up front, but Richard Dent was that guy. Right, right, right. You know? And so I think that that's a concern. Although Ngagwe's getting there.

But come on. Ngagwe isn't that guy. No, he's not that guy. But he's going to be that guy down the road. He's just not there yet. He might. He's got real pass rush potential. Acer, how many do you think they're going to score?

You know, the Seattle put up a pretty big number against them. So I just think – That was two busts in the fourth quarter. All right, but it happened. I mean, it's a team that's played like one of the worst schedules you've ever seen. I know they're a great defense, but they go to Foxborough, they're getting killed. It might be a defensive touchdown. Aren't the Rams the best offensive team in the league?

I would still take the Patriots over the Rams in the AFC Championship game. Who's the highest scoring offense in the league right now? It's probably the Rams. Go look at what the Rams did to the Rams in the AFC Championship game. Who's the highest scoring offense in the league right now? It's probably the Rams. Go look at what the Rams did to the Jacksonville when they went there. No, I mean – They had two special teams touchdowns. They did. They did.

So they'll probably be one of those and a pick six. I don't know. I just – Hey, look. It's experience. I'm as stout as anybody in that team. In the preseason, I thought they'd be lucky to win three games. They were awful in the preseason.

They couldn't block anybody. They couldn't hit the quarterback. Bortles was a disaster. He got benched, remember? So I'm astounded that they're as good as they are right now, to be honest with you. But I will say this. Be careful this week in San Francisco. Yeah.

No. Yeah. You think they're going to have trouble with the Niners? Traditionally, the team has a lot of trouble on the West Coast. And the only thing that helps them is Tennessee lost. If Tennessee didn't lose and then Tennessee won this week, these two games would

mean nothing because Jacksonville plays Tennessee next week and Tennessee would win the division. Now it means something. If they win, they win the division and the Tennessee game doesn't mean anything. That will help them get a little more. If it didn't mean anything, I think they would have had a chance to lose that game. I don't know if the 49ers can put up enough points.

Their run game is terrible right now. And Garoppolo's been great, but I don't know if he can find the end zone. He can find field goals. That's easy. But they struggled at Arizona a few weeks ago, so it's Pete's point, West Coast trip. It could be tough. Pete, thank you. I hope you can finally take my advice this offseason and finish the Shield

because it is the best show ever other than pick six. And thank you very much, Pete. It's good to have you on. All right, guys. It's all right. I've got Le'Veon. It's all right. Not George Le'Veon.

It's all right. I've got baby on bail.