Fantasy Football Today - 12/28 Fantasy Football Podcast: Start or Sit (AFC), Players We Love

Episode Date: December 28, 2017

Who do we love this week!? Dave, Jamey and Heath give you a player they're very high on in Week 17 (1:30), followed by someone to avoid (4:10) ... All the latest news from around the NFL including an update on which teams are sitting their starters (9:43). Then let's have some good old-fashioned rankings disputes on Golden Tate (17:35), Derrick Henry (20:40) and Matt Ryan (23:28) ... NYJ-NE (26:22), BUF-MIA (31:53), OAK-LAC (39:13), JAC-TEN (43:08), CLE-PIT (48:38), HOU-IND (52:32), CIN-BAL (56:40), KC-DEN (1:00:40) ... Email us 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! Get your lineup set. It's time for Star Tours 6. Let's go! Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and T. Alright, here we go. Week 17.

No matter what, this is your last week of fantasy football. Unless, of course, you're playing, you know, a playoff challenge. But, for those of you who are in your championship, it's time to get you a title. Welcome to the show, Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath. We're going to talk about players we love, players to avoid, and preview the eight AFC home games. How we doing, fellas? What's going on? Greetings. Greetings.

Almost Happy New Year to you. Yeah. You guys got big New Year's plans? We'll be here. Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to do FFT. Want to be in games. Get crunk.

Not the whole night you're not going to be there. You can leave after. Right, there's no games on Sunday night, so of course we won't be here then. We're podcasting, right? No, we're not podcasting. What? I didn't figure we were. We're podcasting, right? No, we're not podcasting. What? I didn't figure we were. We're absolutely not podcasting.

God, you're a slacker. Oh, please. We are not podcasting on Sunday night. No podcasting. No mailbag either, so I'm going to try to read some emails on today's show. Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. During the offseason, we'll get to some Dynasty talk, rules, commissioner stuff,

whatever you want to hear about. Offseason's a lot of fun. Of course, we'll do rankings. We'll do drafts. Let's do a player that we love this week. Who's somebody that you love this week? Let's start with Dave. What do you got for me?

Last week it was Bortles, so you got to live up to that. Good job. I love Jamal Williams of the Packers. Kind of an interesting choice. It's a game that means absolutely nothing, but this Lions run defense has been terrible. They've given up double-digit PPR fantasy points to a running back in 13 straight games. He is the only running back playing for the Green Bay Packers.

We've seen him play great before when Aaron Jones was out or barely playing, and I think he's going to get fed the rock a lot this week. I like him in every kind of league. Okay. Jamal Williams it is. Heath Cumm fed the rock a lot this week. I like him in every kind of league. Okay. Jamal Williams it is. Heath Cummings, someone you love this week. I'm going right back to Robbie Anderson. I know things haven't been great with Bryce Petty so far,

but Bryce Petty's first two games, Robbie Anderson had Marshawn Lattimore and Casey Hayward covering him. Now he gets to face a Patriots defense. They'll be chasing the score. He's still going to get those 10-plus targets. I love Robbie Anderson. Bill Belichick was effusive in his praise for Bryce Petty this week. Oh, great.

He said there's really no drop-off between him and Josh McCown. We beg to differ on that one. You know, it's funny. I started when I think it was on the video show when you were talking about Robbie Anderson. And then something completely changed my mind and it's something prisco talks about all the time the cornerbacks for the patriots are chirping a little bit about how they haven't been uh pleased with their play good they're gonna try to make a big play they're gonna jump a stop route and it's gonna be a stop and go to the house for robbie anderson

man that's risky man i was hoping you were gonna bring him up because you've got robbie anderson A stop route, and it's going to be a stop and go to the house for Robbie Anderson. Man, that's risky, man. I was hoping you were going to bring him up because you've got Robbie Anderson in your top ten, Heath. I do. And he's had two pretty bad games, but as you said, you like the matchup a lot better this week. Okay, Robbie Anderson you love. Who are some guys you'd start Robbie Anderson over? I would start Robbie Anderson over Jameson Crowder, Doug Baldwin,

Stefan Diggs, Golden Tate, Demarius Thomas. All right. Man, that is gutsy stuff. Okay. Who is gutsy? Playing fantasy football in Week 17. Yeah, no kidding. It is.

All right, Jamie, who is someone you love this week? I'll stick with C.J. Anderson. Just his workload has been very impressive over the last month. And I think with the Chiefs resting their guys, he's going to have a chance for another big game. So, it's a good spot for him.

All right, so we got Jamal Williams, Robbie Anderson, and C.J. Anderson. Which running back do you like better, Jamal Williams or C.J. Anderson this week?

C.J. and Standard, Williams and PPR. Yep. Okay. Dave, agreed? Or, Jamal better? Yeah.J. and Standard, Williams and PPR. Yep. Okay. Dave, agreed? Or Jamal better? Okay. C.J. and Standard, Jamal Williams, PPR.

Good stuff. Who's a player to avoid this week? Anybody want to go? Well, you can throw a dart at any Ram, Eagle, Chief. It looks like the Cowboys are talking about resting guys. You'll start some Jaguars players, but you might not feel great about it. So we can just start with those five teams. Okay.

If we're going to pick actual players on teams that are expected to play a lot this week, I'm nervous about Demarius Thomas with Paxton Lynch as his quarterback. Yeah, I was wondering about him. Because, you know, Emmanuel Sanders, Lattimore both – did I get that right? Yeah, Cody Lattimore, he missed practice. But they both missed last week's game, and Thomas had a bad game. Four catches for 52 yards. So Dave's nervous about Demarius Thomas.

Heath, who are you avoiding this week? Well, the hard thing about the way Dave started that is when you realize that you're taking maybe four or five teams' worth of players and taking them out of the pool, you have to lower your standards for who you're going to like or dislike. But I will just say the Raiders wide receivers, Michael Crabtree

and Amargie Cooper. Crabtree may not play. If Crabtree doesn't play, then Cooper would seemingly get all the targets that Crabtree got over the last two weeks, and then maybe he could be okay. But if both of these guys are active, this is a very good Chargers pass defense. This is a Raiders team with a quarterback that's not played well for a month and a half. And the Chargers are playing for something and the Raiders are not. So I do not have Crabtree or Cooper right now in my top 30.

Jamie, player to avoid? Similar to what he said, it's hard to avoid some of these guys. But Jordan Howard, matchup against Minnesota is very, very tough. And I think you've kind of seen what he is. He had a great game against Cincinnati, but that was, I don't think, taking into account all the injuries that they had going into that game. Last week, you could say the snow was a factor. He scored two touchdowns, but he averaged a robust two yards per carry

on 22 carries for 44 yards. And so I think just given the matchup and the circumstances that Minnesota still will play their guys, at least for probably most of the game, trying to make sure they lock up the two seed, they will be able to contain Howard. And he beat them up badly last year and had 19 carries for 76 yards against them this year.

I would expect that to be the ceiling. Okay. All right, then. So just to recap, players we love this week. Dave says Jamal Williams. Heath says Robbie Anderson. Jamie says CJ Anderson. Players to avoid.

Dave's nervous about Demarius Thomas. Heath's nervous about the Oakland wide receivers, but would like Cooper a little bit better if Crabtree's out. And Jamie is going to try to avoid Jordan Howard. So looking at the quarterbacks this week, kind of interesting here. Do you think there's a quarterback who is prime for a big game? Because I really see negatives with every single quarterback. I'm guessing I'm alone on that.

There's negatives with plenty of quarterbacks, but I think Matt Ryan has his best game of the year. Yeah, but I do too. He had his best game against Carolina, but you have him seventh. So I'm even talking about the very, very top. Yeah, I'm wondering if I'm too low. All right. Ben Roethlisberger.

What's the negative with Ben Roethlisberger? He's back to throwing 30 passes. He's back to throwing 30 passes a game. Not at home. That's only because he 30 passes a game. Not at home. That's only because he was on the road. No, at home against the Patriots. They lost Antonio Brown. I think he threw 31 passes.

Yeah, that didn't matter. Browns. Home. Ben. Yeah, they may pull him, though, if they find out the Patriots are winning. But Browns. Does that happen in the third quarter? Ben.

It could happen in the first quarter. They're playing at the same time. I know. They find out the Patriots are up 10-0, 17-0. All right, Ben. Have a seat. Maybe. I'm not so much worried about that.

I mean, that could happen, but I'm more worried about it. Tomlin's been asked all week about resting guys. And what has he said? He says no now. Well, yeah. I mean, they're not going to rest, guys, unless I guess the Patriots have to really pull away. But what's the chances the Patriots are going to have such a big lead by halftime where Roethlisberger is not going to play at least three quarters? You like the Jets? I don't like the Jets.

Do I like the Bills last week? It was a close game for two and a half quarters or whatever it was. I'm just kidding. It's still a possibility, though. I mean, the Jets are 17-point favorites. All right. The Pats are. The Jets are 17-point underdogs. I'm sorry. The Jets are 17-point favorites. All right. The Pats are. The Jets are 17-point underdogs.

I'm sorry. The Patriots are 17-point favorites. Excuse me. Look, I mean, Roethlisberger, no Antonio Brown. Brady has had four bad games in a row. Russell Wilson's had two bad games in a row. Didn't have a great game against Arizona. And then, like, there's Rivers, who's – does he really?

I would probably rank him in the top five, too. It's just, last week was a bad week for quarterbacks. This week also kind of feels like a bad week for quarterbacks. I don't know. Bad weather. It's cold as hell. Yeah. That's kind of how I'm seeing it.

Like, I love... Garoppolo could go off now with the Rams pulling guys. Yeah. Yep. I love Kirk Cousins, but I'm worried about him playing in like 15 degree weather if that's what it's going to be. I don't know. Just wanted to get your thoughts on the overall QB landscape this week.

I feel like Brady will go off though. All right. Hope so. I feel like the Patriots will go off. Like all of them. Well, it's about time. We need it from Tom Brady. All right.

Who's resting this week? Let's get an update here. What brady all right who's resting this week let's get an update here what do we know about who's resting their starters this week do this every day this week go ahead uh take it away guys well kansas city made it official that patrick mahomes is going to be their starter andy reed wouldn't confirm any other players that wouldn't play but you've got to imagine that he will keep kareem hunt tyree kill travis kelsey to either very limited reps or no reps whatsoever. And so that's the deal there. The Rams did us a solid.

Goff is out. Gurley is out. Two of their starting offensive linemen are out. So I would imagine that whole starting wide receiver and Aaron Donald on defense. But speaking just about offense, I would imagine that you will see very little of Watkins and Woods, especially Woods, since he's still coming back from that shoulder injury. I don't think that lets Cooper Cup off the hook, though. He's a rookie.

He's young. They might let him play a little bit. We will see. Jacksonville said that they're going to play to win. They're going to play their starters. Yeah, go back to Cup for a second. He's hurt. There's no chance he's playing.

What's his stat? I don't know, but he's banged up. There's no way they're going to play any of their injured guys. He didn't practice on Wednesday. You're probably right. There's no way they're going to play any of their injured guys. He didn't practice on Wednesday. You're probably right. There's no way they're playing any of their injured guys. You're probably right. Josh Reynolds could be the guy. Cooper. And

Pharoah Cooper, if you're so inclined. Go back to the quarterback for a second. I think Stafford could go off, too. But he never goes off. That's the thing. Well, he does against the Packers. Does he? Yeah. What, did he have 26 points last night against them? Okay. Well, that's good to know. Because, yeah, I mean, he...

I like Stafford. I feel like he's having a nice underrated year. He's had a very tough schedule, but he just doesn't have that many big games. But, okay, if he has good history against the Packers, that helps. Well, I mean, you know, most of them have been in Lambeau, I think. Yeah, 26 at Lambeau last... in Week 9. That's an easy, I think. Yeah, 26 at Lambeau last, in week nine.

That's an easy one for him, yeah. Okay. So we got the Patrick Williams for the Chiefs. I guess that means, did you say anything about Tyreek Hill? I doubt he plays much, if at all. Right. Same thing with Hunt and Kelsey. Rams guys are sitting, and then... Rams guys, you got to sit.

Jaguars guys, I don't know how comfortable you can be playing portals keel and cole dd westbrook leonard fournette but they're going to be out there they're going to play i don't know if they're going to play the whole game or not but tom coughlin's track record is to let his starters play. And that's what's going to happen in Jacksonville. And then in Philadelphia, it sounds like Foles and the starting unit will begin the game, and then they'll get pulled at some point. So maybe they play a half. And they also talked up trying to get Alshon Jeffrey on the same page as Nick Foles. What about Dallas, Dave?

Jerry Jones came out and said that they're going to start playing some backups this week. They realize that this game means absolutely nothing to them, and they want to see what they have in some of their other players. No, not see. They're going to try and get him 1,000. Is Dak Prescott going to play the whole game, you think, or no? That's the one that 24-7 Sports took from the radio interview that Jerry Jones gave is that

they kind of inferred that it's going to be Cooper Rush playing. Wow. Okay, well that doesn't make me forget about this. But not starting. I mean, Dak will start. He could play like part of the fourth quarter. Yeah. It could be like what the Giants are going to do with David Swett. Play Rush at some point. Okay. Dave,

yeah, any players that are approaching milestones? Heath, I'm sorry I keep shutting Heath out. Yeah, Jameis Winston just needs one fumble to become the fourth quarterback to have 40 interceptions and 30 fumbles in his first three seasons. 30 fumbles? Yeah. Man. He makes me nervous.

Is that not what you were looking for? Yeah, me too. His track record against the Saints is terrible. And his offensive line is as bad as his track record against the Saints. Okay, so you wanted to know about players that were near some milestones. Frank Gore is 139 yards away from his 10th 1,000-yard season. Not happening. I think he's about 100-some-odd yards away from breaking 10,000 for his career.

It's inside of 100 yards. No, I don't think so. Frank Gore, he's fourth all time. He's fifth all time. Then who was I thinking of if it's not Frank Gore? The Somalcoi just went over 10,000 yards rushing. Is it Marchand who's close to 10,000? Frank Gore is over.

Yeah, that's for sure. Gore is within 140 yards of the 1,000. You said that. Zeke is within 120 yards. Alex Collins is within 105. C.J. Anderson and Leonard Fournette are inside of 100 yards. Carlos Hyde is at 850 for the season.

So another 150 yards from him and he gets to 1,000 rushing yards. Gronk needs 11 catches or 111 yards to make $5.5 million. No, he's getting that easy. T.Y. Hilton is 48 yards shy of 1,000 yards. Evans is about 50 yards, a little more than that. Heath's boy, Robbie Anderson, is 70 yards shy.

I'm going to cut this segment off. This is, I think, a little bit too much information here. All right, let's move on here. Let's get to the news and the notes. Melvin Gordon missed practice. Are you ranking Melvin Gordon? Melvin Gordon says he's going to play. The swelling apparently is not that bad, so he expects to be out there.

DeMarco Murray will be a game-time decision. We're going to talk about Derrick Henry shortly. Joe Mixon seems unlikely to play. We'll also talk about Gio Bernard today. Michael Crabtree hurt his hamstring last week while he was playing against the Eagles and might not play this week. Devontae Adams and Jordy Nelson seem unlikely to play. Are there any Packers wide receivers that you like this week?

Nope. Jeremy Macklin has a chance to play. I'm assuming that wouldn't affect your ranking of Mike Wallace. I might drop him a little bit. It'd be a target or two less, I would expect. Deshaun Jackson was limited in practice. If he plays with that, drop your ranking of Mike Evans. Yes.

Marshawn Lynch is 98 yards shy of 10,000 career rush yards. There we go. Sterling Shepard and Evan Ingram missed practice. Patriots wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell returned to practice. He's been on IR. Not saying we're starting him or anything this week. Not saying he's going to play or be active or whatever, but it's interesting. Alan Hearns was limited in practice.

Denver wide receivers, I mentioned this, Emmanuel Sanders and Cody Latimer, they missed practice after missing last week's game. Only one tight end note for you, Cameron Brait missed practice. Do you think Cameron Brait is in danger of missing this game against the Saints? Yes, could be.

A lot of Allen cross. Good luck. Offensive line, Tyron Smith, unlikely to play. It's just not looking good for Dallas, even against Eagles backups. I thought Smith was going to play. No. Tyron Smith? No, that's, from what I read, unlikely to

play. Look into that. Let me know. The Bears could be without a couple of offensive linemen. Josh Sitton and Bobby Massey this week. Not good for Jordan Howard. Carolina could be getting Trey Turner. Very good offensive guard back. He's trying to clear the concussion protocol.

Dolphins left tackle Laramie Tunsil. Tunsil is questionable. Tunsil with an ankle injury. And Pittsburgh center Marquise Pouncey could miss this week's game, which, you know, whatever. It's the Browns. And on defense, Zach Brown not expected to play for the Redskins. He's their linebacker.

Yeah, he's missed a couple of games. And I think that could help Wayne Gallman because they gave up seven catches to C.J. Anderson last week, I think. Vontaze Berfic unlikely to play. The Giants are expected to release Eli Apple, who is taking a crap. And Leonard Williams mispracticed with a back injury, and that's great news for Deion Lewis. Anything on Tyron Smith? No, it looks like you're right. I thought I saw somebody tweet something yesterday that he was going to try and play, but...

Unfollow that. I see a story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that says no. Unfollow that. Adam Thielen needs five catches for $250,000. Oh, I like that. I like that. Okay, rankings. Do you guys have any financial incentives for this week?

No Okay I hit all mine this year Oh, good Congratulations Thank you So I want to talk about three rankings discrepancies Two of them are actually in NFC home games That we'll preview tomorrow

I hope the listeners will forgive us But Golden Tate is all over the place From, you know, Jamie's in the middle 28th in Standard, 22nd in PPR preview tomorrow. I hope the listeners will forgive us. But Golden Tate is all over the place. Jamie's in the middle, 28th in standard, 22nd in PPR. Heath's the high guy, 18th in standard, 19th in PPR. Dave is the low guy on Golden Tate, 38th in standard, 32nd in PPR. Heath, why don't you kick it off with Golden Tate? He is facing the Packers and has been struggling lately, but you still have him as a top 20 guy. He has been struggling lately. He has been a disappointment.

I am ranking Marvin Jones consistently ahead of him for now, but this Packers secondary is not very good. I agree with Jamie that Matthew Stafford is going to have a monster day, and I don't think it's all to Marvin Jones and Eric Ebron. Okay. His last two games against Green Bay have been very good. Six for 77 and one last year in the final meeting. Seven for 113 earlier this year.

Like he said, it's a bad secondary. So it's just a matter of will he continue to get targets. He's been losing playing time to Kenny Galladay. I mean, that's kind of where some of those snaps have gone. So I don't know if they're just trying to feature Galladay more, and it's, you know, taken away from Tate a little bit. But I still think that this is a game where Stafford goes big, because why not?

YOLO, nothing to play for. So he's going to throw the ball 40 times and beat up a division opponent that he can, and he has. So I think it's almost like all his guys have a chance to play well here i'm curious if tate has any financial incentives tied to this game because he's 101 yards shy of a thousand on the year he already has 85 catches he'd be there already if he were more involved in the offense the last couple weeks he's been a dud in standard leagues he's given you six fantasy points or less in five of his last six games it's a great spot i just don't know how how much i want to trust him given the emergence of ebron knowing what i know about marvin jones

is the number one receiver can't help but think that kenny galladay is gonna continue to get some decent targets he had eight last week yeah but taste. He's had four catches. He's not been involved. Tate had 11 targets in his last two games. For him, that's real low. 12 is the last two. 11. I'm looking right at it. He had five against Chicago, seven against Cincinnati. I have to see six against Cincinnati. We're looking at two different things. He's still

involved in the game. I'm going to break this tie. This target tie. This is important. This is so important. Who is it 11 or 12? It's worth arguing about. I'm looking at NFL Jesus stats. It is 12 according to CBSSports.com. Over the last two weeks?

Yes. I show him with 11. Wow. Where are you looking? I'm at FootballGuys.com. Okay. And Jamie, you're looking on CBS? I'm looking on our site, yeah.

All right, well, Dave and Heath, you're looking on CBS? I'm looking on our site, yeah. All right. Well, Dave and Heath, you guys are traitors. He's had 11.5 targets over the last couple of weeks. Traitors. All right. So whatever. It doesn't really matter if it's 11 or 12. All right.

So there you go. There's three different perspectives on Golden Tate. Derek Henry, who we're talking about today. Everybody likes Derek Henry. Dave's the low guy. Dave has Henry 16th in standard, 19th in PPR. Jamie's got him 11th in standard, 13th in PPR. Heath's the high guy on Derrick Henry,

4th in standard and 9th in PPR. Jamie, you're right in the middle. You can have the first word on Derrick Henry, who you have right around 12th in both formats. Yeah, I mean, like I said, he's our start of the week this week. I think he'll have a chance for a big game just based on his track record. Every time he's had a lot of work, he's been successful. So four times in his career with 14 or more carries, 12 or more fantasy points,

and all of those in standard scoring. I don't anticipate DeMarco Murray playing, so he should have the chance to get a lot of work. Whether he's successful or not against the Jaguars to a monster degree, that's the concern. But I do think he'll get you at least 12 fantasy points. So can he go for 15 plus, 20 plus? He's obviously optimistic on that, which I'm hopeful for, clearly. But I think it comes down to at what point the Jaguars pull their defensive players.

If they pull them after halftime, then Henry will have a monster second half. If they play all four quarters, then I think Henry's going to have to grind his way there. I just don't think the Jags are an elite run defense at all. They were awful at the beginning of the year. They went and acquired Marcel Darius, and they were really good for about a month. And here recently, they've just been kind of okay. They gave up 128 yards on the ground and 231 total yards to 49ers running backs. 91 to the Texans, 131 to the Colts, 137 to the Cardinals.

I mean, they just haven't been that great over the last month plus. And I expect Henry to get 20-plus touches. I think he goes over 100 yards and scores at least once. I am just so worried that the stupid Titans and stupid Mike Malarkey are going to make DeMarco Murray active, and they're going to use him, and it's going to take work away from Derrick Henry. Well, if you're a believer in Derrick Henry's long-term future, you want that to happen because

from what I understand, he's a hit away from tearing his ACL with the injury that he has. Murray is. The MCL and the LCO stabilize the ACL. Then why won't they just rule him out? They're really going to make a case for him to play? It's just coaches being stupid. There's no way he's playing.

Let's say they rule DeMarco Murray out. You currently have henry 16th standard 19th in ppr where would you move henry to if they if they rule murray out uh top 12 for sure i would probably put him around nine okay nine all right i'm raking him as if Murray's not playing. I'll do some Derrick Henry comparisons when we get to that game. And then finally, an NFC game. Matt Ryan, 13th for Jamie, 7th for Dave, 9th for Heath. Heath, I'll give you the first word. You're right in the middle there on Matt Ryan, who has been obviously a huge disappointment this year,

but everybody's fairly high on him. The lowest anyone has him is Jamie at 13th. Heath, your thoughts on Matt Ryan this week against Carolina? For the most part, if you're going to attack and have success against this Carolina defense, you need to do it through the year. It's very difficult to run on this team. And Ryan is at home. I've gone back and forth between I have Cam 8th and Ryan 9th. I actually had Ryan ahead of Cam earlier, and I was like, that doesn't make any sense. So I think it really comes down to who do you think wins this game?

Who do you think scores more points? I lean towards the Panthers, but I think it'll be a fairly high-scoring game. Dave, you love Matt Ryan this week. I think he goes off. His best game this year already happened at carolina it was only 22 fantasy points but for him that's pretty good he had over 300 yards he had multiple touchdowns in the game he's actually had multiple touchdowns in each of his last three against carolina including a 503 yard four touchdown game last october carolina's pass defense has averaged 291.3

pass yards in its last seven games two touchdowns through the air per game so he's right carolina secondary has a big bullseye on its chest the falcons know that they've got to win this one to make the playoffs you know that they're gonna have a hard time running the ball i think matt ryan has his best game of the season just in time to help everybody in week 17 and jamie you are the low guy on Matt Ryan, 13th. Yeah, I think I need to move him up a couple spots, but one thing I can't get past is that he was sacked five times last week, and the Panthers' pass rush is better than the Saints'.

And so his offensive line is not playing very well, and so I just wonder if the Panthers still have something to play for, too. At some point they may decide to pull guys back if Minnesota's winning or the Saints are winning. But it's still something that they can get as high as the two seed. So it's not like they're just going to let Matt Ryan walk all over them in this pass attack.

So they will make things tough on him. And if he's on his back half the game or running for his life half the game, that's typically when he's at his worst. And so that game he had against them last year was a totally different Carolina team. This Carolina team's obviously a lot better. So I don't think I'll move him up much more, but he should be in my

top 12. Okay, so you might want to start Matt Ryan this week, whether we love him or just like him. It looks like he could have his third game. I would start Garoppolo over him. I think there's more upside with Jimmy G. He could have his third game, Matt Ryan, of 20 or more fantasy points.

Let's hope. He's been bad. Yeah, he's been such a bust. It's just one of those things like you're in week 17, you've made it here. He's probably been on your bench. I don't think you should go to him if you have somebody else who's better. It's a tough week though, right?

That's the point, yeah. It's a tough week. Okay, Jets and Patriots. Let's get going with the amc home games we got eight of them stat of the game this is about below powell who has had 13 or more carries in four straight games nine running backs have had 13 or more carries against the patriots i just looked at the rushing totals rushing forget about passing receiving totals because powell doesn't do that but of the nine running backs with 13 or more carries against the Patriots,

seven scored seven or more fantasy points on rushing totals alone. And six scored nine or more fantasy points on rushing totals alone. So by that logic, there's a good chance Bilal Powell will get you at least 70 yards or seven fantasy points in standard scoring leagues, at least. How do you guys feel about Bilal Powell this week? I think he's risky. yards or seven fantasy points in standard scoring leagues at least. How do you guys feel about Bilal Powell this week? I think he's risky. I think seven fantasy points is safe to say for him.

I don't think he's going to go off for another big game like he did last week. I would say seven's the ceiling. Because of score? He can get you eight or nine. He can get you 50. He's not going to get you. Look at what the Patriots do at home. There's only been three rushing touchdowns allowed by them at home.

Two were in the first game of the season by the Chiefs, and then one was Melvin Gordon. He's risky, but I'm still probably starting him just because of the landscape of Week 17. Right. They were in the game last week with the Chargers. That gave him a lot of opportunities. That's the other part of it. They Right. They were in the game last week with the Chargers. That gave him a lot of opportunities. That's the other part of it. They got to stay in the game. How long were they really in the game against New Orleans?

Oh, a while. They were in the game to the end. A while, yeah. And he had a touchdown in that game, but he only had 13 carries. He had 13 carries at Denver. That was a game that... They got blasted. Yeah. The Jets and the Colts both are kind of that. We always think that they're going to get blasted,

and then they're always in the game in the fourth quarter. They lose, but they're in the game. This is one they're going to get blasted. I think this is one where they get blasted, and Powell just has a hard time finding numbers. And he played as many snaps as Forte last week. He had way more carries, obviously, but he played just as many snaps. Okay.

Sticking with the Jets, it's just Robbie Anderson who we already talked about. He's top 10 for Heath, and he's a number 3 receiver for Dave and Jamie, who I guess, to sum it up, just looking at the production the last two weeks for Anderson, rather than the matchup. Right? Yep.

Yeah, I mean, I don't trust Bryce Petty. Now for Heath, though, to Heath's point, 7 wide receivers have scored seven or more fantasy points in standard scoring leagues against the Patriots in their last three games. They've been terrible against wide receivers lately. All right, so different opinions on Robbie Anderson. Over to the Patriots. We talked about Tom Brady yesterday.

I won't get into it again. Tom Brady's number one for Jamie, number four for Dave, and number two for Heath. The Jets allow the fifth most fantasy points to quarterbacks. Patriots running backs. Heath, give me your thoughts on the Patriots running backs this week. Deion Lewis is still a must-start. Should be a top-ten running back this week.

I don't love Gilleslie as much. He's a number three, and I'd really prefer not to be relying on him scoring a touchdown. Can he give you what he gave you last week? He can, but that's what you're hoping for. You're hoping I get nine fantasy points,

and you have to recognize when you start him that two is a possibility. Dion Lewis or Derrick Henry? Oh, Henry. I'm sorry. I said Gelsley. Excuse me. Dion Lewis, yes. I got him number three said Gelsley. Excuse me. Deion Lewis. Yes. I got Lewis. I got him number three.

Oh, okay. I just wonder at some point, though, that's the one guy that they can consider resting. Sure. That's true. But they're going to also use him to get the lead. And the Jets are going to probably be without Muhammad Wilkerson. I mean, they've had him returning. Without Leonard Williams.

Those are their best two run stoppers on the D-line. They've had him returning kicks over the last couple of weeks, so I'm not sure if they really feel like they need to protect him. He's invincible. Would you rather start Mike Gillisley or Bilal Powell? Powell. Powell. Gillisley.

Ooh. All right. Cool. Jets have given up four rushing touchdowns in their last three games. They'll score. Is this the week for Brandon Cooks, fellas? Yeah. All right.

Three or fewer fantasy points in standard scoring leagues in three of his last four games. No more than seven targets in any of those four games. Tell me why you like Brandon Cooks against the Jets. I like him because of the potential, but I've wrote that argument over the last four weeks, and in three of those four weeks, he's made T.Y. Hilton look good. I think it's because of the last three words that you said, Adam. Yep. Against the Jets. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, here's what the Jets do against number ones. First of all, they've allowed 70 yards or a touchdown to at least one wide receiver in 13 of 15 games. So that's like a seven-point floor in standard. Four of the last five number one wide receivers have had 93 or more yards

and double-digit fantasy points in standard scoring leagues. Keenan Allen was a huge disappointment last week. But Funchess, Tyreek Hill, Demarius Thomas, Michael Thomas, massive games against the Jets. Remember when Funches was part of the offense? Yeah, that was nice. Those were good days. Alright, so Cooks, any interest in Amendola? Gronk's playing, right?

Yep, as far as I know. He's a number three in PPR. I'll pass on Amendola. And we're not expecting Hogan, right? Nope. No, brother. Okay. Patriots're not expecting Hogan, right? Nope. No, brother. Okay. Patriots DST, number nine for Dave, Jamie. Number four for Dave.

Number seven for Heath. Okay. Buffalo's at Miami. Well, stat of the game. This is about the Dolphins wide receivers. Really just Jarvis Landry, I guess, right? So the Bills, they gave up massive, huge games to Michael Thomas and Keenan Allen in weeks 10 and 11. Since then, they have not allowed double-digit fantasy points to any receiver in their last five games in standard. They've allowed

one touchdown to wide receivers in those five games. However, Jarvis Landry did have a very good game. I think he had 99 yards. I'm not even going to ask about starting Landry in PPR. I'm pretty sure he leads the NFL in receptions. But is Jarvis Landry a must-start guy in standard scoring leagues? If you're loaded a receiver, you can definitely get away from Jarvis in a standard scoring league. But you pretty much know what to expect from him. You know volume will be there. And he's having a pretty good year. but you pretty much know what to expect from him.

You know volume will be there, and he's having a pretty good year, so hard to say to sit him. I'd rather start Landry than any of the Eagles guys or Dez. Yep, for sure. But I would start Robbie Anderson and Marquis Goodwin over him. Goodwin, yes. No way on Anderson. I'd go Landry over both of them, just with the safety factor. I think Goodwin's going to go off. I think the 49ers might just end up running a ton.

Maybe. Well, all right. Well, that game's tomorrow. All right, Tyrod Taylor. We'll go back to the Dolphins in a bit. But Tyrod Taylor's really interesting because Jamie really likes Tyrod Taylor. He's got him ninth. Taylor is still available in about half of CBS Sports League's 24 fantasy points in the first meeting.

Jamie, you talked about it. Great history against Miami. So tell us about why you like Tyrod Taylor. Great history against Miami, and Miami is not very good defensively. So it's a game Buffalo has to win too. So I think Tyrod Taylor has a chance to kind of replicate that performance, maybe not get 24, but certainly above 20. He's done that in three games in a row against them,

scored multiple touchdowns three games in a row against them. His last two trips to Miami, nearly 500 passing yards, four total touchdowns. I'm sorry, four passing touchdowns, five total touchdowns, and almost 50 rushing yards combined in those games. So I think it's an easy spot for Tyrod Taylor to play well here. He's kind of in that same boat as a lot of other players that we've talked about, like Golden Tate, Brandon Cooks, where just the recent track record isn't great.

Well, track record overall, not against this team. But I'm saying just track record over his last four games hasn't been good at all, other than the one game against Miami. It's like one in his last four that was against Miami. That's true. Maybe you might be on to something. I'll admit it. And I think that he's a good streaming quarterback this week.

I think he's a good daily quarterback. But this is another team where I just think the Dolphins aren't going to do much defensively. They've had some decent play from their secondary, and I think that the Bills could just run like crazy. Tyron might run for a touchdown and not throw one. Yeah, my fear would be that LaShawn McCoy has, and combines with Mike Tolbert and Javaris Cadet or whoever else is back.

No, not Cadet. He's out. 35 carries, and they throw the ball 18 times and just win the game easily. I bet they get a defensive touchdown. Well, I mean, yeah, Tyron Taylor did have a rushing touchdown two weeks ago against the Dolphins. He hardly ever has two passing touchdowns. The Dolphins, it's one of those things that just doesn't really make sense. They've allowed three passing touchdowns in their last four games.

Which is one more than Tyrod has in his last four games. Exactly. Brady had 11 points. Alex Smith had 19 points. Taylor was the good one in that stretch. All right, so Jamie's got Taylor ninth. Heathen and Dave have Taylor 13th. Would you guys rather?

I'll start Tyrod over Jameis, Dak. I wouldn't get cute and start Mahomes ahead of Tyrod Taylor. But most of the other quarterbacks that we'll talk about as starters, I would take ahead of Tyrod. All right, then. Keenum or Tyrod? Keenum. Minnesota's got something to Ed up Tyrod. All right, then. Keenum or Tyrod? Keenum. Keenum.

Minnesota's got something to play for, too. Tyrod, easily. Easily? Easily. How can it be so easy? Keenum's been so much better than him. He has been. I like Tyrod's situation better.

Okay. But you expect Keenum to score at least 19 fantasy points. Tyrod's not going to score more than 22. I'll tell you what. Last week, you saw Keenum not throw two touchdowns. score at least 19 fantasy points. Tyrod's not going to score more than 22. I'll tell you what. Last week, you saw Keenum not throw two touchdowns. He only had 11 fantasy points. So even if we gift him a second touchdown, he still doesn't get you to 20. And they may pull him back.

Yeah, and Keenum was playing in frigid weather last week, which is a factor. It's going to be warm in Minnesota this week. In the Dome, yes. He'll be pretty comfortable there, I'd say. I don't think he's leaving the Dome for the rest of the year. So, oh, yeah, well, that's very possible. Oh, we've got the Eagles losing, huh? Yeah.

In their divisional game. I hate it, too, because I loved watching them with Wentz. All right, the Sean McCoy's top five. Starter sit, Calvin Benjamin. No. No. Yeah. Hard to.

He's a. He is a. Which one of you said that he's a tight end? That Calvin Benjamin's more tight end. Yeah. Yeah. Than wide receiver. So he's a touchdown or bust tight end.

And he's not even their best tight end. He's not even their best tight end. That's absolutely right. The Dolphins have gone four straight games without allowing a touchdown to a wide receiver. So we go to the tight ends then. The real tight end, Charles Clay. He's a top seven guy. Clay or Ebron?

Ebron. Ebron. I'm going to go Clay. Yeah, it's close. Ooh. I'm going to go Clay. Yep. Okay.

Clay. Look, it's funny because Clay's been horrible for the last seven weeks six fantasy points or less he was good against the dolphins six is not horrible the tight end six is the top i guess yeah you know what i bet when i run the numbers next week i'm gonna see that a tight end getting six fantasy points and standard is a starter actually pretty good how pathetic but i still want to get more than six from my tight end, and I think that Charles Clay can do it. I think there's definitely opportunity waiting for him. He's the one guy.

If I think Tyrod can run for a touchdown, then the best chance for him to throw a touchdown is to Clay. Yep. Or Nick O'Leary. Okay, so it's close between Clay and Ebron, except for Dave. Dave's got Ebron five spots ahead. Would you start Charles Klay or a somewhat struggling Delaney Walker? I've got Walker ahead of Klay.

I have Klay and Ebron both ahead of Walker. Walker's probably safer, but Klay I think has more upside this week. To the Dolphins. Kenyon Drake or LaShawn McCoy? I like Shady. I'll take Drake. They're both great starts. Both great starts this week.

Buffalo allows the most fantasy points to opposing running backs. Kenyon Drake or Deion Lewis? I'd go Lewis. Lewis. Drake. All right. Jamie seems to be the high guy on Drake. And any interest in—

I'll take McCoy over Drake. Sorry, I haven't ranked back-to-back. Okay, any interest in Devontae Parker? He's had two flex-worthy games in a row. And that's what he is. He's kind of flex-worthy. All right, who's a better flyer, Parker or Benjamin? Parker.

Oh, Parker. Parker? Okay. I'll take Benjamin. What the hell? All right, Benjamin for Dave. Buffalo DST, 12th for Jamie, 12th for Dave, 14th for Heath. They've been good for their last five games. Oakland is at the Chargers.

Stat of the game. Only two wide receivers have scored double-digit fantasy points against the Chargers in their last nine games. That's in standard scoring leagues, and that's incredible. So that's why Heath, not a big fan of the Oakland wide receivers. Is anybody a fan of the Oakland wide receivers this week? They're both outside of my top 24. Okay.

Yeah, especially with Crapshoot banged up. Sit Derek Carr. Start or sit Marshawn Lynch? I'm going to start him. Start him, but it's not looking good if Denzel Perryman plays that he's going to have a big game. Oh, Perryman has a chance to play? Yeah, I guess he said coming off the game that he's hopeful to return. I don't know if he practiced or not.

But if he doesn't play, the numbers have been so great for running backs against the Chargers. 5.8 yards per carry, two touchdowns, and that's in most of two games since Perryman went down. So they have not done a good job replacing him. So he was a limited participant in practice yesterday. So it sounds like he's on track to come back.

He said he wants to play in this game, given the implications. Head coach Anthony Lynn said that Perryman should be ready for Sunday's game against the Raiders. That is a big deal. Wow. It's a bad sign for Lynch, especially since they have nothing to play for. And you'd think last week they had nothing to play for, and they still gave Lynch 25 carries.

And I wonder if they're going to try and get him close to 10,000 yards, which is what— Oh, he'll get work. His motivation is he's going to be— He's 98 yards shy, though. It's tough. I think you're still starting him, but I think Frank Gore might be better. If Perryman plays, I think you might be right. Bilal Powell or Marshawn Lynch if Perryman plays?

Still Lynch. Lynch. Barely. Lynch, okay. We're going to try to avoid the Oakland wide receivers if we can. Jared Cook, we're going to try to avoid him if we can. Obviously, we're going to try to avoid the Oakland wide receivers if we can. Jared Cook, we're going to try to avoid him if we can. So obviously we're going to try to avoid Derek Carr. Phillip Rivers is a top five quarterback.

Would you go Rivers or Bortles? Rivers. Rivers. Rivers. Rivers or Flacco? Rivers. Rivers. Come on.

Rivers or Breeze? Well, you say come on. I mean, Flacco's been better than Rivers. I've got Rivers. I've got Rivers third. Okay. Yeah, Rivers over Brees too. Yep.

Come on. It's not an easy matchup for him, but you just have to figure that a banged up Melvin Gordon is not going to impede Rivers from throwing the ball a ton this week. Yeah, I mean, it's weird. Only four quarterbacks have scored more than 19 fantasy points against the Raiders. In their last three games, they've held Prescott, Alex Smith, and Nick Foles to 13 or fewer fantasy points with one passing touchdown, four interceptions. So that's why I was saying, to me, I look at the top quarterbacks this week

and I see question marks on all of them. But I just think most fantasy owners are going to perhaps feel a little uneasy about their quarterback. Like last week was just a bad week for quarterbacks. Might be the same. Start Melvin Gordon if he plays, right? Yep. Start Keenan Allen.

And, oh, Antonio Gates. Antonio Gates or Charles Clay? I'm going Clay. Gates. Gates. Standard Clay PPR. All right. Gates did have six catches last week. 81 yards and a PPR. All right. Gates did have six catches last week, 81 yards and a touchdown at the Jets.

The Raiders, they have allowed nine tight ends to score 12 or more fantasy points in PPR. And I know this because I was thinking about using Antonio Gates as my PPR start on Fantasy Football Today, the video show today. But I won't be doing that. He is a start, but Jamie has reserved him. So Gates is my PPR start on Fantasy Football Today, the video show today. But I won't be doing that. He is a start, but Jamie has reserved him. So Gates is a good start. He's only 14% owned. We're not starting anybody else on the Chargers, right? No Tyrell Williams or anything?

No. You'd have to be desperate. Okay. Let's go over to Jacksonville at Tennessee. By the way, Heath, you don't like the Chargers DST? Yeah, I just saw that in the notes and moved them up. All right. To where?

Eight. All right. to where? Eight. All right, they're top eight for everybody now. Hooray. Jacksonville is at Tennessee. Good teamwork there. Your stat of the game. The Jaguars have allowed only eight touchdowns to wide receivers this season, but seven touchdowns in their last five games.

Are there any Titans wide receivers you would start? No. Not with a lot of confidence. The thing is, at what point will they start to take guys off the field? I guess my problem is when they start taking guys off the field, I expect that means

that the Titans are going to run the ball about 30 times. I think there's a chance they don't take guys off the field. Which is counterintuitive to what you'd think a team locked into their playoff spot would do but it's tom coughlin and his old school mentality it's doug marone saying hey you guys played like donkey dung last week and you've got to bounce back against this tennessee team but it's a tough spot for them to bounce back they're on the road the second week in a row i you know they're going to try to bounce But it's a tough spot for them to bounce back. They're on the road the second week in a row.

They're going to try to bounce back. It's also a team that kicked the crap out of them last time they faced each other. Alright, so they've got incentive to play and to win here. What do you do with Blake Bortles, guys? I think you start him. I'm not starting him. I would try to avoid him if you can.

Just with the thought, that he may not play a full game. And he scored a lot of fantasy points last week, but he was awful. It was old Blake Bortles. If you were to tell me he's guaranteed four quarters, then I'd be more inclined to play him. But I just don't expect him to be out there for four quarters. I also want to see what the Tennessee secondary looks like. Logan Ryan mispracticed it. Oh, yes, sir. Yes, sir. So if he's out, that makes the Tennessee secondary looks like. Logan Ryan mispracticed it. Oh, yes, sir.

Yes, sir. So if he's out, that makes the matchup way better. He's been a good corner for Tennessee this year. What are you doing with the running backs for Jacksonville? I'll tell you that Leonard Fournette is averaging 3.15 yards per carry in six games since returning from injury. And we just know he's not healthy. He gets a ton of work and he scores touchdowns, though. So what are you doing with the Jacksonville running backs? It makes sense to me that if there's one guy that Jacksonville pulls

to keep in good shape for the playoffs, it's this guy because he's not at 100%. He doesn't look like he's at 100%. And I think he's kind of become a touchdown or bust type of running back. I know he had a big game a couple of weeks ago, but I don't know if he can do that again even in the playoffs. Borderline number two for me. I'd prefer not to start him.

I'm going to move him down. I've got him too high. Okay. Is there sleeper potential with Ivory and Yeldon? Only if Fournette is inactive. Like Ivory's hope is that he gets 20 carries and falls into the end zone. If he's going to maybe play half of a game, then you just hope he falls in the end zone. Yeah.

Okay. And then the Jacksonville wide receivers, Jamie, what are we doing with these guys? Again, it depends on how much you think they're going to play. So I expect them to be out there for at least a half, if not more. So I'm okay with those guys because what I would anticipate is they know that when their offensive – I know the numbers that you gave, Adam, about the yards per carry, but they know that when their offensive line is out there that they can grind their way to the running game that they want. It may not be four and a half yards per carry, but they know what their offense is.

They got to get Blake Bortles back on track because he had that three-game stretch where he looked good, and then he just completely vomited all over himself last week. So if they're going to play these guys, they're going to try and focus on their passing game. And to that end, Cam Robinson,

their left tackle, was limited in practice on Wednesday. They played without him last week. Keelan Cole with the quad, he was limited in practice. I like Cole if he plays, and I'll like him even better if Cam Robinson is protecting Bortles' blind side. Cole was your favorite ahead of DeeDee Westbrook? Ahead of DeeDee. Would you start Keelan Cole or A.J. Green?

Green. Green. I like Cole, too, but I think you have to build in some risk that there could be some sit potential. Okay, Keelan Cole. Cole's been awesome the last month. He's tied for the best fantasy receiver in his last four games. Wow. Keelan Cole or Jarvis Landry?

Standard. Cole. Cole. I've got Landry two spots higher. All right. And then for the Titans, we're going to sit Mariota, I assume? Oh, yeah. You can't trust him.

Yeah. We've talked enough about Derrick Henry, and you guys said you don't really want a Tennessee wide receiver. I missed that funny joke. What was that? I hate missing jokes. Mariota. Mariota. Okay, it wasn't that funny.

I was just thinking that I don't know if I would trust Mariota if I knew Jacksonville's starting defense wasn't playing. No, because then they're going to run it 400 times. I would trust them in that case. 400. All right, Delaney Walker's been struggling a bit lately, but you still have to start Delaney Walker. You could go with Klay over him. You could go with Ebron over him. You don't have to.

But Delaney Walker is a top six tight end in both formats. All right, you want to hear a weird stat, by the way? So here are the good tight ends against Jacksonville. Delaney Walker, four catches for 61 yards. He also had a rushing touchdown, but aside from that he had six points. Safarian Jenkins was good at that point, four points. Jack Doyle,

four points. Hunter Henry, one catch for seven yards. Doyle again, three catch for 16 yards. Jimmy Graham, no catches on two targets. They've done great against good tight ends. But they've given up touchdowns to Jonu Smith, Ben Watson, Gerald Everett, Ricky Seals-Jones, and George Kittle.

So it's always the guy you don't expect that seems to get the Jaguars. It's very strange. Cleveland is at Pittsburgh. Huge game. Stat of the game. Cleveland has not allowed more than seven fantasy points to a second wide receiver all season. I don't think it's happened once. Maybe once.

I might have screwed that stat up. But at most, one time. So that makes me a little nervous about Martavis Bryant. Does it make you nervous about Martavis Bryant? I would treat him as a number two wide receiver. I think Juju Smith-Schuster is going to be that guy. Proved it last week. Did amazing.

And I think Martavis kind of is what he is. That's someone who's going to get some deep shots. You hope that he connects. And if he doesn't, you're going to be left with six or fewer fantasy points. I think he's more of a number three receiver just given that risk potential. But don't you like him a little bit more playing at home Oh always But I just Again you said it if he doesn't score

There's that six or seven points And he's had more games where he hasn't scored Than he's scored You guys love Juju this week he's top ten So everybody start Juju Smith-Schuster Would you start Martavis Bryant Or Bilal Powell top 10. So everybody start Juju Smith-Schuster. Would you start Martavis Bryant or Bilal Powell?

I would take Bryant's upside. I would take Bryant's upside too. Okay. Marshawn Lynch or Martavis Bryant? Who? Marshawn. Marshawn. If Perryman plays, I would take the upside of Martavis Bryant.

Yeah. Let's stick with the Steelers. upside of Marteva's brain. Yeah. Okay. Gotcha. Let's stick with the Steelers. Le'Veon Bell start. Ben Roethlisberger start. Steelers are done. Vance McDonald, though. Any interest in him as a sleeper?

Very much so. Good streamer. Very good streamer in PPR. Yeah. There's some upside there. It's just because of the fact that he's had four catches in the last two games. He's been active, and they seem to like him better than the road dog. And they went to the road dog twice in their opener with eight catches for two touchdowns. Against Cleveland.

Against Cleveland. Cleveland's bad against tight ends. But they didn't advance McDonald then. No, what I'm saying is that there's a track record of Ben to tight end in this matchup. Right, right. Yeah, and the Browns allow the fifth most fantasy points to tight ends, ten touchdowns to tight ends this year.

So there's a track record of kind of crappy tight ends having good games. Over to the Browns. The Steelers have allowed 5.2 yards per carry or better to a lead running back in four games without Ryan Shazier. How do you approach the Browns running backs this week? Duke is safe, certainly in PPR. I mean, he's got 10 or more fantasy points in four of his last six games.

The thing about Crowell is he's just so inconsistent. So I think he's more of a flex than a must-start guy. Yeah, I've got Duke as a number two in PPR and Crowell as number two in standard. Okay. Would you start Frank Gore or Duke Johnson? I've got Duke higher as of now. Definitely Gore in standard. Yep.

Gore standard, Duke PPR. All right, then how about Frank Gore or Isaiah Crowell? Gore easily. Gore. It's such a good matchup. I'd rank him Frank Gore or Isaiah Crowell? Gore, easily. Gore. It's such a good matchup. I'd rank him Duke, Gore, Crowell. It's such a good matchup for Josh Gordon, but, man, he's getting worse. His quarterback stinks.

I'm tired of talking him up. I sat him last week at the last minute, and it wouldn't have made a difference. I still won my league. But it was a big swing in points. Okay, so listen to this stat. The Steelers have allowed double-digit fantasy points in standard scoring leagues to a wide receiver in eight straight games. Eight straight games. Is that streak going to continue this week?

Was Deshaun Kizer the quarterback in any of those games? He was not. He was not. Okay. So is that a no? That was a no for me. Josh Gordon and Martavis Bryant are kind of the same guy. Who do you like better?

I like Gordon, but I certainly understand the upside of Martavis. All right, moving right along to our next game. Houston at Indianapolis. Stat of the game. Houston has allowed double-digit fantasy points to a running back in five straight games. So we've sort of talked about Frank Gore a little bit. He's, what, number two guy? Frank Gore?

Yeah. He's got top 15 upside. If they feed him to get him to 1,000, which I think they will, it could be his last game in the NFL. No, he's talking about coming back next year. Could be his last game in the NFL. Somewhere where they've got a quarterback. I'm not saying he's going to be a featured back next year,

but he could end up playing somewhere. He doesn't play special teams, and he's not going to be regarded as a pass catcher. So my guess is it's the last time we see Frank Gore. So there's a great story on him in Sports Illustrated if you want to go read it. And I'm just looking at one of the tweets about the story. So he was in that class, the 2005 draft class,

and the running backs that went ahead of him, Ronnie Brown, was drafted second overall. Cedric Benson was in the first round. Calek Williams was in the first round. And Gore said, once I get healthy, I will never be outrushed by any of those guys. No one in my draft class will ever outrush me again. Gotta love those Hurricanes. All right, let's speed it up here.

Who's your favorite running back in this game, Houston or Indianapolis? Gore. It's Gore. Yeah. We have to avoid Lamar Miller? I would. I don't like the splitting with Alfred Blue, even though Blue's had a lot of carries when it's been a blowout situation. He's still been better, and last week they were actually splitting

a lot earlier in the game than it was two games ago. So I think that they're just going to try and ride a two-headed monster here. That's not going to be good for Miller. All right, rank these three running backs. Or rank these four running backs. Miller, Blue, Malcolm Brown, Sharkandrick West. Miller, West. Who are the other ones?

Malcolm Brown and Alfred West. Miller, West, Brown, Blue. I'll put Blue over Brown. West, Miller, Brown, Blue. I'll put Blue over Brown. West, Miller, Brown, Blue. I'm not certain that Sharkandrick West is going to be that guy. Wait, we'll get to that. We'll get to that game. That's a teaser.

DeAndre Hopkins is number one in both formats for everybody. Jacoby Brissett, he's got a great matchup. He scored 23 fantasy points in the first meeting, but he's outside the top 20, which is hard to trust Jacoby Brissett. Where do you have him? 17. Oh, you do? 23 fantasy points in the first meeting, but he's outside the top 20. It's just hard to trust Jacoby Brissett. Not for me. Where do you have him?

17. Oh, you do? Mm-hmm. Oh, I'm sorry about that. Okay, I thought he was outside your top 20. Nope, I like him this week. Yeah, you like him somewhat. So 17.

Well, I mean, he's not going to be a must-start guy, but a two-quarterback league, I would start him. Okay, Jacoby Brissett. T.Y. Hilton, guys. Huge game. Five for 175-2 in the first meeting against the Texans. Start or sit T.Y. Hilton? I think you can make the case to start him.

Houston's secondary is bad. Colts can end the season with a bang. And target volume has been there for him the past couple of weeks. It's been nice to see. Home game, good matchup, good track record, and chasing a milestone. Okay, T.Y. Hilton or Martavis Bryant? Hilton. I'll take Hilton.

Hilton. Hilton or Keelan Cole? Hilton. Cole. I think I have Cole ranked higher, but that may be changed. Nope, Hilton. Hilton or Derrick Henry? Henry.

Henry. Oh, Henry. Jack Doyle. Heath, you're the high guy on Jack Doyle. You got him fourth in standard, third in PPR. Dave and Jamie have him a little bit lower than that, closer to 10. He's putting up some pretty crappy games lately. Why are you inspired by Jack Doyle?

I like all those targets I think one of them turns into a touchdown this week Be a lot of points scored Okay First set of sneaky play in daily Week 17 daily sneak-a-roo The one thing I don't like about Doyle is He's lining up as a fullback way too much

What are his routes like? Short Which is what they've been all season. And as long as he's running as many routes as he has all season, I'm not bothered by that as much. He's a much better PPR guy than he is. He's just not getting down fast. Oh, sure, sure. He's safer in PPR than standard for sure.

Here we go. Cincinnati is at Baltimore. Stat of the game. The Bengals have allowed nine or more fantasy points in standard scoring leagues to a running back in ten straight games. It's a pretty good floor. But do you trust Alex Collins? He has been a total dud two weeks in a row.

I've dropped him from where we had him. He was a top 12 back for me, and now he's down to the number two range. But I'm not going to drop him out. I'd rather start him over a four net for sure. He's still going to be Baltimore's leading ball carrier. He's going to lead them in carries in the game. He's had 15 or more in one, two, three,

four, five of his last six. He's just had a real stinky rushing average and he hasn't scored in his last two games. We talked about the rookie wall. He may have hit the I've never played this much wall. That's a fair thing to say. So who's the best running back in this game? Geo.

Yep. Giovanni Bernard. Okay. Geo or Deion Lewis? Deion. Lewis. Who'd you say, Heath? Deion.

Okay. I've got Deion third. I'm not saying anybody over Deion. All right. Okay. Fair enough. Except for the other two guys. Except for Bell and McCoy.

Yeah. All right, then. So we love Gio. We like Alex Collins. Would you start Frank Gore or Alex Collins? I'll go Collins over Gore. I am back-to-back, 15-16. Would you start A.J. Green or Mike Wallace?

Green. Green. Green. All right. Heath, are you bold enough? I know you love Mike Wallace. Do. Green or Mike Wallace? Green. Green. Green. All right. Heath, are you bold enough? I know you love Mike Wallace. Do you love him this week? Let's see if Jeremy Macklin plays.

Okay. So A.J. Green is going to be started. He's top 15. What about Mike Wallace? How do you feel about him this week, guys? Can he bounce back from four catches for 60 yards against the Browns? I think he can improve on those numbers, but I think you know what

the range is for him. It's that 6-9 range. Yeah, I've not just ruled out the idea of Mike Wallace scoring a touchdown. I think that's still possible. I think the 6-9 range is fine if he doesn't score. If he does score, then it turns into 12-15. That sounds like a

number three receiver to me. I don't think that is. I think that's incorrect. I think you're incorrect. With a touchdown, that's a number one wide receiver. Without a touchdown, that's a low at number two. Well, against the Bengals, Antonio Brown and Kendall Wright are the only wide receivers with more than 64 yards against the Bengals in their last six games.

They just did a really good job against the Vikings guys and against the Lions guys. Just keep that in mind. Wallace has been pretty consistent. What I meant was he faced the Browns last week and he had four for 60. He's facing the Bengals this week. Yeah, it was rainy. Really cold. It was, yeah.

You've got to keep an eye on weather. We'll do a weather update tomorrow, I think. Geo's a must-start guy. Collins is a number two. Did you say Wallace faced the Browns last week? He faced the Colts last week. He faced the Colts last week. It's still rainy.

Okay. Yeah, there we go. They're the same. They're both really bad. Yeah. Okay, so anyway, anyway. Joe Flacco, have we talked about him? No, I don't think so.

We like Flacco. Right? 28 points. He's right in that tie rod range. Yeah. Yeah, he's a safe 18, a high of about 22. Right. And that's what the Bengals give up every week now, 8 of 10 weeks giving up 18 to 22 fantasy points.

The track record against them is awful. We love the Ravens DST. Ben Watson or Jack Doyle? Watson. Much more upside with him. I like Doyle better. But they're kind of the same. Well, they're both touchdown or bust types of tight ends,

but one's going to get more targets than the other. Okay. Ben Watson or Kyle Rudolph? Watson. I think they're kind of the same, but I will say Rudolph. I will, too. Yeah, Rudolph just hasn't been the same since he started getting hurt. Yeah, he's been playing through an injury and he's been struggling.

Kansas City's at Denver, our final game today, and we can make this one quick. Doma Tapeco will play, and that's not good news for Sharkandrick West. But are there any Chiefs you want to start this week? No. I think I might buy into Mahomes and Daly. There. Because I think, if you remember from the preseason, he had some pretty big plays.

I think West is a low-end number two running back. And I do think there's a little bit of upside there that he just gets all the touches. Just going back to Mahomes for a second, in four preseason games, 34-54 passing, 63 completion percentage, 7.2 yards per pass attempt, four touchdowns, no interceptions. And it could just be a fun opportunity for him to go out there and play even though the matchup will be difficult.

He runs a little bit too. He had 44 rushing yards during the preseason. What about West do you like though? I don't see a lot of upside here given the way the Broncos have played against running backs and the fact that he's playing with backups around him also. It's volume.

I expect him to get 15-plus touches. I think there's a good chance for 20. And that's about it. I think he could do something in the passing game. He's had some stats in the passing game. You look at what he did last year in Week 17. He had 114 yards and two touchdowns. Two years ago in Week 17, he scored a touchdown.

I'm not sure he even knows how to play in week 17 without scoring a touchdown. I bet he keeps his role as a passing downs guy for the Chiefs. And Akeem Hunt takes over for Kareem Hunt because those are the only three running backs they have, unless you count Anthony Sherman. That makes sense. Oh, we'll get a C.J. Spiller signing this week. If C.J. Spiller goes back, that changes everything. But I think West will play. I just think Akeem Hunt might end up taking a lot more work than we're giving him credit for. Yeah, I don't know. We've seen each of the last two years at least. I'm trying to go back to 2014.

Jerk Hendrick West has gotten at least 13 carries in each of the last two weeks, 17th. Okay, I will just say that last year he had 13 to 16 carries in four games, and he scored five fantasy points, six fantasy points, three fantasy points, and 24 fantasy points. So, yeah, the Week 17 thing is what helps. I mean, I'm interested at this point with the slate this week with running backs being questionable. I'm interested in any running back that can get 20 touches.

I don't really care what the matchup is. That's still an opportunity for six points or more and a touchdown, then you're talking about double digits. So that's the appeal there. But with Dometa Pecco playing, there have been nine running backs with 14 or more carries against the Broncos, and four of those nine have scored double-digit fantasy points in standard scoring leagues.

The other five failed to score more than six. So, I mean, it is a really awful matchup for them. Do you like C.J. Anderson or Gio Bernard better? I know you like them both, but who's better, Gio or C.J.? I like Anderson better. I like Gio better. I mean, they're very similar. I want to see how healthy Bernard is.

Right now, I like Bernard better. But if he gets to Friday still dealing with this injury, I'll move Anderson ahead of him. Bernard and PPR. And we're going to start C.J. Anderson over Leonard Fournette, right? Yep. Yes. Would you start C.J. Anderson over

Devante Freeman? I would. Yep. Does anyone have any interest in starting Demarius Thomas? Number three receiver See, I think if they're going to go with Paxton Lynch It's not going to be, let's be conservative Let's see what we have

So with all the other guys missing I think he's going to be fed targets In a game against backup So I think he's still a number two guy Yeah, I would start him over Dez I'd start him over Josh Gordon. Start him over Mark Tavis. I'm with you on that.

All righty. All right, well, that's it. We'll read some emails tomorrow. Those are your AFC home games. NFC tomorrow. Everybody watch Fantasy Football today. Check out our radio show. FantasyFootball.CBSi.com is our email address.

That's CBS, the letter I, not E-Y-E. Probably should have told you that in week one. You're making your Thursday debut today. Yeah, yeah, I sure am. I got to go change. Thank you, Adam. I got to go put my suit on. Where the hell are you going, Dave?

I'm dropping my son off at the airport. He's going on a trip with my parents. Oh, fun. So I've got to shuttle him down to MIA. I want to go on a trip with your parents. If you had had a bar mitzvah this year, you would have done it. Note to self, get bar mitzvahs. Or buy a lot of naughty Nana books.

Okay. Jamie Eisenberg and Heath Cummings. I'm Adam Azer. We'll talk to you Thursday. Friday. Friday. We'll talk to you Friday. Bye.

Bye. Bye.