Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (AFC): Gibson, Watson, Colts RBs and Much More (12/03 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 3, 2020

We're in a cheery mood this morning as Jamey is loving Wednesday night waivers! How does the Fantasy community feel about it? We're also recapping the Ravens-Steelers game (8:40) and telling you who we love (13:40) and who to avoid (16:30) this week. David Montgomery is our Start of the Week! And Jonathan Taylor is set up for a big game as well ... News and notes (19:15) and rankings disputes (23:30) for Kareem Hunt and Nyheim Hines. Then we'll tell you who we're confident in for the last three games we're previewing (30:05): WAS-PIT, DEN-KC, CIN-MIA ... Start or Sit for Browns-Titans (33:26), Colts-Texans (39:30), Patriots-Chargers (49:30), Raiders-Jets (58:10), Washington-Steelers (1:06:00), Broncos-Chiefs (1:11:00), Bengals-Dolphins (1:16:00) ... Email us at [e-mail] Listen to the brand new Fantasy Football Today in 5 podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-in-5/id1528634304 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ 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

Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. Yard after yard, down after down, the sportsbook born in Vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight reel play. And as an official sportsbook partner of the NFL, BetMGM is the best place to fuel your football fandom on every game day. With a variety of exciting features, BetMGM offers you plenty of seamless ways to jump straight onto the gridiron and to embrace peak sports action. Ready for another season of gridiron glory? What are you waiting for?

Get off the bench, into the huddle, and head for the end zone all season long. Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older. Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600.

BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. I'll tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races.

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. All right, what's going on? We're recapping Wednesday night football and figuring out what we're going to do on this free Thursday night. Just a weird day, a weird situation in fantasy football.

We welcome you to the show. Fantasy football today, starter sit for the AFC home games. We're not going to do the Baltimore game today. Let's wait another day. Let's see if we can get some updated info on who's actually going to be playing for the Ravens. But the other AFC home games, they're a fair game. Jamie Heath, good morning. You know, today, Jamie's in a great mood. And there's something that he loves. And there's something that I love that I, you know,

that I wanted to talk about. Heath, figure out something that you love. Jamie, you love Wednesday night waivers. I do. I think it's a positive to know at least some semblance of information about some players you might be looking to pick up. I mean, we talked about this on Tuesday that now you had some idea of what Josh Jacobs' status was. So you could have been a little bit more aggressive on trying to pick up Devante Booker.

And so if Josh Jacobs had practiced, he probably wouldn't have any or much interest in Devante Booker. But now the fact that Josh Jacobs mispractice, you have at least some knowledge. And the other side of that, I'll tell you, I have a couple of leagues where I have a quarterback decision to make. And if this was Tuesday, I would have gone all in on Ryan Fitzpatrick. But the fact that Tua practiced on a limited basis on Wednesday, I decided for some certain scenarios to pick up Mitchell Trubisky instead of Ryan Fitzpatrick because it was more of a backup quarterback situation than a starting quarterback situation. But if I picked up Fitzpatrick, I would have... In the leagues where I picked up Fitzpatrick, I'm picking him up, planning to start him this week.

The leagues where I was deciding between Fitzpatrick and Trubisky was more, okay, now I can just pick up Trubisky and start him next week if he does another good game. Okay, so you apparently, I'm to understand you did a Twitter poll about this subject. Yes. And what were the results? Well, let me find that for you, my friend. The results or Oh, I got them. I voted. What'd you vote for? Oh, you put C results in there?

Come on. Why give it into peer pressure? I voted. Okay. What did you think of waivers running Wednesday night instead of Tuesday? I voted for Tuesday is better. 43% said Tuesday is better. 40.8% said Wednesday is better.

16% said conditioner is better. No, they said see results. So very close, very close. Heath, what would you have voted for, Tuesday or Wednesday? I am voting right now, and I see two of these polls. That's weird. Oh, me too. I have voted, and I voted Wednesday is better.

I would like it if... Wednesday is especially better when there's no Wednesday football. But Wednesday is definitely better, period. Okay. Will you be changing your leagues to Wednesday? It's a lot of work. Yeah, yeah. Let's do it.

It's not as good for... Wednesday waivers. It's not as good for... You're talking about next year, not this year. Yeah, next year. I'm not going to change in the middle of the season. Yeah. It's not as good for... Wednesday waivers. It's not as good for... You're talking about next year, not this year. Yeah, next year. I'm not going to change in the middle of the season. Yeah. It's not as good for trades.

We're in a lot of leagues. I think we probably don't make as many trades as we'd like to make. But if you need someone for week eight and you get your waiver claims in on Tuesday night and you don't get the guy you need, then you know you got to go make a trade. If that happens on Wednesday, that gives you one less day to make a trade. So there's that. There's that. But it also maybe encourages more trades

on the other side of that because you're not necessarily looking, oh my, I'm going to wait to see who I get on waivers. I'm going to try and get somebody on waivers on Tuesday. But if you're having an additional day to have some more conversation before waivers, I think that also can increase some trade. Oh, fine.

You're just, now you're just grasping at straws so you can get this Wednesday waiver thing going. But actually- Well, I mean, I'm the commissioner in 10 leagues that I'm in. So I'm going to change those 10 leagues. And I think you guys are in about five of those. So if you- I don't buy it.

If you change those leagues, you can make that claim right now. Jamie said the same thing last year. I forgot. I'm going to have to hold him to it this year. All right, look, it's- I'm going to send myself a note in every league. Hey, idiot, change change waivers to Wednesday.

You could really reduce your waiver wire workload if you make like half of them Tuesday, half of them Wednesday. But all right, Jamie said on it. Yeah, but again,

half the leagues I play and we'll still be on Tuesday. That's true. So it won't matter. Okay, so the thing I love, oh man, what a month. I love the month of December. Christmas vacation

was on last night and I was just like, oh, holiday time ben schrager have you ever seen christmas vacation not dude what is with you go watch christmas vacation is the bet is the best holiday movie heath what do you love what are you happy about today um happy about anything yeah yeah there's lots of things i'm having thankful it's thursday um i i love week 13 drama oh yeah all the leagues i'm in and i'm not involved in the drama in all of the leagues but there seems to to be a high level this year of week 13 drama in terms of who's making the playoffs. There's a couple leagues, I think, at least one, Adam, where you and I, two, where you and I are right on the precipice of the sixth seed and win and you're in or win and need help and you're in. And it's super stressful and I might hate it on Monday evening, but right now I love it. It's pretty exciting for week 13. Well, in our podcast league, 14 team league, there are four teams that are seven and five

and six teams that are six and six. 10 of the 14 teams are 7-5 or 6-6. That is amazing. Speaking of that league, Jamie, another question about next year. I think I know what the answer is. Are you going to take all of the IR spots away for next year? Or with the trend over the last few years of these temporary ir guys increasing are we just going to leave ir spots and allow people to uh put players on ir and season assuming the world is back to normal and we don't have the issues that we've been dealing with this year with covid

which hopefully is the case obviously more important than football um yes i think there should be ir spots uh not five but maybe two yeah and you allow players who are i think well first off let's assume the nfl goes back to what it was without the three-week ir period and it's an eight-week ir period you should still be able to stash those guys without having to ruin your bench so you know player gets hurt week two they put them on short- term ir it's it's well six weeks i think uh they're out for six weeks you should be able to get that player back if you want without having to ruin your bench so yes and i referenced the podcast league because that's the only league i think that i'm in that regular ir players are not allowed in the ir so once a week

commissioner that is adam has to send me an email saying you've you've got someone in your ir spot and like i'm three and eight who cares but yeah you're wrong heath there's actually another league that you're in where the commissioner doesn't allow ir players to go on ir unless they're on covid ir and that would be the other thing that i'm the commissioner in but i regret that that would be both of the podcast leagues no i i am am all about IR spots. I wish I had done them my entire fantasy football career, basically, or at least as long as the IR had existed. All right, guys, let's move on.

We also, to add to the drama this week, we have two Monday night football games and a Tuesday night football game. So it's going to be wild and we're looking forward to it. I got to- Or as Frank would say, correct. Correct, Frank Stample.

You'll hear Frank Stample tonight on Twitch, by the way, or today on Twitch, 4 p.m. Eastern. Possibly a sneaky ad for you. Flew under the radar a little bit. Justin Jackson is expected back this week. And you know, maybe... Adding him for what? What's that?

What are you adding him for? He could be that second running back on the Chargers. They don't need a second guy. They have a second guy. I mean. They don't need a second guy. They have a second guy. I mean, every year they have a second guy. Josh Kelly scored last week, so maybe, I don't know, maybe Jackson can get 8 to 10 carries

or something like that. Who knows? He's 24% rostered, so I don't know. Deeper League, maybe you want to take a look at him. Pittsburgh, Baltimore, 19-14. Let's go through this one quickly, guys. Not a lot you can take away from the Baltimore game, but you did have the big play from Marquise Brown, 70-yard touchdown catch. I actually haven't checked his roster percentage. I saw him get added in a few of our leagues. It was 72% last night, then waivers ran,

but encouraged or don't really care about this with Marquise Brown? I'm encouraged simply from the standpoint of their schedule is amazing and so i'm hopeful that they can fix their past game to some degree now there is at least one fantasy manager in every league looking for a wide receiver with the will fuller news so as a will fuller fantasy manager in several leagues that was one of the players where i saw him available i put in a claim for him didn't get him um in in most of them but i think if you don't need to start anybody for week 13 you'd like to see something like this again and have him on your bench because he could have this another type of a performance like this against Dallas. They need to get him going.

That's the key to this offense getting better is him getting going. Speaking of Week 13 drama and stress, in one of the leagues where I'm on the cut line, I'm going to have to decide whether I'm buying back in to Marquise Brown or T.Y. Hilton because I have to start one of them this week.

And I don't really feel good about starting either. Well, the thing about Brown is there was no Snead and no Andrews yesterday yesterday both of them on the covet ir list and we don't know if they'll be back and the game's on tuesday so we'll have hopefully more information by the time he has to make that decision on sunday and for hilton there's no bradley robey on the other side so that's good yeah but oh and he's history versus houston too yep you've got a lot of opportunity for targets he had eight targets yesterday, Marquise Brown, and he's still 72% rostered.

As far as the Steelers go, they are not a committee backfield. So don't think that they are. 16 carries for Snell and three for McFarland. Heath, what did you think of the Pittsburgh offense, basically? Like Ben Roethlisberger, did you know that he is 28th in the NFL in yards per attempt? He throws the ball so much. It's like 42 or more pass attempts, yeah,

in five of his last six games. But the yards are so low. He's averaging fewer yards per attempt than Alex Smith. And Claypool's been around 60 yards, four straight games. Juju, thankfully, he scored. I don't know. Hopefully, we get Connor back this week. That's obviously a situation we'll have to monitor.

But your thoughts on the Steelers' offense? More like Big Breeze. Yeah, that's what their offense is. And again, they're a team kind of like the Chargers that are running 70 plays a game. So they can run it 16 times and still throw it 50 times. It was an ugly, gross offensive performance against a Ravens team that I think deserves kudos

for putting up as much of a fight as they did. Their defense played outstanding. The Steelers' offense was pretty awful. I'll be a little bit nervous about Pittsburgh on such short rest against a Washington team that's obviously a lot more rested and has a lot more to play for. I mean, the Steelers are playing for a perfect season, and that's great.

They're playing for the one seed, but Washington still thinks they're playing for a division. I guess they are. They are. Listen, the Benny Snell touches were very encouraging. The Benny Snell efficiency, not as much. But you're starting him this week as long as Connor's out. A couple things with the Steelers offense.

First off, the drops were awful. Unbelievable with how many drops that they had in that game. Really, everybody but Juju Claypool had bad drops. Deontay Johnson was just terrible in that game. Ebron had a couple drops. Mike Tomlin, if you go read the quotes, but if you heard it, I mean, an unhappy camper for a guy who just won a game. And then he mentioned the defense for the Steelers.

They lose Bud Dupree. That's not good. He's out for the season with an ACL. I think also on the offensive side, not having Mike Pouncey there showed up a little bit, too, with how they were running the ball. Not that they've run the ball very well this season at all, but the one thing that Mike Tomlin actually praised was Benny Snell. So if Snell is the starter there, I think he should

be encouraged by that. But I expect the Steelers offense to bounce back in a big way, just based on how things unfolded for them. Because there are a lot of plays left on the table there for how that game could have gone. And I'm thankful in one league, because in the guillotine league, I was up 10, Benny Snell versus Deontay Johnson. And that play in the fourth quarter where he's essentially going to run for a touchdown and the ball hits him in the hands and he drops it. That would have probably lost me that league. All right.

So if you want to hear instant reaction to games instead of having to wait till like 1130 or 1030 AM, check out the fantasy football today in five podcasts That comes out first thing in the morning. FFT in 5. Check it out. It's great. Yeah, we're having a lot of fun with it. It's five, six minutes.

Piece of cake and good fantasy info. Very digestible first thing in the morning. And also, watch us on Twitch today. Twitch.com slash FF today. We'll give you some start or sit advice, any type of advice you want. 4 p.m. Eastern. Myself, Frank Stample, Chris Towers,

4 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. Eastern on Twitch.com slash FF today. Let's talk about who we love, who we're avoiding this week. Jamie, your start of the week. David Montgomery. You know, it's a great matchup. Obviously, the Lions are number one in fantasy points allowed to opposing running backs. First in touchdowns allowed to running backs.

He looked great last week coming off of his concussion and by, you know, with the a hundred yard rushing first one of the season, we know he's been there passing down sky had five catches in the, in the first game that Trubisky and Montgomery have played together where Trubisky started without three Cohen on the field. So it was good to see him lean on him in that regard. So I think it's just a great setup for David Montgomery to be a potential number one running back, but a guy you can certainly start as a number two option

this week, just given the scenarios they're scheduled to close the season is fantastic. And so it's going to be fun to see how the Bears, Vikings, and 49ers battle for that final playoff spot in the NFC. There are obviously some other teams in the mix, depending on how things go. But those three teams right now look like they're going to be contending for that final spot. And if the Bears take advantage of the schedule coming up, it could be really good for them. But for this week against the Lions, David Montgomery is a good spot. My only concern is the last time I used a running back against a first time interim head coach was Alexander Madison against Raheem Morris. And that went extremely poorly, but, uh, that's a defensive

guy. This is an offensive guy. So I'm not so concerned. Okay. Would you start David Montgomery over Ezekiel Elliott? A hundred percent. How about over the starting running back for the Raiders? Whoever that might be? No. Okay. I would start him over Devante Book. I'll start Jacobs over him. Okay. Heath, how do you feel about... I mean, sorry. Who do you love this week? You don't have to ask me how I feel about David Montgomery. I've been telling you for two

months. Jonathan Taylor. And it's kind of like the returning running backs are who I love. Jonathan Taylor, DeAndre Swift, Myles Gaskin, assuming that he's playing. But Taylor specifically, fantastic matchup against Houston. Almost as bad as the Lions

in terms of run defense. Last time we saw Jonathan Taylor play, they unleashed him. 26 touches, 114 yards. And I think he's going to be a top 12 running back this week. But you know, he's gonna be a top 12 running back this week but you know he's the ultimate fooled you because like he does have these games with a big workload and then they

come back the next week they give him like 13 carries but he always gets the carries at the start of the game and it's if he falters then they work the other guys in you're not gonna falter against the texans okay i want to say something real quick because I looked prior to last week before he was placed on the COVID list and his numbers at home dramatically different than his numbers on the road. 13 something, 13 point something PPR points at home

versus nine on the road. I wonder if that's an indoor outdoor thing. I don't know. Who are we avoiding Heath I'll give a controversial one I would like to avoid Chris Carson

I was scared by the way they distributed touches last week and it was a lot of Carlos Hyde's work came in the second half but he was out touching Chris Carson early in the game as well. And this Giants defense has only allowed one running back to over 60 yards since week five. They're easier to attack through the air. I think Russ will cook in this game. I think you'll need a touchdown to feel good about starting Carson. I don't think it'll

be a great yardage game for him. Interesting. I think, Jamie, you're probably more optimistic on Carson. I downgrade him a little bit. The fact that he was limited in practice yesterday, I was hoping that he'd be full. The other side of that, though, is that Carlos Hyde was limited in practice, also the toe injury. And we know what that guy's injury track record has been. So

if you're the Chris Carson fantasy manager, most people are going to start Chris Carson. I don't think we're going to tell a lot of people to sit him and they're going to listen. It's just one of those scenarios where, you know, unless you have great options, like if you pick up Devante Booker and Jacob is out, you could sit him.

You have James Robinson. They're obviously scenarios, but I think for the most part, you're going to see Chris Carson started. And I get that, but I had him as a top 10 running back prior to Wednesday. I moved him outside the top 15 because of this practice scenario, because I think that's at play is that he's not 100%.

And I'm concerned as well. I'm not going to sit him, but I am concerned that he is less than 100%. I would start Benny Snell over him. No, interesting. And you're very anti-Benny Snell. I'm anti-Benny Snell. Yeah. Okay.

So how about Jamie, player to avoid? All the player to avoid ezekiel elliott um you know you've seen now what the the track record is he's got one game with more than i think it's 11 ppr points since dac prescott has been out and now he lost two offensive linemen again he's going to be facing a raven's defense that may be close to full strength depending on what happens but even if they're not they're're going to, I'm sure, key in on stopping Zeke. And look, Benny Snell had a strong game for who Benny Snell is. Ezekiel Elliott would take that game right now in a heartbeat,

based on what he's done since Dak has gone down. So it's the same thing like Carson. Most people aren't going to sit Ezekiel Elliott unless you have just great options. But he's outside my top 20 and low-end starting running back this week. Got some news and notes

to get to here, and then we will do ranking disputes and we will get to the games. Josh Jacobs did mispractice. They seem optimistic that he's going to play, and he didn't play at full strength last week. It would be... I hope he's out personally because guys, I don't want a split. I'm worried that if he plays, he's going to play at less than a hundred percent and they're not going to really

feature him. And, you know, Jamie, you just said that you'd start David Montgomery over Booker, but not over Jacobs. But do you think it's like a Geo Mixon situation where it might even just be better if Booker's just the guy? 100%. Totally with you. And just to tie it into the league that Heath mentioned, our podcast league, myself and the guys share the team with Todd Rones. We have both Jacobs and Booker.

And in talking last night with with Todd about our lineup. He said exactly what you said, Adam, he would like it for Jacobs to not play because you hate to see him start get hit in the ankle turn the wrong way gimpy comes off the field and he's he's not right. And look, the Raiders defense look awful last week against the Falcons. Their defense has been bad all season. Their offense looked bad last week against the Falcons. But they could blow out the Jets.

And if they do so with a couple of touchdowns through the air, maybe a defensive score, you may not see Jacobs in the second half very much. So it's very dicey at this point with Josh Jacobs. But if he gets some semblance of a full practice, then I think you've got to buy into him being healthy. And so he would be the better of the two running backs just knowing that he's been the guy. 21.1 touches per game

on the season. He's third in terms of carries on the year. Yeah, and he's got 21 or more carries and five of their six wins. When they win, he gets a ton of work. We'll talk about this game a little bit later, but the Jets have actually been okay against the run recently. They've only allowed one rushing touchdown to a running back

in their last six games. We'll come back to that game later in the show. Kenny Galladay mispractice. Tuatunga Vailoa says his thumb is feeling good. We'll see if he plays. Trubisky starting this week. Adam Thielen is expected to play, and Irv Smith mispractice. So that's one good piece of news for Kyle Rudolph's fantasy value

with Smith missing practice, but with Thielen coming back, that's not as good. Daryl Bevel is optimistic about DeAndre Swift playing. Please, DeAndre Swift, please play. Also, apparently the Bears or the Lions are picking up the pace at practice with Daryl Bevel now. They're going to maybe be a little more up-tempo. That would be good for fantasy.

Jonathan Taylor is back. John Smith missed practice with a knee injury. Todd Gurley was limited fantasy. Jonathan Taylor's back. John Smith mispracticed with a knee injury. Todd Gurley was limited, so he returned to practice. David Johnson is off IR. We don't know if he'll play today. He has three weeks to come back or play this week. Rather, he has three weeks to come back. He's not technically off IR.

His window is open. So for those of you who have him in an IR spot, you can still stash him. Okay. Right, right. Unless you're in more than one. Let's see. Left tackle Anthony Costanzo have him in an IR spot. You can still stash him. Okay. Right. Right. Unless you're not, unless you're a better way to say, um, let's see left tackle. Anthony Costanzo mispractice for the Colts, DJ Chark and Chris Conley return.

They were limited. Phillip Lindsay mispractice. There's some optimism that he will play, but you know, Melvin Gordon's value goes, goes up a lot. When Lindsay is out dolphins running back, still don't know, but Savan Ahmed was limited in practice.

Maybe we could see Gaskin this week. That game we're previewing. That's the last game we'll preview today. Mike Lennon is going to start for Jacksonville. Bud Dupree out for the year, as we mentioned. Nelson Aguilar mispracticed. Jets have been terrible against wide receivers lately. We'd love to see Aguilar play. The Bills have been terrible against tight

ends all year, but Matt Milano could play this week. And even when he had played earlier this year, he had really not been healthy and not play it, been playing a full share of snaps. So a healthy Matt Milano is a huge key for Jordan Reed, or if I don't know how much faith you have in Reed, but just in general,

the bill is out there, pick them up. And if he's not out there, AJ Klein has been fantastic. And Dion Jones was just a, he's not on the bills, but just an IDP guy. That was my only claim that I made in the IDP league. I did not get it. He was like the number one priority, but Dion Jones is crushing it right now in IDP. Should I pick up Matt Milano? Should I go, should I pull a Vander Esch on Jamie right now?

I think I might, although I think I might be wasting a little bit too much time and I have to get back to the news and notes. I'm not picking him up. You can pick him up. All right. JC Jackson for the Patriots. He was limited. Fletcher Cox, mispractice. Akeem Hicks, mispractice.

Desmond Trufant, Detroit cornerback. He's on IR. And Daniel Jones, mispractice. We don't have a lot of ranking disputes. Let's do a couple here that are interesting. Kareem Hunt. I would say the best call that Heath made this year, Kareem Hunt, had him in so many leagues, and he's really paid off.

Wasn't great last week, only had 10 touches. But Heath, you're supposed to be the guy who loves Kareem Hunt. You got him 22nd. Jamie has him 9th, and that's the same in both formats. I think Jamie might have Maith and PPR. But Heath, not loving Kareem Hunt, low end starter. Yeah, low end starter. The touches each of the last two weeks do bother me a little bit.

And the fact that they haven't really been throwing to their running backs all that much. And he was the pass catching running back and probably still is. But last week they threw to Chubb more than they did to Hunt and he has one catch in his past two games. So I'm still starting Kareem Hunt as a number two running back. I'm just not loving him. Okay, Jamie, you're starting him as a number one running back. Top 10.

Yeah, I still think that this is the best rushing offense in football. I think it's going to be actually a high scoring game between the Titans and the Browns based on how these two defenses have looked and how these offenses will perform. So, I mean, maybe I have a few spots too high, so I could probably see myself downgrading him one

or two spots, but he's so involved in this offense and, you know, how great they are. You're starting, Kareem. I mean, I'm sure he could play the same. Breaking news, I'm not going to pick up Matt Milano. A man named Nicholas Morrow on the Las Vegas Raiders has been

terrific lately with 20 tackles in his last three games. I'll be keeping him. You weren't going to get him anyway because I'm ahead of you in the waiver order and he's on waivers. No, he's not on waivers. Go ahead and get him i'll see did you already did i put in a claim i'm sitting there waiting for him on waivers until

he's on waivers that's what it says all right go have fun so you vanderushed me good job uh naheem hines you have heath you have naheem hines like 14th in ppr um i think that naeem hines and and jonathan taylor can both be very good in a very good matchup and so i'm still okay with starting naeem hines even with jonathan taylor back and that's so interesting would you start him over chris carson in ppr i would and jamie you have Hines in PPR 26th. I think he's a good flex. You know, I don't think you're going to see both these guys have big games.

Certainly could. The Texans, you know, just, I had Hines as a start for start set with the thought of Taylor missing the game. They've struggled with pass catching running backs. I think it's seven running backs have had at least four catches against them this season. Two guys for the Lions did it last week.

So, you know, if he scores, then he's probably going to be a top 15 guy. If he doesn't score, I don't see that happening unless there's just a lot of bad performances across the board for running backs. But in PPR, he's in that JD McKissick, James White, you know, kind of player that, you know, he's going to be involved in the passing game.

And we've seen Phillip Rivers throw the ball out lately. That is true. All right. So that's really like not the best week for rankings disputes, but hopefully that means we have some... He's an Irish simpatico this week. Yeah, I hope so. We'll have some confident picks

and give you some conviction behind them this week. We'll get to the games in a moment. I do want to tell you, though, we don't have Thursday night football this week. So usually get to the games in a moment. I do want to tell you, though, we don't have Thursday night football this week. So usually I tell you how to watch Thursday night football on Amazon Prime. But football fans, if you are an Amazon Prime member, did you know that you can watch NFL football live on Prime Video? And I've done it and it's awesome. That's right. It's the future of football. This week, instead of Thursday night, watch the Dallas Cowboys at the Baltimore Ravens

this Tuesday, December 8th. You can catch all the action on any device almost anywhere in the world. You can choose your favorite announcer, including Troy Aikman and Joe Buck, or Bucky Brooks and Daniel Jeremiah from Move the Sticks. You can get next-gen stats and watch in-game replays on demand all within Prime Video's X-Ray. Again, that's the Cowboys at the Ravens. It's Tuesday. Kickoff is at 8.05 p.m. Eastern on Prime Video. Also available on Fox and NFL Network.

NFL Network simulcast, Subject to Change, presented by Bud Light Platinum. Hey, Adam, I don't usually toot our horn very often, but I wanted to congratulate Jamie on earning a buy in the Scott Fishbowl playoffs. Dave Richard also in the Scott Fishbowl playoffs. Former podcast member Ben Gretch also in the Scott Fishbowl playoffs. I know where this is going. Where? Chris Towers also earned a buy and he is in the Scott Fishbowl playoffs. So congratulations. It was a good

showing by the CBS sports crew. Did you not make the playoffs? Oh, I was I think I finished 52nd overall. I got a buy as well congratulations oh wow thanks how do i find out if i made the playoffs um there is a playoff page and you go and you search for your name so i'll search for azure i'm sure i did make the playoffs or you um adam azure i think you did make the play really um i I think you're in Conference 11.

It looks like you were the third lowest scoring team to make the playoffs. Hey! You need to score a lot of points this week to get through the wildcard week. But you are, it looks like you're in. Congratulations. I think I have DeAndre Swift, if I recall.

So, yeah, all right. I've got a squad. I've got Mahomes. Okay, let's do it. Thank you. I made the playoffs. Cool. I made the rooster.

I'm glad my investment went far. What's that? My donation to get you into the league. Oh, I don't remember that being a thing. The Stardome meter. You don't remember me donating $500 to get you in the league? No, I actually don't. That happened?

It was on air. Did you donate $500 to get me in the playoffs? My God. Thank you, Jamie. Ungrateful. Oh, I love that Adam has no recollection of that. I don't remember. I have a terrible memory.

Okay, the Stardometer. So I'm going to do three games. I like the way we've been doing it. Tell me who you have confidence in. You're confidently starting in these games. Washington at Pittsburgh. Jamie, who are you confidently starting? I'm confidently starting the entire Steelers main offensive guys

because I think Ben bounces back. I think Snell's a good number two running back. I think Ben bounces back. I think Snell's a good number two running back. I think all three receivers are in play as they typically are, and Ebron's a starting tight end. And then I'm confidently starting Antonio Gibson and Terry McCorn. Are you confident in Antonio Gibson?

Because he hasn't been nearly as good in the games that they've lost. He hasn't had, I don't think, maybe one game with more than 13 carries in which they've lost. One game with more than 65 total yards in a loss. So yeah, you're confident in him.

I am. I'm confident in his role in the passing game after what I saw last week that I think that's going to continue. So it's very hard to get away from a player who's been as successful as he is. Montgomery or Gibson? Right now I have Gibson, but I may change that.

Montgomery. Start of the week. Yeah, that's probably the better way to go. Heath, who are you confident in in the Denver-Kansas City game? The Chiefs. What about that? I am confident in the Chiefs. Well, are you confident in Clyde Edwards-Zehler? I'm starting Clyde Edwards-Zehler.

The confidently thing trips me up, but he's a top 20 running back for sure. Top 15, I believe, in all formats. I'm starting Melvin Gordon. That's the only Bronco that I'm confident in. Both Judy and Patrick are in play as number three options. Noah Fant is a borderline top 12 tight end.

I wouldn't blame anybody for starting him. Wait, hold on. The Melvin Gordon thing, that's contingent on Lindsey missing the game? It is, but if Phillip Lindsey plays, he's probably going to leave by halftime anyway. So I'm probably... Melvin Gordon would be a borderline number

two high-end flex if Lindsey was playing. If Lindsey's out, then Melvin Gordon's a high-end number two for me. For CEH, in their last six games, eight running backs have had 10 or more carries against the Broncos. Six of them averaged

4.9 yards per carry or more. They've allowed eight rushing touchdowns to running backs in their last six games, including four against Vegas. They've been a terrible run defense. I just hope he gets 10 carries. Yeah, I can't take it for granted. All right, so those are two of the three games.

How about the last one? Cincinnati at Miami. Jamie, I'll go to you first. Who are you confidently starting in this game? No Bengals. Yeah, right. Miles Gaskin, if he plays. What if he and Ahmed both play?

Miles Gaskin, if he plays. All right. Devante Parker, mostly with Ryan Fitzpatrick. Still probably confidently with Tua Tagovailoa. And if Ryan Fitzpatrick plays, I'm confident in him, and I would be confident in Mike Gusecki as well. Heath, you mostly agree there? Yeah.

Yeah, I would say Parker is kind of like Melvin Gordon. He's a high-end number two if it's Fitzpatrick, and he's a borderline number two if it's Tua. He's a borderline number two. Yeah, okay. Let's go to the games then. Cleveland at Tennessee. Your stat of the game. Contrasting styles here. A couple of games like this on the slate. Tennessee, they see the second most pass attempts in the NFL per game.

And you know Cleveland. They don't throw the ball. So we shall see what happens here. You guys do not have Baker Mayfield in your top 15. So he is a sit. And then, yeah, we talked about Kareem Hunt, but anything you want to like, I guess we can do some Kareem Hunt compared

Jarvis Landry or Kareem Hunt. How about that? Hunt. Hunt and non Landry and PPR. Sure. I would start David Montgomery over Kareem Hunt? How about that? Hunt. Hunt and non-Landry and PPR? Sure. I would start David Montgomery over Kareem Hunt. Jamie, I don't think you would, right? I might. Like I said, I probably have Hunt a few spots too high.

So that's something that could certainly change. But again, you're starting Kareem Hunt. I don't know how many people are going to sit Kareem Hunt. Okay. Nick Chubb is obviously going to start. Five straight games with 19 or more carries and 108 or more yards and he's a fourth quarter monster all right let's talk about jarvis landry because you guys are much higher on him than dave is and i think dave's argument is like he just faced the jaguars they're awful and he had a great game eight catches 143 yards and a touchdown on 11 targets that was not quite enough for Dave to,

let me just double check. Make sure Titans are also awful. They are not the Jaguars passing. You guys have Landry top 20. Um, and he has him. Not even in his top 30. I,

it's not just that they face the Jaguars. It's the first game in good weather without Odell Beckham that we seen them, you know, have some semblance of a pass game. And Baker was bad in that game. Baker missed some wide open throws. I mean, he was not efficient at all. And so you just look at the target chair for Landry first game without Beckham in good weather facing another bad opponent, the bad opponent, the over under,

I think is among the highest of the week, which is shocking given how these two teams want to play based on their style but I think they're going to be you know I think they'll run they'll have success running but I think they're going to throw the ball a little bit too I mean I think you're going to see um you know the Titans typically their offense doesn't change very much you know because they'll still run when they're trailing obviously unless they're trailing huge but we really haven't seen that that often um I think they're going to score, and I think the Browns are going to score. So I think Landry's in a good spot here. Okay.

Is he better than Corey Davis in this game? Yes. Corey Davis or Kareem Hunt, PPR? I'll take Kareem Hunt. Davis just doesn't get a ton of targets.

Yeah. We know his floor is likely 10 PPR fantasy points, 10 or 11, with obviously room for improvement after that. So Heath, how about you, Corey Davis or Kareem Hunt PPR? I said Hunt. Oh, I'm sorry. Austin Hooper. So Heath a little bit lower on Hooper. Dave and Jamie have him around 12th.

Heath has him 17th, 19th, depending on the format. Anything to say here on on hooper a tight end has had 50 or more yards or a touchdown in five of the last six games against tennessee that would be fells ebron graham andrews and burton they suck against tight ends they've a lot of tight end to score in uh three of the last four games. Yeah. So Heath. Yeah, it's just, it's a, it's a projections thing more than anything. He's got nine targets in the three games since he came back and a total of 57 yards in those three games. And even against Jacksonville, he had two catches for 13 yards and scored a

touchdown. I guess he might score a touchdown. I wouldn't dispute that. But it also might be Harrison Bryant. So as of now, you all have Kyle Rudolph ahead of Austin Hooper. What would you do? Evan Ingram or Austin Hooper, knowing that Jones is unlikely to play. I'd still go Ingram.

Ingram. Okay. Okay. Yeah, Ingram. We talked about Ryan Tannehill yesterday and he seems to like him more than Dave, but everybody's got him

top 12. Jamie, who would you start Ryan Tannehill over? I'd start him over Cam, over Taysom, over Big Ben, over Stafford, Ryan, Carr.

Okay, I like it. So yeah, top 12 guy, ninth for Jamie, seventh for Heath. Derrick Henry, we're going to start. A.J. Brown, we're going to start. And Corey Davis is like a number two, number three wide receiver. So yeah, pretty easy stuff there. Johnnie Smith mispracticed, any interest in a Titans tight end,

whether it's Smith, whether it's Ferkser, or Cleveland does allow the fourth most fantasy points to tight ends. I think they've been getting a little, well, they had been getting better, but in their last three games, here are the tight ends who have caught touchdowns against Cleveland.

Farrell Brown, Dallas Goddard, Richard Rogers, and Tyler Eifert. They have really gone to like tight end by committee. Jeff Swaim is catching passes. Anthony Ferkser has outproduced Jonu Smith multiple times. I might feel better about Ferkser if Jonu was out actually, but I don't want to start a Titans tight end. Yeah, Jonu the game before had six targets in week 11. I'm surprised he didn't have a catch last week or a target last week. That was weird. I know they just lost their

backup left tackle, so I don't know how much that played into it. Maybe he was blocking a little more. I got to look more into that. The Browns are down Ronnie Harrison, so they're down another member of their secondary. Like you said, Adam, they've allowed four touchdowns to tight ends in the last three weeks. If John practices, he is definitely in play for me.

As you said, if he's out, Fer he is definitely in play for me. Okay. And, uh, he said, if he's out, first, there's a play, right?

To be clear, I would like, I kind of poo pooing Johnny. I would start Johnny for Hooper. Okay. Yeah. Maybe he didn't get targets last week because he was hurt.

No, has a bad, has a bad game. He's played every snap from what I saw. Played 75% of the snaps. I believe. Well, his usual snap count.

Oh, sure. Yeah. Indianapolis is at Houston. Let's go to that game. We got a couple of stats of the game. Stat of the game number one. Okay, this is for Jonathan Taylor, hopefully. A running back has scored 15 or more PPR fantasy points against Houston in 9 of

11 games. And for Naeem Hines, or maybe for Taylor, who knows? A running back has 28 or more receiving yards against Houston in nine of 11 games. And for Naeem Hines, or maybe for Taylor, who knows? A running back has 28 or more receiving yards against Houston in seven straight games. That's a lot. They're so bad. I mean, just go back to Thursday night. Just go back to Thanksgiving. That Lions-Texans game. Those two teams are so bad against running backs. It's unbelievable. CJ Proceiss, Duke Johnson scoring, Adrian Peterson with two touchdowns. Kerrion Johnson had a pretty good game if he didn't bumble.

So this is a great game for, a great setup for the Colts. And then I'll get you started on game number two in a little bit. Also want to point out DeForest Buckner and Danico Autry might not play. They have the most quarterback pressures on the Colts. So they are not, what's that? Big. Yep. They're not necessarily pass rushts. So they are not... Big. What's that? Big. Yep. They're not necessarily pass rushers.

They're not edge rushers, but they pressure. And that certainly matters. All right. So who are the tough calls in this game? How do you feel about the passing game for the Colts? I'm going to go back to Pittman without Roby there. You know, the fact that he's got seven or more targets in three of his last four

games, I think they're trying to get him involved. I think with the way rivers are throwing the ball, you want to, you know, you can buy into those targets. He wasn't good last week, but you know,

the two of the three previous games, he was good. So he's not a must start by any stretch, but you know, he's in that number three wide receiver range. And like he said, the track record for TY Hilton against the Texans is pretty impressive, but he's in that number three wide receiver range. And like he said, the track record for T.Y. Hilton against the Texans is pretty impressive,

but he just has not been impressive. It's good that he scored last week, so maybe he finishes the season strong, but more of a number four receiver than a number three guy for me. And then Trey Burton is the best of the trio of tight ends, but again, not somebody you should have a lot of confidence in. Yeah, I like Pittman as a number three wide receiver.

That's probably about it. Heath, you're the highest on Rivers. You've got him 14th. Jamie has him 18th. And Dave, 19th. Discuss. I mean, I'm not super excited about him, but it is a very good matchup against a very bad defense.

And he has, over the last six weeks been in that 280 ish yard range in four of the six games. He's got multiple touchdown passes in four of those games. So there's, there's some hope as a high end number two quarterback. I don't really understand why we're not, why Jamie and Dave aren't higher on Phillip rivers. I mean,

he scored 21 or more points in four of six games, 27 or more in three of six games, 27 or more in three of six games. Only one game in his last six with fewer than 18 points. That's a decent floor. And that was against Baltimore. So yeah, Jamie, how come you're not higher on Phillip Rivers?

I like Phillip Rivers. And I probably will move him ahead of like where I have Cam, you know, who's around 15. So Cam will drop a few spots and Rivers will move up. The only concern I do have is that his toe is bothering him and you can bludgeon the Texans with the ground game. So not only is Jonathan Taylor back, Ryan Kelly is also back. And so this could be a very conservative game plan for the Colts who are coming off a loss,

trying to still reestablish themselves as a playoff contender and hopefully, for their sake, the best team in the AFC South. So I think with Taylor back, with Kelly back, with Rivers hurt, I don't think we're going to see 40-plus pass attempts like we have been seeing. Plus, you now have the other side where they're down a little fuller. Will the offense be as successful for the Texans? Will you start Rivers?

Will you have Rivers over Tua if he's back? I will have Rivers over Tua. So he might move up a couple spots. True. But because obviously you guys have Fitzpatrick over Phil Rivers. Right. And it is worth noting that the Texans in their last two games, they faced quarterbacks who threw 40 to 42 passes,

and they weren't that good. Cam Newton had 20 points. Matthew Stafford had 17, but they are also down Bradley Roby for the rest of the year. They haven't given up multiple passing touchdowns since week seven, but three of the last four quarterbacks, I believe, have been over 295 passing touchdowns. Okay.

So Rivers could have like an 18 to 20-point game. I don't see him having a huge game, but I see him having a serviceable game. So if you're down Tom Brady and you couldn't pick up Fitzpatrick if he starts, or Trubisky, who I know Heath likes Trubisky better than Rivers also, Rivers to me

was the third guy. He's the one that I think better than Baker, even though Baker's got a great matchup also, but at least in terms of volume, you can trust Rivers' volume more so than Baker's. Jonathan Taylor's top 12 for Jamie and Heath, about 18th for Dave. So he's a start.

We already talked about in the rankings disputes, Naeem Hines. Jamie's got him as a flex, and Heath has him as a top 15 guy in PPR. And this is a good matchup for these running backs. Michael Pittman or Corey Davis? Davis. Michael Pittman

or the starting running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers? Steelers. Yeah, Snell. Okay. And Trey Burton is... Okay, he's outside the top 15. Deshaun Watson, he's top seven.

Are there any players that you'd start over Watson that you normally wouldn't? I'm not there yet. No. Especially if, I mean, the only one I guess would be Herbert. If Buckner and Autry are out, I think Watson will still be very good. He won't be top three good like he's been.

But this is the discovery game. You know, this is the one you want to see. How's he going to be? How's he going to perform? Who's going to step up? You know, will he run more? Will they throw to the running backs more? You know, those are all the things that are in play right now. And, you know, the hope would be is that this is Deshaun Watson proving that he didn't need DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller was great for him. And now he's got to prove once again that he doesn't need Will Fuller and can still be great. Speaking of those running backs, how do you feel about Duke Johnson

or maybe David Johnson this week? As the Colts have a pretty good run defense, but again, those two defensive tackles, they're key players here. How would you feel about the Johnsons? Much more encouraged if those two guys don't play and much more encouraged about David than guys don't play and much more encouraged about david than duke if he does play yeah duke is a high-end flex and johnson would be more of a number two running back okay so naeem hines or duke johnson if david David Johnson's out? Hein in PPR.

Yeah. Duke in non-PPR. Sure. Cool. And then the Houston wide receivers, Brandon Cooks, must start, right? You know what's weird? I've been watching this every week

because I keep putting him in the start set column as a start wide receiver, and I've been pretty consistent with that almost every week since Bill O'Brien's firing. His start percentage has not been above 80 percent really i don't know who people are starting over brandon cooks that you have this luxury kudos to you um probably more so non-ppr than ppr because you know when he doesn't score you're getting seven eight points uh but he's been pretty consistently 12 to 13 ppr points every week. And this is the last time I will mention him in start set because I can't imagine it's going to be lower than 80

unless he has a miserable game. But yeah, I'm pleasantly surprised that he's not started in more leagues. So kudos again to those people who... That kind of fits with the DFS story, though. He's been underpriced in DFS every single week. Right. Okay. And any interest in kiki qt 12 rostered he should absolutely be added

yeah yeah but he's not a top 48 wide receiver for me he is for me but it's because i think once you get past kind of like the 37, 38 range, it's kind of just a crapshoot. So I'll take my chances on him maybe getting those seven targets that are available now with Wolf Fuller gone. And so you don't have to start him. I certainly understand people not wanting to. But again, his roster percentage should be somewhere near 50% by Sunday. Factoring in, again, a lot of people that have stopped playing. But if he

does have a good game you're going to regret it not picking him up i um i think you have to approach this without will fuller in one of three ways um more pass more targets for the running backs duke and or david johnson and so you boost one of those guys up into the top 20. More targets for Kiki QT. And so you're considering him as a flex or more targets for the tight ends. And so then you're considering those guys as good streamers. You got to pick up

Aikens too if you've been playing the tight end roulette game. Right. You guys have Aikens in your top 14. Heath has him in his top 12. And I think you have him seventh in PPR. And I will just point out, I mean, the Colts allow the second fewest fantasy points to tight ends. Only Robert Tunyon has caught a touchdown

against the Colts. Mark Andrews, 22 yards. They haven't faced, I guess, the toughest competition, but they've done well. The second fewest fantasy points to tight ends. They've kind of, no, I guess not. I was but they've done well. The second fewest fantasy points to tight ends. They've kind of, no, I guess not. I was thinking they'd kind of been trending the wrong direction against tight ends,

but John who Smith had that rushing touchdown. Well, the Packers tight ends had nine for 75 against them. The Ravens tight ends had seven for 68 against them. And then there was the rushing touchdown, but that's about it. So not really. Okay.

But yeah, I mean, Aikens dropped two touchdowns last week. So not a bad guy to pick up right now. I am still in shock. If I feel a little off today, it's because I can't believe I made the playoffs in the Scott Fish Bowl. But thank you for making my day, Heath,

and letting me know. New England at the Chargers. Stat of the game, number one. Oh, I didn't give stat of the game number two in the other game. It was that the Texans have had two pass catchers with either 95 yards or a touchdown in every game but one this year.

So think about that. So in all likelihood, based on the history, well, you don't know because four is out, but you would expect two guys to either find the end zone or have a big game in the receiving game. Okay, anyway, over to the Chargers and the Patriots. Justin Herbert has thrown 42 or more passes in five of his last six games.

The Patriots have seen by far the fewest pass attempts in the NFL. 316 pass attempts in 11 games. Number two is Washington with 343 pass attempts. So you got that Cleveland Tennessee game where you got that contrast in styles and this game. The Chargers throw, throw, throw and nobody

throws on the Patriots. But they are last in yards per attempt. Anyway, what's your level of confidence in Justin Herbert coming off a bad game last week? A billion. Yeah. and Herbert coming off a bad game last week. A billion? Yeah, I think there's another angle to that as well, like the contrasting styles. Patriots opponents have run 646 offensive plays this season.

That's fewer than 60 per game. There's like one team in the whole NFL that's running fewer than 60 offensive plays per game. The Chargers ran like 83 offensive plays. They've run 799 offensive plays for the season. They're averaging the most play. So, and it makes sense when you think of the way that the Patriots operate offensively. It's run, run, run, run, run.

The clock keeps moving. They don't want the other team to have the ball. Herbert's pass attempts have been over 42 and five is last six. Their run pass rate is not actually run heavy or pass heavy. They're not a team that throws it a lot

more than they pass it. They just run 75 plays a game so they can have high totals in both. If the Patriots, against a very bad run defense, or at least a bad one, are able to control the clock, that could be...

I think there's a little more risk for the Chargers in that regard. I don't think the Patriots are going to stop Justin Herbert. But they might be able to keep the ball away enough to where the Chargers only run 60 plays, and then it might only be 25 to 30 pass attempts.

Imagine the coaching difference in this game, how Anthony Lynn has butchered this team. Comparatively to Bill Belichick and what he's done historically for his team. Yeah, who's going to win this game? I would assume the Patriots, but there's a talent difference here that I don't know if it will actually show up

because of what Anthony Lynn does. That coaching decision at the end of last game for the Chargers, not taking a field goal, running the ball as many times as he did, blaming it on miscommunication. Yeah, from your brain as he did. Blaming it on miscommunication. Yeah, from your brain to your mouth, there was apparently some miscommunication. I don't understand what he's doing.

And I like Anthony Lynn. I thought he was going to be a good head coach. He just hasn't worked out this season. But things just haven't worked out from this season. But the Chargers are getting healthy, which we saw show up last week. Joey Bosa was a machine. Yeah, so let's just talk about the starts and the sits here because the other thing that I wanted to mention is that

there's only been one team against the Patriots that have had multiple wide receivers score more than eight non-PPR or 12 PPR fantasy points, and that was Seattle. Houston came close in week 11. But I know, Jamie, you have some fears about Mike Williams to begin with with Austin Eckler back. In terms of the Chargers, obviously everybody's going to start Eckler and Keenan Allen. You guys are very confident in Justin Herbert.

Mike Williams, Hunter Henry. And I only ask about Hunter Henry because the Patriots have faced some of the best tight ends in football, and they've done pretty damn well. Mike Williams and Hunter Henry, are you guys starting them? Mike Williams? No. No. He's in that number three slash four receiver

range. I would start Pittman over him, Corey Davis over him. Kiki Cutie? No, I'd still start Williams over Kiki Cutie, but it wouldn't surprise me if Kuti is better. And then Henry, it's the same thing. You could

start Kyle Rudolph over him. I get that. I'll support that. And obviously still Dallas, I still start Dallas Goddard over him. Even with Zachary's back, but he's not a sit by any stretch because of what he's been to this offense. So you mentioned JC Jackson's banged up. I think that would certainly help those pass catchers because he's been very good for the Patriots. So if Jackson's not there for new England secondary, I think you said he's banged up, I think that would certainly help those pass catchers because he's been very good for the Patriots. So if Jackson's not there for New England's secondary,

I think you said he was banged up. Yeah, yeah. He was limited in practice. He got here last week. You know, so I mean, I would guess just based on how they've been operating, you know, Gilmore probably is the one that Mike Williams sees. Yeah, it's not going to affect Hunter Henry.

And look, the Patriots, they've seen Kittle, Kelsey, Waller, and Andrews. And yet they give up the fifth fewest fantasy points to tight ends. None of those guys scored. The only one who's... Run by those names again and think about what they are

to their respective offenses. Kittle, Kelsey, Waller, Andrews? Aside from Kelsey. They're it. They're it, right. You're right. You're saying they were able to focus on them. Right.

Okay. Let's go to the Patriots. Then Cam Newton starter sit. I would sit him prefer to sit him. Cam or rivers. I think Jamie said you might move rivers ahead. Yeah. I mean,

four points is different, but six points. I think you got to go with rivers. I currently have cam higher, but I feel like I want to put rivers ahead of them. What are we doing about the Patriots running backs? I would prefer to avoid them in non PPR if you can, but Harris is,

you know, a low end starter. I just, it's just so hard to guess what's going to happen with them. The Chargers run defense is not good. So Harris is, is in play. I probably should say Harris probably better than it's miserable.

I mean, Devin Singletary, it just carved them up. Eight. I should probably take back what I said. I need to move Harris up. So Harris probably a better play and they've been bad against pass catching running back.

So James White could come into play here. The thing about there's, there's not much that Bill Belichick usually tells you. He was praising Joey Bosa all over the place earlier this week. I think this is a Josh McDaniels screen game. Like this is, this is let him rush up the field, up the field,

up the field as much as he wants and screen them to death with James White. We haven't seen that very often with cam, but I think this is one of those games where Josh McDaniels pulls out the Tom Brady screen game playbook and they use James White. We haven't seen that very often with Cam, but I think this is one of those games where Josh McDaniels pulls out the Tom Brady screen game playbook and they use James White a lot. Just a gut feeling. So I think James White in PPR is in the flux conversation. Forget about last week where we scored two touchdowns. Go back two games

ago where we had six catches. Would you guys start Damian Harris or James White in PPR and non-PPR? Harris for sure, non-PPR. I'd still probably start him in PPR. Yeah, I'd start Harris in both. Harris is a solid number two for me in non-PPR,

more of a high-end flex in full PPR. Yeah, I need to move Harris up. Okay. Debo Samuel or Damian Harris, PPR? Debo. Debo. Okay. How about Jameson Crowder or Damian Harris?

Harris. I want it to be Crowder, but I mean, you just can't trust it right now. If you're starting Crowder, you're starting it based on blind faith that Darnold goes back to him. It's just you can't use anything of the last several weeks as this will happen.

Except just that this is what Jamison Crowder does. When everybody benches him, he has the big game. He hates your fantasy team. But there's now three guys that they're leaning on. Oh, no, I'm not making a case for him, Jamie. I'm just saying he's the most frustrating wide receiver in the world. I know. To finish it off, any interest in Demir Bird or Jacoby Myers?

No. Flexes? I mean, with Chris Harris back, they now have two great cornerbacks on the field. Yeah. No. Mike Williams or Jacoby Myers? Williams.

Myers. I'm really down. That's more where I have Williams than Myers, I think. He's got, I think, 10 targets in three games with Herbert and Eckler on the field. He left one of them with an injury. He played 40 snaps.

In that game? I thought he played half the snaps. For the Chargers, that is half the snaps. He had one target in that game. Yeah. Then the Chargers, they did have the snaps. Yeah, he had one target in that game. Yeah. Okay. And then the Chargers DST

is 11th for Jamie and Heath and not as high for Dave, but they are in play for Jamie and Heath. Las Vegas is at the Jets. Stat of the game, the Jets have only allowed one rushing touchdown

to a running back in their last six games. It was Rex Burkhead. Damian Harris is the only running back against the Jets in their last six, or in thekhead. Damian Harris is the only running back against the Jets in their last six, or in the last five, rather, with more than 56 rushing yards. I wish that their run defense was worse.

They are getting a lot of committees, so it's not like one feature guy, so that's helping that number. But I wish their run defense were a little bit worse. And let's face it, the Raiders have not run the ball well this year. So is this really a game where we're loving the's face it, the Raiders have not run the ball well this year. So is this really a game where we're loving the starting running back for the Raiders? If it's Josh Jacobs, yes. But I thought, because I'm confused, because how do you feel about it? If Josh Jacobs

gets into full practice, then the answer is yes. If it's a full practice, okay. Did you say the Raiders have not run the ball that well this season? I don't think they have. I mean, they've run the ball a lot, but like Jacobs hasn't think they have. They've run the ball a lot, but Jacobs hasn't really had that good of a year. He's been pretty disappointed. I don't. You don't agree? I don't really think I agree with that.

He's been hurt a couple of times, but he's got 950 yards and nine touchdowns. You run basically like nine and a half games. Jamie said he's got the third most carries in the league. Yeah. 206. Yeah. They run the ball a lot.

So you, so they're eight and a half point favorites. And like I said, he's, he's had 21 or more carries in five of their six wins. So that's, that's the key. They're,

they're a ground and pound team when they win. And that's very encouraging. If you think they're going to win, then they're probably going to have a lot of care. That's what scares me about Derek Carr. Narrator, they're going to win. Yeah, they should win. They should win, but they

were horrible last week at the Falcons. Well, I mean, Carr had three fumbles. I think Carr bounces back. After everything that they said this week. I like that. After everything that they said this week, Carr's going to have a bounce back game. And the Jets have allowed 96 or more yards

to six wide receivers in their last five games. That would be Beasley, Tyreek Hill, Hardman, Jacoby Myers, Keenan Allen, and Devante Parker. 96 or more yards. They're bad. So yeah, Jamie's got Carr 11th. Heath, you have him 16th. And I get what you're saying

because there was that three-game stretch where they won all three games and he threw 25 times or fewer in all three and he wasn't very good. So that's your concern? I mean, that's pretty much it. Yeah. I do think that there's a chance

that he throws fewer than 30 passes and that performance in those games is not... I mean, you can even go back to the week one game against the Panthers where he threw exactly 30, and he threw for 239 yards and one touchdown. There have been... They go very, very run heavy against

in games where they have that type of lead. And what are your thoughts on the wide receivers then? Like, who... Pull the lever on the slot machine like maybe agalor catches a 60 yard touchdown maybe it's ren for a week to have 90 yards maybe henry ruggs makes another appearance i don't have any level of confidence in the raiders wide receivers i'll take my chances

agalor you know 15 targets the last two games. And so I think he'll have some opportunities if he's healthy. Obviously, that's, you know, something you got to keep an eye on here. But he's in that number three receiver range. Like I would start him over Corey Davis in non-PPR, for example.

Start Darren Waller. He has the best matchup. The Jets give up the most fantasy points to tight ends. Sit Sam Darnold. All righty. Frank Gore. How would you compare Frank Gore with Damian Harris and James White?

I was going to make an age joke. He's as old as the two of them combined. I mean, he's behind those guys for me in PPR. In non-PPR, you should start Gore over White. Yeah, for sure. It's Harris, Gore, White in non-PPR. I haven't... He's a flex in PPR.

Okay, let's see. Would we start Michael Pittman or Frank Gore? Oh, God. Gore, non-PPR, Pittman, and PPR. He's going to get carries. He's going to get carries. He got 31 carries the last two games. Or more than that.

Who's your favorite Jets wide receiver? Perryman. Yeah, Perryman. 33 carries, yeah, Jamie. Last two games. 18 last week. Perryman's your favorite Jets wide receiver? Perryman. Yeah. Perryman. 33 carries. Yeah. Jamie. Last two games. 18 last week.

Perryman's your favorite. Perryman or Aguilar? Perryman for me. Aguilar for me. But that's close. Crowder or Aguilar, Heath? Crowder for me. Crowder or Frank Gore?

Yeah. I'm surprised at that because Aguilar last two weeks has more targets. He does, but you've got that three-week stretch where they played bad offenses and he had three catches in the three games. Yeah, but I just wonder if Crowder is now the third guy as opposed to the first guy. It could be. Crowder or Gore, is that what you said? That's what I said.

I think you know what the answer is. You can answer that question. Everybody listening at home, say it all together at once. Gore and non-PPR, Crowder and PPR. Okay, but it's not really that simple because Jamison Crowder has been horrible. He has three straight games with 31 or fewer yards. He's been horrible. Okay.

He has recently. I mean, you can't dispute that. No, I'm not saying. I don't want to start Jamison Crowder or Frank Gore in PPR. Like, it's not like we're debating

which one of these guys is good. I mean, Gore... Like, with Gore being the only guy there, maybe he's going to get you two or three catches. He might not be... I mean, he scored 11 or more

PPR points in back-to-back games, so I'll take Gore. Okay. Crowder. Oh, Crowder. You really hate Jamison Crowder. I hate the fact that I didn't. Okay. Crowder. Oh, Crowder. You really hate Jamison Crowder. I hate the fact that I didn't sell

Jamison Crowder. Did Duke beat Miami at some point during Crowder's tenure? I don't. I don't think so. That must be what it is. He probably had like

a touchdown catch against. No, I don't think so. I mean, if he played there for four years, there's a pretty good chance. No, not in his four years. He didn't have a star quarterback like Daniel Jones in his four years.

No, I'm mad at myself for not selling. It's the most predictable thing in fantasy football, and I won't fall for it again. And the Raiders' DST is not that high. You guys like round 12? They're not like fifth or anything? They're really bad.

Yeah. Well, they're not a bad streamer. Even if they're not top 12, they're 10th for Heath. They're not a bad streamer. We got a few games left. We're going to take a quick break here. You know what? They're not good. That's the problem. That's the thing you got to worry about. There's a lot of that in this game.

It's like good opportunities for players that aren't necessarily that good. And that's fantasy football for you. All right, we'll take a quick break. When we come back, we got those three games that we talked about earlier today. We'll wrap those up, tell you who to start and sit. Terry McLaurin, is he a must start even in, I don't know if it's a tough matchup. Yes, he's a must start. Spoiler alert.

And we'll be right back. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. alert and we'll be right back. of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca Securian Canada. Insurance designed for life. Washington is at Pittsburgh. It's the end of the game. Since Saquon Barkley had 60 receiving yards

in week one, no running back has had more than 23 receiving yards against the Steelers. We can't... Can we start, J.D. McKissick? We talk about Gibson separately, but McKissick... Breaking news.

Uh-huh. The 2013 Duke Blue Devils beat the Miami Hurricanes 48-30. Like a drum. Was Crowder in that game? Yes. Well, he played for the Duke in 2013. Dun, dun, dun.

There you go. That's why, of course. It's stuck in your psyche. He probably had a big game in that game. Heath can tell you, I'm sure. And you are forever holding it against him. Look, I made the playoffs in the Scott Fish Bowl. That's really all I care about.

Yeah, so McKissick, start or sit? I'm going to go back to him in PPR because of the game script. I think last week when they played with the lead, plus who they were playing, we've seen it now two games against Dallas. He's been uninvolved. Again, I think Antonio Gibson's role in the passing game is coming on, and McKissick's going to lose as a result

of that, but if they're down multiple touchdowns, which would not surprise me in this game, then I think McKissick gets back involved. So non-PPR no, PPR flex. Okay. Keep in mind, Steelers give up the fewest receiving yards to running backs. And just lost

another member of their defense. They did. Yeah. I have no idea what Bud Dupree's role in covering running backs is. Alex Smith is a sit. And Antonio Gibson is top 15 in both formats. It might be one of those situations where it's like, look, you got it.

He's so good. He's a really good player. You got to start him. But obviously it's tough. You know, he's one of those like you're biting your nails. You're kind of concerned, but just can't justify taking him out. That's how I feel about it. Yeah.

All right. That's Antonio Gibson. And Terry McLaurin must start he is a little bit lower has him 18th but top 12 for dave and jamie and i don't know if it's a tough matchup you know the steelers are 18th against wide receivers the one good thing for washington is that short week for pittsburgh and Washington's going to have almost two weeks between games, by the way. True. And,

and let's also make it clear that the Ravens third string quarterback just connected with their number one wide receiver for a touchdown against Pittsburgh. Washington is on its third string quarterback with their number one wide receiver. That always, that math always adds up. Terry McLaurin has had 56% of the team's receiving yards

in their last two games. That's wild. James McGratter only had 66 yards against Duke in that game. They were torn to shreds by Brandon Canette and Shaquille Powell. Okay, thanks. Cratter must have done something. There's something that he did while Adam was wearing the greatest Hurricane t-shirt of all time,

watching that game, and going... Could it have been something he did with Washington, with the football team, you know, against the Giants? Oh, that's true. He also was against your favorite NFL team.

All right, Logan Thomas, guys. Start or sit, Logan Thomas. I hear he's a Red Sox fan also. Probably. Sit. Sit. Ben Roethlisberger's top 12 just yeah just gonna keep throwing it they throw that was a yeah they throw no matter what

and then like how high would you have the starting quarter uh running back there it is for the steelers i'd start start Benny Snell over Ezekiel Elliott. I'm not that high, but... I think you're also higher on Ezekiel Elliott than I am. Right. Yeah, maybe I am that high. I've got him... I don't understand. Am I not supposed to laugh when you say that twice?

Like, twice. You've got him what? I don't know what i mean uh 18th and on 22nd in ppr thank you for jamie's juvenile humor as well so if connor plays would you start connor or gibson oh boy um here's the problem with that We may not know until we get to... Oh, they're in the same game. Yeah, we'll know before Gibson's game starts. Right. Yeah, but I mean, how many people have both those guys?

Just for comparison's sake. Yeah, I'd probably still start Gibson. Gibson, you said? Connor hasn't been good. That's the problem. And the Redskins, or the football team, actually, we have a good front four. They're not bad against the run.

How would you rank the wide receivers? Which football team actually has a good front four. They're not bad against the run. How would you rank the wide receivers? Which football team? The Duke Blue Devils. Pittsburgh wide receivers, rank them. Juju, Deontay, Claypool in PPR. Juju, Claypool, Deontay in non-PPR. Okay, great. Eric Ebron is top eight.

Point per drop leagues, he's top five. What's Deontay Johnson then? Top ten. Did Eric Ebron beat Duke too? Miami. Sorry. Yes, Eric Ebron definitely beat Miami. I will say Washington has only allowed one touchdown to a tight end in their last six games,

and they've done really well against Ingram once, Dalton Schultz twice, TJ Hawkinson at 13 yards. This matchup has not been as good as it was at the beginning of the year, but it's hard to sit Eric Ebron, and the Steelers' DST is still top two DST. Denver at Kansas City. Stat of the game that you might care about, I already gave it, Cedric Ebron and the Steelers DST still top two DST Denver, Kansas city stat of the game that you might care about already gave it,

but it was basically just how Denver has been horrible against the run lately. I won't repeat it. It's that of the game that you won't care about. Maybe for DFS, the Broncos are really good against tight ends. They have held Johnny Smith, Travis Kelsey, Hunter Henry, and Darren Waller to less than 40 yards.

Um, Micah, Siki, Ebron, OJ, Howard, Gronkowski, to less than 40 yards. Micah Siki, Ebron, OJ, Howard, Gronkowski, less fewer than 50 yards.

Only one. No tight end has caught a touchdown against the Broncos since week one. So I don't know. I mean, do you, do you fade Kelsey and DFS? Probably so, but I throw out that game the first time these two teams met,

because it was a snow game. The Broncos offense was a disaster. The Chiefs special teams and defense showed up in that game. You can't really judge that performance for Kelsey against the Broncos, but the track record of tight ends against them is obviously impressive. DFS, probably based on price, you're going to get away from Kelsey anyway? Well, it's a showdown game because it's Sunday night. So you just play Mahomes and Tyreek and don't play my it's a it's a showdown game because it's sunday night so you're

gonna play my you just play my homes in tyreek and don't play kelsey why is this sunday night and yeah they the chiefs ran 51 plays the last time these two teams met they had a pick six they had a kick return for a touchdown so the numbers were low for them and melvin gordon if philip lindsey's out would you start Melvin Gordon or Antonio Gibson? Melvin. Gibson still. Okay. Melvin Gordon or Montgomery? Montgomery.

I'd go Melvin and non-PPR, I think. Who's the wide receiver you would take a chance on in this game for Denver? Actually, who's the wide receiver you would take a chance on in this game for Denver? Actually, who's the wide receiver you'd take a chance on that's not named Tyreek Hill? Patrick.

It'd be Judy for me, but Judy and Patrick are in the same range. Any interest in Sammy Watkins? No. What the heck, Flex? Noah Fant, Jamie? Noah, thank you.

Okay, and Heath has a 13th and non-12th in PPR. He still does get a lot of targets. Mahomes is number one. Clyde Edwards, Z-Lair, or Melvin Gordon, if Lindsey's out? Still Edwards, Larry. I'd go Melvin and on I think

yeah I mean we like Clyde Edwards doesn't really catch the ball a lot does he he's got two catches in his last two games there's such a heavy favorite though I mean he's going to get work but why would they be catch yeah okay I'm just saying PPR oh boy please come through Clyde I mean he does Why would they be catch? Yeah. Okay. I'm just saying PPR. Oh boy.

Please come through Clyde. I mean, he does have two catches in his last two games. He had six catches in the two games before that. Okay. But I think he has five games with Le'Veon Bell, right? And he has how many catches like 10.

That's been the most disappointing part of his season has been the passing game stuff. Like you thought based on 55 catches, LSU coming to the chiefs, playing with my home, playing with Mahomes, playing with Andy Reid, no Damian Williams, before Le'Veon Bell. I mean, you just thought that that was going to be something he'd, like, before Damian Williams got hurt,

that's what I was hanging my hat on, was his role in the passing game for this team. It's just been non-existent. It's very frustrating. Well, and he was like, we were getting that before Le'Veon Bell. He had 24 catches in five games before Bell signed. Yeah. I mean,

the thing is Bell hasn't even been catching the ball that much, you know, they've just had weird offensive games and Tyreek Hill is just getting an incredible target share and he's crushing the entire league. By weird, you mean awesome. Yeah. But like just,

they have been awesome. But, uh, like the game against the jets, you thought they would maybe run the ball because they'd be killing it. No, Holmes threw for like 400 yards. I don't know.

They've been a little hard to predict. I don't know if Heath brought this up. Heath and I had a very epic game this week, week 12 in our Dynasty League. Ugh. Oh, no wonder Heath didn't bring it up. Huh? No wonder Heath didn't bring it up.

He just said, ugh, about it. Well, I got lucky to beat him. He had, just think about this, what I was facing. Derrick Henry and Patrick Mahomes. Wow. So he got a combined 72 points from those two guys. The problem with him having Mahomes is I had Tyreek Hill. Ah, there you go.

So everything that Mahomes did was not just negated. Do you think you can find out in CBS leagues how many fantasy managers with Tyreek Hill won or lost? Like his win percentage last week? Is that something that you could... It was yes. I mean, it's got to be at least like 95%. I would think. Uh,

I'm, I'm sure. I'm sure. But, uh, like to survive that he, he, he,

he nearly outscored the two of those guys by himself. Amazing. All right. Kansas city, DST stardom, Travis Kelsey, stardom Cincinnati at Miami stat of the game. Eight running backs have had 16 or more carries and 75 or more

rushing yards against the Cincinnati Bengals. So in terms of the Bengals, we're really not starting anybody. Gio is a number three running back. He's been terrible lately. And then Boyd and Higgins, if you had to choose one, who would you pick, Boyd or T. Higgins? Boyd. Boyd, but it's close.

Boyd, where prohibited. The Dolphins are pretty good it seems against slot wide receivers they've done a pretty good job good against most wide receivers since they got healthy yeah and then Fitzpatrick we'd like a lot top 10 if he plays to a not as much

if Ahmed and Gaskin are both healthy your prediction would for them would be what pain Ahmed and Gaskin are both healthy. Your prediction for them would be what? Pain. Very good. Now for football talk, your prediction would be what? I'm still starting Gaskin.

I'm going to go back to what he was prior to Ahmed coming off the practice squad. I just think he's their guy. DeAndre Washington's hurt too. But you'd start Gaskin as what? Like Zeke or Gaskin? I'd start Gaskin. Gaskin. Start Parker, start Gasicki.

The Bengals are bad, dude. If you haven't noticed. Oh, they're the worst. Yeah. And the Dolphins DST is top two. Gasicki is top 12 as of now because he has Fitzpatrick. If two a plays, then what? Top 15. Okay.

Jamie, advice for you. Never more than four hours of sleep. This is perfect. You were just an absolute delight today. Light sleep and a little wackiness to go along with it. Well, I guess, let me ask you this. Does the nap count?

Yeah, the nap counts. The nap counts as sleep? Yeah, of course. Because you napped at like 11.30. You are sleeping while you're napping. It wasn't like an afternoon.

But it counts towards like your night sleep. Well, you started your nap at what time? 11.30? I started the nap at 10.43 and I set my alarm

for 11. I do that all the time and it never works. I do that and I'm like, it's two o'clock in the morning when I wake up. I'm like, oh crap. I tried to do it for 20 minutes, but I wanted to make sure I got all my waiver moves in. So that was the only downside for Wednesday. It counts. It's a late nap.

It counts. All right. So there was three hours and 15 minutes. It's a perfect nap. It counts. Alright, so there was three hours and 15 minutes left. It's a perfect time for you. And very healthy as well. We support this lifestyle. Thanks for listening, everybody. Long show today. Thanks for hanging around. NFC Home Games tomorrow. See ya.