Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (AFC): Start Your Steelers? Sit Your Broncos? (10/20 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: October 20, 2022

Before we get into the Week 7 slate, Jamey has some buy low and sell high advice for you (2:30)! Then Jamey and Heath tell you the players they love (6:35) and the players to avoid (8:45). We're hopeful for Ezekiel Elliott this week but nervous about David Montgomery ... News and notes (15:45) and One Question for Each Game (24:15). How confident are we in the Seahawks and Colts passing games? Are there any Steelers or Broncos worth starting? Start or Sit Brandin Cooks? Amari Cooper? Kyle Pitts? ... Start or Sit for Seahawks-Chargers (33:55), Steelers-Dolphins (41:25), Jets-Broncos (47:05), Colts-Titans (52:10), Falcons-Bengals (1:00:00), Browns-Ravens (1:06:50) and Texans-Raiders (1:12:00) ... Email us at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." 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

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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Getting ready for week seven, baby. Here we go. We got the Saints and the Cardinals tonight, and we have seven AFC home games to take a look at on today's show. Can Geno Smith bounce back as he's at the Chargers? You know, a lot of weeks we can say, hey, you can just sit your Steelers. But four teams on by this week.

You might have to start some Steelers this week. We'll talk about that. How about Kyle Pitts? How about Drake London? Can they get going at Cincinnati? And Amari Cooper is on the road. Oh, no. Does that mean we have to sit him?

Well, hello, Heath and Jamie. Hello, Heath. What's up, man? Hi, Adam. How are you doing? I have a trade offer from Heath. I give Gabe Davis. I get Dak Prescott.

We'll have to see if I'm going to accept that. So that's fun. Give Gabe. I get Dak Prescott. We'll have to see if I'm going to accept that. That's fun. Give Gabe Davis and get Dak Prescott. Yes. Otherwise, I'm starting... I don't even know if I got Matt Ryan. I put in a claim for Matt Ryan. I'm not sure if I got him. Otherwise, I'm starting Carson Wentz and Matthew Stafford. They're not playing

this week, so it's desperation time. You can't win without a quarterback, Jamie. What's your record in this league? Two and four. You can't win without a quarterback, Jamie. What's your record in this league? Two and four. So you can't afford to lose? Yes. Do you have the receiver depth to give up Gabe Davis?

If Keenan Allen plays, then yeah, I think I do. I'm just not playing this week, but next week. If Keenan Allen starts playing, then yeah. It's interesting that Heath, of all people, is trading for Gabe Davis. I know. It's like, what am I missing here?

I would make that trade. I'm leading, yes. Yeah, you know, just in quarterback hell. Jamie's going to give us some buy low, sell high because he never gets to do that. And then we're going to get into the games. Stat of the week. Look at this stat. According to PFF, Damian Pierce forced 17 missed tackles

against the Jaguars all the way back in week five as they're coming off their bye. 17 missed tackles against the Jaguars. About 10 of them were on one play. That is the most missed tackles that PFF has ever recorded in a single game. Go Gators, Jamie. Damian Pierce.

Go Gators. All right. Stupid, stupid, stupid Dan Mullen. All right. So, Jamie, give me a buy low and a sell high. This is a start or sit episode, but just figured we'd love to hear your trade thoughts. Give me a buy low and a sell high. I would buy low on Justin Herbert.

You mentioned one of the key pieces why, reasons why is it's keenan allen you know i i don't think keenan allen necessarily solves the chargers passing game woes but i definitely think it's going to help justin herbert you know we had this conversation with pete prisco on cbs sports hq on wednesday about just how the chargers don't challenge down the field right now everything is so underneath and it's you know baffling to him you know for a guy who's covered the league for as long as he has to see what, you know, Justin Herbert has been and what hopefully could still be. Um, but they're not, they don't have a lot of speed, you know, and, you know, we had this conversation just about missing Jalen Guyton and just somebody that can threaten the defense a little bit. So with the way that their offense

is operating, getting one of the best route runners, certainly one of the best underneath slot receivers that we've had in the league for the last several years. I think that'll help things and maybe open up some things down the field. Maybe Mike Williams runs a few different routes. Maybe Josh Palmer, you know, runs a few different routes. You know, they do some different things with, you know, the tight ends. But I think just getting that type of receiver back makes Justin Herbert that much more lethal, that much more potent. And, you know, if you can get him now while his value is a little down, it's a good move to make. As Adam's alluding to, you know, with his own quarterback woes, lots of people have quarterback woes. So if you can, you know, maybe find the

Justin Herbert manager that's in a desperate situation and has a competent number two guy, or you can give them a, you know, semi-competent backup to help them someplace else, that's a move I'd be looking to explore. And then the sell high candidate, I mentioned this, uh, maybe I'm Tuesday show. Um, it would juju, you know, I think he's got the opportunity to still be a good number three receiver, but after the game that he just had, anytime you get a receiver who pops like that with a quarterback that he plays with and the offense that he plays with, it screams so high if he hasn't been doing that consistently. And so if you can sell juju for something, that's a little bit better at this point,

you know, maybe sell Juju for Keenan Allen or for Michael Thomas or somebody that can be top 20 caliber rest of the way, that's the type of movie you should make as well. Yeah. I think he has their two longest Juju. This is their two longest completions of the season. But you know,

one of them at least was very fluky. And that was, I think, I would call that anyway. But, you know, Heath, you were encouraged by Juju, even though he did have maybe a little fluky kind of bouncing off tacklers, but still showed that ability. Do you think he's a sell high? I think it depends on how he's valued. I mean, anybody can be a sell high.

If you could get top 20 wide receiver value for him, then I would take that. Although I do think there's a chance that he's just getting comfortable in a new offense. He's closer to what he was last week than what he was early in the season. I was trying to find Patrick Mahomes' longest plays of the season. I was thinking it might be the three longest plays. It's possible. No. Three of the four longest plays of the season. I was thinking it might be the three longest plays. Oh, it's possible. No. Three of the four longest plays.

Watson and he both had a 41-yarder. So he had a 53-yarder, a 52-yarder, and a 41-yarder. Okay. And we saw him early in his career make big plays like that with semi-regularity. He had a 97-yard touchdown in each of his first two years in the league, and then those things had just completely disappeared. I do think that like Keenan Allen and Michael Thomas, there is higher injury risk for Juju than other wide receivers rest of the

season. All righty. Well, that's a, we're going to get into starter sit in just a little bit. After I tell you about the CBS sports app, I was all over the CBS Sports app last night, was unable to watch a couple of games

that I wanted to watch for about a half an hour. And in that stretch, I was all over the app. That will, of course, be two terrible losses by the Yankees and the Knicks. But thank you to the app for at least alerting me to the fact that they were losing. So it's a great app. You turn it right on and you open it right up

and this terrific scoreboard right there right in front of you. And you can watch live games on the CBS Sports app. If they're on CBS, you can watch them on the app. You can watch HQ. So download the CBS Sports app. It rocks. Who rocks this week, Jamie?

Who's the player we love? Who's the star of the week? That's a guy that we were very excited about all season long. You know, couldn't wait for him to perform at a high level. Ezekiel Elliott. I think this is a good spot for him. Obviously the lions defense, not very good.

They've given up. Uh, I think it's, uh, five in five games. Um, you're happy for, uh,

five running backs, at least 15 more PPR points, uh, eight rushing touchdowns. I thought Zeke looked really good last week, not just because of the stat line, but just the way that he ran against a tough Philadelphia run defense. So it looks like he's getting more comfortable with the offensive line.

I thought the line's playing better, but clearly the big part of this is Dak Prescott coming back and opening up the running lanes for them. You know, so I don't think you're gonna see the threat of, uh, you know, have the threat of a passing game as opposed to what they have with Cooper rush. So this could be a potential top 10 week for Ezekiel. I'll, I'll, I'll couch it more as a top 15 week, but I also think you can start Tony Pollard as well. Uh, just based on how these guys have been used in tandem. Um,

clearly Zeke playing more, but I think Pollard also has a chance to be a top 20 running back this week. So if you can start both Cowboys running backs, I don't know if you want to do it together. Uh, but I have no problem starting both of them in this matchup. All right.

Uh, Heath, who are you starting? Who are you liking, loving this week? I am loving Josh Reynolds this week. Not quite to the extent of a top 15 like Z. Elliott, but he is a top 20 wide receiver for me.

He has 28 targets in his last three games, and the two games in that stretch that he had 10 targets, Munro St. Brown actually played. So it's not just a product of St. Brown being out. I think that he and Josh Reynolds will be the top two wide receivers in a game where they're chasing points against the Cowboys because their defense is so bad. Wouldn't be surprised if he has eight to ten targets again. He is on the injury report, though. Josh Reynolds, he has a knee injury. I think that popped up. Everybody in the lines is on the injury report. Yeah, but this was a new one. So just something to keep in mind. That's kind of that's interesting. Boy, that's a surprise. I really thought that his production would be just tied to a modern mind. That's interesting. Boy, that's a surprise. I really thought that his production would be just tied to Amonra St. Brown's absence. And I can't really say Amonra St. Brown

played in week five. He played 20 snaps, I think. But you're right about the other two games with Reynolds. And yeah, 12.8 or more PBR fantasy points in four straight games, actually, for Josh Reynolds. All right. Interesting.

Good stuff, Heath. How about a player to avoid, Jamie? Who are we sitting? I would say David Montgomery, if you can. It's a brutal matchup against the Patriots. They've yet to allow a running back to score a touchdown. No running back is more than 60 yards on the ground against this defense. It's just been very tough to run against the Patriots.

And clearly, they know what the Bears are going to do. It's not been very tough to run against the Patriots. And clearly they know what the Bears are going to do. It's not like they're going to surprise. Chicago's not going to surprise New England all of a sudden come out throwing the ball all over the place and change their approach, which they probably should. But I just doubt that that's going to happen. I mean, just look at what they did to Nick Chubb, holding him to 70 total yards. Clearly David Montgomery is not that level of player. This is not that level of offense. The only team to have success against this Patriots run defense was the Packers, and it was the overtime game

where Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon just went crazy by comparison to the defense that they're facing. So I just think it's going to be a rough game for Montgomery. He's going to have to make a lot of plays in the passing game, which he has the ability to, but I don't know if it's going to be enough to make him a slam dunk, must start guy like he typically has been.

So if you can send him, send him this week. And Khalil Herbert, by the way, 75% rostered. So he is going down in roster percentage and that might be a mistake. So just he's somebody that you, if you can roster Khalil Herbert, you should. Heath, who are you avoiding? I would really like to not start Brian Robinson. I know that the Packers run defense hasn't been good, but the Washington Commanders have played against the Lions and the Bears who don't have good run defenses and run for three and a half

yards per carry or worse. I just think this run game is too bad and he is not running efficiently and he's not getting any work at all in the passing game. He doesn't have a target in two games. I kind of like Robinson this week. Really? Why? Yeah. Why?

Well, this is the type of player and way to beat the Packers is to just run right up the middle at them and just force them to try and make plays with their run defense, which has just been completely awful basically in the entire Matt LaFleur era. So is he going to have a huge game? No, he's going to need a score. So that's going to have to, you know, sway if he is successful or not. And you have to, you know, kind of understand that going in,

because as he said, he's not going to be involved in the passing game. But I do think that this is what their approach is going to be, is to run, run and run some more, try and keep the Packers offense off the field, try and, you know, slow the game down. Try and take pressure off Taylor Heineke. It just feels like if there's any chance for Washington in this game, it's going to be because of Brian Robinson.

I would say, I feel like you guys would agree with me on this, that Brian Robinson is a very good sell-high candidate. If you're playing with experienced fantasy managers, they know that guys who don't have any role in the passing game, running backs who don't have any role in the passing game, you know, are risky.

But, you know, in a lot of leagues, I think you could get a guy coming off a game with 17 carries and a touchdown. I don't know. He's pretty game script dependent, I would think. For what it's worth, he's averaging three-something yards per carry. Very low threes. And they beat the Bears. They held the Bears to seven points,

but we don't expect those types of performances from Washington's defense. That was why he had 17 carries. Would you guys throw the sell-high label on Brian Robinson? That's very fair. Yep. Okay.

Heath, you approve that message that he has a sell high. Yeah. Yeah. I, I think the, the way we look at him and the way we talk about him would be a lot different if the bears had not must that punt.

Cause he was just having an awful game and didn't have that much rush volume. Yeah, again, I just go back to what this defense has been. Four rushing touchdowns allowed the last three games. Similar type of situation like with the Patriots. You know, Damian Harris, that type of guy, had a touchdown against them. Clearly, again, you're right.

The defense matters here, and will they be able to stay in the game? It's not like the Packers' offense has been fantastic, though. So they have to step up their game as well. So if the Packers are running away from this, then yes, Brian Robbins is going to struggle. But I do think this is a situation at home. Rodgers is banged up right now. They didn't practice on Wednesday. There's some injuries is probably something we need to take a little bit more seriously for him. And so I think, again, if the commanders stay in this game, if they have an opportunity to win this game, it's going to be because of Brian Robinson, not Taylor Heineken.

How is your exercise routine these days, Jamie? Are you getting on that Peloton? I'm doing my best to get on and force myself because I need to do it. It's a great way to exercise for sure. What do you love about the Peloton? Sell me on the Peloton. I'm thinking, hey, I don't know. Should I get a Peloton? I'm on the fence. Jamie, you're my salesman. Well, for you, it's an easy situation to sell you because you don't want to leave your house.

And if you don't want to leave your house and get a great workout, the Peloton is perfect. There's so many different exercises you could do. And it's not just the bike. The bike is clearly the creme de la creme of workouts because of what it offers. And you get to, you know, ride in intense workouts. You get to ride and just relaxing workouts. If you just want to do a scenic ride and just, you know, zone out or like what I like to do is put on the scenic rides, not necessarily pay attention to the screen.

And I get to watch, you know, football, whether I'm watching, you know, old games, watching film or watching, you know,

live games like I will do tonight. But it's just a great way to get your workout in on the bike. But like I said, the app is fantastic. You can do it anywhere on the go, take the bands with you. If you have the ability to do so, if you're in a hotel, I like to do that when I travel, you know, get a workout in that way. You can do yoga, you can do meditation. You probably say this time and time again, we use the meditation for our kids. My 10 year old now, uh, is trying to get in better shape for his baseball. Uh, his, his, uh, what I hope is a long baseball career, but for his baseball, uh, season and his basketball season. So he's been riding the Peloton 20 minutes a day himself. Uh, so we lower the

seat as low as I can go. He fits on the bike. He's not wearing my white, my wife's cleats because his feet are so big. Um, so he wears the same shoes that she does so that they clip in. Otherwise, you can do it for kids. You can do like little straps that they can put their regular shoes in. But my 10-year-old is now using the bike. I'm looking over at it because I'm staring at it waiting for us to get done. There you go. But it's just a great workout, and I highly recommend it to anybody,

especially somebody like you who is a homebody and wants to stay at home when you have kids. Yeah, and not just that. I think it's the instructors that really appeal to me, too, because I need someone to kind of motivate me. And they'll yell you that that's what they do. Motivation that moves you. Yeah, that's fine. I need to be yelled at anyway. Motivation. Anytime, anywhere. Try the Peloton bike or tread risk free for 30 days. Learn more at one Peloton.com new members only terms apply one Peloton P L O T O N one Peloton.com. All right.

Uh, I think we're getting Heath back here. He is back. Hey, Heath, welcome back. We'll see. I will not say anything bad about Brian Robinson again.

Internet gets cut every time I do. Uh, here are your news and notes. Dak Prescott has been cleared. You guys still have Russell Wilson ranked, but he has this hamstring injury. He's not a guarantee to play against the Jets. Oh, you haven't heard what he said?

No. It's a very, very awkward Russell Wilson moment in the press conference yesterday. He says he has Wolverine blood, and then he gave this really awkward laugh. I don't know if the media members laughed along with him, but more goofy Russ. I want things to change.

No, I hate them. I want to like them, but right now I hate them. So Russell Wilson right now we have ranked. He has Wolverine blood. Apparently I did not know that. Lamar Jackson was limited with a hip injury. It doesn't seem like a big deal. Andy Dalton likely to start tonight.

We're going to keep an eye on this. It's the Thursday night game, but Dalton likely to start. Kenny Pickett will be the starter if he clears the concussion protocol, according to Mike Tomlin there, Sunday night at Miami. Taylor Heineke says he's more comfortable

and more confident this season and that he's improved his arm strength. So we're looking forward to seeing what Taylor Heineke says he's more comfortable and more confident this season, and that he's improved his arm strength. So we're looking forward to seeing what Taylor Heineke can do for Washington against Green Bay this week. Sam Darnold returned to practice. P.J. Walker is going to start this week. But if you're in a 2QB league, maybe Sam Darnold is someone that you want to stash.

Running backs. James Conner is a a game time decision tonight. If he plays Jamie, what do you do with the Cardinals back? Well, give me the scenario in and out for James Connor for the Cardinals tonight. Connor.

And he would be borderline number two, running back flex, just based on the fact that you have to trust that if they're going to play him, they should give him an opportunity to be the lead running back. That's no guarantee. It could clearly be a decoy. But I would think that if they're going to risk playing him on a short week after not practicing, they feel comfortable enough that he'll be their at least goal line guy like we've seen. But I wouldn't necessarily say he's a must start running back by any stretch. I would not be

comfortable playing Eno Benjamin. Connor is out with Darrell Williams already out. Eno Benjamin is a number two running back based on the volume that he'll get. Hopefully he's more productive this week than he was last week. But I think you should feel comfortable enough with Eno Benjamin, depending on what your running back situation looks like, to trust him as bottom line of flex play. So I know you don't like David Montgomery this week. You want to avoid him. Would you start a Cardinals running back over David Montgomery? I would start Montgomery over the Cardinals running backs if Connor plays just to be safe.

But if he doesn't, you'd start Eno. I would start Benjamin over Montgomery, yes. Alright, Justice Hill is back for the Ravens. He practiced in full. J.K. Dobbins did not practice, so we're going to keep an eye on that one, and we're going to preview that game in a little bit. Jonathan Taylor and Naeem Hines practiced in full.

Brian Dable says he's not concerned about Saquon Barkley's shoulder. He's left very briefly twice, now two weeks in a row with that shoulder injury, but they're downplaying it. DeAndre Swift is pushing towards playing this week at Dallas. Lovie Smith says Damian Pierce needs at least 20 carries a game. Okay.

We'll sign up for that. Melvin Gordon is going to start this week. He's done that through the last three games, though, so I know what he's talking about. Yeah. Well, he needs to keep doing it. Melvin Gordon's going to start this week against the Jets. Are you sitting all the Broncos running backs? I would like to sit all the Broncos running backs.

Josh Kelly out weeks with a sprained MCL, so that probably means Sonny Michel is now the handcuff there. And how about Jordan Rodrigue of the Athletics? She covers the Rams. She expects rookie Kyron Williams to have a big role when he returns from IR. Do you guys think that Kyron Williams, if you don't have an IR spot, is a player to stash?

If you don't have an IR spot, depends on what your depth looks like in your running back situation. I don't know if I'd rather have Kyron Williams or Gus Edwards at this point. I think Gus Edwards probably has a higher ceiling because of the mouse defeat in the backfield there for the Rams versus the mouse defeat in the backfield for the Ravens, knowing that Dobbins is banged up right now. But yeah, I think if you have an IR spot, it absolutely makes sense to stash him.

Heath, does this mean that we should be looking to sell Daryl Henderson for whatever we can if Kyron Williams is really going to have a big role when he returns? I don't know if I'd say for whatever you can, but if you could get another starter, basically any position, I would do it. Okay. Wide receivers Amonra St. Brown practiced in full. Jamar Chase and T. Higgins were limited. Jarvis Landry

and Michael Thomas are out tonight. Kansas City is apparently considered a strong contender to sign Odell Beckham, according to Pro Football Network. Mike McDaniel was optimistic about Jalen Waddell playing this week. Keenan Allen was limited. He's up in the air for this week. And Josh Palmer is in the concussion protocol.

They have Seattle this week. Rashad Bateman practiced. Tyler Lockett missed practice with a hamstring injury. Jahan Dotson was limited. No, he missed it with a hamstring injury. Jahan Dotson was limited. He was limited. No, he missed it, didn't he? Lockett, I believe, was limited. All right.

Someone look that up. Look it up. Julio Jones missed practice. Marquise Brown out at least a month. Sammy Watkins. Oh, yeah. Sorry. In that practice.

All right. Thank you. Whew. Glad I got one right. Tyler Lockett missed practice. Sammy Watkins eligible to return from IR. If Robbie Anderson plays tonight, he'll be very limited, so don't start him. Jamison Williams.

All Dan Campbell said was that Jamison Williams will play this season, so we don't have a timeline for him. And Kadarius Toney and Kenny Galladay missed practice. Shocker. Tight ends. Mark Andrews rested. No big deal there. Dalton Schultz practiced in full.

So if you had to choose between Taysom Hill tonight or Dalton Schultz on Sunday, who would you start? Taysom. Taysom. Darren Waller missed practice with a hamstring injury. Pat Fryermuth practiced in full. He's still in the concussion protocol, but he's at least practicing in full.

So if you had to start Pat Fryermuth or Taysom Hill, who would you start? at least practicing in full. So if you had to start Pat Fryer, Muther, Taysom Hill, who would you start? Taysom. Okay. Gerald Everett mispracticed with an illness. Donald Parham is in the concussion protocol. Cameron Brate mispracticed, and Adam Troutman is going to be out tonight.

There are some big offensive line. I'm John Donovan. Nice sleeper. Yeah. All right. Some big offensive line news to look at here. Trent Williams was limited in practice. I wouldn't expect him to play for look at here. Trent Williams was limited in practice.

I wouldn't expect him to play for the 49ers, but he was limited. But right tackle Mike McGlinchey was out. He missed practice. Teron Armstead missed practice for the Dolphins, their left tackle. But he never practiced. Okay. Well, he did miss last week. No?

Or did he come back? He wasn't practicing prior to that, though. Yeah. Cleveland right guard Wyatt Teller is out this week. And defensively, Shaq Leonard practiced in a non-contact jersey. Remember, he has the concussion. Nick Bosa was limited. They still have a ton of injuries on defense, but at least he got in a limited practice.

Akeem Hicks for the Bucs defensive tackle. He mispracticed. Rashad Fenton, Kansas City starting cornerback, missed last week's game, and it really showed. He mispracticed. They're at San Francisco. Carolina's beat up in the secondary. Dolphins are beat up.

Steelers getting a little bit healthier in their secondary. We've got a tweet of the day. It comes from Brent. Did you know that the actor who plays Otto Hightower, the Heath lookalike, is the same actor who portrayed the kicker in The Replacements. Did you know that? I did. Jamie told me that yesterday.

I had no idea. Jamie, why did you tell me? I didn't talk to you yesterday. Yeah, that's true. Pete Prisco and I are big House of Dragons fans, so we were discussing the show yesterday in front of Heath, because I know Heath doesn't watch the show. Yeah, I haven't. I'm way behind. No, were discussing the show yesterday in front of heath because i know he doesn't watch the show yeah i haven't said i'm way behind so no nothing about the show but um

pete has like a funny way like when he talks to somebody he goes he does like this like a point at you so he goes you look like out of high time and so he was trying to figure out if he could be him for halloween um and i said oh you know who he is because i looked this up because i was like yeah he looks so familiar to me um like like where i couldn't, Oh, you know who he is? Cause I looked this up. Cause I was like, God, he looks so familiar to me. Um, like, like where I couldn't place him. Like, you know, aside from being Heath. Um, and I looked at his ID IMDB page and I was like, Oh my gosh. Yes. And you know what else he wasn't?

He was also, uh, the, uh, one of the bad guys in the Andrew Garfinkel Spider-Man series. So he was, um, the croc in, in, uh, the second, the second the second uh garfinkel spider-man one i think the second oh first one sorry first all right well the halloween grinch can dress up as otto hightower so there you go or nigel gruff i believe is the kicker's name one question for each game heath i'll give you the first one seattle at the chargers how confident are you in the wide receivers in this game se Seattle at the Chargers? I'm starting both the Seahawks

without really any question. I'll start Mike Williams without any question if Keenan Allen's out. If Keenan Allen plays, then Williams and Allen are low-end number two wide receivers,

but I'd slightly prefer Williams. Pittsburgh at Miami. Jamie, are we starting any Steelers this week? I don't fear Najee Harris. If you put him in perspective, he's not going to be a top 10 running back, but he has scored 12 or more PPR points.

I believe it's in four of his six games this season. So he's still returning number two running back value, low end number two running back value. And this Dolphins run defense, I know it was a little fluky last week with Dalvin Cook because it took the 53-yard touchdown run at the end of the game or in the fourth quarter, or second half, whenever he scores, excuse me. But I think Najee is going to get enough volume.

I like the fact that they've started to throw the ball to him a little bit again. Maybe it's the steel plate being out of his foot, but I think Najee still is the number two running back. And I think Deontay Johnson, I'll go back to your stat, about the seven targets per game versus his offense. It's now six guys after both Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen did it last week. Now the number got lower. So you were at 14 points per game for those first four guys.

Now it's 13 points per game because that's where Adam Thielen ended up. But if you tell me I'm getting 13 PPR points from Deontay Johnson, I'll sign up for that as a number two receiver. So I'll take him and I'll take Deontay. And then Fryermuth, I think if he plays, he's a starter. Yeah. So there's actually been five wide receivers with seven to nine targets. That's what I was looking at because that's where Thielen is basically every week. And then Diggs had 11 targets. But the five wide receivers with seven to nine targets, I think

all of them have scored except Jefferson who had 100 yards that didn't score. I'm not completely well versed in Acer stats. If you tell us that five wide receivers have had seven to nine targets and they've all scored at least 14 PPR fantasy points. And

then Adam Thielen has 7-9 targets and scores 13. Is the stat a good stat or a bad stat? It's good. They've all done well. If you get 7 targets against the Dolphins, you've done well. It's 6 receivers that have at least 7 targets against the Dolphins. All 6 have scored at least 13 PPR.

Yeah, there you go. I don't know why you have to go 7-9. Because that's what it was for Thielen. Because, for example, when I was looking it up for Thielen, if a guy gets 12 targets, that doesn't really tell me anything about what Adam Thielen's going to do because he never gets that. He gets right 7-9 basically every week. Deontay Johnson, on the other hand, gets a lot more than that.

But Johnson's an interesting case. He's got the eighth most targets among wide receivers and the 32nd most yards or something. He's scoring this weekend. He defies the eighth-most targets among wide receivers and the 32nd-most yards or something. He's scoring this weekend. He defies all of these stats. He's so bad per target. His first touchdown comes this weekend. Jets at Broncos. Who is the best Wilson in this

game, and do you trust any wide receivers? Heath, do you trust any wide receivers? Russell Wilson is the best Wilson in this game. I believe in his Wolverine blood. I'm sure he'll be out there and playing. Cortland Sutton's the only wide receiver in this game, ranked inside

my top 30 at wide receiver. Jerry Judy's just outside. He is a boom-bust number three wide receiver. Would you guys start Cortland Sutton or Deontay Johnson? Sutton. I'm getting closer to moving Johnson ahead of Sutton. This Jets defense has been phenomenal.

Yeah, and their two cornerbacks have been really good. Yeah. But I think they give up some production to wide receivers, right? I mean, they're not like locking guys down. No, they're not locked down guys, but I don't have any faith in Judy. So would you start all four wide receivers, assuming Keenan Allen plays, all four of the Seattle, Los Angeles Chargers

wide receivers over Sutton this week? Not Keenan. No, not Keenan Allen. Okay. Colts are at the Titans. Jamie, how much do you like the Colts passing game against arguably the worst pass defense in football?

Both top 24 receivers in PPR. Pierce just outside in non-PPR. Pittman's obviously a must-start guy. Paris Campbell not there yet. No, in terms of Pierce and Pittman, I think it should be all systems

go based on what they've done for the last Pittman, clearly easy, but Pierce the last month and he had, it'll be interesting to see if two weeks ago. Yeah. It'd be interesting to see if the Titans coming off a buyer still as bad against the passes.

They have been, especially against a team that they just played, but yeah, they give up a ton of big plays. I mean, they give up a ton. They give up the most. Even without playing a six game,

even with only five games played, no team has allowed more 20-plus air yard completions than the Titans, which I think would favor Alec Pierce. Not over Pittman, but it would help Alec Pierce. How about Atlanta-Cincinnati? Heath, London and Pitts, start or sit? I don't want to start either one.

You're probably starting Kyle Pitts because he's a tight end, but he's just barely in my top 12. I would, like, again, it's a situation where you may not be making the roster move because there's buys and you don't have that many spots, but I would start Evan Ingram, Hunter Henry, and Robert Tunyon over Kyle Pitts. How many wide receivers have a higher target share than Drake London? He's had, I think, a 28% or higher target share in five straight games. It's such an irrelevant number for him. I know. He's really close. Who? Darnell Mooney. I can see that. The target share is so good for London, but they never throw.

All right, Cleveland at Baltimore. This is an interesting test for the Falcons because if the Bengals' offense, which is starting to get hot, goes crazy early in the game, which you're counting on Zach Taylor to call the right plays, but if they get hot early in the game, the Falcons' offense is going to have to flip itself on his head. And then London should have a decent opportunity because of that target

chair and even pits, but they're going to just come out there and try and run down your throats. And it worked last week for sure. And I'll tell you about Cincinnati's run defense a little bit later. They've been struggling since DJ reader went out with an injury, Cleveland at Baltimore, Jamie starter,

sit road, Amari Cooper. I would start him because of the bye week situation. I wouldn't start him as, oh my God, this is a great situation for Amari Cooper because I do think that

this Ravens secondary has played a little bit better of late. You've noted this a lot following the Miami game. But I was wrong about that. I have to give an update on that. So they were bad against Miami. They played better.

They haven't been. No, no, no. They were worse against New England. And then, since then, the last three games, much better. But New England threw all over them. Devontae Parker had 150 yards. But yes, I kept saying Miami.

I really, it was those two games. They've been much better since then. Well, I mean, the Dolphins game is the one that stands out where they were just awful. In any event, they played better of late. And, you know And you're counting on Rodamari Cooper to still be successful.

But last week was a fluke. You got lucky that he scored a touchdown. So he's a back-end wide receiver too this week. Houston at Las Vegas. Start or sit Brandon Cooks? Heath. Me. Okay. High-end number three wide receiver wide receiver depends on who you have if you start three wide receivers you're starting him but i've got him right behind amari cooper

right in the juju smith schuster alec pierce range i like the fact that they're a touchdown underdog here um so i expect them to be chasing points even if they do try to give damien they will give damien pierce's 20 carries um i i like the fact that nico collins a little bit banged up coming off their bye week in terms of what that should mean for brandon cooks i don't like the fact that he didn't practice on wednesday for whatever reason mostly should be a vet day but i never get why they get vet days coming off a bye week like what's the point of that? Yeah.

By the way, I'm using all my stats of the games early here, but Nico Collins has out gained Brandon cooks for straight weeks. I did not. I like the fact that, that he's banged up a little bit. Yeah. All right. We'll get into the games in just one minute.

We'll go a little bit deeper. We'll take a break on fantasy football today. When we come back Seattle at the chargers, can the Seahawks offense rebound after a disappointing week six? We'll be right back on fantasy football today. Did you know 66% of utility damage is caused by not requesting a locate? Don't let your project become part of this statistic. A quick locate request can save you from unexpected downtime,

financial penalties, and keep you safe. Don't let avoidable damage cost you time and money. Click before you dig. Ensure your next project is safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca. It's free. It's easy. It's the law. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. All right, Seattle and the Los Angeles Chargers. So we're going right back to Geno Smith, guys. Heath, you can get the first word. He's a top 12 quarterback, mostly because quarterback's terrible.

But yeah, he's just inside my top 12. I think he's still got a pretty decent floor. I would expect somewhere around 20 fantasy points. Jamie. Yeah, I like the fact that he's been running the last three, four games, which if that continues, that'll be fun. I think this is a game where they're chasing points. You see what the line is here, that they're basically a touchdown underdog.

The over-under suggests it should be a big game as well. So I know the Chargers defense has looked a little bit better of late. I don't understand what's going on with J.C. Jackson, why you sign him and bench him. Brandon Staley said he wasn't playing as well as he would have hoped in that game. He's going to start again this week. But I think if they get in a situation where you're asking, you know, the football based out based on what he's done so far this season he should be successful now granted they can run all over the chargers their run defense has been awful um so don't take what happened with the broncos as as what this chargers run defense looks like this could be a huge ken walker game but i'm still going to trust gino enough in this spot it's also a revenge game he has spent one season as a backup for the Chargers. Wow. I did not even

remember that. Would you start Geno Smith or... Well, this is an interesting group that Jamie has here. Dak Prescott, Geno Smith, Matt Ryan. I have Geno a little bit too high from where you're looking. So are you going to put Prescott and Ryan ahead of him? I will put

Prescott ahead of him. I'm not sure of Ryan, but they're very similar. You're going to get a lot of volume, I think, Prescott ahead of him. I'm not sure of Ryan, but they're very similar. Going to get a lot of volume, I think, this week and positive production. I agree with Heath. Right around 20-22 points. And what about you, Heath? Dak, Matt Ryan, Geno Smith? Dak, Geno,

Matt Ryan. And Tua. Where does Tua factor in there? Dak, Tua, Geno, Matt Ryan. Tua's behind those guys for me. Interesting. All right. That game's coming up. Ken Walker, top 14 in both formats. Actually did split third down work pretty evenly with DJ Dallas. I guess only concern would be that the score,

if they are six-point underdogs, how does that factor in? But the Chargers have a terrible run defense. The fact that he's splitting third down work is really encouraging this early. Yeah, because Penny wasn't doing that. All right, Seattle. I got to worry about that one. Travis Homer's back. Okay.

The Seattle wide receivers, you know, look, last week I talked about it ad nauseum that the Chargers, the Cardinals rather didn't give up big pass plays. A lot of air yards. They kept everything in front of them. The Chargers are a lot more vulnerable to that. They do let people get behind them. They do give up some big pass plays down the field.

And Lockett and Metcalf, you know, both go down the field. It's not like Lockett can't do that, obviously. So, yeah, you don't even have to tell me who you like better. Heath, you said earlier that you like both of them as what, number twos? Borderline number ones this week. But, yeah, I like Lockett better, but they're both starts. like both of them as what number twos um borderline number ones this week but yeah i like lock it better but they're both starts yeah look it's an interesting week for starters sit because with with those with the four teams that are on by and the quality of players that are on by

it's going to be really hard to sit dk metcalf and tyler lockett but uh all right we'll try to talk about them a little bit more throughout the show. Sit the Seattle tight ends. Justin Herbert is top five for both of you. I think he's seventh right now for Dave. You're going to start Justin Herbert. Seattle has this habit. We're not halfway through the season yet. This habit of being just awful defensively the first half of the year.

And then being pretty good defensively the second half of the year. At least we'll keep an eye on if they are turning it around or not um because you know they were very good young secondary is playing better uh yeah but this is this is a pretty like you're not sitting justin herbert or mike williams or like it's a pretty easy game really keenan allen's the troubling part well how could it be Eckler's easy and Herbert yes But how could it be easy with Mike Williams When he has three games with 100 plus yards And three games with 17 or fewer yards I don't think there's anybody that

Go ahead Jimmy That seesaw will tilt one way or the other So you might want to be on the bandwagon If it's going to be the right way Like what players that have three 100 yard games Are we considering benching Mike Williams No I'm we considering benching? No, I'm not considering benching Mike Williams,

especially this week. But I do think, you know, I want to at least acknowledge the frustration for fantasy managers because he's had, at least he scored a touchdown in one of the dud games. But I'm just trying, I'm looking at the matchups and I'm trying to find, is there anything that predicts Mike Williams? And it's really hard because, first of all,

Keenan Allen hasn't played this year. He played like a quarter and a half. So that's an X factor. But looking at the teams he did well against and the teams he struggled against, really the only thing I can find is that two of the three times he did well was against teams that give up a lot of air yards.

And Seattle also gives up a lot of air yards. Eighth most completions of 20 plus air yards. So this should be a good matchup. That's all I got. That's all I got. I mean, you have right now, Keenan Allen, if he plays, he's not 100%. Josh Palmer's in the concussion protocol. Donald Parham's in the concussion protocol. Gerald Everett's dealing with an illness. I mean, this could easily be a spread

the ball around and get DeAndre Carter going, you know, to whatever extent he's going to get going, continue to use Eckler and potentially Sonny Michel in the passing game. I mean, look, Tariq Wolin has had a fantastic rookie season. He's still a rookie cornerback. And if Justin Herbert can't take advantage of that with Mike Williams, then I don't understand what the Chargers are doing. Fine, I'll stop. I'll leave it alone. But if Keenan Allen plays and Mike Williams has a bad game, you know we're going to be like,

well, look at that, first game with Keenan Allen, Mike Williams didn't do well. And you sat here and you just poo-pooed it. No, no, no. And you rolled your eyes at me for even bringing it up. There's two different things I play here

because you're talking about moving forward. Think about every player that is on a buy or hurt right now. How are you sitting Mike Williams? All right, fine. I was just having a conversation. Start Mike Williams.

But, and also like, he might have, no one's saying that he couldn't have a bad game here. But if the guys scored 19 PPR fantasy points in 60% of his games this year,

you should just start him. There's no way that's true. 19... Well, first of all, he's only played six games. How could he have 60% of his games? But he's had three good games and three bad games. Well, he did score a touchdown in one of the bad games, but it was still bad.

I think there may be a flaw in... This is the first time I've ever seen this. The site that I'm using does not show anything for Mike Williams in Week 3. They're in denial. Gerald Everett, start or sit? Man, Allison would be very mad at you. Me?

No, Heath. Why? Allison, the queen. Adam didn't know she was the queen. Starters at Gerald Everett. I didn't know that. Oh, my God. Must start if there is no Keenan Allen.

Maybe start if Keenan Allen plays. Depends on what your title situation looks like. Okay. All right. Pittsburgh at Miami. We already talked about the seven target thing. Miami's defense is struggling a little bit lately. They are on a three-game losing streak.

Maybe a better offense will help their defense keep them off the field a little. I don't know. Does the quarterback for the Steelers matter when you rank the other Steelers? It matters for Pickens. Does it matter for Deontay? I don't think so.

I think it's, you know, you saw a very high volume target game when he threw 50 passes, Pickett did, for Deontay Johnson. He's still the one. It's a 1-1-A when Pickens is playing. It's a 1-2 when Trubisky's playing. Okay. All right. So Heath, lay out this game for me. We're starting the Dolphins

receivers. Are those the only easy calls in this game? Yeah. I mean, I think that the Najee and Deontay thing is pretty easy. Do you have wide receivers or running backs you want to start? No? Then you're starting them. Yes? Then you're not. They're low-end number

two options. Fryermuth's going to be a start as long as he plays. I'm starting Tua. How about most dirt versus Najee? I like Najee better. I think Mostert is an okay flex. He's certainly going to get more work.

I still believe in the Steelers' run defense, certainly more so than their pass defense, especially depending on who's healthy or not. But Mostert's really had one quality game so far this season, fantasy-wise. And so even though he's getting work, he's just not producing consistently. I'd go Mostert over Najee, but not a strong feeling either way. We probably have to spend some time on Najee Harris. Would you start Jeff Wilson or Najee Harris?

Wilson. Wilson, but it's close. Certainly Wilson in non-PPR over Najee. I'd probably give Najee a slight nod in PPR because Wilson's just not catching passes. This is the game for Wilson to catch passes if there's ever going to be one because of how the Chiefs give up production in the passing game. But I wonder how much that fumble comes back to haunt him last week.

How about Tony Pollard or Najee Harris? Najee. I would start Pollard over both those guys that you just mentioned. How about Najee or Deontay Johnson? Who's a better flex? Deontay and PPR are Najee and not in half. Yep. All right.

And I guess you're sitting George Pickens. As much as I'm confident Deontay's scoring a touchdown, I want to see it first. Yeah. How hesitant are you with Tua? Or are you just basically ranking him as you would if he didn't miss time? I'm ranking him as if he did not miss time. If there were everybody playing this week, no bye weeks, he would not be a number one quarterback for me.

I like Ryan better. I like Garoppolo better based on their matchups and play. Again, Tua is very similar to Raheem Mostert. He's had one good game so far this season. Fantasy-wise, that's true. But he threw 18 passes against the Bills and threw for 186 yards.

He was as good against the Bills as just about anybody's business. And to be fair, he was probably concussed. And they ran like 35 offensive plays or something. And he missed a few snaps. So I, and he threw for 270 yards against the Patriots in a game where they didn't

really have to throw. So I just think this offense is third and passing yards with Teddy Bridgewater and Skylar Thompson playing in three or four games or something. Wow. I think they're really, really good. I also think, though, we should give the Steelers' defense some credit. You know, the stuff that came out after last week and how they frustrated Tom Brady,

despite the fact that their secondary was a complete disaster from an injury standpoint. Mike Tomlin is a genius. And so, you know, is he going to throw some things at Tua, especially if the offensive line is banged up and Armstead's not out there? You know, they're trying to patch things together without TJ Watt and, again, whoever plays in the secondary. But they were great last week.

And, you know, it's not easy to frustrate Brady. Will they frustrate Tua? Who knows? So I give Tomlin a little bit of an edge in this matchup from a coaching standpoint. Yeah, all right. It's interesting. That's a good discussion there.

Okay, so Raheem Mostert is like a low-end flex, low-end number two or a flex. He does have 14 or more carries in three straight games. Steelers do have a pretty solid run defense. A little inconsistent, but mostly solid. And then Hillen. Yeah, I mean, like Fournette, he's not doing what Fournette did last week.

He's not catching the ball. Right, right. Fournette was terrible running the ball. Tyreek Hill, I'm sure, is a must start. Jalen Waddell. Interesting year for Jalen Waddell. By the way, Waddell has a 23% target share. Tyreek Hill has a 30.4% target share.

These guys get 53% of the targets for the Dolphins. Jalen Waddle, is he just slam dunk this week, Keith? As long as we don't, like, I'll feel worse about him if it's a game-time decision type thing, because then you worry more about playing a few snaps and then leaving. But if he's fully cleared on Friday, he's a slam dunk. And there's zero chance I

would start to a Waddle zone. And Gasicki, is he tied to Waddle? Yeah. 100%. Okay. Someone should untie them. Sit the Dolphins DST. Unless Heath, you want to make a case for the Dolphins DST?

No, I don't. It's fine. Jets at Broncos okay it was sit Zach Wilson and I mean this obviously is like an amazing pass defense so it's just Brees Hall right for the Jets yeah yep and he has is he just like a, like an easy, just set it, set it and forget it. Brees Hall. Yep. A hundred percent.

Okay. All right, let's go to the Broncos then. Sit the running backs. Yes. A hundred percent. If you had to pick one, Latavius or Gordon?

Uh, no. Um, I'd pick Gordon and full PPRpr i would pick with davis okay so then russell wilson or trevor lawrence against the giants lawrence lawrence russell wilson or jimmy garoppolo against the chiefs that's not even close. Garoppolo. I think I've got Wilson higher. Why? I just, and we talked about this yesterday,

I just don't believe that Wilson is just completely done and is going to be awful the rest of the year. And, like, Jimmy Garoppolo, it's not like this is some really good fantasy option. His ceiling is about 21 fantasy points. Which has been better than Russ so far. It has been. But, I mean, we've been doing this

for seven years together. You know that. I just look at the last few weeks and say that's what's going to be forever. Okay. And then Sutton. Where do you have Sutton ranked? 15?

18? 20-ish. Okay. I'll give you some running backs. Would you start, let's say James Connors out, would you start Eno, Benjamin, or Cortland Sutton? 18? 20-ish. Okay. I'll give you some running backs. Let's say James Connors is out. Would you start Eno, Benjamin, or Cortland Sutton? Sutton and PPR.

Eno. Yeah. You want an Acer stat for the Jets' pass defense? Okay. Yeah. All right, good. Seven to nine targets for receivers against them on Thursdays. Yeah, basically.

But that's just an Acer stat. Okay. There have been seven wide receivers with seven to ten targets against the Jets. Five of them have 93 yards or a touchdown. The only exceptions were Tyreek Hill playing with Skyler Thompson and Romeo Dobbs last week. So you get 7 to 10 targets and that's, you know, you can, that's kind of the range for Cortland Sutton.

He's usually 7 to 11 targets. Usually have a pretty good game. And you're sitting Jerry Judy, as you said. Any interest in Greg Dulcich? Not yet, but if you have an ability, stash him. Stash him. Just like his mustache. Dulcich De Leche, team name Tuesday.

What do you think? Terrible. Did you see that comment that I retweeted, that I quote tweeted last night? No. I'm going to display it here, but I got to ask you the toughest question for this Jets-Broncos game.

Toughest question. Which DST do you like better? The one playing Wilson. Denver. I like the Jets DST a lot. They've been fantastic. And Russ stinks. Okay, so let me share my screen here.

And every defense has been good against the Jets. It's against the Broncos. It's amazing. Even the Texans and the Seahawks, they've all been really good. They don't score points. Yeah, talk for like five seconds if you wouldn't mind. Yeah, take the under in this game. This is going to be a defensive battle.

These quarterbacks are not going to all of a sudden change who they are for this week. Quinton Williams is a man possessed. Oh, yeah. Defensive player of the year? He's in the running. Who's that going to be? I was very happy to pick him up in the IDP League

to play him against you this week. Oh, damn it. Well, the Broncos have a great offensive line. I'm not worried. Okay, I made a hilarious joke on Twitter. And then the rink source says, you're not funny. Dave, Heath, and Jamie secretly can't stand you.

Secretly? Yeah, I said I think at least one of the three can stand me. So the over-under is at one and a half of how many of you guys can stand me between Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Heath, I definitely can't hit the I can't hit the, you know, Heath is definitely a no. Dave likes me.

Jamie, you know, that's where the one and a half comes in there. I'm the only one that went to your wedding. Oh, that's a good point. Yeah, Heath, where were you? Uninvited. Oh, yeah, that's true, yeah. All right, let's go to our next game. Did you see what I retweeted for you?

No. You can search it. It's the gif of you with your thumbs up. It was when you made your joke yesterday. It was such a good joke, wasn't it? I forget what you said, but I said this was what you look like staring in the mirror practicing.

Well, I made the joke on the air, but then I perfected it on Twitter, and it was, did you know that they're only broadcasting the first and second quarters on that Black Friday game next year? Period. Dot, dot, dot. Yeah, it's half off. See, I told you. JB can stab me.

All right, next game. Colts and Titans. It's a rematch. Storyline of the game here. Let's talk about that. How do the Colts get all rematches already? I know, right? Two rematches in the first game here. Let's talk about that. How do the Colts get no rematches already? I know, right? Two rematches in the first seven weeks.

That's weird. The Colts play with pace. They are 10th in pace. They are 9th in situation, neutral pace, according to Football Outsiders. The Titans are the slowest team in the NFL. And Matt Ryan is a huge one here. Jamie, you must like him a lot. Because I know you like Pearson Pittman quite a bit. I want to

talk about, you know, what could go right and what could go wrong for Matt Ryan. But let's let's talk about Matt Ryan here and how much faith you have in him this week. I have a lot of faith in him, given the circumstances of what the week looks like. And so I would start him over Russell Wilson. I would start him over Aaron Rodgers. I would start him over to, you know, I don't know how far you want to go with this. But I think it's a good opportunity for him to continue to build off what we've seen from him. And that's 37 or more pass attempts. I think that's an easy situation based on how this game should go,

based on the secondary that he's facing. He already faced his team once, got 22 fantasy points against them. Their offensive line seems to be getting better, so that could be great for Jonathan Taylor. But until we start to see the dominant Colts run game show up, I think you've got to buy into what Matt Ryan's been doing. And so getting the ball out quick is going to matter. I think Frank Reich is adjusting, which is always a good sign of good coaching.

I think he's a good coach. And so while the Titans could have a game plan for him after having faced him already, if he can limit the turnovers, which has been a problem for Matt Ryan this season, I think he'll be in that 22 to 25 point range again. Yeah, I think what could go wrong is kind of the four games that he's not thrown 50 passes this year. Three of them kind of show you what could go wrong.

He's got 195 and zero touchdowns against Jacksonville, 222 and two against the Chiefs. What's that, 18 to 19 fantasy points with the fumble? 250 and zero against the Broncos. And then he had the 356 and two against the Titans. So he can throw 35 passes and still be below 300 yards. Yeah, but you reference one game when he had no Pittman or no Pierce. One game against Denver, which might be the best secondary in football.

Right. Those have been his two really bad games for Matt Ryan. What makes me a little nervous, and I picked them, I put in claims in most of my games for Matt Ryan, what makes me a little nervous, and I put in claims in most of my leagues for Matt Ryan because they have changed their offense. They went no huddle. They are playing with a lot of pace. They are throwing the ball more, but what makes me nervous

is he has basically the lowest air yards per pass attempt in football. We're talking about the last four games where he's been good in three of them, and the only time he wasn't was against Denver. In those three good games, he has the lowest intended air yards for pass attempts, so he's just throwing really short.

How many points did he have against the Chiefs? 19.3. That's not bad. You're right. It's not great, but it's usable. He's the worst quarterback against the Chiefs this season. It's usable, right? I mean, it's not terrible.

19.3, 21.8. If you're getting that this week, knowing that you're having to replace Jalen Hurts or Josh Allen, that's perfectly fine. Other issues I see for him, he's 24th in sack rate in those three games. His longest completion is 32 yards. That's

33rd. That ranks 33rd. That's only in these three games that he kind of came through for you. So he's not throwing the ball downfield. He's just throwing it a lot. That's basically it. Anytime you're going to have that much volume, you're going to get the opportunity to get sacked more when this offensive line

is still working properly. Sack rate? He's 24th. I'm glad you brought that up. 24th in sack rate. So it's not just the attempts and the dropbacks. The thing that scares me would be is that a lot of this has come without Jonathan Taylor. So if Taylor comes back to being Taylor again, which is what we all hope, I mean, as much as we like to see Matt Ryan play well, forget about that.

You want to see Jonathan Taylor be Jonathan Taylor. That, I think, could change some things. On the flip side of that as well, a good portion of the last two plus weeks has been without Naeem Hines, too. So another pass catcher on it. And then maybe the whole neutralizer in this whole thing is just the matchup. That Tennessee is so bad.

Most passing yards per attempt in the NFL. Most completions of 20-plus air yards in the NFL despite having a bye. And every quarterback has scored at least 19 fantasy points. Every quarterback has thrown two or more touchdown passes. Four straight quarterbacks, including Matt Ryan, have thrown for 303 or more yards against the Tennessee Titans. So that's

kind of the case for and against. Seems like the pro outweighs the con in this scenario, right, for Matt Ryan? Is that fair? Yes. Alright. Derek Henry, henry must start is jonathan taylor i just have to ask it because he's been pretty disappointing heath is jonathan

taylor a must start if he plays he's a must start but i understand why you'd be a little nervous because of the ankle and that's not knowing specifically how well it is but he's a must start and what about naeem hines if he plays? I don't think I want to start him. Low inflex. That's with Taylor. If there is no Taylor, Hines is a must-start guy. Yeah. Robert Woods.

Only one game with more than 39 yards. He has one touchdown. He has exactly four catches in four straight games. Would you start Robert Woods or Alec Pierce? Pierce. Pierce by a mile. Would you start Robert Woods or Jerry Judy? Woods.

They're very, very close, but I'd start Judy. Woods or Deontay Johnson? Deontay. Any interest in Ryan Tannehill? So the way that I went about the waiver wire guys this week was Ryan won, Garoppolo two, Tannehill three. And Tannehill did have two touchdown passes against the Colts only scored 17 points. You kind of know what you're getting here. There's,

there's a good chance for two touchdowns. He kind of does that when he's playing well. Um, the volume is always a key, but I always like to look at this when you have guys have been in the league for a long time, uh, what their, their stats are coming off of bi-week. He's played three games post-bye week with the Titans, and two of those, 35 or more fantasy points. So that speaks to, I think, their coaching staff, which has been, for the most part, one of the better coaching staffs in the league,

and even a couple of different offensive coordinators over that time. But Tannehill tends to come out of this situation playing better. So maybe that's something to buy into. Small sample size, but there's some big success there. It's interesting. I just want to ask some more questions about Alec Pierce here.

Alec Pierce or Najee Harris? I don't think Pierce is getting enough volume yet that it's a slam dunk in PPR. Certainly in the other formats, I would go Najee, but it's close in PPR. Yeah, I'd go Pierce in PPR. Certainly in the other formats, I would go Najee, but it's close in PPR. Yeah, I'd go Pierce in PPR. Okay. Yeah, the volume's been decent,

but when you consider the past attempts, the target share must be pretty damn low for Alec Pierce. And then he kind of, you know, he made it all in one big play at the very end of the game last week. So I always thought you guys were a little higher than I thought. All of you have Pierce in your top 30. It's bi-weeks.

It's matchup. It's, you know, we talk about this a lot. Rookie wide receivers, as they continue to play, they get better each week if they're good. And I think he has the opportunity to be good. And so I asked, you know, Pete this question about him as well. And he said he's learning the route tree, and that's a big thing. So sometimes when you see these situations

where they're not getting the type of volume that you look, is they're learning to do different things throughout the course of the week, and they may not be executing it on Sunday. But it's pretty clear the last couple of games, the Broncos game for sure, and then the 17 seconds left, the 32-yard touchdown catch. Matt Ryan's looking for him some key spots.

And that's pretty encouraging to start with. And as he continues to get better, it's only going to get, I think, more and more production as we move on. Which DST do you like better, Colts or Titans, or sit them both, or what? Actually, they're both in play here. They're both kind of top 12-ish. Yeah, Titans slightly. I mean Titans just because of how much Matt Ryan gets sacked

and has the ability to turn the ball over. All right, our next game is Atlanta at Cincinnati. Got to keep an eye on the Falcons' defensive backfield, A.J. Terrell in particular. They could be without their top two defensive backs. Stat of the game, D.J. Reeder, defensive tackle for the Bengals. He left in the second quarter of week three.

So if you look at the first two and a half games of the season, running backs averaged 3.2 yards per carry against the Bengals. Since that game, since halftime of that game when Reeder left, running backs are averaging 4.96 yards per carry against the Bengals. It has made a huge difference. Jamie, can we trust any Falcons running back in this game? I would say no, just because of how much they chop it up. I would give a slight lean toward Tyler Algier,

but I can certainly see Caleb Huntley being the better of the two. At this point, their flex plays at best. So, you know, it's Mariota running is taking away from them a little bit. Avery running is taking away from them a little bit. Avery Williams is taking away from them a little bit. I would not be surprised if we get to the weekend and you get a Damian Williams being active situation as well. Just keep that

in mind if you're preparing for Thursday night. They're not awful flex plays. If you just told me there was one guy, my gosh, it would be a potential top 15 running back given the circumstance. Okay. Who did we just... Oh, Alec Pierce or Drake London? Pierce.

Okay, so we're... Try to sit Drake London, I guess, if you can. And what about Kyle Pitts? Kyle Pitts or Taysom Hill? Definitely Hill and Nguyen. I'm playing Hill and Nguyen. I'm playing Hill and both just given the injuries for the Saints.

Kyle Pitts or Pat Frymuth if he plays? Pat Frymuth. Oh, go ahead, Heath. Like, I just... It almost feels like we've undersold how bad this situation has become for Kyle Pitts.

They're throwing 22 passes a game. He's got four or fewer targets in three of his five games. I just don't know that there's any reason right now to think it's going to get any better. They're they're three and three. It's what they, what Arthur Smith wants to do is working better than we expect it to. I don't know.

I mean, the rate they're going right now, they're not going to draft a good quarterback. Where have you moved him in Dynasty? Only to two. If you're a contender, he should definitely be lower than that. But the rankings are for contenders and rebuilders. And so he's still only fallen to number two, but he's behind Mark Andrews for the first time in a year and a half. Yeah, I just, do you feel like at some point

they're going to have to throw more? I mean, it's like, I'm looking at Justin Fields' game log in the first three games, 17, 11, and 17 passes. The last three games, a little better, 22, 21, 27, finally. Yeah, it's just, it's kind of unrealistic to expect a team to throw this little. I've never seen anything like it. I don't even think the Ravens threw this.

It just depends on how the game flow is going. I mean, they've been in every game so far this season. They've won three of them. They dominated the 49ers last week. So it's not like they haven't beaten a good team. I just think you look at right now, this to me is a very telling test because the bangles offense is finally getting going and so banged up falcons defense on the road coming off a win

there's a big letdown spot here for atlanta so you know if the bangles offense shows up early which again you're counting on zach taylor which has not necessarily been the best situation from a play calling standpoint but if the bangles offense shows up and they're down 10 plus points 17 plus points you know 20 plus points going into the third mid-third late fourth they're gonna have to throw and so then i think drake london comes into play so that's just where you have to sort of gauge it kyle pitts hopefully as well zach taylor was extremely praiseworthy of kyle pitts for not doing very much if they're going to have to throw like what does that mean does it mean that they throw the ball 25 times now yeah 20 27 pass attempts maybe right i don't i mean go half by half

they're probably in the neighborhood of 12 pass attempts by halftime right yeah i'm 10 10 and 12 right? Could be. That would be blowing away their recent pace. Last week, they threw it 14 times. All right, I don't want to belabor the point here. All right, let's move on. How do you feel about Mariota, by the way, as a bi-week replacement? He's fourth for me, behind the other three I mentioned.

Ryan, Garoppolo, Tannehill. I put him full. Would you start Russell Wilson or Marcus Mariota? Wilson Mario. Anything interesting on the Bengal side? Wilson's in the Bailey Zappy range right now. Burrow is a must start guy. And Nixon is a start. Obviously Jamar chase.

Yeah. One thing that I did not love was that T. Higgins last week had a 6.1 ADOT. That was by far his lowest ADOT of the season. He's a guy who's been better when he's been getting the ball down the field. I hope they can get back to that. It was only one game and he was

playing hurt. What about Higgins versus Boyd, Heath? Is there anything to be concerned about here or is it still must-start what about Higgins versus Boyd, Heath? Is there anything to be concerned about here? Or is it still must start T Higgins and flexish Tyler Boyd? That's the way I'm doing it. It would take more than that one week to change. I think Higgins is a top 15, probably top 12 wide receiver this week. We got eight wide receivers so far that have scored 15 or more PPR fantasy points against the Falcons. And they are giving up the fifth most receiving yards to slot receivers.

That's another thing to keep in mind. You know, is anybody starting Tyler Boyd this week? I don't have any Tyler Boyd. He's a, he's a number three receiver, you know, in,

in three receiver leagues, you go back to prior to last week's game. And it's not like, you know, it would be easy to say Tyler Boyd had, and it's not a huge spike in targets, but, you know, six targets for him is a little bit over what he's been

the previous week. If T. Higgins didn't play and Hayden Hurst didn't play, you know, and Chase didn't have that game. Zach Taylor said prior to that game, they wanted to get him going a little bit more. So, you know, six to eight targets, I think could be something where he lives. It's just a matter of, you know,

will he deliver on it? So I'd probably say 10 to eight targets, I think, could be something where he lives. It's just a matter of, you know, will he deliver on it? So I'd probably say 10 PPR points is the floor. 12 to 14 is the ceiling without a touchdown. So I don't mind him. I would start London over Boyd. I would start London over Boyd too. All right. And Hayden Hurst is a sit, just too many mouths to feed.

No, I don't mind him this week. This Falcons defense has been bad against tight ends and another revenge game for him. Okay, three tight ends have had 70 or more yards. They are Higby, Njoku, and Kittle against the Atlanta Falcons. But he's not in your top 12 or anything, right? He's like 16.

When I adjust my rankings, he'll be in the top 15. Okay. All right, next game is Cleveland at Baltimore. Stat of the game. Cleveland has allowed the second most completions of 20-plus air yards. Only Tennessee has allowed more. And Lamar Jackson is a downfield thrower. He averages the sixth most intended air yards

per pass attempt, the ninth most intended air yards per completion, or I guess I should say air yards per completion for Lamar Jackson. So if Rashad Bateman gets out there, Heath, would you give him a go? You mean Deshaun Jackson? Maybe. Does this matter to you, this stat at all?

I mean, I think it's good for Lamar Jackson. I think it's tough to know who to trust amongst the Ravens wide receivers. Rashad Bateman will be a number three wide receiver in the Tyler Boyd-Drake-London range if he goes. I'm probably starting London over him. It kills Devin DuVernay. And I do think if Deshaun Jackson is active, he matters. He was still really good when he played last year whenever they threw him the ball.

Kareem Hunt. Jamie, starters hit Kareem Hunt against a Ravens team that sees the sixth fewest running back carries in the NFL per game? I would start him if I knew that they were going to throw to him because the Ravens have been bad against opposing. I think their first and reception of running backs, not mistaken. So. He's he's he's a flex. I mean, you know what you're getting with him.

You're, you're talking about a guy that's, you know, clearly the number two option. I think what we're going to get is, is them going back to their backs, you know, after what happened last week, you know, going away from the run clearly because the matchup. So, um, I'm not sold on this Ravens run defense being good, especially without, you know, Michael Pierce being there. Um, I want to see them tested against a team like this. And so Nick Chubb, I think is going to have a monster game. being good, especially without Michael Pierce being there. I want to see them tested against a team like this. And so Nick Chubb, I think, is going to have a monster game.

And I think we're also going to get potential for Kareem Hunt. Not a must-start guy, but potential. I'd start Najee Harris over him. I'd start Eno Benjamin over him. I'd start Jeff Wilson over him. I'd start Tony Pollard over him. Okay. You know.

Would you start a Ravens wide receiver over Kareem Hunt? No. No. You know you're getting 15 total touches from Kareem Hunt. Would you start a Ravens wide receiver over Kareem Hunt? No. No. You know you're getting 15 total touches from Kareem Hunt. Would you start... Well, I hope you are. They can't get blown out. Would you start Amari Cooper over Kareem Hunt? Yes, in PPO.

Yeah, I would too. In all formats, I think. All right. The Ravens allow the fourth most fantasy points to wide receivers. We've talked about this, though. I mean, they've been a lot better lately, but with their last three games, they were pretty good. Give them credit. They did great against

Cincinnati. Jamar Chase had 50 yards on 12 targets. T. Higgins barely played, and they did pretty well against the Bills, actually. Yeah. Stephon Diggs, 62 yards. Gabe Davis, 13 yards. So they've turned things around. Um,

no joke. Who is just a start? You start the joke over George Kittle. No, no, I'd start Kittle. Okay. Start Lamar Jackson.

Any interest in a Ravens running back? No, it's just so frustrating that Dobbins is not 100% for this game. Yeah. They can't stop the run. This is going to be very interesting if he does not play. If he does not play, go back to where they were before Justice Hill got hurt and Dobbins was going because Justice Hill was the guy that they started to

lean on a little bit more. Yep. So, you know, like I went in our FFT league, and I'm terrible in that league. I'm like, you know, I'm just going to spend my fab and try and buy a win. And this is before I saw the injury report that Justice Hill was acting like,

oh, no, I can't spend that much on Kenny Drake because that's a total waste. Now, should he be the best of the group if there is no Dobbins and there is no Edwards because they can also activate Edwards for this game? then I think you got to believe that Drake is going to get the first crack at it but if they're trailing or they need to have a spark and Drake is not getting the job done you know don't chase the 10 for 119 last week that is completely fluky for where Canyon Drake is so could he be the best? Yes. Is it guaranteed?

No way. Oh boy, what a matchup though. Third most fantasy points allowed to running backs. Cleveland gives up 5.55 yards per carry to running backs. Justice Hill, by the way, 10% rostered. So that might be a sneaky player to take a look at right now, Justice Hill. Talked about the Ravens wide receivers.

And starters at Mark Andrews, Heath. Start it. Okay. Ravens DST. They've been kind of up and down this year. They are in the top 12 for all of our rankers. The Browns don't give up a lot of fantasy points to DSTs. They barely how about this? They go into the New England

game being sacked five times in their first five games and they had thrown three interceptions in their first five games and they had thrown three interceptions in their first five games against the Patriots four sacks two picks usually they're a tough matchup because all

they do is run you question me on that one with the Patriots DST last week did I I'm sorry about that yeah no it was on the waiver wire show

because I said the Patriots my favorite DST and you said these exact stats which was it made me think twice but I was like nah I don't trust you you

shouldn't have. If you force him to throw, and you score points, force him to throw, your defense is going to do well, probably. All right, Houston at Las Vegas. The weird thing here is our last game. The Raiders have had a good pass defense, and the no, the Raiders have had a good

run defense, and the Texans have had a good pass defense. It's kind of weird. And the Raiders, though, are going to be without Nate Hobbs, starting cornerback who broke his hand. I got a lot of stuff here, but we're getting long, so just lay out this game. Heath, how do you see this game? Both the running backs are a must-start. Devontae Adams, must-start. You're starting Darren Waller as long as he's active. Start Brandon Cooks.

Hunter Renfro is a deep, deep flex. Nico Collins would be if he plays as well. I like Renfro a lot if Waller does not play because there should be a spike in targets. I think this is going to be Renfro's best game. I believe the Texans play a lot of zone defense, so this could be an opportunity for him. They give up the fewest yards to slot receivers. Yeah, I think this is a dink and dunk type of game for Renfro.

You want Derek Carr's numbers off a bye? Yeah. So this is his previous eight games coming off of a bye. He's averaging 23.6 points per game. Okay. And maybe a little revenge for his brother. He's faced the Texans three times in his career. In two of those games, he's passed for 580 yards, six touchdowns, one interception.

The first time he faced them was, I believe, his rookie season. He was miserable against them. Yeah, I don't know what's going on here, but the Texans have not been an easy matchup. They give up the seventh fewest fantasy points to the quarterbacks. They face Matt Ryan, Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, Justin Herbert, and Trevor Lawrence. Herbert had 25 points.

I think we just figured out what's going on. Well, I mean, Lawrence, nine points. That's bad. Ryan, 17 points on 50 pass attempts. Herbert was good. Herbert was 25 points. I think we just figured out what's going on. Well, I mean, Lawrence, nine points. That's bad. Ryan, 17 points on 50 pass attempts. Herbert was good. Herbert was 25 points, yeah. Start Josh Jacobs. Start Damian Pierce.

Brandon Cooks. Now, we've talked about a lot of wide receivers this week. Brandon Cooks or Drake London? Or this today. Brandon Cooks or Drake London? Cooks. Cooks. Cooks.

Brandon Cooks or... Cooks is closer to Sutton than he is that group. Why? Well, I mean, at least where I have Sutton Sutton's in the 20s okay we have no wide receiver is this right no wide receiver has scored 16 PPR fantasy points

against the Raiders I have that in my notes doesn't feel right Mike Williams at 10 yards Marquise Brown 6 for 68 against the Raiders? I have that in my notes. Doesn't feel right. Mike Williams had 10 yards. Marquise Brown, 6 for 68. The Denver wide receivers were 50 yards and a touchdown. So this has, again, not been an easy matchup.

And Nico Collins has been better than Brandon Cook the last four games. He's got more yards. Okay. You said no wide receivers have what? 16 PPR fantasy points. Is that true against the Raiders? I have Cortland Sutton at 16.2. Okay.

And I have four other wide receivers between 15 and 15.5. Okay. That's a good range. I'll take that from Brandon Cooks. This is an interesting matchup because I think these teams have been defensively different than

we expect. We don't really treat them as tough matchups. And we'll see what happens this week if the trends continue. That's basically it. Oh, I'm sorry. Derek Carr or Tua? I would go Tua. I would go Carr.

Derek Carr or Matt Ryan? Ryan Ryan Carr Vic or Ryan Vic or Ryan and that's all I got enjoy Thursday night football hopefully we got a good game tonight because Monday night football is going to be pretty bad for Heath and Jamie

I'm Adam live stream 2pm.m. Eastern, youtube.com slash fantasyfootball today on Thursdays. See you there. Bye.