Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (NFC): Dillon? London? Thielen? (10/07 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: October 7, 2022

We'll try to wash away the stink of Colts-Broncos but that won't be an easy task! Is Russell Wilson droppable at this point? Do we see buy low opportunities on Jerry Jeudy or Michael Pittman? And how do we feel about Melvin Gordon after this game? Also, you won't believe the wager that one of our listeners made! ... ALERT (14:55)! Christian McCaffrey's upcoming schedule is brutal and George Kittle's struggles go back longer than you might realize. Are we concerned? Then we've got news and notes (18:40), Beat the Waiver Wire (22:00) and One Question for Each Game (25:30). Are we starting James Conner? D.K. Metcalf? Adam Thielen? Any Falcons? ... Start or Sit for Eagles-Cardinals (33:00), Seahawks-Saints (39:55), Cowboys-Rams (50:25), Bears-Vikings (57:15), Falcons-Bucs (1:01:00), 49ers-Panthers (1:05:00) and Giants-Packers (1:09:15) ... Your emails 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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Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. This is going to go the distance. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

Don't worry, folks. You don't have to watch Colts Broncos anymore. We promise. It is over forever. Happy Friday. I know you're all in a bad mood. You're mad at football. You're mad at fantasy football.

That's okay. Hey, maybe you went up against Russell Wilson, and you love football right now. But, yeah, it was ugly last night. Welcome to the show. We're going to recap that game and talk about seven NFC home games we did. Tennessee-Was Washington yesterday.

The other seven games today will be Philadelphia, Arizona, Seattle, New Orleans, Dallas, and the Rams, Chicago, Minnesota, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, San Francisco, Carolina, and the Giants and Green Bay in London. Hey, guys, what did you think of that game last night, Dave Richard? I don't know what you're talking about not liking football. I started Alec Pierce and Chase McLaughlin, baby. I'm rolling. No, I didn't do that.

No one did that. Not fun to watch if you like offense. If you appreciate pass rushing, then, you know, it was okay. Jamie and I competing for shortest hair at the company.

We both have fresh haircuts here, but you're looking good. And yeah, give me, sum up last night's game. Looking good yourself. Thanks, bud. Dave, when you left the room during the Naeem Hines play, you should have just stayed in the other room wherever you were and not come back. Yeah. Do you know?

Go ahead. Go ahead. I'll tell you not. That was just just ugly i mean very very ugly um i don't know what to say anymore i mean russ russ russ is cooked um and uh the nine minds play was just just sucked absolutely sucked like three three touches three opportunities touched the ball in the first three plays and then gets hurt. He was hopefully set up for a big game. Dion Jackson did well running in his place.

I mean, you know, if there if there is a couple of positives, Dave mentioned Alex Pierce. That's positive. And Melvin Gordon, I thought that, OK, you know, this totally artist, he hit his prop of over two and a half catches. So that was good. And Mike Boone looked like he ran well as well. So if there is a silver lining, maybe those are the things you look at, but this game was just absolutely, absolutely atrocious.

One of the worst games I've ever seen. Yeah, and there is a silver lining. It is the wager of the day. Okay, folks, we're going to take a quick break from fantasy to tell you about one of our listeners who tweeted at me last night in the waning minutes of the game. He said, pray for me. He made a bet before the game on the first player to score a

touchdown. And he bet that nobody would score a touchdown. He put a hundred dollars on it to win $10,000. And it went to overtime. And still, it went to the last play of the game and stefan gilmore breaks up that pass and our listener brandon won ten thousand dollars because he bet that nobody would score a touchdown i'm so happy for him i was so mad at football last night and you know my russell team and i started heinz in two leagues or whatever i'm obviously worried about heinz but i was i didn't care because this was such an amazing moment for brandon and congratulations my man way to go what a bet wow imagine having a hundred dollars that you could put on that kind of a bet i guess so like that bet loses it's got to be like

99 of the time yeah man and But on the one time it hits, Brandon, great job. Yeah. All right, so let's talk about this game because there were so many injuries, too. In addition to Naeem Hines leaving after three plays with a concussion, the Colts lost center Ryan Kelly.

They lost defensive lineman Quiddie Paye to what looked like a very serious injury. On the other side of the ball, the Broncos lost three starters on defense. Josie Jewell and Barrett Browning, a couple of linebackers. Ronald Darby, cornerback, he left in the second quarter.

And their left tackle, Garrett Bowles, broke his leg. So there was carnage out there. There were good cornerback versus wide receiver battles. Pittman saw a lot of Darby at first, and then he saw a lot of Sertan. Gilmore was all over Courtland Sutton. So we've got to keep those things in consideration.

There are a lot of fantasy storylines here, but I think we should start with the big one. Jamie says Russ is cooked. I think he was being a little facetious there. He was coming off a little. Maybe. I don't know. A 31.5-point fantasy game against the Raiders last week. But yeah, I mean, he's got to be out of the circle of trust. I mean, what do we do at this point?

Start him, sit him, bench him, drop him, or sit him and bench him are the same. Start him, sit him, drop him. Dave, what would you do with Russell Wilson? The first thing I would do is if I started Russell Wilson, I would run to my waiver wire right now and see if Gino Smith is there. Gino Smith plays against the Arizona Cardinals in week six at home. That's my starting quarterback for week six. I don't want anything to do with Russell Wilson against the chargers. And I might be willing to go back. Maybe if Russ looks even, he's got to look good against the chargers for me

to trust him against the jets. I don't mind if you cut Russell Wilson, because I don't know if he can, I don't know if he can regain his old form. He looks awful. He looks jittery in the pocket. He's off target with a bunch of his throws. His timing with Jerry Judy all season has been absolutely maddening. The only guy that he's got good timing with is Corlin Sutton. He barely throws to KJ Hamler. That's the dude that he needs to really connect with. That's what will make this offense pop. I've got Russ in a couple of leagues.

I've already made the move to get Geno Smith on my bench. That's my starter in week number six. I'll take it from there. After that, it's going to be a week-to-week thing at quarterback. All right. I would probably pick him up. If I would pick him up, if someone dropped him,

unless I hold on now, hold on. You say that I would, but let's say you've got an elite. No, that was about that. That was the second part of my sentence. I would not do it if I had.

Right. So what's it? What type of quarterback would you have to have to pick up Russ to be your backup in a one quarterback league? For me, it'd be Carr, Cousins, someone in that group, Rodgers. Then I'd pick up Wilson.

Alright. I might pick him up anyway. He's still Russell Wilson. Yes, his name is still Russell Wilson, but no, he's not the same guy. But now he's down his left tackle. Yes. He's down his starting running back.

You know, so now they're going to be, I don't know, more predictable, but, you know, they're a little easier to defend. And it's, there's clearly there's a lot of disconnect right now. It's not just, okay, they can't score in the red zone, but they can't score in the red zone. You know, so there's just a lot going on right now with this team.

And, you know, they have extra time now to prepare and fix it. And red zone you know so there's just a lot going on right now with this team and um you know they have extra time now to to prepare and fix it and clearly you know he's he's the type of guy we've seen this with him before at times where there's been some issues and he's bounced back from it but he's older now he's on a different team now uh the coach looks lost right now and there's just a lot at play with this this broncos team and this broncos offense so um i don't know if you necessarily have to spike cut him so i i think making the move for geno smith makes sense as a starter uh but it would not be a surprise if he does have a competent game against the chargers and then comes back and lights up the jets the following week i don't think that necessarily is

is a guarantee but i'm with you adam i think if you have a a struggling quarterback situation um like i don't necessarily want to say okay i'm going all in on geno smith for the rest of the season and not having a good backup option as well you know so if you want to carry both that's fine if you have the ability to carry both obviously you do so but um you might have to make some tough calls like i i you know you ask a quarterback scenario like i drafted trey lance and justin fields on one team and my team is stacked but my quarterback situation is a disaster so i'm starting teddy bridgewater this week and then next week i'm just going to play quarterback roulette from week to week um next week you know geno smith's available i'll move on to geno smith

next week uh but that's the type of scenario i'm in if i saw russell wilson on the waiver wire i would absolutely pick him up because i think he could still have some good moments he's just not going to deliver on the expectations that we had and the Broncos had for him coming into the season. They certainly, I'm sure, regret the trade. They probably regret the compensation in terms of the contract and, you know, hopefully things get better, but right now it just looks bad. I think you're on the right track there. And if you did have that quarterback situation, then yeah, you're right to pick up Russ if he made it free. What would you think about a quarterback that played against the Jaguars,

the Titans, the Raiders, and the Panthers, and then the Ravens after that? Pretty good schedule, right? You'd love to have him. Yeah, but that's Matt Ryan, though. No, no. That's Russell Wilson after the Jets. Yeah, I know.

There is a schedule there that does lend some optimism for us. I just, I, it really starts with him. And if he's not playing well, he's not seeing the field. Well, he's not protected. Well, then he could be playing against middle Tennessee state, which by the way, one of the best college football programs in the nation, uh, it doesn't really matter. So I hope that we see some improvement in that game against the Chargers. If we don't, then you're not going to have confidence

to start them against any of those easier matchups. Yeah, if they could just solve their red zone woes, they are the worst red zone team in the NFL, and they should have kicked the field goal. They just tie the freaking game. Of course, yeah. They're not good enough right now to go for that there. All right, so listen,

in order to not have an hour and a half show today, I'm going to speed you through the rest of this game. Are you encouraged by Melvin Gordon getting 18 touches in this game compared to 10 for Mike Boone, but encouraged or discouraged by Melvin higher on him or lower than him than you were on him than you were before the game, Jamie. Slightly higher.

You know, again, it was, what was the workload going to be? How much would they split it up? He didn't fumble. So, yes, he came through this game, I think, with positives as opposed to negatives. He almost fumbled. He did. For a second there, it looked like he did fumble

when the ball got knocked away. His knee was down first. I love that he played all of the snaps inside the 10. Jerry, Judy, and Michael Pittman, Dave, do you see buy low opportunities on Jerry Judy and Michael Pittman? Again, Pittman saw the tougher coverage here, and they went more to Alec Pierce. Yeah, absolutely on Pittman,

but I think fantasy managers with Pittman understand that he's going to have some pretty good games. His schedule coming up, it's the Jaguars, the Titans, the commanders, and then a couple of tough ones mixed in Patriots Raiders Raiders is easy. Eagles is going to be impossible. Uh, Cowboys down the line. It's, it's not going to be as easy as someone like Judy's schedule, but I think he's, he's going to find a way to get good target volume, not necessarily command all the targets. Cause I think Alec Pierce is, I think he's there. I think he's breaking out.

I think if you look at him as a top 20 wide receiver, I think he'll be okay. I think that's the way to go with Pittman. So pay that price for him. Judy, I don't want to pay much of a price for her because he's just not connecting as much as he should be with Russ. He should have had a huge game last night. I know. You can see when he gets open and when he gets the ball in his hands,

you can see his ability. Yeah. But now we're talking about the third different quarterback he's had that he can't get on the same page with. Jamie, let's talk about Alec Pierce. Is he going to be a must? He's only, I think, 14% rostered Alec Pierce, and he's gotten three pretty good games in a row. Your thoughts on Alec Pierce. He's been in a waiver wire for three straight

weeks. So yes, he should absolutely be added. I mean, you know, this is, uh, um, it's very similar. I don't think he's going to get to the same heights, but you know, this was what I said after he was drafted, he went to the team that needed a second receiver. And you know, this is what I said about a mom or a St. Brown after the draft last year. You know, you see a path to targets, see a path to opportunity. Matt Ryan should not get a pass. He looked awful last night too, you know? And so the offensive line for Indianapolis is still a disaster.

They move some guys around, you know, trying to help, you know, fix the woes that they have right now. And I believe Ryan Kelly got hurt in the game too. So, you know, not a good situation there for one, um, for one of their better, uh, linemen, but, um, getting Taylor back will help. Uh, you know, I think just the offense as a whole, because they, they, they, you know, Dion Jackson is a nice thing, but they're still struggling to run the ball. Um, and if Heinz is going to miss anytime, that's just more targets all the way around for everybody. So, uh, Pierce is going to be in the same range as George Pickens, as potentially Romeo Dobbs in terms of trust factor for these guys

if this continues for him. So he should absolutely be added across the board, and he's going to be in the number three conversation, I think, for the rest of the season. Not necessarily a must-start guy, but in the range of possibilities, that's where he'll be. Like a floor of 11 PPR points? I think it's fair. Yeah. All right. All right, that's where he'll be. Like a floor of 11 PPR points. I think it's fair.

Yeah. All right. All right. That's Alec Pierce. You can take a look at him and we'll hopefully get Jonathan Taylor back next week. But if not, we'll of course address the situation on the Tuesday waiver wire show.

All right. Who's excited. I know Dave is not for post-season baseball. Yeah. Yeah. I know you thought at this point you'd be excited for post-season baseball, but no, it didn't quite work. He left.

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Yeah, my son used SeatGeek to get tickets to the Canes North Carolina football game. Hey, someone's got to go. I'm glad to hear it. All right, Dave and Jamie, I've got a segment for you that's going to take

no more than two minutes. All right? I'm giving you 30 seconds each. It's the alert segment. Schedule alert. Ordinarily, I know he wouldn't care, but the Panthers are kind of crappy, so do you care?

The next three games for Christian McCaffrey, including Sundays, are against the Niners, Rams, and Bucks. They are one through three in fantasy points allowed to running backs. Dave, do you care for McCaffrey? I care for DFS. I don't care for seasonal fantasy.

Jamie? I agree. Okay, how about don't care for seasonal fantasy. Jamie? I agree. Okay. How about bust alert? George Kittle. He is running. By the way, he is running as many routes as he usually does, but he is not being targeted. And in his last eight games, including three postseason games, he has been held to less than 30 yards in seven of eight games. Jamie, do you care about these or do you still think George Kittle is, you know, George Kittle? No, I care. I absolutely care. I mean, you know, you're seeing

a struggling fantasy player. He's not a struggling player because he's a great blocker and a great tight end still, but he's a struggling fantasy player right now. So there's a good buy low opportunity. So buy low if you can. Dave, worried about Kittle

or just kind of accepting this ebbs and flows of the season? Am I crazy or was there conversation this week out of San Francisco that they're going to make an effort to get him more involved in the passing game? Yes, they did talk about

how they have to get him involved. And yes, the game plan was... You got to play that squeaky cricket. Oh, you mean George Kittle? Yeah, for George Kittle. Play that squeaky cricket. Oh, you mean George Kittle? Yeah, for George Kittle. Play that squeaky cricket, white boy. There it is. I wonder if this is the week to start him.

He was a foot away from scoring a touchdown last week. If he did, no one would be complaining. Everybody would be starting him. Roll him out there another week. All right, there are some underlying numbers that are a little concerning. We can get into it a little bit later. All right, question for Dave.

Dave, looking at this week's schedule, what do you call a matchup of two bird mascots in the desert Sunday at 4.25 p.m. Eastern? A Arizona Cardinals birdbath. You call it? Should I say a bloodbath? It's the game of the week, yeah. The Cardinals gonna beat the Eagles.

Whoa. Game of the week, yeah. And the upset of the week, yeah. All right. I didn't get that. I just wanted to get that in there. Okay. News and notes. I thought't get that. I just wanted to get that in there. Okay. News and notes.

I thought you were going to ask me about what happened with my watching yesterday with Naheem Hines and complaining that he wasn't on the field when I didn't know he was hurt. Yeah. And you missed one play and it was the play that got hurt. I saw the play and I immediately went downstairs to get myself a Greek Yasso ice cream sandwich. You love those mint chocolate chip. It was amazing. Go back upstairs.

And Jamie knows this. When I'm home, I like to watch the games without sound. So I literally have no idea what happened to Naheem Hines. And I've seen the next drive and Dion Jackson's out there. And I think, okay, they're rotating. They just use Hines a bunch. And then third down, there's no Naheem Hines. And I'm thinking to myself, Frank Reich, this punk.

And so I tweet what I tweeted. And I mean, let me just tell you how nice Twitter is. So many people looking out for me saying, you should delete this. Some of them used an expletive. And then people told me, you know, Naheem Hines got really shaken up. And that's when I realized that Hines had gotten hurt. You love those Yasso bars. Jamie, I watch...

Never tweet me in the game time. I tweet, I watch VH1 without the volume. You know, it just makes a lot of sense. Just kidding. Who would watch TV with that volume? It's so weird. All right, so real quick here, news and notes. Me?

David Montgomery is going to be a game time decision. If I could make a decision for you, David Montgomery, it would be please don't play. He might play. If he plays, who would you rank higher, Montgomery or Herbert? Montgomery. I would guess Montgomery.

Mac Jones is questionable. Brian Hoyer is on IR. It'll be Mac Jones or Zappy Gilmore. Jameis Winston mispractice. Looks like it's going to be Dalton against Seattle. Daniel Jones is trending in the right direction. He looks like he's going to play in London. He's got no one to throw to.

He might get Wandale. He might get Wandale. It looks like Richie James has a chance. Hooray. Kadarius Phoney is hurt again. Different hamstring. Different hamstring for Kadarius Phoney. I'm done. Hooray. Kadarius Phoney is hurt again. Different hamstring. Different hamstring for Kadarius Phoney. I'm done. I'm done.

T. Higgins was limited with an ankle injury, but we're expecting him to play. Keenan Allen, we're not expecting as of now. Brees Hall, limited, expecting him. Guys good with Tyreek Hill? Oh, you got to see what he does in practice on Friday. Yeah, the fact that he was limited is fine. If he missed, it's a little more concerning.

But we've seen it before where a player is limited on Thursday and then they don't practice on Friday, and that means something happened in practice on Thursday. Right. Hopefully. Fingers crossed that's not the case here. That's Tyreek Hill. CeeDee Lamb mispracticed, but he said he's fine. Amonra St. Brown mispracticed.

I'm guessing still not ranking Amonra St. Brown. No. Nope. Curtis Samuel mispracticed. I'm guessing still not ranking Amonra St. Brown. No. Nope. Curtis Samuel mispracticed again with an illness, so we're going to keep an eye on that. Rashad Bateman mispracticed. Are you ranking him?

No. They said it's a midfoot injury. Could be pretty serious. He was in a walking boot after the game. I wouldn't expect him this week. Okay. Cameron Brait still

in the concussion protocol. Falcons have been really terrible against tight ends. So if you want a sleeper, maybe more of a DFS play, look at Kate Otten, uh, Cadareous Tony and Kenny Galladay are out and Wanda Robinson. It's going to make the trip,

but ESPN said likely out on, uh, Wanda Robinson. I was quick. Giants pass rusher. Aziz Ojalary is out. He's probably their best pass rusher Aziz Ojolari is out. He's probably their best pass rusher as of now. Aaron Rodgers, not a note for today.

This will be about next year. I'll skip that. Dawson Knox mispracticed, and he's legitimately beat up, so he may not play. And Isaiah McKenzie was limited. He was still in a non-contact jersey. I guess we can say McKenzie's trending in the right direction, but has not been cleared yet. He's got the concussion. Gerald Everett was limited in a non-contact jersey. I guess we can say McKenzie's trending in the right direction, but has not been cleared yet.

He's got the concussion. Gerald Everett was limited with a hamstring injury. Kyle Pitts, guys, are you concerned about Kyle Pitts at this point? Absolutely. I'm actually thrilled with it. Why? I hope he misses the game so I don't have to start him. I can start somebody else.

Harsh. Rondell Moore was limited with a knee injury and Hunter Renfro is trending in the right direction. If you feel that way, then why don't you just cut him? No. Because I'm hoping that he can turn it around once Desmond Ritter gets under center. Whenever that happens. I don't know if that'll

happen though. They're 2-2. Yeah, whenever that happens. Might not be until Thanksgiving. They're 2-2 and every game they've played. The Falcons have played four games, and all of them have been decided by four or fewer points, which I think is very relevant. Now here comes the matchup against Tampa.

Very relevant going into this week. You might get more pass volume, might be better for Drake London, and if Pitts plays, might be better for him. Let's do beat the waiver wire. I like London better if Pitts plays. Okay. Let's do beat the waiver wire for a couple minutes here.

We do have four teams on by. Yeah, he's on here. We have four teams on by next week. Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, and Tennessee. So if you want to DST, the Ravens are at the Giants. They're 59% rostered. The Chargers get Denver on Monday, 54% rostered. Quarterbacks, I got Carson Wentz at the Bears,

Geno Smith against the Cardinals, Teddy Bridgewater against Minnesota. Wentz at the Bears, Geno against the Cardinals, Bridgewater against Minnesota. Pick one, Dave. Would it be Geno? For now, it's Geno. All right.

Running backs, it's handcuffs mostly, but Mark Ingram, I don't really know. I feel like he's got to be rostered with this lingering rib injury for Kamara. Ingram's 42% roster. Jamie, what about Gus Edwards, 14%? Is he criminally under-owned, under-rostered? I went through all my leagues last night,

and wherever I had an open IR spot, I picked up either Damian Williams, Gus Edwards, or Van Jefferson. So if you have the ability to stash guys, you should absolutely take advantage of that because it's a free space, and then you never know what happens. But yes, Gus Edwards should be rostered if you have an IR spot. If you don't have an IR spot, though, advantage of that because it's a free space, and then you never know what happens. But yes, Gus Edwards should be

rostered if you have an IR spot. If you don't have an IR spot, though, I don't think it's worth it. Okay. Wide receivers, there are a lot of them that are available going from shallower to deeper leagues. Darnell Mooney, Corey Davis, Zay Jones,

Devin Duvernay, 42% rostered, guys. What do you think about Duvernay this week now that we don't expect Bateman? He's a touchdown or bust receiver, much like Rashad Bateman is, but it's not a bad idea to stash him because he's actually scored three touchdowns already this season.

So in a game that's expected to be close to 50 points, what Vegas is telling us, Lamar Jackson's playing like an MVP. I have no problem stashing Devin Duvernay and using him as a third receiver this week. DuVernay. DuVernay. You got it. Josh Palmer, 40% if the Keenan Allen

injury lingers. Jamison Williams, 36%. They're on a bye. Could he come back after the bye? I don't know. We haven't heard anything. Yeah. So where would you rank him among the IR guys? Because you mentioned three of them, James. Yeah. But so where would you rank him among the IR guys? Cause you mentioned three of them, James first by far, right? But he's already on a lot of IRs. So I wouldn't expect to see him out

there, but if you do put them on your IR, I would say right now, I'd probably go him. One Damien Williams, two Gus Edwards, three and Van Jefferson four. You wouldn't have Van higher. Cause I think the Rams really need him. I mean, they've had him on their rosters for the four years now and they've never really featured him. So I think at best he's coming in third behind.

Yeah. So Edwards is an injury away from being the Rams, the Ravens guy. Williams could be the Falcons guy right now. And so Van is definitely fourth for me. This is his third year, Van Jefferson. Third,

third year. This is his third, not his fourth year. No, come on Gator. 2020, 2021, 2020 was his rookie season.

So, um, yeah, he was in the second round of the 2020 NFL 2021. 2020 was his rookie season. Yeah, he was in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft. Who else is on the waiver wire that we might be able to add? Rondell Moore, Christian Watson, Sky Moore, Wondell Robinson. Sky Moore, his playing time

has gone up each of the last two games. Big jump last week. All right, let's get into games. Yeah, Wandale's interesting. One question for each game. Philadelphia, Arizona. How much faith do you have in the Arizona offense?

Depends on which part you're asking about. Kyler's a must-start. Marquise Brown's a must-start. Zach Ertz is a must-start. James Conner is a maybe-start. James Conner is a maybe-not-start. Otherwise, I agree. A lot of people don't have that luxury. That's the problem.

So if you can bench James Conner, you should. But if you have to start him, then you just got to hope that he – as Heath said on HQ yesterday, it's hard to overlook when a guy's getting 18 total touches, you know, so he's probably going to be in that range of of, you know, carries and catches again. If he scores, you'll be okay. If he doesn't, you're going to

be left with an empty stat line, which is what he's given you more times than not. So if you can bench him, bench him. Yeah, it's just to say that he's going to get 18 touches. That was the first game that he got 18 touches. So it's also the game that they said they want to feature more. So yeah, and they will,. That was the first game that he got 18 touches. It's also the game that they said they want to feature more.

Yeah, but it was the best game script they had, right? They beat the Panthers pretty much from start to finish. I don't remember the entire game script, but they're usually trailing.

I know I just predicted an upset. Well, that's the first game we'll talk about, and the Eagles see the fewest running back carries in football, so we'll talk about that shortly. Seattle and New Orleans,

who's the best wide receiver in this game? Chris Olave. DK Metcalf. Okay. Is it close? Because I feel like it's probably close with all three of these guys, right? Yes.

Yeah. If you've got any of those first three and throw in Thomas, if he can make in a miraculous recovery from his injury, you're looking at four starting wide receivers. of those first three and throw in Thomas, if he can make it a miraculous recovery from his injury, you're looking at four starting wide receivers. But I love what I've seen from DK the last two weeks. Double-digit targets, at least 18 PPR points in each game.

Totally in sync with Geno Smith. It looks good. Dallas and the Rams. This game is in Dallas, right? I don't know why I put it the other way. No, it's in the Rams. Oh, it's in the Rams. Okay, I had it right. The Rams allow the second most fantasy points to wide receivers. Does that mean anything for

Michael Gallup or Noah Brown? It certainly will help if there's no CeeDee Lamb, but the Cowboys are a very conservative team right now, understandably so with Cooper Rush. Lamb is the only one that I would say is a must-start guy, and he's been fantastic.

You get some sleeper appeal from Gallup, probably ahead of Noah Brown, but both guys are deep league number three type of receivers. Chicago at Minnesota. Dave, are you feeling it? Definitely. At least seven targets in each of his past three games. I believe his targets have been 7, 8, 9,

which is great if you watch Sesame Street and if you start Adam Thielen in fantasy football. Not good for number six, though. It's not good for number six. That's right. Too bad for six. 15 PPR points.

Pencil it in. For Adam Thielen. Okay. The Bears allow the second fewest fantasy points to wide receivers, and they have faced some good ones. Look where they played, though. They faced some good ones. They faced the Packers. The Giants in the rain, and the Giants last week.

Not the Giants. Daniel Jones. They don't count. They faced the Packers, the Niners, the Giants, and who was the other game for the Bears? The Texans. Yeah, they did well against Brandon Cooks. They did.

I mean, I don't think this is, this is not a defensive here. I know, I know. Okay. In fact, you want to know who the top two teams against wide receivers are? I already told you the Bears are number two. Who gives up the fewest points?

The Giants. Yeah. Atlanta, Tampa Bay. Can you trust anyone in the Falcons passing game, Dave? You can trust Drake London as a flex this week in PPR, maybe a low-end flex in non-PPR. If you're really desperate or if you're looking for a dart throw in DFS,

you can look at Olamide Zaccheaus, especially if there's no Kyle Pitts. But otherwise, nah. Jamie, do you like Jeff Wilson, San Francisco, a Carolina? Do you like Jeff Wilson this week? Yeah,

I think he's a very good number two running back better in non PPR than PPR. You know, don't overvalue what he did last week, but clearly the workload has been consistent since Elijah Mitchell has gone down, you know, so the touchdown run was great. You see the explosiveness is still there.

I think you just got to, you know, sort of expect, you know expect 11 PPR points, which is kind of what he's given you the first two starts. If he scores, it'll be unbelievable. So it's just a favorable situation. The matchup's not exactly easy because the Panthers' run defense has been better than expected, but you're starting Jeff Olsen to be honest.

They haven't allowed more than 11 PPR points who are running back in three straight games. And it's against Saquon Camara and Connor. Yeah. I mean, it's Connor or whatever, but Saquon and Camara, I think that that means something,

especially in PPR. We'll find out. I like him as a low end. Number two, running back. I think he's okay. We'll find out if Camara means something he, or unless he's another one of these all washed up guys.

Yeah. It's NFL all washed up guys. Yeah, NFL is washed up. Are you guys already in your mind making your running back list for 2023 and just throwing out so many names that you know you're not going to have Camara High,

you know you're not going to have Dalvin Cook or Derrick Henry High next year? As a matter of fact, Todd Rones, who's our most generous donator to make the most generous donation to our St. Jude drafts time every year. He asked me something about running backs, and he

said, what do you think of next year? I said, the only thing I know for sure is that Derrick Henry will be a top three running back again, and everybody will doubt him, and he'll just continue to do this for the rest of his life. I don't know, man. I think, well, it's to be determined but a lot of the guys that we've been relying on for so long are really not performing up to the standards we used to see but that's that's the nfl you know i mean that scoring is just way down this year so maybe we're just focusing on some people okay

last one is uh giants and pat well by the way you the way, do you like Jeff Wilson or James Conner this week? Wilson. And Giants, Packers, would you start all Packers? That would be Rodgers, Jones, Dillon, Dobbs, Lazard. Start them all? I think if you're in a three-or-zero league, you're starting Lazard and Dobbs. Otherwise, you know, those aren't must-start guys yet.

And Tanya's in the streaming conversation And Tanya's in the streaming conversation. Tanya's in the streaming conversation. Dylan is a flex. I think Lazard is probably good enough to go. I'm a little worried that only one of those two receivers will be good for fantasy because I don't know how much passing they're going to have to do.

Yeah. Do you like A.J. Dylan? Dylan or Connor? I've got Dylan ahead of Connor connor oh dylan or wilson jeff wilson uh wilson but they're close okay all right we got a lot of other podcasts to talk about here to let you know about anyway how about morning combat yes morning combat did beat fantasy football today for best Sports Podcast and Podcast Awards. But that's okay. We're very proud of them.

They're a terrific show. If you like combat sports, check out Morning Combat. You like college football? You like the NFL? Fantasy baseball? Soccer? Women's soccer? We have so many podcasts.

We are the freaking best podcast network. So go to cbssports.com slash podcasts and check it out. And yeah, Podcast Awards update. We did not win. Maybe we were the runner up. I'd like to say that, but CBS sports did win. And I want to thank everybody for getting us nominated onto the final round. That was really cool. Um, seven of the 10 podcasts that got to the final round were from CBS sports. So I can, I really think we have the best podcast offerings and, uh, the best listeners as well, including one guy who won $10,000 last night. So, you know.

All right. Philadelphia and Arizona. First game we're going to talk about. The Cardinals have a top eight running back, a top 10 wide receiver, and a top four tight end. The Eagles have a top three quarterback, a top 10 running back, a top 10 wide receiver, and a top 10 tight end. We got a lot of really good players in this game. We are excited. How about this stat of the game?

Since the start of the 2021 season, Zach Ertz has 12 end zone targets. Third most among tight ends. Dallas Goddard has two. Two end zone targets since the start of 2021. And by the way, Mark Andrews leads all tight ends with 20. He has 18 more than Dallas Goddard. And I think Ertz has a lot of them with Arizona, too.

Remember, Ertz started 2021 with Philadelphia, which is part of the reason why Goddard only has two. But I think that that's what his role is when there's no DeAndre Hopkins on the field. I think he gets looks inside the 10. Yeah. The other stat, I think he gets looks inside the 10. Yeah. The other stat I think is that the Eagles see the fewest running back carries per game. They're a tough team to run

on to begin with, and they're a tough team to be able to run on because they score so many points. And so that I'm sure is going to inform your James Conner decision. So Jamie, I'll give you the first word. We just talked about him. Sounds like he's the number two running back, but who are some guys you have him ranked around? Like what range is James Conner in this week? Oh, he's a number three running back and he's ranked around the elites of Najee Harris and Ezekiel Elliott for this week. That's how good James Conner is more so that those other two guys are just struggling right now. But yeah, it's, it's a tough matchup. He's not finding the end zone. He's not getting a lot of running room. I think the thing with James Connor, if you have them on your team, you, you, again, as I said before, you have to have a pretty

good situation to bench him because whether it's 18 total touches or 15 total touches, it's going to be in that range. Um, you know, and, and still the ability to fall into the end zone because he's done that time and time again with his team. He just hasn done it very often this year but it's a tough matchup on the other side you saw what they just did to jacksonville in that run game and james robinson had been running hot as hot as anybody in the league and they shut him down i think the thing you just got to do with james connor is if you can avoid him this week i do think that when hopkins comes back this offense will start to look a lot better because there'll just be more options on the field and more things that they have to worry about defending other teams.

So sit on Connor right now might be a bylaw opportunity. But for the time being, if you can sit him, you should sit. 11% of his runs are for zero or negative yards. Would you, either of you care to guess what percentage of his carries have been for 12 or more yards?

He is zero. He is a long of 10 yards this year. Correct. And no running back has had more than 10 PPR points against Philadelphia in the past three weeks. If you look at the Eagles year to date run defense stats, they are spiked by what the lions did in week one. And we've already identified that the lions are one of the best running teams in the league

in the three games since it's like, uh, 3.5 yards per carry one yard before contact per rush. They are good. Yeah. This is a really bad matchup for Connor. Uh, the good news is Kyler Murray is throwing to his running backs, uh, 20.3% of the time that's up from 17.4% last year, but that's not all Connor. No, it's not. But, you know, okay. Anyway, whatever. He's a number three running back. Now, I'm going to finish up with the Cardinals here

because just based on the way you guys have it ranked, Kyler Murray, he's eighth. So the only players ahead of him are players that you probably don't have along with Kyler Murray. Tom Brady, I think, is ahead of him. And obviously the elites. But Joe Burrow is ahead of him. But no waiver wire guys, not

cousins, not car. So you're starting Kyler, you're starting Marquise Brown and you're starting Zach Ertz. I guess I would just say, you know, kind of vaguely kind of generally speaking. I mean, I don't know how confident I am in them. You know, I am starting them and I agree with you, but if I were playing devil's advocate, it's not like Kyler's really playing that well this year. Their offense, other than the game against the Panthers, they've just sucked. They've just been terrible in the first half. They're always playing catch-up. You got Darius Slay and James Bradbury. I mean, this is not a great matchup for wide receivers. So, yeah, I don't know. I mean, you have them ranked as if they're not facing a really good defense is what I'm saying, I guess.

Those three players in particular, Kyler, Marquise Brown, and Zach Ertz. Jamie, does it make you nervous to have them as must-start guys, basically? Not really, no. I mean, I think this will be some garbage time production for Kyler. We've seen that, you know, whether it was in the comeback effort against the Raiders, which you could say qualifies as garbage time because of how the score was, but earlier in the season also. I think the thing about him, even go back to last week's game,

if Trevor Lawrence doesn't turn the ball over five times, he's still got you two touchdowns in that game against his defense. And I feel a little bit better about Kyler as a fantasy quarterback than I do about Trevor because I do think this is a game where Kyler will probably run because he's going to be under such duress. So is he going to have a slam dunk unbelievable game? No. Am I considering benching him?

No. Zach Ertz has been too good. It's a revenge game for him. I'm not going to get away from him. And Marquise Brown has been just soaking up targets. So, yes, I'm fine with those three guys. Okay. On the Eagles side of the ball, Miles Sanders is a start.

He's not in the top 12, but he's not far from it. Jalen Hurts, obviously you're starting. A.J. Brown, you're starting. A.J. Brown gets all of the green zone targets. Dallas Goddard does not, but you're starting him. So Dave, Devontae Smith, start or sit?

He should be in your start conversation because it's a good matchup because Philadelphia could try to get him going. And you know, two of his last three games have been really, really good. I, I see no problem in starting Devante Smith is at worst a high end flex.

Yeah. This is the team that, that often gives up bigger games to the number two guy. Unless they see them as kind of co-number ones. And this is a team that uses their top cornerback, Byron Murphy, on the number one receiver. Sometimes they did it against Devontae Adams, for example. All right, how about Devontae Smith or James Conner in a flex?

Smith. Easy. Okay, Devontae Smith or Gabe Davis? Smith. Go a little higher end there. Devontae Smith or Brandon Cooks? I'll take Cooks. Me too.

All right. Eagles DST is start worthy. Let me see the updated rankings on the Eagles DST. Are they 12th and 6th for Jamie and Dave, and Heath has them 10th. Okay. All right. Let's go to our next game.

An interesting one for fantasy. Probably going to be kind of ugly. Wait, were you serious about the Cardinals winning? I could see it. You know, it's football. They're market corrections. Eagles are 4-0. I could see it. You know, it's football. There are market corrections. Eagles are 4-0. I could see them losing this game.

Yeah, I could see it. Kind of a cross-country trap. This could be a trap game for Philly. You know who they play next week. No, I don't. Chiefs. Dallas. Oh, yeah.

Sunday night. Yeah, I could see it. I mean, it's not crazy. Okay, Seattle at New Orleans. It's the stat of the game. The Seahawks are allowing the most pass plays of 20-plus yards, the most pass plays of 25-plus yards. The Seahawks, they're not giving up that many fantasy points to wide receivers.

It's kind of weird, but they are ripe for the pickings, basically. So, anyway, I think you guys like Chris Olave quite a bit, and we're assuming Michael Thomas is out. Chris Olave or Devante Smith? Olave. Olave. Okay, so is he like top 20? Top 15.

Yeah, his numbers weren't overwhelming last week, but he did leave. He missed some time with an injury and made some great plays. He looks really good. First touchdown, but lowest targets in the last three weeks. Right. Geno Smith, start or sit, Dave?

You've been Team Geno. I wish that I had ranked him ahead of Russell Wilson. And I thought about it, and I thought, you know what? This is a tougher matchup. It's not against Detroit. The one time he had a really tough matchup this year, he was terrible. I'm thinking that he'll be okay, but he, I feel

like he's in that like two 52 and two range. So I, I like him enough to start him over Stafford, for example. Um, but I I'd start them over golf, but I don't like him over Trevor Lawrence. I don't like him over cousins Rogers. Well, let's see if he has another lights out game against new Orleans, he's going to be, I think he'll be in that circle of trust that everybody hates. And the saints are a tough matchup. They have not allowed more than one touchdown pass in any game.

No quarterback has a rating over 84.6. They have faced Mariota and Mayfield, but they've also faced Brady and Cousins. Brady without Chris Godwin, and Mike Evans got kicked out of that game. Yeah, I do feel like their defense is weird, though, because they're not blitzing that often, and they're not getting a lot of pressure.

No, very low pressure. I think last in football. They did against Carolina, but everybody else, they haven't. So I don't know what they're what they're really doing or what their philosophy is. But they might not pressure Gino. And that's really to me, that's the key. If Gino's not pressured, he's going to pick him apart. How about Rashad Penny, Jamie? Any any chance? Well, no. Any hope for Rashad Penny this week? Coming off a huge game against Detroit,

but that was Detroit. There's absolutely hope. I don't think he's a slam dunk must start, but I also don't think he's a slam dunk must sit. First off, I want to see what happens with Ken Walker. Went from practicing in full to limited with a shoulder injury. Penny went from being out with a shoulder injury to practicing yesterday. So maybe they swapped shoulders.

I think for Penny, you know, it's just what the sample size is. The sample size is three mediocre games and then one great game. And the one great game is against air because the Lions don't play defense. So we'll see what happens this week. I would put Penny closer to the Connor-Zeke-Harris group than I would the Miles Sanders-Clyde Edwards-Solaire-Devin Singletary group. So that just kind of tells you just in terms of three guys we were definitely counting on versus three guys we had no anticipation for.

I don't think Penny is a top 24 running back this week, but I would not be fighting anybody who wants to start him coming off that game. And I would be one of those. I do think it's more, for me, it's more about the Lions and less about Penny at this point. I'm one of those people. I think Penny's got too much upside to sit.

I currently have him one spot behind Jeff Wilson. I'm going to change that. I'm going to start Penny over Jeff Wilson. They both have challenging matchups. Penny just has huge upside. I don't want to miss out on that. I love that he's played about 70% of the snaps each of the past two weeks. And the Seahawks kind of got a reminder of how good he is when they feed him the football. I know they want to get Gino going. I know Gino's playing great. They can have both of those things happen. And I like him. I think he could have a good game.

Low-end number two fantasy running back, but a start. All right, so Jamie said, I think if I remember correctly, he said Olave is his highest-ranked wide receiver. Dave, you said Metcalf. Which means Metcalf must be close to your top 12. He's 12th. Okay. Man.

The only thing is, Detroit is really one of the worst defenses, right? He's 13th. I'm sorry. He's 13th. Okay. Well, that's much better. He had 149 yards last week against the Lions, hit some big plays, but he was 64 or fewer yards each of the previous three weeks. 36, 35, and 64 yards. And two of those were tough matchups. He's faced some pretty damn good cornerbacks this year, actually. All right. Metcalf, you're starting. Jamie, where do you have Metcalf? 25th. All right, so a pretty big gap there. Yeah, I don't think he's a slam dunk either

in the two-receiver league. Do you have Lockett higher? I have Lockett one spot higher in PPR. I have Lockett one spot behind him in non-PPR. I really hate answering starters to questions about those guys. I don't really feel... The answer's simple.

I don't feel that it is, but that's because obviously... I don't think it is either. Obviously, Dave, you're just more confident in Geno Smith, but I think the Saints' defense is very good, and I think this is going to be tough sledding. I don't know what you thought about how Kirk Cousins played last week, Jamie. He should have had a better game than he did statistically, but I thought he played well, save for the interception that he had.

And there's just something going on with the Saints defense where they're playing well enough to keep quarterback numbers down, but I don't think they're playing so well that they're shutting deep offenses down. So I'm kind of banking on Seattle to keep it going. Offensive lines done a better job the last couple of weeks as well. Charles cross has played well. The rookie left tackle lock. It has at least 15 PPR points.

Each of his last three games, Metcalf has at least 17 PPR points. Each of his last two. I'm, I'm good with those guys. I think you keep them in your lineup, but they've, you know, again, looking at the schedule, those, those guys. I think you keep them in your lineup. But he was bad. Again, looking at the schedule,

those guys, Lockett had a good game against San Francisco. Metcalf did not. Metcalf did not have a good game against Denver. And then he's played well against Atlanta and Detroit. And then you go back to Geno. Okay, 20 fantasy points against the Broncos. Under 200 yards passing. Didn't get a second to the two touchdowns.

Didn't have an interception or turnover in that game. Then he takes advantage. Then he struggles against San Francisco, takes advantage against Atlanta, takes advantage against Detroit. I mean, there's just, I need to see him do it against a good defense.

I need to see his offense do it against a good defense. The saints may not qualify as a good defense, but this is a rested defense after not, you know, I'm sorry, should be, should be a relatively rested defense um for where they are and coming back home after a loss i kind of feel like that's a good spot for

them so i'm gonna i'm gonna not necessarily go all in on the seahawks i think it's just a matter of their their easy number three receivers because that's essentially how they were drafted mccaff a low end number two lockett was basically number four receiver drafted. So it's just a matter of what your rest of your team looks like. Penny's kind of the same thing. If you want to start them, start them. I'd just not be surprised if this is a bad game. A big letdown

spot after beating up one of the worst defenses in football. And their pace of play is typically pretty slow too. We'll see how that matters. Okay, let's finish up on this. Let's finish up. How do you have Smith ranked compared to the Seahawks guys? I have Smith ahead of both Seahawks receivers.

And I've got them sandwiched in between Metcalf and Lockett. What about McLaurin? Love McLaurin this week. I'd take him over both those guys. I'd take him over Lockett. Can you stop asking Jamie questions and let him catch his breath, please? Like,

it's so cruel what you're doing right now. He's got, he's got, Jamie, could you recite the Gett and let him catch his breath, please? Like it's so cruel what you're doing right now. He's guys. He's got Jamie. Could you recite the Gettysburg address? All right, let's go to, uh, let's finish this up here.

Uh, any interest in will Disley real quick. Will Disley. No. If you're a desperado at tight end, you could put them in and cross your fingers. He gets six starters. It,

uh, saints quarterback in a great matchup. DFS. I don't know. You know, this week. Ooh, put him in and cross your fingers. He gets six starters, a Saints quarterback in a great matchup. DFS. I thought you know this week. Do you? I don't. I don't like him that much, but I do think he's streamable. Alvin Kamara. Easy call.

Yes. Our stardom. All right. The matchup helps a lot. Start a lot of a we're not expecting Michael Thomas and Taysom Hill. I think The matchup helps a lot. Start Olave. We're not expecting Michael Thomas. And Taysom Hill? I think I like him better than Disley at tight end. I do.

You look at how bad the Seahawks run defense was last week. Start a running back who might be a quarterback that you can use at tight end. All right. You guys have the Saints defense very differently here, which shouldn't surprise you based on the conversation we have. Jamie has him 14th, Dave 22nd, so you should avoid that. And for what it's worth, you know, in terms of their pass rush, they did get three sacks last week, which we'll see is not against Cousins.

All right, let's take a quick break here. When we come back, Dallas at the Rams. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. Dallas and the Rams. All right, can the Rams bounce back from a disappointing game here and get a home win against the surging Cowboys, who are winners of three straight. Stat of the game.

This is more of a season-long thing. It maybe gives you some hope for the running backs for the Cowboys. They have run the fewest red zone plays in football ahead of only Carolina and Tennessee. And they didn't really run many. They didn't run many in week one with Dak. I don't know how many they ran, but since he went out weeks two to four, they're 24th in red zone plays,

but they were ninth in 2021. So if you want to be optimistic about the Cowboys offense, you know, they just, they're not running a lot of red zone plays. They're not moving the ball that well. And they're very, very conservative. Anyway, sit Cooper Rush,

sit Ezekiel Elliott if you can. So Rashad Penny's ahead of Zeke. Yes. Okay. Jamie was the lower guy on Penny. So Rashad Penny is ahead of Zeke? Yes. Okay. Jamie was the lower guy on Penny. So Jamie, Penny or Zeke? I would take Penny over Zeke. Alright. Try to get away from that. Start

CeeDee Lamb, Gallup, and Noah Brown are kind of dart throws, I guess. But I will say, just so everybody knows, Noah Brown did not lose snap share last week with Michael Gallup coming back because he's got his role in the slot and he's been 79% or more of the snaps in all four games.

Dalton Schultz. Dalton Schultz or Taysom Hill? And by the way, the Rams have allowed one touchdown to a tight end in the last 15 games. So Schultz or Taysom Hill? Taysom Hill. Taysom and non-PPR Schultz and PPR

remember when Taysom when Dalton Schultz was not great last year it was when the Cowboys had three receivers for their quarterback to lean on and you just talked about

how Noah Brown did not lose his role Gallup is back I want to see it change when Dak comes back I can't guarantee that it will yeah it's a little comes back. I can't guarantee that it will. Yeah, it's a little scary.

I think I'm definitely going to hold on to him until Dak gets back. I'm not dropping Schultz. But is that how you guys feel? But I definitely don't want to start him. Yeah, if you could avoid him this week, avoid him. And avoid Matthew Stafford. You guys have him right around 20th. Dallas number one pressure rate in the NFL. Spent a lot of

time talking about this yesterday. I don't want to rehash it, but yeah, it's hard to trust them. Okay, Dave, look, if the Rams are going to protect Matthew Stafford and attack the weakness of this defense, you'd think they should

run the ball. Dallas is giving up 4.78 yards per carry to running backs, and they have such a good pass rush. You don't want to be in obvious passing situations. What does that mean for the running backs for the Rams this week? Well, theoretically, that would mean that they would get a lot of work, but if they can't have success opening up lanes for Henderson and Akers, they'll give up on that run game pretty quickly. I'm not trusting Henderson or Akers in fantasy lineups until I see something more.

This doesn't feel like the matchup where they'll have success running it. Are they behind Zeke? Yeah. It's funny how few starts we have in this game. You know, for a Dallas Rams game, it's kind of a shame. You'd think that this would be a spotlight high scoring? What's the total for the game? I can look it up if you don't have it. I got you. It's 42.5.

When the season started, you would have said this is going to be a 50-51 over-under. Rams are pretty big favorites too. Five and a half points. The Rams are five and a half point favorites they want you to take the cowboys yeah they're begging you to put your money on dallas which means you shouldn't tyler higby is a must start right yes one of three guys for the rams oh the game three guys in the game. At tight end. Yeah. Tyler Higbee or Gerald Everett?

Higbee. Everett, non-and-half PPR, Higbee PPR. If Kyle Pitts plays, Higbee or Pitts? He's allergic to the end zone. I don't know what the problem is. Who, Higbee? Yeah. Should have had a touchdown last week.

Stafford missed him. Higbee or Pitts if he plays? Higbee. Higby. All right. And which DST do you prefer? The Rams have really been pretty bad DST. Rams slightly.

Okay. Rams or Dolphins? Dolphins. I don't know why I've ranked higher, but I think it's the Rams. They weren't so bad weeks one through three. They were terrible last week, scored zero points against the Niners. All right, Chicago and Minnesota, stat of the game. Kirk Cousins, 38 or more pass attempts in three straight games.

First time he has done that since 2018. But also, Kirk Cousins, third most red zone pass attempts, second most green zone pass attempts. Red zone is the 20-yard line on in. The green zone is inside the 10-yard line. You know, instead of just explaining that every time, just call it the red zone. Just call it.

Right. Well, you know, teams call it the low run. I don't explain it every time. I don't explain it even close to every time. But, you know, just in case people, some people might not know. Just say inside the 20, inside the 10. It's so much easier to say red zone and green zone. I'm trying to save my voice here.

Adam, I think people know what the red zone is. I think so too. You just got a name inside the 10 is inside the 10 and they'll know what that means. Let me tell you the controversy here. Is the red zone inside the 20 or is it including the 20?

I believe the NFL defines it as inside the 20. So if a play runs exactly on the 20-yard line, I don't believe it's considered a red zone play. Well, first and goal is first and goal from the 10 and in, so it's the 20 and in. No, that's different, though. Goal to go is different than... Because I don't think the green zone includes the 10 yard line.

Just say inside the 20, inside the 10. I don't think it's inside the 20. I think it's the 20. Why do you complicate things? I'm not, all right. So anyway, let's go back to this game. It's like yesterday, I asked the two of you to send me the notes

the exact way I sent it to you and both of you did it differently. I don't, that's not true. I did it exactly how you did it. That's not true. I said DraftKings and Fandle. You send Fandle and DraftKings every time. Dave or me? You decided to put a semicolon

in front of it every time. So I have to just go through and clean it up. It's so painful. Why does that matter? Because the graphics doesn't do it that way. What do they do? They copy and paste? They copy and paste the graphics department? Do they? Yeah.

What the hell does it matter if I put a seven? You're also putting it where the players rank? That's for my purposes. Don't send it to me. But it doesn't matter. It does not matter. I write notes too. The people in the graphics department are smart enough to create a graphic.

I complicate things. It's not complicating anything. It's making life simpler for me, which is really what I'm all about. What's the name of the zone from five yards or closer? Do we have a name for that? I used to call it the magenta zone. Everybody hated it. I thought it was funny. They thought it was stupid.

The gold zone, the score zone. We're going to start over here. Chicago at Minnesota. Sit all Bears except the running back? It's going to be ugly if Montgomery plays. You know, so I wish there was a scenario where, because I'm sure a lot of people have probably had this,

not a lot of people, but I'm sure some people had this dilemma of Naeem Hines versus a Bears running back if you had to make a choice knowing that Montgomery practiced yesterday. So, yeah, I Um, so yeah, I, I think, you know, I would like to hook Cleo Herbert to be the guy one more week to see what

happens. I would, I would have Darnell Mooney in a couple of DFS lineups because the Vikings have struggled with wide receivers. They allow high catch rate. Um, their slot receivers have like almost an 80 catch rate against them mooney's lining up in the slot a lot they've been really bad against speedy deep ball receivers specifically over the

past three weeks and the bears threw it a little bit more than they hadn't previously and mooney was the main recipient yeah he was he had a good game he had 90 yards last week or 94 94 yards only five targets. That's the first thing. Yeah. No, but for the Bears, that's like a 60% target. Cole Komet or Kyle Pitts, JK. Kirk Cousins is top 12.

You can start him. You can say JK, but hasn't Komet been better the last couple of weeks? Oh, I hope not. No, he hasn't. Who was better last week? Pitts was what? One catch for 25 yards or something? But two games ago, it was Pitts' good game.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. Kirk Cousins were starting. Dalvin Cook were starting. I mean, this is an easy game, honestly. Adam Thielen is going to be flexy. So Adam Thielen or Rashad Penny?

I feel better about Thielen. I take Th flexy. So Adam Thielen or Rashad Penny? I feel better about Thielen. I take Thielen. Okay, Adam Thielen or Devin Singletary? I got those guys back-to-back. Thielen ahead of Singletary. Thielen. All right.

I mean, look, the Bears' second fewest points to wide receivers, and let's go through it. Debo had 14 yards on seven targets in the rain. Throw out that game. Iuke had 40. He still had seven targets. I mean, look, the Bears' second fewest points to wide receivers, and let's go through it. Debo had 14 yards on seven targets in the rain. Throw out that game. Ayuk had 40. He still had seven targets. Ayuk had 40 yards. Sammy Watkins had 93.

Lazard had 13 yards and a touchdown. Cooks had 22 yards on seven targets. Not that bad. They are missing Jalen Johnson. Like, I don't know if he practiced yesterday. He's missed two straight games. Any interest in Irv Smith? Irv Smith.

To like carry my luggage at the airport? Definitely. Touchdown or bust. Minnesota's DST. You guys actually have top seven. And it's a great matchup. The Bears have just... Might be number one for fourth one. Fantasy gold for DSTs.

So let me get this straight, Jamie. I send you an email with what I need the graphics department to make. You send it over to graphics and they say, wait, I can't input this. There's a semicolon. I don't know what anything means. No, that's not as egregious as your notes in there.

Why? All they have to do is ignore it. People have no idea what we're talking about. They have to take it out. You're making an additional step for people. Why are they taking it out? I think you're making it for Jamie, not for them. I don't know why they have to take it out. You're making that an additional step for people. Why are you taking it out? I think you're making it for Jamie, not for them. I don't know why they have to take it out. They can't just ignore it.

They put it. Okay. They put in like, here's the DFS guy that Adam likes for this game. And here's his price. I also put in parentheses wide receiver 25, because I want to say, Oh,

he's 25th most expensive player on DraftKings. That's a problem. You're, you're, you're the talent. There are a lot of people behind the scenes that work hard that don't make as much money as you. Oh, don't even stop that.

And you're making more work for them. Okay. So wait a minute. Are you cleaning up, Jamie? Or are you passing on more work to those people? I clean up your FanDuel DraftKings mistake and I clean up his. Right, but that's not as egregious as what Adam's doing. A semi-con?

I'm sorry for that. Yours is worse. Thank you. Atlanta, Tampa Bay. All right. I don't think you have to. That's not as egregious as what Adam's doing. A semi-goal? I'm sorry for that. You're in the works. Thank you. Atlanta, Tampa Bay. All right, so yeah, the stat that I'm looking at here, guys, is that, like I said earlier, the Falcons have been within four points in every game, win or loss.

Everything's been close, and that's allowed them to be so run heavy. But the Buccaneers, they're 7-3 in the last two seasons coming off a loss. I guess the last two and a half, two-plus seasons in the Tom Brady era. 7-3 coming off a loss. Average margin of victory is 18 points. So does that change things for you, Dave,

when you look at the Falcons' offense, the game script, and how do you think this plays out, and who do you start in the Falcons' offense? I'm starting Drake London as a flex. That's really about it unless Pitts plays. If Pitts plays, he's a low-end tight end. There's no one else that I feel

really confident about. This is a good Bucs defense. I think the Chiefs exposed them maybe a little bit. Whether the Falcons can capitalize, I'm not sure if they can. They've done some really good things and they're running the ball pretty well. Their offensive line is doing a really good job. They've got a bunch of physical running backs that they can just keep rotating in that can

wear down a defense. I think that's what they're going to try and do against the Bucs. I just don't know how successful they'll be at it. So that's why I can't say start Tyler Algier, start Caleb Huntley. They might be good for 10 PPR points, one of them, but I think they're better to have on the bench than in a lineup this week.

Todd Bowles said, quote, their run schemes are outstanding. Probably one of the tops in the league about the Falcons run game. I mean, you look last week and they kind of proved it last week. All right, but Algier, you guys have outside the top 30, so just don't love the matchup for him.

He's terrific for the bench. Drake, London, Jamie, or Adam Thielen? Thielen. Dave? Thielen. And the other problem with Algier, let's just say he does have a good game. He's got San Francisco next week, week seven at Cincinnati. So they've got a tough stretch. The Falcons do

coming up with run defenses, Drake London or Garrett Wilson. I go Corey Davis over one. I, I, I, I have London over Garrett Wilson, but I kind of feel like Garrett Wilson should be starting. If they're going to have to throw more than 20 times, they might even throw 30 times in this game, which would be a lot for them. And Kyle Pitts is going to be limited or out?

But it's weird. I don't know if I feel as good about London if the Bucs know, okay, this is their best receiver. We've got to put the safety over him and try and take him away. And there's so much evidence of this offense where if you take away the best receiver, you're probably going to win. Okay.

Tom Brady is top seven. Start him. Start Leonard Fournette. Rashad White, any interest? Rashad White or Tyler Alger? PPR,nette. Rashad White, any interest? Rashad White or Tyler Algier? PPR, Tyler Algier or Rashad White? Still Algier, but it's close. I want to have White on my bench, though.

Yeah, I'd rather have White than Algier on my team. Yes. All right, Mike Evans is a must-start. Start or sit Chris Godwin, Jamie Eisenberg? Must-start. He destroys this team. All right, let's go. Oh, my gosh. Yes, this team. All right, let's go. Oh my gosh, yes he does.

Do you have those numbers? I mean, I don't think we have to go through them. Just take our word for it. He's amazing against Atlanta. And what about Julio Jones or Russell Gage or what about a tight end? Anyone other than Godwin and Evans in the passing game? You mentioned Cade Otten as a deep sleeper.

You know, tight end premium type of guy. But that's it. That's it. That's it. If you want to know the Godwin stat, it's 35 catches, 558 yards, six touchdowns in his last five games. His worst game was 13 PPR points over that span. Or you can just listen to that. There you go. Alright, next game is

San Francisco at Carolina. Stat of the game. I gave this stat a couple of weeks ago, I think, that Charlotte is the pimento cheese capital of the world. But the other stat of the game is that Charlotte apparently also has a very old Dairy Queen, and that

has been named a historic landmark. And I will ask you guys, do you have a favorite Blizzard flavor, or have you ever had a Blizzard from Dairy Queen? Have we ever had a Blizzard from Dairy Queen? Have we ever had a Blizzard from Dairy Queen? I don't think I've had one since college. Same. I had two yesterday.

And a Yazoo bar. Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Yeah, Reese's Pizza, whatever it was. The Peanut Butter Cup one. Fudge brownie with hot fudge in it. That's a little indulgence, I think. My's a little gluttonous. My doctor yelled at me yesterday. He said,

what do I have to do to get through to you to lose weight? Is that true? My doctor. You can eat what I had for dinner last night. It was so bad. You'd lose weight. I had rabbit paella. Oh, disgusting. All right, anyway, back to this. Rabbit paella? Yeah.

I had very limited options and it ended up i had to get rabbit paella and it sucked you had a restaurant yeah in the city hudson yards oh how was comic-con comic-con was fun man my friend's a comic-con my friend spoke at a panel he's got a show coming out called koala man i'm sure you're all oh dan dan was there yeah yeah he spoke on a panel it was really cool that's cool and uh koala man keep an eye out for it in the coming autograph i didn't get any autographs no and one of my friends i hadn't seen one of my friends in five years and she was there too because we're all high school friends with my buddy dan and i was looking for her and it was dark and i she was sitting four seats away from me and there was

nobody in between us and i didn't recognize her because she was wearing a costume. You know, like everybody who dresses up at Comic-Con, she was like wearing this crazy costume like,

what? That's you the whole time? All right, anyway. What were you dressed up in? Did you see Chris and Frank? No, I think they're going today.

Are there any tough calls in this game? Like, we're just starting. Go back to the rabbit paillette. Where were you? Hudson, you ever been to Hudson Yards? It's this, it's this like, are there any tough calls in this game? Like we're just starting back to the rabbit pie. Where were you? Hudson. You ever been Hudson yards?

It's this, it's this like crazy, fancy, really cool upscale, um, mall for lack of a better term in New York city. Very unusual. One of those places.

What's that? One of those food court places. No, it's, it's a massive, massive complex. It court places? No, it's a massive, massive complex. I think anyway. It's a huge development

in New York City over the recent years. I'd never been there. So someone took us there and we went to Little Spain. We went downstairs to this place with all these Spanish food.

I did have some churros. Those were great. And they just didn't have a lot of food. And not that I wanted. I just wanted to go get a burger somewhere. I got the rabbit paella

and I just did not like it. And it was $18. It's a bad choice by you. It's really my only choice. So we're starting McCaffrey. That's it for the Panthers, right? Yes.

Okay. Iuke and Wilson, I get. Oh, Iuke, Wilson, Kittle. Then the Niners are kind of interesting,

not starting Garoppolo, obviously, but you are starting Debo. Any interest in Brandon Iuk? You already said Jeff Wilson. He's the number two running back. He's ahead of James Connery. He's ahead of Ezekiel Elliott. He's behind, correct me if I'm wrong, Wilson's behind Devin Singletary, behind

Miles Sanders. Yep. Correct. How about Brandon Ayuk? Any interest there? I've got him as a top 40 receiver. I kind of want to trust him this week because that Panthers defense, I think they can be susceptible to the deep ball. But I don't like him enough to say, yeah, start him over Gabe Davis or even Deontay.

I'm not a Deontay fan this week. I can't recommend that. Who would you start over George Kittle? I can't imagine those in this offense. If they're going to try and get Kittle going, that two guys go off. Or three. Yeah, three guys go off. Or three. Yeah, three guys go off. You're right. Who would you start over George Kittle, Jamie?

Higby, Everett. That's probably it in terms of the guys that you have picked up along the way. Okay. Ertz. Ertz? I'd start Ertz. Okay. And Hockinson.

And Kelsey. Kelsey. All right. That's it for that game. San Francisco's DST is top four. Start them. Ayuk or DJ Moore, by the way? That was creepy. Ayuk or DJ Moore?

Ayuk. I'll go DJ Moore. Did I skip a game? I have Giants Packers. I just want to check the schedule to make sure I didn't skip a game. All right, so let's do Giants-Packers real quick. Stat of the game that nobody is buying. Giants allow the fewest fantasy points to wide receivers.

Jamie, give me the layout of this game here. You're going to start Saquon Barkley, and that's it for the Giants. How do you feel about the Packers? Does Rodgers score more than 20 fantasy points? He's been 20.1 to 20.4 fantasy points in six-point-per-passing touchdown leagues in three straight games. Do they run all over them?

How does this work, and who do you start for the Packers? I'd start Lazard over Dobbs, but both are number three receivers. Lazard's a borderline number two guy. If Rodgers gets the third touchdown, he's going to have a big game. And he just missed the third touchdown last week because Dobbs didn't hold on to the ball as he went to the ground. So he's starting to play better. Surprisingly enough, two things in regards to this game.

This is the first time any of the London games have had two teams with a winning record. Is that incredible? I could not believe that. That is incredible. Like 40, 30 games, 40 games, something like that. Two teams with a winning record for the first time. And this is the first time Rodgers has played there. He's never

played there. It's the last team to actually play in London. So I would not be surprised if he goes over there and puts on a show. So yes, I'll say he goes over 20 fantasy points. The Packers gave up a home game too. I know. That's kind of incredible.

They must have eight home games, eight road games in London, right? I mean, there's no way they have like nine road and seven home games. I mean, I could, if you really cared. I kind of do care because there's not much else to talk about. No, there is actually.

I think A.J. Dillon's really interesting. He's getting a decent amount of work, but just not doing much with it. I want to trust him. I feel like this might be a prove-it game for A.J. Dillon, guys. If he gets a lot of work in this game, if the game goes as we think it's going to go

and he doesn't come through, then we're going to have to reevaluate starting him. Maybe, but I don't know if we can call it a true Joe Boo game for him because I don't think anybody's cutting him if he has a bad game. He's still getting a lot of work. He's just not scoring. He's not finding the end zone. He's not making any big plays either. I think he's averaging

3.7 yards per carry. He's a better player than that. A lot of the runs are in obvious running situations. Third and one, he's going with the idea of getting two yards, not ten. That's going to hurt his rushing

average. Eight road games, not including London So it's only going to be, that's going to hurt his rushing average. Eight road games, not including London for Green Bay. So you are correct. A.J. Dillon or Kareem Hunt? Kareem. Dillon. A.J. Dillon or the James Conner? They're both touchdown dependents,

so it doesn't matter who he feels going to score. I should probably bring this up because I've been obsessed with this play for three days since I watched it. I haven't brought it up, but Kareem hunt, they set up a screen pass for him at the 11 yard line. That was so perfect. And he would have walked in the end zone and Jacoby Brissett had a man in his

face and he just kind of threw it right at his feet. But he, if he had caught an 11 yard touchdown, you might think differently and he should have any who is AJ Dillon ahead of James Connor, Ezekiel elliott and that other old running back that we don't want to start that i don't remember yes yeah it was connor elliott and who else naji naji not i've got naji ahead of him okay all right lazard is a number two three he's like right around 24 ish for you guys what did he say yesterday how many

more passes devon singletary caught than Najee Harris? Five or six. Something crazy like that. I think it's more than that. I think it was like nine. Nine? Wow. Romeo Dobbs.

Romeo Dobbs or DJ Moore? Dobbs. Romeo Dobbs or AJ Dillon? Dobbs. I'll take Dillon and nine and a half and Romeo in full. I'm going to do one more Romeo Dobbs or A.J. Dillon? Dobbs. I'll take Dillon in nine and a half and Romeo in full. I'm going to do one more Romeo Dobbs. Romeo Dobbs

or Corey. Ten catches for Najee, 17 for Devin Singletary. Split the difference. It's amazing. Corey Davis or Romeo Dobbs? Romeo. I do like Romeo more than Corey and Gabe Davis. Wow.

This is the shortest show we've ever done. Robert Tunyon or Kate Otten. This is the shortest show we've ever done. Let's extend it by talking about Robert Tunyon and Kate Otten. What are you guys doing this weekend? Going to D Terry Queen. Dave, what do we have to do to get you to lose weight? What did you say, Dave?

Now you're starting with me? First my doctor, then my wife, then my mom, now my podcast host. What are you doing? See, got a baseball game tonight, t-ball game in the morning, baseball game in the afternoon, early morning,

kids' birthday parties. Nice. London game, so we're starting Sunday HQ at 9 a.m. It's going to be really tough. I'm going to be on the air at 11.30 a.m., so I'm not going to be able to really watch the Giants lose at the end. That's going to be tough for me.

So if there's a surprise inactive, did you like my joke I made last night? I didn't see it. I was a comic con. I tweeted with naive minds well after the injury. So I let the injury settle. But I said, if Adam major was your commissioner,

he was like, he got hurt in the first draft. That's very good. Semi colon parentheses. All right, we're out of here, everybody. Thanks so much.

Heinz was the, Heinz was the, the, the 16th best running back in the, in the league last night, according to Adam in parentheses. All right, we're out of here, everybody. Thanks so much. Hines was the 16th best running back in the league last night, according to Adam. Sucks for Naeem Hines. Really was looking forward to that feature showcase game for him. He was on his way to hopefully a big game. Okay, thanks for watching and thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you

with the mailbag, and you know the drill. We'll see you this weekend. See ya.