Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (NFC)! Geno and Eno, Pitts, Akers and More (10/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: October 14, 2022

What a thriller we had last night! OK, it wasn't great but can we actually be encouraged by the Bears offense? Is Brian Robinson going to be a difference maker? We kick off the show with a Commanders-Bears recap (2:30) and update you on the injuries (11:40) you need to know about for Week 6 ... Beat the Waiver Wire (15:25)! Week 7 is a brutal week as far as byes are concerned, so get ahead of the game. Then we'll ask One Question for Each Game (21:05). How confident are we in the Packers offense? Ken Walker or Eno Benjamin? Can Cam Akers or D.J. Moore get going? Start or sit J.K. Dobbins? ... Start or sit for Cardinals-Seahawks (27:05), Eagles-Cowboys (37:15), Jets-Packers (44:30), Panthers-Rams (51:45), 49ers-Falcons (58:00) and Ravens-Giants (1:05:00) ... 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

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

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

at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend to power your scale with no preset spending limit. Redefine possible with Business Platinum. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply.

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.

Welcome to your Friday edition of Fantasy Football Today. Dave, let's do some rankings real quick. Are you ready to rank? I'm born ready. Okay. Woke up this morning ready to rank. Here are the six games we're going to preview today. Rank them from a fantasy interest perspective, okay?

We have two New York team games other than Buffalo. We have the Jets and Packers. We have the Giants-Ravens. We have Philadelphia- Dallas. Arizona- That's going to be- Wait, do we have Bill's Chiefs? No. Arizona-

I don't know about that. Arizona-Seattle? That might be two. Okay. San Francisco be two. Okay. San Francisco, Atlanta, and Carolina and the Rams. So one is either Eagles, Cowboys. I think Ravens, Giants. Now, this isn't like which players have the most fantasy people in it. It's just which ones are interesting. Yeah. Fantasy.

Yeah. Yeah. I'll put Ravens Giants next ahead of jets and green Bay. This is a flagrant miss your, what about Arizona, Seattle? This is like their second, their second. Oh, okay. No, no, no. Oh my gosh.

Do you really think I'm going to put Arizona and Seattle later? I mean, Gino Smith is playing in the game. Exactly. How can we have a game with Geno Smith not in the top two? Carolina and the Rams would be second to last. And then 49ers, Falcons. That seems like a wet fart. Oh, great.

How about Geno and Eno in that Arizona-Seattle game? I know, I know. Yeah, all right. How about Wentz and Fields? Washington 12, Chicago 7. Speaking of wet farts. Ew. We'll talk about those six games.

We'll go through your news and notes. We'll beat the waiver wire because next week is a bad week for buys. We've got Buffalo, the Rams, the Vikings, and the Eagles on buy. So we'll help you get ahead of the game. All right. No Jamie today, by the way. Two-man show. Go Canes.

Washington 12 and Chicago 7. You know, I had a take last night. See if you agree with it on FFT and 5. Even though they scored seven points against one of the worst defenses in football, I came away encouraged by the bears offense last night. Agree or disagree. Well, do you also feel that way? No, no, I do not feel that way at all.

I think there are some, I think they are, uh, very frustrating. They're a frustrating offense to watch play football. The best part of their game, I guess, is the run game. They don't use fields the way that he should be used. The receivers can't hold onto the ball. They don't have really good receivers. It's kind of a trash can of an offense if you ask me so i agree with everything you said no so the fact that you're encouraged by them

makes me wonder what it is that you saw yeah that makes you feel that way well we're starting i agree with everything you said but we're starting from a very low bar right they've been horrible so bars on the ground the bar is literally on the ground're starting from a very low bar, right? They've been horrible. So the bar's on the ground. The bar is literally on the ground, but okay. From a fantasy standpoint, fields is making some progress. He has rushed for 47 or more yards in four straight games. Um, he could have had a really big game, but he missed a tight end wide open for a touchdown. And then yeah, Ryan Griffin, right. And then he almost had the touchdown at the end. No, well, look, he's not playing well, but they finally threw the ball a respectable amount of times.

So they finally threw the ball 27 times, their first game with more than 22 pass attempts. And you saw he scored 19 fantasy points because he's got that rushing floor. Mooney is coming alive a little bit, and we saw that if they throw the ball more than 22 times, he's probably going to get enough targets, or at least he's in the start conversation, and you should go pick up Darnell Mooney because he's available in about 40% of our CBS Sports

Leagues. Montgomery, as much as I think a lot of people probably think Khalil Herbert's better, Montgomery still has a good role that's fantasy relevant. So I think you don't have to look at Mooney, Fields, and Montgomery as automatic sits necessarily going forward. As long as they run enough plays, throw enough passes, and 27's not a lot, but it's enough, then you could have fantasy starters. You could have flex options or low-end starters. But I feel like we're close to Justin Fields' ceiling

based on what we saw on Thursday and what would make him explode as far as fantasy goes is if they just move them out of the pocket a little bit more. Let me give you an example. He dropped back 42 times. That seems like a lot. He only threw the 27 passes. Uh, when he dropped back and stayed in the pocket, he completed less than 50% of his throws. His quarterback rating was under 60. That's horrible. When he left the pocket and threw the ball,

it was only five times. He completed four of the five passes. He had 70 yards. His EPA was positive. His quarterback rating was almost 120. They need to get him. And his rushing, when he left the pocket, a lot of it was on that late run.

They've got to get him out of the pocket more. And I think he's more comfortable throwing on the run, moving out of the pocket. I think he's the type of quarterback right now. You need to cut the field in half for him, play to his strengths. Don't leave him, but especially behind that offensive line, I can't stand it. And so as long as that's the case, I don't think he'll ever see his upside. And that means that you can't feel great about Mooney. He might be like at best of low end number three fantasy receiver where the expectation is 13 PPR points with the bi-weeks coming. He could matter.

Montgomery still going to be a number two fantasy running back because of the workload. Khalil Herbert's going to continue to be a thorn in his side though, man. Herbert was good last night. He was really good. And I don't think there's anything else to really look at from Chicago. No.

And, yeah, look, it was Washington. But keep in mind, they got inside the five-yard line three times and came away with zero points on those tries, right? I mean, they had an interception, stopped at the one, and then the last play of the game there. So, I don't know. Offense at least looked better, but it was against Washington. Now, on the other side of the ball, Dave, I started Carson Wentz in a league.

Terrific. Three fantasy points. 99 yards. He did have a 40-yard touchdown pass that was dropped by Curtis Samuel. That would have at least given you a respectable game and a better game from Samuel. But this was really, really bad. What do you think, though, about Brian Robinson? He was 26 percent started 17 carries compared to three five for Gibson and two for McKissick, only 60 yards. But he did have the touchdown.

What do you think of Brian Robinson? I am so happy for him that he scored that touchdown. And I am so nervous about his future, especially with the offensive line in Washington being what it is. I, I, the reason why I've got some optimism for Brian Robinson is because they're going to get two starting offensive linemen back eventually. And when they do this line might not be that bad. I think he needs it.

I think he needs an offensive line that can give him a little bit of a push. He is a physical running back. He's, he can definitely pick up yards after contact. And I think he's got a little bit of burst. He got really lucky. If you started him, if you were in that 26, 27% that started him, I think you got lucky, but I do think he's going to get games where he continues to get work. How about this, Adam? I think this is the most – I know that this is the most amount of carries that any Washington running back has had in a game this year, 17 carries. His first start, the rookie, got more carries than Gibson did in any game this year.

I also think it's the most they've run the ball with their running backs in a game this year. And I think that's what they want. And I think that's why Wentz had such a nauseating game. He only threw the ball 22 times. They wanted to run the football more. I think they can get better at running the football provided that game script helps them out. I think you hang on to Brian Robinson. Maybe if someone drafted him and they waited for him and they're not happy with what they saw this week, you can lowball them and get them on your team.

But otherwise, I think he'll have some games that probably match this total, maybe even exceed this total. Do you drop or hold Curtis Samuel? Do you continue to start or sit Terry McLaurin? I think you should continue to sit McLaurin, although he's in that same biweek conversation as Darnell Mooney, probably a little bit better than Mooney, let's be honest. And then Samuel, half the reason why he was doing so well and getting so many targets was because the commanders didn't want to run the football. Now they've got their guy who they can run the football with.

So what kind of a game script will Curtis Samuel need? Trailing, Wentz throwing 40 times. I think that'll happen a decent amount, but it could happen in really unfavorable matchups. He might be somebody that you find on the waiver wire in a couple of weeks, or you put on the waiver wire. Yeah, well, also he has no carries

in three straight games now, Curtis Samuel. So that was something he was giving you the first three games. Wentz threw 22 passes last night, and that's about half of what he was averaging coming into the game. He had thrown 41, 46, 38, 43, and 42. So this was not the Washington offense we're used to seeing because it's not the Washington defense we're used to seeing.

And they faced, you know, a terrible offense. Next week to get Green Bay, maybe they're trailing more maybe the wide receivers will have more targets and you know more than 99 freaking passing yards from carson wentz all right i think that will do it for thursday night football dave let's talk about our let's talk about our live streams all All right, so there are great ways to get your questions answered. My inbox is flooded every day

at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com, and I appreciate that. And I try to respond to some emails. I'm guessing I get to about 35, 40% of them. We'll read some on our mailbag show, of course. But we have these live streams three per week on youtube.com slash fantasy football today.

And if you're watching, hit like. YouTube.com slash fantasy football today. They're exclusive and to just YouTube. And if you want to ask your questions, it's a great way to do it. And also, we just kind of have fun. We just kick it. And they are Tuesday night at 8 p.m. Eastern, Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. Eastern, and Sunday morning at 11.30 a.m. Eastern. So whatever questions you have, bring it on. Join us in those live streams Tuesday at 8,

Thursday at 2 p.m., and Sunday, yeah, Sunday, football's on Sunday, right? At 11.30 a.m. Eastern time. We also have CBS Sports HQ live noon Eastern. Fantasy Football Today CBS Sports HQ live noon Eastern. Fantasy Football Today is on HQ at noon Eastern,

Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. Eastern on Sunday. Download the CBS Sports app on your phone, on your Roku, wherever you have your smart TV, whatever. Download the CBS Sports app and just watch some HQ. It is awesome. All right, news and notes. Let's see if anything has really changed since yesterday. All right, like Mac Jones, Jameis Winston, Baker Mayfield, Dak Prescott.

None of them have been ruled out as far as I know. Do you expect any of them to play? That'd be Dak, Baker, Mac Jones, and Jameis Winston. Maybe Mac, maybe Jameis, but that's it. I'd be stunned if Baker Mayfield played. And same with Dak. I think they feel like they can buy another week with Dak, so why rush him?

We saw a report that James Conner is not going to play. Yes, I saw that same report. Probably looking at Eno Benjamin as the main back. I bet rookie Keontae Ingram takes some work away from him. They signed Corey Clement too, so maybe he takes some work away. Benjamin's never been a full-time

back in the NFL. I don't know if he can hold up to the punishment that will wait for him by that Seattle defense. Whatever. He's number two. I mean, it's arguably the best matchup in fantasy football. I'll give you some of the numbers in a minute,

but I will also tell you that Eno Benjamin, he doesn't have a lot of carries. I filtered this to a minimum of 16 carries to include Darrell Williams. That's how many Darrell Williams has. Of all running backs with 16 or more carries, Eno Benjamin leads all running backs in percentage of runs for five or more yards.

He has gained five or more yards on more than half of his runs, 53%. Very small sample size, though. Okay, other running back news. Jonathan Taylor returned to practice. That is great. Naeem Hines was limited. Still don't know if either of those guys will play. Melvin Gordon was listed as limited in their first practice of the week.

They have the Monday night game. Saquon Barkley is going to play. Raheem Mostert is back at practice. He's going to play. Damian Harris continues to be limited, and we're kind of hoping he stays away because we just love Ramondre Stevenson. Wide receivers.

Tyler Lockett was limited with a hamstring injury. So this was, I guess, a midweek downgrade for Tyler Lockett, but he didn't miss practice. He was just limited. Just make sure he practices on Friday because if he doesn't, then it could be a problem. Chris Godwin, we expect.

Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle look like they're good to go. Drake London's going to play. Isaiah McKenzie's going to play. I think T. Higgins is one that is definitely giving us some pause. We don't know if he's going to play. We're not expecting Michael Thomas, right? Not expecting. Well, we've got him. I think we have him ranked Michael Thomas, but yeah, but after two days of not practicing,

we might have to pull him back out. Okay. Uh, and probably not Jarvis Landry, Chris Olave. I think more optimistic about how you feel about Olave right now. We'll see if he passes through the concussion protocol. I know the Saints would love to have him back. Obviously, fantasy managers would too. Just got to wait and see. You know, last week, McKenzie was practicing in a non-contact jersey, and it looked like he was trending.

And then he ended up not playing. We'll see what happens. Okay. Big opportunity there for Olave if he's the only guy against the Bengals. Let's see. Zay Jones was limited in practice. Keenan Allen was limited, so that's good. Just please, like, at least get back next week. I'm not too picky. Just get on back already, Keenan Allen. He's got the Monday night game, so there's a chance he plays, but limited is a good start. Deontay Johnson was limited. He should be fine. And tight end news.

Kyle Pitts looks good to go. Dawson Knox was limited in practice. Hopefully he can make it back. Looks like Cameron Brait is making good progress and Pat Friermuth as well. Those two guys facing each other in the concussion protocol,

Cameron Brait and Pat Friermuth. All right, let's play a little beat the waiver wire here. It's a big one, Dave. This is the most important segment of the year ever. Huge. Yeah.

Until the ultimate buy NATO later in the year. This is Bills, Rams, Vikings, and Eagles on a buy next week. So I put a bunch of quarterbacks in here. Some of them are available in more than half our leagues. Some are not. If you could get Tua, that's just a great guy anyway, but a great guy to stash anyway, but he's 80% rostered facing Pittsburgh.

Would love to have him back for that matchup next week. Oh my God. All right, other guys, Dave. I got Jameis on Thursday at Arizona. Of course, don't know if he's going to play, but Jameis. Mariota at Cincinnati. Brissette at Baltimore.

Lower end or shallower leagues, Goff at Dallas. I'm not sure I'd want to do thatower leagues, golf at Dallas. I'm not sure I'd want to do that anyway. Matt Ryan at Tennessee, Davis Mills at Las Vegas, Garoppolo against the Chiefs, Mack Jones against the Bears. I didn't put them on here because I like them. I put them on here because they're available.

Who do you like? Tua would be at the top of the list, but he's already rostered in too many leagues. I think I'd go to Winston next against Arizona just because it's the Cardinals and it's a favorable matchup. Garoppolo would be third. I guess Goff would be next. I don't feel great about that. I don't feel great about any of these guys, which is why if one of tongue of Iowa, Winston Garoppolo are on the waiver wire and you've got Josh Allen, Jalen hurts, Kirk cousins, and Matthew Stafford. If you're still starting them, make a move before Sunday, please get one of those guys.

Yeah. It's going to be a competitive waiver wire for sure. So if you beat it, you're, you know, it's, it's probably worth dropping a player. Who's just kind of, eh, like I wouldn't, I wouldn't drop your favorite handcuff on your bench for one of these guys, unless you're going to have to do it next week. Anyway, like what if your, what if your last bench player was Zamir white or Rashad white, one of those guys, Rashad white, I'd hate to give him. Yeah. I wouldn't want to do that. Okay. But what if he was your worst, you give him up now, you do it later. I'm not sure, but if you're going to have to give up him anyway to get another quarterback, you

shouldn't delay the inevitable. Hopefully you've got somebody worse than Rashad White. You should look at the waiver wire and see how many of these guys are available. If all of Jameis Winston, let's say Goff is available, but Winston, Goff, Garoppolo,

if there are three or four options that you think are okay, how about Matt? Matt Ryan at Tennessee is not the worst. That's another guy that could be a fallback option. Would you rather have him than Garoppolo? Like if you could have your pick? Garoppolo against the Chiefs? No, I'd probably rather go Garoppolo against the Chiefs than Matt Ryan.

I would too. But Tennessee's pass defense is so bad, so I'd have to really dig into that. But if you have a lot of options, three or four good options, then yeah, then you might not have to make a move right now. You can wait until waivers run

because there aren't going to be two. It's not like there are going to be seven teams that need quarterbacks next week. Probably going to be three or four. There's going to be at least three. Yeah. All right, running. DSTs, the Dolphins DST faces Pittsburgh.

Dolphins are a 42% roster. They've been pretty bad this year, but they get Pittsburgh, then they get Detroit, and then they get the Bears. They have a pretty favorable schedule going forward based on current fantasy points allowed to DSTs. The Patriots are a 59% roster. They get the Bears next week, and then the Jets, and then the Colts.

Running backs, there are so many, but Mike Boone, Mark Ingram, Jalen Warren, I think, Dave, is one. Might be my favorite. Yeah. Latavius Murray, Josh Kelly, Zamir White, Gus Edwards, Justice Hill. Those are the running backs I highlighted.

Many of them might be available. I like how you put the question mark at the end of Gus Edwards. Did I say Gus Edwards or Justice Hill with the question mark? No, you went Gus Edwards. Gus I say Gus Edwards or Justice Hill? No, you went Gus Edwards. Gus Edwards? I'm Ron Burgundy? Yeah, I'd like to stash these guys if possible.

But of those guys, if you need somebody to replace Devin Singletary or Miles Sanders or Dalvin Cook. If you don't have that guy already, which one do you run to to replace him? Is it Boone? Boone or Kelly? Or Warren?

Get a little PPR in there. Hopefully Warren. Warren might be the guy to stash and hold through week six to see just how much more playing time he gets if he gets more playing time and it's a tough matchup this week yeah you've got you've got it'll be it'll be a little trickier next week but it might be i don't think it'll be as bad you've got nausea who's been terrible you've got tom on saying that warren's gonna get more work and you've got nausea who had a foot injury in the preseason so is it so so Warren looks better? Yeah, like I don't know how I can quantify it any better than I did in my column on the site. But he's just he's looked so much better.

I think you got to get him. All right. Wide receivers. Isaiah McKenzie, 56% rostered. That's my favorite receiver to go grab. And even though he has a buy next week, these are just stashes. These aren't necessarily for week seven plays. McKenzie.

That's fair. He does have a buy next week. MVS is 52%. Alec Pierce, 51%. Uh, Jamison Williams, 38%. And there are some other Van Jefferson, 7%. I will waste time with the other guys, but I think if you can get Alec Pierce or Jamison Williams, Zay Jones, 36%. I like Pierce. I like MVS a lot this week. He's my favorite if you need a receiver for week number six. I think Van Jefferson can end up helping the Rams, especially if you've got an IR spot. That's somebody that I would stash.

If you don't have an IR spot, then you probably don't even have to bother getting them until right before week seven starts, like an hour before week seven kicks off, you could probably stand to stash van then. All right. One question for each game. And then we will dig in a little deeper.

Arizona at Seattle, you know, Benjamin or Ken Walker and the Seahawks, by the way, sorry, a running back has scored 22 or more PPR fantasy points in three straight games against the Seahawks. Eno Benjamin or Ken Walker?

The question that we knew we would have to answer a week ago at this time. I will take Walker over Eno, but I like both. Philadelphia at Dallas. Starters at Miles Sanders. I'm okay starting him. You know what his potential is. Over Eno Benjamin or Ken Walker?

I don't think I would over Walker. Definitely would over Benjamin and non-PPR. I'd have to double check in full PPR. Over Macho Grande? No. No. I've got a Walker, Sanders, Eno in full PPR. You ever seen Airplane 2?

Who remembers Airplane 2? Who remembers Airplane 2? I remember Airplane 2. Did you read that they're remaking The Naked Gun? No. With Liam Neeson reprising Leslie Nielsen's role? Is it just because their names are so similar? Maybe. I don't know.

That's amazing. Liam Neeson needs work and is tired of, you know, falling through windows. That sounds great. The Macho Grande scene in Airplane 2 is one of my favorites, Dave. Jets, and I think of it every time I say over this guy, over that guy, over Macho Grande. All right. Jets at Green Bay. How confident are you in the Packers offense?

I am quite confident in Aaron Jones. I am less confident on every other Packers player. I think they're going to try. I think they've talked enough about it this week where they're going to run the ball a lot more. Kind of excited about A.J. Dillon as a touchdown reliant running back. This week, he's a low end number two running back. If everybody was playing, he'd be a flex. I think Lazard's worth starting probably more as a number

three receiver. Rogers is barely a top 12 quarterback. I had him ranked at once for whatever it's worth. I'm guessing you're going to start Eno Benjamin, Ken Walker, and Miles Sanders over Alan Lazard. Probably, yeah. I do have a decent stat on that basically you get seven targets against the jets you come through and he's been six to eight targets i think in three straight games alan

lazard yeah maybe i do have lazard over eno oh okay uh carolina at the rams do cam acres or dj more get going rams have allowed i, the third most fantasy points to wide receivers. Something's going on with Cam Akers. Did you see what his player prop was for this week? Yeah, you told me. It's like 51 and a half. It has no business being that high. So I'm wondering if the odds makers know something about what the Rams intend to

do and cam acres can have a better than expected week. I can't I can't vouch for him as a number two running back, but maybe like there's a bi-week replacement running back. He could be that guy more. I'm not excited about it. I actually think that

Robbie Anderson's a good sleeper this week. Why over DJ more because he's getting no targets lately. PJ I'm not excited about it all. I actually think that Robbie Anderson's a good sleeper this week. Why? Over DJ Moore? Because he's getting no targets lately. PJ Walker's under center. Last time he was under center, it was a lot more and a lot of good stuff for Robbie Anderson. He's more of a downfield thrower. And I think that he's going to end up getting a lot of action.

Taking a chance on him in DFS for sure. San Francisco at Atlanta. Would you start any Falcons? You know, the 49ers defense is beat up. I don't think they're expecting Nick Bosa to play. Their secondary took some major hits last week. And two defensive tackles are missing. So that might be enough optimism to feel okay about Kyle Pitts and Drake

London, Baltimore at the giants, JK Dobbins or Devin Duvernay, assuming Rashad bait. I didn't mention him. Rashad Bateman mispractice on Wednesday and Thursday. Uh, so if he's out Dobbins or Duvernay,

I've got, they're very close. I've got Dobbins a little bit higher than Duvernay. Oh my gosh. So frustrated right now. I thought I had, I thought that I was going to sneeze and then bit higher than DuVernay. Oh my gosh. So frustrated right now. I thought I was going to sneeze and then it went away. I hate that. That's great.

Such an unsatisfying feeling. No, it was like I have to sneeze, but I can't. But you're on the air. You don't want to sneeze. Well, I hit the mute button. It would have been fine. Yeah, but then people see your head go forward. Yeah.

What if you sneeze on the camera and like a booger gets on there oh geez dave with you with wet farts and boogers i know it's gotten into you today all right let's take a break when we come back we'll get into the gino and eno show arizona at seattle after this on fantasy football today gino and eno show, TM. I think I'm probably the only one who said that. Arizona. I want to say it twice a year. Arizona at Seattle, baby. All right, I want to talk to you about this little stylistic thing here. Where do you have Gino Smith ranked?

Top seven. Ahead of Kyler Murray? No, they are back to back. Ahead of Joe Burrow? Yep. Ahead of Justin Herbert. Ahead of Joe Burrow? Yep. Ahead of Justin Herbert. Ahead of Cousins, Rogers. Ahead of Kenny Pickett.

All right, I'm going to make my bust case for Geno Smith. Now, I'm not saying I believe it. I'm just going to lay it out there. Geno Smith has been unbelievable this year. He's the number one graded passer by PFF. I've talked about this earlier in the week. Gino Smith has thrown a lot of touchdowns. Let me get the exact stat here.

Nine touchdown passes, five of them from 20 or more yards out. So he's been a deep play guy. The Cardinals are actually pretty good at eliminating the deep ball. They give up big pass plays, but completions of 20-plus air yards, the Cardinals have allowed the fewest in the NFL. What they do give up a lot of is yak. They see the second lowest air yards per target, and they give up the second most yards after catch per catch.

In fact, only Seattle has given up more. Seattle is a deep ball team. They have the third lowest yak per catch in the NFL. So Arizona's strength defensively is exactly what Seattle's strength offensively is, and we're going to see which style wins out here. But this is a team that does not get beat deep, and this is a team in Seattle that throws deep. So that's the... And more importantly, Dave, since they gave up 44 points in Week 1 to the Chiefs,

they have given up 16 to 23 points in four straight games against the Raiders, Rams, Panthers, and Eagles. So a little bit of a hap tip there to Arizona's defense for getting better, although the Rams dropped two touchdowns. So that's my bus case for Geno Smith. What do you think? I think you're forgetting an interesting component, and that is that the Cardinals are one of the blitz-heaviest teams in the NFL. And Geno does struggle a little bit when he's under pressure.

It's actually when he's at his worst, but he's been able to maneuver that a little bit and teams are scared. Teams have been scared to pressure him. He's only been pressured on 44 of 157 pass attempts. So not even 30% of his attempts. And part of that is the offensive line doing its job. And part of that is Gino Smith getting rid of the ball. I think if you're telling me that DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett are incapable of making plays after the catch, I'd kind of second guess that. I think they can. We've seen it from them. Oh, they can. It's just not their style. They're an air yards team.

They've been an air yards team so far. I think that doesn't mean that they can't be the opposite of that. You understand what I'm saying? Like, I think they can still. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wouldn't expect 300 yards for Geno, which is why I've got him behind Kyler. But as far as like 250 yards, two touchdowns

and the chance at that third touchdown, that's what puts them well above the other quarterbacks that I have. Okay. Hey, by the way, I'm getting some, some comments here that I'm, I'm hating on Gino Smith. I'm definitely not. I mean, I think I've been so blown away by how well he's played. I've complimented him a lot all week. Uh, you know, but I went into this game thinking, God, this is such an easy matchup. And I just want to give a little bit of credit to Arizona. They've improved defensively. Again, I think Stafford could have had a huge game if Cup and Robinson didn't drop touchdowns. But Jalen Hurts, they did really well against the Eagles last week. That came as a pretty big surprise. So, all right, look, I just wanted to throw it out there,

have a little discussion about it. Everyone's starting Geno Smith pretty confidently this week. Now, how do you separate Ken Walker and Eno Benjamin? What are your expectations for them? I mentioned how good of a matchup Seattle is for Eno Benjamin. They give up 4.95 yards per carry to running backs. They've been just dreadful lately. On the other side of it, Arizona is 12th best against running backs. They've been just dreadful lately on the other side of it.

Arizona is 12th best against running backs, but pretty inconsistent. So yeah. Talk about these two guys where you haven't ranked. I've got them both as number two fantasy running backs Walker. I've got exactly at 15 and, you know, I've got a 21. I a little bit worried about,

you know, Benjamin scoring and I'm, I think that he can. I a little bit worried about, you know, Benjamin scoring. And I'm, I think that he can pick up four or five catches and I think he can get around 80 or 90 total yards. I think that's pretty good. I think you'd be happy with that for me. No Benjamin with Walker. I think you're starting in part. What's up. I don't know. We just had a little bit of a weird feedback there. I keep going. Yeah. I don't know what that was. So I thought you were trying to throw in a point on, you know, Benjamin with Walker. I think part of the reason why you're starting him is because of the talent and the pedigree that he has as being one of the top

running backs in the draft class. And we've seen it from other running backs in this draft class that when they get the opportunity, they take off with it. You're looking for a couple of big plays from Kenneth Walker. You're looking for a rushing touchdown from Kenneth Walker. You should not be looking for catches from Kenneth Walker. He should not be looking for catches from Kenneth Walker. He should lose that role to DJ Dallas. But I do think he's going to be in that neighborhood of 15 to 20 carries, maybe one catch in the game. It's going to come down to game flow, but I think it's going to be in his favor.

And you look at the Cardinals, they've allowed more yards per carry on between the tackles runs four and a half, including one and a half yards before contact. That's both bottom 13 and Walker between the tackles. It's 8.9 yards per carry. A lot of that is propped up by his carry last week. Right. But I think that he's still going to be somebody that can kind of churn for extra yardage,

be physical, cut back and have that burst to have some big runs. Definitely like him this week. Love the talent, like the opportunity. That's when things happen in fantasy. Do you like them better than Melvin Gordon at the Chargers? I like Walker better. For now, I've got Melvin ahead of Eno, and really it just comes down to that matchup being so good for Gordon.

Oh, so good. Do you like these guys? Look, it's obviously good for Eno Benjamin, too. I have a hard time believing that Eno Benjamin's going to see a ton of work. I do think he could get a ton of catches. Yeah, four or five catches. Would that be a ton, or are you thinking— That's pretty damn good.

I mean, in PPR, that's quite a floor. No, that's what I'm thinking. Yeah, because Connor's Connor has been five to three, three and one catch. And he left last week early. In fact, he left two games early. So he's usually around three. You know, has been three, three, two, one, three. So he could be.

Yeah. So four or five. Yeah, it's possible. All right, how about those guys, Walker, Benjamin, or the Bills-Chiefs game running backs? I have Clyde over Eno, and I don't feel great about it. That's one move that I could make. Singletary is behind Eno-Benjamin.

Okay, let's talk about the wide receivers in this game. So we're starting both quarterbacks, starting both running backs. Who's your favorite wide receiver in this game. So we're starting both quarterbacks, starting both running backs. Who's your favorite wide receiver in this game? My favorite wide receiver in this game is Marquise Brown. Okay. In PPR, I just think he's going to continue to see a ton of targets. Take advantage while Hopkins is out. Get them in your lineup. Get them in your DFS lineup. Top five quarterback this week. Wide receiver. Well, yeah. What'd I say? Quarterback. No, this week wide receiver well yeah what i say quarterback no i know i said wide receiver uh how about dk metcalf because i mean i bring it up every week they yeah

it's weird they do it they they take away that number one guy and last year dk metcalf had a combined nine catches for 89 yards in two games against Arizona. And Tyler Lockett had a combined nine catches for 213 yards and two touchdowns against Arizona. So Lockett was great twice. Metcalf was bad twice last week. So how do you feel about them going into this game? You could convince me that Metcalf is going to be the guy that they're going to try and take away based on that stat and how they, they decided to dictate coverage last year against Seattle. Does that mean that I should rank Lockett ahead of Metcalf? Maybe it should right now. I don't

have it that way. I want to start both of them though. I know what the stats say about Arizona, but I know how good this Seattle offense has been rolling the past couple of weeks. And I just, I, there's no way I can sit Metcalf or lock it unless you're just absolutely loaded at wide receiver. Yeah. And Metcalf last week, he dropped a touch to, he had a good game, 88 yards at a touchdown. He also dropped a touchdown and he had a long one called back. He almost had a three touchdown game and he was called back on a pretty questionable holding call. Um, yeah, I mean, you look at Devante Adams, 12 yards and a touchdown Cooper cup, 44 yards, but he should have had about 85 yards and a touchdown DJ more 50 yards on 11 targets, AJ Brown, 32 yards. So it's weird. And they did it

last year too, but, uh, it's weird that nobody, nobody respects it. So, um, but it's weird. Nobody respects it. So, all right, keep it in mind, I guess, but we're starting those guys. This is kind of a bonanza on paper. We're going to sit the Seattle tight ends, even though Arizona's been bad against tight ends. They have faced. They're desperate. Look who they faced.

Arizona's faced Kelsey, Waller, Higby, and Goddard. And let's talk, Zach, it's an easy one here. I think it's easy. And let's talk Zach Ertz. Easy one here? I think it's easy. I think he's a must start. I've got him third at tight end in PPR. This is annoying because Seattle allows the most fantasy points to taste two tight ends. But taste some hell in week one.

They are bad, though. I mean, they gave up 87 yards to Kyle Pitts, 179 yards and two touchdowns to Hawkinson. So Earth's not only a great start, but could be a really good DFS play as well. Agreed. Sit the DSTs. Let's go to Dallas and Philadelphia. I got three stats of the game, which, yes, I know is like an oxymoron, basically.

But number one, the Eagles have scored 13 red zone touchdowns. The Cowboys have made 11 red zone trips. So two more touchdowns for the Eagles and the Cowboys have trips in general into the red zone. Stat of the game number two. This one, pretty fantasy relevant. The Eagles have seen the fewest running back carries, but the third most wide receiver targets.

So not good for the Cowboys running. They score a lot. Yeah, they get up on teams. This one's cool. Stat of the game number three. Look at the Washington Commanders. The Washington Commanders are second in the NFL in pressure rate.

That was boosted a little bit last night, but going into last night's game, they were sixth. When they played the Eagles in week three, they were 27th in pressure rate that week. Why am I bringing this up? The Cowboys are currently number one in pressure rate, according to True Media.

Can they get to Jalen Hurts? It's not just the line. It's also tough to pressure Jalen Hurts. But yeah, I mean, that's kind of a chess match there. Can they get pressure on Jalen Hurts? How do you see this game playing out? I bet that Eagles do what the Bears didn't do. I bet they get Hurts on the move.

And they've probably been doing it a lot. I can dial it up real quick. But I bet that you'll see Jalen Hurts moving around a lot. There will be downfield throws for the taking. Who do you like in this game? How do you see this game playing out from a fantasy perspective? Is it basically like a great day for the Eagles and only CD lamb for the Cowboys?

First of all, I'm wrong on this. He's only had 44 dropbacks where he's gone outside the pocket. Interesting. And his completion rate is actually terrible. He's been in the pocket. So let me take that back. It looks like hurts in the pocket is where he needs to be.

And he's been thriving for Philadelphia there. How do I see this game playing out? Philadelphia having a lead and Dallas having to throw to play from behind. So who are the confident starts in this game? Let's start with Philadelphia. I think you have to feel great about Jalen Hurts. I think you have to feel pretty good about Devontae Smith and the work that he's been getting over the last four weeks. There was the game against Jacksonville, bad weather conditions. He got hurt in the game. He didn't really miss that much time, but all the other games in those past four weeks, he's been awesome. Got to keep starting him. And I think AJ Brown's got too much upside for you to run away from him. I know he's given you some disappointing numbers, but I think he's still worth starting

as a top 15 fantasy receiver. In fact, I have both of them as top 15 fantasy receivers this week and both of them ahead of CD lamb. Lamb is probably my favorite Cowboys player to start. And maybe the only one that I'd feel even decent about. The run game, I'm nervous. I'm nervous about Zeke. I think he's seven or eight fantasy points a week. Good bye week replacement.

Rather have the upside of Tony Pollard. We saw what he's capable of doing. We're all just waiting for the Cowboys to take advantage of Pollard too. Maybe this is the game they do it, but it's a tough matchup, man. Since week two, the Eagles' run defense has been outstanding. Under four yards per carry. Top 10 in yards before and after contact allowed to running backs. They are good against the run. I cannot trust Dalton Schultz. If he's got a PCL injury, that means he can't really move very well.

His agility is a problem, and I wouldn't want to use him. Don't feel great about Gallup. Bi-week replacement at best for him. Oh, I great about Gallup. Bi-week replacement at best for him. Oh, I missed Dallas Goddard. Top four tight end. Yeah, Hurts, Goddard are so easy. I guess people might think, oh, hey, the Cowboys have a very good defense. Is that going to limit

the Eagles? It's worth asking. They haven't been great against wide receivers. They're 19th against wide receivers. And this is definitely... I mean, is this their toughest task? I mean, it's got to be their toughest task. But who have they faced? They faced the Bucs.

Did a good job against them. They faced the Giants, which whatever. Oh, they did a great job against the Bengals. They didn't allow a 20-yard play against the Bengals in Week 2. So they're obviously a very good defense here, but they're 19th against wide receivers. There have definitely been a lot of good wide receiver performances. Evans was great. Higgins and Evans had 71 yards and a touchdown. Jamar Chase was limited. Cup was great. So anyway, you don't have to run away from this matchup here, but would you start Eno or Ken Walker over A.J. Brown or Devontae Smith?

No, I think I'd rather go with Devontae and A.J. Brown. Okay. It's a little closer in non-PPR. All right. So you feel good about them. Who's your favorite wide receiver in this game? Devontae Smith. Yeah, Lamb, by the way.

Lamb, I was surprised. He's still playing 39% of his snaps in the slot. So he's not going to get shadowed. And he's just, if you were disappointed by last week's game, he had a 50% target share. They're going to throw more than 16 times. Yes. Yeah, no interest in Zeke and Pollard, really.

I mean, Pollard is a a non PPR high upside flex. I think, you know, what you're getting with both guys. Like that's the nice thing with Pollard. You know, that you might get huge upside or you might get two fantasy points. You're going to get one or the other. That's how it feels with him. And so if you need that type of boost, that hope for your lineup, that Pollard can give you 12, 15 points, you start him.

And the same thing with Zeke. If you need a bi-week running back that can just get you something, he's safe for 70, 80 total yards. Well, I don't think he is, though. I'll tell you why. Because the one game they've lost, he had 11 touches. And the four games they've won, he's had 15 or more carries in every game. So I don't love the game script.

So are you saying 70 or 80 total yards is his ceiling this week? I hate to put that on him, but yeah, kind of. He never makes a big play. And I mean, I honestly would take, I don't know that he'll get 60 yards. I think their only chance in this game to win, I don't think they're going to win. But if they win, I think they need Tony Pollard to make some plays.

I hope they let him show out. They won't, but I hope they, they would. All right. I would start Pollard over Zeke this week. You would. All right.

If you have that decision to make, uh, mile Sanders, we talked about a little bit, but miles number two running back. Yeah. We talked about him earlier in the show too. Miles Sanders or JK Dobbins.

I have Sanders over Dobbins. Miles Sanders or Jeff Wilson. Wilson. Miles Sanders, Jeff Wilson? Wilson. Miles Sanders or... I'm looking at the rankings page, and I just hit the fantasy hockey tab, so that's not going to help. Miles Sanders or Tyreek Hill

with Skylar Thompson? I will take Tyreek Hill. All right. Jalen Waddle? That's a closer one. They're back-to-back for me in my PPR rankings. I have Waddle one spot. Really? Oh my God. I would definitely go with Sanders. I just don't. Yeah. I

don't want to trust Waddle. Nervous about Waddle with the quarterback. I totally get it. I don't think he's getting six or fewer targets forever and I don't really buy this Vikings defense. All right, Dave. We only have four games left. I think we can do this show in less than an hour and 10 minutes.

That's my goal. Jets at Packers. Okay. Brees Hall or Aaron Jones? Wow. I think, let me double check to make sure I'm saying this right.

I have them back to back. I have Jones one spot higher simply for the fact that I expect the Packers to come off the bus running this right. I have them back to back. I have Jones one spot higher simply for the fact that I expect the Packers to come off the bus running this week. I'm sorry. I have to go back to one thing. Just so y'all know, the Eagles and Cowboys DSTs are both ranked in the top 13 between like eight and 13. Okay. Uh, Brees Hall and Aaron Jones are must starts in this game. Are you starting any other jets? I think Corey Davis is a sleeper. I think that that might be the guy who Zach Wilson kind of likes best right now. And so if you're, if you're looking for a DFS sleeper, he's on the list along with Robbie

Anderson. We mentioned that earlier Packers have allowed the highest catch rate to wide receivers this season, but it's been an 87.5% catch rate over the past two weeks against Bailey Zappi and Daniel Jones. So I think that the receivers are going to be the ones that make some plays for the Jets. I think they got the chance to do it. And Davis has been the most efficient receivers in the past two weeks with Zach Wilson, especially against zone coverage. Packers defense has been one of the more disappointing units in the NFL, but you call you call Corey Davis a sleeper. He's probably not going to be in any of your lineups or

you're not telling people to start him. No, think about him. If you've got him on your team and you need a third receiver or by week receiver, Aaron Rogers is 10th or 11th for Dave, Jamie, and Heath. He is just behind Joe Burrow. He's one spot behind Joe Burrow for everybody. Rodgers is behind Geno Smith. He's behind Kirk Cousins. He is ahead of basically everyone you'd expect him to be ahead of. Stafford,

Garoppolo, Lawrence, Russell Wilson. So you know what to do with Aaron Rodgers. You're probably starting him unless you have 20 fantasy points. Yeah, it's been 20 fantasy points four straight games. It's pretty weird. AJ Dillon.

Alright, who would you rather start in this game? AJ Dillon or a Jets wide receiver? Call it Dillon on my PPR rankings. Dillon is in the 60s for me in PPR. Give me one of those receivers, like Lazard, for example. No, no, Jets receivers. Jets wide receivers, like Lazard is obvious.

I would start Davis over A.J. Dylan in full PPR. I do have Dylan over Elijah Moore and over Garrett Wilson. Yeah, I talked about this yesterday, but I'm going to probably sit A.J. Dillon, and I've started him five straight games, and I'm very nervous. This is when they get you. Yeah, this is when they get you.

But he did have his workload reduced last week, you know, not by a major. Yeah, yeah, he did. Six carries. Always by a major. He only had six touches. And that's so, and he hasn't been good. And yet he was also, he had. Six carries. Always by a major. He only had six touches. And he hasn't been good. He had only six touches, and yet it was his most efficient game.

Right. At almost six yards per carry. I think the Packers and Aaron Rodgers just kind of ignored the run game, and they shouldn't have. They probably would have won and beaten New York if they hadn't. I think Dylan is going to go right back to getting around 14 touches. And I think he's got a good shot to score. Jets have allowed almost five yards per carry the past two weeks against the

Steelers and the dolphins. Think about their running backs and now they're taking on green Bay. All right. And we've got Dylan or let's see Dylan or Clyde Edwards, the layer. Give me Clyde, Dylan or, let's see, Dylan or Clyde Edwards-Elair. Give me Clyde. Dylan or Singletary? I want pieces of that game between the Bills and the Chiefs. They're back-to-back.

I've got Dylan one spot higher. I would not fault you if you went with Singletary. Okay, Dylan or MVS or Juju? I've got MVS and Juju ahead of Dylan. What if we were half PPR? I'd probably move Dylan ahead of Juju, but not MVS. All right. I'm bullish on MVS this week.

You have Lazard 27th. Jamie has him 26th. And Heath has him somewhere. Oh, good. Heath has him,. Oh, good. Heath has him. Oh, 18th. All right. Start out on Lazard.

Romeo Dobbs, start or sit. I get away from him a little bit. Just the fact that Randall Cobb took on such a huge role last week. It kind of shook me on Dobbs. Made me a little wary to start him. I think he'll come around, and I think he'll be a good number three receiver maybe in a couple of weeks.

But I think I need to see it before I start him. Dan Schneier looked at the film of that game and said Rodgers missed Dobbs open for a touchdown and Lazard open for a touchdown. He missed two touchdowns in that game. Didn't see it, which I found interesting. All right, and any interest in Randall Cobb, by the way? I mean, how desperate are we getting a wide receiver?

The problem with Cobb is that he had this great game against the Giants. We've seen him have great games before. And then he goes right back to being two catches for 20 yards. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And the Jets are 13th against wide receivers. All right.

So there have been five wide receivers who have had seven to 10 targets against the Jets are 13th against wide receivers. All right, so there have been five wide receivers who have had seven to 10 targets against the Jets. Four of them had 93 yards or a touchdown. They were Amari Cooper, T. Higgins, Jamar Chase, and George Pickens. The only exception was Tyreek Hill last week with Skyler Thompson. He had seven catches for 47 yards on seven targets.

Basically, you get to seven targets, you have a good game. Targets for Lazard in his last three games have been six, eight, and eight. If we get eight targets from Lazard, you should feel good about it. I am certain that's why Heath's got him as a top 20 receiver this week.

Green Bay's DST has been bad two weeks in a row against Bailey Zappi and Daniel Jones. They are a borderline start this week. Would you start the Eagles, Cowboys, or Packers this week? Eagles, Packers, Cowboys. Let's take a break.

When we come back, Carolina is at the Rams. What will P.J. Walker do? What did he do last year? And how will it translate this year against the struggling Rams team? We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. Welcome back. Carolina's at right back on Fantasy Football today. Welcome back. Carolina's at the Rams. Here we go.

Stat of the game number one. Through five games, the Panthers have allowed only five pass plays of 25 plus yards. Third fewest in the NFL. And they have, this is more important to me, the eighth highest pressure rate. They actually have a pretty good pass rush.

They do. And that's the first thing I look at when I look at Matthew Stafford's matchups. What do you think about Stafford? It should be the first thing you look at at everybody's matchup. Well, some quarterbacks are much more dependent on a clean pocket.

I think Stafford is one of them because he can't move, really, and he doesn't have good receivers. So he needs time to throw the ball to Cooper Cup. Not to mention a not good offensive line. Yeah, exactly. It's been a problem. All right, so what's number two?

Stat of the game number two is there have been six wide receivers who have scored 17 or more PPR fantasy points against the Rams. That's a lot. It's more than one per game. You don't say. Yeah. All right. What do you think about Stafford?

Is there anyone you're starting other than cup and Higby in and McCaffrey in this game? Yeah. That guy, I'm going to start him. That's it. I don't think that I can't make the case for Stafford is anything more than like top 15 type of fantasy quarterback.

Maybe he comes through for 250-2. I bet he has an interception along the way. It's a modest day at the office for him. Allen Robinson, I'm not trusting him at all. There's no one else in that Rams pass game that I would trust. Cam Akers, we talked about him already. Something's up with him. Maybe he gets an opportunity.

I believe Jamie's got him ranked as a top 24 running back this week. I can't vouch for him as a top 24 running back. I think he can be okay. But he's going to have to score. He's going to have to pull a Brian Robinson in order to come through as a number two fantasy running back. And then with Carolina, don't want to start DJ Moore. I think Robbie's a sleeper. I like him better in DFS than necessarily in your fantasy lineup. But you mentioned that Rams pass game. I think it almost benefits Anderson Moore

if it's those big plays that they are giving up. I'm not sure if you mentioned it, but two starters out this week for the Rams on the offensive line. Right. I mean, they've been missing starters all year. I know you guys don't love Stafford, but you can't rank them too low. There just aren't enough good quarterbacks this week, I guess.

You're going to start them over Garoppolo, right? I do have them one spot over Garoppolo, but it's close. What about Russell Wilson? I have him ahead of Russ because I just don't trust Russ. But you have him behind Aaron Rodgers and Rams running back. So, so acres Henderson had the catches last week. Henderson also played more last week,

but he had zero carries. They've been going back and forth between the two all year long. They're, they're, they're trying to find their way with their run game. They need to get it going. They know they have to get it going. It's going to be tough for them, man, because that offensive line is bad.

Akers, at times he looks good. Most of the time he looks just okay. Henderson, you can almost say the same thing for. So I don't have a lot of confidence in either guy. I've got Henderson, Iyer, and PPR. And on paper, Carolina is a really good matchup for Cam Akers. They allow the seventh most fantasy points to running backs, 4.81 yards per carry to running backs, but it's a little inconsistent. I mean, Nick Chubb tore them up. Saquon Barkley averaged 3.4 yards per carry, Kamara 4.1, James Conner 3.7, and that's actually pretty good for James Conner. I don't mean that as a joke you know he overperformed basically but uh you know Jeff

Wilson had a huge game but they're not always bad you know they're not one of those teams that's bad every week against the run and they don't have that bad of a defense I'd say the Panthers so I think that's why you are you are very low on can makers Jamie has him 23rd you have him 40th he has him 35th so like the case I'm guessing Jamie would make is that, like you said, they feel like they have to establish the run. He got every carry. Between him and Henderson, he had every carry last week. Carolina looks like a great matchup on paper.

It's a compelling argument, but then again, he's can makers, and they can't run the ball. He hasn't had a big game in two years. Yeah, it's kind of sad. DJ Moore, do you think he'll be better or worse? Because in your mind, DJ Moore has been horrible this year, and he really hasn't been good. But in three of his last four games,

he's gotten you double-digit PPR fantasy points, which makes him startable in a three-receiver league. And he gets about an extra point per week in rushing totals. Do you think he'll be better or worse with P.J. Walker? I'm scared to say better, because we saw last year P.J. Walker had the start for Carolina. It was only one game. He threw seven targets at T.J. Moore.

Moore had four catches for 24 yards. And he's seen a lot of targets lately, so the remaining Panthers coaches, I guess we should say just Ben McAdoo, he's seen a lot of targets lately. So the remaining Panthers coaches, I guess we should say just Ben McAdoo, he's calling the plays. He's realized that he's got to get the ball to DJ more, certainly more often than he has, but it hasn't led to, you know, big catches, big yards, touchdowns. He's at 11 or fewer PPR points in each of those past two games. Rams are bottom three in catch rate. They're bottom three in yards after catch per reception. Rams are giving up 12 yards per catch to wideouts. It's a good matchup.

I'm worried about PJ Walker, who A, just isn't an accurate quarterback to begin with, at least not in the NFL. He was in the XFL. But number two, I think his tendency is to throw longer. And I think that that benefits Robbie more than it necessarily would DJ Moore. I would still start Moore ahead of Robbie, but I feel the same way about them as I do the Rams running backs. I really don't trust either one. Okay. And that's it. I know it's a tough matchup for McCaffrey. Rams

give up the fewest fantasy points to the running backs, but you're not sitting McCaffrey. But would you rather start Christian McCaffrey or Ramondre Stevenson if Damian Harris were out? McCaffrey. Okay. Just for fun.

All righty. Tyler Higbee is a must-start guy. Rams DST is number one for everybody. San Francisco is at Atlanta. Stat of the game. Debo Samuel has scored fewer than 15 PPR fantasy points in four games, already more than he did in all of 2021. That is, yeah, not good.

In a defensive note, Dave already brought it up earlier. This team is so beat up defensively, but specifically just Emmanuel Mosley. They played seven games without Mosley last year. That includes one game that he left after nine snaps. And they allowed 7.03 yards per attempt, which is not terrible.

It's kind of average. But when you consider they faced last year, Detroit, Philadelphia, Seattle, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Tennessee, and Houston, terrible pass offenses for the most part. And they were kind of average against the pass. He's a really important player for them, Emmanuel Mosley. He was playing great, and he's out for the year.

They lost Jimmy Ward to a broken hand. Bosa's not likely to play this week, and you mentioned two defensive tackles are out, so that does change things. It's five starters, and their best pass rusher, their best defensive player is Nick Bosa. And their second best is maybe Mosley. No, no.

Fred Warner's got it second. Okay. All right, third best? I don't even know if he's third best, but he's up there. Okay, okay. He's obviously important. He's a huge part of what they do. And now that he's not there,

the Falcons are going to take notice of that. And if they're going to take notice of that, they're definitely going to take notice of Nick Bosa not being there. They should feel a little more comfortable throwing the football this week. And they're getting Kyle Pitts back. So this is going to be a hornet's nest for the 49ers defense. They're always in it. They're in every game.

Even they were down 21, nothing last week and they bounce back and they, they lost. What did they lose by? Five? To the Bucs? They ended up losing by five because they took a safety last week at the end of the game. It was six.

It was six. That wasn't the safety game. They got a two-point conversion to make it 21-15 and it was six instead of seven. So I got confused with another game. That's the biggest margin of victory in any Falcons game this year. All right, so what does that mean for the Falcons here?

You're going to sit Mariota. What about the running backs against the best run defense in football when healthy? No, I can't trust it. I can't trust Algieri. He had 13 carries for 45 yards last week. Mariota had more rushing yards. I mean, maybe the plan should be to start Mariota

because the matchup's easier. He ran way more last week than he did before. Come on, nobody's starting Mariota. No one should feel good about starting Mariota. But why don't we measure him up against some other quarterbacks and just see, for example, Mariota against Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence doesn't have an easy matchup.

I've got Lawrence ranked higher. Right? I'm not saying that I would do this. For the record, the Niners so far giving up the fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks, but we've already said it a million times. They're very hurt. Yeah. I would take,

I would take just about anybody. I mean, he just doesn't score. He, he does have, I mean, he just doesn't score. He does have, you know, he's, okay, 17 to 20 fantasy points in four or five games. That's pretty good. I don't know that he gets there in this game, but there's such a low ceiling for Mariota.

Right, that's the thing. Like, you've got no shot of him getting 30 points. Right. Can he get you to 23? Feels like a stretch. That'd be a season high. to 23? Feels like a stretch. That'd be a season high. Yeah. This,

it feels like a straight. If he gets you 60 yards rushing, can he get you 17? Panacea panacea panacea points by throwing the football that would take two touchdowns. Now, can he throw two touchdowns? If he's got time in the pocket,

a healthy receiving core, the run games, a question mark, the run game's a question mark the secondaries beat up i mean it we would say hell no if bosa was healthy and if mosley was healthy let's talk let's talk about the more relevant players because you know no one's starting but would you start garoppolo or mariota i've got garoppolo over mariota because i feel more confident in him against this falcons defense. Garoppolo or Trevor Lawrence? Garoppolo.

I went back and I looked at Garoppolo and all of his good matchups last year, his easy matchups. Matchups don't really matter for him. He had five or six easy matchups last year, five, I think, including Atlanta, and he scored more than 17 fantasy points only once, and he had two rushing touchdowns in that game. He just doesn't throw that much. All right, so let me just run through this game. All right, Jeff Wilson.

Must start. Okay, ahead of Eno and Walker? Yes. Debo, must start. Brandon Ayuk, start or sit? Sit. Brandon Ayuk or Drake London, London,

George Kittle or Kyle pits. I have Kittle one spot ahead of pits. This is a good matchup for Kittle. It is. It's the only reason. And he was more involved last week. Yeah, they have,

uh, who are you starting ahead of those guys? Are you starting taste some pill ahead of Kittle or Pitts? In non-PPR, yes. In full PPR, no. In half PPR? I will probably take Taysom in half PPR. Okay.

How about Gerald Everett, David Njoku? Njoku's ahead. Njoku's earned it. Everett's behind. Kittle, Pitts, Everett is how I have it ranked right now. Would you start Drake London or Alan Lazard? I believe I have Lazard ranked ahead of London. Would you start Drake London or Jalen Waddle?

I have Waddle ahead of London. Drake London or Rondale Moore? London. Drake London or Devin Singletary? London. You like London. I do. Okay.

And I think, Pitts, you have a pretty good sense there with Kyle Pitts. Give me a projection. Four catches, 29 yards and a touchdown. Dave, how about this? Kyle Pitts has one green zone target this year. That is tied for the team lead. Nobody has scored. Nobody has more than one green zone target. Look, it should be

a fascinating game. The Falcons like you said, they keep games close and here's a matchup where they're against a depleted defense. It would be a terrible matchup if the 49ers were healthy across the board. And if Bosa ends up playing by some chance, then I would change my feelings on

pretty much everybody in Atlanta. That's how impactful Bosa is. Start the Niners DSE. And if you're curious, they stayed in the East Coast. They are not making two straight trips across the country. All right. Baltimore at the Giants.

Stat of the game. East Rutherford is the only municipality with fewer than 10,000 residents to have been home to five professional sports teams simultaneously,

as well as the smallest city to host any professional sports team within its city limits. That's according to Wikipedia. I don't know who the five teams are,

though. Giants, Jets, the Red Bulls, and I guess there are more. Dave, this is a revenge game. Oh, yeah. Wink. Wink, though. Giants, Jets, the Red Bulls, and I guess there are more. Dave, you got it. This is a revenge game. Oh, yeah. Wink. Wink Martindale.

The best kind. Always interesting when a former defensive play caller comes back to face his team the year after he was their play caller. Yeah. You give the Giants any chance in this game? I do. I do. Because of that. Because of that. I know you don't. You're going to be

pessimistic. I'm not saying they're going to win. And honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if it's a blowout either. But look, the things that we said about the Falcons, you can say about the Giants too. They've been in a lot of close games and they've found ways to win at the end. Yeah. And the Ravens run defense has been a major disappointment this year. So if the Giants can run the ball, then they just make a couple big plays in the run game. And the Ravens are now down two defensive,

two secondary starters as they lost the starting safety last week. They lost the cornerback for the year, so they're a little depleted in the secondary. All right, from a fantasy perspective here, which quarterback do you like better? Which question is funnier, that one or which running back do you like better?

How do you feel about J.K. Dobbins this week? I put him on as a bus candidate this week, but he's still a number two fantasy running back. So I guess he's a reluctant start. Does that make any sense to you? Yeah. Yeah. And look, the matchup's great.

I just don't like that he didn't play in the fourth quarter last week. His snaps were decreased last week. Harbaugh said that that was on purpose. He had this amazing run last week where he should have been dead to rights in the backfield for a two-yard loss, powered through it, great balance, turned it into a 12-yard gain at him. That's the type of thing that I want to see more of from J.K. Dobbins. But what I haven't seen a lot of from Dobbins is that acceleration and burst

that he had before the injury. And I wonder if we don't necessarily see that until later this year, slash 2023. Maybe he gets more opportunities this week and he flashes a little bit more bursts and he ends up with 13, 14 fantasy points. I think he needs to score in order to be really happy, to make you feel happy in fantasy. I think it's possible. I'd start him over Singletary. I'd start him over Zeke. That's easy. I like the outlook better for Mostert and Melvin Gordon. I would go with those

two. And just to answer your question, I would start Walker and Eno ahead of Dobbins. I already knew that. A.J. Dillon or J.K. Dobbins? Dobbins over Dillon. Devin DuVernay has, I don't know, a pretty decent floor in this game, right? The Giants, they allow the third fewest fantasy points

to wide receivers, but I'm not really buying it. Who are the good ones they've faced? I mean, DJ Moore scored. CeeDee Lamb had a huge game, and he dropped a massive play that would have an enormous game. Darnell Mooney had 94 yards. Randall Cobb, 99 yards. Lazard, 35 yards and a touchdown.

Dobbs did not have a good game. I personally don't see this as a tough matchup, but the Giants have been the biggest surprise in the NFL this year. But what do you think about Duvernay? Can he, is he going to crack your top 30? He didn't quite crack the top 30. He's 35th.

Okay. And I think he's a safe floor play. I think he's good for somewhere between nine and 14 PPR points. Everything I'm saying here is on the premise that Rashad Bateman does not play. I might like DuVernay for the same production even if Bateman does play. Start Andrews, sit Daniel Jones, start Barkley.

You gonna go fishing for any Giants running backs or wide receivers this week? No, I think we're done fishing with Giants wide receivers. And there's this idea that the Ravens are terrible against the pass. So much of that was the Dolphins game. They were great against the Bengals last week. They were.

Now losing, blanking on his name, Marcus Williams, right? Their safety. Yeah. Losing Marcus Williams for the foreseeable future could change things. Yeah. How do they replace him?

Do they actually put the rookie on the field? Exactly. They have Kyle Hamilton. That could be a liability, Adam. Again, the Giants are basically the safest never, ever, ever throw the ball down field team in football. So it might be a liability going forward. I don't know if it

will show up this week. They just don't have a field stretcher. Maybe Slayton, but they don't throw the ball deep. They're the most conservative team. If you had to pick a wide receiver, would it be Slayton or James? Slayton. I swung and missed on Richie James.

So did I. Got some information. Coaches had a different idea. Happens. Okay. Alright. Alright, Dave. Iens. Okay. All right. All right, Dave. I think that's pretty much it. Okay.

All right. Are you ready to win? In fantasy? Yeah. Or this Giants game? No, I'm talking your fantasy teams. I'm a little bummed out. I'm not going to lie.

There's a league that I think I have a really good team, and I got some injuries and bad quarterback play, that I think I have a really good team. And I got some injuries and bad quarterback play. And I started Wentz in Montgomery last night. So I'm almost guaranteed to lose in that league. I mean, I have Tyreek Hill, Keenan Allen. Just not going to be my record. What's your record? Two and three.

So you'll be two and four if you lose? Yeah, I'm kind of bummed out. Just curious. Stafford. I drafted Trey Lance in Stafford, and just quarterback's been a nightmare for me. Yeah, I would have done the same. It's going to be a mistake.

That's only one league, though. So you're a perfect person to ask this to. Rams are on by next week. Are you just going to go ahead and take the L this week and start preparing for next week, knowing that you probably won't feel great starting Wentz next week? Or do what? Or not make any moves.

Oh, am I going to go get a quarterback for next week? Is that what you're asking? One example. I don't know who else you have on your team. No, it's our IDP league, so it's such a deep league. There's like 10-man benches, and there's not a lot on the waiver wire. No, I'll probably just start Wentz next week. He'll throw the ball more than

22 times. Against the Packers, I believe it is. Yes, it is. All right, guys. Zach Brooks telling me to get Jameis. That's actually a really good idea. I don't know if he's available. I did that in one of my leagues. I'll go take a look right now. I picked up. I've got Josh Allen

obviously starting him. I picked up Justin Fields and Jameis. I'll take my pick of whichever one I want. Mac Jones is on my IR. We'll see. Whichever one I like better, I'll keep and I'll drop the other. Jameis is rostered. All right.

That is going to do it. Who did I face last night? I faced a defensive player who outscored Carson Wentz. Beautiful. We will talk to you on the mailbag. We will talk to you on the mailbag. We'll talk to you on the mailbag. See you, everybody.