Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (NFC Home Games) (09/23 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 23, 2022

We recap Steelers-Browns! Is Amari Cooper legit or should we be looking to sell? Would we rather have Nick Chubb or Najee Harris in PPR? Are we buying David Njoku? Then we've got your news and notes (10:50) with important injury updates ... Beat the Waiver Wire (15:25) to get you a head start for Week 4, and then we have One Question for Each Game (19:15). Who is the second-best wide receiver in the Philadelphia-Washington game? Do we like A.J. Dillon this week? Do we like Tom Brady this week? Cordarelle Patterson or D.K. Metcalf? ... Start or Sit for Eagles-Commanders (27:50), Rams-Cardinals (36:50), Texans-Bears (44:15), Lions-Vikings (48:22), Packers-Bucs (57:30), Saints-Panthers (1:02:45) and Falcons-Seahawks (1:08:15) ... Email us at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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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.

Thank you, Denzel Ward. Thank you, Browns DST, for that cheap touchdown at the end of the game. And welcome to the show. It is Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Played the Grunts intro. Feeling good. Ready for the weekend.

Week three is here. Browns over the Steelers. And that last second touchdown saves the Browns DST. I'm Adam Azer with Dave Richard and Jamie Eisenberg. I still have to figure out a game of the week. How you guys doing today? Dave, how we doing? How good was Jacoby Brissett last night?

Oh, my goodness. He was actually great. I don't mean to use that word lightly either. He had a perfect rating against the Blitz. Quarterback rating of 158.3. Completed, like, all but one of his throws against the Blitz quarterback rating of 158.3 completed like all but one of his throws against the Blitz. So the Steelers pass rushes was not affecting him at all. He had a completion rate of 67.7%.

It was the sixth best mark of his career. But hold on. Two of his top six performances in terms of completion rate have come in the last two weeks for him. So it's coincided with throwing a lot to Amari Cooper. I think that's helped. But he's actually been playing some pretty good football the last couple of weeks. Now, it's the Jets.

It's the Steelers defense that we're not used to. We'll see how he does against tougher opponents. But for now, I don't think we can say that Brissette is a problem for the Browns offense. Ooh, well, okay, because I was going to ask you, is this the time to sell Amari Cooper? Because Brissette has been fantasy poison in the past, this back-to-back 100-yard games.

Let me ask you this real quick, and then we'll get into that. But would you rather have Amari Cooper or Deontay Johnson? Through three games, Amari Cooper has scored 14 more fantasy points in non-PPR, 12 more fantasy points in full PPR than Deontay Johnson through three games, Amari Cooper has scored 14 more fantasy points in non-PPR, 12 more fantasy points in full PPR than Deontay Johnson. Jamie, who would you rather have? Cooper or Deontay? I thought you were going to say who would you rather have, Jacoby Brissett or Aaron Rodgers the rest of the season.

I would still rather have Deontay Johnson, but it's close. Closer, certainly, than it was at the beginning of the season. I think the thing that you should be doing, though, if you're selling Amari Cooper, is you're looking at a team probably that's undefeated right now. Because that team would, I'm sure, like to have what he's giving you now, plus what he could be giving you when Deshaun Watson gets back.

Right. That's the type of trade partner you should be looking for, especially if you're 0- oh and two or one to one amari cooper was started in 28 of leagues last week when he had 100 yards in a touchdown he was started in 45 of leagues this week when he had 100 yards in a touchdown so and exactly atlanta next week 80% started. He's a must-start guy right now. Do you feel that way? I mean, it is still Jacoby Brissett. I mean, I said prior to yesterday I want to see him do it again.

I didn't expect him to do that again, but I want to see him be serviceable, and he was beyond serviceable. I mean, their run game just opens up so many different options in the passing game, and Jacoby Brissett is not vomiting all over himself. So it's fun to watch this Browns offense. They're not a tragedy. And I think that's a credit to Brissett. It's a credit to Stefanski. It's obviously what you

see when you get somebody playing behind a great offensive line and the support of linebackers having to cheat up, safeties having to cheat up. I mean, how many times has Mark Cooper just wide open? Yeah. Well, I think the Steelers win one-on-one coverage. They stink. The Steelers secondary is awful. Yeah, they've got some problems. That's part of it. And he's

played two bad defenses, but he gets another potentially bad one next week against Falcons. Right. So here's the upcoming schedule. Yeah, look at after that. Yikes. You're going to love that. Then the Chargers and then the Patriots. Those could be a little trickier. And then the Ravens. I don't know how we feel about the Ravens defense. The Bengals after that and then a bye. And then there Ravens, I don't know how we feel about the Ravens defense, the Bengals after that, and then a bye.

And then there's some tough ones after, there's no doubt. But eventually you're going to get to Sean Watson there. And those targets will be even better for him by then. Because Brissette could melt down. He could vomit all over himself by mid-season. It's entirely possible. Also, Cooper could have had an even bigger game. Because he had that one big, long catch, but he stepped out of bounds before he made

the catch. He had another ball bounce off his hands. He made some pretty annoying mistakes, and we'd be trashing him for it if he didn't have the other great plays in this game. I think Brissette deserves credit for getting him the ball. Nick Chubb has scored 31 more points in non-PPR and 25 more points in full PPR than Najee Harris. Who would you rather have rest of season in full PPR, Nick Chubb or Najee Harris? Chubb.

Chubb. Chubb, Chubb. Chubb, Chubb. Chubb, if we're redrafting today, what is he? Is he a first-round pick? Remember, he's never finished higher than I... Definitely not higher than RB8, right? RB8 per game in his last full PPR,

three seasons with Kareem hunt, his highest per game finish in full PPR is RB eight. I think he has only five catches this year in three games. So he's playing incredible football right now. But, um, you know, is he,

is he a first round pick in a full PPR league or a second round pick? It's certainly not gonna make it to the third round. Like he had been in our drafts. No, I would call him a late first, early second. Let's see what happens this weekend. But that's probably the safe range for him. Yep. And I had him ahead of Najee on the trade chart coming into this game.

So that ain't changing now. I still think I still think Najee's got some potential. But the biggest thing out of this game that worries me about Najee's got some potential, but the biggest thing out of this game that worries me about Najee is that Jalen Warren looked better running the ball than Najee did. Warren had a 35-yard shovel pass, like a catch and run called back.

He's got more juice than Najee right now. He's got more speed, but Najee's much more physical and much more suited for the lead role. Yeah, he plays a ton more. He played 80% of the snaps. But Najee's longest run in three games this year on 40 carries is 11 yards.

And I spoke about this game with Chris on FFT in five, and my takeaway for the Steelers is that they just do not have any explosiveness. And it's just they have to dink and dunk and this and, you know, down the field, and it's just, they have to dink and dunk and this, you know, down the field. And it's such a bad offense for fantasy. And you need such extreme volume to be good.

And Najee, you know, basically has that. Deontay has double-digit targets every week. But, you know, Jamie, are you just basically confidently starting those two guys?

And that's pretty much it until further notice. I mean, I guess you can talk about Fryermuth as well. But, I don't know. Give me, we don't have to talk much more about this game just give me your thoughts on the steelers and we'll move on when you say confidently starting i mean you have to have some pretty good other options on your roster to get rid of those guys i mean you know right nazi's volume and dionte's volume in in terms of targets um in full ppr obviously there's there's probably ways to get away from him in non-PPR

because you're getting a lot of empty production when he's not finding the end zone. And clearly, this offense is not going to score a lot based on what we've seen through three games. But there is the potential of what happens when they make a quarterback change. Mike Tomlin doesn't seem to be willing to do that yet. And to be fair, last night wasn't really on Trubisky.

He didn't have the greatest of games, but he wasn't as bad as he was the week before. I thought the offensive line played better for the Steel't as bad as he was the week before. I thought the offensive line played better for the Steelers as well, so give them some credit. So I think next week's game is going to be telling. They get the Jets. Hopefully that's a great opportunity for them to get right, if you will.

But I don't think it's a bad idea. If they have that game, if Deontay and Najee have that game, then you're making some sell-high offers to see if you can get something. You have to. Because after the Jets, it's the Bills, the Bucks, the Dolphins, and the Eagles, and then a bye. And then the Saints and the Bengals and the Colts if the Colts are good against the one.

So if you've got Najee, it's time to start making a move to get him off your roster. Okay. Drop or hold Claypool and Pickens? Oh, Pickens is one of the reasons. Yeah, you do. He's one of the reasons why I'm a little nervous to say Deontay Johnson over Amari Cooper rest of season,

because I think he's going to continue to pick away at those targets for Deontay Johnson. How many drops did Deontay have? He had one on a play that got called back by a penalty. I think he only had really one official drop. Right. So he technically won, but there was an unofficial second drop. Someone's going to have to take targets from him before I assume someone takes targets from him.

Yeah, I don't think Pickens' targets are coming at the expense of Deontay Johnson. I mean, last night they came at the expense of Fryer move. So, you know, is it a matter of there's look, this is a team that has very good skill position players with a quarterback problem. So maybe Pickett unlocks it and then they all can start to become fantasy relevant. You know, but the schedule is not necessarily going to allow that to probably come to you know what the ceiling could be for these guys but i think the fact that they played picket more last night the fact that he had uh seven targets i think it was yeah um you know it is a very encouraging sign i mean you certainly see the playmaking ability with the cash that he had that you know odell beckham s reception um so you know give him more opportunity see how he does

but you should absolutely not be dropping him claypool's different story you know i think claypool's just going to be a very frustrating fantasy option. And, you know, never going to, I think, in this current construct of what this offense is, live up to what the expectations could be. In 15 seconds or less, is anybody buying David Njoku? Nine catches, 89 yards, and a touchdown on 10 targets. His previous two games, he had six targets and four catches combined. What's his, what's his roster ship?

Thirty percent. Thirty eight percent. I think the thing to look at, though, is minimal activity week one, increased activity week two, huge game week three. So maybe it was just building to something. So, yeah, I think you should buy him. All right. Two hundred yards next week against who do they have in Atlanta? All right.

The CBS Sports app is where you need to be to get your live scores. You want to say, Hey, did Aaron judge hit a 61st home run yet? Uh, you know, you can check that on the CBS sports app. That's what I was doing. I was watching the game and I had the phone, the Yankees game up on the CBS sports app, looking at the play by play. And whenever Aaron judge was approaching the on deck circle, went over to the other room and started watching the Yankees game. So it's just a great app, really, as you can watch CBS Sports HQ on it. You're going to get alerts if you want those, lightning-fast scoring for every pro and college football game, and all major sports, of course. Track your favorite teams. Read all the content on the website. Just download the CBS Sports app, and it's totally free, whether you have an iPhone

or an Android. News and notes. All right, new items from yesterday. McCaffrey's got an ankle injury, but he says he's fine. In his career against the Saints, he's averaging 3.15 yards per carry, and he's never rushed for, I think, 72 yards is the most he's ever rushed for against the Saints. But in seven games, he does have 429 receiving yards against the Saints. That's pretty good. Did you read his quote about what he said about making number one? No.

He said, if I took a leak, it'll end up on the injury report. That's kind of what Dak Prescott said a couple of weeks ago, too, when he had very minor injuries. He's like, you got to report everything. Baltimore signed edge rusher Jason Pierre-Paul. He's questionable for week three with urine.

Baltimore signed edge rusher Jason Pierre-Paul. Just looking at all the stuff we talked about yesterday, Justin Herbert we're expecting to play. James Conner, are you guys expecting James Conner to play? Yes. He's trending in that direction. Friday will be

a good day to find out. We'll update you all on the mailbag show as well. J.K. Dobbins practiced in full. Are you ranking him yet? Nope. Okay. Not yet. You're ranking Kamara, right?

Probably by the end of the day. Yep. Okay. Kamara, Connor, Pittman, Gabe Davis, all heading in that direction where they'll be ranked by Friday. But no Chris Godwin or Julio Jones at practice, so we're still expecting them to be out. Michael Gallup looks like he's going to play this week,

but on a snap count, that's kind of what it seems like. They have the Monday game. So he could end up being their third receiver. So when they play in two receiver sets, he won't be on the field, obviously. But they play with a lot of three receiver sets just in general. So we might play 30 snaps and a lot of them being past snaps. So we might run 2025 routes. We'll see.

62% roster for Michael Gallup. So at the very least, pick them up and stash them if you can. Um, Chris, Oh, Alan Lazard, you know,

are you ranking Alan Lazard right now? Everybody with the Packers. Yeah. That was a rough day for them yesterday. That Packers-Bucks game. Thankfully, it's not in primetime because there's just no wide receivers playing. They're going to be playing it at the hospital. Rondell Moore still day-to-day.

You said Keenan Allen is trending in the right direction? He is. Yes. I'm not sure if he's going to play, but he's trending. He's going in the right direction. Jacoby Myers is going in the wrong direction. What's the latest on George Kittle, Jamie? Looking good.

I saw some video of him in practice. Looks like he's moving well. I'm going to guess we get, uh, a questionable tag, but probably expect that expected to play. So, uh, top 10 tight end for sure. Are there any key offensive line or key defensive injuries that we need to know about right now, Dave? Well, there's definitely a lot of offensive line issues. You could start in Tennessee, uh,lor lejuan not expected to play not even sure about other guys and who's healthy and who's not

and if they're going to be even any good uh the packers could use david bakhtiari back um that's the one good thing for that game is that donovan smith and david bakhtiari trending in the right direction right right right donovan smith should play so that'll help i don't know if he'll be able to play the whole game or how effective he'll be. He's got an elbow injury. But they both could play. The Packers could use Bakhtiari. Yoshinem and Nijman, whatever his last name is.

I can't quite get that one down either. Him and Ben Scororo, Scarecrow now. L.A. I can't get. But I'd like to see him play. It would be good for the Packers. Oh, Cincinnati. Lyle Collins. Yeah. I don't think he's going to play. And I did that little video with Uche Waneri and he just went in on Collins. He completely

bashed him, said he's the biggest problem that Cincinnati has on the offensive line. So whatever they do to replace him might be an upgrade for Cincinnati this week against the Jets and their lack of a pass rush. And Teron Armstead, you got to keep an eye on him too. Yeah, Teron Armstead for the Dolphins did not practice. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He missed some practice time last week too and ended up playing. Meanwhile, the Bills defense, still pretty beat up.

It looks like Jordan Poyer is going to play, one starting safety, but Micah Hyde, another starting safety, Jordan Phillips, Dane Jackson, all missing practice, I believe, yesterday, definitely on Wednesday. So that's one we're definitely going to have to keep an eye on, and it really might affect our Tua ranking, and I encourage you to listen to our mailbag show because we'll know more by then, and we'll give you some updated rankings. All right, let's beat the waiver wire. You're looking for a dst next week maybe you look at the giants bearers game

i don't i mean i i probably wouldn't but they are facing each other and both offenses aren't so good the lions get the seahawks i'd probably just want to stick with who you have uh quarterbacks jared golfff gets Seattle next week. Justin Fields is at the Giants next week. And maybe Fields is just a player that still has a ton of potential. He's off to a really bad start. But you don't want to necessarily drop him yet. He's 57% rostered.

What are the odds he gets you 30 fantasy points if he's only throwing 20 times a game? Well, the odds are that he'll start throwing more than 20 times a game. 30 fantasy points, you're asking me? That's a lot. times a game. You need 30 fantasy points. You're asking me. That's a lot. Yeah, I don't need 30 fantasy points. I mean, I'll take like 22. What, your leagues don't have 15 points for every pass or pass attempt? Or pass attempt.

Handcuffs that are rostered in fewer than 60% of leagues. Not just strictly handcuffs, but running backs. Khalil Herbert, Tyler Algier, Rashad White, Mark Ingram, Zamir White, Hassan Haskins, Samaj P. Ryan, who I picked up in two or three leagues when waivers ran. You'll be dropping him eventually. Unless you have Mixon. I do have Mixon.

A lot of Mixon. But the thing is, if you just have a useless roster spot of players that you just don't need, it's just not the worst idea to pick this guy. Pick a backup running backup. I picked up Zamir White yesterday in a league where he was dropped. And then Josh Jacobs showed up on the injury report with an illness.

And so you never know what could happen. Especially like you said, Adam. You have an open roster spot. Somebody gets hurt, middle of the game, you don't have to worry about running to the waiver wire next Tuesday to get them. Don't drop anybody's significance, but it's not a bad idea to stash those players. Well, you can't do that

now. You can't, well, unless your league is fakakta. Yeah, on ESPN I think you could do it. How about like Robert Woods? Would you drop Robert Woods for to pick up Khalil Herbert? That's a good example. If Robert Woods is your fifth or sixth receiver, you don't really see how you're going to start him.

Yeah, make that switch. Okay. Oh, you don't have Brian Robinson on there because it's fewer than 60% of them. Correct. But double check for Brian Robinson too. And then some wide receivers who have potential, in my opinion anyway. Gallup at 62%.

The rest of these guys, 53% or less. Shepard, MVS, Kadarius Toney, Sky Moore, who they said they're going to play more. Oh yeah. Dobbs and Watson, Rondale Moore, Noah Brown,

Greg Dorch. Anyone there, Dave? Uh, I love Shepard to be a, a, someone who could help you like rest of season Gallup to, uh,

Sky Moore. I've been stashing this whole time because eventually he's going to play and he should be pretty good uh watson's been running past guys when when he's played he just hasn't had good numbers yet so he's in that same boat as sky more as someone i'd love to stash and dorch is like a good short-term ppr receiver who will probably go away once DeAndre Hopkins is back on the field. To just counter what we just said and the positive for people that can benefit from this, if people are dropping some of these guys because they haven't been productive, the one that stands out to me because I think his breakout game is coming this week is Traylon Burks.

Yeah. So if you get some of these guys that are getting dropped, take a look and just scour the waiver wire for some of these, obviously, probably younger players. But it's not a bad idea to take a look at some of the transactions that happen, because sometimes you just overlook what happens on Tuesday night or Wednesday night, and you can find some pretty good options maybe on Friday or Saturday morning. Yep.

Almost any receiver that's under the age of 25 and was drafted in round eight or later. Right. If they're on your waiver wire, they're probably worth picking. I was really hoping that somebody in one of my leagues would have dropped Traylon Burks by now, but it has not happened. It's me and half of them. I'm not letting him go yet. Let's go to one question for each game.

Philadelphia at Washington. Who is the second best wide receiver in this game behind A.J. Brown? Dave. Dave. I buzzed in. I buzzed in. What do you got? Curtis Samuel in PPR, Devontae Smith in non-PPR.

I'll take Devontae in both. Okay. Rams at Cardinals. Other than Cooper Cup, I feel like this is an interesting game, right? Because I expect a lot of points. But other than Cooper Cup, are feel like this is an interesting game, right? Because I expect a lot of points. But other than Cooper Cup, are we looking at mostly good starts or mostly avoids? I mean, when you say good starts,

that's very wide open. I think Allen Robinson's still a good start. I think Marquise Brown's still a good start. I think Zach Ertz is still a good start. I think Ty Higby's a good start. Okay, yep. And probably still Daryl Henderson still a good start. I think Zach Ertz is still a good start. I think Todd Higby's a good start. And probably still Daryl Henderson's a good start. And James Conner's a good start.

The Rams have allowed one touchdown to a tight end in their last 13 games dating back to last year. It's just funny. I expect a lot of points in this game, but I feel like we love Cup. We like the quarterbacks, but Robinson's been so disappointing.

Marquise Brown's been so disappointing. Anyway, that's the second game we'll talk about. We'll get there. Is this another Joe Boo game for Allen Robinson? Did we not get the answer last week? I don't think we got the answer. Five targets? So double Joe Boo game for Allen Robinson.

Well, look, Cooper Cup had two of his three worst games against Arizona last year. And I say it every week. They're good at taking away number one. Of course, I'm not even suggesting anything about Cooper Cup here. But a lot of times, number two receivers step up and have big games against the Cardinals. So that's why I have Robinson in a DFS lineup.

That's why I'm starting him. But yeah, I'm going to be disappointed if he doesn't do well. He's right on the number two, number three wide receiver fence for me. He's 24th for me. Houston's at Chicago. Right ahead of Marquise Brown, actually. There you go. Houston at Chicago.

Damian Pierce or Darnell Mooney? I'm feeling Pierce this week. This is Pierce's breakout game this week. I tend to agree. He ran really well. Still left a little bit to be desired, but lots of power, lots of burst. I thought the offensive line for Houston also looked good,

and this Bears run defense is not good. Okay. Detroit at Minnesota. How are you feeling about Adam in this game? I was trying to think of something witty using Wazer. No Wazer? Or yes, Wazer? Adam Thielen, start receiving.

I think he scores. I think he has a good game. He might have a game like Allen Robinson had last week. You can only start him in three receiver leagues, though, at this point. Yeah, tougher to start him in two receiver leagues. I out a bilo offer to our thomas schaefer who's off today oh you're never getting him uh yeah i get i offered him out of a thomas schaefer jacoby brissett in a 2qb league jacoby brissett for adam thielen yeah he probably rejected that he hasn't yet faster than girls rejected you in college. Look, Thielen was in rhythm with Cousins late last week,

and I have a feeling that carries over this week, and it's a good matchup against Detroit. Great matchup. Cousins, great track record against Detroit. Jamie knows it better than anybody. Yeah, I think Thielen should be a very nice flex. I probably have him ranked too low. All right, Green Bay at Tampa Bay.

Start or sit, A.J. Dillon? Not a slam dunk. Hard to get away from him, but not the easiest of matchups, even with Akeem Hicks not being there. Dillon or Thielen? I might lean Thielen. I might go Thielen PPR.

All right. New Orleans at Carolina. How much do you value D.J. Moore's great history against the Saints? I might go K-1 PPR. All right. New Orleans at Carolina. How much do you value DJ Moore's great history against the Saints? He has been terrific against them. Not much. I mean, you're still starting DJ Moore. Yeah, but as a number two receiver.

It's a, what's his face? Baker Mayfield. Yes, that's the problem. Yeah, DJ Moore was basically shadowed by a rookie against the Giants last week, and he probably is going to see a ton of Lattimore. Maybe. By the way, I didn't mention this, but Denzel Ward absolutely shadowed Deontay Johnson last night,

which was surprising. Usually he stays on his side, I thought anyway, and he followed him, and Johnson got open a lot. Atlanta at Seattle, do we have to? That's the first question. The second question is, pick a flex, Patterson, Metcalf, or Lockett? I like Metcalf and Patterson this week, so I think both guys are in play. I'll go Metcalf and Patterson this week. So I think both guys are in play.

I'll go Metcalf over Patterson. I believe I have Metcalf ranked the highest of the three. I was very encouraged by Tyler Lockett last week. Got some good mid-range and short area targets. And Pete Carroll was talking this week like he wants Geno Smith to throw even more. I almost wonder if Pete Carroll got kidnapped and they found some robot and they put a Pete Carroll mask on him and sent that guy to the press conference instead.

That sounds like a Halloween movie. Sounds very October-y. It sounds like the worst, slowest-paced Halloween movie in the history of movies. That's what it sounds like. I would start both those guys over Cordero Patterson. I think Atlanta will take to the air against Seattle. And that is the last game we're going to talk about.

And people wonder why I structure the show the way I do. No one wonders that. Well, no. Actually, I've gotten a couple emails about it. The reason I do one question. Two people wonder that. The reason why I do one question for each game is because I know a lot of people don't have time to listen for an hour and 10 minutes, so they may not hear Atlanta at Seattle.

So I'll ask you this, you know, Cordero Patterson, what sticks out to me and Jamie, maybe it's why you like them is that Seattle has, is consistently really bad against past catching running backs last week. Not so much, but Javante Williams,

11 catches in week one. And last year they gave up the most yards. Does Patterson make his, make his day on that? You know, is that why you like him? Not necessarily because I don't think that's the same part of his game with Mariota as it was with Matt Ryan. But I do think that, you know, in regards to this game in particular and the Bears-Texans game in particular,

these are obviously four bad teams. And these games could go either way. I can see the Falcons winning this game. The fact that they were up big on the Saints in Week 1 shows you that they have that potential. Seattle obviously has proven that at home already this season they could beat a good team, so they could be playing with a lead in this game as well. If they're playing with a lead to Falcons, I think Patterson's going to have an opportunity to, you know,

they'll have an opportunity to lean on him. You know, they may go to Tyler Algier as well, but I don't know if he's necessarily at that point yet where it's going to be a 50-50 split. I wouldn't look at the carries last week as necessarily the barometer of, okay, it's a shared backfield. Yeah, it might be, but I don't think that's the metric you should use because Patterson still played more and should play more, at least as of now.

So he's not a slam dunk by any stretch, but he's, he's in the low end number two flux conversation. Um, the Seattle run defense, I don't think is great. And if they do involve him in the past game, which they should,

then he'll have an opportunity, I think for a really big game, because he could take advantage of that based on his skillset. Okay. All right. We'll take a break. When we come back, the Eagles at Washington,

that's the first game we'll break down. Carson Wentz, is he a top 12 quarterback this week against a defense that is a little confusing, to be quite honest. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. Here we go with our seven games. Philadelphia at Washington is number one. Stat of the game, Washington is allowing the second most fantasy points to running backs and 6.8 yards per carry to running backs.

Having faced Jacksonville and Detroit, they've been really bad against the run. So I'm going to ask you guys about Miles Sanders to start here. Everyone's starting Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown. So Miles Sanders, A.J. Dillon, Cordaro Patterson, Miles Sanders. Who's your favorite? Sanders. Sanders by a lot.

Okay, so you guys like him this week? Yes. Yeah. I mean, look, he's, he's run well through two games and this is an amazing offensive line and he's clearly the lead guy, you know? So the other two guys haven't done anything to ruin miles Sanders yet. And he hasn't done anything to ruin himself. Adam, you mentioned that Washington's allowing 6.8 yards per rush. Part of it's because they played Detroit, and Detroit's just crushing people with their run game. And to that extent, they're allowing 3.23 yards before contact per rush to running backs. And again, that's a function of playing Detroit.

But here come the Eagles, and the Eagles have a pretty good offensive line of their own. And they're not breaking down defensive linemen the way that Detroit is, but they're good. And it wouldn't surprise me if Miles Sanders had a great rushing average, came away with 100 total yards, maybe even a couple of catches, and he's got a shot to score,

maybe even a long touchdown run. Okay, and they were bad against the Jaguars too. James Robinson, 6 yards per carry, ETN, 12 yards per carry. I'm looking it up. I want to see what those metrics were from week one. I got it right here. 7.5 yards per rush against Jacksonville.

2.47 yards before contact. Yards after contact, 5.07. It's a bad run defense. Start Miles Sanders. I have him at 16. It's a bad run defense. Yeah. Start Miles Sanders. Okay. Jalen Hurts is top four. I have him at 16. It might be too low. Jalen Hurts is top four. A.J. Brown's a must

start. Now, let's get back to that discussion that we had earlier. Dave, you said you'd take Curtis Samuel over Devontae Smith in full PPR. Jamie, you said Devontae Smith was your second favorite wide receiver in this game, right? Yep. So, is Devontae Smith, did he crack the top 24 this week, top 30?

Where is he for you guys? He's right on the cusp of the top 24 in PPR inside the top 24 or not. So you guys are starting Devontae Smith over Adam Thielen? Yes. AJ Dillon? He's more upside. Yes. Yes.

Okay, so you like Devontae Smith. All right. How about just washington in general what are you expecting from them in this game is this going to be another they've had so many start worthy players through two games is this going to be another one of those games jamie eisenberg i think this is a blake bortles garbage time game for carson wentz i i think they're going to be chasing points and he'll compile stats second half into the fourth quarter.

He's probably going to have some turnover. So just be ready for that because he's been turnover prone in games that he's played well so far this season. So this defense is very good. You know, I think you look at the week one game against Detroit, they're still figuring things out. Remember they acquired CJ Garner Johnson late in the process.

So, you know, factoring in him into the game plan that I'm sure was a little bit, okay, where is he going to mix in? But now they're, you know, I think kind of locked and loaded based on what you saw last week. They were fantastic against a better offense with the Vikings. So what you probably should just do is if you're comparing Wentz, like to me Wentz is better than the Hall of Fame Trinity,

as we talked about yesterday. He's better than Brady. He's better talked about yesterday. He's better than Brady. He's better than Rodgers. He's better than Russell Wilson. He's in the group of Tua and Joe Burrow and Derek Carr this week, so low-end starter. He will not be as good as he's been the first two games, and by process of that, the other guys, the receivers,

will not be as good. So McLaurin's the one that actually scares me the most because he can see the most of Darius Slay. Uh, Dotson is also a little bit in that regard because he's a boundary receiver. Samuel, I think is probably the safest of the trio, um, in PPR, you know, non PPR is he's going to have to score for a third straight game because if he doesn't, the numbers will be pedestrian, but, um, getting the ball out quick, I'm sure something Scott Turner and, and, and Ron Rivera preaching to, you know, Carson Wentz.

Um, so Logan Thomas, Curtis Samuel, you know, if you're looking for safe options, obviously Antonio Gibson as well. Um, they'll be okay. They just won't be to the same heights. They've probably been the first two weeks. No, but I think they've got a shot to get there. Those three specifically, as far as their passing goes, which, which three, which three Logan Thomas, Curtis Samuel.

Not in this order. I'd take Samuel over Logan Thomas. And in a just random flex situation, I'd probably take Gibson over Logan Thomas too. But I think those three get short targets. I still could see McLaurin and Dotson getting short targets as well. But I'm not as excited over them, not just because of Darius Slay, but James Bradbury is there and Avante Maddox is there,

and the safeties are there, and they're scheming really well. The Slay comment was really more for McLaurin. McLaurin? Yeah, but McLaurin's been moving around a little bit more this year. There's a player prop I love. Carson Wentz over 36.5 pass attempts. He should blow that away if he plays four quarters because they're going to have a hard time running the football. They're not very confident running the football to begin with.

Gibson averaged two yards per carry running the ball last week. So they're going to throw a lot and the Eagles know it. The Eagles have to just to be sure they don't allow the big play downfield. And if they do that, then they don't do that. They were second best at that last year. Only the Bills were better in terms of 20-plus-yard pass plays. They allowed the second fewest last year, 25-plus-yard pass plays. They allowed the fifth fewest. So far, they're not quite as good, but still very good at not allowing big pass plays. Wentz is behind Tua for me in my rankings

because I just don't think he's got as much upside as Tua does. And Tua's playing Buffalo, but he's got just the better receivers, and I think that's another team that'll throw a ton, but throw further downfield than what Washington's going to do. But I really love that player prop for Wentz. And that's about it. I do like Samuel in PPR. I think he's a number two receiver just based on that role

and the volume that he'll get. All right. Out of all the Washington options, who's the best flex? Samuel. Gibson. What do you think about Gibson? Confusing start to the year. 14 carries in both games, seven catches in week one, two catches in week two, scored a touchdown in week two.

So he's been good so far. But, you know, sorry, Jaguars and Lions. We thought he'd get off to a great start. Gets tougher after that. And here we go. Should be tougher. But the Eagles run defense been kind of hit or miss. And they weren't that great last year.

So what do you, Jamie, what do you think about Gibson? You have to have really just a loaded lineup to be benching him. And so, you know, when we get into a flex conversation, because of probably where he was drafted, you know, if you want to play Curtis Samuel over him, that's fine. I would prefer Gibson because I think he'll have a bigger game. But Samuel could easily be better. You know, he's going to lead them in touches,

to whatever extent that means, you know, how much passes he gets. And the thing about the game last week was, because they were in a hurry-up mode, that's where JD McKissick came into play with the seven catches. You know, so McKissick is also a factor in this as well, in terms of taking away probably a little bit from Samuel and a little bit from Gibson also. So there's a lot of mouths to feed.

It's been a fun offense so far through two weeks, and this is going to be, you mentioned this about the Dolphins against the Ravens last week. This is going to be a fun test for this commander's offense to see how they come out of this and how comfortable you feel about all these guys moving forward. Would you start Jeff Wilson or Ezekiel Elliott over Antonio Gibson? Zeke, yes.

No, to the other one. Damian Pierce? No. I kind of want to, but I'm not going to. Not A.J. Dillon, but I'm not going to. AJ, not AJ Dillon, sorry, David Montgomery. No. Okay.

I kind of want to start Montgomery too. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, Montgomery is my favorite of the guys you mentioned. He's top 10 running back this week. All right, Logan Thomas for you guys is top 12, low end top 12, and Heath has him a little bit lower than that, more like 14th, 16th, depending on the format. The Eagles last year did give up. Not all of these guys are going to be successful.

You guys got it. I know. Exactly. Yeah. It's just the nature of how we have to rank them versus how they're going to perform. Yeah. Last year, this was the Achilles heel for the Eagles. They gave up the most fantasy points to tight ends. And they gave up a touchdown to Irv Smith. But so far, they've been very good in terms of yardage.

Seven targets for Hawkinson, 38 yards. Eight targets for Irv Smith, 36 yards. We'll see if they improve. Yeah, but it could have been so much more. Right, right, right. But Logan Thomas isn't doing that. They're not sending Logan Thomas on go routes. Okay. Dallas Goddard's obviously a start, and I think that's pretty much it.

Are you starting Eagles DST? Yes. Yeah, I mean, they're going to give up points, but they're going to get some turnovers. Yeah. All right, Rams and Cardinals. Stat of the game number one. The Rams are averaging by far

the fewest rushing yards before contact in the NFL. .05 yards before contact, but they did have a 26-yard loss on an intentional safety, which is probably contributing to that, but their run game has been pretty not good so far. Would you like to know what it is without that? Yeah, I didn't know how

to do that, but you are the quickest, slickest looker-upper, Davey. You have to sing it. The quickest, slickest looker-upper, Davey. You have to sing it. The quickest, slickest looker-upper, Davey. There you go. I've got a new ringtone. Yes, I would. Oh, you're looking it up now?

Okay, get back to me. Rams and Cardinals here. And talk to me, Jimmy, about Marquise Brown versus Allen Robinson. I was a little surprised that you had Robinson ahead of Brown. Discuss. I mean, look, Marquise Brown, you mentioned, has been disappointing so far. I do like the fact that Cliff Kingsbury said

they're going to allow Kyler Murray to play a little bit more freely early in the game because who would be in charge of that? The guy calling plays, right? So with James Conner banged up, I think there's a good opportunity here for Marquise Brown to hopefully get some easier targets and try and move around a little bit and hopefully escape Jalen Ramsey. But he's been frustrated.

This was the concern was that just because he had this great opportunity was he going to dominate production, and he just hasn't done that yet. So chasing points will help, I'm sure, because I think they'll be chairling because they have been in the first two games of the season. So Marquise Brown and Allen Robinson are both number two receivers. Robinson's going to have to score. He should have had two touchdowns last week.

How do they compare to the Washington wide receivers? I would still start both those guys over them just because, again, tougher matchup. And the Washington guys are obviously just, there's a lot of mouths to feed there. But Devontae Smith is right there for them for me. Who has a tougher matchup? The Washington has a tougher,

you consider Philadelphia a tougher matchup than the Rams? I don't want to say that Marquise Brown doesn't have a tough matchup, but he doesn't have as many mouths, he doesn't have as many guys to share with. The Washington guys are, like I said before, they're going to cannibalize each other a little bit. Yeah, sure.

How about Dortch? I think Dortch is a good plug and play if you're stuck. You know, again, they're going to be throwing a lot in this game. You got banged up running back. This isn't going to be, okay, he's out. Let's just run Darrell Williams and, you know, Benjamin up the middle and the Cliff Kingsbury special. They're going to see, you know, a lot of opportunities.

And so hopefully they hold up. You go back to that playoff loss last year. Remember how bad the offensive line was for the Cardinals? Oh, yeah. Terrible game. So hopefully Kyler survives and can make some plays and move around and get these guys going. Dorch is desperation number three receiver in a deeper league. Okay, let's talk about the running backs in this game.

Daryl Henderson and Cam Akers had a pretty even split in week two, but Henderson was running more routes. And on the other side of the ball, we have a little bit of uncertainty. But why don't we start there, actually? If James Conner plays, is he a must-start? He's in the number two running back discussion. I think he's in the, you know, not the must-start range of the number one guys. He's in the number two range of the guys you just talked about.

You know, Antonio Gibson and David Montgomery and Damian Pierce and those guys. And then, you know, kind of where Darrell Henderson. You all right, Dave? Yeah, I ran back as fast as I could. We lost Dave for a little bit there. I didn't even say anything for the audio people. But welcome back. Yeah. Welcome Dave how do you feel about the running backs in the Cardinals Rams game who's your favorite well would you like to know what the yards before

contact per rush is for Rams running backs Daryl Henderson or Cam Akers yeah without that oh right so that's without that play well this also includes any run that might have happened without them on the field okay go ahead it's 0.86 yards before contact for rush that is not very good no that's where i was this whole time was watching everything had run down yeah the street very dedicated i picked up a sausage calzone for lunch on my way back, and I got the number for you. Is that your calzone of choice? What?

Because that is my calzone of choice, too. I've got a 16-way tie for calzone of choice. That's one of them. Okay. Anyway, who would your favorite? Would you start Connor over those guys, over the Rams guys? I think it's a close call between him and Henderson, but I would say that he's safer.

And they're behind Gibson, right? Yeah, they're behind Gibson. I may end up ranking Conor one spot ahead of Henderson. I still think Henderson has the bigger role in this offense. He had all the valuable touches last week. Not all of them, but most of them. A lot of third down snaps, a lot of goal-to-go snaps, a lot of fourth-quarter snaps.

Akers looked okay. Henderson looked okay. It's probably going to be another split. There's no reason to believe that Cam Akers is going to take over entirely for Daryl Henderson. I don't know if Henderson has done anything to lose the job. Now, one guy in our chat, Dan G, wants to know what the best hot lunch sandwich is.

The best hot lunch sandwich. A little meatball? Meatball's good. Chicken parm. Chicken parm sandwich. Cheese steak. Cheese steak is good. Again, I have a nine-way tie for best hot sandwich.

Jamie, what's on your cheese steak? Not cheese. Yeah. If you did eat cheese, are you mushrooms and onions or peppers or? Oh, yeah. Everything but cheese.

Okay. So Jamie doesn't do the cheese, but everyone else does. He keeps his figure so nice. All right. What else am I missing from this game here? Tyler Higby.

Tyler Higby or Zach Ertz? Higby. Higby. Oh, God. It is such a tough matchup for Zach Ertz. It's funny, though, because in non-PPR, I don't know how great Higby is Higby. Oh, God, it is such a tough matchup for Zach Ertz. It's funny, though, because in non-PPR,

I don't know how great Higby is going to be. True. Boy, the Cardinals are just such a bad defense. We're just very hopeful here for the Rams. That's one of the reasons why Stafford is the start of the week. Stafford was very good against the Cardinals in three games. You'd start him over Kyler Murray? Start of the week last week.

Sorry, Cousins is the starter. Let's do it again. Double start of the week. But he was really good against them last year. And you'd start him over Kyler Murray, yes or no? Yes. I would. I'd start Stafford and Cousins ahead of Kyler Murray.

All right. There are really mostly starts in this game. Let me give you some more running backs versus the Rams guys. Would you start? Let me hold it. Let me get the rankings out. Would you start Jeff Wilson or the Rams? Wilson.

Henderson, Wilson, Akers. Damian Pierce or the Rams? Pierce or Rams. Would you start Devante Smith or James Conner? Devante Smith. I think Smith's an easier go in non and half PPR. Probably full PPR too. Yeah, I think I'd go Smith.

If James Conner doesn't play, would Darrell Williams be ranked higher? Would he crack the top 20? Desperation running back. All right. All right, let's go to our next game. Let's see, what do we got? No, no, no, no.

Houston and Chicago. Stat of the game. Oh, yeah, that's not jingle worthy. Justin Fields has thrown for 191 yards in two games. Jameis Winston threw for 213 yards in the fourth quarter of week one. That's your stat of the game. Okay, so I think for you guys,

David Montgomery, David, Dave, Dave, he is a must-start guy, David Montgomery, this week? He is top 15. Had him ranked ahead of Najee. I would expect him to do better than Najee, even though Najee fumbled. And if that comes back to haunt me,

I'm going to be really upset because the fumble was kind of BS. So, Jamie, why don't we rank... Not that I'm bitter. Montgomery, Mooney, Brandon, Cooks, and Damian Pierce. Montgomery, Mooney, Cooks, and Pierce? I would go Montgomery, Cooks, Pierce, Mooney. But there's a huge gap between the first three guys and Mooney.

Okay. I think I have Cooks ranked ahead of Montgomery because the Bears secondary got run past by the Packers receivers a ton last week. And I think the Texans can take advantage of that with Cooks this week. Cooks has 10-12 targets both games. Very sneaky DFS play. Brandon Cooks. So you have him as a must-start. You guys have

him. Jamie 13th, Dave 18th. Start him. Oh, I mean, Brandon Cooks is great this week. Yeah. Don't be upset because he hasn't given you huge numbers yet. I think we can pretty much move past this game. But we did talk about Justin Fields. He's very different in the rankings.

What do you think about Damian Pierce? Jamie, earlier you said it would be his breakout game. Yep. I think the fact that he had all the running backs carries is very encouraging, that they didn't give Burkett and carries last week, that the playing time was basically 60-40 in terms of snap count.

It's clearly frustrating that they're not using the passing game, but I get it. I'm sure they want him to prove it first. So Burkhead, if they are chasing points, will be on the field a little bit more than we like. But this Bears run defense was awful. And week one, not probably a full indication of where they were. Week two, probably not as bad as they're going to be.

But, I mean, the Packers just ran right through them. And so this is a great opportunity for Pierce to build off what was a strong performance last week against the Browncoats. And like I said, I think the Texans can win this game. So it wouldn't surprise me if it goes the other way because the Texans obviously aren't the greatest of the team and the Bears are home. So I think Pierce is a great number two running back this week.

Two things. Number one, last week was the second week in a row the Bears ranked poorly in yards before contact per rush allowed nearly two yards allowed on the season. That's seventh worst 1.79 yards. So not exactly two other thing. We're forgetting this. It's a lovey Smith revenge game. Ooh, yeah. He's back to torch his old team. He doesn't even like that. They're going to move to Arlington Heights. He's back to torch his old team. He doesn't even like that. They're going to move to Arlington Heights.

He's going to, I'm just joking around with that part, but I do. Hmm. The state. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. He's going to come out against everybody in the land of Lincoln. He's going to knock down all the Lincoln logs. Okay. So do you like a DST in this game, Chicago or Houston? Kind of sort sort of, Houston. But

that might be more DFS-y then. Yeah, I wouldn't chance it in redraw. And Justin Fields. So, Jamie, you have him 14th, and Dave has him outside the top 24. Jamie, go. I think this is going to be his best game to date. That's not saying very much because he's been bad,

but you're starting to hear the rumblings about them not allowing him to throw. This is not a defense that they should be afraid of. The first two defenses they played were awesome. San Francisco and Green Bay are two of the better defenses in the league. Houston's not of that regard. He will have his most pass attempts. He will run for probably close to 50 yards like what we were

expecting. I think this is going to be Justin Fields' breakout game. I don't mind him as a low end starter this week. I'm ready to, Oh, I'm sorry. I can find another quarterback to start ahead of them in one QB. That's pretty easy to QB. You can continue to use them.

Yeah. I'm starting them over Garoppolo in a super flex league. I have decided on the game of the week. Okay. We need some game of the week music. How about it's the game of the week. Okay, we need some game of the week music. How about... It's the game of the week, yeah. I like it.

I like it. Don't do that again. Detroit is at Minnesota. The game of the week, yeah. All right. Check out the game of the week, folks. Detroit at Minnesota. What does game of the week mean?

It's going to be freaking awesome. Just like Dolphins-Ravids last week. And we'll update the stat every week until it ends. Detroit has now allowed 94 rushing yards or a rushing touchdown to a running back in 15 of their last 19 games since the start of 2021. Start Dalvin Cook. Are there any tough calls in this game, Dave Richard? I think Hawkinson's a tough call just because he's gotten decent target volume,

but he's not doing a lot in the red zone, not inside the 10. I think he's run three routes inside the 10 on 11 snaps, if I'm recalling correctly. So he's definitely somebody that I think fantasy managers could be a little frustrated by. I think you should pivot to Tyler Higby. You may pivot to Zach Ertz. Maybe even Logan Thomas ahead of TJ Hawkinson.

Okay. How about Adam Thielen? I mean, we did talk about him a little bit earlier. He would appear to be a tough call here. I mean, this is the game of the week. So, you know. Yeah, I would start him. I like him as a number three receiver.

Going to give you, Jamie, and updated Adam Thielen stat. Hold on to your, to your lunch, everybody. He now over the last three plus seasons. So three seasons plus two games here. He's played 35 games, Adam Thielen, 35 games that he hasn't been limited in or left early with an injury. And in those 35 games, he has fewer than 60 yards in 22 games out of 35. So it's,

it's a little concerning here. This is this last, last chance for Adam Thielen kind of game. Joe boo. Who drafted Thielen as a starter though, in a two receiver league. That's the question. Three people that didn't take a lot of receivers early in their drafts. Hi.

It depends on who else I have at receiver and what I've done off the waiver wire. Garrett Wilson has passed him clearly. Drake London has passed him clearly. Curtis Samuel has passed him. Jahan Dodson should be ahead of him. There are a lot of guys.

I'm not willing to go there on Garrett Wilson yet because of Zach Wilson. He really could just destroy... For this week. Yeah, no, this week, but rest of season. I didn't know, did you mean this week or rest of season with that list? I meant rest of season.

Yeah. Zach Wilson could just be just so bad for everyone. All right. And remember, I've got some Justin Jefferson. I think Justin Jefferson's a great play. Number one wide receiver is Destroy Detroit. And that was the case certainly in week one. What's his player prop for this week?

Oh, I'm not sure. But he was not ridiculous. I think it was like seven and a half receptions. What about the yards? I think you were getting odds on seven receptions. What about the yards? I think you were getting odds on 7.5 receptions. You were. Oh, you were. Oh, Irv Smith is in 7.5 receptions.

I think it's more like big plays. He's going to have 100. He could have 150 yards. I wouldn't bet on 150 yards, but I think over 100 for Justin Jefferson. Let's see what his... Yeah, figure that. Let me know.

The quickest, slickest looker. Irv Smith, 56% rostered, coming off a great game. Well, yeah, it could have been an amazing game if he caught a 60-yard or 55-yard touchdown pass, but he dropped it. Still caught a touchdown, had eight targets at the Eagles. Irv Smith is in the starting discussion, Jamie. Who would you start him over?

You know, we talked about this in the offseason, about how much Kevin O'Connell's offense would mirror the Rams' offense and Sean McVay's offense. After two games, it kind of looks a little similar after what Irv Smith did based on his target volume, that Irv Smith is playing the Tyler Higbee role, and that Thielen is kind of being a touchdown dependent on Allen Robinson, and that Justin Jefferson is just going to get fed targets.

It's a very similar mirror, right now at least. Now, I think this is the problem for Thielen, and we haven't had the K.J. Osborne game yet, because I think that's coming at some point. And so I think Irv Smith is right there with T.J. Hopkinson. He's right there with potentially Tyler Higby. I think Higby's better because he's more established. But, you know, you get past the guys that you know in terms of the starting options.

And for the Dalton Schultz manager that's been searching for somebody, if Irv Smith's still available, he should absolutely be picked up. But I think if you just look at where Hawkinson's at right now, where Irv Smith is at right now, where Zach Ertz with his matchup, you know, these guys are all very similar situations. So I was encouraged by what Smith did last week and really the first game that he was featured after the thumb injury. And so I'm hopeful for him to have another

quality game this week. Well, are you hopeful enough to start him over TJ Hawkinson? I believe they're back-to-back in my ranking. So it's very close right now. If Hawkinson has another limited practice on Friday, then I will make that move because he's clearly bothered by something. He's got a hip injury.

And so less than a hundred percent, uh, where the Vikings, I think they're going to have a lot of success throwing the ball. So, uh, I don't mind her Smith over Hawkinson. If,

if Hawkinson is not a hundred percent. All right, Jim in our chat says, I hope Jared golf goes off and he's, you know, he's been okay. He's throwing the ball a lot deeper downfield than he was. He's seventh in air yards per pass attempt.

He was dead last season. However, he's not really completing those passes. He's still 22nd in completed air yards per pass attempt, so he's throwing downfield, but they're incomplete. He's making his money on Amonra St. Brown. Jared, Kirk, let me start. No, I'll go to Goff. Goff or Jameis? Goff. Goff. Brown. Um, Jared Kirk, Kirk. Oh, let me start. I'll go to golf, golf or, uh,

Jameis. Golf, golf, golf. I'll give you a fun, fun golf. Yeah. Tell me real quick.

Hall of fame, Trinity or Jared golf. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. So we had, uh, we had a mom on St.

Brown on, uh, FFT earlier this week. And I asked him about, you know, when, when did you feel like things clicked for you? And he referenced the Vikings game last year. We caught the game and I forget what week it was.

It was late in the season. Um, but including that game into this season, cause golf missed two of the, of the games in the stretch from that point until now. So golf has played six games over the Amon Ross St. Brown breakout. Um, of those six games, he scored 21 or more fantasy points in four of them. And so it's an easy thing to look at and say, okay, receiver having this monster performance quarterback following suit. It's also, you got to give golf credit. You know, he's played a lot better, took advantage of this Ben Johnson offense, which, you know, he's going to be a very popular name this off season if things continue, uh, for the,

for the lions. And so as Amon Rossi Brown is going, golf is going with him or vice versa. So he's, he's certainly in the discussion of low end starter for this week, better than the hall of fame Trinity and somebody that you can, you know, pivot to as, as, as a good streamer. I hate to ruin the golf party, but if Rogers has his full compliment of receivers, I'll take him over cough.

Is that just Alan Lazard? I mean, does he even need Watson or Dobbs? No, he needs Watkins. He needs Watkins, too. For this week or rest of season? This week. Oh, okay. And rest of season. Yeah, I'll take Goff this week.

I take Rodgers rest of season, but I'll take Goff this week. Okay. Goff, by the way, going back to last year, and Jamie was kind of talking about it, I'll just give you the fantasy points. His last four games,

he scored 21.5 or more fantasy points and six points for passing touchdown leagues in three of four games. One bad game was against Denver. So the three good games were against Minnesota, Arizona, and then Green Bay who played like basically played half their start, you know, starters played a half. So he wasn't tearing up good competition, but he finished strong. And yeah, Ben Johnson is a great name to know the offensive coordinator who took over play calling mid season and change things for, uh,

for the lions. It changed things for St. Brown. And don't forget about that offensive line as great as they're doing with their run game. They're doing a good job in pass protection too. And it's, it's the run game.

Defenses have to respect it a ton and that's, what's helping guys get open off of play action. Okay. So let me finish up with this game here deandre swift must start guy easy call even with the injuries yes all right jamal williams or um the other guy well if okay if james connor's out would you start jamal williams or daryl williams daryl. Daryl. Okay. Anything else? Kirk Cousins is top seven.

Start that man. And I think that's pretty much it. All right. Jefferson's over under is 97 and a half yards. Over. It is a humongous number. You almost never see it. I wish I had a really terrible song. How about, where's my funky?

Just go get your guitar. That'll be a terrible song. All right, this is the funky game of the week, spelled W-E-A-K. Green Bay at Tampa Bay. Nobody wants to watch it. You like this music? This was supposed to be our regulators' ripoff. Right, right, right.

We didn't like that one. We liked the fantasy. All right, let's pick it up here a little bit. Green Bay at Tampa Bay. Stat of the game number one. According to Daniel Higgins of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, the Packers fans say that bratwurst is their favorite game day food. We don't have time to get into that.

The Bucs run defense is fantastic, by the way. I don't know that I've ever had a brat. So I covered Dolphins Packers game. It was Monday night. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was the year that was the year that how far did the Packers go? I forget. But John Madden was still calling games for ABC then.

So it tells you a long story. But John Madden was still calling games for ABC then, so it tells you how long it was. But it was in December, and the fact that it was a primetime game, like the moment you woke up on Monday, the smell, just the entire city just smells like bratwurst, and it was amazing. I think I need to move. All right.

And in all seriousness, though, the run defense for the Bucs has been really bad, and I'm not going to bog you down in stats. Let me just let you guys get into this game here. Let's start with the quarterbacks, Rodgers and Brady. Who do you like better? Rodgers. And do you have either of them in your top 15?

Nope. Yes, I have Rodgers 13th. So, Dave, you'd start Rodgers over? Mariota, Goff, Brady, Russ, Winston, Fields, those guys. Jamie? No. Most of those guys over Rodgers. Okay.

Let me just give you an A's or a bullet prediction. Ready? Russell Wilson, top five quarterback this week. You guys are way too low. Without Judy? Without Judy. Wow. are way too low. Without Judy? Without Judy. Wow. Top five's bold, but I'd start him over Rodgers and Brady.

Because they're moving the ball. I would start Russell over Rodgers and Brady too. Okay. They just, they cannot score touchdowns, but they're so close. They're so close. And, you know, I don't think the Niners are like a shy away from matchup. Yeah, but I mean, they're soers are like a shy away from matchup. Yeah, but I mean,

they're so close from scoring touchdowns against Seattle and Houston. Right, but they have been fine offensively. They just suck inside the five-yard line. Again, against Seattle and Houston. I know, but they still, I mean, they're still eighth in yards per play, eighth in total yards. They're not bad. Yeah, but what do you want them to be? First? No, but I

think, again, you know, this is a step up in competition. Of course. He doesn't have one of his key guys. I mean, he looks a little confused right now, which is understandable. You know, he's only two weeks into game action of this new offense. They'll get better. Niners are better against the run than the pass. So this will be a Wilson game.

I almost wonder if Nathaniel Hackett steals the Pete Carroll costume from the evil robot that took over for Pete Carroll and orders more runs for Russ this week. If the offense is messed up, you try and get that part of the offense going. The run game, not necessarily Russ, especially if there's no Judy. Is there anyone that you're starting in this game confidently other than Aaron Jones and Leonard Fournette? We're back to Packers-Bucks. Good.

Confidently? No. Bucks-DST? How about Packers-DST? Packers-DST? But the Bucks-DSTs have been amazing. We have some very interesting food conversations going on in our chat here. Talking about cottage cheese and lasagna?

That's weird. Okay, A.J. Dillon, I guess, would be a tough call. If Alan Lazard plays, who do you like better, A.J. Dillon or Alan Lazard? Dillon. How come? I need to see it from Lazard plays. Who do you like better? AJ Dillon or Alan Lazard? Dylan. How come? I need to see it from Lazard first. I mean,

I don't, he's clearly not a hundred percent. The fact that he played last week and, you know, goes from limited to DMP, uh, on a Thursday, that's not a good sign.

So something's going on with him. Pick a box wide receiver as a Hail Mary. Not a literal one. Perryman uh cole beasley okay okay no i replicate gauge all right that's that's pretty much it i think i've done enough a.j dillon comparisons so is he top 24 not for me he's probably gonna fall out of the top 24? Not for me. He's probably going to fall out of the top 24 for me. All right. Dave has him 20.

You know, the one thing that I like about him is that he's had at least 15 touches each of the first two games. Right. Probably gets close to that this week. You know, usually the bucks are among the best run defenses in football. They haven't been, but if you look at this, if you look at this particular stat,

yards per carry allowed to running backs. The Green Bay Packers faced each of the top six last year. Each of the top six teams in terms of yards per carry allowed to running back. So they had a really tough running back schedule. And A.J. Dillon in those six games averaged 3.2 yards per carry. And Aaron Jones in those six games averaged 3.6 yards per carry. Sorry, Dillon was 3.3. So last year they didn't run well against the best run defenses.

If the Bucs can get their swag back, that could be big for this game. New Orleans at Carolina. Stat of the game could be big here. I'm not sure I buy it, but so far the Saints have had basically the worst pass rush in football. They have one sack. On true media, they're 32nd in pressure rate. That's last by a wide margin. On PFR, pro football reference, they're 26th in hurry percentage.

I bring this up because the Panthers can't protect Baker Mayfield. So, I guess this is a DJ Moore stat. Jamie, you have confidence in DJ Moore this week? No. I'm still starting him. So, he's still a number two receiver, but he's certainly closer to 24 than he is to 12. And so, he's got

to start to get more opportunities. I hated this Matt Rule comment earlier in the week about playing more wide receivers. Why? Who are you going to get on opportunities. You know, I hated this Matt rule comment earlier in the week about playing more wide receivers. Why? Like who are you going to get on the field? Terrace Marshall, uh, Lewis, Christian, all more like,

like what are you trying to do? Um, I wonder, I wonder if that was pointed toward getting Rashard Higgins on the field more. Yeah. I mean, it could be somebody that Baker trusts.

It could be, uh, trust, trust DJ more, put the ball in his hands, give him some, some wide receiver screens, give him some,

you know, chances to make some plays. He's alarmingly frustrating right now. Are you surprised by it? Yeah. Knowing how they've kind of sort of limited him in the past, and it's certainly been more in the red zone than it's been anywhere else on the field. They've limited him everywhere so far.

This year, yes. But in the past, like last year, he was getting a lot of targets. He was great until they got in the red zone. And then they started to, they gave him more than even before then, like in 2020, before he was barely getting work in the red zone. Last year, they gave him more. It still wasn't enough for him. And now this year, it feels like they're limiting DJ even more.

And it's, it's just being, it's, it's frustrating for sure. We all thought he'd do great, but there must be something about his game that this coaching staff that they just can't come around on. And then you tack on that. It's Ben McAdoo running the show and you just wonder how effective he'll be. The hope would be, and I don't want to see anybody lose their job, but Matt Ruhl loses this game again. He's probably going to be fired, if not this week, very soon.

And so whoever takes over, and hopefully it's not McAdoo, if McAdoo's the problem for DJ Moore, that they get their playmakers the ball more. Because Christian McCaffrey needs more opportunities in the passing game. Obviously DJ Moore needs more opportunities. It's very frustrating that you have these two stars, and they're not being used the passing game. Obviously, DJ Moore needs more opportunities. It's very frustrating that you have these two stars and they're not being used the right way. And last week, the Giants shadowed Robbie Anderson with their top cornerback and they put a rookie on DJ Moore. And I watched most of the snaps. I didn't see a ton of double coverage. They just

weren't looking for him. And Baker was really bad. And the offensive line stinks. So you'd start I'm assuming you'd start Michael Thomas over him. Easy. Yes. How about Jarvis Landry or Chris Olave? Would you go that far? No. No.

How about the Washington wide receivers or DJ Moore? It's close between him and Curtis Samuel. I've got him back to back. I don't think I can start Samuel ahead of Moore without really trying to dive in a little bit on what's going on there and what the Saints might do. Any hesitation to start Alvin Kamara? No.

Not really. Okay. So it's start Kamara. It's start McCaffrey. It's start DJ Moore as a number two receiver michael thomas is a must start right yep i think so and then what about jamis winston dave i wouldn't start him i think that this is a game that he doesn't need to throw a ton in and i almost wonder if the saints coaching staff is going to tell him, look, you threw it like crazy last week. How many air yards did Olave have? Like over 300?

300 something, yeah. It's ridiculous. So I bet they try and rein him in a little bit. What better way to rein him in than by asking him to throw shorter passes to Kamara, to Landry? It's not exciting. It's not sexy for fantasy. Thomas gets a lot of those targets too. And maybe he builds on this game a little bit and he gets his confidence going without necessarily having three touchdowns and 300 goals.

Yeah. Pete Prisco talked about this after watching the game that he thought that Jameis was just trying to do a little too much hero ball, which is what's got him in trouble in the past and just take the check down, you know? And so like there are a lot of opportunities. Now, granted, last week's game, they're playing a much tougher defense.

There was no Kamara in the game. I think the other thing about this is, to Dave's point, about trying to take it easy on Jameis, he's playing with a fractured back. Give the guy some credit for trying to do what he's doing at less than 100%. But we could be looking at another Baker Mayfield-type situation where the guy is playing at less than 100% and it's a detriment to his team. So if he has another bad game, let's just say the Saints are trailing again, who thought they would be trailing against the Falcons in week one at home or week one, excuse me. So they've shown you the ability to fall behind in a lesser against a lesser opponent.

But if that's the case and james struggles again we might see andy dalton you know so if you want to talk about taking a flyer on somebody in 2qb or a super flex league might not be a bad idea to pick up andy dalton because one shot to the back who knows how long we could be without james winston so he's not a bad flyer uh the panthers saints are currently two and a half point favorites in this game all right right. What's that? That's kind of low. I know. I was, I mean,

I think the pan, the Panther is just, I feel like they want you to take the saints. Yeah. I want to take the saints. All right. Atlanta, Seattle guys,

three minutes. Ready? Yeah. So far four wide receivers have scored 15 or more PPR fantasy points against Atlanta. One of them is Cooper cup, but the others were Jarvis Landry, Michael Thomas, and Alan Robinson. So, Dave, you kind of indicated that you liked Metcalf and Lockett. Is that fair?

Do you like them this week? I do. I think they're very good number three receivers. I wouldn't put them in my top 24 or anything like that, but I've got Metcalf at 26. I've got Lockett at 30. I'm okay with how Geno Smith's been playing. He hasn't been a total, he hasn't vomited all over himself.

So as long as he continues to play well and they're being smart about how they're using them and what they're asking him to do, yeah, these guys could get some good volume and it's a great matchup. It's a good matchup for Atlanta's passing game as well. I assume you're starting Drake London over Metcalf and Lockett? Yes.

Oh, man. Loved what I saw from Drake London last week, and I especially loved what Marcus Mariota saw from him. Because Mariota was looking at him. It was his first read. I mean, I don't have an exact percentage, but it felt like 65% of the throws. It was London first and then somebody else second.

They also were using him in a lot of different ways. Wide receiver screens, you know, over the middle. Right, which is what he did at Southern Cal. It's smart. It's awesome. Arthur Smith's a smart guy. He just doesn't necessarily, you know, show it off in the stat sheets.

They're a scrappy team, but they just cannot win close games. Okay, we talked about the running back. We talked about Patterson a little bit earlier. Just to knock out the Seattle running backs, we're sitting them, right, Jamie? I think Petty's an okay flex. Again, these two teams kind of marry

each other a little bit because you had a second guy come on last week. We expected to see Ken Walker. He might have a bigger role. One game removed from the hernia surgery, and they might decide to give him more work. Again, Seattle can win this game. They're favorite at home. This is a matchup I don't think you run away

from. This could be one of Penny's more explosive games. I don't think he's a must-start guy, but if you're struggling with some decisions and some questionable flexes and certainly the injuries that we've been looking at which there are a lot of them this week, I don't mind Penny as a borderline number to running back slash flex. I'd like him more if Kenneth Walker was somehow inactive.

Yeah, that's not going to happen. That's what holds me back from ranking him really high. Yeah. He'd probably be inside the top 20. You know, I got to say, we talk about Atlanta like they're the worst defense in the world, but their run defense last year was kind of average. And so far this year, it's been kind of average. They're not the Lions. No, this isn't

necessarily more about the Atlanta defense. It's more about, I think, the Seattle offense and just Penny, if he's getting the touches that I would hope to see him get, or at least enough work, even in tandem with Walker. Obviously, as Dave said, if there was no Walker, he would be a must-start running back in this matchup. Because again, Seattle's not going to be favored in many games. So, you know, he ran well against the Broncos in week one. That's a much tougher opponent.

Five yards per carry. Had the two or three long runs call back on some holding calls. So he's looked fine. It's just a matter of how much work will he get in tandem with Walker. So that's what's pulling him down a little bit based on where the ceiling can go. Obviously, you like Patterson better, right? Yes.

Mariota's the last guy we'll talk about. You guys have him 13th or 14th in the ranking. So does Heath. Mariota has scored 19.8 and 17.4 fantasy points against the Saints and Rams, respectively. So this is a much better matchup for Mariota. Trinity or Mariota? Mariota.

I have Rodgers over Mariota. Right. For those of you who are confused, the Trinity is the Hall of Fame Trinity of Rodgers, Brady, and Russell Wilson. Is there anything else from this game? Kyle pits. I mean,

you got them like top five or six. And I got, I got him. My fan to a lineup. It just, this could be the cheapest he's going to be on the week. I hope so. I hope so.

I hope so. Well, we'll see if the, you know, I think what's interesting is, will there be a week where both Pitts and London are good? I'm sure it'll happen once or twice, but... This week.

They might. It'll happen eventually. Two touchdown passes from Mariota, one rushing. He's going to throw one to Pitts, one to London. Okay. All right. That's it. DST in this game?

Any interest? Not really. Oh. Oh, boy. I don't feel well. I got to go. I don't know what. Oh. Oh boy. I don't feel well. I gotta go. I don't know what's wrong. Yeah, I just don't feel well. I'm a little under the weather today. It took a lot out of me.

Don't forget. I know, I know. I gotta try to squeeze in a nap before that. Alright, let's get out of here. We'll talk to you later, everybody. Thank you so much. Enjoy your Friday. We'll see you on the Mailbag episode. Later.