Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (NFC) Plus Mark Andrews Replacements and Joe Burrow Reaction (11/17 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: November 17, 2023

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts Ugh! What a crappy start to the week! We rev...iew the Bengals-Ravens game and give our expectations for the Bengals offense if Joe Burrow misses time. Will Joe Mixon benefit or struggle? And which tight ends can you find to replace Mark Andrews (9:30)? We've also got news and notes (15:25) on the Lions backfield and more and a player that Dave loves this week (21:50) ... One Question for Each Game (24:55)! How do we feel about the struggling trio of Saquon Barkley, Ken Walker and Tony Pollard? Are we starting the Rams wide receivers? Seahawks wide receivers? Then we help you "Beat the Waiver Wire" (31:00) for Week 12 ... Start or Sit for Chargers-Packers (32:55), Bucs-49ers (39:30), Seahawks-Rams (47:25), Bears-Lions (56:10), Cowboys-Panthers (1:04:30) and Giants-Commanders (1:10:00) ... Email us at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 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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Starting point is 00:01:16 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. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. He's just going to go the distance.
Starting point is 00:01:37 Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Well, hello, everyone. Happy Friday. A very somber fantasy football today. And I'll ask the Magic 8-Ball, should we even bother playing fantasy football anymore? Oh, look at this. Now look who's a little sad and melancholy after a football game. You used to get on my case like two weeks ago because I would come to the podcast and I would be frustrated by the events of the week. Come on, Dave. It's going to be a great week.
Starting point is 00:02:14 It's fancy football. Yeah. The Magic 8 Ball said, yes, we should keep playing. The Magic 8 Ball has been on fire. You know what, Dave? That's the best investment you've ever made. It's very good. Dave takes like a 10-game slate, focuses on
Starting point is 00:02:30 five injuries, and he's like, this is terrible, though. I mean, Mark Andrews likely out for the season. Joe Burrow, don't know how long he'll be out. Got the wrist injury. And yeah, you know, basically to sum it up, but we'll make the most of it, and we'll tell you who to replace Mark Andrews with.
Starting point is 00:02:48 We're also going to preview a bunch of games today as well. And today's episode is presented by Salesforce. Baltimore 34, Cincinnati 20. And the Bengals getting a late touchdown. Jamar Chase caught that touchdown. He had one catch before that, and then he ends up with 12 yards and a touchdown on seven targets. All right, let's start with the Bengals' side of the ball. We have to.
Starting point is 00:03:13 It would look like it was going to be a really good game, and Burrow, you know, Burrow to Mixon, nice connection. But, Dave, what are your thoughts on the Bengals if Joe Burrow misses time and Jake Browning, who threw for 68 yards on 14 attempts, it takes over. I mean, didn't you think Jake Browning looked just like Joe Burrow until he threw the football? Honestly, I was impressed with Jake Browning moving around the pocket.
Starting point is 00:03:43 I thought that mobility was surprising. And then when he throws, it looks like he throws in slow motion. Like it was really not great. And I think he's, he's a smart quarterback, made good reads, just clearly not the same type of arm, very worried about the production for everybody involved for however long Joe Burrow is out. That goes without saying. I wonder if they'll lean into the run game a little bit more.
Starting point is 00:04:08 This could end up being a decent thing for Joe Mixon. Mixon was getting a good amount of work anyway. I think you downgrade expectations until Burrow comes back. Hopefully Burrow comes back. Jamie? I mean, look, they got a mini buy. So hopefully we'll see what the MRI results suggest or show. And then we'll see how long this could be out.
Starting point is 00:04:30 He could be out, but it's a tough schedule coming up too, starting with Pittsburgh in Week 12. So you've got to be concerned across the board. You wonder how long T. Higgins will now be out if, in fact, the Bengals continue to fall out of playoff contention because he's headed to free agency. Does he want to come back on a less than 100% hamstring and
Starting point is 00:04:50 deal with a backup quarterback? To me, he's probably the biggest concern, but I hope that the system helps and that they trust Browning and that they just let him throw the ball. Then Pepper chase with targets. Remember, he's always open. Well, if you're always open, help your receiver out.
Starting point is 00:05:06 Help your quarterback out. He wasn't in this game. They covered it all up. No, but Baltimore, you know, aside from the two huge games he had for the last three games, they played him tough. So, you know, I didn't expect Bro to have a monster game. And I was a little concerned about Chase. Not that you're benching either one for the most part.
Starting point is 00:05:23 But I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful that this isn't going to be a long-term injury for Burrow. I mean, I think it would be bad for Mixon, though, I've got to tell you. Because Mixon is really benefiting so much from the healthy Joe Burrow. He keeps scoring touchdowns. Efficiency was great yesterday. And I've seen this story. The first half of the season, when Burrow stunk,
Starting point is 00:05:46 Mixon wasn't really very good. I mean, he didn't really have any, you know, games where he popped. He couldn't score. He scored one touchdown in like his first five or six games. And now he's scoring basically every week. One touchdown in his first six games. But you know what? We'll react to it when we get more news on Joe Burrow.
Starting point is 00:06:00 On the other side of the ball, Jamie, what's your take on the Ravens with Mark Andrews leaving on the opening drive? And he had two catches on the other side of the ball um jamie what's your take on the ravens with mark andrews leaving on the opening drive and he had two catches on the opening drive and you know got down inside the five yard line he's got the ankle injury likely out for the season here and i say likely and i say a likely might be someone that fantasy managers could desperately look at although he's been terrible in both games that mark andrews missed or barely played but what give me your take on the ras offense going forward? It's obviously worth speculating on likely come Tuesday. You can't do that now. So the
Starting point is 00:06:31 the one somewhat silver lining for both these injuries is that it happened on Thursday. You can still pick up guys that might be available on waivers. And we'll talk about that if you want to. But there are some players out there that you can at least get ahead of to beat the rest of your league. But look, Lamar Jackson showed you he can still survive without Mark Andrews. I don't think it's going to be something that craters his fantasy season. It's not like, for example, if another certain high-profile quarterback lost another high-profile tight end, that might be disastrous. It was nice to see the receiving core step up. Zay Flowers should have had a touchdown. That was a terrible holding call on Odell Beckham.
Starting point is 00:07:12 And Beckham, look, he's continuing to improve. And go back a few weeks to things you heard out of Baltimore that they wanted to get him going. And then you get the garbage time touchdown from Tyler Huntley. You get another touchdown last week, and now you get a 100-yard day today. And hopefully his shoulder injury is okay. So I think the receivers get a boost. Um, really I would just be looking at flowers and Beckham at this point, you know, I know Bateman scored Aguilar's touchdown was fluky. Um, and then the, the running backs, clearly, I mean, Gus Edwards has just been so consistent, um, and finding the end zone. So
Starting point is 00:07:42 they'll lean on him more as well. And hopefully a little bit more for Keaton Mitchell. But yeah, likely he's got the target now on him. And hopefully it will be something that can benefit. So if you have an open roster spot, even if you're not the Mark Andrews fantasy manager, not a bad player to speculate on. So just to back up what Jamie was saying, I kind of decided this morning to look into the role
Starting point is 00:08:04 that Mark Andrews had been playing and who's most likely to take over, not necessarily just the tight end role, but the opportunities that Andrews is leaving behind. Everybody knows that Andrews plays in the slot a lot. Low ADOT, it was 7.3 yards. He has only one game this year where his ADOT was more than 7.8 yards. 20% target share, but in the red zone,
Starting point is 00:08:24 he had a 32% target share going into week 11. So who replaces that? And I looked going into week 11. I didn't count last night's game. Zay Flowers had the highest red zone target share at 24%. Odell behind him at 17%. I agree that likely is a great ad just to see what happens. I don't know if he's absolutely going to replace every target
Starting point is 00:08:46 that Mark Andrews has had. But the other thing to keep in mind is what happens when the Ravens get into the red zone? It's Gus Edwards. And you can almost pencil him in for at least 10 fantasy points, PPR or not, every single week because the dude just keeps finding ways to play near the end zone and then enter it with the football tucked neatly into his arm.
Starting point is 00:09:05 I think that they'll continue to be very run focused. I thought it was a good game for Lamar too. And the sad thing is like, if you started them, obviously it was great. He was a low and QB one for me. I should have ranked a much higher, but if Joe Burrow had stayed in the game and played, it could have been a much bigger game for Lamar because it could have been a back and forth shootout type of matchup. Yeah. And Gus Edwards, of course, keeps stealing touchdowns from him. And Gus Edwards had two touchdowns in this game. And now for Gus, what is that? That's how many touchdowns in his last? I think nine in the last five, seven in the last five. That's wild. He had one. He had, let's see, three, six, seven, nine in his last five games
Starting point is 00:09:42 for Gus Edwards. He's he's Jamal Williams right now from last year, but with not quite as many carries. I mean, it's still a little bit dangerous here. I mean, we're talking about a guy who's had 11 carries, 12 carries, had five carries a few weeks ago. But he has his role, and he's very good at it. Beckham is 35% rostered. Is he going to be potentially the most added player in leagues next week?
Starting point is 00:10:08 He'll be among them. I mean, let's see what happens coming off this week. You're going to see a lot of clearly tight ends being added because not just the Mark Andrews fantasy manager, there'll be some people in leagues trying to add tight ends and then trade whoever they may have to the Mark Andrews fantasy manager. But yeah, I mean, look, Beckham again has been building towards something and starting to show. And look,
Starting point is 00:10:28 we saw it with the Rams, right? It took a little bit of time. And when he was added in mid season, and then he started to look awesome toward the end of the year, we're seeing something similar. Well, shouldn't we talk about this?
Starting point is 00:10:36 The tight ends that you can add now, Mark Andrews, like Jamie, I know you tweeted something out. Logan Thomas was on your list. Tyler Coughlin was on your list. Who am I missing? Luke Musgrave.
Starting point is 00:10:52 Again, these are guys that, again, you don't want to be in these situations, but the players that are out there now that you can drop somebody that's on the end of your bench. So I just looked at our leagues, and we usually go right around the 65% roster threshold. So Logan Thomas is at 70%, so it could be available in some 10 team leagues and when you talk about this on tuesdays we say the shallow leagues um luke musgraves at 57 he's been playing better late fryer muth coming off ir 47 johnny smith on his buy we know he's been up and down but still been productive at times 41 k dot and just tailed off a little bit lately but 37 percent and tyler conklin to me
Starting point is 00:11:25 is probably the best of them aside from logan thomas his last two games have been very solid better in ppr than non-ppr but 36 percent so um i stopped there there's you know michael mayor is out there if you want to you know speculate on him if ed o'connell starts to look for him a little bit more there's some there's some guys but hunter henry is another one you know but i i think you just look at the players who have done something or have the chance to do something. Those are the guys I'd be looking at right now. Yeah, and for Conklin, it's not just the last two games. He has a couple of duds in there,
Starting point is 00:11:53 but I think it's four of his last six games Conklin has more than 50 yards. So he's definitely going to have some bad games and he may not score a touchdown for the rest of the season because I'm not joking. I mean, the Jets just don't throw those. But in PPR leagues, Conklin can give you catches and yards, hopefully on a somewhat regular basis.
Starting point is 00:12:12 There are two other players. Who might his quarterback be in the fantasy playoffs? Yeah, that's true. And I would say, you know, look, Dallas Goddard is 77% rostered. So you might be able to pick him up, even if you don't have an IR spot and stash him. Darren Waller has to miss two more games and then he's eligible to come
Starting point is 00:12:30 back. I don't know if you really want him, but he's available in a decent amount of time. I believe the latest report said he's still going through the recovery process of his hamstring injury. Those are two guys. I don't know how appealing Darren Waller is anyway.
Starting point is 00:12:46 Do you want some quarterbacks for Burrow? Sure. Are there any? Or are these just guys to trade for? No, there's one again. Like Tyler Conklin would be the prize of the group. Again, it's not great. But Gardner Minshew gets Tampa Bay next week.
Starting point is 00:13:00 And we've seen what this Bucs secondary looks like. He's 30% rostered. But again, the sliding scale. Jordan Love, 72%. So similar to Logan Thomas Stafford gets air. This is just for week 12. So, so love gets the lions on Thanksgiving. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:12 Matthew Stafford gets Arizona next week, 67% roster. So hopefully his thumb injury holds up. That's a good matchup. Derek R we know he's been good for the most part over the last month. He gets Atlanta next week. Hopefully his shoulders. Okay.
Starting point is 00:13:23 And then Detroit, if you want to trust him, gets Carolinaolina that could be a game where he's throwing with some success and then gardner minch again gets tampa bay so it's not bad at that position from a desperate scenario if you're looking to replace joe bro right now no and car actually has two good matchups in a row so you could look at that um yeah for sure i was gonna bring him up well he's got atlanta detroit and Carolina, and then the Giants. So that's three out of four good matchups. Carolina, everyone just runs on them.
Starting point is 00:13:51 Hopefully the Cowboys will this week. Okay, that would be – I had a couple of emails. I was going to read from David in a Canadian city with a really, really tall tower. Goodness. Tall tower. Hmm. Windsor. Okay.
Starting point is 00:14:10 I lost Burrow and Andrews. Oh, boy. He has Kyler. So, I have two offers from the same manager. Either Kyron Williams for Kincaid or Rashad White for TJ Hawkinson. And he still has Eckler and Swift. Kyron for Kincaid is a done deal for me.
Starting point is 00:14:36 Okay. All right. And then if you have some quarterback depth, like our guy James here, he traded Josh Dobbs for Dalton Kincaid. And he has Tua and Stroud. Isn't it funny how people are like vultures the minute the injury happens? I love it.
Starting point is 00:14:50 I love it. It's great. That's how it is. That's how it is. I'm playing against one of our former colleagues, George Sedano, in a league. And I was like, wow, he had a big night last night. And I was like, oh, he had Burrow and Andrews. I thought it was just one guy that he had.
Starting point is 00:15:06 He had Lamar or something when I saw this. The dedicated fantasy managers, they act fast. Jamie got one of my texts last night in the wake of Joe Burrow's injury in our Dynasty League. Dave, did you check my text message to you? No, but I did check the message that you sent in the, uh, live stream,
Starting point is 00:15:27 private chat. All right. Dave is going to give it. I forgot to tell David, he has to give us a player that he loves this week. We're going to get that in just a moment. YouTube.com slash fantasy football today. Join us for our mailbag this afternoon,
Starting point is 00:15:38 live at, uh, noon Eastern on Friday, or of course you can listen to it the next day, but join us live at 1130 AM Eastern on Sunday morning for our, our live chat where we answer your questions for an hour and a half, basically. And it's a lot of fun.
Starting point is 00:15:54 And I am sorry. I forget. HQ is at 10 o'clock, right? CBS sports HQ fantasy football today, 10 o'clock on Sunday. Yep. We do not have any European games this week,
Starting point is 00:16:04 so I can't sing Game of the Week in any other language. I just realized that I have no idea what the Game of the Week is. You know exactly what the Game of the Week is. I'm not doing Eagles Chiefs. I don't know how to organically bring up Eagles Chiefs without you being tipped off, so
Starting point is 00:16:19 I'm going to have to go off the board. You're 100% going to put the music on when we talk about... You're going to do it right now, board. I'm going to have to go. You're 100% going to put the music on when we talk about. You're going to do it right now, aren't you? No, no, no. I really, I was, I didn't have anything planned. I'm going to have to figure it out on the fly. News and notes.
Starting point is 00:16:38 Josh Allen mentioned not getting bored with the stuff underneath. So I think he's kind of saying he's been forcing it downfield. More good news for Gabe Davis. Running back. I swear this is the biggest news story I found all week. It terrifies me. I hate it. Jameer Gibbs. I talked about this with Dave last night on the live stream, which was wacky.
Starting point is 00:17:00 Jamie, you have to see. Dave, please do it. Like, please style your hair. No, it's done. It's over. Dave gave himself very weird hairstyles last night. It was amazing. But Jameer Gibbs was on his little player podcast,
Starting point is 00:17:15 and he said that he was supposed to come off the field near the goal line, and David Montgomery let him stay on. And I hate that, Jamie. They were supposed to go back to that stupid stuff. Does that bother you as much as it bothers me? Look, it's bothersome. So maybe he gets one touchdown as opposed to two. They're going to be interchangeable in certain areas.
Starting point is 00:17:44 The majority of the goal line touches are clearly going to go to Montgomery. You hope that the majority of the passing down work goes to Jameer Gibbs. I think this is just going to be one of these offenses that has the potential for both running backs to have big seasons. And so go back to last year when Swift was at his best and Jamal Williams was still scoring touchdowns. Like that's what you're hoping for is that there's the two guys doing great things. So Montgomery, where we were looking at him as maybe a top 10 running back.
Starting point is 00:18:10 Okay. Maybe now he's just a top 15 or top 20 guy. And Gibbs still has the potential to be a top 10 guy. The difference is I think this year's version is better. It's like on steroids. Last year's version for sure. Yeah. Well,
Starting point is 00:18:23 who would you rather have Deandre Swift this year's Deandre Swift or this year's J. For sure. Well, who would you rather have? DeAndre Swift? This year's DeAndre Swift or this year's Jameer Gibbs? It's a little reactionary to say just Gibbs is that much better. I think Gibbs' ceiling is higher, but I think Swift is safer. I mean, they're so good at running the ball. Both teams are.
Starting point is 00:18:42 Yeah. Yeah, but you don't... I mean, look, Gainwell's taking a little bit away from oh he's sharing with a guy named jalen hurts hey i was gonna say on the touch push right i uh i have gibbs higher on the trade chart but i think a little bit of that is because public perception is like mega love for jameer gibbs right now right now yeah love mega love right now david montgomery says he feels the best he's felt in his career,
Starting point is 00:19:05 and he feels like he's playing his best football. I agree. Yeah, he's saying that the week before he plays his former team. I would just like to... He's going to rob the bear. Yeah, that's a good point. Alexander Madison is progressing, still in the concussion protocol, but I'm getting the sense that he has a decent chance to play this week.
Starting point is 00:19:21 Yeah. So be aware, Ty Chandler managers. Deontay Foreman was limited, and Khalil Herbert practiced in full. So it looks like Herbert's going to play this week. Yeah. Be aware, Ty Chandler managers. Deontay Foreman was limited and Khalil Herbert practiced in full. So it looks like Herbert's going to play.
Starting point is 00:19:30 Being limited is good for Foreman, but we'll see what happens there. They're facing Detroit. Damian Pierce mispracticed. Devon Achan will play.
Starting point is 00:19:38 Antonio Gibson still has not practiced. He has this toe injury and he's facing a team that gives up the fewest receptions to running backs in the NFL.
Starting point is 00:19:46 Saquon Barkley said that loyalty means nothing. So you do, again, have to wonder if he's going to play it out all year. I feel like they kind of owe it to him to let him sit toward the end of the year. But we'll see. It's a lot of bad stuff going around with the Giants. A lot of bad media headlines anyway. And Mike McCarthy said he might give Rico Dowdle more touches. You think? It's a lot of bad stuff going around with the John, a lot of bad media headlines anyway. And Mike McCarthy said he might give Rico Dowdle more touches.
Starting point is 00:20:09 You think? Yeah. Pick him up. Please. Justin Jefferson was limited. Have you ranked him yet? No, I just hope we don't get a Sunday night workout before the game situation because that'll be frustrating.
Starting point is 00:20:25 Yeah. I think it'll be frustrating. Yeah. I think it'll be good for ratings for us. I think we'll get more people on the stream, more people watching HQ in the morning if they need to know what to do with Justin Jefferson. Oh, well, I mean, look, you're getting a lot of questions still, even if he's guaranteed to play. But it makes it a lot easier to know if he's going to play. Dave, is Pukunukuwa playing hurt?
Starting point is 00:20:50 Sounds like he's got something going on where he's not at 100%, but still expected to play against Seattle on Sunday. Okay. Robert Woods and Nico Collins practiced in full, but Noah Brown missed practice again. Keenan Allen says he's going to play. He has a shoulder injury. KJ Osborne likely to play this week. Deontay Johnson back at practice.
Starting point is 00:21:06 That was good. And Jerry Judy showed up on the practice report with a hip issue. That was a terrible sentence for me. Tight end. I'm only bringing this up. This is my Dalton Schultz apology tour, okay? Dalton Schultz practice. I forgot he existed yesterday.
Starting point is 00:21:25 Adam goes, at the end of the Texans Cardinals preview, he goes, and sit the Texans tight end. So I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And then it took me 10 seconds to figure out what I was missing. I still couldn't figure out that Dalton Schultz was on the Texans and playing really well.
Starting point is 00:21:42 I mean, were you thinking about Teagan Quitterano? There was a few like, uh, comments in the chat of, uh, wow. Why are you disrespecting Brevin Jordan like that? Yeah,
Starting point is 00:21:50 exactly. Donald Parham practice. I am starting Donald Parham in a league. I do think he's a decent sleeper. Uh, if Everett's out, which looks like it will be the case. Everett hasn't practiced,
Starting point is 00:22:01 but, uh, you know, it's not a, not a huge endorsement. Hayden Hurst mispracticed. Pat Fryermuth practiced in full, so he looks like he's going to play. What's the golfer's favorite sandwich? Our ham sandwich. He got it. Oh, I thought you were making a sand wedge joke for the golfer. That would have been better than what I actually did. I am still on my quest to originate a good dad joke
Starting point is 00:22:29 before the end of the year. The biggest defensive injuries would be Jimmy Ward, safety for the Texans, still missing practice. Giants dealing with some players in concussion protocol, Dory Jackson and Kayvon Thibodeau. Good news for the Packers, Quay Walker and Jair Alexander looking good.
Starting point is 00:22:46 And Minka Fitzpatrick and Keanu Neal, both safeties for the Steelers, still missing practice. Okay, that would be our news and notes. Did you know that across Ontario, utility damage happens 19 times a day? That's over 4,222 incidents a year. Don't let your next dig be one that causes costly delays or safety risks. Before you break ground, make it a point to request a locate. It's not just the law. It's a step to keep your team and community safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report.
Starting point is 00:23:27 Dave, who is a player that you love this week? Love is a strong term to use with Devin Singletary, but I think he's earned our attention and certainly should be in our fantasy lineups in a week where four teams are on by. A lot of good running backs are not playing this week. And he just had 150 yards and 30 carries against the Bengals this is a Bengals run defense going into last week's game that allowed under 3.5 yards per carry against the Seahawks against the 49ers and against the Bills and he didn't do it alone the left side of that offensive line for
Starting point is 00:24:00 the Texans did a really good job of making space for Singletary. And he's always had good agility. And that's the game of the week. Yeah. That's the game of the week. The Texans and the Cardinals. You just decided this right now. There's no way. That's the game of the week.
Starting point is 00:24:18 Hey. The Cardinals is the game of the week. I love this game. There's no way. I love this game. I love it. I do too, but there's a damn Super Bowl rematch on Monday night. That's not the game of the week?
Starting point is 00:24:30 It is the game of the week, but I had to throw you off, Dave. It's not fun when you know what it is. So this is the second best game of the week. And you waited like 30 seconds after I was going into Singletary. I was a theater major in college, Dave. I know drama. Okay. Is that your major?
Starting point is 00:24:49 It was my second major after I dropped economics because it was too hard, and I had a class at eight in the morning that I didn't want to go to anymore. Your dad must have been so bummed. Broadcast journalism was my major. Theater arts was my second major. Copying your brother again.
Starting point is 00:25:02 I sold tickets at the box office, basically, to get my degree. Yeah. All right. Devin Singletary. Thank you, Dave. We're going to take a break. When we come back, one question for each game, and we will beat the waiver wire, and we will
Starting point is 00:25:18 preview the games. I think you know the drill at this point. We'll be right back. All right. One question for each game. Chargers at Packers. Start or sit? Aaron Jones, I believe the longest carry of the season for Aaron Jones is 11 yards. Start or sit Aaron Jones? That's bad.
Starting point is 00:25:37 Must start guy this week. 15 or more fantasy points to a running back in six of the Chargers past eight games. 12 or more PPR points to a running back in six of the chargers past eight games 12 or more ppr points to a running back in all but one game this year i can't get away from aaron jones i almost made him the start of the week aj dylan's also had i think nine ppr points in three of his last four games so if you're in a dill pickle you can go with aj dylan as a bi-week replacement running back i'm trying to think of a funny name for the struggling trio of Barkley, Pollard,
Starting point is 00:26:08 Walker. If anyone in the chat has a good nickname for that, you know, the tree, like the whatever. Walker? Yeah, I know. Why is Walker in there? I know he had two horrible games in a row
Starting point is 00:26:24 and then he had the 60-ish yard touchdown catch, I know, but he's kind of making fantasy managers nervous. Right? Not like Barkley and Pollard are making fantasy managers nervous. Yeah. Alright. Tampa Bay at San Francisco. Rashad
Starting point is 00:26:40 White or Saquon Barkley, Tony Pollard, Ken Walker? The other guy guys over White. White makes me nervous. Very tough matchup. Somebody has a very... Look at this nickname. No, can't do that.
Starting point is 00:26:58 Nothing with profanities. Seattle. Do it. Why not? Oh, gosh, no. I'd get fired. And then I'd have to. Can you just say it? I'd have to apply to theater jobs with my degree.
Starting point is 00:27:10 The bleep bags. The bleep bags. Yeah, the crap bags. I shouldn't gloss over Rashad White too much here. He's on a hot streak for sure. Do you guys like him? Yes, of course. I think you can still start him
Starting point is 00:27:26 over Pollard in full PPR. I wouldn't, but I think you still start him as the number two running back in PPR. The three fail-migos. Okay. We'll get something. Seattle at the Rams.
Starting point is 00:27:40 Your confidence level in the wide receivers in this game. Seattle at the Rams. Starting both level in the wide receivers in this game. Seattle at the Rams. Starting both Rams guys without hesitation. And I think still starting both Metcalf and Lockett as well with JSN as a high-end number three receiver. I do like Lockett more than Metcalf. I mean, are you basically expecting Cup and Puka
Starting point is 00:28:04 to be must-start receivers rest of season as long as Stafford is healthy? Kup, yes. Puka, probably. I would like to see both guys play well together and swoon from Puka, but I think he's earned the benefit of the doubt. Okay. Let's see.
Starting point is 00:28:22 Chicago at Detroit. Are you starting the big three in the Chicago passing game? Fields, Moore, Komet? Moore and Komet, definitely. Fields, I think it just comes down to what you're looking at at your quarterback spot. I hope, look, he's got the ability to play well here. I think the Lions defense at home is going to be a little tough for a lot of teams. As long as he's using his legs, I think he'll be okay. He did that in his two games against the Lions last year, over a hundred rushing yards in each game. We haven't seen him run like that yet this season. And I kind of have a problem with fields in his first game back, whether it's from injury or to start the year, like we've kind of seen this trend from him of not playing well in his first game back. But I can't help myself. I think that he's got upside to be at least a decent fantasy quarterback.
Starting point is 00:29:11 Not a top 12 guy for me, but I still think he's start worthy. I have to really evaluate. How do I love the Texans-Cardinals game as much as I do? I think I just— Because you love the start of the week song and getting me on it. So now you're going to have to defend that. Yeah. Because you didn't take the low-hanging fruit. It should be a great game. I think I just because you love the start of the week song and getting me on it. So now you're going to have to defend that. Yeah, because you didn't take the low end game.
Starting point is 00:29:29 What's it should be a great game. It should absolutely be a great. Well, I don't I don't want to give too much credit to the Cardinals. They are a two win team after all. They're five point underdogs. It's a different team with Kyler Murray under center. It's different offense for sure. I just you know, it's still it's still like the Texans probably should put up a ton of points.
Starting point is 00:29:47 Didn't we talk about this yesterday? Kyler Murray and how he looked in the game? Yeah, we talked about it last night. Dallas. Go back and watch it on YouTube. Dallas and Carolina. It's Tony Pollard week, right? I think it is.
Starting point is 00:30:04 You have him as a top 12 running back? I do. Yeah, I don't i'm i'm nervous if you see what uh magic eight ball tony paul are gonna have a big game oh prospect good you remember that the eight ball has been pretty pretty good giants at washington does the washington passing game have a big day? Yes. I don't think it'll be like it was two weeks ago or three weeks ago. I think it'll be kind of okay. I think McLaurin will get good numbers.
Starting point is 00:30:38 He usually does against the Giants. He might be the only one. He always does against the Giants. He's got 70 yards or more in every game that he's played against them. That's eight games. He's averaging 18.5 PPR fantasy points against the Giants in his career. That is eight games he's been good in
Starting point is 00:30:55 all eight of them. I can't get away from him, but they have not had... The Commanders are nine-point favorites. They have not had an easy win this year. I think they had an eight-point win. So they are the most pass-heavy team in the NFL, at least in terms of rates.
Starting point is 00:31:13 Most pass-happy team in the NFL. Very curious to see how this game plays out here. 280-2 for Howell. Yeah. Giants' defense is really falling apart, though, the team. Yep. All right, let's beat the waiver wire real quick, and then we'll get into all the games,
Starting point is 00:31:26 starting with Chargers and Packers. Rico Dattle is definitely somebody that you want to put on your radar and put on your roster if you can. Jamie mentioned a lot of those quarterbacks for next week. Gardner, Minshew, Jordan Love, Derek Carr. They have matchups. Look, you don't have to necessarily beat the waiver wire for next week. There are no teams on by.
Starting point is 00:31:43 We have three Thursday games. We have a Friday game next week. Patriots DST. Is there at the Giants next week? If you want to stash them still, obviously think to obviously think to Mario Douglas has some appeal. Josh Downs is 68% roster. Take a look and see if anybody dropped him.
Starting point is 00:32:01 We mentioned the tight ends, Logan Thomas, Hunter Henry, Pat Fryer, Muth, Pat Fryermuth. Jamie, who am I missing? Sorry. Tyler Conklin. Tyler Conklin, that's right.
Starting point is 00:32:13 Yeah, I don't know who else. You guys have anybody else other than some handcuffed running backs right now? No, but one of the handcuffed running backs is Dowdle, and I think that he's absolutely worth stashing just to see what his role becomes this week and maybe beyond yeah Quentin Johnston's 38% rostered Rondo more as Jamie just said 21% rosters what about Jalen Guyton yeah like if percent Quinn Johnson isn't going to connect Guyton. It's funny because they both had four catches. They did.
Starting point is 00:32:47 Same amount of receptions and both scored. Yeah, but Guyton had more targets. Guyton looked a little better, and he played a lot too. It wasn't like he was only a part-time player last week. He's also the slot guy. Well, he and Allen play in the slot, whereas Quentin Johnson plays entirely on the outside. And I think the Packers actually
Starting point is 00:33:06 give up a ton of production out of the slot. Either that or they give up like none. I have it in my notes. Let's see. Packers. Packers, where are you? All right. I'll tell you later. Well, we're going to preview that game. Let's do it right now. Here we go. Chargers at Green Bay. Stat of the game. Here, maybe I confused it with, yes, I did. All right, I know what happened. Stat of the game. I figure, look, you pretty much know who you're starting in this game. We'll have some questions about Jordan Love.
Starting point is 00:33:35 We've already talked about Aaron Jones. Let me just give you a reason to take a look at the Packers wide receivers. They're low-end starters, I know. But Romeo Dobbs, he keeps catching touchdowns. Romeo Dobbs is fifth in the NFL in red zone targets and green zone targets. All six of his touchdowns have come in the red zone, five of them from eight yards out or closer. So, you know, it's like, you don't want to rely on touchdowns, but maybe it's not as fluky as it seems because he's getting targets where it counts. And the Chargers allow the most yards per catch to wide receivers out of the slot. And Jaden Reed lines up in the slot on 77.5% of his snaps.
Starting point is 00:34:16 So this is not one of those stat of the games that's going to motivate you to get someone in your lineup, but I thought it was interesting. No, but Reed's been doing some good things lately. And, you know, look I thought it was interesting. No, but Reid's been doing some good things lately. And look, Christian Watson has not. And like you said, it's been more touchdowns than anything else for Romeo Dobbs. And so Reid has been building towards something and maybe starting to have that rookie second half breakout coming. So yeah, I don't mind picking him up and potentially starting him
Starting point is 00:34:40 in deeper leagues where you're starting three receivers or as a flex. I'm starting him in one 10-team league where we start four receivers. So I'm happy with his production. I'm happy with his opportunity. So there could be some big games coming. And the obvious connection between them all is Jordan Love. And I thought Love played mostly well last week. The consistent thing that I've seen with Love going back to the preseason is that he's late on throws, and that's just something that's going to end up being a killer for him.
Starting point is 00:35:08 But the production's been pretty good for Fantasy, and don't hate him as a bi-week replacement this week and maybe a quarterback to target in a trade or pick up off the waiver wire if you're worried about losing Burrow. I agree that Jadened is the best receiver for green bay moving forward though i think the kid just makes some great plays um i'll give you two more beat the waiver wire guys depending on the size of your league rashid shaheed and at perry oh great um yeah michael thomas who knows how long he's going to be out shaheed saw uh most targets he's had in a game last week some of that had to do with jamis A.T. Perry's going to get some more opportunities too and had his first taste of action and look good.
Starting point is 00:35:51 So, Justin, here's like a bold prediction that I don't believe, but I guess wouldn't shock me. Okay, that's what we do with bold predictions every year. Well, no, I would never, ever, ever advise anyone to do this, but it wouldn't shock me if Jordan Love outscored Herbert. I mean, it would surprise me, but Herbert has been pretty matchup dependent this year, and the Packers give up the third fewest fantasy points
Starting point is 00:36:14 to quarterbacks, whereas the Chargers are horrible, and I don't see it happening. I wish I hadn't even brought it up like that. I don't want to be responsible for that take, but the matchups are very different. So do you consider Justin Herbert a must start this week? And we have really good quarterback options. We have Stroud and we have Kyler and we have Goff in a great matchup.
Starting point is 00:36:34 We have Fields in a good matchup. And let's start with Herbert. Is he a must start this week? I wouldn't be looking to bench him. I certainly would not be looking to make a roster move to add another quarterback if Jordan Love was available. But yeah, I would start Purdy over him. I would start Dobbs over him. And I would start Stroud over him,
Starting point is 00:36:52 if you're looking at guys that were picked up at some point during the season. And Dave's higher on him. Dave has him fifth. Jamie has him tenth. Heath has him eighth. I think it's going to be a high-scoring game, and I want Herbert in my lineup for high-scoring games.
Starting point is 00:37:07 Yeah, it's not clear that the Packers are really that great against quarterbacks. Like I said, third fewest, but they've had a pretty easy schedule against Kenny Pickett and Brett Rippin in the last couple weeks, but only two quarterbacks have scored more than 15 points against them.
Starting point is 00:37:23 Austin Eckler, you're starting. Keenan Allen, you're starting. How do you feel? Who's the next best wide receiver in this game after Keenan Allen? I think it's Reed. Yeah. And where is he for you?
Starting point is 00:37:38 40th. In that range. He's exactly 40th for me in PPR. Okay. Someone asked in the chat, Christian Watson or Curtis Samuel? I'd go Watson there. More upside.
Starting point is 00:37:55 Yeah, again, this is a team that really struggles. The Chargers really struggle against wide receivers. They give up a ton of big plays. They, yeah, the fourth most, the fourth most completions of 20 or more air yards, I believe. So, or no, the fourth most completions of 20 or more yards. But that was the case last week with Pittsburgh and Christian Watson didn't do anything.
Starting point is 00:38:17 He is now 79% rostered. Same as Romeo Dobbs. All right, try to get away from them. Starters at Luke Musgrave. Buy or replacement. Deep league option. Yeah. Like, if you're looking for 8, 9, 10 PPR points,
Starting point is 00:38:32 I think he can get you close to that. What about Parham or Musgrave if Everett's out? Parham. The golfer sandwich. And do you guys really... Jamie seems to really like Aaron Jones, Dave, how do you feel about him? Top 15 running back. I agree. I think that he's, he's clearly the lead back. It's not like a huge gap between him and AJ Dillon,
Starting point is 00:38:56 but he's still that one a let's call it in the green Bay run offense and the chargers run defense hasn't been great. So I'm absolutely going to bank on Jones to have another opportunity to get 15 plus touches. And hopefully some of them come through the air and he ends up having a pretty good game. It's funny because this was the case I was making for him last week and he stunk, but he got a ton of work.
Starting point is 00:39:19 You know, he had 17 touches at Pittsburgh, a ton of work, but a much tougher defense. Yeah. It's funny. The chargers, the chargers were giving up 3.6 yards per carry to running backs
Starting point is 00:39:28 until they faced Detroit last week, and now it's 4.14 yards per carry to running backs. They actually had done a good job on the ground. They are terrible against running backs in the passing game. Third most receiving yards per game allowed to running backs, and he's had five to six targets in four straight games. All right, so start Aaron Jones. And sit the DSTs, I assume.
Starting point is 00:39:53 Yep. All right. Tampa Bay is at San Francisco. Stat of the game. Talking about Rashad White here. Only three running backs have scored more than 11.1 PPR fantasy points against the 49ers. That was Kyron Williams, who had a huge game, 28 points.
Starting point is 00:40:10 Kareem Hunt and Joe Mixon. Mixon scored 20 points. Tony Pollard scored 10.4. James Conner scored 6.6. The Vikings running backs, the Steelers running backs, they were bad. Travis Etienne just scored 6.4 fantasy points against this San Francisco defense. Dave, let's bring it back to Aaron Jones. Would you start Aaron Jones over Rashad White?
Starting point is 00:40:30 I would. I'm worried about Rashad White. First of all, he really hasn't been an efficient runner to begin with. Now it's going to be even worse running against this defense. And yeah, I don't know how many carries he's going to end up getting in the game. Maybe 10, because I assume that the Buccaneers will play from behind
Starting point is 00:40:46 and throw a lot, and that's not a death sentence at all for Rashad White. It could mean he gets five or six catches. He's been better as a pass catcher than a runner, but I think that there's just a little more upside with Aaron Jones than there is Rashad White. All right, would you guys start Rashad White or any San Francisco wide receiver? Yeah, I'd start both Debo and Ayuk over White.
Starting point is 00:41:14 I might have a 49er sandwich. I'm looking at my rankings just to double check. Again, Dave, I have to correct you. That would be a Rashad White sandwich. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. You and your sandwiches. Listen, you're going to a deli
Starting point is 00:41:29 at noon. Of course. I don't order a rye bread sandwich. What sandwich are you ordering? What are you ordering? Any sandwich shop you want. I'm going to get a Reuben. Jamie? I would be going to La Spada
Starting point is 00:41:44 and getting a turkey roast beef sandwich. Oh, please. You're getting a tuna salad. I have both 49ers receivers ahead of Rashad White. How about Rashad White versus Chris Godwin? I have White over Godwin. White. Okay. Yeah. We don't really want to start Chris
Starting point is 00:42:01 Godwin. Baker may be... I think he's worthy. Godwin and PPR. I can see him getting, you know. What kind of stat line would you have for Rashad White as a pass catcher? Five for 60, six for 60? Holy cow. Five for 60. Well, I mean, he has been doing that.
Starting point is 00:42:19 I get that. Five for 40, maybe at best. Okay, well, if you think he's going to get five for 40, I think Godwin can get five for 55, six for 60. Who knows? Something in that range. Yeah, you know, I brought this up a lot last week. Tampa Bay, or San Francisco, rather,
Starting point is 00:42:37 they give up a lot of fantasy points to wide receivers. 24th against wide receivers. Yeah, but Baker's going to be running for his life. Right, you guys don't like running for his life. Right. You guys don't like Baker in this game. No. Not as much as we normally like Baker. Okay.
Starting point is 00:42:51 You're going to a bakery, right? No. Just kidding. All right. Sit, Baker. Purdy we love. Purdy or Stroud. Purdy or Stroud. Stroud Purdy or Stroud
Starting point is 00:43:05 Stroud I have Purdy one spot higher so someone in the chat said San Francisco has been vulnerable against past catching running backs let's explore that because there is a little something to that
Starting point is 00:43:20 but I think they've really gotten a lot better I think yeah like earlier in the lot better. I think, yeah. Like earlier in the year, they were giving up more production. So I'm going to say that they haven't really been that vulnerable against pass-catching running backs. I think, look, with what White has done,
Starting point is 00:43:36 forget about the games where he's done while running the ball. It's more about the games where he's done as a pass catcher. That keeps him in the number two running back range. In non-PPR, he's a borderline starter at best. But in full PPR, he's still at his top 20 upside. He was a top 10 running back for the last three weeks.
Starting point is 00:43:53 Yeah. Okay. And Evans is a must start. Yes. Evans is a must start. I think volume will be in his favor. The 49ers are seventh in defensive pass EPA against running backs this year. And top 10 in yards per catch allowed to running backs this year.
Starting point is 00:44:11 One touchdown to running backs through the air this season. I'm going to read some questions from the chat. Purdy or Howell or Lawrence? That's the order. I agree with the order. Okay. But two top 12 quarterbacks. Not named Lawrence. or Lawrence? That's the order. I agree with the order. Okay. But two top 12 quarterbacks, though.
Starting point is 00:44:28 Not named Lawrence. We disagree on Howell this week. Alright, we have to pick three of this. Puka Nakua, Devante, it says Adams, Puka, Adams, Waddle, and I thought that said Adams Wallet. Puka, Adams, Waddle, Dell, or Chris Godwin. Chris Godwin would not make the cut here.
Starting point is 00:44:46 I'm sitting Adams and Godwin. I think those are going to be the three that I pick as well. All right. Start McCaffrey. I don't know what the heck to make of Debo Samuel. He got four targets last week. He had the rushing touchdown. I think he's not.
Starting point is 00:45:06 Do you? Because we have. Do you start him over Puka Nakua? Debo Samuel or Puka Nakua? Puka. Agreed. But Debo and non-PPR. Debo is going to be a number two fantasy receiver who you hope has an explosive player to.
Starting point is 00:45:23 George Kittle. George Kittle in four games where everyone's been healthy. He has six, one, four, and four targets. But he has two huge games out of four and two terrible ones. Start or sit Kittle? Start him. Almost the same thing as Debo. You're hoping for an explosive play.
Starting point is 00:45:46 There's more upside, but much more downside than guys like Ferguson and Komet. Would you put Komet in there? You have to put Evan Ingram in there. I put Ingram behind Kittle at this point. I do too. No, that's what I'm saying. But I would put Ferguson and Komet ahead of Kittle
Starting point is 00:46:04 because I think there's more consistent production coming from them. Okay. I think that's pretty much it for this game. San Francisco's DST is top three. Start them up. And we have a comment from Ryan. I'm behind on the live stream, but did anyone recommend the Bad News Backs for those three running backs?
Starting point is 00:46:21 There you go. That's the winner right there, Ryan. Way to go, Ryan Vandenberg. I did like the Falmigos, though. That was not bad. Falmigos isn't bad. I like the Bad Newsbacks is terrific. Should we take a break
Starting point is 00:46:33 or should we do another game? What do you think? Dave, I'll let you decide. I could stand to take a break. Wow. Get a chance to stretch, walk around. I am sorry, audience. I thought for sure he was going to say
Starting point is 00:46:44 more fantasy football content, but nope, Dave hates you. I am sorry, audience. I thought for sure he was going to say more fantasy football content, but nope, Dave hates you. We'll be right back. Seattle at the Rams. Here's a trend to watch. Trend to watch. In their last three games, the Rams have allowed 9.2 yards per attempt to Kenny Pickett.
Starting point is 00:46:59 That's terrible. 9.8 to Dak Prescott. And 8.8 yards per attempt to Jordan love. So this is a team that was supposed to have the worst secondary in football coming into the season. They've been surprisingly good against the pass. Think we're starting to see some cracks there for them and they have really face,
Starting point is 00:47:18 you know, and the point I bring up is they've actually been pretty good against wide receivers. I mean, they faced Seattle. Think about the wide receivers on these teams. Seattle, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Indianapolis,
Starting point is 00:47:30 Philadelphia, Arizona, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Green Bay. They have faced some terrific ones, and only four receivers have more than 63 yards against the Rams this year. But I think we might start it. Did you really throw green bay in there i was
Starting point is 00:47:46 just saying every team they've played but the highlights are they face seattle san francisco cincinnati philadelphia and dallas plus michael pittman and they've and they've held marquise brown iuk higgins lockett pittman davante smith all of those guys didn't even score eight points against the Rams. So it's been a tough matchup for most wide receivers. But I think that might be turning a little bit here. So I asked you guys earlier how you felt about the wide receivers. If you'd like to expand on it here, Rams versus Seahawks. Jamie, how do you have it ranked?
Starting point is 00:48:23 Metcalf as a low-end number two receiver. Lockett not far behind him. And then Smith and the jig by as a number three receiver. I think, you know, the thing that you look at with Metcalf and with Lockett is the targets have been fairly consistent. And so, you know,
Starting point is 00:48:35 you hope that they just continue to fall into production. Lockett feels like he's a little bit more touchdown dependent than Metcalf is because Metcalf just has not been finding the end zone. So, you know, if, if you've been starting them, there's no reason to bench them for this matchup. And, you know, you go back to week one, you remember that game, the Rams held the ball
Starting point is 00:48:50 forever. Yeah. Seattle really struggled in the opener and it was a big surprise. And so we'll see if that's the case again, but different personnel, the run game was much better for the Rams that week with what Kyron Williams did, but that was without Cooper Cup and it was the breakout game for Puka Nakua, if you recall. for the Rams that week with what Kyron Williams did. But that was without Cooper Cup, and it was the breakout game for Puka Nakua, if you recall. So, you know, you got to hope that Stafford's okay.
Starting point is 00:49:12 If Stafford's okay, this could be a really fun game. Okay. As far as Cup goes, he's like top 10, I think, for you guys. So he's easy. Would you start Puka Nakua or Terry McLaurin? McLaurin. Iuka Nakua or Terry McLaurin? McLaurin. I have Nakua higher. Would you start Puka Nakua or DJ Moore against the Lions? Nakua.
Starting point is 00:49:35 I have Nakua one spot ahead of DJ Moore. Puka Nakua or Gabe Davis? Get out of here. Puka Nakua or Devante Smith at Kansas City? Smith. I'll take Smith. All right. All right.
Starting point is 00:49:58 Let's talk about the running backs. Well, let's talk real quick on Geno Smith, start or sit? Sit. If we've got Lockett and Metcalf ranked around the top 30 range and Jackson Smith and Jigba as like a flex, then Geno should be higher. But I just feel like there are so many quarterbacks that have a more appealing outlook this week that I'd rather start them than Geno Smith.
Starting point is 00:50:23 So I agree. I think he's a set. It's a very, uh, Spider-Man meme situation for both these teams because we like, and in some cases love the receivers, but don't like the quarterbacks as fantasy options because the lack of touchdowns. Right, right. How many games have we seen this year where Nakua and Cooper cup have big PPR games and Stafford has 17 fans. Well, they've only played three games together with Stafford. So it's not like there's a big sample size for the receivers.
Starting point is 00:50:50 I thought it was four. Am I wrong? Well, you factor in the game that Stafford left. The Cowboys game, yeah. Okay. I'm sorry. So moving on to now, I think the running backs, right? All right.
Starting point is 00:51:04 Ken Walker or Aaron. I think I already asked you that., right? All right, Ken Walker or Aaron Jones. I think I already asked you that. I'll do it again. Ken Walker or Aaron Jones? Jones. I'll take Walker. No, I have Jones hired by two spots. Are we confident in Ken Walker here?
Starting point is 00:51:15 You know, he's got 19 carries last week, but struggling a bit on the ground. What do you think? I'm not outright benching Ken Walker, but if I have HN coming back, for example, most are,
Starting point is 00:51:32 if not the same situation, but most are better. Can I give you two more? Sure. Brian Robinson against the Giants. Yep. Good one. Javante Williams against Minnesota. Yep. Two good ones. And Christian McCaffrey.
Starting point is 00:51:46 You'd start over Ken Walker. Yeah. All of them. Even McCaffrey. All right. But I wouldn't start Singletary over him, for example,
Starting point is 00:51:54 or Jerome Ford over him. I'm right there with you. How about James Conner? One more. I would start Walker over Conner. That's how I have it. I've got
Starting point is 00:52:03 A-chan Walker, Rashad White, James Connor. All right, let's go. So one thing I've noticed is that over his last three games, he's got a percentage of carries for zero or negative yards, 22.2% or higher in three straight games. And that's really bad. And it just was not the case earlier in the season. Now, two of those games, you only had seven or eight carries.
Starting point is 00:52:30 So it's kind of like two games over the last three, if you want to combine the Ravens and the Browns. But I think if you want to take the optimistic view on Ken Walker, it's this. He's had two terrible games recently. One of them, he came in banged up against the Browns. The next week, got blown out by the Ravens. That eight carries. So you're talking about the Browns and the Ravens here, right?
Starting point is 00:52:53 Then he cuts back on track. Last week was so concerning to me because he's just not running the ball that well, but he did get the 19 carries. You just wonder if at some point they start to just continue to give Charbonnet more work also that yeah and that to me that's the biggest fear is that Charbonnet looks good okay and is playing on not all obvious passing down situations but he's playing on more passing down situations so the the difference is that I don't think Charbonnet has take it to the house upside like obviously if there's a playnet has take it to the house upside.
Starting point is 00:53:28 Like, obviously, if there's a play where he's going to have the same upside and he has it upside. Right. But like, I think that Walker is just way more like the catch last week is proof of that. Like, he's got the potential. Any one play, he can break it for a big play. Right. I think it was Wednesday show when he said, you don't bench these type of players. Yeah, I agree. Past four games for the Rams, they've allowed almost 4.5 yards per carry to running backs. Rush rate of five plus yards for running backs is up to 42%, and that's against Arizona, Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Green Bay. Not exactly a who's who of run games.
Starting point is 00:54:01 So they're giving up some numbers. Abe Lucas might be back at right tackle. That'll make that offensive line stronger. I'm going to, I'm going to be optimistic with Kenneth Walker this week that he can have another couple of big plays. Okay. And how about the Rams running backs?
Starting point is 00:54:18 Any interest in Henderson or Freeman? It's been a really good matchup. Seattle's really been bad against running backs lately. Yes. So I think Henderson's still for me over Freeman. More of a flex than a must-start guy. Yep. But has to be more involved in the passing game.
Starting point is 00:54:34 So if he can get to three to four catches, I think he'll have a decent opportunity here. You always wonder about situations like this where they know the quote-unquote starters coming back, how they perform. And so this could be Henderson's last shot to ever be a featured guy in the NFL. And so does he have that sort of, okay, let me go out with a bang type performance? I don't mind him.
Starting point is 00:54:55 I don't mind him either. Wrote about him in lineup decisions this week, so you can read up more on him. He has, I think he has seven targets in three games compared to one for Royce Freeman. And if this game is going to be a little bit of a shootout, and if the Seahawks are as bad against the pass as they were last week to running backs, then sure, he could have a decent game. I have him as a sit, but I don't have him ranked as a top 24 running back. Would you start Jalen Warren or Daryl Henderson?
Starting point is 00:55:23 I would start Henderson over both Steelers running backs. There's much more upside with him than there is those guys this week against the Browns. And I've got him behind both Steelers running backs because I think the Steelers running backs are going to get a lot of work because the Browns offense isn't going to do very much. Seattle's DST is not really. We're not going to use them. So let's go to Chicago at Detroit.
Starting point is 00:55:42 Stat of the game. The Bears against running backs. I don't think anyone's going to care about this, but somebody to keep an eye on. In their last six games, only Austin Eckler has scored more than 11.2 PPR fantasy points against the Bears. They've had a good run defense all year long,
Starting point is 00:55:57 but you're just not going to care because Detroit runs on everyone. Justin Fields, last I checked, was outside the top 12 for everybody. I'll get the updated rankings here. He is, yeah, 14th for Dave and Jamie and 13th for Heath. Would you start Justin Fields or Russell Wilson against the Vikings? Fields.
Starting point is 00:56:17 Currently I have Fields ahead of Russell Wilson. Fields or Love? Fields. Same. They're back-to-back, though. Top 15 quarterbacks. Fields. Yeah, I had Fields over Burrow, for what that's worth.
Starting point is 00:56:30 Well, it's going to work out. Fields or Kyler? Fields or who? Kyler. Kyler or Fields. Agreed. All right. Well, I mean, you made it the game of the week,
Starting point is 00:56:42 so that might have to change. The Bears running backs. Sum it up, Dave. You're going to be taking a chance no matter what you do if Khalil Herbert plays. Herbert does have fresh legs, but I would imagine he will still be the 1B to Foreman's 1A, but Foreman's limited,
Starting point is 00:57:03 and it's a tough matchup against Detroit, where I think they'll be trailing. Don't really love the potential game script for either of these running backs. Start Daryl Henderson over a Bears running back? Yes. Royce Freeman? Nope. I think that's too far.
Starting point is 00:57:20 What if Foreman doesn't play? Is that realistic right now, that Foreman doesn't play, or are we just thinking he'll be fine? I think the fact that he was limited is a good sign. All right. That he's trying to fight through it. But at this point, I would lean Herbert over Foreman. And I think there's zero chance, as long as Foreman is okay, that he's going to go back to being inactive.
Starting point is 00:57:37 Remember how the season started and he was inactive and they ran with Herbert and Roshan? I don't think it's – I think that they can't do that anymore. I think they like what they've gotten out of Foreman. So it could be three headed in that backfield that might not get a lot of work. And Justin Fields is back, you know,
Starting point is 00:57:53 he's going to run true like, or love DJ more like, I think you got to love them. I think the game script is going to be favorable for him. I think his numbers are better with fields than they were with Bajent. You think? That's a fact. Especially the target numbers.
Starting point is 00:58:12 I think Bajent's target numbers, nine targets last week and he still couldn't do anything. He's been close to scoring with Bajent. I think he will score with Fields. My only concern would be is how healthy is his thumb for Fields? Clearly he's healthy enough to play, but we still could get some off-target throws to DJ Moore
Starting point is 00:58:29 while the targets will be there. All right, would you start DJ Moore or Nico Collins? Moore. Agreed. DJ Moore or Tank Dell? Dell. Tank Dell. DJ Moore or Debo Samuel?
Starting point is 00:58:44 Moore. Moore and PPR. All right. And Cole Komet. You said earlier, Jamie, you would start him over. Who the heck was it? Kittle. Kittle.
Starting point is 00:58:56 Both feel that way? I'm not there yet. Okay. Komet or Ferguson? Komet. Agreed. Komet or Ingram? Komet. Agreed. Komet or Ingram? Komet over Ingram.
Starting point is 00:59:09 Komet over the Jets. Komet over Ingram. Yeah. Komet over Conklin. The Lions have had a very interesting season against tight ends because they don't give up a lot of big games tight ends. Andrews is the only one that's really done that. But they give up a lot of, like, eight-point games, nine-point games.
Starting point is 00:59:28 It's like a lot of, like, little dink and dunk type of performances against them. So, uh, I'm curious to see how come that stat line comes out. So I think there's a safe floor of about nine PPR points, which puts you in the range of a top 12 guy. And then we've seen certainly the highs, the last two games that he played with a healthy Justin Fields were huge against Denver, Washington. All right, let's take a look at the Lions now. And there's a pretty big difference in the Jared Goff rankings.
Starting point is 00:59:47 Jamie has Jared Goff sixth. The Bears allow the sixth most fantasy points to quarterbacks. And Dave ranks Jared Goff 13th. So let's talk about that gap there. Jamie, you're pro-Goff here. So go for it. He's at home. And every time he's at home, he has a big game for the most part.
Starting point is 01:00:06 Only one stinker so far in his building this season. Two games against the Bears as a quarterback at home, over 22 fantasy points in both of those. You mentioned that they're six worse against opposing quarterbacks. 21.6, I believe, is the number they give up per game on the season. I just think the Lions do whatever they want to do
Starting point is 01:00:24 in this game. And Jared Goff would not be, would not be surprising if how the MVP race has gone. If he has another strong performance, if his name starts to get mentioned as an MVP for how the Lions season is going. Dave, I don't like being the anti Jared Goff guy because I mostly agree with
Starting point is 01:00:43 what Jamie's saying. I just don't know how much upside there is because I don't know how much he's going to have to do. A lot of the times when I've been a fan of Jared Goff, it's been in matchups where I think he's going to have to throw a lot. This is one of those games where I don't know if he's going to have to throw a lot. And I think the lions can just cram the run down the throats of the Chicago
Starting point is 01:01:04 bears and Jared Goff could have a pretty pedestrian game. I don't like saying he's a set. And I think the Lions can just cram the run down the throats of the Chicago Bears. And Jared Goff could have a pretty pedestrian game. I don't like saying he's a set. I don't have him as a top 12 quarterback. I would start Brock Purdy ahead of him. Josh Dobbs ahead of him. Kyler Murray, for now, I have ahead of him. I think I'm going to keep it that way, too.
Starting point is 01:01:19 But I would start Goff over Fields. I would start him over Sam Howell. And I would start him over Russell Wilson. I believe Sportsline has Goff third this week. Yeah, he's thrown 33 or more passes in all but two games. He threw 28 passes in a 14-point win. And he had a low pass attempt game in an 18-point win. So, but he's also had games where they've had big margins of victory and he has
Starting point is 01:01:46 thrown a lot and they average the second most plays per game in the NFL. So a lot of times they can do both. They can run, run the ball a lot and throw the ball a lot. Yeah. And there have been five quarterbacks who have scored 27 or more points against the bears and only two of them through more than 33 passes. So you can be really great against them without that.
Starting point is 01:02:03 So the other thing for Dave is that it just, it's a great quarterback week and some of the options ahead of golf are really good, but no one's going to argue with you. If you're starting Jared golf, we'd certainly like, I'm starting to go off in one of my leagues. Um,
Starting point is 01:02:17 but it's a deeper league. So yeah, I hope he comes through. I hope he has three touchdowns. Jameer Gibbs and David Montgomery. Who do you like better? I'm going to say Gibbs. Did Jamie freeze, Dave?
Starting point is 01:02:38 No way. First time? It's okay. He'll be back. Wow. See, we don't laugh at people when their internet connection it's something beyond his control he looks pissed um as opposed to um look uh Gibbs I've have him ranked top five it's kind of um I feel like I'm on a on a limb ranking him that high
Starting point is 01:03:02 because he's sharing because I don't know how many goal line opportunities he's going to get, but he's just so explosive. And we've talked about how bad this bears defense is just in general. I don't think Tremaine Edmonds is going to come back. He's the middle of that defense. I think there are better defense when Tremaine Edmonds is there at linebacker, but I love both. I have both of these running back.
Starting point is 01:03:22 This is part of the reason why I've golf 13th. I have both lines running backs top eight this week in PPR. Can't get away from either one. They're both RB ones. Okay. Detroit wide receivers. Just, just St.
Starting point is 01:03:35 Brown, right? Just the Monroe and start Sam Laporta. Is it like, are there any guys would you start Kincaid and McBride ahead of Laporta at this point? I would start Kincaid and McBride ahead of Laporta at this point? I would start Kincaid and McBride over Laporta. I think he's another player that could be hurt by the run game
Starting point is 01:03:50 that the Lions have. Fewer opportunities. Anyone else that would be surprising? No. He's sixth for me. Kelsey, Andrews, Hawkinson, Kincaid, McBride, Laporta. All right. Start him over Schultz.
Starting point is 01:04:03 Dallas is at Carolina. Stat of the game. The Dallas Cowboys allow the second fewest fantasy points to wide receivers. How do you feel about the slumping Adam Thielen? Don't like him as much as I normally do. Don't like the production that we've seen the last couple weeks. I have him as a wide receiver, too. I have him at 20th overall.
Starting point is 01:04:28 And I can't say I'm going to commit to that even further just because the matchup is so tough. Are you interested in a deep, deep league slash dynasty league stash on the Carolina Panthers? Sure. Michael Strawn. You cannot spell his name like it sounds. It's spelled. There's a C in there.
Starting point is 01:04:45 It's S-T-R-A-C-H-A-N. Made a big play last week. This has been a Frank Reich guy for a while. No one else in the passing game has really stepped up and done anything other than Thielen. They need to find somebody. And I wonder if Strawn could be that guy. This is mega deep league. I'm in a 14-team triple flex.
Starting point is 01:05:06 That's the league where I'm starting golf in. I am considering dropping a player who I just don't have much faith in to stash Strawn and see what happens. Would you start Adam Thielen or DJ Moore this week, Dave? Moore over Thielen. Here's where I'm struggling, and you can tell me who you would start in these games. Thielen or Lockett?
Starting point is 01:05:24 And I have Lockett as my favorite Seahawks receiver. I'd start in these games okay feeling or lock it and i lock it as my favorite seahawks receiver i'd start feeling okay i have a rank that way these are all guys i have feeling ranked over but i'm shaky with it christian kirk uh kirk yeah i think i might go with kirk too and i think i might go with hollywood brown as well over feeling um in the game of the week i think i go never mind the game yeah i'd go feeling there this is a joe boo week for feeling i'm gonna really start downgrading it should not be the joe boo week for feeling if he has another this is a tough matchup but if he has another bad game then no tennessee next week no one's gonna have confidence in him no one's gonna have confidence
Starting point is 01:06:04 after this week, it's Tennessee and Tampa Bay on the road. And then at new Orleans, three straight games on the road for Carolina. Oh, good luck getting that second win. But I, I think that those two games are like the Joe boo weeks.
Starting point is 01:06:18 Dave, he just had four yards at Chicago. And before that he had five for 29 against the Colts. So it's not like it's just been a matchups thing here. You know, Bryce Young has been horrible. I'm moving him down. All right. I mean, I'm just saying, if he struggles again this week,
Starting point is 01:06:36 even if it is understandable, no one's going to have confidence next week when there's no team on by, you know, in Adam Thielen. Fair point. The week after, though, at Tampa Bay, six teams on by. Not if he has four straight bad games. Let's revisit it then. All right, so are you worried at all about Dak Prescott with the Panthers,
Starting point is 01:06:57 you know, seeing the third fewest pass attempts, allowing the sixth fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks? No, because they are struggling to run the football. They might try and get that run game going this week. the six fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks? No, because they are struggling to run the football. They might try and get that run game going this week. But the vibe that I... I spent a lot of time listening in on the coaches' press conferences this week, and the vibe that I got is that they really love
Starting point is 01:07:15 where they're at with their passing game. Obviously, CeeDee Lamb is doing incredible things. They're going to lean on him. They spoke glowingly about Brandon Cooks. There's a quote that I could probably call up if you gave me 15 seconds... That's okay....about what they had to glowingly about Brandon Cooks. There's a quote that I could probably call up if you gave me 15 seconds about what they had to say about how Brandon Cooks
Starting point is 01:07:29 contributed last week, and that's the world they want to live in. Something to that effect when it comes to their passing game. And Pollard's not getting it done. They need to eventually turn to Dowdle and see what he can do long-term. Dowdle was the more explosive back last week. I just think this offense is going to revolve around Dak
Starting point is 01:07:47 until further notice. Okay. And, all right, we got to talk about Pollard here. So what are you expecting this week? RB2 by default. I'm hoping he scores. I'm hoping he can average four yards per carry on 15 carries. I mean, like, they keep having these blowout games,
Starting point is 01:08:05 and he just never gets that many carries. He did last week. Well, he got 15. That's not that many. That's the number that I think you've got to kind of hope for. Yeah, well, one thing he doesn't really get in these blowout wins are catches. If it's a competitive game, he's probably going to be more involved in the passing game.
Starting point is 01:08:23 Here are his catches in their big lopsided wins. Two against the Giants, which nobody catches pass against the Giants. Seven against the Jets. Three against New England. One against the Rams. Zero against the Giants last week. So that's just something that whatever it is, he just doesn't catch that many passes typically in these blowout wins. All right. So let's go through the rankings here. Tony Pollard or Tony Pollard or Pacheco against the Eagles. Pollard over Pacheco. Swift against the Chiefs. Swift. James Conner or Tony Pollard. I have Conner two spots ahead of Tony Pollard. Adam Thielen or Tony Pollard? Pollard over Thielen, especially if it's non-PPR. All right, Puka Nakua or Tony Pollard?
Starting point is 01:09:10 Puka and PPR, I think I'll probably... Will I say Puka non-PPR? I don't think I will. I think I'll chance it with Pollard and non-PPR. All right, Jake Ferguson is a low-end starter in that Cole Komet range. Ferguson or Dalton Schultz or Ferguson this
Starting point is 01:09:26 week? Schultz over Fergie. Sit Bryce Young, sit Chuba Hubbard. Right? Sit Chuba Hubbard? Yes, please. Do your best to. We talked about Adam Thielen and start the Cowboys DST. Our last game is the Giants at the Commanders. Stat of the
Starting point is 01:09:42 game number one. It's the Giants at Washington. There is not a single fantasy-relevant player with the last name Washington. Hasn't been that way for a while. James Washington. George Washington. When I control F
Starting point is 01:10:00 in my document, I can't do it for Dallas if I'm trying to find the Dallas game because I'll find Dallas Goddard 15 times before I find the Dallas game. But Washington, there's not a single Washington in my notes. There's thousands of words in my notes. Producer Zach Brooke is suggesting Nate Washington.
Starting point is 01:10:16 Yeah, no. I have 17,000 words in this document and only one Washington. Anyway, stat of the game number two. Here are the carries for Brian Robinson in the four wins for the Commanders. Well, not game by game, but 18 or more carries in three of the four wins.
Starting point is 01:10:36 He had 10 carries against the Falcons when the Commanders had the ball for 23 minutes and 37 seconds and ran 50 plays. So while he has had, I think 10 or fewer carries in five of their last six games, when they win 18 or more carries in three or four games, I hope that continues. Would you start Brian Robinson over Barkley and or Pollard? The answer is yes, I would. I think he's a top 10 running back this week, even in full PPR. I think he's got a great opportunity to score.
Starting point is 01:11:05 I think he can have some breakaway runs. This Giants defense just has not been great. I don't care if they did a good job of slowing down Tony Pollard last week. Pollard has been slow every week. And this is a commander's team. Listen, they've been throwing the ball like crazy week after week. I think a lot of it's because they've had to, not necessarily because they've wanted to. I could be wrong on this. They could end up just throwing like crazy and leaning on Sam Howell,
Starting point is 01:11:28 regardless of the matchup. But I think that this is the time where they try and get their run game going and continue to evaluate. They've evaluated Howell. They like him long-term. I think they're evaluating Brian Robinson now. And I think that this could be a game where you see 20 touches. Yeah. I mean, the Giants always play the Commanders tough, and they usually beat the Commanders. So I feel like I picked the Giants plus nine. Obviously, I don't think they're going to win, but I do think that this game could be closer. And it won't just be a blowout, which matters for game script here. Obviously, for the Giants, Barkley's the only player
Starting point is 01:12:05 that you're considering starting. He's a number two running back for everybody. But you are a lot lower on Howell. You have him 16th, I think, and Heath has him fourth. Heath is expecting that volume. So Heath and I view Howell differently in that regard. We think the game script is going to be positive for Howell, and that he'll throw, and it's entirely possible.
Starting point is 01:12:23 And even though he's 16th, it doesn't mean that I hate him. There's just a lot of quarterbacks I think have more upside. I wonder if Gibson does not play, who takes on his role? Chris Rodriguez. You think Robinson gets more catches or you think it's- I don't know if it's necessarily more catches for Robinson, but I think you'll see the rookie from Kentucky get a few more snaps and he can catch a little bit too. So maybe there's one or two catches for him. And how do you feel about, we know we like McLaurin this week, But how can I root for Dotson to bounce back this week when I'm not expecting the quarterback to throw a ton? And even if he does throw a ton, it might be a zero catch game for Dotson.
Starting point is 01:13:13 So he's back to the bench. Okay. And then Logan Thomas also in that low end starting tight end. But he's behind Komet. He's behind Ferguson. For me, he's behind Najoku. But that one Ferguson. For me, he's behind Njoku, but that one's close. How about Tyler Conklin or Logan Thomas? I believe I have Conklin a spot higher.
Starting point is 01:13:35 Oh, you do. You do. I do. Like or love the Commander's DST? Okay, I'm supposed to love them because they're taking on the Giants, but this isn't that great of a defense. Like, after they traded away their two best pass rushers, another one of their pass rushers got hurt last week. I don't have the updated stat on whether or not he's playing.
Starting point is 01:13:57 I guess that's not a stat. Let me look it up. Yeah, I like them. I mean, I think you have to because they're going up against the giants but if you're expecting the giants to keep it close then i mean is it going to be close in a low scoring game that's not good for anybody if you think it's going to be a high scoring game that's not good for the commander's defense like every other time they face any team faces the giants i think there's going to be a lot of sacks. Okay, well, all right.
Starting point is 01:14:25 So James Smith-Williams was their best pass rusher after the trades of Sweat and Chase Young. He's got a hamstring injury. He didn't practice Wednesday or Thursday. If he's out, their best pass rusher is somebody named Casey Tuhill, who's got some potential. But even with the Giants' offensive line being what it is, I wonder if it's going to give DeVito a little bit more time.
Starting point is 01:14:47 Last question. If DeVito actually makes some plays. Yeah, DeVito. Last question for you, Dave. Brian Robinson versus the Dolphins running backs. How do you rank it? I thought you were going to ask me Robinson versus Pacheco and then hit the music on me.
Starting point is 01:14:59 That's what you should have done, you knucklehead. Robinson, I think I actually have him ahead of both Dolphins running backs. Okay, and then Barkley versus the Dolphins running backs. Barkley is... I have Barkley currently ahead of A-chan right now. I don't know if I'm sticking with that. Okay. I think, you know, like again, Barkley was so bad last week because they got...
Starting point is 01:15:23 A-chan is more upside. I can't stick with Barkley over HN. They lost by 32 points last week. But you look at the games before that, he scored 13.8 to 18.8 points in four straight games. He scored 14.3 points with DeVito for basically the entire game at Las Vegas. He scored 15.8 fantasy points against the Jets
Starting point is 01:15:44 with Terod Taylor and DeVito splitting there. You know, I know he had 36 carries in that game, but don't, I guess, don't react too strongly to the worst game script, the worst game or the Cowboys games. He's been horrible twice against the Cowboys. He's been good every other week. All right. That's it for today's show. We thank you. We'll talk to you on the mailbag, everybody. See you later.

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