Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (NFC); Steelers-Vikings Recap; Remembering DeMaryius Thomas (12/10 Fantasy Football Podcast)
Episode Date: December 10, 2021DeMaryius Thomas passed away at the age of 33. We will miss him, and we'll share some of our memories to start the show ... Recapping a bizarre and entertaining Steelers-Vikings game (6:00)! Ben Roeth...lisberger came through, but can you trust Chase Claypool going forward? Then we'll try to sort out the tricky backfields for Week 14 (14:30), give you your news and notes (18:30), Beat the Waiver Wire (24:00), ask one question for each game (26:00) and get into the Chargers passing game with so much in flux (35:00) ... Start or Sit for Bills-Bucs (39:00), Falcons-Panthers (44:40), Rams-Cardinals (54:30), Cowboys-Football Team (1:05:15), Bears-Packers (1:13:00) and Giants-Chargers (1:18:50) ... Email us at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday 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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with iGaming Ontario. This is touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Beck.
Welcome to your Friday edition of Fantasy Football Today.
Hey, let's just put the Vikings on national TV every single week.
It would be great drama for the NFL as they hang on for a 36-28 win.
And boy, you know, if you face Justin Jefferson, are you upset? Are you exhaling?
Because he could add a four touchdown game. We'll talk about that. Plus six games to break down for
you here. It's Adam, Dave and Jamie on this Friday morning. Get an early start. All right, guys,
look, it's Friday. We want to be happy. All that. I get that. But unfortunately, I have to address
sad news at the top of the show. They're just so tragic to see Demarius Thomas passing away at the age of 33. I remember, guys,
oh man, I think it must have been almost 10 years. I think it was 2012.
Debating with you how good he was going to be with Peyton Manning. I'll have to look up the
year whenever Peyton Manning went to Denver. And one of you said he's going to be a top 10 wide
receiver. I was like, what? No way.
And you were right.
He was fifth that year.
He finished fifth, first, second, ninth, 15th, and 16th in six consecutive years in fantasy and PPR scoring.
So sad to see it, Demarius Thomas.
Dave, what are you going to remember most about Demarius Thomas?
First of all, I'm looking up to see what my projections were in 2012. That was back when we were doing individual projections.
I'll see where he ranked for me then. But I remember him being a bona fide fantasy football
stud, the type of no-brainer guy that you start every single week. And I remember fantasy managers
still being excited about him when he wasn't playing for the Denver Broncos. And you remember
him as a big, physical, fast, alpha wide receiver. And he brought so much joy to people just from
playing football. And from what I'm learning about him, he was a great guy off the field as well. He
will be very much missed and someone that a lot of young receivers today should try and emulate
on and off the field. Yeah, Jamie, he was fifth that year. That was Peyton Manning's first year in Denver. It was,
it was 2012 and,
uh,
that's that launched his career and he was terrific.
And you want to share any Demarius Thomas thoughts or memories?
Um,
I mean,
the,
the,
the,
the play against the Steelers is,
uh,
you know,
always going to be very memorable.
Um,
the touchdown from Tim Tebow and,
you know,
it's,
uh,
it's a strange strange
situation strange week um that was uh it was 10 years ago I'll I'll never forget it wasn't um
tomorrow's a 10-year anniversary when my mom passed away and so I remember watching that
that uh that that situation unfold you know I was obviously like in a haze those last few weeks of the regular season and
the the the NFL playoffs and you know just being a Tebow guy obviously you know from Florida
and watching him you know have the the the success in overtime and Demarius Thomas was
obviously the big reason why you know I mean everybody's gonna you know say Tebow won that
game but it was you know Demarius breaking open and being the player that he was.
33 years old, man.
He's just still be playing.
It's just a really crappy situation.
We don't know the details what happened, but obviously rest in peace.
He'll be missed as a human being, obviously,
and certainly for NFL fans and fantasy managers,
you know what he meant to you.
Helped you win a lot of money, I'm sure.
And so I don't know what charities he supports or anything,
but if you have anything that you can spare or certainly anything you win from your fantasy leagues this year,
I'm sure it'd be a nice gesture to donate to whatever cause he was supporting.
So we'll miss him as a person and as a player.
Adam, what did you say?
That he was a top 10 receiver for us in 2012?
Fifth, then first, then second, then ninth, then fifth, and then 16th.
Over a six-year stretch.
So you mentioned 2012.
So I just looked it up because I save everything that I do.
I had him 11th in my, I think this is non-PPR, projections before the season.
You want a quick stroll down memory lane?
You want to hear the top 11 from 2012?
Yeah.
Well, Calvin Johnson was number one.
Julio Jones was number two.
It's funny because I'm sure he'll come up
if you didn't talk about him yesterday than today.
Jordy Nelson, three.
Greg Jennings, four.
So two Packers in the top five.
Larry Fitzgerald, five.
A.J. Green, six.
He's still around, I think. Roddy
White, seven. Wes Welker, eight. Brandon
Marshall, nine. Hakeem Nix, ten.
That one's just for you, Adam, Mr.
Giants fan. Demarius Thomas was
11th in my projections that
year. I projected him for 1,162
yards and eight scores. I don't remember
what he ended up with, but I think he outperformed
those projections. 1,442
yards and 10 touchdowns.
Peyton Manning helped them out quite a bit.
Where was Dez Bryant in your projections? You have
the top five. It was Calvin, Brandon Marshall,
A.J. Green, then Dez Bryant, then Demarius.
Good. So I'm glad this is going to turn
into how much I sucked at projections even
back then. 12, 13,
14, 15, 16, 17. I had
Dez. All right. Well, you know, he scored
12 touchdowns. All right, guys. you know, he scored 12 touchdowns.
All right, guys, thank you for the thoughts.
Thank you for the memories on Demarius Thomas.
Sundays were a lot of fun with Demarius Thomas, and we will absolutely miss him.
All right, and Thursday night was very fun as well.
That's where we start.
Minnesota 36, Pittsburgh 28.
We start in the second half?
Yeah, we could start.
No, you know what?
Jefferson.
Wait a minute.
There's nothing wrong with some
of what happened in the first half yeah but the game got exciting in the second half of course it
did yeah jefferson man what a weird night i mean look no one's gonna complain he had a great game
but he it could have been uh-oh i played against justin jefferson it's over or i'm i'm in the
playoffs you might have that feeling with dalvin cook. Exactly. That's why Jefferson didn't have a crazy good
night. It's because Dalvin Cook did.
No, it's because he dropped.
He either dropped or Cousins missed him on
two touchdowns for sure
and possibly a third one.
The one over the middle in the end zone. Who do you
blame?
Which one was that? The one off his
fingertips where
it was a post route.
Not the first one.
No, it was after he scored the first touchdown.
The catch he almost made one-handed.
No.
That would have been an amazing grab.
I'm having trouble placing it.
Me too.
There's so much in the game.
The left side.
Oh, oh, oh.
It would have been about a 20-yard touchdown.
They settled for a field goal.
I have that in my notes as a drop.
So that's all I remember.
I don't remember.
Yeah, I mean, Cousins is going to throw it a little bit better,
but I'm with you.
I think he dropped it.
But anyway, look, you're not going to complain.
He came through for you.
Roethlisberger, I'll just leave it to you.
Jamie, what are your takeaways from this game?
I mean, look, I was, I don't know the right way, I guess, concerned.
You know, I play Dalvin Cook at less than 100%.
Obviously, that was a mistake to be concerned about that.
He was amazing.
But I think that the biggest credit goes to that Vikings offensive line.
They were unbelievable.
And all three of us could have had, you know,
probably three yards per carry running through that offensive line.
Whereas he had, you know, nearly 10 yards per carry in the first half.
It was ridiculous just how, you know, the holes that were open to him and he just, you know, was awesome.
But good to see him back. And now you know what to do.
Alexander Madison is nothing more than a desperation flex and not going to deliver very much production.
In terms of the Steelers, we've kind of been talking about this
for the last couple of weeks, right, about Roethlisberger playing better
and what this team – I referenced the same thing I said earlier this week,
the report in The Athletic about the office needs to run through him.
And you saw what the upside could be when they're playing up-tempo
and he's throwing the ball well.
And honestly, it's a shame we didn't get Pat Fryermuth coming down
with that touchdown because we could have had overtime
and some more production and more fun.
He put that ball in the money.
You can't fault Fryermuth.
It was a great play by Harrison Smith to knock it out.
But the only thing I
think that was, you
know, you mentioned
frustration from Justin
Jefferson.
What about frustration
from Chase Claypool?
What the hell was he
doing?
Well, you mean the
penalty?
At what point in the
game?
I'll apply that
question.
Everything.
Nobody talked about
it.
How does he catch that
ball on the sideline?
That was ridiculous.
That was a great.
He came through with a
great game.
He absolutely came through for you, too. He came through on the sideline? That was ridiculous. That was a great, he came through with a great game. He absolutely came through for you too.
He came through on the last drive.
Yeah,
I know.
But before the last five seconds,
he was a massive dud.
Oh,
I know.
He's sitting there flexing for the first down.
Deontay Johnson rips the ball out of his hands.
He comes through with eight catches.
I thought,
okay,
eight catches for 93 yards on nine targets.
And you know what?
The takeaway though,
and I'm sorry,
I didn't check the snap count, but he was definitely getting benched for 93 yards on nine targets. And you know what? The takeaway, though, and I'm sorry, I didn't check the snap count,
but he was definitely getting benched for Washington.
He definitely did.
And Tomlin did not commit to using him again next week.
And, you know, what I was going to say is from a fantasy standpoint,
whenever Ben throws a lot, Claypool gets a lot of targets.
So I was sitting there, it's 26-0.
You know what?
This might end up being a good game for Claypool.
Could have been a great game for him, but only played 59 in the snaps kept coming off the field
for washington yeah i would i would like uh chase claypool to be covered by brashad breland every
week but it's a shame you can't trust him because one you need a lot of pass attempts from rothlisberger
uh you may not get that against tennessee next week and two you don't know what his playing time
is going to be now it's uh, you know, he's out.
He's a little in the dog
house a little bit.
Well, we and I'm glad
you brought this up
because we've seen this before.
Remember, Deontay Johnson
was having a drop issue
last year and they benched him.
And so they're not opposed
to doing that to send a message.
They're going to do it
to Deontay Johnson, too,
because he dropped a touchdown.
No, but they did it to him
last year when he was
dropping the ball.
No, for sure they did.
And I bet Claypool does not start the next game.
I wonder if James Washington gets an opportunity
to play a little bit more
and Claypool play a little bit less.
Although Claypool, you have to admit,
he did redeem himself on that last drive nicely.
Except for the stupidity of flexing for a first down.
That part was not so good.
So Cousins somehow only ends up with 17 fantasy points. And it seemed like he was going to have a first down. That part was not so good. So Cousins somehow only ends up
with 17 fantasy points.
And it seemed like he was going to have a great game,
but he ends up with 216 yards.
See, I would argue that he wasn't going to have a great game
because Dalvin Cook was just going crazy in the first half.
And then he was late in the fourth quarter.
Then he has a good game.
Yeah, that's fair.
But it took him having
to throw just to get to 17 fantasy
points in the second, in the fourth quarter, really.
His best play,
I don't know how many yards it was, but I think it was like
an 11-yard run. Yes. How he escaped
that sack. I think
that won the game for him, honestly.
Yeah, it was a great play. And then he hit
the big shot on Osborne. We'll talk about Osborne
and Conklin. I just want to check one thing.
This may have been a season low in pass attempts.
Second fewest pass attempts for Kirk Cousins, 31,
which is an amazing thing to say about the Vikings.
I thought he was going to struggle,
mostly because you look at the Steelers' numbers
against opposing quarterbacks.
When T.J. Watt's been on the field
in the second half of the season so far,
the only game where they've given up numbers
to an opposing quarterback was Herbert because T.J. Watt's been playing that game. Now second half of the season so far. The only game where they've given up numbers to an opposing quarterback was Herbert because
TJ Watt didn't play in that game. Now, obviously, he got
hurt in the game, so you can't say that he was a
big factor in slowing him down,
but the run game was just so successful. Steelers cannot
stop the run. It's really embarrassing
watching how it is.
You heard Tomlin afterwards talking about
it, and Cam Hayward was talking about it.
They can't get off the field. They can't stop
running backs right now.
I thought, for whatever reason, the defense played a little bit better after walk got hurt i don't know if they just you know were more motivated or whatever
maybe it was because it was easier to know what the vikings were doing because they had this big
lead and they were being conservative but i thought the defense played a little bit better it's not
something i'm going to say next week if watts out, but just for this game, I thought that it was
interesting that they seemed to do better
once. Yeah, I think part of it was the
offense got in a rhythm too, and they weren't just three and out
getting on the field. You know, the defense on the field so much in the first
half. That's a good call. Yeah, that could be part of it.
They were and they started taking
away. I mean, they really threw a lot of coverage at Jefferson
knocked a couple balls away from him, that type
of thing. All right. So anyway, KJ Osborne
39% rostered.
He gets you a 62-yard touchdown catch.
Only had three catches in the game, but he did have nine targets.
Tyler Conklin was invisible with two catches for 20 yards.
But, Jamie, are you encouraged by this game for K.J. Osborne
or discouraged because he only caught three of nine targets?
Oh, very encouraged.
You know, you get anything close to double digits in targets,
double digits in targets, you know, you see the big play potential.
He's now delivered every time targets have been up for him.
You know, so however he's getting it done, he's getting it done.
And so you have to take your chances with those type of situations.
They may not always come true,
but there's a pretty good sample size now for him of,
I think it's, you know, five or six games with seven or more targets.
He's gotten you 14 or more PPR points.
So I'll live with that time and time again.
So as long as Adam Thielen's out,
he's going to be in that number three receiver range
and borderline starter for sure.
Yeah, he might be one of the top waiver wire claims
next week at 39% roster.
They have Tennessee, the Chiefs, and the Browns in the playoffs.
Sunday morning, watch CBS Sports HQ,
10 a.m. Eastern time until kickoff.
Get it on the CBS Sports app.
I watched it on my Roku.
It's great.
Great stuff.
Jamie, Dave, Heath, Pete Prisco, all the familiar faces,
talking gambling, talking player props,
and, of course, a lot of start and sit for three hours, 10 a.m. Eastern.
Watch CBS Sports HQ on Sundays.
Listen to the Fantasy Football Today DFS podcast.
That's what it's called, Fantasy Football Today DFS podcast wherever you're listening to FFT. And we've got the mailbag,
the Friday mailbag if you're watching on YouTube, the Saturday mailbag if you're listening in the
podcast feed. So you can send in Apple podcast questions for that. It's going to be a little
too late now, but you can do that for next week. You can send in emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi,
that's the letter I dot com.
It's an interesting week, guys.
We're trying to sort out some backfields.
The ones that I look at that, hey, we'll see how they play out.
Green Bay, Arizona, Denver, Rams, Niners, Titans, Panthers, Seahawks, Jaguars.
It's probably Cowboys.
Cowboys, yeah, with Pollard.
Game time decision with the foot injury.
Probably makes things a little difficult for you, Dave Richard,
when you're doing your rankings.
Definitely does, but you just have to think back to going with what you know
and what these teams typically do or what they have done previously.
I think a lot about, like for the 49ers, for example, when Jeff Wilson was the top guy up for them, he did a lot of the work.
He didn't have a great game, but he got a lot of opportunities.
And I would imagine something similar would happen this week.
And for something like Dallas, where there might be a little bit of unknown just because Tony Pollard and his foot, he's not 100%. Zeke keeps saying, oh, I'm fine, I'm going to play, I'm going to play.
But you watch him play, he doesn't look good.
That's one that's going to take a little bit more projection
and maybe a little bit of hope along with it
about how you go about those running backs.
Yeah, how are you...
We're going to talk about a lot of these, but for Arizona,
are you expecting, are you guys...
I think, Jamie, the answer for you is no. Are you expecting a big role from Chase Edmonds in his first game back, if he plays? We don't even know if he's going to talk about a lot of these, but for Arizona, are you expecting, are you guys, I think Jamie, the answer for you is no.
Are you expecting a big role from Chase Edmonds in his first game back?
If he plays,
we don't even know if he's going to play.
Um,
I mean,
not to the same extent that he was playing before.
No,
I think James Connors proved himself that this is the closest thing to a
feature back that Cliff Kingsbury has had.
Uh,
I guess since that stretch run of,
of Kenyon Drake,
when he was first traded there from Miami in Kingsbury's first season there.
But there's, I think that was Kingsbury's first season there.
I believe it was too.
So, you know, he's been amazing.
And, you know, Edmonds was, you know, he shouldn't lose his job.
He shouldn't be benched.
But it should be a role reversal of, you know, who's the lead rusher.
And I think, you know, Connor will still be the lead rusher.
So for this week, I'm still going to leave Connor as a top 10 running back of Edmonds plays.
I have Edmonds currently ranked back end RB2 for in PPR, more of a flex play in non PPR.
And I'm just hoping that he does a little bit better in the Benjamin role for this week in particular.
They use him more on passing down situations, but I think Connor is still the catalyst of the backfield, at least for week 14.
And folks, if there's a player on waivers right now that you might want to go pick up, Jeff Wilson.
He is 37% rostered.
Can't promise you he's going to be great this week at Cincinnati, but he might be the last man standing here.
Sure. Yeah. And you've got to might be the last man standing here. Sure.
You've got to look at the Bengals' defense.
If Logan Wilson's out, if DJ
Reeder's out, those are big
pieces in the case of Reeder, legitimately.
That's going to
help a little bit.
They might get a version of the Bengals. I've got to
double-check on DJ Reeder. He might play.
If there's any
drop-off from that Bengals run defense, it's just
going to make the 49ers attack more
with the ground game.
I think for Wilson, it's a great call.
I think for Wilson, though, he's got to score.
We saw it last time. It was
19 empty carries, essentially,
when he stepped in for Elijah Mitchell a few weeks ago.
If he scores, he'll be great. He can score
multiple times. It wouldn't be surprising, but
he's got to find the end zone, I think.
I'm looking up the Bengals injury report right now,
but he should have scored in that game against Jacksonville.
Remember the touch?
He was wide open for a touchdown.
Yes.
He was targeted and Garoppolo just missed him.
So it would have been a bad game salvaged by a touchdown.
I tend to agree with you.
I don't think he's got a shot to get you 110 or 120 total yards in the game,
but he's going to have a shot to score.
Damn you, Dave Richard.
You got Jeff Wilson off waivers in the podcast league with a $9 bid.
Yeah, I think I bid eight.
I think I bid eight.
Readers plan.
So much to do about nothing.
Tyler Shelvin's another one of their big guys who hasn't practiced yet this week.
Jamie, you said it about Logan Wilson.
I think that's about it for their front seven.
Awuzie's not going to play,
which makes Brandon Ayuk a little interesting.
All right, all right, all right.
We got a lot to talk about here.
We got to get to that game.
News and notes.
Actually, I don't think we are.
I think we did that one yesterday.
News and notes.
Mike Williams could be cleared on Saturday.
We're going to talk about the Chargers
wide receivers in a little bit.
Joe Mixon mispracticed, so
Pirine, it's an illness.
Two days of practice he's missed.
Sure we expect him to play, but Samajit Pirine would be
the guy, if not?
Pirine would be the lead back. You'd see a little bit of
Chris Evans as well. Is he healthy, though?
Well, I've got their
injury report open. You're right, Jim.
Ankle injury, DNP, first two days.
So if he's out,
there'll probably be a lot of Samaj P. Ryan
and a little bit of somebody like Travion Williams.
T. Higgins was limited in practice.
He got back out there.
That was good.
He was always expected to play.
And Burrow got back out there,
threw a lot toward the end of the open media portion of practice.
So he said he was going to play all along.
David Montgomery is just beat up.
He's got a lot of different injuries,
but he did practice.
He was limited.
Alan Robinson expects to play.
They're at Green Bay on Sunday night.
We'll get to that game.
We got to start getting a little concerned about Elijah Moore here.
He's mispracticed with a quad injury.
So we'll see if he practices on Friday.
But yeah, not great so far.
Debo Samuel mispracticed.
We'll have that for the mailback.
We'll know that.
Yes, and probably we'll know.
Well, we will know, I'm sure,
during CBS Sports HQ today.
Is today noon?
Normal time?
Yes.
Okay, noon to one.
Elijah Mitchell mispracticed.
Jeff Wilson could be the starter,
as mentioned.
Cooper Cupp was limited with a toe injury.
They say it's no big deal.
Daryl Henderson did practice.
He was limited.
That's going to be...
They had a walkthrough, though, so just an estimation.
True.
Yeah, they have a Monday night game.
So that's one you might want to tune in to the mailbag.
Darren Waller mispracticed.
Not looking great.
Julio Jones practiced again.
Looking good there.
Looking better.
TJ Hawkinson. We we concerned about Hawkinson
at this point? He has a hand injury.
I mean, a little bit. And you should be concerned
about the matchup as well. But
obviously, given the landscape of tight
ends this week, if he starts, you're starting him.
And by the way, for the Lions,
offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn
expects more deep passing from Jared
Goff going forward. James Robinson
We're going to tell Dan Campbell to call those boys?
True.
James Robinson missed practice.
Should we be picking up
Carlos Hyde?
I think what I read was it's
a load management situation. They're trying
to make sure he's ready for the
end of the week. But yes, in deeper leagues it's not a bad thing to cover yourself if there's
nobody else like i'd prefer if i'm looking at it obviously jeff wilson would be the priority
uh to pick up of the the elbow guys that we're looking at and his percentage covers it but if
you're going to the the next level p ryan would be first and then you know probably i'd probably go
p ryan hide and then i'd probably go P. Ryan, Hyde,
and then I'd also take a look at Khalil Herbert
just in case David Montgomery somehow misses practice on Friday.
That's assuming that you can't get your cloppies on Rashad Penny.
He'd also be in that mix for me, even if it's just as a speculation.
That fact is so weird this week. Did you see what's happening?
With what? Yeah.
Seattle's backfield, did you see what's happening?
Well, I know that Adrian Peterson isn't going to get called up.
It's not guaranteed yet, but that's the way it seems like it's trending.
Yeah. Is Collins not the best? Who's the best guy to get called up. It's not guaranteed yet, but that's the way it seems like it's trending. Yeah.
Is Collins not the best?
Who's the best guy to get in the Seattle backfield at this point?
I mean, it seems like, you know, if they're going to go with a very run-heavy approach,
it would be Collins with Penny mixed in.
But, you know, I still think Penny has the most upside, you know, so we'll see.
You know, Pete Carroll would start talking about Collins.
It's a little strange.
Yeah, I'd rather start Penny than Collins. Yeah, I'd rather start Penny than Collins.
Did you see that Trevor Lawrence came out and gave a huge vote of confidence to James Robinson
and said they told the coaching staff
that we basically have to have him on the field all the time?
Yep.
That encourages me on James Robinson.
Okay, Houston, it looks like Davis Mills
is going to start for them on Sunday.
Randall Cobb had surgery.
He's going to be out for a while.
Tevin Coleman mispracticed.
I was reading, Adam, just for your purposes.
They were talking about Amari Rodgers.
I know.
It's finally Amari Rodgers.
They also said that MVS and Lazard could play more in the slot.
And I actually think the Bears have been terrible against slot receivers.
I think they give up the second most receiving yards.
It's either that or the second fewest.
I'm pretty sure the Bears give up
the second most receiving yards to slot receivers.
On the year?
Yeah.
You want to know for the year?
Yep.
Give me 30 seconds.
All right.
Tennessee claimed linebacker Zach Cunningham off waivers.
That might be someone you want in IDP.
If he was dropped for whatever, you know.
Take a look at Zach Cunningham. Goes from the Texans to the Titans. Giants wide
receivers. Kenny Galladay was limited.
Expecting him to play. Sterling Shepard
looks like he's going to play.
And Kadarius Toney likely out.
Shepard said he practiced in full.
Actually, the injury designation was still limited.
But he's obviously very close.
Yeah, what I read was,
barring a setback from the New York Post,
he's probably going to play.
And it looks like Glennon is in line to start that game.
Tony Pollard, torn planter fascia.
He is a game-time decision.
And JD McKissick did some work in practice.
He remains in the concussion protocol,
but that is good news.
It looks like JD McKissick is trending in the right direction.
We have a lot of games to get to here.
All right, you want the Bears stats? Yeah.
You made it out to be like they were the worst team in the
league against slot receivers. That is
clearly not true. They have allowed
657 yards slot receivers.
That ranks 27th out of
32 teams. 13.4
yards per catch. That's 28th.
6.4 yards after catch per reception. That's 28th. 6.4 yards after catch
per reception. That's 29th out of 32
teams. But they've only allowed
one touchdown to slot receivers
this year. Receivers who have lined up in the
slot. That's how I have to say it.
Right, right, right. Okay, so
real quick on beat the waiver wire.
I don't know if there are any players that you want to stash
right now. You could look at the Seahawks backfield
and see.
I think Penny's worth it.
Yeah, they have the Rams next week.
Unfortunately, the Rams' run defense has been suffocating lately.
I got Devontae Parker and Sterling Shepard as wide receivers that you could stash.
Yep, PPR leagues for sure.
And they would be ahead of Penny if you're okay at running back.
Allen Robinson, any interest in him?
He's got Minnesota next week.
It's not a bad
flyer just to see what happens.
If you have a roster spot to play with, why not?
I'd rather have everybody else that we've talked
about.
Tua's got the Jets next week.
Maybe Ricky
Seals-Jones, if he can get back in the fold.
Austin Hooper, you never know how long
the Jets will be. Both of those guys. Hooper's a good call. But who does Ricky Seals-Jones have? Of can get back in the fold. Austin Hooper, you never know how long the Jets will be off. Both of those guys. True. Yep.
Hooper's a good call. But who does Ricky Seals Jones
have? Of course, he has the Eagles.
Tua
against the Jets. You can say Bates in the same way.
John Bates in the same vein. Yeah.
DST is
if anybody drops the Dolphins, I don't know what the Dolphins
roster percentage is, but they're on their bye. They get the Jets
next week. Cincinnati's at
Denver. Green Bay's at Baltimore. That doesn't sound
great, but it is on paper, but it's probably not
IRL. If anyone
drops the Rams, they have the Seahawks.
If anyone drops the Bucs,
they have
someone bad, as I recall.
They have New Orleans.
Okay, yep.
The Dolphins, just so you know, they've got the Jets,
then the Saints saints and then
tennessee yeah that's their weeks 15 16 17 it's not bad unfortunately and they've been playing
great this is this great week for streaming dsts but almost every one of the dst streamers this
week has a bad matchup next week it's true the best one is the Packers who face the Ravens. And that's obviously,
that could be a terrible matchup.
So the Dolphins are definitely
one to look at if you can.
If you can get your,
what did you say,
your cloppers on them
or something like that, Dave?
Cloppies.
Cloppies.
All right, Dave has to go in 10 minutes.
So let's do one question for each game.
And Dave, you get to answer first.
Oh, boy.
Buffalo, Tampa Bay.
Offense or defense in this game?
What wins out?
Offense is going to win out in this game.
Okay.
So does that mean basically all the guys that you typically start?
It's easier to make the list of the guys not to start in this game.
It's Ronald Jones, any Bills running back,
Emmanuel Sanders, Cole Beasley probably
is someone you should be nervous about starting.
I think Gabriel Davis is a sleeper, actually.
I think he could end up getting more playing time
out of Emmanuel Sanders.
They need help there.
Okay, let's go to-
That's another guy that you could beat the waiver wire on
is G. Davis.
Gina Davis, okay.
G. Davis.
Yeah.
Gina Davis will not help you much
unless you're talking like 80s movies.
Unless you need a catcher.
Atlanta and Carolina, Jamie.
You know what?
She dropped the ball on purpose.
I think it's one of the best movie debates.
I don't think she did.
I read a lot about this.
A lot about this.
And I don't think she dropped the ball on purpose.
You guys can talk about that in like
15 minutes yeah all right all you want atlanta carolina jamie rank these flex options chuba
hubbard amir abdullah dj moore russell gage what's the format let's go half ppr so it's hubbard
abdullah gage and who's the fourth one dj more d DJ Moore. DJ Moore is one by a mile.
Moore,
Gage,
Hubbard,
Abdullah.
Yep.
Okay, great.
Rams, Cardinals.
DeAndre Hopkins?
Really?
I mean, they shouldn't have sent her home.
That's part of the problem.
She should have stopped at third.
Exactly.
And Dottie would not have... See, remember,
lay off the high ones.
Remember that at the beginning?
Yeah. She would not have rewarded See, remember, lay off the high ones. Remember that at the beginning? Yeah.
She would not have rewarded Kit for running through the stop sign.
That is not how she operates.
It's her sister, though.
It doesn't matter.
Everything we know about Dottie, she would never have done that.
Kit needed to learn the lesson herself and win that game by herself.
Dottie would never have just given that to her.
And you don't reward—
She wouldn't have rewarded her for a bad play.
All right. Rams, Cardinals. DeAndre Hopkins or— herself. Dottie would never have just given that to her. And you don't reward, she wouldn't have rewarded her for a bad play. Alright.
Rams, Cardinals.
DeAndre Hopkins or... It's weird that I think of that movie every time I have to pee.
Why?
Because Tom Hanks, when he peed at the beginning of the movie.
What, he's like at a drunken stupor?
He peed for like 10 minutes.
Do you remember Madonna was timing him?
Yeah, yeah yeah i forgot about
that all right hopkins van jefferson or odell beckham don't tell heath that madonna died in the
you're asking me i would take hopkins then jefferson then beckham but all three are
i i don't have back i don't think i have beckham in my top 24. Maybe I do, but they're like all start-worthy fantasy options.
What's a better baseball movie pee scene?
That one or Lou Brown peeing on Doran's contract?
Oh, they're so different.
Lou Brown peeing on Doran's contract is the best.
I love that.
All right, Dallas and Washington.
Jamie, start Zeke.
Get the girl ball, Ricky.
In the heater.
In the heater.
Start Zeke in a tough matchup. Only one running back is more than 62 rushing Dallas and Washington. Jamie, start Zeke. Get the girl ball, Ricky. In the eater. In the eater. Start Zeke in a tough matchup.
Only one running back is more than 62 rushing yards against Washington.
I don't see Zeke getting there based on his last six or seven games.
Start Zeke.
You have to be so excited about Ezekiel Elliott.
To whatever extent you want to get excited about him,
if Tony Pollard doesn't play.
I mean, you know, there should be every touch going in his direction.
I believe Corey Clement is their third running back.
So, you know, you're looking at a situation where, you know,
the role in the passing game has been pretty solidified all season long.
You know, the nice thing about this is, you know,
and we can sit here and say he struggled and all those things
and Pollard looks better and that's 100% right.
They played three games in 12 days.
And so for a guy that's been gutting it out through whatever knee injury he's been playing this rest has got to be fantastic for him for the offensive
line and just hopefully you know he can he can take advantage of whatever scenario unfolds if
there is no tony pollard on the field that's exactly how i feel i fell asleep at 3 a.m last
night to uh bull durham on and just uh such a great movie. Any P scenes in that one?
I don't think so.
No.
By the way, what you said about Zeke,
that's exactly how I feel about Dak Prescott.
I think if there's no Pollard, I think it's huge for him.
Like, he's already in a good spot,
but huge if there's no Pollard.
Chicago at Green Bay.
Dave, do you like Darnell Mooney in a tough matchup?
I do.
I still think that he's going to get peppered
with targets, still going to be the
downfield option for
Chicago, and I think the Bears are going to have to throw.
I think I can make a very
convincing case against Darnell Mooney.
Well, sure, because he's playing the Packers
and they've been great. They might get Jair
Alexander back. Probably not.
He's got three games
with more than
65 ish yards, something like that. Two of them were without Alan Robinson. Two of them were
against Detroit. One of them was against Baltimore where he had 15 targets. Baltimore gives up a ton
of big plays. For the most part, he's fewer than 70 yards. Packers have obviously a good defense
and I just don't like Justin Fields for him because two of the 100-yard games were either with full Andy Dalton
or a lot of Andy Dalton.
Yeah, I just think Dalton would average
more passing yards per game
and more touchdowns per game for sure
than Justin Fields.
Justin Fields has thrown four touchdowns all season.
So I...
Wasn't one for Mooney, though, in the first game?
Yeah, against Detroit, I think so.
No, against Green Bay.
Oh, I don't know.
But I still score touchdowns for fields.
Well, that's true, and that's definitely problematic,
but I'm still going to go with a receiver who can make it,
make a huge play on a screen pass,
which is how he scored his touchdown against, I think it was Baltimore.
Mooney is very um, Mooney is, is very much for me in the range of where I've been with Michael
Pittman and Mike Williams, where, you know, that there's plenty of upside, but you just
see inconsistencies, whether it's the quarterback, uh, you know, in case of like Pittman, you
know, the running game.
Um, I, I think it's almost like, you know, we're starting him based on hope and expectation
more so than logically saying the Packers
are going to be really good defensively
when they're healthy,
and they've been really good
when they haven't been healthy.
And so they should be rested coming off a bye.
I don't love Darnell Mooney,
but he's still a number three receiver for me.
Would you start the Rams guys over him?
I'd start Mooney over Beckham.
I would start Jefferson over Mooney.
Okay, and last game here,
Giants-Chargers.
Is Saquon Barkley going to have a good game?
And by the way,
Justin Jones and Linval Joseph
limited in practice yesterday
for the Chargers,
which is a good sign.
Big difference in their run defense.
Is Saquon Barkley going to have a good game?
This is the week.
I mean, hopefully, he continues to get work in the passing game, run defense. Is Saquon Barkley going to have a good game? This is the week.
Hopefully,
he continues to get work in the passing game, which is nice.
I think Mike Lennon starting for him will be good, but I don't really think it matters whether
it's Lennon or Jake Fromm. I'm sure
either you have the veteran guy who's a statue
that will dump the ball off to his running back,
or you have the inexperienced guy who's probably going to
be pooping his pants a little bit
that will dump the ball off to his running
back. So I think either way, as long as it's not Daniel Jones,
you should get some catches or maybe a spike in catches for Barkley,
but this has been the team to run against, you know,
they've now fallen to second in terms of rushing yards allowed for the
season. I forget who's first who's passed them, but, um,
probably, uh, it could be.
It's such a difference though, with Justin Jones plays,
they give him 3.9 yards per carry.
Barkley hasn't even gotten 60 rushing yards in a game yet.
They're still bad.
Not really.
They're honestly not.
And they do give up touchdowns, though.
Every single game, basically, they give up a rushing touchdown.
Barkley has two of them this year.
I don't think Barkley is the problem.
I think it's everything around him and the workload that he gets.
So here's hoping that the Giants figure out that the Chargers aren't very good against the run,
even if those big guys play, and that they give him more work in the run game and the pass game.
I like, like Jamie said, if Glennon starts and it looks like he will,
that Barkley will catch a bunch of check down passes and that'll help solidify his floor.
I think he's a good number two running back this week.
And when he was good before the ankle injury, it was with Shepard on the field.
It was with some semblance of a passing game.
So if Shepard's back and Galladay plays,
the focus isn't entirely on him.
I actually do not think it was with Shepard on the field, as I recall.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Well, the New Orleans game was his best game.
Galladay and Tony were in that game.
Shepard left in the Atlanta game early and missed the New Orleans game.
So it was actually without Shepard.
I still have no problem starting Barkley if Shepard's there.
Yeah.
One thing to note, though, the Chargers, I know this is basically the—
that's actually the last game we're going to talk about,
and there's a lot to talk about, a lot of moving pieces.
But the Chargers give up the second fewest receiving yards
per game to running backs.
And I do, before you go, Dave,
give me your thoughts
on the Chargers wide receivers.
Okay, so you know what to do
if Keenan Allen plays.
You're going to start him.
If Michael Williams plays
and Keenan Allen does not play,
he's going to be a top 24 guy.
I would start him out of somebody
like Darnell Mooney, for example.
I'd start him out of Ezekiel Elliott in the PPR league.
Might do it in a non-PPR league as well.
If both of those guys are out,
I think it's going to see more opportunities for Jared Cook,
who lines up in the slot a lot as it is.
He would do that even more so if there's no Keenan Allen.
Jalen Guyton is a good explosive receiver.
We saw that last week.
I kind of hate to go to him a week after he had his big game,
but I could see him have another good game in terms of target opportunity,
trust that Justin Herbert can get him the football.
Josh Palmer's interesting.
We kind of liked him coming out.
He's good at getting open off the snap.
He's got some good shake and bake to try and get open,
but he doesn't have a lot of downfield speed. He can win a 50-50 ball. If you're desperate at wide receiver, I
wouldn't start him or use him or pick him up ahead of the other guys that we mentioned on the podcast,
but I think that in deeper leagues, he's certainly worth a flyer just to see what happens. Maybe
would start him in DFS. Herbert is still a top 12 fantasy quarterback for me. I think Austin Eckler is a monster game. The free space
is Jalen Gutton in
DFS, but everybody's
going to use him. Doesn't matter. That's why you use him because he's
a free space. See, I think the pivot is to
cook.
So I don't know if this matters to you, but they've
had two games at the end of last year
without Keenan Allen with Mike
Williams. Different offense, but
okay. In those two games,
the same three things happened in both of those games.
Mike Williams led the team in targets and receiving yards.
Austin Eckler caught a touchdown.
And second on the team and third on the team
in receiving yards were Stephen Anderson and Donald Parham.
So it was the two,
it was Mike Williams at the top,
tight end,
tight end,
Eckler caught a touchdown that happened in both of the games.
And Henry was on the COVID list.
Henry was out those games.
Yeah.
And unfortunately in week 17,
it's hard to take much away from it because they faced the chiefs who had
nothing to play for.
And I didn't look at their defensive starters,
but they played Chad Henney and they played all their backups.
So probably not a lot of defensive.
Yeah, but that did happen.
It was, it was Mike Williams, tight end, tight end,
Eckler touchdown catch in both of those games.
And Herbert's numbers were good.
Not in the Denver game.
They were good in the Chiefs game against the backups.
And Mike Williams numbers weren't good,
even though he led the team against Denver.
He had a hundred yards against the Chiefs, something like that.
He had, I don't know, 50 yards he led the team against Denver. He had 100 yards against the Chiefs, something like that. He had, I don't know, 50 yards,
something like that, against Denver.
How do you feel about a Giants defense
traveling across the country? I don't think they're traveling
across the country. I think they stayed in Arizona.
They were in Tucson all week.
The Giants' pass defense has actually been pretty good.
They've been much better against wide receivers
and quarterbacks. It feels like
it's going to be hard. Every now and then, they just have this
dud.
I don't love Guyton.
I think he's not the type of wide receiver
that kills the Giants.
Jalen Waddell kills the Giants.
But Mike Williams.
That would play right into Palmer
and Jared Cook's hands then.
Yeah, Mike Williams is a slam dunk.
And Giants can't get pressure on anyone.
And that's when...
Oh yeah, if he plays, obviously.
That's when Herbert struggles,
I think is when his line breaks down and that's not going to happen in this
game.
So by the way,
they,
they obviously did travel across the country.
It's a matter of,
it was just right.
But yeah,
but they've been out.
It's like,
you know,
when you leave,
take a bus from Racine,
you know,
you start to get there.
Who's Lou.
That's the bus driver who leaves, remember?
Okay.
Anyway, that's the line I remember, not the pee scene.
All right, Dave, thank you for your time.
You got it, guys.
Enjoy your weekend.
I just want to be clear.
I'm not super enthused about Guyton,
but I do have him on at least one team,
and if both guys are out,
I'm going to be starting him this opportunity.
All right, Buffalo at Tampa Bay, Jamie.
So,
you know, this feels
like a tough game to break down, but I guess it probably
isn't, right?
Not really, no.
You're not concerned about
the Bucs passing game here?
Because of the Bills'
defense? Yeah.
No, I mean,
so last week was the first game without Tredavis White,
if I'm not mistaken, right?
He got hurt against the Saints
and then played against the Patriots.
That is correct.
And they held Mac Jones
to three pass attempts.
That is true.
They did lock down that passing game
with the Patriots.
I think Brady lights him up.
I think, you know,
without Antonio Brown there again,
and you know the three guys who are going to get their targets,
and they're all going to be, I guess, awesome.
So I'm starting full confidence, Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, and Rob Gronkowski.
And Brady, I think, is my number one quarterback this week.
Okay, and then Leonard Fournette.
I mean, this is still a tough matchup.
He has not been great in tough matchups, but he has so many catches.
He has 15 catches in his last,
in two of those tough matchups.
I mean, the Colts matchup was supposed to be tough.
Yeah, that was a great game.
I have his tough matchups as the Saints,
Washington, and the Colts.
He was great against the Colts, four touchdowns.
Packers, too, was a tough matchup.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm sorry, excuse me, the Colts. Four touchdowns. Packers, too. It was a tough matchup. Yeah. I mean, I'm sorry.
Excuse me.
The Patriots.
Not like the Bucs and not like the Saints and Washington and Colts, but sure.
He sucked against the Saints.
He had eight catches against Washington.
That saved his day, and he crushed the Colts.
I mean, look, we're splitting here.
You're starting here.
Okay.
Start Diggs.
No problem. Yes. I think it's going to be a huge we're splitting here. You're starting here. Okay. Start Diggs. No problem.
Yes.
I think it's going to be a huge game for Diggs.
Big game for Knox.
Big game for Josh Allen.
Big game for Knox.
Okay.
So talk about that.
And actually, talk about a couple things here.
A little sleeper.
A little sleeper.
Josh Allen's thrown 40 pass attempts in five games.
You could definitely see that happening here.
Cole Beasley has eight catches in all of them.
I hope so.
I just don't know if that rib injury's been a problem for him ever since he's been missing time in practice.
He just hasn't been the same guy.
I don't know what it is.
I don't know if it's just Allen going away from him.
Yeah, I don't know the reason for the lack of targets.
It might be the injury,
but Josh Allen just hasn't thrown that much lately.
And if you look at his last five games,
not including New England, sorry.
So the four games before the New England game,
because that was just a stupid game.
He did catch 19 of 23 targets.
So my just, I haven't been a DFS lineup.
I think if he gets a lot of targets, he'll come through.
And this could be one of those games, just based on what we've seen this year.
But why do you like Knox?
I just think you've seen, you know, when he's on the field,
he's been kind of the secondary option for Allen lately.
He's definitely the red zone threat.
So I think this game's going to get up and down.
It's a crappy week for tight ends.
I think he's got top five potential at the position.
Start him over Hawkinson?
I would, yes.
Start him over Hawkinson. I would, yes. Start him over
Pitts. Pitts over Schultz over Fant over, I would have told you start him over both guys last night.
I have ranked that way. He's after the top four. He's next for me.
Did you know that Rob Gronkowski per game is the number one tight end in either format?
I have such a tough choice to make Adam between starting either both Gronk and
Kittle in a,
in my guillotine league where there are five teams left.
Um,
and this,
this is the last week you,
you win,
you're in the tournament and,
and then it's just total points rest of the way.
So I'm down Keenan Allen and my flex choices are playing James Connor with Edmonds back,
which makes me nervous.
Javante Williams with Melvin Gordon back makes me a little nervous.
Or who I just picked up yesterday.
It's so much fun when you get down to the end in this league.
Like this, this is who I picked up off of waivers.
First come first serve yesterday after the last two guys with money spent their money.
I picked up Ezekiel Elliott over Barkley,
who was available, still available.
And Patrick Mahomes.
Wow.
That's how much people are down on Patrick Mahomes.
I think I'd probably go with Kittle, Zeke, Gronk.
That would be my flex rankings.
And play both of them?
Oh, you can start all of those guys?
No, play both tight ends? I'd start zeke over gronk but i'd start yeah i if pollard's out if pollard's out
but i'd start gronk over it's it's not a matter of winning it's just a matter of not losing and
thankfully thankfully i went looked first thing last night uh the guy i'm not gonna say his name
but because another analyst did not start Dalvin Cook.
Oh, Cook, by the way, was started.
I forgot to mention it started in 70% of leagues last night.
Part of that, I'm sure, is people are out of it.
Yeah.
200 yards and two touchdowns for him.
Okay.
But I should find this funny line if I can in the chat.
All right.
So that's more or less this game.
And
that's this game. Okay, great.
Let's go to our next game here.
Those need this game in a big, big way.
They got a break last night with Steelers losing.
It's really unbelievable that I still
feel like top to bottom they're the best team
in the league.
I don't know why I feel that way.
In the league? In the NFL.
I really do feel like their roster is the best in football,
and it's just not happening for them.
Okay, I'm still trying to find this funny comment.
I promise it's worth it.
Let's go to our next game.
Atlanta at Carolina.
This is an interesting one.
First game for Carolina without cornerback Dante Jackson.
We'll see how that plays out.
Sit Matt Ryan.
How much faith do you have in Cam Newton?
A good amount.
You know, to not say he's a slam dunk starter,
but he's in my top 12.
I have him ranked ahead of Kirk Cousins.
I unfortunately had him ranked ahead of Roethlisberger.
But I think you look at this matchup,
Atlanta is fourth in rushing yards allowed to quarterbacks. Last time these two teams met, Sam Darnold was a starter.
He had nine carries for 66 yards.
So he ran very well against this team.
And so, you know, Cam is now, you know, clearly the catalyst of this offense with Christian McCaffrey out.
So, you know, will they just, you know, turn and hand the ball off to Chuba Hubbard and Tamir Abdullah?
If this game gets, you know, in some sort of a shootout, if the Atlanta offense does manage to show up, then, you know, it's on Cam's shoulders to have to throw the ball a little bit more.
But I think this is a closer to the Washington game by far than it is closer to the Dolphins game of the two starts that he made.
So you'd start Cam over Carr?
Over Carr, over Ryan, over, like i said cousins um he's in very close proximity with russell wilson for me um you know so i'm not going to get cute and start him over
my homes or lamar jackson or the struggling stars but he's uh he's a top 12 quarterback
all right so you've um we'll stick with the panthers. Let's go to the Panthers. We do have one game of this running back setup.
No McCaffrey, but Hubbard and Abdullah.
Right, it was this game.
And that was, oh, why do I not have, oh, here it is.
Hubbard had 24 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown,
but only one catch.
Abdullah had eight carries and three catches.
That may have been Abdullah's first, no, it was his second game with the Panthers.
And his first game he only played on special teams.
I think, yeah, this was his first game like a full week of practice.
So Hubbard was the clear-cut running back.
You're probably not going to get a lot of catches from him, I think.
And that was not with Cam also. So anyway, where'd you end up with hubbard and abdullah uh hubbard and non-ppr
is a starter for me uh back in rb2 i think i'm 24 um like i'd start him in non-ppr for example
over kareem hunt if you want to you know name um i think if you're looking at uh ppr they're closer i still start
hubbard over abdullah but abdullah's kind of showing you even with mcafree on the field he's
going to be probably in the neighborhood of three to five catches and if uh if they're chasing points
they'll certainly be more involved so i don't mind him as a flex play in ppr but i wouldn't start him
in non-ppr and the falcons you might think oh they're the worst defense they're actually not
that bad against the run, but they
are bad against running backs in the passing
game. So that favors
Abdullah. You said you'd
start
Chuba Hubbard over Kareem Hunt
in non-PPR. What about in full PPR?
No, I'd start Hunt over him in PPR, just with
the hope of Kareem Hunt being Kareem Hunt.
Chuba Hubbard or Darrell Williams?
Oh, Hubbard in both formats. Chuba Hubbard or Darrell Williams? Oh, Hubbard in both formats.
Chuba Hubbard or Broncos
running backs? Both
Broncos running backs. So that might bump.
I haven't ranked Melvin Gordon yet, so that might bump down
Hubbard outside the top 24,
but he's the same range.
Titans running backs?
Foreman over Hubbard
in both formats,
because I think they're kind of similar in terms of what the reception total will be.
I would probably go Hilliard.
I just don't know what to make of Jeremy McNichol's role.
So maybe I'll stick with Hubbard over Hilliard in PPR still,
but that's where it's close.
Okay, you said DJ Moore.
I asked you about the flexes in this game.
DJ Moore is, well, the wide receivers and running backs,
number one with a bullet.
And
I guess I'm not quite as confident.
I know it's a great matchup, but
I don't have, I don't know.
Like his first, against Washington, he had
five catches, 50 yards, and a touchdown
on seven targets.
And against Miami,
I wish I had the breakdown of what came with
Cam and what came with PJ Walker, but he had 100 yards.
I think a lot of it came with P.J. Walker at the end.
Well, the huge catch came with Cam.
Against Miami.
Yeah, early in the game.
And that's a much tougher secondary.
I know A.J. Terrell's playing great, but...
You have to start D.J. Moore.
Atlanta's got the fifth most points allowed to wide receivers.
I wouldn't have to debate that.
All right, so that brings us to Cordell Patterson.
No doubt about it.
No brainer.
No doubt about it.
He's not very involved in the passing game lately.
He's got two to three catches in two straight games.
He's been really just a running back.
Okay, but start him.
And what about Russell Gage?
How do you feel about Russell Gage this week
coming off a 130-yard performance against the Bucs
who had been lights out against wide receivers.
How do you feel about Gage?
It's three solid games in a row for him.
Targets have been up.
I think it's nine or more targets in three straight, if I'm not mistaken.
And you can look at—
Seven or more.
Seven or more, excuse me.
Nine or more PBR points in three straight games.
If you look at it from the standpoint of the first time these two teams met,
I'm going to guess, not to it from the standpoint of the first time these two teams met, um,
I'm going to guess, uh, not to get into the psyche of any team, but they found out that day, the report came out, I think during the game that Calvin really was shutting it down
for his mental health concerns and personal reasons.
Uh, Gage didn't have a target in that game.
You know, I, I just wanted to like the whole offensive game plan was probably just tore up maybe that day.
And so it was a mess for them.
And Gage has certainly proven himself.
You know, I think if we go back to the beginning of the season,
the conversation we had about Russell Gage stepping into Julio Jones' role
or opportunity without Julio Jones there, it was he's kind of just a guy
and been just a guy.
He's proving that he's not just a guy, you know, with his performance lately
and Matt Ryan leaning on him.
So I think you kind of trust it. So not a
slam dunk. I do have him ranked as a starter in PPR,
but I don't think it's a slam dunk by any stretch.
But something that you can buy into as
a guy playing well in a good spot right now.
Gage or Mooney? Gage.
If Jeff
Wilson is the guy,
Gage or Jeff Wilson?
Wilson and non-PPR, Gage and PPR.
Okay, one more.
Let's do Gage or Sterling Shepard.
Gage.
Okay.
And that is pretty...
Oh, Kyle Pitts?
Oh my God.
You know, he's such an afterthought right now.
Starter Sid Kyle Pitts.
I have him ranked, I think, 11th
because the tight end position is really that bad.
But I would start Austin Hooper over Kyle Pitts this week. I did start Tyler Conklin over Pitts. Same with Pat
Fryermuth. So you can see where the position is and how I feel about it. The last time these two
teams met, it was Stephon Gilmore's, I think, first complete game. I think he played the week before,
but was just joining the team following trade, if I'm not mistaken. He said, according to reports, I want Pitts.
Pitts said after the game he saw some things from Stephon Gilmore
that he's never seen before and was very praiseworthy.
I'm going to guess they do something similar.
I don't know why they would go away from it because it was so successful.
So it could be another bad game for Kyle Pitts.
It's just been a bad fantasy tight end.
He's going to be awesome.
So, you know, Dynasty Keeper League,
don't panic and say he's terrible because he's not.
But he's just not trustworthy right now
as a slam dunk starting fantasy tight end.
Well, one of the problems is Matt Ryan
because I'm looking, so you look at the game log here
for Kyle Pitts and Matt Ryan, the last six games.
In four of those games, Matt Ryan has thrown for 146, 117, 153, and 190 yards.
I mean, that's awful.
In two of the games, he was at 297 against the Bucs and 343 against the Saints.
And in those two games, he had three catches for 62 yards.
At the Saints, he had four catches for 48 yards.
Neither of those are great, but they don't bury you.
You know, you can deal with that from a tight end.
If Ryan is just competent and gets to, you know, 250 yards,
then Pitt's probably be all right.
And the other thing is Ryan's just not throwing much lately.
He threw 41 times last week.
That was his first time in six games with more than 30 pass attempts.
And that is just so weird.
It's not like they're winning, you know, and running out
the clock. It's just they must not
be running a lot of plays.
So we'll see if they can kind of balance that out.
They've had a tough schedule, too.
Alright, that's it for that game.
Here's the comment I wanted to share with everybody.
It was from Scott Shanks.
If you take away the two times Dalvin Cook
quote, fell into the end zone, and all of his 20-yard runs,
he really didn't have that great of a game.
Hashtag AcerStats.
That's how it works, baby.
What do you think Alexander Madison would have done in that game?
150 yards and one or two touchdowns.
Yeah.
It would have been great.
All right, we'll take a break here.
When we come back Monday, oh, yeah, Monday night.
Love it.
Rams at Cardinals.
We'll break that one
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So this could be a great
Monday night game. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Jamie will tell me how the Manning cast was
and I'll be the one guy
in the country watching.
I think they're done.
I don't think they're doing it.
Oh, they're done?
Oh.
No, I think they have one more game
but I don't think it's this week.
Okay.
Rams and Cardinals.
Arizona fourth in scoring defense
and sixth in yards per play.
You know what we could do?
What?
We don't have to broadcast.
We could do our own Manning cast.
Like you and I just watch
the game together
like on Zoom. I think people would own Manning cast. Like, you and I just watch the game together, like on Zoom.
I think people would be really into that.
But you should know that my TV is ahead of yours,
so that's going to be a problem.
My TV is always ahead of everybody's.
But people would be into that.
I wouldn't be into that.
I don't want to do that.
I don't want to do that either.
All right.
Any hesitation with Stafford or Kyler Murray?
None.
Stafford probably a little bit more so than Kyler,
but I'm starting both.
I know what Heath said in terms of the implied total for the Rams,
that it's not as high as, like he said,
it's the same implied total as the Jets.
As the Saints, right?
Excuse me, as the Saints against the Jets, yes.
I think this game's going to be high scoring,
at least that's the hope.
I hope Stafford can get you north of 20 points
and at least similar to what he did last time was 23 points.
I think Kyler is going to have a great game
because I think he's locked in right now and healthy.
So this game has an opportunity to be fun.
These defenses are great.
It's not like last night's game where both defenses
were struggling to whatever extent.
And you saw the offenses expose that.
I think these offenses are going to play great.
And they'll show up and the quarterbacks will play well.
And hopefully all the offensive pieces play well also.
Oh, look at this.
Now I'm tempted.
Scott Fish, who's watching along right now.
By the way, Scott Fish, I have Ben Roethlisberger and Dalvin Cook in the Scott Fish Bowl.
So that's good.
I'm in for the Zoom Acer Jamie cast.
And now I'm tempted tempted now i'm tempted to
give this a shot oh man um what's up scott fish so yeah who doesn't uh okay so where were we here
scott you distracted me scott oh always running backs what what the heck are we doing with the Rams running backs?
If we get word that Daryl Henderson gets in a full practice by Saturday,
then I'm going to downgrade Sonny Michel,
which I have just outside the top 12.
I still would start Michel over Henderson right now,
and that might be silly come Monday. But I think just the comments from Sean McVay
and how Michel ran last week,
I think they'll give him the first opportunity to be the lead guy,
but I would be very concerned to start both of them.
Just knowing that the split could be messy and the production could be messy
as well.
So Rams lead running back or Barkley and Zeke Barkley and Zeke.
If we've,
if Henderson is limited all week,
then definitely those guys.
I just hope we get some sort of indication
that he's either 100% or not 100%.
This murkiness is really the frustrating part.
Yeah, it is.
But if you were 100%,
if it were a normal setup
where one guy's going to get almost all the work,
you'd have him wear top 12.
This is not a good running back.
I don't know if it's going to be him, though.
That's the problem.
No, I'm saying in theory, 12. This is not a good running back. I don't know if it's going to be him, though. That's the problem. No, I'm saying, in theory,
how much would you like
the starting running back if it was the normal setup?
If Henderson never got hurt two weeks ago
and he's been the guy all along, or
Tony Michel's the guy and Henderson's out, then I
would like that guy as a top 12 running back.
Okay.
Let's say Henderson's ruled out. Who would you start?
Connor or Michel? Michelle.
It's not going to be ruined out,
but I just ruled out.
I just want to know kind of perspective there.
Okay.
Rams wide receivers,
Cooper cups,
only bad game this year.
Only game with fewer than 92 yards was against this team.
Five catches,
64 yards on 13 targets.
Obviously you're starting him,
but this is the game for the other guys.
KJ Osborne. Once upon a time when both guys were
healthy, Thielen and Jefferson, he led Minnesota's wide receivers in fantasy points. Van Jefferson
in the first meeting led the Rams wide receivers. Donovan Peoples-Jones led the Cleveland wide
receivers. Ayuk was better than Debo in one of the two games that they played against the Rams.
Robbie Anderson, with a bad game, still led the Panthers wide receivers in fantasy points.
Tyler Lockett was much better than DK Metcalf,
if that matters to you.
And Jakeem Grant was much better than Darnell Mooney.
This is the other guy's game.
So, Van Jefferson, they are so good against number ones.
Van Jefferson, Odell Beckham, though,
what do you think about them this week?
Are they must starts?
I think Van Jefferson kind of is.
You know, you see now, he basically is, you know, you see now, um, he basically is,
you know, this is going back to right before Robert Woods got hurt. And then certainly in the,
in the, I think it's three games now without Woods, uh, seven or more targets every week,
you know, the last two weeks, it's nine plus targets. Um, he's, he's not consistent with
his reception total, but they're giving him enough chances that you have to like it. And I would
encourage everybody, uh, just to get a little glimpse of how Sean
McVay feels about his receivers.
There's a clip that's been trending this week of him calling out the Van
Jefferson touchdown last week and telling, you know,
Stafford to be patient for Beckham in the end zone and just how
congratulatory he was to both those guys when they came off the field and Van
Jefferson says to him, you know, thanks for sticking with me, coach.
I appreciate it. You know know it just seems like there's
a great bond and rapport going on and so the trust factor is there with these guys now beckham seems
to be fully locked in and bought into the system and seems to be you know uh the rapport growing
with uh with stafford so i like jefferson slightly better but i don't think beckham's a guy you shy
away from uh both these guys are certainly starters in three receiver leagues.
I'm starting Beckham in the one league where I have him,
which is the two receiver league.
So yeah, I think it's very encouraging,
given the potential of what this game could be.
Okay, and how about Van Jefferson,
or let's say Keenan Allen's out, Mike Williams?
Mike Williams would be the second best Los Angeles receiver this week.
I see.
Van Jefferson or Mike Williams if Keenan Allen plays?
So if Keenan Allen and Mike Williams are both there,
would you start? Oh, I see what you're saying.
So I would go Cup, Keenan, Van, Mike.
All right.
Can we say like beep beep for Van Jefferson?
Is that going to be our...
Is this a van?
No.
I thought you wanted like a Roadrunner thing.
I think maybe more like the Scooby-Doo van.
What does that one do?
I don't know.
Okay.
The 18 van.
I would have won my fantasy league
if it weren't for you damn kids.
All right.
Anyway, Zach Ertz and Tyler Higbee are either of them starters this week.
I have Ertz ranked as a starter just because I think the targets will be there
compared to last week because they'll throw more.
So, again, it's more about the week and how bad it is
than starting Zach Ertz with any confidence.
Cardinals, by the way, allow the fourth fewest fantasy points at tight ends. That's Higby's matchup.
He has one touchdown in his last seven games.
Cardinals really have a lot of good...
He has like four for 30, I think, and 36,
I think it was. In the first meeting?
Yeah. He had four for 36?
Well done. All right. Start
Kyler. Start Connor. If Chase Edmonds
plays, he would be in full
PPR. What?
A back-end starter flex.
It's just how healthy is the ankle?
What's his role going to be?
How much is he going to play?
How much will he take Conor off the field?
So it's more of, okay, do I want to trust him or can I fully trust him?
It's more for me, do I want to trust him?
I don't really have a lot of faith until I see it.
Yeah.
By the way, Jamie getting called out for the Roadrunner thing.
It's definitely meep, meep, not beep, beep.
Sorry, I apologize.
His kids watch other stuff, I guess.
No, they love Space Jam, man.
My kids love Space Jam.
Oh, is he in Space Jam, the Roadrunner?
I mean, Looney Tunes, buddy, come on.
Okay.
Would you start the Roadrunner?
Would you start Chase Edmonds or Deontay Foreman in full PPR?
Foreman.
Would you start Chase Edmonds or Donchell Hilliard in full PPR?
Edmonds.
DeAndre Hopkins.
All right, I got a bold prediction.
I think Jalen Ramsey is going to shadow DeAndre Hopkins.
He has basically not shadowed anyone this year,
but he more or less did with Devontae Adams in the Rams' most recent game two weeks ago.
And boy, he has done very well against DeAndre Hopkins.
So I think that's going to happen.
What do you think about this matchup here?
Hopkins, start or sit?
You have to start him.
Unless you're just loaded at wide receiver.
I don't think I'm starting Van Jefferson over DeAndre Hopkins.
I know I wouldn't.
I wouldn't start Donald Mooney over him.
I wouldn't start... I'd start Mike Williams over him
if he's the solo act.
Would you start Elijah Moore over him
if Moore plays?
I would.
I have it ranked that way right now, yes.
Okay.
I did the math,
and I wish I had been able to do it again
to proofread it.
So here is a potentially useless and incorrect stat,
but I think it's probably right.
I looked at every game that DeAndre Hopkins has played
against either Jacksonville or the Rams when Jalen Ramsey was on the team.
And in the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 games,
he has a 49.6% catch rate,
averages 5.46 yards per target.
He has averaged 12 targets per game.
A lot of that was with Houston,
where it's Hopkins to Hopkins,
but only caught 60 of 121 targets
for 661 yards and four touchdowns.
If that stat is right, and I hope it is, but only caught 60 of 121 targets for 661 yards and four touchdowns.
If that stat is right, and I hope it is, it's pretty impressive how bad he's been and how good the Ramsey teams have been against Hopkins.
I don't know what percentage of the snaps Ramsey followed him,
but I know it was a lot back in the day.
They really battled, and Ramsey got the best of him.
So we shall see.
Yeah, I mean, just, you know, Hopkins,
I don't think last week is an indication
of where his health is at,
because playing in the rain, sloppy game,
you know, not a lot of attempts and volume.
They have such a loaded receiving core.
You know, Kyler doesn't have to go to him
if he doesn't want to.
And, you know, we haven't seen this whole group together
very much with the Ertz coming to the team. You know, we haven't seen this whole group together very much with the arts coming
to the team.
You know,
so you have arts,
Rondell Moore,
AJ green,
Christian Kirk Hopkins.
They're all healthy.
Now,
if Edmund comes back,
they're all healthy.
So Kyler's got so many weapons at his disposal.
This game is for the division.
You know,
I mean,
this is going to decide,
I think who wins the NFC West.
Who wins it?
Who do you like?
The Cardinals.
All right.
By the way,
Deandre Hopkins does have a career high
in catch rate and yards per target this year.
He is one of seven wide receivers with eight or more touchdown catches.
He has 51 targets.
The other six wide receivers with eight or more touchdown catches
all have at least 84.
So his touchdown rate is through the roof.
Real quick, which DST do you like better?
Cardinals.
And this is a week where you can get away from these DSTs if you want,
but you might not want to drop them, but there are some great streamers.
All right, Jamie, three games left.
We got to go.
Dallas at Washington, stat of the game.
This really jumped out to me.
Amari Cooper, he's had such a disappointing year,
but he has faced teams that currently rank 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 9th, 13th, 15th,
and 31st against wide receivers. teams that currently rank second, third, sixth, seventh, ninth, thirteenth, fifteen, and thirty-first
against wide receivers. I am not counting Atlanta and New Orleans. Those were arguably his best
matchups, and unfortunately, he was limited in both of those games, so he didn't come through.
But he had a game against Minnesota with Cooper Rush. That's really been his best matchup,
and he tore them up. Bottom line, Jamie, Amari Cooper has had a gauntlet of a schedule,
and that has contributed to his struggles.
This is not one of those weeks.
You like him this week, right?
I do.
My computer's frozen right now, and I don't want to touch the camera one,
but if you want to look up his history, if you have a CBS Sports page up,
go to Cooper's page, go to his last five tab, and opponent.
And he's done amazing against Washington since coming to Dallas.
So I think, you know, this, this doesn't, this isn't a squeaky wheel game,
but Mike McCarthy said this, you know, he's, he's not limited anymore.
He's, he's a hundred percent healthy. Again,
they've had time off for the first time in over a month to kind of rest and
recoup.
Ooh, that's a pretty good history right there.
I think he goes off this week.
I really do.
508 yards and four touchdowns in his last five games against Washington.
By the way, I don't think.
And the one last year was without Dak.
I don't think that you could possibly know how much time you just saved me.
I had no idea about this feature.
It has been a real pain in the ass to look up player history against teams.
Are you kidding me?
I had no idea about this feature.
Can I tell you that I scream every year, and these guys are amazing. Our tech staff is awesome. I
know that probably pisses some people off to hear that because of some of the struggles, sometimes their life scoring, but you know, that's not their, their control. Uh, but they
always forget the first week of the season to include the last five games of last year.
They don't turn this on until I tell them to until like week five, like they think it's last
five. Like they wait. I'm like, no, no, no, please. I don't care if nobody else uses it, but me.
This amazing. All right. You can hit last five on a player page.
You can get overall his last five games.
You can get versus the opponent, after wins and losses,
at a venue, at home, on the road, in and out of division.
This is a grass and turf.
I just became a better fantasy analyst.
Thank you, Jamie.
Well, everybody just became.
See, this is what happens.
People think we're like these geniuses that know all this information. No, everybody just became, see, this is what happens. You know, people think we're like these geniuses
that know all this information.
No, we just click buttons.
Basically.
All right, so we like Amari Cooper.
Do you like him better than Van Jefferson?
Yes.
No, he's a top 12 receiver for me.
Oh, top 12.
Wow.
Do you like him better than Terry McLaurin?
Yes.
Is McLaurin going to have one of his good games
or one of his bad games?
So this is, I probably should,
or maybe one of you guys did include it in the like but don't love.
I hope this is.
I mean, you're starting Terry McLaurin, but it's just been tough to trust him.
Four huge games, seven disappointing games so far this year.
Dallas allows the fourth most fantasy points to wide receivers.
Everything sets up well for him.
They just haven't really been throwing that much lately.
They're winning. They're four and one in their last five games. They haven't given really been throwing that much lately. They're winning.
They're four and one in their last five games.
They haven't given up more than 21 points in any of those games.
And in those games, Taylor Heineke is averaging 5.1 fewer pass attempts per game
than he was from weeks two to whatever when they were losing all the time.
And so that's five straight games with eight or fewer targets for Terry McLaurin.
He's top 20 for everybody.
Jamie's actually the low guy on him.
So I think he has him 22nd in PPR, actually.
I know it's going to be really hard to sit McLaurin,
but what you're hoping for is Dallas does its part and Washington has to throw.
Yeah, I'll probably move him up a few spots.
That does feel low.
So you're going to start Lamb.
You're going to start Cooper.
What about Gallup?
I wouldn't do it you know this is you know he's had nine or more targets in three straight games and two of
those were without amart cooper uh one and a half of those were without cd lamb you know so everybody
healthy now it's just tough to trust wait we have a real negative nancy in the chat today maddie 16 i think you probably just want me to
call you out like you seem to want attention he hates us why is he's killing us says we suck
he says jamie you're not a genius why oh you are uh nobody thinks you're a genius jamie so
i think you should probably leave that it It's just a piece of advice.
Um,
how do you feel?
You think I think I'm a genius,
Adam?
No,
no.
You said a comment about,
uh,
we're not geniuses.
We have these buttons,
whatever.
And I said,
yeah,
yeah,
right.
Exactly.
Get out of here,
Maddie.
Dak Prescott.
You love him this week.
Oh,
of course.
Yeah.
Slam dunk.
If Tony Pollard plays, is Zeke a start?
This Washington run defense is damn good.
I'm going to guess the fact that he's a game-time decision
and how they've used him.
I don't know how much he's going to touch the ball, to be honest.
This is a pain tolerance thing.
And the stuff I was reading that suggested it could be a week or two until he starts to – because it's a complete tear.
And usually those are better.
I was playing with Fasha.
Yeah.
So unless I'm saying the wrong thing, which I apologize especially to the negative Nancy, that it sounded as if in a week or two, it'll start to feel better playing on it.
So I don't know.
I'm going to guess they probably try to limit his touches.
All right.
So if he doesn't play, Zeke, does he enter the top 12 or 15 or what?
No, still top 15.
It's just tough to say he's fully back.
I like the setup.
Like I said, I like the fact that he's rested.
I like the fact that Pollard may not be there.
He's had consistently throughout this mess the high-level touches,
you know, the goal line opportunities and the passing down work.
So now if he gets a few more opportunities between the 20s,
and like you said, Adam, the Dallas offense shows up.
If they're playing with the lead, you know, he'll be the clock killer.
And if they're, you know, doing things to get to the lead,
he'll be involved as well.
So you're obviously still starting him. You guys have Gibson as a top five running back.
If McKissick plays, where does Gibson end up?
Still top ten.
I mean, he's been awesome.
He has been, but they've been able to win.
I feel like they'll be competitive.
They're playing pretty damn well.
So if they're competitive, he should be fine.
You just don't want to see them get crushed
because that's obviously bad for Gibson.
I don't know. They will get crushed. I don't think they
will. Right. But the possibility
exists. I mean, they could still
lay an egg, but hey, whatever.
It's hard to predict game script
this year, so I'm going to try to stop doing it.
J.D. McKissick
himself looks like he's trending in the right direction.
Start or sit?
I would sit him certainly in non-PPR.
I think he's a flex in PPR.
You like McKissick or Chase Edmonds if they both play?
I would probably start Edmonds just based on what Gibson has done.
Taylor Heineke or Cam Newton?
Cam.
I don't love Heineke.
I mean, I think he's fine, but you've kind of seen what he's become.
You mentioned this, and a lot of it obviously is because they've been winning games,
but I don't think they want to ask him to have to throw to that extent.
So you need probably a double-digit deficit going into the fourth quarter
for him to be successful.
Okay, Heineke or Russell Wilson?
Wilson.
And then do you like a tight end in this game?
Don't love Schultz.
Don't love Bates.
Would probably be okay with Ricky Seals-Jones if he plays, but not as a slam dunk must-start.
Schultz or Pitts?
Schultz.
Do you like a DST in this game?
Not particularly, but I
give a slight lean toward Dallas. It's very weird.
I think they're the number two DST in fantasy, and nobody
has them in the top 12 this week
against Washington.
The turnovers.
Yeah.
Well, they can do that.
All right, Chicago at Green Bay.
Do you have confidence,
like a lot of confidence in any Chicago bear?
I mean, Montgomery still, but not fully.
Like, I don't want to buy into last week
and say he's completely back to the guy that we thought he was going to be,
especially that he's banged up.
Right, and you just can't expect all of the past eight catches last week.
You can't expect that with Justin Fields.
That's my issue here.
His role in the passing in Fields is very little.
Let's see how quickly you can do this.
Ready?
David Montgomery has played two games at Lambeau Field.
Oh.
Hold on. What are his stats at Lambeau Field?
I'm going to go to his player page.
I'm going to click last five.
And here it is, last five.
Well, Jamie, let me tell you something.
I happen to have one of the slowest computers
in new york versus opponent no no venue oh but i can still just look at akron bay he had 14 carries
for 39 yards that was i believe his rookie season his first game that was 2019 and he had 11 for 103
and a 40 yard and 40 yards and a touchdown receiving in 2020.
That was his big stretch, right?
Yeah.
That actually was, I want to say, the first of his big stretch.
Yeah, it might have been.
So Packers run defense is pretty solid.
All right, let's sum it up.
Montgomery or Zeke?
Montgomery, if Pollard plays.
Zeke, if Pollard's up.
Montgomery or James Robinson? Montgomery. Zeke Montgomery Apollo plays Zeke Apollo's up Montgomery
or James Robinson
Montgomery Montgomery
or Amari Cooper
Cooper Hunter
Renfro Renfro all
right Darnell Mooney
you said he's a number
three receiver talked
about him earlier Alan
Robinson is a sit.
Cole Komet, starter sit.
I would sit him, but if you're stuck,
PPR, certainly over non-PPR,
still looking for his first touchdown.
And unfortunately, Jimmy Graham continues to take those away from him.
Yeah, and unfortunately, Justin Fields
just doesn't really throw a lot of them.
Aaron Rodgers is top four.
He's number one for Dave.
Tell me about the Packers running backs. Who's the best running back in this game? I haven't ranked Aaron Jones,
David Montgomery, AJ Dillon, all three as starters. I think you look at the Packers and
I would just assume, and I could be wrong. So if you want to start AJ Dillon over Jones,
if you have both, I get it. The fact that Aaron Jones is hopefully fully
healthy, I would assume he's fully healthy,
that he gets his workload back.
He's the lead rusher of a very strong
tandem. I don't have a problem starting
both.
This is funny. In one league last week,
because I was stuck and it worked
out, non-PPR, I had to start
both Patriots. I started both Damian
Harris and Ramondre Stevenson, and
it was great against the
Bills. This week,
because of my weeks and injuries, I'm
starting both Packers running backs in
that same league.
If you're curious, who's going to be the short yardage
guy? We really don't know, but
A.J. Dillon is great there.
I went and I watched a lot of his short yardage
stuff a couple weeks ago, and he's just bulldozing people.
But Aaron Jones has 15 carries on second or third down
with one to three yards to gain.
And he has converted 13 of 15 of them.
And a lot of times he converts with a five-yard gain,
a six-yard.
He has actually been tremendous in short yardage.
They have two very good options.
He's been tremendous at the goal line
throughout his career, too.
Yeah, I mean, they have two great options here, for sure.
Really interested to see how this one
plays out. The Bears' run defense
is not a layup, but
not
great. Akeem Hicks looks like he's trending toward
playing. This just feels like
the tidal wave will overwhelm
the Bears at some point.
Yeah, and that's another thing. I feel like the Packers
are going to really get
to Justin Fields one way
or the other. Devontae Adams
start. What about
MVS? He is 41%
rostered. He's another guy that you could go beat the waiver on,
especially next week against Baltimore.
What about MVS? How do you feel about him?
Is he the
second best wide receiver in this game, or would you start Mooney
over MVS?
I think I'd give Mooney the respect and still start him over if i have to make that decision but this is definitely a high upside play you know and so um if you if you look at it the
targets i think it's now three straight games with eight or more targets for mvs uh definitely
two straight two two straight uh it might i think it's just two straight. Yeah.
Sounds right.
Nine to ten targets.
I think the stat line that KJ Osborne got you last night
feels kind of MBS-ish.
Chicago allows the 10th most fantasy points to wide receivers.
MBS could always come back with a four-target game with one catch.
There's such a low floor for him, but it kind of makes sense.
There's no Randall Cobb.
And perhaps Aaron Jones not really being involved to help MBS
because he's a huge part of the passing game.
I know they like Josiah DeGuara,
but they're still trying to figure out Robert Tunyon's replacement in the offense.
So Rodgers not trusting his tight end as much,
using more MVF.
And Rodgers is a bit of a fighter.
They need him.
He's not the key to them being a strong Super Bowl contender.
Was he silly to say that?
But he's the difference of what this offense doesn't have
when he's not there.
Yeah, yeah, they need an X factor.
All right, Giants at Washington. Nope.
Giants at the Chargers. Last game
on the slate.
Is Barkley the only Giant you're starting?
I think Shepard's in play
in PPR and three receiver leagues if he goes.
Not a slam dunk.
I would have told you
to play Osborne over him.
I would have told you, and I will tell you
that if there's no Mike Williams or Keenan Allen, play Jalen Guyborne over him. I would have told you, and I will tell you that if there's no Mike,
there's no Mike Williams or Keenan Allen play Jalen Guyton over him. Um, if there's no Keenan
Allen, but there is Mike Williams, I play separate over Guyton, but I think if you,
you know, I like Russell gauge better. I like, um, I like MBS better.
The, the, uh, chargers have allowed seven rushing touchdowns to running backs in their
last six games.
Chris Harris also probably is,
is something to keep an eye on too.
Yeah.
Right.
He,
I don't know if he's going to play and Asante Samuel.
He is,
he was limited.
So I think he's going to finally play.
He's missed it.
Chris Harris is in the COVID protocols.
Okay.
So for the chargers, what about Justin Herbert?
I probably shouldn't have waited an hour and 20 minutes to talk about him.
Well, you asked. Dave told you he's still a top-toe guy.
I will start Taysom Hill over Justin Herbert if the receivers are out,
even if one of them are out.
So if Keenan Allen definitely is out, then I start Taysom Hill.
If both are out, then it's easy.
If both are out, I probably would start Cam Newton over Justin Herbert. I just don't know where the
ceiling lies for him. Could be awesome
still.
I don't know if you're going to make a transaction to get away from
Justin Herbert unless you're in such a must-win situation.
It's not great not
having those guys. I know you said you had the one good game
without Allen on the field,
but not having Allen, not having Williams, I don't want
to rely on Jalen Guyton, Josh Palmer, and Jared Cook.
If you want to hear more about this particular game and the passing game,
please go to about the 35-minute mark of this podcast
where I asked David to start about the Chargers wide receivers,
and we got into this game and what to expect from the passing game.
Start Austin Eckler.
He could be easily the number one running back this week.
And who's a better tight end, Jared Cook or Evan Ingram?
If the receivers are out, Cook, for sure.
Any of the receivers.
Okay.
And the Chargers DST is top five.
And that is it for a marathon show.
Thanks for being with us, especially Maddie.
If you're still with us, If not, have a decent weekend.
Just to Maddie. Everybody else can have a great one.
I'm going to go pee like Tom Hanks.
I'm going to eat some breakfast.
Jimmy Dugan. Mr. Dugan!
Thanks, everybody.
We'll talk to you on the mailbag.
What's this?
We're still not
hitting the cutoff.
It's amazing.
Alright, we're out.
See ya.