Fantasy Football Today - Week 1 Recap: J.K. Dobbins, Winners and Losers (09/10 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: September 11, 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 We've got the biggest winners (1:40) and los...ers (5:55) from Week 1! Kenneth Gainwell needs to be rostered and Brandon Aiyuk needs to be started. Drake London and Christian Kirk were total duds. What do we make of it all? What does the Ravens backfield look like after the unfortunate injury to J.K. Dobbins (9:30)? And who are the top waiver wire adds this week (11:48)? Kyren Williams? Puka Nacua? ... Buy or Sell (14:45) on the Falcons backfield, Anthony Richardson, Lamar Jackson and more. Then we've got more big news (22:15), more winners (25:10) like Michael Pittman and Ken Walker and more losers (30:45) including Rachaad White and Dameon Pierce ... Recapping each game with our Fantasy thoughts (39:30) ... 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 00:01:43 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. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Oh, Sunday night. Here we are, recapping week one. And it was a pretty lackluster week one until the late game, saving the day.
Starting point is 00:02:08 Why don't you guys guess in PPR the five highest scorers in all positions? Tariko. That's number one. Tuatunga Bailoa. That's tied for number two. That's probably decimal points ahead of the other guys, so we'll give them number two. Eckler. Nope.
Starting point is 00:02:25 McCaffrey? Nope. No. McCaffrey's teammate. Jalen Warren. Oh, Brandon Ayuk? Brandon Ayuk, number three. And another wide receiver.
Starting point is 00:02:39 Oh, no. A former wide receiver quarterback combo that now are on different teams, but both had big games. In the four o'clock window. Why am I blanking on it? Oh, uh, Jordan Love and the Byers. Jacobi Byers and Mac Jones.
Starting point is 00:02:56 How many points did Mac have? 29 points. He is QB2. On the waiver wire in most leagues. How about it? All right, welcome, everybody. Sunday night, we try to recap as much as we can. It's going to be a long show. Put your seatbelt on. Adam, Dave, and Heath.
Starting point is 00:03:11 Let's start with our biggest winner. Give me one. Biggest winner, Heath. No. Gosh darn it, Adam. You told me to send you in the three winners. I thought we were going to do an intro thing. You were going to ask me a question.
Starting point is 00:03:23 Maybe a theme song. Yes. I'd already just completely forgotten do an intro thing. You were going to ask me a question. Maybe a theme song. Yes. I'd already just completely forgotten about the guys that I sent you as winners. My biggest winner, it has to be Kenny. Kenny G. Kenneth Gainwell. There were some beat writer training camp battles going on with the reports of the Eagles backfield and who was going to lead and who was getting the first team snaps.
Starting point is 00:03:51 And it was all Kenny Gainwell. Complete and utter domination, I believe. Last time, one carry each for DeAndre Swift and Boston Scott. They both got three yards on those carries. They threw it to DeAndre Swift twice. One time, he completely whiffed and dropped the pass. The other time, he caught it and gained zero yards. And he had more catches somehow than Dallas Goddard,
Starting point is 00:04:15 who we'll talk about a little bit later. But Gainwell, holy cow, 14 carries, four catches, and he gets Minnesota next week. He is 54% rostered. Is Kenneth Gainwell, Kenny Gain% rostered. Is Kenneth Gamewell, Kenny Gamewell, whatever the heck his name is, the number one waiver wire priority? There are some other ones, obviously, of Kyron Williams,
Starting point is 00:04:32 Puka Nakua, Gus Edwards. Obviously, we'll talk about Dobbins, unfortunately. Who's the number one waiver wire priority? We had a very sad Jamie when we were watching games this afternoon because of Dobbins. Until the start of the week started playing, I would presume.
Starting point is 00:04:46 He started to perk up a little. But he was sad about Dobbins. Who's the number one waiver wire priority? It's Gainwell for me. I think you've got to make a big move. One of the best offenses in the NFL, and of all the splits that we saw this week,
Starting point is 00:05:06 this one wasn't close. Yeah. Are you worried that it could end up being a mirage? Oh, it could be, but I don't know what better indicator you're going to take a shot at on what offense. Because I think they want to try and tailor how they use the running backs
Starting point is 00:05:22 based on the opponents that they have. Now, in saying that, I would have told you before the game that DeAndre Swift was the best opponent that they could have gone with against the Patriots, and they decided that they felt best with Gainwell in the backfield. Did he do well enough in this game to warrant another
Starting point is 00:05:38 week where the Eagles don't need Rashad Penny when they're playing on a short week? The other thing to consider is, look, we're just talking about picking someone up on the waiver wire. We're not talking about calling him a must start. This wasn't the best offense for running backs. They did throw to him a lot today.
Starting point is 00:05:56 He had four catches, but they steal. Hurd steals a lot of touchdowns. Miles Sanders was basically a workhorse last year, and he was just outside the top 20 per game. But in terms of getting someone on your roster, Kenneth Gainwell getting pretty much all of the running back touches is very exciting. Dave, who's your biggest winner?
Starting point is 00:06:13 First of all, did my connection just die? I think maybe a little bit. Yeah, but you're back. Who's your biggest winner other than your wide way? Let's just make it easy and say Brandon Ayuk is someone you don't have to ask questions about for fantasy for the foreseeable future. The only pushback I'm going to give it all and I wish I would have I moved them closer this week than I had them in my draft rankings but I'd mentioned before that
Starting point is 00:06:36 Jacob Gibbs had talked about how great Iuke is at earning targets when they play teams that play a lot of man and Dave I asked you earlier this week does Pittsburgh play a lot of man or a lot of zone? Most teams, I think 70% of teams, play a lot more zone than they do man. Yep. And Pittsburgh is one of those man-heavy teams. They were playing early, and it killed them. It absolutely crushed them. So I don't know if they go back to playing a zone team next week
Starting point is 00:07:00 that this performance has any impact on his target share. I don't know. I think he's gonna have built-in upside that fantasy managers are gonna want to put in their lineup no matter who they play and it's the ram next week ram's surprise their defense was definitely surprising in this game in their game against seattle man they whooped seattle that was the biggest surprise they really did in the second half seattle had no shot. The biggest losers. Dave, give me one big loser. The biggest loser that I'm
Starting point is 00:07:28 coming up with first and foremost is Drake London, who not only had no catches, but one target and it's in this very familiar looking Falcons offense that only threw the ball 18 times. How many more
Starting point is 00:07:44 games are we going to have like this where Ritter doesn't have a lot of pass attempts? Now there was, I believe he had to play a catch called back by a penalty, but that's not of any consolation to anybody. This is a mess and I think Drake London kind of takes IUK's place on the, do I start him? How do I feel about starting him? Could he be any good? Could he be a bust? I am particularly nervous about Drake London.
Starting point is 00:08:10 All right. Well, we saw Green Bay put up a big number today. The next three games for Drake London and Desmond Ritter are Green Bay, Detroit, and Jacksonville. So you've crossed your fingers. Hope that they actually have to throw a little bit more. But yeah, Drake London, T. Higgins, and Dallas Goddard combined for zero. Is that right?
Starting point is 00:08:27 Yeah, zero yards, right? Zero yards for those three guys combined? London, Higgins, Goddard. Yes, and as many yards as Dave Richard, Heath Cummings, and Adam Atherton. Heath, who's your biggest loser? I really wanted to keep this positive and just talk about all the good performances this week. But I'll say Christian Kirk.
Starting point is 00:08:42 It was a disaster. Zay Jones, way more involved than Kirk was. I look dumb on that one. Again, everything that we're talking about is one week, and week two could look completely different.
Starting point is 00:08:57 There's going to be a lot of things that are like that, but this felt really bad. 42 of 69 snaps for Christian Kirk. Not even a full-time player. Ridley played 56. Where's Zay Jones on here? Oh, he played even more than Ridley.
Starting point is 00:09:14 61 snaps. What I will say, and we'll talk about Jacksonville plenty later. Like one of my winners was Trevor Lawrence because Calvin Ridley was just so, so good. I watched a lot of that game. I didn't think Lawrence played particularly well or looked very comfortable. I wonder if maybe
Starting point is 00:09:36 that could change that Kirk could get on the field more, but he didn't have a whole lot of success outside of throwing to Ridley. All right. So big winners, Kenneth Gainwell, Brandon Ayuk, big losers, Drake London, Christian Kirk.
Starting point is 00:09:50 We have many more winners and losers to talk about. We have injuries to talk about. Michael Pittman was a winner. Ken Walker, Zay Flowers. Wow. I am so regretful that I didn't draft any Zay Flowers. That guy is electric. And let's go through...
Starting point is 00:10:06 Can't say I feel the same. Good for you. Well, no, because you drafted him, not because you don't regret not having him. We've got plenty of programming for you. Be on the box score tomorrow, looking like 11.30 a.m. Eastern if you want to watch it live. It'll be published shortly thereafter, maybe more like 1.30.
Starting point is 00:10:22 And we have a stream Monday night. Join us for our 7.30 p.m. stream before Monday Night Football to answer some waiver wire questions. And if you have any last-minute lineup advice for the one game, which a lot of people do actually, we'll be there. YouTube.com slash FantasyFootball today. All right, the big news, part one.
Starting point is 00:10:37 There's a lot of big news today. Let me just kind of run through some of the injuries we'll talk about. We're going to focus on Dobbins now. But Deontay Johnson left. Anthony Richardson appears fine. He left just short of run through some of the injuries we'll talk about. We're going to focus on Dobbins now, but Deontay Johnson left. Anthony Richardson appears fine. He left just short of the goal line in the last minute of the game. Mike Williams came back. He was evaluated for concussion.
Starting point is 00:10:54 Aaron Jones didn't seem too serious, but he left in the fourth quarter of a blowout with a hamstring. Update on Cooper Cup. Update on Jonathan Taylor. Evan Hull. All right. Evan Hull does not belong in the same group as Cupp and Taylor, but he did get injured. Austin Eckler is one that we have to check.
Starting point is 00:11:09 He didn't play in the last four minutes of the game. A lot of carries for Josh Kelly. He might be the number one waiver option if there's any absence for Eckler. In fact, I'd say he probably would be if there's any absence for Eckler. J.K. Dobbins tore his Achilles, and it sucks. What a guy, man, just being robbed of a great career, all these injuries. But let's look at waiver wire here.
Starting point is 00:11:34 Gus Edwards, I don't think he had a carry, maybe one before the injury, but he then had a roll. He had eight carries after. There's Justice Hill. Who was the clear, like it seemed to me clear goal line back clear inside the five back. Who is this Hill?
Starting point is 00:11:51 Justice Hill. Two point conversion was, he was in there for at least four plays. I think inside the five, I've got the numbers. Give me one second. He played three of three snaps inside the 10 after the Dobbins injury, six or seven on third and fourth down.
Starting point is 00:12:05 Someone told me that he was going to be a sleeper this year. Kind of didn't believe him because I thought JK Dobbins would be really good. Now justice Hill is going to get an opportunity after the injury. It was really close to 50, 50 justice Hill, 52% of the snaps. And then again,
Starting point is 00:12:18 six of seven snaps on third and fourth down all three of their snaps inside the 10. So do you guys want to pick up Justice Hill? What's your interest level there? That he's never had more than 10 carries in a game. He also averaged less than two yards a carry in this game. He feels like fool's gold. Yeah, I would assume that it's Kareem Hunt and Leonard Fournette.
Starting point is 00:12:42 And Kareem, will you now play for what we were going to offer you? And if no, we'll sign Leonard Fournette. What does this mean for all of the other Ravens? I mean, we have seen this story before. We've seen them go with the retreads of Latavius Murray and Devante Freeman. And I feel like it's really worth it. If somebody seizes 15 touches in that backfield, then we're going to end up starting them as a flex.
Starting point is 00:13:03 I'm sorry. What does it mean for Lamar Jackson and Co., if anything? I think if Andrews is back, he can be fine. All right. We've got more big news a little bit later. Let's do some buy or sell.
Starting point is 00:13:18 Wait, wait. I'm sorry. Let's go back to that because it is the big storyline here. I fooled Schaefer there. Put up the new lower third. Sorry. Hill is a top priority over Edwards. I would go Hill over Edwards. I don't feel good about either one, to be honest with you.
Starting point is 00:13:36 Kyron Williams or Ravens running back? Williams. I guess Williams. That's very much in pencil for me Gainwell's Gainwell's in a different category than oh my gosh such a different stratosphere yeah okay what uh all right what about Puka Nakua if I don't need a running back desperately then yes Nakua would be ahead of those guys too. Except Gainwell. Maybe even ahead of Gainwell. I'd go Gainwell, Puka, Hill, Kelly for now, but let's see. Puka was impressive, but I just think the Rams overall
Starting point is 00:14:16 were very, very impressive. Anyone else we're forgetting here, waiver wire-wise? I mean, we'll get questions about Tutu Atwell, who had also a very good game um other names that we're forgetting about i don't know what the roster ship is on nico collins if jacoby myers is okay i'm pretty sure we'll get some questions on him nico 72 percent okay uh because he had a really great game for a tight end. What's Roshan at?
Starting point is 00:14:49 Roshan is 73%. 73%. Yeah, he was playing earlier, though, and he had six catches, too. He did. What is Sean Tucker at? He had four catches. Roshan Johnson had four of his six catches after it was 38-14. Right.
Starting point is 00:15:06 I think that was a little garbage time. But he looked great, didn't he? I mean, Sean Tucker's only 11% rostered. Okay. So Tucker's a deep stash. I'll give you a name shallower, but if I have any quarterback concerns, I mean, should we start buying into Brock Purdy? He just, he's good.
Starting point is 00:15:23 I think he's good. And he's very smart. Makes good decisions. Yeah. Yeah. good. I think he's good. He's very smart. Makes good decisions. Seems to know what he's doing out there. I mean, what's Jordan Love's percentage? It's got to be higher than Purdy. Maybe. No, it's not. It's lower. Jordan Love's 54%.
Starting point is 00:15:37 I'd go in that direction first because he's putting up numbers and he'll eventually get Christian Watson back. Okay. I still don't really buy party. I'm sorry. And I know if you're a pretty fan, you have every right to laugh at us and be happy right now,
Starting point is 00:15:50 but I just don't really buy it. Romeo Dobbs, 67% rostered. That's a, he caught two touchdowns. How many snaps did he play? Dave Romeo Dobbs. I happen to have it in front of me.
Starting point is 00:16:03 You're going to have to give me a second. Curious to know. While front of me. You're going to have to give me a second. I'm curious to know. While you do that. Got it. There's 29 of 60 snaps. And remember, he was on a snap count because of his hamstring. Buy or sell time.
Starting point is 00:16:17 Here we go. Buy or sell. Tyler Algier with his 15 carries compared to 10 for Bijan and two rushing touchdowns in the goal line work for Tyler Algier. Tyler Algier will prevent Bijan Robinson from being a fantasy superstar. Sal. He really shouldn't. It's just like...
Starting point is 00:16:40 And Bijan was obviously great today. Six catches, what, he had 19 fantasy points. So he didn't prevent was obviously great today. Six catches, what do you have? 19 fantasy points. So he didn't prevent him from it today. But I mean, they got freaking Kyle Pitts and Drake London combining for two catches for 44 yards. I don't know why I would trust that he's not going to give Algier 15 carries and Bijon 10 carries all season long. I don't think there's any reason to ascribe any sort of sensibility to the way this goes.
Starting point is 00:17:11 And they might still win too. They won. Yeah. Like his priorities are not our priorities. Buy or sell. Kyron Williams is the best Rams running back for fantasy purposes. Bye. I struggle because I don't think he's a particularly talented
Starting point is 00:17:33 three down type of a running back. I think he's better in passing down situations. I know he scored a couple of short yardage touchdowns. Everybody's excited about that. Clearly, it's going to be a mess with that backfield, and they're not going to be. I'd be surprised if the Rams are this good every week. I am going to...
Starting point is 00:17:53 I'm doing a lookup now, so Dave's going to have to answer the next one or two because how many... Who was the last guy that had 20-plus carries for fewer than 30 yards? Gotta look up Zeke against Tennessee. I don't know if he got that. Cam Akers had 22 carries for 29 yards today.
Starting point is 00:18:16 Yeah, that's a fair point. So you're thinking maybe the coaching staff will see that and say, forget about this. Let's just go with Kyron Williams. Well, they've done that once or twice in Akers career already. I know. So, and they eventually come back to him. How many of those carries were late? Maybe I don't, I don't, I'm not making, no, early in the game, he was out before he scored his two touchdowns before acres. Oh, I know that. I know that. I'm just, I'm trying to think about like,
Starting point is 00:18:45 is Cam Akers getting just a bunch of carries and he doesn't really care what he does with them. They're just trying to kill the clock. I don't know. I can't say if that's it. Look, it was bad. Okay. All right, let's move on.
Starting point is 00:18:57 Anthony Richardson is a must start quarterback buy or sell. Oh, 100% buy. He's at Houston next week. Buy it. Much better passer than he's ever looked in his life. At Houston, by the way. And he still missed a bunch of throws.
Starting point is 00:19:14 The team that allowed the fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks last year and just held Lamar Jackson to a pretty lousy game. Adam, I want to talk about this for a second. Yeah, go ahead. Because even I was a little bit wrong here, and that's what I was going to talk about with the Michael Pittman winner thing. I was so impressed in one regard
Starting point is 00:19:34 and a little bit disappointed in the other at the way he handled the pocket. And he took probably a sack or two he shouldn't have, and they didn't protect him necessarily great. But we see Justin Fields, and I'll pick on him for a second he drops back and one guy's not open two guys not open and where's the running lane and richardson was just fire in the ball he did not scramble as much as i would like for him to for fantasy purposes but i i think he looked better and more comfortable playing quarterback than Justin Fields or Bryce Young or CJ Straub today.
Starting point is 00:20:09 Justin Fields has got to stop taking sacks. He's just, it's killing him. Yeah, Richardson, look, I think we all know what's at stake with me. Richardson, the Michael Pittman 39-yard touchdown on the screen was a tough pill to swallow for me. I could deal with him scoring a rushing touchdown. That was, but all right. He gets 23 fantasy fantasy points 22.9 fantasy points in his debut started in only 21 of leagues um all right last one buy or sell justin fields and lamar jackson are on bust alert jackson scored 6.6 fantasy points justin fields scored 16.5 fantasy points against Green Bay.
Starting point is 00:20:46 No. Sell the hell out of that. And if anybody in your league is nervous after one week about either guy and you want to upgrade your quarterback situation, now's the time to do it. Why was Joe Burrow not in this one? Yeah, that's a good question. That's fine.
Starting point is 00:21:04 Are you putting him on bust alert? He's just every bit as close, right on the exact same line as Fields and Jackson. I mean, that was a really ugly... The weather was... Man, he was terrible. The Browns secondary was
Starting point is 00:21:19 great. That was one of the games I had on. Guys were not really open. Higgins had eight targets. Didn't catch one of them. Covered very well downfield. But the rain, I think, affected both quarterbacks. It was one of the games I had on. Guys were not really open. Higgins had eight targets. Didn't catch one of them. Covered very well downfield. But the rain, I think, affected both quarterbacks. It was bad. And maybe Burrow was rusty. Maybe he was playing hurt. That's one I didn't see very much at all. I have no comment. They were
Starting point is 00:21:35 all over him. All over him in that game. The offensive line could not hold up. The Bengals offensive line was doing a bad job of protecting him? That doesn't sound like them. You want another hot take since I give those out too regularly now?
Starting point is 00:21:49 Yeah. If Deshaun Watson can go back to being Deshaun Watson, the Browns are a true contender. Would you agree with that? Because their defense looked great today.
Starting point is 00:22:00 And Chubb is just, you know, he's Chubb. He's freaking great. How many sacks? Burr only got sacked twice but man i feel like either of you have a feeling about deshaun watson being like feeling better about he is going to be that guy or feeling worse about he is going no yes a little bit worse about a little bit he had a lot of terrible throws yeah i thought i only saw like and this was
Starting point is 00:22:21 probably some bias the only drive i really saw was his last drive of the first half. And it sounds like it was his best. He threw a couple dimes and then ran in the touchdown. But he was just terrible the rest of the day. I'll tell you, man, the interception he threw, I don't know what that was. So he's not back. But the weather was really bad.
Starting point is 00:22:38 We'll take a break here. When we come back, we will get to some more news, talk about Deontay Johnson and more winners and losers, and then we'll recap every game for you. We'll be right back. What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend that powers your scale with no preset spending limit. More cash on hand to grow your business with up to 55 interest-free days.
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Starting point is 00:23:32 Remember to follow all traffic signals. Be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. The big news part two, part deux. Deontay Johnson left in the third quarter, and also Cameron Hayward left in the first half. It was a terrible day for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They get Cleveland next week.
Starting point is 00:23:59 If Deontay Johnson misses some time, is there any Steeler you'd want to pick up? I'm going to puke in my mouth. How excited would you be about 11 PPR points? It's Allen Robinson. That's Allen Robinson. Okay. Is Friermuth okay?
Starting point is 00:24:17 I know that he left. Did he come back? He came back and scored a touchdown after he left. Okay, good. He did? I thought that was before. Or did he leave again? He may have left more than once. I think he gets a shot to break out without dionte there
Starting point is 00:24:29 if dionte misses time it looked like a terrible injury he was ruled out immediately he was clutching his hamstring uh grabbing it like he was grabbing like a like a part of a pillow on a couch all right it was not it was not good looking it didn't look good not much was for the Steelers today Mike Williams was evaluated for a concussion but he returned Greg Dolcich left I think in the first half with a leg injury Aaron Jones says it's not so bad
Starting point is 00:24:58 just saw an update there his hamstring injury but we'll have to check on that they are at Atlanta next week AJ Dillon man, geez be better they did not have a meaningful injury, but we'll have to check on that. They are at Atlanta next week. AJ Dillon, man. Jeez. Be better. They did not have a meaningful offensive snap after that, did they? No.
Starting point is 00:25:11 No, it was a blowout. Anyway, Jaden Reed, Green Bay rookie receiver. He left with cramps. He came back in. Jacoby Myers left with a scary concussion late in that game. So they have the Dolphins, and Myers had a huge game. He was the number three wide receiver
Starting point is 00:25:28 behind Hill and Ayuk. Tyler Lockett was evaluated for a concussion, but he came back. I mean, I think the biggest egg today was the Seahawks. My gosh, they barely had the ball, which is not new for the Seahawks, but they were terrible. 12 yards, 12 net
Starting point is 00:25:45 yards in the second half. Wow. Wow. How many yards did the Steelers have for the whole game? Or did they finally have one drive? 13. What? 13. No, I don't know. It was bad. Sorry, let me just get through this. Cooper Cup on IR.
Starting point is 00:26:01 I'm sure you all probably knew that, but we haven't said it on the show. An update on Kyler Murray from our Jonathan Jones. Barring any setbacks, the hope in Arizona is that Murray can return around or by midseason, perhaps as early as late October. Jonathan Taylor is expected to be ready for week five. That's a winner. Yeah, that's good.
Starting point is 00:26:23 That is the fantasy winner from week one. We'll get to that in a minute, Dave. I know he's one of your winners. Rashad Penny was a healthy scratch, and Evan Hull left in the second half. A lot of touches for Deion Jackson. Didn't really do much with it. He fumbled twice and got benched for Jake Flash Funk.
Starting point is 00:26:41 All right, let's go to the winners. Three from each of you. Heath, you've got michael pitman oh i should have queued up music ken walker and kenneth gainwell we already talked about gainwell so let's talk about pitman yeah i don't think that the colts pass offense is going to be as nerfed as i'd originally anticipated they are I think there will still be a relatively normal number of pass attempts, and Pittman absolutely dominated
Starting point is 00:27:09 targets. I think he can be a boom-bust number three wide receiver, which is a lot higher than where I was drafting him to be. Okay, Ken Walker. Look, the stat's not great, but he dominated the touches, and that's what we wanted to see. Clear domination, and the few touches that Sharves got,
Starting point is 00:27:28 he didn't do anything with. So I think a few more weeks at least for Ken Walker in this role. A lot of the rookies didn't have as big a role in week one as what we're projecting for them later in the year, so I wouldn't be dropping Zach Charbonnet either, but it's a good start for Ken Walker. You know, I would like to get more of an explanation on why Tank Bigsby wasn't ruled
Starting point is 00:27:51 to basically have stopped playing. I would like to know... All that play was ridiculous. How about the patience from Doug Peterson? Because Tank Bigsby had already blown one interception where the ball hit him right in two hands and he just gave it to the defense. Kadarius Tony style.
Starting point is 00:28:06 Yeah. And then he picks up a fumble and just stands there while somebody takes it from him. And then he gets to come in and score a touchdown later. That's a lot of patience with a young guy. Your other winner was Ken Gamewell.
Starting point is 00:28:19 We already talked about him. Dave, your winners are Brandon Ayuk, Zay Flowers, who was started in only 30% of leagues, had nine catches for 78 yards on 10 targets, and Jonathan Taylor. Let's talk about Zay Flowers at Cincinnati next week. No Mark Andrews here.
Starting point is 00:28:34 So, you know, how much does that factor in your rest-of-season evaluation for Flowers off to an awesome start? We are now looking at a Ravens offense that doesn't have a great run game. And with that being the case, I think we're going to continue to see Lamar throw. I think they, they manufactured targets for Zay Flowers and he did a good job with them. Not a great receiving average.
Starting point is 00:28:57 If you told me he was going to get as many catches as he had, I would have told you, you would have had triple digits, but those games will come. I think he's clearly their most explosive receiver and the guy that will lead them in targets this year. I'd buy fully into him. Look for him now as a flex play, a number three wide receiver. Hopefully he builds on it and becomes a number two wide receiver for fantasy managers.
Starting point is 00:29:20 So if we were playing buy, sell, hold, it would be a buy or a hold? He's a buy. I mean, I don't know who's selling him. That's part of the problem. But maybe what you're hoping for is someone has him on their team and he's on their bench and they're loaded at wide receiver and you've got Drake London or Tyler Lockett or whoever stunk today and you want to get a boost.
Starting point is 00:29:44 Maybe he won't cost you an arm and a leg because he's a bench receiver for somebody else. And now Jonathan Taylor, things looking better for him with the week five return seeming likely, so he's a winner for you. I wonder what the Colts are thinking because Deion Jackson
Starting point is 00:30:00 fumbled twice and he wasn't particularly effective when he played. We don't know how serious the whole injury is. Not that he was setting the world on fire. Do they, do they try and get tailored, uh, agree to a contract extension or something to make them happy?
Starting point is 00:30:16 Or do they just come to an agreement that they say, all right, we, uh, we won't tag you or we'll give you an extra couple million bucks. Uh, when you pass your physical and week before week five, you'll play for us instead of us trading you to another team.
Starting point is 00:30:29 And then he comes back and he ends up being good. So I wonder if this is the time. I wasn't even sure if there would be a time where we would try and acquire Jonathan Taylor, but I wonder if now's the time to do it. People who have them, of course, they're going to say, well, he's coming back in a few weeks. I think that's probably the case. Maybe you make a run for Taylor if you've got a couple
Starting point is 00:30:50 of good bench players after week one. And the team that has Taylor lost in week one. My hot take is that the Colts would have won if Jonathan Taylor had played today. They gave him a real battle. And remember, their defense a couple years ago, their run defense with Shaq Leonard was really good.
Starting point is 00:31:06 And it was pretty good until now. I don't know if that's going to come back. But I think you've got a good case to be made there, Heath. A couple of turnovers from the run game. Run game really couldn't get anything going. Alright, well, let's go to our bonus winner. Bonus winner. I know you wanted another one, Dave. I'll give it to
Starting point is 00:31:22 you. Bonus winner, Romeo Dobbs. 67% rostered, 6% started. Five targets, limited snaps, but he caught two touchdowns. And when he does get that snap rate up, he will play every down, and he might lead this team in targets this year. Well, he's got a head start, that's for sure. All right, losers. But you know what, though, Dave?
Starting point is 00:31:44 That's what a lot of people were saying. He's going to end up being a great value pick. Sure. Losers. Oh, my God. Big, big night for Micah Parsons tonight. I need a big night for Micah Parsons. A kick, a field goal blocked in return for a touchdown.
Starting point is 00:32:03 Unbelievable. Drake London is a Dave loser. We already talked about London. You can be patient with him if you want to, but let's take a guess on this. How many times this year will the Falcons throw 31 or more passes in a game? Seven. Okay.
Starting point is 00:32:25 Those are going to be the games where you'll feel okay starting London as a number three receiver. Everybody's freaking out about Pitts, too. He had a pretty bad game. He had one long catch. Everybody did. They threw the ball 18 times. I think, though, and I'll have to...
Starting point is 00:32:39 I don't have the... I'll know all this stuff on Monday. Dave's got it all at his fingertips right now. I'm watching the Giants. I'm laughing at him. I'll know all this stuff on Monday. Dave's got it all at his fingertips right now. I'm watching the Giants. I'm laughing at him. It felt like Carolina really did a good job of dominating the ball in this game. I would assume that Atlanta didn't run very many plays.
Starting point is 00:33:02 34 minutes for Carolina, 25 minutes for Atlanta. I can do the math on the plays. No, it's all right. It's all right. Let's go to Rashad White. He was a loser. So was Jamal Williams. A couple running backs who had similar stat lines.
Starting point is 00:33:17 Rashad White, 17 carries for 40 yards, two catches for 10 yards at Minnesota. Jamal Williams, 18 carries for 45 yards, two catches for seven yards against Tennessee. Jamal Williams, 18 carries for 45 yards, two catches for seven yards against Tennessee. How are you feeling about them, Dave? Yeah, they weren't quite as bad as Cam Akers, but they were in the same ballpark. And I just, I wonder how much longer Rashad White has
Starting point is 00:33:38 as the main back, that volume running back that we talked about with him. Not that Sean Tucker was great either. His first run was nice. He only averaged three yards per carry, but this seems got to get a run game going. Otherwise Baker's going to implode on them. I'd like to see what they do moving forward.
Starting point is 00:33:53 And I wonder if it'll be more of a split next week with Tucker and, and Rashad white. I wonder, I also think if you've got Rashad white, you should stash Tucker. I think that's just a must to get. White did play 79% of the snaps, 16 of 18 snaps on third and fourth down, all three of their snaps inside the 10.
Starting point is 00:34:13 He just looked miserable. I wonder if Jamal Williams will be droppable after week three because week four we know that Alvin Kamara is coming back. Yeah, I mean, in his defense, in Jamal Williams' defense, the Titans were arguably the best-run defense in football last year. I think it's been two years in a row they've been top three in fantasy points allowed to running backs, among the three best. Would you agree that next week is the Joe Boo week for Jamal Williams?
Starting point is 00:34:40 Well, yeah. I mean, you're not going to start him once Kamara comes back, so you've got to hope you've got two more weeks. He's playing at Carolina. Carolina just allowed Tyler Algier to look like what we thought B. John Robinson would be, and they allowed B. John Robinson to look like what we thought B. John Robinson would be. So it should be a good matchup for Jamal Williams.
Starting point is 00:34:56 You can go to him again next week, but if he doesn't do well next week, you're drop-kicking him to the waiver wire. It's Joe Boo time. Okay. Heath's losers are Damian Pierce, who had 13 touches, 47 total yards, a bad game at Baltimore. Christian Kirk, who we already talked about, one catch on three targets. And Cam Akers, who we also already talked about.
Starting point is 00:35:17 So, Damian Pierce, Heath. This was really, and it was a bad, bad game script. But I thought Damian Pierce was going to catch some more passes this year. I thought if he's going to just completely disappear from the game plan whenever they're down two scores, he's only going to play about 50% of the snaps this year, I'm afraid, because they're going to be down two scores a lot. I was very discouraged.
Starting point is 00:35:39 I don't know what the breakdown was of what time Mike Boone was in, but it was way too much and that game was not not far enough apart i mean i know that he played 31 of the snaps but was that all after the game was not competitive he had nine snaps in the fourth quarter uh 13 of 22 texan snaps on third and fourth down. He mattered a lot more than anybody thought he would. What we used to say for Dave, the quicker, slicker, looker-upper.
Starting point is 00:36:16 Well, I'm actually using Dave's Twitter thread of snap percentages so that I could say what the snap percentage was for Boone. So he's an official statistics source now. Yeah, okay. My data source is Dave Richards' Twitter. Nice. All right, well,
Starting point is 00:36:29 let's see if the Colts run defense, again, they were pretty damn good until that ETN touchdown run at the end. That's Damian Pierce's next opponent. And hopefully a better
Starting point is 00:36:39 game script for him as they lost 25-9 to the Ravens and they had the ball. And at the time, possession was actually pretty even. So, how about a bonus loser, Dallas Goddard?
Starting point is 00:36:50 The Eagles' offense actually wasn't very good in this game. They had a pick six that helped them. They were at New England, and Dallas Goddard had one target and no catches. It was basically just Devontae Smith and A.J. Brown and a little bit of Gainwell, I guess.
Starting point is 00:37:05 But who's concerned about Dallas Goddard? Like Lamar and Fields and Burrow, I don't think I'm adjusting my ranking of them when I OTA next week based on this week. Career days. This
Starting point is 00:37:21 segment probably should have been a lot longer, but I ran out of time. But we had Joe Burrow throwing for the fewest yards of his career, 82 yards. His previous low was 148 yards. Travis ETN, I think had five catches today. His previous career high was three. So career day for him.
Starting point is 00:37:37 And Austin Eckler had the longest run of his career. He had a 55 yard scamper. Got caught from behind though. Well, loser. It was a great game. 36,. Got caught from behind, though. Loser. It was a great game. 36-34, the Dolphins with the win. They got some key sacks at the end of the game.
Starting point is 00:37:55 Yeah, big win for the Dolphins on the road. Some more news. Defensive injuries, basically. Well, first of all, I don't know how Tennessee was not rewarded with a fumble recovery for a touchdown on that Derek Carplay. I mean, that was such a clear fumble. Yep. And they called it incomplete, and then they reviewed it, and they kept it incomplete. I don't get that.
Starting point is 00:38:11 Refs don't determine games, but the refs cost the Titans that game. There were multiple instances of terrible officiating against the Titans. JC Horn, Carolina cornerback. He left in the second quarter. The guy cannot stay healthy. I don't know if he came back. I hope he did. Marcus Williams, Baltimore safety.
Starting point is 00:38:28 He left in the second quarter with a shoulder injury. That's a couple of defensive, secondary injuries now for the Ravens, and they have the Bengals next week. Tennessee cornerback, Christian Fulton, left in the second quarter. Did we know, did Quinton Nelson come back into the game? He left with a toe injury.
Starting point is 00:38:43 I believe he did. I think you're right. But Cleveland right tackle Jack Conklin left was carted off with a knee injury. He did not come back. Could be bad. How about Brandon Scherf for the Jaguars? Got carted off and came back.
Starting point is 00:38:58 That was my next note. That's a tough dude. Minnesota left tackle Garrett Bradbury left in the second quarter. And there were some other things too. Anything from the goal line? Any goal line stuff that was interesting? We can get to it as we go along with the games. I've got it all with the running backs.
Starting point is 00:39:17 Keenan Allen had an almost touchdown. It was ruled a touchdown and then overruled. Yeah, and that ended up being a Donald Parham touchdown catch two plays later. That's good for everybody that started Donald Parham. Zach Ertz had a lot of targets and he was wide open for a touchdown and he was overthrown on that.
Starting point is 00:39:36 That's not going to change in the next two months. No, but if he caught that touchdown, I guarantee his waiver wire appeal would be a lot higher just because the stats would be a lot better. Deontay Johnson should have had a touchdown. Kenny Pickett was so bad. He missed him on that play.
Starting point is 00:39:53 Mike Evans dropped, which should have been a catch and run for a touchdown that would have been his second. There were some others. All right, let's go to the games. Atlanta 20. Let's take a break. When we come back, we'll go to the games. Atlanta and Carolina will be our first one, and we'll be right back on Fantasy Football today.
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Starting point is 00:41:14 we want to say about carolina or do we have a believe it or not heath about carolina well i'm not writing believe it or not this year but i could still do Believe It or Not for the podcast if you want to. Podcast exclusive, baby. Podcast exclusive. Believe it? No, I think Believe It or Not, the Panthers' offense is going to be so running back heavy that Miles Sanders can be good
Starting point is 00:41:40 even though he shared way too much with Chuba Hubbard. You can frame this however you want, be good even though he shared way too much with Chuba Hubbard. You can frame this however you want, but it was a really bad news day for Sanders in terms of Hubbard was really involved early and often. But they ran their offense like the Lions of last year
Starting point is 00:41:59 to where there were so many running back touches it didn't matter. Believe it or not, you shouldn't be disappointed. You shouldn't be disappointed if you're the Miles Sanders manager. Okay, I know he had the fumble, but he had 22 touches and 98 total yards. That's good.
Starting point is 00:42:19 And six targets. Yeah, you should be happy. Are we all on the same page there? I believe it. He played 58% of the snaps, both of the Panthers snaps inside the 10, where Chuba really dominated was on third and fourth down. So all the talk about Sanders being a three down back,
Starting point is 00:42:36 they didn't let him really do that in this game. 12 of 16 third and fourth downs went to Chuba Hubbard. It was kind of like the mixing situation because Hubbard played at 12 of 16, you said? 12 of 16 on third and fourth downs went to Chuba Hubbard. It was kind of like the mixing situation because Hubbard played at 12 of 16. You said 12 of 16 on third and fourth and had two targets compared to six for Sanders. Yeah. All right.
Starting point is 00:42:53 Real quick guys. Adam Thielen is 70% rostered. I know he came into this game with an injury. He had a nothing game. Easy to drop Adam Thielen. Yes. Okay. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:43:02 San Francisco 30 and Pittsburgh seven. What do we got, Heath? Believe it or not, you should probably just sit everybody against the 49ers. Checks to see who the 49ers play. They were dominant. It's an easy one. Yeah, they look great. And goodness, this just doesn't sound right to say,
Starting point is 00:43:22 but it felt like the Steelers were really unprepared, especially on offense. It took them forever to get anything going. Well, believe it or not, the Steelers offense should be forgiven for this performance because they played the 49ers. So file it away. I don't think you should just ignore it, but I'm not benching anybody on the Steelers next week specifically because of this game. Are we going to make excuses for them
Starting point is 00:43:55 when they get shellacked by the Browns next week? Because after that, the schedule looks pretty good for Pittsburgh. I think that's an excellent test case. I would be 0% surprised if Pittsburgh beats Cleveland by two scores next week. And then after that, it's Las Vegas and Houston on the road. Then they get Baltimore, then a buy. Then they're at the Rams. Are the Rams really this good?
Starting point is 00:44:16 Then they get the Jaguars, Titans after that. I'm not ready to judge the Steelers off of this one game. And I'm looking to see if I can get those man zone splits for you, Heath, because I'm curious about that too. Well, I will say this was another game I had on. I had red zone on, and I had two games streaming, and it was the Browns-Bengals, and it was the Niners-Steelers. You can credit the Niners all you want, but Kenny Pickett was awful.
Starting point is 00:44:42 He missed easy throws and nothing, nothing like what we saw in the preseason. So that was really disappointing. Any thoughts on Najee Harris? Any thoughts on Najee Harris and Jalen Warren? Najee 77% started. He had eight
Starting point is 00:44:59 touches in this game. Warren had also eight touches. They both were terrible. Najee had a 24-yard run. But any thoughts? Warren had more fantasy points than PPR. Wow. How about that? Both flexes next week. Still Harris over Warren for me. I'm going to agree with that. Najee played 52% of the snaps. Warren played 39% of the snaps. Anthony McFarlane played 8% of the snaps. However, half of the third anthony mcfarland played eight percent of the snaps however half of the third and fourth down snaps there were 18 of them for pittsburgh those went to warren they were
Starting point is 00:45:30 inside the 10 for three snaps warren was in on two of the three now i do think that this game script specifically if you were going to lay out all the different game scripts, this one would have favored Warren more than most. So if next week's 17-14 game, I would expect Harris to play more snaps than Warren to play fewer. Okay, let's go to Washington. Can I say one last thing? Yeah. I'm not ready to leave the Jalen Warren station yet,
Starting point is 00:46:06 and people are going to drop him in your leagues after one week if they picked him up. If you can stash him, I recommend stashing him. Did you guys think it was weird that Cincinnati benched Burrow and the offensive starters with like four minutes left? They didn't bench the offensive starters.
Starting point is 00:46:17 They benched just Burrow. Chase and Higgins were both out there? Well, Chase certainly was. I mean, yeah. It was just like benching Burrow. I don't know. I don't really think it's a big deal. But, yeah, they kept the other guys in.
Starting point is 00:46:32 He has a bad calf. I have a hard time imagining, like, Allen or Mahomes sitting in that situation. Maybe it was the injury. Who knows? Could be. But you know what? Burrow and Mahomes have the same record right now. They do.
Starting point is 00:46:48 Yeah, they do. Okay. Bad start for George Kittle. Three catches for 19 yards. He did have six targets. Washington 20, Arizona 16. What do we got? Believe it or not,
Starting point is 00:47:03 Brian Robinson's a feature back. No, I don't believe that. Why not? I thought that was, I was going to say, we have potentially a true winner here. Gibson had four touches. Robinson had 20. Robinson played 58% of the snaps.
Starting point is 00:47:19 He did have two of four inside the 10. Gibson, 37%, eight of 13 on third and fourth downs. They're not going to play against Arizona every week. Well, that's not the point though. It's the touch distribution here. 20 to four. You know, do you, do you, what do you make of that? Well, Gibson fumbled, correct?
Starting point is 00:47:38 I'm not sure how many times he touched the ball after he fumbled or is that, I don't know if he found, I didn't see that. I thought I know how fumbled. Okay. He did. I know Howell fumbled. Okay. He did. I can get you that number. It wasn't more than three. Right, but if he didn't touch the ball
Starting point is 00:47:57 or play many snaps after he fumbled it, then who knows what will happen next week. I mean, do the commanders just lose patience with Gibson? He's had a fumbling issue throughout his whole career. Do they just say, all right, that's it. It's going to be Brian Robinson's show. Or are they going to say, all right, bad game for you, Antonio Gibson. Back to the drawing board next week.
Starting point is 00:48:16 I was encouraged by Robinson. And I don't know if he's quite a feature back, but I'm definitely more interested in him than I was. You know, obviously you have to call it a disappointing day for Dotson and McLaurin. Dotson with five catches for 40 yards. And Howell scored 17 points. Wasn't bad.
Starting point is 00:48:34 Wasn't great. But we were expecting more. But Curtis Samuel was annoying in this. Yep. It was bad, bad performance by the commanders in general. Howell saved his day, ironically, with a rushing touchdown, even though he didn't really run most of the game. But, yeah.
Starting point is 00:48:53 Gibson had one touch after his fumble. It was a 10-yard catch. Dropper stash Marquise Brown, given this midseason timetable for Kyler Murray. Stash. Okay. Cleveland 24, Cincinnati 3. There's absolutely nothing, I'm going to believe it or not,
Starting point is 00:49:14 on the Bengals. So, believe it or not, Elijah Moore is going to match Amari Cooper in targets this season. Both had seven in week one. There was some little whispers that Elijah Moore might be the actual number one wide receiver for the Browns this season. Both had seven in week one. There were some little whispers that Elijah Moore might be the actual number one wide receiver for the Browns this year. I don't believe it. I believe that Cooper
Starting point is 00:49:31 left the game for a little bit. I'm checking to see if that really mattered. He did. Elijah played five more snaps. The right answer was Elijah will be the wide receiver one on the road and Cooper will be the wide receiver one at home.
Starting point is 00:49:48 They are clearly committed, though, to getting Elijah more of the ball. He had two carries for 19 yards in addition to three catches for 43 yards. I guess they spread it around a little bit. Watson had only 29 passes. Yeah. And as we talked about, it was not even close to a good game for what he looked like 2022 Watson, which is what we're trying to not see. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:50:12 We want to see him go back to like 2019 Watson, 2020 Watson. So just to throw it out there, we have no long-term concerns about the Bengals. I have none. Nope. Very clever. Schaefer Brown's cage Bengals? I have none. Nope. Very clever, Schaefer. Browns, Cage, Bengals, 24-3.
Starting point is 00:50:29 I like it. Let's see what you've got for Baltimore and Houston. Let's see. Ravens. What can we do? Fear the Raven. I don't know. Baltimore, 25. Houston, 9. What do we got? Believe it or not, there will not be a consistent fantasy starter on the Texans.
Starting point is 00:50:50 Oh, I don't want to believe that yet on two fronts, not just Damian Pierce, who I think it was like 48% of the snaps. And I think that matches or comes close to what he had in week one last year, 49% week one of 2023. I don't have what he had in week one last year. 49% week one of 2023. I don't have what he had in week one last year, but it wasn't a lot.
Starting point is 00:51:10 Remember, he barely played 29%. How about this? This was his second lowest snap share in his career for Pierce. Get Mike Moon out of there and let Pierce get some of that work. I don't know if this was really a good bellwether game for Pierce. Get Mike Boone out of there and let Pierce get some of that work. I don't know if this was really a good bellwether game for Pierce. It was a tough run defense. I guess Nico had 14 points.
Starting point is 00:51:33 Yeah, he had a good game. Yeah, I think he's going to be flex-worthy. He's absolutely bench-worthy. In PPR, I think he's going to matter. Even in non-PPR, he's not terrible. Well, I didn't say that nobody would matter. I said they would not have a consistent fantasy starter. I think Collins and Pierce can be consistent for what they are,
Starting point is 00:51:51 which is a number two running back. No, denied. Consistent for what they are. No, a number two running back is Pierce, and a number three running back or a flex for Nico Collins. Receiver, yeah. All right. Let's see.
Starting point is 00:52:07 What do we have on the other end? Does anybody feel, I mean, man, until you start seeing Zay Flowers and some of the plays he's making, it's hard to describe. He is freaking electric. Yes. Fun. I feel like we could have a star here.
Starting point is 00:52:22 I'm not saying yes. I'm saying it's in the realm of possibility. We had conversations about him back in March. Dan Schneier was on Zay Flowers. He knew that he was talented. I thought that he had some really great film and really great qualities. Absolutely outclassed everybody in this Ravens passing game. Lamar had some great throws, too.
Starting point is 00:52:41 Lamar had a couple of really nice throws today. I thought Flowers and Addison both. Oh, yeah. Could be stars. What if Addison and Jefferson are just both stars? So who do you like better rest of season right now, Flowers or Addison? Still Addison. Agreed.
Starting point is 00:53:02 Okay. I should probably address Isaiah Likely. You guys were pretty low on him. Good for you. Me, Jamie, and Chris were very high on Isaiah Likely, and he had one catch for four yards on one target, and hopefully we don't have to make this decision anymore, but I don't think anyone's going to start him next week.
Starting point is 00:53:20 I believe it was the first catch of the game, and I remember sitting there thinking, I was all wrong on Isaiah Likely. I believe it was the first catch of the game, and I remember sitting there thinking, I was all wrong on Isaiah Likely. Oops, it looks like I was all right on him. But you never know how things will go from week to week, and hopefully Mark Andrews is back. Jacksonville 31, Indianapolis 21. Okay, so we hit Richardson.
Starting point is 00:53:44 We hit Pittman. Believe it or not, Calvin Ridley is the top five wide receiver rest of season. Top five. Maybe. I don't see why not. But, all right, so we're not going to put him over Jefferson Chase and Hill. So could he be wide?
Starting point is 00:54:00 Yeah, he could be. He could certainly be. I think four he could be easily. We haven't seen Stephon Diggs play. We haven't seen Garrett Wilson play. It was quite a performance, though. It was a great game. He played Indy.
Starting point is 00:54:17 Indy's secondary, especially on the outside, was one that I thought would be pretty bad. Are you going to add Zay Jones, 38% roster? I am not. No. Oh, wow.
Starting point is 00:54:33 Jeez. Wow. Not ready for prime time, New York, not ready for prime time, man. Um, can we just do all of our podcasts during giants games?
Starting point is 00:54:44 Jeez, man. It's the only, you know what? This is the best thing ever. It's saving my furniture because I can't really react the way I want to. Tennessee. How would you react? Nah, I mean, look, whatever.
Starting point is 00:54:53 I'm so happy about the Hurricanes. I really don't even care about this. I know. Oh, they looked, they were fun. Yeah. Two defensive, two DST touchdowns for the Cowboys. Great job by the chat tonight, though. They've been fantastic. And by the chat tonight, though. Tampa Bay 20 and Minnesota 17.
Starting point is 00:55:08 And, okay, yeah, Tampa Bay 20, Minnesota 17. We had 19 points from Mayfield. We had 20 and a half from Cousins. With four turnovers. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Threw for 344 yards. Cousins had three turnovers.
Starting point is 00:55:24 I thought he had four. One interception and two fumbles. Okay, I thought he had four. With three turnovers. What are we thinking about Godwin and Evans right now, guys? Same as I felt about them a month ago, two weeks ago, a day ago. They're going to be involved and have a huge concentration of targets in this offense.
Starting point is 00:55:48 Baker's not great, but they're moving around, and they're not asking Baker to make a bunch of deep throws. He made one to Evans. That was nice. And I think that you were able to draft these guys as number three wide receivers. I think you can continue to do that with them. Yeah, they're still number three wide receivers i think you can continue to do that with them yeah they're still number three wide receivers i think if anybody sees evan's stat line and thinks oh he's still mike evans then i'd be selling um oh yeah you
Starting point is 00:56:15 could try you could try this was the easiest matchup in fantasy last year at least one of the two or three easiest matchups so minnesota off to a bad start defensively. Guess who they get next? The Vikings get the Eagles. And look who the Bucs get next. That's Thursday night, right? The Bucs get the Bears. And then they get the Eagles. Yeah, right.
Starting point is 00:56:38 So Tampa and Chicago. So I think we can feel pretty good about starting the Bucs receivers for that game. And then we get nervous for that week three matchup against philadelphia packers 38 tell that to kendrick bourne packers 38 bears 20 what do we got here heath uh believe it or not the packers offense is not going to miss a beat going from aaron rogers to jordan love how much of this was the bears defense yeah well last year's aaron rogers i think jordan love could definitely be better than how much of this was the bears defense? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:57:05 Well, last year's Aaron Rogers. I think Jordan love could definitely be better than last year's Aaron Rogers. Bears had one sack in the game. Yannick and Gawkway got to Jordan love. I thought love had a pretty good game. I think the bears offense had a really rotten game.
Starting point is 00:57:22 Dave. So you're not watching the game, right? Which one? The Sunday night game. Yeah. game yeah no okay can i do some trivia daniel jones has seven dropbacks okay seven dropbacks how many how many well actually i think it's eight because he had a scramble eight dropbacks how many passing yours does he have um let's see he has eight dropbacks with a scramble seven he's probably completed like oh just guess something for god's sake just give me a damn number 15 yards everything in gross or net no enough enough we have to he's got zero gross negative 19 net have you been watching the
Starting point is 00:58:00 game you think it's his fault he's been on his ass the entire game. They're crushing him. They're crushing him. Give me a break, loser. All right. Oh, my God. Sorry. Sorry. That was too harsh.
Starting point is 00:58:17 This was a window into the real life animator. See what I'm saying? Saving my furniture. He's like Mr. Rogers on this show. But when you start talking about Daniel Jones, the knives come out. He hasn't made a bad play yet. The defense is killing him.
Starting point is 00:58:32 He hasn't made a bad play yet. He hasn't. It's all the Cowboys. It's all the Cowboys. It's the Cowboys. I think the Cowboys defense is going to be pretty good this year. Yeah, no kidding. They're killing them. I did. I think the Cowboys defense is going to be pretty good this year. Yeah. No kidding.
Starting point is 00:58:46 They're killing them. All right. Anyway, green Bay 38, Chicago 20. Um, how about, all right.
Starting point is 00:58:54 I honestly, if Aaron Jones is playing, well, he said after the game that he's okay. Yeah. Well, what, what the heck is the point with AJ Dylan?
Starting point is 00:59:01 This is the same garbage from, he had two goal line carries. That was great. Oh no, he had two carries inside the 10 and then Aaron Jones ran it in from the one. But if he doesn't score, he's terrible.
Starting point is 00:59:13 And I think at least one of his catches came after the, cause he had two after the Aaron Jones injury. So, I mean, should we just be viewing AJ Dillon as touchdown or bust? Or as a handcuff for Aaron Jones? Yeah. Even worse. viewing AJ Dillon as touchdown or bust or as a handcuff for Aaron Jones. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:28 Even worse. I think that's right. I thought there might be more targets available even for Dylan because of the wide receiver injuries and it didn't really happen. I think the idea that he's going to take anything from Aaron Jones should be like disappeared from everyone's mind. Aaron Jones is at the cam acres party. I only, the only thing is 19 yards.
Starting point is 00:59:52 The only thing I disagree with there. No, that's AJ Dillon is at the cam acres party, not Aaron Jones. Um, he does. I, I still think he's the goal line guy.
Starting point is 01:00:02 I don't know if he's the goal line guy anymore. Cause he went over-2 and then Aaron Jones came in and got the job done. Jones played four of six snaps inside the 10. He had the dominant on third and fourth down, nine of 13 on third and fourth downs. 68% of the snaps, all of that before he got
Starting point is 01:00:18 hurt in the third quarter. Dave, Dylan was not 0-2 at the goal line. He had a carry from the 9 and then he had a carry from, I think, the 4. And then Jones came in. I'm sorry. From inside the 10, not the goal line. My mistake.
Starting point is 01:00:30 Yes. All right. On the other side of the ball, DJ Moore, 2 for 25. I think he saw a pretty good amount of Jair Alexander in this game. Yeah. Ended up mattering quite a bit. He was so frustrated. Should his fantasy managers be
Starting point is 01:00:45 frustrated? Very much so. Concerned? There might be a freakout on DJ Moore in fantasy leagues. I can't imagine what that would look like. I don't know how you could start him with confidence next week. At Tampa?
Starting point is 01:01:01 Yeah, it's hard. New Orleans 16, Tennessee 15. I forgot about this from the 1 o'clock slate. If there was a veteran player who looked the worst today, it may have been Ryan Tannehill. My God, was he bad. But what do we have for this game?
Starting point is 01:01:20 Believe it or not, as long as he's healthy, Michael Thomas is the number one wide receiver for the Saints. What? What? That's as long as he's healthy, Michael Thomas is the number one wide receiver for the Saints. What? What? That's as bad as your Daniel Jones take. I was just trying to think of something.
Starting point is 01:01:35 That's good. I mean, look, he had eight targets. That's very good. But Olave had 10. He had 112 yards. I mean, you could say Michael Thomas, as long as he's healthy, is a must start as a flex at worst.
Starting point is 01:01:48 Yeah, he's in that range for sure. And it's nice to see. I'm happy to see it. Hopefully he stays healthy. Alave got off to a very slow start in this game. And he left with an injury and came back. Hopkins had 13 targets, seven catches for 65 yards. That was
Starting point is 01:02:03 okay. And Michael, would you start next week? Michael Thomas, um, at Carolina or DJ more against Tampa Bay at Tampa Bay. I think Thomas, I, Oh,
Starting point is 01:02:19 am I ready to make that move already? After one game, one week, I, I think I'd, uh? I think I'd lean toward more. All right, Rams 30, Seattle 13. Rams had the ball for more than 39 minutes. And how concerned are you in general about the Seahawks passing game with Geno Smith throwing for 112 yards against?
Starting point is 01:02:44 Maybe we'll be wrong about this, but this secondary was supposed to be one of the worst in football. Metcalf had a touchdown, but Lockett had 10 yards. JSN had 13 yards. How concerned are you guys about the Seahawks passing game? I'm not ready to say that it's going to be a flop. Lockett left with a concussion. After the game, Pete Carroll said that he's fine.
Starting point is 01:03:04 JSN, his first game, five targets. You know, I couldn't expect him to have a monster game right away. And I guess I just, I have to say, I didn't see enough of Geno, but what I did see was disappointing. Didn't seem like the Geno of last year. Didn't seem like the Geno of the preseason either. And the Rams just dominated playing time. It was really a tough spot for him to be in.
Starting point is 01:03:27 One other thing that happened in this game, and I'd like to know maybe how Geno played before and after this happened. They lost their starting right tackle, Charles Cross, to an injury. And if he's out for a while, that makes a strength for the Seahawks, a weakness now up front. I'm not making any drastic changes to my view of the Seahawks from this game. Listen, we all still think Sean McVay is a pretty good coach. He had a long time to get ready for it.
Starting point is 01:03:54 Let's see what both of these teams look like next week. Hopefully, you know, we get the track meet Seattle at Detroit next week. That would be nice. Las Vegas 17 and Denver 16. Believe it or not, Jimmy G didn't look that bad. He came around. He struggled early.
Starting point is 01:04:15 I guess I'll say that I believe you. I thought, believe it or not, Russell Wilson didn't look that bad. I'm not so sure that Russell Wilson is in a worse passer than jimmy g right now so i did not share that sentiment i watched the game 16 of 17 but and then he ended up 27 of 34 so he threw like they had like two possessions where he just threw it to p ryan and then he went
Starting point is 01:04:38 out and then giovante came in and threw it to giovante it was just dump i mean it was the old drew breeze offense but they were picking up three yards at a time. I don't, I didn't see anything from Russell Wilson that I liked. I didn't see anything from Russell Wilson that I hated though. And I felt last year, every time you watched him, it was something you hated.
Starting point is 01:04:57 So at the very least, I would say he looked better today. Russell Wilson did than he did for most of last year, but it wasn't great but i look i i mean i'm also working on the assumption that the raiders defense is terrible so maybe they are better i'm working on the assumption that their front seven is better this year they got to him twice they sacked him twice um their secondary is still a mess rush should have had a better game okay he scored 19 fantasy points, though,
Starting point is 01:05:26 so you'll take that. Jimmy Garoppolo also scored 19 fantasy points. Devontae Adams, he saw a lot of Patrick Sertan, which did not matter last year, but it did matter a little bit today. Six catches for 66 yards on nine targets. Any concerns about Josh Jacobs? Only 48 yards on 19 carries and two catches.
Starting point is 01:05:46 No, I was pretty happy with his usage. I think he'll be good. What was his snap share? 80%? Seems like last year. I mean, we can't just ignore Jacoby Myers, right? Well, is he okay? He got hurt, right?
Starting point is 01:06:04 And it did look bad. But is there something to this? right? Well, is he okay? He got hurt, right? But that, and it did look bad, but is there something to this? I think he's their number two receiver for sure. And if, if people are going to tilt their coverage toward Devonta Adams, Garoppolo can make them pay. It looked like they were on the same page.
Starting point is 01:06:20 Got two games left here. The best game of the week. This is the game. Miami 36 and the Chargers 34. Amazing. Great game. Two is on pace for over 7,900 passing yards this season. Believe it.
Starting point is 01:06:40 That is factually true. I don't... Believe it or not, we're not ever actually going to feel great about starting a Dolphins running back. Believe it. Thank goodness Mostert got in the end zone. Yeah, love it. Great game. No, it was, you know,
Starting point is 01:06:56 they threw so much, they threw 45 times. Maybe if they're not in a... Maybe if they're having a lead, like at New England next week, maybe they... It wasn't even a huge thing in Mostert's favor, was it? I think Ahmed got the first carry. Ahmed had three carries.
Starting point is 01:07:11 I don't know who had the first carry, but Mostert played 72% of the snaps. That's not bad. Slight majority on third and fourth downs. They had 10 snaps inside the 10. Mostert played on all of them. Yeah. That's good.
Starting point is 01:07:22 He may have... Yeah, there were three goal line opportunities, I think, like right by the one-ish, and two have fumbled all of them. Yeah. That's good. He may have, yeah, there were three goal line opportunities, I think, like right by the one-ish, and Tua fumbled one of them, Mostert ran one in, and Tua threw a touchdown to Craycraft. On the other side of the ball, Mike Williams left, came back.
Starting point is 01:07:37 What was his snap share? Do I have to Azerstat this one? I can look and see. I don't know if that necessarily matters, but he had five targets, four catches for 45 yards. Right. You want to know just how many snaps he played?
Starting point is 01:07:50 I'll tell you. Well, look, I mean, for him to have 45 yards in a game where the Chargers scored 34 points is a little disappointing, but they ran the ball a lot. 32 carries among Kelly and Eckler in this game. 58 snaps for Mike Williams. Way more than I thought he had.
Starting point is 01:08:07 I just knocked my computer on the floor, but that was not Giants-related. Sure. Yeah. Anything else from this game? I think you can still feel good about Keenan Allen. If Mike Williams is fine, you'll feel good about him. Gerald Everett didn't come through.
Starting point is 01:08:29 You'll probably cut him. Eckler hopefully is okay. Herbert, we should talk about Justin Herbert. Okay. Who, if not for a rushing touchdown, really bad game. As it stands, not what we were expecting or hoping for from him. There were a lot more rush attempts in this game than a 2022 Chargers game. Yeah, how do we not talk about Joshua Kelly getting as many carries
Starting point is 01:08:52 as Austin Eckler? And he did great with them. Yeah, well, we kind of did earlier because Eckler left. Well, we don't know what happened, but Kelly played a lot down the stretch and Eckler was out late in that game. But yeah, I mean,lly played a lot down the stretch and eckler was out late in that game but yeah i mean it was a lot i wonder if they are going to start to lean into those two as a duo and that could limit herbert from being this pass happy quarterback that we were kind of counting on uh look it wasn't it wasn't a great it wasn't a great week for the top eight. Mahomes, we haven't seen Allen yet. Hurts was bad.
Starting point is 01:09:28 Hurts, Jackson, Fields, Burrow. Lawrence was fine. Richardson was good. Richardson was good, and Tua was amazing. We're talking about the top eight. People were afraid to take. Well, Herbert actually outscored almost all of it. Actually, I think Herbert may have been.
Starting point is 01:09:45 No, I think Mahomes barely beat him. But Herbert was basically tied with Mahomes and Fields. No, not Fields. Lawrence. Anyway, are you downgrading any of them or just whatever week one? Whatever week one.
Starting point is 01:09:59 Herbert, I agree with Dave, a little bit more pause on Herbert just because last year wasn't very good. Right. Philadelphia 25, New England 20. You want to have pause on somebody? I think Jalen Hurts looked terrible. Weather? Can we chalk it up to the weather?
Starting point is 01:10:15 Maybe. Maybe it was the weather. Well, Belichick. That's kind of what I thought with Goddard is how many tight ends are good against the Patriots. Yeah. But when you go into a game against the Eagles, is taking away Dallas Goddard is how many tight ends are good against the Patriots. Yeah. But when you go into a game against the Eagles, is taking away Dallas Goddard really your primary goal? I think they just take away all tight ends. It's just by the nature of their defense.
Starting point is 01:10:33 And we talked about this last week, Adam, about people saying the Patriots were going to have a great defense and maybe they look pretty great. Yeah, I wasn't convinced really because their secondary, I thought would be a little weak. And then I wasn't convinced, really, because their secondary, I thought, would be a little weak, and then they put Jack Jones on IR. But they did look really good. And seven of those points came on defense for the Eagles.
Starting point is 01:10:53 Adarius Slay was like a 70-yard interception return for touchdown. What are your thoughts on Ramondre Stevenson? He had 12 carries for 25 yards, but he did have six catches for 64. Oh, man. You got bailed out big time by Stevenson because a lot of those catches came in the fourth quarter. Yep. You'll be happy with his stats for his snaps.
Starting point is 01:11:16 74% of the snaps. 14 of 14 snaps on third and fourth down, and both of the Patriots snaps inside the 10 Ramadre was on the field for uh in PPR you got bailed out by him I thought he was still worth starting in PPR and non-PPR he gave you almost nine fantasy points I guess that's not so bad for Ramadre and better matches are coming does Kendrick Bourne matter I think he might how about Jju only 33 yards on four catches uh here's a question mac jones threw the ball 54 times how often is that going to be the case yeah it's a great point it's a great
Starting point is 01:11:56 point tony romo did say something like they kendrick bourne if they found their number one receiver or something like that but i don't know It's really hard to... Wow, it's funny. I did not put Mac Jones' stats in the notes. It is like the only player. 54 pass attempts. That must have been the last game I did.
Starting point is 01:12:15 Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I'm not looking to pick up Kendrick Bourne personally. Are you? Not yet. I'd rather pick up Puka Nakua. I would too. Okay. Well, that is it for today's show.
Starting point is 01:12:31 A nice brief hour and nine minute show. Pretty good for all the games. For 14 games? Should we ask the chat who they're worried about? Tomorrow night on the live stream. Come for the fun and tell us who you're worried about.
Starting point is 01:12:46 7.30 p.m. Eastern. We will be previewing Monday Night Football, but really just answering all your questions. You can tell us who you are worried about. And we will be back with Beyond the Boxcore Monday morning at 11.30 a.m.-ish Eastern time. Until then, see you later, everybody.

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