Fantasy Football Today - Week 13 Recap: Injuries, Winners, Losers (12/04 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 5, 2022

Zonovan Knight and D'Andre Swift are big winners (2:30) and Deshaun Watson was a loser (4:00) in his 2022 debut. But the big story today is the injury news (6:45). We react to injuries to Jimmy Garoppolo, Lamar Jackson (9:50) and Ken Walker (14:45) among others. What will it mean for the rest of the 49ers, Ravens and Seahawks? ... Buy or Sell (16:50) for Samaje Perine, Tee Higgins, Trevor Lawrence and Kirk Cousins. Then we've got more winners (22:40) including Isiah Pacheco and Cole Kmet and losers (30:00) including George Pickens and Jeff Wilson ... Recapping each game with our Fantasy thoughts (37:40) ... Email us at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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No, I can. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. It's just going to go the distance. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Only two games left for Week 13 as we get recording here on Sunday nights, Cowboys, Colts, and tomorrow night, Monday night football, Tampa Bay and New Orleans. We're going to tell you all about the Sunday action.

What's up, everybody? Happy Sunday night. Adam, Heath, and Dave. Guys, did it live up to the hype? Was it as good? Dave, you were super excited. Did it live up to the hype? I was very excited about this week, and I thought we saw some excellent football. And I also thought we saw some... How do I say this in a way that is G or PG rated?

The most depressing football game we've ever had for fantasy purposes and real life? Well, which one are you referring to? The Ravens and Broncos. No, I mean, we knew that one was going to be pretty bad. But it was all these names. Yeah, pretty much everybody sucked except for Dulcich. Gus falling on his face. Yeah, it was a bad game.

Really, really bad. Here's what I want to say. There was a game where two teams were scared to take the chances to win, and they ended up tying. No, they were not scared to take the chances to win. Disagree. They were scared. I would say that was smart football.

No, they took, they took deep shots. The giants needed that tie so bad. That was fantastic for them. Who needs wins? I disagree with you. They were actually fairly aggressive.

I mean, not so much the commanders in overtime because they had bad field position, you know, well, the second time, but no, they were pretty aggressive. I mean, the giants went the commanders in overtime because they had bad field position, well, the second time. But no, they were pretty aggressive. I mean, the Giants went three and out.

Late in regulation, they went three and out and took like 20 seconds off the clock or something like that, if that. They were, no, you know what? Giants tie out, they're going to be like the five seed. Right now, the Bills are the one seed in the AFC as the Bengals win their third straight against the Chiefs. All right, let's get to the fantasy stuff here because the injuries are really the big story today.

Jimmy Garoppolo out for the season with a broken foot. Lamar Jackson is maybe going to miss multiple weeks. He's not out for the season. And Tua Tungabailoa hurt his ankle. He left late in the game. And Traylon Burke's concussion. So we'll talk about all that. But let's focus on the positive.

Who's the biggest winner of week 13, Dave? I don't know if there's... I don't know if there is one. I don't know if there's a guy who's just an absolute huge winner for the week. I don't know if there is one. I don't know if there's anybody out there.

All right, look at the list of winners you sent me. Pacheco, Zadavid Knight, Swift. I know who I sent you. I sent you three running backs, but I don't know the answer is deandre swift because deandre swift is one of the most talented running backs in football when he's healthy enough and his team trusts him enough to give him the football and they gave him the football in this game and he delivered once again he came off the injury

report again this week if he's not on the injury report next week, you should expect DeAndre Swift to be a top 15 running back. Okay, I like that. Heath, good job. All right, Dave, since you're Nancy negative over there, negative Nancy. I'm not Nancy negative. Negative Nancy.

You're right. Who's the big winner? Oh, it's DeAndre Swift. For the first time all year, I asked you, they're the big winner. Come on. You knew that was coming.

I know who's coming. All right, fine. I'll give you another running back that totaled over 100 yards and should have had a touchdown. You're going to lose or no. It's okay. Let Dave do a winner. Let him have this. I'll give you Zonovan Knight. I think he came through. Fantasy managers who

might have been nervous to start him clearly saw that he's the lead running back for the Jets. Even though he didn't play on a lot of third downs, he still caught five passes, had an awesome run to put the Jets in great range to, I think that's when they scored their touchdown, actually. They might have settled for a few.

I don't remember. It all blends together. But he looked good, and I think he's the number two fantasy running back moving forward. All right. There we go. Biggest loser. Heath, you got the biggest loser?

I mean, it's got to be Deshaun Watson. And I will admit, I've not seen every pass of Deshaun Watson's from this game. I did. But this is one of those stat lines where you don't need to. He was just atrocious, and there wasn't really much of a role for him in the running game either. They didn't do creative things. Now, granted, they scored defensive touchdowns and special teams touchdowns, and they're playing the worst team in football, and the Texans are awesome at tanking.

But there was nothing to hang your hat on as encouraging. In fact, it looked very much like what we saw in the preseason. I did not expect the rust to last the entire game, and I don't know how you could have any confidence at all ranking him as a top-12 quarterback in his next game against the Bengals. Okay, yeah, it was a bad one. It was only 22 pass attempts, 131 yards,

one pick, 4.6 fantasy points at Houston, and they are at the Bengals, who just did a very nice job against Patrick Mahomes. Do you even hang on to Deshaun Watson, or do you think he's droppable? You have to hold on to him because you've got to figure that the game comes back to him.

I counted seven plays in the first three to three and a half quarters where he just threw the ball where no good quarterback should throw it it was just off target terrible throws awful interception he just did not look anything close to the deshaun watson that we remember man i'm seeing it there were there were like maybe three or four throws now look decent but in favor of more he threw nine times to amari cooper

and amari cooper was on the road, so he's one of the worst wide receivers in the NFL. So maybe if he throws to Amari Cooper at home, then things will be okay. I think one of the ones he threw to Amari Cooper was in the end zone, and it was intercepted. So that was bad play for Watson. Okay, so our biggest winners are DeAndre Swift and Zonovan Knight.

Our biggest loser is Deshaun Watson. And if you want your question read on the show, please leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. Most of those reviews are read on the Mailbag episode, which airs on Saturday morning, which records on Friday afternoon. So leave us an Apple Podcast review, a five-star review. Please tell everyone why you like our show. And then you can add a question as well, and we'll read the question. You try to get that in, I'd say, before Thursday, like on Thursday maybe. It does take some time to display, so I don't want to miss it

when I do my notes for that show on Friday. All right, here are your news and notes, and let's get into this. This is ugly stuff here, but Jimmy Garoppolo left in the first quarter. I think he scored two fantasy points in this game. And Purdy came in and did a decent job and he, you know, the numbers weren't terrific, but two touchdowns, 25 of 37, 210 yards, two touchdowns and an interception for Brock Purdy, who will now be the starting quarterback going forward for the 49ers. Heath, what does this mean for every relevant 49er?

Oh, Heath, you're muted. I'm trying to do my best. It is bad for every relevant 49er. Oh, Heath, you're muted. I'm trying to do my best. It is bad for every relevant 49er except Christian McCaffrey. Christian McCaffrey's first game without Elijah Mitchell, it looked like, hey, we're just going to treat Christian McCaffrey

like the Panthers did and let him touch the ball all the time. And Brock Purdy looked very comfortable dumping the ball off to Christian McCaffrey. So I think McCaffrey is back

in the RB1 overall discussion rest of season. Everybody else, now we've got too many mouths to feed and a guy that's going to dump it a lot to the running back. And he's worse as a passer. So I think Iyuk and Debo are both boom bust number three wide receivers. Kittle's going to remain a top 12 tight end, but barely. It's on reputation alone. Yeah.

Well, and that's really what it is. Yeah. 5.4 ADOT passing for Purdy. Maybe that goes up a yard, yard and a half with a week's worth of practice and understanding what the offense is. Deep passing rate, 8.1%. The EPA was

negative.03. That's fine. Completion rate was 68%. That's not bad, but yards per attempt, 5.7. Hard to feel good about it. 5.4 yards, error yards for pass attempt, by the way, would be the lowest in the NFL. I mean, that's incredibly low.

It's not exactly a household number. But Mike White last week, I think, was at 5.8 or something. And I was going on about how it's hard to be successful when you're throwing the ball that short. I don't know, Dave, you can look up what it was for White this week. But, yeah, Purdy was very conservative, a lot of dumping it off. And I could go back in time, and I did. I could tell you what the quarterbacks did when Jimmy Garoppolo got hurt in previous years

and what the receivers did. But I think the big difference here is you've got, as Heath said, too many mouths to feed. You've got McCaffrey, Debo, Ayuk, Kittle. It's just too many. Because, like, for example, who was it? Nick Mullins? He averaged 285 passing yards per game in 2018 in his starts. And that's the other thing.

I think we could get to a point in Week 15, hopefully by Week 15, but maybe not until Week 16, where we kind of settle into, oh, these are Brock Purdy's two guys. Young quarterbacks, inexperienced quarterbacks generally have a security blanket or two. Right now it looks like McCaffrey is the security blanket, but it's possible another guy could emerge as the true number two guy or the number one guy, and we could feel okay about him. It's just the other two are going to turn into nothing if that happens okay uh dave give me your thoughts on the raiders without

the ravens pardon me without lamar jackson they're at pittsburgh in week 14 and we did see them without lamar jackson and mark andrews averaged just under 100 yards per game with tyler huntley last year um what do you think about what it's's really Andrews and the running backs, right? What do you think about them with Huntley? Well, the first thing we all said to each other as soon as we saw that Lamar left and then Lamar was ruled out was that, oh, this is it.

This is where Mark Andrews makes his triumphant return toward the top of the fantasy rankings at tight end. And not so much this game, obviously. He didn't even get you 10 PPR points. Huntley was okay, and he's got some decent experience under his belt. We saw it last year, and he's good running the football. He's got potential to be a serviceable starting fantasy quarterback. Not sure if we're ever going to call him a top 10 type of fantasy quarterback.

He's got the Steelers, Browns, maybe that game against the Falcons in week 16. If you're streaming quarterbacks, he can help you get a win in the playoffs then. But I don't think you look at him and you say, all right, it's, it's going to be Lamar Jackson light. No worries. He might get you around 17 fantasy points per game. Uh, even in four point for passing touchdown leagues, maybe you get your right around there. What does it mean for the running backs? I don't know if it even really matters because they went right back to Kenyon Drake as the main guy.

Gus didn't look good at all. The entire offense is a little disjointed right now. I felt like the Ravens were lucky to win this game. Well, what about if Dobbins comes back? If they were lucky to win, you're absolutely right. I guess that's discounting the effort of their defense.

But anyway, what does it mean when Dobbins comes back? Well, their defense played well, but they played against Denver. So I don't know how much defense. And they lost Patrick Queen for whatever that's worth on defense. That is true. But, all right, Andrew's still going to be a must-start tight end, right? Do you think he's going to be better or worse than what he's been so far this year? I mean, when you say so far this year,

do you mean from earlier this year, or do you mean like recently? All year. He's at 12 points per game for the season, I think. On balance, I'd probably predict him to be at 12 to 13 the rest of the way. Yeah. You're not getting away from starting Mark Andrews. And I think there's a chance that Lamar comes back. I don't think he's been ruled

out for the year. I believe I heard John Arbaugh say it's days or weeks, which means it's going to be weeks. So maybe there's two games, two starts for Tyler only. Maybe he doesn't make it to that game against Atlanta and Lamar's back by then. All right. Uh, other news to hurt his ankle. No idea about the severity of that at the moment. That was late in the game. Or they just took him out late in the game and said he hurt his ankle at some point. Hopefully not a big deal as they're at the Chargers next week. Trevor Lawrence left on the last play of the first half, gave us a big scare, but he returned.

Traylon Burks left on his touchdown catch. He had one catch. It was a gorgeous touchdown catch against the Eagles. He's really emerging, and we hope he doesn't miss too much time with probably a concussion. I saw Juju Smith-Schuster was dinged up in the second quarter. He did come back in the game. He had another terrible game. We'll talk

about Juju. Jalen Waddell left in the first half, then he came back, and then he left again. He limped off the field, so we'll keep an eye on Tua and Jalen Waddell for their game next week at the Chargers. Cortland Sutton left with a hamstring injury. He had zero catches before,

and he had zero catches after he left with a hamstring injury. Aaron Jones left, and he came back, but it did not seem... I mean, the way they were using A.J. Dillon, it didn't seem like Aaron Jones was healthy because they basically just ignored him for a while, and he goes on a bye. And he came back, and then on the very next carry was grabbing his lower leg.

Yeah, he finished the game. He played in the fourth quarter, but something's up. Yeah, they're on their bye, so hopefully Aaron Jones can get healthy. But it was a health thing this week, why the carries were down and why Dylan's work was way up. Adam, did you mean to make this typo in our notes? Oh, I have no idea. The Broncos receivers?

What? Well, you have those receivers. What? Well, you said Corlin's on left with a hamstring injury, and then you referred to the next receiver as Jerry duty. I did not need to do that. Jerry Judy, not Jerry duty. My bad. Well, he pretty much played like Jerry duty today. He had one good catch.

Devante Smith had a niceae Smith had a really good game. This was in the notes before he had some monster game, but he did have a 34-yard catch on the last play of the first half when the Titans were in their Hail Mary defense, so you got some cheap points there, but Smith had a big game. Giants defensive tackle Leonard

Williams left in the fourth quarter. Baltimore linebacker Patrick Queen left. Washington lost their center in the fourth quarter. If you started the Steelers DST, you had an almost touchdown. Minka Fitzpatrick had an interception at the very end of the game, and he ran out of bounds. Oh, I forgot about Ken Walker. Geez, I'm sorry.

Hayden Hurst left in the first quarter. And now we'll finish with Ken Walker here. Also, Las Vegas cornerback Rocky Seen left in the fourth quarter. But Dave, Ken Walker left very early in the game. DJ Dallas left, and then he came back. What is your read on this with Carolina coming up in Week 14? You got to wait and see what the word is on Ken Walker. It looked like it was his heel.

It just looked like he landed awkwardly. I know they said it was the ankle. Maybe it is the ankle, and I don't know what I'm talking about. But if he's out, you're going to see. I think it'll end up being DJ Dallas and Travis Homer, um, Dallas working, running downs, Homer working, passing downs for the Seahawks. It'll be DJ Dallas close to the top of your waiver wire priorities this week. Okay. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we have a segment called Buy or Sell that are, parentheses, hopefully,

not part of Heath's Believe It or Not column. We'll find out after this on Fantasy Football today. 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 and the ability to reach further with access to over 1400 airport lounges worldwide.

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hey, you stole that from me, which of course I didn't know about. But let's see. You always add this segment when we add this segment when we don't have enough to talk about. Let's see how it goes, Heath. You tell me if they're in the column. Buy or sell that are hopefully not part of Heath's Believe It or Not column. We can't trust Trevor Lawrence after all. Buy or sell? It's not in the column. I don't think...

Yeah. I guess I hadn't ever moved Trevor Lawrence into the circle of trust. He was at the front of the line for the triangle of consideration today, and we were all starting him. We all had him in our top 10, and he was an enormous disappointment. But no, he has the upside that is someone you're excited about using on occasion, but not in the circle of trust. Dave, okay, so you buy it. We can't trust Trevor Lawrence after all.

Dave, you buy that. He's got the Titans next week, then Dallas. Yeah, if we're calling him a matchup-based starting fantasy quarterback, then I buy it. If we're calling him a must-start fantasy quarterback, of course I don't buy it. This was really a letdown game. You do buy it because it was, we can't trust him. Okay.

So there you have it. You don't trust him as a must-start. I don't mind trusting him against Houston in Week 17. I might even go back to him next week against Tennessee. The Texans are awesome against quarterbacks. They are, but I don't know. I don't know if they're going to be able to run the ball that well by the time we get to Week 17.

By the way, you know what's interesting? Right now, going into Sunday night football, there are only five quarterbacks that really blew away Trevor Lawrence. Yeah, we were talking about that today. Only five quarterbacks have scored more than 21 points in non-decimal scoring. Lawrence was at 18. So while he was not good,

he was in a big group with Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes and Derek Carr and Justin Fields. They were all 19 or 20 points. Right. He ended up with 18. I believe he's a top 12 quarterback right now. Right now he is, yeah. The four standout quarterbacks going into Sunday night football Right. He ended up with 18. I believe he's a top 12 quarterback right now. Right now he is, yeah. The four standout quarterbacks going into Sunday night football are Jalen Hurts at 40 points, Joe Burrow at 32,

Geno Smith at 28, and Jared Goff at 29. All right, next buyer sell that is hopefully not part of Heath's Believe It or Not column. Buyer sell, Sabaje Pirine is a problem for Joe Mixon. No, I don't think he'll be a problem. I was just looking because I had Trevor Lawrence. I never know why our scoring system is so far off. I've got Trevor Lawrence at QB 15 at 16 fantasy points this week. I don't think that's the case.

I will investigate that further, but I i do not buy that and it's also not in the column okay so you don't think p ryan will be a problem dave buy yourself there's so many running back touches and targets available in this offense burrow was quoted before the game as talking about how it was going to be a check down season for him because he knew what teams were going to do and taking away the big play and he's done it all year long there's there's eight to ten targets available for running backs p ryan's gonna catch four or five passes and occasionally it may be frustrating when it does when he does because he scores a touchdown or something but he's not a problem for joe mixon so technically i do buy this because when mixon comes back i'm assuming that p ryan's going to go back

to his role as the passing downs back in Cincinnati. And that's where he was before Mixon got concussed. Well, it wasn't going to go back into that role. But that wasn't a problem, right? I mean, that was so it wasn't right. You don't expect a bigger role, right? But it's not going to be a case. This is the problem for fantasy is that he's not going to have such a big role where you can flex Samaj P.

Right. And there's going to be value for him to be in your starting lineup when Mixon comes back because you're not going to feel good about starting him then. But he's not going away either, and he will take work away from Mixon in some high-leverage situations. The two-minute drive, hurry-up offense, third downs. I'm expecting P. Ryan to go right back to that role. P. Ryan now three straight

games, two of them in which you started him with more than 19 PPR fantasy points. He's been terrific. Buy or sell? Jamar Chase, same game here. Jamar Chase makes T. Higgins a flex. Buy or sell? Sell. I will sell.

I think he's still a number two wide receiver. And there's going to be a week, I would guess, in the next two or three where T. Higgins is better than Jamar Chase. Okay. Buy or sell, Kirk Cousins is droppable. He is at Detroit next week. His last three games have been two clunkers and one huge game against the Patriots.

Buy or sell, Kirk Cousins is droppable. I think I'm going to buy it. He looked awful this week. He did not look anything close to what he was two, three weeks ago. Well, two weeks ago. Shoot, again, on Thanksgiving, he looked good. So maybe it's a little overreactionary

to say that, and it's obviously going to depend on what other quarterbacks you have. But he's got Detroit, then the Colts, then the Giants, and the Packers. These are not tough matchups, but they're also not going to be that tough of matchups for the run game. And that part was working for Minnesota. Yeah, and we're going to have six teams on a bye next week. We're not going to have Justin Fields or...

Yeah, that's true. Or... Yeah, exactly. Or Justin Fields. Aaron Rodgers. Marcus Mariota? Yeah, I don't know. He's frustrating.

He's frustrating. Okay, let's do our winners and losers here. Dave's winners are three running backs, two of them we've talked about. Zonovan Knight, who was started in 45% of leagues, and DeAndre Swift, who was started in 56% of leagues. Quick follow-up on Knight, and then we'll talk about your other guy, Isaiah Pacheco,

who had 82 total yards and a touchdown with two catches at the Bengals. What happens when Michael Carter gets back, in your opinion? Zonovan Knight is what? I still think he's going to be the main running back for the Jets. It could be a week-to-week thing by the time Michael Carter comes back, but this coaching staff has never really seemed to trust Michael Carter to be a feature

guy. I think that they are realizing that Zonovan Knight can be. You'll probably see Zonovan Knight. I think you'll see Ty Johnson go back to the bench. You'll probably see Michael Carter working a lot of those third downs and passing downs. And you'll see Zonovan Knight working. And James Robinson will be inactive again. James Robinson will be like he is invisible. You know, we got a question here in the

chat from Adam HTX. Do you have the snap counts for the Lions game? Dave, I believe you do. I've got the snap count for every game, Adam HTX. Isn't that Dave's music? No. No, Dave's music is...

All right. Zonovan played 55% of the snaps, 11 of 12 inside the 10. Ty Johnson, 34% of the snaps, 14 of 21 on third and fourth down. James Big Dog Robinson, 10%. That's the circus. Why are you putting him in the circus? It's just, that was the song that came to my mind.

He's the quickest, slickest, licker-upper Davey. All right, Isaiah Pacheco. Man, all three of these running backs, Knight, Swift, and Pacheco, were started in 45% to 56% of leagues. Pacheco, right down the middle, 50% started. And he's got 14 or more carries in four straight games. He's at Denver next week, then at Houston.

All right, your thoughts on Pacheco? The one thing I don't like about Pacheco is that he split reps evenly with McKinnon. Rojo was in for 6% of snaps, too. Shout out for the cameo of doing nothing Ronald Jones. And McKinnon had all the high-value leverage snaps except for a few, and one of them Pacheco scored on. 10 of 13 snaps on third and fourth downs for McKinnon. 8 of 11 snaps inside the 10 for McKinnon.

So the fact that Pacheco had the game that he did, kind of feel like we got a little lucky with that. But he continues to look good when he plays. Wouldn't surprise me if the Chiefs gave him more work as the season rolls on, including next week at Denver. And then he's got Houston after that. And then Seattle after that. And then Denver again after that.

When you reference the high leverage snaps, I still think they believe Jarek McKinnon's their best running back. They just don't believe Jarek McKinnon can be a lead running back until the Super Bowl. And so I do think it's more likely towards the end of the year. Now against Denver and Houston, maybe not. Those seem like the perfect time to use Isaiah Pacheco. Right.

And I think that's, they might want to do that. He, they might want to get Pacheco building his confidence, understanding what his run assignments are so that they can use them on running downs and near the goal line. I think it's basically tying one of their hands behind their back and playing football, but they might,

they've they're doing it right now. Uh, Heath's winners are Cam Akers, who is only 62% rostered, still available in some leagues, gets the Raiders next week. He had 17 carries, 60 yards, and two touchdowns with one catch against Seattle. He was obviously a big surprise, started in 9% of leagues. Cam Akers and Cole Komet, Six catches for 72 yards on seven targets going into a bye next week.

If Akers and DJ Dallas were looking at you on the waiver wire and we knew Walker, let's say Walker was going to miss two games, who would you pick up? I think I'd rather have Cam Akers because it's not just that he plays the Raiders next week. He plays the Raiders, then

he plays the Packers. He's got the Chargers in Week 17. He's got a pretty fantastic schedule. Kyron Williams just completely disappeared. I think he had three carries in the game. And the offing with Wolford at quarterback, at least, I mean, it looked like a bad NFL offense, but it at least looked more like an NFL offense.

So I don't think they're going to be 13 points a game the rest of the way, especially against those defenses. I think Akers has a chance to be a high-end flex, maybe even a number two running back. I'm not certain that there's been a Rams running back with as big of a snap share as Akers had in week 13. I believe Kyron had 70% last week. Right. It's like

I can't trust them to be consistent. Maybe, but Acres ran well. It's 73% and finally the Rams have a player who looks good and knows how to play football and can put up some numbers and can get first downs and maybe even score a touchdown or two. And they used

three or four snaps inside the 10. I think that he's going to give them something. And he looks... I think he can give them something. I think he'd be the one that I would add as well. I mean, this is good for him. 17 carries for 60 yards. He has been such

an inefficient running back. It's so hard to buy in. I'd probably go DJ Dallas dallas in my ypc leagues no i would go cam acres because i don't think dj dallas is going to tear it up but i'm just saying i have a hard time the couple of carries he gets he'll have a good yards per carry i'm just saying i don't know he won't he actually won't but i have a hard time buying in any rams running back i mean cam acres doesn't run the ball well and every time you think you know who the rams running back is going to be, it's the other

guy, or they cut Daryl Henderson or something like that. So, I don't know. I mean, I definitely would pick him up, but that's what I was saying about Kyron Williams. You're not asking me if I would trust him over like Pacheco or anything like that. You asked me who I like better between him and DJ.

I'm not arguing with you. I'm arguing with Heath, who's taking these YPC shots at me. Cole, come back. What are you arguing with me? What did I say that you disagree with? You're just a little condescending with the YPC. But you agree with me that you would pick up Cam Akers? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I just wouldn't. If DJ Dallas is going to be at a timeshare with Travis Homer, I do not want DJ Dallas. He's not a good NFL running back. I think Homer would be the guy if they were both healthy, personally. Oh, I don't think Homer's going to get more than six to eight carries in any game. I'd be stunned if he had that many. He's like Ty Johnson, Northwest Pacific Ty Johnson.

Heath's winners are Akers and Komet. So Komet had a nice game here without Mooney. And hooray for Cole Komet. Oh, I have a question. Clear number one. I have a question. Option. Komet or Kittle?

After the bye. Komet or Kittle? Unless something major changes next week, I'd say Komet. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry, discuss. No, I was just saying, the clear number one guy, Justin Fields' favorite target. I think when it comes back from the bye,

I was going to say, we had a six this week that we felt okay with. I think we have a seven after Cole Komet's bye that we feel okay with at tight end. I'm not optimistic for eight, but seven's nice. All right, let's go to the losers. Don't be surprised if commit's on the

loser list three weeks from now or something like that where he has a tight end or target to catch 12 yard game and i listen he had a 28 target share this week so back-to-back games huge target share without darnell mooney on the field i i think you can buy into it a little bit but there is obviously a very low floor with Komet. When he comes back, he's your starting tight end probably. Sorry. The punter just got smashed, or the punt returner in the Cowboys

game. All right, losers. Deshaun Watson, we discussed. Zay Jones and George Pickens. They combined for three catches for 18 yards. Zay Jones had seven targets and he stunk. George Pickens had two freaking targets. I'm so embarrassed by my George Pickens love.

And he was started in 71% of leagues. Heath, these are your losers here. What do you think about Zay Jones and Pickens going forward? They stink. And like, it stinks because I thought we were one more double digit target game from Zay Jones away from like, like, it stinks because I thought we were one more double-digit target game from Zay Jones away from, like, hey, we've got a consistent number three wide receiver. And he was a disaster against what was supposed to be a good matchup.

And it wasn't because they didn't throw the ball enough because they were winning by so much. They were chasing the score the whole game. And the problem is, and it's been difficult, I think, with Christian Kirk to know he's kind of just followed the matchups. Zay Jones doesn't do that at all. Predicting the good Zay Jones game has been very difficult. Okay, and do you drop Pickens and Zay Jones? I would drop Z you drop Pickens and Zay Jones? I would drop Zay before Pickens,

but only because I have this bias towards maybe the rookie wide receiver is going to just start being good next week. All right. We haven't talked about Drake London, by the way. We'll get to him in a little bit. And I think we have a potential squeaky wheel game for George Pickens because he did throw a fit on the sideline. Oh, good. Dave's losers.

They did change up Pickens' role a little bit in this game. He played 36% of his snaps in the slot. His ADOT was less than half of what it was last week. I'm just looking at the metrics. 0.07 yards per route run. That's not good. I'd like to go back and see exactly what the Falcons did and what the Steelers did,

if they had really changed up his role, because there's no reason for him to only get two targets in a game. That just seems very out of character for a receiver of this talent. Yeah, but hidden... I'm definitely not dropping George Pickens. Hidden in the potential of Pickens was, not hidden, but not discussed maybe enough by me, he barely ever gets more than six targets.

I mean, two is very low, but you're hoping for more targets, and he's kind of stuck at six usually. Yeah, that's the thing. I have a really hard time separating him and Deontay Johnson. I think they're just both really bad number three wide receivers. Pickens had a rushing touchdown that one game and that was fun another 9.9 oh no that was last week for Deontay Johnson

this week he had 5 catches for 60 or oh he got to 11 PPR points that's really great for Deontay Johnson Dave's losers are Travis Etienne, Gus Edwards and Jeff Wilson let's throw Deontay Johnson in there too since are Travis Etienne, Gus Edwards, and Jeff Wilson. Let's throw Deontay Johnson in there, too,

since I'm in the middle of talking about him. Go ahead. We don't have to talk about Deontay Johnson. Etienne, it's now two. I guess if you throw out the game he got hurt, it's two straight games where he really disappointed. Here come the Titans next week, then Dallas after that, then the Jets after that not great matchups

if you win in spite of him and you get to week 17 if he's healthy he's got the Texans that should be a good matchup but I don't know I'm getting a little nervous that ETN might be letting us down a little bit here down the stretch so I put him in the loser pile

yeah I was getting a bad feeling about him too. I'm not really sure why. I had this feeling that they might lighten his workload a little bit. But he fumbled, which sucked. He ended up with 66 total yards in a fumble. So below 10 PPR fantasy points? What's that?

So below 10 PPR fantasy points? Oh, yeah, big time, below five. So every running back who has faced the Lions since week seven now has been below 10 PPR fantasy points? Oh yeah, big time, below five. So every running back who has faced the Lions since week seven now has been below 10 PPR fantasy points. What a trend. And here comes Dalvin Cook in week 14. Yeah, I'm a Lions believer. I don't know if I believe in their defense,

certainly not their pass defense, but I'm a Lions believer. Well, their front seven's been playing a lot better. They've been getting a ton of pressure on the quarterback. It's made a huge difference. Gus Edwards. You did pick Jacksonville to win the AFC South, so it does make sense that you're now a Lions believer. They put up 40 against the best team in the AFC South.

No, yeah. Look, I remember I said I thought they'd give the Bills a run. That was a great almost upset pick. Great almost upset pick. Gus Edwards, Dave already talked about. They went right back to Hill. You got Dobbins. Sorry, to Drake.

You got Dobbins. Hopefully come back next week. So let's talk about Jeff Wilson here, who had one touch. He had a big drop. Almost had a big play in the passing game, but he dropped it. But even if he had that, it would have been a bad game. Mostert had more work. Who would you rather have in the Dolphins' backfield going forward

with the dream matchup at the Chargers next week? I think I'd rather have Wilson because I like what I saw from him, but now it's two games ago. Maybe he's playing hurt. Maybe there's something else going on that we just don't know about. He only played 38% of the snaps. Not a great week to be a Dolphins running back in general. They played the 49ers.

They did a good job against them. They didn't have any snaps inside the 10. Mostert had most of the snaps on third and fourth downs. He had five of nine. Wilson had four of nine. I don't know. I'm not ready to say that Mostert's head and shoulder is going to be better than Wilson, but I would say it if I knew

that something was wrong with Wilson because it is now. He's coming off a game where he didn't play well, had a touchdown to save his numbers, and then this week they barely gave him any work. Don't you think it's possible that Mike McDaniel went back to San Francisco and you go back home for a visit and you see people you haven't seen for a long time and you talk about things you used to do in the past

and how silly those things were, and they were sitting around talking about all the old days, and like, hey, remember when everybody used to think who our best running back was and then we just not play that guy hardly at all and give the ball to somebody else we should do that one again that's that's what sean mcveigh does yeah shit that's good no all right well you know we knew it was going to be a tough sledding for them but the usage if he had had the seven carries or whatever Mostert had, and Mostert had no work, then it'd be just a matchup. It was just the usage is

confusing and frustrating. Alright, let's go take a break and when we come back, we'll talk about the games. We'll start with Cleveland and Houston. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. The Browns with some DST was great. 27-14.

They really dominated the Texans. Texans offense is The Browns with some DST was great. 27-14. They really dominated the Texans. The Texans offense is, yeah, bad. But Deshaun Watson, we discussed. 4.6 fantasy points. Heath, you got another believe it or not for this game? Yeah, believe it or not, Damian Pierce is fine. We overreacted, and he's a starting running back rest of season. I want to believe it.

I thought he ran pretty well in this game. I don't necessarily love his matchups rest of season. I want to believe it. I thought he ran pretty well in this game. I don't necessarily love his matchups rest of season, Dallas, Kansas City, Tennessee, and Jacksonville, but he will probably make my top 24 every week the rest of the way. What was it again? So Pierce had 18 carries, 73 yards. He had three catches for 22 yards.

So give me the verbiage again. So he almost scored as much as Deontay Johnson. Which is a hell of a lot better than he did the last two weeks. He's fine. We can just forget. Yeah, I mean, I think he's a top 24 guy, but he's not sniffing the top 12. I think he's a top 24 guy this week

because unlike quarterbacks, there are more starting running backs that are not going to be playing um but i don't expect week in the fantasy playoffs when there's nobody on a buy that i will have them in my ppr top 24 okay nico collins did get 10 targets in this game he scored a late touchdown three catches 35 yards and a touchdown and no brandon cooks i'm going to look up how many of those targets came late. Collins, Nico Collins is 48% rostered

on the other side of the ball. Do we have any Nick Chubb concerns? I mean, he's not been bad, but he's cooled off a little bit, I guess, in fantasy. I think that was probably to be expected a little bit. All right. He's going to end up about where we drafted him. You're still starting him.

No problems whatsoever. Was this encouraging for Kareem Hunt? He had nine carries and two catches. 11 touches is actually a lot for Kareem Hunt. He had seven or fewer touches in five of his last seven games. He had seven or fewer touches in five of his last six games. Now it's five of seven. I am not encouraged.

No, not enough to consider him as anything more than a bi-week replacement running back. Okay. Also, if you didn't get points for Donovan Peoples' touchdown, then you should probably fix that for next year. Now would be a good time. All right. Subject for another pod. Three targets, two catches, 22 yards, and one touchdown in the fourth quarter for Nico.

So in the garbage of garbage time, Collins. I wouldn't hold that against him, though. They're going to have that virtually every week. Hey, you guys want to do a 30-second fantasy cops? Yeah, sure. So, Heath, you and I are. Oh, no. I got to hear the music if we're doing it.

No, I actually was going to ask you. As the commissioner. You're the defendant. I just looked. Heath and I are battling in the For the People podcast league. We're fighting hard. Our opponent has an illegal lineup. And it looks like he made a simple mistake of starting three running backs and not putting one of them in his flex.

So I sent him an email. I don't want to just win because he got a zero. I sent him an email asking him what happened. I think if he gets back to me by tomorrow night's game, I'm going to make his lineup legal. I could be a jerk and be like, no, it's your fault. But I'm not going to do that. I think you should definitely make sure

that he gets credit for the points in case those points matter for his standing. But we won. I may have done that in the past. Actually, I have to go back to what I did earlier in the year. I think you might be right. His team had a horrible week anyway. Josh Allen. Does he have one of those running backs

playing tonight or tomorrow? Could he still fix it? Oh, yeah. Okay, okay. He could still fix it. He's going to have a pretty bad week, I think. So we should be all right, I think. But if he doesn't fix it before Kamara plays,

I'm not giving him the win. I think you might be right about that. Okay, at least we'll give him until Kamara plays. Baltimore 10 and Denver 9. Why? All right, let's do this one quickly because I accidentally started with probably the two crappiest games of the day.

So Baltimore 10, Denver 9. I think we may get through the rest of the games and you may come along to Dave and I's opinion that we're always going to start with two of the crappiest games. Believe it or not. So we did Mark Andrews. There's not going to be a Ravens running back that you can trust the rest of the season.

I believe it. Yeah, me too. Yeah. They're not that good of a running team from the running back's position. Believe it or not, Jerry Judy is a must start if Cortland Sutton is out. Three receiver leagues for sure. Two wide receiver and a flex PPR league, sure. Yeah, I'm just going to say yes.

All right. Would you rather have Pickens or Judy? Now listen, by the way, I agree with the whole there's not a trustworthy Ravens running back, but it doesn't mean that I'm punting on Gus. It doesn't mean that I'm punting on stashing J.K. Dobbins. I want to see what happens, and I like to have running back, but it doesn't mean that I'm punting on Gus. It doesn't mean that I'm punting on stashing J.K. Dobbins. I want to see what happens. And I like to have running back depth.

They're just almost like poison, though, because we see what happens with Gus, and then we start him, and then he sabotages us. Sure. I'm not telling you to start Gus Edwards. I'm saying that you can roster him if you want to.

Quez Watkins, AC joint sprain, just seeing that come in. What I was saying was Jerry Judy or George Pickens, who do you guys think has more value right now? Who do you like better? Judy. Judy. All right. Greg Dulcich was interesting. Very good game for him.

Latavius Murray, I mean, still had four catches. Look, I know Latavius stinks. We're talking about low-end stuff here. But with Mike Boone back, Latavius Murray still had four catches. He had 21 touches. So you could do worse than that. Yeah, he's a nice flex. All right.

On the other side. Now that's it. Green Bay 28 and Chicago 19. Heath, what do we got for this one? I'm trying to think. Give me a little Christian Watson. Both Christian Watson and Alan Lazard are going to be starting wide receivers the rest of the way.

No. I think I believe it as long as Rodgers is the quarterback. And I'm definitely going to like Watson a hell of a lot more than Lazard. I'm not really feeling like Rodgers is going to be the quarterback. I feel like they're going to shut him down. But let's, for argument's sake, say that doesn't happen. There's nothing about Lazard's game that makes me feel that way today five for 67 on six targets it's actually a pretty good game for him that's a good game if it's your floor

it's a bad game if it's your ceiling i mean the christian watson thing is is reaching the point to where i have to not be the christian not like christian watson anymore because he's not going to keep scoring a touchdown every four touches are you sure no I'm I'm really confident sure he's going to give you a bad game he's got right he's he's still in Gabe Davis territory maybe he's ahead of Gabe Davis now but he's still right in the thick of that I don't He's right in the thick of it. He had three for 48 on six targets. That is the signature line of Gabe Davis. Let's put it this

way. It ain't Gabe Davis territory anymore. It's Christian Watson territory now, and Gabe Davis is behind him. Gabe Davis has two touchdowns, and Christian Watson has two catches for 12 yards. Well, he's on by next week, but I think the hope for Watson, the difference, I think the hope for Watson, the difference, I think,

is that Watson has a chance to be the lead target getter for the Packers, and Gabe Davis has no chance of that for the Bills. True. You're hoping Watson earns more role. By the way, great defense by the Bears

on that end of round that Watson scored on, 46-yard rush. All right, can you make things any easier on the guy? Are you kidding me? It's almost like they couldn't see him. He's so talented. As if he were invisible.

I want to buy into him, Heath. I want to buy into an expanding role for him as he finishes out his rookie season. That's what I want to buy into. More targets and such. That is the hope. If it doesn't happen, he's going to really lay a couple

eggs in the fantasy playoffs, I'm afraid. Now look, Aaron Rodgers won this game so the Packers are 5-8. Technically, they're still not dead. They play the Rams when they come back from the bye. That's a game they should be able to win. And then they've got the Dolphins after that. That could be the end of the line for them.

But if it's not, and if they still are mathematically alive to make the playoffs at 9-8, it's Vikings and it's Lions to wrap up the season. They really don't have a difficult matchup left. This bye is going to sting a little bit. You know what really crushed them? That tie. The Giants.

That tie was awful for them. Because they need one of those two teams to lose they lost to both of those teams so they needed both of them to lose well now they've got to be three games or four games better three games better than the commanders the rest of the way

sure so it's probably I don't think they're making the playoffs but Roger said he wants to play as long as they're mathematically alive. Let's talk about Justin Fields here, guys. He had a bad game. He had scored 19.3 fantasy points, but 20 of 25 for 254 yards is outstanding for him. 71 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

He threw two interceptions and no touchdowns. What do you make of it? Both late interceptions when he was trying to lead the Bears back. I think he's a good quarterback surrounded by mediocre talent. And until the Bears give him a better offensive line and better pass catchers, healthier pass catchers, he's not going to be in a position

to lead them to victories and certainly to find a lot of touchdown passes from game to game. Okay, but I mean, from a fantasy standpoint here, you know, is he going to win you your league? No, I don't think that was ever a fair expectation. Six weeks ago, we said, here comes a three-week stretch.

Justin Fields could be just an absolute monster. Justin Fields, for three weeks, plays against three of the worst defenses in the league and is an absolute superstar monster. And then we said, okay, the schedule gets a lot more difficult now. But this wasn't that. I mean, this was an easy matchup,

and he also scored 25 points at the Patriots. He scored 30 points at Dallas. That's not even more close to what he was doing. No, not the Miami and Detroit games, but the Dallas game was his third best game. But could he be 25 points per game? I would go just under, but 20 to 25 is what I'd expect. And there are tough matchups in his future after the bye.

It's Philadelphia and Buffalo, and then at Detroit in Week 17. Right, but he's got the capability of being the bye. It's Philadelphia and Buffalo and then at Detroit in week 17. Right, but I mean, he's got the capability of being the best. He looks like the best running quarterback in football. Sorry, Lamar Jackson. Would he have a 50-something yard rushing touchdown today? It's incredible. Yes, 56

yards, I think it was. I wasn't saying that was always the expectation, but what is he going forward? Is he a low-end starter? Is he a league winner, or is he somewhere in between? I think he's better than a low-end starter. Alright, let's go to our next game here. Detroit 40 and Jacksonville 14.

Heath? Oh. Well, yeah. Believe it or not, DeAndre Swift's back as a must-start running back. I gave my opinion on it earlier, but I didn't ask anybody else's. I love the volume. I love the 18 touches.

I love that the coaches gave him that they're just not going to shove him into this part-time role. They need his explosion. This offense is really going to take off. They need him to just keep on running like he has been. He looked really good.

So I'm going to say yes. I'm going to say that he becomes – I'm going to rank him ahead of Jamal Williams. And it's almost like the situation with the Cowboys running backs where you've got one running back who's just this dynamic talent, but you know he's not going to be a candidate for 20 touches any game because there's another running back there who's going to steal stinking short yardage touchdowns away from him. That's Detroit now.

And so Swift will be Pollard, and Jamal Williams will be Zeke. And when the matchups are really, really tough, you probably won't even consider Williams, and you'll still start Swift as long as he's healthy. Vikings are a pretty tough matchup next week, but there's two things in play. Number one, Swift, good pass catcher out of the backfield. He should be able to take advantage of that. as long as he's healthy. Vikings are a pretty tough matchup next week, but there's two things in play. Number one, Swift, good pass catcher out of the backfield.

He should be able to take advantage of that. When the Lions establish Jamison Williams as a regular player and they use that speed, it's going to be really hard for defenses to make decisions on how they're going to cover that offense, and that could open things up for Swift. Just cross your fingers he stays healthy. I think the way these backs are being used right now, Minnesota's a great matchup for Swift. offense and that could open things up for swift just cross your fingers he stays healthy and i think the way that these backs are being used right now this minnesota is a great matchup for swift it's a terrible matchup for jamal williams except he'll score a touchdown of course well if anyone

saw swift's one yard touchdown run he so what happened he got tackled at the one yard line they went hurry up he stayed in the game and he got that goal line carry it was an amazing one yard run he's just so good he's just so good so i'm really hoping this is a guy that could rise up from the fantasy ashes basically and win you a fantasy league um would you guys rather have jared goff or trevor lawrence down the stretch lawrence same all right oh another one believe it or not the lions are actually like legitimately a difficult matchup for running backs that we should care about i think you have to believe it i gotta do a little more research on that i don't know i feel like i feel like no well what do you think heath um i mean i know for

sure that at one point we thought they were a good matchup for running backs, and I'm well off that train. I think they are at the—it depends on how much you care about schedule. I'm one of those guys that usually says there's only maybe three or four matchups that matter every week to me, and so I'm probably not going to factor them in, but I think if you're weighing that relatively heavily as part of your process, you should be factoring them in because they're in the top third probably. I think they were 16th against running backs going into this week, and that's only going to get better. I'm on Rasane Brown with another massive game.

He's incredible. We'll talk about DJ Chark on Tuesday on the Waver Wire show. Give me just the numbers, 0 to 10, Waverometer. How much do you want to add, DJ Chark? Two. Sure. Minnesota 27, Jets 22. Great game. Two. Sure. Minnesota 27, Jets 22. Great game.

Great finish here. Heath, what do you got? I'm trying to move a couple of these towards the long-term future because that's what we do this time of year. So believe it or not, Garrett Wilson is and will be the best wide receiver in this class. Yeah.

I believe it. He's so talented. Look at what he's doing with a former fifth-round pick who has been a backup for the majority of his NFL career. Just imagine what he can do when the Jets get an upgraded quarterback

over anybody they have on the roster now, which I think they're going to try and do this offseason. He could be like a top five fantasy receiver. I want to take Olave, but I feel like it's only because I previously took Olave and I don't want to go back on that. Well, and that's the thing is we talk about

how much better it would be for Olave if he was playing with Jameis Winston instead of Andy Dalton. But Garrett Wilson looks down south and says, Andy Dalton? I wish I could play with a franchise quarterback like that. I don't know. Andy Dalton is so awful. But, yeah, I mean, look, there's really – it's going to be a very fascinating question because the first one drafted is right now not even in the conversation, but certainly could be, and that's Drake London.

He had a good game. London had a good game today. Yeah, I'm not holding this year against him. My fear is that they're going to do well enough that he has to go through another one of these. I think Arthur Smith might just be awful for the passing game. I don't know. Well, plenty of time to talk about that.

Yeah, I mean, Thielen with a dud after he was good last week. Conklin. Conklin with a dud. This was a bad fantasy game, actually. It was a bad fantasy day. It was a bad fantasy game. Mike White had a lot of throws. He had like two or three throws that were just unbelievably clutch,

but he had a lot of really terrible throws and some unluckiness. Kirk Cousins played poorly, I think, the majority of the game. He really did not throw the ball well at all. And I don't know. The touchdown to Justin Jefferson was nice. Jefferson made a move on a defensive back, and it was easy for him to get open. Thielen had a big catch that helps set up a score.

There's just not a lot to really take away from this game that makes you feel good about the Vikings' offense other than Dalvin Cook looked like his old self. That's good to see, and I'm hoping that he can keep that going. Pittsburgh 19, Atlanta 16. Oh, I should have mentioned Mike White's ADOT. You were interested in that information. Yeah. 7.98.

Ooh, good. That's good. I like it. Big change compared to last week. Yeah. And so maybe something like that can happen for Brock Purdy. And he also missed Garrett Wilson wide open, like up the field for what could have been a massive play.

It could have been an even bigger day for Garrett Wilson. Okay, Heath, go ahead. Pittsburgh 19, Atlanta 16. I mean, these teams do not, for the most part, other than Pat Fryermuth, I would like to not roster them. What about Najee Harris? What is your Najee Harris thing here? Even if they're kind of good, if I roster them,

I might get 9.6 points from Najee Harris and have to act excited about it. I did not like the fact. What the heck is Benny Snell getting six carries for when Najee Harris and Jalen Warner are both playing? I know. It's got to be Najee not 100%, right? If he's not 100%,

why are they giving him 17 carries and letting him play two-thirds of the snaps? What does he usually play? Does he not usually play more than that? He usually plays a little more than that, if I recall. Right, that's what I'm saying. I don't know, maybe Benny Snell earned it, too. Maybe that's the other part of that. Well, that would be very bad for Najee Harris.

I don't know what to say about Najee Harris, other than I think he's in that Isaiah Pacheco, Brian Robinson range. I don't think he's the passing downs back. No, he hasn't been for a while. And I don't think I want the, um, the, the early downs back on the Pittsburgh Steelers offense. Well, it's been good. It's been good three weeks in a row before this week because they had their offense had been playing better. They had been scoring one of those without Warren when he had a bunch of catches. Uh, I think I – well, did he not score in that game?

Maybe not. No, maybe not. But he had – look, in his last three games, he has 20, 20, and 17 carries, something like that. Yeah. So it's – I don't know. I mean, it's not nothing. You're right.

I mean, he's in that Brian Robinson Pacheco range, but a lot of people are starting guys like that every week. They have to, you know. Yeah. He's catching the Bryan Robinson Pacheco range, but a lot of people are starting guys like that every week. They have to. He's catching the Ravens this week. That'll always be a tough game. Panthers after that. Las Vegas after that. Ravens in week 17.

I like the workload. I like the way that he's running the 5.1 YPC. I think shouldn't be ignored. He's had a good YPC, I think shouldn't be ignored. He's had a good YPC over this recent stretch. I'd feel good about Najee as a number two fantasy running back. They also, the Steelers, it was a weird game for both teams. The Steelers didn't have any snaps inside the 10.

So it's not like he had a chance to score any short yardage touchdowns. And I want to correct the sequencing. I don't know that it actually matters. Najee's touchdowns did actually come in the game where he caught the four passes. The other good game that he had, he scored 9.9 points. Well, yeah. Look, that's the thing with those running backs that are not the passing

downs backs. He could have 20 carries for 99 yards, and that's a pretty good game. But in a full PPR league, it's not a very good game. And that's always a risk. But it's not like he's droppable or anything like that no no it's just like i don't i've not really bought into deontay johnson and george pickens being droppable either but they're just in that range where yeah well cordero patterson lives in that range too he had a touchdown run called back but he

that was one where he definitely would not have scored if not for the holding, I think anyway. So it wasn't one of those irrelevant penalties. And just every week, it's 10 to 13 carries and hardly any catches. He had a lot in the first game without pits, and Dave said that this morning, and I thought, well, that is encouraging.

I hadn't really thought of it that way. But then did he even have a target today? Yes, he had one catch. Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know. He had zero catches. I don't know if he had a target. So, yeah, Patterson, I think we know what to do.

He's a flex at best. What about Drake London? Last week it was Zaccheaus. This week it's Drake London. Six catches, 95 yards on 12 targets, 70% rostered, 15% started. Dave, is he a must-add guy if Drake London were available in your league? Is he a must-start guy? They are on a buy, unfortunately.

But what do you think last four games? So you don't have to add him because he's on a buy. You might add him and then realize, oh, crap, he's on a buy, and then you'll let him go. He's got the Saints, not an easy matchup. Ravens, not an easy matchup. Arizona, hello, but that's not until week 17. You should be able to get by without

getting Drake London. He's had games like this before where he has outstanding fantasy production, and then he evaporates the week after. It's been a while, though. Not worth trusting any pass guys. He had not had more than 40 yards since week three. I know he had some touchdowns, but this was different.

This was 12 targets and 95 yards. But all right, the bye kills the momentum. It kills the momentum. And the matchups are tough after the bye. Philadelphia 35, Tennessee 10. Sorry about all the hype I gave to the Titans defense. I don't think they're bad, but they were outclassed today. Good job.

I was going to do that. That's what happened. I had another positional, believe it or not. Believe it or not, the Titans are a great matchup for wide receivers. Yeah, I believe it, Heath, because look what Jalen Hurts did this game. He threw 38, 39 passes. This is what teams do. They throw and throw and throw.

I think more than on any other team than the Titans. Yes, that's the case. So, yes, I believe that they're a good matchup for Christian Kirkland. Pass-catching options, you could even just say. But I don't know how they've been against Titans this year. No, I don't know. I can look it up for you if you really want to know how they've been against Titans. No, I've got it right here. I can just click

one button. I think part of the key is a general key that always works for any team that wants to throw the ball a lot. You've got to protect your passer. Philadelphia has a really good offensive line that negated the pass rush for the Titans. I believe they sacked them just twice in the game. Not sure what the

pass rush pressure rate was. If you've got a good offensive line, you're going to be able to throw on Tennessee, no problem. Does Jacksonville have a good offensive line? I don't know. Chargers, two weeks from now, no way. Houston, LOL, we're not going to start anybody in the Houston passing game in week 16.

And then Dallas, week 17, yes, you're going to start your Cowboys players against the Titans defense. Well, I think you're going to start most wide. I think you're going to start most wideboys players against the Titans defense. Well, I think you're going to start most wide receivers. I think you're going to start most wide receivers. You'll start Christian Kirk next week for sure. And Keenan Allen the week after that. And I'll make a fun case for Zay Jones on a team on a week

where there are six teams on by facing a team that gets more wide receiver targets than almost any other team in football. I'll make the fun case. We'll have a nice debate about it. In this game, I don't really know what to take away from Devontae Smith. It was a great game for him, but an unusually high amount of pass attempts. They get the Giants next week. I don't know what the deal with secondary for the Giants is terrible.

What do you think? I think it's pretty clear. Since Dallas Goddard went down, coming into this game, Devontae Smith had like a 35% target share. I just think, and Goddard could be back in week 15, but until Goddard's back, I'm just starting Devontae Smith, period. Alright. Game of the week, Washington 20, Giants 20. There was no game that was closer than this one.

And Heath, what's your believe it or not? This was a mind-blowing performance. Believe it or not. Wow, Terry McLaurin. No, believe it or not, Washington's going to make Jahan Dotson relevant again. I thought it was interesting how his role after just completely disappearing last week. He had nine targets in this game.

Like a 20% target share. It was interesting because he's a rookie wide receiver and he was really efficient early in the year on a few targets. I don't know if he scored a fantasy point last week

and then has nine targets. I'll just tell you before you give your answer, Dave, the last three games since coming back from injury, he had a combined, well, he had 14 or fewer yards and one to two targets in all three games. So this was a surprise. He also had the biggest play of the game. His touchdown catch tied it up late in regulation.

Dotson's 31% rostered. So believe it or not, basically, he's going to be fantasy relevant. I don't believe that he's going to be fantasy relevant. I hate to say it because that touchdown catch was electric and he's got awesome speed. He's got awesome talent and he could end up being the number one receiver for Washington someday. But we didn't even have him on the radar until he caught that touchdown.

And so I just went and checked in fourth quarter and overtime. He had six of his nine targets. He had three of his five catches. He had 29 of his 54 yards and he had the touchdown. So first three quarters of the game, pretty much invisible fourth quarter. He stepped up. Is that enough to make us believe in him being a regular contributor in Washington? I say, nay, 41 passes. The argument would be that Taylor Heineke just discovered that he exists. regular contributor in Washington, I say nay. 41 pass attempts. The argument would be that Taylor Heineke just discovered that he exists because he had four or five targets

or at least four targets in all the games that he played with Carson Wentz, scored four touchdowns in four games, and he's played with Taylor Heineke in these last three games, and he had four targets in three games combined. He had three targets in the first three quarters. Yeah, look, this was an unusual

game. They had the ball for 41 minutes. They played a full overtime, and Heineke threw 41 passes, and he had thrown 33, 31, 28, 29, 27, 23. So this is just a better game for pass volume for him. Brian Robinson, strong game. Not amazing, but

21 carries compared to just nine for Gibson, who was banged up. Robinson had two catches, so maybe he's earning people's trust more. He does have a buy and then gets the terrible Giants run defense again after the buy. On the Giants side of the ball... Hold on. You should know that Gibson played more snaps than

Robinson, and that includes on third and fourth downs, obviously, but also they had 82 offensive snaps. Only three of them came inside the 10. Gibson played two of those three. So, yes, encouraging that he had a lot of carries, and he definitely had a lot of nice runs, but

discouraging that Gibson actually outplayed him and had more high leverage snaps. I just feel like they haven't been trailing much in this streak with Heineke, and they were trailing for much of the second half. Your trust level for Darius Slayton, who had

six catches for 90 yards and was started in 34% of leagues and was sick coming into the game. He's a good number three wide receiver, definitely ahead of the Steelers. Okay. I think that's a good way to put them. Oh, yes.

Ahead of Jerry Judy? No. Let's go to the late games here, guys. San Francisco 33, Miami 17, a time of possession domination. Miami had the ball for less than 20 minutes in this game.

Heath, what's our buy or believe it or not? We have talked so much about this game. We talked about the running backs. I don't know if there's anything to say with Waddle or Hill. We talked about McCaffrey. Tua, can you give me a Tua, believe it or not? Because he's had two stinkers in a row. I don't even know if he's going to be healthy.

I hate to do it with a guy who's on a bum ankle. All right, I'll do it. All right, Tua Tungabai lower last two games. 18 points against Houston, 17.8 points against San Francisco, and six points for passing touchdown leagues. Believe it or not, there's nothing to worry about here. There's nothing to worry about there. I agree.

Well, the ankle. That's what you should worry about. Assuming that's fine. Is Jalen Waddell going to be okay? Yeah. Good question. Yes, let's say it's all systems go except for Teron Armstead against the Chargers.

Everybody's healthy. There were times where the offensive line was a major liability, and there were times where I think Tua worked around it. I think he'll be okay. I'm encouraged to start him next week against the Chargers for sure. That Buffalo game could be a little dicey, though. That's week 15.

And, you know, if you didn't see the game, Teron Armstead, the absence of Armstead certainly made a difference. I mean, there were definitely times when he was under pressure, but he just had kind of a bad game. He just was off today, Tua. And I forget who was calling the game, but he said, like, not seeing Tua miss this many throws. All right. And with that said, he threw for 295 yards,

had the ball for 20 minutes. Seattle 27 and the Rams 23. This, by the way, may have been the best game. It was a great game. You had a play where DK Metcalf went in motion to the other side of the field away from Jalen Ramsey, and Ramsey put his arms up like, hey, why are you going away?

And Metcalf, I think, waved him to come over and shadow him. It was trash talk. It was fiery. It was intense, and it was a great finish. Heath, what's our Believe It or Not for Seattle and the Rams? DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett are both top 12 wide receivers. They're pretty damn close. It's rare when they both have over 100 yards

and a touchdown in the same week, but they've both been so productive. It's like five straight games now for Lockett with a touchdown. People who have him, just awesome value on draft day, must start receiver from week to week. Is he top 12? I don't know if he's top 12. It might depend on

who they play. They've got Carolina in week 14, so maybe next week they are. The week after that, it's San Francisco. That's not going to be a game. So no, ultimately, I do not believe it. It will be a week to week thing. One of the things we didn't talk I'm going to not believe it. It will be a week-to-week thing. One of the things we didn't talk... I'm going to not believe it, but

I do think the Ken Walker injury, if he misses time, makes it more believable. Because Gino has just been, on a per-attempt basis, he's been terrific this year, but they never really let him air it out. Was this a season high in pass attempts? He had 39. I'm guessing

no. Might have been. Oh, it was. Take a look. Oh, attempts? He had 39. I'm guessing no. Might have been. Oh, it was. Take a look. Oh, 44. He had 44 in week three. But that's a really big development here. And if they throw the ball, you know, more than 35 times on a weekly basis, that's a huge deal for those guys. That would also signal a complete change in offensive philosophy for Pete Carroll.

Even without Ken Walker there, I'd have a hard time believing that he's just going to say, all right, forget it. We're not going to run it at all. We're just going to let Gino do his thing because how many years did Russ try and let that happen? Well,

Hey, they had a running game. They had a running game. If they can't run the ball, it's different than them not trying to run the ball. So I don't know. All right. Tony Jones, seven carries. Well, run the ball, it's different than them not trying to run the ball. I don't know. Tony Jones 7 carries in this game?

Well, the DJ Dallas got shaken up a little bit, and I think they just wanted to see what he could do. I saw it. Your Rams stink. We talked about Akers earlier. Cincinnati 27, Kansas City 24. One thing I didn't mention was that Patrick Mahomes was limping toward the very end of the game, Yeah, he limped off late.

Which may have been why they kicked the long field goal instead of going for it on fourth down and I think three. And Butker missed, basically lost the game. But Cincinnati 27, Kansas City 24. So we did P. Ryan, we did Higgins.

This is easy. Believe it or not, Juju Smith-Schuster can no longer be trusted. There it is. Whoop. There it is, and I believe it. I'm sitting up. Well, I don't know. Next week's going to be tough, but I'm nervous. Let's see if I can get where he lined up.

Give me one second. And the snap count, because I know he came off briefly. They did a lot of three tight end stuff today. It's really questionable. Mahomes also had a lot of targets downfield to MVS. A couple of them he flubbed

and a couple of them... The tougher catches he caught and the easier catches he dropped. Okay. Juju was in the slot 35% of the snaps. He played 40 snaps, ran 24 routes. That seems to be pretty close to what, like Kelsey ran 26 routes. They only threw 27 passes.

Yeah. Right. So that's got to be close to being a full-time player for the Chiefs. ADOT was, sorry, everybody, 6.5. So working more outside, but not really working farther downfield. Well, A. you should look at route depth, right? Because A. on four targets doesn't necessarily... We don't have the route depth yet.

No, but look, he's had one game all year with more than eight targets, right? And it was the 68 pass attempt game. No, but when he was getting eight targets every week, that's awesome. Yeah, he was doing well with it. What do you think? 61% started. That feels about right to me. I think he'll be borderline top 25 this week with six

teams on a bye. This upcoming week, yeah. Certainly behind Garrett Wilson now. Yeah, he was behind Garrett Wilson this week. We laughed about the quarterbacks who weren't playing but there's there's some wide receivers sure all right

how about by the way Tyler Boyd in this game dropped the easiest touchdown oh yeah I had it with his career probably Chargers at the Raiders last game for us today believe it or not the Chargers are going to get a new coach. No, that's not relevant to fantasy football.

Sure will. They're going to be much better with Sean Payton. Give me a Josh Palmer or something. Yeah, I don't know. I think we'll get Mike Williams back, but I would say believe it or not, Josh Palmer's number two wide receiver until Mike Williams returns.

Nope, not ready to say that. He's close. Top 30, but not top 24. What happened to DeAndre Carter? I just assumed that he got hurt, and then I saw him returning a punt late in the game. He was working on teams all game long. I don't know how much he actually played on offense. I can look that up real quick.

But he was really uninvolved. Just disappeared. Until the last play of the game. His one catch was the last play of the game, DeAndre Carter. The thing about Palmer is I think it's because I have him on two teams, two of my better teams that are in the mix. And I get so excited about him every week when Mike Williams doesn't play.

And he basically doesn't really come through. I mean, sometimes he does. He has 13 fantasy points. I know, but that's like, that's nothing. That's nothing. Come on, he could do better. He should do better. I mean, as number three receivers in flexes go,

that's pretty good. But as number two receivers, that's not. I more or less rank him or recommend him as a number two receiver, but I probably shouldn't. You know, 13 PPR points for a number two receiver isn't really that bad. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine.

Yeah. Carter played 45 snaps, 42 routes. That's terribly one catch. Yeah. So he played a lot, ran around, got a lot of cardio, and then only That's terribly in one catch. Yeah, so he played a lot, ran around, got a lot of cardio, and then only had two targets in one catch. So didn't get used. His ADOT was 18, but he was only targeted twice, so we really don't know how that relates to how they used him in the game.

Palmer had a much lower ADOT. One of the things that made me nervous to start Palmer this week was that he had the highest ADOT last week of anybody on the Chargers. This week, he had the lowest ADOT of anybody on the Chargers. Interesting. And who had Tony Pollard,

two-yard touchdown run. Yeah. Heath, we better hope that the guy in the league doesn't change his lineup. He has Tony Pollard. It's going to be up to you, Adam, if you're going to be generous.

No, we're going to give him until Monday night. We're going to give him until Monday night. I regret sending him the email. Yeah, I mean, at some point, you've got to let people learn from their mistakes. I know. Take it from someone who's the father of an 18-year-old. You don't want playoff spots decided on people not

setting their lineups, right? It's kind of lame. I've never really understood that because this is a game that we are playing. If someone's not trying as hard as someone else, they should... That's a fine thing

to determine who wins and loses. Thank you. That's why the tournament determines all kinds of things. It's not your job to set everybody's lineup. No, I don't feel bad for him.

It's about the other people in the league whose standings are impacted by this game. I can think of two other people in the league whose standings are impacted by this game. I can think of two other people in the league who are going to be pretty happy about it. If I can get 20 more PPR points out of Pollard and Lamb,

I'm going to take down Lee Trevino's disdain in the Waterbury Open. You better watch out, Shooter McGavin. I'm coming. I'm shaking my head at you, Dave. The Grizzly Adams did have a beard. All right. We're out of here, everybody.

Thanks for watching and listening. We will talk to you tomorrow with Beyond the Box score. Or if you're listening on Monday, we'll talk to you later today on Beyond the Box score. I'm Fantasy Football.