Fantasy Football Today - Week 15 Recap! Duke Johnson Shines, Cowboys Struggle (12/19 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 20, 2021

Who started Duke Johnson!? Congrats! We talk about Johnson as the biggest winner and Saquon Barkley as the biggest loser (6:15). Will we start either of those guys next week? Then we'll give you your news and notes (9:05) and early waiver wire names (13:15) including Samaje Perine and Amon-Ra St. Brown ... Let's talk about who we trust (15:00). Do we trust Cam Newton now? Is D'Onta Foreman a slam dunk start? Is Laquon Treadwell a #3 WR? Then we'll give you more winners (21:00) including Craig Reynolds and Gabriel Davis and losers (28:00) including the Cardinals RBs and Chase Claypool. And let's not forget Megaduds (35:40) Dak Prescott, Najee Harris and Kyler Murray ... Recapping each game (42:40) with our Fantasy thoughts ... Email us at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. Tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races.

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Beck. All right. You know, usually there aren't that many games left when we start our show on Sunday night, but there is a lot to be determined with Sunday night football. Two on Monday, two on Tuesday. And we welcome you to Fantasy Football today. Adam Azer, Dave Richard, and Heath Cummings.

Just a couple of quick NFL hot takes for you. Number one, Aaron Rodgers is the MVP. Number two, 49ers, sleeper Super Bowl contender. Discuss. Yeah, I think you're right on with the MVP talk with Aaron Rodgers. To me, it's down to him or Brady. The discussion about Jonathan Taylor, I can't take seriously yet. So I'm with you on that one.

49ers is a Super Bowl contender. Yeah. You know, it's hard to say that that's crazy when Jimmy Garoppolo has led the 49ers to a Super Bowl before. I think they might be better than they were then. They might be offensively. I gotta really think back on that. Defensively, I'm not

sure they're as good. What's up, Heath? Just probably the best day of fantasy football I've ever experienced. And we're gonna start the show off with a quick, quick, quick episode of Fantasy Cops Regulators. I'm in a league. It's a 10-team league.

Only four teams make the playoffs. And last year, the playoffs, of course, started Week 15, ran Week 16 for the championship. This week, it was supposed to be 16 and 17. The commissioner never changed the settings, so it was still set for the playoffs to start this week. The commissioner also never set the playoff matchups. So when I went to look at the scores today, there were no scores. And I brought this to the commissioner's attention, and he said, oh, yeah, the playoffs don't start until next week.

Retroactively added another week of the regular season at approximately 8 o'clock p.m. Eastern on a Sunday, and the playoffs start next week retroactively added another week of the regular season at approximately eight o'clock p.m eastern on a sunday and the playoffs start next week of course they've always started next week i made that clear yes this is my doing i made that clear i told the league the playoffs start next week when i did the worst mistake is horrible yeah like i don't think any i've done a lot of dumb things the commissioner yeah d Dave has done some things. Remember the no $0 bid debacle of 2019? I love that.

We've all done silly things, but this just takes the cake. Yeah, so I didn't realize that there were no matchups for this week in one of our podcast leagues. You're the commissioner of the league. Nobody noticed. Nobody said anything. We've already had games. You're the commissioner. You're supposed to be the one to notice these things. You're the commissioner of the league. I know. Nobody noticed. Nobody said anything. We've already had games. You're the commissioner.

You're supposed to be the one to notice these things. I know. So it's fine. I fixed it. I fixed it. I added a week to the regular season. Bam. There were matchups.

There were scores. And that's it. And it's not changing the playoffs from what I can tell. The same four teams are going to be in the playoffs to start next week. So it's no big deal. Everything's okay. Listen, I got to tell you. The audio cops, if you're listening, understand.

I know Dave doesn't sound like he usually does. He sounds a little off. His microphone was not working. We had some technical issues, so he's using his laptop as his microphone. All right, let's get into it here with the biggest winner of Fantasy Week 15. Heath, who you got? Well, I think it has to be the best running back in all of football, noted career feature back Duke Johnson, who got pushed up off the practice squad because literally every single running back on the Dolphins team was on the COVID list. And then two of the running backs came back off the COVID list.

And we heard, I think, at least three reports that Myles Gaskin would be the starting running back today. And Duke Johnson dominated in every shape, fashion, and form. He dominated Myles Gaskin. He dominated the Jets. And you looked at him in the fourth quarter of that game, and he's still breaking tackles, which he did throughout the day. And it's the Jets. That's what running backs do against the Jets.

But his uniform was all dirty. I think he had some of the paint from the other team's helmet on his helmet. Like, it was the Duke Johnson truthers finally got to see him as the feature back they said he was. And he was incredible. Yes, and he's only rostered in 16% of leagues. I have a question because I asked this on Twitter and I think everyone else did. Did you guys both add Duke Johnson

and drop him when Myles Gaskin was activated in at least one league? Yes. No, I never added him. I dropped him at 11.30 a.m. in a best ball league that I wouldn't have even had to start him. All I had to do was leave him on my lineup, and I could have had those points.

Well, more importantly, he unfortunately has the Saints next week. So what does that mean for Duke Johnson in Week 60? It's all for naught, if you ask me. I don't know if it's all for naught. Are they going to throw it to them? What we've seen a lot of teams do against the Saints and Tampa Bay is they just don't run the ball very much. They just throw the ball to their running backs instead of running it,

and they've had some success that way. Well, obviously you've got to add him, 16% rostered, and he is the biggest winner, and then he's at Tennessee in Week 17. And it's not that hard to believe with their careers that Duke Johnson is better than Myles Gaskin. No, not at all. It's just weird that he went through 17 practice squads on his way to the Dolphins if he's better than Myles Gaskin.

All right, Dave, who's the biggest loser of Fantasy Week 15? The biggest loser of Fantasy Football Week 15, I'm going to go with Saquon Barkley. It's not an easy matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, but he got a decent amount of work. Again, didn't have a lot of numbers. Again, and I think that we're just at the point now where I don't think he's a must-start guy.

When the matchup's good, maybe. When Jake Fromm's under center, maybe that changes things a little bit. I don't know for sure. But I'm starting to get cold feet about Saquon Barkley, not just this year, but long-term. What, Adam? You watch every snap of Giants football.

No, I don't. I'm sure you can explain this. I've teased you about this before. Why is Devontae Booker so much more successful when he runs the ball than Saquon Barkley? It's a great question. I think it's because Booker just finds the hole and goes. And I think Barkley probably needs to do that a little bit more. I think maybe when Booker's on the field, teams, I don't know,

maybe they don't take it. They don't key in on him as well. Maybe, but at the same time, what are they doing? Keying in on Mike Lennon? I doubt it. No. I think Barkley would probably be kind of better served if he would be a little bit more decisive,

but that's his style, and every now and then he pops a 60-yard run, you know, or whatever it might be. You know, 60's hard, but, you know, he breaks a big play.

Booker's not usually going to do that, but it's concerning, and the only thing that saves him are the catches. He's pretty, you know, he's got a solid PPR floor, but also, they are, the Jaguars and the only thing that saves him are the catches. He's pretty you know, he's got a solid PPR floor, but also, just, they are the Jaguars and the Giants, I think, are the worst offenses

in football right now. The Giants might be the worst. They just never have chances to score. So, that's why, that's one of the reasons he's not a must-start. Just, he can't score. And never in the end zone. Alright, well, let's see. Next week's at Philadelphia. Last time he faced the Eagles, he had 53 total yards and four catches. That's Saquon Barkley for you.

All right. Yeah, I know. Woohoo. Let's tell you about our Facebook group. You got a lot of questions this time of year. We can't answer all of them, unfortunately. So go to our Facebook group. There are plenty of threads for you to get your questions answered. There's Dynasty Talk, Start and Sit, obviously, Waver Wire. Great chatter just between a bunch of podcast listeners and avid fantasy football players. So go to our Facebook group. Go to Facebook and search for Fantasy Football today, or there's always a link in the episode description. You can click that. News and notes. Just kind of a weird day because there were so few games. So, thankfully, not that many injuries. But Joe Mixon left with an ankle injury in the fourth quarter, and that'll put Samaj P. Ryan certainly on our radar. He's got Baltimore next week. There's an interesting nugget to that, Adam.

Okay. According to True Media, he was in on the final snap of the game, which was a kneel down for the Bengals. Oh. Okay, well, that's good news. Let's wait to hear. I mean, maybe there Well, that's good news. Let's wait to let's hear. I mean, maybe there's something that's already been said as of this recording on mixing in his status.

Maybe it, maybe it was nothing. Maybe it does end up being something. Okay. Schrager's on the case. He'll find out. But Samaj P ran 25% rostered already faced Baltimore once this year and had, that was his only game with more than five carries, and he had 11 carries, 52 yards, and a touchdown in one catch.

Michael Pittman was ejected in the third quarter. I thought that was nonsense. No, unfair. Yeah, right? He should not have been ejected. No. I do think that the guy, and I don't remember who, Duggar. Duggar. Kyle Duggar, yeah.

He should be suspended at least one game. Hacksaw, Kyle Duggar? And then throw them down and punch them. What do you think, Dave? Hacksaw, Kyle Duggar. Duggar. Kyle Duggar, yeah. He should be suspended at least one game. Hacksaw, Kyle Duggar? And then throw them down and punch them. What do you think, Dave? Hacksaw, Kyle Duggar? Hacksaw, Kyle Duggar? He would be a... No, because Hacksaw,

Hacksaw for the large majority of his career was a baby face. Kyle Duggar was a heel. Taking away our Michael Pittman and starting a fight on the field. Well, you know, because the names are similar, but sure. taking away our Michael Pittman and starting a fight on the field. All right. Well, you know,

cause the names are similar, but sure. They are going to definitely be Patriots fans mad at us for saying that he started the fight. I do think that Pittman kind of started it. Pittman just didn't do anything worth getting ejected over. Okay. That's fair.

He did go up and get in Duggar's face. Yeah. Yeah. And he got thrown to the ground. Cause I want ripped off and got beaten. I guess, I guess he's a, he's a very physical blocker, Michael Pittman. He gets undergar's face. Yeah, yeah. And he got thrown to the ground because he ripped off and got beaten. I guess he's a very physical blocker, Michael Pittman.

He gets under people's skin. But I like that. Damn it, Kyle. Nelson Aguilar left with a head injury. And by the way, just to go back to that, obviously Pittman

was going to have a huge game if he had stayed at the game, right? So, you know. Yes. No, he had a huge target rate at the beginning of the game. Did 12 passes. Yeah had a huge target rate at the beginning of the game.

Twelve passes. Yeah. Well, no. At the beginning of the game, though, he had a high target rate. Did he not? I don't know. But he was wide open. He beat J.C. Jackson and and went to miss them on a deep ball. But no, he probably was not going to have a good game. They threw 12 times. I was joking. Nelson Aguilar left with a head injury. Saquon Barkley lost a fumble for the first time in his career. Julio Jones left with a hamstring injury. That's probably the last time we're talking about Julio Jones in the lineup this year. Pat Fryermuth left with a head injury in the third quarter. I believe they said that was his second concussion in the last month as well.

Yeah, it was scary. Sterling Shepard tore his Achilles. That was tough. So we can have maybe a debate about what a discussion about what that means next season. Not right now, though. Rondell Moore left with an injury for the Cardinals.

Rough day for them. Teddy Bridgewater concussion. Tough one to see there. Yeah. Very scary. Marquise Brown left and returned and ended up with 10 catches on 14 targets for right around 44 yards i think so i'm convinced that they ran two offensive plays like 90 of the time on the final drive they ran like a little hook for mark andrews

and the crosser for marquise brown those are the only two things they did and when they weren't there huntley was able to run and that might've been it for the whole second half. Not just that last drive. Baltimore cornerback Tavon young left with an injury. Like they need more defensive back injuries. And they also lost Tyree Phillips, one of their starting guards to an injury. I,

I don't know, have, I don't have an official number on this. I don't know if you guys do. I think the Niners stopped the Falcons in three goal-to-go situations, turned them over on downs three times. I know they did twice for sure. Yeah.

I can double-check. Falcons left a lot of points on the board. A lot of points. How many almost touchdowns did Cordero Patterson have? At least two. I think it might have been more. And New England linebacker Juwan Bentley left with an injury as they get ready for a huge game against the Buffalo Bills next week.

Early look at the waiver wire. Duke Johnson, for sure. Samaje Pirine pending the Mixon news, and Schrager confirms that Mixon was in on the last play of the game. Amandra St. Brown is 50% rostered. The roster percentages are so tricky right now. Gabriel Davis is 24% rostered. He'll certainly be on there.

Yeah, I don't know. Those are the headliners, I'd say. I would say Craig Reynolds, possibly. Craig Reynolds, sure. He looked good. He's not a burner, but I was watching him play, and as I was watching him, I was thinking to myself, is he that much worse than Jamal Williams?

Could he possibly be better than Jamal Williams? I think he could. He might be. Lions might have something here. From Kutztown, I was pronouncing it wrong last week yeah it's Kootstown I think somebody told me it's pronounced like the word could

it is pronounced like that Kootstown Kootstown yeah alright so with that said let's go to oh I have a fun game before winners and losers it's are you ready to trust these guys are you ready to trust these guys?

Are you ready to trust Cam Newton as a starting quarterback, a fantasy starter? 25 points at Buffalo, gets Tampa Bay next week. No P.J. Walker today. By the way, pause real quick. Mark says Adam with the Duke Johnson prediction. I don't remember that. I don't think I made a Duke Johnson prediction.

I appreciate the comment, Mark, but... I think you should go ahead and take the win on that one. I really didn't at all. You're taking wins on much, much worse. What are you... You know what, Heath? I did make a great Duke Johnson prediction, and I am the best commissioner. So with that said...

Well, one of those things was true. Neither are true. Are you ready to trust Cam Newton as a starting quarterback? First, the gut reaction is obviously not. But then I think about some of the performances that we've seen over the past couple

of weeks from quarterbacks that we say we trust. It's interesting. If you take the Miami game out, it's not really that far off for any of the games. It's 150 to 190 passing yards. It's 50 to 70 rushing yards. It's does he have one touchdown or two touchdowns

or three touchdowns. Against Tampa Bay, if they don't contain Taysom Hill, the rusher, then I'm probably going to have Cam ranked as a borderline top 12 guy next week. Okay, 42% rostered. Are you guys ready to trust Deontay Foreman as a slam dunk start? San Francisco next week, that run defense has been vicious. Yeah, I'm nervous to trust him as a slam dunk start. There was too close of a split of the running back snaps

between him and Hilliard and McNichols. And maybe they changed that a little bit because Foreman had the 100-yard game and Hilliard and McNichols didn't do a whole lot. But it's a tough matchup for him next week, and I'm just getting nervous that this Titans team is going to really

have a stinker along the way here. So I think he's startable, but not a must-start. Okay. Are you ready to trust Laquan Treadwell as a number three PPR wide receiver? No. Come on.

No. Six catches, 57 yards for Treadwell, and that's now four straight games with 53 to 68 yards. There's only one reason to trust him, and it's because he's playing the Jets next week. We're in the fantasy semifinals. I hear you. That's true. We're in the fantasy semifinals. I hear you.

That's true. I know what you're feeling and saying. We just talked about like seven guys, I think, who are on the waiver wire who legitimately might be good. Laquan Treadwell is the most desperation of desperation. And maybe you hit the lottery. I'm going to just tell my really main positive story now. I churned 13 guys in one league, I think, on the waiver wire, Dave. I had the Twitter thread growing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Just trying to find three different lineup spots I had to fill in a semifinal. And I settled on Craig Reynolds, Jeff Wilson, and Gabriel Davis. Nice. It's beautiful. What a nice feeling. Yeah, but that doesn't happen very often. All right, Nice. It's beautiful. What a nice feeling. Yeah, but that doesn't happen very often. All right, fine. It doesn't matter.

It happened this week. It needs to happen two more weeks probably for that team. Okay, well, I'm interested to see what you do with your roster churn this week. Treadwell's the best receiver on Jacksonville. It's like saying you've got the best health food store in the unhealthiest city in America. What do we mean? We think that Treadwell over the next three weeks

will score the most fantasy points? I don't really believe that Treadwell is better than Marvin Jones. Well, it doesn't matter. For fantasy purposes, I think he probably deserves to be ranked the highest. He is for me. Is it just that they've trained Trevor Lawrence to throw to whoever's not being covered by one of the top two corners?

Because it was Dan Arnold for a while. It was Jamal Agnew for a while. It's James O'Shaughnessy and Laquan Treadwell now. Those guys are not more talented than Marvin Jones. No, but they're getting open. And that's the whole key. Like at least Arnold was a nice short area target who on occasion would get open when he went further than seven or eight yards downfield. Treadwell is, is kind of along that same line. He's, he's able to get open. Okay. Are you ready for our next? Are you ready to trust this guy? Here we go. Sure. Are you ready to trust Marquez Valdez Scantling as a

top 30 wide receiver? Ahead of Laquan Treadwell for sure. Yeah, agreed. And he's got a great quarterback, and Pete Prisco's been talking about MBS for a while, saying that he's the guy that the Packers need to really get going

in the offense if they're going to be a Super Bowl contender because everybody knows that Devonta Adams is going to do big things. And everybody knows that Aaron Rodgers is going to do his thing, and the run game should be good. But MVS, with a couple of the matchups that are coming up, he's got Cleveland next week, Minnesota after that. These are matchups that I think MVS can take advantage of.

He's definitely in the number three receiver conversation. Yeah, the problem is, everything we're saying now, I feel like we were saying that about Lazard a week ago, or even a few days ago, and then the week before that we were saying that about MVS. We've been saying it about MVS for years. The difference is that the target share for him has been

really nice. Yeah, but not last week. Three of his last four. Right, right. I don't know. It's like between him and Lazard, they either, they have a terrible games. If one of them has a good game, it probably means the other one had a terrible game, you know?

So that it's hard. I trust is not a word I use with, with MVS. No, no. But if I have a choice between trusting him or trusting Laquan, get off of Laquan Treadwell. I'm not sure. That's an easy one. Yeah. But if it's him or trusting Laquan Treadwell. Get off of Laquan Treadwell. Sure, that's an easy one.

But if it's him or a Munrah St. Brown, I think it's a no-brainer to go St. Brown and PPR and half PPR. But non-PPR, you might have more upside with MBS. Yeah, yeah, all right. I get it. Laquan Treadwell, you don't trust him. Are you ready to trust Christian Kirk, nine catches, 94 yards, and a touchdown on 12 targets

as a must-start wide receiver. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely a must-start. I think we'd all decided pretty much that he and A.J. Green were pretty close to must-start in three wide receiver leagues. Yes. And this doesn't really change my opinion

about what I said about the two of them coming in. They're kind of the same guy, borderline number twos. In some weeks, one of them will be awesome. In the next week, the other one's going to be awesome. We're not really going to know, so you just start with them. Okay. Let's go to the winners and losers. Dave, we'll start with your winners. You have Amandra St. Brown,

8 for 90 and a touchdown on 11 targets. Craig Reynolds, you love the Lions today. Craig Reynolds, 26 carries for 112 yards and one catch. And Zach Ertz, although you wanted to, oh, no, you said replace him with MBS, but we're going to keep Ertz. We can talk about Ertz if you want to. Yeah, let's keep Ertz.

He had 74 yards on 11 targets. So how much are you going to trust those Lions guys, St. Brown and Reynolds at Atlanta next week? I'm going to like Reynolds. If Williams is still on the COVID list and Deandre Swift is still sidelined with his injury.

I think they like what they've got in Reynolds. He's got good vision. He's good at cutting in his runs. He's got, he can give them that rushing presence that they've been missing from time to time this year. St. Brown,

I think is a fixture. I think he's going to stay in as that main target, both short and mid-range. His touchdown was not a little dink pass from Jared Goff, and Goff's been playing better. Goff is kind of a winner. I just don't know if anybody's going to be really ready to trust him in Week 16 in fantasy football.

But St. Brown is trustworthy. He's been getting a good target volume. He's got a lot of catches in these games without TJ Hawkinson and without DeAndre Swift. We know Hawkinson isn't coming back. I think he's here to stay, and I think he's going to have a favorable matchup against Atlanta next week. And as for Ertz, he's somebody who picked up some extra targets

with DeAndre Hopkins off the field. And he didn't have a great game. Neither did A.J. Green. But between those three guys, the two that I just mentioned, and Christian Kirk, who we just talked about, there should be some decent games in store for two of the three from week to week. And next week they've got Indianapolis. It's not going to be the easiest matchup in the world,

but that's especially for their run game. They might have to throw in that game. And I think that that's one where we could see Ertz kind of compile his way to 10 to 12 PPR points, which for a tight end these days ain't bad. Dave, you're very good at looking these things up.

Could you look up... I'll just preface it with this. I feel like when I watch the Cardinals, I feel like Ertz is getting a lot of targets in or near the end zone and i wonder if you can maybe try to verify that does it have to specifically be the end zone no i the inside the

fight i can give you the red zone uh sure uh but the reds yeah try it maybe like inside the five or ten whenever i lose something around the house house, I like to say to my wife, you're just so much better at finding things than I am. And then she goes and finds whatever I've lost. And you don't have to look for it. She does often say to me, you know, you could be just as good at finding things if you would just try as hard as I do. I tried so hard to find off-target percentage.

We have true media. We get these hard to find off-target percentage. We have this, you know, we have True Media. We get these stats, and it's a great database. And I was trying so hard to find the off-target percentage on passes for quarterbacks for the season because I was thinking, all right, I think Aaron Rodgers is the MVP, but I want to see his off-target percentage compared to Tom Brady's because I think

Brady, I feel like I've seen him be off-target a little bit more frequently. And they had going into today, the exact same percentage of off target throws. And Joe Burrow, by the way, was the best, according to True Media, fewest off target throws percentage wise. But I could not find it. It took me 10 minutes. I couldn't find the stat.

And I finally just gave up. And I clicked the link that Dave gave me last week with all of the off target. Dave looked it up for me and sent me the link and I bookmarked it. So he's just good at these very computer savvy. All right. Anyway, let's go to Heath's winners. Duke Johnson. We talked about Gabriel Davis and Devin Singletary. A couple

of bills on here. Davis gets seven targets, catches two touchdowns, 85 yards and Singletary with a great game. 22 carries 86 yard. Well, prolific game for fantasy. 22 for 86 and a touchdown. with a great game. 22 carries, 86 yards. Well, prolific game for fantasy. 22 for 86 and a touchdown, one catch. Okay, talk about them. Go ahead.

Yeah, I think for Gabriel Davis, it's just like if he's going to live in this seven to eight target range with as efficient as he is and the types of targets he gets, he's someone who's going to be a borderline number two, high end number three wide receiver,

not far from that AJ.J. Green range. And it was just good to see him in the first game. We know next week the Patriots are going to do everything they can to take Stephon Diggs away. Then the week after that, he gets Atlanta in the fantasy championship. So I think Gabriel Davis is just a starting wide receiver now in a three wide receiver league. Another week where it's a healthy scratch for zach moss only there was a difference the bills got a lead and decided to run the ball in the second half and so i just think like there was no moss there was no brita really in the

running game right and singletary delivered in the touchdown run it wasn't a one yard plunge or anything like that. That was a really nice 16-yard run. It was. Great play. Yeah, great run by Devin Singletary. All right, Dave has the results of the Zach Ertz game. The look for Zach Ertz stats game. I don't know how much of a game it is.

Unless the game is, let's see how much work we can give Dave during a podcast. He had four red zone targets over the last two games. This week or on Sunday, neither one was inside of 10 yards. In week 14, both of them were inside of five yards. Now, does that mean the play originated from inside the five-yard line or the throw? The play originated. Oh, okay-yard line or the throw the you know play originated

oh okay no because i mean the red zone because i thought he was targeted at the goal line on a right right right so i don't know if i've got one where i i think i can look it up to see if he was near the goal line it's all right but as far as end zone targets that's a stat that we track zero okay i think he's been pretty close to the end zone but all right anyway uh we'll take a break when we come back we'll take a break. When we come back, we'll talk about the losers. Some high-profile running backs are on Heath's losers list. Find out who he's a little concerned about going into week 16

when we come back on Fantasy Football today. Did you know that across Ontario, utility damage happens 19 times a day? That's over 4,222 incidents a year. Don't let your next dig be one that causes costly delays or safety risks. Before you break ground, make it a point to request a locate. It's not just the law. It's a step to keep your team and community safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. We're back. We were not sure what to expect from James Conner and Chase Edmonds,

and a couple of duds is what we got. So James Conner is your first loser. He's also Cordero Patterson and Michael Carter. Are you considering benching Conner or Patterson going forward? Conner has the Colts and Patterson the Lions next week. Well, we just saw the Colts shut down Ramondre Stevenson. I really was hopeful that there would be less Chase Edmonds, and there was not really less Chase Edmonds on a touch basis at least.

And there will be games where they have more rush attempts than this, certainly. But you look at the next two weeks against the Colts and the Cowboys, I'm not sure there will be in the fantasy realm. So yes, I could see benching Connor or Patterson. I thought, and the 49ers run defense is good. I don't want to take anything away from them. There were multiple times where they gave the ball

to Cordero Patterson, and I thought, that looks like Cordero Patterson. It did not look like the imposter that we've seen in 2021. So, yes, I'm probably more worried about Patterson, but could consider benching either of them for top 20 running backs. Not for Michael Carter, probably, this week after he split time evenly with Tevin Coleman. And I think Tevin Coleman might have produced three times as many yards in the same number of carries. It was an easing back in,

but you can't have any confidence this week against Jacksonville. And then even if things go well against Jacksonville, the next week he's got Tampa Bay. So it's just kind of a disaster. And once again, maybe I'm wrong. I double checked the box score. I'll do it right now.

But Zach Wilson does not throw to his running back. That's the thing. And that's, that's what I had looked up. Like since he'd come back, he had thrown to his running backs on like 20% of his past attempts, but he sure didn't in this game. Really?

Maybe you're just spreading it around a little bit. Only two targets for Carter. and that was pretty much it. It felt like there was too much of – I'm sorry to interrupt you. It felt like there was too much of Coleman and Walter in the game as well. Those two combined for 48% of the snaps. Carter had 54% of the snaps. There were some where they were both on the field. Carter shared it with one of the other guys. And when they were near

the goal line, it was Tevin Coleman on five of seven snaps from 10 yards or closer. Yeah. And it's so annoying because they said they were going to give Michael Carter a lot of work. These coaches are just such liars. By the way, Shagger coming through with the snap counts for the Cardinals. Connor had

32 snaps. Edmonds had 29. They both ran 16 routes. Connor had 32 snaps. Edmonds had 29. They both ran 16 routes. Pretty even split. All right, Dave. Your losers? Then Jonathan Ward had the garbage time for them. Your losers are Saquon Barkley

and then Chuba Hubbard and Chase Claypool. Go ahead. I don't really feel like trusting Chuba Hubbard any further. Heath's been on the Amir Abdullah bandwagon for a couple of weeks now. And Amir Abdullah had been dominating playing time in general. He did again in this game. Caught a touchdown.

Did he catch it or did he run in it? I think he caught it. No, he caught it. He caught it and then he ran in. Okay. So, Abdullah definitely has some upside in PPR leagues compared to Chuba Hubbard. I don't see many games left where Carolina is just going to be able

to just pummel an opponent with their run game. And even if they did, Cam Newton's there at the goal line. They've got Tampa Bay next week, New Orleans the week after that. I don't think anybody should start Chuba Hubbard for the remainder of the fantasy season. Not even in week 18. They play Tampa Bay again then. Claypool.

Don't know how much I can really trust him. Not some. Last week, he really didn't have his numbers until the final drive of the game for the Steelers. And that was in that crazy come from behind matchup. Roethlisberger wasn't very good at all this week. And I just, I wonder, I have a hard time trusting him. St. Brown is someone I will start ahead of Chase Claypool moving forward. Non-PPR leagues, I think it's a pretty easy decision to take the chance

on Valdez Scantling ahead of Chase Claypool moving forward. So I just, I feel like he's had this great opportunity all year, and he's had potential all year. And I know they're getting Kansas City next week. I assume the Chiefs defense will be back at full strength. I think it's going to be hard for the Steelers to really keep it competitive. Well, I've pretty much outlined it with Claypool. It's a wins and losses.

It's not necessarily a wins and losses thing, but it's a points against thing, which ends up being a wins and losses. It's not necessarily a wins and losses thing, but it's a points against thing. And which ends up being a wins and losses thing. When they have to throw a lot, that's the only time Claypool's good. He averages about nine targets per game in wins going into today, or in losses rather, and about five in wins. Probably would have been better for him if Tennessee hadn't fumbled 17 times

and just completely given the Steelers the game on a... Yeah. But even if they had, I mean, it's not like... First of all, Pittsburgh had the ball for less than 20 minutes, or less than 21 minutes in this game. So that was working against them. It's just a matter of... Tennessee's offense has been so bad lately

and I thought that was going to be working against Claypool. I begrudgingly started him. It was a mistake. Also, I'm confused about his stat line. He has zero catches for 12 yards on two targets. I've looked on three different sites. What happened?

Well, the Titans ran 78 offensive plays and the Steelers ran 45. No, no, no. He has zero catches for 12 yards on two targets. He has a lateral. Yeah. A lateral. Okay.

Okay. I missed the play, I guess. But I don't think... I saw talking about how bad the Titans' offense is, and they certainly are bad, but they average more yards per play in this game than the Steelers. Steelers stunk today. They were terrible.

They just fumble and fumble and fumble. It's the only reason it was a game. Yeah. Right. The Titans gave it away. I mean, just like they did in the Texans game where they lost a few weeks ago. They crushed them in total yards, but they just gave it away. Okay, that's it for the winners and losers.

Let's see if there's any goal line work we need to know. I feel like we've done a disservice by not airing any grievances about Kyler Murray or Najee Harris or Amari Cooper or Deontay Johnson. I feel like there's a lot of people that probably, I guess, are lamenting those players. And we should just say something about that.

Like pour one out? Pour one out for all of the guys we thought we were good. All right. That's a great idea. So I was big on Glennon this week. He had negative three points. Yeah. Kyle, what do you mean you were big on him?

Jake Fromm. I mean, if he was big on Duke Johnson, I would believe he was big on Glennon, too. Yeah. So, all right. So, fine.

So, you got Dak Prescott scored 12. Kyler scored 14 points. Those two got... People are pissed. Tua scored 16. People are very upset about these developments.

Well, that's the thing. Tua was a terrible choice as the top streamer of the week and still outscored like half of the guys we had in the top 10. Not really, did he? I mean, he outscored

Dak and Kyler. I don't know who else. Roethlisberger he outscored. Yeah, he wasn't a top 10 guy. No. Well, I mean, half the guys in the top 10 who have No. Well, I mean, half the guys in the top 10 who have played.

Mahomes, Rodgers, Allen, Herbert had big games. Tyler Huntley was QB1. Jared Goff was top five. We'll see what Cousins and Stafford and Russ and Hertz all do. So much football left. And Garrett Gilbert. Okay, so those are your... Okay, are you worried about Kyler Murray?

First game without DeAndre Hopkins? It doesn't really matter. I don't think we have to worry about that anymore. We do! People who had Kyler Murray aren't playing fantasy football anymore this year. No, it's possible that they had other players that could help them advance. We don't have to analyze those guys. Kyler Murray might have been on the same team as Travis Kelsey

or, you know, anybody else that went crazy. Kyler Murray was so bad that Adam had to change the playoffs, but they weren't this week. That's what I was going to say. So we didn't have to use him. Some people who have Kyler Murray were able to add a week to the season to make sure that they have him for next week.

I can't believe you did this. No, it's all legit, honestly. Oh, yeah, it sounds very legit. But Dak Prescott, I thought he was going to have a great game. Maybe you have an investment system that you could teach me to help make me rich. And the funny thing is, it's like, but he gets Washington next week, so it's okay, except he was awful against Washington last week.

Yeah, yeah. What's going on? I can't diagnose that offense. They're another team that is not getting explosive plays. And that's one thing I've noticed. It's just everything. It's like very short stuff. It's conservative stuff. It's just kind of a plain Jane boring offense right now.

They are doing a major disservice by playing Zeke. He is so much worse than Tony Pollard. It's not even close. But Dak Prescott is just, he's in a funk. Lamb is dropping passes. You want to say anything about him? I don't know what to say. I don't have any...

But I felt like this multiple times. It's like the Kyler thing. I don't think it's just that DeAndre Hopkins was that important. And he's bad now. I don't know why you felt that way. You hate DeAndre Hopkins. DeAndre Hopkins is freaking great. I think we lost Dave.

Dave, come back. All right, well, we'll get Dave back. All right, so starter set Prescott next week against Washington. Probably going to start him. Okay, Dave's having a bit of an audio issue. We'll get that figured out. So the dud running backs,

Myles Gaskin obviously barely played. Najee Harris. Najee was terrible. Just a disaster. You hear me? Yeah, I got you. We're talking about how bad Najee Harris was. Oh, yeah, that was pretty brutal.

Yeah, he scored less than four PPR points, less than two non-PPR points. Did I miss the part where we talked about Kyler Murray being totally out of sync, especially when he was in the red zone? We didn't talk about that. He made some really poor choices. They were able to move the ball,

especially in the second half, and they were doing it with their run game. They didn't stick with it as much as they really should have. And then when they got in the red zone, Kyler was just off. That's Kyler's career without DeAndre Hopkins. Yeah, that's kind of true. Yeah. That's a very deceiving comment that you made there

because his career without DeAndre Hopkins was his rookie season. It was his rookie season. It was his rookie season. I know, but he had those red zone troubles. And then I remember making a big stink about how Hopkins was there to be his red zone buddy. Of course. And he was. Yeah, when he had six or seven touchdowns last year. So it didn't work.

90 seconds ago, you were mad at me for not giving DeAndre Hopkins enough credit. Yes. And now I'm being deceiving by giving DeAndre Hopkins credit. No, that had nothing to do with DeAndre Hopkins credit. That had misrepresenting Kyler Murray's career. But I don't think you can take away DeAndre Hopkins and just expect him to be the same player. But anyway, Najee stunk.

I was a little troubled by Latavius Murray and Devontae Freeman having basically the same amount of touches. Oh, a lot troubled. Yeah, that was brutal. You can't have any confidence in how the – like they were bringing Latavius Murray in on plays just to pass to him out of the backfield. Yeah.

Yeah. Bad job by them. Great job by them going for two though great job no they're being they're being crushed for that because the the math no i think it's what they had to do the math decision is go for two on the first touchdown that you score when you're down 14 well that they could if you miss that one you're going to go for two just like you would at the end of the game. But if you make that one,

you can kick the extra point to win. But that's two separate arguments. Yes, they should have gone for two when they made it a 14-point game or 15. But they also... This whole thing is going to drive people so crazy and make football less enjoyable for such a large portion of the population.

I'm not sure... I understand why it's good from the win football games. I think from the entertainment purposes, it's probably not. What? Going for two? All of this discussion about it. The discussion, no, but the actual decision. Like going for two when you're down one, that's an exciting play. Yeah.

People are going to be totally focused on that one play. And the reason why they did it is because they couldn't stop Aaron Rodgers. And they were putting it all on a coin toss then in overtime and having to make sure their offense could still go down and score again. I get why Harbaugh made the decision. It's the same reason why he did it the last time he had the chance. Heath, what are your memories of the 1984 Orange Bowl?

January 2nd, 1984. Was that a... Was that... Probably wrong. I'm probably going to say something really stupid, but I'm just going to say it anyway. Did that involve Nebraska and Miami? Yeah. And what happened...

Did that involve one of the teams choosing to kick an extra point to tie at the end of the game because they knew they would be number one in the end of season rankings if they did that? No. Actually, it's the gutsiest call ever. Yes. The odds one went for it? If they had kicked the extra point, they would have won the national championship, but they didn't want to win it on a tie. So they went for two. They missed.

And Miami won the national championship. It was an incredible moment in sports. I think even analytics would say that was not very important. Yeah, I think so. All right, let's go to the games here, guys. Let's go to the games. Colts 27, New England 17. Remember that one?

I was so heartbroken by that Jonathan Taylor run. I played against him in two leagues, and I was just like, Dave has them. We're facing each other in the podcast league. It's like, oh, wow, they really did a nice job against Taylor. 67-yard touchdown to clinch it at the end. Major take. Oh, got to believe it or not for this game?

I was not prepared for this game, but I can come up with one really quick. Believe it or not, the... Believe it. Jonathan Pittman. Yeah, I know I don't have one. All right, I'll try. Believe it or not, there's no more starting Michael Pittman. I could lean toward that in non-PPR and half-PPR.

It's going to be the hardest in those full PPR formats to just absolutely get away from him. Arizona next week, not the easiest matchup in the world. But week 17, he's got Las Vegas. And, I mean, maybe it's just going to be as simple as letting Jonathan Taylor make his MVP case in that game. And he runs for 200 yards. But I, I still think that that is a matchup where I would look at Pittman as a

number three receiver and full PPR. Yeah. But Las Vegas actually, I think they're top. They're okay. It's received top five. They've had some bad moments. They're six,

six against wide receivers, right? Yeah. It's tough to trust him for sure. And I think we were probably pretty shocked at Ramondre Stevenson's bad game. Ten carries for 36 yards. Yeah, just. Well, it's twofold what happened there.

Number one was game script. Colts built a lead. The Patriots decided to throw, especially in the second half. And when they throw and when they're doing that, it's Brandon Bolden on the field in the hurry-up offense. And he was still splitting with Brandon Bolden even in the first half. So it's disappointing that he wasn't more efficient on his work. But in a game where they were down double digits relatively early, I guess it's not that surprising that he only had, what, 11 touches?

Yeah. All right. Detroit 30. It does suck, though he only had, what, 11 touches? Yeah. It does suck, though. Detroit 30, Arizona 12. Believe it or not, if DeAndre Swift is not back next week, you should start Craig Reynolds over James Conner. Ooh. Let's do the matchups here. Conner gets the Colts. Reynolds gets the Falcons.

I don't think I can do that. I think I'd give Connor another shot. Are you curious to know, to see what the snap counts would be if it were a more competitive game? Do you think that would have changed? It would have been more Connor? For the Cardinals? Yeah. No, I think it would have been pretty close to 50-50,

which is what it was at for this game. Right. I'm just wondering if the score made it more of an Edmonds game. But they both ran 16 routes, like as Schrager, you know. Yeah, I mean, we can look and see what they did in the second half. Are you interested in knowing who played more in the second half? Is it going to mean more work for you? Nah, I got it. Yeah, sure.

I'm interested. Okay, we talked about it. Also, I guess Amon Ross St. Brown is just a top 20 PPR wide receiver rest of the season? I believe it. He's Hunter Renfro with a few more targets?

He's Hunter Renfro. I don't know what to make of it. I don't know about a few more targets. I was pretty skeptical. I mean, he's had 12, 12, and 11, and Renfro gets eight or nine every week. Okay. Yeah, eight or more catches in three straight games and 73 to 90 yards. And he would have had more in this game if Arizona had shown up.

I don't think they'll have too many more games where they don't throw in the fourth quarter. So in the second half, the Cardinals played a total of 50 snaps. I believe 11 of them were garbage time. So take those out. Edmonds played 20 snaps. Connor played 18. I don't have the routes in front of me.

I don't know if that's something that you necessarily have to have right now, but it seemed pretty close to a 50-50 split all the way around. Okay. Buffalo, yeah, I think that's probably good for this game. Buffalo 31, Carolina 14. I mean, we already talked about them, but I think it's the best one to do. So believe it or not,

Devin Singletary is a top 20 running back next week. At New England, probably going to have better weather than the last time they played. And the Patriots run defense. Look, getting gashed by Jonathan Taylor. Everybody gets gashed by him, but they weren't amazing coming into the game. I think they ranked 19th in the NFL in rush yards per game. That's total rush yards per game allowed.

Top 20, I don't know if I buy, rush yards per game. That's total rush yards per game allowed. I top 20. I don't know if I buy, but I could see him being top 24 in PPR for sure. Yeah. I'm I'm I think I'm feeling Dave's vibe there. What about vibe? It is. What about DJ more,

more with a bad game, six catches for 48 yards, but he did have 11 targets. Had a two-point catch. Yeah. Cam threw 38 times, which is a lot. Finished with 12 PPR points? 12 PPR points, which I feel like is right around where he'll be.

I call that Treadwellian. Treadwellian performance. That's, well, but except that it's's like 25 more than treadwell's average treadwell scores nine every week we give him credit for 11 and a half yeah i just like you know i think he deserves better than i think he deserves that he gave the benefit of the doubt oh no i actually had a real believe it or not for this game i just forgot it okay um believe it or not amirir Abdullah is a good flex next week. No.

No? I've already kicked him to the curb. Amir Abdullah, not Chuba Hubbard. Oh, that's – what did I – I thought you said Chuba Hubbard. I still don't know if I love Amir Abdullah. No. No, I said a good flex. I didn't say a top 25 running back.

But I do think – what have we seen almost everybody do against Tampa Bay with their running backs backs throw to the run the ball and throw the ball throw them throw to them so i think it's an abdullah game i would guess he's going to catch four or five passes yeah right does that seven ppr points conversation or does that put him in the oh crap i'm desperate at running back like if you if you were penciling in Chuba Hubbard to be an RB2 for you the rest of the season, I think this is a week where you've got to put Abdul in for Chuba. We pretty much nailed it

with Chuba Hubbard. He had one chance at a good game with Chuba Hubbard. It was last week against Atlanta. You're lucky he scored there and there was no appeal to him after that. By the way, it was funny that as we were having this conversation, Taysom Hill threw a pass to Alvin Kamara against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

His second of the game. Hey, now. All right, anything else from here? No, great. Cole Beasley or Gabriel Davis, rest of season? Gabe. Gabriel Davis, more fun, getting the opportunity. Dallas 21.

Giants 6. Very impressive. Two-possession game. That's what we strive for in Giants land. Two-possession games. What do we got here, Heath? Believe it or not, Dalton Schultz is still a top 12 tight end. This is a game I look forward to reviewing because I'm really curious what

happened to the wide receiver. I would spend too much time on it. It's pretty gross. To which wide? To the Cowboys wide receivers? Yeah. And I know you watched it. Was it Jack missing him?

Just so everybody knows. It's not like I watched the Giants. No, look, what I do is I watch Red Zone, and then I have another game on my laptop. But all my Giants onesie. I have another game on my laptop. So it's either what's ever's on. So it was the giants at one o'clock and it was the Ravens Packers at four 30. So, so I, yes, it was on lamb had,

it had two or three balls that I thought were dropped. One was, it was a drop. Right. I remember that one. A couple were not great throws. I just like, I got to check. I checked the intended area yards for pass attempt. It just, like, I gotta check I checked the intended air yards for pass attempts. It's not like it's much different than earlier this season. It's just go look at the games and look at the explosive plays. They had some in the Raiders

game, but in, I would say three of the last four, maybe four of the last five, they're just boring right now. And I'm not smart enough to know what's going on. The offensive line is not as good, but I still think it was fine today. And they're just not connecting on big plays. Okay.

So it could be, and this is just me spitballing here. It could be that Prescott's trying to get rid of the ball quickly because he knows that his blind side has a backup there compared to Tyron Smith. And we've seen him struggle without Tyron Smith at left tackle before. And so easy outlet, big giant tight end. Might as well lean on him a little bit, compared to Tyron Smith. And we've seen him struggle without Tyron Smith at left tackle before. And so easy outlet, big giant tight end. Might as well lean on him a little bit, especially if his other receivers are not making it. The reason why, it's not just this game.

I mean, it's about five games now. I think that, you know, I was willing to give him a pass when it was no Cooper and Lamb hurt, right? But the last two games against Washington and the Giants with all his weapons back and healthy and playing their normal snap shares, I don't understand it. No.

I'll tell you what it could maybe be. They're just letting their defense win the game and being more conservative. I don't know. Yeah, it could be a little bit of that. Most of the good quarterbacks this year, though, have gone through a stretch like this. Yeah. And we've just kept starting them. And for, though, have gone through a stretch like this. Yeah.

And we've just kept starting them. And for, like, Lamar didn't come out the other side yet because he got hurt and then Huntley played. I think he'll come out the other side. I think Dak will come out the other side. Mahomes came out. Josh Allen had, what, a two or three game stretch. He came out the other side.

It was brutal. He did. Yeah. I call it the what's wrong with stretch where all the people, all the fantasy managers. I don't like that name because we don't know. That asks a question that we never have the answer for. But that's what I'm saying.

That's what people always ask. What's wrong with whoever's struggling right now? Yeah. So what did we say about Dalton Schultz, the top 12 tight end? No, I think he qualifies. I think he absolutely qualifies. I don't know if Washington, is Washington one of those teams that we like to he absolutely qualifies. I don't know if Washington... Is Washington one of those teams that we like to start tight ends against?

I don't think... I think they're starting to become one. Neutral, as I recall. On the season, maybe they're neutral. But I think they've started to become a team that we like targeting. Do they have the Eagles after that? They have the Eagles in Week 18. It's Washington and then Arizona.

And you don't want to trust Arizona. Or trust Schultz against Arizona. So we'll see. Next week, yeah, he's probably in that top 12 PPR combo. I don't think we have to say much else about the Giants. We already talked about Saquon Barkley. He was Dave's biggest loser all the way at the top of the show.

For the record, Washington 14th against tight ends as of right now. How about Houston 30, Jacksonville 16? You know what? Let's give the guy some credit. Believe it or not, Brandon Cooks is a top 20 wide receiver no matter where he plays next year. Ooh, you went in a different direction with it than I thought you would. No matter where he plays next year.

I'm pretty sure it's going to be Houston because I think he's already said that he's not going to play for anybody if he gets traded because he's tired of teams telling him where he's going to live. I'm going to go look at his contract situation and see what's what. I think he's going to continue to be one of those guys who's just boom bust each week and you'll get to round five or six in your draft and you'll run out of receivers that you think are going to confidently get your points most weeks and then you gravitate toward the guys who you'll start

them every week and you'll hope that the weeks that they actually do boom they put you over the top for a few wins yeah there aren't that many consistent, reliable wide receivers. He's going to finish the year, I would assume this year again, what, 15 to 20? Yeah, probably. They could cut him and save almost $9 million off their cap. What a great pick. Do they have a cap problem?

No, but they have a good player who wants to be there. That's rare. All right. We'll see how badly he wants to be there. He's got some avoidable years after that. How about the start of the week, James Robinson, guys? Come on, let's go to James Robinson. I want to go back to that for just a second,

because that's acting as if... Maybe if he agrees to take a pay cut, then the Texans should... Brandon Cooks is a freaking great wide receiver. He does this year after year, after year, after year. And then the,

believe it or not was trying to get him. So I didn't want to end it on a, well, maybe, maybe the Texans will keep him if he'll agree to give them some money. Well, he's he'll be a free agent after next year. He's going to be in a contract year.

He'll also be 29 next year. There's a chance that he could be better than a guy that's great eight weeks and bad nine weeks. Okay. So now, start of the week, James Robinson comes through. 21 touches, 18 carries, three catches,

88 total yards, and a touchdown. Looks like a must start. Yep. At the Jets next week yes sir beautiful top five maybe Miami 31 Jets 24 um believe

it or not Kevin Coleman is the best running back on the Jets rest of the season I do not believe it statistically I don't do not believe it. Statistically, I don't think I believe it. I know talent-wise he's not. I don't think he's there.

No, I meant for fantasy purposes, not talent-wise. I get what you're saying. No, I still don't think it's him. I honestly don't know if there's a Jets player. I'm just going if there's a jets player. I'm just going through the roster in my head. I don't know if there's a jets player.

I'll feel real comfortable starting. Elijah Moore would be the only one assuming he does come back this year. Yeah. If the jets don't come back, we get team he's eligible. I think week 17, if the jets don't make Michael Carter a priority over the next few weeks, what are they doing?

They have to try to figure out what they have in him, right? So I would hope that they give him more work. Do you think today was just easing him back in after they told us they weren't going to? I don't know. I think if you look at how much more work Aaron Jones got today, I don't know if that's the same thing as Jones played the week before the bye. I think, yeah, I think it makes more sense.

If you just look at what was going on before the injury, he was really starting to dominate the touches. And what's at stake? They don't need to evaluate Tevin Coleman. They do evaluate Michael Carter. So I'll just say, bold prediction. He has 15 touches next week at Jacksonville. Home against Jacksonville.

I hope you're right. Maybe that gets him 80 total yards. Maybe that makes him someone that we'll be happy to use, but I don't think we're going to want to really trust him the week after that. No, against Tampa Bay. Now, would you go back to Tua Tungavailoa

if he gets Jalen Waddell back next week against the Saints. Yeah. As a streaming quarterback, potentially. Okay. Alright, let's go to our next game. Pittsburgh 19, Tennessee 13.

Woof. Believe it or not, you shouldn't actually feel good about starting any of the Steelers next week. I'm always going to feel good about Deontay Johnson. They're playing the Chiefs next week. Go ahead, Dave. What's your answer? My answer is that I'll feel okay about Deontay Johnson. I'll still be very compelled to go with Najee Harris,

although I think you do have to knock down expectations for him at this point. He just hasn't been amazing. Those two might be it. I don't know if we're going to have Friar Muth. That'll hurt Roethlisberger. And as crazy as that sounds, yeah, rookie tight end could end up hurting Big Ben. And I don't feel particularly good about trusting Roethlisberger.

Well, I think the tough evaluation for me in that game is going to be this is the type of game that I think is good for Roethlisberger if I think the Chiefs' offense is back, which I'm not convinced. They're pretty crappy for three quarters, but if they can put up 30 points, that means probably 40 pass attempts for Roethlisberger in a normal week. That really means I'd like Claypool. Nobody's going to love Roethlisberger, but the Chiefs are pretty good against wide receivers, so it's goingberger in a normal week. That really means I'd like Claypool. Nobody's going to love Roethlisberger. But the Chiefs are pretty good against wide receivers.

So this is going to be a tricky one. The player in that game that I'm going to go right back to is Edward Zillair. Oh, why? Because I think they can run the ball against the Steelers. Right, but they were supposed to run the ball well against the Chargers. Sure.

And Edward Zillair didn't have a lot of those value snaps. That's it right there, Dave. Darrell Williams was playing short yardage goal line and third downs. Yeah. Yeah. What about you, Heath? You going to go back to the Steelers next week? They will probably be lower ranked than they have been at any point this year.

But I would imagine Deontay will be in my top 20 and Najee will be in my top 18. If I was guessing, I think there's a chance that I could sit one or both of them, but I would have to have a really great roster for that to happen. It's the time of year for really great rosters though. Right. I mean,

we shouldn't lose sight of the fact I said that Najee has been great, but coming into this week, at least, goodness gracious, like 15-plus PPR points literally every game except for weeks 1 and 12. Yeah. So maybe he deserves a little bit more of the benefit of the doubt there. All right, guys. San Francisco 31, Atlanta 13.

Like I could do a bunch of them here, but let's just say, yeah, believe it or not, Cordero Patterson is no longer a must-start running back. I can buy into it to a degree. I mean, he's still getting work in short yardage goal line situations. He's just in score. But even if he had scored in this game his rushing average was poo so 18 rushing yards and then only five yards receiving so he would have i think he would have had exactly 10 ppr points in non-decimal had he actually scored one more for adam believe it or

not russell gage actually is a must start wide receiver yeah because i think that you look at the wide receiver landscape and it's once you get to 18 to 20 right you're probably not feeling great about those guys so he's doing things that are so different than he's ever did done in every year he mossed a defensive back in the end zone today yeah and making plays downfield yeah he did it twice i mean one was in the end zone i guess that's my only concern if you did take away those two catches, which are not catches I would expect Russell Gage to make, it's not really that good of a game. But it's still 11 targets.

I think he had a 36-yard catch the week before. Yeah, and he's playing on the outside now, too. He's an absolute must-start. There's no way he's out of my lineup. Too many targets. Yeah. So do you feel like Gage is ahead of Amonra St. Brown, or do you kind of think they're equivalent?

Ahead of. Okay. I think they're close. I think they play each other next week, right? Yes, they do. And that's another thing I like about Patterson, by the way. You know, Lions give up a lot of rushing touchdowns. They do. What did you make of finally Debo Samuel gets five

targets. Of course, he had a rushing touchdown. But four catches for 60 yards and Iuke, very uninvolved only two targets and Garoppolo only through 23 passes in this game but what'd you make of the passing game mostly Kittle Iuke is not a must start wide receiver he's behind gauge and a Munro he's a he's in that number three conversation. Total boom bust. Could have a great week. May get two targets. Jeff Wilson

with a big game. 55% roster. 21 carries. 110 yards and a touchdown with two catches. All right. Cincinnati 15, Denver 10. Hug. Believe it or not, you might actually have to consider sitting Jamar Chase

next week is Baltimore no he had four targets in this game Tyler Boyd was the guy you know this was the game I was really

I have Jamar Chase in one league and I was very happy that it wasn't a playoff game as the league that I was really... I have Jamar Chase in one league, and I was very happy that it wasn't a playoff game as the league that I added a week to make sure this wasn't a playoff game. I really felt... I felt very nervous. Very nervous about the Broncos, about the

Bengals wide receivers. Oh no, Chris Godwin. Oh no. Just literally... Oh, no. Chris Godwin. Yeah. Oh, no. Just literally not good. Yeah, we'll see what happens. Hopefully he's okay. Sorry, Heath. Yeah, well, Dave, what do you think?

You might have to consider sitting Jamar Chase. I don't believe it just because it's the Ravens next week. And Burrow throttled them earlier this year predictably i might add because of the style of defense that they play i wonder if they're still playing as much man coverage and pressure quarterbacks as much as they have been given all the guys that are missing in their defensive secondary and i expect a lot of those guys to be back this coming week but if their style is still to play man against joe burrow then Burrow should have a good game. And I think chase would benefit.

Well, to be clear, they're not going to be healthy in their secondary because not like all the way healthy, but there were dudes who just were, who would have played if not for being placed on the COVID list for Baltimore. You're saying Baltimore.

Okay. Cause they're still going to be without Humphries out for the year. Right, right, right, right, right. They're starting.

And that obviously is a Tayshaun Gibson. I think it's out for the year. Yeah, right, right, right, right. They're starting. And that obviously is a big deal. Tayshaun Gibson, I think, is out for the year. All right. Heath, what do you think? Start or sit Chase next week? I think he'll be in that borderline number two range for me. I'm not certain he'll be a top 20 wide receiver. I think we

could almost apply this question to everybody on the Bengals. How good are you going to feel about T Higgins? I'm going to feel good about him. Slightly better than Chase. All right. It's a big difference in competition here. First of all,

you know, they gave up 10 points and they threw 22 times. Ravens should be able to do better than that. More past attempts for Burrow, right? Broncos secondary is worlds better than the Ravens. Sure. Let's talk about the Broncos running backs. They both get 15 carries.

Javante gets four catches, only nine yards. Javante, 72 rushing yards. Gordon, 53 rushing yards. No touchdowns for either guy. Gordon had one catch for eight yards. Javante, go ahead. It's the same. It's just... Williams is getting a little bit more in the passing game now that's great but i get nine yards on four catches that

didn't really do a whole lot for you it does not uh but you're right he's playing a little bit more on third and fourth downs this is the second game in a row where he's had a pretty discernible advantage over melvin Gordon there. He played 58% of the snaps. Melvin played 42. I'm not sure if there was a point in the game where Melvin was sidelined. I'd have to double check it. But if he wasn't,

then I would say it's pretty good for Javante that he's got effectively a 60, 40 split. Okay, good. Godwin's walking off under his own power. But Javante, almost a 60-40 split right now. That's pretty good. Next week, they have the Las Vegas Raiders, so it's a good opportunity to run the ball.

Should be a great one for them. Green Bay 31, Baltimore 30. What a game. Believe it or not, you can't trust Ravens running back again. Okay, next we've got to give the schedule. Next week's at Cincinnati. Next week. Does it matter who they're playing if one of them gets six carries and one of them gets seven?

If that's the case, no. Is this the future? Is this what they want to do by getting Latavius more involved? Well, they chose to do it today. It wasn't a mid-game change. Latavius started the game, and I think he played more snaps on the first drive than Freeman.

Well, Freeman had three of his six carries on the first drive. He did. I'm almost positive, right? Okay, so just to frame it, I'll let you guys answer, believe it or not, but the two games before this, Latavius Murray had five combined touches, and Freeman had four straight games

with 13 to 16 carries. So it looked like he was running away with this. And then today, six carries for Freeman, seven for Murray. They both have one catch. So what was your believe it or not? You can't start a Ravens running back? You can't start a Ravens running back? You can't trust a Ravens running back, I don't believe.

Freeman played more snaps, but it was very close. Not very close, but Freeman played 38 of 67 snaps. Murray, 27 of 67 snaps. What made me upset was seeing Murray so much more near the goal line. Or at least it felt that way. Yeah, they're going to be tough to trust, I guess. Yeah, it's probably true. So is Marquise Brown, I think.

How do you guys evaluate this stupid, strange game? 10 catches, 43 yards on 14 targets. How many deep throws do you remember Huntley making against Green Bay? One to Bateman, I feel. Okay, so it wasn't until the fourth quarter last week when he started to throw a little bit more downfield, and he was okay at it. Bateman had a couple of those big catches.

Oh, I'm sorry. I should have said this earlier in the show, but they are expecting Jackson to play next week. Well, that'll help. That'll help Brown. It doesn't do anything for Andrews. Andrews is a stud no matter what. I think he might.

Did he get back to being tight in one for the year? Yeah, he must have. I don't know, but probably. He's been amazing. Believe it or not, Mark Andrews should be the number one tight end in Dynasty. I don't know if we can make a case for anybody else. Pitts.

I don't know if you can make a case for anybody else. Pitts had a quietly nice game today. He should have caught a touchdown. He didn't catch a touchdown. He had a quietly nice season. He's had a quietly nice season. He's going to break the rookie tight He's had a quiet season. Quietly nice. He's going to break the rookie tight end record for yards and maybe catches. Post-merger, right?

Yes. Yeah. I don't think he... Is he going to get 1,000 yards? I don't think he needs 1,000. I think Ingram had like 80 or something. That's the record? I thought Shockey hit 1,000 yards.

Maybe I'm crazy. I don thousand yards. Maybe I'm crazy. I don't know. Maybe I'm crazy. You are, but that doesn't mean you're wrong. It's at 847 yards. Oh, okay.

Let's see. I know Ditka has the record, but that was pre merger. Eight 94, 94. Okay. He's going to, he'll,

he'll break, he'll break that in 15 games. And Ingram had seven 22. Okay. He'll break that in 15 games. And Ingram had 722. Why does it feel like he's been so crappy? You know what I mean? Because he's had a terrible year in terms of touchdowns. 11, 11, 8, 4, 5, 10, 9, 3. What is that?

My combination of my luggage. The point of this exercise, I think, is to remember what we said in the offseason. It's not fair to expect Kyle Pitts to be the greatest rookie tight end ever, and we're drafting him a place where he could be the greatest rookie tight end ever and still be a drafting him a place where he could be the greatest rookie tight end ever and still be a bust.

And that's what he's going to do. The numbers I yapped were his PPR totals in reverse chronological order. So 11 points this week, 11 the week before and so on. You get 11 a week. You're like eighth. Let's finish this show with your thoughts quickly on the Packers running backs. As A.J.

Dillon had eight touches, Aaron Jones had 15. Dillon did get a rushing touchdown, Jones a receiving touchdown. And is it easy to rank Jones ahead of him next week in number one? And number two, is Dillon outside the top 24 next week against Cleveland? Probably both inside the top 24,

but yes, Jones ahead of Dillon. Yeah. All right. Both ahead of Devontae Freeman, for sure. All right, everybody. Thanks very much. Hope you had a successful Week 15. We still have a lot of games left,

so we'll be able to recap them on Tuesday and Wednesday and change your waiver wire settings, run waivers on Wednesday night instead of Tuesday night. I guess you don't have to, but I think it would probably be easier for you. I know we've said this, but this week, I remember when there was a Wednesday game, for sure, why? Because give yourself a little time to think about it

after you get two games on Tuesday. Maybe you set your waivers on Tuesday afternoon, then you have to change them Tuesday night. It's amazing that you have the energy to go change the waiver wire date one day. Have a great day, everybody. We'll talk to you later on Fantasy Football today. All is well. All is well.