Fantasy Football Today - Week 15 Recap: Injuries, Winners, Losers (12/18 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 19, 2022

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  We hope you're getting ready for your Fantasy semifinals! Before we get into the Fantasy talk, can you believe what happened at the end of the Patriots-Raiders game!? Then we've go the biggest winner (4:40) and biggest loser (8:25) of Week 15. Jerick McKinnon is huge winner, but is he trustworthy going forward? D'Onta Foreman is our biggest loser ... News and notes (9:42), surprising studs (14:00) such as Zay Jones and Noah Brown, plus MegaDuds (18:30) like Justin Herbert and Joe Mixon. Then Dave reveals more winners (26:00) and losers (28:40). Winners include Dawson Knox and Raheem Mostert while losers include Amari Cooper and Chris Olave ... Recapping each game with our Fantasy thoughts (35:40) ... 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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Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. He's just going to go the distance.

Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. The weekend began with the biggest comeback in NFL history, and the drama basically did not stop for the next 24-plus hours. And we are so excited to talk about Week 15 with you right here. I hope it was a great Week 15. I hope it was as good for you as it was for Chandler Jones. Welcome to Fantasy Football Today. Wow! I can't believe that play!

What a weekend we've witnessed. I know. I can't believe that play. What a weekend we've witnessed. I know. I know. I mean, this is crazy stuff. This is what makes our job great. I mean, this isn't even a fantasy thing, just being able to talk about football and the craziness that goes on. But you don't get weekends like this. I mean.

I sit in a room for the 4 o'clock games with Jamie, our producer, Jack Capitordo, Pete Prisco, and everybody who's listening should know who Pete is. Rick Spielman, who used to be the GM of the Minnesota Vikings. And it's nonstop like football knowledge and laughs the entire time. And everybody was bewildered at this last play of the game. And here's the conclusion that we came to. And I don't know if we're ever going to get a straight answer on what happened. We think, I shouldn't say, I'll say I, because I wasn't able to confirm that this is what we were all thinking.

It's just what we were talking about. Ramond Ray Stevenson's lateral put Jacoby Myers in the mindset of, Oh crap. I'm supposed to lateral this. I didn't know I was supposed to lateral this here. I'm just going to chuck it. Right, right,

right. And it's, it's almost like neither of them knew there's going to be a whole, you know, overtime period going here, guys, you can go ahead and go down and, you know,

the game's not over. So just total amazement that that play happened. Everybody, I can say this for a fact, we all agree that there's no way Bill Belichick told his players to do that. I think so. That would never happen. I don't know. There isn't a coach in this league that would tell their players to do that,

not even like Brandon Staley. So I think that there's, it's just amazing. It's amazing that that happened. And it's just one of like 17 amazing, crazy, ridiculous things. Zach Wilson is completing 50 yard passes. Some of them, like he was, it was, they were miracle throws. And of course the Saturday games were just insane. Oh, totally. What?

And it all happened on a week where there's nobody on by, and it's the fantasy playoffs, and there's people who are going to be real sore because some of their players got hurt or underperformed, and there's others who are going to be amazed and awesome and feeling great because they got to win. But how about the few fantasy managers that started Jacoby Myers and are going to lose this week by less than two points because he's going to get credited for a fumble loss on that last play?

Okay, so I asked our audience, this week by less than two points because he's going to get credited for a fumble loss on that last play. Okay. So I asked our audience, I asked my Twitter followers to come up with a nickname for that play. You know, you got like the Miami miracle, the immaculate reception, those things. I think this one is my favorite from Stefan Myers remorse.

Oh, that's great. That's great. Very clever. June says the idiotic reception. Jeremy T says the idiotic reception. Jeremy T says the immaculateral. Boca 38 says Mack trucked.

Was Mack Jones is completely ransacked. Yeah, he got absolutely destroyed by Chandler Jones. Sorry. Yeah. Oh, right. Chandler Jones got right. Right. Right over Mack Jones. So here's the other thing.

We have a few friends and a few alumni of fantasy football today that are now doing radio for professional teams. And Jason Horowitz, who was the first ever host of fantasy football today on video, is now the Raiders voice on radio. So as soon as I see the play, I'm bringing up my phone. I'm going to my serious app, and we're listening to Horowitz's call. And Oh my God, he's just elated. Yeah. We were all Raiders fans for a second there.

I have more Jason and that call inconceivable. Haldor says interception Jones and the Raiders of the lost ball. And G a Patriots fan says the play that never should have happened because Keelan's Cole foot Keelan Cole's foot was out of bounds, which is an interesting point. All right, let's do some fantasy talk here. Dave biggest winner, biggest loser. Heath's going to join us in progress, by the way, uh, biggest winner of week 15 was who the biggest winner of week 15. You know, I always stall when, uh, when I do this because I have to figure out what I sent you. And I think it's a pretty obvious one for this week. And it's one that's still attainable in shallow leagues. Jerk McKinnon.

He's the guy for the Chiefs. He is their best running back moving forward. It was another week where he played the majority of snaps. He had the high value touches. He was doing great things with the football. And I don't know. I think that he's going to be the guy that the Chiefs are going to trust moving down the stretch as their main running back.

He doesn't make mistakes. He's clearly still a playmaker. He's a winner. I think he's a must-start fantasy running back moving forward. And I don't think we can say the same thing of Isaiah Pacheco. Yeah, Pacheco lost a little momentum there after he fumbled.

He did finish pretty strong in that game, had some good runs toward the end. But McKinnon, look, I mean, these two straight games with 32 or more PPR fantasy points, that's insane. He also has a pretty good target share over the last seven games. The first seven games of the season, his target share, McKinnon's target share was never higher than 10.3%.

It's been 16% or higher in three of his last four games. It's been 19.5% or higher in three of his last six games. So he's just getting thrown the ball more. I can't help but think, Dave, though, that

he's the kind of player that could totally let you down. He doesn't have that many carries. I can't promise you that Mahomes is going to throw to him that much. His touchdowns have been a little bit fluky. Well, certainly last week, yes. He's got four touchdown catches in his last three games, 12 for his career, and four in his last three games.

From 10 yards, 56 yards, 20 yards, a two yarder. So I just, I don't know where you're going to rank him next week in Seattle. They struggle against pass catching running backs, but I don't even know if the matters. What do you think? What is the number one thing you want from a football player in fantasy football?

I don't know. The number one thing that I look for for a player. I mean, that would look for for a player. Uh, I mean, that would be great opportunity. Yeah. We always look for receivers that get a lot of targets. We want quarterbacks that have a lot of pass attempts. We want running backs who get a lot of touches.

We weren't running back. So we're going to get high value touches. Here's an example of what McKinnon did this week. 62% of the snaps. So right there, you know, he's playing more running back than anybody else on Kansas city, 11 of 12 snaps on third and fourth downs. That tells you that he's playing in

situations where they're passing the ball a lot, five of six snaps inside the 10. That means he's playing on snaps when they're near the goal line. It's a no brainer. He's getting great opportunities. He's not getting a ton of carries and all that, but at least he's giving you opportunities that other players, certainly not on the Chiefs, are getting. Pacheco might get more carries

and maybe more rushing yards in a game, but I'm all in on McKinnon as a number two fantasy running back moving forward. Next week, they're taking on Seattle. You just said it. They're terrible against running backs who catch passes. Who else is going to do that on this that? I know, but it's just, it's just a matter of, is he going to catch the passes?

Do you buy the catches? Because they were pretty low for most of the year. Has something changed? Here's, here's the way I look at it. Let's wrap it up on him. Go ahead. Kansas city was trying to find out what their running back usage was going to be. They've drafted Pacheco. They still had Clyde Edwards. They brought in Ronald Jones and they had Jarek McKinnon and they realized probably right about now, or maybe a week or two ago that McKinnon's their best bet. And that's what I think we're going to see. I would

be stunned if McKinnon is only playing a third of the snap slap next week and it's Pacheco's dominated. Right. Okay. Uh, biggest loser. Who's the biggest loser? Literally a big loser. Deontay Foreman, who was second on the Panthers in playing time by a mile. Chuba Hubbard, 63% of the snaps. So he had a Jerick McKinnon like work rate. Deontay did not

play the majority of the snaps near the goal line. He only played 30% of the snaps. I do not know if there was an injury in the game. He did not give you one full fantasy point in non-PPR. This is a problem. The Panthers have a schedule where I expect them to be competitive against the Lions. Then it's the Bucs.

We'll see what that run defense looks like by then. And then the Saints. These are all still three teams that are pretty good against the run. Not easy matchups for them. Games where the Panthers will be trailing games that are probably going to favor Chuba Hubbard. And so Deontay Foreman will be ranked behind Jarek McKinnon in fantasy rankings in week number 16.

All right. Make sure if you want your questions read on the show to leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts with your question after the review, tell everyone why you like our show. And then you can ask your, your question, but please leave us a five star review review on Apple Podcasts with your question after the review. Tell everyone why you like our show, and then you can ask your question. But please leave us a five-star review. It helps our show grow. We'd appreciate that on Apple Podcasts.

And those get read on the Mailbag episode on Saturday. Well, we read it on Friday. So have your questions in, I would say, no later than Wednesday, if you can do that. News and notes. There were some fake-outs. Justin Fields left.

He had cramps. He came back and got a pretty late touchdown that gave him a pretty nice game. Ryan Tannehill left early and came right back. So not right back, but he came back. So that was good, but he's got an ankle injury. Colt McCoy, however, left with a concussion, did not make it back into the game. Uh, McSorley and McCoy combined for a really bad game for the Cardinals. And, uh, we'll talk about that when we get to that game. Derek Henry left in the fourth quarter, but he came back.

Jonathan Taylor, on the other hand, he left on the opening possession, obviously, you know, a really tough way for the number one pick in fantasy to, to go out, potentially not play again.

And, and for his fantasy managers, you know, obviously it wasn't good for, for Taylor. And do you favor Dion Jackson who did not have a touch at, I don't think, after his fumble late in the game, or Zach Moss?

I'm going to go with Zach Moss. I just think that he's going to be the one that gets the opportunity. And once again, I'm just citing things that I got from true media. 70% of the snaps for Zach Moss, 14 of 20 on third and fourth downs, three of five snaps inside the 10. I'm not so naive to think that Zach Moss is about to be in every down back for the Colts. He'll split with Deion Jackson.

I think Moss will have the edge. Damian Pierce is out for the year. We actually saw Royce Freeman lead the team. I didn't even know he was still on the Texans. And, you know, Daria Gumbawale got the first seven carries for the Texans and then ended with Gumbawale with eight and Freeman had 11. So Freeman had 11 of the last 12.

Between those two, Burkhead I don't think had a single carry. But they will get Tennessee next week, so you're not going to start them anyway. Zonovan Knight limped off. I didn't see anything on him, did you, on Zonovan Knight? Nothing after the game, no. I did not see. Okay.

Michael Carter could be someone to add against Jacksonville. He had every single snap after the injury. Josh Palmer limped off in the second quarter. I think he made it back. I saw he hobbled off just before halftime. And there were some defensive injuries. The Ravens had a couple of key ones to Marcus Peters and Calais Campbell.

How about Justin Tucker? He missed two field goals in a game for the first time since 2018. Buffalo Center Mitch Morse is in the concussion protocol. The Jets played without two key players, the Marcus Joyner and Quinnen Williams, and they held the Lions in check

for just about all of that game and lost a tough one. Equinemius St. Brown, Bears wide receiver. He left almost immediately in the first quarter. Jags left tackle Cam Robinson left in the fourth quarter. Cincinnati played without Trey Hendrickson, who's hurt right now, but also Sam Hubbard left in the second quarter. And they still, so two key defensive linemen for them,

they still beat the Bucs on the road and beat them good. And Leighton Vander Esch, Dallas linebacker, he left in the first quarter. And how about this? Drake London. Drake London had 70 of 97 receiving yards for the Falcons today. My goodness. Yeah.

So now we may know the truth that Desmond Ritter wasn't ready. It was more because of the injury for Marcus Mariota. Oh, here's one from Lemon Drop Buttons. Adam, say something about David Montgomery. Okay, well, we sure will because Heath will be on the show and he'll be beating his chest, I promise you. So Heath is going to come on in a little bit. We're going to take a quick break.

When we come back, we're going to talk about some surprising studs like Russell Gage, Zay Jones with three touchdowns, the Mega Duds, the winners, the losers, and more right after this 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. All right, your surprising studs from Fantasy Week 15 starts with Jarek McKinnon.

We talked about him earlier in the show. We can rewind for that. So how about these wide receivers that are rostered in about 8% of leagues? Unless I have a typo, they're all rostered in exactly 8% of leagues, which is weird. But do you have any interest in Noah Brown,

who had two touchdowns, and he had 85 yards last week. He had 49 yards and two touchdowns this week for the Cowboys. Russell Gage, who had two touchdowns, including a garbage time. And KJ Osborne, who's had two good games in a row. This one was a terrific game.

157 yards and a touchdown on 16 targets. So it's Noah Brown, Russell Gage, KJ Osborne, Dave. So let's start with Noah Brown played 55 snaps, ran 26 routes, had a target share of 30%. This was surprising. I would be surprised if he were to keep this up. Remember, not only do we expect Michael Gallup to be the number two receiver in this offense, but they just signed T.Y. Hilton.

This is one that I don't think is going to last. I would not chase what Noah Brown's doing. Russell Gage is next. 42 snaps for him. 31 routes. That's a good amount of work. 28.6% target share. The two touchdowns are nice.

12 targets, eight catches. Maybe it sticks a little bit just because the Bucks are looking for something that works in their offense. Because Mike Evans is, I mean, he had a better week this week than he had in his previous five, but still not great. I don't know if I'm chasing gauge outside of the deepest of leagues. You brought up KJ Osborne. We've seen it from Osborne over the course of his career. He played pretty much every snap for the Vikings. 54 routes could have been a byproduct of a,

their game plan be the fact that they were chasing points in the second half, but not somebody that I would look at and say, yeah, I got to go and get him. Was there another receiver? Now there is Zay Jones. Okay.

We saved the best for last. 109 yards, three touchdowns. Do you think he is the guy to start over Christian Kirk if he had to choose between the two? And Dave, I am already really nervous about recommending Jaguars at the Jets on Thursday. They're so good on defense. It's crazy. But what do you think?

Zay Jones or Christian Kirk? And do you think we're starting them in week 16? I think fantasy managers are going to start Zay Jones. Will they start them over Christian Kirk? It's not the right kind of matchup to do it because, as you mentioned, the Jets have these great outside corners and they get good pressure on the quarterback. They did it today, even without Quinn and Williams on the field. But if Quinn is back, that makes it even harder on Trevor Lawrence to throw those balls down the quarterback. They did it today, even without Quinn and Williams on the field. But if Quinn is back, that makes it even harder on Trevor

Lawrence to throw those balls down the way. But the volume has been it's undeniable with Zay Jones. And I believe it was his first touchdown, the exact same play that he should have had a touchdown against the Lions with that was two games ago. So I think that fantasy

managers aren't going to care what we say about Zay Jones. They're just going to start him. And if you've got them and you're not sure if you want to use them against the jets in week 16, cool. He plays Houston in week 17. And I know that we're, you know, we've watched Houston play really good overall the past two games. I'm still not buying them. I'd still think that they're a team that you can score some serious points on the whole year. They give up the points, the receivers. Yeah. But I think that they're a team that you can score some serious points on the whole year. They give up the points to receivers. Yeah. But I think that'll change.

I think that'll change. I mean, yeah. Derek Stingley's on IR. Nelson was out today and yet still fewest points to receivers. I don't know. Yeah. Okay.

Well, look, I think Zay Jones is absolutely going to continue to be on the radar for fantasy managers. Do I like him better than Christian Kirk next week? I don't think I'm going to say yes to that, but I think he is somebody that's going to be a, he was a top 30 receiver for me this week.

Probably should have been, should have been top five, but he probably should have been closer to 24 than where I had him. And now going into the game, Trevor Lawrence led the NFL in end zone throws, throws that went into the end zone. And I don't think that changed because there was definitely some of those in this game.

And the other smart thing that he did, he stayed away from Trayvon Diggs. Yeah, they picked him. The two of the touchdowns were against Kelvin Joseph. They were really smart about how they went and attacked Dallas. And they needed to get their act together because in the first half, they were down 21-7 and they looked like they weren't going anywhere.

And they came back and charged really hard in this game. They should be proud of themselves. Yeah, the Cowboys should not have lost. I think it was a bad loss for them. They should not have given that game away. It was that interception. I mean, you could talk about the interception, and over time it wasn't Dak's fault,

but the one he threw in the third quarter was a game-changer for sure. All right, let's talk about our mega-duds. You know, every week I defend Justin Herbert, even though the big production hasn't been there. He scored eight freaking points against the Titans. He's my mega dud

quarterback. We've got some running backs as well, but why don't you tell me? I'm going to give you the list. I want you to tell me if you're losing faith in these guys. Justin Herbert, Joe Mixon, 11 carries for 21 yards, did have five catches for 33 yards. Miles Sanders, a shockingly terrible game.

He had 29 total yards and a fumble and one catch. Why don't we just start? Why don't we do those three? Because the next ones are sort of in a different category. But Herbert, Mixon, Miles Sanders. Herbert has the Colts, Mixon the Patriots next week, Miles Sanders the Cowboys. You losing faith in these

guys. I'll lose a little faith in, in Justin Herbert, but not enough to say that he's not a top 10 quarterback next week. There just aren't enough top 10 quarterback caliber players and the Colts matchup should be favorable. I, I feel like, I feel like we learned in this game that the chargers don't really carefully game plan for their opponents and the exact i know that sounds silly and i'm sure i'm wrong yes okay so let's take that back adam they had a whole series of gold go plays where it was josh kelly josh kelly josh kelly josh kelly running it between the guards and they scored. But if you're really game planning and putting in a detailed game plan against the Titans,

why would you run it there at the goal line multiple times? Well, they scored. Yeah, but it took them like four times for them to do it. So it was, it was a little frustrating and I don't know, man,

Herbert should have had a much bigger game than what he had. So no, I'm sure they game plan very well. And Herbert is on one of the highest passing volume teams. The interception stunk. And he got a lot of yards on the last drive of the game. Connected with Mike Williams on a 35 yarder. It was a little crazy for him to get his.

He was lucky to have the points that he did have. Mike Williams in particular. Mike Williams was about to make this list until that last drive. Yeah, Mike, I mean, listen, he still could because 10 PPR points isn't really that great. Now, you mentioned Joe Mixon. Yeah.

We had a report on our pregame show from Tom Spencer. We mentioned his name all the time. That P. Ryan was going to start taking a little bit more work away from Mixon. The Bengals wanted to get him involved. It happened. Mixon played 61% of the snaps. P. Ryan played 40%. P. Ryan played a little bit more work away from Mixon. The Bengals wanted to get him involved. It happened. Mixon played 61% of the snaps.

P Ryan played 40%. P Ryan played a little bit more on third and fourth downs. Mixon dominated near the goal line. So it's not a situation where Joe Mixon is like in a true 50, 50 split. And you never know what his role is going to be. He still works as the running downs guy for Cincinnati, and he's still going to have opportunities at the goal line,

but he's not, he's not going to have opportunities at the goal line, but he's not, he's not going to dominate as like a top 10 running back until he gets into matchups that are really, really good. And the matchup next week against new England. I don't think that's really, really good. And then he's got Buffalo and Baltimore after that.

It's a tough schedule for mixing the rest of the way. I think you've got to treat him as a number two fantasy running back. Who was the third name? Miles Sanders. My take on Miles Sanders is that what happens this week with Miles Sanders has no bearing on what happens next week. Miles agreed. I was just completely surprised at the way this game played out.

I thought I bet I bet on the Eagles. I don't bet big, but minus eight and a half. I thought they were going to steamroll them and and it just didn't happen. And, you know, Sanders didn't score. You know, they've also got a tough schedule the rest of the way. It's the Cowboys, it's the Saints, it's the Giants. That's not tough. You don't think that's tough?

So, well, first of all, let's not count Week 18, right? Because the Giants, their defense stinks, but that's Week 18. Dallas is interesting. You know, they do have a good defense. I think the Eagles should be able to run on them, but New Orleans is not. I think that's... New able to run on them, but New Orleans is not. I think that's... New Orleans' run defense is really not good this year, Dave.

I mean, look at the Falcons. Yeah, that's true. Algier had over 100 yards today. Fair point, fair point. But Dallas, I don't know. I mean, it's not like matchups really matter for the Eagles. They can run on anyone, and it's just like... Jalen Hurts had three rushing touchdowns, right?

He had three rushing touchdowns. Those could have been Miles Sanders touchdowns. They tried to make one of them a Miles Sanders touchdown toward the end of the game, and Sanders couldn't get in on a couple of tries. And then they said, all right, Jalen Hurts it is. So Jalen Hurts ran on Chicago, but his rushing average was worse than Miles Sanders,

and Sanders averaged 3.8. They only gave him 11 carries. It was a little surprising. I thought Sanders would get a little bit more work, but I agree with you. He's still a running back that I'm really comfortable starting. Probably going to take him ahead of Mixon and non PPR, to be honest with you.

Here are his, here are miles Sanders PPR fantasy points when he does not score a touchdown. Oh, this will be good. 11.6. And then the rest of them are all 8.4 or fewer. He, so there's been six games where he hasn't scored a touchdown. 11.6, and then the rest of them are all 8.4 or fewer.

So there's been six games where he hasn't scored a touchdown. 11.6, 5.4, 8.4, 5.4, 5.8, 1.9. But I really don't have any regrets starting him. I have no regrets telling people to start him. This was the type of game where he should have had a really good game, and sometimes, you know, sports happens, and things don't go the way we feel fonte adams he's on the mega duds list dalton schultz is on the mega duds list those two guys uh adams had

four catches for 28 yards against the patriots dalton schultz had two catches for 15 yards it was wide open and for some reason dag prescott decided to make a more difficult throw in the end zone to noah brown yeah yep and greg Dulcich had one catch for 11 yards, um, where Eric Tomlinson caught a touchdown for the Broncos, but I think we can get away from Dulcich. But, uh,

what do you think about Adams is, which he's fine, right? Just get that out of the way. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I mean,

the Patriots always do a good job of taking away a team's number one receiver. Uh, I don't know how the Steelers are going to do that next week, so Devontae Adams should certainly be in line for a real good game. How about Dalton Schultz here? Two catches, 15 yards.

He's had some of these, the last five games, he's had three games with fewer than six PPR fantasy points, Dalton Schultz. So what do you look for from a fantasy tight end? It's almost the same thing that we talk about with any other position. You want guys that are going to play a lot, get a lot of targets, get some opportunities near the goal line. And it just, it didn't work out his way this

week. I think most weeks he is in that type of position where he gets decent target volume and the chance to score a touchdown. And I think that'll continue for him against Philly next week. They're going to need him against Philly. There's no question about it. That's going to be a very interesting game because the Cowboys trying to cling to hopes of winning the division, they need to win just for their own playoff sake, obviously. And Philadelphia wants to put them away, earn that one seed. Is that division not over?

I guess it's not. The Cowboys would have to win out and the Eagles would have to lose out. The Eagles are very, very close. In fact, I think if they win next week, they wrap up the one seed. I'm pretty sure, because they have a two-game edge on the Vikings and the tiebreaker.

One more win or a Vikings loss, and it's over. And then there's going to be questions about what do you do with your Eagles in week 17, and my guess is that they will play most of their starters most of the game week 17 against the Saints. I think if the Eagles lose and the Niners win next week, that would put the Eagles at 13-2, the Niners at four losses, so blah, blah, whatever.

The Eagles are going to get the one seed. All right, let's go to our winners and losers. Dave's number one winner was Jarek McKinnon. The other two are Saturday guys, Saturday night guys, Raheem Mostert, Saturday Night Live, Raheem Mostert. 156 total yards at Buffalo, hell yeah. And Dawson Knox, two pretty solid games in a row, but this one was outstanding.

98 yards and a touchdown. Is that right? Is that right? That's right. I'll double check for you if you really want to know. I'll do it, but go ahead and talk about Mostert and Knox. Yeah, six catches, 98 yards, and a touchdown for Dawson Knox. I'll start with Knox.

He's just been involved the last couple of weeks. You've seen it from Buffalo's offense. They're looking for someone to help take some pressure off of Stefan Diggs. It hasn't been Gabriel Davis. They just brought back Cole Beasley. They need somebody in this offense to step up and be that guy and it looks like Dawson Knox is going to get that opportunity. So as tight ends go, you know, we just talked about it with Dalton Schultz. The fact that like if Dalton Schultz gets six targets and maybe gets open in the end zone, that's a startable fantasy tight end.

Well, Dawson Knox is doing more than that. And he's got a hell of a quarterback to do it with. And they've got Chicago in week 16. So Dawson Knox, you'll find him in my top 12, maybe even top eight, maybe even top six. What the hell, man? He's been involved. It's going to be easy to go and make an argument to start Dawson Knox next week.

And as for Raheem Mostert, you knew that the Dolphins had to do something different with their offense. And what they did was run the football in the first half and really throughout the whole game, Adam. I thought Mostert looked great. And if Jeff Wilson's out, then Mostert's going to be a dynamite, must-start type of fantasy running back

for them. And they've got the Packers at home next week on Christmas. I think that's a good matchup for them, followed by the Patriots and then the Jets in Week 18. But, you know, the bigger question to me, obviously it's easy to start him if Wilson plays. I think he's... You mean if Wilson doesn't play?

Yeah, yeah, but if Wilson's out. I still think he's a start if Wilson plays. Yeah, I think he's the number one guy now. I would think he You mean if Wilson doesn't play? Yeah, yeah, but if Wilson's out. I still think he's a start if Wilson plays. Yeah, I think he's the number one guy now. I would think he'd be the number one guy now, Raheem Mostert. Okay, we're going to. And it's crazy to think that he lost a touchdown to Ahmed in the game. Yes, he did. Is Ahmed just right place, right time type of thing?

That game, that Bills-Dolphins game was very much the game of the useless fantasy touchdowns. Right? You had, like, Diggs didn't score. Gabe Davis didn't score. Bill's Dolphins game was very much the game of the useless fantasy touchdowns. Diggs didn't score. Gabe Davis didn't score. But yeah, actually, then Jalen Waddell and Tyreek Hill got going. But who caught some of those touchdowns for the Bills? It's like their backup tight end. I forget. It was useless. But okay, let's go to your losers here.

Amari Cooper was at home! What? He only had 9.8 fantasy points against Baltimore. It's so funny that it was, you know, you should draft Amari Cooper. He might not be that good, but then when Deshaun Watson comes back, he's going to win you your league. And it's been the opposite. It's been the exact opposite. And then Heath, so then Heath was like,

oh, Dave Montgomery's the best running back I've ever seen. I was like, Heath, I've always liked David Montgomery, and you try to sit him. And I was like, no, you should start him. Is that how it works? Is that how it went, Heath? I think you took some unnecessary crap on Twitter today, and I almost

felt bad about it, especially when you said that it didn't have anything to do with YPC. You're right. It didn't have anything to do with YPC. You said David Montgomery was a bad running back. You didn't say he had a bad YPC. You're right. It didn't have anything to do with YPC. You said David Montgomery was a bad running back. You didn't say he had a bad YPC. You said he was a bad running back. He had a little bit to do with YPC. It was more about the Eagles.

It was an Eagles matchup. But yeah, he only had 12 carries. So I did kind of get that part right. You were basically right about David Montgomery this week. I agree, except for the two touchdowns. I agree. And the 4.4 yards per carry. Which was a shock, which seems like

it was a mistake of the box score. Alright, Dave, your losers are Amari Cooper, Chris Olave, and Deontay Foreman, who you already talked about, but do you have faith in Cooper next week against the Saints, and Olave next week at the Browns? They'll be facing each other. It's funny how it works

out that way. I will have more faith in Olave than I will in Cooper. It's three games now of Amari Cooper with Deshaun Watson, and it's three games below 10 PPR points. So a little frustrating. And he was close to scoring against the Ravens,

but it didn't happen. And it's not just New Orleans. It's also Washington, two games after that. Pittsburgh to wrap up the season. I think it's not the easiest schedule in the world for Amari Cooper. I would, I just, I can't consider him anything more than a flex moving forward. So I'm downgrading expectations for him and I'm downgrading expectations for a lot of it. You know, one guy who's been playing a lot and doing a lot for the saints lately, it had been Rashid Shaheed. And then Jawan Johnson came out of nowhere

and scored two touchdowns today. They're finding guys to throw to who aren't getting the type of coverage that Olave was getting. And it's hurting Olave, and it sucks for his fantasy prospects. But I think New Orleans has some options in their passing game as they finish up the stretch.

And I think they're going to want to see what they have in Shahid and in Jawan Johnson to wrap up the year. I actually think, well, I don't know necessarily that they're going to focus on developing Shahid and Jawan Johnson at the expense of their first round rookie. I think they're probably more interested in seeing what they have in Chris Olave. But Jawan Johnson, I'm actually a little bit more interested in seeing what they have in Chris Olave but um okay um but Juwan Johnson I I'm actually a little bit more interested in his most recent game he got hurt and played the 49ers yeah only played 40 percent of the 47 of the snaps but the three games before that he was in the 40s in terms of yards and had a touchdown in each of those and it had had scored in four of his last five games yeah he's probably really close to a top 12 tight end and like since week six yeah it's probably true and the interesting

thing about is that johnson went from a guy who was kind of making plays in garbage time like like after the fact type of plays and then he started to get involved in the offense overall and it's been encouraging. And as for them trying to develop these guys, I don't know if develop is the right word that I would use for Shahid and Jawan Johnson. It's just to see what they have in them. They know Olave is going to be a part of the team next year.

And they've been trying to develop Olave all year long. Have you looked at his numbers in his last six games? He's had one game in his last six and it might be seven now where he's been below 15. A lot of them below 12 PPR fantasy points. Yeah. To me, I don't know how you can trust him.

Well, they don't throw much. And they, he was through 21 passes today, I think. Right. I looking at his last six games before this week, he had 10,

13, seven, 21, 11, 10. Yeah, I don't want to start that. It's, well, playing a two-wide receiver league without a flex. Sure.

You'll start him if it's a three-receiver league with a flex. He was a little bit better than Chris Moore. But I think if you look at him the last six games, he had that one huge play against the Rams. He's just really not doing much. He hasn't scored. That's basically been his only impactful moment in the last six games. I don't think we can call Chris Olave a must-start. No, not a must-start.

I just think you're probably – I mean, it just depends on the depth of your league. He's definitely not a start in a two-wide receiver league where you don't have a flex. If I can make it to the next week where I have Olave, I'll have a tough decision between him and Christian Kirk against the Jets. That's not a tough decision. That is a very...

I mean, come on. The Jets are awesome, man. You don't think... And what did Kirk do today? He ended up with a pretty good game I think he had about seven he needed every bit of it yeah fourth quarter he was struggling a bit all right let's take a break to 10 targets let's take a break here and uh let's uh we'll come back we'll recap all the games we'll get some believe it or not from Heath and much more we'll be right back on

fantasy football today all right let's go to the, guys. We have more games than we've had since week four, I guess. No buys this week. So, Heath, we're going to start with the Saturday games and the biggest comeback of all time. And I do hate to derail the show because I just said, like, let's, you know, get whatever. But I have to ask because nobody has had an answer for me, and I want to know if you know.

If the Vikings had come back, tied the game, and lost, in overtime, let's say, would it still have been the biggest comeback in NFL history? Because they did technically come back, right? I don't think it counts. I think it would have been. Nobody knows. All right, Heath, what do we got?

Believe it or not. I'm trying to think about who I would ask for that at the NFL. Minnesota 39,ianapolis 36 um oh i know that one's rude it's just trying to start a fight i'm not gonna say that one um well i can't even imagine believe it or not we should never use um healthiness as a reason to draft running back number one overall. Oh, I love the argument for drafting Taylor over McCaffrey. It wasn't the only argument, but it was part of the argument. And it's, I think it's, I think I believe it.

You've got to look at the whole picture with running backs, but there's also something to be said for being comfortable with the player that you're going to take at number one overall or with any of your picks. No one wants to take a player where you're squeamish. And you go, oh, but this guy's been hurt a lot, and I don't know if he can stay healthy, and here's another player that hasn't. Okay, that's how I felt.

I felt like I was taking a big chance with McCaffrey. I think Taylor was the number one pick. He was. He was consensus number one, and it was for good reason. He was amazing the big chance. There was McCaffrey. I think Taylor was the number one pick. He was. He was consensus number one. And it was for good reason. He was amazing the year before. He was, in my opinion, the best running back coming into the league. He was an outstanding talent

who got beat up quite a bit this year. And his team wasn't as good as we thought it would be. Okay. Yeah, I think this is really going to scare people off of running backs from number one. I think there's a very good chance Justin Jefferson is number one pick next year in PPR leagues.

So for this game, Michael Pittman had the 30 rushing yards. That was nice. I'm trying to think of any takeaways. I think the biggest takeaway is what do we want to do with Zach Moss and Deion Jackson next week if there's no yards, that was nice. I'm trying to think of any takeaways. I think the biggest takeaway is what do we want to do with Zach Moss and Deion Jackson next week if there's no Taylor?

We talked about that earlier, but let's talk about it again here. Who do you prefer? Dave prefers Zach Moss. I would prefer Moss, but I'm hopeful that if I'm in the semifinals of the fantasy playoffs, I don't need to use either one. This might be one of those where you just sabotage

by letting somebody else pick them up and hopefully start them against you. Do you know who they're playing? Chargers. The Chargers. That makes things a little more interesting, huh? A little. I still don't think Zach Moss is going to be good.

I was hoping. It was trending toward Deion Jackson until his fumble. And then... Because Moss just wasn't really doing anything. And then Jackson put the ball on the ground. All right, let me ask you one more question about this game. Michael Pittman. Do you think he is a...

Compare him to Chris Olave and Christian Kirk. Is he behind those guys? About the same? Depends on the matchups? About the same. I'll put him ahead of Olave and in the same range as Kirk.

Can I confess something to you guys? I am struggling so much right now. I am so nervous about this Giants game. I am freaking out of watching it, and I can't even breathe properly right now. Do you want us to finish the show for you?

No, no, I'm having fun. Can I tell you one thing? Yeah. No matter the result of this game, the Giants will still be in position to be a playoff team. In position. Did the Commanders just punt from the Giants 34?

No, I don't think so. Did they? I'm just looking at the game tracker. Yes. I don't have a television in front of me. It is 100% true. That's almost enough to make me cheer for the Giants. And then the Giants returned it to the 30.

Okay, anyway, let's go to the Browns and the Ravens. This was arguably the worst game of the week. Heath, what have we got for Cleveland-Baltimore? So we talked about Amari Cooper. We've probably done enough on, well, I guess, believe it or not, Donovan Peoples-Jones is the best Browns pass catcher rest of season. I don't quite believe it. Yeah. pass catcher rest of season? I don't quite believe it.

Yeah. I don't know if there's a Browns pass catcher. I don't know if there's a Browns wide receiver that I'm going to be excited to start. The answer is no, there isn't one. And the only Browns pass catcher that I'll start is Najoku because of his position. It was only four targets for Donovan Peoples-Jones.

His touchdown was not exactly what you'd expect. It was like a short area catch and run. Yep. Gosh, would you start Njoku over Mark Andrews next week? Let's say Lamar Jackson. If Lamar Jackson's back, does Mark Andrews become, you know, is he a top five tight end again? Yeah.

I think so. What do you guys think about J.K. Dobbins? It's Atlanta. I'm excited about Dobbins still leading the Ravens run game. I wish he had played more snaps in the game against Cleveland. I wonder if third game back from the injury, he actually does play more snaps

and actually has a chance to have a really good game against the Falcons. Nick Chubb, he got his work. 21 carries, 99 yards. Couldn't even get 100 rushing yards. Come on, Nick Chubb. They were competitive. They had been getting blown out and that had been hurting him. If they can stay in the game,

they're going to get the workload, I think. Buffalo 32, Miami 29. Believe it or not, Raheem Mostert is a must-start running back if Jeff Wilson is out. Yeah, I believe that for sure. We talked about that already. But what about if Jeff Wilson is in ETH?

No. I'm not even 100% sure I want to go must-start if Jeff Wilson is out. Because there's always the possibility that Mike Daniels is going to decide it's a single-digit rush attempt game. All right, believe it or not, or buy or sell, Tua Tungwailoa is a must-start.

He only scored 21 fantasy points. He gets the Packers next week. Tua Tungwailoa is a must-start buy or sell. You're not picking anybody up to start over him. You might have a second quarterback. You could have Tua and Lawrence and want to start Lawrence over him. There's lots of quarterbacks you could have with Tua

that you'd be starting over him. Your level of confidence in Tua going forward? Seven. That's exactly what I was going to say. Seven out of ten. Okay. I think someone said in our chat, by the way, Heath, it's very windy in Washington.

So that might be why they eschewed the field goal. Your level of confidence in Jalen Waddle? Ten? You're going to start him as a number two receiver because he's capable of huge plays, just like Tyreek Hill. He just doesn't get as many. Where does he rank on the season? You know, I'll tell you why I'm rooting for him to finish at

or near the top five, because I had that awesome stat going into the game where there had been a wide receiver drafted between 39 and 50 that's finished top five in seven of the last 10 years or something like that. There's just almost always one that finishes top five. Last year it was Cup. The year before it was

Diggs, I think or I don't know. Uh, he is wide receiver nine right now. Okay. So he's the, he's our only hope. No doubt about it. He's our only hope for that,

for, uh, for top five, uh, Gabe Davis. Are we done? They have Chicago next week. I think he's shot play type of receiver.

We already talked about this one, too, about how Dawson Knox appears to be somebody who is carving out a role as the number two pass catcher in the offense ahead of Gabe Davis. I would try and move on from Gabe Davis. He'll be around 30 probably next week. New Orleans 21, Atlanta 18. Desmond Ritter threw for 97 yards in this game.

And like I said, Drake London had 70 of them. What do you got for New Orleans and Atlanta? I've got one for each team. Believe it or not, the Saints have two starting fantasy tight ends. I believe it. Hell no. No way. Taysom Hill's production is so fluky.

Okay. I'd like for you to just start listing out all the tight ends who are reliable fantasy starters. They're more reliable than him, but okay. He is currently, I think, like tight end three or four on the season. Tyler, who? Taysom Hill? What a terrible position. Taysom Hill is?

I'm pulling it up Wow that would surprise me I would start Dawson Knox over him I would start CJ Uzama two touchdowns over him No I wouldn't I would start Hayden Hurst if he's back I would start Mark Andrews, David Njoku

Pat Fryermuth I would start Okonkwo if probably not because Bate Burke should be back He is tied in two Pat Fryermuth. I don't know what happened to Pat Fryermuth. Pat Fryermuth. I would start Okonkwo if I... Probably not, because Bate Burke should be back. I would start... He is tied in two in non-PPR on the year and tied in nine in full PPR.

Oh, wow. I would start Evan Ingram ahead of him. I would start Travis Kelsey. I would start Gerald Everett in PPR. Why do Taysom Hill's bad games bother you so much more than Evan Ingram's bad games or than Hayden Hurst's bad games? I just think the production is fluky.

I just think there's no solidified role. What he did today, I can't bank on that. What he did last week, I definitely can't bank on because I think he did it because Jawan Johnson didn't play. He caught a long touchdown. You know, it's just too fluky. You can't bank on anything at this position outside of Travis Kelsey. Travis Kelsey is the only thing you can bank on anything at this position outside of Travis Kelsey.

Travis Kelsey is the only thing you can bank on. That doesn't mean that there's only one tight end that's better than Taysom Hill. He is by far the flukiest fantasy producer of the season. But who has more weekly upside than Taysom Hill? Most people. Evan Ingram certainly does. Are we talking PPR here? Because the guy usually catches zero passes.

But he has multiple 20-point games this season, right? It's possible. But I'm sorry, I'm not moved by it. I understand if you are, you can recognize that upside. I just don't think there's enough of a solidified, predictable role. And he's got more downside than just about any tight end. I think if everybody has a downside of four, then Taysom Hill's downside of zero is not that frightening.

May I make a comment about Hill and then another comment about the position in general? Yeah. This is the fifth straight game Taysom Hill's played at least 40% of the snaps. He's a considerable part of the New Orleans Saints offense. They're using him in many different ways every different week, and he's finding the end zone or making splash plays on several of his

touches. So Heath is nailing this one, especially when you've got tight ends like Dalton Schultz, Mark. And of course I would start Sam over him. You wouldn't start Dalton Schultz and Mark Andrews over Taysom Hill. I would, but the downside with them is not that far off from the downside of

Taysom Hill. If Taysom Hill is playing 40% of the snaps, then he's not going to ever be in a position where he's only going to get one carry for three yards and that's all you get out of him unless he gets hurt and then he's not playing 40% of the snaps. So I think that there's absolutely a case for Taysom Hill

to be a streamable tight end if you're unhappy with your tight ends. I agree with that. I just don't think he's a must start. He's definitely in the maybe start conversation. Yes, you did. Didn't you say they have two must start tight ends? No, I said they have two starting tight ends.

I don't really know what the difference is. What if I said two startable tight ends? Then I would say yes. Okay, so it's the phrase. Yeah, he's not a must-start. We agree on that. I'd like to make the following suggestion slash recommendation

to put into fantasy football leagues everywhere. When Travis Kelsey retires, fantasy football retires the tight end position from their league. Kyle Pitts will be good. Get rid of it. They're included with wide receivers. Are you just using his flexes?

Dave, that's the worst. That is the worst. That's the worst thing you've said. Believe it or not, Tyler Algier will be the starting running back for the Falcons and fantasy managers next year. No. I don't believe it. Here's what I believe.

He'll be part of a committee. It's going to suck. Someone's going to take him in round nine. They're going to cut him in round nine. Someone else is going to pick him up. He'll score for like two, three weeks straight. You'll love him then, and then he'll whiff for two weeks because he's not getting enough playing time,

and you'll be frustrated with the Falcons' run game. The Falcons draft Bijan Robinson, and that's it for Tyler Algier. All right. If they draft Bijan Robinson, then Kyle Pitts will not be a top-12 tight end for me. Yeah. And Arthur Smith will get fired because that's exactly the type of pick they don't need.

Jacksonville 40, Dallas 34. Mm-hmm. Believe it or not, Zay Jones is the best wide receiver in jacksonville you're kind of late to the party can you do another one because we already talked about that wait i want to know if you believe that heath i think it will probably change week to week there you go it's good for lawrence um what's that it's good for lawrence got two uh maybe three solid options now but okay sorry let's do another It's good for Lawrence. He's got two, maybe three solid options now. Okay, sorry.

You want me to do one or you got it? Yeah. No, you go ahead. Believe it or not, Zeke is the best running back for the Cowboys in fantasy. No. Not believe it. Fewer carries, fewer catches, but scored a touchdown? No, I don't believe it. carries fewer catches but scored a touchdown no i don't believe it well but you can almost again you can write in ink every week that ezekiel elliott's gonna score

and again pollard had a goal line carry and again he went nowhere and again zeke came in and i think did zeke score after that i can't remember if that was the drive. I don't think so. I can check. Zeke did score at one point in this game. No, I don't think it was. I think you're right, Dave. All right, that's it for that game. CeeDee Lamb is really interesting. You would love to see more targets from a wide receiver one.

He has five to seven targets in six of his last eight games, but he typically comes through. We talked about Schultz a little bit earlier. Nice to see Travis Etienne get going again. Okay. I mean, I guess if you want, now, you know,

we have time to talk about it, but I do think it'll be a little bit more interesting against the Jets on Thursday. But, all right, Kansas City 30 and Houston 24. Another surprising effort by the Texans.

Good for them. But Kansas City with the 30-24 win. Believe it or not, Jarek McKinnon's going to be a top 20 running back rest of season. Believe it. We talked about this already, too. Well, that's really good. It sounds like you had the same thing that he always does

and talks about all the believe it or nots, even though I'm not even here. I didn't see him. I didn't see him. You guys should probably just do the believe it or nots and I'll react. Well, we had a surprising. It doesn't make much sense for me to keep doing it.

What do you think? Let's talk about Juju. Hardman did not play. He'll play hopefully next week. Tony was a non-factor. Juju had 10 catches for 88 yards on 10 targets. So now in his last six healthy games, I think he has scored 18.8 or more fantasy points

in five of those six healthy games. So yeah, so that's really good. Do you view Juju as a must-start, let's say top 15 guy? No, I think that's too strong. Let's call him top 24, maybe top 20 in full PPR. Okay. All right.

Chris Moore had nine targets. If Collins and Cooks are out next week, is he a number three receiver? I think he had four for 42 in the first half and didn't catch a ball in the second half, I think. It is Tennessee next week. Could be a game where they can actually win throwing the football. All right.

You could do worse, but not a great option. All those guys we were poo-pooing earlier that are not starting, Chris Alaves, Christian Kirks, all those guys are consistent. Of course. Philadelphia 25, Chicago 20. I'm going to just say don't do a

Miles Sanders one. Fair. Believe it or not, David Montgomery is going to be a league winning running back for the third year in a row. I knew you were going to go to Montgomery. I think I'll agree. I'm a little bit nervous about Khalil Herbert coming back and taking some pretty serious work away from Montgomery.

But that's really it. I think everything else is setting up for Montgomery to be, even with Herbert back, 60% of the snaps, 15 touches, goal line guy, don't really fear the matchup against touches, goal line guy. Don't really fear the matchup against Buffalo that much for him. Got the toughest matchup in fantasy in the championship, though. Against Detroit. Eight

straight games with single-digit PPR. Oh, did Carter? Carter didn't get double-digit PPR today, did he? Bam certainly did not. I don't think he did. I don't think league winner, Heath. I think, you know uh top 15 but not not having huge games but having you see my stats on him no he was rb2 in the fantasy playoffs in 2020 he was rb3 in the fantasy playoffs last year wow and he started off this year with 24 fantasy points in week 15. That's pretty good.

Okay, let's go to... Well, no Dallas Goddard in this game, so I think hopefully that gave you a lot of confidence in Devontae Smith. He and A.J. Brown came through. Jalen Hurts was amazing for fantasy in what started out as a bad game for him, and he's just incredible. How about Pittsburgh 24, Carolina 16?

Bleh. Yeah. Believe it or not, you can cut Deontay Foreman. I was going to say. Believe it. Don't do a Deontay Foreman one. I'm not going to cut him. Did you get the theme of the week right? What was it?

The theme of the week was fooled you from all these crappy running backs that we've been starting that we didn't draft as starters, that we'd picked up off the waiver wire, or they'd been somewhat handcuffed, and they all just completely pooped to bed this week. Yeah, you're kind of right.

Would you say that about Pacheco? Because Pacheco... Pacheco pooped to bed as much as any of them. Pacheco pooped about, but he didn't poop as bad as Foreman. Raheem Mostert pooped a beautiful golden egg. We hadn't been starting him. He was the opposite. He was the fool to do on the bench.

I think people didn't start him, and they might have done so in terms of being desperate for a running back. No, he hadn't been started the last couple of weeks. What was the start percent? I'm sure it was low this week. I wouldn't really go by start percentages at this point, but it was 35%. Okay, well, that's still pretty good

if half of the people playing on CBS aren't playing anymore because we're in the playoffs. Well, half the people that might have had him stuck in their starting lineup from when they last played. Don't ruin my vibe here, Heath. Come on. I'm not cutting Deontay Foreman. They had the ball for 23,

for just under 24 minutes. Well, that doesn't sound like the Panthers at all. Not recently. He still had more. Did he have more carries than Chubbard? He did. He did. He had six more carries.

Ten carries for Foreman. And he had a few. Yeah, he had a horrible game, but he did have a few touchdown opportunities. He did. Had six carries for four. And he had, it went nowhere. He had a few. Yeah. He had a horrible game, but he did have a few touchdown opportunities. He got stuffed. I want to say three times inside the five yard line. So no,

that's the case. And that's consecutive weeks where that's happened. Carolina's going to need a new gimmick when they get down there. Okay. Well, I don't know. Let's put it this way. You don't have to,

you don't have to spite drop them, but he's droppable. At best right now, he's really good running back bench depth for your team. I mean, there's no way I'm starting him against the Lions. I obviously think the Lions are a good matchup. But it's also a bad matchup, rather. But it's a good matchup for DJ Moore, and here he comes with a big game. I can't stand this.

73 yards and a touchdown on six targets, and he gets the Lions next week. Are we back in on DJ Moore? He's in that group with all the guys we were downgrading earlier. The highest Moore. Top Moore. Okay. But that's interesting to put him in a group

with Christian Kirk and Chris Olave. That's a big change from this week. It's an upgrade. He's, he's been in the wide receiver 25 range three or four different times this season. Um, moving various directions.

He, his target share bounce back. I bet Donald throws more than 23 times next week against the lions. I think I'd be comfortable starting him as at least a flex. Deontay Johnson had about 18 PPR fantasy points. I think his best game of the year. He had 19. And all of his best games have come

with Mitchell Trubisky. Do you need to see Trubisky at quarterback to start? He had 19.8. I'm sorry. I undersold him. 10 catches for 98 yards. Do you need to see Trubisky at quarterback to start Deontay Johnson next week against the Raiders? Mm-hmm. It's 100 total yards for him.

He had two yards rushing. Good for Deontay Johnson finally hitting the century mark. I would feel much more confident starting him if it's Trubisky. I don't think it will be. I think he's a high-end No. 3 with Trubisky, a low-end No. 3 with Pickett. Detroit 20 and the Jets 17. Speaking of the theme of the week,

Jamal Williams and Son of the Night. Thank you guys very much. Believe it or not, you should keep starting Garrett Wilson, even with Zach Wilson at quarterback. I think you can, but I think this is the type of game you should expect from him where he doesn't catch roughly does catch roughly half of his targets and make some big plays.

I he had a couple of games. We talked about this on the show this morning, 17 PPR points in two of his past three with Zach Wilson, but only two of I think six games with Wilson. It's nice for Darrell Wilson. I think he's a high-end No. 3 receiver. I'm ready to start him over Olave. I think he's, for me, he's a No. 2 if Corey Davis is out and a No. 3 if Davis is in because he's played four games with Wilson and no Corey Davis,

and he's now scored 17-17-13 and then had the terrible game at New England. Yeah, and now it's Jacksonville, and I just don't think Jacksonville's past defense is anything good, as the Cowboys would probably agree with us on. I didn't think that Zach Wilson was particularly good. No. It felt like every other...

It felt like he had three types of throws today. The first throw is just way off target. What is he doing on a football field? The second one is, holy cow, this guy has got an unbelievable arm because he can chuck it 55 yards downfield, and he's got a receiver that camps out under the ball and makes a great play. And then the third one is he actually looks like a quarterback, confidently drops back, good footwork throws.

So he's still very inconsistent. It's a step up from where he was. If he starts against Jacksonville, it does give me hope that Garrett Wilson can get near 15 PPR points again. And credit to Zach Wilson. He had 22 fantasy points and threw for 317 yards and averaged 9.1

yards per attempt today. He didn't look very good doing it. No, he did not. That interception he threw was absolutely laughable. And then the completion to Michael Carter on the loopy ball that was even worse than the interception. Just unprofessional. I'm not sure he was worse than Tom Brady, though. Brady, first half was pretty good.

Then, gosh, second half was embarrassing for the Bucs. Anybody else would have gotten benched. Well, not Mahomes, but Mahomes wouldn't do that. If Zach Wilson had done that, Zach Wilson would have been benched if they didn't have a banged-up quarterback.

Anything else on this game? Who caught two touchdowns for the Jets, Dave? CJ Uzaba! Thank you. who caught two touchdowns for the jets dave cj you zaba thank you let's go to the afternoon games denver 24 arizona 15 uh believe it or not if trace mcsorley is starting you cannot start an arizona cardinal i don't believe it i'll still start con what about Hopkins and I'll probably still start Hopkins but it'll be ugly that this offense like if you look at the numbers it's disgusting and they had garbage time and I want to repeat

that they had garbage time against the Broncos this might be the worst team in football right now I think I would go on the Texans if they were playing the Texans I think I would too Texans play a lot harder the Texans. I think I would too. Texans play a lot harder than Arizona has, and it stinks because, well, not everybody on Arizona,

but just they're brutal. Marquise Brown, Tampa Bay next week with Trace McSorley at quarterback? Oh, gosh. Well, Tampa Bay, that's the thing about Mixon that's so disappointing. Without Vita Veya, this really shouldn't have been that tough of a matchup for Joe Mixon.

He's been a big difference maker for them. I would like to give some credit to Tampa Bay's defense. I probably watched more of that late game than any other. They showed up today. They got let down by Tom Brady. But they were shutting that Bengals offense down. And then Tom Brady gave the Bengals the ball in their own territory four times in the second half. Yes.

Well, one of them was Fournette, right? I mean, did that go to Brady? But it was, I don't know whose fault it was. No, it's Brady. It's Brady, like, tossing the ball into Fournette's chest. I thought he might have been throwing the game. Carlton Davis played really well on Jamar Chase. That was a great battle.

He did a great job on him. There were two different times where they ran someone in motion to find out if Davis had help on Chase and found out they didn't and then tried to go to Chase and Davis shut him down. This is how terrible the Cardinals-Broncos game was because now we're talking about a completely different game. Well, how about Latavius Murray?

Now I think it's eight of the last nine running backs have scored 17 or more PPR fantasy points against the Cardinals, but Murray had a huge game. 25 touches, 142 total yards. Does this mean anything for you against the Rams next week? I'm mildly intrigued in using him.

I don't think I can talk about it without cursing should also be noted i don't know the third down snaps dave you can probably look that up but marlin mack had four catches yeah i got it and okay i can do it i'm a big person i started isaiah pacheco zonovan knight and dionte foreman and mile sanders in the scott fishbowl and had latavius murray on my bench oh yeah I can understand why you'd want to score more points than all of them. So you're out? Yeah. Am I going to make it? Heath, am I going to be the last one?

I have not. He just told you that he's out. He's obviously upset about it, and your first question is, hey, am I going to make it? Hey, Heath, can you look it up to see how I should do it? I'll look for you because I know you don't have access to that page. No, I'm going to look it up. You don't understand how it even works.

I'll look it up. Latavius Murray played eight of 11 snaps on third and fourth downs, three and four snaps inside the 10. Mack was lucky to score what he did. Murray is the lead back for the Broncos. I'm plus 43 right now, Heath. You're in. All right. Go into the semifinals.

That's pretty cool. You won't make it past that. Oh, again. What? Have some sympathy. He's undefeated in the IDP League. That's not the same thing. Did you win in the IDP League?

I don't know. I'm afraid to check. I had Trevor. I think you're muted. I had Trevor Lawrence. I went against Jalen Hurts. I think I had a very good week, so at least I can be proud of that.

I started David Montgomery, of course. I can't wait to tell you that you're down. Am I favored? You are losing to Bob Harris by more than 25 points.

You still have Aaron Jones and Christian Watson. He still has Van Jefferson. Oh, okay. We got a chance here. You have two Washington defensive linemen playing tonight. And a linebacker. I think I have four commanders on defense. You do. I like your chances.

Las Vegas 30, New England 24. Don't talk about the last play of the game, Heath. That was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Ever? Okay. Oh, no. I was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Ever? Okay. Oh, no. I was talking about Mac Jones playing quarterback. The inning was bad, too.

Thanks to a listener, we're calling it Myers remorse. Myers remorse is fantastic. Mac Jones should have been benched. Does Bailey Zappi hurt or something? I don't know. He might get the nod next week. 31 pass attempts for 112 yards. His QB rating was 52.1.

He didn't have Devontae Parker. Give me a break. Mack Jones passing the ball is what Adam says David Montgomery is running the ball. Yeah, well, it wasn't good for him for sure. But Ramondre Stevenson, I hope you started him. He was started in 40% of leagues, and he had 172 yards and a touchdown. Only two catches, but amazing game for him.

Who cares? Awesome stat line. Believe it or not, Devontae Adams is in trouble now that Waller and Rimforbeck. Not ready to say he's in trouble when he still had nine targets and he was playing the Patriots. I already talked about this. You can rewind.

Well, but we didn't bring up, we didn't do the, we didn't do that angle of it, though. The Waller-Renfroe, they combined for what, four targets? No, seven targets. It was a below 25% target share for Devontae Adams, and he's been at a 35% target share for the year. And I was surprised. There were multiple times late in that game on the final drive.

I'm not sure that Carr even looked Adams' way on most of those plays. I felt like Carr was just half-assing it. A lot of those throws, it felt very Jay Cutler-esque to me. And then he just came alive at the very end. I don't think there's going to be very many weeks where Keelan Cole is catching deep passes or that Matt Collins is going to continue to see eight targets. That was a shocker. I'm good with Devontae Adams as a number one receiver. Are you good with Darren Waller, who caught all three of his targets for 48 yards and a touchdown

as a starting tight end next week. And who do they have? They have the Steelers. The Steelers. I'm going to look up his playing time, if you could pontificate on him for a second. I am going to start Darren Waller. He is a tight end. My projections probably won't have him in the top 12,

and I'll just push him up into the top 12. Glad I did that this week. Yeah. Go Wall did that this week. Yeah. Go Waller and Kittle. And I'm sorry. I feel bad about our tight end analysis because too many times it's, well, he's a tight end. You're going to start him.

Yeah, that's why we're getting rid of the position. There's got to be something a better way. Maybe Dave's answer is the right one 31 snaps out of 64 for darren waller so first game back played about half the snaps that's pretty good i would imagine that goes up next week which means his targets will go up next week all right let's go to cincinnati 32 and tampa bay 22 get that ball get that ball yeah come on let's go all right uh cincinnati 32 tim of a 22 i'm sorry i'm sorry the whole world has got a very small window into what adam azar is like away from the podcast that

was outstanding joe mixon has a samaj ap ryan problem yes that believable did you see in the front at halft time of this game joe mixon had one carry uh-huh that's part of the reason why it's pretty believable i feel like they barely had the ball in the first i'm not sure but the good okay the good stuff is dave laid out right the good stuff is he was he was very much involved near the goal line he did have five catches i don't know that he has a that has a p ryan problem to the point where you can't start Joe Mixon. But, you know, if you're a loaded team playing in your fantasy semifinals,

then you might have some tough decisions. Believe it or not, Russell Gage is a number three wide receiver. No. Not ready to believe that. What if Julio's out again? Still not ready to believe that. He's the Bucs number three wide receiver.

Might even be their number two. He might be their number two. Do you have a preference of Tampa Bay running back, White or Fournette? I prefer to not start them, and most people who did probably won't have a choice to make next week. Well, they've got who next week?

They have a bye. They have the Cardinals 2023 uh four net played 57 of the snaps seven of nine inside the 10 yeah rashad white played 42 of the snaps most of the third down snaps ah giovanni bernard one percent of the snaps watch out do you giovanni bernard also responsible for um do you see him on their fake punt? One of their many turnovers in their own territory? They snapped it to him, and he had no idea that he was running a fake punt. No clue at all.

He did fall on the fumble, at least, but it didn't matter. Yeah, that was awful. That was so bad. Wow, you really had a treat watching that game, Heath. What's that? You had a treat watching that game. I am starting... Well, you know, I had the Bucs stack in the Scott Fish Bowl.

Brady, Evans, and Godwin. And so I was counting on those guys to carry me to victory. They did a fantastic job. I'm starting both White and Fournette next week, to answer your question. Okay. So I just want to be clear. I'm advancing in the Scott Fish Bowl, and... Oh, gosh.

I'm just kidding. That's correct. Last game, Chargers 17, Tennessee 14. Yeah, I don't know that I have one for this game. Okay. What did you guys talk about? I don't know that we did. We talked about Herbert being crap.

Derrick Henry, huge game for him, four catches. We could talk about Okonkwo maybe i mean does does he is he just dependent on trailing burks because he's you know he's getting you about he's getting you around 10 points i think he's the problem is that without trailing burks he is in that tasem hill juwan johnson low end starter range. I'm afraid with Traylon Burks, he falls into that Hayden Hurst touchdown dependent range. CJ Uzama, whoever else you want to say. CJ Uzama. Okay. Then let me give you a Mike Williams one. What's your level of confidence in Mike Williams? A massive game last week. Six catches, 116 yards and a touchdown.

Four catches for 67 yards on eight targets. A lot of it coming on the last drive of the game. Good for him, but he was pretty quiet most of the game. Next week, they're at the Colts. I don't know. Are the Chargers going to play scared again? Probably. I was having a conversation

with someone who's just a football fan and not a fantasy football fan. And they were talking about how boring Justin Herbert is. Oh, I don't really like Herbert as much as the other good quarterbacks. He's so boring.

And I said, just wait until he gets a new coach next year. No, he's not boring. But yeah, they're conservative for sure. Yeah. Yeah, I think, look, you're going to start Mike Williams.

OK, that's it, folks to start Mike Williams. Okay. That's it, folks. Thank you for... I'm sorry about the freakout. I really... That was unprofessional. But it's Week 15. We all enjoyed it. Okay.

I don't know if the Commanders fans did, but they'll probably win anyway. I mean, it stinks that the guy you're playing started Thibodeau, but... No, he didn't. Did he? Did he really? No way. I don't care.

I don't care. I'm fine with it. I'm fine with it. For David Heath and Thomas Schaefer, thanks everybody for watching and listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow at Beyond the Box for Authenticity Football.