Fantasy Football Today - Week 16 Recap: Winners, Losers, Injuries (12/24 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 25, 2023

To display your continued support of the show, please vote for Fantasy Football Today in the Sports Podcast Awards in the "Best Fantasy Betting and Gaming Podcast" Category https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/fantasy-betting-gaming-sports-podcast/ Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts Breece Hall may have helped carry you to the Fantasy Finals, but when it comes to Week 16 winners (2:15), Amari Cooper is the headliner! We've also got some losers (8:25) including Ken Walker and the news and notes (12:45) you need to know about ... We talk about early waiver wire options (16:25) and the MegaDuds (18:50) Stefon Diggs, De'Von Achane, Tony Pollard and more. Then we go over the top scorers at each position (25:05) with Joe Flacco, James Conner, George Pickens and Evan Engram discussed ... Recapping each game with our Fantasy thoughts (39:50) ... Email us at [e-mail] SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. What does possible sound like for your business? It's having to spend to power your agreement with iGaming Ontario. I started Raheem Mostert. I started ETN. I started DJ Moore. Well, I had a good year. All my best team, they all just took a big Christmas dump today. But anyway, just terrible.

Well, Merry Christmas, everybody. How are we doing? Hey, look at me. I'm going to sing. How are we doing, Dave and Jamie? Wonderful. Yeah, we're doing great. Christmas spirit is alive in all three of us, and hopefully to everybody watching and listening around the world. And hopefully everybody was a good boy or girl this year. And you got what you wanted, which is a ticket to the fantasy finals. Yeah.

Well, you know what? There's so much to still be determined, right? We have three big games coming up on Monday. So I'm sure a lot of people are in limbo right now. But if you're watching, thank you so much. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. If you're just listening, thank you for taking time out on your holiday to

listen to our show. We really appreciate it. We're going to start with our biggest winners. I also tried to write a night before Christmas poem, but only got six lines in. The dog doesn't want me to read it anyway. Maybe I'll... David has muted his...

See, Dave is usually at the office on Sundayay night but i needed to go late tonight because i was having a christmas party so dave and jamie are up late with me and i appreciate that anyway biggest winner well i'm just gonna give the biggest winner for for you know for everyone and it's amari cooper oh my gosh he was started in of leagues, which is a little wonky because, you know, a lot of people have been eliminated, but Amari Cooper has his fourth 200 yard game of the season. And it's 11. No, no,

no. That's career of his career. It's 11 catches too. Yeah. Well, you know what I did? I drank too much eggnog with some stuff in it. I erased, um, the most important document that I have.

And I put... Your marriage certificate? I put today's show notes on my week 16 document, which is a huge blunder on my part. Absolutely terrible. I lost 20 hours of work. So that really sucks. And I'm 20 hours of work. That really sucks. I'm freaking out right now.

I'm going to see how many times I can hit control Z to try to make everything come back. Anyway, Amari Cooper, guys, your thoughts on 265 yards, two touchdowns at Houston. We have a dog barking and you lost all of your notes. This is terrible. Oh, God. All right.

Merry Christmas, everybody. Yeah. I say we start the show over. Podcast of the year. Yo, enough wondering about what to do with Amari Cooper. He's certainly susceptible to having a bad game, but the way that Joe Flacco's throwing, the way that the Browns are leaning on him, and the way that joe flacco's throwing the way that the browns are

leaning on him and the way that he gets a lot of targets i think he's a slam dunk wide receiver too for the fantasy finals yeah absolutely and um it's going to be interesting to see what happens with him next year you know i think we always have to start at this point looking ahead to what 2024 looks like and can he do this with deshaun Watson? And will they allow him to do this with Deshaun Watson, mostly from Deshaun Watson standpoint? So I hope it's not a situation where as he's getting closer to 30 and the quarterback change impacts him in a negative way, but we'll probably overlook him again.

We'll probably rank him too low again, and we'll probably deliver another solid season. He's actually entering a contract here next year. And before we get on to next year, he does play the Jets next week. It doesn't matter. I tend to lean the same way. Yeah. I mean, it's really not the best

situation, but... You're not sitting him at this point. I think you'd have to be loaded at receiver to sit him. He'd have to have Dorian Thompson-Robinson as his quarterback to sit him. That's his kryptonite. All right, so who's the biggest non-Amari Cooper winner? I know who the biggest loser is. It's me.

It's obviously Brees Hall. Brees Hall? All right. Yeah, but we were starting Brees Hall anyway. I don't think there were many people that were like debating starting or sitting Brees Hall unless they were just like, again, loaded at that position.

I don't know. I got a lot of Brees Hall questions. I'm sure you guys did too. I got a few, but not, I don't know. Not enough. To your point earlier in the week,

Adam, you know, there are teams that are really loaded, you know, in 12 and 10 team league playoffs. And there are teams that had some issues. The teams that had issues were certainly not benching Brees. All the teams that were loaded might have. So, I mean, look, if we're going to put Amari Cooper at that level, we got to give Brees Hall his flowers for what he did. I mean, he was absolutely exceptional.

12 catches. You know, Dave and I had the conversation conversation and I know we were just debating players. It wasn't that Dave didn't like Brees Hall, but you know, you, the one, uh, critique you brought up was what he catch passes and Oh boy.

Oh yeah. Turns out he can and did. Yeah. And, and again, spinning it forward, this makes you feel really good about him as a potential top five overall pick next year.

You know, first round pick. I mean, um, Aaron Rogers and his list of demands about what he wants. Um, you feel really good about him as a potential top five overall pick next year. With Aaron Rodgers and his list of demands about what he wants, he doesn't want a new running back, but he certainly wants a better offensive line. That will allow Brees Hall to

fulfill his destiny, as we saw last year, as a potential league-winning running back week in, week out. Any hesitation with him, because it goes from at home against one of the worst defenses in football to on the road against one of the best defenses in football at Cleveland next week.

Again, not benching him. Certainly, you know, I have him in two leagues that looks like I'll advance in both and no chance on benching Bruce Hall. All right. And that's to,

to, to put it in perspective to two 10-team leagues where, one, I have McCaffrey, Kyron Williams, and Brees Hall. He'll be in my flex spot. And the other, he'll most likely be my number two running back, along with McCaffrey. Dave, you have a winner you want to give? I mean, it's got to be Gabe Davis. Everybody was starting him, waiting for this big, huge moment. And he came through.

And no, I'm not going to go with him. I kind of want to go to Stafford, and I know that he didn't play today. He played on Thursday, but another great game. His arm is sensational. He's got a great receiving core. I know Cup didn't come through, but it's a good offense, a healthy offensive line. And I think they're going to continue to be certainly willing to chuck it downfield.

I think that that's an important factor, that they're not going to get conservative just because it's late in the season. Obviously, they have a lot to play for. This is a team that nobody wants to play in the playoffs. They're getting hot. It was asked at the office today during the games. Zach Brooke asked it. Who's the team that could take down the 49ers in their first playoff game?

And I thought it would be the Rams. They always play them tough. Stafford's healthy, and he's playing well. And we talked about him a couple of weeks ago, and we said he was still out there in free agency a little bit. It was more in the shallow leagues. But we told people, pick him up because the schedule's going to be great. You can ride with him. He can be your starter. And that's where we are with him. free agency a little bit. It was more in the shallow leagues, but we told people pick them up because the schedule is going to be great.

You can ride with him. He can be your starter. And that's where we are with him. I mean, he was just as good as Justin Fields this week. He was better than a bunch of quarterbacks this week. I think that he's absolutely in line to be

pretty much a must-start fantasy quarterback. He's a winner. Stafford is at the Giants next week. And as of now, he is QB seven, I believe. Carr won. Flacco. Look at this. This is insane. Carr is QB

1. Flacco is tied with him. Jordan Love, Josh Allen, Bryce Young, Matthew Stafford. To be fair, Brock Purdy, Patrick Mahomes, Davido, Hurts, Jalen Hurts. They all play tomorrow. Aiden O'Connell.

Davido, yeahConnell I get it another big day for Flacco so that was pretty fun too biggest loser Jamie who you got for the biggest loser my star of the week Ken Walker he was terrible just a dud from the Seahawks for three and a half quarters

really of I don't know what the hell they were doing. Give the Titans credit for how they played them, but it felt like Seattle was not ready. And, you know, Adam, your question earlier in the week, West Coast team, East Coast time slot, you know, that might have something to do with it. Maybe.

Here we are again. But Seattle was bad. Ken Walker was bad. I was really hopeful when they got down inside the five, I think it was. Late in the game. And it was Zach Charbonnet as opposed. Ken Walker was bad. I was really hopeful when they got down inside the five, I think it was. Late in the game. And it was Zach Charbonnet as opposed to Ken Walker. I was like, I mean, come on, give me something.

But yeah, Walker was bad. So I haven't had a dud start the week like this in a long time. And this was frustrating to see. The role in the passing game, that must be a Drew Locke thing at this point. So two games with Drew Locke, he was great. Eight targets, seven catches. Geno's back, andke, he was great. Eight targets, seven catches. Gino's back, and you see the numbers here. One catch, two yards.

So frustrating for Ken Walker across the board. I was really upset to see him. I know what series you're talking about where Charbonnet was playing inside the 10. It was actually three of three snaps inside the five for Charbonnet. It felt like it was the first time this year where Walker wasn't even getting like a sniff near the goal line. Like I talked about it when we talked about Walker this week, just, you know, consistently this year

when he's been healthy, he's been their guy inside of the 10-yard line and five touchdowns from down there. I was hoping for that. I was hoping for a couple of breakaway runs. I think you're right. You want to give credit to the Titans defense for for stepping up they were missing so many starters and we just kind of wrote off all these guys i think otis reese i think his last name is

was was this awesome linebacker for them it stinks he got the work at least he got the carries i don't know if he got the catches but a dud for sure. Now people are going to question... There's going to be questions all around with Kenneth Walker. Well, I just got to say, because you're talking about late in the game when they got inside the five-yard line, he will pretty much never play in the two-minute drill. I mean, that's just...

Sure, but this is late in the game. If he's their best running back, that's an intuition. You can put him in there. At that point in the game, they were trying to slow down the game and run down the clock. And I thought, yeah, because they didn't want to give the Titans a chance to get the ball back. Sure.

They had a score, but they didn't want to give the Titans a chance to get the ball back. So the fact that they ran the ball twice tells you that was their plan. And so you would think, okay, you could have easily brought a different package in and let Walker be on the field. Do you think the Steelers' run defense solved itself this week? No. No.

No, but they lost another linebacker, too. They did. They lost Landon Roberts. So we'll see how that goes. But Walker's got the Steelers in Week 17 at home. Who's your biggest loser? I'm going to go with Sam Laporta. Must start tight end.

Fantasy managers were counting on him. We saw the Lions put up 30 points on the Vikings. That's a good defense that they racked up numbers against. Not only did Laporta have a bad game, he only had three targets. So that's someone that's really going to make fantasy managers frustrated. Not the type of game that we wanted to see. Not the type of game we've really ever seen or rarely seen from Sam LaPorte. Although I do think it's two of his last three.

He's kind of underwhelmed a little bit. I don't know if I'm ready to question him and take him out of my fantasy lineup in the championship. I think so. He's taking on Dallas next week. And I kind of think that's a game the Lions can win. I'm really looking forward to that game. Me too.

I'll just say ETN, but we'll get to him in a second. We have Mega Duds. It's a bad day for the Jacksonville Jaguars for sure. We'll tell you about the injuries as well. Please vote for us. Go to sportspodcast the injuries as well. Please vote for us. Go to sportspodcastawards.com. Click on Vote Now.

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You just go there. It's, again, sportspodcastawards.com. Click vote now. And then the Best Fantasy Betting and Gaming Podcast. There it is. Vote for fantasy football today, and we'll be your best friend. It'll be a nice Christmas gift for us. Trevor Lawrence left with a shoulder injury.

He will not practice on Thursday or Friday, and then he will play. He never misses a game. But, yeah, he left with a shoulder injury. He played horribly in this game. Yes, he did. His line did not do a good job protecting him. They were getting destroyed when he left.

Yep. Yeah, it could have been that for sure. Jacoby Brissett replaced Sam Howell again. Did any word on... I'm sure he was asked about it. Ron Rivera was noncommittal, but how do you go back Sam Howell again. Did any word on... I'm sure he was asked about it. Ron Rivera was noncommittal, but how do you go back to Howell at this point? Yeah.

And Jalen... And Brissett's been good two games in a row, but he gets San Francisco this week. Jalen Waddell left with a shin injury. Jordan Addison left with an ankle injury. DJ Moore left on the first play, basically, or the first series, at least for the Bears. Then he did come back in the game. He had a terrible game. Do we have a snap count on DJ Moore? I'll get you one. He was in and

out when I was watching in the second half. Don Tavian Wicks, he got you what you needed. He had a good game. Well, he scored and then he left with a chest injury. TJ Hawkinson left with a knee injury and Cole commit left with a knee injury. Right. Hawkinson was ruled out pretty quickly. That's not a good sign. DJ more 50 of 67 snaps played. Oh,

okay. A lot of snaps ran a lot of routes. Well, I'll be able to check the phone to see if he was slower than usual. And also for the Vikings, edge rusher DJ Wanham and cornerback Mekhi Blackman left. So not only did they lose a really important game

and came down to the wire, it was a tough game. Sorry, Shaver, but it was a tough, a lot of injuries as well for the- Yeah, and they didn't have Murphy at cornerback coming into the game. So definitely a softened up

Vikings defense right now. I did see two Falcons offensive linemen left with injuries. Yep, Matthews left with an injury. And Lindstrom was evaluated for a concussion. So don't know their status. But next week they get the Bears.

So tough run defense. You're going to want those linemen back for the Atlanta Falcons. Pittsburgh linebacker Landon Roberts left with an injury. I spent all week talking about how that Texans pass defense was so much better with Jimmy Ward. He left with a concussion in the first quarter.

I don't know if he came back. I don't think he did. I don't believe he did either. You know, like, oh, there's so much better this and that. And then he barely played. All right, let's take a break. We'll come back and we'll talk about the mega duds. If you're still competing into week 17, not 18,

we'll give you some early waiver wire pickups and we'll be right 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. All right, everybody, welcome back here. And early waiver wire. Look, it's obviously you're competing against one other person. So not so urgent to talk about this now, but does anybody come to mind for the waiver wire? Khalil Herbert.

Yeah, Khalil Herbert, wow. That was, man, really thought it was going to be Roshan. He does have the Falcons next week. Doesn't matter if there's no Deontay Foreman, he's a borderline starter. Okay. I'm just laying out the tough Falcons run defense. They finally got punched for some touchdowns today,

by the way, Jonathan Taylor had one. Yeah. Just one, right? Just one. Took him three tries from the one yard line. And theans finally gave

up a touchdown to a titan oh how about that as the streets broken and colby parkinson uh i don't know about um cedric wilson he was out if waddle's out against baltimore nobody's starting yeah i don't like his chances there durham smith also had a good game but again nobody's starting him. Yeah, I don't like his chances there. Durham Smythe also had a good game, but again, nobody's going to start him. Okay, well, this is basically it for the early waiver wire. Michael Wilson, potentially, if Marquise Brown doesn't play, they get the Eagles. Yeah, what about quarterbacks? Are you going to trust Flacco against the Jets on Thursday?

It's a revenge game. If you're at that point where you're still streaming quarterbacks, yes, you're going to trust Flacco. Like, I would trust him more than Mason Rudolph. I would trust him more than Jacoby Brissett. I would trust him more than C.J. Beathard. You know, any of these guys. Sure, but take it a step forward.

Like, you're going to start him over Mullins. That's fine. What about Browning? I would start him over Browning and let's chase plays. Browning's at Kansas City. I like Geno Smith. I mean, Geno Smith's 78% rostered.

He gets Pittsburgh. Yeah, but I mean, this should have been a layup game tonight, too. Well, yeah. What did he get? 21? 21 points. And look, it wasn't pretty. It was not pretty.

Got better in the second half for Geno Smith, but he ended up with 21 points. And look, it wasn't pretty. It was not pretty, uh, you know, got better in the second half for Gino Smith, but he ended up with 21 points. And I will say this, you know, we, we spent a lot of time first. We got to see him make a Fitzpatrick's back.

I think the Steelers may have found something with Patrick Peterson at safety. Yeah. That was a surprise, a minor surprise that they actually played there against the Colts when everybody left. Sure. Well,

I'm surprised that they, they let them start there and play there again, and then they opened up their other cornerback spot to Levi Wallace. But it was good. It worked out for them. All right. All right. Well, that's an early look at the waiver wire.

Let's talk about some of the mega duds. Ugh. What is going on? What is going on with Stefan Diggs? Five catches for 29 yards on eight targets at the Chargers. I've run out of excuses. It gets New England next week. Jamie, what do you think is the deal with

Stefan Diggs, and is he still a starter? Against New England, yes, he's still a starter. He's just not a top 15 wide receiver. We'll see what happens with Michael Pittman. Is he able to return? We'll see what Jalen Waddell's status is. We'll see what happens with Michael Pittman. Is he able to return? We'll see what Jalen Waddell's status is. We'll see what Jamar Chase's status is. But if you

advance with Diggs, depends on who else you have. Rashi Rice is easy. DK Metcalf is easy. Nico Collins, I think you've got to go back to him at this point. He played well today. Obviously, Mark Cooper. Any of these guys that are playing at a high level

despite a tough matchup, you start them over Diggs. I'm just trying to think where I'll rank him. Probably somewhere around 20. Stat without context. He's had a 38% target share each of the last two games. Yeah, that's crazy. Well, now do you want the context?

Yeah. Josh allen threw 15 passes two games ago and 21 passes against the chargers so if josh allen's volume is going down it's not really that great to have a 38 target share because it's still you know decent targets but not like 10 12 and it's a lot of short stuff. It looks like it feels like short stuff for him. I do think that Josh Allen will have to throw more against New England. Just hunch that the Patriots run defensively.

You also got to wonder where they're at with James Cook, too, after the fumble. They didn't throw to him at all, which was so weird because it's been working so well. Even still, you would expect more than 29 yards on eight targets for Stefan Diggs. Of course. Last week, 48. I mean, 48 yards on four catches.

That's not bad. Four for 48 on five targets is not bad. That's 12 yards per catch. You expect more than that from Stefan Diggs. Yeah, but it's not bad. But, you know, this was just a bad game for him. Definitely better than 5.8. This was the layup. No weather concerns. Terrible defense.

They're very conservative now. It's working for them. He only ran 18 routes. Am I really reading this right? I kept seeing him come off the field too. Not like a ton but I don't know. Travis Etienne. Six carries for 12 yards. Yeah. Not like a ton, but I don't know. It's ugh.

Okay, Travis Etienne. Six carries for 12 yards, three catches for 19 yards at Tampa Bay. And a bunch of times I'm just sitting there watching going, where is he? Why is he not in the game? Hang on. Can we go back to Diggs for a second? Yeah.

Just on a lark, I happened to watch his first catch. Do you remember his first catch against the Chargers? No. It's a little screen pass, a little short pass. He catches it, and it looks like something happened with his neck. Like he laid there for a few seconds after the play. And maybe his heart. He might have gotten hurt on that play.

And that might explain his snaps. But he still had a ton of targets. I'm sorry. Sorry for that. Yeah, no. Some people are saying James Cook is a dud. I've seen that. Look, Cook got 20 carries. I know

it was disappointing. I know he didn't catch a pass, but he had such a great role. At least you got those carries. With ETN, you got nine touches in this game. He'll bounce back next week. Next week is Carolina, right? Carolina. Hopefully. Hopefully he does. All right, right fine Sam Laporta we already

talked about and how about Devon HN that was my next mega dud HN and Pollard in the same game they both scored about four fantasy points in full PPR I think Pollard was five point three HN was four point one most or I don't know I don't have

the snap count day but most or was it now he got hurt he wasn't playing toward the end Jeff Wilson was playing toward the end so Chan was 4.1. Mostert, I don't have the snap count, Dave, but Mostert was in and out. He got hurt. He wasn't playing toward the end. Jeff Wilson was playing toward the end. So this was a big opportunity for A. Chan, and he did not take advantage of it, and neither did Pollard, really, with 13 touches at Miami.

And Pollard played 70% of the snaps, dominated third downs, had a majority inside the five, just could not get going. The Dolphins run defense is pretty good as it turns out. Slash Pollard isn't that good. Well, yeah, I don't know if there's much to say. They stopped throwing to him, which is weird.

They were doing such a great job with it. A-Chain or Pollard? Or Cook? Pollard. All three of them, right? A-Chain had only three targets. All three of them. I mean, A all three of them i mean h and how many targets did h and end up with it wasn't that many three one catch for seven yards on three

targets yeah it's strange and definitely like i think he got a little lucky if you started raheem mostert he scored the touchdown he played only nine snaps after the first quarter nine of 51 snaps well i mean I mean, he got hurt. Yeah, that's why. You know, it's, you wonder, you mentioned, Adam, at the end of the game,

their most important clock-killing drive to set up the field goal was all Jeff Wilson. Yeah. Yeah. Fresh. Well, that's right. And that's really the question

with A-Chan is there, as we have one game left in the season, is there any way he's really getting a huge workload? It doesn't really seem. And it's Baltimore next week.

Unless Mostert's out. You know, like we come into the week and, you know, Mostert. Did they ever say what the injury was? I don't think we ever got a report with the injury. It looked like it was something lower. It was lower leg. Yeah. Ankle or calf.

Right. Did he sprain his ankle and then it flared up and it got worse? Did he, you know, tweak the calf andared up and it got worse? Did he tweak the calf and issue? He could be out there. I don't know. But if it's his knee and something, so

if he's out, then it's hard to get away from A-chan. Yeah, but would you consider Wilson ahead of A-chan? Not unless there was something seriously wrong with HN. Okay. But would you consider Wilson if you're desperate for a running back? Maybe.

But that's, you know, back to your waiver wire segment. That's another guy to keep an eye on. Definitely. All right, let's take a look at the leaderboard here. Usually we do our winners and losers, but why don't we take a look at the leaders for Fantasy Week 16. We'll look at the top five in each position. We'll start with Derek Carr and Joe Flacco.

They threw 40 to 42 times, well over 300 yards. Three touchdowns for both of them. I mean, that's the thing, Dave. It's 40-plus pass attempts every game for Flacco. And this was, for the most part, it was a blowout win. He left the game. Yeah, he left the game and had to come back in. Jordan Love with one of the best games

all year against Carolina for any quarterback. Josh Allen, and then there's Bryce Young and Matthew Stafford, and Justin Fields actually was there as well with 25. But certainly Carr, Flacco, Love, they really stand out here.

Carr had to throw a lot in the game against the Rams. That's what a lot of quarterbacks do against the Rams, at least in the last month and change. Against Tampa Bay, he'll probably do the exact same thing. Good matchup for Carr. Absolutely someone that you could put into that consideration as a low-end QB1. Michael Thomas may

return. Yeah, that would help. That's definitely possible. Just something to keep an eye on there. And then the nice thing is though, we've, we spent a couple of weeks talking about this, what his production has been with Taysom Hills role reduced. I think that's the biggest thing for Derek Carr. It's like not coming off the field as much,

getting more short area opportunities near the goal line. And look, Chris Olave played through apparently a bad ankle injury. He said that to at least one member of the media that it was, it was tough for him. So hopefully the extra rest will help him. But Tampa Bay is rolling right now. It's a huge game for both these teams. And you hope that Derek Carr comes to play.

All right, we'll take a look at the top running backs from Fantasy Week 16. I know Brees Hall is going to be at the top of that list. And let's see who joins him. Brees Hall with 42 points. Jameer Gibbs with 24 points. I mean, what a gap between one and two. Derrick Henry, 22 points. James Conner, 21. And Bijan Robinson had 19.

So I didn't lose the bet by that much. I got a top five running back out of that, Jamie. It's true. Hey, listen, that's a win. Both guys were good for people who started them. Bijan should have had a better day. He had an easy touchdown, just couldn't figure out how to get his feet in bounds.

Yeah. So I took a little bit of heat on Twitter because I thought that was mostly on Heineke. It was a terrible throw. It was late. It was slow, loopy, and it was behind him. He could have done a little bit better job with his feet, but even the broadcasters said it was on Heineke.

At least they said, wasn't that throw a little late? And they said, yeah. But he was wide open. He's got to anticipate that route a little bit, not just wait for him to be open and then throw it. That was bad. But yes, he should have had a touchdown catch. He had seven catches.

I think he led the team in receiving B. John Robinson. But yeah, I don't know. Does anything stand out here, Jamie? Hall, Gibbs, Derrick Henry, James. Yeah, I don't know. Does anything stand out here, Jamie? Hall, Gibbs, Derrick Henry, James Conner. I mean, sorry, five catches, 67 yards. Yeah, he's involved in the passing game. We haven't seen that. That was nice to see. His rushing production was fine. That was my

concern if he didn't get a rushing touchdown. I think his first receiving touchdown in the season. I don't want to say he got lucky because he's been productive for the last two weeks, but he got a little lucky with how it got done. So yeah, so Connor was a very solid number two running back this week. Connor got off to a great start running the football in the second half. He started to get grinded down a little bit more.

You got very lucky with Connor because the touchdown came from 16 yards out. You don't see that very much. The Cardinals had no snaps inside the 10 against Chicago. So any of those possibilities of him getting a short yardage touchdown wouldn't have happened. Otherwise you needed that catch and touchdown for James Connor. I'm just happy that he led the team in catches or not led the team in catches.

He'd let the team actually in receiving yards, 67 yards on five catches. I think that that's important because one of the narratives coming into this week was, well, he's not doing anything with the catches that he gets. He did a little bit with it, but nothing like this. This was a good opportunity for him to show that he can still make plays through the air.

Yeah, and the game I watched the most of was Lions-Vikings. I had that on the whole time. It was a really fun game. I know Montgomery actually had two more carries than Gibbs, but it really felt different today. It really felt like... Oh, the goal line opportunities were all there for Gibbs.

Well, at the beginning of the game, it was Montgomery. But then just at the end of the game, it was Gibbs. Not just there, but just in general. And he was so good. He was just in the freaking zone. And the fact that he fumbled, too, that they stuck with him. Yeah. So, you know, obviously obviously he's a must-start guy but it's a possibility that he that he can get 15 plus carries on a weekly basis and that would just be huge in your fantasy championship because he'll do so much with sure yeah i mean that's like the one thing that's been missing with gibbs is

that surefire workload that it kind of wanes a little bit, but his playing time had been ahead of Montgomery's for the majority of the last few weeks. I want to say like three of the last four. Yeah. Yeah. That's fair. Since Montgomery came back and they each had three snaps inside the five,

there were six snaps inside the five Gibbs had three Montgomery had three, you know, Montgomery scored on one touchdown. It's it's it's Gibbs all the way. He's clearly their better back. They understand that now. No doubt about it. Top 10, if not top six, five, if

Mostert's hurt. Fantasy running back for week 17. I'd take him over Mostert even if he's healthy. I'm going to share a screen. It almost doesn't matter with gibbs you're right montgomery's the one you got to be nervous about let's share a screen here and let's take a look at this poll who would you rather have in dynasty bijan robinson or jameer gibbs and i put

this out during the games today and of course jameer gibbs 64 of the, Jameer Gibbs, 882 votes. But it's funny because I was thinking about that today. You know, there was a small faction of draft analysts that liked Jameer Gibbs more than B. John Robinson and people that I respected. And it made me convince me to draft Gibbs in the third round. I don't think it's so crazy. I mean, he really looks that good. He looks like a superstar. I don't think it's so crazy. I mean, he really looks that good. He looks like a superstar. I don't think it's that crazy.

Who would you guys rather have in Dynasty, Bijan Robinson or Jameer Gibbs? I want to see who the new coach and quarterback is in Atlanta because I think that matters tremendously. If they get a better play caller, that will allow Bijan to be Bijan as opposed to,

hey, let's give Tyler Algier too many touches or let's force Cordero Patterson on the field or, hey, I just don't feel like playing Bijan to be Bijan as opposed to hey, let's give Tyler Algier too many touches or let's force Cordero Patterson on the field or hey, I just don't feel like playing Bijan right now. So right now it feels like it's easy to say gives and not prisoner of the moment type thing because Bijan's

obviously coming off a good game. But I hear it every week because Rick Spielman and Pete Prisco, I watch games with them all the time. And Pete yells at Rick, you know I like Gibbs better than Bijan last year. And you said generational running back, blah, blah, blah. So they get into it. It's like Statler and Waldorf.

But I mean, it's a great debate. It really is. But Gibbs with Ben Johnson and B. John with Arthur Smith feels like B. John's at a disadvantage. And so that's another point. Who's going to call the plays for Detroit next year? Will it be as seamless as we're hoping that it will be and that Gibbs continues to dominate playing time? And I think that issue, that ship sailed.

Gibbs is going to be the main running back as long as he's healthy. Hopefully the offensive line stays a strong point for Detroit, but it will be another year older. We don't know who the play caller is going to be. I think it's, here's where I would come out on it. If you had Gibbs in Dynasty, there's no way you would give him up for Bijan straight up. And if you had Bijan in Dynasty,

I bet there's a decent percentage of people that would take Gibbs. And so I don't want to do the prisoner of the moment thing either, but if it's Arthur Smith for another year in Atlanta, I think you got to go Gibbs. Okay. Let's take a look at the top wide receivers from fantasy week 16. Guess who's number one. Amari Cooper's number one.

Guess who's number two. Amari Cooper's number one. Guess who's number two? Mike Evans. No. He didn't play today. Oh, George Pickens. Oh, yeah, Pickens. George Pickens. Four catches, 195 yards, two touchdowns.

Puka Nakua is number three. Amonra St. Brown, four. And then we have Mike Evans, Calvin Ridley, and DJ Chark all tied in non-decimal scoring. They're all better than T. Higgins, too? So is Justin Jefferson. So basically, Ridley, Evans, and Chark scored 27 points. Jefferson scored 26.

This is all non-decimal. And Higgins scored 25 in PPR. I want to just give Justin Jefferson some credit. There was a two-play sequence in that game where if anybody questioned, would he come back from the hamstring and how much did it matter to him, contract, all that stuff, Nick Mullins fumbled.

And Justin Jefferson came out of nowhere from running his route to behind the line of scrimmage to recover the fumble. On the next play, Nick Mullins threw a hospital ball that would have killed Justin, should have killed Justin Jefferson. He goes up, he high points the football and takes a shot in his lower back to get a first.

And I think it was third and 19 or something. Yes, it was. Yes. That play, that sequence was just unbelievable for what a superstar. And, and, you know, the whole George Pickens narrative of not blocking and the way that he performed, and kudos to him for responding, that's the way a superstar plays football and a team leader plays football.

Thomas, as a Vikings fan, you should be proud. Is he 101 as we sit here right now next year? Assuming Cousins is back at 100%, it's hard to say no knowing that McCaffrey's going to be 28. I'm going to go back to Justin Jefferson. I'm not ready to go back to him

yet. I might, but Tyreek Hill is making a pretty compelling case to be the 101 himself, and McCaffrey's going to be in the conversation. That's probably your top three. I wonder, I don't, I don't want the one-on-one though.

Yeah. Right. No, it's the curse. It's the curse. Calvin Ridley is, uh, yeah.

Well, I was so relieved that I got this one, right. Cause I was very emphatic about it this morning and he had six catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns. It was not easy for Calvin Ridley. It was all in the second half. This is what he does.

It was the epitome of garbage time. Yeah, but still, you know, he took advantage of the matchup. He always does that. Next week is Carolina. That's going to be a lot more interesting. Okay. All right. Let's go to the tight ends here. I actually have no idea who that is. Colt Komet will be on here.

Let's see. The best tight ends. Okonkwo. Okonkwo won. Ingram. Njoku. Oh, Comet's. Yeah, he's tied. All right.

Okonkwo. Ingram. Njoku. Dalton Schultz. With 14 points. Eight catches. Joke got hurt in that game, right? Juwan Johnson had 14 points.

Juwan Johnson. Yeah, he's there too. Did Schultz get hurt? Logan Thomas caught a touchdown. Logan Thomas is tied with Cole Komet. So there's four guys tied with 14. Schultz, Juwan Johnson, Cole Komet, Logan Thomas. But the top three performers are Chigo Conquo,

who caught a touchdown pass from Derek Henry, Evan Ingram, and David Njoku. Njoku, by the way, kudos to him for laughing at himself for his terrible situation that happened to him and David Njoku. Njoku, by the way, kudos to him for laughing at himself for his terrible situation that happened to him a few weeks ago when he caught on fire. Brown sent out like a Christmas card type thing

on Instagram and they have him standing near the fireplace. He commented on it. He goes, did you guys really have to put me near the fire? Wow. Good for him having a sense of humor about it. Yeah.

This is a somewhat boring list, I guess, but it was just weird that Cole Komet got all of the production and DJ Moore got nothing. Well, he caught a couple of deep balls. Yeah, there's only five targets. Which is kind of out of character for Cole Komet, but still, he could have had an even bigger game

if he had just stayed healthy. But he took some shots and had to leave early. And let's not forget who's playing tomorrow, too. Of course. You've got Likely, you've got Kittle, you've got Waller, Goddard. You've got...

Yeah, I guess. Does he still count? Does he matter? Is he good? Well, that game doesn't matter. Michael Mayer's out. Okay, let's take a break and we'll go over all the games. Let me do it. Do I have any almost touchdowns? Deontay Johnson was wide open for a long touchdown. Mason Rudolph missed him.

By the way, did you guys think that it was poetic at all that Mason Rudolph... All right. Let's see who starts next week for them. That's a big story. Oh, pick it.

If he's healthy, you got to go back to pick it. I feel like it wasn't doing that badly. It's so much easier to start Rudolph. And if he stinks, you bring picking it. It's kind of telling if they go with Rudolph over Pickett, though. But you give him another week to get healthy. Well, but then your playoff hopes are still on the line. Okay, and who won the game for them to get them to the playoffs?

Sure, Rudolph did that, but if Pickett's healthy and they start Rudolph, I think that's telling. I'm starting Rudolph. I think they should. I just don't know if they will. I just think that it really was all about it being Christmas time, but fine. So we'll take a break and come back with our thoughts on all of the games from the weekend. We'll be right back on Fantasy.

It's still Christmas time. I think there maybe could be a New Year's pun that I'm working on here with Kenny Pickett. You can work on it. Okay, I will. Maybe something about a ball dropping. Do any of them drop a lot of passes? I don't know. All right, we'll be right back on Fantasy Football.

There's a lot of jokes that could be said right now. Buffalo 24 and the Chargers 22. And I think we'll just kind of, you know, well... You dropped the ball on that joke. Yeah. So what do you guys, are you worried about James Cook next week? He had 20 carries for 70 yards, and he gets the Patriots. Again, not enough to bench him outright,

but depends on who else you have on your team. Does he make your top 12? Probably not. Depends on injuries. I tend to agree. Can't start Dalton Kincaid anymore, right? No. No.

All right, what'd you think about Eckler? That was an encouraging game. Wasn't great, but best he's looked, you know, in a while. Maybe, well, he probably looked good against Denver, but... He definitely performed well against Denver. So, back to him. Alright, perfect. Josh Palmer beat the waiver wire.

48% rostered. Against Denver? Yeah. Not low enough. Pittsburgh 34, Cincinnati 11. Oh, what's Romeo Dodd's roster percentage? 70s, I think.

Yeah. 81. Yep. What game are we on? Pittsburgh? Cincinnati-Pittsburgh. Yeah. Well, we saw what happens to the running backs here for the Bengals

when they have the bad game streams. They really want to run the ball, but they couldn't. 11 carries for Mixon. I don't know. Any major takeaways from this game, guys? I mean, I thought the running back usage was weird. Only six targets to the running backs. Last week, it just –

why didn't they try and replicate what the Colts did? Maybe they just fell behind too far, too fast, where they couldn't give enough work to mix in and chase Brown. But I would have tried to have gotten them going a little bit more in the passing game. That's where they've made plays. It's where Browning has been making plays. And I felt like they just kind of asked Browning to make too many big plays for them. They made the one to T H Higgins. But it was a little strange that they didn't use their running backs more. I wonder if they try and go back to that.

Well, again, sort of the prevailing theory typically is when a backup quarterback hits their wall, they really fall off. Two or three games into it is typically when you see a solid Josh Dobbs, for example. It can look good for a couple games, and then reality sets in why they're backups and why they're journeymen. And yet you're the guy that's calling for Mason Rudolph

next week. I'm calling for Mason Rudolph over Kenny Pickett, and I'm not saying to start Mason Rudolph as a fantasy option. I know, but reality's going to hit Mason Rudolph at some point. That's very true. It might, but I think for right now I would, I would ride the hot hand.

Just like you got two good games out of Jake Browning after a dud. So I think for, for what you're looking at, we'll see what the chiefs off of this game Monday, but it's hard to say the, again, mix-ins in that James Cook, Travis ETN canoe of you're still of you're still probably starting him.

But yeah, they should probably get back to what they were doing with the running backs in the passing game. Certainly give Chase Brown some more looks, too. He's much more explosive. But the flip side to it, especially with this matchup coming up, is that their defense is terrible right now. I mean, losing D.J. Reeder, you saw Najee have a big game. So I would imagine that the Kansas City Chiefs will almost have a similar game script to what the Steelers had. And so I don't know if I can feel really good about mixing next week. I think it's easy to start James Cook over mixing, for example.

Yeah, no, I would too. I don't disagree with that. But again, you know, remember we wrote off mixing in the first game with Jake Browning, and then he came back and scored, I think, two touchdowns in that game if I'm not mistaken. Well, I'll tell you who I'll start over Mixon next week is Isaiah Pacheco against the Bengals. Cleveland... I mean, I think everybody

was there on that one. Yeah, I'm just saying, he'd be a great guy to have next week. Cleveland 36 and Houston 22. So, Jerome Ford finds the end zone. Kareem Hunt also scored a touchdown, but they did not have much of a running game.

All right. Devin Singletary. How about Jerome Ford scoring and not even getting 10 PBR points? Yeah. This is a bad game script for Singletary. You know, I mean, they were getting blasted,

but next week they'll get Tennessee. Good chance. They'll have Stroud back. So, you know, we could see just a better offensive performance, obviously. But you think Singletary cracks the top 20 next week? He'll be close to top 20. Almost certainly would be top 24.

He just tore apart this team two weeks ago. Absolutely, he'll be top 20. Yeah, and listen, he had a long play called back by a penalty. So, still has been very involved. Dario Gumbawale had a snap share that was pretty close to Devin Singletary's. He dominated fourth quarter snaps. So just kind of a game script thing for Singletary where they rested him and he didn't play as much as he did the week prior, for example.

I think Devin Singletary is absolutely in play. Having Stroud back helps a lot too. Okay. How about Detroit 30 and Minnesota 24? The Lions, I mean, let me just, you know, not a fantasy stat here, but the Lions ran 26 more plays than the Vikings, and they were outgained by one yard. Their defense is just not good enough.

I mean, it's awful. Maybe they get C.J. Gardner-Johnson back and get a little healthier. Sure. That'll help. 51 plays,

7.6 yards per play for Minnesota, 5.1 for Detroit. Detroit gets a six-point win. And that was with Detroit losing Hawkinson and losing Addison. I mean,

Minnesota lost both. Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, but Addison happened in the first half, Hawkinson in the lost both. Yeah, I know, right? It's crazy. Yeah, but Addison happened in the first half, Hockinson in the fourth quarter. Yeah. I think fourth quarter.

Second half, for sure. Third quarter, I'm pretty sure. Was it in the third? Pretty sure. Anywho, yeah, you know, I don't know how you guys felt. I thought Goff played really well, but he only scored 16 points.

I don't know what that means for you next week at Dallas, but, you know, he was nice and efficient. I'd still start him. I mean, that game has shootout written all over it. But this game had shootout written all over it, and he only had the one touchdown. And you can run into the same situation where the running backs do a bulk of the scoring,

which is always an issue with Detroit. Always, yep. And it's kind of been the problem for Goff on the road. Remember, he's had some good games where he's performed. Go back to week one. He played really well against the Chiefs. Didn't have a big fantasy day. He had a game like this.

Happens to him a lot throughout the course of the season. But, you know, again, I think you see what Dallas' defense is looking like right now. They're certainly better at home. You can run on them, especially if Hankins isn't there. So take that into account. But I'm not getting, like, I'm hoping my father-son league with my oldest son, them, especially if Hankins isn't there. Take that into account. I'm hoping my father-son league with my oldest son, we have

Goff as our quarterback. If we advance, I'm not dropping him for somebody else. Would you start Flacco over Goff? I think if it was an easier matchup for Flacco, I would. Yeah, I agree, but not next week. How about Stafford at the Giants? If we can get Stafford, I would start Stafford. Yes.

Right, not a waiver wire thing, but just... No, just if these are your quarterbacks, this is who you go with. Obviously, Alexander Madison was not really healthy enough. He had two carries. Hopefully, they give Chandler

a little bit of a reprieve here because eight carries for 17 yards. He did score, but, you know, didn't have a match. Great matchup next week, too. Yeah, unless Hankins comes back, but sure.

No, no, no. Chandler gets to Packers. Oh, I'm sorry, Packers. Sorry. Went to the wrong team there. Yeah. Did you cover your document, by the way? No. No. But I do email you all of the notes.

I think that's all in my email. I send you the notes. Jamie, you send them back to me? All those email notes I sent? I got to go through my trash file. I do all my game previews. I send you the notes, thank goodness. And I'll be able to retrieve them from there.

But that was a skit. All of my work for week 17 will be based off the week 16 document, and I erased the entire thing an hour ago. So that was really... Okay, so we're going to sit you in our computer function league. I mean, I just had too many documents open and I copied and pasted into the wrong one.

Okay, nobody cares. Hey, what do you do with KJ Osborne if there's no Addison and no Hawkinson? That's a great... Because that could be the number one waiver claim. Could be. Absolutely. Against Green Bay.

Yeah. I mean, we fell for this with Jefferson when he got hurt. But that was Addison and Hawkinson were healthy. It was when Addison and Hawkinson were healthy. So you got to see who's back if both are out. So it's not a bad idea to pick them up, clearly. But, you know, we got we get to, we got a game Thursday, we got a game Saturday and everybody else plays Sunday. So if we don't know by Thursday,

maybe you're playing Osborne. If we don't know by Saturday, maybe you're playing Osborne. We haven't answered by Sunday. Then he'll be in the number three receiver conversation. I mean, he had two good catches and they were like on back-to-back plays. They were exactly back to back. Yeah. So I don't know what you can count on moving forward. It's a messy situation, right? It's a bad quarterback, good matchup, should have good opportunities. Low-end wide receiver three, low-end flex.

I mean, Brandon Powell makes some plays too. They'll use... Yeah, but he's like eight PPR points. I'm not excited about Brandon Powell. Green Bay 33, excuse me, and Carolina 30. You know, what do you think about the, what do you think about Aaron Jones, I guess? Jordan Love, big winner. The fact that he did it

against his team was great. It was great. Absolutely. Three total touchdowns. Didn't have to throw a lot. He followed the same trend that most quarterbacks do against Carolina. Three of his top four receivers for a good portion of the game. Kind of took a step forward again. This is the type of thing you want to see is your quarterback making plays and doing well without his best receivers there. He did that.

The fact that they almost blew this game, though. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. I thought that the game would be close. I thought it would actually be low scoring. I picked the Panthers to cover. It was five and a half that we picked it at. And as the game was was on phone i'm like oh my god what an awful call i made um the fact that give bryce young some credit this was his best game by far he threw the ball really well

i think the fourth quarter is worth a review i think that he made some great throws downfield charke obviously camped out under them for a couple of big touchdowns i don't mean to say that like they were bad throws they were a great sideline Great sideline catch. Yeah, he did. Yeah. Chark had some great plays down the line here. He's somebody that you could potentially look at. He had eight targets, six catches, almost a hundred yards,

two touchdowns. Yeah. And I'm not starting. This was Green Bay with Jair Alexander at corner. That's true. And Jair Alexander botched the opening coin toss. I don't know if you guys saw that. He,

he went out. How do you botch a coin toss? Well, you have to say, did he go scissors? in coin toss. I don't know if you guys saw that. How do you botch a coin toss? Did he go, scissors? If you win the coin toss, you can either receive or you can defer. But he said, we want the ball

in the second half, I think he said, or we want to kick off or something like that. But if you don't defer, then you give the other team the choice in the second half. So if you say we want to kick off, you're going to kick off in the first half and you're going to end up kicking off in the second half

because the other team has the choice in the second half. They actually do. I didn't know that was a thing. Interesting. So you have to say defer. So he went out there and he screwed it up, but the official was like, you mean defer, right? And then he corrected him,

basically. He almost cost them a position. So basically, the official is the equivalent to you as a fantasy commissioner. What did I do? You allow people to correct their mistakes. Yes, yes. So the same guy who guaranteed that the team would win out

and then lost to the Giants also screwed up the kickoff. Yeah, it was his first game back, and he went out there. And I think the way I read it from the ESPN story was that he's not even one of the captains. I don't think he was supposed to be out there. He went out there, and he nearly cost them a possession, but he did not. So Aaron Jones looked good by the way,

21 carries 127 yards. But let me, let me just draw this parallel, right? So Aaron Jones did great against Carolina. The same way Ty Chandler looked great against Cincinnati. The following week Chandler plays a good run defense in the Lions. Next week for Aaron Jones, he plays

the Vikings, a much better run defense than the Panthers. It was a really bad year for Aaron Jones going into this game. The metrics were just terrible. We're going to fall into a trap next week with him. I think you have to start him as a number two running back. I think he's still

going to get a good workload. There's definitely shootout potential. There's definitely Vikings turnover potential that could give a lot of extra plays and maybe an extra possession or two to the Green Bay Packers. You got to worry about A.J. Dillon swiping a touchdown from short yardage. That happened in this game.

But I think Aaron Jones is going to continue to get a lot of work. And the Vikings taking a hit on a defensive line, plus the fact that Detroit just ran right through them. Give me a break, loser. Sorry, I just came across that in the mixer. Thought it would work there. Yeah, I think they really wanted Aaron Jones to score a touchdown. He kept failing. And then Jones, Dylan came in, and then after Dylan scored his touchdown, I think he went over and gave the ball to Aaron Jones. Okay, next game. And then Love had the short area touchdown too. Yeah.

Next game is, oh by the way, Dave, I know you had some confidence in Adam Thielen and he came through for you with 15.4 PPR fantasy points. Atlanta 29. And Jubal was great again. Yeah, he scored, yeah. Atlanta 29 and the Colts 10. And

it's just a tough game for Minshew without Michael Pittman and no one really stepped up. But what about Taylor? I mean, it wasn't the most inspiring game. 18 carries, 43 yards and a touchdown. Any problems with him against the Raiders? None. I almost like it.

He got to take some cobwebs off. Didn't get his normal heavy workload. He played 63% of the snaps. And Sermon and Goodson mixed in and split up the Zach Moss role, basically. I think he'll get more work, and I think he's got a shot to do much better against the Raiders. What did you make of Drake London's dud? Oh, so frustrating. Is it a Heineke thing?

You just don't trust him with Heineke? Well, we haven't seen it yet. This was the first game that they've actually played four quarters together, and it's four targets, three catches, 39 yards. And London had some great catches in the game, just didn't get the volume. Heineke was checking down a ton.

Ten targets for Bijan Robinson. We saw Algier make a catch uh john who had six targets a lot of those were short area throws so heineke really didn't challenge down field that much maybe they felt like they didn't have to do it kyle pitts is having a pretty decent finish to the season we'll see how that plays out in draft season all right oh my gosh i just get a new coach and a new quarterback, please. Look, I understand everyone. I think the Arthur Smith hate is getting a little bit out of hand.

They don't use him properly. He's not a wide receiver. They don't, I mean. Who's not a wide receiver? Pitts, play him a tight end. What's wrong with letting him line up wide? Because let him get mismatches on safeties and linebackers as opposed to playing on corners.

Does he line up out wide that often? Too much. I don't think it's too much. Yeah, I don't know. And there's definitely a size advantage if he's lining up against a cornerback. Look at the Falcons roster. Are they supposed to be some great team?

I'm sorry. They're healthy. Three players drafted in the top 10. Yeah. They have a bad quarterback. Yeah. That obviously

drags them down. Get a new coach. Get a new quarterback. And we will be in great shape with the Falcons. But why? There were 16 carries between Tyler Algier

and Cordell Patterson. Give me Justin Fields and Ben Johnson and I will love everybody there. Well, Ben Johnson. Give me Justin Fields and Ben Johnson, and I will love everybody there. Well, Ben Johnson, yeah. I mean, Ben Johnson's obviously terrific, but yes, that would be a big upgrade. But I bet if Arthur Smith had Justin Fields, I bet they'd be better also.

Maybe so. Yeah, sure, because there'd be nine players with four targets each, and now there'd be four guys with eight carries each. Corlinson's been ruled out with a concussion. Yeah, that's a shame. That stinks. Okay, Seattle. We may not have him in the championship week.

Seattle and Tennessee. We've spoken about this game quite a bit. Tyler Locke, it's so annoying. I'm sorry. Like, be good or be bad. Just stop with the alternating here. I don't know. Oh, wow, Zeke. Sorry, sorry,. Oh, wow, Zeke.

Sorry, sorry, sorry. Touchdown, Zeke. Yeah, he's caught a touchdown. Okay. That's what he does sometimes. All right, Hopkins. Here we go. If Hopkins, if Tannehill was the quarterback next week.

No, the answer is no. At Houston. If Levis is the quarterback next week. No, the answer is no. At Houston. If Levis is the quarterback. He also had a revenge game. Whose revenge game? If it's Levis, then maybe he's a wide receiver three. Yeah,

but he was so bad with the Texans last week against Texans. Yep. The bigger question is Derek Henry, what he did against the Texans last week. Yeah, I would not be very excited about it. No,

and look, for what it's worth, they did a good job against the Browns running game. I mean, right. You saw Ford get the touchdown. I told you he didn't even have 10 PPR points. He averaged less than two yards per carry. Yeah, and the touchdown came after the big play to Cooper

in the first quarter. Yep. Daniel says, I'd rather play King Henry as quarterback. He's not bad at that. He really is not bad. Let him do that every game. Jets almost blew a huge lead. 30-28.

That was crazy. They were just cruising. I think, was it 27-0? Yep. It was 27-7. Here's one of the underlying storylines that may cost you your week. We hyped up the...

What's the score right now of the game? Patriots game? 9-7 New England. Okay, so the Broncos defense still doing okay we hyped up the Bears defense they fell apart late hyped up the um hackers uh Jets and Commanders to certain degrees they were terrible both of them uh Bills couldn't keep the Chargers from taking field goals. All the defenses that we recommended this week, in some way, shape, or form, either early or late, fell apart. Browns fell apart late. Yeah.

Who had a good game defensively? The Packers. I started the Packers in one league. The Bucs. Yeah. The Falcons probably had a pretty good game, too. Anyway, this game, Jets and Commanders. You had Chris Rodriguez scoring two touchdowns,

and Schneier did not start him. LOL. Oh, my God. not start him. LOL. Oh my god. That poor guy. Man. Let's see. What else from this game? McLaurin struggled. He wasn't even that good with Brissette. They get San Francisco next week. I don't know. It may not be

the worst matchup, but I can't imagine people can have too much confidence. You can't feel good about anybody. Are you going to feel good about Chris Rodriguez if he's out again? No. You can't feel good about anybody. Are you going to feel good about Chris Rodriguez if he's out again? No, you can't feel good about him. Against San Fran? No. Chicago 27, Arizona 16.

They almost blew it. Yes, they did. 24 points for Kyler. That was nice. Anything on this game, guys? He had a nice garbage time run at the end. Sorry, let's talk about Herbert and Johnson because I really thought it made sense to go with Johnson.

Three weeks ago, he had no foreman, and Johnson had a lot more work. So they have not been predictable for one second this season. And it happened again as Herbert gets 20 carries, Roshan gets nine and three catches, and Herbert has a really big game. I thought Herbert had a hot hand early and that made all the difference. And so one of the things that we talked about earlier today was,

well, Roshan's been playing third downs. It would make sense for him to keep playing third downs. And yes, he played the majority of third downs, but then maybe they could rotate a little bit who handles first down and second down ended up not happening that way at all. Khalil Herbert got off to a hot start and they just wrote him and remember they had this big two

touchdown lead they started trying to salt away the clock in the late third quarter like really awkward game management from the Bears coaching staff they're not used to that yeah it's almost like they didn't know what to do and so like the fact that like Justin Fields is sliding in bounds and like there's four minutes left of the third quarter they should be trying to put up points and instead they're just grinding down the clock and they arizona was they had the ball down one score late they could have come back and tied it somehow they didn't bear's defense was good enough then well all right but going into next week uh maybe foreman's back and he was out for personal reasons personal we don't know

what it is and i don't know if there's an update from after the game. There could be, and I just don't know it. Moving on to Tampa Bay 30 and Jacksonville 12. Yuck. For Tampa Bay, what do you think about Chris Godwin? Was it a good game for him? Not great, but six catches for 78 yards. That's now three straight games yeah with double digit targets well this was the first one where both him and mike evans played well and that was you

know good to see with rashad white still being productive so you know you can get you know great production from all three of the guys uh we've seen that they're playing new orleans next we certainly saw what new orleans defense looked like against the Rams. And, you know, with – I'm going to assume several guys still missing. I don't think Lattimore is eligible to come back, right, next week. So, in terms of Mike Evans versus the Saints, which is always a bad thing. Yep. I don't think you worry about it this week. Maybe, yeah.

By the way, Schefter tweeted something. We joke a lot in our green room. Dave's usually part of this conversation about is Mike Evans a Hall of Famer? Here's the company he's now put himself in, along with the, was it nine straight years now of 1,000 yards receiving? Or is it 10? Has he been in the league? He has 12 touchdowns.

Yeah, he's been in a long time. This is from Schefter. 12 touchdown receptions in five or more seasons, joining Jerry Rice, Terrell Owens, Marvin Harrison, and Randy Moss. It's hard to say that he's not going to be in the Hall of Fame. Ten straight years with at least 1,000 receiving yards for the Galveston, Texas native. And a Super Bowl ring.

Never an All-Pro, I don't believe, but certainly building a very impressive resume. And he's not done. I know we're getting to the offseason, but Baker has to come back if you're Tampa Bay, especially if they win a division. Well, does Mike Evans come back? Well, that's what I'm saying. If Baker comes back, obviously Evans has to love Baker. Look at the season he's had with him. And so if you can get respectable contracts for these guys where it's not hurting your long-term future because obviously baker doesn't have the long-term appeal that you

like and clearly evans doesn't um if they come back it's a pretty good combination and you know godwin as well so you got to feel good about where the bucks are right now i know again prisoner of the moment if you want to you know go go that route but it's been now three straight weeks of baker looking great he's got 80 fantasy points in his last three games i mean that's incredible um offensive line is held up the run game has been fantastic this season you know so they're they're peaking at the right time and probably saving todd bowles a job and you got to put bowls in the conversation as coach of the year too i wouldn't vote for bowls for coach of the year but he's doing a good job he's put himself at the back end of the list. Four sacks today.

I think some of that had to do with the offensive line that they were going against, against Jacksonville. I think that offensive line is just in really bad shape right now, and it might end up sinking the Jaguar season. Secondary played, I guess, a little bit better. First half was better than the second half. Sorry, I just want to get a fantasy question, and then we'll go to our last

game. We'll wrap things up. Do you trust Chris Godwin next week against the Saints? Yes. If you're expecting what he gave you this week, yes. Two games ago, no. All right. And Miami 22 and Dallas 20. Did you see what Pukka just did to them?

Yes, I did. Yeah, Miami 22 and Dallas 20. And, well, Tua, you know, wow. Just really limping to the finish line. 17 points. Again, I don't think he played poorly. I think he played really well last week. I think he played well this week.

I just, he's not getting the fantasy points. And when you never, ever, ever run, you need to score touchdowns. He's not doing enough of that. So he's at Baltimore next week. He had a rare missed touchdown on the opening drive that Tyreek Hill may have scored on. He had a couple of misses in the game.

Tyreek usually makes that play. The problem with Tua, this is going to be a problem for him in his career. He doesn't make plays off script. He's such a... gets what's available for him. And that's not a bad thing. Please don't take that as a bad thing, but he just doesn't, when things break down and this is to

your point, Adam, uh, he doesn't run. So when things break down, like the, the plays at the goal line, you know, when he just first read is not there, it's like a panic. And you know, that could also be, you know, what the offensive line being the shape that it's in, but it's like a panic. And, you know, that could also be, you know, what the offensive line being the shape that it's in, but it's almost like, and he goes to those progressions. There's nothing about that, but it's just like when, when his receivers aren't open or not on,

you know, he, he's not comfortable with what's there. It's like, he just doesn't get you. And this is a real life thing. Just doesn't get you production. He doesn't do it consistently enough.

I'm sure there are examples where he does do it, but's it's few and far between yeah i mean you'd expect the great ones always come through when a play breaks down think of mahomes and all the times that he's come through and of course he's not even close to that level um so i get what you're saying i thought the touchdown to mostert was an amazing play design. Yes. Again, that's what they do. And you can see it. You know, as a Mostert guy, you could see it developing. And I was like, throw it to him, throw it to him, throw it to him. But I didn't really – I have a terrible memory.

I don't remember a lot of game-winning drives for Tua or moments like that in his career. So I thought that was one of the real defining moments of Tua's career was marching them down the field. Not like he did so much on the drive, but going out and winning that game, I thought was pretty, pretty big for his resume really.

Cause I just don't think he's done a lot of that really in big spots. And they got Tyreek going in the second half, you know, it was a little bit of sluggish first half. Obviously Jalen Waddle in and out had the big 50-yard catch to start the game, which he thought, okay, here's going to be a big game for Jalen Waddell and disappointing with the two separate injuries. Next week is going to be really telling because if Mo starts out,

how much do they put onto him? Because the run game may not be there to save them. And so I don't know how many people can feel comfortable starting Tua next week against Baltimore. If Baltimore comes out of this game playing well against the 49ers, which is hard to say anyway, but you can't feel like... Jordan Love, to me, is an easy start over Tua, even with the receivers being banged up.

All right. All right, guys. Good stuff tonight. Merry Christmas, everybody. Jamie and I are going to record a little FFT in five. And good luck in all the games tomorrow. And we'll talk to you no beyond the box score, but we will talk to you on Tuesday with The Waver Wire on Fantasy Football Today.

See ya.