Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Show 1500! Starts of the Week + Week 10 Breakdown, Fun Surprises! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 11/9

Episode Date: November 9, 2023

Episode 1500 is here! On today’s fantasy football podcast, Starts of the Week, matchup previews, and surprises in store! Plus, the Boom Boom Kicker, and a countdown of the Top-10 Show Nicknames of All-time! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for November 9th, 2023. Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Starts of the Week presented by Purina Pro Plan. Visit https://www.purina.com/pro-plan/dogs/sport-dog-food?utm_campaign=prp-sport2023&utm_medium=display&utm_source=youtube_spotify_callout&utm_content=cr-fantasy_football_podcast_sponsorship_pt-na&utm_term= Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by McDonald's. Monopoly is back at McDonald's, everybody. This is an alert. It's time to get back to Mickey D's. Monopoly Double Play is back at McDonald's, and it's easy to get into the win. First, you peel on pack, and then again in the app. There are millions of prizes to be won,

including a new chance to win cash every minute in the app. Get into the game with Monopoly Double Play at McDonald's. While supplies last, one in five chances to win game piece prizes at outset, chances to win Double Play prizes based on time of code entry, and draw prizes based on number of entries in each draw. See rules in the app. Get a credit card annual fee waiver and earn C-plus points faster with the Scotiabank Ultimate Package and bank more entertainment. Learn more at scotiabank.com slash banking packages. Conditions apply. Scotiabank. You're richer than you think. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Welcome in! Hi! It's foreman time for me, for you. That's right. That has... On show 1500? Yeah. On show 1500 we went with it's foreman time? Yes. I feel...

Disgusting. I feel like something was stolen from us. What did you want? What do you mean what did we want? What did you us. What did you want? What do you mean, what did we want? What did you want? What did we want? Football time. I always want football time.

Okay, that's fine. I get it. Deontay Foreman is not on any of your teams. I understand. But the people who have him are very excited. About it being Foreman time? Yes. Welcome in.

Show 1500. They tell me this is a big number. It's not only a big number, but it's a round number. And I think that's actually what's special about it. I mentioned it to my wife this morning that it was show 1500. She said, we just did show 1000. She said that was a long time ago. It does feel like it was last season.

About 500 shows ago. And I was talking to my wife about it, and then I extrapolated, and I said, that means that there is at least 15,000 hours. Oh, my gosh. Of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Because, I mean, our shows, sometimes they're 45. More often they're an hour. The Megalodon is always two and a half hours.

But they're not 10 hours, which is what it would require for us to have 15,000 hours. Oh yeah, you're right. Because this isn't show 15,000. Yeah, I did my math wrong. I added a zero. But there are 1 are 1500 hours. Okay. Yeah.

Which is a lot of hours to have talked into a microphone. I did the, uh, people are going to live to see the year 3000. Like I rounded a little bit too high there. December 9th, 2020 show 1000. So here we are show 1500 and did you know there's at least 1500 hours it sounds so much worse oh i know like 15 000 i was like oh my gosh yeah that's a lot of pretty pumped about that should have just let it slide so people are impressed 15 000 hours we will never get there um

just to confirm what everybody speculated i saw the youtube comments and saw the tweets yes i did take a few days to commit to growing my facial hair out that is why why. Thank you. That's why I missed. I needed to get to stumble. I can look at you again. We benched him. Yeah. We said, this is for your own good. Go on the IR.

Yeah. It would have been funnier. Cover a three show. I are get healthy. It's better for the show. Get hairy. Get hairy. Get back.

Yeah. Uh, we have some spec. Well, not we, I mean, the producers have some special stuff planned um i did listen to the podcast while i was out it was great congratulations man uh and unsubscribed

oh no immediately no i thought you guys did a great job and you teased the fact that we have our top 10 nicknames of all time i assume all three of us have no idea the result i have no idea i do not know I was thinking this morning I was like oh my gosh we're gonna find out like according to the Foot Clan the number one like the that's exciting number one nickname and so uh we're doing that on today's show at the end why is it Darnell Anderson that's what we're gonna learn today so baby I believe in the Foot Clan I don't think that's on there. Brooks, how many names were in the poll over the past 1,500 shows?

How many nicknames did they have to choose from? I think I saw 108. 108 nicknames, and we whittle it down. So that'll come at the end of the show. So stay tuned for that. They've also prepared some sort of game. Some sort of game that I know nothing about. Did you have something you were going to say, Al?

I was just going to say, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, you guys had made a promise that we need to make good on. Oh, crap. What did we do? Oh, man. This is not good. The Fantasy Footballers Podcast. What was that?

Is that his new musical? It's the podcast. Yeah, a lot of people don't realize this. This is show 1491. We are nine episodes away from show 1500. And that will be Fantasy Footballers, the music. Welcome, everybody. Yes, we've made it here.

It's true. And so we're celebrating with a musical review. Fantasy Footballers, the music. Welcome, everybody. Yes, we've made it here. It's true. And so we're celebrating with a musical review. 1,500 episodes of the Fantasy Footballers show. Our fans, the Foot Clan, we owe it all to them. Hey! Loving Michael Keaton and our dinner butter trend. And there's plenty more to go with Andy's voice cracking intro.

In a world of football fantasy, crying when we see our wives with the deuces in Deucers Alley. Hitting that best design. Now Andy, Mike, and Jason, everybody places please.

The audience is waiting for this very special treat. Raise the curtain now, let's go. It's our 1500th show. Andy, Mike, and Jason on the full line. It's football time. Oh my goodness. That was something awesome. I am way more hyped for show 1500.

Dude, we're on the goal line? Yeah, I mean, here we are. No, they got the last part wrong. They said it's football time. It's foreman time. Yeah, it's foreman time. Please update the lyrics. Wow.

Whoever put that together, well done. Well done. Give them a round of applause somebody i got you i got you great job producers great job every 500 shows they really they really do knock it out of the park knock it out they say they store up oh yeah for sure they've been certainly storing up for 500 yeah wow i didn't I didn't see that coming. No. I was really thrilled that there was something that someone else was singing because I thought you literally had gotten to the end of that song and then you just played the music and you were waiting for us to sing.

I was ready. Well, you were the only one. I was ready. Welcome to the Octoformin. And then the song came on and then it just kept going. It did go for a while. Thanks for hanging around. We do have a lot to talk about.

We have starts of the week, the Boom Boom Kicker. We got matchup previews. We got some news to talk about. Let's jump in. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. For those listening at home, there were some delightful video highlights accompanying the lyrics. The lyrics were on the screen too, Brooks, I'd like you to know.

A couple quick updates. Seahawks, Cardinals. Kenneth Walker didn't practice. Chest injury.son smith and jigba hip injury tyler lockett with his weekly hamstring limitations uh i i don't want to read too much into any of those yet uh we'll wait for the thursday practice report yeah it's i mean they're new injuries for walker and in jigba the the the walker one is more worrying to me, considering he has been basically on a snap count for two weeks because he keeps popping up on the injury report.

The man is just not healthy. So I have my concerns there. Well, it's crazy because, and I'll just preview this. I mean, I'm going to get myself shamed on Friday. But when we jump into, like, DFS, you know, Zach Charbonnet is sitting there for 4,200 this week. That's nice. And then you go and you just look at the game logs for Zach Charbonnet,

even with the opportunity. And it's abysmal. It's not even like he's not hitting seven or eight fantasy points for DFS. He's just doing nothing. So it makes it kind of a real tough situation. Because he should be, if he gets more opportunities, he should be good. Yeah, if you look, I mean, he's pretty efficient with his opportunities oftentimes.

You know, he was five for 53 two weeks ago. But his opportunities, four, seven, five, you can't do anything with that. They're not proportionate to snap count either. Not at all. It's like, just, it, five. You can't do anything with that. They're not proportionate to snap count either. Not at all. It's weird. Also, though, the last two weeks. Wait. Someone is in the building.

Oh, my goodness gracious. What? Kyle the Borgogon just walked into Deucer's alley. What is happening? Unbelievable. Go ahead and throw that camera over there. He's back in the building. I heard it was a big episode.

My goodness. Let's go. Dude, this is great news. He moved back to Arizona? So, I hope we didn't pay for that. Wow. I would have passed. The bill's in the mail.

So when he said he was up for pickleball, he meant it. All right. All right. Fair enough. Wow. Fair enough. You know what? Okay.

We're getting surprised today. Yeah, we are. This is tremendous. Welcome in, Kyle. I wanted to make sure when we opened the door that you didn't think someone was going to fight you or do something else. I heard the door and I was like, what is going on? And I was like, what is Jeremy doing?

Yeah. He's making noise over there. Goodness gracious. Kyle, the Borgogin in the building. Welcome back to the studio. Okay. So you're unwanted. My point for back.

I don't know how you go back to football. My point for Seattle and, and Charbonnet was the last two weeks it was the cleveland browns and the baltimore ravens so yeah and it's not this week that is a difficult team to get running back points against and now you get the washington manders i'm still yeah i'm still reeling from uh i thought you were in georgia right now welcome in james connor limited i think he's back you guys talked about it the reports we had was that he was ready to go and um we're hoping and then michael wilson he's been you know he missed last week he's been limited with the shoulder we have a lot of optimism around

his potential involvement the snap counts are always high for michael wilson like he'll be out there a lot um i think we're all excited to see Hollywood number one McBride's involvement number two and then Michael Wilson with the potential to be more consistent because Wilson is a good player like I really think if Wilson is on your waiver wire and you have a spot pick him up not because it's an absolute guaranteed slam dunk or even a high probability. The point is at this part of the season, what can change for players like this where their situation improves drastically? This is a drastic improvement. Huge, huge, absolutely massive.

So hopefully, like Jason said on the show a couple days ago it is the inverse of the stafford you know where you've been living this life where um they've been piecing it together like we talked about like it's funny because the cardinals got progressively worse as an offense like dob started the year and it was pretty competitive you know what we don't talk about a lot with that that hasn't been brought up is just like we act like losing James Conner meant nothing. When it's massive to being able to threaten the defense. When you talked about the offense that looked good to start the year that got much worse, I was going to bring up,

if you look at when that happened, it's when James Conner left. The fact that you've got James Conner, Hollywood, Trey McBride, Michael Wilson, Kyler to run that, and no defense, it is the recipe you're looking for in fantasy football. And just be comforted. This is not bias from Arizona folks here. I would love us to lose every game the rest of the year. I'm sad that we will now not have the first pick because I think they will compete and win.

I think they're only – do you know the line for that game? Off the top of your head? Mike, do you know that line? I don't. Let's see if you can guess the line for the Cardinals-Falcons. I kind of teased maybe my surprise. I do know – I mean, last I had heard anyways, the Falcons actually have a pretty high implied team total.

I'll go Falcons minus three. I believe it's one and a half. Okay. I know for sure. Falcons, though? It's Falcons one and a half? I know for sure that it was at one point Falcons minus two, moved to Falcons minus one last I saw.

Is it back up to one and a half? Yeah, it's minus one and a half right now. And look, if you want to root against Arthur Smith, this is your pathway. Yeah, everyone's a Cardinal fan this week. Did you watch Arthur? I have now, by the way, Brooks, you surprised us with the Borgogon. You surprised us with the musical number. I want you to know I'm now turning the clock off.

Nice. I don't care how long the show is. Oh, yeah. 1,500 shows, I've never turned the clock off like i don't i don't i don't care how long the show is oh yeah 1500 shows i've never turned the clock off so that was the first time um we have no schedule because you know who else turned the clock off was arthur smith when he decided to talk for five minutes about all this highfalutin and kyle you are a i mean you been in the, you're in the state where he resides, which, you know, that's troubling. That's why Kyle's here. It's a bit too close.

Did you escape Arthur? Yeah. After he shaved his mustache, I got out. I mean, the beard looks bad. The mustache looks bad. And baby face looks bad. So Arthur's still searching. He's just, look.

Maybe some chops. He's. Oh, do some gnarly lamb chops. That would fit his face pretty well. his face is a little weird looking. Lamb chops and then is it the handlebar? Sure. You want him to tie in? No, no, no.

Just the biker where the mustache goes down. It's not connected on the chin. None of that's going to fix the goal line offense. Yeah, the question was posed, why is Bijan not getting many opportunities inside the red zone? It was so condescending. See, I didn't take it that condescending. Oh, you're in.

You're in on Arthur. Jason and Arthur. He is trying to explain away, and he couldn't. He just kept talking in a circle of basically what I think he was trying to say, and that's the best anyone could say. They've got to interpret and say, I think what he was trying to say was there have been more play calls for him that just didn't go to him, run pass options. No, I heard it.

They passed. Yeah, it sounded cool. Flags on the play that were called back. No, it's bull crap. Absolutely. It's bull crap. Can you imagine a world where Kyle Shanahan gets up behind the microphone? Okay?

This is the real situation. Yep. Yep. Look, I am probably the one that goes to bat about NFL v. Fantasy the most, where it's like, look, players don't, they don't, you know, we're like, oh, why does Kenny Gainwell get snaps? We're like, well, there's intangibles, right? Like, why do those players get snaps?

It's indefensible. Yeah. Like, if Kyle Shanahan got up there and goes, well, yeah, we really wanted to get McCaffrey the ball around the goal line, but sometimes we just – we just audibled out of it, and sometimes we – you know, we just took what the defense gave us, and then there's a holding penalty, and then there's a fumble. Look, it's not that complicated.

You take the ball from the center, and then you turn, and then you hand it to the player that you drafted in the top ten of the draft. And then when you go into the press conference, I'm going to give him all the words he needs. He'll say, yeah, we gave it to Bijan. When they say, hey, what happened to the goal line? Yeah, we gave it to Bijan. Why'd you score that touchdown?

We gave it to Bijan. Yeah, or you didn't score in the goal line. Yeah, we lost with to B. John. Why'd you score that touchdown? We gave it to B. John. Yeah, or why, you know, you didn't score on the goal line. Yeah, we lost with our best, though. You know, we put the best foot forward. Oh, no, we can't get Derrick Henry the ball around the goal line. Too many trick plays. I mean, sorry. Sorry.

No, no. I didn't get to react on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday to Arthur Smith. But you're just digging the hole deeper, Arthur. And here's the thing. It's not just the goal line. They're going to fill it in with you in the hole. If you're talking about inside the five, inside the five, okay. All the stupid trick plays, the John Ujet sweep, that's nonsense.

Tyler Algier has been okay inside the five. He's three for six carries, three touchdowns on six carries. That's fine. But total carries. That's fine. But total carries. This is insane. Tyler Algier has 116 carries this season to Bijon's 103. That is indefensible. You cannot possibly give a guy who's running at 3.2 yards a carry

more carries than the guy running at five yards a carry. You're hurting your offense we could we could live with algeria's goal line option yes if it wasn't so disproportionate and he's the he may be the biggest victim of all because we all resent him and he's not doing anything but playing football i like him i like tyler algeria well you would he's 3.2 a carry that's right in the mouth that's a mad those guys. Yeah. Look, hey, tough grinders. Someone's got a lunch pail at man. David Montgomery, full participant.

He's going to be back out there. I know we have slightly differing opinions, I think, of what things will look like with him back out there. I believe he goes straight back to the David Montgomery role, carrying the bulk of the work, and having Gibbs where we saw him earlier in the season. You think Gibbs has earned more touches than Will? For sure.

For sure. I mean, this is the 12th pick in the draft, and we expected it to maybe take some time. But I believe what I said on the show was that, you know, there's just going to be not a massive difference, but you're going to have more opportunities. He's more comfortable. Some of the stuff that we hadn't got to see, we got to see. And Montgomery's been hurt twice.

That was my other point. It's like you do need to – to me, it's 10% difference in maybe the amount of – 10% of the carries on first and second down instead of going to Montgomery. Correct. Yeah, just like a small difference. I think Montgomery is a great play. I think Gibbs is a good play. Justin Jefferson on playing in Week 10 would be a little aggressive

according to his head coach, Kevin O'Connell. So we don't expect to see him. But 21-day window. It was opened. This is great news. We kind of looked at the yellow flag, the worrisome flag of if they were to not open it up this week, they could end up going all the way to the bye week. You wouldn't see him until, like, week 14.

That's not happening now. Can't happen if they want him to play again this year. So he'll be back either next week or the following week for sure. And Khalil Herbert, according to Tom Pelissero, not expected to play tonight, which is why Mike opened show 1500 with the iconic line, it's Foreman time. Yeah, it'll either look real good or real bad tomorrow.

Yeah, I mean, all morning long, everyone's been saying like you just smashed play Deontay Foreman. And I do agree that you should play him. Like, last week, I think, was the first week of the season that Carolina didn't finish in the bottom half in terms of fantasy points given up to the running back position. And it was close, right? It was, like, 13th.

So, you have to play Foreman. Like, he's been effective. I'm not sure what you get tonight in this game. Yeah, I agree. And also, Brian. Like, will you be happy with Foreman if there's no touchdown? effective I'm not sure what you get tonight in this game yeah I agree but and also Brian will you be happy with Herbert if you are sorry not Herbert will you be happy with Foreman if there's no touchdowns tonight that is a question I think worth answering unlikely unlikely but also I mean is Roshan in play because the matchup is so good I don't think so the the 20 we had 20 carries last

week for Foreman that I expect it to be another. They're going to try, at least, to be a real run-heavy script. Brian Burns for the Carolina Panthers, one of their guys, he won't be playing tonight. So that's just – it's all – the witch's brew is all there. Now, is it going to be helpful or poisonous? We will see. That was today's News and notes presented by USAA Insurance.

Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. And I'm still reeling from seeing the Borgogna over there. Yeah, this is weird. It's like he never left. I don't know. I've always been here. Hiding in the back. Is the attitude in Atlanta much worse than even out here like are

you guys actively despising your own head coach y'all's reaction is pretty visceral but people yeah don't like him at all are they actually calling like that is the seat hot yeah oh they're they're probably going to the playoffs man that's the worst part about this go cardinals if you look if you look if you look at their schedule coming up it just makes me so sad that arthur can't get fired the saints the jets the how stubborn is the panthers how stubborn is he genuine question because it matters to me trade deadlines are coming up right we've got i believe next week a trade uh our league of records trade deadline is next week yeah and then we then we're talking some targets and stuff like that.

But I'm asking how stubborn is he because I've kicked the tires on Bijon. But it's like, how stubborn are you? You say Tyler Algiers is the best player in the world. I really, truly, I watched the entire press conference. I saw everything he said. I'm sorry. Thank you. It's my job.

You got to do it. I genuinely believe Bijan Robinson gets the ball a ton, has a good game this week. I think going forward, rest of season, he's a running back one from this point forward. That's still my belief. I know he's hard-headed. You'd take Brees over him, wouldn't you?

I would currently take Brees over him, yes. Brees is getting like 20 carries a game. Yeah, and B. John dreams of such numbers. Alright, into the forecast. Fantasy forecast. This week, the Chiefs and all their stars and the Dolphins and all their stars and the Eagles and all their stars and then the Rams are on by.

I like it. And we got another Germany game. Bonjour. You know, I kind of was into it last week. Yeah, you know why? The time change. That's why. It started at 7.30 instead of 6.30 for us, and I was like.

7.30 is fine. I had just woken up, and I was like, oh, I got a little time before the game. Wake up, turn the game on. 7.30 is fine. 6.30 is not fine. What are we doing? The Colts, 4-5, playing the New England Patriots at 2-7. Is it just me, or do you imagine Bill Belichick was just super frustrated

to have to go to Germany for this game? The DraftKings Sportsbook line is Indianapolis minus 1.5. The over-under is 43 points. Do we get a track meet again? Indianapolis, they've been giving you some exciting games the 43 point over under is fine i mean um the colts are somehow this is true the only nfl team to score 20 plus points in every single game that's wild yeah i i mean i like new New England to win the ball game but it's going to be tight and Gardner doing his thing Mac Jones he is their quarterback he is still their quarterback yeah that's what we can say

Ramondre Stevenson Jason you're in this week I am very in on Ramondre Stevenson this week the Indianapolis Colts are one of the worst defenses against the run over the last six Jason, you're in this week. I am very in on Ramondre Stevenson this week. The Indianapolis Colts are one of the worst defenses against the run. Over the last six weeks, they've given up the most fantasy points to running backs. I believe you could play Ezekiel Elliott as a decent flex option. The way that I view this, especially because it's come on the ground, touchdowns have been hard for New England to come by, and the Colts give up a lot of touchdowns to the running back.

So I'm seeing one apiece here. I think Ramondre gets in the end zone. I think Zeke gets in the end zone in this matchup in Germany. Okay. What are we looking at on the other side? We had Jonathan Taylor get the majority of work last week. It was, you know, the week before, you guys were kind of alluding to the fact that maybe he really was banged up in the second half. It's hard, though.

I mean, it was obviously just one week. But it was what was the expectation from before. So it's not just one week out of the blue with no rhyme or reason why jonathan taylor would have the carries it's well expectation from us oh is that what you're saying i think expectation from the world when you give jonathan taylor that much money you would expect him coming off of injury that it would take a couple weeks i mean this is what we said but a lot of people said it would take a couple weeks until he becomes the 70-30, the main leader of this backfield, and that happened. You know, 74% of snaps this last week, 18 carries, 23 opportunities in the game.

He went back to the role that they paid him to exist in. So I don't think that goes away without an injury. Mike? I'm in complete agreement. You had – look at the routes. Like Jonathan Taylor ran 21. Zach Moss only ran four. Moss only had seven opportunities.

I think we are full wheels up for Jonathan Taylor, and I would be trying to bench Zach Moss now. Okay. Michael Pittman. Yeah, just playing. Demario Douglas. If you're – I can see – Zay Flowers or Douglas? Oohario Douglas. If you're – Zay Flowers or Douglas?

Ooh, Douglas. That's where I lay. Yeah, you've got to stick with the target share. JSN or Douglas? JSN dealing with the hip, but it's Washington. I love the JSN matchup this week. I would go JSN over Demario Douglas, barring today's practice report. If JSN is a full participant, and yesterday was kind of a rest day on Wednesday,

then I'm on the JSN side. If he's struggling with this new hip injury through the week, then I would go Demario Douglas. Hunter Henry, seven targets last week. He's always kind of like a spot start, tight end guy. You can fly with him if you want. You like Hammer and Joku more this week. Joku's got Baltimore, but he's scored in two straight.

I like Hunter Henry a lot more. The matchup is pretty good against the Colts. Hunter Henry is definitely in streaming consideration. I was looking for him in the DraftKings lineup, but unfortunately, not on the slate. Would you drop Josh Downs right back into your flex position if he was active this week? I mean, yeah, probably.

Assuming we get in at least a limited practice day or a full practice at some point, I would be playing him over Douglas. Yeah, I would agree with that. Let's take a break. Back with the Texans-Bengals. Alright, Houston and their triad of top 10 wide receivers.

The Texans, 4-4, taking on the Bengals, who are 5-3 and hurting at the wide receiver position. The DK Sportsbook line, Cincinnati minus 6.5. The over-under is 47. Both teams coming off big wins. Cincinnati looked good last week.

Houston, the insane 39-37 win over the Buccaneers. That game was awesome. I mean. It was. Yeah, it was. Just keep in mind, if you had the over under 70, you should have taken the over last week, which is wild. Cincinnati is on fire, though. And but we got the bad news.

I mean, T. Higgins. Injured at practice. Yeah, that's not good. A hamstring issue that came up, you know, it's a new injury. And if it's legit, it's it's funny how sometimes we we don't look at practice injuries the same you know it's like ah it's just a practice and the injury is an injury right um and it's later in the week so if he if he is um if he misses a full practice you know he was only limited so maybe it's okay but if he misses a

practice you've got to be prepared to not have higgins. The worst part is, and I'm sorry, this isn't really actionable news or anything. I'm just saying I had T. Higgins last year, and there's a lot of people that had the experience of, oh, T. Higgins is playing. Great. No, he's not. Your default is start your studs when they're active. Yes, and T. Higgins has a history of burning us by being active

and then going and taking a snap, and then he's done. So I'm not at all saying that's happening, but if you had Higgins on your team last year. You've got to be frustrated. You're thinking about that. Because a hamstring injury is not. Like this could be more than one week. Right. This could be having that level of doubt

whether he plays or not. The fact that he could come off the field. And then there's confidence in the building that Jamar Chase is going to be out there. But he's not been practicing. He's got that back issue. He came down so hard on that. Yes, he did. On that attempted catch. So all of a sudden, it's like,

Tyler Boyd? Tyler Boyd seems like... Maybe. He might be a sudden it's like, Tyler Boyd? Tyler Boyd seems like he might be a legit play this week. He's been more involved. And last week was just a hodgepodge of their tight ends as well. I mean, he's always on the field, and if you don't have Higgins, six, seven catches is not out of the question for Tyler Boyd. I would agree that in a full PPR, if they're down receivers,

Tyler Boyd could be okay. This is going on two years, though, where wide receivers have not done very well against the Houston Texans. Some of that's because you can run on them easily, but I'm not super excited to start Tyler Boyd. Whereas, because you can run on them easily, if they're down other assets, I expect to see a massive workload for Joe Mixon. Like, very, very good play this week.

And he's been pretty good the previous two weeks. I think this is like NBA Jam rules. He's going to catch fire this week. Yeah, he's a smash star. But if you were down Chase and Higgins, are you just pulling out the blindfold, strapping it on your head, and starting Joe Burrow anyway? Because this is a team that we've talked about disappointing quarterback performances against them. If both.

And if both of those guys are back and you think Mixon's going to smash. If both Chase and Higgins were gone. Would you start Sam Howell against Seattle over Joe Burrow? There's... Oh, man. That might be the smarter thing to do if both guys were out. Here's a real question, and this is for Mike, because we have these two guys. Okay.

Okay? Oh, yeah. Dino, Junior, Champ, Champ, Champ. If Chase and Higgins are gone, would we roll with Burrow as we currently have it set, or would we put Kyler in there? I would – I think I'd still stick with Burrow. Too bad I'm the main manager there. I'm going Kyler.

Okay. I get it. But saying if I had to make that choice just myself – Joe Burrow is back, and yes he won't have a he may not have wide receivers that's the that's the scenario we're talking about but Houston 12th or I'm sorry 28th against tight ends giving up almost 12 points a game and we saw both you know we saw Irv Smith and who else scored last week Drew Sample Sample yeah freaking Drew drew sample what's what is this all about the yeah i think it's important to remember that this high-flying cj stroud led 39 point offense

put 13 points up against the panthers the week before and um so it has not been you know 470 and five every week if you played stroud the week before, it was 140 and 0. If you actually look, when they were at home against Pittsburgh, he was top 10. When they were on the road against Atlanta, he did not have a good game. They were at home against New Orleans, he had a good game. They were on the road against Carolina, an easy matchup, terrible game. At home against Tampa Bay, so it's been a little bit of red light,

green light, but it's specifically split with home versus road games. This one is in Cincinnati. Yeah. I don't like the matchup for him. No, it's certain. I don't think we should over react to last week. He is still a rookie.

He's going to have up and down games. The defense is going to be good. They're going to want to run the ball. If they don't have their wide receivers, them being the Bengals, the Bengals are still favored by six and a half so I agree I mean this I don't think he's an absolute locked in starter for instance my my my weekly barometer has been Kyler like would I start Kyler I would start Kyler over CJ Stratton Damian Pierce didn't practice Wednesday. Today and tomorrow are going to matter a lot as to whether he's back out there.

The Bengals have struggled against the run in the last six weeks, so that would be something where, you know, is he in flex consideration if he's active with Singletary struggling so much? If Pierce is active? Correct. Zeke or Pierce? Zeke. I would go Zeke. But flip it on the other way but flip it on the other way if Pierce flip it on the other

way if Pierce is out it was for fantasy was not good for Devin Singletary despite the shootout that was going on but 75% of the snaps 15 opportunities full bell cow usage would you go back to that trust the

the peripheral numbers? I would. I realized that it wasn't very. If he was by himself? Yes. Yeah, I would. Yeah. Last week's matchup against Tampa Bay, they're a good run defense

and struggling with their passing defense, obviously, as we saw. So I would be fine with Singletary. I would take Singletary over Zeke if Damian Pierce was inactive. Put the four pass catchers in Houston in order of who you think will be most effective for fantasy. And I'm talking Dell, Noah Brown, Nico Collins, Dalton Schultz. I would go, I'll still have Nico Collins at the top. Then I'll go Tank. Tank was the one who had the huge game, but he is pretty hot and cold. And then Dalton and Noah Brown, just, I don't know. I just can't, I can't give the respect

to Noah Brown. I'm sorry, man. I feel like I might put Dalton Schultz number one there. There is not a better schedule-adjusted matchup on the season for tight ends than the Cincinnati Bengals. Dalton Schultz had 11 targets last week. Given positional scarcity, if you're factoring that in, not just total fantasy points, I would think he might be the most important pass catcher on this team. And then I agree with Mike I'm still right now gonna keep Nico then Tank okay are you Nico Tank or Tank Nico I'll always make Nico first okay yeah I think Tank's awesome I mean I think

he's he's a big play guy but I just like Nico's size the prowess around the red zone. Tank's a better – it's funny because if I had to start like a second flex, I'd rather play Tank than Nico because I'd want that boom potential. And he's got that a little bit more in my opinion. The Saints at 5-4. The Vikings 5-4. The game's in Minnesota. The DraftKings Sportsbook line, New Orleans, minus three on the road. The over-under is 41.

That gives the Saints 22 points, the Vikings 19. Minnesota's won four straight games. New Orleans, they're in first place in the South, and they have the easiest rest of season schedule. And I do include this game in that. I mean,

it's weird because Derek Carr is getting it done. And that's the end of that sentence. And part of getting it done is coming off the field at times for Taysom Hill. And whether to take a wildcat-style run or to throw the football a few times, you know, Taysom Hill has been exceptional. Taysom Hill is like no longer, in my opinion, just a tight end play. He's a flex play. Like he's somebody that you can, you know, play.

If you have a good other tight end, I don't see why you can't play Taysom Hill. Yeah, we talked about him a good bit while you were out saying it. Things you can't play Taysom Hill yeah we talked about him a good bit while you were out saying it things are different now for Taysom Hill he's getting far more snaps it's not just a week here and a week there it's he's his role looks pretty secure at this point yeah it's a it's a month straight of him averaging 16 fantasy points his lowest has been 8.8 fantasy points, which is fine. I mean, wide receivers have downed games that get to that level. I would agree with you.

Chris Olave is an interesting discussion because, yes, he got back into the end zone, but the numbers, 6 for 46, not impressive. The week before, 5 for 46, 7 for 57. Hasn't been over 100 yards since week three. Catching 50? No, no, no. Only 50% of his targets this year are deemed catchable. Yeah.

Well, because he does not get anything that is easy. Yeah. Very rarely does he get the opportunities close to the line of scrimmage. Those have gone to Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas before last week. Rashid Shahid is a more effective deep play guy right now for this offense, which is crazy, but it's true. So Olave is sitting in this place where the targets are downfield and Carr is struggling to be on the same page with him. It's easy to say, okay, Carr is kind of holding Olave hostage.

That would be one way to put it. Except for he's not holding Shahid hostage. So if there's a miscommunication on a play and Olave breaks out and the ball was supposed to go in, that's not a catchable target. That ball's not thrown to where he can catch it, and it's not Carr's fault on those. So I do think both sides are to blame on this. He's had some drops too.

But the nice thing about that to me, I think everything you're saying is accurate and correct. We've seen so many miscommunications between those two. They are not on the same page. But that is not something that lasts forever. Not being on the same page is something that is actually correctable you keep practicing you tell that to Jameson Williams well that's I think that's uh he's on his own page yeah he's on his own page we have seen Chris Olave in sync with a quarterback we have seen Derek Carr in sync with wide receivers these are two capable players and when they get on the

same page and start connecting I I'm I'm not terrified of Olave I I like him in this matchup um on the season the Vikings are the the place where you beat them is at the wide receiver position so I'm I'm good with Olave in my lineup I'd certainly start him over Jordan Addison on the other side of the field I'm not I'm not necessarily making any comments that are actionable. I'm just laying it out there. Like even looking, I know another quarterback for Olave has switched situations, but I'm looking at last year's numbers. You know, it's like he was kind of hot and cold.

There wasn't a lot of in-between. Is this a coaching problem? I just think that like we were really quick through seven weeks of Chris Olave's career to kind of declare something. And I like the talent that we saw during that time. And he had a couple more explosive games after that. But he also had a lot of off games. And his catch percentage last year was about 60%.

So it's not like we're, you you know this has kind of been a pattern is what i'm saying and we saw winston and we saw dalton and we've seen car but i don't know i think the i think the right now we're seeing olave's most mediocre mediocre version of himself. We are unimpressed with the fantasy results. If he just straight continued this the entire season and never got better, what he is would be a 94 receptions for just over 1,000 yards, and the touchdowns don't come. That's a pretty good season. 94 for 1,000, that's great.

Well, I mean, it's not a superstar that's that's great um well i mean it's not a 94 is great the thousand's not great for your expectations on a 17 game see i know i hear what you're saying i'm just laying it out there so that people have like i think it's important every every once in a while to pull up you know to park the car for a second and these decisions help or these discussions help like dynasty context for long-term. Like we don't have, we don't know what the future is in, in new Orleans. Um,

he's a wide receiver 19 right now on the year. I mean, that's, that's fine. It's not what you hoped. So, um, I think we all hope that a lava was going to step into like the Jefferson

chase, uh, shoes to, to begin the year. Like if you're, if you're staring down long-term Olave versus Garrett Wilson, I'm taking Garrett Wilson. Oh, 100%. Olave was drafted as the wide receiver 12, it looks like,

on average draft position. So finishing right now at wide receiver 19 would be a disappointment. Madison, he was your hungry for more yesterday, Mike. You know, he's going to have every opportunity to fail or succeed. Or succeed. I'm putting it in that order. There's a world where he succeeds. If that world exists, this week I think it'll be through the passing game. Yeah, it's going to be tough this week.

But, no, look, I think he's a trade for a candidate. Sometimes there's those players that are overperforming at at running back and then you look at madison situation with acres out and you're like oh maybe i target madison uh try to grab him now because the volume will be there would you rather rashad white or madison rashad rashad white rest of season yeah jordan addison addison is in such a weird position this is not a great matchup no i don't want to start him uh and then jefferson will be back and then it's like can can dob support multiple wide receiver options he didn't really support one in arizona uh so you got to imagine jefferson's better than addison for sure so that that'll be an interesting thing to watch rest of

season addison doesn't need a lot if he makes a big play, but Osborne didn't practice. Hawkinson limited. He'll be back out there, and that is kind of where you want to be the last six weeks. Saints defense has struggled against the tight end. It's the one place they've given

up a lot of points. They've been pretty good across the board. You cut Michael Thomas in our league of record. I sure did. Now, is he kind of out of contention because of the Goose Week? He was someone that when we look at what we are going to get from Michael Thomas, I mean, obviously the Goose Week was bad, but we felt like we could find that. We could go on the waivers any given week if we've got to start a wide receiver and go find a Josh Reynolds to plug in there

that's going to do what Michael Thomas can do. And we had some other interesting assets to pick up. Who were they? They were defenses. Chiefs? It was the Kansas City Chiefs, yes. You act like this is not in a public feed. You were talking like it's a secret.

Like, I could have looked. Don't tell anybody. The Kansas City Chiefs are a pretty good team. Are you going to secretly play the Chiefs? Yeah. Just spring it on somebody? All right. He's still keeping it quiet.

Yeah. Green Bay's 3-5. Pittsburgh's 5-3. The DraftKings Sportsbook line, Pittsburgh minus 3. Over-under is 39. I, I cannot fathom the Packers winning this ball game. I can't even create it in my head, the situation where they score enough points to win here, but that line's not huge.

So maybe I'm crazy, but Pittsburgh, you know, five and three, I think this is the worst kind of matchup for Jordan Love. There is not. Go on the road and play T.J. Watt. Good luck.

It's extremely difficult. I mean, going through, like, who, you know, Aaron Jones, yeah. It looks like Aaron Jones is. The end. Is back. But other than that, Christian Watson, who's been incredibly disappointing, Romeo Dobbs is essentially either you get a touchdown or you do not, and then you're just sort of, well, I'm sort of happy.

And even in week eight, he didn't even hit 10 points with a touchdown, which is, that's a pretty amazing game to get the padded six there and not make it. And then what's going on with Jaden Reed? He looked like he was taking the next step. You had the game against Minnesota, a huge jump in snaps, up to 78%, comes through with four for 83, and he is rewarded with 39% of the snaps the following week and I haven't heard anything about it Jaden Reed's such a good player was Reed banged up I agree I think Raiden is good but meanwhile they're like no we got to get Dontavian Wicks

on this called him Raiden Raiden yeah you did did I yeah you took uh Jordan Reed and made him Raiden what the yeah God of Thunder made him Raiden. What the? Yeah. What, God of Thunder? What is Raiden? Lightning? God of Lightning? I don't remember. Something like that.

I think Christian Watson is a good player. I think Jaden Reed is a good player. I think Romeo Dobbs is a good player. I don't think Jordan Love is a good player. Do you know Christian Watson? Remember the four-game stretch? Mm-hmm. Where he had the seven touchdowns or whatever with Rodgers?

Yep. He's only ever had one other game in the top 24 since then, since or before. Like that four-game stretch, he's never had another one. Interesting. Even including those games, he's a D in our consistency because he's 41% of the time in a workable number. It's really hard right now to have enough trust.

Like you at least need a baseline with Jordan Love week to week to have trust in him I don't have that yeah and I like the matchup I like the talent but you can't trust his body right now he is extremely banged up he's dealing with multiple injuries and talking about Watson I am talking about Christian Watson. Yeah. And so given how banged up he's been in these games, I think he's dealing with like head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes, knees and toes. And so I can't put him in my lineup, even though I want to with the matchup. Two targets last week.

Yeah. Two. Can he pick it in company? Matchup? Two targets last week. Yeah. Two. Kenny Pickett and company. You know, the one area where the Packers have been slightly weaker has been against running backs, but you've got a committee here. Najee looked okay last game. Jalen Warren, electric, limited opportunities. Lay it out for me.

Yeah, I mean, the matchup is really good for both of these guys. You imagine this is going to not be a super high-scoring game because you've got two weak offenses, but when you get around the goal line, if they do get around the goal line, I think Najee would be the play over Jalen Warren simply because of the touchdown upside in this specific matchup in a low scoring game to just kind of play the power running game against a softer Green Bay defense. But either guy you could flex in a pinch. Mike, do you believe that George Pickens is the kind of squeaky wheel that gets the grease?

No, no. Deontay Johnson is incredible. He's going to keep getting the targets. George Pickens will get targets, and they're going to be downfield targets. He will be either incredible or terrible. Tennessee is 3-5. By the way, this is our last matchup before we have, I guess,

some sort of special game prepared. I see nods from Deucer's Alley and the Borgogon. So one more matchup, then we'll do the game and we got starts of the week. And then we'll count down those top 10 nicknames,

which I'm very excited about. Tennessee's 3-5. Tampa's 3-5. Wheels have fallen off for Tampa. Yeah, they have. The DK Sportsbook line, Tampa minus one. The over-under is 39-1. I mean, the Bucs really should be, what, 4-4?

I mean, the fact that they lost that game at the end to C.J. Stroud with, like, what do you have, 40 seconds? That was amazing. Yeah, it's an interesting matchup. The cornerbacks for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are their primary corners injured. This is part of, you know, you saw C.J. Stroud put up 470. It's very difficult to run on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It's very easy to throw against them right now.

I think even a banana could do it. So, Bananarama, is he in starting consideration? Bananarama! Thank you. He is in DFS consideration. Okay. I don't think you need to put him out there. I think there's probably a handful of guys like Sam Howell, like Geno Smith.

Would you go Taylor Heineke against the Cardinals? Yeah. I don't think so. I actually would play Levis on that because I don't know if Heineke can throw two touchdowns. But I think it's fine if you want to go that way. Hopkins, though. What's the situation on London? Because that would matter a little bit to me. Yeah, I don't know if we have an update yet.

Last I heard, the bridge was falling down. Sorry. Wow. Hold on. On show 1500. Can we hit them all? Yeah. I'll see myself out. You made fun of yourself on that one. Yeah, well, I knew it before

I said it. I was like, don't do it. If I told you it was in my head at the same time. Of course, no. And I made the choice to absolutely not say it. You're a smart man. Limited on Wednesday, so we'll see for London. I mean, limited Wednesday, that's optimistic. Levis will not have Traylon Burks.

He's not expected to play. I want to bring up Kyle Phillips because Kyle Phillips got a lot of targets. Somebody has to fill in. You brought up the defense. Tampa's given up 35 to 37 points to wideouts. Hopkins is a... I was so upset to get into

the show, Doc, and I didn't have the chance to put DeAndre Hopkins in as my start of the week. Spoilers. Somebody might have done that but um but Kyle Phillips is getting more involved and I'm just throwing it out there for like DFS I think he's the bare minimum I Kyle who is part of the DFS show have you guys considered Kyle Phillips this week we're going to talk about him today as a punt. Okay. Derek Henry, RB7 on the year. Tampa has yet to allow a red zone rushing touchdown to a running back this year.

Yeah, this is a real, you hope it's snowing in Vermont situation because it's tough sledding for Derek Henry in this matchup. The Buccaneers have just been good for a long, long time against the run. It's a very, very tough defense to run on, and they want you to throw. They want, you know, it's like, why would you not throw the ball against a very easy-to-beat secondary? So Derek Henry might do that too.

That's fair. That is fair. Chris Godwin managed two for 16 on a week where Tampa Bay put up 37 points he was also banged up at one point I know he essentially played the whole game 88 of the snaps but I don't remember at what point in the game Jay do you remember like there was he went down I think he was holding his hand yeah I don't remember the specifics of of when that happened but obviously he did play the majority of game. The matchup is great.

Is there anybody you're not playing on Tampa's side? Would you play Baker over Levis? Yeah, I think I would because of the weapons. So Evans, Godwin, Otten, White? Yeah, Otten is okay. He had a big week last week, but the Titans are very good against tight ends. Musgrave over him? I've cooled on Otten.

Yeah, I think Musgrave over him. Okay. Anybody else from this game you guys want to discuss? Nope. I'm supposed to push this button now. I want to play the game. Should I be afraid? Is something else going to walk in that door?

Don't be afraid. Can I win? How much money can we win? You can win. I see a picture that says, It says, Footballers Trivia. Oh my gosh.

And the Borgogon has this. Kyle's the host? Alright, take it away, Kyle. Alright, so I went back, looked at some episodes, and I got some numbers. So you guys need to write down a number and the three of you guys can kind of compare your answers and see who's the closest.

So it's whoever's the closest between the three of you, that's what we're going for, okay? So we're doing some footballers trivia. Yeah, first question, okay? Before Andy's famous intro of Ah, Welcome In, he used to start the show with, What is going on, everybody? And welcome to the show.

What was the first episode number that Andy said, Ah, welcome in? See, I've always wondered this. This is like, ah, welcome in. See, I've always wondered this. This is like, I have no idea. I don't know how it started. I don't remember. I'm going to guess.

You're looking at episode number? Episode number. And you guys will turn them over at the same time and reveal your answers. Yeah, we'll have to share with the listening audience here. The number that I put, I'm locking it in, so I'm going to say it, is 45. I'm going to put 45. Oh, you're going that? I was going way later. It might be way later.

I went 233. Okay. I guess there's 1,500 shows. And I went super early. I went 33. Okay. What's the answer? The answer is 389.

Wow. All right. Okay. So episode 389. I knew it took a while. Mike even made a point after you did it on that episode to kind of like say, oh, that's different. Yeah. Really? So you used to say also welcome in or happy Monday.

That means I've only said that for 74% of all the shows we've ever done. Wow. That's still the majority. All right, next question. You guys have worked through a lot of matchups. I a point by the way yeah that's that's fair that's fair you work through a lot of matchups since 2015 you guys have declared 1764 starts of the week all of them right um yeah they've all hit so far please don't ask us our hit rate jason you've done 122 boom boom kickers all of them have hit yeah of course how many different regular season matchup breakdowns have you done like you

did four today not counting those but how many have you done since 2015 how many matchup breakdowns oh that's just math right yeah yeah so but that's tough math. Yeah, that's very tough math. So we just have to shoot our shot here? Yeah. Let's go. Let's see. Hold on. I'm trying to.

2,000. I'm just going to throw a flat number out there. I will go 1,500. I will. I'm going to take the under on that. I'm going to go. What did you go? I went 2,000. I'm going to take the under on that. I'm going to go. What did you go? I went 2000.

I'm going to go. I'll go 1200. Andy's the closest. Two thousand two hundred and sixteen matchups. You break in. Oh my goodness. You were very close. Yeah, that was pretty close.

I just did some. Did some quick mental math and tried to get get there. All right. This next one. This is a hat one. A hat trick question. The first person to wear a hat on the show was Andy because Mike was sporting a man bun for a while.

Yes, it was a very long time I could not wear a hat. It was a hair hat. Mike just had a streak of 44 episodes in a row that he wore a hat. 44 straight? Yeah. How does that make you feel, Jason? A man with his hair covering it 44 consecutive times. You know, the only thing I feel is bad for Kyle having to go 44 episodes in a row

counting who's wearing a hat. What is happening? He gets high on this stuff. He loves it. All right. He's a stat dragon. I'm on the show, so it's not that hard. Okay.

44 straight hats? But his question's about Jason because he's a new man in 2023 he is a new man what is jason's hat rate since week one of this year so what percentage of episodes oh gosh of the 2023 season has jason moore wore a hat all but five is my guess so 90 97 that's my guess what's your guess i'm i don't remember when I started. If I started by week one, I'm going to go 88%. Then I will go

87%. Great. Jason's the closest. Yes. 91%. But Andy was very close. It's 41 out of 45 episodes. You've worn a hat, my friend. I said all but five. I just got my percentage wrong. Okay, so we all have a point. Okay, it's looking good uh next question jay grizz first appeared as a replacement for jason moore on this podcast yeah that's why he's named jay grizz what

episode number did jay grizz show up on this show i believe mike did we order Jay Griswold while we were in the studio? Yes. That's what I thought. And so episode number probably. Oh, I got it. You got it? I bet. It's got to be two, three hundred in at least. Maybe more. Oh, yeah. Maybe more.

Yes. I'm going to say episode 500. That's a good guess. I'm going 500 and 555. Mike, I will go 425. Okay. All right, Mike's the closest. It was episode 376, which is the same episode that Mike cut his hair and cut his man bun.

Wow. Yeah, I do remember that because I started the show with a paper bag on my head for the big reveal. Wow. I didn't remember that. Well, it's because you didn't wear a bag. I kept that bag it's in the smithsonian okay last ballers trivia question okay so i'm not counting you guys have done 1500 episodes i'm not going to count that you did 108 show after the shows right it's a lot

i'm not going to count the 147 footcasts you've done okay we're not going to do that yeah we're not going to count the 116 live streams or the spotify lives or the series xm or the spitballers okay if you wanted to listen to every single footballers episode 15 000 hours this is the question how long would it take you consecutively if you just had a playlist to listen to all of these episodes in a row and you know what some listener will probably do this they'll turn it on so how long would this take you i will how many days is my question so what i mean this is this is just math i gotta convert into um okay i'm gonna go here let me just i going to go 62 and a half days. I don't know, 300 days or something?

No, no, no, not that. This is you don't sleep, right? This is 24 hours in a day. Jay, what did you guess? 60 days? Yeah, yeah. I guessed 62 and a half hours. 62 and a half days? Hours?

Sorry, 62 and a half days. I'm going to go like 80 days fine i'm changing mine because mine was way too high i'll go uh 95 days it would be approximately 93 000 minutes and jason you're the close 64.8 days you listen to every single episode back to back forever wow all right okay is that the final one that's's the final one. Who won? I think Jason won. Congratulations, Jason. Did I win? I'll take it. You're the smartest man alive. Great. Thank you.

I don't know. Whatever. Alright. Thank you, Kyle. That was fascinating. You dig deep. That's a lot of footballers. We have starts of the week and then the countdown. So I'm excited. Welcome to Starts of the Week, presented by Purina ProPlan. All right, who wants to start with their quarterback?

I'll jump in. I got Jared Gerf. And look, it is a little bit risky business because it's Jared Garth on the road. But he is playing against the Chargers. The Lions are three-point road favorites. Teams are throwing on the Chargers at the third highest rate in the NFL. Goff is averaging about 40 pass attempts per game on the road. And the Chargers are dead last in schedule adjusted points to the quarterback position.

So I think Goff is in a very good spot yeah and it's on the road but it's I don't like it it's uh really I know I don't I love the start of Jared Goff I um even though it's on the road uh road games against the Chargers are oftentimes home games for a traveling crowd this Lions team and fan base right now. I'll bet there's a lot of people at that game. I'm going to go next with Kyler Murray as my start of the week. I want to give people confidence to start in week one. There's going to be a lot of questions out there of whether you can. If you have one of those other six obvious starts, I'm not saying start him over that,

but if you have a questionable start, you've got a Sam Howell, you've got a Geno Smith. Jared Goff. Jared Goff, I believe. Are you still Goff? Mike started the week. Yes, I am Goff over Kyler Murray. So Kyler Murray right now in his career, he's averaged 20.3 fantasy points per game he's been a quarterback one in 63 percent of his full games played that's behind only mahomes josh allen lamar and jalen hertz since 2019 and then over the last month the falcons are 31st in schedule adjusted fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks and we've seen younger athletic quarterbacks coming back from an ACL injury. Deshaun Watson came back and ran the ball right off the bat.

What about the rust? You're not worried about the rust? I mean, yeah. He hasn't played in a long time. I do not think Kyler is going to come out here and have his best game of the season by any means. There's going to be a little bit of rust. He probably won't run the most he's going to run this season,

but he is a massive upgrade over Joshua Dobbs, who has been very fantasy relevant as a Cardinal. He's actually had a handful of big performances. So I think Kyler is someone that if you've been holding on to him or if you've scooped him up and you've been looking for that quarterback, I'm plugging him in week one. Brock Purdy is my quarterback start of the week. Taking on Jacksonville, Gets Debo Samuel back

full assortment of weapons with McCaffrey and Debo and Ayuk and Kittle. He's a good quarterback who's taken a lot of crap for this losing streak. But they're coming off the bye week. They've got a lot to prove. I'm very confident in Purdy with two touchdowns at least.

And I'm going with Tony Pollard against the New York Giants. I think this is it. This is the time. He is tied for the second most red zone attempts. It's been inefficient, only two red zone touchdowns this year, but the Cowboys have the highest implied team total. They are playing the Giants.

They should absolutely destroy them. And a hot Kyle stat here over the last decade, 64 teams were favored by more than two touchdowns at home. And the running backs, I should say, 30 rushing attempts, 137 yards, averaged over 30 fantasy points a game. Did you see the line? Do you know the line? I believe it's 16 points. Yeah, I had heard it was 16 and a half.

16 wasn't high enough. They're like, bet it up yeah i think this is this is finally the week that we get some hot tony pollard action okay uh for my running back start of the week i'm going with ramondre stevenson over in germany he's actually been the running back nine yeah the plan is working over the last month averaging 15 opportunities per game against the colts if he gets 15 opportunities he should be great i talked about it but they have allowed the most rushing touchdowns in the nfl this season and it's not just touchdowns on the season he's averaging as many targets per game as christian mccaffrey so the matchup here makes

him a must start to me it's interesting because the the targets is what we were hoping would come back that six that he had in week one and he's had six six four six his total carries are not that high i mean it's ten nine ten nine like he hasn't been over that eight so it's been in the passing game 15 opportunities a game you would want it to be oh yeah 10 carries and five receptions versus 14 carries and 1 reception. I'm going with Javante Williams. I like it. Javante has looked better and better as the season went on. The Bills' defense is really struggling.

They're allowing almost 5 yards per carry on the ground. They're also struggling through the air. That's why they made a trade. 30 opportunities for Javante before the bye week. I think he's a top 15 rest of season running back oh i do oh my i could see it at wide receiver i'm gonna go with deandre hopkins he is top five in target share and air yard share so this i mean this is a perfect matchup for him he's playing the tampa bay buuccaneers who just got absolutely destroyed

by the Houston Texans, but it's just the confidence of Will Levis. Not that Will Levis is the greatest quarterback on earth, but we have a quarterback now who will give Hopkins the star treatment. 11 targets last week. That is absolutely beautiful against a winnable opponent. I like Hopkins as a smash play. Hopkins is going to be awesome this week. I've got Tyler Lockett against Washington at home. Hot Lockett!

We're coming off a terrible week for the Seahawks offense. It was straight diaper gravy last week in Baltimore. Oh, that's a new one. But this is still a good team, a well-run franchise. What episode did Jason break out the new phrase, diaper gravy? 1,500. So I think they bounced back.

And the Washington defense is why you can have confidence. Washington is the 31st best in schedule adjusted fantasy points allowed to wide receivers. 30th in expected points added per pass attempt. Lockett's averaging six targets per game. There's probably going to be a little bit rain in this game. That's the only concern. If for some reason it gets worse beforehand, maybe you make a pivot. But I presume Lockett's had plenty of good games in the rain

before they play in Seattle. It rains all the time. Have you seen how bad DK Metcalf has been? Yes. Like this offense, if they don't perform against Washington, there's going to be panic alarms for Geno Smith. I mean, it will be like a full moving on from Geno for the franchise, maybe, at some point.

It's been bad. It has. It sucks, man, because that was such a great story. Mech have had one catch for 50 yards last week, which was a lot of yak. That was it. That's sad. Is it my turn?

No. It is. My wide receiver is contingent on being active. That's important. Drake London, if he plays Arizona, if he's healthy, I think Drake London is a huge play this week. Been fairly consistent before getting hurt. Eight targets a game, 63 receiving yards a game.

Cardinals secondary, incredibly weak. And the ability for Kyler to put up some points. I think Drake London is set up. The problem is you don't really know where to go if he's out because last week Mack Hollins got banged up, and so then Darryl Hodge came in and actually looked pretty good. Oh, man. Arthur was so ecstatic.

Yeah, because he loves playing players who nobody has their football card. The tertiary options? Yeah, nobody has their card. Oh, my gosh. It gosh it's unbelievable all right tight end start to the week dalton kincaid gets the denver broncos it is it's time over the last three weeks averaging seven and a half receptions 73 yards per game he's their second best receiver gave the babe is no longer the number two option it is dalton kincaid stefaniggs, and then it's Dalton. And then the matchup, the Broncos 30th and scheduled just to points to the tight end. This is a, this will be a very fun Dalton Kincaid game. It is the week for Dalton tight ends for

sure. If you have a Dalton and I'm going to go with Dalton Schultz against Cincinnati. Someone call a doctor because Dr. Schultz is back. He had 11 targets last week. He has been a difference-making tight end over the last month, basically killing it since week four. He got off to a slow start. We thought, oh, he's not important to this offense. He's actually really, really good. He's a good tight end the rest of the season.

But this week, Cincinnati is dead last in schedule-adjusted fantasy points's a good tight end the rest of the season, but this week, Cincinnati is dead last in schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed to the tight end. Look at what Kate Otten did last week. The most fantasy points for tight end last week was against Cincinnati. They're going to need Dalton Schultz in this game. Dalton Keene, tight

end for the Houston Texans. Wait, they have multiple Daltons? They have multiple Daltons. Now, Logan Thomas against Seattle is my selection here, averaging 5.6 targets per game. Look to in the red zone. Washington's throwing the ball a ton. Their defense is weak. You talked about Geno and having confidence on the Seattle side.

But the last two weeks, Seattle's been lit up by the tight end. I think Logan gets back into the end zone this week. Thank you to our sponsor Purina Pro Plan Sport. Pro Plan Sport provides fine tuned nutrition for strength and stamina that enables dogs and owners to take on life's adventures together. Pro Plan Sport high performance fuel for

active dogs. It all starts here. Oh we're into the boom boom aren't we yes okay jason moore's iron clad locked and loaded 100 guaranteed boom boom kicker of the week last week on boom boom kicker doing hard time in jail i broke little groupies back revered in the prison some called me a man of demolition not holding back my true desires i unleashed a roundhouse fart instant kill it stopped his heart so long seattle's jason meyer now so you're just i have some notes yeah uh we had a we had a demolition man reference yeah

i like that now i guess if you want to stretch it, you could say roundhouse Wesley Snipes. But Sly Stallone is not a roundhouse type of guy. No, no, no. This is a Wesley Snipes. Okay. This was a Wesley Snipes roundhouse fart. Okay. All right, you're back in?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I worked through my problems. Okay, good. Oh, man. I find it a little disturbing that these, you're back in? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I worked through my problems. Okay, good. Oh, man. I find it a little disturbing that these, you're not just beating them up. They're like, you're killing them. He's on them.

They're dead. They're dead. I hate kickers. I hate them. No, but that's like real hate. Murder? Yeah, murder is at the tippy top of hate. To be fair, I didn't know that my roundhouse fart would kill him.

It was just a good one, you know? Just a real solid roundhouse fart. Yep. What a lead in. All right, we have one more segment, right? We've got a special moment here. I believe we do. Let's have the moment you've all been waiting for.

Delightful. Let's have the moment you've all been waiting for. The top 10 show nicknames of all time. Brooks, are you handling this? Yes, sir. I've got the results. So are you counting them down 10 to 1? Yes, sir. Sure am. I results. So are you counting them down 10 to 1? Yes, sir. I sure am. I am so curious. 108 nicknames. And I saw people complaining that other ones weren't in there.

Yeah. Some like, I think, one-offs, maybe. And some were like one of the more jingles, singing. David Johnson was the biggest one that people were looking for. It's not really a nickname. I get that. We decided that didn't make the cut. And we had over 5 000 votes excellence excellence and we're gonna start actually a quick shout out to number 11 because only 19 votes separate 10 and 11 and 11 was pity city oh and that was a change this morning.

Last night, Pity City had the lead. Hey, your vote counts. Kyle, does that make you sad? He's top 12 wide receiver. I love it. Top 12 nickname, too. All right. All right.

At number 10, with 1,263 votes, Fat Thor. Oh, Fat Thor? Brand new. Yes. Yeah. Fat Thor. All right. That's surprising.

Yeah. Also ridiculous, Mike, that you accomplished what you did with that name. And my Halloween costume. All right, guys. At number nine, Mr. B-Hole. Yeah. Adam Gase. Yeah. Mr. B-Hole. Yeah, I do. Mr. B-Hole was number nine, huh? And I believe you said Adam Gase, but we have updated that.

That is no longer Adam Gase's nickname. That is Arthur Smith's. All right. All right. Number eight. This one surprised me, guys. Fireball Jones, Tim Patrick. Wow.

Number eight with almost 1,400 votes votes he never got to live up to that no i feel like maybe we shouldn't have called him that we have changed a few guys names like that tried to give him a real superhero name yeah smash jackson was poof gone yeah that's not so fireball jones was eight okay? This is not our fault. We're doing everything we can for these guys. Yeah, he got paid. That's true. He probably got paid because of the nickname.

And at number seven, with about 100 votes more, Booty Scootin' Cam Newton. Oh, yeah. Booty Scootin' Cam Newton. All right. That was a great one. It was. The drop made the name.

I mean, Booty Scootin' Cam Newton is okay. But hit that drop again. Booty Scootin' Cam Newton. Yes, it would have been good for the show for him to be better than he ended up. He burned bright. Yeah. That's great. All right, guys.

At number six, another new one from recents uh voldemort yeah i i actually did vote for that one as well oh yeah i love i love he who shall not be named all right so uh voldem Number six. Okay. We're in the top five, baby. All right. This one is a shocker for me guys. Can't wait to see the reactions. Number five, Tony, Tony, Tony, James Jones jr. Yes. Come on. No, it's not. Yes, baby. Oh, that's a shock. You like it does me, Mike. It's not only shocking. Disappointing? It's disappointing. Yeah, it's disappointing. There's over 100 names.

How many votes did Mr. Tony Tony Brooks James Jones Jr. get? 1,700. Yeah, the people. All right. I'm shocked. The people like it. Crap. Yeah.

Number four? Number four. I am the Walrus. Yes. Darren Waller. Number four. Number four. I am the Walrus. Darren Waller. All right. We're back on track. I thought that was in contention for number one, for sure.

The Walrus. But shaky hamstring knocks him to fourth. All right, guys, we're down to the top three. The dump truck. Okay. All right. I hope he gets activated to the active roster leonard fornette by the way for those wanting to know the dump truck that's great that was last year right yeah i believe so yeah that's uh one where al got the drop on the spot on the fly oh yeah he did work the hard that day number two number two

the mooth mooth is loose oh yeah that's a good one all right okay that makes sense the mooth the mooth is loose all right he needs to get loose he's not been loose for a while he needs to get loose that was uh the most popular shirt we ever had. For sure. Do we have a drum roll or something here, Al? We sure do. Excellent. Don't tell me how to do my job. I'm just making sure. All right. And the number one nickname of

all time. Big Montana. Oh, yes. Woo. Yeah. Will Disley. Will, yes. Woo. Yeah. Yeah. Will Disley. Will Disley.

What? Woo-hoo. It's only because of the music. Of course it is. I mean, it's all of it, baby. Oh, my gosh. Big Montana? Nice.

He stopped it. Unbelievable. Big Montana number one. That's fantastic. Now, how wide was the gap do you have that uh like uh what 150 that's pretty big big montana 170 so how did this work you voted for 10 and then the accumulation of points yep so people weren't putting big montana's number one necessarily right right it's just the most people had him in the top 10 of so in in some ways it's almost like the most popular nicknames yeah yeah because it's it's just based on like it's exactly what it is oh man we dodged fellas we got luckier because

uh darnell anderson was number 12 oh i wanted to was. The two that I'm sad about. Oh, the Lizard King. I feel like that one lost the recency. The two that I'm sad about is Darnell Anderson. I wanted him to be with. And blah, blah. Because those are two of my all time. Pete River was 14. Nice.

Oh, see, I was a big fan of that. Koopa Cup of Coffee was 17. What was the least popular nickname? I'm looking at it. We got My Sweetie Deedee. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That makes sense.

Yeah. Betty Crockett Gilmore was also. I don't even remember. I don't remember. Was Crockett Gilmore a player? That's, yeah, the early days, 2015. Yeah. Oh, man.

So here's a funny, one more final note here uh number 100 and number 107 was mr necessary and mr very necessary oh come on mr necessary was great yeah charles clay that was a good time jamison target i forgot about that. Wow. Okay. There's so many dumb names. I'm sure we will have some social media content surrounding this vote. So we'll share the results out there. And, guys, we have one final thing for you before we close down show 1500. We do have a special congrats video we want to play from the Foot Clan. Oh, really? And a special congrats from us want to play from the Foot Clan. Oh, really?

And a special congrats from us here at Foot Clan HQ. We are just so thankful to be a part of this. And so this quick video really summarizes just how meaningful you guys are to everybody. Aw. Hi, guys. It's Julia, one of your writers. Congratulations on 1,500 shows. Congratulations, Ball. Congratulations on 1,500 shows. Congratulations, Ballers, on 1,500 episodes.

Each day when you welcome us into the show, Andy, it feels as if you are welcoming us into your own home to shoot the breeze, converse with friends. Beyond just the regular fantasy football stuff, I just want to thank you guys for a show that made a 40-year-old woman think that she really, truly could pivot her career. My kids and I listen to you guys in the car for a show that made a 40-year-old woman think that she really truly could pivot her career.

My kids and I listen to you guys in the car every single day, and they've enjoyed it so much that they've wanted to start their own fantasy leagues. We now have a league with my siblings and their kids, and it's just really been a great thing to bond over together. For an hour every day, we get to do what we love with you guys, Andy, Mike, and Jason.

I'd like to thank you guys for being incredible fantasy football analysts, but more than that, for being incredible people and being incredible men who really appreciate all people but appreciate women in the space. And that means a lot to me. It means a lot to me. And yes, you do offer us your expert fantasy analysis and advice, but you do something so much more important than that. You put a smile on our faces. So congratulations.

Thanks for all that you do, and I'm just super proud to be a tiny part of something so great. And most importantly of all, go Adam Thielen. Congratulations. Congratulations on 1,500 episodes. Looking forward to the next 1,ielen. Congratulations. Congratulations on 1500 episodes. Looking forward to the next 1500. Oh, you sneaky scoundrels.

Once again, surprising us. That was very sweet. Thank you, Julia. We have a lot of everybody. We have a lot of fun. Yeah,

this has been, I mean, it's, it's a little surreal in the respect of how much time has passed since the beginning. Yeah. Wouldn't you say? I mean, it's like 15 000 hours of talking it's unbelievable it's truly it is unbelievable impossible to believe hey and yes seriously thank you everyone listening

what a ride what a ride thank you for yeah and and let's be clear. I mean, that was some very nice stuff said about the three of us, but we are a- We are a team. Yeah, we are just like a reflection of the people around us in every respect, from the production staff to our dev team to everybody, Papa Josh handling customer support, Betsy and Kyle and what they do on the other podcasts and like- And the Foot Clan. uh betsy and kyle and what they do on the other podcasts and like and the foot clan yeah i mean it's it's uh we've we always we started this because we believed that fantasy was a lot more than trying to you know increase your bank account on a weekly basis or you know even finishing first

in your league like one person does that every year, but everybody plays together. And so, you know, I've seen some comments this past week on show 1500 of people just saying like, they look forward to the daily routine of fantasy football. And that's really what it is. You play the whole, you play the whole year and there's only one day that championship happens. And you got, you know,

364 other days where you're part of the routine of fantasy, which we think is really fun and, and fills people with like, you know, camaraderie and connection and all that. So that's why we do it. And we really appreciate everybody. So thank you so much.

No more surprises back there. That's it. Now you're sending the Borgogon right back out, right? Oh yeah. Get him out that door. Get out of here, Kyle.

Thank you everybody. Thank you so much, everyone. We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com

and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.