Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - FANTASY SHOW: Thanksgiving football should be fun

Episode Date: November 26, 2025

Mike Schopp of ADP Chasing and WGR 550 in Buffalo joins for our weekly Fantasy Show to preview Thanksgiving football and what to expect from the Vikings this week with Max Brosmer, likely, at the helm. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, presented by Fanduil. Matthew Collar here, as always. And with me, Mike Shope, WGR 550 in Buffalo, where everything is totally fine and ADP chasing as well. And whatever else you have going on, fantasy-wise. Mike, happy Thanksgiving to you. How are you? Happy Thanksgiving. I've got plenty going on, fantasy-wise.

I'd like to have some more going on fantasy-wise, but our high-stakes regular seasons end in week 12. And a gentleman by the name of Richard Pearsall ended up being the deal-breaker on a couple of high-stakes teams. I mean, he sat there all year. What happened to Brandon Ayuk, by the way? But Pearsall, like, you're kind of waiting and waiting, and he's hurt again, but then he's back,

and then he's running routes, but they don't throw it to him. and unfortunately for me a couple of big ones came down to him on Monday night and you know what two two catches six yards maybe nine it doesn't no makes no difference I would have I would have put everything into the Ricky Pierce all bucket before the season just considering where they were and who they lost and everything else and he was a second round draft pick but such is life especially in a Kyle Shanahan system where they just throw the running back every play and if you have Christian McCaffrey in a PPR league.

Boy, you're getting, you're getting all the PPRs from him. But that, that was a first round pick. I mean, that that's the year where the bills traded out and Kansas City took worthy and then Pierceall went and the bills traded out and Carolina took Liget. And the bills had all day Friday and like, just do one, make one more move. You got Ladd-McConkie. You got five other guys here. Coleman is one of them.

Just make one more move. You have the whole day to negotiate and they didn't do it. I feel like maybe they felt it was enough already with the two trades, but that's not optimal. Well, they got Brandon Cooks now. So. Yes. Everything is fine.

Is the GM going to call back into Jeremy and Joe and be like, hey guys, you know, I mean, whoops. Yeah. Or when Brandon Cooks catches the game winning touchdown and the AFC championship on a deep shot from Josh Allen,

is he going to be like, I had this plan all along to, to do it just exactly this way. Not that I, in my seat with the team that I cover, can make fun of any franchises missteps in last off season because the Minnesota Vikings made just about the biggest one in the entire national football league. And they get that in their face this Sunday,

if darn old, you know, plays well. The thing that, I mean, a lot of things are interesting and maybe even sort of weird about what Bill's GM, Brandon Bean, did the morning after the, draft or the Monday morning calling into WGR is within minutes of that, I don't know, rant, there was a report that they had Elijah Moore in for a tryout. Like the very crux of the debate, no, they're still out there fishing. And, you know, at the same time, it's perfectly reasonable, I think, to scrutinize what they

haven't done or what, you know, they haven't invested in wide receiver. but you also need to give them some credit for realizing it. Like I thought at the trade deadline, there's no way with where Bean had planted his flag that he was going to try to buy big on a receiver and then it came out shortly thereafter that they wanted Jalen Waddle. I don't think, by the way, GMs sometimes realize what message fans are getting

when they hear about the trades they couldn't make. You know, like, okay, well, you tried to be. make a deal. You want credit for that? Because that's probably where the league came from is the bills wanting their legions to know that they tried for Jalen Waddle. But what's the difference when you don't make the trade? So they're still scraping at it. They tried McColl Hardman. He got hurt right away. Now it's Brandon Cooks. Feels a lot like Amari Cooper cooks at 32. He's been around. They both have been very similar. They both have been on several teams so um i don't know their playoff odds are still really good this was a minnesota twins

thing for a very long time with the twins were in on this guy and they they made an offer and it was like okay that's congratulations you are a front office do we really think the miami dolphins were going to trade jalen waddle to the buffalo bills i i don't know that that would make oh i mean maybe they are a crazy team but that doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense yeah i guess so but I don't know if that makes a whole lot of sense to help your division rival. Usually you try to send them the farthest away possible. But anyway, I think that just in general

with the offense of the Buffalo Bills, that game against the Texans is sort of that turning point of, okay, this is really in a bad spot because that game right there, an island game, everybody's watching, it looks like a playoff game. And the Texans certainly treat, it like that and you just couldn't stop any of the pressure, didn't have answers down the field. And there's only so many times Josh Allen can run or I mean, gosh, even like, there's only

so many times you can throw a swing pass and have it turn out to be a 50 yard play or a hook and ladder or whatever or hook and lateral depending on how you like to say it. But I mean, even their best plays were kind of bogus in that game. It really did look like a team that's going to struggle to win in the playoffs without an answer at wide receiver. Yeah, they looked like they were playing a man short almost because of how much pressure Allen was under. My daughter plays hockey, good hockey. She's 14. And her teams have been fine like through the years. They've, you know, maybe they're just sort of average or above average. But when you play a team that's just like all over it, it looks like you're playing

short-handed because there's never any space. There's never any sort of easy button stuff. Right? It's all just sort of you're always under duress. And that's exactly what the bills look like in that Houston game. It's what they look like in Atlanta. It's what they look like in Miami. These are not really good teams I'm mentioning and they're losing to them on the road. And that does not bode well. It's just, of course, as you know, a very interesting moment here in the AFC where if you look at Super Bowl odds, the chiefs and the bills are still like one, two or one in three, despite the fact that they're three. You're five games back, and it's already Thanksgiving. Like, what do we think will happen? Denver and New England still have schedule advantages. The chiefs at least get to play Denver again, but they've also got to deal with Houston. And I think Houston's really annoying to play against with their defense.

But in that game, the bills had in Houston, I believe it was that they threw, they completed 12 passes to wide receivers and eight were to Khalil Shakir. So they got off the plane and like, well, we completed four passes to the rest of our lengthy wide receiver room. And we got to keep hammering at that. So that's enter Brandon Cooks, I guess. Yeah. I mean, this is like, it gets to the point where, and I feel this way because you and I are professional talkers.

And when you've run down the same conversation road time and time and time again, it's like what is left to say about this? And I felt that way coming out of Green Bay with J.J. McCarthy where what more can we say about how this is going? It's going as bad as it's ever gone for any young quarterback and they should have brought Sam Darnold back and et cetera, et cetera. And it feels the same way for us. We've been doing this for a couple of years with this fantasy show. And we've been saying, you know, the bill's not making any real effort to get a top wide receiver or even a reasonably good wide receiver to throw to is eventually going to bite them. And it certainly did last year at times.

And it definitely has so far this year. Because I think last year, the league was separated by a lot more in terms of like there were no mediocre teams to lose to like the Houston Texans. It just felt like it was either five or six good teams and everyone else was horrible. I don't think it's that way this year. Schedules change. And then, you know, every time they go on the road, it feels like they just have no offense to work with whatsoever. So I don't know what you're supposed to, unless it was that

random Carolina game, but I don't know what you're supposed to do with it now other than to just say it's going to be what it's going to be. And Josh Allen is going to have to be a heroic. And maybe you have to switch to not that they already kind of haven't, but like maybe you have to switch to just running the football all the time. I mean, that's really the only way to do it. That's where they've had their most success, except when it's. you know, emergency time, like in the opener against Baltimore, where they just had no choice. Baltimore switched defenses weirdly and ended up blowing that game. But yeah, that's been the philosophy here for two years now is to run it.

And they have been very successful, right? We've got to recognize that. I think as redundant and boring or repetitive as the conversation is, like you said, on this subject, it always was going to come down to those few plays in the playoffs. and apart from sort of a worst-case scenario where they don't make it now, because now that that's in play, then it still will. And if you end up going to New England or Indianapolis needing to win those games to make your Super Bowl finally, then okay.

I mean, I don't think that that has to, that's not impossible to overcome. We'll see about the Ravens who play Thanksgiving night. They still don't look good, right? I mean, Jackson doesn't run. He's hurt all over his body. And, okay, well, the division is crappy and you're the favorite, but they still don't look actually good. So I don't know, like even going to Baltimore in the first round, the bills have won there. They've beaten them in the playoffs twice with these quarterbacks.

Okay? Like, I just, I don't want to get, this is how I feel, and this is especially Matthew, how I sound. How I want to be heard is I don't want to fall. for all right, this is over. Because when you do that, you can look like a donkey. And I don't want to look like a donkey. You know, I just want to

get through the season and see, you know, what it is in the end. I don't think it's over. You know, it's just not that kind of league. It's not that kind of sport. And if you have Alan, you're live in every game. I mean, that's obvious. So here's what I wanted

to ask you or bring up to you about the Vikings. if I may. So you slipped in, right? They should have kept Donald. What percentage of any, you know, fans, analysts were, would have said that before they made the decision? What was it five percent? What what percentage of people thought at the time they should have done that? The trap is when you draft McCarthy so early, your your pot committed. And even if people said, well, it's too early. Well, you need a quarterback and, you know, we've got the right coach and you sort of go around and around. You get to a point where they almost had no decision

because of what they had invested in McCarthy. It reminds me of, if you give me one more minute here, Joe Posnansky, who I think is a really smart, good writer, baseball books, also a football book, and he had a chapter in the Football 100 on Tom Osborne and his decision to go for two in the Orange Bowl. Yep. I think it was like the same weekend. No, it was a different weekend. Anyway, in the 80s for Nebraska.

And, you know, they lost. If they kick the point, they have to make it. People don't ever say that about, you know, kicking, but they have to make it. Still, chip shot, extra point, tie, national champions. And your program and your team has that forever. But everybody respected that he didn't do that, went for the win, lost, and they don't have that honor, but the coach looks great for trying. And Posnansky raised the point in this book that people always, you know, automatically gave him credit for that, but wasn't it the easy

choice? Because even if he, if he kicks the point and ties, he's remembered forever negatively for doing that in a win, but, you know, he goes for it and loses and people respect him for it. That seems like, in a way, that's the easy choice, and that might be counterintuitive. And I think that's what the Vikings had. And this is not that rare. But once they make the draft pick, it almost doesn't matter how Darnold plays. I mean, evidently, because he had a great season, and they get those two games at the end that are gross. And now it's easy because you have that sort of escape hatch and your, you know, your decision is kind of made for you.

So I've talked for long enough. Now, I think you're completely right that going with. with J.J. McCarthy was the wildly popular idea. There was a certain local podcaster who was really ripped to shreds in many comment sections for suggesting that you don't actually know what J.J. McCarthy is going to be. And I thought it was a better idea. I wrote about it. I talked about it to franchise tag Sam Darnold. And I don't want to be like I told you so, guy. This is just like this is what I said. was to franchise tag Sam Darnold because then you sort of have your cake and eat it too.

You're competing in 2025 with Sam Darnold, but also you're learning about J.J. McCarthy and you're developing him. And then the following season, you would be able to, in 2026, you'd be able to turn it over to McCarthy if you like what you saw. But if you didn't like what you saw, then you could bail or you could sign McArthur or sign Darnold to a long-term contract extension. And the same went for the worst case scenario where if Darnold turns back into a pumpkin, sees ghosts, melts down, whatever people love to say about Sam Darnold, no matter how good the guy plays and how much he wins, every single bad game is like, ghosts, he leads a league in quarterback rating. But sure, like, despite four interceptions, that's how good he's been in a single game. For me, it was all about the evidence of the past, which was quarterbacks just don't play that well and then turn out to be bad. It just doesn't happen. To have seasons like that, there are no quarterbacks ever who have won more than 11 games thrown for 4,000 yards and 35 touchdowns, and then turned out suddenly to not remember how to play football.

And McCarthy, there's no quarterback like him that's ever succeeded where he missed an entire season. So, wow. And to add to that, there are comparable quarterbacks to McCarthy for the small sample size of actually playing in college, with a lot of winning success. And that would be like Mark Sanchez. The closest that I could find to J.J. McCarthy statistically for what his actual numbers looked like. And for the few number of passes, the big level college quarterback who was mostly, if you go back and look at the reports from Sanchez, it's not, oh, this guy has the best arm or best touch on the football of all time.

It's all like he knows ball. He's a leader. He cares about, you know, the game and so forth. He's a winner. There are just, you know, and when we talk about like one year guys, which is what he really was, I mean, that's, that's like a Mitch Trubisky. So for me, I wasn't like, oh, don't draft McCarthy because I think he's got a ton of talent and I think he cares a lot about the game. But the lack of experience, it's not Bo Nix. It's not Michael Pennix. It's not someone you could look at 4,000 passes for. So I was on the side of, hey, if they keep him, I think that's a good idea. But where. the complicating factor was is a little bit of like who am I to tell Kevin O'Connell what to do with his quarterback. That was the challenge that I always ran into, which is if I, if I am from my seat saying like Kevin, you shouldn't believe in yourself and your own evaluation ability, but I would also say

that like howie Roseman drafted Jalen Rager. Like no one's perfect. No one is perfect when it comes to evaluation in this game. And they had a chance. But I think what they got lost in was the Rams game where it wasn't really Sam Darnold's fault, but they didn't have a line, they couldn't pressure, they couldn't run the football, and they got caught up in the things that they couldn't do around Sam Darnold and thought, let's spend all the money to fix those things and lost the fact that if your quarterback

doesn't play well, and you rank 31st in team quarterback rating, you will lose almost every game. And that's where they ended up being. But I don't think there was any world where they could have seen it being this bad. I think they were realistic about like, hey, he's probably not going to come in and be a megastar. But here's where the, the hubris came from was they believed if we just set up everything perfect for him on a silver platter, then he'll have to make a couple plays a game. And as long as he does that, we're going to win a lot of football games. But what they didn't realize is that this game

is super, super hard. And there's only so many people who can actually throw the football the way that Sam Darnold does. I think that was what they overlooked. It's like, you can't just do that. You can't just set it up for somebody if they're not capable of actually making those throws. Makes sense. They're in the wrong division. They're not going to get away with it. I mean, that's one thing to be in a division where you might have three other playoff teams too, but no excuse. Like McCarthy seems from the outside here to be like the problem capital all caps. Yeah. Because everybody loved their roster, right? I mean, that was a team. that was supposed to be good, just to quarterback, keep it on the road.

And to lose Jefferson seems like you've really done something because we also had to everything you said, of course, the proof, it seemed, that it didn't really matter who his quarterback was he was still going to produce. And in fantasy, I mean, you have been, it's, every year is interesting. There have been some busts, but you mentioned McCaffrey already and Jamir, Gibbs is going for like literally 60 points in a game. You know, those picks right around where Jefferson was, 456 in the first round, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Not 6, 7. I wouldn't do that to you. But they have, you know, been hits. And even Lamb, who missed time and has pickens kind of taking over, there is still productive. And of course, that's not the whole list. Barclay has been a bust. But otherwise, you know, like, what do you do with Jefferson now?

I mean, who are we picking earlier next year in fantasy football if we're drafting now? And don't laugh because we almost are drafting now. Like it's almost about to start. Are we picking Jefferson or JSN? On JSN, easily. I think so too. Because Kirk Cousins is going to be thrown to Jefferson. All right.

I'm saying it. I'm saying it now because it's going to happen. It's going to happen. Kirk Couss is going to be the quarterback of this team next year. Well, I guess that would be good for Jefferson because he's put up a lot of numbers with Kirk in the past so but j i mean j s n is moving toward number one overall pick type of level and you know jimar chase becomes hard here because borough can't stay healthy and at some point like this is connected to the way that he plays football and i respect the heck out of

the fact that he's coming back i know people don't come back what you're a franchise quarterback and you sign that contract yeah come back are you serious people pay for these games i sometimes i just like con the common sense of the like i don't know it's like are you serious uh you get paid that much you go play football but the fact that you might end up with you know who knows who throwing uh jemar chase the football again is kind of concerning there um you know who knows if stafford comes back after they win the super bowl um he probably doesn't right like i think the rams are winning the super bowl i think they're the best team in the league by far yeah think of that fluky eagles loss they have, too, to block field goal.

But, yeah, Stafford, I've had mixed results this year, and Stafford is a part of the problem I haven't done better because the entire narrative around him, I think we talked about this for a minute last week, was like he's in that chamber and is even going to play. And it's like, is his back so bad? And you don't know, right? I mean, sometimes the teams know, well, they certainly have to know more than we do, but they might not know either, like just how that's going to land. And now you're getting an MVP season from him, which, you know, great.

But who wanted to draft? Well, I'll just speak for myself here. Draft Matthew Stafford or why not draft Justin Fields? Who can run? And he's probably not going to get benched because they've made some investment here and they've got talent around him. Nope. I mean, got a few good weeks. We squeezed a few good weeks out of that.

But it wasn't a winning bet. Stafford, I mean, Stafford was even a much later pick than Fields. Like he was the last three or four rounds of drafts just as a backup. Plus, if you drafted, say, Jaden Daniels, you wouldn't want to, quote, waste a pick on a backup quarterback because you had Jaden Daniels. And when are you ever going to start anybody but him? That's what makes it fun, I guess, but it also makes me crazy. That was how similar to how I won a league last year, one of my very small underdog fantasy league, sorry, Fandall. But one of them that I won was because I drafted Sam Darnold with the last pick.

And I think I had like Anthony Richardson as my top quarterback. And then, you know, there you go. So it is unpredictable. But in terms of like the top wide receiving options, I mean, even Drake London becomes a question here because of Michael Pennix and whether he's going to be back. to start next season and it i mean the irony of the fact that they might not be able to get rid of kirk because they might need him to start next year uh he does throw to the number one wide receiver um but you know like i i just don't know what to make there's a lot of questions here with this and even with someone like george pickens it just his i don't know what it is about

George Pickens, but he's always rubbing people the wrong way and you wonder like how long this goes. Like if it's not going perfectly into next year, is this kind of the perfect storm because their defense is horrible and they just have to throw all the time and he's, you know, he's getting shots down the field. Is that, is it like a one year thing for him or is this going to be like, is he just an elite receiver? He's certainly an elite talent, but there's like a little Andre Risen to him where he just doesn't ever seem to be completely happy. Good name. Yeah, I don't No, and we don't know where he's going to play. Like, does Dallas do Dallas things and just mess around?

And Jerry Jones does radio hits at 85 years old or whatever he is, just are so embarrassing? Or do they sign him to a lamb-type contract or hire? Because that's kind of how he's playing. So there's that question with him. Amon Ross St. Brown deserves his name mentioned here, too, because that guy was not really into the Lions this year with the changes to the offensive line and the quarter.

coordinator leaving. But I have a couple of teams that are flying high, and he's on them because, like, you just get, the floor is so high for St. Brown. And now no Leporta for the rest of the season, too. Jameson Williams has been popping a little bit. But, yeah, it'll, it's always so interesting. I can't wait to get started, you know, there's like a moment of, of pain and anguish when your seasons die and then like, all right, let's get back on it.

If we are going, we're recording on a Wednesday, I'll mention that tonight. night, I'll be on the ship chasing feed at 8.30 to talk about this a little bit. And then ADP chasing is going once a month until the offseason return. So that'll be first Tuesday of the month, which is next week. So we'll be talking a lot about, in fact, last time on that show, we did a mock first three rounds for next year. And it's probably already quite different now than it was then. Oh, man. There's something that I'd like to have all of you examined by a psychologist to understand why you're looking at 2026 drafts right now, but maybe that's a different form of podcast.

Well, isn't it interesting, though? I mean, these conversations are like who will be the better player next year and the better situation. Like I mentioned, I think last week, we spent a lot of time on all the quarterback movement that seems likely in the league. So that's fascinating. And when we're talking about this year, it's just kind of, it's not over yet, but it's just there, right? There's not, we can, we can go try to pick up Devin Neal off waivers, which we

really should do, uh, as Alvin Camara is going to miss time, it seems. But that's not as interesting as whether we'd rather have Smith and Jigba or Jamar Chase on our teams next year, even though I mean, it's so far off. Yeah. Well, that you're right. That is what, uh, also Vikings fans are into the 2026 season already as well. So you're not alone. I, I did promise fans that I would do a mock draft this week. So I cannot criticize. Let's get to these Thanksgiving games because there is a lot on this slate to talk about. Oh, and a Black Friday game as well.

Why don't we toss that in there? So we got Packers at Lions. The Lions are a two and a half point favorite on Fandul. And I'm very interested in some, the passing prop here for Jordan Love, 228.5 yards. Jordan Love had a few good throws against the Vikings, didn't have to do much. He was handing off backwards with his right hand because his left shoulder is messed up. And Aiden Hutchinson plays for the other team. It feels like they're going to have to play for a little while with him in a quarterback.

Like, hey, can you just complete third downs? And then let's not do a whole lot else until you get more healed. That looked like even from the beginning of the game when it was close with the Vikings, how Jordan Love is going to play. I would go under on Jordan Love 228.5. Jared Gough, though, 238.5. Where would you go with that one, considering it is the Packers defense that ate him in week one? I would be over on love, I think, and under on golf.

Maybe was it two years ago where Green Bay went there and just blew him out? 2023, yep. 2023. Like maybe that's too fresh in my mind, sort of waking up to Thanksgiving football. and watching Green Bay just demolished the lions. Like, that wasn't supposed to happen. I like, I still like love. I don't think he's underrated, but I think he's good.

And, yeah, if he's not healthy, then that's a problem, but he's playing. And it's a huge spot. And I just sort of like the Packers here. So if they get down, they get boat raced, maybe if Detroit just clicks on a couple big plays, they're certainly capable of that. then you're passing props are probably in good shape unless it just completely gets away from Green Bay, which I don't really expect.

So with Green Bay, you never know where the ball is going. Jacobs is going to play. That might end up being a split with Emmanuel Wilson, who was pretty good. You were there. Oh, he was good, yeah. Last week, so another wrinkle to have to think about defending the Packers. I'm disappointed that Luke Musgrave hasn't been able to do more yet.

he was a second round pick maybe like he and craft were drafted in the same draft and craft was just so productive before he got hurt i thought maybe musgrave could fit into that role yeah i'll go i'll go over on love the over under is 48 and a half which seems high to me considering how the packers want to play football uh they they don't want it to come anywhere close to that what i do think though is that they showed last week some vulnerability against the run and their numbers in terms of yards per carry against the run are very good as a defense and yet it never really feels that way

and I think that's probably because they play in a lot of low scoring games and stuff. I don't know. They just looked to me like the Vikings could run on them all day had the Vikings not gotten behind in the game due to a special team's error but they had a whole drive where all they did

was just hand off to Jordan Mason and went right down the field and then screwed up trying to have their tight end to a QB sneak. But aside from that, uh as one does as one does in the national football league like you can't even trust j j mccarthy to kuby sneak like come on where are we at right now uh so yeah that one will that one will be interesting but i think that's a low scoring type of game kansas city at dallas the over under on fandul 52.5 and dallas is three and a half point underdogs to the kansas city chiefs first of all

i will go i know overs are bad plays i don't care i would go over all day on this one there will be 1,200 yards combined from these two teams on this day. I mean, not only do these teams put up huge yardage totals anyway and both have very questionable defenses, but you don't get the type of defensive preparation that you would normally get on a week. I mean, this just, this just screams 38, 35 total shootout between these two teams. This one could be a lot of fun. And they don't play each other.

Yeah. So there's always, there's that element too. I mean, how many times have the Cowboys seen Mahomes maybe once? So, I, 10 out of 10 excitement for this game, like as exciting, as I'm anticipating this game, looking forward to it, that should have been easier, as any game. Like, this is a great late window Thanksgiving offering here, KC. Dallas, and I hope it lives up to it. I kind of am getting to be an age to where I have to admit, I'm thinking the refs are probably going to help this happen, right? Like, they're not going to let Kansas City, Dallas on Thanksgiving be 19 to 10. It's going to shoot out.

Speaking of recent Thanksgiving games and maybe being influenced by them, the Raiders had one in Dallas two or three years ago, the Hunter Renfro game. And just like, nobody could stop anybody. And it was like maybe four hours long, but really good. So that's what I want to see here. I would not bet against. I would not bet unders.

You know, I don't have to go over because it seems so, obvious, but I'm not interested in betting against this game from a strategic standpoint or just like an entertainment one. So I haven't looked at people love those charts that if you win what your odds are, if you lose what your odds are, which are a little bit questionable just because you don't know the other results, but I don't know how it's done. So anybody who puts them out there, I use them all the time. I'm not hating. But it's, this one feels like it's for both teams. This has a gigantic impact. I mean, Kansas City needs to win pretty much. much every game and so does Dallas and last week I mean I think that Dallas felt like and I know

who they were playing they have felt like they've come together uh you know like the eagles can't put anybody away because of their offense so they were going to leave opportunities out there on the field but that team under brian schottenheimer just feels like it is getting better and not worse like you would think a mediocre team would and it also speaks a little bit to hey, can we stop trying to judge coaching hires on day one? Because I think this guy's done a great job. And it was laughed at pretty much everywhere. But I think that they're more dangerous than their record would insinuate.

Me too. Defensively, not either as bad as maybe their reputation at this point, although it's not good. So I've always been a Prescott fan. I have an MVP ticket for him. He's not going to win it. but he plays almost as well as any quarterback in the league. And he always does. And so, you know, they're only 500 or whatever they are.

But I'm expecting big things tomorrow. Well, I guess this is a time in my life to be exhausted by quarterbacks who are labeled as not playing good in, you know, big games who constantly have their team in big games. And that's been what I've been saying all week when fans, well, let's see if Darnold. wins a championship like oh let's see if your team gets to six wins so uh anyway uh Cincinnati and Baltimore here you mentioned Jackson if there's a game that he's going to get back on track I guess it's this one I saw him live and you talk about just footbally excitement I was so excited to see him play live and then he did nothing like he just did nothing special at all it was like watching Ken Griffey Jr. if he just tried to walk every time and just stood there with the that was

is very clear he's nowhere close to healthy his over under for this game 234.5. Joe Burrow 251.5 in his return. I do think it's going to be tough for Burrow. I don't know about T. Higgins status. I don't think that that's. Yeah, he's the reason out. Okay. I figured he was. 251 seems a little healthy for me for Joe Burrow. 234 also seems healthy for me for Lamar Jackson, even though he's playing the most pathetic defense in the world. I think they're probably going to run like i don't know what to make of lamar right now yeah i agree on on both fronts i think that burrow probably as good as he can be it might not look as good as it can be immediately um and baltimore can be a problem this these teams did play two incredible shootouts last year so i'm not

sure i need to be so confident in the unders but um yeah i mean jackson now it's a toll like he's Basically, he's the operation guy at this point where it's just knee, ankle, toe, writer's cramp, water on the knee, all the other funny bone. We could end up setting records here. But I just see Derek Henry in this game when I think about this game tomorrow night. And for the Bengals, Chase Brown has really like the workload, the usage, the production is kind of there. That was a mid-second round pick in fantasy this year. I mean, the second round was wrought with, you know, problems. Just Jalen Waddle, was that a second round pick?

I don't know. I just know it wasn't fun to be drafting in like the middle of the second round. But Bucky Irving was somebody else right there with Chase Brown, as I recall. So Brown, things are looking up for him. I might want to play overs like on receiving or total yards on Brown. I'm just envisioning the Cincinnati Bengals trying to tackle Derek Henry and having it look like his high school highlights that get played on every broadcast. they I look this up and like mistackles is a stat that kind of like hits in hockey where

you know it's somebody's guess in the press box but they are like 50 mistackles ahead of the next worst team in the entire NFL and playing against the best tackle breaker of the last decade even if he's not the same guy he is still the same size and it feels like there will be Bengals bouncing off of him left and right that one has the potential I think to be kind of an ugly game. And that could be Jackson, too, if he's in the mood. Yeah, right. Healthy.

Right. Um, if he doesn't have the sniffles. Uh, so let's get to, uh, Philadelphia and the Chicago Bears on Black Friday. And, uh, just, just what we all wanted was a Black Friday football game. I like, I don't know, every, every single day. They should spread out the schedule. So it's just every single day is a football game. Um, we got for fantasy, I'd be fine with it.

Yeah, right. Yeah, right. That would mess up everything. It's a nightmare. The London games, right? When you need lineup setting at 9 in the morning, you know, it's a lot. But otherwise, I love it. On Fandle right now, the Philadelphia Eagles are seven point favorites against the Chicago Bears.

I am always thinking that the Eagles are going to turn a corner because they're the Eagles and they just usually do. But after last week, I mean, there was some film breakdowns that are just horrifying of like the cowboys who have. of this terrible defense are running the routes for the wide receivers before they even make a turn. It just seems like it is so simplistic offensively and Hertz isn't running in the same way that he has in the past. Like I, I just don't know what to make of that.

I feel like this game stays close just because Philadelphia is so inept offensively. So I would go, I would go bears with the plus seven here. But also the level of obnoxiousness of the bears if they win this football game is going to shoot through the roof because all year. people like myself have said, I just don't think that they're good. I think they've gotten away with it.

They got away with it against the Vikings. But if they win this game, they can make an argument that they're not just getting away with it, that they're more for real. Yeah. Comparisons to the Vikings team that made the playoffs with the negative point differential or whatever that was a couple of years ago. 2022, yeah.

2020. And that's been my feeling about Chicago as well. But we're agreeing this week more than last week because I see the same thing with Philadelphia. I don't like the vibes at all. And for whatever it's worth, they have the, like two years ago, they were 10 and one maybe and fell apart. So that with this coach and this quarterback and that roster, like that that that's happened to them. That that that's available to the Eagles. If they just completely lose it. And I think Chicago, the, the coordinators here, I guess with the bears, I'm thinking of the head coach now, but the play callers. Yep. I think it's like,

tremendous mismatch and um i'd also want to be on plus seven i mean i think it'd be incredible if chicago were to win not in despite what you said about the the team or the fans or whatever but it'd be a massive win for them because if you go to philadelphia and win you're in great shape in the standings and you're you're going to have people starting to buy it uh this year so um i'd really i kind of like to see it i'm not sure i want to say that on purple insider but i I kind of like to see what happens if Chicago pulls the upset here. Well, they've worked hard for it over the years of drafting bust after bust. I think I became resentful to Bears Nation or whatever when they defended Justin Fields

as if he was actually good and thought that they were going to get a first round pick for him or what, you know, all that sort of thing, which I guess you can't use social media to judge an entire fan base. but it seemed like that they were really convinced that Justin Fields was going to be their guy and they shouldn't draft Caleb Williams or he was going to get a first round pick and I just thought this is so weird. But anyway, they also get a lot more attention than the Vikings and rarely win more than the Vikings, which I think a little resentment there as well. Anyway, the over under for Caleb Williams in this game is 207.5, which I think there's a great

chance for him to go over in this game with the way Philadelphia has been, I think, quite flawed. Their defensive line is so good, but you just can't tackle Caleb Williams. And if he gets going to have some success there. So that should be an interesting game as well. All right. Final thoughts. What are we thankful for in fantasy? How about that? It's Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for? Well, I mean, I am thankful for this. You and me every week. And being able to, you know have these conversations um i love the the math of it and the matrix of it so much that while it can be depressing when a team crashes out to even look at it it's still important to try to figure out where you went wrong and sometimes it's bad luck and sometimes it's you know user error

so i think you always want to be doing that um i'm excited for getting into some of the next year stuff already. Playoff tournaments before that are really fun where you're drafting. I mean, formats vary, but you're drafting one guy per team. You know, in some tournaments, that's a fun puzzle to try to put together. Maybe my favorite single fantasy puzzle is the playoff one, because just, you know, myriad options and strategy really does come into play. If you drafted Smith & Jigba or Jonathan Taylor this year, you're probably thankful for those guys. I'm thankful for Jemir Gibbs 60 points last week and my two main event teams in the Kentucky State Championship.

So a few things. But when it's Thanksgiving football, I want to bring up the name Randy Moss, especially with you because that is one of, if that's not conservative, one of the best Thanksgiving individual performances we've ever seen back now almost 30 years ago, amazingly. It's one of those.

You're old enough to remember that, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, I was watching that day for sure. It's one of those where, well, see, when Randy Moss was drafted, I really didn't like the, and this is me as a kid, but the framing of Randy Maude. He's a bad guy. He's, you know, I remember them criticizing maybe this was on a radio broadcast or something, because I don't think I had ESPN to watch the broadcast, but criticizing how he addressed at the draft. I was like, who the heck cares about? He's dressed at the draft. Like, oh, he's got a pant leg up. Like, oh, no. And, uh, So I wanted, I wanted him so bad to succeed just to kind of shove it in everybody's face who had criticized him coming out. And that for me was just fantastic to see. I don't think I've ever seen anyone run faster than everyone else on a football field as much like the, the, the Bo Jackson TechMobile gap of this man is moving twice as fast as every single other person on the field as that game. And it's one of those, it's probably one of like five things that have ever happened in sports.

When someone puts it on Twitter, like, here's the highlights for Thanksgiving. I will click every time. It doesn't matter how many times I've seen it. I know. And one of the, I'll pick up on something different every single time. And, uh, one of my favorite part, uh, this last time I watched it was Pat Summerall just goes, throw it as far as you can. And I was like, that's such a, that's such classic Pat Summerall, Moss, touchdown.

Throw it as far as you can. Like, didn't, didn't have to scream it. and have his eyes bleed as he was broadcasting it was just it's just perfect amazing that you don't actually have to spit at me when you're broadcasting football games and you can just sort of say it because there's a microphone which can help you right people we will hear you yeah moss um thanksgiving legendary stuff o j simpson at the time in in uh 75 i think it was set the single game rushing record in detroit on thanksgiving and in classic bill 70s bills fashion they lost by 13 points you're supposed to win when you rush for 275 yards right

or not lose by double digits to the lions right but they managed to do that yeah there was also a there was a bills game when I was growing up where the the lions were not that good and they just like trounce the bills and I was like so excited that the bills were on TV on Thanksgiving and then they just got killed somehow 94 there's been yeah that okay that's the one and right yep they ran a flea flicker or something, I remember for a long touchdown. Yeah. So you know, I don't know. Memories are made and will be again. But Randy

Moss, I think that's the best single perform. And he had three catches. But he went for a touchdown. He had three catches. Yeah. I think three catches on like four targets. I mean, that's how great. So good. That is how crazy that game was. The, this one of them being just like a screen pass.

And he puts one move on. And then he's gone. Like, how is this even possible for someone to move? this way so uh and then moss is see i loved i loved all of it even when it was like the play when i want to play and all that sort of stuff i i enjoyed all the flare but him like yelling at the camera is as great as any of the other highlights like it's just like this is moss man so uh very cool and we'll see what happens uh this time around but i am thankful for uh you doing this every week with me and then also obviously for everybody who has listened to this show and

enjoyed it. So thank you to all of you folks. Thank you, Mike, and we will see you next week. Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you.