Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Justin Jefferson gets going this week, right?

Episode Date: December 5, 2025

Mike Schopp of ADP Chasing and WGR 550 joins the weekly Fantasy Show to discuss whether this is the week that Justin Jefferson finally gets going. 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 Fanduel. Matthew Collar here. And this is our fantasy shop with Mike Schope, WGR 550 and ADP chasing. And Mike, it's a big time for the fantasy world. A lot of leagues are either getting into the playoffs or are already in the playoffs. So we're going to go through some games. and talk about the players that will determine what happens in the fantasy postseason. But I wanted to get your take on this because the Vikings have five games remaining.

And maybe you've noticed that things haven't really gone particularly well from a production standpoint. I found out from you, found out from you. The last couple of weeks from me screaming at my computer here in several postgame shows or in Lambeau field. but they face they face the next three games against Washington, Dallas, and the New York Giants, three of the worst defenses in the NFL. Any hope here? I mean, because that's what we're talking about with J.J. McCarthy coming back is it was, it was Green Bay at Green Bay and then Seattle for a third string undrafted free agent.

And no matter how much you like the kid, that's a really difficult invite. now it's going to be home and then two road games but they're against bad defenses can there be a turnaround here also it feels dire with just the jefferson yeah you know when you play fantasy football there are the big injuries and okay well i drafted christian mcalfrey three or four years ago and he's out for even last year right didn't he whenever it was a year or two ago where he like he's suddenly in germany getting treatments and he missed the first 10 games like that feels like the real bust if I drafted somebody in the first round and they're just like they torn they tear an ACL or something it's not really they're not as big of a problem in fantasy as guys like this year's Justin Jefferson because you just can't take him out and when somebody's gone you replace him and maybe you're fine maybe even with his backup steps in and does the job we've seen that at running back many times over the years with Jefferson it has finally gotten to a point for me where I'd want to have the about, well, do we play Jacoby Myers over him? Like, that's, that's kind of where we're at. And it's, you know, of course, not entirely a reflection on the player. It's just the situation is so dire. And that's where you really get stuck in fantasy,

where you have the first round pick that you just cannot justify taking out of your lineup. By the way, because of their playing Washington this week, I would not start Jacoby Myers over Jefferson, but maybe I should. I just don't have the whatever's for that. But, yeah, I mean, you do have an opportunity here to try to, if McCarthy is able to play, get somewhere,

if he hasn't lost everybody at this point. Dallas plays tonight as we record on a Thursday morning, and their defense is getting better. Like the Quinn of Williams move has mattered, and I like them in the game tonight against Detroit. And the Giants have a couple of guys, but are overall pretty soft. So if you're looking at the Vikings from a macro viewpoint, maybe as the GM or the owner

or somebody, I'd want to see if I can get anywhere with my first round pick investment from last year in these few games. And if not, well, it's good that we're playing these teams because that might tell me enough. Well, for me with Jefferson, this is the week where you better get him the football. I mean, last week was an absolute clown show. There's just no world where this guy should have four yards. It's just, I mean, if you just ran those little, I don't know what they call them,

but like a pop pass where the quarterback's in the shotgun and comes in motion, you catch it and you go, ha, here's the football. He would get more than four yards. I'm sure if you did that like five times. How about, and I know Dak Prescott's really good, but there are plays that we see from, you know, Pittsburgh will do this sometimes with D.K.

McCaff or George Pickens where he just like sort of turns and the ball is there and he gets eight yards and you go, can we, could you possibly? And I think that this week is throw the ball to freaking Justin Jefferson. Here's the crazy part about this season for me is Carson Wentz is not even remotely a good quarterback, not even in the stratosphere of a good quarterback right now. But the only two times that Justin Jefferson has gone over 100 yards were when Carson Wentz played, like that shows the level of quarterback play that even someone with a reasonable 500 type career as a starter can get Justin Jefferson 120 something yards in a game, even against a Cleveland defense that is one of the best in the NFL. How in the world can Justin or can J.J. McCarthy not do it? I understand a little bit more of the undrafted free agent, but how can the first round pick not do? it. So I think this week will be all about getting him up over 100 yards, you know,

seven to 10 catches. I mean, anything less is you are going to approach a place where Justin Jefferson is just apoplectic, which I think we're already very close to that. Yeah, interesting politically what you do if you're McCarthy at this point. Like you're saying, I agree, it should be obvious. I was listening to my guys at WGR this morning and Joe DiBiase brought up that the four, see if I can remember the names, the four highest passing outputs of the season this year are in not probably this order, but Brissette, Flacko, Russell Wilson,

and someone else like Russell Wilson. Like these are the biggest passing outputs of the season. And I think to varying degrees, in each case, that's what that is. That's what Flacco was. Just, all right, put me in. I'm going to throw the, which one is Chase here? and there was like 20 targets against Pittsburgh that one night or something,

you got to do it. And it's probably in the team's best interest on that given game. It's almost definitely in the team's best interest going forward. Because I think, you know, you might tell me if this is wrong, being closer to it, but they have to rescue the Jefferson situation or it's going to blow and or blow up probably because it already kind of blows. So I think if I'm trying to salvage my place as McCarthy in this situation or even Brasmer, like Brasmer is Jeff Thule. Yeah.

Are we saying Brasmer or Brosemer? It's Brosmer, but he is Jeff Toole, yes. You know, right? Like, all right, here you go. See what you can make of it. And let's just throw a couple of slants and easy stuff and see where it takes us. And let's just not have it look so bad that there's just no way to do this again. I mean, we just have to kind of get somewhere.

The Vikings are favored in this game against Washington, and Washington's coming off, oh, still. Ever so slightly. Ever so slightly. For the season the Vikings are having that says something, I guess, at home. Because Washington had a pretty good night on Sunday. That's the league. Are we completely off everybody else in the offense at this point?

I mean, Jefferson, maybe you have to play. Again, like I mentioned Myers. I can think of guys I'd play over him. I can think of 20 guys I'd play over Jeff. But if you have those guys, your team is great. And you really like Jalen Waddle or Justin Jefferson, fine, play Waddle. But what he's your wide receiver five or something in fantasy? Like if you have a team like that, go for it.

So it's hard to find a name where your team isn't completely stacked and it's crazy that you would play over Jefferson. I can't imagine playing. I've got a big one with Addison on it. And I have Josh Downs. And I'm kind of tempted to play Josh Downs over Addison. but is that going too far fantasy expert mac holler i don't yeah i don't know i mean because all year long i have thought well it's got to work eventually right like these guys are just too good their histories are too good also just with that stat it's always funny i bet it's like that every

year that there's random quarterbacks who end up with the biggest yardage outputs because the jacobi preset game that was celebrated so much is like did anyone actually see the game where he completed 47 passes. Did you see that he was down 20 points the whole time? Did you notice that at all? I mean, for the fantasy world, it's fantastic. Like, get everybody all their catches, but it was like they're putting the jersey in the Hall of Fame.

Like, what? Why? You were down 20 points. He has done a couple of things. That game, you're right. That was against San Francisco. Yeah. They were down big.

But even in these other games, they can't beat anybody, but he has been a fantasy savior. Here. When Harrison was healthy, he gave you Harrison. McBride, I saw, has five touchdowns in his career from Murray in 37 games. He's got seven from Brissette. Like, this is the point. Throw the ball to the good players. And Murray doesn't do it. And some of these guys just, I don't know, they can't be brought to it. So with what is probably coming in the NFL and the off season, a lot of teams needing answers at quarterback, I think Brissette has probably made himself a lot of money. Folks, the holidays are almost here, and if you still have names on your list, don't panic. Uncommon Goods makes holiday shopping stress-free and joyful with thousands of one-of-a-kind gifts that you cannot find anywhere else. You'll discover presents that feel meaningful and

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That is Uncomcom slash Purple Insider for 15% off and don't miss out on this limited time offer. Uncommon Goods were all out of the ordinary. Yeah, I'm, I'm not as convinced by that. I mean, I think that he's played okay, but I also think we're talking about somebody that you really can't win a lot of games with. that is so limited in his physical ability that, yeah, I mean, it's sort of like having Joe Flacco. If your team is a travesty and you need someone to play reasonable quarterback,

which is really what the Vikings needed this year to be in some of these games, then maybe Jacoby Brisset, but when I have watched him actually play, I'm like, I don't know, they get down 14 points, the team plays, prevent defense, he completes a bunch of passes underneath and then the game is over. and that's how every single week works with the Arizona Cardinals. But, I mean, if you have McBride, if you have one of their receivers, then you're probably pretty pleased. Or if you picked up Jacoby Brissette, it feels like the time,

I don't know why this one always sticks with me when John Kittna, like when whatever, one in 15 or two and 14 through for 4,000 yards, people are like, John Kittna, 4,000 yard quarterback. Like, oh, okay, sure. Why not? But by the way, the fourth guy on the list, I just remembered is Bryce Young. who has had so many terrible games and looks like, you know, he just can't see. But then a couple of times this year, he's gone for like 400.

He went for 47 or something against Atlanta, which was maybe the best past defense in the league at that time. And then that happened. And then last week against the Rams, he's hitting bombs on fourth down and they beat the Rams. And like the report this week is, okay, fifth year extension. Teams are so down bad like yours. dare I stick this on you? The Vikings, like, they're going to have to, I say in fantasy when it's the middle of the season and my team is good and another team is bad, and I'll make a trade offer that definitely benefits me, because why not? Why wouldn't it? And sometimes I'll get a reaction

like, are you crazy? This isn't even close in fair value. And I think to myself, you don't have to do this, but you got to do something. And I think with Brissette or Mac Jones or some of these other even Flacco, even Ross, if they want to, Kirk Cousins, didn't you tell me last week, you thought maybe Kirk Cousins was going to be an option? I mean, is he going to start for somebody next year, week one, maybe that's a coin flip. I've been saying this week, 2006 Viking starter, Marcus Mariotta. That's, that's, that's, that's, I mean, right, everybody, everybody's on the table. Just real quick on Bryce Young, it feels like.

If Bryce learns that he can throw the ball down the field, like if he if he believes in it. Because I remember there's one of, you know, I love those of football life documentaries that go through guys' careers. And there was one thing Steve Young said that really stuck with me. He said that Mike Holmgren told him, he said, I can't see that receiver. And Mike Holmgren said, you're not going to see that receiver.

You just have to throw it. Throw it to that space when we tell you to. to throw it to that space and that guy will be there. I promise. And he said that that what changed his entire career is realizing I can't actually see it. I just have to throw the football to that space and believe in it. And I feel like the same thing for Bryce Young, where you're like, Tedroa McMillan is awesome. What a great draft pick for them. You know, I know they had talked about maybe trading down and there was a bunch of teams trying to move up. And McMillan had, it was a weird thing, but he had like some viral

clip where he said he didn't watch tape or whatever. And there was you know, as always, some draft analysts who say a top 10 players just garbage and no one should ever even talk to him. And he's really shown. I think that he's got talent to be a number one wide receiver. But

you know, Bryce has to trust them. He has to believe in him downfield. And I feel like these last couple weeks he's kind of done that. But you're right. Like the league is what, I mean, are there 10 quarterbacks? in the league right now that we could actually say are really good. And then there's a couple

of guys just sort of bouncing around like Daniel Jones or Bo Nix on teams that win with defense and running. And then everybody else is going, what are we going to do in the future? And I'm seeing all these, you know, already like on, you know, fan dueled so forth. Well, Dante

Moore, Fernando Mendoza, these these quarterbacks, Ty Simpson. I'm like, yeah, yeah, okay. I'm not so sure that those, guys are really first round quarterbacks, but I guess people will probably draft them anyway. So there's a lot of, yeah, there's a lot of down bad. But just to put, you know, the bow on the Vikings, it's really a five game sample now of

JJ McCarthy where there's, I think, three outcomes, which is number one, he looks a lot better and we could chuck some of it up to playing some good defenses, some of it up to maybe losing some confidence in the middle of the season. it looks really average and then you're going into next year knowing you have to find a starting quarterback or it just implodes and you're absolutely certain this guy can't be your quarterback. I think, you know, five games is a pretty good sample for that. And I would also say if he gets hurt, you're in that last category. If he gets hurt again, you're in that last category.

This doesn't work. You got to go find somebody else. And we've already pretty much run through almost the entire list of plausible names. know the rookies are a tough sell it sounds like this year a couple of interesting stories but I don't know there's nobody that people are describing as undeniable if that's ever even a thing anyway like Caleb Williams was pretty much that and there's been discussion about him I've got I've got the bears now who are nine and three and the one seed in the NFC and in completion percentage among qualifying quarterbacks this season Williams ranks

literally last and that's never happened where a team i mean you go back in time of course not every great team's quarterback was great but they were just game managers and they weren't going 15 for 36 you know like williams has the pension to do so yeah i mean it's it's it's it's what makes it fun should miami go forward with tua they were i mean buried they fire the general manager they keep the coach people were maybe surprised by that now they're hot and they're it's the schedule too the schedule plays games with your mind because it can be as simple as you're playing weaker competition miami's year like their schedule was more front loaded and they got buried and people just sort of dismissed them and they're firing people if you flip the schedule around like

new england now they're the one seed like it's not it's not only that but it's just there's so many variables. The timeline of the coach and the GM and their job security play so heavily into what teams do. I'm desperate. I got to do something because if I don't win this year, I'm out. That's one team. Another is, all right, well, we can take our time here. Maybe that was Minnesota when they drafted McCarthy, but I don't know if it still is. Yeah, well, and I think what you always find out is that almost anybody except for Andy Reid, I mean, Mike Tomlin is on the haughtsy. There was a comparison in a press conference yesterday to the Viking situation and, you know, San Francisco having a bad year last year. It's like, you don't have the

credibility of San Francisco. They've been to two Super Bowls and they were one play away from winning both of them with Kyle Shanahan. And, you know, McVeigh has that one down year. That man's been to Super Bowls, right? So, or won a Super Bowl. So, uh, you know, I, I think that most of the league, it's always a year to year situation. We've been talking about that here with, you know, could it get that bad? I always think the answer has to be pretty much yes. It can always get to a point where an owner gets so frustrated that they just sort of throw up their hands and say, we need, you know, a regime change. But to your point, to your point about Miami, we were about halfway through the season when things started to look a little rocky talking about like,

all right, well, you know, who's it going to be for next year? Who would you even look at, Tua's name comes up? But I think any of these teams, Trevor Lawrence is a name that I brought up as well, any of these teams that have a quarterback who's even reasonably decent that they're winning games with, they're going to grip onto that guy now because there just isn't another person to go to. It's not like last year where Seattle could say, you know, Gino's been nice for us, but we think Sam Darnold is actually better than Gino or at least more cost effective based on what he

wants to be paid. So why don't we do that? Like, that's a legitimate starting quarterback who won 14 games on the free agent market. That doesn't happen a lot. And, you know, you look around now and go, well, who's going to be available. It's all guys who are just the same guys who are always available. And it doesn't really inspire you, I think. I think, I think, I think Gino Smith is the best option for the Vikings next year if they're going that route, if the Raiders would get rid of it. Which they probably will want to. I mean, what a disaster that season has been. Yeah, Seattle, it wasn't that long ago that we got to the off season and went, wait,

Seattle really wouldn't trade Russell Wilson, would they? Like, why would they do that? Who were they going to get? That's a question I'm often, you know, it's put to me when I mean, I've been talking about the bills and Buffalo Sabres here for going on 25 years. and any time there's a coaching, which is always, discussion, somebody inevitably says, well, who are you going to get? Where there's a certain reporter on my station who brings that up every single time

that it comes up and like, well, how can you get anybody better? I don't think that's the right question. The right question is, who do you get? The answer is just simply somebody else. And there are dozens, if not hundreds of potentially qualified people for this. So, you know, you've got 25 full-time assistance. you can always make a coaching change every team every NFL team if not hockey team also can afford it you just you just do it to change the narrative the culture and you know maybe you you

hit gold so I'm always somebody who can't wait for the off season which is ironic to me because I love the season too but whether it's this stuff or fantasy drafts I mean we're ready to go on 26 I can't wait for the next year just the next thing to start. But when we talk about coaching changes, you're absolutely right to bring up when we talk about like the schedule and luck and things like that that go into a given season trying to figure out like, did the coach forget what to do? Is he actually not as good as we maybe thought he was? Or did your team just have a bad schedule or did you make say maybe one catastrophic move at the quarterback position, but even, you know, like, obviously the Vikings would be much better had they had

Sam Darnold. But I also see a world where they would be maybe seven and five and people would be saying, well, you've just got to play McCarthy because, you know, you couldn't win in the Super Bowl, you know, you couldn't win the Super Bowl with Sam Darnold. And this is why you don't bring them back and sort of, you know, stuff like that. So sometimes organizations get kind of pinned into a spot where it could be, you know, pretty tough, like you're going to lose either way, especially when you have, as you said, a really tough schedule on a particular year. I'm not playing for a wild card. You know, certain teams are, and that's a win of a season and other teams are not.

The Vikings did win 14 games. They're not going to try to make a plan to go 10 and 7. They shouldn't. I'm not going to blame you. On Fandul, I place one bet. I do this every year. one fun preseason bet where you get every division winner right. Oh.

May I? Go ahead. Baltimore. I'm going in a certain order for effect. Baltimore, you know, favorite. Jacksonville. Possibly. Denver.

Sure. Philadelphia. San Francisco. Maybe. Half game out. Carolina. This would have paid pretty good, Matt. Yeah.

Wow. Okay. Buffalo, the chalk, which is a long shot now. Yeah. Vikings. Oh. Which is why they're not offering even me nine cents in the cash out line. Like over.

Yeah. Wow. Because the, I mean, the rest are, are close, but you're not going to win on the Buffalo one. But, um, no, that's fair. Well, why do we look at some of these football games, by the way? And why don't we start with Buffalo? And Joe Burrow is back and he's playing with something in his shoe. but he's looked pretty darn good against the Ravens,

who are a, you know, I don't know, a mystery, a mystery, the Ravens are. Joe Burrow, his over under in this game against Buffalo is 249.5 yards on Fanduel. What do we think of Mr. Burrow in his return? I might like the over. I'm an under better, but I could get to the over on this. I'm not hearing anything about a big storm. or that happening in Buffalo's weekend, cold. But the Bengals have been a nemesis.

They took the bills out in Orchard Park in the playoffs a couple of years ago. They've beaten them in Cincinnati. And it's interesting to me that the bills bothered to claim Darius Slay yesterday. Like, why did they feel the need to do that? Is there an injury? Because they're sort of holding up games like that Steeler game. They don't really tell you a lot. But still, like they didn't give up anything in that game.

yet they felt the need to add depth there we'll see about T. Higgins feels to me as we speak on Thursday morning that he'll go in this game and Chase is Chase. So the Bengals have the band back together. There'll be no new information on the Ravens or Steelers because they play at the same time. So I think this is a game the Bengals really want. And I don't really trust the Bill's defense. Of course, with the bills, it can also get into a high scoring game and you love that. So I find the courage to go over on that number with Borough. I would too. And I also think there is a chance with their defense that I don't believe actually found

something special against Lamar Jackson. I think Lamar Jackson spiked the football directly into the ground and gave it away. Now, we talk about like, did the guy forget how to play? There was some moments in that game where you like, what happened there? And also, you know, the receivers had some downfield chances and didn't get balls and there was, you know, a lot, a lot went wrong for them on Thanksgiving Day that probably will not go wrong for the Buffalo Bills. But I still think that, uh, if you're talking about a potentially high scoring game here, which is what I would see that Cincinnati's defense is bad.

The bill's offense has found a lot of ways to score points. Um, but I think in terms of Josh Allen, 234.5 yards for him, I would definitely not go with the over there because they seem to have just shifted to we're going to run the football all the time and I have to do nothing but respected. I mean, watching them last week. It was a actually kind of a sad performance by the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was watching a film breakdown and the bills just kept running the same play over and over again and getting huge chunk yardage. It was like Pittsburgh, anybody home? And I kind of felt that way when they were playing against the Vikings, but it's, you know, Carson Wentz was the quarterback, but when I watched the film back,

I was like, what are they doing? So, I mean, I think it's the same effect with Cincinnati. They have a terrible defense that I think you can just run over. Yeah, interesting matchup. Chase Brown, I think I gave you Chase Brown last week with the Bengals. And he's, even with P. Ryan cutting into their snap share, it's still going well for Brown. It's two weeks ago, the bills went to Houston and got,

roughed up and the next day the all 22 people were like the bills are only running this same play over and over how do they expect it to work even demico ryan's made a point to that effect like we just don't we've never really seen this uh and then the next week they do it again and it's that that's brilliant because if it's not if they can't stop it why stop running it so that's that's another funny thing about covering this league um i the bills have not shown any consistent this is even putting it mildly, any consistent ability to get the ball down the field. They've had games. Allen's had games like the Tampa game where the numbers were there,

but it's almost all run after the catch. It's a couple of passes to running backs and, I mean, busted plays. You can certainly have that against Cincinnati. They're kind of last in everything. We're talking about a team that was DVOA, like the worst ever on defense as of three weeks ago or whatever. Maybe it's gotten a little better, but how could it not? I mean, the first completion the bills had in Pittsburgh was to Brandon Cooks. They are just trying anything they can get their hands on.

We don't know about Kincaid as we speak this morning. He's an important weapon, I think, for them. He's still dealing with a couple of injuries. Now it's a couple. So without him, without Palmer, they really just do not have the answer at receiver. And without that, how do you bet the over on the quarterback? what a down on throw for in Pittsburgh, 123 or some number like that. I mean, not even close to the line.

And we had that too last week. Yeah, it's crazy. How, I mean, just all around the league, some of that you mentioned Bryce, but like how we're seeing quarterback performances in the 100 yards in the low 100s, which you just don't see very often, or 87 in terms of the Vikings in Green Bay. They do run the play that I would run on Madden all the time, which is everybody go deep and then I throw it underneath. and then you just run around everybody.

But that doesn't, I don't know how viable strategy that is when we're talking about certain guys getting, you know, X number of yards in a game or saving a fantasy playoff situation. I want to talk about Green Bay and Chicago. Very interesting to me here on Fandul that the Green Bay Packers are six and a half point favorites. Well,

your thought on whether it is time to give some respect to the Chicago Bears after their win against Philadelphia. and Caleb Williams on this one is 193.5. So he under 200 yards expected against Green Bay's defense. I am somebody, I'm not a big better, like betting sides or totals. But whenever I see a line that makes my head, makes me want to scratch my head, I tend to default to, well, they must know something I don't. I mean, isn't that sort of a healthy way to live your life that you want to have,

you want to make some exceptions? for that in life. But, well, wow, I never thought six and a half must be right. And it's never always the case. It's never always one way. But that would be my reaction to this. I think it was fashionable and right to consider the bears having been lucky for much of the season. I mean, they've had some lucky wins. But that happens. I mean, that was the Vikes three years ago. there are seasons like that. But then to go to Philadelphia and manhandle the Eagles, then it's tougher to just attribute this to luck.

I mean, that was a really good win. And again, they did it in a game where Williams did even complete half his passes. I don't know. It was like all over the place. So I would take the Packers with that number at home. I'm not really a do-to-lose guy, but they have had a pretty good run. And the recency bias, even with that win,

in Philadelphia, they're still getting six and a half. That would be in the locker room, right? That spread would be considered an insults. And maybe Chicago is suddenly so good that they can handle that. But I think the Packers, quite different than the Bears, have shown a consistent level of quality that I think travels. You know, I think it's pretty easy to trust them. I like them in Detroit and I would like them here.

Maybe part of it with Philadelphia was that team, was it's just it's just not right like there's something that's off there and their offense is a disaster you talk about the all 22 people they're flocking to watch the philadelphia eagles offense and figure out what's going on there very clear that every other year nick seriani hires a clueless offensive coordinator and then everybody fights over whether jalen hurts is actually good or not like oh last year is good enough to win the super bowl and uh the the the Sequin Barclay take that I started this year with, like this is one of my foundational NFL opinions

that Saquan Barclay would collapse has been exactly right. You just don't run for that many yards and go all the way to the Super Bowl and do it again and lose some of your offensive linemen and do it again. It never happens. So, you know, it's not... He's barely even had a good run.

Right. Yeah. 14, 13 weeks. He's barely even had like a good game, a good run. So, yeah, totally. I was not drafting Barclay. Yep. It always feels like it bounces.

back and forth. But, you know, Green Bay does have a ridiculously talented defense. The one thing I wonder about here, though, is that they lost Devante Wyatt to an ankle injury. And he was one of their most used players along the defensive line. And you talk about players who could save your playoffs. I mean, DeAndre Swift, I think if you were the person who was drafting DeAndre Swift, just thinking, you know what? They hired Ben Johnson. They went out and got run blocking Drew Dolman, run blocking Jonah Jackson, and they drafted a first round tackle. Like you were sharp, I think, if you were figuring,

all right, this guy was with D'Andre Swift before. He must know, or like they're either going to use him this way and be a run first type of offense. I think you can do that against Green Bay under their current circumstances. You can run the football against them. Sure. I wasn't sure what to do with Ben Johnson and D'Andre Swift back together because it didn't seem like

the Lions liked Swift when he was there. So I didn't know if it meant this is going to be a thing or we're just going to have to figure out a plan B. There was a, there's a guy with the bears that fantasy players have kind of always wanted to see pop and that's Roshan Johnson, but he got hurt

and that's just never happened. And now the guy is Kyle Munungai who has looked great. I mean, he even went over 120 plus carries, maybe 120 in a touchdown in Philadelphia as a compliment to Swift. That makes it went so well that you're still starting Swift or even starting Monungai if you have him. It's just not so clear cut like the Packers always are with

Jacobs, you know, where it's just like if he's healthy, he's getting the lion's share. And that makes it easier. When Josh Allen went to what one or two more touchdowns again and broke the record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback, you know, we were looking at the all-time list. And he's got 75 or more rushing touchdowns now. And I thought it was kind of cool that the second highest active player is Jacobs. And I never would have thought of him. I don't know what it is about him, but he's in the 60s, I think, career touchdowns. So yeah, like when he missed a game, it was Emmanuel Wilson and you got a great week out of Emmanuel Wilson, but then Jacobs was back in and it's right back to him. Teams like that make it easier than the bears.

What the bears are doing has to be on the level it's at for you to want to start their guys. And, you know, it is. So that's good. I don't, yeah. I mean, and I, just having seen the Vikings run against the Packers, I think you can. I think you can run against them. I don't think you can straight drop back pass and just sit back there. And I also think that Caleb Williams has done a lot of running around.

And if you do a lot of running around against Michael Parsons, he will tackle you. There are a lot of guys in the league who may. not tackle Caleb Williams. I promise that Micah Parsons will tackle him. Especially in the fourth quarter. I think he has nine sacks in the fourth quarter. Something like that. Pretty good. Some guys are worth, I saw,

I don't know if you follow Andrew Brandt, who used to work for the Packers. And when they traded for Micah Parsons, he had the same thought as me. This just never happens. Like, you just do not get, there's lots of players that are tradable. You just don't get that player trade. Even Miles Garrett, like Cleveland, you know, finding

ways to keep him. You just don't ever see that happen. And of course, it happened to the team in the Vikings division. Let's talk about the Texans and the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City needs to win basically every game here the rest of the way. The Texans have a freakish defense, as you know. Patrick Mahomes, 234.5 is his over under here on Fandul. I would assume that he's going to have to go over to win this game against the Texans. They, you know, teams that are like this don't always make the Super Bowl, don't always go through that are just built on, we are going to beat the absolute crap out of you. But I, but I enjoy it.

I do enjoy it. That game against Buffalo is like, that's, that's a football there, folks. That, that looked like Lawrence Taylor highlights from NFL films. Like there should have been some, some orchestral war music going on behind what was happening with Daniel Hunter and Will Anderson. So I am a Texan's enjoyer here, but I also think that when you have limitations

on offense, this is Patrick Mahomes. It's your time, Pat. I would love to find a wager where I bet the under on his passing yards, but the over on how many yards they get through the air on penalties.

If there's a way where we can add 50 to 60 or 100 penalty yards to the Chiefs total, to Mahomes total, I would take that. I don't know, it's a, I love this game, too. I'm totally with you on Houston, even when it's happening to your team. It's like there's something really compelling to put it mildly about that. Like, just, ooh, wow. Does that travel to Arrowhead Stadium?

Are the, as we say in my house, are you dog enough for this? Are the Texans dog enough to go to Kansas City and win? I think this is probably one of two games. No, they're not, and they lose the way the Colts lost there by a smidge and Kansas City is still the chiefs and still alive and breathing. Or Houston buries them, that there's just like the chiefs can't function. Their offensive line is in shambles, you know, too, for this game. The Bills line wasn't in shambles until they played the Texans. Then their left tackle gets concussed and the right tackle wrecks his shoulder.

The Texans did that to them. And the chiefs go into this game, kind of wrecked like that. So maybe there's a little bit of a challenge, I think, in kind of imagining on Sunday night, Houston going there and winning, like really winning. I have a tough time sort of getting myself to that place. But it's definitely possible. I think it'll probably be a game, though, where we'll be talking about flags and, you know, is it fixed? and the chiefs come out with a three-point win and we're looking at in the hunt next week

and Kansas City is still relevant. I never really want to go there because I've never been able to kind of make it work. Like I know last year the chiefs had a lot of that, like flags that went their way. But then when you look at the actual numbers for how often they're penalized, it was almost like the referees got offended

by the idea that they were helping the chiefs and they flagged them more over the last couple of years than other teams. Maybe there's the timely flag. I think that this and this could be very wrong, that the Texans are going to beat the hell out of them and they will win.

Now, pass rushing on the road is harder than pass rushing at home. That's just a fact. And doing it on turf versus doing it on grass is a difference for some teams. I've also met DeNeil Hunter. Like I know him. I've seen him up close.

It's insane. that he's the second best past rusher on this team. And with their tackle situation, you know, somebody tweeted at Mitchell Schwartz, like, can you come back and play? And that might be better than what they have. When we've seen Mahomes' offensive line just get throttled, like in the Super Bowl or in the other Super Bowl,

uh, that's, he, he's like anybody else. He is human like anybody else. And he always tries to scramble back, and out. And if you try to scramble back and out against DeNeal Hunter, he will catch you, just like we're talking about Michael Parsons. I'm just, I have a tough time seeing it. The Texans

cover extremely well. The defense for Kansas City is just so mediocre. And I think the discussion about last year where we kept saying like, you, what's the, you know, the Jesse Pinkman line of like, he can't keep getting away with this and then they would. And the referees got a lot of credit for that. But you know what I think deserved a lot of credit is the league. was trash last year. It was just a garbage league. There were five teams who knew what they were doing and those teams got 14 or 15 wins, the bills, the chiefs, the Vikings, the lions and everybody else stunk and, you know, Philadelphia as well. And this year is the total opposite where everybody has been good and I think it's been much more revealing of Kansas City's weaknesses on defense

that everybody knows how to play this year. Well, Houston then should be a team that qualifies for this because they got their quarterback back. Nico Collins is healthy. Defense we've talked about. I think with the referees and the officiating, I'll just say it's less about your team's reputation for winning than it is that you're at home. Even in the game in Dallas, there were critical penalties that went against the chiefs in

that game and the Cowboys end up running the game out. So like you talk about timing when it comes to getting the quarterback and just I think officiating in general, we know this in all sports, that home field is the big difference that's the big difference maker yep yep for sure so uh how do we feel about uh you you had mentioned to me i don't know if it's on the air off the air that you had a secret wide receiver you wanted to talk about uh who do who do you want to discuss uh so before we go one name to consider i don't think i'd ever put him in over jefferson because that would just be mad but somebody will ad nine mitchell so the colts dumped mitchell after picking him in the second round

They're having a great season. They probably needed, I think. You would think, to include him in the trade for Sauce Gardner. Now Gardner is hurt, by the way. That's tough. But Mitchell really popped against the Falcons for the Jets last week. It is the Jets. But that happened.

And that's very promising for them and for him. I mean, going forward and in fantasy, I spent a lot of money, fake money, picking him up in like dynasty leagues and even in one high stakes league with an eye on playing him this week against Miami. Target share is there. It's Mitchell and Metchy, but Mitchell is way better, I think. Like there's such a huge upside with him. And so just a name that you don't want to have forgotten, I would think at this point. You might need to have, I might say like you'd want to play him or pick him up if you had, you know, an issue.

somebody gets hurt somebody's on by there are four teams on by maybe have drake london whose health is iffy at this point and he could be a guy on a team like that where they just shut it down but mitchell i think is pretty exciting one thing we know about uh tyrod is uh throws the deep ball he throws the deep ball exactly he could throw the ball downfield so if you have a downfield wide receiver there's always a chance uh that he will have a breakout game well best of luck to everybody if you're already in the playoffs or if you are headed in that direction. Mike, good stuff. We will talk again next week after just to Jefferson gets 14 receptions for 76 yards. And yeah, can't wait. Yeah, there was a digs game. Yeah, there was a digs

game like that one time where everybody was heard on the offensive line and they just used them as a running game. But we'll see what happens. But thanks again for your time and we'll do it again next week. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.