The Herd with Colin Cowherd - FantasyPros - Top 10 Fantasy Football Predictions & Prop Bets for Week 16 (Ep. 1903)

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

Join Ryan Wormeli and Andrew Erickson as they make predictions and highlight their favorite prop bets ahead of Week 16 of the NFL season! Timestamps: (May be off due to ads) Intro - 0:00:00 Predictions Recap - 0:01:57 MNF Recap - 0:03:05 Erickson Prediction 5: Chiefs lose to the Titans, Tony Pollard is a top-24 RB for the third straight week. Prop: Pollard over 51.5 rushing yards - 0:06:12 Worm Prediction 5: The Chiefs offense is actually okay without Patrick Mahomes…at least for this week. Prop: Travis Kelce Anytime TD - 0:10:27 Betting Pros Free Month Premium Offer Promo - 0:14:49 Erickson Prediction 4: T-Mac finishes top-20 in Week 16 vs TB. Prop: Tetairoa McMillan over 59.5 rec yards - 0:15:08 Worm Prediction 4: Cardinals-Falcons gives us two top-5 TEs. Prop: Kyle Pitts Over Receptions total - 0:20:29 Erickson Prediction 3: Omarion Hampton RB1 szn. Prop: Hampton over 47.5 rushing yards - 0:28:41 Worm Prediction 3: We finally get a Justin Jefferson Game again, finishes top-15 for the first time since Week 5. Prop: Jefferson Anytime TD - 0:32:46 Signed Bijan Robinson and Drake London Mini Helmet Giveaway Promo - 0:37:05Worm Prediction 2: Quinshon Judkins breaks out of his slump, finishes top-12 against Buffalo. Prop: Judkins Anytime TD - 0:37:35 Erickson Prediction 2: Ravens TEs bounce back vs the Patriots. Isaiah Likely finishes top-12 in Week 16. Prop: Lamar Jackson over 1.5 passing TDs - 0:41:06 Hard Rock Best Bets of the Week - 0:47:52 Hard Rock Bet FYP Promo - 0:54:12 What's your favorite Christmas Movie? - 0:55:30 Outro - 0:58:52 Helpful Links: Hard Rock Bet - All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for Hard Rock Bet and make a $5 bet and you'll get $150 in bonus bets if you win. Head over to Hard Rock Bet, sign up and make your first deposit today. Payable in bonus bet(s). Not a cash offer. Offered by the Seminole Tribe of Florida in FL. Offered by Seminole Hard Rock Digital, LLC, in all other states. Must be 21+ and physically present in AZ, CO, FL, IL, IN, MI, NJ, OH, TN or VA to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling? In FL, call 1-833-PLAYWISE. In IN, if you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-9-WITH-IT. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER (AZ, CO, IL, MI, NJ, OH, TN, VA) My Playbook - Sync your league instantly to My Playbook to get custom advice on how to manage your team throughout the season. See your league’s top available players, power rankings, and more for free! Check the “Are They Playing” tool each week to get the latest game-day availability odds for all injured players. If you’re premium – you unlock all kinds of helpful waiver, trade, lineup and league analysis tools. You can even auto-start your team’s optimal lineup each week with Auto-Pilot. Sync your league and dominate every week of the season with My Playbook at fantasypros.com/myplaybook or on the FantasyPros App Follow us on Twitch - The team here at FantasyPros is taking questions all week, every week on Twitch. Follow us on Twitch at twitch.tv/fantasypros and never miss a stream! Discord – Join our FantasyPros Discord Community! Chat with other fans and get access to exclusive AMAs that wind up on our podcast feed. Come get your questions answered and BE ON THE SHOW at fantasypros.com/chat Leave a Review – If you enjoy our show and find our insight to be valuable, we’d love to hear from you! Your reviews fuel our passion and help us tailor content specifically for YOU. Head to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts and leave an honest review. Let’s make this show the ultimate destination for fantasy football enthusiasts like us. Thank you for watching and for showing your support – https://fantasypros.com/review/ BettingPros Podcast – For advice on the best picks and props across both the NFL and college football each and every week, check out the BettingPros Podcast at bettingpros.com/podcast, our BettingPros YouTube channel at youtube.com/bettingpros, or wherever you listen to podcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Hello, everybody. Welcome into the Fantasy Pro's football podcast. I'm Ryan Warmly joined as I am every Tuesday by Andrew Erickson. We are talking predictions for week 16. It is the semifinals of the fantasy playoffs.

Erickson, how many leagues are you still alive in? A handful. The one that I care about the most, I did move on because I had the Trevor Lawrence, Travis E.T.N. stack. That just went absolutely nuclear. So really happy about that, but as I talked about last week, I had a lot of six-seated teams, and some of them didn't stand a chance. I got destroyed in a couple spots where it didn't matter who I played. It had no shot of advancing.

So, again, when you have a handful of teams, you're always going to lose ones every single week as we trudge on through the playoff rounds. But as long as you have a couple live bullets, gives you a good sweat. Shouts to my buddy Bodie, who I've been playing fantasy with for a very, very long time. It's probably the person outside of my coworkers that I talk fantasy football with the most often. He had Trevor Lawrence and Kyle Pitts on a team and also Josh Allen. It's a Super Flex League and had a buy this week. So it was totally wasted. It didn't even get to count for anything.

So this team's obviously good. He's advancing. But what a waste of two just like career games that we're probably never going to see again, at least on that level. Yeah, I have of my 14 leagues, I'm still alive. in eight of them, but this has happened the last two years where I've gotten like eight or nine teams to the semifinals and then I've gotten absolutely destroyed. Just like, I think across the last two years, I've made like one finals and out of like 16 teams in the semifinals across those two years.

So week 16 has obliterated me the last couple of years, hoping that won't be the case. Yet again, we'll see what happens this week. We'll try to help out everybody else, you know, trying to advance in their own. leagues here with our predictions for the week. Quick recap. We both went one of four last week. We both were above 500 in our first week at doing this. Feeling good.

Oh, we're going to crush us all year. And we both met one of four, I will say, both of the ones we hit were our hard rock best bet of the week. It was our number one choice. We're the ones that we each hit. We just did really badly the rest of it. So we're going to try and bounce back here. Overall records for both of us are four and six.

So if you're listening to the show, just skip to the last predictions. Those are the only ones that are stolen cold locks to actually happen. Well, we did just fine in the first week. It was, you know, this is the week where we took a step back. It's okay. We're going to bounce back here. By the way, just sort of some housekeeping for everybody. We're not doing the show next week.

The show is not ending. We are going to be back for week 18 and actually back for the playoffs. We've done this last couple of years. But next week, just with all the shows we are trying to get out during Christmas week and not trying to put too much on the production side of things, we are not doing this show next week. It's just a one week hiatus. We will be back for week 18. And because the nature of the show is predictions and kind of some prop bets, prop bets too,

it will continue into the playoffs as well. So that's the housekeeping there. I'm okay not talking about this Monday night football game, Erickson. Is there anything you want to talk about from this game? I mean, it was for a game that scored 43 points, it was remarkably unhelpful for fantasy managers and like kind of a boring game to watch. You know, Hayward and Jono Smith, were the two rushing touchdowns for the Steelers, right?

DK did have 55 yards in a touchdown, which was helpful. MVS had the other touchdown for Pittsburgh. And then the Dolphin side, I mean, Tua just continues to look absolutely dreadful. Waller had two touchdowns. But basically, unless you had D.K. Meccaff for Darren Waller, you probably were pretty unhappy coming out of this game. I think if anything, it just kind of sets the stage up for next week with these teams and the matchups that they're playing.

You have the Steelers facing the Detroit Lions. So that's a matchup where you're looking at, okay, this could be high scoring. You feel good about D. half in that matchup. He's kind of been on a heat to the last couple weeks. Aaron Rogers is a streaming quarterback. He was super efficient in this game. 23 of 27 passing 224 and two touchdowns. Spreading

the ball out. Again, not throwing for bonkers numbers, but in a good matchup next week, if you need a quarterback, I think Aaron Rogers is kind of in play there. Backfield's kind of a muddied mess here with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jalen Warren was added to the injury report late on Monday. It didn't really seem to

influence his usage that much, although he was much much more inefficient compared to Kenneth Gainwell, who also continues to just be a monster in a passing game for Aaron Rogers. Yeah, that's a good point. You were not unhappy if you started Gainwell. I said it was just Metcalf and Waller. Gainwell, too. Seven catches for 46 yards plus 80 on the ground,

even though he didn't get a touchdown. That was a good day. Yeah, he had a good day. And then on the Waller side, he didn't really do much in the first half. Basically, it was kind of in garbage time when Darren Waller was just, the Steelers are kind of playing off coverage. and he's just absolutely feasting dudes in the red zone,

just doing what Darren Waller does. But you know who plays next week? Cincinnati Bengals. So he's going to catch touchdowns. He's going to do what he's going to do. Unless Darren Waller gets hurt, he's probably going to be a tight end one next week. So I didn't put him on my predictions for a tight end one

because I had to let Waller get through the game first and full disclosure, we put the show sheet together before Monday night conclude. So I didn't want to risk it by putting Darren Waller in the sheet. But when I'm doing my week 16 rankings for tight ends, waller's going to be pretty high up there. because of the matchup against Cincinnati Bengals that we know that she cannot be stopped unless a quarterback only attempts 12 passes, which is happening with Lamar Jackson last week when the Ravens Titans bombed against the Cincinnati Bengals.

I think that this game is going to be high scoring. This game is going to be played in Miami. So you're not dealing with Tua outdoors in the cold because it's a home game for them. And I think Darren Waller, again, the usage has been really strong this year, especially in the red zone. The guy's been a touchdown machine. So he's definitely going to be on the Titan radar for week 16 in the semifinals. Let's step into our predictions for the week here. We're going five to one.

Roughly in order, we kind of move it around. If we want to talk about like two teams, we'll put them together if they're in the same game, just to kind of make it flow a little more naturally. The real one is like the number one prediction is the hard rock best bet of the week. We'll get to that at the end of the show. The rest, the order is kind of, you know, we move it around a bit here. But roughly going five to one, Erickson, kick us off with your number five prediction. She's starting to lose to the Titans this week.

Yep, playing on the road in Nashville. I think that this is just a flat spot for Kansas City. They just got knocked out of the playoffs for the first time in the Mahomes era. Mahomes is out for the rest of the season, hopefully going to return to the start of next year. But ACL injury, we don't exactly know the extent of how complicated injury it's going to be. I just think that this Chief's team is going to be really deflated. Like, what are they playing for? Again, pride.

Like, that's the biggest thing here. And it's still Andy Reid, one of the best head coaches in the NFL and NFL history. And I think that in most cases, he's going to be able to get his guys up for this game. But like, the way that Travis Kelsey's talked about this year, kind of sounding more defeated than inspired in any capacity, he's really Taylor Swift this summer. Like, dude, you got three games left that you can't make the play. Like, what's the point here for the Chiefs?

Their offensive line is such a mess. And Jeffrey Simmons, the Titans defensive tackle, the dude has been on a heater the last couple weeks. He's played like a man possessed. Like, he's ricking havoc on the interior of offensive lines. And he got the big problem for the Kansas City Chief. Mhombs last week was pressured on nearly 50% of his dropbacks against the Chargers. Second highest pressure rate of the season.

I know that Minchu can make plays with his legs, but I think that this game is going to be much closer than the spread we suggest. I think the Chiefs are just kind of getting the benefit of the doubt. Oh, well, it's the Chiefs and the Titans have been terrible all year. So we're going to just get to make the Chiefs the favorites in this game. I have major concerns about them getting knocked out here again, kind of being hit while they're already down. So I think that the Chiefs could lose outright to the Titans.

And as a result, I think Tony. Paulard could kind of have another solid game like top 24 running back two straight weeks i think think it's going to be the third week in a row he can be a top 24 guy i'm glad that we talked about him on the ranking show last because i was kind of man this feels like a sucker's play going after tony pollard after a monster game against the browns and what do you do he had another really productive game 20 touches per game over the last two weeks he's gone over his rushing our prop in three straight games so i like tony pollard to play pretty productively in this game here against the chiefs i know it's a tough defense but last three games that they've given up

allowed over 58 rushing yards to that lead running back. So Tony Pollard's rushing arts prop, it's at 51.5 yards for this week. I think he's going over here. And one other element to note about Tony Pollard, what is he playing for? Contract incentives. Yes, guys, don't forget about contract incentive Sizzin here. If he hits 1,110 yards and seven touchdowns, he gets a fat bonus. So he is within striking distance of those numbers after the last couple weeks.

So I think that you're going to continue. to feed Tony Pollard the Rock because we haven't really seen a split with Taji Spears in the last couple of games. So I find this one really interesting. I actually, I agree with your Tony Pollard side more than the Chiefs losing side. And I would be more on board with the idea of the Chiefs losing if it was any team other than the Titans. That is like, I just can't quite get there. Maybe it was the Raiders. It was the Raiders.

Yeah, yeah, that'd be the one team that would be more, you know, confident about the Chiefs winning. But, like, I do like the Pollard call, especially because we've talked about this a lot in this show. Like, run defense is often effort-driven. It would not surprise anybody to see the effort be deflated here. On the one hand, part of me says the chiefs have been so good for so long that they almost don't know any other way other than to take a game seriously. But the other part of me is, like, I think it will be maybe even a bit of a relief to kind of finally not. have to take a game seriously. Like, they've played so much extra football just from the, in January alone over the last

several years. They basically played an extra like season over anybody else in the Mahomes era. And I think a lot of these guys are probably tired. I'm not saying this is like why they didn't make the playoffs or anything. Like, like, it's not even a referendum on how they are as the quality of a team. But I just think it's like it is probably a mental and physical burden to always be striving for this historic greatness. to always be playing extra football late into the year.

And I think it might be like very easy for them to flip that switch and take the foot off the gas a little bit here. Having said that, my number five prediction is that the Chief's offense is actually okay without Patrick Mahomes, at least for this week. And part of that is because I do think we are likely one of these next three games, we're getting a really fun Gardner Minshue game. I'm telling you right now, we might not be. the best of predicting when it happens. We are getting a great Gardner-Minchie game, or at least a very fun Gardner-Minshoe game in one of these next three games. And I think there's a chance that could happen this week because everybody is burying the

chiefs. Everybody is just like throwing dirt on the grave. You know, we had some fun, like, kind of, it was kind of weird celebrating that they were out of the playoffs because it was coupled with this really unfortunate injury that nobody's happy to see. But injury aside, it is, it is very refreshing that the chiefs are not going to be in the the playoffs. It was very much like a ding-dong.

which is dead type of feeling on Twitter when that was official. And I think that it is going to be like a surprise bounce back from the chiefs offense where it's like, no, no, no, like we are still okay. We are still the Kansas City Chiefs. We have a sense of pride. And again, this is a really bad Titans team. I know Simmons has been playing really well as of late, but by and large, this is not a good team.

Gardner-Mitch is a pretty good backup. So I think the offense is going to actually be okay without Mahomes. I don't think it's going to fall apart for this week at least. And I'm going with Travis Kelsey anytime touchdown. I think it's extraordinarily likely. These are the last three games of Travis Kelsey's career. So I wouldn't be surprised if the Chiefs are like, hey, we're not playing for anything. Let's just pepper our guy and get him, you know, whatever final stats we can to put the cap run his Hall of Fame career, knowing that this is how it ends and we're not playing for anything.

So Kelsey, anytime touchdown is my prop here. I agree with you that I don't think that the offense really falls off. I shouldn't say really falls off again. you're losing Patrick Mahomes. There is a downgrade that you have to account for, especially based on the environmental factors he was playing with behind the offensive lines, it's been a mess all season.

But the thing is, when you see these backup quarterbacks come into play, are they into hand the ball off to the running back or are they just going to throw the ball 50 times? Because we've seen that with Chacobie percent, where the guy just throws so much that it doesn't matter who they're paying. He's metric proof because when you drop back 50 times, you're going to accumulate fantasy points. And that's the thing with the chiefs offensively with Andy Reid.

they have one of the highest, if not the highest pass rate over expectation. And I would not expect that to change. Like, what's the point of, oh, yeah, we got to feed Kareem Hunt? Like, that makes no sense to me. At least get Garder Minchu. I mean, he likes to, I mean, he's a fun quarterback, like you said. So go back there, sling it, get Rashi Rice involved, get Travis Kelsey involved. So I agree with you.

I think that I would probably lean towards the over in this game. It's really, really low, 37.5 points because obviously it's the tight end. I like a quarterback. Yeah. But I could see pass where, again, I like Pollard to kind of have a productive game here. if the chief's defense lays down in any capacity. Just like, if the Titans open up to like a big lead, like go up 10-0 with a turnover or something like that,

you can see that kind of be deflating for the chiefs. It's like, man, like, are we really want to, are we going to rally back now without our leader? And like, and why? Like, what's the point? We're not going to make the playoffs anyway. So I would agree with you that. I think that maybe we do get a little bit more points here than the total,

suppressed total would suggest. I think the over is a great call. And like from a fantasy perspective on the chief side of things, like I'm not going to be sitting Travis Kelsey or Rishi Rice just because they're going from Mahomes to Gardner Minshu. And I probably wasn't starting anybody else anyway. Like Hunt is the one that, you know, you would, you know, maybe go a little bit back and forth on. But like in terms of the passing game itself, like I'm still starting Kelsey and Rice and I'm not starting worthy or Hollywood or anybody else. So like to me, the passing game side of things from the fantasy perspective doesn't change that much.

Hunt, he's ranked RB 36 in ECR for this week. Like, it's kind of just like if you have a, you know, if you're weak at running back in a deep league, start him and I'm okay with it. If not, try and get away from him, I think that's just like he's kind of on that borderline area anyway. At least that's how I see it. But I agree. I like the over in this game, too.

And I lost Mahomes in a league I'm still alive and in a super flex league. And I'm like, there's not really any quarterbacks available. I'll probably just like spend the rest of my fab on Gardner Minshu and see what he does for me. Like, I think that's better than, oh, you can just start another running back in that spot. Like, I'd rather start Gardner Minshew in the Superflex than, you know, the 30th ranked running back or whoever it is. Agreed. We've got a special offer for everyone.

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and what is your number four prediction? Going to Carolina and Tampa Bay. The Carolina, does NSC South? Does anybody want to win this division? Because somebody has to win it. And it's too bad the Saints lost too many games to start the year because they could have been live here to kind of make a run late in the year, but they just, they, they, they tease the Spencer Rattler thing for too long.

It took on too many losses. So it's still kind of a two-man race between the, the Buccaneers and the Panthers. But they're playing each other twice over the next three weeks. And I think we're going to see scoring in this game. That's kind of been the classic game script for these Buccaneers games. That's why I think Tetraud McMillan is going to bounce back here. He's been down the last three weeks. He's actually been under his receiving yards prop in three straight games.

But I think he's going to be a top 20 guy this week in week 16 against the Buccaneers. Now, last week, again, disappointing. It was actually his season low in yardage for the entire season. But there were a couple opportunities for him to make more plays. He had a 12-yard catch that was overturned. It was ruled incomplete after it was ruled a catch on the field. He only finished with two years. two gatches for 25 yards on four targets, but no other Panthers wide receiver saw more than

four targets. So he still kind of was that target leader. It's not like Jalen Coker was necessarily running circles around him. Again, had more yards, but still only drew four targets. And him and Young kind of missed on a potential touchdown. Like, it was a throw where maybe it wasn't the perfect throw and maybe T-Mack could have done a better job of kind of like squeezing it. But he had an opportunity to score in that game. We wouldn't be nearly as disappointed. So I still think the usage has been overall pretty strong, even though it's been kind of down in the last couple weeks. but part of that is because the Carolina Panthers have had a negative 14%

pass rate over expectation. So they've just been like, okay, we're going to run the ball a million times against all these matchups, and that's just not how you beat the bucks. The bucks do everything in their power to, no, we're going to stop the run and you have to throw it on us. Like Todd Bowles invites a ton of passing volume. And you look at last season, when Bryce Young played the Buccaneers,

he had a game with 46 pass attempts, 28 pass attempts. The pass rate over expectation in those games with Dave Canales calling the plays, plus 6% and plus 15%. So I just think that we're going to see more passing volume in general from the Panthers offense against Tampa Bay. And I think that means good things for Tetra Macmillan. So he was wide receiver one, I think a month ago against the Atlanta Falcons and a high

scoring affair. I don't want to bench that upside. So I know that he's been disappointing, but I think that you should still be starting him as a wide receiver two this week because if this game gets kind of crazy and goes back and forth, you could see a really ceiling spike performance from team at like we saw a couple weeks ago. Yeah, that was week 11, that wide receiver one finish against Falcons. The other games in the last six games, though, are wide receiver 49, 33, 27, 23, 27, 23, 73.

Even going back further, it's wider zero 14, 57, 12, 28, 36, 45. I mean, that's obviously getting to the beginning of the season again, going back that far. But the real upside has only kind of shown itself once. in that Falcons game. I don't disagree with the call. I find it interesting that he's ranked wide receiver 16 on ECR. It's kind of similar to me what we've been looking at the last few weeks with Emeka Ibuka and Justin Jefferson, where the production has not been there for multiple weeks in a row. And yet they were still getting comfortably ranked inside that top 15 to 20.

They are now not, you know, rankers have finally moved those two down. but it took a while to react to that. Is Timak kind of in that, he hasn't been as bad as those guys, right? Like he's been playable. Some of those numbers I said were still in the 20s, but he hasn't been in the teens, really outside of that one game

across the last six or seven weeks, and yet he's wide receiver 16 in ECR. Does that feel appropriate to you as a ranking? Or do you think it's kind of similar to Ibuka and Jefferson where eventually maybe that will come down? I think that if he wasn't, playing the Buccaneers, he would have already came down, right?

Like, that's why we were holding on a Jefferson last week where it's like, yes, it's been so bad, but he's really facing Dallas, right? He has the number one matchup. And how did that work out? Just ask Jalen Naylor. He was great. Again, we'll get into Jefferson a little bit later

because I know you have a prediction on him. But I think that's really telling about the ranking is he's facing the Buccaneers. You could see a path where that's kind of how I'm trying to sell. I'm not selling here saying, oh, well, he's been over his receiving arts prop again. listed here at 59 and a half yards. I mean, he's been under this in three straight games.

Like, there's nothing that he's put on the field the last couple weeks that says, oh, this is going to happen for him, but I'm just adding the context of the Panthers have been extremely run heavy over the last three games. And the last time they weren't, which was against the Falcons, that's when we saw Tetra Macmillan go as a wide receiver won on the week. And I remember looking at that match, I'm thinking, man, T-Mack doesn't have a ceiling. Like, you got to bench this guy this week. He doesn't have a ceiling.

And the last time, again, and then he had a monster game. So you're shooting for ceiling into playoff weeks. You have to find ways for, okay, can this guy break the slate? Can he be a 30 point type of player? And at least TeamEC has shown one time this year, hey, I can do that and be that guy. So if this game forces into past heavy game script for Bryce Young, TeamX's the guy in this office. He's their best wide receiver. So I would be leaning into that, which is why I agree with the ranking here as a top 20 guy.

I don't know where I'll settle on him, but I assume it'll probably be around ECR wide receiver 16. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And, well, we were thinking I'm originally. calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers was this is how you guys remember it going down yes I have a very different memory of this we were talking about a thing a bit for the podcast people could call in and say hey Jonas and then I wrote down on my little notepad hey Jonas and offered it up as a potential title oh but thanks for remembering that guys listen to hey Jonas on the iHeart radio app Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast just listen we don't care where you hear it What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy

in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.

Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me.

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Network available on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaking of breaking the slate, my prediction here is about a couple of tight ends. Cardinals Falcons, I'm going to say that it gives us two top five tight ends. If this was a bold prediction segment, I would say it gives us tight end one and tight end two for the second straight week coming from these two teams. Kyle Pitts and Trey McBride, this is not a bold prediction, so I'll give myself a little bit of leeway here. But I am saying both of these guys get inside the top five again.

Obviously, like Kyle Pitts was like, I would say the story of the week, but then we had like Trevor Lawrence and NETN and like a lot of players kind of became the story of the week. But he certainly was the early story of the week. Pitts, you know, having just a career best game. He had 100 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. He ended up with 166, I think it was, and three touchdowns over the course of the game. 11 catches on 12 targets, 40.1 fantasy points in half PPR scoring. just like an awesome game. And by the way, his third straight good game.

He didn't have touchdowns in the previous two, but he had seven catches for 82 yards in week 13. He had six catches for 90 yards in week 14. And then he had this explosion here in week 15. So it's three straight weeks inside the top seven at the position. It's been a long time coming, right? Hoping for this Kyle Pitts breakout. Worth noting, he's still 25 years old.

Like at this age, Travis Kelsey had barely even broken out yet, or maybe he hadn't done it yet because he was pretty older when he did. I didn't actually go back and look that up. But as I recall, he was in the second half of his 20s when he really broke out. Like, I'm not saying Kyle Pitts is going to become Travis Kelsey. But at this position, it would be totally not unheard of for a guy to legitimately take a step forward at this stage in his career. So he's, you know, obviously ranked aggressively this week. And then Tray McBride has just been like maybe this, like, the best pick you could have made in terms of relative to position.

Like the advantage he's giving you over other tight ends of. year since Jacoby Brissette took over is obscene. And he just, of course, continued it this week. I mean, since the bye week, I'll go back even further. Since week six, he has got tight end two, three, six, one, one, three, two, 13, and two. So the 13 is the one outlier. Besides that, his worst finish is tight end six. So he's just been absolutely, you know, insane, rightfully ranked as Titan won this week.

So McBride and Bowers, I'm saying, are both inside. the top five again. I know the nature of the position is that. You mean pits. You mean pits. Not bad. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yes. I was they're back to back in ECR and I was reading Bowers's his name as I said that. McBride and Pitts. Thank you for correcting me. McBride and Pits are are going to be top five again here. Bowers. I will get to him later too. Another tease for the shelves. But yeah, yeah. What do you think? I mean, obviously McBride is not much of a prediction. I'm, you know, I'm just including him to make it more, you know, more of a prediction that they both have to get there. And since they're facing.

each other in this game, but what do you think about Pitts coming into this one off of his insane week 15? Yeah, so I will start with McBride. I'm going to make a bowl prediction because we're not going to be on the show for next week. Week 17, Tray McBride has a better game than Kyle Pitts did last week because he's facing the Bengals. So I talked about Tray McBride at Nauseum in my beyond the waiver column early on in the year where I was looking at the schedule, I'm like, he plays the Bengals in week 17. You might not win your fantasy matchup in the championship if you don't have one your team. Like that he might just be the the skeleton key where he puts up 50 points and it doesn't matter who else you have on your team. You just win because you have Tray McBride against the Bengals. So

that'll be my bold prediction is that Kyle Pitts has this record breaking tight end performance that lasts for two weeks. And then Tray McRide breaks it. Two weeks later against the Bengals. So, classic Kyle Pitts. I want to pose a question to you. So I'm going to lay out some facts and I want to get your response to it because can I just kind of as quickly before. I move off of McBride, Erickson, point out that I believe on this show about this time last year, you predicted three touchdowns from Trey McBride against the Panthers, and then he got, he had like a terrible game. So I just want to point out that your track record with Trey McBride historic performances

hasn't quite been there yet. I'm just throwing it out there. I won't be out of live with myself if he gets hurt in that game. Oh my God. Just be absolutely terrible. So back to Kyle Pitts. There's a chance. Drake London comes back this week.

So I think that it's really easy for us to just completely forget about that and not really pay attention to do. Okay, well, Drake London's coming back. Like, no, but Pitts has been so good. Like, he's been so consistent. He's been the guy with Kirk Cousins. But if you look at the numbers and the facts, like, this matters potentially a lot. So we haven't seen the pits splits with London and Kirk Cousins this season. They just haven't aligned up whenever Kirk Cousins has started.

Drake London has been out of the lineup. But with London healthy with Michael Pennix at the quarterback position, Pitts was averaging 6.6 fantasy points per game and half PPR. So again, just mediocre tight end numbers. Last year with Kirk Cousins and Drake London both in the lineup, again, this is a pretty big sample size. Like the whole season, seven points per game. Like, this is nowhere near the production end to your point.

The last three games for Kyle Pitts have been really good. Who hasn't played the last three weeks? wide receiver Drake London. And I think that what Rahim Morrison, this is from the Coach Speak Index Discord, so shout out to the Coach Speak Index. This was something that Raheem Morris talked about, about Kyle Pitts's performance on Thursday night. He got the targets that Drake London would have got.

And he got the targets he would normally get. So, like, he was accounting for, okay, like, we basically just doubled this production because our number one wide receiver wasn't playing in the game. So we need to, I think. And again, this is really hard for me. because I'm not sure this is really actionable, right? Are you going to bench Kyle Pitts? Like, no.

I don't really see a scenario where you would have the luxury of doing it, but I do feel like we could get the rug kind of pulled out underneath us like we did with Michael Wilson a couple weeks ago when Marvin Harrison Jr. came back. He came back for one game. Michael Wilson just went, disappeared. And then Marvin Harrison missed the next week. And Michael Wilson went back to seeing like 20 targets in the game.

So that's just something that I wanted to bring up. Again, I'm not so sure how actionable it is. it's still a good matchup. They're facing the Arizona Cardinals. Again, like, I don't think he's going to see as many targets as Drake Glenn if London plays. But I could, it's very possible that we do see a much suppressed performance from Pitts. And when you, and this is actually even funny, you too. You look at last year, he faced the Buccaneers.

He had a really good game last year at Tampa Bay. Four catches, 91 yards, two touchdowns. You know, he did the next week, Worm, he had one catch for 11 yards. He does love facing Tampa Bay. Like, so, so again, I lay all that out. it's all factual. Does it matter? I don't know.

Maybe that'll just make me rank him a little bit lower than ECR, but to take him out of your lineup, I don't know if you have a better alternative. I think it's a really good point. I am operating as if London will not be back in that if he is back, he will not be at 100%. Okay. Now, if he is back and he is back enough to be like basically playing at his usual level, then yes, I do think this becomes a lot trickier for me to hit this prediction. Um, I, like, part of me is like the Falcons are not in the playoffs.

Why would they rush back like their superstar receiver? But I guess on the other hand, that means if he is back, you would assume that he really is ready to be back, um, because there's no need to rush him. So I, I don't know. That will be an interesting thing to pay attention to. I'm not going to change your prediction, obviously, but I think it's a really fair point to bring up. The other part of me, though, is like, and I know Michael Wilson is a point against this because

it literally just worked against what I'm about to say, but part of me is like, Isn't the toothpaste kind of out of the bottle here? Like, how are you going to not give Kyle Pitts 10 targets? Because you got to get Drake London 12. Because you got to get Drake London 12 targets. That's how. They don't throw it any, like literally, if Kirk Cousins throws 36 passes, 34 of them should go to either Drake London, Bejohn Robinson, or Kyle Pitts.

Like, there's just nobody else should touch the ball in the game. All right. It's a fairer about him. Let's go to a prediction number three here. What do you got? Yeah, I didn't mean to. rain on your Kyle Pitts parade. No, no, no, no.

That's the show. This wouldn't be the first time that he let us down. Oh, my, I mean, is there any player that's more, you know, Charlie Brown trying to kick the football than Kyle Pitts? I mean, this, you're not being Lucy here. You're just like explaining to me what Lucy does. Like, I get that the rug could be pulled out from under this thing. Yeah, exactly.

So my prediction three here, there will be no rug pulling here. This is a stone cold lock. Omerian Hampton, RB1, Sisson, M. Ken Walker, RB-1 season, burst into flames last week in all the worst ways. But I feel much better about this one for Omerian Hampton. Facing the Dallas Cowboys, Hampton was in his second game back from Injured Reserve. Last week, still it was Vidal that was kind of dominating the snap, 64% to Hampton's 36%. But Hampton's still seeing a lot of volume, despite playing on a limited snap share, led the way with 15 carries for 61 yards.

He had a long 26-yard burst. He's had a couple tough matchups since coming back from injured reserve. and also the thing that I kind of wanted to point out about his usage was he's playing more in third downs in the second week back and he was also seeing more of the red zone touches for the second straight game. So we're starting to see Hampton eat into Vidal's high value touches in the Chargers backfield. It's his third game back. I'm expecting to see even more volume against the Dallas Cowboys who yes, much improved run defense since they got Quinn and Williams. Quinn and Williams had a head injury in the last game against the Minnesota.

of Vikings. There's a chance that he might not play in this game. And I think that if they take him out of that interior, you see the Dallas Cowboys defense from the beginning of the season that was getting destroyed by opposing running back. So I think that Hampton, you're thinking about him in your life, like, man, like he really hasn't popped since coming back. He's still splitting touches with Lidell. So I could see people kind of being down on Hampton. But I really think this is a really good spot for him. Still 15 plus touches and back-to-back games. And in the last two games, the Chargers with these two running backs have leaned more on their run game because of all the injuries on the offensive line that can't pass protect Justin Herbert,

and Justin Herbert's playing with a broken hand. So how do you protect your quarterback, keep him upright? Getting, the Chargers want to make a playoff run here. Like, they are in contention, but they can't do it if Herbert gets hurt. The Chargers have a negative nine pass rate over expectation the last two weeks. Weeks one through 13, it was plus 4%. So they are trying to run the ball in neutral game scripts, and that has to do a lot with Omer and Hampton coming back to the lineup.

So his rushing prop this week, 47 and a half yards. I thought it was preposterously low. He's been over this in five of seven games this season, including the last two weeks since he came back from injured reserve. So this is one that I like the most that we've talked about so far. I really like it too. I, when you first put this into the sheet, I was like, okay, that's not like that much going out on a limb here.

And then I went to ECR and he's RB23. And I found that to be really surprisingly low. I don't know that I would call it preposterously low because there are, you know, a lot of good running backs. You know, obviously there's no buys anymore. You know, there's good running backs available. So I'm not saying he should be ranked inside the top 12. But I was expecting him to be ranked in the, you know, like the teens. Like I thought he was going to be inside the top 20.

You know, for example, he's one spot behind Aaron Jones. I would so much rather start a Marion Hampton than Aaron Jones this week. Jones, I know is getting the Giants. but like I just think I think Hampton is primed to have a very good week and you're right Quinn and Williams getting banged up is a huge difference maker for the the Dallas defense and I really agree like I don't I would love to to argue this one with you and ran on your parade but I can't because I think it's a good call and I was surprised that he was ranked as low as he is I think this is one I totally agree with yeah I don't have anything else to say on it so I'll go

to my number three prediction here speechless I did my job let's go i wouldn't say speech just as much as like you you said everything i had this i would have had to say um justin jefferson i am predicting here that this is the justin jefferson game we finally get him back i'm i'm calling it top 15ish i think we'll know it when we see it right like justin jefferson is back uh you know in the fold here as as as a as a as a great fantasy option a very startable guy which he clearly has not been for weeks on end he's ranked inside the top 24 still. He's wide receiver 23.

But that obviously does not align with the last, I mean, the last three weeks alone, wide receiver 95, 81, and 77. His best game of the last three, he had two catches for 22 yards. And he did get eight targets this last week. It felt like JJ McCarthy was really trying to force it to him at times. And they just weren't connecting. JJ made some really accurate throws in that game. And none of whom were to Justin Jefferson.

And then the one that was, he zipped it in. there to balance off Jefferson's hands. I mean, it was just remarkable. They had another touch on that was called back because of a penalty. So it couldn't catch any breaks. It was just crazy how much was sacked against them. I think they're going to go into this week. I mean, they talked about it on that Sunday night broadcast.

Chris Collinsworth was saying that, you know, Kevin O'Connell talked about, like, one of our goals here is to get Justin Jefferson a thousand yards. Like, like, now that our season is over from the playoffs, like the first goal, the first several goals is figure out what you have with JJ McCarthy. But right after that is Justin Jefferson is the best, you know, in their opinion, the best player in football basically. Get him his thousand yards. Don't let this weird quarterback season kind of end that streak of his.

And I just think that like this is going to be a priority for them. I think it's going to be a priority for JJ. Just not even thinking about Justin Jefferson's stats, but just in thinking about like, hey, I'm the quarterback. I need to get the ball to the best player. Like they're going to work on it. And if a couple of those things go right on Sunday, this was a two-touchdown game. And I'm not saying that we're definitely going to get multiple touchdowns, you know, against the Giants this week.

But if McCarthy continues to look a little bit better and he finally gets closer to being on the same page, like they're not even reading the same book right now. But if they can get on the same page, then like I don't see any reason why we couldn't get a 110 yards, one or two touchdown type of game from Jefferson. So the prop here, obviously, is just Jefferson anytime touchdown. I think they finally get it done in the red zone this week. Look, eventually he's going to have to have one of these big games. If he's continuing to see all the high value targets that he's seeing in this offense,

like that has never been the issue. It's he's not seeing enough volume. He's seeing all the volume you could ask for. And he's seeing air yards. He's seeing red zone targets, like he pointed out. It was comical how unlucky Jefferson was in the end zone against the Dallas Cowboys, where he just couldn't score. And it's weird how these things work where,

and it usually happens this way where once everyone gets knocked out of the playoffs that had Jefferson on their team last week, this is the week that he goes off when you're playing in your consolation bracket. So take advantage. Take the overs on Jefferson in the betting market. Like, when your entry feedback after Jefferson burned you and crushed you in your season long leagues, I'm with you here. Jefferson anytime touchdown. Jefferson overhead is receiving yards, which are probably completely nuked. It's probably like 49 and a half receiving yards or something ridiculous. And against the New York Giants, we know that they can get easily torched, especially down the field.

So McCarthy building confidence, she says a quarterback in general after two good games. Yeah, I think we will probably see Jefferson bounce back even though nobody really, nobody really wants it to happen

because it's been so bad and he hasn't helped you win your fantasy league. But again, if you're still kicking around, I don't think you look at Jefferson this week and think, oh, I have to bench this guy because there's just another really good matchup. I do have him in one league that I'm still alive in. And like, I will be starting him for sure.

Like, like, I'm not, I'm not going to get this far and then sit him the week where he goes off. I just, I simply refuse. Where are you ranking him for this week, by the way? Wide receiver 23 in ECR. I know it's early rankings,

these could change, but as of right now, where do you think you're going to have him? I think it'll probably be in that range. Maybe I could move him up inside the 20, maybe top 20. We'll see how things kind of shake out with some of the other players.

But again, to your point, still very much in startable range as a wide receiver too. So probably in that range, I'll have him. If you want a chance to win a signed, Bijon Robinson, and Drake London mini helmet for free, courtesy of our friends at pristineauction.com.

All you need to do is head to Fantasypros.com slash contest. Complete the form and either download the Fantasy Pros app. Leave a review for the podcast or follow us on X, Instagram, or TikTok at Fantasy Pros. The more actions you complete, the more entries you receive. We will be announcing a winner right here on the podcast. If you're watching on YouTube, be sure to subscribe and turn on those notifications so you can be alerted when new episodes are up and to claim your prize. All right, Erickson, a couple predictions left for each of us.

What do you have? Actually, let me go first for number two because I want to go a little longer on your number two. So I'll go first here for prediction number two. Quin Sean Judkins breaks out of his slump and finishes top 12 against Buffalo. The prop here is a Judkins anytime touchdown. This is kind of going back to the well that I did with Trayvon Henderson. You know, his former college teammate just faces Buffalo Bill's rush defense last week. He was my number one prediction for the week.

He was the only one I got right. And I got him very, very right. Judkins is not the same type of player that Henderson is, in my opinion. Obviously, stylistically, they're very different as well. But I think Judkins has a good game. He has not been running well. I don't know how close you've been looking at his efficiency, Erickson. His first four weeks, his first four games that he actually played,

he had a 4.8 yards per carry or higher in three of those games. Since then, he has hit four once. It was exactly four. In every other week, he has been three and a half yards per. per carry or lower it. The last two weeks, he's been under two yards per carry. Obviously, the offense has not been very good with Chedure Sanders. For the most part, Tennessee obviously, was his big game, but some of these other games

have been a struggle. And it really kind of came to a head last week. 12 carries 21 yards, no touchdown. He had three receptions for negative four yards in that game, RB 53 on the week. So he hasn't been totally awful, like two of the last four weeks. He was inside the top 20. you know, there have been moments of okay here, but it's been a bit of, maybe a mini slump is the way I should phrase it,

especially coming off of this really down game. And I think he bounces back and gets into the top 12 for just a second time since week seven, partially because of this run defense, partially because I do think Shudor has it in him to have a better game. Also, Shudor really loves throwing to Harold Fannin. The bills are really good at tight ends. They have been for years.

So if Fanon becomes less of an option, I wouldn't be surprised if maybe there's like a, couple more checkdown options for Judkins in this one. Just get him a couple extra carries help out in PPR scoring. So, yeah, Judkins breaks out of his slump here is my prediction. What do you think? I really like that angle about the tight end with the Buffalo Bills and how they kind of erase the tight end position.

That's something that I always sometimes forget to do where it's like I lower up a certain player in a bad matchup, but then I forget to boost other players in that same game because well, who could be a benefit from this player facing a tough matchup positionally? Who could benefit from that? And although it's not like apple or apples to apples with a running back versus a tight end, okay, we're going to feed Judkins significantly more carries because we can't throw the ball to fan nearly as much. And I will point out too with Judkins, I think a lot of the really bad yards per carry, this Brown's offensive line has been like battered with a ton of injuries.

Like they've lost significantly starters the last couple weeks. I know why Teller's been out the last couple weeks. They lost one of their starting center got hurt last week. So if they can get some guys back, even if it's like just. even White Teller, honestly. Like, we've seen him, I mean, it was probably a couple years ago, but his splits for Nick Chub when he was in the lineup for the Browns, like it was significantly better.

So if maybe they can get a little bit healthier on the offensive line, that would also be a big boost for Judkins. But the volume is not the issue. Like, he is seeing as many opportunities that you could hope for. 16 plus RB opportunities, 10 of his last 12 games played. So he's going to touch the Brock at least 15 times in a matchup that is great for running backs. I think he can definitely bounce back after Elassig.

so I do like this one as well. All right, let's see if we can agree on our next game here. You called me out, Erickson, for being a coward and not picking a prediction from Ravens Patriots with our two teams facing each other. The reason I didn't, I will just say for everybody, because yours is here, so we are going to talk about the game. I had done a Ravens prediction both of the first two weeks of the show in each of the last two weeks. And I had done Trevion and Henderson last week. So I felt like I had really kind of done a lot of. lot with both the Ravens and the Patriots as of late.

And I wanted to mix it up with other teams. It was not cowardice. It was trying to think of what's best for the listeners of the show and to not be too repetitive. But you, of course, stepped up and said, no, it's Worm versus Erickson. We have to talk about Ravens versus Patriots on Sunday night football. What do you have for us? Yeah, I mean, we're doing this watch party with the listeners, right?

Sunday night football live Patriots, Ravens. Patriots are going to win this game obviously. So that'll be part one of my prediction. But I actually like this angle from the Ravens side with some of these offensive pieces. So I actually think that the Ravens' tight ends are going to bounce back in a big way against New England. Isaiah likely is the guy that I'm kind of circling here. I think he's going to finish as a top 12 option in week 16. Because last week, again, everybody was, again, at least I can speak for myself.

If someone asked me, Isaiah likely or somebody, Isaiah likely. Like he was the guy that I was telling everybody to start last week. So obviously, very, very disappointing. Basically didn't show up at all in the box score against Cincinnati Bengals, a matchup that he had smashed just a couple weeks prior that every Titan had smashed. And I understand you're frustrated. You don't want to go back to likely, but the Ravens threw 12 times last week. It was a weird game for the offense.

It was just so much game script that, I mean, besides Dave Flowers ripping off a couple big plays and scoring, like there was really no chance for any of these receivers to do anything. So I think that I'm not going to hold that against. Isaiah likely. He still has more catches than Mark Andrews in the last three games, 9 to 7. And he's still been a top 12 tight end in two of the last three games, despite not having two touchdowns that he should have had that didn't convert into the end zone. And the thing I want to point out about the Patriots, and this is something that I was concerned

about with them, just kind of like from a real life perspective, like one of their major flaws as a team is they're terrible in the red zone. They are the worst red zone defense in the NFL 30 second and touchdown rate allowed. And what do they be giving up in the end zone? passing touchdowns. 31st and passing touchdown rate allowed this season. Where do we know that Lamar Jackson likes to go in the end zone, in the red zone? It's his tight ends.

It's Mark Andrews. It's like Zsaia likely. So I versed by prop was Isaiah likely anytime touchdown, but then I was like, I'm just taking Lamar Jackson to throw for one and a half passing touchdowns. This is something that he had been basically hitting every single week prior to the season into his injury. And then he just went on this cold streak where it was coming back from the injury, not throwing a lot of touchdowns.

But last week he threw two touchdowns. on eight completions. So he can be a very hyper-efficient quarterback. That's Lamar's bread and butter. And he actually did go over it last week. So I think that continues here. He's going to throw for over one and a half passing touchdowns. I think we see points in this game.

Again, obviously, I'm going to be rooting for my Patriots to come out with the win. But I expect this game to be close. And I expect it to be friendly for fantasy purposes on both sides in the passing game. So that is my prediction for Patriots, Ravens. What's say you, Warren? Well, you said at the beginning of that, that the first part of your prediction was the Patriots winning. Does that mean if the Ravens win but likely's top 12 that you are losing this prediction?

You are officially making the Patriots winning as a part of it? Yes. I'll do that for people. I'd love to hear it. We should have made our Hard Rock Best Bad at the Week just like, I think the Ravens will win and you think the Patriots will win. I've tried to pull up the total here because I hadn't looked it up. Okay, it's at 48. I like the over on that.

I think there will be points in this game, to your point. I think Lamar has looked the most like Lamar the last two weeks, basically since like the Buffalo game. Like, like I thought these were the, and I know they didn't win against the Steelers. It was a very classic Steelers game where he looked okay. But then, you know, there were dumb turnovers and, you know, Steelers Devil Magic.

But, but I thought, I mean, it was a very efficient game because he didn't need to do much. Like his throw to Zay Flowers for the touchdown against the Bengals, I thought was the best throw he's made, you know, since September. It just looked the most like Lamar that I think we've seen since the beginning of the season. Derek Kennery was very efficient. Now, the Bengals defense is bad, but, like, I think it's important to remember with this Patriots team that we went into the year saying, like, this is still a very flawed team that if Drake May takes a leap, he can kind of drag some of these players up with him against a very easy schedule. And that's what's happened. He has dragged these players up with him because he has taken an MVP leap.

forward, but it's come largely against a very easy schedule. And this defense, while statistically is not bad, has not faced a lot of quarterbacks, the likes of a healthy Lamar Jackson this season. I think, like, the fact that they beat the bills back in week four or five, I think has carried a lot of weight for us legitimizing the Patriots when the rest of their great season. And it has been a really good season. Like, obviously, I love Drake May. I'm not knocking him.

but it's come against a really poor schedule. The Ravens' defense is playing well. They're coming off of a shutout. Lamar Jackson is playing definitely better, not as usual MVP self, but definitely better. This is in Baltimore in primetime. I know the Ravens weren't very good on Thanksgiving, but typically they are very good at home in primetime games.

I think there's going to be a high-scoring game. Like, Drake May is awesome. I think he can take advantage of this defense. There's some injury stuff in the defense. Chiodobio Wuzi might not play the secondary. is getting kind of banged up. They did get our Darius Washington back to help Baltimore. And the Ravens, I think, can run on and throw on this Patriots defense.

I actually expect them to score a lot. So I think this game is going to be played in the 50s. And I think the Ravens will win. It's minus two and a half. Some places it's minus three. Hard Rock bet is minus two and a half. I would, I think, lean towards the Ravens laying the points unless it got to over a field goal, I would take the Patriots easily.

I think I would lay the points with the Ravens. I don't feel confidently about that. I do feel confident about the over. I think there will be points in this game. Yeah, that's the best way I bet it, honestly. It's just fun. And that way you don't get a bad bead and misfeelable at the end of the game when it doesn't even come down to the quarterback, right?

Because that's kind of how you feel when you bet on these games. It's which quarterback's going to play better. If both quarterbacks play good, overhits. Bang bang. Speaking of Hard Rock Bet, today's show is brought to you by our new presenting sponsor Hard Rock Bet, so it's time for our Hard Rock Best Betts of the week presented. by Hard Rock Bet. Erick said, what is your Hard Rock best bet of the week?

Adrick Estime, Saints running back. That's what team he's on, the New Orleans Saints. It's going to be a flex. The estimates are back. A flex start in Week 16. I couldn't not put Audrae estimate on the show sheet between the estimates. Our guy. The estimates, because there's a chance that he is the RB1 for the New Orleans Saints

this week. So this obviously comes with a caveat that Devin Neal, Alvin Camara, don't play in this game for the New Orleans Saints. Alvin Camara is still banged up with this MCL injury. It's a loss season. for the Saints. I really don't think he's going to come back. Devin Neal got hurt last week with a hamstring injury, didn't play in the entire second half. Still TBD, we haven't gotten any really updates about him. I know that Kellen Moore talked

to the media and he didn't really say anything about Devin Neal. But he did talk about Andre Guestime and Evan Hull taking advantage of their opportunities in the Saints backfield. So it was kind of a 50-50 split after Devin Neal got hurt last week. My estimate did out touch Evan Hull and also played a higher. percentage of the snaps, 36% to 32%. But the biggest thing with Estimate is that on that final drive and even late into the game, they were like peppering him with screen passes. So I think that they are leaning on him as, hey, we like this guy in pass pro.

We trust him. And we trust him to make plays in space. And look, you know, I am warm. I'm a sucker for Olegic Estimate. I think it was a really talented guy coming out of Notre Dame. I thought that if he hadn't just totally butchered his 40-yard dash time, like he would have probably been a much higher draft pick, but somebody gave him really bad. advice and said to run the 40 and he just totally butchered it. So that's why his draft stock plummeted

and again was with Denver as a rookie. He spent some time on the Eagles practice squad as well, but bounced around, found a home with Kellan Moore in this Saints backfield that's been hit by injuries. And look, 5'11, 227 pounds, plays with a physical run style. And I think that I'm kind of bearing the lead here with why was I right last or last week about Travis ETA? Because he was facing the New York freaking Jets. The Jets. The Jets. The last. The last Last five running backs they have faced, A-chan, RB8, Bejohn, RB1, Derek Henry, RB4, Henderson, RB3, ETN last week, RB2. Like, you just got to follow the flowchart, guys.

Play the running back that's facing the New York Jets who just fired their defensive coordinator, Steve Welks. Maybe it makes them better, maybe it doesn't. I don't think it will. Saints, as home favorites, positive game script. I think Estimate, if he gets going here, I think you could see north of 20 carries and have a monster, monster game. So someone that should add off waivers and start in your flex this week in the semifinals,

dare I say, if Jake London plays, could he outscore Kyle Pitts? It might happen. But regardless, I feel good about S today as a flex this week. I love it. It's a great call. Where are you ranking him, by the way, amongst running backs? He's RB 39 in early ECR or 38. It's going to move.

Regardless, we have to wait for more news on Devin Neal. Look, I'm going to have him in flex territory, right, where it's like, Like this guy, he'll probably be get the nod over some of these fringier wide receiver plays. Estim A or Kareem Hunt? Estim A. Yeah. I'm not, no cream hunt for me. Estimay.

Easy. Okay. I, the whole time, by the way, that we were talking about him, I just kept thinking like it'll be fun if he was on the Patriots and we could do like, mix the names and have it, Audrake Estimate, your two favorite players. I love Audrey. I said. We, we are the original. Adrick estimates. I know we're now Kyle Monong guys, but we are still estimates at heart.

Manungai let us down. Manunga looked terrible last week, too. He let you down big time, for sure. And again, like the process was right. I just got, I picked the wrong running back. And again, I still had Swift ranked higher than Monong guys, but I think they were ranked back to back. So that was an L on my part.

But I had the right game script, the right team, just the wrong running back. Not going to go 0 and 2, two weeks in a row on our guys. So, Adric Estimate is going to smash this week. And so guarantee it's going to be Evan Hall with two touchdowns, 150 yards rushing, and I'm going to be wearing the clown mask on week 18 when we come back. Okay, here's my hard rock best bet of the week. The Raiders have a better offensive game than last week, but still end up with no startable players in fantasy.

They are, of course, going up against the Texans. It is a laughable before, you know, matchup of the. that defense versus that offense right now. So the prop angle I'm taking on this is that is an under on really any Brock Bauer's stat, whatever it is. I mean, the Raiders, like, implied point total in this game is just, like, ludicrous. It's, they're not going to score. I mean, it's like, I'm not going to predict a shutout because that's crazy.

But this is not going to be a game where there are startable fantasy options, I don't expect. Like, and basically all that needs to happen. for that to be true for me is like bad Brock Bowers and bad Ash and Genty because, you know, who else are even really considering in the current state of the offense in this matchup. So yeah, I'm going with no startable players. It's a, you know, again, better than they were against the Eagles because they had under 100 total yards in that game against the Eagles.

75. Yeah. They will have more than 75 yards against the Texans, but I don't know if they're going to score much more. This is going to be really ugly, Erickson. Yeah, I'm not really sure I have much else to add here. Maybe it feel different if the Raiders are playing at home, but it's also on the road. So you're not really dealing with that type of home underdog type of narrative. Pete Carroll's talking about how he says he not playing for his job. And there's a chance that Gino Smith comes back. And clearly, Gino Smith is an upgrade over Kenny Pickett. So to your point about the prediction being

correct. If they do get their starting quarterback back under center, I think that will give a boost to the offense to at least maybe kick a field goal. Bowers or Pitts this week? I think you still got to play pits. I can't. Man. Yeah, I think it's still pits. Even with Drake 1, 90% coming back. So. Those were our Hard Rock Best Betts of the week. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor Hard Rock Bet. Are you out of your fantasy football playoffs but still want to get in on the Week 16 action? Head over to Hard Rock Bet. They even just

launched a brand new 4U page, making it easy to bet on your favorite teams, players, and leagues in just a few simple taps. Open the app, go for the 4U page, excuse me. Find a bet you like, and then bam, your bet is placed just in time to get back to wrapping presents and enjoy your favorite Christmas movie. Sign up today and bet $5 on any game. If it wins, you also score $150 in bonus bets, a winning bet plus an extra $150 to bet with. Now that's spreading holiday cheer.

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Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. Worm. All right, Ericson. What's your favorite Christmas movie? I know it's, like, cliche at this point. Like, if you count die-hard, I do love die-hard. Not in counting that because I know that's like kind of a, you know,

there's a lot that goes into that discussion. Not counting die-hard. You know, I really liked the old Rankin' Bass specials growing up as a kid, like Rudolph the Red Nose Rehnose Reyes specials. reindeer in the year without a Santa Claus, like all that, like the heat miser, snowmiser. Like, I, I'd really enjoyed those as a kid. As an adult, I don't know if I have one that really comes to mind.

I like elf just fine. I'm not one of these, like, elf is the greatest Christmas movie of all time people. It's perfectly fine. I don't dislike Will Ferrell. It's not like, holy cow, I love this movie and I have to watch it every year level good for me. And then, you know, like, there's obviously classics. Like, we used to always watch a Christmas story and all.

alone but you know i they they didn't really stand out as like this is the one for me do you have an answer it's christmas story for me that's my favorite one i just you know i went i went to that house um very uh two years ago when i was at the fantasy football expo um a buddy of mine was living in in ohio at the time he still is there and he i met up with him for lunch like on that Sunday of the expo after the expo was done. And the, the brewery we went to just so happened to be across the street from the Christmas story house. And they had like the, you know, the, the legland on the window. Yeah. I was going to ask you about the, the major, the major award. Was it there? It was like, it was, it was, like, what are the, I didn't know this was just like

in the middle of Ohio somewhere. I didn't know it was like a thing you could go to her, but it was just happened to be across the street from the brewery we were at. So that was fun. And it's a good movie. I just like, like I said, I just like, when I think of Christmas

movies, I think of the ones I watch as a kid. I don't think of like as an adult. This is my favorite. So last follow up to that. Yay or nay, the Grinch at Jim Carrey. Definitely.

Yeah. You know, again, I'm not saying it's like the all time greatest. I don't watch it every year or anything. But strong. Yay. I like the animated one too. That is,

that is a classic as well. My dad loves to. participate in anything really he's like very outgoing and you know he'll sign up for whatever and so at our church growing up he was like he would dress up as the Grinch do all the makeup you know and play the Grinch for everybody for all the kids and it was if you know my dad it was very much up his alley are you are you a Grinch guy yes my wife is it's like it's already like it's like the one movie that we have to like schedule okay when am I going to watch it in December.

We're watching. Spoiler. Watch it this Friday. I would love to watch. I have never gotten into this as a habit, but I want to get in the habit. I know a lot of people do this, so I'm not going on a limb. But rewatching, like, Lord of the Rings every Christmas. I know a lot of people do that.

It's been a while since I've watched them. And I would, like, it does feel like a good Christmas, like staying inside, just kind of marathon. This, like, one of the most perfect trilogy is ever made. So, I, you know, maybe that can kind of turn into something like that for me. But let us know in the comments, what your favorite Christmas movie is. we will not be here next week. By the way, each week we do a quick fantasy football

ahead of Thursday night football on the Fantasy Pro's YouTube channel at a short betting live stream ahead of Monday night football in the betting pros YouTube channel. Both of them go from 8 p.m. Eastern until kickoff. Please check them out, subscribe to our YouTube channels

and click the bell to be notified of all of our weekly live streams. Best of luck, everybody here in Week 16, hard to believe. We are trying to lock up those championship spots already. For Erickson, I'm Ryan Warmly. Thanks for tuning in. And we'll see you in a couple of weeks.

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