The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Dr Roto Gives His NFL Week #16 Predictions

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

Dr Roto Gives His NFL Week #16 Predictions

Waiver claims have to be made, and I've got trade proposals for lying my way. My first round pick turned out to be a big. flop I don't know which wide receiver I need to drive oh doctor roto give me the news I really don't know what I should do my quarterback keeps getting sacked I've got a bad case of fantasy blues will be the second most important third 30 minutes between now and the holidays. It may not be, it's not buying your gifts. It's not organizing your Christmas Eve, dinner, or meal, your church service.

It's spending 30 minutes of the main is going to make you win your fantasy league, the good doctor. How the hell are you, Mr. Roto? MT, did you, are you still playing? Are we in the semis? I am still playing. I am in the semifinals. I had a certain kicker for the Los Angeles Rams last night who got me off to a fantastic start. You just didn't have Pooka Nakua, who put you in a generational start?

No, well, I didn't have that. I'm telling you, Roto, if there's anything I can give to you besides the gift of warm beings for you and your family is, let's keep kickers alive and fantasy football. It's all I'm saying. I said no one except you, but look, I'm happy for you. What a game last night. I mean, think of this way. At halftime, JSN has nothing.

It finishes a game with like 24 points, fantasy points. Puka was fine in the first half and then goes ballistic. So you know, it's just one of those things where the game's never over until it's over. It really isn't. You know, in today's NFL with the scores the way they are, you know, but don't think

you're out of it. I had a friend who was playing against Kyle Pitts last week. He won, shockingly. So if you're going up against Puka or you're going up against JSN, don't get discouraged. Just keep putting the best guys out there. You never know what the other team's going to do. All right. I brought this up to you last week.

but my oh how do I put this I'm triple scared than I was last week I asked you I said are we going to worry about teams that are out of the playoffs I've got Devon Achen going for the Miami that's Cincinnati Miami you've got Jets playing New Orleans

you've got a boat you've got Kansas City Tennessee we have a plethora of teams playing other teams that aren't going to make the playoffs I'm scared of death that Devon A-chan is going to take some time off, not give it 100%. I need him for two more weeks. Can you guarantee me success, Dr. Rono? I think this week we can.

And so immediately what I always like to do is I look to see what Vegas is thinking. Vegas has A-chan at like 19.5 points predicted. It's pretty good. So they don't think he's being shut down yet. Now, week 18, this is why you never want your fantasy league to end in week 18. For sure, this guy's going to get shut down. Week 17, I think we're hanging on by a thread, but you should get through this week. I would think most guys get through this week.

I think it starts turning a little ugly next week and then for sure in week 18. So A-chan I'm fine with, Travis Kelsey I'm fine with this week. So, I mean, there are certain guys like that that I think are still going to give it a go. Look, they're players. They want stats. Stats equals money, right? Bigger contract. So you're not going to see these guys to lay up.

Now, I'm more concerned about a guy who's on a rookie contract where a team basically says we don't need this guy to get killed, that's different. Or like Tua, who's, you know, one concussion away from a retirement home in Boca, no reason to throw him out there. Quinn Ewers, I want to see what he can do, right? Let's see what Quinn Ewers can do. All right, Rodo, we've got the Steelers and Lions. Both are eight and six. One is feeling pretty good about themselves with a lousy offense. One has an amazing offense and is not in the playoffs.

How is this going to shake out for us fantasy players with Steelers and Lions on it? Yeah, you want your Lions this week. You want Jemir Gibbs. You want Amal Ross St. Brown. I mean, you want them. The Steelers don't let up big plays. So I don't know whether this is a Jameson Williams week.

They tend to let up, they give up plays, but not the big ones, the explosive ones. So I'm worried about him. David Montgomery, I mean, when Dan Campbell's giving you the old, David is a pro speech, you know, that's not a good sign. They've got to get Jamir Gibbs more involved. So I love Goff. I love Gibbs. I love St. Brown. On the other side, here's a shocker. And as I was doing my research this week, you know, the Lions play a lot of man coverage. But D.K. Metcalf has not been great against man coverage. It's been kind of surprising to me. So I still think he could have an okay week. And I still think Aaron Rogers is in play. But the Lions are winning this game. I think the Steelers played very well last week. But have they played a team like the Lions who are just going to lay it on them? I don't think so. I think Detroit really. really wins by a lot.

A lot of intriguing teams meeting that are playoffs on the line. Jacksonville, Denver, super sexy game. Broncos, great defense, weren't a knockdown, drag-out offensive back-and-forth with Green Bay Sunday. Jaguars, who we like to always make fun of, beat up badly the Jets. Now, that's the difference in challenge, obviously, this week. But the Jaguars are playing some of their best football in the last couple of years. How do you see this matchup showing up?

They are. They're very well coach. Leon Cohen, I mean, he probably won't win coach of the year, but he's certainly a candidate. He's done a fantastic job. And Trevor Lawrence has looked a lot better. Remember those first few weeks of the season where every ball was sailing like Cam Newton's? Now he's actually throwing in completing passes. Jacoby Myers has been great. Be careful with Jacobi Myers this week.

Be careful with Brian Thomas Jr. I think Brian Thomas Jr. sees Sertan. I think Brenton Strange is sneaky. Travis E.T.N. is a great start. Bachel Tootin is out. He won't be back for the regular. season. So this is going to be as many carriers as ETN can handle. So I think in particular, I like Strange and I like ETN. On the other side, R.J. Harvey's been tremendous. I think

Bo Knicks is in play. I like Cortland Sutton a lot this week. I know you have an Ingram revenge game. I'm not buying into it. I don't really love Troy Franklin. But I think if you keep it to the running backs and you keep it to Cortland Sutton and the quarterbacks, I think you'll be all right. I don't care who wins between the Buccaneers and the Panthers. It's the weakest division in the NFC in the South, but for us fancy folks, it wouldn't mind 38, 35 game in Carolina one way or the other, right? And Tampa wouldn't mind that either, but I think Dave Canales would mind it, right? So he's going to try to control that game by running the football.

But if they go down, this game could shoot out because what happens is that these two teams play a kind of game that they both want to play. So what does that mean? It means that Carolina runs a defense that Abuka and Mike Evans, thrive with thrive. Baker did not play well last week. I expect him to play much better. I expect Bucky Irving to give me a great game as well. So right there, I think you're looking at Evans and Bucky as sensational starts. And Baker and Abukar are decent starts. On the other side, Tetrae McMillan is dealing with some injuries, but I like him. I like Jalen Coker. He surprised

people last week and had a very good game caught a big touchdown. I think that could happen again this week. Bryce Young, look, he does nothing. And then out of nowhere he puts up a really great fantasy game how do you beat tampa by throwing the football wouldn't shock me to see young surprise this week anything you deciphered out of the colts offense with philly rivers playing last week and what do you think about this week's game with their hosting monday night against the nineers look the cults almost won that game i mean they just scored too early they left enough time on the clock right so that's what happened but i mean good on philip rivers i can i couldn't believe it myself but I think he's going to keep them in this game. This game is really about Jonathan Taylor.

We have not seen Jonathan Taylor do Jonathan Taylor things where we were getting like six touchdowns over a two-week period. The Colts need that. They need it right now. But what Rivers was able to do, he got Pittman involved. He got Downs involved. He'll get Tyler Warren involved. The key is the Colts defense because San Francisco is really playing at a high level on offense right now. Brock Purdy came back. George Kittle, Indianapolis has not stopped the tight end all season. So Kittles should have a good week. Christian McCaffrey hasn't had a bad week all season. Ricky Pearsall came back and now gives you that deep threat.

So Vegas has the 49ers scoring about 26 and a half points. I think we're going to see four touchdowns. If the Colts want to win, they're going to have to control that clock with their running game. All right. Texans have a second consecutive horrific opponent. This time around it's going to be the Las Vegas Raiders. hey, the Texas put up 40, which is way out of the ordinary for them. Do you envision them putting up 40 this week,

which means it could be another big week for C.J. Stroud and his receivers. Yeah, we talked about that last week. I think that it was a really great matchup for Stroud. This week, same thing. Raiders play a lot of cover three. Not going to be good. Good for Nico. Good for Jaden Higgins.

Good for C.J. Stroud. Do you know that Vegas has the Raiders scoring 12 points this week? That's crazy. That's a really low number. You don't, 14 is a shockingly known. low number. Twelve, even worse. I mean, you start Brock Bowers because you probably don't have a guy better than him. You start Ashton Gentie because, you know, if he can get, he can find the end zone once. But, I mean, this is a game that the Texans should win. Texans should dominate. They're

playing really good football right now. I think the biggest question is this. How healthy is Woody Marks? And how long will they keep him out there? If they're winning this game by 15, you know, 14, 17, do you pull them out and let Jordan play? I might.