The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Dr. Roto's Fantasy Football Feature Week 8

Episode Date: October 24, 2019

Dr Roto joins Matt with his Fantasy Football advice as the NFL Season rolls on into week 8

All right, good doctor. A snack-sized edition of your segment this week because we've got a lot of baseball folks that want to talk about what happened the last couple of days. Let's get to what's going on in New Orleans. What are we supposed to do about the Saints? Who's the quarterback to start? Well, look, you're going to play Alvin Camaro or Latavius Murray. We don't know who's going to start there. We're going to play Michael Thomas because that's what we do because he's only like one of the top three bus payers in all the fantasy football.

And then I expect that Drew Brees is going to play. If he says he's going to play, I don't think. Sean Payton's going to look and say, no, Drew, I think we're going to wait another week. So I'm thinking Breeze plays. But Teddy Bridgewater's held his own. I mean, it's not like he's done a poor job for them so far. No, he's actually been very good in the defense that has been sensational. Look, Breeze probably has what?

Maybe another good year, maybe two? At least you know now that Bridgewater is the future of this franchise if they're willing to pay him. Other teams, though, are probably watching him and saying, look, if he's free, they might be willing to take him like Nick Foles type of thing. I want to get back to the other game there with Arizona. We want to watch Chase Edmonds as well. Cliff Kingsbury screwed most fantasy owners around the world last week by playing David Johnson for one carry when he knew rightfully well. He wasn't going to use them.

I think Edmonds plays this week, and I think we start him. All right, let's get to the Thursday night game this evening, Vikings and the Redskins. Are we seeing for maybe the first time in quite some time, consistency from Kirk Cousins? We are. And look, this has revenge narrative written all over it, right? he wants to do well against Washington. And, of course, we have the Adrian Peterson revenge narrative in this game. So I think Cousins has a nice night.

I think Dalvin Cook is a must start. And I think Stefan Diggs is a must start. Outside of that, I really don't want anybody in this game. But Cousins has produced. He's way more confident that he was in the beginning part of the season. There's no Adam's feeling tonight. So that might be interesting. I don't think he throws for maybe more than 250 yards and one or two touchdowns,

but it'll be a very solid night. We got two teams in a hot mess situation. the Chargers and the Bears. Now, as we talked about ad nauseum on the show, just because records are not good and the matchups may not be sexy, it doesn't mean it can't impact our fantasy. Is this a case this week?

Well, look, I think they're their own worst fault. Mitch Trubisky's terrible. Let's just call it one of this. He's terrible. I don't know why they traded up to get him. He wasn't good in college. He's not good at the pros. I think they've got to move on from this guy.

So that's why the Bears are struggling. The Chargers are struggling because they're playing Melvin Gordon, who's averaged like 1.2 yards per carry, and they're feeding him the football when Austin Echler's obviously the better player. So I think what's going to have to happen this week for the Chargers, we need more Echler and a concerted effort to get Keenan out on the football. I think fantasy owners don't want to play in this week, but you have to because he's a star. I think the interesting play on the bear side is Alan Robinson.

Casey Hayward's a shutdown corner, but he rolled his ankle last week, so Robinson might be better than people think. All right. Now, on the other side of it, you've got a really good matchup between Carolina and San Francisco, but this game does not scream of a lot of fantasy points, or does it? No, it really doesn't. So, look, the 49ers run defense is one of the top in football. Does that mean they're going to stop Christian McCaffrey?

No, but they may slow him down. I think he'll have a lot of catches out of the backfield as opposed to rushing for 100 yards. I think DJ Moore will have a good game. I don't love Curtis Samuel this week, and I don't love Greg Olson this week. I think this can be a very physical, defensive game. For the other side, I mean, Emmanuel Sanders was an absolute steal, and they needed a number one receiver. They didn't have that.

They had Tiddle, but they needed another guy there, which they now have. But I'm going to call an upset here. I think the Panthers win this game. Give the Niners their first loss of the season. We had a chance to watch Jacoby Preset firsthand against the Texans. last week. Are we starting to really see some additional numbers, maybe more so than we ever thought with Jacoby with the Colts? And how will they do against a Bronco defense that frankly has been a massive disappointment so far this year? Look, the Colts are arguably the best coach team in football.

I really think Frank Reich is a genius. And I go back when he won a Super Bowl with the Eagles. People give Doug Peterson the credit. I'm going to give it to Frank Reich. And I'm telling you, this team Brissette doesn't make many mistakes. They use all their players. They run when they have to. throw when they need to. I like Marlon Mack this week. I think he's a guy that people are forgotten. I just think that he comes back and has a big week. When Denver if they fall behind, you

know the Rikers want to pound that football. So look for him. I like T.Y. Hilton a little bit. For Denver, you know, I think the Colts defense is very underrated. There's nobody out there that I'm dying for except Cortland's sudden. I think he will move into the number one receiver role. He's very good. If you're

dying for another player on your waiver wire, Deshawn Hamilton should take over. as the other starting receiver. I think if we looked at our NFL schedules in April and said, give us one of the sexiest Sunday night matchups, the Packers and Chiefs would have been probably right at the top of the list, especially now that Aaron Rogers is throwing the ball over the place and that offense is as fluid as it's been the last few weeks.

Kansas City, Mahomes is moving around. Not going to play, I don't think. But what do we expect from the Chiefs with a backup quarterback who was really good last week in Denver? I don't know whether we don't know whether Mahom's is going to play. I think he wants to play. I think the question will be, will Andy Reid let him play? If I own Mahomes, what I would do right now is pick up Matt Moore.

I would, and I would wait until the very last second to see what happens because I wouldn't be shocked. I would say there's a 20% chance Mahomes, so watch that. Look, Matt Moore is pedestrian, but he's been around the league a long time. He knows how to win a game. That's important for a backup. She's not scared. So the fact that he's not scared, you've got Tyree Kill and you got Travis Kelsey. You got Nicole Hardman.

You have weapons. I think this should be a really good game with one exception. The Chiefs run defense is terrible. So if Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams batter them with that football and keep on running and keep on running, the Packers are going to win this game easily. Let's get to the Sunday matchup here in Houston, Texas, the Raiders and the Texans, who sits and who plays on both sides? Man, I'm playing pretty much everybody.

I'll say that the Raiders are pretty good at stopping the run. But I think Hopkins has a big game. I think Kenny Stills has a big game. I think Phelves might even find the end zone. I really like those guys, and you have to start Watson. On the other side, I think Carr has actually a pretty decent game. Darren Waller is a must start. Never asked that question.

You must start. I mean to star. And I think Tyro Williams is expected back. So I really think if you're into the over-under, I go over in this game. All right, let's get to what we ask you once a week is to find us a fantasy football league player that's going to dominate. We predict. We ask for.

We need Dr. I really like John Brown this week. The Eagles have struggled in their secondary. Brown has been tremendous. Josh Allen's more confident than he's ever been. But Brown's not going to be the greatest receiver all year, but he's going to be a great receiver this week. I think it's 100 yards and a touchdown, and I'm locking them in.

You know what I need to ask you, who's our fantasy dud of the week? If you had anybody right now that's just like, I've been sticking with this guy and he keeps letting me down, would that be like everybody with the Cleveland Browns? Is that fair to say? Well, it could be. And how about O.J. Howard, who I know a lot of people took in like round seven or eight thinking he was going to be a breakout player. And not only has he done nothing, he's got a hamstring issue, killing people.

All right. Because you are such a big Baker-Mayfield fan earlier in the year. It doesn't feel like it's going to be a good week for them at New England because it's just they're really good and the Browns's offense is sputtered. Yeah, it's bad. Look, I think the big mistake here is why the Redskins have not traded Trent Williams, the Browns. The Browns are desperate. they're willing to overpay. Williams wants no part of Washington. That's a trade that would help both teams. It should get done, but it hasn't and without it.

Baker just has no time to throw. All right, good, doctor. Tell the folks we can find you between now and Sunday. You can find me at full-time fantasy.com into the promo code Roto 50 for 50% off your first two months. You can find me at sI.com backslash fantasy. That's Sports Illustrated.com, backslash fantasy. And of course, at Twitter at DRROT. Great stuff. Thank you, my friend. We'll talk again next week. I'd enjoy the games.

Be well. That is the good doctor. More of your phone calls coming up. Plus, believe it or not, shortly, this is the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790.