The Ringer NFL Show - How Many Cowboys Can You Start This Week? Plus, Week 8 Bold Predictions

Episode Date: October 30, 2020

We determine how many Cowboys can be started this week now that Ben DiNucci is the starting QB, look back on our Week 7 predictions, and offer up our gut calls and bold predictions for Week 8. Then we build our million-dollar daily fantasy lineup, and finish the show with an insult-fueled edition of Fantasy Court. Cowboys Offense (1:00) DeVante Parker, Dolphins (11:00) Le’Veon Bell, Chiefs (18:00) Adam Gase, Jets (21:30) Marquise Brown, Ravens (23:15) Brandon Aiyuk, 49ers (27:15) CeeDee Lamb, Cowboys (29:45) Darnell Mooney, Bears (30:30) DeeJay Dallas, Seahawks (32:00) Denzel Mims, Jets (33:00) Million-Dollar Lineup (42:15) Fantasy Court (46:45) Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's episode, we talk about whether you can trust any Cowboys players with Ben Danucci a quarterback. And fun fact, Ben Danucci got his job because he met Mike McCarthy in an elevator. We also run through Tua's debut in Miami, the 49ers smash spot in Seattle and our million dollar lineup. Plus, we do a fantasy court that heavily relies on the phrase, quote, little piss pants. Stick around. Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy football show. I am Danny Hyfitz here with Danny Kelly and Craig Whirlbeck. Are you guys ready for a fun fact? Yeah, give it to it. Ben Danucci is going to start for the Dallas Cowboys in Sunday night football.

I will question, is this a fact? We're recording on Thursday night, or Thursday afternoon. It's trending in that direction. It is trending toward a fact. We all saw Andy Dalton's hit. It's a fact. Yeah, I think that's true. And Dalton has not practiced all week, so Ben Danucci time, baby.

The polls are leaning in that direction. It's a lean fact. I'd love to do a thing where we went through the. third string quarterbacks for every team and just point out all the people we've never heard of. Ben Danucci's up there. I mean, Easton Stick is up there. I mean, Eastern Stick is going to be hard to beat.

But I just want to give a quick buy of Ben Danucci, mostly to get to a punchline I have. But he was a pit quarterback. He's from the Pittsburgh area. And he transferred to JMU, which is an FCS school. And he was the CAA player of the year where JMU went 14 and 1. And they played North Dakota State in the FCS championship game.

Wentz. And I say this for two reasons. As you said, Craig, went. So one, this is a big FCS game for Sunday night football. Oh, yeah. More importantly, I bring up the JMU North Dakota State game for a very specific reason. When Ben Danucci was staying in a hotel for that championship game, which was in Texas, he was in the elevator of the hotel.

This is in January, the before times. And in the elevator, as the doors closed, a guy gets in. It's Mike McCarthy, who is the head coach, just announced head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. And Ben Danucci is like, hey, coach, just so you know, I played for your brother in basketball in eighth grade, which is true. Ben Danucci was played on Mike McCarthy's brother's basketball team, and they talk for five minutes. And four months later, Mike McCarthy drafts Ben Danucci in the seventh round of the draft. And that is how we have gotten to Sunday night. Is that like a nepotism hire?

I have no idea. Shout out to Richie Bozak, one of our producers who went to JMU, who told me that fact. But I'm gobsmacked by that. This is basically because he played basketball from McCarthy's brother in eighth grade. I couldn't feel worse about Ben Danucci going into this game. Could you feel worse, D.K.? I'm literally the entire time that you were telling that story. I was trying to look up Ben Danucci's college stats and I can't find them.

Is that why you had no reaction to what I thought was a very first? fun story. I was, I'm not going to lie, I was kind of disappointed. I was like, I got gold here. I apologize. I was Googling in the background. The reason I wanted to look up his college stats is because the only reason Ben Danucci to me is even remotely interesting for a fantasy, which is, you know, this is a

fantasy podcast. Oh, you're going to say he's a runner. He is sneaky Konami code. Oh, God. What are we doing? He's basically, I mean, he's kind of like the dude takes a lot of. Taysome Hill from the Saints.

Like, they're gonna probably use it. Take that back. What are we doing? Take that back. Wait, are you trying to play special teams. Look, they line them up at quarterback sometimes, buddy. I'm just saying they might try and run him a little bit.

Okay, let's be serious. No one's going to be starting Ben Danucci this week unless you're absolutely freaking desperate. Are you sure you want to run Ben Danucci? What happens if Ben Danucci gets hurt? Who plays? That's actually a really good question.

Cooper Rush. He can run. He could run. but he can rush. But, uh, I mean, I don't look,

Danucci is irrelevant. The question is Amari Cooper, Zeke Elliott, I mean, Michael Gallup, RIP, and C. D.

Lam, where do the, what do you do with these guys? Like, I think that it's, do you bench C.D. lamb. I think you play Zeeke because you have no choice

and you just don't watch the game because you'll be really sad. And you probably have to play Amari Cooper, but you know what? I wouldn't be mad at anyone who benched him. I think you bench every cowboy not named Zeke. What do you think, D.K.? Oh, man.

I think you can still start Cooper, but it's dangerous as hell. And I'd probably wait and see on CD Lamb. Even though he's still probably going to get plenty of targets in this game, I don't know. You just, how can you trust this in any way? I do still think Zique is worth putting in your lineup. He's going to get enough volume to be a factor. They'll probably try and dump it off to him a few times.

That'll kind of like build up his floor a little bit. I saw on Twitter this morning, David Hellman. has a quote from Michael Gallup and he asked, how has Ben Danucci looked at practice this week? Michael Gallup says, dude, he's been slinging that thing.

I don't trust Michael Gallup on anything this year. He's lobbying for some targets. Why would I trust Gallup now? You wouldn't. So, no, to circle around bottom line, this is a wait and see moment, especially on Thursday night football, right?

Oh, wait, no, they're not on Thursday night football. Sunday night. Markey game of the week, maybe. Okay, but let me, let's do this. Amari Cooper, I'm going to go through some receivers. Who do you feel more confident in this week?

Amari Cooper or who would you start? Him or Mike Williams? I would still start Cooper. I would start Cooper. Because I think for me it's Cooper. If he's in your lineup and gets you a goose egg, that's better than him being in your bench and going off. But not the case of the C's evening.

But what are the chances that Amari Cooper goes off? Like, okay, what about Emmanuel Sanders? Is he even playing? Sanders is Corona. Oh, does he? Yeah. So the question to remember. mains. I think I'm still going to go Cooper though.

Okay, yeah with that. I'm just trying to find the zone here. Okay, like Amari Cooper, AJ Green? I'm going green. Take him out of the burn book. Jerry Judy? Cooper. Judy. What? I'm going Judy. You know why? Because they're so banged up.

Everyone's hurt. There's no one. Tim Patrick's not going to play. Yeah, they're going to just funnel targets to him. That's the only reason I think. I don't know, man. I think Cooper's floor is low and I think his ceiling is low. I agree. I'm just not making my Cooper decision. because of Tim Patrick. That's all.

But the point remains, though, the Cowboys, it's not just that this game is going to be bad. It just seems like this team might be bad for the foreseeable future and that the awful feeling that you have if you have to play one of these guys just might just be your rest of the year,

unfortunately. So get used to it, really. So, sorry. I'm not trying to set false expectations here. Like this, get used to this awful feeling. But I also want to tell people that, like, if you are considering sitting Amari Cooper, it's not crazy.

Like, you don't have to be like, God, I can't do it. If you do have a Jerry Judy-ish type guy, it's not the craziest thing in the world. No one's going to call you an idiot. Well, I mean, if you lose and he would have won you the game, your friends will definitely call you an idiot. Like, no, not nobody. Someone's always going to call you an idiot.

Yeah, but, Haifitz, wouldn't you say the process would be correct if you were, if you had a reasonable option to start over, Murray Cooper that you did it? Yes, I just think it's, to me, I think Zeke, you definitely don't have three options better than Zeke, and you probably don't have three better than Mario Cooper and to me you have three better than CD Lamb in my opinion. The

obvious COVID is like, you know, maybe, who knows how your team is? Like, maybe you do have three better options than Cooper. But to me, the line is clearly play Cooper, not Lamb. But not if you're like, I'm not putting my fate and hopes on Ben Danucci, I'm not blaming you for that. You watch, he's gonna,

Danucci's gonna sling one deep ball to Gallup. Hell of like a seven-year touchdown. It's just the reversal. Now Michael Gallup is like the best guy in the team. No, I don't. I think it's the opposite. Is it insane that I'm actually maybe more excited to watch the Cowboys with Ben Danucci, who I've never watched before in my life than I was with Andy Dalton? I think it's always fun in theory to do that.

And then like the third quarter comes around and he's like eight for 24. That's exactly right. That was like the Brett Rippin game from a couple of weeks ago. It's like started out. Yeah, this is kind of fun. Like I'm liking this. He brings a little energy by a third quarter. It's like, get him out of here.

This is fucking terrible. He's thrown three picks. I'm sick of it. Let's go. So yeah, I think that's probably going to happen. Okay. A couple other things we have to hit. So there's a couple positive tests on the offensive line for the,

the Giants have an offensive line who tested positive, as to the Chargers. So we'll go one at a time here. The Giants play the Bucks on Monday night. Will Hernandez, who's the Giants left guard tested positive. We're doing this on Thursday afternoon. It's 413 at the moment. And I'm going to just quote from ESPN here and it says, as of now, the Giants players sent home as close context,

have not been deemed high risk, a source told ESPN, which means they could return to work as early as Friday if things stay on track, end quote. So because this is on Monday night, there's probably a better chance that this game happens, but having said that the Giants are like four offensive linemen able to practice. So the bare minimum that happens here

is that the game happens and the Giants are just completely overwhelmed. It's the second week in a row that the Bucks have played a team whose offensive line has not been able to, the practice because of Corona. But obviously the fact that this is the last game of the week is that about. Probably shouldn't play any Giants at all, to be honest, because this is awful. And if you have Buccaneers players in your lineup, I mean, just do this thing we've been doing all year.

Like you should make sure they're in your flex spots. And then honestly, if you haven't set up your league where it's like, oh, you can do the backup thing and I'll designate someone to play if the game gets postponed, I would do that this week because with the Monday night thing, this is, it's, you know, don't get, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. and then charges Broncos is probably at a lower risk, but the same thing there. You know, prepare as if that game might get postponed.

Yeah. Yep. Okay. Shall we get into gut, gut bold? Let's do that. Anyone want to go first? I'll take it. Thank you.

Yeah, Craig. All right. So my first gut prediction, you know, it's hard not to have a prediction about this Tua game, right? This Dolphins game. I can't. This is going to be appointment viewing for me as a draft. like freak. I'm excited about this. I can't wait to see how he does. You sound super excited

D.K. That's as excited as D.K. sounds. I'm excited, but also nervous because I want him to do really well. It's not a great matchup for him. The Rams defense has been amazing so far, well, especially against opposing receivers. So could be not the most like electric game from him. But regardless, I'm super excited to watch him play. So my gut call for this week, one of them is that DeVante Parker will not be a top 30 wide receiver. this week? Yeah, yeah. So, Devonte's been limited with a groin injury this week. He's also been battling an ankle sprain throughout the year. So I think, I don't know, I'm really curious what you guys think. Rookie QB's obviously been hot this year, right? Burrow and Herbert have exceeded expectations,

or at least Herbert has. And I kind of think everyone just is assuming tool will just kind of be the same. And I'm not saying he might not eventually be as good as them or better than them, but like Week one, they're playing the Rams who have a really great defense. The defensive coordinator, Brandon Staley, has been awesome this year. He's like the big up-and-coming young defensive coordinator. Number one receivers against the Rams

have been really bad. Marry Cooper, Deshaun Jackson, Stefan Diggs, Alan Robinson, Terry McLaren have all had pretty average games or under. And Jalen Ramsey might just follow Devante Parker around anyway. So even if they manufacture like short little easy throws for two

I'm just not sure that this is going to be the game that you want to pencil in Devante Parker. And my last note here, I think the fact that two is a lefty could be weird and could take some adjusting time. I did see that they, I saw that, I think McVay said the Rams were practicing with turning the jugs machine on left, you know, for their dvs. So they kind of get like an idea. What do you mean the jugs machine?

The jugs machine has a left feature. Like you could just flip a switch. Like it spins it the other direction, yeah. I mean, think about it. The right tackle. I mean like the right tackle is now the left tackle, right? Like the blind side is now on the other side. I don't know.

Stuff changes here. That stuff's not hard to get. I get the right tackles, the blind side one. My brain can compute that. What the fuck do you mean that the jugs? Sorry, Emma, if she's listening to that I curse. But what do you mean the jugs machine? How does it work that if you reverse it?

It's like a lefties throwing it. Is that because the spin? You're asking like I'm a jugs machine expert. I've never even look. I've never seen a jugs machine up close. You guys, I got to be honest. I don't know what the fuck the jugs machine is. No, it's just the machine that shoots the footballs that guys catch from.

Oh. He literally says he's switching it to left, which I assume means it spins the ball. The spin is different. Yes. Okay. Interesting. It flies different. There's different aerodynamics.

That's why. There's been such little left-handed quarterbacks in football history. And it's kind of bizarre, right? Well, they've got an innovative Sean McVeigh is just down here, like, gotten ideas. I'm going to spin it the other direction. They should have gone and grabbed the lefty quarterback to come in and, like, throw for practice. But like- point there are none.

Right. Isn't it weird 15% of the world is left-handed or whatever it is? Jarvis Landry back and have him do it. Odell can throw ambidextrously, but he's out. But to your point, though, I think, D.K., what do you think of the huge expectations thing? Because of the NFL draft media, industrial complex, intelligentsia to which you are part of, has propped this guy up as maybe the best college quarterback ever. Propped him up. I mean, look at his numbers. Oh, yeah, he literally has the best yards per attempt in classical history.

Most touchdowns per throw. He has the highest pass for efficiency rating. I just wanted to use that term. No, I get you. I get you. Is it reasonable to be like, this guy will be good immediately? I mean,

they did use their buy. They gave him the full practices. It's like an actual organization with a plan, which is the rarest thing in the NFL. It's long-term thinking. You love to see it. So what do you think of Tua making this debut against Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey?

Like, is it fair to be like, yeah, he's going to be good immediately? No. Well, I mean, it's not, it's not unreasonable. think that he could have a good debut. I don't think it would be fair to judge him completely on this game, though. Like, this is not going to be an indication

of his whole career, obviously. Of course not. And, like, this is what we do with most rookie quarterbacks. I'm judging his whole career off this game. No one, but, like, I think the expectation is high based on what Burrow and Herbert has done. But, like, I think I'm just going to treat this like every other rookie quarterback

is having his first game. And, like, odds are, it's not going to be great. Look, the only thing I'm going to say is, I don't think anyone expected Herbert to do what he's doing. He came in two minutes before the game and was the starter against the defending Super Bowl champions and held his own. I don't think anyone expected that. So what I'm saying is I'm keeping an open mind.

Tua might come in and completely dazzle us. It would be awesome if he did. They brought in an offensive coach and Chan Galey who I think can do some really interesting things with the RPO game. I think this has been the plan all along. I read a really good Joe Shad article that he published in a, you know, in a real thing. April, you know, like it was in the offseason, but basically he talked about how, you know, they'll have a plan, get Tua in rhythm. Tua was really, really good, like, you know, quick processor, snap the ball out, get the ball out really quickly and accurately in the RPO game with

Alabama. You're going to see a lot, I bet you'll see a lot of plays like just slants over the middle. This is the only reason I'm somewhat a little bit excited to see what Devonthe Parker can do this week because if they use him kind of like on the backside of those RPO's as like a guy that like running slants, he could get some targets. But yeah, overall, I would say if you're, you know, if you're in a tough fantasy, you know, like battle this week, I would probably play it conservative and not bank on Parker having a big game. Do not bank on Tua having a big game.

I think I saw that the Rams are giving up the second or third fewest points to opposing receivers this year. So they're definitely a tough, tough matchup for him. And I don't know, like having your first game when you're coming. back from a broken hip going up against Aaron Donald. It's like, man, is this, this is like exactly what we were thinking when Alex Smith came in. Cruel and unusual punishment. Yeah, I was like, man.

Yeah, the Rams gave up, I believe, the fewest points to boundary receivers. But the one thing I do want to know is if you have, for some reason, have a bench spot that you just kind of don't know what you're doing with. You have someone just occupying the end of your bench. You don't really like that person. I wouldn't mind adding Preston Williams, who, I mean, we love and has been getting better, just in case he just has a better rapport of Tua than Devante. on the off chance. Like, you'd rather have them

going into the week than trying to fight for him on waivers if he has a big game. I mean, hey, like, you never really know how it's going to go. I think it's exciting that to have this quarterback change.

How's it going to go? Yeah, how is it going to go? Who are you taking in this game? 284 yards three touchdowns. For Tua? Yeah. Ooh. Wow.

So you think it's all that's going to win. So, yeah, there you go. He just came to me. Also, I have to say, he has the most beautiful spiral I've ever seen. Thank you. It does.

Okay. All right. D.K., what's your code, Cole? All right. So this is something that I think a lot of people have kind of been talking about the Levi-on-Bel revenge game. Hyphids, you brought it up, I think, before-

Levi-on even got traded before he, or not before he got, not before he got, he even signed with any team. You're like, there's going to be a revenge game happening. I could see the Chiefs, like, letting this happen, too. It's going to be probably a game where they're going up against the Jets. They're getting ahead early. and then it's going to be sort of like a grinded out garbage time where they don't really try and push the envelope too much down the field.

And I could see them let Levian Bell do his thing. To look at last week's usage between Bell and Clyde Edwards-Alaire, Edward Salare obviously outscored Bell in half PBR 12.18 to 3.9. So he had the clear advantage there. But like the usage underlying usage was, you know, significant enough to worry about Edwards-Alair long-term. He had 27, Edwards-Lare had 27 snaps to Bell. Bell's 17 snaps.

He had eight carries to Bell's six carries. He ran 13 routes to Bell's 11 routes. Five Red Zone looks to Bell's two Red Zone looks. So like it wasn't this dominant, you know, Bell was not just like some random throw in. He had, he got significant time. Now, part of that game was garbage time. But I think that's going to happen again this week is what I'm saying. So basically start Bell thinking that he's going to get some significant action in this game.

My benchmark is 13 half BBR points. I'm worried about, I really am worried about Clyde. And I think it's not only through this Jets game, it's like when you have like a local restaurant in your neighborhood that's like pretty good, you like it, but then like in and out gets put in. And you're like, I mean, what do I do here? Like in and out, it might be just as good if not better.

I'm going to go to it maybe equal times now. And honestly, when I need, when I really need a good meal, probably going to choose it out over the local cafe. Sometimes I think there's going to be moments where Levy on Bell is the more appropriate solution for the chiefs to be in the game. That's all I'm saying. I just want to say one thing about In-N-Out, which is

that the name of In-N-Out is a lie because I've never been In-N-Out of an In-N-N-Out. It takes a long time. I just want to throw that out there. All right. I mean, their only problem is that they're so goddamn popular that their name doesn't... No, they do it on purpose. They want exclusivity. I'm just saying, In-N-N-Out kind of takes a long time. But your point is true that it is concerning

for the layer, but I think the more concerning parties than I'm we're actually, we're not actually going to know. The line in this game opened at 21 and a half points. Like they looked at it. We're like, should we give the Chiefs three touchdowns? And they're like, not enough. Not enough. And then 21.5.

So, I mean, it's down. It was higher. It was higher than that. It was in the 22s. It was at 19. I think it's at 19 and a half now, which is still one of the 14 biggest lines on record, which goes back to like 78. So we're talking about, you know, one of the 15 biggest lines in, I can't do math on air,

right? Like, you DK, 40 years. So even, no matter what happens, I think that we won't actually know what the chief's going to do in a competitive situation for a little bit, which is frustrating. But still sticking by my bull prediction

about Leveon, which is that said a few weeks ago, he's going to have his best game in this season, 60 yards and a touchdown, which is pretty low bar. I think there's an outside chance he actually has a 60 yard play, which would be like the perfect icing on the top that he has a single play that outdoes any game

he had for the Jets this season. And then while we're here, I'm just to say, My actual bold prediction for this game is I think Adam Gase gets fired after this game. In addition to my rollover bold prediction, I think this is it. I think that the Jets lose by 40 points and they ax them on Monday because they got the Patriots next week and then they have their buy. They have three more winnable games after the buy.

This is the one that's, this is the peak embarrassment for the Jets all season. And I just think that there is something to be said about reevaluating the Jets from a fantasy perspective after the buy if Gase is gone. my question is why haven't they already fired him? Like is there not just this preponderance of evidence that he's not the guy? Yeah, why is losing to the Super Bowl champs the reason he did? Peter King said that he thinks Christopher Johnson is too nice. Just say he thinks he's too nice of a guy.

I heard this theory somewhere and I apologize for not. I can't remember where I saw it. But basically the reason the Jets haven't fired Gase is because he's like the perfect scapegoat. They can blame everything that's bad, everything bad that's happening on him. and then once the season is over, they can just, because, you know, firing him, they're not going to, like,

magically fix all their problems. They're still going to suck. And then they can start fresh new slate, or fresh slate or whatever next year and not have to worry about the narratives around, you know, whether it was Gase's fault or not. It's, Gase is the perfect scapego.

So, D.K., what is your prediction with love? 13 points in half PBR. In other words, if he got him, I think this is a good game to start him. Craig, you got another gut? This is truly a gut. I had something else, and then I was kind of like

just looking at all the games this week. I'm a Steeler fan. They're playing the Ravens. It's a big game. Truly a gut call. The numbers don't suggest that this will work out. I think Marquis Brown's

going to have a big game. I like that. I like that. I'm waiting for it. I've been, like, man. Yeah, this is actually not a good matchup for him, though. Why do you have that gut?

Well, one, we got, we got Harbaugh. coming off the buy, and we got Steelers coming off a big game with Tennessee, where they had a brutal second half. They kind of looked gas and got kind of lit up. I don't know, you know, sometimes there's just a few teams out there, like Belichick with Pittsburgh, and I think the Ravens recently have kind of been in the same boat. They just kind of know how to get under Pittsburgh's skin. I get nervous in big games with them. I think the Ravens are going to win. I know that kind of sucks. But I think the Ravens are, I think the Steelers are going to really try and shell out and stop

the run game. And I think this is going to have to be a game where Lamar's. lets it spin a little bit. And I think Marquise is going to have a big game. Yeah, the thing about the Steelers' defense is that, I mean, it's a great defense. It's my favorite defense in the NFL. But they like, the way they play is that you can get a big play in against the Steelers. Like, that is there.

And they basically gamble that they're going to get to you before that, you know, more often than you hit the big plays. But I think that the Ravens coming off a buy is secretly a huge deal because they've had two weeks to figure out how to get their shot play in. think it's going to go to Marquise Brown. Like there's a reason he's, what is he third in air yards? He also leads, he leads the league in like team percentage air yards. Yeah, air yards share.

I really do believe that they have been thinking a lot about how to get a big play because the Steelers defense is the way it goes, it's possible. So I like this one quite a bit, but are you guys worried about, I mean, it's not like, it's annoying because it's not, it's almost not even worth having this conversation because if you have Lamar Jackson, you have to play him. But it's just interested in me of having the number one rushing offense from last year, against the number one rushing defense this year. So would you guys play?

I mean, we don't even know what the status is of Mark Ingram. So if he misses this game, would you guys play like J.K. Dobbins or Gus Edwards? Or if Mark Ingram plays, would you roll with him? Like, what do you do in this situation? That's a real world decision that I've been having to think, you know, over the last couple of days. I think that J.K. Dobbins remains a risky play. Like, he's certainly got the, you know, the option or potential of having, you know,

like that two touchdown game we saw in week one, but I still think they're going to probably have Gustavus be the number one guy, even if Ingram is out and then have Dobbins be the change of pace guy. And going up against such a good defense like the Steelers, you know, I don't think it's necessarily like this smash play type situation. I will say,

if you don't have a ton of great options, he has a high ceiling because I think he's awesome. I think he's a really good player. But it's definitely risky. I am starting him in one league, though. This is just one of those games where I just want people in this game, even though the numbers don't make sense. It's going to be an important game.

They're going to be doing everything they can to win. I just kind of like want to start people in this game. Big shit's going to happen. What about the Steelers receiving roulette wheel of Claypool, Juju, Deonti, and Washington? Well, there's a lot of injury stuff. Deontes got this toe thing, right? Like we don't know what's going to happen with him.

I'm probably not starting James Washington, but the other three I'm starting. No. And I'm starting Ebron. I think Ebron is going to have a good week as well. I just don't like Ebron. I'll be honest. That's because he was a cult's tight end.

end, I think. There's residual hatred. I hate the entire Colts tight end diaspora. Yeah. I think that's actually it. But no, I agree with Craig, though, that if you have Deontai Johnson, Juju, or Claypool,

you got to start them all. Not all on the same team, but you know what I mean? Even against the Ravens secondary, which is the Raven secondary. Okay. So for Brown, I'm going 80 yards in a touchdown. I like it. Colby, all right, D.K. light us up.

another gut. Brandon Ayuk blow up game against the Seahawks. Is that what you chose? Sweet. We had to double here. So Ayuk has played

no fewer than 76% of snaps for the 49ers over the last four games. He's a full-time player for them now at this point. Debo Samuel is out with a hamstring injury. The running backs group for the 49ers is really banged up. I think Ayuk is kind of the focal point

of the 49ers' offense at this point, obviously after Kittle. But maybe even before Kittle in this game, I don't know. We'll see. The Seahawks defense, we've talked about it ad nauseum, it's just incredibly vulnerable over the middle of field. They're not good tackling team. They just have been terrible.

And I saw this per Ryan McDowell. Seattle has given up 11 wide receiver 1 or wide receiver 2 games this year, which is the most in the NFL. They're giving up 48 fantasy points per game and half BBR to opposing receivers this season, which is by far the most. It's like, you know, a standard D.E. deviation more than every other team. Like the Seahawks are the team you start receivers against.

And I think IUK has a chance to have a big game here. Yeah, DK, tell me about that Seahawks defense. Am I supposed to say what Seahawks defense? Yeah, you are. It's bad, Hyphitz. Yeah, no shit. So I completely agree for all those reasons. I mean, I think I also, we were talking about, I mean, we don't know if Tevin Coleman's

going to play it running back for this game, but Mosterd's out. Coleman might be out. Jeff Wilson's hurt. And so you got your Michael Hasty and Jarek McKinnon who we like in this game. But I also just think Ayuk might get like three or four carries, if not more, because he's been a running back earlier in his life.

He's one of the reasons the Niners have him. At the core, the Niners, like guys, they don't pass the ball deep downfield. They try to just get guys in space. I think that the entire game is going to be about getting Ayuk in space, just let him do stuff. You saw that hurdle he had against the Eagles?

That was crazy. I love hurdles. I write about hurdles every year. Like, I love hurdles. That was one of the better hurdles I've ever seen. Like, he just got so high. The athleticism is unbelievable, and I think that it's going to kind of be like a little mini highlight show for my yuk.

So I had him just down as like a top 20 receiver just because, I don't know. I feel like that. My point is just play him. Like figure it out, get him into your lineup because I think he's going to, I think that this is the week that people learn his name. DK, what was your number with him? Oh, I didn't have one. What did you say high fits?

We'll go through. I said top 20 just to be like, play him. It's my point. Yeah. Okay, let's do that. That's good. And I guess I got to do the gut here because I said my bold was Adam Gase gets fired. And I'm also doing my rollover bold that Levy on Bell 60 yards and a touchdown.

Right. Oh, sorry. My other one's very boring. We already talked about this. I just said C.D. Lamb is like about like not a startable player. Whatever you want to draw the line there, not a top 30. Yeah. Give me your point total here.

What do you want? What's he under? No, it's not a point total. I guess it's outside the top. What are we doing? Because it's not a two receiver league or three receiver league. So we're talking about top 35. 36.

36? No, not 12. I meant like including flexes in a 10 team league. Oh, okay. Because there's 20 receivers. Flex is 30. So what?

He's outside top 30, 35? I don't know. Yeah, what do you want? Outside the top 30 receivers, CD Lamb. All right. So if you have CD Lamb and Devante Parker, you're screwed this week. I got a kind of an interesting,

boldish prediction here for this week based on kind of what's happening this week with an injury. Alan Robinson surprisingly came up with a, he ended up in the concussion protocol this week. And as of Thursday evening, there's no additional details, whether he's going to be able to play this week or not. So if Alan Robinson is out, I think Mooney, I think Darnell Mooney, the rookie out of Tulane,

becomes an interesting flex start for you. Obviously, don't have a ton of faith in the old Bears offense at this point, but I do think he has looked really good. He's gotten open deep a few times, just barely been missed by both Chubisky and, Foles. He's had, you know, the target share that you kind of like to say, I think he had like seven targets last week. So I don't know, if Alan Robinson is out, he becomes kind of a defecto number one receiver in that offense. And I think he's kind of an interesting flex play for you.

You know Saturday's a blue moon. Tell me what is a blue moon? A blue moon, I'm glad you asked, is when there were two full moons in the same calendar month. It happens rarely, like years apart. Like once in a blue moon? In the Americas in two years. So now you're plug. doing Darnell Mooney the day after a blue moon. Oh, so yeah, you forgot to mention that it's also Halloween. Halloween, Blue Moon Halloween. Look at that. All right, so who's up here?

Oh, wait, no, D.K., so do you want that to be your bold? Well, I was just kind of helping High Fitz think of one because we kind of, like, he was a little iffy. Oh, yeah, sure. I got a blue mooney train. Great. All right, cool. And then the other one that I had that is also sort of injury dependent, but I think it's interesting for people looking for a last minute, like flex oxygen.

DJ Dallas of the Seahawks has a chance to be the starter. Yeah, so basically the Seahawks situation are running back right now. Travis Homer is hurt, knee injury. Carlos Hyde has a hamstring injury. Carol said that it's nothing that big of a deal, but that could just be a little bit of gamesmanship to not let the 49ers know exactly what the Seahawks are doing. Chris Carson is apparently a game time decision, but I think they'll probably play it safe with him because it's a foot injury and not trying to rush him back.

So basically, you know, that by default makes DJ Dallas a starter if all these guys can't go. Or even if they do go, you know, they could be very limited. So I'm excited to kind of see if DJ Dallas can do anything because he was a guy that was on my radar during the draft and ended up being a fourth round pick for the Seahawks. Is he an actual DJ? He might be. I don't know. He has the best name of all the rookie running. I just like DK picking DJ.

Okay, Craig, who are you picking? Speaking of awesome rookie names, Denzel Mims game. I like it. All right. I mean, obviously the Jets are playing the Chiefs and they're going to lose by 90. But we got Jameson Crowder, groin injury, very uncertain if he's going to play or not. We have Breschard Paramond doesn't look like he's going to play with a concussion. So we're talking Mims.

We're talking Baxter Barrios and we're talking Jeff Smith. So this is why Mimms is hot. This is why Mims is hot. I think he's good. I like the eye test with this guy. And it's like, I mean, they're going to be throwing the whole. good. So they're going to be throwing

the whole goddamn game. You know, Donald had a good rookie report with Herndon. Maybe he's going to have another rookie report with Mims. He needs somebody to throw

to us, somebody to get Jets fans ignited. And if Gase isn't calling plays, the second that happened, Mims had a good first half.

Mims had a, he had a 30% 32% target share in his first game as a pro, seven targets. And that, if you put that over...

That's hilarious with the number, though. I know, it's not crazy. Twenty one. by the way, I love this one, by the way, Craig. The only thing I worry about is the Jets legitimately had four yards after half time last week.

The first rushing play was 13 yards and they finished the half with negative four. Think about that. The fourth quarter, I think they had a net of like negative eight yards. It was ridiculous. That being said, you do love to see like he had a 32% target share. Number one in the NFL right now in Target Share is Devante Adams with 34%. That gives you some context of... There you go.

He was the guy in that offense in his first game as a pro. He's great... I think he's a really good player. He's got a really bright future. And there's going to be a lot of garbage time. Hopefully the Jets can have more than four yards after half, though.

Like Matt Moore, is that the backup for the Chiefs? Or no, it's Chad Henney, right? Yeah. They're the same person in my mind. I was going to say, is there literally any difference between those guys?

It's like I searched my mind's filing cabinet and just the same entry for both. Yeah, seriously. Chad Henny will be in by like mid-third quarter. So, you know, if the Jets are like, screw it, let's get some reps in here and just launch the ball to Mims. I mean, I'm not going crazy here. I'm saying double-digit fantasy points for Mims. This was a rookie heavy gut-b bowl here.

I got Ayuk, DJ Dallas, Mims, Mooney. It's just that kind of year, I guess. We need a Mooney number, DK. slash Hyphitz. I know you guys are combining. What's the Mooney number? Five catches, 85 yards. Oh, all right. You think the bears are going to gain 85 yards in one game?

I don't know. That's a good question. That's a bold man. Okay. Oh, the other thing I want to talk about really quick before we move on from the bears, do you guys think that they're going back to Trubisky any time here soon? No. No.

I do think that they're making these decisions by the seat of their pants and kind of emotionally. But going back to Trubisky is, well, here, so on one hand, I'm like, no. On the other hand, these guys are getting fired. if they, like, don't make a good season. Like, Matt, like, Matt Nagy, Ryan Pace, the GM of the Bears, they're done if the Bears don't do well this season. And so my gut instinct is, of course, you don't go back to Chibisky. The flip side is, what do they have to lose?

Like, you know, like, what, you know, it's great. I think it's funny because they're five and two. They're going to beat the Saints this week. They're the worst five and two team, I can remember. We're talking like they're completely out of contention and just tanking. But no, they're five and two. I think they're going to go back to Chubisky. Dude, Trubit, no.

That's my longer term gut call. I don't think so for the simple reason that I think that Trubisky is more likely to just lose the locker room than Foles. Foles, like, they believe in Foles. Yeah, Foles does have a good, like, he's a very good leader is from everything I've heard. When Mitchell Trubisky just fumbles the ball without getting hit, I think Kaleel Mac gets more upset than Nick Folls, like, not being able to, like, complete a drive. It's just like, you just frustrate everyone more by just putting your chips into the table. that dude. Like, that's not the hand you play, in my opinion. I don't run the bears.

His teammates really have to respect that BDE. It's just one of those things. It doesn't matter how you play. It's just like this foundational thing. Sometimes you just got it, you know? Yeah, too bad. Don't we all wish?

Okay. Time to talk about Fandall, best ball. Bestball is great. Fendell's got a partial season best ball contest, which is great. You can do one draft. It lasts like less than an hour and you can have a team the rest of the year. Best ball is like fantasy with the drafting part, which is good, but none of the roster management, which is annoying. So your lineup sets each week after the game's finish, you automatically get

your highest possible scoring lineup, and it's fun. And then the team with the most points at the end of the season wins. So if you do this by November 5th, you can have a best ball league with your friends. It's pretty fun. And in a best ball contest, there's no lineups to set, no waivers to claim no trades to make. You just draft 20 players through your traditional snake draft format. And then every week, you'll automatically get points in your top nine performers at set positions. And at the end of the season, the teams at the top scores take home the cash.

So we did this for the ringer last week during that Bears game because it was so freaking boring. It was more entertaining than the Bears game. The Rams are quietly very boring to watch. The Rams are weird because the offense is so boring. But the defense is quietly interesting just because you have Aaron. to Jalen Ramsey. So they're one of like four interesting defenses.

That's good though, DK. They might be. Those two might be. The Bears, yeah, probably. So be sure to play partial season best ball contest on Fandall.

Best ball is the simplest way to play season long fantasy football. And joined by November 5th to start playing in week nine. You can play for as little as $1, a dollar. And if you're a new to Fandle, you can get a deposit bonus up to $500,

which again, that's like 500 times a dollar. So sign up today and use promo code ringer fantasy so they know that we sent you. We really want them to know that we sent you. And yeah, enjoy. All right, DK. Let's quickly recap last week's gut and bold predictions.

How did you do, sir? I think we all did pretty well, to be honest with you. Yeah, well, not a bad week. I feel good about my predictions. Keenan Allen, I had 17-half pvr points. He had 17.5. Just snuck in right in there. 13 targets, 10 catches under 25 yards.

He's a must start every week at this point. You know, he's got this incredible target share. My second got Tyler Lockett bounced back after having two very quiet weeks. Oh, how'd that do? And if you followed my advice, you probably won this week. You had like 50 points. He had 20 targets, 15 catches, 200 yards, and three touchdowns. So I think that counts as a ding.

And then my bold was T. Higgins blowout game. My prediction was 20 plus half pvr points. That was close, but no cigar on that when I was off. It was 16 and a half pvr points. He did have a good game. five catches for 74 yards in a touchdown. Do the Tyler Lockett points roll over? Yeah, that should keep me like a float for a few weeks here.

I think the Tyler Lockett, I was feeling pretty good about that in the first half. I think he already had like 80 yards in a TD in the first half. He had like two touchdowns in the first half, yeah. Probably did it in a quarter. Craig, how'd yours do? I went two for three, not bad. Matt Ryan, top four quarterback, did not pin out. He was the QB 16.

He kind of just played like shit and the Falcons are every week they're disappointing. My next one, Drew Breeze and Jared Cook over 30 fantasy points. Another winner. I love my QB tight end 30 point over the thing. Breeze at 23 Cookend 10. Yeah. And then my bold was that George Kittle

would not be a top 10, a top 7, excuse me, tight end against the Pats and he was not. He was the tight end 15. There you go. Nice work. In fairness, you said it was because the Patriots would take away Kittle and it was really because the 49ers were up. so much so early. They're like,

yeah, we don't even need George Kettle. Hey, man. Wins a win. Well, I got two L's, but I think that spiritually they were wins. I said Kareem Hunt would be a top five running back. He was top nine. Sorry.

I also said Terry McLaurin would have 100 yards in a touchdown. He had 90 yards in a touchdown. Sorry. Very close. Close enough. I can have a little bit of a cigar. And then my bold was the,

the lion's falcons game to be a shootout and that Matt Ryan and Stafford and Galday would all be like top 10 at their position. They weren't. Vaughn into the windup in his first offering just a bit outside. He tried the corner and missed.

Because that game was kind of a shootout. Do you guys still think the Falcons are like a terrible defense or have them been playing a little better since Rahe Morris took over his coach? They seem to be playing a little bit better. I mean, tonight, right? We're going to watch this Panthers game. None of us.

It's Thursday afternoon. I think that Thursdays, I don't know about you guys mentally. When I try to like think about whether a team's good, I just filter out Thursday games. Like I don't even, I don't even consider them. Yeah, I know what you mean.

They're just so weird. It's like even players don't know what to make of Thursday night games. So when I think of how bad the Bears have been, I don't think about the Bucks game. It just is not irrelevant, but I don't think about it. So I'm not saying that I will sort out mentally or filter out what happens tonight in this Falcons game. But I probably will unless it confirms my biases. Those games, it's like the day before like spring break. Like no one doesn't.

It's exactly. But if the Falcons defense plays well, I'll be like I told you guys. Right. Okay. Million dollar lineup? Let's do it. All right. Again, every Friday, making a fandel. DFS lineup, we're playing for the contest that gives a million dollars to the winner. We're trying to make a million dollars a week here. The year I turned 26 as the head of my own brokerage firm, I made $49 million,

which really pissed me off because it was three shy of a million a week. Did we win a million dollars last week? No, no, no, no. My Ferrari was white. No. Did you set a lineup? Yes. Yeah. Now that's a win. Baby steps.

Baby steps. We came in 300. Oh my God, a little long number. 318,735th out of 670,313. So perfectly average. The top half. The winning lineup actually was interested. The winning lineup, million dollars, Kyler Murray, Gio Bernard, James Robinson, Devant Adams, Lockett, Hopkins, Ebron, Kirk, and the Chiefs defense. Although I have to say, I mean, we don't like draft kings here on the show. But did you guys see that the million dollar winner on draft kings this week lost because of a stat change. I saw that.

Oh, really? Wow. The Bears defense. He thought he'd won a million for like, what, 12 hours or something like that, and then the stat correction came through. Oh, that's just brutal. It's awful because he probably had to, like, call the Bugatti people and take it off back order and be like, that must have been the most awkward conversation.

I got to say, guys, about our lineup this week, I feel very good about it. Yeah, you were the architect of this thing, so take us through. Sure. our quarterback, Joey Covers, going up against Tennessee. I love this game. I think this is going to be a shootout. I think you should bet the over on every line. I think Derek Henry is going to go crazy, which is why he's our running back.

Then we got Johnny T. Johnny Taylor going up against the Lions. Lions suck against the run. This is the start of Taylor's second half of the season. I want Craig to just make up nicknames for every player on the spot. What's Devante? Then we got the Adams family, Devonte Adams, going up against the Vikings.

Devante Adams best receiver in the league right now and we decided to shell out our cash for him and we got... Well, Hollywood. Yeah, I know. I was like, do I take his normal nickname? Culver City. Then Marquise Brown's gonna be seeing stars

because he's going to light up Pittsburgh. He's our next star receiver. Then we got, this is why I'm hot, Denzel Mims. For nice and cheap, $4,900 going up against KC. Then we got... He's going to be hunting for the end zone against Denver. Hunter Henry as our tight end, $5,600. Then we got,

this was not a hasty decision, but we're going with Jamichael Hastie going up against Seattle. He's our flex. We like him because all the other nine are running backs are hurt and Seattle's defense is trash. And then it's a lock that the Chargers D is going to take down Drewlock this week in Denver. Hey, let me ask you this question real quick. What's a better running back name, Jamichael

Hastie or DeAndre Swift? Wow. I didn't think of it that way. Swift still. It's Swift, but, hasty's up there. Damn it. Okay. I'd rather be described as my running is

swift than my running is hasty. She's like you're a little nervous. Don't be hasty. Also, by the way, like the nickname thing should remind me, you know Cam Newton

doesn't refer to anyone by their name? He just has anything for everybody in his life. Really? There's a list. It's absolutely hilarious. Among the nicknames

that Cam Newton has doled out this season, this is from Mike, Mike Reese of ESPN. Mike Rice, Reese? I think it's Reese. Rice?

Rice? I don't know. But here are the nicknames. Dirty Dave, Smoking Joe, Winnie the Poe, Freemason, Boe, Berkey. That's Rex Burkhead, obviously. Bo Didley, Crazy Legs,

Bent Dog. He calls the McCordy Twins twin number one and twin number two. I think Edelman's Highway 11, Doe Boy, Jared Stiddlem, Stitty, and Brian Hoist... Oh my God, the nickname's Hoister, and now it's blanked out what his real name even is. Who's crazy legs?

I don't know. I have to find out. But you're Cam Newton. Now, Craig, you've been promoted from third string quarterback for the Chargers to Cam Newton. I like Buzzo. Bozo's pretty good. Buzzo. Free Mason's great, too. I think Craig should, there should be a new rule that Craig can't call anybody by their real name anymore.

Has to be a nickname. My God of the week is buzzer. Buzzow. Okay. All right. Fantasy court time? Yeah. All right. Can we get some like court sounds?

Bayliff. Oh, rise. I just want a bailiff to introduce. Yeah. It's from Blake in Oklahoma. My wife and I are in a fantasy football league together for the first time this year. We were matched up together for week seven. Thursday night, she picked up Boston Scott off the waivers and played him on her roster,

netting her a cool 18 points in half PPR heading into the weekend. I wouldn't say it was tense around our house over the weekend, but my wife takes this pretty seriously, and I could tell she was thinking about it over the next couple days. Sunday morning when she woke up, the first thing she said to me was, it's game day, let's make a bet on our matchup. I tried to explain to her that whether

she's projected a win and there was no way I was going to make a bet with her after she had already had points on the board. She then attempted to goad me into making a bet by saying I was just scared because I knew she was going to win, proceeding to call me, quote, Lil Piss Pants.

Speaking of good nicknames. Am I correct in asserting that it's ludicrous to expect me to place a bet after there are already points in the board for a weekly matchup? Blake in Oklahoma, a.k. little piss pants.

No, that's not ludicrous. I'm completely on board with Blake. No, I'm, I disagree. I think you can place bets on this one. You can place in-game bets. Like, you can place bets all, like, throughout every game. It's whatever. Yeah, not for 50-50 odds.

Like, she needs to get odds. Boston's got up 18. That's what I was going to say. Give him odds, like, two to one or whatever you want to say. 18 is like a fine start. I think that's a pretty good start. But, like, I don't know. Just give him like a handicap or,

whatever. Blake should be like plus 130, you know, something like that. I think you can still make, I think you can still make the bet, but you have to have, you have to get some sort of odds on it. Here's what I'll say. It's not okay to call him little piss pants because he won't make an even bet with you because you just started up 80. First of all, they're married.

Maybe she's speaking from experience. That might be a factual claim. I don't know. Like, I'm speaking, like, if you're married to someone, you can absolutely call them little piss pants. Shit. I think you can do that when you're dating. Is he a, is, the real question is, is Blake a little piss pants? The court request documents.

I'll follow up with Blake. We'll request some important documentation here. I don't think you can ask Blake if he's a piss pants. Okay, how about this? Is Blake acting like a little piss pants? I mean, here's the thing. I would not, I mean, I think that someone asking to do like a bet on the matchup

after you have the 18 and a half points on the board is not ideal. kind of low. However, her calling her husband, Lil Piss Pants is so funny. I don't even care. I'm with her.

It is a great. It's a really demeaning nickname. It's hilarious. Okay. Yeah. I'm going to say that I don't think it makes him a little Piss Pants that he doesn't want to take this bet.

However, in-game betting is really fun. Like embrace it. Do you just have to get odds? You have to get odds. I bet. I think you should embrace it, Blake. All right.

I bet Craig can't come up with the whole list of nicknames for next week, Little Piss Pants. All right. I'll come up with an actual bet. We'll do something better than that. All right.

That's all we got. Thank you, D.K. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, little piss pants. Thank you, Lorne. Thank you, Lorne. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Colplay.

We'll see you guys on Monday.