The Ringer NFL Show - Week 6 Matchups, Must-Starts, and Must-Benches

Episode Date: October 14, 2022

We preview the Week 6 fantasy slate by looking at the two best games of the week, Bills-Chiefs and Cowboys-Eagles, and all of the players from each team you should start. We also run through a new slate of categories including the Hot Tub Club (a.k.a. players with injury concerns), Sunday Scaries, the Debutante Ball Coming Out Party, the 'Mario Kart' Rainbow Strip, and more. Check out our Week 6 Fantasy Football Rankings for this week's positional rankings and more! Email us! [e-mail]. Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Producer: Craig Horlbeck and Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, everybody. I'm Brian Barrett, former Boston Sports Radio Guy, and now host of the new Ringer show Off the Pike that'll cover your favorite Boston teams and stories. From Fenway to Foxborough to The Garden and Beyond, we're reacting to all the biggest games and moments with episodes at least three times a week featuring myself and some of your favorite guests at the Ringer and in the city. Plus, if the Celtics or the Pats make a surprise trade, if the Red Sox's going to run, or if any news breaks, we'll drop bonus instant reaction episode. too, so you're always up to date with the latest chatter. Get in on the action and follow off the bike with me, Brian Barrett, now on Spotify. Fantasy Football Show. My name is Danny Hypertz. I am joined by Danny Kelly and Kirk Coralbeck.

If you're wondering who to start, who to sit, we have our rankings. Fantasyfutball.com. Check it out. We've scoring all the positions you could want. Superflex rankings, everything. Check that out. Our rankings are there. You can use that to help you for Sunday.

We're recording this on Thursday afternoon. I guess we missed the barn-burder of a Washington, Chicago. match up, so I'm devastated at what was surely the game of the year. I hope Terry McLaurin caught a lot of miracle balls from Wentz. I think he did. But we actually will be able to watch the game of the year in person. We're going to be together in L.A. for this weekend, so that'll be fun. And I have to say, this is the first week of the NFL season where the breakout of how the

games are laid out is exactly how I actually want games to be laid out on a Sunday, which is chaos, Red Zone Channel, almost all your fantasy players are at 1 o'clock Eastern. And then there's only three games in the late window, the afternoon. And it's just Bill's Chiefs is the game of the year with two other games other than you, DK. Cokes and no one gives a shit about it. Yeah, I was going to say the CX are going to be honest. I'm going to have to like half emotionally watch that. Seahawks cards.

And then like Rams Panthers, who cares? Bill's Chiefs just marquee. It's like two Sunday night footballs. And then Eagles, Cowboys, actually two good games. It's like two prime times. It's the perfect layout for real. So honestly, the fantasy is almost secondary to me. I want to start with like the real footballness of Bill's Chiefs.

I made a not comprehensive list of the most hyped regular season games I can remember. It's not like the best games ever. It's like going into the game, people in your life are just like, I'm clearing my day. Like I gotta watch this game.

And I think the list coming into today is last year, Brady going back to Foxborough for the Patriots was an insane one, obviously. A few years ago when the Rams Chiefs met on Monday football and then it lived up to it, it was like 54 or 51.

51. That game was so amazing. That was the most fun. Still probably the best game I've ever watched, maybe other than last year's playoffs between Bill's Chiefs. That's regular season game I can remember. Crazy with McVeigh and Mahomes kind of

both emerging. 2009, we have to go back a while. There were a lot of Brady Manning ones. Well, I'm only choosing one Brady Manning one. But 2009 had Vikings Packers, which was Brett Farve going back to Lambeau Field as a Viking. 2007, I'm making, because there were Broncos

ones, but I'm picking this as the Manning Brady one, which is 2007, when the Colts and Patriots met, They were both undefeated, and the Patriots, that was the year they went 18 and 1, but they had won all their games to that point by an average of 25 points per game. Like their margin of victory, but the cults were the defending Super Bowl champions. That was at the time, like, is this the best Ray of the season game ever? And then obviously, the Patriots, plus the Giants in Super Bowl.

The Manning Bowl, the year before that? I had to throw that in. I didn't know that. Thank you. Let me know. Yeah, just checking. Just making sure. gimmicky, but the Manning Bowl,

Eli Payton, and then this is also for different reasons, but the Saints first game back in the Superdome, which he ended up winning. But I kind of think this game's like right there in that list, like it belongs there. And this is just incredible. And I'm curious, like, I mean, do you guys, is there any reason that whoever wins

Bills cheese is not the Super Bowl favorite, TK? I mean, not really. Who else would it be at this point? I guess the Eagles are kind of like still looking like a juggernaut, but not to the level of the bills, man. The bills have just absolutely, they've been playing like a different plane. And then, of course, with the Chiefs,

I think the Chiefs are fascinating because they don't look similar in the stylistically and philosophically as they have been in the past. But they're just so freaking good still. I mean, it comes down to Patrick Mahomes, of course. But yeah, I don't know. I think to me the bills,

and I think there's a reason the bills are favored in Kansas City, like they just look to me like they're playing on a whole different level than any other team. And not only that, the bills, this game matters more to the bills. You know what I mean?

The chiefs have done it. The chiefs have been there. The chiefs obviously slipped in the victory in the playoffs last year to go ahead of the bills when a lot of people thought the bills were the team to beat last year and were looking great. So this just means more. I'm surprised the bills are favored in this game on the road, but I think Vegas knows that it means more to Josh Allen. They have more to prove.

So yeah, it'll just be, it'll be really fun to watch. Can you, Hy Fitz, off the top of your head, can you give me a refresher of how this game ended between the Bills and the Chiefs last year. Oh my God. So I think the dirty truth of Bills Chiefs is if you like rewatch the game, it's not like the incredible offensive juggernaut fire shootout that you think of for the middle quarters. But after the two-minute warning, Bill's Chiefs.

Just insane. Three touchdowns, I think, right? 31 points after the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter. What? It's, yeah. It's crazy. So, and then obviously the Chiefs got the ball back. So the bills go down and score.

Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. Bills go up by seven. Chiefs get the ball 13 seconds. And then the Chiefs set up scoring the touchdown. Does that the Tyree Kill jailbreak run or whatever? Yeah. And then the Chiefs win the coin flip in overtime. Get the ball back.

Go down and score a touchdown. Tiree Kill scores the touchdown puts the P-s sign up with like a minute and a half left. And you're like, wow, the Chiefs got it. Then the Bills march down super quickly hit Gabe Davis for a touchdown with only 14 seconds, like whatever was, 13 seconds. And you're like, oh, my God. They did it in one minute, how impressive.

Then the Chiefs get the ball with 13 seconds, hit Kelsey and then Tyreek in two plays to get down, kick a field goal with, you know, two seconds. That's right. That's right. That's right. And then the Chiefs got the coin flip, went down, scored another touchdown.

I think Kelsey caught it again. I could be wrong. And the bills somehow never touched the ball again. Oh, right. Right. Low key, people forget this. They changed the overtime rules for this year, just not for the regular season.

Because they actually edited the rules, which is the answer they always should have been. Yeah, and no one remembers this, but this year's playoffs, both teams now have to touch the ball in overtime, which is what always should have been. Such a good rule. Embarrassing it took this long. It's, well, I have so many thoughts on overtime.

But basically it's like a player safety issue if they're playing too long, but it's, it who cares if it's the regular season. We keep adding games in the regular season. Yeah, right? I play Thursday night football. But it's a good compromise to be like, okay, but only the playoffs, because there's nobody in the world and no players that are like cool with it ending earlier for player safety just in the playoff game.

Right, so it's only in the playoffs at this rule. Yes. So it's not a rule yet, which is everyone's going to forget. So anyway, this game's incredible. And you mentioned Gabe Davis, but like Loki Stefan Diggs has also just been fantastic this year. And not even just for like Stefan Diggs terms and like historical terms. And right now he's the wide receiver two behind Cooper Cup. But Cooper Cup is on pace to almost match what he did last year.

Last year was the best fantasy season ever for a wide receiver. Cooper Cup had 367 points, 367. Diggs right now is on pace. for 341, which would be the second most ever. Wow. I feel like we haven't even talked about it barely. Well, you know why? We do our Sunday recaps, but his best game was on a Monday night football,

and we just ended up hitting it. And then last week he was great, but Gabe Davis said, those crazy game. And we just, yeah, we have barely talking about things. He's on pace for over 1,700 yards and 17 touchdowns. I have a team right now with Diggs and Allen, and like it legitimately doesn't matter who else I have on that team. Like, the rest of my team is actually.

actually kind of shitty, and I'm five and up. Like, that's how good they've been. Yeah. And, you know, also, I want to talk about the AFC a little bit. It's funny. Going into this season, the narrative was that the AFC was stacked and the NFC had nobody, right? And now, like you said, hype, it's like the winner of this game is obviously going to be the Super Bowl favorite. But man, they're not going to have a lot of competition getting there other than the bills of the Chiefs. Like right now, the AFC leaders here, if the playoffs started tomorrow, here's who would be in the playoffs, the one.

One seat is the Bills, two seat is the Chiefs. The three seat is the Titans. Four is the Ravens. The fifth seat is the Jets. The sixth is Miami. And the last wildcard is the Chargers. Wow. Stunning.

Going into the season, we were like, oh, the Bengals, you know, Vegas, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Denver, New England. None of these teams are good. And meanwhile, you go over and look at the NFC. And it's like, all right, right now if the playoffs started tomorrow, you have the Eagles, who are pretty good. Minnesota looks good.

The Niners look solid. The Bucks. Dallas looks good. Giants would be the six seed and the Packers are the seven. I think the NFC is better. What happened mostly is that the AFC West,

the Broncos were just kind of frauds and collapsed. The Raiders have been all right but just gotten burned in every game. They've won and four and their three losses are by what, like 10 points combined or something.

And then the cults have just imploded. The Bengals have regressed. The Bengals have regressed. I think the Ravens are probably going to end up looking a lot better than I think.

But to your point, Boy, Craig, I think you're absolutely right. And also the charges between injuries and coaching just haven't been, as they didn't take the leap in the way that everyone kind of was hoping that they would. So, yeah, what you have in the AFC is the Bills and the Chiefs just as these kind of undisputed, it feels, I don't know if my favorite dumb movie is, is specific rim. We're like, they're kind of the, they call these monsters, they're size and skyscrapers, and they're kaiju's. And that's really what it is. It's like when they, it's like a Godzilla-King Kong fight. And then the rest of the AFC middle class is just kind of like,

feel like they're all interchangeable. Whereas the NFC, it's not clear who the best team is, but there's a lot of teams that could emerge as the best team. Like, it wouldn't, it would be kind of stunning if the Chiefs or Bill's lost.

Not maybe not stunning, but surprising. Whereas the NFC, the Eagles, the Packers, the Niners, the Rams, yeah, the Bucks, the Cowboys,

any of those teams emerging isn't stunning. It's, you know what I mean? You can make a really compelling argument for any of them. Betting-wise, like, if you're in the NFC, there are so many teams probably with decent odds

that you can get in right now that have just as good a chance is coming out on top as anybody. Including the Cowboys, I mean, if the Cowboys were to beat the Eagles this week and then they get Dak Prescott back, that's kind of crazy. But Eagles Cowboys, I like that it's kind of coming after Chief Spills because it does feel like this

unexpected cousin to the, it's like an AFC and NFC showcase. It would have been better if Dak was playing, but it doesn't look like it's going to do. It would be, but it's in a way kind of cool that they play twice and the first one's going to happen without DAC and the second one presumably would have DAC. So it's kind of like this nice appetizer,

but the Eagles offense has been great. And for all the stuff about AJ Brown coming to the season, the two dudes that they had already are the guys that have been great, Devante Smith and Dallas Goddard. Those guys have been fantastic. I have been doing some research just on the numbers. Basically, you know, obviously, A.J. Brown looked really good the first couple of weeks. He's been a little bit more quiet

over the last few weeks, and Goddard and Devonte Smith have absolutely taken over. So I think, I'm going to start with Goddard. And obviously the top tier in tight ends is Mark Andrews and Travis Kelsey. I don't think Goddard is remotely approaching those two guys in terms of his value and fantasy. But like, if there's a next tier at the tight end position, it's not Kyle Pitts, obviously, which is what we thought it would be. It's Goddard. Like, Goddard is the guy.

And Waller has been a disappointment. Kittles been a disappointment. Pitts has obviously been a disappointment. But Goddard has been really consistent. He's the tight end four right now in half DPR. he's averaging over 10 points per game, which of course doesn't sound like a ton, but that's something in the tight end position.

And he's basically doing everything you want from a utilization point of view, like running tons of routes. He's running routes rather than blocking. He's very athletic. Intriguingly, like, he to me is sort of the new kiddle. And I think people aren't really aware that he is picking up yards after the catch

at such an incredible rate this year, as he is. I was looking at the number. So Goddard has 272 yards after the catch this year in five games. That's a pace of 925 yards after the catch. Like, that's not total yards. That's yards after the catch.

That's crazy. He's averaging 11.3 yards after the catch for reception. In Kiddell's best season, which is a 16-game season, of course, Kittles' best season, he had 870 yards after the catch. He's known as the guy who picks up yards after the catch, right?

Like, he's a beast, breaks tackles, does all that stuff. and he averaged 9.9 yards after the catch per reception. So Goddard right now. Some people call it 10. Sure. Goddard is ahead of him in both of those categories through five games. So I don't know.

I think it's been a quiet thing, but they're using them on screens. He's picking up yards to the catch. He's breaking tackles. And Craig and I were talking about this before. Like he's just very unique athlete. Like he has really light feet. He's really agile in the open field and making guys miss. for a big guy.

And so I think, he's just a guy that we need to talk about more. We were really high on... We were really high on Dallas Goddard. It's like the middle class of tight ends has disappeared. It's just Dallas Goddard.

It's like either... It's like Game of Thrones where either you have Mark, you have Mark Andrews or Travis Kelsey and you're up in the castle and people are carrying you room to room or you're in the small folk eating like the bowl of brown or whatever

and like the red keep, you know, flea bottom. And like the only person not in one of those that just Dallas got it. like a healthy, healthy middle. Or you could say taste of hell, I guess. But to add to that, obviously, Donate Smith is propped up a little bit

by his massive, massive game. I think it was two or three weeks ago. But over the last four games, so everything but week one, in the last month, he has been the wide receiver 11. Like, he's been awesome. He's been really good. He's been better, in fact,

than A.J. Brown, who is the wide receiver 24 in the same stretch. All right. Sunday scary is everyone knows the feeling. Sunday, you're a little angsty, shaking your legs. getting a little nervous. That was me last Sunday night

when we recorded our show, man, I was a mess. Hungover, drove seven hours from Arizona. This weekend, but it's a three-day weekend. You're not supposed to have Sunny Scaries in a three-day weekend.

Well, I worked on Monday, so. Well, that'll do it. It's different when you're on that grind. Who are your Sunday Scaries for this week? To me, it's just like all the shitty quarterbacks this week

and all those poor receivers. Like the subcategory of the Sunday Scaries this week is just, I have the worst fucking attorneys and it's all these poor receivers who have to catch passes from a lot of really questionable quarterbacks this week.

I mean, like, there's a lot of them we can all get into them. You know, PJ Walker, Skylar Thompson, Kenny Pickett, although I'll get to Kenny Pickett later. This is Bailey, potentially, for the Pats. But I wanted to focus on Skylar Thompson.

Every year there is one quarterback who starts like three games that nobody has ever heard of. It was remember like Ben Danucci. Was that last year? You know, Jack Hodges. There's that guy every year. And it's Skyler,

mission. This is the seventh round rookie at a Kansas state. So in the past on our draft show with Ben Solac, sometimes I would deep-died to social media accounts for these guys because, like, I'm not half the draft expert, D.K. or Ben is. So I was like, all right, what can I bring to the table? I can at least stalk everybody's

social media accounts and see who they really are. Let me tell you about Scholar Thompson. I want to hear about this guy. There's not a lot there. He's a classic, he's just your quintessential faith family football guy. That's actually like, that is Literally, that is the bio of him on Twitter and Instagram, Faith Family Football.

All he does on Twitter, and I mean all he does is retweet Kansas State Highland. Like anything that Kansas State does when they're like a charity event or like they had a good game or like a new recruit chooses Kansas State. He just retweets that and then says like, go purple. I can't give you a ton of else. Albert Polis went to his high school. That's kind of fun. Interesting. But he does have one thing, which I think is really funny for a seventh round rookie.

And I think this is like NIL rules just infecting everybody's brain. He has his own website with his own merch. Oh, my God. Like, what kind of merch is it? Oh, my God. It's like, it's just, it's merch. A lot of it goes to, the proceeds go to breast cancer charities, which is nice. But his logo is kind of fire, not going to lie.

Yeah, it's a T and the S. Yeah, the T is like a sword going kind of through an ass as if it were like a snake kind of eye. yeah, it kind of looks like, you know how the twins have the twin cities? Yes. It kind of has that vibe to it. So who is that Bill's quarterback that threw like the six bicks in one game? Nate Peterman. Nate Peterman.

He had also an online store and he sold throw pillows, which I thought was very funny. But at least he, I know, I regret not buying one for as a gift. But at least he had been made fun of nationally. Skyler Thompson's charging $50 for a sweatshirt. Is that because it's going to charity? $50. Sky's the limit. Sky's the limit, guys.

Sky's the limit is his logo or is his catchphrase, which is kind of great. I wanted to say, if all the proceeds go to breast cancer charities, should we each buy a Skyler Thompson teacher? Yeah. I think we should and wear it one night when we record. I mean. I don't want to spurge Skyler's good name, but like, how do we know? Oh, that's going to.

I don't guess we know. We just have to trust him. We just have to have faith in humanity. I think we should all buy a Skyler Thompson. He's got underwear on here. Oh, my God. He's got, you can get a pet bandana. This is like a thorough website.

Dude, he has a newsletter that you can sign up for. What news? The website's official skythompson.com, but dude, Sky Thompson's such a better name than Skyler Thompson. Totally. Wow. You can get a dad hat? All right. I hope he doesn't suck now.

I'm kind of hoping that this goes well. He was lit at Kansas. Well, yeah, I was going to say, like, to add to this, a lot of people actually liked him as a sleeper coming into the draft this year. He was also the best quarterback in the preseason this year. Oh, he lit it up in the preseason. This is the reason. High Fitz actually was like, Danny, you have a whole bunch of Scalor Thompson on your dynasty teams.

I've noticed this he was telling me this the other day. I'm like, I don't actually know a lot about Scalar Thompson. Like, I didn't heavily scout him prior to the draft. You only bought like six T-shirts from Spock. You don't know, no. Right, right. But he freaking lit it up in the preseason, and he looked really, really good. in this, you know,

Mike McDaniel offense or whatever. So I don't know. I'm kind of intrigued by this. Obviously, he did not look good in this last game, but he came in cold. He didn't, you know, prep as the starter during the last week for that because Bridgewater got hurt very early in the game.

But yeah, man, going back, he had 450 passing yards, five touchdowns, zero picks in the preseason. Obviously, it's preseason, but I don't know. I'm somewhat intrigued. That being said, not super excited about Waddle and Hill this week.

But you have to play them if they play, though. Can't do anything about it. Can we set a statistical goal for Skylar Thompson, and if he reaches it, we buy some of his merch? He passes for more yards than Navy this week. 20 points? Fantasy points? Is that too many?

That feels high. 16. 15? What's the Mendoza line for quarterback? What if he's just a top of quarterback? He's number 19. Should we say 19 fantasy points? That's good.

That's good. I feel so high, but yeah. Yeah, it is high. Yeah, so are his prices. You want to charge $70 for wanting a long sleep? High fits? He had like two points last week. He keeps like 90% of the profits probably.

Am I wrong for a suit being a little sketched? If it actually goes, I'm happy to buy if it actually goes. 70% goes to the newsletter, paying some ghostwriter to do the newsletter. I just signed up. I want to see what this newsletter. I was trying to see if the newsletter announced that like he was going to play this week. feel like that would be newsletter worthy. To be clear, if it really does go to the cause, cool,

I'm just kind of like, couldn't you just give the money to charity? Don't worry about it. Rather than make merch? How much am I paying for this high quality? How much of this is going to charity? Seems like a small percentage. Well, I'm sure the T-shirts cost so little. Like the profit margins on clothes is ridiculous.

I'm sure it's like $10 for the T-shirt. This is a scintillating conversation, you guys. This is like, remember, we don't know anything about ads. Now I don't know anything else. How does advertising work? Yeah, how does that because he works? Okay. How does charity work?

What other quarterbacks this week? Are we talking about PJ Walker? PG Walker for the Panthers is terrible, but Baker's been so bad. The only irony with PJ Walker is that the reason he's on the team is because Matt Rule coached him at Temple. Right. But now Matt Rule's been fired, so it's kind of like the what are you still doing here. But now he's playing ironically after Matt Rule.

But it doesn't matter because you're not going to bench Christian McCaffrey. You have to play him. Honestly, Baker's been so bad that DJ Moore can't get worse. So whatever you do with DJ Moore? He couldn't possibly be worse. Would you guys like him more or less if he went by his real name? What is it?

Phil. Phil Walker? Yes. No, because if he were Phil, we'd be like who should go by PJ? Phil Walker? I would definitely be excited about that. Craig, what about Kenny Pickett, though?

Because Pickett, he's not like, obviously, first repick. He's not as decrepit as these guys, but going against the bucks feels pretty hopeless. It does. However, and I guess we can skip to this, to my Kostanza player of the week. If all my instincts are wrong,

the opposite must be. might be right. Kenny Pickett is my Kostan, George Kostan's a player of the week. So I watched every throw Pickett made against the bills. I went back and watched every throw he made. I thought he actually played well

and looks good, considering the circumstances. He made like, he threw 52 times, I thought he had like five bad throws. There was a lot of drops. The guy hangs in the pocket, maybe to a fault, goes through his progressions,

he's accurate. He usually gets the ball out on time. He took Pittsburgh inside the Bucks, the Bills 60, sorry. He took Pittsburgh, whenever I see Pickett and Pitt, it's like, no Picket, Pickett. And they have George Pickens. It's all very difficult. Ridiculous. Kenny Piggott took the Steelers inside the Bills 30 yard lines six times.

And they missed a couple field goals. They went forward and fourth down once they didn't get it. But, you know, obviously the Bucks are a terrifying defense. But they got lit up by the Chiefs. Even if they get killed, I think there's going to be a garbage time potential for Kenny Pickett, like 300 yards and two touchdowns to me is very possible against his defense. This is all gut, but I actually think Kenny Pickett has shown pretty well all things considered in his first one and a half starts.

Yeah, I think that the Steelers offensively are in the absolute bottom tier in terms of everything. But the difference is with the Panthers offense or the Bears, the Steelers are actually fun to watch. It's like, Trubisky was, even when he Trubisky was putting up fantasy points and stuff and fine, it was like, don't watch them. The Steelers' offense is bad, but Pickett's actually extremely watchable. It's very watchable. And Pickens makes like legitimately two all pro catches every week.

He had another high point sideline go up and grab it catch this week and just like threw the ball on the ground. Honestly. Deontes has had three catches this year that haven't counted that I'm like, that's like should be top ten in the season. Seriously. You could almost do a Steelers reel of the best catches of the season and like the rest of the NFL real. And I actually don't know if the other 31 teams would be like way better. Totally.

And that's not even getting into Claypool who's been pretty mediocre this year. They're just, they're kind of stacked. So it's like, you know, I think actually, I think the worst part of the Steelers is not on the offensive side of the football. It's their defense. Their defense is terrible without DJ Watt. If they're secondary super banged up, they're getting torts. So I think Brady's going to have a fantastic day, which is why I think Kenny Pickett can kind

of stay alive and above that quarterback A. Mendoza line. I don't mind. Interesting. This could low-key be like a good fantasy game. I wouldn't play Kenny Pickett, but Deontay Johnson, if you're wondering about it, definitely play Deontay and then Pickens.

Play Pickens for sure. I mean, he's been the best guy in the team the last two, three weeks. All right, Mario Kart, Rainbow Strip. Again, play Mario Kart, hit the little rainbow, you get the little turbo boost, and just sometimes a matchup is like a little rainbow boost. So, D.K., who's your Mario Kart rainbow strip of the week?

I'm going to go out the Ramondre Stevenson versus the Browns. week. This is the blow. Romandre is the little Mario Kart character. He's getting the boost. Dude, did you watch some of the highlights from Romandre last week? That guy is really freaking good. He has such light

feet, such good balance and like short air explosiveness for how big he is and for like how strong he is. It's crazy. And then to add to that, Bill Belichick was essentially just saying how much he absolutely freaking loves this guy. I feel like you don't really hear Belichick

ever say anything of note. And it was like he was like keeping praise on Stevenson. And so with Damien Harris likely trending towards not playing, it sounds like he's not going to play. I think Stevenson's going to get a ton of volume. He had 27 touches last week, which was fourth most in the NFL. Obviously coming into the year,

we were very afraid that it's going to be a three-headed monster, but the injury situation in New England has made it so. Romandre has what looks like probably a full workload this week. And he's going to pass in game. So whether it's Mack Jones or Bailey Zappiette, starter. I think they're going to run a lot. The Browns are giving up the second most fantasy points to opposing running backs this year. They've surrendered 440 yards rushing in the last two weeks. So this is just all kind of pointing to a Ramandre blowout game.

Every week that Damien Harris is out, Ramandri is a top 10ish running back. We were texting Billy yesterday. Bill was trying to trade Remandre to trade Devonzi's with. Yeah, to Sal for Ramandre. And we were like, I don't know if that's going to like work, man, because the secret's out. But do you also want to know a stat? Ramandre had 161 rushing yards last week. That's the third most of running backs had in Bill Belichick's time with the Patriots. Wow.

Wow. Jonas Gray, 200 yards, and he was on the cover of SI, and he got cut like a few weeks later from being late to a meeting. He was like late to a practice, yeah. Garrett Blunt had a good game, and then Ramonji's third.

Wow. Yeah, it's pretty big opportunity. Craig, who's your Mario Kurt Rainbow Strip for the week? It's just all the fridge, you guys, for the Bills and the Chiefs this week. If you're debating, if you need that like flex-wide receiver and you added Isaiah McKenzie off waivers or you've had MVS on your bench

or you're sick of Ju-Ju-Ju-Smithshooster, I would start all of them this week. If you're on the fence between these guys and anyone else, I'm like, it's kind of why people invented fantasy football was to watch a cool game. And like, if you're not betting, you want skin of the game. Like, if you're between, I don't know,

MVS and some other bad receiver, pick the guy in the game that everyone's going to be watching. All right. My one, the one that inspired this is the Seattle Seahawks defense is awful, and the Arizona Cardinals are playing them. Well, first of all, just if a tree falls in the forest, but it's at the same time as Chiefs' Bills, like, did it happen? Like, no one's watching this game other than D.K.

Yeah. This is the game you turn to when Bill's Chiefs goes to commercial, and you're like, all right, let me check in Cardinal Seahawks for 200 seconds and then come back. The Seahawks defense has just allowed the most yards to running backs, like period, like scrimmage yards. Like their top three in rushing yards to running back. and top three at passing yards allowed to running backs. Like it's just,

they just can't defend running back. The defense sucks, man. We'll see what happens. They're so bad. We'll see what happens with the Cardinals, like James Connor plays, whatever. But even if Connor plays,

Eno Benjamin, obviously if Connor plays, you should play him. Eno Benjamin man is so, I hate, flexible as a term, but you can play, you know,

Benjamin. Yeah, it's sounding like Connor's not going to play. He did not practice today, which is Thursday. And I think I saw a report that said he's not going to play. So it's trying to, And it's going to look really good for Eno here.

Eno's like a must start if, if Conner's out. And then also, dude, Rondale Moore. You can totally, like, does Cardinals force the ball to Rondale Moore so much? And I feel like even just him coming off these initial games with the hamstring injury recovered from, they make such a strangely focused effort to get him the ball

that I really feel like if you're in a PPR league, he has such an oddly high floor of like four or five catches in a game for a player that also is one of the rare explosive athletes that you also think could get a 70-yard touchdown. Mostly you have to choose. It's like you can get a 70-yard touchdown, but you have to live with, well, they might have zero catches.

Rondell Moore, it's like, well, he's going to have four points just from catches anyway. Like, in the worst case, it feels like that way. He essentially has taken over for Greg Dorch, who, you know, we were talking about Dorch a lot during the first three or four weeks of the season because he was like a top 20 receiver in fantasy in PPR. And now Rondell Moore, who is more explosive

And I think one of the reasons Dorch, by the way, didn't get drafted is he ran like a really slow for you. Like he just didn't have the athleticism, the overall athleticism. Dorch is a good player, I think. But Rondale Moore is legit, legit explosive. So that I think is the reason that they were trying to get the ball into his hands. You know, there was a couple of plays last week where they did target him downfield. That's like the big concern is it's all just like two, two like yard A dot stuff all around the line of scrimmage. But honestly, at the same time, like this.

This is what we're excited about Curtis Daniel for, too. And he's doing the exact same thing for the Washington offense. I mean, we haven't seen the game tonight, but, you know, they're just feeding him around the line of scrimmage, getting him a bunch of manufactured touches, letting him do his thing after the catch. This is what Rondell Moore is going to be in the Arizona offense. So, yeah, I think he's definitely startable in PPR. Yeah, this transitions nicely into the debutante ball, aka the coming out party award for who I think is going to mature in fantasy football this season.

I just so crazy. It's Ronnell Moore. I mean, we're also not factoring in that just like not only that Sheehock's bad on defense, but they're oddly first in offensive DVOA in the NFL. This game is going to score a lot of points. And so the Cardinals are going to have to be throwing the ball a lot. And Seattle specifically versus the slot this year, which is where Rondell plays,

are horrible. Every statistic, yards per attempt allowed, their second to last in the league. Passing touchdown rate against the slot last in the league. QB rating allowed versus the slot

second to last in the league. Explosive pass play rate to slot last in the league. Like they are... The hell is going on with this fucking defense, man. So to be honest with you,

I haven't studied the CX defense closely this year, but the big storyline during the out of season was them switching to like the too high Vic Fangio style defense. Not working.

I feel like Pete Carroll is going to be like fuck this pretty soon and go back to his. Remember one? Shooter McGavin like tries to do the happy Gilmore swing once and it doesn't work. Exactly. Exactly. This is Pete Carroll's going to be, he's just, I feel like he's going to give up on this

defense pretty quickly and just like go back to what he knows. Of course, his defenses have not been very good in past either. They just don't have very much talent on defense. They're just, there's one problem happy. You're not any good. Tackle millions and prizes all football season long and fandal fantasy contest. If you're new to fantasy, get in on the action right now with a $10 bonus. you're playing just $1 in Fantasy on Fendl. There are so many different game types to choose from full slate contests featuring multiple games,

season-long best ball contest, and single game showdowns, and when you win, you'll get paid fast. So whether it's Thursday night or the right before the kickoff on Sunday, Fendell always has contests available. If you want DFS advice this week, obviously Bill's Chiefs, everyone's going to be going with that. But honestly, the Seahawks Cardinals thing,

that's probably more value because, one, people are going to forget it's happening. People can like, wait, there's other football on. That's weird. And then also, as we just said, Seahawks Cardinals, just so much firepower. Kind of like a good hedge against Bill's Cheese. Just download the Fandall Fantasy app

to get your $10 bonus now to start making every moment more. Age and location restrictions apply. Bonus issued as non-mletrable site credit that expires after 30 days. Time for the kombucha player of the week, aka the award that we have to explain the most because most people are confused. It's the meme of the girl who tries kombucha and is like, do I like it? And she's like, well, no, no, yes. Just the person that you don't know, you're like this.

like that. Am I in, am I out? I don't know. I keep changing my mind. D.K. or Craig, whoever wants to go first. Who's your kombucha girl player of the week? I'm doing the kombucha girl. I'll go first, I guess. With the obvious caveat that you're not going to sit him, probably if he's on your team, I just don't know what to feel about Joe Mixing right now.

He's just been getting so much volume. Everything you want from like a starting running back in fantasy in terms of the number of touches he's getting, the number of times he's running the ball, all the goal line touches that he's getting and all that, but he's just not converting it into fantasy points yet, like at a high enough rate that we'd be like really excited about playing

him. Yeah, so here's the good. He is first in the NFL and touches, 116 touches. He has 96 rushes, which is fourth most. However, he's only turned that into 302 yards rushing, which is 19th most. And right now, he's dead last among 42 qualifying running backs in yards after contact per rush, dead last. This is why it's hard for us to like predict the future. It we had told you that five weeks in the season, Joe Mixon would lead the league in touch and then one touchdown. It just does not compute. Yeah.

It's so weird. And it's like he's been a, I don't actually have the numbers in front of you, but I feel like he's been a pretty dynamic runner, like a tackle breaker in the past. He's a very strong, you know, explosive guy, but he just is not creating on his own this year. I think that he's still a trade target.

I know that we've said that. And if you did, you're probably disappointed. But, like, I would still go and trade for Joe Mixon because you can't lead the league in touches. And again, like, we watched us on Sunday football last week. He's getting, like, it wouldn't have been surprising if they had replay reviewed his tackle into a touchdown. Like, he got ruled down at the two-inch line.

It's like, they're going to start coming. But right now, I'm just like, I don't know. Like, I'm just in that zone where I'm like, I don't know if he's any good. Like, you know what I mean? I know he's good. But is he? But I think he is. Yeah, he's good.

But maybe he's not. Like, that's how I'm feeling about it right. Craig, who's your kombucha girl of the week? It's Elijah Moore. the Jets. Like if Elijah Moore's on my bench this week, I'm like, I'm probably not starting him. I'm like, but yeah, that's so good. And like, he's put up the numbers in the past.

So I saw this from Warren Sharp. The Packers on defense when they're playing against teams that don't use play action are essentially the best defense in the league. When the Packers go up against play action, they are the worst defense in the league. And the Jets with Joe FACCO never ran play action. The Jets with Zach Wilson run the second most play action in the NFL, 56%. And last week they ran it's 67% And the Jets have run the ball really well.

67% play action last week? Yes. Wow. That's a lot. And the Jets are running, it's because they're running the ball so much. Like the Jets have run the ball more than they've thrown the ball with Zach Wilson. And they've been doing it really well. Breece Hall has obviously taken off. And the Packers also not great against the run. So in theory, ipso facto, if the Jets can run the ball against the Packers, the Packers are going to try and stop the run, play action, more conducive.

Jets are good at play action. Packers really bad at play action. Elijah Moore is the guy averaging the most air yards per target, not Garrett Wilson, not Corey Davis. Packers coming off the London week. I'm like, could this be kind of Elijah Moore's day to kind of get back on track? Eh, Cabocha! I like this. I like this. He's going to have so many empty calorie fantasy points this week. I say as always what I would say in this situation, you have to envision Elijah Moore being in your

starting lineup and getting three points and it being the reason that you lost is that you played him. And then you have to imagine Elijah Moore being on your bench and having 27 points and the reason you lost is you did not play him. And you have to weigh those and be like, how would I feel? I would feel more stupid if I had played

Elijah Morty did bad, then I would feel if I did not play it and he did well. And so I'm out. I am finishing on out on him. But I respect wherever you come up to your conclusion in your own heart of arts. I like playing high upside guys. I'm a pleasure seeker. You know?

I'm searching for that high. I should put that. I like adrenaline junker junkie more than pleasure seeker. That was, again, mildly, creepy. Not mildly, it's just creepy. Fantasy hedonist. All right, I'm interested in a new award here. It's the Mugatu.

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills award from the end of Zoolander. It's the same look. It's the same look. Blue steel, they're all the same. Am I the only one who sees this? I have never looked at a line. And again, I guess I'm dangerous because the last line I talked about

was Colts Chiefs where I didn't get it. And it's the Colts again, so maybe I just don't get anything. However, the Colts are playing the Jaguars. The Colts are favored by a point and a half. I feel like I'm taking crazy bills. Do you remember like a fucking month ago when the Colts and the Jaguars played

and the Jaguars beat the Colts like 24 to nothing? Shut the Colts out. Did not score a point. Colts have not scored a point. And a month again, they're playing the Colts who just favored. What am I, like genuinely, what am I missing?

I mean, the Jags have not looked very good the last two weeks, right? Neither of the Colts. Yeah, you're right? The Jacks just lost to the Texans. But it's not like the Colts have been good and it's like the one weird loss

but they've looked out otherwise. The Colts are literally dead last in points in the entire NFL. Matt Ryan leads to the league in picks, he leads the league in fumbles, he leads the league in sacks, and the offensive line is so bad that they're just moving players around.

They put their left tackle at right tackle. They put their right tackle and right guard. Their new left tackle is Bernard Ryman. He's from Austria. Yeah, Raymond. He's a third round rookie from Austria who played wide receiver in high school. Went to central Michigan to play tight end. Couldn't really get playing time.

So change to offensive line in the pandemic. And is now playing NFL football as long. left tackle. Like, am I? Yeah, what's wrong with that? Okay, it could go poorly. This guy has not had 20 games as an offensive line his entire life. A week ago, the Colts offensive line coach was like, if he was ready, he'd be starting.

And then like three days later, they're starting him. Like, I don't get it. The Colts are just an abominate. I can't believe they're favored to a team that shut them out a month ago. Am I taking crazy bills? I'm reading my scatter report on Raymond or Raymond. from the spring, I should say. He grew up in Austria.

He played soccer as a kid. He didn't pick up a football until he was 14. So he came to the U.S. for the foreign exchange in high school. So he went to high school in the U.S. But then he returned to Austria because he had to do obligatory military duty. And then he came back. And yeah, like you said, he was like trying to be a tight end. I don't know.

This is just kind of an interesting story. Also, his host dad, I think, was a coach either at Central Michigan or wherever he ended up playing college, there was a connection. We've spent so much time talking about this O'Lineman and Skyler Thompson today. I just can't believe.

Red meat right here. The Colts are playing a left tackle who was a fucking wide receiver like four years ago. Does he have merch? Have you ever heard him talk? He kind of, he has like a very slight like Arnold Schwarzenegger like accent to him.

You know what's funny is like I can't think of a single other person ever speaking with an Austrian accent except Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'm like, I just want to hear one other person. from Austria to speak. This might sound bad, but like,

how does he still have such a bad, like such a distinct accent? He's been in the country for like fucking 35, 40 years now. Like, it's the brand. It is the brand. It's the brand.

Why would he? Yeah. It's just calling card in every movie. I just think it's funny. Like, I hang out with a Canadian for like five minutes and I'm saying A and like pronouncing everything in a Canadian way. It's like when people study abroad in London, they come back and they're like,

Oh, I'm trying to use the loo. Oh, I forget. You guys call it. bathroom here. Guadcelona. Yeah, it's really annoying. Parcelona. Oh, God.

All right, let's get to Hot Tub Club. All the guys are that. Hot Tub, Cold Tub. It should really be Coltub Club, but it doesn't have the same rate of it. But it's all the injuries affecting the weekend. Again, it's Thursday afternoon. We don't have all the information.

It's all going to change. But as of right now, here's generally what we know. DK, Hot Tub Club us. All right, here's the main guys, keep in mind going into the weekend. Number one, James Connor, running back of the Cardinals, has a ribs injury.

It's looking like he's not going to be able to play. So this, again is, you know, Benjamin's chance to shine. So look for him on waivers if you already haven't, because it's looking like he's going to be the starter for the Cardinals this week. Number two, T. Higgins, the Bengals, still not practicing as of Thursday. Clearly, I think there's something going on with his ankle right now. There's some indication that maybe it's a high ankle sprain,

so he could be out for a couple weeks. But this is good for Jemar Chase, of course. Tyler Boyd. Hayden Hurst, potentially, gets a little bit of a boost. So going into the weekend, have a plan to replace Higgins. Number three, Jonathan Taylor of the Colts. Missed last week. Miss Wednesday's practice, but came back on Thursday.

So it's looking like he's on track to play. Moving to the Saints, there's multiple injuries here to keep in mind. Michael Thomas, still not practicing. I would say this is tracking towards him not playing once again. Chris Olavé, who suffered a concussion on Sunday, is still in the pro call. So this is probably going to go down to Friday or Saturday in terms of whether he's going to be able to play or not. James Winston is back at practice. Frazee at D.K.

Oh, because he has a back injury? Yes. Yes, sorry. Back end ankle injury, I believe, or something. He's got multiple things affecting him right now. But he is potentially on track to start again this week, if not, obviously, Andy Dullen again. And then is there any other saints to keep in mind? I think Alvin Camara is back and ready to go.

Camar is going to play. Two Chargers players to keep in mind here, Keenan Allen, who has missed the last couple of games with a hamstring injury. He logged limited practices, I believe, on both Wednesday and Thursday. he has a chance to play this week. But again, those hamstrings are pretty finicky, so they may hold him back another week. We'll see.

And then Mike Williams, I don't know if this is going to be something that keeps him out this week, but he had an illness. He missed practice on Wednesday. So just another guy to monitor going in to the weekend. That's all. And go to fantasyf football. Dot the ringer.com for our rankings for this week, and we will update those on Sunday morning

with our updated rankings based on inactive and the new information, all that jazz. Okay, let's get to some emails. Got an email here from Dave. Dave. Following up on last week's discussion about how 70s, like, Arena Rock, dominates all the music that we have today.

He won, says Chris Ryan's theory of music that you're nostalgic for what's good is bullshit right around this, you know, because I don't know why everyone's came for this. I'm surprised because I was saying how Chris Ryan's theory of music is people are nostalgic for the music that you grew up with or that you started listening when you were having sex, give her time.

Everyone has confused us for like, that's the best music. I don't know. That's not the point. You're not saying it's the best. It's nostalgic. But we all agree that our music just isn't as good as it was. And so Dave writes,

despite losing my virginity during the time when Hollaback Girl remained number one for six weeks straight, I hold no affinity to Gwen Stefani. Furthermore, I want to submit my college experience as the specific four-year moment in time when American music hit its absolute low point. I went to school from 2006 to 2009, and he were the number one songs of each of those years.

2006, Daniel Powder, Bad Day, which is the most widespread song that I think has no cultural legacy. I can't picture this song. Had a bad day. Take it on down. It's kind of hard not to sing to. It's catchy.

It was everywhere song and now it's gone. 2007, Beyonce Irreplaceable, 2008, flow ride in T-Pain low. Objectively good song. I mean, it's incredible. Boom, boom, bow by the black-eyed piece. I can't believe that hit number one. I know.

What's going on in 2009? Boom, boom, pal, it's number one. Dave says that has to be the worst four-year run of music in the last 50 years, despite the Beyonce banger. Things didn't improve much for Craig and Danny's generation, but at least you got to blast levels in fraternity basements. Greatest song ever made. Incredit played backwards.

My question, you're based on the Billboard year on number one singles alone, has there ever been a worst four years in American music? That's a correct question for Chris Ryan. I am nostalgic for these songs, though. You too. Also, like, I'd love to look at songs 2 through 10 on that Billboard top 100 list because I bet you so many of them are great. Yeah, you can ever judge it by the only by the top song on any list. This is just the song that was like getting pushed by all the labels on radio stations, but I'm sure there are many other bangers.

You know, this is like Lady Gaga and Kesha and T-Pain, FloRida, Pitbull. Like, it's, I know that sounds chilling, but it's actually great when you go back. chilling. What is your favorite like objectively bad song though? I was like, ugh. I've like fallen in love again with hotel room service by Pitbull. Oh, great song. It's the stupidest song I've ever

I was like, but I just love the idea from trying to like flex like, hey girl. You, your friend, I got a room at the holiday inn. I love bartender by T-Paint. He has a line that goes so fucking hard that he just like cruises right through. There's a line at bartender when he goes, I mean, I'm not going to sing it, but he says, pull up to the club, and he's like, 300 bitches in the club ain't none of them hot.

And I was like, damn, that's, Payne? Damn. Kind of standards on this guy. Come on, get a load of yourself. Look yourself in the mirror. His tiny desk, though, is unbelievable. Oh, he's actually very talented, T-Pen. Top five tiny desk is T-Pain.

Wow. But my friend Chris and I, we have this, it's not a theory, but this is just something that we, like, subscribe to now is the idea that, is the idea that, top 40 music is actually great and we're not going to be the guy who's like I hate top 40 we're like you know what like top 40 pop is really fun club can't handle me by Florida

fantastic song the harmony amazing it's like watching Transformers is it an Oscar winner? No am I gonna have a great time for two hours? Yeah it's exactly the same it's it's it's kind of like

the people who come out of the really cool movies that are like the Oscar Bate or whatever no offense to Sean Fantasy but those people like you know there's deep critiques and deep conversations and that people walk out of the Fast and Furious Theater are like, oh my God, that was the greatest thing I've ever seen. That was sad.

You're happier if you enjoy the popular things generally. Yeah, don't besmirch Sean, because Sean agrees with the pop-c-cour. He loves popcorn movies as well. He thinks there's room for both. But yeah, it's like, not every band has to be like, you know, you can't just be like Crung Bin and MacDamako fans out there. Like, you know what? Put on a Kesha song.

TikTok bangs. Popular music is good. Die young. For bold takes. Yes. God, it's crazy. You know, the people who need to come back to his black eyes, piece.

They're just right. Well, Fergie left. Not come back like now. I'm saying like the nostalgia, like, go celebrate their whole entire catalog again. No, not, no, I don't need them go on tour again. I don't need to hear boom boom bow in person. That was the way I'll say.

I will say, show me the love under appreciated song. And I got a feeling. Elite. Elite, like pregame song. What was the song that it was like a sample of the song from Hulk fiction, the Dick Dale song, you know what I'm talking about?

Pump it. Pump it. Loud. Perthes. Parentheses, louder. Okay, we could just name Black I'd piece songs forever, but thank you, D.K., thank you, Craig.

Thank you, Jesse, for production help. Thank you to the Black Ed piece. Thank you, Lorne. Lauren. Thank you, Lil John. Nice. Shots by Lil John and LMFAO. Hilarious song.

Yeah. The chorus is just shots, shots, shot, shot, shot, shot, shot. And then everyone had that friend who were like, guys, we should take a shot every time they said shots. Damn, that friend's a lot of shots. That friend alive? Baby mini shots, I guess.

Yeah. Anyway, little John, remember when he showed up in an episode of The Bachelorette? No, I do not. He, like, hosted one of the, like, daily events, and he just, like, was there as everybody, like, it was, like, one of those, like, stress relieving days where you just get, like, a sledgehammer and you get to, like, break, beat up old cars and win, break, wind, and stuff, and Little John was ushering the event. Oh, my God.

He also hosted Bachelor in Paradise for a week. So he's working. He's getting those checks. Do you think we could get Lil John on this podcast? We have a weird culture in this country. We do. I bet you Lil John's on a cameo. Feels right. I would like to get Little John in this pot.

If anyone could help us with that email, some of your fantasy football email by now. DK, do you know what cameo is? It felt like it went over your head. Yeah, I know what cameo is. It's where you pay a celebrity or whatever to, like, say a personal message to you. It's just so popular with all. the kids that we must have not gotten it.

All the kids are loving Cameo. Cameo is definitely dead. I'm available for Cameo, by the way. You know, Kevin from the office has made like millions of dollars on Cameo? Yeah, he's the one who decided to cash in on it. He was first.

He was smart. It's like his full-time job. Like nine to five, he's like thanking, like saying happy birthday to like 28-year-olds. Well, he was doing the office pod. He did the office book. He was the one who was just like,

no one's going to just do this? And he just said he's the office guy. Okay. Goodbye, everyone.