The Ringer NFL Show - Week 7 Matchups, Must-Starts, and Must-Benches

Episode Date: October 21, 2022

We preview the Week 7 fantasy slate with categories about the Jets and Bears offenses giving us the Sunday scaries, Dallas vs. Detroit as an offensive explosion, striking oil with Kenneth Walker III, uncertainty around what to do with Giants WR Wan’Dale Robinson, and more. Check out our Week 7 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 Pipe 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. two, 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 Heifitz. I am joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Krollbeck. If you're wondering who to start and who to sit, we have a rankings at Fantasy Football.

dot the ringer.com, check it out. We have our start sit all there. You can go to any position. We have Superflex. You can tap the little position, banners to make whatever rankings you want, running back receivers, running back to side ends. If you want, for whatever reason, you do whatever you want. Check it out there.

Today we're going through. Week 7, just doing the vibes. Entering Sunday. We're recording this Thursday, so too bad. We will not be able to hit the Saints Cardinals matchup for tonight. We're devastated. Sintillating. Yeah, we're devastated for missing that.

But Vib Sheck entering at, D.K., what are your Sunday scaries ahead of this week, week seven? This was an interesting one that Bill Simmons actually brought up to us. What do we do with this Tua and the Dolphins passing game situation against the Steelers. Like, I'm just kind of a little bit nervous about how this whole thing is going to go. Are they going to try and protect Tua

by getting the ball out really quickly? Are they just going to run the hell out of the ball? What are they going to do with Tua in his first game back? And I assume Tua's going to be starting because that's what they've said, and he's on track to do that. It's unfortunate that his first came back is on prime times. Yeah.

I, well, first of all, you know, you left out one of the other options, which is they don't protect him at all. I feel like you didn't consider that way. And that certainly is possibility that they just play like a normal strategy. I mean, that actually probably is what's going to happen, to be honest. There's this Yiddish word called Adjita,

which is just like anxiety. It's like a heartburn for like your nerves. That's how I feel watching this game. Like there's a world where we're going to get Tua for the Dolphins versus Kenny Pickett for the Steelers, who was also just concussed last week. And in a way, it just feels weird watching this whole game. It just, I'm going to be on edge.

I also don't really know what concussion protocol means anymore. There's like players, like Kenny Pickett's been practicing. Full practice. Yet he's still in the concussion protocol. I don't understand how that makes any sense or what that means. Or like Teddy Bridgewater was the backup for Skylar Thompson, but he was still on a concussion protocol, but yet he was like able to play as a backup to Skylar Thompson.

I just like don't understand what it even means anymore. Yeah. I think, I mean, honestly, this is a new normal because the new, I think the new rules are going to. Bridgewater was available. Why wasn't he starting? Mike McDaniel said he wanted a quarterback who had gotten practice that week. However, choosing a

seventh round rookie with really two weeks of real practice over Teddy Bridgewater because Teddy Bridgewater didn't get like two days of practice with the gameplay. That doesn't pass the smell test. I actually think it does. I think they're just like Thompson Moore. And Teddy? That's wild to me. Maybe. I don't know. The whole thing's weird.

They started him over Teddy Bridgewater who played the rest of the game. So, I mean, I don't know. You tell me. The whole thing I think is just, we're still trying to learn as, you know, fans and as analysts, like kind of like what this new,

these new rules are going to mean because there's just so many more guys. I think the teams are trying to learn what these new rules mean. There's so many more guys that are going to get taken out of games and have to go through the concussion protocols. And it's just going to make this, it's this whole new layer, I guess, of like preparing for the week and trying to figure out what the injury report means because, you know,

we're just sort of in new territory now. Kaelin Collar at The Athletic wrote a great story this week. It's really good one about basically the protocol, it involves they go to the sideline, they're like, there's a lot of versions of this, but they're like, they say 10 random words.

They're like, banana, wait, elephant, whatever. And then they're like, okay, where are you? What's the date? Do you know what down it was, distance? And then they come back, they're like, can you name those 10 words? And a player anonymously was telling her, like, yeah, well, but if I just know, like,

if I just keep saying those words to myself in the head and I come back at the end, like, I just know that I have to remember those words, half of them, and I'll get to go back in the games. So it's like, it's not insanely hard to game the system if you want. So the whole thing's kind of imperfect. Well, yeah. It's, I mean, again, it's insanely complex, right?

Like, this is a brain, this is the brain we're talking about. It's like there's so much complexity here and so much gray area in terms of like how to diagnose it right away. I think that the question I have for this whole two is that if I understand this correctly, the party line from the dolphins in the NFL is still that two only suffered one concussion that week. Correct.

Sunday was a back injury. And then Thursday when he, you know, his hands were moving involuntary, like that was the concussion. And that even though they fired the independent neurological consultant from the Sunday game, even though that dude was fired, they're like, well, he didn't have a concussion that day.

So Mike, if I understand that correctly, my question is like, okay, I get that Tua, I guess Schfter reported that Tewa saw four independent doctors before coming back. But my question's like, if, did those doctors get told the story where Tua suffered one concussion that week or two concussions in four days? And I guess I'm wondering, are we all just assuming he was concussed on Sunday and he was not? Or like, would those doctors maybe have different opinions about whether he could return based on whether they were told one or two concussions? And I'm just kind of curious, what is the story here? I'm assuming they were told that he only suffered one concussion because he's only

missed two games, right? So if he suffered two concussions in five days, I can't imagine doctors are allowing him to come back three weeks later. I don't know. I don't know. The whole thing I think overshadows the game, quite frankly, especially when both sides of the ball, this is kind of the question on both sides of the ball. So anyway, Sunday football, it overwhelms it. And then quite honestly, speaking of Sunday scary, is that one scarier than usual?

It's not like the afternoon games are any better. I mean, holy cow, the games all day are just bad before this. Like, this is, as Bill always says, this is the apple picking Sunday of the years. Family day. Spent some time. This is family day.

I love that him and shall do that. Check it on Sunday night, what happened. Yeah. Question for you. You guys, we were talking last week about how they did this study about for men, would you rather have 15 minutes without your phone and you have to spend it alone with your thoughts or take an electrical shock? Would you guys rather take like a hard electrical shock or watch Texans Raiders, like the whole thing

for three hours? Texans Raiders, that's the game you're picking. I'm watching Texans Raiders. Okay. Yeah, three hours. Okay. Buck's Panthers, three hours. You don't have your phone, though.

It's Tom Brady. Brady's going to be back. He's going to make his resurgence. Okay. So maybe it's a great week. This is not a wrong. This is the wrong crowd to ask. You can't ask fantasy football people

because we're watching every game for all the wrong reasons. All right, well, fine. So I just think generally this is weird and then, dude, this Broncos Jets game, is that the one I should have, I should have thrown out there?

That's maybe where we go. No one wants to watch that. That's where we draw the line. Although apparently the Jets are good now. I'm skeptical. Are you? Tell us about it, Craig. My Sunday scaries is this Jets offense

first Denver. I just, this is a fun little story going on with the Jets. It feels like they're almost honestly not dissimilar to the Giants, kind of like eking their way to a winning record so far. I still have no confidence in Zach Wilson. I like Breeze Hall. The defense has been decent. The receivers are, some weeks look fantastic.

Other weeks look super disappointing. So this week we're playing Denver, and I was listening to Ian Harditz and Kevin Cole at PFF, and they were talking about Zach Wilson against pressure. under a clean pocket he's averaging 10 yards per attempt and under pressure he's averaging two it's the biggest drop off in the league and they're playing Denver who Denver's defense has been

I mean they've been kind of like overshadowed by how bad Russ and the offense have been their defense is really good very good I mean the reason every game is like 10 to 10 in the fourth quarter is because Russ has been horrific but the defense has been fantastic and you know they're one of the best teams at applying pressure in the league

they're six in pressure rate their second in defensive EP Yeah. Patrick Sartan, the corner, is basically, you know, we don't talk a lot about cornerback receiver matchups because there's, there are not very many corners that follow receivers throughout a game. But Sartan is the type of guy who's scary enough to, like, make you change your mind about passing game stuff. And so, like, Corey Davis, Garrett Wilson, I mean, to me, these guys are all very scary. I think Elijah Moore would already establish can't start him. And he's, by the way, he's not with the team today. There's maybe some intrigue happening here. Intrigue.

Like, how do you know it's intrigue? Like, how do you, what if you could miss for a lot of reasons? Well, there was some speculation earlier, and now I'm actually just seeing it on Twitter right now, per Ian Rappaport rap sheet. Sources Jets, Wydertyra Lyser Lyser, more frustrated with his role and usage has asked for trade. Really?

You're two of his career. Player empowerment. Did this just happen? The team has no plans at all to trade him. But that can change. They can't write. And the team has plans to trade him. And the team's like, fine, we can give you up for nothing.

They're not going to trade him. He's good. Remember, like, one year ago when the coaching staff was like, we love Elijah Moore. We just want like eight Elijah Moors. My God. Remember a year ago when he was absolutely just freaking dominating? He's a very good player. It's just so frustrating because, like, they are passing him so limited, so, so limited.

He entirely dominated because Zach Wilson got hurt. Dude, he hasn't even been bad. He basically had 50 yards every game except the last two games. And he's like, I'm good. I'm out. I think the problem is he's getting, well, at least recently, Craig, the last couple games, I believe, last two games, he's been out snapped by Cory Davis,

which I'm sure he's kind of pissed about. And then, of course, they drafted Garrett Wilson in the top 10 after he did what he did last year. So maybe he's just like, I got to get out of this place. Kids these days, they keep switching jobs. Quiet quitting. What's the ultimate team for him to get traded to? That's always just, I feel like it's just chargers and Rams.

Oh, I guess the Chiefs. It used to, no, yeah, it used to always just be like the cheese, but now I'm like, ugh, the bills? There's too many receivers in the bills, though. Yeah. Isn't he perfect in the slot? I mean, he's better than Isaiah McKenzie.

I mean, he would definitely, that would be sweet, and there's enough volume to go around. Diggs Elijah Moore and Gabe Dave. I mean, that would be electric. But from a fantasy point of view, though, like you don't really want him to get traded to the bills because then, like,

Gabe Davis becomes much less valuable. I'd rather have him go somewhere where he's going to be, like, the true number one. Packers. Packers. That would be. sweet. Oh, so he can just be disappointing in a different shade of green. Cool. Let's be serious. What's another team? What's another good team? I was serious.

You want him to be disappointing? I didn't want him to be disappointing. I'm saying Packers. I still think he'd be disappointed. I mean, the Giants? Oh my God, no. That would literally never happen. You know, just don't send them to the Bears for crying out loud. That would be the worst. There's no way the Bears are going to go get out. Are we trying to be realistic within who would actually trade for him? Or are we just saying, screw it? I mean, it's going to be the Rams are the Packers or the Chiefs or the Bills. The Rams are the correct answer because they have Cooper Cup and like Ben Scronix playing football for them. The problem is Elijah, you have to give up a lot for him.

Like Elijah Moore isn't like other players where, I don't know, they're requesting a trade. It's like Elijah Moore, here, let me pull up his contract. He has like three years. He has two full seasons after this year. He's two and a half years left in his deal. So like, you can't just like, oh, we'll just give you a fifth. It's like, this is a second round pick who actually was taken, what, 34th overall. Yeah.

So basically like a really late, late, late first round guy, basically that has two and a half years left. Like you kind of have to give up maybe a first rounder to get him. John Daigle from 444 just tweeted. Here's a list of teams that could use Elijah Moore right now. And then he just lists every single team. Yeah. Also, the moment the Jets get rid of Elijah Moore, it's like, man, Chess should get Zach Wilson some weapons. God.

Well, we'll see. We'll see how this goes. I like how the Ian Rappaport tweet says the former second rounder was targeted once in the win over the backers. Was targeted once in the win? I know. It's a funny.

It's too busy winning. They should have mentioned whatever agent texted the Rappaport that should have just left out. Maybe omit that, yeah. Elijah Moore angry after victory. Four and two jets. No plans.

Well, did you see, you saw what he had tweeted after that game, right? He was like, essentially, and I'll paraphrase him, he was saying, look, I'm not going to complain after winning the game because winning's great, but here's a list of complaints. He was basically like, look, I get it.

We won. That's great. But come on, give me the rock. Okay, so clearly that all gets thrown in the trash because he just requested a trade. So he doesn't care about winning. No, I mean, like, it was pretty clear in the tweet that he cares more about production also. Like, winning is great, but come on,

give me the looks. Here's the problem. Just for four and two. what's last time the Jets were 4 and 2 Mark Sanchez's year? It's been like a decade since the Jets were 4 and 2 and this guy's like I want out

like it's just bad timing then I know the trend I want my receivers to be they want the goddamn rock like that's that's a key factor for receivers I feel like I did the ringer NFL show on Fridays with Stephen Ruiz and Ben Solac

and Stephen had the stat from the show and I thought he was making this up he's not if you just look at the Jets this season as a team. So Zach Wilson and Flacko quarterback outside the pocket. But you take play action out.

So if they do a play action and a bootleg outside the pocket, that doesn't count. Just when they scramble out to the pocket, the Jets have zero completions this year. Oh my God. What? Not one.

How is that possible? So if Joe, like outside the pocket, but not play action, that doesn't count. It's like if they scrambled outside the pocket, neither Zach Wilson nor Joe Flacco has a completion this year. So they're the worst improvisers in the lead. Which is nuts because at least for Flacco for 155 passes in three freaking games.

I'm also not sure Flacco is capable of getting outside of the pocket. Yeah, so at least he can't run. Zach Wilson, that was like the whole deal when he came out of the draft. It was like he can create a have structure like Patrick Mahomes. He hasn't created. He hasn't gotten up. That's just nuts to me. That was what he was supposed to do.

So again, what is it that you do here? I don't like this game. Not great. Definitely worried about the passing game in this game, right? Like just Reese Hall and that's about it. But it's not like the running game in the Jets Broncos is good either because you look at the Broncos, it's like last week, Chargers, Melvin Gordon starts the game.

Melvin Gordon gets nine snaps in this game. He doesn't play in the second half. And then they're like, oh, did an injury happen? And Nate Hackett, the Broncos coach. He's like, no, there was no injury to Melvin Gordon. That's not why I didn't play him in the second half or overtime. And then they're like, but he's, he's going to start next week.

So Nate Hathens like, he cave. It's insane. Like, first of all, Mike Boone, who I mean, I liked him as a pick up, one carry, Latavius Murray off the street, 15 carries. But he's saying Melvin Gordon, for I guess quality, doesn't play in the second half, but we'll start. Then they told Melvin Gordon this and he said, well, who started last week? Is there anybody who's just more in over his head in the NFL right now than Nate Hackett?

Everything just feels like he's scrambling to the, like. Yeah. I just, I don't know. this is bad. This seems really bad. I know this is just like one little thing amongst a litany of issues that he's had this season, but like the fact that he was taking away like 30, 45% of Javante Williams touches and giving him to Melvin Gordon. And then Javent Williams gets hurt. And then Melvin Gordon doesn't even barely play after they sign Latavius Murray. What the hell is happening here? None of this makes any sense. This is why I, this is a one example of why I get so pissed about how coaches use their players because half the time it makes no fucking sense.

I feel like you'd be a lot of anger at Nate Hackett if they were winning games, but they're not even doing that. There's just no excuse because they are losing. I mean, obviously if they're winning, like, whatever, you guys would be giving me the Arthur Smith treatment, but no, they're losing too. They suck. This is like one of the worst offenses. Apple picking weekend.

If there is a good game, I like the Dallas Cowboys are playing the Lions this week. This, to me, is the Mario Kart Rainbow Strip. I thought this was funny. You know the Lions have given up the most points in the league this year? you know what's tough about that? They haven't played six games? No, they have nothing to buy last week and they've still given up the most points,

which is crazy. That's rough. So usually I don't love a player like Dak. I'm like, oh, just start the quarterback coming back from injury. Who cares? Dude, the Lions? I mean, this is crazy.

And not just Dak, obviously, so many quarterbacks have been disappointed this year. You can play him. And then also like Zeke Elliott, who hasn't been great. I think he has like 75% more fantasy points per game when DAC plays, which isn't stunning, but still, I think that you can just play the Cowboys, man.

Obviously, you're going to play CD Lamb, but like, I just, it, you haven't been thinking of the Cowboys' offense as good, but I think that there's going to be like a switch, because it's not just Dak coming back, it's Dak overlapping with just going from the Eagles to last week to the Lions, like one of the best to maybe the worst. Remember the good old days when they were talking about how Dak might be the backup quarterback?

The DAC up? Yeah. Good old Cooper Rush. That was fun for like that week or two. Yes. No, I'm excited about DAC being back. This is huge potentially for fantasy because, yeah, I mean, obviously CD has one of the highest target rates in the NFL.

Like, we were really worried about CD at the beginning of the year. He's really kind of bounced back and he hasn't had an explosion game, but he's been really, really saw on all the underlying. metrics. I'm really excited to see what happens when Dak gets back and if they can have a little bit more efficiency, a little bit more volume, more scoring. And then obviously, like you said, Hyvitz, this is definitely good

for Zee. Hopefully they can get him into the red zone. Because I believe he only has two touchdowns on the year. And he's obviously pretty relying on touchdowns because he's not the most efficient guy. So hopefully they get him a few more carries inside the five yard line. And we get back to seeing some of these guys post like big weeks in fantasy.

I'm worried about Zieg just because I mean, last year what the Cowboys led the league in points, and they had like the best run-blocking line in the league. And this year, their line is not what it was last year. And even with Dak back for Zeke,

I actually don't see... You know Zeke's on pace for 17 catches this year? He's just... Yeah, but I'm curious to see what happens when Dak returns. And honestly, again, Lion's games... I mean, Zeke was like a fringe top 20

running back last year when the line was good and Dak was playing and he was catching passes? Yeah, but this Lions game again, Lions games just combined are averaging 63 points or something. Like imagine so an over under is 63 in a game. Like Chiefs Rams is like that's what happened in 2018.

That's how you get a 60 point over under. That's what the Lions have been. That's about their defenses. So I do think that Zika, I would play him this week. I do think he will be good. And then if you plays well, you might be able to flip him to someone who says, oh, DAC is back, offense is good, Zique is back too, and then maybe you trade them.

It's probably, it's not crazy. People are just going to, you know, we'll see whether it's one and one. But this week, I like, I like the Cowboys a lot. And Michael Gallup is back too. The Lions haven't given up less than 27 points in a game this year. And they've played Carson Wentz, Bailey Zappy, Gino Smith, Kirk Cousins.

Bailey Zappy at his first career start, and they lost 26-0 against his first career start. And then also we didn't even mention Michael Gallup is back for the Cowboys now. Yeah, he's my debut tont ball guy of the week, coming out party. Michael Gallup, time to mature this year. Mature.

That's right. Super creepy. Super creepy. Jack is back. It's projected that Jeff Akuta, the former top five pick, cornerback for the Lions, is going to be on CD this week. You know who CD reminds me of DK? Not, I mean, a little bit in style, but I don't want to know.

In production. Deontay Johnson, in the way that he, he, like, sucks up targets, but he never has the blowup game. He's, like, really quick and shifty in the short range, but he never seems to be the guy catching the 40-yard deep ball anymore. He's just like the possession receiver who's kind of overqualified to be the possession receiver. That's actually a pretty good.

That's like a good comp that most people probably would not think of and I like that a lot. I still think CD is very talented, but I mean, at the end of the day, this is what he's been kind of. Yeah. So anyway, Akuta's going to be on CD for a lot of the game. Other than that, the Lions don't have any good cornerbacks.

And Gallup has, this will be his fourth game back from the injury. His targets have gone up every week since. And obviously with Dak being back, Like Gallup, they paid this dude a lot of money to be like their deep threat guy. So I think against the Lions, this is a great spot for Gallup to be in your starting lineup. I like that one a lot.

All right, next up, the George Costanza player of the week for if every instinct you have is wrong, maybe the opposite is right. Every instinct I have is that the bears are going to get slaughtered by the Patriots. First of all, this is Monday Night Football. Slaughtered.

It will. Tough word. I'm sorry, but like, the run of Bill Belichek versus all these young quarterbacks, is just, none of them have really done well, except for a handful. But then also, if the whole Patriots Bill Belichick thing is, well, they take your favorite thing and then they just make you do other stuff, all the bears do is run.

This is all they do. By far what they're best at. They're like the least pass heavy team in like 40 years. They're Navy. They're the Navy midshipman. And if Bill Belichick played Navy, ironically, I think he's that coach Davis, Bill Belichick played Navy. You've got to pass.

It's all you got to do. Throw 40 passes a game. So I'm like, oh, they're going to get crushed. And then I'm like, but it's Justin Fields going to have like his career high and passing yards. I'm not going to fight. Is he just got three touchdowns that Darnel Mooney? Because like he has to throw more than he's throwing. Don't you bait me into starting Darnel Mooney.

Don't you do that to me, Rikki Bobby. Don't you put that on me. I'm just saying. Don't put that evil on me. I finally accepted that I'm not starting Darnel Mooney anymore and you lay this shit on me. I hope you have sons. No, like why? Why wouldn't Justin Fields have his season?

and high in pass attempts in this game. Like, are the Patriots, why wouldn't the Patriots just put, like, seven defenders in the box and be like, we're just going to play man-a-man, no safety. Just go ahead, go, take a deep pass, do it. The only thing I think about right now is this is probably going to end up looking bad for us.

But Davis Mills did pass for 312 yards and three touchdowns last year against the Patriots, randomly. I'm so glad you brought that up. I don't know where that came from, you know? I'm so glad you brought that up. I looked at the list of fantasy quarterback. So I just looked at the list of,

players with less than 20 career starts at quarterback. So like young, first, second year players, roughly, who played versus the Patriots, a handful of them have done well. So Lamar Jackson's done well, obviously he's Lamar. He doesn't count. Tua has done well. Randomly Davis Mills did well. And also even more randomly, actually, Mr. Trubisky did well.

Like those guys that good. Oh, that's interesting. Okay. But everyone else, Trevor Lawrence at seven points. This is fantasy points against the Patriots. Trevor Lawrence at seven. Zach Wilson had a game where he had two, and then he had a different game where he had two.

Justin Herbert had four points. Drew Locke had three fantasy points. Daniel Jones had five. Josh Allen and his rushing had eight. Sam Darnold had a game where he had negative six, the scene ghost game. And so I look at that and I'm like, which group is he in? Which group is Justin Fields in?

Because I kind of don't think it's the one with Lamar II and Davis Mills. So this is like when George, right after he declares that he's just going to do the opposite of everything, when that pretty blonde woman starts making eyes with him. And then he gets up and walks over to her and he goes, I'm unemployed, I'm balding, and I live with my parents. And she goes, it's like, hi. Yeah, literally, yes, that's it. That's literally what I'm saying.

So, yeah, I think Donald Moody is like 140 yards and the Patriots win by two touchdowns. Will they literally have the ball enough for him to throw 40 times in the game? I don't know. That's what I'm saying. This is like every instinct I have is like, No, Craig. Every instinct I have is that Justinfield.

will have negative points. So I'm kind of wondering if he's like, it's 30. Man, tell us if you have the balls to start Justin Fields or Mooney this week. Realistically, you're not playing fields. I'm just wondering in a league

in a week where like, again, Cooper Cup, Justin Jefferson, Stefan Diggs, top three guys are on by. And like Gabe Dave, Devante Smith, Adam Thielen, not to mention Marquis Brown's hurt, all these people are on by that someone, you know, especially in a league that starts three receivers, end of flex.

There's a world where you have Darnal Mooney on your bench and you're like, do I do that or do I add, you know, freaking Marvin Jones? Yeah. And, you know, Fields is rushing more than any quarterbacks not named Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hertz right now. Oh, by the way, and that also includes them taking away like a 50-yard rushing touchdown that got called back for a block in the back.

I think he's like a top 10 quarterback in the last two weeks. Obviously, that's a very small sample. But yes, the rushing does matter. Speaking of this, High Fitz, and maybe you already just told me what we should do with this, but my probably unanswerable question of the week

is, shout to rewatchables. Soon with this podcast is just going to become rewatchables and Bill's going to fire us. Slowly morphing. We'll get sued somehow. It's like an office space where you only take a few pennies

or whatever in each transaction. It's only pennies. You're not really stealing anything big. Pretty soon, it's millions and millions of dollars. Anyway, still rewatchables. What the hell are we supposed to do with David Montgomery

and Khalil Herbert from here on out? The dreaded hot hand approaches upon us with this team. What do we do? I really literally don't know. Because the head coach said

they were just through like, yeah, we're going to do the hot hand. I mean, I straight up wouldn't play the, I kind of don't think I'd play the running backs against the face. Like you almost can.

At this point, I don't know. Unless you're desperate. I'm the most comfortable benching a typically startable running back against a really good run defense than I am for any other position. Like, I am not sitting a decent hard receiver in pretty much any scenario,

except maybe PJ Walker with DJ Moore. But running backs, different story. Like, I have no problem with benching David Montgomery against the paths. Or if Ezekiel Elliott is playing the bills. Like, I actually,

I think that stuff, we get a little bit too wrapped up with their, like, name brand value than their actual real life value in the game. Patriots are third best in the NFL against opposing running backs. Yes, sit them. How are they when they don't think? think the other quarterback can complete passes.

How do they do then? That's an excellent question. I'm worried about Montgomery and I think that if you want to bench him totally. But like seriously though, I mean like I think this is the week to just maybe sit both of these guys. I'm very nervous about starting them. I know obviously depends on your league and if you need to start. Probably have to because of buys play them.

Right. That's probably true. But like these guys, this maybe should have just been in the Sunday scaries. But I'm just very nervous about what they're doing with Montgomery, Claude Herbert. There's just not a lot of volume to go around. Anyway, it's making me nervous. Craig, to get back to your CD-Lam, Deonté Johnson thing,

I've looked up their career comparisons on stathead. So per game, on a per-game basis, obviously, Deonté Johnson's played 53 games, C.D. Lam has played 38 games. But on a per-game basis, it's pretty damn close. Is it? Yeah. So Deonti-Johnson, 5.4 receptions per game. CD-Lam, 4.9 receptions per game.

Deonti Johnson, 57-yard. per game receiving. CDLAM, 64 yards per game receiving. And then the touchdowns are very close. Deonti Johnson, 0.4 per game, CDLAM, 0.3 per game. I just feel like CidLam came into league with like the draft value,

the draft capital around his name. So he had all of like... He's just way more sexy as a... The glitz and glam around him. And like, Deonti Johnson has overperformed as an NFL player and CED has kind of underperformed, but they're actually just on the same level right now. It's pretty close.

This is actually a good segue, I guess, to like the fact that Dak Prescott and Kirk Cousins' career stats per game are like almost identical. I love that shit. It's so weird. It's saying that. It's a stat.

It's not like we're saying anything. We're saying the stats are literally like on a per game basis is almost identical. Not saying anything else. We're not, but Bill always says that, so tell me why they're different.

This is like when Bill always point out that Kyle Shanahan has a career losing record as a coach. I know. Is that still true? I don't. I think it's very close. He's right around 500. Well, I guess they're,

What are they? Three and three this year? So yeah. Okay, next category here. This category is called, there's a whole ocean of oil under our feet, and nobody can get it except for me. That's front of there will be blood. I feel like you were like debating doing the voice

in the middle of the quote, and you decided not to. So it didn't really sound accurate. Can you do it in the real voice? Yeah. And Daniel Plainview's voice? Yeah. There's, I don't,

because I don't even really know what his accent is. It's just like 1800s is his accent. Old timing. All time. Gravely. He's like, there's a whole ocean of oil under our feet. And no one can get it except for me. That's so much better.

It actually wasn't terrible, actually. Yeah. It was better than I expected. I'm giving that to Kenneth Walker, the running back to the Seahawks. We struck oil with Ken Walker. And I'm not not sure that he's just a top 12 running back. You're not not sure. Yeah.

I'm not unsure that he's just a top 12 running back for the rest of the season. He has a very limited sample size, but this dude is averaging 0.5 mistackles per rush. year, which would be an all-time NFL record by far. It was like the Giovante Williams stat. Everybody freaked out about last year. It was 0.3 missed tackles per rush, and that was a record. Kenneth Walker's obviously doing much better than that. He's just a 4-3 guy.

This week he's playing the charges who have, although they've, you know, restocked their defense to prevent, you know, being a sieve against the run like they were last year. Well, they've kind of been a sieve against the run this year. They've given up the second most yards per carrying the league. So with Ken Walker, man, if you guys spent all your free agent auction money on this guy, it has paid off handsomely, and I'm, I don't know. I just don't know how many running backs there are that I'd,

like I'm going to sit Damien Pierce to start Kenneth Walker this week. Ooh, spicy. I don't think that's crazy at all. I mean, first of all, they're playing the Chargers, and the Chargers, like, philosophically are like, yeah, sure,

you want to run, go for it. I mean, they're averaging. Chargers are allowing 5.6 yards per carry. Second most in the league. Pete Carroll's absolute dream. So I wanted to ask you, can we play a quick name game with Ken Walker this week? Obviously, the guys you're starting ahead

him. Eckler, Sequin, Chub, McCaffrey, Derek Henry, Ramondre Stevenson, Leonard Fournette. Are you starting Josh Jacobs or Kenneth Walker? Josh Jacobs. Jacobs. You start an Alvin Camara over him, Ken Walker? Yeah, I think so. Jonathan Taylor?

If he plays, you know. Well, he's playing. He's a full practice on Thursday, so I think he's playing. You start mixing over him? This is where it starts to get close, I think. Like, that's the RB12. Like, this dude is like a fringe top 12 running back in the league, I think, already. I test too. Like, he looks insanely good.

Well, we glossed over. You said that he's making, so half miss tackles per rush. That means every two rushes he's making someone miss. But we need a better name for that stack because miss tackles. Basically, it's like broken tackles, great name. But if you, like, juke someone out and they don't touch you, I don't even know if that technically counts as a broken tackle. Right.

So either we need to just make broken tackle. include things that they don't touch you or we're going to have to rebrand missed tackles per rush. Well,

miss tackles forced is the PFF stat isn't it? I know, but can't we do better than that? Juke score? Yeah.

I feel like there's got to be a sexier. It's such a cool thing. It's like making someone miss is like half the fun of football. Broken ankles? How many jocks are left

on the field? I mean, people he fakes out of their jocks? Is that a saying? Yeah. So, that's just saying, but I,

know about that phrase. Wait, is making, is choking someone of their socks, the PC term, is choking someone of their jocks? Probably, yeah. I'm actually unsure. I don't want to hitch my wagon to anything here. I'm actually, I'm just going to play right down the middle. I'm not sure that that's right on the fairway, sitting on the fence.

All right. Next to word here. Like, I'm just saying, if you have, if you have Zeke and Kenneth Walker, like, phone, I'm sorry, I, oh, yes. No, I, I, I, I, I, I, look, this is why we said to blow your fab bloat on Kenneth Walker. Okay. There's a whole ocean of oil under our feet.

Can you do the milkshake quote too? I drink your milkshake. Eli, you boy. I wish those quotes are worse after. We're going to have him do as Michael Cain later for all you. Michael Cain. She was 16 years old. He's going to blow the bloody doors off.

Let me finish. Yeah. Can you, the Mugatsy, I feel like I'm saying crazy bills, can you do that one too? What is that from again? Zoolander. Ah, yes. Got one luck. What was it?

It just does, there, the blue steel. And he's like, oh, the looks are the same. I'm like, I'm taking crazy bills. But I feel like that for just the Panthers and playing DG Moore this week. And it's like, yeah, you know, you got to keep playing DG Moore. I'm like, why? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Is this a straw man though?

Yeah, I was going to say. No. Who's saying this? Who's giving you advice, hyphids? I guess I guess I'm taking crazy pills around the whole Panthers' offense because, like, everyone's like Robbie Anderson had a tirade.

I think Robbie Anderson's the only sane person on the Carolina Panthers. Maybe I'm putting it that way. Like, it's just me and Robbie Anderson. Like, PJ Walker or Philip Walker, whatever he's going with these days. Phil. Phil? Phil.

Is it really? Phil. He's going by Phil, Danny. So please call him by that. Philip Walker the first. He had 60 passing yards against the rims. I feel like we even talked about this.

He had PJ Walker, Phil, whatever. Phil had one completion beyond the line of scrimmage. He had in total negative one air yards on the day. Yeah, I think even the numbers got mixed around because I think technically some of the passes he threw became like not passes because they were behind. I don't know. But the point is, again, he did not complete a pass

more than one yard down the field. It's like, no wonder Roby Anderson's yelling on the sideline and then gets traded. If only DJ Moore had done that, he would have saved my fantasy team. But until DJ Moore gets traded, it's not happening. And so, again,

there's so many receivers on buy. Hypothetically, if I had a Dynasty League with you guys, and I had A.J. Brown, Stefan Diggs, who were on by, and Marquis Brown, who's hurt, and I hypothetically had to play DJ Moore. I kind of don't want to. And I'm like,

how do I play anyone from this offense? Because this is not like a professional operation. Are you starting Darnel Mooney over D.J. Jay Moore with authority. That's kind of what I'm saying. And that sounds nuts because DJ Moore's good. But I'm saying it's like, this is PJ Walker, one more time, didn't have a completion

beyond one yard down the field. They're playing the Buccaneers. This Tampa Bay. How is this going to go well? When the octaves start going up, you know he's upset. What is the argument beyond DJ Moore will be upset? God damn. I hate you guys.

When Hypatts starts a, start. stammering and the octaves just start getting higher and higher. He's like, guys, DJ Moore. I don't get high. How are you going to start DJ Moore? He's like New York. He's not like a New York squirrel. I couldn't remember what he did last year in terms of like performance in terms of Phil Walker last year.

Because he started five. Let's see here. He's a Matt Rule guy. He played in one, two, three, four, five, five games. He had over a hundred yards passing in one game. Of course, none of these were, only two of them were full games. He played for Matt Rule. Temple. It's why he got brought in. And he's then starting after Matt Rule was fired. Do you think

anyone on the team's happy about this? Like Sam Donald comes back, maybe that will help more. But in the meantime, until like, PJ Walker's not playing. I'm not even kidding. I think I would play Darnel Moody over Diji Moore. I know that sounds nuts, but why? Why? Does it? He's thrown one touchdown in eight appearances for the Panthers. Yeah. So, anyway, that's my two-scentive. It's not great. Yeah. No, it's not. Not great, Bob. D-KK, next award. I'm going to throw this one to Craig, the kombucha girl, player of the week.

I really know what to do with Wondell Robinson. I've tried it. I like it. I don't like it. I like him long-term rest of season. I think he's like a talented prospect, and I like the idea of what he could bring to the Giants offense. But this week, I'm a little worried that we got a little fooled

by his touchdown last week. And everyone's like, oh, like this is the new number one receiver on the Giants. But in reality, the dude played 14 snaps, which was fifth on the team. I hate this. He barely played. He had four catches on the 14 snaps, which is positive. But I'm unsure.

They're playing the Jags, who it's not like that's a formidable matchup, really. But just the Giants passing game, you know, we've talked about how Daniel Bellinger has, like, led the team in yards multiple times this year. The Giants have one completion over 20 yards on the season. No one on the team has over 200 yards receiving. So I just don't know if, is that true? I believe so. Wow. I'll fact check it while you guys are talking.

So it's like long term, I'm into Wondale this week. week, it appears to be a sexy matchup. It's like, oh, he's back, he's healthy, new number one on the Giants and they're playing the Jags. I don't know. How do you feel about him? Are you starting him over like those mid-tier wide receiver three guys? You're Jerry Judy's, Robert Woods, George Pickens. I'd only start

Wondell Robinson over like the worst fantasy players in the league like DJ Moore. Guys like that. Well, it's actually, that was going to be my... Anyone over DJ Moore? That was going to be my test. Are you starting Wondale or DJ Moore, like, realistically like he's on your team? I know like the logical thing would be to rank DJ

more. You know that I literally have to figure that out? Anyway. Yeah. I, I, and it is right. The leading wide receiver on the Giants is Richie James 189 yards.

Oh, 200. Yeah, no, that is true. Oh, my God. But the, so there's similar conversations. The Giants don't have like a professional thing going on. Well,

they're professional. They're just like really bad. Like they, they can't have explosive plays if it's not Seekwon. Sequin is like the seven of their plays that had gone for like 20 plus yards. But like no one else on the Giants has like more than one,

which is kind of crazy to think about. So I think they're the only team in the NFL without like multiple people that each have a 20 yard play. And they just have to scheme it up. So Wondale, it's like you're getting like the vaguely hard to see from the visible eye biggest slice of a really small pie. It's like what is this even worth?

But then with DJ Moore, it's like it's not even technically pizza. It's like why do you even? want to slice of this thing. It's like they don't know how to make pizza. It's like, I don't even know how to, like, what's a pizza version of we can't throw more than one yard down the field? It's like, it's just, can we, can we lean into this?

I want to know who, who high fits would start DJ Moore over. Would so. High fits. Devonte Parker. Yes. You'd start over. Okay. I'm going to keep going.

I feel bad. Like, watch DJ Moore have like, he should have been the Kistanza. Watch him of 20 minutes. Alamede Zakias on the Falcons. Dude, I, I don't know, to tell you the truth, I don't think I would have, as Bill would say, the testicular fortitude to play Alamedes Akees over more.

But if you're asking me, who actually has more receiving arts this week? It's Alameda's the Paz. I'm going to keep going until you pick DJ Moore. Marquez Calloway tonight. Oh, Calaway. Because Thomas and Landry out, so Calloway's number two for,

yeah, after Olave. Yeah, give me Calloway. Nico Collins on Houston. Oh, my God. Texans. Oh no Texas's playing the Raiders Yeah I think it's Collins

This sounds nuts and it sounds like I'm doing a bit I'm simply crazy I'm sorry I don't care how long Am I wrong? Is this like crazy of man To keep going AJ Green Oh don't

No no no no no I don't do it I would take mostly anyone who gets playing time Over AJ Green Watch it and again We're doing this on Thursday So watch Edge your getting on like a great game today. He gets targets.

Look at it now. Am I nuts for saying this? I'm just saying, DJ Moore last week had three catches for seven yards. It's funny because I remember looking up at the game on watching it. Like I have like eight games going on usually, you know. And I remember looking up and be like, oh, it looks like DJ Moore's getting a lot of targets. Because I think there was like two or three plays early in the game where he got it like manufacturer touches. And then at the end of the game, he had three catches for seven yards.

But this is the problem but this is why you can't just look at like Target chair in a vacuum. It's like, yeah, what's seven, what's the target share of seven targets when he throws 16 passes? Right. That's like almost half.

Who cares? He had freaking three yards. Yeah, I'd say this sucks because two of the players I was honestly the most excited about this year are Kyle Pitts and DJ Moore and they're both just in just the worst dog shit situations for fantasy.

It's so annoying. Anyway, A long term, I still believe in you, DJ Moore, just not this year. RIPP, PJ Walker. Wait, Hyvitz, what about the Moors? Would you rather have Elijah Moore or DJ Moore? Elijah. Here's the question.

For this week. To be clear, to be clear, to be clear, say Elijah Moore's inactive on game day. Who'd you rather have, Elijah Moore or DJ Moore? Man, I feel like the bucks are we going to get a forcing fumbles. Is DJ Moore more likely to have negative points than positive? Because when they're throwing every pass behind the line, on scrimmage, I guess you get

the half BPR, but the bucks are good at forcing it out so they could get the fumble and then he's only getting two catches a game. Say you're winning on you know, that's like the question like you're winning off for Monday night football. Do you bench the guy? Yeah, exactly. There should be a fun like fantasy rule where if you predict

that a player will score negative points and you are correct, you get like 30 points. But you have to predict they will score negative points and if you're wrong, you don't get any of their positive points. If Baker comes back, Diji Moore just goes back to normal sucking. If Darnal comes back, DG Moore might be good.

Honestly, I think that I would actually trade. I would trade for D.J. Moore. I would trade for D.R. You know why I would trade for him? So we're deciding which piece of trash you should eat for sustenance. You should trade for D.J. Moore because the people of D.J. Moore feel the way that I have just felt and talked about. But if Sam Donald's playing for the Panthers in like two or three weeks,

Degi Moore might be like, go back to being a top 20-ish. arrive at you should trade for DJ Moore? Yes, because how could his value be lower? How could his value be lower? You just spent the last... Somebody's so liberal, they're actually a Republican, they're actually conservative? This is the definition of a by-low.

I'm just saying I'd play a Lomides-Zakeas over DJ-More if my life was on the line. And that's my point. I have DJ-More a team. Like, you should be hitting me up now for DJ-More. Don't wait till Darnal comes back and Donald forces nine passes to him. We literally spent the last like 10 minutes

talking about how no one is. is startable over DJ Moore. And then Hyfitts' point is, yes, so trade for him. Am I crazy? It's not the most logical thing. I understand what you're saying. It's a, it's so crazy. It could possibly be.

This is the, is it, or is it so sane that I just blew your mind? It's that. Hey, caramba. I'm with you. D.K. just thinks I'm crazy because D.K. doesn't like trading with people because he's in 25 pigs. What I just said makes total sense.

You could get DJ Moore for pennies on the dollar and he could end up being serviceable. I understand. That's what I'm saying. It's like, You buy him at the dip, and you're like, okay, if Sam Donald takes over this job in two weeks, like DJ Moore might go back to being, like, what you thought he might be.

It's just not going to happen this week because BJ Walker's playing. That's all. I see. I see your point. Just feel like you didn't plan this out when we started talking about how you would not start literally anyone in the NFL over DJ Moore. I'm saying for this week. Okay.

That's fine. Should we do the hot tub club? Yeah, let's move on to the hot tub club. I don't want Highfits to have his octets go up again. I'm going to be careful. Keep telling me that the, goodbye,

should I wait for you more to have 200 yards and then try to trade for him? Is that the idea? You trade for him when his value is low. Do the hot tub. All right. Got me going.

Okay, so here are the players keep in mind for this weekend in terms of injury situations. These are the guys in the hot tub pub, aka hang out in the hot tub or more accurately, probably the cold tub at practice.

All right, Russell Wilson. He was limited on Wednesday. He has a couple of injuries he's dealing with here. Shoulder injury, a hamstring injury. The hamstring injury, I think, is more serious. However, good thing, he has

Wolverine blood, according to Russell Wilson. He's going to try and gut this out. How are you guys feeling about Russell Wilson this weekend? Bad. Yeah, that's fair. Anyway, keep that in mind. He's hurt in addition to the fact that their

offense can't work at all. Mark Andrews, did not practice on Wednesday or Thursday, nor did J.K. Dobbins. So the Ravens have a couple of injury issues here. I think Kenyon and Drake, you could already kind of pencil them in here as a pretty good start with Dobbins looking unlikely to play this week. His knee tightened up during the week last week. And so it looks like Kenyon Drake's going to get a good amount of volume in this week. And then, of course, monitor what's happening with Mark Andrews. Maybe this means Isaiah likely it's a little bit more looks if Mark Andrews doesn't play. But overall, we have to wait until Friday and Saturday,

to see what's going on. Plus, it's looking like Rashad Bateman might be back on track to play. I just keep imagining Will Ferrell and, who is it, Rachel Dratch in the hot tub on SNL? My lover. That's Cadarious Tony and Kenny Gallaudet, just welcoming new people into the hot tub. Hello! Yeah, seriously. All right, Darren Waller for the Raiders, did not practice Wednesday or Thursday as hamstring injury, trending towards not playing.

It appears. Tyler Luckett did not practice on Wednesday with the hamstring injury. So that is something to monitor as we get closer to the weekend. Keenan Allen for the Chargers. Limited participant on Wednesday. He was talking to the press and he said something along the lines of like maybe it's best to like stay out another week. I'm so sick of this. Is this the worst hamstring injury of all time?

What the fuck happened to Qaeda? Hamstrings are finicky, man. I'm not saying this in any type of way, but I'm going to say this factually. Someone said this. I apologize. I forget he said this, but Brian Roberts got shot and came back quick at the Keenan Allen. Dude, what is going on with Keenanis hamstring? Hamstrings are large muscles, Craig, and they just don't heal really quickly.

Josh Reynolds and DJ Chark of the Lions both did not practice on Thursday. So it's looking like really good situation potentially for Amun Ross St. Brown, who I believe is on track to play this weekend. And then with the Patriots, a couple notables here. Mack Jones, he thinks he has a chance to play. He was telling reporters that he is planning on playing. He's going to try to play. it's unclear whether Bill Belichick feels the same way. I don't think Belichick's going to tell us until like game time.

But again, this is something to monitor if you have Mac and you really need to play them in a two-portback league, grab Zappi and just to have that backup plan. And then the other thing that's interesting here, Damien Herris was a full practice on Thursday, full participant practice. So is the age of Ramandre Stevenson over? I know.

What do we think Belichick's going to do here? Is he going to stick to Ramandre or go back to splitting time? I would assume the latter. I think they're probably going to go back to splitting time. I don't know. What do you think? So is Remandre just a screaming sell high? I don't know.

Like, it's tough because there's a world in which they just let him be the lead guy now. You know, because Damien Harris is on the last year of his deal, different style player, not as much of a, you know, he's not quite as dynamic as a tack-de-deckers. I test as Ramandre's good and should keep the job. I stopped pretending to know what Bill Belchip had through a long time ago. Obviously, though, the most annoying thing is Damien Harris is getting the job back. But I feel like he won't. I'm kind of worried about Ramandre, to be honest. good.

I'm still going to play him, though. Jonathan Taylor are the Colts full participant on Thursday, looking good to go for this weekend, which is great. And then I'm not going to ever do a hot tub club without mentioning Cadarious. Tony, still not practicing. All right, Cadarius. He's never going to be a player. He's never going to play in the NFL game.

He's going to be so fucking good on the Chargers. In three years. Yeah. He's just. I hope they trade him. I do. It's not the right fit. Send him to L.A.

He's perfect for Los Angeles. Yeah. I think more people, there more people have hot tubs in L.A., but no, because it's colder in New York. More people still have hot tubs in L.A., I would imagine.

What's the hot tub per capita in New York? So do you think that, do you think that would help him because, like, you could just be running on the beach? Is that, like, good for your hamstrings? Yes. Lubricated hammies in the warm California sun.

Also, he just, it just feels, you know. He needs the Will Fuller muscle lubricant. He needs to lubricate its muscles with whatever Will Fuller was doing. That's the only answer for Cadarist Tony. He needs to come to the Rams, sit down, have lunch every day with Stafford. We'll be good.

He needs to, every, like, it's like a pitcher coming off the mound. Like, every time he comes off a play, you should just check for substances because I assume he's going to be cheating if he just, whatever, he does get back on the field. Okay, that's all we got. Thank you, D.K., thank you, Craig. Thank you.

So, whatever the opposite, thank you, is to get here is, Tony. Thank you to Jesse for production help. Thank you, Lauren. Lauren. Thank you, the shins. Nice. Have you done the shins? I don't keep track, Craig.

We need that list back. We need to see, because D.K. is now like hundreds of bands deep. Well, the reason I was thinking about it is because of Pineapple Expressi, he's like, you're going to get into so-and-so, so-and-so in the fucking shins. I don't know. Anyway, I probably have said it before. We got a lot of good responses about, like, great comedy songs in movies. Oh, yeah.

And are great songs in comedy movies, I mean. I also have to, I messed up again on a correction. the correction wrong. What happened? Remember when I was saying that Brian Adams and I confused Brian Adams with Brian Jones, Brian Jones is the guy

who died in the plane for the day the music guy. That's not who Brian Jones is either. Buddy Holly. Jesus Christ, I confused. I thought Brian Jones was on a play with Buddy Holly.

He was not. Different person. Who's Brian Jones? I don't know. You don't know. It's just a guy. He is also. He's in us.

Yeah, he did die young. How did he die, though? What if he also died in a plane? Does it still count? Ironically, he died in the summer of 69, which is the Brian Adams song that started this whole thing. Yeah, it's a depressing story. We don't need to get in his death and looking at his Wikipedia. So we'll move on. All right. Fair enough. All right. Goodbye, everyone.