The Ringer NFL Show - Week 8 Matchups: Blowout Week, Darnold SZN, and Backup QB Bonanza

Episode Date: October 27, 2023

David vs. Goliath week, what the San Francisco 49ers would look like with Sam Darnold, the head-scratching Deshaun Watson situation, Arthur Smith’s climate change comparison, a wellness check on flashy, young wide receivers who have underperformed this season, and much more (1:47). Check out our Week 8 Fantasy Football Rankings for positional rankings, waiver wire pickups, and much more! Fanduel.com/ringerffs is live! Email us! [e-mail] The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Social: Kiera Givens and Jack Sanders Producer: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What would you do if you got scammed? Would you suffer in silence, or would you do something about it? Well, I got scammed once, and this is the story of what I did. I'm Justin Sales, the host of the Wedding Scammer, a true crime podcast from The Ringer. And for seven episodes, we're hunting a comment. A guy with a lot of aliases, a guy who's ruined a lot of weddings. And with the help of some friends, I just might be able to catch him. Listen to The Wedding Scammer on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Your fantasy football show, my name is Danny Hyfitz and I am joined by Danny Kaling, Craig, Corlebeck, and we are previewing week eight of the NFL season. Woo! Yeah, baby. If you're wondering who to start, who to sit in your fantasy football lineups, go to fantasyfutball. Dot the ringer.com, which is in the episode description. I get it, Craig.

It's a yearl. Stop. It's not funny. Fantasy football. Dot the ringer.com. Rankings by position. It's a little fun. All right.

You can combine running back, receiver. Hyvitz is going to be a terrible parent. Dad, look what I drew. It's a shitty drive. Shut up, kid. Go study. Keep working on it. Doesn't you look like a bird.

We also have our Fandul lineups. We have our Fandu contest. You can join. It's at fandil. com slash ringer FFFS. You can join that. That also is in the episode description. Would just like to say,

I'm top 50 in that right now. So come at you, boy. Follow us on Twitter. Craig is at Craig Horlebeck on Twitter. Dek is at Danny B. Kelly. I am at Danaer Scott Hyfitz. And I try to answer starts to questions on Twitter. On Sunday morning's X.

I'm actually never going to call it X. So it's fine. Week 8, I have bad news, guys. There's no game at the year this week. I know. It's such a bummer. Zero generational matchups? It's blowout week, week eight here.

There's a lot of spreads over a touchdown or around a touchdown. We got, even though you're hearing this on Friday, the bills were nine and a half favorites over the bucks. We'll see what happened there. Dallas is a touchdown over the Rams. Philly, a touchdown over Washington. Miami, nine and a half over the Patriots. Baltimore, nine and a half over Arizona.

Kansas City, only a touchdown over Denver. Kind of weird. And Chargers minus nine. for Chicago. You're telling me that the Chargers are nine points better than the Bears, but the Chiefs are not seven points better than the Broncos? What's going on there, Vegas? What are you doing, Vegas? Maybe because the Chiefs are on the road. Oh, wait, no, the Chiefs have won their last 16 games against the Broncos. Not sure. What's going on there? I don't know. It's also just weird. There are a quarter of the league

is starting a backup quarterback this week, a quarter. And then if you just include like 40% of the teams in the league, like 13 and 32, either have a backup or a player who's in their first year as a starter, which I think actually does go a long way to explaining why, I don't know, it's just like big spreads and also just like, I don't know, this sloppy play, all the sacks are up and all the numbers we've been talking about points are lower than ever, yards per 10, like there's so many things going into it, but the quarterback's younger than ever. But again, like there's just less experience. It's all backups and freaking rookie guys. Freaking, I feel like we're going to, Constanza, this is going to be the week that everybody just

plays beautiful. the scoring record and we're just like, you know what, all these guys that wants to come back. I will say, I think it's worth going through a bunch of the backup quarterback situations and kind of just a fantasy check-in of just like, are we going to play these guys or not? Starting with, I mean, the only one really that matters. Brock Purdy, cult leader extraordinaire, in concussion protocol this week, probably not going to play. They're not ruling it out yet.

This is like a classic Purdy situation, man. He's like already back at practice. It's Thursday. So we're recording this Thursday afternoon. He came back to practice. And I think that means so there's five steps in a concussion protocol. I think I saw on Twitter that, you know, someone said, and you can't lie on Twitter that that means he's in the fourth stage of concussion

protocol already. Is that true? I think it's wild. I don't. Third or fourth. Either way, I think the point is that it's possible. I personally am, I don't think he's going to play. And if he does play, Brock Purdy would be the only player, though, so far who has been

concussed on a Sunday. and then return seven days later. So there's two things. Either Brock Purdy's the first player under the new rules with the fastest return ever, or they're just like Sam Darnold's going to start and they don't want the other team to just know that, and they want the other team to prepare for Purdy.

I'm going to take the option too. So with that said, I think Sam Darnold is going to play. We're excited about this. For the Niners in fantasy, it doesn't matter. It's like Christian McAfre going to play. Debo's out. Right now Yook are going to play.

It must start. George Kills must start. But Sam Darnold, Craig compared him on Bill Simmons podcast to Nick Foles this potential this year Here's my very important This is how I feel about Donald playing Everyone has to decide right now

If you're in or out on Sam Donald You cannot watch him play And then make up your mind It's like I'm in and I need it like You need to decide right now And the line in the sand Where are you? What side of history are you on?

Like everyone has to do it right now With Sam Donald This is like Ben Affleck in the town Coming in and I mean like I need your help I can't tell you what it is You can never ask me about it later and we're going to hurt some people.

Give me a fucking answer. And Jeremy Renner, who's Kawey taken? I need your help. I can't tell you what it is. You can never ask me about it later and we're going to hurt some people. Who's how we're going to take? We have to decide right now forever if we're in on Tam Darrell. I'm in on Sam.

Join me or not. I'm in. Oh. Yeah. Who's call we taking? Here's what I'll say here. What do Niners fans want? because on the surface, at face value,

you would expect a Niner fan wants their quarterbacks, all their quarterbacks to play well. However, if Sam Darnold plays well, that kind of hurts the legacy of their Lord and Savior, Brock Purdy. Unambiguous. Unambiguously. So this is what we're ready for. And they come out here and beat the Bengals 30 to 13

and Donald goes for 310 and three touchdowns and looks crisp. Then what, Niners fans? You will have to decide. All right. You will have to decide what side you're on. So I'm very curious to see what happens with Sam. I'm rooting for him. Again, I'm not anti-Pertie.

I'm just anti-Hall-of-Fame Purdy. I think Purdy is very competent and good at his job. But look, the stat that Hyfitz loves that I've never forgotten, the quarterback with the most yards of all time in the first 16 games of their career is Patrick Mahomes. The second quarterback on that list is Nick Mullins from the San Francisco 49ers. where is Nick Mullins now Vikings backup Yeah

It's funny that Craig called him Nick Foles Because obviously when Nick Foles came in And then played way better than Carson Wence Or whatever that created just a shit storm In that building They ultimately went back to Wence And pretty unambiguously I mean they're going to go back to Purdy

But Wence is a former failed top three quarterback draft pick And he lost his job to a journeyman Nick Foles This is the opposite the starter and the top three draft pick is the guy in the back. Also, the other, the real comparison, I will say, between Nick Foles, the muddled metaphor is that Nick Foles, the Eagles was Big Dick Nick and Brough is big cock, Brock. Right.

So that, you know, that's the key here. So it's like Sam, I don't know where the rhyme is with Sam Darnold. I don't think there is one. Bam, bang. Big ham. Big ham. Bad face. So I actually do think Sam Darnold, I think it would be funniest if the Niners lost the game,

but Darnold played great. that would be the worst case scenario for Niners fans. Do Niners fans want Darnold to play really well if that means they'll have to concede on Brock Purdy being a top five quarterback in the league? Do they want that? They probably want him to win the game. Look inward. What do you want? Think about it.

I don't know. They're not going to tell you the truth, Craig. For fantasy purposes, are you starting all the same players you would have if Sam Darnel is starting? I think I am. Yeah, except for Patrick Mahomes, we've got a bench and I'm going to play Sam Darnold. But other than that, yeah, you play McAfrey and I, you can and George Kittle. Kittle.

Yeah. So we'll see what happens there. I can't wait. It might be game of the year. That is the game of the week right there. Game of the year. Right. Wait, Hyfitz.

Highfitz. Right now. Gun to your head. Sam Darnold or Joe Burrow, more fantasy points. Dude, this is crazy to say, but I think Donald's going to have a rushing touchdown. Oh, my God. I just think Donald's going to have a rushing touchdown. He had like five in the first.

Last time he was the start, he had five touchdowns rushing it. Like, he led the league after a month. Burroughs the 27th quarterback in fantasy right now. I think he's averaging a left. 11 points a game. Playing the Niners. Like leading in San Francisco.

Let me ask you this another way. If they're on the four yard line and Sam Donald does a read option, are they going to be like, yeah, hand it off to McCaffrey? I think they're going to be like, yeah, Donald, you run it in. And they're like, see if he can, I don't know. I don't know if they're necessarily going to be. Why do you think they're going to do that? McCaffrey's like the best running back in the NFL.

No, no, that's what I'm saying. I'm saying the, no, not the Niners. I'm saying if the Niners are read optioning the defense and the defense defenders are going to force. Are they going to like all, spend all week being like, yeah, we want McAfrey to beat us. I'm like, I'm kind of going to go ahead and say they're probably going to prefer Darnold take the hand off and force McAdarnel to keep it.

Yeah. So I kind of think he's going to get a touch. I mean, as always, I'm rooting for content. So Sam Darnold playing well would be amazing for us. So that's really all that matters. Speaking of content, Tennessee Titans, Ryan Tannihill is out. We're going to get allegedly some mix of Malik Willis and Will Levis. But no, that's not sure.

We're getting Will Levis is going to be the quarterback for the Titans. Playing the Atlanta Falcons. I don't even know where to start. This says everything. We got the Titans are wearing these throwback Houston Oilers uniforms. They've been trying to get the rights to forever. Pretty sweet. They look great.

This is Will Levis, who I don't know what he's most famous for, putting mayonnaise and coffee and pretending he did it. We got like Arthur Smith. He used to be the Titans offensive coordinator saying climate change. I don't even know where to start now. Where do you guys want to go? Start with Levis. Let's start with Levis. D.K., I want a refresher on Levis.

I want your scouting report. Well, it's funny that you say that because, there have been several points during the season where I literally couldn't remember Will Levis's name. On the tip of my tongue, I'm like, I studied this guy for like six months for the draft. And then he comes into the league

and he's like third string quarterback on the Titans. I literally forgot his name. It's like one of those names that I'm like, he doesn't look like a will. He doesn't seem like a will to me. Also, like Levis is the last name I've never heard before. Also, Levis is not a word. So you're just like, it's just like a collection of letters

that you've never thought of before. It's like trying to memorize like a node of something. Bill always says your head is like a nightclub and there's only so many people allowed in when you hit like 40 years old. Like only so many people land in the nightclub. Doesn't he not really. Yeah, he doesn't really look like a will. There's no association here.

I don't get it anyways. I went back and re-read my scouting report on him because all memory had been like a race. You're like, who wrote this? He was my QB4 in this draft. I was a little bit low on him. So got to be honest. Don't have high hopes for him this week. Yeah, he's got a strong arm.

Like a strong arm, like a whip-like arm. He's really tough, physical. There was a point in his college career early on when he's at Penn State, and he was like sort of almost like a Taysom Hill-style quarterback. Like, he's athletic. He runs around. Tase-Mill because he couldn't win the starting job at Penn State. Yeah, something like that.

Oh, so remember when he was playing golf at Penn State? We had someone who took golf class with him, and he would take 20-foot gimme-puts. Yeah, that's actually a horrible sign. He told us that. He threw 23 interceptions in the last two seasons. So that speaks to his decision-making and all that. And then the other thing that I remember distinctly was his tape was very boring this last season.

Because the year before, he could have come out. And then he decided to stay in school. And he did not do as well the year after. Obviously, he just like was hurt for part of this season. His supporting cast was not as good. The coaching staff changed. So there was a lot of variables involved here. But he had very few.

He had seven big-time throws, according to Pete. FF on the season, which was by far the fewest of the top quarterbacks in this class and one of the lowest rates in the country. So not only was his tape like problematically full of, uh, turnovers, he didn't have any big plays either. So I don't know, that was those were all the reasons I ultimately kind of soured on Levis during the draft process. Why was he for a moment there thought to be the number one pick of the draft? Like give me the upside. Yeah. And I, and I was going to say, that being said, like he does have very exciting traits. Like he has a big arm. He's athletic. He's big and tough. He's like willing to stand in the pocket and, you know, throw in the face of pressure.

There's a lot of things to like about him. Very, very vainy. Blue Mountain State pointed out. Yeah. And he's like 6'4, 215. Like he's a big dude. Yeah, he's like built. He's got some Carson Wentz to him. You know what I mean? Like he looks the part and sense like he's big, strong, strong arm, you know, willing to put his body on the line. You know, there's a lot of traits, I would say, that are exciting. But he just hasn't put it all together. He's also already 24.

So I don't know This is not a good offense either Like we've seen Tannehill absolutely just You know Go down the shitter this year And he's like had a good track record Of being like a good quarterback in the NFL So I don't know

This is a little bit scary for me If you're hoping that Levis is going to produce Big Time numbers in this offense He's also 6-4-230 not 215 Sorry he's quite Vascular Yeah Yeah

So for fantasy you're playing Derek Henry And I actually I have Deandro Hopkins higher than you guys, I still think DeAndre Hopkins is going to get his targets and when you're a rookie in your first game and the coach is ready on your helmet, but then DeAndre Hopkins grabs you by the face mask

and it's like, throw me the fucking ball. I'm like, I still think DeAndre Hopkins is going to get nine targets in this game, so I would still play them. But yeah, it's not like it's not scary. So you're buying the like rookies just going to pepper the number one option thing? When in doubt, throw to that guy

who was really good when you were 14 years old. That's a good rule. You know what this game is? I just realized it Titans, Titans, Falcons, Will Levis, Bijon Robinson. This is Mayo versus mustard bowl. Stop. We got the Bijon mustard, which I believe he has his own mustard.

Wow, they both do have the commercial. Wow, this is a good call. Yeah. So, Le Lovice pretended he put coffee or mayonnaise in coffee. And then he actually, this is a great bit. He spun it into a Howman's mayonnaise commercial where he pretended a sign with the mayonnaise. And then Bijon Robinson, his name's actually Bajon, but he got paid money by a Dijon mustard company. and now he goes by Bijon.

So now it's Bejohn. It's like, yeah, it's like the real-life version of Hulu has live sports, but it's Bejohn mustard or Bejohn pumping Dejohn mustard. So wow, yeah, mustard. Bejohn has tangy mustard. That rolls right off the tongue. Do you guys see the commercial with Levis? You like it's emotional.

It's too long. It's like a two-minute press conference. Yeah, they could have edited it that down. It's way too long. It's like the Snyder cut of mayonnaise commercials. It's like, oh, my God. It's like kind of awkward. They needed like one joke and then they could have gotten out.

Yeah, it's like just, yeah, could have been an email. The flip side of this ball, you mentioned Bijan. So Dijon mustard, can you imagine if we could pronounce her names differently and just get paid by a company for it? But, so Vijon last week, you know, there's a whole weird thing where like he was sick and he said he woke up the morning of the game and we didn't find out. So he plays kind of, but not really doesn't get, he's in and out of the game, but doesn't get a touch till after 59 minutes into the game. And then apparently he's sick or had migraines or headaches. or something, and then the NFL's like, why do you put them in the injury port? And then fantasy football's mad.

Arthur Smith, the head coach of the Falcons and D.K.'s least favorite person on Earth. I got tagged so many times on Twitter this week. So many times. Arthur Smith is asked why, you know, what happened with the whole playing, you're running back or not listing that he was hurt, whatever, injured, whatever. And Arthur Smith goes on this, like, rant, which crescendos into, I just want to talk about the Tennessee Titans this. week, you know, so I could go find sensationalist stories. Climate change. You want to talk about climate

change? Let me, what do you think about climate change? I'm just like, looking at the reporter, like, what do you think about climate change? Like, I actually need kind of play this. This is, it was out of control. You can ask rumors and new windows. I can go find sensational stories. We can talk about climate change. What's your thought on climate change? You want to go on the road. We'll talk about world politics. We can do that too. I'm sure you got an opinion. I would love to see a reporter and Arthur Smith talk about climate change. That sounds great. should have asked a question. Do a debate.

When we were talking about airplane Wi-Fi and you guys were like, oh, Hifitz is just like, we can't have nice things because we should appreciate the technology. Arthur Smith is literally doing that. Like, you're asking me about Bejohn Robinson and why he didn't play? You know the oceans are turning into acid before our very eyes?

And you guys want to talk about football? This is like a Belichekian ruse. This is actually kind of smart. Just absolutely change the subject. You know, that's like a politician. The ultimate deflector. It's so stupid. This is your job.

the coach of the Falcons, we're going to ask you about the Falcons, not climate change. That's what I was going to say. This is like a fair question. Why is he so mad about it? Yeah, the NFL opening an inquiry means they have to ask. I just, I love the idea that they're like, yeah, so what do you think about this inquiry? And he's like, world policy. I mean, I don't know, man.

Like we can't get funding for you create and you want to talk about Bjaun Robinson. He's like children are starving out there, man. And you're asking about Bijon Robinson? We don't even. It's like a speaker of the house. I'm just going to say, this is why I don't like Arthur Smith. You know what I mean? Like, they ask him a very normal question.

he just go like so condescending and like mean and just like curmudgeonly surly. I'm like dude, fucking chill. This is their job. This is a part of the fucking job. You have a billion dollars, dude. Just show up. This is an entertainment industry, man. We're asking you questions. This is all part of the fucking deal. This is your hobby. Just fucking answer some questions. It's your hobby, Arthur. He does this on the weekends. So you know, if somebody emailed us in, you know, he's one of ten siblings. Yeah. God.

It's one of ten. That'd be an interesting. his sister was a producer of La La Land. Oh, I did not know that. Interesting. That's cool. Good for him. I would play Be John Robinson still.

Where is he among the 10 kids? Do you know? I don't know. Middle child energy. I don't think he's been a child. He's got older child energy. He's one of 10 and you don't think he's a middle child? No chance.

No, it's an 80% chance. He's a middle child. Oh, no. I thought you meant like five of 10. I would consider four, five, and six, maybe even three through seven, oh, have middle child energy, right? Or it's probably broken into little quadrants where it's like, you know, the top three has a youngest middle and oldest and all the whole thing.

So you remember the scene, remember the Titans when he's like, Sunshine, like I was the youngest of 12 kids and then gives him the thing. And then a fine second quarter, he's like, I thought he had seven brothers, not eight, 12, he's 12 sounds better. Yeah. You know what's funny about the way Arthur Smith handles his players? like particularly Bejean Robinson. As annoying as it is,

I fundamentally agree with his philosophy on keeping your players fresh if you plan to make the playoffs. And I think Kyle Shanahan should be doing to Christian McCaffrey what Arthur Smith is doing to Bejohn Robinson. I like that he's on a pitch count. It's smart.

Load management is important because the Niners are hurt every year in the playoffs. And if Bejohn Robinson is fresh and healthy as a wild card, that is more important. I also, the other, oh my God, D.K.'s getting it so bad. But the other thing, Arthur Smith was talking about the hot hand and just playing a running back is like playing well

and if a guy rips off a run, they might play him well. I think that's fine. Everybody needs to get over it. I think it's okay. Every other sport does that. If the guy off the bench is playing great, you keep them in the game. I think it's fine for like 95% of teams. For this team in particular where you spent a fucking eighth overall pick on a running back,

give him the ball. If you want to criticize the Falcons for taking pits and taking Bejohn in London and taking, like this is the first team to ever have three skill players in the top 10 on the same team that they drafted in consecutive years and they kind of don't use any of them that well. That's fine. But like that's what I'm doing. I know I get that. But like that he's the coach. I'm just saying he's to coach the team. Like they won last week by three, but Desmond Ritter at three fumbles inside the 10. They should have won by three touchdowns. I'm like, you know what I mean? I'm like they're four and

three. Again, he just doesn't have to be such a dick to the media also. Like he's like he's getting no sympathy for me. Sorry. Okay, well, I feel like if he was nice, you'd still hate him. No, that's not true. Who is a nice coach that annoys you by the way they coach? Nate Hackett is a very nice person. Nate Hackett's an incredibly kind and a loved person. He doesn't annoy me by the way he coaches.

I just don't think he does a great job of it. You know, like Shanahan is the only other one that comes to mind. And I think Shanahan's got a lot of Arthur Smith personality traits where he's like very condescending and like talks down to people and stuff. He's like tortured genius who's annoyed by people who don't understand. stand. Yeah, he has real, like, nobody gets me, energy. Sure. Except Brock Purdy gets him.

Other backup quarterbacks, Zach Wilson for the Jets. I think you still play Garrett Wilson and Breeze Hall, but like, that's it. And then they're playing the Giants, which what a pathetic fucking matchup. Jets Giants, two backup quarterbacks. Tyra, Taylor, you're playing Seicorn,

you're playing Darren Waller. I think that's it. Even Wondale, I'm kind of like, I don't know, man. Wondale is like a desperation flex option, I think. He's all over the map. There are no buy weeks this week. I don't, I would not play one day. It's like, yeah.

Yeah, the Jets defense has been really good. Colts, it's like Gardner Minshew for the Colts. Man, it's like Michael Pittman, you can play. Zach Moss little banged up. Like, Jonathan Taylor, I think you can totally play. I think this is probably the week. He gets more touches. Like, Josh Downs.

I'm like, how long is this going to go? I think you're playing downs. He's been too good to say. The one thing I'll say, he had like a 75-year touchdown last week. The one thing I want to just note about Josh Downs is, is that came on a broken play. Like Miles Garrett jumped off side. And then I think Denzel. Ward, who's the cornerback, thought the play was over.

And so Josh Downs just kind of ran and caught the ball. And, like, that was... That was lucky, but overall, his usage has still been really strong. Like, he's got 20-something plus target rate with Gardner Minchu out there. And so I do agree with you. Like, that play is not going to happen every game, but he's still getting tons of targets. And he's shown that consistently. So I'm willing to play Josh Downs.

And in fact, I am playing him in a few leagues. Okay. Cardinals, Josh Dobbs, Arizona quarterback. Running backs, I don't think I want to play. any of these running backs. Zach Ertz is out, so Trey McBride is there. I mean, I was,

the only thing I'll say but Trey McBride is he hurdle the guy last week. And I actually think we should, that should be a point. Like you should, PPR leagues,

I'm doubt, we should have PPR leagues. We should have point per hurdle leaks. I totally agree with this. This is a great call. If you, so my favorite hurdles are the hurdles where the guy doesn't really fall for it.

And then he like, it's almost like the dirty dancing lift thing where he like, put some like up on his. Oh my God. You end up just jumping on the defender's shoulders. Yeah. They go. high. Do you have to clear

the defender for it to be considered a hurdle or do you just have to attempt it? Attempted hurdle, I think. You have to succeed to some degree. You can't just try a hurdle and then just get fucking upended like John Elway submarine. I will say this. My favorite thing is when they completely clear the guy

and the guy has no idea and he just does tackle and I'm like, wow, he looks so stupid when you tackle someone but there's no one there. Like tackling is so cool when you'd like flatten someone. But when that person just jumps over you, like, and you isolate just the defender, you look so dumb.

Yeah, it's so funny. Throwing yourself through the air. They're like trying to hug a cloud of dust. I love those, I love the instant replays where it's super slowbo and like, you could just see the defender sort of close their eyes and like try and tackle. Yeah, and the arms start moving, like, where'd you go? It's, it's an ick. It's what it is.

It's an ick. It is. It's like a matador waving the flag away. Can I say one thing, Cardinals? Marquise Brown, you know, he's been mediocre this year, Ravens Revenge game, whatever. Do you think Marquise Brown is a huge by-low because of Kyler Murray coming back? If you look at Mark Keith Brown's targets, the last four weeks, 10 targets, 10 targets, 11 targets, seven targets.

He's only in three games this year with less than double-digit targets because there's really not a lot going on in Arizona. You mentioned the tight ends. They have Michael Wilson, the rookie wide receiver. But like, Carla Murray comes back. I'm assuming he will run less because of obviously the injury. but I don't think he's throwing will necessarily be diminished. So Marquis Brown might be like a screaming bylaw. I believe I could be wrong, but at this point last season,

I think Marquis Brown was like a top six receiver. Yeah. Yeah, he was when both of them were healthy, it was like top five. I will say, I don't think he's playing this week, but Kyler Murray was a full go. He was off the injury report, which is wild. And so I don't know if they're going to play him this week. This could be one of those big surprise things that comes out of blue,

but if not this week, I think they were shooting for week nine or week 10 is what I heard. You should probably do it this weekend because if you don't do it this weekend, then by Monday it'll already be there, Kyler's coming back. It might already be too late.

Maybe the Marquis Brown manager is already holding onto him because Kyler's coming back, but give it a shot. He's probably one of those guys that no one actually loves on their team. Browns are playing PG-Walker. Again, it seems to Sean Watson is out

and not playing this week. Again, we'll just start with the immediate aspect of PJ Walker playing means you can play Murray Cooper I think that's it like in Cream Hunt as the running back. Pierre Strong I think should be on your bench. I wouldn't know if I'd play Pierre Strong this week. I like Pierre Strong a lot. But Kareem Hunt and Mark Cooper, you can roll with PJ Walker.

But like the Deshawn Watson thing, one, I will, Tom Pelliserro, whose NFL network, tried to clarify saying, Deshaun Watson has a strain in his subscapularis muscle, which causes pain and weakness in the rotator cuff. It's a real injury that takes time to heal. It's a real injury. Don't put it in the newspaper that it's not a real. This is my seventh NFL season for The Ringer. I've never, ever in my life heard anybody, any reporter ever have to clarify an injury is real.

And then two, shout out to Ian Hardens at Fantasy Life who quote tweeted the suite with the sub-scap. With the Ron Burgundy quote of him being like, my shoulder, the sub-scap, it's connected to the... It's a real injury. Like it's this is just what is going why did he have to say it's a real injury? Because Deshawn Watson's agent. Don't panic. It's a real injury. Like when has anyone said, you know what?

I don't think that football players actually hurt. Well, people were said people have been saying that a little bit about Sean Watson. No, I'm saying he's the first guy where people have ever said like, hey, faking an injury. Well, here's why. And like, here's the thing. I'll say this. Nobody's doing this lightly. Like these guys like to tell you the truth, I think the biggest gap between watching football and playing football.

is I don't think we have any freaking idea how painful it is to play football. Like, when it's like out with a contusion, like the bruises guys have on their legs, like things that they play through all the time look like car accidents. Like, it is so hard to play football. So I would, I really want to be clear. I don't want to diminish what it's like to like be injured and stuff. But I will, this is, and I, since Andrew Luck, this is the most confusing injury situation I've ever seen.

Greg Rosenthal at Enifl Network had a great summary and was like, just to review the situation over the last month. Kevin Stefanski, Brown's head coach said Deshawn Watson was medically cleared before he missed three weeks of football. And then Dorian Thompson Robinson, when he played, found out the morning of the game that he was going to start. Kevin Stefansky said on Sunday of week seven that the following week, DeShone Watson would play in week eight. Right, right. By three days later, on Wednesday, Kevin Stefansky said Deshaun Watson's out. And then Kevin Stefanski said he chose to remove Deshawn Watson from the Colts game.

And then Deshaun Watson said that it was a medical decision. and then the Browns GM said 20 days ago, 22 days ago that Watson's shoulder were heel in the short term. People, if the Browns don't want this to be a thing, they need to get their fucking story straight. Get on the same page. Huddle up, figure out what they're going to say. Pop on a Zoom.

Figure it out. So much of these, so much of the stuff, it's like an agent texting or Jim texting, you know, Schaefter or reporter being like, hey, like, just want to clarify the story. Just to be clear with like the subsisting, with like the sub-scapularis whatever tweet. Now like the surface level,

what they want us to believe is the Brown signed a $230 million quarterback and have completely botched his throwing shoulder injury. And he's totally hurt and the Brown screwed it up. Like that's like what they, that's like the party line? And I feel like that's what this is about is that Deshaun Watson's like, I don't know what's going on.

But anyway, PJ Walker back. He's starting this week is the bottom line. And we don't know when Sean Watson is going to come back. all. Bears, Tyson, Badgin. Baygent. I think it's Badgin. I think it's badging. I think it too. I just think we're wrong. I don't know. Badgent? That, I mean, it is T-Bagg. So it's probably badging. Yeah, it's T-Bag. It doesn't have anything to do it. You play DJ Moore. Play DJ Mayor, play Deonti Foreman. It's probably it. You can play T-Begas, of course. Hold on. I'm going to Google, I'm going to Google Travis Bajent and see how he says. Tyson. It's Tyson. No, his dad's name is

Travis Bejohn, he's very famous. The arm wrestler. Very famous. He's an arm wrestler. He's a 28-time world champion arm wrestler. He's famous amongst his friends. Famous. He's famous in the same way we're famous.

Amongst a very niche group of people. They know who he is. So you're saying we're very famous? Is that what you're saying? DK, do you think more people know who you are than Tyson Bayesian's father? Absolutely not. I was going to say, this guy's been on like, I don't know, interviewed on TV. I mean, this got one with both hands.

D.K. holds the mic with both hands. He'll switch it back and forth. Holds the title. Are you playing Deonté Foreman if Rochon's back? I don't know if you are. Yeah, I am. I think he played too well last week for an old stodgety coach like Matt Everflus to like be like,

yeah, you know what? I know the veteran on my team at three touchdowns, but I'm going to let this rookie who has in practice in two weeks just take the load. Like, I really like this. Like maybe he'll get the passing down, but I'm like, that's not how it works. Yeah, I'm just like, God.

Justin Fields do designed runs for like a year. Fair. I'm a little bit more hesitant. I'm like, oh, split backfield on the Bears with Tyson Bayesian going up against charges is nine point dogs. Yikes. I don't think they can run on them. I kind of think the charge is going to lose. I'm not going to lie.

Talk about bad quarterbacks. I think what's funny is all the rookie, the backup quarter of it's going through. It doesn't even count Sam Howell, which is funny, because I'm pretty confident Jacoby Preset's better. I mean, just for the Deshaun Watson stuff, Deshaun Watson's going to get $91 by the end of the year and he's not even approaching how good Jacoby percent was for $5 million. And the fact that Percette's just on the Washington bench is kind of funny.

But, yeah. Sam Howell and Washington are playing the Eagles this week. Sam Howell has 40 sacks in seven games. And I realized that there's, we've been talking like, oh, he might break the sack record. There's a serious chance Sam Hal breaks the record for most sacks in a season before Washington's buy in week 14. There's a serious, I'm not kidding.

That's what he's on pace for. He's on pace for one and a half sacks under that. But two games before the by is the Cowboys. It's only might happen. Do you think this is one of those situations where, remember a couple years ago when it was Javis Winston set the interception record? He went 30 and 30.

where no one's going to break this record or get close because they get benched before they get close. But like, do you think Sam Howell, if he continues at this trajectory, is going to get benched before he can set the new record? This is the kind of thing that can only happen when the owner of the team has just purchased a toxic franchise and is more worried about what are we going to name the team

and where are we going to have, what state are we going to put the next stadium? Like, it's, it's, why does that matter? I feel like this is like a one of those things I'm like, Why does that make a difference? I think it's more so that, like, look, everybody knows what Jacoby Percet is. He's been in the league for a while. So, like, I think they know the commanders are not going to be a playoff team.

They're not going to make the Super Bowl. So might as well just write out Sam Howell and see every snap you can of him because benching him for a guy who you already, like, either way, neither is a long-term option. So might as well see the guy who's a rookie. Yeah, they're auditioning for this new owner. And I think that's part of it. I'm saying that, like, it's an audition of a young guy that the owner had nothing to do with bringing you. I think it's a unique situation.

But by point being with Howell, producer Carlos was talking about this to me the other day, but it's like this, all the same Howell Sacks is like a feeding frenzy for fantasy football defense. It's like the number one defense in fantasy football this year is the Dallas Cowboys. Number two defense in fantasy football this year is whatever team is facing Sam Howell.

Like, because sacks are worth a point. And Howell has not taken less than four sacks in a game. And so... It's such a good floor. If you're playing that defense. Yeah. The Bears had five sacks against Sam Howell. They have five sacks and their other six games combined. Like the Giants fantasy defense, 40% of their points this year are just against Sam Howell. Like, same for the bills.

40% of their points against Sam Howell. You get the Eagles this week. Dude. Who shocked him five times the last time they played. Yeah. So, and I realized, Sam Howell is Taylor Swift. You know, like every time Taylor Swift's tour comes to a city, there's a huge boom in the local economy.

It's like, every time Sam Howell comes to town, there's like this unprecedented boom. in the local fantasy points. Sacks in this economy? When Sam Howell comes in town. Does that mean there's going to be a movie about all of the times he's been sacked? Yeah, and they're just going to get that. And we'll do like the top 100, but like cut out four

and then people will be like, why'd you cut that one out of the movie? Honestly, that sounds great. Like a super cut of all this of 100 Sam Halal's hacks. Like, I'd watch that. With the director's cut and Sam Howell's like, yeah, no, that one, I thought that's them to be open. And, man, that one, I don't, you know what I mean? That's crazy, though,

They are that defenses who face Sam Howell are the number two defense fantasy. That is wild. So, yeah. So, I mean, the obvious thing is you check the commander. It's funny, too, because I was thinking about recommending fantasy defenses facing Sam Howell for the fantasy playoffs. And then two things occurred to me. One, the problem is that the teams facing him are like the jets, the Rams, like the dolphins, defenses that are probably rostered, the 49ers.

But the other problem is that is he really going to be healthy two months from now? I can't believe he's healthy. now. It's stunning. It's like an experiment. He's a robust fella. Anyway, he is stocky. You guys, I sent you this. This is not meant necessarily

to be a patting myself on the back type of situation, but I was looking back at my scattering report for Sam Howell, because I was not super high on him coming into the NFL. And then, you know, he got drafted in the fifth round, so I was like, oh, he's never going to make it. And then, of course, he became the starter, which is

definitely like a rare thing for any fifth round. rookie to become a starter. But I look back at my scouting report for him and it was basically like he has a historically high sack rate at UNC, which is a really, really bad sign, obviously coming into the NFL. And then sure enough, it translates to the NFL. Speaking of fantasy, the general disappointment that we were talking on Wednesday about wide receiver twos and all these like the top tier receivers are doing great among the guys who are healthy.

Like Justin Jefferson was great, Tyree Kill, AJ Brown, all these guys are crushing it. And then the next tier, basically potential just means he had done shit yet. And like all these sexy 1B receivers that are actually not 1B. Jalen Waddle for the Dolphins, Chris Olivier for the Saints, Devontas, the Eagles, Teagans, the Bengals have all been like so profoundly disappointing. And I'm wondering two things. One, who is the guy of those four that you're most willing to bench and feel fine about? Because for me, T. Higgins, I've now, because people ask us to help leagues,

I've seen two different people show me their fantasy waivers and T. Higgins is on waivers. Oh, wow, that's wild. Go pick him up, first of all. Pick him up. Yes. But I am the most comfortable sitting, T. Higgins. Jalen Wattle is way too much upside and has been consistently average. Chris Alave has, like, the most targets in the NFL.

Chris Alave is like the Deonté Johnson of last year. The dude is literally reeling in like 12 to 15 targets a game. And he's been fine, but he only has one touchdown. He's not really producing. I would definitely rather have Chris Alave. And then Devante Smith, you know, I'm still betting on the offense and his talent. T. Higgins has been playing every week and it's just been bad. He's catching two balls a game.

Yeah, I think the flip side I was going to ask you is who are you most confidence of Bailo rest of the season? To your point, Devante Smith, it was literally the same thing last year. The first half of the season, he was outside the top 40. And then the final seven weeks, Devonte Smith was an age of Brown together with the top two receivers. But shout out Scott Bair to fantasy points who pointed out that Jalen Waddle, Scott Bair called Jailin Waddle the most obvious bylaw candidate in the history of

fantasy football because he leads the entire all wide receivers and expected fantasy points per route run and just basically through a weird combination of dolphins offense just hasn't hit him but like they're they're the opportunities are there and that it just it's going to come so i think waddle i would get him literally before they play this weekend if you can finagle a trade speaking of waddle did you guys see this situation with tyrie kill this week that was like very very strange there was a lot of, it was like almost like a panic on Wednesday or Tuesday. I can't remember because Tyree Kill didn't practice and he had like a hip injury, a mysterious hip injury. These reporters like Ian Rappaport is like alluding that he might be out for some time.

Like not even just like a week. It's like an indefinite amount of time. And then Tua said in one of his interviews, he's like, you know, it was weird not having Tyree Kill out there. But we'll get him back at some point down the line or something. I'm paraphrasing, but it was basically what he said. And then he was just at practice the next day. Like, what the fuck are we doing here? And he's fine. He's going to play.

Tyree Kill almost has like the LeBron injury recovery, like the freaky injury recovery ability. I'll never, three weeks ago, Tyree Kill caught some pass. He's going like 100 miles an hour across the field, some 40-yard catch, and comes up limping at the end, grabbing his hamstring. Like, you've seen it a million times. it happened to Aaron Jones to start the season. He had a long run, grabbed his hammie, was out for four weeks. I was like, oh, there it is.

Finally, the fastest guy in the league pulled a hamstring, like the most likely injury he could suffer. Next possession, he was back on the field. You know what I just, I don't know. The guy can run like 24, 25 miles an hour. Like, I don't know what his legs are like. I don't think my legs have anything in common with Tyree Kill's legs. So I just can't tell you what's going on.

I don't know. What is that doing anything? You're saying you're not at Atlantic as Tyree Kill. too. I don't know. I'm just like, I don't know. I don't know he's made them. I'm saying everyone else in the league, every other NFL player in the league who I'm also not as athletic guys, whenever they grab

their hamstring, they usually miss time. Yeah, that's fair. Also, he plays in Miami. It's like hot and humid and they're constantly cramping up there because they're dehydrated. Are you saying you have something in common with Aaron Jones's legs, but not Tyree kills? You guys

have similar size. Something in common with Alvin Kamara because his legs are too. My legs way different. Yeah, my legs are different weights, probably. And also I get winded walking back to the hudder. That's probably the two things. Me and Camara last year in common. Your heart rate, you got to figure out the heart rate.

I will say, so I think, but waddles abilo, Olave, I will say this. What do we always say every year? This is a mimenta tattoo moment. This is a real lock-in, guys. Okay. Past us, ghosts are screaming at us right now. Every year, we're like, don't give up on young guys. Don't give them on young guys.

The old guys kind of fade as the season goes. And I'm like, the theme of the season so far has been the olds are dominated. Keenan Allen and Adam Thieland. And I'm like, it would be pretty ballsy, but part of him is like, just flip them. Like it just turned Keenan Allen for Jalen Waddle. And Thielen into like Waddle and Alave and I, you know what I mean? And Devonthe Smith, all these guys were terrible. And like going forward is Keenan Allen really going to outperform Jalen Waddle the rest of the year?

Because you could make that trade probably right now. I don't know. Keenan Allen probably will. I feel like selling high on a player or whatever is. One of the hardest things. It's the hardest thing in the world. It's honest, it's, because we don't think of it this way, but we are ultimately at a casino at a black check table and your chips are up. And you're like, but I'm winning.

You're like, you should walk away. It's like, but I don't want to. Yeah, it's like a stock you invested in doubles. And someone's like, you should pull out. And it's like, yeah, but like, what if it doubles again? What if it triples? What if it's Apple? You know, like, what if it just keeps going up forever?

Then what? One more quarterbacks. I just quick tangent. I kind of want to do a thing on why Arthur Smith and athletes hate the media, which is. I saw this hilarious that Trevor Lawrence was asked this week, are you too young to know what a terrible towel is? Because the Jagrars are playing the Steelers. And Trevor Lawrence was like,

I know what a terrible towel is. Yeah, there are those little yellow towels that they swing around. And now in Pittsburgh, all it's being said is Trevor Lawrence said that that we have little yellow towels. Little yellow towels. You masculated our towels. Yeah, that's tough. He definitely just like wasn't thinking and said that.

And now every Steelers fan in Pittsburgh like printed that out and is going to bring that to the game and he like meant nothing by it, I'm pretty sure. Mike Tomlin's going to be like, go defend your little yellow towels, boys. And Trevor Lawrence is like, this is why they don't answer any questions. Also, like, what kind of question is, are you too young to know what the terrible towel is? That's a good point. I don't get that either, actually. What does that even mean?

It sounds like a conversation we would have on this show. If he's been watching football his whole life, he obviously knows what it is. Trevor Lawrence, are you too young to know why everyone hates mimes? Like, what kind of, I just don't understand what kind of question that is. It's like, are you too young to know what a CD is, Craig? It's like, well, I know what it is. That doesn't mean I used it or like I own one. Yeah, where are all your CDs?

The little towels that they swing around. Little yellow towels. I got to say it does sound insultics. Yeah, it does. When I go play golf, when I go play golf, Jack is like, a cute little car you got there. Jack is like, have fun hitting your little ball in the little hole. So condescending.

I mean, how about this exact, what we talk about in this podcast, fucking fantasy football. It's like, have fun with your imaginary players that you watch on Sunday that don't know you exist. Dude, there is someone on earth

this incredible commercial from like a few years ago. It's like Derek Carr, and they do like this, for NFL fantasy football, it was like this very realistic looking Raiders headquarters and they walk into an offensive meeting room

and it's like a coordinator writing a play out and Derek Carr is sitting there with the notebook and his fantasy football manager is next to him trying to like pay attention. They're like explaining, yeah, Z right. And then, you know, like just do the whole play.

Derek Carr writes at the progression. And they're like, all right, no, Brad, you go. And then Brad's like trying to write. And they're like, football's hard. Fantasy football. Way easier. Have you guys seen fever pitch that Drew Barrymore's Jimmy Fallon movie? There's a great scene when like, she's like, why do you have to go to spring training?

He's like, well, like we go. Like, we scout the players. And she's like, oh, that's cool. Like, do they ask for your input? And he's like, well, no. But, you know, it's good. see, like, you know, as a manager, who you want on your team. She's like, oh, like, you get to manage the players.

And he's like, fantasy manager. And it's a little sad sometimes. If you kind of zoom out, it's a little sad. Yeah, I manage a team. Well, on that lovely note, we have a Fandil contest. We have a Fandil contest. You can manage your own roster. Fandle.com slash ringer FFS.

You can play with us. We're taking the top five scores from week three to week 10. We're averaging them. Winner gets money, trophy. Our gratitude. Money. Cold hard cash. Love that money. out of those stars

Craig who is who are you building a team around this week the Kansas City Chiefs they only scored 19 points the last time they played the Broncos and I think they're going to score 119 points this week Is it because they're literally

16 and 0 in their last games I can't believe that 16 and oh against a division rival it had something to do with it yeah I just think also the chiefs are like peaking right now they're cooking so I grabbed Mahomes I grabbed Isaiah Pacheco

and so I just want every part of the chiefs game And then as a scrub, if I'm going cheap, I want a little bit of the Niners just because I want to root for Sam Darnold. So I grabbed Joanne Jennings. Because Dibos out. Right. Yeah.

Dude, the last time the Broncos beat the Chiefs was like September 2015. Like Manning. That's like Manning, right? Like, yeah, maybe. I think so. I mean, that trap. I don't think Trapp Queen had come out yet, the song.

Is that like a moment in time when everybody should know? I was looking up on the Billboard top songs from that week. milestone moment there for America. How deep is your love was number one on billboard or something? I was like, oh my God, where's Trap Queen? I'm like, oh my God, it wasn't even released yet. You really thought that when you were like, 2015, where's Trap Queen on this list?

Like that came to your head? 100%. I don't, Trap Queen is not in my... Okay, but if I say junior consciousness, year of college... I'm having trouble of picturing or hearing this song. What's Trap? It's by Fettie Wop.

You're too old. You're too old. 1738. Well, look, it was eight years ago. was like 33. He was not too old. Oh, you had a great opportunity there. Oh, you botched that. Eight years ago,

DK was like 50. Well, you're like he was too old to know that. Like he was 33. Why wouldn't he, I mean... He was trying to be hurtful. I got you, D.K. Thanks.

Thanks. Do you want me to talk about my team now or should we keep going with... If you can remember it with the A. D.K., who is your trap queen on your roster? Great question, Craig. I'm going with Christian McCaffrey, specifically because I don't think

the 49ers are going to want Sam Donald to do. anything. They're just going to want him to hand the ball off. They don't want to create a controversy. They don't want to let him be himself. Pass it to the Italians. Is Sam Donald going to stink? Probably. I said don't ask any questions. Just whose car we take? Last week, Chris McCaffrey was limited.

He had, we were talking about who's going to be his backup last week. And then he came in and played every single snap in the game. Don't get it. I don't get it. What are we doing here? This is a mistake. I'm going with Christian McCaffrey again. And I think he's going to.

score a lot of fantasy points. My scrub previously mentioned on our waiver show, I'm going to Pop Douglas for the Patriots. He was very cheap, $5,200. And so I think based on how he was utilized last week, he got like 80% of the snaps. He was running a ton of routes. He looked good out there. He gives him a little bit of juice. I would not necessarily recommend plugging him into your lineup unless you're desperate

in regular fantasy football, but I think a DFS is a chance to score a touchdown. Let's do this. I have the exact opposite strategy. I put Darnold in as my quarterback. Put him in with AYuk. I think Donald, four touchdowns, two rushing, two passing to Ayuk. And then I've like, if you do that, then you could just fund a team of literally, my other guys are Tony Pollard, Alex Madison, who's underpriced because he's scored a touchdown. And then you can get Jalen Waddle, Pooka, Kua, Waller, Jonathan Taylor.

It's just like big week. You know, it's a bounceback week for everyone. Re invigorate. Fandle.com slash ringer FFS. Join our contest. It's going for a few more weeks. Last up here, we were asking people over email to, send in things about like tells because we were talking about, you know, sometimes,

Chad, there's story about Chad Johnson, the Bengals receiver, like, would tighten his gloves before he, you know, was going to get a target. He was going to get a target. We're talking about this. And then while we're talking about this, the entire Michigan sign stealing scandal has just, like, exploded and become the biggest thing in college football. I don't want to pretend to be, like, the most informed person on this topic. And, like, I did not go to large school.

And, like, I grew up in New York. Like, I'm not a huge college football fan. Like, I like college football, like casually. I didn't grow up with a dire thing. So I don't know you guys feel. This whole scandal has the, it just sounds very ridiculous on us. It sounds probably what other people who don't play fantasy football feel like listening to people complaining about their fantasy football team.

Okay, well, give us the explanation what happened. For people that don't know what's going on. Here is the baseline. And if I'm wrong, please email, ring your fantasy football, Gmail, and please feel free to correct me. The basis thing is that basically Michigan had orchestrated this like system. of stealing signs. There's a lot of prologue.

In the NFL, you want to play call, and they radio in the play call, and the player hears it and tells the guys, one guy's a radio that tell them at the players. College football, they don't have radios. So they used those ridiculous signs with Elvis Presley and Ariana Grande, and they're like, you know,

and they're all like word association for these 19-year-old kids. And then, or they're just grown men trying to do all these like baseball coach, like grab your ear and like these hand signs, right? Because they just won't pay for having a radio, even though the NFL's had radio since 1991. So, like,

So they are not allowed to like attend the games because they don't want to pay people to go on the road. So they're like, no one can go on the road. So like these other sign stealing scandals are like the Astros in baseball. They put this like crazy eye to camera in centerfield, zoomed in on the catchers, Crosch, saw what pitchers he was doing, live streamed it to a TV in the dugout. And then they would hit a trash can with a baseball bat to tell them whether it was off speed or fastball. Wasn't there also buzzers? Wouldn't they wear like a buzzer on their body?

That was an accusation. That was not pretty. That was like weird Yankee fans on Twitter. Allegedly, Craig. But like, they literally were like live streaming, watching a video of what's going on. The SpyGate with the Patriots, like, they're like, oh, so the Patriots essentially broke into a Rams practice

and filmed it, like, before the Super Bowl. The whole thing with this Michigan thing is they bought tickets to the game and attended. That's the pride. They filmed it with their phones from seats. They bought tickets. And I'm like, this whole thing, I get maybe that's against the rules.

And I get maybe I'm missing. I'm underestimating it, but I'm like, they spent $15,000 on tickets. Michigan football made $50 million next year or last year. So is it, hold on, is it illegal for anyone associated with Michigan's football team to go to another game? Yes, and that's the problem. Now, but the important context is the reason you're not, but think about that. You can't scout your other, like a bonus? This is an entire job in the NFL.

It's called Advanced Scout. They're in the press box at football games. Like, you're going to get a hot dog. If I'm covering, I went to Washington Giants last year Sunday at football, the game that was a tie or whatever. And it's like, the advanced scouts for the teams those guys are playing next week are just there, like in line with you for food. And in college football, they're like,

we're too cheap. We don't want to pay anyone to do this. So we're going to make it a rule. You can watch the game on TV. Dude, I was going to say, can you use steel signs from watching television? Dude, some of the things they're accused of are literally, well, they got it from the TV broadcast. I'm like, dude, you don't have the, there's a hundred thousand

people at some of these games. They've got these gigantic signs on the side. Yeah. Also, You're holding this sign. You're like, no one, look at this. Look away. They show it on TV. They're like, look how funny that is.

It's Daffy Duck on a board. Meanwhile, in the NFL, like, we are literally reading verbatim. Anyone who could pause Amazon Prime is reading Sean Payton and Mike McCarthy's play card on TV. And we're like, no one can attend the game. Like the team you're playing next week. You can't attend the game. You can't buy tickets. This is crazy to me.

What was the Venmo part of this whole story? I don't know. There's so. There's honestly, I was like. It was like proof that one of the one of the Michigan guys went to the Georgia game because somebody else Venmoed him for like the

tickets or something and the Venmo was GA. Yeah. And they didn't make it private. Why would Not with that knowing on private's insane. I agree. I don't even know why it's an option to be public. Venmo letting you try to this is a whole John Malaney bit in his new

John Malaney came back and did this whole comedy special about like posts like going to rehab and stuff and he's like you people out here like doing social media like all my Venmos are for cocaine he's like he's like you people who are like Venmoing in public are crazy I also love reading public Venmos

it's like fascinating who who does that it's crazy it's like holy shit those people are hanging out it's only yeah no it's only people who don't know it's public though like it's people who don't know that's coming up right no one does that in purpose

or they just like don't care I guess but I'm baffled I'm completely confounded by why people would keep that public you probably download event like seven years ago, so you connected it to Facebook. And so your Facebook friends are like people from high school, whatever. And you're like, I don't even know where you live. And like, I'm seeing who you're paying rent. Let me ask you this.

Couldn't Michigan easily just, you know, hire somebody who doesn't work for Michigan to film the fucking football games filled with 100,000 fans? Like, couldn't John Harbaugh be like, hey, mom, go to the Georgia game, pull out your phone and film the sidelines for me? I think that's exactly what they were doing. Is it what I can tell? And again, I know there's probably details of this that I don't understand or are missing, but like that. Do you think every team's doing that?

Just having friends and family, filming sidelines? They must be. That, I think the organization of it is against the rules. But here's what's funny to me. They have to change the rule and just put the headsets in next year

or else you're basically because here's what's not against the rules as far as I understand it. Now you're just incentivizing all the students to just go for free and put it on YouTube. Like, that's the craziest thing. The cat is out of the bag, someone who just likes the team can go

and just put it on YouTube and like send that in it to an email. I'm like, it's just so stupid. It's all because they won't put radios in the helmets. I feel like I'm taking crate. I'm reading all this and they're like, Michigan, $15,000 for tickets. And I'm like, that's a great ROI on your $50 million football program.

It's an incredibly stupid situation. You can't pay the other team you're playing money to go to their game. SCSU, if you need me to film some games because our offense is putrid, I will. Let me know. I'll start posting stuff on YouTube. Who do you think is the or digger? spy. Who do you think goes around

and all the D2 games that records them? Colorado School of Mines maybe they, again, maybe they're digging tunnels. I was going to say, they're probably going under the stadium. I like that.

I mean, they're doing some. They shit on Shepard last year. Thank you, D.K., thank you, Craig. Thank you, Kuy, for producing this episode. Thank you. Email, so ring on fancy football at gmail.com If you're mad what I said about Michigan. Thank you, Lauren.

Lauren. Thank you, Weezer. Nice. You definitely done him. Yeah. Lots of repeats these days. guys. Remember when you were forced to do it? And you're like, ah, fuck. I got to think of a band. It's not as easy as you think. That's true. But look, it's why you're at the top of your game and I'm

Yeah, it's true. I'm just me. I just love the idea of them holding the signs and they're like, it's like, I don't know, the cows from the chickflea commercials and they're like waving them and they're like, no one look. I feel like having somebody interpret a sign is harder than just telling them exactly verbatim what you want them to do. I also love like this is again, like to the thing. of what we think about college football players are doing to prep for games. Like one of the reasons that they'd probably be better off just train to be pros and not playing games.

It's like we think that they're like doing all this like game prep. They're flipping through a picture book. Yeah. They're like just like, okay. So Ariana Grande, Starbucks.

Okay, cool. This is a venti. That's our jumbo package. Got it. This is like a game Calvin plays. Like he looks at one picture. He's like matching up to pictures. It's like,

it's like twist it. Oh my God. Boppet is so fun. That's the most of, addicting game ever. To be honest, I hated Bopit. I hated Bopit too. I hated Bopper. I'm infuriating game. It is infuriating.

You know what I hate? I hate games that you can't win. You just play until you lose. But you don't win Boppet. Like the game of life. That is about life. Sure. That's why I'm like, can I at least win a game? You know what I mean? We can't win life. Can I at

least win a game? Throw me a bone. This is, again, what I'm dealing with with Calvin, where Calvin thinks he can get everything. And I'm like, you know what? Sometimes we don't get our way, you know? I mean, that's good. I support that. You can't just.

Calvin's new thing. This is such like his generation. He asks us to order him stuff. Like, instead of going to the toy store and stuff, he's like, can you order me a car? I'm like, there's no, this never happened in my generation one time. Wow, that is wild. That's incredible. He's like, order me a slide.

Just like randomly. He'll just say, order me a slide. Like, okay. What? That's wild. Build your own sly. That's what we had to do. That's incredible.

That's really funny. He saw Skippy ordered him a backpack from Amazon. He saw that. And immediately he was like, I can have anything in the world. It's on Amazon, which is kind of true. So what are you going to do when he gets old enough

to use your Amazon account if he grabs your iPad and not like that? We're not going to let him have technology forever. He's going to be the last kid in his school to get a computer. Just a dinosaur out there. Just no idea. what's going on. I think it must be hard now to be a parent and you have like a 14 year old and they're just like using postmates and without your knowledge like at all times. Like I, the idea of that growing up is so weird to me. Like the family got together and was like, we're going to order a pizza. If I just secretly called the pizza place and ordered a pizza place and ordered a pizza and my mom's like, what's that? I'm like, oh, I ordered it just a pizza for myself. I'm going to take it up to my room. You're like, what the fuck are you doing? That's not how this works. It's so weird that it's like you could have three kids.

kids and each of them are ordering different postmates or Uber eats meals for each individual person is just weird. It's like your 12 year old son has like a five star rating on DoorDash or Uber or whatever. Yeah, he's just like ordering like Gatorade and like like

Gita from like CVS. I would order so much Gatorade when I was 12 years old. See, kids love Gatorade. Above all things. They love Gatorade. They really do, man. I think it's the best main.

to drink ever. Oh my God. Especially like that throwback commercial. I call it Gatorade. Oh, so good. What's your favorite flavor? Probably light blue or orange. I love the blue.

Yeah. I also love, I'm so respect. Honestly, people who call Gatorade flavors by the name instead of the color or Psychos. The names are like, the flavors are like frost. Yes. What is that? I like blue. Blue Gatorid

It's like winter freeze And it's like light blue And you're like what flavor is that? Cold Oh my God It's about how we describe flavors Usually actually Craig But we're debating what tart is

Wait I still don't know what tart What is tart? I've been trying to think I've been pretending my whole life After the show I googled it I know what tart is What is it? It's sour

That's it But what's the difference? What do you mean? They're two different words. Well, they don't mean exactly. Like, it's not a tart can. It's a sour patch kid. It's not a tart patch kid. So, like, what is the difference?

Like, look, you know how you can go to a frozen yogurt place and there will be a flavor that's tart? It's just tart? That was actually my first job as a frozen yoop. Like, there was no frozen yogurt flavor that says sour. But I think tart is just telling you, like, this is kind of a sour flavor. It's just like sour. There is no flavor. I think I got confused because tart is also a dish.

That isn't tart. Yeah, it's like custard with fruit and a pastry. Are tarts tart? Not in my experience, but then again, I don't know what tart means. So like, I don't know. Tarts are and tart. What are we doing here? That's what I was saying.

A lemon tart. A lemon tart's not tart to my knowledge. Is it sour? Well, lemon is tart. So if there's lemon, lemon is tart. So it's like, I think, Tart ice cream is just like, it's like, it's like, it's like lemon tart. Like just like never put that together.

I love lemon tart. Vague citrus. That makes so much more sense. We should probably go. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm just shooting from the hip here. I have, I have no knowledge on tart. That's just like my gut.

A tart is a sweet or savory dish. That doesn't make any sense. Well, no, you have to. Let me Google what flavor is tart. Okay. Here's the tart. The definition of tart, the adjective, tasting sour like a lemon.

That's it. But isn't that the opposite of savory? I had the same thought. I feel like a tart because you can make a meat tart, right? There's too many words. Tart is a subset of sour and is a narrower term which suggests acidic fruitiness. What's savory?

I think D.K. is sour about Arthur Smith. He's tart about Bijon Robinson. and he's savory with Josh Palmer. So a food belonging to the category that is salty or spicy rather than sweet. So it doesn't sound like tart. When people say

something tastes gamey. What does that mean? Yeah. It just means like it tastes wild, you know? They're like, this is how I imagined food that I didn't buy. It's gritty. Yeah, but there's like no actual way to describe it.

She's like, just like imagine like steak but wilder. And you're like, okay. I get it, I guess. Like, I had elk once, and I was like, this is gamier than cow. And I don't know why. I can't describe it. It's like saltier. I don't know.

Well, this was your moment, Mr. California, SoCal, it's because it wasn't raised on a farm, like shoved with probiotics its whole life. It's lived a life. That's why it has, it's wise. It's experienced. The tree trunk has rings on it. That's what gaminess is. It's an elder.

It's a taste of adversity. It's raced in the woods. Therefore, it's gaming. One of ten, just like Arthur Smith. All right, we should go. Goodbye, everyone. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. Fandul is offering online sports wagering in Kansas

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