The Ringer NFL Show - Lombardi’s Week 15 Watch List and the Dannys’ Last-Second Fantasy Advice | GM Street (Ep. 365)

Episode Date: December 14, 2018

The Chargers shock the Chiefs (01:00), this weekend’s top five matchups (07:00), and last-second fantasy advice from ‘The Dantasy Football Podcast’ guys (25:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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And now, GM Street. Welcome to GM Street part of the Ringo Podcast Network. It is Friday, December 14th, and Week 15 is right on the horizon. We got Saturday football games coming up very soon. But first, on the line, I am joined by Mr. Michael Lombardi. Lombardi, how you doing? Hey, Fasier, I'm great. I mean, what a game last night.

What a weekend ahead of us. I think there's, like, playoff football every single weekend when you watch it. It's amazing. It really is. Yeah, and it's a, it's a. become the time of the year where, you know, people like to call it the stretch run, and this is obviously that time. And last night, a lot of people were wary about the chances of this being a classic game on Thursday night football, obviously a short week, Chargers traveling all the way to

Kansas City. We got no Cream Hunt, no Spencer Ware, no Sammy Watkins, Tyree Kill was a little bit banged up. But instead, we get an instant classic in the AFC West, and we get redemption for Phillip Rivers. Riverboat Rivers is what I want to call him, Lombardi, because he throws up the two while they review the Mike Williams touchdown, which would have tied the game, or at least set up the chance for them to tie the game instead. The Chargers on the road with Anthony Lynn decided to go for two. They get it easily to Mike Williams again and Phil Rivers in this Chargers team. They're legitimate and they look like a team that has a real chance to make a run late in the year, right? Yeah. Do you know, Tate Fraser, you know what's remarkable is, I mean, they start 0 and 4 with

Anthony Lynn. And since then, they've actually been 20 and 6, I think, over the last 26 games. I mean, they've done really well. I mean, there's a lot of times where you wonder, you know, is he making the right decision what he's doing but this team you know when you went on the road in Seattle when you went on the road in Pittsburgh and then you went on the road in Kansas City without your top players I mean I understand the Chiefs are playing on a short week but they were missing guys Tyree killed didn't look like the same player but that's an impression to not have Melvin Gordon it would be like the Rams not having Todd Gurley but yet Rivers and Rivers got the shit kicked out of them last night I mean what I loved about that game and I wrote about it for the athletic today was

how Rivers kept getting hit and kept getting up laughing. Like, you know, that ain't hurt me, man. That don't hurt me. You know, I'm going to keep going. You got to, you know, this team's dangerous. And what I wrote about today to me is how they handle success because they are a top team. They are one of the best teams in football.

Whether they get to the final four or not really depends on the seating. But they're a really good team. And I don't think anybody wants to play. No division leader from the east, the north, or the south want to face that team. When you look at the charges, I mean, they haven't beaten the Chiefs since 2013. I mean, we know about the demons of, you know, what the San Diego Chargers have gone through now, the L.A. Chargers. And for whatever reason, it does seem like this team has sort of weathered the storm with a lot of this stuff. I mean, Rivers, even to start this game, he throws an interception on an underthrow trying to get Tyrell Williams open.

He almost threw a third interception when Travis Benjamin stopped their route later in that game. But, you know, once the fourth quarter hits, he was pretty much unstoppable, finishes the game, 26 for 38, 313 yards, two touchdowns, two picks, as I mentioned before. But it just did seem like everything was going their way. Even the Keenan Allen non-touchdown where he made this amazing catch in the second quarter, I mean, left to feel with the hip injury. You know, usually that's the kind of thing we've seen in the past where, you know, there's an injury and it's kind of tough for the chargers.

But they have Mike Williams, Tyrell Williams, all these other guys step up. I mean, you know, Melvin Gordon's out. We got Justin Jackson, he steps up. And this team, for whatever reason, they seem to have a chip on the shoulder, the right kind of confidence. And six and one on the road is no joke. And a team with a top 10 defense and a top 10 offense is something to be reckoned with as we move into the playoffs for sure. You know, Tate Fraser, I think they're the only team in the AFC that can be in front of the scoreboard and have control of the game as well.

Like a lot of teams like the Chiefs, for example, the Chiefs can only get, they always have the lead in the games. But they never get control of the game unless their offense can get three touchdowns ahead of you. Like they're never get control. Same thing with the Patriots. The Patriots can get a lead in the game, but their defense isn't good enough to. get control of the game. And the same thing, obviously, with the Steelers or even Baltimore. Baltimore, to me, is one of those teams that can get control of the game because they keep the ball so long with that run game. So I just think to me, they're a tough out. Now, how they handle

success, this is Anthony Lynn's biggest challenge. And I was, I wrote about it today, you know, when Belichick and I, we would go down to Indiana and we would spend time with Coach Knight, and he would always start potificating about different things and about, you know, the various things that are going on in his mind about his basketball team. And he was talking about how it's so hard. And this is before computers. This is before cell phones. This is before instant technology, you know, how hard it was to keep your team focused when they did things well and to keep them in the moment. And he was complaining about it then. He's like, you know, it's just impossible. They read the clips. Now, the Chargers, they have an advantage, right? I mean, look, when the Saints play a great road game,

And they have 3,000 fans meet him at the airport with signs, you know. Do you ever see that Sebastian Manascapa thing where he says justice for Lindsay? Like I've never written on a cardboard sign before, you know? I mean, like, what else do people have to do? But like, St. fans are passionate, right? They're going to be at the airport, right? Packer fans are passionate. They're going to be a lot of fan bases are at the airport to greet you.

When we played the Patriots, people were there to greet you when you came back from a huge win. There was nobody at the L.A. airport last night when the Chargers got in, right? I mean. Too much traffic. Yeah. Too much traffic. three in the morning there was too much traffic, right? So like he doesn't have to worry about the local flair giving him shit. He's got to worry about the national media and can he get his team back and

focused. And the fact, and I think this is big, I think the fact that he doesn't have a home field advantage plays right into being able to get the team focused. Yeah. And it is interesting because when you look at, you know, the LA landscape, it's obviously, you know, the way it sets up, But there are a lot of Rams fans, you know, being out here. You see a lot of people talking about the Rams. Everyone brings up the Rams. I have a bunch of friends that call the Chargers, the Carson Chargers, you know, because they're playing out in Carson, California, rather than the Los Angeles Chargers.

So as far as the distractions and the hubbub that will go on with, you know, being in Hollywood, you know, Phil Rivers and those guys, you know, they've distanced themselves from that. So it is, it does set up for a nice situation where there's really no pressure from a fan base for the most part. And these guys have seen the downtime. They've seen the hardships of when things don't go your way. Despite Phil Rivers being great in December, they've seen some trouble and some things go on there. So it's something to keep an eye on as we move forward. And as we move forward, we're going to get to your five picks this week as we get into Week 15.

The first game that we have on the docket, we got the Miami Dolphins in this game. They are going to travel to Minnesota. Minnesota is favored by seven in this game. Obviously, they got a new offensive coordinator. Kevin Stefansky is now going to be calling the plays. If you don't, if you're a fan of Dalvin Cook, you will probably see him run the ball a lot this week based on what we've heard from Mike Zimmer.

Kiko Alonzo is likely to play in this game for the, for the dolphins, which is a good thing to hear. But Lombardi, looking at this game, we've got dolphins traveling up to Minnesota. Do you believe in Miami on the road? No, I don't. I mean, I like Minnesota here. I think there was a lot of conflict.

You know, nobody that listens to GM Street were surprised that DiPhilippo got fired. Like, you know, the people that listen to our podcast know that nobody was surprised, right? The people that don't are like, how could this happen? You know, like, seriously? Like, just pay attention to what's going on. But, I mean, you know, look what's happened since Green Bay. You know, they don't, you know, they can't score a lot of points.

And, you know, the offense is stagnant. They can't, you know, they score 10 points in New England. You know, they can't go to Seattle. They don't score. I mean, so you knew this was going to happen. I think there was a lot of tension in the building. I think between the quarterback coach, Stefansky, between D. Filippo, Zimmer, what he did was he had these young coaches.

And I think Staphancy, I've heard nothing but good things about him as a coach. I don't know him personally. But I've heard he's very good. His dad, Tate Fraser, is the president of the Pistons. You know, he's a University of Penn graduate, smart guy, kind of has learned the ropes, really was, really learned it from Shermer. When Shermer wanted to take him with him to the New York Giants, and Zimmer's like, no, no, no.

When we were shitty, I paid you, and I was loyal to you. you've got to be loyal to me. You've got another year on your contract. But the hire of the Filippo didn't really fit. So now I think there's almost like an error has been removed. And I just think the Vikings, with that skill that they have, especially at home, playing against the team like Miami, which is not a good road team. I mean, they're one in five on the road this year. They have a hard time playing run defense. Two factors that I like in this game is Mike Zimmer's very good on third down and Ryan Tannahill stinks on third down. So those two things, I think, that's why Miami won't be able to play very well, and I think Miami will lose. I mean, you know, they score 12 against Green Bay, a bad Green Bay team get beat by 19 points there. They get beat by 19 points at Houston. The Bengals beat them by 10 points. The Patriots beat them by 31. I think this is perfect for Minnesota to romp them.

I have one interesting point to, you know, Minnesota, I think that's the right pick there. I think they will bounce back. I like the idea that they will run the ball more. I like the idea that Kirk Cousins will be happy with some of the play calls that are going there. I was watching NFL live yesterday, and Bill Pollian brought up the fact that the Miami Dolphins, consistency is key with this team. And he was, you know, they brought up Tanna Hill in that situation. But he was basically saying that if they keep, you know, they keep course, keep the course in this division,

they have a chance to go after the Patriots. That is not what we have really discussed too much on this podcast with Gase and Tannenbaum and all those guys there. do you think there is a chance where maybe if Miami goes on the road and gets a win against Minnesota, that they kind of lock in and say this is our team? Because it does seem like they all, it used to be independent contractors. You used to always call those guys down there, independent contractors. It does seem like they are more of a team right now. Well, I mean, look, I think he's trying to get rid of all the guys that were bad actors.

And I think he's hurt his team to a degree. I mean, Jordan Phillips proved that the other day, you know, when they don't really have a dominant inside defensive tackle. And let's face it, you know, whatever Pullian said, you know, I mean, nobody enjoyed the last play of the game more than Polion. I mean, you know, Polians, you know, he, he certainly was probably happy that the Pats lost. I mean, there's always that rivalry between the Colts and the Patriots that is going to exist. And even though you're doing TV, it's still there. So I don't see it. I mean, look, it took a miraculous play for the, for the dolphins to win. I think they'll come back to normal. They'll come back to life. They'll come back to Earth. I don't see it, Tate Fraser. I think

this, I think Tannehill is a problem. And I think when you watch him on third down, it shows up when he has to play fast, when he has to play well in the fourth quarter, that's when he starts to make mistakes. And I think it shows all the time. And let's talk about a team that makes a lot of mistakes, and that is the Cincinnati Bingles, the team that is, you know, with Hugh Jackson, Hewie headlines there, they have not been so great since he joined. They have become basically the new Cleveland Browns in that division. They have the Oakland Raiders, John Gruden, coming off a big victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers. They are traveling to Cincinnati, favored by three in this game. What do you see in this one? Do you think Gruden can keep it rolling?

I don't see how Oakland is an underdog against this bad Cincinnati team. Like Cincinnati, you know, I know they played the Chargers kind of close last week out there, but I think Paul Gunther, the former defense coordinator of the Bengals, knows how to play this Bengal offense really well. I think the Raiders can really build off of that win against Pittsburgh. It was a big win for them. I think they'll be able to throw the football against this bad secondary. I think they'll be able to attack them.

It's not going to be – it's like playing on a neutral field. I don't think Bengal fans, I think Bengal fans are going to be out shopping. I don't think they're going to be there really passionate about the game. I don't think they're having any trouble with the snap count. I don't think you're going to have any trouble whatsoever. So I think they keep the momentum going. I don't like the Bengals team. I think the Bengals team has kind of mailed it in.

They don't have enough weapons offensively. And, you know, the Raiders are going to have to handle Joe Mixon. There's no doubt about that. But for the most part, when you just really study this Cincinnati team, the defense is not very good. They struggle. and I just think to me, you know, other than that five-point loss they had against the Chargers, I mean, they've got beat double digits at home by the Browns and the Broncos. So I like the Raiders here, especially if I'm getting points.

I mean, why not take the Raiders and get points? Seriously. Yeah. You know, on this, I mean, they barely beat, look, when you really go back and look at them, since they beat Miami by 10 points, they lose at home to Pittsburgh. They get blown out in Kansas City by 35. they barely get a win against Tampa. They had a lead against Tampa, let Tampa come back. New Orleans beats him by 37.

The Ravens at home beat them by three. They go to Cleveland beats them at home by 15. Denver beats them by 14. Then they go out. They actually play better on the road than they do at home. And the interesting part to me about this whole game is the Raiders start to win these games late in the year. And now people are getting upset because they may hurt their draft stock. They may hurt some of their picks.

I mean, same thing when you see the Cowboys won games. You know, Raiders fans are upset about that because it hurts some. some of their positioning when it comes to draft picks. Is that something that Gruden and these guys are thinking about? I mean, obviously, Reggie McKenzie is out at this point. So it is the John Gruden show officially. But is he worried about some of these games, or is he just trying to win games to prove that he knows what he's doing here in Oakland?

I think that I don't think the NFL teams really. I mean, first of all... You can't think about thinking, yeah. Yeah, you're going to have a top 10 pick, right? So, look, I mean, we all make mistakes in the top five of the draft. So you might get just a good player at eight. as you get it too. You know what I'm saying? A Rokewan Smith, yeah.

Yeah, there's no like, oh my gosh. I'm, you know, look, Bradley Chub went six, right? Or what did he go last year? Like, I think you just got to play. And I think the fact that John's in control of the organization and everybody knows it, I think they'll all play. It is an interesting situation that defense, P.J. Hall, some of these other guys are stepping up.

So, and talk about Paul Gunther going back. Paul Gunther's revenge there in Cincinnati. So something to keep an eye on there. Next game we have on the docket this week. We got the Baltimore Ravens at home. and Tampa Bay is traveling up there. Ravens favored by seven and a half in this game. The big story, and this one is Lamar Jackson is now the starting quarterback for the Ravens. Everyone's very excited about that. We talked about Lamar and his situation plenty of times on this podcast

and how much we think that that is the right move moving forward for Baltimore. And this one with the Buccaneers traveling up to the Ravens, do you expect Lamar to bounce back and get things going now that he is officially the starter in Baltimore? Yeah, I do. I think that, look, when they played Carolina at home, this team, they gave up over almost eight yards of rush in the game because of the spread offense. I don't think they can handle it. San Francisco average 6.1 yards of rush when they played them. I mean, Tampa Bay's run defense is not going to be able to slow them down.

I really don't think they can handle the spread, especially as the field spread out. And I think that's going to be a problem. I think the Ravens have to make it a point to not let that chief loss beat them twice. They can't let it beat them twice. They've got to come back and play really their best game of the season against Tampa Bay and not look ahead to the Chargers next week. It's all, it's crucial. and they've got to put a win in front of them and then sit in the locker room after the game and then hope like hell that the Patriots can beat the Steelers and they've got a chance to win the North.

So I think this is one of those games where I think there's going to be a lot of pressure on Winston to have to make a lot of throws. I think that it's going to be a lot of pressure on Cotter and I think that Lamar Jackson is going to control this football and really limit the amount of time that the Tampa Bay Bucks have the football offensively. And when they don't have enough time, I mean, that's typically when they lose. they need this football over 30 minutes to control it. And they typically, when they lose, they don't get it. You know, last time they won a game with only 24 minutes of time possession was the Eagle game. So, I mean, they're going to need the ball about 30 minutes, and I don't think the Ravens are going to give it to them. Yeah, and it is interesting when you look at this Ravens team.

I mean, with Lamar Jackson, they're obviously a totally different offense. They depend pretty much exclusively on the run for the most part. Mark Duffner has done a pretty good job with this Tampa Bay defense, new coordinator down there. Is there a chance where he's going to do all he can to make Lamar Jackson, and make some of these throws that we not necessarily have seen yet because he has not been schemed to make some of these throws. Yeah, no, but I think he can make them. I think Marty Morningway's got to open up the offense a little bit.

I think this kid can spin it pretty good. I think he'll throw it down the field. I think he got to give him a chance, you know, because he can make some throws and he can attack them. They're going to know what the coverage is. It's not going to be a hard game for him. I think he's got to make some. I think he's got to utilize this game to allow him to move forward with it, you know,

to move forward to beat the better teams that he's not going to just be able to run the ball with. And yeah, I do find it interesting that somehow he has been pegged. I mean, we watched Lamar in college. We remember his highsman year. And even the year after that, I mean, he was still, for the most part, Petrino had him working as a pocket passing quarterback. So it's not like he cannot make these throws. Even though if you watch him in these Ravens games, it does seem like he is, you know, Terrell prior 2.0 at times where they're just basically running a spread scheme and letting him, you know, run read options pretty much is what they're doing exclusively at this point. So it would be nice to see morning we open up that offense for Lamar.

The next game we have is the fourth game of the week. the L.A. Rams, they are at home. The Philadelphia Eagles traveling to L.A. Rams favored by 11 in this game. The big story this week, obviously, is Carson Wince. They did a CAT scan. Found out that he had a fractured vertebrae was the result. They did not need surgery, but they didn't need time.

So we will see Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles back into the fold for the Eagles traveling to L.A. And it's almost crazy to think about the fact that last year the Eagles come to L.A. with the MVP candidate, you know, with Carson Wentz, he gets hurt, tears his ACL in that game. Everything changes for that Eagles team. Seems like the season is over, but Nick Foles turns it on and, of course, they win the Super Bowl. Is there a chance, Lombardy, that the Eagles can turn it on again with Nick Foles, or is this, a worrisome situation for this Eagles team on the road? I think it's worrisome. I think once the Wins went down, I think the heart rate of the Eagles.

I think they played a doubleheader on defense last week. I think the heart rate of the Eagles went way down. I don't know. It's going to be challenging. I think this is about the Rams having to really establish who they are offensively, again, after that horrible performance in Chicago, they need some confidence. I think that's what they'll do. And so I really see them coming out, and I think they're going to dominate this game. I think the Eagles are not going to be anywhere near ready to play against this magnitude of an offense and keep pace. And if they get behind, I think it'll be a challenge. My one question to you about the Eagles and Carson wins. I mean, he has a chance this offseason. Granted, he may not play the rest of the year. They may set him out,

depending on what happens with the playoff situation. But he could renegotiate his contract and get upwards to $155 billion or something like that. And the number will get larger as time goes on. But when you have a guy who went down with an ACL, obviously, you know, that happens in the NFL. It just is what it is. But then you have this fractured vertebrae. Is there a chance where the ownership group with the Eagles, are they concerned about the durability of Carson Wins and maybe they don't want to renegotiate? Or do they just say, look, we trade it up for this guy.

He's our franchise quarterback. It is what it is. We're going to give him the money. No, I think eventually they're going to give him the money. They're going to have to. I mean, I think that that debate about whether Goff gets the money, I think golf will get the money too. And then what I would do is, I think that in this situation, they just got to get this guy a year away. I don't think he's been healthy all year. Take Frasier. We talked about it on GM Street. You know, this doesn't, you know, and I think their medical situation in Philadelphia has it. A lot of guys are hurt. I think they've got to examine when they bring guys back. I think they got to examine a lot of things in Philadelphia. But to me, Wince is still their guy. And I think Wince will still be the dominant factor. three or four years from now. Does it show some sort of savviness about this Eagle team for them to re-sign Nick Foles and keep him on the roster to make sure just in case Carson wins does go down, we do have our Super Bowl MVP to jump in late in the season?

Yeah, well, I mean, he's got a huge option. They're not going to be able to pick that up. I think they're going to have to find a backup somewhere, whether they draft one somewhere. But I think Nick Foles is going to have to get an offer to be a starting quarterback. Is it in New York? Is it going to be somewhere else? I mean, there's a lot of teams that need quarterback. say, hey, Washington. I mean, look, we know Alex Smith, he's going to get $50 million guaranteed if he never plays again.

They're going to need to find a way to get a quarterback. So I definitely think that it's going to be hard to keep Foles. And it'll be interesting because, you know, a lot of people will have eyes on Nick Foles. I mean, teams like Jacksonville. I mean, there's a bunch of teams that may need to quarterback Buffalo, depending on what it may happen with Josh Allen. You never know. I mean, there's tons of teams that are trying and in the market, maybe Cincinnati. So Nick Foles has a, you know, a chance to showcase what he can do possibly for another team. The final game we have this week is the Monday night football game, and that is the New Orleans Saints at Carolina. Saints favored by six in this game. The Panthers obviously have lost five straight.

We've talked about it at nauseam on this podcast. But this week, Cam Newton came out, said he had no answers. He's just trying to figure it out. He wouldn't work for some kids this week, as he's prone to do. Julie's Pepper said they just have to win two out of three. And then it will be a great story for this team about them bouncing back. Is there a chance somebody to see the Panthers being able to throw aside these, past five weeks and get things together against the Saints and a divisional rival at home.

I think it's always hard to play a divisional rival. I think these games are closer. This line got up to six. I can see six being the number if these two teams just played once. But because they play twice, because they know each other so well, I think that Carolina, this is their Super Bowl and they're playing it at home, which to me gives them an advantage. I think New Orleans wins the game. I just think it's going to be a close game. Absolutely. New Orleans will need to play its best game of the year to beat Carolina because I think Carolina is going to give it everything they have. Much like Philadelphia gave it everything they have down in Dallas. I think Carolina is going to get everything they have at home. I think this is the critical game. If they don't win this one, the other games really don't matter. So winning two out of three does it. They got to win this one. They've got to prove that they can protect their turf. We know they're a little bit better team at home than they are on the road, specifically defensively. That's why I like them. This is strictly just because these two teams know each other so well and the fact that they're playing home. them is why I like them. And I went to Saints Panthers. I think it was week two last year when the

Saints came to Charlotte to play that game. And the Saints completely ran circles around the Panthers. And I looked at my parents at the time and I said, Sean Payton can run circles around Ron Rivera anytime he wants to. And that is the only hesitation I have because for whatever reason, that Saints team, they are not afraid of that Panthers crowd at all. And they come in and show up. So it's something to keep an eye on. And if the Panthers don't win that game, I think there could be a world in which Cam Newton may sit out the rest of the season. In a similar fashion, vein as Carson Wins. Just keep the guy healthy as we move forward in the next year. I think there's no doubt about that, Tate Fraser.

Yep, something to keep an eye on. Any more week 15 thoughts, Lombardi, from you as we get into it? I mean, this is the time. We have three more weeks and then we get into the playoffs. You know, Tate Fraser, I think there's, I mean, obviously the New England Pittsburgh game is going to be a fun game to watch. I don't know what side of the, I think it'll be an up and down pace game. I think at 52, the over there could easily happen because I think both teams can move the ball. I think the Chicago Green Bay game is going to be a fascinating grain because, you know, Chicago's very good at home. I think this Green Bay team wants to prove that they're better than what they are. I think Aaron Rogers will throw the ball effectively.

I think that weather won't bother him like it did Jared Gough. And then I think this Indianapolis Dallas game is a fascinating game too. I mean, you know, Indies really good against run defense. Can they slow down this Dallas team? Dallas's defensive coordinator coached at Dallas. So he's familiar with playing against them offensively and he knows their defense really well. which I think gives them an advantage. I mean, look, Dallas is an underdog by three points on the road.

I mean, think about that, Tate Fraser. Dallas is an underdog this week. And so I think there's so many good games. And then we're not talking about the Saturday games. I mean, look, Houston, the Jets, Houston needs to win that game to keep pace. And then I think, you know, Cleveland, Denver, Cleveland goes into Denver. Denver had a horrible loss last week. I think Cleveland's a better team.

I think the public will be betting Cleveland like crazy in this game. I stayed away because to me, I don't like it that when it seems obvious that a team should win. I think Cleveland should win, but I would stay away. But I just think to me, Tate Fraser, there's so many good games. There's so much action out there that it's going to be a lot of, like last night. That was a playoff game, and I think there's going to be more playoff games. Yeah, a lot of playoff games, a lot of teams fighting for their lives for the postseason at this point. So we're going to keep our eye on all those things.

We appreciate everyone listening to GM Street. We appreciate everyone sticking with us on these Fridays. Obviously, those are the five games Lombardi has this week. We'll be back on Tuesday to break down all things, week 15 and all things in the NFL. Excited for the Saturday games. we get two days of football, and then Monday night, obviously, it will be a complete showdown in the NFC South. From there, though, Lombardi, I'm excited for all things football, and we'll see you on Tuesday. Thanks, Tate Prezier.

And now, the Danecy Football Podcast. Hey, guys, I'm Danny Hyfitz. I'm joined by my co-host and co-danny, Danny Kelly. What is up, D.K.? What's happening, man? Semi-final time, week 15. Yeah. Scrood and Grindrime, Ty, Duk.

And that's an important note, remember to say your lineups for Saturday. Yes. The NFL is happening on Saturdays now. It's taking over your week. Honestly, like, this is probably the best advice we're going to give this whole podcast. I know, right? Set your lineups before you leave work on Friday because the Texans play the Jets and then the Browns play Denver on Saturday. And it would be the worst thing imaginable if, like, for some reason you just didn't set your lineups and you're screwed because you didn't realize that there was football at noon on Saturday.

That would be a bad way to end the season. That would just be brutal. Yeah. So there you go. The podcast is over. Thank you, D.K. All right, could get the outro music, Craig? It's what we're here for.

Yeah. All right. Fine, we'll do the whole thing. Yeah, obviously, we don't know your leagues quite like you guys. We don't know your playoffs quite like you guys, but we certainly have thoughts. So we're going to tell you who we're in or out on for this week. We're just going to start together. Let's dive into the real big one left for this week, which is, I mean, the Steelers and the James Connor situation with Jalen Samuels and Stephen Ridley

and then the Patriots and James White and all that jazz. That is a tough situation. So James Connor is still out, mispractice on Wednesday and Thursday. It's looking like it could be that high ankle sprain that people thought it was originally when we saw the injury. It's not looking as of Thursday afternoon,

it's not looking like he's going to play. Obviously, you've got to monitor that, go forward. If he is going to play on Sunday, that severely diminishes Samuel's value, I think. I don't necessarily know if it makes him not startable necessarily because they could put him on a pitch count or whatever and kind of, have him just come back like lightly or whatever but to me I'm in on Samuels I think he proved

last week that they're going to make him a bigger part of the offense he had 11 carries uh saw seven targets in the passing game caught seven of them for 64 yards including two red zone looks played 80% of the snap so he he is you know he's not james Connor but he is good enough especially if you're looking for a tight end in Yahoo leagues to to start this week I'm in on samuels I'm less confident on White. I think it's one of those things where if you have no better options, White is still a guy you can definitely start. But again, I'm starting to make decisions on who to play. I'm going with, like in one league, like we talked about on Monday, I'm going with, I'm going with mixing over White this week. And I think you could make the argument for quite a few

running backs to go over White just based on the way his playing time has decreased lately. What's weird about White is, like Danny said, Danny Hyfit said on Monday, his snap counts have gone down the last six games all the way down to 40% from 80%. But his touches per game are only 0.8 apart. So he's still getting almost the same amount of touches, but he's barely playing half the snaps. Yeah. And, you know, he's getting, what, the Steelers allowed, the six few fantasy points per game

to running backs. That's always an interesting step. But stillers are also sixth in DVA of receiving allowed to running backs in the passing game. So it's interesting that those align, and obviously that is what James White is. So in one hand, that's scary. On the other, James White is so much more of a pass catching back. He might not even really be a part of that sample size

and maybe you shouldn't even fit into that. I'm rolling with him because, I mean, he's still an unbelievable threat in the red zone and he still is a great bet for a touchdown. And I don't know. He's been so good that I kind of, maybe I'm just like blind loyalty, but I still got to roll with him. No, it's hard. This is one of the harder decisions I think you have to make this week on what to do with white.

I think you play white personally. I mean, I'm playing white in the Ringer League. I mean, prayers up. God forbid Bill wins this year. And then on the Steelers thing, I'm actually very interested in the James Connor thing. I think it's best for everyone if, I mean, fantasy-wise, obviously, it's health. This is health. I think it's best fantasy-wise if he doesn't play.

Because if he does play, I think that really Doc Samuels, you're going to play him as a tight end if you can. As a running back, I don't know anymore. And then if he also plays, it could be one of those nightmare scenarios fantasy-wise where it's like, he gets the high- ankle sprain, and then he plays for the first quarter, and then he aggravates it and he leaves the game. Also known as the Matt Breda. The Matt Brita. Yeah, he plays and then he leaves or like he plays. I don't know where he plays and gets like five points and Samuels gets five points and doesn't

work for anyone. And then Stephen Ridley, Matt Asiata's him for that touchdown again. Exactly. Well, Ridley is interesting. So he got the touchdown. So in one hand, you'd be like, oh, well, he's the goal line back. And he was in on that fourth and one. But he got eight snaps.

Samos got what, like 48 or something? So that kind of snap count, I think I'm going to cut him in the ringer league too because I don't know how you can play him. even if Samuels gets hurt and Connor comes back I don't know if you can play him so that's tough so not playing Ridley maybe not even rostering Ridley playing Samuels with Conner's out and if Conner's backman

I don't know that's tough clarity really really tough one this week what the hell do we do with Derek Henry going up against the Giants I think this is a big question for a lot of people obviously he went off last week you cannot expect him to do that again but does that mean

does that huge game for touchdowns does that give him some momentum going forward. He's actually, according to the fantasy points per game, he's at 11 touches per game last since the week 8. By 13 points, 10 points, 17 points,

4, 3, 11, and 47. So he hasn't been that bad. I think what's real is that he's going to get the ball at the goal line. And they showed him that he's going to get the ball at the goal line. The Giants traded away Damon Harrison to Detroit.

Livia Vernon, I mean, when he plays, the Giants defense has been disappointing. And I don't, I'm not confident and their ability to stop the run, certainly not, like within the five yards. So he doesn't have to get 200, he doesn't have to get like 20 yards per carry

through three quarters to be good. If he gets two touchdowns in 60 yards, that's fantastic. And that's what he's been doing. He's been getting like 30, 40 yards in a touchdown. So as wildest is for me to say, I think I would endorse playing Derek Kennedy. All right.

He's still getting out snapped by DM Lois every single game, which is weird. I can also, I like the Giants. I hate the Giants defense, man. I don't be fool. by the Redskins thing. I don't think it's a great unit. I would not be fooled.

I'm out. I'm out on Henry. I can't do it. Oh, go on. That's all. I just can't get, like, I can't do the overreaction thing. I know, like, he hasn't been that bad, but there's also such a low floor with that offense. Oh my gosh. I just can't trust him. Would you play Henry or Josh Adams?

I think I would lean Adams. Wow. And that's not an easy choice either, because obviously the Eagles have had some major issues on offense too, I actually really like Josh Adams this week, but I'm a little scared. I'm like a finicky horse in Red Dead Redemption. I'm a little, you've got to calm me down because it's like, I don't know if the offense looks a little different or the personnel usage looks different with Nick Foles this week. I have no idea to be honest.

I don't want to speculate, but I mean, obviously it's completely different than the Ravens and Lamar Jackson. But like obviously Gus Edwards was better from the different kind of running they did, you know, in the backfield versus taking handoffs and read option and stuff. I'm not saying the Eagles are going to do that, but it would suck if you play Adams and then suddenly, oh, Adams snap break gets cut in half because. because they decide that he's not the best of the falls or something. Yeah, we don't know. We haven't played together. And then Alshan Jeffrey and Golden Tate obviously didn't play with Foles and didn't practice in August because Tate was on the lines and Jeffrey was hurt.

So that's tough for all the Eagles around. Let me ask you something, Danny. How are you feeling about Evan Ingram these days? I don't. I don't feel many things when it comes to the Giants anymore. I, I, I, I, I, uh, where do I begin? I like Engram as a draft pick. I'm not going to go through his whole history with the Giants.

His last five games, he's been 10. Technically a Titan one. It's intriguing to me with... What? Well, I mean, that's a low floor. It's intriguing with Odell out. Part of me wants to say that with Odell out, the targets get redistributed in Engram. In reality, when Hohdel's out, like, the offense kind of stagnates. And again, I'm not using last week as a representative sample.

So, I mean, if you have Engram, I would play him because Titan sucks this year. You probably don't imagine you have anyone better. You know what I mean? So I don't know how you would have acquired a Tidin that I would endorse over him. However, the Titans are giving up the very least fantasy points, game to tight ends. Yeah, but Angram's kind of like our slack. I don't know.

Like, well... I would feel a lot better if Beckham doesn't go. Like, if Beckham is... Right now, it's up in the air. He's getting a look at his quad, right? He's got a quad injury, and so... If he can't go this weekend, I'd feel a little bit more confident about it

just because he's going to inherit some of those vacated targets or whatever. But if Beckham goes, I'm not feeling good about this. I think you probably got to play Angram. Last one with the either or DK. box receivers Chris Godwin or Humphreys Humphreys has been the Red Zone threat last few weeks who would you prefer this week?

I think I know the answer This is a fent sitting answer but I guess I'm going to go with in a PPR league I am leaning Humphreys In non-PPR I go Godwin Really? What about half-p-pringr? Even though Humphreys has actually scored more touchdowns I was going to say

And they're going against the Ravens I just don't see that I don't think that's something that he can necessarily You know keep I can't you can't rely on him Just be like a touchdown score every week I don't think. But in general, I lean Humphreys slightly

just because he's getting way more targets. But Godwin, you know, he had 10 targets last week only got one, one ball. So I don't know.

Again, it's like, you got to follow the target. Like, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Right. Is that a bounceback

or is that? I lean Humphreys here. Yeah. I think I agree. Well, I definitely agree. All right, DK,

let's move on real quick. Stargazing, your star players who are keeping you up at night. This one's not a star player, DK. Star defense. The Chicago Bears are hosting the Green Bay Packers. You would think

that if last week couldn't do it for you, if like last week they just, you know, throttle the Rams. I think it was the first game golf had more than two interceptions in his NFL career. So obviously, bring back Jeff Fisher. So obviously, why would you even doubt playing the Bears if they just did that to the Rams?

But obviously, so they leave the league interceptions with 25. I don't think anyone else has more than 19. But the issue is Rogers doesn't really turn the ball over. I mean, here's one pick this year. We don't talk about that very much. I'm serious when I say, like, I'm a hyperbolic person. I think that's fair to say.

I am serious when I say the most under-discust story in the NFL is that Aaron Rogers' interception percentage is 0.92. 99.8% of his throws have not been interceptions, which would be the best mark ever. I think Damon Heward has it right now. But that's not any scratch. Exactly, right. But that's the thing.

The pick he had was against the bills, and it was in his receiver's hands, and he couldn't catch it and the ball went up in the air and Bill's safety just caught it. It wasn't a pick. So before that pick, that pick broke a streak

of 150 pass attempts without a pick. And then after that, since that pick, which is his only the season, he has a new streak of what, 350 or whatever and he just broke the record

for like passes that a pick. Rogers is on an all-time streak of not throwing interceptions or turning the ball over right now. So that is concerning against the bear. So it's like the ultimate not, instead of like immovable object and unstoppable force,

it's like uninterceptible force and other interceptible force. I don't know. But the point is that it's a matchup. I still think that they're worth playing, though, just because. Craig's making the face. You can get like a sack fumble, you can do all that stuff. Well, no, no, but even that, that's the thing.

So you're going to point to that, but that bears defense, that Kaleel Mac game in week one, that was because Deshaun Kaiser. That whole quarter he had was Deshaun Kaiser, who bless his heart was the least, prepared NFL quarterback. Yeah, that's true. Maybe in the last 10 years, other than Nathan Peter, but he's bottom two.

And then Kalilmack comes in, strip sacks him, and then comes in and gets the pick six on him. And like, that was the game. They didn't get to Rogers a fraction as much as they got to Deshawn Kaiser where they made the headlines. So don't just look at that Packers game, be like, oh, they're going to dominate. On the other hand, despite all that, it's the Bears defense, and I'm still going to ride them.

Okay, honestly. So I have two defenses in my league, in my playoff game. Jacksonville, Chicago. Chicago is playing the Packers, like you just said Jackson was playing the Redskins. Jackson was just got shredded by Derek Henry. So what are you doing? I think I'm starting Jacksonville. So that's really interesting.

That might be the only defense that I would play over the bear. Not only, that's not true. Because, I mean, you got, you know, who's playing the bills. The lines are playing the bills this week. So that's always a consideration. Although Josh Allen's playing really well anymore,

so I don't know if that holds up anymore. And the only reason I was fortunate enough to have both these defenses is because three weeks ago we did the pod where we said, playing your defenses for the future and I grabbed Jacksonville because they were doing horrible all the time.

And so here's the thing. Look at that. Danesie football. So with Washington, first of all, you talk about the defense. Yes, they give up the Henry run. But Washington, I mean, you may think they have a great run game. Remember when Adrian Peterson had like the 90-yard run against the Eagles? He finished that game with 98 yards.

They don't have a great running game. They're often, it's nuts. They don't have a great offensive line. I hope this is not representative. But Donnie, one of the editors here at the ring was talking about Josh Johnson looked great. Josh Johnson came in when it was 40 to zero. It was 40 to nothing. And Jameson Crowder ran a ball, like 70 yards for 70 yard touchdown, whatever.

Like, Josh Johnson is not prepared. He hasn't thrown in a football in seven years. And then, I mean, Mark Stentius is terrible. So Josh Johnson's going to play. So I think the Jaguars is probably going to be fantastic. Yeah. But that's a lot. That's a spoil of riches.

I don't think that's representative. I'd probably go Jaguars, Bears, and then Lions. But even then, Josh Jones is kind of scary now. He sure is. It was way better when they were playing Derek Anderson. D.K., what do you think about the Bears? I don't know. I think I'm sticking with them.

Yeah, I just think they have so many weapons. They're so good at turnovers. Even if it's not going to be an interception, I think they still have potential. They can stifle the yards. Roger's yards has not been very impressive even after McCarthy were fired. All right, D.K. So I still like that. I still like that match.

Let's do the streamer lineup. Let's do it. So, yeah, if you had to pick a streamer starting lineup, we're going to throw out some options of guys owned an under 50% of leagues even after waivers went through on Wednesday. Hopefully you don't have to do this, but if you're in the playoffs, but, you know, get. The Wence thing might make you, the quarterback. Yeah, so Wence is tough. So streamers starting lineup, I mean, we put fools in it, but I mean, Josh Allen's got to be the pick, right?

Right. In dumpster diving? I mean, he's essentially a running back who also throws it, right? He's had 26, 30, and 20 fantasy points in last three weeks. If you look at his rushing yards, week 14, nine rushes 101 yards of touchdown. Week 13, nine rushes, 135 yards. And week 12, 13 rushes, 901.

yards in a touchdown. The vast majority of those are scrambles. I would love to see if they actually had some design, like, added in more design runs for them at this point just because he's proven he's so good, like he's so athletic in the open field, might as well. Full-time Craig put this in here. Allen has more rushing yards in the last three weeks, 335,

than any running back in the NFL not named Seguan Barkley. All right, well, so now I have a dilemma for you, because you just sold me. That's awesome. I think my brother listens to this podcast. And if he doesn't, I'll find out. I hope he does. If not, I'll find out.

So I'm playing him in the semifinals of my league this week. Obviously, I need to beat my fucking brother. So here's my question. He is James Winston. Do I add Josh Allen right now? So he listens to this and figures out that I added him so he could not have Josh Allen. All right, I'm going to do that right now. Winston's going up against the Ravens, right?

I got to make add Josh Allen so he doesn't get James Winston. I'm doing that right now. D.K., you got to pick the next guy because I'm thinking this guy. Are running back? choice this week. Frank Gore of the Dolphins going up against the Vikings. He's owned in 27% of Yahoo League, 32% ESPN. I mean, if you look at, he's definitely not a sexy choice

for running back spot, but if you look at his touches over the last five weeks, he's averaging 14 touches a game. Last week he had 12 carries, 92 yards. Week 13, 8 carries. Week 12, 14 carries. Week 10, 13 carries. Week 10, 13 carries. Week 9, 20 carries. I mean, he's still getting volume. So he's got that, he's got that, obviously that sort of baseline, the floor where he's going to get 8 to 10 carries

at least, probably more like 8 to 15 carries the game, you know, add in a catch or two. And so there's the upside to have him score a touchdown. I just think if you're looking for a guy with a solid floor, he could be it. I mean, D.K., you're familiar with Dave Chang of the Dave Chang podcast of the Ringer Podcast Network. Yes. And of course you're familiar with his work on Netflix, ugly delicious, because food doesn't always have to look the way you think. When I think of Frank Gore, I think of not ugly delicious, but like ugly, it was food.

You know what I mean? Don't watch it happen. But like, you'll get points, probably. You're calling him Subway? Ugly Subway? Yeah, ugly Subway. There you go. No, what's work?

Quiznos. We've never been to Quiznos. I'm team Quiznos. Better than Subway? Yep. Oh, yeah. I can't, I don't know, actually. I've never been.

You should go. Their whole thing was toasted. That's how they had Subway Beat. It was we toast our subs. Oh, is that was Subway Toad. stuff now? Yeah, and they're like, we'll get an oven too, and then Quisna's kind of got people. Wow. Do you know that subway?

Craig's got some sandwich taste. You know subway has more locations than any of the other, like Yeah, sometimes more. There's more subways than McDonald's. Yeah, although I think in terms of just real estate, McDonald's is the largest landowner in the world of non-sovereign states outside the Catholic church. Wow. Receivers, if you have to sort. I mean, we're looking at Jordan Nelson on the

Raiders, because they're going against the Bengals this week. The Bengals are just trash. And Nelson, and Derrick Carr's been better. A lot of said. Play good against the Steelers. The Raiders are playing better. And also, fun fact, I mean, this is nothing to with fantasy,

but their week 16 game might be the last game ever at Raiders stadium or in Oakland because they're getting sued, but that's neither here nor there. Though despite Nelson, I think I'd rather have Curtis Samuel. On Monday at football against the Saints, Sam's been playing well. We discussed him this week. And despite Cam's shoulder being an issue,

he's clearly been able to play through it. you have to be able to throw on the Saints. They're going to throw on the Saints. Samuels usurped a lot of the touches. Really the role in the offense, Funches is Devin Funcess. Oh, someone pointed out to me that I say Devin Funcess on Twitter.

Yeah, it's Funcchis. Someone tweeted at me, they were like, Hyfetz, and I was like, oh, God, I would hate that. So it's Funchis. Can I be honest with you guys? If I knew his name is Devin Funcess,

I don't think I would ever have endorsed him for any fantasy football ever. Wow. Anyway, not to be me, nothing against you, Devin. So the point is I would start to Curvin's say, Because it doesn't matter because Funchus is not

Funch is not fantasy relevant anymore. That's the point. All right, we got to move on. Curtis Samuel, if you need to receive it. Okay, so moving on. Actually, tight end, we talked about them again too on Monday. Ian Thomas at the Panthers is an option. Going up against the Saints,

he's sort of inherited a big part of Greg Olson's role with Cam's shoulder injury. They tend to pass shorter a little bit more as A-DOT has gone down. The other option is Vernon Davis, of the Redskins with Jordan Reed out indefinitely. Davis kind of takes over in that offense. Obviously against the Jags, it's not necessarily a scintillating matchup for him.

But, you know, with the idea that they could kind of try to dump off a lot of stuff and keep it really simple, that could be an option. He could get, could end up getting six or seven targets this week. The other thing is Josh Doxon I saw is still out with a concussion on Thursday. So if he's another guy that's out of that offense, then Davis could kind of, get a little slight boost there. So those two guys, to me, are the top tight-end streamers this week. Yeah, I think this is the best week to stream tight-ins in maybe the entire season, maybe 10 weeks or something.

I mean, Vernon Davis and Ian Thomas are both actually good options. Or if Cameron Brates to out there, that's an option. They're good options to be above-average tight-ins this week, which is just never a thing. Usually it's just you're playing darts in the dark with pasta against the wall. CJ is Zoma. Yeah. CJ used, yeah, no CJUs almost of the world. All right, last defenses.

We went over this little bit. I mean, Buffalo against Detroit. The other interesting one is the Seahawks against the Niners. I know that George Kittle just ran ragged over them, but, like, also they didn't have a catch in the second half. The Niners are still bad. Love Nick Mullins. Nick Mullen's still not great. And Seekins is playing really well.

Just shut out the Vikings. So if you're a believer in the Six, which I have not been traditionally. Well, not traditionally this season. I still am not necessarily a believer in the Seahawks defense. I don't know how the hell they almost shut out the Vikings. I made a, I offered a bet. to a former ringer employee is a Seahawks fan before this season of if the Giants had a better record than the Seahawks, he had to get a hen a tattoo of the Giants logo on his neck.

And if not, I would get the Seahawks tattoo. And he, because I was so confident that they would have a top five pick. And he turned me down. You would have looked great with that tattoo in the Amari Cooper jersey. Well, he's the thing. They already clinched it or they would clinch it this week. So I would have had to get that for Christmas, see family and stuff. How long did those last?

I think they're like two weeks or something. Oh, man. I don't know. Well, that's all the turn. we got. It's fine. Craig will probably edit that out anyway, right, Craig? No. Shit. All right. Well, D.K., that's all the time we got. Thank you, D.K. Thank you

full-time, Craig. We will see you guys next week.