The Ringer NFL Show - Lombardi’s Week 16 Watch List and the Dantasy Football Awards | GM Street (Ep. 370)

Episode Date: December 21, 2018

How Josh Gordon’s absence will affect the Patriots (0:30), this week's top five matchups (7:00), and the 'Dantasy Football' crew gives out awards for the fantasy season (22:30). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Liz Kelly and welcome to the Ringer Podcast Network. For all the movie fans out there, The Big Picture podcast now has its own dedicated Twitter feed at The Big Pick. Not only will we find the best in Ringer film analysis and the news you need for award season, it's also the exclusive source for all the movie and video-related content you need, from Astoristboard mashups to Sean Fennacy tweeting out gifts. So make sure you follow at The Big Pick on Twitter. Welcome to GM Street part of the Ringer Podcast Network.

It is Thursday, December 20th, and I am joining you. on the line by the great Michael Lombardi. Lombardi, how you doing? Tate Fraser, I'm doing good, although I don't have any Christmas shopping yet, but I'm doing really good, man. You know, I just saw Charlie Brown put it out. We got five days still Christmas. It just kind of sneaks up on you, doesn't it?

Like, it's like, it just happens too quick. I don't understand it, you know? But there's nothing better, Tate Frazier. There's really nothing better than going somewhere and listening to Christmas music as you shop and buy gifts for everybody. You know, I only got to buy a million a gift, so that really doesn't matter. And then, you know, of course, everything else is taking it. care of. I got it easy. I got it easy. All I got to do is buy one and then that's it.

I'm pretty good. That's pretty good. That sounds like you're all set. I mean, and the only time that it's not as good when you're going to see people go shopping for Christmas is if you're Clark-Riswold and you're stuck up in the attic and your father-in-law needs to go and take his back pill. So he's got to go ahead and get to the mall so you get trapped out there all day. But sometimes it leads to you watching some of the greatest moments from your history in the past, in your past Christmases. So that's what I did last night. I watched, you know, of course, Christmas vacation. So that's always fun to do. And I got to a lot of shopping to get to as well.

But before we get to all of our Christmas shopping and all of our... What is your favorite Christmas movie? I mean, like, seriously, like, I love Home Alone. Like, I love Gus and the Tomahoochie dancers or whatever the hell they're called. I mean, I can watch that movie 10,000 times, you know? Yeah. It's like the greatest, like Marvin Harry, I laugh at the jokes all the time. I wrote a column today on The Athletic.

And basically, I took Kevin's line about, it's the season of perpetual hope. and I gave hope to 32 teams, and I broke down all 32 teams about what I think they need to do. So, you know, to me, the movie, I could watch it constantly. Yeah, I love Home Alone. I would say Christmas vacation is definitely the favorite Christmas movie. We watch it every single year. And Cousin Eddie is a star to, you know, beyond belief around my house. So you can only imagine the amount of times you hear, you serious, Clark, or save the neck for me, Clark, or, you know,

some random mention about the carnival instead of college. There's a million, million different quotes that come out of that movie for us. us. So home alone, Christmas vacation. Those are the GM Street recommended movies for your Christmas time. And if you haven't seen them, go check them out. We've got to get to some football stuff, Lombardi, because as I mentioned before, it is Thursday, December 20th. And the beautiful thing about that is we do not have Thursday night football. So we get a chance to get ahead of some of these games and get ahead of the Friday forecast, which I like what you called it earlier. We used to call them the five games to watch this week. And I like the Friday forecast with the five games to look out for. Before we get to those five

games that we have picked this week. We first need to talk about some news that came out out of the Patriots camp. Josh Gordon, a receiver that has been much maligned over the years, whether it being Cleveland, and obviously there were some exciting times as he got to New England. He tweeted out that he is stepping away to focus on mental health. A source says that he is facing possible suspension from the league. But he tweeted out, I take my mental health very seriously at this point and to ensure I remain able to perform at the highest level.

I recently felt like I could have a better grasp on things mentally. With that said, I would be stepping away from the football. fill for a bit to focus all my mental health. First stop, you know, a lot of people were coming out and, you know, trying to, you know, congratulate the fact that, you know, Josh Gordon is acknowledging these things. But from a football standpoint in the Patriots organization, Lombardi, what is the first takeaway from this Gordon situation? You know, Trey Frazier, you know, I wrote about this back when they traded for him in September. And I reposted the column today, not because I want to say, hey, look, I was right. I think you have to understand the demons that live in Josh Gordon. And I

think this is not just a case that he can just turn it around. This is a daily ongoing struggle that he faces in his life and the addictions that he holds are just hard for him. And, you know, we all want it to be able to put on the back burner and want it so much. And sometimes you just can't control those things. And even in a safe environment like New England where he's constantly under and attention and not left on his own, you know, it's still a difficult process. So I feel badly for him as a human being. I think this has been something that I recognized back in 2013 was really a difficult challenge for him because this is just not something that's happened in the last four years of his life. This has been part of his life.

And it's in his makeup and it's very difficult. So I wish him the best. I mean, this is hard news. As for a football standpoint, I mean, Josh wasn't the same player that he was in 2013. I mean, I think that's pretty clear. Was he a good player? Yeah, I think he was. I think it took him some time to get into shape. And I think he, you know, the thing that I was really impressed by was the fact that Brady, who was very non-trustworthy, really developed a rapport and trust with this kid.

And, you know, went with them and threw him the football when most receivers that have gone up there knew, you know, typically didn't get the ball. And Brady really bought into him. And I think it's a tribute to the kind of kid that, that he is away from his addiction issues and how much talent Brady saw with them. But as the year went on, it became harder for him. I think the separation became harder for him. You see in the last few weeks, he started to drop the football a little bit.

It wasn't the same hands that he has because he's got really good hands. So, you know, from a football standpoint, I think Cordela Patterson is going to have to fill in. They're going to have to play Philip Dorset on the outside. But these Patriot issues are going to be there. I think they're going to have to play the same way, whether Gordon was there or not. They're going to have to run the ball in a way to where they're almost like their 2013 team, take their chances down the field with Hogan, with Edelman, with Dorset, with Patterson, and try to get this offense moving. And I think it's going to be a challenge.

Yeah, it's not going to be a one-man show where, you know, they have this deep threat and they have this supremely talented guy like Gordon like they've had before. You mentioned the suspensions. He's had four suspensions in his career and his NFL career, 2013, a couple in 2014. And then, of course, the 2015 suspension that ended up being about 20 games. an indefinite suspension ended up being about 20 games. ESPN's Dan Graziano was the one reporting this. He said the final punishment has yet to be decided, but the expectation from those around the league that are informed on the issue,

expect Gordon will not play again this season. And that is, like you said, an unfortunate situation, and we hope that there will be some sort of resolution in the end, especially outside of the game of football, but just in Josh Gordon's life. Let's get to the five games that we have this week as we move into week 16. the first game that we have on the docket to discuss, Lombardi, we have the Chicago Bears and the San Francisco 49ers.

As we look at this game and we talk about everything that goes on with this bear's defense and obviously with Mitchell Trubisky, the Bears are favored by four in this game, over under set at 42 and a half at most places in Vegas. Looking at this one, San Francisco showed some signs late in the season, Lombardi. Is there a chance they can sneak up on the Bears in week 16? I think this is a huge game for the Bears. I think this is a game where the bears have to go on the road and show that they're a 10-win team, they're a playoff team, that they can dominate, that they can play

from in front, they can attack this San Francisco defense and show that they're the better team and play and put pressure on on Nick Mullins and create turnovers. I think this is a big game for them. I know they've clinched the North, but I think they've got to get better and they've got to prove their mental toughness on the road. I think a lot of people, the action has gone in the direction surprisingly in this game. A lot of the action is going in the direction of San Francisco, I think this, they feel like this could be a tough spot on the team. But I think Chicago's defense can really dominate against San Francisco. And I know they beat Seattle in overtime last week.

But I think Chicago's their ability to move in the pocket, their ability to create some plays. And I think if Trubisky doesn't hurt them, I like Chicago to cover. I think Chicago will beat them by a touchdown, even though San Francisco has played well at home, their 0 and 7 on the road, I think they'll play much better in this game. I think Chicago will play much better than they have been on the road. They're three and three on the road. I think this is a big game for Chicago. I think Matt Nagy has got to get his team really ready for the playoffs,

and this is a game he can do with him. And it is one of those weird situations where I had a lot of people this week as people were asking me at home about the NFL games this weekend, and they were just, you know, a lot of people kept comedy. I feel like the Bears have played the 49ers a lot recently. And if you think that, you are correct, this is five straight years of these two teams have met. This is the first time that they will meet in Santa Clara since 2014.

and in that game, the Bears did win. So that is something to keep an eye on there when the Bears travel west. Next game we have on the docket, we have the Kansas City Chiefs, another team that is very hot and a lot of people have eyeballs on this weekend. They're traveling up to Seattle to take on the 12th man. Chiefs are favored by two and a half in this one. Obviously, Kansas City can clinch home field advantage with a win and a Chargers loss. Seattle locks up a wild card with the win and the teams behind them taking a loss.

So, you know, eyeballs on this game just because of playoff implications. But as you look at this one, Lombardi, what do you see from the Chiefs? And do you think they can go up to Seattle and get a win on the road? I think it'll be a challenging place. I think they'll definitely have a harder time. I think when you look at the marquee games, the Chiefs of play, whether it's been against the Chargers,

whether it's been against the Patriots, whether it's been against the Rams. And those venues, they haven't come out on top. I think this is going to be a hard venue. I think Seattle's run game has to control this football. I think Seattle can run the football effectively on Kansas City. And I'm waiting for Russell to have one of these breakout games. I think it's time for him to show that he can

throw the football effectively. And I think at the time to do it is now, they've got to have a bitter taste in their mouth losing at home, losing on the road last week to see San Francisco. I think this is a critical game for Seattle. Seattle's going to come out and show that home field does mean something in Seattle. And I think they can do that. I think Seattle will put pressure on Kansas City. And I think it'll be a hard game for Kansas City. Do I think they win? Yeah. But I think it's, I mean, I wish the line were three, three and a half and it would definitely be an easy play for me for Seattle. I think it'll be a field goal game, but I'm going to go

with Seattle here. Yeah, you can see that Vegas has a little bit of love for Seattle still, despite the fact that they went on the road against San Francisco, didn't play their best game of football, but people still think at home they are a different team. The next game that we have up, we have the Houston Texans taking on the Philadelphia Eagles. Texans

favored by one in this game on the road in Philadelphia. Nick Foles, of course, will continue to start after getting that big win against the Rams on the road. Houston, as a franchise, is never won a game in Philadelphia, going back to the Oilers days, I thought you'd find that an interesting fact, Lombardi, something to keep an eye on there. But as we look at this game, we got Texans, we got Texans, we got DeShon Watson traveling up there to Philadelphia.

Can Nick Foles keep the magic going, or will the Texans come in and get their first win for Houston? I think that, you know, this is a hard game for Houston. You know, bad offensive lines don't travel. I've been saying that all year. And this is a bad offensive line. And I think we saw it last week when Houston played the Jets. They had a hard time blocking the Jets front. I think this Eagle front, even last week without Jernigan, I think Michael Bennett's actually playing better now than he has earlier in the season. I think he's been very good. I think he's been a disruptive force. I think the two tackles of Lamb and Davenport will struggle to protect in this game. I like the Eagles here. I really do. I think the Eagles played well last week. I know I thought they would get killed,

but I think this is a bad matchup for Houston. I think Houston can't really run the, won't be able to attack the, we'll be able to attack the Eagles in a way that they need to attack them because I'm not sure they can protect. And I think that's going to be the bigger issue. And Deshawn's going to be running around for his life. Do I think they can move the football on them? Yeah. But I also think that the Eagles can attack the secondary of the Texans. And I think that's the problem. I like the Eagles here a lot. I think it'll be a great game. Yeah. So keep your eyes on Philadelphia because if they do win this game, then I, you know, we cannot stress enough how many people will jump on to the whole wagon of, you know, Nick Foles and this team is back to

they were a year ago. With that front four, you mentioned Michael Bennett. Those guys, they kind of are getting into form as we hit stride here in December. And obviously, Nick Foles under center and Doug Peterson

have quite a rapport. And I was watching last night, actually, Lombardi, watching some of the NFL network highlights. And some of the crazy things to me that really stood out in that Nick Foll's game. He wasn't necessarily making the greatest passes in the world,

but he was given Alshon Jeffrey a chance to make plays. And I think Nick Foles is a guy that will do that. And if they can, you know, if they can put up 30 points in a game, that really helps their defense a lot, obviously. So that is something to keep an eye on with that Eagles offense.

And playing from in front. We talked about it all the time on GM Street. We know the Eagles have to play from in front. That's critical. And I think that they've got to start the drive off. And look, we know that Nick Foles is comfortable in the Chip Kelly offense. I mean, we know that. That's what he's had the most success in.

That's what he was good for the Eagles before Doug Peterson got there. And when they run that, they become a problem. And I think it's going to be a problem for the Texans. Yep. And that's something we'll keep an eye on as we watch. that game. The next game that we have here on the docket, the fourth game of the week to keep an eye on. Two teams that lead their, lead their divisions on opposite sides, AFC, NFC, NFC, something interesting to see in week 16. We got the Pittsburgh Steelers traveling down to New Orleans Saints, Saints favored by five and a half in this game.

This is such a, you know, this is a wild game. We're waiting for Big Ben to get cleared for this one. But once he does, this will be a real shootout. A lot of people think this could be a potential Super Bowl matchup. So it's interesting to get that in week 16. do you have a belief in the Steelers being able to travel down and maybe shock and, you know, get the Saints to play left-handed or to play totally differently than they did on Monday night, which was not too great against the Panthers despite being able to get a, you know, a close win there. Yeah, I think that the Steelers will play good on the road. I think the Steelers will have had that bad road game or have had the bad two road games.

I think they'll be able to keep this game close. I think the Saints will win. I think the line's a little too heavy here. I think that's where I favor the Steelers. I'm not sure the Steelers can win this. game outright, but I think the Steelers will keep it within a field goal. Hopefully their field goal kicker will make the field goal because he has struggled in recent weeks, got Boswell. But I do think it'll be a close game. I think this is going to be a hard fought

game because both teams need to win it. The Steelers are obviously a desperate team. The Saints just want to win one more game. But, you know, with the Saints knowing that next week, your boy, Tyler Hineken, you know, with the green label and the Red Star ain't going to be, is playing and not Cam Newton. I mean, I think that looks to them like, okay, we'll get home field if we just win that game. So I love the Saints the way they've played, the way they've won left-handed, winning on the road without their best A game. I think that Drew Brees will play better, but I just think Rathesberger will move the football on them. And I think the Steelers match up really good against the Saints today. Yeah. And it's something to keep an eye on there, too,

because like you said, New Orleans knows that O'DU's finest is going to come in there. And, you know, it's a young guy, and they don't have to go against Cam Newton. So it's a way that they could maybe sneak in a week 17 win without much hoopla around them. And as they move into trying to contain and control the fact that they do have a one seat in home field advantage in the playoffs. So we'll keep an eye on that. The final game of the week that we will be watching, the Baltimore Ravens taking on the Los Angeles Chargers, obviously talking about two AFC North teams when we mentioned the Steelers and the Ravens in that race. And then obviously we have the AFC West with the Chargers who have just been so great as of late.

Chargers favored by four and a half in this one. win in Kansas City, which guaranteed them a playoff birth, 29, 28. We remember the great, you know, go for two call that Phil Rivers took last week. As you look at this game and you look at Baltimore, they've been able to find a way to win games, despite the fact their passing game has been subpar to say the least, but they've been able to get Lamar out in space and make plays. Is there a chance that the Ravens could sneak in here and get a win against the Chargers to keep things rolling? You know, I don't know if they can win the game, but I think they're going to keep it to a field goal. I think it'll be a close game. And, you know, when you look at this Raven team,

they've run the ball more than they've passed. They've had more yards running than they have passing. But yet when Lamar throws the ball, he averages 6.6 yards per attempt. Flacco was only at 6.5. So they can actually get some plays down the field. I think if the Ravens would tie more of their run game to the pass game, have like every run they have, they should have a play action pass off. They don't.

They should. I mean, they should do that. And I think the way this defense has played, I mean, over the last three weeks, they've only allowed 20 third downs to be completed at a six. They've been very effective. They've scored 20. They've averaged 25 points a game. And they've controlled the ball offensively 35 minutes.

I think it'll be a lower scoring game than most people think. I think the Ravens will be able to run the football effectively against the Chargers. I think they'll be able to control the pace. And I think they can slow down the Chargers offense with their offense, with their offense control on the ball. They're going to be a great game, field goal game. Maybe the Chargers win, but I love the Ravens here. Phil Rivers, one note on this.

Phil Rivers is one and four all time in Saturday games. So that's something to keep an eye on. And Keenan Allen is expected to play in this game. So that will help obviously that charges off. And so that's a little one to two there. Both of those maybe outweigh each other. Maybe don't mean anything. But that's something to keep an eye on in that game.

You mentioned the fact that Cam Newton will be shut down for the rest of the season. Before we get out of here, Lombardy, I just did want to get your thoughts on that. Obviously, that's a situation where we've had a lot of rumblings and a lot of talks and rumors about maybe will he get shut down, will want to get shut down. And obviously once they got out of the playoff race with that Monday night loss, it was completely determined that he would not play anymore. My question to you is, I mean, I feel like the hit that really cemented the season for Cam Newton was that T.J. Watt hit hit and that blowout by the Steelers. And his shoulder hasn't quite looked the same since then.

As a, you know, organization, you see your franchise quarterback take a hit like that. What is the timeline to step in and say something? Because I've seen a lot of Panthers fans are now upset that Cam has been playing with this sore shoulder. And now people are thinking that it may hurt their chances next season. season after letting it linger so long. I mean, look, when you had to put Hanky into the game to throw the deep pass against the bucks, you told every defensive coordinator in the league, he can't throw the ball 50 yards. And once you tell coordinators that quarterback can't throw the ball, the field shrinks.

I mean, it's what happens with the eye manning. Everybody knows he's not going to extend the ball out past 50 yards. So the game becomes a little different. And it becomes a, and he's having trouble lifting his arm. I mean, if anything told you, he can't drive the ball down the field. I mean, to me, I know that Rahm Rivera's fighting for his job. I know Marty Herney and the new owners coming in. They all want to fight for the job.

But the health of the quarterback is more important. The franchise has to take over. And I think that was the key issue. And if you look at it, what he's been unable to do, he's made the offense worse because the more people watch them not throw the ball. Defenders play them differently. So to me, this is a no-brainer. I don't even understand how people were thinking it was going to happen.

Yeah, it was a very interesting situation. A lot of people are up in arms now after this whole thing is played out and people are pointing fingers. People are saying they should be looking for another quarterback. I've heard it all since I've been home here in North Carolina. So it has been fun to, I guess fun probably isn't the right word. But it is quite a controversial situation as people try to. You see people's true colors where they stand with Cam Newton, whether they want him to be the quarterback or how they feel about the organization. People used to point in Jerry Richardson.

Now people don't know Tepper as well. They don't know who's really calling the shots. So there are a lot more questions and answers in North Carolina and South Carolina when they're talking about the Carolina Panthers at this point. This agenda is on for next year. I think that's the problem. And these are the kind of games, Tate Fraser. Like people, there's a lot of money going on Atlanta. And I think sometimes when you do that, I think these games are hard to predict how teams are going to go, where you're going to go.

I think the best thing to do with your betting this weekend is to try to play games where both sides have something at stake where you can honestly handicap the game based on what you've seen in the past. it's hard to do. Like I know a lot of people are thinking the Browns and giving up the points. And certainly that looks appealing. And I almost wanted to do that. But I think what like a Carolina. Yeah, it's pretty easy to just think Atlanta should go in there and win. But, you know, I mean, look, Atlanta's not playing very good.

They're having a hard time, you know, finding their rhythm. I know they did last week against Arizona. But, you know, they're not a great team either. So my advice is go with games like Baltimore Chargers, handicap it, look at the line, see where it is and go from there. And I would be remiss if I did not mention the Huey headline bowl that is going down this weekend. We had the Cincinnati Bengals taking on the Cleveland Browns. Is he going to do the coin toss?

Do you think? He should do the coin toss, don't you think? That's what I was going to ask you. I don't know what he should do, but I feel like Huey headlines needs to have some sort of prominent role. We remember last time that these teams met, he had an intercepted ball brought to him on the sideline, a game ball. And he, you know, kept the ball and thank the guy for bringing it over to him. A lot of Cincinnati fans weren't happy about that. A lot of Brown's fans were laughing at that fact. But I do feel like Huey headlines will steal the headlines no matter what happens this weekend, no matter who wins.

He will definitely steal the headlines. He's going to make his felt, no. What he should do in that game is not come out. He should come out right when the game starts and he should run into it right after the game. I mean, that's what he should do. I think that they should let the old Miami-U, they should let the smoke come and then they announce him. Hugh Jacks and he runs out through the smoke by himself. Maybe that'll work.

Whatever it, whatever it takes. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. Well, take Frasier. Listen, I will not, I will not talk to you before Christmas. So have a Merry Christmas and wish your family the best for me. I hope you have a great day. Enjoy everything in North Carolina. And I'll be thinking of you, enjoy the games this weekend. Yes, sir. You too. I hope that you have a great Merry Christmas. We will be back here on GM Street. We are probably going to record. We're going to figure it out either the 26th day after Christmas or that Thursday, the 27th.

We're going to give a full rundown of all things, week 16. And we'll probably do the Friday forecast within that same podcast. But regardless, we'll be nimble and we'll be mobile and we'll figure out a way to make this work. But we will give all of Lombardi's thoughts on all things NFL as we get into week 16 and move into week 17. We hope everyone has a happy holidays, Merry Christmas and enjoys being around their family and enjoy some downtime and a break away from the real world. Again, thanks to everyone for listening to GM Street, Part of the Ringer podcast network. And we will see you next week. Hey, everyone. My name is Danny Hyfitz.

I'm joined by my co-host and co-danny, Danny Kelly. What's up? We're also joined by our producer, Fuller, and we're also joined by our producer, all time. Craig. Hey. Hey. Okay. Hey it is. We are usually here on Fridays to give you some last second fantasy advice

heading of the weekend, but not today. We kind of figured that it's week 16 and that's probably just, you know, start sit advice. It's probably just rubbing the salt in the wounds for 90% of people who didn't make it. Wasn't sure how much of an appetite there'd be, and if you're in your fantasy championship, you probably know who you're playing. I hope so. So we decided we're going to give out some fantasy season awards to close out the year. It is awards season.

If you like awards, start listening to the Big Picture podcast by ringer editor-in-chief Sean Fantasy. But until then, we got the fantasy awards for you. Yeah. Shall we cap off the season, DK? Yeah, I'm excited. This is kind of a fun. This is a fun one. I had fun putting together these candidates, so I'm excited to do this.

Full-time Craig looks so happy. I'm very happy. I love awards. Awards are great. Do you think he's happy to, like, awards? Or you're just happy that you're done? We're almost done with the season. Well, I'm excited to get into Daley.

I want to win some money, you know? Yeah. All right. Let's do it. Yeah, let's do it. All right. So the first one is the comeback player of the year award. Craig, I'm going to kick it to you.

Who's your comeback player of the year? It's got to be Eric Ebron. It has to be Eric Ebron. I mean, we all knew this guy had talent, right? That was always, that was always like the talk about him, that he was super talented, but it never kind of panned out. Last year, he had 500 yards and three touchdowns. This year he's already got freaking 12.

All he does is score touchdowns. And he ran one too. It might be 13 touchdowns. I might be wrong. Oh, yeah. Received 12 and ran one. So 13 total. The guy's been amazing.

But he has been near and dear to your heart, D.K. You've been very in on Eric Ebron this year. Yeah. I gave the ill-advised advice to go ahead and trade him when Jack Doyle came back. And then, of course, Doyle got hurt. And it didn't really even matter because Ebron just, he just kept scoring touchdowns. Right now he's the top. tight end four and half point PPR

and a tight end three in standard. So I really did not see that coming. I was expecting Doyle to be like a monster this season, but Eron got my, like he got my go. He won the year. Where does he get drafted next year? What tight end does he go? Well, I think hand in hand with this status.

So he has, D.K., did you write this this week? He has as many touchdowns with the Colts this year as he did in his whole career with the Lions. So... I didn't write that, but I think I've seen that, yeah. There you go. So it's what we talk about. Touchdown dependency and touchdowns are kind of random.

And I would go so far as to say, not with Ebron. We put Cameron Bray and Devante Adams in this discussion of they're just such great red zone weapons with the quarterback they have and they have such a rapport there. And I would put Ebron on that level with luck now. Where touchdowns are random, except when they're not. And Ebron's in one of those where he's just actually a red zone weapon.

I think that'll keep going. With two weeks left, he has 99 targets. That's a lot. Sounds good. That's crazy. And who's throwing to him? Yeah, I was going to say, who's your comeback, D.K? So, good segue.

My comeback player of the year award. Andrew Luck of the Colts. There was a question going into the season. I mean, even into early part of the preseason, we weren't even sure if luck was going to be able to play this year. His shoulder was all messed up. You know, he didn't play last year. And then even when he did start,

there was some question whether he had the strength even to go downfield. I mean, he was just dumping everything off. and then lo and behold, he is the quarterback six this season so far, 34 touchdowns, just been huge for a lot of people. Glad he's back. Lo-key,

one of those weirdest and under-expected developments this year was that Andrew Luck became the hardest quarterback to sack in football, which is just wild. He was not a league winner, though. Certainly not a league winner. So who do you guys think is like the Waver-Wire league winner of the year?

So I have Philip Lindsay. I mean, I feel like that's probably the obvious choice off the waiver wire. Unless you count James Connor, which I don't think I do. Depends when you drafted. Yeah, I mean, Philip Lindsay... I think Connor got drafted though. Yeah, I mean, I drafted him, but I would say there probably were a bunch of leagues that didn't if they weren't

really up to date with everything. The casual fantasy fans, unlike us. But Philip Lindsay was 374 in ADP. Also, was not drafted in real life, which really bolsters the non-drafted case. Exactly. And he's a pro bowler, which is crazy. Also, he's not even the guy who

undrafted in fantasy who then played for his grew up in an area and then went to college there and then played for that NFL team and unexpectedly took over the starting job wasn't even the best among those guys because James Conner did the same thing but Phil Lindsay also has that story.

Philip Lindsay's the RB 11 right now and he's never had 20 carries in a game this year. That's pretty impressive. It was crazy because we were talking about Royce Freeman and Devante Booker a ton before the season started and then all of a sudden Lindsay just came on came onto the scene. That was awesome.

My guy for the Waver Wire League winner Award is Tyler Boy, the Bengals, kind of usurped what I thought John Ross was going to be this season. From week two on, Boyd is actually the Y-Receiver 11 in PPR, and that stretch he outscored Keenan Allen, Odell Beckham, Mike Evans. He averaged 16.6 points per game in PPR in that stretch and went under 10 points, less than double digits, just three games. So he was not only just out of nowhere a PPR god, but he was super consistent too. This isn't an award, because I just thought of this now, but Tyler Boyd falls under the, like,

if his name was cooler, people would know more about him. That's a great call. That's a really, yeah, Boyd's kind of a boring name. If Doug Baldwin's name was like something awesome, I guarantee you he'd be drafted higher. Yep, he'd be drafted higher. Doug, yeah, Doug Baldwin streams Fortnite, like nobody cares if he's on Twitch.

But, Juj is a great name. My guy for this, sorry, D.K., it's Eric Ebron for this waiver wire just because the tight end's so thin. But I think more of these three guys actually have something super important in common for next year, which I think we'll be discussing a lot,

which is separating people we like in the preseason because of who they are versus the opportunity they have. So all these guys basically usurped someone we thought we'd do. Lindsay, we thought would be Royce Freeman. Boyd, we thought was going to be John Raw. Many people thought it would be John Ross. And then Jack Doyle was very popular. All those people, except maybe John Ross,

were very popular, not necessarily for their skill set, but because of taking advantage of opportunity. We were right about the opportunity being there and then very wrong about who took advantage of it. And that's a good reminder to... when you're projecting for in August of like, do you like the skill set, the opportunity, both, neither?

So, I mean, that's a pretty basic thing, but I think that's really important to remember. Then there's the flip side for this, which is, Craig, do you want to explain this one? The burn too bright, was this you or D.

This is me. It's like the shooting star award. These guys burn too bright for this world. They just, they couldn't stay. Like Icarus? Pretty much. Sorry, I like my Greek mythology. Actually, yeah, that's probably better.

Do I have enough power to do? Just rename this wholesale, the Icarus? Sure. Sure. It's been decided. Okay, great. Now I like this. Craig, who do you got?

John Brown. Yeah. Formerly of that Cardinals trio that we mentioned a few weeks ago. But John Brown, weeks 1 through 4, 12, 17, 11, 19. You're feeling great. You're feeling super smart about your draft pick. I drafted them, felt great about it. And then the rest from weeks 5 to 15, he averaged five points a game.

And just was unstartable. but you were probably tricked for so long from those first four weeks. You kept hoping it would come back. And then week seven, he puts up 22 to just throw that wrench in there and keep you kind of hanging on. And he just never did anything after that. Well, he played every game. But Lamar, I think Lamar Jackson is a huge part of that. Yeah, but I mean, he was bad before Lamar came in.

Yeah. Wow. He fell off hard. Yeah, he did. I remember, so I'm not ready to say that that was a bus, though. When did Lamar come in? After he started going downhill. But I still think John Ross demonstrated that he was way more capable of receiver than he was in Arizona.

John Brown. Yeah, I mean, yeah, you're right. You said John Ross. Same thing. He was so did he. I mean, I love John Brown. I think it was just the, he was more of a, it was just the situation dictated. Like, Joe Flacco completely fell off for a huge chunk of time.

And then with Jackson, they just don't throw it. Well, John Brown, no, I think that he's going to be a guy that's super controversial going in next year. And I understand that there can be some Lamar Jackson revisionism, but I think that in my mind, the question wasn't, the question was his skill set. And I think that he was much more capable of, like, carrying an offense, like on a drive-to-drive basis than I ever thought it would be able to be.

So he impressed me. So I understand that hesitance, but, I mean, I think for where he went, the draft, he's worth it. But, D.K., speaking of another guy who started really hot. So Calvin Ridley, early in the season, was the huge, huge waiver wire pickup in weeks two, two through four, so a three-week period. He had 17 points, 40 points, and 21 points.

He was the wide receiver overall wide receiver two in that stretch. I want to say behind only Thielen. And in the whatever amount of games since week four on, since week five on, I should say, he's gotten double-digit points just twice. So he's the wide receiver 38 in that stretch. So I don't know if he's perfect for this, but I guess he started so hot that like there was no way he was going to be able to keep it up, and I don't think anyone expected him to keep up the touchdown thing.

I have a better one. You know who flew higher? Feeling. No one will say this. I'm the only person in the world, brave enough to say this. Craig's already freaking out. I don't know what's going to happen. This might be the end of the Dynasty Football podcast.

You know who burned too bright and then crash back down to Earth is Adam feeling. First eight weeks, he had 202 PPR points. Oh, my God. Yeah, he was going off. It was amazing. The rest of the top five was between 167 and 100. 56 PPR points. The gap between Thielen, who was number one, and Tyreek Hale was number two,

was the same as the gap between Tyreek Hill and Julio Jones, who was 14. So he had this massive lead in, you know, half with the season right before the fantasy trade deadline. Since then, Thielen's been wide receiver 16. He's behind Tyler Boyd and Adam Humphreys. Ooh. Not because he's bad or worse or anything, but because I think that we probably raised him to a level of expectation beyond what was realistic. So if you traded him when he was at his peak,

congratulations. I regret not making him a sell. Like a trade higher. That's literally impossible to recommend selling Adam Thielen at that. No, that's the whole point. What's your favorite thing in the world? Is selling a superstar exactly when you're supposed to? Oh, but it's genius if you can pull it off.

But in this case, I mean, he was... A 35 point gap over the second receiver was not sustainable. You're right. He was looking like a league winner. He was looking like... Gurley. Yeah, and he's not girly. Speaking of people looking like Todd Gurley. Next is the Matt Asiata Award for

Biggest Vulture. I love this. You're all familiar with Matt Oseata, the guy who just eats one-yard touchdowns and no one knows who he is. So this year... So you're all familiar with the guy, nobody knows who he is? Exactly. Well, if you play fantasy, you know who Matt Oseata is. So mine is James Devlin of the Patriots. I think we all need to say the team names that these people

are on just in case. Yeah. So James Devlin this year has six rushes for eight yards and four touchdowns. Oh my God. All of which came in the final five games of the season and he didn't even have- He killed Sony-Michel. He killed him. He didn't have a carry till week 10.

Yeah. And it was a touchdown for a yard. Oh, God. That's brutal. Congratulations, Devlin. Devlin, I think, is the best one. I've waffled between a few players. I was thinking about doing Taysam Hill who he actually only scored two touchdowns.

I realized, but they gave him like 30-something carries. Like, what are you doing? I mean, obviously it was fun, but at the same time, like, just give it to Camaro or Ingram. And then I thought about maybe like Garrett Blunt, but I ended up with going with Buck Allen, going way back to the beginning of the season for all the people that had Alex Collins. For everyone who had Alex Collins going in the beginning of the season, Buck Allen was like just a thorn in your side. He scored three rushing touchdown in the first three weeks.

Also had a couple receiving touchdowns in the season. And since week nine, he hasn't touched the ball more than once. So thanks, Buck. Yeah, so that was fun. Thrills for luck. Yeah, the Ravens backfield just in general is kind of hilarious. Gus Edwards, well, Gus said it was more like a, like Stelio Girl, but like Stereo job from Alex Collins. Well, now it's kind of the same deal.

It'll always be Gus the bus. Gus the bus. You know what my vulture of the year is? Do you know Drew Breeze is a career high in rushing touchdowns already? With two weeks left to play. And this is where I'm going to get my, I'm going to make you care about my fantasy league for a second. I was playing my brother who, look, you have to beat your brother. Older younger. Older brother. So I have to beat your older brother.

In week three, and I had Drew Breeze and he had Alvin Camara against the Falcons. Camara gets the rushing touchdown. They reversed the call, put him back at the one yard line. Drew Breeze rolls left, spins out of a Falcons defender, dives across the line, gives me the touchdown. Instead, Breeze vultures him. I win by less than a point. Wow. So, you know. You're the better brother.

I am. And he's going to pretend to not listen to this podcast right now to get back at me, but I know he's listening. Michael, you suck. So, beautiful. All right, that was the cathartic. Thank you. I love fantasy football.

All right, so the next category, the scapegoat awards. Basically, this is the guy you're blaming for your bad season or your middling season or whatever. So my guy is Leonard Fernette. He actually was the overall, if you look at fantasy pros, he was the overall number eight player coming off the board, running back seven. Right now he's overall 16. and the running back 42. He just, you know, he's injured half the year.

Even when he was in, he wasn't really doing that much. Jaguars were kind of one of the, you know, biggest disappointments overall. Yeah, I think if you were leaning on Fournette to be a huge bell cow for you, that definitely hurt really badly. Yeah. I am blown away. You guys did not pick. There's one correct answer for this.

Who's that? The guy who was drafted number two on average and it didn't show up to play the season. Well, that's different. If you didn't get James Connor, you were, it's not just that he was your scapegoat is he literally tortured you for the first 10 weeks of the season.

Levion Bell is the only answer here. I think we gave James Connor the Bitcoin Award earlier because if you were an early adopter, huge profits, but then if you bought, Leveon Bell is buying Bitcoin at $16,000

and then watching it crash to like under four. I mean, you're right. That's fair. I know. That's fair. There's only one true scapego. Let's get to the Cool Uncle Award. What does this mean?

Okay. Here's my thought on the Cool Uncle Award. So the Cool Uncle Award is when, you know, your uncle, you only see him two or three times a year. He comes. He's great. He leaves. Then your uncle's gone. It's like the guy who you add off waivers when you need him when you got a bunch of buys.

You start him. He gives you 9, 10 points, Mr. Reliable. And then you drop him and never think about him again. Just to come and go. The Jalen Richard. Anytime you needed Jailen Richard to come, have a nice dinner, make you laugh, make the kids laugh. I thought showing up a few times a year and giving you a bunch of presents, but disappearing the rest would be the Mara Cooper Award. disagree with that.

This is dumb, and let's move on. How dare you? The Cool Uncle Award? What are you talking about? What is this? This is supposed to be fun, Hyfitz. Yeah, that's why we're going to skip this. How dare you?

Jaylon Rashard, great job this year. Do you even want me to say my... Yeah, D.K. contributed. All right, D.K., yeah. So I kind of... My interpretation of the Cool Uncle Award was more like the Lee Ray Hoard winner. The what? He's a famous running back in the day.

coach, if you need one yard, I'll get you three yards. If you need five yards, I'll get you three next three yards. Yes, the famous Leroy Horde. How could I forget the famous Leroy Horde? I don't know if I actually have ever heard of Leroy Horde, but I've heard that quote before like a million times. Anyway, so Willie Sneed wins the Leroy Horde Award. He was like solid, good for a solid 10 points almost every week.

It seemed like he had double-digit points in PBR nine separate weeks, and he never scored more than 15 points this season. He was the guy that can get you 10 points and only 10 points. I'm going to double check that Leroy Horde is a real person. And while I'm doing that, Craig, want to introduce the next award? I got to Google who the hell Leroy Hort is. Next is the He's Good But He's Bad Award,

which is like, when you watch him make plays, you're like, wow, this guy's talented. And then you start him in fantasy, and he just never works for you. And my pick for that is Corey Davis. Corey Davis looks good when you watch him play, don't you think? Oh, yeah. He absolutely passes the I test.

Totally. So did Warren Harding. What? But you know what? The listeners got the joke, okay? He was because he had, keep going. That was the eye test? Was that a joke about eyes?

Oh. No, it wasn't a joke. It was that he had the build and the presidential air about him and it looks like a statesman, but he didn't know. You know what? Read a book, man.

So, Corey Davis has 10 single digit scoring games this season. 10, that's a lot. It's only been 15 games so far and he's got three over 20, though. And if you've watched any of those games, you're really impressed with them. And I think if he were on a team

with a quarterback who could feel his elbow, then he actually would be pretty solid. I just want to say I'm surprised that Craig didn't pick Rashad Penny for this. I figured that there was a little penny fatigue and Hyphitz would have just erupted. Okay, real quick, my pick for this category was Duke Johnson.

Really good player, really dynamic. Has in previous years been very good fantasy player. This season only had double-digit points four times. The high was a week nine where he had 29 points. He had like nine catches and two touchdowns. And then in week 14, he actually scored negative points. So really fun times, if you were Duke Johnson owner this season,

probably not starting him very often anyway. But I think he was just kind of like a little bit of a disappointment because he's a really good player. He was so good last year. Yeah. Yeah, he got buried on the bench almost more than anybody. This next category I actually like, unless Danny, did you have anything to add to that?

No, I have actually. I'm going to spin that last category in this new category and create a hybrid. All right, so the silent but deadly award, basically the idea here is just like really, really. I think it speaks for itself. Quietly consistent. Yeah, go ahead. Craig, who's your guy? Devante Adams is the number one wide receiver in fantasy.

And I would not have guessed that if you asked me. The guy's never scored single digits, fantasy points in a single game this year. He's second in targets, third in catches, third in yards, second in touchdowns. And his on-paced projections right now, 114 catches, 1,500 yards, and 14 touchdowns. Devante Adams is like, considering the Packers' offense has been so hit and met. I know. It's insane. How consistent this guy's been. So here's my spin on this with Devante Adams. I'm doing the opposite of he's good, but he's bad.

I'm doing, not he's bad, but he's good. So he's not like a bad player. I'm not saying Devante Adams is bad, but the number one scoring quarterback is Patrick Mohams, who's probably also the best real-life quarterback. The number one running back is Todd Gurley, also the best real-life running rep back. Best tight end, Travis Kelsey, probably the best real-life tight end. Number one defense, the Bears, definitely the best real-life defense. Devante Adams

definitely not the best receiver in football. Like 100%. And I'm not saying Devante, I'm so bad, he's fantastic, but that is a great example of more of the product of that is the best connection in football is Rogers to Devante Adams. It used to be Nelson in the back shoulder throw. Now it is Rogers throwing

when there's even an inch of daylight to Devante before the route's even breaking. Good example of much better in fantasy than real life. Or at least the connection. Do you remember about three years ago that when Jordy Nelson had a huge year for the Packers. There was like a big analytical hatred for Devonte Adams.

It was like he's one of the worst receivers in the league by DVOA. Yeah, he was like really inefficient. Yeah, everybody, Evan Silva was writing about it. Devonta Adams is this awful wide receiver and he's completely turned that around. Well, it's a great example of how football's a team game and that just because he's not technically in a vacuum the best receiver. But when you have a strong enough connection with your quarterback, I mean, that's what matters and that you can elevate your game higher. So maybe he doesn't have the connect. He's not as good as Antonio Brown technically.

he's not as gifted as Julio Jones, but look those numbers. Adams look like a legit bust early on. Yeah. So, there it go. Credit to him. My guy, Robert Woods of the Rams, double-digit points in PPR in every game this year, except for week one.

He's actually the wide receiver 12 in PBR, so he's a low-end wide receiver one. This season, he's outscored Brandon Cooks, T.Y. Hilton, Jarvis Slandry, and even if you, I mean, just overall points, he's outscored O'D Beckham. We miss some time. But, I mean, what's quietly had an amazing,

amazing season fantasy-wise. And he's probably the least talented out of any Ramos position player, right? He's gotten better, but I mean, they're all part of a rising tide, but he's certainly improved a lot since he was in Buffalo. Yeah, for sure. By the way, I love that Buffalo got rid of Robert Woods,

Sammy Watkins, and Marquis Goodwin. Like, what are they doing? Well, they didn't get rid of them. They just didn't resign them or whatever. That's fine. They have plenty of talent. Yeah. Last one. Tortus and the Hare Award. I love me some fables

Craig please do your honors Craig please this is just slapping everybody in the face but it's a Mari Cooper have patience young one look what happened

Mari Cooper gets traded to a competent team and that's being nice and look what happened he's been the number one wide receiver in fantasy since he joined the Dallas Cowboys regardless of the games

where you would consider he dudded doesn't matter I bet that this stretch is is literally winning people of their fantasy seasons. Amory Cooper is going to coast off of that four-game stretch for the next three years. Disagree. See, you can just keep saying that.

Yeah, I can. It's great. He could have a good year next year, and you'll be like, oh, well, he'll have one strong full season and then nothing else. It was just enough to get the Cowboys a playoff appearance, a loss in the divisional round, extend Jason Garrett and Dak Prescott, and then fuck up their next five years. I'm very excited. You call being the number one wide receiver in the last. league just enough? Yeah, it was just enough to get the...

Yeah, that's exactly what happened. It was just enough. DJ, tortoise in the hair. My guy, Dowlin Cook. So if you were smart enough to either pick up cook, like mid-season, if people dropped him or just hang on to him on your bench, because obviously he was hurt and then didn't do anything

for a good solid chunk of the season. The last four games, he's at 17 points, 19 points, 19 points, and 29 points. He's finally starting to look like himself. They got a new offensive coordinator who wants to run the ball. and going forward, assuming he can stay healthy over the next week, too,

then he could be a guy that just puts up a major point. So I think people who hung on to cook and kind of like weighted it out potentially could be, you know, in the money for that. He was drafted highly too. Yeah.

My last, my tortoise in this race, I wrote down Nick Chubb on this document to mess with you guys. And obviously that's true. My one is Rashad Penny. Holy shit. Rashad Penny is my tortoise. Oh my gosh.

I have not changed my opinion on him. He was drafted on average 80th. That was nuts. But if you picked him up late, if you picked Rashad Penny up late, he might have done you're right. You know? He had a couple big games late,

and I will say that he was not utterly and completely useless as he was in the first eight weeks of the season. Does he lead the Seahawks in yards per carry? I don't know. He may not really care, because Chris Carson is still better. But I'm admitting he was far better down the stretch,

and I might even consider him in 2019. Wow. Thank you. So there you go. It's the friends we made along the way. I'm letting hate out of my heart. New Year, New Me, 2019. Wow.

Don't more hatred. Danny Kelly, what do you think about Rashad Penny next year? How's the Seattle Backfield going to look? I think it's going to be the same. I think they're going to rotate. You think it's Carson Davis Penny? Yeah, yeah. I think Carson's still the lead guy.

I mean, Carson's really good. He's good. We're not ending this podcast on the note of just debating Rashad Pan. All right. Made my Mayacopa. That's all we got. There are your awards. Guys, this was a pleasure.

Yeah, that was fun. Thank you, D.K. Thank you full-time, Craig. Thank you to everyone for listening so much. We really appreciate it. We will be back in January to talk DFS for the playoffs. So please keep an eye out for that. And yeah, thank you, everyone.

See you guys in 2019.