The Ringer NFL Show - Playoff Spots! Get ’Em While They’re Hot (Ep. 207)

Episode Date: December 22, 2017

The Ringer’s Robert Mays and Danny Kelly get you set for NFL Week 16 by discussing which Saints defender could further his case for Defensive Player of the Year this weekend (7:29), why the Cowboys' path to the playoffs is more realistic than people think (12:51), how the Rams and Titans ended up as polar opposites (18:18), and how Jimmy Garoppolo could fare in a tough test against the Jags (31:05). Then, the guys give out Fantasy Football Awards, including the “Mr. Won You Your League Award” (35:36), and decide who your draft day crush will be for 2018 (53:20). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. Before we get started, we'd like to tell you about the Ringer's YouTube channel. Yep, we stepped up our game in 2017 with weekly videos like Cousin Sal's Best Bet, NBA desktop, no BS table reads, directors commentary, and Captain Morgan's Make Believe casino. I love casinos. I was trying to plan a bachelor party to Vegas yesterday, and it's the worst thing I've ever had to do. But I will be very excited when I get to the casino. You don't have to go, though, because you can ride Captain Morgan's Make Believe. There's also a really great NFL show called Slow News Day, featuring our friend Kevin Clark. That is my goal to be on that show. It's like my ultimate life goal. Aim higher, buddy. Seriously, aim higher. I've been there. It's not that great.

I still love the fact that what did you feed him like a grape or something? He missed like six of the grapes. Kevin is a terrible grape catcher. Oh, well. We also have video podcasts in mini movies like Take Hunter, which was hilarious. Ringar 360 and Claytheism. My cab driver this morning. was everything Chris Ryan wants from Take Hunter. I mean, just ripping off some fire Cubs takes is absolutely amazing. Coming in 2018, we also have a weekly video mailbag from Bill Simmons, Mallory

out of a hat. I don't know what that is. I've been very excited about it and a slew of other new digital shows you won't want to miss. Just go to the ringer.com slash video or even better, please subscribe to our channel at YouTube.com slash The Ringer. Welcome to The Ringer NFL show, part of the Ringer podcast network. Robert May is here. No Kevin Clark today.

because he made one too many jokes about Jeff Fisher and the Bears. So my partner in crime for all things week 16 is the ringer's own Danny Kelly. Danny, it's like old times. We're back together on the Friday show. This is awesome. I mean, I've been looking forward to this for sure. It's going to be great. We've got a ton of good stuff to cover about a pivotal week in the NFL,

including a very intriguing test for Jimmy Garoppolo and the Jaguars, the Titans quest to stay alive in the playoff race and a crucial NSE South showdown. Danny is also going to give out his 2017 fantasy football awards. Yes. But first, let's get the time. to our favorite four. These are our top four matchups of the weekend. Danny, the slate is pretty terrible,

to be completely honest with you, after a very excellent and exciting and just implications filled week 15, week 16 has like two good games. We're going to start off with one of them. And that is Falcon Saints. You know, this is a game we saw on Thursday night a couple weeks ago. It's been very recent. I was actually watching it in L.A.

when I was talking to Keenan Allen. I read about Keenan this week if you want to go read on there.com. And just something that Kevin and I talked about it the day after. It was kind of a weird experiment. You know, you think about what are teams going to look like without player X? And often you don't get a chance to see it. And then Alvin Kamara gets hurt on the first drive.

And we're like, oh, the Saints offense isn't that good without Alvin Kamara. I guess we should have known that. I mean, yeah, and they probably, you have to take into the factor that they probably game plan to him into like 30 or 50% of their plays or whatever. And so exactly. It's much easier to lose a guy. If you know, it's like what happened with Tyron Smith against the Falcons. right. It's easier to lose a guy on Thursday than it is to lose a guy on Saturday or one drive into a game.

Yeah. Because then you're just not ready. You haven't put in the stuff you need to in case that person gets hurt. It's why quarterbacks are different when the backup comes in, right? Because it's not their game plan. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, and it's just like you don't get the reps doing it. You have to, you pair down the playbook probably to, I mean, I'm guessing what the Saints is probably like 50% of what they had, you know, coming into the game. And you don't have that many plays coming into a game. So, I mean, that's, that's football. though and then I you know I also think in addition to seeing that you know obviously they're not quite as good with Kamara I thought it was very impressive to see what Ingram was able to do when he just goes carry the load you know he's been Boston this year I think that's been something that you know has not been talked about enough because of how good Kamara has been because the

rookies have made such a huge difference for the Saints I mean fantasy football wise everyone knows Mark Ingram's had a nice year yeah I feel like the conversation about him on just a more gradual general and I NFL basis, he's not being as loud as it should be. I mean, yeah, I actually wrote about that, I think, like, maybe like a month ago or something like that. I didn't see it, so clearly it wasn't as loud as it needed to be. I know, and it was kind of funny just because your point is exactly right. Like, I wrote about Ingram because everyone was talking about Kamara, and believe me, it's not like I think that Kamara's overrated or anything like that. It's all warranted. But I thought,

like, Ingram has just been this rock for them for so long. He's really, I think he's just still really underrated player. I mean, former first round pick, you know, didn't really get a ton of interest on the open market when he became a free agent. So he stayed with the Saints. You know, but he's just been one of the better, more reliable, just solid running backs in the NFL for the, like, the last couple of years. And so I wrote about him to to try and, you know, just say, hey, by the way, like, Kumar's awesome, but this guy's still like a stud too. So, yeah, I absolutely agree. So interesting kind of set of matchups in this game. I think that Dion Jones had such a monster game. the last time these teams played, now he has to deal with Kamara.

You have, on the other side of the, I mean, the same side of the ball, Grady Jarrett was fantastic, you know, the last time these two teams played. You have Larry Warford kind of dealing with that hurt, and he came back to practice yesterday, but he's not been 100%. So that's something to watch. And then I just feel like on the other side of the ball, Atlanta really ran the ball well against the bucks, and the bucks are not good, but you have a Saints run defense, I think, rings 26th in DVOA,

and now Kenny Vaccaro is out for the season. He's been pretty garbage as a past defender this year, but that's why Marcus Williams has been able to sit in the back of the defense, and Vicaro's been much closer to the line of scrimmage. It's been very good against the run. So now you take out a nice piece of that run defense that's already not very good. I feel like, you know, if you got Devante Freeman this week, he could run a muck for you. Yeah.

Vakaro is almost just kind of like a slot corner, almost, isn't he? He plays very close to the line of scrimmage. He's not played deep at all, and he is almost a linebacker at certain times. Yeah, that's true. Because their lineback in core is not good. And AJ Klein's also hurt now. I mean, I think this slowly but surely a Saints defense that had been relatively healthy outside of losing Nick Fairley before the season, you know, starting to lose some pieces, just like every other

team is. Yeah. I didn't actually realize that their run defense was that low. It's pretty bad. I mean, obviously, we talk about their past defense all the time, but, you know, you look at, I mean, I think any time, I think the Falcons want to be balanced, obviously, you know, Matt Ryan had this amazing MVP year last year, and you kind of talk about their past game, but they've always been a pretty good run team too.

And I really loved Tvanta Freeman, man. That guy, just the way he runs, he's so like, I don't know, I'm not going to call him the human joystick, but he definitely moves like, he's so twitchy when he runs. And he's like so elusive in that way. Incredible balance. You know, he has that really just his body type. You look at him, his legs are the size of my waist.

And he's really, it's hard to bring him down. And that's the exact type of running back guy. I usually like, it's very funny because Tavon Coleman is the exact opposite build. usually teams will have a pass catching back or a more general grinded out guy. And so that's why the body types change. But those two are both, you know, that you can handle the low dudes. And they look so different, which I think is fascinating that that front office took both of those guys. But when you look at their past defense, you kind of can piece together why it's been so good.

Crawley's been just defined as an undrafted free agent. Latimore has been the one of the best corners in football. And the other guy I want to talk about as part of kind of a larger conversation here is Cam Jordan. because I think that with what Brady did on Sunday, I think the MVP is done. I think it's sewn up. Defensive player of the year is the exact opposite of that right now. You have four or five guys that have legitimate claims to this,

and I honestly believe that he's one of them. I mean, he's been one of the best defensive players in football this year. He's done it for a team that is going to make the playoffs, and he's done it for a defense that the turnaround has just been absolutely incredible. He has 10 sacks. He does so much for that team. I just feel like he's somebody that we should be talking about a little bit more. In your mind right now, who do you think should be a defense player of year?

Well, I just got done writing about Aaron Donald, so I'm a little bit biased. Yeah, I understand that. But I love Cameron Jordan, too, man. I wrote about him before the year. It kind of the same deal. Like, he's just not a guy that people usually talk about when they talk about some of the best pass rushers in the NFL. I mean, you've got like your set of names that everyone talks about, right? and for Cameron Jordan

most of the time I even get still I get his name wrong like I think it's Jordan Cameron or whatever and so and Cam Hayward was the same draft which is very funny there are a lot of confusing points with Cameron with Cameron Jordan

yeah so he's he's a guy to me when I watch him play it's amazing because he's like his body type is interesting it's like more stout than a lot of 90 pounds the fact that he can roast tackles around the corner is just insane

I mean it's almost unfair yeah so he's got like he's got this amazing club move or cross chop or whatever you want to call it. It's just, you know, devastating. And he's also really physical. Like he can he can just bull rush through you, right? And so he's, he's a very versatile guy. He's kind of a unique player in that sense. Like you don't see, like, you don't see very many guys that, that heavy being a true edge rusher like he is. And so which makes him a really good run defender. I mean, the fact that he's kind of the anchor on the

right side, the left side of the left side of that defensive line for the most part he plays that left end. That's what you need out of that spot. But usually those guys aren't. quite as good as past rushers. That's why Michael Bennett was so good for so long. And that's what Cam Jordan is right now. I mean, he's just a guy who can really play against the run and then also crush a right tackle over the course of the game. I think that Donald is probably the answer.

I mean, I think that his 11 sacks as a defensive tackle, which is crazy. He leads the league in pressures. He has 87, according to pro football focus. Let's be clear about this. He plays defensive tackle. Three tech. This is pretty much a three tech. that should happen.

So I feel like, you know, he's getting the numbers. The Rams are such a story of this season. You could probably have given it to him any time over the last three years. I think this is the year we would make the most sense. Yeah, I know we're talking about Cameron Jordan right now, and believe me, I love this guy, but how many pressures did you say Donald had? 87. So right now, the top edge rusher per PFF.

73, it's Von Miller. 73 from Ron Miller, which is... He's 14 more than than Von Miller. What? Yeah. It's insane. He's not real. He's literally not real.

I don't understand what happens when I watch him. It's like, this doesn't make any sense. Like, space and time do not apply to this human being. So. He's just, and it's another guy that's just like the body type. It doesn't make sense. Like, he's, you know, shorter, stouter dude. But he's just so powerful.

I mean, I watch him just completely destroy the Seahawks. Yeah, it's very fun. So the other guy is the kind of our lingering, you know, Colias Campbell second league in Sacks. He's had an absolutely unbelievable year for kind of the defense that's defined the season. I would not be. be surprised if he won, I would say in a lot of ways. He's probably the frontrunner right now. I mean, I think that, you know, just with kind of the momentum that the Jaguars had built,

another guy very strangely built. I'm not sure if you've ever stood next to Clayas Campbell. He is a massive man. Oh my gosh. $6,800. And I think his ability to go inside out has really been a big part of their pass rush. Because with their nickel package, he's able to slide inside. You bring in Fowler. I mean, that group of guys, and then they're cooking with gas when those four dudes are on the

feel at the same time. It is fun stuff. And then the other guy who somebody mentioned to us on Twitter yesterday, Danny, Chandler Jones has had an amazing year. I mean, that's a guy who's just piled up the sacks. I mean, no, we haven't talked about the Cardinals very often, but he's somebody that has been consistently disruptive for most of the season. He's flown completely under the radar. I mean, I cannot remember the last time people talked about him, honestly.

When he got that contract extension, I mean, really, that's the last Chandler Jones conversation most people have had. Yeah, totally. I mean, he has, and just to go back to our conversation about Cameron Jordan, he has three more pressures than Jordan this year. He has 65 on the year. I mean, he's, I don't know where his stats, or was he leading the NFL in Sacks right now? He is?

Yep, he has 15. So, I mean, it's just, yeah, he's totally flying under the radar right now. He, I talked to Riley, my editor, last week I was talking about Chandler-Johns, and we're talking about maybe breaking him down. I'm like, you know, the Cardinals are out of it at this point. We're kind of trying to focus on, like, the contenders. But I do, like, yeah, Chandler Jones, he needs his due because he's just he's been bawling out and it's also you know i think there's a lot of

people that kind of looked at that trade and like oh is it a good idea for for you know the cardinals to do this and all that because you know there's this sort of reputation like you don't trade with belichick but he's totally lived up to you know everything there and he's been an amazing bass rusher for them so yeah credit there Arizona's fifth and defensive need you go ahead they got some pieces on that side of the ball i mean they're going to be able to be a solid team again before it seems like they should another guy that was definitely in the defense player of the year conversation. I mean,

I think he was probably the favorite for most of the season to me is Bobby Wagner. And that is probably over considering just the fact that he's playing hurt. You know, he played really poorly last week. And now the Seahawks are dealing with Zika Elliott again and the Cowboys running game. So that's the second game we're going to chat about here, Danny. I mean, with that banged up defense, how much are you worried about what the Cowboys can do on the ground?

Well, they're getting KJ. right back this week, which should help. But I'm worried. I mean, it's the way that they played last year, or last week, sorry, it was terrible. I don't know if you guys talked about this on the pod last week, but the Seahawks got a touchdown scored on them on a third and 20 run play. Yeah, that just shouldn't happen. Third and 20 touchdown.

That's only happened one other time since like, I think PFRs play, whatever, index goes back to 1994 or whatever. It's happened one time, Tim Tebow. Tim Tebow scored on a QB draw on a third and 20. I did not expect to hear that name today. I'll be honest with you. That was a nice little wrinkle there, Danny. Yeah, we should go right into our TiVo segment, actually.

It's a perfect transition. Way to set it up. What else aside from, you know, their ability to kind of slow down Zee, considering what happened early last week, what else are you watching for this week? Well, I mean, to me, it's all about what happens with the Seahawks defense from here on out. I mean, like, the Seahawks are essentially out of it. They can still make the playoffs if some crazy stuff happens if they went out and all this. But there's all this talk this week about the changing of the guard.

You know, it's the Legion of Boom over. I mean, it's kind of already been over, frankly, with Richard Sherman and Cam Chancellor out. But is this the time when it's kind of like, you know, a new era in Seahawks football? There's a, there's a question of, does the Seahawks want, do the Seahawks want to keep Sheldon Richardson? I think that's kind of a big question to kind of keep in mind the last couple of weeks. Considering their payroll, I mean, that contract is going to be pretty onerous. If you sign Sheldon Richardson, then you've got to start losing some other dudes. I think signing Sheldon Richardson would seal Richard Sherman's fate in Seattle.

Stuff like that. I mean, at a certain point, there's only so much money. There's no bird rights in the NFL. So right now you've got Sherman is a big question mark next year. Obviously, he's coming off an Achilles injury, and he might not even be ready to start the season. So I don't know what's going on with that. Cliff Averill might retire. It sounds like his neck injury is pretty serious.

Same with Cam Chancellor. He might retire. There's like a big question of that coming up in this offseason. Michael Bennett, I think there's questions of whether they'll keep him. I personally believe they will. I think he's been still a really good player and all that, but he's been battling a knee injury. I think, I mean, he's still like one of the top pressure guys in the NFL. And then from there, you've got, you know, the Earl Thomas feud with Bobby Wagner right now,

just what every Seahawk fan wants to see, by the way. It's like your two favorite players on the team are fighting now on Twitter. Yeah, that's great. It's really good stuff. I mean, it's been a fun season for the Seahawks. Seahawks is a circus. If they lose this week, they're done more or less. I mean, I think they're mathematically probably eliminated from the playoffs.

I think so, yeah. If Dallas wins, Dallas sit in 9 and 6, and with the way the rest of the season could break, things start getting it pretty interesting because Carolina and New Orleans are both 10 and 4. So Carolina still has everything to play for, and probably, until week 17, they will. So if they would be Tampa this week, which I assume they would. So if the New Orleans wins this week and the Carolina loses, then the Carolina has nothing to play for in week 17, I believe.

Because I still think they would make the playoffs as a wild card, even if they lost out. So then you kind of have a situation with Detroit, Atlanta, Dallas. The tiebreakers play in there, right? Atlanta beat both Detroit and the Cowboys. So there are two games ahead. of both of those teams. But Atlanta has New Orleans this week and Carolina next week.

And if Carolina and New Orleans win, that means that the Panthers would still have something to play for. So there's a chance the Falcons could lose out and go 9 and 7. So if Dallas wins out, they would need Detroit to lose one more time. So this is kind of like it is in the AFC right now where the Cowboys, it looks like they're pretty far back, but they absolutely could win these two games and get in based on the opponents of the teams ahead of them.

Wow. And they totally could win these next two games. Who they got in week 17? Sorry, I know you said it already. It's a NFC's team, right? I'm not sure which one. I got the Eagles. At the Eagles.

Eagles. Eagles at Eagles. So that's tough. Yeah. There's a chance, though, that the Eagles have this wrapped up. The one seed. If Minnesota loses again, then the Eagles are the one seed. And I'm not sure what the Minnesota of Philadelphia tiebreakers are.

That that's a little bit too much for me. Dude, all these, all these tiebreakers just, it makes my head hurt. I like because we've been I've done a couple of these segments where we talk about the playoff pictures and I'm going through like all the scenarios like this is it's like a beautiful mind stuff like we talked about it's just crazy I Philly wins there they have it if the Eagles win this week they have it I'm looking at the scenarios right now okay cool yeah and they play the Raiders who are struggling so there's a chance that the Eagles have the one seed and they decide to sit people in week 17 which could open the door for Dallas I mean this is getting real interesting real fast yeah and I'm picking I'm picking the Cowboys this week the C-Ox to me just feel totally out of sorts. I don't blame me, buddy. In the AFC, we kind of have a similar situation. The Titans are sitting there with five losses, but they have the Rams this week. And I have seen nothing, especially last week, that would give me any indication that the Rams are not going to beat the Titans.

We talk about this game a lot in the Tuesday show, but that's showing by the Rams was about as good as you can play an NFL game. I mean, they're getting hot at exactly the right time. And I think these two teams are interesting because you have two kind of, similar modes, right, of building. You draft quarterback in the top two, have that be the centerpiece to your team, go out and get an offensive line with Tennessee. It kind of was there in the basis of what they wanted to do as a team.

With the Rams that came later, but they still spent on John Sullivan, they got Andrew Whitworth, tried to rebuild. Then you go get the past catchers. The Rams did it through a combination of free agency and drafting Cooper Cup, and the Titans did it similar. Top five receiver, go get Eric Decker,

go get Richard Matthews. So you have two teams that really have tried to build their offense in ways that mirror each other in a certain way. And with one of them, it's worked out very well because they use those players correctly. And in the other situation, it's worked out very poorly. And I assume that's kind of what we're going to see on Sunday. Are there two like more different offensive philosophies and schemes right now than the Rams and the Titans? It's just amazing the fact that you have the Rams systematically getting everything they can out of all the players on their team. And you have the

Titans doing literally the opposite of that. I mean, the fact that what, what they do with Mario and I understand trying to protect him and everything else. But if you're John Robinson right now and you're sitting there thinking, what the hell else do I have to do? I mean, that's when coaches lose their jobs. Right. It is when you're sitting there and just understanding you did everything you could to assemble the proper talent on that side of the ball and you've got none of the results. And I've been sort of reading up on fan reactions to the Titans because I wrote an article about Mariotta like a month ago about his struggles and just what's going on with him. And so I didn't kind of just peruse in the, you know, Titans message boards, if you were.

Everyone's really mad because they run like this 1990s offense with, with their like futuristic, whatever, like quote futuristic, you know, like dual threat quarterback who they spent, you know, like you said, a top two pick on. And even if he couldn't run, even if Marcus Mariotta was literally immobile, if he ran like Tom Brady, they would still be using him the wrong way because there's just no sense in having this So like, three personnel constantly pound it for three yards in a cloud of dust thing. When you have a quarterback that's as good in a spread out situation as Marcus Mariotta is. Yeah, and we've seen that.

Like, we've seen them do really well in the up-tempo, no huddle stuff where Mariotta is running the show. You know, he's spreading things out. He's making his own calls at the line, doing the, you know, all the stuff that he did in college, essentially, which he was really, really freaking good at. And I mean, I just, there's always. It seems like, you know, there's this disconnect on, for some teams, just using, like you said, using the players correctly, like maximizing your players' talents.

And it seems like Mariotas, you know, his top thing is doing that hurry up offense, getting into the flow, getting into a rhythm. There's absolutely no rhythm in the Titans' offense right now, by the way, when they're not doing that. It's just like slow, slog. You know, every, and every time they, like, you know, line up and run, like you said, like a 23 personnel or whatever, it just slows it down and takes the rhythm out of the game.

There's many things that I have to quibble about with the Titans' offense, just the fact they don't use Derek Henry enough and all this other stuff. When I was doing my research, it could have changed the last month. I haven't checked up on these numbers, but they were like the, Marriota is one of the best players in the NFL in play action passing, and they're just like middle of the road as a play action passing team. It's like, do they not look at the stats? Like, use your players for what they're best at, man.

By the way, guess who runs a lot of play action passes. The Rams. Yeah, so. It's a very nice tool to help your quarterback, and the Titans seem to not care about that. It's just, I don't get it, man. I just don't get it. So, yeah, it's weird.

They're, you know, they're sticking to this scheme, I think that Malarkey wants to run or whoever, Robiski or whatever. This is all my Malarkey, baby. Terry Robisky is a former wide receivers coach. Okay, so, yeah, we'll say Malarkey. I don't think he has any interest in this. We'll say Malarkey.

But yeah, I mean, it's just the other thing I found when I was just researching Marriota is that they like almost always pass when they're in shotgun. So it's a huge tell. It's like 85%. It's like a high school team. It's crazy. It's like my team in like whatever year, the 2005 was the last year I played football. That's what we did. We never ran the ball on shotgun.

I mean, it's just unbelievable that you would have those sort of indicators for an NFL team. Guess you, the Patriots line up with a full back on 27% of their snaps. They throw it on 50% of those plays. This is not hard. Exactly. Okay, so DeMarco Murray is not good running out of shotgun. That's fine. Maybe try using Henry or whatever.

Exactly. You drafted a running back in the second round. Who gives a shit if DeMarco Murray is poor out of the shotgun? Yeah. It's a very frustrating team. And I think they're going to lose this weekend. I think they're going to miss the playoffs. I really do.

And I'm kind of praying for it. because watching the Chargers, God. Oh, yeah, totally. They got the Rams this week and the Jags next week, so that's not a need to have to have. Wow. They could totally miss the playoffs. Wow. I really hope they do.

I'm sorry. I just do not want to watch this team in a meaningful game. All right. Let's get to the other team that may fall out of the AFC playoff race because of the Chargers and because of poor decisions. Bill's at Patriots, this just feels like a game of Patriots are going to win. You know, they still have Pittsburgh nipping at their heels. They have the same record.

You know, there's a lot, ton of urgency with this team. I feel like, you know, their entire stable of guys, the bills don't really have much of a shot. So instead of breaking this down, which wouldn't really make sense, I kind of want to talk about Tyrault and the pending quarterback carousel that may exist this offseason. For the most part, I think especially this year, for the teams that mattered and the quarterbacks that mattered, everything was pretty set. You know, you had most teams had a quarterback. that was their guy.

I mean, most teams have gone out either drafts of a quarterback or signed one recently. So you had very few teams that were in the market for a quarterback before the season, you know, San Francisco, the Bears. And then now, that's changing. You know, Kirk Cousin's a free agent, Washington, Blake, cannot franchise him essentially. Right. And is now considering signing him to a long-term deal.

Eli Manning may get caught by the Giants. I feel like it might be the prudent thing for the Giants to do that. Blake Portles has his $19 million option that no one thought was going to get picked up. And if it doesn't, he's a free agent. Tyra Taylor is not going to be on the bills next year. So you have a lot of guys kind of floating around here that could change teams. Case Keenham is another one. San Bradford is also a free agent.

So if you're looking at this, who among that group, maybe in the non-cousons division, intrigues you the most and where would you like to see them when? Oh, man. Well, I've been really impressed with Keenom. I'll say that. Yeah, he's been great. And I think he's definitely revived. sort of hit one number one obviously he's revived his market but like he's he's sort of in the same cousin's boat for me like i did not believe in him

for maybe like the first half of the year and i was just like okay when is this gonna you know kind of when's when is he going to turn back into a pumpkin kind of thing but i really i do think he's a good player like the way he moves around in the pocket has been really impressive he's tough he's you know he's he's mobile and yeah so he's he's he's super intriguing to me but i mean it's still tie rod for me like you know, I just, it's, you know, we've talked about it several times. It's just terrible the way that he's kind of been, like, managed this year, like the benching and all that, like in Buffalo, like put him on a team that wants him, first of all, and, like, has a plan to use him.

And I think that would be really, really interesting. I still think he's a very good quarterback. You know, he's not, I'm not saying he's like a top 10 guy, but like it's, there's a lot of teams that want, like, a top 15 quarterback right now. Yeah, I totally agree. I'm just not sure where kind of these dominoes are going to fall. Let's think about Arizona. They have $16 million in Cap Room right now for next season.

If they caught Carson Palmer, which you could see happening, they get up to $30 million. It's still not a lot of money for what cousins can demand in the open market. I feel like that's a logical destination for him in terms of fit, but it's not a logical destination in terms of money. So where does he go? What team needs Kirk Cousins? Because the Niners are signing Garoppola. I mean, we'll talk about that in a second. but that's happening.

So that was one of just the teams on the table, and now that's off. So if you're Washington, why wouldn't you just try to come to a long-term decision with him because he's not going to have the robust market we thought he might before the season, and you desperately need a quarterback. So it just feels like that would be where this all ends up. But if you're Kirk Cousins, do you really want to go back to the team that never wanted you? It's just there's a lot of factors in play here. I wonder if Denver will get involved in the Kirk Cousin's sweepstakes.

I think they're the other one. close enough where he would definitely make sense there. But then again, we get into money. The Broncos have a very good defense for a reason. They're like your team. Everybody on that defense that contributes, more or less, is on a second contract. They have $20 million in cap room going into next season right now. And who would you get rid of?

You can save $11 million by cutting to lead, but they don't want to do that. No. You can, I mean, every other contract on that team, more or less has been signed recently enough that you're not going to save much. The other guy is Bradley Robe. He's on his fifth year deal. Do you really want to lose that? That's why you're good.

So eventually you have to choose, and it's not going to be a fun choice. Man. Yeah, that's going to be so interesting this whole quarterback carousel. And I think that with Tyrod and Cousins, I mean, those are the two names that I find the most intriguing. If I'm Minnesota, and you know who the other guy is in this? We haven't even mentioned, Teddy Bridgewater. Right, right. I mean, that's just another kind of wrench in this.

If I'm the Vikings, I understand the feelings about Teddy, right? But I also understand that you probably shouldn't break up what you have going right now. Yeah. I just feel like trying to figure out what it would take to keep Keenum is the smart decision because this is working. At a certain point, this isn't catching lightning in a bottle. This is just what your offense is. So I think that's going to be very, it's going to be fascinating.

The Vikings strangely have $57 million in cap space next year. What? Yep. I mean, that's unbelievable. And again, it's because all of their stars on defense just do not make very much money. Yeah. I mean, the fact that you have Everson Griffin 11.6 is just patently insane. So your bar needs a long-term extension.

You're going to cut Shreve Floyd next year, so that saves you $7 million. They've got a lot of cash to throw around my man. So they absolutely could pay whatever they needed for Keenum. I like the idea of, in theory, of keeping Keenum, because, like you said, it's working. just the way that he has, number one, he seems to have a great chemistry with Thielen. He still knows how you get the ball to digs. Just the way that he operates within that scheme just makes so much sense. We've seen so many times if you take one variable out of an offense, even if it's like,

even if they ran the same offense next year with a different quarterback, it could be completely different. You know what I mean? Totally. And he does a great job of extending plays for them. Yeah. fact that their offensive line isn't fantastic in past protection. You know, Remers is,

we've seen him get roasted before, he's been hurt out and off. Rief is fine. He's not a great left tackle. You don't notice that stuff with Keenham. He does such a good job. He runs into pressure sometimes because he gets very skittish and just kind of frantic in the pocket. Not in a bad way,

but he moves a lot. So there's never, he's going to run into his own pressure, but there are just as many times where he slips out of plays. And that's a factor that's just impossible to replicate. It's what happens with Tyrod in Buffalo. It's what happened with Wents in Philadelphia. That's the type of stuff where we don't know how

our offense could function without it because these are very rare quarterbacks. Yeah, he's the guy, and when I sort of alluded to it a little bit earlier, it's like, the thing that made me sort of a believer in Keenham is watching a couple plays where, and we've talked about how pressure is related to the quarterback a lot of time. Like pressure rate is related to the quarterback and what he does when you get a press rusher in your face. And I saw a couple just a couple different times sliding in the pocket. It's like a Drew Breeze, a Drew Breeze slide in the pocket to me. make a throw. And I'm not saying he's Drew Brees, but to me, that was super impressive. I totally

agree. He's very good at finding space. All right, buddy, cover all the big time matchups with actual playoff implications. Let's get to what we're missing this week. And for me, that is a game that did not look that intriguing before the season, but San Francisco and Jacksonville, I'm going to watch this game and I'm going to enjoy it. Jimmy Garoppolo playing against that secondary, and I feel like it's not an accident we've seen from San Francisco the last few weeks. Now, they still, still are completely devoid of talent on that side of the ball. And Garapo has been so good that they've strong together a couple wins. They look like a real team.

I'm not sure if everybody's seen it, but the NFL turning point video of Garapolo from the two-minute drill is just fascinating. So the way that they kind of structured is that they show you them kicking the winning field goal, and then they go back to Garapolo talking to his quarterback's coach on the sideline and talking about every scenario that could happen in the two-minute drill. You see him talking to Trent Taylor and Marquis going about how they should bend their routes, same with George Kittle. And then they show you each individual play.

Everything the Caropoulos said was going to happen, happens. And you can't watch that and not just be extremely excited for what that guy is going to look like with Shanahan and a team that has $116 million in cap room. I mean, this is, the trade is a 800-foot home run. And they have everything to work with. I mean, this is a situation where they could pay him $20 million a year and still have $100 million in cap space. Oh, my God. Why is it always happening in the NFC West, man? I'm really sorry, buddy.

So I just want to see him against that defense. I mean, it's the best past defense in the league. You know, again, they're outmanned. Well, Marksie's Goodwin has been a very fun story, but I watched Jalen Ramsey, you know, handle Jondry Hopkins for most of the last week. Right. So, but it's still just one of those things where it's going to be,

you know, Shanahan going against what has been a really well-schemed Jacksonville defense all year. So there's just a fun matchup. I mean, it's just, again, I think, one that will matter more in 2018 than it does in 2017, but Garoppolo for me has just been kind of appointment viewing. I mean, one, he's just so handsome. And two, I mean, it has really settled into that offense quickly and just kind of seamlessly. Yeah.

I think you have to go into this game with the expectations that he could struggle. I mean, like, absolutely. Basically every quarterback has against the Jaguars this year. But how he struggles and kind of what kind of answers they try to find. Yeah. That's the part that interests me. I don't expect him to go out there and, you know, complete 70% of his passes and throw for 280 and two touchdowns.

But just kind of how he reacts to that defense is something I'm going to be interested in. So back to that, that turning point segment, that was so cool how they filmed that. It was like sort of, you know, like the- It's a great show. It was like directed really well because they did this running like no-cut shot where they did the whole,

the full like two-minute drill or whatever, where they didn't ever cut. They just showed it from the end zone view, like literally in your read two scene yeah you're right it was so cool it was like you know the opening there's like a million examples of like the running shot where they just go but i was just thinking of like the opening to that the james bond film where it's just like you follow them around it was like just like there's going to the ring scene in raging bull yeah a lot of those good fellas yeah there's a lot of them i know i have that was like the worst example i could have given but you know

it was not a good one but i appreciate your effort that's where my mind went for some reason but yeah i'm sticking with the score saying movies with the shots. Hey, look, I don't have a lot of movie class, all right, buddy. So, but yeah, that was great. I loved that. And it was kind of like a good inside football type of thing where you see how,

how calm he was. Yeah. It was just like, it was no big deal. It was like he was at practice. It was crazy. Yeah, it was really remarkable. All right, Danny, coming up, you're going to reveal your fantasy football awards for 2017, including your MVP,

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That's mybooky.ag. You play, you win, you get paid. All right, Danny, it's week 16, which means one thing, it's fantasy championship time, baby. We're assuming that most of you, if you're playing for the title, you've got the sort of strong,

stable roster that all of us kind of crave. So instead of doing out fantasy advice today, we're going to hand out some season long fantasy football awards. And let's start it off with the headliner, Danny. Mr. One You Your League Award, aka the fantasy MVP, who are you going with? Todd Gurley, man.

I mean, at least in my league, and this is a PPR thing, but he's the number one score. I mean, you got to go with the guy who basically just, he was unstoppable all year long. He's a great running back out of the backfield. And remember we were talking about how the Rams had ruined him? Like, he's one of the best players in the NFL at this point. He had 1187, I mean, there got two games left. He's already got 1187 yards, 13 touchdowns, 54 catches for four in four touchdowns through the air. I mean, he's just ridiculous.

I went back and looked up some of the average draft position and everything before the year. His ADP for the consensus rankings was 16th, and he was running back 10, and he's the top scoring player in the league. I feel like that's a great answer. I think that the past catching is very interesting to me because at the beginning of the season, he rushed, he had 19 carries for 40 yards in week one. And then in week five, he had 3.07 yards per carry against Seattle. Yeah. I think that what made it so interesting to me is that in those first few games, in the first game, he caught five passes or 56 yards.

In the game before that, he caught seven for 94 against Dallas. I think catching the passes for running backs in a lot of ways is similar to a cold. If you can't run the ball, if you're struggling, I feel like catching pass out of the backfield is the same for running backs as it is for a three-point shooter that's cold and shoots a free throw. Just watching the ball go in matters. And I think McVeigh's willingness and kind of creativity in how they used Gurley and just getting him in space,

making him just kind of feel like there was room. I think that's paying off now. I feel like it's been a fascinating kind of just assembling of his touches and figuring out how to get him going. There's a reason this guy's the coach of the year. Yeah, I totally subscribe to that fact, too, just the idea of getting a guy. It's hard to measure this, obviously.

It's impossible to measure this. But getting a guy into the flow of the game is so important. I think it's just, I don't know how to, you know, I don't know how to explain that. It's just like you get, It's like you're getting your second wind almost. Like when you're, you know, when you first start out running, like you feel like hell for like the first 10 minutes. But then you get into the like that second wind, that flow.

And I think it's, I think it's important. I think it just gets, you know, gets a guy into the mindset and in the physical, you know, just the physical peak of where you want to be. Yeah, I totally agree. My answer for this is Alvin Kamara. I know that Todd Groh is number one player was the 10th running back selected. Alva Chmara was the 54th running back selected. God, that's crazy. I, yeah.

He was a throw-in pick up for a lot of people. Didn't get drafted a lot. I mean, he did in my, he did in my keeper league because there's a rookie draft. So I think he went ninth overall or something like that. But for the most part, he's a guy you've got to gotten in a week two. You know, I drafted him in my college league, and that's probably why I'm going to win the league. But in very few weeks, do I think he was drafted any higher than the second or third to last round? All right, Danny.

Let's get to the Mr. Disappointment Award. So the other side of the coin here. Who's the guy that just... torpedoed the teams that drafted him. Well, I think there, I don't know if he torpedoed necessarily, but Mike Evans really did not live up to what I think a lot of people were expecting it. I thought he's going to have a monster year. Yeah.

And I mean, in terms of just like where he was last year, touchdowns and, and just like just a crazy target rate and all this, he really has struggled this year. I mean, he's got, right now he's got 60 catches for 839 yards and five scores. Last year he had 12 catches. He had 12 touchdowns, you mean? For people expecting him to be like their bell cow receiver or whatever and like the guy who wins them every week, he really didn't. It just didn't happen.

If you had told me that Mike Evans could have five touchdown catches or 15 touchdown catches this year, I would have picked 15. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I thought he'd be the number one receiver. Like just the way they were feeding him. Yep. It was all about targets. Even with Sean, you figured he was not going to fall off that much. So I agree.

Is there anybody else that's in that conversation for you? There's an honorable mention. We had to mention. Amari Cooper who... Good Lord. His average draft position was 21st. Like, wide receiver 9. Trust me.

I took him in the ring of league. I know. Stupid. He has... He's got 42 catches for 499 yards and five scores. And that five scores, I mean, that's... It doesn't even indicate how bad he's been. He had three of him at one game, didn't he?

Yeah, exactly. Or two. Whatever it was. There's too many. What, he had like 20 targets in one game, and then he's been like 19 targets in two touchdowns in one game. game and then like every other game has been pretty bad. Danny, I have a controversial opinion.

Todd Downing might not know what he's doing. They've got to make it change on that offense, man. They got too much talent to be that bad. We'll see if they stick with him. I mean, I think that again, it's your first year, call in plays is a whole different beast. I think we saw that. My Mr. Disappointment is Matt Ryan.

Yeah. I mean, this is my own personal pain, but I traded the ninth overall pick in the rookie draft for Matt Ryan, which at the time was a coup and the ninth overall pick end up being Alvin Camara. So it's the way our league is structured. Matt Ryan for six bucks was much more valuable to me, but it's still just one of those things.

We're like, oh, my God, I can't believe that happened. I mean, he's a quarterback 16 on the season. He was drafted as the third overall quarterback. So, I mean,

he's a guy that you did not get any ROI on. All right. Mr. Dependable Award, Danny, who is the guy that just did not have any off days this year? Well, I mean,

you just got to go with Levi on Bell. I mean, that guy has been. Just a war course. I think he's got the most carries in the NFL this year. Considering it's 25 a game, I would hope so. He's got 1222 yards rushing eight touchdowns plus 80 catches for 627 yards and two touchdowns. If you're in a PPR league, which I generally base most of my analysis on PPR leagues because I think they're way better.

But yeah, I mean, if you're in a PPR league, he's just not had a bad day at the office. Yeah, I totally agree. I think that the other guy who this guy's your honorable mentioned, Deandra Hopkins is right there too. And again, this is about workload. I mean, the amount of targets he's received this season is just incredible. I mean, he's going to get it done. I think that, you know, that's happening with Jacksonville, right? Four catches, but he had 13 targets.

So, I mean, that's against the Jags, even that's going to work. He's going to catch a third of his passes, but it's going to be for 80 yards and a touchdown. He's 168 targets. Yeah, I mean, he's number one in the league probably now, right, after Brown was got hurt. Yeah. Yeah. So, well, it's not, he's not first right now, but he probably will. be. He will be because Tony Brown was going to get it, but I think Hopkins will now.

A guy, you know, he had a couple bad days, but was much more consistent than you might think. It was Marvin Jones. I feel like he's just somebody that we should mention in a fantasy way this year. I mean, he's one of the receivers you probably felt best starting. He's sixth in receiver scoring since thereby in week seven. He's had two, he said one game with less than six point four fantasy points. I mean, he's going to get you 65 yards in a game more or less. He's got two games at least 20, four games and double digits. I mean, he's been somebody that has been just a consistent contributor for a huge portion of the season. And he's somebody you could have gotten pretty cheap. Absolutely. I mean, not to plug my own brand here or whatever, but he was a dark

night early on in the year. I can't remember what week it was, but it was still a legitimate dark night pick back then. And now it's like you look at it. It's like, it's laughable that that was even like a sleeper because he's just been so, you know, dependable. Yeah, plug and play. All right, Mr. Will he or won't he, Danny? Who is the inconsistency award winner for the year? Well, there's two guys that kind of tied for this, and I had both of these guys on different teams this year, and so it was super frustrating.

But Stefan Diggs and T.Y. Hilton were both really, really hit or miss. And, you know, it was like one of those things where it got even to the point where it's like, do you even start these guys, even though they could have a huge game, and they did a couple of times during the year. I think the Diggs injury really threw him off. He was playing very well, and I think that he's just the guy who's going to get dinged

up over the course of a season. It's going to be really hard to rely on. Hilton is the type of guy that you're going to be able to get for the right price next year. Because Andrew Luck will likely be back, you know, even if it's not, if it's 90% Andrew luck. Hilton's going to be like, Hilton next year is going to be like DeAndre Hopkins this year. I think the targets won't be there, but he's a guy that because he had a down season, you'll be able to get him at a discount.

So for Hilton, week eight, nine and ten, here, okay, well, I'm going to expand it from week seven through 10, six to 10, here you go. week six one catch 19 yards week seven two catches 27 yards week eight two catches 15 yards week nine five for 175 it's like damn it in the week and sorry week five before that he had seven for 175 that's too a hell man i mean especially with their quarterback play this year that's how it's going to go all right so the david johnson award for the least convenient injury dan i how many teams how many people were going to have Dachan Watson just lead them to championships this year. Oh my god, that would have been so sad. I get as a Dianner Hopkins owner, it was also sad for me.

I knew the beauty of Dachan. God, he was on such a tear. It was incredible. Like 19 touchdowns in like, I don't know how many five or six games or whatever. It was ridiculous. And so when he got hurt, I think that derailed a lot of people who were probably on their way to winning their league. And so, I mean, obviously the David Johnson thing, people picked him really early and that didn't work out. But for me, it was like Watson was, he was just like on an unbelievable tear. You couldn't, like, you couldn't imagine. So that would, that, that sucked for a lot of people. I'm going with David Johnson because the award is named after David Johnson. He was 80.1. I'm very sad about it. David Johnson was average draft position was one. Yep. Trust me. I spent the most money out of my

college auction one week without him. Luckily I had Ingram and Kamar, so it was fine. All right. The ageless wonder award, Danny, the guy who just should not be doing what he's doing right now. I mean, he stick with Larry Fitzgerald, man. He's just, he just never seems to age. There's like a running joke in our slack about how he's got just, uh, all he derives all his power from his rump. Let's say that. Yeah. It's true. Larry Fitzgerald's definitely the type of guy that has a portrait of him in his attic. And like, if you ever stole it, he would instantly die. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I don't know. What is he? Like, 34? What is he? Larry Fitzgerald could be 60. I wrote a story about Keenan Allen this week where Keenan Allen was watching Larry Fitzgerald in high school. Oh my God. Yeah. A man is not young. I'm trying to figure out how old he is. It doesn't even matter.

There's a thing that is called Google is fantastic. You just type somebody's name in and it shows you. I just did it two seconds later. Larry Fitzgerald is 34 years old. 34. All right. All right. So 34 years old. 92 catches. 982 yards, five touchdowns. I mean, we're not talking like Jerry Rice or whatever, but that's damn impressive at 34 years old. He's the type of guy you can get just for less than you should every single year because no one was ever like, yes, I have Larry Fitzgerald. It's not 2008 anymore.

It's just not a fun person to draft, but he always gives you something. Yeah, everyone's thinking it's like, oh, he can't do it again. And he did it with like a mixture of Carson Palmer early and then like Drew Stanton, Blaine Gabbard. I'm going to go with Brady Oh yeah that's a good one Brady's 40 That's a good one

He was the third number three quarterback this year And may finish the year as number one So I forgot about that guy Yeah he's pretty good All right the breakout stud award Danny Well I mean this is obvious And this was your MVP Alvin Kamara I mean he was

The way the rate at which he was scoring I mean he was averaging like Eight yards of carry for a while there like it was just unbelievable. Right now he's got 652 yards, seven touchdowns, 6.6 yards for attempt, yards for carry. 68 catches, 684 yards, and five touchdowns.

I mean, he's just been unbelievable. He's actually probably, you know, to be honest, he's probably a better pick for Mr. One Year League Award just because, like he said, no one was picking him early. And he's just blown up. Yeah, it's been just remarkable. I mean, how he can change a game on any single play,

just the fact that there are almost no negative plays with Alvin Kamara. Right. And again, with guys that are such big play options, you'd assume that's a little boom or bust, but there's never a negative play with Kamara. I mean, he just always seems to get more out of a run than he should. And with his body type and how well he catches the ball is,

it's not even fair. Yeah, absolutely. There's one honorable mention for me, and that's Dealin. I want to just mention him at some point in this award show. Yeah, 100%. Because he's just been amazing. I think he started out, there's always sort of the impression people get, I think, from like white receivers and blah, blah, blah. It's like, you know, that they're,

you know, possession receiver or whatever, like all these different verbs and stuff that we use and adverbs that we use for white guys. But he's just been amazing, man. Like, he's, he's been one of the best deep threats in the NFL. And he makes insane catches, like one-handed grabs, like behind him, all this stuff. Like, I just been really impressed with him. I think he's, I mean, if he's not already, he's well on his way to being one of the best receivers in the NFL. Full stop. He's one of the best receivers in the NFL. I mean, he's, That is just, there's no qualifications necessary anymore. I said that when he had that huge game against Washington, people were just like, really?

One of the better? Yes. I don't name me 10 better. Like, you can't do it. So, no, I'm good, man. I'll take Adam Thie want to be cool with it. My guy's Karim Haunt. You know, I know that he had a couple down games, but, you know, his trajectory of the season is kind of what you want from a fantasy player.

Gets you head in the standings early with a couple monster games, you know, maybe lags a little bit in the middle of the season, and then he's killing it for you in the playoffs. So, I mean, he's a guy that even if you stuck with him, you got rewarded. I mean, he's still somebody that's in the top five among running backs and scoring and any sort of fantasy designation, and he's going to be around next year too. I mean, he's just a very good player. I considered Hunt for the Will He Won't He Award at first? At first.

But then I went and looked. I mean, he was actually, he was a very high floor guy. Like, I want to say in my league, and I had him in my league, and I stuck with him all here, but I don't think he had like one or two games where he scored under 10 points in PPR. Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, that's the kind of guy you need plus the high upside. Right, exactly. So, yeah, that's why I didn't make him in that award, because I think my impression was

wrong. He just, he's been consistent. All right, Danny, the best early season fake out, what you got? I'm going with Tariq Cohen for, you know, the bears, obviously early on in the year. There was this mad grab to go get him after the first week. He had 66 yards rushing. and eight catches for 47 yards on a touchdown. I mean, they were just using him all over the place.

It was great. He had a good second week, and then they basically decided they didn't want to use them anymore, which I don't understand. Maybe you can explain that to me. No, I can't explain anything about my team. I hate my team. I love it. The other guy that we should probably throw out there is Mike Gillisley,

and he had that huge first week, and I was kind of dancing on people's graves with our prediction before the year that he had a huge seat. season and then just went away from him. I think that the Patriots just really like their flexibility at running back with the other three guys. I mean, they're so interchangeable. You can line up those guys wide, everything else, and there just seems to be no reason for them to not have Burkhead as a goal lineback when he can do so many other things. You think about that touchdown he scored against Miami, we're motioned into the slot, and they had him wind up on a linebacker. He can't do that with Gilseley.

So I think they just like the malleability with the other three guys, and that's left gillously just as the odd man out. Yeah, yeah. It's a bummer because I have him in our ringer league. and Claire and I were really excited. Yeah, understandably so. But that didn't work out. The draft day move you wish you'd made, Danny. So this is, I mean, this is a well-established sort of strategy

as to wait and draft a quarterback late and just go with your, you know, get your skill guys early and get the receivers and big volume running backs, blah, blah, blah. I wish I would have done all that and then just throw in like a last round pick on Carson Wentz. And I would have been in the money because, I mean, obviously his rookie year was terrible, Well, not many people. I think we're picking him. You know, and so he just went on a tear this year.

Obviously now, I guess it's a little bit different, but you could probably stream some other quarterback at this point. But he's the kind of guy that could get you into like the top three or four in your league. 100%. Mine was the one of the high school keeper league. He was one of the few guys out there in the auction that I was just like, yes, I want him on my team. And the money just didn't work out at the end.

He just didn't have enough left over. He went too late. It was very, very sad. All right. What is the draft name? move you wish you hadn't made, Danny. And I did this. I wish I hadn't drafted Jordy Nelson really early.

Understandable. That's a little bit different, though, because that's not your fault. There's nothing you can do to predict that. Right, right. I mean, everything kind of indicated he would have a good year, right? Like, he led the NFL, tied the NFL for lead in touchdowns last year. And then, you know, of course, Aaron Rogers got hurt, and then he was not a part of the offense anymore.

He's got 50 catches, 471 yards, and six touchdown. And I guess probably six of those were when Aaron Rogers was that quarterback. So I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing that. Yeah, that most likely true. Mine's Jordan Reed. I just feel like I thought he'd be healthy and it just, it did not work out. I mean, it's kind of a miserable season. All right.

Before we get out of here with this, Danny, who is your surprise crush for 2018, the guy you did not know that you would be comforting for next year? I'm going with Chris Thompson for the Redskins. I mean, coming into the year, coming into the year, he was buried on the depth chart. I mean, as far as we were concerned, like, he just wasn't going to be a huge factor. But he proved that not only like he was, you know, he's explosive as a runner and they utilized him a little bit, but like he was a crazy good X factor as a receiver. I mean, he went off for a couple weeks that he was really healthy there.

I don't know where he's going to be next year in terms of drafts. It's going to be interesting to see because, number one, obviously you have the worry that sort of the injury thing is going to be like a factor. But, I mean, he has that Kamara sort of style where he's like, unstoppable in the open field. Like, he's so elusive. So he was the kind of guy that I'm like, man, because I really liked him at Florida State too. I was like, man, this guy's really, really freaking fast and elusive.

And so it's been cool to see him kind of turn into like a real threat in the NFL. I'm going with Kenyon Drake. I just think that the last few weeks he's been so good. I mean, the fact that he's gotten a bigger role with the Jaiy gone. Every time he touches the ball, I like what happens. I just feel like he's, dude that needed more touches, needed a bigger look. And now that he's gotten it,

I think he's really intriguing. All right, Danny, before we close out the year with fantasy, let's cue the music. Who is your Dark Night for Week 16? Don't-to-Dun. Go with Martavis Bryant-Teeleers this week. It's a boomer. It's boomer bust. I mean, he is a boomer-buss player.

But with Antonio Brown out, I think that they got to, you know, they're still, like you said, they're still playing hard. They got to get that two seed. And so I think they're going to still play hard and use all their guys. I think that probably Bell will get a little bit more use in the passing game but I mean the way he's played lately it's encouraging and he's had he's actually had 28 targets in the last four games so I mean they're they're targeting him Rathesburg is looking for him so that one-hand catch in the end zone

was really impressive I mean he's still got that that deep home run speed so I'm kind of going with him I mean he's the kind of guy that could be still out there for some people I don't know how many how many leagues he's still available in but he's a lot more available than a lot of the guys that were options. Yeah, I totally agree. And I think that it's going to be interesting who you want between him and Juju. Right.

So I like Juju this week. I'm starting him over Golden Tate. I just feel like he's the guy that could have a huge game. So I, yeah, one of those two Steelers receivers, I think could be a sneaky, valuable play if you're playing for the championship this week. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I would pick Juju over him.

I agree with you on that one. I don't think he's, he's not nearly. he's not nearly as like dark nighty or widely available. Of course, absolutely. But I just think that, you know,

he's a guy that not a lot of people would probably think could swing championship games and he's somebody that could have 20 points next week easily. I mean, the Texas past defense is straight garbage. Oh, right. And yeah,

that's another thing is like that matchup is pretty juicy. So, yeah, that's a reason. All right, Danny, before we get out of here, every Friday,

we predict next week's biggest headlines. Why don't you start us off? All right. So I don't know if there's going to be like a biggest headline. This is what I'm interested in. And I'm going to make it a headline. perhaps. Carolina's run game improvement makes them like a legit Super Bowl contender. This is the most Danny next week's biggest headline that's ever happened. I'm so, so happy.

This is great. Really just strong with the branding here, buddy. I'm new at this whole next week headline thing. I don't know. I'm not a wily veteran like you guys. But just if you look at what Carolina's done in their rush attack over like the last, in the second half of the year, essentially, I saw this stat for a NFL matchup this morning actually. in weeks 1 through 8, they were 29th in the NFL in yards before contact. And since in week 8 through 15, they're first in the NFL in yards before contact. Like they've figured it out in their run game. Obviously, Jonathan Stewart has been a big factor.

They're getting Cam Newton a lot more involved in the run game. It seems like he's like been more of a factor there. And then obviously McCaffrey, kind of that X-Factor guy that can run and play in the passing game. So whatever it is, this Panthers team, feels more like a Panthers team of old because their offense can just like, I mean, it is the, it's the keep pounding thing for them. They can just pound the football. I think that's a huge part of what they've been able to do. And I think that finding the roles for those individual guys has been so paramount.

And knowing that, you know, McAfre is more of a supplemental piece. And, you know, Stewart's really going to be the guy who carries the load. I think that's been really important for them. I'm going to go with something that, you know, the kernels of it began last week. And I think that it's going to be fully formed by the time Monday rolls around. your Los Angeles Rams NFC favorites I think that if they just beat up the Titans

then we're going to start talking about them as the team to beat because they've looked so good recently they're healthy everything just kind of coming to a point at the right time I know they had that game against Minnesota recently but I just think that they're really starting to roll when you want to start rolling I just think that right now and that game's one more high profile of the weekend

it just feels like another stopping you could have people talking about them in a way that they still aren't willing to. I think it's a great point that they're getting hot at the right time. To me, like, when they play in all three phases, is there another team in the NFL right now that is more of a buzzsaw than the Rams? Jacksonville. Jacksonville defense.

If you look, that's true, and if Bortles plays how he's playing, they're playing. I think that's the other one. I feel they've kind of mirrored each other in interesting ways, but I think Jacksonville's defense make them the definition of a bussaw. I think the Rams are just a good team. You know, I think they're just a very complete team that can beat. you thoroughly and in every single way. I think Jacksonville is one of those that the spin,

just like what they can do and just the volatility of that defense is what makes them so dangerous and intriguing. I think that's fair. I'm going to read, I'm going to read off a few scores from the Rams season this year. Week one, they beat the Colts 46 to 9. Week 7, they beat the Cardinals 33 to nothing. Week 9, they beat the Giants 51 to 17. Week 10, they beat the Texans 33 to 7. And then last week, obviously they've destroyed the Seahawks

who had just beaten the Eagles. So I don't know, man. I definitely see what you're saying about the Jaguars. But when this team is on, they just freaking destroy people. It's crazy. Oh, no.

I think they're more dangerous than the Jaguars are. But I think they're just a good team. The Jags are a buzzsaw because they're just so much volatility there. I think that the Rams are just a better team

than most of the guys they play against. I mean, those stats you just listed, I'll give you two more. Those numbers lead to the Los Angeles Rams having the best scoring differential in the NFL, plus 166. And if you go by something else, this little thing we like to call DVOA, they are number one. So it's just like there's nothing sneaky good about the Rams anymore. They're just good. Yeah.

I mean, that's where we are now. I mean, there's nothing like, oh, if they catch you on the right day, if they catch you on any day, it's probably going to be an issue. Oh, man, they're so impressive. I'm so sorry for your division. I really am. I really apologize that now you have to do with McVeigh and Shanahan and Garoppolo for like the next 10 years. All right. Lovely. That's all we got for today. We'll be back next week. Please enjoy Week 16. As always, thanks for listening to the Ringer NFL show on the Ringer Podcast Network.