The Ringer NFL Show - Super Bowl DFS and Celeb Sightings From Miami | The Dantasy Football Podcast

Episode Date: January 31, 2020

DK and Craig touch on the array of athletes and celebrity sightings from radio row in Miami before we talk about which players we like in the Super Bowl for daily fantasy and, more importantly, why we like them. We discuss things like Mahomes inside and outside the pocket, how the Chiefs utilize Travis Kelce, Jimmy Garoppolo’s passing outlook, and more. Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Liz Kelly and welcome to the Ringer Podcast Network. This Wednesday on the site, we are releasing our 2020 NFL draft guide, where you can find all things draft related leading up to the first round on April 23rd, including scouting reports on each prospect by Danny Kelly and much more. We'll be updating it regularly with new analysis that takes all the latest developments into account. You can check that out on Wednesday on the ringer.com. You can see the Dantasy football podcast on the Ringer NFL show on the Ringer podcast network. My name is Danny Hyphids, and I'm joined as always by my co-host and my co-Danny,

the hero we need and the analyst we deserve, the Dark Knight himself. Danny Kelly! How are you doing, D.K.? I really miss that, man. I'm doing really well. I'm down here in Miami at the Super Bowl, taking it all in. And, yeah, going really well. How are you doing, man?

I am fantastic. You're there with Greg Giorio. Craig, how are you doing, man? I'm good. I'm staring at Danny Kelly's beautiful face right now. We're never together. I traversed this whole country to see him in Miami. And we're having a great time.

You did not traverse the whole country. D.K. went from like Washington State to Miami, which is actually traversing the entirety of the continental United States. We talked about that. Is that the farthest you can go on a one, on a nonstop flight in the lower 40 years? Seattle to Miami. I think it is. Yeah, it has to be.

It may be. It's probably like scientists who could tell us. Because there's no non-stops from L.A. to like Maine. I don't want to oversimplify this, but I think it's Seattle to Miami or like Portland to San Diego and it's just one or the other. This is a really boring thing to talk about. You're at the Super Bowl. What interesting things have been happening to you at the Super Bowl? I just wanted to give a little rundown.

This is my first time of the Super Bowl. D.K., how many times have you been here? I've been at Super Bowl week four times. Four times. A lot of people, you know, we're at Radio Row and there's a lot of radio nerds talking to athletes. And we saw a radio. row, like how much of it's actually the radio? Honestly, it's just, it's podcast row now.

It's a podcast, I was gonna say. It's kind of people like, oh, dial a phone. No one dials a phone. I just want to go, I just want to do a rapid fire celebrity, quick what I noticed about these people. Oh, okay. I've seen them in person. Okay, ready?

Yeah. I hope so. Brett Farv, big head. Oh my God. Derek Henry, this is going to sound weird. He's not as big as I thought he was. He's like leaner than I thought. Did you not feel like marketing room?

So Derek Henry's small. That's what you're saying. Derek Henry's small. You're still underestimating Derek Henry even after a season. Yes, Lil Nas X was here. Super tall. Like 6-4, 6-5. He made Derek Henry look small.

Yes. I mean, he's very thin man, but he was extremely tall. We met Miles Teller and Glenn Powell. They were on Slow Newsday. Miles Teller? Cool guy. Glenn Powell, fucking awesome guy. Really cool.

So Glenn Powell, cooler than Miles Teller. Little Nasak's bigger than Derek Henry. Troy Aikman, the thickest hands you've ever seen. Just meat hooks. Thicker than Breadfavs. Yeah. Well, Brett Farv's got the head. Aikman's got the paws.

Okay. Jason Witten, maybe the thickest thighs I saw this whole weekend. The man's thighs are like my torso. He was also on Slow Newsday. Big thighs. Just wanted to shout out while we're talking about Jacks dudes. Ryan Vassillo, fucking jacked. Just like really, really big.

and could probably pass as like a linebacker if you just looked at his arms. Phil Sims, really funny, really nice guy. Yeah. Has a great, like, old dad energy. Why was he not like that on TV, though? I'm not sure. Just absolutely roasting Kevin.

I know. He should have just roasted Jim Nance on Sundays and it would have gone a lot better. I would have liked that. Check out slow news day, if I can speak English. Slow Newsday on YouTube with Phil Sims. Yes, he was great. With Kevin Clark.

For some reason, I have no note on her, but Martha Stewart was just walking around. Yeah. So that's all I got for her. Oh, okay. Cooper Manning. We saw him at... Yeah, we saw him at the media night.

Yeah, he was like doing a bit where he was wearing like really young kid clothes. We were not sure if it was a bit or if that's just how he dresses. Are you sure it was Cooper Manning? How do you know? Yes. Well, people were talking to him.

It was a very tall, skinny version of... He looked exactly like Eli. Yeah, exactly. It was him. And he had the name Manning on his back. So that was another big... Is there still a little bigger than Derek Henry? Can we officially weigh in on this?

I mean... He is not. He's not, but Priscilla's big. I'm going to go through a few of mine. Oh, oh, we have more. Okay.

We saw MC Hammer on Radio Row today. That was pretty cool. He had very cool sunglasses on. Didn't take him off. No, inside. John Clayton, the professor. Stefan Diggs, who I thought... Wait, but John Clayton's part of MC Hammer's entourage now, right?

Yeah, they're best buds. He's his manager, yeah. Stefan Diggs, who it was surprisingly small. Like, I'm bigger than... Stefan Dix. So the theme from today is that NFL players are small. Yeah. This is unbelievable.

But you know who's not small? Ryan Leif, who I saw today when I was going to get my credential for the game. The Ryan Leaf definitely part of MC Hammers on. He is huge. He's big. Like, he's a big guy. I can see why, you know,

people were like, okay, this guy's built to be an NFL quarterback. He's like a massive dude. Yeah. Just saw Terry Bradshaw walk by. Like five minutes ago. Dion Sanders.

His suit game is on point. suit game on fleek. So is Michael Irvin. Yeah, those two guys have the best suits in the world, I think. I think the biggest thing I took away from being here is how big quarterbacks are. Like, you look at like Sims, Aikman, like these guys are just huge. You got to take hits in the pocket. Yeah, man.

You have to be tough. Anyways, we can move on. You just want to throw that out there. That's a little bit more. No, no, the whole podcast we're just going to be comparing Ryan Rissilo's arms to Derek. Talking about how big and how small NFL players are. We saw Kyle Long and they kind of flex next to each other. And like, Kyle Long does have.

bigger arms, but Riscilla is right in there. Yeah. All right. I would like to move on. Yeah, sorry, Dan. Hyvins doesn't have big arms, so he's upset. This is like the football version of like, you're like, oh, you went to college there? Like, do you know my friend? And they're like, no.

And you're like, oh, okay. Yeah, if your friends are all famous. And you're just like, so we're going to do a flannel flex lineup today. The $3 million NFL big game bowl, five players at any position. One of them is your MVP. who scores one and a half times their point total. So deceptively simple, except you're competing with 40,000 people. So obviously, I mean, we are the three smartest people in the contest, obviously.

So I'm excited for the three of us, what do we want to do with the million dollars? Well, I'm not sharing it with you. We're each doing our own, to be clear. I'm going to use it to get as big as Derek Henry. Wait, so if you guys, are we not sharing this? I kind of assume we were going to pool the money when we won. We're not going to do that. No, I want the money this time.

This is the last show of the season. And I'm taking it. Wow. Wow. I will remember this when I come in first. All right. So, yeah, we each made separate lineups. We're going to go through who we like.

Honestly, we're really doing this as a ruse to talk about why we like people and hopefully discussing our process for why we picked five people out of a game where there's only 22 players on offense when that's including linemen. Hopefully it just helps everyone listening figure out how you think things will go in this game. So first up, D.K. Yeah. What's your lineup this week, man? My MVP on this lineup, which is 1.5 points, is Patrick Mahomes, who I just think has easily the highest ceiling of this whole, you know, the whole group of players. I got at my flex spots running back Rahim Mostert, George Kittle, tight end of the 49ers, tight end Travis Kelsey of the Chiefs.

And my final flex, Mikul Hardman of the Chiefs. I got 500 left over, but. Tight end strong. Yeah. It's like, yeah, I have a good feeling about. these two tight ends, and we'll get into these guys, but massive, massive tight-end Super Bowl. So, yeah, that's my lineup.

All right, so you got Mahomes, mustard, Kittle, Kelsey, Mikul Hardman. Craig, who are you guys? MVP, Mahomes, flex, the rest of the four, Damien Williams running back, tight end George Kittle, wide receiver, Debo Samuel, and wrench, Harrison Bucker.

Yeah, this is bold. This is bold. The Chief's kicker? Yeah, I do. And I have $500 left over. Higher floor. I'm actually at all. We'll get to him later.

We'll get to Buckerett. Don't worry. Holy cow. I went with, it's a problem for me. I can't really roll with the mainstream all the time. My MVP, one and a half point times multiplier. Jimmy G. Jimmy GQ, give it to me.

Look at it. And then I got flexing, I'm flexing Patrick Mahomes, George Kiddell, Travis Kelsey, and Mikul Hardman. Very nice. Wow. I am excited.

First off, I think, I guess the thing we agree on is the tight end bowl. This is a fun game. I mean, I think it doesn't really matter how you feel Kelsey and Kittle are the two best tight ends in the league. I think it's probably the only thing everyone in football could agree on. They each had a thousand yards this season. It's the first time two tight ends with that many yards have met in a Super Bowl. Obviously, they both, I think they both surpassed the record for receiving yards in a season by a tight end last year.

So this is going to be the tight end bowl Dika. You think one does well, both do well, neither. How do you see this game going? Well, I'm banking on both doing well since both of them are in my lineup. That's a good point. It's a little bit, there are some reasons to worry about it. First of all, the Chiefs, or I should say, Kittles only had five and a half points total in the last two weeks. But of course, as we've seen, the 49ers have just absolutely run the ball like crazy in the last two weeks, have not had to pass much at all.

I'm not really thinking that's going to happen this week. I think this week against the Chiefs, 49ers are going to have to air it out a little bit more than they have in the last few games. And potentially, they could have to air it out a lot if the Chiefs get going. early in the game. So, Chiefs, when we're talking about Kittle, the Chiefs gave up the ninth most fantasy points to tight ends in 2019. I think the matchup of Kittle versus

the Chiefs linebackers, Damien Williams, Anthony Hitchens is a pretty big mismatch in the 49ers favor. I just really trust Shanahan to scheme that up and get, you know, Shanahan has always done such a good job of finding the weak point in a defense and just attacking it mercilessly. And in that defense,

I could see that second level, those defenders being kind of what he decides he's going to go after. Because I think, you know, there's some talent and they're secondary. And I think that if they're going to be trying to avoid that scenario, I think Kittle could definitely make some noise in this game. And so that's why I like him a lot in this one, even though he hasn't done a whole lot in the last few games, I think he's going to go off.

I completely agree on Kittle. So funnily enough, so the Chief's primary linebackers are Anthony Hitchens, as you mentioned, and Damien Williams. and Kittle went to college in Iowa with Anthony Hitchens. He actually also went to college with another chiefs linebacker named Ben Neiman. And it's funny how like Kittle didn't really catch anything in Iowa and they didn't really use him as a receiver because he was a good blocker. Anthony Hitchens was explaining and they had a conversation and Kittle was joking that because

Anthony Hitchens used to like kind of mess with him during practice that he's going to come and get him a couple times. And I just read that and I was like, wow, this is some real foreshadowing if I've ever seen it happen. Like, not to quote, not to be the guy who quotes Sun Tzu on the podcast, but like the first rule of war is like attack weaknesses. Right. And that's what the 49ers offense is entirely about, right? It's this versatile thing.

Every player on it is like the Swiss Army knife, right? Whereas I prefer to think of it like one of those like as seen on TV kitchen all multipurpose utensils. Like it's a spatula, but also a tongs and a fork. That's all the Niners players and Kittles the number one guy. It's like, if the chiefs overcommit to stop. the run, which they've kind of committed to doing, I don't understand how the Niners are not going to be able to pass in this game, because Hitchens is not a great defender in the past or, honestly, the run game either. Damien Wilson is not a great defender in the run or the

past game. I think he ranked 65th or 69th or so in pro football focus grading overall of them like 102 linebackers. Hitchens was like even lower. In the past coverage, I think he was like 86th. If either of those guys get matched up on Kittle, I have no idea how they're going to be able to him. And so the issue is they could play Ben Neiman, who's went to Iowa with Kittle, who's better in the past coverage, but he can't really do run stopping. And they're probably going to play Reggie Ragland, who's one of the better run defenders in the league, but he can't do pass coverage. So Shanahan's whole offense is designed around those decisions of who does Steve Spagnolo, who's chief's defensive coordinator, who does he put on the field? Run defenders or past defenders?

They don't really have a lot of guys who can do both. They're already short of free safety with Daniel Sorensen replacing Juan Thornehill, so they don't have a lot of defensive back depth. I think that they're going to make this conscious choice to stop the run, and they're going to completely pay for it over the middle of the field. Warren Sharp wrote in that Super Bowl preview. He was great in the NFL show this week. The Niners passed to the middle of the field more than any team in the league. The Niners can't really, sorry, the Chief's defense is terrible guarding the middle

of the field because, again, their linebackers aren't that great. And I just think Kittal is the obvious guy who's going to take advantage of that. Yeah. The only X-factor I would say in this is what is Tyron Matthew going to be doing in this game? Because he's really moved around and done everything for the Chiefs defense in this playoffs. He's just kind of the X-Factor, the wild card. I don't know exactly how they're going to play him,

who they're going to want him to be on all the time. I think he's going to have to guard Kittle, which is so sick because, I mean, Kevin wrote that great piece for the site about Tyron Matthew, sorry, George Kittle doesn't think he can be tackled. He leads the league in yards after the catch. I think he is the most yards after the catch. I don't want to be like ever, but in a long time. And then Tyrone Matthew is the one guy who even though he has like 65 fewer pounds and six inches smaller, even though they run the same 40-yard dash as George Kettle.

Tyrant Matthew's the one guy who's like, yeah, I can guard George Kettle. And that's kind of an amazing like force of nature matchup, like the unstoppable force versus like the other unstoppable force. But Tyron Matthew can't guard Kittle the whole game. Every time Tyrone Matthew is not on George Kittle, Dekek, who is going to be guarding George Kettle? like competently. Right. No, I mean, you spelled it out. It's, to me, it's a massive, massive mismatch for them, as long as it's not Matthew

versus Kittle. And it probably will be for part of the game. But like he said, it's probably not going to be every single snap. And so, again, that's why I like, I like Kittle. He feels like a guy who's just going to have a 60-yard touchdown in this game. So this essentially just boils down to you either have to stop the Niners run offense or you have to stop Kittle and you can't have both. Right.

And I, you know, Kittle or Spagnolo, spoke this week and he was talking about how, I mean, especially against a team like the 49ers who were absolutely content to just run it 50 times in this game. Like they absolutely are that type of team who will just be like, if it's working, we're not going to throw the ball. And Spagnola Spagnola said, you know, he's like against a team like this, you absolutely have to stop the run. We're going to have to figure out a way to do it. That's going to be their number one priority, I think. And so that means they're going to have less resources, fewer resources dedicated to stopping the past.

Bottom line is I think they're going to be like who you want to beat us that run game, which has obviously gotten them this far or Jimmy G. Who is a little bit more of, I guess, a wild card in this sense. Like he could probably, Jimmy G could end up having a couple turnovers or he could have a great game. But I think they're going to have to pick their poison and it's probably going to be Jimmy G. Another way to stop the Niners from running the ball is the Chief's offense scoring a lot. I mean, there's a chance that it's mid-second quarter and the Niners can't commit to that

run game like they have in other times when the game script is favor. them. Everything you guys just said is why I think Jimmy Garoppolo, I mean, if it's prop at season, I would take you over on the passing yards, the passing attempts, the completions, all of it. I think he probably outdoes his passing yardage from the first two games in the playoffs. I think he outdoes it by the end of the third quarter, like combined because of what you guys just said. The chiefs are going to commit to stopping the run. I think that a lot of times in people's head that means like eight guys in the box or whatever. The reality is like stopping the run is the first decision is about who you put on the field. Like, we often focus on the stars.

Coaches are often thinking about the 10th and the 11th defender of who they pick, how they sub those guys out. What are their strengths, weaknesses? How do you exploit the 10th and 11th guy? And why are they out there? For the Chiefs, they don't have one of those defenders who can do everything. Like, I mean, Darwin James. And also around this time of year, we think about like draft prospects, right? Who's the best defender in this draft after Chase Young? It's probably Clemson's Isaiah Simmons, right? Because he can do anything. because he can stop the run and the pass well. The Chiefs don't have anyone like that.

The Chiefs have very few players who are even competent in run and pass defense. If they're prioritizing stopping the run, it's not just eight men in the box, it's they're putting run defenders on the field. And when the whole thesis of the Kyle Shanahan 49ers' offense is that when you make that decision, we want to be able to send out

a fullback, a running back, a tight end, two receivers, so you guys have to put run defenders on the field, And we're going to pass because we have a fullback who can line up in the slot if we want. We have a tight end who's the best blocker and the best yards after the catch guy in the league. That's the whole thesis. And I just think that they're going to take that match up every day. And they're going to totally be fine with Jimmy passing a lot in this game. And so that's why I did Jimmy as my MVP, though, because I just feel that the, like,

if there's 40,000 people in this fendl lineup, right? Probably 20,000 people are putting Holmes as the number, as the MVP guy, right? I'd rather compete with the 5 to 1,000 or the 6,000 people that have Garoppolo on the off chance Garoppolo actually outdoes Mahomes. Right. Then try to be like, yeah, I'll pick the four people

better than the other 20,000 with Mahomes of the MVP. I think the odds of Garoppel actually outscoring Mahomes fantasy wise in this game, which is having a better game is not necessarily like the eye test is more impressive, but his numbers could be more impressed than Mahomes. I wouldn't be shocked. So let's transition to the Niners run game

if they do end up sticking to the run. It's most likely going to be Rahimos. That's what history has suggested the last two games because Kevin Coleman's got a torn laborer, I believe, in his shoulder, but he's still He's probably going to play. It sounds like he's going to play, yeah. And then we got Matt Brayda. I'm extremely skeptical about Kevin Coleman.

I wouldn't play him in fantasy. I wouldn't expect too much from him. I appreciate he's going to play, but I think his shoulder was popped out for like 20 minutes. That's extremely painful. Yeah. I mean, part of it, he's a downhill runner. And you kind of have to be. put your shoulder into people.

And I just think that's a lot of pain tolerance. He's had some ball security issues, as has Matt Breda. I think Mastred's going to stick with most of the touches in this game. Do you like Mostert as a DFS play in this game? Yeah, I do. And the reason is, you know, they've always stuck to this hot hand theory where Shanahan is like, he's happy to ride the hot hand. He's happy to, you know, stick with the guy who's producing.

I think Moster is, number one, the most dynamic and explosive back on that team right now. He has by far the best chance. being the hot hand. Obviously, we saw Coleman the other game kind of take over, but there was some other circumstances like, you know, that kind of played into that. Moster had been sick earlier that week. I think he kind of got banged up a little bit.

So that, you know, you can't really predict that kind of thing, but I think all things else being equal, Moster is the guy. And he's been the guy for them for the last few games. And so even if Casey loads up to stop the run and obviously I think that's what they're going to do, I still think he could eat. He's also an effective receiver. And he has like,

big play potential. You know, he's, he's the guy that can rip off those big runs. Red zone looks are going to be important. He has team high seven

red zone rushes in the last, in the team's two playoff games. So he's been the primary red zone guy for them as well. So all things put together,

you know, they're a heavy run team. They want to run. I like most of it a lot in this one. I don't think Casey, if you look at some of the stats, like Kansas City is the worst

run defense this year against I formation teams. And they're also, the worst against teams who motion prior to the snap. And guess who can't guess who they're playing? The 49ers who motion more than any team in the NFL and who run I formation is like their base run offense.

So that matchup alone is kind of just like really intriguing. And the numbers and I guess, you know, if you're just looking at it from a numbers game thing like that, that definitely favors most, I think, in this one. All right. The other side of the tight end bowl, Travis Kelsey. We're going to go through him. Patrick Mahomes. Damien Williams, 49ers pass rush, everything when the Chiefs have the ball.

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Let's look at Chiefs having the ball. This side of the ball really just comes down to, like, cliches are cliches for a reason. Everyone's like, well, can the Niners pass rush, like, get pressure on Mahomes with four guys? And everyone wants to talk about that. but yeah no actually let's talk about that that is in fact the key to the game and there's a reason everyone keeps saying it over and over dek what do you think can can can yeah i don't know how much it will matter i think mahomes is just number one he's mobile he can escape and and we've seen that last couple games he's used his legs to kind of get away from pressure does that mean the 49ers maybe have to spy him with somebody? We'll see.

The other thing that I think is just really interesting about the Chiefs offense is like Mahomes can go deep. He has so much speed from Hill and Hardman and Watkins and whoever that he can drop back hit his back foot and get the ball out and still go deep. He doesn't have to like sit in the pocket for a few seconds, you know? So I think the 49ers defense, 49ers defensive line is obviously elite and could give him problems for sure. But I think that they have enough.

mechanisms to get the ball out quickly and they don't have to just dink and dunk they can still go deep with the guys that they have with the speed that they have so i'm not a i don't know if it's going to be enough to kind of slow mahomes down or not crag what do you think just to kind of exemplify how mahomes can work outside of the pocket um really anywhere mohomes is thrown this is per evan established the run he's done a league high 22 touchdown passes on the run since the start of the 2018 season yeah kind of insane like if you think about a short stop grabbing a grounder on his way to the right. He's got to flip it all the way across the first basement. That's essentially what Mahomes does on the football field.

And with the freakish speed of the chiefs wide receivers, it means that Mahomes doesn't need as much time in the pocket to hit these guys deeper down the field. Right. Like that touchdown up the seam to Tyree kill. He just got rid of it, right? Just like throw it up and let him get under it. He probably had the ball for one and a half seconds, and Tyreek was already 30 yards farther than any other receiver would be down the field, which is also a huge bonus for him with a good pass for us like the Niners have.

Yeah. And Andy Reed is, shown time and again that he has the play calling chops to kind of get guys isolated, find the weak link. It's just like what Shanahan does. It's going to be such a good chess match from these two play callers because they both know how to manufacture one-on-one situations, whether that's with Kelsey, with the Hill, Hardman, whoever, you know, we've seen it time and again. And so, yeah, like that, for instance, that touchdown last week where, like you said, Hill scored from out of the slot, they motioned Hardman inside of. him, which changed the way that the defense had to play.

They had like a single high safety on the top, and that safety had to honor Hardman's post route up the middle of the field. That made Hill have the one-on-one matchup, and they manufactured that matchup. Mahomes knew it immediately, and he just chucked it. He just dropped their guys on an island. He just dropped back, checked it up. Like, it was just so easy.

So who do you guys think that, this is my question for both of you, what can the Niners do to take away Hill and Kelsey, and can they do both? Well, so it starts with just the play Can't last that long You guys mentioned Mahomes scrambling Like, look, no It's so difficult for defensive back To stop a receiver, cover them for more than like five seconds

It's so hard But when the Chiefs who are like the fastest players The fastest receiving court in the whole league It's that much harder Then you add that Mahomes can scramble To make a three or four second play Into a seven or eight second play It's like impossible. It can't be done

Because he can throw to anywhere on the field And those guys are so fast It can't cover that long. So the Niners, the past rush's job, everyone's been comparing it to like the 2007 Giants who had to stop the Patriots. And the difference is like when the Giants are getting pressure with those four guys, they weren't worried about what happens if Tom Brady jukes Michael Strayhan and like buys another few. You know what I mean? That was not a concern about Tom, well, you know, if you let Tom Brady scramble, you know, they're going to kill you. That's not a thing.

Like the difference here is. is that the Niners pass rush isn't just about launching to the pocket. They have to contain Mahomes, which is this odd dual job. Chris Long mentioned this on the Ryan Rusillo podcast. But it's about rushing and staying disciplined and that really just a bunch of guys who kind of have this like hunter mentality have to stay disciplined, quite literally stay in their lane. Yeah. And if they can do that the whole game.

The second layer to that is also getting gassed. The Niners peak defensive performance that we kind of all think of in our mind when we think about their peak was when they were healthy. We hear all the time about their five first-run picks. The reality is it's four because Solomon Thomas is really like a second stringer for them. But it's also like they also had Ronald Blair. They had Demontry Moore. They had DJ Jones. They had Julian Taylor.

Those guys are all in injured reserve. Those were the lesser heralded guys that were letting Nick Bosa, D. Ford guys, D. Ford is playing like half of the 49ers stabs because he's been dealing with injuries all year. Nick Bosa was at his best when he was playing three quarters of the snaps in a given game. They might be up to 85. 90 in this game. I don't even think it's, it's not just getting pressure in the first quarter. I'm not necessarily convinced they will be able to sustain that throughout the game. But even if they do, then the counter is like Mahomes throwing all these screens, these short

passes. So then the Niners have to be able to tackle to make sure like an eight-yard slant to Tyree Kill doesn't become like a 28-yard slant. So I think it's a lot tougher than, it's not as simple as like can they get pressure. No, that's really interesting. Like, are they going to have to mush rush him a little bit in terms of take their foot off the gas like you were saying, Danny, on the outside, so make sure he doesn't get outside. You know that scene in Star Wars where it's like the trash compactor? That's actually every play.

I'm not even kidding. Because it's... But Bosen Ford, it's my... I was talking to Jeff Schwartz about this. He's the brother of Mitchell Schwartz who will be defending the right tackle position for the Chiefs. And he was explaining it's much more about a bull rushing with Bosen Ford, like slowly bringing it in.

And then you also need Bucson-Shart. Bukter and Armstead, DeForest Baxter and Eric Armstead collapsing the interior and you're just trying to crumple Mahomes in. Yeah. Which isn't as fun or sexy as like when a defensive end like bends his shoulder and then like tubs up and strip sacks a quarterback from behind. But it's much harder for Mahomes to escape the pocket and turn a four of second play into a seven second play. When he gets outside the pocket, I think that the strategy for the 49ers and a lot of teams is to what's called plaster and it's fine to your guy and stick to him. the rules change at that point, you just find a guy and stick with him, get in his hip pocket. And that's another reason why I kind of like the Jason Kelsey pick. Sorry, Travis Kelsey

pick. I've been saying Jason Kelsey. You always do that. I don't know why I do it. Are you the only person who confuses like the less famous brother for the more famous brother? I think maybe, yeah. I don't think anyone else, no one else just thinks of Courtney Kardashian when they think of Kim. I don't know why. I don't know why I do that. But sorry, Travis Kelsey. That's why I like him a lot in this game is because you know, if he's roaming around in the middle of the field, we saw the other game, last game, when he had those touchdowns, I think at least two of them were on scramble drill type plays,

trying to remember the exact plays. One was like where, I think two were rolling to the right. Yeah. Scambles to him. Anyhow, you know, when he gets outside, Kelsey has the ability to shake, like if it's a linebacker in the middle of the field or whatever, you know, that's immediately the offense has the advantage there

because they know where they're going. It's just, you know, the defense has to kind of like try and keep up with the, freaking cheetah or whatever. And so I like Kelsey in that scenario just because of the way that he's kind of, Mahomes's outlet slash safety blanket over the middle of the field and when he gets outside the pocket. Seems like you both like Kelsey. I mean, you guys, neither of you have Hill in your lineup. I just think Kelsey is a more interesting. Well, so here's a very specific reason I like Travis Kelsey. Shout out to Matt Bowen at ESPN, a former NFL safety who pointed this one out

to me. A small example of why I think the chiefs could really, do a lot of damage in this game. So I think I don't want to be like famously, but Richard Sherman always plays one side of the field. I never know if like that Twitter feud with Dorel Rivas has actually made it to like normal people, but not just like nerd football Twitter. But Richard Sherman plays one side of the field.

He's on the right. And then you've got Emmanuel Mosley, who's the other Niners quarterback, he's an undrafted guy, playing on the left. One of the chiefs, a thing to look for is when the chiefs go three receivers on one side, like trips, they make a little triangle. and then Travis Kelsey is on the left.

Sometimes it's Hill, sometimes it's... But when Travis Kelsey, what they do that, they're basically putting the Niners defense in a bind because you either have to let three receivers be on one side of the field and you kind of want to shift your defense that way, right? But the issue is if you do that

because you know Richard Sherman's not going to travel, you can put Travis Kelsey on Emmanuel Mosley. I think Kelsey's got like five inches on him and 20 pounds and he's just as fast. He's a better route runner than George Kettle. Like, that is so... such a mismatch for Emmanuel Mosley to try to be

guarding Travis Kelsey. I mean, you're going to try to funnel him inside. Whatever you're going to do, I think that matchup could be such a problem for the Niners throughout the game that I really like Kelsey to get more consistent good matchups in this than Tyree Kill.

Because I think Tyree Kill, it's the speed against maybe Richard Sherman, but I just think Kelsey on Mosley's a better matchup and I like that one. I mean, to be clear, I like Hill in this game too. I think he has a chance to go off. just the way that... Oh, yeah. Just the way the lineups worked out.

That was how I want with it. I have a question for you guys. You smart cookies. Why is the whole cornerbacks only play one side of the field thing a thing? You know how like some quarterbacks like, well, they're a system quarterback? And it's like, all right, well, that's kind of doesn't, everyone's a, who's not a system quarterback? What team doesn't have a system? Like, it's kind of the same thing for defense.

It's kind of like, just because someone's a cornerback doesn't mean you have the same job, right? like it's not that complicated of an idea. Like in your real life, I don't care what your job is. Your title is not the same. Like your job isn't the same as someone else with the same title. Richard Sherman generally plays cover three

on one side of the field because the Seattle philosophy they come from believes in fairly. And D.K., you know more about Seattle than I do, but it's fairly simple stuff on the past coverage stuff because they believe if the rules for the secondary is simple and you eliminate gray air,

If a decision that cornerbacks and the safeties have to make is black and white, players can play faster. And Robert Salah believes the same as Pete Carroll that when you eliminate gray area and your players are playing faster, that is the best defense. And then you can do all the exotic cool stuff at the line at scrimmage with the defensive linemen. Dorel Revis was doing was just so good that Rex Ryan would be like, you're going to literally guard one guy on that side of the field. I don't care if it's Calvin Johnson. You're going to take Calvin Johnson out of the game. and I'm going to use my other 10 guys to attack this team, and I'm not going to even think about Calvin Johnson.

It's just a different way of approach. That's interesting. So it's just like almost Richard Sherman is just more comfortable knowing that the sideline is on the same side every single time. And he knows how to defend. You know, it's just like in basketball, you force the guy to go baseline because you know you have that extra defender right there and he just is more comfortable with that.

Yeah. I think that's a big part of it. The other thing I was just thinking is I wonder if it's sort of like playing right and left tackle and where the footwork is a little bit different. and the comfort zone. It's similar to what you're saying, but maybe it's the footwork and stuff like that too. You never hear about that with receivers.

There's not receiver that only plays on one side of the field, right? No, there are. Some, some do, yeah. Like, for instance, who we literally just saw, Danny, DK. Mekap, just walk by. We, he in college. What a moment for this podcast.

Wait, you didn't get DK on DK right there? No, we have too many cords everywhere. We couldn't go chase him down. I think he'd outrun us. I mean, he looked glorious. I'll say that. Jason Kelsey, and I actually. mean the real Jason Kelsey, the brother of Travis,

who's the center for the Eagles, had a fantastic interview with Bull Wolf of the Athletic. I recommend people read it. It's an amazing article. He just talks about how his body felt after every week of the season is unbelievable. But in that, he had a conversation about this, and he basically said, it was about Hall of Fame.

And he said, there's probably a handful of players in the league who could actually play at any system. The rest of it, like, those are the Hall of Famers. The rest of us all have such limitations. We can only play in one or two systems, and those are the teams we end up on and those are the systems we plan.

And he's explaining, like, I'm in the Eagles because, like, we have a system and it works. And the system thing shouldn't necessarily be like a negative. It's not like an insult. It's a team. It's a team game. A team needs a system. It's like me on this podcast. You know, it's like, I have to be this kind of tertiary role here.

Like, if you just toss me in the middle of the press box, like I'm screwed. Who's Craig? Craig, the Richard Sherman is he the Emmanuel Mosley or the Kwan Williams? Yeah, I'm going to be the Emmanuel Mosley of this team. I might get a ring, but I'm not going to be the star. Danny, to that point, the D. the DK MacGF thing to get back to DK McHuff early on in the season. And in college,

he only played on the left side. He was like running go routes and post routes from the left. That was like basically it. And then throughout the season, they got him, they started moving around and started putting them on the right side, things like that. So back to the Sherman thing. I think it's obviously scheme related, but it also might be like comfort zone related.

I think Sherman's good enough to travel with receivers and play all over the place, but he's I'd say he's absolutely like at his best when he is playing in that. that, you know, on that side, doing what he does every single snap, that kind of thing. And so, yeah, it's just kind of like deciding whether you want to put your players in the best position to succeed or try and take away one player.

It's a philosophical thing that I think some teams decide on. So bring that back. So the interesting part for this chief's thing is it's really up to Andy. It's hard to predict. Like it's up to my dad actually. My dad actually asked me, what are the first 15 play? Like, what do you think the first play is like a runner or a pass? Like, you know, like prop bets?

And I was like, I don't know. because it's up to Andy Reid's how does Andy Reid want to attack? Because I don't want to be like he knows what it's going to look like but there's a really good idea of what the Niners are probably going to be doing on defense and it's just interesting the choices he'll make. I think the most interesting thing that he could do is having that Kelsey Mosley matchup

but the other one is especially if the pass rush gets home, I think there's going to be a lot of screens in this game and that's why I like Damien Williams but I like Damien Williams and that's why I have him in my lineup instead of Rahim Monster because I think actually the receiving damage Damien Williams is going to be able to do

I think there will be a lot of screens. I think he'll get a lot of yards after the catch. I think he'll get a lot of swing passes. Because that's how the Niners are... They're going to have to give so much space in respect to this Chief's speed. I think that the Chiefs are going to be using that speed. Both Tyree Kill getting screens. So I don't actually necessarily like Damie Williams of the overs for the rushing stuff.

I do like... I think it's like three and a half catches or whatever. I like that over for Williams. I just think there's going to be a lot of short passing in this Chiefs game. And they're also going to... The Niners are going to try very hard to take away the deep stuff. He also never leaves the field. He plays almost virtually every play.

Exactly. So is there anything else from the superstars in this game or do you guys want to quickly hit some of the nitty-gritty sleepers? I mean, we don't need to explain Mahomes, do we? I think he's good at football. I mean, I think things to watch if he can button all the star stuff up, is Mahomes throwing from in the pocket or is he scrambling? And are Bosa and Ford kind of like, really I would look,

if you're a couple keys, is the guard center and guard for the chiefs? Are they moving backward, like into Mahomes? And is that a problem for him? And then I would also look, if they go three by one sets, where is Kelsey? Is he on the left side of the field alone or is he next to other people? I think that's an interesting thing to look. And then on the flip side of the ball, I would look for who is literally on the field for the chiefs? Like Reggie Raglan wears number 59.

Is he on the field? He's a run defender. Will the Niners pass? Ben Neiman. He's a 56 for the Chiefs. If 56 is on the field, I bet the Niners are going to run. It's actually really simple stuff like that. Yeah.

But an interesting thing looking at our lineups, we don't really have any middle-range people. The middle-class in the fantasy lineups are dying. Craig, you're the only person who took a middle-range guy. I tried to sneak him into mine, but it didn't work out. Debo Samuel, hold on, let me see how much money. He's 8,500, and for reference, Patrick Mahomes, is 1,600. But the reason I like Debo is the chief struggle over the middle of the first.

field and that's primarily where Debo Samuel catches most of his passes, not to mention he's getting like two, three rushes a game now. Debo's the safest play of all these cheap guys. And he's getting a 24% target share from the nineers in the past six weeks, six weeks, which is a huge increase. But use him as a runner too. Yeah. And he's a yards after the catch monster.

He has the second most in the league, 8.5 yards after the catch. So if he can get the ball over the middle of the field against the chiefs, I think he's going to pay off. I think Debo, when he gets in a matchups with Daniel Sorensen, that's a big mismatch. Can you see this game happening without one of Kittle or Samuel just busting off a huge play? I feel like one of those guys are going to get a big, big play in this game. 68% of Samuel's catches this year were over the middle of the field. So if he can take one of those and he can O'Dell Beckham at right up the seam.

Yeah. There you go. It's been a while since O'Dell Beckham's done that, to be clear. Yeah, those are before his Brown stays. And then finally, we have to get to it. Harrison Butker. Dude, yeah, what's the deal here? Okay, well, you know what?

I had like $9,500 remaining. I liked my team. I had Mahomes, Damien Williams, George Kittlen, Debo. And then it's like, okay, so I can either take a kicker, which is around 9,500, or I'm getting into the, like, Tevin Coleman, Emmanuel Sanders, Matt Breda, Sammy Watkins.

And I'm like, why don't I just take a kicker? I mean, Harrison Bucker is the number one kicker in fantasy this year. I don't know if you guys knew that. He's number one in the entire league. In the last two Super Bowls, there's been 11 field goal attempts. I mean, that's kind of a lot. The Super Bowl is 13 to 3 last year. There's five, there's five field goal attempts, albeit some of them are missed.

But Bucker's also got a bit of a floor for how many points the freaking cheese got up. He's had 11 PATs in the last two games. I thought you were doing this to be fancy, like just trying to show off. And now I'm thinking about this, and I'm thinking of how Bill Barnwell wrote in his massive ESPN preview for the Super Bowl. Super Bowl, how both of these offenses have been completely almost unsustainable in how many touchdowns they've been scoring on their drives. And they're both probably due for more field goals. There you go.

And I feel like I would love to bet the first score of the game is a field goal. I don't know what the line is for that, but I'd like to grab that. This is a gut call, really, going with Buck Kerr. It's my gut. Harrison Gutker, really. Oh, my God. Oh, my. Oh, wait.

Are we going to name the podcast that? No, I think that's a little too niche. The feeling in my Harrison Gutker? That's going to do big on Google. What's the SEO for Harrison Gutker? How is that? Going with my Harrison Gutker. Could it be worse than the Dannisy football where if you Google it, it just seems

it autocorrects the fantasy? Oh, we'll hopefully address that soon, but we'll see. Yeah, yeah. We'll talk to Google. But yeah, I like Butker this week. He seems expensive, but I mean... You guys want to touch on Matt Brita for a second. Some people have been tatted him 100 to 1 odds.

Like, you mentioned him, I think he's a popular flyer, too. How do you guys feel about Brita? If Coleman bangs his shoulder and can't play the rest of the rest of the the game and bretah who is a really explosive player who's with this hot hand thing that shanahan does i don't think it's that crazy that no bretah has like two 20-yard runs and then it's the third quarter and he's getting the bulk of the carries yeah it's not crazy at all i think i mean yeah it's a calculated risk but i like it i get it yeah if you want to go cheap i mean let's see here how how cheap is matt bretta he said yeah 7500 bucks i mean he's down there with kendrick bourne i'm

surprised actually hardman is as cheap as he is what is he six grand five grand five grand Six grand. Six grand. So, Kendrick Bourne catches a lot of touchdowns, man. That's true. He does. Red zone dominator. Yeah, I mean, you're right. Hardman's cheaper than DeMarcus Robinson, who rubs his hands in butter before the game. So that's, that's why I like McCall Hardman this week. I think it just is a mistake in this, like, he's six, he's cheaper than DeMarcus Robinson, but it's pretty clearly usurped his role. So I think Hardman's just, I don't see a reason to put DeMarcus Robinson in a lot of times this week. I'm sure this will come

back to bite me, but he just, his role is diminishing and his drops are increasing, and I just, and I just think Hardman's, the speed is more valuable. And I watched Marcus Robinson have like three touchdowns, but I just think Hardman's a better play because he's less money and probably has a bit more snaps in the game. Hardman is just as expensive as Kyle Usecheck, which is alarming. That's tough. Use Check plays a lot of snaps, but he doesn't get that many targets. I mean, he gets like one or two targets, maybe a game.

Probably has a couple touches, but that's it. Yeah. So to go through our lineups one more time, D.K., you've got Mahomes, Mastard Kittle, Kelsey Hardman. Craig, you've got Mahomes, Damien. Williams, George Kittle, Debo, and Harrison Gutker. And I've got Jimmy G. Because why not? And flexing my home's Kittal, Kelsey Hardman. So I got the tight end bowl and just give me the

quarterbacks. And Dek and I are both betting on a big play from Mikol Hardman. So there's only one thing left to do. Yeah. Who do you guys think wins the game? Oh, boy. So I've been picking the Chiefs. I believe I have the Chiefs by four. The only explanation I have for it. Because honestly, go back and forth all week long. Both of these teams have, you can convince me pretty easily. Both of these teams are the better team. Both of them are just very, very good, have like very strong strengths and like that strength match. It tends to match up pretty well with the, with the other team in this game. So,

um, I don't know. I, I'm going with the chiefs just because I believe Patrick Mahomes is so unique. When you have two teams as talented as this, it's hard not to just say, I'm going to pick the best player in the field. Right. I'm also picking the chiefs. Yeah. But I mean, I do think the 49ers are a freaking good team. Don't hedge. Don't hedge your ship. I'm not hedging. I'm picking the Chiefs. I've been picking the Chiefs. I picked the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl before the season.

And I told you guys all along. I don't know what all the consternations about. It's pretty obvious if you think about it, you know, from the jump. So I don't really know why you're debating. This is a sweep. We're all taking the Chiefs. Wow. Oh, are we the studio show that everyone picks one team and then the other one romps?

Did we just become that? Clark and Mays both took the Niners. So that adds some balance. Oh, thank God. Okay. So there's balance back to the podcast. Mm-hmm. And we will see.

Yeah. All right. Right. Beautiful. All right. That was the season. How about that? It was fun.

It was fun. Thank you, D.K. Thank you, Craig. Thank you. Everyone are listening with us this season. It was a lot of fun. We really appreciate it. Best of luck to everyone in the Super Bowl.

Mm-hmm. And thank you Harrison Bucker. Harrison Tucker. Have a great game, Harrison. And thank you to Navy Federal Credit Union. Do you have a large credit balance after the holidays? Conquer it with Navy Federal's lower rate on balance transfers. Balance transfers will Idy move your current credit card balance from other lenders to a Navy Federal credit card.

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