The Ringer NFL Show - Week 2 Watch List and Last-Second Fantasy Advice | GM Street (Ep. 301)

Episode Date: September 14, 2018

The Ringer's Michael Lombardi and Tate Frazier react to the Bengals' win over the Ravens (02:00), before spotlighting their five favorite matchups this weekend (09:45). Then Danny Heifetz and Danny Kelly of 'The Dantasy Football Podcast' offer up some last-second fantasy advice (29:30). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good news NFL fans. Direct TV has expanded the service if you live in an area where Direct TV service is not available or you're a student actively enrolled in a college or university. You can now get NFL Sunday ticket without a satellite. Plus, there's an exclusive student discount to see if you're eligible. Go online to NFL Sundayticket. TV and stream every NFL Sunday ticket game this season to follow your favorite team no matter where you live. Use promo code Ringer at checkout to save 15%. Packages are also available for football fans living in areas where Direct TV service is not available. Again, that's promo code ringer, R-I-N-G-E-R at checkout to save 15%. And we are also brought to you by Sonos. Meet Sonos Beam, the smart, compact soundbar for your TV. Beam lets you play everything you love from music and radio to movies, TV podcasts like GM Street, and more. All with rich sound that fills the room. It's super simple to set up, but if you don't even want to bother with that, Sonos will send someone to do it for you. That's right.

If you live in any major metropolitan area, up and running will have a Sonos expert deliver and set up your system absolutely free. Just order from Sonos.com and select up and running at checkout if you qualify. Again, that is sonos.com. And now, GM Street. Welcome to GM Street, part of the Ringar Podcast Network. It is Friday. It is September 14th. And on the line, I am joined by Mr. Michael Lombardi, the gridiron genius himself.

How are you, Lombardi? I'm doing good take, Frazier. I'm doing great. It's been a good week. You know, I appreciate everybody buying the book. It's been awesome, and books have been well received, so that's good. GM Street had a great week last week. I want to thank everybody on the GM Street Nation. It was awesome.

So hopefully we'll keep this thing moving along, right? And there's more good news to come because one of our favorite characters in the world of the GM Street and all the fans that have been with us for quite a while. D.B. Flacco, he's back. The best. Is he the best? He came back. Did you realize the Ravens are 14? Do you realize the Ravens are 14?

Nobody mentions this last night on the television. God forbid if we ever talked about anything of substance, you know? We're too busy defending Joe Flacco because he's upset about running out in the formation. You know, is anybody upset about Joe Flacco's deposits into a checking account of which he's been stealing money? I mean, seriously. And look, I say this, Dave Brazier, I'm the biggest Joe Flacco apologist of all time. I've always been a defender of him because I think the Ravens have done a bad job of building a team around his skill set. but I can't defend him anymore.

And that whole thing last night about, well, you know, he doesn't like going out there and flikes it out. Like, look, bro, you haven't played good. You're 14 and 26 on the road in Alaska, and since you've won the Super Bowl. Can't win on the road. You can't go to playoffs, man. You can't be talking playoffs.

Can't be talking playoffs. And we should be talking defense, right, at this point, because after last week, we watched them take down that Bill's team. And we both talked in the week one reactions pod that we did on Tuesday, that we were very impressed with what we saw. from that defense. And then, you know, last night, I don't know if I want to give kudos to Dalton, you know, and that offense that we've seen with the Bengals and A.J. Green obviously being and showing

that he's one of the best receivers in the league. But Eric Weddell came out and just said, you know, they can't come out, you know, and be on a high early and not deliver in the later half of the game. So, I mean, what do we take away from the Ravens defense at least? I mean, disappointing, right? So they come out and they don't really handle it. I mean, they miss their corners. They miss Jimmy Smith.

I mean, they never mentioned that last night either. You know, their best corners are suspended for the first four games in the season. It might be a nice to mention it since they're playing against a really skilled team like Cincinnati. But look, Cincinnati's a talented football team. And I think what I'm most impressed about Cincinnati is the fact that their mental toughness has showed up the first two weeks of the season. Look, Cincinnati has got talent. They've always had talent. And they've always had physical toughness.

You know, they've always been able to battle you. They've never backed down from a challenge. What they've never had is mental toughness, which is the ability to win in the game in the fourth. fourth quarter. And this first two weeks of the season, you know, they had, are down 23 to 10 at Indianapolis on the road. They come back. They get a fourth quarter of turnover to seal that game. Last night, they scored 28 in the first half. They took the most horrendous two-minute drill. I mean, that was even, I mean, Aikman was even pissed off at that, which was nice to hear. I mean, they throw it three times in a row, which is beyond my own comprehension.

Fans have to stop this whole notion about about how, you know, the two-man. minute, everything's in a rush. When you got that much time, you got, like, the first play of that drought should have been a run. So the clock is working for you, not against you. And so if they would have run the ball on that drive at the end of the half and started the clock, John Harbaugh wouldn't have called time out. He would have that clock. He was just trying to milk it down. And now you have the clock in your favor. But when you throw an incomplete pass, now all of a sudden, you've got to start to do something because if you run it on second down, John would have called time out, which they didn't do either. So they always should have those bumps in a row, but now I'm seeing,

like last night they had the bump in the road, they overcame it. So like I've kind of impressed with their mental toughness. And we should say, I mean, we pointed out early in the preseason that, you know, Andy Dalton's numbers were very consistent with what we saw from Carson Wentz a year ago heading into the season. You know, a lot of people have mentioned that defense. Sean Williams was a guy that really stood out last night. I mean, he had a sack at an interception on the defense, Darquez-Denard, a name that people were familiar with. When you go through the talent, that the Bengals have. We know that they really can't match up with most any team.

And then obviously having Mixen and Bernard and seeing even Tyler Boyd last night, a guy at a Pittsburgh that they thought could be a real factor for them on offense. And then, you know, AJ Green is one of the best receivers in the league. So the Bengals are a team to watch out for. And we should get, you know, give Andy Dalton his do at this point. I mean, four touchdowns, no picks, 24 for 42, 265 yards last night. Yeah, and five or six overall in the season in the red zone. So he's playing really good in the red zone,

which I've always called Annie at 20, quarterback and he's played really good. I think they've done a great job of allowing Andy to play in an offense that suits him a little more. The read the the run pass options, the RPO's that he's able to run, use his feet a little bit. And then look, they get power

and they get their toughness from Mixing. Mixing gives them that. He's a big physical guy to tackle. And then their defense is, look, even the one touchdown drive that the Ravens had the first touchdown drive, I mean, Flacko was trying to throw an interception. I mean, you know, it had a horrible read, made a horrible throw, and had a

completion. I mean, that's a that's a trifect that you can't go far from. So, look, I think the Bengals have shown in September that they're building some momentum. They've got to continue it to go forward. But I've liked them this summer. I've liked Dalton. I think they're really good. And I think the Ravens have to do some other things.

You know the thing that just drove me crazy last night, Tate Brazer? Late in the game. You know, and I know the game's over, and I'm on the East Coast. I stayed awake for the whole thing. And so you'd be proud of me. I'm proud of you. You know, the Ravens are down by 11, and they're driving the ball. Okay, now I know they have no chance to win the game.

The fans know they have no chance, and the announcers know they have no chance. But from a strategy standpoint, you got Justin Tucker on your team. You got one of the greatest kickers of all time. You can make it from anywhere on the field, right? You need two scores. So you can't run that clock all the way down to where there's no time. Once you got into field goal range there, Harbaugh, should have kicked the field goal. Say there's 30 seconds to go.

Try the 55 yarder. Try a 50 yard or whatever it was. As soon as he got there, try it. And now the game comes down to an onside kick. Because unless you make the three, you've got no chance to win the game. He'd have been better off what they were doing on the field. They'd have been better off kneeling. If they were going to do what they did, they're better off just kneeling.

It would have saved players from getting contact. Like, to me, those are the mistakes you can't, like, fly. Like, that's like something that's elementary. And the fans need to know it. They need to understand it. And when nobody brings it up, I know the game was meaningless, but it's not meaningless if you're the head coach of the Ravens,

and you've got to control, and you're telling your team this is how we have to win. Absolutely. And one more thing to point out about the Bengals, Michael Johnson did go out in this game with an injury early on, so that's something to keep an eye on moving forward for that defense. As always, on these Fridays, we are going to pick five games last week, Lombardi.

You went four for five, 80%. That's pretty good, you know, just saying for week one. It is week two now, and we're going to head into some of the bigger games to watch out for. And at the end of this episode, I should say, we're going to have the fantasy football, the dynasty show. Those two guys at the end of this episode will break down the fantasy football notes for this weekend. But first, Lombardi, to get a word from our sponsor, Direct TV. We want to stream NFL Sunday to get live every Sunday, even if we can't get DirecTV where we live, because we want every play, even if we don't live in a house with the satellite.

Because a lot of us live in apartments. on a college campus, but we still want to stream NFL Sunday ticket. To see if you're eligible, go online to NFL Sunday ticket. TV and stream every NFL Sunday ticket game this season to follow your favorite team no matter where you live. Use promo code ringer at checkout to save 15%. promo code ringer, R-I-N-G-E-R at checkout to save 15%. And we're also brought to you by Miller Light. Look here on the ringer.

We have our disagreements. That is true, I guess. But there shouldn't be any debate about this. Miller Light is the greatest. tasting light beer with only 96 calories and 3.2 grams of carbs. That's fewer calories and half the carbs of Bud Light. So there's really nothing more to talk about. If you have a real argument, let me hear it. Until then, stick with Miller Light. Miller Light, hold true. Let's talk about your number one game of the week to watch out for. Number one in your list

that you sent over to me, number one in my heart, and that is the Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers down in Atlanta. Obviously, Dion Jones is out. Keanu Neal is out. Greg Olson is out. Dary Williams is out. Those are the injuries, but we're going to see a game where Julio has torn up this Panther secondary before down in Atlanta. And what should we watch out for this weekend, Lombardy? Well, I think Matt Ryan's a different player indoors than he is outdoors. I mean, he's averages 7,8, 5 yards per attempt inside that dome, and he's around 7 yards outside. I think he's a completely different player. Look, I don't love the Atlanta offense. But, you know, I have a golden rule, and my golden rule is bad offensive lines don't travel well.

Darrell Williams gets hurt. They got a, you know, they got a no left tackle. I mean, there are two tackles if there's ever going to be a time where Atlanta's defensive front could take control the game and win the game, it's this game. They've got to be able to do that. In the dome, crowd noise, home opener. You know, Ryan's coming off.

He's had a lot of time to think about it. I don't trust Sarkeesian in their offense. But that being said, I think they should be able to move the football enough to where they can create some turnovers with their defense. And so I like Atlanta here. I'm reluctantly liking Atlanta because I just think it's up because of the home field and because the Carolina offensive line just isn't quite good enough. I mean, I know big guy can stand back there and he can wad off all sorts of defenders,

but it's going to be hard on the road to be able to do that. And so that's why I favor Atlanta here. Yeah, I do not see much wrong in that evaluation, Lombardi. I will say I do like Cam Newton before. Usually he makes this game about him, you know, going back to Atlanta, Georgia as a homecoming. He said it's all business this week. So for those that are Cam Newton, you know, defenders and believers like myself, that is good news.

Next up, we have the Houston Texans and the Tennessee Titans. This is a game with Deshaun Watson. He wants the team to take a 180 and took accountability after that loss of the Patriots. We got Marcus Marriota. We're going to see where we are with him. And obviously, after a rough week one, and Dionne Lewis has got to watch out for if you are a fan of the Tennessee Titans in this game. But Lombardi, what are we looking for? Well, I think this.

Look, you know, I think Watson's right. He's got to play better. And, you know, last year when they went in there, Tennessee was a playoff team. And the great Tom Savage, I think he threw for 331 yards. Tom Savage threw for 331 and beat the Titans in Tennessee last year. So I think Watson can come back. I think the concern is whether Marioo plays or not. Where is how good is Marcus Marriota?

How good is he? He's only completed 39 passes in his entire career over 20 yards. He's had 10 picks of his 36 when he throws the ball, when the ball travels more than 10 yards, when the ball travels more than 20 yards in the air. I worry about his durability. I worry about him making clutch throws down the field. And I think the Texans are a better team. I think their front is going to be hard to block.

And I don't think they're going to be able to run the ball here. I like Houston to bounce back. I think it's got to be will fuller plays. I think it helps. But there's no, even though the Titans have a lot of money in their secondary with Butler and Logan Ryan, And of course, Adory Jackson is a first round pick. They don't have anybody

can really cover Hopkins. And so, you know, I don't know how to cover Hopkins. Very few, right? And so, you know, I think Hopkins will have a much better game.

And I think even though I'm going against my belief that bad lines don't play well on the road, and I think the Texans are a bad line, I'm going to go with Watson's ability. I don't think the Texans, the Titans will be disciplined enough to stay in their past rush lanes like the Patriots were last week. So I really like Houston here.

Houston beat them twice last year with lesser, you know, they beat them twice, one time with Watson, one time without. I just don't have great respect for the Titans overall personnel. I just don't think they're a very good team. Yeah, and they're in quite a situation right now to come back, you know, from that playoff appearance and look so lacklust that to start the year. But we'll keep an eye on Watson as well because, you know, a lot of people were high on him going into this season,

including us on this program here, GM Street. Let's talk about a team that is trying to find some discipline and trying to figure out who they are after going 9 and 7 last year, and that is the Detroit Lions who are going to take on Jimmy G and the 49ers. Kyle Shanahan, you know, is not minced words or plays with Matt Patricia defenses in the past. He is not afraid to go after Matt Patricia defenses. This is a game to really watch out for it, right, Lombardi? The 49ers seem like they'll bounce back.

I think Kyle does a great job of attacking him. I think Bill. I think Matt Patricia's coming in. This is a really difficult situation, and I don't think he's given it enough consideration. UT takes over for Jim Caldwell. The players love Jim Caldwell. They were nine and seven. Now, you can think whatever you want about the Lions team. The Lions players didn't think they were that far. They were in a lot of games last year. They were close. And so when you come in with this radical, I'm going to tear everything down approach because you guys sucked before. You lose a lot of your constituents. And I think we saw that Monday night against the Jets. This is a tougher matchup. I mean, Garoppolo is going to play much better in this game. They're going to have a harder time covering. I think Kyle will do a really good job. I think they'll score points, and I worry about Matthew Stafford's scoring points in this game. And we'll find out really what the Lions are made up. Can they stop this offense?

I don't know. And I think that the Lions are not a great offensive line either. And when they travel, it's not always as good. So I like San Francisco here. It's the rematch of Super Bowl 51 from offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, now both head coaches. And I favor Kyle in this game greatly. Yeah, it'll be very interesting to see if Matthews Tever can bounce back from that four-pick performance.

Obviously, you know, the big, story this week coming out of Detroit is a lot of these players were saying that they did not like the the new regime that came in with Matt Patricia and treated a lot of these guys like college players. The age old tell that professional players want to be treated like professionals. That's how that takes to work out. Here's the thing I think people make a lot of mistakes with when they get new jobs. They always think forward. When you get a new job, especially in the NFL, you should spend time looking backwards. Why am I here?

What's the reason why I'm here and how can I fix the problems? that were created to make the team better. If you come in with the approach that nothing was done right here, that's fine if the team was two and 14 or one in 15. I get that. But when you're 9 and 7 and you have a coach that was really well liked, really well liked by the players, and you try to radically change it,

you're just, you're going down the wrong street here. And those players have to be convinced that you have the makeup to make up the difference between, getting them from nine wins to 11 wins. And it's not going to be just by your anger or just by your screaming. Players don't respect that. So I know Matt wants to be Bill Belichick. I know he wants to put the Patriot Way in, and I'm all for the Patriot way.

But there's a thousand different ways to put it in than just making everybody run because they false start. And so I think that's his biggest challenge. And if he doesn't change soon, there could be a revolt up there because, again, I'll expose you everything you know about the future. And again, they won nine games last year. This is not the Cleveland Brown. So, you know, a lot of those guys know what they did last year. I know that they were in contention.

Can I give you the greatest nugget that I've researched this week? So I do all those notes, right? I send it to you. You know, the Browns in Huey headlines, 33 games, have not scored a point in the first quarter of them. How is this possible? And yet he's an offensive guru. One thing about the NFL is one thing about the NFL, if you're a great offensive coach, you can scheme points early in the game.

You can do that. I mean, you know, whether you have talent or not, you can scheme points. You can script, right? You can script out an entire series. You can figure out a way we're going to get some points. When you get shut out in the first quarter of 19 of your 33 games, oh, man. Anyway, continue on tape Fraser.

But you're not sitting in his chair, Lombardy. You wouldn't get it. I know, I'm not. I get that. Thank God I'm not. You know, I don't have a game ball in my office from the Raiders, which was a kid, which was not even the Cleveland Brown game. Do you think he got a game ball for the tie?

I hope so. I hope he get one of those mudlides. You know, people were bitching at me because we never talked about how he didn't how he told Josh Gordon he wasn't going to start, but he ended up starting. I mean, only in, only in, only in Huey land can this happen. Really, seriously, right? Well, I mean, just play Josh Gordon, Hugh. I mean, you know, play the hits at this point.

Like, what does he have to lose, Lombardi? He's won one game and has one time. Well, he's got a lifetime contract for one game. It's amazing. It is amazing. Let's talk about another amazing matchup. The heads will roll, depending on what happens in this game between the Giants and the Cowboys.

We obviously saw Jerry Jones sitting up in the box with Des. And that was a big storyline this week. The Giants are trying to figure out what they want to do and trying to bounce back after the loss of the Jags last week. The G-Men are going down to Dallas. We got the Barclay versus Ezekieli-Elli-Elli-Eat thing going on. This is a big week because if the Cowboys go, oh and two. We're going to see the clapper

on the hot seat, right? I would think so. I mean, look, I think this is a hard game to handicap because both teams are struggling. I mean, the Giants' offensive line last year, Eric Flowers, he's not a right tackle, he's not a left tackle, he's really not a tackle, they struggled there. Nate Solders struggled against a really good Jacksonville front. And

let's face it, Dallas's strength is in their front. Their defensive front is really good. So Eli's going to have to play better throw the ball down the field. What concerns me most is Dallas's offense. Dallas's offense last week, they averaged three yards on first down total, three yards on first down. This is an offense that features Zeke Elliott. Zeke Elliott had four past targets, three catches for 17 yards along of 11.

How do you not feature an offense after a whole offseason and get Zeke Elliott the ball in a passing game, get Zeke Elliott the ball as a runner? I mean, how do you not, he's your offense? Everybody's taking shots at Dak Prescott, and the reality of it is the Cowboys lack skill. They ranked 29th in the league after one week in yards after the catch. They only got 70 yards after the catch. That's not good enough, Tate Frazier. So for me, I'm back and forth on this game.

I like the Giants only because I just think that the Cowboys are just too slow on offense to really be explosive. And I think the Giants will end up being better on defense. I think they'll put pressure on the Giants' offensive line. I think this was pretty clear last night. The Cowboys offensive line, I know they're. Miss Frederick, their offensive guard. That hurts them.

But the reality of it is, this line isn't playing nearly as well as it has in the past. The Bengals, the Bengals and the Cowboys switched to offensive line coaches, right? So Pollock went from Dallas to Cincinnati, and Alexander went from Cincinnati down there. And I got to tell you, I think the Bengals won the trade. Yeah, it looks like it so far, especially because the Bengals, after losing Whitworth, they really needed to find their identity on the line. And we should say, for the Giants, as far as history is concerned, 2016, they came to Dallas and Dak Prescott's first start.

They beat him nine years ago when Jerry World opened. In week two, they went to Dallas and beat him. So the Giants tend to play well in Dallas, so that's something to keep an eye on too, just as far as history with the Giants in the Eli era. Anything else on Barbary in Week 2 to really keep an eye on? Well, we got one more game. We didn't do Denver Oakland.

Oh, that's my goodness. How could I forget John Gruden? John Gruden is going to go on the road. He's going to take... And he's still doing the Bridgestone tire commercials. You know, I mean, I thought that... He's a brand. He's a brand.

He's a brand. He's got to get out there. Tony Roma. I love that. He doesn't work here anymore. I love the beginning of that line on the Corona Lake commercial. I laugh every time. It's hilarious.

Anyway, look, I think this. I think there's, you know, we talk about Mario that has a rep for being a great quarterback and he's not. I'm worried about Derek Carr in this sense. Derrick Carr, when he was at Fresno played like the ball was a hot potato in his hand. He got rid of it quick, okay? And so far in the NFL, he's demonstrated that he's a better market. better marketed Sam Bradford.

He takes the checkdown as much as Sammy wants to take it. He's only averaged in his whole career seven yards per pass attempt. That yards per attempt. That's the highest he's ever been. And last week, he didn't hold the ball long enough. That's why Cooper and Nelson didn't get the ball. So for me, he's got to play way better. He's going to have to show that he can do it.

The Raiders had five holding calls last week. They're playing against Von Miller this week. They're going to have to take Von Miller out of the game. I don't know how they're going to do that. especially over on the right side. Donald Penn, can he handle them? If they put them on the left side, Colton Miller, I'm not sure he can handle them. And then the whole Denver defense, look, I think Gunther's done a really good job. When he was in Cincinnati, he would go play Denver.

They've always done a good job. I think it's a close game. I think the Raiders will play much better. I just think, to me, Denver is going to win the game, but I think the Raiders will play it, but they've got to get, they must get, they must get Carter throw the ball down the field. They've got to get the ball to their receivers, and they've got to make plays on the outside. If they don't do that, it's going to be along here. And they got to hope that defense can get in the face of Case Keenum and try to get him to turn the ball over,

even though that's not really his M.O. as of late. But last week, you think they will. I think they will. I really think they will. I think that they, you know, Gunther's done a good job. I've always attacking them. I think the scheme will be better. I don't think, you know, look, I think they, you know, Keenum turned the ball over in the first game.

I definitely think that there's an area to win here. I think there's an opportunity to win the game here. but I think they're going to have to play much better on offense and they're going to have to protect. And I kind of think they will. I really do. I have a sneaky feeling that they're going to play a lot better in this game than they have. I have a larger question to ask you about the Raiders,

and this comes down to the Gruden philosophy and mentality looking at this team. We know what happened with another guy in the 2014 draft that came in to change the culture, quote-unquote, in Oakland and Khalil Mack, who is now in the Chicago Bears. If Derek Carr, I mean, we saw at the start of the year, John Gruden's giving them all the glowing reviews, and then in some of those. He said we had guys open down field. I'm not sure why we didn't make the throws.

You know, what is the value proposition there? Do we get to a point where Gruddin is saying, hey, I'll cut ties and I'll bring in my own guy? And what is the value of car around the league with that contract? Well, I think that's the question. I think that's why John's there. John's there is to make Carr the player that he has to be. And what John said is true, there were guys open down the field.

And the concern I have with Carr is the same one he echoed. Is he going to hold the ball and throw it? You got to stay in there. You know, Bradford takes a lot of heat, and I give them some, too. Bradford can be an unbelievable quarterback if he wouldn't take the checkdown immediately. Yes. You know, Bradford. If you've gotten injured that many times and hit that many times, I don't blame him.

Just get rid of it. Right. Bradford's been, you know, I mean, Bradford's been traded for a while. I mean, Bradford has a great rep as a quarterback in the league without really ever winning very many games because his skill sets so high. That's the same thing with Carr. Car's got to throw the ball down the field. He's got to wait and hold on the route, and he can't take the path of least resistance. And that's the concern.

I mean, the Raiders, I think are four and a half point dogs in the game. I think this will be a close game. I really do. I really think the Raiders have a chance to make it close. Do I think Denver will win? Yeah, but I think the Raiders will cover it. That's just my sense of it because I do think the Raiders will move the ball. It's something to keep an eye on.

And that comes back to the whole, you know, a lot of people are questioned about, you know, Marry Cooper and Jordy Nelson. We talked about them being able to get separation, but, you know, they have to have time to get that separation for sure. Any other notes just around the league to watch out for? I think that Monday night game will be really interesting with the Bears and the Seahawks. I want to see what that Bears defense will do to see if they can bounce back after that Rogers defeat.

And obviously, you see Russell Wilson come back after, you know, Von Miller reeked havoc on him last week. Anything else, Lombardi? I don't think, you know, I mean, this whole notion is Aaron Rogers is going to play or not? I mean, Aaron Rogers is going to play, right? I can't imagine him not playing. I would think he's definitely going to play.

And again, for me, Minnesota, is a bad offensive line. Can they go into Green Bay and play well? That's going to be the key test. Can they play well enough in Green Bay? Bad lines don't travel. We'll see if that holds up. Anthony Barr is the one, obviously, that took Aaron Rogers down to the ground last year and broke his

collarbone. And after taking a kind of scary hit in week one with the Bears and dealing with that defense, is it smart to go out there in week two if you're Aaron Rogers? I mean, do you just kind of mail this one in? No, I think he's, you know, I think the best thing that happened to him was that they now to play him in the shotgun and he gets to spray the ball all over the place.

Yeah. You know, and he'll throw it around. And if he, you know, he's one of those few guys in the league that if he has to throw it 50 times, they can still win. You know, that, you don't ever want to throw it 50 times in a game, but there's guys like Brady and Rogers. They can throw it 50 and win. You don't want to do it, but they can do it. Joe Flacco cannot. No, we got to keep, you know, we got to keep him more balanced than that.

And, you know, and unfortunately that's where we'll end up. up. Any thoughts on Kansas City, Pittsburgh? That game, I think, is going to be a fascinating game, too. I think the key for that game for Pittsburgh to win that game, they have to get Kansas City into at least 15 third downs because you can't let Kansas City have five-play drive, six-play drive, three-play drives for touchdowns. I mean, last week, against the Chargers, they had like four drives. Only one of them was a double-digit drive. 11 play they scored. So you've got to make them work the ball down the field. You can't give up the home run. It's easier said than dumb, but you can't do it.

Yeah, you cannot do it. Well, this has been great. These are the five picks, the Lombardi locks of week two. Yeah. Keep an eye on those, as always. We're very excited to see what happens here. We will be back on Tuesday to break down all of week two with, you know, Lombardi's week two thoughts. I hope that you enjoy the East Coast.

I hope you enjoy. I'm coming back tonight, Tafrasia. Oh, you are? Yeah, we got to go. Hey, look, we got the book, you know, I mean, people are asking for you, the last bookstore, Wednesday night in Los Angeles. They want Tate Fraser there. I'll come. We have a science.

there. You've got to be there. It's 7 o'clock. Everybody wants to see you. Seven o'clock. I'll be there. Lock it in. Just for you, Lombardy. That sounds great. I don't know why people will want to see me, but I'm happy to see people. I would love to have your support there that recognize gridiron genius. You can be there. We can have a conversation. And the people that live in the Los Angeles area that want to experience GM Street Live, there you go. It's right there. They can see it in person. That sounds great. I hope Millie will be there too. So we'll hopefully. Yeah, we'll have some good food and talk about great iron genius.

That sounds great. One more note before we get out of here, I just want to say to all the people in North Carolina and South Carolina dealing with Hurricane Florence.

We are all thinking about you and I hope everyone can stay safe. And to everyone out there, God bless them. And hopefully the hurricane will not do too much damage. We have the fantasy football guys coming up next.

The Dynasty Fantasy Football podcast. People always ask me for advice. Usually it's what team to bet on this week. It is week two. The truth is, I don't know who's going to win. But if you think you know, you've got to check out MyBooky. They've been in business for years.

Have great reviews online, and their mobile site is easy to use. Not to mention, they have in-game live betting and the most rewarding player perks in the business. Plus, for you fantasy guys out there, you can even bet the over-under on how many fantasy points of player will score each game. So lay down some cash and win big today. You win, they pay. My bookie is slammed. Slammed with new betters and wants to give everyone the best service possible. if you're willing to deposit after 7 p.m. Eastern, they'll give you an additional $25 fee play on deposits over $100.

Join now in my book. You will match your deposit dollar for dollar. Use promo code ringer NFL when creating your account to claim up to $1,000 in free play. That's M-Y-B-O-O-K-I-E. And don't forget to use the promo code ringer NFL when creating your account to claim the bonus. You play, you win, you get paid. Boom. What's up, everyone? My name's Danny Haifitz. I am joined by Danny C.

We are the hosts of the Danny C Football Podcast, brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network, and we're here to give you some last second fantasy advice ahead of the weekend. How you doing, D.K.? I'm doing great, man. I'm excited for this weekend. Yeah, I'm pumped. We just want to make this a little quick, but we figured we give you a few fringe start options that we like this week,

a couple maybe stars that might be worth maybe sitting possibly, who knows? And some streaming options to end the week. So shall we just dive in, D.K. Yeah, let's do this. We're going to start off with a lightning round. that involves like a lot of guys that are definitely owned, but maybe you're waffling on whether or not to start them. So yeah, we're going to tell you if we're in or out,

and Jim's going to yell at us if we go over the time on a single player. Let's kick it off. My first guy is Peyton Barber versus Philly. Last week, obviously, at 19-carry 69 yards versus New Orleans. I'm out on Barber, I think, this week. I just think the game starts going to get away from them. I think it's probably going to be kind of more a shootout. So I'm out.

I'm out as well. Next guy, James White versus Jacksonville. Yeah. It's got a touchdown last week. Jacksonville allowed four catches for 31 yards to running backs in week one, but White tied the team for targets last week with eight. Burkhead might be out with a concussion. Jeremy Hill tore his ACL,

and then there's a bunch of targets from the AFC championship game that have since left. So I'm all in a white this week. What about you? I'm all in, too. Plus, you know, Sonny Michelle's still questionable. So yeah, I'm all in. Next guy, Dionne Lewis versus Houston. Last week, he looked really, really good, really explosive, dynamic, good receiver on the ground.

He was good. I'm all in for Lewis this week. I think he has potential to go off against Houston. I'm 50-50. I'm gonna go out. You're Derek Henry? You're into Derek Henry or just no in general on the Titans? Kind of out on the Titans.

We'll see if Mario had a place. Next one. Philip Lindsay versus Oakland. I actually would have been out on him, but they're playing Oakland who allowed 113 receiving yards to running backs of week one. Obviously that's girly, but I actually think they're going to be really weak

against receivers for the rest of the season. So I can see playing Lindsay at Flex this week if you need them. I want to see more from Lindsay. I'm out. I still think that the rotation, we need to figure out what's going on with that rotation before we really end up starting guys. So I'm out on him.

Next guy, Isaiah Crowell versus Miami. Obviously, last week, he had 102 yards, two touchdowns. You know, he looked good. I think a lot of that was garbage time. Belal Powell actually out touched Crowell, 12 to 10. It was more involved in the passing game. I think if you have a choice, I would rather go with Belal Powell this week versus Miami.

Fair. So I'm out. I'm down with Powell, too. Down with them. Under receivers, D.K., who's your sticking with that same game, Yeah, so Robbie Anderson only one target turned it into a touchdown clearly, but he wasn't a huge part of that passing game this weekend, whether it's going to be a factor. So I am still waiting. I'm out on him until he shows me that he's going to be a bigger part of that passing game.

I agree. I'd rather have Quincy and none one for the volume until we see what's going on with him and Donald. Next guy, Chris Hogan first Jacksonville, same thing as white. Man, this one's tough. Yeah, this one's really hard. I understand if you go both ways. Jacksonville allowed 159 yards receivers in week one, but I wouldn't be shot. if Ramsey's shadowing gronk and then Hogan gets doubled in some way as well, and then white and if Birkhead, if Burkhead plays, gets volume, but if not white. But I'm a little bit out unless you have better options. Yeah, I'm out. I have him in the Ringer League, and I think I'm out. So we have to see him do something, especially against Jacksonville,

against Ramsey, against that whole defensive secondary. They just scare me. And so, I mean, it would be out pretty much for almost, you know, almost all receivers against that defense. So next guy, Jameson Crowder. versus Indianapolis. Last week, he had three catches for 32 yards, Indianapolis defense, gave up 10 catches,

121 yards, and two touchdowns of receivers last week. I'm in on Crowder. I'm out. I agree with what you said about Indies' secondary sucking, but I think Paul Richardson's going to actually, and Jordan Reed, not in that order, will be better than Crowder each. Fair enough.

Next one. Will Fuller versus Tennessee. Fuller missed last week with a hamstring injury. He's playing Titans this week. You know that, look, he's a deep threat with a hamstring injury. You know that saying about airplanes, like it's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air

than in the air wishing we're on the ground. I'd rather my Will Fuller go off on my bench than for him to be a decoy in my starting lineup. So I'm out. Yeah, the Houston offense

didn't look super well-oiled machine last week and so yeah, I'm out. I'm out on him too. My next guy, Amari Cooper at Denver. Last week, he was not a big part of the offense against the Rams.

Then again, Denver allowed seven catches, 112 yards, two touchdowns of receivers to the Seahawks last week. I'm out though. I still just, man, Cooper was one of the most frustrating guys in the entire fantasy world last year and got off to a great start again this year

and I'm just going to wait until he shows me anything. Gruden is whining already about why they didn't get him the ball. He didn't exactly say it, but he's already whining. I wouldn't trade him yet, but I would probably not play him until he does something. No, absolutely. I'm not dropping him by any means, but yeah, it's worrisome. Sticking with the Raiders on the tight end.

Jared Cook obviously crushed it on Monday night football. it's tempting to think that that is somewhat of an aberration because as we talked about on our last episode that it seems like that the blueprint against the Rams is going to be tight ends and running backs in the passing game but Denver also sucks against covering tight ends so for at least one more week I'm on the Jerry Cook train I think I'm on them too I mean it depends obviously who you have

as your starter which is the case for all of these to be correct all of these depend on your other options always depends on your options but man Cook looked like a monster and obviously they were looking to them a lot in the passing game so I'm I'm like, I think he's a gamble, but I'm in. The next guy is kind of the same deal. Went off in week one.

Will Disley, rookie Seahawks guy. He looked great, man. He looked really, really good. But he got a lot of his yards on a 66-yard catch-and-run that I don't think is necessarily super repeatable. Chicago is really good against tight ends. They got some good coverage linebackers in the middle there. I'm out on Disley this week.

Yeah, he's a blocking tight end. He got lucky. I'm happy he had it on some first game. He's not a blocking tight end. But didn't they take him because he was going to be a great blocker this year? They took him to be a great blocker, but man, he showed really good hands, great open field. I don't think he's going to be a regular every week type of guy,

but I think he can bring a lot to that passing game. That's what I'm saying. All right, well, you stay with your C-Stockholm syndrome. Yeah, I know. I know. All right. Next up, a couple guys who are 100% owned in your leagues that are almost going to start every week that maybe are keeping you up at night.

So from my example, which is from my very real-life fantasy team, Devante Adams against Minnesota. he has a shoulder injury, didn't practice on Wednesday, we don't know if he practiced today yet, but so on one hand he's got a shoulder injury, or one shoulder he's got a shoulder injury, Rogers is injured too,

and he's going against the Vikings who have the best defense in football, and he's going to be going against Xavier Rhodes, probably a lot, and I generally, my philosophy is you stick with your stars, you stick with who got you there, blah, blah, blah, but that's too much risk stacked on top of each other. The Vikings, and he's injured,

and the small chance of Rogers doesn't play or isn't 100%. I think I'm going to bench him this week. All right, all right, all right. Are you going to bench Rogers as well? If you have him? No, no. I think Rogers is going to play.

I actually, they're all talking about he's not going to play. He's not going to play. He's going to play. He said that on a Monday night football. Like, he's going to play and clearly he'll be fine. I understand the fear that, like, maybe the Vikings defense is also with him too. But I'm willing to roll with Rogers. Adams, on the other hand, there's too much fear of, like, how Rogers is going to attack them.

I have no idea he was going to do it. But I'm not afraid of playing Rogers. The last guy, Larry Fitzgerald, going to. against the Rams. Obviously, last week we saw the Raiders almost completely avoided the receivers last week because of the great cornerbacks that the Rams have.

This week, are we going to see the same thing? Are you nervous about starting Fitzgerald? Obviously, the Cardinals' offense did not look great. Sam Bradford did not look great. Are you starting to second guess this Fitzgerald thing? Is he an auto start anymore? I think we have to continue to see, and that's why I'm probably going to play in this week. But the reason with Adams

I'm afraid to just play him against the Vikings also have a great defense, but the shoulder injury really does affect your cash radius. Fitzgerald's healthy, and while I'm afraid that the Rams cornerbacks will just actually just shut down receivers this year, we have to see it a little bit. He's still missed reliable.

Having said that, the Rams defensive line might actually just eat whole like the Cardinals' offensive line who suck. So the combo of that, maybe there's going to have to do it a lot of dump offs. I mean, maybe Fitz gets the volume. I'm not willing to bench Fitz yet. He's my guy still.

I think he will use, they'll use him over the middle of the field a lot. quick stuff, and he's just going to get the volume, so I'm sticking with fits. Yeah, I agree. All right, next up, we're going to do streamers. These are guys that if you're in a pinch on Sunday morning or Saturday night, you can pick them off waivers, throw them right into your lineup, and we're going to look at each position run through guys owned in under 50% of leagues,

and then we're going to talk about which ones we like the most for this week. First up, let's look at some quarterbacks. We got Case Keenham, who's versus Oakland, Terrod Taylor, Tyrot, Mr. Taylor. I'm going Mr. Taylor. T. T.D. New Orleans, T.D. There we go. Dak versus the Giants on Sunday night,

and then Eli versus at Dallas on Sunday night as well. I am deeply, unfathomably biased. I like Eli versus Dallas. Eli at Dallas. Or Keenham versus Oakland. I kind of like the Taylor versus New Orleans look, because he just adds stuff on the ground.

Like he can run with his legs. He's really dynamic in that way. That's always kind of a sneaky way to get points from your quarterback in fantasy. So I'm going with Taylor versus New Orleans. That defense looked like garbage. I don't think it's necessarily going to be like that all year. But I think they do look like a team that could

regress in that area. So I'm going with Taylor. I thought there was a chance Keenham could suck this season and he played closer to what he did in Minnesota than I thought he would. So I was actually a little impressed there. So I'll revise it to Keenum and then Manning in that order. All right, running backs to maybe stream plug and play this week. T.J. Yeldin versus New England. We're still not 100% sure if four net plays. I feel like that's going to be one of those game time decisions.

Yeah, he said it was actually. So, yeah. That sucks. I know, right. Jalen Richard at Denver, Latavius Murray at Green Bay for Vikings, Latavis Murray. We've got Indianapolis's two running backs, Jordan Wilkins, and Naheim Hines. This is another one I'm not going to get right. Nahim? Nahim? I don't know. I think so.

Heinz. Both of them are at Washington. I apologize to Mr. Hines. Here's my quick take. Who do you like that is? If Fournette doesn't play, it's Yeldon, but that's kind of risky at this point because it's chance. and Richard at Denver, you're basically banking that Denver gets up on them, and then Richard's going to get a lot of passes. That's kind of risky, though.

Latavius Murray got a lot of carries just under 50-50 with Alvin Cook. Like, he still might be the goal line back. I think he's a great, maybe the best bet this week for a touchdown. If you're trying to get a vulture. And then in the Colts, Jordan Wilkins is getting more carries, but Hein seems like he's going to be the pass catching back. If you, like, me, believe the Redskins are going to have, like, borderline, like, fantastic offense this year.

the Colts will be down again. I can see Heinz getting a lot of catches. If not, I'd probably go Murray. Assume it, Yeldon's one. If Fournette doesn't play. If Fournett does play, I'd probably grab Latavius and then Wilkins and then Heinz and then Richard. Yeah, I'm with you.

I think Yeldon is the obvious number one streamer if he's still, you know, available to you or whatever. But I like, I kind of like Heinz just because I think, number one, we've talked about it like five times now, but the Colts offense just likes to, you know, pass these, like, short little screens and stuff like that. That's a big part of their offense. So I could see Heinz getting some, especially in PBR, I could see him getting some targets. This is the post Andrew Luck snowboarding accident, Coltoff.

Yeah, I can't believe that. How do they let him do that? Anyway, I mean, he did. He threw a couple deep passes and they looked nice. And so that's definitely good for them. But he still had one of the lowest A-DOTs in the NFL in week one. It's not an accident. Fatigue, baby.

All right. Under the wide receivers to stream, Tyler Lockett, of your beloved Seahawks at Chicago, Kenny Golliday of Detroit at San Francisco. and then we got Cole Beasley versus the Giants and Geronimo Allison versus Minnesota Kenny Gallaudet if he's available in your league you should grab. He's actually breaking our rules

here because he's above 50%. But if he's there you should grab him, no question. I kind of like all these options honestly. Yeah. I don't think you can go wrong with any of these. Again, I love Geronelan this season. Not Vikings, though. So I'd probably go Tyler Lockett against all these options. I don't love him against Chicago, but he's better than I think the other receivers

on streaming this week. And then Colby'sley. With Doug Baldwin out, he should get a lot of... He'll get a lot of playing the slot, and that could be... In PBR especially, that could be good. So I'm with you. On to tight ends, streaming this week. Ricky Seals Jones at the Rams. We got Ben Watson against Cleveland.

O.J. Howard, who's playing the Eagles. We got Antonio Gates and the Chargers taken on Buffalo, Austin Safarian Jenkins, who is your guy, D.K., against the Patriots and Vance McDonald against Kansas City. The one that jumps out to me there is Ricky Seals Jones against the Rams, because as you said, D.K.,

seems like the Rams might be a funneled tight-end team, which means their corners might be so good to just smother all the wide receivers that the running backs and tight ends seem to be the weak point in the armor for the Rams, and it might seem there's a lot of volume going there like we saw with Jared Cook. None of these options are, like,

going to get tons and tons of targets, obviously. A lot of them are touchdown upside guys like Eric Ebron last week had a touchdown, which made him fantasy relevant. I don't think that happens again. I think it might happen again with Antonio Gates against Buffalo, who gave up, I mean, like a plethora of points to last week against the Ravens.

I'd also be interested to see if Ben Watson gets one against the Browns, because the Brown's tight-end defense sucks. Otherwise, who do you like? I'm in on Seals Jones this week for streaming. I think the other interesting one is Vance McDonald. He's been out and he's coming back into the Pittsburgh offense. He could end up being the lead tight end in that offense, which could end up being volume down the line.

So this is a big risk. You might want to just pick him up for now and see what happens. but Vance McDonald's an interesting one too for the Steelers. Vance McDonald's the one I'm looking at here where if he is good this week, he might just be good going forward, probably highest upside of all these guys. But I think he's still questionable.

I'm not sure exactly what his status is. We'll see if he plays. And the shitty thing about injured dudes is even if they play, they might be on a snap count like this. So that's always frustrating. All right. On to defenses that might be worth streaming this week.

Carolina's taking on the Falcons. Carolina's looked really good. They shut down, Alice for most of that game. And if the Falcons look as rusty as they did on Thursday, that might be worth it. They had 10 days to prepare, but they still have their goal line issues. And Carolina's defensive line looked unbelievable. A couple other games, Washington versus Indianapolis, and then the Jets against Miami,

and then 49ers versus Detroit look pitiful. Which of those do you like, D.K.? Washington against Indianapolis, obviously, you know, I don't think luck looks 100% quite yet. He had a couple deep balls, but he's still, you know, kind of the checkdown thing. I think Washington's defense is pretty strong this year. Especially their front seven. So, yeah, they could be an option. The other one that's kind of interesting,

and this might just be way too based on what happened in week one, but the Jets versus the dolphins. Jets at home, obviously in week one, they got a bunch of turnovers and they looked better, I think, than people thought they might. And so, like, if you're really desperate, I don't know if I trust their pass rush at all this point, but I think that their back seven has shown some ability to get turnovers, and maybe they are a little bit better than people think.

I'm going to go the exact other way. I think the Jets were kind of bragging about being able to steal Stafford's signals. Maybe they're great, but I kind of think that might have been an aberration. But if it wasn't, I'd be more willing to bet that Detroit just sucks. And I don't think the Jets have an amazing punt return game because they got a touchdown as much as the Lions might have a terrible special teams. That Monday Night Football game might be an aberration, but if not, the 49ers defense against the Lions might be interesting

if Stafford still implodes and or gets hurt again and, like, Matt Castle has to play. So we'll see. 49ers are kind of, that's a high risk, but potentially high reward defense. And then on to kickers that are worth streaming this week. No, I'm just kidding. We don't fucking know with kickers. If you need our help to pick up your kicker, then Godspeed. I have no idea.

Pick up a kicker. I literally will pick up the offense that might score points. There you go. Look at the over, under. Look at the weather. Yeah. I don't know. One name I wanted to say that we didn't say in Tuesday, but might be worth another Saturday

pickup candidate, is Aaron Jones on Green Bay. He's a running back. suspended the first two games of the season. Who knows whether he'll be able to take over lead back duties from Jamal Williams and Green Bay. Obviously, High Montgomery's there too. But really worth the stash ahead of time because he will be a very popular waiver pickup

on Tuesday, especially if any injury, God forbid, happens to Jamal Williams or anyone. Absolutely. If you have the bench spot, worth adding Aaron Jones. That's all we got. Yeah. Thank you guys for listening. Enjoy the games. Godspeed on all of your waiver wire pickups.

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