A (2:14)

When I'm wrong, I say I'M wrong.

B (2:17)

I wasn't the only one that made a mistake in week one, Liz. I think the entire industry made some mistakes in this preseason and in week one rankings. Some studs, some duds, and one of those players that I think we need to talk about, you already have listed here and that's Justin Herbert.

A (2:30)

Yes, because I don't think we made a mistake about Justin Herbert's talent. We made a mistake about his utilization. We believed that Jim Harbaugh would stick to this run focused mentality and instead, I mean maybe this is evidence that people can change. He let his big armed quarterback absolutely slim it. The Chargers managed a pass rate of 6.69percent, the sixth highest in the NFL in week one. Here's an interesting nugget. The Chargers were the only team in the top nine that won their game. The other eight teams were all trailing and so they were naturally passing more. That is an incredible harbinger of possible things to come. But it's not just that Herbert only did it with his arm, he also showed off his mobility. He had seven rushes for 32 rushing yards. He is undoubtedly the engine of the Bolts offense, moving him from low end QB1 territory into a top 10 starter in week two.

B (3:30)

Well, a running back that I think we all underestimated heading into week one, Liz, is one.

A (3:35)

Mr. Breeze Hall, I completely agree with you. I myself overcorrected on this one and I have to own my mistakes. So I'm saying it out loud. But the claims of his bus potential were wildly overstated because I think we all failed to recognize his skill set. We know him to be a diverse and versatile player. This was a high draft pick a couple of years ago and so when we look at what he did on the ground of snapshare of 59% as compared to Braylon Allen's 30% or Isaiah Davis's 13%. But he didn't just produce on the ground. He was also very active in the passing game, second in team targets with four looks. I mean we're talking about 21 targets total touches. So the volume was there. But he also was efficient and that is what I love to see, particularly when he now has a mobile quarterback, 5.6 yards per carry. And so the assumption now is that Fields is opening up lanes for hall as he is also involved in the passing game. This makes hall now obviously bigots, right? Because can the jets offense get a good going? Can it still? Is the engine in New York going to stay humming? I'm not quite sure, but we do know that hall, based on his skill set, probably isn't going to be like a top five to ten producer, but he is absolutely now a solid RB2 moving forward.

B (4:58)

Well, I want to move on and talk about a player that shouldn't be finishing in the top five of this position, and that is Brian Thomas Jr. Who stunk it up in week one.

A (5:06)

Yeah, one catch for 11 yards looks terrible because it is terrible. But if we pull out, there are some reasons for optimism. Number one, Brian Thomas Jr. Drew seven targets to Travis Hunter's eight. And he did that in a game in which the Jaguars didn't have much of a need to push the ball downfield. Also, he did save his day with a touchdown on an end around. And that play shows me that Liam Cohen is very interested in getting the ball in Brian Thomas Jr's hands and also getting staying creative with his usage. So there's like he. He remains a focal point. That's all great. I also think this matchup really allows him to bounce back. The Bengals defense, we know, is bad, but when you look at what they did last week against the Browns, the Bengals gave up 290 passing yards. That was the fifth most to Joe Flacco. In week one. That was so much production that four of the Browns receivers had eight or more targets. So now if we are getting Brian Thomas Jr. Those kind of opportunities, and we believe in Liam Cohen, which I do, hopefully Trevor Lawrence's efficiency can improve. And so I am sticking with him and have Brian Thomas Jr. Ranked as my wide receiver eight heading into week two.

B (6:28)

You heard it here first, people. Brian Thomas Jr. Bounce back.

A (6:33)

Coming up, a guest who lives in the Facts of Fantasy Football, but we're gonna try and unlock a few feels. You've probably seen him on FTN Fantasy or heard him on Sirius xm. It is the one and only Jeff Ratcliffe. Stay tuned. Hello.

C (7:05)

Hey, Liz.

A (7:07)

Hello. Is this Jeff Ratcliffe, fantasy football superstar, analyst for FTN Fantasy, and radio host on Sirius xm?

C (7:17)

I mean, I guess the one and only. That's quite a long list of things. I'm just a Jeff, but definitely those things I've been known to dabble with.

A (7:27)

Just a Jeff. You're also a proud girl, dad, and golf enthusiast. Wait, I have to ask though. Have you, like, done the Angry Birds golf thing at Topgolf yet?

C (7:35)

100%. And also the Sonic the Hedgehog thing there, too. We're big Sonic the Hedgehog fans.

A (7:41)

I love it. All right, so should we talk about some fantasy football, or do you really want to Piss everyone off in the comments and go on a tangent about gamifying golf.

C (7:49)

Well, I already do that enough on my radio show five days a week talking about sneakers, beer, music, movies. So probably should stick to football, right?

A (7:58)

All right, let's let, let's do it. We are talking about miscalculations. They are human, obviously. I know that you like to consider yourself fairly, quote, robotic, though I've met you in person plenty of times and you bring all of the fields regularly, so don't sell yourself short. I am curious, though, if there was a miscalculation that you personally would like to own that came out of week one, that you made ahead of week one and would like to own coming out of week one and maybe like, the feelings you had about it.

C (8:27)

I mean, I honestly had a couple, but probably the biggest one for me was the idea that Trevor Lawrence was actually going to be a thing in week one. It seemed like it was going to work. It was the Carolina Panthers, on paper, the worst defense in the NFL. Liam Cohen, all the weapons. And what we instead got was just Travis etn, so much so the Tank Bigsby ultimately was traded after the fact. So I felt bad about that one. And there was one other one. And the SiriusXM listeners will know where I'm going with this one. I, I went through a game preview and I was talking about the Chargers and I went, you know, I'm interested, obviously, in lad McConkey and we'll see what happens with rookie Trey Harris. And hey, Keenan Allen's there. And then I just moved on and somebody hit up on Twitter and said, well, what about Quentin Johnston? And my response, and I quote, was, Quentin Johnston. Yeah. Okay. And of course, Quentin Johnston scores two touchdowns in the game. My mansions are blowing up. He's one of the top waiver ads of the week. So there you go. I was wrong on Quentin Johnson in week one.

A (9:28)

Quick follow up. Trevor Lawrence, do you think that maybe, I mean, it was a weird game, right? There was the lightning delay, the rain delay. There are kinks to work out. We know that evolution is a thing and certainly appears both in football and fantasy. Do you think there's opportunity for that trajectory to improve for Trevor Lawrence? And also, you don't have to give too much on this because we'll touch on wide receivers a little bit later. But. But Quentin Johnston. Flash or flash in the pan?

D (9:55)

Ooh.

C (9:56)

All right. Well, starting with Jacksonville, I am a huge believer in Liam Cohen. We saw what he was able to do with Baker Mayfield. He took what Dave Canales did and then layered on top of that. Baker had that incredible year last year. Liam Cohen, I mean, some people don't even realize this dude was a rock star quarterback at the college level. This guy has been a football junkie his entire life.

A (10:16)

He used to quarterbacks coach at Brown University, baby.

C (10:19)

Oh, there you go. And, and he's had, he's had stops at the college level and the pro level. Really knows how to interact with the players. And I do think it's going to take a little bit of time. I mean, Trevor Lawrence is kind of broken. I mean, Urban Meyer, probably that alone set him back several years. And then we had the, the predictable Doug Peterson dip. Year one's good. Year two's not as good. Year three. All right, we're done. So I think it will take some time. He has the weapons. It's not just Brian Thomas and Travis Hunter. Diami Brown's a good number three. Breton Strange is a very talented tight end. And then the running backs out of the backfield. So I think we're going to see this get better now. Quinton Johnston, I'm worried because I am scarred forever from that three drop game that happened mid season last year. He had six drops down the stretch, so I'd like to see him string some together before we full fully buy into him as a, a fantasy starter.

A (11:07)

I am in agreement with you on both of those things. I think that it is a process for Trevor Lawrence. We have all been damaged by an X and it took a minute for everybody to get back on their feet. But Liam Cohen I do believe could be a savior. And Quentin Johnston just has one of those skill sets. I think that's why he ended up being such a high draft pick. Right. Because it's one of these boomer bus skill sets. So even if he does end up being a quote thing by the end of the season, I don't think he will be a consistent producer.

C (11:33)

A lot of mouths to feed there as well.

A (11:35)

Yes. And we love, we love a veteran resurgence in Keenan Allen, but I am getting ahead of myself. I want to talk about week two because we love to spin it forward and is there a storyline that you think will define week two?

C (11:49)

So in some ways maybe like Star wars, you know, we have a new hope to kick things off and, and then we, you know, we go to Empire, but really it's the Return of the Jedi. So maybe a week early on this one probably should be week three, but it's going to be week two. It's going to be the return of the wide receivers, that's. I. I got there. It took me a minute. I got there. Jamar Chase in Week one was a disappointment. I expect the Cincinnati Bengals to bounce back in a big way. Nico Collins was a disappointment. I expect Houston to write the ship in. In terms of the passing game. Brian Thomas Jr. At least he scored the rushing touchdown, but the volume wasn't necessarily there. And we just talked about that Jacksonville passing game. I think they take a step forward. So all the panic after week one. Week one is a fantasy mirage in a lot of instances. And all that panic, I think, is going to subsue after all of. Or subside. That is, after all of the action takes place this week. These guys get back on track.

A (12:38)

I think the stars remain the stars. I love that take. Speaking of stars, though, George Kittle, obviously a giant star at the position, out for a couple of weeks with this injury. Is there a tight end that you would like to stream, particularly in week two? I'm not asking for, you know, down the road or throughout the season, but if you're going to plug and play out of desperation and you need a band aid in week two, is there someone that's largely available that you would advocate for?

C (13:04)

Well, that's the key. Largely available because if Kyle Pitts is out there, it would be Kyle Pitts. I know some people, they like to avoid him, but the volume was good in. In week one. The same thing with Hunter Henry. But those guys aren't very widely available. So if I had to, I am a volume chaser. I'm gonna go with Juwan Johnson. I. I actually thought that overall, Spencer Rattler was serviceable. And. And that's all we kind of need in that offense. We need him to not be a disaster. We need him to not be like a Ben Denucci out there for the Cowboys several years ago. We need him to be able to move the offense down the field and target the guys who should be targeted. And. And in that offense, I mean, Johnson is essentially the third target. So he would be the guy who I'd go after who's widely available.

A (13:46)

Also, Juwan Johnson, a converted wide receiver. Right. So we know he's got the hands to get the job done. Not just your standard tight end. I would agree. I am a little bit wary, obviously, for. For good reason about that offense. And I'm not quite sure if the Juwan Johnson situation is an outlier, but I do think if you have George Kittle and you are desperate, then you can't wring your hands or get in your head about whether or not this could or couldn't happen. You just have to be decisive and move forward. And Juwan Johnson is certainly a suitable replacement for the time being. Okay, so you talked about wide receivers, and while the stars did not shine in week one, there were a couple of, let's call them, understudies who certainly showed out. There was k' Shawn Booty and Keenan Allen, who we mentioned, Quentin Johnson, who we talked about, Cedric Tillman, Hollywood Brown. Which of those players do you feel the most confident in using moving forward? Again, we're talking about week two. We're not talking about week 15.

C (14:41)

Exactly. And I think that's the key point here. It's Hollywood Brown for me. And the answer is it's dependent on a few things, but obviously Rashi Rice first and foremost. When Rice comes back in week seven, remember, you know, if you're watching, listening right now, he's not injured. So this is not a, oh, there's a slow ramp up. And then by week 10, maybe he's the same guy. He's right out there ready to roll. He looked great in the preseason, but the worthy, the mystery of the worthy injury. Will he play with the brace? Will it cost him a week or two? He's not going to have surgery. He's not going to go to ir. So at least we have that. But I can't ignore 16 targets and I can't ignore Patrick Mahomes. Like, oh, finally, okay, here's a guy who I can just pepper with targets who's not Rashi Rice or Travis Kelsey. I think he's going to lean into that. I actually do have him as an or a wide receiver two this week, which is saying something I'm not buying in on. Juju Smith Schuster, very low ceiling. Tyquan Thornton has a high ceiling, but how many balls is he going to get thrown? And they're largely just going to be downfield, right? So if, if it is somebody out of that group, it is Hollywood Brown.

A (15:42)

And if you are an NFL coach or a fantasy football manager, you are looking for a vetted presence, right? And we know that Hollywood Brown has been in the league long enough to step in on a temporary basis right here. Also, the game total, the projected game total is 46 and a half. Should be a close game with a spread of one and a half. So that means plenty of back and forth, which I agree, if you're chasing volume and it's smart to do so because volume is king. Hollywood Brown is certainly the best Allows the. Allows for the highest upside and the most guarantee in week two, though, I have to admit I have as like my wide receiver 30 in that range. So I'm not in the wide receiver too, but I appreciate the onions on that call.

C (16:21)

Yeah, I'm being a little bit bold, but do have him just inside the top 25.

A (16:25)

That's kind of our job. All right, Give me your favorite start and sit of the week and then we'll move to something else.

C (16:31)

Yeah. So the. The start goes along with our Chargers talk here. It's Justin Herbert. We weren't quite sure what to expect out of him. Ranked him just outside of the top 12 this past week. He's well inside the top 12 for me this week. They. They have the weapons and that was the key last year. It was really lackluster, lad. McConkey was fine, but what who else was catching the ball? Quentin Johnson, as we noted, wasn't consistent. If he can be consistent, great. But you have Mr. Consistency in Keenan Allen out there. You also, you know, you have a run game that's kind of finding its footing at this point with Naji Harris still working back in and Amari and Hampton now last week, fine, it was a tough matchup, but I think Herbert's going to throw and throw and throw. He's the player we saw down the stretch last season and he is the guy that, that I really like here. And if. If you want a sit.

A (17:17)

Well, hold on. I first, I just want to thank you because I love a guest who comes on and makes me look even better than I already did in the A block. So thank you for that. I'm in agreement. Now give me your sit. Let's see if we can keep it.

C (17:27)

100 and I was not aware of that. A block. So there are great minds think alike. I'm going to probably lose plenty of followers on Twitter, but I do that regularly anyway. My sit is Harold Fannin. I know he's the flavor of the week. I know this is a very popular play. And hey, I really liked what we saw. We saw 12 personnel in that offense. We where David Najoku and Fannin were on the field for basically the whole game. So Harold Fannin was pretty much the slot wide receiver. Wide receiver. 3. I loved what he did at Bowling Green. He was wildly productive last year. I don't want to chase that, though. I want to see two weeks of production before we go after an unknown commodity. And largely for NFL purposes, Fanon is unknown right now, so I want to see it happen. Again, it's fine if we picked him up, but I had people saying, oh, I dropped David Najoku for him. It's like, dude, that's a little aggressive for my taste. I would much rather have him on a roster but not start him and still be rolling with somebody like David Najoku.

A (18:23)

All right, now that we have settled who we should start and sit in week two, I would like to invite you, Jeff, to put on your therapist cap and play a little fantasy therapy with me. Sound okay?

C (18:36)

Yeah, let's do it. This is a safe place. It's a place where we can feel free sharing our feelings.

A (18:42)

All right, we're going to call in producer Presley to figure out the rest of this segment. But, Dave, can you tell us what we're supposed to be doing now?

B (18:48)

Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, after week one, everyone was in need for a little fantasy therapy. I think we had some. We had some studs and duds and they were painful duds. First off, I want to thank everybody that's dialed in the voicemail line. We'll be taking voicemails all season. Please make sure you're hitting up that number giving us all your questions, your start sit. Really, whatever you want. Any type of table therapy's good. Here on facts versus feelings. The number is 91 4. Any kind, Dave, Any kind. Yeah, you know, we're open to it all. 914-348-1893. And I have three questions for you guys today. Three. Three voicemails, three people in need of some intense therapy. It was a rough week.

C (19:24)

1.

B (19:24)

And the first call we have is from Andre from Arizona. He's got some Pacheco panic.

D (19:30)

What's up, Liz? This is Andrew. You know, living in Arizona. I am a cute fan from the beginning. Is it time to hit the panic button on Isaiah Pacheco? I know it's early, but man didn't look very good. Let me know.

C (19:48)

Yeah, I think the time to hit that panic button was already last year, unfortunately. I don't know what kind of dirt Kareem Hunt has on Andy Reid, but he seems to have an affinity for the older running back. They played nearly equal snaps last week. The best runner on that team was Patrick Mahomes, which is alarming when you're not a mobile court. I mean, he's mobile enough, but obviously he's not a run first quarterback. So, yes, I, I have very real concerns. Pacheco has a very low ceiling. He needs to be involved in the passing game in order to raise that ceiling. And they Just will not do that. So I do have concerns there. I've actually moved him down in my rankings for this week.

A (20:23)

I have him ranked in the RB30 range. I'm not sure if I'm ready to panic because I don't mind a running back attached to Patrick Mahomes, particularly in a matchup, as you. As we just talked talked about, that is expected to be fairly close. Like, this is a Super bowl, this is a Super bowl rematch. So I think there will be opportunities for Pacheco, but I don't think that based on what we saw in week one, we're going to get RB2 production out of him, and I think he's now probably more of a flex, so we have to take that adjustment and use it accordingly moving forward.

D (20:56)

Liz, Toby Parker here live in Georgia, won my league last year thanks to you and the Gods. Really limited in the wider wide receiver spot this year. Wasn't paying close attention. Went three running backs, my first three picks off the board, and it's kind of put me in a tough spot, kind of watching the waiver wire, seeing if that's going to do anything, but, yeah. Y' all got any advice on that? Yeah, that'd be great.

A (21:29)

All right, Jeff, I'm going to let you start. Interesting question. I also appreciate someone who owns their mistakes. We're talking about that throughout this episode. So, you know, it's a. I feel like a lot of people probably did that because the wide receiver position was so theoretically deep, but now that the games have started, you're like, oh, wow, what am I going to do? Especially if you had someone like A.J. brown who didn't produce in week one.

C (21:50)

Yeah, that. That's a. That's something to note for the future. I'm always trying to get better at this in the future. And the challenge with fantasy drafts is there's basically 365 days to take place in between a league's drafts, and there's a lot you forget over that span of time. So I made this a practice years ago to prevent myself from being dumb, which is an uphill battle on a daily basis for yours truly. But I write notes down, you know, like, oh, you know, focus on this. So in this instance here, don't draft too many running backs early. There is a ton of depth at wide receiver, but the challenge is there isn't a lot of depth at elite receiver, and those guys do not grow on trees. And at the end of the season, it's really difficult to find somebody like that who's going to be a wide receiver two or better on waivers at running back, we can do that. We can make up ground on our opponents at running back. So that's one thing. Unfortunately, right now there aren't a lot of guys out there who we can go and pick up, so we're not going to be able to dig ourselves out of that hole. But you never know with waivers. Maybe that does change here, but it's more of a plan for the future and maybe try and make some trades.

A (22:51)

I love that you're helping him spin this forward to next season already, but we got to help him in week two. It's too early to give up just yet. Jeff. I I think also what you're saying is like this week's waiver wire was absolutely booty cheeks. It was like maybe one of the worst waiver wires we've had to pick from. So I do think that our buddy from Georgia here, Toby, is going to be in a bit of a pickle. But if you are looking for some upside, if you are looking ahead, if you want to keep playing, you want to keep the joy alive, I don't mind Alec IO Manor, we talked about him last week with James Ro Day. I think Cam Ward played better than his stat line suggests. He did put ball on hands against a really elite defense and I.O. manor does seem to be emerging. We know he has a great skill set, he saw decent volume. So I think and he's under the radar right now because he didn't flash very much in terms of numbers in week one. So I think he is someone that might be brought along and could surprise and emerge down the stretch. Dave, who do we have next?

D (23:51)

Hey Liz, love the show. This is Luke from Reno, Nevada and I just want to know, will Jerry Judy or George Pickens outscore DK Metcalf this year? Is that a hot take? I don't know. You tell me.

A (24:04)

Have a good one this year. Interesting little caveat there, Jeff. Thoughts?

C (24:09)

I think it's a little bit of a hot take. I mean, I would say Judy probably has the slightly better chance if there's stability at quarterback. George Pickens is so up and down week over week. Some weeks are going to be big, some weeks aren't. But DK Metcalf, he's seeing all the targets now. My one major concern, he had 83 receiving yards this past week. 73 came after the catch. That is not sustainable. Aaron Rodgers averaging just 4.3 air yards per throw, not a good number. They need to go vertical a little bit more. DK needs to open things up a little bit that way. But they, they, they were running two wide receiver sets most of the whole game, right? It was him and Austin. There was nobody else out there. Ben Skronick played 10 snaps in that game like he was their, their third leading snap player out of the wide receivers. So there's plenty of volume there as long as Rogers can keep it going. But I would like to see him throw it downfield a little more. So no, I don't think either of those guys outscored DK Metcalf.

A (25:01)

Yeah, I think ultimately I love the, the, I love the point that you made about George Pickens. He does just have one of those boomer bus type skill sets. We'd like to see that even out in Dallas. And there's potential for that, but I don't know how realistic that is. And Jerry Judy you're talking about, you're asking for in Jerry Judy, you're asking for stability under center in Cleveland. Nothing that has come before this moment has hinted at that as a possibility. So I'm not buying. And also like Jerry Judy may not be, may not be the team's wide receiver one and we know that George Pickens is not the team wide receiver one. We do know that DK Metcalf is. And therefore, while I agree with Jeff and I love that stat about his after the Catch production, there is just not a high enough floor, frankly on Judy or sustainable enough floor on Judy or Pickens to surpass what Metcalf will do over the season. But thank you for calling in and I love that you are loving the show. Can you please tell our listeners and viewers where they could continue to interact with you after this episode?

C (26:06)

Yeah, sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. On social media it's at jeffratcliffe and there is a T in there if you Google me, no, I did not play professional lacrosse. That is actually another Jeff Ratcliffe who Google has combined the two of us. Now we're one person to Google, of course, FTNFantasy.com go check it out. If you want advanced stats like Aaron Schottz's DVOA and all that, we have that over there as well as great fantasy DFS embedding advice. And then you can listen to me on Sirius XM Monday through Friday, 8 to 10am Eastern and then on Sunday mornings as well, 9 to 10, 10am Eastern.

A (26:40)

Thanks so much Jeff for joining us. Good luck in week two and I'll talk to you again soon.

C (26:43)

Thank you.

A (26:44)

Up next, when your head says no, but your heart says yes, Daddy, I love him is after the break. Now we're going to talk about a guy who was unceremoniously replaced by the team that drafted him, despite the fact that they never bothered to develop him or scheme to his individual skill set. I know that Justin Fields failed to record a completion percentage above 61.5% when he was the starter in Chicago, and we are all aware of the fact that he was a backup just a year ago. But you know what, Daddy, I love him. It's those legs, though. Fields reminded everyone of his elite rushing ability, taking off 12 times for 48 rushing yards and two rushing scorers scores in week one. And he did it against a Steelers defense that gave up the sixth fewest rushing yards in 2024. But that's not all. With the ground game humming, Fields was able to send it through the air, revitalizing Garrett Wilson's draft stock to the tune of seven grabs, 95 yards and a touchdown. Now the jets offense does get a big test versus the Bills in Week 2, but given how the Bills got trucked by the Ravens on the ground, Fields is back in starting contention. Baby, he is my QB7 on the week and you know that. I really love him if I am starting him ahead of Kyler Murray and Justin Herbert.

B (28:25)

Last call.

A (28:31)

Today we learned that rational coaching can happen, that Jeff Ratcliffe is in fact not a robot, and that making mistakes makes us better in the long run. Remember, miscalculations are human. We can't beat ourselves up for not knowing purposely withheld information. We can instead take the new data at our avail and retool our projections. Big thanks to Jeff for calling in and playing along, and as always, to producer Dave for helping me remember our voicemail. It is, by the way, 914-34-81893. Be sure to check out my week two edition of Facts vs. Feelings, the column that is live on the dot com right now. Until next time, may your facts be solid, your feelings be right, and your bus let them be someone else's problem. 3, 2, 1. That's a horrible clap. Hi.

B (29:35)

Need a compilation with his claps from.

A (29:37)

I have like pretty strong biceps. Up next, when your head says yes or no. 3, 2, 1. Your head says no. 3, 2, 1. Done.