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Week 6 Recap: Running Backs Putting Up MONSTER Performances! | Fantasy Focus
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- [00:00]
A
Quick break. Got your fire safety game plan. When it comes to your home, every second matters. That's why we trust Kidda smoke alarms. They're built to respond fast and cut down on false alarms so you can act with confidence when it counts. And now you can upgrade to over 25% faster smoke detection with Kira's latest technology. It's more time to react and more peace of mind. That's why Kidda is North America's number one home fire safety brand. So whether you're upgrading or installing for the first time, go with the alarms that deliver performance when it matters the most. Kidda help protect what matters most. Find it at the Home Depot. How doers get more done 29% faster average smoke detection based on internal testing of smolding fires for Kita 9th Edition versus leading competitor 8th Edition products based on total household installations as of December 2023. Fantasy, you're in the 6010 Focus Fantasy. Fantasy does what's up, good friends? Welcome into Fantasy Focus Football presented by Little Caesars alongside Stefania Bell and Field Jates. My name is Daniel Dobb. Very excited to be here for a week six recap show my friends. Lot going on here today. How are you both doing today?
- [01:19]
B
I think a little better than you.
- [01:20]
A
Yeah. And it's not great. Last night you came out with not great, Bob.
- [01:23]
B
Unbridled enthusiasm after a tough loss last night for your Lions. That being said, still a team I believe very strongly in. And last night, I think was more about the Chiefs than the Lions is what I will say.
- [01:34]
A
I think so too.
- [01:34]
B
I'll dive into that a little bit.
- [01:35]
A
Yeah. Yeah. I'll dive into that a little bit as well. It wasn't great. However. Stefania, great to see you as well.
- [01:41]
C
It's nice to see you both.
- [01:43]
B
Oh, Niners.
- [01:45]
C
That's right. Do you ever have a visceral reaction, like when you care that much about a team or a player?
- [01:53]
A
Yes. Yeah, that's where we're at right now.
- [01:55]
C
That's where. That's where I'm at. Yeah. So I'm still, you know, processing. All right, so I'm leaning on my friends today.
- [02:01]
A
Can't wait for you to process in front of the entirety of the Internet. This is gonna be a lot of fun. We're gonna dive into a bunch of stuff like we always do today. The winners and losers, as well as a bunch of takeaways. We're gonna dive into a handful of injuries as well. But first and foremost, congratulations.
- [02:15]
B
To who?
- [02:16]
A
Everybody. Cause you get 50% off pizza at Little Caesars. The real deal presented by Little Caesars last week was Sam Darnold and he got you 20 fantasy points, which means your promo code for 15% off Little Caesar's pizza today is victory 15 field yates 20 fantasy points, 295 passing yards, two touchdowns. I don't care what Mike Clay says. This guy is a stone cold baller Butler.
- [02:43]
B
And the only person hotter right now than Daniel Dopp with this promotion that we have been doing for now two weeks is UCLA football because all of a sudden they're really good. Shout out to you. Yeah, Sam Darnold remains incredible. He is fourth in the NFL in passing yards this season. He's playing maybe better than he played last year, which is saying something because he was one of the great stories in all of 2024.
- [03:04]
A
Absolutely.
- [03:05]
B
Shout out to Sam. Shout out to the Seahawks passing game. Let's get into winners and losers and.
- [03:09]
A
If you do get a pizza today, by the way, just like send us a photo, right? Like at Fantasy Focus, tag us in it, make sure that we see it because we'd love to know that you are out here being able to enjoy the 15% off over at Little Caesars. All right, winners, losers and a couple of what the heck players.
- [03:23]
B
Heck was that?
- [03:24]
A
Let's start with you feel JayZ. What do you want to start with with your winner.
- [03:26]
B
Winner of the week is of course a player that probably could have been the winner of the week last week as well. Rico Dowdle. Revenge is on his mind and he out dominated Rico dowdle yesterday at 30 carries for 183 yards over six per carry at one point during the game yesterday, I believe Adam Amin said he had seven runs of 10 or more yards. I mean it felt like every. That may not be a direct stat quote, but Adam was awesome with Greg Olson yesterday, as he always is. Plus four catches for 56 yards and a touchdown. 33.9 fantasy points for Rico Dowdle. He has been the ultimate fill and if he used a waiver claim on Rico two weeks ago, he probably has won you your week over each of the two weeks. Yeah, how great he has been and I know that we have a long ways until this upcoming Sunday when the Panthers play against the Jets. If Chuba Hubbard is out again, then we know what Rico Dowdle is. He's going to be one of the top 10 ranked running backs going into that game if Chuba Hubbard returns. My takeaway from what Rico has done over the past couple of weeks is it's not great news for those that have Chuba on their roster. Because there's just no way whatsoever that you can keep Rico Dowdle off the field as much as he was off the field when Chuba was healthy. That is might be the lead back going forward, but it'll be more split.
- [04:41]
C
A friend of mine said to me, Rico is a dude, so he's Rico Doodle.
- [04:47]
A
I like that.
- [04:48]
B
I like it. Yeah.
- [04:49]
A
Right now, I mean when you look at Rico Dowdle, I agree with you field there's no way that you can keep him off the field. That's why for me, I'm going to kind of pivot your winner into my loser, which is Chuba Hubbard managers right now. Because I just feel like right now if you're Chuba Hubbard manager, you have a split backfield at this point. I don't see. And it hasn't officially been announced. We don't know that. I just don't know how when you look at this guy that's had over 200 yards from scrimmage and in two consecutive games that you're not like at least splitting touches a little bit more.
- [05:17]
B
First player since Dalvin Cook in 2020 with back to back games over 200 yards from scrimmage.
- [05:22]
A
Unbelievable.
- [05:22]
B
The first player since Le'Veon Bell in 2014 with back to back. Back to back games over 230 yards from scrimmage. Dave Canales spent some time this summer talking about how he wanted to lighten the load on Chuba Hubbard a little bit this season. Well, he now has his answer in the form of Rico Dowdle. And by the way, this is not a total shock and surprise. I mean getting to back to back games up over 200 yards is certainly very difficult to do. But Rico is not some Johnny come lately. He had over a thousand rushing yards last season. So Rico is an unquestioned winner of the week. Panthers get a gigantic victory as well.
- [05:55]
A
Do you guys feel like they tried to do this earlier? Like I think they wanted this to be like a two headed backfield because they drafted Jonathan Brooks to be back there after they had paid Chuba Hubbard real money.
- [06:05]
B
I think it was the other way around. I think it was Jonathan was drafted and then Chuba got paid in the middle of the last year and then.
- [06:10]
A
They still paid John. Okay. Either way, they wanted to use two running backs. It looks like they have it now.
- [06:14]
B
Most coaches do, right?
- [06:15]
A
When you look at this back I.
- [06:16]
C
Was just going to say most coaches say they do, but then there's something to the right and often with the running game, I think more than any other position, there is this hot hand thing, too. And once they get going, I mean, we see it with some running backs that they take a while to warm up, some flash out of the gate. Rico Dowdle has been strong through his entire game in the last two weeks when he's had it to himself. But like Derek Henry, who takes a while to get going, I think when they see a player play like this, it's like you don't want to disrupt the mojo, you know, and so I do think it becomes harder to predict. I wouldn't necessarily get rid of Chuba Hubbard because, number one, first of all, we don't know how long he's going to be out with the calf injury, but when you have volume like that for a running back, what's. What's the downside of that? It's more injury exposure. And so at least they know they have somebody who could jump right back in.
- [07:03]
A
I'm interested to see. Sorry, I'm interested to see what kind of a split they do. Is this going to be like Seattle with Ken Walker and Zach Charbonnet? It's going to be more Ramandre Stevenson, Trayvon Henderson, like, what kind of backfield do we think this is going to.
- [07:14]
B
Seattle Backfield that I think you're a little bit weary of now. Chuba and Rico have played better than the two Seahawks running back so far this year, but yes, I think there's a chance that we're talking about much closer to a 50, 50 split. Stefania, who is your winner of the.
- [07:27]
C
Weekend, I wonder, is Baker Mayfield? And this might surprise you, considering. Yes, I just, you know, for everyone out there who says I'm a complete homer, you're correct. But I must also acknowledge good performance when I see one or a great performance. Baker Mayfield has just been nothing short of a stud the entire season, and yesterday he did what the Niners have had to do with Mac Jones. But Baker's been doing it all along just as well, which is be a stud regardless of who your pass catchers are. Because we knew Chris Godwin was out. We knew that Mike Evans was already out, still out with the hamstring. And then Emeka Igbuka goes out with a hamstring injury of his own. Enter Tez Johnson with a Sterling Shepherd.
- [08:12]
A
Tez Johnson.
- [08:13]
B
Some of us were fired about Tez Johnson.
- [08:14]
C
Yes, yes. Well, you know, he had. We thought he had the chops, but you still need to see it in play. And he had a spectacular catch with a couple Backflips, you know. So in any event, Baker Mayfield puts up 19.64 fantasy points, 17 of 23 for 256 yards, two touchdowns, three carries for 14 yards as well. Made scrambles when he needs to. You're always going to get that from him. Does a couple dances when he needs to to fire up the rest of the team. Quarterback nine. I mean, he finishes a top 10 quarterback with a ragtag machine of injuries on that team and really I think you just see the way the whole team responds to him. He is willing them to the victories that they're getting.
- [09:00]
B
Yeah, I don't know that I can count on this given how the first six weeks of the season have gone. But can you imagine what Baker might look like and the entire offense might look like when he's got all of these pass catchers on the field together? There is a chance that at some point he has Mike Evans and a Mecca Buka and Chris Godden and Jaylen McMillan on the field together, plus a healthier offensive line and Bucky Irving. This could be the best offense in the NFL. Who's your winner, Daniel?
- [09:22]
A
My winner is that with no Quinton Johnston, lad McConkey delivered best performance of the season. Nine targets, seven receptions, 100 yards and a touchdown. Those are all basically season highs. 23 fantasy points. Did you know in games without Quinton Johnston, lad McConkey's averaging 23 fantasy points per game.
- [09:40]
B
There's only one game, there's only one.
- [09:41]
A
Game right now, but without Quentin Johnston, we would have this. I think what this says to me, when I was looking at this. Yeah, this says to me that the Chargers can support two fantasy relevant pass catchers if there's only two of them, but when there's three, there's just too many mouths to go around. Especially with the fact that I think Kenan Allen and Lad McConkey both play this like short yardage area, short area of the field role and Quinton Johnston is the clear deep threat. Like he's the one guy that has the clearly defined role in this offense. Even when he's out him and let him and Keenan can still do this, you know, slot stuff. They can still, you know, operate and attack the middle of the field, but when all three of them are out there, it's just not going to happen. So looking at Quinton John, or excuse me, looking at lad McConkey, I think you need another big game before you can move on. You can't move on this quickly if you're like nervous about it. You got to have more. But I was just excited more than anything after all the things that we've talked about. I just wanted to give a little props to lad McConkey because after that social post, people thought we were, you know, down on lad. I don't think we're down on lad McConkey.
- [10:43]
B
Not the player now.
- [10:43]
A
I think the situation just dictated that he was the number three wide receiver. Just pumped for any of us, mind you. Only started rostered in 96% of league. Only started in 70% of leagues.
- [10:53]
B
Wow.
- [10:55]
C
That'S interesting to me because I would have thought with the news that Quentin Johnson was not going to be there, that is. We had a red zone question. I think I picked McConkey for that reason. I thought this is his chance to shine.
- [11:06]
B
Yep, that was good. You already gave us your loser, which is Chuba Hubbard managers. My loser of the week is anybody that decided to stream Matthew Stafford this week because you thought on paper it was the ultimate. Ultimate matchup.
- [11:18]
A
It was the ultimate matchup on paper.
- [11:19]
B
Yeah, it was on paper. Especially after CJ Stroud. If only the games were absolutely dominated. That same Ravens defense. For the most part, the Ravens were a little bit healthier this past week, but not full strength by any stretch.
- [11:30]
A
Yeah.
- [11:30]
B
C.J. stroud through for four passing touchdowns in week five against the Ravens defense, Matthew Stafford had 181 passing yards and one passing touchdown plus a turnover. Good for nine point.
- [11:44]
A
Did Bryce Young play the Ravens? I don't understand Bryce.
- [11:48]
B
Bryce was good yesterday. Bryce had three passing touchdowns yesterday. Helped them beat the Cowboys in a very dramatic game. So 9.34 fantasy points for Matthew Stafford, my loser of the week. They play next Sunday in London. We'll talk about whether Stafford could or could not have the best wide receiver in all fantasy football this season.
- [12:06]
A
Yes.
- [12:06]
C
I don't think there was any bigger loser than everybody who watched the Jets Broncos game, but you're welcome. But. I know, but, you know, we. It's. It's important that we watch so we can understand when we have really good football why we're so excited about good football. Because that was the worst. That was the worst games. It's hard to pick for me a loser between the jets and the Broncos, but I gave it to all the Broncos pass catchers because for fantasy purposes, they failed you at every turn. I mean, you can fight with me and pick all the jets pass catchers as well.
- [12:38]
B
Their quarterback.
- [12:40]
C
Yeah, right. But in the case of the Broncos, we had Marvin Mims Jr. 4.8 fantasy points. Now, he hasn't been around that much, so you might say, well, you know, he's been a boomer bus player regardless. But wait, Courtland Sutton, he's the star wide receiver. He got you 2.7 fantasy points. Yeah. And Troy Franklin, who? You know, the up and comer, 3.1 fantasy points. So between them, barely over 10 fantasy points split between three wide receivers. It was a disaster. There's really not even much I want to say about it. There was. Yes. Cortland Sutton had the sauce gardener treatment. Pat Surtan was on Garrett Wilson. So you understand why those guys failed you in fantasy. But that doesn't explain the disaster that was everybody else. So I just say throw that one in the round file. There will be better days ahead for the Denver pass catchers.
- [13:36]
B
I'm. I'm not sure there will be for the jets going forward. The jets are now 06. Our producer, Zach, in the show today. I'm sorry, you can earmuffs it. You can cut my mic if you need to. I feel bad for you, bud. The jets were an abject. Just. I mean, they were. They were just. What the heck.
- [13:49]
A
Yeah, I got a. That's. There. They are going to be my. What the heck.
- [13:51]
B
Okay, you take it away then.
- [13:53]
A
But I got one other loser first. I got a bonus loser.
- [13:55]
B
Oh, bonus loser.
- [13:56]
A
Yes. You're in the mood, if that's all right. Yeah. Do you know this? Do you know. You guys have ever heard of Beck?
- [14:00]
C
Yes.
- [14:01]
A
Yo soyo. Yeah, I'm a loser, baby. Because Mahomes won't stop rushing and it's driving me crazy right now.
- [14:09]
B
You're the loser. Yes.
- [14:10]
A
Because I have been in on this thing where it's like, Patrick Mahomes is not going to be able to continue to do this rushing upside that we've seen so far to start 20, 25.
- [14:18]
C
He hurt you.
- [14:19]
A
Frankly, he's been unbelievable utilizing his legs.
- [14:22]
B
Okay, so. Yes, but keep going, keep going.
- [14:24]
A
31 fantasy points. Is that what he just scored? 31 fantasy points against my Detroit Lions here. And he had 10 carries for 32 yards and another rushing touchdown. I asked you a couple weeks ago, field, I don't think that Patrick Mahomes is going to be this, like, top seven guy, because I just don't feel like the rushing is going to be sticky. Now here we are in week six, we're at least three to four weeks later, and I feel like the rushing might just be this sticky.
- [14:51]
B
It might be.
- [14:51]
A
I don't think he's going to get in the end zone and every single week or even every other week. But with the way that they're letting him utilize his legs because of how bad their running backs are, I think this is going to stick around. As much as I didn't want to believe it, like this is just, this is new 2025 mobile.
- [15:07]
B
Patrick Mahomes on top of that. By the way, if you took the rushing away, which is unfair because you could do this with every single player, but if you take the rushing away from this past weekend, he'd still be like 22 plus points.
- [15:17]
A
22 fantasy points.
- [15:18]
B
Right. So like Patrick Mahomes was brilliant as a passer last night. I'm sorry, Daniel. It came at the cost of your Lions. I think Mahomes might be my QB1 in my Week 7 rankings. They play the Raiders, they get Rasheed Rice back. Mahomes and the Chiefs are feeling themselves this morning. There's no Lamar Jackson because he's on a buy next week. So there's at least a conversation about whether Patrick Mahomes should be the top ranked quarterback going into week seven.
- [15:42]
A
You know who's not going to be the top ranked quarterback going to week seven?
- [15:44]
B
The Jets.
- [15:45]
A
Justin Fields. Three games. This is my what the Heck player. Three games over 25 fantasy points. That's unbelievable. He has two games under five fantasy points, including this last week in which.
- [15:58]
C
He had negative passing yards.
- [15:59]
A
Negative negative passing yards. Because the way it works field, go ahead and explain to the way that it works for people.
- [16:04]
B
If you take sacks, it counts against your net passing yardage. They took nine sacks.
- [16:08]
C
I was going to say how many sacks? Tell the people.
- [16:10]
A
55 yards. And he only had 45 yards passing. So we had negative 10 yards on the day. Unbelievable. Seven carries for 31 yards. Good enough for 4.9 fantasy points. Spoiler alert. I don't think you're going to have to worry about spinning the wheel for starts of the week because Justin Fields was my starting quarterback.
- [16:28]
B
Was he? Oh boy.
- [16:29]
A
Here's the thing, Justin, like when you look at what Justin Fields game is, his rushing game, in one word, he's elite. Like he's an elite rusher. He is. His passing game, he is subpar right now at best. Right. And I think the mental game he still after, even though this is his fifth or sixth year in the league, he still takes too long to diagnose plays and get the football out of his hands. I don't think that's going to change. So as much as we have said and came coming into the season, the One thing that we've always said about Justin Fields is you don't have to watch the games. It doesn't have to look good. But when you have a guy that runs the ball that way, he is a startable, like fantasy asset. At this point, I don't know as though he's a startable fantasy asset. At least not a consistent one that I feel good about starting week in and week out.
- [17:14]
B
Probably going to be a little bit more matchup dependent. Listen, we all have bad calls during the preseason. We have some good calls as well. I felt like with Justin Fields, I sort of expected this. I kept describing it as a pocket player. He'll have a month where he carries your fantasy team and then I'll have, you know, as many weeks that are great being bad and he might literally lose you your week. That is the reality of Justin Fields. I think there's a chance. And Aaron Glenn summarily dismissed the question. I thought it was a great question. A fair question by Brian Costello does a great job covering the jets for the New York Post. Has done for a long time. And Glenn scoffed at the idea that they could bench Justin Fields.
- [17:51]
A
Oh yeah.
- [17:51]
B
I am not convinced that won't take place at some point if you have Justin Fields in Dynasty. I think there's a chance that if he does get benched, the days of Justin Fields going into a season as a starter might be behind us because it's not the Bears fault, it's not the Steelers fault, it's not the jets fault. Right. Like at some point we have to keep being honest about things and Justin Fields is just not an NFL pocket pass.
- [18:12]
A
However terrible. Aaron Glenn did look like somebody had just insulted his mom when they asked. Like, are you thinking about Justin? Like, he was adamant. No way.
- [18:20]
B
I don't know. I would think negative 10 passing yards would be grounds for asking a question.
- [18:24]
A
About a starting quarterback Field James, you would think. All right. What about you?
- [18:28]
B
My. What the heck is like maybe kind of positive. Like, you know, Stefan Diggs two games ago against the Bills, 10 catches, 146 yards. Patriots get a huge win.
- [18:37]
A
Yeah.
- [18:38]
B
Drake May yesterday. We'll talk about this more balls out. Massive day. You would have thought, all right, like Spondyg is going to have a big day. Maybe Hunter Henry, I don't know. Like somebody gets involved in the passing game. No, instead it was if I. If you guys had K Sean Booty and Pop Douglas combining for eight catches, 164 yards and three touchdowns. Shout out to you. Patriots got some Huge compliments from their, from their complimentary receivers. Diggs did have a long, long catch taken off the board on what was pretty clearly a terrible offensive pass interference call. He also was called for offensive pass interference on a separate play in which Pop Douglas had his second 50 plus yard touchdown in the same game. Bob Douglas, who earlier this year scored a touchdown and I believe had negative receiving yards in that game, Correct? Yeah. So those two guys, he and Kayshawn Booty balled out five catches, 93y and two touchdowns for Booty. Three catches, 71 yards and a touchdown for Demario Pop Douglas. I would say neither of these guys needs to be on the radar for 10 or 12 team leagues. But as we get into bye week's Booty, a little bit more appeal only because Douglas until yesterday was definitely a slot Patriots receiver.
- [19:47]
A
How much appeal do you have in Booty right now?
- [19:49]
B
You know something, Daniel? I'm going to refrain from answering the question.
- [19:52]
A
All right.
- [19:52]
B
Okay. All right. I'm going to respectfully.
- [19:53]
A
All right.
- [19:54]
B
More to come on Drake May a little bit later on in the show. But Stefania, what the heck did you see yesterday?
- [19:58]
C
I saw the Ravens trying to beat the Eagles and it did not work out in their favor. Did you guys see this? This whole series where the Ravens were like, we're going to call the Tush Push and they couldn't make it happen? I, I thought the whole sequence at the goal line and frustrating for fantasy purposes because we had several opportunities to have different fantasy players get points for us.
- [20:23]
B
One specifically, do they have the best power running back of his generation?
- [20:27]
C
Yes. But my point is, had they gotten their quarterback in the end zone? Well, you probably weren't starting him, so we'll leave that alone. Mark Andrews.
- [20:38]
B
Yeah, he got two.
- [20:39]
C
Yeah, yeah. But he had the, you know, fumble issue when they were trying to extend the ball. Then they lose the ball. Then they had Derek Henry, they couldn't get it in. They had him like try and run, run around, you know, so they were stuffing the goal line. They send him out to the left and it just, he slipped and fell like it was more of a Keystone Cops kind of thing at the goal line as opposed to the Tush push. I could only imagine the Eagles sitting there saying, you know what, leave those goal line carries to us. Like let us show you how to handle a fourth and goal and we will get it done. The Ravens come away with nothing at that. It was awful.
- [21:18]
B
Yeah, I, that, that, that to me.
- [21:20]
A
And Keystone Cops, anyone is wondering, is a film from 1912 to 1917 that Stefania's referencing. Very topical here on fantasy people. 1912 and 1917.
- [21:31]
B
Was it a silent film? It was.
- [21:33]
A
They're all black and white with big mustaches. It's like Charlie Chaplin, but there's eight of them.
- [21:37]
C
Do not understand. Do you not? Did you not get the reference?
- [21:40]
A
No, that's why I looked it up on the Internet.
- [21:42]
C
You really didn't get the reference?
- [21:43]
B
I certainly didn't as well, but I'm.
- [21:45]
C
Wow. Wow. Well, when something is, do you know what you gotta do is do like the Google search or Wikipedia or whatever.
- [21:54]
A
That's what I just did.
- [21:55]
B
I feel like anytime you drop in.
- [21:57]
A
The actual movie, it refers to slapstick comic policemen from silent films of the 1910s.
- [22:02]
C
So the idea is when something is not like silliness, foolishness, they make themselves look foolish by trying to do something.
- [22:10]
A
For a person or group of people known for bungling incompetence. So that is perfect, Stefania, congratulations.
- [22:16]
B
Thank you. Now, you know what's gonna happen by is we're gonna use Keystone comics oh.
- [22:20]
C
So many times to the ground and you're probably gonna use it incorrectly. And then I'm gonna wish I never brought it up. But toddler, I can't believe I'm like, I'm now for the. I'm damaged.
- [22:31]
A
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
- [22:32]
C
I just told the audience I made a reference from 1912 and that both of you are too young to understand it.
- [22:38]
A
I mean, your friend Matthew told you about the show. It's not you.
- [22:42]
B
You didn't learn fairness to literally everybody. They're all too young to understand a reference from 1912. Like pre world wars is a long time ago.
- [22:49]
A
Long time ago.
- [22:50]
C
Yeah, it wasn't around in 1912 either.
- [22:51]
A
But literate, of course not.
- [22:54]
B
Yes, you are. Well, listen, Princeton, did you feel like.
- [22:57]
A
Snoop Huntley made this offense look better than Cooper Rush? He did or did not count because it was garbage time.
- [23:02]
B
I would say a little bit of that, but okay. More importantly, John Harbaugh has indicated that Lamar Jackson will likely be back after the buy.
- [23:09]
C
He was just like, don't ask me any more questions. Like, he's coming back.
- [23:13]
A
He'll be back.
- [23:14]
B
Their buy is of course next week, but yeah, hand the ball off to Derek Henry. Let's get into some massive, massive quick break.
- [23:20]
A
Let's talk about some pizza. You want to bring restaurant quality pizza home this football season? Get Frigidaire's stone baked pizza oven. Fresh pizzas go from dough to done in just two minutes. Right from your kitchen and ready before halftime. Perfect for watch parties or just upgrading pizza night without the delivery delay only from Frigidaire Game ready pizza. Get it today at the Home Depot. How doers get more done.
- [23:46]
B
You ever show up late to the game and your friend's already saved your seat, your drink, even a plate that's looking out, that's having your back. And that's exactly what AT&T does with the AT&T guarantee. They know staying connected matters. That's why AT&T has connectivity you depend on guaranteed. Or they'll proactively make it right. Just like that friend who takes care of things before you even ask. AT&T connecting changes everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.comguarantee for details. This season on Fansville by Dr. Pepper College Football enters into the great unknown. Will the 12 team playoffs bear a new champion? Will conference realignments spark new rivalries? And will Dr. Pepper continue to have one of a kind taste with a unique blend of 23 authentic flavors? Okay, we actually know the answer to that last one and it's yes, most definitely yes. So prepare yourself for more drama, more angry comment sections, and more ice cold Dr. Pepper, because this season everything is about to change. Stop by your local retailer today to score some ice cold Dr. Pepper college football. It's a Pepper thing was injuries. Yes, fortunately. And we have a few of these weeks every year. Stefania. So let's get into it.
- [25:07]
A
Yeah, let's dive in. Stefania. I had the number one wide receiver in fantasy football going on a number of my teams. And then unfortunately it looked like he got banged up. Pukinakua left the game, came back. But what happened with that whole situation?
- [25:18]
C
He did. And for those who didn't see it, he was going up, you know, jump off for end zone target and he got like, you know, in the air. He was kind of tilting to his left and he came down with all his weight on his left foot. But it looked like it was just the toes that actually hit the turf and like his foot, you know, kind of cleated and spun around. It was unclear the defender who was right there, whether he landed on top of him or not. They got a little tangled and at first it looked like he came right up off the ground, but then he took a few steps, went down to the ground and was holding his shin right above the ankle, which guys often do when they have a high ankle sprain. But it's not definitive. It's certainly not the thing that tells you that's exactly what happened. In any event, he ended up being escorted off by the medical staff and if you were watching the game, you saw that he was using them for support, had his arms around them and they took him into the tunnel where they can then take him for imaging, et cetera. Shortly after that was halftime. When he came back out, you thought that he was maybe going to be on the sideline for the rest of it, but still in uniform, ended up coming back into the game. Now, a couple of things. Number one, it's good that he was able to come back into the game because you're like, okay, that's not a season ending injury where you have to be carted off in a splint and you know you're, you're done for the year. But it was a little misleading. We've watched Puka play through injuries before and he's exceptionally tough. I mean, he's played and he's gotten broken ribs and he gets up and he's still doing things or trying to be out there. Sean McVeigh said that he was going back. I believe he's getting an mri. Was getting an MRI that night, which would have been last night after the game. And more evaluation to come today, but they're uncertain whether they're going to have him available. They go to London next week for a game. So I would say that just because you saw him come back in and he was struggling to move, well, you know, he wasn't the same. He didn't have any catches after that. He really didn't add to his stats after that injury. But don't, you know, make plans in the event that he is not there.
- [27:18]
A
I think that's the main takeaway that I would have is more often than not when I see a guy leave a game and then return the next week, I'm like, oh, he came back in the game. So I'm sure that he's fine. This one we maybe want to make sure we keep an eye on throughout the week.
- [27:29]
B
My main takeaway is mostly tears, but.
- [27:31]
A
Yes, yes, unfortunately, he's been unbelievable, dude. Like, he's been so great. Also, I was shocked that they were like, let's make sure that we get him back. And again, offense wasn't like humming right? But like, if you told me that Puka Nukua got hurt in this game, I could say like, well, you don't even need Puka. Just run out there with Devonte Adams and Kyron Williams against this Ravens defense and like, just save them. But instead we'll Continue to monitor the practice updates Stefania. See what happens there. Unfortunately, not the only wide receiver we had a handful of A Marvin Harrison Jr. Also went down.
- [27:59]
C
Yeah, he left the game with a concussion. If you saw that one. He was going up for a catch and was middle of the field. But when he got taken down, kind of wrapped up around the legs, it was that you've seen it a million times. Head snaps and hits the back of the turf very, very hard. Went out with concussion like symptoms was ruled out for the rest of the game. So now you would suspect he enters the concussion protocol. If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times. Nonlinear really depends on how the player responds to the injury. And there's a sequence of things, phases that they have to pass through to be able to be cleared to play. So you always make plans in the event that there will be no, Marvin Harrison Jr. This week. But stand by and and watch Zay.
- [28:42]
B
Jones talk will come tomorrow. On waivers, he stepped up and he was really good yesterday. Jacoby Brissette, by the way, filled in for Kyla Murray and also looked really good.
- [28:48]
A
I was actually just gonna say that true or false, the passing game with Jacoby Brissette looked better than the passing game with Kyler Murray.
- [28:54]
B
It's true.
- [28:55]
A
It's true. It did. Yeah, I thought so too. Like they were moving it around. I wish Marvin Harris.
- [28:59]
B
Fairly straightforward answer there, by the way. Like the Cardinals can say all the right things about how Kyler's still their guy going forward. They will and he will be their guy going forward. But yes, yesterday was a better version of the passing game than we have seen for a lot of this season. Tampa Bay needs no wide receivers to find you because Baker's that good and they don't have any more.
- [29:16]
C
Emeka Igbuka has been like, he's the guy, right? And now we, yesterday we were talking on fantasy football now about Chris Godwin being out again because of a fibula injury, which is very concerning to me. They're calling him week to week, but we're like, oh, Emeka Bucha, this is why he was here. We knew that he was going to step in when Chris Godwin was late to start the season. Well, now we don't have him potentially because of a hamstring injury, was ruled out after he exited the game with that injury. He, you know how it goes. These, these are multi week injuries, usually even when they're mild. Mike Evans has now missed a few games. I don't have the number off top, you know, so he, I, he was on injured reserve. We'll see when he's ready to come back. But they're not necessarily, you know, swap out players and not to mention they just, everybody's a little bit banged up who's a pass catcher for them. So Emeke Buka, that's a huge hit for fantasy managers because he's been nothing short of a revelation at the position.
- [30:14]
B
With my bad there. Mike has been out since week three, not week one. So he has now missed what, four, five, six, three straight.
- [30:20]
C
George Kittle out with a hamstring since week one.
- [30:21]
B
Yes. That was.
- [30:22]
C
I can tell you anything about that team.
- [30:24]
A
That one. You got it. Unfortunately, there were more injuries. Stefania. We're going to save a few more of them for tomorrow as we get more updates, obviously, as we go into the waiver wire. But those were three really big ones.
- [30:33]
C
We want to make sure three relevant ones for fantasy. One more that I'll just mention. Calvin Ridley, if you're playing him in fantasy, also left with a hamstring injury.
- [30:40]
B
We'll talk about that was early after just one catch for Ridley. So two catches for a Booka, just a couple for Harrison.
- [30:45]
C
Three.
- [30:45]
B
Three for Puka and one for Ridley. So not just injuries, but injuries that took place early on in the game as well.
- [30:51]
A
All right, let's talk about some other takeaways. Maybe inject some positivity coming out of the injury segment. Unfortunately. Is there anything more positive in the NFL right now than Jackson, Smith and Jigba? 13 targets, eight receptions, 162 yards and a touchdown. He had 30 fantasy points field. He had a 54% target share.
- [31:10]
B
He's ridiculous.
- [31:11]
A
Unbelievable.
- [31:12]
B
Amazing. The vertical passing game is so good there. He now leads the NFL in receiving yards. All right, so I'm going to assume that Puka Nakua would still be a player you'd prefer over Jackson, Smith and Jig.
- [31:22]
A
I would.
- [31:22]
B
Okay. I would name the other wide receivers that you definitely prefer over Jackson, Smith and Jigba. Jamar Chase.
- [31:29]
A
Nope.
- [31:29]
B
Okay. Justin Jefferson. Nope.
- [31:32]
A
CD Lam.
- [31:33]
B
Nope. CD Lamb.
- [31:33]
A
Nope.
- [31:34]
B
Still not practicing, but could be back soon. We'll see.
- [31:36]
A
Amon, Ramon Ra. Nope. It's conversation there because jsn, to me the difference is and I recognize Cooper cup and some of those other guys are there, but like he has a much smaller path to where those targets and opportunities are going to go in his offense. Amon Ra's got six other guys he's got to contend with. CD Lamb, when he comes back, is going to Contend with Javante and George Pickens and like I just think his, his offense is condensed basically around him. I know there's other guys there, but he had a. He's got a 37% target share so far this year.
- [32:06]
C
He's a thing between him and Sam Darnold. And basically my take, which pivots right off yours is is there any Seahawk worth starting besides other than jsn? Because if you look at Cooper cup, okay, he had 12 fantasy points yesterday, but first touchdown this season. That's why he got that. You know, you don't want to be banking on touchdown A.J. barner, okay, maybe he's an occasional target. Tight end position is what it is. So once in a while if you need to stream, maybe you're going to grab him. But Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet have basically eliminated each other at the position. There's nobody on that team that I regularly want to start besides jsn.
- [32:46]
B
Yeah, the backfield's really frustrating. I know that Kenneth Walker III wasn't great yesterday, but we I think collectively feel like if you give Walker more opportunities, he would have a much better outlook than with Zach Charbonnet. The team is intent and I mean intent on keeping this very much an even split. Even some of the critical carries late in that game where they're, you know, playing with a lead and protecting said lead, it's Zach Charbonnet on the field. So that offense definitely frustrating. Not name jsn.
- [33:11]
A
If I asked you JSN and I'll just say rest of season, I realize it's a big time but like JSN rest of the season wide receiver. What you think he's a top five guy?
- [33:19]
B
Top five? Yeah. Yeah. I want to reserve a little bit of like, you know, things can change so rapidly. Puka could miss three weeks right now. Who knows, right? Mecca Buca has been amazing, but he might be out for a month. I don't know either of those timelines. I'm just saying the guys you would think would be in that conversation might miss a significant stretch and we're already, we will soon be into week seven. He's a top five wide receiver though. That to me feels like a Reasonable description for JSN. Brian Thomas Jr. Not there yet, but some positive signs yesterday for BTJ who had 10 targets, 8 catches, 90 yards and a touchdown. Almost had 23, almost had 2 touchdowns, 23 fantasy points. I believe he had a second that was called back due to penalties.
- [33:59]
A
Do you want to know who it was called back because Of.
- [34:00]
B
I don't recall.
- [34:02]
A
It was Travis Hunter.
- [34:03]
C
Travis Hunter, that's right.
- [34:04]
B
Oh, that's right. He was lined up offsides. It was an offensive offense.
- [34:07]
A
It was before the ball was even snapped. Those penalties are so infuriating. I feel like Peyton Manning when I watch those games.
- [34:13]
B
Oh, my God, totally. Especially because everybody but the player who actually has the penalty on them sees it on the TV camera. But you know, for as bad as it's been for Brian Thomas Jr. Compared to what we expected coming into the seats, the and if you're looking for some signs of optimism and beyond yesterday, in six games played, he now has 48 targets. So he's got eight targets a game and that's at least six in every game, by the way. He's got two separate games with 10 or more targets. So it started awful and it has not been consistent enough yet. But maybe some signs that this could be getting back on track to him becoming like a top 15ish wide receiver. He probably won't become that top five guy that we are hopeful for coming into the season. But if he can settle in as a strong wide receiver too, you'd feel great about it given how things started.
- [34:57]
C
Yeah. It feels like he's trending in the right direction.
- [34:59]
A
It does. I still. This is just a weird thing, but like he's so talented. I still saw drops on Sunday. Like some like very obvious drops on Sunday sometimes he caught eight of 10 targets.
- [35:10]
B
Maybe there was a drop. I may have missed it. But yeah, I felt more encouraged after yesterday.
- [35:14]
A
I definitely was more encouraged as well. I definitely was more curious as well. I have. Wait, Stefania, do you have one? Did I already give one? I gave my JSN one.
- [35:20]
C
Yeah.
- [35:22]
A
All right. That mine is going to be that this and I'm curious if you guys agree. The Dolphins offense is primarily two people.
- [35:29]
B
And to me, Devon Hn and Jalen Waddle.
- [35:32]
A
Devon Hn and. And. And Jalen Waddle and I think Darren Waller this last week.
- [35:36]
C
I know he pass catchers.
- [35:38]
A
I know he got in the end zone.
- [35:39]
C
Devon Hn.
- [35:40]
B
Yeah.
- [35:40]
C
But might be as big of a pass.
- [35:41]
A
Devon Hn was unbelievable. Like that's the main takeaway from the Dolphins. Like he was legit.
- [35:45]
B
He was incredible and you know, such. He was one of my takeaways that I had thrown in there. He was one of my considerations for winner as well. Upper 31 fantasy points for Devon Hn.
- [35:55]
A
Yep.
- [35:55]
B
This he might be taking home the Austin Eckler Memorial Award. What I mean by that is you guys may Recall four or five seasons ago when Eckler was with the Chargers and kind of in his apex, he had an injury to like his hamstring maybe a week before the season began. And for those of us that are late drafters, which all three of us often do, draft very late. Everybody was like, oh my God, the guy who was going number one overall, like can you take him the first round? Can you take him in the second round? Like is he going to miss four to six weeks? Because by the time a lot of those drafts took place he still hadn't practiced yet. He actually played in, I want to say other week one or maybe he missed one week and then came back and then was like the best player in all of fantasy football for the season or close to it. Devon Hn was iffy coming into the season with that calf injury and Mike McDaniel was, he wasn't causing concern with his words, but he also wasn't like full stop, he's totally fine. He was like, we're being smart about it with him, we're going to make sure that we roll him out slowly, etc. In practice is once the games began, it is clear it's the Devon Hn show. He is a remarkable pass catcher. The guy is just a total mash unit basically by himself.
- [36:59]
A
Do you feel like your confidence in Darren Waller faltered at all Yesterday after a 3 target, 2 catch, 12 yard performance?
- [37:08]
B
I would say yes. Because you're trying to get me to say yes.
- [37:12]
A
I'm not. I don't want you to say it. I just want to know like he, he had back to back games with 17 and a half fantasy points. He got bailed out by a touchdown.
- [37:19]
B
Yes, but like he plays tight end.
- [37:20]
A
Yeah, he does, you know, so like he does.
- [37:23]
C
It's not going to be 10 tons of targets but I feel like the fact that they're looking at him in the end zone, you know, he's being looked for there. I again this is the longer discussion about the tight end position and what do you do? Because each week I might give you a different answer. I want to know who I have available in that week. Darren Waller, at least to me is consistently he's going to be look forward during the game, he's going to be looked for in the red zone and that makes him at least a consideration.
- [37:48]
B
I just don't have. I can give you probably close to 10 that I would say I prefer over Darren Waller, but it's not way more than 10, you know, George Kittle remains out right now, so it's Sam Laporta, Jake Ferguson, Travis Kelsey. I would say I, you know, you don't. Travis Kelsey, Travis Kelsey, you're on the.
- [38:04]
C
Travis.
- [38:04]
B
He's back.
- [38:05]
A
Yeah, he's inside the top 10. But I think that I am interested in what's going to happen after Rashi Rice.
- [38:09]
B
We'll see. Yes. Right now obviously Trey McBride but like.
- [38:12]
A
Rock Bower is still going to be there.
- [38:13]
B
Like I mentioned, I should have said Sam Laporta if I didn't say him. So like Waller is not a lock it in. Has to be a top seven consideration every single week. But I'm here to tell you that if you have 10 or 12 guys that you definitively like more than you, more than him, you just have a stronger opinion of those players than I do personally.
- [38:29]
A
That's fair.
- [38:29]
B
That's fair.
- [38:30]
C
Also a couple of those guys that you just mentioned aren't back yet. So bye. Weeks injuries still the next couple of weeks except for the Raiders have a buy, I think a week eight.
- [38:40]
B
Yep.
- [38:41]
C
I mean well, he's not a Raider anymore. He's Dolphin. So. Yeah, yeah, but the. But so Brock Bowers is out. But I was saying, you know, if you're thinking about when you can plug in Darren Waller. Yeah, yeah. Then I would say over the next few weeks he's certainly got to be.
- [38:55]
A
A considerate crazy that there are 32 teams in the NFL and we can't find seven tight ends in fantasy that we're like these guys are just lock it in.
- [39:03]
B
Tyler Warren also ahead of him.
- [39:04]
A
Clearly Warren might be definitely. That's a good point.
- [39:06]
C
This is why I was on the Raiders is my other takeaway is that Michael Mayer should be in your lineup consideration as a tight end because if there is no Brock Bowers and I think you're going to have Brock Bowers out through week seven. So Michael Mayer was not heavily rostered yesterday. When we were on the show we were talking it was single, single digit percentages and I was like, why aren't people running out to grab him yesterday? Seven targets, five catches, 50 yards and a touchdown. Sixteen fantasy points. Pete Carroll said this past week, I know you can't believe everything Pete Carroll says. He's overly optimistic. But I think this one felt right to me because they have approached it this way is that they treat Michael Mayer like a starting tight end. He was the starting tight end before they had Brock Bowers. Remember we were like why are they taking Brock Bowers? But he believes he's starting tight end. They are using him like a starting tight end. That's already better than a lot of the other tight ends you could be putting into your lineup. So to me, my takeaway after seeing him yesterday, no Brock Bowers. You're not going to have him in week seven. Go ahead and get Michael Mayer and use him if you need. If you don't have Jake Ferguson or Trey McBride or who else? Who else are you starting over, Michael? Mayor Warren. Oh, Tyler Warren.
- [40:21]
A
Warren.
- [40:22]
B
Sam Laporta? Travis Kelce?
- [40:24]
C
Oh, I'm. Yeah. Okay. Travis Kelsey's been inconsistent. I mean, I might still start Michael.
- [40:29]
A
Mayer over cuse myself from this conversation.
- [40:30]
B
Okay.
- [40:31]
C
Yeah, you should.
- [40:32]
B
A couple more takeaways here. Derek Henry got back on track yesterday. That was good to see. And it was a reminder of how much game strip. Say again?
- [40:40]
A
That one? Yeah, that one driver.
- [40:42]
B
I mean, they need to just give him the football four times in that situation. If it takes all four tries to get into the end zone, I'm okay with failing by giving the football to the best power running back of his generation. But 24 carries, 122 yards, plus two. Two targets yesterday for Henry. Just a reminder of how much game script matters. And if you're looking to extrapolate this ahead going forward, we just told you Lamar Jackson back in Week 8. The Ravens have basically already certified and solidified that. So once Lamar is back, I think we all feel like this is the kind of team and on any given Sunday can beat anybody in the NFL. I know their defense has been atrocious. There might be some that say, yeah, but they're one in five and Lamar was there when they started one and three. That's fair. I just do believe enough in this Ravens team to note that I think that most weeks going forward, Derrick Henry has a shot to have good game script. It wouldn't surprise me if from week eight on, we're talking about a guy who more often than not, the only time we mentioned him is because he's having a big day as opposed to. Oh, my God. Derek Henry had 22 rushing yards and no rushing touchdowns. What a dud.
- [41:44]
A
I got another big takeaway here. If you, like me got the Chargers backfield wrong, please feel free to raise your hand.
- [41:51]
B
Oh, I think, yeah, everybody.
- [41:53]
A
Like, I thought it was going to be Hasan Haskins. If I was like, which one of these guys is going to get like the main workload? It's the guy that's like 6 foot 2, 230 pounds. Oh, no. In fact, it was Kamani Vidal who played 70% of the snaps had 18 rush attempts including 21 touches total for 124 yards. Haskins had seven touches for 14 yards.
- [42:13]
B
He was plotter City was Hassan Ask.
- [42:15]
A
We just got this wrong and now it feels like, okay, listen, it happens sometimes. You get a call wrong. Now we got three weeks to go out and get ourselves Kamani Vidal. What do you think the next three weeks can look like with him as the potential starting running back?
- [42:28]
B
I think that he'll be ranked as a low end RB2 next week.
- [42:30]
A
Agreed.
- [42:31]
B
I think that that's kind of value, the kind of value we're hopeful for with Vidal going forward. But if yesterday is I thought at the beginning of the game it was almost like a tryout. Who has the hotter hand, who's going to get the ball going forward. But Vidal is just so much more dynamic than Hasan Haskins is. So it wouldn't surprise me if he remains the guy for at least the next three weeks. As to finally keeps reminding us IR means at least four games, not only four games.
- [42:55]
C
I was so high on Kamani Vidal last year. Remember that? Because I followed. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I was just a year ago.
- [43:02]
A
Was it your nephew too? That was big on Kamani Vidal when he was.
- [43:04]
C
Oh, right, right, right. He went and scouted the Chargers at training camp and so he got all the stats on him. But I've been down there two years in a row now and everything I hear is how much Harbaugh loves Haskins and everything. The vibe has been that Haskins and actually is shown the favor through camp and gets more action than Kamani Vidal. So I was surprised by yesterday as well. But Vidal proved that he was worthy of consideration.
- [43:29]
A
He is going to make the Tuesday waiver wire column after we got the Hasan Haskins call wrong because we have at least three more weeks, at least without Omari and Hampton. So we're going to continue to monitor this backfield and see if we can maybe find a little bit of something here.
- [43:42]
C
I also think the fact that, you know, you read the tea leaves where you can, especially when you have a team that doesn't tell you much. The fact that they placed him on IR so quickly wasn't like there was a question. It's like he's out. And that always makes me nervous that it'll be longer than the four weeks.
- [43:55]
A
It's not the only backfield field that we had some question marks coming in on.
- [43:57]
B
Yeah, a little bit of a shift yesterday for the Arizona Cardinals as Bam Knight actually out snapped Michael Carter. He had More carries than Michael Carter. He had a touchdown, which Michael Carter did not. 11 carries, 34 yards, one touchdown plus a catch for 20 yards. So Bam Knight ends up finishing with 12.4 fantasy points to 8.4 from Michael Carter. Shout out to Shefty, who basically told us this before the game yesterday. He actually started Bam Knight over Michael Carter in his war room league team. He put his money where his mouth is. Ended up paying off. We have at least again, at least two more weeks of no Trey Benson. I wouldn't be surprised if we have what we have in Arizona. Once again. This would be the Seattle plan, right? A little bit of both guys, which is enough to kind of take away from a ton of ceiling for either player. They're probably touchdown dependent. But for those who thought after last week, hey, I might have sniped an RB2 and Michael Carter, seems like the answer is, to quote Lee Corso, not so fast, my friend.
- [44:51]
C
It's so annoying, right? When you pick someone up on waivers because you're like, I'm going to have him for next week and then it flips. And that to me is like these running back tandems between Arizona and the Chargers. Seattle is, you know, you don't really know what to do week to week.
- [45:06]
A
Like those low end RB twos and back end tight end ones are like the same where we're just like, we're just grasping at whatever we can right now.
- [45:14]
B
We're just hoping for the best in a given week.
- [45:15]
A
You want to see more?
- [45:16]
C
Hoping for some kind of repeat performance. Yeah, yeah. Speaking of duos, I will shift over to the Cowboys.
- [45:22]
A
Oh, let's talk about it.
- [45:23]
C
Cowboys have shown that they can sustain two top 10 pass catchers. And Pickens and Ferguson were your two yesterday. George Pickens right now standing at wide receiver, one with a ridonkulous day. 31.8 fantasy points. Just ridiculous number of yards, 11 targets, 9 catches, 168 yards. And Jake Ferguson. Jake Ferguson, he's getting a touchdown like every single week. He's in the end zone.
- [45:46]
B
Why? Day besides that. But he keeps finding, he keeps scoring.
- [45:48]
C
Yeah, he keeps scoring. He can't stop scoring. And I think we talked last week about him being in top five tight ends every week except for one. The question is, what happens when CD Lamb comes back? Right? And who is going to be. You know, this is my thought. I'm agonizing over this. As much as I love Jake Ferguson, the tight end position, who is going to be the one who struggles when CD Lam's back in the picture.
- [46:12]
B
The good news is they're so bad on defense that it might be that nobody falls off that dramatically. Higgins will be less consistent. He has been prone to that in his career previously. But all these guys can definitely have some big days.
- [46:23]
A
I feel like, and we had said this a little bit coming into the season, but now, unfortunately with the Joe Burrow injury, I think the Dallas Cowboys are the team that is just the Bengals of the nfc.
- [46:33]
B
Chalk in terms of what you expect.
- [46:34]
A
Absolutely. The defense is going to suck and you've got a quarterback that's just going to chuck it. He's got a bunch of really good players. He's got a nice running back like everything about this team. And the game script just plays out really nicely. If you have any Dallas Cowboys this year, talk about stepping up. Bang, bang. It's time to level up your game. Introducing the all new ESPN app. All of ESPN all in one place. Your home for the most live sports and the best championship moments. The electricity is palpable. Step up your game with no annual contract required. Inspired. It's the ultimate fan experience.
- [47:08]
C
Level up.
- [47:09]
A
For more on the ESPN app or at stream.espn.com sign up now. Eight years ago I blew my football career.
- [47:18]
B
He dropped it at the one yard line.
- [47:20]
A
Chad Powers has arrived on Hulu. If I can't play as Russ, I'll play as someone else.
- [47:25]
C
My name's Chad and last name Lisa.
- [47:27]
A
From executive producers Eli and Peyton Manning.
- [47:30]
C
Remember, you're wearing a prosthetic mask. This is acting and starring Glen Powell. He thinks you're a rubber chew toy.
- [47:36]
A
Not rubber. I'm a man made of flesh.
- [47:38]
B
The Hulu Original series Chad Powers is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney plus for bundled subscribers. Terms apply. New episodes Tuesdays Totally. A couple more here. Daniel from me Drake May ball the heck out again yesterday. It actually was a day where there were some points taken off the board from him that I mentioned earlier. Like he had of a lot long touchdown pass to Pop Douglas that was taken back because of offensive pass interference and even a long pass to Stefan Diggs. I think it was like a 50 yarder that was taken off because of pass interference but 18 for 26261 yards, three passing touchdowns for Drake May plus nine carries for 28 yards. He's a top six quarterback for the season so far his best game of the season yesterday. The kid looks like an absolute stone cold stud. One of the great quarterbacks, great young quarterbacks in the NFL. If you drafted Drake May, it's been one of the best values of any quarterback in all of fantasy this season.
- [48:31]
A
I also really liked Harold Fannin this last week. Unfortunately David and Joku got banged up, missed a little bit of time.
- [48:37]
B
So much garbage time for that.
- [48:38]
A
So much garbage time.
- [48:39]
B
52 passing attempts from Dylan Gabriel. 52.
- [48:41]
A
This is one of the things I was trying to figure out in the Browns game is like what is real? Like what can I bank on that I can move forward with? Because we've only had two games of Dylan Gabriel not much. And honestly the first game, just be totally transparent. The first game was a 9:30 in the morning game and we were doing a TV show last week. So like for the entirety of that game we were, we were doing a lot of stuff. So I was trying to figure out what is this offense going to look like with this quarterback. Unfortunately we saw the other tight end and David Joku get banged up, ended up leaving. But Harold Fannin, like if you need a tight end right now, it feels like this kid just won't go away. 10 targets, 7 catches, 81 yards, 15.1 fantasy points. I want to see what's going to happen within Joku but when I'm thinking about trusted pass catchers right now, it feels like all the 12 personnel that they're running in Cleveland, like I would rather have one of these tight ends than have any of the wide receivers right now in Cleveland.
- [49:28]
B
Pencil. Yes, I agree on that.
- [49:30]
A
Even though Jerry Judy had a metric boatload of targets, it just didn't equate to anything.
- [49:35]
B
I'm going to go with Shador Sanders making his first start in week eight of the NFL season.
- [49:39]
A
Eight.
- [49:39]
B
There's only two quarterbacks left. Well, Bailey Zappy is also in the quarterback room but I think it start.
- [49:44]
A
With like seven quarterbacks and four.
- [49:47]
B
But yes, one more takeaway before we get into some studs duds and Monday Night Football notes. If you could take a 49ers wide receiver and start him in week seven and you got the draft is the first pick Kendrick.
- [49:59]
A
Kendrick Bourne? Yeah, right now it is.
- [50:01]
B
I mean he had nine targets yesterday, turned it into five catches for 142 yards. He had two 40 plus yard catches. He has back to back games now with 19 or more fantasy points. He's got real chemistry with Mac Jones and then I think, you know, sort of notably Juwan Jennings said after the game he's playing through five broken ribs, high and low ankle sprains, one catch for seven yards. Like part of me wonders if they need to just Sit that guy back down. Because he did not look himself yet.
- [50:27]
A
That's what he said yesterday.
- [50:28]
C
Yeah, there was. There was a lot going on on the sideline as well with.
- [50:32]
A
How can you even play football like that?
- [50:34]
C
Yeah, well, this is. I wouldn't be surprised to see more Kendrick Bourne and less Juan Jennings.
- [50:41]
A
Okay.
- [50:42]
B
He's also, you know, and again, I don't have any information on this. I'm just using common sense here, common logic for a player that is playing for a new deal. He, of course, notably had the contract negotiation and training camp. Like, do you think you want to go back out there and put on, you know, substandard tape right. When you're going to be a free agent in a few months and this might be your best chance for a bite at the apple here? So Bourne has been great for the 49ers over the past two weeks. Sounds like there's a chance Brock Purdy could play next week, even though he hasn't played as much with Kendrick Bourne. I don't think this is one of those where the only reason why Kendrick Bourne is playing well is because him and Mac Jones, but that connection is definitely real.
- [51:18]
A
Can I ask you guys one more question before we move on here? And then we'll do a couple of quick studs and duds. We'll rip through a bunch. Bengals first game with Joe Flacco on her center. Just any major takeaways when you watch this Bengals offense?
- [51:27]
B
Better.
- [51:28]
C
Our chase unlocked.
- [51:29]
B
50% target share for. I'm sorry, not quite 50%, but close to a 50% target share for Jamar Chase and Teagans combined.
- [51:36]
A
Yep.
- [51:37]
B
So, yeah, I mean, I shout out to Joe for just peppering those guys with touchdowns. It's garbage time once again. But Jamar Chase, 25.1 fantasy points.
- [51:45]
C
Yep. Did I say gritty from Jamar Chase?
- [51:49]
A
I think I did.
- [51:50]
C
I mean, somebody was feeling better from their illness, you know, from having a new quarterback there, getting him unlocked. I thought he was. He was going to be one of my studs or, you know, just like, he's back.
- [52:01]
A
Yeah, he looked great.
- [52:02]
B
I mean, it's. It's all garbage time. Like, I've checked the box score early in the game, and I'm like, another pedestrian start for Jamar Chase.
- [52:10]
A
Like, how is this possible?
- [52:11]
B
And then next thing you know, there's only three games going in that afternoon slate, and you're like, wait, he's up to 10 catches now. What the heck in that catch?
- [52:18]
C
I mean, Joe Flacco, like, pulled up in a station wagon, put on a uniform, went out there and played, you know, so it would be interesting to see with another Joe Flacco.
- [52:26]
A
Driving a station wagon is exactly what I would expect Joe to drive, for what it's worth. Did you get that paneling along the side? No, but that one, I got that one I got.
- [52:35]
B
I don't. I don't get that one myself. I would say this too, though, is that like when teams play serious defense, the Bengals can't do. When they play prevent defense, they can.
- [52:43]
A
Yep.
- [52:43]
B
So I think that to begin games is going to be serious defense. I'm very nervous Thursday night when they play the Steelers because that Steelers defense is great. The Steelers offense is not.
- [52:53]
A
Steelers offense is not great. But I do want to give a quick shout out as a stud this week. DK Metcalf had a couple of nice catches, a lot of volume. He continues to actually have decent volume. Get four catches, nine targets, four catches for 95 yards and a touchdown. 19.5 fantasy points. If he could turn these nine targets into a little bit more production, I don't want to like shake a stick at 19 and a half fantasy points. It was great. Gotten the end zone, all those things. DK Metcalf, though, was like, that offense is still leaving some fantasy points out there on the table. If they can even get more in sync than what they are. DK could continue to rise, but it was a good week for him. After finding the end zone, my fellow.
- [53:30]
B
Golfers out there might be able to relate with me for a moment here. Like, you ever have that shot where like you got 120 yards, you pull out the 56, maybe the pitching wedge, there's a, there's a front bunker and you're like, all I got to do is just softly land it on the green and I got a real chance for a birdie putt.
- [53:46]
A
Got the rangefinder out and I make.
- [53:47]
B
Sure instead you actually take a swing and it lands in the bunker and you put it like 25 yards short and you're like. Or 20 yards short. You're like, you freaking kidding me? DK Metcalf had that happen to him yesterday. He was wide bleeping open down the field for a long walk in. Touchdown. Aaron Rodgers, like step back, cranked it and the ball was like eight yards short. Yeah, like, it was like a duck that just like got stuck in the wind and just fell to the ground instead.
- [54:14]
A
Was there wind or was. Was Aaron Rodgers short? It was.
- [54:17]
C
It was Aaron Rodgers, 41 years old.
- [54:19]
A
Yeah, that was the Question.
- [54:20]
B
So, yeah, for my golfers out there that have that same moment reference, I.
- [54:24]
A
Usually take a little too much of the. A little too much of the. What's it called? Like, I put a big divot in the divots.
- [54:30]
C
Yeah.
- [54:30]
A
Oh, divots are good. It's supposed to happen. I did not realize. All right, well, give me some other good things.
- [54:35]
B
Phil Jates other good things. Rashad White yesterday once again bowled out. Rashad White, when he gets his opportunity, is going to be totally money in the bank. 17 carries for 65 yards and a touchdown. Three targets, three catches, 21 yards, 17.6 fantasy points.
- [54:50]
A
That was awesome.
- [54:51]
B
Not fun for him, obviously, to be the number two running back behind Bucky Irving. It's comforting for us, though, to know that when Bucky is out, you're getting very close to Bucky Irving. Production out of Rashad White.
- [55:01]
A
Yeah. Did see a little bit of Sean Tucker as well for our Buddy Jackson Rushing touchdown. Yeah, he did get in the end zone.
- [55:05]
B
Tucker. Yeah.
- [55:06]
A
Stefania, what about you? What. What studs do you want to make.
- [55:10]
C
Sure we mention again, Call me Homer if you want. I don't care. But CMC is the only bright spot on 49ers. Well, that's true, because Kendrick Bourne was. But really, to me, CMC gets the stud mentioned because it's been every single week. And he's the one that everybody was worried about at the start of the season. Granted, we're only a third of the way through. There is a long ways to go, and I do worry because there's going to be even more pressure put on him to carry the team, not just in terms of rushing, but in terms of pass catching. However, the fact that he is in the end zone now, the fact that we see a rushing touchdown. Do you know it was the 49ers first rushing touchdown of the year?
- [55:49]
A
Ooh.
- [55:50]
C
Yeah. And it goes back to last year. Like, it's this unfortunate statistic that they. That that is associated with them. But so they get a rushing touchdown, you've got Christian McCaffrey doing it every kind of way. 17 carries, 54 yards in a score, eight targets, seven catches, another 57 yards, 24.1 fantasy points, running back, five on the week. I mean, he's up there every single week. If you had the stones to draft him and weren't too worried about the fact that he missed. Why are you looking at me like that?
- [56:19]
A
I'm not, you know. No, I have no idea what you're talking about.
- [56:22]
C
Because you love Christian McCaffrey.
- [56:25]
A
I love Christian McGaffrey. I drafted CMC over Saquon Barkley. Like, I was a thing that I was very open about this offseason is like I was big on CMC in spite of coming back from the injury, so.
- [56:34]
C
And CMC over Saquon Barkley looks like a pretty good choice right now.
- [56:37]
A
Right now. It does. Yes.
- [56:38]
C
Yes.
- [56:39]
B
CMC over anybody would have been a good choice right now. Right? I mean, he has been along with Jonathan Taylor with Pukka's injury yesterday.
- [56:45]
C
Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan Taylor. Well, since we're there, he was also on my stud list. Again, I am really impressed by the consistency and it's the consistency with rushing you said. I think the last time I mentioned him. He is our non PPR friends. Clear. Number one running back. He absolutely is. 21 carries for 123 yards and a touchdown. And do yourselves a favor, if you haven't watched Colts game, watch him run. It's the patience and the vision, I guarantee you. I was having this conversation yesterday. We're sitting in the war room. It was like, how many running backs get the same, are presented with the same defense and are making the correct decision about how to move through it and gain yards. Every single time there's a hesitation. It's the way he runs. It's beautiful thing to watch and, you know, shout out to him for just being consistent.
- [57:36]
A
I got a big stud that I just want to talk about really quickly and it's Tedro McMillan. However, it was great that he got in the end zone.
- [57:42]
B
Love that.
- [57:43]
A
Three catches, 29 yards, two touchdowns, 17.9 fantasy points. The part that I don't like is the five targets for three catches and 29 yards and they're playing the Dallas freaking Cowboys.
- [57:53]
B
Take what you can get.
- [57:54]
A
And this is why I don't want to be negative. But when I watch that game, I know that Bryce Young got three passing touchdowns against the Cowboys. And I'm going to continue to say, start all your quarterbacks against Dallas.
- [58:04]
B
Correct.
- [58:05]
A
But the idea he couldn't even get to 200 passing yards against this squad makes me feel like if we just had anyone other than Bryce Young under center, we would see a different Teteroa McMillan in fantasy football in 2020.
- [58:16]
B
For today, I'm going to be happy. For today, I am going.
- [58:19]
A
All right. You know what? You're right. I should be more positive today.
- [58:21]
B
Yes.
- [58:22]
A
I could be negative tomorrow.
- [58:23]
C
Yes.
- [58:24]
A
Shout out to Tedro McMillan.
- [58:25]
C
I know my only other stud was Jacoby Brissette, who we already talked about. I Mean, I just. Quarterback six.
- [58:31]
B
Yeah.
- [58:31]
C
Who saw that coming?
- [58:32]
B
Yeah, not me. Not. I said the fly.
- [58:34]
C
I just wanted to mention his name again because, you know, shout out to the old folks every once in a while.
- [58:41]
A
You need them. Yeah.
- [58:42]
B
I'll give you two duds. I want to get to Monday Night Football here in a moment. Just two quick duds here. Jacoby Brissette was a stud. Jacoby Myers was a dud.
- [58:49]
A
Yes.
- [58:50]
B
Four catches, 39 yards, 7.9 fantasy points. Basically four straight bad games for Jacoby Myers. You would have thought with no Brock Bowers. Right. Good matchup opportunity for him to ball out. That was not the case. You know, Smith was once again very bad. Geno was under nine fantasy points. I don't know what's going on there with Geno smith. Chase Brown, 8.9 fantasy points. Not sure what to tell you guys. Flex consideration right now. He is not a lineup lock by any stretch. Anything else on the negative side before we get to Monday Night Football?
- [59:16]
C
I mean, Ramon R.A. stevenson did what Ramon Dre Stevenson does. 1.8 fantasy points. It's so bad.
- [59:23]
B
And he played 70% of the season.
- [59:25]
C
That's to me, that's. That's why the, the dead thing is because he's on the field so much and we're getting that kind of.
- [59:31]
A
Is the Patriots version of Zach Chardonnay in my mind as a guy that's just on the field too much based on what they want to use him.
- [59:38]
B
And Trayvon really hasn't been great. You know, like, it's like he's out there and every time he gets the ball it's five yards. But Ramon Dre, you know, 12 carries, 18 yards and zero in the passing game. Not going to cut it. Daniel, any other dud before we get to Monday night?
- [59:52]
A
I do not have one.
- [59:54]
C
I mean, it was his. Her percentage completion was terrible. Three picks, by the way. 205 yards. Bailed out by the. By Devon HN. Basically 6.6 fantasy points. Not good. And then I didn't. I didn't enjoy the post game presser either. You know.
- [60:11]
B
Feels like talking about that all day.
- [60:13]
C
Yeah. Yeah. I feel. It feels like there's. So the. The dud thing was you weren't good either. And I. I love to. I've been a big TUA apologist, especially because I think he's overcome some injuries and situations that have been really, really difficult. But performance like that, press conference like that, that.
- [60:31]
B
Not a lot of leadership down there.
- [60:32]
A
In Miami doesn't feel like it right now.
- [60:34]
B
Monday Night football double header. We got two games.
- [60:36]
A
Monday night football. Bills and the Falcons. Let's start there talking Bills and Falcons. Got a couple of good guys on these two squads. I actually am watching this very closely because I am down by 15 points to Mike Clay. He has James Cook. I have Bajan Robinson. Going to be a tough one for me to have Bajan outscore James Cook by 15 fantasy points. However, that is a matchup that I am watching because both of those running backs, honestly are just fun to watch play football.
- [61:02]
B
They sure are. I would rather be Mike in that scenario, but fantasy football, probably one of.
- [61:06]
A
The only scenarios I'd rather be Mike. That's Fairfield.
- [61:08]
B
Anything else you're watching for in this game?
- [61:10]
C
Specifically, I would like to see a really big performance from Drake London again because Darnell Mooney ruled out for this game. Let's keep the Drake London fantasy festival.
- [61:19]
A
Drake London and Kyle Pitts. I want to see Kyle Pitts get involved because without Darnell Mooney, we've seen him kind of making some noise in the back half of the tight end one conversation. So I'd like to see what he could look like in this one.
- [61:28]
C
These are two fun games. I mean, look, a lot of fantasy opportunity in the first one. And then we got Bears Commanders.
- [61:33]
B
Yep, Bears Commanders. By the way, the Falcons and the Bears both off their bye week. They have 15 days between games. So a long time we've been waiting to see these players back on the field.
- [61:42]
A
You take the Bills or the Falcons?
- [61:44]
C
Oh, yeah. We didn't even pick. I was moving on. I forget who I picked. I think of the Bills.
- [61:49]
A
Yeah, I took the Bills too. Mike texted me, said he's taking The Falcons.
- [61:52]
B
Okay.
- [61:52]
A
38 to 38 to 6 is what he had. Falcons score.
- [61:55]
B
That's great. Bears versus commanders. The thing that I am watching for in this game is remember last week when we saw this team, it was the Bill Crosby merit show.
- [62:02]
A
Yeah.
- [62:02]
B
Is it the Bill Crosby merit show going forward or is this one that might be a little bit more game script dependent? Last week they're playing with the lead against the Chargers for much of that game. Lots of Bill. If this game is more competitive or even playing from behind, which is possible against the Bears, do we see other backs? Jeremy McNichols have a larger role. So if we get a game in which the Commanders are playing from behind and we still see a lot of Bill, then we officially have liftoff.
- [62:28]
A
Love that. Stefania. Anything you're watching in this game?
- [62:31]
C
Status of Debo Samuel. Everybody should double Check. Coming into the game is questionable with a heel bruise. He played. We expect him to play. But whenever there's a player who's questionable on Monday night, you always want to make sure you double check the inactives and have somebody there available for you just in case. But I'm like, they need Debo, right? Because there's no Terry McLaurin. He's still out with the quad injury. So they really need Debo. Jaden Daniels is back now, healthy. I want to kind of see how he's looking another game under his belt now that he's been back. But I think it could be a big night for Tebow.
- [63:02]
A
This is going to be a big one because last week, obviously no Jaden Daniels. Last week, no Terry McLaurin. Last week Zach Ertz was on a buy. So like this is Jaden was back.
- [63:10]
B
Yesterday but good last week.
- [63:12]
A
But yeah, you're right.
- [63:14]
C
He was saying he's back healthy. Another week of his mobility.
- [63:17]
A
There's no way he was back last week. If Zachary was in a buying got zero fantasy points, guys.
- [63:22]
B
I should have let it go because.
- [63:23]
A
It was a good Zachary.
- [63:24]
C
That was a good comment.
- [63:25]
A
I this is one of those things where you're trying to make the joke lane and you're not thinking about the things that you need to say. I'm very excited just to watch these two sophomore quarterbacks.
- [63:33]
B
Just like the back and forth. But it's close. Commander's close in this game.
- [63:36]
A
Really? I'm going to go with the Bears.
- [63:37]
C
Yeah, I've got the Commanders close.
- [63:39]
B
Game is in D.C. tonight. This is a great, great Monday Night Football slate. We have a great one next week as well. Your Bucks. Your Lions versus the Bucks. Your Lions versus the Bucks. Part of the doubleheader next week as well. Yeah, that's going to be a big one.
- [63:51]
C
That what gave me the edge is them playing at home for the Commanders. I'm taking the Commanders. I'm so excited. I want both quarterbacks to have a great game because I have both of them on different fantasy rosters and I would really like each of them really well.
- [64:03]
A
I want. Okay, so just indulge me for 30 seconds and then we'll close out this show. I have a board bet right now with Mike Clay that Dak Prescott will be a top seven quarterback. He's currently quarterback five.
- [64:13]
B
Five.
- [64:14]
A
Okay, so we've got Josh Allen and Michael Penix. I think Josh Allen will be inside the top five. Okay. So that puts Dak down at quarterback six. Then we've got Jaden Daniels and Caleb Williams. Only one of them can finish ahead of him. Otherwise I will win the board bet. If both finish in there field you're going to win the board bet you'll be quarterback eight. So right now we are all in.
- [64:37]
C
Three way board bet.
- [64:38]
A
Well, I took quarterback seven, Mike to quarterback nine and then we just gave field the middle and if it lands on the middle and field wins, I'm going to be so upset because that's how it works.
- [64:46]
B
And Mike, if you're listening, he's not listening. It's the truth though. You won this board bet that played really well yesterday. What was his Fantasy Point Total?
- [64:54]
A
22.34 fantasy points, 261 passing yards and three touchdowns.
- [64:59]
B
That's a very, very good week for a quarterback. So to me, even if you lose, you still win. You're a winner in my books.
- [65:05]
A
Good news is, Mike, is three and oh and board bets about to be three and one. I'm about to get off the schneide here. Love it. All right, that's going to do it for us today. Today's show is presented by Little Caesars. And make sure you come back and hang out with us tomorrow. Don't forget to love each other, be kind to yourself and have fun watching Monday Night Football. We'll see you on Tuesday Night Football. Monday Night Football.