Beyond the Box Score: Who to Trust in Week 17 and Fantasy Cops! (12/23 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today – Episode: Beyond the Box Score: Who to Trust in Week 17 and Fantasy Cops! (12/23 Fantasy Football Podcast)
Release Date: December 23, 2024

Hosts: Adam Aizer, Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, Heath Cummings, and Jacob

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Introduction

In this episode of Fantasy Football Today, host Adam Aizer and analysts Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, Heath Cummings, and Jacob delve deep into Week 17 of the NFL season, offering critical insights on which players to trust as the fantasy playoffs approach. Additionally, the team tackles listener queries in their popular segment, Fantasy Cops, addressing league disputes and providing personalized advice to enhance your fantasy strategy.

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Week 17 Analysis: Trustworthy Players and Strategic Moves

Game Recap: Dallas 26, Tampa Bay 24

The hosts kick off the discussion with a close game between the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jalen McMillan emerges as a standout performer for Dallas, posting impressive fantasy numbers.

• Jaylen McMillan's Hot Streak
  Adam Aizer [05:00]: "Jaylen McMillan has scored over 15 fantasy points in three straight games and faces Carolina next week. He's red hot and a valuable asset in the fantasy championship."

• Heath Cummings on McMillan's Performance
  Heath Cummings [06:07]: "McMillan had a tough start due to injuries but has recently found his rhythm. With increased targets, he’s becoming a reliable option, especially in three-receiver leagues."

CD Lamb’s Shoulder Injury and Its Impact

CD Lamb discussed his shoulder injury, emphasizing his commitment to the team despite physical setbacks.

• Adam Aizer [10:25]: "CD Lamb said, 'I love this game so much. I'm literally willing to put my body out there on the line for my guys.' While this dedication is admirable, his injury status is a concern for Week 17."

• Jacob [09:10]: "His momentum heading into next week is strong, but his performance may hinge on the Eagles’ quarterback situation."

Betting on Antonio Najoku and Drake London

The panel evaluates Antonio Najoku's reliability against the Dolphins and Drake London's performance with Washington's new quarterback, Michael Penix.

• Jacob [32:34]: "Najoku showed promise with an 81.5 catchable throw rate and no turnovers in his debut. However, his future depends on Penix’s performance under pressure."

• Heath Cummings [34:31]: "Najoku is the short-yardage option for Najoku. If the offense relies on runs, Najoku remains a decent pick, but consistency is key."

Quarterback Choices: Richardson vs. Purdy vs. Others

The discussion turns to quarterback selections, weighing Anthony Richardson against other options like Brock Purdy and Kyler Murray.

• Heath Cummings [44:06]: "Richardson should be a sit for Week 17. He's currently in the low-end QB2 range and the Giants' defense leaves him vulnerable."

• Adam Aizer [45:03]: "Choosing between Richardson and Purdy is tough. Purdy could offer more stability against the Lions, whereas Richardson's volatility makes him a risky start."

Key Takeaways and Recommendations

• Start Jaylen McMillan: His recent performance and upcoming matchup make him a reliable choice.
• Monitor CD Lamb’s Injury: Depending on his recovery, he could still be a valuable start, but caution is advised.
• Consider Drake London Over Cooper Cup: London's role in Washington's offense provides more consistent opportunities.
• Be Cautious with Anthony Richardson: Given his inconsistency and the Giants' defensive weaknesses, Richardson may not be the safest bet.

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News and Notes: Injuries and Team Updates

The hosts provide essential updates on player injuries and team news that could impact fantasy decisions:

• Giants Quarterback Situation:

  • Dorian Thompson-Robinson to start if healthy.
  • Drew Lock undergoing an MRI for his shoulder.

• Key Running Backs Injuries:

  • James Connor (knee)
  • Ken Walker (ankle)
  • Tank Dell (dislocated kneecap)
  • CD Lamb (shoulder)

• Wide Receivers and Other Positions:

  • Tyreek Hill dealing with a drop-heavy game citing missed reps.
  • Michael Penix’s NFL debut raises questions about his performance under pressure.

• Defense Updates:

  • Steelers’ defense potentially missing Joey Porter.
  • Jackson, Lattimore, and other defensive backs facing injuries.

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Fantasy Cops: Listener Questions and League Disputes

In the Fantasy Cops segment, listeners submit their league-related dilemmas, which the hosts address with practical solutions and advice.

Issue 1: League Reset After Back-to-Back Wins

A listener shares frustration over a league rule that mandates a league reset if a player wins back-to-back championships, citing an imbalance caused by a dominant player.

• Jacob [50:56]: "Tanking the championship is the worst idea. The league should adhere to the rules and consider alternative solutions like restructuring rewards rather than resetting everything."

• Heath Cummings [55:38]: "Resetting the league undermines the integrity of the competition. Instead, focus on leveling the playing field through better trade regulations or draft rules."

Issue 2: Incorrect Playoff Matchups

Another listener highlights an error in playoff seeding where the number one seed played the four seed instead of the lowest remaining seed.

• Jacob [53:17]: "The commissioner should have adhered to the league's bylaws. Correct the matchups post-game based on the actual results to maintain fairness."

• Adam Aizer [55:28]: "Properly enforcing the league rules is crucial. Commissioners need to be diligent to prevent such discrepancies."

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Conclusion and Final Recommendations

As Week 17 approaches, the Fantasy Football Today team emphasizes the importance of trust in key players and staying informed on injury updates. Strategic decisions on whom to start or sit could make the difference in securing a fantasy championship. Additionally, addressing league disputes with fairness and adherence to established rules ensures a competitive and enjoyable fantasy experience for all participants.

Notable Quotes:

• Adam Aizer [05:00]: "Jaylen McMillan has scored over 15 fantasy points in three straight games and faces Carolina next week. He's red hot and a valuable asset in the fantasy championship."

• Heath Cummings [06:07]: "McMillan had a tough start due to injuries but has recently found his rhythm. With increased targets, he’s becoming a reliable option, especially in three-receiver leagues."

• Jacob [50:56]: "Tanking the championship is the worst idea. The league should adhere to the rules and consider alternative solutions like restructuring rewards rather than resetting everything."

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Final Thoughts

Listeners are encouraged to leverage the insights from this episode to optimize their Week 17 lineups and navigate any league challenges effectively. By focusing on trust-worthy players and maintaining league integrity, fantasy managers can enhance their chances of success and enjoy a competitive playoff run.

Don’t forget to vote for Fantasy Football Today in the Fantasy Betting and Gaming category at sportspodcastgroup.com. Your support helps us continue to provide top-notch fantasy football content!

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This summary captures the essence of the episode, focusing on critical game analyses, player evaluations, injury updates, and league dispute resolutions, ensuring that listeners are well-equipped for Week 17 and beyond.

Transcript

[Adam]

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[Dan]

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[Jacob]

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[Adam]

What a play. Can you believe this?

[Heath]

No, I can't.

[Adam]

It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays on his feet. This is going to go the distance.

[Jacob]

Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath.

[Adam]

Yeah. What's up everybody? Hope it's a happ Monday for you. Welcome to Fantasy Football Today presented by BetMGM, the sports book Born in Vegas, this is beyond the Box score, advanced stats from simple people. But we don't really have a lot of advanced stats today. We're doing a different version of the show. So this is the weirdest week of football coming up. Week 17 in football history. I mean, are you kidding me? We have two games on Wednesday, right? Kansas City at Pittsburgh. Yeah, we can't just watch basketball on Christmas. We got to watch football, too. All right, well, it's fine. We've got a game on Thursday, Seattle at Chicago. So the two Wednesday games are Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Houston. Then we got Seattle at Chicago on Thursday. We've got three games on Saturday. Well, we can't just watch the Hurricanes, everybody. We can't just watch Cam Ward in the bowl game on Saturday. We got to watch 3, 4.

[Jacob]

About that. You can't. Just kidding. I do. Yeah.

[Adam]

You care a lot. We got Chargers, Pats, Broncos, Bengals, Cardinals, Rams. And then we've got a Sunday game. And of course we have Detroit at San Francisco Monday night. So I got to get into my start sit research. So I was like, you know what? Let's do a little bit of that on the show today. So we're, I asked the people said, who are you worried about trusting in week 17? And that's what we're going to talk about today. But we'll give you the, you know, the advanced beyond the box score spin on it. Jacob, what's going on? Good morning to you. How are you?

[Heath]

I'm psyched, man. I am a true sicko. Live breathe football during this time of year. So I don't even know what any of that stuff you mentioned is. We're overlapping with Just give me more football every day.

[Adam]

Yeah, no, I mean, it's, it's, it's just, it's weird from a work standpoint. I think it's, it's.

[Jacob]

Yeah, yeah.

[Adam]

It's throwing everyone's weekly routine off to have these games on Wednesday. And as Heath said, if you missed it on last night's show, if your league runs waivers Wednesday night, you need to change that. Imagine running waivers after two games are played. Right. Like, it's just a crazy idea. So anyway, let's rock and roll here. Dallas 26, Tampa Bay 24. This was a really fun game.

[Jacob]

I don't get my intro.

[Adam]

Wow, you've been interrupting me the whole time. You did your own intro.

[Jacob]

I did no intro. I'm still sour because in the Big Bird Burger Dynasty league, I put together one of the best teams you can even imagine. I won points. And it's One of those leagues that doesn't give any of the prize pool toward the points winner of the regular season. I just, I just don't get that and I never really will.

[Heath]

Whose decision is that?

[Jacob]

Adams?

[Adam]

Yeah, I mean, it's just like he, he's just anything to get.

[Jacob]

It's like everyone knows that you got to give some of the prize pool toward the points winner. It's the best player in the regular season.

[Adam]

It's just everyone knows that.

[Jacob]

Okay.

[Heath]

I think only like a third of my leagues do that.

[Adam]

A 0% of my leagues do that.

[Jacob]

Wow.

[Adam]

All right. Anyway, let's get to it. Dallas 26, Tampa Bay 24. And yeah, Jalen McMillan with a big game. So Jaylen McMillan is. Here's your beyond the box score. He is one of four wide receivers with four or five touchdowns over the last three games, but he is the only one of that group, which is Jefferson, Addison McMillan and Devonte Adams. He's the only one that doesn't have a touchdown catch from inside of 15 yards. So he's not getting a lot of layups here. Well, he, he's had like a couple of wide open ones that have been on, on bad coverage or whatever. But I, you know, look, the question is, do we go with Jay McMillan in the fantasy championship? He is red hot. He has scored like over 15 fantasy points in three straight games and he gets Carolina next week. Jacob, how you feeling about McMillan?

[Heath]

So first I wanted to say that I like when you do be on the box course stats, Adam. I think that they're always cool and you don't have to approach a tongue in cheek. I think you can just do it and it's dope.

[Adam]

Zero. I just wanted to let people know I wasn't just punting on today's show. I really like did dig in and find some extra stats and stuff like that.

[Heath]

Yeah, you always do. It's great stuff. McMillan. I loved his, his tape coming in. It's been a kind of frustrating year for him, like, tough for him to get going in the actual box score until recently. But I think you could attribute some of that to injuries. And then also he's a rookie receiver. I think we're a little spoiled because we keep having these rookie seas come in and just be awesome right away. And it took him some time, but now he's, he's playing really well and he's a full time player out there and the underlying volume numbers keep getting better. He led the team in first three targets, but overall, like the bucks are spreading the Ball around a ton. So any given week he could disappoint. But that's kind of par for the course of receiver. So if you've ridden him and you, you know, are in a three receiver league or wherever, you might need to use them, I think you can still trust them.

[Adam]

Yeah, we got a lot of pass attempts from Baker Mayfield. We had 43 pass attempts. They've been hot. They've been winning a lot of games. They've been winning without giving up a lot of points. Yesterday was not, not the case. And you finally got more than, you know, 33. You got 43 fantasy points. So next week against Carolina, he threw 33 passes just a few weeks ago against Carolina and that's definitely something to keep in mind. Any takeaways from you on this game, Dan?

[Jacob]

Yeah, for me it's the other side of the ball. Last week Jacob and I had a chance to do our one big game film breakdown for beyond the Box Score, and that was Tampa Bay versus lac. And I was discussing, just from the film standpoint, how much Tampa Bay dominated the interior defensive line versus the Chargers interior offensive line. And I think this game is a good example of just how far the Cowboys have come from an offensive line standpoint. And that is something I expect to carry over on, over these last two games and into the fantasy championship. It's something that's going to impact my kind of rankings on players like Rico Dowdle, CD Lamb, even in two QB league, somebody like Cooper Rush.

[Adam]

So Dowdle's really interesting because he had a horrible game. He did score 8.1 fantasy points, which felt lucky. And you had Zeke coming in for this goal line touchdown, which was just a punch in the gut. And this team, by the way, has the fewest carries in football from the one to three yard line or the three yard line or closer. They have seven all year. So I can't even tell you who their goal line back is. I definitely thought that would be Dowdle at this point. But they brought in Zeke. He gets the one yard score. But that'll have been so good. I think he was averaging 5 yards per carry coming into the game, 13 carries for 23 yards against the Bucks, who have not had a good run defense this season. So he'll be, he'll be a tough call at Philadelphia next week. And I think it might, you know, my enthusiasm for Dowdle might depend on which quarterback the Eagles have, because I think, I think they could, they could beat Dallas. Like if they have Jalen Hurts, then it might be a one Sided game might be Dallas playing pretty well, I gotta give him that. But Philadelphia is really good with Jalen. Hurts, obviously and we don't want that for Dowdle, but you know, just a bad game for him. It happens. He'd been on kind of a roll, but just keep in mind he has one rushing touchdown all year and now we have a little bit of uncertainty about who would get that goal line carry. Who do you guys think has. Sorry. Do you think CD Lamb has averaged more PPR fantasy points per game with Dak Prescott in his starts or with Cooper Rush in his starts?

[Jacob]

Cooper Rush it is somehow Cooper Rush.

[Adam]

It is not Cooper Rush. You guys are not beyond the box score. You are. You are in front of the box score. Two point difference. But he has definitely been more consistent with Cooper Rush. He has not had other than that first game really where Cooper rush threw for 50 something yards. He's been very consistent with Dak. He had a blow up game at San Francisco, but he had a lot of crummy games. So kind of interesting, a lot of momentum for CD Lamb going into the. Going into next year, Jake.

[Jacob]

We've somehow gone seven minutes and seven and a half minutes without shouting out Brian Thomas Jr. So here it is, Daddy Life says BTG deserve. BTJ deserves all the attention Gibbs gives to him every episode. He's taking me to the ship and he's right. Another shout out for Brian Thomas Jr.

[Heath]

For real a savior this week. I had leagues where I had no business winning and BTJ just saved me.

[Adam]

Why is it. Why can't Malik neighbors be running 30 yards away from any defender like uncovered up the sideline for an easy touchdown? Why can't that happen to other. Why does it only happen to Brian.

[Jacob]

Thomas Jr. Fair question. I think it's just our life right now as a Giants fan, Adam. It really is. That was pathetic yesterday. Oh my God.

[Adam]

It was a great day yesterday. Great day. Number one right now.

[Jacob]

They locked up the number one pick for now. Hopefully they don't win.

[Adam]

Oh no. They're definitely gonna beat the Eagles. Definitely beating the Eagles and weekend. All right, whatever. That's it for that game. Let's move on here. I will say CD Lamb his quote. This is what he said about his shoulder. I love this game that much. I'm literally willing to put my body out there on the line for my guys. Not so much to show how tough I am, but it shows it's the ground that's beating me up, bro. I can't avoid it. So of course sound great no, of course you're starting him, but let's just hope he makes it through the game. All right, news and notes. Oh, boy. Before we do that, get out there and vote. Right? We got to vote. Sports podcast group.com takes 30 seconds. Sports podcast group.com hit vote now. Yeah, fantasy betting and gaming category. Fantasy football today. If you're here, then you're probably in your championship. Right? Like, I feel like you can thank us with a vote. I'm not saying we just we. I'm not saying you need to, but that would be a nice thing to do. It's the holidays vote.

[Jacob]

Give us a holiday vote. Throw us a holiday here, you know.

[Adam]

Drop us some sports podcast group dot com.

[Jacob]

Quick sports aside that I have a debate for you guys that I'm having in a group chat. Quick aside, this group chat is made up of basically all parts equal Eagles, Giants commanders and jets fans. Jets fans. There's maybe one viewer. Rest of career contract aside, who would you rather have to start your franchise? Rest of career not including the contract, Jaden Daniels or Jalen Hurts?

[Adam]

Wow. I almost just said this is an easy call, but then I caught myself because it shouldn't be an easy call.

[Heath]

Jaden Daniels.

[Adam]

I would say Jaden Daniels.

[Jacob]

Yeah. So you know, a lot of the argument made by the Eagles fans, those are the only ones really taking Hertz. Hertz has proved it before. You know, Jaden is one year. Look at what happened with CJ Stroud from year one to year two. All fair points. But I mean, the stuff that Jaden Daniel is doing is so special. That's like the. How I would term what he was able to do yesterday with what did he have 38 seconds on the clock, having to go a full field touchdown. And everything he did on that drive, that one run for the first down was so common collected. And then the touchdown pass is just like perfect anticipatory throwing and timing and touch and ball places basement throwing it into that window. I mean those are the special moments. You see, I think I saw stat where in the fourth quarter he has like the most something. I gotta look up the stat. I lost the stat and I wanted it and I gotta find it again. Something about fourth quarter touchdown passes, I believe so I just feel like from my standpoint it's Daniels. But Eagles friends, my Eagles friend fans are telling me that I'm biased.

[Adam]

Oh, they're the biased ones. I mean, obviously. But it's just so funny how you get such a different answer. You can't get neutrality if you ask that question to a mil, you know, a thousand Eagles fans and a thousand Commanders fans. And then you just ask neutral parties. You know, it would be just.

[Jacob]

Well, that's why I put it up on my Twitter. But then my Eagles fan friend said it's not. It's a biased. Because it's all Giants fans on your Twitter.

[Adam]

All right, well, mine definitely is not, so I'll put that question up right now. News and notes Dorian Thompson. Robinson's gonna start if he's healthy. Drew Locke is getting MRI on his shoulder. That is unbelievable how beat up the Giants quarterbacks get. The only one who stayed healthy was Daniel Jones.

[Jacob]

I know.

[Adam]

And then you got Jalen Hurts with a concussion. You got Kenny Pickett with injured ribs. So we'll see. They play Sunday, thankfully, against Dallas. At running back, we got James Connor with the knee, Ken Walker with the ankle, Justice Hill, concussion got Tank Dell with the dislocated kneecap, CD Lamb with the shoulder, Tyreek Hill. Tyreek Hill could have had a big game, but he just. He dropped some balls, had some opportunities. He said he needs to practice more. He said missing those Wednesday reps is hurting him, and I thought that was pretty interesting. We take it for granted right now. They don't need to practice, he said. That is starting to hurt his game. We're hoping for George Pickens this week against the Chiefs on. On Wednesday. What? Drake London hamstring injury, apparently not serious. Jalen Tolbert, though, hurt his finger and Sterling shepherd left with the hamstring injury. Jets lost tackle Olu Fashanu. I don't know the severity there. The Cardinals could be without three offensive linemen next week. We'll see. They're at the Rams. The Bengals right tackle are Marius Mims, left with an ankle injury. On defense, I'm really keeping an eye on the. Because we're about to talk about Mahomes and company. Really keeping an eye on the Steelers injury report because it looks like Joey Porter's hurt and I can't imagine he's going to play. But they could be getting desean Elliott and Dante Jackson back in their secondary. Larry Ogan Joby. So they could be pretty healthy other than Porter, but we'll see. Marshawn Lattimore left with a hamstring injury for Washington and the jets lost two defensive backs. Tony Adams and Sauce Gardner left with injuries. We'll see if they can get back for their game at Buffalo. All right. So, Dan, are we gonna make any finals this year or what?

[Jacob]

Oh, yeah. I have won my actually, most Expensive league. I made the finals which is also crazy because they do this weird thing where another thing I'm really anti. But in the playoffs the budget for free agency resets and everyone gets the same amount. I know I'm so against this and I was the one with the most money and I thought. And I didn't know this rule either by the way. I joined this league without knowing this ridiculous rule. So now everyone hadn't sold. And it's a 14 team league with a super flex. So like mad dash for backup QBs. I am now stuck going into the finals with no option at super flex outside of receiver and running back. So it's going to be one of those types of finals. But I just put up 245 because I have CD Lamb, Devin Devon H and Chase Brown. Like my team is stacked outside of the quarterback position.

[Adam]

Good for you, man. And Jacob, I know you got some. You got Brian Thomas. So you're going to be in some finals.

[Heath]

Yeah, it was an okay year.

[Jacob]

Not a good year for me. I'm one. Finals is a bad year for me and considering how many leagues I was in.

[Adam]

All right, we'll see how tonight goes. I don't.

[Jacob]

How about you?

[Adam]

I mean I definitely. I played in five semi finals and I lost one and the others are all up in the air right now.

[Jacob]

That's kind of crazy going into this game especially to have them all up here.

[Adam]

Really. All I know is I haven't really looked at. Oh, he has this, he has that. I know I'm placing Jacob in one. All I know is I know I'll.

[Jacob]

Be rooting for Jacob.

[Adam]

I need. Well then you better root for the Saints because I need the packers dst. I think I have the Packers DST in three leagues tonight and I need them to come through, baby. And I feel good about that, but. All right, we're gonna take a break in a second here. I want to tell you about BetMGM. Let's get on that BetMGM app. Let's get that promo code going. The promo code is Fantasy. It's not too late. Sign up with the promo code, the bonus code Fantasy and you're going to get up to a 1500 dollars first bet offer on your first wager with BetMGM. So just download the BETMGM app and sign up using the bonus code Fantasy. Deposit at least ten dollars. Place your first wager on any game and you'll receive up to fifteen hundred dollars in bonus bets if your bet loses. Just make sure that you use the bonus code Fantasy when you sign up. I will be right back after this. On Fantasy Football today, everyone likes to get good new clothes, right? If you find an outfit that makes you look really good, it gives you a nice confidence boost. And that's what I get with Stitch Fix. And while I love getting new clothes, I don't love going shopping. And that's why Stitch Fix is so great. Go to stitch fix.com fantasy football for a special offer. More on that later. With Stitch Fix, you get a stylist who understands your style, size and budget. They do all the shopping for you. It's the easiest way to update your wardrobe this season. I just give my stylist my size, style and budget preferences. I order boxes when I want and how I want. No subscription required. And they send five just for me pieces, plus outfit recommendations and pro styling advice. I keep what works and I send back the rest so I don't have to shop. I get clothes that I love and I look good in and I get help from a stylist. And if you don't love something, just send it back. Shipping, returns and exchanges are always free style that makes you feel as good as you look. Get started today@stitch fix.com fantasy football as.

[Dan]

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[Adam]

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[Jacob]

Still, unbelievable that you never knew what hotspot was at this age.

[Adam]

I've heard of it. I just didn't really know how to do it. But I did feel very old. Like you made me feel very old.

[Jacob]

It was like you've missed out on so many opportunities in your life where you could have used a hotspot. And just like, I have no option here. There's no Internet, there's no WI fi. I don't know what I'm gonna do.

[Adam]

So true. It's so true. I feel like I'm in that commercial where people are becoming their parents.

[Jacob]

Yes. You know, great commercial.

[Adam]

But I got to. I got to drive to work, which I, you know, listen to some music, and Billy Joel Matter of Trust came on. You like that song?

[Jacob]

Never. Not sure I've heard it.

[Adam]

It's a great, great. What do you think? Did Jacob never heard it?

[Heath]

I like Billy Joel, but I don't know if I know that one.

[Adam]

Oh, it's always been a matter of trust. No, it's anything else.

[Jacob]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Yeah, that's a great song. Anyway, that's what week 17 is, right? Week 17 is a matter of trust. So that was just a long winded way for me to sing. So do we trust the Chiefs offense? I asked people out there who do you. Who Are you worried about trusting in week 17? So the Chiefs offense is one of them. They are at Pittsburgh. Jacob unbiased, Jacob here on the Chiefs offense. Now, do you trust them on Wednesday.

[Heath]

At Pittsburgh if Joey Porter is out? Yeah. And especially if Joey Porter and George Pickens are out because like teams have just been dominating the game, dominating the, the number of plays and possessions against the Steelers. Because the Steelers are, they're just bad right now. They can't put points on the board, they can't move the ball without George Pickens and well, the big problem is they're running. And the Steelers have been running into really good run defenses, like basically the best run defenses in the NFL. And without Pickens, that's what they need to do is run the ball. And they've got another matchup like that against the Chiefs. So yeah, I, it's tough from a usage standpoint because like Isaiah Pacheco hasn't been skilled up at all. He's still just playing like a third of the snapshot, so I don't really want to trust him. But Xavier Worthy, Heck yeah, dude. Like everything looks great for him. He's really found a lot more familiarity and like better timing with everything in the offense as the year's gone on. And Marquis Brown, eight targets got targeted on half of his routes. They designed a lot of cool stuff to him in his first game back. I do think they'll put points on the board.

[Adam]

Yeah, right. Like how, how good is this matchup? You talked about Porter. I'm assuming he's going to be out, but again they could be getting three other defensive starters back. I didn't really think Watt had much of a, of an impact last week and we know he's playing with a foot injury, so I hope that, that he can get better and healthier. But it's obviously a short turnaround. The Steelers defense when they face good offenses has been awful, awful. But almost all of that has been on the road. Like look, Washington scored 27 points, Cincinnati scored 31 offensive points. Philadelphia scored 27 points. Baltimore just scored 27 offensive points. All games are on the road. Two home games against good offenses though. Dallas scored 20 points and Baltimore scored 16. Is this team just one that plays so much better defensively at home? You know, let me tell you this, a couple stats. Patrick Mahomes. In his last nine games, he leads the NFL in pass attempts. But he's only QB 9 per game in 6 point per passing touchdown leagues. And I assume he'll be somewhere near that range in the rankings this week and Xavier Worthy, right, Like he's a really interesting decision because no one's going to trust Hopkins I think at this point. And you can't trust Marquis Brown. We'll talk about Kelsey in a bit. Xavier Worthy has three catches of more than 20 yards this season. Isn't that strange? Travis Kelsey this slow, old Travis Kelsey has eight. And Xavier Worthy never makes a big play anymore. It's. It's really weird. But he's getting, you know, a decent amount of targets. He's getting four or more catches every week scoring double digit PPR fantasy points. He's, as you said Jacob, he's looking pretty good. But I just thought that was really interesting. You just look at the yards for Xavier Worthy, it's not really that impressive. And I got some Tank Dell news in a minute here, but I do.

[Heath]

Before last week's game and he had two more that he could have had in this last week. Well, actually just one of them was a, a long play. But before last week's game I did a cut up where it was 10 plays of Mahomes throwing 30 more yards down the field or that he literally could have caught any of them. He was wide open on five of them. It's just, it's just been a weird year with that stuff and I think you can see that turn around. Like Devon hn hasn't been able to get any yards all year. He's been struggling with efficiency all year. Finally gets a big play, you know, and he's not as good as H, but he does have the speed. I think a big play can come in any given time.

[Jacob]

I would agree with that. I think it's interesting watching this chief offense as it's evolved through the year with all the different faces and injuries in it. I thought they were a much better unit with Joe Tuney over at left tackle. I assume they'll keep that based on what they see on tape. Having Marquis Brown out there I think adds to solutions they can find against man on those third and shorts. And that's the offense. Like they lead the NFL in 10 play drives that go what, like 70 yards? Like they're just matriculating the ball down the field, finding solutions somehow. Not through Travis Kelsey anymore, which is still the oddest thing. I don't understand what happened to him. It's just I, I don't like I haven't watched his tape. I don't know if you've watched it, Jacob. I don't think he's lost that much though. Like just Watching him, it's not like I do.

[Adam]

I watched.

[Jacob]

Is it noticeable? So yeah, I'll have to watch.

[Adam]

He look slug to me, I'm sorry to say. But he still knows how to get open. And he's got four end zone targets this year.

[Jacob]

But the way they play the count.

[Adam]

They didn't count one this past week. If you remember, he was wide open in the end zone and then Xavier Worthy cut under him and yeah, Mahomes was clearly throwing to Kelsey and ended up being a worthy target.

[Jacob]

But yeah, and it would have been a Kelsey touchdown probably. And look, I'm not trying to say he hasn't lost a step or he's not. I haven't watched the tape of him specifically. I just feel like the things that the Chiefs do on offense, it shouldn't. Even if he had lost a step, I feel like he should be having more production just based on the way that teams play the Chiefs, that top down style, like it should be so many. There should be so much space in that intermediate middle for him. I think they've had some moments this year where their rapport hasn't been on point, which is weird between Moms and Kelsey where the ball is just going in a spot workout and you see Kelsey even happen early in this game and Kelsey kind of like threw his hands up like what's going on here? And so late for them in their careers together for that to be happening. So something weird's going on there to me. But overall with this offense, I think you can expect it to move the ball consistently in this game. And I actually thought there were definitely some signs of progress there with. With Brown on the field, with Hollywood.

[Heath]

Brown on the field, Kelsey's only averaging three yards after the catch per reception. It's almost always in the five or six range. He did that. That's where it's clearest that he has a step.

[Jacob]

And I'll say kudos to. To. I think it was. Was it you, Adam or Heath or someone who I had this debate with like back in August or July, like looking at the numbers from last year, big of an outlier they were in Kelsey's career for things like you just mentioned Jacob yards after the catch, total touchdowns. And you know there was that. Is it a sign of he's falling off or was he just injured last year in that Vikings game and it played out and it infected his efficiency stats and it looks to me more likely like the other side of it was correct that like he has taken that down tick in his career all Right.

[Adam]

So to sum it up, I think Mahomes is a low end starter. I do still respect the Steelers especially because I think they're going to get healthier for this game. Not Porter at home. It's a tough place to play. It really is. So I think he's a low end starter. I don't really want to trust the running backs. We haven't talked about them, but you just don't know who it's going to be. They're splitting. I don't know who the goal line guy is. It's probably Kareem Hunt at this point. Hopkins is a no. Marquis Brown not throwing him out there in week 17. Worthy is probably going to be. Look, there's nobody on by. They got a lot of good receivers. He's probably going to be around. I'm guessing wide receiver 30 or so be my guess. And then Kelsey.

[Jacob]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Like, do you go with. Obviously not Brenton Strange, but do you go. I'm not going to start Chigo conquo over him.

[Jacob]

No.

[Adam]

But I feel like Hunter Henry might be safer. I'd still probably start Kelsey.

[Jacob]

You'd start Johnny Smith over him?

[Adam]

I would definitely start Johnny Smith over him. But yeah, I mean, I. I'm not expecting that much from Kelsey right now. You feel like he's due, but that's.

[Jacob]

What I felt like forever. But he's gonna score in this game.

[Adam]

He was wide open in the end zone and Xavier Worthy just like. I'll take that. And he dropped it. All right, next up, the Tennessee running backs at Jacksonville. Really interesting one here. I'm just gonna say I. There's no way I'm starting Tajie Spears unless Pollard were ruled out. But I know Spears has had two enormous games in a row with 21.6, 27.2 fantasy points in his last two games. But I'm sorry, I. I'm not starting him. Is anybody going to trust Tajie Spears this week?

[Heath]

He played more than Pollard in this game and he had a 48 snap rate in the first half. In the first half, it was six carries for Pollard, three for Spears. Almost all of his production came in the second half is why I bring those splits up. He only had three rushes for 4 yards in the first half. But the playing time, I. I think he is part of the offense, but I do think it's kind of fluky what we've seen lately.

[Adam]

Yeah, look, they've been getting destroyed in the second half of these last two games.

[Jacob]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Against the Bengals, they trailed 24:14 at halftime. They trailed 31:14 at the end of the third quarter against the Colts. They trailed 24:7 at halftime. It's killing Tony Pollard. Just Pollard's more involved. You know, at the beginning of the game my question was why did Tajie Spears get two rushing touchdowns in this game? Where was Pollard? So the first one came on a third and one. It was all. It was late in the third quarter and late in the fourth quarter. So they're playing from behind. He's on the field. So they just kept him on the field. It was third and one. They gave it to him at the 11 yard line. He scored the second time. I do think Pollard had a chance to come back in the game and they didn't give him, they didn't put him back in the game. So it was like first down and goal from the two. Pollard was in the game, he stayed in the game. He got a carry, he got stuffed. They kept. Oh, Spears, Spears, Spears. Spears got. It was in the game. He got a carry, he got stuffed. They kept Spears in the game and he got another carry and he scored. I felt like they could have put Pollard back in there if they wanted to and then they definitely could have put Pollard back in for the two point conversion, but they didn't. They left Spears in. So my take is if it's a good game script, which I think it will be against Jacksonville, should be a competitive game. Jacksonville just gave up two touchdowns to the Raiders running backs. Jacksonville gives up the second most fantasy points to running backs. I think Pollard will be better than Spears this week if he's healthy. I don't know. He's obviously hurt so he's tough to trust and it's a shame. He just had a very good game against the Jaguars just a few weeks ago. He had what he had 21 carries for 102 yards and two catches for 22 yards. This would be a league winner if everything were, you know, right in the, in Tony Powers world. But the injury status definitely makes things more difficult. So I think I'm going to leave it at that. Let's go to our next one. I'm going to throw it to dan Tyrone Tracy Jr. Against the Colts. You know, like you look at the box score and there's not a lot of carries, it's not a ton of yards. He has scored 14 and a half or more PPR fantasy points in four of his last six games. So people don't want to leave that on their bench. What do you think about him against the Colts?

[Jacob]

Yeah, I, I was wrong about this week to, to not start him in some of the spots. Obviously he had that one touchdown catch that really changes his whole fantasy game log and you know, outlook for the week. I, it's hard for me to get confident seeing what I've seen from this Giants offensive line, what's left of it, seeing what I've seen from just the quarterback situation overall. Drew Locke is undergoing an MRI and it might be, I guess Tim Boyle or maybe they'll just do Tommy DeVito. It's hard to know at this point what's going to happen there. I, I guess like if, if you're desperate for a flex it makes some sense because he's still a phenomenal talent. Like that touchdown catch was amazing. He almost one handed it and toe tap two feet and he's still a great talent. And we've talked about that year, Jake and I just how interesting his tape was, just how good of a talent he is. So it's basically betting on a talent in a really bad situation and I think that's fine at this stage of the season for a flex. I don't know if I could be confident in RB2, RB1 spots.

[Heath]

They're using them more creatively. I feel like in the receiving game like I saw they ran a priest in that motion look to him, got him on space. They did some screens to him of course. So I do feel good about that. I would, I think I would have them above both of the Tennessee guys we just talked about. Is that where you guys are?

[Jacob]

That's fair. Yeah, I would, I'd probably have him above them again this matchup.

[Adam]

I mean I really want to put Pollard ahead of him because Jacksonville is a much better matchup than the Colts matchup too. But I mean you're getting so few carries. This team is not even competitive. The NFL though, you know, it's the kind of game where it might be, might be more competitive than you think. Right. It's. I thought the Giants were going to be more competitive against the Falcons and then you know, you throw two pick sixes throws that out the window. All right. Yeah, I, I, right now I would probably start Pollard over Tracy, but I definitely see the argument. All right, can we trust David Najoku against the Dolphins who stink against tight ends? He had eight catches for 66 yards on 10 targets at Cincinnati. Jacob, can we trust Najoku?

[Heath]

I do think that when we've seen DTR in like if there's anyone that we can trust that's in Joku he's the short yardage guy for him. If DTR doesn't elaine to run, then that's who he's probably going to be looking for. But yeah, the Browns Dan, of course, like nailed this last week and it was no surprise. The Browns offense only produced 67 total catchable air yards this week, which is almost a fourth of what they've been putting up with Jamis. They were like between 150 to 200 yards per game with Jamis. So yeah, I don't really think you can trust any of them. But in Joke was the one who's the least affected by not being able to push the ball down the field because of where he runs his routes.

[Jacob]

Right. And Joko had most of his production in the second half in this game as well. So it looks like maybe they figure out some things that can work in the passing game, but that would be the only one I would trust as well.

[Adam]

Well, Jerome Ford is another guy who gets about four catches in the passing game. Yeah, with. Yeah, yeah, no, but. Right, so it's forward and Najoku. It's pretty much all he's throwing to. I think Dorian Thompson Robinson threw for 15 yards in the first half.

[Jacob]

I don't really understand like why Cleveland's playing him. The assumption is like, oh, we can maybe find our QB2 of the future cheap. He's had so many opportunities and he can't throw the football and can't keep an offense on time in the passing game. Like, just play Winston. Let your guys have fun. Like, let Jerry Judy eat. Like, you know, it doesn't make any sense to me at all.

[Adam]

I completely agree. And it's, you know, it's bad for fantasy, obviously. And it's, it's weird with Najoku. It's like, here's what he has scored now in four games with Dorian Thompson Robinson going back to last year, 10.6 PPR fantasy points, 12.6, 11.9 and then yesterday was 14.6. So that's pretty good. But at the same time, if he's going to throw for 160 yards and he probably maybe a touchdown, so where's the upside?

[Heath]

Yeah, to me he looks just like Chego Conko right now, except Okonko. Like there is the upside for the offense to produce like 200, 300 passing yards, which seems like it would be a miracle for Cleveland to get to that type of number.

[Adam]

Well, if I'm lucky enough to win one of my leagues, I'm gonna have to choose between Najoku and Dalton Schultz next week. And I know Jamie and Heath would weren't too interested in Dalton Schultz, but my argument is like they don't have tank down now And I think I'd.

[Jacob]

Go to Joku though.

[Adam]

Probably.

[Jacob]

But it's not even a slam dong. Yeah, it's just.

[Adam]

All right, we got a few more. We're gonna take a break. We got a few more. Drake London. Let's talk about Michael Penix and how he looked and what that will mean for Drake London at Washington next week. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football Today. This episode is brought to you by Lifelock. The holidays mean more travel, more shopping.

[Heath]

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[Jacob]

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[Adam]

B-B-E-L.com Spotify podcast rules and restrictions may apply. So Dan, what'd you think of Michael Penix yesterday?

[Jacob]

Yeah, I was trying to find it. So this is a courtesy of Scott Barrett. Fantasy Points Michael Panick's NFL debut. He had an 81.5 catchable throw rate which was fourth best among all quarterbacks in the week. A 0.0% turnover worthy throw rate and a 0.0 pressure to sack rate that was the most interesting to me. Nine pressures. That was one part about his game that I was interested to see how it translates over. I felt like they didn't really ask him to do much, they didn't need him to do much. But he had some good throws. He had some second level layered throws. He had a backside dig to Drake London earlier in the game where he's looking off left and comes back and darts the ball right in there on time on the money. I think he's advanced from the standpoint of where to move his eyes but right after the snap to kind of hold defenses, manipulate safeties and, and check that second and third level coverage. Did it rotate post snap. And those are things that I saw on his tape at Washington. The thing that I still worry about with Pennix because it's such a big change going from the Washington offense to any NFL offense is just how will he fare under pressure. That's not something we got to see in this game with the Giants. So we'll see how that goes as we move forward. I do think they'll be smart about it and they'll continue to run, have this be mostly a run first offense. But you already saw some of the do with Penx Atlanta that they couldn't do with Cousins. Move the pocket, get him out of the pocket on design, rollouts, throwbacks, things like that. So it'll be interesting to watch. I don't think this was the best barometer just because it was the Giants and they got out such a big lead. But I'm intrigued to watch him rest of season.

[Heath]

Yeah, only a 5.8 yard average, depth of target, 2.36 second average, time to throw. Both those are low. I was hoping that they would air it out a little bit because we like we talked about last week that the Giants are by far the easiest team to attack down the field, especially without the injuries now. So like they didn't have to. I thought with them making the change that they like made it was because Kirk was putting a ceiling on their offense and then they could experiment with like seeing how high they could lift it, but they really didn't do any of that. They just kind of rode the run game again.

[Jacob]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Yeah. Well, they're not. I don't think they're gonna be able to just run their way to a win at Washington on Sunday night. Right. So 27 pass attempts for Pennix, I believe. Let's hope it's more like 35 this week. And Drake London, it wasn't a bad game, but it was one of his worst games. Right. 10.9 PPR fantasy points 5 for 59 on eight targets. Again, just didn't really have to do much. He had an end zone target, was knocked away by Deontay Banks. He also had a drop on like a. Probably would have been only a few yard gain but. But what's your. You know, how about Xavier Worthy? Would you have rather start Xavier Worthy this week at Pittsburgh or Drake London at Washington?

[Heath]

London, London.

[Jacob]

For me I think this is going to be a situation where London actually benefits the most of all these Falcons receivers. Just having watched some of what Pennix did yesterday, like I think we can turn the page on guys like Mooney Pitts obviously.

[Adam]

Oh wow. I don't know if I agree.

[Jacob]

I mean Mooney had from watching this game. Yeah, I think it's going to be a lot of targets for London rest of season.

[Adam]

I mean he had a good game though.

[Jacob]

Yeah, he didn't have a good game. He didn't throw like from our standpoint.

[Adam]

Mooney had a good game.

[Jacob]

Oh, Mooney had a good game. Yeah. I mean he made. What was Mooney's final stat line? Did I.

[Adam]

Hold on. Hold please.

[Heath]

So London had 38 of the first three targets which I think to Dan's point, like he's going to be the guy on a lot of those quick hitting, timing routes, throwing with anticipation. I think Pinnocks can hit him on the sideline a lot of those throws. But I thought Mooney's underlying stuff was decent. Do you have his stats?

[Adam]

Five catches for 82 yards on six targets.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Adam]

And. And he got bad. He got open because I watched the tape this morning, you know, I thought he did a nice job. They ran. I don't know if it was their schemes or the Giants defense, but a lot of guys just wide open in the middle of the field made it very easy on Michael Pennix and Mooney took advantage because Cousins just kept missing Mooney for big plays a lot this year and Penix didn't miss anyone really. As you laid out with those numbers you were giving earlier.

[Jacob]

You'll have to rewatch it just to watch how Mooney's role was. I just feel like moving forward it's going to be a lot of what Jacob said, that high first read target percentage for for London and a ton of play action and move it through Bijan Robins, Algier.

[Adam]

Yeah, I mean there's a little bit of risk with starting London and Mooney this next week. First of all, commanders have actually been pretty good against wide receivers. Yeah, I'll give this stat Again on Friday when we preview this game. In their last 11 games now, they've held Marvin Harrison Jr. Amari Cooper, Deontay Johnson, A.J. brown once, Devonte Smith twice, D.J. moore, C.D. lamb, Malik Neighbors and Calvin Ridley to 67 or fewer yards. The only Marvin Harrison scoring and then obviously at A.J. brown scoring yesterday. But even A.J. brown had a big game but he had 15 targets. He didn't have that great of a game for 15 targets. Devonte Smith was disappointing. I'm not saying you can't be good, but this is not a layup of a matchup. Even without Lattimore. If he misses the game and then. Yeah, can they get after Pennix? I just think it was like, you know, just like sitting there like a country club reading a book against the Giants or. It's so easy. Couldn't have been more relaxed like get a lounge chair next time they're going to turn up the heat a little bit. It's going to be on the road on a Sunday night in Washington. It's going to be interesting. All right, so I think London's a starter, number two receiver and I can't wait for that game. Next up, Anthony Richardson at the Giants coming off a 22 point week where he completed seven passes. Jacob, starter sit Richardson next week, Anthony Richardson.

[Heath]

Yeah, I think you're sitting him. I think he's like in the low end, QB2 kind of range.

[Adam]

Oh wow.

[Jacob]

I'm much higher on him than that.

[Adam]

Yeah, it's just. You just feel like any, any quarterback can do whatever they want against the Giants.

[Jacob]

I think exactly how I feel watching this Giants. Yeah, this is as checked out as I've seen. I mean they don't even. It's not only a matter of being checked out as a team. They don't have anyone left on their defense outside of Burns who's playing like Hurt and Kayvon who's been a. Basically a bus for what he was supposed to be. And that's the whole like the rest of all their starters are not. They have like five guys playing that I were not part of the team in training camp and I barely know who they are.

[Adam]

Yeah, I have no idea who they are. I was watching today, I was like, who is that?

[Heath]

Yeah, yeah, we just mentioned that they're like the easiest team to attack down the field. So there's definitely upside for Richardson. He could connect on a couple of those deep shots, but I just feel like Pierce is the guy. He kind of needs it. If he's not back, I don't trust Eddie Mitchell on those deep shots. So, like, you need. You need rushing touchdowns.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Jacob]

And I think he'll get. Which I think we'll get against the Giants. Yeah.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Adam]

They could just give it volatility.

[Jacob]

I understand what you're saying, Jake, but it's a pretty volatile place to. For us to be from a fantasy standpoint, like relying on the rushing touchdowns, but I do think I'll get at least one.

[Heath]

And they're just running. It's. I don't know. It seemed like. It's just like, we're just Jonathan Taylor time now. Like, this is a mess. We'll figure it out in the off season.

[Jacob]

Yeah.

[Adam]

All right, so let me give you, like, would you rather start Brock Purdy against the Lions or Richardson at the Giants?

[Heath]

Yeah, yeah.

[Adam]

Aaron Rodgers at the Bills or Richardson at the Giants?

[Jacob]

Richardson for me.

[Heath]

Yeah, I'll go Richardson.

[Adam]

How about Jordan Love at Minnesota? Yeah, that's tough, that one. I'm gonna say I'm gonna go love. A lot of points in that game.

[Jacob]

Yeah, I'm gonna go love, but it's tough for me. I have a lot of trouble playing any quarterbacks against the Brian Flores Vikings. Defense.

[Adam]

Kyler Murray at the Rams. A Kyler Murray or Matthew Stafford or. Or Anthony Richardson.

[Jacob]

So done with Kyler Murray.

[Adam]

You know, he scored like 24 points yesterday or something.

[Jacob]

What did he get up to?

[Adam]

20? At least 22 because he had a lot of rushing total. He played rushing.

[Jacob]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Play well. But ended up with a good week. He scored 22.4 fantasy points at Carolina.

[Jacob]

I feel like the chances of the game script being similar to that Carolina game are so unlikely in this matchup.

[Adam]

So you go on Richardson.

[Heath]

Yeah, I would go Kyler. Although what is going on with the Rams lately? Like, yeah, is that game just gonna be super low scoring?

[Jacob]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Their defense, I guess, is good now, and the offense, like, just doesn't care.

[Heath]

That's what I'm curious about. Yeah.

[Adam]

Speaking of which, how about Cooper Cup? Can we trust Cooper cup next week against the Arizona Cardinals? He has now scored 5.4 or fewer PPR fantasy points in three of his last four games.

[Heath]

So the Cardinals are this weird defense we've talked about a lot where they're really good at taking away first three targets, and that's like, totally puka right now. And they're gonna take away perimeter stuff. They just play, like, a ton of safeties, deep zones and stuff. So, like, it schematically makes sense for this to be a spot where cup does kind of just pile up A lot of five yard catches, but I don't want to use him.

[Jacob]

Honestly, I feel the same way as Jacob. Like what, what is this? If you're in full PPR league, it's fine maybe as a flex wide receiver three. But that's about the cap for me.

[Adam]

Yeah, I have some concerns. And here, here they are. First of all, Arizona's run defense is terrible and we know the Rams, they want to run the ball. James Connor might not play. So I think they could have no run game and they might not score a lot of points. If you look at these three horrible games for Cooper cup lately, here are the passing yards for Matthew Stafford in those games. 183. 160, 110. When Stafford's had good games, Cups had good games. It's. It's more or less that simple. When Stafford has not had good games, cup has really struggled. This definitely feels kind of like a run the ball win a low scoring game. Game. And yeah, I have concerns. However he is Cooper cup and I feel like, you know, like I kind of feel like he's, he's in Kelsey territory. You got to have someone good if you're going to sit Cooper Cup. Would you start Xavier Worthy or Cooper Cup?

[Heath]

That's close. Yeah, I was gonna ask Darnell Mooney. I think I would start Worthy.

[Jacob]

I think I would start Worthy too.

[Heath]

I think there's more upside for him to have a long play and then he is seeing similar type of usage. He's seeing like double digit targets every week. So like he kind of has a lot of that short stuff built in. Like cup.

[Jacob]

Right?

[Adam]

Yeah, it's great. Maybe it's Worthy. Oh man, this is so frustrating. Like, how are we supposed to know? This is so hard. This is so hard. All you can do is present the case. And I just, I think I just presented a pretty good case against Cooper Cup.

[Heath]

Yeah, it really feels like it will just be Kyron and Blake Corum. Like I brought up the Eric. The Cardinals use all these deep safeties. That's. They have the highest light box right in the NFL by far. They're inviting you to run and it feels like McVeigh right now is just.

[Adam]

Like, okay, yeah, I got one more guy. Ramandre Stevenson. It felt like Ramandre had a good game, but at the end of the day it was fine because they only had one catch. 12 carries for 60 yards and a touchdown. One catch.

[Heath]

Antonio Gibson played way more.

[Jacob]

Yep.

[Adam]

In a, in a game they were like leading for a lot of it.

[Heath]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Adam]

Yeah, I don't think I want to trust her. Andre Stevenson against the Chargers. I just. Yeah, okay. All right. That was an easy one. Well, you know what? Here's the good news. Like, we went kind of fast there on Ramondre, so we actually have some time for the fantasy cops.

[Jacob]

Yeah. Let's go.

[Adam]

All right, we got. I got two good ones. See if I can get both in here. Here's the first one. I don't have a name. I'm sorry. But 10 team PPR Dynamics Dynasty League. It's not Super Flex 22 Flex. You can keep five players a year, but no more than two per position. It's not exactly a dynasty league.

[Jacob]

That's not a dynasty. Yeah.

[Adam]

All right. Somehow I made the championship against the guy who won last year. His team is insanely good. And after Hertz going down today, my team is looking pretty rough for next week. We have this weird rule in this league where if you win back to back, the entire league resets and redrafts from scratch. We trade draft picks, players, everything in this league. I think resetting is such a bad idea. Why reset if you can trade draft picks? It's pointless. But I'm considering completely tanking in the championship for the betterment of the league because the guy in first place who's going to potentially win back to back is so good. He has Lamar Jackson, Saquon Barkley, Chase Brown, A.J. brown, Higgins, Brian Thomas, Bucky Irving, Camara, Ayuk. Insane. Would you find this wrong? Everyone in the league is indifferent on the league resetting, but all agree this guy's team is. Is stacked even with only keeping five players at the end of the year. It feels like I'm in the wrong here and losing on purpose in the championship sounds wild, but I take second place, get my money back, and reset the league.

[Heath]

Dear God, can we compete? This is so soft. It's insane. Like, no, play. Play and try to win the money, and if you don't win the money, then let fate take its course or whatever. But, like, that's so crazy to me.

[Jacob]

To be like, I can't even quite understand, like, start a new league then.

[Heath]

I guess, or something. Like, I don't.

[Jacob]

You're pretty much easy. You try to win, and if you win, you won your league. Yeah, you won. You did what you wanted to do. You won the league or you tried to win and you lost in the league resets anyway.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Heath]

So I. I mean, definitely don't tank it.

[Jacob]

Punting in the championship is the worst thing I've ever heard about in fantasy football history. The league should disband. If that happens, just call it a day. You're done. This is not worth playing out in any season. That's it.

[Adam]

All right, this one is from Eric. Eric Whedon. Dear Gordon, Monk, Tracy and Peralta.

[Jacob]

Peralta. Are they all detectives?

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Oh, these are. Yeah, these are detectives. So Commissioner Gordon, Adrian Monk, Dick Tracy and Detective Jake Peralta. All right.

[Jacob]

I like brawl to the best.

[Adam]

Yeah, I like Monk the best in our league. The constitution states that in the semifinals, the number one seed plays the lowest remaining seed and the number two seed plays the highest remaining seed. The semifinal matchups have been played, but this didn't happen. The number one seed played the four seed and the two seed played the six seed. Given that the games have been played, do we just keep them as is or should they be changed?

[Jacob]

Now?

[Adam]

This would change one of the people in the championship. Also, on the kick out O meter, how kicked out of the league should our commissioner be?

[Jacob]

I mean, this commissioner sucks. Let me start by saying that it's in the bylaws of the league rules that you recede. So this obviously should have been done before the weekend. Like, I don't know why we're here now, but like, yes, on Wednesday of last week, the commissioner should have been like, I am manually doing this. The one is playing the six, the two is playing the four. Like that's how the league is set up. I don't understand what's going on here.

[Adam]

Okay, but it didn't happen.

[Jacob]

So now what you mean it didn't happen because this commissioner didn't say anything like he wasn't paying attention.

[Adam]

They, they played the wrong teams, they played the wrong matchups. What do you do? Do you keep the head to head matchups or do you say this is what it should have been and these are the who the winners should be based on the scores.

[Jacob]

I, I'm at, I'm at a loss.

[Adam]

I, I, you know what? I, I, I am going to change the matchups.

[Jacob]

I think I would so appalled and disgusted by these scenarios that are playing out. I'm just going to say screw it. Change the matchups. Do it after the fact. Your league is a joke anyway. Sorry. Jeez. It's hard to say. I mean, how could it not be?

[Adam]

We have a situation to recede.

[Jacob]

It didn't recede. And now they're like, what do we do?

[Adam]

How many leagues are you the commissioner in?

[Jacob]

2.

[Adam]

You, you're a Very judgmental commissioner, I.

[Jacob]

Gotta say, get myself in these situations, Adam, I don't like. It's a crazy situation. The commissioner's just sitting there on his hands as like, the wrong matchup plays out. And then it's like, whoa, what should we do anything about it? What are you doing all week?

[Adam]

I forgot he made a mistake.

[Jacob]

Geez.

[Adam]

It's the.

[Jacob]

Fine. It's a playoffs. You don't make mistakes. You do your job and you do it right. You don't put yourself in position like this.

[Heath]

His job probably is not to be the commissioner of fantasy football league.

[Adam]

Probably.

[Jacob]

Well, it is this. In this scenario, Jacob, you take on the responsibility, you got to do at least a decent job. I'm not asking for much. I'm not like, let's come up with great rules. Let's like, you know, write up power rankings, which is fun about your league, which I do. But like, let's just have it play out the way it's supposed to be. Oh, supposed to receive the one is supposed to play the six.

[Adam]

Can I read that? I should have read something that I didn't. Okay.

[Jacob]

Oh, you messed up, Eric.

[Adam]

So Eric says for context, the number one seed and myself the number two seed weren't sure if we reseeded or not. And I just was able to find a copy of the constitution just before Sunday Night Football. I definitely should have read that. I definitely.

[Jacob]

It definitely changes things to some extent, but it just adds to how weird this league is. Like, there's a constitution of rules. Someone set out to make a constitution. That means you're one of those kind of like serious leagues, you know, that takes it seriously. It's not like a joke, haha. But then like the playoffs hit and it doesn't recede. You didn't set the settings right.

[Adam]

You know what? No one remembers this constitution. I'm tap dancing here and answer the question. I've given my answer. Receding.

[Jacob]

I'm receiving it. I'm going 1, 6, 2, 4. That's my answer.

[Heath]

Recede. Play off the rules that you established, and you as the commissioner, pay out everybody their money back. That was in the playoffs.

[Adam]

Wow.

[Heath]

Out of your pocket. You messed up.

[Adam]

Honestly, he messed up.

[Heath]

But I take some accountability.

[Adam]

I don't really see how it practically affected anybody unless. Unless teams made waiver claims based on their matchups and said, okay, I'm playing this team, so I'm gonna block him from getting this guy. So, you know, that does change things.

[Heath]

There's all sorts of stuff that could happen. I. I Do start sits depending on how my matchup looks. Yeah, I have somebod do that. Yeah. If you got guy you. We just talked about how these rankings are so close. It's literally just like picking a straw. And so if you've got a guy that you think has a different range of outcomes, a tighter range of outcomes, or a wider range of outcomes, depending on what your matchup looks like, you have correlation plays that you might have. Like Adam just.

[Jacob]

You're destroyed on this.

[Adam]

Don't do it.

[Heath]

Sorry.

[Jacob]

You're done. You are done. Range of outcome plays. Yes. Sometimes you don't want to play the high risk, high upside. You're wrong.

[Adam]

You're better off. Don't even look at who you're playing. Set the lineup that you think is going to score the most fantasy points. You start overthinking, you start over tinkering, and you're out. All right, tm.

[Jacob]

I mean, you did. You did a good job rhyming there.

[Adam]

Overthinker in. It means over tinkering. And you're out, TM and we are out. Thank you so much for watching. Listening to the beyond the Box score here on Fantasy Football today. We'll talk to you next.

[Jacob]

Vote for us.

[Adam]

Vote for us. Yes. Sportspodcastgroup.com Vote now. Best fantasy betting and gaming category. Make it happen. All right, Good luck in week 17, everybody. If you get there. See you later. Paramount Podcasts how do you feel when.

[Jacob]

You switch to GEICO and save on your car insurance? It's like finishing your laundry, successfully matching all your daughter's baby socks together on the first try. See?

[Adam]

Panda socks, firetruck socks. Socks with those cute little strawberries on them.

[Jacob]

You matched each and every one of those tiny socks. I mean, has this ever happened in the history of laundry and a penguin.

[Adam]

Wearing a cowboy hat? Socks. Done.

[Jacob]

Enjoy the moment, dad. You've earned it. Yep. Switching and saving with Geico feels just like that.

[Adam]

Get more with Geico.