Start or Sit (AFC): Ja'Marr Chase, Chargers WRs, Daniel Jones and Many More (10/02 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today Podcast Summary

Episode: Start or Sit (AFC): Ja'Marr Chase, Chargers WRs, Daniel Jones and Many More
Date: October 2, 2025
Hosts: Adam Aizer, Jamie Eisenberg, Heath Cummings

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Adam, Jamie, and Heath break down every AFC home game for Fantasy Football Week 5. They offer detailed Start/Sit advice, dive into recent news and injury updates, and debate trade strategies. Featuring critical insights on stars like Ja’Marr Chase, budding RB situations, and the viability of several streaming options, the episode is a must-listen for fantasy managers seeking an edge.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Players the Analysts Love This Week

(02:26 - 06:46)

• Heath's Picks:

  • Cam Scatter Boo (Saints): Near top-12 play.
  • Jalen Waddle (Panthers): Strong WR2, ranked around WR16-WR17.
  • Tommy Tremble (vs. Miami): “Top 10, he's 8 in my TE rankings.”
    “23% target share to tight ends for Bryce Young and the Dolphins are terrible against tight ends.” – Heath (02:57)

• Jamie’s Picks:

  • Justin Fields (vs. Cowboys): “Three straight QBs have finished top-4 or 5 vs the Cowboys.”
    “Hopefully what we saw last week continues. He should take advantage of this defense.” – Jamie (05:04)
  • Woody Marks (at Ravens): “Playing a depleted defense, role in passing game is growing.”
  • Tetiro McMillan (at Miami): “Due for a big game, could see 8 targets like Pittman and Garrett Wilson have.”

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Players to Avoid This Week

(06:46 - 10:17)

• Jamie:

  • Bo Nix (at Philadelphia): “It’s a bad setup. All streamers over him.” (07:42)
  • AJ Brown & Jordan Mason (at Browns): Tough matchups, low upside.

• Heath:

  • Tee Higgins (vs. Lions) and Jordan Addison (vs. Browns in London): “Targets have disappeared with Jake Browning. Addison is just a No. 3 in bad matchups.” (10:17)

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Waiver Wire & Injury Fallout

(12:48 - 17:59)

• RB Injuries:

  • Trey Benson (IR), Bucky Irving (week-to-week), Chuba Hubbard (calf):
    “If Chuba’s out, Rico Dowdle is my favorite one-week option... otherwise, Michael Carter holds more longer-term value.” – Jamie (14:00)
  • Cardinals Backfield:
    “Game flow sensitivity: Carter when leading, Demercado when chasing points.” – Jamie (15:41)

• Waiver Advice:

  • Michael Carter a hot commodity but “uncertainty remains on touches.”
  • Brashard Smith, Isaiah Davis among the deep stash options discussed.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Dalton Kincaid’s struggles:
  “He and Dallas Goedert are the most fraudulent top-10 tight ends right now.” – Heath (03:23)
• On Jamar Chase trade skepticism:
  “If they’re not in the meeting room just saying ‘throw to him as much as possible,’ they’re nuts. Feed the kid.” – Jamie (29:50)
• Fantasy League drama & roster rules:
  “You can’t make a trade to get out of an illegal roster... drop someone!” – Jamie/Heath (59:43)
• On Vikings-Browns in London:
  “This is a complete avoid outside of Judkins and Jefferson. Everyone else is a desperation play.” – Jamie (36:59)

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Deep Dives: One Question for Each Game

(20:25 - 40:19)

Sample Highlights:

• Detroit at Cincinnati:
  “Jamar Chase, David Montgomery, then big gap to Chase Brown and T. Higgins...feeling Montgomery is set up for a bounce back, but Chase Brown edges him in PPR.” – Jamie & Heath (21:00, 27:26)

• Las Vegas at Indianapolis:
  “Start Ashton Genty and Michael Pittman. Myers is a locked-in WR2 due to slot matchup.” (41:00)

• Washington at Chargers:
  “Start all Chargers WRs you have, including Lad McConkey. The implied team total is high. McConkey has to ‘get right’ sooner or later.” – Heath (51:20)

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AFC Home Games – Key Player Discussions

Detroit at Cincinnati

Stat: Montgomery has only gone back-to-back games without a TD once as a Lion. Cincinnati allows multiple RBs to post double-digit points often.

• Start: Jamar Chase, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs, David Montgomery
• Debate on Chase Brown (PPR preference over Montgomery for Heath)
• “We have to make Chase happy; they should force-feed him.” – Jamie (29:50)

Minnesota vs. Cleveland (London Game)

• Avoid: Outside of Justin Jefferson and Quinton Judkins (“must start”) the rest are fades. Jordan Mason a desperation play only.

Las Vegas at Indianapolis

• Start: Ashton Genty, Michael Pittman, Jacoby Myers
• “Colts slot coverage is a mess. Myers the better play than Daniel Jones this week.” – consensus (41:00, 22:21)

Washington at Chargers

• Confident Starts: Keenan Allen, Quentin Johnston, Lad McConkey, Justin Herbert
• Sit: Commanders RBs in favor of waiver RBs like Carter or Demercado.

Kansas City at Jacksonville

• Start Patrick Mahomes (“Top-4 no matter the matchup.”)
• “Jaguars run D quietly strong—no RB TDs allowed yet.” – Jamie (61:03)
• “Xavier Worthy is locked into lineups over most boom/bust WR3s.”

New England at Buffalo (Sunday Night)

• Jayden Daniels & Drake May: Both top-12 QBs for the week, though Jamie slightly cautious based on matchup and Daniels' knee.
• Patriots RBs: Fades. “Would start Michael Carter over any of them.” – consensus (71:52)
• Start Stefon Diggs, but temper expectations (WR29–34 range)

Dallas at Jets

• Start All Key Cowboys and Jets: Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson, George Pickens, Jake Ferguson (TE top-2)
• “Dak is a borderline start. Volume could be limited based on Jets’ pace.” – Heath (75:20, 79:14)
• Mason Taylor (Jets TE): Desperation streamer, but on the rise.

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Rapid-Fire Start/Sit Comparisons

• Michael Carter over Jameson Williams, Darius Slayton, Commanders RBs, and Brian Thomas Jr. in non-PPR—Heath & Jamie (32:18, 32:27)
• Quentin Judkins is a clear RB1 over Montgomery/Brown for both analysts
• Keenan Allen over Lad McConkey & Jacoby Myers this week

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Key Timestamps

| Segment | Discussion Highlight | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|------------| | Love/Hate Players | Analyst “starts of the week” | 02:26–06:46| | Waivers & RB News | Bucky Irving, Trey Benson, Carter, RB drama | 12:48–17:59| | Deep Dives: One Q per Game | “Start Chase Brown over Montgomery in PPR?” | 20:25–40:19| | Detroit @ CIN Analysis | Montgomery bounce-back, WR rankings | 26:19–33:21| | Minnesota vs CLE (London) | Judkins must-start, others fades | 34:02–40:19| | Chargers WR Room | Start all three, bet on McConkey bounce-back | 51:20–52:00| | Start/Sit RB/WR Debates | Carter, Slayton, Jamo, Higgins, etc. | 32:18–32:46| | Chiefs/Jags RB Room | Pacheco versus Carter, Chiefs run D | 61:29–66:31| | Cowboys/Jets – Dak Debate | Volume, D matchups vs. projections | 78:12–80:28|

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Analyst Insights & Trade Talk

• On roster management & waivers:
  “Sometimes you've just got to get your guy if you’re desperate, even if it takes $26 out of your $1000 budget.” – Jamie (14:42)
• On positional depth:
  “RB is weirdly deep from RB18 to RB28—all flawed but all startable.” – Heath (38:37)

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TL;DR – Essential Takeaways

• RB waiver drama dominates the week: Michael Carter and Rico Dowdle are top adds depending on immediate vs. long-term need.
• Chase and Montgomery are “start your studs,” but boom/bust risk is real for guys like T. Higgins, Jameson Williams, and Jordan Addison.
• Streaming QBs: Fields, Daniel Jones, and Baker Mayfield among viable starters, but matchups are key.
• TEs: Tommy Tremble, Brenton Strange rise toward top-12 thanks to matchup and injuries elsewhere.
• WR pivots: Start Myers, consider McConkey and Johnston in high-total games; Keenan Allen is a WR1 lock.

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For full rankings, injury updates, and more, catch the next episode or join the live streams Sunday morning at youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday.

Transcript

[Jamie]

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[Adam]

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[Heath]

Use polls to settle dinner plans. Send event invites and pin messages so.

[Adam]

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[Heath]

Learn [e-mail] this is fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.

[Adam]

What a play.

[Jamie]

Can you believe this?

[Heath]

No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays on his feet.

[Jamie]

This is gonna go the distance.

[Heath]

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

[Adam]

Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Fantasy Week 5. It is Thursday, October 2nd and this is Fantasy Football Today presented by BetMGM, the sportsbook born in Vegas. We're gonna tell you who we love this week. We're gonna tell you who to sit and we are going to give you starts and sits for Detroit at Cincinnati. Minnesota at Cleveland, that game in Europe. Las Vegas at Indianapolis, Washington at the Chargers, Kansas City at Jacksonville Monday night. How you feeling about that one, Heath?

[Heath]

I mean, I guess it's October now, so it's a little bit more exciting. But yeah, can we just get to the playoffs?

[Adam]

You got to play a three in one team on the road. New England at Buffalo. Terrifying New England. Buffalo Sunday night and Dallas at the Jets. Jamie will be joining us in just a moment. In just a moment. So why don't we start with Heath's players he loves. Who do you love this week?

[Heath]

I love Cam Scatter Boo. Jalen Waddle and Tommy Trimble.

[Adam]

Okay. Scatter Boo at the Saints. Waddle against the Panthers. Are they. Are they top 12?

[Heath]

Scatter Boo is very close to top 12. Waddle, I think 16 or 17.

[Adam]

Okay. Would you start waddle over the struggling AJ Brown and Brian Thomas Jr.

[Heath]

Yes.

[Adam]

Tell me about Tommy Tremble at Miami. That's an interesting one.

[Heath]

23 target share to tight ends for Bryce Young this year. Jatavian Sanders missed practice again Wednesday after not practicing all week last week. The Dolphins are terrible against tight ends.

[Adam]

Yeah. All right, so where is he in.

[Heath]

Your rankings top 10? He's 8.

[Jamie]

8. Wow.

[Adam]

Like Dalton Kincaid or Tommy Tremble?

[Heath]

I. I'm gonna go with Tommy Trimble. I think Dalton Kincaid is tied with Dallas Goddard for the Most fraudulent type 10 top 12 tight end in fantasy football right now. He had two targets last week and played 37 of the snaps.

[Adam]

Yeah, I got a stat on. On Dalton Kaylis. Welcome, Jamie, into the. Jamie has entered the chat. Good morning, Jamie.

[Jamie]

Good morning.

[Adam]

Dalton Kincaid.

[Jamie]

Please explain your terrible trade. The one I just made, the Super Flex one.

[Adam]

You didn't like it? I asked Dave what side he'd taken. He took my side.

[Jamie]

It's terrible.

[Adam]

Wow. Okay. I traded Ashton Genty and Jamar Chase for Josh Jacobs, Devonte Adams and Blake Corum. I have Kyron Williams. I might have to drop Blake Corum because I'm one over the roster limit, but. So if we just took those four. Four players. I traded Gentian Chase in a PPR league for Jacobs and Adams. Surprised you don't like it so much. I mean, I think it's pretty neutral trade, but. Okay. Interesting.

[Heath]

Anyway, and then that kind of makes sense. Like you've said repeatedly you think Devonte Adams is a first round player rest of season, you know, like on the board. And you're the most skeptical of Jamar Chase rest of season.

[Adam]

So Dave is the most skeptical.

[Jamie]

Robertson, the chatty. I love it.

[Adam]

What? Oh, yeah. I made the trade with Rob in our league and he's there and he says, I love it. Yeah. All right, Jamie, the players you love this week. Justin Fields against the Cowboys. Three straight quarterbacks have finished top four or five for the week against the Cowboys. Woody Marks at Baltimore and Tedro McMillan at Miami.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I took the layup for the start of the week this week with Justin Fields. He should be awesome. Hopefully what we saw last week, his two healthy games, he's been awesome. 29 or more fantasy points. So not that he was injured early in the Buffalo game, but anyway, he he should take advantage of this defense. It's, it's a, it's a great situation. And like you said, last three quarterbacks to face them have gone over 30 fantasy points. So hopefully it's a, it's a great deal there for him. Woody Marks is facing a Ravens defense that's going to be missing most likely seven of their starting defensive players. Coming off his breakout game against the Titans last week, hopefully that continues, especially his role in the passing game. But I'm hoping that it's not just, hey, you had your week and now it's Nick Chubb's week again. But I think we could all buy into what he marks this point. And then Tedro McMillan taking on a Dolphins defense that two receivers so far this year have gotten eight targets against the Dolphins. Michael Pittman in week one and Garrett Wilson in week four. Both those guys scored 20 PPR points. Hopefully Terror McMillan gets his eight targets and does something similar. But he's due for a big game. I think it happens this week.

[Adam]

Okay, so again, to recap, Jamie loves Justin Fields against the Cowboys, Woody Marks at Baltimore and Tedro McMillan at Miami with Woody Marks, would you start him over Derrick Henry?

[Jamie]

So I have them back to back right now with Henry one spot ahead.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Jamie]

I'm just slightly concerned that we get a little too much Nick Chubb.

[Adam]

Yeah. And then McMillan. You know, I asked Heath if he would start Jalen waddle over A.J. brown and Brian Thomas Jr. I couldn't think of the other guys who were struggling. Would you start Ted Roll McMillan over A.J. brown and Brian Thomas Jr.

[Jamie]

In a heartbeat.

[Adam]

All right, let's move on to the players we're avoiding. But I want to remind you that we do have a game in Europe. This. It's in London, right?

[Jamie]

Yes.

[Adam]

This Saturday at 9:30am Eastern. So we're going to have a live stream for you at 8:30am Eastern. 8:30 until 9:30, we have our first live stream. Our second one will be noon to one Eastern time, and that's YouTube.com fantasy football today. So again, join us at 8:30am and then again at noon. YouTube.com fantasy football today on Sunday, Jamie wants to.

[Jamie]

I hope the. I hope the Vikings are taking advantage of Carson Wentz looking like Prince Harry and doing some social media stuff with.

[Adam]

Oh, yeah, that's a good idea. Jamie wants to avoid Bo nicks at Philadelphia, A.J. brown in that same game, and Jordan Mason at Cleveland or, well, in London against Cleveland against the best run defense in football. So where's Bo Nix in your rankings, he's 18th.

[Jamie]

I would start all the streaming quarterbacks over him. Sam Darnold, Bryce Young.

[Adam]

Wow.

[Jamie]

Who else we talk about Tua. It's just a bad setup. You know you, you look at Baker's game for example against this defense and he got lucky with the 77 yard touchdown to. To Mecca Buka and the big play to. To Bucky Irving. Bo Nix can do that. If you want to buy into it. He's been bad in, you know, he's, he's averaging. Prior to week four he was averaging under 200 yards passing and I don't think this is the right setup for him. This feels like it could be a low scoring game. And don't expect much from Bo Nix in terms of high end production.

[Adam]

Okay. The other guys were, were sorry. Jordan Mason at Cleveland and A.J. brown. I mean these are just really tough matchups. We think AJ And Heath, you have devonte Smith as a sit so you. Am I really starting? Jalen hurts well her animal. I get that. But yeah, I mean we're not expecting much at all in the passing game, I guess. Go ahead.

[Heath]

Heath, he's QB10 for me. So not, not necessarily a must start, but not somebody I would start Bryce Young over. But like you said, you probably. He probably scores a rushing touchdown and then he just needs one passing touchdown. You just don't know if that one passing touchdown is going to go to Brown, Smith or Goddard. I think one of those three guys probably turns out being okay, but I don't really want to start them.

[Adam]

Goddard missed practice on Wednesday. I don't think it's something we're really too concerned about. We'll just keep an eye on it. But something to keep in mind. All right. We're going to preview that game tomorrow, but we're obviously not super high on Devonte Smith and A.J. brown. And then there's Jordan Mason. Who are some running backs you'd start over Jordan Mason?

[Jamie]

Jamie, when I did my first run of rankings actually had Xavier Scott ahead of Jordan Mason just because of the expectations of his role in the passing game versus what Mason may not be able to accomplish against his defense. So I moved him up into the high 20s. Some running backs, I start over him.

[Adam]

Well, how about this? Would you start Michael Carter?

[Jamie]

Yes. I was gonna say Michael Carter would be one.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Jamie]

If Rico Dowdle starts and Chuba Hubbard is out, I would start Rico Dowdle. I would start Rashad White if he starts and Bucky Irving's out. So all the replacement potential running backs would be starting over him. Yes.

[Adam]

Okay. Heath the other guys are avoiding in addition to devonte Smith are T. Higgins against the Lions and Jordan Addison in that case game against Cleveland in London.

[Heath]

Yeah just number two wide receivers in low passing games against for two of them bad matchups and the the targets for T. Higgins with Jake Browning have been disgusting. We've talked about how there's too many tight end targets but Jamar Chase still gets a 30% target share with Jake Browning. Chase Brown still has a 12% target share with Jake Browning. It's just that T. Higgins targets have completely disappeared.

[Adam]

Okay and you said they're number two wide receivers you met on their own team. They're number three wide receivers in your rankings. Right.

[Heath]

They're not number three wide receivers. My rankings. I would sit those guys in three wide receiver leagues. Number four but yes, number two on their own team.

[Adam]

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[Jamie]

35 and a half receptions is the over under for Chris McCaffrey. He's the only player you can start with confidence. It's going to be difficult for for Mac Jones and DeMarcus Robinson and Kendrick Bourne. So if you're desperate I think you could still take a flyer on on Tongas and a flyer on Robinson. But I mean the Rams defense is great and it's not going to be pretty okay.

[Adam]

How about running back news? So this is where this is the big stuff. Trey Benson's on ir. We did the bonus podcast yesterday. We talked about this for a while so I'm not going to get into all of it but Trey Benson's on IR. Bucky Irving we didn't get this update until late last night.

[Jamie]

Adam came out on Carter over DeMarcado.

[Adam]

What's we were not really yes I think we were Carter over demarcata but it was pretty close. I mean I was Heath, I forget what you said.

[Heath]

I I think I went back three and fourth three times during the, during the the five minute episode. But after later in the day it started to seem more like it is going to be Carter starting but we don't know work. We don't know what kind of split it's going to be.

[Adam]

So Adam Schefter doesn't think it's a long term injury for Bucky Irving. He says week to week and then Chuba Hubbard is a calf injury and they get Miami and Dallas and the jets in the next three games and so he went into last week Chuba Hubbard with a calf injury came out of it worse. Dave Canala says he needs more time to heal. I mean this is a funny one because Dowdle would be pretty appealing right? I mean damn sir sure must start running back if if Chuba were out.

[Jamie]

Jamie so if you're looking at it for week five alone and there is no Bucky, there is no Benson obviously and there is no Chuba, Rico Doddle would be my favorite of the replacement options. Clearly there's the long term appeal of what the Cardinals running back situation is because we know there's a timeline for Benson. So I think the way you play it is do you need someone for this week only it's easily doubt. Let's say you're in a 10 team league and waivers haven't run yet or you could still get all these guys. I I just at this point like we've all been in our, our fab and and waivers. Like you've seen some of the crazy bids, a lot of them from Adam.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

On, on what Michael Carter has gone for. I mean I know I, I in one league where we also show the the fab results. I spent 20 because I'm desperate running like absolutely desperate. I spent $26 on Michael Carter. The next highest bid was 15. You know, so you see that you're like oh wow. But then somebody also spent 20, $31 on Darren Waller. The next highest bid was like right 12. But anyway, you know you got to get your guy if you feel you need it. I, I do think that there's a, a very appealing short term potential. There's very appealing short term potential for Rico Dowdle. The Cardinal situation as Heath alluded to, I think it's going to be almost on a week to week thing who they're playing and how the game flow will go. So this week it should be Carter because they probably will be playing with the lead against Titans when they're chasing points. It's probably going to be DeMarcado could be wrong on both counts. And to your point about Bucky Irving, you Schefter said week to week Bull said day to day like they I don't know. You saw the comment if he's out of the boot by Friday, he's playing is what he said.

[Adam]

I did not see that.

[Jamie]

Yes. So he said if he can get out of the boot by Friday essentially mean I guess if he does the walkthrough Friday then he'll play. At this point you have to probably assume he's not going to play but doesn't sound like it's, it's a long term situation. So. Okay, that's you know we started, we started Tuesday with spend fab on Sean Tucker. Then that pivoted to spend fab on the Cardinal situation. Then now it's not pivoting to spend on Rico Dowdle. I did see Rico Doddle dropped in one of our leagues. I won't say who dropped him but it, it's somebody I'm gonna go try and get. Hopefully I'm sure we'll all be competing for him too.

[Adam]

Yeah, I, I have 10 leagues that are not dynasty and they are not best ball. So 10 leagues where I'm making a lot of waiver claims. I have Michael Carter at eight of them and the other two leagues he is still available and I at one point did have Michael Carter one of those things but dropped him for Rico Dowdle. So I have a. I. If Michael Carter has a big game, I will be like in Tahiti, you know, celebrating.

[Jamie]

It was one of those things where, you know, I picked him up in our yolo Dynasty League just prior to all this happening. For a dollar in a thousand dollar budget. Yeah, you know, like there were some, some situations like, you know, where you're just kind of going through. I'll tell you a funny one. Last last night with waivers Heath's Super Flex Dynasty League. He. We bid the same amount exactly on Michael Carter. 211. Heath's record is better. So I'm sorry, my record's better. So he's got him by tiebreaker. And I'm like, oh, crap, you know me. I'm up late. So I go to like, okay, I'll go pick up somebody else. At the exact same time I hit to add Isaiah Davis. It says transaction not available. He transaction not allowed. He's not available. Somebody else was up exactly 1:47am I don't know who it was and picked up.

[Heath]

So I lost competitive league.

[Adam]

Oh, man. I was up late last night watching the movie Heartbreakers with Jennifer Love Hewitt.

[Jamie]

You ever seen the Yankees potential playoff fall?

[Adam]

What?

[Jamie]

It wasn't the Yankees eventual playoff loss?

[Adam]

No, that's tonight. Heartbreaker is a pretty good movie. I was surprised. All right, more news. Brashard Smith, according to Dan Graziano of espn, expected to have more involvement in the Chiefs backfield. And Braylon Allen's knee injury is pretty serious, which is why Jamie picked up Isaiah Davis, wide receiver. I already told you, Ricky Pearson tried.

[Jamie]

To pick up Isaiah Davis.

[Adam]

Oh, that's right. Ricky Pearson, Juwan Jennings are out tonight. Debo Samuel mispracticed with a heel injury. Terry McLaurin didn't practice. We're expecting Debo. We're not expecting McLaurin at this point. Alec Pierce practiced in full. Calvin Ridley missed practice. Cedric Tillman's on ir. Tight end news. Dallas Goddard missed practice. Missed practice with a knee injury. Not panicking yet on that. Brock Bowers was limited, which I was disappointed because he was practicing in full last week. But limited session for Bowers. Will Disley was limited, which if he plays, that means around a Gats, that might not play as much. Juwan Johnson missed practice with an ankle injury. Foster Morrow was limited. I am curious to see what's.

[Heath]

Taysom Hill, right?

[Adam]

Was he.

[Heath]

He was at practice.

[Adam]

Okay. Yeah. So this could be bad news for Juwan Johnson. He's been really good, so hopefully they just keep riding with him. But it's something you should at least be aware of. And I'm going to end it there with the news and notes and we're going to take a break and come back with one question for each game after this. Tonight, turn down the noise of the day and focus on the rest with agz, the nightly drink for winding down and resting up. New from AG1, AGZ supports your body's natural sleep cycle with clinically studied key herbs, adaptogens and minerals in amounts supported by research. And no melatonin helping you wake feeling rested, wind down, rest up with Agz. Learn more at drinkagz.com Tito's Handmade Vodka.

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[Adam]

It's football season and you gotta keep up with the action. Listen in to Pushing the Pile part of CBS Sports Podcast Network with Mike Renner, Kyle Long and now me, JP.

[Jamie]

Acosta for smart analysis of everything between the lines.

[Adam]

With four episodes a week, Sunday night recaps, film review, power tiers and weekly previews, you will know ball. Stick with us until one team lists the Lombardi download and follow Pushing the Pile on Apple podcasts, Spotify and anywhere podcasts are found. All right, let's go to one question for each game. Detroit is at Cincinnati.

[Jamie]

Before you go there, you're still going to do a game of the week tomorrow, right?

[Adam]

Can it be the same one? No, no, I don't think so. I think one game of the week. He's got at least have the fear in his heart that I could do it on a Wednesday, I could do it on a Tuesday. Maybe I'll do it Sunday night when we when he's like, well let's see who they're playing next week and then bam, game of the week. I got to be able to keep him on his toes.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Adam]

All right. Detroit at Cincinnati after Jameer Gibbs Heath rank the running backs and wide receivers in this game. Sorry, not. Not Saint Brown either.

[Heath]

Okay, so I will go Jamar Chase. Chase Brown, David Montgomery, Jameson Williams, T. Higgins Oh, I forgot about him.

[Adam]

Okay, jb, how about you?

[Jamie]

Jamar? Chase, skip a little bit. David Montgomery, skip a lot. Chase Brown, skip a little bit. T. Higgins. And then Jameson Williams, skip a little bit more. James.

[Adam]

Okay, so you guys didn't quite agree.

[Jamie]

You want Laporta too or.

[Adam]

No, no, said running backs, wide receivers. You didn't quite agree there because Heath is higher on Brown than Montgomery. Jamie prefers Montgomery. Heath prefers JMO to Higgins. Jamie prefers Higgins to Jamo. Minnesota, Cleveland, over under. Eight PPR fantasy points for Jordan Mason over under. All right. He's nine PPR fantasy points. I'll go over 15. Now 10.

[Heath]

Between 10 and 11.

[Adam]

Okay. Las Vegas is at the Colts. Are you more confident in Jacoby Myers or Daniel Jones?

[Jamie]

That's a great question. More confident. Daniel Jones.

[Adam]

Okay. Jacoby Myers, I think, has a pretty good matchup. They're missing. The Colts are missing their slot corner. They've struggled even before the Rams game. They struggled against slot receivers. And Myers has a career high slot rate so far this year. So we'll see. Washington.

[Jamie]

Not a negative on Myers, by the way.

[Adam]

Right. So you just are confident in Daniel Jones.

[Jamie]

Yes. Back home.

[Adam]

Yeah. Washington's at the Chargers. Lad McConkey or Keenan Allen?

[Jamie]

Keenan Allen. Allen.

[Adam]

Kansas City is at Jacksonville. Brenton Strange or Travis Kelsey?

[Jamie]

Kelsey.

[Heath]

I have them very, very close. I will say Kelsey by a hair.

[Adam]

I've mentioned three wide receivers so far. Jacoby, Myers, Lad McConkey, Keenan Allen. How many of those three would you start over? Brian Thomas, Jun.

[Jamie]

All. All three.

[Adam]

New England's at Buffalo. Who's the best wide receiver in this game? And bonus question. Would you start a Patriots running back?

[Jamie]

Stefan Diggs. And no.

[Heath]

I think I have Keon Coltmanized.

[Adam]

Interesting. Okay. You think it's gonna be a competitive game, Patriots?

[Jamie]

I do. I almost picked the Patriots to cover, but they. So they send us the odds for our pick. Pick them, Page expert picks, whatever they call it. The line changed, so we had it at eight and a half and then it dropped to seven and a half.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Jamie]

It.

[Heath]

It's really. Because one of the things that I track is like in a certain way, pass versus run defense. And it's a really interesting matchup because the Bills have been so good against the pass and so bad against the run.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Heath]

And the Patriots have been the opposite.

[Adam]

As an offense or as a defense.

[Heath]

Defense.

[Adam]

Right.

[Jamie]

To be fair, after facing Lamar Jackson, they faced Justin Fields, who got banged up in the game to a tongue of Iloa and Spencer Rattler.

[Adam]

But they destroyed Justin Fields. He played most of that.

[Jamie]

I'm not, I'm not disagreeing. But even so like to say, like, I, I wonder how legit their past defense is when they face that group of quarterbacks.

[Adam]

Yeah, no, it's interesting. The Bills are number one in time of possession, so they have, I believe, seen the fewest plays in the NFL or maybe the second.

[Heath]

Well, and that's the other thing is like all the Bills want to do is run the football and control the clock. And that's the one thing that the Patriots defense has been really good at stopping.

[Adam]

Yeah. And I, I will see. I want to see if the Patriots are, you know, and I mean, pun intended here because it's Sunday night. If they're ready for prime time, it's be a big game. Dallas is at the jets start or sit Dak Prescott start.

[Heath]

Borderline start. But I am a little bit lower on him. I think it'll be interesting to see what the pass volume is and what the George Pickens sauce. Gardener. Gardener matchups like.

[Adam]

Yeah, I don't think any. No, no, no. Quarterback has thrown more than 30 passes against the jets and Dak is regularly throwing more than 40. So. All right, we'll get into that game later. Let's go to our. We're going to break it down now. Detroit at Cincinnati is our first game Stat of the game. Number one, courtesy of Jamie. You brought this up last time or two weeks ago when we talked about David Montgomery. He's only gone consecutive regular season games without a touchdown once in his Detroit tenure. David Montgomery is coming off the worst game of his career, 1.2 PPR fantasy points. Cincinnati has allowed 11.5 or more PPR fantasy points to multiple running backs in the same game twice already in four games. So I, if I know Jamie, I don't even know the ranking of Dave Montgomery. I feel like he likes David Montgomery this week. Am I right?

[Jamie]

Almost made him start of the week. Really started in too many leagues. Yeah, it's. It's a great setup. You know, you're looking at this run defense, which is awful. Like you said, typically when he's not scored, which is, you know, I would say for him it's struggling. They find a way to get him into the end zone. So you can't start him with the expectation of he's going to catch X amount of passes. That's just not who he is. So like this could be the Baltimore game all over again for him. Not, not to that extreme. But, you know, just feed him and let him go to Work like this is this, this is the perfect setup for David Montgomery.

[Heath]

I. Yeah, I think from a projection standpoint the challenge is like the Baltimore game was incredible, but it wasn't really a feed him game. He had 12 rush attempts and that's his season high. And he has one target in three games in a row.

[Adam]

Yeah, I know, right? It's true. It's tricky. The fact that he hasn't had more than 12 carries in a game is wild so far for David Montgomery. So you, Heath, you said you like Chase Brown better and I'll say that the Lions have actually given up a rushing touchdown to a running back in all four games this year. But you like Chase Brown a little better.

[Heath]

I do and it's entirely a PPR thing. I think obviously David Montgomery's rushing average is going to be better than Chase Brown's, but we have seen, I think he had a five target game with Jake Browning and he's got a 12 target share and they're probably going to throw a lot of passes, the Bengals. So I, I wouldn't be surprised if we have four or five catches from Chase Brown.

[Jamie]

I hope that's the case because he's been 14 total touches or less each of the last two games.

[Adam]

What did he have? Yeah, I mean I'm sure you're right. Just looking at last week was 10 carries for 40 yards and three catches for 31 yards. So that was, that was 10.1 fantasy points at Denver, which was a big improvement over the previous two two weeks. At least he has seven catches in his last two games. As we said, that's Chase Brown. I mean, I guess, I mean the.

[Jamie]

Touches just haven't been the biggest difference between two.

[Adam]

So you're confident in Gibbs, you're confident in St. Brown. Are you? Jamie sounds confident in David Montgomery. Who, who are, who else in this game are you confident in?

[Jamie]

I think it's a good game for Jared Goff. I know outdoors we know to be love him but this Bengals defense is terrible. So the concern would be is that the run game is too dominant and that he doesn't have the need to throw. But they also in Dan Campbell's tenure, like they have these get right games, they usually happen in their building. So you come off the disappointing performance across the board against Green Bay and then he just throws everything, just throw everything that they wanted to it at the Bears. Like they could do something similar here. So yeah, the, the one concern would be is I will say this, if there's a guy that gets right in the passing game. It's Sam Laporta. The Bengals are terrible against tight ends. He's yet to find the end zone. He's been bad for the last three games. Like this could be one of those. Three for 23 and two touchdowns. Like the Darren Waller stat line.

[Heath]

Yeah, I think, I think Dave would, if he was here, would call it a, maybe a Jobu week for Sam Laporta. He's still a top 16 tied in for me this week because of the matchup and the high projected score and the hope for a touchdown. But if he's 3 for 25 with zero touchdowns, then we're gonna have to have a conversation.

[Jamie]

Yep.

[Adam]

So in terms of Chase, you guys seem pretty down on A.J. brown and Brian Thomas Jr. How, how does Chase compare to those guys?

[Heath]

I'm starting him.

[Jamie]

I mean, this just. You got banged up secondary for Detroit. You have him complaining. You have Zach Taylor having to defend Jake Browning. Like if, if they're not sitting there in the meeting rooms just saying, throw it to him as much as possible. If we, you throw a pick, I don't care at this point, like, you got to save your job. You have to save my job. We have to make him happy. Like those things have to be said. Feed the kid.

[Adam]

Okay, so is he, I'm assuming you guys would start like a George Pickens over Jamar Chase, but you'd have to have basically be completely loaded at wide receiver to sit Jamar Chase. That fair?

[Jamie]

Yes, very.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Heath]

Very loaded.

[Adam]

And then Jameson Williams. So if you like golf and the Bengals stink, is this going to be the week for Jameson Williams? Mr. Down.

[Jamie]

You said the week for Jameson Williams. Do you mean like what he did against the Bears or like a big breakout game with five plus catches, 100 plus yards and a touchdown?

[Adam]

Well, he had two cats.

[Jamie]

What version of Jameson Williams are you talking.

[Adam]

This year's best 80 yards and a touchdown?

[Jamie]

I, I mean, I, I, if He.

[Heath]

Has a 70 yard touchdown.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I, I think you're looking at a number three boom bus receiver on a weekly basis and there's been one boom and three busts.

[Heath]

I think you should bring back the magic eight ball. Oh, I think Magic eight ball. That's, that's, that's Jameson Williams and Williams.

[Adam]

It, I'll finish Unlikely.

[Jamie]

It's pretty amazing that you have your, your mixing board that you use on a daily basis and you don't know which button is which half the time, but you have your magic eight ball right in front of you that you haven't touched since Gabe Davis basically retired.

[Heath]

True or false. The Magic 8 Ball was responsible for the Michael Carter Fab. Just said, what percentage should I put on Michael Carter? 25. Okay.

[Adam]

Yeah, actually it didn't even. You're supposed to ask it yes or no answers, but yes or no question. But I just asked it, how much fab should I spend? And it said 35% of your budget. I didn't spend that quite that much, but. All right, so Jamo's a number three receiver for you guys. He has him 36, Jamie 33rd. At least that was as of yesterday. Remember, he leads all wide receivers in average route depth. He's just going downfield a ton. So Michael Carter or Jameson Williams?

[Jamie]

Carter.

[Heath]

Yeah, it's Carter.

[Adam]

Okay. How about Darius Slayton at the Saints or Jameson Williams?

[Jamie]

I'll take Slayton and the potential.

[Heath]

I have them back to back. I would probably go Jamo.

[Adam]

And then Jamie likes Williams better than Higgins and Heath likes Higgins better than Williams, right?

[Heath]

No, I like Williams better than Higgins.

[Adam]

I'm sorry.

[Heath]

Jamie likes Higgins better than Williams, but better than Williams.

[Jamie]

I'm hoping that the injuries in the secondary and Jake Browning basically playing for.

[Adam]

His career, a lot of injuries. But the good news was Terry and Arnold, cornerback was limited yesterday. Kirby Joseph, safety and D.J. reed, a cornerback, did not practice. So they are a little banged up. But hopefully limited practice for Terry and Arnold is a good sign. But that's. We are. We are hopeful that they can take advantage of this beat up secondary here. Start laporta. Chase Brown 24th for Jamie, 17th for Heath. Kind of talked about him. I guess we can do some Chase Brown oars and then we will move on.

[Jamie]

I. I put Michael Carter ahead of him so he's outside the top 24.

[Adam]

All right, Chase Brown or Tony Pollard at the Cardinals?

[Jamie]

Pollard for me.

[Heath]

I've got Chase Brown one spot higher. But Spider man meme Chase Brown or.

[Adam]

Alvin Camara against the Giants.

[Jamie]

Come here.

[Heath]

Come here.

[Jamie]

All right.

[Adam]

DST. Detroit's DST is top six for everyone. Cincinnati allows the most fantasy points to DSTs. Let's go to our London game. Minnesota's at Cleveland. Stat of the game already gave you Yesterday was among 124 qualified college quarterbacks in 2024. Dylan Gabriel ranked 122nd in air yards per pass attempt.

[Heath]

He man, I, I would love it. And maybe they'll do it after the buy, but let's just like kick Jerome Ford out of here, move Dylan Sampson into the pass catching running back role. Make Isaiah Bond the number one wide receiver, make Carol fan on the number. Well, they kind of already did that. The number one tight end, like just, just play the kids for a month and see what happens.

[Adam]

That would be fun. I mean it looks like a solid draft class. So for a Cleveland side of it, is there anyone, including Quinton Judkins that you can trust this week? Heath.

[Heath]

I'm starting Quintean Judkins as pretty much a must start running back. I. He's been awesome. I think we'll see the rush rate go up for the Browns. I don't think Carson Wentz and the Vikings offense is going to put Cleveland into a must pass situation. This is going to be a, in my opinion, a very competitive game. Not maybe a very high scoring game, but a lot. Very close. And so 20 plus touches for Judkins top 12 running back.

[Adam]

Okay. So Chase Brown and David Montgomery, don't.

[Heath]

Even think about those guys over Judkins for me.

[Adam]

Okay? He Jamie agree.

[Jamie]

100.

[Adam]

Okay. I mean this game sucks for, for fantasy purposes, right? I think we're, you know, you're going to start Justin Jefferson. We've already talked about Jordan Mason. This is just a brutal matchup. They've held Chase Brown, Derek Henry, Josh Jacobs and David Montgomery to 43 or fewer rushing yards. That's Cleveland. And he's not super involved in the passing game. So Mason's going to be tough to trust. You know, could be a low pass attempt game for Went. So how do we feel about Hawkinson and Addison?

[Jamie]

Jamie can't trust them. You know, Addison, you, you got lucky last week with the 81 yard reception on busted coverage. And so I think they already kind of gave us the blueprint of how they want to play. They did this against the Bears in week one. It was kind of just ball control and wait out the other team making mistakes. And that's exactly what Caleb Williams did in the end. And this is a much worse situation because you have a less talented quarterback, a less talented offense. And so this is Brian Flores. Go to work, you know, and go harass the hell out of this, you know, rookie and make him poop his pants. And I'm sure he will because his defense is scary when they're.

[Heath]

I hope he doesn't really unfortunate. Fortunately, playing for the Browns to the.

[Jamie]

Way that Dylan Gabriel will play, we could get a lot of receptions for Jerry duty. Okay. A lot of receptions for one, if not both tight ends because it's going to be ball out quick. They're going to move the pocket around a lot and you know, he's gonna, you know, lean on these guys, especially with Tillman not there. So Isaiah Bond may be a sneaky play if you're stuck, but again, like, it just feels like this is an avoid game for everybody but Judkins on.

[Adam]

That side of the ball and an avoid. And basically an avoid game for everybody but Jefferson.

[Jamie]

I would. I mean, again, trusting Mason against this defense, he could fall into the end zone. They could have the ball enough that, you know, they're just grinding out yards and the same thing. He's clearly not Jameer Gibbs, but, you know, Gibbs was able to accomplish that last week, But Montgomery and Jameson and. And Jordan Mason feel like the same player. Derek Henry's the same type of player. You know, no. No role in the passing game. Not going to help you unless they. They score at this point. You know, Henry at least against this defense. And so when they don't, it's. It's disappointing. Like, look what Chase Brown's stat line was. It was terrible.

[Adam]

Yeah, yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead.

[Heath]

Sorry, I don't want to. Honestly, I. We've talked about what a bad week it is at wide receiver, but there's like 17 running backs that I want to start.

[Jamie]

I think it's better than that.

[Adam]

Michael Carter's not in that for you.

[Heath]

Michael, Listen, if you like Michael Carter, if you like David Montgomery because of the matchup, if Jamie loves Woody Marks, but there's a lot of guys that are either getting a bunch of volume and either terribly inefficient or facing a bad matchup or both or that are in complete timeshares. I saw Adam later today. We're going to be on hq, and you're talking about sitting Ken Walker. He's in the middle of that group with like, yeah, you're probably going to get half of the running back carries, and you hope you break a long one. There's just. There's probably 10 running backs from 18 to 28 for me that I don't really want to start, but I think Mason's gonna have a really low efficiency game and probably get a bunch of carries because the Browns aren't going to be able to score either. And you hope he scores a touchdown.

[Adam]

Yeah, no. I mean, I'd like to sit Ken Walker if I could. Tough matchup and doesn't get the goal line work. But I'd start him over Jordan Mason, and I'd start him over Chase Brown. I think I'd start David Montgomery over Ken Walker because I just think he's got a much better chance to Score a touchdown.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I agree with everything he said and.

[Adam]

All right, last stuff on this game, I meant we talked about T. Higgins and Jameson Williams. We're not super jazzed to start those guys. Would you start any wide receiver in this game other than Justin Jefferson over Jameson Williams and or T. Higgins full ppr?

[Heath]

I'd start Judy over them.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I'd start Judy over Williams. Probably makes sense to start him over T. Higgins and ppr. This is the opportunity that he needs, you know, and I don't know if you caught the press conference yesterday. Like Dylan Gabriel is very high on Judy.

[Adam]

Yeah, I hope so. I mean, it should be a couple questions from the chat. Charbonnet or Jordan Mason?

[Jamie]

I think I have them back to back. I think I moved Mason just ahead of Charbonnet. They're the same type of player. Need touchdown Mason for me.

[Adam]

Harold Fannin Jr. Or Darren Waller?

[Jamie]

Waller.

[Heath]

It's Waller. But like Jamie said, this could be the. This could be the fan and game. A lot of four yard targets.

[Adam]

Who do you have, Hawkinson or Fanon?

[Heath]

I have Fanon, but neither one is top 12.

[Jamie]

I have Hawkinson just because of the mess of the two tight ends.

[Adam]

These guys like Tommy Tremble, Brenton Strange. Jamie likes Mason Taylor better than Hawkinson. Some guys you can go get off waivers and I don't. I think Darren. I don't know if I said Waller, but. All right, that's it for this game. Oh, which DST do you like better?

[Jamie]

The Vikings.

[Heath]

Whichever one you already have on your roster. They're not available on the waiver wire.

[Adam]

Okay, let's take a break and no, you know what? Let's squeeze in another. Another game here. Las Vegas is at Indianapolis. Here's the fingers crossed. Let's hope this matters. That of the game, the Colts allow the third most receiving yards to slot wide receivers. And even before the Rams game where they got destroyed by slot wide receivers, including an 88 yard touchdown from Tutu Atwell, they. They were 20th in yards allowed to slot receivers and they're missing their slot cornerback, Kenny Moore. So Jacoby Myers, highest slot rate of his career, about 64%. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that matters for Jacoby Myers. Did he crack your top 24?

[Heath]

Oh, yeah.

[Jamie]

Most weeks, yeah.

[Adam]

All right, well, he's been pretty. He's been pretty garbage the last couple of weeks, right?

[Jamie]

I think you just look at seven targets in a game where Geno Smith threw 21 times. Like clearly there's. They want to get him going. And the matchup's great.

[Adam]

Okay, we're gonna sit Geno Smith.

[Jamie]

I would.

[Heath]

Yeah, I don't want to start him, but I do have him ahead of Bo Nicks. I.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Adam]

Ashton Genti is a start. Be interesting. Another matchup. On paper that looks good. 4.57 yards per carry allowed to running backs for the Colts. Remember, his first three matchups were tough and then the Bears were awful and he crushed them. But you know, he's got an opportunity here. So start Genty, start Myers. Trey Tucker. Any interest? Trey Tucker or Jordan Addison? Jameson Williams, T. Higgins. What do you think?

[Jamie]

I think there's more upside with the other guys besides Tucker because of what happened last week. I do think that the concern would be is that they're scared of Geno. Smith and Genti finally look like the guy they drafted and it's going to be a lot of running and a little bit of throwing and if they're not chasing points to a high extent, I don't think the Colts are going to run away from them. Then we're going to get a lot of Asian Genti and not as many target opportunities for the other guys besides Bowers and Myers.

[Heath]

I've got Tucker just ahead of those guys, but he's just a boom bust number three like the rest of them. It's just personal preference.

[Adam]

All right, start Brock Bowers. Although if you have Jake Ferguson, you can start Jake Ferguson over Brock Bowers. That's pretty much it. Trey McBride and Ferguson are ranked ahead of Bowers and. And that is it. All right, starters at Daniel Jones. Jamie has him, last I checked, ninth. Let me double check here. Ninth for Jamie. He's eighth for Dave and he's 13th for Heath. So Heath, you're the low guy but still like Daniel Jones. So why are the optimism this week?

[Heath]

I mean, he's back at home. He was awesome at home the first two weeks and hopefully he's awesome again. The reason I'm a little bit lower on him is just the same thing we talked about last week. It's one passing touchdown every week. He's always. And he'll probably have a good passing touchdown game at some point this year. But he's always been a very low Pass Touchdown Guy. 3.3% touchdown rate this year, 3.1% touchdown rate for his career. And I'm just a little bit nervous about the rushing with John. I mean, we already know Jonathan Taylor is going to get some carries inside the five. Tyler Warren got two last week and Daniel Jones has had fewer rush attempts every game. This year, seven, six, four, one last week. If they have two other guys that can run inside the five and they're so happy with what he's doing as a passer, it seems like they're not as intent on using him as a rusher as they have Jimmy.

[Adam]

You want to make the case a little bit higher. Number nine for Daniel Jones. So you have him ahead of Baker Mayfield, for example. You have my head of Jared Goff, Dak Prescott. That is not the case. Well, Heath has him ahead of Prescott, but not Golf or Mayfield. So go ahead on Daniel Jones.

[Jamie]

All those quarterbacks you mentioned feel like they're in that 20 to 22 point range. I don't think there's a huge, you know, 30 point game coming from Jones like we saw in week one against Miami. I just don't really buy this Raiders defense. I know they played well last week against Caleb Williams, but we also saw a similar situation where Marcus Mariota had a big game against this defense, you know, so Jones at home, I think he's played well. Last week was the first time really he showed some of the flaws that we, you know, solved from him with the Giants. But I think a lot of that had to do with the defense that he was facing. So I'll buy back into him in this matchup. Again, not with the expectation of a monster performance, but a good, solid, low end, number one qb. Remember, if he gets that touchdown from Adnai Mitchell, we're looking at an 18 point per game day. And that would have made his overall performance from a fantasy production standpoint look a lot better for three of the first four games.

[Adam]

You want to hit like this is an amazing Azer stat. This is a theoretical Azer stat. So Daniel Jones scored about 12 points last week and you're saying if he had gotten that touchdown for Mitchell, who fumbled going into the end zone, that's 18. I'm going to say he would have scored 20 because he would not have thrown that interception. They wouldn't have been trailing. He wouldn't have thrown that interception like on the last possession of the game where they were desperate. So I'm going to give Daniel Jones a 20 point game against the Rams.

[Heath]

So I'm going to say that Kyron Williams would have had a better game if.

[Jamie]

No, sorry.

[Adam]

Yeah, you can't because it doesn't make sense. My argument is perfect. It's airtight. So, all right, that's Daniel Jones.

[Jamie]

Your argument is better than the trade you made.

[Adam]

It's funny you say that, Jamie. I'm going to share my screen here. And let's go ahead and put this Twitter poll up. I didn't say what side I was on. I just said which side do you prefer, Jacobs and Devonte Adams or Genti and Jamar Chase? And wouldn't you know it? 437 votes. 65%. That's a pretty big gap there. 65% say Jacobs and Devonte Adams over Genti and Jamar Chase, but not Jamie. Jamie's in the 35% that you left out Blake Corum.

[Jamie]

I mean, that's the real key to all of it.

[Adam]

Corms. And I think I'm probably gonna have to drop Corum, but Corb's a nice guy to have, but I Twitter thinks I'm winning. So who am I?

[Jamie]

By the way, I really shouldn't comment because in that league, waivers ran, nobody picked up Cooper Rush, nobody in the super flex league, which is kind of amazing. I now have six quarterbacks on my roster.

[Adam]

You dropped your Corey Crosky merit. I might regret that.

[Heath]

Thomas made a really good point in the private chat. These people who are voting for your side also made the choice to follow you on social media.

[Adam]

They don't know what side I took. They don't know. They don't know it. All right, start Jonathan Taylor. You guys like, love Michael Pittman this week? Like Michael Pittman, love.

[Heath]

He's a top 20 wide receiver.

[Adam]

The Raiders.

[Jamie]

One bad game this year. It was against the Broncos. Like, yeah.

[Adam]

And he should have a touchdown in that game. The Raiders have allowed the fourth most fantasy points to wide receivers. How about this? Five wide receivers have scored 14 or 14.6 or more fantasy points against the Raiders and none of them had more than eight targets. So they're just bad against receivers. Start Tyler Warren. What did we miss here? I don't think we missed anything.

[Jamie]

I think we're good.

[Adam]

How about some of the running? First of all, Jacoby Myers or Michael Pittman. Who'd you like better?

[Jamie]

Pittman.

[Heath]

Jacoby.

[Adam]

See if we have any questions in the chat, but we'll get to that in a minute. But okay. How about. Would you start any of the backup running backs who could become starters this week? So I'll even include Rashad White. Rashad White, Sean Tucker, Michael Carter, Amari Di Mercado and Rico Dowdle. Any of those five over the two wide receivers in this game? Pittman and Myers.

[Heath]

Maybe. Doubtful. If he starts.

[Jamie]

Not in ppr.

[Adam]

Okay, from the chat. Kyler Murray or Daniel Jones.

[Jamie]

Kyler.

[Heath]

Kyler.

[Adam]

Josh Downs or Jordan Addison.

[Jamie]

Addison.

[Heath]

Yeah, I'm sure.

[Adam]

Okay. All right. And do you like the Colts dst?

[Jamie]

Not really. They're a good bet if you're betting against Gino, which has obviously been a good bet.

[Heath]

You know, Gino Smith has been really good. After three interception games this year, he's.

[Jamie]

Actually his best games have come on the road.

[Adam]

All three of his interceptions, by the way, were intended for Jacoby Myers last.

[Jamie]

Week and two of them were two of the worst throws decisions I've ever seen.

[Adam]

Yeah, this on repeat. Okay, let's take a break and come back with Washington at the Chargers after this.

[Heath]

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[Adam]

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[Heath]

What's up everyone? It's cnajad from Fantasy Football Today dfs, a weekly NFL daily fantasy show that's a part of the CBS Sports Podcast Network. If you're looking for NFL game by game previews, which players stock is up or down, and DFS strategies and advice, Mike McClure, Meg Shoup and I have you covered every single week. Download and follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere podcasts are found. Make sure to turn on those notifications so you don't miss a single pick all season long. Good luck.

[Adam]

We're back here on Fantasy Football Today. One of the stats that I've been looking at more is the easy catches, right? The catch is at or behind the line of scrimmage and our wide receivers getting any of those. Well, here's where the Chargers wide receivers are are in that category. Targets at or behind the line of scrimmage. Quentin Johnson has three, Keenan Allen has one, Lad McConkey has zero. So Lab McConkey has no target, no wide receiver screens or anything like that. No end zone targets, no green zone targets, one red zone target all year. He is, you know, we talk about high value touches for running backs. Well, Lab McConkey's not getting high value opportunities at wide receiver. It's very frustrating. So on that note, Heath, your thoughts on Keenan Allen and Lab McConkey as I'm sure Quentin Johnson is a must start at this point. But what about the other guys?

[Heath]

I really think that I'm probably like I hope I don't have all three Chargers wide receivers on the same team, but this week I'm probably starting any Chargers wide receiver that I have. I don't really think that the red zone targets through four weeks is quite a big enough sample for me to say it's going to be that way all year long. I assume there will be a get right game for lad McConkey at some point. They've got an implied total of 26 which is one of the higher ones on the slate. I think it's a good week to go Back to lad McConkey. Nobody's probably gone away from him yet.

[Adam]

And Keenan Allen is close.

[Heath]

Start him.

[Adam]

Okay, this could be a great game for Fantasy. The total is 48, so that's a high number and you know we're quite hopeful here. Hampton is an easy start. Justin Herbert, Jamie starter sit coming off two. He's scored about 31 points in his last two games at Denver and at the Giants.

[Jamie]

One, you could have probably expected him to struggle a little bit. One, you probably thought okay he should destroy the Giants and he didn't. The only concern would be is the off. Is the offensive line starting to become an issue for him because he's missing a lot of protection right now and it's coinciding with the run game getting going and so which I know doesn't might not add up a little bit because if the offensive line is falling apart, why is the run game and going. Because the interior of the office line is playing well and the way that they're scheming up things for for Hampton are much better right now than they're protecting Herbert. But I think in just the case of the defense that he's facing, you know, two games ago gave up 289 and three touchdowns to Geno Smith. There's chances here, like you said, for this game to get to become now high scoring affair because of Jane Daniel. So he's. He's a top 10 core. He's just ahead of the guys you listed previously. You know, so Daniel Jones and Baker and those guys. Like, He's. He's like QB7 or QB8. Like, I would much rather start Justin Fields this week than Justin Herbert.

[Adam]

Heath. You got Herbert second.

[Heath]

Yeah, I mean, it's a. Like you said, a big number. They've scored seven of their nine touchdowns through the air this year. I don't. I'm not scared of the commander's past defense. I think he's one of the best starts you can have.

[Adam]

Okay. I'm not scared of their past defense. I'm a little scared of their pass rush because their backup left tackle was horrible last week. And the Giants have a very good stable of pass rushers. I don't think the Commanders have quite that, but I think they're about 10th in pressure rate, so I think that's probably why Jamie's the lowest at eighth. Jamie. Jamie eighth. Dave fourth on Herbert. Heath second on Justin Herbert. So Quentin Johnson. Yes.

[Jamie]

He's also stopped running late.

[Adam]

You know, Herbert's one of those guys that you're. I don't think you're going to get consistent rushing from him.

[Jamie]

Every Greek, but that certainly boosted his numbers the first two weeks.

[Adam]

Yeah, but he could go out there and have 25 rushing yards, you know, any week. That's okay. That's the Chargers, basically. We're not starting around a Gadston. So let's go over to the commanders. Any hesitation Jamie to start Jaden Daniels?

[Jamie]

No.

[Adam]

Okay, you got him. You got to start them. Can you trust a commander's running back?

[Heath]

No.

[Adam]

No commander's running back or Michael Carter.

[Heath]

Carter.

[Jamie]

Carter. And D. Mercado over commander's running back.

[Adam]

That was my next question. If you. If you had to pick.

[Jamie]

And that would be White and Sean Tucker over a commander's running back. If Bucky's out, if you had to.

[Adam]

Pick one commander's running back, who would it be?

[Jamie]

It's got to be Chris Rodriguez at this point.

[Heath]

Yeah, I'd still go, Bill. I think he could break one long run. I guess Chris Rodriguez can, too. But I. I'd go, Will.

[Adam]

You know, if you. If you go on X and you just look at what fantasy analysts have to say about Corey Cross Camara, at least the ones that keep showing up in my feed. Very, very positive stuff. His advanced metrics are really good. His tape looks really good. He really can make guys miss. I've been extremely impressed it's him and.

[Heath]

Him and Bashel Tutin that like there's just a constant feed of positive feedback for currently backup running backs.

[Adam]

Right. But Krasky Merritt, you know, is getting at the same amount of carries basically as Chris Rodriguez. Bashel Tutin is buried right now behind a guy who's playing great. I shouldn't say buried, but I, I. Okay. All I'm saying is I'm sure Jamie didn't want to drop Jecory Crosby Merit. Don't drop him if you can, if you can avoid it.

[Jamie]

Oh, no, no, no, no. That was not an indictment on dropping, you know, Crosby Merit. I hope his time is coming to your point. Rodriguez did have a 48 yard run last week. They're just not trusting any of them to be the lead guy. Yeah, I don't understand like why you wouldn't try and at least for a half, like keep rotating these guys. It takes them out of a rhythm. Like Rodriguez gets you the 48 yard run in the, at the end of the first quarter and finishes with just shy of 60 yards of rushing. Right.

[Adam]

It's, it's almost like they take turns.

[Heath]

So Adam, in our super flex league, oddly enough, you got Michael Carter off the waiver wire for probably 20 of your budget. On that team you have Javante Williams, Kyron Williams and Woody Marks. So there's no chance you're going to start with Michael Carter and yeah. Are you going, are you going to put in a claim for Jacori Crosby? Merritt dropping Michael Carter?

[Adam]

Oh, no, I don't think so. I am actually attempting to trade Michael Carter and Tucker Kraft to get a tight end, but I've been rebuffed three.

[Heath]

Times already, so that's my worst team.

[Adam]

I do need a quarterback. Yes. 100. Okay. But yours all suck. So do mine.

[Jamie]

The Mine are actually playing though.

[Adam]

Debo, C.J.

[Heath]

Stroud, Cam Ward and Aaron Rodgers.

[Adam]

Yeah, I'm loaded everywhere else though. And I have A.J. brown and Jamar Chase on that team, so it's, that was, I could have gotten away with it anyway. Debo Samuel. Easy start, right?

[Jamie]

Yep. Yeah.

[Adam]

Okay. Debo or Chase? Jamar Chase or Debo?

[Heath]

I'm going Chase.

[Jamie]

Chase. But they're close.

[Adam]

Debo Samuel or Pitman?

[Jamie]

Pitman.

[Heath]

Oh, I have those guys probably back to back. They're both high end, wide receiver.

[Adam]

Twos.

[Heath]

I will go pivot.

[Adam]

How does Zach Ertz stack up amongst the streaming tight ends? The Brenton Stranges and Darren Wallers and Tommy Trembles of the world.

[Jamie]

I gave him a boost with Daniel's back. So he was like tight end 18 for me prior to the Daniels news, and now he's like right around 12.

[Heath]

Yeah, he's 12 for me. He's behind most those names you said, but he's the same guy.

[Adam]

Okay, you want to hear a fantasy dilemma?

[Jamie]

Okay, sure.

[Adam]

So Zach Ertz is available. I have. Never mind. Never mind. I was only going to bring it up because it's, you know. Would you take a zero at tight end to avoid dropping a player that you really want to keep? So, for example, I have Kyron Williams and Blake Corum. I don't want to drop Blake Corum, but I might have to to pick up a tight end. You know, do you. Do you take the zero and just play Tucker Craft or do you drop the handcuff that you really like? You know, whatever. We don't have to talk about that. Sorry, I didn't mean to be self indulgent there. Kansas City's at Jackson.

[Jamie]

Oh, that's a great question.

[Heath]

Why don't you just drop Isaiah Pacheco?

[Adam]

Yeah, I could do that too.

[Heath]

I mean, you've got six running backs on the team.

[Adam]

You know what? I think I am going to drop Pacheco.

[Heath]

Yeah, drop Pacheco for Zaggert's.

[Adam]

But then I still need to drop someone. I'm still going to be over the roster limit. Oh, I need to make a trade. Kansas City's at Jacksonville.

[Jamie]

Quarterbacks. Wait, wait.

[Heath]

You're over the roster limit in that.

[Adam]

League because I made a 3 for 2 trade?

[Jamie]

Oh, who's the commissioner at league? I'm gonna go just drop your play. I'm dropping your place. So.

[Heath]

Yeah, you can't make a trade to get out of an illegal roster. You gotta drop somebody before you make a trade.

[Jamie]

I'm go to your roster right now and drop whoever I want.

[Adam]

Is that what Jamie did?

[Heath]

You can't. You can't be making a trade right now. That's exactly what you got on the Jamie for.

[Jamie]

Yep.

[Adam]

Well, no, because J. What? Jamie was a little bit different.

[Heath]

Jamie, you have an illegal roster and you're trying to make a two for one trade to get out of that illegal roster.

[Adam]

Drop someone. That's fine. Kansas City's at Jacksonville feels a little different to me, to be honest with you.

[Jamie]

Because you're doing it?

[Adam]

No, because I gave Jamie like a week and he wouldn't listen to me. Kansas City at Jacksonville. Stat of the game.

[Jamie]

Thank you, Heath. I appreciate that.

[Adam]

Kind of similar. I don't appreciate that. I hate you. He's similar to what we said about Woody Marks last week. We said stat of the game. They traded up. They traded a third round pick to move into the fourth round to draft Woody Marks. Just want to remind everyone. Breton Strange. Breton Strange was a second round pick in 2023. He's currently ninth in yards per outrun among 24 tight ends with 15 or more targets, just ahead of Trey McBride. So maybe this is your chance to pick up Brenton Strange. He's been good in three or four games.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Adam]

Why so high on Patrick Mahomes? I'll drop some. Enough, enough, enough. Okay. Patrick Mahomes is top four for all of you.

[Jamie]

Mailbag on Friday to call you out on this one.

[Heath]

I'm sorry, I was a little distracted. Patrick Mahomes is top four. Yes.

[Jamie]

Yeah, top two for me.

[Adam]

I don't think we have to get into it, but you have my head of Jaden Daniels, which is interesting. Is that just because of the knee for Daniels?

[Jamie]

Yeah. And the matchup.

[Adam]

Okay. Actually the Jaguars past defense has been pretty good. Ninth in yards per attempt. They're 15th against quarterbacks. Only the Bengals quarterbacks have scored more than 20 fantasy points against them. But the others are Bryce Young, CJ Stroud and Brock Purdy.

[Jamie]

And Purdy was way off in that game.

[Adam]

He was. Which running back do you prefer for the Chiefs and when would you start him?

[Jamie]

Pacheco. And no, I do think yet to allow a rushing touchdown this season. Can you name them?

[Adam]

What's that?

[Jamie]

Three teams to yet to allow a rushing touchdown to a running back this season. Can you name them?

[Adam]

The Jaguars.

[Jamie]

That's one.

[Adam]

Yes. The Raiders.

[Jamie]

That's not correct.

[Adam]

No, I can't. I remember seeing one.

[Heath]

The Patriots.

[Jamie]

That's not correct. Okay, who is the Jaguars. The Seahawks and the Rams.

[Adam]

Jaguars. Seahawks. Rams. Okay, Michael Carter, here we come. Oh, wait, no, they're not playing the Seahawks. That was last week. I'm very much thrown off by what's. The events of. Of you're cheating.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Adam]

No, because I didn't. I didn't make a transact. I didn't add a player and go. I know it's that I can't add a player to go over the roster. Okay, this is different. Heath, I'm gonna strip you of your freaking privileges here.

[Heath]

It's important you didn't cheat. You intended on cheating. You were planning to cheat. You discussed your plans to cheat on a podcast, but I don't think you committed cheating yet.

[Adam]

Okay, I didn't cheat.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Adam]

I didn't cheat when I Made the trade to go over the roster limit. That's different.

[Heath]

You just have to drop somebody. You can't trade out of that.

[Adam]

Oh, you know what? Fine. I accept that this is really something that's never come up before, but.

[Heath]

No, it came up exactly like two.

[Adam]

Months ago because Jamie added a player which was breaking the rules. You cannot add a player to go over your roster limit. And then you can. Right? You can. Yes. You just have to. Have to make a transaction after that.

[Jamie]

So just so I'm clear here.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

Can go over the roster limit in one way, can't go over the roster limit in another way.

[Heath]

That doesn't seem.

[Adam]

Yes, absolutely you can. Yes, 100%. Okay. Because. Because when you make an ad drop right there on the spot, you can add a. You know, you can add and drop someone.

[Heath]

And you were obviously prevented from dropping anyone since you made your trade.

[Adam]

Well, I didn't think about it like that was impossible.

[Jamie]

You could have made a 3 for 3 trade knowing that you had a roster limits.

[Heath]

Like you made the trade and then immediately sent me an offer when instead of sending that offer, you could have just dropped someone.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Heath]

When using the office.

[Adam]

Exactly the same thing. No, you're right. And I'm learning my lesson here. But it's much not what Jamie did. Jamie. Jamie did something criminal. Xavier Worthy. I love Xavier Worthy. This week, Xavier Worthy scored 17 fantasy points on 59% of the snaps. How can you get Xavier Worthy out of your lineup at this point? I would start.

[Jamie]

Go just going back to the Chiefs running back situations. Dan Graziano, ESPN said that. Yeah, they're talking about giving.

[Adam]

I already said that, Buster.

[Jamie]

I wasn't listening to you.

[Heath]

There were multiple leagues where I saw Michael Carter go for 20, Namari Demarco for 15 and a little higher than I had bid. And I got Brashard Smith for one or two dollars. And I'm very happy about those leagues. I think that's a, That's a great. Like just sit him on the end of your bench and see. Maybe it won't. Maybe we'll be dropping in a couple weeks, but that's the type of guy you want to have at the end of the bench.

[Adam]

I would start Xavier Worthy over Jamar Chase. I bet you guys would not.

[Jamie]

No, no.

[Adam]

But everyone's going to start Xavier Worthy. I. I mentioned the Burchard Smith thing a while ago during the news and notes, not during this show for Jacksonville.

[Jamie]

I like this, Jonah. That's a great comment.

[Adam]

Oh, okay. Let's ask the Magic 8 ball if Adam cheated? I mean, I think I kind of did, to be honest. But did I cheat? Can't say now. All right, let's try. Did I cheat? Magic 8 ball. Unlikely. All right, I like this guy. Sit. Trevor Lawrence. We already talked about Kelsey versus Strange, but I think you guys said Kelsey, right?

[Jamie]

Slightly.

[Heath]

Slightly.

[Adam]

Brian Thomas Jr. ETN's top 15 start, Travis ETN. The Chiefs are giving up 5.2 yards per carry to running backs right now. Where are you guys on Brian Thomas Jr. Little misleading. I mean, the only running back they've done really well against was Hampton in week one.

[Jamie]

Yes, but they're giving up that yards per carry because justice still had three carries for 76 yards and Cam Scatter.

[Adam]

Boo average six yards per carry and Derek Henry had eight for 42, which is over five per carry. So it's really just been Hampton that struggled. That was week one. However, I for some reason also feel like their run defense is better than what it is on paper. But how are we feeling about Brian Thomas Jr. This week?

[Jamie]

There were steps in the right direction last week. Hopefully that continues. Start in three receiver leagues, sit in two receiver leagues.

[Heath]

Yep. High end wide receiver.

[Jamie]

Three.

[Adam]

Okay. Michael Carter or Brian Thomas Jr.

[Jamie]

I'll take Carter and non PPR for sure. And probably in all formats.

[Heath]

I will take Carter and non PPR and Thomas and everything else.

[Adam]

What about D. Mercado? D. Mercado?

[Heath]

Thomas.

[Jamie]

Braylon Allen now on injured reserve.

[Adam]

Okay. And Brenton Strange or Darren Waller?

[Jamie]

Waller.

[Heath]

Strange.

[Adam]

Strange. Or Kincaid? Okay. Very different there.

[Jamie]

Kincaid's history against Buffalo is actually pretty good against New England. Excuse me.

[Adam]

Chiefs DST is seventh for Jamie and Heath and 11th for Dave and the Jaguars, actually, they don't get sacked three sacks all season. It's amazing how how much their offensive line has been holding. I'm going to say good. They've run block. Well, this is just from what I've read and heard. They've run blocked. They've blocked in the run game well. And they've only given up three sacks. Gotta be doing something right. All right. Sunday night football. New England at Buffalo. Buffalo sees the fewest pass attempts in the NFL and allows the fewest passing yards per attempt. So how in are you on Drake May Jamie at this point?

[Jamie]

You know, number one quarterback, he's doing some great things with his legs. I think he's going to have to make a lot of plays in this game. And so just based on what he's shown through four starts and what I would expect to be a comeback effort, I Like him as a number one quarterback.

[Heath]

He's a number one quarterback. For me, I'm a little bit lower. I think there's some risk that this is a statement game for Buffalo in that like New England, you're not on this level yet. And whether it's real or not, the Bill's past defense has been a lot better than their run defense and their run defense has been terrible.

[Adam]

Would you start Drake May or Jared Goff at the Bengals?

[Heath]

Man, golf for me.

[Adam]

Drake May or. Oh, I had a good one. Kyler Murray against the Titans.

[Heath]

Kyler for me.

[Jamie]

So I think I have it ranked. Kyler.

[Adam]

I think Drake May or Dak May. I assume you're not going to want to start a Patriots running back.

[Jamie]

Would prefer not to. I mean this is, this feels like it's more of a Ramandre game just because of trusting the veteran in a big spot, but hopefully like if there was a setup for Travion Henderson, it's chasing points. Get a playmaker on the field and get him going like this should be the, the type of scenario where they draft what they. Where they drafted him for. But it's hard to trust at this point.

[Heath]

I would rather start a Patriots running back than. Than a Patriots wide receiver.

[Adam]

Oh, I'd start Diggs. I give him a chance. I mean, he only played. He played about 62 of the snaps or something like that. But that was a season high. I feel like it's been.

[Heath]

It is a revenge game.

[Adam]

It is. Yeah, that's true.

[Jamie]

He had one against them last year and had 14 PPR points for the Texans against Buffalo. But this is his first time going back to Buffalo.

[Adam]

You guys aren't that far apart on Diggs. Jamie has him 29th, Heath has him 34th. I can. Heath is obviously quite concerned about this past events and look, they held Garrett Wilson. The Bills have held Garrett Wilson, both Dolphins wide receivers, both Saints wide receivers to 50 or fewer yards. They are giving up some touchdowns though, as they flowers had a big game against them. I'm not saying I'd love to start Diggs. I would just start him over a Patriots running back.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I would agree.

[Heath]

Yeah. I just, I, I think I feel more confident that the Bills run defense is bad than I do that their past defense is good.

[Jamie]

I agree with that. 100. We just don't have a running back for New England that I trust. And so in the case of finally seeing something from Diggs with the hope that it's now a month into his return from the ACL tear Like now he's starting to get back up to speed and they need a player like this. So game flow for me would be chasing points. He's going to get some target opportunities and I think he takes advantage of it.

[Adam]

Would you start RJ Harvey or a Patriots running back?

[Jamie]

Probably Henderson.

[Heath]

Yeah, I've got Harvey and it has been last week, what was it? 12.5 for Miller, 11.2 for Camara.

[Adam]

So I have to make a point here that I should have made earlier. I forgot Ed Oliver and Matt Milano were limited in practice.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Adam]

So the Bills have been playing at least the last two games without those two key players, especially Oliver. Oliver, defensive lineman, Milano, a linebacker. Maybe that helps their run defense if those guys can come back.

[Heath]

No, it should if they're, if they're healthy.

[Adam]

Yeah. Well, they have like an extra six hours to get ready because you know it's in Sunday night game so that should help.

[Jamie]

Yep.

[Adam]

Michael Carter.

[Jamie]

I wonder if, you know when they make them active, do they go one over to 53 or do they just stop at 53? They could.

[Adam]

They're trying to make a trade right now, which is fine. So would you start both Cardinals running backs over any Patriots running back?

[Heath]

I would it for me right now it's Carter, Stevenson, Henderson, D. Mercado.

[Adam]

All right. But these guys are Patriots running backs. We don't want to start Hunter Henry. Is he a must start?

[Jamie]

It's not a great track record for him against this team.

[Heath]

Bad.

[Adam]

For whatever reason, no tight end has more than three targets against the Bills this year. Mark Andrews had one, Joanne Johnson had three. Joanne Johnson had 28 yards. That's the best for any tight end against Buffalo so far, I believe. I don't know what to make of that. Again, Buffalo is the best team in time of possession. They are just dominating that. Almost 35, 34 minutes and five seconds of possession. They've seen the third fewest plays in the NFL so that's helping their their defense start.

[Jamie]

Josh Allen, second best offense that they faced.

[Adam]

Yeah, I'm pumped to see how it looks. I guess I'll stay on on Hunter Henry. Brenton Strange or Hunter Henry?

[Jamie]

Strange.

[Heath]

Strange.

[Adam]

Waller or Henry Waller?

[Heath]

I have him back to back with Henry hire right now, but that may change.

[Adam]

Andrews or Henry? Henry start. Allen start cooking. Kincaid or Henry Kincaid. Henry for me and I asked you who's the best wide receiver in this game? I think we got different answers. I'll ask you again, who was it?

[Jamie]

It's digs for me and then I.

[Heath]

Think Coleman Shakir and Diggs are all within three or four spots for me. But right now I have Coleman. The heist.

[Jamie]

As the Patriots secondary gets healthier, I think it's going to be one of the toughest defenses to do anything against.

[Adam]

And by the way, they did not shadow Tedro McMillan last week with Christian Gonzalez. I, I sort of suspected at least in his first game back. They've got two cornerbacks that they like now, so those guys basically just stayed on their sides of the field. I think they played a lot of zone. Yeah, Shakir, you know four or five targets in each of the last two games, but he's had a kind of a crazy touchdown at least one, I think both games. So it's tough to trust that these are guys that if you have a waiver wire running back that you picked up, you, you get away from these receivers and you play the running backs. Right. I mean that's basically.

[Heath]

Yeah, we keep saying that. I just want to be clear, like the only one so far that we know is starting or think is starting is Michael Carter.

[Jamie]

Yeah, right, that right. But also you have one guy I'm sure we'll find out probably similar situation in a walking boot on a crutches and another guy where his coach said he may need how much whatever time he said for canals like so I think it's probably there's nobody really in the Thursday night game.

[Adam]

Bottom line is they're not great starts. Okay. Dallas is at the Jets. Buffalo DST by the way is kind of borderline start. Dallas is at the Jets. Your stat of the game. The last three quarterbacks to face the Cowboys have all finished top four for the week. Russell Wilson, Caleb Williams, Jordan Love. So that's why Justin Fields is a top two or three quarterback for everybody and he is the start of the week. Breece hall, starter, set, start, start. I mean we're starting pretty much, pretty much everyone that we normally start here. Right. And I think Dak is an interesting call. You guys are pretty far apart on him. So we can save him for last but Breeze Hall, Javante Williams, Garrett Wilson, George Pickens, absolute must starts. Are there any sleepers in this game because Kevonte Turpin may not play. So Jalen Tolbert, does he enter the sleeper discussion?

[Jamie]

Yes, but you got to be desperate. And again we're talking about four teams on a buy the wide receiver injuries that we're looking at. So you may need him as flex in a three receiver league. But I just think like Jake Ferguson and and Pickens are still Going to probably get a lot of target. Target opportunities and Javante out of the backfield. So Tolbert, you got a little bit lucky last week. He did have six targets. He had more than Turpin in the first game without CD Lamb. But he had that big fluky play on the sideline where, you know, Dak seemed like he was just throwing it away. And Tolbert made a great play. So desperation at best.

[Adam]

All right. And Ferguson, I forgot to mention him, but Jamie mentioned him. Ferguson is number one or two in the rankings. You are absolutely starting him.

[Jamie]

So the biggest leaper would be Mason Taylor.

[Adam]

Yeah. Yeah. Let's talk about Mason Taylor. Encouraging stuff the last two weeks. He has 13 targets. He's playing a lot. Miami's really bad against tight ends, so that's who he played last week. Dallas actually hasn't been that bad against tight ends, but they're, come on, they're not that good. So starter said Mason Taylor, Jamie Low.

[Jamie]

And starter, you know, so behind Strange. For example, I would actually take a chance on him over the Browns tight ends just because of the way that he's performing. So if you're looking at, you know, young tight end in terms of Taylor and Fannin and what their statuses have been the last couple of weeks, it feels like the jets are trying to get Taylor going and the Browns just can't get out of their own way to try and get Fanning back involved to the same level from a target perspective. So I don't think Dallas really has played a lot of great tight ends so far this season, which is why their numbers aren't as good as it may look. So I like the setup for, for Taylor, but again, low end starter. He's dealing with an ankle injury too. I think it's more maintenance. But I love the fact that the jets, we know what the jets are. You know, what the running back is at this point. You know, the quarterback, you know, the, the number one receiver. And now we may have a second option in the passing game.

[Heath]

I the thing, there's a couple things with Taylor and I like him a lot as a, as a talent. I don't know how much of last week was the Dolphins being so terrible against tight ends. It was a going home game. I'm not sure if we talked about that last week.

[Adam]

No.

[Heath]

For Mason Taylor, but had a. Had a big, big family crowd there. He had 10.3 fantasy points the first three weeks of the season combined. Yeah, I think what's really going to be key here is because the Cowboys run Defense has been pretty good. What's the game script of this game? It's only a two and a half point spread. Is Justin Fields throwing a lot early? They haven't really done that this year. Or is he just having success as a rusher and scoring fantasy points that way? And there's a 20 attempt game where 10 of them go to Garrett Wilson.

[Adam]

Well, what does this mean for Dak Prescott Stack is 11th for Jamie is our last guy. We're going to talk about 11th for Jamie and 18th for Heath.

[Heath]

16Th.

[Adam]

Okay. It has changed since yesterday. 12th for Jamie now and 16th for Heath. So a little bit closer. He had a great game last week. 37 points against Green Bay. But the week before that 14 points at Chicago and those were the two games that he played without CD Lamb and he threw 40 passes in both of them. So Jamie make the case for Dak.

[Jamie]

I think he's just in that low end starting group. I don't really trust the jets secondary aside from Sauce Gardner. So can he find a way to get production from his other options? If Pickens for whatever reason is, is shut down, I don't think he's going to fear throwing on Gardner because that really hasn't been his M.O. so what version of Dak Prescott will we get here? I think the jets are going to score points against the Cowboys. I don't think this Cowboys defense is, is good at all. I think you look at, huh.

[Adam]

Hot take. Yeah, they're the worst defense in the world. They suck.

[Jamie]

Yeah, right. So the implied total for these two teams based on how they've operated so far this season suggests that that's going to be the case. And so Dax, track record so far this season when not playing the slow paced Eagles has been 34 or 40 or more attempts. He had 34 attempts in week one. I think in 34 attempts, even against his jets defense, he'll have success. So I, I guess he just likes the, the streaming guys better, which is fine. You know, their, their matchups are great to me. I'm going to stick with what Dak did in a very difficult matchup last week and hope that carries over against the Jets.

[Heath]

Yeah, I think like that mentioning the slow paced Eagles is a good reference point against the jets too. Like they're. That's kind of my concern. And you said it Adam. Like it's 40 attempts for Dak every week, but it's 30 attempts or fewer against the jets every week. And Josh Allen, Baker, Mayfield, Tua, all below 20 fantasy points the last three weeks not necessarily because the defense is so good. Those guys were pretty efficient passers the last two. It's just they're not throwing that much because the jets run the ball so much. The clock's always running when they have the ball.

[Adam]

It's true.

[Jamie]

It could be a similar game to what happened for the Cowboys in week one where Javante gets two touchdowns and Dak play great.

[Adam]

Yeah, I think this game's going over 47 and a half. I'm excited. The Dolphins jets game ended up going over right, Heath? Because it was a yes. Yeah, we were talking about it did.

[Heath]

And that was like should have gone way over. It went over with a fumble at the goal line.

[Adam]

Right.

[Heath]

And like three red zone field goals.

[Adam]

Yeah. And I don't think we really talked about this, but I can't imagine Isaiah Davis is as big of a goal line threat to Breece hall as Braylon Allen was. So if you have Breece hall probably in better long term outlook right now. Okay. Sorry to put it in such blunt terms. Thank you all for watching and listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow with the ANFC home games and we'll just do this show again. NFC home games tomorrow and a recap of Thursday Night Football. Good luck tonight, everybody, and talk to you tomorrow.

[Jamie]

Paramount Podcast.

[Heath]

Now streaming. Everyone who comes into this clinic is a mystery.

[Adam]

We don't know what we're looking for.

[Heath]

Their bodies are the scene of the crime. Their symptoms and history are clues.

[Adam]

You saved her life.

[Heath]

We're doctors and we're detectives. I kind of love it, if I'm being honest. Solve the puzzle, save the patient, Watson. All episodes now streaming on Paramount.

[Jamie]

Plus.