Fantasy Football 2017 - Starts of the Week, Week 17 Matchups, Overvalued in 2018

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary
Episode Title: Fantasy Football 2017 - Starts of the Week, Week 17 Matchups, Overvalued in 2018
Release Date: December 28, 2017
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright delve into the intricacies of Week 17 in the 2017 NFL season. They provide comprehensive fantasy football analysis, discussing optimal player starts, key matchups, and identifying players who may be overvalued in the upcoming 2018 season. The trio offers expert insights, helping fantasy managers navigate the complexities of the final week and make informed decisions for the future.

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Fantasy Forecast for Week 17

Key Topics Covered:

• Player Starts: Recommendations on which players to start based on Week 17 matchups.
• Overvalued Players for 2018: Analysis of players who might be drafted too high in the next season's fantasy drafts due to their 2017 performances.
• Injury Updates: Impact of player injuries on fantasy decisions, notably concerning Todd Gurley and Carson Wentz.

Notable Discussion: Mike Wright introduces the week's focus: "The fantasy forecast for Week 17, starts of the week, Week 17 matchups, overvalued in 2018" (02:10).

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Overvalued Players for 2018

Carson Wentz: Andy Holloway expresses concerns about Carson Wentz being overdrafted next season. He states, "If he was healthy and he won the MVP coming into next year, I would be saying be careful, be careful with Carson Wentz. He's probably going to be overdrafted." (04:10)

Devin Funchess: Brooks identifies Devin Funchess as an overvalued wide receiver, highlighting inconsistent performance dependent on team dynamics: "There's a big gap. We don't know if Devin Funches can thrive in that offense for fantasy purposes." (07:25)

Alvin Kamara: Mike Wright raises concerns about Alvin Kamara's efficiency, suggesting he might be drafted too high: "The efficiency levels, they're just tough to sustain. I'm not sure he's a top five pick for me, but he might go in that range." (08:43)

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Week 17 Matchup Analysis

1. Packers vs. Lions:

• Coaching Decisions: Jim Caldwell may use this game to evaluate players for his job, potentially impacting player performance.
• Player Focus: Matthew Stafford and Jamal Williams are highlighted as key players. Andy mentions, "Matthew Stafford is playing for his coach's job. He's in a matchup against Green Bay where they are giving up plenty of points." (20:12)

2. Texans vs. Colts:

• Player Highlights: Devin Funchess and Ty Hilton are discussed for their potential impact. Brooks states, "Ty Hilton is a Texan slayer. He likes to have massive games against the Texans, so I think he's a great play." (24:25)

3. Bears vs. Vikings:

• Quarterback Speculation: With Sam Bradford, Teddy Bridgewater, and Case Keenum as free agents, the starting quarterback position is uncertain. Mike predicts, "I think it's going to be Sam Bradford." (14:32)
• Player Performance: Concerns about Jordan Howard's consistency and suggestions to prefer Malcolm Brown. Andy adds, "I pumped the brakes on Jordan Howard. I just don't see the Bears being able to do much in Minnesota." (27:23)

4. Jets vs. Patriots:

• Running Game Focus: Emphasis on the Patriots' running backs due to cold weather likely limiting passing attempts. Andy advises, "Always good with Mr. Necessary Charles Clay we've talked about." (28:43)

5. Browns vs. Steelers:

• Team Motivations: The Steelers aim to avoid infamy by not finishing winless, while the Browns struggle with consistency. Mike remarks, "Tomlin has rested guys in the past. I think the smart move as a coach is to rest your players if you can." (42:30)

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Starts of the Week Recommendations

Quarterbacks:

• Matthew Stafford (Lions): Andy Holloway endorses Stafford as a safe and high-ceiling quarterback due to his motivation to secure his job and the Packers' weak defense: "He's going to be one of the safest quarterbacks this week. That actually has a really high ceiling." (46:22)

Wide Receivers:

• Josh Gordon (Steelers): Despite prior inconsistencies, Josh Gordon is recommended against the Steelers' defense: "The Pittsburgh Steelers give up big plays and that is Josh Gordon's specialty." (47:19)
• Robbie Anderson (Giants): Recognized for his consistent targeting and potential milestone achievements: "Robbie Anderson still has the talent... and I'll bring in my tight end start now." (47:59)

Tight Ends:

• Jack Doyle (Steelers): Mike suggests Doyle due to favorable matchup against a weak Texans defense: "Jack Doyle is the eighth tight end of the year... facing Houston, currently the eighth tight end of the year." (48:43)
• Charles Clay (Patriots): Andy supports Clay for his matchup against Miami's struggling defense: "This is the playoff week we want and need from Mr. Necessary Charles Clay." (49:07)

Running Backs:

• Kenyon Drake (Patriots): Targeting Drake against Buffalo's poor rush defense: "Kenyon Drake is facing the worst rush defense... so I think Kenyon Drake gets the workload to justify a start." (49:43)
• Jamal Williams (Lions): Andy highlights Williams' involvement in the passing game: "I absolutely think he will be involved in the passing and I realize he wasn't last week." (50:02)
• C.J. Anderson (Colts): Brooks recommends Anderson for his proximity to a 1,000-yard season and favorable matchup: "C.J. Anderson is very close to a top 12 finish... Chiefs could be resting some defensive starters." (50:32)

Kickers:

• Matt Prater (Lions): Jason Moore confidently recommends Prater as the kicker of the week: "Your commissioner set up a Week 17 championship like a traitor and there's no need to worry. Just use the Lion's Matt Prater." (52:03)

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Insights and Conclusions

The hosts emphasize the unpredictability of Week 17 due to various factors such as coaching decisions, player motivations, and potential resting of starters. They caution fantasy managers to remain flexible and consider streaming options based on the evolving scenarios. Additionally, the discussion on overvalued players serves as a strategic guide for those looking forward to the 2018 fantasy football season, advising caution in drafting players who may not sustain their 2017 performances.

Closing Remarks: Mike Wright encourages listeners to stay connected through their community platforms and hints at continued discussions and analyses in future episodes: "The DFS podcast is going to be going all the way through the NFL playoffs." (52:54)

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Notable Quotes:

• "If he was healthy and he won the MVP coming into next year, I would be saying be careful, be careful with Carson Wentz. He's probably going to be overdrafted."
  — Andy Holloway 04:10

• "Tomlin has rested guys in the past. I think the smart move as a coach is to rest your players if you can."
  — Mike Wright 42:30

• "He's going to be one of the safest quarterbacks this week. That actually has a really high ceiling."
  — Andy Holloway 46:22

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This comprehensive summary captures the essence of the Fantasy Footballers episode, highlighting strategic advice, player evaluations, and critical insights to aid fantasy football enthusiasts in making informed decisions during Week 17 and beyond.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Foot Clan. There are so many, I would say thousands of people out there tweeting about their hashtag Foot Clan titles. You got to go to fantasychamps.com and commemorate your victory with a championship ring, with a championship belt, with a championship trophy. And while you're at it, just get a loser trophy for whoever you took down. Fantasychamps.com you can save 10% with the promo code Ballers foreign.

[Jason Moore]

To the Fantasy Footballers Podcast coming to you from the Play Draft Studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Mike Wright]

Ah, welcome in. Let's get this show on the road. Yet another day in the life of fantasy football player. And we are here to be your guides, to be your navigator as you captain your ship on the stormy week 17 seas.

[Brooks]

That just makes me think of Flight of the Navigator.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow.

[Brooks]

All right. Classic, classic Disney movie in the 80s. Ah, you guys missed out.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, those crickets over here.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I was born, I was born there in the 80s so people know.

[Brooks]

I do not leak navigator.

[Andy Holloway]

You leak. Oh, leaky navigator.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, we are in on the joke.

[Andy Holloway]

Ha ha. Funny one.

[Mike Wright]

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers podcast, man. I guess champions just don't get those references right, J.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I mean, we're above it. It was like, oh, I see those navigators way down there.

[Mike Wright]

Was that joke verified?

[Brooks]

Oh, no, he's just walking out the door.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike is gone.

[Mike Wright]

Welcome to the show.

[Brooks]

Like we don't know things. Let's make fun of the guy who knows things.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, Twitter don't get your voice. They always do.

[Mike Wright]

They do. Everybody loves you, Mike. Except for those that want you to see for no reason. Brooks, how are you doing this fine morning?

[Guest]

Great. We're off to a great start.

[Mike Wright]

Good, good. Yeah, we are off to a great start. Welcome into the show. We've got a great one. The fancy forecast for week 17, starts of the week. Boom, boom. Kicker. We also have a great quick question looking to 2018. So I think you'll be intrigued by the question and the answers this morning. Very excited to get going. We're getting more and more information about which players are likely to play in week 17.

[Brooks]

It just keeps getting worse.

[Mike Wright]

I was telling this to Jason yesterday. Even though the majority, I mean, by definition the majority of leagues are over, even though that's the case, these rankings that we have this week, which are up on the website now, there may be the most trepidatious and difficult to, you know, you got to micro change them because of the amount of players being said. Oh, we're going to play part of the game or we might play part of the game or we might play none of the game or now reports this morning that the Saints might be in better shape to lose and get the four seed than they'd be to win and take the three seeds. So we'll get into all of that. But it's going to be, it's going to be an exciting week for many of you. I know that. We'll try to help you come away with that Foot Clan title without Todd Gurley. That's the goal this week. Win it without Todd Gurley. Quick question of the day. Brooks threw this one in. There comes comes off of Twitter says Cooper Hood asks early look ahead to 2018 which player will consistently be overdrafted because of their performance this year? So who's your early overdrafted candidate? A player that's going to go too high in too many leagues just because they had a big year. Which I mean, maybe you look at last year and you say, you know, who might that have been? That might have been Dak Prescott.

[Andy Holloway]

Might have been Matt Ryan. Sure.

[Brooks]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

A guy that I tried to say don't draft this guy over and over and he is actually. Well, the reason I bring that up, reason I bring that up is because the guy that I am going to be doing this on next year is very similar to me to Matt Ryan from the year before, same position. It's actually Carson Wentz. Despite the injury or actually even especially because of the injury, Carson Wentz's touchdown rate was incredible, otherworldly. It put half of Aaron Rodgers seasons to shame. So if he was healthy and he won the MVP coming into next year, I would be saying be careful, be careful with Carson Wentz. He's probably going to be overdrafted. He's going to be drafted as a top five quarterback, go too high. And you know, we don't like drafted quarterbacks early regardless. But now you have a guy who was on pace for 359 rushing yards, which is basically what Cam Newton did last year, who's coming off of a late season ACL injury. I'm just worried that coming into next year, I think Carson Wentz will absolutely be drafted as a top five quarterback based on what he did this year. I think that is a tragic mistake I will not be making. And that is not to say that I think Carson Wentz is a bad quarterback long term. I absolutely love Carson Wentz, but I do think he'll have some time next year to come back to form. And if you look at I Mean, just look at the lay of the land of all these hot young quarterbacks, Winston and Mariota and Dak Prescott and you know, they're all kind of going into that. Oh, it's not just as easy as, you know, it as it seemed like it was going to be. So that, that's my, I guess you could call it an early season. Pump the brakes on Carson Wentz and.

[Mike Wright]

I won't argue with you too much. I think I'm going to let time dictate my opinion on that a little bit more.

[Brooks]

I'm just going to throw this out for, for the people who were saying, you know, Matt Ryan's touchdown percentage for throws was you can, you cannot carry that over to next year. Last year Matt Ryan was at 7.1%. So 7.1% of his throws were a touchdown. Carson wentz this season 7.5. I mean that's Aaron Rodgers is generally speaking in the high fives. Yes, Aaron Rodgers does have, he has his own outlier seasons of one of nine which was. Was ridiculous and a couple over seven. But for the most part Aaron Rodgers is in those mid sixes high fives. So.

[Andy Holloway]

And he's Aaron Rodgers.

[Brooks]

Right?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

The price is probably going to. Even if I disagree with some of the narrative, the price is probably going to be too high, which means I agree. So I mean that's what overdrafted means. So fundamentally that makes sense. I don't think that, you know, maybe next year you lose some of that rushing yardage. You know that you're an Andrew Luck range when you're talking 300 yards rushing. I mean that's about what a rushing non Cam Newton does. Mike, who's your overdrafted candidate for next year?

[Brooks]

My candidate is Devin S. Scrumptious. He is the wide receiver too on the season. I'm sorry, America.

[Mike Wright]

So we're not playing that a lot next year is what you're saying.

[Brooks]

What I'm saying is that I think he will be overdrafted as he is the wide receiver, 20 on the season.

[Mike Wright]

Like Calvin used to be.

[Brooks]

But here's the problem. You can go, here's his two year splits and games with and without Greg Olson. He in the full two years with Greg Olson in the, in the games he averages under 7 PPR points a game without him over 14. And if you take a look at just this year, it does move up.

[Andy Holloway]

To which is the only year that should be relevant.

[Brooks]

Yeah but I'm just saying the splits is. It's nine so he's at nine points compared to over 14. So there's a. There's a big gap. We don't know if Devin Funches can thrive in that offense for fantasy purposes. When Greg Olson's heavy or heavy healthy. Another year of Christian McCaffrey.

[Mike Wright]

I don't think Devin Funches is a one. I don't think he's a legit NFL one. So I think they bring somebody else in and that you. Maybe that solves the overdrafted problem. But I agree with the narrative.

[Brooks]

Yeah. So moving into next year, if they don't bring someone in, I think that Devin Fund just will be overdrafted.

[Mike Wright]

The name that popped into all of our heads and we've been talking about a little bit late lately is unfortunately, Alvin Camara. I think Alvin Camara is going to go too darn high now. He's a great player, but when you look at some of. Look, you make the argument for Carson Wentz. There's some arguments there for Alvin Camara.

[Brooks]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

On the season, he's averaging 7.7 yards from scrimmage per touch. The next closest is the Todd Gurley. Is Todd Gurley at 6.1. You know the range and then you get into the fives and the fours just for third through fifth place.

[Andy Holloway]

That's.

[Brooks]

That's a monster gap.

[Mike Wright]

Pretty, pretty big gap. I'm not sure he's a 78 touchdown on the ground year, which is. He's at 7 already this year. 700 plus receiving yards. It's not that Alvin Camaro won't be great. I think great is still in the realm of possibility. But we're talking about draft position. We're talking about him going probably significantly higher than a guy like Mark Ingram, probably higher than some of these other, you know, more traditional workhorse backs. Drew Brees getting older, a shared backfield. I just think that those efficiency levels, they're just tough to sustain. Stain and I'm not sure he's, you know, he's not going to be a top five pick for me, but he might go in that range.

[Brooks]

I think he will. I think 5 is about the threshold. I think if you set the over under he said 105 for Alva Camara. I think it would be tough to not push because he's going to go right around there. And I'm with you. He's a great player. It's going to be sensational. But that efficiency every single year would be very, very difficult to keep up.

[Mike Wright]

I'll throw an honorable mention out there because I've seen people say he's going to be a buy low for them of Lamar Miller and Lamar Miller is the RB12 on the year. I think this is the last year ever going to see of RB1 finishing Lamar Miller.

[Brooks]

I think he's off the team next year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'm not sure he is a Texan but we'll see.

[Mike Wright]

No, I don't think he will be either but I think his his days as a fantasy, you know, relevant RB2 might be over as well. Twitter @ the ffballers come and follow us on Twitter. Follow Mike at ffhipitman follow Jason at Jasonason FFL I'm @andy Holloway. The fantasy footballers.com is the website, the community. JoinTheFoot.com we're going to be going to two shows a week starting in January. If you want to add an extra show, we do a bonus show just for our [e-mail] so while the season may be coming to a close, it never ends here with the fantasy footballers. We have a lot of fun in the off season. Talk about a lot of different topics. We get into a lot of the different strategies and if you've heard and seen the feedback from some of the Foot clan members on jointhefoot.com or on Twitter, Facebook, they've got a lot of value off of that off season extra episode. You get your questions answered and you get a lot of insight on not only how to succeed but how to build a great league. Be a great commissioner, be a great.

[Andy Holloway]

League member or woman. Just be a great human.

[Mike Wright]

Be a great human.

[Andy Holloway]

We go deep.

[Mike Wright]

We go real deep.

[Guest]

We're doing a live stream for the for Foot Clan members later today.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, that's right.

[Guest]

That's pretty Eastern.

[Brooks]

The judge keeps people on on task.

[Mike Wright]

It's funny how similar the sound they make when they realize a live stream's coming this afternoon to if they saw a spider in the room. I mean it sounded very.

[Andy Holloway]

You both went, oh yeah, I would love it if that were true. But the sound that I make if I saw a large spider in the room would be a sound you don't want to hear. And I don't want the people to hear it.

[Mike Wright]

The earth has never heard such a.

[Andy Holloway]

Sound, such a high pitched squeal as I jump up on a table.

[Brooks]

When you take a balloon and you pinch the tip, but then you just slightly open it. That's what happens to Jason.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that.

[Mike Wright]

Until all the air is out of his body.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, maybe a cricket then. Maybe that was more of the cricket sound. The cricket Sound. All right, let's get into the news.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, guys, Melvin Gordon says he'll be ready to play in Week 17 against the Raiders.

[Brooks]

Of course he did.

[Mike Wright]

Chargers coach Anthony Lynn said Brandon Oliver will get the start if Melvin Gordon is unable to play. I'm taking the very simple if he's active, stardom, win with your stud that is active in week 17.

[Brooks]

Yeah, I would if I. I'm the detractor of this week. But if Gordon is active, yes, I would play him.

[Mike Wright]

Goff and Gurley, they're not going to be active. Not going to play on Sunday.

[Brooks]

Oh, Sean Manion week.

[Andy Holloway]

I have always loved Sean Manion and now I get opportunity to see Sean Manion.

[Mike Wright]

You got to pick up a jersey. Little pristine auction Sean Manion jersey.

[Andy Holloway]

You know it already got it.

[Mike Wright]

How much are they paying you to take it?

[Brooks]

Yeah, say they pay you to pick it up.

[Guest]

I got a real quick point in this gurley thing. Ryan McDowell tweeted out how Gurley currently leads all running backs and rushing yards, touchdowns, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns.

[Mike Wright]

Pretty good.

[Guest]

No running back has finished the season as the leader of all those and now he won't able to. Oh, he's going to get past. That's a shame hunt probably. And wow, yards.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, well, we'll see how much work Kareem Hunt actually gets this week. If Pat Mahomes is starting, there may be hope for Gurley yet. All right, as I said, Pat Mahomes starting against the Broncos. So, you know, Alex Smith is going to be on the bench and then Davis Webb's going to be the backup for Eli Manning. So we'll see if Davis Webb gets some snaps for New York. Mike Zimmer says Sam Bradford is returning to practice next week. Could be on the active playoff roster. If things go right, we'll see what happens. Jason, you brought this up yesterday. All three.

[Andy Holloway]

What a situation. I mean, it's unbelievable for the Minnesota.

[Mike Wright]

Let's just call our shot right now. Starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings to begin next year is.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Because all three. Sam Bradford, Teddy Bridgewater and Case Keenum are all free agents. Who do you resign?

[Mike Wright]

I think it's going to be Sam Bradford. I think Sam Bradford will be the starting quarterback to begin next year. I putting it on out there right now.

[Brooks]

I'm going Case Keenum.

[Andy Holloway]

I lean Case Keenum, too, and I lean that way on the.

[Mike Wright]

He'll have a ring on his finger.

[Andy Holloway]

Super bowl run.

[Brooks]

It's very possible. It's. I don't Know, I don't know if this, if the Vikings can give Sam Bradford the contract that he's going to want with the injuries that happened to Sam Bradford. I mean they've now, they've experienced it firsthand. You cannot count on Sam Bradford to be your 16 game starter.

[Mike Wright]

But does Sam Bradford, I mean, you think Bradford is going to want that and demand that kind of contract somewhere else? I mean, does he go to Arizona? Does he go to a quarterback needy team that's willing to pay that money to take that risk or is he going to find that money elsewhere is my point.

[Brooks]

But even a mid level contract for a starter who you think, well, there's just about a zero percent chance he's going to give us 16 games.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean, I mean Josh McCown got, he was, he's going to get paid.

[Mike Wright]

And the Vikings are going to expect to pay a quarterback. I mean, they're not going to expect to, you know, take this foundational team and not have to pay a quarterback. I don't know. I think it's going to be really exciting and interesting and you know, Mike Zimmer is a heck of a coach and they've done a lot of amazing things after losing Dalvin Cook and Bradford and Bridgewater.

[Brooks]

I just hope Teddy finds a start, finds a home.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he still has a future.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he might be the starting quarterback for the Vikings next year. I mean, he could play out any number of ways.

[Mike Wright]

As a Cardinal fan. I just want a starting quarterback. Can I just get any of them? Oh, anyone at all.

[Brooks]

Trust all I. I'm just emitting into the universe.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, I know what you want.

[Andy Holloway]

The pheromones for Kirk.

[Brooks]

Oh, yeah, the pheromones are strong right now. Kirk's. He's getting a whiff. He's coming.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my gosh. Do you wear the new, the new scent? You like that? By Calvin Klein?

[Brooks]

Yes, it's actually by Couzins.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, by Cousins.

[Brooks]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. You like that? He's playing for some money. I'll tell you that. He's gonna get paid.

[Brooks]

I will give him money. I will pay him from my pocket.

[Andy Holloway]

Please.

[Mike Wright]

There's a GoFundMe account set up in Mike's. Mike set it up for Kirk Cousins to come to Arizona. All right. Hey, before we jump into the fantasy forecast, I do want to say thanks to Pristine Auction. Look, Pristine Auction is the absolute best place to look. You get a little extra Christmas money, some Christmas cheddar, you go to pristineauction.com and you commemorate your fantasy football title. With an autographed jersey, helmet, framed photo, whatever you want. They have hundreds of daily auctions, all authentic merchandise. Here's some that went yesterday for sale. An Alvin Camara signed custom frame photo display, 121 bucks. A Steve Young signed 49er jersey, 109 dollars. Stefan Diggs Speed Blaze mini helmet, 63 bucks. A DJ David Johnson coming back for next year. Signed cardinal jersey, $76.

[Brooks]

Oh, that's Tyreek Hill steal.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

97 bucks for an inscribed jersey. That's pretty cool. So check it out. Pristine Auction.com let them know that the fantasy footballer sent you.

[Brooks]

We want to thank Quip for sponsoring today's show. Ladies and gentlemen, most of us, we're not brushing our teeth properly and you can start brushing better today with Quip. It's a new company. They're refreshing the way that people brush their teeth. Starting at just 25 bucks. Quip is an electric toothbrush that packs premium vibration and timer features into an ultra slim design. It's half the cost of bulkier brushes. Imagine if Apple had designed a toothbrush without the Apple price tag. You can even subscribe to receive new brush heads on a dentist recommended three month plan for just five bucks. That includes free shipping. You have to see it and brush with it yourself. I have Equip. I've been brushing with it for months now. I love it. It's even got this, the holder. You just stick it right to your mirror. You're never playing the game. Where's my toothbrush? Is my toothbrush getting dirty? No, it's right there on the vanity mirror. They won a 2016 GQ Grooming Award. It's been on Oprah's 2017 New Year's O list. You make it on the O list, that's when you know you've made it.

[Mike Wright]

Right now, are we on the O list?

[Brooks]

Not yet.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Brooks]

Not yet.

[Andy Holloway]

Coming soon.

[Brooks]

You got to get to quip.comfootballers to get your first refill pack free with a Quip electric toothbrush. That's your first refill pack free at quip or getquip.com so I apologize.

[Mike Wright]

I was going to say it's getquip.com.

[Brooks]

I messed it up the first time. Getquip.com footballers getquip.com footballers G-E T Q U I P.com footballers.

[Jason Moore]

Fantasy forecast.

[Brooks]

Did I misspell Quip?

[Mike Wright]

I don't think so.

[Andy Holloway]

You don't think? Brooks, can I get a ruling?

[Guest]

I was starting to think too. And then you beat me. Yeah, I think so.

[Brooks]

I think.

[Andy Holloway]

There you go.

[Guest]

Think left the letter out.

[Brooks]

Q, U, I, P. We did it. We got there.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, let's get into the forecast for week 17. All these games on Sunday, right? No Thursday night, no color rush, no Saturday night game. The packers, they take on the Lions. All right, storylines from this game. Jim Caldwell could be his last game as a head coach for the Lions. He said he doesn't plan on using this last game to evaluate any younger players. AKA he's going to use his job. He's going to use his usual starters as long as they're healthy. And so we're talking about Matthew Stafford, we're talking about Golden Tate, Marvin Jones, Eric Ebron, who's been on roll. Seems like you can roll him out there.

[Andy Holloway]

This is the game that I keep finding myself wanting pieces in this game.

[Brooks]

Me, too.

[Andy Holloway]

Because when a player is playing for their coach's job, we've seen it in the past, they really go all out. The Green Bay packers defense is not that good. They have very little to play for. And this week, there is, you know, a super cold front coming into the United States along the east.

[Mike Wright]

Not to Arizona, though.

[Andy Holloway]

No. But also not in domes. So I really like the fact that this game is in Detroit, not a bio dome with teams that have bad defenses and something to play for. It's just, you know, it stacks up where in a week 17 full of garbage. I want a lot of assets.

[Mike Wright]

Here's the problem, though. I was. I was reading up on this game this morning, and the expectation, at least from some of the other analysts that are previewing this game, is that Devonte Adams, Jordy Nelson, Aaron Jones are all not going to play in this game. So are you taking a shot with a Randall Cobb or with a Michael Clark? Like, where do you actually find value? Well, you say you want a bunch of pieces, but you find value. Is that only on one side of the ball?

[Andy Holloway]

Mostly on one side of the ball. Although my start of the week, Jamal Williams, I think, is going to be a great play. He'll be utilized as a receiver as he was in the past. With Aaron Jones out of the way, I just don't think there's an. You just named it, right? You've got all these wide receivers missing. Aaron Jones is gone. They'll probably be down. I don't know how they couldn't utilize him in the receiving game. So you're right. I hope they do, but they will.

[Brooks]

I'm with you. I love Jamal Williams. And this is. Chris Raybon was tweeting about this, that the packers defense lately, they've been shutting down wide receiver ones since Antonio Brown killed them in Week 12. Week 13, Mike Evans 2 for 33, Josh Gordon 3 for 69 and touchdown. Not shut down, but, you know, held in check. Devin Funch is 1 for 19, Adam Thielen 2 for 24. Meanwhile, wide receiver twos are having bigger games like Corey Coleman, Demir Bird, Stefan Diggs. They're have. They're having a big game.

[Andy Holloway]

So it's because they've got one great corner.

[Brooks]

So would you. Do you have confidence that that will be Golden Tate, who has been massively disappointing lately?

[Andy Holloway]

It's always tough to tell, like who is the wide receiver one and who is the wide receiver two for the Lions? Is it. Is it. Which one is Golden Tate? Which one is Marvin Jones?

[Brooks]

Which one is Kenny Golladay?

[Andy Holloway]

I. Well, I don't know.

[Brooks]

I know he's the third. I'm not saying he's the second read, but he's not. Galladay's on the outside.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. The X receiver, I would say Marvin Jones is probably the one that gets the most sleigh bells. This week's. This week.

[Mike Wright]

His own.

[Brooks]

His own DB's gonna cover him.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. In practice.

[Mike Wright]

Got it. The practice review.

[Brooks]

Oh, he thought he was coming with a good Christmas joke.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

That's what you were focused on. There was the Christmas.

[Andy Holloway]

I was just thinking.

[Mike Wright]

By the way, I mean, I do agree with Jamal Williams play. He's the best player on that team, but last week, Jamal Williams and Aaron Jones had no receptions, so.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Mike Wright]

There's at least a variable there of Brett Hundley just being not very good. The Texans take on the Colts. Hooray. Is this Chuck Pagano's final game eve?

[Brooks]

Yeah, it should be. I believe it is. However, I love me some Colts.

[Mike Wright]

This is a battle.

[Brooks]

I love it.

[Mike Wright]

To not finish last place. The loser of this game is last place in the division. Oh, isn't that a treat? This is like in our fantasy league, our league of record, when you finish last place.

[Brooks]

Yeah. You don't want that.

[Mike Wright]

You get 12 cups of water thrown on you before the draft with the wheel of water, and then you sit there and you draft wet. So which team doesn't want to. Doesn't want to be wet today? It's probably going to be the Colts that come away on top in this one. The Texans cannot move the ball on offense. All the healthy players, we're putting them out there, right?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I mean, even. I mean, Ty Hilton should be primed for A good game.

[Mike Wright]

I thought about making him start of the week until I noticed somebody else had it.

[Brooks]

Like I said, I love me some Colts. Ty Hilton is a Texan slayer. He likes to have massive games against the Texans, so I think he's a great play.

[Mike Wright]

Finally he faces Darius Slay as well. Right?

[Brooks]

Finally we can play Ty Hilton with some confidence and baby hands. Jack Doyle, you got to love the matchup.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Brooks]

The Texans 29th against fantasy tight ends over the last six weeks. So.

[Andy Holloway]

And that leads to where's the beef?

[Brooks]

Yeah, Jacoby, where's the beef?

[Mike Wright]

Brissette, I know the answer to this, so I'll quiz you guys. Where is Jack Doyle on the season as tight end?

[Brooks]

Oh, I'm going to go tight end.

[Andy Holloway]

6.

[Brooks]

I was going to say 7.

[Mike Wright]

8.

[Brooks]

All right, let's go. Like the start he's been. He's been pretty consistent.

[Mike Wright]

DeAndre Hopkins playing for those stat lines.

[Brooks]

Oh, yes. Start him.

[Mike Wright]

So he's going to be out there. Lamar Miller did not get a very good share of the workload last week. I don't think he'll get one this week either. You got to see what you have in on Alfred Blue for the future. And Lamar Miller is probably an RB3 at best this week.

[Brooks]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

If you look at his stat line and Frank Gore stat line on the year. Yeah. Someone tweeted that identical.

[Brooks]

It was fantastic.

[Mike Wright]

Which is funny because last off season I came in here with my hate like I always do with Lamar Miller and what the two players that were the lowest in terms of like yards after initial contact. Like the. The least elusive players in the NFL, right. Were Frank Gore and Lamar Miller last year.

[Brooks]

Frank Gore makes sense.

[Mike Wright]

But one of them cost you a much higher pick. All right, the Bears, they take on the Vikings. And the Vikings, look, they are obviously in the playoffs, but they need to win over. They need to beat Chicago to lock up the first round or I'm sorry, to lock up home field.

[Brooks]

It might be tough. And the buy only 12 point favorites.

[Mike Wright]

Well, yeah, you're right. It should be easy. No doubt about that. They're at home. The Panthers, if they lose, will allow Minnesota lock it up as well and we could see another final game. John Fox could be out the door.

[Brooks]

Certainly could. And the interesting thing here for me on the Chicago side is, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bisky is the quarterback. Eight from weeks 14 through 16. He's been throwing more, he's been running more. This is the end of the road for that.

[Mike Wright]

I like the way you put that. This is the end of the road for that.

[Brooks]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

He's going to get smashed.

[Brooks]

So if you.

[Mike Wright]

Harrison smashed.

[Brooks]

Yeah. The people. Harrison smashed. All right. It's not bad. For those who are looking at Mitch's numbers over the past week going maybe.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. It's the same way I feel about Kendall. Right.

[Brooks]

Don't do it.

[Andy Holloway]

I pumped the brakes on Jordan Howard. I just don't see the Bears being able to do much in. In Minnesota for a team playing for the buy. I'm not excited. I mean, is there any bear that. I mean, I guess last time he faced Howard, I would be willing to start. Yeah. If you.

[Brooks]

If your options are just awful.

[Mike Wright]

Malcolm Brown.

[Brooks]

I was going to say Howard, do you want.

[Andy Holloway]

I would rather have Malcolm Brown if Brandon Oliver starts.

[Brooks]

Brandon Oliver or Jordan Howard, I think.

[Mike Wright]

I'll take Howard in both situations. I'll just go. I mean, two touchdown week even with inefficiency and he's had some monster weeks. I'll still go with him. By the way, Trubisky was 12 for 25 for 128 yards last time he played the Vikings. This year he was one touchdown, one interception and an 11 QBR rating.

[Brooks]

Howard was. Howard was 19 for 76 last time he played Minnesota. You know, I was at home, though.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm still.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to take the talent. I'm going to take the talent of Howard over the. I mean, I've seen Brandon Oliver.

[Brooks]

Talent over volume.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Volume is. It means multiple things with Brandon Oliver.

[Brooks]

All right.

[Mike Wright]

A scientific term as well. Latavius Murray or Jerick McKinnon in this game, if you had to pick one. Latavius Murray had a ton of snaps last week.

[Andy Holloway]

I think. I think that trend will continue similar to last week where the Vikings got up and, you know, you worry about the other teams not going to be able to necessarily keep up. This is just going to be a repeat of last week. Case Keenum was going to be my start of the week. And then I just. Similar to last week, it was like, okay, if he gets a touchdown or too early, he's pretty much not going to be used. I wouldn't even be surprised if he doesn't play the second half. If they've got this game under control, get Teddy Bridgewater in there, keep him healthy. So I mean, that. I think that that is.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he could not finish the game.

[Andy Holloway]

That's what I mean. Maybe not. Second half of fourth quarter now.

[Brooks]

Adam Thielen has had one good game, one good game in his past four outings.

[Mike Wright]

Him and Rudolph stunk last week, so are you confident rolling them back out there?

[Brooks]

Stefan Diggs, a touchdown needs of the last two games. Man, I still play him, though. I will still play him and I will. I'll play Diggs as well. Despite the Bears defense, they're pretty strong against fantasy quarterbacks, ranking eighth in the last six weeks, 19th against wide receivers. So I'm, I'll roll out Thielen and Diggs with some confidence.

[Mike Wright]

Is Kendall Wright a sneaky snart?

[Andy Holloway]

No, I don't. I don't want to start him against the, against the Vikings.

[Mike Wright]

I want to let people know because he's another one of those guys that maybe you're ignoring towards the end of the year. Last three games, he's had 10 reception seven and then four.

[Andy Holloway]

So.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I'm with you, Kendall.

[Brooks]

Right.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Brooks]

Yes. His Numbers targets, though.

[Mike Wright]

11, 13 and then six last week. All right. The jets take on the Patriots. Patriots are. Well, they're 15 and a half point favorites with a 45 point over under.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow.

[Mike Wright]

They need to win. They do need to win to clinch home field. Winning should not be an issue for them. They normally take care of their business in games like this, but they do need to win. And so do we expect to see Tom Brady, Deion Lewis and company, Rob Gronkowski, or, you know, is this a game where if it's handily put to bed, you don't have a fourth quarter from these guys?

[Andy Holloway]

Maybe. I mean, I love the running game here. Once again, this is a game that's going to be extremely cold weather. You're talking teams. So that, that usually means more rushing attempts, especially if the. I mean, when. Whenever you have a home team favored by this much and then you add in the cold weather, everything points towards the running game. So we got to monitor the practice reports, see if James White's active, if Gillisley is active. Burkhead was still sidelined at practice on Wednesday. Dion Lewis, obvious play, but I think Mike Gillisle, if it turns out like last week. Yeah, that's. That's why you got to monitor for unknown reasons. But whatever, whatever. Running backs are active for the Patriots, I'm fine with all of them.

[Brooks]

All right. Dion Lewis is. Yeah. An incredible start this week.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

What do you do with Brandon Cooks?

[Brooks]

Oh, Brandon Pierre Hooks.

[Andy Holloway]

The weather got cold.

[Brooks]

Yeah, it got frightful, as they say.

[Mike Wright]

But not delightful.

[Brooks]

No, is the opposite of delightful. In fact, Brandon Cooks, the last couple of weeks, 2 for 19, 4 for 60. Did score a touchdown. 1 for 38, 2 for 17. It's been bad. It's been bad the past few weeks.

[Guest]

Wide receiver, 48 over the playoff weeks. Oh, 14 through 16.

[Brooks]

Man, Brandon Cooks.

[Andy Holloway]

Yuck.

[Mike Wright]

Believe it or not, we're going to talk about Robbie Anderson in a little bit. Oh, there is a chance that Christian Hackenberg takes a few snaps. The kind of report that I saw from Bowles was, you know, he'll be active, which is I think only the third time in his career he'll be active. And he said he. I might, you know, I might put him in there. I might not. So Bryce Petty.

[Brooks]

If Todd Bowles is playing for his job, Christian Hackerberg will not see the field.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And he is playing for his job right now. So Bryce Petty is the starter. Bilal Powell had a big week last week, and otherwise Austin Severing Jenkins hasn't been practicing. I don't know what his status is. And he's not really. He's faded away.

[Brooks]

Yes, he has.

[Mike Wright]

Just like those touchdowns he caught. And that didn't count, by the way. Robbie Anderson targeted 9.2 times since week 13. That's the sixth highest in the league.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

The thing about Bryce Petty has come down, though, with Petty. Quality of the targets and the quantity. Yeah, both. Yeah, I looked at it this morning. The quantity of targets with Bryce Petty versus McCown has come down.

[Brooks]

Bryce Petty is played the three games the correct. Am I remembering that? Correct. But two, I think two. Well, then, I mean, 12 targets, seven targets. That's. I'll still take that. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

No, there's a reason he's my start of the week. The Redskins take on the Giants. Oh, boy. This game doesn't mean much, but if you remember last year, the Giants knocked the Redskins out of the playoffs in a fairly meaningless game for them as well.

[Brooks]

So they're going to knock them down in the division ranks, keep them from.

[Mike Wright]

Being a.500 season and it's a divisional matchup. We'll see what happens. Nothing on the line, though. And look, the Giants, they got troubles on the defensive side of the ball. Not only are they terrible, but they're terrible. Or as Jason might say, no safety Landon Collins, no Janoris Jenkins. We already know that. Eli Apples not on the field and now suspended. So Kirk Cousins, Josh Dockson, Jameson Crowder.

[Brooks]

The pheromones are increasing.

[Mike Wright]

Samajp Ryan practiced in full, intensifying.

[Andy Holloway]

That's good.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Kirk Cousins playing for that money, money, money.

[Brooks]

Yeah, Cousins is playing for a contract. He is an absolutely fantastic start. Josh Dachshund is somewhat intriguing as a wide receiver 3. But I love Jameson Crowder. I love him this week so very much.

[Mike Wright]

I think this might be the first time we have zero people to start on the other side of the ball. I think there's no one to start.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean, even Sterling Shepard, who I really love in general. It's not the greatest matchup.

[Mike Wright]

And then he's not practicing.

[Andy Holloway]

He's not practicing. And then if he plays, who's going to be the quarterback for the second half of the game? Is it going to be Davis Webb? I mean, it's. This is championship.

[Mike Wright]

You can start no one.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I believe you're right.

[Brooks]

I think you can still start Wayne Gallman with the volume. He's had no fewer than 40 receiving yards the past three weeks. So that becomes a low end running back to play for me against a team that's bad. Against running backs, yeah, you can.

[Mike Wright]

You and Gallman can hang out together. Stay together.

[Brooks]

I'm not calling him a one. I'm just saying you can play.

[Andy Holloway]

You heard it here, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

Mike says gallon's A1.

[Andy Holloway]

Sitting in a tree. K I S S I N G. You got me. Look, Vernon Davis had disappeared. People didn't want to play him last week. He showed back up.

[Mike Wright]

Nope.

[Andy Holloway]

This is a great matchup for Vernon Davis, the New York Giants. I am fine starting Vernon Davis this week.

[Mike Wright]

What do you have?

[Andy Holloway]

One catch, he'll be a low end, tight end one. I mean, once you get past the, you know, the. If you've got one of those automatic starts, you know, the Jack Doyles and above, then great. But if you're. If you are, you know, streaming week to week, I think Vernon Davis is an okay play here.

[Brooks]

So you're telling me that VD went away, but then it flared back up?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's hard to get rid of.

[Mike Wright]

Trying to get it to flare back up, which is not something people normally do. No, he's working on a flare up. I don't think it's going to happen.

[Brooks]

I apologize for that last joke.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's Brooks.

[Brooks]

Can we get a ruling?

[Mike Wright]

Brooks, do you, Brooks, feel like you want this?

[Guest]

I'm shooting it down right now. Document it.

[Mike Wright]

You're writing the ruling down? Are you gonna submit papers?

[Andy Holloway]

He's writing the timestamp down so he can go back and cut that one out.

[Mike Wright]

That's an interesting perspective. Cause I know what your ruling is gonna be. But yet you wrote it down so it makes your highlight show better. It's good.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yes.

[Mike Wright]

I was wrong in your faces.

[Brooks]

I apologize for nothing.

[Mike Wright]

I don't want. No.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, all right. Moving along.

[Mike Wright]

Well, we do. We want you addicted to the show. We want you to be what is happening. All right. The Cowboys 8 and 7 take on the 13 and 2 Eagles. Eagles are. Well now at this point they're 2 and a half point underdogs based on the fact that their starters, I guess, won't really be available. So 41 point over, under. I. You know that Foles. I bet you Foles, if I had to bet right now, I bet he gets a drive. I bet this is. I bet this is preseason week two. So one or two drives, maybe a quarter. Last week was the struggle. Right. 19 for 38, 163 yards, one touchdown, one pick. But they've talked about the backup, Sudfeld getting some reps.

[Brooks]

I feel like Foals will get a half.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. But that's not enough.

[Brooks]

But we're in agreement.

[Mike Wright]

You need about 8/4 with Foles right now to get the value. You're only going to get maybe one.

[Brooks]

Or two in total agreement that Nick Foles will not play the entire game.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, this is a scary situation. You know, I prefer what the Rams are doing where they're just saying, hey, these guys are sitting. So, you know, Malcolm Brown becomes a guy. I can start here. You. It's not that. It's like, well, we're not, you know, they're going to maybe start play a little bit, not play. So I can't sit here and go, okay, Corey Clement is a great play because he's going to get all this work. Maybe.

[Mike Wright]

I like Corey Clement. He's the one guy that I think he's not coming out the field here will be.

[Brooks]

The hard part is when you find out that Wendell Smallwood is in fact active.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, who that's going to.

[Brooks]

That'll screw everything up.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's really tough.

[Mike Wright]

We have Trey Burton ranked higher than Zach Ertz right now.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I would not play Zach Ertz if I were the. So Trey Burton should be okay.

[Mike Wright]

So I did find something very interesting and I think our listeners will appreciate this. You know who's back to back in the fantasy rankings this year for the Eagles.

[Brooks]

Oh, for the Eagles.

[Mike Wright]

Jeffrey and Aguilar these. The gap there where they'll be drafted next year because of what Jeffrey offers is the prototypical size red zone guy. I'm just. Aguilar looks like he's already going to be a sneaky draft pick next year.

[Brooks]

Could be. I bet he's in the 5, 6 range. Is my.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, but Where's Jeffrey?

[Brooks]

Back of the second.

[Mike Wright]

Exactly. So it was just interesting looking on the season. Obviously last week Jeffrey got goosed or goosed and, you know, goosed us and.

[Brooks]

Crabtree just pinching each other's booties.

[Mike Wright]

You're on a roll today, Mike.

[Brooks]

You've never. It's the goose, man.

[Mike Wright]

No, no, no. I got you.

[Andy Holloway]

I did not get it. I was very confused.

[Mike Wright]

I think the definitions are wide and the range is wide for what that is. Des Bryant, he said he's not accepting a pay cut if they came to him and talked to him about it in the end of the year.

[Brooks]

Good for you, Des.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. He was also sharing some frustrations with the offensive scheming, which is fair.

[Brooks]

Yes, it's very fair.

[Mike Wright]

There could be change at the offensive coordinator position for next year. It could be.

[Brooks]

But Zeke.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I mean, it's unclear what I was reading this morning. Cowboys obviously eliminated. It's unclear how many snaps the starters are actually going to get in this game. I did not read the same kind of assurances about Zeke that you might have read yesterday.

[Brooks]

I'm just talking about Zeke's personal comments and.

[Mike Wright]

Which were what?

[Brooks]

Or I haven't played for. I've missed six weeks of the season. I'm ready to play. I'm playing. He said, well, we have nothing to play for. He said, well, I'm playing for myself.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, but if the coach pulls. Yeah, the coach pulls. Yeah, agreed.

[Brooks]

I'm not arguing with that.

[Mike Wright]

I have a hard time seeing if Dak and DEZ Witten, they're off the field, that Zeke's just going to be out there grinding it away, risking injury for nothing.

[Brooks]

It's very possible.

[Mike Wright]

Now, do you start it?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I would still start a half of Zeke against, you know, what could be backup defenders could be better than a full game from, you know, Malcolm Brown.

[Brooks]

I agree.

[Mike Wright]

Any other comments from that game?

[Brooks]

No, just that Tyron Smith, left tackle, is not expected to play. So I'm not playing. Dak.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. This is. I think if you look at the last six or seven minutes of this show, that's a really good encapsulation of why you should not play in week 17. These games are garbage. You have no idea what coaches are going to do.

[Brooks]

You get awful jokes from me.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So maybe that's why we should play and we analysis.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Speaking of awful, The Browns at 0 and 15 take on the 12 and 3 Steelers.

[Brooks]

This is it, Cleveland.

[Mike Wright]

The Steelers are 11 point favorites. There is a 39 point over under in this game. And look, they're trying to avoid being only the second team in NFL history to not finish or to finish Owen Stevenson. The Lions obviously were the first in 2008. And the situation for the Steelers is interesting because you have. You have the chance that they could have a first round or have home field throughout the playoffs, but the Patriots would have to lose, Steelers would have to win, and both games kick off at the same time. So you wonder if there's going to be some scoreboard watching. You wonder if you get Big Ben and company for part of the first half. Look, they beat the Browns with a backup last year. I'm just kind of curious to see what exactly happens, whether Landry Jones is out there, whether you see more of Eli Rogers and Martavis Bryant than you do. You know, juju and Lev Bell. And Mike Tomlin has come out and said he's weighing the pros and cons of resting the starters in this game, or at least for part of the game. What is your expectation for fantasy owners?

[Andy Holloway]

Man, Tomlin has rested guys in the past. I think. I think the smart move as a coach is to rest your players if you can. And Tomlin's a very good coach, you know, earlier. So juju is my start of the week because everything lines up. Home field, home bin, perfect matchup, no Antonio Brown. But it's. It's very, very scary. And I might need to tweet out a change because the reality is if they need the Patriots to lose, I mean, the Patriots are at home favored by 15 and a half points against the Jets. It's probably not going to happen. And if they go into the half with a lead, you could just see all the Pittsburgh Steelers benched.

[Brooks]

They just don't. We're calling the game all the starters. Hey, you win.

[Andy Holloway]

White towel. Congrats, Browns. You got one.

[Mike Wright]

I seem to remember a game, a meaningless game for the Steelers in Week 16 against the Colts that were terrible a few years ago where the Colts came away with a win just because it was, you know, backups on the field for Pittsburgh. It could be the way Cleveland avoids, you know, infamy, so to speak. Any other comments on this game? The brown side of the ball? I mean, they're going to be playing everybody. They're going to be trying to avoid a loss. However, from my understanding, they've been trying to avoid a loss for 15 games.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So I'm not sure that that motivation matters.

[Brooks]

I'll still play Josh Gordon. Despite last week's poor performance as the Steelers the past six weeks 22nd against Fancy Wide receivers and Duke Johnson. That's a shame and I blame myself. Duke Johnson has not gotten enough talk on this this year podcast.

[Mike Wright]

Did you say he's a Duke?

[Brooks]

No.

[Mike Wright]

I'm just trying to give him a little credit. Yeah, we've got King Godfrey. Maybe the Duke of.

[Brooks]

Of Johnson.

[Guest]

Just Sir Duke.

[Brooks]

Sir Duke. Thanks, Brooks, who saved us from ourselves for running backs. He's fourth in receiving arts. I mean, he's has more receiving yards than Christian McCaffrey, than Chris Thompson, who has missed most of the season now, but more than Kareem Hunt, more than Melvin Gordon. He's been a very reliable running back, especially in PPR format.

[Mike Wright]

And I'm ashamed to say I forgot about Chris Thompson and the kind of run he was on this year.

[Brooks]

That's what I'm talking about. Chris Thompson still fifth or. I apologize, sixth.

[Mike Wright]

Unbelievable in running back receiving yards. All right, let's get into our starts.

[Jason Moore]

Starts of the week.

[Mike Wright]

Just a reminder. If you are saying to yourself, well, they didn't talk about that other game, that's because there's a Friday to this week and we talk about the rest of the matchups tomorrow. And by we, I mean you two and J. Griz.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

My family is in the midst of a New Year's move, so we. I'm taking a day and these guys are gonna hold down the fort. Broom in order. Yeah, it'll be a crazy, crazy.

[Brooks]

Well, we'll duct tape it down.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Brooks]

The fort.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you got it. Hold down. Keep it.

[Brooks]

There will be no hammer and nails when we're running the show.

[Mike Wright]

There will not be any good jokes either. All right.

[Andy Holloway]

Agree to disagree.

[Brooks]

Great jokes.

[Mike Wright]

Captain Kirk against the worst past defense in football without a safety.

[Brooks]

Love it.

[Mike Wright]

He's my start of the week. Needs little explanation.

[Brooks]

You know, I'm just going to jump in here with a combo because I'm rolling.

[Mike Wright]

You're going to mess this up again.

[Brooks]

Nope, nope. You can do whatever you guys want, but I'm going to go. I'm double stuffing with the Colts here. I love Jacoby Brissette against Houston and I talked about Ty Hilton as a Texan slayer. I love both of these guys. Jacoby is a fantastic streaming option if that's what you have to do. And Hilton, dust him off. Blow. Blow it off. If he's still on your bench, if you've held on to him, this is the week you can finally, confidently start Ty Hilton.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I don't know if you're right. I think. I think you Are right. I actually like it. My start of the week at quarterback is Matthew Stafford. As I said, he's playing for his coach's job. He's in a. A matchup against Green Bay where, you know, against the quarterback they're giving up plenty of points. I really like the weather in a dome. And you know, when you look at the land, when you look at the lay of the land, I think Stafford's going to be one of the safest quarterbacks this week. That actually has a really high ceiling. So he's my start.

[Mike Wright]

Why don't you go with your wide receiver so we can.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, so my wide receiver. I'm going to blow your guys minds right now. I'm changing. It's not you good. I think juju is excellent and could, I mean in a half he could still risky business, but risky business. No. I'm going with a guy in the same game who's going to ball out Josh Gordon.

[Brooks]

Oh, what?

[Andy Holloway]

No, I know. I'm Mr. Pour a Little Cold Water I'm Mr. Pour a Little cold water on Josh Gordon and I, I will continue to. When the time is broader on Josh.

[Brooks]

Gordon just makes his abs stand even more.

[Andy Holloway]

Just icy abs. The reality is the Pittsburgh.

[Brooks]

It's a thing, you know, I see abs.

[Andy Holloway]

The Pittsburgh Steelers give up big plays and that is Josh Gordon's specialty. If they are resting people in the second half, if they're up, I mean, I think this is a perfect matchup.

[Mike Wright]

Would you say that like a star is born with Josh Gordon reborn? Never a star is reborn.

[Andy Holloway]

That's juju.

[Mike Wright]

All right, I'm going to go with Robbie Anderson against New England. Eight targets last week. He's 61 yards from 1,000. The first time in his career he had hit 1,000 yards at this point. Why not get these guys some of these milestones that have been a great player for your team all year. Robbie Anderson still has the talent. Bryce Petty still has the arm. And, and look, I think that there's a chance that you have half a game here where they're playing comeback and garbage time. So I think Robbie Anderson's a solid start and I'll bring in my tight end start now. We'll finish up with running back. So tight end start of the week. Jack Doyle in that matchup, he's, you.

[Brooks]

Know, I like it.

[Mike Wright]

Facing Houston, currently the eighth tight end of the year. And I'll go with baby hands.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to, I'm going to go with another game for Charles Clay at tight end. He was A little bit disappointing last week, but again, Tyrod Taylor, I had pumped the brakes going to New England. They have really shut him down. No touchdowns for Tyrod last week, but this is a revenge game for Charles Clay going back to Miami. The weather should be good.

[Mike Wright]

I think they're playing for something.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, they're playing for something. Miami is really bad against tight end. This is the playoff week we want and need from Mr. Necessary Charles Clay we've talked about.

[Brooks]

We love the pieces from the Green Bay Detroit game. So I'm staying in the Flames with Eric Ebron, who has received 26 targets the last over the last three weeks. He's finally showing up to play. So if you've got him, I'm, I'm confidently playing him again.

[Mike Wright]

All right. My running back start of the week is Kenyon Drake. Kenyon Drake is facing the worst rush defense in football on the season in terms of fantasy points given up. That would be Buffalo and they just gave up 45 plus fantasy points to the running backs in New England, including, you know, Dion Lewis and company. So I think Kenyon Drake gets the workload to justify a start of the week this week. So I'm going to go forward with him. He had a disappointing seven points last week. I think he's in the probably 15 to 20 point range this week.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I really like that call. I said it earlier. My running back start of the week is Jamal Williams. I, I absolutely think he will be involved in the passing and I realize he wasn't last week, but that was also in like 5 degree weather against Minnesota. This is, this is the dome game. They'll be down. It's against Detroit. They give up passing yards to the running back. So I'm, you know, guns ablazing full steam ahead with Jamal Williams this week.

[Brooks]

I'm going with C.J. anderson up against the Chiefs. He is very close to 1000 yard season. He's also been balling out.

[Mike Wright]

He's really close. You're going to, you're going to laugh, but he's really close to a top 12 finish.

[Brooks]

Yeah, because he's great.

[Andy Holloway]

He's very good.

[Mike Wright]

But he don't feel like it.

[Brooks]

No, certainly does not.

[Andy Holloway]

He started because of stupid freaking Broncos.

[Mike Wright]

Double digits. I'll make your arguments for you. Double digits.

[Brooks]

Please do.

[Mike Wright]

In five of the last six games.

[Brooks]

Absolutely. He's been tearing it up. Including last week with nine targets against Washington.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that was a, that was an outlier 07:45.

[Brooks]

Yeah, I'm not expecting nine targets again, but he, he can catch the ball. He is a three down back, a true three down back and like I said, close to 1,000 yards. I think they will, they will get him over that threshold. Also playing the Chiefs.

[Mike Wright]

You know what it is?

[Brooks]

Chiefs could be resting some defensive starters. I like Anderson this week.

[Mike Wright]

He, one of his favorite things from my understanding is off season hype. And he realized that if he didn't get it together at the end of this year, he might not have you on board for next offseason.

[Brooks]

That's impossible.

[Mike Wright]

All right, so those were our starts of the week. Without further ado, our final. Our final boom boom of the week.

[Jason Moore]

Jason Moore's ironclad, locked and loaded, 100% guaranteed boom boom kicker of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your commissioner set up a Week 17 championship like a traitor and there's no need to worry. Just use the Lion's Matt Prater.

[Brooks]

Man, I almost. I almost wept.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I know.

[Brooks]

That is. That's not.

[Mike Wright]

You can weep for different reasons.

[Brooks]

That's not fantasy football advice, my friends. That is art. Thank you.

[Mike Wright]

That's right.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

His album is coming out soon. All right, that is it for today's episode of the podcast. Thanks once more for tuning in. Check out draft.comballers to play some DFS with us now and through the playoffs. The DFS podcast is going to be going all the way through the NFL playoffs, is that right? That's correct.

[Andy Holloway]

Goodbye.

[Mike Wright]

Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter @the ffballers.