Fantasy Football 2017 - Starts of the Week, Week 3 Matchups, Under Pressure

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast - Episode Summary: "Fantasy Football 2017 - Starts of the Week, Week 3 Matchups, Under Pressure"

Release Date: September 21, 2017

In this comprehensive episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright delve into the intricacies of Week 3 in the 2017 fantasy football season. They provide in-depth analysis of upcoming matchups, identify players under pressure to perform, share essential news updates, and declare their recommended starts for the week. The episode is packed with expert insights, strategic advice, and noteworthy quotes that can help fantasy managers make informed decisions to enhance their lineups.

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1. Introduction and Banter

The episode begins with the hosts engaging in their trademark friendly banter, setting a relaxed and engaging tone for the discussions ahead. While the atmosphere is lively, the focus quickly shifts to the core topics of the episode.

2. Players Under Pressure to Perform

Key Topic: Identifying players whose performances in Week 3 are crucial for fantasy success.

• Eli Manning and Andy Dalton:

  • Jason Moore highlights the pressure on these quarterbacks by stating, “They have two teams that were legitimately considered deep playoff contenders [...] and both quarterbacks have looked really poor” (03:24).
  • Andy Holloway counters by emphasizing their importance in the NFL context, which indirectly affects their fantasy value.

• Hunter Henry:

  • Jason Moore raises concerns about Henry’s usage due to his team’s strong pass rush, wondering, “Are they going to use him to block or are they going to use them like they did last week?” (04:47).
  • Mike Wright humorously adds, “He gooses my caboose” (05:01), underscoring the unpredictability of Henry’s involvement.

• Joe Mixon and Jonathan Stewart:

  • The conversation touches on the uncertainty surrounding Joe Mixon’s snap counts and the potential impact on his fantasy performance. Mike mentions, “People are dropping Joe Mix” (05:39), indicating growing concerns among fantasy owners.
  • Jason Moore adds, “Way to start a career” (03:12), reflecting the challenges Mixon faces.

3. News and Updates

Key Topic: Latest updates on player statuses, injuries, and roster movements affecting Week 3.

• Corey Davis Out:

  • Andy Holloway announces, “Corey Davis has already been ruled out” (09:22), a significant blow for fantasy managers relying on him.

• Jordy Nelson Returning:

  • Positive news comes as Andy Holloway shares, “Jordy Nelson is practicing fully for Week 3” (09:22), offering relief to Aaron Rodgers and Jordy owners.

• Evan Ingram’s Status:

  • Andy Holloway discusses, “Evan Ingram is creeping into the [...] starting lineup” (08:34), hinting at his potential role in dynasty leagues.

• Austin Safari and Josh Jenkins Uncertainty:

  • Andy Holloway expresses uncertainty about their availability, suggesting, “We have to wait and see with ASJ” (10:47), indicating possible waiver wire pickups.

• Tom Montgomery’s Workload:

  • Concerns about Montgomery’s high snap counts are raised by Andy Holloway, questioning his long-term viability despite his impressive performance (11:39).

• Additional Injury Reports:

  • Updates on players like DeMarco Murray, Jordan Reed, and Tyler Ifert are provided, highlighting their availability and potential impact on fantasy lineups.

4. Fantasy Forecast and Week 3 Matchups

Key Topic: Analyzing Week 3 matchups to identify potential high-scoring players and strategic starts.

• Ravens vs. Jaguars (London):

  • Jason Moore anticipates a strong performance from Leonard Fournette and Buck Allen against the Jaguars' defense, stating, “Leonard Fournette could have a good game” (15:19).

• Broncos vs. Bills (Buffalo):

  • The hosts debate the viability of Trevor Siemian as a streaming option, with Jason Moore expressing skepticism: “I think you can stream Derek Carr” (17:15).

• Saints vs. Panthers:

  • Discussions focus on Cam Newton’s performance without Greg Olson and the potential breakout of Christian McCaffrey. Mike Wright notes, “Cam Newton is treading into completely unknown waters” (24:06).

• Falcons vs. Lions (Detroit):

  • With a high over/under, the trio evaluates wide receivers like Matthew Stafford and Devonte Parker. Andy Holloway mentions, “Matthew Stafford should have enough time at home to get the job done” (34:49).

• Browns vs. Colts (Indianapolis):

  • Andy Holloway recommends Jack Doyle and Frank Gore as reliable starts, stating, “Jack Doyle is a great start” (36:02).

• Buccaneers vs. Vikings:

  • The uncertainty surrounding Sam Bradford’s availability leads to discussions about his impact on potential starts. Jason Moore advises, “I would start Deshaun Jackson over those other players” (44:37).

5. Under Pressure: Key Players and Strategies

Key Topic: Evaluating players who need to excel in Week 3 to validate their fantasy value and affect their future trade worthiness.

• Le'Veon Bell:

  • Jason Moore underscores Bell’s critical role, stating, “You're expecting a monster, monster week” (32:05), noting that a subpar performance could lead to trade discussions.

• Isaiah Cruel and Jonathan Stewart:

  • The hosts analyze the pressures on Isaiah Cruel and Jonathan Stewart to perform, considering their upcoming matchups and team dynamics.

6. Starts of the Week

Key Topic: Each host shares their recommended starting players across various positions for Week 3.

• Andy Holloway:

  • Quarterback: Matthew Stafford (44:42)
  • Running Back: Mike Gillislee (50:16)
  • Wide Receiver: J.J. Nelson (49:48)
  • Tight End: Eric Ebron (55:17)

• Jason Moore:

  • Quarterback: Derek Carr (45:31)
  • Running Back: Dalvin Cook (51:32)
  • Wide Receiver: Kelvin Benjamin, with an alternate to Keenan Allen if limited (48:25)
  • Tight End: Jared Cook (55:48)

• Mike Wright:

  • Quarterback: Jay Cutler (46:44)
  • Running Back: Theo Riddick (52:49)
  • Wide Receiver: Devonte Parker (47:33)
  • Tight End: Jared Cook (55:48)

Notable Quotes:

• Andy Holloway: “Matthew Stafford should have enough time at home to get the job done” (34:49).
• Jason Moore: “I would start Deshaun Jackson over those other players” (44:37).

7. Kicker of the Week

Key Topic: Selecting the most reliable kicker for Week 3 based on performance and matchup.

• Jason Moore: Chooses Giorgio Tavecchio as the kicker of the week, praising his precision: “Whenever he kicks the ball, it looks like the most perfect kick, splitting the uprights right down the middle. Like a scalpel” (57:07).

• Mike Wright supports the selection, emphasizing consistent performance despite bold takes.

8. Conclusions and Final Thoughts

The hosts wrap up the episode by reiterating their starts of the week and offering final strategic advice. They emphasize the importance of staying updated with player statuses, being adaptable with lineups, and leveraging favorable matchups to maximize fantasy points. The combination of their expert insights and lively discussions provides listeners with valuable tools to navigate the challenges of Week 3.

Final Notable Quote:

• Jason Moore: “Play with us on [e-mail] Ballers” (59:17) – Encouraging listener engagement and community building.

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This episode serves as a valuable resource for fantasy football enthusiasts, offering a blend of analytical depth and entertaining dialogue. By addressing pressing questions, evaluating critical matchups, and sharing trusted start recommendations, the Fantasy Footballers equip their audience with the knowledge needed to excel in their fantasy leagues.

Transcript

[Mike Wright]

Hey, Foot Clan. Today we are going to jump into some matchups, but before we do that, want to remind you about Squad Ql. You want an unfair advantage to dominate your fantasy football league. Well, look no further than the Squad Ql mobile app. It's all you need to crush your friends and rivals this year. Squad Ql recommends the best starting lineup for each week based on your starters, bench players and free agent pool. Head to squadql.com grab the app for free. Again, that's squadql.com download the app for free.

[Jason Moore]

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

[Andy Holloway]

Ah, let's get the show on the road.

[Jason Moore]

Let's go. We're already into the weekly rewind. Let's go.

[Mike Wright]

I was concerned about Jason. You probably can't see it on the YouTube because of the. The majestic intro graphics. Jason was like taking a macro nap over here and then woke up right when the intro's going on.

[Jason Moore]

It's all right. I'm awake now.

[Andy Holloway]

Neither of us had an ordinary start. I was very close to sneezing throughout that entire intro song.

[Mike Wright]

Did you look at the light?

[Andy Holloway]

What, does that stop it or does it start it?

[Jason Moore]

I think that makes you.

[Mike Wright]

I think, yeah, the old. The old wives tale.

[Andy Holloway]

Actually, no, it came from a. It was a mustache whisker. You understand that, right?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, believe me, my mustache does not all grow down. In fact, I call it the eyelash mustache because many of them grow vertically.

[Andy Holloway]

Do they ever intertwine with the nose hairs? Does it grow up? And just.

[Mike Wright]

I cannot confirm nor deny that has ever happened to me.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome to the podcast the Fantasy footballers. Andy, Mike and Jason back once more. You can find us on TwitterFFballers. Great show today. The starts of the week, the fantasy forecast. The Week 3 matchups. A good quick question. Brooks is in the building taking care of us over there behind the camera. How you doing, Brooks?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, I'm great. And you left out everyone's favorite segment.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, my goodness. I apologize. Jason's boom boom kicker on the show.

[Jason Moore]

Yep. Put in a lot of work this week, guys.

[Andy Holloway]

Now, I know it would be like an inefficient amount of our resources to try to do this, but I would really. We should probably try to get a kicker to actually come on the show and be personally interviewed by you each week, but then you have, like, kind of questions that are somewhat condescending, but maybe they can't pick up on it.

[Jason Moore]

I would just ask, you know, what's it like to be in the NFL now that kicking is more relevant, right?

[Andy Holloway]

No, that would be a good way to go.

[Mike Wright]

Or like ask. Ask the Chargers kicker. How relevant kicking?

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, my goodness.

[Mike Wright]

It's very relevant, my friend.

[Andy Holloway]

Man, that look on his face reminded me of Robert Aguayo.

[Mike Wright]

I was gonna say Roberto.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's irrelevant until it's very relevant.

[Mike Wright]

It's the lonely kicker, man. You remember the Adam Sandler song?

[Andy Holloway]

I just, I told you before he missed the kick that if he misses this kick. How do you get that out of your head?

[Mike Wright]

I don't know.

[Jason Moore]

Way to start a career.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's. That sucks. All right, let's transition to the quick question. Who's under the most pressure to perform in week three for fantasy?

[Mike Wright]

You should have gone.

[Jason Moore]

Well, speaking of pressure under pressure, I'm going to go with young way kicker for the. No, I think that there's like a tie here for me between Eli Manning and Andy Dalton. You have two teams that were legitimately considered deep playoff contenders. You know, the Giants, if you're in New York, you know, can they contend for a Super bowl with Brandon Marshall and the offense together? This elite defense and they're both 02.

[Andy Holloway]

Why'd you have to bring him up? And Brandon Marshall?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, they're both 02 and both quarterbacks have looked really poor. So I think there's pressure on Eli and on and on Dalton.

[Andy Holloway]

I will disagree with you from a fantasy perspective. I think that you made the perfect NFL case for who has to perform for their teams this week. But I don't think if you are a fantasy owner.

[Jason Moore]

I did not realize that I was answering the question in that way.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, were you really?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So you did. Okay, so it was who can perform in week three for fantasy owners. But you're right about them in the NFL sense and that will have a trickle down effect on, you know, Odeb Beckham Jr. And Brandon Marshall and Evan Ingram and A.J. green and all those players.

[Jason Moore]

Well, then I'll throw one other name out, Hunter Henry, because we've had one game where he was stayed in in line to block. Now he goes, you know, Houston is one of the best pass rushers in the game. Are they going to use him to block or are they going to use them like they did last week?

[Andy Holloway]

I'm really curious from my understanding, Hunter Henry, actually his performance is directly proportional to his ownership percentage. If it gets really low, that's when he goes off. He's permitted to catch passes. And then if you, if you start him you jerks. He gooses Mike.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. He goosed my caboose.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And gave me the goose egg. I'm throwing out. I'm going. Same teams here. Joe Mixon. There's been an offensive coordinator change. Fantasy players drafted him in the third round, knowing that you're likely going to have to wait. But now actual fantasy is going on, and teams are 0 and 2 and they're going. My running back that I drafted in the third round is not even getting snaps. He's not getting touches. Will Captain Laser fire up Joe Mixon and give him the touches that he needs to perform for fantasy?

[Andy Holloway]

There are a lot of desperate owners hoping the answer is yes.

[Mike Wright]

People are dropping Joe Mix. I've received tons of people on Twitter like, joe Mixon's on the waiver wire. Should I spend my number one priority to get him? And my answer is always yes. But that's where we are through two weeks. People are already dropping Joe Mixon.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, you might have. If the offense was performing, but the snap counts were the same, you'd be like, all right, here it comes. But because they've struggled and they. Andy Dalton is stunk and they haven't scored, you're like, oh, no. The problem is people spent high picks on him.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So I think he's actually the hardest player to trade for in fantasy football, because if somebody is waiting, it's kind of like Christian McCaffrey, too. You spend a high draft pick on him. McCaffrey is one of my two nominees for this. Under pressure to perform. The other ones, Isaiah Cruell, both have great matchups in week three. Both are outside the top 24 right now in terms of running backs, and both have great matchups. So if the wheels fall off for these guys this week, then you're going to have desperate fantasy owners. You're going to have people wanting to know, do you drop them? I think Jonathan Stewart could have a great week this week as well. There'll be lots of debate. So there is. There's some pressure.

[Mike Wright]

Do you see Crowell talking? He was asked about, is he thinking about his contract?

[Jason Moore]

Okay, I didn't see that.

[Mike Wright]

He was like, are you.

[Jason Moore]

Is this a distraction for you, or.

[Mike Wright]

Are you thinking about it? And his answer was basically 100% of the time he's thinking about it. I mean, like, he went verbatim of saying, I think about it at practice. I think about it when I'm playing. I'm like, whoa, that could be good.

[Andy Holloway]

Right?

[Mike Wright]

Has it been for two games?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. As the carry Counts go down for Isaiah Cruel. He's probably saying, yeah, can I get that, Can I get that offer back that you had before? So.

[Jason Moore]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey. Our week three rankings are up on the website, the fantasy footballers.com. they will be heavily polished today and through the weekend as we get more injury news, as we get more depth chart news and apply that to our rankings. They're always changing and being updated, but you can check them all out over there. You can also get access to the premium projections and flex ranks and an extra show and [e-mail] as a way of rewarding those of you who choose to support this podcast. You guys want to talk some news?

[Jason Moore]

Yes, sir. News and notes from around the league. The first piece of news. News comes from Mike Wright's dream and relates to this first one. He had a dream. Eric Decker had 80 yards and a touchdown and lo and behold, Corey Davis has been ruled out for week three.

[Andy Holloway]

You had a dream that Eric Decker had 80. I have no doubt that you have that dream every night.

[Mike Wright]

He was fully clothed.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, that's step one.

[Mike Wright]

No, I legit like.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome into the show, new listeners. Mike, Mike has a history of.

[Mike Wright]

He's a handsome gentleman.

[Andy Holloway]

Praising Eric Decker for his good looks.

[Mike Wright]

One, number one, Eric Dagger. Dreams are. That's not normal. Just want to clarify that. Two, Jason is the dreamer of the show.

[Jason Moore]

That's true.

[Mike Wright]

He has had several. We call him Joseph because not only does he wear a multicolored coat.

[Jason Moore]

That's all I wear.

[Mike Wright]

But he also has these football visions. So this is the first. We'll see.

[Andy Holloway]

We'll see if I've been 80 and a touchdown gifted. You don't get this on any show. You get it right here. The dreaming Ms. Cleo over there and.

[Mike Wright]

A Technicolor dreamcoat reference. I mean, so the new.

[Andy Holloway]

The news in there is that Corey Davis has already been ruled out. It's disappointing. Jordy Nelson, big news here. Practicing fully for week three. Expects to play, avoided a major quad injury. Everybody breathe a big sigh of relief on that one. Whether you're an Aaron Rodgers owner or you're a Jordy Nelson owner. Evan Ingram. Concussion symptoms was limited at practice. Put in the protocol following the Monday night game as a precaution. They think he'll be fine. He is somebody that is creeping into the. You might start him.

[Mike Wright]

He's category certainly is in our dynasty league. I have Charles Clay and he's kind of been, you know, my low end tight end, one starter. But I have Evan Ingram and I'm to the point now where I will have to make a weekly decision of should I play the rookie.

[Jason Moore]

Right.

[Mike Wright]

Just based on that Madness.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's move on here. This is a disappointing piece of news to me. Todd Bowles says it's too early to tell if Austin, Safari and Jenkins will be active. ASJ was one of those guys that all of the news all of the time was positive all off season. And I feel like you were just, you know, ready to buy into asj and now they say he's out of shape, needs to get into a little bit better shape. We don't know if he'll be active. You got to wait and see with asj. He'll be free for you because nobody else was probably paying attention to him. So I would give it a week.

[Jason Moore]

The one thing I'll say is that all the germane curse takes over this last week. Talking about waivers, those have mentally been including Austin, Severian Jenkins coming back and not having Jermaine Curse be, you know, the alone. Yeah, exactly. The only NFL receiver on that team. So if, if ASJ is not out there, I think this gives a slight bump to being able to play Kearse again this week.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Nobody in football has played more snaps than Tom Montgomery in terms of the running back position, 139 snaps, 16 more than the next running back. He's a guy who, if you look back at his history, he's been banged up. He's had some injury concerns. A report out of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel yesterday said that the Michael Cohen expects the packers to lighten the workload. What do you think about Montgomery's long term prognosis? Because he's been downright amazing so far.

[Mike Wright]

I'm firing him up as if that doesn't matter at all. I mean, he's getting Le'Veon Bell levels of snaps. I mean, most running backs are not out there for 90 plus percent of the time and that's what Montgomery is doing. So even if he comes down to the 70, 75% of snaps, he's still on the best offense. He's still the guy on that team. So maybe one of your owners, your league mates is freaking out over this. This is not moving the needle for me.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Any other news that you guys want to get into before we talk about a little bit of these practice reports?

[Mike Wright]

You can just throw out a couple names of like demarco Murray did not practice on Wednesday. You need to monitor that situation. Terrence west did not practice. It was reported that he had that soft tissue injury. So Buck Allen would be all systems go and Alex Collins becomes a flex worthy type of situation. And of course, Jordan Reed.

[Jason Moore]

I love Michael hate Jordan Reed and also I would throw out. So Jordan Reed was not at practice, but Rob Kelly was practicing in pads at Wednesday's practice. So that's good news for his outlook for this week and bad news for all the people desperate to start Samaj P. Ryan.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm one of them. I'm laughing because Jake Ruden's quote about Jordan Reed is just too funny. Speaking Wednesday, coach Jay Gruden said Jordan Reed is, quote, not healthy right now.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

He says that that quote is just every day. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

[Mike Wright]

Memento. He just has a tattooed on his body.

[Jason Moore]

Yep.

[Mike Wright]

So he can just in case I forget.

[Andy Holloway]

Disappointing and frustrating.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it is.

[Andy Holloway]

Tyler Ifer not practicing either.

[Mike Wright]

Are you good? What do you. I've been getting a lot of questions.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Tyler Ifert.

[Jason Moore]

Where.

[Mike Wright]

What's your Tyler Ifert?

[Andy Holloway]

I'm starting Tyler. If it. If he's healthy and fine. If he's not, you don't. But.

[Jason Moore]

But do you drop him?

[Andy Holloway]

That's what I'm saying.

[Mike Wright]

People are saying, do I move on?

[Andy Holloway]

I wouldn't. I mean, this is a guy who averaged more points per game than Gronkowski last year. In Gronkowski super year, when he's healthy, he's a superstar. You just have a team that basically they've stunk. He had a touchdown called back due to being a penalty. He was targeted towards the second half of that game. You got a new offensive coordinator. You know the case for. Look, you cannot find tight ends anywhere.

[Jason Moore]

Not of that level. I like the same thing with Jimmy Graham. If he was out, if he was.

[Mike Wright]

The Jason Litmus test here. If they're on the wire, would you pick them up Right. Then don't drop them.

[Andy Holloway]

That's a great way to think about.

[Mike Wright]

Yourself in another league. If he's available and then you don't drop them.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. All right, let's get into the forecast and then we'll get into the starts of the week.

[Jason Moore]

Fantasy forecast.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Your once a week reminder. If you've got a Thursday night player in your flex, get him, get him out of there. Take him out of your flex. Put them in one of your starting restricted position spots, running back, wide receiver, whatever that might be. You don't want to lock yourself into that flex position when you don't have to. It gives you more flexibility.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, the Raven is gonna make the joke. If you didn't.

[Andy Holloway]

I Should have let you. All right, the Ravens take on Jacksonville in London. This is an early game, 6:30 in the morning. So us West Coasters, you get to wake up, roll over, and there's going to be divorce Allen in my face.

[Mike Wright]

I have to set an alarm, for goodness sakes, on Sunday morning. It's ridiculous.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm fine with it. All right, Jacksonville is. They're three and a half point underdogs in London. So this game is obviously neutral sight. And what do we think the fantasy storylines are here? Is Javorius Allen in line for kind of the best fantasy production on the Baltimore side? And then what do we expect on the now struggling offense for the Jacksonville Jaguars?

[Jason Moore]

I see both teams here trying to run the ball. I would take the under even though it's a very low over under at 40. You've got two fantastic pass defenses on each side of the ball and two teams that have been run on a little bit this year. So, you know, I think it could be a good game for Leonard Fournette, a good game for Buck Allen. I'm not really wanting any of the pieces in the passing game. We talked about this on the waiver wire show, right? Your Alan Hearns could be great. Marquis Lee could be great. We're not sure who the main target replacement is yet for Alan Robinson. And while I want those guys, I'm certainly, certainly not playing them against the Ravens. Someone might have a good game, but I'm not going to. I mean, the process says you're not banking on it. The process says you don't start those unknown commodities against such a great pass defense.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's something very interesting. When you look at the percentage of a team's target shares at the wide receiver position through the first two weeks and shout out to TJ Hernandez, who threw the chart up on this. Marquis Lee is like number five, but the production hasn't been there whatsoever. Hopkins, far and away number one with almost 48% of the targets last week in Houston. But Marquis Lee has had the targets Hearns with the production last week. I think it just adds to the. You're not really going to get that one right. I don't think you really want to play with that fire unless you were desperate or it's a deeper league.

[Mike Wright]

Watson. Benjamin Watson. You can play him.

[Jason Moore]

Benjamin Watson, I think is a guy. If you're in a full PPR league, I think you can play him.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. All right, let's turn to the Broncos Bills matchup. It's in Buffalo. Interesting that the Bills are only Three point underdogs in this matchup. I think it speaks to how they've played on defense thus far and obviously being the home team, but I guess I expected this line to be the gap to be wider there. 40 and a half point over under says that, you know, they think this is going to be a more low scoring game. We've talked a lot over the past two days about Trevor Simeon. I think you can go back and listen to those. But the gist is that Mike and Jason kind of disagree with the streaming viability of Simeon this week. Buffalo hasn't given up any touchdowns through the air through two weeks, but has only faced Josh McCown and Cam Newton. The Broncos, two of the worst. We know their D is outstanding. Push comes to shove here, the Broncos run defense against Lashawn McCoy. You're not really benching Sean McCoy, so.

[Mike Wright]

And this year has been a lot different. We're small sample size, but Denver was very beatable on the ground last year. So perhaps they have turned everything around. But I'm still playing shady with full confidence.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. There's no way you bench shady.

[Mike Wright]

No, the volume is just. Is outrageous.

[Jason Moore]

He'll have bad games from time to time because everyone does. But you have to just keep plugging him in.

[Andy Holloway]

You do not start another player on that Buffalo team. I think I do not start Charles Clay.

[Jason Moore]

I think you can start Charles Clay. That's the only guy that I would be willing to start Charles Clay in that matchup. On the other side of the ball, I almost made CJ Anderson my start of the week. He has been getting carries that fantasy owners drool over. I mean, you're talking 20 carries and he's looked great. I mean, you've had some of those classic C.J. anderson runs. The thing with C.J. anderson that we have never liked about him in redraft leagues is injury. Is he going to play the whole year? You know, that's the tough thing. But if you've got him this week, he is currently healthy and he has been great.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to circle back to Charles Clay because I think. I don't think you'd actually start him.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, okay. Tell me why. Well, I think I would. Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

But here's my problem with starting Charles Clay is that he hasn't had enough games in a row, you know, to where he's a reliable option. You don't have him ranked in a position where you would start him. I mean, I was going to give you some names here. You're starting Hunter Henry or Charles Clay Hunter.

[Jason Moore]

Henry is.

[Andy Holloway]

Tough because you have him ranked much higher.

[Jason Moore]

I've got him ranked much higher because I see his upside as extreme. I mean, his upside is great this week. The pro. If they bring him into block like they did week one. So he is a boom bust type, that would be a roster thing, right?

[Andy Holloway]

Like Gronk, Kelsey, Ertz, Rudolph, Walker, Doyle. Do you start him over Bennett against Cincinnati? I probably don't start him over Bennett. Don't start him over Ebron, Reed, Henry, Graham, Fleener, Whitten, Cook, Miller.

[Mike Wright]

But no, now you're getting into the streamer position. I think that's all he was talking about. If you need guys, you're grabbing off of the waiver wire right now to play.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Start up.

[Jason Moore]

A lot. A lot of players who this last week lost the tight end. They lost Greg Olson, they lost Jimmy Graham, they lost Tyler Ifer. And I'm saying, Charles, Clay, look. Look what Jason Whitten did against them last week. 10 for 97 and a touchdown is the main piece for the Buffalo offense in the passing game. It's the only one Tyrod Taylor has a rapport and a trust with. So I do think if you have to pick someone up off of waivers.

[Andy Holloway]

Charles Clay, would you start him over Watson? Like, because we just talked about Watson. Which would you rather lean with this week? Watson against the Jaguars versus Clay? Maybe some people are facing that.

[Jason Moore]

I think I would rather go Clay because we saw his involvement last year and this year. Whereas Ben Watson's had one game where he stepped into the role. We hope he has.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, cool. We'll move on to the Saints. Panthers.

[Jason Moore]

Saints, Panthers. Before we do that, huge shout out and much love to one of the sponsors of this show. Pristine auction. If you want signed sports or entertainment memorabilia that you know is authentic and is actually signed by the celebrities or athletes that you want, they have a new service now too where if you get, you know, one of the unframed jerseys that they will actually frame it for you. It is awesome. If you ever come to the footballer studio, you will see tons of frame jerseys that Mike has. Mike is always on there and he's winning these jerseys for pennies on the dollar. Because it's an auction system, you can just bid what you want and if it gets outbid, don't worry about it. You don't lose any money. It doesn't cost you anything to bid. You only spend money if you actually win the item at the bid that you chose. So you got to check them out. Well worth it. Great Gifts as well. Pristine Auction P R I S T I N E Auction Alright.

[Andy Holloway]

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[Mike Wright]

The first thing I'm looking at is Cam Newton is treading into completely unknown waters. He is playing without Greg Olson and this is not something that Cam Newton has done with any type of regularity. I mean, Greg olson is a 95 to 100% snap type of guy. He is always on the field. He has always produced for Cam Newton. What does this team do now that Olson is out of the picture? And I got a few questions on Twitter Why did you guys mention Ed Dixon as a pickup for the waiver wire show? Because it's not going to happen for Ed Dixon.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean, I think it. I actually think it could happen. So I don't want to say that We've seen Ed Dixon be valuable in the past and he'll have that role, but he's not just a plug and play. Greg Olson replacement.

[Mike Wright]

Exactly. So my biggest question here goes to Jason.

[Jason Moore]

Yo.

[Mike Wright]

As the resident Devin Funch's truth or for some freaking reason you keep supporting this guy.

[Jason Moore]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

Why Devin Fun?

[Mike Wright]

He's been. To be fair, he's getting snaps.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think he had. I think.

[Mike Wright]

And now Greg Olson is gone and Kelvin banged up.

[Jason Moore]

Eight targets. I'll bet it last week. Seven or eight for sure. Had a. Had a decent game this week. The opportunity is there in a plus matchup at home. Bad defense, no Greg Olson sleeper action for Jason. A sleeper action would definitely be Kelvin or would be Kelvin would be Devin Funches now. I believe Kelvin Benjamin steps up. We got to monitor his health because, you know, he was a little bit banged up. We'll talk about him in a little bit.

[Mike Wright]

Seven targets, by the way. So he was four for 68.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, four for 68 last week on seven targets. And now Greg Olson is out of there. I think he is a. Is a definite sleeper candidate if you're. He's the type of guy to me where if you're doing DFS and you want a tournament, play low ownership, cheap, affordable, could have a big game.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's. Mike, I want to put you. I want to ask you, Jonathan Stewart versus any of the starting running backs for New Orleans for the Saints? Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man. It's a really tough matchup for the guys on the Saints. I think I would still play Ingram over Johnny Stewart. I mean, Stewart's snap counts. They're trending the wrong direction for me. And meanwhile, Mark Ingram has been a usable guy, especially in PPR. He's a running back, too. He's getting five or five to six receptions a game. And Jonathan Stewart was. He was 15 for 40 last week. So I would go. I would play Ingram over Stewart. I think that the upside is there. They're shifting to Christian McCaffrey. Stewart was only on the field for under 38% of snaps last week.

[Jason Moore]

I would play Stewart over Ingram, and I'm an Ingram truther. I just. I really believe that the Panthers defense is legit. We don't know for sure because week one and two was the Niners and.

[Mike Wright]

Buffalo that Sounds like a lot of dump offs.

[Andy Holloway]

You're making the point here that we don't know for sure because of their matchups. I hate it. I mean, the Saints have been pitiful, but their matchups have been Minnesota, where Bradford was just slicing and dicing, and then the Patriots. So they faced the inverse situation. You wonder if maybe it's a little more balanced.

[Mike Wright]

Do we need to double down on the.

[Andy Holloway]

No, we don't need to double down on the Saints. Super Bowl. We've. Mike, you understand we have transitioned that into that. They will eventually win another Super Bowl.

[Jason Moore]

They are future super bowl champions.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

20, 29.

[Andy Holloway]

Double down. You can double down all you want. I'm getting. I'm going. I'm taking my money out of Vegas on that one. The Steelers, the Bears. The Bears are seven and a half point underdogs at home. 44 point over. Under Big Ben versus Big Glennon. So what do we really hope for in this?

[Mike Wright]

He's very tall.

[Andy Holloway]

He's enormous. He's enormous.

[Mike Wright]

He's very tall.

[Andy Holloway]

He looks like he could toss several hay bales.

[Mike Wright]

What if him and Brock teamed up?

[Jason Moore]

How tall is he?

[Mike Wright]

Mike Lennon.

[Andy Holloway]

He's enormous.

[Mike Wright]

How tall are, like.

[Andy Holloway]

Have you ever seen giraffe sized? Yeah, giraffe, yeah. Like a. Have you seen a giraffe?

[Jason Moore]

He is six. Six.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, I see the photo. He is a giraffe.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. No, no, no.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

That's not what I was inferring, but okay. But Mike Glennon.

[Andy Holloway]

No.

[Mike Wright]

Draft. Schweiler.

[Jason Moore]

Draft. Glennon.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, my gosh. Do you realize the amount of wallpaper? Wallpaper?

[Jason Moore]

I mean, light bulbs, air filters that are in the ceiling gutters.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, my gosh.

[Jason Moore]

Very valuable people.

[Andy Holloway]

They take over the gutter business.

[Jason Moore]

So football wise.

[Andy Holloway]

So football wise, we are not nice. Jordan Howard, one of the biggest disappointments in fantasy football.

[Mike Wright]

He was limited in practice, which puts him on track to play. If you're already practicing on Wednesday.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you buy into the Tariq takeover?

[Mike Wright]

I buy into Tariq being awesome.

[Jason Moore]

Yes. I don't think he's going to take over the running back position, but I buy into Tariq Cohen being a. Just an absolute 100% startable piece. He is leading the league right now in targets to the running back position.

[Mike Wright]

And he is, I believe it's second. Is he second in receptions or targets? I've. I've told you guys about this.

[Jason Moore]

First in targets, maybe second and second. Something like that. But the nice thing is you're pairing that with this extreme talent. When you. When you see him with the ball in his hands, he's, you know, he's so fast and quick. He just beats guys to the corner. I think he is a valuable asset to their offense and to any fantasy team. I mean I would, I would start Tariq Cohen in most situations.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, give me a rest of season thought on Martavis Bryant. Compared to where you were before the season began, what is he rest of season? People ask that rest of season question a lot. So I'm posing it to you here for Mr. Bryant.

[Mike Wright]

I think he's still a wide receiver too. He'll be, I mean he's a weekly start that, you know, sometimes will be disappointing, but then the other games he just absolutely explodes. And maybe it will be as easy as you see. It's a road matchup. Okay, maybe I'll, maybe I won't play Bryant. Maybe there's a better option on my bench because he's going on the road. But we're still too early in the season there. He's just getting re acclimated to the offense. So I'm still very comfortable playing him against the Bears.

[Andy Holloway]

Jason, would you start Martavis Bryant against the Bears on the road or would you rather take Terrell Pryor on Sunday night against Oakland?

[Jason Moore]

That's great. Those are two guys that I spoke a little ill of in the off season and of those two, I would definitely take Terrell Pryor. I think Kirk Cousins.

[Andy Holloway]

Who would you take Terrell Pryor? Just making sure.

[Jason Moore]

I think Kirk Cousins could have a bounce back game this week. I don't. It's hard because he might not have Jordan Reed, but Oakland's defense isn't that great. Whereas Ben Roethlisberger on the road is not usually the touchdown throwing machine. Martavis Bryant is very touchdown throwing reliant usually. So I, you know, that's, that's where I, I would easily lean towards Terrell Pryor. It's not to say that Martavis couldn't have the better game. So staying in this game. I think the best answer to the quick question today would actually be Le'Veon Bell who has the most pressure to perform if he goes to Chicago and puts up a dud after two dud weeks. You know, for Le'Veon Bell it's so.

[Andy Holloway]

Amazing that his a multi teen week is a dud for Lev Bell.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, but I get it.

[Andy Holloway]

And people want Lev Bell. They don't want Lev Bell.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean they want a guy who's going to finish the week number one or number two at running back and that's how he's ranked this week. I think in all of our rankings and in most experts rankings you're expecting a monster, monster week. So if he goes out there and puts up a dud, I'm going to be trading for Le'Veon Bell.

[Andy Holloway]

I was going to say you're going to see the value drop the Falcons take on The Detroit Lions 2 and oh matchup here both teams 2 and oh Lions 3 point underdogs at home in a 50 and a half point over under I've been personally very impressed with the play of Matthew Stafford just from an NFL perspective through two games. Slow start against Arizona, but since he got it together in that matchup, it's been lights out managing that offense. Amir Abdullah had his career high in rushing yardage last week against the formidable Giants rushing defense. I think it was, I don't know, a great sign for Amir Abdullah's ability to produce. Fantasy wise. You'd love to see him get in the end zone. But what kind of decisions are we facing this week in this matchup where inevitably we're expecting a lot of fantasy points?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, this is Vegas has it over 50 total points scored, which means it's pretty juicy for fantasy options. I think with what you've seen out of the Falcons offense still performing, they're still humming. No, they're humming right now. I will grant them that. You're going to also have the Detroit Lions offense have to pick it up. I know when we get to our starts of the week, each one of us actually picked a Detroit Lions. So hopefully the Lions perform and I expect them too. If I had a Jason's almost upset of the week, this would be the game where I think that the Lions are going to give the Falcons a lot of trouble. And whenever a team gives another offensive powerhouse team trouble, well, then they just keep going back and forth scoring. I think this will be a shootout. I want pretty much every piece I can get on both sides of the ball. When you're talking about Mohamed Sanu or Taylor Gabriel, those are, you know, guys that I think you could spot start, I would rather start. I would rather start J.J. nelson over either of those guys.

[Andy Holloway]

For example, no doubt about it. I think my take on this game and those starts of the week would have been severely impacted by Vic Beasley and him being out for a month now. What we saw from the pass rush was very impressive against Green Bay, but it changed when Vic Beasley went out. Matthew Stafford should have enough time at home to get the job done. So you're looking at Marvin Jones, you're looking at Golden Tate and then Kenny Golladay. Mike, would you flex him in this matchup with such a high over under?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he's worth considering a start. But again, he's, he's still not a top two option in the passing game. He might have not even been top three with when you factor in the running back. So it's, it's a lot of all or nothing for Kenny Golladay right now.

[Andy Holloway]

Speaking of nothing, the Browns take on the Colts this week in Indianapolis. Forty point over under. Colts are one point underdogs at home against the Browns, which may be the saddest statement that has ever been registered.

[Jason Moore]

They're at home the year 2017 and they are underdogs.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, they're underdogs.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man.

[Andy Holloway]

Deshaun Kaiser, Jacoby Brissette, there is a massive cap on the offense for Indianapolis. Mike spoke of it last week when he pumped the brakes on the entirety of the offense. I mean, Jacoby Brissette is leaps and bounds better than Scott Tolzine and whatever the opposite of, he's still so far away from Andrew Lux production it's not even funny. So Frank Gore, very productive last week. What are you guys looking at here? Are you starting Jack Doyle in this game? I mean, seems like the one guy that you can actually trust right now in this offense.

[Mike Wright]

Jack Doyle is a great start. The trend of start all your tight ends against the Browns, it's continuing and Jack Doyle was actually competent with the beef brisket throwing him the ball. So I'm very confident starting Doyle. I've picked him up in not only our league of records, I picked him up in my money league and I will be playing him in both spots.

[Jason Moore]

I love Jack Doyle this week, but I also, I mean, you touched on him, but Frank Gore is to me pretty much a must start. I mean, I think Frank Gore is locked and loaded. He's going to get the work. He has looked good so far. The Browns, you might have thought after week one, oh, they shut down Le'Veon Bell. Maybe they, maybe they had like a wizard cast a spell that their running game could get better. But no, they didn't. Because last week against Baltimore, you saw Buck Allen, Terrence West, I mean to the running back position. 29 total carries for 130 yards in a touchdown.

[Mike Wright]

Are you taking air? Are you going to take air with the Crowell on the other side of the field?

[Jason Moore]

Yes, I want Crowell, I want Frank Gore. Both of these guys have good weeks.

[Andy Holloway]

This week Crowell would have been the second candidate for my by low yesterday from demarco Murray. He said he talked to Hugh Jackson about his lack of carries. He wants to get him the ball. Wanting to and being able to is different. But Isaiah Cruel is a starting running back. The starting running back on this, on this team. He's young, he's talented, he's got the opportunity. This is the make or break game for Isaiah Carewell. So I would rather get him, much like even Christian McCaffrey, I'd rather get McCaffrey or Crowell right now at the price right now because then he goes up next week. And so that's my perspective on those players.

[Mike Wright]

It's tough with Crowell because you had. He had a pretty good year last year and then you have this off season. Coach Jackson. Oh, man. Man, I should have gotten Crowelled the ball more. I know I got to do that. I got to do that, guys.

[Jason Moore]

Do it.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. So given the ball. No.

[Andy Holloway]

Did you see that Pete Carroll said in his rose colored way that he wished that Eddie Lacy could have been active this past week?

[Jason Moore]

I did not see that. Oh, my goodness.

[Mike Wright]

That's just mean.

[Andy Holloway]

You know you're the one who controls that, right, Pete?

[Mike Wright]

That is.

[Jason Moore]

Is he just saying, I wish we could have 60 active players. If we could have 60, he would have been.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I just wish. I wish I could. That's what it's like with. Oh, man, I wish I had a way to give Isaiah Crowe more carries. Are you the coach of this professional football team?

[Mike Wright]

Guys, it's.

[Jason Moore]

I don't.

[Mike Wright]

I don't call the plays out of my hands. Out of my hands. There's nothing. There is nothing I could do.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

I sure wish I hadn't put him on the inactive list.

[Mike Wright]

What?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. All right. Two more guys from this game that I think are. I'm willing to start, one of which was almost my start of the week. And I can tell you if we did our starts of the week on Friday and I knew for sure the status of Vonte Davis, really good cornerback for the Colts if I knew he was out, then Higgins, the wide receiver for Cleveland, I think he's going to do work this week. I really do. I'm confident to start him if Vonte Davis is out. And so, you know, as a streaming option, I think the Sean Kaiser, if Davis is out is a serviceable.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's the biggest annoying question you have to ask in now week three of the fantasy football season with that being said, Rashard Higgins, he was a Target Monster last week. Do you start him over Ty Hilton or Dante Moncrie?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah. Ooh. I start him over Moncrie because I'm done with him. Moncrief, you're. You're bench until Andrew Luck is back. Moncrief. I can't wait for him to be able to slap that base and score touchdowns again. But that will not happen until Andrew Luck is back.

[Andy Holloway]

Slap that bench.

[Jason Moore]

I like that.

[Andy Holloway]

Slap that bench.

[Jason Moore]

Slap that bench.

[Mike Wright]

It's a lot more funky than funky.

[Andy Holloway]

I want to. I would start Rashad Higgins, but if I lost my matchup with Ty Hilton on my bench, it'd be a difficult mental exercise the remainder of that day. Yeah, I mean, maybe a year.

[Jason Moore]

I don't know that I would start him over. Ty. I think Ty is still. They're both good. Oh, man, I hate this, man. Andrew Luck come back. It's. It's such a shame to have good.

[Andy Holloway]

Did you have any dreams, Mike, about Rashad Higgins? Maybe something that can give us some insight here?

[Mike Wright]

No, not a psychic Higgins. And I think that Higgins is a good wide receiver. I think he was a great pickup this for this waiver wire run. And I guess, I mean, if you're, if you're ever going to play Higgins, this is a very good matchup to do it.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, well, here's the deal. We've got one more matchup to go through and then we're going to do our starts of the week, guys. Buccaneers. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the Minnesota Vikings. I'm not throwing a line out there because a line doesn't make sense right now. Not knowing what Sam Bradford's status is. And really that's what this entirety. The big storyline here is, does Sam Bradford play? If he plays, he's at home. If he's at home playing, we've seen what he's capable of with Stefan Diggs, Adam Thielen, with Dalvin Cook, with Kyle Rudolph. What is your kind of ranking adjustment that you're making with these players? Do you start any of the pass catchers in Minnesota if Sam Bradford is on the bench and it's Case Keenum at home against a very formidable overall defense in Tampa Bay that played from ahead last week. And so what do you think?

[Mike Wright]

I think you can still start them. I mean, last week it was no on the road against the Steelers. I didn't want anything to do with it. Keenum's first start let him get some actual real. I guess he was technically practicing to start last week, but just some More time. The fact that you're at home, the. I respect the Tampa Bay defense, but I think that they, their corners can be beats. So I'm okay. Far more okay this week playing Diggs and Thielen compared to last week.

[Jason Moore]

See, I look at Tampa Bay and I think that their pass defense is, is better than their rush defense. If case Keenum is playing, I'm probably not starting Diggs or Thielen. It will be nicer being at home for Keenum, being able to, you know, call the plays out and be heard, but I just don't trust it after what we saw last week. What did Diggs have, like two receptions? Yeah, and he's a volume guy, so I have a hard time starting him if Sam Bradford's not there running wise. You know, Dalvin Cook will talk about him in just a minute. I mean, I'm all in.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Jaquiz Rogers was Mike's pump the brakes this week.

[Mike Wright]

False.

[Jason Moore]

He was mine. I pumped. I pumped those brakes.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. I don't know which one of you is which.

[Jason Moore]

We sound the same.

[Andy Holloway]

Apparently one of you guys did it. Benched him.

[Mike Wright]

Wasn't me.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, Jacquiz, though, you want to sit him down? Tough matchup. The Vikings right now are the 11th ranked run defense. We know how formidable they are. They're at home and you're saying the matchup's just not, it's not juicy.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Look, I wouldn't bench him in all situations, you know, if you've got him and Joe Mixon, I would wait a week again to see on mix and hopefully this is the week. But at least you know, the volume will be there for quiz. The problem is on the road against the Vikings. I don't know that the efficiency will be there with the volume.

[Andy Holloway]

Now, one last question.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, I'll say I expect Xavier Rhodes will be covering Mike Evans and Rhodes is a monster. He's a shutdown guy. This is not a. This is not a bench Mike Evans question.

[Andy Holloway]

This is a. Yeah, this is my question was going to be what is desean Jackson exactly?

[Mike Wright]

Is desean Jackson a must start in this situation because you expect to be playing up against Trey Wayne's. I would start him.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean I must start is too relative for how down in the rankings he is. So I would say like I would start J.J. nelson over Desean Jackson.

[Jason Moore]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

I would against Dallas. So that's where my line would be. I would start Martavis Bryant over to Sean Jackson.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

But I do think that he's one of those flyer Worthy players this week. I kind of want to know what is he going to be? I don't know yet. I mean, I new team, the second fiddle for the first time in his. In the last few years. I don't know what he is.

[Jason Moore]

I would start Deshaun Jackson over to those other players we were talking about where it's like, okay, the Ty Hilton, you know, and Dante Moncrief and Higgins. If Fonte Davis is there, then I would take a desean Jackson guy over. Over them.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's get into the starts.

[Jason Moore]

Starts of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, I'll kick it off. Kick it with my quarterback, Maddie Stafford. Oh, at Atlanta, we talked about the matchup. No Vic Beasley. He's been very solid. I'm impressed with him. He has weapons. And the thing is, last week only started in 43% of leagues. The Giants matchup I think was intimidating. He didn't have like an impressive fantasy day yardage wise. Still got it in the end zone. The opportunity to put up much larger yardage numbers. The need to is going to be there in this matchup in Atlanta. Controlled environment, really like Matthew Stafford this week. So I think you can start him with confidence.

[Jason Moore]

My start of the week is a guy that will be my pump the brakes next week.

[Mike Wright]

It is Derek Carr that's calling your shots.

[Jason Moore]

Derek Carr. I love this matchup. So does Vegas. Vegas has this as a 54 point over under at Washington. It's a. It's a nighttime primetime game. The weather is supposed to be, you know, 75 without wind. I mean, you're talking perfect setup here for a monster game. Derek Carr has shown this year that he is a legit, great quarterback. And you've talked about this before, Mike. When he has good matchups, he takes full advantage. He struggles a little bit more when he's in division against those Chiefs, against those Chargers, against those Broncos, which happen to be three of his four next games. And the fourth in there is the Ravens. So get a good game and sell them.

[Andy Holloway]

Fun fact. Every quarterback in the AFC west has finished in the top 10 every week this year.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my.

[Andy Holloway]

So Carr, Smith, Simeon, rivers, all top 10 quarterbacks both week one and week two.

[Mike Wright]

That is a fun fact.

[Andy Holloway]

It is, isn't it?

[Jason Moore]

It's so fun.

[Mike Wright]

All right, My start of the week, I'm. I'm doubling down because he's my stream of the week. Smoking J. Cuddy.

[Jason Moore]

Wow.

[Andy Holloway]

We're going smokey and snapback.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, we're playing the deplorables.

[Andy Holloway]

And how did I Miss this, by the way. Send in the car. I apologize.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, thank you for apologizing. But Jay Cutler, the Jets giving up the third most quarterback points, and that includes a game against Tyrod Taylor. Tyrod Taylor got it done through the air against the. So I have full confidence firing up Jay Cutler. I'm streaming him all over the place.

[Andy Holloway]

Some big Devonte Parker plays, quite possibly. Why don't you just. Let's go wide receiver.

[Mike Wright]

All right, so I'm going stack. I'm going stack attack right here with Devonte Parker. An average depth of target of 19 yards with a 27% target share.

[Jason Moore]

That is. That's nice.

[Mike Wright]

That is a recipe for success. He gets to take on the jets just like Jay Cutler, which is, you know, not a coincidence since they're on the same team. I get. Here's my one word of caution. Morris Claiborne. Maybe he's. Maybe he can play football because he was up against Amari Cooper last week. He was a lot of the reason that the ball just kept going to Michael Crabtree. And Claiborne is likely to be on the Devonte Parker. That's not enough to scare me away from starting him because the target volume is there, the big plays are there, the touchdown upside is there. I love Parker. I tried to trade for him. Brian, you suck.

[Andy Holloway]

That was a shout out to our league. Yep. Very nice.

[Mike Wright]

I hope he's listening.

[Andy Holloway]

Jason, who do you have as your wide receiver start of the week?

[Jason Moore]

I've got a reluctant Kelvin Benjamin. Look, Kelvin Benjamin, he was involved last week.

[Mike Wright]

It's called the starts of the week, man.

[Andy Holloway]

The essence of the start of the week is to emphatically put your stamp on somebody. Well, do you need to make an audible?

[Jason Moore]

No. Well, my audible would be Keenan Allen. I'm all in on Keenan Allen. If you're afraid of the Kansas City Chiefs, don't be. I think Kenan Allen is too integral to that offense. But I am still sticking with Kelvin Benjamin. 6 for 77 last week. Greg Olson goes down. They're at home. That are against a beatable New Orleans secondary. Whoopable thing here is just Calvin Benjamin's health. So I will just throw in the audible where if he is, you know, if he is limited later in the week.

[Mike Wright]

Devin Funches got it. Jason started the week.

[Jason Moore]

Then it would be Keenan Allen.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to go with J.J. nelson. Yeah, he was one of my favorite pickups last week. I'm going to give him my start of the week this week. Offensive player of the week in the NFC and look, it's a shamble situation for offensive opportunity in Arizona. David Johnson's out and you're talking about Chris Johnson getting his start. He's not a pass catching weapon. Larry Fitzgerald's been underutilized for whatever reason in a great matchup last week, only three catches. And J.J. nelson has the ability to get behind the defense to do 80% of what John Brown can do in the offense from a route perspective. And I think that there's a rapport there with Carson Palmer. So it's, it's one of those. I'm putting him in my lineup. Maybe I don't love the name attached to it, but I think you're going to love the production again this week.

[Mike Wright]

Trevor Simeon made that Dallas secondary look the fool.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, he did. So I love and that. And that game's at home in Arizona, so I like that as well. I'll go ahead and give you my running back this week. It's Gilly.

[Mike Wright]

You're darn right it's Gillisley.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike Gillisle and the reason he, the reason he's allowed to be a start of the week, maybe you say, oh, he's an auto start. Look, you're probably intimidated by that Houston run defense. You also probably got Mike Gillislee, fifth, sixth round. Maybe you found another option. Maybe you drafted another player that you're thinking about starting there. Maybe you signed Javorius Allen and you're going back and forth between Allen, who I think is a good start this week, and Gillesley, who's my start of the week. I don't think you need to be afraid. Last week he had 18 carries in a game that they were in control of Houston. I'm starting the Patriots defense in this game. I don't think they're going to be able to move the ball at all. This is, you know, they took 10 sacks against Jacksonville and Houston was gashed by Fournette in that matchup with Jacksonville. So I think Gillisle is going to be the wear down running back in this game. And you know what? I bet he scores a touchdown again because it's a pretty good bet.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's a really good bet. And I, I would, I would have expected you to call for the double up touchdowns. Gilly would have been my start of the week. I love it. He's favored by almost two touchdowns at home. I always love those running back.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know this.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you know that reference?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, you don't? It's Saturday Night Live. It's great. We Got to get a drop of that. All right, here we go. The. My start of the week is Dalvin Cook. Dalvin Cook. You might be a little scared because of the Sam Bradford situation. I am saying I'm starting Dalvin Cook regardless of the Sam Bradford situation. If Sam Bradford doesn't play, Dalvin Cook will be just fine. He was very effective last week against Pittsburgh. You know, he had, I think eight of his 12 runs were for five or more yards. He. He's a very good running back and they need him. Now. He is at home. And he's at home in a. In a game where Tampa Bay. I think that, like I said earlier, I think they've got a very good pass defense. I think that they are beatable in the rushing game. And since they are traveling to Minnesota, I like him. I'm willing to start them everywhere. I think you got to get Dalvin in your lineup if you're him and Hawn don't.

[Andy Holloway]

Small update on Bradford practiced again on Thursday, so things are trending in a very positive direction. So I would get our take on whether you think Bradford will play. I think he's going to play this week. And then small note earlier, Evan Ingram is practicing as well.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, very nice. I will jump in here with my running back. Start of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

Bold, by the way, but I like it.

[Jason Moore]

I love this pick. Theodore Rosenfeld.

[Mike Wright]

That would be a bold take.

[Andy Holloway]

That would be tough. Tougher.

[Mike Wright]

He hasn't seen a snap in years.

[Andy Holloway]

Years.

[Mike Wright]

Theo Riddick and I love the matchup. You have two strong offenses, but Atlanta can be beat by pass catching, running backs. I mean, you. I don't know why Rogers didn't exploit this more.

[Jason Moore]

But you.

[Mike Wright]

You saw, as soon as Montgomery started getting some targets, then it was absolutely dominant and you saw James White annihilate this team in the Super Bowl. Theo Riddick has been great. He's been catching passes. He's actually. And he's getting runs as well. I mean, he's getting actual carries. Theo Riddick is a great start this week and he is a. He's lower on your bench, but I'm starting him with confidence.

[Andy Holloway]

I like it.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I don't blame you at all. I think that Matthew Stafford, you're start of the week is going to have a great, great game. Andy, start of the week. And you think in the running game it's going to be Theo Riddick catching the ball. I'm going in the passing game with the tight end. Start of the week is going to be Eric Ebron. Eric Ebron, you know, he had a bad week one against the Cardinals. A good defense came last week and had a really good game. Had a touchdown. His yardage, you look at it and you go, oh, he had. What was it, around 50 yards.

[Andy Holloway]

He was 5 for 47 or something.

[Jason Moore]

But, you know, I think there was only 122.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Passing yards for Stafford. I mean, his. His volume and the way they used him gave me confidence. I think if this game, like we hope, is a shootout, I think Eric Ebron can be started now. All that said, I struggled finding this one this week because the three guys that I just loved way, way more, two of them were your guys start of the week, and the third, I just can't do it. Zach Ertz, my man, he should be every week start. He's taken out of consideration because he's a weekly starter. And so, you know, if you've got any of these guys, start them over at Ebron.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going with Jack Doyle in that matchup against Cleveland. The only real piece I think you can start in the Indianapolis offense.

[Jason Moore]

Frank Gore.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah. Frank Gore as well. Jacoby Brissette, the brisket.

[Mike Wright]

Beef brisket. Brissette, hot sauce with Doyle. Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Look, you saw what the report was last week. Doyle was kind of the outlet guy, the guy that, you know, I wrote.

[Mike Wright]

It's so hard.

[Andy Holloway]

I wrote. I wrote brisket down in the notes for the joke, but now I just am reading it over and over again. But Brissette was. He's more elusive. He's able to get out of the pocket. He's able to extend plays and find Doyle. And you saw this last week, so I think Doyle's a really nice baseline tight end in a sea of injuries.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Give me that barbecue sauce.

[Mike Wright]

All right, my tight end start of the week is Jared Cook. I'm doubling up here with Jason, who loves Derek Carr. Jared Cook is getting at least five targets a game, and. And Washington has given up over 100 yards to the tight end in both weeks.

[Andy Holloway]

So we got two cooks in the starts of the week kitchen.

[Mike Wright]

Got to do the cooking by the book. Get that brisket and get Jared Kobe brisket. So of these guys we've talked about, like Clay and your.

[Jason Moore]

Your.

[Mike Wright]

Let's say you were holding out hope for Iford and you missed the run on the waiver wire. Jared Cook is probably there, and I think that you can pick him up and start him and. And get low end, tight end one numbers this week.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, I think we have one more segment.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, no. Jason Moore's ironclad, locked and loaded. 100% guaranteed boom, boom. Kicker of the week.

[Mike Wright]

Look, Jason, this is a bold, bold take here. Not because of the fantasy production, because I want to hear you.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, me too.

[Mike Wright]

Say this guy's name.

[Jason Moore]

Giorgio Tavecchio.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow, man, That's a letdown. He's probably right.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean, somebody practice. No, you're saying that, and then everybody from Oakland's gonna go, dude, that's not how you say his name. Look, he's the replacement. He's replaced Janikowski. He's looked every bit as good. The reason that I'm picking him is, look, the weather's going to be great. It's going to be prime time. It's a huge over under. And if you watch, I mean, literally every single time he kicks the ball, it looks like the most perfect kick. Splitting the uprights right down the middle. Like a scalpel and distance. He's what now?

[Mike Wright]

Scalpel.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I'm saying it's like surgical scalpel.

[Mike Wright]

Wait, scalpel is not right. A scalpel. Is a scalpel. The medicine or the medicinal knife?

[Andy Holloway]

You are talking about the knife, right?

[Jason Moore]

I am talking about the knife.

[Mike Wright]

A scalpel.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, wait.

[Jason Moore]

Say it the right way.

[Andy Holloway]

Is this 35 years being undone right now?

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

This is.

[Mike Wright]

You're missing an L. Scal.

[Jason Moore]

Scalpel.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Like scalp.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And then as you.

[Jason Moore]

I like scalpel better because I have a scalpel. It sounds like a drink when you ask for. You're thinking of Snapple, but when you ask like scrapple.

[Andy Holloway]

Right through the uprights. Like a Snapple. Right through.

[Jason Moore]

There you go. There's the boom, boom. Locked and loaded kicker.

[Mike Wright]

Just.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, no. I want to circle back real quick. You like him because he kicks it through the uprights. That's what the. That's what the take was. Like a scalpel.

[Mike Wright]

Like the middle.

[Jason Moore]

Right through the middle.

[Andy Holloway]

By the way, Mike, just so you are aware, your. Your take about Teddy Roosevelt taking a carry 50 years ago? He died 100 years ago, so I'm.

[Mike Wright]

Aware that Theodore Roosevelt.

[Jason Moore]

We want to keep things accurate here.

[Andy Holloway]

This was a zombie level carry is what I'm saying. It was zombie Teddy. Well, let's just go ahead and end the show on that note. Thanks for tuning in.

[Mike Wright]

Teddy Roosevelt will get it done on the football field.

[Jason Moore]

Play with us on play [e-mail] Ballers.

[Andy Holloway]

And thanks for everybody supporting the show subscribing. Check us out on YouTube.

[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.