Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 12 Thanksgiving Episode Part 2, Matchups, Mailbag

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary: Week 12 Thanksgiving Episode Part 2

Release Date: November 25, 2015

The Fantasy Footballers’ Week 12 Thanksgiving Episode Part 2 delves deep into various NFL matchups, player analyses, and listener mailbag questions. Hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike “The Fantasy Hitman” Wright provide expert insights, strategic advice, and engaging discussions to help fantasy managers navigate the complexities of their lineups during a pivotal week of the season.

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1. Key Matchups and Player Evaluations

a. Rams vs. Bengals

• Overview: Andy expresses skepticism about the Rams’ chances against the heavily favored Bengals. Despite uncertainty surrounding the Rams' quarterback situation, Andy believes the Rams' defense will keep the game competitive.

  [00:00] Andy: “The Bengals are very heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy favorites.”

• Player Focus:

  • A.J. Green: Andy highlights that Green's success is tied to Tyler Ifert’s red zone efficiency, noting, “Tyler Ifert’s red zone proficiency” (00:46).

  • Jeremy Hill vs. Gio Bernard: Jason questions Hill’s reliability due to penalties and inconsistent performance, leading Andy to advise against starting him this week.

    [03:26] Andy: “I think he's always in line for the touchdowns. If they can get to the goal line.”

b. Saints vs. Texans

• Predictions: Andy predicts a Texans victory, citing the Saints' poor run and pass defenses. Drew Brees is considered a strong start over Cam Newton, despite Andy later acknowledging Brees had a bye week.

  [06:43] Andy: “I think the Texans win this game.”

• Player Highlights:

  • Brian Hoyer: Recognized for his favorable matchup against the Texans’ high passing volume, Andy preemptively apologizes for overhyping Hoyer but maintains confidence in his performance.

    [07:51] Andy: “Hoyer is in line for a great start.”

c. Chargers vs. Jaguars

• Offensive Concerns: The Chargers face uncertainty with Philip Rivers' inconsistent performances and limited usage of players like Danny Woodhead. Mike prefers prioritizing Antonio Gates over Melvin Gordon due to the latter’s limited involvement.

  [16:10] Jason: “Melvin Gordon is... not very confident that Danny Woodhead is getting involved.”

• Streamer Options:

  • Stevie Johnson: Andy values him for volume-based PPR leagues.

  • Jameson Crowder: Nicknamed “Little Drizzle,” Mike endorses Crowder as a streaming option against the Jaguars’ weak pass defense.

    [31:29] Andy: “What skates going to do this week?”

d. Dolphins vs. Jets

• Running Backs: Chris Ivory is debated due to his overall ranking versus his recent performance. Concerns about Bilal Powell’s return affecting Ivory's workload are discussed, with Mike suggesting Ivory should be ranked higher.

  [54:20] Jason: “Scoring format really matters in this situation...”

• Quarterback Play: Eli Manning is recommended as a strong start, especially if Danny Amendola remains sidelined.

e. Steelers vs. Seahawks

• Players to Start:

  • Big Ben (Ben Roethlisberger): Despite recent injuries, Mike remains confident in Big Ben.

  • D’Angelo Williams: Jason advocates for Williams irrespective of the matchup, likening him to a Le’Veon Bell light.

    [41:14] Jason: “I just made a move for him... he stays a one regardless for me.”

• Receiver Considerations:

  • Antonio Brown: Mixed opinions due to a tough matchup, with Andy rating him lower.
  • Vernon Davis vs. Owen Daniels: Preference leaned towards Vernon Davis for better matchup potential.

f. Patriots vs. Broncos

• Quarterback Decisions: The trio debates whether to start Tom Brady over Brock Osweiler, especially considering Danny Amendola’s possible absence. While hesitant, Jason hints at the possibility of benching Brady if Amendola doesn’t play.

  [44:10] Mike: “I'm not reading too much into it. What I'm reading into it is that his injury...”

g. Raiders vs. Titans

• Quarterback Choices: Derek Carr is upheld as a quarterback one despite concerns, with Mike cautiously suggesting a possible benching in favor of streaming options.

  [34:35] Andy: “...Derek Carr is a quarterback one this week.”

• Running Back Focus:

  • Doug Martin: Mike ranks Martin as his number one running back for the week, praising his consistent performance against a middle-tier defense.

  • Antonio Andrews vs. David Cobb: Andy prefers Cobb over Andrews, questioning Andrews' long-term potential.

    [12:57] Mike: “He's running great all year.”

h. Cardinals vs. 49ers

• Star Players:

  • Chris Johnson: Highly rated by Andy and Mike for a favorable matchup, though Jason remains more cautious.

  • John Brown: Recovered from a hamstring injury, Andy and Mike express confidence in Brown’s involvement despite concerns.

  • Stefan Diggs: Considered a reliable play with steady utilization.

    [36:03] Andy: “Ranked him very high. Probably way higher than you guys.”

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2. Mailbag Highlights and Audience Questions

a. Player Start/Sit Decisions

• Travis Benjamin vs. Owen Daniels: Andy and Mike favor Vernon Davis over others based on matchups and recent performance.

• Brandon Marshall vs. Jonathan Stewart: Jason opts for Stewart for his safer floor, while Andy and Mike lean towards Marshall due to higher ceilings.

  [53:32] Andy: “Would you, Jason Stream or play Derek Carr or Mariota?”

b. Streamer Recommendations

• Alfred Blue vs. Sean Drona: The hosts recommend Alfred Blue based on his favorable matchup against a weak rushing defense.

  [54:31] Jason: “I think I go Latavius Murray slightly ahead of Woodhead in both standard and PPR.”

• Josh McCown’s Return: Relief expressed by hosts as Goo McCown's return boosts receiver options, particularly for Gary Barnage owners.

  [58:30] Mike: “He is practicing today.”

c. Trade Evaluations

• Julio Jones vs. Antonio Brown: Discussion centers on the risk of Big Ben’s injuries versus the upside of acquiring Brown. The consensus leans towards retaining Julio unless trading for Brown directly.

  [55:52] Mike: “I would definitely... upgrade to Antonio Brown.”

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3. Notable Quotes and Insights

• Andy on A.J. Green's Dependency:

  "AJ Green season is a result of Tyler Ifert's red zone proficiency." (00:46)

• Jason on Jeremy Hill's Consistency:

  "If he’s not going to get a touchdown, you don’t know what you’re going to get from Chris Ivory right now." (20:15)

• Mike on Drew Brees Over Cam Newton:

  "I have him over Cam Newton." (05:00)

• Andy on Josh McCown’s Impact:

  "Barnage is much better now that McCown is back." (52:27)

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4. Final Thoughts and Conclusions

As Week 12 approaches, the Fantasy Footballers emphasize the importance of evaluating matchups, player roles, and recent performances. The hosts advocate for flexibility in lineups, suggesting streaming options when necessary and prioritizing players with favorable conditions. They also highlight the dynamic nature of the fantasy landscape, where injuries and game flow can significantly impact player value.

Listeners are encouraged to engage via the Fantasy Footballers’ website or by calling their hotline to submit questions, ensuring personalized advice tailored to individual team needs.

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Key Takeaways:

• Defense Matchups are Crucial: Evaluating opposing defenses can significantly influence player starts or sits.
• Monitor Player Roles: Injuries and coaching decisions can alter a player's fantasy value week-to-week.
• Flexibility Enhances Success: Utilizing streaming options and staying adaptable to weekly changes can lead to optimal lineup performance.

For more detailed analyses and personalized advice, visit thefantasyfootballers.com and follow them on Twitter at @theFFballers.

Transcript

[Andy]

All right, let's go ahead and talk about the Rams taking on the Bengals. The Bengals are very heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy favorites.

[Mike]

We don't know the quarterback situation yet for the Rams. Andy's almost upset of the week. Love it.

[Andy]

The Rams defense will keep them in the game. That is all I have to say. I'm not going to say they're going to win in Cincinnati.

[Jason]

You said they're almost going.

[Andy]

I said they're almost going to win.

[Mike]

So I love this pick. I could see the Bengals, you know, going, oh, and three, three in a row. It's got to be in their head. So I don't expect the Rams to win either, but their defense has been great, so I like it.

[Jason]

So how confident are you in the Cincinnati skill players? I mean, you got A.J. green.

[Andy]

We talked about this in the studio a lot this week. AJ Green season is a result of Tyler Ifert's red zone proficiency. No team throws more touchdowns to the tight end than Cincinnati does.

[Jason]

Well, Tyler Ifert catches a touchdown every four times. Any four times he catches the ball, one of them is a touchdown, which is a ridiculous stat. That is one of those unsustainable things. Yet he continues on.

[Mike]

I don't know that that is necessarily unsustainable the way they use him in the red zone.

[Andy]

Ye Somebody could have made that argument about Gronkowski years ago and it's very sustainable because you are a high percentage red zone target. That hurts AJ Green. And now that being said, in this matchup, the Rams defense is great and they give up zero passing touchdowns in 40% of their games. They don't give up a lot of passing touchdowns. So if I had to pick somebody to get one, you asked me how confident I am in the skill position players, I guess I'd pick Ifert for one, you know, But I'm not expecting this to be a high scoring game. And now I hadn't even looked at the line. Vegas has that as a low scoring game.

[Jason]

Okay, so what about Jeremy Hill versus Gio Bernard? We saw the Jeremy Hill looked better last week against Arizona. It always helped.

[Andy]

Not better than Gio, but better than he had looked.

[Jason]

Yeah, that's what I mean, better than he has looked. And the. Here's what's interesting for me about Jeremy Hill. A couple things. One, he had that taunting penalty early, early in the game. And I thought there is no way that Jeremy Hill is getting back in this game the way that Marvin Lewis runs his ship. But I think Marvin Lewis has learned his lesson because they, they talked about earlier the Bengals did when they benched Jeremy Hill for the fumble. They were very concerned that Marvin, maybe that really affected him of shutting him down instead of being able to fire him up like it does for some players. It had a completely negative effect on him. So they said, okay, well he had this. We're going to leave him in. Jeremy Hill has that incident where he runs into the end zone and has the scuffle with Tyron Matthew. I thought, okay, here we go again. Maybe he gets benched for being a knucklehead again. Nope, he stayed in the game. And so that combined with how easily they they marched him in on a goal line carry, which they haven't been doing all year. They've been doing trickery and weird stuff. A lot of throwing to Tyler Ifert. So is Jeremy Hill in line for those touchdowns? If they can get to the goal line?

[Andy]

I think he's always in line for the touchdowns. If they can get to the goal line. I think that Jeremy Hill is somebody I would not start this week.

[Jason]

Okay.

[Mike]

Yeah. I mean I had Jeremy Hill as my set of the week last week. I will admit my. I'll take my lumps there because he got two touchdowns.

[Andy]

So tough to predict when you're on the goal line. I mean he wasn't very productive outside of the two carries on the goal line and was.

[Mike]

Because you're facing a tough defense and so the whole offense, it's probably just less likely that you get down to that one yard line where Jeremy Hill needs to. Needs to eat on Thanksgiving. This is actually after Thanksgiving, but I agree with Andy. I'm not a big Hill believer. I believe that they've kind of been using him the same as they had beforehand. They give, you know, a series to Hill, a series to geo. If they need to be passing, GEO is going to be in the game with a low scoring game. I'm not huge on either of them. I see both of them in kind of that, that running back three vein.

[Andy]

I got two other questions for you. First of all, the only player you're playing on the entire Rams is Todd Gurley. Todd Gurley has a 100 yards or a touchdown in every game he's played this entire year. 100 total yards or a touchdown started. Correct every start this year. Good point. Let me ask you about A.J. green here because I want to get a little bit more granular than just saying, okay, he's going to have a rough game. I want to see who you'd start him over. Okay, would you start A.J. green? In this game at home against St. Louis, or would you rather start Eric Decker?

[Jason]

Ooh, that is. That's interesting.

[Mike]

I like AJ Green just a little bit more than Decker. Just higher. Higher upside.

[Andy]

Totally consistent.

[Jason]

Yeah. The upside is there, but Eric Decker's taking on the Dolphins at home. That's a great matchup. I think Decker is safer, but AJ Green has the higher ceiling.

[Andy]

AJ Green or DEZ Bryant?

[Mike]

Oh, I'm definitely going green. Des Bryant. It's not a huge wide margin.

[Andy]

You're definitely going green.

[Mike]

Yeah. Des Bryant has Norman on the other side of the field in a. What I think is going to be a little bit more low scoring. Both of these guys are very similar. To me. I see them very similar. These are supremely talented athletes that both have a high ceiling in these matches.

[Andy]

We all have them. Two within two of each other in our rankings.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy]

Even despite where they're at.

[Mike]

That's why I said, I see these guys very similar.

[Andy]

I was just surprised that. Yeah. That you said I'm definitely taking care.

[Mike]

Well, because the tiebreaker, to me, in both situations, you've got good defenses, good wide receivers. The tiebreaker is one of them is named Josh Norman.

[Andy]

Well, you got Jenkins in St. Louis.

[Mike]

I would take Josh Norman. If I was drafting as a gm, I would. I would take Josh Norman over Jenkins. Right. Would you? So I don't know. I'm just saying that's an even tiebreaker for me.

[Jason]

I don't know.

[Andy]

A.J. green or. Yeah. Because a career does not be. Is not just right now.

[Jason]

Yeah, well, okay.

[Mike]

Right now.

[Andy]

All right. A.J. green or Martavis Bryant? Martavis has Seattle.

[Jason]

I'll take. I'll take Green by a hair.

[Andy]

All right. A.J. green or Jeffrey if he plays.

[Jason]

Oh, Jeff.

[Mike]

Jeffrey, if he plays.

[Jason]

For sure.

[Andy]

Okay.

[Jason]

All right.

[Andy]

Well, we'll move it on. Because we got to move it on.

[Jason]

There's still so much left.

[Andy]

The Saints. The Saints go to Houston, another team that's on the rise. By the way, do you realize if New England beats Denver this week and Kansas City takes care of business at home against the Bills.

[Jason]

No way.

[Andy]

There's a two game gap between them because. Because Denver will be eight and three and Kansas City would be six and five. That Kansas City's on fire right now? They have four straight wins in a row when their season was looking not so good. Then they lost Jamal Charles and everyone thought it's over and their defense is just.

[Jason]

It's really funny how you in fantasy because we get so tied into what the players are doing. And after the beginning of the season, when a team rattles off like some significant losses in a row, you kind of tune out to their record. And then just then. Wait, what? The Chiefs are back in the hunt? It's kind of like Tampa Bay.

[Andy]

I was going to say that. Exactly.

[Jason]

Tampa Bay is one game out of the playoffs right now.

[Andy]

They're five and five. You know what's funny? It's all the teams that are five, five right now. Houston, I think, is what, five and five?

[Jason]

Yeah, they're back as well.

[Andy]

Kansas City and Tampa are all 5 and 5 and in the mix. So the Saints go to play the Texans. The Texans are favored by three. I think the Texans win this game. I really do. I don't think the Saints defense can hold up and I don't think New Orleans can score enough against Texas or against the Texans right now. That being said, Hoyer. Brian Hoyer was your stream of the week. Mike, I want to come out and pre apologize.

[Jason]

Yeah.

[Andy]

Because I did you a little too much about Hoyer on the air and I hadn't looked at the numbers enough. He's been really good when he started.

[Jason]

Yep.

[Andy]

And how can you not be really good against a team that has given up incredible amounts of fantasy points? I think we looked at this in their last four games, they'd given up like 40, 43, 60 to Eli and like 35. So, I mean, Hoyer is in line for a great start.

[Mike]

And The Texans average 43 pass attempts per game, which leads the league. So you have that. That much passing volume against that porous of a defense. And Hoyer's a good. That's why you started the show saying the craziness of. Would. Would you take Hoyer over Brady?

[Andy]

All right, we're going to play a little sartin sit with this game. Okay. Alfred Blue, start him or sit him?

[Jason]

Start.

[Mike]

Start.

[Andy]

All right. Brandon Cooks, start. Willie Snead, start.

[Jason]

Yeah, you got to start him. Willie Snead is an interesting guy to me because he's coming off that goose egg. He. He had the knee injury problems. He's had a bi week now, so. And I'll say this, he's a guy you need to monitor what's going on in practice.

[Mike]

If he's our.

[Jason]

If he's still limited into practice after having an entire week off, then I'm going to have some. Some concerns for him.

[Andy]

Okay. And so let's talk about Drew Brees a little bit. He had the bye week. Drew Brees right now. Mike, you have the highest this week. So you. You like him a lot. You like him over Rivers? You like him over Big Ben. You like him over Brady. You like him over Carr? You feeling good about that?

[Jason]

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I could still be confident in that.

[Andy]

You have him over Cam Newton. They're back to back, but you have them over him.

[Jason]

Yeah, I have Cam Newton concerns this week. Not that I'm sitting him down by the end.

[Andy]

Tempered expectations.

[Jason]

Yeah, just blame me for that. I have a serious question for Jason.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Jason]

Are you going to start or sit DeAndre Hopkins this week?

[Mike]

This is a tough call. I've got him ranked fairly high. I think he's my number one wide receiver this week.

[Jason]

Welcome back to the DeAndre Hopkins party trade.

[Mike]

I had him at 15.

[Andy]

You cannot defend that.

[Mike]

All right, fair enough.

[Andy]

I can just see me. What if you saw me going like this? I had Julio at 15.

[Mike]

That. Well, that would be ridiculous.

[Andy]

That would sound ridiculous. Yeah, exactly. How dare you, by the way? We got those water bets that are getting paid out and Mike's videos are done. All right. Anything else from that game? We know the story, right? The Saints, 29th against the run, 31st against the pass. A dumpster fire.

[Jason]

Nasty Nate.

[Andy]

You like Nasty Nate?

[Jason]

I think he's an okay play because of the. Because of how bad the Saints defense.

[Andy]

All right. Is it Devin Funches or Nasty Nate?

[Jason]

Nate. I'll go with Nate.

[Andy]

The Buccaneers go into Indianapolis and take on the Colts. This is the Jameis Winston experiment. He has been ascending. He had five touchdowns last week. Obviously, he'll have five in every game the rest of the year. No, that's not true. But, you know, he's playing better. He's got a weapon. Back in Vincent Jackson. The running game is getting it done. Right. I think we looked this up yesterday. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were, I believe, second or third in the league in average rushing yards per game. This moves the offense down the field. So Jameis Winston, I'm willing to start this week.

[Jason]

I think Winston is interesting this week because for the stat sheet, when you go look back on Winston, he had a monster game, a monumental, huge game. But if you watch the entire game, it looked exactly like the magic year of Nick Foles when he was on the Eagles, where he's getting away with all kinds of mistakes. The running game is a huge part of the game because if you remember in the Eagles when Nick Foles was there, that's when Shady was going bananas. But Winston got away with so many throws that should have been picked off and were just terrible decisions. But every single one of Them connected. So I do agree that I think Winston is a decent start here. But I have, I really want to see what he's going to do against a Colts defense that is not good. So speaking to moving forward with Winston, this is a nice barometer check for me.

[Mike]

Yeah, he's. He's actually had 12 touchdowns including the touchdowns on the ground in the last six games. Only two interceptions and those both came in the same game. So there's only. In the last six games he's only thrown an interception in a single game. That's. That's not to say that that's going to be the trend going forward. But he's better than we have been looking at Winston like because he got off to such a bad start having that four interception game early on right after a two interception game. So he's definitely startable.

[Andy]

All right, let's talk about Doug Martin. Let's talk about Doug Martin. He had a huge week last week. He's kind of known for this, these breakout monster games. You know, he had a couple duds and then all of a sudden he gives you 200 plus yards on the ground. Are you extremely confident with Martin this week going up against that Colts defense that ranks 21st in the league?

[Mike]

I have him ranked this week and as my number one running back. So I would say.

[Andy]

So you're somewhat confident.

[Mike]

I am somewhat confident in Doug Martin. I don't see any reason they hand the ball off to him. He's got the third most carries in the league. He's been running great all year. He's had a couple games that have been down. But if you watch the film, he has looked like he looked when he was a top back a couple years ago. And the Colts aren't going to be the team that just completely bottles him up. So I like Doug Martin in this game quite a bit.

[Jason]

So the line is the Colts are favored. Is that. That's correct.

[Mike]

Favored by a field goal.

[Andy]

So what do you make sense? They're at home.

[Jason]

Yeah. So just wondering what you get. We don't normally talk that but it just. What were you guys. You think the Bucks can take this game?

[Mike]

This is going to be a.

[Andy]

You know, I actually believe the Colts will win it.

[Jason]

An interesting trivia fact here. Let's see if the listeners will give him a chance to play of. I got to remember them all now. The undefeated quarterbacks who have started at least three games.

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Jason]

And you had, you have three of them.

[Andy]

I know.

[Jason]

That's good. So we had Tom Brady, Cam Newton, Cam Newton and Matt Hasselbeck.

[Andy]

Matt Hasselbeck has not lost the game this year and I don't think he loses this one, to be honest. This is a game that if it was in Tampa, I'd probably flip. I think the line would flip and I think people would be on board with Tampa.

[Jason]

So who are you starting from? The Colts? Because I'm not playing Hilton if I don't have to.

[Mike]

I'm starting Frank Gore.

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Mike]

I've got him as the highest ranked RB2.

[Jason]

And what about pass catchers, though?

[Andy]

I could see myself playing Fleener if I was desperate.

[Jason]

Fleener is kind of the only one that I would take the gamble on.

[Andy]

And then obviously, you know. Yeah, yeah. So anybody else want to talk about Evans? Vincent Jackson?

[Jason]

Yeah. Vincent Jackson, I think is an interesting guy. Do we. Are we right back in with Vincent Jackson? He had a pretty good game last week.

[Mike]

He took his time coming back and looked fine this last week. What's. What's the health of Vonta Davis? Is he.

[Andy]

He.

[Jason]

That's a good question.

[Andy]

He hasn't looked good anyway. Yeah, he had a very mediocre year.

[Mike]

That's why I was wondering.

[Andy]

It's a good question. I think I feel pretty confident with both of those guys in this game.

[Jason]

I do too.

[Mike]

Being Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson.

[Andy]

Correct.

[Mike]

And also Austin Sferian Jenkins is reported he is going to be back any month now.

[Andy]

Any month?

[Mike]

Any month. He might be back by February, but he's been practicing for about a year.

[Andy]

That's how I felt when Doriel Green Beckham was not getting targets. I was like, any game now. Any quarter now. All right. Chargers going to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars. We've talked about this game a little bit in the context of a lot of starts that we're happy with. Bortles and Yelden are both starts of the week for us. Alan Robinson is in line for a great game against the Chargers defense that just is no good. And so the question, I think is not so much on the Jacksonville side. Let's focus on what people are trying to figure out here, which is what can I do with the offense of San Diego that was so productive from a fantasy perspective earlier in the year with Woodhead, with Gates, with. With Rivers, with Keenan Allen early in the year. So what do we expect from them? Give me the. Give me the projections here because I like Stevie Johnson. I made him a start of the week from volume perspective, PPR leagues. But what skates going to do this week?

[Jason]

I am really struggling with what I believe in the Chargers offense this week. They have to go across the country to Jacksonville, which is already kind of one of those. Okay, let's. Let's make a note of that. Philip Rivers is coming off of back to back bad weeks for fantasy. Last week especially was just horrific. And Danny Woodhead, man, Danny Woodhead is. Last week they just barely used him at all. I think he had one catch. And this is a guy who has nearly 50 catches on the year and you don't involve him. San Diego insists on Melvin Gordon.

[Andy]

I would too.

[Jason]

Would you.

[Andy]

We completely disagree on this. I would insist on Melvin Gordon getting him experience carries at the NFL level. When you're 2 and 8 or whatever they are.

[Mike]

Yeah. You got to see what you have in him. That being said, they gave him the ball 15 times last week and he got 37 yards, a healthy 2.1.

[Andy]

Yeah, I totally agree. From. This is talking NFL football.

[Jason]

Yeah.

[Andy]

And from an NFL football. I don't. I mean, is Melvin Gordon. You drafted him to be a running back.

[Mike]

Yeah. You got to.

[Andy]

I don't care what yards he gets. You just got to keep giving him the ball so he can get used to it.

[Mike]

I'm not confident in Woodhead. I actually have Gordon ranked ahead of Woodhead this week. The guy that I am a little bit confident in is actually Antonio Gates. I think Antonio Gates is going to be all right this game. He was a very good call on your set of the week last week. I liked that call. Then another week to get a little bit healthier. And Jacksonville, I think that that's one of their poorest areas of their defense. They've given up a lot to the tight end. A lot of receptions, a lot of yards and a decent amount of touchdowns. So, you know, when you're talking about safety valves for Philip Rivers, if Gates is healthy enough to just walk around, I think he's going to be. I think he's going to be a decent option. I'm not afraid of playing Gates this week.

[Jason]

I would love to see someone just watch a route.

[Mike]

I've always wondered when that. When that Yao Ming type of football player is going to come.

[Andy]

This is like 7 foot, 8ft tall.

[Mike]

Yeah. And they just literally say, hey, if we've got third and short, you walk out here and we're going to throw the ball 10ft in the air and you'll either get hit before you catch it, we'll get a penalty, or you catch it. Just hold on.

[Andy]

What's funny is you've and I have actually talked about that before.

[Mike]

It's like, seriously, if I'm a coach.

[Jason]

I'm looking at this.

[Andy]

It's been a discussion. You're looking for the 7 foot 7 inch guy that has like a wingspan.

[Mike]

Yeah. I mean you can't get up there a guarantee. I need three yards. You know, I'm first and goal at the two yard line.

[Andy]

You can eat big old mitts, big old grabbers to just go up there.

[Jason]

And get it like a seal.

[Andy]

Hey, seal of touchdowns.

[Mike]

Whatever works.

[Andy]

All right, we're going to move on the Dolphins take on the jets and I'm going to give you the highlight here that stands out to me. Chris Ivory is the fifth ranked running back in fantasy football right now. The Dolphins are the 31st ranked run defense and yet in our consensus rankings we all have Ivory outside the top 12. So this must be all momentum, right? Why is he sitting out of the top 12 if he's the fifth ranked running back?

[Mike]

Part of the, part of the reason and I'm not necessarily confident in that ranking, maybe Ivory needs to go a little bit higher. We've seen him with a. Mangold should be back, right. And he's been great when Mangold is there.

[Andy]

Yeah, he'll be back.

[Mike]

Yeah. I think that the big issue here is that he's losing the third down work now that Bilal Powell is back back. And so in games he's not as on the field as he was. He's not on the field. I mean we saw last game, right. He was frustratingly off the field because Bilal Powell was back. So maybe that's just some recency bias. I don't expect the jets in all honesty to be down to the Dolphins in a way that forces blow Powell on the field. So I think when I look at these rankings I maybe need to bump Chris Ivory up just a little bit. He should be a. He should be an RB one.

[Jason]

And that's for me that's the concern of. Ivory has just. He's not been the same guy. I agree that with the center coming.

[Andy]

Back it and it's still possible he doesn't play, but I think he'll play.

[Jason]

So it greatly affects Ivory's numbers and there's just the. And I agree with Jason that I think the jets will be winning this game against the Dolphins, but there's that risk now that if the doll. If the jets go down by 10 points and they're going to put Bilal Powell out there so they can run a faster paced offense and just dump the ball off the Powell if they have to, which was a concern I was having a couple weeks ago when I was advising to sell Ivory. So I still have those concerns. Ivory can get the touchdowns. Ivory is, he's, he's better. He's. I have a higher opinion of Ivory, but Ivory is, is almost in that Jeremy Hill vein now. I, like I said, I have a higher opinion of Ivory than I do of Hill at this moment. But there's just that concern that if he's not going to get a touchdown, you don't know what you're going to get from Chris Ivory right now.

[Andy]

Chris Ivory benefited from a very hot start for the New York Jets. They're five and five now. They, when, when they started the way they started, they were winning games, they were ahead in games, and Ivory was getting a lot of production out of that role. Like you said, as an owner of Ivory the whole season, I don't like seeing Bilal Powell on the field. I know it's going to be the reality when they're down. And so now if it's Patrick doesn't play well this game, you might see a change at quarterback.

[Jason]

You think?

[Andy]

Yes, I do.

[Jason]

I think it's possible.

[Andy]

I think they're thinking about it.

[Jason]

The one thing that I'm just remembering now, the last time Chris Ivory played the Dolphins was that London game where it looked like Chris Ivory was literally running down a slope into the Miami defense.

[Mike]

So he is part of the reason already that they are ranked as the 31st run defense.

[Jason]

Right. So that's a factor, I guess, that can give me a little bit more confidence. I know that the jets took care of them last time, so maybe I'm going to move them up.

[Andy]

Now, this game features, and this is not Chris Ivey. They features the number one running back in fantasy since week five, Lamar Miller, and that's Lamar Miller. Now, he's had a couple games that were just insane.

[Mike]

But Andy, Andy, this is the New York Jets. They're like the best run defense in the league.

[Andy]

I agree. I don't think Miller has a great game.

[Mike]

Let me, let me, let me give you some, Let me give you some stats to say why Lamar Miller is going to be okay this game. All right, three of the first week. Three of the first week.

[Andy]

This is a good argument so far. Tell me more, Captain.

[Mike]

All right, three of the first weeks of the year, this is what the jets gave up to the running back position fantasy, points wise, including a half point PPR, six points, nine points, four total points to the running back position. This is three of the last four weeks. 22 points, 28 points and 26 and a half points. They're not the same run D that started the year. Now they're still a good run D. I'm not saying they're bad. They're not going to have Lamar Miller go and put up 45 against them. But the way that they didn't use Lamar Miller last week, I think is going to be seen on film, is going to be something they correct. And I don't think the jets are going to be that same team that limited the Miami Dolphins to four fantasy points on the ground in Week 3.

[Jason]

Guns Mahoney, 4. They're the Miami coach. He went full Joe Philbin on Lamar Miller last week, 7 for 44.

[Mike]

Well, we have to remember that the offensive coordinator didn't change. So, you know, I think this week.

[Jason]

Right. Yeah. Bill Laser is still there.

[Mike]

So this is one of those things where when Guns Mahoney came in, he said, we want to be a more bounce, more running team as the year has gone on, maybe that's getting away from it.

[Andy]

And that's why Jay Ajay is involved now, too.

[Mike]

Yeah. This week I expect them to get more back into the run.

[Andy]

All right, let's talk about the wide receivers for both teams. Marshall and Decker are starts. What starts? What about them?

[Jason]

You play them both.

[Andy]

Oh, I got really thrown off when you said that because you jumped into the sentence and I was like.

[Jason]

Because he was finishing your sentence.

[Andy]

I get you now. I understand.

[Jason]

They're both great options.

[Andy]

No team throws more of their passing touchdowns to wide receivers than the jets do. In fact, Brandon Marshall, you know, we talked about him, he's been so in. Perceptively, he's been up and down because he makes like a weird mistake every game. Like even last game, I'm watching the game and he's. They're rushing to. To try to get a score at the end of the game and he's just like not on the line of scrimmage or he likes he's on the wrong line of scrimmage. It was just awkward. But he's actually the second most consistent fantasy player in terms of, you know, the balance between stud games and bust games. He doesn't really give you bus games. I mean, you. You have a baseline with Marshall. He's a really good two for your fantasy team. Let's talk about Landry. What do we expect from Jarvis Landry?

[Jason]

I think Landry can be okay. The jets defense, we've been. We're basically Killing the Jets defense right now, they have not been great, just all around. And I think Landry is still a safe start. It's not a thing where I look at the matchup and just freak out and I bench him somehow.

[Andy]

We still have seven games to talk about.

[Mike]

Wow.

[Andy]

Okay, so we're going to move it on the Vikings, and we're gonna. We're gonna keep it. We'll get everything we need in there, but we're gonna try to keep it concise. I'm just. This is me telling you guys what we're gonna do because never, otherwise they'll die. All right. The Vikings take on the Falcons in Atlanta. The Falcons are in a tailspin, and I think it continues.

[Jason]

Ooh.

[Andy]

They're favored at home. This is. This is Matt Ryan. We already got him as a sit of the week for Jason. You're starting Adrian Peterson. The question is going to be about devontae Freeman.

[Jason]

Yep.

[Mike]

You start devonte Freeman. If he's back even against a matchup, that's. I mean, what's. What I expect him to be in RB2 against a tough matchup against Minnesota, but we've seen even when he doesn't score, he's just so utilized that he should be fine.

[Jason]

Do you start Tevin Coleman if Freeman sits?

[Andy]

I do. Yep. Yeah, I do. Wide receiver wise Stefan Diggs, what are your feelings about him right now?

[Jason]

Oh, man, it's.

[Andy]

Are you digging him?

[Jason]

Can you dig it? I'm gonna. I'll play him if I got it. But he's a low two.

[Mike]

Whoa, whoa. What are you looking at our rankings, Mike? Do you know where you have Devonta Freeman ranked?

[Jason]

I ranked him as if he was going to play. Yes. Yeah.

[Mike]

Numero uno.

[Jason]

Yeah. If he plays. Freeman is still a top elite option for me just because of volume, where even if he runs for 30, 30 or 40 yards, he's going to get 50 or so yards through the air. And his likelihood of scoring a touchdown is very great.

[Mike]

Yeah. I don't have any problems with that. I've got.

[Jason]

So if you're looking at my rankings, I statted Freeman believing that he's going to play. Yeah.

[Andy]

Now let me throw one thing out there. Very interesting.

[Jason]

Those are not the stats of a guy I think will be on the bench.

[Andy]

Right, right.

[Mike]

Fair. Fair.

[Andy]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jason]

The number one running back who didn't even play.

[Andy]

Believe it or not, the Falcons give up the least amount of yards on the ground per week in the entire football. In the entire football.

[Jason]

The effects.

[Andy]

National Football League.

[Jason]

The effects of The Megalodon show are starting to show.

[Andy]

Coming through. 87 yards a game. They're at home. Do you expect Adrian Peterson to have an Adrian Peterson type of day?

[Mike]

I do.

[Andy]

Okay. That's all there is.

[Jason]

I think he'll have a good game, but I don't think he's going to be just like that number one guy of the week having a monster, monster game.

[Mike]

I don't know if we spoke to Stefan Diggs and answered your question. I think Stefan Diggs is a fine play here as a low end wide receiver too. His, his utilization has been okay. He had the week before last, wasn't really used, but he came back last week and even though he didn't get a touchdown, he had a good amount of receptions, good amount of yards, so he's okay to play.

[Jason]

And an interesting note on the the Descendants of Roddy White. Apparently when they started the last week's game, they had scripted out three plays, three or four plays to Roddy White.

[Andy]

That went five yards total gained on like three or four plays.

[Jason]

So, man, Roddy White, sayonara. We, we loved you.

[Andy]

Sayonara.

[Mike]

But we're sit of the year.

[Jason]

We're all about that new hotness of the year.

[Andy]

That's pretty good.

[Jason]

So it's. It's Hankerson over Roddy White despite the targets of.

[Andy]

And it's Julio Overhang man coming in.

[Jason]

Jason. Jason. What Would you start or sit? Julio Jones?

[Mike]

I would, I would definitely. I think Roddy White's gonna have the bigger game this week. So you gotta go. Roddy, think about, think about real quick. Before coming into this year, the three old men that we had so close together, not we, but the entire fantasy world. Roddy White, Andre Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald. Yeah, one of those things. Not like the other.

[Andy]

My preseason hated Roddy White, loved Andre Johnson, so was wrong there and was mediocre on Larry Fitzgerald.

[Mike]

Yeah. So anyways, just fun to music.

[Andy]

Giants take on the Redskins. The Redskins.

[Jason]

Hold on. No tight ends. Kyle Rudolph coming off a monster game. Are you going to stay in the flames or are you going to put him back on the bench?

[Andy]

I think the, the embers are simply burning. The embers are burning. They're not flames for me for one game you might pick up, but if I have a better option, you know, a normal Barnage Gates, those guys are all getting starts above him. If I'm having to flip a coin between him and Eber and then I just am sad about my team. So the Giants and the Redskins, we do have Jordan Reed as your Start of the week in this game if he plays. Also you've got Eli Manning, your start of the week at quarterback in this.

[Mike]

Game and desean Jackson, my start of the week on the other side.

[Jason]

Whoa.

[Andy]

We like this game well and so does Van Vegas. Right. High point spread. So let's talk about some of the guys we haven't discussed already. Let's go with Matt Jones. Alfred Morris is dealing with a rib injury. There could be some baseline production available for Matt Jones. Am I right?

[Jason]

Yes, I completely agree that if, if Alpha is to miss the game then Jones is a decent start.

[Andy]

Could be some rain in this game too.

[Jason]

And the all the other guy who if you're going super sneaky is. We've talked about him before but it's Chris Thompson and I think Washington is likely to be trailing this game. Which game Flow. If you're trying to read into that, that says Chris Thompson is going to be on the field a good bit and if Matt Jones continues his streak of fumbles.

[Andy]

I was going to say if he fumbles.

[Jason]

If he fumbles, he's done. You're going to see Chris Thompson non stop. So he's. He's a decent a. If you really, really have been hit by the injuries of the running backs and Chris Thompson.

[Andy]

I've been pretty disappointed in Thompson's work workload since week six. You know he's only had 213 in terms of reception so that, that would be my concern. But if Morris misses the game then it changes that equation quite a bit.

[Mike]

Now if the rain is a little bit heavier than, you know, light rain is okay. If you got a little drizzle, if it rains a little bit more. What you're going to see probably working against my DeSean Jackson is the shorter passing game which would be the one of the guys that I think is is not talked about enough on our show is Crowder. Jameson Crowder is a rookie against a not a very good passing defense.

[Andy]

You know that's Jason's street name by the way. Little Drizzle.

[Mike]

I did not know that. Wow, you didn't know that?

[Andy]

We've been calling you that for years. On the street.

[Mike]

Yeah, only on the street.

[Andy]

Cut off a very good point about Jameson Crowder to call him Little Drizzle.

[Jason]

Worth it.

[Andy]

Nailed it. All right. Raiders at Titans. Marcus Mariota is my stream of the week. I like the matchup. I like him at home here. I like him getting kindled right back into the mix. I don't like Antonio Andrews at all. I really don't what did he do to you? I think David Cobb's going to be more involved.

[Jason]

Really.

[Andy]

Projected Antonio Andrews.

[Jason]

David Cobb was. Was involved last week. Involved in negative runs.

[Andy]

Well, okay. Yeah, I don't care.

[Jason]

Okay.

[Andy]

I don't care. It's his first game back. He's a rookie. The coaches staff came out and said he needs to get more work, they need to get him more involved, and they lost the game. So I don't think that there's anybody in the Titans or any station that says, well, you know, Antoni Andrews is our future at the running back position. So he is productive, but he's not. He's not prototypical running back the way that David Cobb is, at least in the makeup. All that being said, I like Delaney Walker as the start of the week. Now, the Titans are a really, really good pass defense. So you guys tell me the Cooper, Crabtree, Latavius, Murray Carr. What are you expecting from a team that's facing the Titans, who are third in the league against the pass?

[Jason]

You. You have to temper the expectations. But I'm still. I'm. I'm not going to let last week's rain on my parade. The horribleness that was up there with Derek Carr in Detroit. I'm not going to let it dissuade me, really, from jumping off the bandwagon. I'm still going to start Cooper. I'm still going to start Crabtree. Yeah, absolutely. And I'm still going to. I know the defense, I know the matchup is bad, but I'm not going. I'm still believing in what the Raiders have done for the majority of the year.

[Mike]

And I disagree. I have Carr in our listener league and I won't be dropping him. I'll be benching him. I think there are so many good streaming options this week that I will probably pick up somebody from the waiver wire and start them over Carr for this week. When it comes to Cooper and Crabtree, it just depends on who you have on your team, whether or not you start them. They're not a guy that you go, hey, these guys need to be sat. They need to be a set of the week. But they're lower in my brain.

[Jason]

Derek Carr is a quarterback one this week.

[Mike]

I don't doubt that.

[Andy]

Let me look at my rankings here. Just give me.

[Jason]

You have in the highest. So that would be funny if you said no.

[Andy]

Yeah, I. Yeah, I'm not going to make that bet.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Jason]

All right.

[Andy]

I'm not going to make that.

[Jason]

Okay.

[Andy]

And it was just a matter of The Titans are giving up only 214 a game through the air and this game's in Tennessee. I don't think Carr stinks, but I think you just have to temper it.

[Mike]

Like you said, we all have Derek Carr ranked as a quarterback one. He's just a low end quarterback. Quarterback one.

[Andy]

Yeah. And on the other side, the Raiders give up 250 plus yards in 90% of their games in terms of the quarterback position. So Mariota, that's the basis for that. Stream, let's move it on. Let's talk Cardinals. Let's talk 49ers. The great Palmer Gabbard matchup of 2015. You're raising your hand.

[Mike]

I am because I see an obvious question that I think people could run into in this specific game. Would you, Andy Stream or play Derek Carr or Mariota? Who has the better fantasy game? Do you think? If you've got Derek Carr, do you go out and sign Mariota or do you play Derek Carr? I know what our rankings say.

[Andy]

I'd rather play Mariota, but I don't want to lose Carr rest of season. So if it was a matter of that, I probably, you know, if I'm in a must win, I'd rather start Mariota. If I'm in a prep for playoffs, I'll take the number that car gives me. I don't think it's going to be some giant gap between the two. I just that that's how I'd approach it.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Andy]

All right. So Cardinals go to San Francisco, take on the 49ers. 49ers have a little bit of fight in them for a team that's struggling this year. They, they came out, they, they kind of came back in the game against Seattle last week. That's the best way that I can spin this game to be competitive. Cardinals are sixth against the run, eighth against the pass. The 49ers are 27th against both Palmers on fire. I love Chris Johnson in this game.

[Jason]

Yeah.

[Andy]

Love him.

[Jason]

Yep.

[Andy]

Ranked him very high. Probably way higher than you guys.

[Jason]

Probably.

[Mike]

I doubt it. I think I really like Chris Johnson in this game as well. He looked good last week and I'm don't doubt it.

[Andy]

You guys have him at 24 and 15. I have him at three.

[Jason]

What?

[Andy]

I have Chris Johnson at three in this game. I think it's a, it's a Chris Johnson high workload, high production type of game. They just gave up 209 on the ground at Thomas Rawls last week.

[Jason]

Yeah, I don't at all the logic. I think Is pretty sound. What it comes down to me is touchdowns and I just think that the touchdowns will go to Palmer. I. Bruce Arians. If. If people are concerned at all, maybe the Cardinals are going to not full throttle this entire game. They will. And I like Palmer. He's either my number one or my number two quarterback this week. He is a must play over of over basically all other options. And the same can be said for Larry Fitzgerald. I think he's going to have a monster game. Him and Brown. Brown who. Who looks healthier. So let's talk about John Brown. How are you guys feeling about him coming off of his hamstring injury? Got more involved because anything over a zero is more involved. Is more involved.

[Andy]

I'm feeling a lot better about him. He got involved. They had two end arounds to him. He got rushes. He seemed to be running well. It's a confidence booster. I think if Michael Floyd's back then, you know, I don't know if I'm starting John Brown.

[Mike]

Yeah. If I think Floyd is out, I agree. That's what I was just going to bring up. I think if Floyd is out, John Brown has to step up a little bit more. This is a defense that's beatable even in the screen game or the short game. So I'm fine with John Brown. I actually, when I was stating him out, I felt like I was giving him a little bit of love. He's 35th in my rankings, which I think is a little low for John Brown this week. If Michael Floyd is out on the other side of the ball, the Niners. Can you start Sean Drone.

[Jason]

Yes. Yeah, I'm glad you brought him up.

[Andy]

Yep.

[Jason]

We talked about it a little bit. I believe earlier in the week that the. If you could beat the Cardinals, it's passing to the. To the running back. And Blaine Gabbard has found himself a favorite target in that office. And that's Sean Drone.

[Andy]

We, Mike and I have him as a RB2. Jason just barely outside the RB2. That's where he should be in the RB2 flex range. He gives you a baseline if you're trying to throw somebody out there to win you the week. I'm not throwing Sean Drona.

[Jason]

No. But he's a guy. Everyone's been crushed by these injuries and I would, I would wager that Sean Drone is likely still on your waiver wire.

[Mike]

Yeah. If.

[Jason]

If you hadn't listened to the show where we told you to pick him up and he actually just got dropped.

[Andy]

In our league, really today somebody signed Bilal Powell and dropped Sean Drone.

[Jason]

Wow.

[Andy]

And paid $14.

[Jason]

I can. I can understand if you're in a half point or. I'd rather have Drone.

[Mike]

Yeah. Personally, half point or full point ppr that gives Drone a boost up. He's. He's. All three of us are into rbp.

[Andy]

It was your opponent that did it, too.

[Mike]

Oh, fantastic.

[Andy]

Also, I signed Spencer Ware for free in that league. I'm just kind of surprised. Maybe that was a dumb decision.

[Mike]

I would have. But my bench is so tight I can't make any moves.

[Andy]

Yes.

[Mike]

They're so great.

[Andy]

So whatever. Never the steel. Oh, by the way, update for that league because we might as well sidebar. Because this is the eternal episode. I am now seven and four. I'm not sure how many people are still listening.

[Mike]

One in four.

[Andy]

I was one in four. I'm seven and four. I've got two games left to secure a playoff spot, which still I'm not sure about. I got two top matchups, but I got Thomas Rawls now. I just signed Stevie Johnson today for a buck.

[Jason]

Stevie Johnson for a buck.

[Mike]

You buck. You are literally the team I want to play the least in our league on the march to championship.

[Andy]

Oh, you don't say.

[Mike]

Well, with Thomas Ross, I said yesterday we were talking about this and I said if the news comes out about lynch that he's going to get surgery, you're the team I don't want to play.

[Andy]

You know what I'm really curious about is what Thomas Rawls does these next two weeks. Because he has two brutal match. I mean, on paper, Pittsburgh at Minnesota.

[Jason]

And last time Rawls had a tough matchup, he was just.

[Andy]

And if you can get it. Well, that's kind of true. I mean, his tough matchup against Cincinnati ended up being a great game. So that was his last start. He had 29 points.

[Jason]

Okay, let me talk. I'm going to look up what.

[Andy]

But his playoff schedule is great. It's Baltimore and Cleveland in the weeks 14 and 15.

[Jason]

Yeah, Baltimore is. There's still a tougher run D. But the Cleveland matchup is just.

[Andy]

That's a good point.

[Mike]

Is just the best.

[Jason]

Detroit, I think Detroit is the one game I'm thinking of. He was 17 for 48. But you're right. Then the very next week, he just. He murdered Cincinnati.

[Andy]

All right, we've got three games left.

[Jason]

We could do it. We can do it.

[Andy]

All right. Steelers at the Seahawks. We've talked about a few of the pieces of this game. Big Ben, the start of the week for Jason Russell Wilson the set of the week for Mike Thomas. Rawls, my start of the week. What are we going to see from D'Angelo Williams going against the Seattle defense that ranks 10th against the run.

[Jason]

I still like D'Angelo Williams. I just made a move for him in one of my leagues and I know that his. On paper, when you're looking at his matchups, they look bad. However, I see D'Angelo Williams as that Le'Veon Bell light. He clearly, he's not Le'Veon Bell. But because the Steelers offense is so high powered, the running back is a vital part of the engine that moves the offense. He's just going to be too involved. I don't, I don't really care about matchups for D'Angelo Williams. It's. It's just how, how low of a running back one does he become because of the matchup? But he stays a one regardless for me.

[Mike]

Yeah, you really hope for early points in this game because this is going to be one of those. You have two good defenses. As weird as that is to say, the Steelers have been really good on defense after that first week. And so you've got, you've got two good defenses. It could be a low scoring game. I expect them to beat the line on Vegas and at the end of this game kind of come back, be putting up more points. That, that tends to be the Steeler way. So I like most of the options in this game. I, I kind of want a piece of this game, but it does scare me a little bit in the sense that if it happens to be a defensive matchup.

[Jason]

Do you have, do you have any kind of feel on the Seattle Roulette wide receiver? Is there anyone? Never.

[Mike]

I will never have a feel. I mean, I mean that genuinely between, between Curse, Lockett Baldwin and Graham. I will never have a confidence to start any one of them and one of them will have a great fantasy week every week. Breaking news.

[Andy]

Jordan Reed is practicing.

[Jason]

Yes.

[Mike]

Rule 86.

[Andy]

He is practicing today.

[Jason]

So that is exciting.

[Andy]

I might be able to stick with him as you start of the week. Other guys in this game, is there anybody you know? Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, Jason.

[Mike]

Yo.

[Jason]

Would you start or sit? Antonio Brown.

[Andy]

The matchup's rough.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy]

I'm sure he's your white about your 30. 31.

[Mike]

Yeah, he's probably very low.

[Andy]

I want to see where he.

[Mike]

Antonio Brown, for me is number four.

[Andy]

I actually have them lower. I'm at six.

[Mike]

There you go. You want to throw some shame on me?

[Andy]

Yep. All right. So the Seahawks like we said, they average the most rushing yards per game. So that's a good thing for Mr. Thomas Rawls. They're also fighting for a playoff spot. So this should be a battle like you said. Shouldn't see any weather issues. Patriots, Broncos, Sunday night football. Brock Osweiler, Tom Brady. The new.

[Jason]

The new look Patriots.

[Andy]

The new look Broncos, too.

[Jason]

Yeah, this is. This is a very interesting game. I'm. I'm still glad that it's Sunday.

[Andy]

I don't think Danny Amendola plays in this game.

[Jason]

Yeah, the.

[Andy]

Well, he might just to bear repeating.

[Jason]

Of the Amendola news was the sprained knee.

[Mike]

The.

[Jason]

They don't think he will miss an extended period of time. He could miss this week. And to me, this week, if Danny Amendola does not play, you really have to think about moving Tom Brady down.

[Andy]

Yeah. And it's depressing.

[Jason]

Do you guys agree with me? I feel like I'm here on an island of silence.

[Andy]

I know.

[Mike]

Here's the truth.

[Andy]

The Broncos are already a great passenger number one.

[Mike]

I'm going to be honest and say the absolute truth. The truth is we agree with you wholeheartedly. And neither one of us want to say bench Tom Brady because we don't want to go on record. We don't want to admit the truth that we don't.

[Jason]

You can't handle the truth.

[Andy]

Well, this is a Tom Brady who scored, you know, 37 fantasy points against the, you know, the Jets d. When it was. It was high flying. They can do a different type of offense. And so I don't know. I don't know what to expect.

[Mike]

This is my DeAndre Hopkins. This week I have him ranked as the 13th quarterback.

[Andy]

Now, that is too far down the list, right?

[Mike]

It probably is.

[Andy]

I'd happily make you a top 10. I'm not going to top 10. Not 12.

[Mike]

There is no way I am going to make a water bet against Tom Brady.

[Jason]

Zero chance.

[Mike]

Oh, water bet. I love that.

[Andy]

Pretty good bet for you, Mike, because he's had three rough weeks, so we'll see.

[Mike]

Well, Tom Brady is Mike's number nine.

[Jason]

Quarterback, but I haven't taken a bet yet, and I don't have another chance.

[Mike]

There you go.

[Andy]

Put it in the dock. Put it in the dock.

[Mike]

Love it.

[Andy]

Okay, so otherwise Legarette Blunt did what Legarette Blunt does, which is to disappoint you frequently.

[Mike]

Yep.

[Andy]

Got the workload out there for snaps. Brandon Bolden took someone. Blunt wasn't productive. You see this? If Blunt has like three or four carries in a row, they go nowhere. Bolden comes in or somebody comes in. James White. I want to know what you think about James White this week.

[Jason]

Did you know that LeGarrett blunt ran more passing routes than James White?

[Mike]

Weird. I did not know that. I don't think I wanted to know that. Feels a little dirty. As far as what we think about James White, if Danny Amendola is out, I expect him to have a slightly higher floor, which is not that high. I don't see his upside being. I mean, any Patriot, you can roll them out and think, hey, they might get a touchdown. But this week against the Broncos, I expect a low scoring affair. So I don't like. I wouldn't start James White this week even without Amendola. I would not like to start him even in a flex.

[Jason]

And in another note of. I don't think we talked about this Brandon lefell, a guy who we've all been pretty high on since he came back, and this, this might be just a Bill Belichick game flow situation. At the beginning of last week's game, he was playing behind Dobson and Harper. He was not. He was not getting the snaps until Dobson went down. Then he was in on. On basically every single snap. Like I said, I don't know if that was a game flow thing. Now, maybe that's irrelevant because Aaron Dobson is expected to miss, but it was a. An interesting thing that, that I saw that. That. Are they losing trust in Brandon lefell?

[Andy]

No, just.

[Jason]

It was just that one game.

[Andy]

Yeah, that. That is. That's a snap game flow thing. I don't think they're losing trust in lafell. Lafel had big catches in this game.

[Jason]

After the injury and because he was forced into action.

[Andy]

Yeah, he had a catch before that. He was being targeted a little bit. I don't have any problem with the foul. I like him a lot. He was in consideration for, you know, the start of the week.

[Mike]

So you have him ranked 26th.

[Andy]

Yeah.

[Jason]

Okay.

[Andy]

Are you saying that's bad?

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy]

For a start of the week wide receiver, too.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy]

To say, hey, I don't think that's bad.

[Jason]

All right.

[Andy]

But yeah, I mean, for a guy that hasn't started much all year for people. Gronkowski, you're starting. What do you think of Vernon Davis? Would you rather play Vernon Davison? Let me see here.

[Jason]

Vernon Davis or Owen Daniels?

[Andy]

Vernon.

[Mike]

Vernon.

[Jason]

Okay.

[Andy]

Vernon Davis or Richard Rogers?

[Jason]

Davis.

[Andy]

Vernon Davis or Heath Miller?

[Mike]

Ooh, Davis. Oh, Heath Miller's got a good matchup.

[Andy]

Vernon Davis or Benjamin Watson?

[Mike]

Benjamin Watson.

[Andy]

All right, guys, we've reached the Final game. You can now see why we cut these into two shows. The Ravens take on the Browns, and we're done with that one. All right, so the mailbag. No, the Ravens. Browns. Monday Night Football. We talked about it. Shab, McCown, Javorius. I'm going to make a prediction right now. I'm going to move Javoris Allen down. I'm going to move him down my rankings today. I'm going to make a note right now.

[Jason]

Move down off of what?

[Andy]

Off of the fact that they're not going to give him the workload you expect.

[Jason]

And why would you. Why has that changed?

[Andy]

Because. Because Justin Forsett has been injured, and so he's not just coming in in relief of four set. And they're gonna involve another running back whose name is difficult to pronounce. But I think it's like Moss. Mossford.

[Jason]

Raheem. Raheem. Mosstert.

[Andy]

Mastert. I don't.

[Jason]

I'm guessing on the.

[Andy]

He had a very good preseason. He was a very good player in preseason. And it's just a matter of you have to have rotational players.

[Jason]

Yeah.

[Andy]

And that team has done rotations in the running back position all year long, and then they just keep getting hurt.

[Jason]

So they've done rotations.

[Mike]

I don't see. I don't see Buck Allen getting less than 15 carries, and that's a good amount of workload against the Cleveland Browns.

[Andy]

Don't disagree with you.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Andy]

But I'm moving them down from the expectations of being a top five guy this week like you have.

[Jason]

Okay, well, that's. That's.

[Mike]

That's fine.

[Jason]

If you want to move top five.

[Andy]

I will move him out of the top 10. Would you like to bet on top 10, Buck Allen?

[Jason]

Top 10, Buck Allen. I absolutely do.

[Mike]

Waterbed.

[Andy]

I just got. I just got a feeling about him. All right.

[Jason]

Your feeling is based off a guy who did not make the final 53.

[Andy]

That's fine. You're correct. Duke Johnson. I'm okay starting Duke Johnson. I'd flex him out. I'm doing so in several leagues. I think he's better with McCown. I think we've seen that. I think Duke Johnson is one of the few weapons that they have.

[Mike]

Now.

[Andy]

Benjamin was a start of the week this week.

[Jason]

Yeah.

[Andy]

I like Travis Benjamin and Gary Barnage is. If you're a Barnage owner, you're happy about McCown being back?

[Jason]

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Barnage. It might have seemed too silly.

[Andy]

Hold.

[Mike]

Whoa.

[Jason]

What? Jason's throwing his headphones off. What is going on?

[Andy]

This has to be something to do with our leak.

[Jason]

What happened?

[Andy]

What did you do wrong? Let me see. I'm gonna take a look.

[Mike]

You know exactly what I did wrong. Oh, my God.

[Jason]

No. No, I don't, because I'm not looking at. What did you do wrong?

[Andy]

The people need to know anything.

[Jason]

The people. The people need to know.

[Mike]

Wait a minute. Am I in a different league? Tell me. I'm. I'm. So here's. I had this terrible decision that you didn't do anything. Racked you guys. I racked you guys. I ended up doing nothing. I had to essentially drop two players off of my team to pick up Ahmad Bradshaw as a handcuff for Frank Gore. I looked and looked and looked for news about Frank Gore. Well, news just came out now that Frank Gore wasn't practicing today on Wednesday. So I really need to have Ahmad Bradshaw on my team. I chose not to do it, and then I just looked and saw that he was on a roster not still in the free agent pool, which was what I was banking.

[Jason]

That was a different league, but it.

[Mike]

Was a different league.

[Andy]

So I wouldn't read too much into the not practicing today at all.

[Mike]

I'm not reading too much into it. What I'm reading into it is that his injury is at least worthy of having the handcuff who is valuable should Frank Gore miss. That's it.

[Andy]

Did you know. But did you expect go to practice today?

[Mike]

I did.

[Andy]

Oh, okay. I would not have.

[Mike]

I expect him at least to be a limited participant in practice.

[Andy]

I got you.

[Jason]

So back to the attention that Travis Benjamin deserves. Sorry, Travis Benjamin. Oh, we were on Gary Barnage, actually. And yes, the. If you are a Gary Barnage owner, you have to sigh a some relief because Josh McCown was a much better option of throwing to the Barnyard. Whatever. We've. I don't. There's been about 20 nicknames for him. Maximum. Barnage. That's what. That's the one I like.

[Andy]

Barnyard dog.

[Jason]

Barn burner.

[Andy]

Yeah, it keeps going.

[Jason]

So. So you have to be happy that. That Josh McCown is back.

[Andy]

Okay, guys, Crockett Gilmore, start of the week for Jason in that game.

[Mike]

Betty Crockett Gilmore.

[Andy]

All right, believe it or not, we're not just getting in the show. We're going to apparently do a mailbag.

[Mike]

Mailbag, mailbag.

[Andy]

For such wimps.

[Jason]

I'm pumping it up, man.

[Andy]

I mean, I could talk fantasy football a lot longer than an average show, but today we're just complaining.

[Jason]

Yeah, I was down to 8, but I'm back to 11.

[Andy]

If you have a question, go to the website the fantasy footballers.com. click the submit a question button in the upper right hand corner and you can call us 302-464-TFFB.

[Jason]

The crinkle.

[Andy]

Jason, just.

[Mike]

I've down my monster energy drink. I'm ready for a mailbag.

[Andy]

Squished it. All right, Sean and Cobb county, pick one. Thomas Rawls, Lamar Miller, Mark Ingram.

[Mike]

I want them all.

[Jason]

Ooh.

[Andy]

But you get to pick one.

[Jason]

All right, you go, Jason.

[Mike]

For these three guys. Rawls against the Steelers, Lamar Miller against the jets, or Ingram against the Texans. That is a really tough call. I am going to stay in the flames at home with Thomas Rawls.

[Jason]

I'm going Mark Ingram.

[Andy]

I'm going Thomas Rawls. All right, Waldo. In D.C. first and more importantly, there's a better and more timely name for Charizard, and that is Char. Char Binks.

[Jason]

I've heard Charles.

[Andy]

That's not bad. Secondly, what do you think? Brandon Cooks against the Texans or Dante Moncrief against the buckets?

[Mike]

Definitely Brandon Cooks against the Texans over Dante Moncrief. You've got Matt Hasselbeck versus Drew Brees. That's the decision to me. Plus you got the extra bye week for Drew Brees and company. I would. I like Brandon Cooks.

[Jason]

Brandon Cooks.

[Andy]

Peter wants to know. He's wondering why Alfred Blue wasn't mentioned as an RB streamer going up against the Seahawks or the Saints defense after his big week. Is the Houston running game that bad? And should I instead go with Sean Drone against Arizona?

[Jason]

I believe he was referring to as a waiver pickup and that's because Alpha Blue is widely owned in fantasy.

[Andy]

We did talk streamers in that same game, though.

[Jason]

Did we?

[Andy]

Yeah, we did. It was our, you know, stream of the week.

[Mike]

And so the question here should be Alfred Blue or Sean Drone. I would prefer Alfred Blue over Sean Drone in this game.

[Andy]

Yeah, me too.

[Mike]

The matchup is fun.

[Jason]

Dabadi.

[Mike]

Yeah, a lot of. A lot of Alpha Blue's good looking production last week was on a crazy double pass play where he caught a touchdown from Cecil Shorts.

[Jason]

Wait, that's not going to happen again.

[Mike]

No, I don't. I don't expect that to be a weekly occurrence.

[Andy]

Charlie in Omaha. Do you, Charlie, this is the question. I've gotten it. This is now the 1000th time. Do you think. Do you think? No, it is completely. Do you think about trading Julio before his two matchups versus the Panthers?

[Mike]

Only for Antonio Brown. That's how I see it. If I can Trade Julio for Antonio Brown. I would rather have Antonio Brown in the playoffs. But you're not trading Julio for Brandon Marshall, who's been good and has a better schedule. He's Julio. You play him.

[Jason]

And I can agree with that. However, probability that Big Ben gets hurt.

[Andy]

Again, I don't think I'm going to bank on that.

[Mike]

I say the same probability that he plays through whatever injury he has.

[Jason]

So 50.

[Mike]

50.

[Jason]

That's not very good.

[Mike]

No, no, no. I. I'm fine with Big Ben.

[Jason]

I'm not predicting an injury. I just say that there's at least a 10 to 20% chance that big Ben goes down again. He's just getting banged up all over the place.

[Andy]

I completely agree with Jason. I'd only trade him in a trade for Antonio Brown.

[Jason]

Okay.

[Andy]

All right.

[Jason]

I would not trade him, by the.

[Andy]

Way, at all for anything.

[Jason]

Yeah, I'll just. I'll write Julio.

[Mike]

So wait, wait, wait. So you arrest Tony O'Brien right now in one of your leagues. Would you trade him for Julio then?

[Jason]

No, because I. Because I already have him. I'm just. I'm not.

[Mike]

You get off.

[Andy]

Not inclined rest of season. Julio Jones, Antonio Brown. DeAndre Hopkins.

[Mike]

Antonio Brown. And this is including the playoffs, right? Obviously, I would go Antonio Brown's Hopkins.

[Jason]

Julio, I would go Brown would be my number one and say that. Mike, the concern wasn't is will Brown out produce. Julio was. There's a chance that Big Ben can get hurt again because he's had a knee problem, he's had a foot problem. These things tend to translate into other injuries. That's all I'm saying.

[Andy]

That's fine. Seemed weird though, that you have Antonio Brown better rest of the season. But you wouldn't trade Julio for Antonio Brown.

[Jason]

Because I'm not. I'm not banking on the injury. Just saying it's a factor. If you have Julio, why not just stay with Julio?

[Mike]

Because you can upgrade to Antonio Brown.

[Andy]

According to you. According to you. All right.

[Mike]

That.

[Andy]

That's gonna wrap up today's show.

[Mike]

No.

[Andy]

Why?

[Mike]

I just want to go forever.

[Jason]

Oh, well, you've almost hit the two, dude.

[Andy]

It's almost two hour show, so we're wrapping it up.

[Jason]

No, you got to go for the two Joe in Chicago.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Andy]

Big Ben or cheesecake? Eli Manning.

[Jason]

Cheesecake. Cheesecake.

[Mike]

What?

[Andy]

I don't know what that.

[Jason]

Does anyone understand that?

[Andy]

No.

[Mike]

No. Apparently. Are they calling Eli Manning cheesecake?

[Jason]

Then I'll go with cheesecake.

[Mike]

I would go with cheesecake as well. Big Ben is my start of the week. But Eli Manning is ranked ahead of him.

[Jason]

Even. Even though cheesecake as a dessert is not good.

[Mike]

It's wonderful. You're an idiot.

[Andy]

You just sound stupid.

[Jason]

Oh, this is.

[Mike]

You're.

[Jason]

You're the one bite cheesecake guy.

[Mike]

But he loves that bite.

[Andy]

I still recognize why people like cheesecake. I don't say it's not good. I think it's very good. I just don't love it as my favorite dessert.

[Jason]

If. If something is very good, would you not want more than one bite?

[Mike]

Oh, I do.

[Jason]

And you are on record saying you like one bite of cheesecake and you're done.

[Andy]

Uh, one bite does it for me. That's.

[Jason]

That is not the sign of a very good dessert.

[Mike]

There are plenty of things that are very good that you need to do in moderation.

[Jason]

Moderation is not one bite. That is. That is basically not eating it.

[Andy]

So what are your thoughts on white chocolate?

[Jason]

It's disgusting.

[Andy]

It's okay.

[Mike]

So good.

[Andy]

So we know Mike is clinically insane. All right, I'm wrapping the show.

[Jason]

We're so close.

[Mike]

Three minutes.

[Andy]

No, wait. We just going to talk.

[Jason]

All right, Andy's out. Jesse in Simi Valley, California. Jordan Reed against the Giants or Antonio Gates against the Jaguars?

[Mike]

Oh, that's a great question. Jordan Reed's got the better matchup. The fact that he's playing in practice right now makes me go Rule 86.

[Jason]

I'm going with Rule 86. And Jordan Reed.

[Andy]

If I'm out, I'm just hitting buttons.

[Mike]

I like it.

[Andy]

That's all I'm going to do.

[Mike]

Chris Rosario in San Diego says, love your show. Brandon Marshall against the Dolphins or J. Stu against the Cowboys in the flex.

[Jason]

That's interesting.

[Andy]

Depends what you need. But I am probably taking Jonathan Stewart. He's been better than Brandon Marshall for a long time.

[Jason]

I think the Stewart has the safer floor and Marshall has the higher ceiling.

[Mike]

But I think Marshall's floor is also safe.

[Jason]

I agree.

[Mike]

I think I go Brandon Marshall here.

[Jason]

I'm going to go with Marshall. John in San Diego, who should I start in my flex spot for Week 12? John Brown against the 49ers? Alan Hearns against the Chargers? Or Buck Allen against the Browns? And I'm going with Joe Vorius.

[Mike]

Yes.

[Jason]

Thank you.

[Mike]

You're welcome.

[Jason]

Scott in Montreal. Bonjour. I play in a full PPR league. Big game this week. Major playoff implications. Need to know which two of my not so great running backs to start. Latavius Murray, Chris Ivory.

[Mike]

Stop there. There's your starters.

[Jason]

Or Danny Woodhead.

[Mike]

Now you've got Latavius Murray as your sitter, would you sit him over Danny Woodhead?

[Jason]

Let me.

[Mike]

So Chris Ivory's in and then the question becomes Latavius Murray vs Danny Woodhead.

[Jason]

Scoring format really matters in this situation of a Danny Woodhead sit versus Latavius Murray.

[Mike]

Full ppr. That's true. I still go Latavius Murray. I'm not confident that Danny Woodhead is getting involved with San Diego going forward as much as you hope he is.

[Jason]

It's a week to week thing.

[Mike]

I think Latavius Murray, though, he has a base. You know, he's getting 15 touches now. Maybe he doesn't do enough with it. But I want the guy who's going to touch the ball 15 times.

[Jason]

And I do have Latavius Murray slightly ahead of Woodhead in both standard and ppr. Bryson in Kansas City. We're bringing it home with Bryson in Kansas City. Who should I keep for the playoffs?

[Mike]

Playoffs.

[Jason]

Andy Dalton or Tony Roma?

[Mike]

Ooh, good question. Let's take a look at their playoff schedules. Dalton. Andy Dalton is going to play in weeks 14, 15 and 16. Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Denver. So two out of three are no bueno. And Tony Romo in weeks 14, 15 and 16 will be facing off against the Green Bay packers, the New York jets and the Buffalo Bills.

[Jason]

Whoa. Sounds like a wash on playoff matchups. I don't think anyone has a huge degree of separation there, so I'm going to stay in the flames with Andy Dalton.

[Mike]

Yeah, I agree. Just more weapons. Tony Romo's got DEZ Bryant and a little bit of dmc.

[Jason]

We did it. We did it.

[Andy]

That's it. We did it. We've recorded a very long program.

[Mike]

We hit that two hour mark like Mike and I.

[Jason]

We did it.

[Andy]

Should we have some sort of hashtag for the end of the show to signify it that somebody made it to the end? Listeners, how about fantasy stuffing?

[Mike]

Mmm.

[Jason]

Hashtag.

[Andy]

Hashtag fantasystuffing. If you made it to the end, tweet it. Tweet that.

[Mike]

Love it.

[Andy]

Let us know you got through the entire Thanksgiving meal. That's what we're calling.

[Jason]

And you know what we will do? We will like your tweets.

[Andy]

We will click the little heart.

[Mike]

Yep.

[Andy]

And yeah. So thank you very much. Have a wonderful holiday. We will be back next Monday and hopefully you can get a win, get into the playoffs. Jason's dancing because he's got so much energy because he just threw back this Monster Ultra.

[Mike]

Have holly jolly Christmas.

[Andy]

No, no. Thanksgiving Christmas.

[Mike]

Thank you for listening to another edition of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Don't forget to visit us on the web at www.thefantasyfootballers.com and follow us on Twitter the FFballers.