Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 14 Fantasy Forecast, Starts of the Week, News

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary: Week 14 Fantasy Forecast, Starts of the Week, News

Release Date: December 10, 2015

Hosted by Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright, the Fantasy Footballers delve deep into Week 14 of the 2015 fantasy football season, providing invaluable insights, player news, matchup analyses, and strategic advice to help listeners navigate the fantasy playoffs effectively.

---

1. Introduction

The hosts kick off the episode with a light-hearted discussion about the importance of starting the show rhythmically, setting an engaging and personable tone for the episode. Andy Holloway emphasizes, “This is my favorite show of the week,” highlighting the trio's enthusiasm for providing top-tier fantasy football analysis.

---

2. Player News and Updates

Mark Ingram’s Injury

• Jason Moore delivers disappointing news regarding his league-leading running back, Mark Ingram, who suffered a torn rotator cuff and is now on injured reserve, ending his season (09:11).
• Jason: “I went depth this year. Not by choice, but I went depth. So I can roll Frank Gore in there and hopefully I'll be okay.” (03:37)

Other Key Injuries

• Darrell Revis (Jets) is doubtful to play due to not practicing on Wednesday (11:20).
• Matt Schaub is expected to play despite injury concerns (11:39).
• Crockett Gilmore and Heath Miller are uncertain for the week, affecting Baltimore's lineup (12:29; 12:48).

Michael Crabtree’s Extension

• The Raiders have signed Michael Crabtree to a four-year extension, solidifying a promising trio with Derek Carr and Amari Cooper (11:39).
• Mike Wright humorously adds: “They got paid.”

---

3. Fantasy Strategy Discussion

The Kicker Conundrum

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the relevance and impact of kickers in fantasy football. The hosts debate the small point differential between top-tier and lower-tier kickers, questioning their strategic value.

• Jason Moore advocates for removing kickers, stating, “It hurts the strategy and the skill of fantasy football, in my opinion.” (05:24)
• Andy Holloway suggests hyper-nerfing kickers instead of eliminating them, highlighting the randomness they introduce: “If Mike ends up with five and I end up with 15 from a kicker, that's a big thing to overcome and it's completely unpredictable.” (05:59)

The trio considers alternatives, such as assigning kickers' points to defensive/special teams units to enhance strategic depth (06:40).

---

4. Game Previews and Matchups

Arizona Cardinals vs. Minnesota Vikings

• Andy Holloway predicts a dominant performance by the Cardinals, leveraging their high-scoring offense against the Vikings' weakened defense due to Ingram’s injury: “The Cardinals are going to destroy the Vikings tonight.” (16:28)
• Mike Wright underscores the Vikings' defensive struggles: “The Minnesota defense is not right now.” (16:49)
• Jason Moore highlights the potential decline of Stefan Diggs and the reliance on Adrian Peterson, suggesting potential volatility in Peterson’s performance (18:27).

Buffalo Bills vs. Philadelphia Eagles

• The episode discusses Lashawn McCoy’s revenge game against Chip Kelly, pondering whether the Eagles will intensify their efforts to curb McCoy’s performance: “Does that mean the Eagles really try to stop the Sean McCoy revenge game?” (23:45)
• Jason Moore dismisses the narrative as “silly,” focusing instead on McCoy’s opportunity to excel: “I expect the Bills to really give a concerted effort to get Lashawn McCoy in the end zone this week.” (24:03)

San Francisco 49ers vs. Cleveland Browns

• Andy praises the 49ers’ resilience and Blaine Gabbert’s performance but remains cautious about his starts: “Blaine Gabbert is not somebody I'm starting.” (34:44)
• Discussion on running backs like Sean Drona and Chris Thompson addresses the offensive dynamics and potential fantasy impacts: “Sean Drone is the man to do that for your fantasy football team.” (36:00)

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cincinnati Bengals

• Mike Wright forecasts a Steelers win despite the Bengals being favorites, due to the Bengals' depleted cornerback lineup: “I think this is a big help also for Dalton.” (46:51)
• Jason Moore supports the upset potential, emphasizing the Steelers' unstoppable offense: “There's nothing stopping the Steelers offense.” (47:27)

---

5. Starts of the Week

Quarterbacks

• Mike Wright: Brian Hoyer (Patriots)

  • Chosen for his consistent performance and favorable matchup against a team allowing five QBs to score touchdowns in two weeks.
  • Mike: “He has been great all year. He now he hasn't put up just monster game-winning weeks but he has also never crapped your team unless he gets knocked out of the game by an injury.” (49:01)

• Jason Moore: Tyrod Taylor (Eagles)

  • Selected for his efficiency and explosive potential against a vulnerable Philadelphia secondary.
  • Jason: “Tyrod Taylor can explode.” (51:24)

Running Backs

• Andy Holloway: Sean Drona (“The Lonely Bronco”) (Raiders)

  • Favored for his high volume and matchup against one of the league’s worst run defenses.
  • Andy: “He is on the field almost 100% of the time.” (52:35)

• Jason Moore: David Johnson (Vikings)

  • Recommended due to the Vikings' poor defense and Johnson’s heavy usage.
  • Jason: “Start him over anyone there is.” (53:03)

Wide Receivers

• Mike Wright: Larry Fitzgerald (Cardinals)

  • Chosen for his high target volume and the Vikings' depleted defense.
  • Mike: “He is a wide receiver too.” (54:53)

• Jason Moore: Doug Baldwin (Ravens)

  • Selected as the top fantasy receiver, boasting impressive recent performances.
  • Jason: “The number one guy is Doug Baldwin.” (56:39)

Tight Ends

• Andy Holloway: Julius Thomas (Eagles)

  • Picked for his red zone involvement and favorable matchup against Indianapolis’ defense.
  • Andy: “He represents upside to me.” (60:50)

• Jason Moore: Austin Sferian Jenkins (Saints)

  • Favored due to the Saints’ vulnerability against tight ends.
  • Jason: “He could have a big game out.” (61:28)

---

6. Strategic Insights and Recommendations

• Streaming Players: The hosts emphasize the importance of streaming positions like quarterbacks and tight ends based on matchups.

• Handling Volatile Players: Adrian Peterson and DeMarco Murray present high-risk, high-reward scenarios. The hosts discuss opting for players with more stable roles over these veterans in certain matchups.

• Waiver Wire Gems: Names like Brett Favre and Devontae Parker are recommended as valuable additions due to their favorable matchups and increasing involvement.

---

7. Notable Quotes

• Jason Moore on kickers: “It hurts the strategy and the skill of fantasy football, in my opinion.” (05:24)

• Andy Holloway on Mark Ingram’s injury impact: “If Mike ends up with five and I end up with 15 from a kicker, that's a big thing to overcome and it's completely unpredictable.” (05:59)

• Jason Moore on Doug Baldwin: “The number one guy is Doug Baldwin.” (56:39)

• Mike Wright on Brian Hoyer: “He has been great all year.” (49:01)

---

8. Conclusion

The Fantasy Footballers wrap up the episode by reiterating their commitment to providing accurate and strategic advice for the fantasy playoffs. They tease the continuation of the Fantasy Forecast in the next episode and encourage listeners to stay tuned for more DFS insights.

---

Timestamp Guide:

• [03:37] - Jason Moore on Mark Ingram’s injury
• [05:24] - Jason Moore on kickers
• [05:59] - Andy Holloway on kicker unpredictability
• [09:11] - Jason Moore on Mark Ingram’s injury impact
• [11:20] - Darrell Revis injury update
• [11:39] - Michael Crabtree’s extension
• [16:28] - Andy on Cardinals vs. Vikings
• [16:49] - Mike on Vikings' defense
• [18:27] - Jason on Stefan Diggs and Adrian Peterson
• [23:45] - Lashawn McCoy vs. Eagles
• [24:03] - Jason on Bills' game strategy
• [34:44] - 49ers vs. Browns preview
• [36:00] - Sean Drona discussion
• [46:51] - Steelers vs. Bengals preview
• [47:27] - Jason on Steelers' offense
• [49:01] - Mike Wright on Brian Hoyer
• [51:24] - Jason Moore on Tyrod Taylor
• [52:35] - Andy Holloway on Sean Drona
• [53:03] - Jason Moore on David Johnson
• [54:53] - Mike Wright on Larry Fitzgerald
• [56:39] - Jason Moore on Doug Baldwin
• [60:50] - Andy Holloway on Julius Thomas
• [61:28] - Jason Moore on Austin Sferian Jenkins

---

Note: This summary captures the essence and critical points of the Fantasy Footballers' Week 14 episode, ensuring that listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of the discussions and recommendations without needing to listen to the full podcast.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Foreign.

[Jason Moore]

To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike wright.

[Andy Holloway]

It's week 14, Mike. You always get a little antsy if I don't start the show at the exact same, like part of the song.

[Mike Wright]

That is very correct.

[Andy Holloway]

You look like, what, what's going on? Where am I? What? Help me.

[Mike Wright]

That's. It's like the beginning of a race when you're, you're sitting on the blocks and it's, dude, dude. There's a rhythm to these things. And when it doesn't go off at the same time, you got to understand.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, we've done 152 shows this year. At some point in time, you know, when you go to a concert and you hear Metallica sing one of their favorites, sometimes they mix it up a little bit.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's, that's true.

[Andy Holloway]

Right?

[Mike Wright]

That's, that's.

[Andy Holloway]

So I just, I. Sometimes I just have to start it differently.

[Mike Wright]

Gotta keep people guessing.

[Andy Holloway]

The melody has to be different. So. Welcome to the Show. It's Thursday, December 10th. We are the Fantasy Footballers and we are Previewing week number 14 in your fantasy season, your playoffs. Your fantasy playoffs. Although I have, I've heard from people that are fighting to get into the playoffs still.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Because depending on your league, if you got a two week playoff, something like that. So we've got everything you need to know. We've got all the news and notes. We've got the first half of the game's matchups, we'll do the rest tomorrow and then we've got our starts of the week. This is my favorite show of the week. I'm Andy Holloway. I'm joined as always by Jason Moore and Mike the Fantasy Hitman. Right.

[Mike Wright]

Greetings.

[Andy Holloway]

And I'm excited. I'm excited to get started. You can find us on twitter@the ffballers. You can find us on the fantasy footballers.com Got a fun Twitter story for you yesterday. So Mike and I are facing off head to head in our league of record.

[Mike Wright]

Mono e man.

[Andy Holloway]

All righty.

[Mike Wright]

I was trying to think of an insult.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you know, it's all right, man. And good one. I took.

[Mike Wright]

Got him.

[Andy Holloway]

Got nailed it.

[Jason Moore]

Still got it.

[Andy Holloway]

So I took a picture of our matchup and I posted it on Twitter and I posted a poll and I said, you know who's going to win? Me or Mike? Now ESPN projects Mike as a winner by five points, which I think is ridiculous because it makes they put the jets ahead of the Chiefs. I don't like that this week, but I Asked the general public. And somehow, after about 545 votes yesterday, 50%. 50%. How does that happen?

[Jason Moore]

Dead heat?

[Mike Wright]

Because that's what it looks like.

[Andy Holloway]

I know. And so we have a massive matchup this week. I know a lot of you out there have huge games that you're counting on. Good advice for. So we're going to try to deliver on that today. Jason, who do you play this week?

[Jason Moore]

I play nobody. I'm on a bye week, but I am playing against my own emotions as I have lost Mark Ingram, my number one running back on the team that helped get me to the number one seed. Yeah, it's not. I mean, what a sucky situation. Like, he didn't.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, you saw this coming, right?

[Jason Moore]

Well, yeah, I mean, we. We did know about the shoulder injury.

[Mike Wright]

We.

[Jason Moore]

You know, if you watch the last couple of weeks, you saw some changes, but, I mean, all of a sudden you wake up, I'm feeling great. Got the number one seed, waiting for one of you to, you know, to come and face me in the semis, and then it's like, oh, yeah, hey, you don't have your. You don't have your number one running back. Thankfully, I went depth this year. Not by choice, but I went depth. So I can roll Frank Gore in there and hopefully I'll be okay.

[Andy Holloway]

But you might have to physically roll Frank Gore into.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, come on.

[Andy Holloway]

The lineup, too.

[Jason Moore]

He ran good last.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, he scored, is what you meant to say.

[Jason Moore]

No, he had some good.

[Andy Holloway]

He was. He was. All right. So quick question of the day. What do you guys think the difference is between the number one fantasy kicker and the number 10 fantasy kicker in points per game? This is a little quiz.

[Mike Wright]

Points per game.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Like, what's the difference. What's the difference in points per game between the number one fantasy kicker and the number ten?

[Mike Wright]

Okay, so I assume that the number one is Guskowski.

[Andy Holloway]

You assume correctly. Because. Because it's the last 15 years.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Just saying. I don't actually know.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I'm just curious what you think the difference is.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to go an average of three points.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to go an average of. As much as I love having Gus Koski, kickers are kickers. So I'm going to say one and.

[Andy Holloway]

A half points, 1.4 points per week.

[Mike Wright]

Who?

[Jason Moore]

Nothing.

[Andy Holloway]

0.4 points per week. Which begs the question, why do we have kickers in fantasy?

[Jason Moore]

Thank you. I am the leader of the charge for getting rid of kickers.

[Andy Holloway]

Are you on the doorsteps of Congress with Signs up.

[Jason Moore]

I have done the 99 thesis on the door of Congress. Just saying, here's why we need to remove Martin Luther joke.

[Andy Holloway]

That was a Martin Luther joke.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, it was.

[Andy Holloway]

Well done. Oh, dropping some of that in here. That is awesome. And yes, they should be gone. There was a hashtag on one of the posts when people were comparing Mike and I's team and it said kickers win championships. And the fact is they might be right because if you. The difference is that. But it's a random difference. So if Mike ends up with five and I end up with 15 from a kicker, that's a big thing to overcome and it's completely unpredictable.

[Jason Moore]

It hurts the strategy and the skill of fantasy football, in my opinion.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you think that the. Oh, go ahead.

[Jason Moore]

The reason that you have kickers in. The only reason that I can see. Justifiable for.

[Andy Holloway]

I know what you're going to say.

[Jason Moore]

Is because they have kickers in the NFL.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

But if that's the case, then every league should be an IDP league because they have, they have defensive players in the NFL.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

You're playing a different game. And I like to have the strategy of the guys.

[Andy Holloway]

You want to keep them. If you want to keep them, I say you hyper nerf them. You've had a theory on that. If you're going to keep them in the league because we're not going to get rid of them in our league of record. You're saying all this. We're never going to vote that away.

[Jason Moore]

Never going to happen.

[Andy Holloway]

But you could do something like a field goal is worth three points. You don't get penalized for a miss. You don't get penalized for an extra point miss.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And then it's just the scope of difference is so much smaller than if you get negatives and positives.

[Mike Wright]

Here's the problem with that. When a field goal kicker misses 30 yard kick, they lose real life points. Right? Well, the NFL team loses a point.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. They lose real life checks is what they lose. Now I know we're on a tangent here, but I do have. I don't think I've ever brought this up before December. I have. I have a radical idea that I think is actually the better way forward. You ready for this?

[Andy Holloway]

Indulgences.

[Jason Moore]

No defense slash. Special teams should be where the kicker gets points because they're special teams. That's part of. I mean when you're drafting a team and you say what team is good at defense and special teams?

[Andy Holloway]

So you got the Patriots D. You just Get Goskowski that week, is what.

[Jason Moore]

You'Re saying, because they're included in all of the defensive scoring and the special team scoring. I believe that that would allow defenses to be better skillfully chosen as well as the kicker, points mattering, but being able to look at game flow a little bit more and match up and say, you know, this is going to be a defensive type of matchup. You're going to get more field goals. I'm going to go for this type of a defense. That's where the points should be. That would be what I think.

[Mike Wright]

You just shift the randomness then from the kicker spot to the defensive position, which you can actually, I use skill on.

[Andy Holloway]

It's too new for me. I can't process it all couple years. But yeah, maybe. Maybe I'll come around to that idea. It's interesting. I think the NFL itself is trying to get rid of kickers. They're moving the extra points back to depress them. They stop. They stop making, you know, the kickoffs almost gone. At this point, your job is to just boot it out of the back of the end zone. You don't need to place it anywhere.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know that that actually makes it harder to be a kicker, I.

[Andy Holloway]

Would think in different ways. But you're not, you know, strategically putting the ball where you should, you know, kick.

[Mike Wright]

You got to be able to be accurate with your field goals. And if you don't have the leg strength to kick a touchback nearly every single time, then that's a problem.

[Andy Holloway]

You're out of the league. Yeah. All right, let's move on.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Andy Holloway]

And obviously we are going to reveal our kickers of the week. Yeah, that's. No, not a new segment.

[Jason Moore]

Not me.

[Andy Holloway]

Why did I record the drop this morning?

[Jason Moore]

I did the foot plan a favor and this week was the first week, because it's playoffs that I actually published kicker rankings. I don't know if you guys are aware. I haven't done that this year. I have.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'm aware. Because I keep telling you to do it.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's a boycott.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's the thing. Here's the thing. It is hyperbolic to say that there is a 1.4 difference. You want to know why?

[Mike Wright]

Because.

[Andy Holloway]

Because that does not reflect playing a matchup in a strategy with your kicker. That just reflects the top to the bottom, as though we're all not streaming kickers. We're all streaming kickers, matchup wise. So there's still strategy to it. There's still, teams like, you know, the Chiefs, that average two and a half, you know, field goal attempts a game to a team that averages one.

[Jason Moore]

Fair.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to win with a kicker this week.

[Mike Wright]

That's fine.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, some news notes. The big news, the big, big, big news. The, the big depressing news from Jason Mark Ingram. Shoulder surgery came out. What is it? A torn rotator cuff, injured reserve ending the season. And there he goes. Wave goodbye.

[Mike Wright]

Goodbye.

[Andy Holloway]

Wave goodbye. If you can.

[Jason Moore]

A lot of questions out there as to who is the guy you pick up. Who do you want? I'm going to be following this obviously very closely through the week. So you could check out my Twitter for different updates. As of this second, for me, I would prefer to have Hightower as the handcuff. We saw him used in that Kyrie Robinson role. And there's a lot of different reports coming out. Right. So one is saying that there's going to be a three headed committee. Now that shouldn't be too scary because the truth is it has always been that three headed. When Mark Ingram was there and Kyrie Robinson was healthy, you know, Kyrie Robinson, I was frustrated as an Ingram owner. They used him a lot. And then C.J. spiller still got, you know, a little bit in. There's Nick Underhill. He covers the Saints for the New Orleans Advocate. He said that Sean Payton was talking about we get a chance to see more of Spiller. So that could be, that could be exciting for Spiller owners. For me, you've had a chance plenty of times. One of the biggest issues is they don't trust him in pass protection. So I'm not sure whether or not they're really going to let that fly. If you're in a PPR league, I would say, you know, maybe, maybe you give a little bit of love Spillers way, but for me, I'm leaning more towards high power.

[Mike Wright]

It's like the one the Titans like. We got to work. We got to get David Cobb the ball a little bit more. Okay, so give him the ball.

[Andy Holloway]

You mean when they talk about it and they're kind of like, well, I sure hope that we have a way to see Spiller this week.

[Mike Wright]

There's just, we're the ones who control who gets the ball, but I'm just not sure we can figure it out.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And in addition to that, they have said this about Spiller several times this.

[Andy Holloway]

Year in his career.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, well, I'm saying Sean Payton this year has said, oh, we got to get that guy the ball more than.

[Andy Holloway]

Hasn'T quite worked there. All right, let's move on. Darrell Revis is not practicing on Wednesday, Mike, do you expect him to play?

[Mike Wright]

I. It's a long shot. It's a long shot. And that's very unfortunate for the jets, who were shaping up to be a.

[Andy Holloway]

Very solid, selfish we I've ever done on the show completely has nothing to do with other owners, just me because I'm playing you, which is ridiculous. So. All right. The Raiders have signed Michael Crabtree to a four year extension.

[Mike Wright]

Got paid.

[Andy Holloway]

He got paid.

[Mike Wright]

Got paid.

[Andy Holloway]

He played. He's been playing great. And now you kind of see kind of a trifecta between Carr and Cooper and Crabtree for, you know, the three Cs for the years to come. So good for Michael Crabtree.

[Mike Wright]

It's good for the Raiders. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And I guess it also puts him into some dynasty keeper context for people that know where he'll be next year.

[Mike Wright]

And then next year we'll. When Clive Walford breaks out, he might. You get the four C's.

[Jason Moore]

They just need three more.

[Andy Holloway]

How is that the four C's?

[Mike Wright]

Clive?

[Andy Holloway]

Clive.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, four C's.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. You're good at. You're good at letters.

[Mike Wright]

It's the four seasons.

[Andy Holloway]

Four seasons.

[Mike Wright]

I just took care of that. You're welcome.

[Andy Holloway]

It's all right. Matt Schaub expects to play Sunday. His mother is proud of him.

[Mike Wright]

Good. Good for you, Matt. Shaub.

[Andy Holloway]

Crockett Gilmore did not practice on Wednesday. I don't know if there's confidence in Crockett, Gilmore.

[Mike Wright]

Tight ends, they're out of players. Baltimore.

[Andy Holloway]

Baltimore. This week they take on Seattle. Seattle. The Seattle defense may. May just win you your. Your week.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's very, very possible.

[Andy Holloway]

We got a bunch of other guys that didn't practice. Heath Miller didn't practice this week. C.J. anderson didn't practice. Ronnie Hillman didn't practice. What do we think about those guys?

[Mike Wright]

I think Anderson's going to miss it sounds as if Hillman will play, but absolutely watch that. If he suddenly doesn't practice on Thursday, you better find a different option. You better pick up Juwan Thompson, who I think is a solid pickup. Besides, even if Hillman is to play with expecting Anderson to miss.

[Andy Holloway]

Robert Quinn, season ending, injured reserve, not coming back to that Rams defense. They haven't been the same without him and Chris Long by any stretch of the imag. In fact, they hit our waiver wire yesterday and I don't think they're going to land on any rosters.

[Jason Moore]

I kept holding on to them thinking they were going to turn around and.

[Andy Holloway]

Then you see that news and yeah, all right. Tyler Eifer, we expect him to play in Week 14.

[Mike Wright]

That's good.

[Andy Holloway]

That's big news.

[Mike Wright]

It's big, big news for Andy Dalton that you got to take a little hit to AJ Green, unfortunately, because he was getting those nice red zone looks.

[Andy Holloway]

And then what do we think about the platoon in the backfield right now for Andy Reid and the Chiefs? Spencer Ware, Chuck Hendrick west, what are we expecting this week? Because a lot of people want to know, hey, most of the questions that I have is not, hey, do I start Spencer Ware? It's more like, hey, can I do I start Darren McFadden or do I start Chuck Hendrick west against the Chargers?

[Mike Wright]

In that situation, I would start Darren McFadden for volume. I do think that west will pick up his percentage of the timeshare. He was just coming off that hamstring injury, which clearly was a somewhat nasty hamstring since he had to miss essentially a game and a half with with the injury. So I look for west to get more involved where will still be a factor. But if I'm choosing between the two of them, I'm going with West.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, before we get into the fantasy forecast, we do want to take a moment to thank the sponsor of today's show that makes this show possible. And that is a new one. Pokerstars.net Let me tell you about them. You can go on and you can play online poker. It is easy to get started. You can play for free as long as you want. You start with a thousand chips. You can reload for free a couple of times every hour. And it is the biggest game in town. This is the largest poker site in the world. There are hundreds of tournaments every day. Over 10,000 players online at any time. Over 140 billion hands played today.

[Mike Wright]

That's a lot of hands.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And what's cool is it's easy to play while you're traveling because they have an app on your iPhone, iPad, Android devices. And this is the thing that really sticks out to me, too, and makes it a lot of fun. You can set up a club for you and your friends that is maybe your fantasy league. It's easy and free to sign up and set up a private club for you and your friends. And you just download the software, and when you do that, you click the home games button. It'll show you how to set up a private club for you and your friends. So check it out. Pokerstars.net Sign up on pokerstars.net and get 1,000 play chips to get you started.

[Jason Moore]

Fantasy forecast.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Thursday Night Football. You gonna be there, Mike?

[Mike Wright]

I'm gonna be there. I got my.

[Andy Holloway]

You got jersey on right now. Why don't you show that to the YouTubers? Looks pretty good. That's right.

[Mike Wright]

And if you're wondering why I have number 12, it's because it was a gift from the Arizona Cardinals to me.

[Andy Holloway]

Is that the 12th man type of thing?

[Mike Wright]

And that's not a lie.

[Jason Moore]

They.

[Mike Wright]

They gave this to me and then I got to go on the field and it was awesome.

[Jason Moore]

Very fun.

[Andy Holloway]

I remember that. I was pretty jealous.

[Mike Wright]

So let's, let's talk about the game.

[Andy Holloway]

I. I'm gonna just. This is gonna sound like pure unadulterated homer. The Cardinals are going to destroy the Vikings tonight.

[Mike Wright]

There is nothing homer about that. That is just speaking factually.

[Jason Moore]

Mike said it best on chat last night. Off, off the air about the Minnesota Vikings defense is going to miss this week.

[Mike Wright]

So they are missing their free safety, their strong safety, their nose tackle, their best linebacker. Their best linebacker. We saw what happened with Seattle, who while Seattle, they have a decent offense. The Seattle offense is not what they have in Arizona. And that was even on the road or Seattle was on the road. Minnesota got to be at home. It's. It could be a blowout by halftime for Arizona if they decide to take the shots.

[Andy Holloway]

Arizona is the number one scoring offensive football right now. Vegas has the game at almost a nine point line in favor of the Cardinals at home. I just don't see. I think the question for fantasy owners as well, especially AP owners, is how in the world can Minnesota score enough points? Now these things can flip because two big turnovers, you know, a pick six and a special teams play and the game's going to be really close. But if things went to chalk, I think it's an advantage of the Cardinals to score a lot of points and just see if Bridgewater can do anything. Because last week we saw the Cardinals take on the Rams. They shut down Todd Gurley and then they said, show me something else. And they couldn't. The Rams couldn't do that. Now the Vikings are a much better team. I want to give them credit. They're a very good team. We're saying that they're very hurt on the defensive side and they haven't been scoring a lot of points.

[Mike Wright]

And you, you saw a, an exact recipe that Seattle last week. This is how you shut down the Vikings because Teddy Bridgewater has been so Disappointing. I mean, most teams and you already know, stop Adrian Peterson and put some points on the board and then the Vikings are just like a turtle flipped on their back. I mean, there's, there's not much they can do at that point except wriggle, wriggle around, just frantically.

[Andy Holloway]

Stefan Diggs has taken a huge step back since midseason. You get nothing out of the other receivers there. Right now, the no team, no team in football scores more a higher percentage of their touchdowns on the ground than the Vikings do, which is a reliance on ap. We expect that. But if so, what do you do with Adrian Peterson? Is the question. I mean, I know you're, you're starting him again.

[Jason Moore]

You have, you have to start him and you have to hope that he gets involved in the passing game more than he has been. Those little dump offs have killed the Cardinals. I could see a situation where, you know, the Adrian Pearson starts grabbing those. You know, when Mark Ingram played early in the year, that type of a, of a back, a big bruising back, catching the ball in a little bit of the open field. I think that's what they are going to need to do now, whether they do it. That's what you hope for in Adrian Peterson. Andy, you and I have him ranked as a top 10 back because he's Adrian Peterson. Mike, you've got him. You got a lot of shade.

[Mike Wright]

You got. I think that now Adrian Peterson went full squeaky wheel last week, complaining as he does when he doesn't get his touches. So I don't think that it will be a situation the same as last week. They're going to force him the ball early.

[Jason Moore]

Early.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, exactly. Early and try and get him going.

[Jason Moore]

It.

[Mike Wright]

Just because of the way I see the game flow going, Adrian Peterson could be in big trouble, guys, that I would like to start over. Adrian Peterson. Now, I agree with you guys. It's really hard in your fantasy playoffs to sit down your stud. There's kind of that, that rule of thumb. You never sit your studs. But man, this is, this is a problematic situation. But guys I like more than Peterson, Yelden, Darren McFadden. The big salad. We're going to talk about the big salad. Chandrone. Now, do I have the courage.

[Jason Moore]

That's what I was going to ask.

[Mike Wright]

To play drone over Peterson. I don't know.

[Andy Holloway]

Thankfully, I'm funny to hear them in a sentence like that.

[Mike Wright]

I don't have. I luckily don't have that situation staring me in the face.

[Andy Holloway]

So here's, here's what I think A fantasy owner needs to do if they're an Adrian Peterson owner. Because I think 95% of them, no matter what statistics we throw, including myself, is playing Adrian Peterson. But here's what that means for your team. Depending on your matchup, you might need to take some upside risks. Other places you might not be able to rely on 20 points from Adrian Peterson or 15 points like you've gotten in the past. You might have to accept the fact he could give you an AP game in spite of the matchup, or he could give me eight. And then I need to make that up somewhere. I need the potential to make it up. That's how I look at it. If I was in that situation where I'm picking a middle of the road wide receiver or Devontae Parker, I'm playing Devontae Parker in that situation for the potential on Monday night.

[Mike Wright]

Well, luckily it's a Thursday night, so the Adrian Peterson owners get to see right away. It's not Sunday Night Football where you're like, oh, what if this happens? You get to see it happen and then adjust accordingly.

[Jason Moore]

And this is another public service announcement. We've said it before, but this is the playoff week. There are some flex type of players that you're going to put in on tonight's game, like Michael Floyd or John Brown.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, tonight's game.

[Jason Moore]

Tonight's game. Get them out of your flex spot and into your wide receiver spot. I just want to say that before we removed from this game, don't start Thursday night players in your flex if you can avoid it. It just gives you more flexibility if they're going to be starting.

[Andy Holloway]

And so other side of the ball. You're starting Palmer.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

You're starting David Johnson.

[Jason Moore]

Absolutely, yes.

[Andy Holloway]

25 touch, 24 touches last week on pace. He should do the same thing. Andre Ellington has been ruled out.

[Mike Wright]

Has he?

[Andy Holloway]

He's out.

[Mike Wright]

Last I heard they were expecting him.

[Andy Holloway]

He is ruled out. Expect him in week 15. That is the new report. So David Johnson take the rock. Minnesota's 22nd against the run. They're going to be trying to stop Palmer in that offense. That's the beautiful thing about David Johnson is the defenses he's going to face mixed with some. Some talent. What do we expect from Larry Fitzgerald, John Brown, Michael Floyd against the sixth best passing defense.

[Mike Wright]

Well, Larry Fitzgerald. Well, they're part of them being the best passing defense is Harrison Smith and he's out aged. That's the problem with the Vikings. Everybody is out. Fitzgerald over the last three weeks has gotten more targets than Any other wide receiver in football. I love Fitzgerald. He hasn't gotten in the end zone. They're at home just for Cardinals offense. Fitzgerald, Floyd, Brown. If I can find a way to get them in, I'm playing everybody.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. It's always hard to predict who's going to be the guy.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

But the potential for a huge game for any of the receivers is. Is there.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. The Buffalo Bills travel to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles in a revenge game for Lashawn McCoy. The language and discuss the words coming out. I mean, he is. I love that he was upset. He's so funny because he says all these things about, you know, Chip Kelly. I ain't going to say blank to him. Well, I'm not shaking his hand. And then he. Then he goes. But yeah, I'm not upset with him in any way. I have no hate or anger towards him. I just got nothing to say to him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. All right. So what. Here's the thing. Does that mean that McCoy has more upside because of the revenge game? I mean, are the Eagles are. Chip. If there's bad blood, do the Eagles really try to stop the Sean McCoy revenge game?

[Mike Wright]

Is usually a silly narrative to me.

[Andy Holloway]

You're right. You're right.

[Mike Wright]

I'm buying in this week though.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm buying it completely that Jason might.

[Mike Wright]

Not be that the Bills are the. I expect the Bills to really give an f concerted effort to get Lashawn McCoy in the end zone this week. Now, not multiple times.

[Andy Holloway]

Carlos Williams is very unlikely to play. He didn't practice on Wednesday. He missed last week. His arm's been in a sling most of the week. Do we expect him? Probably not, no. And so this will be the Lashawn McCoy show. I don't. I don't know what we saw from the special teams and Eagles defense last week. I. It's still one of those things or your brain doesn't process it. Like nobody like on earth started the Eagles defense against New England and they were by far the best of the week. So McCoy's on the field.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

What. What else do we see from. I mean, Taylor. I love Taylor this week.

[Mike Wright]

I love Tyrod Taylor and I love Sammy Watkins. Sammy Watkins is officially heating up with back to back 100 yard games. I just think that the Eagles secondary is exploitable. And like you said, there was just freak plays in that Philadelphia game. They basically. I think they went for the cycle. I mean, right. You had a pick six, you had a punt return for a touchdown, blocked punt for a Touchdown. Just any kind of huge play. The Eagles picked it up. I don't expect all three of those things to happen again. I don't know about you guys, but I don't, I don't think they're going.

[Andy Holloway]

To bust, but they have, they have been a big play defense, so there is that.

[Jason Moore]

Would you play the Eagles defense this week against the Bills?

[Mike Wright]

Mike, there's, there's always upside with the Eagles defense, but there is a very low floor. And Tyrod Taylor, it's called five touchdowns.

[Andy Holloway]

In two of five weeks or four weeks.

[Mike Wright]

Tyrod Taylor is just not turning the ball over. So you. And for sacks, I mean, Taylor's an elusive guy. I just don't think this is a matchup. Even what they did against New England at home with Philadelphia, I just, I'm not, I'm not doing it the other.

[Jason Moore]

Side of the ball.

[Andy Holloway]

I was just about to ask you, Jason.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

What do you do? And we've got a lot of questions this week. What do you do if push comes to shove? I have talked to people who have all three backs on their team. Matthews, Murray, Sprols. Who do you start this week? I know my answer. I want to hear from you.

[Jason Moore]

If you have to start one of those three guys, then if it was me and I had to make the decision, I would put in demarco Murray. I think demarco Murray went, you know.

[Andy Holloway]

Squeaky wheel as well.

[Jason Moore]

He went beyond squeaky wheel. He went all the way to the top.

[Mike Wright]

Well, now there's, there's differing reports on it that maybe he just sat by on the. Him on the airplane. This is a bunch of.

[Jason Moore]

Well, regardless, you know, I think he is still involved. You just. It's a risk. I like Ryan Matthews this week. I don't have a problem, you know, having Ryan Matthews as a, as a flex player even, even in the playoffs. But you have a higher likelihood that the majority of carries is going to go to DeMarco Murray. That's what I think and so that's who I would play. Who was your guy?

[Andy Holloway]

Andy Dues to Marco Murray. Because the. There's no way to know the level of carries the other guys are going to get. At least Murray represents upside if he is listened to. You know, he's supposed to be a part of this offense. There's been a problem getting him the ball at times during the year. I think what made it look bad this time is because they won the game. They won the game. So he looks more like more of a complainer. Nobody's Saying that about ap Every time he doesn't get the ball, I'm going to take the risk. Right. Like, I don't want to start any of them, but if I have to, I mean, I'm seeing a lot of people say, okay, is it Woodhead OR Is it DeMarco Murray? Is it, you know, some lower end? Is it, you know, Spencer Ware or DeMarco Murray?

[Jason Moore]

Right. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, I would just. I don't know.

[Jason Moore]

And in that case, I would go DeMarco Murray. But there's a lot of guys that I would take over DeMarco Murray this week. According to our rankings, we have many. We've got Javorius Allen, who's going up against Seattle, that we would start ahead of demarco Murray. We have Latavius Murray ahead of demarco Murray.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And we've got a lot.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

And a bad matchup. So, I mean, you know, if you have other options that you've picked up, you know, Sean Drone.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, the big salad.

[Jason Moore]

You know, if you've got Sean Drone and Javoris Allen, because you've been listening to the show and you've, you know, been fighting waiver wire gold. Those guys. I would play over.

[Mike Wright]

We were talking about breaking news.

[Andy Holloway]

Darrell Rivas is practicing. I saw it on Thursday.

[Mike Wright]

I saw it. He's in the red jersey. He's in the no contact jersey. So at least he's on the field. Fantastic news for the Jets. So we were talking about the situation. Do I have the courage to play the big salad over Adrian Peterson? I don't know. Over DeMarco Murray? Absolutely. If I'm looking at that situation Jerome is in for me, it's. I'm not even thinking about it.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. And we said we like Watkins a lot. Ertz started last week. Is he a Ertz or Clay in this matchup?

[Jason Moore]

Ooh, I would take Ertz over Clay. Clay has just so disappeared in so many games. He had a big game last game.

[Mike Wright]

He disappeared last week, too, in the coverage because the defense did not see.

[Jason Moore]

He had an invisibility cloak for the first 20 yards of his run. And then he took it off and said, pass me the ball.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's a huge advantage in football.

[Jason Moore]

Real, real good idea to keep that invisibility cloak with you on the field. I believe that Zach Ertz will get more targets, more catches. The real question here is, who gets in the red zone? I would say it's about the same odds of either guy getting in for the score, but I would Rather play Ertz over. So. Especially because the Eagles, while the Eagles have given up a lot through the air, we've said this in the last couple weeks, they haven't given up much to the tight end position. So I'm not on Charles Clay this week.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. We're moving on to the next matchup and if there was ever a nine point underdog that I thought would lose by double that, it would be the Baltimore Ravens right now.

[Mike Wright]

Poor Baltimore.

[Andy Holloway]

Seattle heads into Baltimore. Seattle is white hot right now and the Ravens are not. They lost a game that it seemed like neither team won last week to Miami. Matt Shops banged up over under on pick sixes.

[Jason Moore]

It's one and a half. Are you taking the over or the under?

[Andy Holloway]

I'll take the under.

[Jason Moore]

You're gonna take.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll take the solid one. But I will say this.

[Mike Wright]

I might go over.

[Andy Holloway]

This is the type of ridiculous game that will humble you, an NFL watcher somehow where Seattle's gonna win it, but it won't be as big of a blood or something. Just not to the point of me clicking that little almost upset button. But I, you know, sometimes there's these games and. All right, I'm lying. Yeah, there's gonna be a woman.

[Mike Wright]

No, this. This one. I'm putting the house on Seattle.

[Andy Holloway]

I have Russell Wilson extremely high. I don't have the rankings up at this second. I think I have him in my top three this week.

[Mike Wright]

That's. I don't have a problem with it.

[Jason Moore]

This is a beatable defense. He is not, you know, heating up. He is in fuego.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, you have Wilson at 4. I have him at 3. Jason knows him at 3. In Fuego.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, absolutely. So let's, let's move through the obvious. Thomas Rawls starting Buck Allen is. He's a two, but he's. He's starting for all of us, I assume.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Mike Wright]

Is there any situation where you would sit Buck Allen?

[Jason Moore]

Honestly, you're.

[Andy Holloway]

I would sit Buck Allen because signing Buck Allen meant that he was in addition to my roster. And so there are a lot of.

[Mike Wright]

Not if you were a Justin 4 set owner.

[Andy Holloway]

No, you're right, I haven't. 17. I have a 17. That's play because I think he's just going to catch enough passes. I mean they're going to do. Who else can they give the ball to?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's the.

[Andy Holloway]

You can't throw it well.

[Jason Moore]

But there's a lot of playoff team. I mean, this is playoff. So you got good rosters. You know, you could have A Frank Gore, Darren McFadden, Lamar Miller, TJ Yelden. Those guys I would play over Eddie.

[Andy Holloway]

Lacey or Javor Salon.

[Mike Wright]

Buck Allen. Just.

[Jason Moore]

I think I go Eddie Lacey on that.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I might go Eddie Lacy. That's. That's a very.

[Andy Holloway]

Jeremy Hill or Divorce Allen.

[Jason Moore]

Javor Salon. I don't like Jeremy Hill.

[Mike Wright]

It depends on the scoring format. I'll say that for sure.

[Andy Holloway]

Based on the scoring format. You have them back to back. You have Hill one ahead.

[Mike Wright]

Well, there you go.

[Andy Holloway]

You got him real close.

[Mike Wright]

That settles that.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, listen to this. After starting the season as a bonus matchup, the Ravens have allowed the second fewest passing yards to opposing quarterbacks over the last three weeks. Does it matter in any way, shape or form to Russell Wilson and Doug Baldwin? I think we've said no.

[Jason Moore]

No. And we'll talk more about Doug Baldwin later.

[Andy Holloway]

We're going to save that.

[Jason Moore]

Might. Or. Well, we can talk about it now.

[Mike Wright]

Well, no, we'll move.

[Andy Holloway]

We'll get to it in the Tyler Locker.

[Mike Wright]

Tyler Lockett. What do you guys think about him on this week? Because I kind of like him.

[Andy Holloway]

Tyler Lockett, I do like. Because I said this before the show, I really like Doug Baldwin. We're going to talk about him. But there's always a return to the mean in terms of averaging 45 touchdowns a year. Where he. Where he's at over the last two games, whatever it is. So lock it. Somebody who, if you were watching third downs last week, it was like, okay, it's. It's third and nine, and then the next play it was lock it for nine yards for a first down. It was, you know, he was a go to guy. Wilson loves him. He has the big playability. Lockett could put up one of the Baldwin performances for all we know. So I, I don't mind rolling the dice with him, but he's down the list for me.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I mean, absolutely.

[Andy Holloway]

He's somebody I'm starting over Pierre Garcon, not somebody I'm starting over desean Jackson.

[Mike Wright]

What about Lockett versus Aiken?

[Jason Moore]

I would rather have.

[Andy Holloway]

I'd rather have Aiken.

[Jason Moore]

I would rather have Lockett.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow. How much would you rather have Lockett.

[Jason Moore]

Waterbed? Whoa, hold your horses there.

[Andy Holloway]

I will be honest. I didn't mean to push the button my. The button. But it seems like destiny may have us aligned here.

[Jason Moore]

Not that much. Not enough. Not enough to put water.

[Andy Holloway]

Unofficial water bet.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Unofficial private.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, you bunch of weenies.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, now, speaking to the Buck Allen side of things, we think his production is Going to come through the air.

[Mike Wright]

Well, a guy who got 12 catches last week, I'm not expecting 12. I'm secretly hoping for 12 or more. But 5, 5 to 6 is what seems like a lock.

[Andy Holloway]

12 puts them at about 200 a year pace. So I'm gonna keep. I'm gonna temper that. But yeah, they're not giving it up on the ground.

[Mike Wright]

36.

[Andy Holloway]

Five or six is fine. And that will be pretty good for you. Yes, I'd start him over Woodhead for sure. All right, 49ers, another start of the week in this game. 49ers at the Browns. Blaine Gabber coming off the hot win at Chicago. This is a team that has impressed me in terms of fighting through a lot of tumult. Right.

[Jason Moore]

And you're speaking, just to be clear of the 49ers side of this game.

[Andy Holloway]

I am speaking of the 49ers.

[Jason Moore]

Not the Cleveland side.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, that's a different kind of fighting going on in Cleveland. But the 49ers, their defense has kept games competitive for them, even though it's not been a good defense in terms of total yards given up, they found ways to keep games competitive. They beat Chicago and Chicago, they kept it close in Arizona. Blaine Gabbard had, I think 6,000 yards on the ground last week, at least.

[Mike Wright]

Half on that one run.

[Andy Holloway]

So he, he's not somebody I'm starting Blaine Gabbard, but he's impressed me a.

[Jason Moore]

Little bit in a two quarterback league. I think he's, you know, because the.

[Mike Wright]

Matchup is so good.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And then our. You want to talk about the running backs?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my goodness. We're finally to the time. The big salad. Sean Drone.

[Andy Holloway]

Eat your veggies, everybody.

[Mike Wright]

You gotta get that foundation of greens and carrots in your diet. And Sean Drone is the man to do that for your fantasy football team. The guy is just. He's on the field almost 100% of the time. That's. That's what you want out of volume. You talk about, oh, I got this timeshare back. He's on the field 60% of the time. Could I interest you in 100% in 90 plus? Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

In.

[Mike Wright]

In a matchup against the second worst running defense in the league, a guy who catches five passes a week. He's.

[Andy Holloway]

And he has the added bonus of when you beat your opponent, they look at you and they go, I lost to Sean. Draw.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's. That, that's a, That's a lettuce slap in the face. That's exactly I challenge you to a dual off.

[Andy Holloway]

So he's had 13 carries, he got a touchdown last week, another five catches through the air. And this is a game that we think the San Francisco defense can kind of keep it low scoring and let. Let drone run.

[Mike Wright]

Absolutely. And if an interesting thing for the 49ers defense, they're getting gashed on the ground. I don't know if people realize this. 165 yards, almost two touchdowns the last three weeks. Do you have it within your soul, within your foundation to go to the Crow?

[Jason Moore]

No, I have him as my 33rd ranked. Here's what, here's, here's. I know it is high. I was looking at this when I was stating these guys out and I had that, that question speak in my heart. I was like, man, if they gave Crowell the ball in this game and dedicated to running with their power back, Crowell would have a great game. And I thought, you know, he's going to get some decent runs here. And I started him out and then I went, how high am I on him? And I looked at him 30, 33rd. Which means if you're in a playoff team, you probably have guys ahead of him.

[Andy Holloway]

He did have 11 carries last week.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he's got, he has double digit carries in all but three. Three weeks. So.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, so I'm, I'm not excited.

[Jason Moore]

I'm not excited either. But in a.

[Mike Wright]

It could happen.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, the Browns are dead last in the league in rushing yards per game average. I think it's around 70 a game for them. So it could happen.

[Mike Wright]

Just. But it could happen.

[Andy Holloway]

But I can't see now I'd start Duke Johnson over Crow.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So we talked about Brian Hartline earlier in the waiver show who's just been averaging a ton of targets, but now we. Eight catches in two straight weeks. But now you got Johnny Manziel in there. I, you know, you just don't know where he leans. Is this going to be. We've been worried about barnage in the past with Manzo. We've been worried about just the production at the position in terms of total yards this game. You know, the over under. Despite the fact these teams are dead last in the league and defense pretty much on both sides of the ball. The over under is only 40 points. So we're counting on. Vegas is counting on inefficiency on the offense more than it is a shootout between bad defenses and offenses.

[Mike Wright]

So what about temporary? What about Benji? I'm looking up his status. He did not practice. Travis Benjamin did Not practice on Wednesday, so it's unclear if. If he's going to play. If he sits out, then Heartline certainly gets a target bump.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, we got a couple more games to preview before we get to the starts of the week. Let's go and talk about the Redskins facing the Chicago Bears. This game has the potential for some rain cousins. Cutler, who's worth talking about in this matchup right now? I don't think we're starting either of those guys. They're not really ideal streamers this week.

[Mike Wright]

Cutler's not.

[Andy Holloway]

I guess Cutler's not bad.

[Mike Wright]

Cutler's not bad in my opinion. I was. I was set up to play Cutler back to back weeks, but he just shot my confidence in the face last week with. With a great matchup at home and the saying on the show, whatever happens can happen in reverse. Cutler could absolutely come out and throw three touchdowns. He still has Alshon Jeffrey, Eddie Royal is back at practice. That is a boost to the offense. Forte is rolling. So these things can happen for Cutler's fantasy production last week is the touchdowns went to the running backs on because they got goal line carries. Those could easily, you know, game flow into Jay Cutler's pocket. And you put up 200 yards and two touchdowns last week and people have zero problem playing Cutler in the first week of the playoffs.

[Andy Holloway]

Is Zach Miller a sneaky start now that Martell has been in his gone?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

He's not a terrible option, I'll say that.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

I don't have a ton of confidence in it. I don't know about you guys.

[Andy Holloway]

Desean Jackson is a wide receiver. What? This week he's a wide receiver. The Bears defense is pretty good.

[Jason Moore]

He. I think he's a wide receiver too. This is a matchup where he's got three weeks in a row of having a solid game. I think you've got a ride to Sean Jackson's coattails right now.

[Andy Holloway]

Is that what that is?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Yeah, I like him. You know who else I like in this game? I'm gonna throw a name out there that I actually like.

[Mike Wright]

Uh.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, Matt Jones. Oh, Matt Jones is a guy to me, when I was watching the last game that they want to give the ball to more and more.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know if I should tell you where you have him ranked.

[Jason Moore]

I know where I have him ranked. I don't like it.

[Mike Wright]

I think that. I think the public demands that we.

[Andy Holloway]

Hear where it is because I guess Mike.

[Jason Moore]

No, no. He needs to move down from where I have him. He needs to move down from the number 13 spot. Yeah. No, obviously he needs to move down there. But I will say this.

[Mike Wright]

That was my head exploding. America. America called 91 1.

[Jason Moore]

The question my head.

[Andy Holloway]

Let me explain, by the way, why that happens. I mean, Jason is very rigid on statistically analyzing the players with no mind of where they actually. No, I'm not saying that as an insult.

[Jason Moore]

Really.

[Mike Wright]

No, no.

[Andy Holloway]

Listen to the sentence I said with no mind to where they end up in a list. He doesn't care about the number of where they end up. He finishes the statistics, then he comes back and looks at those numbers, balances it out a little bit. And so guys move a little bit. But he's just looking at the matchup. And it just goes to support your ridiculous story here.

[Mike Wright]

I don't hate Matt Jones at all. I do kind of like him.

[Andy Holloway]

I am a 37 and I feel.

[Mike Wright]

Like that's as he's very high end too. That's. That's stretching. And just because of the volatility that comes with Matt Jones, we. The backfield fumbles. Exactly. That's a part of it. But Matt Jones has been the majority ball carrier to double up on majority. But most of the games this season, Matt Jones has been the primary ball carrier where. But the problem is Alfred Morris jumps in every once in a while. It sure looked like Alfred Morris got benched on Monday night after he starting the game, had a couple carries and then was just gone. Alfred Morris didn't see the field. It was Matt Jones and Chris Thompson. And so I.

[Andy Holloway]

So realistically though, let me give you some names because this is just worthless to fantasy owners to say he has him at 13. I got him at 37.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

And we kind of like him. LeGarrett Blunt or Matt Jones?

[Mike Wright]

Blunt.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to go.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to go Matt Jones.

[Andy Holloway]

Ryan Matthews or Matt Jones?

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to go Matt Jones.

[Mike Wright]

Depends on the practice reports because I.

[Andy Holloway]

Would probably go Matt Jones in that situation. Spencer.

[Mike Wright]

Where?

[Andy Holloway]

Or Matt Jones.

[Mike Wright]

Where?

[Jason Moore]

Matt Jones.

[Andy Holloway]

DeMarco Murray or Matt Jones?

[Jason Moore]

DeMarco Murray.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that go Murray there.

[Jason Moore]

And just a little bit of. So an MRI revealed a tear in Chris Thompson in his body?

[Andy Holloway]

Well, yes, Chris Thompson has been torn in two.

[Jason Moore]

It's right across the middle in his shoulder. That's the worst place to get torn in his shoulder.

[Andy Holloway]

So that's important.

[Jason Moore]

The pass catching role is clearly not going to be Alfred Morris. We saw Matt Jones with eight.

[Mike Wright]

He can get two a week with.

[Jason Moore]

18 carries last game. And so the question all year has been. Who's the guy going to be? Who is it? Because some weeks it's Alfred Morris, some weeks it's Matt Jones, some weeks it's Chris Thompson. Well, if Chris Thompson isn't able to be in there, and we saw Last week an 18 to 6 carry threshold from Alfred to Matt Jones, I think it's a matchup that's winnable.

[Mike Wright]

So I like that take. I hadn't heard the Thompson news yet, and if you took Chris Thompson's stats and you just plop. You plop them into Jones.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, it's. He's a.

[Mike Wright]

Then I like him.

[Andy Holloway]

He's a two.

[Mike Wright]

So that's. That's. That's a good hot take. Steaming.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Can we move on?

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. The Steelers and the Bengals. This is a. An exciting game. We got the news earlier about Ifert expected to play in this game. The run defenses are good for both teams. I know some people are pretty down on D'Angelo Williams this week, silly. But I am not. I was going to say I am not. What is the big storyline in this game for you?

[Mike Wright]

The big storyline in it is that the Bengals defense, which is a very strong defense, are likely to be without their top two cornerbacks. That's the story to me.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm still hearing Adam Jones might play.

[Mike Wright]

I've heard he's.

[Andy Holloway]

I've been sending him some medicinals and some vitamins because my opponent, Mike Wright has Antonio Brown, and so I am really. And then I searched for Adam Jones online and here's the headline. Adam Jones in a cast.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

Colon effort returns.

[Mike Wright]

He's sure there's. There is the slim chance that Adam Jones plays, but he is on the doubtful side. It's. So there's. The Bengals have been decimated at the cornerback position. They lost Denard earlier in the season, and Kirkpatrick has been not. Not great. So you take out the top two corners from the Bengals this week, it's trouble. And Big Ben. Trouble is gonna go bonanzas. People that they're looking back, you know, because you like to have some context. What did they do earlier in the season? Well, the Steelers and the Bengals, Big Ben got kind of held in check. Reminder, Big Ben was coming off of his MCL injury early when he came into that Bengals game. That was his first game back. And we know that he looked physically wrong.

[Andy Holloway]

Like a tear. Like he has a tear in him.

[Mike Wright]

He did. He was not moving around nimbly at all.

[Andy Holloway]

Physically wrong.

[Mike Wright]

Sorry, Ben. But he's healthy now. That Steelers offense, it Cannot be stopped by anybody. You take out your best two cornerbacks and Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, and even Marcus Wheaton. It looks like Heath Miller is going to miss. So that puts a bump up to Wheaton, if you can imagine that. I think all three guys are strong place.

[Andy Holloway]

They're going to need to lean on the 12th man in Cincinnati.

[Mike Wright]

They're going to need a 13th and a 14th man in Cincinnati. But I think this is a big help also for Dalton.

[Andy Holloway]

I should remind people the Bengals are favored to win this game.

[Mike Wright]

There's no problem with that.

[Jason Moore]

There's so many offensive weapons on both sides of the ball. The first time they played, we were expecting this huge game and it ended 10 to 16. That's not happening this time around with these injuries for the Bengals. And I think that once one team starts right, as soon as one team finally gets, you know, 14 points on.

[Mike Wright]

The ball is broken.

[Andy Holloway]

Is it. Is it okay for me to make this my upset for the Steelers?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, sure.

[Jason Moore]

Andy's almost upset of the week.

[Mike Wright]

Because I would say the Steelers are going to win this game.

[Andy Holloway]

That would make it an upset according to the line by three points. Like it's not even a pick them. So. All right. That we said D'Angelo Williams is still in our. For me and Mike, he's a one. For Jason, he's just outside that one according to the rankings. So he's starting. I do want to debate the Bernard Hill situation a little bit because I don't want to move on too fast there. I'm of the belief, possibly incorrectly, that I'm not going to overread into Hill's total carry numbers last week against the Cleveland defense, where obviously they were running the clock out. I think the likelihood, based on the upset prediction and based on the fact that the Steelers are a buzz saw in offense right now, that Bernard has the likelihood of being on the field more often than Jeremy Hill does. Therefore, I don't love Jeremy Hill this week.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I can buy into that. I would still flex Hill, though.

[Andy Holloway]

But you won't in our league over Danny Amadola.

[Mike Wright]

No. Not over Amendola. No.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. All right. Go ahead and move on.

[Jason Moore]

Starts of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, it's time for our starts of the week. It's playoff time. And if you have made it to your playoffs streaming guys, this section right now, we're going to deliver the goods. That's a promise. That's a promise. All right, so let's kick it off with Mike. Give me your quarterback.

[Mike Wright]

So my quarterback. My quarterback started the week a little lower end guy. He's going to go with Brian Hoyer. The Patriots have allowed five touchdowns to quarterbacks the last two weeks and we saw the Texans were involved in a higher scoring game with the Bills last week. They got the Patriots coming in. I think the game flow could favor in for Hoyer's fantasy production because the, the Pats can still put up points. I know they're depleted in with their offensive weapons but it's still Tom Brady and he can still get it done. So I just, I think if you're looking at game flow and Hoyer has been great. He has been great all year. He now he hasn't put up just monster game winning weeks but he has also never crapped your team unless he gets knocked out of the game by an injury. So he's just, I think he's a strong start. If you are. If your quarterback is in a bad position like let's say you're a Derek Carr owner who's going up against Denver. The streamer guys that we talked about weren't available but Hoyer's on your, your wire. I would play Hoyer over Derek Carr this week.

[Jason Moore]

Also it looks like DeMarcus Ware is going to be back for Derek Car.

[Mike Wright]

That's pleasant news for Derek Carr.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So if you're a Derek Carr owner, go, go get Brian Hoyer or here's another guy you can go get.

[Mike Wright]

Absolutely.

[Jason Moore]

Tyrod Taylor. This guy has not thrown for 300 yards once. Not once. So why start him? Because he's the most efficient fantasy quarterback in the league right now. Per pass he has four different games with three or more touchdowns and he runs the ball that they have really used him on the ground. He has several games over 40 yards. He has a game over 70 yards on the ground. He scored three touchdowns on the ground. And you've got a matchup here with Philadelphia who's been giving up a lot of passing touchdowns. So you've got a good matchup. A guy who's had big blow up games and this is the type of blow up potential that you see now. Tyrod Taylor has crapped the team so he's a little bit more risky to me. You know, if they run the ball in with Shady McCoy with Shady, you know, and the touchdowns end up going that way in the revenge game, then you've got it. But this is the guy. Like if you're a lower seed and you're facing a big juggernaut, Tyrod Taylor can explode.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, he was my number one priority to keep him away from Mike in our league. In terms of a streamer, he's my start of the week as well. He was my stream of the week. Jason pretty much summed up the entire scenario. But I'll just add the fact that his not only has he had blow up games, his last two weeks have been very good games 30 and 39 in our scoring six point per touchdown league. So I'm going to go ahead and give you my running back and I'm going to name him the Lonely Bronco. If we have one of C.J. anderson or Ronnie Hillman as the lonely starter, I think you start him with extreme joy. Against an Oakland Raiders defense that is giving it up to the running back position. My gut tells me CJ will sit and Hillman will be active and yes, Joanne Thompson will get work, but last week it was like five or six carries and Ronnie Hillman, I think if he's healthy, can give you a really surprising nice fantasy game. Jason just mentioned DeMarcus Ware's back. The defense is outstanding this game. If you had to predict the script, it's a couple scores, 17 to 3, game over, run the ball 24 to 3, something like that.

[Mike Wright]

Let's say, let's check your confidence in this matchup.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

Hillman's out, Anderson's out. You've got Juwan Thompson.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. The lonely Bronco starts.

[Mike Wright]

I love it.

[Jason Moore]

Yep, the Lonely Bronco. That's great. I'm going with a guy who is our consensus number three running back. And normally you're like, well, of course you start him, but there are a lot of people who are really scared to start this guy. He was my.

[Andy Holloway]

Not me start.

[Jason Moore]

He was my start of the week last week and he's my start of the week this week. It's David Johnson. Oh, yeah, David Johnson. People are. We talked about it already, so I don't need to regurgitate. But the Vikings are not the Vikings defense right now. And people see, okay, he's had one good week and he's going up against a bad matchup. But no, he's not.

[Mike Wright]

No, he is not.

[Jason Moore]

And he got the ball 24 times. He's going to get it again this week. Start him over anyone there is if you. David Johnson's on your team. He is starting David Johnson.

[Mike Wright]

Adrian Peterson.

[Jason Moore]

David Johnson.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, yeah, David Johnson or I agree.

[Mike Wright]

I'm just, I'm just doing a heat check.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. D'Angelo Williams.

[Jason Moore]

David Johnson.

[Mike Wright]

Who do we have?

[Andy Holloway]

Todd Gurley.

[Jason Moore]

Who do David Johnson.

[Mike Wright]

David Johnson. David Johnson or Sean McCoy.

[Jason Moore]

David Johnson.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow. Here's what I love. I love that David Johnson says a storyline at the end of this year. It is a delight.

[Mike Wright]

It worked because he was such a.

[Andy Holloway]

Storyline in the beginning. It's just, I'm sorry, Andre Ellington, I'm sorry, Chris Johnson. But this is very nice. And he offers so much upside. He's just a game breaking type of player.

[Mike Wright]

All right, my running back start of the week. I've mentioned his name quite a few times.

[Andy Holloway]

Actually, you've not mentioned his name enough. You've mentioned his nickname quite a few times.

[Mike Wright]

Sean drawn the big salad Cleveland for four of 12 games. For Cleveland, only four of 12 games. They have not given up over 100 yards on the ground and drawn has 18 catches in the last three weeks. We said Cleveland is the one of the absolute worst rushing defenses in the league and a guy who's on the field 90 to 100% of the time. So Sean Drone is my man and I love it. I love it.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, give me your wide receiver.

[Mike Wright]

Even though I, Andy, disagrees with my, with my wide receiver.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I don't disagree with the start.

[Mike Wright]

Well, so my start of the week, I'm going with Larry Fitzgerald. And the reason why I put him as my start of the week is because if you go over to fantasyprose.com he's number 14. He's number 14. They got lots of guys starting. What was that?

[Andy Holloway]

That was. That was me taking a risk at finding a nice sound effect that said duh. But that one was terrifying and I'm scared and I peed myself.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, but here's the deal for Larry Fitzgerald, like I said, 53 targets over the last three weeks, that's the top of the NFL. The Vikings are depleted of defensive playmakers right now. Of my wide receivers, I have Larry Fitzgerald ranked number four. And that's why it went with my start of the week, because he is a wide receiver too. On fantasy, the only argument.

[Andy Holloway]

That's what I was gonna say, the argument that you are making to keep him as you start of the week, as opposed to the obvious, is just the fact that there are other resources out there telling people that he's a two, that you should start other guys over and therefore I will allow it.

[Mike Wright]

Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

Even though I play that sound, Let.

[Jason Moore]

Me go with a far better start. This is my favorite. This is my favorite guy right now to talk about.

[Andy Holloway]

He's my favorite guy.

[Jason Moore]

My favorite guy. Let me, let me ask you guys a question. I know you know the answer, so let me Ask the Foot Clan a question. Since the Week 9 buys. Since Week 10, 11, 12, 13, the last four games, who is the number one wide receiver in the entire NFL?

[Andy Holloway]

Is it Jerry Rice?

[Jason Moore]

Is it Jerry Rice? We're talking fantasy wise, fantasy receiver. Is it, is it DeAndre Hopkins?

[Andy Holloway]

No.

[Jason Moore]

Is it Antonio Brown? Is it Brandon Marshall or Alan Robinson? Well, those guys are all great, but the number one guy is Doug Baldwin. The number one guy is available in 33% of ESPN leagues on waivers. And the number one guy is playing the Baltimore Ravens this week. Now, look, I don't expect Doug Baldwin to keep up a pace of this and finish the year as the number one wide receiver, but I'm playing Doug Baldwin this week over most guys.

[Andy Holloway]

Stay in the flames.

[Jason Moore]

He is beyond on fire. Over his last four games, he is averaging six receptions, 108 yards, and one and a half touchdowns a week.

[Mike Wright]

That's pretty good.

[Jason Moore]

And that was coming off a bye week. So that there was, there was a change in the offense that came out after week nine where you saw the aerial attack start and then you have Jimmy Graham go down. There are factors that say this can, this can be a number one target.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, you can trace it. And we said this yesterday. You can trace that back to Russell Wilson standing in the pocket and throwing the football.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So you're five touchdowns for Russell Wilson last week.

[Mike Wright]

Jason, you're telling me that Doug Baldwin, he's your number one guy?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, he. Jason is very. He wrote so many of his notes in capital letters around Doug Baldwin that, you know, he was confident.

[Mike Wright]

And foot clan, if you got that reference, you got to tag that one.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that one's of course.

[Mike Wright]

No, you can't. We're not spoiling it. But that one was.

[Andy Holloway]

Sometimes that's a, that's a lower level.

[Mike Wright]

Reference that people will get.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. All right. And my, my wide receiver start of the week, if you want to get nuts, is devonte Parker.

[Mike Wright]

Devonte Parker is getting nuts for.

[Andy Holloway]

Against the Giants on Monday Night Football. The Giants are just horrible against the pass. Listen, in 83% of the games this year, they've given up 250 plus to the quarterback position. And Devonte Parker's on the other end of that equation now. Yes, Ryan Tannehill threw for 8 yards last week, but Devontae Parker had a huge touchdown catch. He's getting involved in the offense. The target numbers are starting to get there. Rashard Matthews is still out. And I just, I really like devonte Parker. Not enough to where I'm benching Chris Ivory in my league of record and playing Devontae Parker over him. But he made me think about it because I just love the upside of a big, giant wide receiver who is known. I mean I think his, his yardage at the catch this year is something like 17 and a half yards at the catch. He's just a big play receiver. Your prototypical first round superstar potential wide receiver. And why not give him the ball right now?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean he's, he's a high risk, higher reward guy. He's going to do well.

[Andy Holloway]

You know what? I have to play Julio and Julio is like his ceiling seems so small right now.

[Mike Wright]

Because of the beaches of Normandy.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, because of the beaches of Normandy.

[Jason Moore]

I like that.

[Mike Wright]

I stole that.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's what I hope from. Just to give context.

[Jason Moore]

Who'd you steal from?

[Mike Wright]

It was actually from a radio caller that I have no idea what their name was.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, well here's. If you're out there, Julio. The reason I hope for Julio this week is that he gets like two red zone targets that end up in touchdowns and gives you a big week.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. But getting back to Parker, I do, I do like the play of Parker. I think that if you're going to play him, you're dancing with the devil. You are.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Outside of that, I mean the Dolphins aren't going to be winning this game.

[Mike Wright]

That's. It's a good.

[Andy Holloway]

Probably unlike last last week was 15, 13 against Baltimore. They didn't need to do much.

[Mike Wright]

Here's a quick reminder for strategy wise. Let's say you're newer to a keeper league. Devonte Parker. Because you only keep a couple guys. Parker is, is very available. He's only owned in 40% of ESPN leagues. He is a guy that you need to just throw on your bench right now no matter what. If moving forward because you don't know how the year is going to end. These guys pop up at the end of every year. So I think this is a just a good public service announcement for it. Maybe you're a little bit of a newer player. This is a strategy you need to look at now.

[Andy Holloway]

Totally agree. Totally agree.

[Mike Wright]

Put them on your bench.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to give you my tight end start of the week. We'll get your guys's. Mine's Julius Thomas, I went with him. He had 11, 22 and eight fantasy points last three games. And the thing in common, he scored in every single one of them. He's being involved in the red zone. He's becoming more a part of the offense and we saw what Bortles could do last week. He's playing against Indianapolis this week. Who's a bottom half defense against the tight end. And so I like Julius Thomas is a really bonafide, strong, solid, solid tight.

[Jason Moore]

End start for me. The tight end start is Austin Sferian Jenkins. He is, he was targeted. He wasn't on the field that much last game. They were working him back from his.

[Andy Holloway]

21 of 71 snaps.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, exactly. And he still had a decent fantasy day. And the matchup here is what I really love about it. The New Orleans Saints are just giving it up to the tight end. In fact the New Orleans Saints who are the worst defense pretty much in the league, you know, over the last three weeks to the wide receiver, they have given up very few yards. It's all going to the tight end.

[Andy Holloway]

So it's just good matchup, good matchup, good upside. He represents upside to me. He could have a big game out.

[Mike Wright]

Of nowhere and I'm going a little bit sneakier with my tight end.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't mind that I thought about him.

[Mike Wright]

Colby Fleener against Jacksonville. Here is Jacksonville's.

[Andy Holloway]

That is a desperation tight end start.

[Mike Wright]

But here's numbers that Jacksonville is allowed to the tight end. Week 10, 11 catches. The next week 12 catches. Then only five to San Diego but two touchdowns. And then the following week to Tennessee, 10 catches. So I mean double digit catches to the tight end three of the last four weeks including six touchdowns to the tight end position and you got. We assume it's Hasselback. It could be Charlie Whitehurst. Either way, I look for Kobe Fleener to get some sneaky targets in.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't mind that deeper leagues. He's a really good start. I don't know how many guys I'm starting him over but I like the matchup and I thought about him a little bit myself. So I really like that. All right guys, that is it for today's show. We went a little bit longer. We'll be back with the rest of the fantasy forecast tomorrow. We'll get you some DFS knowledge and we'll get you ready for week 14 and the playoffs. We're thankful that you joined us today. Make sure you check out pokerstars.net thank you for supporting the show and we will be back tomorrow. Yeah, hopefully none of us have tear.

[Mike Wright]

Strong finish.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you for listening to another edition of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Don't forget to visit us on the web at www.the fantasy footballers.com and follow us on Twitter the ffballers.