Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 5 Fantasy Forecast, Starts of the Week, TNF Preview, News

Summary

Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast
Episode: Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 5 Fantasy Forecast, Starts of the Week, TNF Preview, News
Release Date: October 8, 2015
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright

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1. Introduction

The episode kicks off with a light-hearted banter among the hosts, celebrating their progress into Week 5 of the NFL and the fantasy football season. Mike Wright expresses excitement about reaching this milestone, while Andy Holloway emphasizes that the season isn't over yet, even for teams struggling early on.

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2. Week 5 NFL and Fantasy Football Overview

The hosts set the stage for Week 5, highlighting key aspects they will cover:

• Week 5 Preview: An in-depth look at upcoming NFL games and their implications for fantasy football.
• Thursday Night Football (TNF) Preview: Focused analysis on the crucial TNF matchup.
• News and Notes: Updates on player injuries, team dynamics, and other relevant news impacting fantasy decisions.

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3. Key Matchup Previews

a. Thursday Night Football: Colts vs. Texans

• Quarterback Considerations:

  • Andrew Luck's Injury: Andrew Luck is expected to sit out the TNF game, significantly impacting the Colts' offense. Andy Holloway notes, “Andrew Luck's absence downgrades the team's odds” (02:01).
  • Matt Hasselbeck vs. Ryan Mallett: With Luck out, Matt Hasselbeck steps in as the quarterback against the Texans. Marshall Faulk and Mike Wright discuss the potential risks, emphasizing the Texans' strong defense.

• Player Impact:

  • Frank Gore: Even without Luck, Frank Gore remains a reliable option due to his volume workload. Marshall Faulk states, “Frank Gore is the safest play because he's the volume play” (09:48).
  • DeAndre Hopkins: Returning to form, Hopkins is reaffirmed as a top start, with both Marshall and Mike highlighting his reliability (10:20).

b. Bills vs. Titans

• Quarterback Status:

  • Tyrod Taylor: Despite a tough previous game, Tyrod Taylor remains a viable start. Mike Wright affirms, “I still believe in Taylor moving forward” (24:22).

• Running Backs:

  • Charles Clay: A standout performer for the Bills, Clay is recommended as a strong start due to his consistent involvement and rapport with Taylor. Marshall Faulk advises, “Charles Clay is a very good start” (25:30).
  • Antonio Andrews: While some worry about Tennessee's top rushing defense, Mike suggests stashing Andrews as a potential upside (25:22).

c. Browns vs. Ravens

• Ravens' Defense:

  • Josh McCown vs. Joe Flacco: McCown is favored over Flacco due to Flacco's limited involvement without Steve Smith (27:08).

• Wide Receivers:

  • Owen Daniels (TE): Despite the Ravens' strong defense, Owen Daniels is recommended as a top tight end start due to his favorable matchup against the Raiders (27:43).

d. Bears vs. Chiefs

• Bears' Offensive Changes:

  • Jay Cutler's Return: With Cutler back, Andy Holloway is confident in starting him, emphasizing the Bears' offensive potential (30:48).

• Chiefs' Defense:

  • Pass Defense Concerns: The Chiefs' secondary is struggling, making the Bears' offense a viable option despite Vegas favoring the Chiefs by a significant margin. Andy Holloway notes, “Vegas knows people are betting on Bears’ offensive history” (30:48).

e. Seahawks vs. Bengals

• Russell Wilson's Performance:
  • Seahawks' Struggles: Despite a miraculous play last week, the Seahawks are expected to face a tough Bengals defense. Mike Wright opts to stream Alex Smith instead of Wilson for this matchup, citing the Seahawks' defensive challenges (35:33).

f. Rams vs. Packers

• Todd Gurley's Matchup:
  • Packers' Balanced Defense: While Gurley is a top fantasy asset, the Packers' strong and balanced defense may limit his output. Andy Holloway expresses tempered expectations, stating, “This could be a very big disappointment game” (38:02).

g. Jacksonville vs. Tampa

• Defensive Strategies:

  • Jacksonville Defense: Struggling against the run, while the Tampa defense is porous against passers, creating strategic opportunities for fantasy players.

• Running Backs:

  • Charles Clay vs. Simis: Andy Holloway recommends starting Martin over Sims for consistent touches, while Mike Wright suggests Sims can be valuable in PPR leagues due to his pass-catching abilities (42:09).

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4. Player News and Updates

a. Andrew Luck's Injury Status

• Out for TNF: Andrew Luck is confirmed to miss the Thursday game, impacting not only the Colts' performance but also fantasy owners relying on his production. Marshall Faulk remarks, “Season of disappointment continues for Andrew Luck” (02:13).

b. Handcuffs Strategy

• Philosophy on Handcuffs:

  • Andy Holloway: Views handcuffs as luxury items, preferable over bench wide receivers when bench space allows.

    "I would rather have a handcuff than some fourth wide receiver who might put up some points on a bench. And so yeah, give me a handcuff over those guys." (05:11)

  • Mike Wright: Emphasizes opportunity and quality of backups, advocating for securing reliable handcuffs like James Starks for Eddie Lacy's injury risk.

    "If I have five bench spots, one of those is James Starks. Just because I know that if I lose a running back one in Eddie Lacy, I'm getting a low end running back one in James Starks." (05:48)

c. Other Player Injuries and Updates

• DeAndre Hopkins: Reaffirmed as a top fantasy option upon return.

  “He is back at the top of my list.” - Marshall Faulk (10:20)

• Marshawn Lynch: Josh McCown is considered a streaming option due to Lynch’s uncertain status.

  “He needs touchdowns and Seattle is still ranked with the bottom for offensive touchdowns. They're just not happening.” - Mike Wright (11:06)

• David Johnson: Praised for his performance and role in the Cardinals' offense, with Mike Wright preferring him over Chad Ochocinco for fantasy starts.

  “He’s a stash, he’s not a start.” - Andy Holloway (13:19)

• Steve Smith: Out with rib fractures, affecting the Ravens' offense and making Dion Lewis a valuable fantasy asset.

  “Steve Smith's one of the toughest people in the game. Him and Anquan Bolden. I would play if it were humanly possible.” - Marshall Faulk (22:28)

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5. Fantasy Forecast and Start Suggestions

a. Quarterback Starts

• Marcus Mariota (Indians vs. Texans): Recommended as a strong start due to favorable matchup and consistent performance.

  "Marcus Mariota I think is a great streaming option, a great start this week." - Marshall Faulk (46:41)

• Philip Rivers (Chargers vs. Steelers): Favored for his yardage leadership and solid matchup against Pittsburgh.

  "Philip Rivers, I think, leads the league in yardage. He has been tremendous this year." - Mike Wright (47:32)

• Josh McCown (Browns vs. Ravens): Considered a better option over Joe Flacco due to Flacco's limited usage without Steve Smith.

  “He's a desperation stream because he's at home.” - Mike Wright (27:08)

b. Running Back Starts

• Frank Gore (Indians): A consistent volume runner, recommended despite team challenges.

  "Frank Gore is the safest play because he's the volume play." - Marshall Faulk (09:48)

• Charles Clay (Bills): Highlighted for his consistent touches and rapport with Tyrod Taylor.

  "Charles Clay is a very good start." - Marshall Faulk (25:30)

• Dion Lewis (Ravens): Emerges as a key player following Steve Smith's injury, offering significant PPR value.

  "Dion Lewis is spectacular. He has five catches against Miami, nine last week against the Giants." - Mike Wright (52:32)

c. Wide Receiver Starts

• DeAndre Hopkins (ARI): Continues to be a top-tier option upon his return.

  “He is back at the top of my list.” - Marshall Faulk (10:20)

• Jordan Matthews (NYJ): Recommended as a bounce-back candidate despite previous underperformance.

  "Jordan Matthews is a great bounce back. I've got no problem starting him over." - Andy Holloway (53:00)

• Keith Mumfrey (SEA): Highlighted for his recent performance and opportunity in the absence of injured teammates.

  “Keith Mumfrey had four catches, two platforms for 54 for 56 last week.” - Marshall Faulk (14:29)

d. Tight End Starts

• Antonio Gates (SD): Strong start due to his involvement in the Rams' offense and favorable matchup against Pittsburgh.

  “Antonio Gates is a great start to Jason.” - Marshall Faulk (53:57)

• Owen Daniels (BAL): Recommended for his consistent target volume and favorable matchup against the Raiders.

  “Owen Daniels is playing against the Oakland Raiders... he's been involved more in recent games.” - Andy Holloway (55:16)

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6. Community Interactions and Future Shows

The hosts encourage listener engagement through their website, Twitter, and community platforms like jointhefoot.com. They highlight upcoming segments, including a mailbag show and special Patreon videos, fostering a sense of community and interaction among fantasy football enthusiasts.

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7. Conclusion

Wrapping up the episode, the Fantasy Footballers provide final thoughts on Week 5 matchups, emphasizing strategic starts and the importance of staying updated with player news. They remind listeners to engage with their content across various platforms and tease future episodes covering additional matchups and fantasy strategies.

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Notable Quotes:

• Andy Holloway on Handcuffs:

  "I would rather have a handcuff than some fourth wide receiver who might put up some points on a bench." (05:11)

• Marshall Faulk on Frank Gore:

  "Frank Gore is the safest play because he's the volume play." (09:48)

• Mike Wright on Todd Gurley:

  "Todd Gurley tells me I need to adjust Gurley down a little bit in my rankings." (39:12)

• Andy Holloway on Jordan Matthews:

  "There's just about no lineup I can imagine that I would not have him in." (53:00)

This comprehensive summary captures the essence of the episode, highlighting strategic insights, player evaluations, and matchup analyses crucial for fantasy football success in Week 5.

Transcript

[Marshall Faulk]

This is hall of Fame and Marshall Falk and you're listening to the fantasy Footballers.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Marshall Faulk]

It's week five. Week five in the NFL. Week five in the fantasy football world.

[Mike Wright]

We did it. We made it to week five.

[Marshall Faulk]

That's what you said you hoped you could make it to week five.

[Mike Wright]

That's all I ever saw, ever want.

[Marshall Faulk]

That's all you ever dreamed of.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Marshall Faulk]

Season's over.

[Mike Wright]

I'm out.

[Andy Holloway]

We'll miss you, Mike.

[Marshall Faulk]

Listen, Mike, just cuz you're on four doesn't mean the season is over.

[Andy Holloway]

That is a.

[Mike Wright]

That is the most untrue thing you've ever said in your life.

[Marshall Faulk]

Well, that's true because you're what, three and one in our league of record.

[Mike Wright]

Well, that's right.

[Andy Holloway]

But it is not, it is not untrue that if you out there are 0 and 4, your season is not over. Too many people bailing for when they should still be making moves.

[Mike Wright]

But you do need to win this weekend if you want to. Yeah.

[Marshall Faulk]

Welcome to the show. Welcome to the show. This is the Fantasy footballers. It's Thursday, October 8th and we are previewing week number five. We're previewing the Thursday night football game. We have all the news and notes you need to know in the fantasy football world to help you withstand victories once again.

[Andy Holloway]

Withstand those victories.

[Mike Wright]

I cannot wait for. For the grudge match Matt Hasselbeck versus Ryan Mallet.

[Marshall Faulk]

I can't tell you as a. How excited I am as an Arian Foster owner to have Andrew Luck sitting. Yeah, it's one of those odd fantasy, you know, the different. Last week Aryan couldn't get going because they got boat race. You know, I just, I have. My odds of that team losing goes way down without Andrew Luck.

[Andy Holloway]

All the reports this week of Andrew Luck was like, yeah, we're expecting him to play. They all seem to me like the NFL saying, hey, you're Thursday night. You got to say. You got to say that they're. That you're expecting him to play. Okay.

[Marshall Faulk]

And Matt Hasselback slowly got worse.

[Mike Wright]

I heard that Hasselbeck did not get out of the hospital till this morning.

[Marshall Faulk]

He was sick and he's.

[Mike Wright]

He's looking to start an NFL game. Take that, Andrew Lucky.

[Marshall Faulk]

It is in you weenie. It's in Houston as well. It is in Houston. I don't know how hard. Yeah, I think is the right move because if you have a chance, you don't have a chance to beat New England. Without Luck next week. You got a chance to beat Houston this week with Hasselbeck and then you don't risk re injury. 10 more days for Andrew Luck. But the season of disappointment continues for Andrew Luck. Owners and fantasy so those of you that signed Derek Carr last week to fill in for Andrew Luck might want to find another option this week as Oakland faces Denver's defense Jay Cutler. So we'll give you some streaming quarterback options. We'll talk about those. We already gave you a few earlier in the week, but we'll, we'll talk about some starts of the week today, which is my favorite section of the week. I enjoy the starts of the week section. If you want to follow the show you can go to the website the fantasy footballers.com you can follow us on Twitter at the ffballers. You can visit jointhefoot.com our fantasy football community where 650 plus are now a part of the madness.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, we're talking, we're talking with the people. The people are talking to each other. It's, it's a good time for everyone.

[Andy Holloway]

The fantasy football community.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah, there have been over 1,000 questions submitted and answered on there and it's.

[Mike Wright]

There'S exclusive stuff from the show. So if you enjoy the show, that's a nice way to support us.

[Marshall Faulk]

So my quick question of the day deals with your personal philosophy on handcuffs. So we've talked about this a little bit in the past, but I had a I was on a radio show yesterday and somebody called up and they wanted to know who to drop from their bench in order to sign a quarterback for the bye week. They had Cam Newton. They didn't want to drop Cam Newton. They had Big Ben. They wanted to drop somebody off their bench and their options were pretty much superstar A, superstar B, Superstar C or D'Angelo Williams.

[Mike Wright]

It was it a Le'Veon Bell owner.

[Marshall Faulk]

And it was a Le'Veon Bell owner. And so he his whole thought process was I just can't possibly lose Le'Veon Bell's handcuff, especially when Dwell was the number one running back in the league. With Le'Veon Bell out now, I'll let you guys speak to what you would have said. I'll tell you what I told him afterwards. But what is your philosophy on that situation and handcuff? What would you have done?

[Andy Holloway]

You kind of laid out the opportunity for me. Here's what I see a handcuff as generally, and I'm talking about the average. I've got a decent running back and he's got a decent handcuff option. They are someone you have if you have the room on your bench, like it's an opportunity thing. I would rather have a handcuff than some, you know, fourth wide receiver who might put up some points on a bench. And so yeah, give me a handcuff over those guys. But if you've got a bi week option or any. If you've got just good guys on your bench, you know, you've got decent players or a short bench, don't waste the spots with a handcuff. It's a luxury item. That's how I see handcuffs. It's a luxury item. If you got the space on your bench, have them. If not, don't worry about it.

[Marshall Faulk]

Now you might. Would you agree that there are certain running backs in which it is more than a luxury item? Like a specific few?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And at this point, come week five, I think that those running backs are. It's not so much like the talent behind them so much as the injury nature of the current running back right now. Like obviously if you're a shady guy, you got to have, you know, Carlos Williams. Carlos Williams, keep cuffing.

[Marshall Faulk]

Handcuff the handcuff. Booby Dixon.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Marshall Faulk]

Just arrived on some of my.

[Mike Wright]

For me it's all about opportunity of in quality of the backup. Like if you're James Starks.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

If you're an Eddie Lacey owner. For me, if I have five bench spots, one of those is James Starks. Just because I know that if I lose a running back one in Eddie Lacy, I'm getting a low end running back one in James Starks. And which brings me to a personal point that I'm going to air on the air. I was trying to work with a member of our league who has Eddie Lacey. I made him a very small trade off to get him Starks because I'm the one holding Starks right now.

[Marshall Faulk]

Oh, to get him Starks.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. Of just like a minimal pick swap for me here. I'm going to give you your handcuff. This team would rather hold Andre Johnson and Josh Robinson on their bench then protect Eddie Lacy with James Starks.

[Marshall Faulk]

Are you secretly hoping for a horrible Eddie Lacey injury maybe to teach him a lesson? I'm sorry, Eddie. Yeah. What I basically told the person who called in was similar to what you guys said. I said, if you're worried about your league mates snaking your handcuff, they probably will for a week or two until it doesn't really pay off for them. I mean, you have Starks, you might be up against it in a couple weeks where you need that bench and you might just drop him even though.

[Mike Wright]

Something delightful comes up. Sure, I'll drop him. But my bench for me is that that slot is reserved. Reserved for upside.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So James Starks carries a huge amount.

[Marshall Faulk]

And final point on the issue, one of the things I do enjoy doing is grabbing a handcuff or two on Sunday morning if I have a spot. Even other guys handcuffed.

[Mike Wright]

Absolutely.

[Marshall Faulk]

Just in case that injury happens and you end up having, you know, Niall Day. Well, once one of your guys would have been Niall Davis last year or you know, four set when, when injuries happened last year.

[Andy Holloway]

That's one of my favorite things. Once one of your guys gets marked out, if you've got an IR spot, move them to the ir, pick up a handcuff option in case of an injury that week and then drop them next week.

[Mike Wright]

And this, this might be a low level, lower level fantasy tip, but I think worth saying because I was thinking about this last week. We always talk about, oh, this guy is flex worthy, so to speak. You know, where they would rank as far as the pecking order of where we want to play them. If your guy is going on Thursday night and it's a running back, don't put them in your flex, put them in your running back spot because you do not want to close the potential of that flex or you can play a different position. I'm just saying, like I've had that opportunity pop up before. Where or not the opportunity, the problem.

[Marshall Faulk]

An injury happens where I running back.

[Mike Wright]

I accidentally left a running back in my flex when clearly they should have just been playing as a running back.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So. And that works in wide receivers too. So tonight if you're starting, you know, Ty Hilton in the flex, move them to a wide receiver spot.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yep. No reason to just those spots on your team, they don't have to be the best guys in those spots like a NFL roster. Just play smart.

[Mike Wright]

So it's just a reminder.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah, no, that's great. Let's go and get into the news and notes.

[Andy Holloway]

News and notes from around the league.

[Marshall Faulk]

All right. The big headline news is that Andrew Luck is expected to be out tonight. Let me ask you guys, how does this impact the scale position players in India? I'm talking Frank Gore, Ty Hilton, Dante Moncrief, Feline or Allen. What. What are you expecting from the. The Hasselback offense this week? They snuck by Jacksonville low scoring game. I think it was 16, 13.

[Andy Holloway]

It hurts all of Them I don't expect big things from any single skill position player there. You're going up against a good defense in Houston with a sick backup quarterback.

[Mike Wright]

He's so sick.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, here's what we saw. The nice thing is that this isn't the first week. So we saw what he did last week. Last week he targeted the tight end a lot. Ty Hilton got his targets. Andre Johnson was nowhere to be found.

[Marshall Faulk]

His time is coming. That was his quote, not mine.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, so Andre said that I'm just being patient.

[Andy Holloway]

So let me ask you guys, the guy that is my question mark with him being out is Frank Gore. How do you guys see Frank Gore in Houston against the Texans offense?

[Marshall Faulk]

I think he's the safest play because he's the volume play. I mean, he's the. We're going to have to not lean on the arm as much. We have to give him the ball. So you know what he does with it? I'm not sure. But he'll have opportunity.

[Mike Wright]

I agree. Volume, volume for Frank Gore should be up. And he's not my favorite play, but I still like him enough to start.

[Marshall Faulk]

Him on the other side of the ball. Vontae Davis is out. I don't see. He's not officially out. He's out. I mean, it's Thursday night football. He hasn't practiced. He's still in a boot. So.

[Andy Holloway]

I love DeAndre Hopkins.

[Marshall Faulk]

I think he is back at the top of my list.

[Mike Wright]

He's my number one.

[Marshall Faulk]

He's my number two. I think so.

[Mike Wright]

Which I don't know if we had talked about this. We clarified, even though it is spelled nuk, it's still pronounced nuke.

[Marshall Faulk]

Isn't that what I. Yes, that's what I actually said on the show. You guys made me feel stupid.

[Mike Wright]

Good. Well, I'm telling you that you weren't stupid and I was the one with the stupid face. Hey, it's Nuke.

[Marshall Faulk]

I appreciate that. That's good to know. Every once in a while I get those right. All right, Marshawn lynch, what's the situation there?

[Mike Wright]

Game time. Bump, bump, bum.

[Marshall Faulk]

So speaking of handcuffs.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Hopefully the lynch owner. If you don't have another option, Thomas Rawls could be a decent play this week.

[Marshall Faulk]

Fred Jackson, did he accidentally depth chart assassinate himself?

[Mike Wright]

Yes, he went. He. The poison was too strong for Fred Jackson.

[Marshall Faulk]

He did the mix up of the glasses, you know, when you swap the.

[Mike Wright]

Glasses around the princess bride. He thought he was immune when he was playing the game. And you don't get in land wars with People from Russia. I can't remember the quote. Moving on.

[Marshall Faulk]

You ruined it. But yeah, he got. He's injured. High ankle sprain. Right. So Rawls is the guy to own in that situation. But lynch is a game time decision and starting to get on fantasy owners nerves. Yeah, I started to see offers come my way from the lynch owner in different leagues. Often accompanied by words like when he gets back he's gonna be a beast again maybe.

[Mike Wright]

Man, that offensive line is just awful.

[Marshall Faulk]

It has injury plus offensive line changes at least some reasons to be concerned about getting that. What we expect from lynch is to end up in the top five like he has for like three straight years. So I'm not going to doubt him if he's healthy. He's still going to be a top guy for us until he proves otherwise.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you try to trade him right now, try to get value?

[Marshall Faulk]

I don't think I can get enough value for them but if I can, yeah, sure. Swap them out.

[Mike Wright]

And he needs touchdowns and Seattle is still ranked with the bottom for offensive touchdowns. They're just not happening.

[Marshall Faulk]

All right, David Johnson. David Johnson of the Cardinals is the odd man out because the Cardinals love Chris Johnson in every way they say they should. Carson Palmer said that he. And by the way he's like fifth in the league in yards right now. Yeah, Chris Johnson and Palmer said he picked up the offense faster than anybody seen and Arians is glowing about him. And so this is going to be the Chris Johnson, Andre Ellington platoon where you can start. Which guy?

[Mike Wright]

How many of them I'm starting Chris Johnson. I think Ellington will be relegated back to where Ellington really succeeds is being the.

[Marshall Faulk]

But not better for fantasiness.

[Mike Wright]

Correct.

[Andy Holloway]

Both of both of these guys I think will be startable after this week. This week it's still Chris Johnson but when Andre Ellington gets all the way back, I think you're going to see a situation where Andre Ellington is succeeding enough through the air where both of them can put up points.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah, probably in PPR leagues.

[Mike Wright]

Did you guys see Bruce Arian's quote about David Johnson, what he had said? Because someone asked.

[Marshall Faulk]

I love how completely blunt he is about the situations that are in his backfit. He's the anti John Fox.

[Mike Wright]

So they asked Bruce Arians, what do you do when you have a three back? How do you get everyone working? He said well it's easy. The young guy sits.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah, I mean he just put it plainly. So DJ's a stash, he's not a start. Washington, that would be nasty. Nasty. Nate Washington And Cecil shorts. They're both out tonight. Who is the non DeAndre Hopkins wide receiver to own? That would be Mumfrey. That would be Mumfrey.

[Mike Wright]

Mumfrey and Sons Mumfrey.

[Marshall Faulk]

No, that's a. An incorrect pronunciation of a band you went wrong there or an awesome nickname. No, you. You want to own. I think he's actually an okay start. I haven't been 29, I think this week. Keith Mumfrey last week he had a pretty good week. And then you have two guys out this week with nasty Nate Washington. What did he do last week? Mumfrey had four catches, two platforms for 54 for 56. Last week, Keith Mumfrey. Jalen Strong will probably get snaps for the first time in his career. But I like Mumfre more than I.

[Andy Holloway]

Think there's two guys to start.

[Marshall Faulk]

They've already talked too long.

[Andy Holloway]

It's going to be a low scoring Thursday night football game. So I like Aaron Foster, DeAndre Hopkins already. JJ Watt if you're new.

[Marshall Faulk]

Keith Mumfrey or Kamara Akin. Akin.

[Andy Holloway]

Akin for sure.

[Marshall Faulk]

Desean Jackson back at individual drills. When he returns to the Redskins, he will be a.

[Mike Wright]

A boom bust wide receiver too.

[Marshall Faulk]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

Just like he always is.

[Marshall Faulk]

Jordan Reed is not practicing. Is he going to play this week?

[Andy Holloway]

No.

[Marshall Faulk]

Is he going to play next week?

[Andy Holloway]

No, probably not.

[Mike Wright]

Carl, I saw an interesting thing on Jordan Reed. When Jordan Reed gets a concussion, he either misses the entire year or six weeks minimum.

[Marshall Faulk]

Well, that's not good.

[Mike Wright]

Just, just saying of his, what if.

[Marshall Faulk]

What happens when he mixes a MCL sprain with it?

[Mike Wright]

He starts working at Denny's.

[Marshall Faulk]

Carlos Williams has a concussion. We know about this. Booby Dixon's the guy to own. That is not a phrase I thought I'd ever utter. He's the guy to own right now. If you have to start somebody. Carlos might play though. He might get cleared. He didn't practice. So keep an eye on Carlos Williams. Keep an eye on the news. We'll let you know tomorrow. What's going on with Carlos Williams? Julius Thomas has not been cleared. He's catching passes. He's very close. I don't think he's a bad stash for a tight end needy team. Especially when we talk about Jordan Reed and other guys going down. He has the physical tools and the paycheck to support some targets.

[Mike Wright]

You would, you know, you would think he could buy some targets with that money.

[Marshall Faulk]

He may have to. No setbacks for Big Ben. So Big Ben owners just wait.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, well, there was reports that, well, week seven, that's what he's targeting and then Big Ben himself came out and said that that's not true. He'll be back when he's back.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that. That's a big fan. Did you guys see the. There's these Xbox commercials with all the pro players. You know, that's why we're like, mar. Lynch is up in the corner and.

[Andy Holloway]

Here the whole time.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah. There was an extended one I saw on YouTube where the guy's explaining to Drew Brees how he needs to change all of his play calls to be more conducive to fantasy. And so it's called going deep. And so he just puts him in situations like, all right, what am I trying to do here? And Drew Brees is like, get a first down. He's like, wrong. Go deep. He brings them all the way to the, like, the end of game. He's like, you're. He's like, situation is you're on the 20, you're up by 45 points. You're about to take a knee. What do you do here? He's like, go deep. He's like, correct. You go deep. It was pretty entertaining, and it's kind of what we always want from our guys. All right, Matt Jones has not lost the trust of Jay Gruden. Who do you like more this week, Jones or Morris? All right, thank you for that. I think Morris was close to being a start of the week. He looked good last week. Great matchup. But at the same time, you have Chris Thompson. You have.

[Andy Holloway]

Is it. I don't think it's great. I almost had Chris Thompson as my deep start of the week.

[Marshall Faulk]

No, that's fine.

[Andy Holloway]

Because New England, if they come out off of the bye week and, you know, are massacring Washington, Alfred Morris is not going to be the guy. We know that because they're going to be down by too much and he's not the pass catching guy. Chris Thompson's been in a lot, so.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I don't know who to make here. I like Chris Thompson in, like you said, is a. Is a desperation flex.

[Marshall Faulk]

All right, last. What do I have here? Last bit of news. Chris Givens. Yeah, I wanted to mention it, and I have. Now, why did you say. Why did you say.

[Mike Wright]

Well, hold on. Where did Chris Givens go?

[Marshall Faulk]

Chris Griffins went to the Baltimore Ravens. He's a deep threat. No, what I'm. What I'm doing is explaining to Jason he's wrong about. He's talking about Alfred Morris and the Patriots. The Redskins don't play the Patriots. The Reds play the Falcons. Oh, and the Falcons have a porous run defense and they could get boat race there too. But at the same time I'm just.

[Andy Holloway]

I had, I had mistaken because the two games that I started out as being the biggest blowouts were the New England and the Atlanta game. So both of those guys, the past catching backs in both situations because I've got Joseph Randall actually as my start of the week for New England. So say whoa. I know. We'll, we'll argue on spoiler alert.

[Mike Wright]

So before we get into the forecast, we want to thank our sponsor today. Topps and the TopShudl app Look, when we were kids we collected cards. We went to garage sales. We traded them at school. It was really the bee's knees, he said.

[Marshall Faulk]

When we were kids. So sad though, like you wish you were a kid again so you could do this.

[Mike Wright]

And I say it's the bee's knees because that's not what you do anymore. You don't trade cards that at school. You trade cards digitally.

[Marshall Faulk]

What with the Topps Huddle app.

[Mike Wright]

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[Marshall Faulk]

Can I still bend the corner of my card on accident or is that no longer?

[Mike Wright]

If you have an iPhone 6, you can slightly bend it. And the app isn't just about card collecting. You can play your cards earn points in a real time daily fantasy style game based on how the players perform. There's been over 300 million Topps digital packs open since 2012. For football and especially fantasy football fans, this app is a must have. Download it for free in the App Store or the Google Play. Get 10 free packs today.

[Marshall Faulk]

Topps Huddle Alright, Speaking of apps, you've heard us talk about it on the show over and over again. You have to get the SeatGeek app. The NFL season is here, we have a bunch of great matchups and you can get your tickets at the absolute lowest price with the easiest app available to use. So SeatGeek. You can use the promo code footballers in the SeatGeek app right now to get a $20 rebate off your first SeatGeek purchase. We've had tweets rolling in from people using the app. It takes less than a minute to download. It is simple and you guarantee yourself the best value on tickets to your local team's games. SeatGeek pulls in ticket options from hundreds of online ticket sales It's a one stop shop for tickets. When you're on there, you see every ticket option available for that game all on one page. And they have this awesome feature called Deal Score where it ranks every ticket on the market with a 1 to 100 value score and plots out the best deals on a color coded map so you can easily find the best deal. So listen to Redeem your promo code and save $20 on tickets. You download the free SeatGeek app today, enter the promo code. Footballers in the app and SeatGeek will then send you $20 once you've made your first SeatGeek purchase. Every ticket purchased on SeatGeek is backed by a 100% guarantee, so you know you're getting exactly what you ordered. And you can Download the free SeatGeek app and enter the promo code. Footballers today. We love the Sea King. All right, let's go ahead and talk some Week 5 matchups.

[Andy Holloway]

Fantasy forecast.

[Mike Wright]

By the way, I really like that Chris Givens trade for Baltimore.

[Marshall Faulk]

They absolutely.

[Mike Wright]

Chris Given is a. Is. Givens is a great nine runner which that team is missing. That's really what will open things up if he can get on the field and just.

[Marshall Faulk]

I still think there are people that wonder if Torrey Smith was anything more than that.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Marshall Faulk]

And so. But it's a great value for them to get Givens, who's made a mark in that role before, what he does.

[Mike Wright]

What Smith did for that offense was tremendous. It opened up.

[Marshall Faulk]

Exactly so and so. Speaking of which, Steve Smith injury update.

[Mike Wright]

He'S missing this week. He had. I think, I think we've now figured out that it was back fractures. Or was it rib fractures?

[Marshall Faulk]

It was rib. It turned out to be rib. Okay. Micro fractures is what I've heard.

[Mike Wright]

But either way, that sounds like it sucks.

[Marshall Faulk]

Steve Smith's one of the toughest people in the game. Him and Anquan Bolden. I would play if it were humanly possible to play and there weren't people holding them back. So it must be very painful.

[Mike Wright]

It will not shock me to see Steve Smith played next week, but this week it's not going to happen.

[Marshall Faulk]

All right. The Colts at the Texans, we've, we've pretty much exhausted everything there is to say about this exhausting matchup. I hope other than start Arian Foster.

[Mike Wright]

I hope you have a good pizza pie tonight because that might be the best part of the day.

[Marshall Faulk]

Well, come on now. NFL football. Yeah, it's NFL football. That's what they tell me.

[Mike Wright]

I will watch it.

[Marshall Faulk]

Where's Arian Foster in your rankings, guys.

[Mike Wright]

He'S got to be top 10, maybe top five.

[Marshall Faulk]

So we expect a full workload. Now, do we expect not to take off the.

[Andy Holloway]

Foster is my number two this week.

[Marshall Faulk]

I'll go. I believe he's my number two as well.

[Mike Wright]

85%. I don't think it's going to be completely filled to the brim of spilling over, but it's going to be a lot.

[Marshall Faulk]

I think at this point too, the way their season is going, you have to. You know, we watched Hard Knocks, you see Bell O'Brien. They have to put it into their. Their best players hands and just take the best shot at getting some W's. I mean, tonight is a super winnable game opportunity at home against Hasselbeck. All right, let's move on from there.

[Andy Holloway]

Any.

[Marshall Faulk]

Anything else about that game? I guess I shouldn't. You know, you're starting Gore, you're starting Aryan.

[Andy Holloway]

Are you starting Moncrief?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I'm still going to start Hilton.

[Marshall Faulk]

I'm starting Moncrief. I'm starting Hilton.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, I love Moncrief.

[Andy Holloway]

I would start both those guys. I think they're both.

[Marshall Faulk]

What was Moncrief's line last week? I. I'm ashamed to say I did not see it.

[Andy Holloway]

I want to say it was like four for 75 and one.

[Mike Wright]

I don't think it was that high, but he was still fine. He's more of a. To me, his floor is higher than.

[Marshall Faulk]

Hilton because of the possession type catches.

[Mike Wright]

Possession type.

[Andy Holloway]

He was 6 for 75.

[Marshall Faulk]

That's a good week. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I still like Moncrief.

[Marshall Faulk]

Okay. I just wanted to check on that. All right, let's go ahead and move on to the Bills facing off against the Titans. The Titans are coming off the buy and down week for Tyrod Taylor. So are we okay starting him this week?

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Marshall Faulk]

Do we just.

[Mike Wright]

Tyrod Taylor was very close. It was a funky game flow that kept him out of the end zone. I still believe in Taylor moving forward.

[Marshall Faulk]

Well, he threw a touchdown, but I said more.

[Mike Wright]

He had more tennis.

[Marshall Faulk]

He threw into Clay. That got called back. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. What do we do then with the running back situation in Tennessee? Because people have probably signed Antonio Andrews.

[Andy Holloway]

Last week you said them all.

[Mike Wright]

And if you saw the quote from Ken Wizen Hunt, it was, I don't care who's getting the ball. Which is a very strange quote from a head coach, but a very, very.

[Marshall Faulk]

Expected quote from somebody who's never been able to run the ball.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you have no idea who's going to get the ball. And they're going up against the top rushing defense. You just don't play them. You hold on to them and hope, you know that something is exposed. But I can't imagine being in a situation where I've got one of those guys in my lineup and being happy.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

I would, I would still stash Andrews for now, see if. If he can get anything going. Is Watkins gonna play?

[Marshall Faulk]

No, I do not believe Watkins will play. He still has not practiced. I think he's got another week off at least. So this makes Charles Clay a very good start for.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Marshall Faulk]

The Buffalo Bills. Yeah, he's sitting at I think five right now in the tight end rankings. Has had a great season and his, his rapport with Taylor's building and his quantity of catches. He's not just like a. He's not a goal line tight end.

[Mike Wright]

Speaking of guys who can buy targets, Charles Clay got a hefty contract as well.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah, that is absolutely true.

[Andy Holloway]

Now the nine for 111 yards last week and that was removing that 30 yard touchdown that was called back.

[Marshall Faulk]

So I've had a lot of questions about Kendall, right. Or Blank this week and a lot of people don't want to start Kendall. Right. I started. I'm telling you. Kendall, right, has had two out of three great games in this offense. He's the number one option for Mariota. And the Bill's defense is too good against the run in general. It's going to be great against the run. Against Tennessee's running game, this is going to be a through the air. Kendall Wright's the underneath guy. I would expect five or more catches from him and the opportunity to score a touchdown because the bills passed. He's 29th against the pass.

[Andy Holloway]

He's our consensus 23 this week. That puts him as a wide receiver, too.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah, yeah. Start him. A complete start. So on the other side, Titans defense is sixth against the past 19th against the run. If Carlos Williams can go, are we. We're rolling him out without any qualms.

[Mike Wright]

I'm rolling out either if Williams is the guy, he will shoot up my rankings or if it's Booby Dixon, I like him a lot too.

[Marshall Faulk]

Okay, let's move on to the Browns facing off against the Ravens. The Ravens are heavy favorites in this game. You have Josh McCown and you have Joe Flacco. Flacco will be without Steve Smith. I don't think anybody's starting Flacco this week.

[Mike Wright]

He's a desperation stream because he's at home. Yeah, at home. So I don't mind it. I really like Kamar Akin this week and my full Stream has Josh McCown. I like him even though it's on the road for him. I'm not sure which Browns receiver is going to do it, so I'm not really keen to start any of them, I guess. Benjamin, if you have to. Right. But. But I like McCown as a streamer.

[Marshall Faulk]

What happened to that Dwayne Boga you liked a lot?

[Mike Wright]

He's. He's resting and when the resting with.

[Andy Holloway]

A lot of money, he's laying on his bed.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

He's actually swimming in a big bank vault of gold coins.

[Marshall Faulk]

I.

[Mike Wright]

Not unlike a Scrooge McDuck.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah, well, he's. He's a pretty terrible wide receiver right.

[Andy Holloway]

Now and I'm going to go on my. I'm going to go on my weekly don't play the tight end against the Ravens. Watch. So Gary Barnage, when you went and picked him up after the last two weeks, don't play him. He might be legit this year, but I don't like the matchup at all for the tight end.

[Marshall Faulk]

All right. I've had a lot of questions about Duke Johnson. He's one of the biggest waiver wire pickups this past week after he had a high volume of catches last week. I like him. I had to sign him in a bunch of leagues that I'm rolling. You know, I had to sign him in all the leagues where I have Shady McCoy but couldn't get Carlos Williams or, you know, different injuries. Who do you start between Duke and Crowell now?

[Mike Wright]

I start Duke. The snaps are starting to favor standard league as well. Yeah, well, the snaps are favoring Duke Johnson. I mean, Crowell actually had a good game last week quietly, if you take into his running and his catching. But Duke Johnson's just. He's getting the snaps. He's getting early down running work and pass work. That's where. Where we liked Duke Johnson was his PPR value catching the ball. And the first couple weeks, nothing squadoosh. But then the last two weeks it has really, really picked up, including that. That delightful wheel route for a touchdown.

[Marshall Faulk]

Oh, that was a great catch. Just a great catch. I like Duke as well, especially in PBR leagues. Anything else about this matchup before I move on to this next one?

[Mike Wright]

Justin for set.

[Marshall Faulk]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Love him.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah, and he bounced back. People should feel more confident if you were one of the ones that bought low on him. The carry numbers were there I think you saw pretty much all four set except for, you know, some opportunities for him to get rest.

[Andy Holloway]

He basically, he needs to find pay dirt. That's, that's it. I mean, if he gets, if he gets in the, if he gets in the end zone, people are talking about him as a running back one right now.

[Marshall Faulk]

So he has to benefit a little bit from Smith's absence as well.

[Mike Wright]

That's part of why I love him so much.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah, I agree. So this next match matchup is the Bears at the Chiefs and it's my.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I'm all over that almost upset of the week.

[Marshall Faulk]

I love it. The Chiefs are nine and a half point favorites over the Bears. Stop over the Bears. So I haven't done well. I don't know if I just condemned the Bears to the biggest, like largest margin of defeat this week because my last two almost upsets. I might change the segment to almost almost just to give another separation of accuracy. No. The past two weeks have been rough, but I think the Bears have an opportunity here if, if Jeffrey returns and Cutler had them in the game, they won the game last week. It just changes their offense. Forte is still a consistent running back. Your offense, Bennett, I don't know. What do you guys think?

[Mike Wright]

They're a completely different team. If Alshon Jeffries out there with a healthier Jay Cutler, they are a completely different.

[Marshall Faulk]

But Vegas, Vegas knows that. Well, Vegas still has him at 10 points.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, but one of the things Vegas will always keep into in mind is what people are going to bet on. It's not just what's going to happen, but what are people betting on. And people are betting, just like Mike said, on the history of what has happened with the Chicago Bears over these first few weeks. And they're a completely different team. I've got Jay Cutler as my stream of the week, so I'm really hoping you're right here, Andy, because there's no way they win without a good game from Jake.

[Mike Wright]

The Chiefs at home are a completely different team. I will agree with that. I just don't see them as near double digit favorites. I think that's crazy. If Alshon is out, I love him.

[Marshall Faulk]

If he's out there. If Alshon.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marshall Faulk]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

If Alshon is out.

[Marshall Faulk]

You said if he's out you love him. I'm like, that's sad.

[Mike Wright]

Well, if he's out and he's on my opponent's team, I love him. But if he plays, he's a wide receiver one for me.

[Marshall Faulk]

Are you doing the Macklin apology Now or we've already talked about. I'm just trying to set this up on every show.

[Mike Wright]

Macklin, the.

[Marshall Faulk]

Give him one more week.

[Mike Wright]

Jeremy, Dirty cake. Macklin is. He's great. He just is.

[Marshall Faulk]

It's about his opportunity, which has been great.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Marshall Faulk]

I love the point you had on the last show where he has over 30% of the targets, where I believe Edelman is in the lead right now with 34% and he's not far behind. So if the ball is getting thrown now, Alex Smith last week actually had a huge yardage game. He had the most Alex Smith game he did. He had like 340 something yards and no touchdown.

[Mike Wright]

That's how he does it.

[Marshall Faulk]

So.

[Mike Wright]

Because he's not throwing the ball to Zeus.

[Marshall Faulk]

But you'd stream him at home against the Bears this week, wouldn't you?

[Mike Wright]

Yes, I would.

[Marshall Faulk]

Okay. And you'd stream Cutler, Jason?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I had to make that decision of Alex Smith or Jay Cutler, and I put Jay Cutler higher.

[Marshall Faulk]

All right, we're starting Charles and Forte. Not much to talk about there. If they're not being started on your team, then, well, congratulations. Right. You have really, really good.

[Andy Holloway]

You're not starting those guys either.

[Marshall Faulk]

Barry Sanders and Eric Dickerson are in your starting rhino. Bears defense is still ranked bad against the pass in fantasy and great against the pass in the in regular NFL stats because they're fourth against the past right now.

[Andy Holloway]

They've been giving up touchdowns through the air, but they haven't been giving up a lot of yardage and things like that. And some of that is because of. I mean, a lot of that might come from just that Cardinals game where special teams really put the Cardinals in position to get some touchdowns, you know, easy.

[Marshall Faulk]

So, yeah, it is early. The Chiefs, on the other hand, are the worst against the pass. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Their secondary is in trouble. And my point for the bears was they're 24th against the run. And you will often see that if a team is. Is really, really high in one defensive area, it's because they're terrible in the other. Teams are running. They don't need to throw. You just run on the Chicago Bears.

[Marshall Faulk]

We're going to talk Seahawks and Bengals in a second. I do want to remind everybody to check out our YouTube channel because we have started to break the show up into segments as well. So if you only have a few minutes to watch part of the show.

[Mike Wright]

Fully digestible.

[Marshall Faulk]

Easy. Yeah, much, much.

[Andy Holloway]

We come out much cleaner now.

[Marshall Faulk]

Right.

[Mike Wright]

We're like Probiotics.

[Marshall Faulk]

Fibrous.

[Mike Wright]

We are Probiotics for Your fantasy.

[Marshall Faulk]

The most fibrous show available.

[Mike Wright]

We are the brand muffin.

[Marshall Faulk]

We're the brand muffin of the fantasy world. Jason enjoyed that. All right. The Seahawks are facing the Bengals in what I think will be a great matchup in Cincinnati. The Bengals are favored. I think they should be favored. I. This comes down to me to one fact, and this is before the fantasy equation, but the Seahawks need to be able to score enough points to win this game.

[Mike Wright]

You know who I love this week?

[Andy Holloway]

I want to know.

[Marshall Faulk]

Oh, please say Jimmy Graham.

[Mike Wright]

For some reason, the Bengals defense.

[Marshall Faulk]

There you go.

[Mike Wright]

I love them this week. The Seattle.

[Marshall Faulk]

No lynch, possibly.

[Mike Wright]

They just see the Seattle is lost. Their offense is non existent. They won a game last week against the Lions because of one spectacular play by Russell Wilson where he was 50% sacked, shrugged out of it, dodged another sack, threw up a. Just threw the ball to the receiver and the. The DB for Detroit bit and tried to get the pick and instead it turned into a huge play. So it was just a miraculous play on three accounts. If without that the Seattle did nothing.

[Marshall Faulk]

The entire they go on the road.

[Mike Wright]

Against Cincinnati ridiculous defense. They are going. I see at least four or five sacks coming.

[Marshall Faulk]

I completely agree with you. And I think they'll be in a position where he has to hold the ball and he has to throw the ball.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's gonna be tough. Here's the guy that I'm really curious.

[Marshall Faulk]

So do you start Wilson?

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Marshall Faulk]

So you're benching Wilson. Would you go Wilson or Alex Smith?

[Mike Wright]

Alex. Alex Smith.

[Marshall Faulk]

Really? Even with the. You don't think Wilson can make it? Make it up on the ground?

[Mike Wright]

He might be able to. Alex Smith is closer. If you were going to ask, between Russell Wilson and my super stinky garbage man stream of the week, I'm taking Josh McCown.

[Marshall Faulk]

Okay. That's. That's. That would be bold.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know if my rankings correctly.

[Marshall Faulk]

Said that's a glory play right there where you. Somebody looks against you. Oh, he's.

[Andy Holloway]

My rankings. My rankings say that I've got Josh McCown considerably higher than Russell Wilson, who I've got Russell Wilson I've got at 15 because this is a terrible matchup. So here's the guy that I'm really, really curious about. We talked about him yesterday. I dropped him in a couple leagues just because he's got, you know, a bad schedule for the Next.

[Marshall Faulk]

You dropped A.J. green?

[Andy Holloway]

No, Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton. So he went up against a great San Diego pass D threw three touchdowns. He's. He's Shown that he's got enough weapons and enough time in the pocket. That offensive line has just completely let him have no pressure. He had no pressure on him against the Chiefs, who are a great, you know, pass rushing defense last week. So this is really like, this is my test of Andy Dalton this week. It's not in Seattle, but it's the great vaunted Seattle. With Cam Chancellor back, what does he do this week? I cannot. I cannot make out how. How good or bad Andy Dalton's going to be.

[Marshall Faulk]

I think that I'm putting Dalton in the category I would have put Palmer in last week, which is on fire at home, tough defense. So a mediocre game from Dalton, a passable game from Dalton is what I would expect. Like, I wouldn't. I wouldn't drop him to go stream a guy that might be in that same category. I'd rather just roll him out and see what happens because they've been on fire and I don't mind riding that. The red rocket. All right, the Rams face off against the Packers. The packers are also heavy favorites in this game. This is another, you know, can the Rams possibly score enough points against the packers defense? This is in Lambeau, am I right?

[Mike Wright]

You are correct.

[Marshall Faulk]

So this might get ugly.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Marshall Faulk]

So do we like. Is there anybody. Gurley. Okay, give me Gurley's rundown because he had a huge week last week, but they were playing from ahead, holding on to a lead. They certainly want to give him the ball. But is this going to be something where game flow could disappoint you with Todd Gurley?

[Mike Wright]

Absolutely.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, absolutely. I have Todd Gurley ranked. I went this morning, we did our rankings and we stat them, but we don't really look them over until today. And I had Todd Gurley at number five because I believe he is that level of a talent. But then I started looking at the matchup and thinking he's going to Green Bay. Green Bay's defense has been very good this year, very balanced. They haven't given up a lot, especially at home. And like you said, Andy, I mean, you've got the best quarterback in the NFL, maybe, maybe soon to be of all time at home. He doesn't throw picks. They're going to be up. How do you keep handing the ball off to Todd Gurley in the third and fourth quarter, like the way that you did last week? So this could be a very big disappointment game. I would still play him. I would definitely. If he's on my roster, I'm putting him in. But I'VE got a tempered expectation.

[Marshall Faulk]

Are you chasing the points from Tavon Austin?

[Andy Holloway]

No, not in this match.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah, neither am I.

[Mike Wright]

So let's. Let's roll this out. Todd Gurley, Frank Gore.

[Marshall Faulk]

I would play Frank Gore.

[Andy Holloway]

I would go Gurley.

[Mike Wright]

Todd Gurley, Alfred Morris.

[Marshall Faulk]

I would play Morris.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Marshall Faulk]

Todd Gurley tells me I need to adjust Gurley down a little bit in my rankings.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Todd Gurley, Douglas Martin.

[Andy Holloway]

Ooh, I like Doug Martin.

[Marshall Faulk]

I think I'd write. I think I'd play Gurley over Martin. Okay, so those are just three. No, that's good. That's good. Anybody else that we need to talk about? James Jones, you're starting them. Randall Cobb, you're starting them.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Marshall Faulk]

Time. Montgomery, you're not starting them.

[Andy Holloway]

No, Correct.

[Marshall Faulk]

Okay. I was just checking with Jason.

[Mike Wright]

And what about Richard Rogers? I mean, I think he had five catches.

[Marshall Faulk]

Totally fine if you're. Yeah, I'm totally fine if you need to roll him out there, he's at least there, the guy. And you know Rodgers is going to throw to. Who's open? If you saw that touchdown pass. If you want to summarize, Aaron Rodgers, just watch the play against the 49ers. First touchdown of the game. Clay Matthews, he's dancing around the pocket.

[Mike Wright]

Flick Matthews.

[Marshall Faulk]

No, I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Clay Matthews, rock and jock, mid team trade.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah, they traded him. Sorry. No, he's in the pocket against San Francisco. Pass rush is there. Dancing around, flicks the wrist, finds Richard Rodgers in the back. Just gorgeous. It was gorgeous. A lot of people in the beginning of the year thought we were or at least did. We all have Rogers overlook. We did. I did. Yep, we all did. And we talked. We had people on the show, they. To everybody else, it was a coin flip. On this show, it was never a coin flip.

[Andy Holloway]

No, there was a gap between. No, that's. Well, it's true. The argument we made. The argument we made pre season was what we see here, which is Aaron Rodgers has, since he's been a starter, has been the number one or number two quarterback every single year.

[Marshall Faulk]

Yeah, but Jason, he lost Jordy Nelson. Yeah, but he lost Devonte Adams.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, no, he's still Aaron Rodgers. And the point is, you know, so.

[Marshall Faulk]

That'S more tooting Rogers horn. That's not tooting my horn. I mean, we can toot ours a little bit, but Rogers is the one that deserves the credit because he just does it over and over again. And give me that on my fantasy team, if I have to not stream a quarterback, it's Rogers or Stream. That's what it is right now.

[Mike Wright]

That's fair.

[Marshall Faulk]

Or obviously, Josh McCann. I'll just start.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I think you got to throw Tom Brady in there right now, but.

[Marshall Faulk]

No, you're right. No, you're right. Tom Brady's. Tom Brady's got to be there. All right, Jacksonville going to Tampa in America's game of the week or not. So, yeah, Winston, Seven interceptions in four games. Do you start the Jacksonville defense? Are they a streaming option in Tampa or do you just avoid them?

[Andy Holloway]

I don't start them. I would start the Buccaneers defense. The Buccaneers defense, pretty good. They're at home against, you know, the Jags that aren't, you know, world beaters. So I would. I would be more willing to start Tampa's defense than Jack.

[Marshall Faulk]

That's a good.

[Mike Wright]

I agree with that.

[Marshall Faulk]

All right, so T.J. yelden, he is third in the league in rushing attempts. He had 22 for over 100 yards last week. Are we fine rolling him out? I think we have.

[Mike Wright]

I love Yelden this week.

[Marshall Faulk]

What about the running backs in Tampa? Do we like Martin? Do we like Sims? Do we start? I mean, I can't imagine starting both. So who's the guy that's going to do it?

[Andy Holloway]

Martin's the guy that you got to start. You look at this last week and you look at the last several weeks, he's had over 20 carries in two of the four games and the other. And then the game in between was 14 carries. He's getting the work and he's looked all right. Sims could break off, you know, something through the air as he's done, but I would much rather have the guy that's getting 15 to 20 touches.

[Marshall Faulk]

Sims was a popular waiver signing this week. He's also been very good in pass protection. He is the third down back. He's the sixth best pass protector right now in the NFL as far as graded out on Pro Football Focus. So not saying that I disagree with you. Game flow probably says Martin in this game. But in a PPR league, if you needed to roll out Sims on a buy, I'm okay.

[Mike Wright]

The. What's funny? I was just talking about this. The Jags and the Bucks are the epitome of the defensive split where The Jaguars are fourth against the run, 26th against the pass. The Buccaneers are second against the pass, 30th against the run. Yeah, because one a portion of their defense is just so weak that a team can stick to that.

[Andy Holloway]

So Jameis Winston, start of the week.

[Mike Wright]

I love Evans, I love Vincent. Jackson this week. Let's, let's look at the.

[Marshall Faulk]

I know. I want to talk about them too. What, the Jacksonville wide receivers.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Marshall Faulk]

Alan Hearns versus right now, season long, Hearns has been better.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he has.

[Marshall Faulk]

Even though Robinson's the more heralded. So rest of season, do we expect Robinson to still be the guy?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I would. I still prefer Robinson, but my opinion of Hearns is really moving up.

[Marshall Faulk]

I had that question somebody called in and asked about Alan Hearns. And my thought process is that when you have one of those plus cornerback matchups on Robinson, Hearns is a guy that you can really trust to get. I mean, because it's not like he didn't flash last year.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he had big games.

[Marshall Faulk]

He was down.

[Mike Wright]

He was the ogle tree last.

[Andy Holloway]

The problem is he really is the number two. And what you brought up last week with, with, you know, the reason why Alan Hearns was your start of the week, whereas the week prior we were like, oh, you can't, you know, reliably start Alan Hearns. Total targets this year between those two guys, Alan Robinson has 41 and Alan Hearns only has 30. So Allen Robinson is the more talented and more targeted guy. Last week was, I think, more of a matchup play. So it's definitely Robinson. Who you want there?

[Marshall Faulk]

All right, let's go ahead and get into my favorite segment of the week and who we want to start.

[Andy Holloway]

Starts of the week.

[Marshall Faulk]

All right, we're going to go through our starts of the week guys that we think are locked and loaded, ready to have big games or very good games. And I want to remind everybody, if you have a question for us, by the way, we had a mailbag show yesterday. We'll be talking mailbag some more tomorrow. In fact, we actually have a mailbag show just for people on our jointhefoot.com community, our foot Clan members. So that is taking place later today. But if you want to get involved, go to the website, the fantasyfootballers.com There is a big submit a question button on the website and you can send us your trade questions, your waiver wire questions.

[Andy Holloway]

Our special Patreon video that's going up today is Full Frontal.

[Mike Wright]

Are we doing that?

[Andy Holloway]

Well, we might.

[Marshall Faulk]

We just committed on that. It's the worst.

[Andy Holloway]

We'll see.

[Marshall Faulk]

What he means is that, is that we will have video of that episode, but now no one will watch it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's not, it's not full frontal nudity. It's just we're gonna have cameras that see our faces.

[Marshall Faulk]

Nobody knows about the scar on this side of my face. I have a horrible Harry Potter score. I have a Harry Potter scar. And then I have a tattoo of Jeremy Macklin on the bottom. Yeah, I wanted to. Can we come up 90 yards receiving for Macklin this week?

[Mike Wright]

I'll take it.

[Andy Holloway]

Water bed.

[Marshall Faulk]

Thank you. Now I've got my, my obligatory Jeremy Mack of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, that's a good, that's a good bet for what you were saying. They're going to be able to run on them all day so they don't need to pass.

[Marshall Faulk]

I was going with 90, but that was like the trade offer where I was gonna accept 100 if he came back with it, but I threw 90 out there early.

[Mike Wright]

90 seems fair.

[Marshall Faulk]

All right, starts of the week. Let's start with Mike, who's your quarterback start of the week.

[Mike Wright]

I'm riding in the waterbed. Go to Jason.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll go. So I'm sticking with my stream of the week. Jay Cuddy. Cutler is back, so I'm starting him all the way. Cutler's back, he's healthy.

[Marshall Faulk]

You don't know what that was. That was me about to say snapback because I think of Cutler and staff.

[Andy Holloway]

Are so closely together.

[Marshall Faulk]

They hold hands and I go, oh, wait, that's, that's not snapback. That's.

[Mike Wright]

I thought your soul had escaped your body, Jason.

[Marshall Faulk]

Smoking. Yeah, right.

[Andy Holloway]

Smoking Jay Cuddy. So I'm sticking and he's gone.

[Marshall Faulk]

All right. My quarterback start of the week is Marcus Mariota. Yes. It seems like a bad matchup. It's Buffalo. Right. They have an amazing defense. Right. Well, they're a run stopping defense and in fact they're very bad against the pass and I don't expect them to have any trouble stopping the Sankey Andrews, West McClustered cluster going on, going on there. So they're at home. They're off the by. Mariota has been very consistent. In fact a top 12 quarterback type of consistent. So I really like you. And he's available in a ton of leagues. Because of the bye week, people dropped him to sign somebody else. So Marcus Mariota I think is a great streaming option, a great start this week.

[Mike Wright]

I am going with Philip Felipe Rivers Monday night, Monday night at home against Pittsburgh. Antonio Gates is back. That will be a huge lift for that passing attack. And they're playing against Pittsburgh who the last two weeks have been had been pretty good for Pittsburgh. But I'm going with the history of the multitude of games before those last two where Pittsburgh is an automatic QB1 start. Philip Rivers, I think, leads the league in yardage. He has, he has been tremendous this year. Besides one game against Minnesota, which we will not speak of.

[Marshall Faulk]

All right, running back start of the week. Let's go. Kick it back to Jason. Jason, who's your start of the week here? And well, this is humorous because you and Mike have basically dueling starts of the week, which makes it a.

[Andy Holloway]

Fantasy face off.

[Mike Wright]

I was not prepared.

[Andy Holloway]

We got a fantasy face off coming here between my guy Joseph Randall and Mike's guy Mike. I can't say this guy's name. You say it.

[Mike Wright]

Darren McFadden.

[Andy Holloway]

You take, you take him. Now we're both coming from the, we're both coming from the exact same perspective. And the perspective is this. Lance Dunbar has been an amazing pass catching back and his knee left his body.

[Marshall Faulk]

Oh, that was brutal.

[Andy Holloway]

That was a brutal.

[Marshall Faulk]

Why do they show the replay so many times?

[Andy Holloway]

Because we keep watching it. Every time I want. Oh, it's through my fingers, on my face. I just keep watching. So here's the deal. This is a matchup that New England should be dominating off the buy, should be throwing up a lot of points. So you've got to have, and you have seen that Brandon Weeden is not using his wide receivers all that much, but he threw 10 times to Lance Dunbar. So you've got first of all a matchup in New England that's given up a lot of points to the running back position. So that's just good on a matchup basis to start the game. But as the game gets out of hand, you've got Whedon, who's going to give a lot of passes to some running back. The question is, who is that new third down running back for the Cowboys? And I could see it being either. But I'm going Joseph Randall.

[Marshall Faulk]

This is the boldest selection you've ever made in this segment, Mike, because it's one thing to select a start of the week that, you know, this seems like sleeper start of the week.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I can agree with that.

[Marshall Faulk]

Darren McFadden, sell us on that.

[Mike Wright]

So this is why, this is why I went with McFadden. There's no running backs that I just, I love out of Nowhere besides Darren McFadden, which, and this is a, I'm referring to more of a PPR type league. When I say Darren McFadden. I'm going to take the, the running back who has a seasons of 47 receptions, 42 receptions, 36 last year. I'm going to take that guy who has a track record and A history of being a pass catching back over Joseph Randle who let me look. He ate his eight his rookie year, four last year.

[Andy Holloway]

It just.

[Mike Wright]

The history is on the side for me of Jerry McFadden and McFadden. If we, if we can look through the telescope into the past back when Darren McFadden was spectacular fantasy performer a.

[Marshall Faulk]

Lot was because those are the best three games of my life.

[Mike Wright]

Because he could catch the ball and he could make things happen when he was in space. And so that's, that's why I'm leaning with no. Dunbar had 10 catches two weeks ago.

[Andy Holloway]

It's.

[Marshall Faulk]

I'm very curious to see how it shakes out but not curious enough to make either of them my start of the week. In fact, I just flipped to the other side of the ball and selected Dion Lewis coming off the by Dallas.

[Mike Wright]

I thought you were going to go with.

[Marshall Faulk]

No, no, no Dallas. That would have been great. But I don't go with practice squad type talents. Hey, I'm just kidding. We're moving up actually active moving Dion Lewis. Dallas is 30th against the run. Lewis has been heavily involved. He's great in PPR leagues. Dion Lewis is my start of the week. All right wide receivers, I'm going to give you mine. It is the Alshon Jeffrey slash Eddie Royal start. If Jeffrey goes, Casey's dead last against the pass. We talked about them as our upset of the week. Jay Cutler's Jason's start of the week.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, and start of that.

[Marshall Faulk]

And so if Jeffrey's there, I handcuffed him in our league of record with Eddie Royal this week because I know that the targets will be there for whoever's that top passing option. So if it's not Jeffrey, I'm just gonna slide Royal in there and I hope he gets some PPR numbers in a touchdown. If it isn't Royal, which I hope is not, I hope Jeffrey's back. I expect a big game from him.

[Mike Wright]

And I'm going with Kamar Aiken and I last week 5 for 77 with a touchdown we talked about. Steve Smith is out and the feared Joe Hayden right now is looking doubtful. And that is a huge blow to the secondary of the Cleveland Browns. Joe Flacco is still there. He's still an above average quarterback and someone has to get the targets.

[Marshall Faulk]

Who was the Giants receiver I started a few years ago? Oh, Ramsey's Barden, Ramses Barton. This is reminding me of that situation where you know, nobody's got to do it. Nobody heard of him. And then all of A sudden, Ramsey's Barton comes in and runs like eight straight posts and gets seven catches and has a good game on.

[Mike Wright]

Akin was running ahead of Prashad Perryman through most of the training camp and then of course, Perryman got hurt. I just. Kamar Akin seems to be a guy that they have some trust in, so they're going to move forward with him and I like him this week. The matchup is good.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. If Hayden is out, I love that.

[Marshall Faulk]

Jason, your wide receiver start of the week is a guy that some people are worried about.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'm going with Jordan Matthews. He only got three catches for 50 yards. No touchdown last week, no touchdown the week before, less than 50 yards. So that's two weeks in a row under 50 yards. And the question is, has the NFL figured out how to stop the slot? Is anything going on with Phillies offense? That can be good. On paper, the New Orleans matchup is a. It's not a great matchup for the wide receivers. They haven't given up a lot of points. That's a little skewed though. One of those games was against Carolina, who has no wide receivers and Dallas with Brandon Whedon, who doesn't throw to the wide receiver. So I think Jordan Matthews is a great bounce back. I've got no problem starting him over. There's just about no lineup I can imagine that I would not have him in. So he's my start of the week.

[Marshall Faulk]

All right. At the tight end position. I'm going with Antonio Gates. Yes. He's back on the peds.

[Andy Holloway]

We hope so.

[Marshall Faulk]

No, that is the performance enhancing defense he's facing. He's facing the Pittsburgh. He's facing the Pittsburgh Pirates. Oh, Steelers. That's what it is. 29th against the poor Pirate fans, by the way.

[Mike Wright]

You need to. You need to preface that with incoming dad joke.

[Marshall Faulk]

Well, it's great. It's great, right? Pittsburgh 29th against tight ends.

[Andy Holloway]

That's breaking news.

[Marshall Faulk]

You've got Philip Rivers as your start of the week over there. I think Gates just rolls right into town and rumbles for a touchdown and is a cog of that offense. We don't know what's going on with Stevie Johnson. I think, I think Antonio Gates is a great start to Jason. Who's your tight end?

[Andy Holloway]

My tight end. I talked about him last week. This is a clear, easy pick for me. It's Owen Daniels. Owen Daniels is playing against the Oakland Raiders. Just like I don't play tight ends against the Ravens. I always play the tight end against the Raiders. The Raiders have given up a touchdown or two in every single game. And if there is an NFL quarterback smart enough to take advantage of gaping holes in the defense, it's clearly going to be Peyton Manning. Owen Daniels has a touchdown in his last two games. He hasn't been involved that much. I've got him like 5.

[Marshall Faulk]

His target numbers have gone up in every game except for the last one.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So I think against this matchup, it's great. You've got a great quarterback, a good touchdown opportunity, and he's available in just about every league.

[Marshall Faulk]

All right, Mike, that leaves you and your tight end of the week.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going back to Charles Clay. Tennessee is in the bottom against in fantasy points against the tight ends. He had five catches against Miami, nine last week against the Giants. He's. He's spectacular. The Sammy Watkins is looking doubtful. They need playmakers up there, and Tyrod Taylor is capable of getting the job done.

[Andy Holloway]

Clay is still available in 50% of your leagues.

[Marshall Faulk]

You've got to be kidding me.

[Andy Holloway]

So here's what you do. If you have a decent tight end on your team, you pick up Charles Clay and you trade the great guy that you've got. Andy, you did this in one of your leagues already.

[Marshall Faulk]

I traded Ifer.

[Andy Holloway]

If you've got Tyler Eifer, if you've got, you know, even a Greg Olson or someone that can nab you something great, go ahead and roll Charles Clay. He's going to be great for the rest of the year, I think. And, you know, and grab, you know, a great wide receiver, running back, you know, one or two.

[Marshall Faulk]

All right, that is it for today's show. We'll be back with the other half of the week five matchups tomorrow. Make sure to check us out on Twitter @The FFballers. You can visit us on YouTube.

[Mike Wright]

Incoming Twitter blitz tomorrow.

[Marshall Faulk]

Oh, that is right. Tomorrow. Eight straight hours, we're answering questions on Twitt.

[Andy Holloway]

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 at theffballers.