Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 8 Fantasy Forecast, Starts of the Week, News

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary: Episode – Week 8 Fantasy Forecast, Starts of the Week, News

Release Date: October 29, 2015

The Fantasy Footballers trio—Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright—deliver another insightful and engaging episode, delving into crucial aspects of fantasy football such as the impending trade deadline, league integrity concerns like collusion, essential player news, and their strategic fantasy forecasts for Week 8. This comprehensive summary captures the essence of their discussions, enriched with notable quotes and timestamps for reference.

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1. Trade Deadline Discussion

[01:02] The hosts kick off the episode by addressing the looming trade deadline in their three-man keeper league. Andy Holloway explains the rationale behind an early trade deadline to prevent teams from becoming super-powered or garbage-laden through excessive trading.

Andy Holloway [01:02]: "We don't want teams... super power teams and super garbage teams because everybody has either bought in or sold the farm."

[02:00] Jason Moore shares his satisfaction with his team's depth but notes the absence of star players like Gronk or Julio Jones, expressing hope that Elshon Jeffrey can fill that void.

Jason Moore [02:06]: "I lead the league in points, but it is missing one of those absolute top tip top pieces."

[03:05] Mike Wright discusses his dilemma with tight ends Travis Kelce and Jordan Reed, pondering whether to trade Kelce despite his consistent performance or hold onto Reed, who is an injury risk but a high-upside player when healthy.

Mike Wright [03:05]: "Do I trade him? Do I believe that he stays at this mediocre level or... holds Reed, given his injury risks?"

2. League Integrity and Collusion

[07:16] The conversation shifts to the sensitive topic of collusion within fantasy leagues. Mike Wright presents a scenario where a team manipulates player transactions without mutual agreement, prompting questions about whether such actions constitute collusion. The hosts agree that true collusion requires mutual agreement between parties to unfairly influence league outcomes.

Mike Wright [07:16]: "It's only collusion when they collude if both parties know exactly what is going on."

Andy emphasizes that trades intending to benefit one team without explicit agreement do not qualify as collusion, advocating for the "big boy" approach where managers handle their own teams responsibly.

Andy Holloway [09:44]: "Only if two owners are conspiring to make one team better or another team worse."

3. Player News and Updates

[09:49] The hosts provide updates on various players, focusing on injuries and practice reports:

• Carlos Hyde: Initially reported not practicing, later cleared, giving Andy confidence to start him.
• Dion Lewis: Questionable status for the upcoming game against the Patriots. The Patriots' strong defense influences decisions on Lewis's lineup placement.
• Christian McCaffrey and Jeremy Maclin: Returning from injuries, with Maclin showing promising signs and being considered a reliable start.

At [13:39], Mike Wright touches on the controversial vetoed Drew Brees-Adrian Peterson trade, hinting at future discussions without delving into specifics.

4. Fantasy Forecast for Week 8

The hosts analyze key matchups affecting fantasy performances:

Miami Dolphins vs. New England Patriots

[18:52] Andy Holloway humorously predicts a Dolphins win, but acknowledges Jason Moore’s skepticism due to Miami’s challenging remaining schedule.

Andy Holloway [20:25]: "I think they get crushed tonight by the Patriots."

San Diego Chargers vs. Baltimore Ravens

[29:47] Jason Moore opts to start Philip Rivers without hesitation, praising his consistency despite the Chargers' recent performance struggles. Mike Wright supports starting Steve Smith due to favorable defensive matchups against the Ravens.

Jason Moore [29:47]: "You're starting Philip Rivers and starting him without hesitation."

Detroit Lions vs. Kansas City Chiefs

[24:35] Discussion revolves around the Lions' offensive improvements under new coaching and the Chiefs' offensive weapons. Mike Wright highlights Eric Ebron’s value despite Travis Kelce's presence, emphasizing matchup advantages.

Mike Wright [26:05]: "That is Eric Ebron. Would you start Eric Ebron over Travis Kelsey in this game? No, no, no."

Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota Vikings

[38:20] Jason Moore advocates for starting Jay Cutler and key Bears players like Matt Forte and Alshon Jeffrey, considering the Vikings' middling defenses.

Jason Moore [39:02]: "I like Jay Cutler in this. I like, pretty much all of you know, I like Jay Cutler, obviously. I like Forte, love Alshon Jeffrey."

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

[43:29] Anticipation builds for this high-stakes game, with Jason Moore predicting a high-scoring affair and Mike Wright favoring Martavis Bryant due to Antonio Brown’s return bolstering the Steelers' offense.

Mike Wright [44:31]: "Antonio Brown... opens things up for Martavis Bryant and he does what he does."

5. Start of the Week Picks

The trio shares their top player selections for the upcoming week:

Running Backs:

• Andy: Chris Johnson vs. Cleveland Browns – Advantageous matchup.
• Jason: Darren McFadden vs. Seattle Seahawks – Sees high usage potential.
• Mike: Kendrick West vs. Pittsburgh Steelers – High upside against a weak run defense.

Quarterbacks:

• Andy: Matt Stafford vs. Kansas City Chiefs – Exploiting the Chiefs' secondary weaknesses.
• Jason: Jay Cutler vs. Minnesota Vikings – Confidence in Bears' offense.
• Mike: Matt Ryan vs. Tampa Bay Falcons – Trusting Ryan’s recovery and matchup.

Wide Receivers:

• Andy: Tavon Austin vs. San Francisco 49ers – Favorable matchup against a weak WR defense.
• Jason: Dante Moncrief vs. Carolina Panthers – Target-rich environment against a susceptible pass defense.
• Mike: Martavis Bryant vs. Pittsburgh Steelers – Leveraging Antonio Brown’s return.

Tight Ends:

• Andy: Ben Watson vs. New Orleans Saints – Consistent target volume.
• Jason: Crockett Gilmore vs. San Diego Chargers – High upside against a poor TE defense.
• Mike: Ladarius Green vs. Arizona Cardinals – Breakout potential in the absence of Philip Rivers.

Andy Holloway [48:29]: "My start of the week is Chris Johnson of the Arizona Cardinals at Cleveland, and they are 30th against the run."

Mike Wright [50:19]: "My running back start of the week... Kendrick West, the running back of the Kansas City Chiefs."

Jason Moore [52:22]: "My quarterback start of the week is Jay Cutler. He's at home. He's got his tools back that he hasn't had for a while."

6. Listener Interaction and Promotions

Throughout the episode, the hosts engage with listener feedback, read reviews, and promote their merchandise and the Sportsmanias app. They acknowledge their audience’s support, encouraging more interaction via their website and social media channels.

Jason Moore [14:00]: "I've been playing Fantasy Football since 1994... no other source has helped me withstand victories more than the fantasy footballers."

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Conclusion

In this Week 8 episode, the Fantasy Footballers provide a blend of strategic insights, player analytics, and engaging banter, helping fantasy managers navigate the complexities of their leagues. From managing trade deadlines to selecting optimal starters based on matchups and player health, Andy, Jason, and Mike equip listeners with the knowledge to make informed decisions and enhance their chances of winning their leagues.

For those looking to stay ahead in fantasy football, this episode offers valuable takeaways and entertaining discussions that epitomize the high-quality content Fantasy Footballers are renowned for.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Foot Clan. We like to think of ourselves as the podcast that turns players into champions. Now I want to tell you about the app that turns fantasy players into champions. And that is the Free Sportsmanias app with the brand new smack talking emojis that have been added in this week. You can import your fantasy teams, get breakdowns on your players, alerts on scoring opportunities, and it's all free, so make sure you grab it. It's the app we recommend to everybody, the Free sportsmanias app.

[Jason Moore]

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

[Andy Holloway]

Oh my goodness, we are back. It is Thursday, October 29th and this is the Fantasy Footballers PODC. And I am. We're all a little bit distracted here.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Because, well, there's a trade deadline taking place in 10 minutes basically right now in our kind of our big boy league of record where, where it's a three man keeper league and so draft pick trading happens and you're probably saying to yourself right now, what in the world? Why is your trade deadline this soon? Well, it's because of the keepers and the picks and the fact we don't want teams. Basically we wanted them to make a decision early in the season on whether or not they thought they could compete.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. No tanking in week 10.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, yeah, that's pretty much.

[Jason Moore]

We have found for all those leagues that are out there that deal with those problems, we have found that the earlier trade deadline is pretty much the best solution to allow you to still trade picks into the future, still be able to do things, but not have to where you have super power teams and super garbage teams because everybody has either bought in or sold the farm.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So that's taking place momentarily. You know, I'm happy with my team. I'm not doing anything. How about you, Jason?

[Jason Moore]

I am super happy with my team, but it is, it is so deep, so solid. I lead the league in points, but it is missing one of those absolute top tip top pieces. It's missing a Gronk, it's missing a Julio, it's missing, missing a Levy on Bell, those type of pieces. I don't have one of those guys. I'm hoping Elshon Jeffrey can be that. I love my lineup. The depth is great and I'm happy I've got more depth this year since we've got the earlier trade deadline because I think that might come into play as the season goes on.

[Andy Holloway]

That's fair.

[Mike Wright]

And the, the, we still got the digital farts.

[Jason Moore]

That was, that was more like a snowstorm.

[Andy Holloway]

I felt like we have had some requests to allow that. I can promise you this will probably be. Probably be the last time you ever hear that.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, we got it. We got upgrade some equipment. So what I am looking at on my team for. I have basically five minutes to make this decision.

[Andy Holloway]

Whoo.

[Mike Wright]

Whoo. I am so I'm in. I am completely in on this year.

[Andy Holloway]

Sitting at 4 and 3.

[Mike Wright]

Sitting at 4, 3. And I have to make a decision of whether to hold or. These are. These are some things that I can do. I have both Travis Kelce and Jordan Reed on my bench or on my roster.

[Andy Holloway]

So you don't start aside in. That's good. Right?

[Mike Wright]

So. And Travis Kelsey, wow. He's not been bad by any stretch of the imagination. He's still the number four tight end in our format, but he's just not scoring touchdowns. Alex Smith has been horrific at finding anybody who is not his first read. And so do I believe, do I trade him? Do I believe that he stays at this mediocre level or. And then there's the Jordan Reed of when healthy he's averaging basically Gronkian type numbers and that sounds like a heretic things to thing to say.

[Jason Moore]

Let me look at you. Let me tell you your answer real quick. Since we're in the league with you. Please trade Travis Kelsey and hold on to Jordan Reed for the rest of the year.

[Mike Wright]

The question of, yeah, Reed is a complete injury risk but when he plays.

[Andy Holloway]

Is he's a difference making tight end is what he's saying.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And I've told people that this week when they asked me about their tight ends. Jordan Reed might be the number two tight end when he's healthy, which sounds insane, but it really might be the case.

[Mike Wright]

And I completely agree with that statement, which is why I'm looking at a situation of, well, if I'm not blown away by an offer to make another team better while making my team worse when I want to win both. Yeah. So that's what I'm looking at. And I keep telling them it's not that your offer is not fair because that's a very interesting thing that maybe we can talk about in the off season or whatever. Just the value of a player. And I keep telling them the value of a player is what you're willing to pay me and what I'm willing.

[Jason Moore]

To sell it at.

[Mike Wright]

I don't care what the market says.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, we've received a lot. We'll talk about this in the quick question but we've received a lot of emails Going, oh, is this, is this trade vetoable? So we'll talk about that and what makes a trade vetoable and some of the ins and outs of that. We got a good show. It's gonna be jam packed. It'll probably be a longer show. So, you know, drive around the block a couple times on the way home. On the way home from park it in the driveway. We've got, we've got some updates for you from the fantasy world. We've got our fantasy forecast. So we're gonna talk about the kind of the Thursday night game, which is tonight, which is great, I can't wait. And then the rest of the first half of the games. And we got our starts of the week today.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And you can find us on twitter@ the FF Ballers, find us on the web, the fantasy footballers.com and listen, I think there's, I think there's still time. There probably won't be though when, I guess when this podcast comes out for the shirts, is it going to be over by the time this publishes?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think pretty much. When you're listening the shirts, I have.

[Andy Holloway]

No, we're going to throw up some different shirts today because people have been asking for months and we just haven't done it yet.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, people wanted the regular fantasy footballers logo shirt and I think we're gonna finally, finally do it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I put, I, it's, it's ready to go. You'll see the link. It'll be up there. And I put like a billion color options in there too.

[Jason Moore]

So.

[Andy Holloway]

Michael, really appreciate that.

[Mike Wright]

I do.

[Andy Holloway]

Although for me and Mike have a little bit of a black shirt, white shirt competition. Like, I like black shirts, he likes white shirts. And when we sold the Marty McFly shirts or I'm sorry, the, you know, the back to the future style logos, there were no white shirts sold. The world unites with me.

[Mike Wright]

Well, this is a very small sample size, as they would say. And for the next one we will put the default in white. So that's what people see immediately.

[Andy Holloway]

No, we won't. Not if we sold zero white shirts.

[Jason Moore]

That's what I was just thinking.

[Andy Holloway]

The marketing department has vetoed that.

[Mike Wright]

Well, that's fine if you don't want to, if you don't want to get an accurate market, I'll just let you.

[Andy Holloway]

Win that and then we'll sell more.

[Mike Wright]

Victory.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, guys, quick question for the day. We've been asked a lot about this. Let's talk about collusion in leagues. How did it to identify collusion? What to do with it. What makes a trade vetoable? That general discussion. That's not even one question. But just I want to bring up that discussion. So any. Any quick thoughts?

[Mike Wright]

I had a question on Twitter today and they were asking me, is this collusion? So there is a team in first place carrying two tight ends. Tight ends are very hard to find in this league and they were looking to get rid of Walker, Delaney, Walker. And there was. So he. Clearly this team did not want to drop them because the other top team is in desperate need of a tight end. So strategically, it doesn't make sense for this person to just drop Walker so that person can claim him and blah, blah, blah. So this.

[Jason Moore]

The.

[Mike Wright]

The person, the owner of Walker traded Walker away to a team for a kicker and then dropped the kicker.

[Andy Holloway]

So essentially open a spot and then.

[Mike Wright]

Keep Walker gave Walker away for free to another team. But. But did not give the other top team a chance at getting Walker off the waiver wire. And they said, is this collusion? And I said, it's only collusion when they collude if both parties know exactly what is going on. If not, that guy just made an extremely crafty move.

[Andy Holloway]

I agree with that. I completely.

[Mike Wright]

I said there's no way you veto or reverse that.

[Andy Holloway]

No. And actually almost every general.

[Jason Moore]

We are. We're not veto people. Right. I would.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I know you've got some bitterness about last year.

[Andy Holloway]

That was one veto that happened last year.

[Jason Moore]

But in general, the three of us, we generally are. You don't veto trades.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, big boy. Put on your big boy pants. Put on your big boy pants. Playing a league with big boy.

[Jason Moore]

People make good trades, people make bad trades. And that is not a reason to veto a trade.

[Mike Wright]

And very frequently a trade that you think is the worst thing in the world in two weeks makes you look like an idiot because it was great.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep. Yeah. I use the example all the time. Last year, Jason picked up Kyrie Robinson and he gave up Justin Forsett and the league mocked the guy who got four set the entire day. And we thought it was ridiculous and it was clearly a win for that guy. So, yeah, in general, the only way I like to veto is if it is in an a league integrity type of an issue, which most often means collusion. Only if two owners are conspiring to make one team better or another team worse. And it's a discussion in that context. It's not. I'm going to make a trade to benefit my team. You're going to make a trade to benefit your team whether or not they value things the same way. That doesn't make it worth vetoing. Agreed.

[Jason Moore]

Agreed.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, let's get into the news. Notes.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Mike Wright]

Someday we will talk about the Drew Brees Adrian Peterson trade that was vetoed.

[Jason Moore]

Not today.

[Andy Holloway]

I thought through it a little bit on my head during that discussion, and it was. It's, you know, it's on the line and for reasons that we won't talk about right now.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, someday.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. This has to do with Mike. Mike's championship run. And he feels like the trade was validated because he won the title, right?

[Mike Wright]

No, no, no. I won because it was vetoed.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

If he had made the trade that he wanted to make, he wouldn't have won. He wouldn't have won.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. You can't follow the ping pong balls all the way down.

[Jason Moore]

No, we can and we do.

[Andy Holloway]

Carlos High did not practice, should play. Jim Tomsula says so.

[Jason Moore]

I think that's going to be a recurring theme the rest of the year.

[Andy Holloway]

I was really excited as a Chris Ivory owner. Yesterday they said he didn't practice at all. And then later in the day, they said he practiced in full and is fine to play against Oakland.

[Mike Wright]

Those are quite different things.

[Andy Holloway]

The latter is the reality, and that made me happy.

[Mike Wright]

Well, it was also. It was his hamstring injury, then it was a quad injury, and then it was a hamstring.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I know misinformation there. And by the way, if you watch the game, based on my knowledge of human anatomy, they were working out his hamstring in the game. And so that if, you know, that's good for Ivory owners, I guess that he's hurting something else because the quad at least isn't re. Injured. I don't know. All right, Dion Lewis is questionable for tonight. Excuse me. Do you guys think he plays tonight? Because we got to give. Give this report today on the basis of, you know, we don't get another chance tomorrow.

[Mike Wright]

The hilarious thing yesterday was when Belichick was being asked about Ivory status or Lewis's status. So this was yesterday. He said, well, we'll find out tomorrow if you can play.

[Jason Moore]

Thanks, Bill.

[Mike Wright]

Thanks, Bill.

[Jason Moore]

You know, being the Thursday game, there's good, good news and bad news. That gives you a lot of time to replace him if he's pulled out. But it's also more of a. An inclination to sit a guy because you get a shorter week. And if you sit him then, then you get an extra amount of time for the following week. So I don't have any insight on whether he'll play, but you have to follow it. Get him out of your lap if he's playing. I have him ranked very highly. He was almost going to be my start of the week, but I couldn't make him my start of the week in good conscience not knowing if he's going to start this week. So.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, yeah, if he's playing, I'm starting him. Gates not practicing, not looking good.

[Jason Moore]

Well, the MCL is a big part of his game.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Andy Holloway]

Tis true. Do you start?

[Mike Wright]

That'll be the gift that keeps on.

[Andy Holloway]

Getting Let me ask you two quick questions going back to Lewis. Is there any chance you would sign and start? James White of Lewis is out.

[Mike Wright]

If you are desperate, then yeah, I think so. The Miami if there is a strength to their defense, it's supposed to be the front line. Their secondary has been highly suspect for quite some time and it still is in my opinion. In the front you got sue, you got Cameron Wake, you got some serious guys up front. So. And the Patriots, if they they see a weakness, that's what they attack like they did last week where legarre Blunt got basically no work because the jets are a great run defense.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Marcus Mariota was going through drills yesterday. We need to monitor him and we'll give you an update on him tomorrow whether he'll play Austin Severian Jenkins was back at practice, but the reports today say that it's not he's not where he needs to be in his shoulder recovery. So I don't expect him to play but he might be a stash for a tight end needy team. Jeremy Macklin's back at practice. I expect him to be back out there. The Mac is back. Yeah, the Mac is back.

[Mike Wright]

He's got a great matchup as well. So if he's playing, you fire him with full confidence.

[Andy Holloway]

And then this broke yesterday or today that the NFL has determined Joseph Randall has violated the personal conduct policy during a domestic incident in February. Don't ever sing that, please.

[Mike Wright]

Please continue to teach.

[Jason Moore]

You know, the Dragon.

[Andy Holloway]

If you're going to sing it, make sure it lets us down. Like Christine, Michael, Chris. There we go.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's not the best news for Joseph Randall owners.

[Andy Holloway]

Not the most unexpected when you are an underwear burglar though.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, no, it's definitely you combine the injury with his league punishment coming and you can see that Michael might need to be a little bit more involved, but also that they're doing the right thing in putting Darren McFadden.

[Andy Holloway]

So Darren McFadden looks like he could be real good.

[Jason Moore]

He might or might not, just from opportunity, be one of the three of ours. Start of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

Stay tuned.

[Jason Moore]

Spoiler alert. He is.

[Andy Holloway]

And real, real quick too. I want to. Before we get into the forecast, we like to. We forgot to do this on Tuesday or didn't have time for it, but we like to read a review from the listeners. We really appreciate the itunes reviews and the way you support the show. And so we want to take a second and read a review today.

[Jason Moore]

Reviewasaurus Rex. This one comes in from Brian. Five stars. Trying to sit here and think what I'd have to do to get my review read on the show. Would I have to mention double stuffed Oreos? Too obvious. Quesaritos? Too obscure. Compliment the golden vocal stylings of our daily mailbag.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that'll work.

[Jason Moore]

Yep, that worked.

[Andy Holloway]

Maybe.

[Jason Moore]

How about just being honest and saying that? I've been playing Fantasy Football since 1994 when scoring your team meant waiting for the USA Today's official box scores to come out on Monday morning. And in those 20 years, no other source has helped me withstand victories more than the fantasy footballers. Well, thank you, Brian.

[Mike Wright]

Thank you.

[Jason Moore]

Thanks for the review, Brian. We can.

[Andy Holloway]

Brian in all caps.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. This one comes in from Brian.

[Andy Holloway]

Thank you. That was impressive and terrifying all at once.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, well, you know what else can be terrifying, Andy? We want to thank our razorburn. Razor Burn can be very terrifying and we want to give a big thank you to Harry's. Harry's.com has saved my neck personally and Andy's as well, it's true. From Razor Burn. Their blades are. Simply put, they're the best. They're the best blades I've ever used in my life. And the cool thing about their blades is they don't also cause a burn in your wallet. Why pay $32 for an eight pack of blades? It's half the price at Harry's. And with Harry's you get a better shave. It respects your skin and your face and your legs. I know my wife has used them on her legs.

[Andy Holloway]

She said, why'd you point at me when you said that?

[Jason Moore]

Well, you know, I know you probably shave your legs. I have no knowledge on this. But here's what you do. Harry's has an amazing starter set. If you have a razor in your house, you gotta get it. It's $15. You get a razor, which is a nice handle, by the way, a moisturizing shave cream, which is fantastic, and three blades. It's free shipping. And if you use our promo code, footballers, you get $5 off for your first order. So it's 10 bucks. If you have a need to shave, go to Harry's dot com. Harry's will give you that $5 off with the coupon code footballers, that's Harry's dot com start shaving better today.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And many of you, the Foot Clan, have, have grabbed that deal and have testified to its greatness on Twitter. So we appreciate that. We love Harry's. I also want to thank one of our big time favorite sponsors, the Sportsmanias app. You heard me talk about it at the beginning of the show. This is the game changer for your pocket because this gets you connected with exactly what you need to do. You can do customized feeds for your players, get the edge over your league mates, and always know what's going on at a moment's notice. Listen, we'd love to broadcast this show 24 hours a day, but we just plain can't. Right?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I would die.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, all right, that's good. I mean, I have to take time out to shave my legs. So get the Sportsmanias app. You get easy access to content in real time. You heard me say at the beginning they just added a bunch of smack talk fantasy football emojis to their app. And actually I saw an update today, they added more and so they're just constantly updating the app and there's more things in there. It's really fun to, you know, insult Jason on his lack of a superstar via emoji. It's nice.

[Jason Moore]

There's streams that you sign up for. You can import your team from, you know, any of the major leagues at all. Import your team and your streams that show up, they are well defined, the.

[Andy Holloway]

Sources that they use, well curated.

[Jason Moore]

That's kind of the word I'm looking for. It really is a game changing app.

[Andy Holloway]

Alright, so get the free Sportsmanias app today. The easiest, fastest and most complete way to dominate your fantasy league. And stay informed with all of your teams. We'll tweet that out today so you have an easy way to grab it as well. So let's get into the fantasy forecast for week number eight.

[Jason Moore]

Fantasy forecast.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, guys, this is it, right? The Dolphins, their trip to the super bowl is punched with Dan Campbell and it's happening tonight, right? They win the game, I think they.

[Jason Moore]

Run the table, right?

[Mike Wright]

What's funny about you saying that is in my head, I literally saw Dan Campbell punching something instead of a hole punch, as I'm sure you were Alluding to.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yeah, punching their ticket. You saw him.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I saw Dan Campbell punching the super bowl in his super face.

[Jason Moore]

Here's one of the things that we have to realize with Miami. Miami, and I know this isn't specifically about this game, but with that question of are they for real in this change with the new head coach or was it two easy matchups? Here's what I can tell you. They go from New England to Buffalo to Philly to Dallas with Tony Romo to the New York Jets. I mean, their schedule the rest of the way is not good. So I think that in a couple weeks we're going to be looking back and saying that it was a two week mirage. It's probably going to be in between. I think they're a decent team. They have a lot of talent, which was why everyone was frustrated with them not using Lamar Miller, with them not having a balanced game plan with their defense. Kind of stinking.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I was completely joking. I think they get crushed tonight by the Patriots. Really?

[Mike Wright]

I think it's close.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, well, Vegas has the line at 8. We'll see what happens. That's, you know, reasonable for them to put up a good performance. We'll see what they have in store. But let's talk fantasy, guys. Are you starting Ryan Tannehill tonight?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Top 12 this week.

[Mike Wright]

In my top 12, I think he.

[Jason Moore]

Was 13 for me.

[Andy Holloway]

So right on the cusp, Jason. Why, why can't he go out and have a game like last week?

[Jason Moore]

Well, because he's not playing people that can't tackle like he did last week. Last week. Do you want to know how many passes that he threw over 10 yards?

[Andy Holloway]

How many?

[Jason Moore]

Three. The whole entire game over 20 yards. Zero.

[Andy Holloway]

That might be why he was like 18 for 19.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah, it's. It's easy to have that. And, and yet he had a ton of super long. I think like all of his touchdowns were like 40 yard touchdowns.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Last week fantasy owners got burned when Lewis was declared out and LeGarrett blunt got the start and people started him and he went three for negative three and completely goose egged. Do you start Legerrett Blunt tonight? Do you, do you take a chance on that just plain being an anomaly and a game flow issue and the fact that jets are a really good defense. Would you throw Blunt out there if Lewis was inactive? Are you waiting on Blunt?

[Jason Moore]

I'm fine throwing Lewis out there as a flex.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, not Lewis. I'm talking about Blunt.

[Jason Moore]

Blunt. I'm fine throwing Blunt out there as A flex. I see him being in that, you know, borderline RB2, low end, RB2.

[Andy Holloway]

Dolphins are 30th against the run.

[Jason Moore]

Well, that's changed. I mean, you see the last two weeks, and that's the question. But what you saw against the jets was that Bill Belichick didn't want to run against the jets and he knew he didn't have to run against the jets because he can pretty much run through the air, so. Well, no, I'm saying the running.

[Andy Holloway]

You could run through the air.

[Jason Moore]

Bill Belichick run through the air is amazing. He's so wispy light.

[Andy Holloway]

We need. We're gonna need a Photoshop that verify this.

[Jason Moore]

But. But he's. He's able to use the running game in the passing game and those, the quick screens. You guys know what I'm talking about.

[Andy Holloway]

What you mean is that they kind of accomplish part of their running game through the short passing game.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly. And that works better against the Jets. But he's going to be able to run, I believe, on the Dolphins. So Leguerre Blunt is fine as a.

[Andy Holloway]

Flex gun to your head. You have to start one of these two guys. Who do you start? Danny Amendola or Brandon lefell? So why do you both say it so demonstratively when Amendola was 8 for 6 or 86 and a touchdown last week and Lefell had four drops?

[Mike Wright]

Because to me, Amadola was the running game. Like, like Jason said, they ran through the air with the greatest of ease. And that would be Danny and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, Danny Amendola. That's a tough name to say, fellas.

[Andy Holloway]

It is today.

[Mike Wright]

So that was his role last week. Brandon lefell was still getting a ton of targets. He was not doing very much besides knocking them to the ground. But the team came out in support of him. Even Tom Brady said, you know, he gave him a pass. Said it's his first game back, he hasn't been doing a ton right now. What is the laughing for?

[Andy Holloway]

I would love it if he gave me a pass.

[Mike Wright]

Tom Brady.

[Andy Holloway]

Tom Brady gives passes for a living.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I guess he gave him a pass on dropping the passes. Yeah. So I still like Lafell.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, so let me ask you. Brandon Lefell or Marvin Jones this week? LaFell, Brandon Lefell or Willie Snead this week?

[Mike Wright]

I am looking at that exact same dilemma. I don't know if you were looking at my roster.

[Andy Holloway]

No, but they're back to back on our consensus.

[Mike Wright]

So I was, I would say the overwhelming majority think are going with Snead. But as of now, I am playing Brandon Lafell.

[Andy Holloway]

Last one. Brandon Lefell or Ty Hilton on Monday night?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, definitely Brandon LaFell.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

That's to me 100% because of Josh Norman. I don't.

[Mike Wright]

I think that's fair.

[Andy Holloway]

Water bet.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, wait, wait, wait. Water bet between Rafael and Hilton. Oh, man, what a.

[Andy Holloway]

Sounds so good when you say it out loud. Does it?

[Jason Moore]

But you put that, you put that down. Water bet.

[Andy Holloway]

Sometimes I make water bets. I feel real good about right away.

[Jason Moore]

Josh Norman, if you're listening, get. Get your game on.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. All right, let's move on. Lions going into Arrowhead facing the Chiefs. This is our opportunity to see what has changed in the Lions offense. That being said, the Chiefs are fairly heavy favorites at home. You know, The Chiefs are 11th against the running game. So if we're expecting to see that the, you know, the Lions somehow figure that out, I don't know if this is the week to count on that. I don't think we're going to see a renovated, you know, Abdullah Bell combination that's running all over the.

[Mike Wright]

You know, what I'm expecting to see is a lot of Megatron and a lot of Golden Tate.

[Andy Holloway]

The what's they've been neglected.

[Mike Wright]

Jim Bob Cooter.

[Jason Moore]

I love it.

[Mike Wright]

Jim Bob Cooter, that's the new OC up in Detroit. Rocking one of the best football names of all time.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow. That is legendary at this point. I just want him to become like the greatest coach in the history of the NFL. So movies can be made about Jim.

[Mike Wright]

Bob, Jim Bob Cooter. Look, the Lombardi was, was not getting the ball to his playmakers. He was not drawing up great schematic things and they sure they were getting targets. Golden Tate is one of the most heavily targeted wide receivers in the league at right now. But he's not near the top in the other statistical categories because they're just third. They were not strong plays where just get the ball in his hands and for Calvin Johnson, don't make him run a double move or what every single time. Have these really long drawn out routes that he needs to play where the offensive line clearly cannot block long enough for Stafford to let that route develop. Just let him run about 10 yards and throw the ball up to him.

[Andy Holloway]

Let me give you some numbers here in this game and you tell me who this is. Through five games starting, this is a half point PPR, 13 fantasy points, 13 fantasy points, 8 fantasy points, then 3 and then 17. Who do you think that is?

[Mike Wright]

Someone in this game?

[Andy Holloway]

Correct.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, I don't.

[Andy Holloway]

That is. That is Eric Ebron.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Would you start Eric Ebron over Travis Kelsey in this game?

[Mike Wright]

No, no, no.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

And that's just the matchup where the Lions have been very generous to the tight end, where the Chiefs have played the tight end pretty well.

[Andy Holloway]

We all agree Ebron should be owned in all leagues.

[Mike Wright]

Would I start Ebron this week? Absolutely.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. The Chiefs are a bad matchup for tight ends, but they're great for wide receivers, which is I think we've seen on a couple of teams. When you've got great coverage on your wide receivers, the tight end can benefit and vice versa. When you've got bad coverage from your corners on the wide receivers, the tight ends aren't used as much because they're not needed. And this is one of those matchups.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, last piece of the puzzle here in this game. Char Kendrick west seems to be the guy. They committed to him last week. He had a very good game. In fact, a lot of people ask questions about him. I'm fairly high on him rest of season, just as a kind of like probably in that 12 to 15 range week to week, you know, based on matchups. That being said, on the other side of the ball, you've got Joyk Bell practicing in full. Amir Abdullah has had his ups and downs. Had a pretty okay game last game. And then Theo Riddick seeing all the snaps. So put those three real quick in order of who you'd start in a half point PPR league.

[Mike Wright]

West or half point?

[Andy Holloway]

No, not West. I'm sorry, just the Lions.

[Mike Wright]

Riddick, Abdullah, Joik, Bell.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going Abdullah, Joic, Bell, Riddick.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow.

[Mike Wright]

You think Riddick's role will just.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to go Riddick number one. Abdullah and then Bell.

[Jason Moore]

I think Riddick's role is going to decrease as they become more balanced and look to.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll tell you what, they get the ball to Golden Tate more and Riddick won't catch as many passes. That'll be nice.

[Mike Wright]

That'll be nice. Well, you don't like Riddick.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I like Riddick. I guess I meant it. I meant what you said, which is Golden Tate led the league in yards after the catch last year. So you got to get him the catch part of that.

[Jason Moore]

He's also been a fantastic catch rate guy and this year he's 55%.

[Mike Wright]

He's also led the league in smugness. I don't know if you guys have.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, for years, as well as Hail Mary touchdowns that aren't really touchdowns. By the way, we got to move on to this next game, the Chargers at the Ravens. I want to say this for a second though. The, the purpose of this segment on the show is not to exhaustively talk about every player on every team. If we did that this, you know, we'd have to start on Monday and end on Friday. And so sometimes we get emails and someone's like, ah, you for, you know, you didn't mention, you know, you didn't talk about Alex Smith a lot in this game. You know, we have our rankings up on the website. You can kind of see where we have guys slotted in. We're trying to hit some of the main points to focus on here. We know people are starting Travis Kelsey if they have them, that type of thing. So just some context for the discussions. Let's go Chargers. Going into Baltimore, the Ravens are having a bad season. That being said, the Chargers looked really, really bad last game minus the fantasy garbage time. Woohoo. King. That is. That is Philip Rivers. Kind of makes him, you know, kind of situation proof though when that happens and he has guys to dump it off to like Woodhead. All right, so let's talk about this game that you're starting. Rivers, I assume without hesitation. Yes. So what do we think about the running back situation in San Diego from a fantasy perspective? Jason, do you have any thoughts on. On who you'd start and what your expectations are from San Francisco?

[Jason Moore]

You're starting Woodhead, San Diego or San Diego. You're starting Woodhead and you're starting nobody else. I don't have the confidence right now to put Melvin Gordon in my lineup not knowing how much they're going to allow him to run. He could have a great game, but I don't trust it right now and I'm sticking with Woodhead alone.

[Mike Wright]

I'm still fine flexing Gordon out. I don't know if he would be my number two choice for running back. But I agree with Jason on Woodhead. Where and the Ravens. When you look at game flow for the Ravens, their record, horrific, but they've been in every single game where they are just blowing things at the end. Maybe it takes a miracle like the game against Arizona, but they were right into it. I mean you instead, if that wasn't. Wasn't an interception in the end zone that Flacco threw, I feel like the Ravens probably win that game. Just momentum had completely swung to Baltimore's favorite.

[Andy Holloway]

But.

[Mike Wright]

But you're looking to like Steve Smith is completely startable in this matchup where the Chargers had been great in giving up points or holding away points, I should say, from the wide receiver. And then they sent in the car and Derek Carr lit them up with just a barrage of touchdowns to Cooper and Crabtree. So I believe in Steve Smith in this matchup. I'm not going to let the Chargers scare me away from Smith.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's talk about Keenan Allen for a second. He's been very good this year.

[Mike Wright]

Obviously 15 catches this week.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. That's the.

[Mike Wright]

Not even joking.

[Andy Holloway]

So, rest of. See, I'm not even kidding. Rest of season, who would you rather have on your roster, Keenan Allen or Ty Hilton?

[Mike Wright]

Keenan Allen.

[Jason Moore]

I would rather have Ty Hilton, really.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

I think what we've seen is. Is Keenan Allen is great. His usage has been great. But when is the last time that Antonio Gates and Stevie Johnson have been together on the field with Keenan Allen? Do you know? I don't think it's happened yet.

[Mike Wright]

Never.

[Jason Moore]

And so my point is Stevie Johnson's back and we're still got another week or two, but the season still has several more weeks left when they all get together. I don't think the targets are going to hold. And I think that their running game can't do anything but get better. So that's why I like both guys. I'm not saying I wouldn't want Keenan Allen on my team.

[Mike Wright]

I can agree that there's really the only thing the running game can do is get better. But I don't expect it to get better. I expect that they will have to run through the air with their Patriot compadres and that's Keenan Allen's job. Keenan Allen gets passes that like the average depth is basically five yards or something. It's very, very low for a. For a pass through the air and it. But Kenan Allen is just. He's been sensational. There was worry about his hip, you know, because he had injured it a couple weeks ago and he answered that with a monster game. And I love Keenan Allen. I think he's just so safe where Ty Hilton was saved by ridiculous defensive buffooner.

[Andy Holloway]

One thing I'll say is that I'll let you respond since that was your discussion with him, but all I was.

[Jason Moore]

Going to say is it's very ironic that I picked Ty over Allen rest of season. I'm almost like discounting this week because this week I've got Keenan Allen my number three, and Ty Hilton my number like 43.

[Andy Holloway]

This debate discussion changes a little bit for me at PPR leagues. I like Keenan Allen a little Bit better Hilton I like a little bit more in standard leagues or it's close. You know, Hilton has twice the amount of red zone targets than Keenan Allen does this year. And so he kind of is more boom and bust. And that's why I would think that last piece I want to talk about here is if Gates is out, ladarius Green, is he a starter?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, absolutely.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Cardinals go into Cleveland. They face the Browns. The Browns are five point underdogs at home. I have a start of the week that is in this game. So we'll get to that a little bit later. And I think you would have been both of your guys starts of the week had I not beat you to the point 100%.

[Jason Moore]

He is the clear cut start of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, so we think that Josh McCown should be playing in this game.

[Mike Wright]

We believe all information indicates.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. Who you know, once played as the Cardinals quarterback back when I was like 12 years old. So he's continuing. It's kind of a revenge game. I was waiting for the revenge game.

[Mike Wright]

Narrative, but then Josh McCow would have to take revenge on half the league.

[Andy Holloway]

So we were at the Cardinal game last week. We saw the running back rotation. It's clearly Chris Johnson's job right now. He's a start. Ellington and David Johnson is it flip a coin because last week you would have gotten more points if you started Ellington, but David Johnson seemed to be on the field a little bit more.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, David Johnson's getting more snaps and just guessing on or I should say hoping for a touchdown. I'm rolling with David Johnson.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Passing down packages. We saw a lot of times those two come in together. It was like, hey, this is going to be a clear passing down third and long or something like that. Let's send an Ellington and David Johnson. Roll them out. So really hard to have any kind of predictability there.

[Andy Holloway]

There has never been a game actually this set the NFL record. I just decided for the highest quantity of running backs named Johnson because there is Chris Johnson, David Johnson and Duke Johnson all featured in this game. Duke Johnson has not been talked about enough because he's actually been very, very. I think he's on pace for in the 70s reception wise. And so in a PBR league, he's been actually fairly consistent. And to me he's the guy to start obviously in Cleveland.

[Jason Moore]

If McCown is playing this week, I think Duke Johnson takes an even higher bump because of the shoulder problem. Are you going to be throwing it long? Are you going to be throwing it short? You're going to be throwing those dump offs to the running back. We saw that with Drew Brees. He came back and threw like 700 passes, you know, the week that he got back from that shoulder injury to his running backs. So Duke Johnson's a mighty fine player.

[Mike Wright]

Arizona is among the bottom of defenses giving up passes to the running back. So I like Duke Johnson now.

[Andy Holloway]

One thing to note for players with wide receivers in Arizona is I do not think that John Brown will be playing this week. I think John Brown will be out. And so that is a bit of a. You know, people with Fitzgerald are playing him, but people with Michael Floyd might be on the cusp of do I start him? Do I not? If. If John Brown is out. Michael Floyd is a very, very safe start in my opinion in this game. Much like we liked Robert woods last week. You know, Michael Floyd's going to be the guy on the field pretty much every snap if John Brown's off the field.

[Mike Wright]

I completely agree. I want to get your guys opinion on Jermaine Gresham. Arizona is not known in the Bruce Arian system. They are not known for using the tight end. Jermaine Gresham was a huge part of the game last week against the Ravens, including a pretty big pass that got dropped on a big hit. So you add that in, I think you would add 100 plus yards. So what do you guys feel about Gresham? Was that a one week wonder or will they actually be including a tight end?

[Andy Holloway]

I lean much more on the one week wonder side simply because of game planning and the fact we saw this from Fells in week one where he scored a touchdown and was involved and so I'd need to see it over multiple weeks myself.

[Jason Moore]

I expect him to be more and more involved in the game plan but not enough to make an impact. I statted him thinking he was going to be in the game plan more and he came out as my number 16 tight end. So it's not really relevant.

[Mike Wright]

And maximum barnage. Maximum barn.

[Andy Holloway]

This will be a test for him. The Cardinals are actually giving up the least amount of points against tight ends.

[Jason Moore]

The barn burner.

[Andy Holloway]

I actually am the Barnyard dog.

[Jason Moore]

There's no end to his nicknames. I want to throw just a smidgen of cold water on Barnage this week and I think I did this before this year and he proved me very wrong.

[Mike Wright]

So he's proved everybody.

[Jason Moore]

I will have an apology for you. Barnyard barn burning. Maximum barnage if you have a great week. But I think with the shoulder injury And Arizona's defense against the tight end is not a good week for maximum Barnage.

[Andy Holloway]

How much of the doubt about Barnage comes from the fact his name is Gary Barnage? You think of his name like Johnny Fly. Like we would all be over him.

[Mike Wright]

If his name was Max Williams with two X's. Yeah. Or like Billy Sticky Hands.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, that would help too.

[Jason Moore]

That'd be really good.

[Mike Wright]

But yeah, I agree. There's at least 30% of my doubt comes because his name is Gary.

[Andy Holloway]

Another 20% because he caught a touchdown pass with his butt cheeks. With his butt cheeks. All right, moving on naturally to the next.

[Mike Wright]

Speaking of butt cheeks.

[Andy Holloway]

Speaking. Great. Thank you for giving me. I'm trying so desperately. Jay Cutler. No, the Vikings are going to Chicago where Jay Cuddy's mom is on blast. Well, the feedback tells me she is. Bridgewater Cutler face off in this one. It's pretty much a pick them game in terms of the Vegas numbers. So who do we think comes out on top? What are the matchups you like in this game? From a fantasy football perspective, the Bears are actually very good against the pass. The Vikings come in right in the middle of the pack, to the upper side of the pack. And defense 11 think it's the pass. 13th against the run.

[Jason Moore]

The Bears are finally getting healthy, and they're at home with a team that they haven't really had for most of the year. I like the Bears in this one to surprise, surprise with offensive efficiency. Jay Cutler has been very good this year. Matt Forte has been awesome. Alshon Jeffrey is a beast. Martellus Bennett should have a good game because Minnesota has quite a porous tight end defense. So I think that the offense is going to be a lot for the Vikings to handle this week. And that's a little bit surprising to me because the Bears haven't necessarily been that great, but they also haven't been healthy. And during this time of injury, we see Marquis Wilson also coming on into his own. And it, it reminds me a little bit of what happened, micro, micro little bit of what's happened with the Bengals where they had these injuries, you know, last year and other guys kind of stepped up and now their starters came back and they've just got a better team to throw the ball to. So, you know, I like Jay Cutler in this. I like, pretty much all of you know, I like Jay Cutler, obviously. I like Forte, love Alshon Jeffrey, but I also like Bennett. So should be, should be a good game.

[Andy Holloway]

So you like, you like all the Bears?

[Jason Moore]

I do.

[Andy Holloway]

I like that's what you just said you'd start them all.

[Mike Wright]

I wouldn't start.

[Andy Holloway]

If you heard some more audio feedback. That was the. The actual mixers. Fine. That was Jim Tomsula. Jim Tomsula came in. All right. Stefan Diggs, does he continue this week?

[Mike Wright]

I didn't.

[Andy Holloway]

I've been telling people to start.

[Mike Wright]

I when I was going through the stat and guys out, I thought I was being conservative on him and he ended up very high in my rankings.

[Jason Moore]

How high?

[Mike Wright]

He was basically like a very high end wide receiver too.

[Andy Holloway]

You want to know why you start him? Jason has the tip. Why do you start Stephen Diggs this week?

[Jason Moore]

Because you stay in the fire.

[Andy Holloway]

Stay in the flames. You ruined your own awesome quote by saying stay in the fire.

[Jason Moore]

You stay in the flames. You stay in the flames. I have him ranked 21 and you have him 19. So we're.

[Mike Wright]

I think that the.

[Andy Holloway]

Where do I have him?

[Jason Moore]

You do not have your rankings.

[Mike Wright]

The what really helps digs out this week is again, Adrian Peterson has. He has a taste and a taste for Bear and he needs to devour Bears. He play good flesh and he I think last time he played against the Bears was when he rattled off over 200 yards, which I'm told from sources is a halfway decent game. So I look for Adrian Peterson to have success against the Bears.

[Andy Holloway]

The Bengals face the Steelers. There's not even a line right now because you don't know.

[Mike Wright]

This is the game that I am very excited for me staying into.

[Jason Moore]

I am very excited. I can't wait to watch this game. I think there's going to be 100 points scored. That's my guess. I'm going to put the over under at 72.

[Andy Holloway]

I will say this. I think the best mentality in fantasy football this week with this game is to ignore your matchup thoughts, concerns mindset about the Bengals defense or anything like that. The Bengals D has not been very special. They're going to Pittsburgh. Big Ben will be back. They got weapons through the nose. I got no reason to be concerned about the matchup. In that being the case, you got fantasy relevance from both quarterbacks. Hill, Bernard Bell and then Green Jones. Would you start Marvin Jones this week?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Andy Holloway]

Because I might have to. If Dion Lewis is out in one.

[Mike Wright]

Of my leagues and a guy who may or may not surprise you that I I am returning my love for him, Mr. Jeremy Hill. I know that the Steelers are technically ranked high against running technically.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, it's because he mathematically.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Thank you. Mathematically ranked high. But they're just. They're. They're not playing any. Any semblance of spectacular running games and when they faced a great running game like Baltimore gave up 182 yards last week against Kansas City and Charmander west put they gave up over 125 yards on the ground. So I like Jeremy Hill to get things figured out in the bye week to return to his level of being a great running back.

[Jason Moore]

So you got to start one. You got both on your team and they only one flex spot. Who do you start? GEO or Jeremy Hill?

[Mike Wright]

As of now it's still Geo, but I believe I have them back to back in my rankings. I think they both have a success.

[Andy Holloway]

I was hoping you'd go on a.

[Mike Wright]

Limb there and start Hill over Geo.

[Andy Holloway]

Mm. Yeah, I. I don't think it's the worst idea in the world.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

I just. I think this now is the time we. I've. I'm sticking with my guns of. I said after the bye week Jeremy Hill could emerge and be great. So I'm sticking with it.

[Andy Holloway]

Alrighty. So not a lot of complications in terms of start sit in this game. I think it'll be a kind of a fantasy bonanza of sorts and I'm excited it's a divisional game. You know. I guess there's some credit credence to the fact that it could be more defensive than we think because of that. But I think it's just going to be a great game.

[Jason Moore]

I really hope we can't forget the Bengals are coming off of a buy and that always favors a good defense and so I really hope they don't come out and have a great game plan for Ben Roethlisberger coming back off of an injury that would stink because I want.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know if you can stop those guys.

[Mike Wright]

That's the whole.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Big Ben is just. I mean this could be the week that we see more Martavis and it puts him in that kind of top 12 discussion at wide receiver and Antonio.

[Mike Wright]

Brown should be thinking. You mentioned Martevis Bryant.

[Andy Holloway]

Why is that?

[Mike Wright]

For later.

[Andy Holloway]

Really?

[Mike Wright]

That's right.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Oh for later. I got you. Wink, wink, wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. All right, last matchup we're going to go through today before we get to our starts of the week. Starts on the way Titans Texans has been canceled.

[Mike Wright]

I was going to say that the. The yin and yang of the Bengals Steelers. So how excited I am for that. I am the complete opposite.

[Andy Holloway]

Could this be. You know how you have like the. The like opening Band that or the opening comic that comes out right before the main event. Can we just play Titans Texans 1/4 right before the main event of Bengals Steelers and just be done with it?

[Mike Wright]

The. The way that I am watching this game, the only way that I'm gonna be able to is I will have a full on Clockwork Orange headset with the. The prongs prying my eyes open.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, as I beg the sacrifice you make as an analyst.

[Mike Wright]

I beg them to stop and they. They continue the eye drops and. Nah, no, make it stop.

[Andy Holloway]

The biggest contrast from the two games is the fact that you almost start no one in this game. And so you know, who are you rolling out there? You know, Ryan Mallet is not one of those guys that you're rolling out there.

[Jason Moore]

No, no.

[Andy Holloway]

He might. He's probably not going to make the trip because he's been cut. All right. Marcus Mariota might start. Is there a chance you'd start Mariota based on what you see from the Houston defense?

[Mike Wright]

Yep. My stream is the Tennessee quarterback and I still feel strongly that they will be great. They will be a very competent quarterback.

[Jason Moore]

Based on the Houston defense, it looks like they've. I mean they really do look like a team that is just lost heart. They look like the Dolphins before they fired film. Like they just don't care.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, good news for them. J.J. watt sat out today.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, very nice.

[Mike Wright]

You know who else did? Jadavian Clowney.

[Jason Moore]

So I'm actually okay. Are you serious?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

But he's. He's sick. He's still expected to play.

[Jason Moore]

Wow.

[Andy Holloway]

The quarterback might be coming to Houston because of that.

[Jason Moore]

I don't mind taking a shot on Kendall Wright just to break some tackles. Break.

[Andy Holloway]

Delaney Walker's the best start of the game.

[Jason Moore]

Noodle arm. I'm going to go ahead and say DeAndre Hopkins. I'd rather start.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Okay. Okay. On that side. On that. On that side of the.

[Mike Wright]

Bold move.

[Jason Moore]

Bold move, Cotton.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Is there any chance you stay in the Flames or other Flames for Nate Washington? Not yet. Huh?

[Mike Wright]

No. That.

[Andy Holloway]

Just kindling.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's.

[Jason Moore]

It's.

[Mike Wright]

That's getting. That's warming up my. My water for my Mac and cheese. It's not ready.

[Andy Holloway]

It's not ready. All right. The. That's all we need to say about that game.

[Jason Moore]

I agree.

[Mike Wright]

Are you starting Aaron Foster?

[Andy Holloway]

Don't.

[Jason Moore]

Oh. I will say this. I actually think Alfred Blue and Antonio Andrews have playable games.

[Andy Holloway]

Just a moment of silence where we would have talked about this game before. I'd like to just be Completely silent. Antonio army for Aaron Foster. All right, let's go ahead and get into them. The starts of the week.

[Jason Moore]

Starts of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

Every week we prepare docs for the show, you know, that we referenced during the show to keep us on course. You know, we like to not get too sidetracked, get cover all of our bases, get every bit of information to you. So there is a section of our doc for the starts of the week, and we go in individually, we identify the guys that we think we should.

[Jason Moore]

Start, and we're not allowed to pick the same guy that someone else has picked for these.

[Andy Holloway]

So it's kind of a race every week, is my point, to get into the dock and, you know, I put. I got in first, I put mine in, and then I sent him a note and say, don't forget your starts. Don't forget your starts of the week. So I'll kick it off then with.

[Jason Moore]

With the running back. Let's start with the running back.

[Andy Holloway]

Because of that, we'll go running backs. And my start of the week is. It's Chris Johnson. Chris Johnson of the Arizona Cardinals at Cleveland, and they are 30th against the run. And Chris Johnson, even in spite of his rollover 60 yard, you know, you know, run last week, jaunt is the word I was looking for. It was a jaunt. I like Chris Johnson a ton this week. I know you guys do as well, so we don't have to linger there, too.

[Jason Moore]

I've got him as a. As a top 12 back, and I really like him. He was the clear start of the week that I wanted to pick, and when I wanted to pick nobody else, I still almost picked him because I really like that pick Andy instead, because he was taken. I actually have a little bit of faith. I'm talking as an RB2. Okay. I'm not saying you're going to get the bee's knees, but in Darren McFadden against, yes, the Seattle Seahawks.

[Mike Wright]

Good luck.

[Jason Moore]

Here's why I think his baseline is very high. He's gonna get Mr. McFadden I.

[Andy Holloway]

For two yards.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. If he runs for, you know, a good 2.9 yards of carry, as I expect him to be near, he'll get enough usage as they're committed to the run.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm totally fine with him as a guy this week.

[Jason Moore]

And he's also, when the game gets out of hand, he. He's going to catch the ball. Let me. Half point or full point? I like him.

[Andy Holloway]

You need to be more, like, on board with your start of the Week. I mean, you need to be confident about that.

[Jason Moore]

I am. I think he's going to be an RB2. I'm saying that people aren't confident in him because of the Seattle.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. All right, Mike, who is your running back start of the week?

[Mike Wright]

My running back start of the week because he leveled up last week. He. He came out and he was evolved. Evil evolved. Thank you. He was. He came out and he was a charmander and now he is a charizard.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

And that is Char Kandrick west, the running back of the Kansas City Chiefs. He was in for 87 and a.

[Andy Holloway]

Half percent of the snaps, goal line carry.

[Mike Wright]

And so clearly Kansas City was not lying. They were not bluffing about this when they said that west will be the guy. He put up 110 and one on what was a. Supposed to be a very strong Pittsburgh Steeler running defense. The Lions are very porous against the run and I just. I think it's a great matchup for. For west to continue on.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, why don't you go ahead and give us your quarterback start of the week?

[Mike Wright]

My quarterback start of the week. I'm giving him one more chance. One more chance for Matt Ryan because I think the matchup is just too tasty. They're going up against Tampa Bay and Tampa Bay last week we saw him give up three touchdowns to Washington, four to Jacksonville the previous game. I think that the. The Falcons moving forward will need to refine that groove they had going in the passing game. I know that they're. They're having great success right now with Devonta Freeman, but I would hope that the Falcons see that or that Freeman. It can't sustain that kind of a workload. You can't have him touching the ball 25 to 30 times a game with that frame. Maybe you can, but in my personal opinion, just watching what happens to other running backs, you can't do that. So they need to get Matt Ryan back on track.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Julio Jones might catch five touchdowns this week. That'll work for my quarterback. I mentioned them in passing earlier. Jay Cutler is my start of the week. He's at home. He's got his tools back that he hasn't had for a while, and I think he's got a decent matchup. So I am fine playing Jay Cutler this week. And he's available. He was also my stream of the week because he's available double down in almost all leagues. So get him and play him.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm taking Matt Stafford at the Kansas City secondary. Yeah. Because the Kansas City Secondary, they, they've stunk against the pass. I'm going to buy into the fact the new offense just plain has to be better than the old offense. It's just a, you know, the jbc, you know, when the water's all the way out of the glass, you. It's either out of the glass or it fills. And so it's got to get a little bit better. So I'm okay going Stafford in this game. We talked about Tate and Calvin maybe getting some more targets this week down the field as well. They're going to focus on the downfield passing game. So my wide receiver start of the week is actually Tavon Austin.

[Mike Wright]

Interesting.

[Andy Holloway]

I went down the line a little bit. Okay, and so this is your flex play. I'm okay flexing him. At home against San Francisco. San Francisco is 30th against the wide receiver position. Gurley is opening things up for that game and Austin has actually strung together enough semi consistent games of late to give me it, you know, some confidence in him.

[Mike Wright]

This is approaching Mike Ditka levels with that one.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, right, Right. So Tavon Austin is mate a start of the week. I'd be okay flexing him this week.

[Jason Moore]

If you want a confident Jason start of the week, well, you got it here. I am very confident in this start of the week, which is Dante Moncrief. Yeah. Against Carolina. Carolina's great pasty.

[Andy Holloway]

What? But Jason, Josh, is that the voice of public opinion?

[Jason Moore]

That was.

[Andy Holloway]

What was the voice of public opinion say about your. Your pick of Moncry?

[Jason Moore]

They say but he's going up against Carolina's the third best pass defense and I would say that's a new voice. Public opinion. However public opinion, what you have to look at is Josh Norman is incredible when it comes to covering wide receiver ones, which is why I've got Ty Hilton as like my 40 something wide receiver. But because of that, you have a great number two here that's going to be able and going to need to catch passes. If you look at the games that Carolina has played, they have given up only two big games the whole year. One was week one to Alan Hearns, not Alan Robinson, and one was week four to Vincent Jackson, not Mike Evans. Gigantic game. So I expect Moncrief to have a good game here. If you've got them, you're probably him and Hawn because of that, Carolina D put him in.

[Mike Wright]

That's great. I'm going with Martavis Bryant. Big Ben is back. Yes. It's a, it's a tough defensive matchup. Against Cincinnati. But there's just, there's just too much. I think the Steelers have too many weapons and Antonio Brown has got. I don't think there's a happier person in the United States of America than Antonio Brown right now saying, my quarterback is back. I'm finally going to be an elite wide receiver again. And you have to defend Antonio Brown, you have to defend Le'Veon Bell. And I think this just opens things up for Martavis Bryant and he does what he does. He does alien things with the football. I love Bryant.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, so that leaves us with the tight end position. Mike, kick us off my tight end.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going with Ladarius Green. Philip Rivers has no choice right now, none whatsoever, but to throw the ball. I think Antonio Gates will be out. He's trying to find that MCL that he's so enamored with. And ladarius Green, if you look at his numbers, even when Gates was back and they're both tight ends were playing, Green was still giving you very capable tight end weeks. It's. Green is one of those elusive guys that we've been waiting years for him to break out. And it's, it's happening right now. People aren't really talking about this is the breakout. This is what is happening right now with Ladarius Green. So I love him. Assuming Gates is out. If Gates is in, then he's still a good start.

[Jason Moore]

So my tight end start of the week is a mostly forgotten about man right now. Crockett Gilmore, you could probably get him on your waivers. He started the year strong, got injured and was dropped and was forgotten about. I think he's got a baseline of 5 for 50 this game going up against a very suspect tight end defense in San Diego. They're going to be throwing the ball a lot to keep up with Philip Rivers. I think he's got. If he's searching for that touchdown, he gets in. I've got him as my number six tight end this week.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to go ahead and stay in the old man flames with Ben Watson. He's been pretty consistent this season. The Giants can't cover the tight end position, so I think we'll see another kind of, you know, in the same vein of what Jason said. With the baseline being fairly high for Watson. He's been targeted a lot. They're actually playing pretty well. The Saints are playing a lot better than they had been. And so I like Watson is kind of the pass catching tight end target there. So Ben Watson, my tight end start of the week and that wraps up our starts of the week. Well, you guys got anything else going on? We've got, you know, like a minute left before the shows got in.

[Jason Moore]

We got the daily dose dose coming up tomorrow.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, we'll have that.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, let's preview tomorrow's show. So we got the daily dose, the rest of the rest of the games, and we got our man Joe Juan, the FF underscore scientist is dropping a hot.

[Jason Moore]

Whew.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's hot. The Juan believable set of the week.

[Jason Moore]

Staying in the flames.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So we've got good stuff for you tomorrow. Be sure to check out the website, the fantasy footballers.com where you can submit your questions directly to us. If you got an urgent question, we can get back to you quick, let us know about it. Thanks for listening to the show. Thanks for those itunes reviews and we'll, we'll go ahead and catch you tomorrow. Sound good?

[Mike Wright]

It sounds great to me, guys. I don't know, what do you think about it?

[Andy Holloway]

Sounds good.

[Jason Moore]

I'd love to talk to you guys tomorrow.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

I'd gladly pay you tomorrow for a hamburger today.

[Andy Holloway]

Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

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