Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - 300th Show! + Starts of the Week, Week 9 Matchups

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast - 300th Episode Summary

Release Date: November 3, 2016

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Introduction to the 300th Episode

In their landmark 300th episode, the Fantasy Footballers—Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright—celebrate three decades of providing expert fantasy football insights. The hosts kick off the celebration with enthusiastic banter, reflecting on the show's journey and its impact on the fantasy football community.

Celebrating the Milestone: Community and Inside Jokes

The hosts share a series of inside jokes and memorable moments that have defined the podcast over the years. Mike Wright proudly declares, “[01:02] Mike Wright: We did it,” marking the significant achievement. The trio engages in playful exchanges, reinforcing the tight-knit relationship they've built with their listeners. Andy Holloway humorously recounts his excitement over the Cubs winning the World Series, despite his primary passion for football: “[02:07] Andy Holloway: That game last night was great... It was just incredible.”

Special Segment: Highlights Montage

To honor the 300th episode, the Fantasy Footballers present a curated montage of standout moments from the past two years. This segment features highlights submitted by listeners, showcasing the show's best analyses and most entertaining discussions. Andy Holloway emphasizes the importance of community contributions: “[06:53] Andy Holloway: If we're not, let us know.”

Giveaway Announcement: Celebrating with Prizes

In celebration of reaching 300 episodes, the hosts announce a special giveaway. They plan to distribute $300 in gift cards from shopballers.com through an interactive periscope session. Mike Wright announces, “[04:01] Mike Wright: ...giveaway $300 to shopballers.com that is six $50 gift cards.” Additionally, listeners are encouraged to engage on Twitter for a chance to receive extra surprises, adding excitement to the milestone celebration.

Week 9 Preview: News and Notes from Around the League

Transitioning into the core content, the Fantasy Footballers provide crucial updates and analyses impacting Week 9 matchups:

• Ben Roethlisberger’s Return: Ben Roethlisberger is expected to start against the Baltimore Ravens after an anticipated 30-40 week absence owing to a significant injury. Mike Wright notes, “[18:26] Mike Wright: It is a pretty substantial one, but he still plays.”

• Alex Smith’s Injury: Quarterback Alex Smith will miss the upcoming game, with Nick Foles stepping in. Andy Holloway sarcastically comments, “[18:27] Andy Holloway: Yeah, there's no concussion here.”

• Other Player Updates: The hosts discuss various player injuries and statuses, including Spencer Ware, James Starks, Ty Hilton, Randall Cobb, and Travis Benjamin, providing listeners with essential information for their fantasy lineups.

Detailed Matchup Analyses

The hosts delve into detailed analyses of key Week 9 matchups, offering strategic advice for fantasy football managers:

1. Steelers vs. Ravens:

   • Big Ben’s Impact: The return of Ben Roethlisberger is a focal point. Mike Wright assesses, “[30:28] Mike Wright: West is still the main guy,” discussing Terence West’s role despite Big Ben’s comeback.
   • Fantasy Implications: Andy Holloway agrees, “[30:38] Andy Holloway: Terence west is still the lead dog there,” highlighting West’s continued relevance in fantasy lineups.

2. Cowboys vs. Browns:

   • Cody Kessler’s Potential Start: With Cody Kessler possibly starting for the Browns, the hosts evaluate running back options. Andy Holloway advises caution: “[32:05] Unknown: The Cowboys, the Browns are seven-point underdogs.”

3. Jets vs. Dolphins:

   • Jay Ajayi’s Performance: Jay Ajayi’s resurgence is discussed in the context of Miami’s strong run defense. Andy Holloway reflects, “[39:43] I just think he’s going to be much harder pressed to cut up the jets than he has now.”

4. Lions vs. Vikings:

   • Marvin Jones vs. Theo Riddick: The interaction between Marvin Jones and a top-tier Vikings pass defense is analyzed. Mike Wright states, “[43:21] Mike Wright: ...the Vikings defense is tremendous.”

5. Eagles vs. Giants:

   • Running Back Strategies: Andy Holloway discusses running back selections, emphasizing Rashad Jennings for the Giants: “[48:52] Andy Holloway: Carlos Hyde is going to be fine.”

Starts of the Week: Host Selections

Each host presents their recommended players for Week 9 across various positions, providing listeners with actionable insights:

• Quarterbacks:

  • Mike Wright: Jameis Winston – Anticipates a big game against Atlanta’s defense. “[50:10] Mike Wright: I'm going famous. Jameis Winston is performing well.”
  • Jason Moore: Philip Rivers – Confident in Rivers’ matchup against Tennessee’s subpar defense. “[53:18] Mike Wright: He is the guy.”
  • Andy Holloway: Dak Prescott – Trusts Prescott’s performance against Cleveland’s defense. “[52:34] Unknown: The Cleveland Browns.”

• Running Backs:

  • Mike Wright: Darren Sproles – Highlights consistency despite limited carries. “[54:33] Andy Holloway: If I had to choose between those two guys, I would also choose Darren Sproles.”
  • Andy Holloway: Carlos Hyde – Emphasizes Hyde’s role in the Saints’ offense against a weakened run defense. “[55:06] Andy Holloway: He should have a great game.”
  • Jason Moore: Mark Ingram – Picks Ingram for his favorable matchup against the 49ers’ weak run defense. “[56:34] Unknown: ...he is going to score in this contest.”

• Wide Receivers:

  • Mike Wright: Dante Moncrief – Expects Moncrief to capitalize on the Saints’ passing game. “[58:52] Mike Wright: I'm going with Dante Moncrief.”
  • Jason Moore: Stefon Diggs – Despite skepticism, believes in Diggs’ potential against Detroit. “[59:33] Unknown: I'm going on Diggs.”
  • Andy Holloway: Davante Adams – Anticipates a strong performance against Indianapolis’ defense. “[57:57] Andy Holloway: I believe he has really good game.”

• Tight Ends:

  • Mike Wright: Travis Kelsey – Leverages Detroit’s poor defense against tight ends. “[63:05] Mike Wright: Kyle Rudolph is a touchdown machine with Sam Bradford.”
  • Andy Holloway: Kobe Fleener – Bets on Fleener’s efficiency and big-play potential. “[61:09] Andy Holloway: He should have a great game.”
  • Jason Moore: Kyle Rudolph – Capitalizes on Detroit’s vulnerability against tight ends. “[63:05] Mike Wright: Kyle Rudolph is a touchdown machine.”

Conclusion and Giveaway Details

As the episode wraps up, the Fantasy Footballers reiterate their appreciation for the listeners' support over the past 300 episodes. They remind fans of the ongoing giveaways and encourage continued engagement through social media platforms. Mike Wright teases additional surprises, “[65:21] Unknown: We’re gonna celebrate our 300th show with some giveaways answering your fantasy questions.”

The hosts close with reaffirming their commitment to providing top-tier fantasy football advice, ensuring listeners remain equipped to dominate their leagues.

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Notable Quotes:

• Mike Wright on Big Ben’s Return:

  “[18:26] Mike Wright: It is a pretty substantial one, but he still plays.”

• Andy Holloway on Dak Prescott:

  “[52:34] Unknown: The Cleveland Browns. Their defense is a delight for fantasy. And so I have no hesitation starting Dak Prescott.”

• Jason Moore on Stefon Diggs:

  “[59:33] Unknown: I'm going on Diggs.”

• Mike Wright on Travis Kelsey:

  “[63:05] Mike Wright: Kyle Rudolph is a touchdown machine with Sam Bradford.”

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and strategic advice provided in the Fantasy Footballers' 300th episode. Whether you're a long-time listener or new to the podcast, this overview offers valuable takeaways to enhance your fantasy football strategy for Week 9.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, everyone. This is our 300th show today and it is brought to you by Avast, the global leader in digital security. And they are dedicated to protecting us and you and everybody out there from hackers, from viruses, from malware, spyware, everything that is going to garbage up your PC, your mobile phones, your laptops. Look, Avast is what we use here. It's lightweight, it's really easy, and it's free. Check it out. For more information, go to avast.com that's a V A S T dot com.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast coming to you from the fantasyjocks.com studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike wright.

[Mike Wright]

Ah.

[Unknown]

Number 300. Centennial 300.

[Mike Wright]

We did it.

[Unknown]

Sparta.

[Andy Holloway]

This is Sparta.

[Unknown]

Look. The Cubs have only won one World Series since we started this show and it was last night. Congratulations to the Cubby fans. What a game that was. I don't know if I was more excited for the Cubs or for myself. Just the. Because Jason watched baseball.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, man. Let me just say this because if we're going to talk baseball for just a minute here, I am the type of guy, look, I'm a die hard football fan. I grew up with basketball, always hated baseball, still do. I don't appreciate other sports. I'm football first, second through seventh, sure, but man alive, that game last night was great. I don't care who you are. My wife was like when she left halfway through. She was sad to leave and she doesn't like sports, let alone baseball. But that game, that awful baseball game was just incredible. I mean, I could not take myself away. And it was, it was fun.

[Unknown]

Yeah. I think my favorite, you know, being. I'm a baseball fan. I love baseball. I love the playoffs, I love the history of the game. I. One of my favorite moments was David Ross hitting that home run at 39 years old. His final game, Grandpa Ross as a player, he hits a home run in game seven to, you know, to help win the World Series for the Chicago Cubs for the first time. 108 years. Shout out to the Indians fans. That must have been very painful, but what a season they had. So just, just incredible. Great sports. Great sports.

[Andy Holloway]

This has been a really good time for sports all around. And I, apparently, I don't know enough about the Cubs. I tweeted out the game was like three to six, something like that. The Cubs were up and I tweeted out because I was enjoying it so much. I said, look, if every baseball game was a game 7 of a world Series, it would be the Goat. Yeah, I put a little goat symbol.

[Unknown]

Oh, no, no.

[Andy Holloway]

And then a minute or two later, the game was tied and everyone started yelling at my.

[Unknown]

Yeah, bad decision. Bad decision.

[Andy Holloway]

They broke the curse.

[Unknown]

So here. Here's what we got going on football wise for the show today. The fancy footballers back again. It is Thursday, November 3rd, our 300th episode. So we have a few special things planned for today as well as the standard Thursday episode. We've got our fantasy forecast, starts of the week. Jason Moore's Boom Boom Kicker of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

Locked and loaded.

[Unknown]

Locked and loaded.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm just such a kicker expert.

[Unknown]

Now we are doing some giveaway stuff. We're going to do an afternoon periscope.

[Mike Wright]

You're darn right we are.

[Unknown]

To celebrate the 300th episode.

[Mike Wright]

We're going. We're going all out. Foot Clan. Look, we're gonna have a periscope sometime this afternoon. You better stay tuned. Stay by that Twitter. Stay by that periscope. Turn on the notification.

[Unknown]

What is that? Twitter, Mike?

[Mike Wright]

The FF ballers at the FFballers. Because you know what we're going to do? In honor of it being show 300, we are going to give away $300 to shopballers.com that is six $50 gift cards.

[Andy Holloway]

Whaaaat?

[Unknown]

That's pretty cool.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know how you're gonna get them yet.

[Unknown]

We're gonna figure it out. We're gonna figure it out on the periscope though, right?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

You must be in attendance.

[Andy Holloway]

To win today is just incredible.

[Unknown]

And I'm gonna throw this out there, too. I'm not gonna limit us in terms of our generosity. I'm going to say if you surprise us with something on Twitter today in celebration of the 300th episode, something that we're impressed with, something unique, we might throw you a little something special.

[Andy Holloway]

What's our.

[Mike Wright]

What's our level of impressment? Are we talking like Shania Twain levels here?

[Unknown]

Like, don't know. It can be anything from, like, I don't know, a David Johnson music video to, like, I don't know, a David Johnson music video.

[Mike Wright]

All the David Johnson.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I'm gonna go a little above that. Give me, give me something good out there. All right, all right, look, the Foot Clan, they're so.

[Unknown]

No, no. It has to feature them with original lyrics and produce an album.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, all right. That would impress me.

[Unknown]

Okay, so like I said, we've got a lot, a lot going on on the website. We've got the quarterback one primer going on there. The article Matchups, Part one starts of the week will be on the website as well, which is the fantasy footballers dot com. Now, before we get into all of the good stuff for week nine, which you're preparing, your team is in the playoff hunt. You're fighting to either get back into it or maintain dominance, whatever it might be. Before we do all of that, we are going to. We're going to step into the way back machine. We're going to. Brooks has been so kind, along with the help of one of our listeners, Jared Totten, who had kept sending us a bunch of clips.

[Mike Wright]

Top men. Top men.

[Unknown]

Top men have helped us. Top men have helped us.

[Mike Wright]

And women. Yes.

[Unknown]

So we have prepared a montage. And so some of the better moments of the show over the last two years. If you, you know, if you're a curmudgeon and you don't want to listen to this, you could Skip ahead about 10 minutes and you'll be right back in the thick of week nine. We don't do this often, but we're going to. We're going to travel back and forth.

[Andy Holloway]

We do this once every 300 shows.

[Unknown]

That's right. That's right. So enjoy. And here's the thing. This is why I'm excited about this. Other than just wanting to look back at the past. I'm excited because there are certain inside jokes or comments that have been made over the last two years where, if you've been a new listener, maybe you don't understand the reference. So you're probably going to be caught up on a few of those. I'm pretty sure we're everywhere you can be as a podcast.

[Andy Holloway]

If we're not, let us know.

[Unknown]

Kind of like an infection, you know, we just kind of go wherever herpes are forever. I wouldn't compare us to herpes.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yeah.

[Unknown]

And yet. And yet you did. Thank you for that, Jason. Good. It's out there. It's out there now.

[Mike Wright]

Well, that's because I bring it. Yeah, I bring. I bring the junk talk. I bring the smack talk. I bring the.

[Unknown]

Bring the crack talk.

[Mike Wright]

I bring it all.

[Unknown]

Wait, what is the crack talk?

[Mike Wright]

The cracks. Like there's cracks in your team.

[Andy Holloway]

I was thinking you were, like, hopped up on something.

[Unknown]

Are Drew Brees, Brandon Cooks and Willie Snead. Must not. Must start. Must starts for the game tonight. You enjoy that? Did you enjoy that, Mike? Yeah. You just replaying snarts?

[Mike Wright]

You sound like a Dr. Seuss character.

[Unknown]

Yes. Would you snart him in a train?

[Andy Holloway]

I would not.

[Mike Wright]

Snort him on a Plane.

[Andy Holloway]

I love Latavius Murray.

[Unknown]

Say that again.

[Andy Holloway]

I love Latavius Murray. He is one of my favorite guys.

[Unknown]

Would you like. Would you get on one knee and Murray him?

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I would love to. Murray. Latavius Murray. He is. He's young. He is a big boy. If you're listening to me, Foot Clan, I am telling you, you cannot bank on this advice.

[Unknown]

You cannot bank on my advice.

[Mike Wright]

And they asked me, you can do a great Chewbacca, right?

[Andy Holloway]

Let's hear it, Mike. Let's hear. Oh, the answer is no.

[Mike Wright]

It could be better.

[Unknown]

I really.

[Andy Holloway]

That was pretty good. Well, I gotta grow my beard out. Was not.

[Unknown]

No. All right. We all tried it now. All right. We needed your best. We needed your best today because this is a mailbag show. Answering questions turned into the mailbaggy. Oh, I liked it. Mail baggy.

[Mike Wright]

Mail bag.

[Andy Holloway]

Sam Bradford. I just want an announcer to do it now.

[Mike Wright]

Coming in, running back David Johnson.

[Andy Holloway]

Somehow, you know, it's a new playbook for both guys. One guy was coming in expecting, hey, I'm going to the NFL. I got to learn something.

[Mike Wright]

I'm ready to learn.

[Andy Holloway]

The other guy pouted for a couple weeks and said, I'm not going to look at your playbook.

[Unknown]

Is that what he said?

[Andy Holloway]

That's what he said.

[Unknown]

Wait, that was a quote.

[Andy Holloway]

That was. Yeah, direct. I was actually. I just played the audio.

[Unknown]

Play it again.

[Mike Wright]

Would you?

[Unknown]

Would you play that again?

[Andy Holloway]

I'm not going to look at a playbook.

[Mike Wright]

Why does he sound like Jim Gaffigan?

[Andy Holloway]

I'm not sure. Maybe it's Bradford's lazy. I don't know.

[Mike Wright]

I'm sorry.

[Unknown]

Hey, being young isn't what it used to be. Just ask Trent Richardson. Hey, if you're gonna mock draft. If you. If you heard the show on Tuesday, if you're gonna mock Trent Richardson, you can mock draft Trent Richardson on fantasydraftwizard.com.

[Mike Wright]

The other day, I was on Fantasy Draft wizard, and I was trying to draft Trent Richardson. I would click, and it would say, are you sure?

[Unknown]

And just kept. And I would say, yes.

[Mike Wright]

Are you.

[Unknown]

Are you really sure?

[Andy Holloway]

It's very good software.

[Unknown]

I don't. I don't know what will take place with that value, but. He's a handcuff. Yeah, he's the kind of handcuff that, you know, could, you know, carry the load if Yelden got hurt.

[Mike Wright]

So I think there's handcuffs and then there's like, a handcuff.

[Unknown]

You want. He's a handcuff. He's the second one.

[Andy Holloway]

Handcuff yeah, but I think the big difference. The big difference is last year, Bilal Powell never, ever, ever had the value in the eyes of.

[Mike Wright]

Even when he was dominated.

[Unknown]

No, no.

[Andy Holloway]

The T.J. elden has, because of this, his rookie year hand.

[Unknown]

But I think last year. I think last year, Bilal Powell was a handcuff. You know what I mean? As opposed to handcuff.

[Andy Holloway]

Totally know what you mean.

[Unknown]

Like a modern Western handcuff.

[Andy Holloway]

So. So if you're. So let me ask you this. Charles Sims, which kind is.

[Mike Wright]

Charles Sims is a hand.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, so. So the modern Western. So if this is a valuable guy, then we need him to be a handcuff. But if he's just like, you know, he's the backup, that's just a handcuff.

[Unknown]

Nile Davis is more of a handcuff.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay? Not okay.

[Unknown]

Nile Davis is like.

[Mike Wright]

Nile Davis isn't even a handcuff.

[Andy Holloway]

So let me ask you this, because I'm genuinely curious on this, Chris. I'm getting so sweaty. Johnson. Chris Johnson.

[Unknown]

Handcuff.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. So.

[Unknown]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

He's a Western handcuff. All right, we've got this figured out. We need to have a handcuff show, or do we need to have Nankov show? This has gone on way too long.

[Unknown]

We may never want to have that show. If we want to have this show continue. All right, Mike. Mike is gone now.

[Andy Holloway]

Now he's got two games a year where he's playing against the Indianapolis Colts run defense, the Jacksonville Jaguars defense, the Tennessee Titans run defense. You darn right, Kelly.

[Unknown]

We get criticized for two pronunciations that are just, I guess, built in. One is Jaguars instead of Jaguars, and the other one is Bangles, like, as though we said it with an A.

[Mike Wright]

Like Bangles, because, well, the Bangles are a band. What is a rock band from the 80s that sang about walking like an Egyptian?

[Unknown]

What's that snack? Aren't those called Bangles?

[Mike Wright]

No, those are called.

[Unknown]

Are those also Bugles? Bugles.

[Mike Wright]

Bugles.

[Andy Holloway]

Come on. That's not even close. Don't mess with me on my snack knowledge, okay?

[Mike Wright]

You're talking. The ones you make. You put them on your fingertips and you. You look like.

[Unknown]

Every time somebody says we say Bangles, I'm picturing those snacks.

[Andy Holloway]

That's a weird thing, man.

[Unknown]

That's a weird thing. Samsonite, you were way off.

[Andy Holloway]

Don't mess with me on my snack knowledge, okay? And also, I would say this to all Foot Clan listeners. If you are live drafting and you show up at your draft without double stuffed oreos you are making a terrible mistake, and you have let me down.

[Unknown]

There have been a number of tweets, including pictures of people at the draft with their double stuffed Oreos.

[Mike Wright]

You're doing it right.

[Andy Holloway]

The first thing that comes to mind is meat.

[Unknown]

What do they call me on Twitter? Mike?

[Mike Wright]

They're calling you the Fantasy Reaper, my friend. You get high in Andy's rankings, you go down.

[Unknown]

Believe it or not, it's Andy Holloway, not the Fantasy Reaper.

[Mike Wright]

Do I bring up what happened last time we mock drafted Aaron Foster? People were worried about Allen Robinson.

[Unknown]

Every injury in the NFL is a fantasy reaper sighting. We said fearless predictions. I'm gonna say he's Gonna play all 16 games.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, the Fantasy Reaper has cursed him. We just found out that Sam Bradford is out for the.

[Mike Wright]

No. Breaking news.

[Unknown]

What has transpired over the weekend? You know, Aryan, you're my boy. Twice, man. I'm Andy Holloway and I. I'm an Aryan Foster owner.

[Jason Moore]

Steaming hot Fantasy tab.

[Unknown]

Oh, these are. I was waiting for the music to keep going. Like the other drops where the music comes out, and then we were just kind of groaning by ourselves on the. On the radio.

[Mike Wright]

He's very attractive.

[Unknown]

Who?

[Mike Wright]

Tyler Ifert.

[Unknown]

That is a strange comment. I didn't know where this was going. I'm just going nowhere. All right. He's just. You're just out of the blue saying Tyler? If it is a nice looking gentleman, yes. Okay, Tennessee, I've got a golden ticket.

[Andy Holloway]

What is that? That was amazing.

[Unknown]

That was amazing. So are you the only person in the world that has a soft spot in their heart for Jay Cutler?

[Andy Holloway]

Jay Cutler's mom loves him a lot.

[Unknown]

Not from what I've heard.

[Mike Wright]

Whoa.

[Andy Holloway]

His wife, Jake Cuddy's mom on blast.

[Unknown]

Mom on blast. Wow. There. He has a history of not cleaning his room. Let me just put it that way.

[Mike Wright]

I don't doubt that it smells very much like cigarette smoke in Jay Cutler's room.

[Unknown]

Yeah, well, that's because Matty Snapback was over there and they were getting into trouble.

[Andy Holloway]

Am I going to be able to withstand victories for the next few weeks?

[Unknown]

Did you say withstand victories? What does that mean?

[Mike Wright]

Well, I can always withstand a victory.

[Andy Holloway]

I have been able to withstand multiple victories since I started listening to this podcast. I've been too busy eating double stuffed Oreos and withstanding all these victories with my three in one record, thanks to the guys.

[Unknown]

What do you think it's like for a new listener to the show to hear so many people reference withstanding victories? Do they just think that we are Dumb.

[Andy Holloway]

No.

[Unknown]

All right. And now it's time for. Mike apologizes to Jeremy Macklin.

[Mike Wright]

Jeremy Macklin.

[Unknown]

Oh, my goodness. He's really gonna do it.

[Mike Wright]

I owe you nothing. And the reason why I put him as my start of the week is because if you go over to fantasypros.com he's number 14. He's number 14. They got lots of guys starting.

[Andy Holloway]

How old is that?

[Mike Wright]

What was that?

[Unknown]

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

[Andy Holloway]

Russell Wilson.

[Mike Wright]

Russell Wilson.

[Andy Holloway]

Russell Wilson.

[Unknown]

Did I say Russell Wilson? Russell Wilson.

[Mike Wright]

Russell Wilson.

[Andy Holloway]

With the 17 pack.

[Mike Wright]

I'm not gonna do. To count on another severed kidney from Keonan Allen in.

[Unknown]

Severed. Severed.

[Mike Wright]

What was it?

[Andy Holloway]

Drop off?

[Unknown]

He was lacerated.

[Andy Holloway]

What is. Is Keenan, Is that your kidney?

[Mike Wright]

I apologize.

[Andy Holloway]

I apologize for that. Can I get that?

[Mike Wright]

I don't do well with the nerves. I could not be an NFL kicker.

[Unknown]

Well, and then there's Jason. And Jason is just chilling out in the background with a. With a. A giant celebratory belt over his shoulder.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, you know, champs gonna champ.

[Unknown]

Oh, my gosh. Oh, welcome. Welcome back to the present day.

[Andy Holloway]

Some of the. Some of those got me. They got me good.

[Unknown]

Favorite moment there. Did you have one that was. I still. Jay Cuddy's moment. Last might be my favorite moment of all time.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I forgot about the title. Ifert. And that one. That one was really good. Just out of the blue. He's a handsome.

[Unknown]

I was like, where is this going? He's like, this is going nowhere.

[Andy Holloway]

I just.

[Unknown]

He's just very good looking.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, there are good ones.

[Mike Wright]

Stand by it.

[Unknown]

Yeah, well, he's. Yesterday he was my MVP candidate, so I really can't argue with you there. So fun. Look back over the last 300 episodes. I think we've got at least 300 more in us. Maybe another 3,000.

[Mike Wright]

Let's not push it.

[Unknown]

Let's not push it. Okay, we're back. We're into week nine. Let's move on.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Unknown]

That blue blue, the eardrums right there. All right. Ben Roethlisberger expects to start on Sunday. Oh, what a hero. What a. What an amazingly strong individual. After that, what he was supposed to be out 30 weeks, 40 weeks. This back in a couple.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, it's just classic Big Ben, you know, go down with. Look what looks like a catastrophic injury.

[Andy Holloway]

It.

[Mike Wright]

It is a pretty substantial one. But he still plays.

[Unknown]

Yeah. So this Is great news for Antonio Brown owners and Sammy Coates owners.

[Andy Holloway]

And if he survives, it's good news.

[Mike Wright]

I will say this. It's Big Ben on the road against division foe the Baltimore Ravens off a buy too.

[Unknown]

Ravens got two weeks to prepare.

[Mike Wright]

This to me is more of an upgrade for just the pass catcher than actually playing Big Ben.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I agree. Big Ben is barely in my top 12 this week.

[Unknown]

All right. Alex Smith will miss the game. Nick Foles will start.

[Mike Wright]

Alex Smith will miss the game with not a concussion.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, there's no concussion here. Don't just look over there.

[Mike Wright]

Ignore the man behind the curtain.

[Unknown]

Just gets a day off.

[Mike Wright]

Well, this is.

[Andy Holloway]

He clearly has a concussion.

[Unknown]

Speaking of concussions, Spencer Ware didn't practice. We'll see what happens.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. If he does not clear. If he does not clear the protocol, Shark Handrick, the Charizard West, I love him.

[Unknown]

That's why fantasy football is ridiculous. Because I don't want Spencer Ware to be hurt. Right. Everybody spend a lot of money on Char west so maybe he can be out with not a concussion as well. For the Char west owners with like a.

[Mike Wright]

He won a trip to Tahiti.

[Unknown]

Him and Alex Smith have a business trip.

[Mike Wright]

You can win those on the prices, right? You can.

[Unknown]

Oh, it's fair. Fair. Showcase Showdown.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

LaShawn McCoy Limited at practice. Didn't practice all week.

[Mike Wright]

I think I'm leaning more now that I think he's going to sit.

[Unknown]

Oh, that might be wise. I mean, you have the Buffalo.

[Mike Wright]

You have the Monday night game. You have the bye week after that. So it wouldn't shock me now if Shady sits.

[Andy Holloway]

That would be the only way that I have confidence in Shady going forward. Because if he got this week off, which would be two in a row plus a buy, he gets three weeks off. I will actually buy into. He's not going to re aggravate that injury.

[Unknown]

James Starks not practicing on Wednesday. They said that he had suited up, but it turns out he's still rehabbing. I do think that Starks was one of those guys that you should have grabbed on the waiver wire.

[Mike Wright]

If he's still sitting there, still probably there.

[Unknown]

If he's still there, you need to grab him because he's going to be the guy in the backfield.

[Andy Holloway]

He's not owned in many leagues. And the rumor is that he is going to practice on Thursday. Don't know if that means he'll be ready for this week or not, but he's coming.

[Unknown]

You know how this works. On Friday, we give you the official in and out report. But Jerick McKinnon looks like he's going to play, feeling much better. So we will see on that. Ty Montgomery and Randall Cobb practiced on limited basis on Wednesday. Ty Hilton was, quote, reluctant to commit to playing in Week 9 against the Packers. Mike, I know you traded for Ty Hilton and Doug Martin, so how's the production looking?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, it's. I had a really good one play of one of those guys.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Mike Wright]

It's been a brutal trade.

[Unknown]

Do you expect Hilton to play? It's a lot. There's a ton of hamstring injuries going on lately.

[Mike Wright]

The Colts also have a bye week next week. So this is one of those. You kind of get the two for one situation if they sit Hilton, so don't be surprised if he sits. But he's. I mean, he's a. He's one of those tougher guys. I believe he's only missed two games in his career, so him playing would not be a shock.

[Unknown]

Sitting or not. Does it upgrade Dante Moncrief?

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Unknown]

Okay. And I think we're going to talk about him later.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Unknown]

Corey Coleman is expected to play and start against the Cowboys in week nine, opposite of Terrell Pryor, assuming he plays. He did miss practice yesterday, so we need to wait and see. But Pryor played the last two weeks with the injury, so I expect him out there. Travis Benjamin's dealing with a grade 2 PCL sprain. It's going to be rest and rehab. I doubt he plays this week because playing is the opposite of rest and rehab, from what I know.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And not the way I play.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I have like one of those, you know, every now and then you just get that gut that says, I think a big week's coming for someone. I'm just throwing this out there. Don Trial Inman. This could be his, his turn in the rotation on the roulette.

[Mike Wright]

Well, I mean, I would say Travis Benjamin's Grade 2 sprain and Tyrell Williams also banged up. That information would funnel towards Dontrell Inman.

[Unknown]

Yeah, no, that's. That's solid. Steve Smith didn't practice. Very surprising after the buy. This is talking about Thursday. He didn't even practice on Thursday.

[Mike Wright]

Not expecting him to play.

[Unknown]

Not expecting him to play. Mike Wallace is the guy to own there. Dwayne Allen returned to practice and big news. Ladarius Green, we thought he'd be back. Now it's being reported that there's a little chance he plays in week nine. So ho hum. If you grabbed him, hopefully you got an ir spot or something. Once he gets declared out, if he doesn't play, that's. That's what we have for the news.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, so before we get into the fantasy forecast, we're going to break down all the matchups. Want to thank today's sponsor, Avast. Avast, the global leader in digital security. They're protecting you online against cyber threats. And look, folkline, you're. We know what you're doing. You're typing away. You're searching the interwebs. You're looking for the highlights of that game last night, which some are calling the best ball, best baseball game in history. You're trying to find videos. You know, that final out, that celebration. Avast. They are quietly lurking around your system like a ninja. A ninja protecting you. Waiting silently to pounce on all these uninvited guests who are trying to get.

[Unknown]

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[Mike Wright]

That's why they're, that's why they're in.

[Unknown]

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[Mike Wright]

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[Unknown]

Thank Pristine Auction, our good friends at Pristine Auction. If you haven't been over there, pristineauction.com and browsed what's available, you're missing out on an opportunity. Even if you don't bid on anything or buy anything, it's just awesome. As a sports fan, we just talked about how much we revere sports. Seeing the different items up for bid. I just had lunch yesterday with Jared who owns pristineauction.com and when you're in the autograph business, it's the. You want to know that you're purchasing from a reputable company. A company that make sure that what they receive and what they're selling you is authentic. JSA certified. This is what they're about. You can go on. Right now, you Cubbies fans, there is a signed Chris Bryant fly the W flag on there. Can you imagine hanging that in your man cave, your woman cave, to celebrate what just happened? If you're a football fan, there is an enormous quantity of available merchandise.

[Mike Wright]

Just check out our wall, man.

[Unknown]

Just check out our wall wall.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, we got a new one up.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

Yeah, we do. We have Odell Beckham Jr. Just showed up on the wa. We got a Todd Gurley autographed jersey yesterday. So these guys are the absolute best in the business. Check it out. Make it part of your daily routine to just see what's available from your home team. Pristineauction.com P R I S T I N E auction.com Jason, you chuckled. What is going on?

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I am. I'm just saying, before you hit that next button, you need to hit a different button.

[Jason Moore]

Breaking news.

[Andy Holloway]

You've read me loud and clear, brother. Jonathan Stewart.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no.

[Andy Holloway]

Missed practice today with some undisclosed injury. But come on, J. Stu.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, wow. Oh, and our waivers just ran.

[Unknown]

I looked at the clock at the exact same moment. I was like, can I get Cameron Artist Payne real quick?

[Mike Wright]

I could have really used.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, perhaps you can get Cameron Artist Payne. He is worth a pickup. While we do not know yet what's going on. The injury history of Jonathan Stewart says that he's probably out at least six years.

[Unknown]

Was that just. Was that just on his schedule? Did he just say. Oh, you know, he was on his way to practice and his. His apple watch went off and it said, you're scheduled to miss practice.

[Andy Holloway]

His apple watch probably broke his wrist. Like.

[Unknown]

Oh, wait, what was that other injury that just came out yesterday? Mike Was a tooth injury.

[Mike Wright]

Ryan Matthews apparently missed practice with a. With a tooth problem.

[Unknown]

Tooth.

[Mike Wright]

Look, and I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna fault the man. We've. If you've experienced tooth pain, it's pretty horrendous. But it's just. It's.

[Andy Holloway]

It's a first that I've seen.

[Unknown]

You're telling me Doug Peterson doesn't eye roll for a second right there?

[Mike Wright]

Ryan Matthews. I try. I try to carry the banner for you, my friend. You got to give me something.

[Unknown]

Yeah, well, my. My starts of the week are going to reflect that toothache pretty, pretty well. Are we ready to move on? Did you have a thought, Jason?

[Andy Holloway]

I did have a thought, because you're talking about this hard to carry the banner. And we had the Cubs game last night. You realize now that the Cubs have won the world Series that in all major sports, the now longest title drought is our Arizona Cardinals.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Andy Holloway]

They are second on the list. Well, now they're first. Thanks, Cubs.

[Unknown]

All right, let's get into week nine.

[Jason Moore]

Fantasy forecast.

[Unknown]

A few quick updates for Thursday Night Football. Tevin Coleman, if you didn't hear yesterday, he is out for tonight. So it is the. I almost said you Quiz Rogers. It is the Devonta Freeman and Toronto Ward. Toronto Ward would be the backup slash. You know, he'll get some carries. He had them last week. Doug Martin, de Quiz Rogers are out. That's Anton Smith in my opinion. Now, at this point, it's not exciting, but it is what it is. And then Russell Shepard is doubtful, is that correct?

[Mike Wright]

That's what I've heard.

[Unknown]

Cameron Bray comes into the focus a.

[Mike Wright]

Little well and pronounced with an umphries certain.

[Unknown]

Certainly. Teams on by this week, Arizona, Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, New England and Washington. Just to remind you, you play a player from those teams and you'll get 0.0 points.

[Mike Wright]

You're a dummy face.

[Unknown]

And next week, if you're planning ahead for your bye week, Buffalo, Detroit, Indianapolis and Oakland. So this is the time you can go buy a player that maybe, I don't know, maybe you got an Andrew Luck and you need to grab somebody or that has a good matchup next week at the quarterback position.

[Andy Holloway]

If you have someone on Buffalo, Detroit, Indianapolis, Oakland, this week is a good time to trade them. You're coming right before the bye week. If you can get a guy who's already passed their buy. Sometimes with different options. It's too late to do on Thursdays, but that's a trick to use for the next few weeks.

[Unknown]

I agree. It's especially nice. You know, maybe it's Derek Carr's turn to, you know, maybe trade him against Denver. Yep. All right, let's get into the first matchup.

[Jason Moore]

Steelers at Ravens.

[Unknown]

All right, Steelers, Ravens, divisional matchup, 43 and a half point over, under. I expect this to be a fight. I expect this to be a fight. You got Big Ben. We just talked about him back on the field. Here's what I want to know, guys. I Yesterday on the radio, I was asked a lot of questions that were this guy okay, Antone Smith or Terence West? A lot of people asking Terence west questions. Maybe they, they're scared off from this last performance. How do you feel about Terrence west starting him tonight against the Steelers?

[Mike Wright]

I'm still.

[Unknown]

Sorry, not tonight, but yeah, yeah, I'm.

[Mike Wright]

Still comfortable doing it. Look, Kenneth Dixon is my guy. I nominated him in the election special to be a breakout. I'm not saying that this is happening this week and by all accounts, Terrence west is still the starter. Dixon is probably going to get more involved this week, but like I said, west is still the main guy. And the. The Steelers run defense is beatable, especially for fantasy. So at Ravens at home, I think west is still a fine play.

[Unknown]

Oh, there's. Go ahead, Jay.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I just want to throw in my agreement with that. I don't think west is done because of his last game against the Jets. That was a good run, D. I think Terence west is still the lead dog there.

[Unknown]

Yeah. I mean, if they give him the ball, which I. He's the leading candidate by far for carries, you're going to have some sort of production there. So what are the other storylines from this game? We already talked about Ladarius Green. How do you feel about Sammy Coates in this matchup?

[Mike Wright]

I think I'm okay, especially if it's Big Ben back. You had coats, who is. He's essentially been resting the broken finger and the laceration now for three to four weeks. I know he's been in and out of the game a little bit, but you had the bye week.

[Andy Holloway]

I.

[Mike Wright]

We haven't seen an update on how the hand is doing, but it's. I mean, it's got to be better. So I'm okay throwing him out there if you have to. I would probably rather throw it. If you're going moonshot with Steve Smithson or missing Mike Wallace, the deep threat for the Ravens going against the 26th worst passing defense in the Steelers, I would much. I would rather pivot over to that.

[Unknown]

Okay. Yeah. I mean, Joe Flacco, 44 pass attempts a game. That's first in the league. Again, they're throwing the ball and Mike Wallace should be on the other end of that. Anything else from this game you guys want to focus on or should we move on?

[Mike Wright]

Moving on. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, you're playing Love Bell at Browns.

[Unknown]

All right, Cowboys, Browns. Jason with the hot tip, starting Love Bell.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Just word wise, you're going to start him? Yeah, I'm going to. I'm going to start him over.

[Mike Wright]

Everybody D. Well, all right.

[Unknown]

The Cowboys, the Browns. The Browns are seven point underdogs at home in this game. 48 and a half point over under. And all signs point to Cody Kessler starting this matchup.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Unknown]

Congratulations.

[Mike Wright]

Well, Browns fans, he's been practicing. You got to see what you have. At this point, the season is gone.

[Unknown]

He hasn't been atrocious sure.

[Mike Wright]

And that's why you got got to keep playing. And what I would say that stinks for fantasy players because I would as a. If I'm playing Terrell Pryor or Corey Coleman, I would much prefer Josh McCown.

[Andy Holloway]

If McCown was playing, I would be willing to throw that shot in the dark Corey Coleman play. But I don't expect Coleman to do much right now with Kessler active and I need to temper my expectations. Even on Terrell Pryor, he did have good games with Cody Kessler. The problem now is that he's not the only target with Coleman coming back. I think the combination of all three of them being active with a good Dallas defense just makes me not excited about really any single player over. I would be willing to start Terrell Pryor because he's a beast, but I'm not excited about it and I don't, I don't love anyone else over there, including the running backs.

[Mike Wright]

How are you guys feeling about the Crow, Isaiah Crow? Well, look, he's had a couple good games here, getting in the end zone the last couple weeks. So for fantasy purposes, I mean, beggars.

[Unknown]

Can'T be choosers right now to running back. I mean, with the bye weeks, with the players that are injured, with Jonathan Stewart randomly missing practices, I think Isaiah Cruell, it's like Terrence West. I mean, you have volume, probably not an exceptional, exceptional performance, but he's also not going to destroy your team.

[Andy Holloway]

We have them all rated right about the same, 18, 19 and 20. You know, a low end RB2, which is great right now, like Andy's saying, considering bye weeks and other issues.

[Unknown]

So one of the things I wanted to bring up in this game is, look, Dak Prescott, we all have him in the top 10 this week.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, we'll talk about him in a little bit, but I think this is a great game for him.

[Unknown]

4 and 7. I'm guessing Jason is going to be the one talking about him a little bit.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

Okay. So on the other side of the ball, you know, with Prescott, you have Ezekiel Elliott. We don't need to talk about him. You're rolling him out there in a juicy matchup. DEZ Bryant, he's a start. It's time to stop. You know, it's nice to not have to talk about DEZ Bryant. Will he come back? He's back on the field. A great matchup. The Browns are 31st against the run, 25th against the pass.

[Andy Holloway]

One of the things that people overlook last week because DEZ Bryant had a good Game. But he only had four receptions.

[Mike Wright]

That's what DEZ Bryant does.

[Andy Holloway]

But Mike, do you know how many targets does Bryant had?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. This is crazy. What did he have? Double digit targets.

[Andy Holloway]

He had 14 targets.

[Mike Wright]

That's some. That's some poor targets.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, but the point is, is that Dak is looking his way. He is the number one target. And that's only going to bode well as their chemistry comes together.

[Mike Wright]

I was the number one target. I mean the second wide receiver on the team though.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, stop it.

[Mike Wright]

Never.

[Unknown]

You have to give up on.

[Andy Holloway]

We need to find a cure for the bezels.

[Unknown]

Yeah. That's all he needs.

[Mike Wright]

There is no cure.

[Unknown]

Time to get to.

[Mike Wright]

He's in my heart.

[Unknown]

Time to get a shot.

[Jason Moore]

Jaguars at Jeeves.

[Unknown]

Oh, Bortles and foals. Strolling down the road together. It's gonna be exciting. 45 and a half point.

[Mike Wright]

Do people actually have to over attend this game?

[Unknown]

Yeah, they do in Kansas City. Kansas City is seven and a half point over, under or I'm sorry, seven and a half point favorites. We talked about Charles and Spencer Ware. Whoever's playing, whoever is the starter. Whoever's the starter is locked and loaded. You have to love it. The Jags cannot stop the run. They're 27th against the run this year. They've allowed 1.3 rushing touchdowns per game, which is 28th in the league. It's atrocious. You know, I really like Travis Kelsey. He's my start of the week at the tight end position. So we'll talk about him shortly. What do you do with Jeremy Macklin? Is he, is he just 100% a name anymore? I mean, can you really start him?

[Mike Wright]

Look, the dirty cake, Jeremy Macklin, he's.

[Unknown]

Oh so dirty right now.

[Mike Wright]

He is what he is. I mean, if you, if you go in anticipating, I'm going to get four to six receptions and anywhere from 40 to 70 yards. I mean, that's not, that's not terrible. It's good. The problem with Macklin is just those expectations that have been built up over years. It's. He plateaued with the Eagles and just, you know, he's kind of trending down as far as fantasy production. But I agree with you that he's living right now on the name of Jeremy Macklin. But for fantasy purposes, you. You might have a better option. You might have a better option on your waiver wire.

[Andy Holloway]

You, you have a lot of.

[Mike Wright]

What is happening.

[Andy Holloway]

You have a lot of variables in this game that leads me to prefer to stay away. I'm certainly playing the Kansas City running back and I'm also going to roll out Travis Kelsey as he looked really good with Foles. But on one side of the ball you have a new quarterback in Nick Foles. You don't know how that might change the offense. Will he go to Jeremy Macklin deeper or will he, as many backup quarterbacks do, go to Tyreek Hill and avoid Jeremy Macklin and try to avoid the best defender on the other side of the field. Then on the other side of the ball for the, for the Jaguars, you have a new offensive coordinator as Greg Olson is out. Will they force the ball to Allen Robinson more? Will they take deeper shots to him? There are just so many things here that are question marks that I prefer to stay away where I don't know it's safe. I refuse to believe that Bortles will be able to garbage time against the Kansas City Chiefs the way that he did last week. So I am still very low on Blake Bortles this coming week.

[Unknown]

Do you start or sit Alan Robinson?

[Andy Holloway]

That's going to be completely dependent on who is on my team because I have him as a. I believe he might.

[Unknown]

23Rd.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, 23rd. So I mean if you have better options. Yes, but he's a start a bull player for sure.

[Mike Wright]

Alan Robinson or say Macklin or Robinson.

[Unknown]

I'd start Robinson.

[Andy Holloway]

I would as well.

[Unknown]

I was going to ask Alan Robinson or Mike Wallace.

[Andy Holloway]

That's a great question. I think if Steve Smith is out, I would probably prefer to have Mike Wallace.

[Unknown]

What about Alan Robinson or Dante Moncrie?

[Andy Holloway]

Dante Moncrie for sure. He's ahead of both of those guys.

[Unknown]

All right, any other storylines from this game you guys want to get into?

[Mike Wright]

Nope.

[Jason Moore]

Jets at Dolphins.

[Unknown]

All right, the Jazz take on the dolphins 44 and a 44 point over under. Dolphins are favored at home in this game by 3 1/2 points. Matt Forte has risen from the ashes yet again.

[Mike Wright]

Performing does.

[Unknown]

He's a Phoenix, performing very well. My pump the brakes was completely wrong.

[Mike Wright]

You got him.

[Unknown]

Matt Forte.

[Mike Wright]

No, you motivated him.

[Unknown]

Well, whatever it was, I didn't help fantasy owners with that prediction. And Matt Forte surprised me. I think he came out and he. And he's scored and that's what it takes. I mean, he's getting into the end zone, he's catching the underneath passes. This is also Jay Ajayi. His first game after back to back 200 yard games and the bye week. I'm in on a Jay. How do you guys feel? Obviously the jets have a good running Defense, this game is in Miami. Let's see where we have Jay Ajayi ranked.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, look him up because you had.

[Andy Holloway]

To tell you, Andy has him as. Both of you have him as an RB1. Andy has him at 9 and you have him at 11. So a lower end RB1. I have him at 14, which is kind of, you know, a higher end RB2. And the reason is not because of Jay Ajayi or what I watch. It really is because of the Jets.

[Unknown]

I think the jets number one run defense.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I think he's going to be much harder pressed to cut up the jets than he has now.

[Unknown]

You made a bless view. You watched Ajayi on film, analyzed every snap he's had this year. Your big point was, hey, when he gets ahead of Steam, oh, he's great. He's great. But the jets have tackled opponents for a loss on 20% of rushing attempts, which is the second most in the league. That is the opposite of getting ahead of steam. He's not. You don't get to get into the second level.

[Andy Holloway]

The counterpoint to what to my film study was that he was never able to break tackles in the backfield. When guys got back there, he was, he was down. It was very easy to tackle him without that head of steam.

[Unknown]

So it'll be a very interesting give and take there. I think they're going to. I mean, he's playing his first game without Arian Foster even in the backfield. It's going to be an interesting game. I think the workload will put him into that top 10 consideration. I don't expect 200 yards, but I think the workload will be there.

[Andy Holloway]

When you have a team like the jets, the jets are literally the number one rushing defense and the number 32 out of 32 passing defense. So I think this game is going to necessarily mold more to Ryan Tannehill, to Jarvis Landry, to Kenny Stills. You know, Devonte Parker might be a startable asset this week. Kenny Stills, we brought him up a few days ago. He's a sneaky snort.

[Unknown]

Jarvis Landry is a ranked very high for me in PPR leagues this week. I think Landry, I know he's kind of an auto start for people, I assume.

[Andy Holloway]

I feel like I don't know how. I cannot like every time I go to stat Jarvis Landry, it's seven for 77. That's, that's what I give him.

[Unknown]

Mike has him at number five this week.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I like him a lot against the jets passing defense. They're atrocious I'm concerned for a Jay. I know I have him. You have, you have him as a running back one but that's just on pure volume and maybe locking into a touchdown here so. But the passing game, like Jason said, Kenny Stills is probably my favorite moon shot this week.

[Unknown]

Final question for this game. Can you trust Quincy and Noonwa rest of the season?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. For you, as long as your expectations are not. I've got a wide receiver.

[Unknown]

What if your expectations are Decker level?

[Mike Wright]

That's too high for me.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean Decker was an absolute one but they're, they're not far from that in my opinion because he's done it the entire season. I mean he had a, he's had a few bad games but right off the bat, game one, when Decker was in there, he was 7 for 54 on a touchdown. The next week, 6 for 92. And if you look at the last two weeks, 73 yards, 93 yards, a touchdown in both games. I think you can, I think you probably should be starting a Noonwa.

[Jason Moore]

Lions at Vikings.

[Unknown]

All right. This game has one of the lower over under totals for the week. The Lions travel to Minnesota to take on the Vikings. The Vikings have a two game skid right now where they cannot produce on offense. They just, I think they're averaging the least points per game in the league. Tough, tough sledding right now. Tough keeping Sam Bradford upright in the backfield, in the pocket. So what are the big storylines from this game? One of the things that we, I feel like we have to talk about is Marvin Jones and what he started the year as and what that has forced fantasy owners to do, which I think is to lock and lock him into your lineup no matter the circumstances. Now he faces the Vikings very highly rated pass defense. So what do you do with Marvin Jones this week and what can we really expect from him rest of season in this Lions offense?

[Mike Wright]

I think rest of season you're just, you're looking at a wide receiver too. Obviously he has that upside gaining, you know, big plays 20 or more yards on 11 of his 36 receptions. Let's, I mean that's a great percentage. But then you douse that with the cold water of the Vikings defense. They've only allowed a 40 yard reception once. So people just, you can't get deep on the Vikings. Xavier, Rhodes, Griffin, I mean that the whole entire Vikings defense is tremendous.

[Andy Holloway]

Marvin Jones started the year also with a, with a pretty nice schedule. I mean he opened up with that hot game against the Colts. Week three against Green Bay, who's just had a terrible secondary this year, was his monstrous 205 yard, two touchdown game. When he has played better defenses like when he played Houston this last week and was 3 for 33. I think we see that Marvin Jones has spent his career not being a wide receiver one not being covered by really elite corners where he's always been. I mean he was. Had his career with AJ Green. Even in college he wasn't the number one on his own team. So this is a game I expect him to struggle with and I would, I would.

[Unknown]

Here's a good question for you, Jay.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure.

[Unknown]

Let's say you're flexing a player, you've got a couple wide receivers locked in and you're choosing between Marvin Jones and Theo Riddick in the same game. Riddick off the very nice week last week. Which of those two guys do you start?

[Andy Holloway]

I would much prefer to start Theo Riddick. I think both guys have the same chance at a touchdown, you know, or close to it. Maybe a slight edge for Marvin Jones, but the baseline for Theo Riddick. I know Theo Riddick is going to touch the ball over 10 times. Marvin Jones could finish the game with two catches. So I'm going to take that, especially in the flex role. I'm going to take that security since they both have decent upside.

[Unknown]

Now. We, we have taken Matthew Stafford down a peg this week obviously in Minnesota. He's our 18th ranked quarterback. We have him ranked 16, 17 and 20 individually.

[Mike Wright]

I was just going to ask what do you do with. With Matty snapback?

[Unknown]

I think you find a better option this week. Unless you just need kind of baseline numbers. I mean, I can't see myself starting him. I'd rather start Kaepernick. I'd rather start Bortles. I'd rather start Prescott. I'd rather start Rivers. There are a number of guys obviously that we have ranked higher than Matthew Safran and just comes from the matchup. That's all it is.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I completely agree. I think, man, I liked when you were looking at this matchup from last week. I thought Bradford would be a solid play. I still think he's a streamable guy. But that offensive line is just so bad. I mean you're talking and for the running game of the Vikings, you're talking historically bad right now. Their yards per carry as a team.

[Unknown]

So what do you even do with McKinnon or Asiata?

[Andy Holloway]

You know, has been. Asiata has been okay. You know, we talked about people having bye weeks and injuries and there's Not a lot of running backs. I've had to start him in a couple of places the last two weeks and he's been fine with McKinnon being back. This is a game where because the opposing defense is so bad, they might be able to break free and have some production. So I think you could do worse than starting McKinnon or Asiata.

[Unknown]

You could do worse.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

All right, we've got solid endorsements. One more game to preview on today's show of the rest of the matchups tomorrow. And we also have our starts of the week here momentarily.

[Jason Moore]

Eagles at Giants.

[Unknown]

All right, let's talk Eagles, Giants. The Eagles are favored in this game in New York.

[Mike Wright]

Interesting.

[Unknown]

And if I had not already used my almost upset of the week on the Buccaneers for tonight's game, I would certainly use it on the Giants in this game. You have Eli Manning taking on the rookie Carson Wentz. We have the backfields that are in a sorted array of, I'm not sure for both sides.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's pretty gross.

[Unknown]

And then you kind of have the locked and loaded guys. Jordan Matthews, I think is startable this week. The giants are only 22nd against the pass and then Odell Beckham Jr. Is obviously in the lineup. Can you have any confidence about the other wide receivers in on either side of the ball?

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Unknown]

You really haven't seen Shepard come out and give you a fantasy, a fantasy worthy performance, nor Cruz.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, these guys, it's hard to trust either. So to the point of I'm not going to play, I'm not playing anybody else, I'll play Jordan Matthews and Odell Beckham and then I'm going to avoid.

[Unknown]

If possible, at the running back position. You have to pick one on both sides. Which guys are you picking?

[Andy Holloway]

It's definitely going to be Rashad Jennings for the Giants. He has. He's been okay. If you look at how he started the year and then he got injured and then came back with a bad matchup, I'm not, you know, we were a little bit higher on him and I think the injury has kind of given us this recency bias where we forget that he might actually be a pretty good running back now, this isn't a great matchup for Philadelphia. So that's more the reason that I have him a little lower in my rankings. But I believe in Jennings going forward. So this is this, you know, you could do again. I think Jennings is a guy you.

[Unknown]

Can start Jennings or either of the Minnesota running backs.

[Andy Holloway]

I would take Jennings. I think Darren Sprols is electric, but he can't take that kind of pure RB1 workload on a regular basis. The Giants have a pretty good run defense, and I have no trust in Ryan Matthews or any other.

[Mike Wright]

He's the guy. Jason.

[Unknown]

Doug Peterson said, look, we're about to get into starts and we'll talk about the actual guy in that backfield. So I don't see another huge storyline here. You're not starting Zach Ertz. If you. If you want to ask me whether you start Zach Ertz, the answer is no. Yeah, I had a couple questions on that yesterday. He's not on the same page with Carson Wentz. It's not the Bradford Ertz combination we saw last year. It's the opposite. I mean, you have. Other than the first week where Ertz got hurt, it's just been terrible for that combination. So I don't see anything else that we need to get into here. Do you guys see anything?

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's do it.

[Jason Moore]

Starts of the week.

[Unknown]

All right. These are the guys we have confidence in. In week number nine, we have each selected a player at quarterback, running back, wide receiver and tight end to dish out to get behind. Who wants to start this thing off?

[Mike Wright]

I'll jump off the building here. That was weird.

[Andy Holloway]

That's great. Way to kick it off, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

I will start this segment with the quarterback. Look, I'm going famous. James, he plays tonight. Atlanta is allowing an average an average of 300 yards and over two touchdowns per game. Jameis Winston is. Has been getting it going of lately. I know that he is. He can be a hot, cold type of guy, but I'm expecting a big game from him and Mike Evans tonight. And if I was. We don't. We don't know what the running game is. So I look for them to have to lean on the pass a little bit more.

[Unknown]

If I was cooking a fantasy stew, I want to mix in one part. Defense is going to give up points, so Tampa is going to give it up to Atlanta.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Unknown]

One part no running game and then one part Mike Evans. I mean, this is.

[Mike Wright]

This is the perfect one part Mike Evans.

[Unknown]

This is the recipe for success at quarterback. So you have to be behind Jameis Winston. I think he's been in the headlines for us for a few weeks now.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. With all. He has so many plus matchups and there are more to come with him. So if you hold on to Jameis.

[Unknown]

Just saying now, Jason, you have my stream of the week. No, I'm sorry, somebody.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, no. He was not streamable because he Was too.

[Mike Wright]

We all wanted to stream.

[Andy Holloway]

We all wanted to stream this guy, but his ownership was just slightly too much. We recommended that you stream him over our streams of the week if he's on your waiver wire. Because he's actually my number four. People have quarterback this week.

[Mike Wright]

They've not recovered yet from those streaming.

[Unknown]

Yeah, I should say his name now.

[Andy Holloway]

The DAC attack. The DAC attack is back. Dak. To the future Dak Prescott. Dak Prescott started. He started the year as far as throwing the ball really safe. Right there was all this, look, he's not throwing interceptions. He's managing the game well. In his first three games, how many passing touchdowns did Dak Prescott have? One. You are correct. It is one in his first three games. In his last four games, you kind of have that mentality of, oh, he throws a little bit. He has eight touchdowns in his last four games. He also has two more touchdowns on the ground. So he's averaging two per game through the air. He's pretty much averaging then half a touchdown a game on the ground. And he faces the Cleveland Browns. The Cleveland Browns. Give up.

[Unknown]

Who does he face?

[Andy Holloway]

The Cleveland Browns.

[Unknown]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

Their defense is a delight for fantasy. And so I have no hesitation starting Dak Prescott. You've got DEZ Bryant back. This should be a monstrous game going with Philip Rivers.

[Unknown]

Okay. There is a perception that Tennessee is an upper echelon passing defense. It hasn't been the case over the last three weeks. Tennessee has given up eight touchdowns, including three in each of the last two weeks. The quarterbacks, I understand Bortles, bortled up a few garbage time ones last week against them, but look, Philip Rivers is the top 10 quarterback already on the season. Tennessee's defense is softening up. This game's at home in San Diego. I really love the potential for Philip Rivers and would start him with confidence this week.

[Mike Wright]

Love it.

[Unknown]

So we've got Rivers, Dak Prescott and Jameis Winston. Let's move on to the running back position. I alluded to it. The man to own in Philly and this is a bit of a leap, right? You have sometimes these start of the weeks or shoe ins.

[Mike Wright]

I'm surprised you're starting Ryan Matthews.

[Unknown]

I'm not starting Ryan Matthews. I'm going with Darren sprouls. Darren sprolls 15 carries last week against Dallas. No toothaches. All of his teeth are clean and healthy. No plaque. Look, Darren Sprols is just Darren Sprouls. He does what he does. 6.7 yards from scrimmage per touch. That's fourth in the running back position out of 42 qualified. He just plain gets it done. He always has and no one wants to give him the rock. It's like a Justin for set circumstance where the mindset is you can never give him a workload. But he's, he's produced. And look, Doug Peterson came out and said this week it might be time to kind of say out loud that he's the guy as opposed to saying.

[Mike Wright]

That he was a coward.

[Unknown]

Yeah. And said he's going to get Ryan Matthews going. I'm going with Darren Sprols. I think he's worth your consideration this week as well.

[Mike Wright]

I am looking at that decision of Ryan Matthews and Darren Sprouls in my money league.

[Unknown]

What's it?

[Mike Wright]

Pbr, It's a half point and I'm starting Darren Sprouls.

[Andy Holloway]

If I had to choose between those two guys only I would also choose Darren Sprols. I don't necessarily agree about the start. Darren Sprols, he certainly could have a big game. I just think it's a tough, a tougher.

[Unknown]

You guys both have him outside. Well, Mike has him at 22, Jason 28. I have him at 15. So clearly my start of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

I will take it next. I'm going with Carlos Hyde. People worried about the injury. He is practicing in a non contact jersey and you might go, is, you know, is he back? Should I worry? Are they going to.

[Unknown]

Can he play in that? Do they let you play in the non contact? Because that would be my. Move it to the must start number.

[Andy Holloway]

One running back of the week. That would be incredible.

[Mike Wright]

You can't touch him. No touchy.

[Andy Holloway]

So Carlos Hyde is going to be fine. He was. He missed the Tampa Bay game. He had the bye week. Given those two things, the fact that he's already had a buy and he missed a week. He's already got six touchdowns on the year and he faces the New Orleans Saints who have given up 12 touchdowns on the ground alone. So Carlos Hyde is a guy I think we haven't got to see him with. You know, Colin Kaepernick's getting more into the offense. They're. They're running him more, doing more of the zone reads. I believe that he's going to fit this system really nice with Kaepernick. He should have him. He should have a great game. I would not be afraid to start him at all.

[Mike Wright]

Now you kind of ruined my shtick here, Jay. You didn't really read through my starts here. I did not because I was going with a combo, a cuckoo combo of Dr. Ingram and Mr. Hyde. Oh, I'm starting them both.

[Unknown]

Ingram and Hightower?

[Mike Wright]

No, no Hyde.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, just that game. You. You. Well, you took two, I stole one.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. So I won't talk about Hyde anymore. But look, Mark Ingram. I'm still starting him. I still have confidence that Sean Payton will not be a. Ingram came out.

[Unknown]

Today and took full responsibility for his own benching and said he's known since Pee Wee that you can't fumble if you want. If you want to play. But that's what you want to see, right? From a coaching perspective. You want to put a guy back in the game, he takes responsibility for his own bench.

[Mike Wright]

Mark Ingram is still the starting running back for the New Orleans Saints, and they still get to go take on the San Francisco 49ers.

[Unknown]

Those things have not changed.

[Mike Wright]

No. And the 49ers are the worst running defense in the history of the entire world.

[Unknown]

Is that factual?

[Andy Holloway]

I think I looked it up.

[Mike Wright]

That's being hyperbolic, but they are for sure the worst rushing defense on the year. So I like Mark Ingram in this contest and I'm just. I still have the confidence to throw him out there. That's all I'm saying.

[Unknown]

All right, let's move on to the wide receivers. Jason, you want to kick this one off?

[Andy Holloway]

Sure. I'm going to go with the one. The one that stinks. Look, we got to stay in the flames here with Devonte Adams.

[Unknown]

I love it.

[Andy Holloway]

He's clearly become an important part of the Green Bay packers offense. He has now the absolute trust of Aaron Rodgers, and he's going up against Indianapolis in a game that should just be. Be juicy. It's 54 points is what Vegas has set the over under at. That is the highest. Have we. Have we seen it that high this year? I can't. I think.

[Unknown]

I don't know if we've seen it.

[Andy Holloway]

Over 53 and a half. I remember a 53 and a half as well. The point is Vegas is saying, look, they believe this game is just going to be points flying on the board. And even if Devonte Adams does not get a touchdown like he did not last week, if he goes out and gets 12 catches again, sign me up. So I believe he has a. Has a really good game, and I do think he will get a touchdown this week. So start your Devonte Adams.

[Mike Wright]

What has helped for Devonte Adams is Aaron Rodgers. You know that. That massive protection that he gets, he. Where he has eight seconds to throw the ball when he Throws it. The camera kind of cuts away. But if you saw what he was doing, he's down there, he sits, he holds a vigil, he lights candles and he's praying that Devonte Adams will catch the ball. He does this every. Really helped him every time he throws in the ball. So that's been paying off.

[Unknown]

He is catching the ball. I know 12 of 14 targets last week.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, the one who stole.

[Unknown]

Who's your start of the week at wide receiver? Mike?

[Mike Wright]

I'm going with Creef. Dante Moncrief, love it. Look, the Green Bay, the secondary, they are very beatable. Ty Hilton is banged up, may not play, but even if Ty Hilton plays, he could just be a distraction as he was last week. Moncrief back from his. His shoulder scapula injury. He's the go to red zone target for Andrew Luck. He scored again. So in two full games this year, Moncrief has scored and he would have scored twice if there wasn't a ridiculous holding call on a 45 yard touchdown last week. He's been my guy all year. We finally get to unleash him again. So I'm starting Dante Moncrief.

[Unknown]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and start Stefan Diggs this week. I don't believe that Diggs is somebody that you can rely on week in and week out. And I think he's going to hurt fantasy owners in the long term if you are relying on him as the one or two. That being said, this week's matchup against Detroit, what I saw from a seemingly healthier stuff and Diggs last week, I'm going to go with it. And it's a bit of a gut play. It's a bit of the fact that Detroit's defense has given up 19 touchdowns to the wide receiver position this year, which is most in the league. I like that the game's at home. He looks offense, I think. I mean, he looks healthier.

[Andy Holloway]

He looks offense.

[Unknown]

He looks healthier and the offense should perk up at home. So you have, if he, if he.

[Andy Holloway]

Comes on strong, then we're going to look for more guys in the future that look offense.

[Unknown]

You want to look offense.

[Mike Wright]

I was going to say looking offensive can help you play football.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he wasn't looking offensive is looking offense.

[Unknown]

I'm going with Diggs. I'm going with digs. After eight catches on 13 targets last week, I'm going to, I'm going to give you my tight end. And this is a. An endorsement of Zeus, Travis Kelsey's, my start of the week. Tight end position this week with foals in the game. For the majority of last week, Kelsey was 7 for 101 with a touchdown. Here's the thing that's nice about Travis Kelsey has the fourth highest reception rate on targets amongst tight ends. So he is the definition of a safety blanket for a an incoming quarterback. I like it for. I like Kelsey to have a consistent week. He's my start of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

I like it a lot. I'm going to go with my guy in Kobe Fleener. Kobe Fleener.

[Unknown]

I thought about it.

[Andy Holloway]

He's had some big games. He's had some bad games. How do you know when those games will come? Well, I think one good indicator of that is if you look at his two monstrous games. One came against the Atlanta Falcons. Really kind of easy to beat secondary. The other came against Carolina. A really easy to beat secondary. And now he gets the San Francisco 49ers. Sign me up for some Kobe Fleener. You know, we say it before but he's the type of guy where in a. In a sea of mediocre fantasy plays at the tight end where you're hoping for kind of touchdown. I would much rather play the upside chance of Fleener with the chance that he goes out and just has four fantasy points than other guys. But this week I expect he will get it done.

[Unknown]

It was a very. I'm going to temper that slightly just with this information now. I agree with you. He's more about efficiency than he is quantity. Last week Josh Hill played a career high in snaps. 61, 61, 80%. Do you know what the snap count was for Kobe fleener last week? 34%.

[Andy Holloway]

It was the exact same for the Carolina game. Carolina game. Josh Hill vastly out snapped him and that was when he had 6 for 74 in a touchdown. That's just the role that those players have been playing snap wise.

[Unknown]

Well, he certainly can't block.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. You're not bringing Kobe Fleener in to run the ball.

[Unknown]

No. Maybe this was like a package deal. Hightower comes in and you just put Josh Hill in the game.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. All backups.

[Unknown]

Yeah. So Mike, round out our starts.

[Mike Wright]

All right. My start of the week. A question for you and the Flint Clan. Everybody out there.

[Unknown]

Who.

[Mike Wright]

Who's playing? The Detroit Lions.

[Unknown]

That's the Minnesota Vikings.

[Mike Wright]

That's the tight end. I'm going to start Kyle Rudolph. Look, Detroit is absolutely the bottom of the barrel when it comes to defense against the tight end position. You're talking a tight end whenever When a team has played Detroit, which they do that frequently, a tight end has only not scored twice.

[Unknown]

Wow, he's really looking offense to two.

[Mike Wright]

Of eight games the Lions have not allowed a touchdown to the tight end. Kyle Rudolph is. That's what he does. He's a touchdown machine with Sam Bradford. So that's my start of the week.

[Unknown]

Well, you know, I close the show out. If it were not for a very, very important seg.

[Jason Moore]

Jason Moore's ironclad locked and loaded, 100% guaranteed boom boom kicker of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh yeah.

[Unknown]

Nobody has more respect for the kicker position than Jason Morrison. Jason, give us your locked and loaded 100% guaranteed boom boom kicker of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, you know, last week I went with the old guy, 43 year old.

[Unknown]

Anthony Hopkins, Adam Bennett, Terry, the number.

[Andy Holloway]

One quarter or the number one kicker. Sure. And he stunked. So this week I'm not going with him. I'm going with a 41 year old kicker who's number two, and that's Matt Bryant, actually. He should have a monstrous game. Mike has had a theory that has been proving true week in, week out, which is the Thursday night game. One of the kickers on the Thursday.

[Mike Wright]

Night game pick the favorite team.

[Andy Holloway]

Pick the favorite team. And that kicker in has been performing. Given that that kicker is also currently the number two kicker on the year and that he meets my requirements of being over 40 years old.

[Unknown]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

Matt Bryant.

[Unknown]

Matt Bryant's your boom boom loaded.

[Andy Holloway]

Boom boom kicker of the week.

[Unknown]

AARP kicker of the week. All right, that does it for today's show. Remember this afternoon on Twitter at the FF Ballers, we're going to have a special. Just let me get to it. Let me get to. I said on Twitter.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Unknown]

At the ffballers, you follow us and then you'll see the periscope pop up. It's very easy. All right, you can do it on just periscope.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll take them out back.

[Unknown]

We're gonna sell. We're Gonna celebrate our 300th show with some giveaways answering your fantasy questions. Mike will be. I think you're saving the beard for 300, right?

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yes. Yeah.

[Unknown]

Is that what I heard?

[Mike Wright]

Stay tuned for that. And also stay tuned for. I can grow a full giant beard overnight.

[Unknown]

Okay?

[Mike Wright]

So don't be surprised when it's back tomorrow.

[Unknown]

All right? It's like Westworld. They take you in and they put you back together and your beard, your beard is back every. Every morning.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, shout out fantasy jocks. Thank you for sponsoring the studio. The promo code is Footwallers.

[Unknown]

See you later.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter @the ffballers.