Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Election Special, Pump the Brakes, TNF Preview

Summary

Podcast Summary: Fantasy Footballers - Election Special, Pump the Brakes, TNF Preview

Podcast Information:

• Title: Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast
• Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
• Episode: Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Election Special, Pump the Brakes, TNF Preview
• Release Date: November 2, 2016

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Introduction

In this special episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright delve into a mid-season "Election Special." They introduce various fantasy football categories to debate and vote on, provide strategic insights through their "Pump the Brakes" segment, share essential news and updates, propose crucial rule changes, and preview the upcoming Thursday Night Football (TNF) game.

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Election Special Overview

The core of this episode revolves around a mid-season election where the hosts present and debate candidates for different fantasy football categories. Listeners are encouraged to participate by voting on Twitter at @theffballers.

Categories and Candidates:

1. Second Half Breakout:

   • Jason Moore: Jeremy Hill. Highlighting Hill’s potential after a rejuvenating bye week and favorable matchups ahead.

     [18:06] Jason Moore: "Jeremy Hill has shown flashes this year that he's... a winter running back."

   • Mike Wright: Kenneth Dixon. Emphasizing Dixon's emerging role and favorable upcoming schedule.

     [20:14] Mike Wright: "Kenneth Dixon is the future of the running back position for the Baltimore Ravens."

   • Andy Holloway: Alshon Jeffrey. Pointing out Jeffrey’s opportunity to reclaim his touchdown form with improved matchups.

     [21:29] Andy Holloway: "Alshon Jeffrey is primed for a second half breakout."

2. Second Half Slowdown:

   • Jason Moore: Ty Hilton. Citing Hilton’s dependence on teammates and tough future matchups.

     [25:38] Jason Moore: "Ty Hilton's production is heavily tied to his teammates' performance."

   • Mike Wright: LeGarrett Blount. Predicting a decline due to challenging upcoming defenses.

     [28:01] Mike Wright: "LeGarrett Blount is on a record pace, but the slowdown is coming."

   • Andy Holloway: Jordy Nelson. Questioning Nelson’s continued relevance despite his touchdown output.

     [25:43] Andy Holloway: "Jordy Nelson has six touchdowns but faces tough second-half defenses."

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Pump the Brakes Segment

In this segment, the hosts discuss players whose value might decline in the upcoming weeks, advising listeners to consider trading them or lowering expectations.

• Jason Moore on Matt Ryan:

  [05:27] Jason Moore: "Matt Ryan is one of my probably top three ranked quarterbacks this week, but his production will be down shortly."

• Mike Wright on Derek Carr:

  [06:28] Mike Wright: "Derek Carr is not matchup-proof and has a string of difficult matchups ahead."

• Andy Holloway on Tim Hightower:

  [07:41] Andy Holloway: "Tim Hightower has historical fumble issues and limited long-term value outside of a handcuff."

---

News and Notes

The hosts cover significant fantasy football news, including player performances, injuries, and team changes.

• Jamal Charles' Retirement:

  [09:31] Andy Holloway: "Time to say goodbye to Jamal Charles for 2016. Disappointing news for many fantasy owners."

• Player Updates:

  • Trent Richardson: Jared Richardson remains unsigned after competitions with other running backs like Bishop Sankey.
  • Carlos Hyde: Expected to return soon, with Dejuan Harris emerging as a reliable alternative.

  [12:40] Jason Moore: "Dejuan Harris is one of the under-the-radar players you should own if Hyde misses."

• Bears’ Jordan Howard:

  [13:07] Andy Holloway: "Jordan Howard has a strong hold on the number one RB job, but his performance should continue to be solid."

---

Rule Change Proposals

The hosts introduce potential rule changes to improve fantasy football scoring systems, sparking debate among themselves.

1. Prop 25 by Jason Moore:

   • Proposal: Quarterback passing yards should be scored at 25 yards per point, aligning more closely with rushing yards.

     [32:24] Jason Moore: "Why do quarterbacks only get 10 rushing yards per point but pass yards require 25?"

2. Andy Holloway’s Proposal:

   • Proposal: Defenses should not be penalized for points given up by their own offense.

     [34:37] Andy Holloway: "Defenses should not be penalized for points that were given up by their own offense."

3. Mike Wright’s Proposal:

   • Proposal: Reduce the value of touchdowns from six points to four to decrease unpredictability in fantasy scoring.

     [36:07] Mike Wright: "Touchdowns are worth too much and make fantasy predictions harder."

Discussion Highlights:

• Jason Moore supports Prop 25, arguing it better reflects quarterbacks’ contributions.
• Andy Holloway agrees with differentiating defensive scores from offensive plays.
• Mike Wright suggests lowering touchdown value to four points to enhance predictive accuracy.

Quotes:

• [32:24] Jason Moore: "Prop 25... Quarterback passing yards should be scored at 25 yards per point."
• [34:37] Andy Holloway: "Defenses should not be penalized for points given up by their own offense."
• [36:07] Mike Wright: "Touchdowns are worth too much... time to make things a little bit less fluffy."

---

Fantasy MVP Candidates

The hosts debate which player is most likely to be pivotal for championship teams, defining the "Fantasy MVP" as the player that will be on the roster of teams that win the title.

Candidates:

1. Philip Rivers (Jason Moore):

   • Rationale: Consistent performance despite injuries, favorable playoff schedule.

     [43:31] Jason Moore: "Philip Rivers this year is going to be your fantasy MVP."

2. Mike Evans (Mike Wright):

   • Rationale: Evolving into a dominant fantasy performer with favorable playoff matchups.

     [43:43] Mike Wright: "Mike Evans is evolving into a dominant monster beast."

3. Tyler Eifert (Andy Holloway):

   • Rationale: Key difference-maker at tight end with strong red zone presence and consistent performance.

     [45:17] Andy Holloway: "Tyler Eifert is the guy that will be on more fantasy championship teams than anybody else this year."

Quotes:

• [43:31] Jason Moore: "Philip Rivers this year is going to be your fantasy MVP."
• [43:43] Mike Wright: "Mike Evans... evolving into a dominant monster beast."
• [45:17] Andy Holloway: "Tyler Eifert is the guy that will be on more fantasy championship teams than anybody else this year."

---

Preview of Thursday Night Football (TNF)

The hosts analyze the upcoming matchup between the Atlanta Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, discussing key players and potential fantasy impacts.

• Key Players:

  • Mike Evans vs. Julio Jones:

    [47:08] Andy Holloway: "Mike Evans versus Julio Jones in this matchup."

  • Running Backs:

    • Tevin Coleman: Andy advises against starting him due to injury concerns.

      [47:06] Andy Holloway: "I would not roll out Tevin Coleman due to his injury."

    • Freeman: Expected to perform well if healthy.

      [47:49] Mike Wright: "Freeman will have a fantastic game if he's healthy."

• Strategic Insights:

  • Mike Evans is highlighted as a must-start given his matchup against a weaker Falcons defense.

    [48:35] Mike Wright: "Mike Evans... will be taking on the Saints twice and elevating your team."

  • Mohamed Sanu: Suggested as a potential breakout due to Falcons' defensive vulnerabilities.

    [50:04] Mike Wright: "Mohamed Sanu is interesting here because of the upside."

---

Mailbag Segment

Listeners submit questions regarding player trades and start/sit decisions. The hosts provide personalized advice based on current week performances and injuries.

Notable Questions and Responses:

1. Nick from Orange County:

   • Question: Is Mark Ingram worth trading for Terrence West?
   • Response: Andy Holloway and Mike Wright advise against it, emphasizing Ingram's continued relevance.

     [54:20] Andy Holloway: "No, I would not."

2. Requester: Should Todd Gurley be traded for LeGarrett Blount and Kelvin Benjamin?

   • Response: Mixed responses suggesting it depends on team needs, but generally leaning towards not making the trade.

     [55:30] Mike Wright: "No, probably not unless desperate for a wide receiver."

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Conclusion

The episode wraps up with final thoughts on the TNF matchup, reiterates the importance of upcoming elections and votes on Twitter, and reminds listeners to engage with the Fantasy Footballers community for ongoing advice and updates.

Closing Quotes:

• [56:37] Mike Wright: "Shout out to Fantasy Jocks Footballers."
• [56:43] Jason Moore: "Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast."

---

Notable Quotes:

• [05:27] Jason Moore: "Matt Ryan is one of my probably top three ranked quarterbacks this week."
• [18:06] Jason Moore: "Jeremy Hill has shown flashes this year that he's... a winter running back."
• [43:31] Jason Moore: "Philip Rivers this year is going to be your fantasy MVP."
• [47:08] Andy Holloway: "Mike Evans versus Julio Jones in this matchup."

---

Final Notes: This episode is packed with strategic discussions, player evaluations, and interactive segments designed to enhance listeners' fantasy football experience. By engaging with the mid-season elections and "Pump the Brakes" advice, Fantasy Footballers provide valuable insights to help listeners make informed decisions for the remainder of the season.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Foot clan. Today's show is brought to you by our friends at Harry's. Look, I've been using Harry's for years now. Absolutely love them. And Harry's is so confident in the quality of their blades that they'll send you their popular free trial set, which comes with a razor, five blade cartridge and shaving gel. Go to Harry's.com right now. Enter the code Footballers at checkout and claim your free trial set and post shave balm. That's a bonus right there. Go to harry's.com code footballers.

[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.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome to the show. The fantasy footballers Andy, Mike and Jason back again.

[Mike Wright]

Good day.

[Andy Holloway]

Talking Indians and Cubs, the whole show.

[Jason Moore]

I do think we need to get our predictions.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yeah, it's good.

[Mike Wright]

Is that tonight?

[Andy Holloway]

Game seven tonight. I woke up this morning making breakfast for the kids and in the kitchen with the wife. And I said, I just know something's going on tonight. What do we got going on tonight? What's on the calendar? She's like, I don't think we have anything. And it took me a couple seconds. I go, that's right. I mentally made plans to watch game seven of the World Series.

[Mike Wright]

Breaking news for me.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

This will be the first baseball game I've watched all year and there's still no guarantee that it's going to happen.

[Andy Holloway]

That's just because much like your fantasy prowess, you. You pick your spots.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

And you are going straight at the ultimate pinnacle of sports.

[Mike Wright]

Is. Is Johan Santana still on the Twins?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Yep.

[Mike Wright]

That was the last time I knew what was going on.

[Andy Holloway]

He's still on the Twins and they're in the series.

[Mike Wright]

Probably losing to the Yankees.

[Andy Holloway]

Pedro Martinez and Greg Maddox tonight.

[Jason Moore]

Wait, tune in the Twins. So Kirby Puckett's plan.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, Puckett is in there, too. Yeah. It's kind of a whole. It's a fantasy team. That's what they do now. Welcome to the show. No, we're not talking baseball or fantasy baseball or anything of that sort. Because these guys over here, they just couldn't. They couldn't really happen.

[Jason Moore]

I've watched the whole series.

[Andy Holloway]

I am amazed. I went to lunch with Jason and he told me this and I was like, no, bull crap. I was like, you're a liar.

[Jason Moore]

You're like, who's their pitcher?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I asked him. I'm like, okay, what did the pitcher. I knew he probably wouldn't remember the name, but I'm like, what did he look like?

[Jason Moore]

I think.

[Andy Holloway]

And he described Jake Arietta and I was like, wow. He watched sports.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to go. Beard.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

A hat.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I have definitely.

[Jason Moore]

I think these are the first five baseball games I've watched in my life.

[Andy Holloway]

He didn't even see the Diamondbacks World Series victory back in the day, which was my greatest sports moment. So. All right, digressing here. Welcome to the show. We have a. This is a special episode.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. We've got, we didn't announce it.

[Andy Holloway]

If there's one thing we're known for, it's politics.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah, that's all ready.

[Andy Holloway]

Fantasy football politics. And we've got an election special. We're doing some mid season elections here. We're going to debate the, the merits of our candidates. And you guys can vote on Twitter @ the ffballers, please.

[Mike Wright]

You get out. You got to rock the vote.

[Andy Holloway]

Gotta rock the fantasy football. Yeah, that's still, that's the saying. So that's going on today. We have our Pump the Break segment. Right off the bat, we have news and notes. Catch you up on everything that's happening in the fantasy football universe. And I'm excited, I'm excited for today. It'll be jam packed. It'll be fun.

[Jason Moore]

It's a big day.

[Andy Holloway]

And it's, it's November 2nd somehow, also known as the day when it starts to cool off in Arizona.

[Jason Moore]

It was a little chilly this morning for the first time all year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, Yeah. I am still wearing shorts, so. Oh, yeah, that's another rest of the year thing. All right, so look, it's Wednesday, which means it's the segments you know and love.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, oh, oh. O'Reilly, O'Reilly Auto Parts.

[Andy Holloway]

Well done. Well done. All right. It's Pump the brakes with O'Reilly. Every week we're looking at some of these guys that maybe you need to slow, slow the groove on the rock.

[Mike Wright]

Would say slow your roll.

[Andy Holloway]

Slow your roll. Just look, every week we've got our waivers. Now I want, we want to pump the brakes, Jason.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

I want to hear who your pump the brakes candidate is for this.

[Jason Moore]

My pump the brakes candidate.

[Andy Holloway]

Hold on, let me fan you.

[Jason Moore]

It's pretty hot. How about I pump the brakes on the number one quarterback in all of fantasy football?

[Mike Wright]

Be careful.

[Jason Moore]

He has been on fire. And now I'm talking about the cold one, Matty Ice. Matt Ryan. I'm pumping the brakes on Matt Ryan. Now hear me out. I love him this week. Okay. No, no, no. But trade deadlines are Coming up. Okay, so you might have your trade deadline after this week and you might not be able to get value for it. You know, two weeks, three weeks from now, you might not be able to trade him because your deadline is over. But his value is super high. People are loving him. The matchup is so juicy. He's going to be one of my probably top three ranked quarterbacks this week. But following this week, he has a month long stretch, just like Drew Brees saw where you know, he's got a great end and a great beginning but kind of a hard middle. And so he's on by next week. Right. So it's really hard to trade a guy on by you. You can always trade them a week before the buy.

[Andy Holloway]

Production will be down.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Followed by Arizona, whose defense has been really good. Kansas City after that. By then they'll have Justin Houston back. They're great. And then la. Now the last two weeks in the fantasy playoffs. Matt Ryan is good. So I'm not saying, hey, get rid of this guy, he's going to hurt you or crap your team. I'm saying that if you want to capitalize on value, you're going to have a bad month stretch of Matt Ryan or at least, you know, not where he's coming in as hot as he is. So if you can, if you can get supreme value for the number one quarterback in football, it'll probably pay off for you.

[Mike Wright]

So this is your pump the brakes. Today is almost like the crash tests because you're still full throttle this week.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

You're going maximum speed and then just.

[Jason Moore]

That's right. No, I'm not going er, I'm going right in that wall. Just going.

[Mike Wright]

All right, fair enough. I'm sticking to the quarterback theme here. Derek Carr, send it in the car. Look, yes, Voice of public opinion, but.

[Jason Moore]

He was, he just threw for 500 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. You're an idiot.

[Mike Wright]

He certainly did. But I'm still not bought into Derek Carr being matchup proof. We have three weeks of him just destroying your team. That, that was against Tennessee, Kansas City and Jacksonville. So we know that it's not just plug and play. We don't have the new Tom Brady here. And Derek Carr, it's not happened just yet. And here is what Derek Carr is looking at for his schedule. Upcoming schedule. Denver, bye week, Houston, Carolina, Buffalo, Kansas City. This is a string of very difficult matchups. His playoffs, his playoff schedule looks fantastic. But I'm just saying you're gonna, you gotta pump the brakes a little bit on Your expectations for Derek Carr in the next coming month or so.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, my pump the brakes is gonna be Timmy Hightower. Timmy coming fresh off of what you know, many, many of you are signing him today. I understand that. I think he needs to be signed and I think if you're an Ingram owner, you really need one stone handcuff. But let me tell you why I'm pumping the brakes on Tim Heist.

[Jason Moore]

Please do, because I have claims on.

[Andy Holloway]

Him in all of, well, he's, he's 26 years old. He signed a $16 million contract and his historical lifetime fumbles, five, counting the two over the last two weeks. He's not a fumbler. Tim Hightower didn't get into the end zone and I think you see a bounce back performance and workload from Ingram. They don't want to strip this team of a weapon by punishing him beyond measure here. So this is a guy that's been paid. This is a guy that will be paid 3 million next year, 4 million the year after. It's, it's a.

[Jason Moore]

You're talking about Mark Ingram.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm talking about Mark Ingram where Tim Hightower, he has earned some playing time and he will be in a platoon type of situation. But Mark Ingram's the lead dog for me and so I'm. My pump the brakes is encouragement for Mark Ingram owners because I don't believe that you're going to see Mark Ingram fall off of the fantasy relevance, fall out of fantasy relevance, fall out of even a top 15 type of guy. So I'm pumping the brakes on Tim Hightower because I think while this week you can roll him in there as a flex because there's enough production to go around against San Francisco, I don't think it's going to be a long term value outside of a handcuff for Tim Hightower. And so that was Pump the brakes with O'Reilly Auto Parts. Better parts, better prices every day with O'Reilly, Derek Carr, Tim Hightower and Matt Ryan.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league.

[Andy Holloway]

Lots going on, lots of headlines. Want to remind people? You can find breaking news and information on our twitter@the ff ballers on the website the fantasy footballers.com and a shout out to all of our incredible writers at the website. New articles every single day, Snap count articles, articles for DFS and GPP picks and lots of great stuff happening every single day over atthe fantasy footballers.com it it's time to say goodbye to Jamal Charles for 2016. Oh man, this is just disappointing and sad on My.

[Jason Moore]

So we had an election special. We had an election special early this March.

[Andy Holloway]

April, right after the season in March.

[Jason Moore]

This is our category.

[Mike Wright]

It was more like a primary special.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, this is our mid season election special today. But way back then we had a bounce back candidate and this was mine, Jamal. And he did not get elected.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Jason Moore]

He's out.

[Mike Wright]

A shocking upset.

[Andy Holloway]

James Andrews and the doctors there, they don't know why he is still experiencing pain in the. In the surgically repaired right knee, but they are going to have another surgery that will be exploratory to try to determine the cause of that pain. You saw yesterday, several running backs work out for the Chiefs, including T. Rich. If I had the. If I had the.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, you don't have it.

[Andy Holloway]

Hold on, hold on. I. This is worth the.

[Mike Wright]

Well, we. You got to have audio of Trent Ratchet or Trent Richardson's.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, I did get some exclusive audio.

[Mike Wright]

We found it. We found the feed.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, there it is. And he's making a cut and he's coming back to the ball.

[Mike Wright]

His motto is cut into the butt because he wants to cut right in the back of his offensive lineman.

[Andy Holloway]

This is all for not. He was not signed. Bishop Sankey, so close. Yeah. You get. You have the elite talent. Bishop Sankey outworking him for a roster spot.

[Jason Moore]

Well, and you also have Spencer Warehouse currently still in the concussion protocol. So I believe they've signed another. I think they signed two running backs. We'll continue to monitor Spencer Ware through the week to see if he's.

[Andy Holloway]

I think Spencer Ware is going to play. I really do. I think you have to own Char west if you are a Spencer Ware owner. And I think the upside of if Ware is ruled out is so high with Char west that you have to own him. But agree, I do think Ware is going to play. I wish I had time to have you make a drop for this segment called where in the World is Nile Davis?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, there you go.

[Andy Holloway]

It's bringing back memories. So the jets claim Nile Davis only to release him that day. The jets signed C.J. spiller and Nile Davis is just on a plane circling the US Waiting to parachute out.

[Mike Wright]

Niall, man our sympathies if Nile Davis.

[Jason Moore]

Gets picked up by another team. That will be four teams in two weeks.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's special stuff right there. Carlos Hyde is expected to be back. He was wearing a non contact jersey, but the expectation is that he'll play this week. We're going to monitor it. We're going to let you know what we hear. Dejuan Harris has earned more opportunities in the backfield. He's the guy that I would start in lieu of Carlos Hyde. And so you can probably pick up Dejuan Harris in your, in your leagues fairly easily.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, he's 100% because he's one of.

[Andy Holloway]

Those under the radar kind of. You know, Mike Davis was signed last week. Sean Drone, the big salad. But I think Duan Harris is the guy to own if Hyde was to miss another game. All right, ESPN Bears reporter Jeff Dickerson reports Jordan Howard has a stranglehold on the number one running back job. You know who's really good at messing up strangleholds? John Fox.

[Mike Wright]

If. If by stranglehold you mean a, a very loose grip with oil covered hands, I buy in.

[Jason Moore]

I really do.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean it should.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Like a normal scenario should absolutely be just locked and loaded.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Let the league in touches.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, I obviously did not. I. We all three like Jordan Howard as a player. All three of us, I think do not really have the confidence in John Fox to get that done or have not. That being said, you know, the Bears went with that whole top down investigation where they're looking at the whole team. They're bringing in people. This was before this last game. And they're saying we gotta, we gotta look. We might need to do a complete change over gm coach everybody. We're looking at everybody and all of a sudden you beat the packers. And you do that on the, on the heels of Jordan Howard looking like a superstar or. Yes, I'm sorry, the Vikings. You do that on the heels of him looking like a superstar. I think that helps commit him to Jordan Howard. If this news is now coming out in this bye week. That is locked and loaded. I am officially buying into him being the cliffhanger.

[Andy Holloway]

It would be nice for.

[Mike Wright]

I'll say for next week he will start. That's my confidence.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure. Yeah. After that game, Doug Peterson. Guys, good news. Ryan Matthews is quote, still the guy. We've got to get him going.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, Doug Peterson.

[Jason Moore]

Liar, liar. Doug Peterson on fire.

[Mike Wright]

Here's, here's how you get a guy going. You give him more than eight snaps. Where is the difficulty in this?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's, that's a fair point. I'm definitely, I've started my rankings for this week and Darren Sprols is well above.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I went to. What is it? Fact check.org and you verify that I verified this is a liar, liar, pants on fire.

[Andy Holloway]

Maybe he meant he's still a guy.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, that's true.

[Andy Holloway]

He's still A guy. We've got to get him going out of town. Maybe that's what he was saying.

[Mike Wright]

And I have no problem at all admitting I'm a Ryan Matthews truther, but this is just absolute. So as the Met Ryan Matthews truther, this, him saying these things is so infuriating that you're like, oh, yeah, we got to get him going. I'm just not ever gonna play him.

[Jason Moore]

I'm telling you this.

[Andy Holloway]

But he's still a guy.

[Jason Moore]

There's gonna be three more games this season. There's going to be three more games this season where he gets 16 carries. And you're never going to know when it is. And it's going to infuriate every Ryan Matthews owner.

[Andy Holloway]

Big news this morning. North Turner has resigned as offensive coordinator. You have to wonder if this wasn't a respect situation where, yeah, it's like, we're not going to fire you, right? Give you the opportunity to resign. But the offense isn't doing anything of note. We need to make a change. Maybe a disagreement with the head coach. Pat Shermer has taken over as the offensive coordinator. You know, he's a West coast offense guy. He coached Bradford in both St. Louis and Philly. So it's a good fit for Bradford or knowing what Bradford can do.

[Jason Moore]

There's enough talent there to be able to do more than what they're doing now. I know they have offensive line struggles, but if you do implement the right offense, specifically that type of west coast where you get the ball out quick and you just kind of move the ball as fast as you can, you've got digs, you have Laquan Treadwell. I mean, who was a first round pick who hasn't even seen the field between Bradford and Kyle Rudolph. You should be able to move the ball more than they have been doing.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, that's it for the News and nose. Unless the News and nose, the News and notes, unless you guys have anything new that has broke, broken over the last five minutes.

[Mike Wright]

Nope. I'm looking. Nope. All right, Steve Smith, senor remains sideline.

[Andy Holloway]

Interesting. Wednesday's practice, that is.

[Jason Moore]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Andy Holloway]

That's unfortunate. I did not expect that at all. Upgrade to Mike Wallace. All right, here we go.

[Jason Moore]

The Footballers Election Special.

[Andy Holloway]

Ask not what your players can do for you. Ask what your players can.

[Mike Wright]

What you.

[Andy Holloway]

I met. I wasn't born born then, so I can. I can mess it up. All right, Election special.

[Mike Wright]

Four scores, seven years on my bench.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, what. How many categories do we have here?

[Mike Wright]

We have four categories.

[Andy Holloway]

So we are going to each present a candidate for these four positions and you will vote on Twitter and share your opinions on who you believe should win each of these elections. So the first, the first item here, the first opportunity here is for a second half breakout. And so we're gonna elect a second half breakout. We've each selected a candidate. We're going to. We'll do this shortest to tallest. So Jason, kick it off.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, all right.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I'm going to come with a curveball here and I'm not going with who is in our. Wow is in our document.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my goodness. This is unprecedented.

[Jason Moore]

Yes. I've taken Jonathan Stewart off of the ballot who was my original guy. You got to.

[Mike Wright]

We have a write in candidate I.

[Jason Moore]

Still believe but I'm asking for a right in candidate for a breakout performance from one Jeremy Hill. Jeremy Hill has shown flashes this year that he's. That he still got it. He has really been struggling over the last month with some injuries, some weird things where it's like he seems to.

[Andy Holloway]

Come off the field every play with a shoulder injury but then goes back.

[Jason Moore]

In shoulder or chest or something like that. Well, right now is the perfect, perfect time of the year for him to have a bye week, rest up, get right. And we've seen it before. We saw in his rookie season when you've got the type of running back that Jeremy Hill is, he's a winter running back. Right. He's a cold weather, beat you through the middle, run it down your throat type of running back. His schedule is certainly not scary. He's got, you know, the Giants and Cleveland and Pittsburgh. He's got some games here coming off of this by that, I think he's going to be able to be a breakout guy. He's got the talent. He's shown it. In fact, the last two weeks he's been pretty darn good against Cleveland and Washington. So he is who I am asking for your vote for the breakout candidate the second half.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. All right. I like it. I think that's a good selection there.

[Mike Wright]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm not sure he's going to win, but nice, nice decision, Mike. Why don't you give yours?

[Mike Wright]

I am going out on a limb here. I am not, I'm not falling victim to the two party system. I am jumping ship and I am going independent, going very, very independent because I'm going with a guy who has done literally nothing the entire season.

[Jason Moore]

Bold move, Cotton.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going with Kenneth Dixon. All right, look, he is the future of the running Back position for the Baltimore Ravens. I know that Terrence west has looked different, he's played different. You did have the. The poop fest that he left before the bye week. And that led Coach Harbaugh to say, we got to get Dixon going.

[Andy Holloway]

Quote, I would love to see Kenneth Dixon on the field more, unquote.

[Mike Wright]

What is with these coaches? Like, you know, I'd really like this.

[Andy Holloway]

Like, like, it's out.

[Mike Wright]

You're in charge.

[Andy Holloway]

Idiot.

[Mike Wright]

Good grief.

[Jason Moore]

Misinformation.

[Mike Wright]

So Kenneth Dixon, and here's what I like about him. You have four prime running back matchups, including these two next weeks. Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns. They get to play Cincinnati in a few weeks and Pittsburgh again in week 16. These are. These are matchups where Kenneth Dixon can succeed, the Ravens can get it done on the ground. So I'm calling, I'm calling for you, Harbaugh. Put him in the game. See what the young man can do. And I want the breakout. I'm calling for the breakout of Kenneth Dixon.

[Andy Holloway]

You know why Harbaugh says it like that, right? He's waiting for the election. If you elect Kenneth Dixon to the breakout, oh, Harbaugh will get word and then he will be able to actually act and put him into the game.

[Jason Moore]

If that's the case, then I change. I take Jeremy Hill off the ballot.

[Andy Holloway]

You vote for Kenneth Dixon. You want to see Dixon to. Is he on a roster?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he's on my daughter.

[Mike Wright]

Was this a Bruce Arian situation where he's locked eyes with Terrence West? I would love to see Kenneth Dixon on the field.

[Andy Holloway]

So Jason went with Jeremy Hill. Mike went with Kenneth Dixon. My candidate for a second half breakout is none other than Alshon Jeffrey.

[Mike Wright]

Love it.

[Andy Holloway]

Alshon Jeffrey, the poopiest of pants. I took a look at the top 20 wide receivers. There are, I'm sorry, in targets, right? There are only two whiteouts in the top 18 in targets that only have one touchdown. That's Jarvis Landry, which we know touchdowns are not his game. And Alshon Jeffrey, who's always been a touchdown machine. That's what Jeffrey does. It's an outlier that he is in the top 18 in targets and only has one touchdown. And now you have Cutler back a better than a top half strength of schedule in the second half in terms of passing matchups and the defenses that he's facing. He is primed for a second half breakout, a positive regression back to his norm, getting into the end zone, being a go to target. You've seen Cam Meredith's target Count go down. Despite being the second guy in that lineup, I'm going with Alshon Jeffrey. I think he's the second half bright breakout candidate that you need to elect.

[Mike Wright]

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[Andy Holloway]

The hall's the worst.

[Mike Wright]

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[Jason Moore]

Yeah. We also want to thank today's other sponsor. It is nature box, a new sponsor to our show.

[Andy Holloway]

Andy, you have used subscribe to nature box for I remember a year ago.

[Jason Moore]

You were on it. And look, fook Lynn, you know I talk about my snack count, right? My snack count. I keep it 100, 100% on my snack count. You want to know how I do it? It's naturebox. Naturebox is a monthly subscription box to awesome snacks. Here's the thing is like we all want a snack, right? But every snack that's normally in my house is junk food. It's garbage. What am I supposed to rely on myself and my self control to not eat that? I'm gonna eat that stuff. My snack counts 100%. So instead I've got good, like, seriously, no joke, awesome snacks from Naturebox that are truly delicious and actually not going to destroy me. We're talking, I mean they've got everything ranging from like salt and vinegar veggie chips all the way to baked goods where you can get little, I saw bite sized Belgian waffles. Like little Belgian waffles, snickerdoodles. And my favorite right now is the jalapeno cashews. Point is this really unique awesome snacks that are delivered to you. And right now you'll save even more because Naturebox is offering the Foot Clan 50% off your first order when you go to naturebox.comfootballers so that's naturebox.comfootballers for 50% off your first order. Naturebox.comfootballers alright, we did our second half breakout.

[Andy Holloway]

Now we're moving on to the next position up for election here. The second half slow down.

[Mike Wright]

I can't imagine people want to be elected for this though.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, this is more, this is.

[Mike Wright]

Like the sanitation department. They just. Someone's got to do it.

[Jason Moore]

I feel like this, this is more like that. You're off the island voting youg know you're elected. It's still an election, right?

[Andy Holloway]

Sure, sure, yeah. You just don't want to be that.

[Mike Wright]

His name, Jeff Probst. Yeah, the ageless wonder.

[Andy Holloway]

The tribe is spoken and the tribe is chosen for me. Jordy Nelson. Now look, it's a trap danger. It's a trepidatious world. But my second half slowdown candidate is Jordy Nelson. Jordy Nelson is the opposite of Alshon Jeffrey to me right now where he is leading the league in touchdowns at the wide receiver position with 6. His second half schedule is the second most difficult against opposing wide receivers. You have Hugh, his playoff matchups, Houston, terrible Seattle at Chicago and then Minnesota in week 17. So if you play through to week 17, you're rewarded with Minnesota is what I'm saying. He's been shaky yardage wise and while he's always a threat to score, you still have Adams and Cobb and Montgomery and Janice, Janice and more mouths to feed there. I don't buy into him as an elite option. In other words, when you have six touchdowns, you have that inflated score. Go take Jordy Nelson, package him with somebody else and go get an actual stud like AJ Green.

[Jason Moore]

So let me ask you this. Would you then, based on your two nominees for two different categories, would you trade Jordy Nelson for Alshon Jeffrey straight up?

[Andy Holloway]

That's an amazingly good question and the answer is no. Only because I can get more for joining.

[Jason Moore]

You would just ask For Alshon plus something?

[Andy Holloway]

I would try to do that.

[Jason Moore]

Or would they try to go above Alshon?

[Andy Holloway]

I would try to go above Alshon first. But in a vacuum, if you're just telling me I've got them both on my bench, I got to start one the rest of the year, I'm choosing Alshon.

[Jason Moore]

Jeffrey, I will say this. If you're locked. If you're locked and loaded for the playoffs, you know, if you've got one loss right now and you're on your way, I think in the playoffs, Alshon outscores Jordan Nelson.

[Andy Holloway]

So that is my second half slowdown candidate. I know it's an unpopular pick. Everybody loves Jordy Nelson. You want to keep him around camp, I say vote him out.

[Jason Moore]

Ooh. So, so sorry, Hordey. All right, Mike, who you got for your second half Slowdown?

[Mike Wright]

I'm going with a man who has been on a tear, a career tear, that is LeGarrett Blunt, a man who I have supported through thick and thin of this fantasy season.

[Andy Holloway]

He's more on the thick side.

[Mike Wright]

He is.

[Jason Moore]

He is.

[Mike Wright]

But he gets it done. Here's the problem I have for LeGarrett blunt. First is the bye week. As we've talked about, production goes way.

[Andy Holloway]

Down, certainly way down. But he's on. I mean, how many touchdowns does he have this year? Nine. I believe it's nine touchdowns so far. He's on.

[Mike Wright]

Like I said, he's on a record pace for his career. Coming out of the bye week, though.

[Jason Moore]

Seattle, that's no good.

[Mike Wright]

You get it. You get a reprieve here. Nice, juicy San Francisco defense that is ripe for running backs.

[Andy Holloway]

However.

[Mike Wright]

New York jets, it's not.

[Jason Moore]

Los Angeles Rams, not good for running back.

[Mike Wright]

Baltimore Ravens, not good for running back.

[Jason Moore]

Denver Broncos, not great for running back. New York jets, not good for running.

[Mike Wright]

There is a situation. There is a marky mark, George Clooney level perfect storm brewing against LeGarrett blunt. That is why I am telling you, If I had LeGarrett blunt and I can still move him, this guy's a running back one right now. People see him and they. They think huge value. The touchdowns are going to. They come flowing like wine, nonstop for LeGarrett blunt. But I'm. I feel like the slowdown is coming. The slowdown is happening. So I would try and get value for him while I can. Looking at that schedule, I just. I just. I want out.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's remember it's second half slowdown. It's not a bust. This guy's not falling off the end of the he's not. It's somebody that's not going to deliver on the value they provided in the first half of the year. So Jason, who is your second half slowdown candidate?

[Jason Moore]

Exactly what mine is. I think he's going to be serviceable, but I'm talking about the number five wide receiver is not going to keep up the pace he has so far and he's going to let you down the second half of the year. That is Ty Hilton. And I know what you're thinking. You're going, wait, Ty Hilton is the number five wide receiver? Why yes, he is. At least in half point scoring he is number five. And look very similar to my pump the brakes on Matt Ryan was the fact that he's got a good matchup this week. And he does. I think Ty Hilton's good this week. After that he has a bye week. Followed up with Houston, which is not good, followed up with Minnesota. So you've got a bad stretch. But not just that. That's not the only reason why I think he's going to have a letdown for the second half of the season. Based on what we've seen, a big part of it is because the other people around Ty Hilton have all been injured. Dwayne Allen has gone out for a couple of games. Dante Moncrief has been out pretty much this entire season. Now you have Moncrief coming back. And if you look at Ty Hilton splits since 2014, in games where Dante Moncrief plays and in games where Dante Moncrief does not, you're talking a crazy variance. 13.8 fantasy PPR points per game is what Ty Hilton scores when Moncrief is in the game, which is still, like.

[Mike Wright]

You said, that's a serviceable number.

[Jason Moore]

That's absolutely fine. But when Moncrief is out, including this season, he's averaging 24.46 fantasy points per game. So that's the Moncrief we've or that's the Ty Hilton we've been seeing. I think we go back to earth with kind of a solid wide receiver 2 type of guy rest of season.

[Andy Holloway]

What's amazing is in the games that Moncrief played, 32 of them, you have five receiving touchdowns. In the games where he doesn't play, you have 11 and that's only seven games. So you're talking about. I see those touchdowns seem to boom, boom.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So you have your second half slowdown candidates, LeGarrett Blunt, Jordy Nelson, Ty Hilton we'll put those up on Twitter, let you vote for your candidate. And now it's time for something a little different. We're going to get to the president.

[Jason Moore]

All right, I love this.

[Andy Holloway]

We're going to get to the fantasy MVP which we're defining as the player that will be on the roster of the teams that win the title this year. The player that we think is going to be that difference making fantasy most valuable player. However, before we do that, we are going to introduce a new category here. And this is a. We're electing a rule change to the world of fantasy football.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

A rule change that needs to happen that maybe is outside the box. Maybe it's something that's bugged us for a while. Without further ado, what are you guys offering up on the ballot for a crucial rule change? You know, this time of year election, you don't just elect the president, you're voting on props. You're voting on laws that are gonna change.

[Mike Wright]

Change the landscape.

[Andy Holloway]

Change the landscape.

[Jason Moore]

So Jason, I'm going to go with Prop 25. Okay. Prop 25 says that quarterback when they. So when they pass, they need 25 yards to score a point. Well, why do they only need 10 rushing yards to score a point when in real life it doesn't, it doesn't benefit your team anymore if the quarterback scrambles for 10 yards in that first down or if he throws the ball for 10 yards in that first down. The reason why quarterbacks have different scoring for when they pass the ball and rush the ball is because of systems. Right? When the system convenience it was these are rushing yards and rushing yards are scored this way. These are passing yards, passing yards are scored that way. It wasn't as easy to just say, oh, okay, well the quarterback, you know, will put his rushing yards different than other rushing yards. But the reality is this. I mean, plenty of leagues nerf quarterbacks, right? The four points versus the six point touchdown. If my quarterback is Tyrod Taylor and he goes out and he throws for 175 yards and rushes for 60 in the real world, he has had a putrid game. He has 235 yards of total offense. That's what my quarterback did for my team, 235 yards, that's not helping my team win. But we're going to give him fantasy points as if he threw for 325 yards. That's a great game. 325 yards is really good. So I just think it's silly. You've got these guys like Tyrod Taylor, who. He's not a top 15 quarterback in real life, but he is a top 15 quarterback super often in the NFL. I think it's silly. I say Prop 25. All yards for quarterbacks should be 25 yards per point.

[Andy Holloway]

Interesting. Interesting. It's a. You have some points in there. I don't know if I'd vote for it, but we're going to find out if our listeners would.

[Jason Moore]

This one's out of the. You know, I don't. I've never heard that one before.

[Mike Wright]

Which? Yours?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, do you want to take the. You want me to go first?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you go ahead.

[Andy Holloway]

Mine. Look, it should just pass. All right. At this point, I think everybody, everybody here agrees that it should be on the ballot and should go through. And this is a simple one. And not every league, not every league format specifically, as far as I know, ESPN does not permit this change in their settings. And if they did, it would be enacted for me. And it is simple. Defenses should not be penalized for points that were given up by their own offense. Okay? If, for example, I have the Rams defense and my defensive scoring is based on the yards that the Rams defense gives up and the points they give up. When Case Keenum throws a pick six, it should not reflect negatively on my defense because they had nothing to do with the play. Okay? But a lot of leagues, including the ones we play in, they don't separate points that way. And it should be a setting. I believe it's available in either yahoo or NFL.com and I don't remember which one it is, but I'm calling for all systems to adopt a very simple quality, a simple distinguisher, so that when Case Kingdom throws two picks, it doesn't reflect negatively on the Rams defense. Okay? For fantasy purposes. And so that is my contention. That is my.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's a unanimous. That should pass.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that should pass. So, Mike, you're going, you're. You're going out there a little bit.

[Mike Wright]

I'm in the weeds with this one.

[Andy Holloway]

You're shaking the trees. What do you got?

[Jason Moore]

I actually really like this.

[Mike Wright]

Listen, World America fantasy football players. I believe that touchdowns should not be worth six points.

[Jason Moore]

But, But Mike, touchdowns are worth six points. Like in life.

[Mike Wright]

I understand that. And that's the way it has been when you had a touchdown only league. You got your six points. I think we've evolved from since then. I think that, that the times have changed. It's time to upgrade our scoring. It's time to make things a little bit less fluffy.

[Andy Holloway]

Time of year when fantasy experts wear man buns. I mean, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And beards and they look great. And let's have the scoring be great again with touchdowns being worth less. This is not a completely unprecedented thing. Jason referred to the quarterbacks. There's a lot of leagues and you call it standard scoring. A quarterback touchdown is worth four points. Well then all of a sudden my wide receiver touchdown is worth six points. Let's just bring them all down to four points. Let's. Let's level the playing field. It's almost unanimously agreed upon that that touchdowns are the hardest thing to predict in fantasy sports.

[Jason Moore]

And so you're just saying that touchdowns are worth too much. And I will say this. If you're not in any kind of PPR setting. I had a league that. This was a couple of weeks ago. I think Gary Barnage got 6 for 67. No touchdown, but 6 for 67.

[Mike Wright]

Solid tight end game.

[Jason Moore]

He was an integral part of their game and did well. And then there was this other guy who got a. Joe Blow. Joe blow got a 17 yard touchdown. 11 for 17 and he outscored Gary Barnage. He was not involved all game. He did get the touchdown and at the end of the day I would have been better off playing that guy because he got a random touchdown with one pass and I think that was his first pass in his career. He outscored Gary Barnard. She went 6 for 67. So maybe some massaging is there.

[Mike Wright]

It's interesting because I have some support here.

[Andy Holloway]

It's disrupting to my sensibilities of like what I'm used to.

[Mike Wright]

I get.

[Andy Holloway]

However, I will say this. If Touch Chancellor were three points and I'm that that changes the way if they were worth three points, guess what? We're all more accurate in our predictions.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, for sure we would.

[Andy Holloway]

You could go to the bank. It would change it to where the more you knew, the less variables there were, plain and simple. I mean the less very. Because predicting that touchdown is the hardest thing to do because you can have an incredibly great week and not score. Look at devonte Adams. Okay. Did devonte Adams have a better or worse game this past week than the week before? He was 13 catches versus 12 in the past two weeks. His fantasy numbers was 32 versus like I don't know, 16, something like that. Because he scored twice the week before, almost the same production in terms of total catches. It is an interesting argument. I will give you that it does disrupt my sensibilities.

[Mike Wright]

I completely understand that it is a jarring suggestion. But I Just now, would you go.

[Andy Holloway]

With Prop 3 or Prop 4?

[Mike Wright]

Look, I was trying to ease the people into this.

[Jason Moore]

I was saying Prop 5. I would just barely do it because this, I think this is kind of. I think I was going undone by half point scoring. Right. Like half point scoring automatically helps. You know that. Six for 67. He's got an extra three points. So I feel like that's already taken care of. This. I'm not sure I would vote this in. I think I would vote no. But it's interesting.

[Andy Holloway]

If I had to make a strong argument against. It would just be the fact that, look, in the NFL, a touchdown is worth more than a 10 yard run and. Or it just means so much more and it's more exciting for fantasy owners. When a touchdown happens, you can change the score. Right? Like if you took touchdowns out, it just.

[Mike Wright]

No one said, I'm not taking your touchdowns away. I am not.

[Andy Holloway]

You're saying regulate them.

[Mike Wright]

The Second Amendment is fine. I'm not taking anything away.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, my goodness.

[Mike Wright]

Just saying.

[Jason Moore]

Let's, let's, you know, the prop.

[Mike Wright]

Some more restrictions.

[Jason Moore]

You know, the prop that is not on the ballot, that maybe next year should be brought up on the ballot.

[Andy Holloway]

Don't bring up kickers.

[Jason Moore]

No. Oh, goodness. That's already. That they should be. They should be done away with. No, I actually like, since we're talking about all this rule scoring format stuff, I actually like the idea, which is now possible. Didn't used to be. Of first downs being a bonus point.

[Mike Wright]

That does happen some places.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I know it's because of the. But I mean real life importance, you know, Pop quiz.

[Andy Holloway]

Who's the number one player wide receiver in first downs this year?

[Mike Wright]

I actually know who that is.

[Andy Holloway]

You do?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I want to hear it.

[Mike Wright]

A.J. green.

[Andy Holloway]

It is. It's A.J. green.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean, because.

[Andy Holloway]

Illustrating the importance of going to a guy on third down.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, exactly. Those, those guys, you know, like Antonio Gates. You know, when it's third down, you're going to Gates and that matters.

[Andy Holloway]

That always a fun balance between simplicity and understanding the scoring and rewarding things that matter. So there you go. Touchdowns being worth less points. As Mike's suggestion, I said simple defenses shouldn't be penalized for points given up by their own offense. Jason went with Prop 25. Don't reward quarterbacks more for running yards than passing yards because it disrupts kind of what you know to be true about good quarterbacks. So. All right, we're moving on to our final category. The most important spot here. The President, the Fantasy mvp. The player that we believe will be on the roster of teams that win. Look, every year you have some player that led in terms of the. The most teams that had that player.

[Jason Moore]

A couple years ago, Odell Beckham Jr. Oh, he was on the vast majority.

[Mike Wright]

Of championship team and then David Johnson last year. There's players that things just align. The moon, the stars, Jupiter, they all line up and you have a huge end of the fantasy season and these people go down in glory.

[Andy Holloway]

So we have three candidates. I'm going to let Jason kick it off.

[Jason Moore]

All right. I'm going to kick it off. Here's the thing is that normally, year after year, it's not always your studs that are the guys that really helped you win. It's the kind of lesser, the lesser player, the less important role that really steps up because it allows all your studs to do what they've always been doing. And that to me is going to be this year. It's going to be Philip Rivers. Philip Rivers has been ho hum. He's been okay, actually, if you've been watching the games, I think he's been fantastic. He looks really great. He's had to deal with all of his weapons, whether that's Keenan Allen or Danny Woodhead or the offensive line. He's had to deal with so many injuries and he still looked good. He's had to play Denver twice already and in both of those games he looked fine. He wasn't. It wasn't too big for him. He's been great. But his playoff schedule, considering the fact that he's already played Denver twice and has been good starting in week 13, which is usually. That's when early playoffs start. That's Tampa Bay. That's great. Then for most playoffs, which are the next three weeks, Carolina, which is I believe the last place right now, like the worst passing defense, then Oakland, then Cleveland, you have a complete sweep home run for the quarterback position. Philip Rivers is available on waivers on many leagues right now, or I should say on some leagues. He's probably cheap to acquire and get because he hasn't been fantastic. When you're coming off of, you know, two games out of four against Denver, I think Philip Rivers this year is going to be your fantasy mvp.

[Andy Holloway]

I feel like I'm going to need to go last here to have a chance in this category. So Mike, take it away.

[Mike Wright]

I am going with one of my largest man crushes of the season and it just continues.

[Andy Holloway]

A large man indeed, because he's a.

[Mike Wright]

He'S a big guy. Look Mike Evans. You want to know why I knew the AJ Green stat? Because I was actually just looking that up for Mike Evans, who is second in the league in first down receptions. At 37, he is tied for the league lead with six touchdowns. For wide receivers, the Mike Evans is evolving into a dominant monster beast.

[Andy Holloway]

Man, that's some genetic. We're talking malformations happening there.

[Mike Wright]

Look, we know he was stuck in an evolution one last year. He skipped two. We're already to evolution three.

[Andy Holloway]

You've got my son's interests right now.

[Mike Wright]

And what Mike Evans gets to do in the fantasy playoffs is play against the New Orleans Saints twice.

[Andy Holloway]

Twice.

[Mike Wright]

People, I know you've heard us saying this all year long, but now it's actually approaching. This is a reality that is quickly approaching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Mike Evans will be taking on the Saints twice. I think that if you get into the playoffs, Mike Evans is a guy that is going to elevates you and you're going to jump on those monster shoulders of his and he's going to say hold tight and he's going to waltz you into a fantasy championship with those delicious matchups and mucho, mucho touchdowns. I love Mike Evans as my fantasy MVP this year.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, well, look, I. I'm going with a guy. Look, last year you said David Johnson was on a lot of championship teams. You know who else was on a lot of champions?

[Mike Wright]

And he was an unexpected.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. You know who else was? Jordan Reed and Kirk Cousins. Right. Those were two of the biggest. The biggest players on fantasy teams. Yes, the most important players on fantasy teams. You need difference makers at specific positions. And I think Tyler Eiford is the guy that will be on more fantasy championship teams than anybody else this year because of what he offers fantasy owners. Red zone presence, yardage presence. Now that Mohammed Sanu and Marvin Jones has gone, I'm going to take the leap and say that Ifert will help you close the gap on the teams with Gronk, with Olson, with Reed. He's in that category for me. A difference maker on that offense. With the different pieces in place, it's the AJ Green show. It's the Tyler Ifert show on big third downs this past week. Jason was all over it. Tyler Ifert was the man this week back into that regular rotation. I think Ifert's going to be a difference maker for fantasy owners. And if you held on to him or you can grab him off of waivers or whatever the case may be, he's probably gone at this point. But if you can acquire him. I would acquire him with the mindset that you're getting a fantasy mvp, a difference making player which I know is a bold statement for that tight end. But it's time to jump on board.

[Mike Wright]

I love it.

[Andy Holloway]

It's old Mike Evans, Tyler Ifer, Philip Rivers, those are the candidates. We'll put all these up on twitter @the ffballers and check those out. We're going to preview the Thursday night game now and we'll get. I will answer a few mailbag questions too.

[Jason Moore]

Who does that sound who's playing Falcons at Buccaneers.

[Andy Holloway]

The falcons. The Buccaneers 51 1/2 point over under Thursday night bonanza.

[Mike Wright]

My fantasy MVPs in this game.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes he is. Mike Evans versus Julio Jones in this matchup. Game time decision for Tevin Coleman. I would not roll him out there. I've had a lot of questions from listeners saying hey I'm on the fence. Do I, you know try to play Coleman? Look, I take the week off with seven Coleman and game time decision or not, I don't trust him in this matchup coming off the injury. So that's my call on Coleman. Do you guys disagree?

[Jason Moore]

No, I agree. I don't anticipate that he will even be active but if he is, it would be a risky play.

[Andy Holloway]

What about the other side of the ball? Look, a lot of question marks at the running back position. You expect Freeman to be happy and healthy?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, yeah. Freeman will have a fantastic game. He's a loaded and locked in either order running back one until Tevin Coleman comes back. Even when Coleman comes back, we know that Freeman's been fantastic. The Buccaneers running back situation Foot Clan I wish I could give you a definitive answer but we have received no answers on what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to do at running back. There's a case to be made for all these guys. Anton Smith, huge play guy but he's a scat back. He's smaller in stature. Peyton barber looked great two weeks ago. Rattled off that huge 40 plus yard touchdown. The prototypical bigger guy we just. But there's there's been no tea leaves rattling in the studios letting me know where it's going to be.

[Andy Holloway]

So what tea leaves do they rattle?

[Mike Wright]

Rattle.

[Andy Holloway]

They rattle around. Have you got some old tea leaves my friend? Those are petrified.

[Mike Wright]

They're a little crispy.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. All right. So no, no clear direction on.

[Jason Moore]

I think either one is worth a shot play if for this week while there's so many bye weeks and you're going do I want to go with A guy that, you know, I think he's. He's always involved and maybe he'll go out there and get me six points. I would rather play either one of these guys. And they might. They might completely. They might go out there and score two. But I could see either one of these guys going off for a good 15. I'm going to put Anton Smith first, but Barber probably has, I think, first crack the first opportunity and will be more of the first and second.

[Andy Holloway]

I leaned the Smith way pretty heavily myself. So you can kind of tell even from that that it's a tough decision. It's a tough pick. Would you rather start one of those guys over another flyer like CJ Pro size?

[Jason Moore]

Yes, I would rather start them over. Process.

[Andy Holloway]

What about Chris Thompson?

[Jason Moore]

Hmm. Well, this week.

[Andy Holloway]

He's on by this week, so I'm gonna go.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I was waiting for it.

[Andy Holloway]

That's a fair point.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going. Thompson.

[Andy Holloway]

I had scatbacks on the mine.

[Jason Moore]

I too, like to live. Dangerous.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. Okay. All right. What are the other headlines from this game? Austin Hooper gets to start at tight end for Atlanta, which is Cameron Braid on the other side. I'd take Braid over Hooper, sure, but.

[Mike Wright]

I think Hooper is a fine shot in the dark going for the moon. Julio Jones. I think this is the headline of the game is Julio Jones. He had the knee injury. They're saying it's a bruise. He's expected to play, but how effective will he be? We know that Julio gets banged up frequently throughout games. He. He doesn't tend to miss unless he has, you know, a catastrophic, catastrophic foot injury. But he plays through the injuries, but he's not always effective. He turned into a decoy for the second half of the game. That's why I think Mohamed Sanu is interesting here as a wide receiver. 3 play. Because of the upside. The Buccaneers defense, they allow huge plays which they're allowing passes of 20 or more yards on over 11% of passes. I mean, like these things can happen for Mohammed Sanu and we know that. That Matt Ryan is not afraid to take a deep shot. We saw Gabriel get his. A huge shot when you went Julio. No, that's Gabriel.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that was great. That pass was great.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, that was my exact reaction. What happened? So it's. I think that. That Sanu is an okay wide receiver. Three this week.

[Jason Moore]

Sanu was my number one pickup this week in our writers league. I am playing him. I agree. I think that he is going to have a decent game this week.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I'm going to put myself out on an island. I've been, I think, pretty perfect on the entire year, but this is going to be mine.

[Jason Moore]

Andy's almost upset of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

Chance for Tampa to close the gap in the division. They're three, four. Atlanta's five and three. Tampa is at home. They're only three and a half point dogs. I like the opportunity here. I think that there's enough firepower. I think Mike Evans is going to eat. The Falcons defense is allowed 2.4 touchdown receptions per game, which makes them 30th in the league. This is going to be a firefight. I think Tampa has a chance to win this game.

[Mike Wright]

Getting buck nasty.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm getting crazy, guys. Antone Smith time. All right, let's move on.

[Jason Moore]

Mailbag. Mailbag.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Jason Moore]

Whoo.

[Andy Holloway]

I should have let that go. I am apologetic.

[Jason Moore]

That hot.

[Mike Wright]

You never know.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, mailbag time. If you have a question for the show, head to the website thefantasyfootballers.com click the submit a question button. You can also dial our voicemail hotline, 302464, TFFB. We're gonna answer some questions today. Let's start with a voicemail question right now.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, guys, how's it going?

[Andy Holloway]

This is Nick from Orange County. Just had a quick running back question. I own a lot of stock in McCoy, and with last week's performance, I would just want to know if Gillispie is a legitimate.

[Mike Wright]

All right, guys.

[Jason Moore]

Love the show.

[Andy Holloway]

Thanks. I love it. Yeah, Gillesley is a hand.

[Mike Wright]

Look, the guy performed. And if the Bills could have kept the game somewhat close, Gillislee would have kept on. On rolling. So I think that he. If McCoy's out, Gillislee is. You just throw him in there. You got. If there was the. The only question for Gillislee was, will the Bills commit to him? Will he actually be that guy? You have Williams, the rookie, Reggie Bush, maybe these guys are in play.

[Andy Holloway]

But it was.

[Mike Wright]

It was the Mike Gillisley show. So I think strong handcuffs.

[Jason Moore]

Gillisley will be the guy I have. I hesitate to make him a true handcuff because, you know, I think Shady's going to be back next week, if not this week, because they're stupid. But I hope he's not back this week. But my point is, if he misses this week, that's Seattle and that's Seattle in Seattle. Far cry. Different than the Dolphins run D he had to face. So I am thinking that he's. He's a.

[Andy Holloway]

The.

[Mike Wright]

You mean the Patriots or.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, the Patriots at home.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you finish. You're going to finish the sentence you said, I'm thinking he's going to be. And then you just stop.

[Jason Moore]

I am thinking that he's going to be a borderline, you know, RB3 this week.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, guys, I got something to say.

[Andy Holloway]

I see what you said. Okay. All right, Stephen and Chandler wants to know trade offer to give Mark Ingram to get Terrence West. Would you do it? No, I would not.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Jason Moore]

Make it unanimous.

[Andy Holloway]

Matt in the Gold Coast, Australia.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my goodness.

[Jason Moore]

Bonjour.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Should I trade Jordan Howard high for Derek Henry? I own demarco Murray.

[Jason Moore]

Ooh. As the demarco Murray owner, it is more tempting, but the answer is still no.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Unless if Jordan Howard is like your.

[Jason Moore]

Running back, you just can't trade a legit starter for a legit back.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. No, I agree with that. Hey, and this is a quick aside for my deep south friends of Australia. I'm looking for a way to acquire some of that solo. The soda. It's called solo. So if any Australians on Twitter have an insight for me.

[Jason Moore]

Have you checked the Internet?

[Mike Wright]

I've tried, man.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, really?

[Mike Wright]

I've tried. It's very.

[Andy Holloway]

It's impossible. You just want to drink it?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I've had it. It's so good.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't know what you're doing with it.

[Mike Wright]

It's similar to a Jason Moore because it's a kind of a sparkly lemonade. It's fantastic. But we don't have it here.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, oppressed. All right, let's jump into one more question here. Anthony in Port Moody, British Columbia, would you trade Todd Gurley for Legarrett Blunt and Kelvin Benjamin?

[Mike Wright]

No. Probably. If I need to do that.

[Andy Holloway]

If you're desperate. A wide receiver.

[Jason Moore]

If I needed wide receiver help, I think that that is a fair trade and I would do it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I would not do it, but yeah, it is a little team dependent.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, that does it for today's show. Thanks again to Five four Club for sponsoring the podcast today. If you want to stand out from the crowd, not blend in like everybody else. Not these guys, though. Definitely check out five four Club. They will make you look good. And if you're curious about how easy it is, go to 54 Club Comm and use the promo code BALLERS. You get 40% off the first month plus a pair of sunglasses, $75 value this month. Everyone who signs up in November will also receive an exclusive collaboration capsule with iconic menswear designer Mark McNary. So that's promo code ballers for 40% off the first month of five four club packages and a pair of sunglasses. Like I said, the offer expires 11:30. That does it for today. Thank you for tuning in for subscribing. For listening, check out our Fantasy [e-mail] and join us tomorrow for matchups and more. Make sure you go to Twitter, vote on these various elections.

[Mike Wright]

Send my people through.

[Andy Holloway]

Thank you.

[Mike Wright]

Shout out to Fantasy Jocks Footballers.

[Andy Holloway]

Tyler Eiford, get ready.

[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.