Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Starts of the Week, Week 17 Matchups, Boom-Boom!

Summary

Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Starts of the Week, Week 17 Matchups, Boom-Boom!

Release Date: December 29, 2016
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright

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1. Introduction and Banter

The episode kicks off with the typical playful banter among the hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. They joke about the day being “Thursday” and engage in light-hearted conversation about Mike’s unverified Periscope account, which was a significant talking point among their listeners during 2016.

• Jason Moore (00:27): “Welcome in Thursday. Thor's Day. Whatever you want to say.”
• Mike Wright (00:38): “You did it.”

This segment sets a friendly and engaging tone for the episode, emphasizing their rapport and connection with the audience.

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2. Quick Question/Trivia Segment

Mike introduces a trivia question prepared by Brooks, focusing on the top five running backs by snap count for the season. The hosts discuss their guesses, debating players like David Johnson, DeMarco Murray, and Le'Veon Bell.

• Jason Moore (02:00): “Who are the top five running backs in number of snaps on the season? You can only pick five guys.”

After some deliberation, they reveal the correct answers:

• Jason Moore (04:06): “Number one in snaps at the running back position, David Johnson. 949 snaps.”
• Mike Wright (04:18): “Number two, DeMarco Murray. 828 snaps.”

They engage in friendly wagering about their predictions, highlighting the competitive nature of fantasy football.

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3. News and Notes

The hosts provide updates on significant NFL news, focusing on player suspensions and injuries that could impact fantasy lineups.

• Jason Moore (07:20): “Doug Martin is starting a four game suspension for violating the substance abuse policy.”
• Mike Wright (07:42): Clarifies that the suspension is due to Adderall use, which the NFL categorizes differently in-season and off-season.

They also discuss the uncertainty surrounding Doug Martin’s future with Tampa Bay Buccaneers, expressing skepticism about his return next season.

• Jason Moore (08:10): “The percentage chance of him returning to Tampa Bay, he's down to 10-28%.”

Additional updates include players on injured reserve (IR) like Charles Sims and the status of key players like Antonio Gates nearing retirement.

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4. Week 17 Matchups and Starts

A significant portion of the podcast is dedicated to analyzing Week 17 matchups, discussing which players to start or bench based on their performances and upcoming games.

a. Baltimore Ravens vs. Cincinnati Bengals

• Running Backs: Discussion on Jeremy Hill’s declining performance versus T. Rex Burkhead’s steadiness.
  • Mike Wright (15:39): “I would be leery to start Jeremy Hill.”
• Wide Receivers: Brandon LaFell is scrutinized due to the Ravens’ strong pass defense.
  • Jason Moore (18:48): “I like Brandon LaFell. This week I'd start him as a wide receiver.”

b. Carolina Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

• Quarterbacks: Cam Newton’s struggles are analyzed, predicting a bounce-back next season.
  • Jason Moore (26:03): “A bounce back is more towards his career average of probably low 20s touchdowns through the air.”
• Running Backs: DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry are evaluated for their Week 17 roles.
  • Mike Wright (29:56): “Derrick Henry is going to get some more work.”

c. Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Indianapolis Colts

• Quarterbacks: Blake Bortles is highlighted as a key player due to the Colts’ defensively weak secondary.
  • Jason Moore (32:18): “Blake Bortles is playing for his job.”
• Wide Receivers: Allen Robinson’s adjusted role under new coaching strategies is discussed.
  • Jason Moore (32:28): “You like Allen Robinson enough this week to make him your start of the week.”

d. Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota Vikings

• Running Backs: Jordan Howard and Jerick McKinnon are recommended over more traditional backs due to favorable matchups.
  • Jason Moore (41:03): “I love Jordan Howard this week. They’re going to give him the rock.”
• Wide Receivers: Stefan Diggs vs. Adam Thielen debate, favoring Thielen due to Diggs’ injury concerns.
  • Jason Moore (43:37): “I think you’d go with Thielen this week.”

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5. Player-Specific Discussions

a. Ezekiel Elliott Andy passionately argues the importance of playing Ezekiel Elliott every week, insisting he must be started due to his workload and potential for big plays.

• Andy Holloway (45:04): “He is going to get work. There's no chance on planet Earth that when he gets out there for carry one, he is not trying to get that 178 or whatever.”

b. Cam Newton The hosts debate Cam Newton’s performance, with Jason predicting a return to average performance next season while Mike questions his future as a dual-threat quarterback.

• Mike Wright (27:14): “The thing about Cam Newton is this, this was the year I feel like nowhere he really got beat up.”

c. Doug Martin Jason and Andy discuss Doug Martin's suspension and uncertain future, with Jason lowering his chances of Martin returning to the Buccaneers.

• Jason Moore (08:02): “He's going to fall in drafts like crazy.”

d. Antonio Gates As Gates approaches retirement, the hosts speculate on his final games and potential impact on fantasy records.

• Mike Wright (59:07): “Antonio Gates is retired. Oh, this is a sad face.”

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6. Bets and Water Bets

The hosts engage in friendly wagers, particularly focusing on whether Ezekiel Elliott will be a top performer in Week 17.

• Andy Holloway (47:42): “How about this higher priority water bet that Ezekiel Elliott is a top 15 back this week?”
• Jason Moore (48:08): “I said top 12.”

This segment underscores the competitive and fun nature of fantasy football among the hosts.

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7. Boom-Boom! Kicker Segment

In their signature “Boom-Boom!” segment, the hosts debate which kickers to start based on matchups and game conditions.

• Andy's Choice (62:29): Matt Bryant is selected due to a high-scoring game between New Orleans and Atlanta.

  • “Put Matt Bryant in. He was my first Boom Boom kicker of the week.”

• Jason’s Picks (62:10): Justin Tucker, Steven Guskowski, and others are mentioned, but Andy emphasizes choosing Bryant for this week’s high-scoring game.

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8. Championship Stories

The podcast touches on a listener’s heartbreaking near-win in their fantasy league due to last-minute stat corrections.

• Jason Moore (59:27): “He ended up… winning by 125.06 to 124.72. But he had Amari Cooper and no. Got a point adjustment, lost by half a point.”

This story highlights the importance of accurate scoring and the emotional highs and lows of fantasy football.

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9. Closing Remarks and Promotions

The episode wraps up with the hosts promoting their community platforms, such as JoinTheFoot.com and PristineAuction.com, encouraging listeners to engage further with their content and participate in fantasy football-related activities.

• Jason Moore (64:50): “Check out fantasyjocks.com for fantasy trophies and rings for those sweet rewards.”
• Andy Holloway (65:04): “Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast.”

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Key Takeaways:

• Player Evaluations: Detailed analyses of Week 17 matchups and player performances, emphasizing the importance of making informed start/bench decisions.
• Strategic Insights: Insights into quarterback performances, running back workload, and wide receiver potential based on team dynamics and defensive matchups.
• Engagement with Audience: Interactive segments like trivia questions and friendly bets foster a community atmosphere.
• Fantasy Football Strategies: Emphasis on leveraging high-snap count players, understanding defensive strengths of opponents, and capitalizing on favorable matchups.
• Emotional Elements: Stories like the listener's narrow loss add depth and relatability to the fantasy football experience.

Notable Quotes:

• Jason Moore (04:06): “Number one in snaps at the running back position, David Johnson. 949 snaps.”
• Andy Holloway (45:04): “There is no chance on planet Earth that when he gets out there for carry one, he is not trying to get that 178 or whatever.”
• Mike Wright (27:14): “The thing about Cam Newton is this, this was the year I feel like nowhere he really got beat up.”
• Jason Moore (47:42): “He’s going to be stuck to the level of making start of the week.”
• Jason Moore (59:27): “He had Amari Cooper and no. Got a point adjustment, lost by half a point.”

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This episode provides comprehensive coverage of Week 17 in the 2016 NFL season, offering listeners valuable insights, strategic advice, and engaging discussions to enhance their fantasy football experience. The hosts balance expert analysis with entertaining banter, ensuring the content is both informative and enjoyable for seasoned fantasy players and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Foreign to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Coming to you from the fantasyjocks.com studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome in Thursday. Thor's Day. Whatever you want to say.

[Mike Wright]

It sounded like you said Thursday. It was like a combination of it's Thursday into you made your own new contraction.

[Jason Moore]

It's Thursday, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

You did it.

[Jason Moore]

Week 17. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. I am Andy Holloway, joined by Jason Moore and Mike the fantasy Hitman.

[Andy Holloway]

Whoa.

[Jason Moore]

Jumped on Periscope last night, chatted with the listeners. They were still quite obsessed with the fact you're not verified. Still just, it's a big story. It's one of the biggest stories of 2016.

[Andy Holloway]

It doesn't need to be a story. It's just never going to change. The story already has ended.

[Mike Wright]

People have talked about how terrible 2016 has been, right. With all these, you know, well known people, they're passing my Twitter. Can't get verified.

[Jason Moore]

It's.

[Mike Wright]

It rolls right into that.

[Jason Moore]

Almost the exact same thing. So, yeah, that was a big story. Talked a lot about the show. You can check that out. You can watch it on our periscope. A lot of questions about the show. Less about week 17. Believe it or not, but this show is all about week 17. We have all of the matchups on today's show. We have our starts of the week, Jason's Boom Boom Kicker news and notes. I even have a great quick question that Brooks prepared for us today. I'm curious to see what you guys can do with this quick question because it's a trivia question. We're just jumping in right now.

[Mike Wright]

Smash it. That's what I'm gonna do.

[Jason Moore]

Now it's a little different because we're not, we're not giving you hints to narrow down. Here's the question.

[Mike Wright]

Okay? Do we have to guess the hints?

[Jason Moore]

Just listen, just listen. Follow me. And the listeners out there should participate with us. Who are the top five running backs in number of snaps on the season? You can only pick five guys. See how many you can get out of the five. Okay. The top five snaps, top five snap counts for running backs this year.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, I'm gonna throw a David Johnson.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, hold on. So Mike and Jason, I'll write.

[Andy Holloway]

How do we answer this?

[Jason Moore]

Because I feel like you get five names each.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, I know that we can, but. All right, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go David Johnson as well.

[Jason Moore]

Give me five names.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, David.

[Andy Holloway]

So I'm curious how the.

[Jason Moore]

Why don't you guys three weeks factor into why don't you guys combine your efforts here? Why don't you work together? Give me five names together.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, so I'm going to go David Johnson. Elliot.

[Andy Holloway]

Elliot. For sure Elliot.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, I'm going to go Murray.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. DeMarco. Murray was in my list. Left Bell. If depending on how the first three weeks suspended, man. No, that's what I'm saying.

[Jason Moore]

Are you officially putting Lev Bell in there?

[Mike Wright]

I am not personally.

[Jason Moore]

Well, you got to come to a.

[Andy Holloway]

Consent, I think that's right. If obviously, if the first three weeks are factored in as there's a percentage.

[Jason Moore]

Of season, this is a total snap count.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Then no, not Leve Bell.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man. Gore.

[Jason Moore]

Any other guesses?

[Mike Wright]

Frank Gore. Frankie Old man Gore. I mean, he gets pulled off a lot.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I don't. I don't think Gore.

[Mike Wright]

But he hasn't missed. I'm trying to think of guys who have not missed games because I want Miller. I wanted to say Melvin.

[Andy Holloway]

Lamar Miller would definitely be in there, but he's missed last week. Yeah, he's only missed one week, though.

[Mike Wright]

Melvin Gordon's missed a couple games, but he was like an every down type of guy. Gurley. You think Gurley's still on there? He hasn't missed a game.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's true.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to put Todd Gurley up there.

[Andy Holloway]

Got to be on the list. I like that.

[Jason Moore]

We've got. We got DJ Elliot Gurley. You have Murray. I wrote Lev, but you said no left.

[Mike Wright]

No left for me.

[Andy Holloway]

I am tempted to still go Lamar Miller, even missing a game. He was.

[Jason Moore]

Do you want to. You want to know the answer?

[Mike Wright]

And I'm tempted to go Melvin Gordon. I'll go Melvin Gordon's. I'll go Lamar.

[Jason Moore]

Well, we're okay for your last one? Sure, that's fine. Number one in snaps at the running back position, David Johnson. 949 snaps.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, okay.

[Jason Moore]

Just unbelievable quantity. Number two, DeMarco Murray. 828 snaps.

[Mike Wright]

Got him.

[Andy Holloway]

I was thinking snap percentage.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no, no.

[Andy Holloway]

Speed of offense in here.

[Jason Moore]

Total snaps.

[Andy Holloway]

It's not good for Todd Gurley.

[Jason Moore]

Number three, Levy on Bell. 781 snaps. Also first in snaps per game during his 12 active games.

[Mike Wright]

That is bananas, man.

[Andy Holloway]

Three games missed and he's third the entire league.

[Jason Moore]

Number four, Todd Gurley. 691.

[Mike Wright]

Thought you were psyching us out.

[Andy Holloway]

Look at that. Todd Gurley's top five and something.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah. Hey, by the way, you did it, girly. We'll do this today, Michael. Do it on the spectacles. We'll put it on Snapchat.

[Mike Wright]

What are we doing?

[Jason Moore]

I lost the bet with a listener from before the season.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yes.

[Jason Moore]

And because I did not immediately respond to this tweet, I have been accused of trying to avoid the payout on the water bet by a lot of people. I will happily take a water. I bet that Gurley would finish top five in fantasy. He did not. It would be what I call a miss.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, then I'm throwing this out there. I had a bet with a listener where I was going to lose because I took Golden Tate and he took Marvin Jones, and he was waiting for my water video. I said, you got to wait. Just because I was putting it off, it was clearly going to be Marvin Jones, and then it's clearly Golden Tate. I want a water video.

[Jason Moore]

So I'll pay that out on Snapchat.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

And you'll put on the spectacles and you'll. I'll spin the wheel of water.

[Mike Wright]

I think I can get it to Twitter as well. We'll figure it out.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I'm gonna.

[Andy Holloway]

Who's.

[Mike Wright]

Who are the other guys?

[Jason Moore]

Ezekiel Elliot. Elliot is the last one. You guys did mention all of them wasn't Lamar Miller. Jason was right with Lev Bell. But when you look at those snap counts, the difference between 1 to 5 is 949 to 668. Holy. So you're talking about David Johnson having nearly, what, 300 more snaps?

[Andy Holloway]

Well, we said he was. He was two times in fantasy, the number 12 running back, he was two RB1s himself.

[Jason Moore]

Not bad. That was one of the frequent questions on the periscope. Who would my number one pick be next year? What is it only between.

[Mike Wright]

Who did you give?

[Jason Moore]

I said, David Johnson.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, mine was. Mine's left Bell.

[Andy Holloway]

Mine is Love Bell as well.

[Jason Moore]

And. But it was. It was like, okay, I said, either one. If you make me pick, I'll just go with David Johnson.

[Andy Holloway]

In reality, if it's my personal league, I'm going to draft David Johnson.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm an Arizona Cardinals fan. If it's that close, I'm totally going to tie break and go with the.

[Jason Moore]

Somebody asked in a keeper league, would you trade David Johnson or would you trade Love Bell to get David Johnson? And I kind of said, why? I mean, it's just like, who cares? I mean, they both have their issues.

[Andy Holloway]

Don'T need to make sideways trades.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's. That was my point. So I said, if you really love him, why not? Don't care.

[Andy Holloway]

News and notes from around the league.

[Jason Moore]

By the Way you can follow us on Twitter. See those periscopes as well as the water bet payout at the ffballers, the websites, the fantasy footballers dot com. Grab your championship gear on there. Check us out on itunes. Thanks for the reviews. Quick news for the day. Doug Martin is starting a four game suspension for violating the substance abuse policy.

[Mike Wright]

No ped.

[Andy Holloway]

That is correct. Thank you for the.

[Jason Moore]

That has been changed. It was Adderall, which is considered a ped.

[Mike Wright]

Well, no, here's the thing. It's both. Adderall in season is a ped. Adderall in the off season is under substance abuse for some particular reason. They can't just agree on what it should go under.

[Jason Moore]

It's not important.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, well, it is.

[Jason Moore]

He's checked himself into a treatment facility and Charles Sims also went on ir, which means Jacques Rogers.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. For this week, Charles Sims on the ir. It's. It's the jock quiz show.

[Jason Moore]

This week I am going to change my percentage chance of Doug Martin remaining in Tampa Bay.

[Mike Wright]

Ooh.

[Jason Moore]

Because of how this circumstance was handled with dirt cutter being directly involved in the way that they seem to be talking about it, I'm not going to guarantee that Doug Martin is not there next year. I'm changing that percentage chance. I think it's 50, 50 that he's back in Tampa next year.

[Mike Wright]

Jason? Yeah. Give your take, Jay.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean, I said this right away when the, when the news came out that I want Doug Martin now. I think Doug Martin is going to fall in drafts like crazy. I fully expect him to be back in Tampa Bay. I fully expect him to be the starting running back. And this is super early prognostication. I mean, come off season he could be cut and then obviously everything changes. New information will change my opinion. But early right now I think he's the clear starter and he's going to go in the eighth round or later. And so I am happy to draft him as my RB3 and stash him. And I think he's going to be a great pick next year.

[Jason Moore]

And I. Yeah, yeah, I know. I don't agree, but we don't need to talk about all that now. There's too little information for us to know the fine.

[Mike Wright]

There is information that we do know, though. So he's owed $7 million next year. That was guaranteed money. That is no longer guaranteed money.

[Andy Holloway]

They want out.

[Mike Wright]

His contract has been voided. They can cut him with absolutely no financial repercussions.

[Jason Moore]

The percentage chance of him returning to Tampa Bay, he's down to 10% 28.

[Mike Wright]

Very ineffective last year, owed a lot of money.

[Jason Moore]

The statement I disagreed with most out of what Jason said was this, he's the clear starter comment because that's just not the case. It's.

[Andy Holloway]

He isn't agree to wholeheartedly disagree. He will come back and be the clear starter.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Unless they draft you.

[Jason Moore]

Go with the 2.9 yard per carry guy that just broke the drug policy. I'm going to go with. Not that Jai is practicing, fully expected to play on Sunday. Thomas Rawls, also a full participant in practice, expected to play on Sunday. Those of you who picked up Alex Collins hoping for a big day are going to be disappointed.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe. I mean, they might split still. We'll see.

[Jason Moore]

Well, you're disappointed that you have the starting running back in the lineup.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Spencer Ware is practicing on Wednesday, fully expected to play in week 17. This was big news. Antonio Gates said this is not the way I expected to be done when it, when he came to talking about retirement, definitely leaning towards returning, coming back to play next year. You know, it doesn't hurt that he's only one touchdown behind Tony Gonzalez for the all time tight end TD record.

[Mike Wright]

But we'll see how many scores this.

[Jason Moore]

Weekend he's been effective.

[Mike Wright]

I mean for an Antonio Gates here, it's been rough. His yards per catch and everything. It's. His efficiency is way down.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, that's why he's saying, I don't want to go out like this. The problem is he doesn't realize he keeps getting older.

[Jason Moore]

I want him to have, you know how, like, you know how you have those, the signs at the front of a business that say like open and close. I want one on his jersey this week that says retiring, not retiring. And it starts out not retiring. But if he gets that touchdown, he flips it over.

[Mike Wright]

Well, he needs, he needs two to pass the record.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, one to tie. I think he'd be good with a tie.

[Jason Moore]

I think he's the start of the week for one of us this week, so maybe he'll get it. Steelers confirmed. No Big Ben, no Love Bell, no Antonio Brown on Sunday.

[Mike Wright]

And for those of you who were riding the Pittsburgh Steelers into the fantasy championship of week 17, my condolences.

[Jason Moore]

Unless you got it Eli Rogers or.

[Mike Wright]

Even if you have those guys now it's Jarvis Landry as the quarterback and no one.

[Andy Holloway]

Landry, huh?

[Mike Wright]

Did I do that again? Yeah, it's Landry Jones. Landry Jones.

[Jason Moore]

Jarvis Landry Jones.

[Andy Holloway]

I can get behind that.

[Mike Wright]

But even if you have Eli Rogers, he, he can't replace Antonio Brown.

[Jason Moore]

No, we cannot. I talked about this a few weeks ago, hoping it would happen. Tom Coughlin's interviewing today with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, so you hope this will happen?

[Jason Moore]

I think Tom Coughlin's a great coach.

[Mike Wright]

Jacksonville, you need a petition immediately that says, keep Tom Coughlin out of Jacksonville. Andy likes him. We know what that means. It's a bad coach.

[Andy Holloway]

You do have a bad history on these coaches right now. His I do think soccer record, coach. I do.

[Jason Moore]

His career record with Jacksonville when he was there before was great. He was a great coach. So.

[Andy Holloway]

I think he's two time super bowl champion.

[Mike Wright]

I know, I know.

[Jason Moore]

Maniac. All right, tomorrow we will go through in and out, all of the injuries and players that may or may not play this week. It's a long list of guys that didn't practice on Wednesday, but too soon to tell you whether they're in or out yet. So we'll talk about that tomorrow. We're talking about Lamar Miller and Bilal Powell. I got the inside scoop. Got the inside scoop yesterday on Theo Riddick. And, you know, based on what I heard, I don't think he plays this week. I think he's done for the year. But we'll talk about more of those.

[Mike Wright]

Tomorrow or if they are in the playoffs, is he coming back?

[Jason Moore]

It's not sounding very good. All right, so I lean towards the year. But let's go ahead and jump into the early games.

[Andy Holloway]

Fantasy forecast.

[Jason Moore]

All of our Week 17 rankings are up on the website. The fantasy footballers dot com. Just click the rankings button, grab that position. All of our consensus rankings and the Premium Flex rankings and all of that are up. The initial ones for this week. We always adjust them throughout the week, as you know. We will have a week 17 weather conditions article on the website by Sunday that will fill you in on any influential weather.

[Mike Wright]

And that should be our staff writer, Eric Ludwig.

[Jason Moore]

He delivers the goods. Ludwig. With this article last week, I believe.

[Andy Holloway]

It'S Eric von Ludwig.

[Jason Moore]

Yes. Comes from a very.

[Mike Wright]

It's the Weather Report.

[Jason Moore]

The Weather Report.

[Andy Holloway]

We gotta change that.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, my goodness. Yeah, he comes from a dangerous family. Mike, are you periscoping this week?

[Mike Wright]

I believe so. I believe so. It's new.

[Jason Moore]

Not gonna be a liar like last week, are you?

[Mike Wright]

Hey, things. Things didn't work out. Had the wife's birthday on Friday and then on Christmas Eve. Sometimes you got to take care of the family.

[Jason Moore]

Family first.

[Mike Wright]

And Sunday is New Year's Day and as in as a middle earth, I guess I'm not middle 30s yet, but early 30s.

[Jason Moore]

Man, you don't have many left.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know how many. I don't know how late I can make it on New Year's Eve. So if, if the, if I stay up late, the periscope we'll see.

[Jason Moore]

I. I have kids I haven't seen in New Year's in a while. I haven't been there at midnight for a little while. All right, Ravens take on the Bengals. This game is, I guess The Bengals are one point favorites at home, 41 one and a half point over under. Going to fly through some of these decisions here you have the running back situation. Jeremy Hill destroying dreams last week. Rex Burkhead, who do you like more between those two this week?

[Mike Wright]

I haven't gotten any Jeremy Hill updates on exactly what happened. Is it the ankle? Just an ankle combined with inefficiency. I would be leery to start Jeremy Hill. I mean, it's already a bad matchup. The Ravens are second against the run. Jeremy Hill doesn't usually produce in bad matchup. So if you had to play one of the two I lean with, with.

[Andy Holloway]

With T. Rex, I have them back to back in the rankings, but they're, they're both. I would not want to start either of these fellers.

[Jason Moore]

Now that we have three years of Jeremy Hill in the books, right? Year one, year two and year three, basically identical carry counts, right? 220 carries in each year. Year one, amazing. Jason said it. 5.1 a carry, 1100 yards, nine touchdowns. Took the. Took the league by storm. Eight 20 plus yards runs.

[Andy Holloway]

Because he did that in like half the season.

[Jason Moore]

He did that in 16.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, no, he didn't come on until the second half.

[Jason Moore]

Same amount of carries though as these next two years, right? Last year, 3.6 a carry. This year we saw what he was a little bit better than last year, which was a huge disappointment. What is he anymore and is he. Is he going to be.

[Andy Holloway]

He's a goal linebacker.

[Jason Moore]

Is he going to be a Bengal for a long time?

[Mike Wright]

He'll be a Bengal next year, but man, he's very disappointing. For me as someone who loved Jeremy Hill coming into last year's draft, extremely disappointed. I will say as of right now, he'll probably end up being on my target list because his draft stock is going to drop yet again. I think you were able to get him in the fifth, sixth round and if you can get Jeremy Hill, that type of a guy in the eighth round, I would gladly scoop him up. But he just, I think he is who he is. So it's not that rookie sensation that we saw.

[Jason Moore]

Brandon lefell's had a couple of great weeks. Do you like him this week against the Ravens pass defense, which is pretty good.

[Andy Holloway]

Not really. I mean this is a game with a 41 point over under, which is pretty low. And the reason is because the Ravens are a very good defense. And the Bengals, you know they're not going to play AJ Green. They don't have ifer that might say, okay, more targets go to LaFell and maybe if you're in a deep league, he's an all right play. But I'm just not going to trust the offense to produce enough points to be fantasy relevant here. I'm not playing a single Bengal top to bottom. I can't think of one that I would actually play unless I'm in a two quarterback league, in which case then sure, I'd throw Andy Dalton out there.

[Mike Wright]

Is it. Jeremy Hill hasn't fumbled. Is that true?

[Jason Moore]

I am, I don't know. I don't know if he's fumbled or not.

[Mike Wright]

Well, we get, we have the stat down here that he's not fumbled in his 215 carries.

[Andy Holloway]

It's amazing.

[Mike Wright]

Those, those, those benchings, apparently those worked. Am I right?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Let him know you can't fumble.

[Jason Moore]

I can see you're changing. I like Brandon Lafell. This week I'd start him as a wide receiver. 3. He's been pretty good the target. You know, they have to throw the ball.

[Mike Wright]

It's all about Smith, senor, in this game. Yep, all about him. If you're talking wide receivers, you want to start Smith, it's going out with a bang. This will be his last game.

[Jason Moore]

So how do you project that wide receiver core next year? Because if people want to know who's going to be the lead dog and you look at the roster and you say there's nobody. Mike Wallace is not a lead dog. Kamar Akin is not a lead dog.

[Andy Holloway]

Rashad Perriman is not a lead dog.

[Jason Moore]

It doesn't seem that way. Yeah, it seems like he is much more of the.

[Mike Wright]

Well, they need a possession guy.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, exactly. They do.

[Mike Wright]

So they'll probably have to find one in the draft or free agency. Terrence West. Terrence West. Kenneth Dixon. Eileen Dixon. How do you guys lean in this?

[Jason Moore]

Eileen Dixon.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Unanimous.

[Jason Moore]

And then I like, I like Dennis Pitta.

[Mike Wright]

I mean he's, you know, he's Dennis Pitta.

[Jason Moore]

He's the, he's becoming the new Jason Whitten.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a fair.

[Mike Wright]

He's the rental. He's the waiver wire tight end rental.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. You want a few catches, you know he's going to catch a few balls. Probably run a little. Run pretty slow.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, before we get to the Panthers, Bucs, want to tell you once again about our good friends over at Fandings. They are an awesome app for debating everything, sports or otherwise. And big news for every Android user out there that hasn't been able to play on the free FanDings app. For iOS, you can play online at playfandings.com FanNings is just a free platform to go in and show how good you are at debating against other people. And there's fun topics. What is your biggest pet peeve in sports? You can talk about that, get on a thread, vote for who you like. It's just a fun time for people like us who like fantasy football, who enjoy debating and they have fresh debates up all the time. And there's also a leaderboard now. So if you, you know, if you get on there and you enjoy voting for people and getting in on debates and trying to win arguments and saying why you're so much smarter than everyone else, take them down. You know you want to say I as good at debating as Jason Moore.

[Jason Moore]

Here you go. If you could pick one day and designated a sports holiday, which would you pick? The first Friday of March Madness, the Monday after the super bowl or opening day in baseball? That's one of the questions on there right now.

[Mike Wright]

It's easy. It's the day after the Super Bowl.

[Jason Moore]

Funny, I would say the opening day of baseball myself.

[Andy Holloway]

I would say Thanksgiving.

[Jason Moore]

But these are the type of things NFL coach of the year questions up there right now. Would Rex Ryan be a good college coach? Hundreds of questions.

[Andy Holloway]

I actually saw a question I wanted to debate. It's basketball, but it was, it said if an NBA team was going to rest star players, should they do it at home games or road games? And why?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, welcome to the new NBA. Yeah, check out the Fandings app. It's great. Get it on your phone, vote for winners. Like even if you don't, if you're not going to get on and ask a question, go vote for people. Settle some debates basically. And then we also want to thank Pristine Auction. I'm staring down. Oh, I'm staring down this beautiful Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski signed Patriots full size helmet in a display case on the website right now. Yeah, that's exactly what my insides just said. They just said woo hoo. Got some Walter Payton up there today. Gotta love that. Gotta love bell. Antonio Brown sign, helmet on.

[Mike Wright]

Go celebrate that fantasy championship with. Let's took you to the top.

[Andy Holloway]

And that man is David Johnson. Just go get a David Johnson signed jersey.

[Jason Moore]

Got one of the most unique jerseys I've ever seen. It is a jersey that has all three numbers of Aikman, Emmett Smith and Michael Irvin on it. All three numbers.

[Andy Holloway]

Really.

[Jason Moore]

And the name on the jersey says the triplets. There's some pictures in the corner. Custom framed jersey, official player holograms. Really nice stuff. Tons of literally hundreds of daily auctions on Pristine Auction. Great place to commemorate an awesome fantasy football season. We love them. We're always grabbing one or two things to put around the studio. So check them out. You can get some sweet deals. Pristineauction.com P R I S T I N E auction.com Back into the matchups. Heading back in. Got to talk Panthers and buccaneers.

[Mike Wright]

Got it.

[Jason Moore]

Gotta 46 and a half point over. Under five and a half point favorites because are the Bucks.

[Andy Holloway]

The Bucks are still in it, right?

[Jason Moore]

Oh, gosh, they've. They're. They're still in it.

[Andy Holloway]

They're not mathematically eliminated. If.

[Jason Moore]

Let's put it this way, I'm talking about Jameis Winston in a little bit.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh. All right.

[Jason Moore]

Jaquez Rogers is the story of this game to me. He should have the workload. He should have PPR value. He should be somebody that you start if you are missing out on a love bell. Hopefully you could go grab Jacquiz Rogers this week. I like Evans and Winston. I do think Brandon Myers is interesting as a desperate kind of tight end flyer.

[Mike Wright]

He was the one who got the targets after Brait went down.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean the tight end is just a part of that offense. What do you think about the other side of the ball though? You know, Carolina doesn't have anything to play for. Pride, obviously defeating a division rival. But they're on the road. Newton's been hard to trust. I'm okay with him this week, but what do you. What do you make of the other guys? Benjamin's had a couple good weeks. Stewart, Olson.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean, you're basically rolling the dice. When you have Kelvin Benjamin, Ted Ginn on that side of the ball, you're really, really search it for the touchdown and you very well might get it. You know, if Cam throws two touchdowns and you've got Kelvin Benjamin out there or Ted Ginn, you might get that touchdown. Have a good game. But without it, there's just not usually enough passing volume going around these days in Carolina to allow you to be happy with, you know, oh, good. He got, you know, eight for 92. It's just not. It's probably not happening with either of those guys. The, the one guy who can get it done without a touchdown for the Panthers is Greg Olson.

[Mike Wright]

I was just going to ask about Greg Olson. Now. I'm trying to remember, did he. He left that game for a little bit. A little shaken up, am I correct?

[Jason Moore]

You are correct. He limped off the field because he.

[Mike Wright]

Played in only 58% of snaps.

[Andy Holloway]

It's like a career low for Greg Olson.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, if you look at his snap percentage, it's riddled with hundreds. Well, you want hundred of. As in he plays every single snap of the game. But the last two weeks, two weeks ago, 86%. This last week against Atlanta, only 58%.

[Andy Holloway]

Did you guys hear?

[Jason Moore]

He does not. He does not know the personnel groupings. Yeah, because he plays 100% of Snap. So he does not know what the groupings are because he never comes in and off the field.

[Mike Wright]

But whatever group they call, he's like.

[Jason Moore]

He'S always on the field.

[Mike Wright]

I'm in.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll tell you what, though, you know, if he, if he's got pretty much his lowest snap percentage these last two weeks, I think Cam Newton's going, oh, I really need that guy. Because when he's in the game these last two weeks, he's had six receptions, both games for 85 and 59 yards. I think he's safe and he's always, you know, he'll get a red zone target. So I think Greg Olson is a play. Kelvin and Gin, you know, a deep dart throw.

[Jason Moore]

We have Jonathan Stewart at 22 this week, just ahead of Dion Lewis, just behind Isaiah Crowell at Tampa. Tampa has something to play for, albeit, you know, a slim chance. They still had a very successful year. They've definitely grown as a team. They should be contending in that division for years to come, assuming Jameis Winston continues to progress. Cam Newton, lowest completion percentage of his career by over 5%. It's been one of those years. When you look at Cam Newton, you see last year a little outlier above. You see this year an outlier below. You see the previous four years. You know, he's a 60% passer. He's not going to throw 35 touchdowns. I do think he bounces back from this year, next year.

[Mike Wright]

What does a bounce back look like?

[Jason Moore]

A bounce back. A bounce back is more towards his career Average of probably low 20s. Touchdowns through the air, five or six, seven on the ground. Still a very good fantasy quarterback in the right matchup.

[Mike Wright]

The thing about Cam Newton is this, this was the year I feel like more than any where he really got beat up. I mean, he was, he took a lot of shots. A lot of shots to the head.

[Jason Moore]

Yep.

[Mike Wright]

And every running quarterback eventually stops running. Yep, they all do. McNair, Donovan, McNabb, they stop running after a while and they're not that good. Does Cam Newton have the skills to be a strong fantasy quarterback? If you eliminate most of the running, let's say he runs only 30% of what you're used to. I mean, he's, he's borderline not startable.

[Andy Holloway]

Unless you're in two.

[Mike Wright]

Quarterback.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he's not, he's not a good pocket passer. So the question is whether he'll run next year or not. You know, I think he's still young and I think when the season matters and it's fresh, he'll, he'll, he'll be the normal Cam next year is my expectation.

[Jason Moore]

And I guess you could, you could argue that the running enables it. But last year he was a good pocket passer. He was a good pocket passer last year. 35 touchdowns, 60 plus percent completion percentage. So you have seen a whole year. That's what's so weird about Cam Newton is last year, I remember we were waiting for the shoe to drop and for him to return to the mean all last year and the entire year, all the way into the Super Bowl. I mean, they had a magical year without Kelvin Benjamin and well, the shoe.

[Mike Wright]

Dropped in the Super Bowl.

[Jason Moore]

Ah, yeah, but I mean, everybody shoe drops with Von Miller. I mean, it's not, we're not talking about shoe stealer. Yeah, there are no shoes.

[Andy Holloway]

Go look at his closet.

[Jason Moore]

Cobbler filled the cobbler, not the peach cobbler. Don't get that confused. Pete Carroll, Texans.

[Andy Holloway]

And I would also just throw out Brandon Myers.

[Mike Wright]

We already talked about Brandon Myers. Welcome to the conversation, Jason.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. How are you doing this morning, Jay?

[Andy Holloway]

I want to talk about the Texans and Titans.

[Jason Moore]

Goodness.

[Andy Holloway]

How are the Texans and Titans doing lately?

[Jason Moore]

Texans and Titans. Good. Good idea. 40 point over under Titans. 3 point favorites. There is no motivation for the Texans in this game. They are clenched and locked at the number four spot. I'm holding back my desires to poop on their playoff chances for the sake of the Texans fans out there, but it's gonna be tough. This is the Savage versus the Castle.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man, the Castle Roll this is.

[Jason Moore]

He bakes interceptions into that casserole every week. Look, Matt Castle. I love the Texans defense, let's put it that way.

[Mike Wright]

This is a rough game because the Titans are playing for nothing and that you have to downgrade everything because it's. It's Matt Castle. But what do they do with the. Marco Murray and Derek Henry Murray we just talked about. Was. Was he number two on snaps?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

He's a bit older. He's been. He's been awesome. He's been fantastic this year.

[Andy Holloway]

He's going to be 29 next year.

[Mike Wright]

But another year older.

[Jason Moore]

Probably still 60, 40 in this game. DeMarco.

[Mike Wright]

Well, that's one. Is it 60, 40 or is it the normal 70 or higher? 60.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I think you see Henry get some more work. What. Who I don't have confidence in. I've seen Richard Matthews fairly high on some consensus rankings and I've moved him way down. Yeah, no, I have no confidence in him not having a rapport with Castle. Castle can't get the ball to anybody on the outside.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean he's never know when a new quarterback comes in, you never know who it's going to be. So when you got a guy like Rashad Matthews, I completely agree with you. You can't trust him. Maybe that's the guy he targets.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, and the Texans are second against the pass in terms of yardage. So it's.

[Jason Moore]

I mean I, I dumped him. I dumped him outside of wide receiver 3. I don't like him.

[Mike Wright]

Don't blame you.

[Jason Moore]

Delaney Walker is a must start, however, because he's a. He's a the underneath guy. He'll be a friend to Castle and he's just. You're not going to sit Delaney Walker, he's your guy on the other side of the ball. You know, we were burned. We were burned last week by the hopes of Savage targeting Hopkins. Hopkins. Alfred Blue. Alfred Blue. Jason just said it. You want to talk Brandon Myers?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Let me tell you a little bit about Brandon Myers. No, Alfred Blue is the guy, is the main player that I look at this game and I say he has the potential. This is not. I can't imagine this being a high scoring game between Savage and Castle. Two decent defenses with two bad quarterbacks means low scoring, which means you're going to be able to continue to run the ball. The Texans this year and really for the last three years in the entire Bill O'Brien era have given the running back a ton of work. We saw Alfred Blue last week be pretty productive. Even the week before he looked, you know, fresh. His legs are a little bit fresher. I don't imagine that Lamar Miller plays because. Why would you play Lamar Miller? You're locked into the playoffs. You're going to want him and need him there. So I think Alfred Blue is a quality play. I think I have him as an RB2 this week.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

All right, let's talk about the Jaguars and the Colts 47 point over under. This game is interesting to me. And where do you gentlemen have the board? Blake Bortles.

[Mike Wright]

I am actually talking about Blake Bortles later on in the show.

[Jason Moore]

That you are.

[Mike Wright]

I like it.

[Jason Moore]

All right. We have him as a top 10 consensus quarterback.

[Andy Holloway]

He's my streamer this week.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I like the Jacksonville passing offense this week.

[Jason Moore]

That means you like Allen Robinson.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I mean, some of that has to do with. You're taking on the Colts 24th against.

[Jason Moore]

The pass, 23rd against the run.

[Mike Wright]

They're just. Their. Their secondary is very exploitable. Blake Bortles had. I mean, maybe it wasn't the most production of his of the season for him. He only had one touchdown last week, but he actually looked like a competent quarterback. My favorite blurb of the week was when asked about Alan Robinson's success after having a whole entire year of trash, they said, well, we moved him around.

[Andy Holloway]

Like something you could have thought of 15 weeks ago.

[Mike Wright]

You made. You did some coaching coaching. You did some different play calling and you moved them around.

[Andy Holloway]

And that, you know, obviously is at the same time that Gus Bradley's gone. So.

[Mike Wright]

So the thing that other offenses do with their elite wide receiver, you. You thought maybe you would jump on board with that, and it worked out. So I expect that to continue. Doug Marone, I mean, that this is a guy who has head coaching dreams. He's been a head coach before. He's playing for something, right? Yeah, he's playing for maybe an opportunity to stay on his. Jacksonville's head coach. Maybe to get.

[Jason Moore]

Have another opportunity.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, another. So they are playing for something. Maybe not standings and playoffs, but they're playing for the coach on the other side.

[Jason Moore]

You're starting Andrew Luck. Do you like Frank Gore this week? Do you worry that his workload is going to be diminished in this game?

[Mike Wright]

I think they'll play in about the normal amount.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So I'm not concerned.

[Jason Moore]

Ty Hilton, Dante Moncrief.

[Mike Wright]

I don't even know if Moncrief is going to play.

[Jason Moore]

If he does, he'll score. If he doesn't.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

If he does, expect 30 yards and a Touchdown from Dante Moncrief. I like Ty Hilton. I know that the Jaguars, their passing defense is solid. Third against the third in allowing yardage. Jalen Ramsey, Whoo.

[Andy Holloway]

He's really good.

[Mike Wright]

He's good. But I mean, Hilton moves all over the place like a good elite wide receiver does. Often goes in the slot and he's just a division killer. So I'm not afraid of starting Hilton.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I think both of those guys are good. Real quick to go back to the Jackson side of the ball.

[Jason Moore]

I thought he was going back to Brandon Myers.

[Andy Holloway]

Look, Brandon Myers is amazing. Now Chris Ivory is.

[Mike Wright]

Give me Chris Ivory.

[Andy Holloway]

I think he is.

[Mike Wright]

Let's do it.

[Andy Holloway]

He's borderline a must start this week. You're taking on, you know, the Colts 23rd ranked run defense. You're the only guy in town really, because Denard Robinson, you know, he'll probably be out there, but he's been banged up. T.J. yeldin's gone to IR and, and Chris Ivory's had productive games. He had 60 plus yards receiving last week. And I think Chris Ivory, I've got him as an RB2 this week and I think he's a solid play. We have to remember week 17 is a weird beast. Our good Twitter buddy Scott Barrett tweeted out a great tweet about Last year's Week 17. Last year's Week 17. Here's the top five running backs. Rashad Jennings, Dejuan Harris, Tim Hightower, Ronnie Hillman and Jonathan Grimes. I mean those, those were guys. That's like a hodgepodge of the backups that are in. In week 17.

[Mike Wright]

The backups to the backups.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, exactly. And that's Chris Ivory, Jonathan Grimes, number five.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

Quick question. Andrew Luck has been sacked one time every. How many pass attempts?

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, seven.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to go 10, 12.

[Jason Moore]

12.8.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Very good.

[Jason Moore]

Patriots, Dolphins motivation for both of these teams. It looks like the Patriots can get that number one spot. Lock it down. Or the Dolphins can.

[Mike Wright]

You need to lock it up.

[Jason Moore]

Look, I mean, the Dolphins may have more motivation than any team in football this week.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Because if you get the number five seed, you play at Houston. If you get the six seat, you play at Pittsburgh.

[Mike Wright]

Well, one of those things is not like the other.

[Jason Moore]

One of those things is not like.

[Andy Holloway]

The other Big Ben or Tom Savage.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Yeah. So I expect the Dolphins to come out motivated. I expect that to not matter very much because they are. Are they. They're nine and a half point dogs at home. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. New England's 10 point favorites at Miami. I think I would and I think. I think I'd take the over.

[Andy Holloway]

You take the over. I think I'd take the Dolphins to cover.

[Jason Moore]

Well, can you lean on Jay Ajayi for your Week 17 championship? You don't have a choice.

[Andy Holloway]

That's the hope. He's my RB20, which is definitely a guy that you're playing. He went beast mode last week, hurt the shoulder. There were questions about whether he'd be out there, but he's practicing in full, so he is a go. And I think you're going to have to rely on him, have to lean on him. I've got a bet with Brooks right now. Jai is RB11. I bet that he would not finish.

[Jason Moore]

Top 12 the last two weeks. New England has given up three points in each of the last two games. They are. Their defense has been outstanding. It has to stop Matt Moore. That's why I take. I think that's why the lines where it's at. I think it's more about that defense and Matt more than it is about anything else. I just don't have confidence. Don't have confidence there.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I don't blame you. Leggarrett Blunt, a spectacular play. Once again, the. The Dolphins run defense ranks near the bottom of the league. So he's a. You fire him up. The only thing that can stop Legaria Blunt is if they want to get Dion Lewis all those carries getting him ready for the. For the playoffs. What are you laughing at?

[Jason Moore]

Well, I was. I was scrolling down my rankings here, right? And I'm looking at Dion Lewis because I know I had moved him up. I actually have Dion Lewis a couple spots behind Blunt this week. I think it's a good week for Dion Lewis. I noticed I have an interesting character sitting in at the number one spot in my running back rankings.

[Mike Wright]

Your top running back of the week.

[Jason Moore]

The number one running back, according to my very now inaccurate weekly rankings, appears to be Terrence West.

[Andy Holloway]

Very nice.

[Jason Moore]

Apparently, Terrence west is somehow my number one. I'm going into the rankings now to figure out just how many touchdowns I gave him this week. That was a. Oh, we've got him for six. We got him down for six.

[Andy Holloway]

I pushed the wrong button there.

[Jason Moore]

No, no, it was. It's supposed to be 0.6 touchdowns and we went with 6 solid. So Terrence west, count him. Tomato, tomato, lock him in for six touchdowns this week in a banner performance to lock down in the best performance.

[Mike Wright]

In the history of the world.

[Jason Moore]

The hall of Fame.

[Andy Holloway]

You took Kenneth Dixon earlier, so he's going to go.

[Jason Moore]

Kenneth Dixon is going to get. Yeah, yeah. That's going to be a good game for West. Go west, young man.

[Andy Holloway]

Now, do you worry about the Patriots? Because if they get a lead, if Vegas is seeing them with a giant lead, I feel like if they get.

[Jason Moore]

That leads come from points, points come from fantasy points. Sure. I'm cool with it.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, do you think LeGarrett Blunt's going to be out there at the very end of the game, do you think? I do worry about those guys getting pulled is my question.

[Mike Wright]

Well, if the lead.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, if the lead's big enough, they'll get pulled. But I'm not worried about it from a start standpoint.

[Mike Wright]

The only guy.

[Jason Moore]

Not as much as I'm worried about your start of the week at running back.

[Mike Wright]

Tom Brady could get.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, Tom Brady could get pulled. Wait, what? Oh, my goodness. Yeah, I just saw it. That'll be a debate.

[Jason Moore]

I couldn't.

[Mike Wright]

Tom Brady, he could get pulled, you know, three quarters halfway through the game, but I think he would have. He should have done work if he's getting pulled out. Julian Edelman, I expect to play a lower amount of snaps than. Than you, than you used to for Julian Edelman. I think Malcolm Mitchell, Chris Hogan, they'll still be out there. So it's. I'm not. I'm not overly concerned about that. All right, last game, we got the Bears taking on the Vikings. The Vikings are five and a half point favorites. It's a 41 point over under. This is the showdown we've been looking forward to all year. Barkley, Bradford, just like everyone expected.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, the old Barkley Bradford rivalry, it's gone on for years. These two hate each other. Yeah, they grew up in opposite sides of the same city. Their families have always been opposed to one another. Very Romeo and Juliet situation, but more of.

[Mike Wright]

More of a Barkley, Bradford, Lannister and Starks.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's not. It's not friendly.

[Mike Wright]

The blood feud.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. One of the two will be working at Walmart next year. No, that's not true. That's not true.

[Mike Wright]

But actually, look, one will be a manager. Give him some credit.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah, no, Barkley and Bradford. Well, people who like those guys really hate us right now. And by us, I mean me. All right, look, I love Jordan Howard this week. They're going to give him the rock. He's going to carry the rock and he's going to help your fantasy team. I also don't mind Jerick McKinnon this week as a, as kind of one of those, you know, a half point, full point because the start, start worthy guy.

[Mike Wright]

Is this a matchup situation? Bears 28th against the run.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's matchup. We know. You know I got, I got him at 22. It looks like Jason has McKinnon at 19.

[Mike Wright]

So you, so you would go. That's an RB2 McKinnon over Asiata.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. With so much confidence.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

It was Cameron Meredith, big week last week. Alshon Jeffrey. Do you prefer Jeffrey over Meredith?

[Mike Wright]

I think I prefer Meredith and I wanted to talk about him.

[Jason Moore]

What a weird dude.

[Mike Wright]

Just. You're a weird dude, Cam.

[Jason Moore]

Noxious, weird. He just, he was amazing. What quarterback change and then another quarterback change is amazing again.

[Mike Wright]

What do you make of Cameron Meredith going your initial thoughts going into 2017?

[Jason Moore]

Alan hurts.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, so you think it's a complete flash in the pan?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, that's fair. I think that he's got some staying power.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, well look, I mean I think Alan Hearns is a good player. That's the reality. But I think his long term, his, his long term position in the NFL is floating between wide receiver 2, 3 for the team he's on. I don't think Meredith can step up and be. Do something more than what he's done this year and be a one if that's the question.

[Mike Wright]

Right. Because Alison, Jeffrey, we expect him to be gone. Kevin White, the oft injured Kevin White will be back. So I mean you're looking at. It's. It's White and Meredith. And who, who would you prefer just right now? Cam Meredith or Kevin White for next year? Yeah, I'm going to take Meredith.

[Jason Moore]

Sure. You're the Eric Decker and I'm the. Yeah, I'm hoping for the one. I probably would not take Meredith because I think you can find Merediths on the waiver wire. But if White was something special then, then I'd want that shot at fair.

[Mike Wright]

That's fair. You have, you have an almost identical situation over there for the other wide receivers for Minnesota.

[Jason Moore]

Stefan Diggs.

[Mike Wright]

Who's Stefan Diggs? Adam Thielen should have been the man coming into the season. He had a sensational rookie year, had those two monster games to start the year then really disappeared. Meanwhile Adam Thielen has been slow the tortoise there in that race, just steady production. Had a few blow up games.

[Jason Moore]

I think what you've seen with Diggs is a propensity to get banged up and not be able to get Back from it. It's been kind of one of those things where, okay, we've had so many weeks. Where is Diggs going to play? Is he not going to play? If he plays, did he play hurt? You know, I'd go with Thielen this week.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. We all three have Adam Thielen rated higher than Stefan Diggs, and you only have them two spots higher For Mike and I, we both have him a good dozen. Or in Mike's case, two dozen spots higher than.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, take that.

[Andy Holloway]

Digs than Stephen. But yeah, I think he's a good, you know, PPR play especially. He's getting enough target volume. Sam Bradford doesn't throw the ball very far usually. You know, he's. He's staying in that nice 8 yards away from himself range. So that's helpful for PPR. Starts of the week.

[Jason Moore]

We're starting with your running back start of the week. All right. Because I am.

[Andy Holloway]

If you.

[Jason Moore]

I'm just. I've been in shock if I've seen it in there, and I'm still in shock. And I won an easy bet last week, so I'll happily bet you again. And then if I win that, we'll sweep it.

[Andy Holloway]

If you had Ezekiel Elliott on your team and you didn't play him, you are a patented idiot last week.

[Jason Moore]

Patented what? Like from the patent office?

[Andy Holloway]

You got a patent from the patent office saying that there is a far.

[Jason Moore]

Cry from start your Zeke and making him your start of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Jason Moore]

Which is what you've made.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, come on. We've done this start of the week.

[Jason Moore]

I'm looking at the headline over here.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, my God.

[Jason Moore]

Who's your start of the week at running back?

[Andy Holloway]

It's Ezekiel. And let me tell you why, because we've done this 100 times. I don't know why all of a sudden you're acting like we haven't done this before. This is a confidence play to say to people. This isn't saying he's going to be the number one running back. This is saying if you have Ezekiel Elliott, you need to play him. He's going to get work. They're going he himself. There is no chance on planet Earth that when he gets out there for carry one, he is not trying to get that 178 or whatever.

[Mike Wright]

He.

[Andy Holloway]

He is away from the rookie record. He is going to be running like a man on a mission. And if they get up, they will pull him. But if they got up, there's a good chance he got in the end zone. Once or maybe twice in those. In that first half. And he got 78 to 125 yards. You're going. I think you're going to be fine. And I think you're foolish if you don't play Ezekiel Elliott. That's why I'm making him my start of the week, which we've done plenty of times.

[Jason Moore]

I don't have confidence in Ezekiel Elliot. He's getting pulled.

[Andy Holloway]

So you would bench him?

[Jason Moore]

He's getting pulled. Regard. No, I didn't say that.

[Andy Holloway]

Would you play him?

[Jason Moore]

You're asking me to give you the credit for what we've done in the past and then you're putting words into my mouth about him benching. I did not say. You said so you'd bench him?

[Andy Holloway]

It was a question. Just.

[Jason Moore]

He needs 177 yards for the rookie record. They're trying to win the Super Bowl. He's getting benched in this game regardless of whether they're winning or not. There's nothing on the line for them. There's no motivation for them to do anything with that spot. Last week you thought he'd have 25 carries. He had 12. How many carries does he get this week?

[Andy Holloway]

I thought he would have a great game. Look, you can't.

[Jason Moore]

You said 25. Say that.

[Andy Holloway]

But he got a 55 yard carry that took all of the other opportunities in that drive away from being able to get the ball.

[Jason Moore]

So I'm saying I don't have confidence in Ezekiel having a big workload.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't have confidence in him having.

[Jason Moore]

A good 12 carries. And if he has 12 carries and doesn't have a 55 yard run, I don't think they give him 12 more until he does. 177 yards for the rookie record. It's too far to go unless he breaks his first carry for 75 yards and he's got to do 100 for the rest of the game.

[Andy Holloway]

How about this higher priority water bet that Ezekiel Elliott is a top 15 back this week?

[Jason Moore]

Top 15 back?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

He's your start of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

I know.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Top 15.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm saying he's going to be one of the best top 12 backs and you need to play him.

[Jason Moore]

Top 12?

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, no.

[Mike Wright]

You.

[Andy Holloway]

You've made this a huge thing. You're saying.

[Jason Moore]

No, I haven't.

[Andy Holloway]

So you're saying he disagreed with you, too.

[Mike Wright]

I disagree with both of you.

[Andy Holloway]

What, Mike, what do you think the bet should be?

[Mike Wright]

I think top 15 is perfectly fine. I think that's a perfect.

[Jason Moore]

I said top 12. If you're confident in ZQL it to the level of making start of the.

[Andy Holloway]

Week, which means water bat.

[Jason Moore]

I just want. I want this on record too, because I'm going to take a look at it. Water bets this week. You and I have Dak playing the entire game.

[Andy Holloway]

That's.

[Mike Wright]

And you have a bad one.

[Jason Moore]

And you have Ezekiel Elliott top 12. So the Dallas game determines what you're eating next week.

[Andy Holloway]

There you go.

[Jason Moore]

That way. Or what I'm eating. Let's put it.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. So for me, we've spent a lot of time on Elliot here. I agree with Andy that he's going to get pulled regardless. I don't think this is a there. If they're up two touchdowns going into the half to pull him out, I think he plays a couple drives. I'm concerned about Dakota. You have Tyron Smith, the left tackle. He's not going to play. It's difficult to say we're going to play our starters when you don't have your starting left tackle and you have nothing to play for with your. With Dak going into the. To the playoffs. So I don't. I'm kind of in the middle of you guys. I will jump in here then with my start of the week at the running back position. I think he's going to play. He did not practice yesterday, but that's Blau Powell. I completely expect Matt Forte to be out and this is just another situation where Powell as the workhorse.

[Jason Moore]

He's looked good.

[Mike Wright]

He's just looked the given opportunity. He's always looked great. It's. I have to imagine it's a thing that the jets just don't believe he can do that for 16 games. So they never let him start as the main guy, even though he succeeds greatly when they give him the opportunity catches the ball. He's. I think he's a stud. So I like him regardless of any kind of matchup. If he's the lead guy. So he's my start of the week.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going with Mark Ingram this week. They've come out and publicly said they want to get him to a thousand yards. He's 60 yards away from that threshold. He looked very good last week. I know. I don't remember which one of you looked it up, but the odd stat that Mark Ingram, every single time that he's had 50 more carries, they've won the game every time. He hasn't. They haven't. There's a correlation there. He's the best running back on that team. And last Week he out snapped Tim Hightower 48 to 15. That's not changing this week. I actually really like Mark Ingram next year. I like him moving forward.

[Mike Wright]

He's looking good all the time.

[Andy Holloway]

Hightower is not getting any younger and I think Ingram has shown this year when he played. I don't know why he's been split so much, but he's been really good at actual football. He's one of those, you watch film and you go, why is this guy not getting the ball more?

[Jason Moore]

You think Sean Payton leaves? You think he's back next week?

[Andy Holloway]

I think he's back, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Why would he not be? Is there.

[Jason Moore]

There's been talk of him being traded. They're going to listen to offers for him just like they did last time.

[Mike Wright]

Trading head coach is so bizarre.

[Jason Moore]

Remember, he almost went to Miami.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

He's also apparently intrigued with the saint I almost said St. Louis, the Los Angeles situation. All right. Jameis Winston. I only brought him up, by the way, is because Ingram. It seems like there's Sean Payton and Ingram don't.

[Mike Wright]

There's something weird there.

[Jason Moore]

Jamie Swinson's my starting quarterback of the week. My start of the week at quarterback. He's at home against Carolina with a sliver's chance of the playoffs and a beatable secondary. Mike Evans, no chance. I, you know, I like Jamie Swinson enough this week to make him my start of the week.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he's been producing. He think we were hoping for a little bit more last week, but he got enough to get the job done and I'm doubling down. I mentioned it earlier in the matchups. Blake Bortles gets to take on the Indianapolis Colts. He's. Blake Bortles is playing for his job. Playing for his job. Next year you get a new coaching staff in. They're going to evaluate everything and that might include benching or getting rid of Blake. I don't know if they can get rid of him with his contract, but benching him and moving on to a different quarterback. So he's playing for his job. Doug Marone playing for another head coaching opportunity. Beatable matchup. I like Blake Bortles again.

[Andy Holloway]

My start of the week this week is Russell Wilson and he is not just a. To me, he is what Ezekiel Ellie is not. He is a locked and loaded. He's going to be. He's my number two quarterback this week. They are in a game that they need San Francisco. San Francisco is their opponent and they stink. But Seattle needs to win to get a bye week. And because they Flex the Atlanta game. They're. They're not going to know ahead of time. They're going to have to play to win. Russell Wilson on the season, what do you think? Disappointment or been fantasy owners been happy.

[Mike Wright]

With Russell this year I'm going disappointment.

[Andy Holloway]

Huge disappointment. I mean we expected him to be a great quarterback this year.

[Jason Moore]

He was from day one.

[Andy Holloway]

From day one he was like a.

[Mike Wright]

Fifth, sixth round draft pick.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So second, second half of the season, week nine to now. What quarterback is Russell Wilson in fantasy football?

[Mike Wright]

Second half, he's second half. Great.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. What quarterback?

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to go 43-432- he is.

[Andy Holloway]

The number two fantasy quarterback since week nine. He's in a game they have to win against San Francisco.

[Jason Moore]

So much like last year, if you look at his first eight games, five touchdowns. His next two, 311-134.

[Mike Wright]

New strategy next year.

[Jason Moore]

Second half draft trade for you redraft midway through the year.

[Mike Wright]

No, you trade for Wilson halfway through the year.

[Andy Holloway]

So Russell Wilson's my start of the week.

[Jason Moore]

All right, let's go ahead and flip over to the wide receiver position. We got three interesting names here. I'm going with Steve Smith. This is his last game in the NFL. The Baltimore Ravens have nothing else to play for if not for Steve Smith. Steve Smith, somebody who came back to that organization after a devastating injury last year simply to say, you put your confidence in me. I'm not going out this way. I'm going to come back and give you something which is what he did this year. He's been their best wide receiver the past few weeks. I really, really like Steve Smith in this game. Now, we're not talking 200 yards and two touchdowns necessarily, but I think Steve Smith has a bona fide high target game. So I like him.

[Mike Wright]

I'll jump in here because I'm doubling down again. America with the Jaguars. Things are going crazy over here in week 17. When you're putting all your faith in the Jacksonville Jaguars. Allen Robinson, I just, I like what happened. I like that the coaching staff pulled their head out of their keisters and said we got to figure out different ways to get Al Robinson the ball. Sure. He's not what we that sophomore year from Al Robinson, I think that's going down as the outlier. As his average catch has returned. He's at 11.8 yards for an average catch his rookie year, 11.4. That sophomore year, 17.5. So that's going to be the outlier. However, I still think he's a great wide receiver. He's big, can get things done against, against that Colts secondary. So I just, I think that he's going to return back to that. He's a, he's a startable wide receiver too, and you can have some confidence in him. So I'm, I'm pumping it up. Pumping it up.

[Andy Holloway]

Pump it up while the heat is pumping. I am going with Golden.

[Mike Wright]

That was the worst transition of all time.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going with Golden Tate. Golden Tate got off to a slow start as well the first half of this year. But the second half of this year he has been exactly what we hoped for in preseason. Detroit needs this game. Detroit is extremely motivated and they're playing against the packers who you know are going to be able to put up points. But the packers secondary has been atrocious. They're the 31st ranked team against wide receivers. Golden Tate hasn't had less than five catches in. When was the last time that was the last. The last six games he's had five or more receptions every single game. Two of his last four games he's over 100 yards. He's a yards after the catch guy. And if you're going to do it, Green Bay secondary is a game you're going to be able to do it against.

[Jason Moore]

How many games did you say he's had five or more catches consecutively?

[Andy Holloway]

Three, four, five? Oh, I said six.

[Jason Moore]

It's been 11 games.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Since Marvin Jones had a five catch game.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, Marvin Jones.

[Jason Moore]

Marvin Jones has been in double digits two times since his first three weeks.

[Andy Holloway]

He burned the brightest against Green bay.

[Jason Moore]

His first three weeks. He was amazing. Since then, two double digit games. Both were 11. Two touchdowns since week three. From what I understand, from what I understand. He cannot, he's not a number one. He cannot handle press coverage. He cannot get off press coverage. You press Marvin Jones and he presses the off button. I mean it just doesn't happen.

[Mike Wright]

So it's like major league. I can't remember the guy, but he couldn't hit the curveball.

[Andy Holloway]

He.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, well, they find the one weakness and you just destroy him is that.

[Jason Moore]

We got tight ends. I'm going with Eric Ebron this week. He was a catch guy last week. Great week. Faces the 20th ranked tight end defense this week in an important game for Detroit, obviously playoff matchup or playoff deciding game. So I'm going to go with Eric Ebron. I'm going to reroll him this week and chase those points. You guys have some tight end picks?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, my tight end pick is a guy that helped me grab A championship last week. Who has been on fire lately, who is almost going to be Mike's pump the brakes. As soon as their starting quarterback, Tyrod Taylor went down, it's Charles Clay.

[Mike Wright]

Well, he.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, it didn't go down. Got pulled.

[Mike Wright]

He went down to the bench.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, he got. He went down to the bench to save the team cash. So here's the deal. Mike alluded to this a few episodes ago in the fact that when Charles Clay has played with EJ Manuel, he's actually performed better than when he's played with Tyrod Taylor. He's had seven games with E.J. manuel and he's averaged 11 fantasy points per game in a PPR. He's had over two targets and almost two receptions more per game with E.J. manuel. With how Charles Clay has been playing their matchup against. Over the last five weeks, the jets have been the worst against tight end. I think there's a good storm here where, look, if you've got your locked and loaded, if you've got your Kelsey's and you've got your Olson's, you got your Jimmy Graham's, you're in the championship there. You. You very well might have them. But if you're in that championship and you got there and you're going, I don't have a tight end. Charles Clay's on a lot of waivers. He might have been picked up. You might have got there last week on his back. So I think. I think you can play him. Despite Tyrod Taylor going to the bench.

[Mike Wright]

I like it. And I'm following the narrative that Antonio Gates is chasing the touchdown record. He wants to retire. He wants to be done with this game. So if he gets his two touchdowns, he's gonna be out.

[Andy Holloway]

Breaking news.

[Mike Wright]

Antonio Gates is retired. Oh, this is a sad face.

[Andy Holloway]

What's going on?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no.

[Jason Moore]

There are some stat corrections that we need to talk about.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no.

[Jason Moore]

Amari Cooper has lost a reception from four yards.

[Andy Holloway]

Uh oh.

[Jason Moore]

Frank Gores lost a rushing yard. Michael Crabtree was given a fumble. What?

[Andy Holloway]

Wow. This could be happy music, too. Did. Did you or someone you know lose a fantasy football championship by less than a point or maybe even less than two points? Points.

[Mike Wright]

What?

[Andy Holloway]

Go check your roster. You could be a champ.

[Jason Moore]

Pretty crazy. I. The reason the sad music is there is because I was alerted to them being up by a listener moments ago. Colin. Because I'm going to give him his day in the sun here on the show because of his day and sadness that is approaching. He had written me and told me this crazy story where he basically ended up, you know, winning by 125.06 to 124.72. But he had Amari Cooper and no. Got a point adjustment, lost by half a point.

[Andy Holloway]

My goodness, you're still a champ.

[Mike Wright]

Don't tell him. Don't tell your opponent.

[Andy Holloway]

Don't tell your league. They might not check. They're checked out. You are the champ.

[Jason Moore]

So no, those point adjustments are pretty significant. Those are pretty significant. Especially the, like the Crabtree fumble. Crabtree fumble.

[Andy Holloway]

At least that's two points in a lot of leagues.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. It wasn't a fumble loss, though.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh.

[Jason Moore]

So it was just considered one fumble that would, you know, if you have a play where you catch the ball and then you fumble and recover yourself real quick and then they don't see it and then the league goes back and says, no, we counted that as a fumble. That's. That's what happened. So the, the Oakland Raiders, if you already mad at, at the situation, sat at the situation with Carr, now Crabtree and Cooper are going to affect your team. And then the Frank Gar. Frank Gore one rushing yard may affect some people. That one's less significant because that's probably point one. Point one.

[Mike Wright]

Well, unless you're on that thrust. Well, was he on the threshold?

[Jason Moore]

Well, that's fine.

[Mike Wright]

What did that knock him down to?

[Andy Holloway]

Frank Gore went 99 yards.

[Jason Moore]

Wow. He went to 72. Okay, so he's okay. But yeah, the Cooper one's the big one because losing your reception, point five. Losing the four yards.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. If you're in a half point, that's almost a full point you lost. If you're in a full point PPR, that's, that's 1.4 points gone.

[Mike Wright]

Brutal.

[Andy Holloway]

Brutal. Hope you played against them.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I. Let's move on. Let's move on.

[Mike Wright]

Let's get happy.

[Andy Holloway]

Jason Moore's ironclad, locked and loaded 100 guaranteed. Boom, boom. Kicker of the week. Oh, there's a lot of good kickers out there named Justin Tucker there.

[Jason Moore]

It's sad you don't make Canton Zara your final week.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, Canton Zaro can never even be talked about again in this segment. Please don't ever do that to me. Look, there's great kickers. There's Justin Tucker, there's Steven Guskowski, Kyro Santos, Venatori lot, lot of good options. But this week I'm going with Vegas, okay? Because There is a 56 point spread on the New Orleans Atlanta game and you are not going to put up 56 plus points without a kicker being heavily involved. And Matt Bryant has been great all year. I'm going with the favored team in a gargantuan over under. I think points are going to be scored. Put Matt Bryant in. He was my first boom boom kicker of the week. He is my last boom boom kicker of the week is a Bryant sandwich, if you will. Although really he's just the bread. So it's a.

[Jason Moore]

The tweets are coming in, man. No, the tweets are coming in.

[Andy Holloway]

Are any of them victories?

[Jason Moore]

Not yet.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, man.

[Jason Moore]

Lost by point zero six this morning due to the stat correction.

[Andy Holloway]

I. Caramba, we did say if you won by less than a point. I mean, I gave the warning, Mike.

[Jason Moore]

You.

[Andy Holloway]

You corrected me. I said, you know, you might not want to brag too much until Thursday. Hope you listen to me, not Mike, man.

[Jason Moore]

That is, you know, you're right. It's going to go the other direction, too.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, but as often as someone loses 100% of time that someone loses, the other person wins. So every single one of these guys, spectacular. We're probably going to hear more of the stories of the losses because it's felt more. But, man.

[Jason Moore]

All right, that's a little joy for your life. We had David Johnson bringing home a Foot Clan title. That was the two little girls singing the David Johnson and Zeke song there.

[Mike Wright]

Love it.

[Jason Moore]

All right, just so you know, we've talked a little bit about the other shows coming up in the offseason, but we will be here talking playoff football as well. With the NFL playoffs going through January, the NFL playoff challenge, and some of those fantasy things, we're going to do a little bet here in the studio. You guys can play along with us. So thanks for listening today.

[Andy Holloway]

Got our foot cast now if you're a supporter [e-mail] you can have more fantasy footballers.

[Jason Moore]

So much, so much foot. Check out fantasyjocks.com for fantasy trophies and rings for those sweet rewards. We've already seen some of those tweets.

[Mike Wright]

The code is footballers.

[Jason Moore]

See ya.

[Andy Holloway]

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 FF Ballers.