Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Starts of the Week, Week 4 Matchups, Debate

Summary

Fantasy Football Podcast Summary

Podcast Title: Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast
Episode Title: Starts of the Week, Week 4 Matchups, Debate
Release Date: September 29, 2016
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
Knowledge Cutoff: October 2023

---

1. Fandings Debate of the Week

Topic: Is it wrong to make the league aware of things like injuries?

Overview: The hosts engaged in a lively debate about the ethics of sharing injury updates and active player statuses within a fantasy football league. They explored the fine line between providing useful information and engaging in collusion or unfair advantage.

Key Points:

• Public vs. Private Sharing: Andy Holloway emphasized the difference between sharing public information versus advising specific actions to league mates.
• Trolling and Collusion: Jason Moore differentiated between generalized friendly trolling and direct advice that could influence team decisions unfairly.
• Competitive Advantage: Mike Wright highlighted the blurred lines in providing information that could grant certain teams an edge over others.

Notable Quotes:

• Jason Moore [04:03]: "I believe that there's a line and I believe it's a bit subjective."
• Andy Holloway [08:54]: "What's wrong is if you're sharing that he's injured when he's not, or just lying."
• Mike Wright [08:58]: "This line is very wide and very, very blurry."

Conclusion: The debate underscored the complexity of maintaining fair play in fantasy leagues, advocating for transparency while cautioning against actions that could be perceived as collusion.

---

2. News and Notes

Overview: The hosts delved into recent news impacting fantasy football, focusing on player injuries, trades, and team dynamics. Key discussions included the implications of trading for DEZ Bryant, injury updates on various players, and changes within NFL teams affecting fantasy lineups.

Key Discussions:

• DEZ Bryant Trade and Injury [10:50]:

  • Jason Moore: Shared his experience trading for DEZ Bryant from Carlos Hyde, only to discover Bryant had a hairline fracture, making him a questionable starter.
  • Andy Holloway: Highlighted expert opinions predicting Bryant's extended absence due to the injury.
  • Mike Wright: Discussed the medical implications of Bryant’s injury, referencing Dr. Gene Brammell's insights.

• Player Injuries and Updates:

  • Rashad Jennings: Unlikely to play against the Vikings.
  • Eric Decker: Missing Thursday practice due to a shoulder injury.
  • Brandon Marshall: Practiced fully and expected to be active against Seattle.
  • C.J. Spiller and Michael Floyd: Discussed their statuses and impacts on respective teams.

Notable Quotes:

• Jason Moore [11:23]: "I traded for Des. I gave up Hyde and there were other pieces that were in my favor because I was taking that risk."
• Andy Holloway [12:18]: "Doctors that I respect and no fantasy football think that it's going to be extremely unlikely that he plays this week."
• Mike Wright [13:05]: "If this is what it is... you got to shut him down for a couple weeks."

Conclusion: Injuries and trades significantly influence fantasy football strategies. Staying updated with accurate information is crucial for making informed lineup decisions and mitigating risks associated with player injuries.

---

3. Fantasy Forecast: Week 4 Matchups

Overview: The hosts provided detailed previews of Week 4 NFL matchups, analyzing team performances, player matchups, and fantasy implications to guide listeners in making optimal lineup decisions.

Key Matchups:

1. Colts vs. Jaguars (London) [18:26]:

   • Andy Holloway: Recommended starting all Indianapolis Colts players, expecting a high-scoring game due to favorable trends in London matchups.
   • Mike Wright: Agreed with the favorable outlook for the Colts, despite noting the Jaguars' defense.

2. Panthers vs. Falcons [31:25]:

   • Jason Moore: Anticipated a significant bounce-back for the Panthers' offense due to improved player involvement.
   • Andy Holloway: Expressed surprise at the high over/under expectation but maintained confidence in the Panthers' dominance.

3. Raiders vs. Ravens [35:51]:

   • Andy Holloway: Viewed the Raiders as underdogs but saw potential for them to take the game.
   • Jason Moore: Suggested a close game with a slight edge to the Raiders.
   • Mike Wright: Favored start combinations for the Ravens, focusing on running back strategies.

4. Titans vs. Texans [41:11]:

   • Jason Moore: Advised starting DeMarco Murray, highlighting his reception totals and running capabilities.
   • Mike Wright: Supported starting Murray and discussed the Texans' defensive strengths.
   • Andy Holloway: Countered with concerns about the Titans' offensive execution against the Texans.

5. Bills vs. Patriots [43:00]:

   • Andy Holloway: Predicted a low-scoring game favoring the Patriots with Zach Brissette as the likely quarterback.
   • Jason Moore: Expressed skepticism about starting Tyrod Taylor due to the Patriots' defense.

6. Seahawks vs. Jets [46:18]:

   • Andy Holloway: Recommended starting reliable players like Doug Baldwin despite tough matchups.
   • Mike Wright: Highlighted the potential for breakout performances from Seahawks' players.
   • Jason Moore: Suggested caution with injured quarterbacks and recommended prioritizing healthier options like Kirk Cousins.

Notable Quotes:

• Andy Holloway [19:23]: "You can confidently start all of your Indianapolis Colts and expect what should be a decently high scoring game."
• Jason Moore [21:05]: "Over under, when we talk about that, Vegas saying how many total points do they think are going to be scored in the game."
• Andy Holloway [31:25]: "His reception totals are great, are league-leading type of numbers."

Conclusion: Week 4 presented a variety of matchups with differing impacts on fantasy lineups. Analyzing team trends, player performances, and matchup specifics can provide fantasy managers with strategic advantages.

---

4. Starts of the Week

Overview: The hosts shared their top player recommendations for the week, categorizing them by position to help listeners optimize their fantasy lineups with high-confidence starts.

Top Recommendations:

• Quarterbacks:

  • Andy Holloway: Matthew Stafford – Emphasized Stafford's role in the high-scoring Detroit Lions offense.
  • Mike Wright: Blake Bortles – Highlighted Bortles' potential against a weak Ravens pass defense.
  • Jason Moore: Kirk Cousins – Praised Cousins’ performance against Cleveland.

• Running Backs:

  • Jason Moore: Carlos Hyde (San Francisco) – Anticipated a high-yardage game against Dallas.
  • Mike Wright: Isaiah Crowell (Cleveland) – Expected strong performance against Washington.
  • Andy Holloway: Jeremy Hill (Miami) – Projected a productive game with touchdown potential.

• Wide Receivers:

  • Jason Moore: Steve Smith Sr. (New Orleans) – Noted increasing yardage and consistent targets.
  • Mike Wright: Kevin White (Chicago) – Anticipated emerging performance against a struggling Detroit defense.
  • Andy Holloway: Travis Benjamin (New Orleans) – Highlighted Benjamin’s role as the top target against the Saints.

• Tight Ends:

  • Jason Moore: Kobe Fleener (San Diego) – Recognized Fleener’s growing rapport with quarterback Drew Brees.
  • Mike Wright: Dennis Pitta (Oakland) – Valued Pitta’s involvement against the Porc in a pass-heavy game.
  • Andy Holloway: Zach Miller (Detroit) – Supported Miller’s matchup against a weak tight end defense.

Notable Quotes:

• Andy Holloway [50:59]: "You have to stay in these flames. You... look... there's no chance that at the end of the year the Detroit Lions have anywhere."
• Jason Moore [53:21]: "You're going to see him over 30 points at home against Cleveland."
• Mike Wright [54:05]: "I'm going with Isaiah Crowell. He's playing against Washington where they've allowed significant yards per carry."

Conclusion: Selecting the right starters is pivotal for fantasy success. The hosts provided a well-rounded list of high-confidence players, considering recent performances, matchup advantages, and potential for high fantasy output.

---

5. Parting Thoughts

Overview: As the episode concluded, the hosts reiterated the importance of community engagement through their platforms and highlighted upcoming shows and resources available for fantasy football enthusiasts.

Highlights:

• Encouragement to join the Fantasy Footballers' community at jointhefoot.com.
• Promotion of their website fantasyfootballers.com for additional resources like matchup articles and premium rankings.
• Invitation to follow the podcast on various social media platforms for real-time updates and exclusive content.

Notable Quotes:

• Jason Moore [62:38]: "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."

Conclusion: The hosts emphasized the value of their community and resources, encouraging listeners to stay connected for ongoing support and insights throughout the fantasy football season.

---

Final Thoughts

This episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast provided comprehensive insights into Week 4 of the fantasy football season, blending strategic debates, up-to-date news, matchup analyses, and expert player recommendations. Whether you're adjusting your lineup or seeking to engage more deeply with the fantasy football community, this episode offered valuable content to enhance your fantasy experience.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Foot Clan, before we get started, we just want to thank you guys for supporting the show. And if you want to support the show, you can join our community [e-mail] where there is so much stuff. That's where we spend our time with our community. You can get premium rankings. Our flex rankings are actually through the Join the Foot community over there. And you get stuff like an extra show every single week. Like today. Oh, today. Go get your questions answered [e-mail] be a part of what we're doing here. Welcome 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]

Good morning, good afternoon. Whenever you're listening, however you're listening, wherever you're listening, whatever you're doing, welcome to the show. Happy, happy.

[Andy Holloway]

2Am you covered it.

[Jason Moore]

I covered everybody. It's Thursday for us right now. Thursday, September 28, the fantasy footballers Podcast. Andy, Mike and Jason back again for what seems like the millionth time this week.

[Mike Wright]

This week.

[Jason Moore]

No, not really. But we are here every day. That's one of the things we, we love to do. Yesterday I sent out a thank you to all the supporters that joined the Foot and I asked them, I said, hey, let us know anything we can do to make the community better, things that we can improve. And someone said, hey, why don't you do some sort of live stream or something on Sunday mornings? And I was able to write back and say, mike, Mike does. Mike does a live.

[Mike Wright]

You've been.

[Jason Moore]

Does the live stream on Sunday morning.

[Mike Wright]

It's a Sunday morning party.

[Jason Moore]

It's the. What, the last minute? Yeah, the last questions.

[Mike Wright]

Pretty close.

[Jason Moore]

And we also are now doing a Sunday morning update that we're posting over at Join the Foot. So, like, man, it's crazy on Sunday morning with the inactives, the players that might have limited snaps, right? You get those reports that are like, hey, you know, Jordy Nelson is going to be out there, but he's going.

[Andy Holloway]

To play four snaps or, you know, I don't think most of us saw Delaney Walker. That was a surprise to me. I thought for sure he was going to end up playing. He didn't. You got to have that info, get him out.

[Jason Moore]

So very excited to get going today. We have a great show for you. My favorite episode of the week. You know, this starts of the week. Starts of the week are on the show today. We've got the Fantasy forecast breaking down the first six matchups for week number four in fantasy football. We have A great question in the Fandings debate of the week. I think Mike and I are debating today.

[Mike Wright]

I think we're going to. We're going Royal Rumble today.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. Okay. Just sharing himself and obviously we have the news and notes. I have a funny story about one of the bits of news that broke yesterday. Funny, funny haha for you. Funny sad for me. Not the best thing.

[Mike Wright]

I didn't know what you were talking.

[Jason Moore]

Now you know what I'm talking about.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, I do.

[Andy Holloway]

That's great.

[Mike Wright]

And I've. And this harkens back to an argument that we had a couple weeks ago. And I bet you wish you were on our side now.

[Jason Moore]

Well, maybe, maybe. So let's. Let's jump right in.

[Andy Holloway]

It's time for TheFandings.com debate of the week.

[Jason Moore]

All right, Last debate of the week for the month of September. It's thefandings.com debate of the week. If you want to go debate a variety of sports topics, including this one, we'll tweet this one out, show you where you can go and debate it with your friends on the Fandings app. Is it wrong to make the league aware of things like injuries? And I'm going to throw in a caveat here also, players being named active.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

So here's the scenario that you may face. And like all of our leagues, we have Facebook groups. We think it's a great way to communicate with your league mates on a regular basis. It's a great way to get notified when trades happen, things are going on. So the question is, you know, sometimes some listeners are foot clan members and they're up to date with what's going on and others are not so much. So is it wrong? And where is the line when it comes to letting other people in the league know what in the world is going on in fantasy football? Because look, what happens is this. Maybe you've got an opponent, another great team, and they're playing a lowly team. And that lowly team has Rob Gronkowski, for instance, and Rob Gronkowski gets named active on a Thursday night. Like, is it wrong to tell your league what's going on? Is it wrong to make a post that says, I don't know, Gronkowski's active? Is it wrong to say, boy, this doesn't look good for you when. And talk about Julio Jones's knee injury when somebody's trying to get a trade done?

[Andy Holloway]

Now, before you debate this, I'm going to assume that, Andy, your answer is, it is not wrong. Am I Correct in assuming that.

[Jason Moore]

No, you're not correct in assuming that. I believe that there's a line and I believe it's a bit subjective.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Because the example you gave with the Gronk situation, right, I mean, is an example you did last week. Is that correct?

[Jason Moore]

Well, not exactly.

[Mike Wright]

He, like you said. I'm saying he skirted the line, like, and this is. I mean, I'm talking. You have the foot where you got the long toes. And these things are just, just tapping on the line. Because Andy did not say, hey, Gronkowski's active, but instead he put up a gigantic high res image of Gronkowski and said, gronk smash. For no reason, because Gronkowski is not on Andy's team. This was not a proclamation of joy saying, I'm playing Gronk tonight. This was he.

[Jason Moore]

He's a very.

[Andy Holloway]

This was the owner playing me. Did not have him in his lineup.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, and I was just saying, man, Gronk's gonna smash really good. He's gonna smash tonight.

[Mike Wright]

Well, you know, you didn't say tonight. You just said gronk smash.

[Jason Moore]

Sure. I was wearing less. Less directed. So you understand what's going on here. I mean, and make no mistake, this is the first time I've endeavored into that territory. I feel like Jason has been far more, many times, far more, many, far more many as Jason Wood been across that line where he wants to go on there. And you know, if I say something about my player, I'll get like a news story about how his ankles hurting or I'll say, hey, I want to trade Des Bryant.

[Andy Holloway]

And then I'm gonna share the truth.

[Jason Moore]

Then someone will say, you mean this Des Bryant? And then they'll share a news story about his knee being broken or something like that. So is that just trolling? Is that friendly trolling? I feel like it is. I feel like I'm gonna take the position that some generalized trolling is okay. But if you direct message another league mate and say, this is what's going on. You need to play this guy, I feel like that is the collusion line that I would not ever cross, nor want to cross, not to mention imagine crossing that line. Let's say I emailed that other owner a message him and said, you need to play Gronkowski tonight. He's in. You got to beat Jason. Gronkowski scored zero points.

[Mike Wright]

So you would have been very wrong.

[Jason Moore]

I would have been very wrong. And that owner, then, you know, oh, I put him in. But, you know, so. So what do you Think I've been talking this entire time I'm with you.

[Mike Wright]

That the line is very wide and very, very blurry. Because, I mean, I don't know. I don't think it matters if it's a DM to directly to an owner. When you're broadcasting it to the entire league. Everyone. Everyone knows what you're doing. They're making a. Making an owner aware. Oh, man, it's. It's so tough because we all want to win, right? We all want to win. And we think that sometimes. Sometimes people miss information. You're like that. If this person only had that information, maybe they're too busy with their life and they haven't gotten this. If only they had this information, clearly they would make the right decision.

[Jason Moore]

They're not going to play an injured Antonio Gates if they knew that he was out.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

I think the difference feels like an injustice.

[Andy Holloway]

I think that there is a difference when it comes to being private, to being public. When it's public, you are sharing public information or you are sharing your opinion. It's for anyone and everyone. And it's fine if you're sharing that DEZ Bryant was just injured. What's wrong with that? He's injured. You know what I mean? What would be wrong is if you're sharing that he's injured when he's not, or just lying. But as soon as you make it private, as soon as you go and tell someone, hey, you need to start this guy, you are trying to run someone else's team or you are trying to give, you know, even if you want somebody to do that, I feel like you make. You make it public.

[Jason Moore]

Awareness versus advice.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, but I mean, is there a line?

[Jason Moore]

Is that the line you should.

[Mike Wright]

But you're also crossing this line of competitive advantage where if people are plugged.

[Jason Moore]

In, sure, one owner knows more because they do more research, they deserve the advantage.

[Mike Wright]

And on top of that, maybe they're plugged into the news like you have those things. The instance I'm thinking of was many years ago, the starter for Indianapolis went down and all of a sudden, Vic. And this was in the middle of the week, and Vic Ballard is hanging on, on waiver wires and is now the starting running back, where if you post, hey, everyone should probably try and get Vic Balor, you posted about the injury to the running back. Then everyone's going to go put the pieces together that I need to go grab Vic Ballard as opposed to holding that information. And I mean, you keep it for yourself, obviously for the advantage, but it's so that's so tough for me to speak.

[Jason Moore]

I don't think there's an easy answer.

[Mike Wright]

No, this is very great.

[Jason Moore]

So if you want to debate this question and dozens more, do so [e-mail] grab the app in the app store. We love the Fandings app. You got to check it out. If you want to follow the show on Twitter, you can do so heffballers you can. If you do that, you'll see when Mike is periscoping on Sunday morning and all the other news and information, all the articles like our quarterback primer that just came out, our matchup articles or starts of the week, all of those are on the website the fantasy footballers.com free for you to access and then you could check out the community. As we said [e-mail] we're also on Facebook and YouTube and Instagram and itunes and Android. And if we're, you know, if there is a there, we're there. If there's a destination, we're there. So let's jump into the news.

[Andy Holloway]

News and notes from around.

[Jason Moore]

Well, it's time to tell my tale.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man.

[Jason Moore]

In a league with you two.

[Mike Wright]

In a league of record.

[Jason Moore]

I was on the fence about this trade yesterday and I was the owner of Carlos Hyde and it was a big trade and the pieces there were DEZ Bryant and obviously I knew the risks of trading for DEZ Bryant after an injury and the fact that this MRI was supposed to happen but it just happened to time up yesterday where the mo I'm talking moments moments after.

[Andy Holloway]

The trade was accepted by not have been five minutes.

[Jason Moore]

It wasn't even. And then I got a message from Bleacher report saying confirming that he has a fracture, a hairline fracture in his knee that could potentially cost him multiple weeks. I have heard everything from he will play this week to he will be out longer than Romo will be out to somewhere in the middle. And then it was reported last night that he ditched the mri. Yeah. And was fined for it. Which means that's why we didn't have the news early enough. So basically I can blame DEZ Bryant directly for my lack of information. I traded for Des. I gave up Hyde and there were other pieces the draft pick swap in my favor because I was taking that risk. But now it looks like DEZ Bryant is very questionable and there are so many things that make Des Bryant we talked about it yesterday and keep trade cut. They make him a risk. Right. You have a Dak Prescott run offense now Romo isn't back yet. Now you have a knee injury.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So, you know, I'm not a doctor, but doctors that have weighed in on this, that I respect that. No fantasy football think that it's going to be extremely, extremely unlikely that he plays this week and he will probably miss several weeks. This is, you know, very similar to the injury that Thomas Rawls has. And obviously there was no question there. He was out weeks. I think the reason that there is the question of like, oh, he's going to play is because the fact that he played on it on Sunday, but they didn't know that he had it on Sunday and that's why he played on it because they thought it was an MCL problem. You could play through that. You're not going to cause further damage with this injury. Playing on it can cause further damage. And so at that point, you kinda need to shut down shop.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I was gonna say Gene Brammell, Dr. Gene Brammell, which is a great follow on Twitter. Must follow, fantastic information for medical stuff. But talking about ifif now that they know there's a hairline fracture, if this is aggravated to a displaced fracture that's a surgery, then you could have injury to the cartilage in the area, accelerates arthritis. I mean, you're talking, you.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm just waiting for the sad music to start back.

[Mike Wright]

If this is, if this is what it is like, if the injury is to that, if to the place that Gene Bramble thinks it is, you got to shut him down for a couple weeks. You got to let him heal.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah. And that's, you know, Ian Rapaport reported, the more information he gathers, it seems like he's a super long shot to play and you've had others weigh in. Like Jason said, you know, it's not good news. If you're a DEZ Bryant owner. You were hoping that he was building something with Dak that you'd see accelerate, not decelerate because of an injury. Obviously he played on it, scored a touchdown after that. But you need to make other plans with your wide receiver if you're a Des Bryant owner. And wait and see. Rashad Jennings unlikely to play on Monday night against the Vikings. This means Orleans Darqua will get the. I think the majority of the work. Shane Vereen is out. You also see Paul Perkins worked in. And they have Bobby Rainey as well. Eric Decker. Oh, yeah, he's not going to practice on Thursday or. I'm sorry, he already didn't practice today. Shoulder injury. I think there's almost no chance he plays this week.

[Mike Wright]

The team came out yesterday and said or there was reports of, well, the injury is worse than first thought. Now he's missing a Thursday practice. I agree with Andy. Eric Decker is a super tough guy who will play through injuries, but I think this is going to be too much.

[Jason Moore]

Now the good news on the other side is Brandon Marshall practiced in full yesterday and looks to be back out there. They're going to have to force feed him. Now he's playing Seattle, so that's tough. But he, I think he will get, you know, if Deckers off the field, the targets will be there for Brandon Marshall. Let's talk about the Seahawks, their opponent. They signed C.J. spiller. Does this matter for fantasy football owners?

[Mike Wright]

I don't think it does. I believe it's a depth play. They CJ Pro size, they're kind of their scat back. He's been dealing with injuries on and off. You know, if I it could be a bigger pro, bigger concern for Thomas Rawls. We were just talking about that Des Brine injury, if that's what Rawls has and they think, okay, we're going to have to shut him down for a month. I mean you got to have depth on your team and but for fantasy purposes, like if you're a woke one owner, you're worried about Kristen Michael, CJ Spiller is not a concern for me. We've seen for years that C.J. spiller just. He doesn't have the juice anymore.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, when you're, when you're two of your backups, actually your starter and your backup, I mean pro size has a cast on his hand and will for a couple more weeks. So you have to bring someone like this in. I'm not, I'm not picking up CJ Or CJ Spiller, but I do not think this hurts Kristen Michael at all.

[Jason Moore]

All right. Michael Floyd cleared for football activity. He had the concussion protocol process taking place. Michael Floyd this week or John Brown? I have the answer for my rankings. It was John Brown.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I'm going to go with John Brown as well. He was my guy at the start of the season. I think Michael Floyd gets back on the field. He's still in the protocol. He's kind of red shirted right now, but if he's back on the field, I'm still taking John Brown. What we saw last week was the amount of targets and receptions and yards per the snaps that John Brown was playing was easily the best of the Cardinals. His snap percentage has continued to increase. So I assume it's going to increase the most drastically this week. So I think John Brown is a. Is a decent play this week.

[Jason Moore]

I very much like him at home. I have him and Fitzgerald rated fairly high. I think they get things right. I don't think it's going to be a super high scoring game, but I think they'll do enough in that offense against the Rams. Kenneth Dixon return to practice. From what we're hearing from IAN RAPAPORT, Week 5 looks like a realistic target for his return. We've been talking about picking up and stashing Dixon for weeks, but if he's still on your waiver wire, go get him.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

Right. All right. DeSean Jackson didn't practice on Wednesday. Sat out last Wednesday is too. He has an ankle and knee issue that he's dealing with.

[Mike Wright]

Wednesday's Veterans Day pretty much. If they miss Wednesday, you're not concerned?

[Jason Moore]

Delaney Walker, Mike Malarkey thinks he's going to play on Sunday, as do I. Do you guys believe that he'll play?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

And then Lev Bell returns this week. They said they're going to use him in the slot. I think all we know is that Love Bell will be on the field all the time. You know, there was talk last year, oh, we're going to, we're going to use lev Bell and D'Angelo Williams together.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

And then it was like 114 pants on. In terms of care. I mean, he's their whole office.

[Andy Holloway]

I had a. I've had several questions of what do I do with D Will this week? Because people have had him. They've been starting him. You sit D'Angelo Williams, he's not going to be usable.

[Jason Moore]

All right, let's jump into the forecast.

[Andy Holloway]

Fantasy forecast.

[Jason Moore]

If you are looking for a preview to the Thursday night game, you need to click yesterday's show and listen to that one. We talked about the Thursday night show a day early this week. We're gonna do that in the future just so that more people catch it because sometimes you listen to this on Friday morning. So let's start here with the London.

[Mike Wright]

Game, AKA me setting my alarm way too early on Sunday morning.

[Jason Moore]

Colts, Jaguars, London, London. Yeah. So look, they're. They're traveling over there traditionally, I believe, I believe five of the last seven games in London, they. The over. They covered the over. Yeah. Overproduction, you know, in London has been the case. Now, the only thing I know is this game is not taking place in the same stadium as all the previous games had taken place.

[Mike Wright]

It's not this one.

[Jason Moore]

It's not it. Not in Wembley.

[Andy Holloway]

Really?

[Mike Wright]

I thought that was the later one.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I thought that was the one.

[Mike Wright]

I believe this one is.

[Jason Moore]

I will be later. London game, you're saying? Okay, maybe verify. Maybe I heard that wrong. So we have, we have Andrew Luck, we have Blake Bortles, we have Frank Gore and the anemic Jaguars running game. And then we have a plethora of wide receiver options to discuss here. These are two teams that are, I believe, both one and two, correct?

[Mike Wright]

Yes. No, no, no. The Jacksonville Jaguars have not won a game.

[Andy Holloway]

How could they win? Win.

[Jason Moore]

How could they win? The Colts are favored by.

[Mike Wright]

You want to love the Jags so much that you just slip in victories for them.

[Jason Moore]

I try. I'm really trying.

[Mike Wright]

They're like two and one, right, guys? Right.

[Jason Moore]

No, I've abandoned Gus. Forget it. So, Jason, did you verify that in looking it up?

[Andy Holloway]

It looks like there's going to be some showers there, but it's not specifically.

[Jason Moore]

Saying, like for the players after the game to watch off.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it is. It is at Wembley Stadium and the weather.

[Jason Moore]

That's a terrible field.

[Andy Holloway]

It is no good. That is where all of the previous London games have been played. Like you said, normally they cover the over. The other thing that we've seen is that the team that is favored usually, and this is no, obviously this is no guarantee, but the team that is favored has very often blown out the underdog team. In this case, the Colts are favored over the Jaguars. And so I think you can confidently start all of your Indianapolis Colts and expect what should be a decently high scoring game.

[Jason Moore]

Why don't you talk for just a split second, Jason, about why we bring up the over under totals and the lines.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, so over under, when we talk about that, Vegas saying how many total points do they think are going to be scored in the game? And when you look back at the correlation between that and fantasy production, obviously the more points scored, the more fantasy relevance. But when you look backwards and say, okay, how is this used as a predictor of what's going to happen? It's actually fairly successful by comparison to other metrics. And in the case of the London games, there's just a lot of data there that is very specific that says that the favored team. And we don't have a giant sample size, but I think it's big enough to know that the favored team usually comes in and starts putting on a show.

[Jason Moore]

I just saw a tweet. Jason Garrett came out and was talking about the Des Bryant situation. And said essentially, DEZ Bryant suspected the injury was much worse than it was, and that's why he avoided the mri. And that's not a joke. Basically didn't handle it the right way. Jason Garrett's quote was, he's a very, very passionate person, an emotional person. Didn't handle it the right way.

[Mike Wright]

So he was the monster in the closet. I'm going covers over the head. That's gonna protect.

[Jason Moore]

That's where you show up at the MRI and you go, no, it's this knee. It's this one over here. I feel fine. Yeah. I mean, you hear that, and you hear two things.

[Andy Holloway]

Not playing well.

[Jason Moore]

No, I don't hear that. I hear the opposite. When a very, very passionate player who wants to be on the field avoids an MRI so he can play through the pain, what that tells me is if he can play through the pain, he will. But if it's physically okay for him to do so, he will do that.

[Andy Holloway]

It's funny because what I hear in that is that what was happening to him, not knowing. Not knowing from an mri, he assumed it was really, really, really bad. And that says the pain is high and he is not confident in his knee. That's how I take it.

[Jason Moore]

There you go.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, there you go.

[Jason Moore]

Two different narratives. Before we move on to the rest of this matchup, talk through what in the world to do with Ivory and Yelden and the Jacksonville backfield. We do want to thank today's sponsors that support the show, that support this independent podcast. Let's go ahead and talk about 54 Club.

[Andy Holloway]

Let's do it.

[Jason Moore]

I have been a 54 Club member for a very long time. This past week, my wife took out one of the plastic bags, and she said, you need to go through your closet and throw out more of your old clothes. Because I've been accumulating new clothes through the Five Four Club every single month. There is no other place to get hooked up with the value that you get with the Five Four Club. It's just 60 bucks a month, but you get $120 worth of clothing. This past month, I opened up my 54 club package. I got this sweet, like, bomber jacket.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, sharp.

[Jason Moore]

I showed you guys, and I got, like, a V neck, gray T shirt. That's just. That's just great. And every single month, something like that comes through. These guys have been on board for the past couple months.

[Andy Holloway]

I love it.

[Jason Moore]

It's awesome. And they, you know, this is a brand. This is a brand that produces really high quality clothes that always Seem to fit. And you go on their website, 54Club. You can choose like if you want. Classic look, casual forward, a mixed look. I don't know how to shop for myself so they just do it for me at 54 Club. And so if you want to see how easy it is to hook up your closet to upgrade your wardrobe, you need to check them out. That's 54 Club. Make sure you use the promo code ballers. And if you do that and you're a brand new sign up, you get two packages for your first order. So you get $240 of clothing for 60 bucks. That's promo code ballers for $240 worth of clothing. And that offer ends at the end of this month. So you need to head over to five foot Club Calm.

[Andy Holloway]

It's coming up.

[Mike Wright]

And a big thank you to Pristine Auction. The greatest, the best, the largest, the uber best memorabilia site on the Internet. On the Internet. Look, I'm on there every day. This is, this is not a joke. I'm on it in the middle of the show. I'm on it right now. I'm not hearing what these guys are saying because that's not helpful. I'm looking at these sweet deals on, on signed, very authentic, authentic merchandise.

[Jason Moore]

You can see what Mike has if you watch the periscope. He's got like an AJ Green.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, absolutely. People. And people are saying, hey, I got to see the walls. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, this is my stuff.

[Jason Moore]

But you can't take it through the Paris.

[Mike Wright]

But you can see the AJ green beaming off the back wall. And look, you head over to Pristine Auction, you make a free account, you let them know that the fantasy footballer sent you and you get in on these auctions where things are far more affordable than you would possibly believe. And look, when you put a bid. I want to explain something for the auctions. There's these auction site where you put a bid, you lose your cash. No, you bid on a product. If you don't win it, you pay nothing. There's nothing to lose. Everything to [e-mail] that's P R I S T I N E auction.com and maybe you get one of these. I'm just going to throw this out. A signed Joe Flacco jersey is available.

[Jason Moore]

We just gave away this signed Eddie Lacy jersey. Fandings sponsored that giveaway. And we just gave it away this morning. So congrats to that winner. What in the world do you do with Ivory and Yelden?

[Mike Wright]

You Bench them?

[Andy Holloway]

Absolutely.

[Jason Moore]

They cannot run the ball. No, I mean the team. I mean them individually. I don't know what the problem is, but it ain't good. It is not good.

[Mike Wright]

Much like that. The grammar of that sentence.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Frank Gore though has been very productive.

[Mike Wright]

He has. I don't feel very confident in Frank Gore this week. Yeah, I know that the Jags, the, their defense kind of ranks low at the moment. They're running defense, but I think it's. They're decent. They're decent enough to slow down the old man.

[Andy Holloway]

I really like Frank Gore this week, so we're going to disagree. For me, he's, I mean, when I say really like, he's my 12th ranked running back.

[Mike Wright]

You really like him?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I think he's, you know that high end, RB2, low end, RB1. I think he's going to get the work. I expect Indianapolis to be up in the game. Poor field conditions means that, you know, you might be able to run. We saw a couple years ago, ironically, Chris Ivory, who's in this game, went full ham up in London and the running game was working when the passing wasn't. I think there was some weather problems. There's weather expectations of rain coming. So I think Frank Gore is a solid play. I mean, here's what we know about Frank Gore. By the end of the season, Frank Gore will be a very valuable fantasy running back because he always is. Which means through the season he has to have those games that put up points just like he did last week. And I think he can be a viable starter this week.

[Jason Moore]

Let me tell you one thing I'm doing in my leagues, if you want to have an inside look into the type, the way we approach players. I am approaching Ty Hilton as a top 10 wide receiver. Rest of season. Rest of season. Okay. I went out and I was trying to make trades that involved Brandon Marshall and Ty Hilton because of, you know, it changes a little bit with Decker going out. But if I could have gotten Hilton and a pick swap in my favor to give up Marshall, I really believe in Hilton. With Dante Moncrief gone in the volume, the passing volume from Andrew Luck, what we saw last week against Verrett, it's just an absolute, I think an underrated talent in Ty Hilton. I think we do it every year. He's not going to put up 15 touchdowns. And that's the argument I made to the owner of Hilton saying, hey, trade him. To me, he's not going to put up 15 touchdowns. But I think Hilton's great. I would play Dorset, obviously Alan Robinson. I would roll him out there. And then Alan Hearns has had a slow start to the season. Jason, you are on board the Hearns Express this week because you said it's Hearns versus Hearns.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. On last night's Join the Foot live stream, I said this is the good Hearns you're going to get today. We have seen Alan Robinson has struggled against top cornerbacks and who's the Colts Vonta Davis should be on Alan Robinson. Allen Robinson's history against him is terrible. There's going to be a lot of points put up. I think Alan Hearns is a fine play this week. He should, he should be productive in that wide receiver two range.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And we disagreed pretty, you know, strong disagreement about the.

[Andy Holloway]

About which side of it.

[Jason Moore]

About which side of it. I think Alan Robinson has a huge week this week.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you do?

[Jason Moore]

I do. I have him ranked, I think my third highest wide receiver this week. I don't buy into the. I don't just apply that narrative globally without looking at the details. And to me, I don't think vonte Davis is 100% sure. And I think players improve.

[Mike Wright]

And I will say when last year when Allen Robinson was matched up against Vonte Davis and Davis did shadow him for about 3/4 of that game, Alan Robinson was 1 for 4. Now that one was a touchdown. So he was okay. But that's a game The Jags won 51 to 16. They put up 51 points and Allen Robinson had one catch.

[Andy Holloway]

I bet Hearns had a real good game.

[Mike Wright]

Just saying I'm playing Alan Robinson. He's still in my top 10. But we're just throwing out the expectations have to be a little bit lower.

[Jason Moore]

This week, says Mike and Jason. Yes. Allen or Doyle?

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going. Doyle right now rules. Oh, yes. Oh, that's great.

[Jason Moore]

Doyle rules.

[Mike Wright]

Doyle rules.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, look, if Dwayne Allen doesn't get a touchdown, which he is a great, a great tight end for probabilities of touchdowns. He always has been. But if he doesn't get it, he's going to really drastically hurt your team. You're talking about a guy that's probably going to end up with three catches for 24 yards and that's going to do nothing for you. Doyle we have seen also used in the red zone. He has touchdowns of his own. He's outscored Allen in every single game this year. And you know, he's getting 60 yards, you know, up near 70 yards in a game. So I would rather have Doyle at This point.

[Jason Moore]

All right, the Panthers and The Falcons game one of the higher over unders of the week 50 and a half points is the expectations. The Falcons are three point underdogs at home against the Panthers. I was slightly, slightly tempted to make this my almost upset of the week and I was only tempted because it's not going to happen. The Panthers I think are going to destroy the Falcons.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I was surprised by the over under. Maybe the history says that they can score, that the Falcons can score on the Panthers, but I was surprised to see this as one of the highest expectations of scoring games this week.

[Jason Moore]

All right, well look, I think that you see the only piece of the puzzle that I'm curious to see how it impacts the offense again this week is the artist Payne in place of Jonathan Stewart piece. Kelvin Benjamin last week was not involved in the game plan. Cam Newton was furious about it. Cam Newton said if it was up to him that would never happen again. And the offensive coordinator came out and said that's ridiculous as well. It's a big piece of why they've struggled. Why they struggled last week is not getting Kelvin Benjamin involved in the game plan. I expect a huge bounce back week. I would go buy him. I would go buy him with a comparable talent. I think Benjamin still a top 10 guy the rest of the season. Now Devin Funches, if you own him, cut him.

[Mike Wright]

Funches has done nothing cut.

[Jason Moore]

I mean keep trade cut functions. He's a cut and a kick to the curb. I mean one catch in the first game, two catches in the second game. Nothing last week. No. Not enough involvement. Yeah. In a game where Kelvin caught zero passes, Funches got zero passes. I mean that's what you had. So on the other side of the ball, Sanu should play. Not expecting big things. Julio is the only start that I would have there from the wide receiver side. I have Olson as my second highest rated tight end this week. What do you guys think of Jacob? Tammy?

[Mike Wright]

Tammy's a, he's a fine play. He's. He's involved right in the middle of the pack of the barfy tight ends where he'll give you, he could give you a strong game, but he can also give you three for 20. The thing that's very interesting for me in this game is Matt ryan completing over 70% of his passes right now, second in the league. Matt Ryan has been on fire. Can that fire continue against a very stout Panthers defense? He gets the benefit of being at home. That always helps out. But we've seen Matt, we've Seen this Matt Ryan before, where he opens the season, has some great games, but then it falls apart.

[Andy Holloway]

Can I answer the question for you since the listeners want to know?

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

There is no chance Matt Ryan does continues his hot streak against the Carolina Panthers. His first three games were the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, one of the worst passing defenses in the league, followed by Oakland, one of the worst passing defenses in the league and followed that up by New Orleans, one of the worst pass.

[Jason Moore]

Defenses in the league and in collegiate sports.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So I mean the point here is yeah, he has been great, but his matchups have been great. I think he's going to get a rude, rude awakening with Carolina. I do not personally have any confidence to start Matt Ryan.

[Mike Wright]

I would say I have slight confidence just in the fact that the Falcons look like a completely different team. Everyone, the Julio owners are not, not liking what's going on. You had Julio last year, the majority of games, the vast majority of games. He was getting double digit targets. This year I believe he has none.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh yeah, you are, you are correct.

[Mike Wright]

He has no games of double digit targets through three weeks. So the offense has changed, which I think will. I think that helps Matt Ryan as a quarterback. So I'm not burying him, but I'm. My expectations are so.

[Andy Holloway]

Devonta Freeman. Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman last week, your starts of the week. Mike, what in the world do you do against the Carolina Panthers with two running backs splitting carries?

[Mike Wright]

I would. I'll start Freeman. I've kind of buried Coleman in the rankings. Coleman can absolutely just end up with those touchdowns. As we saw he got three gimmes last week. But I would. If I have to play one this week, I'd prefer to go with Freeman. I guess Coleman is an okay flex start if you're. If that's the way that you have to go. But I'm not looking at starting him with running back to confidence.

[Jason Moore]

All right, Raiders, Ravens this week. And this guy's is my.

[Andy Holloway]

Andy's almost upset of the week.

[Jason Moore]

That's right. The Raiders. The Ravens. Raiders are three and a half point underdogs and I think they take this one.

[Mike Wright]

They are the favorites. Ravens are three and a half point favorites.

[Andy Holloway]

Correct.

[Jason Moore]

What did I say?

[Mike Wright]

Underdogs.

[Jason Moore]

I meant the Raid. I thought I said the Raiders are three and a half points.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, then Raiders and Ravens. I misheard.

[Jason Moore]

Joy Paul, you should apologize to me. The Raiders, I think they take this one. I think they can get it from.

[Mike Wright]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Do they take it or do they almost take it?

[Jason Moore]

They get real Close. I mean, they might take it by a point or two.

[Andy Holloway]

I think when it's a small line like this, you're almost upset. Is pretty much an upset.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Yeah. So you have. We've talked about Latavius Murray in the limited workload that he's seen. He's been very successful with the touchdown in every game. But you know, you've seen 9, 11, 14 carries for me. You can't start anybody on the running back side for the Ravens because for set and west have been putrid.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, I agree.

[Jason Moore]

So do you start Murray As a 2? As a 1. What do you think about Murray moving forward?

[Mike Wright]

Well, I would prefer to start him as a 2, but I understand that people kind of. You may have drafted Latavius as your one, but the snap percentages are just going down where Latavius isn't even playing over 50% of the snaps. He's in a full committee with two other running backs where it's, it's not just the one to one. So now you have. He has to worry about two guys kind of sharing some time, which stinks. But I mean, overall, the Raiders, all of them are getting it done. They're averaging the Raiders running backs together averaging 5.9 yards per carry, which is. That's ridiculous. That's ridiculous. I don't know if they can get it done so much against the Ravens. Excuse me.

[Andy Holloway]

Doing all right.

[Mike Wright]

I got the Jason Throat going on.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, it's ironic because you guys say you can't start any of the Ravens running backs. In my rankings, I actually have Latavius Murray and Justin Forset back to back. And in one of my leagues it's a deeper, a slightly deeper league. But I am playing Justin Forsett this week. I think this is a, a winnable matchup. You've got Kenneth Dixon kind of breathing down your shoulder, but he's not going to be there yet. In a pinch. In a pinch, which I am in, I think that you could have enough value here.

[Jason Moore]

I don't think anybody's describing Latavius Murray as an in a pinch play though for them to be rated. So.

[Mike Wright]

No, I think more set.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, I know. But he said they're back to back in his rankings.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, well, I've got both of them right now, 23 and 24 in my rankings. So a very low end running back too.

[Jason Moore]

What do you do with Cooper or Crabtree?

[Mike Wright]

Crabtree is an auto start for me.

[Jason Moore]

So so far this season he's outperforming Cooper fantasy wise. Last year he did it. Cooper is the sexier pick, the flashier pick. But doesn't production just need to rule at this point?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean, look, Crabtree is a good wide receiver. He was drafted, what, 10th overall in the NFL Draft years ago. He has been productive once he got back from that injury that took him out for a couple years. You saw it last year and you've seen it this year. His targets and his consistency make him what Mike says, a weekly start. Because it doesn't matter if it's a, if it's a. I'm not talking like the Broncos, but if it's a generic bad matchup, it's just not really a good matchup. Or maybe they've got a good db. Well, that guy's going to go on Amari Cooper, you know those wide receivers. He is the wide receiver one for his team, but he's seen as the wide receiver two by opposing teams, which is kind of the best thing for a consistent guy. I don't think you're going to get the huge blow up potential that you ever have in Amari Cooper. But if you need, you know, in your wide receiver two or your flex. I've been so far in our league of record. I've played Michael Crabtree every single week and I have not regretted it once.

[Jason Moore]

I have Steve Smith senior rated ahead of Crabtree this week in my wide receiver rankings.

[Mike Wright]

I don't believe I do too.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to get into that in a later segment. Right now the Ravens are the 8th best run defense, the 3rd best pass defense. The Raiders are on the opposite end of that spectrum. I think it's going to be a close game. I think the Raiders are going to take it. That's, that's what I think. I think the Ravens have had a pretty good schedule so far. Do you play Flacco or Carr in this game? That's my last question for you.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I would play them both. I think that if you're rolling with Car, he's good. Flacco is a good streaming pick. I believe it's Jason's stream of the week. Yes, I want to. I would. A step back real quick. Let's talk Amari Cooper. What are you doing with Amari Cooper? I mean, the targets are there. The production has not been what you have hoped for. For a guy. I think it was a third, maybe a fourth round draft pick. Are you trying to sell Coop? Are you trying to acquire him or are you just going to hold him?

[Andy Holloway]

I think he's a hold right now. He's dropped a couple of touchdown passes where if those weren't dropped, you'd go, oh, he's great. And you'd. So maybe, maybe a trade for if you can get him cheap. He still carries so much name value, though. I think for the most part you're just holding him. He's a fine start. I have no problem starting him.

[Jason Moore]

All right. The Titans go to Houston to take on the Texans, who are five point favorites, low over under 40 points. The Texas defense has allowed just 15.7 receptions per game, which is first in the league. And then you get. That's your auto. Don't start. Marcus Mariota alert.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Now they lost J.J. watt, but they're still going to be a good defense at home against the Tennessee offense where it looks like your job is to stop DeMarco Murray. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And that's if I'm starting anyone from the titans. I'll start DeMarco. DeMarco Murray. I'm okay playing Delaney Walker, assuming that he suits up. And every. All the news has to be pretty positive for me. I don't want a guy who missed last week to be hobbled through the entire week. And Friday, oh, he gets a limited practice that I'm not going to have confidence starting him on the road against the Texans.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And as far as starting DeMarco Murray. Yeah. The Texans are going to try to stop him every play and they might bottle him up in the running game. He might not, you know, like last week, go for 114 yards on the ground. However, his reception totals are great, are league leading type of numbers. He had five receptions week one, seven week two and five week three. I mean, he's, he's averaging, you know, almost six receptions a game.

[Mike Wright]

I got a pop quiz. Pop quiz, hot shot. Who has more targets, DeMarco Murray or Theo Riddick?

[Jason Moore]

Well, I mean, pop quiz tells me you're leaning. I mean, it's got to be Murray.

[Mike Wright]

Jason.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, yeah, because of the nature of how you brought it up. I'm going to go Murray. That's. That would be a little.

[Mike Wright]

It was a trick question. They both have 19, but they're. But that's great. That's third among running backs.

[Jason Moore]

The Titans are the 17th against the run this far this season. They are 12th against the past. Do you start Hopkins and Fuller at home against them?

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

Fuller is fine as a flex. Yep. All right. And then the Taj Sharp bubble might have burst already. He was limited in practice this week. Production hasn't been there. And now Kendall Wright returns Probably Delaney Walker returning. I don't think you can start sharp with any sort of confidence. Delaney Walker, I'd be rolling out there, but that's the only passing option in that offense. I would, I'd roll out.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I agree.

[Jason Moore]

All right, the Bills and Patriots right now there is not an over under because we're waiting to hear about the quarterback situation in New England. Do you believe it's going to be Garoppolo or Brissette?

[Andy Holloway]

I believe it's going to be Brissette, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

That's where I am. What's funny about this is the wise guys in Vegas have said we did well. We don't have an over under, but the Patriots are favored by almost six points. We don't care who the quarterback is or how much.

[Jason Moore]

That's their favorite. That's the actual default state for the Patriots when they go to the. You know, they clear out the boards every week for lines. Everybody gets a zero and. But the Patriots get five and a half points.

[Mike Wright]

Leave it there.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. You need five and a half against the Patriots just to start. That's actually what the Bills will start on the board with. They give the Bills 5.5 points to start the game.

[Mike Wright]

A ceremonial five and a half points.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And Rex is like, yeah, I'll take them. I'll take them. Tyrod Taylor this season it's been.

[Mike Wright]

Nope.

[Jason Moore]

It's been one great game because of.

[Mike Wright]

Deep balls, because of two broken plays.

[Jason Moore]

It's been one great game because of 80 something yards rushing in a touchdown. So the unpredictable Tyrod Taylor, can he put up numbers in this game? It's in Buffalo or no, I'm sorry, it's in New England. Yeah, I'm not starting to.

[Andy Holloway]

He can, he can put up numbers in the same way that we saw, you know, he had a game last year against New England where he was atrocious, just the worst and they were getting killed. And then because of that, I think he came back and put up three touchdowns. But the reason why I don't expect even the ability for that to happen is because the game script, I think Jacoby Brissette is going to be the quarterback and if he's the quarterback, this is a low scoring game. This is going to be a game where they're running the ball and the only guy is, maybe the only guy that I'm starting, period, is LeGarrett Blunt. I'd probably still throw Gronk in there, but he is. I mean, there are other options I will like better than Gronk. This week. And so, you know, I think it's going to be a very low scoring, ugly game. I don't think LaShawn McCoy, despite his great season so far and the fact that he was able to go up against a very good Arizona Cardinals run defense and run non stop, the Cardinals did not scheme specifically for that. I cannot imagine that Bill Belichick is going to come in here and not scheme. I mean, with Sammy Watkins, who missed practice again today in its entirety, you know, if he's gone, you know who's getting the ball. And if you think that Bill Belichick is not going to come prepared for that, that's crazy. So I do not like Lashawn McCoy in this game. I don't like almost any of the pieces I'm not playing. I want Legare Blunt and maybe Gronk. That's about it.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. Any other narrative storylines from this game you want to bring up before we move on?

[Mike Wright]

No, I think Jason. I liked how Jason broke it down.

[Andy Holloway]

It's good.

[Jason Moore]

All right. The Seahawks and the jets in New York. The jets are underdogs by two and a half points. This is a 41 point over under. I don't think I said it in the news, but Russell Wilson practiced in full. They expect him to be on the field, is one of the tougher guys. He's never missed a game. This is the week that people thought maybe he misses a game. MCL sprain looks like he'll be out there. You have Wilson, you obviously have the woke one Christian. Michael in this game going to have the backfield to himself again. But a very difficult third ranked jets run defense.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

So what is the real ceiling for Michael? Is this something where you're not going to, you're not going to be happy with your fantasy production if he doesn't find his way into the end zone on a, on a goal line carry or something like that.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's, that's where I was going. I expect the rushing total. It's not going to be the over 100 again. I. For what I'm expecting, you know, maybe, maybe 60 to 70 yards. And the question for Wilson, yeah, he's going to play tough guy, but how effective can he be? He has a bum ankle now. He has a bum knee. I mean this, there's concerns for me if I'm, if I have a different option and which you almost always do.

[Jason Moore]

Because the waiver Cousins, for example, if.

[Mike Wright]

Kirk Cousins is available on your waiver wire, he might not be or maybe he's your Backup. I'm playing Kirk Cousins over Russell Wilson this week.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

People were asking why we didn't make Kirk Cousins one of our streams of the week. And I want to explain that because Kirk Cousins is owned in 65% of leagues and so we try to aim a little bit lower in our streams of the week so that they're more available in your leagues. But if he was available, then yes, he needs to be one of your top streams at home against Cleveland.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, completely agree. Russell Wilson, you saw last week, you know, Normally he's averaging 20. You know, he gets 20 yards on the ground and last week with that bum ankle he got three yards. He's clearly not mobile yet. And so I'm in agreement that if there's a better option, I am going to start that option over a hurt Russell Wilson against a solid jets defense. The question that I really have is what to do with Doug Baldwin.

[Jason Moore]

What do you mean?

[Andy Holloway]

Doug Baldwin.

[Jason Moore]

Russell's out there. Baldwin will be just fine.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And you know, it's a tough matchup, but Doug Baldwin's just been so reliable.

[Jason Moore]

Not nearly as tough as it is for the wide. Receivers. On the other side of the equation thus far through the season, points given up to Fantasy wide receivers 14 points less is what you receive when you play the Seahawks. They're the number one ranked in the league. Miami wide receivers put up 13 total against them. LA wide receivers put up 22 total. 49er wide receivers put up 11. None of those wide receiver cores have a Brandon Marshall in the equation. But you're missing Decker. I don't think I would say I'm not starting a noon while I'm finding a different option. Even though in unwell will have the opportunity here. The only question is, I guess you just don't sit Brandon Marshall, right?

[Mike Wright]

No, I play Brandon Marshall. If it looks like you have one of these games where he's just going to be force fed. And just real quick back to Kristen Michael. An interesting kind of dynamic here. So the woke one he has. He's gained 10 or more yards on eight of his 45 carries. I mean that ranks him very highly in. In the league. Now the jets defense, while they are ranked third against the run, they've allowed 10 or more yards on a carry on 10 of 64 carries. So people are getting these chunks against them. So.

[Jason Moore]

Which is dead last in the league almost.

[Mike Wright]

So maybe there's a.

[Andy Holloway]

Maybe there's a little bit of light.

[Mike Wright]

There's a breakaway touchdown for the woke one and maybe it can get it done. Let's move to Jimmy Graham. What do you do with Jimmy Graham? Is he back? Are you fully on board with Jimmy Graham?

[Jason Moore]

Well, I don't think anybody should be fully on board with a player recovering from that type of injury after one good game and the first really good game in over a year. But am I inching my way towards being really wanting to take look, there's so many barfy tight ends. As you would say, why not take a chance on Jimmy Graham? Doesn't mean I have 100% confidence in him, but why not take a chance?

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Jason Moore]

So we need to move on now it's time for my favorite segment of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

Starts of the week.

[Jason Moore]

Starts of the week. We're giving you the guys we have supreme confidence in this week. Guys that you should put in your lineup. I think I'm going to kick it over to Jason, let him start off with the quarterback of his choice. Who's your start of the week at the quarterback position?

[Andy Holloway]

My start of the week this week at quarterback is Matthew Stafford. Look, a lot of people that drafted Stafford, they have him paired with another quarterback and I am saying you have to stay in these flames. You look, there's no chance that at the end of the year the Detroit Lions have anywhere. I'm saying that they will be bottom five in the league on percentage of scores. Through the ground. Through the ground.

[Jason Moore]

I have no clue where you're going.

[Andy Holloway]

What is happening. I'm saying that just like last year's Jaguars, right, they were I think the last place team in the league of their percentage of touchdowns that came through the running backs versus through wide receivers and tight ends. And so this year I think that that's the Detroit Lions and we saw what happened for Bortles last year. This is a high scoring game that they're not going to be able to punch them in on the ground. So I expect most of the touchdowns to be going from Matthew Stafford and we've seen the offense is rolling. You know I have. I'm not benching Matthew Stafford. If I've got Matthew Stafford or you know, Aaron Rodgers, I'm playing Stafford.

[Jason Moore]

You might, you might just have wanted to say I'm going Stafford this week.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, sure.

[Mike Wright]

Well, so you're telling me is Detroit will not be signing any moles or hedgehogs to go or go first to.

[Jason Moore]

Go directly through the ground?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, they will not be burrowing into the end zone.

[Jason Moore]

No, actually yeah, I think they, they don't give up anything to those type of burrowing. All right. Mike, quarterback.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going Blake Bortles. Indianapolis is allowing 312 yards per game through the air, not burrowing through the ground. I think it's, I think it might be nasty. You might be going through a first half going why did I start Blake Bortles? And then the garbage man will come through with his stinky poo trash. And you'll love the fantasy points that he gives you.

[Jason Moore]

Terrifying descriptions of why you should start these guys.

[Mike Wright]

So far, hey, it happens.

[Jason Moore]

Here's mine. I'm going Kirk Cousins. You've got Cleveland at home right now. He's averaging 334 yards a game. Despite the quote unquote struggles for Kurt Cousins, which is second in the league. He's at home beatable opponent, no turnovers last game. Each game thus far this season he's increased his fantasy points. I think it continues again. You're going to see him over 30 points at home against Cleveland.

[Mike Wright]

My man.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to go ahead and move on to the running back. I'm going to give you Carlos Hyde against Dallas. If you play on espn, you've become accustomed to seeing those opponent rating. You got the green, green means go, green means go. You get the red. Dallas shows up red because Dallas has been deceptively good against the run. They show up as 10th best against the run in the league. But here's the caveat. They've given up the most yards per carry of any team in the league against the running back. They've played nobody that has any, you know, no top end running backs have gone up against Dallas thus far. You've seen like the Washington running backs. I think Carlos Hyde is, you know, he had a game last week against Seattle. He was over 100 yards on 21 carries. I think Hyde is the only show in town for San Francisco. You're going to see the workload. I'm very regretful of trading him and getting back a broken does Bryant right now because Carlos Hyde is going to have a good week.

[Mike Wright]

I love, I love all the Carlos Hyde that is that has been pouring in over the last few weeks.

[Jason Moore]

More or less than my CJ Anderson love right now.

[Mike Wright]

Which one do I like more? Yeah, probably the Hyde. Probably the Hyde. Love it. Feels good. Feels good, man. I'm going with Isaiah Crowell. He's playing against Washington. This is what Washington has allowed on the ground. 149, 96 and 120. And in each of those games, running backs have have burrowed in two touchdowns in every single game. So I'M going with the.

[Andy Holloway]

With.

[Mike Wright]

With the Crow. I think that Cleveland can put up a fight against Washington's defense enough so that Crowell will get the work. We've seen him. He's been the man for Cleveland. And Hugh. Jack Minson likes Crow, so I do, too. I'm going with him this week.

[Andy Holloway]

Speaking of Crowell and you know, the Browns right now, they are like the Bengals light, right? They've taken a bunch of the Bengals style. They took Hugh Jackmanson, and so they're trying to emulate that. And last week, you did see against the Dolphins, 148 yards on the ground. And that is why my start of the week is a scary one. I'm going with Jeremy Hill. I think Jeremy Hill is going to be just fine this week because he is playing those Miami Dolphins and he's doing it at home. In a game that the Cincinnati Bengals are favored by seven points, the Dolphins have given up 96 yards, 149 yards and 148 yards in the first three weeks. They seem like they're okay, kind of like what Andy was saying because they. They've only given up one touchdown on the ground. But if there's a specialty of Jeremy Hill, it's punching and touchdowns. And so in games since Jeremy Hill's been in the league where the Bengals are favored by more than seven or more points, like this game, he averages 13.48 points in standard leagues, and that's really good. He goes from 56 yards per game to 73 yards per game. So I think this is a winnable matchup. I think the game script was kind of given by Cleveland for what to do against the Dolphins. And, you know, Jeremy Hill looked pretty good last week, so I'm going to throw him out there.

[Jason Moore]

All right. My wide receiver start of the week is Steve Smith. Senor. Look, he has Oakland, which is already a great reason to play. A great reason.

[Mike Wright]

We got it today.

[Jason Moore]

A wide receiver. Oakland's dead last against opposing wide receivers in fantasy football through three weeks. But look, his yardage has increased each of the last three weeks. He's getting acclimated coming off of the injury. We know that Joe loves him. Joe Flacco loves him. He already leads the team right in yards, catches and targets through three games coming back from the injury. The touchdowns are coming. This is a game of averages. He hasn't scored in three games, which is why you haven't been hurt hearing as much publicity about Steve Smith rest of season. I take Steve Smith over Mike Wallace that's just me. I don't think Wallace is going to be bad, but it's Steve Smith senior this week against Oakland. Think you can roll him out there as a flex or even a wide receiver too if you need him? If you have a Packer right this week on by or a Jordan Matthews on by, go throw Steve Smith in there in your wide receiver too and feel confident.

[Mike Wright]

All right, I'm going a little bit on a ledge here. Maybe I'm going on the pirate ship. I'm walking the plank. But did you know, did the Foot Clan know this Brian Hoyer was the quarterback 11 last week.

[Andy Holloway]

He was pretty darn good.

[Mike Wright]

Did you know that?

[Andy Holloway]

I did.

[Mike Wright]

Brian Hoyer, who was very good for fantasy purposes last year with the Texans and DeAndre Hopkins. I am going to flex Kevin white last week. 14 targets. They're playing against Detroit. I think there's going to be a lot of points going up on the board. And Chicago, they are three point dogs at home. So they are, they are not even favored to win in their own building. The wise guys are saying they're going to have to score just to keep up with Detroit. And I think that Kevin White has a connection with Brian Hoyer and I think this is kind of the game where we see Kevin White emerge and he becomes hot topic off of the waiver wire.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to put you on the spot here. Kevin White as your start of the week or will Fuller at home against the.

[Mike Wright]

I probably go Will Fuller there.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. Asking for a friend.

[Mike Wright]

Are you actually making that decision?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. So for me, I'm going back to the well of Travis Benjamin. Last week I was down on Benjamin. I said that I didn't really want to start him. I like Terrell Williams better because of the matchup. I thought that Benjamin could get a little bit shut down. And if you were a Benjamin owner, you were scared all game long as he was sitting at 19 yards for the whole game until the very end of the game. But this week, going up against the New Orleans Saints, Travis Benjamin has a great matchup. He's the number one target. He's led them in receptions, he's led them in yards. He is a very confident start. And he's another one of those guys where when you drafted him, you probably have other options. And you're, you're, you're saying, who do I start? Do I go with, you know, these middle tier guys or do you know of one of which is Travis Benjamin? I'm saying, yeah, throw Travis Benjamin in there. If he, if he had a huge blow up, monstrous game, none of us are going to be surprised.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, I'm going to give you my tight end. Start of the week, it's Kobe Fleener, River Samson. I believe he's woke. I believe he's woke. I believe that Drew Brees is on pace for 9,000 yards. I believe that San Diego can cover the wide receiver better than the tight end. And I believe that Kobe Fleena showed us last week that him and Drew Brees are getting on the same page. We said it was a tough process for Ben Watson and Drew Brees last year. We see Kobe Fleener in a high volume passing offense. Who knows if Snead's back out there, but even if he is, I like Kobe Flayner this week.

[Mike Wright]

Sure. And I'm going with D2HP. That's Dennis Pitta. When he's got two hips, he's taken on Oakland. I mean, and you want logic of why do you play Dennis Pitta against Oakland? Because it's Oakland and they stink against the tight end and they stink against all, all sorts of passing weapons. And Joe Flacco, much like he loves Steve Smith, senor, he loves Dennis Pitta. Pitta is getting targets out the wazoo and I want in on that action.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I don't blame you there. My start of the week this week at tight end, it was almost mine. He is a guy. I love it.

[Jason Moore]

I love it.

[Andy Holloway]

Right now, as you're listening, after waivers have already cleared, he is still available in half of your leagues. So you might want to think about grabbing him and starting him if you don't have a good option. And that is Zach Miller. Yeah. Brian Hoyer, as you were talking about with your Kevin White, he was good last week. He's. Look, he has not been a bad quarterback for fantasy football purposes. He's really been a pretty okay option. And so this week he's my number eight quarterback. And what we see is his matchup this week against the tight end. This is what Detroit has given up against the tight end three games. In three games they have given up 88 yards, 91 yards and 37. Three touchdowns, one and one. That's in three games, five touchdowns. Last week we saw Zach Miller grab two touchdowns. We saw him over 80 yards. I think he's a safe.

[Jason Moore]

I love it. I love it.

[Andy Holloway]

With a high upside.

[Jason Moore]

Zach Miller or Kyle Rudolph this week?

[Andy Holloway]

Zach Miller.

[Jason Moore]

All right, there you have it. All of these starts that we've gone through will be on the website the fantasy footballers.com so make sure you visit. You can take note of those guys. Share your thoughts on the website as well. As we close out the show today, I again want to thank Five four Club for sponsoring us today. If you want to stand out from the crowd and not blend in like everybody else, you can check out 54Club. Use the promo code Ballers when you sign up and you get two packages for your first order. That's $60 worth. 60 bucks for $240 worth of clothing. That is the promo code Ballers for 240 bucks worth of clothing. That's a good deal.

[Andy Holloway]

Love it.

[Jason Moore]

I like things that you know. 240 bucks. 60.

[Mike Wright]

I like deals.

[Jason Moore]

That's sweet. That is a hot deal. You guys have any parting thoughts? Parting words?

[Mike Wright]

No. I'm looking Forward to the JoinTheFoot.com exclusive show and of course FantasyJocks.com for all your trophies and championship belts and winner needs. I know you need them.

[Jason Moore]

Show after the show coming on YouTube right now.

[Mike Wright]

Goodbye, everybody.

[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 FFballers.