Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Starts of the Week, Week 7 Matchups, News

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Episode Summary

Podcast Information:

• Title: Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast
• Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright
• Episode: Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Starts of the Week, Week 7 Matchups, News
• Release Date: October 20, 2016

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Opening Banter and Halloween Preparations

The episode begins with the hosts engaging in light-hearted conversation about their Halloween plans. Mike Wright shares his nostalgic desire to emulate a neighborhood hot dog party, saying, “[...] I'm really just hoping that we can accomplish this again by going back to that neighborhood” (01:13), while Jason Moore discusses his son's costume change from Frankenstein to Darkwing Duck at 01:59. The hosts also briefly touch upon their upcoming Halloween-themed shows, highlighting their preparedness and playful teasing about costumes and backup options.

Listener Review: Texan G Praises the Podcast

Andy Holloway introduces a listener review from Texan G, who lauds the hosts as "the goat" and credits them for helping him secure the number one spot in his league. Texan G appreciates the “astute analysis, strong opinions, and matchup-winning advice” provided by Andy, Mike, and Jason (08:17). The hosts express gratitude, with Mike Wright emphasizing their commitment: “We are focused on it 24 hours a day” (08:17).

News and Updates: Player Injuries and Practice Reports

The hosts delve into the latest NFL news, focusing on player injuries and practice statuses. Key updates include:

• Doug Martin: Diagnosed with a hamstring setback, resulting in uncertainty about his return (10:44).
• Eddie Lacy: Set back to his playing weight but remains questionable for upcoming games (11:50).
• Ty Montgomery: Expected to receive more carries for the Green Bay Packers due to injuries to other running backs (12:07).
• Other Players: Shady McCoy, Trial Pryor, Charles Clay, and Joe Flacco are all noted as questionable or out for their teams (10:23 - 10:45).

Andy Holloway reflects on his misinterpretation of Doug Martin’s schedule and expresses continued skepticism about Martin’s performance potential, stating, “[...] I still don't think he will be a top flight option” (03:54).

Fantasy Forecast: Analyzing Week 7 Matchups

The hosts provide detailed analysis of Week 7 NFL matchups, offering strategic advice for fantasy football managers:

Giants vs. Rams

• Giants’ Running Backs: Jason recommends Rashad Jennings as a playable option despite a tough matchup against the Rams (17:25).
• Wide Receivers: Andy suggests Kenny Britt as a safe but not high-ceiling pick, while acknowledging limited upside (18:04).

Browns vs. Bengals

• Quarterbacks: Andy favors Andy Dalton over Drew Brees, highlighting Dalton's strong performance and favorable matchup (50:23).
• Running Backs: Jason leans towards Gio Bernard over Jeremy Hill due to increased usage and efficiency (25:34).

Redskins vs. Lions

• Quarterbacks: Mike recommends Kirk Cousins against Detroit’s weak pass defense, emphasizing his consistent performance (51:03).
• Running Backs and Wide Receivers: Discussions revolve around starting choices like LaShawn McCoy and Robert Woods, with considerations for player health and matchup strengths (26:37 - 30:06).

Raiders vs. Jaguars

• Quarterbacks: Mike opts for Marcus Mariota over Derek Carr, citing Jacksonville’s defensive strengths (35:26).
• Running Backs: Jason supports Jacquez Rogers due to the 49ers’ vulnerable run defense (51:39).

Saints vs. Chiefs

• Quarterbacks: The consensus is to start Mark Ingram and Travis Kelce, given the Chiefs’ stout defense against quarterbacks (39:39 - 43:33).

Bills vs. Dolphins

• Running Backs and Wide Receivers: Mike emphasizes starting Spencer Ware against New Orleans, while Jason and Andy discuss the viability of players like Chris Ivory and Tyrell Williams based on defensive matchups and player availability (43:02 - 47:59).

Starts of the Week: Recommendations for Fantasy Lineups

In the "Starts of the Week" segment, each host shares their top player choices for Week 7 across various positions:

• Quarterbacks:

  • Jason: Blake Bortles, citing Oakland’s recent struggles and favorable matchups (49:38).
  • Andy: Andy Dalton, praising his strong season and matchup against the Browns (50:57).
  • Mike: Kirk Cousins, highlighting Detroit’s weak pass defense and his reliable performance (51:03).

• Running Backs:

  • Jason: Jacquez Rogers, due to the 49ers’ poor run defense and his recent workload increase (51:39).
  • Andy: Tevin Coleman, while cautious about his reliance on the passing game, acknowledges his potential against San Diego’s defense (53:08).
  • Mike: Spencer Ware, commending his high yards per touch and favorable matchup against New Orleans (54:10).

• Wide Receivers:

  • Jason: Allen Robinson, confident in his home performance and matchup against a weak passing defense (55:39).
  • Andy: Tyrell Williams, anticipating high involvement and potential for big plays in the Atlanta vs. San Diego game (56:57).
  • Mike: Ty Montgomery, emphasizing his consistent scoring and opportunities in the Packers' offense (57:38).

• Tight Ends:

  • Jason: Travis Kelsey, appreciating his matchup against defenses that struggle against tight ends (58:07).
  • Andy: Jack Doyle, trusting his involvement with Indianapolis despite potential defensive challenges (60:38).
  • Mike: Jack Doyle, favoring his performance and matchup with a divisional defense (60:17).

Community Support and Encouragement

Towards the end of the episode, Mike Wright extends support to a listener, Nick ("the raving barbarian"), whose family is going through tough times. He encourages community members to offer their thoughts and prayers, fostering a sense of camaraderie and support within the fantasy football community (62:01).

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with a preview of upcoming segments, including matchups analysis and special guests, ensuring listeners are well-prepared for their fantasy football decisions in Week 7. The hosts reinforce their dedication to providing expert advice and fostering a supportive fantasy football community.

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Notable Quotes:

• Andy Holloway: “I still don't think he will be a top flight option” (03:54).
• Jason Moore: “These guys are the goat” (08:17).
• Mike Wright: “Clash of the quarterbacks who are on top of their game” (50:57).

This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and strategic recommendations provided by Andy, Jason, and Mike, offering valuable guidance for both seasoned and new fantasy football enthusiasts.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, Foot Clan. Just a reminder to everybody that is with us over on JoinTheFoot.com today is the footcast. So make sure you check out this podcast and the podcast Special over on JoinTheFoot.com. welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast coming to you from the fantasyjocks.com studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Rudd.

[Mike Wright]

Welcome to the show. Welcome back. Welcome in. Welcome all from all countries around the world. It's the fantasy footballers Andy, Mike, and Jason, back again Thursday, October 20th. What are you guys doing for Halloween?

[Jason Moore]

I'll be walking the kiddos around and getting candy.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. The dad perspective on Halloween here is last year or two years ago, we had one neighborhood where a family was sitting out front cooking hot dogs. And I'm really just hoping that we can accomplish this again by going back to that neighborhood.

[Jason Moore]

We had a house similar to that. They had, like a big party and there was popcorn and not Icee's.

[Mike Wright]

But they call hot dogs a good story, bro.

[Jason Moore]

Now I've lost the word. The sign is I've got a problem with the sinuses today. It's slowing down the brain.

[Mike Wright]

Hot dogs are the candy for adults.

[Jason Moore]

A snow cone, which we can. We can eat snow cones on Halloween in Arizona.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that's how we roll. That's true.

[Andy Holloway]

So they do melt pretty fast out here, though.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. My. My boy is doing the Pokemon. One of them's Pokemon. One of them is Luigi.

[Andy Holloway]

I've got the Mario counterpart.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, you do. I think we will be.

[Jason Moore]

My son was dead set. He was going to be Frankenstein until last week I introduced him to Darkwing Duck.

[Mike Wright]

And he wants to be dark now.

[Jason Moore]

He wants to be Darkwing Duck.

[Mike Wright]

That seems like a difficult one to pull off.

[Andy Holloway]

Wait a minute.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Wait. The real question is, how do you get a beat? Look, our Halloween show's got to be coming up soon. Do you two gentlemen have your Halloween costumes prepared for our Fantasy sports network show and our YouTube show? Because I do. I've got mine ready now.

[Jason Moore]

I can.

[Mike Wright]

Of course you do.

[Jason Moore]

I can't confirm or deny.

[Mike Wright]

Your wife has, like, 75 backup emergency costumes waiting for you at all times.

[Andy Holloway]

That's true.

[Mike Wright]

All right, we're going to get into the show today. Second half of the matchup starts of the week. You know how much I love it.

[Jason Moore]

First half of the show. It's the first half of the matchups. But that's all right.

[Mike Wright]

Wait. Yes. It's the first half.

[Jason Moore]

It's only Thursday.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I guess I skipped ahead there a little bit. We have A good quick question. It's a commissioner related question, but I think at first. What are we starting out here? Jason, you have a little.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

We were just saying how accurate you were. So continue.

[Andy Holloway]

On the heels of my number one ranking, I come in and I tell everybody, hey, you gotta, you gotta pump the brakes on Kristen, Michael. And some people rightly pointed out that some of the reasons I gave, like the fact that I don't know they. They play Carolina off a buy next week or that they have their buy the following week is absolutely 100% a lie. They've actually already had their buy. And I was an idiot because I was. And I all day I was like, what in the world did I see? You know, I don't just make things up out of no. And I realized, oh, no, most of the time. And I realized I had, I had.

[Mike Wright]

You were looking at over.

[Andy Holloway]

He's playing Arizona this week. And I had looked at Arizona's schedule, which next week goes up against Carolina and then has their buy. I merged the two for the idiot part of the idiot savant.

[Mike Wright]

So what you're saying though is if Christian Michaels traded to the Cardinals, you'd pump the brakes based on his schedule?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, I would still say I don't like Chris and Michael a lot this week. Next week he's got New Orleans looks fine. When Thomas Rawls comes back. I still don't think he will be a top flight option. So I'm not, you know, look, I'll drive Chris and Michael. No problem. Next week against New Orleans.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Did you say you drive him as.

[Andy Holloway]

You open the brakes? You know.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, full throttle. Well, you know, you have the Rolls Royce too in the mix and he's there.

[Jason Moore]

Rolls Royce cannot get out of the repair shop.

[Mike Wright]

Quick question. Yeah, let's just lay it on thick. Mike, quick question. Fair or foul in a season in season trades for draft picks where a player knows that they are out of the playoffs, starts trading their studs away for draft picks, this commissioner believes it should be disallowed as the player will be playing just for next year and give an unfair advantage and almost guarantee a championship to an already stacked team. This is a great question. This is a question I just answered from another listener.

[Andy Holloway]

Very common question and a very common issue even for us in our league of records. This is something that has always bothered me. Our league generally does not have a whole lot of parity because you have your superpowers and you're rebuilding teams. And you know, and I would say this for my Answer, Is it fair or foul? It's absolutely fair. If those are the rules set up in your league, you. You should do it. You should take advantage of making sure that you're the best you can be if your rules allow it.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Because what you're saying is if you're in a league where you can trade for draft picks and an owner is supposed to be thinking about more than one year, you can't, you can't stop somebody from doing something that's in the best interest of their team. And if the best interest of their team is trading a stud for draft picks, then that's the rules of your league. Now, we do things in our league to I guess incentivize or protect against tanking against this scenario or at least making it more challenging. And what we do is we move our trade deadline up significantly so that those teams that you know, you have less teams that know they're out of it. So there are less teams that are trying to do this and you force some middle range teams to kind of decide at the trade deadline, do I think I want to make a run for it or do I want to trade a couple guys?

[Jason Moore]

Our deadline is next week.

[Mike Wright]

That's right.

[Andy Holloway]

And that is if you're going, whoa, your trade deadline's already here next week. I agree this is way earlier than I would normally put it. If you're in a league that doesn't.

[Mike Wright]

Trade draft picks, we also make our first round a lottery for the bottom four teams in the league. So you aren't guaranteed to get the first pick in the draft if you finish last.

[Andy Holloway]

And most importantly, I think from for avoiding tanking is that whoever finishes last, the other 11 owners get to spin the wheel of water and douse that person in water. And they draft soaking wet. Nobody wants that.

[Mike Wright]

They have to sit there soaking wet. Soggy bottom, soggy bottoms. Anything else for that question?

[Jason Moore]

No, not for that question. I have a quick note for the weekly periscope. It will be one hour earlier this week. It will be at 8am I've never.

[Mike Wright]

Has any Mike Wright ever been up.

[Jason Moore]

That early every day.

[Mike Wright]

I know, but I'm surprised. Well, you're moving it up. You got some plans?

[Jason Moore]

The. The kiddos are performing at the church.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

Doing some singing. So I got to go check that out.

[Mike Wright]

Your Paris open a little early?

[Jason Moore]

Yep.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. Few notes about the show. Jason mentioned it earlier. We're on the Fantasy sports network and YouTube if you want to watch us, you can find us on twitter @ the FF Ballers and the website is the Fantasy footballers calm. All of our week seven rankings are up on the website today, so the traffic shall be heavy over on the website. You can find us on Patreon jointhefoot.com Support the podcast and Mike said the periscopes happening on Sunday. We've got a number of articles going up on the website today as well. And so plenty of things going on now. We're gonna jump in. We don't do this very often, not as often as we used to, but from time to time we like to read a listener review on the show. And by we, I mean Jason in. In the way that Jason can read reviews, which is poorly. Poorly, but with a voice of confidence. Like it's the most confident.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, let's find out. Reviewasaurus Rex. This one comes in from Texan G, the OG from Texas. He says, these guys are the goat. My wife was like, what does goat mean? Anyways, These guys are the goat. Shout out to Andy, Mike and Jason for helping me get to number one in my league. Thoroughly entertaining. So informative. And really go out of their way with the site rankings, the articles, the Twitter and the Sunday periscope. Look at that. He even appreciates you, Mike. Yeah, can't thank you guys enough. Well, thank you, Texan G. You did that very well. All right.

[Mike Wright]

This is why people enjoy that segment. So thank you very much for your review. Thank you for supporting the show via your reviews and subscriptions on itunes and wherever else you're listening. We appreciate it. It helps the show out. You know, he thanked us for, you know, site rankings and articles and Twitter and stuff. And I was thinking to myself, while you said that in that spectacular voice of yours, you know, I don't think there's another, you know, full time podcast like we are, you know, we are focused on it 24 hours a day. There's no peripheral. The podcast is the focus of everything we do. You know, it's not. It's not diverted to other sports. It's not diverted anywhere else. And so we appreciate your review and thinking about that and we'll definitely keep trying to make things better. Let's jump into the news.

[Andy Holloway]

News and notes from around the league.

[Mike Wright]

I went out to lunch yesterday with my mother. That is not the news.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

When I came back from lunch, Mike was moping about a couple pieces of news, so I'll let him tell.

[Jason Moore]

Well, you come back like, oh, how was your lunch? I said, well, both of my starting running backs are dead, so that's. That's good. Hyperbole well, yeah, clearly they are still alive. But Shady McCoy left practice. He did not finish yesterday with a hamstring. It was diagnosed as mild to moderate.

[Mike Wright]

Great. That's helpful.

[Andy Holloway]

Very helpful.

[Jason Moore]

That's very good. He's considered questionable. He did not practice today. So pick up Mike Gillisle if he's available.

[Mike Wright]

A number of guys didn't practice today. Trial Pryor did not practice on Thursday. Charles Clay didn't practice on Thursday. Steve Smith, Joe Flacco. Really?

[Andy Holloway]

Flacco didn't practice.

[Mike Wright]

And Mike, you left out the other half of your story, which was that, oh, yes, Doug Martin has apparently suffered a setback with his hamstring and after the buy and will not play.

[Jason Moore]

So here's what's so fantastic about this, as I already was very well aware, but Jason had to pie me in the face with this was. I was. I've been the biggest doubter of Doug Martin preseason. Beginning of the season, he got. He got hurt. There was all the news that he's going to be back after the buy.

[Andy Holloway]

And I was like, you kept talking about how you don't trust his injury history. You don't think he's going to come back. Well, you think he could have a setback and then you go and you trade the world to get him.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, and I went all in on him for that schedule. It was a situation where there's. There's not very many running backs that you can go all in to actually acquire. So I did it for Doug Martin.

[Andy Holloway]

This is called the guy. Death by irony.

[Mike Wright]

I was going to say, I find it completely ironic that I am writing CJ Anderson in this league and you're writing Doug Martin in this league.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I'm writing not Rogers, because Doug Martin is never going to play for my team.

[Mike Wright]

There was an update this morning. No, that's Eddie Lacy. Look, we've set it Eddie lacey back to 255, 265 pounds. Basically the playing weight of last season. Does that mean P90X doesn't work, Mike?

[Jason Moore]

No, it means Eddie Lacy has a large appetite for. For the. The foods.

[Mike Wright]

But look, yard spare carry has a good appetite for those this year.

[Jason Moore]

We have argued about this in the office for fantasy purposes. Bad running back, real life NFL. Eddie Lacy's been very good. We need those to correlate, though.

[Mike Wright]

Sure. Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

Doesn't look promising considering he's missing the next several weeks. Yep.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, not likely. So let's speak to that real quick. Ty Montgomery looks to be the man that will receive the carries in lieu of Eddie Lacy, James Starks being out. Reports this morning said that he is likely to get the majority of running back reps. That doesn't necessarily mean he will get a ton of carries, but you'll get the opportunity to see him come out of the backfield with the ball like he did last year or last week. And so we're going to talk about him more coming up.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Who we're not. Do we want to talk right now about the Don Jackson, Niles Davis cluster? Because here's the reality. We have no idea who it's going to be right now in practice. Nile Davis has been working with the scout team. Scout team. He. We don't know if he's going to be active. I'm not even sure if Don Jackson's actually been promoted to the active roster right now. It's. We have no idea who it's going to be. But in my opinion, this early and subject to change, I feel like they're basically, what they're saying is they're going into this next game without a running back.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And so. And they're fine with that time. Montgomery caught 10 passes last week because he was lined up as a running back. Just went out for those little screens. That was how they ran the ball.

[Mike Wright]

This.

[Andy Holloway]

This is a part of the reason why I actually like Aaron Rodgers this week despite his massive struggles over the last year and a half.

[Mike Wright]

There is no problem. And this isn't unprecedented. We just don't talk about it. I mean, when LeGarrett Blunt's hurt and all they have is Brandon Bolden and James White. It's the same circumstance in New England. I mean, James White. I'll get two or three carries and everything else is pass catching. Montgomery and Randall Cobb can take snaps behind Aaron Rodgers in the backfield. So this is something that. Yeah. No, you don't get to play somebody in your RB spot. That's for sure. You don't get to throw Montgomery into your RB spot. So we'll move on. Chip Kelly says 49ers will use a rotation with Carlos Hyde now being out with the shoulder injury. But they only think one game. They only think he's gonna miss one game. So do you roll the dice with them? Davis?

[Jason Moore]

If you're. Maybe your league is very deep and you're desperate.

[Mike Wright]

Davis or Asiata?

[Andy Holloway]

I think I would roll Mike Davis in that situation.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Do you think Sean Drone gets work?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I mean, he's talking about the rotation. Those are the two guys that they're going to be rotating Between Mike Davis and Sean Drone. We saw the previous week before, before the official, you know, injury to Carlos Hyde, that Davis was already getting more work. So I feel like he's earned the trust. Sean Drones usage has gone down and down. So I expect that if they use a rotation, it's going to be predominantly Mike Davis.

[Mike Wright]

I do not want to linger on practice reports of 50 players today when we have an in and out segment tomorrow on the show that we will cover all these guys. I will mention one more brief piece of news. Tyler Ifer did practice. So he, you know, assuming he doesn't have a setback, it's looking okay. So we'll have more information on that tomorrow as well. I think we're going to move on to the forecast.

[Andy Holloway]

Fantasy forecast.

[Mike Wright]

We'll kick it off with updates to the Thursday night game, which is the Bears at the packers tonight. Kadeem Carry is questionable for Thursday with the hamstring injury. I, you know, short week dealing with the hamstring. Not sure how much work he's going to get. Eddie Royal is out on Thursday night and Zach Miller is expected to play despite his questionable tag. Anything else you guys think is worth mentioning? Devonte Adams is questionable as well.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, the only thing I would say, I'm not, I'm not saying to pick this guy up, I wouldn't. But we should just keep an eye out for the possibility. And as much as I hate to.

[Mike Wright]

Say it, he's going to say Jeff Janis.

[Jason Moore]

Man.

[Andy Holloway]

Because if Devonte Adams is out, I think Janice takes that role. Jordy Nelson doesn't look like he's able to create separation and get down the field deep. If Janice could do that, maybe that helps cure some of the ails of Aaron Rodgers. Again, I'm not saying pick him up. I'm just saying pay attention to him tonight. If you watch the game, keep your eyes on him, see if he's the guy that fills that slot. Does, am I wrong? Does Jared Abraderis come in and take that? You know, just keep your eyes open.

[Mike Wright]

A reminder, teams on by this week, Carolina and Dallas. And you have the week eight and week nine. Big boy buys. Big boy buys Baltimore, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Pittsburgh and San Francisco coming up in week eight. So prepare yourself for bipocalypse. We're jumping into the matchups. Let's. Let's talk London, the Giants and the Rams. You saw Eli Manning put up a better performance last week. Thank you. Odell Beckham Jr. Yeah. What do you do at the running back position for the Giants in this.

[Jason Moore]

Matchup, if you're going to play anybody, you play Rashad Jennings. He's back. He was catching some passes. It's a tough matchup against the Rams.

[Andy Holloway]

But.

[Jason Moore]

But I think he's like a running back three playable. Playable. But I'm not excited about it.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Does it. You know, Bobby Rainey's been a little bit involved in weeks past. He's kind of pushed out of contention in fantasy leagues now. Yeah, you got Beckham, you got Shepard and Cruz. Shepherd slowed down a little bit. What is your long term view of Shepard as should he be owned still? I mean is he a flex play in this matchup?

[Jason Moore]

Maybe a flex play at the most. He's, he's a droppable guy in my opinion. I just. The we've seen it with these rookies now. Shepard, Tajie Sharp, they flashed when there was no tape on them. Players didn't know how their tendencies, they didn't know how to defend them. And now the, now that NFL coaches are able to prepare for these guys, they're getting shut down.

[Mike Wright]

The big thing about Eli, and we mentioned this on the show earlier in the week when Mike had the game for us, you know, he's averaged 298 passing yards per game. So the distributions there, but the touchdowns hadn't been there. So it still seems like there's going to be a, a wide receiver too. But is it shepherd of Cruz in each matchup is kind of the situation. So let me bring up the wide receivers. On the Rams side of things, Kenny Britt was the Raising Kings rising star of the week for Jason, is that correct?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, I think he's been, you know, he has enough volume on the season to be able to trust him a little bit.

[Mike Wright]

Now.

[Andy Holloway]

The Giants went out, they signed a corner this offseason. He's been doing very good and so I don't expect a huge game from Britt here. But I think he's got a safe like, you know, I don't think he's going to go out and put up 3 for 36 the way that say across the field that I very much could see from either Cruz or Shepard. So if you just need kind of a somewhat safe six to eight points in standard, then okay. But I'm not super excited about this specific matchup. I think the bright lights of being in London also. This, this is not at Wembley. We've talked in the past about how bad that field is in Wembley. This is not there. So this is a, a much better.

[Jason Moore]

Well, it's unknown. I mean, we'll.

[Andy Holloway]

I guess that's true. We haven't. We haven't seen.

[Jason Moore]

We have to assume it's better than the Wimbledon.

[Andy Holloway]

Certainly got to be better than the field at Wembley.

[Mike Wright]

Is this line correct? What is the line in this game? It's minus three. Minus three.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I have the giants minus three.

[Mike Wright]

Well, the other thing I looked at said minus eight. I think that that's wrong. It's the giants minus three. 44 and a half point over. Under any other. You know, you're starting early. Okay. I wanted to say this from last week because we obviously have to go through all these matchups and we do that in a way that we try to prioritize your fantasy decisions. Nobody's sitting Todd Gurley. And so we'll try to make sure we mention, you know, these names and say, okay, you're starting Gurley. But if we ignore a player, if we don't talk, it's normally not an argument.

[Andy Holloway]

The number one quarterback or wide receiver for a team. That's because we already know what you're. You already know what you're doing with them.

[Mike Wright]

You're starting the Browns take on the Bengals this week. This is, you know, in Cincinnati, 45 and a half point over. Under. I have a question for you guys. I mean, what do you do if Pryor sits on the Cleveland side? Do you. Is there somebody that you could throw a dart at at the wide receiver core to give you production? I mean, I know you're going to say Barnage is going to receive those target share and I think that's true. But I mean, do you do anything at the wide receiver position? I mean, Lewis or Hawkins? Hawkins.

[Andy Holloway]

The truth.

[Jason Moore]

Is that Ricardo?

[Mike Wright]

You think it's Ricardo? Yeah, that's what I would do, too.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I lean towards Hawkins personally, but I'm not going to start any of those guys if Pryor is out.

[Mike Wright]

So many other options.

[Andy Holloway]

That doesn't. Yeah, exactly. There's guys off of waivers I still like better than them. You know, sometimes you have to play that fantasy roulette. I'm playing that this week in a couple different places. The Browns are not where I'm going to play my roulette. The bad odds. And so I think you're right. You got Gary Barnage, who would probably take a bump as a big target, and that's about it. Let's other side of the ball before.

[Mike Wright]

I mix to the other side. I do want to stay on Crowell and Duke Johnson for a second. Correll started the season on fire. He slowed down significantly. Duke Johnson have a stat nugget for you guys. Rushed for 10 or more yards on seven of his 33 carries, which is the highest percentage in the NFL of.

[Jason Moore]

If you're going to qualify at 33.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I mean, 21.2% of qualified. You know, with them all qualified. So, I mean, that's a. We just talked about the fact that Todd Gurley hasn't been putting up big runs. Duke Johnson has been chunking a little bit.

[Jason Moore]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

And I'd rather play Duke Johnson in this game than I would crow out, is my point.

[Andy Holloway]

I agree. Because more than likely the Bengals can get out to a lead here. And in that situation, Duke Johnson has been involved. If Terrell Pryor is out, maybe the guy that actually gets the bump could end up being Duke Johnson. We've seen, you know, on the season, he's been averaging almost four catches a game. That's great. He's been doing a lot with them. No, no touchdowns so far on the season. And with that kind of volume. Oh, I'm sorry. He got. He got one touchdown this last week at Tennessee. That was his first. I think Duke Johnson is an okay play this week.

[Mike Wright]

So. Talk about the other side of the ball. You have Andy Dalton. You talked about what you're doing in your league.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, Andy Dalton. I actually.

[Mike Wright]

You're playing him over Drew Brees.

[Andy Holloway]

I am playing him over Drew Brees. In my personal league, I have Dalton. He's bold, rated, very, very high. Very similar to what we just talked about with Eli Manning. Dalton's been great this year. He's. He's in a zone. He just hasn't been throwing touchdowns. He's up near the top in yards. He's down near the bottom in turnovers. He's been playing very well. But who is his number one red zone target? Obviously, AJ Green gets plenty of touchdowns, but over the last couple of years, when he gets down to the red zone, the guy that has just been lights out is Tyler Ifert. You've got the Browns as a terrible matchup. You've got Tyler Eifert, who. I don't think he's going to come in and play his full share. But you saw what they did with Gronk, right?

[Jason Moore]

Like, play him in the red zone.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. When you've got those tight ends like that, you leave them out from 20 to 20. You get inside that 20, you bring in Tyler Eifert. You got that big target. I think he throws a couple touchdowns. I think he runs for 15 yards. I think he puts up plenty of yards. And so I really like Andy Dalton this week. I actually also like Brandon lefell. If you're talking about would I rather start Hawkins or Lefell?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, it's LaFell.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Here's the thing about the Bengals is just not necessarily a counterpoint but a perspective piece here. Last year you saw Matt Ryan put up a lot of yardage and struggle with the touchdown totals. I think if you saw Dalton struggle in this matchup at home against the Browns, you're, you know, you have to put some responsibility on Dalton for the lack of touchdowns.

[Jason Moore]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

If they're not getting running touchdowns. Sure. Speaking of running in the sense that if they just end up able to score on them, I don't think that's a knock on Dalton.

[Jason Moore]

What do we do with the Bengals running backs? You have. This looks like a prime Jeremy Hill matchup. The Browns cannot stop the run. But you look at the past couple weeks, Gio Barnard's usage has gone way up. You know, you had two weeks ago. I know they were playing catch up, but you had 75% of the snaps with the Geo last week. 66.2% of the snaps went to Gio Bernard. His touches are way up. He's being far more efficient than Jeremy Hill. So what if you guys had the option of the two? I'm putting you in a half point ppr. Who are you starting?

[Andy Holloway]

I think it's geo. That's how funny that you were going the other way.

[Mike Wright]

Well, I think I would start. I think I would start Geo because he's fine. Like I'm not worried about GEO not doing well. I do think that there's a decent chance Hill has a good game.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Let's just put it that way. I think this is, this is lined up. I mean The Bengals are 10 point favorites. It's lined up for Hill to do what he does, which is volume.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And touchdowns.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm fine starting both of those guys. Honestly, there's not a Bengal that I don't like in this game.

[Jason Moore]

I love Tigers.

[Mike Wright]

The Redskins take on the Lions. The Lions are one and a half point favorites in this game at home. The over unders at 49 and a half. I think we can expect some points to be put up on the board here with, you know, defenses that are ranking in the bottom third of the league. And you know, you know, I love, and this is an allusion to later. Hint, hint, Love Kirk Cousins this week.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And really don't agree and I wouldn't hesitate to Start Matthew Stafford either, because this is just at home. Stafford coming off a four touchdown game, right?

[Andy Holloway]

Yep. He's coming off four touchdowns against the LA Rams. You're going to have plenty of points put on the clock. I mean look the.

[Mike Wright]

Get him up.

[Andy Holloway]

One of the things that the court that quarterbacks love this season in the NFL is playing the Lions. That's a really fun thing to do. And so if Kirk Cousins is putting up points then you, you, then it's just going to end up going back and forth. I tweeted out like I really want players in this game because I can't see this game script. And of course now, now it will happen, but I can't see this game script where the defenses of both teams rise up. Neither offense can get it going. It's kind of a field goal type of game. They're in a dome. The weather's not an issue, the field's not an issue. The health of the players involved are not an issue. Other than Jordan Reed being out. Yeah, light them up. I mean you're going to have back and forth action here.

[Jason Moore]

Now I got a question for you guys. I had to, I had to get the antacids, I had to get the peptoid, all of them. Tums, Rolaids, everything.

[Mike Wright]

Sounds anti nausea over medicated, but go ahead.

[Jason Moore]

I have Matt Jones as a running back one this week.

[Mike Wright]

Well, you should. Yeah, about darn time. Hey, you said you owed him a. Didn't you say you owed him an apology if he performed last week?

[Jason Moore]

I did.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

This is, it's painful. I cannot wait.

[Jason Moore]

Matt Jones, some things were said about you in the preseason.

[Mike Wright]

You can quote him.

[Jason Moore]

I don't want to drudge up the past. We're all about the future on this show. We are a forward, positive thinking show. Matt Jones, I'll say this. You're. You are. You're good for fantasy football.

[Mike Wright]

4.9 a carry, Mike.

[Jason Moore]

Are you serious?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I'm serious. Mike. You're gonna have to extend that apology. Beyond fantasy, Matt.

[Andy Holloway]

He can't do it.

[Mike Wright]

I love the look on his face when I told him too. He goes, what?

[Jason Moore]

Matt Jones, I'm sorry.

[Andy Holloway]

There it is.

[Jason Moore]

All right, I'm sorry.

[Andy Holloway]

I have him playing great in standard leagues at my seventh ranked running back and half point, top 10 at 10.

[Mike Wright]

All right. We have hurt tight ends in this game, Reed and Ebron. Do you expect either guy to play? Is Ebron already declared out?

[Andy Holloway]

No, he's not.

[Jason Moore]

Practice. Jordan Reed will be. He is apparently seeing a specialist tomorrow. So we shall see. The nice thing is that Vernon Davis has filled in admirably. Yeah. For. And Kirk Cousins, that's. That's where it's a huge thing. Kirk Cousins numbers when Jordan Reed is out bad. Really, really bad. Because he needs that big tight end target and Vernon Davis has saved him. So Kirk Cousins can continue to be a strong quarterback play this game.

[Mike Wright]

We have to linger on because there's just so many different decisions to be made here. The wide receiver position, Marvin Jones, you know, you couldn't sustain the otherworldly numbers that the season started with. But last week, you know, Jones owners didn't get. I think he got in the end zone. Right. But it was like two catches.

[Jason Moore]

Two catches, but one.

[Mike Wright]

Golden Tate had a monster game.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

And everybody rushed to the waiver wire on Tate. What is your kind of, you know, give me your perspective on the wide receiver core there. It's still Jones. But do you think he's one the rest of the season?

[Jason Moore]

Marvin Jones?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I think you can still consider him up there. I mean, Matt Stafford's playing great and Marvin Jones is a huge beneficiary of it. He's just. He's not like a top five guy where those first couple weeks you thought, oh, maybe, maybe he is. Maybe I stole one here. He's returning to the norm. But he's still a great play every single week, especially this week.

[Andy Holloway]

I think Golden Tate having his mojo and his confidence restored playing at home. I can't imagine that Josh Norman is going to be the guy really kind of going, oh, I got to get Golden Tate. He's really been lighting teams up this year. So Golden Tate could be a decent start this week. Marvin Jones is fine. The only thing I would say is from the Lions perspective. Dwayne Washington appears back. Zach Zenner ran well last week. Four set is supposed to get more work involved. Yes. Stay away from all of this.

[Mike Wright]

And they'll probably have to pass the ball a ton.

[Jason Moore]

Assuming that Theo Riddick misses, which right.

[Andy Holloway]

True.

[Jason Moore]

It's not looking good right now. If Riddick plays, he's a great start. Hey, before we move to the Raiders and the Jaguars, I want to tell you about today's sponsor. That is clear. Look, you may not have heard of this foot claim, but this is incredible.

[Andy Holloway]

Awesome.

[Jason Moore]

I'm no stranger to the airport. And you know what I'm doing now with the airport? I'm bringing my family, bringing the three kids. You know what we got to do? Stand in that freakin security line. The absolute worst. You head to the Airport three hours early. Because you know you're sitting in that line for 90 minutes at the minimum. There is a better way to do it, and that is clear. Clear is like a VIP ticket. Straight to the checkout, straight to the security check. Go to the airport, go to the clear line where a very friendly clear ambassador greets you. Look, they put pride in being friendly, being warm. Going to the airport. We know these TSA people. The job kind of stinks cold and sad. And it comes across with the way they treat you not at clear. They treat you like a human being.

[Andy Holloway]

We're all clear members.

[Jason Moore]

This is what you do. You go, you tap your finger on the kiosk, it scans your fingerprint, your boarding pass. Boom. They escort you right to the screening lane. It's that simple, stress free at the airport. And you can sign up today and you use clear right away. There's no waiting period. You sign up and you go do it. There's no appointments. You go to the airport, you skip the line. Clear is the absolute best way to get through the airport. You'll never do it any other way. You have to experience it. And for a limited time, Foot Clan Clery is letting new members get two months free. Clear. You go to clear me.com. you use the code ballers. That's C L E A R M E dot com. Use the code ballers. I am telling you. That's all I'm telling you.

[Andy Holloway]

If you fly a lot, the airport, you're gonna love it is the worst.

[Jason Moore]

And clear is slowly doing their part to make it great again.

[Mike Wright]

That's awesome. And we do want to thank Pristine Auction, longtime sponsor of the show, good friend of the show. Look, nobody's better. Nobody's better on the Internet. Sports memorabilia. Nobody, nobody. Daily. Hundreds of daily auctions. Look, I took a look today, all you went, Sylvania fans out there. There's a, there's a Carson Wentz signed helmet up for the daily auction today. There is a signed Rob Gronkowski jersey up on the daily auctions. And what I look, if you're a Packer fan, I saw this. I was like saying, this is amazing. Glowing over it, there is a signed Bart star, Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers championship canvas. And these canvases are awesome. For the wall. Hundreds of other items, NFL and beyond. You have to check them out. Pristineauction.com Good friends of the show. And when you sign up over there, which is just free, you can browse the auctions, bid on the auctions when you sign up, let them know that the fantasy footballers sent you. This is a great company. They are A plus certified on the Better Business Bureau. So you know and can trust what they're doing. They're not trying to pull one over on you. They're trying. This is authentic, real merchandise. Really great company. Check them out. Pristineauction.com P R I S T I N E auction.com They've got Dak fever lately, do they? There's a lot of DAC Cowboy fans.

[Jason Moore]

If you got the Dak attack fever, Christine Oxford has you covered.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, yeah, I have some cowboy fans in my family.

[Jason Moore]

That's unfortunate.

[Mike Wright]

And look, look, he made. They made a really good point though about what happened when Russell Wilson was a home run for Seattle. What did that do for that team?

[Jason Moore]

When you find a franchise, we talk about this all the time in the studio. If you find a franchise quarterback not in the first round, you had to trade everything to get them. Your team is changed because you don't.

[Mike Wright]

Have to pay them, right?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, you have for years. You've got years of dak at a low price. You can invest elsewhere. It helps your team so much. So they're excited is what I'm saying. And I would be too. You know, the Cardinals, we've got Carson Palmer over here and it's great for now, but we got a couple weeks left. I want the future. You know what our future is going to be. I can tell you right now, GROSS. At least seven or eight more years of Josh McCown. Bring him back.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yes.

[Jason Moore]

I take him.

[Mike Wright]

He's gonna play till he's 60. I'd take him over to 60 concussions. All right. The Raiders take on the Jaguars. Jumping right back into the matchups. This is an interesting game. I've had a hard time deciding what to do with Derek Carr this week. Whether I want to play him or my stream of the week. Marcus Mariota. I have decided. Would you like to hear my declaration?

[Jason Moore]

I would. In the Foot clan would.

[Mike Wright]

I'm playing Marcus Mariota.

[Jason Moore]

Maria 2.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, Maria too. Because Derek Carr has been really good this year. I think he's the sixth ranked fantasy quarterback by our scoring system. That being said, they're traveling to Jacksonville and while Jacksonville appears, if you look at the whole season, appears to not be great against fantasy quarterbacks. I asked these guys before the show, how many touchdowns have they given up to quarterbacks in the last three weeks? And the answer is two. Two total touchdowns in three weeks for the Jacksonville defense. Jalen Ramsey's making his presence felt on that Defense. It doesn't mean I don't think Carr can have a good game. This is not a sit car. This is. I prefer Mariota at home against Indianapolis. That's just the plain and simple fact about it. So that's my perspective on Carr. What do you do with Bortles in Robinson and that offense? Jacksonville hasn't had it together yet this year but they're. They've won a couple games in a row.

[Jason Moore]

Right.

[Mike Wright]

Chance to win another one at home. Winnable game against the Raiders. What do you make of your decisions on the Jacksonville offense side of the.

[Jason Moore]

I love the football. I love the Jacksonville passing attack. This week I should actually just say the Jacksonville offense because you to say I love the passing attack infers that they have a running.

[Andy Holloway]

I just did a double take because I thought for a second you were saying that you also liked the Chris Ivory and Yelden this week and I was very surprised.

[Jason Moore]

I actually don't have a problem with Chris Ivory this week, as gross as that sounds.

[Andy Holloway]

But. But Mike.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Yes. Voice of public opinion.

[Andy Holloway]

TJ Yeldin, they said that he's taking over the workhorse role. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Over the weekend he had a stranglehold as the three down back. How'd that work out? Getting out touched about 2 to 1 by Chris Ivory.

[Mike Wright]

I would start yelling over Ivory this week.

[Jason Moore]

No, no.

[Mike Wright]

I would really put her on.

[Jason Moore]

Put her on the board. Water bet the yelled in Truthers can ride or die with TJ Eldon. Here's the deal.

[Mike Wright]

Why I want to come back to this one next week.

[Andy Holloway]

I think you meant to say and the TJ Yelden Truthers can ride and ride then ride, then ride, then die.

[Jason Moore]

Look, the Raiders. The Raiders defense.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, this is all I have to do is beat Ivory here, guys. I'm not making a high claim on Yelden anymore. Stay away.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, everybody out there, don't play Chris ivory. Don't play T.J. yelden.

[Mike Wright]

Look, if the Jaguars at home against the 30th ranked run defense. You can't do anything in the running game. I should just replace the roster spots. I mean at this point go. You got to go Tom Montgomery style.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly. But look the Raiders defense, they're allowing 20 or more yards on 28 of 143 receptions. Look, almost 20% of receptions are going for 20 more yards against the Raiders. They're getting gouged by big plays and Blake Bortles and Alan Robinson and Alan Hearns. That's what they do. That is their especial.

[Mike Wright]

So we're Talking more about Robinson in a bit.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So I love both of those guys.

[Mike Wright]

Other side of the ball. Cooper coming on with a fury right now. Only one touchdown on the year. About four fake touchdowns. Big yardage numbers in the last couple of weeks. Big reception numbers. Is Cooper taking over from Crabtree rest of season? You'd rather own Cooper or Crabtree?

[Andy Holloway]

I'd probably rather own Cooper just because I think they're going to be near the same. They're going to be near the same. I think by the from this week on they'll be very close to each other in fantasy points. But if I was ever going to need to make a trade, Cooper. Cooper has so much more value. I mean the name and the upside, the age and the speed and people just love Amari Cooper.

[Mike Wright]

Glisten in his eye.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. So hand.

[Mike Wright]

His ability to step. His ability to step on the out of bounds line with one toe every time he catches down pass.

[Jason Moore]

Just barely.

[Mike Wright]

Just barely.

[Jason Moore]

Just barely.

[Mike Wright]

Anything else about this game we want to get into, I guess the running backs. We're still waiting to hear if Latavius Murray is going to start. I anticipate he will play.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he's back at practice.

[Mike Wright]

I projected him for about 1112 carries. I projected Washington and Rashard to be in that five carry range each and I think that's how you'll see the distribution as of today. But we'll talk more about that tomorrow.

[Jason Moore]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

Couple more matchups then we're getting into our starts of the week. Guys, let's talk about the Saints and the Chiefs. The Chiefs are hosting this matchup. They are six and a half point favorites. Jason has already said he's sitting Drew Brees because if you look at the.

[Andy Holloway]

I am sitting Drew Brees behind Andy Dalt.

[Mike Wright]

Correct.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm not telling anybody to sit.

[Mike Wright]

I apologize. Yes. Drew Brees coming off a 44 and a half point week. So you still have some cojones to sit him.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

I mean your context. You still have to step out on a ledge and say hey, I'm going to play this Drew Brees home away split game.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And that's. That's exactly what it is. Drew Brees has not been quite the same quarterback on the road.

[Mike Wright]

Not at all.

[Andy Holloway]

At home he usually isn't. And that's even in. In plus matchups. Now you've got, you know, the fact that he's going to Kansas City and Kansas City. Look, if you just look at like how is a team ranked and we'll talk about this quite a bit in our starts of the week. But when you just look at like Kansas City's overall ranking on defense is blank. It's not a good way to, to investigate matchups because for instance, Kansas City, you know, they had that game where all of a sudden Pittsburgh just showed up. That Le'Veon Bell game, you know, where, where Drew Bree or Ben Roethlisberger threw five touchdowns. He was amazing. Outside of that single game, they've only given up three touchdowns to quarterbacks on the year. They've, they've, they haven't given up another 300 yard game. It's, it's, they're, they're a very good defense. Their home field advantage is great and that's where Drew Brees struggles. If he can't communicate as well, he is not the elite option that he usually is.

[Mike Wright]

I think that's good perspective. And you have a Saints offense that is first in the league right now in points per game, but everything stacked against them this week. You have seen Cook struggle on the road, you've seen Bree struggle on the road and you saw a very good performance from the Kansas City defense last week. So you're starting Ingram because he's Mark Ingram. Yeah, he's a starting running back. You know, Snead has fallen out of fantasy favor at this point. I don't like him as a start this week. And Cooks, you're going to play him. But if you have, you know, a comparable better option, you know, if it's Alan Robinson or Brandon Cooks, it's not a question this week. Alan Robinson, Kobe, Fleen, are you buying in?

[Andy Holloway]

I am buying in what he did last week. Now it's interesting to note he had the lowest, I believe the lowest snap percentage for himself of the season. Josh Hill was very involved. I believe that going forward what Fleener showed is that he is really, really valuable and that he's going to have a connection and that's good. So I am buying into Fleener. Andy and I talked about this in the office. Fleener might put up some stinky games, right. But anytime that you don't have one of those Greg Olson's or Gronks or.

[Mike Wright]

You know, Jordan Reed, right?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, Jordan Reed when he's healthy. Any other tight end that you have out there, you're going to have just as big an option every single week that he puts up five or less points with every tight end in the league. But Kobe Fleeners upside is far higher.

[Mike Wright]

Than Most of the 25 points is 100 yards and two touchdowns.

[Andy Holloway]

Exactly. And you're not going to get that out of. You're.

[Mike Wright]

You're Jack Doyles of the world, right? You aren't. You really aren't.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

On the other side of the ball, you have the running back circumstance here. We're going to talk about Spencer Ware in the starts of the week. You've got Jamal Charles. Andy Reid said he's not ready for a full workload. And you know, look, the Chiefs don't need a full workload from Jamal Charles when Spencer Ware is playing so well. Jeremy Macklin. I told Jason this. We were kind of debating this before the game. This is. I mean, if you can't perform in this matchup, to me, you can't. You're probably not what you thought we were.

[Jason Moore]

Dirty cake.

[Mike Wright]

The dirty cake. I mean, you're going up against the 31st ranked pass defense and a team that should be able to put points on the board at least enough. I mean, 15 and a half point over, under. You know, you're talking about a 24, 21 game, you know, a 28, 21 game. So if Macklin's not involved this week, if Kelsey isn't involved this week, I'm punting this passing offense the rest of the season because I don't want to play that game anymore. I don't want to be waiting for Macklin. I mean, what's an upside game for Macklin? Six for 77. Ooh.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, you gotta be sad about that.

[Mike Wright]

Well, I'm not happy. But I also think that there, I think he will perform in this game. Macklin was on the table for me for a start of the week, let's put it that way. And I know Jason and I disagree on that.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And I also wouldn't punt on Macklin if he doesn't perform. Put it this way, if this game was in New Orleans, oh, my goodness. Macklin would be my start of the week because I have all confidence that New Orleans would be going back and forth. This over under a 50 and a half. I'd take. I'd take the over right now. I'm taking the under because it's in Kansas City. And if you look at what wide receivers have, you know, done in those games, you know, I mean, think about when it was in New York, right, When Odell Beckham, right. He didn't. He had a terrible game and Eli Manning didn't do as much because it was surprisingly a low scoring game. Same with Philip Rivers when it was in San Diego.

[Mike Wright]

You know, are you willing to put a top 24 for Macklin, 24 is top 15.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I would do a top 15. Whoa. Water bets.

[Jason Moore]

The bets are flying today.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I don't think he's going to be top 15, but sure, I can.

[Mike Wright]

I do. I'm taking a risk. I agree that there is a percentage chance that the way you're seeing the game takes place. I don't doubt that. I just think the odds are in his favor in this matchup. We need to move on. Got to get into the starts of the week. Need to talk about the Bills and the Dolphins. We excited about that?

[Jason Moore]

Very.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know what happened right there now, are you? Mike always finds it just disproportionately entertaining when I make a mistake.

[Jason Moore]

Because you don't get to actually see your physical reaction to it.

[Mike Wright]

That's true. I had no idea what was going on.

[Jason Moore]

There's the combination of. It's startling to my ears. It's startling to your ears. And you huy. And you're sure. You're frantically swiping, trying to stop things.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, you're the only one in charge of that.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I can't do anything but sit in the chair.

[Mike Wright]

Now.

[Andy Holloway]

I have a question. This Bills Dolphins game, is this. Were you actually excited?

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

No. No. Certainly. Certainly not.

[Mike Wright]

So what are we expecting here? The streak to continue for the Bills or, you know, you have the Dolphins win at home last week against Pittsburgh. They're at home again this week, but they're underdogs and this game does not have a high over under. And I approve. I approve, Vegas of your estimation here. LaShawn McCoy might miss. That is a huge detriment to that offense.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Because Mike Gillesley may start. But you're not going to get the slippery fish.

[Jason Moore]

No, Mike, you only the slippery. The slippery fish. But I think you'll get a fine game if McCoy is in fact ruled out. The Dolphins are the 31st ranked against the run, so they're giving up yardage. So I still think Gillisley is a fine play. But you're right, McCoy would change the team.

[Mike Wright]

Gillis Lee or Jaquiz Rogers, if both guys were starting.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, Jaquiz Rogers. Man, I love him this week.

[Mike Wright]

All right. You got Robert woods in the passing game for. Yeah, I mean, you're just not that excited about that. You can probably count on five or six catches. So you can. You could do worse than Robert Woods.

[Jason Moore]

I'm vetting this real quick. I'm not sure if woods practiced today.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to take a look.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Look, skis.

[Andy Holloway]

You know who did practice in full? Charles guy on the other side of the ball is Arian Foster. Oh, so just when you think you got something in Jay Ajayi, Andy, you have followed this situation because you were an Arian Foster guy before. You've been a Jay guy. Who. Who is it? Who can you start? Can you start Jay Ajayi this week with any confidence?

[Mike Wright]

No, not with any confidence. Because you're facing a pretty tough defense that has been on a roll. Four straight wins, playing well. I would start a Jay over Foster. I think that's the question. So I would start a Jay over Foster. I would. Let me put it this way. People are holding Foster. If this week is a full Ajayi week and you're talking five carries for Foster and 12 to 15 for Ajay, I'm fine cutting Foster at that point. Now, you might hold him to be the handcuff of Ajayi at that point, but I'm buying into the fact that Ajayi earned himself a workhorse opportunity in this game.

[Jason Moore]

So the update on Robert Woods. He did not practice today or yesterday. He was also spotted wearing a walking boot. Rex Ryan claims he's not concerned, but I can't imagine that woods is looking likely to play, which makes for me, Charles Clay turns into a sneaky snort this week if you're struggling at the tight end.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I like it. Clay's. Clay's had a lot of productive games on the season. The Bills or the Dolphins are a middle of the road team against tight end, and you have to pass the ball to someone from.

[Jason Moore]

Very true. Well, Tyrod Taylor doesn't have to pass very much.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. So is Taylor a streamable player this week? If he loses McCoy and Woods.

[Andy Holloway]

If he loses McCoy and Woods, I.

[Mike Wright]

Would not be other side of the ball. What decisions on the wide receiver core there. You're starting Landry because you normally do, but that's it.

[Jason Moore]

Yep, that's it for me.

[Mike Wright]

All right, we need to move on. Let's get into the starts.

[Andy Holloway]

Starts of the week.

[Mike Wright]

Mike, I'm gonna let you kick this off. You choose the position and you. You get us going.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I'm gonna start with the big dogs, then we'll start with the quarterback. We referred to them a little bit earlier in this show. I'm going with Blake Bortles. Look, Oakland has to cross the entire country.

[Mike Wright]

It is not on foot.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, there's there. They left two weeks ago and they hope to arrive tomorrow.

[Mike Wright]

Should be a documentary on that usually.

[Jason Moore]

And in Speaking in very general terms, when west coast teams have to go to the east coast play in the morning, it doesn't usually end up very well for that west coast team. They're already a bad passing defense. They've had multiple games giving up four passing touchdowns. So I like Blake Bortles, the ultimate garbage man. I like him taking out the trash this week. I think he gets it done.

[Mike Wright]

Jason, who's your quarterback start of the week?

[Andy Holloway]

I think there's no surprise here. It's Andrew Dalton. Look, could the Bengals just run the ball on the Browns and not need Andy Dalton at all? Absolutely. But could you see A.J. green having another one of those 152 touchdown games and go nuts? And Tyler, I for come back and grab a third touchdown because I sure can. So I have no problem with Andy Dalton. I like him, I'm starting him and I'll be so sad if he stinks. But he's, he's looked good to me this year.

[Jason Moore]

Especially if you're starting him. You'll be real sad.

[Andy Holloway]

I will.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to go with Kirk Cousins talked about him earlier. He takes on Detroit. Detroit's a 32nd ranked defense against quarterbacks in fantasy. The Lions defense is allowed a pass rating of 119.1 this season. Dead last in the league and at least two touchdowns per week. And that's selling it short saying at least two touchdowns per week because it's actually 2.8. So I look great matchup for Kirk Cousins. Really like him as a start this week. There are quite a few streamable quarterbacks this week, but Cousins is on the top of my list right there. So Mike, who's your running back?

[Jason Moore]

My running back. I'm going with the handcuff here. I'm going with Jacques Whiz Rogers taking on the the mighty San Francisco 49ers rushing defense. Did you know that the 49ers are allowing 174 rushing yards a game?

[Mike Wright]

It's not been pretty ever since they lost.

[Jason Moore]

Bowman.

[Mike Wright]

Bowman the second worst.

[Jason Moore]

That's, that's Miami and they're allowing 147. So 30 yards worse on average is what San Francisco is allowing. We saw Jacquiz Rogers in a ultimate beast mode. Three down work roll last week getting he had 35 touches. Doug Martin's out for who knows how long. I like Jaquez. I know they added Anton Smith, but that's I think simply a depth move because you, you can't give Rogers 35 touches every single week. But I still like him to touch the ball very frequently and have great success.

[Mike Wright]

Love, Roger Jason.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, so I love to quiz Rogers this week. I do not like my start of the week, rest of season, and that is Tevin Coleman. I've said it before, I don't believe that he can keep the pace of what he's doing through the air. He's never rushed for 50 yards on the season. Look, I recommended selling Tevin Coleman, but if you have him start him, I got no problem with Tevin Coleman this week. Here's the deal. The reason I don't like him is because he has to have like a kajillion yards through the passing game in order to be effective. And that's what he's done this year. But you just can't do that except this week against San Diego. If you look at San Diego and you go depending on which format you look at, but let's just say you're looking at how many fantasy points they give up to the position to running backs and you go, oh, wow, they're terrible, right? I think they're 29th in fantasy points given up to the running back position. Here's the deal. They have not yet given up 100 yards on the ground to the team, not to a player. But no team has rushed for 100 yards. So how in the world can they be the 29th worst against running backs? It's because running backs have eaten them up through the air and they've been scoring touchdowns. That's basically what Tevin Coleman's been doing this year. I don't like Tevin Coleman. I don't want to start him most weeks. If you have him, I recommend trading him. But go ahead and start him this week. He should be okay.

[Jason Moore]

I like him and I love Freeman.

[Mike Wright]

I love Freeman.

[Andy Holloway]

What about doing the two headed monster? I think both guys are going to be really good this week.

[Mike Wright]

Spencer Ware is my start of the week at the running back position he takes on New Orleans. Spencer Ware, if you look this up, he's averaged 7.1 yards from scrimmage per touch. So when the ball is in Spencer Ware's hands, whether handed off or passing, he gets it done. He gets it done. In fact, that number 7.1 is number one in the league, tied with Tevin Coleman. So those two guys, when you put the ball in their hands, they get it done. Spencer Ware is coming off a career best week and now he takes on New Orleans at home. This is a great opportunity for them to not overstretch Jamal Charles. You know, Spencer Ware is playing so well. I think you can absolutely start him this week.

[Jason Moore]

All right, I'm going to. I'm going to finish off the stack here because I got Blake Bortles at my quarterback. That means I love Alan Robinson. I. Look, I know that the fantasy community, we're growing concerned about Alan Robinson. You're talking about a guy averaging less points per game than the down with the sickness, with the bezels. The Bezels is averaging more points per game than Alan Robinson, but I am very comfortable firing him up. Full confidence start this week. Allen Robinson is averaging eight PPR points on the road. That's not good when he's at home. Alan Robinson is averaging 18. That's really good PBR points. Look, all of his touchdowns at home. He's averaging about double the receptions when he's at home against a bad passing defense. So I just, I want to give the fantasy players out there, give you confidence that you should be playing Alan Robinson this week.

[Andy Holloway]

I like it. All right. My, my wide receiver start of the week is. I said earlier I'm playing a little bit of roulette this week. Going a little. I like to live dangerous. But I'm going to start my son now. I'm going to start Tyrell Williams this week. The look, I've said it before. There's so many pass catching options in San Diego, you just don't know who to go with. But Atlanta has. This is a game that I expect a lot of points to be put up. Philip Rivers can go on the road and he can run up the score with Atlanta. Atlanta's offense has been great. San Diego's defense has been been bad. So if there's a back and forth here with a lot of points, I think there's going to be the wide receivers being involved. Travis Benjamin is the one, but Travis Benjamin should be trufanted. Trufant has been really good. Remember that big giant back and forth game between New Orleans and Atlanta where Brandon Cooks didn't show up despite the fact that there were so many points scored. He got Trufanted. And I think Trufont is going to be on Travis Benjamin. Tyrell Williams will be running free. I think if you've got him, this is another one of those guys like Tevin Coleman, Tyrell Williams. This seems like a good matchup this week. I would be willing to start them if I've got them. If they blow up like they should.

[Mike Wright]

You're putting your money on Tyrell. I'm going with Ty Montgomery against Chicago Tonight, no Lacey, no Starks, likely no devonte Adams. And look, he's going to get the majority of the running back carries. He was 10 for 98 last week through the air and they need to work him into this offense. There's no choice. There's no, there's no worry for me that time Montgomery is going to give you a stinker. It's just whether he can get up above the, you know, eight, nine points that I think is his baseline this week. But if you have a chance of being the guy that scores in the Green Bay offense because the options are limited, you get the running back carries, you get the passes out of the backfield that you can do something with. He has great top speed. I think Ty Montgomery is a great play this week. Yeah, he's my start of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

Ty Montgomery, for me, I really like him. What he represents to me is 10 points and I like that. Like he's 10 points. I don't think he's going to really stink it up and then he's got the chance at a touchdown.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. So let's. Oh, go ahead.

[Jason Moore]

I would say a friendly reminder, if you're going to play time Montgomery or Meredith, put them in the wide receiver or the running back slot, do not leave them in your flex. Don't screw yourself over for the weekend. Just a friendly reminder.

[Mike Wright]

Yep. All right, let's wrap it up here with the tight end.

[Jason Moore]

Gonna take us home with the tight end, Travis Kelsey. New Orleans has played two tight ends of note and when I say two to tight ends, I mean Greg Olson and the San Diego boys. I'm lumping them into one tight end, Henry Gates. Yes. They got crushed by both of those teams. So if you look at New Orleans on the year, they're not really giving up points to the tight end because they're not playing a tight end of note, someone who can actually put up points. Travis Kelsey is kind of one of those wishy washy guys. You're never quite sure. But I like the matchup this week. So he's my start of the week at the tight end spot.

[Mike Wright]

All right, Jason, I got Kyle Rudolph.

[Andy Holloway]

I've had a lot of people saying, talking about how they're sitting him this week because of course, right. He's going up against Phillies number two ranked defense against the tight end. And what I'm saying here is that two things, one, I think Kyle Rudolph is important to Sam Bradford is going to be used. But also revenge game. I think Phillies number two ranking against tight end is a complete Sham. I'm not saying they're a bad defense. I've said all season I think Philly's underrated defense, but they're not as good against tight end as you believe this far into the season. And here's why. Week one, well, they had Cleveland, who's got, you know, week one was RG3. Completely different offense that wasn't really looking Gary Barnage's way at all. Then week two, you have Chicago, and that was when Jay Cutler went down halfway through the game. Then Hoyer comes in. There's no game plan. There's no script there. Week three, well, you play Detroit, right? Eric Ebron, he's good, except he was missing. He wasn't. So they didn't have a tight end then Washington. And Washington actually had, you know, 50 yards and a touchdown. But that was without Jordan Reed. So my point here is just I think the matchups have really played to their favor. I'm not saying they're bad against the tight end, but I don't think they're the number two. I'm not scared. Plus, you got Sammy Biscuits coming home.

[Jason Moore]

That's what I'm saying.

[Mike Wright]

I ain't scared.

[Jason Moore]

Revenge.

[Andy Holloway]

Revenge game.

[Mike Wright]

All right, I'm going to close out our starts of the week with my tight end, Doyle.

[Andy Holloway]

Rules. Rules.

[Mike Wright]

Jack Doyle. Dwayne Allen is out. Jack Doyle's coming off a 4 for 53 game with a touchdown last week. He's actually the eighth best tight end on the season right now. So.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, tight ends.

[Mike Wright]

So, I mean, if you need to start him. Yeah, I'd feel great about it. I mean, if you need a tight end this week, I think Doyle's. Doyle's just fine. I mean, you have a matchup that I think, you know, divisional game. Mariota has been playing well. I think there'll be some points on the board, and I think Jack Doyle is going to have to come through for them. So I have no problem with him. With Dwayne Allen out, I really like him.

[Andy Holloway]

I picked him up in our league. He's so involved. He's pretty much the number two pass catching option right now this week for Indianapolis. That's great. Asking for a friend. Who would you rather start, Cameron Brait or Jack Doyle?

[Mike Wright]

I was really on the fence with it. You know, I'd love to say Brait. So Brait.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, I'm gonna take a look. I got Cameron Brait back to back with Jack Doyle separated by point two.

[Andy Holloway]

Who's ahead?

[Mike Wright]

Whoever scores is the guy I want.

[Jason Moore]

Camera bright.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

Whichever of those two, I just dropped.

[Andy Holloway]

Doyle and picked up Bright.

[Jason Moore]

Once again, thanks again to clear so much for sponsoring today's episode.

[Mike Wright]

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[Jason Moore]

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[Mike Wright]

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[Andy Holloway]

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[Mike Wright]

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[Andy Holloway]

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[Mike Wright]

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[Jason Moore]

So and so they're. I'm telling you the best way to get to the airport. New members get two months free of clear. If you go to clearme.com you use the code ballers. That's clear me.com use code ballers.

[Mike Wright]

Also want to take just a moment here. You know, from time to time we have people reach out, tell us how this show has, you know, gone beyond football for them. You know, whether it's the daily routine of listening to us talk about the game or the camaraderie that fantasy football brings between friends, I just want to reach out and kind of give a shout out to Nick, who is known as the raving barbarian in his league, which is an incredible name. But look, Nick, Nick had a league mate and a friend reach out to us and let them know that Nick and their family, his daughter Adeline, are going through some tough times. I just want to take a second to encourage them, let them know that your friends are caring about you. You've got our thoughts and prayers here at the fantasy football.

[Jason Moore]

Keep your head up.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. So I wanted to give you some encouragement. Quick shout out there. And that does it for today's show. We'll be back with the matchups tomorrow. The second half, the actual second half of the matchup tomorrow is the first.

[Jason Moore]

Half of the matchups.

[Mike Wright]

I should. You should have kept me to it and made me do the second half today. But no, we have the second half tomorrow. We've got Chris Meaty, the fancy sports network coming on to give you some DFS picks and we'll get you ready with in and out for all of the weekend games. Good luck tonight on the Thursday night football game. Hopefully your week gets off to a stellar start and thanks to fantasy jocks for sponsoring the studio. Always check them out for your trophy needs. Championship belts.

[Jason Moore]

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[Mike Wright]

Footballers, not ballers. Yeah, footballers.

[Andy Holloway]

Time for the foot cast.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, let's do it.

[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 Ffballers.