Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Wk 15 Studs, Duds, Rising Stars, Championship Prep

Summary

Fantasy Football Podcast Summary
Episode: Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Wk 15 Studs, Duds, Rising Stars, Championship Prep
Release Date: December 19, 2016
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright

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1. Championship Preparations and League Updates

As Week 15 of the NFL season approaches, the Fantasy Footballers delve into the critical phase of championship preparations. The hosts discuss the dynamics of various fantasy leagues, highlighting the longevity of some, including a listener boasting a 25-year league, emphasizing the importance of adjusting strategies as the season progresses.

Jason Moore (00:56):
"And I just realized we never actually said what we were mocking, which is some people have won their championship already."

The trio extends congratulations to those clinching their league titles and supports players advancing to the championship rounds, ensuring that every participant feels acknowledged regardless of their league's duration or competitiveness.

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2. Weekly News Highlights

Consensus Number One Draft Pick for Next Year

A significant segment focuses on predicting next year's fantasy football draft's consensus number one pick. While Andy Holloway leans towards Le'Veon Bell, suggesting a unanimous choice, Jason Moore supports Ezekiel Elliott, and Mike Wright is torn between Bell and David Johnson.

Andy Holloway (04:35):
"I think there will be a consensus. Pretty much unanimous... Levy on Bell."

However, the discussion reveals uncertainty, indicating that the pick might not be as straightforward, with Jason expressing surprise at Andy's choice.

Jason Moore (05:12):
"Andy, Ezekiel Elliott."

The 0 RB Strategy Debate

The hosts revisit the controversial 0 RB (Zero Running Back) draft strategy, examining its validity in the current season. Andy argues that the strategy remains viable, especially with flexible player acquisition later in the season.

Andy Holloway (05:32):
"It's not been debunked to me."

Conversely, Mike emphasizes the enduring value of running backs, suggesting that their role remains pivotal in fantasy success.

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3. Studs, Duds, and Rising Stars

Stud Muffins: High-Performing Players to Start

• DeAndre Hopkins:
  Elevated after a quarterback change, Hopkins showcases elite performance metrics, making him a top starter.

  Mike Wright (38:12):
  "He is about to get Savage."

• Tyler Lockett:
  Consistently delivering strong performances with favorable matchups, Lockett emerges as a reliable option.

• Ty Montgomery:
  Transitioning effectively from wide receiver to running back, Montgomery's versatility and recent performances make him a standout.

  Mike Wright (43:15):
  "Ty Montgomery is a great start."

Duds: Underperformers to Avoid

• Tom Brady:
  Despite his legendary status, Brady's performance in recent games disappoints, making him a questionable start for fantasy owners.

  Mike Wright (46:11):
  "Tom Brady is by far the biggest disappointment of this."

• Sammy Watkins & Devonte Adams:
  Both players exhibited underwhelming performances, with Watkins scoring only one touchdown and Adams dropping crucial passes.

  Jason Moore (52:35):
  "He had all those opportunities. He should have had four for 70 and two touchdowns, which would have put him at the top."

Rising Stars: Emerging Players to Watch

• DeAndre Hopkins & Tyler Lockett:
  Both players are highlighted for their exceptional performances and potential to significantly impact fantasy outcomes.

• Robbie Anderson & Jordan Reed:
  Anderson's consistent performance and Reed's potential are recognized as valuable additions to fantasy lineups.

  Mike Wright (38:11):
  "He is an up and comer. He's probably been sitting on your bench, actually."

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4. Championship Week Strategies

The hosts share insights into their own fantasy leagues, emphasizing the importance of strategic player selections leading up to the championship.

Mike Wright (43:15):
"I got laxadaisical. I thought my roster, I'm good to go into the semifinals."

Andy and Jason discuss the necessity of having key players perform optimally, offering advice on leveraging matchups and player potential to secure league titles.

Andy Holloway (44:14):
"If you give him the ball, he was running great."

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5. Humor and Community Engagement

Injecting humor and fostering community interaction, the Fantasy Footballers engage listeners with jokes, playful banter, and interactive segments like the Family Bingo Game created by a listener.

Jason Moore (22:37):
"Reference to Mike's man Bunny. I tried not to reference Mike's man."

The hosts also encourage listener participation through social media and community platforms, enhancing the show's interactive atmosphere.

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6. Notable Quotes

• Jason Moore (24:43):
  "What are the headlines at running back for the pants poopers, I'm..."

• Mike Wright (57:02):
  "I need the Foot Clan. I need the group support here because I need League of Record."

• Andy Holloway (59:44):
  "Move on by naming your bathroom after a player that let you down."

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Conclusion

Wrapping up the episode, the Fantasy Footballers reiterate their commitment to supporting fantasy managers through comprehensive analysis, strategic advice, and engaging content. They invite listeners to join their community at jointhefoot.com and follow them on Twitter to stay updated and connected.

Andy Holloway (59:55):
"Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast."

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This Week 15 episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast offers a blend of strategic insights, player performance analysis, and entertaining banter, equipping fantasy managers with the knowledge to navigate the final stretch of the fantasy season effectively.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

This is Nick Mangold of the New.

[Mike Wright]

York jets and you're listening to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast.

[Andy Holloway]

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]

Welcome in one and all.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, having some court problems?

[Jason Moore]

Court? You're in court.

[Mike Wright]

No, a cord.

[Jason Moore]

Cord.

[Mike Wright]

Headphone cord. We're good to go. I'm good.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, it's Monday. It's Monday, December 19th. The fantasy footballers are back again. Christmas is on the horizon, as are many Foot Clan titles.

[Andy Holloway]

Hashtag Footland.

[Jason Moore]

Jason's here. He just broke in.

[Andy Holloway]

That's all I'm gonna say, with a.

[Jason Moore]

Slurred hashtag, hashtag for Glanta. Welcome in, everybody. It's a big show, as it always is on Monday, but even more so after the semifinals for most of you. Although some of you weirdly. Yeah, I agree. Fair.

[Andy Holloway]

We don't want to be rude, but what's going on here, people?

[Jason Moore]

Several of you. Well, we know that many games do end in week 17. I find that leagues that have been running a long time in week 17.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Because they don't adjust. And we met somebody who had a 25 year league the other day at the bank. And he plays into week 17.

[Mike Wright]

We'll be here. We'll be here. Foot Clan.

[Andy Holloway]

We never go away.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Mike Wright]

For week seven.

[Jason Moore]

No. We're like a bad fungus.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's right.

[Jason Moore]

There's no prescription.

[Andy Holloway]

We're gonna spread all over your body.

[Mike Wright]

We're like the. That little. The toe troll, the one he picks. The.

[Andy Holloway]

Don't do that. Oh, that's awful. I hate that.

[Jason Moore]

Wait, from the commercials.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Where you pick or you've not seen. I've seen it.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, I just realized we never actually said what we were mocking, which is some people have won their championship already.

[Mike Wright]

Congratulations.

[Andy Holloway]

This week was their final week, which. That's. That's a little strange.

[Jason Moore]

You don't think it's people with two. Two week championships that just scored so many points, they're going, vince Carter, it's over.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm benching my team.

[Jason Moore]

Well, congrats to those that have won. Congrats to those that are moving on into the title game next week. And congrats to those that are still alive with a couple weeks left for your Foot Clan title. They all count. They all get you that trophy. They all get you the bragging rights.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

The ability to mock your friends senselessly for months on end. So congrats to all of you. We will be going through the fantasy stud muffins on today's show. The rewind. All the news pooped in the big boy pants. There were some. Not as many as last week. At least not as many big ones as last week. But there were plenty. There were plenty quarterbacks. Yeah, it was a crazy week. I am not pleased to announce that I have narrowly lost both of my bats with Jason, which in so facto. Hold on, hold on.

[Mike Wright]

All right.

[Jason Moore]

The listeners win, I lose. I said that the Browns would not have a receiver with more than three receptions.

[Andy Holloway]

Thank you, Terrell Pryor, for.

[Mike Wright]

Terrell Pryor had four for 19 yards.

[Jason Moore]

The first. I was gonna say the first throw of the game was a catch to Terrell Pryor for zero yards. And I resent that.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

The second thing I lost was the Tampa Bay over Dallas bet, which I was being mocked for in the beginning of the game. And this became a game.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure did.

[Jason Moore]

Not only that, Tampa took the lead pretty good.

[Andy Holloway]

Almost upset of the week. Congratulations on winning.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I almost.

[Andy Holloway]

But losing one.

[Jason Moore]

But I didn't. So now Jason will get the privilege of choosing my lunches for the entirety of the week. I'm not looking forward to it.

[Andy Holloway]

There will be many stuffed tomatoes. I also, I realize, like, if we go to Red Robin or something, I'm gonna get you, like, a grilled chicken sandwich. I'm sure it'll be delicious. Extra tomatoes because I know you always get everything with no tomatoes. It's the little things.

[Jason Moore]

It's been the long con. Everything you've seen me eat in the past has been a lie. I've set it all up for this.

[Mike Wright]

Just for this moment.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

I've eaten poorly for years.

[Andy Holloway]

You're gonna have a great week.

[Jason Moore]

Gotcha. All right, so quick question of the day, guys. This one comes in from Jimbo Slice off of Twitter. Who will be the consensus number one pick in next year's fantasy drafts? And then a follow up. Has the 0 RB strategy been debunked this season?

[Andy Holloway]

I think that the first question is very, very easy to me, I think it's. I think there will be a consensus. Pretty much unanimous. Sure. Some people might take David Johnson and some people might take Ezekiel Elliott. They'll be in the running. But I think the number one consensus first pick will be Levy on Bell.

[Jason Moore]

It's very interesting because when you said it, you said, I think this is going to be very obvious. Had no idea what name you're going to say. Yeah, I didn't either. None whatsoever. Which tells you that it's not going to be Unique.

[Andy Holloway]

Let me just ask. Let me just ask you this. You. You've got a draft right this second, and you've got the number one pick. Who would you take right now for next year's draft?

[Jason Moore]

Andy, Ezekiel Elliott.

[Mike Wright]

And Mike, it's between Le'Veon Bell and David Johnson. For me.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I mean, I would personally probably take David Johnson as a tiebreaker because I'm an Arizona Cardinals fan, but on my rankings, it will certainly be levy on Bell.

[Mike Wright]

We're not Even sure where Le'Veon Bell will be next year.

[Jason Moore]

What about the 0 RB strategy?

[Mike Wright]

It's not. It's not been debunked to me.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't enjoy it personally. I don't. I don't want to have to like a stuffed tomato on picking up Bilal Powell and getting. Getting that great waiver pickup late in the year. But for those people that like that strategy, it still works. I mean, Bilal Powell is a great example. If you, you know, if you were playing where you've got the stud wide receivers and you just need to find those running backs to fill in as time goes on, a guy like a Bell, El Powell comes in and. And wins your league for you. So it still works.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I mean, hopefully your first picks weren't, you know, DEZ Bryant, AJ Green, Alan Robinson, because you would have been in some trouble.

[Andy Holloway]

I think that what's been debunked, hopefully, and we tried to debunk this before this year, Mike, you had some great stats on that, was that running backs in the first round are risky, but that wide receivers aren't.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

The whole. Because that's really what lifted up the 0 RB to the casual fans this year was the feeling that running backs are so risky and wide receivers are so safe. And that just historically has not really been true.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that. That's exactly right. And the problem is, is for fantasy owners, the most recent thing that has ever happened is the truest thing of all.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Running backs will be back in the first round next year.

[Andy Holloway]

Cam Newton needs to be the number one pick that was going into this year because he was great last year. That's just. Yeah. We need to look a little bit further away. A perfective view.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. A perfective what?

[Andy Holloway]

Perfective. It's a Greek viewpoint.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Perfective aspect.

[Andy Holloway]

There you go. Perfective aspect.

[Mike Wright]

I love that it expresses a temporal view of an event or state as a simple whole apart from the consideration.

[Andy Holloway]

There you go.

[Jason Moore]

I love that Jason, when he speaks. When Jason speaks is either complete and utter the wrong word.

[Mike Wright]

Nonsense or it's above our head. I feel like we just got served.

[Andy Holloway]

Idiot savant. I will stick with that always.

[Jason Moore]

What? If you want to follow the show on Twitter, you can do so at the FF Ballers. Mike said it earlier, we're here year round. We're not going anywhere. We are a year round fantasy football podcast and so is our [e-mail]. get involved there. Join a foot clan league. Meet some good people. Get your questions answered. Get an extra episode every week.

[Mike Wright]

There's also something going on today.

[Jason Moore]

There is. There's a live stream. Our monthly live stream at 3pm Pacific.

[Mike Wright]

To be specific.

[Jason Moore]

To be specific. So check that out. And we're gonna go ahead and we're gonna get into the news.

[Andy Holloway]

Weekly. Rewind.

[Jason Moore]

Someone's gonna need to take the first item. I can't say it out loud.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, there was breaking news yesterday. Apparently he was informed immediately after the game and then got to ride on the plane with the weight of this news upon him.

[Andy Holloway]

What's that plane ride like?

[Mike Wright]

The Jaguars have fired Gus Bradley.

[Jason Moore]

Dear Diary, they say it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Well, I loved and Gus, you lost a lot.

[Mike Wright]

A lot, a lot.

[Jason Moore]

And my heart. A lot. My heart was strapped into your bus. And that bus careened off the road with it inside. I said I had moved on, but I hadn't. I held out hope. But your 22% win percentage, dash that hope. And so I say goodbye and I put the pieces back together and I'll pick out another. Hugh Jackson, I love you.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, that's perfect. Hugh Jackson is the perfect replacement for you. While you were saying that your Dear diary so poetically, it reminded me we've had some listeners wonder if there's going to be another Christmas poem this year.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, my goodness. I didn't know if anybody remembered that.

[Andy Holloway]

I didn't remember it until the listeners were like, anna needs to do another Christmas. Also, my apologies for making the listeners have this voice out of the way.

[Jason Moore]

That's. That's their voice. Are they elves or.

[Andy Holloway]

They're delightful elves that are bringing lots of Christmas toys.

[Jason Moore]

Guess who's available for hanging wallpaper?

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, maybe he was bench. He was yesterday's game. We do not know who the starting quarterback will be. Bill O'Brien specifically said that they will not make decisions based on how much a man is played or paid. Paid. That being said, I don't see how Brock Osweiler starts the next week.

[Jason Moore]

I actually think he will.

[Andy Holloway]

He has been so bad and he was so bad in this game, which was really just par for the course. And they made the switch and Tom Savage came in and they won the game. If they're doing it based on play, I don't see how they could go back, watch the film, take a look at things and say, yeah, the better player is Brock Oswald. No, the high player is Brock Oswald.

[Jason Moore]

It's because they're not. He's saying that and they're not doing that. They're not going to do that. I think Brock Osweiler will play. I believe the reason he was pulled from this game was the two kind of nonsensical early turnovers and they just kind of needed to make a change.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, then I will just say that's the same reason that he will be pulled from the next game if he starts.

[Jason Moore]

I see that. I buy into Lamar Miller limped off the field late in the fourth with an apparent left ankle injury. Did not return.

[Mike Wright]

That's trouble.

[Jason Moore]

He had a good game.

[Andy Holloway]

Again, he's an Ironman as well. I mean he has, I believe, the longest active streak right now of any running back for consecutive games. So I think that he will be able to play. But it's worth noting because a lot of times when people have a good game and then get injured, you don't realize that they got injured.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, you just see that stat line, right? Get ready for the championship week. You better have a plan. Browns wide receiver Terrell Pryor sprained his finger. I believe it was the middle finger because he was giving it to me while I lost the bet. Well, I lost the bet. No, he sprained his finger, may have some ligament damage. An MRI is coming affected him in the second half.

[Mike Wright]

I have a just something I want to ask Terrell Pryor. Please sign with a different team. Please troll Prior.

[Jason Moore]

I don't know if I want that.

[Mike Wright]

The fantasy football community. What do you mean wants because he's a Hugh Jackson fan.

[Jason Moore]

No, that's not why it because sometimes look, look at Percy Harvin, perfect example. Percy Harvin was on a terrible team but he got all the target share in Minnesota and he was fantasy relevant and everybody paid attention.

[Mike Wright]

They weren't a winless team.

[Jason Moore]

They were not a good. It doesn't matter if they were winless or not. The point is is Trell Pryor was fantasy relevant this year on an 014 team with a variety of quarterbacks. My point is if you bring him into another team that has other weapons, you you might devonte Adams in where you don't know what's going to happen.

[Andy Holloway]

It's a good point in the sense that RG3, you know, with this O line, is not playing 16 games ever. So if he's there next year and.

[Jason Moore]

He'S not, I mean, in my opinion, Hugh Jackson's moving on from RG3 this week. Hugh Jackson's goal right now is the best chance to win one game. So they do not have this on their resume as a winless team. To me, that's going to be a better quarterback than RG3. They play San Diego at home next week. That's their only chance to win a game. Unless Pittsburgh sets starters in week 16, that's their only chance. So next week at home against San Diego, It'll be Josh McCown.

[Mike Wright]

They're not beating San Diego.

[Jason Moore]

It'll be someone off the street. All right, Adam Thielen took a huge shot over the middle. Big shot ruled out with a neck injury.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that was. That was brutal.

[Jason Moore]

L. Green is in the concussion protocol.

[Mike Wright]

This is rough. Now, Ladarius Green, if you remember, over the offseason, there was. He didn't play at the beginning of the year, and there was this shroud of confusion. Was he dealing with his ankle surgery? Was he still having concussion problems? He was going to retire because of his concussion problems. So this is something you have to monitor.

[Andy Holloway]

There's no concussion here. What are you looking at? That was what came out afterwards. It was like he has. I don't know. This is only the ankle, but obviously he. I mean, this is serious. I think he'll miss. I mean, he could.

[Mike Wright]

What's. This is the reminder the games are on Saturday. Everybody is on short week. Everybody except the. I guess except the Steelers because they're on Sunday. So I'm a buffoon.

[Jason Moore]

I was just waiting for you to figure that out on your own. All right. Any other news you guys want to mention?

[Mike Wright]

It's still. Oh, yeah, there's huge news.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah, I skipped it.

[Mike Wright]

AJ Green expected to play in Week 16. Barring an unexpected setback, you could see.

[Jason Moore]

Julio and Green back for championship week, and one of the two could accidentally ruin your week.

[Mike Wright]

That's going to be sweet in your consolation. Brick.

[Andy Holloway]

How about this, man? How about. I mean, if you have them, I hope you were able to withstand victories and get there. But AJ Green, Julio Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, Alshon, Jeffrey, these guys all might be relevant for the championship week.

[Jason Moore]

You see the Foot Clan member that lost with the final Derek Carr double kneel downs.

[Andy Holloway]

They should really, genuinely. They should take Those out. They should point. Adjust those on Thursdays to make those not negative running plays. They don't make. They don't make a kneel down when it's one yard behind. You know when they take a victory formation. They don't.

[Mike Wright]

They do that. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, they do. That's what we're talking about. You were thinking if he does that out of the shotgun.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, no. They do it anyway.

[Andy Holloway]

That's so dumb.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, but you can't change that. That's yards. I mean, if it counts. Yards in the box score. It's just this story wouldn't happen without it. Now it's sad for him. It's great entertainment.

[Mike Wright]

That is brutal, man.

[Andy Holloway]

This week's fantasy stud muffins.

[Jason Moore]

All right, Mike. Pumped the brakes on people. Pumping the brakes on Drew Brees. And for good reason. Hopefully you had the confidence to start him. 3:37 for 48 for 389 and four touchdowns in a high scoring affair with the Arizona Cardinals in Arizona, believe that.

[Mike Wright]

Called a schlobber knocker.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Yeah. That's. That's what you call.

[Mike Wright]

That's what the Germans call it.

[Jason Moore]

I did not get to see the entirety of this game from. Oh, no, from the stadium.

[Andy Holloway]

You were there.

[Jason Moore]

I bought some tickets for my son And I, my 8 year old. It was our first game ever together. Played football in the parking lot. He got to see the big stadium. He wasn't sure if it'd be bigger than the Sun's stadium.

[Mike Wright]

It's a little bit bigger.

[Andy Holloway]

And then as Mike and I are in the studio watching all the games, we could take in, taking our notes, doing our thing. This is the middle of the second quarter.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. It's about halftime. By now, it was.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. It was approaching halftime in the second quarter, and we look over and there at the door is Andy Holloway and his son going, wait, aren't you at the game that is 30 minutes away from here?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, yeah, we. We ate a lot of food and maybe the little guy ate a little too much. Got a little overwhelmed by everything, which I don't blame him.

[Mike Wright]

It's intense.

[Jason Moore]

We also ended up in seats that the sun. So they had the stadium open and the sun just happened to like fall on like 1/30 of the seats in the stadium, but it was the ones we were in. So we had it beating down on us the whole game. And I don't know if all the food and stuff, he just didn't feel too good. So he asked to leave a little early.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

But it happens. It happens.

[Mike Wright]

Well, you missed out on. We had a good time just dominating.

[Jason Moore]

All right. In other five. Oh, wait. Matt Moore. Matt Moore 12 for 18, 236 and four. Talk about efficiency. Breeze did it in 48 attempts. Matt Moore did it in 18 attempts. That means one third of his completed passes were touchdowns.

[Mike Wright]

They certainly were. And the New York jets, you can pass on them. Does not matter. If you are a backup quarterback who has not started a game in five years.

[Jason Moore]

Is that you can pass on them in the draft next year too. Is that skip over the Jets?

[Mike Wright]

Probably. Probably.

[Jason Moore]

Tough game. Dolphins are right in it now.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

No drop off from Tannehill to Matt Moore.

[Mike Wright]

Well, against the jets we'll see how he works out next week.

[Jason Moore]

Is that what Tannehill is saying in the background against the Jets? Guys, I'm still better.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you know who gets to play the New York jets next week?

[Mike Wright]

Who?

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, he's a guy that was in our pooped in the big boy pants section. He was just so bad. He's not a good quarterback. Thomas Brady.

[Mike Wright]

Oh my goodness. Hopefully you survived the Tom Brady. We'll talk about him.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

You knew it was going to be rough for him.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Russell Wilson 19 for 26 to 29 and three.

[Mike Wright]

Nice bounce back.

[Jason Moore]

Nice to see that performance at home against the Rams as Arizona who just gave up 48 points to the Saints next week at home. Carson Palmer had a good game. 318 and 2. It was a shootout. What did you call it?

[Mike Wright]

A schlobber knocker.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it was one of those that.

[Andy Holloway]

J.J. nelson missed the drop touch. 70 yard touchdown.

[Mike Wright]

I mean they ended up scoring. Yeah. Oh, you didn't see that. Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And that single play.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. When they were driving at the very end after they got wide open, got hosed on a rough in the passer when they were sacking the quarterback. Because you have to sack the quarterback gently. Yeah, gently.

[Andy Holloway]

You have to. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

But then.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

JJ dropped a bomb. Honorable.

[Jason Moore]

Seriously did.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. Yeah. Honorable mentions here. Matt Ryan. This is what. But it could have been just humongous. I mean yo. Devonte Freeman ran three in. This was the slight concern for Matt Ryan over the weekend was not that he. He's going to be bad by any stretch. It was just his upside might be limited because they'll be able to run so efficiently. And unfortunately for if you were playing Matt Ryan, you're looking at this huge potential of a game. But you only got two touchdowns and 286.

[Andy Holloway]

Andrew Luck certainly needs to be mentioned because I Know, a lot of people were low on him going to Minnesota. He had a great game. 21 for 28, 250 and two touchdowns, no picks.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, Kaepernick. Kaepernick did well.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

All right. We're going to talk.

[Mike Wright]

There was a lot of bad quarterbacks, so he's worth mentioning.

[Jason Moore]

I want to mention the running backs here in a second. And I also want us to lay. Give a little lay of the land of our own leagues and what we're depending on tonight. Oh, yeah, Mike's got some stuff. We all have stuff going on tonight to see whether we'll make some championship games in these leagues. But first, but first, I do want to thank today's sponsor. You've heard us talk about them quite a bit. I just used them to take my son to that game yesterday, the Saints game. And we're talking about Seed Geek. All right. We love Sea Geek. They're the smartest, easiest way to find tickets for football games that you want to see up close and in person. This season. We're talking the rest of the regular season, the playoffs. I mean, there's nothing like being at the stadium for those big plays. It was exciting. It was super fun to bring my son there. And it's never been easier to get guaranteed seats you want for a great value. With the SeatGeek app, you always get the best deal on every ticket because they price compare for you. They search multiple ticket sites. They can, you know, wherever you go, if you go someplace else, prices really vary. With Sea Geek, you always already know the better deal that you're getting. So that's why we love Sea Geek. And best of all, our listeners get a $20 rebate off their first Sea Geek purchase. To get your $20 rebate on tickets, download the free Sea Geek app, go to the settings tab and click Add a promo code. Enter the promo code footballers and SeatGeek will send you $20 after you made your first ticket purchase. Download the free SeatGeek app and enter promo code Footballers today.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, and we also want to tell you about texture, a great app for all of the magazine lovers out there. Look, fantasy football fans, we have an affinity, I believe, for magazines because, you know, in the olden days, we would always pick up one of those magazines in the draft season and enjoy it. But they got outdated. Magazines are yesterday as far as paper. Now texture is taking it into the modern age where they are taking all of your magazines and they're putting them into one place on your mobile device, on your tablet, and you can choose from over 200. You know, we're talking People and Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, Forbes, Fast Company, Rolling Stone. There are basically all of the magazines that you love, are there? Texture's gone beyond just delivering the magazine itself. They've actually made it easy to find. Enjoy the articles you want to read. And it's searchable. You know what you can't do with a magazine? You can't control fast and find an article you would like to try.

[Jason Moore]

It never works.

[Andy Holloway]

No. But on here you can actually search. Why in the world would you subscribe to just a couple of magazines when you can have all the best ones on your smartphone or tablet all the time? And for way less money? Right now, Texture is offering the foot clan a 14 day free trial. When you go to txtor.comfootballers, it's 14 days. Try it for free. Go to texture.comfootball footballers.

[Jason Moore]

Do you guys. You guys see this fantasy footballers family bingo game? Yes, I did that. One of our listeners made.

[Mike Wright]

I'm playing it right now.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, you're playing the game right now. Did you see some of these options on here?

[Mike Wright]

I've already adjusted my mic.

[Jason Moore]

I've definitely adjusted my mic. I like that. One of them is Andy looks at his watch.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, because you're a jerk.

[Jason Moore]

Somebody says, and you always do this. Yeah, my watch. My watch gives me, gives me news. Any mention of Brooks. Anytime we say handcuff. Anytime. Jason flubs his words.

[Mike Wright]

Is this count right now if people are playing?

[Jason Moore]

No, it doesn't. Asking for a friend. Mention of Rule 86. Wait, technical difficulty as did happens.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, No, I really like it. It was a fun, fun little family game there.

[Jason Moore]

Reference to Mike's man Bunny. I tried not to reference Mike's man.

[Andy Holloway]

I think I retweeted that out. So if you want to play the family bingo, you can go to my Twitter page and download it.

[Mike Wright]

There's also a grown up version for New Year's Eve.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Drinking game.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

All right, running backs, stud muffins. We just talked about him. Three drinks.

[Mike Wright]

If you had this week's savant, Freeman, my goodness.

[Jason Moore]

20 for 139 and three.

[Mike Wright]

And he fumbled on the one, if you remember that.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And you know what they didn't do? They didn't bench him. They didn't go, oh, you need to learn your lesson. Because that was earlier in the game. And then he just went crazy. He's like, lesson learned.

[Jason Moore]

What coin do you flip to figure out the Freeman Coleman.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that was rough. I really expected Coleman to get in on some of that. He had an okay game. Devin Coleman did, but not comparatively.

[Andy Holloway]

When you look at Freeman, you said it great last week, Andy, when we had a question and of a lineup decision and you said start both in this lineup, start both Tevin Coleman and devontae Freeman because you don't want to miss it. You don't want to miss whoever it is that explodes. And we said, you know, together they will both have a good total week because you know one of them is going to explode. And so hopefully you. I mean, I don't know.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, you start them both. You've. You've gotten more than two good games from running backs. Lashawn McCoy, monster game. Just. He's just really good. And yet 19 for 153 and 2.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike's still complaining that he gets vultured by Gillisley.

[Mike Wright]

Well, because he did at the beginning of the game.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, you had two touchdowns for Gillisley again, right?

[Mike Wright]

One. Oh one I believe was one. But I mean, they got in the red zone early, stuffed one time and they. They fell apart. They had to kick a field going. It just. I don't know, maybe it's the fantasy bias, but it's why I know it. It does. It has worked for them, but it also has failed for them. Meanwhile, you go. They're inside the 10. I think Shady had two touches inside the 10. Both of them turned into touchdowns because he's so good.

[Jason Moore]

He's very, very tired from running 50.

[Mike Wright]

Yards at a time.

[Jason Moore]

50 yards at a time. Ty Montgomery, the full Monty.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, we'll be talking about him a little bit more.

[Jason Moore]

Minute 16 for 162 and 2 has Minnesota and Detroit on the schedule, but clearly, clearly the lead back in Green Bay. Incredible, Incredible game for Ty Montgomery. About time that they figured out they just need to give him the ball as a running back. Zeke Elliott, David Johnson, big boy games. Not that you were sitting them.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Jason Moore]

Ryan Matthews.

[Mike Wright]

This is where we have to pause.

[Jason Moore]

All right.

[Mike Wright]

Ryan Matthews, baby, against the Ravens.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, wait, wait.

[Mike Wright]

That's a different guy.

[Jason Moore]

That's a different guy, right? You have the same type of the woke one.

[Mike Wright]

Also had a good game.

[Jason Moore]

Unnecessary love for Ryan Matthews.

[Mike Wright]

Ryan unnecessary.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Darren Sprouls out. Wendell Smallwood, ir. Kenyan Barner got hurt. And now Ryan Matthews.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike. Here's Mike's contention and it's mine as.

[Jason Moore]

Well that he's good.

[Andy Holloway]

Ryan Matthews is great. He is a very good running back. He has always looked good when given the opportunity. This year with the Eagles, he has done nothing Last year with the Eagles. He has done nothing to prove anything other than when you give him opportunity, he'll fumble. He. Oh yeah, so does Adrian Peterson. Yeah, yeah, I'm going to go ahead and say Adrian Peterson.

[Jason Moore]

Did you just compare Ryan Matthews to Adrian Peterson?

[Andy Holloway]

No, I compared fumbling to Adrian Peterson.

[Jason Moore]

Emmett Smith fumbled before.

[Andy Holloway]

Ryan Matthews is a very good running back and it's a shame that Doug Peterson, even Chip Kelly, they won't use him as their just weekly starter. And granted when they do, he'll probably.

[Jason Moore]

Look, I don't think any of us look. I'm just playing devil's advocate to a degree. He had a great game. 24 and 28 against the Ravens. I know, I know.

[Mike Wright]

Just pointing it out.

[Jason Moore]

But when multiple coaches make decisions about your playing time, it's not just fumbles. It's how you do the little things. It's how you block, it's how you know the offense. It's wet. Is he responsible for making some of these mistakes? Is he too injury prone? There's a lot of storylines there. I'm just saying when you give him the ball, yes, good things tend to happen. But between the two coaches have decided. Three coaches, because they let him go in San Diego. So three coaches have said we'd rather not have him be our main.

[Andy Holloway]

Hopefully this week Doug Peterson comes out and says that they really need Darren Sprouls back and that he still.

[Jason Moore]

There you go.

[Andy Holloway]

Because that means Ryan Matthews will be good to go.

[Jason Moore]

Jordan Howard had the crazy game. Good start, missed some time. Great finish. 17 for 90 and a touchdown. Really a good player. Just a great player. Has Washington and Minnesota on the schedule. You can ride him into the championship week. Bilal Powell really looked good. 11 check down receptions for 78 yards. Go with 16 for 84 behind the line of scrimmage. Really a great game.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it was a fantastic game. He is a tremendous running back and that was, that was a tough situation on Saturday. You were waiting for the news of is Matt Forte going to be active? Is it okay? Forte is active. He was literally when they roll the intros, those video intros, these guys. Let's look at the starting offense. Matt Forte was in that role. But then blah, Powell was on the field and Forte barely saw the field. So hopefully you still had the courage to play him. Even like to me, as soon as Forte was active, it was well, pals probably just a flex. I mean he's still worth playing.

[Jason Moore]

Strange that that Forte got his carries towards the end of a game that was over.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, bizarre Things.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, but Powell's going to be one of those storylines. You got to keep it right here on the fancy footballers because we're going to catch you up. What takes place with Matt Forte's injury and the expectations we have for Powell this week because he could be a championship winner if he's put in the right position.

[Mike Wright]

Good. Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Double trouble there in Tennessee. DeMarco Murray and Travis Henry. I just said Travis Henry.

[Mike Wright]

Is that the.

[Jason Moore]

I went way back to the old.

[Mike Wright]

That's the wrestler.

[Jason Moore]

No, the. Travis Henry was a running back. Going way back, man. But Derek Henry. Derek Henry and DeMarco Murray had big games. I want to know right now who wins the division. Houston 8 and 6, Tennessee 8 and 6. Colts 7 and 7. Right now who wins that division? Because that, you know, if you don't win it, you're probably not going to get in the way.

[Mike Wright]

Is Tom Savage the quarterback for the Texas.

[Jason Moore]

I honestly can't tell you.

[Andy Holloway]

I think. I think that Houston. Houston with Tom Savage would be my pick. Otherwise I'm going to stick with the best quarterback in the division. And that's still Andrew Luck.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Eileen, the Titans. Eileen, Titans.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. Okay.

[Mike Wright]

We're split. But it was, man, it was the week of the Vulture. I mean, that happens. Vultures always happen. But Robert Turbin, tremendous week after giving Frank Gore. Just feeding Frank Gore. Okay, we're going to give. We're going to give Bob Turban the old touchdown.

[Andy Holloway]

Frank Gore went over 100 yards as well. Got 26 carries. That's what mean.

[Mike Wright]

But he was. But all the goal line was realized.

[Jason Moore]

If the Colts don't beat Oakland this week, they can't win that division.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

So big game that's going to be. And that game is in Oakland.

[Mike Wright]

Jimmy Hightower, revenge game. Two touchdowns against the team that drafted him. The aforementioned Derek Henry, two touchdowns. I mean, there was that.

[Jason Moore]

I moved Derek Henry way up.

[Mike Wright]

There was a huge play where Murray, I believe was a reception. Gets knocked out on the corner, almost gets the pylon. Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Put.

[Mike Wright]

Put Derek Henry in there.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Because the people want to win, Mike. They want to win the game. Just Mike Gillisle. This was the week of the. Of the Vulture, Robert.

[Mike Wright]

It was. That's what I just said.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Wide receiver Studs. Brandon Cooks.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my goodness.

[Jason Moore]

Torched the Cardinals.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my.

[Jason Moore]

Seven for 186 and two touchdowns. Tyler Lockett, seven for 130 and a touchdown. Jarvis Landry. Jarvis Landry had three catches and he had a 66 yard.

[Andy Holloway]

66 yard touchdown. Really wanted over for him. I threw major shade on Jarvis Landry both on our show this past week. Also in my rankings, I had personal leagues where I wasn't touching him and it looked exactly like I thought until he broke away for the 66 yards. And I apologize. Yeah, I mean, those sometimes guys are good at football.

[Jason Moore]

There were a number of good performers that helped you this week, like Alshon Jeffrey and Cameron Meredith and Deontay Thompson.

[Andy Holloway]

Hey, John Brown, Remember him?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Smoke. So does John Brown have any relevancy for fantasy owners in Seattle?

[Andy Holloway]

Next week in Seattle is tough, so probably not.

[Mike Wright]

You answered your own question.

[Jason Moore]

I answered my own question with a fire. Oh, Odell Beckham Jr. That catch, man.

[Andy Holloway]

He just does it every week. That.

[Jason Moore]

Did you see that other play they gave him credit for? Did either of you see it? I think four yard catch. That was not challenged.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, yeah, his first catch.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. That was absolutely ridiculous.

[Jason Moore]

The ball hit him in the hands, then bounced off the ground. And then they said catch. I mean, it's like the most hilarious screenshot. It's up there with that Duke Johnson fumble recovery where Duke Johnson's holding the ball and they're like pointing the opposite direction.

[Andy Holloway]

Call upheld.

[Mike Wright]

How do you not challenge that?

[Jason Moore]

Well, because it's a four yard catch.

[Andy Holloway]

Exactly.

[Jason Moore]

And whether you succeed or not with a challenge, you don't get more, which is ridiculous. It is ridiculous. You shouldn't get penalized for the refs calling bad things on the field.

[Mike Wright]

And they had. I can't remember what team had it happen, but they. I mean, he. He dominated two challenges and the refs come out, they're like, he got those two rights, so we'll give him one more because we continue to mess things up. Yeah, ridiculous.

[Jason Moore]

So I chose to start. I chose to start.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's right.

[Jason Moore]

I chose to start J.J. nelson over Tyree Kill this week in our listener league. After the very first play of the game for Tyree Kill, I felt like a lunatic and a fool. But they actually ended up scoring the same amount of fantasy points because Tyree Kill never touched the ball again. One for 68 and a touchdown. I mean, you can't. You can't regret starting him, but this is why I didn't start him. It's because I was worried about the total touches. But man, is he good.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he's. He's tremendous. I'm looking forward to Tyreek Hill moving into the future.

[Andy Holloway]

Eli Rogers had a big game. I don't. I don't expect that to return to form. He kind of. Antonio Brown Was very quiet for him.

[Mike Wright]

Antonio Brown caught a touchdown, except Le'Veon Bell was playing against him in fantasy. So Le'Veon Bell threw a chop block and eliminated Antonio Brown's delightful touchdown.

[Andy Holloway]

The guy that I think I want to mention because he is, you know, a slightly lesser known player who has produced week after week after week with the quarterback change is Robbie Anderson. Robbie Anderson cannot be ignored and is an absolute startable player.

[Jason Moore]

Well, Bryce Petty's dealing with an injury now, though.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, if Bryce Petty is the quarterback, which I assume he will be, I.

[Mike Wright]

Believe it was just him get sandwiched.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, he might. They're taking him in to see if he punctured along.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, that was. That was like from a comedy, a movie comedy about football. When you see the defenders, just the two of them, smash a guy. Well, there's never going to happen in real life. Yeah, it did with Indoma consumed Cameron Wake. But two of the best pass rushes.

[Jason Moore]

It is just a bruise. The X rays have confirmed. Nothing else.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, and I do think. I mean, you saw him after that play. He was on the sideline throwing balls and he was okay, but it was a little sore. And then they decided to take him back and that was when that game was already out of hand. I think if that game had been close, he probably would have played through it.

[Jason Moore]

All right, other good performance this week. Jordy Nelson, Michael Crabtree, Michael Thomas, Sterling Shepard Taylor Gabriel, Aldric Robinson, Deandre Hopkins. So we're going to talk about Hopkins in a little bit. Anybody you want to highlight before we move on to tight ends and get into the rising stars?

[Mike Wright]

Looking through the list here. No, I mean, Taylor Gabriel continues to get it done. I don't know how you bench him.

[Andy Holloway]

No, you don't.

[Jason Moore]

All right, tight ends. Deion Sims had two touchdowns. I am petitioning the league to award those to Jay Ajayi because Jay Ajayi destroyed fantasy owners. And I don't. I don't stand for it. It destroyed my team.

[Andy Holloway]

And Jay Ajayi, I believe, could have had those two touchdown.

[Jason Moore]

He just needed to jump. Fool. Fool. All right, Charles Clay. Seven for 72 and a two down Cleveland. But Clay's had a couple weeks in a row now where he's been targeted and look good. Cameron Break. Kyle Rudolph. Ryan Griffin. Yeah, I told people Ryan Griffin. As soon as Fedorowicz was out, which.

[Mike Wright]

Are our writers, I think they coined the term the mad Hatter for C.J. fedorowicz. And I thought that was.

[Jason Moore]

It's pretty good.

[Mike Wright]

That's Fantastic.

[Jason Moore]

But he was out. Ryan Griffin had eight for 85. The Texans are the number one team in the league for targeting the tight end position.

[Mike Wright]

I could change a little bit if they go Savage, Brock Oswald, he loves him some tight ends.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So there you go. We had. We had Swope.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, Swoop. Swoop. When Moncrief was out and because of the matchup, three tight ends against Minnesota with tight ends being very good. I moved up Dwayne Allen and Jack Doyle just a little bit.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, me too.

[Andy Holloway]

And then it was Swoop.

[Jason Moore]

There.

[Mike Wright]

It was.

[Jason Moore]

All right, we're gonna get into the Raising canes. Rising stars.

[Andy Holloway]

Raising canes. Rising stars of the wig.

[Jason Moore]

I had to give a little bingo chance there for technical difficulty.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, there you go.

[Jason Moore]

So mark your bingo cards.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man.

[Jason Moore]

Rising stars of the week.

[Mike Wright]

I'll jump in here. Sure, I'll jump in here.

[Jason Moore]

It's your show.

[Mike Wright]

Got a wide receiver. You may have heard of this guy.

[Jason Moore]

But you might comer.

[Mike Wright]

He's an up and comer. He's probably been sitting on your bench, actually.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

For quite a few.

[Jason Moore]

Must be Brandon Marshall.

[Mike Wright]

DeAndre Hopkins. He is about to get Savage. Savage 8 for 87.

[Jason Moore]

Here's.

[Mike Wright]

Here's the crucial number for you. Folklore. 17 targets. Tom Savage knows that you have to throw the ball at DeAndre Hopkins, and he will make good things happen because he and his elite wide receiver in the NFL. This was his second highest yardage total of the year. It's his highest since week two.

[Andy Holloway]

You could tell. I mean, I feel like his. I feel like the helmet was a smiley face emoji for DeAndre Hopkins. His like, you could just tell. He was like, yes, I can play football again.

[Jason Moore]

Because Tom Savage was on the sideline and he had a couple guys on the phone. He had T.J. yates and he had Brian Hoyer on the phone, and both of them said, yeah, just throw it at Hopkins.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, it's baffling that Brock Osweiler has. Refuses to do well.

[Jason Moore]

He tried to. He just threw an interception to Hopkins. He did. He tried to hit him over the middle.

[Mike Wright]

Throughout the year, he has not done this, but 17 targets. And this comes down to if Tom Savage is the quarterback moving forward. I think he should be. I think that he will be. I'm going to have some faith in Bill O'Brien that he knows they made a huge mistake giving Brock Osweiler that money. They are winning despite Osweiler.

[Jason Moore]

I.

[Mike Wright]

Has there been a game this year where you're like, wow, good thing we had Osweiler. He just Won the game.

[Jason Moore]

No, no, I can't.

[Andy Holloway]

There was one game where he came back at the end and had a decent drive, but the reason they had to come back was because he was so terrible the previous three quarters.

[Mike Wright]

So if Tom Savage is back, DeAndre Hopkins, full force fantasy player again. Okay. Welcome back, DeAndre.

[Jason Moore]

So it'll be. We'll have stories of foot clan titles from picking up Hopkins off the waiver wire.

[Mike Wright]

Possibly.

[Jason Moore]

All right, I'm gonna go with Tyler Lockett.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Tyler Lockett. He's back. He's a real boy.

[Mike Wright]

He's not Pinocchio anymore.

[Jason Moore]

Look, did you see. Did you see what Brandon Cooks just did to the Cardinal secondary?

[Mike Wright]

I did.

[Jason Moore]

Well, Tyler Lockett gets to face them next week. And you got to imagine Doug Baldwin and Patrick Peterson will be locked up while Lockett is on the outside going ham. Look, the Cardinals are eliminated. It is a divisional game. They've got pride on the line. But this game's in Seattle, and Lockett has put up 24 fantasy points, then seven, then 24 over the last three weeks. And just plain looks his looks like we expected Tyler Lockett to be in the beginning of the year.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Which is getting free.

[Mike Wright]

Deep threat, great hands.

[Jason Moore]

Great hands, good routes. Amy, he was coming on so much in the second half. We just hadn't seen it yet. But Tyler Lockett's my raising canes rising star of the week, and I think you really need to think about grabbing him and playing him next week if your options aren't better.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. My rising raising canes rising star is. It was going to be Alshon Jeffrey hopping on that. You know, hey, these guys are back. However, it's got to be time. Montgomery. Ty Montgomery is. He has taken over the starting running back job. You could play him as a wide receiver or a running back in most leagues. I believe NFL moved him.

[Mike Wright]

NFL took their ball and went home.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

After they finally had to concede that he's a running back.

[Andy Holloway]

Now he's only a running back, but honestly, he is only a running back in real life. Ty Montgomery, he just went against a pretty good Chicago run defense, 16 for 162. My math isn't perfect, but I believe that's over 10 yards of carry. That is. That is a first.

[Mike Wright]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. 16 for 142.

[Andy Holloway]

162.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, okay.

[Andy Holloway]

That is a first down. Every time you give him the ball, he was running great. When you watch him, he looks great. He had two touchdowns. You know, he's good at catching the ball because he's actually a wide receiver. It is weird to watch a number 88 taking carries. Like just the, it's like, wait, what is this number 88 taking carries? He's been great. And guess who he plays us next week? Well, he plays the great Minnesota run defense. Right. Except the Minnesota run defense is terrible right now. And I'm not saying that they are middle of the pack. I'm saying they're terrible be flat. Do you realize the previous three games before this week, they had given up a ton.

[Mike Wright]

Frank Gore just ate their lunch. Frank, old man. Frank Gore.

[Andy Holloway]

Frank Gore went, I wish Frank would.

[Jason Moore]

Eat my lunch this week. There was, I don't want to eat it.

[Mike Wright]

There was a stuffed tomato chicken.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. There was a great stat about how long it had been before since, you know, Frank Gore has been able to go over 100 yards. He goes over 100 yards. You also had, I believe they were over 150 total team yards on the ground this week against Minnesota. Now Minnesota's playoff chances are gone. They're humiliated. That team is now going on the road. I think time Montgomery is a great start.

[Mike Wright]

Here's the, here's the bigger thing about Montgomery and do not make the same error that I made. Foot clan. I got lackadaisical. This is a full on confession. I got laxadaisical. I thought my roster, I'm good to go into the semifinals. I didn't really want to play Doug Martin, but I was like, I got a starting running back. I didn't even think to look for Ty Montgomery on my waiver wire. And he got picked up on Saturday and I punched myself in the face.

[Andy Holloway]

By your opponent?

[Mike Wright]

By my opponent. And I just was, I was in shock. How did I not think to look for him? He right now in ESPN he is owned in under 58% of leagues. He is available. So everyone, there's a lot of people out there making the same exact mistake as I am. And you didn't look for Ty Montgomery despite the fact of him being named the starting running. Well, he wasn't named it. But you knew he was going to.

[Jason Moore]

Be the starting running back. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So it's pick him up.

[Jason Moore]

Deandre Hopkins, Tyler Lockett and the Full Monty are three raising canes, rising stars of the week. Feed your holiday party with a raising cane's tailgate. This year they've got that 24 hour marinated cook to order chicken fingers. Oh my goodness. We did that yesterday on the way to the game. My son and I. They make anyone's holiday holly jolly and While you're there, don't forget to pick up a raising canes gift card. For the perfect gift, you get a $25 gift card and get a five dollar bonus. That's a raising cane. Is kind of jolly. All right guys, we're gonna fly through the poopers.

[Andy Holloway]

Pooped in his big boy pants.

[Jason Moore]

Things. Things I didn't think I'd be saying a few years ago for a job, for my job. Fly through the poopers. Let me say this, everybody. Season right now we're in the small bubble of the la. Just a couple games. And so when we talk about these players in the pooped in their big boy pants segment, I want you guys to give me the kind of ignore this or pay attention to it because you don't want to play him next week. So at the quarterbacks that I, you know, we're talking about, look, we pumped the brakes on Marcus Mariota for good reason. The turbulence is over in my opinion. You got Jacksonville next week, so don't forget about him. But the Denver Kansas City back to back, that's done with. Hopefully he didn't play him. Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Sammy Biscuits.

[Mike Wright]

Tom Brady is by far the biggest disappointment of this.

[Jason Moore]

Is he. Is he the biggest disappointment?

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

No. No way.

[Jason Moore]

I think.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, he was against Denver. I think a lot of people didn't play Tom Brady this week because they probably did.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, they probably did.

[Mike Wright]

I think a lot of people still played him. If I had him, I probably still would have played him too.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Because I'm going to go down swinging with the hall of Fame level quarterback and it's just 188 yards. That's where it's disappointing. I mean he didn't even get you over 200 yards.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean certainly he was. He was very bad. Aaron Rodgers was super frustrating because he played.

[Mike Wright]

That's why he wasn't. He's not disappointing to me because he was playing great.

[Andy Holloway]

He was playing great and he had two drives where he hit devonte Adams on wide open.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, to be fair, he hit him right in the hands.

[Andy Holloway]

That is true. That's not where you want to hit Devonte Adams. Devonte Adams dropped those two touchdowns. Just brutal. If you were an Aaron Rodgers, an Aaron Rodgers owner, I am not worried about him in the slightest. He was playing great. And this week going up against Minnesota again, I think Minnesota is going to. It's going to be hard to get up for the game after you, you know, lost everything.

[Jason Moore]

Are they eliminating?

[Mike Wright]

Who?

[Andy Holloway]

Minnesota.

[Jason Moore]

Minnesota. Just 500. I don't think they're eliminated.

[Mike Wright]

Mathematically eliminated yet. No.

[Jason Moore]

No, because the car.

[Mike Wright]

The Cardinals just got mathematically eliminated yesterday.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure.

[Jason Moore]

Completely. Yeah. I mean, Minnesota is. Right now. I mean, they are the nine.

[Mike Wright]

So they're.

[Jason Moore]

In terms of record. Yeah. They're a couple. Couple spots out and they get to play Green Bay. So if they beat Green Bay this week and Detroit manages to lose, could get interesting.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

Could get interesting. All right. Not good. Nothing good from Stafford. We talked about him. Some disappointing performances from Derek Carr. In my opinion, they won the game. But it wasn't really because of Carr. Jameis Winston has not produced for playoff fantasy owners.

[Mike Wright]

He was. I mean, he was. Okay. It was the three interceptions, which. Two of those are really trash. I mean, it was. One is the end of the half just throwing up the Hail Mary, then one's the end of the game throwing it up. So that's unfortunate. But he was. He was 247 with two touchdowns. He gets to go into the Superdome. So I have. I like Jameis moving into next week. Derek Carr gets to take on the Colts. I like him moving into next week. So I'm looking for some bounce back for a lot of these guys.

[Jason Moore]

All right, what are the headlines at running back for the pants poopers, I'm.

[Andy Holloway]

Going to throw out Kenneth Farrow. A lot of people picked him up and played him. I know he wasn't. He's not the big name. He's not the.

[Mike Wright]

Like more of a. You don't have much of a choice.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure. But I mean, look at all the Melvin. I played him this week because I was a Melvin Gordon owner. I paid out the nose to get him. I grabbed him, I started him, and he really disappointed. I mean, the thing is, he got 15 carries and two receptions, but he did jack squat.

[Mike Wright]

Well, good news for him. If Melvin Gordon misses next week, Kenneth Farrell will be playing Cleveland.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Play Kenneth Farrow.

[Mike Wright]

My biggest disappointment of the week was Doug Martin. It's. I don't know what's going on with the running game in Tampa Bay. It is a disaster, especially what about.

[Jason Moore]

With Jacquiz Rogers being a healthy scratch.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. I mean, it's clearly the team has the faith that it's not all a Doug Martin's problem, but when you just. You have polar opposites playing in front of you in prime time, where every time Ezekiel Elliott touches the ball, he gets at least 4 yards without even trying, then you have Doug Martin, who the second he gets handed the ball, he's just getting crushed. So the off it's. I would lean more. That is the offensive line for Tampa Bay. So I don't know if you can expect that really to improve.

[Jason Moore]

I have two guys I want to know if you guys think they have bounce back weeks in week 16, Thomas Rawls and Jai severely disappointed fantasy owners this past week. Rawls was 21 for 34 against that Rams team. He's at home against Arizona. J a Jai was 19 for 51. You kept expecting something to happen for him in that game and it didn't. Can you have confidence in either of those guys this week?

[Andy Holloway]

I think you can have confidence in A Jai more than Rawls. Arizona's run D is still elite and Thomas Rawls is going to have a hard time running against them. J A Jai Buffalo was the team that Jay Ajayi came out against and had his 700 yard game. So I think, you know, look, Buffalo is going to have an ax to grind and want to, you know, definitely payback. But Jay Ajayi, I would have no problem starting him this week.

[Jason Moore]

I need to say something here. I know we're up against the clock a little bit getting through these names. Don't miss this in the bad stat line in Denver for the Patriots. They won that game. LeGarrett Blunt scored again. He gets the headlines. Fifteenth touchdown franchise record. Dionne Lewis had 18 carries for 95 yards in this game. James White had three. It would be easy to miss what might have happened in that game with Deion Lewis and to not think about him as a start for next week because he's been lost in the myriad of other names. Deion Lewis might be a start next week against New New York jet.

[Andy Holloway]

I agree.

[Jason Moore]

LeGarrett Blunt, he's had a heavy workload this year. They're heading into the playoffs. They've locked things up. Dion Lewis needs to keep getting back into game shape. I'm just saying I'm putting Lewis out there as an honorary rising star of the week because 18 for 95 is a great game and it was a big difference between what him and James White received. Kerry Wise wide receivers to let you down. There are some big names on this list. The biggest of all to me is Sammy Watkins against Cleveland.

[Mike Wright]

Makes no sense.

[Jason Moore]

One for 10. They did not need him. They didn't need him. They could run the ball. Tina clip and around the goal line. The couple of throws that you did get Charles Clay, it just was one of those games where you, you just didn't need it. You saw this last year with Kansas City at times where Macklin would have nothing because they just. They just ran the ball.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

It's. It's. I think he hurt a ton of people.

[Mike Wright]

Even still, I mean.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, I was a big fan this week.

[Mike Wright]

You have to expect more than one for 10.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

From Sammy Watkins, certainly.

[Andy Holloway]

I think the guy that I'm most disappointed with was Devonte Adams. Because of those two drops. Because everyone is playing Devonta Adams right now. He's just a guy that scores so much. You have a hard time sitting him. And he had all those opportunities. He should have had four for 70 and two touchdowns, which would have put him at the top.

[Jason Moore]

He was the consensus 13.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And so him to come out.

[Jason Moore]

Not for us, though, I'm saying for.

[Andy Holloway]

All experts have to have the kind of opportunity he had to watch him just crap that away and finish with 2 for 25. Man, he let guys down.

[Jason Moore]

I think, you know, Mari Cooper, Ty Hilton Cooper. Jason just grabbed the devonte Adams bobblehead in the office and stuffed it into a hole.

[Andy Holloway]

There you go. That's where he belongs.

[Jason Moore]

Amari Cooper. Look, starting last week, we started talking about the fact that it just didn't feel like an Amari Cooper game. He had a good game against San Diego, but it seemed like Casey Hayward was going to get the matchup and that. So we on this show, we kind of went with the Crabtree side, still expected Cooper to be good enough. He wasn't 1 for 28. Malcolm Mitchell came back down to earth 1 for 14. Ty Hilton only 3 for 45. And some disappointing games from. Look, Mike Evans isn't winning you any playoff championships right now either.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. The guy I wanted to talk about was Mike Evans. You now have his three worst games of the year, I believe, are the last three weeks. And I talked about when last week we were breaking down the matchups. I was talking about Winston of this team has changed. It's no longer we're going to try and outscore you. And the way we do that is Jameis Winston throws everything at Mike Evans. I mean, eight targets is not terrible. Those are not the targets that Mike Evans was getting at the beginning of the year to when he was the fantasy superstar. So I would still play 100%. I'm still going to play Mike Evans next week, but it's in the first with the transformation. I don't think you're going to get what we had hoped for in the playoffs from. From Mike Evans.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. In the first 12 weeks, he only had two games where he was under five receptions. He's been under five receptions for the last three. Now you go to New Orleans. The game is very tempting and should be a high flying game.

[Mike Wright]

I'm still in.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

And you can't sit Mike Evans, but it's a disappointment when you have your stud that you can't sit. Let you down because you cannot do it. You can't sit Mike Evans. You have to play him, you know. So at this point I think we can kind of move on.

[Mike Wright]

Well, people want to hear these names because they. With the frustration. Antonio Brown, I think this is the. Is this the first time he's been in this section or no. When. When Big Ben missed, he might have been in here as well. He did have a touchdown called back. He barely missed a touchdown at the end of the game. So fear, don't overreact on Antonio Brown.

[Andy Holloway]

Brandon Marshall got 11 targets.

[Mike Wright]

Brandon Marshall does not belong in this section. His pants are now toddlers saying if.

[Andy Holloway]

You get 11 targets, you catch one ball. That's why I'm saying Robbie Anderson.

[Mike Wright]

Brandon Marshall is in the diapers. I expect poop in the pants when you wear diapers.

[Andy Holloway]

There you go.

[Jason Moore]

That's true.

[Mike Wright]

When you got big boy undies.

[Jason Moore]

Don't be surprised that when a man wearing diapers has poop in it.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. My toddler crap their pants again.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, duh. Yeah, duh.

[Andy Holloway]

It's what he does.

[Jason Moore]

That's what he does. Travis Kelsey, the double tight ends that weren't Eric Swoop, Dwayne Allen and Jack Doyle didn't do anything.

[Andy Holloway]

Travis Kelsey, Tyler Eiford, Jimmy Graham. Oh, I'm sorry, but I.

[Jason Moore]

So you didn't lose to tight ends this week?

[Andy Holloway]

I think those might have been my three top ranked tight ends. I don't, I don't remember off the top of my head.

[Jason Moore]

But you didn't have Swoop.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm just saying those three guys. Oh, those are, those are guys that were in matches this week to get people to champions.

[Jason Moore]

And Antonio Gates.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, man.

[Mike Wright]

Did you say Jimmy Graham?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I did.

[Andy Holloway]

Those were just terrible. I mean, you're right in the sense that tight ends probably didn't beat you this week.

[Jason Moore]

Right, Because Cameron Brait might have. Cameron Brait was great, but otherwise, I mean, he had a good game. Let's talk Monday Night Football game. I said we'd let people know what we need in our leagues. I know everybody's waiting. Look, Cam Newton, Kirk Cousins, Jon Stewart.

[Mike Wright]

Bob Kelly, DJ Big time.

[Jason Moore]

Greg Olson. Big time crowd.

[Andy Holloway]

It's pronounced crowd.

[Jason Moore]

Look, there are a ton of league winners and losers in tonight's game. So am I crazy? I'm in the championship game in the Listener league if CAM Newton scores 27 points tonight.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's the thing. Here's the thing, listeners. You want Andy in there?

[Mike Wright]

I.

[Andy Holloway]

Right now. I'm also in the championship of the listener league.

[Mike Wright]

If you're in. Stop it.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I'm just saying, if J Stu and Greg Olson don't combine for 40 something, then I'm in on one side. Andy will be in on the other side. And if that happens, If Cam gets 27 and he's in and I'm in, then it guarantees that there will not be a listener who gets an automatic spot for our Listener league next year, Meaning one more open spot for all of you to get in the league.

[Jason Moore]

And we will have defeated you.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And we beat you.

[Jason Moore]

We will have beaten you.

[Mike Wright]

How many times has Cam Newton scored the points you need last year?

[Jason Moore]

Last year, a whole bunch.

[Andy Holloway]

This year, twice.

[Mike Wright]

Four times.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, all right.

[Jason Moore]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

That's not too bad.

[Jason Moore]

So you're saying I got a 25% shot?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Maybe a little bit better.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, hey, twice in the last five games. I'll take it.

[Mike Wright]

The matchup is great.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

The matchup is. You want. And so to piggyback on that Foot Clan, this is what we need. I need. I need the Foot Clan. I need the. I need the group support here because I need League of Record. I need Kirk Cousins. Not just League of Records, also our dynasty league. I'm going for double trouble. The duo. I could be in both championships games. I need Kirk Cousins and Jordan reed to score 34 points in one league and Kirk Cousins just to not stink in the other league.

[Jason Moore]

So I think your phasers to championship.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Or not.

[Mike Wright]

See? And Jordan. Jordan Reed, buddy. Jordan Reed, we need you.

[Jason Moore]

Are you following Rule 86 in this game tonight?

[Mike Wright]

If he's active, I am playing him.

[Jason Moore]

You have the option.

[Mike Wright]

I have Vernon Davis, but I would go. I'm going to go.

[Andy Holloway]

Jordan Reed, I just realized. I know you guys are like, oh, stop it. You're not going to lose. You're not going to. But I just realized why I am going to lose.

[Jason Moore]

Greg Olson, payback.

[Andy Holloway]

Darn right. Greg Olson's coming at me because he has been the bane of my existence. This year, we have literally little insight. We have named one of the bathrooms in our studio Greg Olson, because that's where I. That's. Every day I take a trip to Greg Olson, and I.

[Jason Moore]

You pay him back. Oh, my God, because he is.

[Andy Holloway]

He's gonna go off for 40 points.

[Jason Moore]

Wonder what fantasy football does to the psychology. We had a lot of people sending questions like, how do I move on? You don't. You name your bathroom after a player that let you down.

[Andy Holloway]

Darn right you do.

[Jason Moore]

That's how you move on.

[Andy Holloway]

Sorry, honey. I gotta go talk to Brandon Marshall for a second.

[Jason Moore]

You take your Devonte Adams bobblehead and you stuff in a hole. That's how you deal with fantasy football defeat. Come back tomorrow, people. Hopefully you're still in that title game.

[Mike Wright]

Stick around. The footies are coming up. You got to be a part of that. Shout out to fantasy jocks. Go get some trophies. Dakota's footballers, Cam Newton.

[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.