Starts of the Week + Week 3 Breakdown, Right Angle Analysis

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary: "Starts of the Week + Week 3 Breakdown, Right Angle Analysis"

Release Date: September 19, 2019

Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike “The Fantasy Hitman” Wright

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Introduction

The episode kicks off with the hosts settling into their dynamic rapport, exchanging banter and setting the stage for a comprehensive dive into Week 3 of the NFL season. Mike Wright opens with his characteristic humor, joking about his love for Skittles before transitioning into the main content.

News and Notes

Fantasy League Updates:

• JuJu Smith-Schuster: The hosts share humorous updates about their fantasy leagues, including playing against JuJu Smith-Schuster. Jason Moore remarks, “We are officially playing JuJu Smith-Schuster this week in the Sleeper Bowl” ([07:59]).

• David Njoku Injury: A significant discussion revolves around Brown’s tight end David Njoku, who has suffered a broken wrist. The conversation highlights the importance of securing reliable tight ends, with Al Borland expressing frustration: “No one wants to trade for Delaney Walker” ([05:48]).

Player Updates:

• Sam Darnold & Jacoby Brissette: The hosts discuss Sam Darnold’s confidence in returning for Week 5 and the implications for Jets’ quarterback Jacoby Brissette. Jason Moore notes, “Jets quarterback Sam Darnold has full confidence he'll be ready for the Week 5 matchup against the Eagles” ([11:03]).

• Cam Newton: Updates on Cam Newton indicate he won't be practicing, leading to debates about his availability and performance impact.

Fantasy Forecast

Matchup Analysis:

• Broncos vs. Packers ([22:37] - [27:08]): The Packers are favored with a 7.5-point edge against the Broncos. The hosts delve into the Packers’ defensive strengths and question Denver’s offensive consistency. Al Borland shares his insights on running backs Philip Lindsay and Royce Freeman, stating, “I'm not playing either of them” ([24:41]).

• Falcons vs. Colts ([27:10] - [35:31]): With the Colts being slight favorites, the discussion focuses on Marlon Mack's injury and the potential rise of Jordan Wilkins. Mike Wright emphasizes the importance of Mack, saying, “I'm playing him if he's active” ([16:08]).

• Ravens vs. Chiefs ([34:07] - [47:13]): Lamar Jackson’s burgeoning performance is contrasted with Patrick Mahomes’. The over/under is set at 52.5 points, with the hosts leaning towards the over, expecting high offensive output from both teams.

• Bengals vs. Bills ([38:54] - [41:06]): The Bills are slight favorites, but the hosts anticipate a close game with potential turnovers. Jason Moore strongly recommends starting Josh Allen, declaring, “You must start Josh Allen in this game” ([40:32]).

• Jets vs. Patriots ([46:27] - [54:56]): The Patriots are heavy favorites, but strategic plays involving tight ends like Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown are analyzed for potential high returns. Al Borland advocates for playing Brown despite uncertainties around Edelman and Gordon.

Implied Point Totals:

The hosts explain the concept of implied point totals based on game lines, aiding fantasy managers in projecting player performances. For instance, in the Broncos vs. Packers game, the implied points are 25 for the Packers and 17 for the Broncos ([22:37]).

Starts of the Week

Quarterbacks:

• Jason's Pick: Josh Allen vs. Cincinnati Bengals. Highlighted as “perennially undervalued” with strong rushing attempts ([57:25]).

• Al’s Pick: Aaron Rodgers vs. Denver Broncos. Despite Denver’s defense, Al remains confident in Rodgers’ performance ([58:39]).

Running Backs:

• Jason's Pick: Marlon Mack vs. Colts. Despite injury concerns, if active, Mack remains a top choice ([59:25]).

• Al’s Pick: Carlos Hyde vs. Chargers. Hyde’s rejuvenated performance under Bill O’Brien is emphasized ([60:40]).

• Mike's Pick: Frank Gore vs. Ravens. Positioned as a reliable but not top-tier starter, expecting high volume ([58:44]).

Wide Receivers:

• Jason's Pick: Mike Evans vs. New York Jets. Looking for consistent targets and play opportunities ([60:53]).

• Al’s Pick: Kenny G vs. Detroit Lions. Improved target share and rapport with Matt Stafford make him a solid start ([62:16]).

• Mike's Pick: Larry Fitzgerald vs. Baltimore Ravens. Veteran reliability and favorable matchup ([60:51]).

Tight Ends:

• Jason's Pick: O.J. Howard vs. Arizona Cardinals. Post-interception motivation and consistent targets make him a prime start ([63:14]).

• Al’s Pick: Greg Olson vs. Arizona Cardinals. Secondary tight end option with strong target share ([63:55]).

• Mike's Pick: Vance McDonald vs. Denver Broncos. Two-touchdown game potential and connection with Mason Rudolph ([62:26]).

Kickers:

• Jason's Pick: N/A (focuses on streamable options rather than specific kicker picks).

• Mike's Pick: Harrison Butker vs. Kansas City Chiefs. Reliable option, recommended to consider a kicker against the Chiefs' defense ([64:30]).

Right Angle Analysis

A focused segment on kicker performance and potential streaming strategies. Jason Moore humorously suggests considering kickers as startable positions with fluctuating performance, highlighting Harrison Butker as a top choice against the Chiefs due to Denver’s inflated fantasy point expectations ([64:30]).

In-Depth Player Discussions

David Njoku ([09:41] - [12:08]):

David Njoku’s injury status sparks debate on whether to drop him. Mike Wright emphasizes caution: “I would not roster those guys for a month” ([11:04]).

Marlon Mack’s Calf Injury ([13:37] - [16:38]):

The Colts’ running back Marlon Mack’s calf injury leads to discussions about his availability and the rise of Jordan Wilkins. Al Borland expresses concern over Mack’s potential retirement due to recurring injuries ([15:40]).

Le’Veon Bell vs. Josh Gordon ([46:43] - [55:35]):

The tight end battle between Le’Veon Bell and Josh Gordon is dissected, with Borland favoring Bell for his PPR (Points Per Reception) value, while Wright remains cautious about Gordon’s inconsistency ([47:07]).

Humorous Interludes and Banter

Throughout the episode, the hosts engage in light-hearted exchanges, such as joking about Jersey swapping, their fantasy league antics, and playful insults, enhancing the show’s entertaining atmosphere. Notably, the segment where they name TJ Hawkinson humorously as “Hockstrap” ([56:25]).

Listener Engagement and Recommendations

Listeners are encouraged to join the Fantasy Footballers community at jointhefoot.com for additional perks, including consistency charts and premium projections. The hosts also promote their social media presence, urging fans to follow them on Twitter and other platforms for real-time updates.

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with a recap of the week's starts, emphasizing strategic plays and the importance of staying updated on player statuses. The hosts sign off with reminders about upcoming content, including signed memorabilia offers and daily steals via pristineauction.com.

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Notable Quotes:

• Jason Moore on Starting Josh Allen: "You must start Josh Allen in this game." ([40:32])

• Al Borland on David Njoku: "No one wants to trade for Delaney Walker." ([05:48])

• Mike Wright on Marlon Mack: "I'm playing him if he's active." ([59:25])

• Jason Moore on Aaron Rodgers: "Aaron Rodgers has his first quarterback one game of the season." ([27:08])

• Al Borland on Le’Veon Bell: "Negative 21 air yards. Is a dominant PPR running back right now." ([47:07])

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This episode of the Fantasy Footballers delivers a thorough analysis of Week 3 matchups, player performances, and strategic starts, all infused with the hosts' signature humor and expertise. Whether you're a seasoned manager or new to fantasy football, the insights shared provide valuable guidance to optimize your lineup and navigate the fantasy landscape effectively.

Transcript

[Mike Wright]

Hey, Foot clan. You know what my favorite thing is? What? Skittles. Actually, I take that back. It's my family. They mean everything to me. Skittles is my second favorite thing. Scratch that, Foot Clan. You are my second favorite thing. Skittles is my third favorite thing. And as I'm saying this, I realize that football is probably my third. You know what? Skittles is probably like my 68th to 70th favorite thing. But they're my favorite candy. Favorite fruit candy. Skittles podcast the rainbow. Taste the rainbow.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast coming to you from Pristine Auction.com Studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, welcome in.

[Al Borland]

It's football time.

[Mike Wright]

Kinda, kinda.

[Jason Moore]

Those are the original lyrics that you wrote.

[Al Borland]

I'm talking myself into tonight, fellas.

[Jason Moore]

I feel like it's happening. You're talking yourself into it. Are you talking with the teams about what they can produce?

[Al Borland]

It's gonna be great. It's gonna be a smash sensation Thursday night.

[Jason Moore]

You need to get the Zach Taylor plan, The Cincinnati Bengals 4 to 1 pass to rush in neutral game script plan over to Tennessee and the Secret Garden tonight so we can have some excitement.

[Mike Wright]

I promise you, if. If those two teams with those two quarterbacks implement that plan. Yeah, there will be very little excitement.

[Jason Moore]

I hope you know that you inadvertently complimented Andy Dalton in a huge way right there. Just in a massive. You willing to stream Andy Dalton at this point with those ratios?

[Mike Wright]

I think if either team could trade for Andy Dalton, they would be upgrading.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast. Thursday, September 19th. Annie, Mike and Jason back again. Show 778 in our history and they say the first 777 are the hardest. So from here on out, we should be good.

[Mike Wright]

Smooth sailing.

[Jason Moore]

About time. We have some news on the show today. We got the fantasy forecast. We'll get into some of the matchups. I think my almost upset is on today's episode. We have starts of the week and Jason's boom boom kicker, which once again I saw you had like the drafting table out and you were doing a lot of angle related Math.

[Mike Wright]

Protractors, compasses, 100%. If I don't have a solid right angle tool.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

I can't. I can't make this work.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, you can't really project the kicker position the way that you have historically. So excited about that. We'll get to some mailbag if we have time. Here's the quick question of the day.

[Al Borland]

I was laughing because you're gonna make.

[Jason Moore]

Another math joke, Mike.

[Al Borland]

No, this was Not a math joke. This was just a personal anecdote from this morning. My son, he loves football. He plays football every recess.

[Jason Moore]

Okay.

[Al Borland]

This morning he came to me and he said, dad, is this your older boy or your. Yeah, this is the middle boy. And he said, dad, we found out that I'm the best kicker in school.

[Mike Wright]

That's good news.

[Al Borland]

I'm like, well, that's awesome. Do you like kicking? That's great. He's like, no, because his dream is to go to the NFL. And he says, I don't want to end up as a kicker.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, no.

[Al Borland]

This was not coached. I have not besmirched the name of kickers because I think kickers in football, it's great. It's an important job. I just don't like it. I'm a fantasy team. But he's already infected with.

[Jason Moore]

Now as a father, though, the concussion. Oh.

[Al Borland]

I want him to be a kicker.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, Got it.

[Al Borland]

Believe it. Make that football money without getting beat up.

[Mike Wright]

Kicker is the best job in the NFL.

[Jason Moore]

Well, it is, unless you miss. Yes, sure. If you miss, it's the worst job in the NFL.

[Mike Wright]

I only do kickoffs. That's it. Look, you're going to need to roster three kickers. But I'm super good at kickoffs.

[Jason Moore]

The thing that's very. Yeah, Kick kickoffs. Only there are those specialists, and that is the best job because nobody returns kicks anymore. You don't even have to try to tackle them. If you did the kickoff and then just broke out into a dance, you would be 100%.

[Al Borland]

Boom.

[Jason Moore]

Fine. Yeah, I mean, that would be. Now you figured it out. Because I don't want to be the lonely little kicker in the locker room after a team makes, has a great performance, and I shank a 37 yarder.

[Al Borland]

The Adam Sandler song. Only kicker.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, not good. All right, quick question of the day comes from Twitter today. Is there a strategy to snagging as many startable tight ends in your league as possible to force trading? Now it's. My answer is no, not really. But I did see this happen in week one of the fantasy season with specifically TJ Hawkinson. A lot of people picked him up, traded their, you know, traded their tight end away or. Or picked him up to trade to TJ Hawkinson. So, you know, people get desperate about the tight end position.

[Al Borland]

Yeah, they do. And so before the season started with the league of record, I had an empty bench spot. And so it was like, let's do a stash here. And I went with Darren. I am the Walrus and that made it hit. But meanwhile, my other tight end was Delaney Walker. Oh, thank you, Goo goo goo Joo. My other tight end was Delaney Walker who went bananas week one. And currently I'm still stuck with Delaney Walker and Darren Waller because even though Delaney Walker is, he's a weekly start at the tight end position and like to me, a good one. He's not elite, but he is a good play.

[Mike Wright]

But no one's trading.

[Al Borland]

No one wants to trade for Delaney Walker.

[Jason Moore]

Now I have Andrews and Waller in our listener league, so that combination I could get a trade value. But I'm not out there on the waiver wire trying to pick more tight ends up to trade them as though they are some amazing currency.

[Mike Wright]

No, the only reason I'm picking an extra, like if I've got a decent tight end and I'm going to choose to pick up a tight end off of waivers, is not to trade. The only situation I could see that happening is like, let's say my opponent had David and Joku. Well then sure, I'll grab a tight end and drop, you know, someone that maybe I'd rather roster a little bit. But if I can keep my opponent from having a startable tight end, great.

[Al Borland]

That's the problem with my team right now. Is Waller and Walker weekly usable tight ends I don't like I should drop one you don't want the league to have. But I don't want someone to just.

[Mike Wright]

Grab Walker, Mike, just drop Walrus.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah, right.

[Mike Wright]

Just do it.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. We've been begging. Find us on twitter@the ffballers, the website thefantasyfootballers.com if you support the show. @jointhefoot.com you get access to a bunch of perks and extra episode every week. You also get access to our consistency charts and those, those are getting built out right now for this season. So what that is is a really neat visual model. You get to see how each player finished at the position over the duration of the season to determine the most consistent players at each position. We have the historical data on this so we can look backwards at preceding years and we are building out the 2019 week by week right now that should be up very soon. You also get flex rankings, premium projections every week and some proprietary, you know, stats and information for supporting the show. So I encourage everybody to check that [e-mail] if you want just a little extra leg up on the competition, you can check that out. So without further ado, we've got news.

[Andy Holloway]

News and notes. From around the league, presented by Sleeper.

[Jason Moore]

All right, update here. We are officially playing juju Smith Schuster this week in the Sleeper Bowl.

[Al Borland]

Let's go.

[Jason Moore]

We. We knew this day would come.

[Mike Wright]

Not only are we playing against juju, but we are currently playing juju against.

[Jason Moore]

Juju, which I think is the plot of whatever that, like, Will Smith movie coming out is where. Although we don't have the young version. Oh, he's already a young version of juju. But have you seen the trailers for.

[Al Borland]

That Will Smith movie, Gemini Man?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Where he's got, like, the young version.

[Al Borland]

They put him on the face app.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, they basically did. But that's trippy right now. Juju versus juju. Here is what we're saying.

[Mike Wright]

Is this like something where we should warn the Foot Clan, warn fantasy football players that juju is going to try to have a poor game this week? Like, he's telling the coaches, it's James Washington. Let me get him open. Let me give a good pick. I'll do everything to get everyone else involved.

[Jason Moore]

I'm all for flattering ourselves. We do it often. But I'm not sure that him beating us in this league is quite the priority that. That his professional career is.

[Al Borland]

But maybe he better check himself.

[Jason Moore]

He's got challenges ahead of him. Regardless, you've got a brand new quarterback to build a rapport with, so we'll see. You know, he doesn't have the advantage of James Washington having gone to College and being BFFs with Mason Rudolph. All right, multiple sources confirming that Brown's tight end David Njoku doesn't just have a concussion, guys. He actually suffered a broken wrist. He is seeking a second opinion to find out if he needs surgery, which means the first opinion suggests that he needed surgery. So, you know, David and Joku is not going to be an option for your team from this point.

[Al Borland]

The forward, the getting the second opinion is so wild. I mean, I get that, like, doctors have their different opinions, but it's like I go to the doctor, you know, one of the most trusted professions in all of the world. Like, okay, this person, they've studied their butt off. They worked very, very hard to be in a position. They say, sir, you have a broken wrist. I disagree. I would like to speak to someone else. May I speak to your manager, please?

[Mike Wright]

And you know, when you don't see that is like, your wrist is gonna be fine. Well, hold on a minute. I'm gonna need to. I'm gonna need to confirm this with another doctor.

[Jason Moore]

The irony is that I've literally Been in that position with my wrist before and had the doctor be wrong.

[Mike Wright]

Really first time or second time?

[Jason Moore]

The first doctor was wrong.

[Mike Wright]

Now did he say it was broken or fine?

[Jason Moore]

They said it was broken.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

So this was in our flag football league. I threw an interception for the first time ever. Jason doing well threw an interception. Then I had to play the defensive position. I got truck stick by alignment. I thought I broke my wrist. I went to the urgent care. They confirmed on X ray that I broke my wrist. Recommended I go to an orthopedic person who X rayed me and told me I did not break my wrist. It was a severe sprain so.

[Al Borland]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Al Borland]

Proven wrong.

[Jason Moore]

I just saying also and Joe Goo's fine. He'll be out there now all that.

[Mike Wright]

Being said for fantasy I had said yesterday on the footcast we had almost a big disagreement. I said there's no way you drop David and Joku right now because he could be back from concussion this week or if not he's probably back next week. At this point he's going to miss several weeks and I would not. It's just like Hunter Henry.

[Al Borland]

Based on second opinion let's sure maybe.

[Mike Wright]

Wait a day or a couple hours but you know I want Hunter Henry, I want David and Joku but I'm not going to roster those guys for a month. Plus just holding hostage a bench spot.

[Jason Moore]

All right. Jets quarterback Sam Darnold has full confidence he'll be ready for the Week 5 matchup against the Eagles. Which means he's basically just missing one more game this week which I'd try to miss that game too. So 22 and a half point line against the Patriots.

[Al Borland]

This was a long con by Darnold.

[Jason Moore]

I will get to avoid those that secondary. I would do it.

[Al Borland]

Coach. I can't play. Why?

[Jason Moore]

I heard I've got. That's the first thing that comes to his mind. Yeah. Well he's going to miss this one. They'll have the bye week and then it'll be the Eagles. So we'll see if he's back out there. It would be great news for two players.

[Al Borland]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

In particular Robbie Anderson.

[Al Borland]

Robbie.

[Jason Moore]

Chris Herndon who will be returning for week five after the suspension and ultimately great news for Lev Bell and potentially Jameson Crowder.

[Al Borland]

Well, Herndon will be back.

[Jason Moore]

He's a four game suspension, right?

[Al Borland]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

But oh that won't qualify as a. That won't qualify as one of the suspended games. So week six.

[Al Borland]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

My apologies. All right. Cam Newton, he's not practicing again today. Thursday he is not going to be out there this week. Now, I had heard some things. I know. Mike, you repeatedly screamed the word liars out loud.

[Al Borland]

I believe it was a type of liar though. It was a. A big fat liar.

[Jason Moore]

I'm glad you clarified. Otherwise we'd be confused. You called them big fat liars. There is. I did hear some reports that the team legitimately didn't know that the foot was bothering him until after the game and that he had just kind of not told them that it was a problem and that they just. Because the report came out that they just discovered this. So I'm just throwing a little bit of water on the Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire segment.

[Mike Wright]

Well, let me, let me help back Mike up here because I had no inside information that the foot was clinically still hurting him. But I was pretty confident from my eyeballs that clearly the foot was a problem. And when they were asked is it a problem? Absolutely not.

[Jason Moore]

Field Yates said this though before the re. Injury play that's been identified in the game, he was 7 for 8. That's how he started the game, 7 for 8. After that it was something like 12 for 30. So it's possible that he aggravated in the game and then his coach defended him afterwards. I'm just trying to make a peaceful world. Mike, you said keep it beautiful the other day.

[Al Borland]

That's true.

[Jason Moore]

Trying.

[Al Borland]

Thank you.

[Jason Moore]

Steve Sterling Shepard.

[Al Borland]

Steve.

[Mike Wright]

Steve Shepard.

[Jason Moore]

Actually, it just reminded me of Scott Sterling. Oh, if you haven't YouTubed the old Scott.

[Mike Wright]

The meth, the legend Scott Sterling.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, just look it up. Sterling Shepard though, is expected to clear the protocol. He should be back out there Thursday and then this is interesting news to monitor. Marlon Mack, Colts running back. He didn't practice on Wednesday. He left the. He left Tennessee with a calf that was heavily wrapped. We're going to talk about him later. We'll talk about him in the matchup. This is a very, very difficult situation because of how well the Colts are running the football in week one. Obviously Marlon Mack was like the offensive player of the week. 174 rushing yardage, rushing yards. Last week he was banged up but they ran for 160 something on the ground. So this team is running the ball well and that's leading this new Jacoby Brissette offense.

[Al Borland]

So Jordan Wilkins.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, Jordan Wilkins had a big week last week and he would be the one to absorb the care early down carries.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. If Marlon Mack is gone, it would be Jordan Wilkins as the. As the. They're not putting Naim Hines out there as like the give you 20 carries type of player. And if we know anything about calf injuries for the Colts, Marlon Mack will retire soon.

[Al Borland]

Oh, no.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, that's right. I did it. Take that, Andrew Luck.

[Jason Moore]

If you wonder how Jordan Wilkins did unlimited carries, he was a cool 16.4 a carry on five carries last week. Five for 82 and a touchdown. So that line, treating the running backs well, that being said, this is one of those situations where if Max active, you have to start him like, I love him this week and if he's out there, I'm just taking the shot at him.

[Al Borland]

Are you?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Because if he's going to be back out there, I'm not falling for the desean Jackson splint treatment again. The setup is so good for Marlon Mack that I don't want to leave that on my bench. Me personally, I just don't want that risk because the matchup is so good and I just love it.

[Al Borland]

It's a bit different to me than a splint where he can run. Like if it's your calf, the risk of a re aggravation on like your first carry, it's.

[Mike Wright]

It's there.

[Al Borland]

That's my only concern with Marlon Mack.

[Jason Moore]

You're not wrong that it's possible to reaggravate the injury, but I have to trust the team saying if you're going to make him active, when you have an option like Wilkins, you believe he won't re aggravate it. They're not going to put him out there with their belief that it'll happen. So, you know, we'll see what happens. We've got in or out tomorrow on the show. That is our weekly injury segment heading into the weekend. You can also get game day alerts. That's another one of the perks of JoinTheFoot.com and being a member of our listener community. And we'll have Sunday live. One hour before kickoff, Mike will be back on the IG and the YouTube.

[Al Borland]

Oh, and the Facebook.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I'll be everywhere. Periscopes.

[Al Borland]

That's right.

[Jason Moore]

Now, I did post the video of Jason and the trade reaction, the hidden cam video of Jason finding out that he did not receive Patrick Mahomes, but rather I did. That's on YouTube.com the fantasy footballers. It was a massive invasion for the.

[Mike Wright]

Sake of content and it was great content.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. News and notes is always brought to you by the sleeper app. We want to thank them for supporting the show. Make sure you download that app today.

[Al Borland]

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[Jason Moore]

Oh, that's the OBJ touchdown.

[Al Borland]

Well, he was a reception.

[Jason Moore]

I GUESS it was 89 yard but you know what? He was 89 yard touchdown. It was still touchdown.

[Al Borland]

Getting a good pair of jeans is like an 89 yard touchdown reception. And Mugsy jeans are the most comfortable jeans ever made. No exaggeration, Mugsy, they are real jeans and they are literally as comfortable as sweatpants. Like that's a problem with jeans. You're like oh this jeans, this pair of jeans. I look good in these but I'm really uncomfortable. I cannot move these jeans.

[Jason Moore]

Ever see that Seinfeld with Kramer in the stiff jeans where he bend his knees?

[Al Borland]

Exactly. You don't want to be that guy.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Al Borland]

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[Jason Moore]

Andy has completely reopened his never going back.

[Al Borland]

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[Jason Moore]

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[Al Borland]

Dylan crushing it.

[Jason Moore]

Dylan is killing.

[Al Borland]

Oh, I see what you did.

[Jason Moore]

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[Andy Holloway]

Fantasy Forecast.

[Jason Moore]

All right, this is your weekly reminder. Take your Thursday night players. If you're playing a Thursday night Titan or Jag, take them out of.

[Al Borland]

So you're running backs. Make sure the running backs are in the proper position.

[Mike Wright]

Like, this is the first week ever where we don't need to say it like, Derek Henry has already been in your running back slot. You know what I mean? Leonard Fournettes probably in your running back slot already.

[Al Borland]

Well, sometimes people play.

[Jason Moore]

Sometimes teams are real good.

[Al Borland]

People play the game of bench your entire team. Make your opponent tilt because it works. And people freak out when they see you have no players in then. And then when you're scrambling to get them all back in, maybe you make a mistake. We don't want you to make that mistake.

[Jason Moore]

I thought you were going to say people play the game where they just put certain players in their starting position as a way to imbue confidence. Like. Like maybe I have.

[Al Borland]

That's a good one, too.

[Jason Moore]

Maybe I put David Moppertunity up in my RB2 spot and Derrick Henry down in my flex to encourage David Montgomery to have a big game.

[Al Borland]

I've literally doing that right now.

[Jason Moore]

You doing that right in our league.

[Al Borland]

Well, in our league of record, like in the wide receiver, you're like, come on, guys. Well, one wide receiver, one and two. I've got Sammy Watkins and John Ross there. Meanwhile, my flex is the lowly Devonte Adams. I just want people to see.

[Jason Moore]

So you're literally the perfect example. Are you.

[Mike Wright]

Are you trying to prop up Watkins and Ross or are you sending a message to Devonte Adams? Is this like a Adams, you're in the flex right now, bro.

[Al Borland]

It's a twofer because in our league scoring, Watkins and John Ross are the number one and number two scorers at the position. So I'm just giving them the respect that they deserve.

[Jason Moore]

Can I ask Al Borland a question? I don't know if you can. Can you speak? Al? You can't. He's shaking his head. He can't speak. Is this fantasy forecast graphic that we see on the YouTube channel? Is that new? I feel like I'm in Sesame street right now.

[Al Borland]

We've got like the rain cloud and the sun.

[Jason Moore]

Did you get [e-mail] I mean, what is this? This is the sunniest sun in the cloudiest cloud.

[Mike Wright]

I love it.

[Jason Moore]

The fantasy 4, has that been up there for weeks? Oh, my gosh.

[Al Borland]

He drew those and now he's very insulted.

[Jason Moore]

I'm gonna bring my, my five year old in here. We're gonna give him.

[Al Borland]

Get an upgrade.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, I was gonna say teach him about the weather with these graphics. So, yeah, you can see that on YouTube. Very good work. Very good way. That must have taken you a whole seconds over lunch. All right, the Broncos at 02 take on the Packers. They're two and, oh, they're seven and a half point home favorites at Lambeau. And you know, on paper here, it looks like the packers should be all right in this matchup. We haven't seen enough from the Broncos offense or defense to make me think they're going to stay competitive in this one. The over unders 43, that gives an implied point total for the packers of 25. For the Broncos, it's 17. We have been asked the question, what does that mean? What is the implied point total? And that's simply looking at the game line, looking at the total points expected and then extrapolating what Vegas says. Each team is going to put up.

[Mike Wright]

Points wise and that makes a big difference because look, Vegas isn't in the business of losing a lot of money. They don't get everything right. Certainly not. But they get it right more than they get it wrong. And so you can, you can kind of extrapolate fantasy points. If the packers are going to score around 25 and the Broncos are going to score around 17 points, there's, you know, a touchdown discrepancy there that goes to the Packer side.

[Jason Moore]

Now, we've seen Joe Flacco over, you know, his first two weeks for Denver. He's been fine for a player named Emmanuel Sanders. But outside of Emmanuel Sanders on the offensive side of the ball for the Broncos, you cannot have a lot of confidence, especially with the way the packers defense is playing now. The Packers D, they're number one against tight ends. Right now they're number three against quarterbacks, number six against wide receivers. They have given up points to the running back position. But I think that is a bit of a distortion because it's really a 75 yard touchdown run to Dalvin Cook that's distorting that fantasy total. So this has been a very good defense. They're at home. Do you have any confidence in playing Philip Lindsay, Royce Freeman in this matchup?

[Al Borland]

No, I do not have confidence in playing either of them, but I am very interested because Royce Freeman outplayed Philip Lindsay and Royce Freeman received more opportunity in the passing game. And that seems counterintuitive if you don't know the history of Royce Freeman. You just saw what Lindsay did last year. You're like, oh, he will. He looks like the profile of a player who would be great in the passing game. But Royce Freeman is. Was drafted to be a three down running back. Philip Lindsay just happened to smash that a little bit last year. So I'm, I'm not playing either of them. But I'm very interested to watch and see if the workload starts to shift Royce Freeman's way.

[Jason Moore]

Now, would you play Miles Sanders, who has not been a fantasy darling in any way over these two players?

[Al Borland]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

Miles Sanders has Detroit this week and then, you know, obviously Royce and Lindsey. You don't know who's going to work.

[Mike Wright]

I might, I would rather play the. I mean, all of these running backs are splitting carries. I would rather play the running back on the better offense.

[Al Borland]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Who's favored?

[Jason Moore]

Who's.

[Mike Wright]

Who's at home? This is.

[Jason Moore]

They also don't have DJax. And now Sean.

[Al Borland]

That's what I was going to say. The injuries factor in. It's, it's going narrative. But perhaps they try and give Miles Sanders a bit more work this week.

[Jason Moore]

All right, now, on the packers side, Aaron Rodgers must start quarterback. You have to play him here at home. Last week, hot start. And then I basically, I came on our Slack channel, I was like, this is exactly what I expected him to do. I don't think he scored another fantasy point from the time that I posted that. But you know, week one, 203 and one, week two, 209 and two. The yardage numbers aren't there for Aaron Rodgers right now. Do you expect improvement in this game or more of the same?

[Al Borland]

I love Aaron Rodgers this week.

[Jason Moore]

All right.

[Al Borland]

So much that we are featuring him in a later segment.

[Jason Moore]

Ooh, I wonder what that segment is.

[Al Borland]

You'll see.

[Jason Moore]

Aaron Jones had a big week last week. He's our consensus RB9. There were now what? I'm not familiar with this quote.

[Al Borland]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Moore]

So let me know what Matt LaFleur. Yeah, thank you, Mike. I'll take it from here. Your department.

[Al Borland]

So Matt LaFleur saw what Aaron Jones could do with a full featured workload and he's like, whoa, that's too good. I need to get Jamal Williams more involved. I want us even up the. The carry count. And to that we say lafleur cramming up your cram hole.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, that's our comment to him.

[Al Borland]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, so you're rebelling in a very adolescent fashion against Matt LaFleur. Yes, I buy the Comments, though. And that's the.

[Al Borland]

That's the problem.

[Jason Moore]

That's the problem. Aaron Jones, very good last week, had the touchdown.

[Al Borland]

Very good running back. Much better running back than Jamal Williams.

[Jason Moore]

So what do we do here? What? Obviously Aaron Jones is out there.

[Mike Wright]

You play Aaron Jones and you bench Jamal Williams. You know, even if he says he wants it to be more even. I mean, he was the one in charge last week. He gave Aaron Jones all the run in the world. They won. He played great. So, yeah, maybe Jamal Williams gets a few more carries, maybe he doesn't. And this is just coach speak trying to say, hey, Jamal, I still love you too. Come on, buddy, buddy, pick it up. But no, you. Aaron Jones is good play here. Jamal Williams is. He's a good play if you're in like a 62 team league.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. Yeah, that's good advice. Devonte Adams, he's out there. Emmanuel Sanders, he's a must start at this point.

[Al Borland]

He is.

[Jason Moore]

Great report. And one of the better fantasy wide receivers thus far through two weeks.

[Al Borland]

Yep. His recovery is nothing short of sensational. And just remember, if you're like, wow, it's Joe Flacco. Manny Sanders, can it really continue? Look what Manny Sanders was doing last year before the injury with garbage at the quarterback position. Like, Manny Sanders is a. He's a must start for me.

[Jason Moore]

He's a wide receiver for right now. And on a team with a struggling offense, incredibly leads all wide receivers in red zone targets with seven.

[Al Borland]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

So when they're down there, there is one player that Joe Flacco has confidence in and his name is Emmanuel Sanders. Mvs Geronimo Allison, would you play either this week in the plus matchup?

[Al Borland]

I think that you can. And with you guys, I would play MVS in this one. Just seeing the way that Geronimo has been being utilized, this isn't the normal slot wide receiver routes that we're used to seeing with the old McCarthy regime where Randall Cobb would at least not just stand on the line of scrimmage. But those are the targets that Geronimo is getting. So I would pivot to Marquez.

[Jason Moore]

All right. The Falcons take on the Colts in Indianapolis. The Colts are one and a half point home favorites in this one. Both teams one and one and the over unders at 47. So I think we're expecting some fireworks in this game, some offensive production for your fantasy team. Matt Ryan leading the league in interceptions.

[Al Borland]

Don't care.

[Jason Moore]

Doesn't really matter. 320 and three touchdowns. Is that on last week? Is that what last Week was or three picks. Brooks.

[Al Borland]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

Got no context there. Yeah, I'll go check that.

[Al Borland]

Yes, it was last. Last week.

[Jason Moore]

That was last week, right?

[Al Borland]

Yes, he was three and three. He has surpassed 300 passing yards. Yards, yards each of the two weeks. Matt Ryan's a must start.

[Jason Moore]

Jacoby Brissette on the other side.

[Mike Wright]

Whoa.

[Jason Moore]

What?

[Mike Wright]

Hold on. That's fine. Matt Ryan is a must start. I do think that he's. But this is, this is, I still think a really good defense. This is the first time that they're at home as well. They started the year on the road. Like I paid to pick the Colts up to play against the Falcons. Even though you don't usually want to play against Falcons for fantasy defenses, you get points for turnovers and sacks primarily and Matt Ryan is handing out turnovers and sacks. The Colts are good defense at home, so I had a hesitation. But still he's. He's a top 10 quarterback.

[Jason Moore]

Marlon Mack, we talked about it earlier. We don't know what his status is right now. If he's playing, I'm playing him. That's the way I'm going to do it. He is the RB7 in half point scoring through two weeks. He had a monster week one. As we said, you can flex Jordan Wilkins. If Mack is out, Wilkins will be one of the better midweek waiver wire pickups. And at this point, you know, I don't know what the best prescription would be but I would say look at today Thursday's practice reports. Brooks, make sure you buzz in if we hear anything. But if Mack is out, I think you can play Jordan Wilkins with confidence.

[Al Borland]

I as long as it's flex confidence, I agree with that. I don't know if I would go as far as RB2, but he becomes a start.

[Jason Moore]

Devonta Freeman, it's not been good. 8 for 19, 11 for 22.

[Al Borland]

It's not been good. But this is, this is a matchup that Devonta Freeman should be able to break out of the slump. If Freeman has another very poor game against this matchup, then that's, I mean that's. I think time to jump ship. But the first couple matchups for. For Freeman have they've not been plus matchups for the running back position.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know that this is a very plus matchup. I realized that the first two weeks they've been torched.

[Jason Moore]

But Derek Henry, 30.8 fantasy points per game through the first two weeks now who'd they play?

[Mike Wright]

So it was Derek Henry and the Tennessee Titans who obviously they're that's their whole offense. And then it was the Chargers with Austin Eckler and Justin Jackson torching. So I'm not saying that they. But we saw them last year as a good defense. There's no reason to think that they are all of a sudden one of the worst defenses. So this should be a middle of the road matchup, not just a super plus matchup. That's how I see it. Okay.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I don't disagree though, with Mike's sentiment that if Devonta Freeman doesn't show up in this game, you got three weeks of it and this should be a matchup. He can. If he can't produce here, when are you going to start him exactly? At any point in time. So this is make or break time for Devonta Freeman. He's only had one opportunity in the red zone all year, so we'll see what happens. Calvin Ridley, Julio Jones, they're in there. Ty Hilton. Yep, Absolutely. The wide receiver seven through two weeks. So it's going to be smooth sailing for Ty Hilton again this week. Eric Ebron, Austin Hooper. At this point in time, you can really look at Austin Hooper and I. Look, I hate to say this because they feel so different, but I don't know that there's a massive difference between what Austin Hooper is providing you and Darren Waller.

[Mike Wright]

I knew that was the first.

[Jason Moore]

You knew it, right? Because they're very similar in this situation.

[Mike Wright]

Targets. If you're getting, you know, five plus targets, five to 10 targets a game at tight end, you're up there, you're doing your job. Yeah. I mean, you're going to have decent fantasy production in PPR leagues and yeah. So Austin Hooper is someone that you can pick up and play in the barfy landscape.

[Jason Moore]

Nine targets week one, six targets through two weeks. To speak to Jason's point, in this.

[Mike Wright]

Game, who would you rather start?

[Jason Moore]

I would rather start. Austin Hooper.

[Mike Wright]

Austin Hooper or Eric Ebron?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, Eric Ebron's in the roulette of tight end role and we didn't even talk about Jimmy Graham. Maybe that was on purpose in the previous game, but Jimmy Graham and Eric Ebron just pick your favorite to either goose you or score a touchdown. That's the way it feels.

[Al Borland]

Oh, getting goose.

[Jason Moore]

Not good. Not good. So we'll see what happens in this one. Monitor Marlon Mack situation. That's. That's the big headline. Ravens.

[Al Borland]

Oh, yes. Yes. Let's go.

[Jason Moore]

Just a 52 and a half point over under. That seems low. You want the over in that one? Yes, we did. See now Lamar Jackson has been nothing short of spectacular through two weeks. Patrick Mahomes has been Patrick Mahomes.

[Al Borland]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

That being said, if you watch the film on Lamar Jackson last week, he finally had a handful of those, you know, severe overthrows, mistakes throwing the football. Had a bunch of great throws as well. But you finally saw him start to make a few mistakes through the air. But he made up for it with a monstrous game on the ground, his career high. Who are you not starting in this matchup? Because on the chief side, we'll circle back to the running backs, but let's stay at the wide receiver position. Watkins, Robinson, Hardman, are you fine with all three?

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Marquis Brown.

[Al Borland]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

The only wide receiver.

[Al Borland]

Yep, the only one.

[Jason Moore]

And he was actually in on what, 65% of snaps last week.

[Al Borland]

Yeah. And his, his target share was. Is actually pretty nice. I mean, 13 targets this past week and Lamar Jackson threw the ball, you know, 37 times. But that for where. For what they are doing like Marquis Brown is getting a very nice target share so far.

[Jason Moore]

All right. Mark Andrews a must start at tight end. Travis Kelsey a must start at tight end. Let's go to the running backs. Mark Ingram, you're going to play them. You're not going to play anybody else. Red zone rushes this year. Mark Ingram has seven, but Gus Bus has actually received eight. Are you worried at all about red zone work for Ingram?

[Mike Wright]

I said this from before the offseason. I think Gus Edwards is a problem for Mark Ingram in general on the season. These first three weeks for Baltimore have been so great for fantasy. I'm not hesitant in the slightest on marking room, but as time goes on, yeah, I think when the games are. Are more Baltimore scoring what you're used to, which is the lower scoring defensive games, then yeah, you'll be missing out on some of that.

[Al Borland]

Red zone worse, some of it. But the numbers are skewed because Gus Edwards carried the ball 17 times when they blew out Miami 59 to 10 in a closer game that was competitive the whole entire time. Gus Edwards carried the ball three times.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think that that's a good point. Damian Williams and LaShawn McCoy. Do we have any practice report updates? Brooks on either of those.

[Al Borland]

McCoy. The one from yesterday was McCoy was supposed to practice, but he did not.

[Jason Moore]

That's the latest I've seen.

[Al Borland]

So both Damian and lashawn are not practicing.

[Jason Moore]

So yeah, I mean one survival of.

[Mike Wright]

The fittest in that backfield, you know.

[Al Borland]

Very nice, very nice.

[Jason Moore]

Very Darwinian that you had there. Darwin Thompson, pick him up.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Al Borland]

Look, if. If both of these guys are out. Holy crap. Yes. Play Darwin Thompson.

[Jason Moore]

Darrell Williams will play two in that.

[Al Borland]

Yeah. It's not going to be the entire Darwin show, but like you could have.

[Mike Wright]

A top five running back.

[Al Borland]

You could. And. But how do you feel? Let's say.

[Jason Moore]

Who do you stash today? Jordan Wilkins or Darwin Thompson? If you're going to the waiver.

[Al Borland]

Darwin. Okay, Darwin for me because I'm going for the upside. But. So let's break this down for Darwin. Damian plays. He is the. He is fantastic in passing work, but McCoy doesn't play. How excited are you for Darwin then?

[Jason Moore]

I'm actually not that excited in that situation.

[Al Borland]

Okay. But if Shady plays and Damian is out more excited.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that's.

[Al Borland]

That's where Eileen is. Well, I just wanted to see where you. Your temperature.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. If Damian was completely out and with McCoy dealing with what seems to be an injury that's, you know, it could linger a little bit. The workload might not be massive for him. So I'd be more interested in Darwin at that point. This game's going to be fun.

[Al Borland]

Yes. Very excited for.

[Jason Moore]

It should be fun. You know, the one thing is that the Ravens defensively have been what the Ravens defensively often are and they've been stalwarts, especially against the running back position.

[Al Borland]

So Sunday night football is so mad they can't flex games right now.

[Jason Moore]

I was going to say this. This game just feels like I should not see a 1pm Eastern start time. No, but at least we get the Redskins Bears on Monday night.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Moore]

And at least we get.

[Al Borland]

This show has been going so well.

[Jason Moore]

Why did we Tennessee tonight? Oh, come on.

[Al Borland]

I'm trying to be positive.

[Jason Moore]

Keep things beautiful.

[Al Borland]

Thank you.

[Jason Moore]

So get this. Total points. You take the Thursday night game and the Monday night game. You add those games together. Do you take that total or do you take the total of the Chiefs.

[Mike Wright]

Ravens game that someone's got to make a prop bet on that.

[Jason Moore]

I'm taking Chiefs Ravens fair. All right. The Bengals travel to take on the Bills. You know, I'm not sure that 4 to 1 neutral game script recipes working for the Bengals, but their defense isn't working either and they're being pushed into that. Bills are two and. Oh, I'm surprised at this game line.

[Mike Wright]

I thought it would be closer.

[Jason Moore]

I did. I thought it would be closer to. The Bills are six point home favorites against Cincinnati here. The game's a 44 point over under. No, I'm tempted to.

[Andy Holloway]

Andy's almost upset of the wig.

[Jason Moore]

Well, you guys are giving Andy Dalton so much love earlier in the show, by extension of your comments that I.

[Al Borland]

Might say we like him more than Gardner.

[Jason Moore]

I really do think the Bills win this game. I think it just goes down to the wire. You're going to have mistakes from both sides of the football. Bills have a great defense, but we have seen the Bengals move the ball and you know, in week one, I think that's the template I'm looking at. In week one it was a nail biter between the Bengals and the Seahawks. Right. And that was in Seattle and that went down to the wires. So, you know, that's the template I'm seeing here. I think a game's closer than a six point line, it's fair.

[Al Borland]

But the Bills are going to win.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, well that's something that has rarely been said with such conviction over the last.

[Al Borland]

Bills are. Their defense is fantastic and the offense is good enough now.

[Jason Moore]

Well, I certainly love Josh Allen this week. He's got a great opportunity against the Bengals defense that is 23rd in the league against fantasy quarterbacks, 32nd in the league against fantasy running backs. And yes, I'm quoting both for Josh Allen because he likes to run the football. You must start Josh Allen in this game.

[Al Borland]

Agreed.

[Jason Moore]

He's a great option. Andy Dalton on the road here, not a stream worthy candidate. They can't run the football right now we mentioned Joe Mixon is at what, 1.59 yards per carry on the year so far.

[Al Borland]

Still got a bum ankle.

[Jason Moore]

Seems difficult that this is going to change on the road against Buffalo.

[Mike Wright]

I do think it could change on the road against Buffalo. Not that it's going to be a great game, but we have to remember, I think people who have personally had Joe Mix and they've been going through that experience, it's been a rough one. He's been terrible.

[Jason Moore]

There's been support groups.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. But you know, it's one of those things where there's been this is a new offense, a new offensive system being installed. So many of his good runs have been called back on penalty. He's been injured now another week to get healthy. He is still a great back and I think he's a startable asset and a lot of people won't touch him right now. I have confidence to say, look, he's not, this isn't his best matchup. He's not going to be a top 10 back this week, but if I had him, I would be starting.

[Jason Moore]

You are the highest on mixing this week. You've got him at 19 on your ranking. So like you said, not. Not an RB one, but a player. You're fine starting on the other side. Frank Gore.

[Al Borland]

This. This is happening. Oh, it's happening.

[Jason Moore]

This is.

[Al Borland]

Look, this is all on the health of Devon Singletary. To me, the hamstring, if you've missed what had happened, Devin Singletary had to run to the outside. He pulled up lame with the. And had to do the one legged scoot out of bounds because the hamstring is a problem. We don't have an official word yet that Devin Singletary is going to miss. It just appears to be trending that way. And Frank Gore got a bunch of work. I mean efficiency be darned. It doesn't matter because I'm picking the Bills to win this game and I think that Frank Gore is going to see a lot of work.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's a shame that Singletary got banged up. We were starting to see him emerge as a big play type of guy. He actually leads the NFL with 515 plus yard runs on only 10 attempts. So he was showing the fantasy football community what he had. And now unfortunately you're going to have to wait a little while. Most likely you're not going to see.

[Al Borland]

Those runs from Gore.

[Jason Moore]

No. He has zero of them on 30 attempts.

[Al Borland]

Not shocking.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Does he just go down at about the 14 yard mark? If necessary?

[Mike Wright]

He will. There's. There's a certain style of running you have to do to be infinite to be all it.

[Jason Moore]

I'm picturing the mental picture of like a robot running out of battery like at the 14.

[Al Borland]

See, I picture him more of like he is actually a superhero in real life. But he has to do the thing where you got to pull the punches or you'll be exposed.

[Jason Moore]

He should pull just a few.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

A few fewer. Yeah. John Brown, would you start him?

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

All right. He's got a 27% target share right now and 144 target pace. That's incredible.

[Al Borland]

So we'll see.

[Jason Moore]

He's, you know, he started hot last year. We saw that and then, you know, didn't. But there was a quarterback changeover so. Tyler Boyd.

[Al Borland]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

John Ross.

[Al Borland]

I am playing him in three wide receiver leagues and. Or as a, as a flex in unless I have like a fantastic option. But this is, this is the big test for John Ross. I know he scored most of his points last week on the garbage time touchdown. So we'll see. Does he get the targets that he received in week one. But he's got a really, really tough matchup here. He should see a lot of Trudevius White. So this is a big test for John Ross to see if he is actually living up to that first round draft.

[Mike Wright]

I would prefer to not start John Ross this week.

[Al Borland]

I get it.

[Mike Wright]

The stat line last week you just brought it up. It was very inflated by super late garbage time score. This is one of those things where John Ross is not going to just be great every week of the season.

[Al Borland]

Agreed.

[Mike Wright]

There's going to be plenty, plenty of bad weeks.

[Jason Moore]

This Buffalo's home opener.

[Mike Wright]

I believe it is Buffalo's home opener. I wanted to vet that but they started I think jets on the road and yes it is.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, it's their home opener. Yeah, it'll be an interesting game. I mean we. If they win this game and if the Patriots somehow knock off the jets, you'll have a 3030 head to head.

[Mike Wright]

Matchup next week with a line that's over 15 points.

[Jason Moore]

You think that the Patriots line over the Bills will be.

[Mike Wright]

It'll be.

[Jason Moore]

Not happen.

[Mike Wright]

I'm going to say, I'm going to say right now I think their line will be 12.

[Jason Moore]

Is the game in New England. Remind me of where the game is. I mean that matters.

[Al Borland]

The game is in Buffalo.

[Jason Moore]

There's 0% chance it's a 12 point line. So you're lowering it.

[Mike Wright]

Well, yeah, yeah. Double digits.

[Jason Moore]

I will predict if both teams are three and oh if they're both three and oh, I think the line will be seven points.

[Al Borland]

I lean closer to seven.

[Jason Moore]

Yes. I mean a road seven point favorite.

[Al Borland]

That's against an undefeated team.

[Jason Moore]

Against an undefeated team. That's pretty bold. All right, let's get to this 1. The jets at 02 take on the Patriots. Now the incredible we talked about the implied point totals. The Patriots are 2 0. The game has a 43 1/2 point over under and you're like oh, that's kind of low. Well, the implied point total because the line is 23 have the Patriots scoring 33 points and the jets scoring 11. I don't know how they score 11 points.

[Mike Wright]

That was my thing with Miami the.

[Al Borland]

Week is it Love Bell.

[Jason Moore]

Love Bell can get you to 11. I don't think it's possible Lebel gets.

[Mike Wright]

You 11 fantasy points but I mean they're going to have to get so lucky to score 11 points.

[Jason Moore]

Let's simplify this. Lev Bell, the only player you can play on the entire Jets.

[Al Borland]

Agreed.

[Mike Wright]

And you should play him.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I think so. I mean the carry count, the touches, the help he is to a young Quarterback around the line of scrimmage. He will catch probably 10 passes again.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Al Borland]

Yeah. And the, the fantastic thing about Le'Veon Bell, again, PPR, he's so valuable right now. Le'Veon Bell through the season has negative air yards.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Al Borland]

Negative 21 air yards. Is a dominant PPR running back. Right now.

[Jason Moore]

If I want to go for the NFL record and completion percentage, I would line love bell up about 6, 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage, snap it and throw it to him. On the other side you have Sony Michelle, James White, Rex Burkhead Michelle. We have as our consensus RB16 on the week. I think Jason dug this up. Somebody did. On what is this? Zero force missed tackles on the year for Sony Michelle.

[Al Borland]

Yep. According to Pro Football Focus, he has not forced a missed tackle yet.

[Jason Moore]

I don't care.

[Mike Wright]

I don't care either. In this matchup, when you're expected to score 33 points at home in a game that you're expected to win by 23 points, you're going to get goal line opportunities.

[Jason Moore]

Were you happy with Tony Michelle last week?

[Al Borland]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, he was one micro, micro millimeter. That's a new. I'm going to double up way smaller than a Brave.

[Mike Wright]

It doesn't say micro millimeter. It's not the real thing.

[Jason Moore]

He had a second touchdown that they actually the Patriots flagged to try to review and get it and it was overturned. But he basically had a second opportunity to get in the end zone. Two touchdowns is well within the realm of possibilities here in this game. And so the other question, you know, Antonio Brown supposed to be out there. We didn't see a lot from Edelman and Gordon with Antonio Brown out there. And I think he'll get fed. He's definitely the one wide receiver I have the most confidence in in this game. You know, with all three of them out there.

[Al Borland]

Yeah, I would play Brown just with what they showed last week where Antonio Brown was still limited in his snaps, but Tom Brady force fed him the ball and Antonio Brown is always open. So yes, I'm playing Brown.

[Jason Moore]

Scared of. Scared of Edelman. Scared of Gordon.

[Al Borland]

No, I will still play Edelman. I am scared to start Josh Gordon, though.

[Jason Moore]

Me too.

[Mike Wright]

I am less scared than you two gentlemen. He was still on the field a lot. It only takes one play. I mean, it's one of those. I think Josh Gordon is going to have those weeks where you're disappointed in those weeks where they're monstrous and he helps you a lot. You're not going to just be able to tell because it's a good defense or a bad defense. And so, like, for instance, we talked about John Ross. I would much rather play Gordon over John Ross.

[Jason Moore]

Wow, that's a very bold statement there.

[Al Borland]

The argument for Josh, like, why I'm lower on Josh Gordon when you're saying, yeah, he's out there running around. We. We see that all the time from Patriots wide receivers. We saw it from Chris Hogan a couple years ago when you just kept sticking with him because he's out there and he's running more routes than anyone. He's always out there. Philip Dorsett the last couple years has always been out there.

[Jason Moore]

I think, Mike, I think you should make a John Ross vs Josh Gordon Water bet. Since Jason just set it out there. I, I'd be all over that.

[Mike Wright]

What do you think?

[Al Borland]

I think my rankings do slightly favor Josh Gordon, but I'm willing to take the. I'll take the bet. Why not.

[Andy Holloway]

Water bet?

[Jason Moore]

It's rare. I can set a water bet between you two on. That's a good one.

[Al Borland]

It's fair.

[Jason Moore]

All right. The Lions at one. Oh, and one take on the Eagles. The Eagles in Philadelphia are six and a half point favorites. Now, Mike, I know we've got like a little pick them game we do around the office. I know you said you're taking the Lions.

[Al Borland]

I am.

[Jason Moore]

I certainly. I don't think I'm taking the Lions, but I don't like the line. Six and a half seems like a lot for an Eagles team that is pretty banged up. Have had very uneven performances on both sides of the ball. You know, they've had moments where I said, wow, this is the team we expected to see. Carson Wentz looks great. And then we've had moments where they've looked a little disheveled and players now banged up. No desean Jackson? No Alshon Jackson. Well, Alshon and D. Jacks are technically not marked as out.

[Al Borland]

Well, I think D. Jacks is already rocking the doubtful.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Al Borland]

So it's very unlikely to see desean Jackson. Alshon is still maybe.

[Jason Moore]

And. But we're expecting probably to see neither one. And so that makes Nelson Aguilar a flex play at the wide receiver position.

[Al Borland]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

And then Jordan Howard. People want to know, do you drop Jordan Howard right now? And you know, is this the week Miles Sanders begins to assert himself for fantasy purposes? Because he hasn't thus far no games with more than three yards of carry. He hasn't scored. He's had problems.

[Al Borland]

He's similar to Joe Mixon, though. He's had some big plays called back. My confidence level with Miles playing him this week, it's certainly not very high. It's a more of a desperation running back play.

[Mike Wright]

I don't want to roster Jordan Howard and I don't want to roster Royce Freeman. But how do you cut these guys with their.

[Al Borland]

I would rock. I find roster.

[Jason Moore]

It's like a one or two click process depending on platform. It's just let them go, man.

[Al Borland]

The difference between the two is Royce Freeman is seeing some passing down work and succeeding with the opportunities he's given.

[Jason Moore]

You're far more optimistic about Royce than I am because I don't see a world where, okay, so one time in two years, Roy Streamman's look better than Philip Lindsay. I don't see a world where he. He has to establish himself to the degree of some massive workload.

[Mike Wright]

Only injury. It's only injury. That's gonna make one of those two. I agree with that.

[Jason Moore]

Otherwise, they're not fun to roster.

[Al Borland]

What I'm talking about right now is just the Royce Freeman head to head against Jordan Howard. And yeah, you are correct that we haven't seen Freeman look better than Philip Lindsay very often. But Royce Freeman was hurt all last year.

[Jason Moore]

So wouldn't you like to. I mean, genuinely, you're kind of a dangerous guy.

[Al Borland]

Yes. I woke up feeling dangerous.

[Jason Moore]

Royce Freeman, Jordan Howard or Darwin Thompson. Who would you rather put on your roster?

[Al Borland]

Who would I roster?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, because, you know, would you drop.

[Mike Wright]

Royce Freeman to pick up a Darwin.

[Jason Moore]

Thompson for the upside? To ride the snake.

[Al Borland]

Mike, who probably that literally.

[Mike Wright]

Literally on this episode.

[Al Borland]

I don't know if I could.

[Mike Wright]

I went to look at doing that.

[Jason Moore]

But unfortunately, yeah, I paid zero fab for him. How's that feel?

[Mike Wright]

It feels pretty stupid.

[Jason Moore]

You know, that's tough, right? I mean, very tough. I would easily drop Jordan Howard for Easily for Darwin for the upside potential.

[Mike Wright]

But what would you do with Royce asking for a friend?

[Jason Moore]

I would. You know, I probably.

[Al Borland]

I'm holding him.

[Jason Moore]

I'd probably hold him because I know that at least with him, I know I've got guaranteed carries week to week in an emergency situation. I don't running back.

[Mike Wright]

I don't ever want to be someone that watches football and roots for injuries. I don't want to be that person, which is why I have to drop Rice Freeman.

[Jason Moore]

It's solid because. Solid point. All right, Here we go. 18 opportunities in week one for carry on. 15 in week two. Did much more with them in week two. Could he get to 20 this week?

[Mike Wright]

Jason yeah, he certainly could get to 20.

[Jason Moore]

Will he get to 20 this week, Jason?

[Mike Wright]

I don't think he gets to 20 this week.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. All right, let's start posting the will he's versus the could he's. But I'm expecting. I want to see what happens. They're one of the four teams in football that have not had one goal line opportunity at all. So we haven't got to see Detroit down there. You want to know a fun fact? The Saints haven't had one.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

So they haven't had a single opportunity there. And.

[Mike Wright]

And they might not for a couple more weeks.

[Al Borland]

You have to think that the probability that Kerryon Johnson is in fact the goal line running back, that probability has gone up with CJ Anderson being told to hit the bricks. The tilt level for my good friend Jason. Like for Jason's health, please.

[Mike Wright]

If they got to the goal line.

[Jason Moore]

If they get to the goal line.

[Al Borland]

And Ty Johnson is on the goal line, like Jason or Smash Jackson, somehow we will be able to see Jason's soul leave his body. And for the health of my good friend Matt Patricia, a dementor will fly.

[Jason Moore]

In, suck it out of him, and he will lay there, I can promise.

[Al Borland]

You, looking like Matt Patricia.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, man.

[Mike Wright]

If you've seen our studio tour, we've got this nine TV wall where we can take in all the games at once while we're sitting there together. If that happens, if. If Ty Johnson gets that goal line carry, I recommend you to cover as much as your face because the TVs are about to explode. Just literally. They're going to. From my rage will explode. You'll turn of glass will go everywhere.

[Jason Moore]

We'll dive behind the couches. Kenny G, you're starting him. Anybody outside of Kenny G though, this week on the, you know, wide receiver side for the Detroit Lions?

[Al Borland]

No. Nope. Marvin Jones is not getting the volume I'd hoped for.

[Jason Moore]

Zach Ertz is out there. He's a must start now. TJ Hawkinson, I think we've established we've received all the feedback, the input, the data necessary, all the possible nicknames for TJ Hawkinson. And what we've actually come up with is, look, we have a two game sample for tj. We have one game in which he was. One game in which he was hockeys.

[Al Borland]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

But unfortunately last week we had one game.

[Al Borland]

Sweaty.

[Jason Moore]

Not one for seven used. Not a good start.

[Al Borland]

No.

[Jason Moore]

Toss him away like a hawk strap. All right, so if he put like.

[Al Borland]

A Gardner Minshew hawk strap.

[Jason Moore]

So if he puts up a Big game. We've established he's hockey Lees. If he. If he lays an egg. Unfortunately, he has to bear the name Hockstrap for the week. So it's the first player with two nicknames.

[Al Borland]

Don't blame us. TJ Hawkinson. It's not our fault.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Jason Moore]

The Foot Clan, they came out in droves. We just couldn't choose. So have a good game. Be hockeys. That's all I'm saying. Now, would you start him in this game?

[Mike Wright]

It's not the greatest matchup. The Eagles have been middle of the road through the first two weeks. Last year they were the. They were top three against tight end. But I do think that they're. The Lions are going to need to throw the ball. So I think he is someone you could start this week. Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Okay. Yeah. He's on the cusp of the tight ends. Tight end, 11 by consensus. Let's get into the starts.

[Andy Holloway]

Starts of the week.

[Jason Moore]

All right, quarterback position. Jason, who's your start of the week?

[Mike Wright]

Look, I'm sticking with who I went with last week. If you picked him up, you've been playing them. Tom Brady is going to be a top five quarterback, I think for the foreseeable future. He's got every weapon at his disposal. It's not one of those games where just because they are going to win and they're at home, it's all going to the running back. I think he starts with, you know, again, three touchdowns for Brady.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going to go with Josh Allen against Cincinnati in that game. 17 rush attempts for Allen through two games. So it's looked really good. He's got John Brown, he's got some weapons. Beasley's looked great. So I'm going Josh Allen, who is perennially undervalued.

[Al Borland]

Yeah, that's fair.

[Jason Moore]

And we'll go.

[Al Borland]

Oh, that's excellent.

[Jason Moore]

We haven't brought Josh Stallion up in a while, so I think it's a stallion week.

[Al Borland]

And the quarterback who has the way we do things, he's basically just never been eligible for this. But I'm going with the vote of confidence. The start of the week of Aaron Rodgers at home taking on the Denver Broncos. The Broncos fantasy points against are absolutely inflated by a 1 Mitchell Trubisky and a Derek Carr. I'm not buying into the Denver defense. I think Aaron Rodgers has his first quarterback one game of the season.

[Jason Moore]

All right. At the running back position. Jason, who's your running back start of the week?

[Mike Wright]

So just like last week, I'm going lower this isn't a must start, but this is a very capable starter if you need him. Frank Gore is my start of the week.

[Al Borland]

I'm starting him.

[Mike Wright]

Exactly. I think you could start him over plenty of players out there.

[Jason Moore]

I would think starting him would be good for the start of the week. I would say starting him is solid.

[Mike Wright]

Yes. But I'm saying, I'm not saying he's going to be a top 10 back, but I am saying there's no way he's not a top 20 back. He's going to get so much volume. They're at home. They're favored by a touchdown.

[Al Borland]

Scoring opportunities.

[Mike Wright]

The scoring opportunities are going to be his. Devin Singletary is most likely out. If he's not out, you'll be limited. Frank Gore should feast in this game.

[Jason Moore]

I'm going with Marlon Mack. I'm taking the chance on Marlon Mack. He's my start of the week. He's third in the league in rushing.

[Al Borland]

Dancing with the devil.

[Jason Moore]

Jacoby Brissette is 29th in the league in passing yards. I'm not dancing with the devil. There's a lot of optimism around it. Yesterday when he, you know, you have one of their beat reporters talking about he was walking into the locker room, joking around. He was holding a walking boot. Joking with the reporter about it. He thinks he's fine. I think we see him out there and if he's out there, the matchup, the performance and what they're doing on the ground right now, I'm going to give you the shot of confidence. An active Marlon Mack should be in your lineup.

[Al Borland]

All right. And I'm going with what Jason was doing with a lower tier running back who you actually, I think, is a fine start this week. I'm going with Carlos Hyde. Our good friends, you heard him at the beginning of the show. Skittles, they taste the rainbow. I'm tasting the volume. Oh, this week, fellas, with Carlos Hyde. This, this is the team that Bill O'Brien wants to be. Yes, he has Desean Watson, one of the best quarterbacks in the league, a fantasy superstar. But if O'Brien has his way, he's going to run the ball a ton. Carlos Hyde has looked rejuvenated after, like, it's shocking. But Carlos Hyde has looked fantastic week one.

[Jason Moore]

Maybe the system just fits him maybe.

[Al Borland]

10 for 83 week, 120 carries for 90 yards this past week. And the way you beat the Chargers on the ground, and that's going to be Carlos Hyde.

[Jason Moore]

All right, wide receiver, start of the week.

[Mike Wright]

Jay, it's Larry legend.

[Al Borland]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Pro Bowl.

[Mike Wright]

Larry. Larry Fitzgerald. Look, he has only been awesome the this year. 13 targets, week one, 11 targets, week two, over 100 yards, both weeks, a touchdown, week one. And this is about Larry's home road splits. Look, he was great last week in Baltimore on the road, but over the last few years later in his career, he gets up for those home games. He juices that crowd. That crowd. It's this. I mean, we've been there. Larry is a part of the valley of the sun and when they need a play, they're going to go to him. This is a winnable matchup. I think Larry Fitzgerald has an excellent game.

[Jason Moore]

All right, I'm actually going to go with Mike Evans the start of the week at the wide receiver position, heading, you know, taking on New York this week. I think he's just been a play away from giving you what you need. The target share between, you know, Godwin, who's performed had the touchdowns and Mike Evans. It's been close. Nine, eight last week. Mike Evans, I want to give you the shot in the arm this week.

[Al Borland]

Start of the week, I'm going with the smooth routes of Mr. Kenny G. 19 targets through two games. He has the fourth most air yards he has. Kenny G looks like he has leveled up as a wide receiver. He's Matt Stafford's go to guy. And the Philadelphia Eagles can be torched.

[Jason Moore]

He definitely seems like he's distanced himself from Marvin Jones. He has one A, one B. Yeah, like we thought it might be.

[Al Borland]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

All right, Jason, revenge game narrative. Let's go. Start of the week at the tight end position.

[Mike Wright]

The week at the tight end position. He upset all of his owners week one. Vance McDonald came out week two, had a great game. Two touchdowns, both from Mason Rudolph. Rudolph's going to look to Vance McDonald. Vance is on the field. He's open. He's going back to San Francisco. He's going to say, hey, George Kittle, you wish you were me. I was the original guy. Having long. Can I get your autograph, please? Can we exchange jerseys after this game? Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

I respect you immensely.

[Al Borland]

Make it out to my kids.

[Mike Wright]

So I do believe that he's a guy you can play this week. You know, you've got two games. One terrible, one great. What's the truth? I think the truth is you're going to be doing the Vance dance this week.

[Jason Moore]

All right. I'm actually going with O.J. howard.

[Al Borland]

Wow.

[Mike Wright]

I don't at first you asked the question, you were like. And we were like, well, you got to be right. I think you're right here.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean, look, the people need it. I'm taking a stand. I know our editor, Kyle appreciates that. And O.J. howard after the goose against New York, there's some motivational tactics involved. He's out there on the field. The targets will come and you don't have a lot of better options if you don't have one of the main guys. You, you don't need to go out there and play Eric Ebron over O.J. howard. I do not believe in that. Play O.J. howard start of the week. Don't care.

[Al Borland]

And I've got Greg Olson. He has the second most tight end. Area is a 20% tight end share.

[Jason Moore]

Even with Kyle Allen.

[Al Borland]

Even with Kyle Allen. Tight end against the Arizona Cardinals is going to be the smash matchup every single week.

[Jason Moore]

Okay, okay. By the way, Devin Singletary not practicing today. He will not play. There's just no way after that injury. All right, that was starts of the week. One more very important analytical right angle segment.

[Andy Holloway]

Jason Moore's ironclad locked and loaded. 100% guaranteed. Boom, boom Kicker of the week.

[Mike Wright]

This week you can forget about old Justin Timber Tucker and play his opponent, the Chiefs, Harrison Butker.

[Al Borland]

Stunning.

[Jason Moore]

Incredible. Thank you once again for that, Jason.

[Mike Wright]

You're welcome, Foot Clan.

[Jason Moore]

I'm thinking about putting kickers back in one of our leagues because of that.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I don't blame you.

[Jason Moore]

Probably won't though. I do.

[Mike Wright]

Don't do it.

[Jason Moore]

We want to thank our studio sponsor, Pristine Auction for today's podcast. Tomorrow we'll have more matchups by the way and we'll get into in and out. We'll have Ballards on a budget and all the latest news including some Josh Jacobs follow up information for you. A signed DeAndre Hopkins jersey yesterday. $89.61 on pristineauction.com and you can get daily steals over there. Head to pristineauction.com use the code ballers when you sign up. Save a little quiche. Yeah, that is it for today's episode of the Fantasy Footballers. Thank you for supporting this show. You can go to jointhefoot.com if you want to be a part of our listener community. 10,000 strong over there. We'll catch you tomorrow.

[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.

[Al Borland]

Reminder. Foot Clan. Today's episode of the Fantasy Footballers was brought to you by Mugsy Jeans. The most comfortable men's jeans ever made. That's no exaggeration. Mugsy's high tech fabrics are so soft and flexible, they literally feel as comfortable as sweatpants. Do your legs a Favor, head to mugsy.com to grab your own pair of ridiculously comfortable jeans. Today listeners can use the code footballers for 10 bucks off. That's M U G-S-Y.com with code footballers for 10 bucks off your pair of Mugsy jeans.