Starts of the Week + Week 5 Breakdown, Winkies & Twinkies

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary: "Starts of the Week + Week 5 Breakdown, Winkies & Twinkies"

Release Date: October 3, 2019

The Fantasy Footballers, hosted by Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright, deliver another insightful episode focused on preparing listeners for Week 5 of the NFL season. This episode dives deep into player starts, matchup analyses, league news, and strategic advice to help fantasy managers optimize their lineups.

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Giveaway Announcement

The episode kicks off with an exciting giveaway hosted by Pristine Auction, where listeners have the chance to win a signed Saquon Barkley jersey. Melvin Gordon humorously engages with the hosts, setting a lighthearted tone for the show.

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Scariest Start of the Week

A central discussion revolves around identifying the scariest player to start in Week 5. Initially, Terry McLaurin is spotlighted due to his uncertain status against the New England Patriots. Melvin Gordon refers to him metaphorically as "Scary Terry," emphasizing the risk of including him in the lineup:

Melvin Gordon [04:26]: "I do not think you could play him. You're going up against New England with what Jay Gruden says that they don't have a quarterback, which he is."

Andy Holloway introduces his own pick, Melvin Gordon himself, highlighting the uncertainty of his Week 5 performance:

Andy Holloway [05:24]: "It's Melvin Gordon for me, guys. Week five, Melvin Gordon makes his debut."

Despite the initial hesitation, Melvin encourages managers to start Gordon, promising further justification later in the episode.

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News and Notes

The hosts move on to significant league updates, particularly focusing on Stefan Diggs of the Minnesota Vikings. Concerns arise over Diggs' participation and potential trade rumors amidst frustrations with the team's offensive direction. Mike Wright points out:

Mike Wright [07:03]: "What the heck is going on with Stefan Diggs? He has been close to horrific for fantasy football until this past week because of course, the matchup in Chicago."

Additionally, injury updates for key players like Christian Kirk and Adam Thielen are discussed, with strategic implications for fantasy lineups.

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Fantasy Forecasts: Starts of the Week

The trio provides detailed analyses of optimal player starts for Week 5 across various positions:

• Running Backs:

  • Derek Henry (Titans vs. Bills): Considered a must-start due to the favorable matchup and consistent workload.

    Melvin Gordon [20:17]: "So this is, this is a really good matchup for Derek Henry. It's basically the tailor-made matchup for him."

  • Joe Mixon (Bengals vs. Cardinals): Highlighted as a breakout candidate against a defense that has been leaky against the run.
  • Melvin Gordon & Austin Ekeler (Chargers): Both are recommended starts with Gordon split time with Ekeler.

• Wide Receivers:

  • Larry Fitzgerald (Cardinals vs. Bengals): Selected for his reliable target share against a vulnerable Bengals defense.

    Melvin Gordon [60:28]: "Larry Fitzgerald's the wide receiver, 16 on the season so far this year. He just broke the number two all-time record for receptions."

• Tight Ends:

  • Jimmy Graham (Saints vs. Buccaneers): Chosen for increased target opportunities in the absence of DeAndre Adams.

    Andy Holloway [55:41]: "I love Jimmy Graham this week... he is tied for the league lead at the tight end position in red zone targets."

• Quarterbacks:

  • Jimmy Garoppolo (Patriots vs. Steelers): Recommended as a deeper play with favorable conditions.
  • Carson Wentz (Eagles vs. Jets): Emphasized as a reliable start given his performance and matchup.

• Kicker of the Week:

  • Robbie Gould (49ers vs. Cowboys): Selected despite recent inconsistencies, anticipated to improve as October progresses.

    Andy Holloway [64:56]: "This is deep dive research on kickers."

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Strategic Insights and Trade Advice

The hosts offer strategic advice on potential trades and player acquisitions. Emphasis is placed on trading for high-potential players like Adam Thielen and leveraging trade opportunities involving DeAndre Hopkins. Melvin Gordon advocates for targeting Thielen:

Melvin Gordon [10:34]: "I am in favor of going after Thielen. I think the squeaky wheel will get the oil."

Discussions also cover the volatility surrounding players like Calvin Ridley and Mohamed Sanu, with varying opinions on their reliability and potential for breakout performances.

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Water Bets and Listener Engagement

A recurring segment involves "water bets," a humorous take where hosts wager trivial losses, such as having water poured on them, to add entertainment value. This segment fosters listener engagement and adds a playful dynamic to the podcast.

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Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Wrapping up, the Fantasy Footballers reiterate the importance of staying informed with game day alerts and encourage listeners to participate in community events. They emphasize strategic starts and staying adaptable to last-minute changes due to injuries or unexpected player performances.

Andy Holloway [66:21]: "That is it for today's episode. Thanks for everything, Brooks."

Listeners are reminded to follow the podcast on various social media platforms and join the Foot Clan community for ongoing support and updates.

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This episode of the Fantasy Footballers provides comprehensive coverage for fantasy managers, blending expert analysis with engaging conversations to navigate the complexities of Week 5 effectively.

Transcript

[Andy Holloway]

Today's episode of the Fantasy Footballers is brought to you by Mugsy Jeans, the most comfortable men's jeans ever made. Now that's not an exaggeration. Mugsies high tech fabrics are so soft. Soft and flexible. Flexible. They literally feel as comfortable as sweatpants. Do your legs a favor and head to mugsy.com grab your own pair of ridiculously comfortable jeans. Today listeners can use the code footballers for $10 off. That's mugsy.com with the code footballers for $10 off. Your first pair of Mugsy jeans. This is Melvin Gordon from the Los Angeles Chargers and you listening to the Fantasy Footballers podcast.

[Jason Moore]

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast coming to you from Pristine Auction.com Studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike wr.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome in.

[Mike Wright]

It's football time.

[Melvin Gordon]

Hey, hey. You know Mike, every single.

[Mike Wright]

What's that, Jason?

[Melvin Gordon]

Every single episode this year since your first it's football time. I've said it's football time in my head and I know the people listening every time that that music plays, they're saying it's football time.

[Andy Holloway]

That's the Thursday edition of the intro, right?

[Mike Wright]

That's correct.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. That's outstanding. Yet again we take another stride, we make another stride in the history of podcasting time and time again.

[Mike Wright]

It's a real fun thing to do. Just when there's music, there's no words over. Yeah, just make up your own words.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's real fun, especially when they're that spectacular. Welcome into the show.

[Mike Wright]

Can't help the Greatness, fellas.

[Andy Holloway]

Thursday, October 3rd, the fantasy footballers back again. You can find us on Twitter at the ffballers instagram.com fantasy footballers on YouTube. Wherever you listen to podcasts, we appreciate all the reviews that have come in this year from the Foot Clan supporting the show, subscribing, reviewing all that stuff helps our independent podcast. And we appreciate it so much that we're giving away a sign Saquon Barkley jersey from Pristine Auction. You can go enter to win signed Superhuman jersey. Apparently Saquon Barkley Footclain giveaway.com is the URL Footclain giveaway.com he's not been ruled out for this week. It's a four to eight week timeline.

[Mike Wright]

Before we get into Barkley. Just for the people, if you've already entered the completely free giveaway, we have added more options. So if you've already entered, make sure you go back because you can get more points. More raffle points.

[Andy Holloway]

That's right.

[Melvin Gordon]

To get you the superhuman jerk. Now back to superhuman. If you Wear the jersey by the superhuman.

[Mike Wright]

Of course, you become imbued. All the powers.

[Melvin Gordon]

That's right. And if you get a high ankle sprain, you too can run with a high ankle sprain. Because he can for some reason.

[Andy Holloway]

I imagine if you wear it, it will cut down any prognosis proportional to what it's cut it down for him. A normal four to eight, he's gonna be back maybe in two. So you get the flu, that's what, seven to 10 days. You're probably back in two to three.

[Melvin Gordon]

You get a cold like me. It's four to seven years, right?

[Andy Holloway]

That'll be cut down to like you might be well in a year.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah, I need to hold on. Foot clan giveaway.

[Mike Wright]

Not bloody likely.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, quick question of the day. We've got matchups on the show. By the way, the fantasy forecast. We've got starts of the week. We got the boom boom kicker. We've got news. But here's the quick question. Who is the scariest start for week five? Confidence is a tricky business in fantasy football. We talked a lot in the office yesterday about players like Adam Thielen and Stefan Diggs and even, even DeAndre Hopkins. We had our foot cast, our exclusive episode of the show, the bonus episode for the Foot Clan yesterday. There must have been 50 questions about trading for or trading away DeAndre Hopkins because confidence is at an all time low after three bad weeks. So who's the scariest player to put into your lineup Week five?

[Melvin Gordon]

Look, I'm going to stick with the title of the question is Scary Terry. He is the scariest. Not only because of nickname, but the reality is, I mean, I don't think you can start him. Even though he's been phenomenal. He's a guy that you have to start when he's out there.

[Andy Holloway]

That's Terry Bradshaw.

[Melvin Gordon]

That is. That's right, Terry Bradshaw. Multiple Super bowl victories, MVPs.

[Andy Holloway]

Wouldn't play him, right?

[Melvin Gordon]

Do not play him. No. Terry McLaurin, the F1 himself. Wide receiver, rookie from the Washington Redskins, if you have him. You've been starting him. He's been amazing. He was out last week. Well, he's practicing. There's a good chance he plays this week. And I do not think you could play him. You're going up against New England with what Jay Gruden says that they don't have a quarterback, which he is. Right.

[Andy Holloway]

So this is more of a non start than it is a scary start. You can't, you can't even put him in your lineup with Trepidation.

[Melvin Gordon]

I think there are situations like I'm in one where he might end up in my lineup and trust me, bro, that's scary.

[Andy Holloway]

I. I know you guys are both surprised with my pick.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, we are.

[Melvin Gordon]

I am very surprised. We'll talk about it later in the show. Spoiler.

[Andy Holloway]

It's Melvin Gordon for me, guys. Week five, Melvin Gordon makes his debut. Austin Eckler has been arguably the most impactful fantasy football running back and he's been heavily involved in the passing game to the tune of, like, leading the National Football League and yards after the catch. He's been excellent. I just personally don't know what the proportions are going to look like in the effectiveness of Melvin Gordon in week one. I say it's a scary start because, of course, you got to start Melvin Gordon when he's active. You guys have way more confidence than I do that it will be a big week for him, whereas I think I don't know what I'm going to get out of him. So it's a little scary for me.

[Melvin Gordon]

Well, and this is why, I mean, I'll just spoil it now. He's going to be my start of the week. Later.

[Andy Holloway]

Your fear, your scary start of the week.

[Melvin Gordon]

Your fear is why I made him my start of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

You want to give me confidence.

[Melvin Gordon]

I want to tell you, like, look, you should start him. You have to start him. He's a good start. I'll tell you the reasons why later. But as Nick Diaz would say, don't be scared, homie.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, thank you. Now I feel much more comfortable.

[Mike Wright]

Mike mine is the player I want to talk about. He's also going to be featured in the news and notes section because what the heck is going on with Stefan Diggs? He has been close to horrific for fantasy football until this past week because of course, the matchup in Chicago. He goes off for 7 for. For 108, but his target share has been gone. He is very frustrated with the offense and possibly mia. We don't know what's going on with Stefan Diggs.

[Andy Holloway]

I will say this and we'll get into the news, but he. He' dealing with recurring injury, multiple injury situations. If you watch the game, he was banged up. I tend to think is more tied to that, but we'll find out. Coach Anthony Lynn just now said Melvin Gordon will definitely be a part of the game plan. Here's his quote. He will definitely be part of the game plan. He may even start the game. So that's exactly why it's scary for me. I don't think that there's a guarantee here for Melvin Gordon to have 50% of snaps, 30%, I don't know. So I look forward to your narratives later on. Let's go ahead and move on. Let's get into the news.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league presented by Sleeper.

[Andy Holloway]

So Diggs didn't practice Wednesday. We saw Jalen Ramsey choose not to practice for injury miss the game.

[Mike Wright]

Well, this was undisclosed. Yes, they're saying it was not an injury reason that he missed the practice. He just wasn't there.

[Melvin Gordon]

He and Rapaport can't talk about it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Ian Rapaport tweeted that his frustration with the organization has been palpable. He was not at practice for non injury reasons. Teammates are left wondering if he even wants to be there. The team has been adamant about the fact he's not available for trade. But things are coming to a head in Minnesota. If this team starts losing, watch out now. If they start winning, everything gets better when you win.

[Melvin Gordon]

Well, the good news is they play the Giants this week, so I think they've got a.

[Andy Holloway]

You're talking about the team that has the exact same record as them, Jason?

[Melvin Gordon]

Yes. Oh, undefeated with their new quarterback.

[Andy Holloway]

But yes, that is very good news for them.

[Melvin Gordon]

Right. But the Vikings still get to play them.

[Andy Holloway]

So what is this when I am in these situations because I mentioned on the show yesterday Emmanuel Sanders, some trade rumors, right? And it makes sense for Denver, like Manuel Sanders is one of their older players. Chris Harris is one of the more.

[Mike Wright]

Valuable players last year of his contract for Manny Sanders.

[Andy Holloway]

It makes sense to move these guys if your team is not heading the right direction. Owen Ford, from what I understand, not the right direction. So it makes your brain start moving as a fantasy owner. And I say, well, I, you know, do I still want Sanders because if he's traded, what's his value? Does he get the target share that he's getting right now from Joe Flacco? Also, who is Cortland Sutton a buy? Because if Sanders leaves, Sutton is the guy. What happens here with the digs thought? I mean, do you go after a guy like Adam Thielen right now? You could buy Thielen as low as you could ever buy him. Now I offered Emmanuel Sanders for Adam Thielen yesterday. I was turned down. But do you go after a guy like Thielen on the off chance Diggs is shipped out of town?

[Melvin Gordon]

I would personally go after Thielen. We argued about this, Mike and I did, on the footcast yesterday. I believe you Were not in favor of going after Thielen. I am in favor of going after Thielen. I think the squeaky wheel will get the oil. I don't think this team. Well, I'm not just talking about this week. I'm talking about rest of season. I don't think it's possible for them to have the run pass ratio that they've had so far on the year, the rest of the season. That's not to say they're going to turn around and all of a sudden be a team that's throwing the ball a lot, but they are astronomically low on passing the ball. And this is, this is a player and a quarterback that it's not like it's new. Right. Adam Thielen and Kirk Cousins dominated for eight or nine weeks last year. Different oc. But my point is same human beings throwing and catching the ball to each other. I think much brighter days are more.

[Andy Holloway]

Cousins to Thielen than Thielen to Cousins on the throwing and catching.

[Melvin Gordon]

That's true. It's not to each other. I guess that's fair. But yeah, I am buying low on Adam Thielen. And if Degs gets traded, it's great news for both of these guys because right now there's not enough volume to be split between those two guys. And if Diggs goes somewhere, his value has nowhere to go but up.

[Mike Wright]

I can't imagine they trade him.

[Melvin Gordon]

They've said he's not being traded.

[Mike Wright]

The people say that and then. And guys get traded.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you don't. Mike Zimmer has no patience for anything. If Stefan Diggs misses all his practices and holds out, guess what? He's going to want to jettison him.

[Mike Wright]

Like they just gave him a huge contract. He's one of the best young wide receivers in the league. He can be a franchise wide receiver for this team for years to come. But if you're Stefan Diggs and like, yeah, you're happy, you got your money, your generational life changing money, but you also want to be a good football player and you're not going to get that opportunity the way that things are going in Minnesota.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, we need to move on because we've got fantasy forecasts coming up and a lot of news to get through. Christian Kirk, the ankle injury unlikely to play in Week 5 against the Bengals. Larry Fitzgerald obviously is a good start in this matchup against Cincinnati. You're going to have Trent Sherfield and Keyshawn Johnson on the outside. They re signed. Farrell Cooper, you're not very Excited about what's happening in Arizona in general, but in week five, Christian Kirk is not going to be available. So you can make your adjustments as you see fit there. I don't know how much you guys downgrade Kyler Murray because of the absence of Kirk.

[Mike Wright]

Not. Not really. But the. The sneaky start, probably more of like you're looking at a DFS tournament would be Keyshawn Johnson. Christian Kirk is getting a lot of targets, and the Cardinals are not going to slow down, so that volume has to go somewhere.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Damian Williams returned to a full practice.

[Mike Wright]

The Damian Williams thing is so bizarre where he.

[Andy Holloway]

You're saying because he hasn't eased himself back in and all of a sudden he's back that.

[Mike Wright]

And just. I mean, he went away. You weren't even 100% sure.

[Melvin Gordon]

What.

[Mike Wright]

What is the full injury? What is the extent of it?

[Melvin Gordon]

I didn't even remember who he was.

[Mike Wright]

I'm talking to people who believed in Damian Williams, but, I mean, he just, he. He retracted into the shadows, and now all of a sudden he's back and. And it's going to. It's going to affect what's going on with the running back position for Kansas City.

[Melvin Gordon]

He's actually a decent trade for Target right now. People that have them, they were disappointed in the beginning, and maybe you could go buy him.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. And then Tyree Kill returned to a limited practice. This is a great sign. I don't think he's going to play this week.

[Mike Wright]

I expect next week, but this is.

[Andy Holloway]

This is great, outstanding news for the Chiefs. And it's also maybe a sign for fantasy owners to. If depending on what you believe about Sammy Watkins, with or without Tyreek Hill, this could be a chance to sell watkins more so Demarcus, Robinson, McColl, Hardman, their value takes a monstrous hit when Tyreek returns. So you're playing with borrowed time on those two players. Emmanuel Sanders, quad injury, limited at practice. Dealt with a contusion in Sunday's game. Says he's good. I think it's a great sign that he was limited on a Wednesday. I expected him to miss practice. So I think he's okay.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah, he's totally fine. I mean, I'm pretty sure the three of us watched last week him completely rupture his Achilles.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, we watched the season ending. Yeah.

[Melvin Gordon]

And then he was back out on the next place.

[Andy Holloway]

Did you see what he did in between plays?

[Melvin Gordon]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

Put on the Saquon jersey.

[Melvin Gordon]

Oh, yeah. That's where we got it from Sanders.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. Pat Shermer Reiterated that Saquon is possible for Sunday.

[Melvin Gordon]

That can't happen. No, you can't do that to him. Don't get your hopes up. If you've got Saquon. He's not playing this week.

[Andy Holloway]

How about you go buy Saquon?

[Melvin Gordon]

Sure. Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Because he's going to play sooner than later. It's not going to be no eight weeks, that's for sure.

[Melvin Gordon]

I think the timeline to buy him super cheap might be over.

[Andy Holloway]

It might be. Mike Williams limited in practice. Once again, he has not been healthy this year. Sam Darnold, are we expecting him?

[Melvin Gordon]

He hasn't been cleared for contact. Adam Gates is saying he's the one that has been playing. It's, it's like Adam Gaze is trying, you know when you try to will something to happen? Yeah. Like, well, look, it's secret. The spleen looks fine to me. Right? Yeah. Oprah. Oprah and are like just put him out there and they'll clear him. But I don't, I don't think the timeline will allow him to play this play this week. Obviously if he gets cleared, he's full go. He's been practicing, but he's practicing on a non contact basis. I expect that he doesn't play this week, but it's all a matter of how the testing goes for his spleen.

[Andy Holloway]

On Fridays we do in and out. We'll give you our official prognosis. What we think is going. That's not the right word. Our prediction, our official prediction of what we think is going to happen. Players in or out. That'll include Jarvis Landry, who's still in the concussion protocol heading into Thursday. That'll include Tevin Coleman who didn't practice Monday. We have not had official reports. John Ross is on IR now.

[Mike Wright]

That one is official.

[Andy Holloway]

That one's official. Dontrell Inman on ir. Chargers tried to lose one to three offensive players per week. That's kind of the. That's the plan that they're on. They're doing it and they're pulling it off.

[Melvin Gordon]

Good for you, Chargers.

[Andy Holloway]

For the first time in eight years, the Patriots will have a different place kicker. Stephen Goskowski is in place on injured reserve. He had missed four extra points and a field goal. So they've signed Mike Nugent.

[Melvin Gordon]

Mike Nugent, you'll have to wait. That is boom boom kicker to see. Oh, no, you're not the boom boom of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

Is this just because you have a new player to rhyme with Nugent?

[Melvin Gordon]

Rhymes with Puget.

[Andy Holloway]

That's true.

[Mike Wright]

I was racking My brain trying to figure out how are you going to work this one in. Very excited, Jason.

[Melvin Gordon]

Let's get. Yeah, just hold your breath until we get there.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. In and out tomorrow. As I said, news and notes is always brought to you by the sleeper app. Do not miss a single piece of impactful news. Get the sleeper app today.

[Mike Wright]

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[Jason Moore]

Fantasy forecast.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, fantasy forecast then. Our starts of the week coming up. The Lions, the Dolphins both on by. We'll start with the Bills Titans. Match of the bills at three and one take on the Titans. They're two and two games in Tennessee. The Titans are three point favorites. This game has a yuck 39 point over under. That gives an implied point total of 21 points for the Titans, about 18 points for the Bills.

[Melvin Gordon]

This is why Mike and I made both sides of this game our streaming defenses of the week. This does not expect to be a high scoring game.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, I'm not excited about much here guys, but we know we can start Derek Henry each and every week. He has been a workhorse. He has been sufficient despite low pass catching involvement. He's the running back eight on our consensus rankings for the week.

[Melvin Gordon]

So this is, this is a really good matchup for Derek Henry. It's basically the tailor made matchup for him.

[Mike Wright]

Really?

[Melvin Gordon]

I believe so.

[Mike Wright]

I disagree.

[Melvin Gordon]

Okay, so let me make my case for you. This is a game that's not going to get out of hand. The Bills are not going to just go and all of a sudden put up 30 points and they're going to be down and they're going to have to go to Dion Lewis. This is a low scoring affair where, you know, Derrick Henry has been on the field for 75% of snaps. The only worry you have with Derek Henry is that oh no, they're down and they've got to go to Deon Lewis. Well, I don't think that happens in this game. And then you look at the defense across the field. The Bills are great. They're phenomenal for today's NFL. They just made it difficult for the Patriots, but that's because they stopped the pass. They are excellent against quarterbacks, wide receivers, tight ends, but their one weak spot is running backs and it's, you know, certain teams we put in our research for these shows. We look at the trends of this season and we look at last year and so often with defenses, they're completely different. Last year is identical to this year with the Bills. They were great in the passing game, but they, it's, it's a running funnel defense. They're saying go ahead, try to beat us with the run. That's what we want you to do. We just don't want you to pass on us. That's what the Titans are going to try to do.

[Andy Holloway]

I am 100% in your corner on this. Derek Henry had 27 carries last week. There are, there's pretty much one guy that can do that and it's Derek Henry in the NFL. And by way of productive elimination, volume is why the Bills have given up some points in the running game. It's just redundant. Oh, you know, you have to run the ball against them. Derek Henry can run for three carry against Buffalo. I don't care. I think he's going to get 25 carries in this game. When he does, they win. That's the recipe. They're favored. I'm all aboard. Derek Henry.

[Mike Wright]

I'm not saying I'm benching Henry. I just like the Bills. When you look at their fantasy points against the running back, I think it's not telling the full story because you can look at what. Who have they faced? Le'Veon Bell. He was 17 for 60 on the ground. That's very, very, very ho hum fantasy numbers. Le'Veon Bell scored through the air, six receptions, 32 yards and a touchdown. Then they played against Saquon Barkley. He is superhuman. He does not count. He crushed the Buffalo Bills. Then who's Next? Joe Mixon, 15 for 60 on the ground. He did his damage through the air. Sony, Michelle. 17 for 63. Like guys who can't catch the ball, like I think that they're in their. Is the possibility for them to be in trouble where. All I'm saying is the Bills where they are, what are they 20th against fantasy running backs. I think that's not a true, true telltale sign of who that defense actually is against grinders.

[Melvin Gordon]

I agree with you in the sense that you look at James White was really one of the running backs that did in the Bills last week. But to Andy's point, you know you brought up Mixon, right? He was 15 for 60. Well, you're disappointed but if he gets 25 carries, sure you're going to be fine.

[Mike Wright]

Volume could overcome because we didn't, we.

[Andy Holloway]

Actually didn't make any water bets last week. And because I'm feeling frivolous today. Oh, I'm willing to bet if anybody wants it. I'm willing to bet guarantee via water bet that Derek Henry scores a touchdown in this game. Anybody? Do you want to take that bet? No, but odds are against me on the, on the course of the year.

[Mike Wright]

Probably short now.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, well then I did my best.

[Melvin Gordon]

You did try.

[Andy Holloway]

I did try. I think short fields are a possibility. Josh Allen, whether he's coming back off the concussion.

[Mike Wright]

If you like Barkley, super confident and be like Derek Henry's top five.

[Andy Holloway]

75 and a touchdown.

[Mike Wright]

Okay, I'll take that.

[Melvin Gordon]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Waterbed.

[Andy Holloway]

We needed something on the line there. Now how helpful that debate was, I don't know. Because if you have Derek Henry, I think you're starting him regardless.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

Here's some tough decisions that you have to make though, in a game with this kind of over under on the road quarterback conundrums in Buffalo. I mean, Matt Barkley might end up starting this game, but Josh Allen did participate in individual drills. Regardless. Do you have confidence in John Brown, Cole Beasley, Frank Gore, any of the options in Buffalo? The Tennessee defense is pretty good and they're at home.

[Mike Wright]

Confidence. No.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah, not really. I mean, there's a situation where you could, you know, if you're in a double flex league and you need to throw in Cole Beasley and a PPR. Sure. Yeah. I got 13 targets last week in a full PPR. You're okay there, but there's really. You just brought up the wide receivers. I'm not confident in Frank Gore in this matchup on the road against a good defense. Certainly not going to play Devin Singletary if he's back. He only stands there to hurt Gore. There's really almost no bill that I want to play even if Josh Allen is in. I'm not in love with the wide receivers or Josh Allen in this match up on the road.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Dynasty leagues. Are you interested in Dawson Knox acquisitions right now?

[Mike Wright]

Sure. I mean, it's hiding. His tight end is really tough and Dawson Knox is. He's seeing volume. Let's see what happens though when Tyler Croft, their free agent signing, actually gets to play. But Dawson Knox is. He's showing up, man. 67 yards two weeks ago, 58 this past weekend.

[Andy Holloway]

One of the reasons I didn't want to pick up A.J. brown in redraft leagues was because they have this matchup on the docket and you don't chase points with Marcus Mariota unless you want to be sad. So Brown, Davis, benching those guys like a dog.

[Mike Wright]

Chasing a car. That's what chasing Marcus Mariota points is like.

[Andy Holloway]

Delaney Walker, do you start him?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, you might have to.

[Melvin Gordon]

I think you. I think you pretty much have to.

[Andy Holloway]

You don't love it because by our rankings, you don't. We have him at tight end 14. Consensus wise, he's been rough. Do you take a shot with somebody with more upside? I mean, you'd play him over Dawson Knox in this game?

[Melvin Gordon]

Yes. Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

The problem is the guys in front of him are most likely owned. The only one I could think of, maybe Eric Ebrons on the waiver wire, and then Tyler Iford is certainly on the waiver wire. Other than that, though, these. You're stuck. You're playing him.

[Andy Holloway]

I would play Ebron over Walker. So Stefan Diggs just came out. That quote on reports he wants to be traded. Quote, there's truth to all rumors. I won't be speaking on that.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my goodness.

[Melvin Gordon]

You just spoke on it, you dummy. That's great.

[Mike Wright]

I'm not saying I want to be traded, but I'm not saying I don't want to be traded, and I won't talk about it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that's. That's not good, man.

[Melvin Gordon]

Look, a wide receiver doesn't want to go to nascar because that's not what he does. He wants to play wide receiver, and right now he's on a team that does not allow him to play wide receiver because they only run the ball.

[Andy Holloway]

I just want to know what is happening behind closed doors, because it's not normal to have two wide receivers show public disdain for what's happening. If there. It just seems like there might be a disconnect between Kirk Cousins the Person, and Adam Thielen the Person, and Stefan Diggs, the person. This is a 133 team with case.

[Melvin Gordon]

Keenum, Pro Bowl Case Keenum.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And sometimes, I mean, I think that's Case Keenum's one spot that he fit in the right way and that they believed in him. And I don't know what's happening, but that $90 million puts you in a really, really impossible position. Right as it. As a franchise.

[Mike Wright]

So he did return to practice today, though.

[Andy Holloway]

So there's truth to all rumors, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

I've been told.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't think that's true either. I don't think all rumors are true.

[Melvin Gordon]

That's a good point.

[Mike Wright]

They definitely are not. Yeah, but when someone's asking you about a rumor you may have started then.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, Falcons 1 and 3 take on the Texans 2 and 2 this game, the Tekkens are a five point home favorite. It's a 49 point over under. The game looks a little brighter than the one we just talked about. You got Matt Ryan v DeSean Watson in the home games for DeSean Watson this year he has zero passing touchdowns total but Atlanta has allowed a top three top 10 quarterback performances in a row. It has not been pretty for Atlanta.

[Mike Wright]

This year and they're down Keanu Neal, their superstar safety.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, this is bad.

[Mike Wright]

What's wild about defenses is you have situations like this where you lose just one key piece and then the house of cards crumbles and this is your buy low window on DeAndre Hopkins is about to slam shut. This is it's the trifecta right. We had Mike Evans a few weeks ago then you went it was Devonte Adams. Now it's going to be DeAndre Hopkins. This is the get right game. All the stars are aligned so if you're trying to buy him you better do it now.

[Melvin Gordon]

I tried to buy him tried to give some Tyreek Hill and you know.

[Andy Holloway]

As oh you got rejected huh?

[Melvin Gordon]

Of course.

[Andy Holloway]

Of course you did. Yes. It's called sample size. We have sample size on these players. They're really really good. So four weeks is not a career defined DeAndre Hopkins Will Fuller love them. This is a get right game for me. I would be taking the Texans and the points. No almost upset. I think Houston gets right in this one since Falcons to a dangerous one in four Hayes and that's not good for players like Devonta Freeman.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Not good for Calvin Ridley. We've seen this team basically make the decision that we're going to be giving Mohamed Sanu more targets snapshot than fantasy owners want and Austin Hooper has been piled on in terms of targets. That leaves very little for Calvin Ridley. I'm not excited about Calvin Ridley. I don't think he's a bounce back candidate this year. Mohammed Sanu averaging six plus targets a game. Austin Hooper leading all tight ends and routes run do we are we to.

[Mike Wright]

The point where we really should be giving Mosa new the wide receiver three type of love we I mean week one five for 57. Week two was an absolute turd but then six for 75 nine for 91 that's three of four weeks over 50 yards. They look if you look five plus.

[Melvin Gordon]

Reception if you look at Calvin Ridley and Mohamed Sanu they've basically just taken turns being the guy. Week one and week two it was Calvin Ridley. Calvin Ridley was the wide receiver 25 and the wide receiver eight while Muhammad Sanu was 52 and 78. And then the last two weeks it just flip. You know where Calvin Ridley's 109 and 60 and Mohammed Sanu's 36 and 14. Calvin Ridley's the more talented player. Calvin Ridley's the more invested in player. I think Calvin Ridley is going to bounce back and he's going to have a good rest of season.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I don't. I don't think so. I think you can trust him. I think I'd rather go out and play some players that are in a better situation where I just don't know if I trust what this office is doing week to week. Even Julio Jones had a rough week last week. So maybe we'll end up with some Calvin Ridley related. Yeah, I think rest of season bets. Not that I would bet on Mohamed Sanu. I'm not crowning Mohammed Sanu. I've seen enough of him over the course of multiple years. We've had that conversation 13 times. Mohammed Sanu will run off two games in a row and everyone's like, oh, is it time for Mohamed Sanu?

[Melvin Gordon]

Who it is time for right now is Austin Hooper.

[Andy Holloway]

It is. Yeah. Tight end two on the season. He's a must start. Kenny Stills unlikely to play.

[Mike Wright]

Austin Hooper's the tight end two.

[Andy Holloway]

That is correct.

[Mike Wright]

What?

[Melvin Gordon]

All right, I am vetting.

[Mike Wright]

I'm calling that impossible.

[Melvin Gordon]

No, it is. Look.

[Andy Holloway]

What?

[Melvin Gordon]

Week one, I think the word you're.

[Andy Holloway]

Looking for is factual, Mike.

[Melvin Gordon]

Week one, he was the tight end six, then the tight at 15. The last two weeks he was the tight end two and the tight end one.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

I refuse to believe Austin Hooper showed.

[Andy Holloway]

The signs last year. Taking a step up this year. At the end of the day with this offensive line, Matt Ryan is not finding Calvin Ridley deep down the field. He's finding Austin Hooper in the shallows. All right.

[Mike Wright]

I refuse to believe.

[Andy Holloway]

We'll talk about Will Fuller later at the running back position. I don't want to leave without talking about the incredible Carlos Hyde. You can't start him, can you?

[Melvin Gordon]

I certainly don't want to start him.

[Andy Holloway]

And that's what's important.

[Mike Wright]

Can you. Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Talk about scary starts.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah. That he would qualify. I mean, look, he's at home in a matchup, favored to win. He's had a couple of big weeks, but you know that week two where he got 20 rushing carries, that appears to be the outlier.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Melvin Gordon]

10, 10, 12 in his other three games. I'm staying clear of Carlos Hyde.

[Andy Holloway]

In case you're curious. Duke Johnson's snap count is up to 65% last week. He's also at 6.3 a carry on the year, which is what he does. I think the trend is going to be towards Duke Johnson because Carlos Hyde, we've seen this.

[Mike Wright]

It could be Carlos Hyde. When he comes into a team situation, he just must be an incredibly charming person because he shows up and there's always better guys behind him, but somehow he gets to be the guy.

[Andy Holloway]

He brings the Starbucks. Yeah, Day one shows up with it.

[Mike Wright]

He's got the donuts.

[Melvin Gordon]

He's like, hey, what's up everybody giving the back massage.

[Mike Wright]

This Carlos Hyde is a fine, upstanding man.

[Melvin Gordon]

What up, coach? How you feeling today, man?

[Andy Holloway]

Unfortunately.

[Mike Wright]

Can you give me those carries, coach?

[Andy Holloway]

It takes about three weeks to figure out what the truth is. Whether it's in Jacksonville, whether it's in Cleveland.

[Mike Wright]

That's what I mean. It's very strange.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah, don't trust Carlos Hyde.

[Andy Holloway]

Ravens, Steelers. Ravens are two and two. Steelers one and three. This game has the Ravens as three and a half point road favorites. Man, you know what?

[Melvin Gordon]

Oh really? Do it.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I'm not.

[Melvin Gordon]

You were disappointing.

[Andy Holloway]

I thought about it, man. I did think about it.

[Melvin Gordon]

I'm on board.

[Andy Holloway]

I was pretty impressed with Pittsburgh last week.

[Melvin Gordon]

You know what? Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Andy's almost upset of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

This is. This is based on trends right now. Pittsburgh, their defense has looked much improved over the course of the past two weeks. They seem like they are focused. They found some things that worked on offense and shut down Cincinnati and the Ravens go in the opposite direction, especially on defense. Lamar Jackson hasn't been elite by way of the passing game, although he has certainly been for fantasy and stupid Willie sneed garbage time.

[Melvin Gordon]

Touchdown.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I just think, you know, these games already extremely competitive in division. I think it's going to be tight. I think the Steelers can probably hold on in this one. I would. It's a 44 and a half point over under. I would take the under in this one.

[Melvin Gordon]

I can see that. I mean the way the Steelers defense has been playing, the Steelers are. I mean, they're just a well run organization. They're well coached and they know they're not the same team they were and they've kind of quickly changed their identity very quickly to be a team that is, I mean that. You saw that last week. Sixteen passes to the running back trying to dink and dunk their way, keep, you know, the games slower. You know, it's basically like trying to run the ball more. And yeah, I think The Steelers pull this one off as well.

[Andy Holloway]

Now, that being said, I'm taking the under in this one. It tells me that there's not a lot of players I'm excited about. I don't know if I'm chasing Deontay Johnson's two touchdowns. Vance McDonald's questionable. May or may not play. James Conner, questionable. Didn't practice on Wednesday. I'm willing to flex Jalen Samuels with the potential for him to be a great start. With James Conner missing the game, outside of Jalen Samuels and probably an obligatory juju, Smith Schuster has to stay in my lineup decision. I'm not excited about other Steelers. Do you guys agree on that? Do you have a different take? Are you willing to flex a Deontay.

[Melvin Gordon]

Johnson, Samuels, Connor and juju Smith Schuster? That's it.

[Andy Holloway]

It's gotten so bad, you can't even pronounce his name.

[Melvin Gordon]

Look, he. He's another. I know you guys might disagree on this one, but he's another guy that I would go out and I would try to buy low. He's.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you're talking about juju.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah. I still believe the talent will overcome.

[Andy Holloway]

I feel like yesterday you were not that person.

[Mike Wright]

You had a good sleep.

[Melvin Gordon]

The reality is.

[Andy Holloway]

Did you look at the star chart?

[Melvin Gordon]

The more. Yes. I looked up at the stars and.

[Mike Wright]

I saw, oh, here comes Jupiter.

[Melvin Gordon]

Star had been born.

[Mike Wright]

Here comes Mars.

[Melvin Gordon]

Look, he is very talented and, you know, they're not. Even though I say, okay, they changed their identity. They passed the ball 16 times. The running back last week, that was just a really good game plan. They're not going to be able to just do that.

[Mike Wright]

No, they will not.

[Melvin Gordon]

Week in and week out. And that was against the team where they didn't need to do much to get the win against the Bengals last night on Monday night.

[Andy Holloway]

But if you can't do that week in and week out, that does not mean that you can do something else. Well, and that's the problem. Just because some team decides to stop that or stop some of that, that doesn't mean that doesn't turn Mason Rudolph into Ben Roethlisberger overnight because they make him drive the ball downfield. We saw some of that against San Francisco, and it was ugly. So maybe that maturation happens. But I don't know how you can buy. I mean, what are you buying him with you trading Tyler Lockett away to get juju?

[Melvin Gordon]

No, I think Tyler Lockett is too.

[Andy Holloway]

Are you trading Tyler Boyd to get juju?

[Melvin Gordon]

If I could do that, I definitely would.

[Andy Holloway]

Would you trade Sammy Watkins to get juju?

[Melvin Gordon]

I would trade Sammy Watkins to get juju.

[Andy Holloway]

I would rather not think about it.

[Melvin Gordon]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't think I want to think about juju very much this year.

[Melvin Gordon]

Well, you're lost, applesauce.

[Mike Wright]

Nonsense, booby pants.

[Andy Holloway]

You're lost, applesauce. I'm just. This is exciting for me because I thought that me and you were done debating juju and there wouldn't be more water bets to that end, and now I know that there will be.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. The Raven side of the ball, you're starting Lamar, you're starting Ingram. Ingram's the RB5 on the season, but it has been kind of a up, down, up, down situation. But the Steelers, they can be beat on the ground. I think Ingram gets enough done in this game. Marquis Brown averaging eight and a half targets per game. He's still a buy low for me. Put it on record, I like Marquis Brown more than juju.

[Melvin Gordon]

So for this game or for rest?

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, no. For the rest of the season.

[Melvin Gordon]

Well, you can put that one on the bird.

[Mike Wright]

Wow.

[Jason Moore]

Water bat.

[Melvin Gordon]

I think I like Brown more than you want in.

[Andy Holloway]

Come on, Mike. You can do it.

[Mike Wright]

I don't have to be in on that one.

[Andy Holloway]

You do have to.

[Melvin Gordon]

No. All right.

[Andy Holloway]

I tried. I just wanted a shield. I wanted a friend. You're not a meat shield. I already took the bet. I just wanted a friend.

[Mike Wright]

I'm just.

[Melvin Gordon]

I'm.

[Mike Wright]

But I'm with.

[Melvin Gordon]

You wanted a Thelma.

[Mike Wright]

I. I am with you. On Marcus Louise. There's too many targets and Marquis Brown is too electric for this downtrend to continue.

[Andy Holloway]

Brooks reminds me that we should occasionally make a water bet explanation or explain what we're talking about. If you go to wheelowater.com does that work, Brooks? Yeah. Have you verified that or download. You can get the. Yeah, you can get the app on the app store. We do these water bets week in and week out where it's a frivolous, quick way to put something on the line. We film the payout. You spin the wheel. There are a bunch of humiliating ways to have a cup of water poured on you in.

[Mike Wright]

Correction, do not go to wheelofwater.com just download the app.

[Melvin Gordon]

Are you saying because of the photograph of the three of us on there? Because it does work, but you don't want to see that picture. If you want to see Mike with a man bun and me about 50.

[Andy Holloway]

Pounds ago, go to wheelofwater.com wheelofwater.com oh, no. I feel fine about the photo.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah, you look pretty much the same.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, Mark Andrews, you're putting him back out there. He's got a 23% target share. You have to play him.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Because he's a tight end. But I'm expecting the Steelers to compete in this one. Patriots 4 and oh. Redskins own four. They have chosen to play this game. There was some talk of just skipping it and counting it as a 30 to nothing shut out.

[Melvin Gordon]

They're putting Brady in though.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Melvin Gordon]

You know how you set your starters once you're up enough, that's like pretty much zero, zero up enough.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm sorry. Washington fans, this has been rough, but it's getting rougher. The Patriots are 15 1/2 point favorites, puts them at 29.3 points. The Redskins at 13.8. This is why Jason said you can't start Terry McLaurin. You cannot start any player on the Washington Redskins except for the flex consideration of Chris Thompson. Jason explained yesterday he doesn't believe Chris Thompson will be that effective, that they'll keep him in front of the defense. I just think it's the nature of targets. I just think Chris Thompson will do enough to get.

[Mike Wright]

He's a PPR guy.

[Andy Holloway]

Like, he'll have 10 points in the flex.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he'll have enough receptions to get it done.

[Melvin Gordon]

The Patriots have been helped by the most cake schedule of all time. But this continues. This is not a. This isn't a zig to the zag of the season. And you look at what the Patriots, they're number one against quarterbacks, number two against running backs, number two against wide receivers, and number four against tight end. They're top five against all positions. You're starting your Patriots defense. You don't start a single Washington anything. Maybe a Chris Thompson flex because they're going to be down 30. Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

Confidence level in Sony Michelle. This week we have him as our running back. 25. On the week we actually have James White at 24. So those two players on that fringe, running back to running back three area. So fairly confident, Mike? Fairly, yeah. A little crack in the voice kind of situation.

[Mike Wright]

Because it's. Look, if. If you are out there with a 100% supreme confidence in Sony Michelle, then we need to have a discussion because I want to learn why. I want to learn. No, I want to learn your ways. Like, because you are clearly a very confident person. Sony Michelle has been put in a positive game script every single week and he has not, not really come through for his draft stock.

[Andy Holloway]

We've spent a lot of time talking about why you know, Sonny, Michelle has been in the position where he should. These should be great games. They're. They're always winning, right, Jay? I mean, yep, they're. They're in the lead, but it's not been pretty for Julian Edelman. It's not been pretty for. I mean, Edelman's finished 28th, 53rd, 18th, 56th. That's not been worthwhile. Josh Gordon since his week one, which was on the fringe of the top 24, 85, 31, 47.

[Melvin Gordon]

I am excited for Josh Gordon this week. That was the name I wanted to bring up. He's a guy that, if, you know, I could have made him my start of the week in the sense that he is a fringe guy that you haven't known. Should I start him? Should I not? This matchup is perfect. Really? I think, yeah. Josh Norman is going to be on him. Josh Norman, if you remember the name from years ago. He was once good at football. He is no longer. And I think. I think he'll be exploited in this matchup at home. I like Josh Gordon as a play this week.

[Andy Holloway]

Interesting. Yeah, I think. I think I have a hard time deciding between, you know, Gordon and Dorsett. I'd rather play Edelman than either of those two guys.

[Mike Wright]

I can agree with that. But I think all three wide receivers are in play.

[Andy Holloway]

Ben Watson, is he in play for his debut?

[Melvin Gordon]

No, but he's. He's on the radar, I think. You take you. You. You keep him in mind, Maybe pick him up prior to the week, stash.

[Andy Holloway]

Him, little glance over at him on the waiver wire, give him a little wink. That's fine.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah. What's up, dude?

[Andy Holloway]

What's up?

[Melvin Gordon]

Do you wink at dudes when you say what's up? Hey, Mike, how's this feel?

[Mike Wright]

Well, it feels awkward because you're not a winky type.

[Melvin Gordon]

I've never winked. I don't even know if I'm doing it right.

[Andy Holloway]

You're not a winky fellow. Are there winky guys?

[Melvin Gordon]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, what?

[Melvin Gordon]

I'm more of a Twinkie guy.

[Mike Wright]

100. Look.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, there are the winkies and the Twinkies.

[Melvin Gordon]

There.

[Mike Wright]

There are winkers out there. And look. There are. There are. There are certainly.

[Andy Holloway]

Is there an age that you get to where winking is a little bit less awkward, though? I mean, 60, if you have gray hair and you. And you're a winker.

[Mike Wright]

There's not an age. There's just.

[Melvin Gordon]

You got a grandpa, like, good. Good job, champ.

[Mike Wright]

No, no, my point is, you got to be able to Read the situation because it just takes one bad wink and you got to get out of the game.

[Andy Holloway]

It's good to know that winkies and Twinkies is going to be part of the show title today. That makes me feel happy. Thank you, Jason.

[Mike Wright]

Speaking of Twinkies.

[Melvin Gordon]

Speaking of Twinkies, I've got to leave. Got a date with Little Debbie.

[Andy Holloway]

Are you going to wink at her? Do you wink at Little Debbie? No.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Mike Wright]

But as long as you do the finger guns.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

When you go finger guns with the sound combined with the wink, then everything is okay.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah. All right.

[Andy Holloway]

Nothing is okay.

[Melvin Gordon]

Start pitcher. Redskins.

[Andy Holloway]

Next game, Cardinals. Bengals. Hello. Someone's got a win. Cardinals. Oh, three and one. Bengals. Owen 4:47 and a half point over under. Bengals are three and a half point favorites. I'm ashamed to say. I think the Bengals win this game and the Cardinals sad season continues. Kyler Murray, I think you can play him. He's always been a fringe wide receiver or a quarterback one this. This year.

[Mike Wright]

Honestly, this entire game should be full of fantasy goodness. The Cardinals are the. They. They run at the fastest pace of play. The Bengals also play at a. At that higher rate of speed. And when you combine those things, that's a lot of extra plays, a lot of extra volume for your offenses. Meanwhile, the defense on both sides of the field, these are teams we're exploiting for fantasy football. So both sides should be fantastic. Like, I'm extremely excited for Tyler Boyd the to bounce back after last week's dud.

[Andy Holloway]

He has the fourth most targets in the NFL. I chased those targets. No John Ross, you got to go. Tyler Boyd here Odd. And Tate, you could.

[Melvin Gordon]

I think.

[Mike Wright]

I think he's in play.

[Melvin Gordon]

I mean, because you lost John Ross. It really stinks in this game that you lost Christian Kirk and you lost John Ross.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Melvin Gordon]

Both of those guys would have been such good plays. But Mike, you're right. Those targets are going to go somewhere. They don't just disappear and now the offenses don't work. That's where I think Keyshawn Johnson on the Cardinal side and Auden Tate on the Bengals side are names that when you're in those deeper leagues and you need a flex spot start. Those are guys on your waiver wire that you could do worse. They're not going to goose.

[Andy Holloway]

Golden Tate this week in his debut are Auden Tate golden or Odd?

[Melvin Gordon]

I'm going to go Auden now.

[Andy Holloway]

It was pointed out to me that AU is the periodic table symbol for gold. Therefore, you have goodness.

[Melvin Gordon]

He's Gold.

[Andy Holloway]

There's two golden tapes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Melvin Gordon]

Gold. And then D, E, N. Odd.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, this is. We need a battle here, fellas. Tate, guys, we need to work this out.

[Andy Holloway]

This is the kind of Tate versus. This is what the Foot Clan is all about. There's some scientists in that group.

[Melvin Gordon]

This is research.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. This is very important.

[Melvin Gordon]

Golden Tate versus.

[Andy Holloway]

I'll take Auden Tate this week.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah. I'm taking the real gold. Tate.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. I'm super.

[Melvin Gordon]

Which is odd. And Tate, because the real gold is a U.

[Andy Holloway]

No, you're blown away right now because it's a U. D, E, N. No, no, I get it.

[Melvin Gordon]

Golden Tate.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Melvin Gordon]

Incredible work. Parents.

[Andy Holloway]

David Johnson, Joe Mixon, you starting them both. We'll talk about Joe Mixon in a little bit. David Johnson's the RB8 on the season. Third most Running back receptions. That's going to continue. That's going to continue for as long as Kyler Murray is a rookie and for as long as that offensive line is a sieve.

[Mike Wright]

Do you guys know of any recent history of the Bengals just bleeding out to running backs, catching the ball, like.

[Andy Holloway]

16 times in one game with zero incompletions? Yeah, yeah, I think that happened recently from my recollection.

[Mike Wright]

Goodness.

[Andy Holloway]

So, Tyler Ifert, are you willing to take the shot on him? I know Jason is. I'm a.

[Mike Wright]

No, I am. I am definitely willing.

[Melvin Gordon]

We'll talk about him in a minute.

[Mike Wright]

And look, the. The.

[Andy Holloway]

Would you prefer me to say my anti Tyler Ifert stance now and not ruin.

[Melvin Gordon]

Because he's gonna be my start of the week? Tell me. No. No, I don't. You shut up. I'll talk. I'll bring up the negatives that you're gonna talk about.

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, no, no. Then the ball's in your court. I. I'm just hesitant. Look, you could do worse. I've heard they're trying to involve him more. I'm just not excited with 21 snaps last week. I'm not excited with the fact that, you know, you're counting on a guy that hasn't been fantasy relevant in a while. If you get a touchdown, you're going to be happy. The Cardinals, they serve him up on a silver platter, so you've got plenty of arguments in your favor. I just don't know how far the, like, depth chart of relevant tight ends. I go to give the Cardinals the. Against the Cardinals, they give up 23 points to the fantasy tight end, but D.J. swearinger has been released. If you watch what has taken place through the first four weeks he's been solely responsible for these tight ends and he's been solely irresponsible. So I'm.

[Melvin Gordon]

JJ Swearinger has been beyond atrocious and he has played 100% of snaps in these games and they just flat cut him. So they are trying to make a difference against the tight end position. They obviously, they've been listening. They've been listening their flaws. But I'm going to go ahead and say the backup to DJ Swearinger not going to be the answer.

[Andy Holloway]

We'll see.

[Melvin Gordon]

We will see.

[Mike Wright]

And the counterpoint to the eye for talking about his snaps, I mean, that's who Eric Ebron has been. And when you. Yeah, he's not on the field a ton, but he's getting at least a few targets. And the matchup is so juicy.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it's just a matter of if you have limited snaps, you have limited opportunities. If you don't capitalize on them, you're at a far greater risk, starter starting Tyler Ifert than you are Delaney Walker of getting goose. Yeah, your odds are much higher. So you take a risk now, is there? If you don't have an option, I don't take. I don't mind taking the shot. Last week it was one play to Eric Ebron. Right? Eric Ebron was the perfect example last week. He goosed you the entire game. Garbage time. 48 yard touchdown. You're the happiest man in town.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

So. All right. I'm excited for that game, too. We'll see what defense can show up for five minutes at a time and win the game. The Jags, the Panthers, both teams, two and two. This game is in Carolina. Carolina's a three and a half point favorite. I had a real hard time. We do a weekly at the studio here, like a pick them, you know, an office pool. This was one of the matchups. I stared down and said, I know the Panthers are favored.

[Mike Wright]

It's to. This one's tough.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

But if Gardner Minshew is active and I went with the Carolina Panthers, I went with the home team that's favored and the belief that their defense has been so good. And I talked about Carolina being a great streaming defense. It's a 41 point over under. I just think that the defense is going to cause fits for Gardner Minshew and I don't know if, you know, a couple plays in this game from Gardner is going to be enough to beat Christian McCaffrey. So I. It's going to be a close one. You start cmc, you start Fournette. You start to get into muddy water everywhere else for fantasy football confidence levels. D.J. moore, Curtis Samuel hasn't been a great start to the year. We've got them outside the top 24 this week.

[Mike Wright]

Curtis Samuel, I think we may have him too high.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah. Curtis Samuel is a guy that I am somewhat interested in in the sense that if you look at air yards and who's been really getting top level air yards, that hasn't really done it yet, hasn't broken out with those targets. Curtis Samuel is getting some deep shots and so, you know, in a matchup that. Will they have Jalen Ramsey? I don't know. He is. Was not at practice again and there's really no reason other than he's demanding a trade. So if he's basically going to sit out, then Curtis Samuel's interesting. If he's in. I'm worried about all the options because him combined with aj. Booyah. We know how good Jacksonville's defense can.

[Mike Wright]

Be and we've seen DJ Moore's target share just absolutely melt like the wicked witch since Kyle Allen took over weeks one and two with Cam. 10 targets, 14 targets these past two weeks. Two targets in a game against Arizona, DJ Moore saw two targets. Yeah, he caught one for a 52 yard touchdown. But then five targets this past week as well. It's tough sledding for DJ Moore until Cam gets back.

[Andy Holloway]

Are there other players from this game that you're interested in rolling out there?

[Mike Wright]

I will play DJ Chark as a wide receiver. Three or a flex play. We're four games in. We have enough evidence that Gardner is going to throw to him and he's a deep threat. So I think that despite the matchup, he. He's still a low end play.

[Melvin Gordon]

When you got 4, 3, 3 speed. Yeah, you can break something off.

[Andy Holloway]

How tall is he?

[Melvin Gordon]

Six. Three, six, three. I think it's four. Three, four.

[Andy Holloway]

He's got a wingspan too. He's a good looking player.

[Mike Wright]

He can fly because of the wingspan.

[Andy Holloway]

I see. Yeah, because birds. Birds have wings and that. Yeah. And they span and then they can fly with it. Not all of them, though.

[Mike Wright]

You know, he's also got hollow bones.

[Andy Holloway]

We found out the other day that Jason thought otters had fins.

[Melvin Gordon]

Well, no, we found out that I thought an otter. My mind was a seal for a second. So I looked at otters and then I realized, oh, those are the cutest things on the planet.

[Andy Holloway]

But they have hands.

[Melvin Gordon]

Not, you know, they say, but they're paws.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Melvin Gordon]

Like they say, otters hold hands. They hold paws.

[Andy Holloway]

Buccaneers, saints. Buccaneers 2 and 2. Saints 3 and 1. Had trouble with this game, too. Saints 3 and a half point. Home favorites 47 point over under. Coming off the really impressive performance on the road from Tampa up in Los Angeles, the monster performances from Winston, from Evans, from Godwin. I just think you can bank on production in Tampa in the passing game.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I'm in.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, so I think Winston Evans, Godwin Howard, what do you do with Howard? Oh, do you put yourself out of your own misery? Do you release him? Do you move on Howard or Ifrt Howard or Jimmy Graham? What do you, what do you want to do with O.J. howard this week?

[Melvin Gordon]

If I had Jimmy Graham, I would go Jimmy Graham. Howard and ifer is a legit, disgusting question that you have to say, okay, you know what, what's the likelihood that one of these guys gets a touchdown? Oh, this year and last year, the Saints were pretty darn good against tight end and pretty bad against wide receiver. That's pretty much recipe of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They've been thrown to the wide receiver and ignoring the tight end. And if one does get it, is it going to be O.J. howard? Is it going to be Cameron Brait? I mean, granted, you could say Usama for Eifert, but as gross as it is, I think Eileen Tyler Eifert, due.

[Andy Holloway]

To the matchup, I still think Howard's going to have a big game soon. I just don't know if I want to be around to weight on it.

[Melvin Gordon]

I'm not dropping Howard because of how weak the tight end landscape is. I still believe the talent. I know it's hard.

[Mike Wright]

Here's coming up for, for Howard, you have. So you have the Saints, then you have Carolina, then you have a bi week, then you have Tennessee.

[Melvin Gordon]

Gross. So that is rough. Why don't, why don't you do this? If you've got O.J. howard, go look at other teams that have no tight end there. There's always four or five teams in every league that are just. They're scraping off the waivers every single week to find a tight end. Look at the guy who picked up Tyler I for see if you could trade him the name of O.J. howard.

[Mike Wright]

Just send him screenshots of last.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm not willing to move on. So, no, I'm not. I'm not. Obviously, if you have a better option sitting out there. If it was a Will Disley question, it's obvious, but I'm not moving on. If, if I know I'm going to have a few catches from Howard.

[Melvin Gordon]

Howard is so far, I think has to be one of the top busts of this.

[Andy Holloway]

That's fair. That's very fair. And the thing in the back of everyone's mind as well, Bruce Arians tends to have problems with tight ends. And so is this a real thing. It makes it easier to buy into the fact he's just going to end up a bust the whole year. Bridgewater averaging 178 passing yards per game.

[Melvin Gordon]

Oh, fire.

[Andy Holloway]

Tampa bay has given up 318 a game, although that's because Jared Goff had over 4,000 in the last game alone.

[Melvin Gordon]

It ups the average.

[Mike Wright]

But like when a rock, you know the rock in a hard place. This is like a piece of paper meets a napkin.

[Andy Holloway]

If something's got to give here, I'm going to bet on bridgewater throwing for under 200. I would agree with him.

[Melvin Gordon]

I would agree with that.

[Andy Holloway]

Come on, this is going back a long time. Not to mention they're running an offense that's based on a great defense. You can't let Bridgewater make mistakes and you can't let him throw the ball too much. And guess what? It works. They win with that recipe. That'll be the recipe in this game, too. It's going to be Alvin Camara. It's going to be a stone cold defense that we saw last week or the hopes of it that we saw against Dallas. And they're at home. So I, you know, what can you do with 178 passing yards? You can start your Michael Thomas, you can start your Alvin Camara. And then in this case, as we move on to starts of the week, Mike believes you can start. You're Jared. Interesting.

[Jason Moore]

Starts of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's start right there, Mike. Why not? Sure. Tight end, start of the week.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. And look it, it is a little bit gross because of what Teddy Bridgewater has been doing. I'm just following the process a little bit. And Jared Cook, he had six targets this past week. It's. It's not the easiest thing to find a tight end who can get that many targets. And Tampa Bay is the second worst team against the tight end position. They're at home. You're talking about a 47 point over under it. I'm not forcing Jared Cook in there, but I think that he is, he's at least safe to get you a few points and has the option to or the probability to score a touchdown. It's in there.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah. And I've brought mine up already. It is Tyler Ifer. I know that it's somewhat low hanging fruit and also gross in the sense that he hasn't been great. He is on every waiver wire out there. But I genuinely believe that the Cardinals, look, they've known about their problem for weeks and they haven't been able to fix it. And I think because they don't have the personnel to fix it. You've got Tyler Ifer. He's already got a touchdown this year and he dropped a touchdown last week. We'd be feeling really different if he's already got a touchdown and half of his and now he's facing the Arizona Cardinals. It's, you know, hopefully for us as Cardinals fans it will change. I just don't. I don't believe it will.

[Andy Holloway]

I love Jimmy Graham this week. Jimmy Graham is my start of the week at the tight end position. This is opportunity more than talent. This is Jimmy Graham effective last week. With Devonte Adams off the field, he will soak up targets. You're not going to see mvs soak up targets. It'll be. Jimmy Graham might very well lead the team in receptions, yards. He could and touchdowns. This week he's tied for the league lead at the tight end position in red zone targets. They look to him down there and without Devonte Adams are going to look there frequently.

[Melvin Gordon]

So if you're looking for any one of these three, it's Jimmy Graham. I agree, Jimmy. All three of us know Jimmy Graham. Greater sign than Tyler Iford or Jared Cook here.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, then let's go to the wide receiver position where I'm going to go with Will Fuller. Will Fuller has the most air yards in the NFL without a touchdown. It's coming. I said it's a get right game for Houston at home. I think they figure it out this week. Kenny Stills unlikely to play in this game, giving Will Fuller even more of a target share. He's on the field all the time. It just hasn't happened yet. I'm banking on it this week. Will Fuller, I think you can put him in your lineup. I'd put him out there over odd and Tate and those type of fringe guys. Scary Terry. I'd be playing Will Fuller.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yes, I agree. My start of the week is Larry Fitzgerald. We talk about, hey, maybe Keyshawn Johnson gets a little bit more involved while Christian Kirk is gone. But you know who's definitely going to be heavily involved is Larry Fitzgerald. That's against the hapless Bengals defense in a game that should be back and forth, quick pace of play. Larry Fitzgerald's the wide receiver, 16 on the season so far this year. He just broke the number two all time record for receptions. And he was depressed after the game because of the showing. I think he wants to come out and ball out. I'm making Larry my start of the.

[Mike Wright]

Week and I'm going with a confidence play. Just that boost. Because this wide receiver, he's on people's teams and you're like, do I actually play this guy? It's Allen Robinson. I get that they have the backup quarterback, Chase Daniel in there, but the matchup is solid against Oakland and Chase. Look, he's been very serviceable for when he's had to fill in for Trubisky. We're talking a couple games last year and this look, look at last week against Minnesota. Seven targets, seven receptions, 77 yards. We call that the jackpot. Alan Robinson is just too involved. Seven, at least seven targets every single week. He's getting that. The target share for Chicago. He is the alpha in this offense for the passing game. And I think you can start him.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, you guys want to move on to the running backs?

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. Joe Mixon. I'm taking Joe Mixon. This is the breakout week for him. Arizona giving up the fifth most rushing yards in football. He's at home. He's looked the part to me, especially over the past couple of weeks. I thought he did well for himself against the Buffalo defense, did everything he could using the passing game. You haven't seen Gio Bernard on the field. This seems like a game where they're actually favored at home without John Ross. Joe Mixon is a confidence push for me.

[Melvin Gordon]

Yeah. And I'm giving a confidence push to make sure that you start Melvin Gordon this week. It's not to say that he's going to have his best game of the season here. He'll split time with Austin Eckler. I think we could share this one, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

My running back start of the week is Austin Eckler and I completely love it.

[Melvin Gordon]

I went to make my start of the week Melvin Gordon and Austin Eckler. But you already had Echler. You could start both of these guys. Look what Leonard Fournette did to the Broncos last week. The Broncos have given up over 600 rushing yards in four games. The wide receiving core for the Chargers is depleted. Everyone's injured other than Keenan Allen. Melvin Gordon got back to practice last week. Justin Jackson is injured. Start both these guys. They're going to have great weeks.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. And then quarterback. Mike, who do you have as your quarterback start of the week I'm going.

[Mike Wright]

From streamer to starter. I'm taking Jacoby Brissette as my guy. The Kansas City matchup, they're giving up the 8th most points to the quarterback position. The over under is ridiculous as it always is in Kansas City Chiefs games and in our NFL League 1 matchup. That's who we are going with. We are. We're playing Jacoby Brissette.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going to go with a little deeper pick here.

[Mike Wright]

I like it.

[Andy Holloway]

It's actually Jimmy Garoppolo at home against Cleveland off the bye week. I think he's going to have an impressive performance. I believe in that extra week of preparation and players getting healthy and Dante Pettis, I believe in going to break out Jimmy G. Finding a way. So I'm going to go with Jimmy Garoppolo a little bit of a deeper play. He probably fits in that streaming category certainly. But I'm going to make him my.

[Melvin Gordon]

Start of the week and I'm going to go a little higher up with Carson Wentz, a guy that I think Carson Wentz owners have not always known what to do with him. Even though if you look backwards, hindsight being 20 20, he has been top 10 in fantasy every single week. At this point you have to consider him a guy that you start on every matchup. And this is against the Jets. It's a winnable matchup. You've got Alshon Jeffrey back. You know, I can't imagine not starting Carson Wentz.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, that's it for our starts of the week. One more very important, very well researched, very astute, very practical segment.

[Jason Moore]

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

[Melvin Gordon]

Oh, this week's a banger. Don't be fooled. Coming off the bye, it's the Niners, Robbie Gould.

[Mike Wright]

I just realized, I guess it would have been counterintuitive to your. He's your start of the week. He should. He should be in the nomination for the scary start.

[Andy Holloway]

I agree.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

He must kick better in October. Am I right?

[Mike Wright]

He has to.

[Melvin Gordon]

What do you think? I may. I mean, October is here and I made Gould my start of the week. This is deep dive research on kickers.

[Mike Wright]

You're just realizing this right now, right, Jay?

[Melvin Gordon]

No. What? How dare you.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, that's going to wrap it up. In or out tomorrow, the rest of the matchups. A reminder, game day alerts. You can find [e-mail] for all of our Foot Clan supporters. That's every week on Sunday an hour before game time. You've got the Sunday Live on all of our social channels, so make sure you follow us. Go to YouTube.com the fantasy footballers and you'll catch Mike an hour before kickoff. Live answering questions, getting you ready for week five. We want to thank our studio sponsor, Pristine Auction, a signed Derek Henry jersey. Yesterday on pristine auction, JSA certified.

[Mike Wright]

Did it go for under 75?

[Andy Holloway]

It sure did. 54405 Derrick Henry jersey.

[Mike Wright]

Derrick Henry. Don't do me dirty, please.

[Andy Holloway]

That is it for today's episode. Thanks for everything, Brooks.

[Melvin Gordon]

You bet.

[Mike Wright]

You're a good, beautiful man, Brooks.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep. We'll catch you tomorrow.

[Mike Wright]

We'll see you next time.

[Andy Holloway]

Foot Glen.

[Mike Wright]

Goodbye.

[Jason Moore]

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.

[Andy Holloway]

Today's episode of the Fantasy Footballer is brought to you by Mugsy Jeans, the most comfortable men's jeans ever, ever made.

[Mike Wright]

Mike oh, m u g s y you ain't got no alibi to not have these jeans.

[Andy Holloway]

They got high tech fabrics, they're soft, they're flexible. Do your legs a Favor, head to mugsy.com, grab your own pair of ridiculously comfortable jeans. Today listeners can use the code footballers for $10 off. That's M u g s y.com with the code footballers for $10 off your pair of Mugsy. Jeff.