Starts of the Week + Week 6 Breakdown, Burgles, Penguins, Boom-Booms

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary: "Starts of the Week + Week 6 Breakdown, Burgles, Penguins, Boom-Booms"

Release Date: October 10, 2019

Join hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright as they dive deep into the intricacies of fantasy football in this episode titled "Starts of the Week + Week 6 Breakdown, Burgles, Penguins, Boom-Booms." The trio offers expert analysis, strategic trade advice, and comprehensive player evaluations to help listeners optimize their fantasy rosters for Week 6.

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1. Trade Discussions and League Dynamics

The episode kicks off with Mike Wright seeking feedback on a recent trade he executed within their league. The trade involved sending out a high-profile player, Odell Beckham Jr., in exchange for Robert Woods and Michael Gallup. This move sparked a discussion on the merits of trading a superstar for consistent depth.

Notable Quote:

• Mike Wright [07:05]: "I traded Odell Beckham Jr. for Robert Woods and Michael Gallup to gain more consistency and depth in my lineup."

Jason Moore supports Mike's decision, highlighting Woods as a "buy low" option with significant upside due to his target potential despite having no touchdowns at that point in the season.

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2. Injury Updates and Their Fantasy Implications

The hosts extensively discuss several key injuries affecting fantasy lineups:

• Chris Herndon: Suffered a grade one hamstring tear, sidelining him for multiple weeks.

  Andy Holloway [02:26]: "Derek Henry, you turd."

• David Johnson: Dealing with a back injury, making his return uncertain and potentially favoring Chase Edmonds for Week 6.

  Mike Wright [08:55]: "If David Johnson is active, you have to play him."

• Todd Gurley: Also missed practice with a quad injury, raising concerns about his availability and the reliance on Darrell Henderson.

  Jason Moore [10:14]: "If they're going to rely more on Henderson, it could spell trouble."

The trio emphasizes the importance of monitoring these injuries closely and making proactive roster adjustments to mitigate potential losses.

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3. Thursday Night Football (TNF) Updates

Mike Wright provides updates on players affecting Thursday Night Football lineups:

• Philip Dorsett: Out for the game.
• Saquon Ingram Shepard: Also out, advising fantasy managers to adjust their flex positions accordingly.

Mike Wright [13:00]: "Don't forget to take your Thursday night players out of the flex position."

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4. Week 6 Matchup Analysis

The hosts break down several key matchups for Week 6, providing insights into which players are poised for breakout performances based on their opponents' defensive strengths and their own team's offensive strategies.

a. Panthers vs. Buccaneers

• Buccaneers' Offense: Led by Jameis Winston, the Bucs boast two elite wide receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

  Jason Moore [21:35]: "Jameis Winston is doing what Bruce Arians quarterbacks do—he's averaging the highest yards per attempt."

• Buccaneers' Defense: Tampa Bay's defense is scrutinized for giving up significant passing yards, making their wide receivers attractive fantasy options.

Notable Players to Watch:

• Mike Evans: Despite recent disappointments, his high target share remains valuable.

  Andy Holloway [21:56]: "You have to keep playing Mike Evans. I cry on the inside when Chris Godwin touches the ball."

• Curtis Samuel vs. D.J. Moore: Jason prefers Curtis Samuel due to better target distribution despite mixed production.

b. Seahawks vs. Browns

• Seahawks' Quarterback: Russell Wilson continues to impress with a 73% completion rate.

  Mike Wright [36:11]: "Through five weeks, there's been no more impressive quarterback on film than Russell Wilson."

• Browns' Defense: Struggling against both running backs and wide receivers, making Russell Wilson an enticing start.

Notable Players to Watch:

• Tyreek Hill vs. DeMarcus Robinson: With Tyreek often hampered by Watkins' injuries, DeMarcus Robinson emerges as a potential high-upside play.

c. Bengals vs. Ravens

• Ravens' Defense: Despite last year's prowess, injuries have weakened their defensive unit, particularly against quarterbacks.

  Jason Moore [43:12]: "This defense isn't holding up like last year. They rank 14th against quarterbacks now."

Notable Players to Watch:

• Mark Andrews: Despite recent underperformance, his matchup against the struggling Bengals defense presents a strong start option.

d. Saints vs. Jaguars

• Saints' Quarterback: Teddy Bridgewater shows promise with a four-touchdown game last week, while Gardner Minshew's performance is on the rise.

  Jason Moore [46:22]: "This is a lower scoring game, personally. I don't see it being a fantasy bonanza."

Notable Players to Watch:

• DJ Chark vs. Dee Dee: Chark remains a primary target, while Dee Dee emerges as a sneaky start due to defensive vulnerabilities.

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5. Fantasy Forecast: Player Starts Recommendations

The hosts provide a comprehensive forecast of optimal player starts across all positions, tailored to the upcoming Week 6 matchups.

Quarterbacks:

• Jameis Winston (Buccaneers): High passing yards and strong offensive weapons make him a prime start.

  Mike Wright [50:10]: "Trust is a powerful thing, and Jameis Winston has the opportunity to air it out in this matchup."

• Gardner Minshew (Saints): Consistent improvement and favorable matchups advocate for his start.

  Jason Moore [49:26]: "Hunter, what can you count on from the Bengals side?"

Running Backs:

• Chase Edmonds (Buccaneers): Potential for increased workload if David Johnson remains injured.

  Jason Moore [06:35]: "If you're five and oh, you can go buy those players for the stretch run."

• Damian Williams (Chargers): Returning from injury with a solid role in the offense.

  Mike Wright [55:26]: "Damian Williams is going to have a secure role against Houston."

• Austin Ekeler (Chargers) vs. Melvin Gordon: Ekeler's versatility makes him a reliable start.

  Andy Holloway [52:30]: "Yes, you continue to play Austin Ekeler."

Wide Receivers:

• Mike Evans (Buccaneers): Despite recent ups and downs, his target share and offensive system remain favorable.

  Jason Moore [22:43]: "You have to keep playing Mike Evans."

• Mark Andrews (Ravens): Expected bounce-back performance against the Bengals' struggling defense.

  Jason Moore [62:29]: "Mark Andrews is going to have a big bounce back week."

• Larry Fitzgerald (Cardinals): Favorable home matchup against Atlanta's weak pass defense.

  Mike Wright [57:34]: "Larry Fitzgerald has a big game and we've talked about his red zone effectiveness."

Tight Ends:

• Mark Andrews (Ravens): High target share and favorable matchup make him a must-start.

  Mike Wright [62:29]: "Mark Andrews is going to have a big bounce back week."

Kickers:

• Matt Bryant (Falcons): Reliable in scoring field goals amidst unpredictable special teams play.

  Jason Moore [64:50]: "I just love kickers so much."

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6. Strategic Insights and Community Engagement

The Fantasy Footballers emphasize the importance of staying ahead in the waiver wire battles and being proactive with roster adjustments, especially in light of injuries and evolving player performances. They encourage listeners to engage with their community through social platforms and utilize their tools, such as the start/sit tool available on fantasyfootballers.com.

Notable Initiatives:

• Waiver Wire Strategy: Continuous monitoring and strategic pickups to enhance team depth.

  Andy Holloway [19:43]: "Jason is now the proud owner once again of Malcolm."

• Fantasy Forecast Tool: Aimed at simplifying decision-making for fantasy managers with consensus rankings and expert recommendations.

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Conclusion

In this episode, the Fantasy Footballers deliver a wealth of knowledge and actionable advice for Week 6. From dissecting crucial matchups and managing injuries to optimizing trades and player starts, Andy, Jason, and Mike provide listeners with the tools and insights needed to dominate their fantasy leagues. Whether you're grappling with dropping a superstar or capitalizing on breakout opportunities, this episode serves as an essential guide for elevating your fantasy football strategy.

Stay Connected:

• Website: fantasyfootballers.com
• Twitter: @theffballers
• Instagram: fantasyfootballers
• YouTube: Fantasy Footballers YouTube

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Transcript

[Mike Wright]

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[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 Wright.

[Mike Wright]

Welcome in.

[Jason Moore]

Whoa.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, we're gonna need to that one back. Because I was so psyched out by that intro, I didn't get to tell people it's football time.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no, it's football time. There it is. They were saying it anyways. Out loud.

[Andy Holloway]

They were. But then they were. Trust me, if I had not mentioned it, you would have heard my Twitter. Mentions will be a blaze of nothing. Nothing.

[Jason Moore]

But Mike, it's Thursday.

[Mike Wright]

Why didn't you say it's football time? Why didn't you say it's football time?

[Andy Holloway]

That's the voice of Twitter. The Twitter and the Penguin Batman. They're very similar.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he's the founder. Welcome in Thursday, October 10th. We're back. The Fantasy Footballers fantasy forecast on the show today. Starts of the week, Jason's Boom Boom kicker. We've got news to catch you up on. We've got. I want to get your guys opinion on a trade I made yesterday. We had some people, they really enjoyed the trade episode. I also saw some people asking, well, tell us some trades that happen in your league. Break it down. Maybe it'll give us ideas on trades that I can make. So I want to get your opinion on something that happened in our league of record yesterday. Got a quick question for you by the way. You can follow the show on twitter@the ff ballers instagram.com fantasy footballers we're on YouTube. YouTube.com the fantasy footballers will be putting up some water bet payouts very soon indeed.

[Andy Holloway]

Derek Henry, you turd.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, yes, you can write him a letter, send him a picture of your.

[Andy Holloway]

What did he end at?

[Mike Wright]

Sopping wet.

[Andy Holloway]

77.

[Mike Wright]

77 yards.

[Andy Holloway]

77. And his touchdown was because Marcus Marioto ran the ball in but then was reviewed and was called down on the one.

[Mike Wright]

At least you're not better.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

It'S me.

[Andy Holloway]

Derek Henry will be in your mentions.

[Mike Wright]

Here's a quick question. It comes in from Jake in Seattle. He says, if you're four and one or five and oh, at what point do you start planning your roster for the playoffs? He gives an example. Like Jordan Howard, he has a playoff schedule of the Giants, Redskins, Cowboys seems prime. What are your thoughts on buying players like that with great playoff schedules at this point in the season, if you have a good record?

[Jason Moore]

I still think it's a little bit too early. There are certain things that I would look at. I mean, you always plan early, especially to me with defenses. Defenses are one of those things that you're always streaming off the waivers. The defenses aren't always out there to scoop up. And so sometimes you hang on to a defense that just has an unbelievable matchup in that, in that range. That's something that I'm willing to kind of hold because I don't want to drop them on the waivers, have someone else scoop them up. As far as like trading for a player, I'm just trading for, you know, the best players the rest of the season because I'm not streaming most of my players in and out of the roster. I still want to, I still want to get wins. I'm not worried too much about their end of season schedule at this point.

[Mike Wright]

I would say this is probably the first point in the season. You start to look a little bit because you can't make the judgment call in weeks one and two about what a good playoff schedule even is. Right? I mean, we don't have trends. We don't know what teams are good and bad. You don't know what teams are great against the run versus great against the pass. You know, home and road matters a lot in the playoffs. So does weather. You got to remember when you get into weeks 13, 14, 15, there are a lot of cold weather games. There are situations like that that you're not going to be able to foresee. Maybe you trade for a great schedule and two thirds of those games are in the snow. So it's not as easy to just say, hey, I've got them lined up. And you do. Like Jason said, you have to get there. And week five at four and one, it can go the other direction quickly. So I wouldn't overemphasize it. Now I might start glancing. Jason brought up defenses. I'll share this with the Foot clan. One of the things I love doing is saving fab dollars by pre buying defenses. I don't want to compete for the best defense Stream the week of. I want to have it the Week before if my bench can afford it, if my depth can afford it, those type of things. But I do that a lot. I like yeah, you know, it sounds funny to roster two defenses, but it's a rotating situation and so sometimes I've got one with a great matchup this week. I've got one that I already know has a great matchup next week. I paid 0 fab for either one of them and I do the same thing the next week.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, towards the end of the season, my roster looks nothing like it does at the beginning where I have all this depth, I have all these interchangeable pieces. Towards the end of the season, I have. My bench is full of my handcuffs and defenses. So you need to be. But like. And we don't have trends yet. Sorry, I forgot my point. But back to the trends like you were talking about, Andy. Look at Tampa Bay, weeks one and two. It looked like holy crap, their defense has completely turned things around. They're, they're an elite secondary. They just shut down Jimmy Garoppolo, Cam Newton, I mean they, they, they just squelched out any offensive fire from those teams and then the next three weeks happen. So we are still gathering data about matchups if you're five and oh though what I could be looking at is sending out those two for one trades to start getting more impact players for my roster. That's if I'm thinking about playoffs and championships. That's where I'm looking at this point. I'm not looking at matchups 100%.

[Jason Moore]

That's where like the team that is 1 and 4, that has Devonte Adams who has really hurt that team, they have to win now. You know, the team that has Tyree Kill, they have to win now. If they've lost their games. If you're five and oh, you can go buy those players take, you know, if they're not in this week, you're going to survive. But you have excellent players for the stretch run.

[Mike Wright]

All right, hopefully that helps you out a little bit. Let's go and get into the news.

[Jason Moore]

News and notes from around the league presented by Sleeper.

[Mike Wright]

All right, speaking of sleeper, I was sleeping when I was woken up to Jason sending a message in our slack.

[Jason Moore]

That it's very sad.

[Mike Wright]

Chris Herndon is going to miss multiple weeks likely. What's the latest you've heard on his situation?

[Jason Moore]

It's a grade one hamstring tear and so he's out this week and most likely next week. When you say that this early, it usually means it's correct. So I would expect him to miss multiple weeks.

[Mike Wright]

So he's been a real hurry up and cry situation for fantasy owners. Right. Get back from the suspension, grab him early. Was he doing nothing during this four weeks? Did he go for a jog?

[Jason Moore]

No. He didn't want to pop in the.

[Mike Wright]

AirPods and just take one around the block.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, come on the Friday he was activated, he ran for the first time. He's like, I'm suspended from doing well.

[Andy Holloway]

He took it to heart.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. You can't be with the team. So he didn't do anything on his own.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Now he's hurting.

[Mike Wright]

Well, it's just disappointing because the tight end Chris hurt, hurting Chris hurting. David Johnson. This is a couple big stories at running back. David Johnson didn't practice Wednesday. I wouldn't have read too much into this if not for comments by Cliff Kingsbury missing Wednesday after last week there was a report that his back locked up. Okay, you know, take a day, feel better. But Kingsbury said they're still working with David Johnson on his back and said we'll have to see how the week goes. We're going to try to do some things today. It could be a game time decision for David Johnson. They don't want to rush him back. I think they feel okay with Chase Edmonds.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh my goodness. If this is why we were talking about Chase Edmonds on the waiver wire show. So hopefully you were proactive. If you have David Johnson, you. Even if he didn't have David Johnson, Chase Edmonds was a good pickup and stash to see what's going to happen with DJ this week if DJ is out. Chase Edmonds has a fantastic play against the Falcons.

[Jason Moore]

He would be awesome.

[Mike Wright]

What if David Johnson is active? Are you tempering expectations knowing that Chase Edmonds is going to have work?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean it's rough because it's such a good matchup. I think if he's active, you have to play him. But it's. It's definitely worrisome because he could split or he could.

[Mike Wright]

If you have both, you're being removed from the game. If David Johnson is active and you have both, you're playing David Johnson.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Todd Gurley didn't practice Wednesday either.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Mike Wright]

However, it's been noted that it's a quad injury, a thigh contusion. So again, not something we would have read too much into until Sean McVeigh talks up the depth at running back and says fortunately for us we've got some depth. These coaches, the confidence we have in Brown, there's also going to be a time when we're going to rely on Darrell Henderson. It might end up being this week. Well, that doesn't help.

[Jason Moore]

No. And here's another.

[Mike Wright]

Does it seem like Brown would have been the natural handcuff? You know, are they going to use Henderson?

[Jason Moore]

I would still expect Brown to get the heavy work. Yes. His, you know, what he's saying can't be ignored. You know, if you're the Todd Gurley owner and you know, you, you feel like you have to protect yourselves. I see. Mike, are you just running to the waiver?

[Andy Holloway]

No, no, no.

[Jason Moore]

So the thing is, is you have to remember the Rams played on Thursday night. This is not a day of rest. This isn't putting him on the, you know, the injury report and listing him with something. He had extra rest and is injured and he had other quotes where it was a surprise to them. They did not know that he was injured leaving that game.

[Mike Wright]

They did play Thursday night. So they've had a lot of time.

[Jason Moore]

They'Ve had a lot of rest and then he was kind of surprisingly injured. I've got, I've got the heebie jeebies. I don't, I mean, like, I'm worried. The, you know, pro football doc, he thinks that, you know, a thigh contusion shouldn't be a problem. He'll get unlimited practice this week. It should be good to go. I trust his, He's a doctor. I'm not a doctor, but I, I'm not a doctor. Shocking. But like, I'm worried about Gurley missing this week.

[Mike Wright]

If Gurley and David Johnson missed, would you rather start Chase Edmonds against Atlanta at home or would you rather start Malcolm Brown against San Francisco at home?

[Andy Holloway]

Chase Edmonds.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it would be Chase Edmonds. There's clarity there to the backfield. There's no worry about a Darrell Henderson and the matchup is beautiful.

[Andy Holloway]

Like the concerns for Darrell Henderson. I like it. We could be surprised about how things work out with the timeshare between Malcolm Brown and, and Henderson, but Henderson has played two snaps ever in his career. Like they've had the opportunity to get him on the field but they have chosen to have him just sit and learn.

[Mike Wright]

I would, yeah, I wouldn't be too worried about a fill in game. If Gurley went out for the season and the team knew that they were going to have to adjust what they have to offer at running back. That's when I become more concerned about Henderson because the team would need to.

[Andy Holloway]

They'd work them in more.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Then it would be Darnell Anderson season.

[Andy Holloway]

Darnell.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Case Keenum expected to start week six against the Dolphins.

[Jason Moore]

Yes. I'm so happy.

[Mike Wright]

That's great news. That's great news if you are a Terry McLaren.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, it is.

[Mike Wright]

I still expect this team to run the ball ridiculously high amounts under Bill Callahan. That's what he's come out and said. He said that it's not even about yards per carry. It's about amount of attempts.

[Jason Moore]

He's my worry for Terry McClure. Like, I'm so happy.

[Mike Wright]

He's like a caricature.

[Andy Holloway]

He's so. Because I think the end of the quote then said the team that has the most rushing attempts usually wins.

[Mike Wright]

It was the end of the quote.

[Jason Moore]

No, here's the thing. That's true, right? You can't. I mean, you can't deny that what he's saying is true. I just think the reason why is not understood by him.

[Mike Wright]

It is a former offensive line coach that began coaching in 1995.

[Andy Holloway]

You are correct, Jason. I'm not sure he understands the actual correlation. I think it was Mike Clay tweeted out, like, oh, crap. So, like, make sure Callahan doesn't know that the team that kneels the ball in the fourth quarter almost always wins.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my gosh. All right, good news on desean Jackson, I think unlikely to suit up this week. Okay. That's the bad news. The good news is they're targeting a week seven return of desean Jackson. This is big news. If you have desean Jackson and you've been sad, this is great news. If you have Carson Wentz and he's got another weapon coming back, I do think this offense finds its rhythm over the course of this season, and desean Jackson is going to be a big part of it. We have Thursday Night Football updates for you. Philip Dorsett, out. Saquon Ingram Shepard, out. Don't forget to take your Thursday night players out of the flex position.

[Jason Moore]

There's a lot of flex type of players in this matchup. If you've got Josh Gordon.

[Andy Holloway]

You mean on the Patriots side, right?

[Jason Moore]

I'm just thinking Josh Gordon, James White, Sony Michelle. Those are guys that you've been putting in your flex. Get them out of your flex, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

You got to set the alarm early. Another reminder, there's a super early game this weekend. So that flex rule applies for those players, too, that are starting the super early game. And I think it's the Tampa Bay game, correct?

[Jason Moore]

Tampa Bay. Carolina.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. That's in London. That game's for west coasters. That's a 6:30am game.

[Andy Holloway]

Ridiculous.

[Mike Wright]

So I need to put, you know, you got to put those guys into your position spots as well. Well, I've. In or out tomorrow, more injury updates get you ready for week six and the game day alerts. You can get them jointhefoot.com it's one of the many perks of being a supporter of the show. An official foot clan [e-mail] and Sunday Live, one hour before Sunday kickoff, Mike goes live answering last minute start sick questions.

[Andy Holloway]

Kickoff being the when football is actually supposed to start.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, you didn't want to get boxed into a 5:30.

[Andy Holloway]

I will not be on 5:30 West coast time.

[Mike Wright]

I. I would be real frightened to see you awake at that hour. That'd be a real scary thing.

[Andy Holloway]

I will say I think you're a.

[Mike Wright]

Little less intimidating without the big beard.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

You know, just as a person, but I'd still be mighty frightened of you.

[Andy Holloway]

The. The black circles under the eyes would be. I would look like a robber from a cartoon. They would say this man is about to burgle.

[Mike Wright]

News and notes is always brought to you by the sleeper app. Don't miss a single piece of impactful fantasy football news. What are you chuckling about?

[Jason Moore]

I don't know why I found that so funny, but the verb burgle.

[Andy Holloway]

I use it anytime I get a chance.

[Jason Moore]

Why do we not do that more?

[Mike Wright]

If you're a burglar, you burgle.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, man. As in when it happens to you, I have been burgled. It's just a really funny word.

[Jason Moore]

Dude's about to burgle. Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Sorry.

[Jason Moore]

That tickled.

[Mike Wright]

Really tickled.

[Jason Moore]

It tickled me. You got me good.

[Mike Wright]

Like I said, news and notes is always brought to you by the sleeper app. Grab the app today.

[Jason Moore]

Before we get into the fantasy forecast, I want to thank the studio sponsor, Pristine Auction. We have been long, long time partners with Pristine Auction, close friends with the guys that run Pristine Auction. And I could tell you firsthand the reason why the partnership works so well is. Is because of how awesome they are. Pristine Auction is. They're an auction site that has thousands upon thousands of legitimate verified signatures on collectible items, on memorabilia, on football jerseys.

[Andy Holloway]

We have a debut today. I don't even know if you guys noticed.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, that's beautiful. Tyler Murray signed jersey, everything that we get. That's awesome. You look at our set and you're like, wow, where do they. It's Pristine Auction. It's an auction. So every time you bid, you Bid whatever you want. You try to steal these things away at good values and you don't pay anything unless you get it. If you've got a gift coming up for your pops or anyone in your life, one of those Halloween gifts. Yes, for Halloween. They're amazing. You've got to check them out. New auctions every day. That's pristineauction.com you can use the code ballers at signup and make sure you let them know you found out about.

[Andy Holloway]

Them through us and Foot Clan. You're loving the football. You're loving it on Thursday. You're loving your Amazon prime membership. I'm not going to ask, are you a member? Because I know that you are. We all are. We're all living that Amazon life. But a part of that Amazon life that you may not know about. Thursday Night Football. That's right. Thursday Night Football has returned to Prime Video for a third season. You can catch all the action on your tv, on, on the web, on your mobile, anywhere in the world. The experience is next level when you're burgling, when you're avoiding being burgled. Look, Prime Video's X ray feature, you gotta check it out because you can access those next gen stats. Play history team information. It's available on iOS, Android, Fire Tablets, Fire TV. If you're ready to hear a new take on the game, you can switch over to sport broadcast legends Hannah Storm and and Andrea Kramer for the play by play. So if you don't have cable or you simply want to experience the future of football, tune in. This Thursday Coverage begins at 7 Eastern. Kickoff is at 8:20 Eastern. Also available on Fox and NFL Network. NFL Network simulcast subject to change. Thursday Night Football is presented by Bud Light Platinum.

[Jason Moore]

Fantasy forecast.

[Andy Holloway]

Before we jump into the forecast, I just want to. Our waivers just ran, so I just wanted to highlight what happened in on our waiver wire. And you may be thinking, well, why is your waiver wire running again? It's not waiver day. We have it on continuous, which is awesome. So we have the FAB waiver system and the continuous where it opens, it runs all the claims that people have put in and then it shuts down. It's not just a free for all smorgasbord. Whoever works on a computer has access to the breaking news players. So, Jason, you are now the proud owner once again of Malcolm. When did you drop Malcolm?

[Jason Moore]

Yesterday.

[Andy Holloway]

You dropped him yesterday?

[Jason Moore]

Yes. So when yesterday's waivers ran, I was talking to Brooks. I missed that. I glad you did that.

[Andy Holloway]

I did not miss It.

[Mike Wright]

I actually got paranoid when Jason, when you told Mike early in the show and you go, are you over there running to the waiver wire? I'm like, why'd you say that?

[Jason Moore]

You think you are paranoid? So here's the deal. I've been holding on to Malcolm Brown for obvious reason the whole season.

[Mike Wright]

He's had Malcolm Brown the whole season.

[Jason Moore]

And here's what happened. I thought to myself, well, look, he's not even touching the field. Todd Gurley's on 94% of snaps. We've got two IR spots. I wanted to pick up John Ross, who's coming back. He's. He, you know, he wanted to be.

[Mike Wright]

Sneaky, put John Ross on the IR and then pick him up again the next day.

[Jason Moore]

Pick up Malcolm Brown for.

[Mike Wright]

And what happens?

[Jason Moore]

And then right after the waivers run, the news comes out. The Doc Early's. I'm like, I just dropped him. So now I picked him up. I knew how bad you must have been.

[Mike Wright]

And you couldn't talk about it yesterday because you didn't want us to know about it.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly. I knew it.

[Mike Wright]

When we did drop it, like, Mike didn't even follow the advice. We did drop it like, it's hot. Yesterday on the show, we look at it, all the players dropped off. First name that pops out is Malcolm Brown. The news breaks. I go, okay, all right.

[Jason Moore]

I burned $25 of fab so I could get an injured John Ross. Essentially, this is your Nick Chubb moment.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, this is spectacular.

[Jason Moore]

But it worked out that you paid up to go get them after you dropped them.

[Mike Wright]

So that's some fun drama.

[Andy Holloway]

Really funny.

[Mike Wright]

All right, fantasy forecast. Teams on by Bears, Bills, Colts, Raiders. Let's get into the Week 6 matchups. The early London game. Panthers at 3 and 2 take on the Buccaneers at 2 and 3. This game is a tight one. That's how Vegas sees it. Panthers are two and a half point favorites. It's a 47 and a half point over under. And like I said, the game is early. It's 9:30 Eastern Time in London.

[Andy Holloway]

Like the chickens aren't even up.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know. When the chickens get up, the roosters.

[Andy Holloway]

Get up with the sun. I'm saying over here, living in the best time zone. The Roosters are not awake for this game.

[Mike Wright]

I'm not surprised. You want them to schedule this game around you.

[Andy Holloway]

Is that too much to ask?

[Mike Wright]

You know, last week they had a London game. It was 1pm it was really.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, it was glorious.

[Mike Wright]

Fine. Nobody noticed. Maybe that's why. Maybe they need you to notice.

[Andy Holloway]

All right.

[Mike Wright]

I like it because I get up early, so I like having football on right away. But we've got the Jameis Winston, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin experience. On the Tampa side, we've got the Christian McCaffrey. I wanted to bring it up because he missed practice yesterday, too, so you don't want to leave him out of the equation. But unlike David Johnson and Todd Gurley, his head coach came out and said, Wednesday is the new normal. We're going to give him that day off.

[Andy Holloway]

They should probably give him Thursday off as well.

[Mike Wright]

Look, as a fantasy owner, this is awesome. This is saying, no, we're not adjusting his workload. We're just going to give him more days off. He's fine. That's a dream come true.

[Jason Moore]

Let all of his work be on Sunday. And.

[Andy Holloway]

And then every week, as a fantasy owner, you don't see Christian McCaffrey missed practice on Wednesday, and then you just have that slight bit of fear inside.

[Mike Wright]

That's true. Yeah. When Marshawn lynch used to miss practice.

[Andy Holloway]

Every week, oh, gosh, that was the worst.

[Mike Wright]

All right, let's look at this game. I really like Jameis Winston's opportunity in this one. It's got a high over under. I love the offense and what they're doing in Tampa in terms of using Jameis Winston.

[Andy Holloway]

He's.

[Mike Wright]

They're leading the league in the last four weeks at yards per attempt. Jameis Winston's up at the top. You have two elite wide receivers. Clearly, you've got Chris Goblin.

[Andy Holloway]

Was that you deciding if you should.

[Mike Wright]

Go for it or not? I don't know if it's disrespectful when you're the number one wide receiver in fantasy football to be called a Goblin.

[Jason Moore]

Or not gobbling up the targets.

[Mike Wright]

Thank you. He is. Now we're. Now we're using two different meanings of it.

[Andy Holloway]

Chris Turkey. Godwin.

[Mike Wright]

But Chris Godwin, Mike Evans. Evans leads the NFL in air yards. He's the fourth highest at 20.2 yards per reception. But you have a. You know, you had a super disappointing week last week. He got goosed. But are you playing him right?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. You are.

[Andy Holloway]

100%.

[Jason Moore]

You have to. You have to keep playing Mike Evans. I mean, imagine having his monster games on your bench. Two of the last three weeks, he's been a top 10. But it is concerning because three of five weeks, he's been a major disappointment. I mean, as a Mike Evans owner, I cry on the inside every time Chris Goblin touches the ball.

[Mike Wright]

So let me. We're going to play God when we're going to play Evans.

[Andy Holloway]

I've got an idea here for Mike Evans.

[Mike Wright]

All right?

[Andy Holloway]

Something that could help motivate him, like.

[Mike Wright]

The, you know, take matters into your own hands.

[Andy Holloway]

I am, I am. And this is for fantasy football purposes and just some extra player motivation. Back in the day, you know, when someone committed a crime, they had to then wear the scarlet Letter. You know, give him a scarlet zero. He has to pin that to his jersey and wear that to remind himself that he gave us zero points.

[Mike Wright]

You think shame is the key?

[Andy Holloway]

I think so. I think Mike Evans would look down at that zero.

[Mike Wright]

That was a real good time in our history, the Scarlet Letter era.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I wasn't saying that, but it worked.

[Mike Wright]

I think. I think we'll really have to think hard, long and hard about that.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike, give us some thought.

[Mike Wright]

Don't forget, in Mike Evans life, he's got Twitter on his shoulder. Letting him know, you goosed me. All right.

[Jason Moore]

On the other side of the ball at wide receiver, that's, to me, where it gets interesting.

[Mike Wright]

It's a very difficult decision there. Tampa's given up 323 passing yards a game.

[Jason Moore]

Exactly. The matchup is. Is great, but you've been pretty disappointed with Curtis Samuel and D.J. moore. I, you know, this is the week where players go on by. We've got injuries to deal with, and you need to sometimes make starts from deep on your bench or from the waivers. And I think, you know Curtis Samuel, to me, he's been getting the targets over DJ Moore in general. With Kyle Allen, I think you could do worse than starting him. If you're in a position of need.

[Mike Wright]

It'S difficult because you have to make. You have to make the call that this will be the game. And it's hard with a player like that. Curtis Samuel hasn't had the production. So then you are making the leap on the basis of, you know, matchup.

[Jason Moore]

But it's not just matchup. It's the matchup. Plus it's Will Fuller, right?

[Mike Wright]

What?

[Jason Moore]

One of the things that Will Fuller had is lightning speed and a ton of air yards. Curtis Samuel.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep.

[Jason Moore]

Is he has more air yards right now than Cooper or Odell Beckham. It's just not happening.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

And with the matchup, I think I almost made Curtis Samuel my start of the week, but it was a little too scary. But I think you. I think Curtis Samuel is a good play.

[Andy Holloway]

Jay, if you have. You have Christian McCaffrey in our league of records. Are you stashing Reggie Bonifon the phenomenon.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, I like it. And you don't darn well know that I am. If you look at the papers that ran this morning, I added Bonafon.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Jason Moore]

When you've got a McCaffrey, I want to. I want to protect him. And now that there appears to be some clarity, I mean, the fact that the guy came in and did.

[Andy Holloway]

Did well off a huge touchdown.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean, yeah, I've got Bonafone on the roster now and I like saying Bonafon.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's a lot of fun. I thought we were going to go the bon. I thought bon bons was going to be the way that we went.

[Jason Moore]

But trying to lose weight. Andy, how dare you bring up. Bring up pastries next. Goodness.

[Andy Holloway]

Should I Greg Pastry.

[Mike Wright]

All right. What do you mean?

[Andy Holloway]

Also you're playing Greg Olson.

[Mike Wright]

You are, huh?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. 100% the tight end goose you last week. I get it. Put. Just put the zero on him. Scarlet zero for you too, Greg Olson. All right. The tight end position is scoring bountiful bon bon points on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

[Mike Wright]

Texans, Chiefs. Texans three and two Chiefs four and one games at Arrowhead. Chiefs are four and a half point favorites. It's got a sweet and sexy. That's the over under guys and I'm looking forward to this one. I want to see Tyreek Hill play football again. It would be great for the Patrick Mahomes owner. I have a start of the week in this one that will bring up later. But let's, let's just start at quarterback to Sean Watson.

[Jason Moore]

Patrick Mahomes, I think you can play them.

[Mike Wright]

They're both. It's just worth saying like through five weeks they are performing exactly proportional to their draft position. The quarterback one off the board was Mahomes. He's the quarterback one. The quarterback two off the board was Watson. He's the quarterback two through five weeks. Mahomes has had touchdown troubles over the last two weeks, but he's averaging 355 passing yards. And DeSean Watson went absolutely bonkers last week. So at running back confidence level in Carlos Hyde. Duke Johnson in this game I have the.

[Andy Holloway]

You can play Carlos Hyde if you have to. He's averaging 16 touches a game. He's over four carry. It's not, it's not a sexy pick at all. But we're in the doldrums of the bye week. So I think Carlos Hyde is a fine replacement if you have to put him in.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. The thing about Carlos Hyde, so, you know, got a ton of carries last week, had A had a very good game, but they were blowing out Atlanta. And while we've seen the recipe for beating the Chiefs, which is run with your main predominant, sure, you know, that could work and I fully expect Hyde to get a lot of work in the beginning of the game. But if the Chiefs look better than last week and can move the ball, which I expect them to have a real nice bounce back game here, it might end up being a Duke Johnson type of game. I do think that the running back position from the Texans will be putting up fantasy points against the Chiefs and so it's just a matter of trying to pick which one in a game with this high of an over under with Pat Mahomes on the other side of the field. I lean Duke Johnson for the first time this year. And he's also been great. He hasn't been great for fantasy at all. He's been terrible for fantasy because they're not giving him enough touches. But like, you look at his elusive rating, you look at his, you know, yards after contact, you look at just about any metric and he's been awesome.

[Mike Wright]

Let's take a look at Damian Williams. Do you have confidence in him in this matchup?

[Andy Holloway]

He came back like the biggest fear for Damian Williams coming into the season. What's his actual job security? If he misses time and then someone in the backfield performs, does he get his job back? Like that was the huge fear and then the that fear came to fruition right away. Damian Williams missed time. Shady was fine. Darrell Williams was fine. Damian came right back and took his job. He's taking all the running back carries and he's still getting plenty of targets. So Yes, I have 100% confidence playing him this week.

[Jason Moore]

He's a pretty good trade target this week.

[Mike Wright]

Dan Williams is the running back 23 according to our rankings. Carlos Hyde, RB27. Hopkins Fuller. I've been trying to acquire Hopkins wherever I can. He's got the third highest target share in football at 28% and he's being overshadowed by that insane performance by Will Fuller. But all you know Hopkins, we know what he is.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he's one of the best wide receivers in the National Football League. Who is going to end the season probably still as a top five wide receiver. And the fact that he is right now nowhere near that means the second half of the year is is going to be good.

[Mike Wright]

Tyree Kill, if he plays, how does that make you feel about Watkins Hardman, DeMarcus Robinson? What do you do if Tyree Kill is active? Because I tend to believe he will be active.

[Jason Moore]

I don't think Watkins plays. I was as a Tyree Kill owner in.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh.

[Jason Moore]

He has, he has definitely been cold blooded to his fantasy owners. He's like, hey guys, watch this now you got to start me.

[Mike Wright]

He basically crafted a witch's brew of pain on the course of the season. Because by exploding in week one. He doesn't do that in week one.

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Mike Wright]

Everybody's calm, collected.

[Andy Holloway]

I call that the Chipotle.

[Jason Moore]

Mmm. I get it.

[Andy Holloway]

Because right. Right away it's, it's freaking fantastic. But then, then after you ate it.

[Mike Wright]

There'S hell to pay.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

So how does Al Borland's in the studio back. He was out for a couple of days. I'm looking at him right now. I know you had a chance to really sell Sammy Watkins in week one. Did you take advantage of any of those opportunities? Oh, he's shaking his head now.

[Jason Moore]

Sorry buddy.

[Andy Holloway]

Because we all love Chipotle.

[Jason Moore]

Oh no. Like the lizard king. Here's what happened. He was dealing with a hamstring and shoulder issue last week in practice. Then they decided to put him out there and it. And he re aggravated it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Now he's dealing with this. Why would they put him back out there?

[Andy Holloway]

I don't think he plays either.

[Jason Moore]

So I expect him to be out now as the Tyree Kill owner in the league of record where I'm really needing a win this week, I'm trying to figure out if he's going to play. I watched, you know, the 10 minute press conference with Andy Reid last night, trying to dig deep into whether or not he's going to play. Andy Reid has absolutely no control over the situation. He wants him to play. It's just a matter of what, you know, his MRIs are going to say on the joint. The pro football doc does not expect him to play and in fact says he's worried about him playing even next week. So there's no way to know until it's announced that he is in or out. But I think you have to prepare for him to be out because if he's out and Watkins is out. Andy, I know you picked up Brian Pringle. Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

You're playing him.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean.

[Andy Holloway]

Got it.

[Jason Moore]

There are other good options there. DeMarcus Robinson becomes a great start.

[Mike Wright]

Are you talking about Byron Pringle?

[Jason Moore]

Yes, Byron Pringle.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. So Robinson hard. I think we just say yeah. I mean I don't have immense confidence in the outcome for these players when Hill and Watkins are out. You know that one of them will hit, but you don't necessarily. You know, last week it was Pringle quickly when Watkins went out and all of a sudden that was the player that was open downfield. The problem with Kansas City's offense is that you are missing Eric Fisher on the left side of the defensive line. His absence is why Mahomes got hurt twice last week.

[Andy Holloway]

Offensive line.

[Mike Wright]

What did I say?

[Andy Holloway]

Defensive?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I apologize. Yes. The offensive line, his primary blindside protection. It's why he got stepped on last week. What they're doing on that side of the field is causing problems and without time in the pocket, you don't get a chance for the speed of McColl, Hardman, DeMarcus Robinson to exploit a defense and his own defense you have problems at up front. And so players like Travis Kelsey. I have immense confidence in being able to win in man coverage as opposed to Byron Pringle coming out and distancing himself from man to man corners. That's my problem is I don't really know who's going to emerge from that situation. So, yes, I picked him up.

[Jason Moore]

I think you can flex him. If those guys are out. I'd be.

[Mike Wright]

I don't have a problem with that because the game's got a 55 point.

[Jason Moore]

Over under exactly this and I would slam the over.

[Mike Wright]

I just won't call him safe. I will say that you can play him, but I'm not going to call him safe. Even if Tyree Kill and Sammy Watkins.

[Jason Moore]

Missed the game, he's the exact same thing that Nicole Hardman has been in. DeMarcus Robinson.

[Mike Wright]

That's fair.

[Jason Moore]

They are. They are lightning in a bottle. And if you open it up, you're either going to get a really cool show or get struck in the face by lightning. One of those two things is great, but I don't.

[Andy Holloway]

One of them is very bad.

[Jason Moore]

One of them sucks.

[Mike Wright]

All right. Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Or it turns you into a superhero.

[Mike Wright]

You're playing Hopkins and Fuller. Are you chasing points with Darren Fells? I told you guys earlier this week, I certainly am not. He had two touchdowns last week, but two catches and preferably not. Okay. All right. We good to move on?

[Andy Holloway]

Yep.

[Mike Wright]

Seahawks 4 and 1 take on the Browns in Cleveland. The Browns are 2 and 3 and trying to figure things out right now. Russell Wilson has been arguably in my. I mean, through five weeks, there's been no more impressive quarterback on film to me than Russell Wilson, completing 73% of his passes. Hyper efficient because he's great. And Baker Mayfield's been the most disappointing.

[Andy Holloway]

Quarterback through five weeks he has.

[Mike Wright]

So this is going to be a difficult situation. The Seahawks are one and a half point road favorites. It's a 46 and a half point over under and this Browns defense is not holding up. What do you do with the brown side of the ball? Let's start there. You know, Nick Chubb is in in your lineup each and every week, averaging 21.8 touches per game. Beckham, he's got a 53.5% catch rate. That's the lowest of his career. Last year landry had a 54% catch rate.

[Andy Holloway]

What are you smirking about over there, Jason?

[Jason Moore]

I'm smirking about the fact that you have to start OLO Becker.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yes, you certainly do.

[Jason Moore]

But you don't really want. I mean, it hasn't worked out except for one broken long touchdown run which obviously is completely in his arsenal, which is why you have to start him. But Andy, why don't you bring up your. You said you wanted to bring up your trade.

[Mike Wright]

Sure, yeah. Yesterday I traded, I made the decision. Now we play in a two flex league. A lot of our trade advice over the years has been, you know, a lot of people play in one flex league and in those leagues it's almost, I almost always advise, look, get the best player in the deal, the perceived best player in the deal. Two for one deals, you end up with the one, you get to sign somebody, you're filling out a smaller roster. But we moved to a two flex format in our league of records, so we have a little bit more, we got more positions to fill with consistency. 12 man league, two flex. I made the call yesterday. I'm getting out of the OBJ business in that league. I've had him for a year and a half. It's a three keeper league. He destroyed me last year with injuries, didn't help my team. This year I'm waiting for the chemistry to happen. I don't believe you can fix an offensive line overnight, which means that how is that chemistry going to happen when Baker Mayfield's on his back half the time? So I traded Odell Beckham Jr. And I traded him for Robert woods and Michael Gallup. And I really haven't done a deal like that before.

[Jason Moore]

A lot of people out there might be gasping, you know, two good, decent wide receivers for a superstar. But I like it on your side, especially considering your team needs. I think Robert woods is an extremely good buy low guy right now. He's got zero touchdowns on the year, but he's still on pace for 1300 receiving yards and Michael Gallup.

[Andy Holloway]

Michael Gallup is the buy low of.

[Jason Moore]

Both of these guys.

[Andy Holloway]

He has not established any sort of.

[Mike Wright]

Foundation targets he had last week.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, he's 14. Yes he's his target share is incredible. His air yards are incredible when he's played. He unfortunately had that span of games he missed because of the injury. But he is exploding.

[Mike Wright]

I put a rest of season poll up yesterday because we need validation as fantasy owners that we did the right.

[Andy Holloway]

Thing and we can.

[Mike Wright]

And 77% of the foot clan agreed with the they prefer woods and Gallup over the back half of the season than obj. The fact of the matter is there are very few players as talented as Odell Beckham Jr. In football and clearly last week they were making special efforts to get him uniquely involved in the offense. All that being said, special teams and special teams. All that being said, Odell Beckham Jr. Will always have the potential to win you the week and being the number one fantasy wide receiver. But I don't think consistency is going to be something you can count on if this offense stays in the bottom third of football. That's my concern with it. So you know in three games played, Michael Gallups the wide receiver, seven in points per game. I think he is a buy low because his name hasn't been established. But on film I've liked everything I saw from preseason. You guys know that. So it was it was time to move out of the Odell Beckham waiting game.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep.

[Mike Wright]

You still have to play him because he's Odell Beckham.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And the Brown schedule opens up the second half of the year. I think the next two weeks are hard. You got the Seahawks, I want to say the Page or the Patriots are in two weeks, something like that. After that they've got a pretty easy schedule. So hopefully things do turn around for the Browns.

[Mike Wright]

Through five weeks, Landry is the wide receiver 32. Odell Beckham is the wide receiver 35 and the offense has to get rolling. That's all that has to happen. All these players, the chips will follow the right direction. Ricky Seals Jones is a desperation tight end play. He is receiving targets. He almost had a great catch in this last game. But it's desperation mode on the other side. You got to start Will Disley at this point. Oh yeah, he's an absolute beast. Well, we're saving that. We're saving that for later. For later.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh no.

[Mike Wright]

Tyler Lockett is the wide receiver 10 on the year. He's out there. Chris Carson, you're starting. What do you do with DK Metcalf? Is he a flex play for you this week against Cleveland? This is a.

[Andy Holloway]

He's in flex consideration. The Browns defense, I mean, they're, they're ranked fifth against fantasy wide receivers. So it's on paper is not a great matchup. But as has been very evident this year, Russell Wilson is not to be taken on paper.

[Mike Wright]

Well said, Bengals. Oh, and five take on the Ravens three and two. This game's in Baltimore. The Ravens are healthy favorites. Eleven and a half points. It's a 48 point over under. If you look at Lamar Jackson right now in the season, he's the quarterback. Three on the week for us, by the way. He's on Pace for 35 passing touchdowns, 986 rushing yards. He's averaging 10 attempts per game. He's probably as safe as you can get, near as safe as you can get at the quarterback position at this point because of the rushing attempts. So you're obviously playing him in a favorable matchup at home. I'm sure you'd like to see Mark Andrews out there. Mark Andrews is missing practice on the reg.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he's. He's been dealing with the same issue the whole season. Obviously, over the last three weeks, you've been much. You've been disappointed in Mark Andrews compared to, you know, he gets off to the unbelievable start. The first two weeks you just assumed he's locked in as an every week, you know, he's, he's leveled up. I think he is still very good. This matchup against the Bengals, if you're looking at, you know, you go, oh, you know, they're top 10 against tight end. Some of that is a mirage. If you look at their last three weeks, they played teams that pretty much don't have tight ends. One of those was against the Steelers when they didn't have Vance McDonald, you know, so I think Mark Andrews is a great play. We'll talk about him a little later.

[Mike Wright]

All right, looking, looking at the Bengals side, we have to first say, hey, what are the Ravens doing on defense this year? Last year in 2018, fourth against quarterback, second against running back, sixth against wide receivers. It was the Baltimore Ravens, you know, and love. This year's not been the case. They're 14th against quarterbacks, 23rd in fantasy points against. Against the running back position, 24th against wide receivers. They've given up the fourth most passing yards per game. They're the one defense that actually got beat by Baker Mayfield in that offense. So this is not the same defense putting the same Amount of pressure on the quarterback. That being said, this is a home matchup. So what can you really count on from the Bengals side?

[Andy Holloway]

Well, for the Ravens, their defense, I mean, they've just been hit with injuries like Jimmy Smith. They're hoping he is back soon. Brandon Williams was out the week that Nick Chubb went nuclear on them. So it's.

[Mike Wright]

I think it's going to get better.

[Andy Holloway]

I do believe that it's going to get better. And this. So, like, this is one of those trends where right now the Ravens is a nice matchup for your fantasy players in six weeks, that may not be the case.

[Mike Wright]

And that's why making the decisions five weeks in.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Mike Wright]

Can be difficult.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And I just also want to bring up, I mean, the Ravens lost a lot of key pieces in free agency. They did add Earl Thomas, but, you know, when you lose C.J. mosley, Zadarius, Smith, those guys.

[Mike Wright]

Terrell Suggs departed finally.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean, this isn't the defense of last year. And while, yeah, if they get some of these injured players back, they'll be better than what we've seen. I just don't take the Baltimore Ravens as a super difficult matchup on defense right now.

[Mike Wright]

All right. I didn't mention Marquis Brown. I mean, obviously Mark Ingram's in. Marquis Brown's dealing with the ankle injury. If he plays, are you playing him? I imagine, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

But I'm adjusting expectations with Lamar Jackson. Just he's not going deep as much like it. Like we talked about this, where those first few weeks, it looked like Lamar Jackson was going to be right there with Patrick Mahomes just slinging the ball all the time. But that. That disappeared quickly.

[Mike Wright]

Tyler Boyd on the other side. Would you rather start Tyler Boyd than Marquis Brown?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. What about Auden Tate? Do you chase the touchdown last week? Is he still a desperation play? I mean.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, he's still a desperation play. Flex at best, though.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I don't think you're chasing the touchdown because, you know, we. We were talking about him as a desperation play before the touchdown in the same situation exists where John Ross is out, A.J. green is out. He's a wide receiver, too. For a team that you assume is going to have to throw the ball a lot, who's playing with a faster pace of play. So, yeah, he's not the prettiest start, but, you know, throw him in there.

[Andy Holloway]

He caught a touchdown and he also, early on in that game dropped what would have been an easy touchdown. So it was. He was almost done for a Big game.

[Mike Wright]

All right, we're going to do one more matchup on today's show before we hit the starts of the week. We'll cover the rest of the matchups on tomorrow's podcast episode. Saints four and one taking on the Jags at two and three. The Saints are one point road favorites. It's a 44 and a half point over under. Teddy Bridgewater had a big game last week. It's his first real relevant game at the position. He's kept the Saints in the win column. Four touchdowns last week. Gardner Minshew. We have Minshew ranked higher than Bridgewater this week. He's at home. He's got a 9 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio so far. His Fantasy finishes quarterback 15, 15, 16, 13. And then last week, quarterback eight. Is that correct? So it's been improving. I'm sure he feels more comfortable with the offense. He has a weapon. DJ Chark, the Saints defense has given up fantasy points to the quarterback and wide receiver position, not really to the running back. How do you feel about Gardner in this matchup?

[Jason Moore]

You know, I don't love Gardner here necessarily. I know, Mike, you're a little bit higher on him. He's been consistent. He's not been, you know, 25 ever. No bust game.

[Andy Holloway]

He has not exploded. But he's also been. He's been very safe for you.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. I mean, in fantasy, in a normal league, I'm expecting like, I don't want to start someone that I don't think is going to be top 12. You're always wanting to at least have a top 12 quarterback on the week. You know, if you're 15, okay, it wasn't the worst week in the world, but it's not winning. And that's kind of where I see the Jaguars. I think that this is going to be a lower scoring game, personally. You've got, you know, two teams that have good pieces on defense. Jalen Ramsey was back to practice.

[Mike Wright]

He's playing this.

[Jason Moore]

The owner.

[Mike Wright]

He's already playing.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. So that's been a big loss for the Jacksonville Jaguars defense the last few weeks. So Teddy Bridgewater, yeah, he had a great week last week. I don't think he's going to have a great week here. This is just a game that I don't see being a fantasy bonanza.

[Mike Wright]

I think that's fair right now. The Saints have given up the 10th most passing yards. It's interesting. Everybody wants to talk about DJ Chark and that's fair, right? He's been excellent.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

It's Interesting though that DJ Chark indeed Westbrook have the same target share on the season at 21.9%. DJ Chark is ranked much higher for most analysts. But is DD a sneaky start here where.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

You know you have a slot cornerback in P.J. williams that has given up the third most fantasy points to slot wide receivers.

[Andy Holloway]

He's not good.

[Mike Wright]

No, he's not.

[Andy Holloway]

He's not.

[Mike Wright]

Indeed he is good.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, indeed. He is a good wide receiver. It will be interesting to see like Marshawn Lattimore doesn't always shadow, but in the games where they've played against big time wide receivers like Hopkins and this past week of Evans.

[Jason Moore]

Don't talk about that.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I apologize.

[Jason Moore]

Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

Will DJ Chart get that treatment? I'm very interested to see what the Saints choose to do.

[Mike Wright]

But your point is though, it could be a problem.

[Jason Moore]

Yes, a problem for him. But that's where Dee Dee is going to. I mean, you saw it from Chris Goblin last week as he went off. Dee Dee is a really sneaky start here.

[Mike Wright]

Jared Cook or O.J. howard this week? Jared Cook in this matchup or O.J. howard. What if your fantasy league gives you points for foul ball catches like at baseball games?

[Andy Holloway]

Is he going to do it again? Like, can he in the middle of a game do that? I don't think you can retroactively apply that, right?

[Mike Wright]

No, that's a good point.

[Andy Holloway]

But Jared Cook, six targets each of the past two weeks. He's behind Camara and Michael Thomas. Teddy Bridgewater is going to Jared Cook.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I would go Cook over Howard. Starts of the week.

[Mike Wright]

All right, Week six, starts of the week. Time, Mike, I'm going to hand you the baton. Let's start at the quarterback position.

[Andy Holloway]

Kyler Murray, he's up on the wall for a reason with the signed jersey from Pristine Auction Atlanta. That is the matchup for Mr. Murray this week. They are giving up the most points to the quarterback position. And my notes here say when Marcus Mariota goes 227 and three rip to your defense. I like your D. I should have finished it that way.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, that would have been better. I'm going to take the landing the quarterback right on the other side of the field. This game looks like you've got two defenses that can't hold up. So Matt Ryan, who had an explosive game last week, you were disappointed a little bit over the, over the previous few weeks, he's had some, some of Those, you know, quarterback, 15 type of performances, but he's going to be a Monster this week, whenever I think about, like, if they wanted to throw to Julio Jones every play they can, who in the Arizona Cardinals can guard a Mohamed Sanu, let alone a Calvin Ridley, let alone a Julio Jones?

[Andy Holloway]

The new is real sneaky.

[Jason Moore]

So, I mean, I mean, it's. It's one of those situations where these two quarterbacks are going to be great. You want pieces in this game?

[Mike Wright]

All right. I'm actually going to go a little deeper and throw the trust and confidence at Jameis Winston. I'm going to do the London matchup for Jameis Winston against Carolina. They just gave up 28 to Gardner Minshew. Trust is a powerful thing, and you are seeing a trust both from when you look at Bruce Arians and what he's doing in this office. Jameis is doing what his Bruce Arians quarterbacks do. He's averaging the highest yards per attempt, the highest touchdown percentage. He has two elite wide receivers. And he's going to be put in a position to where, you know, at the end of the day, Bruce Arians is going to trust his passing game. You saw last week, we didn't talk about it in the matchup today. Maybe we should have, but Ronald Jones, Peyton Barber, Dari Agun Boale, there's like 33% of the snaps each and so.

[Andy Holloway]

You can't trust any of them right now.

[Mike Wright]

No. So I have. I'm going to put my confidence in Jameis Winston having the opportunity to air it out in this one, especially after seeing, you know, Gardner. So what do you guys think at the running back position?

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I'm going with. This is more just to save my Twitter mentions because people are going to be asking, do I play Austin Eckler?

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, you continue to play Austin Eckler.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, you're doubling up.

[Andy Holloway]

I am.

[Mike Wright]

Straight weeks.

[Andy Holloway]

I am, because all the reports are.

[Mike Wright]

Pat on the butt.

[Andy Holloway]

Melvin Gordon, he's going to be more involved in the game plan as he should. He's the number one running back for this. Still working his way back. But Echler's. He's going to get that. He's going to get attempts. He's going to get targets like he's. He will still be involved in this game plan. And against the Steelers, I think that a way that the Chargers will have to move the ball is going to be dumping it off to Austin Eckler.

[Mike Wright]

So when you're. I think it's interesting. I mean, obviously everybody who's had Austin Eckler is riding that wave at this point, but when you look At Eckler.

[Andy Holloway]

And I'm still hanging 10.

[Mike Wright]

Let's see, let's see. You have to make some decisions though.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay.

[Mike Wright]

Echler, for a lot of teams was acquired, later turned into a superstar. So you have other players that you're saying, okay, when Echler falls out of favor, when Echler is no longer the guy that he's been, I'm going to put this player in the lineup. Would you be playing Austin Eckler or would you be playing Sonny Michelle tonight against the Giants? Sony, those are guys back to back in our rankings, so I'm not being.

[Andy Holloway]

Fair to you, but Sony, by a hair.

[Mike Wright]

What about a guy like Philip Lindsay who's had some really big weeks?

[Andy Holloway]

I don't like the matchup, so I'm going to go with Austin Eckler.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

And the way.

[Jason Moore]

What about throw this name out, Melvin Gordon, if you have both.

[Andy Holloway]

Once again, yes. And I guess, I guess I'm playing Melvin. I don't know.

[Jason Moore]

I know it's so hard. Mike Pouncey is on ir. That's a huge problem for the running game. And while Melvin Gordon is great in the passing game, Echler has been phenomenal.

[Mike Wright]

I would lean Echler in this matchup.

[Andy Holloway]

The way I'm viewing Austin Eckler is like I'm playing a game of musical chairs. And I would rather keep playing with him in my lineup and get the dud game when it eventually happens than keep playing and him scoring a bunch of points on my bench.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, yeah, that's fair. And we do have him. If you go to the website, the fantasy footballers.com and start sit tool, if you plug those two players in our consensus rankings have Austin Eckler two spots higher than Melvin Gordon. They're really close, but I think that, you know, we clearly lean that direction.

[Jason Moore]

For my running back start of the week, I'm going to. I'm going to do it again. I'm taking the same position on the other side of the field, Mike, in the Chargers game, I'm going with James Conner. As a guy that you have to start this week, you lose Jalen Samuel, you're on your third string quarterback. They're not going to be able to pass the ball, so they're going to have to rely on the run. And the Chargers are not built as a defense to stop the run. They are. They are one of those funneling defenses where they usually want you to run the ball. You're not going to be able to throw on them. So I think this is a volume play where James Connor is going to.

[Mike Wright]

Watch Philip Lindsay last week.

[Jason Moore]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

It kind of speaks to your point. Philip Lindsay just dissected and destroyed this defense last week. I don't mind the confidence play with Connor and with Jan Samuels out, you have a guaranteed volume. I'm going to go. Damian Williams against Houston at home at Arrowhead. Damian Williams coming back from the injury. Like Mike said earlier, it was his backfield. And the narrative street here for me is the simple fact that right now Patrick Mahomes needs him. And when I say needs him, I mean in the passing game. He needs the Damian Williams effect on this offense. If Tyree Kill doesn't play, Sammy Watkins is banged up and you know, God forbid if something happens with that ankle and he's stuck in the pocket some more, he's just going to need Damian Williams in this offense and I think you can play him against Houston. He's my start of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

Our editor, Kyle the Borgogan, he did a really deep dive on.

[Mike Wright]

Is that the running back for the Panthers to back up to McCaffrey?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, he did a really deep dive on vacated targets and where do they actually go? And he found a pretty strong correlation that when main targets have disappeared from a team running back, targets go up. And this isn't a season long thing we're looking at, but I think that that would still hold true, that Damian Williams will see an increased target.

[Mike Wright]

You know, he's going to have what, three, four full on downfield wheel route plays per game. They just missed on him last week. He's a burner. And if one of those drops into his arms, you're going to be really, really happy in this matchup.

[Jason Moore]

This could be your Will Fuller start of the week. I mean, you know, yeah, just a complete explosion game. I like him as your start of the week.

[Mike Wright]

I can't. Can I use Will Fuller, his performance last week as my start of the week this week?

[Jason Moore]

Sure.

[Mike Wright]

That one will last for like three or four weeks.

[Jason Moore]

Right. If you cut it in half and you only get half of those points, you'd still have a great well.

[Mike Wright]

I think people know to start Will Fuller at this point, especially against Kansas City. So I won't go back to the well there, but I will give you my wide receiver. I'm going to bring it home here. Larry Fitzgerald against Atlanta, the games in Arizona, the car, you know, Larry's a better home play than he is a road play and Atlanta is a wonderful play when you put a wide receiver in your lineup because Atlanta is 32nd against the wide receiver position. The Cardinals offense is still figuring out pass catching options outside of Larry. Right now you have more talk about Andy Isabella. We're going to continue to work him into the lineup. You know how many targets, a lot of Jet sweeps. How many targets Andy Isabella has on the year?

[Jason Moore]

How many?

[Mike Wright]

That would be zero.

[Andy Holloway]

Fewer than Jet sweeps.

[Mike Wright]

Fewer than Jet sweeps.

[Jason Moore]

They got to start doing the tap pass.

[Mike Wright]

Christian Kirk is baked up.

[Jason Moore]

There's a target.

[Mike Wright]

The targets haven't been there for Keyshawn. I think Larry Fitzgerald has a big game and we've talked about the red zone effectiveness. I think this is the one where they get in the red zone. Larry's going to have one of those touchdowns. Last week he got a target in the red zone right on the goal line. It was a weird call to end the half, but it was another screen pass two yards out. He could have ran it right in. I think this is the bounce back game for Larry Fitzgerald.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I like it. My start of the week at wide receiver is in tonight's game. Jules. Julian Edelman, he had an awesome game last week. You've lost Philip Dorsett. This is a game they're at home projected to have 30 plus points. They want to. They're going to be in the situation where you run the ball right well, that. That's what passing the ball to Julian Edelman is. And you have an incredible matchup against Grant Haley, who is not good. I mean, this is a perfect matchup. I think that you're going to have another big performance. You know, near double digit receptions, just, you know, and a great option for a touchdown. Just like the matchup he had last week where he got a touchdown.

[Andy Holloway]

My start of the week at the wide receiver position, scary. Terry McLaurin, the F1, whatever we're calling him these days, he gets to take on Miami and this little stat nugget, per our friend Scott Barrett. So last week, McLaurin put up 51 yards against the Patriots. He was shadowed by Gilmore in that contest. This is just the third time in 22 games that Gilmore has given up 50 more or more yards to a single player who he was shadow covering. Terry McLaurin is really, really good.

[Jason Moore]

And he did it against Chicago.

[Andy Holloway]

And now you have the bump that Case Keenum is back. Like he did that without Case Keenum. So against Miami, Terry McLaurin is in for me.

[Mike Wright]

Interesting. Yeah, I am. The only fear that I have is the changeover at head coach philosophically. And then, you know, does McLaren end up seeing Howard? Does it matter? No, probably not. To me, the Case Keenum thing, it's great. It's a great opportunity for Case Keenan. You've seen that rapport already. But I just, I want to know that Terry McClure is going to get more than, you know, five targets in this game. I'm not positive because Bill Callahan is there, but, you know, it. Little, little bit of courtesy start of the week here, a little extra. I'll talk about it in the, in the matchup tomorrow. But keep your eye on Adrian Peterson.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, goodness.

[Mike Wright]

Because the matchup mixed with what they're going to. How many times are going to give Adrian Peterson the ball? He could be a really, really safe, strong play this week. And if what you believe about, you know, Keenum's the best quarterback there in terms of moving the offense for sure. So if you're going to put yourself in a position with more goal line opportunities, at least you've got that with Casey.

[Jason Moore]

Who wins this game? Does Miami, you know, at home, coming off the by, do they, do they, do they pull it out?

[Mike Wright]

I don't think so.

[Jason Moore]

I don't either.

[Mike Wright]

I think it's Washington.

[Jason Moore]

And so if Washington wins the game and they're up, they're going to have.

[Andy Holloway]

They'Ll have more rushing attempts.

[Jason Moore]

Right. And it'll be, he'll be like, see, I told you. I told you. And everyone's going to go, it's the Dolphins.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. You know who else is going, going to surprise people in this game is Mark Walton, running back for the Miami Dolphins.

[Andy Holloway]

He might.

[Mike Wright]

Mark Walton is going to get the most work in that backfield, I believe, this week.

[Andy Holloway]

Or Drake.

[Mike Wright]

It'll be close. Yeah. Because. Because of the matchup and because of this, they want to see what they have in Walton. Now he's moved past Caleb Lodge in the depth chart.

[Andy Holloway]

That's true.

[Mike Wright]

And he's actually put up some like decent yard per carry numbers in production in the offense. They seem to like him and his work ethic. So, Jason, Mark Walton could be coming back to the show.

[Jason Moore]

Hey, it's me, Mark Walton. Berg say hey, mother for me. Couldn't even remember his name. I don't even remember.

[Mike Wright]

It's been a while.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it's been a long while. All right, tight ends moving on to tight ends. My tight end start of the week is Mark Andrews. I think he's going to have a big bounce back week. He's, you know, been a little bit disappointing the last few weeks, but this is a matchup against the Bengals defense. That is not good. It Looks good on paper against tight end, but that's what I was mentioning earlier. Their schedule the last three games was the Cardinals, who don't really utilize tight ends. The Steelers without Vance McDonald and the Bills. No, you know, Dawson Knox, my apologies, you're not quite there yet. So, you know, this is a game where they're going to win. They're going to win big. He's got 23% target share at tight end. That's phenomenal. So I expect just need him out.

[Mike Wright]

There, which he should be a big week. All right. My start of the week at tight end.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Do I need to say anything else?

[Jason Moore]

No, just let it play.

[Mike Wright]

On pace.

[Jason Moore]

Stop your. Shut your mouth.

[Mike Wright]

74 catches.

[Jason Moore]

Shut up.

[Mike Wright]

838 yards.

[Andy Holloway]

Jason feeling it.

[Mike Wright]

13 touchdowns and a really, really good quarterback. Throwing him the ball and one that trusts him. You saw that a lot last week. Trust him downfield, trust him in the red zone. It's kind of Tyler Lockett and Will Disley and then, you know, he'll find receptions for DK Macaff or David Moore, those players. So Will Disley started the week against Cleveland.

[Jason Moore]

Not to mention he has his own theme song.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that helps.

[Andy Holloway]

He does.

[Mike Wright]

It helps. Now, Mike, this is an interesting one.

[Jason Moore]

All right.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm going with it because he is a titan that a lot of people picked up off the waiver wire to.

[Mike Wright]

Play this week, yourself included.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And I'm giving the advice that I am following. I went hard in the paint after this guy. And speaking of going hard in the paint, we're hoping that Gerald Everett, Mr. Mount Everett, can scream down the paint, throw the dunk in NBA Jam style and get on fire. Because he is absolutely heating up 19 targets combined the past two weeks. He is running a ton of routes. This is the guy that Sean McVay drafted him to be. It's just taken a very, very long climb. Look, when you're climbing Everest takes a while. It takes a while.

[Mike Wright]

Years, apparently.

[Jason Moore]

Takes over three years.

[Mike Wright]

It's a three year climb. That's what I hear.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm just letting people know this is what I am doing. I am playing Everett. I dumped O.J. howard in my money league to pick up Everett and play him this week.

[Mike Wright]

I'm gonna warn you, though, if we.

[Andy Holloway]

Go down, we're going.

[Mike Wright]

Not everybody comes down off of Everett.

[Andy Holloway]

That's. That's true.

[Jason Moore]

Bodies up there.

[Mike Wright]

It could be trouble, but we're hoping.

[Andy Holloway]

We don't have a human toboggan situation.

[Mike Wright]

But you're jumping forward a week you're not waiting for the on fire. You want to be ahead of it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep.

[Mike Wright]

Three weeks in a row and Brandon Cooks could miss. You know that.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Could miss the game. We'll see what happens there. All right, those are a start of week. The start of the week starts. Those are the starts of the week. You know, when we go over the 60 minute mark, the wheels, they fall off. Wheels fall off a little bit. Jason, you prepare your.

[Jason Moore]

Yes. Jason Moore's ironclad, locked and loaded, 100% guaranteed. Boom boom. Kicker of the week. Last week's kicking team was new and defiant. So let's use old man strength with the Falcons, Matt Bryan.

[Andy Holloway]

Wait a minute, are you. You're calling Robbie Gould.

[Jason Moore]

I'm talking about the brand new long snapper and the brand new holder that couldn't ever get the ball down. Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Gotcha.

[Jason Moore]

He was like a really good play from attempts, but you watch the game and you. I mean, he.

[Mike Wright]

Only Jason would. This is the kind of research you get. He understands the depth chart on the special team situation. That's holders. Yeah, there you go.

[Jason Moore]

That's the research you get with the locked and loaded. Boom boom. I just love kickers so much.

[Mike Wright]

So much.

[Jason Moore]

Can't say.

[Mike Wright]

All right, in and out. Tomorrow on the show, we've got the game day [e-mail] As I mentioned in Sunday live, we'll be back with more matchups on tomorrow's episode of the podcast as well as ballers on a budget and likely a lot of injury news. We'll see what the trend is like for David Johnson. We'll see what it's like for Todd Gurley, Brandon Cook, Sammy Watkins, some of these players that we're really keeping an eye on. And depending on what happens, you may be able to exploit some waiver wire pickups to give you a big week for your fantasy team. So we want to thank our studio sponsor, Pristine auction. A signed Lamar Jackson jersey yesterday on Pristine auction sold for $81.90.

[Andy Holloway]

Nice.

[Mike Wright]

You can go to pristineauction.com use the code ballers and that'll do it for us.

[Andy Holloway]

We will see you tomor clan. Thank you so much for joining us. Gonna finish up those matchups, protect your house from burgling. Enjoy the game.

[Jason Moore]

Goodbye. 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.

[Mike Wright]

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