Week 3 Studs & Duds, Rising Stars, Jason Tilt Watch

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary: Week 3 – Studs & Duds, Rising Stars, Jason Tilt Watch

Release Date: September 24, 2018
Episode Title: Week 3 Studs & Duds, Rising Stars, Jason Tilt Watch
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright

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Introduction

In this engaging Week 3 episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright delve deep into the latest fantasy football action. Skipping advertisements and intros, the trio provides comprehensive analysis on player performances, emerging talents, disappointing outings, and strategic moves to help listeners dominate their leagues.

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Weekly Rewind: Key Performances and Injury Implications

1. Quarterback Turmoil:

• Jimmy Garoppolo's Injury:
  At [02:03], Jason Moore shares his frustration, "Guys, I don't want to be here today. This is the first show in a long time where I go. I'm not happy to be. I hate fantasy football. Football's the worst."
  Garoppolo suffered a season-ending ACL tear, drastically impacting his team's offensive dynamics and fantasy prospects. Jason emphasizes, "[...] So I'm just hoping to win a game someday."

• George Kittle’s Value Amid Chaos:
  With Garoppolo sidelined, tight end George Kittle becomes a crucial asset. As Andy notes at [06:55], "the tight end landscape is a complete and utter mess."
  Jason Moore concurs, highlighting Kittle's reliability: "the only piece that I want from the passing game would be Kittle [...] he is a good enough player with opportunity in a pool full of awful options."

2. Tight Ends Analysis:

• Dallas Goddard’s Surprise Performance:
  Scoring an impressive 16.8 points per game, Goddard emerges as a potential breakout star. Mike Wright discusses his newfound value: "he was my favorite tight end, base catching tight end coming out of last year's draft class [...] he actually has a chance."

• Amari Cooper’s Inconsistency:
  Cooper’s fluctuating performances raise concerns. Jason Moore warns, "If it looks like you a t start Amari Cooper, bench him."
  Andy adds humorously, "If you can utilize his name and two out of the three weeks [...] but if you have Cooper up then, it can crap on your team."

3. Running Backs Under the Microscope:

• Rex Burkhead’s Decline:
  Burkhead's injuries and inconsistent usage have turned him into a "handcuff" as expressed by Andy at [11:50].
  Jason Moore reflects on the situation: "I just want to see Rex Burkhead, pick him up if I saw him on waivers, I'd probably pick him up. But I don't want him."

• Ezekiel Elliott vs. David Johnson:
  Andy and Mike compare the two, noting Elliott’s improved efficiency and reduced ceiling due to offensive shifts:
  Andy Holloway states, "the ceiling has been pushed down on Zeke because the offense is not going to provide as many scoring opportunities."
  Jason Moore prefers Elliott: "I would much, much rather have Zeke than David Johnson right now."

4. Emerging Quarterback Hope: Josh Rosen:
Josh Rosen's potential to stabilize the offense introduces optimism. Andy critiques the current offensive strategy:
"I tweeted my disgust with Mike McCoy's third down play, [...] it was a complete mess."
Jason remains skeptical but open to changes:
"Josh Rosen does bring hope with him. But I don't think Josh Rosen fixed the Cardinals offense."

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Stud Muffins: Top Performers of the Week

1. Drew Brees (Atlanta Falcons):
Andy highlights Brees' stellar performance against New Orleans, throwing for 396 yards and two touchdowns:
"It was 39 for 49 for 396 and three for Brees."
Jason critiques the Falcons’ defensive lapses: "How the Falcons did not tackle Drew."

2. Matt Ryan (Atlanta Falcons):
Ryan's dismissal of opponents with 374 yards passing emphasizes his fantasy value, especially with Calvin Ridley's breakout:
"Matt Ryan lit it up [...] Greenville kind of showed up."

3. Cam Newton (Carolina Panthers):
Cam's dual-threat ability shines, scoring two rushing touchdowns:
"He just breaks out of tackles and he runs the ball and he ran the ball again. Two touchdowns on the ground through another two."
Andy praises rule changes that benefit mobile quarterbacks like Newton.

4. Ryan Tannehill (Miami Dolphins):
Despite being a streamer pick, Tannehill delivers with 289 passing yards and three touchdowns, including a pivotal 70-yard touchdown run:
"Which big game defeated undefeated Miami Dolphins? These tap passes are so stupid."

5. Josh Allen (Buffalo Bills):
Allen's dominance against the Vikings surprises many:
"Josh Allen, the Bills are open now to trading Le'Veon Bell... he dominated the Vikings."
Andy adds, "Josh Allen's the guy that will carry on."

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Duds: Disappointing Performances to Avoid

1. Tom Brady (New England Patriots):
Despite being projected as the top quarterback, Brady underperformed significantly:
"Tom Brady, it was a complete bust. He was projected for the most points on several different platforms and did not get it done."
Mike Wright expresses frustration, "Britain should be benched."

2. Kirk Cousins (Minnesota Vikings):
Cousins' performance plummeted as he struggled with turnovers:
"Kirk Cousins for three quarters of the day was negative points after his two fumbles and interception."
Andy condemns, "Kirk Cousins was involved early, Jamal Williams was not the clear snap leader."

3. Dak Prescott (Dallas Cowboys):
Prescott's inconsistency and poor game management make him a dud:
"Bad weeks for [...] Dak Prescott."

4. Amari Cooper (Dallas Cowboys):
Cooper's unpredictability cautions fantasy managers from relying on him:
"If it looks like you a t start Amari Cooper, bench him."
Jason advises, "Don't have him on your roster."

5. Le'Veon Bell (Pittsburgh Steelers):
Amid trade rumors, Bell's uncertainty impacts his fantasy reliability:
"Adam Schefter reporting that the Steelers are open now to trading Le'Veon Bell. That is a huge change from their previous demeanor."

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Rising Stars: Players Gaining Momentum

1. Calvin Ridley (Atlanta Falcons):
Ridley's explosive performance eclipses Julio Jones, making him a valuable asset:
"Calvin Ridley, seven for 160 [...] he's on fire."
Jason Moore praises his ability to "destroy a zone," enhancing his fantasy ceiling.

2. Kenny Golladay (Detroit Lions):
Golladay emerges as a reliable receiver, trusted by Matthew Stafford:
"Kenny Golladay [...] sticky hands [...] missed a second touchdown by the back of his foot."
Andy emphasizes, "This is a breakout for Kenny Golladay."

3. Mike Williams (Los Angeles Chargers):
Williams shows promise with two touchdowns and increased target volume:
"Mike Williams [...] he is integrating himself into this offense."
Jason Moore notes, "He's going to be the guy he's emerging."

4. Kerryon Johnson (Detroit Lions):
Johnson's impressive rushing performance marks him as a reliable back:
"Kerryon Johnson crosses the century mark on only 16 carries. He is averaging 5.55 yards per carry."
Andy highlights, "He is now from here on out a startable player."

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Trade Watch: Strategic Moves and Insights

Andy shares a live trade, exchanging Jared McKinnon and a second-round pick for Carlos Hyde and Kenneth Dixon.
Jason Moore supports the move, likening it to past successes:
"People freak out about Carlos Hyde because of Nick Chubb. [...] this is a DeMarco Murray, Derrick Henry situation."

Mike Wright points out potential long-term benefits, while Andy reflects on the strategy of trading to bolster immediate season performance versus future planning.

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Poopers: Players Connecting Less Than Expected

1. Amari Cooper (Repeated):
Cooper's inconsistent target-based performance is a significant concern, leading Jason to strongly advise against relying on him weekly.

2. Corey Davis (Jacksonville Jaguars):
Davis' poor matchup and limited targets warrant caution:
"You know, Jalen Ramsey, [...] it's every rushing play he..."
Andy suggests, "Look, it's just two games. You need two games and then I'll start Aaron Jones."

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Concluding Insights

The Fantasy Footballers wrap up with a summary of the week's actions, emphasizing the volatility of early-season performances and the importance of adaptability. Jason Moore's candid frustrations and strategic advice aim to empower listeners to make informed decisions. The hosts encourage joining their community at JoinTheFoot.com for premium insights and following them on social media for continuous updates.

Notable Quotes:

• Jason Moore at [01:21]: "Guys, I don't want to be here today. This is the first show in a long time where I go. I'm not happy to be. I hate fantasy football. Football's the worst."

• Andy Holloway at [03:01]: "I've always said whatever happens can happen in reverse, Jason."

• Mike Wright at [06:55]: "the tight end landscape is a complete and utter mess."

• Jason Moore at [16:16]: "I think about Hyde has moved up Baker Mayfield [...] What do you think of Alex Collins? Is this what you wanted to see?"

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the critical discussions, insights, and actionable advice presented in the Fantasy Footballers' Week 3 episode, ensuring listeners are well-equipped to navigate their fantasy leagues successfully.

Transcript

[Jason Moore]

Do you want an unfair advantage to dominate your fantasy football league? Look no further and download Squad Ql, the only mobile app you need to crush your friends and rivals. Squad Ql recommends the best starting lineups each week based on your starters, your bench players, and the free agent pool. It provides waiver and trade recommendations, too. So go to squadql.com and download Squad Ql for free from the makers of rotoql Foreign to the Fantasy Footballers podcast coming to you from Draft.com Studios with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Andy Holloway]

Ah, we're back. It's Monday. Monday, the Fantasy Football Ballers podcast. Andy, Mike and Jason coming to you this fine, fine morning.

[Mike Wright]

Andy, Mike and part of Jason.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, correction. He is distributing himself in various horcruxes around Phoenix as he disintegrates into the mist.

[Jason Moore]

Guys, I don't want to be here today. This is the first show in a long time where I go. I'm not happy to be. Not happy to be here. I hate fantasy football. Football's the worst.

[Andy Holloway]

Wow. This is a fantasy football show and we've got a lot of listeners that need your advice, Jason.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, well, here, here's, here's. Here's my advice. My advice is, first of all, if you're 0 and 3, which is not official yet. Not official. I have no. I'm not officially 0 and 3 yet.

[Andy Holloway]

Super Team, right?

[Jason Moore]

Yes. My super team. My dominant team. Now, again, you guys did believe that I had a chance to go undefeated. I mean, my team looked unbelievable. Whatever. It's trash.

[Andy Holloway]

It's garbage.

[Jason Moore]

So I'm just hoping to win a game someday. But if you're 03, don't freak out. I know. Look, my pain, you can feel and hear my pain. I am with you. Don't sell out. Don't give up. Never surrender.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Jason Moore]

By Griffor's hammer, we will come back and we will. We will succeed. And I. When. When I am the Foot Clan champion at the end of this year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

We'll look back and say thank you for.

[Andy Holloway]

Is this more of a golf score situation? I know. Tiger got it. Tiger got a win. So I thought maybe inspired me.

[Mike Wright]

You could still technically end the season 10 and three.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, it's.

[Mike Wright]

It's in the realm of possibilities.

[Andy Holloway]

I've always.

[Jason Moore]

Possibilities is 11 and 2. All I need is OJ Howard to vastly outscore Antonio Brown tonight.

[Andy Holloway]

I've always said whatever happens can happen in reverse, Jason. So, you know, you could run off a three pack. So, yeah, Jason ran into the Cooper cup buzzsaw a little bit. It's been a fun week. It's been an interesting week. We'll get into all the studs, the duds, the rising stars, the weekly rewind. We'll talk about injury implications. We'll talk about players that you can target in your fantasy league, players that we think are worthy of maybe a little peaksy. Maybe a little look. I mean, we'll be getting into bye weeks for the first time next week. Lots to cover. Follow us on Twitter at the ffballers, the websites, the fantasy footballers.com Instagram.com the fantasy footballers. I'm going to post a video of Jason.

[Mike Wright]

Slash fantasy footballers.

[Andy Holloway]

What did I say?

[Mike Wright]

The.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm sorry, Instagram.

[Mike Wright]

That's confusing.

[Andy Holloway]

Slash fantasy footballers. And I'll post a video today of Jason in his Josh Rosen mini Excitement.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, that was fun.

[Andy Holloway]

It was. As an Arizona Cardinal fan. Look, you are a fantasy representation of the Arizona Cardinals.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, everything is bad.

[Andy Holloway]

Last. Yeah, Last place. The fantasy football community is. JoinTheFoot.com Join 6,000 fellow listeners with an extra episode every week. Consistency charts, premium projections, flex rankings, all that good stuff. All right, we're going to jump directly into the Rewind.

[Jason Moore]

Weekly rewind.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, for every ambitious Josh Allen leap, there is a Jimmy Garoppolo situation. And I was listening to Dan Patrick on the drive in and he said if you had a rookie quarterback, the first thing he would do is just take him into a room and play him about 20 minutes of video of dumb things that quarterbacks have done to get hurt. They'd show him the Carson Wentz injury from last year and they'd show him a whole lot of Robert Griffin iii and probably, you know, Josh Allen got the first down. Sure.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

The problem is that stuff is. Is commended and rewarded and talked very positively about when guys make plays happen like that. And so that's really tough.

[Andy Holloway]

Ultimately, a really dumb decision by Jimmy Garoppolo. Should have ran out of bounds, carted to the locker room in the fourth quarter. The team is first fairly certain that it's an ACL tear for Jimmy Garoppolo. Season ending and devastating for that team, that franchise, for fantasy purposes. You know, C.J. beathard's going to come in and he's going to be the quarterback for the rest of this year. I looked at the splits last year, Jimmy G. When he was the quarterback, the pace for Marquis Goodwin was 77 receptions and almost 1300 yards. Without him, about 50 and 800. And that's the highest that I would expect from Marquis Goodwin, sure.

[Mike Wright]

It's a little different because you had the beginning of the year. Pierre Garcon was the kind of the primary target. He has, he has all but disappeared from the face of football and fantasy football. Talking about Pierre Garcon and Marquis. Goodwins jump to Marquis. Great win. That happened once Garcon was out and of course that was pretty timely. Correlated with Jimmy Garoppolo starting as well.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, Garcon went out pretty early last year. He was out very, very early. So there was some time.

[Mike Wright]

He still had what, 4 or 500 yards.

[Andy Holloway]

I don't believe you're right.

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

You could be though. Let's vet that. It's amazing we can actually figure that out. I will talk briefly while you look at that about George Kittle because look, the wide. The tight end landscape is a complete and utter mess.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he played eight games and had 500 yards last year. Yeah. Also known as half the season.

[Andy Holloway]

Nope, you're dead on. You're dead on. 3.5 targets per game with Jimmy Garoppolo. That was George Kittle in last season. Obviously a good game yesterday. Should have, should have had a touchdown. That was a bogus call. That took away a touchdown with from Beathard, by the way. But without Jimmy G. Last year he was 4.67 targets, so it was actually higher. He was college roommates with CJ Beathard. The pass catching options are not plentiful and that team is probably going to be in a situation like they were on Sunday throwing the ball. So I'm not hesitant on Kittle sustaining middle Range tight end 1 value. Especially when you have situations like Evan Ingram who went down this weekend and suffered an MCL sprain and is week to week a lot of, you know, difficult to project tight end situations.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I agree completely. Really the only piece that I want from the passing game would be Kittle and you described it. Well, it's not, it's not just because, oh, Kittle is some amazing, unbelievable talent. It's because he's a good enough player with opportunity in a pool full of awful options. In fantasy, I mean you have the big three tight ends and then it's pretty much. Maybe you can consider another little tier with Evan Ingram if he was healthy and maybe Kyle Rudolph is looking like he might be there and then it's just garbage, trash.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean you look at scoring leaders this week, Dallas Goddard was the number one tight end.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

16.8 points per game. Kyle Rudolph, number three, Rhett Ellison, number five, Tyler Ifert, number six, Ricky Seals Jones number seven.

[Mike Wright]

Thanks for coming.

[Andy Holloway]

Ricky. These were not. And even Ricky, one catch. I mean, you can't even read into anything there. I mean, Ben Watson in the top 10 this week. Jason Croom.

[Jason Moore]

Oh yeah, everyone, sorry.

[Mike Wright]

He was a sleeper. I just never.

[Andy Holloway]

That sounds like a made up name.

[Mike Wright]

I didn't, I just didn't bring him up.

[Andy Holloway]

Who. What's the key? And peeled.

[Mike Wright]

Hingham Kringleberry.

[Andy Holloway]

Hingham Kringleberry was number nine this week. You know, Uzuma was in the top 12. So look, you're rolling the dice and I'd rather take the snaps. I mean that at the tight end position if you're not starting. Gronk. Kelsey Ertz, give me snap count. I mean just give me the best odds at not collapsing under the. Under the mediocrity.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Of the tight end position. Matt Breida went down, looked like he had a serious injury. Non contact, shook it off. 10 for 90.

[Mike Wright]

He pulled a shady. McCoy.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I mean that's as we call.

[Mike Wright]

It on the football field.

[Andy Holloway]

That's a great. Obviously great news for the 49ers to keep him around, but he seems like he's okay. Bengals wide receiver A.J. green exited the first drive of the second half with a groin injury. He expects to play in week four. You worried about A.J.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, a little bit. I mean anytime there's these type of injuries, the possibility of re aggravating it is there. So you. Yeah, I mean you do worry a little bit.

[Andy Holloway]

We talked about Evan Ingram got the knee injury week to week. He was ruled out immediately. So this is kind of good news that he's only week to week because you never know. Rex Burkhead suffered a neck injury in week three. Played five snaps in the first half and then two in the second half. The neck injury may obscure the reality of the situation which was that he was not on the field.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Sonny Michel, the dominant leader by way of opportunity. But not great production wise. But look, fantasy owners at this point. What do they even have in Rex Burkhead?

[Mike Wright]

Well, Rex Burkhead seems like he's been wonkified and his bones have been replaced by peanut brittle and he just cannot sustain health, which clearly has cost him opportunity. I loved Rex Burkitt. I liked the opportunity coming into the season, but the through three weeks it looks like I'm taking a big L on that one.

[Jason Moore]

What, what do you do now as a Rex Burkhead owner? I mean, is. Is this someone.

[Andy Holloway]

I can't stop thinking about peanut brittle. I'm like Real very hungry this morning.

[Jason Moore]

Peanut brittle is very good. And if Rex Bones were made of it, you would eat Rex, rookie. He would be in real trouble around me.

[Mike Wright]

Is it really cannibalism if someone is made out of candy?

[Jason Moore]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, if they're breathing candy or if you're made of peanut brittle, then yes.

[Jason Moore]

But what, what does a fantasy owner do as an owner of Rex Burkhead? You. You can't really.

[Andy Holloway]

You don't start him. You don't play him out.

[Jason Moore]

You can't play him. No, you.

[Andy Holloway]

You hold on. You probably hold on to him for a couple weeks to. I don't know, do you do roll the dice with the just in case someone gets hurt in that offense situation.

[Mike Wright]

He looks like. He looks like a handcuff at this point.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, it really, really sucks to be a Burkhead owner because it's one of those things where if I saw Burkhead on the waivers, I'd probably pick him up.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Jason Moore]

But I don't want him.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And that's part of the. Maybe you do.

[Mike Wright]

Maybe you do it. We've talked about the strategy, the landmine where you just drop it into the waiver wire and let someone else think they've found a. Found a treasure.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, yeah, people drop the Mari Cooper, you know, and scooped him up and go, oh, what an idiot. And then they start him and he does nothing.

[Mike Wright]

He does Cooper things.

[Andy Holloway]

So don't Amari scooper him up. Is that what you said? That's exactly what you said. Philip Lindsay, ejected in Week 3 against the Ravens for throwing a punch. These guys fantasy production went significantly downhill after his ejection.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Didn't. Didn't really do much. Is there anything to worry about there? I mean, he just didn't play. I mean, that's.

[Jason Moore]

I don't know.

[Mike Wright]

He might face. He might. He might face a penalty from the league. Remains to be seen. He was ejected in the game. So maybe the league looks at and says, okay, he served his. He served his punishment.

[Andy Holloway]

The Cardinals chose Josh Rosen to come in and finish their loss out. Josh Rosen, let's say he takes over, which I think is a. It's a pretty significant possibility that he takes over.

[Jason Moore]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

They could have more changes in that offense. I don't know if you realize this, but Mike McCoy is not good at calling plays. I tweeted my disgust with Mike McCoy's third down play, which we all saw. Chase Edmonds on the field, game on the line, third and two, no David Johnson to be seen. And I think every David Johnson owner in the entire earth liked that tweet because it was their only cathartic way to deal with what was happening. Insanity, appalling, unconscionable, disgusting, revolting and excusable. These are words that I've used to describe Mike McCoy's play calling.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, and the problem is, you know, it was really magnified on that play. But it wasn't just that play. It's not even just this game. We've kind of seen it earlier in the game. I was saying, you know, the Cardinals were up 14 to nothing. They had not been on the field in quite a while after a long drive from the Bears and they come out and it's Chase Edmonds on first down and then on second and the entire drive, David Johnson did not come onto the field. And that did not last very long.

[Andy Holloway]

I think the fourth or fifth play on that drive is when you started bleeding from the ears.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And so it's one of those things where, you know, we said a lot of people wanted to ditch him last week because of how bad the offense looks. And if you were to sell after that game in Los Angeles where he put up nothing, you're selling for pennies. I have David Johnson in our league of record. This is, this is part of my problems. But yeah, I mean, coming off of a week where he was involved in the passing game, got the touchdown again, I'm going to look to see if I can capitalize on the name, on the value. And you know, it's one of those things you have to be careful and cautious recommending because you cannot sell David Johnson, who will still have opportunity and talent for nothing. But if you can utilize his name and two out of the three weeks being, you know, a double digit touchdown scoring fantasy option and turn him into another great player, package him with someone, I'm going to look to do it and I would recommend to others to do the same.

[Andy Holloway]

How do you feel about Ezekiel Elliott in comparison to David Johnson, Mike? I mean, Zeke has had the same types of issues. Obviously been a much better runner on the ground in terms of efficiency, but feels a little bit like the ceiling's been pushed down on those two players.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, the ceiling has been pushed down on Zeke with Dak Prescott. His just.

[Andy Holloway]

It's hard to blame it all on him when you have correct a depth chart that is led by Cole Beasley.

[Mike Wright]

But you still got to be better. If you're a quarterback in the NFL, you have to be better. You're not going to hold on to your job Very long. But it lowers the ceiling for, for Zeke because the offense is not going to provide as many scoring opportunities. But Elliott at least is not getting pulled off the field for Chase Edmonds.

[Jason Moore]

I mean, such an infinitely better option than David Johnson. Right now you've got zeke, who has 11 receptions through three games already has been double digits every week. I mean, I would much, much rather have Zeke than David Johnson right now.

[Andy Holloway]

When you watch David Johnson run, I think the diagnosis right now is he is pressing due to how bad the offense is. I do think that there is a glimmer of hope if Rosen starts because of change, because of the fact that maybe David Johnson no longer is trying to put it all on his shoulders on every carry to sustain an offense that is anemic. I mean, to me it looks like a guy pressing.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I don't see. I do not disagree and I agree with the fact that Josh Rosen does bring hope with him. But I don't think that. I don't think Josh Rosen fixed the Cardinals offense.

[Andy Holloway]

It's a bad. Are you signing Josh Rosen to be your quarterback in league of record, Jason, to fix your offense?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I want to go win. I want to go from my hopes of going undefeated to winless. So I am going to pick him up.

[Mike Wright]

It would be impressive.

[Jason Moore]

And look, we can't forget the other huge piece of news, maybe the biggest piece of news. Adam Schefter reporting that the Steelers are open now to trading Le'Veon Bell. That is a huge change from their previous demeanor and I think that, you know, I don't know that you can bank anything off of this. Right. That doesn't mean he's getting traded, but it does give a huge thumbs up to James Conner in my book.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, it does help because from a longevity of this situation, lasting standard. Look, Le'Veon Bell came out and liked a tweet when someone, someone posted a video of the last play he ran for the Steelers and said this might be the last play Le'Veon Bell's ever run and he liked it.

[Mike Wright]

So passive aggressive.

[Andy Holloway]

He seems to social media he agrees with that reality. And look, tonight the Steelers, they are winless. They are facing a Bucs offense that has been on fire. It is not a foregone conclusion. They're not sitting here, you know, oh, two and one after tonight. It's just we haven't even talked about Josh Allen and the Bills and what happened this weekend.

[Jason Moore]

That is the biggest surprise.

[Andy Holloway]

Is there a survivor pool that is, oh, I'm out anymore.

[Mike Wright]

I'M out.

[Jason Moore]

Can't be.

[Andy Holloway]

Are they all over all the pools? Done.

[Jason Moore]

Earliest finish for all pools.

[Andy Holloway]

I was talking to Brad Zigler from the Diamondbacks. The reliever.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

He had two survivor pools yesterday. He picked Jacksonville at home against the Titans.

[Mike Wright]

That's a pretty good.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, it seems like a decent pick.

[Mike Wright]

It's easy money.

[Andy Holloway]

And then he picked Minnesota at home, also Buffalo, and he no longer is in any survivor pool.

[Jason Moore]

That Minnesota game. Look, Foot clan. Oh, I apologize. Okay, my start of the week, Latavius Murray. My boom boom. Dan Bailey. First of all, don't drop Dan Bailey. Okay? What happened was, was unfathomable. What was it? You looked it up. I think it was 23.

[Andy Holloway]

23. It's the biggest upset in 23 years. And by way of, you know, like the spread was so large. 17 by game, game time, it was like 17, 17 and a half points. It's unbelievable. I mean, this is the razor thin line in the NFL where you, you think things are foregone conclusions. And I could be wrong in this, But I believe McDermott took over defensive play calling in the second half of last week's game. He did, and obviously through this game. And the defense is what won this game because if you came out Minnesota and you underestimated Buffalo and then they got on the board, what happened then was, okay, let's get into a groove. Let's come back and win this game. And then the defense made a couple big plays, turned the ball over, and it was over. It was an avalanche.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Kirk Cousins problems we, we've talked about is he is a momentum quarterback and it's when he, when the snowball is rolling, when the hole is being dug, Kirk Cousins very rarely climbs out.

[Andy Holloway]

Is that good for playoffs?

[Mike Wright]

No, no. But he's on the, on a team that should be able, more often than not put him in very positive situations. But the left tackle from Minnesota, his lunch money is gone, he has no.

[Jason Moore]

Friends left, he has two black eyes.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, he just got worked play after play after play, and that's what turned it for Buffalo.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, we're going to talk some of the players that perform. We'll get into the stud muffins here. I want to thank lightstream for sponsoring today's podcast. If you've ever looked at your credit card statement, been shocked by the interest rate that you're paying, you can actually roll your credit card debt into one monthly payment at a lower fixed rate. That's what Lightstream does. They offer credit card consolidation loans from 5.8.9% APR with autopay. A lot of people are paying upwards of 18% and they also offer personal loans from 5 to $100,000 and you can get funds the same day that you apply. This, this goes for whatever needs that you have. I know they do adoption loans. That's something that, you know, you go through private adoption. A lot of people need personal financing and they believe that people with good credit deserve a great interest rate, no fees. That's as simple as it is right now. Our listeners get a special discount on that rate on top of their already low rates. And the only way to get that is to go to lightstream.com footballers that is L I G H T S T r e a m.com Footballers subject to credit approval rate includes a 0.5% auto pay discount. Terms and conditions apply and offers are subject to change without notice. Visit lightstream.comfootballers for more information.

[Mike Wright]

Support for today's show comes from NFL Game Pass Foot Clan. Only with the NFL game pass can you replay every game all season. You want to go check out Josh Allen dominating the Vikings? I don't really want to do it. I already, I lived it. It was terrible for me. But guess what? If you're a Buffalo fan, you can watch that over and over again. And the only way you can do that is with the NFL game pass. You can replay that game from every angle. Get the broadcast version commercial free. Get the coaches film that shows the all 22 angle that the pros and the coaches use. This is how you can get a look at your fantasy players. What happened were they was that wide receiver, was he running a good route or was he just being a bum all day? Was it the quarterback's fault? You need the NFL game pass to check that out. Best of all, you can kick off the 2018 NFL season with a seven day free trial of NFL Game Pass. Sign up now at NFL.com fantasy footballers that's NFL.com fantasy footballers game on.

[Jason Moore]

This week's Fantasy Stud Muffins.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, big weeks from Drew Brees in Atlanta. Matt Ryan against New Orleans. That was a barn burner. 39 for 49 for 396 and three for breeze. He also ran one in with a six spin move.

[Jason Moore]

How the Falcons did not tackle Drew.

[Andy Holloway]

Brees in the open field with two of them.

[Jason Moore]

They have to be legit embarrassed to like come out of the locker room.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, that was some sweet dad moves by Breeze. And then Matt Ryan lit it up. Jason started the week 374 and five goodness gracious. And Calvin Ridley kind of showed up.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, he helped.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome to the party. We'll talk about him tomorrow a little bit more. Well, we'll talk about him today too, but for waiver implications. Cam Newton. Another great game from Cam.

[Jason Moore]

It's all he's doing.

[Andy Holloway]

If you watch the Clay Matthews play, where once a week Clay Matthews picks a play in which to get past, you know, roughing the passer, if you watch that play and you saw the calls and you see how people, you know, like Khalil Mack now, you know, he's, he's going for the ball. A lot of these guys that Von Miller says he does not go for the tackle, he goes for the ball now because he can't, you can't tackle, which I think is smart, you know. Yeah. If you gotta adjust. That being said, players like Cam Newton really benefit from this rule. These rule sets where you can't go after. I mean, because he, he just breaks out of tackles and he runs the ball and he ran the ball again. Two touchdowns on the ground through another two. A great game by Newton. Ryan Tannehill, one of our streamers this week, 17 for 23 for 289 and three.

[Jason Moore]

Which big game defeated undefeated Miami Dolphins? These, these little. Defeated. These tap passes are so stupid. You know, it's like some, I mean, what do you have? I think he had a 70 yard tapas touchdown. But it was a, it was a tap pass. It was a run.

[Mike Wright]

The, the referees in that Buffalo Bills game, they weren't having any of that nonsense.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, that's true.

[Mike Wright]

They called it a, they called it a fumble.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. When it didn't. When it wasn't completed by Josh Allen.

[Mike Wright]

Right.

[Andy Holloway]

Allen had two rushing touchdowns, one passing touchdown, was 15 for 22. And look, I called him before the game, I said, look, Tyrod Taylor hasn't worked out. I need you to show up. I said, josh, just give me a game. Give me a little momentum. Jared Goff, Pat Mahomes again, Deshaun Watson. Another start of the week. Big games from those players. Any takeaways? I mean, I think Jared Goff going 29 for 36, he looked 354 like he's a Thursday night game this week. So fantasy owners.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, but it's against that terrible defense that Josh Allen just dominated.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, Minnesota. Yeah, yeah. That's the crazy thing. Minnesota is. What, what's the record?

[Mike Wright]

1. 1 and 1.

[Andy Holloway]

And they got to play the Rams on Thursday night.

[Jason Moore]

That's the same record as the Browns.

[Andy Holloway]

And the packers, welcome to the NFL. Pat Mahomes, they didn't even need him in the second half, but he made some serious plays in Denver next week, then Jacksonville. He also broke Peyton Manning's record for TD passes through the first three games. And is your auto start of the year.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean, he. Again, I don't believe I'm going to start him in Jacksonville, you guys. I see Mike shaking his head no, but he's so fun to watch and unbelievable the way he scrambles, gets out of tackles, keeps plays alive and then just teleports the ball to where it's going. I mean, the ball just disappears and reappears 20 yards.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, he installs one of those zip lines and then you hook the ball up to it and it.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. Without just engine on.

[Andy Holloway]

I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm just going to, you know, I'm not just going to sit him against Jacksonville. I'm going to look at my options against Jacksonville because depending on my matchup in my league, I will. And my opponent, it's going to be contingent on what I need. And if I don't feel like the ceiling is there for Mahomes against Jacksonville.

[Mike Wright]

Then sounds like Jason's all about that. Third and two going with Chase Edmonds.

[Jason Moore]

No, you benching your best player.

[Mike Wright]

What are you doing?

[Jason Moore]

Talk to me. Talk to me after the Jacksonville game.

[Mike Wright]

I certainly will.

[Jason Moore]

Great.

[Andy Holloway]

We'll have a good Alvin Camara. Adrian Peterson, big week. Camara had 15 receptions on 20 targets. When you look at. Look Trey Quan Smith and Cameron Meredith and all these other options outside again. And Thomas, it's Alvin Camara. He's a full time wide receiver. He's a full time running back right now. Monster game. You don't need to know to start him. You know that already. But Adrian Peterson, big game. 19 for 120 and two. Impressive. Carlos Hyde from Thursday night, two touchdowns. How do you think about Peterson and Hyde moving forward?

[Mike Wright]

I think about Hyde has moved up Baker Mayfield, who I guess technically Baker Mayfield is not yet the starting quarterback.

[Andy Holloway]

Supposed to be announced today.

[Mike Wright]

No, it's supposed to be announced today.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, he's supposed to.

[Jason Moore]

They have announced the announcement though, correct?

[Mike Wright]

I still need to hear Hugh Jackson say the words from his own mouth.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And not.

[Andy Holloway]

He's still watching tape.

[Mike Wright]

It's gonna be a struggle. I mean, he's gonna have to come out, say, I committed to Tyrod Taylor. I committed.

[Jason Moore]

He's committed. Tyrod is still in the concussion protocol. Baker is our start of this coming Week.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, regardless, this is when we find is Hugh Jackson a man who holds his commitments or is he a man who likes to win football games?

[Jason Moore]

The look Baker's going to start, but regardless of who the starter is, Hyde moved up. Is moved up.

[Mike Wright]

No, not regardless if Baker. No, it's not regardless for me. If Tyrod is still the starter, Hyde is still a.

[Jason Moore]

If Tyrod is still the starter, Carlos Hyde is still. Should start on almost every week. Fantasy option at running back. I mean, he's been solid this whole year. His snap counts and his. I mean Nick Chubb is.

[Mike Wright]

His production has been solid. Yes, I agree with that. But it's.

[Jason Moore]

He's.

[Mike Wright]

He jumps tier for me.

[Jason Moore]

If Baker Mayfield starts, he definitely gets an upgrade. My point was that he is not bad regardless.

[Andy Holloway]

Christian McCaffrey, 28 for 184 on the ground, didn't even get involved in the passing game, but had a monster game. Has the buy next week. So keep that in mind. I mean, you've got two, two buys next week. He is on pace for 350 plus touches like Ron Rivera had talked about. And he is the guy, which speaks to, you know, what Jason reiterated in the offseason, which is North Turner has a guy and when you run for 184, you remain the guy. Saquon. Another great week for him. And then Chris Carson. Yeah, look people, you know, you saw it with Sony Michelle and Rex Burkhead. You generally have that first round pedigree. The problem that involves, you know, you get drafted guy in the first round, he's going to play. I thought this would be the week that you'd see more Penny. Despite the coach speak from Pete Carroll, it wasn't the case. 32 for 102 and one for Chris Carson. Game script was very much in the Seattle favor in this game and that benefited Chris Carson. Do you read much into this? Are you upgrading Carson in your minds or was this a product of just playing a very bad Dallas team and having a lead for the majority of the game?

[Jason Moore]

No, you. You have to upgrade Chris Carson. You have to upgrade Chris Carson in your mind. Rashad Penny got three rushing attempts and Chris Carson, what did he end up with?

[Andy Holloway]

It was 32.

[Mike Wright]

30.

[Jason Moore]

32 the number he wears. Look, if a guy gets 32 carries and the other one gets three, there's no more question as to who the lead dog is and the fact that he dominated with it and they got their win and he played great. You have to go forward with Chris Carson.

[Andy Holloway]

Wendell Smallwood you know, I have a note here from. I have a note from Brooks. It says, doug Peterson is a confusing man. Was that from you, Brooks? That's Kyle. From Kyle. Okay. Well, this was the. The risk when you heard about the quadricep injury to Corey Clement on Friday, was that maybe he's not healthy enough to carry a heavy load. Smallwood was more effective gotten in the end zone. Do you add. Is he a must add in this? No, in the case. Okay.

[Mike Wright]

No, this was a. This was a product of.

[Andy Holloway]

He only had 13 touches, Ji being.

[Mike Wright]

Out, and Corey dealing with his own injury.

[Jason Moore]

Darren Sprouls out, JJ Out. Corey Clement injured. Okay. Wendell Smallwood, I mean, next man up.

[Andy Holloway]

Wendell Smallwood is like Buck Allen light. Like he just. He's around, and when you need him, he seems to be okay.

[Jason Moore]

I do believe that one of Wendell Smallwood's best features is how good he can make Buck Allen look.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, they. Yeah, they have an agreement. Alex Collins bounce back game, 18 for 68 and a touchdown, despite the fact Buck Allen scored a couple times, which he's prone to do. What do you think of Alex Collins? Is this what you wanted to see?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean, this is. This is. He's the. He's the lead guy. And yes, Buck Allen is annoying because you see what Alex Collins could be. If he got it all, he's not going to get all the work. It's never going to happen without an injury. But that doesn't mean that you can't trust Alex Collins either. Alex Collins could have had an even bigger game. I mean, the Buck Allen touchdown that came was originally not called a touchdown and looked like Alex Collins was going to get the shot, but then overturned on replay. So, I mean, both guys are startable. And you'd of course want Alex Collins ahead of Buck Allen simply from a volume standpoint.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, let's talk about maybe the biggest story at the wide receiver position. Calvin Ridley, seven for 160. Well, I'm sorry, seven for 146 and three on eight targets. Kind of a good game. And the truth is he's just on fire in this game. He outperformed Julio Jones. And when we were talking about the wide receivers outside of Julio last week, the reasoning Jason gave is starting Calvin Ridley over Muhammad Sanu was the ceiling. I think we've established that it is skyscraper levels for Calvin Ridley. This changes some things. To me, it's not. Go spend all your fab on Calvin Ridley. I don't have that perspective, you guys. You can weigh in. It Changes things for me on maybe the baseline for a guy like Matt Ryan who needs another non julio electric weapon. Even without a great game from Tevin Coleman, even without Devonta Freeman being active. Matt Ryan set the world on fire this week and it was because Calvin Renley was there.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean, Sanu had a touchdown of his own and was fine. That's the thing.

[Andy Holloway]

Everyone got one.

[Jason Moore]

Sanu is as good as he year, but is now properly irrelevant for fantasy because a better player is there. It does raise Matt Ryan's baseline for sure. And Calvin Ridley, now this is four touchdowns in the last two games. He's the clear number two and a startable asset in the right matchups. Now, we knew that this was one of those right matchups. New Orleans defense has not looked like last year's. It's looked like the previous versions. And with the injuries to the Falcons defense as well, we knew this was going to be a barn burner. And it came true. So in the right matchups, I think you can start them. I agree. I wouldn't dump all my, you know, go out and chase the points for Calvin Ridley, but he's a first round wide receiver who was great in college and can certainly destroy his own.

[Andy Holloway]

He can do what?

[Jason Moore]

Destroy a zone.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, I thought you said his own.

[Andy Holloway]

I thought he could destroy his own and that's why that's not nice to do. You have your own, you don't want to. You want to take care of your own.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I agree. But that zone, right, destroy it.

[Mike Wright]

Don't let me into that zone.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, I'm moving on. Robert Woods, 10 for 104 and 2 on 11 targets. Cooper Cub got in the end zone at 90 plus yards from Brandon Cooks. This offense is just on fire. And the reality is for fantasy owners. Marcus Peters, we don't know the severity of his injury. Aqib Talib limped off. You saw the Los Angeles Chargers get back into it a little bit. There's an opportunity here for the offense to be needed a little bit more than we thought. Yes, that's good for fantasy owners.

[Mike Wright]

It's great for fantasy owners.

[Andy Holloway]

This team is killing it. I mean, golf is becoming very, very start worthy.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, it's my eye. I'm sorry.

[Andy Holloway]

Thursday Night Football. Do you play golf in that matchup?

[Mike Wright]

No.

[Andy Holloway]

No, that changed quickly.

[Mike Wright]

It's Minnesota and I don't know, I'm writing that game off as just a speed bump at Minnesota. They fell into the trap. I thought there was no way that Buffalo could be a trap game, but There they were. And they absolutely crushed the Vikings. But I still believe they are a top tier team in the NFL.

[Andy Holloway]

Who does Arizona take with the number one pick?

[Mike Wright]

That's a great question. That's a great question. We'll have an entire off season to talk about.

[Jason Moore]

We will probably a running back from. Oh.

[Andy Holloway]

Don'T say that. We may never sing his name again. Sweet mercy. All right. Jordy Nelson, Tyler Boyd, Mike Williams, Albert Wilson, Shakim Grant. Big games. Boyd was the highlight for me. Six for 132. Now, Green missed time, but Boyd has become a tried and true and trusted option for the red rifle.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Next week he gets the Atlanta Falcons.

[Andy Holloway]

And oh, my goodness, the Falcons lost another safety this week, Tyler Boyd. Did you know that? Yeah, for the season.

[Mike Wright]

Tyler Boyd is going to be a startable guy for sure next week.

[Andy Holloway]

Now we'll have a time to talk. Jason, you wanted to jump in there?

[Jason Moore]

Sorry, I was just going to say the standout to me was Jordy Nelson. I mean, I. Jordy Nelson was written off for dead by this guy. I.

[Mike Wright]

And for the record, he destroyed his own. Jason pointed two thumbs at himself.

[Jason Moore]

Yes. Who has two thumbs and did not believe that Jordy Nelson would ever be a thing again. This guy. But I mean, he was. He looked his same self. Got those little, you know, crossing routes, you know, where he's just, boom, he's got the ball and nobody can catch him. For some reason, I figured it out.

[Andy Holloway]

When Jordy Nelson this off season was looking for a new home. He's, you know, he's aged. He's getting up there. He had a. One of his long plays he would have scored a couple years ago. He got caught. He thought to himself, how do I on film appear better than I am? And he thought, nothing better than lining up across Amari Cooper. Yeah, I mean, that was smart. And look at it. It's worked.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

What do you do with Jordy Nelson? Would you rather have. I mean, is Jordy a pickup this week and then would you rather have him over a guy like Tyler Boyd or would you rather have Boyd.

[Jason Moore]

Both of these guys are pickable. Pick up a bowl. And startable assets next week, but they are on a week by week basis and so I would rather play Tyler Boyd because of the matchup with Atlanta. Jordy's got Cleveland and that sounds good, but Cleveland's defense has been pretty good so far this season. So I think I would rather have Boyd.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike Williams, 4 for 81, two touchdowns. I. I thought he would score 10 times this year and this will help.

[Mike Wright]

Certainly on pace.

[Andy Holloway]

This will help. I know we're going to talk about him.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Andy Holloway]

So we'll move on. Will Fuller. Very nice game from Will Fuller. Thielen pieced it together. PPR pickup of the week. Pretty much. I mean it was 14 trash. It was one of these. And Tyler Lockett continues to score every week, four for 77. We'll monitor Doug Baldwin this week and look, I don't want to get into it yet but we'll be talking about Kenny Golladay and another big performance there. Tight ends. Mike, you talked about Dallas Goddard. Seven for 73 and a touchdown. I don't think we're going to have the same take on him. But what is your thoughts on Goddard?

[Mike Wright]

I'm not running out to add him but when with the injuries that they suffered this past week at the wide receiver core to the point that they had to add Jordan Matthews and even play him. This past week we had, we threw out perhaps Dallas Goddard is the primary beneficiary from this. He's, he's a tremendous player. He was my favorite tight end, bass catching tight end coming out of last year's draft class and his quarterback loves to throw to the tight end position. So I think he actually has a chance. It's crazy as it sounds to be starting the tight end two for a team. There is a chance that he jumps into fantasy relevance.

[Jason Moore]

I 100% agree with that. Until Alshon comes back. Now when Alshon comes back, that's my.

[Andy Holloway]

Take is it's going to be so short lived and still a coin flip that I'm scared to do it.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I will not be scared while Alshon is gone. I mean this is an offense that kind of reminds you. I know it's been a while but when there was Gronk and Hernandez and they ran those two tight end, you know, weapons down the field, that's. I think that's kind of what the Eagles are trying to do here with Goddard and Ertz and they've got a quarterback that can get it done. I was completely with you, Mike. In the off season, draft season, Dallas Goddard was my clear cut, far and away number one guy. And I was just so upset when the Eagles took him because they didn't.

[Mike Wright]

They take him in the second round.

[Jason Moore]

It was an earlyish pain.

[Andy Holloway]

He's a pump the breaks for me. He'll be my pump the breaks and I get it guy. They had Trey Burton last year. I mean Trey Burton's this hyper talented athlete, you know, it's just Very difficult for two tight ends to have sustained value, and I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable starting them myself.

[Jason Moore]

But if Alshon is back, I would. I will agree with you. I would pump the brakes. If Alshon is out, they're going to need another weapon.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. All right.

[Jason Moore]

Rising stars of the week.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, Rising stars this year, brought to you by fantasychamps.com you need a trophy, a ring, a jersey, something to swag out when it comes to your fantasy league. Check out fantasychamps.com my rising star this week is none other than.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, so smooth.

[Andy Holloway]

Kenny Galladay. Kenny G. So smooth. You know what's smooth? 100 yards or a touchdown in all three games this year, seven receptions, six receptions, six receptions. Marvin Jones with four in each game. We've never let it play that long. But it was so smooth last night. And look, he is starting in two wide receiver sets. That's the big headline. Matthew Stafford trusts him. He's got sticky hands. He missed a second touchdown by the back of his foot. And that catch was unbelievable.

[Mike Wright]

If he had come down with that, that would be one of the best receptions of the entire year. When he turned into a sarcophagus.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And just fell over backwards.

[Jason Moore]

He just. He knew that.

[Andy Holloway]

And he missed it by an inch.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, it was.

[Jason Moore]

I don't think an inch by a.

[Andy Holloway]

Holmes, A Centennial Holmes.

[Jason Moore]

I don't think an inch even described. I mean, it was less than. It was so close. I couldn't believe it when I watched it live. I was like, wait, I think he might have been in. And then they showed the replay and it was but golden.

[Andy Holloway]

Tate's on the sideline and two wide receiver sets. Matthew Stafford trusts and goes to Kenny Golladay. New coaching staff, new opportunity in the second season. This is a breakout for Kenny Golladay. And it does not mean that Marvin Jones is not startable. It just means that, look, this is a team that's gonna be throwing the ball all year. And I think Golladay is a wide receiver, too.

[Mike Wright]

Welcome aboard.

[Jason Moore]

This offense is.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, he has to do it, Mike. So you have to believe he has to do it and then you believe it.

[Jason Moore]

No. Offense already believed is certainly looking like it's going to be what we hoped and be a powerful fantasy offense. I would be. I would go so far as to say that this offense will carry on.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, snap.

[Jason Moore]

There it is. We're doubling up on the. On the Lions here. My rising star is. Carry on Johnson. It was a very nice game to watch, although it's Funny. Super excited. Right. Detroit finally has the stat that is over about. They just haven't had a 100 yard rusher in I believe it is one millennium now. Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Give or take.

[Jason Moore]

Carry on. Johnson crosses the century mark on only 16 carries. He is averaging get this 5.55 yards per carry.

[Andy Holloway]

First 100 yard rusher since 2013. Yeah, I mean it's for the Lions. They were clapping for the one on one.

[Jason Moore]

He is great. The city is behind him. Everyone is excited.

[Andy Holloway]

LeGarrett Blunt City is behind him. I'm not sure that.

[Mike Wright]

What about kiss is kiss?

[Andy Holloway]

Are you considering yourself a city in this situation? Are you the city of Jason?

[Jason Moore]

The city of Jason is completely, completely in support of Kerryon Johnson suburb in Detroit. Garrett Blunt at the end of the game when they're trying to run the clock out, fumbles the ball away. That is another feather in the cap. Look.

[Mike Wright]

Send him to jail, Patricia.

[Jason Moore]

Here's the send him to jail running back jail. Here's the truth about Kerryon Johnson. It's so infuriating watching LeGarrett blunt get the ball and do so much less with it. And it's not a situation where you can go, well, the yards are carries because he's getting it on third and one. No, they're getting the exact same type of carries. Kerryon Johnson is just clearly superior. They both had 16 carries in this game. Kerryon Johnson over double the yards. Everyone knows it's coming. But LeGarrett Blunt is not going away until he's injured. We will be a little bit frustrated, but my point in making Kerryon Johnson the rising star is that he is now from here on out a startable player. He is not going to be a fantasy superstar until LeGarrett blunt gets out of the way. I don't think that happens till the second half of the season or an injury. But as of right now, you can go ahead and start your carry on. Johnson's my right.

[Andy Holloway]

That's got to feel good. Jason, you've got one silver lining in your in your week.

[Jason Moore]

How about them pats?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I've seen a lot of week three victory laps about the Patriots. I remember when they got beat by the Chiefs two years ago and Tom.

[Mike Wright]

Brady should be benched.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And it was.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Things work. We'll see.

[Mike Wright]

We'll see.

[Andy Holloway]

Won the super bowl that year.

[Mike Wright]

My rising star is Mike Williams from the Los Angeles Chargers. I had strongly considered going with him the this past week, but I needed to see a little bit more from the target volume and Seven targets. We got back up from, from two of the previous week. Seven targets turned into four receptions and two touchdowns. He's going to be. He's integrating himself into this offense. Taking over as the wide receiver too. Taking over Tyrell Williams job. And Philip Rivers looks great. The Chargers offense looks fantastic.

[Andy Holloway]

Could use Joey Bosa. That would help their team.

[Mike Wright]

That would help the defense.

[Andy Holloway]

But I'm just saying as a. Yes, as a team, to win games, that would be nice.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, but I don't care if they win games. I care about the offense putting up. And Mike Williams is a. He's going to be. He's going to be the guy. He's emerging.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, those are the rising stars. Kerryon Johnson, Kenny Golladay, Mike Williams, Big Mike Williams. We're going to get into the duds. I do want to. I want you guys to weigh in. I just made a little trade, Ski.

[Jason Moore]

Oh, my goodness.

[Mike Wright]

An actual trade.

[Andy Holloway]

I did. I made a little trade right here live on the air.

[Jason Moore]

Multitasker extraordinary.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm pretty good. Dynasty trade. I'm the defending champion of the world. Isn't that right, Brooks?

[Mike Wright]

Of our league?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. I know you're a little broken up over it, obviously. Yes. Traded. Traded Jared McKinnon.

[Mike Wright]

Ooh.

[Andy Holloway]

Second round draft pick.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

And his second round draft pick. So McKinnon in the second for Carlos Hyde and Kenneth Dixon.

[Mike Wright]

Okay.

[Andy Holloway]

And unfortunately, he gives you help this season. This is a short term move saying like you look, McKinnon has to come back and do it next year. What do you think? What do you think of that trade?

[Jason Moore]

I like it. I am in Dynasty especially. People freak out about Carlos Hyde because of Nick Chubb. I've said this before, but my belief is that this is a DeMarco Murray, Derek Henry situation. I don't think Chubb is going to take over next year.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, I'd be a lot more scared if Nick Chubb was Kerry on Johnson. Yeah, right.

[Jason Moore]

If he looked great.

[Andy Holloway]

Right? Yeah. Chubb seems like almost a mirror of Hyde type of situation. All right, let's move on to less enthusiastic topic.

[Jason Moore]

Pooped in his big boy pants.

[Andy Holloway]

Nothing is visceral as when your player, you know, diarrhea. That's another way to put it. We really need Pepto to sponsor this segment.

[Mike Wright]

That'd be fantastic.

[Andy Holloway]

This is. You're out there. I know you're listening.

[Mike Wright]

Mr. Bismol.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

Upset tummy.

[Andy Holloway]

Jason will sing that song. Sure.

[Jason Moore]

Pepto Bismol.

[Andy Holloway]

Jason went through the full gamut of Pepto related ailments during this weekend's games and could have used some, you know, pro bono pepto.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, certainly could. I mean, I could have drank a gallon. Needed it. All right, let's, let's kick it off with a lot of people's number one quarterback of the week. Tom Brady, projected for the most points on several different platforms. He was my number one quarterback and did not get it done. Matt Patricia apparently knew enough about what he was going to do and their defense in Detroit finally showed up.

[Andy Holloway]

He just didn't look comfortable the whole game and didn't get a lot of help. Extra time in the pocket. Didn't. Didn't look good.

[Mike Wright]

Well, it's. Watching this. This past week of the Patriots, it gave me more hope for Josh Gordon because you could see Patricia's plan was I'm going to double team Gronk on every single play and let's see if Philip Dorsett and Chris Hogan can beat us. The answer was no, they cannot. And that's, I'm sure that's part of what, what pushed Bill Belichick to go make the move. Even though it was an aggressive move going for Josh Gordon with who's like Jason Points out. He's one step away from being out of the league, but his talent is so extreme. Let's see what he can do. Tom Brady, by the end of that game when he threw the, the interception that was into double coverage towards Dorset, you could see on his face, he's like, I don't care. I'm throwing this ball. Somebody do something.

[Andy Holloway]

He was Chris Hogan. Three receptions.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

Seven on the season. Under 100 yards total on the season. A complete. Another bust.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

Dunzo. Dunzo. Kirk Cousins. Dak Prescott, Blake Bortles, Case Keenum. Bad weeks for those five quarterbacks.

[Jason Moore]

Kirk Cousins for three quarters of the day was negative points after his two fumbles and interception. Mike and I are going head to head. He had Drew Brees, I had Kirk Cousins. Yeah. Still have a chance.

[Mike Wright]

It worked. It worked out in my favor in that league.

[Andy Holloway]

Kenyon Drake, Philip Lindsay, Chris Thompson. Chris Thompson. The biggest surprise, I think, you know, they, they just came out and put themselves in a position where they didn't, they didn't have to throw the ball to Chris Thompson. I mean, Jameson Crowder kind of inherited that role in this game. It was strange. And Paul Richardson had the long touchdown. They were in, I guess banger running back mode with Adrian Peterson as grinding and out. So I didn't, I thought Thompson would be a little bit more match up proof than we saw in this game and this was a disappointing performance. You worry about starting him. I mean, he's got the buy next week, so I wouldn't start him then.

[Jason Moore]

Such a bad. No, but coming back off the bye New Orleans is a perfect matchup. So, you know, he's one of those guys where after the bye week, and we'll talk about this then, but whenever you can trade for a player after their buy, you are gaining such an advantage in. You're just gaining a free extra game off of a guy. If you're trading a guy who hasn't had his buy for someone that has had it. And I think Chris Thompson will be fine. Kenya Drake was so weird. I mean, the Dolphins game was just bizarre because they kept doing these crazy plays where, you know, Albert Woodson's a.

[Andy Holloway]

Running back on three or four plays a game.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah. And when he takes a handoff, I'm sorry, a reception, Tap that pass. Tap that pass for 70 yards and a touchdown. And then remember they had that other crazy trick play where there was like every single player touched the ball.

[Mike Wright]

Three card Monty.

[Jason Moore]

Three card Monty. Everybody touches the ball. And then, I mean, so they were up or they were, they were coming back at that point. It was just a weird game. It's not like Gore did anything, Drake did anything. I think you got to just throw, throw that result away and focus more on what happened the first two weeks when it comes to Drake.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, I think fantasy owners also want to know. I mean, before this week, Drake was barely a fringe RB2 on the season. Then he has this week only two fantasy points. This has not been, I mean, 14 carries, 11 carries, five carries. People want to know, can you start Kenyon drake as an RB2? Can you start him as a flex? I don't feel comfortable. Goes to New England, goes to Cincinnati. I mean, I know he's a very talented guy, but the concern for me has just been work, work. You know, they clearly didn't want to work him.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean, you got to get work, work, work. That was some of the discussions, that's some of the discussion we had early in the off season is he's talented, but will they give him the rock enough? And I would say over the, the first two games they did not enough to be a superstar. But I mean, if he's getting double digit carries, which he was, and then involved four targets a game in the passing game, that's enough for Drake to be an RB2, to be a flex, not to be a superstar. Right. But I expect him to get back to that volume. He's not going to end up with five carries. I think Frank Gore had five carries as well and they did. They have 10 total rushing yards. I don't think they did like as between them.

[Mike Wright]

That's fantastic.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you know five Gary's? I mean can we name five Gary's?

[Mike Wright]

Shandling Busey.

[Andy Holloway]

Busey.

[Jason Moore]

Gary Sinise.

[Mike Wright]

Payton.

[Jason Moore]

Gary Payton. The glove. Gary Sinise.

[Andy Holloway]

Gary Sinise. Oh, Gary. Gary Brooks, can you help us out here?

[Mike Wright]

Is there a Gary Schefter?

[Jason Moore]

No, that's Adam. Gary.

[Andy Holloway]

Gary Sanders. Running back. Famous running back from the Gary Detroit Lions.

[Jason Moore]

Some everyone. I wonder.

[Andy Holloway]

We need a Gary. We need a Gary before the end of this Gary.

[Mike Wright]

Gary Grape from the. The hit Johnny Depp movie. What's eating Gary Grape?

[Andy Holloway]

Okay, this is gone. This is gone away. Jamal Williams, 5 for 29. Jason, I would love your intimate thoughts of Jamal Williams.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, and especially I would really like you to focus the. The observation on the Jamal Williams versus Aaron Jones debate.

[Jason Moore]

Did we, did we talk about Gary Oldman?

[Andy Holloway]

Gary Oldman.

[Jason Moore]

Did we bring up Gary Oldman? Okay, that is my answer to the. Jamal, here's the deal in the studio. You know, I pretty much ate my. Yeah, you did.

[Mike Wright]

You ate crow.

[Jason Moore]

Early. Early. Early in that game. Aaron Jones.

[Andy Holloway]

You were jonesing for some crow.

[Jason Moore]

Aaron Jones was involved early. Jamal Williams was not the clear cut snap leader. Jamal Williams, Aaron Jones, Ty Montgomery. I'll be honest with you. If you want one of those guys, it's going to be Aaron Jones because he's. He's the best back. I don't even, even with that. I don't really want any of these guys because I don't see. I don't think Aaron Jones even. Even since he was involved, Williams still.

[Mike Wright]

Had about double the snaps of Aaron Jones.

[Jason Moore]

I don't. I don't think any of them are going to get the workload enough to be a dominant weekly starter. I just kind of want to avoid the Green Bay backfield.

[Andy Holloway]

I get that. I. Look, I said it last week. It's two games. You need two games and then I'll start Aaron Jones. This is one. Give me one more and let it, let it sift itself out. And then I think I'm okay. I've been targeting him. He didn't have a great fantasy game. Target him. That's what I'm doing.

[Mike Wright]

He's a must stash.

[Andy Holloway]

Dion Lewis, Derrick Henry, bad games. Are you worried or is this Jacksonville or is this just. Is this just this offense?

[Mike Wright]

Just the Titans running back situation?

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Just got an alert, by the way, that Ajayi and Sprouls are both supposed to be back on Sunday. Oh, Wendell Smallwood is.

[Mike Wright]

He's very sad.

[Andy Holloway]

He's queuing up his Netflix. So Lewis and Henry, can you start? Would you rather start Dion Lewis rest of the season or. I thought Kenyan Drake or Kenyan Drake.

[Jason Moore]

Kenya Drake.

[Andy Holloway]

Lewis or Kenya Drake?

[Mike Wright]

I'll take Drake.

[Andy Holloway]

Okay. Hide over both of them.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I think so, probably.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, wide receiver poopers. I got some big questions here. Stefan Diggs, Keenan Allen, Larry Fitzgerald, Mari Cooper. Back to. Back to his 2 for 17 form. Chris Hogan, Nelson Aguilar. This was the worry with. We thought he was kind of matchup proof, but the worry was quarterback change. You never know. And then Garcon Mike, you mentioned it, he disappeared from the earth and it won't be back. Keelan Cole had a down week. Allen Robinson, a down week against Arizona. I want to ask about Keenan Allen, though. Keenan Allen has had two down weeks now after a start with a touchdown and 100 plus 3 for 44 in a game in which they, you know, they scored quite a bit. Temperature check. Keenan Allen.

[Mike Wright]

I would 100% go buy him if I would take the temperature of the person who has Keenan Allen on their team and see how they're feeling. He still had seven targets. That's the lowest total of the, of the short season. But that's the kind of product, that's the kind of target volume I want from a wide receiver.

[Andy Holloway]

Had a couple opportunities in the end zone, right, Jay?

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, I mean his, his day was not far away from having a very good fantasy day. If he gets one of those touchdowns and maybe doesn't fumble the ball. Those things, those things help your team stay on the field and score fantasy points. I'm with Mike. I would purchase Keenan Allen if I could. 26 targets on the season. He's absolutely fine. Nobody, not even Antonio Brown, has non stop, never a bad game at the wide receiver position from a fantasy output standpoint. So yeah, Keenan is fine to me.

[Andy Holloway]

Do we know whether Amari Cooper checks his start percentage on ESPN before for going out on the field? I mean, you mentioned it. As soon as you feel a little confidence in starting Amari Cooper, he becomes amari pooper. 2 for 17. What do you do with him? Do you start him? Are you starting him next week?

[Jason Moore]

I mean, it's hard to. This is why we said last week after his good game, you trade him because he's going to be up and down. You can't really trade him easily off of a down game. So hopefully you were able to capitalize on his 10 for 100 plus game. He's going to do this. He's going to have good games and he's going to be a startable asset and he's going to crap all over your team and make you hate yourself. So don't have him on your roster. I mean, I, you know, try to capitalize on his name, on the value he can provide and don't be the one that has to deal with the weekly decision because unlike a lot of players, some players you go, okay, he's good against press or good against man or he's good at home or he's good on the road. He's good against weak defenses, good against. You know, there's some trend and there's the only trend that you can think of with Amari Cooper is it's whenever you don't expect it, he just does the.

[Mike Wright]

So like the Spanish Inquisition.

[Jason Moore]

It's the opposite. If it looks like you.

[Andy Holloway]

Exactly, exactly like the Spanish Inquisition.

[Jason Moore]

If it looks like you a t start Amari Cooper, bench him. And if it looks like no way in the world should you start Amari Cooper.

[Andy Holloway]

Is there a jet, Is there an option to jettison him into space? Is that one of the three options that you have?

[Jason Moore]

If that was an option, I would love to see it. I would hit that red button.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, Corey Davis. What do fantasy owners have in Corey Davis this season? Obviously, Jacksonville is not a good matchup.

[Mike Wright]

They have a crappy quarterback throwing him the ball.

[Andy Holloway]

You know, Jalen Ramsey, though.

[Mike Wright]

Thank you.

[Andy Holloway]

I would take a little peek at Corey Davis. He'd be a buy for me. He's still been a target guy. But Jalen Ramsey, anytime you play Jalen Ramsey, you just buy that player the next week.

[Mike Wright]

But it's.

[Andy Holloway]

But Mario to should be behind center.

[Jason Moore]

Yeah, he was behind center.

[Andy Holloway]

And they won again. That happened, too.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Jason Moore]

This is the second week in a row where every piece on Tennessee was bad. Every.

[Andy Holloway]

Everybody.

[Jason Moore]

Everybody sucked and they won. It's impressive. Congratulations, Tennessee. You're going to be in the playoffs back to back years and no one's going to believe in you. Still.

[Andy Holloway]

Are we. Are we watching Houston to see if there's a coaching change this year, the way they're headed?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, certainly Bill O'Brien.

[Jason Moore]

That was.

[Mike Wright]

It was pretty disappointing this past weekend.

[Andy Holloway]

All right. I think we're going to wrap this thing up. By the way, we got waivers tomorrow.

[Mike Wright]

Certainly. And before we do that, Foot Clan, quick reminder, NFL game pass. You got to check it out. You want to watch every single game. Commercial free condensed versions of the game lets you watch it in about 45 minutes. And best of all, you can kick off the 2018 NFL season with a seven day free trial.

[Andy Holloway]

Free child free choral.

[Mike Wright]

You never had a free trial.

[Andy Holloway]

Not till today.

[Jason Moore]

Listen, I get those at Disneyland. I go to the trial stands and I eat a seven day free trial.

[Mike Wright]

Of NFL Game Pass. Sign up now at NFL.com fantasy footballers that's NFL.com fantasy footballers Game on.

[Andy Holloway]

All right, Jason, good luck with O.J. howard scoring what, 15 more points than Antonio Brown to get you a win. The world will be watching.

[Mike Wright]

Hey, and thank you to draft.comballers for supporting the show. We'll see you tomorrow. 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 twitterballers.