Week 4 Studs & Stinkers + Picture-in-Picture - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/5

Summary

Fantasy Footballers Podcast Summary Episode: Week 4 Studs & Stinkers + Picture-in-Picture - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/5
Release Date: October 5, 2020
Hosts: Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, Mike "The Fantasy Hitman" Wright

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Introduction and Scheduling Changes

The episode kicks off with the hosts discussing the addition of an extra Monday Night Football game for Week 4. Mike Wright expresses mixed feelings about the schedule overlap, noting, “they went with the overlap” (00:52). Troy Polamalu admits responsibility for the scheduling change, humorously stating, “I asked them to overlap it because my wife said that any more football and we were going to have words” (01:15). The conversation transitions into nostalgia for old picture-in-picture (PIP) technology, reminiscing about its limited functionality (01:31).

COVID-19 Updates and Game Availability

The hosts address the impact of COVID-19 on player availability. Cam Newton's absence due to testing positive for COVID-19 is confirmed, with Mike Wright adding, “Cam Newton is on the reserve Covid list after testing positive” (09:59). Andy Holloway shares optimistic news about the Tennessee Titans testing negative, boosting morale: “if the tests are good from here on out, they'll be playing the Bills” (02:45).

Player Injuries and Their Fantasy Impact

A significant portion of the discussion centers around player injuries and their implications for fantasy football:

• Kenyan Drake: Mike Wright highlights the uncertainty surrounding Drake’s status, mentioning, “Perhaps the walking boot was not precautionary. Perhaps his foot is messed up” (08:24). Troy elaborates on Arizona’s offensive struggles, attributing them to X’s and O’s problems, which have limited Drake’s opportunities (06:27).

• Nick Chubb: Chubb’s placement on injured reserve is a major concern, with Troy stating, “Nick Chubb has been placed on the IR with an MCL injury” (39:15). Andy Holloway echoes the worry, emphasizing the ripple effect on Kareem Hunt’s value (31:10).

• Austin Ekeler: Mike Wright discusses Ekeler’s serious hamstring injury, noting, “Austin Ekeler... suffered what is considered a serious hamstring injury” (52:40).

• AJ Green: Troy Polamalu criticizes AJ Green’s declining performance, sarcastically suggesting, “I want to have a fantasy retirement ceremony on Wednesday” (08:11).

• Rob Gronkowski: Gronkowski’s underwhelming game performance is lamented with, “I would not like Rob Gronkowski if not” (14:37).

Weekly News Highlights

The hosts delve into various weekly news items affecting fantasy lineups:

• Deonte Adams: Deonte Adams is ruled out, leading Mike Wright to consider grabbing alternative wide receivers like DeMarcus Robinson or Robert Tonyan (10:19).

• Aaron Rodgers and the Packers: The Packers face challenges with their top two wide receivers injured, impacting Jason Moore’s lineup decisions (11:18).

• Tom Brady: Tom Brady is praised for throwing five touchdown passes despite missing key players, marking him as “the oldest player to throw five touchdowns in a game” (20:25).

Studs of the Week

The Stud Muffins segment highlights top-performing players:

• Dak Prescott: Dak Prescott is lauded for his outstanding performance, “41 for 58 for 502 yards, four touchdowns” (18:15). Andy Holloway questions whether Dak can maintain his performance, considering Seattle's improving defense.

• Tom Brady: Brady’s historic five-touchdown game is celebrated, with Mike Wright noting, “He is the oldest player to do everything right now” (20:25).

• Joe Mixon: Mixon is recognized as the top running back of the week, with impressive stats: “25 rushing attempts. 151 and two” (24:07). Andy Holloway advises caution against trading him despite his recent performance.

• Dalvin Cook & Chris Carson: Both players receive praise for their solid performances, with Cook securing 130 rushing yards and two touchdowns, and Carson contributing significantly despite team injuries (25:56, 26:04).

• Jericho McKinnon: McKinnon’s resurgence after a two-year struggle is heartily welcomed, “He has scored in every game” (31:59).

Stinkers of the Week

In contrast, the Stinker Section addresses players with disappointing performances:

• Zach Ertz: Mike Wright expresses frustration over Ertz’s declining production, stating, “I think he’s washed” despite Ertz being a late-round draft pick (54:41).

• Nick Foles and Allen Robinson: Both players are critiqued for underperformance, with a notable low from Aaron Rodgers’ receivers due to injuries (40:05, 40:30).

• DJ Moore & Tyler Higby: DJ Moore’s inconsistent performance and Higby’s inefficiency are highlighted as major disappointments for fantasy managers (53:12, 54:30).

• Miles Sanders & Josh Jacobs: Both running backs face scrutiny for their underwhelming stats, despite showing potential in certain plays (49:15, 50:03).

Strategy and Trade Advice

The hosts provide strategic insights for fantasy managers:

• Trading High-Performers: Andy Holloway suggests considering trading high-performing players like Joe Mixon at peak times to capitalize on their value before potential declines (24:26).

• Waiver Wire Moves: With several injuries affecting key positions, the hosts discuss potential waiver pickups such as Chase Edmonds, Robert Tonyan, and J.J. Taylor to bolster rosters (10:19, 23:11).

• Player Utilization: Discussion on optimal player utilization in light of team injuries and offensive inefficiencies, emphasizing the importance of matchup-proof players like Terry McLaurin (41:08).

Community and Tools

The hosts encourage listeners to engage with the Fantasy Footballers community through their website and social media:

• Website Upgrades: Announcements about upgrades to player profile pages and tools on thefantasyfootballers.com.

• Social Media Engagement: Listeners are invited to follow and interact on Twitter: @theFFBallers, @JasonFFL, and @FFHitman (09:25).

Advertisements and Sponsors

Throughout the episode, sponsors such as Simplisafe Home Security and Visit Independence are mentioned. These segments are brief and focus on promoting the services and special offers available to listeners.

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with the hosts expressing excitement for the upcoming Monday Night Football games and the strategies needed for waiver wire discussions. They remind listeners to stay engaged with the community for the latest rankings, start/sit tools, and player profiles.

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Notable Quotes:

• “I asked them to overlap it because my wife said that any more football and we were going to have words.” – Troy Polamalu (01:15)
• “Nick Chubb has been placed on the IR with an MCL injury.” – Troy Polamalu (39:15)
• “Dak Prescott... 41 for 58 for 502 yards, four touchdowns.” – Andy Holloway (18:15)
• “I want to have a fantasy retirement ceremony on Wednesday.” – Troy Polamalu (08:11)
• “He is the oldest player to throw five touchdowns in a game.” – Mike Wright (20:25)

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This comprehensive summary captures the essence of the Week 4 Fantasy Footballers podcast episode, highlighting key discussions, player analyses, strategic advice, and notable insights aimed at helping fantasy managers navigate their leagues successfully.

Transcript

[Troy Polamalu]

Hi, this is Troy Polamalu and you're listening to Fantasy Footballers Podcast.

[Andy Holloway]

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright.

[Troy Polamalu]

Welcome in, Andy, Mike and Jason, the fantasy footballers. Back with you. Monday, October 5th, the roller coaster ride continues. We got an extra Monday Night Football game here.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yes, we do.

[Troy Polamalu]

And we're excited about that fact.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yeah, I am super excited. A little perturbed. They went with the overlap. Like I understand that. You know, look, the prime time, the espn, they ESPN game, they actually did move it back. I don't know if you guys realize that it starts like 40 minutes later than it usually does.

[Troy Polamalu]

I have to admit something. Oh, no, this was my fault.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, you like the scheduling?

[Troy Polamalu]

I asked them to overlap it because my wife said that any more football and we were going to have, we were going to have words. So I asked for the overlap so I could, I could watch them both. I'm sorry, but you gotta go back and forth.

[Mike Wright]

Unless we bust out like some 1992 pip technology. You guys remember, remember picture and picture pip?

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah, pip was the jam.

[Mike Wright]

It was like the smallest.

[Troy Polamalu]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike Wright]

Most useless screen in the bottom left corner. But you could move it.

[Troy Polamalu]

No, you can move it to any.

[Mike Wright]

Corner, whichever corner you want. You got it.

[Troy Polamalu]

Hard time figuring out how to get a certain channel you wanted in there. Sometimes you pip something you didn't want.

[Mike Wright]

You would just be pipping the exact same channel you were already on.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yes, you were. In case you wanted to see it a little smaller. Yes. But we do have two games tonight and that's good news because despite the fact that Cam Newton is not available, I'm sure, you know, you've been following the news and we thought maybe we wouldn't have a game. We thought maybe we wouldn't have a Saints Lions game. Turned out there was a negative, a false positive test for the Saints. So, you know, it's something where you wake up in the morning and you receive the information that you have no control over and then you make the best adjustment you can make.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. And this morning the Tennessee had the first day where their tests were negative.

[Mike Wright]

Congratulations, Titans. Yeah, get it together, man.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, the nice thing is Ian Rapaport, I heard him on SiriusXM this morning saying that basically if the tests are good from here on out, they'll be playing the Bills. So hopefully it can rear view mirror that.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah, it's just, it's an unfortunate situation, but fantasy football players, you know, we're removed from the realities of, I mean, the health and safety of the players and the communities is the most important thing. We are reacting. We are a fantasy show. All of our advice is related to how you get your league functioning the best way possible during a. An unexpected time in our league. Much like the week before when we thought that we might have a Tuesday night game for Tennessee Pittsburgh, or I guess that was this. This past week, we thought we were going to have it. We've made accommodations in all of our leagues for alternate situations. Should have a game tonight and we're excited about it.

[Mike Wright]

You know what I'm excited for?

[Troy Polamalu]

What are you excited for?

[Mike Wright]

Monday. Pun day.

[Troy Polamalu]

A lot happened yesterday. We like to react in. In the most punny way possible.

[Mike Wright]

It's the only way to handle the pain.

[Troy Polamalu]

Oh, this is pretty good. Where all Henderson?

[Mike Wright]

Yes. That one was directly from Mike the fantasy Hitman. Right.

[Troy Polamalu]

What about Malcolm Every Down Brown?

[Mike Wright]

He certainly was.

[Troy Polamalu]

That's unfortunate.

[Andy Holloway]

Mmm.

[Mike Wright]

And then D.J. no more D.J.

[Troy Polamalu]

Remorse.

[Andy Holloway]

C.D. bam. T.D.

[Mike Wright]

Lamb.

[Troy Polamalu]

Joy Mixon. Oh, simple but true.

[Mike Wright]

That's a kittle. Goes a long way. Why did I read that one? I don't know.

[Troy Polamalu]

Miles Blanders.

[Andy Holloway]

Mistake.

[Troy Polamalu]

Kenyan mistake. Oh, no.

[Andy Holloway]

Flake.

[Troy Polamalu]

So we went from Potty Miller to. Oh, Hottie Miller.

[Mike Wright]

Scotty too hottie.

[Troy Polamalu]

This is the best we had, Brooks.

[Mike Wright]

It was a rough week for the puns, apparently.

[Troy Polamalu]

Looked through a lot of them. We had about 600 submissions. You could have gone Kenyan. Kenyan flake again.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Troy Polamalu]

How you feeling, Jason?

[Andy Holloway]

I don't want to be here.

[Troy Polamalu]

Hold on, hold on, hold on. Every week. Last week you had a nice fantasy week. You went six and oh. In all of your leagues. All of your picks and predictions, they worked out.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Troy Polamalu]

And you were feeling good now.

[Andy Holloway]

Was on top of the world.

[Troy Polamalu]

You beat me in fantasy last week. Sending me into a tailspin. Crushed me. And yeah, I was in. I was where you were last week. Now this week I got like, you know, Odell Beckham Jr. Scoring a touchdown a minute. I've got Joe Mixon throwing three down. Hello. And then you didn't have the same week and you did not stay the whole day yesterday.

[Andy Holloway]

No, I took off a little bit early, you know, because. Kenyan Drake.

[Troy Polamalu]

Did you go to McDonald's on the way home?

[Andy Holloway]

I did not. I ate sushi last night. I said, if I'm. I'm gonna. If I'm gonna eat my pain away, I'm gonna at least do it with somewhat healthy food. Okay, but. But yeah, I mean, look, Kenyan Drake. I issued my apology about halfway through that game. It's no hope for no hope for.

[Troy Polamalu]

A 75 yard touchdown run in the.

[Andy Holloway]

Second half of the game. I mean it didn't look good. The play designs didn't match what he was doing. He looked slow. I don't get it because I remember watching, you know, the first week looking like he made some special moves legitimately. I'm going to go back today and I want to watch all of the.

[Troy Polamalu]

I can tell you some of what's going on.

[Andy Holloway]

Kenyon Drake plays some of what's going on.

[Troy Polamalu]

It's an X's and O's problem in Arizona. What they're doing is they're spending a lot of time on early downs, run down situations. Instead of giving the ball to Kenyon Drake. They don't have Max Williams, they're run blocking tight end and they're throwing wide receiver screens. They're running through the air as we say. And by running through the air of course I mean being tackled behind the line of scrimmage. These wide receivers are in the wide receiver screen game. It has gone south for Arizona over the last two weeks. The offense is completely discombobulated and the prescription is the New York jets next week. Which makes this Kenyan Drake situation all the more difficult for you.

[Andy Holloway]

The prescription was the Carolina Panthers this week.

[Troy Polamalu]

Well, no, I think that that's one of those narrative over reality situations. Carolina was a team, new pieces, new coach, new new quarterback and they won the previous week. We only have a three game sample size in Carolina. They're probably better than we thought they were.

[Andy Holloway]

Sure as a team but as a run stopping defense they were the last place all last year and second to last place so far this year. We've definitely seen enough to know that they.

[Troy Polamalu]

Well that's true. Detroit the week before, worst on running back defense and Drake did nothing there either.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, you want to know the prescription? Apparently for bad run defenses it's the Arizona Cardinals. So we'll see this week against the Giants. But I do agree with you from a fantasy standpoint. One of the biggest problems is the targets aren't going there. I mean this is a, this is a player that the previous season when he was involved on the Arizona Cardinals was on a great three down pace. You know, it was a player that was targeted 70 plus times on a 60 game, 16 game pace and it's not happening. This.

[Mike Wright]

Perhaps the walking boot was not precautionary. Perhaps his foot is messed up. Just, just saying like we, we forget just a couple weeks ago Kenyan Drake was walking around in the boot.

[Troy Polamalu]

It's a good Point. He also went out injured at the end of the game. He did three minutes left.

[Mike Wright]

We you will find out for sure because. Well, I guess not for sure, but Kenny Drake took a really hard shot. We have to wait on his injury status. We haven't heard anything out of Arizona yet, but Chase Edmonds will be a hot waiver pickup. And if Chase Edmonds is the starter next week and is good, I think you have your answer about what's going on with Kenyan Drake.

[Troy Polamalu]

Well, I man, yeah, it's process over results. I mean you're not going to hit on every single player and AJ Green's one I'm not going to hit on either. I mean AJ Green. I want to have a fantasy retirement ceremony on Wednesday. There are a number of players now I'm trying to toe that line of, you know, for fantasy players, these are not dead to me, dead to me type of mentality. This is a fantasy retirement. They play for their professional teams. They may contribute here and there, but they're done for fantasy. There are a number of players in that category this year and AJ Green is most certainly one of those players.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, he is.

[Troy Polamalu]

All right. Find us on twitter @ the FF Ballers Jason's JasonFFL if you want to console him @FF Hitman if you want to talk to Mike at Andy Holloway is my handle. The fantasy footballers.com is the website where you can check out the rankings. The start sit tool player profiles. We're making some upgrades this week to the player profile pages. JoinTheFoot.com is the community. Let's get into the news.

[Andy Holloway]

Weekly. Rewind.

[Troy Polamalu]

All right. Cam Newton is on the reserve Covid list after testing positive. He's unlikely to play in Week 5 against the Broncos.

[Mike Wright]

Correct.

[Andy Holloway]

And it is Brian Hoyer who will be the next man up the game.

[Troy Polamalu]

Like we said, it's tonight. Sonny Michelle out of tonight's game. Devonte Adams out.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, this is a fun one. The the Devonte Adams where he was questionable. It really seemed like he was trending to play. There are, I mean you actually have a couple more options now of because of the Kansas City and New England game being pushed back to tonight. Now you could be like me like I was all in on Devonte Adams playing. I needed to do one day. I needed him to play. So I will be making a last second waiver move. Probably grabbing like DeMarcus Robinson, Robert Tanya, maybe J.J. taylor. We'll see who actually ends up on my roster and then we will be crossing our fingers and praying for miracles.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah, Adam Seemed unhappy that the team was holding him out of tonight's game. To be honest, they're undefeated. He's had injury history, lingering issues before. I think if there's any doubt about his health, it's probably the best news for him. Not for fantasy players this week.

[Mike Wright]

What's rough for Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay packers they were are now without their top two wide receivers. Jason's taken it up to 100 player. He feels like a good play. But since the pressure is going to be on Marquez Valdez Scantling since you.

[Troy Polamalu]

Named him as you're taking it to 100 player, they have lost Helen Lazard for six to eight weeks and then Devonte Adams was ruled out.

[Andy Holloway]

He's taken it up to 100. As far as on the depth chart, I don't. We'll see what happens when he's the only thing now that the defense has to focus on.

[Troy Polamalu]

Did you see that Drew Sample did not take it to 100% catch rate this past weekend?

[Andy Holloway]

I did see that. I believe he caught that touchdown, to be honest with you.

[Troy Polamalu]

He had another. Another.

[Andy Holloway]

But I'm focusing on the touchdown.

[Troy Polamalu]

Nick Chubb exited the game early with a knee injury. Cautious optimism from the Browns that he did not suffer a catastrophic knee injury. MRI is coming today. At that point, we'll find out whether or not he's going to miss some time. Seems hard to imagine he doesn't miss a week or two.

[Mike Wright]

Agreed.

[Troy Polamalu]

Austin Echler is the more serious concern. If you watched the injury, it's being reported as a hamstring injury. Some a hamstring and a knee. MRI today for Echler. Mike, you described it yesterday. He could not even get on the cart.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. So he finished off the play like an absolute manimal. I mean, he was, he was hopping through on one leg until they brought him down. He was down for a very long time. You could see in his face that this was, this was not, not good. He gets trainers and people to help get him off the field. Has to take a break while walking off the field. Then the cart shows up and he can't even get up onto the cart. That's how much pain he was in with his hamstring. So this, I mean, just optically looking at the man and, you know, not a doctor, but Austin Eckler is going to miss a lot of time.

[Troy Polamalu]

The packers wide receivers tonight, Marquez, Valdez, Scantling, Tyler Irvin, Darius Shepard, Malik Taylor.

[Mike Wright]

Yep, sounds about right.

[Troy Polamalu]

So those are. I'm bringing the names up because if you have to do that Last second grab.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

MVS is probably not available. Shepard would be my next dart throw simply because he got a target last week.

[Troy Polamalu]

Step one.

[Mike Wright]

Like Robert Tanya, he was at least 5 for 50 with a score last week.

[Troy Polamalu]

It.

[Andy Holloway]

I think there's a very large chance. Obviously, this doesn't help for waivers, but we saw this with, you know, when Michael Thomas and some of the injuries happened to the Saints, it was all Camara in the dump.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, yeah, it's Aaron Jones. But we're saying for people out there who are just scrambling to figure something out.

[Troy Polamalu]

All right, O.J. howard tore his Achilles out for the season according to Bruce Arians. So down to Cameron brait, Rob Gronkowski. Five touchdown passes for Tom Brady yesterday.

[Andy Holloway]

To five different players.

[Mike Wright]

One was Keyshawn Vaughn.

[Andy Holloway]

One was O.J. howard.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, and that was a nice one, too.

[Andy Holloway]

It was great.

[Mike Wright]

It was nice.

[Andy Holloway]

Good.

[Troy Polamalu]

Noah Fant. The reports are that he will be sidelined for week five. That was a weird injury because he didn't seem like he was in pain, but he was being carted off. But then they said it was minor and now he's going to miss another.

[Andy Holloway]

Week and he came back at one point and then now he's gone for another week.

[Troy Polamalu]

If you'd like to trade for Rob Gronkowski, Jason, that is. That offer is available to you.

[Andy Holloway]

That is not interesting.

[Troy Polamalu]

Also, for the record, I would not like the Ross Rob Gronkowski if not.

[Mike Wright]

For the fact that I traded from the waiver wire.

[Troy Polamalu]

No, I have him because of the Kelsey situation. All right. Kenyan Drake injured late. Kingsbury said hopefully not anything major. We talked about it. Tyler Iford, a concussion. Any other big news, Brooks? Anything new coming through?

[Andy Holloway]

Not yet.

[Mike Wright]

They're coming through. Is. What are you eating back there? You just like having some granola?

[Troy Polamalu]

Just bad timing.

[Mike Wright]

No, no news.

[Troy Polamalu]

It's probably the worst. Trying to get over that Cowboys game yesterday. The worst moment of life just happened. Yeah, the Cowboys.

[Mike Wright]

My goodness, there's wild stuff, man. Wild west.

[Andy Holloway]

Start your players against the Cowboys.

[Mike Wright]

That's.

[Andy Holloway]

That's what you got to do.

[Mike Wright]

Also start the Cowboys. All of them.

[Troy Polamalu]

Apparently as many wide receivers as they have play them.

[Andy Holloway]

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[Mike Wright]

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[Troy Polamalu]

Yep.

[Mike Wright]

Always shining. That's Brooks's motto.

[Troy Polamalu]

Always, always shining.

[Mike Wright]

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[Andy Holloway]

This week's fantasy stud muffins. Let's talk about the things that were fun.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yes. Yes. Yes. Well, was it fun? Was it fun for Dak? He says he would trade those hot stats for a win. 41 for 58 for 502 yards, four touchdowns.

[Mike Wright]

And they almost did it again. They, they were. What was it? 41 to 14.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yes. And it went down to 41, 38 before the Beckham play.

[Mike Wright]

Unbelievable, man. Cowboy games are so fun right now. Probably not for cowboy fans, but for football fans, they're very fun.

[Troy Polamalu]

He has 1600 plus yards through four games. That is the record. And what is his pace? Oh, that's a good question. I mean, I think it's 6,500 somewhere around there.

[Andy Holloway]

I think it was 6,700 was what I saw.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that is amazing.

[Andy Holloway]

Nobody has ever thrown for 5,500 yards before in the history of the NFL. He's on pace for 600 yards.

[Troy Polamalu]

I mean, Dak is. Is he the. Let me ask the question. Do you want him as your fantasy quarterback over everybody else? And I mean that for this rest of the year. Based on. Look, the recipe for a banner year. It always comes down to. It's the quarterback play, but it's also the defense. And this defense is atrocious. And I know that we have that same recipe for Russ, but we also have a history of Russ being a little bit more up and down than Dak.

[Andy Holloway]

We also have a history of Seattle figuring out their defense. They've got a great coach. I don't think Seattle's defense is going to stay terrible the rest of the way. The same way I don't think Minnesota's defense is going to stay terrible the rest of the way. When you've got a really good defensive minded head coach who can rally his troops and get things together. How about them Cowboys?

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Dak feels like the number one guy moving forward.

[Troy Polamalu]

It's incredible. Tom Brady without some of his major weapons in this game. 30 for 46, 369 and 5.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, man.

[Troy Polamalu]

The plant man comes out and drops a five touchdown game.

[Mike Wright]

The chloroform was flowing.

[Troy Polamalu]

He is the oldest player to throw five touchdowns in a game.

[Mike Wright]

He's the oldest player to do everything right now.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Anytime he does something that is like pretty good, it's like he's the oldest guy to ever do that.

[Troy Polamalu]

Is it, Am I right that they have the Thursday night game?

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Troy Polamalu]

Against Chicago.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Troy Polamalu]

Okay, so we'll see what he does on Thursday night. Short week. Tom Brady. Big, big week against the Chargers. Who held Patrick Mahomes in check, but could not hold Tom Brady in check. Teddy Bridgewater.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, man.

[Troy Polamalu]

Got to play the Cardinals without Buddha Baker and it was not pretty for Arizona.

[Andy Holloway]

It was, it was surprising a little bit just how bad the Cardinals defense was. Did they make them punt? I think they made him punt once.

[Troy Polamalu]

I think they scored touchdowns in their first, you know, four possessions.

[Andy Holloway]

Now next, that being said, it can't all go on Arizona, Carolina, like you said earlier, they're surprising. They look like a pretty decent offense. And this has been without Christian McCaffrey next week.

[Troy Polamalu]

That's been the key.

[Andy Holloway]

Right. They're two and, oh, without McCaffrey. Right. You know, so next week they play in Atlanta. I think you can keep rolling in the heat of the, of the Panthers. The problem is it's Robbie Anderson, not DJ Moore.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, that. That part does suck and hurts my feelings. But we did, we highlighted last week of, look, the regression is coming for Teddy Bridgewater of how he has all these yards, but he just didn't have the passing touchdowns and add in a sensational 20 yard or whatever it was rushing touchdown. Teddy Bridgewater is a very strong streamer next week.

[Troy Polamalu]

All right. The Stallion, Josh Allen keeps it going.

[Mike Wright]

Excellent.

[Troy Polamalu]

He had another rushing touchdown, a couple passing touchdowns.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. When you said you feel like Dak is the number one guy. I feel, feel like Josh Allen should, you know, at least be entering the ring. He's.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he can be in the ring.

[Andy Holloway]

I think there's, you know, five guys who are all vying for that number one spot here. Josh Allen has been great. Kyler, even when he's sucking, is still good because he runs the ball, scores rushing touchdowns. Obviously Russell's there and then how can you discount Mahomes and Lamar? So you've got some real, real heavy hitters at the top of the quarterback position right now.

[Troy Polamalu]

Lamar bounce back 7 for 53 and a touchdown. Big run in this game. Couple passing touchdowns to Mark Andrews. Justin Herbert, a really impressive performance against Tampa Bay's defense. 20 for 25, 290 and 3. A lot of people played, you know, Jared Goff this week as a substitute quarterback.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Troy Polamalu]

And Justin Herbert, I don't blame you. The matchup was great, but Justin Herbert put up a big performance. And the arm talent is what impresses me on a weekly basis with Justin Herbert.

[Andy Holloway]

Man, when he throws a deep ball, it is a pretty looking deep ball.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

And there was a wild stat that I had heard. All of his touchdowns went to undrafted free agents.

[Troy Polamalu]

Wow.

[Mike Wright]

So, I mean, he's getting it done. And like, I mean, I guess we're ahead of ourselves here, but we didn't really talk. If Austin Eckler is out. Holy crap. Keenan Allen is going to see so many targets. I mean, he already is, but it's like, where do the. Where do the missing targets go? They go to Keenan Allen.

[Troy Polamalu]

All right, Joe Mixon.

[Mike Wright]

Hello.

[Andy Holloway]

Game.

[Troy Polamalu]

Have a game, Joe. Have a game where you receive 25 rushing attempts. 151 and two. And then six targets caught. All six passes. All of the fab that was spent On Gio Bernard before the game will be donated to a charity of Joe Mixon's choice.

[Mike Wright]

That's true.

[Troy Polamalu]

But this was the, this is the number one running back on the week.

[Mike Wright]

It absolutely was. Baltimore, Indianapolis, Cleveland. That's what's coming up for Joe Mixon. I think I know where Andy stands because you're Joe. You are the captain of the, of the Joe Mixon train. Jason, would you be trading Joe Mixon right now?

[Andy Holloway]

I would certainly be seeing if I can, if I can capitalize on a monstrous game and have every league has that one player who just is so recency biased on the last week that you could trade him like he's the best running back in all of fantasy football. But I do think when, you know what this shows is that these players who are getting a ton of volume and disappointing because it's easy to think about this today, but yesterday morning, people were more worried about Joe Mixon than they were about Kenyan Drake. And then all of a sudden, one great game cures everything. You hold on. You don't, you don't look to unload. But if you can capitalize on the hope of, you know, his ceiling, then if he hits, you're fine. And if he misses, you're. You're happy. You traded him high.

[Troy Polamalu]

I think you hit on a key point for fantasy players. Don't exchange the volume that Mixon is getting for anomalous, lower volume players. Multiplayer trades where you're not getting. It's hard to get guaranteed volume. And when you have 31 touches, he was already in the top five in terms of total touches heading into the week, which is why Jason made the argument about things looking up. Because when you have opportunity, great players who just got paid, they generally have great, they make great plays at some point in time. So Baltimore, Indianapolis, those are two really tough matchups. So it's not going to be this good every week, but it's nice to see it happen. Dalvin Cook, 27 for 130 and 2.

[Mike Wright]

He's very good.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah, Melvin Gordon, we talked about it Thursday night, took it to a thousand with a couple touchdowns.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, he did.

[Troy Polamalu]

This game was impressive. Chris Carson 16 for 82 touchdowns against Miami in a game that was kind of lower scoring. He really was a difference maker. And we didn't know how he was feeling coming into the game.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, we weren't sure, you know, is he going to play? Is Hyde going to be the starter? And then he, he got injured at one point through the game. And then, of course, Carlos Hyde was Out he did not play. So you know, we. They both cropped up on the. On the injury report. Turns out that Carlos Hyde's was legit because he couldn't play football. So this is another one of those. I think you could sell high here on Chris Carson. That's a monstrous game. He is banged up. I think I would. Yeah. Because this is a game where Carlos Hyde was gone. He had to be the every down guy here but he himself is banged up. My point is I think you can get a lot for him and I don't think he's going to always be playing without Carlos Hyde.

[Troy Polamalu]

Mike. Chris Carson Joe makes the rest of season.

[Mike Wright]

Chris Carson.

[Troy Polamalu]

Latavius Murray had a couple of touchdowns, 14 opportunities on the ground. They had a big lead and Latavius was all right in this one. I think he's just there to annoy fantasy players.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, I'm not reading into it.

[Troy Polamalu]

How are we burying this guy Antonio Gibson. Mike, how'd it feel to see Antonio Gibson?

[Mike Wright]

It was very bittersweet because I wanted to bench Antonio Gibson and my advice from the week was to bench Antonio Gibson. And here's what. Where it was difficult because during my process of. Antoni Gibson was. What is his ceiling? 40, 40 something rushing yards and a touchdown and they haven't unleashed him in the passing game. That is exactly what I said about him. Where is he? 46 and a touchdown. But they finally gave him five targets. He came through with a huge receiving play and I don't know if that's that if you. I don't know if you can count on that every single week because it's.

[Andy Holloway]

Steven Sims was out.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

So.

[Mike Wright]

But I mean as one who has loved Antonio Gibson since the draft it was pretty awesome to see it.

[Troy Polamalu]

7 total targets before this week had 5 in this week alone against Baltimore you are going to run into unpredictability with Antonio Gibson because the offense is. It's inefficient. The quarterback position you could see change over the course of the year. But Gibson himself is a very talented player. So you can always take a shot with him as a start and end up no matter what the matchup is with a big game.

[Mike Wright]

Did you know that Dwayne Haskins had over 300 yards and a 70 plus completion percentage?

[Troy Polamalu]

Stats are for losers, Mike.

[Mike Wright]

That's what. Oh, I have been told that According.

[Troy Polamalu]

To Booger McFarland stats are for losers. It is.

[Andy Holloway]

He should have led with the Dwayne Haskins stat on his stats are for losers tweet because that one seems ridiculous.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah, it just everyone plays four quarters and those soft underneath coverages. Mike Davis is very good, apparently. 6. He genuinely looks good.

[Mike Wright]

No, I'm saying he like he is. This was, this was a guy who was on Chicago, had the starting job and then they drafted David Montgomery and then they just cast him aside just like they did with Jordan Howard. And now Mike Davis is like the most elusive running back in football. He is absolutely crushing with his opportunity right now. Those who paid up to get him off the waiver wire are celebrating and he gets to Atlanta next week.

[Andy Holloway]

He did play Arizona, but the week prior he looked good and I think he's going to have another great week. That being said, you picked him up off the waivers. Did you need him? In which case, great, you're happy, keep starting him. Did you just snag him? Because the value was there. And you've got other good running backs. Go to the Christian McCaffrey owner and try to sell him for a season long piece because you got about another week left. Once Christian McCaffrey comes back, Mike Davis is nothing but an insurance option. They're not going to, you know, be like, well, now that you've played well, let's go 50, 50 split with our, you know, most expensive running back of all time. Christian McCaffrey is going to inherit this role.

[Troy Polamalu]

I was going to ask you that question if you thought there would be an easing back in period for Christian McCaffrey off the injury.

[Mike Wright]

There will be a little bit, yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, a little bit. You're going to see, you know, four or five more touches for Mike Davis than you would have beforehand. But, you know, once Christian McCaffrey is back, it's his game. You're not going to even have the potential to start Mike Davis again unless a re injury. So my point is, if you've got him and you could capitalize turn him into something that will be more than just another week or two, you can. I'm a Christian McCaffrey manager that if in our league someone came to me offering Mike Davis, I would take a strong look at going, okay, I might give up a legit piece that could help someone rest the season for Mike Davis.

[Troy Polamalu]

It is a situation where if you do have CMC and Mike Davis, you know, you have a start.

[Andy Holloway]

Exactly.

[Troy Polamalu]

All right. Kareem Hunt, 11 for 71 and two touchdowns. Chubb knocked out of the game. Hunt was questionable going into the game. Looked good, ran for another seven a carry because he's cream. Hunt is Hunt locked in as a top 10 running back if Chubb is out.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. I mean he's. You could almost argue he's a top 10 running back with Chubb in and so great.

[Troy Polamalu]

A great start to the year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Without him, you hunt is as good as it gets out there.

[Troy Polamalu]

Jericho McKinnon, nice to see him succeed. Eight targets, seven catches, 14 for 54 and a touchdown on the ground. I believe McKinnon has scored in every game. Has he so far in 2020.

[Mike Wright]

So the return of Jericho McKinnon is.

[Troy Polamalu]

A two year effort by him to get back.

[Mike Wright]

It is just it. You are correct. He has scored in every single game. And it's like this is an unbelievable feel good story.

[Troy Polamalu]

So cool of like your boy strong.

[Andy Holloway]

He.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he apparently is.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, man, it feels, it really does feel good. Like I'm happy for the man because that, that kind of two year struggle. He was, he was going to be a my guy that year and then poof. Got injured and never we. I don't think either of any of us thought we'd see him again.

[Troy Polamalu]

Well, it'd probably be. If Mostert comes back next week, it'll be Mostert and McKinnon against Miami.

[Mike Wright]

Agreed.

[Troy Polamalu]

And both are probably start worthy in that game.

[Andy Holloway]

I wonder if once Coleman comes back, is it still.

[Mike Wright]

I think Coleman's.

[Andy Holloway]

That's what I'm wondering. Is he behind McKinnon now?

[Troy Polamalu]

All right, wide receivers, we've got some players to talk about. O B.J. eight targets, five for 81, two touchdowns through the air, two for 73 and a touchdown on the ground. Saw somebody tweet about the fact that Beckham scored three times, had a monster game and Baker didn't even play well because he ran one in. Caught one from Jarvis Landry who threw a dart.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, it's because. Stats looking like nerds, bro.

[Troy Polamalu]

Boomer Esiason out there.

[Mike Wright]

A Boomer reference.

[Troy Polamalu]

It's the only lefty. I mean you can go Mark Brunell or Boomer. What do you want to do? Matt Leinert? Come on. Yeah, Southpaw's throwing the ball into the end zone. It's going to get a Boomer reference.

[Mike Wright]

Fair enough.

[Troy Polamalu]

Which is different than Booker. Let me be clear.

[Mike Wright]

Yes, right.

[Andy Holloway]

Very different. I would have gone, Vic.

[Troy Polamalu]

That's a strong point. That's a strong point. That was much so. Really? Really.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, Matt Leinert.

[Troy Polamalu]

That's how deep we' I went back. I went back a little bit.

[Mike Wright]

You did all right.

[Troy Polamalu]

All right. Odell Beckham.

[Andy Holloway]

Do you sell high on Odell Beckham?

[Troy Polamalu]

Well, you asked me that two weeks ago.

[Andy Holloway]

Right. And you said no.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah, so I still say no. The reason being. This is a great offense right now. This is an offense that Kevin Stefanski has worked into something that works, which is not what we expected to see in Cleveland. So will Beckham be a high volume player for your team? Absolutely not. Never. Will he be a player that can win you a week every two or three weeks and still give you some type of floor? I think so. I think this year that's the truth.

[Mike Wright]

Yep. Very, very high variance player this year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I agree. I happen to think that the next two weeks will be on the low variance of variety. Two of the most difficult matchups out there in the Indianapolis Colts and the Pittsburgh Steelers. But, you know, he's. He is. He looks like himself. Like we were talking. This was early in the game before. He just blew up while we were watching. He looks good. He looks like his old self.

[Troy Polamalu]

The most important play of the game for Beckham was the two yard slant touchdown. And the fact that they drew up a goal line opportunity for Beckham, got him an ISO and then threw him the ball, that was a problem last year. Amari Cooper, 16 targets.

[Andy Holloway]

He's been amazing. I mean, it's funny because sometimes we're watching these games, we feel like he's kind of disappearing. He's, you know, whatever. But 14 targets, nine targets, 12 targets, 16 targets.

[Troy Polamalu]

I got the breakdown for you through four weeks if you want it.

[Mike Wright]

Let's go, Dak.

[Troy Polamalu]

Through four weeks, 1690 yards. Gallup is 275 of them, that's only 16%. Cooper has 401 of them, that's 24%. Lamb is at 309, that's 18% target wise. Cooper's at 51, Lamb at 29, Gallup at 24.

[Mike Wright]

When you are in perpetual catch up.

[Troy Polamalu]

Slash from the first minute garbage time.

[Mike Wright]

Like we just annoyed if you're saying Dak is the number one guy that because of the defense, like Amari Cooper is the number one benefactor from this.

[Andy Holloway]

He's currently on pace for 148 receptions. So that won't happen. But that's.

[Troy Polamalu]

It really might.

[Andy Holloway]

What more could you ask for?

[Troy Polamalu]

What did Thomas catch last year? What was the. What's the record?

[Andy Holloway]

I will look that up.

[Troy Polamalu]

Do you remember that, Brooks? The total? I can't remember the exact number.

[Mike Wright]

I can't remember either.

[Troy Polamalu]

Okay. All right. CD Lamb, seven targets, five for 79 and two.

[Mike Wright]

You will not be skipping over my man DJ Chark and his nine targets, eight for 95 and deuce.

[Troy Polamalu]

Welcome back, DJ yeah, that's great to see.

[Andy Holloway]

Have a game. Also, the record was 149 receptions.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah. So he won't break it.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Only 140.

[Troy Polamalu]

But. DJ Chart. Great to see the target totals, honestly. I mean, the touchdowns, because of his size, you know, we had seen it a couple of times to start the year, but the nine targets, coming down with eight of them. Houston, Detroit. This is DJ Chart time.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Andy Holloway]

It's Shark Week.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah. Tark Weeks, maybe. CD Lamb. CD Lamb. Michael Galabres this season.

[Andy Holloway]

CD Lamb.

[Mike Wright]

CD Lamb.

[Troy Polamalu]

He's good. He's a really good player, man.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah. Look, I loved Michael Gallup coming into draft season. I think. I still think Michael Gallup has a fine season. But if I have to pick one of those two guys, CD Lamb, you know, there's a reason that one of these guys was a first round pick and super highly touted. Questionable. If he should be the number one wide receiver taken in the draft. That wasn't Gallup when he was coming out. And usually it takes a little bit more time. It. The timeline is over. CD Lam is in.

[Troy Polamalu]

It's just where they get in the ball. I mean, Michael Gallup is. His, like yards per catch is over 20. I mean, he's having the higher risk throws where Lamb is down in the 14 range, getting the slant route, getting to run with it. You just have more variable. Gallup's going to have good games. Like you said. It's just going to be hard to predict. All right. Other big plays at the wide receiver position. Will Fuller, seven targets, six catches. 108 and one. I'm going to take credit. I've decided.

[Andy Holloway]

You never pivoted.

[Troy Polamalu]

I didn't pivot. No, I. Look, he's healthy and when he's healthy, he's gotten double digits three games while he's been healthy. Six for one. Eight and one. Meanwhile, yes, Brandon Cooks, he ran 40 routes according to what I read and was not. Yeah, he's able to.

[Mike Wright]

He is.

[Andy Holloway]

He.

[Mike Wright]

On Wednesday's retirement ceremony.

[Troy Polamalu]

He is.

[Andy Holloway]

That goose is at the very back of that flying V. You know what I mean? Like. Yes.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah. Like, I mean, he could.

[Troy Polamalu]

He's the extra goose on the one side of the V that you don't need.

[Mike Wright]

Right. But theoretically, he could move to the.

[Troy Polamalu]

Front if the hamstring. What's the voice of the hamstring?

[Mike Wright]

Oh, it was.

[Andy Holloway]

Big. Hamstring blood.

[Troy Polamalu]

He was. The hamstring was okay.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Troy Polamalu]

Mike Evans is pretty good. 7 for 1. 22 and 1 while limping around the field, which he pretty much might as well just start doing. Maybe if you. Can you hurt yourself if you pre limp, if you lift before.

[Mike Wright]

I mean, if you walk with an unnecessary limp.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Maybe that's. That's not a good way to. To break it down. Oh, my goodness.

[Andy Holloway]

Breaking news.

[Troy Polamalu]

Nick Chubb has been placed on the IR with an MCL injury.

[Mike Wright]

So that's three games minimum for a Nick Chubb. So Kareem Hunt. Oh, brother. Oh, brother.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah, oh, brother.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh.

[Troy Polamalu]

Okay. Allen Robinson, 10 targets, seven for one on one and one. It was entirely. Let me say two things. One, it was entirely garbage time. Two, Nick Foles is just as bad as Mr. Risky. Three, Alan Robinson deserves better on every level. Every catch he made was a catch that I feel like him and Kenan Allen or, you know, a handful of players in the league are the only ones that can make the catch because these Nick Foles targets were disgusting.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, he mossed a dude. That didn't count because it was going to be an interception, but he just went up and caught it behind him out of the end zone. But, yeah, I mean, the thing is, is it was really upsetting. You watch that last drive, and I remember the commentators even saying, like, you know, why weren't the Bears playing like this the whole game?

[Troy Polamalu]

And.

[Andy Holloway]

And it was. It's not the Bears. It was the Colts. The Colts were just letting them dink and dunk their way down the field, and that was fine with them. It is a scary proposition. You're not some teams like the Cowboys. You're. You can rely. Garbage time starts one minute into the game and you're good. But you're not going to always get garbage time like that. So it's a little concerning.

[Troy Polamalu]

Let me. Let me ask you a question. Put these three players in order who you'd rather have on your roster rest of season. Okay? Because they all have a little different narrative.

[Mike Wright]

All right.

[Troy Polamalu]

Odell Beckham Jr. Okay, Allen Robinson. And Terry McClaurin, who is 14 targets this past week, seems rather matchup and quarterback proof to a degree. Put those three in order.

[Andy Holloway]

Terry would be number one for me, and then I would probably go Alan Robinson, Odell Beckham.

[Mike Wright]

I will go Terry, Alan, Robinson, Beckham. And here's the thing about.

[Andy Holloway]

I really like your order.

[Mike Wright]

Your order was fantastic. Jason, by the way, I apologize for not complimenting you earlier on it. Here's the thing for Terry McLaurin, he's doing all this with Dwayne Haskins. And I know that the numbers for Dwayne Haskins did not reflect the majority of the game. There is a world where Kyle Allen comes in and things improve dramatically for Terry McLaurin compared to what he's dealing with with Dwayne Haskins. For Allen, Robinson, there's no improvement. It's Nick Foles.

[Troy Polamalu]

Or it's funny because that's the same sentence from last week. It was like, there's a world where Nick Foles comes in and things improve dramatically for Alan Robinson. Yep.

[Mike Wright]

But Nick Foles is. He is who we thought he was, which is a man who hit some like the Tinkerbell came through, sprinkled the pixie dust all over him, and he had a magical half season and a Super bowl run. Other than that, Nick Foles has been not a starting quarterback in the NFL.

[Troy Polamalu]

I had a hard time this past week deciding whether to swap Alan Robinson and obj. And then, you know, when Robinson had about two catches three quarters of the way through the game and Beckham had 38 fantasy points, I was saying, wow, Beckham's the right play here. And then Robinson comes back at the end of this game. It's going to be interesting to watch those, those three. Kittle, decent game.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my goodness.

[Troy Polamalu]

15 targets, 15 catches, 183 and one.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, my goodness. George Kittle, I mean, really back up.

[Andy Holloway]

For 16 that he should, he should have had that.

[Troy Polamalu]

Oh, you're calling the version. Oh, okay.

[Mike Wright]

I thought as a target.

[Troy Polamalu]

I know.

[Andy Holloway]

I'm just saying I thought you were.

[Troy Polamalu]

Talking about the Hail Mary.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, man, that would have been awesome.

[Troy Polamalu]

He loves backup quarterbacks. If you remember his, his record breaking season, that was Nick Mullins for 10 of those games. I believe so. Nick Mullins, George Kittle, I feel like.

[Mike Wright]

He can go into the huddle and look him in the eye, be like.

[Troy Polamalu]

Give me the ball.

[Mike Wright]

Throw me the ball, bro.

[Troy Polamalu]

Give to me right now. Give me.

[Mike Wright]

And they're like, oh, okay, okay, George, take it easy.

[Andy Holloway]

But when it's 100% catch rate, you're.

[Troy Polamalu]

Allowed to say that.

[Andy Holloway]

Just keep doing it.

[Mike Wright]

I'm not disagreeing with him.

[Troy Polamalu]

I love the way that when Kittle catches the ball, it's a minimum of three tackles that he breaks. Like those first three people. You have to break those tackles before you tackle them. Mark Andrews, three catches, 57 and two. It's the same recipe for Mark Andrews. Dalton Schultz, four for 72 and one.

[Mike Wright]

Start of the week.

[Troy Polamalu]

Now, did he get hurt in this game? I thought he got. He Came out. Is he okay?

[Andy Holloway]

I have not seen an update. He was grabbing his hamstring, I believe, but I haven't seen any news on how severe that injury is.

[Troy Polamalu]

All right, we've got to talk about some stank.

[Andy Holloway]

Stinkers of the week. Presented by Odor Eaters.

[Troy Polamalu]

Gonna need some real Odor Eaters power for some of these guys.

[Mike Wright]

Yes.

[Troy Polamalu]

Biggest disappointment of the week. Can you drink at the quarterback position?

[Mike Wright]

We'll get there.

[Andy Holloway]

We already got there. We led the show with that garbage.

[Troy Polamalu]

Jared Goff, 25 for 32, just 200 passing yards, one touchdown, and this game was not fun to watch.

[Mike Wright]

No, it was not so bad.

[Troy Polamalu]

Daniel Jones was awful. I mean, yeah, they Both threw for 200 or fewer yards.

[Andy Holloway]

The Rams offense has been just chugging along. I mean, they've looked great. They went to Buffalo and even after they got off to a slow start, they just went nuclear. And then they get to play the Giants. Did they just take it, Take the game off?

[Mike Wright]

Well, here's the problem is in those games, Jason, where you alluded to them going nuclear, having a really high powered offense, the engine of that offense was Darrell Henderson. And apparently the hot hand was every down, Malcolm Brown. Because Darrell Henderson, what was his. His final stat line?

[Troy Polamalu]

Eight carries.

[Mike Wright]

He was never on the field.

[Troy Polamalu]

What were.

[Mike Wright]

What happened?

[Troy Polamalu]

I don't know.

[Mike Wright]

I don't know either.

[Troy Polamalu]

We thought he was hurt.

[Mike Wright]

I demand answers, McVeigh.

[Troy Polamalu]

You saw him sitting on the bench and he. For whatever reason, we thought maybe we had more clarity in this situation than we did some of these other committee backfields. The Tampa Bay situation.

[Mike Wright]

Nope.

[Troy Polamalu]

Now you're sitting here going, I can't start anybody.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, Cam Acres comes back soon. Who's it going to be? Man, that was upsetting. But yeah, golf as well did not look great for fantasy.

[Troy Polamalu]

Kenyon Drake. We talked about it. I don't know what you do going forward with the jets on the schedule next week. If he's healthy and active, you probably.

[Andy Holloway]

If he, if he's healthy and active, you start him. Unless you've got a better option. I mean, if, you know, if I'm talking about James Robinson or Kenyan Drake, I'm going to be putting James Robinson in my lineup.

[Troy Polamalu]

What about David Montgomery, who had a struggle this week with Nick Foles? We thought it might be better for him in the passing game.

[Mike Wright]

He did see six targets.

[Troy Polamalu]

He was out there. Yeah, but Montgomery plays Tampa Bay. Kenyan Drake against the Jets.

[Andy Holloway]

Who do you start between those two? I would. I would start Kenyan Drake. Because of the matchup. If you're going to talk about the Colts great defense and the Jets Wink defense. I'm taking.

[Troy Polamalu]

I feel like it's. We've been set up with Drake.

[Andy Holloway]

I know it's two great matchups in a row.

[Troy Polamalu]

Here he is recommending Drake again.

[Andy Holloway]

Oh, I scrub that.

[Troy Polamalu]

Scrub it.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, just so I am hurt because. Yeah, because I was very confident in Drake. And then we get the homer bias line of like, oh, it's because you're a Cardinals fan, which is.

[Troy Polamalu]

I wasn't confident in Drake and I'm not taking a victory lap over that. I'm just saying, like, it wasn't all. We weren't all. Like, Drake's going to have the number one year of the season and neither were you.

[Andy Holloway]

I mean, I've been a Drake truther since he was a Dolphin. That's true.

[Mike Wright]

Wee little babby.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes. Since he was at Bama. This has nothing to do with him as a Cardinal.

[Troy Polamalu]

No, no. And it's a mess. Jonathan Taylor. What? If you have a question about Darrell Henderson, why in the world is Jonathan Taylor getting 16 carries and the other two running backs each getting nine? Jordan Wilkins, nine carries. Naim Heinz, nine carries.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, but on those nine carries for Wilkins, like, incredible yardage.

[Andy Holloway]

Right.

[Troy Polamalu]

1.7 per carry. But what about Heinz? 2 point something per carry. What about Taylor? Oh, he was like for a carry.

[Andy Holloway]

Well, you. I mean, he got 17 carries. So it's not like.

[Mike Wright]

But they're so spur. Here's the problem is they're sporadic. Like Jonathan Taylor is a. Is the big body prototype running back that you give him the ball. If you're, if this is your play style, you give him the ball over and over and over. Marshawn lynch style. Because after you, to paraphrase Marshawn lynch, after you run through somebody's face enough times, over and over, they don't want to get in the way anymore. And that's who Jonathan Taylor should be. But if you just give him two carries here, then you throw in hines for a while. I know we're just fantasy football guys, but it's like this is not, this is not the optimal way to utilize Jonathan Taylor's skill set.

[Andy Holloway]

I agree with you to a point. And if this was the playoffs, I'll bet you that the entirety of the team agrees. But this is early in the season.

[Troy Polamalu]

That is the problem.

[Mike Wright]

Keeping him fresh.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, absolutely. There's no reason to take this rookie in games that you're winning handily and the other team can't score on you for three straight weeks. And say, let's run him into the ground. I think they're doing the right thing. But I have been concerned with what I've seen from Jonathan Taylor as well, or disappointed because I expected him to do more with the touches he's getting right now behind that offensive line than he's been doing.

[Troy Polamalu]

Miles Sanders, 13 for 46 against the 49ers, four targets, two for 30. I don't really.

[Andy Holloway]

It's hard to run without an offensive line.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah, I'm not, I thought Miles Sanders looked independently good on every one of his touches. He does have Pittsburgh, Baltimore coming up, so it's going to be a rough few weeks with no other weapons on this team.

[Mike Wright]

Miles Sanders, it just, it is what it is, man. He's, he is a true three down running back and you'll, you'll get bad games, you get bad games from basically everybody every once in a while.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah, this was one of those games where I thought he looked better than the stat line ended up, to be honest.

[Mike Wright]

Sure.

[Troy Polamalu]

Josh Jacobs, 15 for 48, four targets.

[Mike Wright]

Same thing for Josh Jacobs as Miles Sanders. When you see Jacobs get a, get a carry and when he's not, you know, smothered in the backfield, this, this guy is fantastic. Just didn't come through for.

[Andy Holloway]

Are we, are we worried at all though? Because, you know, he hasn't been a top 20 back in the last three weeks. He was obviously the number one back week one. So we just, you know that, that week one hit is like he's the best thing ever. But it's three disappointing weeks in a row. And we saw this last year where his touchdowns came in games where it's like he gets two or three touchdowns and then they win the game or he, he's just not great for fantasy. I'm not concerned. Like you're just going to keep starting them but be disappointed, right?

[Troy Polamalu]

A little bit disappointed. Yeah. I mean they, they're not winning right now these last two weeks. I like that he's getting more consistent reception totals. I think all four games he's had at least three catches. That's true. Last year he only did that a couple times. But yeah, he's somebody that needs to probably get into the end zone in these games. He's not giving you the matchup proof game right now.

[Mike Wright]

The thing like Josh Jacobs and Miles Sanders is who are you going to start over those guys? I mean, right now at the top there is, there's a pretty tight cluster of, you know, six, seven guys who are, who are the. Every Week, auto start. But who, like, who are you grabbing to know over Josh Jacobs?

[Andy Holloway]

I think it's people that you've already grabbed the James Robinson, the Mike Davis, these players, do you put them in ahead of some of these people who have been disappointing, or do you keep rolling with the high drafted guys who are getting the touches? I think that's a difficult decision. It's not. It's not cut and dry as we go into Antonio Gibson.

[Mike Wright]

If you drafted Antonio Gibson late and you have Josh Jacobs, are you willing to play Gibson over him?

[Troy Polamalu]

No, I'm not.

[Mike Wright]

Okay. No, I'm not either.

[Troy Polamalu]

Because it's funny because the both teams, Miles Sanders and Josh Jacobs, they have no wide receivers. It's like Josh Jacobs and the Raiders have Nelson Aguilar, who the Eagles once had and probably desperately wish they had.

[Andy Holloway]

I was thinking about that last night. I was like, the Eagles legit, probably. I wish we had Nelson Aguilar.

[Troy Polamalu]

All right. Joshua Kelly had an awful ball game.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah.

[Andy Holloway]

And this was, you know, Eckler went.

[Troy Polamalu]

Out and he also fumbled again.

[Andy Holloway]

He did, but then he was still on the field. I was paying attention to that, seeing are they going to punish him? They didn't, but he just stunk. Nine carries, seven yards and a fumble. Yuck.

[Troy Polamalu]

And Justin Jackson was active in this game.

[Mike Wright]

Yeah, he got six carries, but it was six carries for nine yards.

[Troy Polamalu]

So tomorrow we'll be talking waiver pickups. We'll have to discuss Joshua Kelly and Justin Jackson with Eckler's injury.

[Andy Holloway]

Yep. And the Ernest Johnson with the Chub, the guy that was in there for the Cleveland Browns getting a ton of run and looking great.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

I won't hit the breaking news button because it's very ambiguous, but it's Chargers running back Austin Eckler, I mean, speak of the devil here, suffered what is considered a serious hamstring injury. While no firm decision will be made until all the analysis is done, injured reserve is the likely landing spot.

[Troy Polamalu]

It seems. Yeah, it's inevitable. It's just a weather he's gone for the year.

[Andy Holloway]

Yes.

[Troy Polamalu]

Wide receivers that had some stinkers this week. It's a. It's a big group. Tyler Lockett.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, that one is shocking.

[Troy Polamalu]

Two for 39.

[Andy Holloway]

The number one wide receiver going out there and yuck.

[Troy Polamalu]

David Moore was the guy to have apparently in this shocking. DJ Moore, six targets, four catches, 49 yards.

[Mike Wright]

Yep.

[Troy Polamalu]

No touchdowns. Four. Four weeks into the season, if Jason.

[Mike Wright]

Can apologize for Kenny Drake. Look, I am. DJ Moore is not coming through with who I believed he would be the process for me, like it didn't factor in enough. The transition of to Teddy Bridgewater. And Bridgewater goes to Robbie Anderson, who is the number one wide receiver for Carolina.

[Troy Polamalu]

DeAndre Hopkins, I don't. It's hard to say. It was seven catches, nine targets.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah.

[Troy Polamalu]

As the Jets, Dallas and Seattle. Robert woods, seven targets, six catches, 35 yards. It was another Cooper cup week. Cooper Cups had a couple big ones in a row. Offense was struggling. Golf was struggling. Gallup, we talked about worried about him. There is a geriatric stinker section on today's show.

[Mike Wright]

Oh, no.

[Troy Polamalu]

This is pretty much the players that.

[Mike Wright]

Let's save them, then. We'll save them. You know who they are.

[Troy Polamalu]

We'll save it for the retirement ceremony. All of them are in that list. Tight ends, Tyler Higby, just 3 for 21 in this game, four targets. Are you worried about Tyler Higby?

[Andy Holloway]

Absolutely. I mean, Gerald Everett has been on the field just as much as getting targets is getting handoffs. And some days it's going to be an Everett game, some days it's going to be a Higby game. You have to be a little bit worried. It's just that's the nature of what you've seen from this offense. And they're going to make the defense keep guessing. Right? I mean, we thought it was going to be a Darrell Henderson game. They can go to different wide receivers. Is it Cooper? Is it Woods? They can go to different tight ends, they can go to different running backs. And that is not fun for fantasy.

[Mike Wright]

So the tight end I am worried about, I brought it up to you guys right before the show started. I have him in on quite a few fantasy teams. But Zach Ertz. Zach Ertz so far has been a top 10 tight end once. All the other three games he has finished 15th or worse, a try. A player you drafted in the fourth or the fifth round. And the situation for Zach Ertz is exactly what it has been for him when he has thrived before. It was Zach Ertz is a volume guy. If the wide receivers around him are hurt, the offense funnels through Zach Ertz. He becomes the main guy. And I relate to you guys. I'm watching Zach Ertz because he's on my team. I think he's washed. And I know that's a bold. It is a bold statement for a player of his age, but he is. He doesn't get open. The reason the volume is not going his way is because he's simply not getting open. And they had Carson Wentz has To find somebody else, which often translates into the tight end too, on the team. So I said, like what? Let's. Okay, I'm. I need some therapy here. I drafted Zach Ertz in the fourth of the fifth round. He has given me one performance out of four.

[Troy Polamalu]

Yeah.

[Mike Wright]

How do I keep just banging my head against the wall with Zach Ertz? Win guy.

[Troy Polamalu]

Because you don't have a choice.

[Mike Wright]

And that's what you don't.

[Troy Polamalu]

I mean, you can't start. Look at some of the potential starts of this past week. Rob Gronkowski, 1 for 29. Jimmy Grand Poo, 4 for 33.

[Andy Holloway]

Mike Gasicki, 1 for 15. I mean, it's the tight end.

[Troy Polamalu]

What about Evan Ingram? He had ten targets. What did he put up? Six for 35.

[Mike Wright]

Look, when you're. When Zach, I don't know if you have a choice. When Zachary is putting up four receptions for nine yards, I guess everybody else is better. That Jimmy Graham Line of 4 for 33 looks pretty sweet.

[Troy Polamalu]

It is. I know that you were watching with a close eye and it's almost impossible to argue with you when you look at the depth chart at wide receiver. These are the four games that Zachary should be taking advantage of it. And you end up with four for nine.

[Mike Wright]

And now we get Pittsburgh and Baltimore.

[Andy Holloway]

Yeah, I was going to bring that up. It's a rough couple of weeks here. But you're. But, I mean, tell me.

[Troy Polamalu]

Try to reverse the curse last night.

[Mike Wright]

And it looked like.

[Andy Holloway]

I thought you did a valiant job.

[Troy Polamalu]

That's as far as you can reverse.

[Andy Holloway]

A curse with this many injuries.

[Troy Polamalu]

That wide receiver, Court person Wentz. Stinkers of the week presented by Odor Eaters. Odor Eaters, the best in foot odor defense. Brooks would like it known that DeAndre Hopkins 7 for 41 is officially a stinker by his standards. Which I suppose if you are not in a full point PPR league, that is a stinker.

[Andy Holloway]

41 yards.

[Troy Polamalu]

That is a stinker.

[Andy Holloway]

The presumptive number one wide receiver out there.

[Troy Polamalu]

All right, we'll give it to you. We'll give it to you. Yeah. Okay. We want to thank Pristine Auction for supporting the show. They got a special auction for NBA finals week. Everything starts at $20 with no reserves. It lasts through Thursday, which thankfully the NBA finals will last beyond that date thanks to the Heat actually winning a ballgame. They did use the code ballers to get a $10 [e-mail] if you want to participate in that or check out any of their hundreds of daily sports memorabilia auctions. Are we doing? Okay, gentlemen, we're doing fantastic. Ready for a couple Monday night football games?

[Andy Holloway]

Yes, I need them.

[Troy Polamalu]

Ready for some waiver wire discussion tomorrow?

[Mike Wright]

Absolutely.

[Troy Polamalu]

All right, that is it for the Fantasy Footballers today.

[Mike Wright]

Stay strong, everybody. Stay safe. We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye.

[Andy Holloway]

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on JoinTheFoot.com and follow us on Twitter the FFballers FootClan.

[Mike Wright]

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