Week 12 Preview: Colts-Chiefs, Burrow’s Back (?), Shedeur’s Starting, Darnell Weighs 311, and Shin Mimes

Summary

The Ringer Fantasy Football Show: Week 12 Preview

Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly (DK), Craig Horlbeck
Release Date: November 21, 2025
Episode Theme:
Comprehensive preview of NFL Week 12: high-stakes matchups, surprising team narratives, fantasy football advice, and the wildest trends around the league—plus quirky asides about player weights, internet virality, and what actually matters down the season’s backstretch.

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Main Theme Overview

The hosts break down all of Week 12’s games with a focus on the season's biggest surprises—like the Colts’ ascension, the Chiefs’ struggles, and evolving fantasy football trust issues. Key debates swirl around which teams and players are legit, injury impact, and how to navigate fantasy lineups as the playoffs approach. Notably, the show’s signature banter roves from hard stats and analysis to weird NFL trivia and pop-culture crossovers (including the “shin mime” phenomenon).

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Game of the Week: Colts @ Chiefs

• Mahomes in the 1pm Window
  • Rare to see Patrick Mahomes playing among the early slate. ["It's disrespectful to put him among seven or eight other games amongst the plebs." – Craig, 03:05]
• Shocking Season Narratives
  • The 8-2 Colts vs. the 5-5 Chiefs—a reversal no one predicted.
  • Daniel Jones at the helm of the Colts is the league’s top surprise. ["This is the type of thing you just can't make up." – DK, 04:00]
• Matchup Analysis
  • Colts’ success driven by play-action, high points per drive, and Daniel Jones’ resurgence.
  • Chiefs’ offensive woes: can’t run, Mahomes can’t hit deep balls (1-for-9 on passes 15+ yards vs. Denver).
  • Defenses: after promising starts, both have slid; Chiefs' DC Steve Spagnuolo called “predictable” by Chris Jones; Colts missing DeForest Buckner.
• Xavier Worthy & Chiefs’ WRs
  • Chiefs lack man-beating WRs; Worthy’s physicality and usage compared to Rashee Rice.

Notable Quotes

• "This is like the ultimate what does my heart tell me versus what does my brain tell me game." – Craig, 05:42
• "Mahomes even said it himself: ‘We just gotta prove that we can do it [beat man coverage].’" – DK, 08:12

Injury Watch

• Daniel Jones added to the injury report with a calf issue, but not expected to miss the game. ["As of right now, I'm not sensing any reason for alarm..." – DK, 09:55]

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2. Steelers @ Bears: The “Con Men” Bowl

• Roethlisberger has a broken wrist; likely to play but could affect the offensive game plan. ["I do fear that this is just going to simplify the Steelers offense even more..." – Craig, 13:45]
• Bears have gotten "training wheel schedule"; this is the start of a tough stretch.
• Bears’ running game has vastly improved, led by Ben Johnson.
• Steelers’ and Bears’ defenses described as “bend and break” (as opposed to “bend but don’t break”).
• Caleb Williams called “Houdini” for his sack-escaping magic, but sustainability is questioned.

Notable Quotes

• "This game is like two con men facing one another." – Craig, 13:45

• "How long ... is Caleb Williams going to be able to continue to escape these sacks that he's been escaping?" – DK, 16:32

• Darnell Washington’s Weight Revelation (19:08)

  • Darnell admitted to weighing 311 lbs—making him possibly the heaviest pass-catcher in NFL history.
  • ["He has to be the heaviest pass catcher in NFL history." – DK, 19:38]

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3. Patriots @ Bengals: The Burrow Watch

• Joe Burrow logged two full practices, signaling a possible early return from injury—monitored closely.
• ["The signs continue to point to a potential Joe Burrow return." – DK, 23:00]
• Jamar Chase suspended for "spitting" (hocking a loogie).
• Bengals’ defense ranked worst in DVOA history; Patriots are “the second-worst 9-2 team by DVOA ever tracked" (25:28).

Fantasy Angle

• If Burrow returns: slow starts are typical after injury; Jamar Chase is out; T. Higgins must-step up.
• Rhamondre Stevenson possibly returning from injury for Patriots, which could reshape their backfield.

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4. Vikings @ Packers: The J.J. McCarthy Meltdown

• McCarthy’s stats historically bad: 850th/852 QBs since 2000 in EPA/dropback.
• ["McCarthy's stats are turning into Kenny Pickett." – DK, 33:32]
• Detailed breakdown on McCarthy’s mechanical issues by Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell (with precise footwork critique). ["We need to see if we can get him to be a little bit more in a repeatable body position..." – O’Connell, 36:56]
• Only QBs worse by completion % in last 10 years: Allen, Anthony Richardson.

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5. Blowout/Bounce Back Corner

The “Big Spread” Games: Seahawks @ Titans, Jets @ Ravens, Giants @ Lions

• Seahawks, Ravens, and Lions all favored by double-digits.
• Seahawks: Darnold’s up/down play; need for “get right” game. ["If he plays well, it means nothing. If he plays poorly, it means a lot." – DK, 50:39]
• DK’s endorsement of Kenneth Walker as a trade target; “cool shit” metric discussed (48:10).
• Jets: Tyrod Taylor starting, expectation for a slightly better passing attack.
• Lions: Laporta on IR, but offense primed for a “get right” at home against the Giants.

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6. Afternoon Slate & Bad Game Quarantine

• Eagles @ Cowboys is “the” game, with debate on line play: Cowboys’ new D-line additions vs. Eagles’ banged-up OL.
• ["Do the Cowboys have an advantage over the Eagles in the trenches in this game?" – Heifetz, 60:03]
• Fantasy “name game” with A.J. Brown: can he be trusted in lineups this week? (Names compared: Michael Pittman, Rome Odunze, George Pickens, Alec Pierce, Ricky Pearsall, etc.)
  • ["At some point, if you're...A.J. Brown hasn't brought you anywhere..." – Heifetz, 65:59]
• Quarantine Games: Browns @ Raiders, Falcons @ Saints considered “bad games” – discussion devolves to which tight ends you’d trust (Pitts vs. A.J. Brown, 67:38).

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7. Sunday & Monday Nights

• Bucs @ Rams: “Mushy gushy” rematch; debate about playing Sean Tucker (“have to play him” if Bucky Irving sits, 69:38).
• Panthers @ 49ers (MNF): Why is this the MNF game? Niners struggling with kicker injuries, Kyle Shanahan’s over-involvement in kicker draft picks. ["Every now and then even the geniuses have blind spots" – Heifetz, 74:15]

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8. Miscellaneous and Signature Ringer Banter

• Harrison Mevis (“the thicker kicker”) for the Rams: jokes about his name and occupation (77:05).
• Internet culture: the challenge of finding memes, “shin mimes” who get hurt for viral content, and the economics of online niche fame ("What do you do: you keep hitting yourself in the shins for money?" – Craig, 85:43).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (Timestamps)

• On Colts-Chiefs: "This is the ultimate what does my heart tell me versus what does my brain tell me game." (05:42)
• On Darnell Washington: "He has to be the heaviest pass catcher in NFL history." (19:38)
• On J.J. McCarthy: "McCarthy stats are turning into Kenny Pickett." (33:32)
• On Darnold Seahawks: "If he plays well, it means nothing. If he plays poorly, it means a lot." (50:39)
• On Fantasy Boldness: "At some point, if you're...A.J. Brown hasn't brought you anywhere..." (65:59)
• On Internet Fame: "What do you do: you keep hitting yourself in the shins for money?" (85:43)

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Important Timestamps by Segment

• [03:02] – Surreal Colts-Chiefs preview
• [05:42] – Heart vs. brain in picking this game
• [19:08] – Darnell Washington’s 311 lb reveal
• [23:00] – Joe Burrow “possible return” clarification
• [25:28] – Bengals D worst DVOA ever
• [33:53-34:36] – J.J. McCarthy’s historically bad EPA
• [48:10] – “Cool shit” running back metric discussion
• [50:39] – Stakes for Darnold vs. Titans
• [60:03] – Eagles/Cowboys trenches debate
• [65:59] – Fantasy gut-check on A.J. Brown
• [77:05] – Harrison Mevis, "the thicker kicker"
• [85:43] – Monetizing shin injuries: the web's 'silent jackass'

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Seasonal Pivots: League narratives have flipped, with surprise teams (Colts), fallen powers (Chiefs), and realignment of fantasy stalwarts.
• Injury Intelligence: Keeping up with late-week injury news is critical—between Daniel Jones, Joe Burrow, and running back rotations.
• Fantasy Boldness: It’s time to let go of famous names for actual production (e.g., benching A.J. Brown if necessary).
• Quirky Depth: The show’s true spirit shines in moments like the Darnell Washington weight reveal and trademarks on “cool shit” metrics.

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For full rankings, subscriber leagues, and more, visit fantasyfootball.theringer.com. For fantasy queries or show participation: [e-mail].

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In the hosts’ own words:
"No matter what, at some point, you have to trust your gut. Or put another way, sometimes you have to just play the meme guy who does silent shin pain for a living."

Transcript

[A]

This episode is brought to you by United Airlines. Flying just got easier with the United Airlines app. Get real time flight updates like a live countdown clock to boarding, even if your screen's locked, as well as play by play directions through the airport with a personalized map. And if you want to make a game time decision and go home early or stay longer, there are no fees to change your flight. Get the united [e-mail] app no fees to change your flight. Excludes basic economy applies to flights originating in the US Fare difference may apply. Welcome to the Ringer fantasy football show. My name is Danny Hyde. I'm joined by Danny Kelly, Craig Horbeck and we are going over all the games from week 12, which again, 3/4 of the way there. I don't know, 18 weeks in the season, I don't know when what is anymore. It was so much easier when it was 16.

[B]

What do you mean we're 2/3 of the way there then?

[A]

Oh, yeah. Why did I. Oh, right. Because 12 used to be three quarters for 16.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Games. But now there's 18 weeks. So now it's. It's a little.

[B]

Even though week 18, it's really 17. Week 18 is like half the games don't matter.

[A]

You know, just wait till there's 18 games in 20 weeks for the buys.

[B]

Oh, my God. Two by weeks. Oh, my God.

[A]

It's gonna be a mess anyway.

[B]

That's not. That's not worth having President's Day the day after the Super Bowl. All that is not worth having the day off the next day.

[A]

It's gonna be pretty cool.

[B]

Is it gonna be a day off for the three of us? No.

[C]

Well.

[A]

Well, who's the brakes?

[B]

It'll be pretty cool.

[A]

All right. We're gonna get through all the games, but first we're gonna take a quick break. This episode is presented by Chime Bank Smarter. This season, fantasy football is all about strategy. Well, here's a winning strategy for your money trade. Banking fees for fee free banking, 1.5% cash back getting paid when you say and a higher APY on your savings. That's a lineup that wins. Stop banking the old way. Bank smarter through Chime Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services and the secured Chime Visa credit card provided by the Bancorp Bank NA or Stride Bank NA members FDIC optional services and products may have fees or charges [e-mail] fees info with a qualifying direct deposit. Earn 1.5% cash back on eligible secured Chime Visa credit card purchases APY Means annual percentage yield. Learn more at Chime. All right, we're gonna get into all the games. I want to start with the game of the year. Really?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And the rare chance to see Patrick Mahomes play in the early window here at 1pm Eastern, 10am Pacific.

[B]

That's a great call.

[A]

It never happens.

[B]

Never happens.

[A]

Thursday, Monday, Sunday, Sunday night, Sunday afternoon.

[B]

It's disrespectful to put him among seven or eight other games amongst the plebs.

[A]

Probably the best indication actually of how surprising this Colts run is. So the Indianapolis Colts. The 8 and 2 Indianapolis Colts are at the Kansas City Chiefs, who are five and five, which even that is funny. And honestly that right there kind of sums it up because if I had told you. DK. So we're recording Thursday, November 20th. I believe this game is the 23rd. I believe exactly a year ago, I believe November 22nd, Daniel Jones was released by the New York Giants. I could have my timing weird.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Dk. If I had told you one year later that not only would Daniel Jones be at the forefront of the most surprising and one of the most dominant teams in the NFL, but that actually it would feel like the Kansas City Chiefs season hangs in the balance about whether they could beat the almighty Daniel Jones Colts led offense. What would I tell. What would you have said?

[C]

I mean, this is the type of thing you just can't make up. Like there's no way that we could have foreseen this. Even the. During the preseason, I feels like the Colts didn't even really know if Daniel Jones was gonna be their starter. It felt like the beat reporters were saying it was gonna be Anthony Richardson. I thought it was gonna be Anthony Anthony Richardson. So this is, this is weird, obviously. And The Chiefs being 5 and 5, that's obviously surprising. I still think they're a good team, but they're, they're backs are against the wall at this point. They really have to just win out.

[A]

Where are we on the spectrum of DK being like they're good and Craig being like they're the best team in the NFL? Like where are we on the case?

[C]

I don't think they're the best team in the NFL.

[B]

I think, I think last week soured a lot of people because it was, it was coming off of a bye week going into a fraudulent. What people would say was a Denver team that maybe people didn't believe in Denver this year is like what the Chiefs are doing last year. They're just like pulling these single score games out of their ass. Every week and they went in and lost and they didn't really know. Yeah, Boone rally bow got a hold of Mahomes. And so I think, like, I think until then everybody was still like, oh, the Chiefs are fine. Oh yeah, they lost to Josh Allen, but like, that's fine. That happened. They always lose to Josh Allen and the win the regular season, then they go into the bye week, then they come back and they lose to Bo Nix on the road. And I think now people are like, oh, you know what? All the metrics that say they're not that good, I'm starting to believe them. It's a really interesting matchup because this is kind of like the Colts metrically, are like a historical team in the 21st century. The Chiefs right now do not look like that. And yet I. It's a great battle of what do you believe versus, like, what does the data actually tell you? Because, like, the Chiefs cannot run the ball. The cheap Mahomes cannot throw the ball downfield. Meanwhile, you're going up against the Colts, who can run the ball. Daniel Jones has been great. They're awesome in play action. Points per drive is through the roof. This is like the ultimate what does my heart tell me versus what is my brain tell me game.

[C]

Also throwing a wrench in this whole thing. This is live and breaking. Daniel Jones was added to the injury report today with a calf injury. Oh, sounds like they. According to Ian Rapaport. It just sounds like the Colts are being cautious with.

[B]

That's weird though, coming out of the buy.

[C]

Well, he. It's like he aggravated something in practice yesterday.

[B]

I don't love that. God, the calf, dude, something's up. There's a whole. Reporters are talking about how every NBA player has a fucking calf injury.

[A]

Now Anthony Richardson is on injured reserve with his broken face. Who's the Colts Third Street?

[B]

It's Riley Leonard. Right?

[A]

Riley Leonard.

[C]

Someone check that.

[A]

But yeah, Riley Leonard, who couldn't really even move the ball when they were the second best team in college football, kind of had to. Honestly, it fits because he really is so Daniel Jones, like, he is.

[B]

He's really good.

[C]

Yeah, he's a mobile quarterback. They'll run him a lot.

[A]

Talk about boot rally. Didn't he throw up in the college. Didn't he have that drive where he carried the ball eight times in the opening drive versus Ohio State and threw up and then didn't.

[C]

Oh my God. That was the Jackson Dart special.

[B]

Just.

[C]

Just run the quarterback every play boot, minus the rally.

[A]

So just so just to recap, Here Craig fight. Whoever just said that. Find out more about Daniel Jones's calf.

[B]

But the Chiefs get on that.

[A]

Yeah, get on.

[C]

All I'm seeing is it's cautionary at this moment, so he'll probably still play. But yeah, the.

[A]

This is an interesting game also because this is so Shane Sten's head coach of the Colts. I believe Shane Steichen has not faced the Chiefs or Steve Spagnolo since the super bowl where The Chiefs won 3,835. But the Eagles put up 35 points on the Chiefs in that game. They haven't really seen like Steichen hasn't seen Kansas City since, but there it's an interesting moment now because I think you know Chris, like the Chiefs defense was playing well but then the last two weeks versus Buffalo and Denver, like it wasn't that impressive. Chris Jones, after the game, the defensive tackle for the Chiefs was talking about how he felt that Spagnolo's calls were predictable, that Bonix was calling stuff out at the line. Part of me is like is that predictable? Is that Sean Payton who's 60 years old that has known any read a long time, he's kind of like telling him in the headset something like, I don't know. But to your point about Mahomes, Craig the I go both ways and I'm curious what you think about this DK because on one hand he had the lowest completion percentage his career versus Buffalo, he's pressured on half his snaps. On the other hand, Josh Simmons is back with the team. I don't know if he's necessarily going to play this week, but Josh Simmons, left tackle is back after like an extended personal break. But the Denver defense, dk, what do you make of Mahomes being. I couldn't believe this one 1 for 9 throwing 15 yards downfield versus Denver. But with Patrick Surtan the defensive player of the year was not playing in the game.

[C]

Yeah, I mean it. This has been a problem with Mahomes. It's like very strange because earlier on in his career he was like one of the more dangerous deep ball throwers like that. Especially that season where he threw 50 plus touchdowns. He's just so, so deadly down the field. Ian Harditz did, I believe is Ian Harditz did a breakdown of like his deep shots and it's basically just a mixture of Mahomes missed Xavier Worthy a couple times. Xavier Worley just has just hasn't gone to the right place a couple of times. And I think right now, and Mahomes even said this Basically, teams are daring them to beat man coverage. Like, they're very good. The Chiefs are very good against zone. Rasheed Rice very good against zone. Travis Kelsey very good against zone. But basically teams are saying, hey, we're going to line up against you and play man, and if you can't beat us, that's going to be like why you lose like. And Mahomes is basically even said an oppressor was like and we just got to prove that we can do it. Which they don't have very many man beating receivers. You know, that's not necessarily Xavier Worthy's forte either.

[A]

The Broncos are well suited to play main coverage. The Colts now with Sauce Gardner off a buy like maybe well suited to. The Colts don't have to force Buck during this game, which I think is a huge issue for them.

[C]

Yeah, he's on ir.

[A]

I think teams are also happy to put more players in coverage versus the Chiefs. And we talked about this more with like the two high stuff and what's happening. It's like they're really just putting more pass defenders on and allowing you to run. But Andy Reid's been hesitant to call a lot of runs too, which has also been a thing where it's a lot of coaches are like, all right, if you give us light boxes, like, we'll run the ball. And the Chiefs, Andy Reid hasn't been willing to do that. So this will be, this will be a fun game, but probably significantly less fun if Daniel Jones can't play it.

[C]

I saw a report from Stephen Holder who knows the team really well. He says, as of right now, I'm not sensing any reason for alarm on Daniel Jones. There's obviously a lot of scrutiny on injury reports right now, so teams are just trying to be fully transparent.

[A]

I was just going to say that. I think that that is all. I've noticed that too, the last couple weeks in particular since the NBA stuff happened where like a good example is like Christian Watson where he's being listed as questionable each Wednesday because it he's going to play, but he's like a limited participant because he has a snap count off. Like his ACL recovery where he's only doing 80 or 90. You know, they're holding him out of one of every 10 reps or something. But that is technically limited. That is limiting his participation. But like he's going to play.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So they're. Everyone's being a little more especially because the Ravens. I think the NFL got really mad that the Ravens around with their injury report like 24 hours after the NBA stuff and the NFL was like, come on guys, what are you doing?

[B]

DK, a second ago you mentioned that Xavier Worthy is not exactly great at beating man. What, what is Xavier Worthy good at?

[C]

I mean, I think he's good at what Rasheed Rice is good at and then. But Rashid Rice is better at that than him, which makes sense.

[B]

Which is beating zone running cross to.

[C]

The catch crossers, running away from defenders and trailing coverage or whatever. And this is how I felt about him coming out of college. I thought he's not very good on deep balls. He doesn't have the physicality or size to win contested catch situations. I don't know if he's necessarily as fast as he did as he ran in the 40 in terms of like his ability to get deep. Taekwond Thornton is their best deep ball receiver. And so what I and this is actually what I saw on his tape at Texas is like he's really good at screenplays at little crossers over the middle, get him in space run after the catch. And that's exactly what Rashid Rice does for them. So he's almost like a little bit redundant.

[B]

Well, and Rashid what Rasheed Rice has his physicality right on a screen pass. Can swipe past a couple arm tackles and get the first down. Can like body threw somebody over the middle. Xavier Worthy, I don't feel good about that at all. We, we haven't talked about him a ton this year. But I, I mean he's a guy who probably should be on the burn list. In the burn book, right?

[C]

Yeah. Like, yeah.

[B]

Or at the very least he's like on our watch list.

[A]

I think we burned it.

[B]

Did we burn him?

[A]

I, I, I made the case because I was really mad at him because I are like he, there's, he just has been. He got hurt in the third snap of the, of the season.

[B]

Oh, you wanted to. And I think we, I think we convinced you out of it because he got hurt and you can't do it for an injury. Right. But yeah, it's like since he's come back, he's been unplayable in fantasy basically. Like next year if, if someone wants to make the case for Worthy, he will be the ultimate bilo. And you could probably get him for free because he's, he's like get you six points a game in fantasy for the last two months. Yeah, he's a, he's like an afterthought. He's the last receiver on your roster, probably in your, on your team.

[A]

No rhyme or reason to when you would play worthy but just which is brutal. The but yeah. So the Chiefs. Yeah. So we'll see what happens with Daniel Jones but that'll be a fun game. And again the Rarely seen Mahomes 1:00pm Eastern. Rest of this window here. Craig Pittsburgh Steelers are at the Chicago Bears this week. Bears are favored to win by two and a half points. First of all, Rogers is this broken wrist and he said it's a he said about playing. It's a safety thing. You have to be able to protect yourself. Craig do you think that Rogers plays versus the Bears this week or do you think it's Mason Rudolph?

[B]

I I don't know. I I think I would say that Rogers is gonna play. I if I I guess if I had to pick, I would say Rogers is going to play. But it it he. He wants to play. He says he he couldn't take. I mean it's pretty alarming that he said he couldn't take snaps under center as early as yesterday or as late as yesterday. And then he's going to start to try to do that today. Thursday when we're taping, I'm like, okay. I mean Wednesday you couldn't take snaps under center. A day later you can.

[A]

Well, I think that's because it's why have them if you're broken wrist three days ago, why have them just snap a ball really hard into your freshly broken wrist.

[B]

I do fear that like this is just going to simplify the Steelers offense even more and not allow him to be under center and it's just going to be like shotgun quick slant bullshit that the Colts are going to or that the Bears are going to sniff out immediately. I'll spoil a little bit of Ringer 107. I really like the Bears in this game. I think this is a classic. This game is like two con men facing one another. The Bears are 7 and 3 and yet they have a negative point differential and they have the largest turnover margin in the league plus 16. The Bears and meanwhile the Steelers. Every Steelers win feels like a fluke. The Steelers create a ton of points off of turnovers and the Bears don't turn the ball over. Caleb Williams in this what Ben Johnson has designed for Caleb Williams. He can miss guys on throws. Still every once in a while he's not turned the ball over and that is like been the Steelers bread and butter. And I don't know, I still think the Steelers have definitely gotten more creative over the last three weeks defensively in terms of what they've been doing but I do fear a little bit like their cornerback room is still beat up. I. I do think this is a game where Ben Johnson and Caleb can take advantage of the Steelers through the year.

[A]

Yeah, I mean I think I. I wasn't sure what to make of this game either because I think Ben Johnson. We talked a lot about Caleb Williams this year but I was impressed with Ben Johnson at one hand because I think these coaches come in and we talk a lot about the quarterback stuff. But I mean the Bears running game this year is so much better. Ben Johnson.

[C]

Yep.

[A]

And Austin showed me the step. Bears went from 22nd in rushing success rate last year and this year the Bears rank first in rushing success rate which is basically how often are your plays. I know first that's pretty good part of that schedule. It's like the Bears. You know the game some of the Bears played at this so sorry English. Some of the games the Bears have played already are like the Saints, the Bengals, the Cowboys.

[B]

I'll give you more on that. The Bears have played one team that currently have a. Has a winning record.

[A]

Yeah. And that's the thing. So this is the beginning and it.

[B]

Was the Lions and they lost by.

[A]

30 and and I. That's a bad sign. And also this is the beginning of a stretch of a little more like the Bears kind of frankly they got a training wheel schedule for the first two and a half months of the season. Now the defense is. I mean now it's Steelers, Eagles, Packers, Browns, packers and even you think the Browns are a joke, a quarterback or whatever. It's like the Brown defense is no joke. So it's going to be real. Training wheels are off for Caleb Williams. But I like the bullshitting thing because I was trying to think of something earlier this week of a. There are Ben but don't break defenses and then teams like the Steelers and Bears are just bend and break defenses.

[C]

Where it's actually you can move the ball in that. Yeah. You don't want that combination.

[A]

Well, you either get. Because you're going to get an explosive player, they're going to get a turnover on you. But yeah, it's like. I don't know. It is a little weird to have. I don't know what to make of this matchup because Ye. But I do kind of wonder if the Bears are going to be able to run in Pittsburgh. But it does feel like an important mark for Caleb and the Bears who are just somehow winning and winning. I mean the other.

[C]

The other thing Craig that you mentioned like They're a little, they feel like con men. Like, how long and how consistently is Caleb Williams going to be able to continue to like escape these sacks that he's been escaping? It's almost like it feels like that is not something that they can rely on, you know, either in the short term or the long term. Like he's, he's had these incredible Houdini like escapes. I think that was part of his deal in college too. But sooner or later, you know, the sacks are going to start coming, maybe it's this week. And then you start to see them really stall out and drives and really can't move the football. Then they have to abandon the run game, all that stuff. So I just wonder, yeah, like, how long can, can Caleb Williams keep doing these, like Houdini, like, I think every.

[B]

Week, one more week. I think he can still do it. I do. I think like the Houdini stuff is in his blood and he's so physically gifted. I feel like I, I'm not worried about that going away. And, and they have the high, the Bears with the Ben Johnson scheme. They have the highest rate of wide open wide receivers in the league. And like what do Steelers do? They let guys get wide open. I, I do think that I'm like, the Bears defense isn't that good and so maybe the Steelers can put up some points against them. But I, I, I do feel like this is not going to be a terrible matchup for Caleb in the offense of the receivers. I don't know. Also, we must remember the Steelers just came off a great win, which means you should now take them to lose because they've done this now three, four straight. It's like the terrible loss to the packers. Then they beat the Colts. Then everyone thinks they're going to have a chance against the Chargers and we all pick them to take. And then it looks like against the Chargers and then they beat the Bengals handedly. You know, this is what they do.

[A]

I kind of still think we should just never bet the Steelers again unless everyone's against, with or against the Steelers. That's the only time you should.

[B]

And this is the week people would be for the Steelers because they just beat the Bengals.

[A]

I'm sorry though, we forgot the most important part of this game.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Darnell Washington, the tight end, went on the Monroe St. Brown's podcast with his brother and talked and they were like, how? Also great work. The athlete pods Hit or miss. Great journalism by the state Brown brothers.

[C]

What the people need, this is what they want.

[B]

He deflected for a second, and then they just asked him again.

[A]

He was like, I haven't weighed myself in a minute. And equanimous is like, bro, you get weighed every week. And he was like, ah. And he says, I'm 311 pounds. He's 311 pounds. He's catching passes. He's 311 pounds.

[B]

When, dude, when Shaquille O' Neal got drafted, he was 320. Think about Shaquille O'.

[A]

He was what weight was.

[C]

How tall is he?

[B]

Shaquille, when he got his playing way, when he got drafted, was 325. He ended up getting like 400. But still just imagining Shaquille O', Neal, the weight of him is Darnell Washington.

[C]

Running around, flying out of bounds.

[A]

I mean, he has to be the biggest player in NFL history to be actually catching pass. That's 100. And also, the people were shocked by this. The weight. They do. The weight, the weights are very sketchy of what they list in the NFL. Like, the combine stuff's officially listed. 264.

[B]

260. Yeah. 265.

[A]

But this happened. There's 50 pounds under. That happens all the time.

[C]

That's got to be the highest delta in terms of listed weight and playing weight.

[B]

I mean, he has to be the, the heaviest pass catcher in NFL history.

[A]

I mean, all the players are larger than they used to be. So I. It's hard to imagine there was a 300. I mean, their offensive linemen have got passes.

[B]

No, no. But whose job is, like, primarily kind of to catch passes. He has to be the heaviest.

[A]

I, yeah, it's hard to search weight in part because. What? He's lying. He does have to be the heaviest player to ever catch.

[C]

Just use your eyes. Look at how freaking massive he is. He's a unit.

[A]

It does. Dk, you're so right. It does make the Bengals defenders just flying off him last week seems so much fun because he looked like a runaway beer truck.

[B]

I, I, I need to use him more.

[C]

I know.

[B]

Every time they use him, like, all of their underlying metrics when they throw to Darnell Washington are fucking great.

[A]

I think Craig nailed it. Like, your intrusive thought. You're like, the whole offense should be built out of this. But it is probably. It does. There does seem like a 5 or 10% chance here that he's the next Derrick Henry. Not literally, but in the sense that in December, when players on teams who kind of are quitting and they're like, I'm not even going to be on this team in three weeks and don't want to get hurt. No one's going to want to tackle like cornerbacks trying to tackle Darnell Washington in December, in late December, early January. Unlike flailing teams when he's 100 pounds heavier, 140 pounds heavier than some of these guys, like, that's not going to happen.

[B]

Yeah, I love him. And what's funny, I feel like when he came out of Georgia, he was expected to be more of a pass catcher out the gate and he kind of wasn't. And it was like, oh, actually, I guess he's just basically a lineman. He's a blocking tight end. And now it's taken three years for him to kind of, I guess, put on 60 pounds and now he's this hybrid version of both.

[C]

Dude, there was highlights from his college days where he was hurdling people and stuff. Yes, he definitely was. I don't know what he weighed in at the combine, but it had to be in like the 260s or something like that and that.

[B]

And even at that weight, it was like, man, he's huge. Can he play tight end?

[C]

Right? But yeah, he, I, he was a good pass catcher in college, right. And I was really excited about him. Like I said, I thought he was gonna be a first round pick, you know, physically speaking. Obviously, he doesn't really have anybody like him in the league. And it's just so much fun to see him being incorporated into the offense finally. It just takes a while sometimes with tight ends we always forget that. Sometimes it takes like two to three years for these guys to like get integrated into the offense. So yeah, maybe this is an actual real breakout. I would love to see him play at like 280, personally. But why? Because who cares?

[B]

I want to see that. 320.

[A]

DK, that's the least fun thing you've ever said.

[C]

I want to see him catch 50 passes.

[B]

That's why don't body shame him.

[A]

I want to see him catch 50 passes at 311, 330.

[C]

I'll take, I'll take both.

[A]

He should get even bigger.

[C]

I agree.

[A]

He's not big enough.

[B]

How big can we go? Let's push it.

[A]

I, I, this is, this is like.

[C]

Did you see like, more freaking Princess Bride where Andre the Giant is just carrying dudes.

[A]

Like, he is like, I drive the giant. 260 pounds more. Okay, next game here the Patriots are at the Cincinnati Bengals this week. This is dk. Is Joe Burrow gonna play this week or what?

[C]

Well, this is the big storyline right now. He's had two full practices in. In practice this week for the Bengals, which again, as we learned recently, means you're with the starters. You're taking all the refs with the starters.

[B]

Flacco's banged up and hurt right now.

[C]

Flacco has a shoulder injury, as we've known for a while here, but he's been limited. Joe Burrow, full practice the last two days. I don't know what that means. Schefter is out here tweeting in code. He's. He couched it like three or four times in one sentence. It was like, hold on, let me pull up the actual tweet here because I want to get it exactly right. It was. It was basically like the signs continue to point to a potential Joe Burrow return. Come on, just say yes or he's starting or not. I know that, you know, Adam, Dan.

[B]

Orlovsky said on ESPN that he thinks Burrow's gonna play. And I kind of am.

[C]

Like, I think it's saying that.

[A]

I'm surprised because they said. When they said Joe Burrow could come back by December 7th or whatever, they said that was the earliest. And they said that at the time. And then they moved it up a week for Thanksgiving, so they're moving it up two weeks, which you really don't see that much. Yeah, the.

[C]

Just a good healer. Maybe it's the crystals.

[A]

That's really what they didn't encounter. If he comes back and plays great, maybe we should have more players doing the crystals.

[B]

He put a crystal in his shoe to protect his toe.

[C]

Interestingly enough, with this, too. Is that Chase out? Jamar Chase is going to be out for this game. He's suspended for spitting.

[A]

We should get that in the thing, though. It should say parentheses.

[C]

Jamar Chase spitting, hawking a loogie. So obviously this is a huge game for T. Higgins. If Joe plays. I mean, either if. If Flacco or Joe Burrow play, it's. It's huge for Higgins. I think Yoshavas should probably get some more opportunities. Maybe Noah fan. I don't know. But it should be very interesting from an offensive point of view. Obviously, if Joe Burrow plays, it's going to be. Must watch football on the other side of the ball. I saw this stat from Aaron Shots today. The Bengals are now the worst defense ever tracked by DVOA ever.

[A]

That's crazy because they went back. That does. DVA goes back. Goes back to like the 70s now.

[C]

Yeah, 70s. I don't know.

[B]

Doesn't it feel like every year now there's a, there's a different defense. We're like, this is the worst defense of all time.

[C]

It was the Panthers last year, gave up more points than any other team ever.

[A]

But even that was just like total points game season. But DVOA is accounting for the reason. Dva, we talk about it all the time is it accounts roughly for context where it's like, right, giving up six yards on second and six is bad and giving up six yards in third and nine is good. And so for defense. And so that is, yeah, that's shocking. Shout out to Dabundo, who's been talking about the Bengals being the worst defense and Bill, who's been talking about the worst defense he's seen ever on the.

[C]

Other side of the ball. Speaking of dvoa, continuing on the DVOA notes here again, this is from Aaron Shots. The patriots are the second worst 9 and 2 team in their, in their record. Like, they are. The patriots, who are 9 and 2, are 17th in DVOA this year in the NFL.

[A]

That is the result of the schedule. I think the Patriots, I don't think the Patriots are a bad. I think there are some really good record teams that have been bad. The Steelers started 11 and oh, everyone's like, this is not, this is an average.

[C]

It's not real.

[A]

The Cardinals have forgotten the history. The Cardinals started 9, 0 once and everyone was like, ignored them. They were. The Patriots are just, they're closer to like Washington last year where you're like a lot of these fundamentals. Like Drake May is clearly good. Mike Rabel's clearly a good coach. Like, I don't think they're just beating the bad opponents in front of them, but I don't think they're a bad team.

[C]

No, I agree with that. But I do think, as you said, with like the DVOA metrics, it's, it's good. It's a good way of painting how efficient and how strong a team is with, you know, strength of schedule included. So, you know, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. I think the Patriots should control this game because their offense is good and they'll be able to run the ball and they'll be able to like control the, control the clock. But thought that was a funny note. The other thing, just looking at the Patriots schedule this year, they, I think they have three good wins. They beat the Bills, who are 7 and 3 right now. The Panthers, who are 6, 5, they're kind of all over the place and they've been the Buccaneers and. But their other wins are over the Dolphins, who are 4 and 7 and that's like the best team that the other team that they've beaten otherwise they've been the 2 and 8 Saints, the 1 in 9 Titans, the 2 and 8 Browns, 3 and 7 Falcons, and the 2 and 8 Jets. Like they've had such a good schedule in terms of just being able to breeze through, get W's and they're going.

[A]

To be the 1 seed because of it.

[B]

It's really. That's the goal, right? Is you bottom out when you still know you can't. It's honestly high. If it's the Giants. Like you guys are going to have a last place schedule heading into next year where you're going to have neighbors scatter, Boo Dart, a top three pick in the draft, Abdul Carter, all these guys on the defensive line like this could be you next year. Get excited.

[A]

Dare you throw hope in my face. It's just unbelievable. This. I mean. So first of all, burrow coming back quarterback. Where should we rank Burrow at quarterbacks if he comes back and places he's a slow starter.

[C]

That's the thing. You guys remember obvious going back the last few years, you know, coming off a weird preseason burrow always takes like a month to get going. So I wouldn't expect too much to.

[A]

Be told no Jamar Chase because of the Hawking. The Hawk too.

[B]

But you know how you like words that are only used in specific phrases? Hawking a loogie. You don't have Hawking anywhere else.

[A]

That's good. That's good.

[C]

It's on a monopia.

[B]

I don't even know how do you spell hawk? Is it H O C K or is it H A W K?

[A]

I think it probably was H O C K now because of hawk to. It's like hawk.

[C]

Hawk.

[B]

H A W like hawk. H O C K. I've never seen that word used in any other context.

[A]

That's so true. That's so true. Because it probably isn't a word. It's probably an automatopia. You're right. DK it's probably like a. Like I'm not gonna do it on my. Yeah, okay.

[C]

I already did it a few times.

[A]

An audio medium. The other part for this game, big G. Big game for toe injury returns because not only Burrow maybe, but Ramandre Stevenson, the running back for the Patriots. Big, big free feet week. But Ramandre Stevenson is practically limited. Yeah. Might play this week. Don't know for sure. I Made a potentially disastrous decision in the ring of fantasy league.

[B]

No, this is smart. You got to get out. Sell.

[A]

I'm torn. I had Trayvon Henderson, ring of fantasy.

[B]

League, and, well, Bill had him. Bill drafted him. Bill cut him for eight weeks. Then Bill cut him.

[C]

Yeah. High Fitz is playing with house money here. I feel like it's all good.

[A]

I added trivia on Henderson. I had him for three weeks. He like 20 days. He scored five touchdowns. He was like a top three running back in that span. I had him for Jonathan Taylor's bye week. I had him for Chase Brown's bye week and then coming back and I flipped him to Mal for Roma Dunes A because I wanted receiver depth because he's starting three receivers in the league. And my backups are like, you know, Parasol and Christian Watson, who I think are frankly, like, really freaking awesome. But I'm like, I kind of can't have a win this league. I could win this league. My number one. I'm the number one in standings and I was just like, my backup receivers both just had injuries. I'm like, that makes me a little nervous, like, for, like plotting six weeks from now.

[C]

These are the guys that Ifis was trying to trade Craig for for.

[A]

Craig needs them right now. They're playing. It's fine. Christian Watson's been incredible, but I wanted just. I. So I flipped him for Roma Dunes. I think in a vacuum, that's because Travan, I had. No one cares. I had McCaffrey, Jonathan, we'll cut all this. I had Christian McCaffrey, Jonathan Taylor, Chase Brown, Javonte Williams. Trayvon is my fifth guy. Here's my reason. I'm worried. I'm playing Mallory this week and I gave her Trayvon Henderson and I'm like, is Trayvon Ederson just going to be like the number one running back again this week? Because they're playing the Bengals. They're the worst defense in the history of dva. And she's T. Higgins and Travy. And I'm like, am I going to lose and maybe not get a first round buy because I sent her to Trayvon Henderson? Is that stupid DK?

[B]

What's more likely? That Trayvon goes back to like 10 carries a game, 50 yards. Disappointing. And Ramon Dre is the lead guy or that Trayvon is closer to what we've seen the last two weeks?

[C]

What's more likely the first one?

[B]

You're right.

[C]

I think it's more likely. I think that Trayvon could have a couple of big games again down the Seat down the stretch because of his big play potential. That's just kind of the way he plays. But I do think they're gonna, I, I don't think they see him as a, you know, bell cow type of back where they're going to lean on him for 75% of the snaps when they have healthy guys. I think that's just the way that that variable wants to play. Now, I could be totally wrong, but that would be, like, what I think is more likely to happen.

[B]

Also, I, I, I can't remember a coach that is more vague than Mike Vrabel and unwilling to give anybody a compliment, I guess Belichick. So he's following in his footsteps nicely, but, man, like, they are. These reporters are trying to get him to say anything nice about Travis Henderson, and he's just like, all of our running backs help us. Ramondre helps us. Terrell Jennings helps us. Travel. Henderson helps us. It's been nice to see our running backs performing well against defenses. Thank you.

[A]

Even Drake May. Variable Will. Will glaze Drake May. But even talking about Trayvon, he's like, even when Trayvon had, like, three touchdowns in a game, he's like, well, we didn't have four yards of carry.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

It's like, you know, which he was like, it's.

[B]

He was like, it's nice that he got in the end zone and he made a couple good plays.

[C]

But that's, that is why he's a withholding father.

[A]

Yeah. Well, it works. But that's why I decided to flip Henderson is because I was like, you know, I don't know if I want to do it. Look, Henderson very much could be the league winner of the year, like Travan Henderson. If someone cut him, he could just be the guy going forward. Part of me was like, if Ramon just gets the goal line touches, and your entire Henderson thing is just, well, does he break a big run or not? I was like, let me just cash.

[C]

This in for Craig.

[B]

Do you think he got enough for that trade?

[A]

Probably not.

[B]

Do you think hype is good enough?

[C]

Yeah, I do.

[B]

He got Kamani Vidal and, and Roma Dunese for Travis Anderson.

[C]

It's fine. Oh, okay. Videl is good, too.

[B]

And he got La Porta.

[A]

La Porta Just the stash.

[C]

Laporta on ir. Yeah.

[A]

If he comes back, I just, I don't know. Kyle Pitts is my turn. No one cares. You know, I had such a good streak about not talking about my own teams on the show. We should have a counter that goes.

[C]

I think you're allowed to talk about real life trades in fantasy. It's fine.

[B]

We talked about trivia and as a sell high, was it this week or last week?

[A]

So I sold.

[C]

I if you were just listing off the players on your team, I would be like, okay, we're cutting that but.

[B]

Dude, going back to the Bengals for a second. You want to hear a crazy stat? I, I found I do. Okay, well it's coming. Well, hold, don't touch that dial. Nah, it's not that crazy now I've hyped it up. I was just looking at like interception numbers and interception rates and stuff like that. Joe Flacco is fourth in the NFL and interceptions. Jake Browning is sixth. How the is that like, think about that.

[A]

That's crazy.

[B]

Both of them are top six interceptions in the league.

[A]

That's, that is pretty insane. Dude.

[C]

The Browning, their offense was just non functional.

[A]

I have another good stat for you because that started with the Vikings Bengals game. I have another stat for you. The Vikings are at the packers this week.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

First of all, big game for J.J. mcCarthy, right?

[C]

I mean this could cement his legacy.

[A]

Yeah, could cement. I, I have to give you another stat here on McCarthy. I found this. I couldn't believe it, people.

[C]

So McCarthy stats are turning into Kenny Pickett.

[B]

McCarthy's getting destroyed.

[A]

It's better. I, I, I didn't realize when I started to look this up, I didn't realize I would find this. J.J. mcCarthy's EPA per drop back. So expected points added per drop back this season ranks 850 out of 852 quarterbacks this century.

[C]

Say it again.

[B]

Once you start throwing in the country.

[A]

If you look at every quarterback since every quarterback in the true media database, which goes back to 2000, every quarterback qualifying so you've thrown enough pass attempts to qualify for like the passer rating thing. Just the passer rating cutoff. Every qualifying quarterback in the 20th century, there's, there's 852 quarterbacks. He ranks tied with Josh Rosen for the third to last spot.

[C]

Oh, I was gonna say where's Josh Rosen?

[A]

He's 850th. Who's the one of 850? Jamarcus Russell. He's two spots ahead of Jamarcus Russell in EPA per drop back. This is true for many stats. He has the, like his completion percentage.

[C]

Okay, now the I black seems a.

[A]

Little up now it seems now nine seems a little up like another one JJ McCarthy's completion. Just simple stats. If you don't like EPA, fine. Like I think EPA is good stat. Jim Carthage's completion percentage on third down this season is 35%. That ranks 851 out of 852 in quarterbacks this last 2000. Fucking Chad Hutchinson, who I've never heard of. And apparently he's an undrafted guy who played for The Cowboys in 2002. I never heard of him. He's behind you, Marcus Russell.

[B]

I think Glenn Powell played Chad Hutchinson in the TV show.

[A]

I've never heard of Chad Hutchinson in my whole life. But yeah, all these literally because McCarthy's last in every stat you want to find, like counting stats this season. But like when you zoom out. I didn't realize his completion percentage is. That is. Is so. Everything is so bad. But I mean, I'm talking. The part that really concerned me was the EPA per drop. The actual productivity is significantly worse than teams that were trying to lose on purpose like the Browns. Owen 16 to Sean Kaiser is ahead of him. The Curtis Painter Colts who didn't win any games. And that's when they were tanking for Andrew Luck because Manning had the neck injury. Like he's. Curtis Painter's very. Ahead of J.J. mcCarthy. I didn't know it was that bad.

[C]

Yeah. How bad you felt it was. It's way worse.

[A]

And so if you're wondering why I thought Kevin o', Connell, the head coach of the Vikings, had a very thorough breakdown, frankly, more in depth than anything I've ever heard a coach talk about of a quarterback's performance, like the technical mechanics of it in season. And to your point, concrete dk. He said, we. I told JJ we need to start letting. We need to start seeing the cement dry. And then Kevin o' Connell said this and I clipped. I clipped it. Ronick, if you can play it, because I thought it was. You don't hear coaches talk like this very often. I think something Vikings fans can look for is, you know, when he gets to the top of his drops, we're really trying to see if we can get him to be a little bit more in a repeatable body position. And what I mean by that is the posture of, you know, a firm but athletic kind of lower half. We don't really like when his feet get too far outside the framework of his body. And that happened a couple times the other day. That contributed to maybe some of the accuracy. His feet got a little bit wide. His base got really wide. Deki, what do you make of Kevin o'? Connell? Well, what do you. First of all, just what do you make of him of that quote?

[C]

I Mean resonates because it does feel like his mechanics are all funky right now. Like just the way he throws it just doesn't look right coming off of his hands. It's almost like when, when he was talking about that, it almost just reminds me of like how a receiver or a reliever or any pitcher in, in the, in the majors will go into the stretch. You know, if there's like a guy on base, like the way he throws, it's just like so wide based and everything he throws, his fastballs, he can't take, you know, he can't take anything off the ball. Throw a touch, he can't throw to the left. The numbers going to the left are dramatically worse than going to the right, which is obviously really concerning. It just looks like he's aiming it. Yeah. So it's almost like he has the yips. I mean, it's not really that different from the Anthony Richardson discussion where it's like the easiest throws look fucking atrocious. He's throwing like chucking it eight feet over the head of Justin Jefferson when he's like relatively open.

[B]

I was gonna bring up the, I was gonna bring up in the Anthony Richardson vein, like lessons from drafting J.J. mcCarthy. And there's a lot, a lot of people online now are like, yeah, well, you took a guy that, the head coach of Michigan at the time, John, like Jim Harbaugh didn't even trust his quarterback enough to throw the ball 15 times in the national championship. Like the whole team was built around not having to rely on J.J. mcCarthy. And although he started two seasons for Michigan, it's like when you look at what he was actually asked to do in the same way that Anthony Richardson barely played any games. How many touchdowns do you think J.J. mcCarthy threw in college his entire collegiate career? Three years. DK.

[C]

30, 11. What?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

No, that's wrong. It was, it was 49. But you believed it. You believed it is my point.

[A]

I also.

[C]

49 touchdowns.

[B]

Okay. So I guess it was not relied on. This is a guy who like the team never needed him to step up. And, and that wasn't, I guess, and.

[C]

That was a talking point during the pre draft process. I mean, I think the thing that we talked about the most during, you know, the run up to the draft was basically like, J.J. mcCarthy is a, a theoretical quarterback. Right. He, he has, he has some tools that are very interesting, but he just wasn't asked to do too much in college. He was barely asked to play from behind, hardly ever. Which is also another great thing that like Is a. If you, if you focus only on when a quarterback is trailing or having to mount like late game comebacks, like those numbers can tell when defense is.

[B]

No, you have to pass.

[C]

Right, exactly. So I mean, I'm not giving up on him quite yet. But I mean the numbers, it's like we're bordering on like Zach Wilson stuff. Like he. It's atrocious.

[A]

That's. That's why I brought it up. It's not bordering. Because here's the thing.

[C]

Well, you're right, it is. This is why I want Zach Wilson esque numbers here.

[A]

It's, it's. It's war. It's worse than Zach Wilson. It's worse than Anthony Richardson, which is worse than jamarcus Russell. It's worse than Josh Rosen. It's worse than Achilles Smith with the Bengals.

[B]

And I'm not saying he's only played five games. Does that mean.

[A]

Yes, he hasn't played that much. To be clear. The. The important point though is that this team is a lot better than any other of those people that were ever able to start with because he has Justin Jefferson, who statistically has had productivity the best start to a receiver season ever. It's a juice receiver era, more passing. But he has Jefferson, he has Jordan addison, he is T.J. hawkinson. That's three first round picks including the most productive receivers.

[B]

He also has Kevin o' Connell who revives Sam Darnold. He made Josh Dobbs good for a while. Like he, he can turn anybody into a quality quarterback in theory.

[A]

And I think it's a reminder that. And also I, I just, I. First of all, I forgot to say this and this is important. That interview was From K Fan 100.3 in Minnesota. I'm sorry that we pull is really good interview. Kevin o' Connell and other stuff. I. To shut them out earlier. But Yeah, K Fan 100.3 they did a great job.

[C]

It's kind of.

[B]

You don't often hear a coach say like he was asking that he was telling the fans to essentially watch tape how to watch Scout McCarthy. He was like for the fans watch his base at the top of his drive.

[A]

Which it. Well, I, I had two thoughts during it. One, I was kind of thinking about one of the reasons OConnell's probably a good quarterback guru is I remember thinking Jordan Palmer, the private quarterback coach who's Carson Palmer's brother, basically said he started his company because he realized that at the NFL level a lot of quarterbacks, coaches and offensive coaches are actually experts in scheme. Not Mechanics or technique and which you kind of don't think about, but you listen to Kevin o' Connell and. Yeah. And so I will say though, the other stat, I couldn't believe. Just look at the last 10 years. McCarthy's overall completion percentage, which right now is like 53%. The only quarterbacks who've been worse than that in the last 10 years. Or Josh Allen and Anthony Richardson. Now that's the two wolves inside you, right? Like Josh Allen and Richardson. I. I ended two paths. McCarthy does not have either of their physical ability. I think the important point is that they both had to rebuild their mechanics. And the difference is Josh, for whatever reason, was able to play enough football to fix it. And we all forget that Josh Allen was really, really, really, really bad for two years. Terrible good in that third season, 2020. But that Richardson, like McCarthy, I think, just hasn't enough reps, that he's not good enough to continue to get reps on an NFL field right now. He has to continue.

[C]

I think it should have like a huge game this weekend against the Packers.

[A]

It's a big game for J.J. mcCarthy, isn't it?

[B]

In Lambo? It is, yeah.

[A]

Big game for J.J. so we'll see.

[C]

As, as we, as we've been saying every week, this is, this is a. I mean we're gonna learn a lot.

[B]

Matt Jones is gonna be awesome on the Vikings next year.

[C]

I know. It's like Mac Jones, Anthony Richardson, like, who's the next guy that, that Kevin o' Connell is going to. You know.

[A]

You know what's funny? I think the vikings should cut J.J. mcCarthy and then resign him and have Kevin O' Connell rehabilitate.

[B]

Oh, that's good. Yeah. Because yeah, it's like he's not working now, but Kevin O' Connell could fix him.

[A]

Kevin O' Connell could fix J.J. mcCarthy, I think.

[B]

Yeah, that's good.

[A]

If he just had the opportunity. Okay, next game. And also just the packers here. I mean, Josh Jacobs is week to week. I feel like you're always going to miss the game if they call you week to week.

[C]

Yeah, he was limited today. For what it's worth, I.

[A]

This is not science. But I. Who was I. Maybe they're email us if I'm wrong, but I can't remember the last player that was called week to week and then played. I'm sure there has been.

[B]

If he's a game time decision and plays against the Vikings, it's like, oof, that's the Vikings. Such a difficult decision.

[A]

Emmanuel Wilson's totally playable. I'm not excited about it just because the Vikings are a good defense, but packers, you know, do you think the.

[B]

Vikings have any chance to win this game? The packers offensively very beat up now.

[A]

Well, maybe the problem is J.J. mcCarthy's been playing and if nine comes out, like for the whole game.

[B]

Yeah, nine is nine of the number because that's how many points he scores every week. Nine comes out.

[A]

It's how many touchdowns he throws.

[B]

He'll change his number probably to 33.

[A]

This episode is brought to you by Ford Blue Cruise. It's not just where you're going, it's how you get there. And Ford Blue Cruise hands free highway driving technology helps make the journey more enjoyable. We took it for a test drive so we could experience the convenience for ourselves. So I tested the Ford Blue Cruise hands free highway driving technology last month and it was amazing. I was blown away. Like we're just on the highway and you can just hit a blinker and it just changes lanes and you can set how many car lengths ahead you want the truck to be in front of or behind the car, like how far you want it from the nearest car. It was amazing. I didn't realize we were there. I felt like I was living the future. So it was absolutely mind blowing. With Ford Blue Cruise, you arrive at your destination ready to take on whatever comes your way. But don't just take our word for it. Experience the convenience for yourself. Ford Blue Cruise Hands free highway driving for a hands on life available feature on BlueCruise equipped vehicles. Blue Cruise requires a connected services plan and modem activation. BlueCruise Driver Assist features can be activated in hands free blue zones and do not replace safe driving and drivers need to control the vehicle. See ford.com/bluecruise for more details on available plans and hands free models. Don't miss the movie event of a lifetime. Visionary director James Cameron presents the greatest chapter of the biggest saga of all time. Avatar Fire and Ash. Now playing in theaters. A new threat will rise in the character of Varong, who leads the ruthless Ash people. And a stunning new discovery will threaten to change the world of Avatar forever. Avatar Fire and Ash now playing in theaters, IMAX and 3D screens everywhere. Get tickets now. This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn ads. The best B2B marketing gets wasted on the wrong people. So when you want to reach the right professionals, use LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn has grown to a network of over 1 billion professionals, including 130 million decision makers. And that's where it stands apart from Other ad buys. You can target your buyers by job title, industry, company role, seniority skills, company revenue. So you can stop wasting budget on the wrong audience. It's why LinkedIn Ads generates the highest B2B return on ad spend of all online ad networks. Seriously, all of them. Spend $250 in your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Just go to LinkedIn.com Ringer Fantasy. That is LinkedIn.com/Ringer Fantasy. Terms and conditions apply. Okay, I want to get to Blowout Corner here. Blowout, AKA bounce back corner. And these three games are kind of all together. The Seahawks are at Tennessee and the six are favored by 13 and a half points.

[B]

There are some massive spreads.

[A]

It's just, yeah, the jets are at Baltimore and the Baltimore's favored by 13 and a half points. And then the Giants are in Detroit. Detroit's favored by 10 and a half points. I feel like all these games are pretty similar because all these, all these teams that are favored by two touchdowns, they didn't actually play that well this week last week, especially the quarterbacks. I want to start with Darnold. Dk, you are going from the Seahawks playing the Rams, who are the second super bowl favorites behind the Eagles. And Darnold kind of wet his pants. It's really the second time this calendar year that Darnold has just melted for his team in front of the Rams. Yeah, now he comes back and he's playing the Titans, who are right now the worst record of the NFL for the second year in a row. I don't know how to say it other than I just feel like we really need Darnold to have another 28 to nothing lead in the first half and fucking dominate versus Tennessee for you to feel good.

[C]

Wouldn't that be nice? Wouldn't that be nice? This is definitely a get right opportunity for Darnold. I, I don't know if it like means a lot necessarily if he plays well because he's played well for most of the season other than against the Rams. But obviously I would love to see him not turn the football over. Like that's the number one thing. Obviously the Seahawks need to win. That would be number one. But yeah, just don't turn the ball over. Don't force a bunch of passes again. This has just been part of Darnold's DNA ever since, you know, going back all the way to college. It's. It's like he almost trusts himself too much to complete the impossible passes like just. And Matt Hasbeck was on local radio talking about this this week and basically saying, you know, just take, just let the punter do his job. Just let the punter punt. Yeah, you don't have to fucking, you know, score 18 points with every throw. So yeah, it's kind of like the old like expression, you know, they're trying to hit a 10 run homer with every swing. It's like you can't just let the fucking punter do his job. It's okay.

[B]

We're kind of tough though because a lot of the times he does hit the 10 run homer like he, I feel like he's just like connecting to Smith and jig, but for these crazy plays all the time, double edged sword.

[C]

You know, elsewhere for the Seahawks, I think one thing fantasy wise to kind of keep in, keep in mind here is it seems like there maybe was an inflection point this last game with Kenneth Walker to overtaking Zach Charbonnet for fantasy. Obviously that matters. Kenneth Walker, they've been sort of keeping him on a pitch count throughout the whole season because of his foot injury that he had in the preseason plus, you know, combined with the fact that he's had injuries pretty much every year that he's been in the NFL. So they're just trying to keep him healthy. But as, as we go along, you know, I think it's pretty clear that Kenneth Walker is a more explosive and just overall better running back than Zach Charbonnet. Even though they, the Seahawks trust Charbonnet in a lot of situations. But you know, there's been reporting in Seattle and Mike McDonald even said in a presser that he said, I think Ken is showing he's deserving some more opportunities. He got some goal line stuff in this last week, which he almost never gets. So fantasy wise, you know, he's another guy that if you're, if your trade deadline hasn't gone by, he's like a buy little opportunity sort of. You know, people are probably pretty frustrated with him on their fantasy benches. And so yeah, I saw this actually. Ian Harditz made a he has a cool shit quote unquote cool shit metric, which is total touchdowns, explosive plays and tackles avoided divided by carries and targets, opportunities.

[A]

We might have to steal that. Cool.

[C]

It's so good. I mean it just makes so much sense. Cool. The cool shit category. Kenneth Walker is fourth behind Jonathan Taylor, Jameer Gibbs and Amari and Hampton. And that's, that's all running backs.

[A]

Okay. Hampton being there, I already figured out the thing we're going to Tweak what Ian, Great work by any hardest. We're going to tweak it. We have to do cool shit minus badge dumb shit because Marian Hampton dropped a bunch of passes and like we need cool minus icks. We need that X take away from cool.

[C]

It's adjusted cool.

[A]

Adjusted cool.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is cool shit minus inks.

[C]

The other people that are in that sort of top category are Jalen Warren, Bijan Robinson and Devon H. So good.

[B]

Good.

[C]

Good company to be in.

[B]

And then we need boring lame. And that's just like Kareem Hunt.

[C]

Right?

[A]

Wow. Great success rate on your early down runs Cream Hunt like cares.

[C]

What is the old expression? It's like if I need. If I need. If you need two yards, I'll get you three. If you need three, five yards to get you three.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

This is some sort of playoff of that the.

[A]

Okay. So yeah, I think you you nailed the DK word. Basically Darnold, if he does he plays well, it means nothing. Plays poorly. It means a lot.

[B]

Are they going to kick the out of Tennessee dk?

[C]

Yes, probably.

[A]

I don't think we can talk about some.

[C]

It would be very disconcerting if they don't.

[A]

I, I think, I don't think the Titans will score a touchdown in this game unless they do it off a Darnold turnover that sets them up inside that zone. I think even if a Darnold turns them Arnold turnover puts Tennessee at their own 30. I don't think the Titans will score on the SEO's defense.

[B]

I sense, I sense where your ringer 107.

[A]

It's. We should probably bet the Titans win the game because I have a Costanza level confidence that the Seahawks are going to win. But the other, the other just wild spread here is the jets are at the Ravens and Tyrod Taylor is going to start for Fields. But the Ravens are favored to win by 13 and a half points over the Jets.

[B]

Yes. And this is the game where if, if the Ravens win this game and the Steelers lose, they're now tied for the Division 5. Yes. Which I, I think both those things are going to happen. Obviously I think the Ravens are going to beat the jets. But Lamar is now battling his third new injury in three weeks. In theory he was out for a while with the hamstring. Then he missed practice last week with a knee injury and this week he missed practice on Wednesday with an ankle injury. So I think this supports the feeling that we've had about Lamar for the last month is that he's just not healthy.

[A]

Healthy yeah.

[B]

And it's why he's not running and it's why the offense doesn't look quite as dynamic because he's not healthy. And it's like they're clearly monitoring his reps and keeping him on ice as best they can during the week, but he's just not healthy. But luckily for them, the next they play the jets, then they play the Bengals, which I guess is different now with Burrow, and then they play the Steelers, and the Steelers unfortunately play the Bears, then the Bills and then the Ravens. So I still feel good about the Ravens.

[A]

Yeah, the.

[C]

The Lamar thing is you can just see he doesn't move around nearly as well. His sacrate is absolutely skyrocketed this year. He's just not getting away from the stuff he typically gets away from.

[A]

I don't think. I don't know. I'm torn. I. I think he's been getting sacked. But first of all, there were issues. I don't know, some of the sacks he took versus, like, Detroit before he.

[C]

Had the seven seconds.

[A]

I think there's all overall offensive stuff, like even a lot of the acks he took versus the Browns, they were. I actually thought it was schematic. It was. They were doing. A lot of teams do this on the goal line now. You know that little play at the one yard line where they kind of take a shotgun snap and then the quarterback kind of just sprints to the pylon and then another receiver sprints and they just kind of throw that little out and they just kind of. You know, it's just like we're going to get like 8 inches with this pass and it's on. It's like unguardable. The Browns guarded that multiple times and then they didn't. So the whole point of doing that was instead of doing the goal line, they're doing the middle field to run away from Al's Garrett. So they were leaving Miles Garrett unblocked and then kind of having Lamar just sprint away from him. But then the first and second reads weren't there and then Miles Garrett just fucking caught him. And it happened like multiple times. And I'm watching, I'm like, there's something wrong here. When NFL teams are. It's a galaxy brain where you're like, oh, we're going to leave Miles Garrett unblocked. And then he fucking sacked Lamar twice. Unblocked. There's clearly, I don't know, Todd Monken, the coordinator, I don't know exactly what's going on. But the Ravens offensive quarter and I Think there's a but at times there's elements of galaxy brain with what the Ravens want to do sometimes. But it was funny to see Miles Garrett not blocked and then get a second.

[C]

Those types of plays are always just a reminder for me that timing is so important. Timing is one of the least or most under discussed things I think about like offenses in the NFL is just how important timing is. This was always what it was like with Bill Walsh. Like you know, timing and location on in like a passing game or whatever. It's like when you hit your however many steps your your drop back is. That's how deep like a receiver has to be. He has to be open exactly in the right spot at the exact right time. Everything is about timing, timing, timing, timing.

[A]

Rhythm is not a metaphor in football. It's very literal.

[C]

Yeah. So you know when. When best laid plans and all that. But like if you're not blocking Miles Garrett if the timing is off, you're fucked. So that I just thought that was just interesting from like a football point of view.

[A]

We'll get to this game in ring 107. But yeah, I mean I think that yeah, this is. I mean you're gonna play all the people you would play in fantasy in this one and you're gonna bench all the people you would bench.

[C]

Is there any world in which Tyrod Taylor makes this or to Rod Taylor makes this somewhat interesting jets offense or is he just pretty much.

[A]

I think the jets passing offense will be a lot better with Rod Taylor. Like significantly better. I think you should pick up Mason Taylor and fantasy particularly if you're in a deeper league like preemptively. Because even if he is doesn't play well, I think we'll get a lot of targets. Maybe he'll be in a Monroe St. Brown situation last week like 2 for 12 to start. But I think Mason Taylor is worth adding because I just feel like Mason Taylor will be the number one tight end we talk about next week because I just think a tight end will be the number one part. I think the number one option on this jets offense and I think to Rod Taylor is capable of having a. A below average passing offense as opposed to what the jets were before which was like borderline like a non functioning.

[C]

Was not a passing off offense.

[A]

Yeah, it was. Even J.J. mcCarthy with everything we said is getting 130 yards a game and Justin Fields is under 60 yards four times. I mean that's not. Todd Taylor's gonna be able to do that maybe even once a half. So I think Mason Taylor's the guy to add. I don't think you have to play anyone but Breeze hall in this game though. The other one just Giants are at the Lions this week. This was another one. I mean the lines are bounced back. This is another like Jared Goff played horribly against the Eagles. The Lions were kind of bullied. Sam laporta the Titan for the Lions on injured reserve I just I don't think the Giants are capable of rocking the Lions up front quite the way that the the Eagles were. The Eagles really dominated and they blocked down all the jerk off passes. I know the Giants have a good line but I Dexter Lawrence frankly at this point I don't think he's playing nearly as well as Jalen Carter and I don't think they're going to be able to to to. I mean they're not Quinn Mitchell's not gonna Quinn Universal Thinkals really handled them on Raw last week and I don't think the Giants have anyone to do that so I think the Giants are going to get handled. The only thing here is just Jackson darts back at practice. I think Jackson Dart's going to play and it'll be interesting to see Jackson Darth without Brian David coming back from the concussion. Is Jackson dark going to run more? Is he I mean he's not going to not run at all. But is Dark going to protect himself? Is he going to pull back too much and be a little conservative just how Jackson Dart plays. Yeah. After Brian Dable was fired because he couldn't really even safeguard the future of the team. It's just going to be interesting to see selfishly for me so we'll see but if you have fantasy you can totally play dart.

[C]

Obviously the Lions at home here so good get right game for the offense.

[A]

I think the lines going forward are going to be absolutely they're indoors for.

[B]

The rest of the season. Right.

[A]

They're I think they're outdoors again in week 18 but that's not fan the fantasy season through the championships lines are only indoors. I think they're gonna go nuclear afternoon games this dude these games kind of suck. This is there's three there's there's a good game there's two bad games and there's a weird one. The Eagles are at Cowboys which I think is interesting and then Craig's quarantine corner actually happened this year with Craig's idea that bad teams should be quarantined. I think it ended up happening because you're the Browns are at the Raiders and Falcons are at the Saints, which I think is.

[B]

This is the week of this. I think I've now decided that week 12 is the week that the losers bracket should begin in the NFL. Like imagine Shador versus Gino, except now they're playing to get to the championship game in the losers bracket for the first pick in the draft.

[A]

They should play for the number one pick. It would make it better.

[B]

It would be amazing if they started to splinter off. The teams that are mathematically eliminated are now competing for the first pick in the draft. Now Shador vs vs Gino Kirk Cousins vs Tyler Shock is happening on Sunday. You have Jacoby Brissette versus Trevor Lawrence, which I guess is okay.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

This is when the loser bracket should start.

[A]

Dk, real quick, how do you feel about Shadow Sanders, NFL quarterback, playing versus the Raiders this week?

[C]

Well, the Raiders don't have a good defense, so that helps. But I mean, like, look, he hasn't gotten hardly any first team reps this year. He basically hasn't probably gotten very many reps at all this year. He, and you know, clearly the NFL wasn't very high on him the first time he came in last week. He looked awful. So I don't have high expectations put that way. You know, I'm open to the idea that he's going to look better after having a full week of practice as a starter, but, you know, based on what they've done, what the Browns have done with like Dylan Gabriel this year, they're probably just going to be just a boring ass offense. It's going to be ugly.

[A]

Can I, I don't want to give Shador too much time, but since he's starting, I think if Shador does the thing where he gets a snap and there's pressure, whatever, and runs through straight backward. If he does that more than twice, I think his career is functionally okay. Like, like if he does that for him once is a habit.

[C]

2.

[A]

If he does that more than twice, like basically he had a whole week to look at. If he doesn't realize after actually experiencing it on NFL field once, if he doesn't learn by now, like he had seven days to be like, you can't do that anymore. If he does that three times in this game, he will, he'll never learn.

[B]

He won't get enough reps to learn. He's so, so lucky that Miles Garrett is his teammate and then he doesn't have to face him. Although I guess Max Crosby's not that much worse.

[A]

I, I, I, oh, dude, this is, I, yeah, this is. We'll have to talk about this one too. The most interesting game in this slate, I think is just the. Or this part after you get the Eagles or at Cowboys. Can I give you like a weird, intrusive thought I had doing this game? Yeah, just prepping it. Do the dk. Do the Cowboys have an advantage over the Eagles in the trenches in this game? On when the Cowboys are on defense. The Cowboys defense, does it have an advantage over. I actually am wondering that.

[C]

And the Quinn Williams addition is not nothing for that defense. I mean, he looked pretty damn good in this last game. They certainly have some talent on the defense.

[B]

Kenny Clark had a big sack.

[C]

Yeah, Kenny Clark, Williams, maybe. Maybe frickin Jerry is actually cooking. Well, he's cooking out here.

[A]

Well, that's the thing, dude.

[C]

Start from the middle and work outwards.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

The other way around.

[A]

It's what the Eagles did. But I'm just saying the Cowboys, Quinn and Williams, look, the picks they gave up. Giving up on Michael Parsons, whatever. But the team on the field. The Cowboys have five new players over the last like two weeks that they didn't have. They have Quinn and Williams at defensive tackle. They have Logan Wilson, who they traded for as linebacker from the Bengals. They got back to Maureen Overshone, who's this, who was really great and then had a horrific knee injury. He's back. Malik Hooker's back at safety. And then, I mean, even Siobhan Revel, the cornerback. Like they have a lot, like a lot more players that they acquired over the last two weeks or either back from injury or whatever. And then you. And I'm looking, I'm like the combo of that versus Lane Johnson, who's like the best right tackle in the NFL, is not playing in this game. The guy.

[C]

The Eagles line just been so banged up. Yeah.

[A]

Cam Jurgens is back at center, but like he's not 100%. Landon Dickerson has been 100%. So the left side, Sorry, the right side of the Eagles offensive line is like Fred Johnson and Tyler Steen. And I'm like the. I don't know, I kind of. I kind of. Maybe this is really stupid, but I kind of looked at this line. I'm like, eagles favor to win by three and a half.

[C]

Interesting because the Eagles are like, as we've said all year, they're not necessarily a play from behind team. I mean, when they, when they are forced to play from behind. At least we've seen Hertz do some stuff. But you know, theoretically, this team, this team is definitely built to Play with a lead.

[B]

It crossed my mind if it's looking at this game, I was like, is there any world in which the Cowboys are the play here? I just, the question is like how much do you think Dak can throw on Philly?

[A]

Like that's the question. Because Cooper De Jean and Quinn Mitchell and really Jalen, I think Marcus Spears, espn who did such so good at trench stuff, he nailed it. Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter playing like the Williams brothers. The mid 2000s Vikings, they had Pat and Kevin Williams and Jordan Davis is this like black hole like space eating defensive tackle. Run stopper and he's batting past. And Jalen Carter is just like not as good as Aaron Donald. But the pass rushing from Jalen Carter, the interior pressure, they have just collapsed so crazy that it is just.

[B]

Like.

[A]

We the third game records thrown around too much. But Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter are wrecking games because you can't really run or pass up the middle. It's just destroying everything. So but to Craig's. But the flip side is so it's like can they block them? It feels stupid, but if so, I don't know. It's funny because I feel like Dak Prescott could play great in this game. Throw two picks. Jalen Carr. Jalen Hurts, throws for 120 yards with no turnovers and the Eagles win 16 to 13.

[C]

Yeah, this is the, this the Cowboys, they're not playing the Raiders again. You know, this is yeah, the Raiders defense.

[B]

I know.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's like I, I, I was talking myself into the Cowboys. Do I think they can throw against the Eagles? Could they put up points, force the Eagles to have to score? Are the Eagles going to struggle to run the ball? I don't know. But then it's like, man, what Philly just did to Jared Goff, they made Jared Goff look like he shouldn't be a starting quarterback. And the week before that, they held Jordan love to like 180 scoreless yards. They scored seven points the packers in that game. The last two weeks, the Eagles have fucking disemboweled the Lions and the packers, which gets me a little nervous. And, and I once again I'm like, I actually just think I want to stay away from betting against Eagles.

[A]

Well, here's the question though. Do you think Jalen Carter spits at Dak Prescott again if, if I just.

[C]

Dax bit at Jalen?

[B]

No, no.

[A]

These things happen in threes like we have. He's remember Jalen Carter didn't play week one because he spit at that Prescott.

[B]

Somebody if you're document your goal should be to get Jalen Carter to spit on you. That's like you want him to hop. Yeah.

[A]

You want Jalen Carter to hawk. Yes.

[B]

That game. Week 1. The Cowboys are the. The Cowboys lost The Eagles by four in that game. And Hurts. Hurts. 150 scoreless passing yards.

[C]

We.

[A]

We. I don't know how much longer we could talk about this, but through the whole season, the whole Jalen Hurts. This is really like the Philly fans who are pretending this wasn't real. It kind of blew over this week. As a very respected guy in Philadelphia who's very in with the team, kind of said it on local television about how Jalen Hurts is playing his own game and the coaches are frustrated and then people. It's just the whole thing. But who's that? Let me pull it up.

[B]

Can we play a name game with AJ Brown? Which I think is the most important question of the week in fantasy.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I genuinely think it's. It is the single hardest decision to make. Maybe, like if Josh Jacobs is a game type decision, what do you do? But do I play AJ Brown against the Dallas Cowboys? I think is.

[A]

Instead of who.

[B]

Well, let's go through it. Michael Pittman.

[A]

No, I.

[B]

Would you play Pittman?

[A]

Yeah, I would.

[B]

Michael Wilson. Who? Marvin Harrison Jr. Is not playing.

[A]

Honestly, Maybe now.

[C]

Now that Harrison's definitely not playing, I think I'd probably lead.

[A]

I. I mean, I. I hate the problem. I mean, A.J. brown did not have a target for 59 minutes versus the Cowboys in week one.

[B]

So you're both picking Michael Wilson.

[A]

I think in that very specific situation.

[C]

I would probably play A.J. brown.

[B]

All right. Oh, really?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

George Pickens, who will be on the other side of the ball in the same.

[C]

Pickens.

[A]

Pickens is doing great.

[B]

Okay. Roma. Dunes.

[A]

Rome.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Ted McMillan.

[C]

Tet.

[B]

Devontae Smith.

[A]

Devonte. Watching Eagles games.

[C]

Smith is like straight about scoring A.J. brown this year.

[A]

Right.

[B]

DK Metcalf.

[C]

They're in the same vein. I would probably say A.J.

[A]

Brown, Mason Rudolph. I hate watching Nathan Rudolph play football. Metcalf.

[B]

Metcalf. Alec Pierce.

[A]

I just.

[B]

It's.

[A]

It's so weird because it's. Yeah. Oh, Alec Pierce. Yeah. How was he in yards per game last month?

[B]

You're playing Alex Pierce over A.J. brown.

[A]

I think we're at that point. You know why? I think that these are.

[B]

We've fallen.

[A]

We're in nutcranch time for fantasy. You have to. At some point it transitions from, you know, player stars, which can get transitioned into like, well, dance with who brung you. Yeah, A.J. brown's still a star, but he hasn't brought you fucking nowhere. Like, at some point, if you're, you know what I mean? Hasn't brought you anywhere at some point. I, I guess when he goes on Twitch and says, if you have me in fantasy, get rid of me, and then he plays poorly. Whose fault is that? Yeah, that's your fault. He fucking said Sydney in fantasy. And so if he plays well, cool. If he plays poorly, dude, he literally said, don't play me.

[B]

What about somebody who's been holding on to Ricky Piersol for eight weeks and it's now Ricky Pierce all. Or A.J. brown.

[C]

Christ, study A.J. brown.

[A]

Do you know what's funny is because it's so funny how the little one catch on three targets looks at you weird because Ricky parasol, the first three weeks was doing. He had like 25 targets. He was doing so well.

[B]

He's amazing.

[A]

Like, unambiguously. Better than A.J. brown.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

In fantasy, like, not in real life. But I, I, it's one of those, like, if I have to tell other people what to do, maybe A.J. brown. But if my life, like, if I was gonna die, if I got it wrong, I'd play Ricky Parasol. Like, you know what I mean?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So I guess Ricky Parasol.

[B]

Do we want to discuss that the Falcons are playing the Saints, or should we just skip it?

[C]

Kirk Cousins.

[A]

It's just Kirk Cousins. I think it's just, it's, I mean, London's out, so just the question is, like, Kyle, Honestly, it's Kyle Pitt's day game. Would you play? Would you play Kyle? If you're Craig, I have bad news. You're going to die if you get this wrong.

[B]

I'm playing Pitts in several leagues this week.

[A]

Who is more fantasy points this week, Kyle Pitts or A.J.

[B]

Brown?

[A]

You will be, you will be killed if you get this answer wrong.

[B]

I would pick A.J. brown.

[A]

Kyle Pitts, the fourth pick in the NFL draft, who selected over Jamar fucking Chase, is now Drake. London is out. Is Darnell Mooney playing this week?

[B]

Yeah, I think so.

[A]

He's. Yeah, but he's playing hurt. He's got three different injuries. Darnell Mooney's managed this year.

[C]

He's gonna have eight targets and two catches.

[A]

And, like, Mooney cannot catch the ball. I don't think it's, I think he's talented, but he's hurt. And Kyle Pitts were sitting here like, can this dude have 80 yards in a game? Feels impossible.

[B]

I Don't think it's going to happen with Kirk. The thing. A.J. brown can score. I feel confident that at least if they get into the red zone, AJ Brown might catch a touchdown. Kyle Pitts, you can't. You can't rely on anything. At least they can be like A.J. brown can catch touchdowns at the very least.

[A]

I almost. I almost want the Cowboys to kind of COVID the Eagles. Like, I almost want them to just stop covering AJ Brown and see how long he notices. You mean like he won't run the routes?

[B]

Yeah, and see how long until Jalen Hurts notices that no one's not even looking that way.

[A]

He has no idea he's looked at A.J. brown.

[B]

The best thing that could happen is the Cowboys start this game with an opening drive touchdown. And then it's like, all right, now what? Philly.

[A]

Yeah, we can. We. We have. So the Eagles get in the super bowl, so we have to save some of this for later. But yeah, Falcon Saints just skip them Sunday. Sunday football Bucks are at the Rams. This is a. This is fun. Yeah, it's scrappy. Baker versus the Rams. It's also like a little mushy gushy because Baker had that.

[C]

Baker was on the Rams.

[A]

Amazing Rams game where you landed LA on a Tuesday night and won a Thursday football game.

[C]

Who did he throw that touchdown to again? We had this. We had this discussion before. Now I'm blanking on it again. Was it Van Jefferson?

[A]

That sounds.

[C]

Or it was some random person. I can't remember. I'll look it up. Well, yeah, I have it.

[A]

Van Jefferson. Yeah. Good memory.

[C]

Was it? Wow.

[A]

DK's memory for once.

[C]

Look at me.

[A]

Would you play Sean Tucker coming off being like, yes, 140 yards and three touchdowns.

[C]

Kind of feel like you have to. Even though this is not necessarily. It's not a good matchup for the Buccaneers run game.

[B]

The.

[C]

The Rams defense has been really good. But yes, I would still play him. It doesn't. We're still unsure if Bucky Irving is going to play. If Bucky Irving does play, that's where I think you can. You can definitely think about sitting Sean Tucker. If Sean Tucker or if Bucky Irving does not play, then, yeah, I'm starting him just because I think, you know, the coaches came out this. Josh Grizzard, the offensive coordinator for the Buccaneers, who we haven't really talked about a lot much this season, I think came out and said in the. In the press that, yeah, they were trying to give Sean Tucker more opportunities. I mean, we talked about this on Sunday. I Think is like Tucker's super explosive, breaks a lot of tackles. And then Rashad White is like.

[B]

He's there.

[C]

He just dances around. He's. I think he's good in the passing game and he's like overall a pretty decent, you know, all around back. But yeah, Tucker's just an explosive play waiting to happen. So just obviously keep an eye on what Bucky. Bucky Irving is still limited. I think there's like some thought that he's not going to play again. So obviously this is something that we can't answer.

[A]

Right. A weird injury.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

The. The Bucky Irving situation. I don't know exactly what's going on, but he clearly. He posted about it online. Like he was frustrated about it. Like, it's tough for guys to, you know, he was football their whole lives.

[C]

He just started taking contact, I think last week.

[A]

It's. So it was a strange situation. It's, you know, 19 out of 20 injury situations are relatively standard. This was one of the 20 where for whatever reason it was.

[C]

Yeah. I mean, they didn't put him on ir.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So I thought he would be back.

[A]

They. Yeah. Like the shoulder. Yeah. There was just. There were communication issues, I guess is the diplomatic way to put it on.

[C]

The other side of the ball. I like the Rams here. Obviously, they're a really complete team. They just beat the Seahawks, number two in DVOA on offense and defense. So they're just really good on both sides of the football.

[A]

It's funny that when that the super bowl ended and we. If you had to pick who are the best two teams in the nfc, you'd be like Eagles, Rams. And then now they're the two super bowl favorites. Like, we're, you know, more than halfway through the season now we're like, it's for all the Michigan. It's exactly where we thought it would be with these two teams.

[C]

Yeah. The rant. And honestly, the Rams are like the best coach team in the NFL.

[A]

So I. I think the new thing going forward, I just might. Part of me just thinks bet on Sean McVeigh every season and every game and that you're going to be right.

[C]

More often than not.

[A]

Monday Night Football is. The Panthers are at the 49ers. All I have to say is, to Craig's point, who the fuck picked this game for prime time?

[B]

We're getting crushed.

[A]

Why is this in prime time?

[B]

I know it's. It's not. It's like nothing has changed. Like, when the season started. I. I don't know if they have to like bet on a couple teams they think will. Will be rising stars because you can't just give it to like the Chiefs and the Eagles every single week. And maybe they thought I mean the Raiders got the Monday night game last week so maybe they were like Vegas and Carolina are two teams we think might pop. Yeah, it sucks.

[A]

I. This is awful. And it's. God. The Niners lost another kicker, Eddie Pinero, so they kind of snake bit it. So Matt Gay is going to be the kicker for the Niners now.

[C]

The commanders. Right.

[B]

The Niners haven't been able to figure out their kicking situation in like three years.

[A]

Well it's, it's. This is the. I. I don't want to draw too much of a line but I do think that this is an issue of when a head coach like Kyle Shannon is also actually the decision maker insurance of personnel. Just to pick one example I for. I apologize. I forget who reported this but they basically explained that Kyle Shannon. They drafted Jake Moody, their former kicker in the third round which is really high. I mean crazy high for a kicker that wasn't even ranked. I mean it wasn't even like an amazing kicking prospect. And the reason apparently was the Kyle Shannon's like. Well I looked at the depth chart and like man, I don't think we can get a starter at another spot here which is like such a like kicker was the place you could start. What. Which is one a crazy way to evaluate a draft pick because yeah, get another lineman, pick a side of the ball. Yeah, like people get hurt. It's very coaching confidence. Like well, I, I can't fit anyone. The other thing is kickers. There's. Of all the things we know about the draft, there's nothing no better bet than don't draft a kicker because even the good ones, the like that guy's almost certainly getting like 80 or 90% of kickers that get drafted are cut and then have good careers with their second or third team. But the point. But that's a long way of coming around like every now and then even the geniuses you're have blind spots. And I kind of think Shannon has a weird thing with kickers. But I don't know. It's just kind of like make you know Urban Meyer kicked his. The kickers like make your kickstep. It's kind of like that's kind of all the head coaches kind of know sometimes the kicker.

[B]

Yeah dude. I mean it was. They had Robbie Gould for the last from 2017 to 2022. And since then it's been a mess. They can't find one.

[A]

This is quietly the Rams biggest problem too. I mean, Sunday to football. The Rams. Dude, Harrison. I don't know. Harrison Mevis is the kicker for the Rams. Harrison Mevis, totally.

[B]

I wonder if teams should start like rostering two kickers. One who's distance and one who's accurate it. And so it's like when it's within 45, they bring in one kicker, but then they have like the guy who just comes in and throws gas.

[C]

Craig the leg. Horrible.

[B]

Yeah, you just have like this guy can like one out of every five times booted 80 yards but. But like couldn't hit a 30 yard. Save his life.

[C]

The leg Hog back.

[A]

Craig the leg. That's what we. That's what we call him back in college. All right, let's get to Ringer 107. Today's Ringer 107 is brought to you by FanDuel. We're doing this betting contest with all the other Ringer pods. Glad we talked our about being first because we blew it last week. Went 0 and 5 and then now.

[C]

Everyone'S had to talk while we were ahead.

[B]

Whatever, who cares?

[C]

So stop the count.

[B]

We're still like, like, like nominally in first. They like, they still gave us the first place slot. Nice.

[A]

This week is hard because there's so many giant freaking spreads and then other games of backup quarterbacks. So we're betting the Seahawks. So Sam Darnold versus Cam Ward, minus 13F Lamar Jackson, Ravens versus Torod Taylor, jets minus 13F. Colts getting three and a half. Colts no matter what Bears. Craig thinks Bears favorite over the Steelers, two and a half points.

[B]

Oh, I love that you guys are like that. That's the bet. That's ridiculous. You trust fucking broken wrist Aaron Rodgers or Mason Rudolph.

[A]

I just feel weird that the Bears are favored.

[C]

Obviously not.

[B]

You think the Steelers should be favored in this game?

[A]

I just think any. I just think it's weird. Like the Bears have been losing all of these games at the end of the game. Like, I don't even know how the Bears could come. They're behind so much.

[B]

I don't even know where the Steelers. What are we talking about?

[A]

Well, that's the ones getting points. I don't know. Pat. I think I'm betting on the Pats. It's a little scary. Yeah, screw it. Let's just do these. Let's do these. I like it. I mean, I don't, but I like. I hate it less than the other options.

[B]

Questions.

[A]

Seahawks, Ravens colts, bears, pats.

[B]

Sure.

[C]

5.

[B]

Ken Ward's gonna throw, like a 90 yard touchdown to. I am an ORD to start.

[C]

Should we flip it lately?

[A]

Should we flip it?

[C]

No, don't flip it.

[B]

One week, Jets. One week this year. We need to do this. We need to just fully flip it. The spatula.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Spatula week.

[A]

Spatula week. Okay. All right. Today's Ringer 107 was brought to you by FanDuel. Odds. Subject to change.

[B]

Who's this guy you just texted us a photo of?

[A]

What? Oh, that's Harrison Mevis.

[B]

Oh, that. Oh, that. That's Harrison Mavis.

[A]

Oh, obviously.

[B]

Harrison Mevis is such a funny name. That sounds like.

[A]

You know what's funny? He looks like a Harrison Mevis.

[B]

Harrison Me. This.

[A]

You show me his photo. Be like, what's that guy's name? I'd be like, that's Harrison.

[C]

Yeah. There's a guy in my class named Harrison Mevis.

[A]

All right, thank you, dk. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, Ronick. Thank you. Thank you, Carlos. Thank you, Kai. Thank you, Austin. Thank you, everyone, for listening. Email us ringer fantasy football gmail.com trivia questions, fantasy courts, ringer, fantasy football. Or, sorry, fantasy football.the rare.com for our rankings update them Sunday mornings. Godspeed to Harrison Mevis. Thank you, Lord.

[B]

Lord. Thank you.

[C]

Easy E. Fuck, yeah.

[A]

Nice. What was the origin there, Mavis?

[C]

I don't know.

[B]

Just easy, Mavis. The Wikipedia page for Harrison Miva says that he is nicknamed the Thicker Kicker due to his beefy frame. That's the first thicker Kicker.

[A]

Damn.

[C]

He'd like legitimately. I know. The joke is like, he looks like an accountant. This guy looks like an account complimentary.

[B]

There's actually a guy.

[A]

No kicker.

[B]

What?

[A]

When you tell an NFL player you look like an accountant, they're not like, thanks.

[C]

No, I know. I was joking.

[A]

Okay. They didn't talk about how Belichick and Jordan Hudson. Jordan Hudson was at like, the. Her adult cheerleading contest. And Belichick was there. It's not actually under 17, but it's just a joke because he's, you know, 60 years older than her. But did you see the photos of him?

[C]

He looks like he's having the best time ever.

[A]

And then I think Pablo. Pablo Torre won some award this week.

[C]

Week.

[A]

And then Jordan Hudson commented on. It was like, you're welcome.

[B]

Yeah, that Jordan Hudson thing is like, I'm ready for that to be done. It was fun. And now I don't want it anymore.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

It's run its course, Pablo.

[C]

Torre finds out was named one of the best shows and best podcast or best shows and best episodes of 2025 by Apple Podcasts. I want to put respect on his name.

[B]

We weren't. We didn't make that list.

[A]

Well, they probably didn't hear the one where we tested all the farter shard interest.

[C]

Yeah, that's bs. I know.

[B]

That does kind of suck I guess. Better luck next year for us. We'll have to see. We probably have to submit for stuff.

[C]

Like you have to double down on the farter shart stuff. I feel like.

[B]

Yeah, I think if there's anything we're learning from Pablo Tori winning for investigative journalism that we need to double down on Farter Shark.

[A]

I think you're right.

[B]

Dk, what's your favorite easy song? Is it Boys in the Hood? No more questions.

[C]

It's a freaking banger. Look it up. It's really good.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Also, what's the other one? Yeah, Boys in the Hood is good. Do you remember that. That one band that did the COVID of Boys in the Hood that like in like really like acoustic like you almost like Beach Boise style.

[B]

Oh really? No.

[A]

Beach Boys in the hood.

[C]

Not Beach Boys. I don't know what it was. Just like.

[A]

That would be good though.

[C]

Like a white band that did the.

[B]

COVID of like recently or a while ago.

[C]

No, I was like in the aughts maybe. Hold on, let me look it up. Dynamite hack. I think there were a one hit wonder. Yeah, it was like, dude, it was all over the place for a while.

[B]

Have you guys seen those videos of these two guys who sing like 90s rap songs in like old 50s swing style? It's so funny.

[C]

I kind of like that.

[B]

The problem now with. With like viral things or stuff you want to tell your friends about is unless you physically are have it on your phone and you can send them the link. Like how? I can't just. I don't know these guys name. They pop up my algorithm. I don't follow them. I'm like, I don't really know how to give them to you. I guess I could just google like two guys singing rap songs.

[C]

Hold on.

[B]

100.

[A]

You sound so stupid when you try to. You can't even find the name of the video.

[B]

Like find a meme. It's impossible.

[A]

It's so hard.

[C]

Oh, I do it all the time, Craig. It's like all I do.

[B]

That's all I do. Search for memes. You're like woman standing with her hands on her knees squinting.

[C]

Meme.

[B]

It's Just like horror. It's impossible.

[A]

Sounds like an idiot.

[B]

It's so true. I'm like, I don't know, I could try to find this link.

[C]

Literally the other day I was trying to find, you know, the meme of the kid that's like going like, me.

[B]

You know, sitting on the couch, me. How do you find that?

[C]

Apparently there's like a mil. There's so many memes of people saying, who me? Kind of deal. Like, I looked, I tried to find it. It took me like 10 minutes to find.

[B]

We need like Google for memes.

[A]

We should start an app. Craig, this is your app. We need a meme finder.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Someone's gonna listen to this and create a billion dollar company and we're. And they're just gonna be like, thanks, and we're never gonna hear for them.

[B]

I know. Maybe we should cut this and start.

[A]

Should we cut this and start a meme company?

[B]

Meme. It's Google for memes. You think that one of these companies has tried that, like Google, and they can't figure it out? Hold on, let's.

[A]

So does someone already have memes AI? Yes, someone thought of that. Okay, next idea.

[B]

Damn it.

[A]

Actually, it's actually available.

[B]

Memes AI.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Whoa.

[A]

Oh, nope, it's taken. We could buy it for $100.

[B]

Anyway, I'm going to send you the video of those guys. They're like singing Migos, but it's like 50s doo wop style. It's very good. I don't know how I'll find it, but I'll try.

[A]

What, What. What exactly are the Is like, I'm gonna knock the out like five night. Like, what are they doing?

[C]

Like, Craig, I did search two guys singing rap songs from the 1950s and there was like a lot of Tic Tac Tik Toks that came up. Tic Tacs Tik Toks came up and it's still. It's very actually hard to see what their name is though. I clicked on a few of these also.

[B]

It's like some half of those are reposts of from not their accounts. It's like you don't even know how to find them still. The funniest one was Plug Walk. They did Plug Walk and it was very funny.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[C]

So this is Drew Key 5000.

[B]

I. I don't know.

[C]

I think that's the name of the Tick Tock account that keeps. This one has 3.9 million views.

[B]

I think that's not 21,000. I'm looking at their page.

[C]

This is The Drew key 5,000.

[B]

Yeah. The one where they're standing in front of the cvs.

[C]

Yeah. Well, there's one I'm looking at here. They're standing in front of a Chili's.

[B]

Yeah, they always like, just go. They're always doing parking lots. I think the one in front of the CVS is Plug Walk. It's actually very good. Their aesthetic is great too. They were like Goodwill suits from the 90s. It's sick.

[C]

Little double breasted action.

[B]

Yeah. You know what's hard about that type of content is like, you make blows up and then everyone's like, just do those. And then you're like, okay, you do it for like a year. You have however many, you have millions of followers. And then it's kind of like, what else? Like, how do we turn this into a, like a job that I can do for 30 years? And like, that's really difficult. You probably can't. But then you also don't want to stop because this is a money making machine and people like it. And then you end up trying to like sign somewhere or do more expand and it doesn't work. It's a very weird time to get big on the Internet for one niche thing.

[C]

Right.

[B]

Because there's so much stuff out there and everyone's like, no, no, I can get the other stuff from other people who do that stuff. Well, you just keep doing that.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And then you have a contingent of people who are like, this is. You already did this. Stop doing that.

[B]

Like, there's a guy who got popular for he would paint himself like a mime and then he would injure himself and try not to make a sound.

[C]

You showed me these.

[B]

It was hilarious. He would like step on a rake and it would hit him in the face and he'd just have to grit his way through it. Oh, that hurt a little bit, but I'm okay. And I was like, what is it? Like, what is this guy supposed to do? He's just getting more followers. He's getting more money every time. And I'm like, is this just like when he's like going to his in laws house for Thanksgiving? And they're like, what do you do? He's like, I make $400,000 a year hitting myself with a rake. What am I supposed to do?

[C]

Throwing wrenches at his shins?

[B]

What do I do now? Do I stop doing that? He like did the thing where you spin the scooter around and it hits him in the shin. Oh, the razor, the razor screw right into the shin. Which is like the worst pain in the world. I'm like, I don't know what you do. Do you stop doing that? You're getting paid a lot.

[C]

It's like jackass.

[B]

I don't know.

[C]

It's like silent jackass.

[B]

Yeah, it's very. I don't know. It's a tough world out there.

[C]

It is. It is.

[B]

Niche fandom is very bizarre because it was never a thing that was. That used to be like the. The local comedian or something who would just, like, do standup in a small town. But now it's like this guy across the nation, millions of people watch him hit himself with a razor scooter on the ankle. And I don't. What is he supposed to do? They keep doing it.

[A]

Harrison Mevis's grandchildren would be in some private school with the elite muckety mucks and be like, oh, what'd your dad do? Like, oh, he was an NFL kicker. What about you? He's like, yeah, my grandfather was a. Was a pain tycoon. He just addressed us a mime and just hit himself in the shins.

[B]

Yeah. So he made his fortune. Yeah. He dropped a bowling ball on his foot once a week, but then hit.

[A]

Himself in the nuts for money on the Internet.

[C]

I feel like that's been a thing for a while.

[A]

And that's. And that's gonna be what we say about the bands and the Rolling stones in the 60s, and be like, wow, they were first and all, the other generation. Like, damn, you know, they could just hit themselves everywhere. No one had thought of it yet.

[C]

It's true.

[B]

New places and we'll get to tell our kids that we. Oh, my dad invented farter shark. When he's in public.

[C]

Legacy sitting right there.

[A]

Goodbye, everyone. Must be 21 + in present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 + in present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text Hopeny in New York.