Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Week 14 Matchups, In-or-Out, Playoff Time!

But Kaepernick, you know, two weeks ago, he had 45 fantasy points in a six point league. Yeah, Alex Smith doesn't have that in him. So that's all we can say about Kaepernick. I'm not starting it either. That's a choose your own adventure. And you don't get to keep your finger on the original page and look ahead. Oh, did I die? No. I didn't actually do that. You can't do that. In the playoffs? In the playoffs, you have to turn the page. Yep. And then if you die at the end of that page.

You got to get a new book. You got to come back to next year. And that book's not published until 2007. Exactly. So on the other side, look, the 49ers defense has given up 1.4 rushing touchdowns per game, almost dead last in the league. And then they're like, hey, let's give up two and a half touchdown passes a game. And let's make that last in the league too. So the 49ers defense can be, can be whooped.

But will it be whooped by Matt Forte or Brandon Marshall or Robbie? Oh, Anderson? Mr. Anderson. I love Matt Forte. And Brandon Marshall, look, I've got Brandon Marshall, Mersele, Brandon Marshall. Brandon Marshall. Brandon Marshall is only catching, you know Brandon Marshall's only catching 49% of the passes? Brandon Marshall, now he's not as destructive as Colin Kaeperning.

But he's in that mold of, am I going to play him? I can't even form the words. He's in the mold where the matchup is so good. The matchup is great. I'm coming around on Marshall this week. That's been me every single week. Yeah. It's worked out a few times. Like, this is it, Brandon Marshall. Are you willing to make him your start of the week? No. In place of Emmanuel Sanders, if Simeon sits? No.

I just thought I'd try. I am coming around on Marshall. I think if I have to start a pass catcher on that offense, it's going to be Brandon Marshall. That's what it's just, it's a, a logic says that's the right play. I'm hearing that Petty and Marshall are getting on the same page and that Marshall actually likes Petty. I'm not, I'm not joking. I've heard, I've heard that Fitzpatrick has been pretty supportive of Petty and that they've all, they've worked together a little bit to get on the same page.

That's the death page of the Choose Your Own Adventure Book. Yeah, that might be the death. We've been over this. The Saints, the New Orleans Saints take their talents to Tampa Bay. Nice recovery. Take on the Buccaneers in a 51.5 point over under. This is why it's so hard for me to make that Kirk Cousins decision. Here's what I, here's what someone in our foot clan illustrated to me.

and he broke down divisional matchup games between the Saints and Bucks and whether they met the over under. And he was highlighting the fact that sometimes these divisional games where they know each other so well and they've seen each other so much, they can be a bit of a trap. Pretty much, but Kirk Caz is the same. He's in a divisional game. Right. Not saying it is going to be a trap. Obviously, Vegas thinks it'll be a high scoring affair, the highest of the week. The implied team total for the Buccaneers.

is 28 points. Yeah. How in the world does Mike Evans not have a great game? How does Cameron Bray not have a great game? How does James Winston not have a great game? Yeah. If there's one thing I've seen and seen consistently, it's that the Saints defense will give it up to any and all. They will make Jared Goff look good. They will make anybody look good. So I'm not going to doubt Tampa's office. Yeah, I'm not doubted them either.

But do you doubt Doug Martin in any way based on how he's been playing? Yeah. You do? I do. What does that doubt translate to for fantasy owners? Does that translate to, let me give you some options. Okay. So it translates to I'm starting him. I'm just downgrading what I thought. You make these moves for the playoffs. We have Robert Kelly ahead of Doug Martin. Yeah.

Oh, man, I think I would. You have them back to back. We have them two spots ahead as a consensus. What's tough, when I would be, if I had that decision, I know. How would you make it? Yeah. I probably would still go with Martin because, oh, God, Martin has that big play. He has it in it. We've seen multiple games where Doug Martin just. He has the big game in him. Yeah, he's got the, goes unbelievable. But we did see that from Robert Kelly a couple weeks ago. He had the three touchdown game that included a.

a, what was a 60 or 70 yard run. But I would probably lean to Martin. It's the playoffs. I need as many points as I can get. What about somebody who is worried about stacking three bucks? If Winston Evans. If it's Winston Evans, Brate, fine. Perfect, perfect. Martin Evans. I'm still okay with it. You wouldn't, would you try to hedge if you had to decide, let's say you had Theo Riddick. No.

You would rather play Martin. I'd rather play Martin than Theorette. Okay. Okay. Other side, Drew Bree is very disappointing last week. We heard the news about Michael Thomas earlier in the show. We heard the news about Mark Ingram's toe earlier in the show. Does his toe show? Well, if his shoes are off. Okay. Brandon Cooks. Michael Thomas, Willie Sneed, Mark Ingram, Tim Highter, Kobe Fleener. Who has the highest odds of participating in a fantasy bonanza here?

It's still Brandon Cooks. If you're chasing ceiling, which I am in the playoffs, it's Brandon Cooks. But it's the same exact situation as the Bucks. All these guys are decent to good plays. And I'm okay stacking some of these as well. Here's what I want to know. Because if Breeze, let's say Thomas is out, Drew Breeze on the road, you're starting him over Winston? Breeze over Winston. Breeze over Winston?

Yeah. Yeah. Out of fear? Out of its Drew Brees. Even on the road. We've talked about him on the road. Drew Brees. No. I mean, the bucks are seven and five. I have Drew Brees rank higher. Yeah. So do I. I like to bounce back. Come on, Drew Brees. You have Winston at five, though. You have Breeze at three. And that's not considering Michael Thomas or Mark Ingram being out.

Yeah. So Breeze would probably get a bump down. But Winston at five. Is that called a bump down? Can you bump down? Yeah. Okay. You could bump in either direction. All right. Seahawks, Packers. This game's going to be very, very interesting. This is the season for Green Bay, in my opinion. Seattle has to travel to Green Bay, 31 degrees outside, snow possibilities.

We already know the running game doesn't really exist for the Green Bay Packers offense. Oh, no. It's a manufactured consortium of names. What's funny is, and this is a shout out to Jeff Ratcliffe because he breaks these things down, pro football focus. He breaks down yards before contact for running backs. And you always see teams building to.

fight their opponent. And you see in divisions, you know, eventually teams start to kind of mimic each other. You're saying they build their offense to defeat their division. Right. But it ends up, your team kind of starts to look like those other teams. Three of the worst yards before contact are the Packers, the Lions, and Minnesota. Wow. So three of four in a division are make up the bottom.

of yards before contact. And if you think just about the running games for those teams, you think about Detroit. Detroit and Green Bay are like the same. Yes. I mean, they basically run through. They wish they had theoretic. They do. But even with theoretic, you're looking at four carries, six carries. It's not happening. It's all being manufactured through the short passing game through running backs out of the backfield. Just a very interesting. Very interesting. That was very interesting, Mike. Very interesting.

Look, the Seahawks, we know their defense doesn't give up a lot. They're on the precipice, right on the precipice, of five consecutive years as the number one scoring defense in the league, which has only been done once in history in the 50s by the Browns. So you're talking about a run of a run of a great defense that we haven't seen in a long time. However, on the road, Aaron Rogers, and Noel Thomas.

I'm still playing Aaron Rogers. Oh, yeah. Okay. No, that's not a question for me. He's the number one fantasy quarterback. I don't think you're going to bench your stud in the playoffs. But can he have an explosive game against them? Probably not. And can, you know, can Jordy Nelson do what he's been doing? Because Nelson, Nelson is something like number five right now in the year. I mean, he could. We saw the Panthers doing nothing.

And then Earl Thomas goes down and you go deep. That's all I think Jordan Nelson can get it done. The thing about Earl Thomas is he makes up for the risks that are taken on the front end and by Richard Sherman, who makes a lot of risky decisions, but has the luxury of doing that because, you know, I've heard Earl Thomas called the eraser. He erases those mistakes. Ooh.

But he's not there anymore. Good movie. And, you know, the card. The good movie. Is that what you said? Yeah. Remember the Arnold movie? The Eraser? You don't remember. Arnold and Vanessa Williams? For some reason, I thought there was a Val Kilmer movie. That was a Val Kilmer movie. How dare you? But I think I might be thinking of the saint. Yes. Which is a great Val Kilmer movie. Do you know he has apparently he has a one-man show? Val Kilmer? Yeah. What's it about? I think it's about Mark Twain. Wait. Wait. I'm serious.

I'm serious. Val Kilmer? One man show about Mark Twain. I think he pretend. I think he's Mark Twain. I got to jump on the secret. Citizen Twain starring Val Kilmer. One man show. That sounds both terrible and extremely intriguing at the exact same time. Yeah. So there you go. Anyway, things you learn. Back to the Seahawks. Yeah. I mean, I feel like we could talk about this game forever. You know, back to the Seahawks though. I love Russell Wilson this week.

I love the fact that the ball's going to need to be in his hands. I love the fact that he seems to be fully recovered from these lower body injuries that means he can get out of the pocket with that spin move, make plays on the run. We saw what Lockett can do. Now that he's healthy, we saw Baldwin have efficiency last week. And Thomas Rawls giving them something on the ground. So are you as confident as I am with Russell Wilson? Because I'm going out there. I'm making them my start of the week. I'm starting them over guys like, you know,

Matthew Stafford against Chicago at home. I'm not as confident in you, but I like it. In me? You just said I'm not as confident in you. Well, that's, that's every week. Just as a person. I hate my confidence in you. It's shaky. It's shaky. Wilson, I like him. I'm not start of the week confident, but I would play him likely over most options. Are you more confident in Russell Wilson than you are in Val Kilmer delivering a solid performance as Mark Twain?

I don't know. You put the wing and the mustache on. I think you could smash that. The Falcons take on the Rams. All right. Well, all right. I think the debate in this game, yeah. I think it revolves around Todd Gurley for me. Yeah. Sure. You know, the Falcons defense gives up the, I think the third most points in the league. So they're not a great defense.

but if they are boat racing the Rams, I mean, how much can you lean on the running game? What was the stat you looked up on Todd Gurley yesterday that just blew our minds in this studio? Oh, that Todd Gurley does not have a single top 12 PPR performance? That is mind blown. He was very close once, 0.7 points away, but he was still 13. I mean, doesn't that just mean he has no upside? Yeah, I think he has. If he can't finish top.

12. At any point in this season, do we need to buy into this girly narrative for this week? I do. You do? I do. I don't have a problem with Todd Gurley. And you do to the tune of, let me just, let me just see here. He's running back too to me. Well, I can buy into that. Okay. You have him at 19. Yeah. Okay. And I have him at 15. So I buy into why. I buy into running back two. I just was saying, can you?

I see the upside here. All right. I see the upside. But you have Jeremy Hill ahead of him against Cleveland. Oh, yeah. You have. Oh, yeah. There's upside. Carlos Hyde, Thomas Rawls, Lamar Miller. Yeah. I just are Kelly. Yeah. And you're listing these names. I feel very confident about those things. Is Kenny Britt, a startable wide receiver in this game? Oh, yeah. Yeah. He's startable. He's been, he's been very good.

Actually, it's hard to knock Kenny Britt for what he has achieved in that offense with the quarterback play that he has gotten and being still fantasy relevant. I want you to take a guess here. The Rams offense has scored blank points per game this year. Ooh, that's all over the map. They've had a couple very high scores. What's their average? And a couple low. I'm going per game. Yep. I will say 15. Nine. Oh, nine. Nine. Nine.