Week 15 Matchups + Wheel of Shame, Kelce Goes Bananas - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/17

Unfortunately, this is the end of the season for Washington. Yeah. I mean, they're not, they don't have a chance of the division after this week because they're not going to win this game. Dallas will win. And suddenly the suspense is gone. Yeah, and the Eagles defense is a phenomenal start. That's true. And they weren't necessarily on the radar to start the week compared to some other teams. Josh Allen, ready to go for week 15, D.K. Metcalf, I want to bring this one up because he's been missing practice every single week. This is happening.

constantly, but the back has never been listed as an injury. It's always been the foot. They've been managing his reps. He misses every single week on Thursday, and he plays. But he, D. Eskridge, Freddie Swain, and then now, obviously, Tyler Lockett, is the big news when on the COVID list. What did they do at practice yesterday? I did see video of that. Like, they wore masks and ran sprints. Well, I'm saying, like, just you were throwing to Gerald Everett?

I mean, if all your wide receivers were not at practice. Gerald Everett is low-key interesting. Oh, so necessary. It's such a must-win for them, too. So I expect MECF to be out there, but there is some doubt out there in the community as to his availability in this game, which without Tyler Lockett, you would think, is a very high upside game for D.K. Well, you've got non-COVID illnesses. Those still exist. David Montgomery Cole's practice due to them.

And then my goodness, we've got some in or out to play. Leonard Fournett didn't practice Wednesday and Thursday. Yeah, there was some rumors that Ronald Jones was not spotted at practice yesterday either, but he was not listed on the injury report. So this is something certainly to monitor. If you miss Wednesday and Thursday for the first time, you know, all year, I think Leonard Fournett is a scary start. I mean, he could be out.

Pay attention to Friday practice reports, and we'll have the Injury Blitz podcast as well later this afternoon from our expert Matthew Betts. Elijah Mitchell didn't practice on Thursday, didn't practice on Wednesday, ankle, or sorry, it's not the ankle, is it? It was a knee and a concussion, I believe. So he is almost certainly not playing. I mean, I don't even view that as an option. Jalen Hertz is.

50-50 to play. He's been taking reps. I think he will start this game. I don't know how to project their offensive weapons because they've been so... Here's the way I look at this one is they've been so committed to the running game, right? They've completely flipped. So the passing opportunities have gone down, and then you combine that with GameScript where Garrett Gilbert is on the other side. So it's like how, you know, with your Dallas got it and your Devante Smith, how much confidence can you really have that those guys are going to have opportunities?

They obviously have to take a lead, but... They do, but I can't imagine the Philadelphia Eagles are thrown out their high risk, high reward plays. Like, they can win this game 10 to 0. I agree. And a very comfortable 10 to 0. With no fear. That's what I mean. They can be up seven points in the fourth quarter, so it's like, yeah, whatever, man, we'll win.

We do have an update that Miles Gaskin and Salvin Ahmed will be at Dolphins practice today. Okay. Oh. So that seems like a good sign that Miles Gaskin will get back into the lineup. Does it not? Yeah. He was the first one added to the COVID list of the whole running back room. So he, timeline-wise, would be the first one back if, you know, he's testing negative. And he's a play. I was going to say it doesn't really seem like you should be back at practice if you're not going to play. And the Jets are.

awful so sneaky yeah i mean that he's in that's a great start uh we have news on hollywood brown not practicing that is something to pay attention to terry mccloren limited with the concussion what's going on with the ravens man have you seen their practice they're old it's hay oh is that what's happening you should see how bad their practice field looks that's a hay fever joke yeah it literally looks like they are they're playing on dead grass

Oh, this is real. This is real. Oh, I thought you were just making a joke. It is a joke because that's not where the illness is coming from. But if only they had millions of dollars to treat their grass. What if you found out that this whole year, all these Lamar illness is, it's all allergies. It's just allergies, man. Which I don't blame him. Kid a Bersert. I couldn't play on a field of hay. Like, this is.

We played some flag football. Peel back the curtain, Mike. We played some flag football, and they put us on to some very questionable playing. They're practicing on the field we used to play. And the next multiple days, I would be annihilated because of all the dirt and stuff that I had inhaled. Yeah, yeah, I remember those days. Carlos Hyde officially out. All indications are that James Robinson is going to get starter work in this game.

Yeah, Bevel, interim coach, Bevel came out and said James Robinson is our starter and he will be used accordingly. He is literally a breath of fresh air in that. Did you see the, I shared it in the slack. I don't know if you saw it though. The video clip of, oh, I did. The reporter said, essentially it was just like a leading question of, hey, I think you have a pretty decent chance of finishing with a better record than Coach Urban Meyer did. And he just laughs. He just sits there.

sits there and then just kind of laughs. He's like, eh. I'm not going to deal with that one, but you can tell the look on his face. I don't think there is anyone in that building sad that Urban Meyer has gone. I don't think there's like one relationship he made where it's like, oh no, this is terrible news. Yeah. And he also, he basically left the facility.

That was what I was going to say. A day before, didn't tell anybody, never showed up again. This will be probably the last chance we had to take some pot shots here at Urban Meyer. But yeah, the reports came out that he just, he left the facility, didn't tell anybody what had happened. All the assistant coaches are like, we have to game plan. They're looking for their head coach. What the weekend and their head coach is gone and didn't tell anybody what happened. He just left. What a man. That guy sucks, man.

And James Robinson looked up from his prayer. And Urban Meyer was nowhere to be seen. Like, have some dignity as a man. No, no such thing there. Goodness. That was today's news and notes. Brought to you by Sleeper, the leader in Breaking News Alerts. Grab the app. Check out the Breaking Alerts channel. We're jumping back into the fantasy forecast. Eight more games to talk about. Jason gets to spin the wheel of shame today. I can't wait. But first, we want to thank today's sponsors.

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slash footballers. Use the promo code footballers to get 21% off. That's 21% off at manlybans.com slash footballers or use promo code footballers. Fantasy forecast. Please remember there are two Saturday games this week. We covered them yesterday. The Raiders, Browns, Patriots, Colts. And it has never, ever, ever been as important to get those players out of your flex. Right. It seems, you know, stupid. But if you.

Have those guys going Saturday. Get them in your running back wide receiver or even tight-in slot if you're rolling two tight-ins because you can wake up Sunday morning this week and find out you're missing a player. The NFL has issued a memo with regards to COVID-19 protocols. Yes. And that came through yesterday that they're making some adjustments to the way that asymptomatic, what I assume are no spread.

probability players are treated when it comes to returning to the team. Yes, they've shortened the timeline for when you can test negative. They've also included some things of thresholds that I'm not a doctor. I don't completely understand, but the viral load related. Essentially, all you need to know is if it is a vaccinated player and they are asymptomatic, there is a chance that they can get on the field sooner.

than they have been with the previous protocols. Yeah, it was kind of, if you were testing positive early in the week, you're pretty much going to miss that week. Correct. That might not happen now, although they are not retroactively applying those new protocols to players that were already put on the list early in the week, at least from the reports we have. So I don't know what that, you know, it doesn't mean suddenly O'Dow Beckham's going to be in the game. Panthers, Bills, Cardinals, Lions, Jets, Dolphins, Cowboys, Giants, and the football team Eagles game.

Also covered yesterday. Jason, you read those protocols, right? You read the entire write-up. It was not fun because it's all legalese nonsense. Mixed with medical. Yes, mixed with medical. Yeah, but I think you guys explained it pretty well. Maybe we can get you to review all of our internal health insurance documentation year to year. I'd love to do it. I have read it. And that's...

That's it. Sign off. What did it say? Said you're good to sign. Just. Look, I told you I read it. Sign it. Oh, man. The Tennessee Titans 9 and 4 taking on the 6, 6 and 1 Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh. The Draft King Sportsbook line here, Tennessee minus 1. The overrunners 43. Am I the only one that was surprised at the line? No, I was as well.

I thought Pittsburgh would be favorite at home in this game where, you know, Tennessee is without A.J. Brown. They're without Derek Henry. They've had some ups and downs since, you know, those guys went out. But here they are favorites on the road. The over under is just 43. It has come up a little bit over the week. I mean, this is not a good recipe for total points. We saw both sides of the coin with Pittsburgh last week, which is like the first time we've actually seen it where.

They got some things together on offense. Was that a result of playing catch up and playing against Prevent and playing against Big Play defense? I don't know. The first half was disgusting. I mean, Big Ben was under fire. He was taking brutal sacks. His mobility is so bad right now. You can't move inside. How bad is it? You can't move inside the pocket.

So he can't evade left and evade right and get a throw off is what's happening. He leans now. He just leans to the right or to the left. That's its evasive maneuver. I think it's pancakeed. So, Mike, you are a fan of Deont de Foreman in this one. I am indeed. The Steelers, he's my start of the week. The Steelers have just.

completely collapsed against fantasy running backs over the last six weeks, allowing nearly 30 points a game to the position. And it's clear that a couple weeks ago, you didn't know they brought Peterson in. You have McNichols. It's very clear now. Deonti Foreman is their Derek Henry replacement for the time being. When it comes to Julio Jones, who did play 45% of snaps, had six targets, you know, how low down the,