Starts of the Week + Wk 14 Matchups, Jason’s Back!

The four and eight Falcons take on the four seven and one Packers at Lambo. The Packers are five and a half point favorites. It's a 49.5 point over under. Mike McCarthy, no longer the head coach of the Green Bay Packers, Joe Philbin, the interim head coach, before they undoubtedly hire a new name heading into 2019. So let's talk about, look, these are two teams that I don't think anybody expected to be.

4-8-1 and 4-8 at this point in the season. The offense for Atlanta has been struggling to stay consistent. The running game has been not reliable for fantasy owners in any way, shape, or form. Julio Jones is Julio Jones, but even last week, Ryan and Jones struggled. Now they have to go on the road. I'm assuming this is going to be a frigid game at Lambo. Yeah, it's even worse. 20 degrees. Yeah. Very chilly. And if you haven't seen...

the splits of Matt Ryan indoors and outdoors. It has not been good for Matt Ryan outdoors so far this season. Do you have those splits? I can look them up. I was just curious. But look, uh, look, injuries on defense for Atlanta, sputtering offense. Both of these were supposed to be playoff teams. The over under in this game is 50 points, though. So they're, you know, what? I don't like Austin Hooper. I know he had a pretty good week.

He's another of those guys in the category of David Injoku. But you're always starting Julio Jones. What about Matt Ryan, Mike? I mean, Matt Ryan. I'm actually good. 131 passing yards last week. I, the temperature. You're the highest of this trifecta. The temperature of the game certainly is causing some red flags for me. But I believe in this game. I think that the Packers can bounce back. This is exactly what that offense needs. Rogers, Jones.

Adams are all incredible stars this week. And I do believe that the Falcons can keep up with Green Bay this week. Yeah. Do you worry at all about the Julio Jones added to the injury report? Not yet. Not yet. I mean, today's practice will know more in a little bit. So PFF Steve had tweeted out the pro football focus grades indoors and outdoors. He's graded at 89.7, which is sixth.

on a full season pace for indoors and 31st outdoors on that rating thrown seven touchdowns and two interceptions outdoors 18 touchdowns three interceptions indoors but you know that that's just one metric in a whole field of what were the matchups who was healthy who was he going against so you know this this appears to be a matchup

in a high over under game, even in cold weather that should be fruitful for fantasy. And I know that I've seen some people that I respect a lot who are quite down on Aaron Rogers this week, rankings-wise. And I'm wrestling with that. I disagree. To the point where I thought about making Aaron Rogers my start of the week, which would have made you guys laugh to make Aaron Rogers the start of the week. No.

Not at all. He's not this week. He's my start of the week. Oh, is he really? Yeah, he's my start of the week this week. How funny I did not know that. He is. People are down on him. He has no excuses. His head coach was fired. After every bad performance over the last four or five weeks, it's been, if you're an Aaron Rogers believer, it's been, oh, they've got to get rid of the head coach, it's the scheme, it's all that. What happens if he comes out and stinks this week? It's all going to fall on Aaron Rogers. He ain't going to let that happen.

That's how I view it. I think Aaron Rogers has a great game. I do too. There has been a weight on the team, and they can breathe a little bit at this point in time. And, you know, Rogers has Randall Cobback. He has a running game in Aaron Jones. Aaron Jones has scored in four consecutive games. I wanted to ask about Aaron Jones, though. I mean, perhaps this was part of the, we got to get McCarthy out.

Last week, McCarthy completely reverted. You saw the snaps go to 50-50 with Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams. Sputtering desperation. All right. That's my interpretation of that. Aaron Jones still scored. The Cardinals defense was doing some different stuff against the run in the second half of the game. To me, I still have great confidence in Aaron Jones. But there's a variable there with a new head coach. But, like, Aaron Rogers, Aaron Jones, Devante Adams.

I don't think you should be sitting these guys. Those questioning the Aaron Rogers situation, that's why I made him my start of the week. I'll probably never have the opportunity to do it again. Probably not. But he's the quarterback 10 on the season, and people are freaking out about him. He's out home in this game. I think the weight is off. I think he has a top five week. I really do. All right. On the Atlanta side, let's just quickly talk about the running backs. Kevin Coleman, incredibly disappointing on the season. Are you going to play him against the Green Bay Packers?

I guess I'll give you some names. How about we do that game? Tevin Coleman against the Packers or Shady McCoy against the New York Jets. Oh, Shady. All right. I actually really like Shady this week. Tevin Coleman or let's go Adrian Peterson. Adrian Peterson. Against the Giants. 100%. Even with Mark Sanchez? Yes. Okay. We're going to talk about him later. Wow. Really? Okay. And I'll give you one last one.

or Marlon Mack against the Houston Texans? I was not here for the Pump the Brakes episode, but he was my pump the brakes. And Marlon Mack is my answer ahead of Tevin Coleman. Wow. Okay. I guess Tevin Coleman should be my pump the brakes. Yeah. Yeah. Tevin Coleman's season has been bad. Bad, bad. Great opportunity. Poor results. Yes. The 6 and 6 Colts, led by Marlon Mac.

And they head to Houston to take on the 9 and 3 Texans. This game is a 49.5 point over under. Texans 4.5 point favorites. And look, it's a defense in Houston that ranks 9th against the fantasy quarterback, 10th against the fantasy running back, 7th against the fantasy wide receiver. Over the past six weeks, they've still been solid. And Andrew Luck is coming off a game where we expected him to be able to overcome the...

Jacksonville defense. They didn't score. Eric Ebrun had 16 targets. Tyoy Hilton was shut down. The running game didn't get anything going. You know, storylines from this game, they played in week four. Houston won 37 to 34 in overtime. It was a high-scoring affair. We've got a 50-point over-under. Everything says that, look, we should get some action in this game. Yes, and you will.

Okay, that was the question. Are you expecting it? And then what decisions are you making here? Yes. For Andrew Luck, I mean, we're all just spoiling our starts the week. I'm taking this chance to be. Andrew Luck is actually my start of the week at the quarterback position. Because you can look at the adjusted defense for Houston. But I want to remind people who Houston has played the last six weeks. They did shut down Baker Mayfield, who was hot, but still a rookie.

Before that, it was Tennessee, Washington, Denver, Miami, Jacksonville, Buffalo. Have I listed any quarterbacks that you are scared of? Blake Bortles. The answer is no. So I'm not letting that impact my decision to come. That combined with the panic of Andrew Luck's poor performance last week, I would still play Andrew Luck and T.Y. Hilton with a good level of confidence.

T.I. Hilton's averaging 11 targets a game over the last three weeks. I think you're right about him. And Ebron. Ebron is a... Yeah, I was going to say here's... You don't even talk about it. The 16 targets is incredible for a tight end. What's really scary is you just named off the opponents, right? They all stink. They've shut them down. Their defense has been unbelievable over the last six weeks. And over the last six weeks, even, they're the 27th ranked against the tight end. Watch out for Eric Ebron. Goodness. Yeah, Ebron is a great play.

On the other side of the ball, Deshawn Watson. At home, Watson, in the first matchup, 375 and 2, had 41 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground. Jason, you know, the highest on him this week. You got him at QB7. He hasn't thrown. We'll be talking about him later. He has not thrown over 240 yards for for seven straight weeks.

But Indianapolis is allowing quarterbacks to complete, get this, 72% of their passes. That's a good number. That is a great number. Or a bad number, depending on your perspective. What's going on with Lamar Miller? Did he, um... I don't know. Was that the space juice from Space Jam? What do they call it? You remember that? There was juice in Space Jam? There was the, uh, in Space Jam, Bill Murray. You remember this? Yeah, I can't think of what it's called. He had to take the, uh...

Did they give him like a placebo? It was a placebo. Yeah, it was like, but he called it like. I thought you were going to go with like gummyberry juice. I think he called it like space juice and it was in a water bottle, but it was just wink, wink water, but it got him going. Like, Lamar Miller has found something recently since week seven. He leads the league in rushing yards. He found heart. What, 400 yard games now? He's our RB 10 this week, guys. Yeah, and I'm.

I'm good with it, even with Deonté Foreman coming back. I'm not letting that scare me. The dude was just activated off of, coming off of his Achilles injury. It's, Foreman will not yet take away from the Lord Miller. No, he won't. And we're going to talk about a lot of those guys that sounds like later in the show. So the 7 and 5 Ravens take on the 10 and 2 Chiefs at Arrowhead in Kansas City. The six and a half point line, chiefs are favored.

The game is a 53 point over under, and Lamar Jackson will be back behind center for the Baltimore Ravens. I've seen hesitation in the fantasy world about Lamar Jackson this week. Really? Despite the fact that the matchup, you know, like the metrics, Chief's defense, they give up a lot of fantasy points. Obviously, they score a lot. You know, it becomes a shootout situation. I haven't seen as much excitement over Lamar Jackson as I would expect.

Speak to me about what you think and expect from Mara Jackson right now. He's our quarterback 11 this week, right? He's top 12 for me. Yeah, I think the fear is because this is fantasy playoffs, you know, we talked about this a little bit with Josh Allen, right? It's like you're going as a rookie into Arrowhead Stadium, a loud place difficult to play. If it was at home, I'm sure people would be a little bit different on it. People are hesitant to play him.

I think because of his rushing baseline and how much they're going to have to score, you shouldn't be worried. I mean, I think he is a safe play with a high ceiling. Lamar Jackson was in consideration for my starts of the week, but I'll be honest, the reason I didn't pick him was because of the risk that is involved with the rookie going to Arrowhead. So, you know, it's, I understand the fears, but.

I don't see barring him getting pulled for horrific play and maybe Joe Flacco is active as back. I'm just saying other than that, I don't think he can't see how he doesn't have enough fantasy points at the end of the game. The dude in three starts is averaging 88 rushing yards a game. No fewer than 71 rushing yards. He can beat the chiefs with that. And the chiefs are very susceptible to the pass as well. I think Lamar Jackson is.

still in a good spot for fantasy. You like them more than Josh Allen? Yes, I do. I would play Lamar Jackson over Josh Allen, over Mitchell Tribiskey that we've talked about, over Matt Ryan. I was just going to say Matt Ryan. I have Matt Ryan one spot behind Lamar Jackson.

On the other side, well, let's talk about this for a second. Lamar Jackson, though, when he's the quarterback, 73% of his fancy points have come from rushing. So he's not throwing the ball well. Yeah, no, I'm not playing any wide receivers. Well, that's the follow-up. Is there anybody that you would buy into? No, no pass catchers. Now, the Gus bus. Listen to this, by the way. He's got a low, low-tire pressure warning. Oh, okay. On the Gus bus. I get it. Because he's got a little bit of an ankle injury. It was.

The thing is, is this is the same injury. That was a great joke. I actually really liked it. It was fantastic. You're good. But he expects to play. It was a bus joke, though. This is the same injury that he was listed with. What's wrong with a bus joke? The ankle injury going into last week where he got over 20 carries. So it's irrelevant to me. He limped off the field last week a couple times. And yes, he got 20 carries. They'll tape it up and pat him on the butt and say, get back out there. They have options, though. We'll patch it, Jason.

The bus jokes must continue. They'll patch the tire. The tire. Is that what they do on the old buses? They patch the time? They put a little band-in on it. They can't afford. They don't replace them. They patch them. Is that the- You got to get where you're going, man? You need to up it. Just fill them up. Get them back out there. Hmm. You guys know a lot more about buses than I do. Get the air compressor. Which is surprising because the OG, Gus Bradley. I was pretty much an expert. Oh, you were. All those tires fell off.