Starts of the Week + Wk 16 Matchups, Josh Stallion

for Baltimore. Now that's a bigger question because Kenneth Dixon, since returning, his snaps are increasing, actually out snapped Gus Edwards this past week. The game script was very positive, though, which allowed Gus Edwards to touch the ball basically every time he was in. 19 carries had a monster game. Less likely in this one. But if the game script gets out of control or flips to any kind of comeback,

Can you actually feel safe playing Gus Edwards this week? Safe? That's hard to say. I haven't felt safe with Gus in a while. I've felt like a warm blanket next to a fire with a cup of hot cocoa. Gus Edwards has not been targeted a single time this season by Lamar Jackson. Didn't need it because he was getting 20 years of game. You're right. You're right. Well, he's our consensus already 23 right now. And I do think he can get game scripted out. I feel like the Ravens.

They want to give Dixon every opportunity he can handle. The Ravens defense is so good to me that I think it's going to be very difficult for him to get game scripted out. Can he? Absolutely. If they're down, he is. I just don't think that they're going to be down multiple scores and pivot from the way that they are just run, run, run, run, run, run the ball with Lamar Jackson and Gus Edwards. So I feel pretty comfortable with Gus. I'm not too worried, even against the chargers who are.

By all metrics, a great team. Now, it did not work out to pump the brakes on Derek Henry for me last week. No. It might work out to pump the brakes on Mike Williams. Sure. Mike Williams had the three scores. He looked great. No Keenan Allen for the majority of that game. Now you get a very difficult Baltimore defense as a whole. How do you feel about Mike Williams, Tyrell Williams? Good if, or good-ish, I should say, if Keenan Allen doesn't play,

Not a consideration for me if Keenan Allen's out there. Yeah. Unless it's like a deep league and it's a flex play. If I had to start one, I would go with Mike Williams because the touchdowns are going his way. But yeah, I agree. If Keenan is out there against Baltimore, I'm pivoting. I would go somewhere else. Any chance he earned a lot more of Phillips trust after last week's big catches and performance? Possibly, but I feel like we've seen this before for Mike Williams. We've seen him heroically takeover game.

The five, we'll go to the Sunday games now. Real quick, Philip Rivers has been a super common question this week. People have got to the championship because Philip Rivers has been so consistent, but the matchup is terrible. And right now he's our consensus 17. And I almost made Rivers my start of the week because I want to. To battle that? Yes, just for confidence. Like, I am 100% fine playing Philip Rivers.

versus even people that I've maybe I've got ranked ahead of them. So that's a great one. I would feel much more comfortable if I assume if I'm in the championship, I've got a good roster. I'd feel more comfortable with Philip Rivers as my quarterback than with Lamar Jackson. Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, they maybe have a higher ceiling, a better chance to finish top five. But they have a much lower floor to me than Philip Rivers, even in this matchup. I mean, Philip Rivers has constantly been a, you know,

a quality quarterback. Good matchups, bad matchups. So yeah, I'm confident in him. And then last question on this matchup for me. Melvin Gordon is returning from the injury. Do you have any confidence to flex either Echler or Justin Jackson? None. None. Zero. Zero. The five and nine Falcons take on the six and eight Panthers. The game is a 43.5 point over under. The Panthers are three and a half point home underdogs. Thanks to a brand new quarterback.

Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift is the new quarterback of... I knew she was trouble when she walked in. Okay. All right. Well, that, I actually, that was good. Thank you. Tyler Hanicki. You excited? Yeah, very, very much. You know, the truth is, so my initial reaction, and this is the same reaction from Vegas, right? It's like, oh, man. Like, I'm playing Matt Ryan's my quarterback against Brooks, and I'm disappointed here because...

Lower over under, less scoring, you know, less chance of Matt Ryan needing to ball out and throw the ball a bunch. But then I stop and I think, is that true? Was that a concern against the Cardinals last week? No, but my point is, Cam has been so bad, has been unable to move the ball any way other than Christian McCaffrey. Taylor Hennocky is a clear downgrade from Healthy Cam.

But is he really that much of a downgrade from the cam that hasn't been able to throw the ball at all? Not the cam of the last few weeks, no. But you don't know who his favorite targets are going to be. You don't know how much they're going to let him throw the ball. So those variables make him, you know, make the DJ more Curtis Samuel. Like I've seen a lot of people asking about Curtis Samuel this week. I have zero confidence in Curtis Samuel this week. Cross the board. Funches. Same with Ian Thomas's potential upside. It declines and it fades away with Tyler Henneke. Christian McCaffrey is still.

Top five guy for me. I think she'll be fine. Yeah, I agree with that. On the other side of the football, you have a Falcons offense that finally showed up a little last week. The great Tevin Coleman coin flip continues where last week he electrically exploded again, but Carolina 7th against, uh... That's, look, that's a top night explosion. That's a big time explosion. Yeah, that's new. Electric. That's brand new. Electrical explosions are. Well, we, uh, buggy-woogie.

Boogie, boogie, boogie. It's electric. So let's talk about it. Let's talk about Matt Ryan, Tevin Coleman. Obviously, Julio's in your lineup. But do you have a desire to chase Tevin Coleman in Carolina against that running defense? No. I don't have a desire to chase. I'm okay. I'll play him. I'm okay. He's an RB2. I'll play him over. He's an RB2 for me. So I think a good.

you know, barometers like that we had the conversation on Gus Edwards. Gus Edwards or Tevin Coleman. I would go Coleman because he can't really get game scripted out the same way. But I think Gus Edwards is a more talented back right now this year than Tevin Coleman has been, even with the Arizona Cardinals game this last week. 11 for 145 against the Cardinals with a touchdown. Edo Smith, done for the year. He won't be out there. That might.

assure Kevin Coleman of more work. Yeah, he'll get five more touches in this game. Didn't they bring Jeremy Langford back from the grave? Yeah, off the practice squad. And Brian Hill should be the backup. He was already playing. I really like Kevin Coleman in this game. I do too. I really like him in this game. Yeah. Because it's not just running. Kevin Coleman's a great pass catcher as well. My problem is that they were forcing carries into Edo Smith all the time. And even last week.

When he ran for 145, he only had 11 carries. Yeah, my issue is, Tevin Coleman has stunk this year. And when I watched Tevin Coleman last week, I mean, he looked as fast as Tevin Coleman usually looks, you know, with the hopeful. But the Cardinals defense was so bad. It was like the least effort to tackle a guy to get to an edge. And while the Carolina Panthers defense has not been outstanding, they're really better than the Cardinals rush defense. Fair. So, Mike, do you, uh,

You think he's got surprise potential? Kevin? Yeah. Yeah, I do. Calvin Ridley's are our wide receiver 28, if you want to know where he's at. Julio Jones. He's been a wide receiver one in eight of nine weeks. You got to watch Julio because he showed up with a new injury yesterday. Yeah. I assume he'll be fine, but that's definitely you got to pay attention. And then what do we think about that? Mike, what's your confidence level on Matt Ryan on the road in this game? Great question. It's pretty solid.

It's pretty solid. What chances of an electric explosion? Well, you need a lot of photons. I'm trying to picture that. Yeah. All right. Let me ask this. Josh Allen or Josh Allen or Matt Ryan. I think it's, oh, man. Championship week. Matt Ryan. Yeah. Good. Oh, my gosh. Do you have Josh Allen? No, I don't, but I just really would be sad if. Josh Allen is going full Blake Bortles of last year.

As in winning people championships. It just, like the last four games, absolutely on fire. Look, he puts his work belt on and he goes to work for you. Yeah, he'll get it done. Blue collar. Oh, we tried out a new nickname. Oh, yeah? You're the Josh, you're the Josh Allen guy, so I want to. Yeah, we got to run this by Andy. Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. Yeah, I need to approve all Josh Allen related nicknames. Josh Stallion. Oh, it's fabulous. That's freaking wonderful. Yeah. Josh Stallion? Where's the correct?

Yes. Oh, man. Josh, because he's running like crazy. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Well done. That was all my. I hope that didn't get any negative feedback on this show, did it? No. No, we love it. Josh Stallion? We were just, we were hoping that somehow they could trade for Michael. If they could trade for Michael Gallup, we'd really have something special. All the horse puns coming in. Unbelievable. That's a very solid.

End of year contribution to the nickname board. Yes. Josh Stallion. Yeah, I'm moving them up in my ranking just because of the nickname. Oh, no. Is he above Matt Ryan? He is now. Oh, shoot. You better give me something better than Maddie Ice if you want a chance this week. That's the worst, Maddie Ice. Oh, my gosh. The six and eight Bengals take on the six 701 Browns. Brown's heavy favorites, nine point favorites, 45 and a half point over under. Do we love Baker Mayfield this week? Yes. I sure do. Yeah. Yes.

Do I love Nick Chubb? Possibly more than my own children this week. Oh, man. And it's Christmas time. Just imagine if you had him playing in the title game. Yeah. Oh, that's going to be fun. The Browns and Bagels are 30th and 30. Bagels? Did you say bagels? No, that's what I heard. He's just, that's definitely what I heard, but he's just forecasting their score. Oh, very nice, Mike. A bagel, yes. The Browns and bagels. The Bengals, Bingles.

30th and 31st and total yards allowed per game. But the Brown's defense has really done a lot more lately. It has not been all roses to start a running back against them like it was earlier in the year, which does give me a little bit of concern for Joe Mixon's performance this week. Jeff Driscoll, look, if they made a movie about him, it would be called airmail. Yes. Because every single time you watched him last week,

He was overthrowing his receiver. Do you think he just got criticized too much for not having a strong enough NFL arm? I'll show you. Watch my cannon. I think he's just on hyper. He's just the adrenaline of being an NFL starter last week got away with. Look, what's Tyler Boyd situation? That means everything to me. Low grade MCL sprain, not likely to play. If he doesn't play, I am very, very concerned for their offense. Yeah, he's not, he's not playing. He said he, Tyler Boyd came out, said his knee is fine, but.

But with the low-grade MCL, that's usually a two-week. I mean, I doubt we see him again this season, but there's, I believe no chance he plays this week. If you combine John Ross, Cody Corr, and Alec Erickson, there are other receivers. They maybe make one refined receiver. Like Tyler Boyd is so much better than them and so much more reliable. You saw this last week. Joe Mixing did not have a good second-half performance other than he had, obviously he had the touchdown run at the end of the game, which was huge. And that's once Tyler Boyd left.

The game is what you're talking about. Once Tyler Boyd left the game, they were not able to pick up third downs. That was the fundamental problem. The Browns' defense is playing well. They can get to 7-7-1. They're not dead on this season. The bingles, the bagels. They're dead. So what's your confidence level in Joe Mixon? My confidence level is just maybe don't expect the best from him this week. Joe Mixon or Melvin Gordon? Right now I have Mixon ahead, but if Gordon proves himself to be fully...

capable and practicing, then I'll probably pivot those. All I'm saying is if you have Joe Mixon and you're counting on a monster performance, I think that's a bad call. Like if you're playing it safe with the other positions, don't do that. You need to go bigger on those other guys because I think Mixon's going to have his carries and his touches and he runs hard and he's a great player. But I have him down this week compared to the consensus. And I think that this is going to be a great game for the Browns and the Browns defense. Yeah, I agree completely.

Interesting thing I'll be watching for, and this is not in season-long championship leagues. But if you're in a dynasty league or DFS on Draft King's full PPR, Alex Erickson, I mean, he's gotten it done on special teams. We saw him break several plays that just got called back last week. I mean, John Ross isn't good. No, what about John Ross or Diana Ross? This week, because they have similar yardage totals over the last three weeks. Driscoll has a...

Ross has a little bit more than Diana, but... Just a little bit. Just a little. 13, 11, and 6. That would be Ross's yardage total to last three weeks. So last time these teams played, Baker Mayfield went full hamburger with four touchdown passes. But I believe that was against Andy Dalton, right? Week 12 should have been Andy Dalton off the top of my head. That doesn't matter to me because they're going to pour it on the Bengals if they possibly can. So the question is, do you have...

Where's your confidence lie with pass catchers for Baker? Jarvis. Oh gosh. David and Joku. Pretty excited. Pretty excited about Jarvis. Pretty excited about the offense. Does the excitement trickle all the way down to a flex play of Antonio Callaway? It could. It could. I think that you should pre-order your Baker Mayfield signed autograph photo for your wall because you're going to win a title with Baker this week. Yep. I do have personally, I mean, I've got him pretty high, but I worry that Nick Chubb will.