Fantasy Football - The TRUTH: QBs Part 2 + Coaching Crazyness, Divisional Recap - Podcast for 1/20

to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Well, crap. Your bills, they, there's always next year. Should have won the dang game, man. Should have won the game. Now I don't have a coach. Everything's falling apart. Imagine picking the bills last week. You losers. Yeah, they weren't even close. Yeah, I know, right? Like, imagine a world. What a, uh, was that Rocky one? Is Rocky one where basically no one wins? No, I think he wins a Rocky one. Does he? No, not Rocky. Right. Like, there's a winner. Okay. Well, I just felt like that was that was one of those, you know, we're watching this game. Andy has all of his chips in on a Bill Super Bowl. Really.

I mean, it's trying to wheel it into existence. I mean, it goes way back. You know, the bills were, the bills were the, uh, rooting interest that I had before we got to the playoffs. The playoffs are clear of my homes and Lamar and Burrow. And this is, this is your time. You saw the emotions from Josh Allen and the players in the locker room. Yeah, because they're pathetic losers. Uh, yeah. Um, the nice thing is, so in this office, we have, this is, this is kind of crazy. The fact that we, We don't have an office of 100 people or even 32 people, but it feels like we have diehard fans of everyone that was still in the playoffs, like the Packers, the Bears, one of our... There's a lot of fan diversity, team loyalties. But they're all on the play other than our team. Our team would never dream of the playoffs. But our team would have lost to Indiana last night, but go on. That's just true. That is a sad truth.

Schneider, one of us around here, my dead ringer, shout out. He's a diehard Broncos fan. And he was sad to a degree after losing Bo Knicks, after winning the game that it's like, dude, if I knew we lost Bo Nix, I wish the bills had a chance to like win and go on. I don't think anybody's prediction was that Bo Nix and Josh Allen will both be eliminated from the playoffs on the same week when they play each other. And that's what happened. And so it was a letdown. And then the bears, they go to overtime on one of the, on a 52 yard 14 yard touchdown. That's what that was. There was a 52 air yard. Hail Mary. 14 yard touchdown. I was standing. So I had gone out to dinner with my wife. We had watched the game at the restaurant while we're eating. We walked next door to get some like ice cream. So I got it on my phone. Four or five people in there all gasped.

So audibly it startled everyone around us when that play happened. Oh, yeah. While we're standing there because it just made no sense. It was impossible. It reminded me of like a just throw it up for grabs from our flag football days. And somehow Cole Komet comes free in the back corner and it just. Yeah, it was incredible. And they lose. I mean, it was genuinely a backpedaling, seemingly falling over just because he was running backwards, throw it up for grabs. And then it wasn't up for grabs. Who's just to a wide open guy? And that was not an offense, pass interference all the people. I thought on first. People were mad. Oh, people were like, oh, get out of here. Not at all. Two overtime games, incredible. One game in which the defense for the Texans did all they could do.

And C.J. Stroud did all he could do for the Patriots. Dude, they should have put Davis Mills in. They really not, they should have, I think they could have won the game. CJ Stroud, he's not a good quarterback, man. He was a good rookie. He's not, he's like, I don't think he's a good quarterback. I am growing concerned. It was a shell shock moment. I mean, going into New England facing that defense, not an easy challenge, but lost it mentally. in that game. And then the 49ers didn't even, they didn't remember that a game this weekend. Oh, what game? I mean, that was, that was, they siphoned away in order for every other game to be so incredible this offseason, all these close finishes, all these games won by four or fewer points, these overtime games, the only way that could be allowed is if one game took all of the blowout.

all of the embarrassment and said, we got you. We'll take it all on us. Yeah, the, I don't know if you knew this, Jay, you came in a little later. We were talking about it. But the Falcon back there in Ducer's Alley, the biggest 49er fan we know. Again, all of our people here had their teams in the playoffs, except for us. Riddled with food poisoning all weekend. That's awesome. And it was better probably than watching this football. Yeah. Absolutely. So you didn't really, you weren't dialed in for the game. You were like dialed in on that toilet. He was. Yeah.

Yeah, him and his fiance. Ooh. Like a rotational disaster. Did you get the love you get the SNL toilet? The SNL two-seater. No, one was throwing up in the top bin. Ah, an upper decker. To get to get back to how bad C.J. Stroud has been. Uh, because that's, that's, that's, it's, it's fun. I saw this tweet from Scott Barrett, good friend of the show. Off target throw rate. The worst quarterbacks in the last three years. In 2025, the worst was Michael Pinnock's. 20% of his throws off target. The second worst was C.J. Stroud. Third worst was Cam Ward. Like, you think about that. You go, Michael Pinnock sucked this year. Cam Ward looked like a rookie that, yeah, maybe. Last year, 2024, the number one worst off target throw rate. C.J. Stroud. The previous year to that, 2023.

The worst was Bryce Young. Remember when he was awful? Like you're not a starter anymore. The second worst, CJ Stroud. So he's just, he had a great rookie year and is like living on it. He's literally off. Yeah, well, the one comment I enjoyed was he had the best rookie year of all time just to jack up the Cardinals pick. Because the Cardinals had their pick that year. First rounder. When we traded Will Anderson, another one of our moves. But yeah, that, I mean, that is, that is. major evidence to the your being complete I mean their defense is unbelievable they works if they had a middle tier quarterback performance they win that game going away the amount of possessions New England had a night look it wasn't some crazy great game from Drake May one of the scores was not one of those scores was a pick six right you had so many turnovers and you know they had a fumble down in the red zone again but

Like the amount of possessions New England had to scores, the defense did everything they could possibly do. And it's demoralizing. It's rough. And yeah, C.J. Stroud, are you the answer? You better figure it out this off season. Next year, if your defense plays like this and you go out there and you're... three years in a row of off target that's so insane i feel like the entire don't have a bad completion percentage no it's it's a weird inconsistency thing where throws get away from him when he misses he misses real bad yeah and it's funny too because i always go back to he went full jake delome in this game oh man he did he only had eight picks on the season and how many and eight in this game yeah i mean it was what did he have five picks in the playoffs i mean i'm not i think he had was it four in this game

I think it was four in this game, one in his first game. But the first game was all about his fumbles. I believe he fumbled like four times. So he's turned the ball over, I don't know, 20 times in the playoffs. Yeah. Hyperbole, but not crazy far off. And look, the Rams, the Rams, they beat Carolina by three. They beat the Bears by three. They made it happen in the playoffs with a. I don't know. You've read it all on Twitter already, right? The interception, DJ Moore, whose fault is it? Blah, blah, blah. Stroud was one pick and five fumbles in the first week. Two of those lost. Five? Yeah. I'm on pro football reference. That's what I'm seeing. And then four picks in this past one. I mean, how, what? When you have a defense that good, your primary focus is just protect the ball.

Yeah, I know he could have spiked the bond to the ground on every play and had a better pass rating than what he had this week. He had no Nico. And no Schultz. And no Jalen Knoll, who they had fully healthy. But they have him like, I think he ran like a handful of routes in the game. It's like, what are you doing? He's a good player. Even when you don't have your number one, number one wide receiver, you can't throw four picks. Oh, he can complete 42. Yeah, I mean, you can. Life finds a way. You're allowed to do it. But we were all, when we were watching that game.

This was a very, very close winnable anybody's game. Before the booty touchdown, I thought Houston would win it. At? I thought they'd find a way. At halftime, all three of us, I believe based on what we said, we're not joking when we said, like, I would put in Davis Mills. I do you do this? If you remember how the season was going for the Texans, they looked like they were not even a playoff team. CJ Stroud gets injured. Oh, it looks like their season's going to be over. Davis Mills comes in. wins the next three games. Right. And then Stroud comes back and continues the winning streak. But it's like when you're playing that bad and constantly throwing the ball to the other team, you've got to give your chance. Maybe it's just an off day. It's a really tough decision, I think. I was with you. But I also look at it and I say, man, what does this mean for your team in the next round and the round after that?

You're going to need C.J. Stroud with confidence. If he's the one that navigates the comeback, which he was on his way to do. And they went right down the field and scored on the first drive. He was better in the second half. That is your chance of winning a Super Bowl. It's a tough call. You know, you could have taken that mindset of it. It's a bad day. We just gave him he needed a clear his head, blah, blah, blah. But it's hard to come back the next week. It was a crazy game. The Patriots move on. The Rams move on.

The Broncos move on with Jared Stiddle and the Seahawks clobber the heck out of the 49ers. So it'll be Seahawks Rams. Based on, you know, we all make brackets, but like based on what happened this weekend, do you have your picks for the two games? I mean, Mike. No, I mean the Jags went out first round, but I... No, I just mean right now, based on what you're seeing, like Seattle going out and dominating like that, the Rams showing they're vulnerable in two of their playoff games so far. You know, my original pick was Rams out of the, out of the NFC. And I had Seattle. I had Seattle as well. So I think I'd switch to the Seattle side after what I've seen and then being at home. And then, you know, you got the Broncos with Stiddam, but that defense going up against New England. The Broncos in Denver. We should talk a little bit more about the Broncos with Stidham. They can absolutely win this game. I don't know if they could beat the.

NFC West, but I do think that they can win this game against the Patriots. This defense is good. And if Stidham does enough, you know, it's not like Bo Nix has been good. Bo Nix has not been great. He's not even in an MVP conversation for the number one seat. Right. So that tells you what he's been. Yeah, he's been good, good enough to get it done to get the number one seed. Stidham does not have to come out here and be amazing. He can't come out and, you know, be Max Brosmer. But the last time we saw Stidham start, he had a good game. He needs to be a game manager that isn't C.J. Stroud. Yes. Yeah, I do think they can win that game. It's going to be hard for New England to go into Denver and face that defense. There's some hope out of Denver that J.K. Dobbins could be back. I didn't even know that was possible. I think that he won't be able to come in and be like, I'm 80% of the snaps. I'm ready for.

Pro football like that, but he can help. He got the ball. And the announcer's like, he's the X factor. I'm like, you are drunk. Man, there was an X factor at the beginning of the game. And then he got concussed. Who? Pat Bryant, the first three receptions of the game. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Wait, before you deny that? Before you move on, we've got to talk about Mike's guys. And we have verified that this year, we didn't know if the year of Mike. was seasonal, which is still going, or calendar, which obviously were in 2026. We verified that it is seasonal. Seasonal. Not only was Pat Bryant on his way before an unfortunate concussion, but bad, terrible news, really. The Seahawks running back, I mean, this is a big deal for a team that has played a certain way all year to success. Zach Charbonnet tore his ACL in a game where Kinbone Walker, the third was three touchdown.

Pretty good. Yeah, he must be. He is the hero you deserve Seattle. And now Mike's going to get to prove that. Oh, he's a free agent. And for fantasy, he's a free agent. He's doing, he's putting it all in display on the, on the biggest stage. And now has no competition to do so in the next round or two. He can really earn some cash. He could really. And he could earn our adoration as a fantasy community because he could get a role that is more significant. than what it looked like halfway through the season. For sure. This was, I thought that it was going to be like the way that I looked at how the NFL looks at players, not necessarily our beliefs in players. But it was one of those where I'm going, okay, you've got Travis E.TN is probably ahead on NFL teams. Like I'm going to go sign a running back. I think so. But.

Ken Bone Walker now has the chance to go out there and just show the NFL. He has a chance to go back to Seattle. Yeah, as the guy now. Sharpernay is not going to be ready for the season. Right. What do they do? That'll be interesting because he's going to want the bag. Do you keep him or do you just draft somebody in the fourth round and make him your starter? Saying if you're Walker, I want the bag of money and I want playtime. And you know what else? I want touchdowns. Like running backs out there, maybe you're getting your yards.

you want to score and if the team is literally like no whenever we get close you go off the field you don't get to score me that would have to be if i'm kenneth walker like that's part of my negotiation is like we're not doing that again if i'm going to come back you're going to give me all the money and then i will also score yeah it uh it is a seasonal thing the year of mike is still continuing all his players shall dominate forever And as soon as he didn't need CMC, CMC would be in and out of the game with injuries and, you know. Yeah. That didn't work out for them. We've got news. Lots of it. News and notes from around the league. John Harbaugh. Oh, yeah. John Harbaugh is the next head coach of the New York football giants. I mean, the news is coaching. So it's Harbaugh Giants, Kevin Stefansky, Falcons. How? Just real quick.

How do those guys feel? The ink is not dry on their contract. And suddenly, oh, yeah. The coaching position for Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills pops up and you go, you say what? Yeah, I mean, of course, of course, of course, of course. You would rather like, hey, you might be excited about Jackson Dart, love neighbors and maybe get scattered. I like Harbaugh going to the Giants. It's great. But if you've got a chance to have Josh Allen, you're like, and I would have won a Super Bowl with Josh Allen. Yeah. I would do it. That is that's true. I mean, that's part of the big news. If you didn't hear the bills after their loss fired Sean McDermott and promoted Brandon Bean. Oh, the president of football operations. Well done. Brandon Bean. What a. What a roster of offensive weapons you have constructed. Such hits such as.

Brandon Cooks and Keon Coleman and Curtis Samuel I mean Brandon Cooks like what there's a game is long you know the the the James Cook fumble the there's there's a million different things that happened all the all the referees is this play call that play call whatever nonsense there were two different balls at the end of the game that were perfect throws by Josh Allen to a wide receiver who was not good enough to make the play. And was their best wide receiver. Absolutely. Absolutely their best wide receiver. This is a personnel issue. This is not a coaching issue. I don't blame at this point when you're that many years in. Buffalo feels like they hit a wall. Yeah. You need change for the sake of change. Even if it might be a downgrade, you don't have forever to do it. But y'all didn't change the right thing enough because

I mean, they should have absolutely. Two pro bowlers out of his last 50-something draft picks, Brandon Bean, not equipping. Like, Allen, I think part of why most people didn't believe in the bills going into the playoffs is the, is the roster. It's just looking at it and saying, well, they don't have enough good defensive players. Josh Allen, they're not as dominant on defense. And they don't have enough. The best player left, like the best football player left. And it was almost a lot. But it's, but you need, you need defense. Josh Allen can't go do it. You know what would be so funny. It's almost enough.

If Mike McDaniel goes to the, just in division, it's like the dolphins are like, oh no, what do we do? I thought it'd be really funny if Brian Davel could go be their head coach. Return to, that would be one, because there's word on the street that the team is very, like the connection with Sean McDermott, like he goes to bat for his players and his players love him. That's the feedback. And they're very unhappy with this move. So. How do you reinvigorate them? Bring in a familiar face that everybody loved before. I don't know. Yeah, that could work. I'll do the job. I'm, I'm throwing my hat in the ring. You're a familiar face. Everybody loves you. Harbaugh's off of the, like, he's not available anymore. So who else to hire but me? Yeah, I think they're down. They, they probably have a few choices ahead of you, but. Which one do you? I'm bringing, I'm, I'm going to be the head coach. I'm going to let you guys call offense and the defense. Oh, no, no, no, no. He's O. Yeah.

I call special teams. We're going to do some crazy stuff. Oh, that's cool. Every play will be, every play will be mild, never seen before. Like, and Josh Allen, do something. Yeah, go. All right. This play, we're going to put the ball in the hands of Josh. See what he does. I'm excited about hardball. It's a stabilizing force in New York. It makes me excited about Dart. He's going to bring in Todd Munkin. It's beautiful. So, I mean, this is best case scenario for the Giants fans and for fantasy football, I think. with Monkin being their their offensive coordinator. The fact that they have so many good pieces on their defense, like they have, there's not a lot of teams that have, you know, that are looking for coaches to have like six elite players. We're talking like one of the best at their position on both sides of the ball. And they have, they have true elite.

core players there. So I think you're saying it right. The stabilizing force is what this franchise needs. When you've got a franchise that's been struggling for, you know, a decade, you need someone to come in and just be almost like the game manager quarterback. You need like the franchise manager head coach of like, hey, we're just going to have a good program here. We've got, we're going to be accountable. We're going to work hard. We're going to do the little things. And then. Look, if DART is something, it's a better situation than Buffalo. Could be, yeah. I would rather have Josh Allen as my quarterback and figure the rest out. I'm on that camp. But if DART is something real, I think everything else around it is better. We're going to take a quick break. We've got more news right after this. Well, social media didn't win, and the Packers wisely re-signed Matt LaFleur on a multi-year contract extension. I believe they also agree to an extension with their general manager.

This is good news. Mount 4 is a great coach. It's not good news if you wanted them out there in the open market to somehow be convinced to come to a horrible team in Arizona where everybody else is good in the division and you have no planet quarterback and a horrible ownership and you won't spend money and you're just a terrible franchise top to bottom. Yeah, I stopped caring about coaches that were available. Yeah, they're not coming here. Because why would, if they're good, they're not coming here. I cared about one piece of news coaching news because this guy was somehow in the list of odds.

The Detroit Lions have hired former Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator beloved on this show. We love this guy, Detroit. Drew Petzing. Congratulations. Enjoy that. I have. I mean, look, we did not like Drew Petzing. No. It was a... It was a decently vanilla offense. Obviously, it worked for total yardage and stuff once you got Brissette in there that could stand in the pocket and allow those downfield routes to develop. He does have a good run scheme. We were down to like the fourth, fifth, sixth string running backs. But the way that he uses the offensive line, pulse guards, I think that's kind of the connection. They talked about they liked Mike McDaniel. It just wasn't a fit for what they were looking for.

I think that's really what it comes down to. You look at... Petsing is from that, like, Stefansky tree, like, which... Right. I forget which tree that comes from. What I... The part I didn't like about the Arizona offense is that it was not being adapted, in my opinion. Yes. Of, like, Kyler Murray's your guy. Figure out how to use Kyler Murray and like you... The fact that Jacoby came in and had success is like, okay, maybe the offense is all right, but to be a great OC, it can't be only, well, I need this specific type of guy. He'll be fine. Look, we say all the blobfish comments, and he comes with the stink of Arizona on him. He'll be fine in Detroit. Clayton Adams left Arizona as an offensive line coach and went and became the offensive coordinator in Dallas, and they had a great season. Great on the offense. You know, he had a great running game.

reinvigorated the career of Giovante Williams. Patsing will be fine because he's not an Arizona coach. Correct. And to be, you know, we'll see. We'll see. We'll see. Kyler's going to go somewhere else and they're going to not be able to adapt to him to. That's what's going to happen with him somewhere else. Cliff Kingsbury had Kyla Murray. And then he had Jaden Daniels. And one of the offenses looked spectacular. And now he's going to be a head coach again. This show should not be this Arizona-focused. But it really feels like this is the most embarrassing franchise. And it is. It's number one. I would say second. Jets? Yeah. Fine. We can compete. Who retained their coaches. Yeah. Two teams fighting over a turd. What else happened? Is that all of our? Robert Sala, the new head coach of the Titans. I don't.

know about him yet. I mean, he was highly coveted. I think Arizona was in the running for him. They wanted another interview. He said, nope. And the Titans hire him. Well, because all the rest of the coaches told the Titans nope. Yeah. Harba is like, no, second interview. I'm cool. Sala, I think is a good coach. We're cool. And I think the Jets were not a good situation. Yeah. But some guys, some guys are elite coordinators and they're just not head coaches. And that's a. It's also a tough thing for people to actually handle. Yeah, I also don't love having a Cam Ward young quarterback that's like now we're bringing in a defensive-minded head coach. Obviously, it depends if he goes and gets, you know, Mike McDaniel or someone that's a great offensive mind to run the offense. Maybe it can be good, but then you lose that offensive coordinator if they are good. So that's where it's really tough to me. If I was a Titans fan, I think I'd be disappointed.