Starts of the Week + Week 10 Breakdown, Cake or Cupcake - Fantasy Football Podcast for 11/12

We will say, you're playing anybody from the wide receiver core on New York? Yeah, I'm going to play Sterling Shepard for sure. Targets since returning 8, 10, 8. That's the reason. Receptions 6, 8, 6. You get enough balls and eventually you get a touchdown. You break something off. And the nice thing is, Sterling Shepard is the best wide receiver on their team. So the nice thing is if you're giving a good wide receiver,

up to 10 targets, you're going to have fantasy follow. Speaking of good pass catchers getting up to 10 targets. Evan Engram. Ooh, you said good pass catchers. Yes, I did. And I misspoke. I stand by it. Evan Engram, I'm going to talk about him later in the show. Tampa Bay, 6 and 3 takes on the Carolina Panthers who are 3 and 6. We have a palindrome matchup. We got a 50.5 point over under the bucks are favored by 5.5.

Storylines from this game, Jason, your favorite quarterback, you traded for him in the league of record, Tom Brady. Will he have enough salad? Or has he had enough salad since the last time we saw him on the field to replenish to get the, what is it, the chlorophyll? Yeah, I mean, chloroform. Maybe he needs a little bit of meat in his life. I don't know, but the plant man had.

as bad a game as he's ever had. And we've seen him have bad games in the past. And this is a matter of, do you think that this is the new normal or not? And we're going to talk about him in a little bit. I'm starting him. I believe that Tom Brady is going to be a fine play this week. Now, Carolina is not a cake matchup, but they're also not a, you know, they're not one of those teams where you go, man, they're shutting people down at the position. What is a worse, Matt, or a more insulting matchup to call someone?

You are a, if I say, man, we got a cake matchup coming. Okay, that's pretty insulting. Or, man, we got a cupcake matchup coming. Which one is more insulting? Okay, let me, why don't you, why don't you call me those things? Like, we're fighting. Like, we're going to go with a boxing ring. Jason, you're a piece of cake. Okay. Jason, you're a cupcake.

Oh, Cupcake feels really personal and insulting. It really, it made me feel like I embody the shape. I'm the shape of the Cup. I almost didn't want to say it. No, you answer. I mean, that's a clear and definitive answer. This is a, it's not a Cupcake matchup here because a Cupcake matchup is terrible. Yeah, we're going to have to put this one of the Foot Clan, which is more insulting cake or cupcake. Make a note, Brooks. But let's talk about more fantasy implications. Teddy Bridgewater.

Playing good football, not necessarily great for fantasy. He does have the fifth most passing yards. He has the third most 20 plus yard pass plays with DJ Moore and Robbie Anderson and now the emergence of Curtis Samuel. When you look at metrics of just quality cornerback play in the NFL, not fantasy relevant, not, you know, just who's playing really good real world football. Derek Carr and Teddy Bridgewater are coming up.

on every list, and they are playing very good. It hasn't been translating to fantasy, and it won't necessarily translate to fantasy. I think what we've seen with Teddy Bridgewater, where he's throwing for a lot of yards, he's highly accurate, he's moving drives along, and very often they end up in a rushing touchdown, to Curtis Samuel, to Christian McCaffrey, to Mike Davis. They have a lot of ways to score that aren't through the passing game, and that's really what's hurting him,

you know, as good as he's been, fifth most yards in the league. He doesn't have a three touchdown passing game on the season. Yeah. At the running back position, Christian McCaffrey is not going to play. Mike Davis struts right back into your lineup. Yeah, the matchup stinks against the Buccaneers. They are ranked sixth against fantasy running backs. Don't matter. Mike Davis is going to see the volume. Hopefully he can get into the end zone. On the other side, though, Ronald Jones.

trending the wrong direction. He got bruised because he fumbled, got taken off the field. Leonard Fournett, the nickelback has seen 1821 and then seven opportunities. But seven opportunities was like a huge market share because the running backs weren't used last week. It's certainly, if you're going to play one of them, it's got to be Leonard Fournett. Because of the work and the passing game.

Leonard Fournett would be the player that I would choose to play. But where are you with Ronald Jones? Are you willing to play him as a running back too? The matchup is fantastic. Carolina has, they've gotten a little bit better in the last six weeks. However, I mean, you had part of that is now the Kansas City game where they just decided they're not going to run the ball. They've been bad against fantasy running backs. We have been attacking this defense. We should be salivating. We should be happy to play Ronald Jones.

But are we? I don't think you're happy because of what you said. The arrow's been trending down after the fumble. I think, I mean, this has gone according to plan as wacky as it sounds. When Leonard Fournett was signed, I know both you and I had to take that it would start with Ronald Jones as the back. They'd get Leonard Fournett more involved and then eventually he would take over.

The, you know, the lion's share of the duty. And that's exactly what's happened. And now he's got the lion's share of the duty. Now, if they get down on the goal line. You're killing me, by the, with the duty. Yeah. He's got the, you know, digging around in that duty. Thank you, Mike. I was laughing. You were chuckling back then? Yeah, because you're a child, Brooks. That's fine. Grow up. Do your duty back there, Brooks. Lion share of duty. I don't know. That just was, that one struck me. All right. Continue. I like it.

You know, you still have touchdown opportunity. Carolina, the reason they were so bad through the first half of the year was they gave up a lot of rushing touchdowns. Get down on that goal line. I could absolutely see Ronald Jones, you know, punching it in for a touchdown. So I think he is, again, in that desperation flex category. I don't want to play him. I do think Leonard Fournett is someone that should be started. At the wide receiver position, Robbie Anderson is in the fifth most targets amongst wide receivers.

But this is a difficult discussion. DJ Moore, Curtis Samuel. They have flip-flopped on who is producing at the fantasy level. We know that DJ Moore can get it done, but Curtis Samuel has been stealing his milk money as of late. Who would you rather play? Curtis Samuel, does the trend continue? The NBA Jam rule say he's on fire. Yeah, I think you have to stay with Curtis Samuel. It's not to say you can't also plug DJ Moore

in your lineup. We've seen him break off plenty of big plays. He could have a great game. But right now, they're using Curtis Samuel in a myriad of ways. They're using him in short, deep, intermediate routes. They're using him as a running back. He's become an important weapon to the offense that they have figured out how to get involved. So I think I would put Curtis Samuel this matchup ahead.

for this week until DJ Moore proves he's getting the targets necessary. And I think it's going to be hard for him to really establish those targets since the number one read is Robbie Anderson. And to his credit, Matt Ja Rule, head coach with the Carolina Panthers. Murder. This is what he said he was going to do with Curtis Samuel in the preseason. And it looked like nonsense to start the year. But as the team has evolved and they're taking shape, getting their identity,

Curtis Samuel is, he's being used how they said he was going to be used. And Christian McCaffrey is now out again, and that coincides with their figuring out how to better use Curtis Samuel. So, you know, if Curtis Samuel gets five or six carries, that's great for fantasy in addition to his receiving work. Any hesitation playing any of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receivers. Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, Antonio Brown. Tom Brady, the plant man, he got bruised.

Yet again, because Bruce came through with that bus driving over him saying Mike Evans was open last week. I don't know why the ball wasn't going to an open Mike Evans. Bruce is, he's a real Walter Mathout grumpy old man right now. Yeah, that's a perfect reference for all the Walter Mathau fans out there. Walter Matthew was fantastic. He was okay. He always annoyed me because I was too young and he was just a grumpy old man.

Go back. Go back. I think you're going to relate a lot more. Yeah. If I watch it now and be like, I get it, Walter. Also, I don't see what the problem is. Has anybody ever been better named than Walter? Yeah, it's like, oh, Walter. You old so and so. Yeah, I mean, there's hesitation playing all three, and I'm willing to play all three. We don't have enough evidence as to how the ball is going to be, you know, split up and who's going to have been.

big games and bad games. I agree. I'm playing them all as, you know, hopefully a wide receiver too until I can see if the dust settles. Chris Godwin is still my favorite of the bunch. I agree with that. But between Mike Evans and Antonio Brown, you're talking to coin flip. We still don't know. Rob Grunkowski, he's in. The matchup against the Panthers is pretty solid. Just take last week, crumple it up.

Throw it away in the garbage. The Denver Broncos 3 and 5 will be taking on the Las Vegas Raiders who are sitting 5 and 3. The over and under is 51 points. The Raiders are favored by 5 points. This game is interesting to me. It's one of those. It doesn't seem like it should be all that interesting, but I think that there is a lot of juice that we can squeeze out of this matchup at the quarterback position.

They're both in play for me. Derek Carr has been better at home. Derek Carr has been putting up some solid fantasy games. Meanwhile, Drew Locke, he only plays one quarter a game. Yeah, what? But in that quarter, he gives a bunch of touchdowns. Dude, start playing in the first or even the second quarter. Take a quarter for yourself. But play three of them. Right now the whole I play in the fourth quarter and don't. Is my warm up quarter? Yeah.

But the reality is, and I'm, you know, I made Drew Locke the stream of the week based on this matchup. I think this could be a really, I agree with you completely. Could be a lot of fantasy points to be had in this game. You've got the Raiders who have been bad against the run, have been bad against the pass in the last several weeks.

Josh Jacobs, you're at home, you're favored by five. This appears to be a really good spot to start him. Not that you're not starting him anyways. But here's some troubling news about Josh Jacobs. Over the first four games, he was seeing about 80% of the running back carries. Over the last four games, that number has dropped into the 60s. And on top of that, has played zero snaps in a two-minute drill over the past...

month. That is the big concern with Josh Jacobs. When we started the season and he was in on those two minute drills and he was getting more targets, it seemed like, okay, he's not going to be so matchup dependent. It does not appear that that's the case. But that's why I said this is a game they're at home favored by five points in Vegas. If that plays out the way that Vegas projects, then it's a plus Josh Jacobs matchup. If it turns out Denver jumps off to a lead and they're up,

then it's bad. But, I mean, you've got to call your shot before the game in order to have a projection. And I believe that the Raiders will win this game. And if they do, then Josh Jacobs had a good game. As weird as that sounds. The running backs for the Denver Broncos, Melvin Gordon, you're playing him. Philip Lindsay, though, Jason, are you desperate enough to play Philip Lindsay? Who, yes, he can hit the big play, but the opportunities are just not there.

I mean, you're talking, we had 11 opportunities against the Falcons, nine against the Chargers, nine against Kansas City. Yeah, I mean, the matchup is really good, and he can break a long one off just like, you know, if I had to choose between him and Devin Singletary, I would choose Philip Lindsay because I think the matchup and the ability to score from outside of 20 yards is there with Philip Lindsay versus Devin Singletary.

but I'm not excited about either of those guys hoping I have better options. Was that the breakout game for Jerry Judy against the Atlanta Falcons? 14 targets, 7 for 125, and a touchdown. Perfect matchup, but do you think that that will lead into further success as in has Jerry Judy made his way into your wide receiver 2 conversation? Good matchup against the Raiders.

Last six weeks, they are giving up over 35 points a game to the position. Yeah, he certainly made his way into that conversation. Some of it took, you know, Tim Patrick being a little nicked up and Noah Fant, you know, missing a good chunk of that game with the ankle injury and a great matchup. But you saw what we kind of expected against Atlanta, which was Jerry Judy should have a good game. And this is another matchup over the last six games, like you said, 35.