Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Starts of the Week, Week 2 Matchups, News

Yeah, Kenney Stills is a bench for now. If you want to caught him, I'm okay with that. But I'm also just fine holding him and seeing what happens this week and the next week. The only guys I really want to start from this game are Julian Edelman. We saw that Garapolo was not afraid to overtarget him and continue that streak of the shorts and the slants. And I love Garrett Blunt.

this week. I'm going to talk about him a little bit in the starts of the week. But other than that, I'm going to go ahead and say gronk. I'm going to say gronk. Oh, yeah. If gronk plays, you play him every week. Yeah, I know. There's not much analysis I need to do on grunk. Grunk good. On the, on the dolphins side of the ball, I think that Arian Foster will be fine this game. You're going to see a good workload. And I, you know, look, if I am the dolphins.

I'm sorry, if I'm the Patriots, if I'm Bill Belichick, I would say this.

I'm going to try to say Ryan Tannahill beat me. I will scheme to kind of worry about Arian Foster, take him out of the game, because I know Tannahill can't beat me. And so that's, you know, but that being said, it's easier said than done to take Foster out of a game. He looked good against Seattle. He was fine, fantasy-wise. I mean, not, he wasn't great, but he was fine against a better defense in Seattle than for Miami or for the Patriots. New England?

Can't talk. So I'm fine with Foster. I'm also fine with Jarvis Landry. If you're in any kind of PPR, he's just got such a safe baseline. I got him for 10 catches this week. I think he's going to eat. He's going to eat little bites. He eats little bites. He eats little bites. He's a tiny different 10 for 50. We're going to get to the rest of the games tomorrow on the show, the rest of the matchups. Right now we're going to jump into our starts. Starts of the week.

All right, let's start at the quarterback position. I was between a few guys. I'm going to go with Maddie Ice himself taking on the Oakland Raiders. He's doubling down. The Oakland Raiders gave up 423 yards and four touchdowns last week to Drew Breeze. And Matt Ryan isn't Drew Breeze. But I'm going to start Matt Ryan this week. I think he's a great streaming play. I know he's been on, he's on the majority of waiver wires. And so if you need somebody to start this week, I feel really good about Matt Ryan against Oakland.

I think he'll put up, he's got a chance for three touchdowns in this game, and I think it'll be a high-scoring game. Yeah, I don't have any problem with that. My, uh...

My start of the week this week is Matthew Stafford. He was a late draft pick or even a guy picked up off of waivers if you drafted early. And Stafford, look, in week one, I grant you that it was against the Indianapolis Colts who had no secondary, but he threw for 340 yards and three touchdowns with no picks. And here's the one thing I am pretty confident about the...

Detroit Lions is that they are a pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, barely run, pass type of team. So that means this is just their fast pace. This is a high scoring game according to Vegas relative to the other games. This week doesn't seem to have the crazy boom matchups of last week and of usual weeks. But I think there's going to be points put up. I don't think it's going to be done through the running game. And that means Matthew Stafford with all of his weapons should be a...

very fine, safe play with a high upside and a high floor. And I'm taking the, I'm taking his counterpart. I'm taking Marcus Marietta as a guy that, uh, you can grab and start. Look, it's the, the over under like Jason said is extremely high. And the lion's office since JBC, the junior bacon cheeseburger Jim Bob Cooter has taken over as the offensive coordinator. They have been firing.

on all sorts of cylinders. The junior bacon. I love that, man. Look, they, and they've been great. Stafford has been incredible. His touchdown to interception ratio, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but it is, it is incredible what, uh, what Jim has done for that offense. And Stafford has been lights out. So I just, I think that Marcus is going to have to keep up. They're going, it's a matter of, they have to keep pace if they want to try and win the game. They're not going to be able to slow it down. I think he's a fine start.

My decision was between Matt Ryan and Marcus Mariotta. I have them rated very high. It's kind of a scary thing to put Mario as high in the rankings this week, but you've got to go with what you think is going to take place. I'm going to jump in now at the wide receiver start because it kind of pairs with what Marcus Mario. We're starting everybody from the game. No, not quite. But Taj Sharp is my start of the week. I think you can feel confident. Look, when we say start of the week, this is not start him over everybody of the week.

That doesn't make any sense. But Tajay Sharp had a good week one. I'm projecting him very good in PPR weeks in PPR leagues in week two. Because of the high scoring game, all the things Mike just talked about. The pair with Marcus Marieto, he's the go-to guy. Wright's not in there. Harry Douglas played ahead of Richard Matthews this past week. It's going to be the Taj Sharp show. I think you can start him as a two. I think you can start him as your flex. I feel good about Tajay Sharp. I'm willing to go down with the Sharp. What?

No, it was not even close. No, it wasn't. But wide receiver start of the week, Jason, take it away. All right, my wide receiver start of the week, I had a real struggle here because there are two guys I really like. So I'm going to throw out the other name, which is Emmanuel Sanders. I love him this week. I think that that Colts defense is just an albatross. Demarius Thomas is...

not completely healthy, obviously, as he's punching his hip in practice. Out targeted by Sanders in week one anyway. I think Sanders is going to eat. And as I say this, I almost convince myself that Sanders should be my real start of the week. But my start of the week is another guy that I think is overlooked right now. And that's Alan Hearns. Alan Hearns, I think, is going to have a very good opportunity. Now, you've got one of the higher scoring games this week, Jacksonville and San Diego. You have...

Alan Robinson has not the best splits when it comes to against really high-profile DBs and against lower-profile DBs. If he's got an easy matchup, Alan Robinson goes nuts and he eats. But like last week you saw against Sam Shields, he struggled this week. You're going to have Jason Verrett.

on him. That whole game, he was great against Macklin. If you haven't seen his interception, go Google it. Just wrestles the ball away. It's a milk money interception. I love when he, right after he intercepts it, he just puts his hand in the air and starts running like, yeah, I got it. What's going to do? He's.

being chased after with his arm in the air. But my point is, with Julius Thomas, I'm happy to hear he's back at practice, but he had his own injury this week. Alan Hearns is the forgotten man. And I'm saying if you've got him, I'm not predicting he's going to be a wide receiver one. I think he's got a great opportunity for a touchdown in this game. It should be involved. Last game, he was four for 75. That's great. So if he gets a touchdown on top of that, which I think could happen this week, you're going to be very happy that you started Hearns.

And I'm going with a boom upside start of the week at the wide receiver position. And it, there is a little bit of pain in my stomach as I throw this one out because he is a guy that I just don't really like very much. You hate this guy. I hate this guy, but I think the matchup is great for Mike Wallace and the Baltimore Ravens. I love Joe Flacco this week. And I just watched the Cleveland Browns get torched by a rookie and Jordan Matthews. And now you get Mike Wallace who.

At least in week one, look, it was there. The sink was there, and that's what we need. Where Mike Wallace has not had the sink with a deep ball from his quarterbacks for years, and Joe Flacco can bomb it out. So if I need that flex upside play where I think I can sneak in a big touchdown, it would not surprise me at all if Mike Wallace can.

can steal one away this week as well. I'd rather go play Wallace over a guy like Travis Benjamin, who I don't think has the ceiling that Wallace has with some of those deep throws. So that's a great play. Jason, why don't you give us your running back start of the week? We'll dive into the running backs. Sure. We talked about him already. My running back start of the week is Jonathan Stewart. I have him ranked much higher than most analysts do this week. I'm not afraid whatsoever of the San Francisco D. Sorry, Navarro Bowman. You are good, but your D on the road is not. I think this is a game that this game script is.

going to be great for Carolina. If I, if the over under on Jonathan Carries, Jonathan Carries, Jonathan Stewart's carries, Johnny Carries was set at 20. I would take the over in this game. You also saw Cam Newton get pretty banged up last week and beaten up left, right, and center. So when you're down on the goal line, you might just call one or two extra plays to Jonathan Stewart to try to avoid, you know, getting smashed in the head for Cam Newton. I think Jonathan Stewart just has such a high floor.

And if he gets a touchdown, very similar to Alan Hearns, you're going to be very happy with him. To me, I don't, unlike Alan Hearns, there's a situation where I don't start Alan Hearns if I've got great wide receivers. I don't see a situation where I don't start Jonathan Stewart. I mean, I would have to have just great running backs because I think he's a top option this week. Yep. All right, Mike, it's on to you. I'm going with the Garrett Blunt, who was 22 for 70 and 1 against a very strong.

Arizona rush defense. Bill Belichick said, I dare you. Arizona, I dare you to try and stop my running game. And Blunt, he did work. He was one of very few running backs to actually get over 22 carries. And they get to play Miami. Look, Miami might be okay. Their defense might actually be okay. But Krista Michael and Rawls together were nearly at 100 yards. And Laguerre Blunt's the only guy who's going to be taking carries in this game. I think that Belichick continues to.

kind of protect Garoppolo a little bit. He just wants to assure a win. So I think that there's a heavy workload coming for Legerick Blunt with great chance to score. I'm going with Thomas Rawls. Thomas Rawls is my start of the week this week taking on the Rams. I just don't see a circumstance where he doesn't have an increased workload this week.

I think Rawls, to me, looked like he was back in shape last week. I know the numbers didn't say he was hyper-efficient, but they also gave him the ball in some short-yarded situations. They gave him the chance to, I don't know, just get the kinks worked out. And I liked what I saw in the field. I think Thomas Rawls, the game script, the fact that Russell Wilson might not be out of the pocket quite as much, everything that's been happening this week in camp. I feel really good about Thomas Rawls. I have had a lot of people write me and say something like, oh, you know, my only running backs.

worth starting this week of Latavus Murray and Thomas Rawls. I said, okay, you're fine. I think you're fine rolling Thomas Rawls out there. I've looked at some trades to acquire him in my leagues right now when his value's a little lower. I think by week three or four, he's going to be a prolific runner for fantasy owners. So I'm stepping out there with Thomas Rawls. And I'll go ahead and give you my tight end as well. It's Virgil Green. Virgil Green taking on the Indianapolis Colts.

Virgil Green was targeted fairly heavily last week. Should have had a touchdown. Should have had a touchdown. They drew up a red zone play for him. I believe his target count was at six or seven last week, which really wasn't that bad for the tight-in position. So I was pretty happy with what I saw on film from Virgil Green. I'm exceptionally happy with the matchup against the Colt, whose secondary and defense is just extremely limited right now. So I think it's going to be the... Did you know that they...

The Indianapolis reached out to us for our flag football defense. I did not know that. I hadn't told you yet, but we'll talk about it after the show. Yeah, so he had four catches last week. I'd put him in that six catch range this week, and I like Virgil Green as a spot start. Yeah, no, I really like him as well. He has looked involved, and this is a great matchup. For me, my start of the week, I made this guy my start of the week because I get more questions about him this week.

than just about any other player. And it makes no sense to me. So this is like a half start of the week, half public service announcement. Antonio Gates. He's great. He's a Hall of Famer. He's going to catch touchdowns this year. He's got a plus matchup. I don't understand the questions of, should I drop? If I could do the voice of public opinion, I'd do it. And I would say, but Jason. But Jason.