Starts of the Week + Week 15 Breakdown, Farewell to Urban Meyer - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/16

been playing. He hasn't been over 50 yards on the ground. But you're going to get 15 opportunities against a 26 ranked run defense with a limited or inactive Tony Pollard. And Zeke, the words from his mouth, I feel better than I felt all week. Yeah. He was wearing a brace last week. Bull batuti. Yeah, he's told us the whole time the injury is not a problem. Yeah, he's at 100%. He was limping everywhere on the field. You can't bench him. No, you cannot bench him.

He is a good play. I don't think he's a top five guy. But the last two weeks, 16 opportunities and 18 opportunities, now he had those opportunities and did nothing with them. But that was against the New Orleans Saints, still a great run defense. And the Washington football team, who's turned their defense around. You need a goal line opportunity. You need a goal line opportunity, absolutely. But against the 25th ranked Giants.

You get 15 opportunities. You're not going to bench Zeke. Zeke or Sony Michelle against the Seattle Seahawks. Zeke. Zeke or James Robinson against the Houston Texans? James Robinson. The answer is Sony if Daryl Henderson doesn't play. Sure. I guess I'm seeing Henderson as active. Let me ask you one, Mike. Michael Gallup, targets over the last four games, 10-8-99. Ammon Ross St. Brown or Michael Gallup in this game. Ooh. A little target battle for you. Yeah.

To me, it's Gallup. To me, I'll take Gallup. Gallup is a good wide receiver, has one of the better quarterbacks in the league, so I'll chase that stuff. You agree, Jay? Yep. On the other side of the ball, Sequin and no one else? Is it that simple? Yeah, you've got to monitor. He was non-participant Wednesday. I think that that is probably expected. But just make sure you're monitoring on Thursday if he's had any.

you know, injury, aggravation. Yeah, Kenny Galladay can't trust it. Maybe. Sterling Shepherd will be the one I would want to play of any of them, but that's not a ringing endorsement. It's going to be Mike Glyn. It might even be Jake Fromm. A little bit of Jake mixed in there. Yes. The Washington football team at six and seven takes on the six and seven Philadelphia Eagles, the drafting sportsbook line, Philadelphia minus seven, the over under 44 points.

Washington, we talked about it early in the show. They are decimated. Injured, Taylor Heineke might play. Injured, Terry McLaren might play. I don't want to play him. The Eagles defense has been great against whiteouts. McLaren's been, this is a must bench Terry McLaren week, in my opinion. Oh, for sure. There's, like I will go way down the list. I don't think that he will play in this game. If he plays, I will not.

play him like he he is he is unplayable for sure full goose last week right yep full goose last week then he got injured night i think he is very injured so if he's if he's playing injured against uh you know the season long top three against wide receiver philadelphia eagles no thank you yeah i agree and so if he's out you could shoot your shot on one of their other options but oh thank you i don't think you should ricky seals jones is a good play

It wasn't good last week, but the process is they need a pass catcher. He's had important games this year. Yeah, Philadelphia dead last the last six weeks and on the season against fantasy tight ends. If Jalen Hertz starts, do you start him? He's at home. They're favored? Yeah. Yeah, I do. Okay. And then if Gardner starts, do you start him? I think you can. You know, two quarterback leagues.

He looked good. He can scramble. He was using Dallas Goddard well around the goal line. So I think he's a fine. Gardner or Derek Carrer against the Cleveland Bergs. Gardner or Ben Rathlisberger against the Tennessee Titans. The question that I have for you is what do you do with Devante Smith, who is, you know, by far their most athletic and talented weapon in the passing game. He had a.

A back-to-back run of top 10 weeks at the wide receiver position, but it's been bad the last two, one of them with Gardner. That being said, I believe Quez Watkins is out for the year now. He had received some of the targets in this offense. Dallas Goddard, Devante Smith, seemed like the only two options in a game where they're projected for 25 points.

Yeah, those would be the two. I think that you've got more confidence than Goddard simply because he's a tight end and there are fewer options. DeVonza Smith has a high ceiling. I could see him coming out and having a seven for a hundred and a touchdown. So when you have someone that can do that, they're always in the conversation. But his floor is really two for, you know, 29.

wide variance, you've got to look at your matchup, say, do I need the shot at a strong player? Because he does have that opportunity, or do I want a safer option? I should win this week. I'd rather, you know, go in there and play someone that maybe doesn't have the same athletic talent or isn't first on their team, but has more workload. Quaz is on the COVID list. Yeah, and we'll be out this week. Dallas Goddard was 6'105 and 2 with Gardner. It would be a boost to his value if Gardner was behind center.

but it wouldn't change whether I play Goddard. Dallas Goddard's with Jalen Hertz or Mike Gassicki. I'm going to stay with Goddard. Okay. He dominated, like you said, with Gardner, but before that, it's been since week eight that he was tight end one. Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Let's do our starts. Starts of the week. I will go back to the matchup for a second.

Since we talked about it yesterday, but if you didn't hear the show, we're avoiding the backfield situation right now for Philadelphia? Because that's why. Yes. Okay. So you just, are you playing Malcolm Brown over shooting your shot at a Philadelphia Eagle if Brown is active? I would probably play Miles over those guys. What if Miles is out? Who's the next man up? Is it Jordan Howard? To me, it's Jordan Howard. Yeah, to me, I don't know. So I'm not going to play the gamble game in the playoffs.

All right, I will kick it off at the starts of the week. My quarterback got a bit of a surprise here with the removal of one of his best weapons, but I will stay with Tunga Vailoa who has been playing good football because the Jets are the single best matchup for quarterbacks over the last eight weeks. They're one of the worst defenses ever. We set it on the show today. This is a floor playoff play. If you have a situation, like I'd play too over Derek Carr, no questions asked. And so.

You know, he threw for 273 and 2 against the Jets this year. Jets are allowing the highest completion rate and first down rate and yards per attempt and quarterback rating and we don't know who the running back is. And, you know, Tua's going to have to do a lot of work. And, you know, it was funny. I saw a tweet the other day about how people are praising Mack Jones, who has a pretty low yards per attempt this year because of all the success he's had. And Tua last year had a higher yards per attempt and he was criticized as being a checkdown quarterback.

Tua has matured in year two. Teams playing well. They have to get out to a lead somehow, and I think Tua will get them there. Yeah. It's a deeper one. Sure. My start of the week of quarterback is Dak Prescott, someone that has been bad for the last couple of weeks for fantasy and not great on the road. He is on the road this week.

So there are, you know, reasons to maybe go, oh, man, should I play Dak? If he is on my team, I'm playing Dak. I'm not going to a streaming option. I'm not looking at, you know, an upside. I think Dak is a very good quarterback. The last time that he played the Giants, he already roasted him 302 and three touchdowns in week five when the Cowboys demolished them 44 to 20. Over the last month, he's averaging 42 pass attempts per game. And really.

When you look at Dak's fantasy value and whether it's good or bad, it's just did the touchdowns come in on the ground or through the air? And I don't think that this current version of Zeke and Pollard is the one that is going to score the majority of touchdowns in this game. So I like Dak to have a very good game in New York. And with all of my starts here, I'm trying to maybe limp into the playoffs. So I'm trying to give you some players that I have confidence in that literally might be on your waiver wire.

My quarterback is Jimmy Garoppolo. Last I checked, there was a nine and a half point favorites at home. That could be slightly different now, but that was an implied team total of 28 points. The Atlanta Falcons have been the second best quarterback matchup over the last five weeks. Toss on that, you get a little Kyle Shanahan revenge game. Last week, the Falcons, they gave up a top 12 production.

to the combo of Cam Newton and PJ Walker, if you want some confidence in Jimmy Garoppolo, who, on top of every, like just the process of the matchup, Garoppolo has been pretty solid for fantasy football the last month. All right, my running back start of the week. I believe you've met my fitness con siglieree, Michelle. Go on Sony Michelle, regardless of the Daryl Henderson situation. I think Sean McVeigh has a thing for Sony Michelle, and I think that equates to...

more than half the opportunities out of the backfield against a Seattle defense allowing the second most running back fantasy points in most plays per game. The offense, I think, showed us that they have it together right now. You're not going to have Odell most likely in this game. 15 opportunities for Sony and Michelle against Seattle is something you need to lean into. Yeah, if he gets that. You like that, Al? You like Sony Michelle endorsements? I agree with you.

Sometimes opportunity exceeds talent. That is very off brand for you. I don't want to give bad advice. That's, that's, that's, but that's usually what you can have? But what about your pride?

I stand by that he still sucks. At running back, I had this selected before the news of Urban Meyer, but James Robinson is a very questionable player on a lot of playoff teams. He helped get you there. And you're saying last week you only got six carries. He's a little banged up. Do I have to bench James Robinson? And I am telling you that in my leagues, I am starting James Robinson. I am pretty confident in it. The Urban Meyer.

leaving makes it all the better. You've got Trevor Lawrence begging for James Robinson to be on the field. He throws him the ball. The Texans are a great matchup. They've allowed the most rushing yards in the NFL, the most rushing plays of 10 plus yards. So James Robinson is someone that should be in your lineup and I think is going to give you a good week. And Carlos I was about to say it. Yep.

My running back started the week. It's Deontza Foreman from the Tennessee Titans. He was the dude last week until he was no longer needed in the second half where they just turned to Jeremy McNichols. But up until that point, it was Foreman. He's the one who gets those touches inside the five. And the Steelers have collapsed against running backs. What is that? I do not know, but I know that I must take advantage of it for my fantasy situation.

In the last five games, they've given up top ten production in each of them to the running back position. And that includes top five production to running backs in four of the last five games. The Tennessee Titans, they have found their guy that they can stick with the Derek Henry approach of run more than you throw. So I'm playing Deontay Foreman with confidence. Surprisingly, I'm going with Chase Claypool as my wide receiver start of the week. Yes.

Yes. Since week 10, he's averaged 80 receiving yards per game. He hasn't found his way into the end zone. He has made mistakes on the field and yet, you know, was benched and still put up a pretty good game. Eight for 93. Is that what it was? And the Titans are the second best wide receiver matchup on the year. Teams are throwing at the second highest rate against them. And he's due. He's due for a touchdown. Yes. The regression of his yard is total versus his.

His one receiving touchdown is absurd. He was double digits last year. Yes. Yeah, at wide receiver, I'm going with Brandon Cooks against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Davis Mills has actually been okay. He's been fine. He's maybe been the second best rookie quarterback. Possible. Last week, Cooks went.

8 for 101 on 11 targets. He saw his first red zone target in a month. He's got a 27% market share. He is the only thing working for the Texans, and he's a great player. Do you remember week one against these Jags? He went 5 for 132. The Jaguars are allowing the highest expected points added per pass attempt. I like Brandon Cooks in this matchup. Russell Gage is my start of the week. The San Francisco 49ers, it is the third best matchup for wide receivers over the last five games.