Week 4 Studs & Duds, Rising Stars, White Hat, Black Hat

Yeah, there were... You better be putting up 130. Five individual 400-yard passing performances this week, which is the most in a single week in NFL history. Wow. Yeah. And we still have a game to go? I was over under on two more 400-yard passers tonight. Under. Under. I'm not going to take the over on Mahomes and Keenham. Nope. Well, this is one of the reasons why the quarterback position is replaceable. It's one of the reasons why when I was offered for Big Ben Rothersberger this week,

because I had drafted Big Ben, I had signed Mahomes, and I had, I still had them both on my team because Big Ben was the top five guy. I didn't even think about not trading them. Yeah, it's also one of the reasons. You can go sign another five guys. Dalton exploded. Yeah, it's also another one of the reasons why when you draft an early quarterback, it often comes back to bite you. I think about my situation in the league of record where I have gone, oh, and four, because I had accumulated so many picks, and I wasn't drafting.

early. I mean, it was like my 10th pick, but I was, Russell Wilson was still on the board. I take him and so you play Russell, right? You play Russell every week, except he's crapped all over me. If I had picked up Andy Dalton and played him this week, I, you know, I win. If I'm streaming the matchups and playing off the waivers, it's just such a winning strategy and it kind of, it feels weird to be on this side of it where I'm playing Russell week in week out. I don't usually have one of those top

quarterback options and it stinks. It takes away some flexibility. Let me ask you this. Genuine question is, and maybe there's two of them. I was going to ask if Patrick Mahomes is the only locked in guaranteed start every week no matter what. Right now, Aaron Rogers, he went into the week ranked 11th. He only scored 17 fantasy points in our league scoring. I think one touchdown. Like,

Who's the auto start at the position? I mean, I guess Rogers is the auto start. Yeah. I guess Mahomes. I would say, and then Cam Newton? That was the name I was going to throw out there. Cam Newton. But otherwise, I mean, it's just interesting. Maybe Kirk Cousins, too. I don't know. Cousins is approaching that. So Trubisky, 354 and 6. Jared Gough, 465 and 5. Literally, nobody beats Mitch this week. Andrew Luck, 464 and 4. Kirk Cousins with the big week. Derek Carr, 437 and 4.

on 58 pass attempts. Oh, that explains it. Well, Luck had 62 attempts. Derek Carr had 58 attempts. I believe at one point while we were watching the Colts game go on forever, Andy, Andy genuinely asked, he's like, does Andrew Luck have a thousand yards right now? It's just like every time you watch another big chunk play, here's another 20 yards. Well, and they kept them in for the Hail Mary just to show you that he could throw it.

Wasn't that impressive? Pro quarterback can throw a hell Mary. It got there. Yeah. Sort of. Matt Ryan. Matt Ryan, the machine. Matt Ryan looks like he may be set up for his great season. Did we say him? No, but he should be. He's an every week start. He's an every week start right now, especially with his upcoming schedule. Oh, my goodness. Pittsburgh, Tampa, New York. With how bad his defense is.

Yeah, his defense stinks. I feel so bad for Falcons fans. You were set up. Not only were you set up, you look great. Your team and your offense at Matt Ryan is playing at the same level, if not better, that got you to the Super Bowl. It looks like Calvin Ridley is legit, but your defense sucks so much that if you don't score 50, you're going to lose the game. But this is not, this is kind of a theme right now as well throughout the league.

Right. Pittsburgh. Ryan Fitzpatrick and whoever's playing quarterback for Tampa. Look, if Winston's a starter, how do you not start him? Right. Their defense is going to give up 60 points. I mean, this is a theme throughout the league right now. I mean, even Minnesota without Everson Griffin. And then Deshaun Watson, Big Week, Andy Dalton started the week, big week. Blake Bortles back on track with 388 and 2.

And Philip Rivers had a very nice piece as well. His passing numbers are just insane. No, they really are. They really are. Running backs. Ezekio Elliott being used in the passing game downfield, 4-48 and a touchdown through the air. And he has been all year. That's one thing you cannot lose sight of. He has been used in the passing game so much every single week the whole season. And that's including last week where he had a down-the-field receiving touchdown that was brought back.

Well, I mean, he hasn't really produced. I was going to say that's not really true. No, it is one. 17 yards receiving, nine yards receiving and 11 yards. But he's getting an opportunity. But I'm talking about targets and receptions. I realize that they haven't broken long. Again, the penalty of stepping out of bounds and then coming back in last week took away like a 40-yard reception. But in the game, the game script, they are using him in the passing game. And so he could very well end up the number two. James White.

Eight for 44 and a touchdown on the ground. Eight for 68 and a touchdown through the air. Boy, it's nice to have a New England backfield that is broken up into just two people. Sonny Michelle, 25 for 1, 12, and a touchdown. Congratulations, Georgia running backs. Sonny Michelle, Nick Chubb. Nick Chubb, I heard this this this morning. There have been 1,200 players. I heard this on credit to Dan Patrick Schoeff for pulling this stat out. There have been 1,200 players in the history of the NFL that have had 100 yards.

and two touchdowns in a game. 1,200 players. There is only one in the history of the NFL that have done it on three carries or less. Three carries for Nick Chubb, 105 yards and two touchdowns, zero targets barely on the field and yet broke the long plays. We talked about Mike Davis and Treek Cohen, big weeks. Naeem Hines. Yeah. Oh, big. I think Naeem Hines is massive fools gold. That's my opinion. Because he scored two touchdowns and Marlon Mack and.

Robert Turbin are both going to be involved in this backfield throughout the season. But nice game. Nine for 63 through the air. 69% of snaps. He is. And that was the key there. But they were on the comeback trail. He's Chris Thompson light. Super light. That's how I view him. Yeah. I think he's going to be one of those more matchup plays. This week, though, they're going to need him because of health and injury issues. We talked about whether we don't know if Jack Doyle is going to be there.

And we know that T.Y. Hilton's not going to be there. And they're playing New England. So you have to imagine the Patriots are going to score. Only if Mac is out, though, right? If Mac is not, if Mac and Turbin are active on game day this week, I think you still play Naim Hines? I think I don't think he's any kind of must start. But if you're in a PPR league, he probably has a high enough floor in the passing game.

I think he's established himself as the passing back here when the other guys get back. Robert Turbin was never the, you know, a passing specialist type of guy. Mike? With, do I play Heinz? Yeah. If Mack and Turbin are active? I completely agree with what Jason's saying. I think that his role as the passing downs guy is secure. Todd Gurley, 17 for 83, no touchdowns. 4 for 73 and 1 through the air. Geo Bernard. Shouldn't.

Gurley being the pooped in his big boys pants section. You mean because he only scored 25? Yeah, he only had like 150 and one, one touchdown? Pathetic. Get out of here. Gio. Loser. Gio was 15 for 69, but two touchdowns on the ground. He's going to end up in that top 12 this week. And I think he'll go right back to being pretty irrelevant once Joe Miction is that. Of course. And the number one running back in football continued to be the number one running back in football. Alvin Camara.

This week he did it on the ground. Super Camario. Super Camario is on pace for 1,100 rushing yards and over 1,300 receiving yards. Oh, sorry, David Johnson. But week four is over. Mark Ingram is out of his suspension. What happens to Alvin Camara? Does this go back to what it was last year, which was still plenty fine for Alvin Camara?

I think this has he earned a role that maybe Mark Ingram's not as involved as we've fought. He's not done this on the backup. Like this specific game was 19 carries. The game before is 16. The game before is 13. He's still been the number one guy. He had 15 targets in a game. I barely down Great Camara. Right. I think that he's not doing anything different this year than he did towards the second half of last year. This is.

What you've been getting in Camara, you're going to continue. The carries is a lot higher. Last year, he never had over 12 carries in a game. Yeah, so take away three or four carries. I mean, we expected that to happen this because Ingram was out and because Camer did have a workload like this to where his snap percentage and carry percentage changed over the course of the season. Especially if you paid attention in the playoffs. Yeah, exactly. And so Camara's Camara. I mean, he's a otherworldly, freak talent. Yes. Breaks every leg tackle that comes his way.

And this team is going to win on his back. And look, Ingram's going to be great too. But, you know, the one thing that I have learned, we always talk about this on a holistic approach. We want to remind ourselves to take two steps back, learn things every year. Like Paul Abdul. Right. Yeah, you take two steps back. It's just too forward than too bad. There you go. We call that the David Johnson. You know, opposites. They attract. But.

Getting back here to the point is that one of the lessons that I've learned is that when you watch a player who is otherworldly on film, you just see them and you just every time they touch the ball, you go, he's so good. You have to stop doing the metric opposition. Three players come to mind, right?

Juju Smith-Schuster. He was my heart over mind guy because I was just so in love with him. Every time he touched the ball, he just looks so good, but he was too efficient. He always is running away from guys getting free, but it was just too efficient. He's not going to have the volume. Same with Alvin Camara. But when you watch these guys, and they are just two steps better than the rest of their opposition,

You have to just believe in them and not say, oh, they're not going to get enough touches. I think that's a lesson I'm learning going forward. I think the argument, though, is that if they were to receive the same volume, then they're not going to produce. And, like, Juju, Juju has, through four games, Juju has 49 targets. Juju's opportunity skyrocketed. Right. But the reason for that is because of how great they have been on the field.

they're not going to go away from the best players. I agree with Jason. And I think that you have to be more forward thinking now in fantasy football as well. We open this segment telling you that you have unprecedented offensive statistics for the first time since 2007. NFL offenses are changing. You have multiple teams now. Use multiple quarterbacks with Lamar Jackson, Joe Flacco, Tassum Hill, and Drew Brees.

Offenses are changing. Production is changing. Penalties and what's being called is changing. Some of the precedent, not all. I mean, you still have to lean on those efficiency metrics for a lot of different things. But when the NFL changes, you don't want your fantasy team to be stuck three, four years ago in the past. So efficiency is going up with certain players in certain situations. And I do think you have to take a leap on talent. Yeah.

Did David Johnson do enough to have you sing, Mike? I mean, I didn't get to 100 on the ground, so that might not be... It's all purpose. Oh! 22 for 71 and a touchdown on the ground, three for 41 on four targets through the air. Look, Rosen made the offense look a lot better. Here's an interesting stat. Baker Mayfield, Sam Donald, Josh Rosen, and Josh Allen. Healthy 0.4 this week. The rookies didn't get it done by way of victories, but...

Josh Rosen did make the offense look better. Larry Fitzgerald dropped a touchdown in this game. He dropped three passes, which is obviously not the normal thing that Larry Fitzgerald Hall of Fame hands. But do you, I mean, this was, I wanted to point out. Just his hands are going to be inducted. Yeah, they're going to take them. Do you make a break? We brought up make or break players on the show. David Johnson was the make or break for Jason.

This was a make week. This was a make week. I mean, this was what you hoped was that the Cardinals could sustain offense enough for him to be able to do this. This is not a fantastic game, but it wasn't like the Cardinals' offense was great. They were just average, and if David Johnson's putting up near 20 points on your fantasy roster, like he did this week, week in, week out.

You're going to be fine. Look, you're sad that it's not Zeke. You're sad that it's not girly levels where you've got that 35 points from one position. But this is not a freak out. This is not a, this is why we said after his down week, don't sell him low. If you still don't believe, you're going to be able to get value now for him if you want to move on. That's true. But I probably will hold. Monstrous week for Marshaun Lynch should have had a long touchdown in the worst officiated game I've ever seen in the NFL history.