THE UNOFFICIALFOOTBALLERSFAN ARCHIVE↗Transcript links use the exact YouTube video’s clock. Machine transcripts can contain errors.
Mike's well-timed TeSlaa electricity cue opens the show. Brooks says it sounds louder, a producer admits increasing it two percent every use, and the desk demands a bright-yellow studio, seat buzzers, and a next-morning lightning package if TeSlaa scores. Owl is still making the effects late in the episode, before Mike triggers the favorite drop at the close.
Jonathan Gannon's terse injury answer makes the desk demand that Gannon go into a cannon and be fired away, with either the sun or moon accepted as the destination.
A wide-receiver reveal triggers rapid commands to show Andy, return to the speaker's camera, and then cut to Jason while the desk repeatedly asks what could go wrong.
Kyle's prepared Jameson Williams and TeSlaa bullet points are discarded. Later, his Mason Taylor missed-tackle fixation earns a rest-of-show assignment; called the kitty cat reporter, Kyle meows and confirms that Taylor alone has at least 20 receptions without forcing a missed tackle.
The show previews the next Fantasy Faceoff Wheel of Shame. An unidentified losing host acknowledges that it is his punishment and is reminded that he had two tiebreaker chances before the episode closes on Mike's TeSlaa cue.
The produced opening names Andy, Jason, and Mike, then immediately celebrates Mike's timing on the booming Isaac TeSlaa cue. Brooks observes that it sounds louder; an unlabeled producer says it rises two percent every use. The desk commissions bright-yellow lighting and seat buzzers, with a hard deadline if TeSlaa scores that night. Later, Kyle's prepared Jameson Williams and TeSlaa bullet points go unused, Owl is reported busy making the lightning effects, and Kyle receives a new live assignment: determine whether Mason Taylor is uniquely incapable of forcing a missed tackle. Addressed as the kitty cat reporter, Kyle answers with a meow and terse confirmations that Taylor stands alone among players with at least 20 receptions. Other film-ready beats include rapid camera commands during Starts of the Week, a proposal to fire Jonathan Gannon from the Gannon cannon into the sun or moon, and an unidentified Fantasy Faceoff loser acknowledging that the Wheel of Shame awaits after two failed tiebreakers. Mike closes by triggering his favorite TeSlaa drop and asking Isaac not to let him down.
turning into, you know, a James Cook Fest slowdown game as well. So to me, Yoshivas, especially with Tensley getting a bunch of targets last week, I'm not as excited, but obviously the game environment could end up becoming Josh Allen versus Joe Burrow. Who's going to, whoever has the ball last wins the game because they just keep scoring. That's what the hope is. And play Higgins if he's active. I would. For sure. Tennessee's 1 and 11. They take on the three and nine Browns. Oh, yeah. Who did Tennessee beat? Yeah. Yeah, I know the answer. Our Arizona Cardinals. There's a reason I'm wearing a Diamondbacks hat today. The Tennessee Titans 1 and 11 with an implied point total in this game of 14 and a half. Blarf. The Browns are four and a half point favorites. The Runders 33 and a half. Oh, blah. How low can you go?
Well, Tennessee is the number one pick right now, Cleveland the number five pick right now. All right. This is not great. There's only been, wait, the overrunners 33 and a half? Yeah. Wow. Well, this is, so Cam Ward has looked better over the last month than he did the beginning of his career. But on the road with frigid temps. against an unstoppable pass rush from the Cleveland Browns. I don't know how Tennessee can score. They're implied 14 and a half points. Like how? How are they getting 14.5 points? I'm playing the Cleveland defense and then I benched all my other players. That's all I'm playing. Right. You guys said you had to set legal lineups yesterday. That's legal to me. Right. It's illegal to have a full lineup and add this defense. No. I mean, it's going to be good. Jason, your start of the week, quench on Judkins.
should get on track here in this one. Shoulder Sanders is a winnable game, but I'm not going to play you, and I'm not going to play your whiteouts. The only player I will consider on this team outside of Judkins is Fanon. I think Fanon is worth playing on pace for over 100 targets, had the big touchdown from him last week. I think I'm comfortable with Fanon. I don't know if you guys are in the same board with the low over-under, but I am. I am uncomfortable with it, but I understand it. Fanon is good. And he's a rookie. Basically, that's it. It's like, hey, a talented player at a position where you're struggling for options, I'm okay with it. But I'm not excited. I mean, obviously like Brenton Strange, my start of the week, I would start over Fanon. And this makes it really easy. Don't play any. Titans? None. Correct. Don't play any of them. Don't play running backs. Don't play tight ins. Don't play wide receivers. Don't play quarterbacks. The only... Pretend the Titans are on by. The only player that you could play...
would be Jim Ray, D.K., if you are in a return yards league. That's it. Well, yeah. I love that that D.K. gave us the wide receiver 10 against Seattle. And I was like, okay, we've seen, we've seen some flashes of life here. You know, three top 16 performances in five games. His reward for those that had the courage, negative points. I will say, if you want to say something about the Titans, talk Dynasty, talk Gunner Helm. Chigal Conquil will be gone. Gunner Helm is shown. If you watch the tape, looks pretty good to me. Has had four, six, and six receptions since the buy. It takes time for Titans to get going. Dynasty leagues he's worth rostering. The commanders are three and nine, the Vikings, four and eight. People are going to go to that game. That other one? The Browns one? Yeah. Yeah.
Thousands. People are going to spend. Tens of thousands. Money and their time. I just have. And they're going to go to that. I've got two words for them. Hot toddies. Yeah. Yeah. Hot toddy. Hot toddy. And it's on a lot of them. Do you think they, they just serve those at every hot dog stand? Yeah. Doubles. Just a hot toddy machine. It's going to be freezing. And this is just it. It's mean. It's downright mean. It's not okay. That the NFL is allowing this to happen. At least this is close to our, somebody called it the dung bowl. This is close to the battle, like in bad weather between the two worst teams. Like this is a fair punishment. Yeah. Why isn't it snowing heavily in this one? This is where the snow should go. Yeah. Move the snow to the worst teams. But I don't want to talk about this one anymore. Okay.
The commanders are 3 and 9, the Vikings 4 and 8, Minnesota, 2.5 point favorites. The overrunners 42 and a half. I guess it's part of our job to be hyperbolic and overstate things and say something entertaining. I don't know how untrue this is. This might be your career, JJ. In a real way. This game. This game and the following couple games, but this one in particular, you're at home against Washington. You want to be, this is the game that decides if you're a career backup or not. I really think so. Well, he couldn't ask for a better get right game. Well, next week is Dallas. Well, sure. I mean, Dallas. I mean, this combo here. But the for the offense to be able to get moving right now, the commanders.
I mean, their defense has not shown up this season. And I don't even blame it on the Jaden Daniels injury and the offense putting them in bad situations. Mario does look good. Mario has performed well. And I don't think that the team isn't giving effort. I don't know what it is because I feel like their defense was better last year. But on the course of the season, they're 28th against quarterback 30th against running backs, 22nd against wide receivers, 28th against tight ends. They are not. a tough matchup. So this is what I mean, man. You're at home. You have to have a game that shows a flash. You're in a dome. You've got an easy defense. Do something. Do it. Yeah. And throw the ball to Justin Jefferson. It's the shy of above. Yeah. Do it. Do it. Throw the ball to Jefferson. Throw the ball to Addison. Hawkinson. Don't throw to him. He's actually been, yeah. He's actually been like six for 59 last week. Okay. He had to just.
deep reception line. The 29-yard catch, it was pretty good. So all the Jefferson questions, like if you can't, if you can't play Jefferson in this game, you will never need, there's never a time to play him again this season. That's the real truth. If you can't play him against the 31st ranked Washington wide receiver defense at home with JJ, because they're not getting, there's no cavalry. There's no other quarterbacks showing up. Yeah. This is like, yes, you play JJ to me. Yeah, he's, he's my new start of the week. Jefferson? Yes. Justin Jefferson. That's fine. Yeah, I allow the pivot. People need it. Justin Jefferson absolutely should be started. So like Justin Jefferson and Michael Wilson, the guy I said, I would be starting Justin Jefferson. I know he's only scoring like eight fantasy points a game in his starts with nine, but this is this is a good matchup. Justin Jefferson's probably the best wide receiver in the National Football League. It will be a get right situation. Yeah, I just, man, man.
He is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Oh, he's got 10 interceptions, not 9. I thought 9 was maybe an interception nickname for McCarthy. Brosmer. It was. You're the backup. Play your running backs, whoever's starting in Minnesota? Are you okay with that or not really? You should be. If Aaron Jones was limited on Wednesday. It makes sense to play them, but I would be terrified. If both are active, if Aaron Jones doesn't play, then you're like, okay, I get it. I can jam Jordan Mason in there at a flex spot. You guys might disagree with me on this, but I am completely comfortable with Terry McClure in this game. I look at Marcus Mariotta as kind of like Brissette Light right now, where the production is going to be there. I mean, I think he's been over 210 passing yards in every one of his starts.
Yeah. Or close to it. I mean, I have no problem with him in this game, and they may have some short fields. He's been very, very good. And I would, I want to say against the Vikings defense, I mean, we saw them just shut down JSN completely for the first time all season. So it scares me a little bit. But what we saw last week was against the tough Denver defense. So he's okay to me. You would start. Chris Arderagos, if you had to start a commander running back? Yes. Yeah. That is one area of the Vikings 20th in the last six weeks. You guys remember Bill? Man, I was running out of those Bill Kroski jokes and he did me a solid. He's like, I got you. You're not going to need those anymore. You should take that drop and slow it down and twist it up and make a sad version. It's, I'm just a bill.
Yeah, it's not good. Debo, is he a flex play? I would prefer not. He seemed pretty banged up during that last game. I don't know. He's been top 36, three straight weeks with Mariotta. I would, the defense freaks me out. I prefer to play McLaurin and not deep. Zach Ertz or Kyle Pitts? Zach Ertz last week. 13 targets, 10 catches. Yeah, Ertz. Ertz is way better than Kyle Pitts. All right. We'll take a break. We'll get into some more matchups. All right, we are in the heart of the fantasy season and the injuries are already piling up, ACLs, stingers, and turf toes, oh my! In fact, the only thing right now that feels good is having the perfect backup ready to go. So wouldn't it be great if you had a perfect backup in real life too? With Progressive, you get more than just a policy. You get a playbook full of coverage options that you can count on for your home or for your auto. You want...
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Year four. Imagine when he was drafted if I told you, I go, hey, you're fine. Hey, by the way, in four years from now, you're going to still think Zacherts is better than him. That sentence wouldn't have been real. Miami's five and seven. Still fighting. New York, the Jets, they still have a franchise. Three and nine at home. Miami favored by two and a half, over under 41.5. Here's more weird for you, Mike. We get. We get these 33, 40, 41. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Miami's won four or five, guys. Four of five. Impressive. And they had lost like a bunch of one-score games. It could have beat the Chargers, right? They had a bunch of close games. They're really, it's a credit to their head coach. Sure. In my opinion. No, when things are bad, you know, we dunk on people. Yeah, they're not playing. I mean. Give him the accolades if he's performing. Exactly.
And the alternative is John Gannon. The Jets will start to Rod Taylor again, Brees Hall. Referred to himself as a decoy. He referred to himself as a decoy last week because the plan was to throw the ball a lot. Just call me decoy. But you could throw the ball to Brees. I don't. The transition of what this team was at the beginning of the year when they were, you know, they had the compliment. It was Brees Hall. It's Braylon Allen. Braylin Allen's the hammer. uh, Breece is still getting work on the ground, but they're throwing to him a ton, four targets, three, six, six, five. And then Braylon Allen gets hurt and like, no, we don't throw it to Bruce Hall anymore. It's so bizarre. It just hasn't been like the Justin Fields, like we hadn't seen Justin Fields or Tarot Taylor really with Breece Hall and it just hasn't happened. They've been trying to really use Adonai Mitchell and John Mechie and some of these, you know, Mason Taylor. Um, I don't get excited about playing a,
a jet right now but i i do think there's opportunity yeah and what are we are you ping ponging like it are you going you know two weeks ago it was mechie last week adenai was the one who came through they're being asked about a lot at night okay yeah i'm staying with adenai because i want i want touchdowns yeah you want the deep shot yeah they're gonna take shots you know 39% target share mechie is insane I think his floor is maybe higher because easier connections. But Adnoy Mitchell, he'll get some deep shots a la an Alec Pierce where you just connect on one of those in your fantasy day is way better. Yeah, 100 yards last week. You're not going to get that with Metschi, 6, 7, 12 targets. Kyle wants everyone to know that Miaoson Taylor still hasn't forced to miss tackle. He tracks it very closely. I mean, how have you not forced to miss tackle yet? I don't know, Mike.
Yeah, you do. Meow. That's on 39 catches. 39 catches. Make something happen. I don't know, man. I don't know. Kyle, find us. Let me know if other tight ends are in the same boat or if he really is standing alone. Oh, that would be real fun. I would like to know. That's your job for the rest of the show. Owl's busy making lightning effects. And your job is to figure out of Miaoson Taylor is a lone kitty cat or not. On the other side, Devon A-chan is a machine. I brought up Ollie Gordon as a backup option because the matchup is so good. I do think they'll give him work. He is a great compliment. He had nine carries two weeks ago. He only had three this past week. It was a tighter game. Like if they have a real back and forth affair, maybe he'll get out there. Jalen Waddle. I've been a little bummed out. He is worth a discussion because the target share is there, but this is.
turned the team has transformed like the McDaniel Tua Tyreek everything is high flying that doesn't seem to be the path forward anymore so while Jalen Waddle is alone and consuming most of the pie the pie has really shrunk and then he hasn't made the most of his opportunities whether that's to his fault or not he had three great weeks kind of post Tyreek injury but his catch rate the last two weeks 43 and 50 percent Yeah, it's been disappointing. I'm still going to be starting Waddle every week. This matchup is not a great one for him. The Jets, while their defense is not great, you run on the Jets. They're top five against wide receivers when you adjust for the schedule. So Waddle is in a slightly tough situation here, but the 33% target share, that's what I am targeting is I want guys who are getting the ball thrown their way. Let's go directly to our kitty cat reporter.
Kyle, what is the report on Mason Taylor's breaking tackle situation? Meow! So the report is he is alone above 20 receptions with no forced mistackles? Correct. Is that your way of telling me Zach Gertz has broken a tackle? Yes. Oh, my goodness. Wow. Yeah, they said it couldn't be done. So this is not a bit. This is accurate. This is analysis. All the bits are accurate. Yeah. Those are the best bits, really. So all other tight ends who have not forced to miss tackle have fewer than 20 receptions. And he's at 39. He's at nearly 40. Maybe he's just not into that. Oh, I mean, no, he's not. Darren Waller is the play of the day for me in this entire game. He's the most exciting for me because.
This is a position of great need and fantasy. He was out there running routes in his first game back, and you're going to get more acclimated the matchup. On the year, it's good against the Jets, not in recent weeks, but I don't care. I'm going to play Darren Waller. Yeah, I'm with you. The New Orleans Saints. Let's just keep talking about teams that the Patriots have beaten. All right, the Saints are two and ten. I don't know. I don't know, man. Dunk on the Patriots? I don't know. The number one team in the AMC? I don't know, dude. I vacillate between my love of Drake May and Mike Rabel and my hatred of the dynastic success of the Patriots for so many years where I'm like, let somebody else have something. Yeah. And now they're back atop the division. I.
I don't care, man. The Saints are 2 and 10. The Buccaneers are 7 and 5. Tampa Bay 8.5 point favorites. They need this one. The overrunner is 42 and a half. This is the largest spread of week 14, 8 and a half points. Tampa Bay beat them 23 to 3 in week 8. Tyler's Huck has been playing well. I think it is. He has. It will be a really bad situation, though, for them if Chris Oliva misses this game. He is so much of a go-to guy. Win needed. Mind you, he did cost him the entire game last week. But also, they wouldn't have been there without him. Yeah, but he switched it. He's had 10 plus fantasy points in six or seven weeks. If he's active, are you right back to him? Yeah. He can make it through the back injury. I mean, he was my start of the week prior to the injury. I like the matchup. I like what I've been seeing with Shuck. He has been much, much better. And the matchup is pretty good. I mean, they're going to have to throw the ball. Now, if Olave doesn't play, Velae. I think even if Olavee,
plays. Vele is at least interesting of we really have, you know, I think we have, what, four games of Shuck. We have three games of actual full-time Devon Veilay for the New Orleans Saints. It wasn't, it was the week before the buy that he jumped from being like a mid-20% of the snaps type of a play, 30% all the way up to 87. And that's where he has stayed. He is a full-time player. And now back-to-back weeks. Seven targets against Atlanta didn't turn into production, but we at least saw some signs of life. And then he caught all eight of his targets against Miami. Let's have a little fun with Tyler Shuck for the people out there. We haven't got to talk about him much this year. He's got his opportunity. I want you to guess some numbers for me. Just looking at his last three games, if you projected over a season, first of all, blowing away the Caleb Williams completion percentage. Do you know where he's at?
It's a nice number. I was going to say about 70, 69%. 69%. He's on pace for, again, three-game sample, 4,300 yards, 23 touchdowns. Yeah, we're cutting out 11 picks. Cutting out his first start. I think it's fine. I think that's appropriate to cut out the first start. Okay. Mind you, it was against Tampa, which he plays this week. But, yeah, I mean, you need to, you've never taken a snap in the NFL. I think you look at where you're trending, and I'm just throwing it out there. He's on. pays for a solid season, a starter-worthy season. Yeah, certainly a better season than Cam Ward, statistically. Yeah. Cam Ward, I think, is on pace for 10 touchdowns, which would be like the lowest ever or something. I mean, yeah, the, is that true? Well, he has seven right now, and he's playing every week. So that, the math checks out. Also the same amount of interceptions. Yeah, on pace for 10 passing touchdowns.
Fewest passing touchdowns for a quarterback to start all 17 games would be Trevor Lawrence, who got to 12. And I just don't know how to feel about the Cam Ward situation overall. Because if you told me that you- I'm feeling better. If you told me that you get Olave and Juan Johnson and Belay and Camara for your team, or you get Chimre D.K. and Iommanner as your starters. He had Ridley. He had Ridley for, you know, the first half of the year. Ridley missed quite a bit of time. And he just wasn't good. Yeah. I don't, I mean, a lot falls at his feet. I'm just saying he, yeah. So it is what it is. Tampa Bay, they should be able to handle business. Bucky Irving, it was great to see. They went right to him. There was no limiting of the touches. 19 running back touches. Five for white, two for Tucker. Emeka, Buka, is he a must start anymore? Who?
Jason. Emika a big boo. I don't think he is a must-start guy every week. He needs to be. Let's play the name game. Brian Thomas Jr. or Emeka, Buka. Oh, man. That was dirty. I'm playing a Buka in that situation. I don't think that you're going to see Evans or McMillan this week. In which case, I'm going to take the targets. Abuka or Terry, Andy. Well, Andy said he was the Terry guy. I know. Abuka. All right. Abuka or Devante Smith against the Chargers? Jason? Devante Smith. All right. Yeah, I mean, this, it does feel like kind of, we need a, we need a game. I mean, we have seven, his last seven games, he's had one where he scored 10 points. He's had one where he scored eight points.
like it and he's on pace for 153 targets in that stretch it's really confusing it is confusing it's and he had the hamstring injury and everything has happened since the hamstring injury so i just get a little like are we fools we're not look here's the truth a buca is awesome yes he is a great wide receiver he is an unbelievable route runner has great hands he's in a very yeah 791 receiving yards already yeah but it's a tough run but i that's where i'm going I'm okay. I'm okay with it. I'm a little nervous, but I'm okay with it. You talked about Devin Neil, Mike, running back on the other side. I forgot to mention him on the way down. The opportunities will be there. John Johnson, it's a dart throw at tight end and one that I'll probably take with another player this week. That was Fantasy Forecast, presented by prize picks, join millions of users and sign up for America's number one fantasy sports app. Use the code footballers.
You can get $50 in lineups when you play $5. All right. More matchups tomorrow and the fantasy face off the wheel of shame. Yeah, that's me. Two tiebreakers. Two tiebreakers. You had your chances. Yeah. I did. And I think I'll let Mike in the show with his favorite drop of the day as we get ready for Thursday night football. But we will catch you on tomorrow's episode. Don't forget join thefoot.com for the ultimate dashboard. Get ready for the week. The advance starts it tool and more. Go ahead, Mike. Isaac. Don't let us down. Don't let Mike down. Yes. Goodbye, everybody. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com. And follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.