Week 2 Studs & Duds + Emotional Reactions, Injuries Suck - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/16

to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Monday, September 16th, Mike Wright, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway, the fantasy footballers podcast back with you. Lots of emotion in the building. Most of it directed directly at Isaiah Pacheco's situation. Oh, too soon. Too soon. What, do you think we weren't going to talk about it? I was hoping. I was hoping we got through this show and I just ignored it. Yeah, I'm not ready to. I'm in denial right now. Really? Yeah, that's what stage is that? Of grief. Yeah, I mean, it's. Swish. Oh, dang. No, I mean, it's part of the news today. We got a lot of, I mean, injuries have been a storyline in fantasy football. We got reactions to the weekend, studs and duds and a whole lot more.

How are you doing today, Mike? Are you somewhat rejuvenated thanks to Marvin Harrison? My pants will never recover from what just happened. Put it that way. They flew off? They did not fly off, man. They evaporated. The beginning of that game, Marvin Harrison just going full nuclear in the first half, multiple touchdowns, 130 yards, dominant. Like unbelievable hands, great speed. Should have had four touchdowns. I feel like. Realistically should have had four. But yeah, that was fantastic. Overall, the teams are. It feels like this weekend did a very good job of reinforcing the messaging on last week's show of don't freak out. Don't overreact. Like those that lost their minds about Marv, all is well in the world. Those that.

lost their minds about Isaiah likely, he came back to Earth. We had those that thought Anthony Richardson was the second coming, got a harsh reality in Green Bay. Like there was balance to the force, I guess you could say in week two, a bunch of injuries as well. And we like to react with you each and every Monday morning, your reactions to the weekend on the most sophisticated segment of the show, Monday Punday. We'll start with the good, Mike. Brock Powers. Pal-Pow! Oh, yeah. And Devon, a champ. Chris Godson. Chris Godson, yeah. Malik Yerbers. Oh, how about J.K. Dubbins? All right, or Breece. Hallelujah. And it was nice. Balance to the Force to see Calvin Ridiculous. Yes, speaking of the Force, marvelous Harrison Jr.

Alvin Camaro? Alvin Camaro. It would be more like Alvin Ferrari, but... We're saying Camero is good? Darnold Schwarzenegger. And Jackson Smith Winjigba. I like that. But also... There was bad. Isaiah Pacheck. Ow! Oh, and how about Colby Barfinson? The cheese has gone bad. Christian dirt. Oh, I know this guy. Jamar Waste. Oh. You were taking that personally. Isaiah rarely. Yeah. How about Stank Dell? Or Jared Gawful. And, uh, Brandon, I yuck. Oh, Sam La Poopie Pants. Hey, Amari Pooper. Oh, all right. And Patrick Mahomeless. Oh, no. Oh, no. The, you know, the emotions were raw. I mean, there were a lot of injuries. We didn't touch on them all in the Monday Punday, but I mean.

I think I saw Cooper quarter cup because he had been, you know, got limited work. So you were just saying, you know, order to the force. Some of the great performances came back down to life. Some of the bad performances bounced back. So how do you cope with double weeks of that? Like Amari Cooper. Amari Cooper, you just tweeted out. He's eighth in targets right now in the NFL. Yeah, he has 17 targets. He's 84th in fantasy points. Yeah, that's bad. I mean, he's had two brutal drops on big plays. One was a touchdown. One was a big downfield play. And he's caught five of 17 targets. He looks checked out. He does seem. Amari Cooper as a player has always looked different to me. Like it doesn't, it's not like Malik neighbors. It's not, you're not jumping off the line. Like it's always been precision. It's been.

You know, he finds spots. He's in and out of breaks well. And so it's hard for me to read that too because obviously he put himself in the position to be wide open for a couple of these big plays that he brutally dropped. But I think people are freaking out. Yeah. I mean, it would be hard to start him. There are a couple players now where you go, man, can I, can I put, you know, Michael Pittman, can I put this player in my lineup, even though they are the target leaders? You're just not sure that that's going to amount to enough to be a good fantasy play. If I have a target leader that's a downfield threat, I'm like Amari Cooper. I think that's going to be okay. I really do. I think he'll be all right. Historically, Amari Cooper, and this is really incredible work he's done his entire career over and over and over having good fantasy finishes at the end of the season. And every single season being the most hot and cold guy of all time.

half good, half bad. So I think he's just setting up a really strong finish. Yeah, and they won the ball game. I mean, you know, Deshaal Monson looked markedly better. He did. He looked competent, which is not something you could say of bright. I mean, Bryce is. Bryce Young is he's Kyla Murray without any of the skill. He's just small. Is that the comp? Just. Well, it's like we don't, you know, you get the hype jokes around Kyler Murray all the time instead of celebrating the fact that he is, like most NFL athletes are superhumans and he's a normal sized person that does great things. But Bryce Young is normal sized and clearly normal. Normal. Normal. Like it's just depressing. Bryce Young attempted. No.

This was next-gen stats. He attempted only two passes over 10 air yards despite trailing in every one of his drawbacks in the entire game. And he did not complete either of those throws. This is why you start him. This is why if you're a Panthers fan, you make sure he starts 17 games this year. Because he's the path to your next. He is the path to a good quarterback. He's your path to what? I thought you were talking about fantasy players. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I was talking about the Carolina Panthers. There's one you don't care about. Deonti Johnson, that's a player you can go ahead and two bad weeks probably does a season make. Yeah. Depressing. And I listen to Adam Thiel and say that, you know, this was not a Bryce Young problem. But I don't know whose problem it was. You sure about that? Yeah. That's very kind of you, Adam. You sure about that? Adam's being nice to his quarterback. And look, I'm not. Ask him a couple years from now.

He's, yeah, he wants to continue taking the paycheck and then moving on. It's incredible. It's incredible. And Jamar Chase, here's another one, two straight weeks. Maybe that'll be something we talk about on the show tomorrow and a quick question. Like players that have had two ups or two downs, but Jamar Chase, two down weeks, two under double digits, out there for 92% of snaps. Every time the ball's going downfield, I'm going, oh, this is the chase target. There's always some. white guy underneath the ball at that point in time. Yeah, Mike Gisicki was just a Hoover vacuum for targets this past Sunday. Yeah, and targets to Irwin and Target to Yoshivas. Look, it's really narrative. But if you watch the game, Jamar Chase lost, let's say he lost his cool there at the end of a game where he thought or he got up and he had felt like he was either face masked or tackled by his helmet.

The replay did not look anything like that, at least to me, of the couple angles I saw. But he got up, got the huge penalty that really screwed over the Bengals. But that penalty looked like a man who was just mad. He was mad at his team. He was big mad. They are not giving him the targets that he thinks that he should get. So that one, to me, feels like a, that's going to be the loudest squeaky wheel all week in practice. And be like, Joe. Throw me the ball. Well, and he did not get the contract he wanted. Right. So Jamar Chase has been, you know, Brandon and I use Jamar Chase. Those have been tough players for people to put into their lineups. Yeah, yeah, I've been starting them. It's great. I will say this for the Bengals. Three of their next four games is the Washington commanders, the Carolina Panthers, and the New York Giants. That's how we get right, baby. That's an opportunity for sure. All right, let's talk about some offenses that have been surprisingly.

Incredible. Welcome to Ready to Roll, presented by Nissan. We're two weeks into the year and we've had some drastic changes on offense. Now, spoiler alert, the bears will not be discussed in this segment. Oh, no. The offensive changes for the bears have yet to work. They're the, I believe they have the lowest yards per play. Lowest yards per play. in the NFL below Carolina. Yeah, part of my excitement of Ryan Grub and bringing his offense to Seattle was not just Grub. It was the removal of Shane Waldron, who I felt like was not a very good coordinator, who is now Caleb Williams coordinator. And he's going to be the new Arthur Smith of discussions if something doesn't change. Now, I watched that game last night, the Houston game, and I came away saying Caleb Williams couldn't have done a darn thing. I mean, he was pressured on 27 of 28 dropbacks.

The defensive line was exploding through the offensive line on every play. I mean, could he have done more? Maybe. It's really tough. Like, this is not college. When you scramble and chuck it down field, I believe one tweet said, there are men down there taking care of their families and they're going to intercept the football. Like, this is not college. But let's talk about some offensive coordinators that have made changes that are mind-blowing. And we have to start. Yes. With Clint Kubiak in New Orleans. Baby Cubs. Who are, they're two and oh, they destroyed Dallas. They being the New Orleans Saints. The Dennis Allen led New Orleans Saints, my favorite. I'm, I'm telling, I, I know people might not know. Sometimes you got to pop it out and show them. That's a direct quote from Dennis Allen. People might not know how I. That's a direct quote. Oh, you didn't see it. I didn't have time to fire up that video. He gave a locker room speech and ended it with.

By the way, there were some profanities mixed in. Sometimes you got to pop it out and show it. Oh, man. Okay, Dennis. Yeah. So, uh, I just want people to know. I am full blown rooting for the saints. Like, like, let's remind people why. Yeah. So, um, at our live show in LA, one of my bold predictions was that, uh, they, they were going to on week five, Dennis Allen will be fired. It's mostly because I can't stand. Yeah. It's mostly because I can't stand the, the persona. of Dennis Allen. And I don't think he's a good coach by history. But holy moly, they're on fire. And Clint Kubiak coming in has got this offense clicking. And at the live show, I made this announcement because I, you know, the chance of the Saints being a great team is zero. I don't know. And if they win 10 games, I said, I'm going to shave my head on the show. So now.

I am full-blown rooting for a 10-win season because what a turn of events. And also it's just fun to have. Did you say a turtive events? No, I said a turn of events. They have the largest increase of any team in pre-snap motion, something you're going to see. Very common in the storylines of three teams that are two and no with new offensive coordinators. Clint Kubiak in New Orleans, Liam Cohen and Tampa Bay. who there was concerned about losing Dave Canales. And then Ryan Grubb in Seattle, 2 and O, both of their wins were closer, easier schedule, but they're getting it done. And they're, you know, those are the top three teams in the, in terms of increase of pre-snap motion from last year, this year. So the new offensive coordinators coming in, the ones that were pursued, the ones that people wanted.

They came in and they brought pre-stap motion to confuse the defense. It's not just the pre-stamp motion. The Saints were dead last in play action. Like there is this old way of thinking of, you know, the run sets up to pass because the run sets up play action. No, play action just more often than not, play action works. Because if you get the linebackers to just freeze for a. A half of a second. Or float one direction. Because they have to. Are they handing it off? I'm not quite sure. And then in the NFL, that half a second, that's what it takes to get open. So for the Saints, dead last in play action to number one. 31st in pre-stnep motion to number one. And we spent the off-season talking about motion of just, how are these people not figuring it out? You go look at the top five offenses in the NFL.

And what is a thread that goes between all five of them? And it's all five of those used a ton of pre-snap motion because it gives you an advantage. More information. Yeah, it's unbelievable. It's so directly. Why are we not doing this? It's like one of the most directly correlative stats. And then you see some teams that just are boring and stand there. We're not going to do it. We don't need to do it. With all three teams, Tampa, Seattle and New Orleans, there has been with the pre-snap motion and the change in offense and expanded. role for a slot or a motion receiver. Yes. Rashid Shaheed has been the beneficiary in New Orleans leading all wide receivers in yards per route run. He is faster miles per hour wise than everybody in the entire national football league except for Tyree Kill in next gen stats. And you see it. They're going to take shots to Shaheed every game. But if for some reason they keep targeting him and using him in the ways that they do right now, it's going to be more than just a deep threat. Jason's start of the week, Chris Godwin.

34% of the snaps in the slot last year. Now, 54% in week one, 76% in week two. Yeah, baby. Dominant performance for Chris Gotto in this past weekend. And we saw a huge change in what we got out of Jackson, Smith, and Jigba in week two. Week one, it looked like more of the same. Week two. 16 targets. 16 targets, 12 for 1, 17. That was the first thing I went and watched this morning. because the NFL decided to bless us with 10 morning games. Unbelievable. And three afternoon games. What are we doing here? What is the plan with that? We have nine televisions, the NFL. And we had to have. Nine's, like, should be enough. So we, that game wasn't on. And we just keep seeing the updates of like, what's going on with JSN? The targets are out of control. So I went and watched him. And they just, this was a very intentional effort to get JSN the ball. There was, there was.

Quite a few, you know, real short. They're getting him in motion, creating mismatches, getting the short stuff. But then they also went down the field to him. This was third highest air yards of any wide receiver this week. So it's, I don't know what the true answer is yet for JSN, but for it, for us to get to week two and have this event happen, a possible year shifting event for JSN is very exciting. Certainly is. And it's the first time we've really, I mean, he's a. Currently a top 10 receiver on the week, which is special. They won 23 to 20 in New England, Miami, Detroit, and the Giants, the next three on the schedule for them. So we'll see one more tonight. Kellan Moore, taking over in Philly, the Monday night football game. We saw Devante Smith be the beneficiary of the expanded slot roll. Tonight will be more interesting because there's no AJ Brown. We got the news that he was going to be out with the hamstring injury. Shout out to Philadelphia. We appreciate that.

Unless you're paying against AJ Brown, you did not appreciate that. No, they got the word out early. But the bulk of fantasy players, we appreciate that. So that's it for ready to roll. Thanks again to our sponsor, Nissan on the all-new reimagined Nissan kicks. Take on your city and rain or shine with the bold new Nissan kicks, intelligent all-wheel drive. Head over to nison.com to learn more intelligent all-wheel drive cannot prevent collisions or provide enhanced traction in all conditions. Always monitor traffic and weather conditions. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. It's a bloodbath. Yeah, I mean, Christian McCaffrey, injured reserve. Jason said that they set the pick on fire. I don't know if I'd go that far, but it's close. I mean, we.

The McCaffrey Fantasy Draft? Yeah, I mean, that thing is that is not on fire. It is on fire. I mean, it's a complete waste for where you drafted it. Obviously when Christian McAfry comes back is going to be very, very valuable. But you have you had the first pick in the draft and you took someone that is not going to play for the first five weeks. And it could be far longer. Yeah, no, that's all true. I guess I just meant, you know, the 49ers showed their weaknesses yesterday on offense. without Christian McCaffrey. It all looked like, you know, sunshine and rainbows in week one with Jordan Mason filling in. And then yesterday against Minnesota, you saw some of the necessity of Christian McCaffrey. So if he gets back, obviously that's going to be a really big discussion for the fancy community, what you do, those that have McCaffrey, do you try to get something for him? You know, I saw him hitting.

trade, you know, he hit the trade block in both of our major leagues. So the thing is, he's on IR, so that means the best case scenario was three more games. Right. And then he can come back, except the reporting has been, this is probably more like a six week, staycation on the IR for, for Christian McAfee. So, which is, okay, let go six weeks, a ramp up period. I can't imagine that. Despite, if anyone could do it, it's Christian McCaffrey, but the team is trying to win a Super Bowl. I can't imagine his first week back is, all right, McCaffrey, you're back out there to 25 opportunities this week. So now you have that seven, and you're going to play him, but that's seven weeks if things go well. So it's just, it's an extremely difficult situation. The way that I'm looking at it, honestly, is I got McCaffrey in the League of Record. You have him, Andy, and our Dynasty League.

Dynasty is a much trickier situation because it's long term. But if you're in a redraft, I'm looking at McCaffrey more of, like, he is of incredible value to the team that has Jordan Mason. That's how I'm looking at. Instead of I'm trying to get Jordan Mason, because that's now, that window is, as I think slammed shut, unless you're going to really, really pay for Jordan Mason. Even when you try to pay, you might not be able to do it. Exactly. And so I think that. I said like a man with experience. I think that it's more of a valuable thing of getting McCaffrey over to the team that has Mason. If they have something expendable they can give you. Or, you know, I mean, obviously it depends on how the rest of your draft went. If your team is good, if you're winning, this is great. Hold on to him. He's going to help take you over the top. If your team is struggling and you're out of running backs and, you know, then you've got to you've got to make a move because by the time we.

you know, nine comes around. If that's when he's playable, if, you know, if it goes that long, you're so close to the fantasy playoffs. That's where I say it feels like you let it on fire. Yeah. And again, I mean, it might be, it might be three weeks from now. If the 49, you talk about winning a Super Bowl, if the 49ers are not winning ball games, it forces the issue more. Could be. So I think it's a little bit fluid. We don't have to make every decision today. It's just unfortunate that he hit IR. A.J. Brown ruled out for Monday night football at the hamstring. This was Sunday morning.

More impactful, Evan Ingram, hamstring injury in pregame warmups was a last minute inactive. And what was most difficult, and this is why we always recommend you have leagues that you run waivers every day, except for Tuesday. But on Sunday, if you're playing on Sleeper or other platforms, make sure it goes from running waivers at 9 o'clock to open free agency just for Sunday. Because if this news came after the waivers would have run. And so there were teams in leagues that you didn't even have the option to pick up a tight end to play or you were stuck with a backup tight end in Atlanta on Monday morning, whose name I just learned. So more injury news. We'll get to it in just a second. Let's take a quick break. So, Al, I don't know if you can find us. Maybe we'll go here. Chiefs running back Isaiah Pacheco suffered a fractured fibula.

late in the game against the Bengals, MRI to further evaluate, he's going to land on IR. Yeah. So. That sucks. Uh, Jason. My guy is a double hurt for me because he's one of my guys and also he's in my league of record. Almost like you would draft the players you believe in. Yeah. He was dominating. For, I mean, the volume was so incredible for Pacheco. Yeah, he was, he was definitely their workhorse. He was their passing downs. They're short yardage. He was everything I hoped he was until he was injured. Carson Steele, Somaget P. Rhine, eventually Clyde, after his IR stint, potentially. Honestly, people want us to just tell you who to sign. I'm not sure you're breaking the bank on any of those guys. If I had to pick one to.

put on my team for free, it'd be Carson Steele because I think he'll get the majority of the kind of work we care about. But I think Patrick Mahomes, I think the passing game, I think running through the air, I think Xavier worthy, I think Rashi Rice. Like that's going to be. It's going to be a committee. I would rather have the P. Ryan side. I mean, Carson Steele's a little bit more exciting as, you know, as an athlete and you hope that maybe he can develop into something special. P. Ryan won't develop into something special. I do think this team now is going to abandon the run. Like for the most part, they're going to throw the ball a ton and run through the air. That'll be those little Pryne dumpoffs for, you know, if you're in a PPR, half PPR, I think there'll be a lot of value there. I mean, Carson's Steel is still marked as a fullback, I think. Yeah. At the NFL level and looks like it when he runs. So what a mess. Cooper Cup left the Cardinals game. Yeah.

against the Cardinals. Yeah, that would make sense. He left the game against the Cardinals with a left ankle injury, didn't return, was in a walking boot, absolutely brutal for Matthew Stafford in this game and into the future. No Nakua. It's brutal for Kairn. Teams will know how to play this team. Kyrant was awful in this game, completely saved by a garbage time touchdown in it. Thank goodness for that. But. They have no offensive line and they have neither of their superstar wide receivers. Is their season like in peril at this point? It is definitely in peril. I trust McVay to try to figure it out, but he couldn't figure it out yesterday. Tutu Atwell came in. We have Tyler Johnson. We have DeMarcus Robinson. Whittington. We have Jordan Whittington. We have.

Colby Jack slash Colby Barfinset. It was, I mean, it was double brutal of the game script. If you didn't watch the game and you just see the final number, it was, it was a blowout immediately for the Arizona Cardinals. The second half of that game, if Cooper Cup had been healthy, the nasty, disgusting garbage points that would have flowed. Guys, they play San Francisco. next week. They play Chicago in Chicago the week after. Those are two defenses that you might, like the answer might not be to start any of those wide receivers for a couple of weeks. Well, keep going. Oh, but then they play Green Bay. And then they play Las Vegas, whose defense is very good. And the problem is going to be, is there a pass rush from San Francisco? Yeah. How about Chicago? Oh, yeah. Yeah, what about Green Bay? I mean, they're going to put it on you. And then Max Crosby after that, like Matthew Stafford.

Survival is your goal at this point. Arizona has no pass rush. They have none. They are the worst pass rush in the league. And they were, they destroyed Stafford yesterday because he has no offense of line anymore. Stafford should go on to IR with, nah, man. He was, he was stacked five times by a team with no pass rush yesterday. He was. It's not going to be good. He was in an impossible situation. Jefferson left the game with a quad contusion. He is fine, according to what I'm seeing this morning. Yeah, they came out and said day to day. So if you've got a week, you should be all right for Justin Jefferson. Also, baby, that play. Oh, my gosh. From Darnold. Oh, my gosh. Donald, not the sacrificial baby when you have no one behind you to play. Maybe that's been the key. If you have no one behind you, he needed to know. He's got job security. Maybe. This sucked. Joe Mixing.

got tackled by a hip drop tackle. Supposed to be illegal, no penalty thrown. Have you guys seen one penalty called? I haven't. I've seen so many illegal formation penalties. Yeah, there have been. Get that out of the game, right? There have been five brutal hip drops in the first two weeks. Two of them led to ankle injuries. Jordan Addison, Joe Mixing now. He's going to get an MRI. He tried to come back in the game. This is so common for ankle injuries. Normally a player, they sprain their ankle, they go get it wrapped, they play on it or try to play on it. The wrap comes off, swell, swell, swell, swell, swell, and you might miss time. So we're monitoring Joe Mixing, and guess what? That's Cam Acres at that point. So we'll talk about it tomorrow. We'll have more information on the injury tomorrow on our waiver show. Amman Ross St. Brown. He left multiple times throughout the game. He did return.