THE UNOFFICIALFOOTBALLERSFAN ARCHIVE↗Transcript links use the exact YouTube video’s clock. Machine transcripts can contain errors.
The show celebrates ranking fourth among U.S. Spotify sports podcasts and fifth globally, blames the higher-ranked Kelces on Taylor Swift, and asks Deucer's Alley to find celebrity dates. At the close, the six Footballers and producers concede that the two Kelces would annihilate them unless hundreds of thousands of FootClan members provide a tush push—while the Swifties remain on the other side.
Brooksie wears a December Christmas cap, budget Taylor is acknowledged, Judge Giamatti looks good, and Al is cast as the lump of coal amid the producer row's black-clothing contrast. Nearby, a fully decorated host still waits for Christmas spirit to make his heart grow three sizes.
The recurring Hungry for More intro cues Mike first. Later the desk says Mike may simply love tight ends; Mike lists Troutman, Jarwin, McBride, and Engram and explains that finding a functional diamond in the rough at the position is a challenge he enjoys.
Andy calls the current Al Borland game a throwaway because it does not affect either manager's position. Josh still wants Andy to lose so he enters the next round without confidence, but Andy says they sit on opposite bracket sides and could produce a Papa Josh the Betrayer-versus-Andy championship.
Kyle's game notes identify Steelers punter Presley Harvin III as the heaviest punter ever drafted at 255 pounds and track 250.2 punting yards per game. The desk adds Bryce Baringer's 79-yard long, inside-the-20 mark, and protected-looking eyes, reframing the low-total game as Baringer versus Harvin.
The first Mailbag cue is immediately rejected as bad because it ends too quickly and lacks the expected flourish. A second, fuller 'Mailbag' receives the answering 'Bagel bag' and is accepted as much better.
After conceding that the Swifties would help the Kelces win, the show closes by previewing Friday's Fantasy Faceoff and explicitly naming the Hitman Wheel of Shame.
Andy, Jason, and Mike open by celebrating the show's U.S. Spotify sports-podcast rank, blaming the higher-ranked Kelces on Taylor Swift, and asking why Deucer's Alley cannot generate a comparable celebrity date; Brooks is assigned Michelle Pfeiffer. The close updates the boast to fourth in America and fifth globally, then imagines the six Footballers and Deucers losing a fight with the two Kelces unless hundreds of thousands of FootClan members provide a tush-push against the Swifties. Deucer's Alley is visually festive: Brooksie wears a December Christmas cap, the Judge looks good, and Al is called the lump of coal amid the row's dark-clothing contrast; one host's fully decorated house still cannot make his heart grow three sizes. Hungry for More receives its dedicated intro, and the desk explicitly diagnoses Mike as a lover of tight ends—Troutman, Jarwin, McBride, and Engram—because he enjoys finding a functional diamond in the rough. League of Record supplies direct playoff foreshadowing. Andy dismisses the current Al Borland matchup as a throwaway, reports that Josh wants him to lose confidence, and says he and Papa Josh the Betrayer occupy opposite bracket sides and could meet for the championship. For the low-total Thursday game, Kyle's notes ignore the obvious players and spotlight the punters: 255-pound Presley Harvin III, 250.2 punting yards per game, and Bryce Baringer's 79-yard punt and inside-the-20 total. A weak Mailbag cue is stopped for lacking flourish, then repaired as 'Mailbag. Bagel bag.' At the close, Friday promises Fantasy Faceoff and the Hitman Wheel of Shame.
On today's episode, we break down the upcoming Thursday night matchup and we jump into the mailbag. Your questions, a lot of very difficult quarterback questions on this show. Make sure you subscribe to this channel right now and enjoy. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Wednesday episode of the Fantasy Footballers.
Jason Moore is here, Mike, the fantasy hitman. I am Andy Holloway. We welcome you in. We're thrilled to have you with us today. Not usually, but today, thrilled. Thrilled about it. Making an exception for today? Yeah. You're talking about the fourth largest sports podcast on Spotify for the entire year, Jason. I think we're thrilled every day. I think we're thrilled every darn day. Sounds like the people are thrilled. The people are the people are thrilled. We've got, uh, it's those, those dumb Kelsey's beat us out. The Kelsey's beat us out. Thanks to Taylor Swift. Yeah. Am I right? They didn't do anything themselves. Honestly, why couldn't any of these deucers land a couple dates? Yeah. With Taylor. Yeah. Brooks, uh, hit up Michelle Pfeiffer. Wait. What? That'll do it. Where does it? It's going to move the needle.
What did Michelle Pfeiffer come from? She's in a movie right now. Is she? I thought maybe she was in like a Paul Giamati movie and that was the correlation. That would have been a really good cut. Deucers Allie, they're very festive right now or at least Brooksie has his December Christmas cap on. You can see it there. All right. Looking ready for Christmas. All black. I was going to say we spent as much as we could and we got Taylor on the one episode this year. Oh, we did. We did our best. We got budget Taylor sweats. Yeah, so the judge is looking good and, you know, Al's our lump of coal back there. And are you guys in the, is the Christmas spirit like present? Do you feel it yet? It is not there for me. Oh, no. Which is. See, it's an organic. It just happens. It happens. I mean, my tree's been up. My house is decorated. My lights are on. Just wait. I'm like, I'm waiting for it to come upon me. It didn't help that it was hot yesterday.
like actually hot no that doesn't help the christmas spirit i'm sorry snowland of america nobody hangs their lights when it's hot outside do you think that the christmas spirit it's a little bit more like you have to opt into the music now because you know when we were growing up you just put the radio on right and people were playing the christmas music now you'd have to like get in your car and say christmas music yeah which i do almost every day oh do you oh yeah but that's not getting it done it's just not my my My heart needs to grow three sizes. Oh, okay. Well, we'll work on it. Thanks. Today we've got quite a bit going on. We're going to preview the Thursday night game. We've got NFL news to talk about. Waivers for your leagues are going to go through or have gone through. I'm in a real predicament in our league because they decided to move Mr. Amari Cooper into a questionable tag. Okay. He has a full-on concussion. Yeah.
But he's questionable, which I get. Yeah. But now my roster is, it's too jammed, too jammed up to make the moves I want. Well, too bad for you. I could sacrifice. I would just drop back. Drop back? Yeah. I need a spot. We had a new Dynasty podcast drop today as well. So when you're done with this one, you can head over there. Listen to the Dynasty pod. And Brooks, anything I'm forgetting here at the top? Nah. Okay. Let's move on. Welcome to Hungry for More, presented by Uber Eads. All right. Let's kick it off with Mike here. Who's your hungry for more candidate this week? I'm going to go with rookie Dontavian wicks of the Green Bay Packers. He was a fifth round pick. So this is a player who is.
mostly off the radar for redraft purposes, really low on just your priority list, even in dynasty leagues. But over the course of the year, like the guy can actually play. The snaps have been low, but some of the metrics that we look for for a player who, if they receive an upgraded opportunity, you're hoping that that translates then into far more production. We've had four targets in five straight games, and the targets per route run in those five games have been sensational. We're talking about, you know, averaging high 20% in target per route run. That's a fantastic number. And with the injury to Christian Watson, like Don Tavian Wix seems to be the next man up. He, you know, like I tried to quickly look at just, you know, the barometer of rookie versus Quentin Johnston.
More yards than Quentin. He has a higher single game. We had three for 91 against the Chargers. He's a big play guy waiting to happen. And I think that with this opportunity here, he's going to be an interesting decision for deep leagues and DFS. Jason, who's your hungry for more candidate? Well, I think maybe for the first time this year. I am not going with a, I'm not going with a quarterback running back wide receiver or tight end. I'm hungry for more of the Miami Dolphins defense. Their offense has been great, but they have been outstanding. Over the last three weeks, they're the number one defense in fantasy points scored, averaging 15 points a game. And, you know, they've got Jalen Ramsey back. Too much is being focused on their office. Their defense has been scoring. They've been sacking teams like crazy. The last three weeks, they've got 12 combined sacks. They've got two touchdowns.
And you go, okay, well, they played Aidan O'Connell and the Jets and Sam Howell this last week. But I'm hungry for more of it because they get to eat a banana this week. Banana Ramah Will Levis. Oh, no. Your potassium. Your potassium is going to be really, really high. And then they get the Jets again. Oh, my goodness. They're going to take you. How will they stop Zach Wilson though? I know you're kind of TVB on who it is. Yeah, is it Wilson by that week? Well, they signed Brett Rippin, right? Uh-oh. B-Rippin Farts is back. Brett Rippin Farts. Please play and start against these Miami Dolphins. But they've been scoring a lot of points. I think it keeps up this week and next week to get you to the semifinals in your fantasy championship. It is actually really hard to stay water with the defenses sometimes. Because we talk about being prepared. So a lot of that times...
A lot of the time you sign defenses early, and then you've kind of like mentally, like you signed the chiefs, right? Oh my gosh, the chiefs are killing me. And so you see the schedule and you say, this is going to work out. Like they played Aiden O'Connell. It didn't go so well for them. It did not. And it did not go well for me. Yeah. And so you kind of hope that. You have it lined up, but you need to stay water. You need to be willing to adjust to those type of situations. The Browns have been bad the last couple weeks because there's no Denzel Ward and then Miles Garrett's been banged up. You have to be willing to make those pivots and not just lock in when you get new information. I like to look at a three week window this time of year. When I'm looking at my schedule adjusted stats and looking at streamers, starters, whoever, especially with defenses.
I like looking at the last three weeks. And that was kind of what illuminated the dolphins to me because they're literally number one over that span. And I know this one will make Mike happy, but my hungry for a candidate at tight end is Evan Engry. Because we just saw his best game of the season, his first top five performance at tight end on the year, which is shocking. He was in the midst of a six game run where he was outside the top 12 with the position. And he was a fantasy hero last year. Like there was a lot of championships celebrated on the back of Evan Ingram. Christian Kirk is out. He needs surgery. It's a core muscle issue. He's not going to be a part of this offense. So when you look at Evan Ingram, you're talking about eight, nine, ten targets a game and a ton of potential with this, you know, especially in the end of the playoff schedule, Tampa Bay, Carolina.
those two weeks. I am kind of excited about what he can do in this offense. How do you feel about the potential quarterback change here if Trevor Lawrence isn't able to suit up, which I think right now we're very skeptical that he will play this week. I will say if he does, it could work out really well for Evan Ingraham because then if his mobility is limited, the time in the pocket, you know, getting deep shots down to, you know, Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones. might be a little bit more difficult than just grabbing Evan Ingram on a short little crosser. Yeah, I mean, that favors Bethard as well. I mean, if you're the friend of the quarterback, you're in the shallow area, you can come off tight-in screens, Bethard taking more of the checkdown route when needed. I think Evan Ingram is very much in play, and I'm hungry for more performances like this where he can actually, you know, Mike, Mike's been the Trey McBride truther of the century. And then he made the comment.
that he played Trey McBride. McBride had a great game. He lost points playing Trey McBride over Evan Ingram this past week. No, the other way. Oh, it was. It was Evan Engram was point, uh, was point two points behind T. McBride. And you played McBride? I, no, I had to play. I got backed into playing Engram because of the injury. Oh, okay. So I had to, it was, it was a weird lineup decision where I got forced into it. I wanted T. McB. Be in that lineup. And after the morning, it was, my guy just. just had himself a monster game. And I'm like, Jay, I think I'm going to regret, because I had laid it out for him. And I'm like, I think I'm going to regret playing Evan Engram. He's like, of course you will. He's got like 90 yards of touchdown. And then Evan Angram was basically that. It was great. Maybe you guys can help me on this. I think maybe Mike just loves tight ends, like the position. I like, I like Troutman and Jarwin and McBride and Ingram. Like the list is, it's pretty extensive on.
It's not necessarily the position on the field. It's so hard to find a functional diamond in the rough at the tight end position. And I like that challenge. Well, yeah, it feels great when you get one. Yes. That works. So that was hungry for more presented by Uber Eats. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Running backs? No, no, no. Ribs? Yeah. Yes, please. Let's get some ribs. Order now on the app. Product availability may vary by region. See the app for details. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. And Al Borland, no, I am not hungry for Evan Ingram to whip me in League of Record this week. No. Also, I don't care what happens this week. This is a throwaway week. I mean, I'm going to whoop your butt for no reason. No, you're not.
It's funny, Josh and I were talking. It doesn't matter to me, and I don't think it matters to you, but Josh was like, I really want Andy to lose because I don't want him to have confidence going into the next round. Yeah, like this is a real sport and your psyche is going to affect your play. Yeah, he was doing some big trash hock into me yesterday. And we're on opposite ends of the bracket. So, I mean, the foot clan, we could get. Oh, Papa Josh. Papa Josh, the betrayer versus me for the title if things play out the right way.
But, you know, without me having confidence, I don't know how I could possibly get there. Your players will not perform if you in Arizona watching them on television are emotionally damaged. Look, I wish I had, I wish there were some momentum points that I would get like a five point boost next week for momentum. I mentioned it earlier. Here's some news for you. Doug Peterson said Christian Kirk's going to need surgery on his core muscle injury. We're not going to see Christian Kirk this year again. Najee Harris, injury report. DMP on Tuesday. Thursday night game. Yeah, this is one to really watch. I could see him missing. I mean, this is a late full did not participate. So Jalen Warren could become a little bit more exciting in a game that you don't expect a ton of points. But if there's only one guy there, then it could be all right. And Najee Harris, super stoked to be playing with Mitch Trubisky. Oh, yeah, the quotes.
Yeah, what do you say? He said, how's his leadership? He said, that's fine. It's fine, I guess. It's fine, I guess. I mean, nausea, come on, man. How would you describe his leadership style? That's when you start. Vocal, I guess. Yeah. That's when you start talking about something else. If you don't want to answer that question, you just say, you know, Mitch, he sure, he sure fights hard out there. It's super naggy. Like if, if you haven't experienced Najee interviews, the guy is a delight. I love him. Yeah. Well, he might not be on the field this week. It's tough because if he, you know, if he does have an injury, they wouldn't practice him because they'd try to get him ready for Thursday. So we'll keep. Brooks says he's going to keep watching for news. The Chargers are officially opening Joshua Palmer's 21-day practice window. Okay. That is great. Herbert needs him desperately. Yeah, that's bigger news for Herbert. I thought I had found a diamond in the rough with Palmer before the injury. There is opportunity there. We don't know when in that 21-day window.
He'll come back. It took him a little while. Week 8 was the last we saw him, so we'll see. Joshua Palmer could be back sooner than later, and they need somebody to catch the ball, not just kind of juggle it. Brian Dable said Tommy DeVito. We'll start in week 14 against the Packers. Okay. The Jets are releasing Tim Boyle, and they signed Brett Rippin. Oh, you know you wanted to say it. No, no, no. I have to beat the... You know, the tempered, measured, give the guy's regular name without the word farts attached guy. Brett Rippin Farts! Yeah. Isn't that the perfect signing, though? After what we saw in the field for that team, they're like, yes. Yeah, it's incredibly lateral. The NFL network, Tom Pellasera, reporting the Packers have signed Kenyon Drake for their practice squad. I don't know if that's a sign of Aaron Jones' help. Yeah, you should put at least one eyebrow up.
Well, and then maybe that makes Patrick Taylor a slightly interesting desperation, deep league, close your eyes, click the button because no one else's left kind of guy. Maybe. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, we talked about it on yesterday's show, but, you know, Aaron Jones missed this last week and Taylor was irrelevant. Yeah, I mean, there are players, though, that were irrelevant, that become relevant that when a team is ready to make a change, Keaton Mitchell, anybody, you know, McGlofflin. Players you don't see coming, I'm just. Trying to get deep, Jason. Trying to get nasty. Go ahead. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Thursday Night Breakdown. All right, guys. I have decided to take a different approach to the words I say after announcing this matchup. Okay. The New England Patriots at 2 and 10 are taking on the 7 and 5s.
Pittsburgh Steelers. The Draft King Sportsbook line is Pittsburgh minus six, and the over under is 60. Oh, wait, 30. Divided by 20. Sorry, 30. Okay. Okay. All right. I believe by kickoff, this line can get in the 20s. This was at 31 and a half, and I was going to bet the under on it. I mean, this is, look, here's the glass half full number one. My hungry for more candidate. before Evan Ingram was going to be Ezekiel Elliott. He is playing in this game. Ezekiel Elliott had a very nice performance last week. He is going to be the guy. I wish I had him to slot into lineups over the next few weeks. 69% of snaps. Very nice. 17 for 52. But I'm more interested in those receptions. Those receptions are going to be a part of his game moving forward. The team doesn't have pass catchers they can trust. Even Devonte Parker didn't mention it in the news.
limited again in practice. DeMario is, you know, still dealing with a concussion, still in protocol. So, Ezekiel Oli might be most of their offense. I think he's a very good play. You know, it's ironic for such a low scoring projected game that, you know, people might not be excited about. There are relevant fantasy assets here. Jalen Warren, Najee Harris, Dion. Maybe Najee. Maybe, but I'm saying players that are usual normal played fantasy assets and Zeke, Zeke really seems like a very important piece right now. You think he's probably got like a baseline of around 10 points. And if a touchdown is scored, which I know is no guarantee, you would imagine that Zeke has the highest odds to be the touchdown scorer.
So let's stay with the running backs as your positivity here. Pittsburgh is, you know, there's six point favorites. You know, the weird thing is that I don't know if you knew this. No team has given up fewer points than the New England Patriots over the last four weeks. I did. Did you know that they have held their opponents the last three weeks to 10 or fewer points and lost all three games? Think about that. Feels bad. That's like 1930s football. They're calling the Jets and they're like the Jets defense and being like, guys, this sucks. But Jayne and Warren is worth starting, especially if he has the opportunity all to himself. Last week it was about opportunities. They were not there because they were down by a lot and it just didn't materialize. But he did look good on those opportunities. I think he was like 9 for 59 or something to that extent.
And we've got the nausea injury. So I think both running backs, we can say over under be darned. Let's play the running back. I think you can play three running backs in this game. And you definitely can play both DSTs. Like we just mentioned, the Patriots defense has been very, very good over the last month. This is against Mitchell Trubisky. I mean, you tell me they don't get a couple picks here and an opportunity to score a touchdown. You want to know how the over under is hit and it hits the over? defensive touchdowns. Yeah, no question. I mean, this game, six nothing last week for New England. So not a lot of excitement. Like Pat Friermude is out for me this week. Okay. I'm not willing to. It's a tough matchup for him. Not willing to do the dance. Now, I will say for Deonti Johnson. Yeah, what about the wide outs, Mike? It is a small sample over the last couple of seasons of games with Pickett versus games with Mitch Trubisky. But the games with Mitch.
Deonti Johnson has been better. We're talking 7.8 targets versus 10.7. So, you know, like if we get an extra three targets this week for Deontay Johnson, that's a pretty big deal. Yeah, you know, he went out hurt, came back in last week's game. You saw Pickens involved early with Pickett. But, you know, I don't think you can start. Like, what are you doing with Pickens? It's, I don't think it's the worst play in the world, as in I don't believe he will submarine you. It just doesn't feel like this is the type of a ceiling game where you're putting pickings in with that personal confidence that you know translates into your player having a good game. I need to ask a more important question here. Why did Kyle decide to give us TMI on the punter situation in this game?
Because this is what Kyle does. I'm looking at the breakdown of the game and he wants to point out that Presley Harvin the third for the Steelers. Heavyest punter ever drafted at 255 pounds. That's a beef boy. Yeah. And he's averaging 250.2 yards per game punting if your league has punters. And if someone happens, if the return man happens to come at Presley Harvin. Oh, you're getting smoke. I mean, try it. Try Presley Harvin. Couldn't get laid out. I can't believe we have punter stats over here. This is what people show up for, Andy. That's the number four overall sports show. I do think these might be the stars of this game. I guess we need to feature the potential game MVP. Yeah.
So in that case, Bryce Beringer. Yeah, tell me about him. Longest NFL punt of 2023. He's got one. 79 yards. 79 yards. Good job, Bryce. What a punt. Tied for the most punts inside the 20? And looking at this picture, looking at this picture, I'm wondering what his prescription is. I would tell you his eyes are protected. They are tied for the most punts inside the 20. Yeah. Well, when you get a lot of opportunities. Barringer v. Harvin the third on Thursday night. It is going to be. an old school defensive battle. Here's the final thing I'll say to the positive. There are a bunch of months during the year that football isn't played. Yeah. And this is not one of the days that football is not played. Yeah. No, we get it. We get football. We get football. I'll be watching. You'll be watching. No matter what we say. People listening to the show, they'll be watching. I'm not missing out on Presley Harvin the third. No chance. All right. Quick break back with some.
Mailbag questions. I think we pumped the people up. I think that's what we just did. Yeah. Yeah. I thought I punted the people up. Yeah. All right. Let's jump in. Mailbag. Oh, no, that sucked. I didn't do a flourish. I know. That sucked. I feel it. Like the flourish is part of it. Oh. The flirt. Yeah. Okay. Mailbag. Bagel bag. Ooh, yeah. Much better. Yeah, I do feel like you didn't give. Let's punt. You didn't give the first one. You're all like you cut it off quick. It's just showing you what you wanted. I apologize. Asked for and received. Careful what you wish for. If you have a question for the show, go to the website. Click the submit a question button. That is the fantasy footballers.com. You can dial the voicemail hotline 302464 TFFB. Kick it off with a voicemail. Hey, ballers. Ten man, PPR.
Need an RB2 start this week. Breece Hall or Keaton Mitchell must win to get into the playoffs. Thanks. Oh, no. Oh, my goodness gracious. Oh, my goodness gracious. Maurice Hall or Keaton Mitchell. We've got this example last week, Jason. We're on the show. We said, look, you start of the week. Brock Purdy. Maybe that's a better play than Jalen Hertz. It would have been about 15, 20 fantasy points. Here's DeBreece Hall, Keaton Mitchell. Well, thankfully. Thankfully, last time everything was set up for Brock Purdy. It was the greatest matchup imaginable. This is not the same for Keaton Mitchell. The Los Angeles Rams are pretty decent against the run. He's splitting time. This doesn't seem like a smash play. Now, Keaton Mitchell can outscore Breeze Hall. He did this last week.
but he still did not hit 10 fantasy points. I think you want. Yeah, Mike, what are you saying about the rankings? So I pulled up my rankings as I wanted to see, you know, where was I before the show started? And Brise Hall is one spot ahead of Keaton Mitchell right now. I, like I have Mitchell cranked up a good bit here for over under and just game script and the way that he's trending. So this is a hilariously terrible question. to have to ask yourself in this week. Last four weeks, last four weeks, points per game. Keaton Mitchell, 11.9, Bryce Hall. Bryce Hall, 10.2. Four games span. I couldn't, I'll just tell you what I would do. That's the best situation we do. If I had those two players, I'm playing Greece Hall. Yeah, I think, I think everyone is you've got big play potential from either guy, but I would much rather prefer the matchup of,
the Houston Texans as well as the volume that Brees Hall gets versus Keaton Mitchell on a usual basis. Now, I know he's been extremely disappointing, inefficient, ineffective, but I would definitely play Brees. Has any of what has transpired for Brees Hall over the last handful of days affected how you would look at him in a dynasty league? Yeah, when it comes to fear, I certainly have worries. He is one of my dynasty running backs in our main dynasty league. Jamir Gibbs, Breece Hall, in a fresh dynasty startup draft. I would take Gibbs. I think at this point, you have to, I'm not confident in the future of the offense of the Jets, even with Aaron Rogers, hopefully being the quarterback of next year, but you just don't know, whereas.
The Detroit Lions seem like they are set up for future offensive success. Their offensive line is intact and under contract. Their situation is just really healthy right now. So I would lean towards the Gibbs side. I do think there are much brighter days ahead for Brees Hall. I'm not anti-Breece Hall. You know that's against who I am. Yeah. But you worry, man. You worry because the offensive line. does not get enough credit for how bad the quarterback play has been, how bad the running back has been. The Jets' offensive line is non-existent. Yeah, and Mike, would you start Breece Hall? Yes, I would. I have Breece one spot ahead of Keaton Mitchell. And the matchup with Houston is, it's fine. Well, let's look at another tough decision, Instagram question. What level of underpants though I need to sit Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs? Oh, man.