Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Starts of the Week, Week 4 Matchups, Debate

He's outperforming Cooper fantasy-wise. Last year he did it. Cooper is the sexier pick, the flashier pick, but doesn't production just need to rule at this point? Yeah, I mean, look, Crabtree is a good wide receiver. He was drafted, what, 10th overall?

in the NFL draft years ago. He has been productive once he got back from that injury that took him out for a couple years. You saw it last year, and you've seen it this year. His targets and his consistency make him, what Mike says, a weekly start, because it doesn't matter if it's a, I'm not talking like the Broncos, but if it's a generic bad matchup, it's just not really a good matchup, or maybe they've got a good DB, well, that guy's going to go on Amari Cooper. You know, those wide receivers, he is.

The wide receiver won for his team, but he's seen as the wide receiver two by opposing teams, which is kind of the best thing for a consistent guy. I don't think you're going to get the huge blow-up potential that you ever have in Amari Cooper. But if you need, you know, in your wide receiver two or your flex, I've been so far in our league of record, I've played Michael Crabtory every single week, and I have not regretted it once. I have...

Steve Smith, Signore, rated ahead of Crabtree this week in my wide receiver rankings. I believe I do too. I'm going to get into that in a later segment. Right now, the Ravens are the eighth best run defense, the third best past defense. The Raiders are on the opposite end of that spectrum. I think it's going to be a close game. I think the Raiders are going to take it. That's what I think. I think the Ravens have had a pretty good schedule so far.

Do you play Flacco or Carr in this game? That's my last question for you. Yeah, I would play them both. I think that if you're rolling with Carr, he's good. Flacko is a good streaming pick. I believe it's Jason's stream of the week. He is. I want to, I would stay step back real quick. Let's talk Amari Cooper. What are you doing with Amari Cooper? I mean, the targets are there. The production has not been what you have hoped for for a guy. I think it was a third, maybe a fourth round draft pick.

Are you trying to sell, Cooper? Are you trying to acquire him? Are you just going to hold him? I think he's a hold right now. He's dropped a couple touchdown passes where if those weren't dropped, you'd go, oh, he's great. So maybe a trade four if you can get him cheap. He still carries so much name value, though. I think for the most part, you're just holding him. He's a fine start. I have no problem starting him. All right, the Titans go to Houston to take on the Texans, who are five-point favorites, low over under a 40 points.

The Texas defense has allowed just 15.7 receptions per game, which is first in the league, and then you get, that's your auto don't start Marcus Mariotta alert. Yeah. Now they lost JJ Watt, but they're still going to be a good defense at home against the Tennessee offense where it looks like your job is to stop DeMarco Murray. Yeah, and that's, if I'm starting anyone from the Titans, I'll start DeMarco, DeMarco Murray.

I'm okay playing Delaney Walker, assuming that he suits up and all the news has to be pretty positive for me. I don't want a guy who missed last week to be hobbled through the entire week and Friday. Oh, he gets a limited practice. I'm not going to have confidence starting him on the road against the Texans. Yeah, and as far as starting to Marco Murray, yeah, the Texans are going to try to stop him every play. And they might bottle him up in the running game. He might not, you know, like last week, go for 114 yards on the ground. However, his.

reception totals are great are league leading type of numbers he had five receptions week one seven week two and five week three i mean he's he's averaging you know almost six receptions a game i got a pop quiz pop quiz hot shot who has more targets demarko murray or theo riddick well i mean pop quiz tells me you're leaning i mean it's got to be murray jason

Well, yeah, because of the nature of how you brought it up, I'm going to go Murray. That would be a little surprise. It was a trick question. They both have 19. Okay. But that's great. That's third among running backs. The Titans are the 17th against the run this far this season. They are 12th against the past. Do you start Hopkins and Fuller at home against them? Yep. Yep. Fuller is fine as a flex. Yep. All right. And then the Tajay Sharp bubble might have burst already. He was limited in practice this week. Production hasn't been there. And now Kindle Wright returns.

probably Delaney Walker returning. I don't think you can start sharp with any sort of confidence. Delany Walker, I'd be rolling out there, but that's the only passing option in that offense I'd roll out. Yeah, I agree. All right. The Bills and Patriots, right now there is not an over-under because we're waiting to hear about the quarterback situation in New England. Do you believe it's going to be Garoppolo or Berset? I believe it's going to be Brissette.

Yeah, that's where I am. What's funny about this is the wise guys in Vegas have said, well, we don't have an over under, but the Patriots are favored by almost six points. We don't care who the quarterback is or how much. They're favored. That's the actual default state for the Patriots when they go to the, you know, they clear out the boards every week for lines. Everybody gets a zero, but the Patriots get five and a half points. They just leave it there. Yeah, you need five and a half against the Patriots just to start. That's actually what the bills will start.

on the board with. They give the bills 5.5 points to start the game. A ceremonial. Five and a half points. Yeah. And Rex is like, yeah, I'll take them. I'll take them. Tyrod Taylor, this season it's been, nope. It's been one great game because of deep balls. Because of two broken plays. It's been one great game because of 80-something yards rushing and a touchdown. So the unpredictable Tyrod Taylor, can he put up?

numbers in this game it's in buffalo or no i'm sorry it's in new england yeah i'm not starting to he can he can put up numbers in the same way that we saw um you know he had a game last year against new england where he was atrocious just the worst and they were getting killed and then because of that i think he came back and put up three touchdowns but the reason why i i don't expect even the ability for that

to happen is because the game script, I think Jacoby Preset is going to be the quarterback. And if he's the quarterback, this is a low-scoring game. This is going to be a game where they're running the ball, and the only guy is, maybe the only guy that I'm starting, period, is LaGarrett Blunt. I'd probably still throw Gronk in there. But he is, I mean, there are other options. I will like better than Gronk this week. And so, you know, I think it's going to be a very low-scoring, ugly.

game. I don't think LaShawn McCoy, despite his great season so far and the fact that he was able to go up against a very good Arizona Cardinals, run defense and run nonstop. The Cardinals did not scheme specifically for that. I cannot imagine that Bill Belichick's going to come in here and not scheme. I mean, with Sammy Watkins, who missed practice again today in its entirety, you know, if he's gone, you know who's getting the ball.

And if you think that Bill Belichick is not going to come prepared for that, that's crazy. So I do not like LaShawn McCoy in this game. I don't like almost any of the pieces. I'm not playing. I want LaGarrett Blunt and maybe grunk. That's about it. Okay. Any other narrative storylines from this game you want to bring up before we move on? No, I think Jason, I liked how Jason broke it down. It's good.

All right, the Seahawks and the Jets in New York. The Jets are underdogs by two and a half points. This is a 41 point over under. I don't think I said it in the news, but Russell Wilson practiced in full. They expect him to be on the field. He's one of the tougher guys. He's never missed a game. This is the week that people thought maybe he misses a game. MCL Sprain. Looks like he'll be out there. You have Wilson. You obviously have the woke one. Kristen Michael in this game.

Going to have the backfield do himself again, but a very difficult third-ranked Jets run defense. Yeah. So what is the real ceiling for Michael? Is this something where you're not going to be happy with your fantasy production if he doesn't find his way into the end zone on a goal line carry or something like that? Yeah, that's where I was going. I expect the rushing toll. It's not going to be the over 100 again for what I'm expecting, you know, maybe.

Maybe 60 to 70 yards. And the question for Wilson, yeah, he's going to play tough guy, but how effective can he be? He has a bum ankle. Now he has a bum knee. I mean, there's concerns for me. If I have a different option, which you almost always do because the waiver. For example. If Kirk Cousins is available on your waiver wire, he might not be. Or maybe he's your backup.

I'm playing Kurt Cousins over Russell Wilson this week. People were asking why we didn't make Kirk Cousins one of our streams of the week. And I want to explain that because Kirk Cousins is owned in 65% of leagues. And so we try to aim a little bit lower in our streams of your leagues so that they're more available in your leagues. But if he was available, then yes. He needs to be one of your top streams at home against Cleveland. Yeah, completely agree. Russell, you saw last week, you know, normally he's averaging 20.

You know, he gets 20 yards on the ground. And last week with that bum ankle, he got three yards. He's clearly not mobile yet. And so I'm in agreement that if there's a better option, I am going to start that option over a hurt Russell Wilson against a solid Jets defense. The question that I really have is what to do with Doug Baldwin?

What do you mean? If Russell's out there, Baldwin will be just fine. Yeah, and, you know, it's a tough matchup, but Doug Baldwin's just been so reliable. Not nearly as tough as it is for the wide receivers on the other side of the equation. Thus far through the season, points given up to fantasy wide receivers. 14 points less is what you receive when you play the Seahawks. They're the number one ranked in the league. Miami wide receivers put up 13 total against them.

LA wide receivers put up 22 total. 49er wide receivers put up 11. None of those wide receiver cores have a Brandon Marshall in the equation. But you're missing Decker. I don't think I would say, I'm not starting a No, I'm not starting a noon while. I'm finding a different option. Even though in No, I guess you just don't sit Brandon Marshall, right? No, I've played Brandon Marshall. If it looks like you have one of these games where he's just going to be forced fed. Sure.

Just real quick, back to Chris and Michael, an interesting kind of dynamic here. So the woke one, he has, he's gained 10 or more yards on 8 of his 45 carries. I mean, that ranks him very highly in the league. Now, the Jets defense, while they are ranked third against the run, they've allowed 10 or more yards on a carry on 10 of 64 carries. So...

People are getting these chunks against them. Which is dead last in the league almost. So maybe there's a little bit of lights for a breakaway touchdown. Speaking through for the woke one and maybe it can get it done. Let's move to Jimmy Graham. What do you do with Jimmy Graham? Is he back? Are you fully on board with Jimmy Graham? Well, I don't think anybody should be fully on board with a player recovering from that type of injury.

after one good game and the first really good game in over a year. But am I inching my way towards being really wanting to take, look, there's so many barfey tied ins, as you would say, why not take a chance on Jimmy Graham? Doesn't mean I have 100% confidence in him, but why not take a chance? Sure. So we need to move on now. It's time for my favorite segment of the week. Starts of the week.

Starts of the week, we're giving you the guys we have supreme confidence in this week, guys that you should put in your lineup. I think I'm going to kick it over to Jason, let him start off with the quarterback of his choice. Who's your start of the week at the quarterback position? My start of the week this week at quarterback is Matthew Stafford. Look, a lot of people that drafted Stafford, they have him paired with another quarterback. And I am saying you have to stay in these flames. You, you, look.

There's no chance that at the end of the year, the Detroit Lions have anywhere. I'm saying that they will be bottom five in the league on percentage of scores through the ground. Through the ground. The world. I have no clue where you're going. What is happening? I'm saying that just like last year's Jaguars.

Right? They were, I think, the last place team in the league of their percentage of touchdowns that came through the running backs versus through wide receivers and tight ends. And so this year, I think that that's the Detroit Lions. And we saw what happened for Bortles last year. This is a high scoring game that they're not going to be able to punch them in on the ground. So I expect most of the touchdowns to be going from Matthew Stafford. And we've seen the offense is rolling. You know, I have, I'm not.