Fantasy Football 2017 - Starts of the Week, Week 11 Matchups, Disappointing WRs

that Eric Ebron's probably not in that stream worthy. Well, we're talking about starts of the week today, so we'll see if we talk about him. Oh, I hope. Spoiler alert. We are not talking about. We are not. All right. Fantastic. But so that, that's what I'm excited about. And then what am I watching for? I'm watching for can Marva Jones come back or will the smooth routes continue? Now, smooth rounds continue to take away. Oh. Oh. Oh.

There it is. It's so smooth. It's very important that Kenny G. become a fantasy relevant player. I have some worries. I didn't learn to play the saxophone for just a couple of weeks. That was Andy playing the sax there. That is right. So I've talked about this a little bit earlier in the week, or maybe that was on the footcast. I don't remember, but.

There is a big storm that is going to be near the Great Lakes. And as we are closer to Sunday, I think that it's time where we could say, okay, it looks like this is going to be accurate. Now, it's, the snow has kind of, the projection for snow has gone away. But the winds and the temperature are still a problem. And this is going to affect three games. Okay, this is going to affect the game in Green Bay, the game in Cleveland. And the game in Detroit. Or I'm sorry, in Chicago.

And the game in Chicago. Yes. So this is one of those games where you're going to have low temperatures, possibly in the 20s, and wins about 15 miles an hour or up. So you're kind of, and for fantasy players, the data says that there's two kind of markers of where the passing game takes a big hit and the rushing game, the attempts go up in the rushing game. One is once it drops to about 20 degrees.

So weather-wise, that's one. And then wind-wise, it's about 15 miles an hour. So you're getting close to those numbers, but both of them in the same game. So I think I temper a perfect storm. A perfect storm. I temper my expectations for those three matchups in the passing game. I'm not saying, hey, you can't start, you know, Matthew Stafford. We've seen players have good games in cold weather, good games even in windy conditions. But you're not going to see these matchups.

I don't think, like Marvin Jones. Marvin Jones is a guy who usually does his work through, you know, a lot of air yards. I'm tempering expectations on those type of players versus Golden Tate, who's going to get a lot of work in the screen game. He runs through the air. Yeah, he runs through the air. So then with those perfect storm things, and you're talking to the rushing attempts, Jordan Howard, what's your level of excitement for him? He's coming off of a kind of a dud. Yeah.

Yeah, we'll talk about him. Oh, we're moving him down. We're going to talk about him during the starts of the week. All right. Well, let's talk about Benny Cunningham versus Tariq Cohen just real quick. Let's just talk about the reality that Benny Cunningham is playing ahead of Tareke Cohen. That's exactly what I mean. You can drop Tariq Cohen. Yes. Yeah, I think you can. He basically, I mean, John Fox came out and said, look, Ben in Cunningham, he's seen protections. He knows how to protect on third down. And Tareke Cohen, explosive as he is, apparently.

you know, John Fox is content with 13.9 points per game. Second worst in the league. Of course he is. Let's get the weapon. You know what we didn't even talk about on Monday? Let's get the weapons off the field. Was John Fox with the worst challenge in the history of the NFL when he thought he's like, oh no, my player he got in because the refs called him out on the four on this diving touchdown play. And then the replay quickly shows he was in, except.

He was bobbing the ball as he was diving into the end zone and hitting the pylon, which anyone who knows NFL rules knows that this is going to be a touchback. But no. Nope. What is happening with John Fox? Because he has no one. He has no one helping him out to say, Mr. Fox, don't challenge that play because we will go from getting the ball first and four. First a goal from the four to giving the ball away.

Congratulations. Now, before we move on from this game, I do think Amir Abdullah is an okay play as well. The running game is going to be more important. The Bears, while their defense has been great against quarterback against tight end, they're middle of the pack, maybe even lower when it comes to fantasy points given up against the running back. So I think this will be a lower scoring game, but you're going to see two teams that are going to need to run the ball. You better get in the end zone if you want them to be relevant. I'll tell you that. Fair. Is he? I'm going to say it.

I'll say it right now. Uh-oh. He stinks. Oh. He stinks. You will live to regret the day you have said that he stinks. As soon as he gets over 50 yards rushing. I'll be happy. All right. 53 yards. So you already regret saying it. Yeah. Okay. Let's be. Let's move on. Jags. Browns in Cleveland. Seven and a half point underdogs are the Browns. 37.5 point over under.

Look, Vegas and myself, we expect this to be a run-heavy game. Look, not only do the Brown struggle to move the ball, but you're not going to have an opportunity in the passing game against these otherworldly DBs from the Jacksonville Jaguars. I expect Leonard Fournett to be fed the rock early and often, assuming his health is in place. I expect this to be a ground and pound game, a defensive game. I would not be surprised.

if Jacksonville shut them out. So, look, Isaiah Crowell's looked a lot better over the last few weeks, gotten the ball plenty of times. But it's not going to be pretty for anybody on the Cleveland side. There's really not, from a fantasy perspective, there's no one to talk about on this side, because I wouldn't touch anybody. On the Cleveland Brown side? On the Cleveland Browns. Yeah, I can agree with that. My big question for this game is Leonard Fournett, this is not a question of do you start him of,

Of course you do, but the matchup is tough. The Brown's run defense, we've been talking about this all year. They're actually a solid unit. However, they have lost Jamie Collins linebacker. They're giving up the eighth fewest points to the running back position. And Leonard Fernette, I mean, 17 for 33 against the Chargers looking sluggish, looking like he's been out of football for a month. So can he bounce back in this particular matchup?

I think so. Yeah, I do too. Yeah, I think it's going to be volume. And then if you give Leonard Fornett volume, what we did. They gave him 17 carries last week. I understand. But I'm saying what we've seen from him this year is that volume equates to an explosive player to from Leonard Fornett that makes your fantasy week. And so, yes, last week, in a vacuum. It was, dare I say, Abdullian. Sure. Last week. But that's not the standard by which I'm going to judge Leonard Fournette here in the past or in the future.

Leonard Fournett is a much more explosive player than we saw last week. And yes, I realized that the Browns are, I think, given up the eighth least points to the running back. But, you know, Bortles will do enough in this matchup to keep them honest. I like Bortals in this game. So Marquis Lee, you need to monitor whether he's active. He hasn't practiced recently but still played. I expect him to play. Alan Hurons is not going to play. And we expect D.D. Westbrook to be activated for this game. Who I think is a really good player. That'll be helpful.

It'll be helpful in the sense that having the speedy guys, again, this is one of those 20-mile-an-hour wind games. So the deep ball might not work as much, but Marquis Lee, D.D. Westbrook, you got some real speed there that can easily burn Cleveland D.Bs. And before we move on, I also want to mention that, because Andy, you said you wouldn't really want to touch anyone from the Cleveland side. I believe Duke Johnson is completely safe. I mean, you're getting a guy who.

is getting, you know, 10 carries plus five or six receptions a game. And I just think he is. Safe as a what? Safe as a flex. Safe as just a guy that you can plug in. I mean, in a half point scoring format.

Basically since week three, there's only been one game where he hasn't been double digits. Would you rather roll him out then, Isaiah Crowell? I would, yeah, because I think Crowell. Passing game value. Passing game value, especially with the pass rush that's going to be coming from the Jacksonville Jaguars, you're going to need those dump-off pass to be in order to do anything and beat that pass rush. Duke Johnson's on pace currently for almost 100 targets and 75 receptions. I mean, he's the wide receiver. In a half-point PPR.

He's quietly the wide receiver 18. If Coleman and other words, Gordon comes back? Wide receiver? Sorry, running back. He's basically a wide receiver. I've been saying that for a while. Does it change if Coleman and Gordon get involved? It could. I mean, this has been without Cory Coleman, who is back for this game. You're not going to touch him this week against Jacksonville. I think Cory Coleman, yeah, I mean, whenever you have better wide receivers, you might need the running back less. But until.

proven that way. I'm willing to put Duke Johnson in my lineup. Before we move on to the Ravens and Packers, want to thank today's sponsor, Pristine Auction, the absolute best sports memorabilia site. What did you just frame up yesterday for our office? Oh, oh, Brooks, it's not on the wall. That's an absolute, absolute disgrace. While we do this read, I want you to change it out. Change it out right now. Incredible. On show. That means Brooks has to put his face on the camera. So we have, we can't do that. We cannot allow that. Change the camera to me. I'll entertain while Mike talks. What?

Yeah, okay. We're happening and we'll go back. But yeah, we just framed up a Michael Crabtree jersey, a signed Michael Crabtree jersey. You know what I got that beast for? 55. 55 bucks? 55 bucks for a Michael Crabtree. Signed signature on this jersey. A couple of things that just went out. Tyreek Hill signed Chiefs logo football for 60 bucks. A Corey Davis.

Ladies and gentlemen, we know that Corey Davis in the fantasy football community. We know that he is arriving. Yeah. Someone got a signed jersey from Corey Davis for $67. It's ridiculous. And like throwbacks, like LT, you want to sign charges, throwback mini helmet, just $100. I mean, incredible stuff every single day, new stuff, every single day at Pristine Auction. That's P-R-I-S-T-I-N-E auction.com. You make that completely free account. You let them know that the fantasy footballers sent you. Hey, Andy.

Yeah. You hungry? You know what? Oh. I'm pretty hungry. And we've got friends at Omaha Steaks because the winter is coming. The holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas. I'm excited. My family is excited. We're all excited. And I'm excited for the Omaha Steaks deal. The same one that we saw last year. It's unbelievable. We got this package. The deal is sensational. It's unbelievable. 75% off.

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for $49.99. I'm salivating. Yeah. So go to Omaha steaks.com. Enter my code fantasy. All right. Enter that code in the search bar. It gets 75% savings. It is an incredible gift. Guaranteed to be delicious. And now we go back to the White Cam. Just like, I need that, we need that horn, that majestic horn. Hey! Michael Crabtree is up in the studio. Yeah, if you want to see an example.

Mike just got that from pristine auction yesterday. We've got an autographed crabby. Michael Crabtree up on the wall. Thanks, Brooks. I realized that was, you know, that was a tough ass. Do what I have to. Thank you. You're a real team player. Yeah. Let's keep them around. Ravens, Packers in Green Bay. Jason just talked about the weather in this matchup and, well, 38 point over under. And just a quick reminder. I'm not excited. We have a, there is a.

a weekly article all about the weather and how we'll impact the games by Eric Ludwig Beethoven that we put up on the site each and every weekend. Make sure you check that out. And it's going to be better than whatever we say on the Thursday show because you're talking about actual accurate weather reports. I had this matchup, and this is years ago, this is before the podcast even existed, where I was riding out Matthew Stafford as my quarterback. And he, I think this was even like week 14.

or something. So we're talking fantasy playoffs. I had no idea that there was a torrential snowstorm in Philadelphia. So I'm like, oh, sweet, Stafford, he's having a monster year. I flip on the game. It's just powder everywhere. So I was a fool and did not check the weather reports. When was this? This was years and years ago.

This was like, remember when Stafford was the hotness for as a fantasy quarterback? After his 40 touchdowns to Calvin Johnson? I think it was the 40 touchdown year. Look, how, how excited are you for this matchup? Oh, I'm so excited to play the Baltimore DST. I'll play that much. Yeah, I'd be excited to play the Baltimore DST. I'd be excited to, I'd be okay playing Javorius Allen.