Week 3 Matchups + Start Sit Challenges, Shametown! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/22

All right, Foot Clan, we got a great show for you today, diving back into the matchups, reacting to the game last night. And let me tell you, this fantasy face-off season, I'm enjoying every minute of it. I can't say the same for my friend Jason. You do not want to miss the Wheel of Shame today. Make sure you click the subscribe button below. Join Mike on Sunday Live. Don't miss it. To the Fantasy Footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore. and Mike Wright. Hi, welcome in. Friday, September 22nd, Mike Wright, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway, the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Back at you. Fresh off of that Thursday night football game. Everything went according to plan. A lot went according to plan. I mean, Brock Purdy looked a little shaky early on. Yeah. And the Giants continued to look shaky all the time. Yeah, by butt party.

He got right back to his two touchdown average. It's just what he does, man. He throws two touchdowns, not more, not less, usually. He, you know, I tweeted yesterday, I thought it would be a committee of sadness in New York in the backfield. I'm looking for the first time, like I knew Matt Breedah got into the end zone, which I was like, oh, maybe, maybe that was the wrong take. No. Four for 17? He had four carries? Mm-hmm. Same as Gary Browell. Had four carries? But Gary Brightwell got five yards on his four carries. So the Giants ran the ball, including Daniel Jones, a total of 11 times. The San Francisco 49ers ran the ball 39 times. Never seen a more unhappy Christian McCaffrey manager than Mike Wright last night. He scored for the 12th straight game. No, I was all right. I was just, dude, it's the usual Christian McCaffrey of just.

Just a shoelace away from a monstrous week. It was a really great week. So selfish. The most discontent. I thought it was about the Elijah Mitchell 11 rushing opportunities. All you two are telling me right now is you have no Christian McCaffrey anywhere. That's all you are saying. Everyone out there is relating to Mike who has McCaffrey. But Elijah Mitchell back out there. Yeah, turd, get out of my way. Not 100% of snaps for Christian McCaffer. So sad. Mitchell looked great. And like, honestly, for the short week, Elijah Mitchell should be in there getting some carries. Debo. So fun to watch him play football. Six for 129 on 12 targets. Had a touchdown. Oh, it was, uh, oh, that was not a 40 yard touchdown though. No, that was a 40 yard reception. Bummer.

I was getting greedy with my bonus. Al, you, uh, you, you played against Debo last night. Yeah, you got a nice head start this week. And Jason, you said you played against Debo in a lot of places. Everywhere. I'm in nine. It's funny how that happens sometimes. I know it is. I'm in nine leagues. I think I'm playing against him in five, four or five leagues. It's like, four or five times 20 plus points. You got a hundred burgers last night. Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't good. It wasn't good. But like, like Al said. That's just they're off to a good start. That's right. That doesn't mean that they're going to win. George Kittle, nine targets, seven for 90, nice game for him, which was regrettable for me. I'm playing against Brooksie in the Dynasty League and have CMC and thought I got away with it. And then Kittle, he had a nice second half. This is usually what we have seen with the San Francisco 49ers. When one of their main options is out, the others are a really good fantasy plays. So with Brandon and Iook sitting.

Debo was good, Kittle was good. And it's funny because it feels like every single season in the draft season, we talk about like, well, these guys aren't that great when they're all on the field together sometimes. Or, you know, people have bad games. But when one of them misses, the others are great. I think we just need to draft 49ers knowing that guys are just going to miss time. On the other side of the ball, not much to talk about, but Darren Waller, just three for 20. Seven targets. Yeah. It was a rough game. Rough game for the Giants. I think I saw someone in our Slack say that he was using his flippers to catch the ball as the Waller. That was Jeremy who has Waller. There was one particular pass where it is like it hit him in the hand so you feel like he should have caught it, but it was not a great pass. It is. The only comment I want to make about the Giants is it was great to see the return of Wondale Robinson.

He was only four for 21. So, I mean, this is not a fantasy moving situation, five targets. But he was not on the field hardly at all. This was a very much a Cadarius Tony. Like when he was on the field, you knew the ball was going to Wondale Robinson. So it's, I don't want to be, you know, like really excited chasing what, what Robinson has done in this one game. But it's just, I think put him back on your radar as a possibility. Well, by extension, Isaiah Hodgins had zero receptions. So the pecking order might be changing there in New York. Better matchups could lead you to better results at some point in time. We do. It was, I don't know if you wanted to, whatever, talk about our news are here. But the saga of Sequin Barclay's ankle. Oh, yeah. Has, we have another installment to everybody. Another episode? Yeah, we got a new chapter of he left. He went.

Oh, dude, I've seen a high ankle sprain. I've seen him over and over. That's a high ankle spring. Reports back? No, it was a regular ankle sprain, probably missing three. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Dayball's like, dude, his progress is great. I'm not ruling him out of Thursday. He's game time decision. Yeah, he might play. But then ruled out on Wednesday. So it was not a game time decision. And it was, okay, well, we know what we're going to do. Matt Barita will be the go-to guy. And then Saquan Barkley himself said, no, I'm dealing with a high ankle sprain. And that said, I might be back next week. So stay tuned. Well, yeah, there will be more. There will be more with Sequin's ankle. All right. Put Clan Friday. Well, it is Friday. And every Friday we give away $100 gift card to a supporter of the show over at jointhefoot.com. Today's $100 gift card to fantasychamps.com goes to Koi B.

I don't know if I've heard that name before. Coy. He's just playing. I see. Yeah. Boston. Yeah, that's not that good. Hey, shooters got to shoot. Yeah. But that was a brick. Congratulations. That was a brick. I'm going to keep shooting. Good. Good. And then a shout out to everybody that is over on our Discord channel, which is very close to being the largest fantasy football discord channel in the world. It's popping. And it is the most active. A lot of people helping one another out. Ballers Discord.com is a quick way to get over there. Sign up. Free to join. Yeah, you get to chat with a bunch of like-minded people over there. It's good times. And this Monday, so I mean, get signed up, be ready. This Monday we're having a fun trivia night hosted by the one and only Papa Josh. Yes. Papa Josh. Just doing my best out of feeling there. Sorry. Let's move on.

News and notes from Around the League. Presented by USAA Insurance. Some updates for the matchups we covered on yesterday's episode of the show. Austin Echler remains sidelined on Thursday. Let's go to Jason Moore for comment. Yeah, he's not going to play. And let's go away from Jason Moore for comment. Dolphins wide receiver, Jaylon Wattel remained sidelined with the concussion symptoms. That also is the case for Logan Thomas. So hesitant to. I mean, I personally don't think Jalen Wattle is going to play football. No. No, I think he technically has until Saturday to clear, but at this point, you've got to think he's out. And the matchup is good on paper for Miami. So if you are looking for dart throws, DFS plays, you've got to look Braxton Berrios's way, Durham Smyth, River Craycraft. I just had to throw that out there. Yeah. Derek Henry did not practice Thursday after being limited on Wednesday.

He's listed as toe slash rest. Yeah, you don't like seeing that he's not practicing on Thursday, but the fact that it is slash rest on the actual official practice report makes me feel better about it. Is it rest for Derek Henry or for his toe? I believe it was for his towel. I was like, hey, rest the toe, you know, and so he's probably in a wheelchair. His upper body was practicing? Yes. Oh, working out, just pumping some iron. Aaron Jones, Christian Watson, the Packers Hamstring Update. Aaron Jones returned to a limited practice and Christian Watson was downgraded to it, did not practice. Which we heard Watson was, this was part of their plan of ramping him up, would expect he doesn't play. Feels so much like a ramping him down situation. Yeah, it's so bizarre. Because you can't overwork. Clearly his hamstring injury was rough and Watson has already been in his pro career dealing with hamstring injuries. So I think they're taking it slow. Aaron Jones was limited.

You know, just a couple of things on tape. Looks like a guy who's going to play, but keep your eyes up for the news because we don't know yet. Anthony Richardson, sideline on Thursday's practice with the concussion protocol, also not practicing today. Friday. He'll be out. I think it's going to be Gardner Minshew and Andy Dalton playing football because the Panthers, Bryce Young remains sideline. Andy Dalton's going to start the game and Bryce Young could miss more than just this week. Personally? I think this is an opportunity for Jonathan Mingo. He's been on the field a tremendous amount of time. The downfield throws, even the chances, they haven't been there with Bryce Young. I honestly would be looking personally at Mingo and Thielen with more optimism than with Bryce Young. I've watched those games, and the opportunities just weren't there, and I think Dalton will throw the football. Yeah, I mean.

I don't see it as a major downgrade, but I don't see this as an upgrade. I see it as an upgrade. Yeah, I mean, I just don't because last year, I mean, when we saw James Winston go to Andy Dalton, it hurt most of the wide receivers. Obviously, maybe that, you know, that means that Bryce Young is worse in your mind. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, James Winston was helpful for fantasy. Bryce Young is an active detriment. So to me, it's an upgrade from Bryce Young. It wouldn't be an upgrade from. James. So you're starting at him feeling in your dynasty? Yes, I am. Okay. Yeah, you also put up 17 fancy points last week. Oh, with Andy Dalton? No. Oh, with the guy you just be smirch, that's my point. Yeah, it's going to get better. Isaiah Pacheco returned to a limited practice on Thursday. So there you go. It's good. Hey, this is a great matchup for Pacheco. I originally had Pacheco in as my start of the week until he showed up on the injury report. So if you've got him, I'm playing him.

Well, let me put that to the test. Are you playing them over 98% of snaps and 18 carries, aka Zach Moss? Are you playing Pacheco over Zach Moss? I would play Pacheco against the Bears over Zach Moss for sure. What about you, Mike? I would probably play Moss. Against Baltimore and Baltimore? Yeah. Okay. I mean. I mean, he was great last week. I just think it was, I mean, we know. And Foot Clan, if you're, if you're new to the show, because you hear me week after week after week besmirched, Zach Moss traded him. I've, I've been a non-believer in him for since before the NFL draft where he was drafted. And I, you know, it's a bit. But he is valuable. He, he is a workhorse right now for the Colts. And so when I throw as much mud on him as I can,

It's mostly for show, but I do think that it was a really good matchup last week and a bad one this week. So I would really not. The matchup is not great, but it's like is Pacheco, I mean, how many opportunities will Pacheco actually have? The matchup's great. So when he touches the ball, he should get good chunks of yardage. But what's he going to carry the ball? Ten times. And is he going to get a goal line opportunity? No, that'll be Jerich McKinnon. So he has to rip off a huge run, whereas Zach Moss, at least if they get to the five or whatever, it's going to be Zach Moss's opportunity. So I'm just, I'm chasing touchdown. Pacheco's not a bad play, but I'm going for ceiling. I think Zach Moss will have five targets. That's why I care about Zach Moss. That it's not, I was disappointed to see Pacheco's involvement last week, and I was even more disappointed with two targets, one catch. But I can see it going.

Either way this week, I'm going to have to make the call on one of my teams. Kenny Gainwell returned to a limited practice on Thursday. So we could see the beginnings of the Swift Gainwell timeshare playing out. There was a report of hot hand. Yeah. Which. No, it's going to be that way. You're not going to throw. Kenny Gainwell spent the entire off season earning the goodwill and multiple seasons earning the goodwill and the starter's job for a reason. And so I don't think he gets. You know, he's not put in the attic here. But DeAndre Swift had such a performance. Yeah, he had such a performance that he earned himself a lot of opportunity. And if I was playing one this weekend, it would be DeAndre Swift. I just think it's going to be shared. Yeah, I agree. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Fantasy Forecast.

Well, yesterday on the show, we covered the Titans, Browns, Falcons, Lions, Saints, Packers, Broncos, Dolphins, Chargers, Vikings, Patriots, Jets, Bills, Commanders. Was that one breath? That was one breath, and it was kind of, I was powering down like a computer. Oh, I, I heard, I heard it. And that was also a bit. I'm not actually a computer. All right, today we've got some more. I am not a cat. Your Honor. Houston Texans, they're O and two, and they take on the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jaguar. Did you see that? Mike, you shared that poll with us. Yeah, it was. They went around, it was. I think it was CBS. They went around the studio and they asked how to pronounce it. And now I'm, I'm going to do it here. We're going to go through every member real quick. There's two different ways to say Jacksonville's team name. Jason. Jaguars. Okay. Jaguars. Okay. Al. Jaguars. Okay. Jaguars.

Did you say Jaguars? Jaguars. It sounded like Brooksie went wires too. I think I'm closer to the wires. So it's wires or wars. Thought about it. It's W-I-R-E-S or W-A-R-S. The best part of the video to me was. And it was like 50-50. Yeah, these are sports people and it was not, it wasn't a room. So people weren't being influenced by other people's answers. And then you had one of them was a self-proclaimed Jacksonville fan from. birth. And it was. And they went Jacksonal Jaguars. And what's funny is when we started the show, it was always Jaguars. Yep. That's how I said it forever. I converted to wars. I converted to wars because all these Jaguars fans are like, it's not Jaguars. It's Jaguars. And then, yeah, it was funny to watch the like self-proclaimed lifelong Jaguars fans say it is definitely Jaguars. So I don't know. Also, it's both. Clearly.

Yes, yes, Kyle. It is Jaguars. Yaxonville. Here's where we talk about the matchup. Jacksonville, eight and a half point favorites, over under's 44 points. Texans won in Jacksonville last year 13 to 6. It is a divisional game. I have been considering. Oh, yes. Yes. I could feel the energy shift in the room. Couldn't you? Yeah. Yeah, that is. Andy's almost upset of the week. I don't hate it. It's an eight and a half point line. Houston, they're oh and two, I understand. But on the defensive side, they've been pretty stout against wide receivers. Jacksonville's had some bumps along the way, getting this offense rolling again this year. They have all the tools and ability to blow Houston out of the water here. So that is certainly in the range of outcomes.

But the overrunner is just 44 points. Christian Kirk had his week last week, Zay Jones the week before. And Zay Jones, not practicing Wednesday, Thursday. So Christian Kirk is back in play. 14 targets last week. I've been impressed with C.J. Stroud and what he's been able to do, he's throwing the football a ton. They can't run it. Their offensive lines amiss. But Jacksonville's defense of 28th against opposing fantasy quarterbacks. I don't think C.J. Stroud is a bad DFS play this week, personally. Agreed. And there's going to be some opportunities here. I am dying for a Damien Pierce I'm proud to have drafted you moment. Can you promise me that this week, Jason? Nope. No, I can't. I cannot promise you that if you look at the Jacksonville defense.

this season and last year, they're pretty stout against the run, partially because they are a pass funnel defense and you can throw on them. It's the exact opposite of the Houston Texans. The Houston Texans, they are not a good play for, you always see this matchup. You see this bad team, this team going after the number one pick, and you think, oh, good, I want to fire up all my. all my players against them, but that has not worked out. Last year, if you played a quarterback against the Texans, you were really, really unhappy. They were the number one team against quarterbacks. Not good. They averaged 10 fantasy points per game given up to the quarterback position. And why? Because you were up a ton and they're easy to run on, and so you don't need to throw the ball last year in these two matchups, one of which the Houston Texans won. They beat Jacksonville and Jacksonville.

Trevor Lawrence had 10 fantasy points and four and a half fantasy points. So it's not to say you have to bench Trevor Lawrence. Let me give you some names, Jason. Trevor Lawrence or Gino Smith against Carolina. Trevor Lawrence or Deshawn Watson against the Tennessee Titans. Ooh, okay. I think he's a good play this week, even though he's been putrid. I'm with Jason on this. So there you go. Damian Pierce, it's been rough. You know, C.J. Stroud's throwing the ball a ton. Nico Collins. I think you stay in the flames there. Yeah, agreed. Negative game scripts are going to be a part of the Houston experience. Tank Dell. He is practicing in full. I think he's viable this week. Mm-hmm. And Travis E.N. Mike, he was your start of the week yesterday. Should be wheels up for Travis E.T. And honestly, I think we do a disservice to anybody to even.

really worry about or talk about or mention Tank Biggs me right now. I think the best way to look at things is Travis ETN is the starting running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jaguars. That's also never going to happen again. But ETN is the guy. It's early in the season. So maybe by the end of the year we will have a different opinion when these rookies come on strong. But. I think we've got an answer. One of the biggest questions coming into this year was Kenneth Walker and Travis E.TN, these stud running backs. There you go. These guys who you thought were just going to be so great. And then their team goes and drafts are really talented, really high draft capital running back to add to the running back room. And you go, oh, it's going to be a time share. Neither one of them are a time share. Both these rookies came in to be backups to their star running back incumbents. If you drafted Evan Ingram, who's been the tight in seven and nine so far, are you content? Mike, Mike just gave me the life.

Mike gave me the face where, like, he's ordering from a new restaurant and he had the first bite. And he's like, you know what? I'm still happy I ordered it. Yeah. Five for 49, six for 57. I mean, yeah, you're not moving on. You're getting points. Which is step one and tight in. Exactly. This year, are you kidding me? This year, that is phenomenal. That's over seven points a game. That's as good as you can hope and pray for it. Well, yeah. And we just, what, do we get off Darren Waller, three for 20? I mean, count your blessings there. Keep playing ingram. And if Zay Jones misses, there's going to be some opportunity for him. Yeah. The Indianapolis Colts are one in one and they take on the Baltimore Ravens, or a two and O. Drafking Sportsbook line has Baltimore minus eight. The overrunners 44. It looks like it'll be Gardner Minshu and Lamar Jackson squaring off. It would have been fun to see Anthony Richardson take on Lamar Jackson in this one. Yeah. Considering.

Richardson was on pace for, you know, even with the missed time, almost 650 rushing yards and 25 rushing touchdowns. But we're not going to get that. So on paper, this looks like Baltimore should be able to take care of their business. Lamar Jackson, he's a great start. Zay Flowers, Mike started the week yesterday. The Colt Secondary is allowing the second most points to wide receivers. And then here's where it gets interesting to me. I think there will be another wide receiver contributing in this game beyond Zay Flowers. For Baltimore? For Baltimore. And the wide receiver I think it's going to be is Nelson Aguilar. That's who I think is going to make the contribution. Someone's in your draft king's lineup. I can always smell them.

Last week it was Nico. Yeah, you're right. Am I? Yeah, I knew it. I knew it. Look, Odell Beckham didn't practice Wednesday Thursday. Nelson Aguilar had six targets last week. He was the number one beneficiary from Beckham leaving the game. It wasn't Bateman. It was Aguilar who also flashed in preseason who seems to have earned the trust of Lamar Jackson. So that's my little under the radar. I like throwing that out there as a DFS dart throw. I don't know that I would pick him up in a redraft league and try to roster him and rely on him. No. But it's a really good point because Nelson Aguilar has spent his career being the butt of jokes and he's spent this offseason being the praise of coaches. And then was really good this last week. So he's an interesting name to monitor. Okay. Mark Andrews, you play him. And then on the other side, Zach Moss, it's all about workload. He had 98% of snaps, 100% of the opportunities.

He succeeded with them relative to the matchup. And so I think he gets it all this week. He certainly will get a bad matchup because the Ravens are giving up 11 points to fantasy running backs. Yeah. I mean, if he gets all 11, I guess you're going to be. Which he probably will. Well, yeah, yeah. I mean, if. I bet 11 points is what he scores exactly. I'll take 10. All right. But that is someone that you could start. I mean, getting 10 from a running back is not the end of the world, but this isn't a great matchup. You're not getting 20 points in Baltimore.

against the Baltimore run defense with Gardner-Menschuant quarterback. Is Gardner going to be able to supply Michael Pittman with enough work in this game, Mike? I think so. I mean, we have a 33% target share for Michael Pittman so far, and the really, like, the ball is just going to him. Like, he is truly their number one guy. Gardner's a very capable backup, so it's status quo for how I'm looking at Pittman. Pittman last week had... what, 12 targets, eight receptions, and obviously a lot of that was Gardner Minchin. And gentlemen over there, inducers alley, if you hear anything update-wise on these Baltimore Ravens, will you please let us know? Because I'd love a practice report on Beckham before, I don't know, a segment later. Fair enough. What are you doing with the running backs for Baltimore? Oh, Gus Bus. Justice Hill, not expected to play with the turf toe. Look, at the surface,

in agreement how can you argue it's likely to be gus edwards but melvin gordon will likely be brought up i think they just added kenyon drake to the practice squad who the team knows kenyon drake oh we do have an update beckham not a practice today so there you go right uh so is it like if you because these are both waiver wire guys maybe you have both if you are you making the decision gus edwards over zach moss oh Yes, for sure. And that's not the bit of me hating Zach Ross. You're talking about it. It's more of a question if both guys were active. If Justice Hill was there and Gus Edwards, then you could make the argument. Not at practice. Yes, you could make the argument. But the fact that he's not expected to play hasn't practiced all week. If Gus is there with just Melvin Gordon and even Kenyon Drake is active on game day, I'm definitely playing Gus.

with his touchdown opportunities over Moss. Yeah, I agree. And let's take a quick break. Come back with the Panther Seahawks. All right, the Panthers are 0 and 2, and they take on the 101 Seattle. Seahawks in Seattle, the Draft King Sportsbook line, Seattle minus 5.5. Now, does that line surprise you? Seattle is a tough place to play, and Carolina is 0 and 2, and likely onto a backup quarterback. To me, that line is... You think it's too low? I think it's pretty low. for what we came into this season thinking about Seattle and what we have seen so far from Carolina. So this to me is a testament to Carolina's defense being better than expected. They are a decent unit. Yeah, they've been shutting it down, wide receivers and quarterbacks through two weeks. I know it's just two weeks, but Jason, you are not afraid of them. You put Gino Smith as your start of the week in this.

Matcha? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you look at who the Carolina Panthers played the first two weeks, you can't really take this season and say, well, they're good against quarterbacks right now. They haven't really been challenged. And Gino, they figured it out with the offensive line, the protection getting out quick. Obviously, we had a monstrous bounceback game from Tyler Lockett. You're always fine with D.K. Metcalfe. You've added Jackson Smith and Jig. But yeah, I'm wheels up with Gino. Which. D.K. Metcalfe did not practice Wednesday or Thursday. He has said he's going to play. This is maintenance. But do remember, he left the game briefly with a, I believe it, just like a nasty shot in the ribs or so. But he did come back in the game. So it's make sure, like don't check out on the weekend if you got Metcalfe in your lineup. You need to make sure that he's playing. So Lockett's in.