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

Matt Kaff, if he's playing, you're starting him. And Kenneth Walker, two rushing touchdowns should be set up for success against the 31st-ranked rushing defense so far through two games. Adam Thielen and Andy Dalton hanging out. One last ride. Adam Thielen, seven for 54 in a touchdown last week. It's like the heist movie where the old guys come back. Yeah. He was Morgan Freeman in that one. Yeah, he was. I think, we already discussed it. I mean. I look this up. At worst, this is neutral. Adam Thieland produced last week. They don't have weapons in the passing game. So, you know, the Seahawks so far, they've been awful. Going in style. Yeah. Who is the other two actors? We got Alan Arkin. Oh, gosh. We got Michael Kane. Oh, there it is. Oh, Chris Lloyd, Morgan Freeman. Yeah. Yeah. Well, look, you can make fun of the 33-year-old all you want.

Seahawks have been basically the worst in football in terms of giving up fantasy points to the wide receiver position. I have more confidence that they'll continue to give up points to the wide receiver position because of Andy Dalton. And so I think Adam Thielen is fine as a flex play this week. Yeah, fine is the correct word. And I think Mingo could have his first game. He's on the field constantly. I think he had eight targets last week. That could be wrong. Let me double check that. He had eight targets. Yeah, he had a lot of targets. They were not good targets, but he played on.

98% of Carolina snaps. So there you go. Miles Sanders. Jason, you have to measure start of the week. Seattle defense has been pretty bad. So maybe that's a little bit of that line too. Maybe this game will be a little bit closer than we expect. Doubt it. Doubt it? I do. I doubt it. I think Seattle, like you said, it's a really tough place to play. the matchups for the first two weeks for these teams. I think we're going to see more of what we saw last season from both of these rosters. Chicago Bears are 0 and 2. They take on the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead. Here we go. Here's that line you're looking for. Draft King Sportsbook has Kansas City as 12.5 point home favorites. The over-under is 48. So I think our implied point total is incorrect here in the...

in our show doc i think so uh but that's got to put kansas city at the 28 29 point mark and chicago down at 17 it's been grotesque oh 30 30's the implied point total um how do you feel about that word to describe the chicago offense the wait the word was the word was grotesque oh yeah that's accurate is that too soft a word I think it's too exciting of a word, honestly. I feel like they're too boring to be called grotesque. Grotesque seems like, you know, look, you might not want to look at it, but you have a hard time looking away. I don't want to look at it. I can easily look away at the Bears' offense right now. The Bears fans and the depression that is set in through two weeks.

Is anything changing this week in Kansas City? No, I mean, the matchup is so brutal. You're upset about the fact that, you know, you came in thinking you have a chance at this division. Johnson Fields could take a step forward with DJ Moore. You added a lot to your defense. Maybe you can compete this year, maybe not make the playoffs, but be like one of those up and coming teams that looks like, you know, you got a shot towards the end of the year. And instead, you're going 0 and 3 and you're getting really scary. For my sweet, sweet Arizona Cardinals number one pick. Caleb Williams is ours. Justin Fields coming out and blaming coaching to a degree of what's causing him to overthink in the pocket. Let's talk about Khalil Herbert for a second because through two weeks, 9.9 fantasy points in week one, 6.3 fantasy points in week two against Green Bay and Tampa Bay. Now in Arrowhead in week three, I feel like I've seen tons of starts it and...

you know, trade questions and general speculation on Kalil Herbert in general. Are you trying to find a different option this week? It's really frustrating because the Bears' offense has been terrible. Cleo Herbert is, in my opinion, a good running back. He was on the field 60% of the snaps. With Diomte Forman being inactive, it was Kalil Herbert and Roshan Johnson, and 60% of snaps turned into Seven carries and three targets. The offense is terrible, and yet they're not giving their running backs the true option to do anything. So are you making the argument against Khalil Herbert based on that? I'm making the argument that it's really frustrating that we don't know. Like, who should Khalil Herbert be the starter? I don't know. Give them some work. Let's find out. Should we find out from the bench?

Yeah, we should find out from the bench. You know, we saw this happen last year a couple times with David Montgomery. You look at the end of the season, David Montgomery on the field for 54% of snaps and get six carries. And David Montgomery was, you know, a higher draft capital, higher paid, better player than Khalil Herbert. So I think Khalil Herbert right now, until proven otherwise, needs to be on your bench. Zach Moss against Baltimore or Kalil Herbert? When you said, let's talk about Kalil Herbert, I thought. Please don't ask me, Zach Moss versus Khalil Herbert. I mean, that's how you have to ask. It has to be waiver guys because it's like. Well, no, I think I would, at that point, I'm going to take the 98% of snaps from Zach Moss. That's what I would do. Pacheco across the field. Oh, I would. I love Pacheco. I am all in on Pacheco this one. Would you play? I mean, let's find some nasty, nasty boys here. What about Kendrae Miller if he was active? I'd play Herbert.

Um, but it, I think I'd play Herbert too with the trifecta in New Orleans. I don't blame people who have the courage to take the shot for Kendry Miller. It just, that, that is, that's high risk. I like risk, but that's, would you rather roster Cam Acres right now going to Minnesota or Killeherbert? Ooh, Cam Acres. About, yeah, yeah, probably Acres, but it's, they're about the same. Get nasty, brother. Uh, Natchie Harris or Cleo Herbert. Najee. Najee Harris plays the Raiders. Yeah. Gross. DJ Moore was six for 104 despite the putrid week. You keep playing DJ Moore. Yeah. And then Justin Fields. Right now it's been gross. He says he's not going to, he basically said he's not going to think as much. Which that should be more running. That's what it means to me because something about processing defenses right now is not working for Justin Fields. And I.

If you read between the lines, it feels like he's saying, hey, you're trying to make me a pocket passer. It would be nice if he could be a pocket passer. I'm going to say that because there were opportunities against that defense last week, and he just didn't let it go. I mean, if you watched the game, it was like everyone's screaming at the TV. Throw the ball. Yeah. He's, or take off. Yeah. Like either just don't wait and run into the back. Yeah. And don't you dare pump. Don't you deer pump again. He looks like a guy. No one's believing you're going to throw it. Who's really afraid of mistakes. Yeah. That's what it looks like to me. Yeah. But are you playing Stafford? Wow. Or Gino over Justin Fields? So what I was going to add to it is the Bears will be missing just like the Giants. The starting portion of the left line will be gone. Kansas City is a very strong defense.

Oh, man. So Fields or Stafford? Stafford's Monday night against Cincinnati in Cincinnati. Oh, man. I'm going to personally keep rolling out Fields. He has been putrid and the Kansas City Chiefs defense has been good. So if you wanted to, you know, Gino to me is a little bit more interesting than Stafford. That, I think, is a closer call. The Bengals still have a really good defense. and Stafford hasn't been throwing touchdown so far this season. But with Fields, you saw the Chiefs shut down two pocket passers. Jared Goff, week one, didn't do much, although they did give up, you know, points to the offense. And then obviously last week it was a little bit rainy, a little bit rain, but Trevor Lawrence didn't do much when you would have hoped for a bigger game. I think you might want to bench him to be happier.

I'm saying that it's been rough. I think from a, look, I think Justin Fields is going to bounce back at some point. He was my start of the week last week because I thought that. But maybe this is the time when you let yourself off the hook. Yeah, I mean, I just don't know what other matchups. You've got to start someone else. You can't just bench them. You've got to start Russell Wilson or you've got to start Stafford or you've got to start golf. I mean, maybe golf you would throw in there. Those are just hard. I would at home.

Those are, yeah, those are just hard for me. To me, I would keep rolling fields. But I don't, you know, maybe I'm not feeling the burns that people who have had to start him like, Owl, you picked up Kirk Cousins. And I would start Kirk Cousins easily over fields. Kirk's been on fire. His matchup is great. But that's tough one. So you would prefer to bench him, Andy. Not necessarily. I'm just saying that from a mental standpoint has been really hard on those that drafted him. And if you put him on the bench and you play somebody that you have some confidence in, if he has a bad game, you'll be happy you made that decision. And if he has a good game, you'll be like, okay, this draft picks getting redeemed and I can play him again in the future. So I just think it might be mentally taxing to lose three straight games because of Justin Fields. I understand that. And that's part of the game. It is part of the game, absolutely. And sometimes it's about winning and sometimes it's about mental health. Correct. And speaking of mental health, can you play any wide receivers on the Kansas City side?

You can. They're projected for 30 points. Somebody's going to do something, but Tony and Moore and Rice and MBS and Watson and I think you kind of just. Nope. Kelsey. Yeah, it's Kelsey. I would put Cadarius Tony at the top of the list. But he's hurt. He's hurt now. He's missing practice. Dude, just retire. Just retire. I know you're like, what is this year three in the league, but you can't play football, man. I don't think he's going to play this week. When he's on the field, like last week was good. No. I'm saying like when he in his opportunity. 28% of snaps. Five catches for 35 yards on 28% of snaps. But, but you're not getting more snaps. I'm not talking about fantasy football. I'm just talking to the man Cadarious Tony where Jason's telling him to retire. I'm saying for his body's sake, he's just not able to take NFL action.

Yeah, I mean, the problem is I would not be shocked if Kansas City played him on 28% of snaps the rest of the season. Yeah, I wouldn't either. Yeah, I would just avoid it. It's so crazy that you can have a 30-point projected team applied total and say bench all wide receivers. All right, let's move on to the next blowout. Dallas 2 and O, and O, and 2. Cardinals are at home. Dallas is a 12.5 point favorite. The overrunners 43. And we got the unfortunate news yesterday that Trayvon Diggs. Superstar cornerback. Torn ACL in practice, his season is over. And Dallas was playing man coverage 42% of the time. They were dominating. That was given them the ability to go out the quarterback constantly. And it's going to hurt their defense. It is. You know, you can't take away in all pro type of cornerback. But it ain't going to probably hurt them this week. So they're on the road. They're still 12.5 point favorites. You know, from the Cardinals side.

of the fantasy world. I am fine with Zach Hertz. James Conner is a volume play. Hollywood Brown is a start and close your eyes. Mike's making faces. It's just, it's, it's been so disappointing. I mean, the guy had. For Hollywood? Yeah. He had a touchdown last week. He scored. And he still wasn't a top 24 option at the wide receiver position. And he had 10 targets. 10 targets and scored. It was not in the top 24. Ooh. That being said, there was a lot of wide receiver scoring this last week. He did not have a bad game. 14 and a half, half PPR points. You'd be happy with that. That's fair. There was a lot of wide receiver scoring. There were some good games. But it was also, I mean, that was against the Giants. I mean, without Trayvon Diggs, the Dallas Cowboys are still, the Cardinals are outmatched. Yeah, it's the pass rush of the Cowboys that are going to really, really be a problem, even without Diggs in the secondary.

there's going to be a lot of pressure. Dak is Mike's start of the week at quarterback. Jake Ferguson, Mike started the week at tight end. C.D. Lamb is an auto start. Tony Pollard is an auto start. So the real question. Is James Connor? Yeah. I mean, in the game, I think it is James Connor. I don't think you can sit him, though. I mean, he's going to have 20 opportunities in this ball game. Even with a bad matchup, I would play him over most of all of those other options that we're talking about at the Zach Moss level. You know what I'm pretty much doing with Arizona? I'm...

I'm trying to just play guys that get the dump off close to the line of scrimmage garbage because they're going to be a negative game script. And so Zacherts James Connor. Zacherts James Connor is the answer. Brandon Cooks, are you going to give him a week? Yeah, I'll let him. He returned to practice with the sprained MCL, but I'm going to let him show me that he's actually ready. Pittsburgh's one-on-one. They take on the Las Vegas Raiders who are also one-on-one. The draft King Sportsbook line Raiders, two and a half point home favorites. The overrinder is 43. Does that line surprise you at all? No, I don't think so. I think this is pretty much exactly where I would put this game. The Steelers have, if you look at there's two struggling offenses or at least uninspiring offenses. It's a good word. And there's one good defense. So to me, if the line is weird at all, I think that the Raiders will have a more difficult time with the Steelers than the Steelers will have with the Raiders.

Josh Jacobs, I threw him in there as a start of the week because, well, get the man some confidence. It's time to go. And the Steelers are dead last against running back so far through two weeks. You saw big plays against them last week, chunk plays. Drumford, Nick Chubb. I hope we get one from Mr. Joshua Jacobs this week. And we're banking on him being heavily utilized. I will guarantee he has more rushing yards this week. Promise. Wow. Wow. Big man. Yeah. Yeah, cut that out for socials. Devante Adams is in your lineup, and that's just the state of affairs for Devante Adams right now. Are you playing anybody else on that side of the ball? I think Jacobi Myers is interesting. He returned to a full practice. Should be back out there. Week one against the Broncos, it was 10 targets in 80% of the snaps. I turned in 9 for 81. The two touchdowns are just like. Thielen or Jacobi Myers?

I'll... Jacoby. I'd go Jacoby. Okay. Jacoby even got... Hollywood or Jacoby. Jacoby. He had really valuable targets, too. It wasn't just, you know... Niko or Jacoby. Nico. Dotson or Jacoby. Jacoby. Judy or Jacoby. Jacoby. Okay. Can he pick it? Ew? Yes. Naji Harris. I guess. I guess. I mean, this is a good matchup for him. Yeah, I mean, you look last season. I think Jaylon Warren's a flex category in this game. Last season, the Raiders run defense was really, really bad. They ranked 30th. They gave up 27.5 fantasy points per game this season. They rank 30th. They give up 28 fantasy points a game to the running back position. So I do think Najee is a decent play this week. And Warren is a flex. Mike, George Pickens. Yeah.

You got to chase after that. They at least found something in him last week. Going back to the over under a 43, I do think that's actually high. Unless they're counting on the Steelers to score on defense. Alan Robinson ran fewer aroused in Calvin Austin last week. Pat Friermuth is my start of the week, and it's time to get into the double digits. It's time to get into two hands. Into total yardage, and there you go. Monday Night Football, we have another double header, gentlemen. No. But we don't have another double header until week 14. Are they stacked again or are they at least? Yeah, I believe they are. Stop! One hour apart. One hour apart is so dumb. Like, you cannot enjoy, you can't enjoy either game. You have to pick because you, like...

Not if you've got two rooms like Jason. Yeah, okay. If you have two rooms and you can, or two televisions that you can see them both at the same time. But you, I mean, flipping back and forth between football games is not enjoyable to me. Yeah, sure. I'll throw it on a table, but even that is. It's time to adjust, Mike. It's time to make the best of it. I am making the best of it, but it's dumb. Philadelphia is 2 and O. They take on the 2&O Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Drafking Sportsbook line is Philly minus 5. The overrunners 46.

I mean, this was my almost upset as well. I've not been impressed with the Philadelphia offense thus far. Tampa's offense has been very impressive to me. The Buccaneers are doing well enough on the defensive side, I think, at home to make this a game. But I might stand alone in that belief. Baker has been good. Mike Evans, number two wide receiver on the year right now. Chris Godwin, he's been solid, 5 for 51, 5 for 58, just needs to get into the end zone. Rashad White. A bunch of opportunities last week. Are you doing, you know, are you concerned about any of these guys facing Philadelphia at home? Rashad White for sure. The, I mean, I'm not concerned with his opportunities because it was 19 in week one against Minnesota, but that 19 turned into 5.9 half PPR points. So. Wow. That is an impressive. Really.

He had 19 opportunities and he couldn't score six fantasy points. Yeah, it's really good stuff. But it was a huge bounce back against Chicago. Far more concerned against Philadelphia. But running backs don't get volume these days and he still will. Buccaneers defense thus far through two weeks, of course. Not the most powerful offenses facing off against them. But been good against running backs. Now you're going to have a potential timeshare here with Swift and Gainwell. Are you playing Swift this week? Yeah. Yeah, that was a quick yes. It is. Because Kenneth Gainwell is still, it's limited practice. It's not like he is, he's back, baby. He's doing full practices the entire week. Maybe he gets a full practice in on Friday. But I feel like until he's really actually healthy, DeAndre Swift is you got to play him. Yeah, I mean, definitely if Gainwell is inactive, he's.

He becomes a must start. I think you can start him with Swift, but I'm scared there. You know, I think if Gainwell is active for the game, I'm not even confident Swift is the 1A of if there's a 1A and 1B. A.J. Brown, squeaky wheel. It's going to be a big week. Could be. Devante Smith. He was limited on Thursday with a thigh hamstring situation. Doesn't matter. If you guys hear anything over there, inducers alley on today's practice for Philly. We'd love to know about Gainwell and Devante Smith. Nothing yet. Dallas Goddard. Yeah, what is going on? Not. It's concerning because you have a new offensive coordinator. Yeah. And so maybe Dallas Goddard's being a focal point is just not a reality. Well, he kind of was a focal point last week after not being involved in week one. They manufactured touches for him. They called plays.

up for him, but everything was so close to the line of scrimmage that he would turn six catches into 22 yards. Say that's, it's the Zach Ertz plant. Yeah. Zagertz in week one was six for 21. I mean, this is not, this is not how you use Dallas Goddard. This is not getting it done. And that's where I feel like I'm going to bet on talent. I'm going to bet on this team to figure it out. This is a team that has used him correctly before. And he is a talented player. So I don't think they're just going to put their head in the sand and be like, what that worked.

Well, let me test you because there's no team giving up more points to tight-ins right now than Philadelphia. I knew what was going to happen. And Kate Otten was six for 41 last week. So you're going to have a pass rush. You're going to have Kate Otten available on the field all the time. Do you have the stones to play Kate Otton this week over to Dallas Goddard? No. I don't know that having the stones is the right way to look at that. Do you have the insanity? Yeah, I would still roll with Dallas Goddard over Kate Otten, unequivocally. But is Kate Otton a play this week? I mean, we talk about... Sure. Because we're talking about tight-in matchup being kind of... Yeah, it's nasty. I just feel like Kate Otten maybe suffers from being named Kate Otten. And we don't think of him in the right lens because this is a, you know, it's a second year tight end. He's their full-time tight end. It's because it's a floor play. Like, you're... Right. When you play Kate Otten and you get six for 41, I mean, you're ecstatic about that. Like, you are super juiced up. If you get...

three for 30 from Otton. You're like, yeah, we did it, baby. I got some points. I feel like Ferguson, though. Like, he's in that same category as Otton. But I'm going for touchdowns. Well, like, I'm not, I'm not confident that Otton's going to get touchdowns. And I would just throw out. We've seen Hunter Henry really be a focal point of the New England Patriots offense. He had a good week against Philly. And last week it was T.J. Hawkins. So they've played two legitimate tight ends when you look at, oh, they've given up a lot of fantasy points so far this year. They were pretty good against tight ends last season.

Will you believe in Aten if he has a big week this week? Is he going to be? Yeah, he'll certainly be more on my believable radar. All right, the Rams are one and one and they take on Cincinnati. Cincinnati's O and two in the drafting sportsbook line here at Cincinnati minus three at home over under 43 and a half. It's a rematch of the Super Bowl. Very close Super Bowl. And Joe Burrow, I think he's going to be playing. Seems like probably, yeah. But are you playing him? Probably. Yeah, I mean, if he's playing, I'm probably playing him. The worst part of the decision is that it is Monday night, and it is the second of the Monday night games. Like if your, if your plan is Joe Burrow up, I mean, I guess you could pick up Stafford. That's, you know, that's my advice. If you're rolling with Joe Burrow and you're locking that in, Stafford is probably on your waiver wire. I'd go pick him up because I do not want to get into Monday night, get a whoopsaduzel.

Joe Burrow aggravated and his calf running onto the field. I'm not playing the Bengals backup. I'm going to play Stafford. So just protect yourself. 100%. If you cannot get Stafford and you have Burrow, if there's another option out there to stream, I would start them on Sunday. You know, if you could throw in golf or Gino or those guys we were talking about, I would start them ahead of time because this is the type of injury that even if he said he's active could be a pregame change of mind. I do think he'll play, and I think it's a benefit that they have the Monday night game for his kind of reaggravation, listening to the head coach talk about how he feels. I think he'll be out there, which would be good news for Jamar Chase and T. Higgins, who are just kind of auto plays anyways. What about the running backs in this game? Would you rather play Joe Mixon, who's been the RB 27 and the RB 20? Is that 18 opportunities per week? Or would you rather play Kyron Williams, who is the running back for fantasy on the year through two weeks?

He's leading all running backs and targets. It got super juiced up this past week because week one was two for, I don't know, maybe our box score is weird because I'm looking at two targets, no receptions, but somehow he had two receiving yards. So we need to investigate that further. But last week, tons and tons of targets. The fact that he got it done against San Francisco, oh, was a Van Jefferson lateral. Thank you, Kyle. The fact that Kyron against a great defense got it done, that gives me a ton of confidence. And he's going to be the guy, 95% of snaps last week. I do not blame anyone who is looking to just catch the game where he officially goes on fire and even playing him over Mix. And I understand it. Well, I mean, this is the decision you have to make with Kyron because you picked him up off of waivers. Right. You're going to be benching players like Pacheco.