Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - MEGALODON Episode - Week 12 Matchups, Trade Tips, Starts, + Much More!

Seven targets last week. Sure, sure. I'm fine with Kendrix. Doyle or Kendricks? Kendricks. I'll go with Kendricks. Yeah, I think I will too. When you look at the statistics, I think Kobe Fleener's like the 13th ranked tight end on the year. And you don't ever want to start him. And you never want to start him, but you also never want to not start him because he's had a couple of those like 30, you know, 25 point games. Is it time to just...

I mean, Kendricks are Fleener. Let's put it that way. Fleener. That's a great question. To me, it's really a matter of, I mean, between Kendricks and what my roster looks like and what I need, because I think the floor is higher with Kendricks. Right. You're not going to get a, you know, just a complete goose. Well, look at last week. Fleener gave you eight points, but he had two catches or whatever it was. Right. And so, you know, there was a touchdown. Kendricks has nowhere near the ceiling that Fleener has. So if I'm going up against a great opponent and I need a high game.

then that's where I'm going fleener. Ingram or Hightower against a very stout Rams defensive front? But the potential for this game to get out of hand and somebody to run the clock out, who do you take in this matchup? Because I lean Hightower this week. Oh, man. And I hate saying that, but I do. I lean Hightower as well because of the concussion protocol. Mark Ingram is out. He's cleared.

Right, but we do. You're saying out of the concussion protocol. Because that sounded not at all like what you meant. That is a great clarification. Yes, he is out of the concussion protocol, meaning he is in. Outstanding. He is in the game. He's in because he's out. But while he is in, he just now is coming off of a concussion. And we have seen teams, you know, we saw firsthand with the Cardinals when John Brown was coming out of the concussion protocol. Sometimes you.

If you have the option and the opportunity to say, hey, let's keep this guy from getting another blow to his head unnecessarily so this game. High Tower reigns the game then. Exactly. I completely agree. I think in the beginning, they're splitting reps. And that could mean enough for Ingram to get a touchdown or two. But the way this game script looks, I lean High Tower. Yeah, I lean. There was. And there's been a lot of targets going his way. I want to say Ingram.

I mean, Ingram, look, last week before the concussion, he was having a solid week. There was a point of the game where he was the team's leading rusher and the team's leading receiver for a while. So I'm not scared off of Ingram. I am. But just because of the matchup. Sure. But if I have to choose between both, that gut tells me that it's tight. How are you going to rank Cook, Sneed, and Thomas this week? With points.

Are you saying order of those three or generally how they stack up against other wide receiving options? I am asking the order. Like, how are you going to rank them compared to each other? I will go Cook's Michael Thomas, Willie Sneed. The Michael Thomas versus Willie Sneed is getting closer to a big question. We've seen Sneed involved down near the goal line quite a bit more. And we've seen a couple bad games post the two fumbles.

maybe getting in Michael Thomas's head, but I would still rank Michael Thomas ahead. Surprise Sean Payton didn't bench him immediately. Oh, he's not a running back. He's not a running back. It's okay. Yeah, the running backs are the ones that really need that put through their head. All right, the Seahawks, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Key-all! This game's in Tampa. What are you key on? The Seahawks offense. Oh, okay. Okay.

Well, when you say that, you made it me think you thought Tampa would do something against the Seahawks defense. I think they can do something, but it's just Seattle's offense. They're getting it going. Russell Wilson's looking healthier and healthier. Doug Baldwin starting to get it going. I just, I like a lot of what's happening here for the Seattle offense. It doesn't help that the Buccaneers defense is very bad. No, I am all about.

Thomas Rawls in this game. I am as well, which we will get to very soon. I just saw that. He is somebody you want to talk about him. Fire up the Wonka machine. Yeah, we'll talk about him. Let's talk about the passing game that Mike alluded to. Russell Wilson and Doug Baldwin. Or maybe you could say Doug Baldwin and Russell Wilson. Oh, it's interchangeable now. Because who's going to throw the touchdown to the other guy? We don't know. We don't know. It could go either way now.

This is a good matchup, and we've talked about it for the last couple weeks of what we saw last year with the Seahawks is coming true again. Now, you know, I'm expecting really big things this week from Russell Wilson, you know, three touchdown type of game, but Vegas still doesn't have the line very high. And we saw last week when the Buccaneers faced.

Kansas City. It was a very low scoring game by both teams. Yeah, same thing with Chicago the week before. They didn't give up a lot of points to the opposing quarterback. Maybe that defense is getting it together a little bit. Do either of you want to temper some expectations on my Russell Wilson multi-touchdown? Not really. Three, I'm not calling for three, but two is a strong possibility for me. Let me ask you this on the other side with Winston. We know we love.

the playoff schedule for Winston. You've got the San Diego, the New Orleans, Dallas and New Orleans. So you probably own him for that schedule. Now you've got the Seattle game, and you're probably saying, do I waste a bench spot on another starting guy? So would you start Winston if you had the option of signing a tie rod Taylor at home against Jacksonville? Nope. I would bench him. I picked up. You would bench him. Yeah, I would bench him. I picked up Kirk Cousins to stream last week, and I'm going to play Kurt Cousins again.

Over James. Right. Cousins has the nice matchup against Dallas in what should be a high scoring game. We went over that one. Okay. That's the questions that people ask, though. Yes. Would you go pick up that Eli Manning against Cleveland and play him instead of... Probably. I probably would too. Jason? Yeah, I'm going to sit Winston in most leagues here. You're not going to have a great game against the Seahawks unless...

You are a great quarterback, and Winston is a great quarterback in the right matchups, not in the wrong ones. And this is a wrong one. Yeah, I agree with that. So then what becomes of Doug Martin in this game against this difficult defense? I mean, is he a two or is he in the three category? Volume keeps him as a two. I mean, he's the main runner.

He doesn't have a guy like Charles Sims or I don't expect Jock Whiz back. You don't have that kind of scat back to take away his receptions as well. So it's pure volume can keep him in that running back too. I completely agree. I mean, last week, right, Kansas City has a great rushing defense. But he got 24 carries and had a fine fantasy day with 60.

60 plus yards on the ground and then 40 through the air. So Doug Martin, he's a must start every week. Good matchup, bad matchup. He just has the volume that most guys don't get. And talent. Anybody else in this game? I mean, there's a lot of names. You're starting Jimmy Graham then with all of the fortuitous opportunities for the Seattle Seahawks. Cameron Bray, I'll start him still. Mike Evans, you're not benching, but you probably aren't going to get what you want.

Out of Evans, I mean, the Seahawks have given up. They've had more interceptions than touchdowns allowed this year. Ooh! Nine interceptions, eight touchdowns allowed. That's just, that's called a ceiling that you're putting on your players. I tell you what, look, James Winston, please don't throw Richard Sherman one of these free interceptions. Oh, I know. I hate those. He keeps getting them where the wide receivers just quit on the route, and Sherman doesn't.

And like a game of 500? Yeah. Throw it up in the air. Well, I'm not going to get it. Except Richard Sermon manages to track it down. Wide receiver, what are you doing? They need to play Sherman on both sides of the ball. All right. The Carolina Panthers take on the division leading, dominating Oakland Raiders. I love the Raiders. There are a lot of fun right now. And good news for the Raiders, bad news for the human.

Keekly probably not going to be in this game, obviously dealing with his second concussion in two years. And he is the cog of that, of that defense. I mean, there is. They almost lost that game after he went down last week. Oh, I mean, they were as close as they were a dominating defense last game. He went out and all of a sudden it was like, oh, this is a lot easier. We can run. We can pass. Now, is this.

line correct? Because I feel like that can't be right if this game's in Oakland. I will vet it right now. Yeah, please check the line for me because I haven't. Oakland is favored by four. Okay. So this line was wrong. The Raiders are four point fair is at home with the 49 point over under. Literally has changed in the last few minutes. Oakland is favored by three now. Any updates since then? Since we started the show to now, the line has moved a whole point.

Mike, any updates on your end? Moving along. Okay. Not there. Car, you're starting him. Love him. Cooper Crabtree, do they bounce back this week at home? I would expect they both will, yes. The Raiders, how many points do they give up to the other side? Because I love Cam Newton this week. Really? Look, the Raiders defense has been getting better. Okay. I know that their number, their overall numbers on the season are very skewed. So you do not like Cam Newton this week.

Uh, it's not that I mind playing him. He's a weekly starter, but, look, I mean, how many times do we have to be fooled by Cam Newton? Yeah, it's a tough situation. I think this game is tough in general because while the Panthers might not have Keekly, I don't want to over read into their improved defensive performance since the byweek either. Or as in, I don't want to over read into Keekly being out and then think it's going to be a,

complete smorgasborg for the Raider side of the things. Yeah. I mean, if you have Cam, you're probably going to start him because I doubt you have another great option. But I'm kind of with Mike here in the sense that since the by, he stunk against the saints. Since the buy, when their defense has been improved, you have three out of four games where he didn't reach 20 fantasy points in a six point per touchdown scoring system. And, and.

If you're under 20 in a six-point scoring system, you had a very poor week, and that's three out of the last four weeks. Honestly, Luke Keakley going down. I don't want to overreact, but it does probably help Cam Newton and Calvin Benjamin, because if there's an extra touchdown scored in this game, then that just is more points that the Carolina Panthers are going to have to put up. And, you know, the Raiders defense has improved, but they're not, you know, a scary force. So I'm fine starting Cam in this game.

um fine starting kelvin benjamin in this game what is going on with greg olson he is not delivering that front line tied in production i know exactly what happened cam i i traded for him when he was on fire and since then he has done nothing if only all of our players always played great you know i know right if only derrick anderson was the quarterback oh come on greg olson would be very happy so greg olson

He's still, I think, a must start. I mean, you compare him to any other tight end out there, and he gets enough targets and is involved enough where you're not going to sit him, even if he puts a stretch of three or four bad weeks together, you're still throwing him out there. Guys, we have three matchups left before our starts of the week. I mean, yeah. And I'm now leaning further back in my chair than I was at the beginning. I'm telling you, that's not even enough.

I'm going to look at it next week. You have already told me that I'm allowed to pass out in the last 15 minutes of the show. Well, no, we just predicted it. Oh, that's the, that's the difference. Patriots. We see it slowly starting right now. I'm going to, I'm going to switch sides with you so Mike and I could just keep. I'm good. All right. Patriots and Jets. Ryan Fitzpatrick back behind center. Brandon Marshall, right. Back to being all alone. All right. Running around the field.

We talked about Matt Forte on the show yesterday. How good of a year he's having. You're starting Matt Forte. But are you starting any other jets? And I am including Marshall in the conversation because Powell. You're starting Powell? Yeah, I'll play him. I'll flex it. Really? Yeah. This is like common sense out of your mouth. Oh, that you would do. I mean, there are a lot of guys like this. How high do you have Powell? I haven't ranked you up, but I'm just, I expect that the Patriots.

can decimate the jets, and we're going to need some dump-offs to Bilal Powell. He's had 11 receptions in the last two weeks, including a touchdown reception, and he's been involved a little bit. Sounds like the start. He is an okay flex desperation start. I mean, he's clearly not the guy. You don't want to be starting the backup running back for a team, but if you have to, I think Belal Powell is in that situation against the Patriots who are going to score that you could be.