Starts of the Week + Week 7 Breakdown, Cereal Killer - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/22

big play opportunity. Certainly a Marvin Hall or Quintas Cephas could be there. Yeah, Hawkinson is completely in play here. The matchup is incredible. And Hawkinson has been solid. Hayden Hurst, where, what you guys' temperature on him? Because he, he seems to be better when Julio Jones is playing. Well, the whole Falcon's offense is better. I mean, you could say that literally.

about just about everyone. I mean, you're Russell Gage. Russell Gage was great when Julio was out there and terrible when Julio wasn't. The whole offense takes a step back when Julio's not there. So I think that's all you're seeing. I'm not that into Hayden Hurst. I know he had a big game last week, but one of it was, you know, a lot of it was one big broken play down the sideline, which, hey, not everybody can, you know, have a long breakaway touchdown. But it seemed more lucky than...

prescriptive. I completely agree. Hayden Hurst is like the, you know, your family's excited about ordering out and then you decide at the last minute. You're like, eh, let's just make something from the fridge. And it's like, that's why I feel like you put Hurst in there. You're not expecting. You're still going to eat. You're still going to eat, but you're not expecting big things. There's leftovers at best. Leftovers. But there are some big players in this game. Hawkinson will talk about later. Matt Ryan, Todd Gurley. Matt Ryan's a different quarterback.

with Julio Jones active available, and so is Calvin Ridley. Calvin Ridley is, you know, finding the end zone more with Julio Jones involved in this offense because he's elite, but doesn't get elite coverage if Julio Jones is...

involved. One thing I'll say about Todd Gurley here before we move on is that his involvement in the passing game has changed the last two weeks. His routes run have gone from being in the 39 range to up above 50% of routes run. You've seen it in the targets as well, nine targets in the last two games. That's really what was missing. He was so touchdown dependent, but maybe if he is being more involved and he has been, then you've got a higher baseline without the touchdowns.

All right, yeah, the lions are 27th in football right now in terms of fancy points given up to running backs and Gurley gets a lot of work. Cleveland, the Browns at 4 and 2 take on the Cincinnati Bengals at 1 4 and 1. Bengals came out to that huge lead on Indianapolis, ended up blowing that lead last week. The Browns.

It almost surprised me to read the four-and-two record because it feels like they lost three or four times last week with just how bad that game went against Pittsburgh, losing Baker and doing nothing on offense. But the Browns are favorite in this one, three-point favorites on the road, 50-point over-under. The game is interesting. From a fantasy perspective, though, limited options in Cleveland. Cream Hunt, yes, absolutely.

You've got to put him into your lineup. We have them as the RB5 on the week. And then, you know, Jason talked about yesterday if the game script goes to where Cleveland is ahead in this one, which I personally don't see it going that direction where I don't think this is a blowout. But Dearness Johnson could be interesting in mop-up duty. Beckham, I think you're playing him this week. And Mike, what do you think about Austin Hooper? I love Austin Hooper this week, actually.

comparatively to the other options that are out there. A little sneak peeky is my start of the week, and I will break that down when we get there. On the other side of the ball, though, like Joe Burrow is absolutely in play here. The Cleveland defense is not a scary matchup. Joe Burrow, in fact, has already dropped 300 and 3 on this team. That was back in his second start ever in the NFL.

So I'm fine streaming Joe Burrow here, if you want in on that action. Yeah, this is the first rematch in the NFL this year. And if you remember back to week two when these teams played each other, it was 35 to 30, I believe. 65 points scored a monstrous game. And, you know, you could see more of that. Granted, the health of the Browns is not the same as it was back in week two with Chubb.

So, you know, that's why it's 50 point over under right now. Joe Mixing, we talked about the situation there. Gio would be a stash right now on waiver wires if he's available and not already rostered. At the wide receiver position, you know, he talked about upside for Joe Burrow in this matchup. I think it's still a bit interesting to sort out the wide receivers. Boyd has had ups and downs this year, green, mostly downs, a nice week last week.

So I guess that puts T. Higgins in the highest likelihood of success category. Yeah, T. Higgins has turned into a, I think we were on the footcast yesterday, and I mentioned T. Higgins is now a, he's in must-start territory for me. He's just, like Joe Burrow, we know that he is going to throw, the volume of passing is still just going to keep happening. And meanwhile, T. Higgins, you know, since week three.

He's averaging over 20% of the targets from Joe Burrow, which is, and then a, so it's 20% of a gigantic pie. And T. Higgins is a very talented player. We've already seen multiple big plays from him throughout the season, throughout the short season of his rookie year. So T. Higgins has moved firmly into a must-start wide receiver for me. All right, Pittsburgh, 5-0 taking on the Tennessee Titans at 5-0. Something's got to give.

So Derek Henry has his best game of the year. By the way, the Titans are one and a half point home favorites. Really? They are. And I think that's fair. I think that's fair. They're at home. Both of these teams, I see them very similar in terms of, you know, if I had to pick this game, I'd pick Tennessee to win it. But, you know, Tanna Hill's been great. Henry had the breakout game, and here he gets to face just a dominant.

rushing defense thus far you know you're not doing anything with derrick henry you're not moving him because of the matchup so i don't know though is this weather report accurate in the 70s you're thinking that's a little that's a little too warm yeah let's do look yeties do not like it doesn't have anything to do with the steelers awesome

No, nothing to do with that at all. The fact that they're top three and only given up fewer than 15 fancy points a game, it has to do with 70 degrees. 70 degrees is just a little too warm. It was 40 out, and then their defense are playing so hot that they lit the field on fire. Sometimes it doesn't work. A.J. Brown, I hate that you have that button. I really do. But it's a fair accountability that you have it.

Checks and balances. That's what the footballers were all about. Yes, three branches of government here, all ending in the Supreme Court of Judge Giamati. That's right. Let's go, A.J. Brown in your lineup. Henry in your lineup. Tanahill, I think he is the one where I asked the question, is he a must start after last week's performance? Lost Taylor LeWan. Jason, you said he's not a must start, and you'd probably be pivoting him. Would you play Carson Wins tonight?

over Ryan Tannenhill. That is a great comp because he's available on your waivers. I don't think I would go that far. Tana Hill's flames have been too hot. We talk about this when a guy is playing as good as Tana Hill's been playing. You don't let the matchup sway you unless you have another really good option. Carson Wince is a waiver option and a decent matchup. He's not a guy that I am clamoring to get into my lineup. If I had a.

Stafford I could pivot to or, you know, obviously a Matt Ryan. I'm going to definitely pivot. But otherwise, Stafford isn't someone you have to start this week, but is someone you probably will. And then Corey Davis will be back for this game. He's been pulled off the COVID-I-R. So Tanna Hill will have a full allotment. The wide receiver position last week, I thought Beckham would be able to take advantage of the fancy points given up by Pittsburgh. It didn't.

Didn't transpire. I mean, they have to protect Anahill for that to happen. That will be the interesting part. It is a 50 and a half point over under, so we should see some points up on the board. Pittsburgh allowing 55 rushing yards per game. If you had to go over under 55 rushing yards per game, I think you're taking it over with Derek Henry. Correct. Even if it's 55 carries for 1.1 yards each. Also correct. Okay. Pace of play on the year. Pittsburgh is 27th to pace of play. Tennessee is fourth.

So that'll be interesting to watch. Big Ben. You're excited about Big Ben this week, Jason? I am. If you had Tannahill and you had Big Ben, I would start Big Ben. I look at this matchup and say that this is, Big Ben has not been needed this season. He's been disappointing, but not in his play, just in his fantasy output. You know, he's played easy opponents where their defense is completely dominated. Andy, you said you'd pick the Titans to win in this game.

So this isn't going to be a situation where the Steelers can do what they want to do, which is completely defense and run the ball. Big Ben will have to throw the ball. You have Juju who say what you will. He's obviously capable of getting it done. You've got Mapletron who's broken out. And, you know, now you get Deontay Johnson back. So I think the weapons and Tennessee's defense is, Tennessee's defense is.

above average, but I wouldn't say that this is a great defense. I think this is one that we disagree on. I would start Tannenhill over Rothensberger pretty easily in this match. Interesting. The home team, Rothersberger's done really nothing for fantasy purposes all year long. His ceiling has been the quarterback 11. I take Tennessee in this game, but I would take the under. I think this will be more of a back and forth, like the pace of play that Pittsburgh wants to play.

And so I would not be pivoting to Big Ben myself. So I'm curious, Mike, where would you weigh in on the quarterbacks here for the matchup? This is a really tough call. I would allow the matchup between Ben and Tannenhill to dictate it. So I would go at Big Ben. Okay. What did you mean by that? What do you mean you'd let the matchup dictate it? That the...

The Titans right now are 26th against fantasy quarterbacks. Meanwhile, the Steelers are seven. Got it. And I do agree with what Jason's saying. Like, if you have Tannahill and no one else, I'm not freaked out about it. But just in a heads-up situation, like I'm making a lineup here, a DFS lineup. I'm going to put Big Ben in. So it's more about the defenses. I think it's important to say this because Big Ben is on plenty of waivers. If you have Tannehill.

I would not drop Tannahill to pick up Big Ben. Even though I said I would play Big Ben over Tana Hill, you've got to look at the whole season. Tana Hill's just been playing way too good. Their defense isn't as good as the Steelers, meaning they're going to need him on a regular basis. But if you have the ability to have both of those guys on your roster and you could choose which one to go with, I would go with Big Ben. But it is close. It's not just a home run in one direction. All right. Break the wide receiver core for the Steelers down for me. Where are you looking for production in...

Again, it's the same question as last week. And in what order would you be looking for it? So if we are sure that Deontay Johnson is back, which all the reports were last week, Deonti was close to playing, it's a minor injury, he should be back. I would go with, I would go Johnson, Chase Claypool, and I would refuse to play juju. Deontay fully practiced. And in weeks prior, he had been limited on these weeks. So it's a good sign.

Claypool has as many rushing touchdowns this year as Clyde Edwards Allaire, Frank Gore, and David Montgomery combined. Which is a bit of a trick because I think Clyde and Gore probably have zero each. Yeah, that sounds right. The referees are conspiring against Edwards O'Lear. Yeah. Is that a touchdown? Flag holding. Yeah, there's a movement. I don't know what's going on. I don't know why they don't like him. Is that why they got Lev sign there too? It's the refs that got a sign? Yes. Yes.

Andy Reid had no choice. If you keep taking away my superstar running back touchdowns, I'll have to let somebody else score them. We were really close to the every week trust of Jonu Smith, and then he got hurt, and now he faces the eighth best fantasy defense in terms of points given up to the tight-in position. He was limited on Wednesday, didn't finish the game last week. Can you really trust Johnny Smith coming back if he was declared active on Sunday?

I would trust him if he gets in full practices from here and now. If he's limited up until game time, then I think you might want to look for a pivot. The difficulty is at tight end, you can't always find a pivot. You know, maybe in that situation, I would look for someone like a Dalton Schultz if Jonu is really injured. But even then, I'm not going to drop Johnnyu for him. So I'm probably forced to play Jonu. I'm just praying he's.