Week 16 Matchups + Wheel of Shame, Christmas Episode - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/24

Not what you would expect. When someone rolls up to your house and you got five signed jerseys, they go, how much money did you? Oh, this man. Did you get a raise? Did you find some buried treasure? I find you very attractive and impressive. Yes. That's what they'll say. That's what they'll say. Go to pristineauction.com. Use the registration code, ballers, when you sign up and you will get a $10 credit to use for your first auction victory. Also a good reminder.

When you win a title, go get a trophy. When you need a trophy, yes. Go to fantasychamps.com. They have a code free ring. So if you put a trophy in a ring in your cart, use the code, the ring will be free. Yep. At fantasychamps.com, code free ring. And the rings are dope. Yes. They are also things that make you impressive and attractive. Oh, yes. The Pittsburgh Steelers at 7, 6 and 1 take on the 10 and 4 Kansas City Chiefs. Chiefs are now the number one seed. All that, all those doubters disappeared.

And the DK Sportsbook line, Chiefs minus seven and a half, the overrunners 44. Chiefs will get back some defensive pieces, including Chris Jones in this game. They've actually been a very, very good defense over the second half of the year. And so Pittsburgh, let's start there because, look, it's difficult to watch. You saw a new floor for Najee Harris this past week where he was inconsequential.

for the first time ever. You saw the worst game of Deontay Johnson's season, conveniently scheduled for the fantasy playoffs. And then Chase Claypool at this point, impossible to trust by both his team and fantasy players. Yeah, I agree. And then Pat Fryermouth, who is a red zone weapon for the, you know, for this team is now a real question mark with a concussion. So what do you do? You just lock Najee in because you got you this far? Yep. No, I just like,

It was 17 opportunities. It was very bad. 12 carries turned into 18 yards. It was the Tennessee Titans, though, who have been a notoriously bad matchup. He just, Najee has been great too many times for me to consider moving away from him. So you start Najee and Deonti and they're locked in and you stop there. That is correct. On Kansas City, you have the question marks with COVID. Yes. Tyreek and Kelsey. So what do fantasy players do if they have those two players right now? What's their best?

way to prepare for madness? A sage burning cleanse. Oh, okay. This is more spiritual thing? Yes, we have to get metaphysical. We have no other choice at this point. I have a team like this listener league. I put Jared Cook on my bench. It's my only choice that I had. He's there as the pivot. Let me ask you the grossest question of all time. Uh-oh. If Travis Kelsey and Tyreek Hill.

Heaven forbid, they're both out. Yeah. Do you really just throw Patrick Mahomes in there? Like, we've asked all these questions about Thomas Brady. If his weapons are gone, what do you do? Do you maybe pivot away into someone like Joe Burrow, Tyler Huntley with huge rushing upside if Lamar is out? But what do you do with Mahomes if his top two weapons are gone? Because...

We've seen the production of the other guys. Yeah, McCall Hartman does not have the ability to step up. Is Josh Gordon ready? No. DeMarcus Robinson, Byron Pringle. Like, I get it. I get that he's Patrick Mahomes. Mr. 100 million dollar man, Kansas City Chiefs, or Royals owner. Yeah, yeah. He owns the Chiefs, too, I think. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's a fair point. But what in the heck do you do? Well, and Pittsburgh's been.

causing turnovers on defense and they had a really impressive, you know, 13 point slowdown of the Titans last week. I didn't, I hadn't thought about this until now. I hadn't thought about it until you were talking Steelers. He's given number one, number two performances to the last five weeks. I think we're optimistic that those players are back. Sure. If they're both gone, like suddenly Darrell Williams looks interesting as a flex.

Okay. Because he's gotten the goal line chances and he's a pass catcher. And that's where the Steelers have been bad is they might just try and run all over them. I think Darrell might be a flex if those guys are out. Okay. And I think at wide receiver, you are just, like Josh Gordon is going to have his chance if that happens. But I think both guys will be back out there because you can only handle so much, right? Is that logical? That just like emotionally we can't handle that? I mean.

It snaps wise, if you just look at the last three weeks. Byron Pringle would have been the second highest wide receiver and to Marcus Robinson after him. So as fun as it would be to have Josh Gordon be the semi-finals superstar hero. If you are looking at a Chiefs wide out, I would go to Pringle. It's the most 20-21 thing ever. The Broncos at 7-7 taking on the 7-7.

Las Vegas Raiders. Okay. A bunch of sevens in Vegas this week. Ooh, Jackpot? Yeah. Well, maybe not. Drafking Sports Book Line Broncos minus one. The over under is 41. Victorious Derek Carr last week, Mike. Were you so impressed? Dominant performance. Last, look, he got another fourth quarter comeback. Now, let me ask you, so this is an aside. Here we go, Christmas show. Like,

It's so much is made, especially on a broadcast. It's, here we go. Derek Carr's got the most fourth quarter comebacks since he was drafted, yada, yada, yada. You know, they always... Since the Cretaceous, yeah. Yeah. Now, I get that that's on the surface, that's positive. Sure. But there's also a reason you had to come back at the fourth quarter saying that perhaps you were not good enough or, in fact, you stank for three quarters.

So it's just I find it interesting that we celebrate that stat so much, even though Derek Carr would have been a huge part of the reason they had to come back in the first place. I think that's fair. I mean, the Raiders defense has been awful for a long time. So I think blame is is evenly spread for the past few years. I think Cousins is in that boat too. Matthew Stafford used to be in that boat. Yeah. So.

Yeah, it's interesting. Something that I thought about during that Cleveland game because he's coming back. I'm like, the Cleveland Browns run their third string quarterback. We don't think Waller will be back out there. Hunter Renfro had his first down week in a while. The defense focused on him. And so, you know, Denver's a good defense. Last week you saw a very difficult to watch a game between Denver and Cincinnati, where it was a punt fest in the first half. Not a lot of points were scored. It was.

You know, now Drew Locke versus Derek Carr. At least Drew Locke is entertaining to watch. Jerry Judy was a complete goose. You can't play wide receivers for Denver. It's illegal now. And that's just to protect you. The legislature has passed that. It's like the seatbelt law. I get it. Exactly. I understand. And I got put out.

I don't want to wear a seatbelt. I want to play Cortland Sudden. Yeah, and then you're going to end up outside the car in an uncomfortable position. The loss here to protect you. So it is very simple, really, in this game, where Melvin Gordon and Giovante will both have lots of opportunities. You need to pay attention to their health. Both have had limitations. Melvin Gordon didn't practice with a thumb and a hip thing on, was that on Wednesday? So we have to have a report since then, Brooks. Can you dig that up for me? He's expected to be back at practice today. Okay. Thursday.

Meanwhile, over the course of the season, the Raiders, 30th against fantasy running back. So what did you coin them? Melvante? Yes. Melvante, both are in play. Yes. If you have both of them and you don't want to play both, I would play Melvin Gordon. All right. Hunter Renfro is back in your lineup, though? Yes. Okay. I mean, it... Hmm. Hmm.

I just I just don't know what his ceiling is. He's PPR relevant, but yeah, yeah, you got to play him. I get he was shut down five targets. See how many targets Zay Jones had last week? Yeah, he was. I considered him a lot for my draft Kings lineup, but I just couldn't put him in there. But up until this point in the last three weeks, 14 targets, 10 and 9. I mean, I'm still playing Renfro. That was a.

Maybe it wasn't a blip, but I'm considering it that. Washington, 6 and 8 taken on the 10 and 4 Cowboys. Cowboys are 10.5 point favorites, according to the Drafking Sportsbook. The over under is 47 and a half. It's a rematch from Week 13. Dallas won that game 27 to 20. If you remember that game, they dominated the entire thing until the very end when there was an inexplicable pick six by DAC and it got close. Oh, yeah, yeah. Remember that game? Yes. Yeah, it was, why are you throwing?

I remember that, yes. What are you doing with Dak right now? Three straight subparer performances doesn't look himself to me. It's almost like Russell Wilson in Seattle. Sure. Where you wonder if he's 100. And their defense is good, right? You don't. Dallas and Dak were a magical combination when their defense was abysmal. It's not anymore. Yeah, Dak was a top five guy. And he was great to start.

But the last month, you were right, it has been pretty bad. So let me give you a couple names then. The aforementioned, would you play Russell Wilson against Chicago or DAC? I think I would pass. Next question. Where are you on that one? I would play DAC. Okay. Dak Prescott or Kirk Cousins with a tough match up against the Rams.

Yeah, I guess I'm sticking with Dak in these, but I would be, I'm not looking at him to win me my week. I think Dak is very safe against Washington to give you, like sometimes it's misleading, right? When you say, okay, he's finished. Oh, he's been bad. Yeah, he has. I mean, he's got one touchdown pass in each of the last three weeks. Yes, he has, he has been bad. So, I mean, uh,

Tyler, who isn't a streamer that you're actually comfortable with this week? Just streamers in particular. Well, like the Huntleys? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I'd be playing him if he was starting, Huntley, over Dak. Okay. Yeah. I'd probably still stick with Dak versus Burrow, but I know you love Burrow, so you'd probably go him over Dak. I'd be willing to, yeah. Zeke has been...

pedestrian, right? Like, that's kind of the storyline here on the offensive side of the ball. Even with C.D. Lamb, people have, I see people asking about alternates to C.D. Lamb this week. Oh, no, don't do that. Because he's been, it's connected, right? He's 30, wide receiver 74, 13, 35, 31. It does remind me that Washington gets annihilated. I can't remember the stat off the top of my head, so I apologize. But essentially.

They get annihilated from the slot-wide receiver. Like, their metrics are, lots of fantasy points come to the slot-wide receiver against this matchup. So C.D. Lamb should be in line for a strong game. And if he has a good game, then Dax should have at least an okay game. Amari Cooper last week was a humongous disappointment. Two catches eight yards. Are you back to the well? Are you just playing the offensive pieces in Dallas and hoping?

Closing your eyes. Yeah, more than likely unless one of these backups that have, that COVID has thrust to the forefront, I managed to get one of those, you know, like the. Robbie Anderson and Amari Cooper. If DJ Morris out. Right. Mari Cooper. Yeah, me too. Not playing Gallup, though. And Dalton Schultz did have a bounce back week eight for 67 and one. Washington, middle of the pack against tight ends. Are you trying to find another option? Like, would you?

Play Ricky Seals-Jones on the other side of the ball over Dalton Shores? I would not. I'd play the doctor. Are you starting to fade Ricky now that we've seen a couple of irrelevant weeks? I'm not super fading him, but the doctor has shown you that he can be a top five guy. More than one time. He has shown that. Oh, do we have breaking news? No. Breaking news. No. No. No, no, no. This is good news. Oh? Oh.

I just can't eat. I had to open it and verify it because I thought it was a joke. What's the source? Ian Rappaport. Okay. And this will be kind of, I mean, you have heard of this by now, but for us is breaking. The Rams have designated running back Cam Acres to return from injured reserve. Really? Okay. That's, that's not bad. Good for you, Camp. I mean, this is not really fantasy relevant. No. We got our Christmas hats on today. I thought you were about to hit us with a Camaro's.

On the list. That's for later in the show. Yeah. That's great. That is, it is great news in terms of 2022. Like if you can see Cam Acres do anything of value this season, you'll be so, like the confidence level of drafting him next year will go way up. Oh, I have to draft him. Because you're stashing him? No, I did. I put him on the injured reserve. I did see that for, uh,