Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 14 Fantasy Forecast, Starts of the Week, News

I'm looking up his status. He did not practice. Travis Benjamin did not practice on Wednesday, so it's unclear if he's going to play. If he sits out, then Heartline certainly gets a target pump. All right, we got a couple more games to preview before we get to the starts of the week. Let's go and talk about the Redskins facing the Chicago Bears. This game has the potential for some rain. Cousins, Cutler. Who's worth talking about in this matchup right now?

I don't think we're starting either of those guys. They're not really ideal streamers this week. Cutler's not... I guess Cutler's not bad. In my opinion, I was set up to play Cutler back-to-back weeks, but he just shot my confidence in the face last week with a great matchup at home. And the saying on the show, whatever happens can happen in reverse. Cutler could absolutely come out.

and throw three touchdowns. He still has Alshon Jeffrey. Eddie Royal is back at practice. That is a boost to the offense. Forte is rolling. So these things can happen. For Cutler's fantasy production last week, the touchdowns went to the running backs because they got goal line carries. Those could easily, you know, game flow into Jay Cutler's pocket. And you put up 200 yards and two touchdowns last week.

And people have zero problem playing Cutler in the first week of the playoffs. Is Zach Miller a sneaky start now that Martell's Bennett is gone? Yeah. He's not a terrible option. I'll say that. Okay. I don't have a ton of confidence in it. I don't know about you guys. Deshaun Jackson is a wide receiver. What this week? The Bears defense is pretty good. I think he's a wide receiver too. This is a matchup where.

He's got three weeks in a row of having a solid game. I think you've got to ride to Sean Jackson's coattails right now. Is that what that is? Yeah. I like him. You know who else I like in this game? I'm going to throw a name out there that I actually like. Uh-oh. Matt Jones. Oh. Matt Jones is a guy to me when I was watching the last game that they want...

to give the ball to more and more. I don't know if I should tell you where you have him ranked. I know where I have him ranked. I don't like it. I think the public demands that we hear where it is because I don't take a guess, Mike? No, no. He needs to move down from where I have him. He needs to move down from the number 13 spot. Yes. No, obviously. He needs to move down there. But I will say this. That was my head exploding. America.

America, call 911. The question. My head. Let me explain, by the way, why that happens. I mean, Jason is very rigid on statistically analyzing the players with no mind of where they actually... No, I'm not saying that as an insult. Really?

No, no, listen to the sentence. I said with no mind to where they end up in a list. He doesn't care about the number of where they end up. He finishes the statistics. Then he comes back and looks at those numbers, balances it out a little bit. And so guys move a little bit. But he's just looking at the matchup. And it just goes to support your ridiculous story here. I don't hate Matt Jones at all. I do kind of like him. I am at 37. And I feel like that's...

It's a very high end too. That's stretching and just because of the volatility that comes with Matt Jones. The backfield fumbles. Exactly. That's a part of it. But Matt Jones has been the majority ball carrier to double up on majority. But most of the games this season, Matt Jones has been the primary ball carrier. But the problem is Alfred Morris jumps in every once in a while. It sure looked like Alfred Morris got benched on Monday night.

after he starting the game, had a couple carries, and then was just gone. Alfred Morris didn't see the field. It was Matt Jones and Chris Thompson. So realistically, though, let me give you some names, because this is just worthless to fantasy owners to say he has him at 13, I got him at 37, and we kind of like him. Legerrett Blunt or Matt Jones? Blunt. I'm going to go Matt Jones. Not confidently. Ryan Matthews are Matt Jones. I'm going to go Matt Jones. It depends on the practice reports.

I would probably go Matt Jones in that situation. Spencer, where or Matt Jones? Where? Matt Jones. DeMarco Murray or Matt Jones? DeMarco Murray. Yeah, that'd go Murray there. And just a little bit of, so an MRI revealed a tear in Chris Thompson.

In his body? Well, yes. Chris Thompson has been torn in two. It's right across the middle. In his shoulder. That's the worst place to get torn. In his shoulder. That's important. The past catching role is clearly not going to be Alfred Morris. We saw Matt Jones with eight. He can get two a week. With 18 carries last game. And so the question all year has been, who's the guy going to be?

Who is it? Because some weeks it's Alfred Morris, some weeks it's Matt Jones, some weeks it's Chris Thompson. Well, if Chris Thompson isn't able to be in there, and we saw last week an 18 to 6 carry threshold from Alfred to Matt Jones, I think it's a matchup that's winnable. I like that take. I hadn't heard the Thompson news yet. And if you took Chris Thompson's stats and you just plop, you plop them into Jones? Oh, he's a, then I like him. He's a two. So that's a good hot take.

Steaming. There you go. All right. Can we move on? Yes, please. All right. The Steelers and the Bengals, this is an exciting game. We got the news earlier about Eifert, expected to play in this game. The run defenses are good for both teams. I know some people are pretty down on DeAngelo Williams this week. Silly. But I am not. I was going to say, I am not. What is the big storyline in this game for you? The big storyline in it is that the...

the Bengals defense, which is a very strong defense, are likely to be without their top two cornerbacks. That's the story to me. I'm still hearing Adam Jones might play. I've heard he's on. I've been sending him some medicinals and some vitamins because my opponent, Mike Wright, has Antonio Brown. And so I am really, and then I search for Adam Jones online. And here's the headline. Adam Jones in a cast.

Yep, colon, Eiffert returns. Sure, there is the slim chance that Adam Jones plays, but he is on the doubtful side. The Bengals have been decimated at the cornerback position. They lost DeNard earlier in the season, and Kirkpatrick has been not great. So you take out the top two corners from the Bengals this week. It's trouble.

And Big Ben. Trouble is going to go bananas. Trouble. People, they're looking back, you know, because you like to have some context. What did they do earlier in the season? Well, the Steelers and the Bengals, Big Ben got kind of held in check. Reminder. Big Ben was coming off of his MCL injury early when he came into that Bengals game. That was his first game back. And we know that he looked physically wrong.

That's a strange phrase. Like a tear? Like he has a tear in him? He was not moving around nimbly at all. Physically wrong. Sorry, Ben. But he's healthy now. That Steelers' offense, it cannot be stopped by anybody. You take out your best two cornerbacks and Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, and even Marcus Wheaton.

It looks like Heath Miller is going to miss, so that puts a bump up to Wheaton. If you can imagine that, I think all three guys are strong plays. They're going to need to lean on the 12th man in Cincinnati to see. They're going to need a 13th and a 14th man in Cincinnati. But I think this is a big help also for Dalton's fantasy. I should remind people, the Bengals are favored to win this game.

There's no problem with that. There's so many offensive weapons on both sides of the ball. The first time they played, we were expecting this huge game and it ended 10 to 16. That's not happening this time around with these injuries for the Bengals. And I think that once one team starts, right, as soon as one team finally gets, you know, 14 points on the board. Is it, is it okay for me to make this my upset? For the Steelers? Yeah. Sure.

Andy's almost upset of the week. Because I would say the Steelers are going to win this game. That would make it an upset according to the line. By three points. Like it's not even a pick-em. So, all right. We said DeAngelo Williams is still in our, for me and Mike, he's a one. For Jason, he's just outside that one according to the rankings. So he's starting. I do want to debate the Bernard Hill situation a little bit because I don't want to move on too fast there. I'm of the belief.

possibly incorrectly, that I'm not going to overread into Hill's total carry numbers last week against a Cleveland defense where obviously they were running the clock out. I think the likelihood, based on the upset prediction, based on the fact that the Steelers are a buzzsaw in offense right now, that Bernard has the likelihood of being on the field more often than Jeremy Hill does. Therefore, I don't love Jeremy Hill this week. Yeah, I can buy into that. I would still flex Hill, though. But you won't in our league.

Over Danny Amadola. No, not over Amidola, no. Okay. All right. Let's go ahead and move on. Starts of the Week. All right, it's time for our starts of the week. It's playoff time. And if you have made it to your playoffs, streaming guys, this section right now, we're going to deliver the goods. That's a promise. The goody goods. That's a promise. All right, so let's kick it off with Mike. Give me your...

Quarterback started the week. My quarterback started the week. A little lower-end guy, he's going to go with Brian Hoyer. The Patriots have allowed five touchdowns to quarterbacks the last two weeks. And we saw the Texans were involved in a higher scoring game with the bills last week. We got the Patriots coming in. I think the game flow could favor for Hoyer's fantasy production because...

The Pats can still put up points. I know they're depleted with their offensive weapons, but it's still Tom Brady, and he can still get it done. So I think if you're looking at game flow, and Hoyer has been great. He has been great all year. Now he hasn't put up just monster game-winning weeks, but he has also never crapped your team unless he gets knocked out of the game by an injury. So I think he's a strong start if you are...

If you're a quarterback is in a bad position. Let's say you're a Derek Carr owner who's going against Denver. The streamer guys that we talked about weren't available. But Hoyer's on your wire, I would play Hoyer over Derek Carr this week. Also, it looks like DeMarcus Ware is going to be back for Denver. That's pleasant news for Derek Carr. Yeah. So if you're a Derek car owner, go get Brian Hoyer. Or here's another guy you can go get. Absolutely. Tyrod Taylor.

This guy has not thrown for 300 yards once. Not once. So why start him? Because he's the most efficient fantasy quarterback in the league right now per pass. He has four different games with three or more touchdowns, and he runs the ball that they have really used him on the ground. He has...

several games over 40 yards. He has a game over 70 yards on the ground. He's scored three touchdowns on the ground. And you've got a matchup here with Philadelphia who's been giving up a lot of passing touchdowns. So you've got a good matchup, a guy who's had big blow-up games. And this is the type of blow-up potential that you see. Now,

Tyrod Taylor has crapped the team. So he's a little bit more risky to me. You know, if they run the ball in with Shady McCoy with Shady, you know, and the touchdowns end up going that way in the revenge game, then you've got it. But this is the guy like if you're a lower seat and you're facing a big juggernaut, Tyrod Taylor can explode.

Yes. He was my number one priority to keep him away from Mike in our league in terms of his streamer. He's my start of the week as well. He was my stream of the week. Jason pretty much summed up the entire scenario, but I'll just add the fact that his not only has he had blow-up games, his last two weeks have been very good games, 30 and 39 in our scoring six-point per touchdown league. So I'm going to go ahead and give you my running back, and I'm going to name him the lonely Bronco. If we have one.