Fantasy Football 2017 - Week 4 Studs & Duds, Rising Stars + Biggest Surprises

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Back in black. Well, two of you are. Look at that. You guys got your... Looking good. Looking good. Back to the Future shirt. Mike, you're wearing all black. Going Johnny Cash this morning. That's right. Welcome into the show back once again, fresh off a very exciting week of football. How cool are you as a person?

that like when you wear just a plain black t-shirt you're like oh that's johnny cash oh yeah that he has like he owns black t-shirt it's just a it's just an undershirt really is just he's just wearing a t-shirt i mean that's that's a cool dude that's the goal in life you want you want a color associated with you for the remainder of your natural life it's a green shirt you're like holy crap that's your that's a mike right t-shirt but that's like a smash jackson thing if his last name wasn't cash i mean no no that voice johnny tambourine

That's a fair point. That's one of those ones where as long as it's ordinary or cool, he'd have been fine. But if it's a tambourine, you don't call the shirt. That's an uphill battle with the tambourine. That's an uphill battle. You changed that one. You've got to do that before you go into show business.

All right, today we've got the studs and duds on the show talking some surprises from week four. And we'll get into the pooped in their big boy pants, the rising stars, maybe some mailbag. We'll see what we got time for. It's going to be a great episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Find us on Twitter at the FF Ballers. Let's start out with this. Huge. Huge. Thank you. Two. Oh, yes. The Foot Clan. Thank you. Now, we did not.

Maybe we did not herald this enough leading up to the event. But you guys nominated us for the podcast awards many months ago. And then those awards went into the... It was a really long process this year. It was totally different. You actually didn't have the option to vote on the final winners. Those were decided by a panel of randomly selected individuals. So if you did vote on those... Thank you. Thank you.

And we were nominated for the sports and recreation category as well as the People's Choice Award. And we won them both. Yeah, baby. Which means we are back-to-back winners in both categories. Two time. And we do the show for you, not for awards, but awards are kind of cool. And so.

We're very thankful and excited. And from my understanding, the first back-to-back winners of the People Choice Award in the history, the 12-year history of the podcast awards. Does that mean we're the best podcasts of all time? I'm just curious. I mean, that would be a very, is that science? A very humble statement for you to make, Jason. No, no, no. Just a question. Yeah, he's just a question. I would never, ever say something like that. Does that make us the best? Yeah, I mean, it's really. It's up to you to decide. It's really.

No, very cool. And I want to say this too. We were up against some very, very, very good shows, great competition, and very honored to be nominated with them and very honored to win. So thank you very, very much. Also, both of you gentlemen are getting wet today. Yeah, Chris Splash. Because I bet Jason that Deshaun Watson would outperform Marcus Marietta. What I didn't know is that he would outperform Marioita and Brady combined.

You know what? I'm going to say it was only because of the injury that took Mario to out. That was the only reason. He was going to come back. And Mike, I believe we bet Cam Newton versus Tyrod Taylor. We did. And Cam Newton took care of business. So we will put those up on Twitter very soon. You'll both be wearing black shirts that will be covered in water. Yeah, I had to protect the nips today. All right. Hey.

Quick question of the day. What is the biggest surprise of week number four for you? Well, speaking of Cam Newton, the biggest surprise to me is how bad the Patriots defense must actually be? Like, I still just don't want to buy into the fact that the Patriots are a terrible defense because it makes no sense. They've never really been a bad defense. They have the pieces to be a good defense. If you look at the defense they had last year as far as personnel, and then what they have this year,

I feel like it should be better, but outside the line backing core. That's the big problem for me. The corners, they're great. You got Gilmore in there. But you're right. And you expect them to scheme better. Everyone has been destroying the Patriots. They've been putting up massive points. I mean, Cam Newton, he got to play San Francisco a bad defense. He got to play New Orleans who at the time looked like a terrible defense.

Couldn't get it done either of those times. So the Patriots defense was the biggest surprise for me. And to piggyback, before I give mine, maybe New Orleans defense isn't as bad as we said. Because this week, it looked like it was going to be great for Miami. They did nothing. They didn't score. Now, I know they've struggled on offense. But then Cam Newton being able to not do as much against them and do a lot against New England, we're learning, right? This is week four. My big surprise would have been one of the better defenses of the –

in the league. The Jaguars, look, Matt Forte out. They let Bilal Powell and E.J. McGuire go absolutely bananas against this defensive front, 250-plus yards rushing, multiple long touchdowns from those two. And so it was shocking to me to see those two players, especially when you know that New York's offensive strategy is to kind of control the clock, run the ball.

put McCown in a position not to, you know, blow the game through an interception with limited passing weapons and then to see the running backs just destroy this defensive front. That was a surprise for me. There's a big surprise for me of the weekend. I mean, it's, in a way, it's related to what Cam Newton was able to do against the Patriots. Deshaun Watson looked mostly unstoppable. A couple of mistakes. But, I mean, he looked. He looked like he.

was in control of the offense. He's making plays with his legs. And he looked like a very solid quarterback. And I got a lot of questions on yesterday's Periscope. And it was Watson and this player. And I said, I just, it's hard for me to buy into Watson because he just did it to the Patriots. And we've seen people destroying the Patriots. I mean, Alex Smith looked like a Hall of Fame level quarterback against the Patriots. So it was.

It just of how bad Watson was against the Bengals and then the Patriots, the up and down is I don't know if I can buy in, but going back to back weeks of just absolutely going full ham, eggs and cheese in one sandwich. Yeah, delicious. How do you not buy into Deshaun Watson moving forward? Well, and he's got that skill set that you have, we have seen other guys come into the league with that type of skill set and be able to succeed.

from, you know, the get-go, Russell Wilson and Dak Prescott come to mind, where they can roll out, they can bootleg, they can run and... Yeah, the balanced offense, too, from that team. And, you know, Hopkins, the arrows trended up. You know, getting Fullerback, another weapon. If they ever get that left tackle in, they're going to get even better on the offensive line. So that was very, very impressive.

While I did bet him against Mariotta nowhere in my wildest imagination did I imagine five touchdowns from Deshawn Watson. So we are going to get into the fantasy rewind. Before we do that, I do want to take a second and reflect on the tragedy that took place in Las Vegas last night. I want to send our thoughts and prayers to those that are recovering, those that were wounded, those that are mourning, those lost. And, you know, part of sports and part of this show is...

to provide a reprieve from current events and from some of the things, politics. We don't get into politics on the show. But I felt it was worthwhile to take a minute and just share our thoughts and prayers, our condolences to those lost. And, you know, we do this show so that you do have kind of some of the normalcy and routine of American life that helps us get through and recover from tragedy. But just a tremendous tragedy that took place. And make no mistake.

Fantasy football is very unimportant in comparison to those things. And so I did want to take a moment to say that. And we'll go ahead and get into the Rewine. Weekly Rewine. All right, we'll start out with some injury news. A lot of injuries took place this weekend. A lot of long-term fantasy football impact. The big headliner, and it's really unfortunate. Dalvin Cook, the team fears that he suffered a torn ACL. He's going to have an MRI today.

And even Derek McKinnon left that game. If you're a Dalvin Cook owner and you're scrambling right now, you look like you were golden. But this is the nature of fantasy football.

Where are you turning? I was just going to point out first. We talk a lot about don't bail early in the season. Sometimes teams that look like juggernauts, they lose a piece and another piece just doesn't stay as hot. And all of a sudden, they go from the best in the league to the worst. You've got to stick through. You're speaking of other teams in your league. Yes, other teams in your league. You've got to just keep persevering week after week. As far as the backfield here in Minnesota, I still lean towards McKinnon. I don't think, I mean.

Look, both of these guys now are dealing with an ankle problem, but one, Latavius and Murray, he's talking about how he's still not 100% from the ankle surgery that was months ago. He doesn't look 100%. He hasn't shown signs of life yet. So I lean towards McKinnon, but I don't think either guy is really going to be great. When you lose your starting quarterback and your star running back, your offense is going to hurt. This is a downgrade for...

All parties involved, even Stefan Diggs and Adam Thielen, I believe. They're going to have to bring someone in or upgrade or promote someone from a practice squad. I mean, you can't move forward with just McKinnon and Latavius Murray. And if you want to plan ahead, I think Chicago's defense in Chicago next week against Minnesota looks like a great streaming week-winning type of option.

I stuck with the Lions this week against Minnesota just on the basis that the Lions have looked great as a defense and the basis that Case Keenham consistently can't get it done. And then losing Dalvin Cook, one of the game breakers in the offense is going to handcuff their upside. So very, yeah, that's very unfortunate news. You're going to have to find another option because I think the backfield is going to end up looking a lot like, you know, Seattle or New Orleans or some situation that's hard to predict.

and week-to-week upside is in trouble. Derek Carr, exited with the back injury. Suddenly that offense is not churning, not moving. And Derek Carr, he's having back spasms as of the most recent report this morning. And we're going to have to figure out whether he plays against Baltimore next week. He probably will. Yeah, from what I hear, he is likely to play. And this offense, they're just, they're matchup dependent. I mean, it was a huge,