Starts of the Week + Week 2 Breakdown, Smooches!

Philip Rivers, he's a wily vet. He certainly can succeed, but in the game of probability, I'm out. Now, Matthew Stafford was the quarterback for last week. He only had one top 12 performance all of last year. He has new weapons. T.J. Hawkinson. He plays a role in this offense. He does. Marvin Jones is healthy. Kenny Golladay.

carry on out of the backfield and then, you know, your boy, Danny Mandola had a big catch last week. This is not the matchup to stream Stafford. I completely agree. He's not, Stafford's not going to throw the ball 45 times or whatever it was in this game. The lions are not going to run 80 plus plays because they're not facing the fastest offense in the NFL, Arizona, and then adding on an overtime to it.

Yeah, and in week one, the charges only gave up 16 and a half fantasy points to Jacoby Brissette. They're a good defense. At the running back position, since we're not interested in those quarterback streams, you have Austin Eckler. Oh, yes, you do. Now, he's a major beneficiary from Hunter Henry going down from Mike Williams being potentially limited. Yes. So Austin Echler is a must-start candidate this week. Justin Jackson, I think, is sneaky in this game. I think his utilization will be better than week one.

Just my opinion. You know, you're probably in a position where you could start somebody else. I mean, I imagine we'd all go Adrian Peterson over Justin Jackson. Yes, I would. Just from a workload standpoint. Yeah, he didn't get enough touches for me in week one to be excited about the sneaky play. All right, Jason. You didn't have to speak to Carry on Johnson on Monday. Yeah. You barely got the voice to speak to him now. But he's the running back 19 on the week by our consensus rankings.

Last year, or I'm sorry, last week he actually ran 21 passing routes. The Marlon Mack experience against the Chargers last week was incredible. Do you expect to bounce back here or are you tempering expectations? Yeah, I mean, I can tipper expectations from like, just the best out there in the world, but he should have a bounce back game. This is a plus matchup for him. The Chargers are very difficult to beat through the air, and they give up points and fantasy points on the ground.

The utilization of carry-on while he's clearly in a timeshare was still pretty good. He had 16 carries, ran 21 pass routes. He didn't perform up to expectation. Now he's at home. I think this is a bounce-back game. I'm absolutely fine. I think carry-on started in most leagues you'd be starting carry-on. I assume all three of us who start Austin Echlor over Carrion Johnson. Yes. Austin Echler is going to be a world-beater.

But I'm with Jason. I think that Caryon bounces back this week. Like I said, Stafford's not going to throw the ball 45 times in this matchup. No, he's got to make a play. He's got to do what Tony Michelle needs to do to have a week this week. You know, getting 14 carries, making zero plays, not going to help you in fantasy. So Caryon, I think he can do that. I think there are brighter days ahead. Keenan Allen, we've talked about the wide receivers here. You really can't turn to somebody else in this offense. A Travis Benjamin, Dontrell Inman.

You don't want to mess with it. You've got better options in week two. I would much rather play even, you know, Robbie Anderson with Trevor Simeon, right? James and Crowder with Trevor Simeon. I'd play them both over the Travis Benjamin Duntrell-Inman, you know, dart throws. Yeah, I agree. But if Mike Williams plays, are you just in or do you worry about the knee issue? I worry about it. I worry about it. You do worry about the knee entry. Yeah, I would play him.

I think he's got a great opportunity, you know, in this game. If he's healthy, I'm going to flex him. Kenny Galaday is wide receiver 21 on the week by consensus rankings. Marvin Jones is wide receiver 40 on the week. What do you think of these guys in this match? I mean, Kenny Gallaudet, you're playing him every single week. Marvin Jones, the actual target share for Marvin Jones was disappointing from what I was hoping for and expecting. I thought he would be a great value in drafts.

because Amandola came in and got a bunch of targets and so did the rookie T.J. Hawkinson. And honestly, the outlier for Danny Amidola was the huge touchdown. Like the big catch. But I really think that Danny Amidola's target volume will be safe. We've seen Matthew Stafford rely on Golden Tate the exact same way. Whether or not Amidola can produce, that remains to be seen long term. But the target volume will be there for him.

T.J. Hawkinson is going to be interesting this week. Last week, the Chargers only gave up 4.6 fantasy points across Ebron, Doyle, and Company in Indianapolis. There was a bubbled touchdown by Eric Ebron. How dare you. And Company. It should have been and Gigantor. That is correct. Leaving Mo Alley Cox as Company. I'm so sorry. Fantasy owners will be in a very precarious position at T.J. Hawkinson.

has a subpart week two performance because of all the investment we've seen in the waiver wire. And I think it's very possible that he does. I mean, he scored a touchdown last week. It's a tough matchup. You know, he's a great blocker. He's going to be out there on the field. I'm hesitant just like you, Andy. But if I paid to pick him up on waivers, you pay? I'm playing him. Paid and played. We're going to see what happens. Tight ends are one of those positions where matchups can be very telling.

This isn't a great matchup for him. So I agree with you, Andy. If he has a poorer performance, which is in the realm of the possible outcomes here, don't worry. I'm still in on Hawkinson if he has a bad week this week. All right, Colts, Titans.

This game has a 44 point over under. That's pretty low. Titans are three-point favorites. Titans' defense looked outstanding last week. Constant pressure. Cameron Wake was the defensive player of the week. Destroying Baker Mayfield. The Colts have to go to Tennessee. Jason asked me yesterday, you know, what side I fell on this? We've got a little inner office picks pool. I'm firmly on the Titan side. I think they take care of business at home here.

I don't trust Brissette to go on the road and beat the Titans defense. So, you know, from a quarterback position last week, you didn't want to play Bresset or Mariotto. I don't think you want to play either. Nope. Nope. I still don't want to play either one. Now, you had huge games from Marlon, Mac, and Derek Henry. So this week, Derek Henry, Jason and I have him at nine on the week. He had, even if you take away the 75-yard reception, still a great game. Great week for Derek Henry.

And they won. They won the game with the recipe of Derek Henry. They've been doing that for a little while. So I think we all believe Derek Henry is a solid start as a side effect or as a little boost to that. He's averaged over six yards per carry against Indianapolis in his career. It'll be interesting to see Dionne Lewis and his utilization in this game because Echler was an absolute menace against the Colts in the receiving game at the running back position.

What about Marlon Mack who had a monster league leading 174 rushing yards in week one? The matchup is not as juicy on the road against Tennessee, but it was a very impressive performance. They need him. What do you think about Marlon Mack this week? I think he can be started, but you have to temper your expectations. Don't get excited about last week. Last week, like we said, the Chargers are a team that gives up fantasy points on the ground, and that's what they did. Last year, the Titans were the third best against running back.

as far as giving up fantasy points. They don't. Their defense looks amazing. Now, I think both are true. The Titans defense is great, but the Colts are going to want to run Marlon Mack through their powerful offensive line and win that way. So they're going to force the issue, and I think you can start them, but just temper your expectations.

All right, at the wide receiver position, I quizzed both of these guys in the office yesterday. The Titans scored 43 points. I asked how many receptions did their wide receivers have in week one on that beautiful path to 43 points? Did Jason get it right? Jason didn't get it right. I guess seven. What an idiot. You're way too high. They had four. Three receptions by AJ Brown, won by Adam Humphreys. And that was the end of the story. Delaney Walker played a big role. He'll do it again.

This week. Walker is going to smash. You cannot count on Corey Davis, Adam Humphreiser, A.J. Brown. This is not an offense that is going to produce consistent production of wide receiver. If this week, Corey Davis has three catches and A.J. Brown has zero. I will not be shocked or surprised in any way. And you cannot count on Marioita either. He had a great week one. He's trash.

He held onto the ball. Whoa. He just is. And he held onto the ball. Six touchdowns from Mario to coming up. I've seen this before. He held onto the ball way too long. You know, a 75-yard screen to the house is really going to help your fantasy points. I don't think that happens against Colts. I agree with 100% of what you said. I think he's trash. Oh. So Eric Ebron, Jank Thoyle, Moe Cox. No, thank you. You're taking a shot at tight-in here. Do you take it on which guy? Ebron.

Yeah. He's the touch. I mean, he basically caught a touchdown this last week. It's just not a good matchup for the Colts at all. The Titans last year only gave up 216 passing yards per game. That was six fewest in the NFL. Jacoby Brissette finding his way as the starter. So the one guy that you will be watering Mike and I over today. Yeah, we're going to do that today. How do you feel in this matchup about T.Y. Hilton who bawled out? Yeah, I mean, you start him. You start him because he's T. Yilton.

So I think he, you know, hopefully you can flex him because you drafted him late because of all the reaction to Andrew Luck leaving. It's probably not going to be as good as it was in week one, but the matcher wasn't good in week one. I mean, the Chargers have a pretty good secondary. T.Y. Hilton found away. He can find a way in this game. Okay. Do you guys agree with that? I think we have to agree after week one. Yep. And we can all. The water speaks, man. The water speaks. T. Y. Hilton, we never, there was no question of like, we don't think T. Y. Hilton's a good player. He's amazing.

It was just, we've seen an entire season with Jacoby Preset. It was so hit and miss. He had two big games with Preset, but then most of them were trash. But with Frank Reich, I think. Better offensive line. It's all a game of probability. And right now the odds look to be in the favor of T.Y. Hilton. Don't you notice that some head coaches have this amazing ability? And it's this secret weapon that they use. And it's called getting their best players the ball. I've seen it. Isn't it really neat? Yeah.

When certain players do that, like when, I don't know, David Johnson lines up and runs 15 rounds in a game, like as a wide receiver and then catches a touchdown pass. Are you saying Mike McCoy is a bad coach? What I'm saying is if I ever become an NFL head coach, which at this point, probably unlikely. But if it ever happens, what I'm going to try to do is get all my good players the ball and see what happens. Yeah. I'd rather lose with my good players. My offense would be full on Bill O'Brien style, at least when it comes to targeting. You just give the ball to Carlos Hyde?

No, I give Hopkins 20,000 targets every week. Yeah, he's pretty good. He's pretty good. He said that his future tackling efforts, which he got the WWE smackdown penalty, he will go more of like a two-hand touch or tag style next time. I love it. And then when DeAndre Hopkins gets body slammed, he's going to be like, wait. What? What? Yeah. Cowboys. Well, hold on, hold on.

Because we glossed over, but Delaney Walker is in an absolute smash position. The Colts give up the most yards of the tight-end position last year, and not by just like they happened to be the most given up. It was almost by 200 yards. Like they were trying to set a record. Yes. So Delaney Walker play him. He's going to be great. Yeah. He's best friends with Mario. He is. On the field. The Cowboys at 1-0 take on the Redskins. The Redskins are at home. The game's a 46 point over under.

The Cowboys are five-point favorites. So, look, I loved everything I saw from the Cowboys last week, and I'm not changing that opinion. Agreed. I'm all over him this week. I like Amari Cooper. I like Dak Prescott. You're obviously starting Zeke. You're not touching their tight ends. And you can flex Michael Gallup, in my opinion, after that week one performance, if you believe that this offense is going to keep doing what they did. I completely agree with this. I mean, you saw Dak going.

Going deep all the time last week, which was a breath of fresh air. And he had the weapons that he could succeed doing it. Meanwhile, you saw Deshaun Jackson just taking Washington to task last week. So it makes sense to me. Amari Cooper, I believe, will be a very consistent receiver this year. I think the recipe there is perfect for him. Now, with Kellyn Moore, downfield passing, him and Gallup, I really do believe that. I believe that this offense is going to do enough to keep him.

consistent on the season. That we shall see. Yeah. On the Washington side of the ball, Case Keenham, he was the quarterback six last week. Yeah. So you like the fact that he was stretching the field. You like the fact that he was throwing the ball a lot. You know, Adrian Peterson will be his running back today. But let's talk about Terry McLaurin, Paul Richardson, Trey Quinn. You know, is Scary Terry a flex consideration for you, Jason this week?