Week 15 Matchups, In-or-Out, #BenchEmAll

Oh, St. Nick. So we got St. Nick. I get you. Back at it again. Last year's Super Bowl savior. I'd rather start Mark Wahlberg. You'd rather start quarterback. Mark Wahlberg. Yeah. Not Mark Waltonberg even, but the actual, not in the NFL. Wasn't he in a movie where he was playing for Philadelphia? Yeah. He's a kicker, though. That's fine. No. Was he a kicker? Was he?

I thought that was Tony Danza. Oh, yeah, I've got the wrong movie. This was, man, what is the name of that movie? He tried out for it as like a walk-on. Is that invincible? Yeah, there you go. That sounds right. I put him in. I'd put him in this week over Foles. No, I mean, I just, I'm not excited. I think this is an important balance-back game at home for Los Angeles. Foles. He's just not what you want to roll out there in any way, shape, or form. He, he...

depletes any hope you have in Elshon Jeffrey, Golden Tate. Now, something could happen. You know, Nelson Aguilar could catch a long touchdown. Alston Jeffrey could catch a touchdown. We're not excited, are we? We're not excited, but I actually... Oh, you think he's sneaky? I do think he's sneaky. I mean, Foles, when he comes in, see, what you expect to happen and what usually happens, okay, you got the backup. Hey, Nick. Mark Wald is not there. Hey, Nick, get in there. Throw some touchdowns for me. So howdy a mother for me?

The reality is I think Doug Peterson comes in and throws the ball more than we expect with Nick. He's going to have to. And that's the reality. He's going to have to. I think Foles is competent enough to get it done. So, yeah, I do think Nick Foles is a little bit sneaky. Breaking news. Isaiah Croyle has been officially added to the injured reserve. He will no longer play.

Elijah McGuire. Also, Kiki Kuti will not travel with the team. He is out. Okay. All right. The 11 and 2 Saints Monday night football taking on the 6 and 7 Panthers. Panthers are reeling right now. This game is in Carolina, though. They are 6-point home underdogs, a 51.5 point over under. And Cam Newton is the question of the hour. Can fantasy owners who thought they had a quarterback?

who was not only performing well all season long, but had a great playoff schedule. Can they count on him at home against New Orleans? New Orleans is a team that is, they've struggled against the pass. They've been much better against the run. You would imagine Cam Newton will deliver in this game. Yeah, it's really tough. I thought about making Cam my start of the week to give confidence because I would start Cam.

But I didn't make him my start of the week because I didn't have supreme confidence. Look, the New Orleans Saints, if you look at their year-long schedule and their year-long fantasy points given up, they look like a bad defense. But they have not been bad. They have not been beat the same way. You know, since week 10, they've actually been one of the more difficult matchups for quarterbacks. And so.

I do worry a little. It's difficult to contain Cam Newton. All of his rushing touchdowns have happened at home. He's got a 70% completion percentage at home. Here's what I love about Cam Newton to speak to the other side. So I worry a little bit about the matchup. Oh, so good. He has weapons for the first time and forever because DJ Moore is ready. Curtis Samuel is ready.

Devin Funches is where he belongs. Were they? As a solid wide receiver. Were they not ready last week? The week before? Yeah. Are they just now ready? Were they pre-ready? If you look at the last two weeks for Cam Newton last week, a huge disappointment. The week before, he's not as bad as people. I mean, people are like, oh, two terrible weeks from Cam Newton. No, it's like he had a disappointing week for expectations. But it wasn't like he just ruined your week. He didn't.

He's still the sixth ranked fantasy quarterback on the season. Exactly. So, yeah. But no touchdowns last week was surprising against Cleveland. Well, and what was super weird about that was they were down near the goal line. And their play calling was just stupid last week. I mean, really legitimately dumb. Is that because of the shoulder? It protect him and his shoulder from injury? He's only had a 30, 20 rushing yard. I don't think that was the reason for the stupidity. I mean, they were down there. They could have just rushed.

Christian McCaffrey, he was tearing him up, and they didn't. That would have protected the shoulder. So I just think they'll get home. Cam Newton, I'm 100% fine playing him. Just temper your expectations. He's not going to be the quarterback one or two this week. I got DJ Moore at 23, Curtis Samuel at 24. So I think both of them have an opportunity in this matchup. They're fringe two-threes. Ian Thomas, we've talked about him, tied in for Carolina. You can start him if you need him.

He has a 19% target share of the past two weeks, and Christian McCaffrey is a must start. Would you rather play DJ Moore or Curtis Samuel? Like if I'm asking you, I got more one spot ahead of Samuel, but I don't know if I really know which guy's going to be better. Yeah, I mean, it really is a crapshoot week in, week out. I think that the more talented raw ability is still with DJ Moore. So I would lean towards more.

All right. Are you concerned at all about Drew Breeze? He's our consensus QB4, so maybe that says no. But the last three weeks is passing yardage. Get this. 171 yards, 127 yards, 201 yards. Nope. Okay. You're all aboard. Carolina's defense has gotten progressively worse as the season has gone on. I think this is great news for Cam Newton. I'm, or for Drew Breeze, I'm going to start him for sure.

And Alvin Camero, no touchdowns for the last three weeks. He is averaging 17 touches. I mean, because he started the year so incredibly on fire that you thought, oh, he's going to be the running back one or two, him and Gurley. I imagine he's four right now. In our league format, he's four, but you've got Gurley, Berkeley, CMC, I assume ahead of him. Right. And Zeke, probably. Yeah, Zeke has just been unbelievable. If you didn't hear the stats from the DFS.

fantasy show on the season from week one he's on target for a he's on pace for a hundred targets zeke's this is what we've begged for for years they finally did it and they're winning so uh michael thomas had 11 catches last week a bit of a bounce back game we'd like to see him get in the end zone here uh mark ingram for what it's worth only four or only one of his touchdowns on the year have come on the road four of them at home uh i think that's probably just because these games are not put away

on the road like they are at home, and so Camara sees more snaps. That's why you look for home favorites in Vegas for running backs. That's why guys like Jordan Howard are good, because when you put the game away, it's usually at home where you're running out clocks. I agree. All right. No other injury updates since the game started. We're going to jump into Daily Dose. I guess Deshaun Jackson not practicing again Friday. That should not be a surprise.

Nor should it be a consideration of yours in any way, shape, or form to start Deshaun Jackson if he was active playing up in Baltimore. But we're going to do a daily dose here. It's going to be a one-on-one today. A daily dose. Brought to you by draft. What did you end up setting up for us in this draft? I set up pretty much take what you want. All players are eligible? Yeah. Well, one game is over.

We can't draft the guys that have already played. Solid point. Outside of that, yeah, I mean, it's pretty much draft whoever you want, mono, imano. And it looks like you are going to have the first pick. There are a lot of good, I think, I'm going to go out on the limb here. I think we're both going to like our team at the end of this draft. Yeah, I think it's going to be pretty darn stacked. Looks like I have the number one pick overall. And it's close for me. I'm actually going to go with the aforementioned Ezekio Elliott.

I think, I think Zeke's going to run wild. Yeah, there are four running backs that are just so great this week. I couldn't really choose between them. So I'm actually going to go towards the wide receiver tight end position on draft. I'm taking Antonio Brown first.

The splits between him and Juju Smith-Schuster home and away. Juju is the road guy. Antonio is the home guy. That's what I truly believe. And I'm going to pair him with my actual number one ranked wide receiver on the week, Michael Thomas, who I am not afraid of that Carolina defense. A little draft strategy here. I agree with you. I think there's four great running backs. And you didn't take any. So I'm not going to take any. And I'm not going to go with Julio Jones here. What I am going to do is I'm going to take Juju Smith-Schuster.

That way you feel pain when he scores in Antonio Brown doesn't score. That's very interesting strategy. Since I have my wide receivers locked up and cannot draft one. Well, sure. That's just point. But I can't not draft anybody at any position there, Jason. But I'm going to pair him with Big Ben Rothesberger. Okay, you got the stack. I wondered if I was going to be able to get the Big Ben Antonio Brown stack.

The fact that you've got Antonio, who's your other wide receiver? Have you picked yet? No. I've got Juju and I've got Big Ben and Zeke. So you've got two picks and then I got my final two. All right. So I guess I'm going to have to go with my other stack then. Because you've got, if Antonio blows up, you've got Big Ben, I'm going to go with Drew Breeze to pair with my Michael Thomas. And at running back, look, Sequin, Todd Gurley, Christian McCaffrey. It's hard to really pick favorites there. I'm going to take Todd Gurley.

He's at home. Huge implied over under with Nick Foles being there. If the wheels start falling off, I think you could see Todd Gurley just keep rushing. Just 700 yards, eight touchdowns. It's going to be a pretty solid game. That's a lot. I went with Sequan Barkley to pair with Ezekiel Elliott, so I left you with Christian McCaffrey if you wanted.

And then at this point, I'm staring down these last wide receiver decisions. I'm having a hard time. I could go with a guy like George Kill, too. But I think I'm just going to take DeAndre Hopkins. New Orleans has been so good against the running back that I worry about Christian McCaffrey a little bit when compared to Joe Mix. But he's a wide receiver and a running guy. But Joe Mix has been so good. Oh, what are you doing? Against Cincinnati. So this is going to be very interesting. Joe Mix is playing against Cincinnati? Well, what? He's playing against Cincinnati's play calling. Oh, like against.

The Oakland Raiders, but I am taking Christian McCaffrey after all that. Oh, well. So my final team, I've got the Drew Breeze, Michael Thomas Stack with Antonio Brown. Todd Gurley and Christian McCaffrey sounds pretty good. Big Ben, Juju, Zeke and Barkley, and DeAndre Hopkins. So it's a battle of the Titans this week and our head-to-head daily dose. Don't forget draft.com slash ballers if you want to play.

with us. Yeah, that'll be fun to see how that goes. And hey, don't forget this holiday season to send the gift of Omaha Steaks. Go to Omaha Steaks.com. Enter fantasy into the search bar right there on the homepage, and you will get 74% off the Omaha Steaks family gift package. It's only $49.99, usually $195. Order today, you're going to get hand-cut, sirloin steaks, premium pork chops, kielbasa, sausages, burgers, so much more. So go to Omaha Steaks.com.

Type fantasy into the search bar on their homepage and add the family gift package to your cart. You won't be disappointed. Yep. Bring it. O'Dell Beckham Jr. situation is haunting me right now. But we'll keep you up to date with all the injury news. You can follow us on Twitter at the F.F. Ballers. We'll post news there.

Our Instagram, we're always hitting Instagram with the ends, the outs, things that are going on with the big players, and then the live stream, obviously, you'll be notified about that on Twitter, or if you follow us on YouTube.com slash the fantasy footballers. Big week. I should say YouTube.com slash fantasy footballers. YouTube.com slash the fantasy footballers. YouTube.com. YouTube.com slash the fantasy footballers. It's so confusing. You'll find us.

Yeah. All right. Best of luck this week in the semifinals. I hope all four of us are in the championship come next week. See you later. Oh, yeah. Toot that horn. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join thefoot.com. And follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.

As a fan chosen for the halftime challenge, I love sports. For a chance to win the big prize. But when my half-court heaved only goes half the distance. How embarrassing for him! I wonder, is sport clips better than sports?