Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 14 Review, Studs and Duds, MNF Preview, Fantasy News

growing affections for Randall Cobb because of the play calling changes. No, seriously. That's growing since when? Since Sunday? Since...

Since Mike McCarthy was made the play calling. Which was Sunday. It was funny, we're talking about dropping him last week. He said to me before the game that with Mike McCarthy going, Randall Cobb is someone really interesting to watch and see how it pans out. Well, him and Lacey both, because when McCarthy was the play caller, those guys had a more integral part of the offense, and now you saw Cobb come out and have the higher volume of catches. Cobb never had the guaranteed touchdowns.

But if he's catching four a week, he's useless. If he's eight or nine a week, he has a role, and then he has the potential of the touchdowns, too. So I am encouraged is a much better way. Growing affection is the wrong word. Encouraged by Cobb, encouraged by Lacey. I told a lot of people to start Lacey this week because of the switchover that seemed to happen with McCarthy's attitude toward him. And we know what they can be. I mean, if you're going to start somebody...

Start somebody that you know can be something great if you're just taking a shot in the dark. Which we saw a goal line sequence where Green Bay was still being a little shady to Eddie Lacey with the first two. You didn't just the first two carries they didn't give him to Lacey. I mean, Green Bay. 24 for 1.24 and a touchdown for Eddie Lacey. One for 24 in the air. James Starks contributed.

11 for 71, 4 for 32, two touchdowns. For the huge run. Starks is this. Starks is, give me 10 carries, give me a couple catches, and I'll make a big play. He's not been the Belkow guy, so it's better for both guys in a lot of ways. But would you start Starks in any situation? I would flex him. At this point, if they were me and I lost Thomas Rawls. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if they're going to continue to split the snaps like they have been, and they're not just going to say Eddie Lacey, go.

then he has to have some value of a running back who's on a higher-powered offense. You've got to believe in him. Are we back to trusting and Todd Gurley? Yeah. I said last week. There was some doubt. Absolutely.

There was some doubt, but you see the offensive coordinator change and the fact that, you know, there was the question of, is this the rookie wall for a guy who was coming off a knee surgery? That makes complete sense if that was the reason for his lack of production. Case Keenham was back. Well, that certainly helps. The Falls games, Gurley was terrible.

Keenom somehow is moving his offense a little bit differently. But I believe the Rams also had to pick six. I mean, just the game flow stayed in control. Well, one of the things that you notice, I picked up really into that game right before Gurley's first touchdown. And before his first, that driver, he got that touchdown, I think he had eight carries for like.

I don't know, eight yards. He had a terrible beginning to this game. And that is why, I mean, Gurley, you see that. You're saying sticking with the run. He's the type of running back that wears guys down. And, I mean, you saw it in Arizona. You had a terrible first half and then just. Well, no.

I'm saying the first week in Arizona when he came out, Todd Gurley. Oh, Gurley. I was like Peterson was backwards this week. No, no, no. Where he wore us down. And so with an offensive coordinator that's dedicated to continuing to give him the ball, I'm not worried about Todd Gurley. All right. So Gurley won people some weeks this week. If you stuck with him, David Johnson Thursday night, had a big game.

Could have had two touchdowns that game. Ended up with none, but he still had a very solid game. DeAngelo Williams gave you a big game this week. Belaw Powell was very valuable for you again in PPR leagues. Three for 36 only on the ground, but five for 46 and a touchdown in the air. Big third down plays. It seems like Powell comes through. He's a flex-worthy type of guy. Him and James Starks, pretty much the same type of situation for me. And especially this coming week. I think it's going to be better for Powell.

Or, I'm sorry, I'm thinking of the championship week, week 16, when they're facing the New England Patriots. They might be catching up. Yeah, game flow is going to be very good for Powell, so good stash right now. That's going to be a heck of a game, by the way. Because it's in New York, and New York getting Revis back, played very well on defense. The way that Fitzpatrick is playing right now, I think the Jets will have a shot in that game. Massive playoff implications from that game. Absolutely. So let's move on.

Tight-ins. We've got to get into our poop section, by the way, very soon. Yes. Not every show has a poop section. We are a unique show. That was one of the requirements to get Mike to stay on board with the show was we have to have a segment that is about. It talks about his team. I put my foot down. I put my foot down. I said, look, I'm hitting the bricks unless we talk about BMs. That's Mike for you.

You know what's kind of funny? There's like a weird, small amount of people who just, for some reason, really want you to shave your beard. Really? Just for no reason other than they don't like beards. They're beardists. You can include my daughter. Really? Yeah. Oh, of course. Oh, that's the one that could get it done, though. Nope. Forget these fantasy owners. He hates his daughter. Yeah. Shave my beard. I'll throw you out of the house before I shave my beard. Shave her head.

Oh, family life. I will offer her that deal. Yeah. The trade? I will shave my beard if you shave your head. And what if she says yes? I would never live. And this should be like, Daddy, why are you living in a different house? Because your wife will see your daughter that day. And you'll be like, you'll walk out with a clean face. Your daughter will walk out bald. And you'll be like, we made a trade. Yeah. And she'll be like, I'm going to trade you. She's V for Vendetta. Yeah, that's what you're, what's your daughter? Six.

It's her favorite movie, guys. She's into V for Vendetta. Yeah. The whole Lord. Good. All right. Tight-ins. Rule 86, baby. Rule 86 came through in a big way, nine for 120 and a touchdown. Jordan Reed back at it. We actually have Rule 86's here because Zach Miller also had a great game, also number 86. Whoa. So, I mean, and he's a guy that's been coming on hot and Martell's been a...

Bennett is gone. He was a flyer for us. He was that, you know, Bennett's gone. I made a post that said I thought Eddie Royal might have a big role towards the end of this season because of the loss of Marcus Wilson now on IR and the loss of Bennett. In this game, Zach Miller played a big part. Gary Barnage came through again, five for 84 in a touchdown in the better managed Cleveland Brown offense. Yes, they were playing the 49ers and they could run the ball. But, hey, Gary Barnage is pretty darn solid. Robert Grancowski. Have you heard of him?

And a surprise. Surprise. I went against this show in my league. Because on this show, we said verbatim, if Grunk plays you start him, which thankfully if you followed that advice, it was good advice. It was good advice. I didn't. I did not follow the advice. I was thrown off by Mike having some Thursday night guys that didn't do so good. And I was terrified about not playing ASJ in the morning. And I kept waiting. The reports on Rob Grancowski were like,

We'll be active. Role limited. Maybe ready to play. Maybe not. And it was too frightening for me. And I even went out. We'll be ready if needed. I went out and I signed Will Ty for Monday just in case, but I didn't have the guts to go through. And I didn't need him, thankfully, because that would have been heartbreaking to lose without Granc or with him on your bench. And I'm reminded of what the Grong play, a similar situation I was in a couple years ago with Jimmy Graham. So exact same position when he was in, when he was on the Saints and he hurt his foot.

I believe it was, and there was all these weeks of maybe he's going to play, maybe he's not, only in certain situations. And then he was basically only coming in for the red zone and catching touchdowns. But we kind of had that rule back then. Well, if Jimmy Graham is playing, you've got to play him. But he had a few times where he came out and he just sucked. So I don't blame you at all for not wanting to play him. Did you want me to play him? Yes. Okay. I did. That explains it. Yeah, because I figured you might want the chance of a zero.

Yeah, because you never know. So let's go ahead and talk about the guys that let you down to depress you. Pooped in his big boy pants. I feel like this segment right here needs to be one part condemnation of the player on behalf of our listeners so that we can, we almost take it out on them, you know, so that you can have that vitriol, get over your loss. Yeah. And then one part, we need to make this useful.

For owners that are still alive. And I would say one part love for the listeners because a lot of listeners had these guys and lost their playoff matchup because of this list of poopy pants fellas. And so I just want to say to the listeners that might have had that. PPS. The listeners that had these bad breaks this week, kudos to you guys for still listening, for still caring. It is for soon for everybody.

A month from now, it's going to be time to be preparing for next year. So we'll do everything here. I thought you were going to say it's time. It'll be Game of Thrones time. Oh, yeah. That'll be there as well. All right. Well, we know, we know Andy Dalton let you down. There's nothing you could do about it. Patch yourself on the back because you didn't make a mistake. You just played Andy Dalton. It was a matchup that I liked. I played him in our listener league, by the way. I lost in the first round of the listener league. Thanks to Andy Dalton.

So, and a little bit of Jonathan Stewart not playing in the second half. That was unfortunate. But I'm out. So it's going to be a listener this week or this year that wins the listener league. All right. Matt Ryan, terrible game. Hopefully he didn't play him. Philip Rivers destroyed at home against, I mean, in Arrowhead against Kansas City. And Big Ben was the big story. Because he just, no touchdowns. No touchdowns. He had 30 for 282. They didn't need it. They didn't need to go deep to Martavis. They didn't need to play the, you know,

They were wasting the clock out and they were having success doing it. So from a fantasy perspective, let's talk to these last two guys, Philip Rivers and Big Ben, because you have said, Andy, in the past, and you did give yourself some time to say, well, let's wait and see how this week turns out, but that you would play Big Ben this coming week and week 15 against the vaunted Denver defense. And so now we've got Big Ben showing against a good matchup when it wasn't needed and they didn't need to air it out.

It wasn't a good week at all for Big Ben. He crapped the pants. So, this next week, do you have confidence starting him over Bortles or even him over Rivers at Miami? Yes. I think so. I do. I've taken some time to think about that. I knew that question was coming. There are a couple of matchups that I would definitely...

Think about it long and hard, depending on what you need. But you didn't see, I mean, Derek Carr still had two touchdowns this past week against Denver. Yes, it wasn't a huge game, but it was two touchdowns. They won the game against Denver. Brock Osweiler is being exposed a little bit, as are the droposaurus that he's throwing to. But there's, you know, there's still potential here for Big Ben to have a big game and need to have a game through the air. So would I start him?

Yes, if I had a better, like would you start him or Matt Stafford? Stafford had a bad game. Matt Stafford's playing New Orleans and there's going to be people saying the juicy matchup, they'll see the numbers. Gotcha. You know, when you said that, I was thinking Matt Ryan and I was like, what are you talking about? I wouldn't start anybody. That's actually a great question because to me, Matt Stafford or Big Ben is in question. I would not want to start Big Ben.

in the playoffs. I want a guy who's got the chance for a real high production game, and I don't, I mean, Big Ben obviously has a chance because they're fighting for the playoffs. Yeah. Steelers are. But I think that's going to be a low-scoring game because it usually is against Denver. So I would rather play some other guys in better matches. So you'd play Bortles against Atlanta.

I would play Bortles for sure. I would play Bortles for sure. The Denver game is in Pittsburgh. I want to throw that out there. I would probably play Stafford as well just because of the volume of points that will be scored. And I want to remind people, too, Big Ben, 456 yards against Seattle. Yeah. So it's not outside the realm of possibility. Brady had three touchdowns against Denver. They're tough decisions. But that's a big difference because Seattle's had that happen to them.