Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 8 Matchups, The Daily Dose, & TNF Review

Okay, so do we expect Matt Ryan to put up a top 12 performance this week? I do. I think the matchup is great for Matt Ryan, and I... Is that what your sports almanac tells you? I've looked to the future, and I'm not saying top five, but I think Matt Ryan finally gets back on track this week. All right, let's move on to the Jets facing Oakland. Jason, give me your thoughts on the Fitzmagic car combo here. Do you think fits magic?

Ryan Fitzpatrick has a chance at a top 12 performance this week. Yeah, I do. He was close to my stream of the week. The Raiders defense is okay. It's not a defense that you can just flat, say, start everyone against them. However, their past D is...

their weakest point. And so the Jets, Fitzpatrick, he has weapons. And that's really one of the things we look for for a successful quarterback. Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker, those guys are both going to have decent games this week. So that should propel him to a top 12 start. Derek Carr, who I think this show loves, we're big fans of. Nobody's a bigger fan of them than you, Andy. You are like his mother. I'm like his mother. But this is a week where I would be...

more fearful to start him. We saw last week he put up a great game against San Diego, but San Diego is missing one of their best players in their secondary. They're the free safety. Yeah, so that helps, and they were coming off a buy. I don't expect Carr to carve up the jets. You are a conning linguist, my friend.

Yeah, so I like Fitzpatrick quite a bit. Ivory should be healthy as much as Ivory gets healthy. You know, he practiced in full this week. Zach Stacey came in in sections of the game last week, and he failed miserably. Jason is raising his hand. His hands up. I have a question for you two. Yeah. Okay. Is Stephen Ridley a pickup and stash guy at this point right now? No. With Ivory's. No.

You don't think so? Not at all. Okay. So you're a not at all. I will say this. I've paid very close attention to that situation, being an ivory owner. Ridley started practicing. He may end up getting activated based on Bilal Powell's injuries and things like that. But from everything I've read from the New York writers, from people observing him at practice, he doesn't have, even the coaches have said he doesn't have the burst that he needs to play right now. You mix that together with the fact they already have Stacey and Powell in depth. I mean, to me, it's just like saying...

you know, it's a sanky at best situation. Yeah, that's what I was looking for because I haven't really followed closely on the Stephen Ridley train. I'm glad you brought it up because people are asking that question. The time may come this season where you'd want to grab him as your handcuffed for the playoff run if he turns out to be that handcuff, but right now it's not the case. So what else do we need to talk about from this game? Would you start Michael Crabtree against the Jets? Is he an option because Cooper might be locked down with Revis? I would. I would start him. I don't, he's not a full confidence. Would you still start Cooper?

Yeah, you have to start Cooper. Statistically, the Jets are fourth against the pass, first against the run, and the Broncos are first against the past, fourth against the run. So they're equivalent kind of defensive statistically, or their equal defense is kind of in that upper echelon, probably the best two pure defenses in the league. The only problem I'd say with the Jets D is that you're going to go into the playoff schedule.

And if you're in week 16, they get to face the Patriots, and you just don't want to touch that. So make sure you have multiple options in your playoff run. So if you're desperate for a tight end, and we know that tight ends have had pretty good success against the Raiders, are you throwing out Cumberland? I have a really hard, yeah, I don't either. No, other options. You know, there are other options. I'd rather play probably Walford on the other side of the ball. You know, you know who is for upside? You've also got...

Decker, to me, is kind of, he's going to fill in those zones that the tight ends leak to. So you might see that as the same, I mean, obviously it's the same exact defense that's having to guard Decker. And Decker might be a better play. Decker had his first game of the season without a touchdown. So that means two touchdowns. But he had 94 yards still. So, I mean, he's played exceptionally well. If he sits, however, the Brandon Marshall show and Target Express is going to.

to come. So the Seahawks go into Dallas and Face. The Cowboys, the Cowboys are six-point underdogs at home. The over on this game is 41. Russell Wilson, fantasy-wise, has been a disappointment this year. He's had one game kind of in the top echelon, and then the rest of the games have kind of been, you could find them anywhere on the waiver wire. Is there any reason to, you know, if you're an owner of Wilson, you're probably tempted not to drop him. Would you drop Russell Wilson? No.

His baseline is high enough where he should stay on a roster. You drop someone else and pick him up. And the thing that is not a coincidence is zero rushing touchdowns for Russell Wilson and no explosive fantasy quarterback games for Russell Wilson. Yeah, that hasn't happened yet. It probably will, but good luck predicting which one game that...

that takes place. Now, a lot of people are facing this decision. Darren McFadden's not on everybody's, you know, top list at the beginning of the season. They picked them up on waivers, and now they have to say things like this with their mouths. Darren McFadden or Eddie Lacey this week. Oh, that's crazy. I'm going to go, if Stark's plays, then I would say Darren McFadden is going to be about equal, which means I'm going Eddie Lacey.

I would still go Eddie Lacey. I mean, you got Eddie Lacey against Denver or McFadden against the Seahawks. Do you think that McFadden's baseline could be lifted from dump-off passes? It absolutely could be, yes. I have Darren McFadden as my start of the week, and even against Seattle, solely because I'm saying he will still be an RB2. Darren McFadden or Jeremy Hill. I would rather have Darren McFadden this way. Jeremy Hill. I'm back on. Derek Fadden or Danny Woodhead.

Woodhead. Woodhead. All right. All right. Other relevant players from this game, Jimmy Graham, you're starting him. Jason Whitton, you're starting him. What do we think about the future of Mr. Lockett? Is it good enough? Is it possible that he could be a flex start this week? Sure. Go ahead. Any week, he could be a flex start, but you're playing a complete gamble. It's the problem I have with Jimmy Graham. It's a problem I have with Lockett. It's a problem I have with Duck Baldwin.

problem with any pass catching guy for Seattle. You just don't have enough for one of those guys to have consistent week after week games. It's going to be game plan dependent. And, you know, normally on most teams, you've got two or three guys that get enough balls each game where you can kind of say their average is going to be okay. But it's just not the way Seattle plays. And so I'm never wanting to start one. He's an absolutely fine flex play. But you've got to realize he's either going to have a great game.

Or he's going to be a complete dud in your roster. It's got to be a deep league for me to play one of those wide receivers. Sunday night football, the Packers facing the Broncos. This should be a fun one. It doesn't get much more dramatic on TV to see Rogers is on one side of the ball. Manning on the other side, regardless of how Manning is playing. Is this line accurate that the Packers are favored in Denver?

We can vet it. We can vet it, but I think that is the accurate line. Because that is... That can't be right. I'm checking. I'm checking. Okay. Well, you think about how bad their offense. Yeah, but they're both undefeated. They're both. So one of them's going to stop that train. Guys, one of these teams will not be undefeated after Sunday night. That is not 100% true because they could tie. Oh, they could tie. They could tie. Dang it. Yeah. Did you find it, Jay?

I'm checking multiple sources. So let's talk, Mike, talk about the fantasy kind of pieces of this game and what stands out to you? So I think the biggest standout, kind of like the biggest pressing question for me, is Devante Adams, James Jones.

situation where people have been riding high on James Jones is basically a borderline wide receiver one weekly because he puts up double digit points every single week. Devante Adams is expected to be back. Will Adams return to his old role immediately or does he slide in as that tertiary option for Green Bay? I would go with that one. You think he'll be the three? I think he will be the three in terms of targets.

Yeah, right now, right now, for sure. The thing I like about Devante Adams is I think he will be the three in terms of coverage. If you're the opposing team, I think you're more worried about James Jones and Randall Cobb at this point, and Devante Adams is going to do better against not number one coverage. When he was in to start the year, he was the guy actually taking that number one coverage and getting the number one target. It's really hard to say that he played this year.

Right, yeah. While I don't like the match up, I wouldn't roll him out this week. I think him going down and then coming back could be good for his value going forward because of the coverage he's going to see. Who would you rather start this week, Demarius Thomas or Emmanuel Sanders? By the way, that line, Jason checked it. It is accurate. Yep. Green Bay favored three. In Denver. All right. And so let's talk running back situations. You have Anderson Bustosaurus or Ronnie Hillman, who has not been much.

Better. Ronnie Hillman by a lot. Yeah. Ronnie Hillman is the starter and will receive the bulk of the carries and I think can do something with it. It's not the best matchup for him, but they're coming off a buy and they can work out some of those kinks. I've been telling people this too about Lacey. I'm coming around on him being the guy in the second half of this season, but if you're trading for him, if you are waiting for him, please, you might need to wait another two weeks.

You know, Denver is a top five run defense. They play Carolina next week. It doesn't mean he can't do anything. Like Jason said, if Starks is out, the projection of baseline for Lacey goes up. You know, we've had some sources talk to us about his weight. And the fact that, you know, he came into camp. Just out of shape. Significantly heavier than he should be. And you might have noticed that on the field. It might have impacted the injury. And so...

some question marks, but I am coming around to the fact that I think he'll get it together and have to be, you know, he's been a monster type of guy, literally. I mean, sometimes he takes a jersey off and he has that Hulk thing underneath it. So anything else from this game before we hit the Monday Night Football game? Richard Rogers, I think, is a fine waiver, like grab in desperation. So you're the Antonio Gates.

owner, you're desperately scrambling because nobody's left. Richard Rogers, because the defense of Denver is so good on wide receivers, maybe Roger Rogers ends up with one of those play breaks down and he just sneaks a touchdown in. All right, let's go ahead and blitz through the Colts Panthers game here. The Panthers are heavy favorites at home on Monday night. Cam Newton keeps getting it done. This team doesn't seem to have the

I'll jinx them now, but they don't seem to have the ability to give up a high amount of points. And so for Newton, it's just a matter of kind of being efficient enough in the offense to get them the victory. So talk to me about Andrew Luck, two bad games with your eyeballs, but two good games for fantasy the past two weeks. I could see that happening again this week. I think Andrew Luck is going to get blown up in the first half of this game.

The Carolina pasty, their pass rush is fantastic. And the O line for Indy and the way that Andrew Luck has been holding the ball, he's going to get his helmet popped off a few times. However, at the end of the game, they're going to have to, you know, they're going to have to throw a lot. I expect Carolina to be up. I expect the defense to kind of change, more prevent a little bit, and give up some fantasy value. The one thing I don't expect to have happen.

is I don't expect T.Y. Hilton to be the guy. The reports are that Josh Norman is going to be the guy covering him, and he has pretty much shut down everybody that he has faced. You don't score touchdowns. You don't get a lot of targets because you're going to get picks when you throw his way. We've already made a bet on this. We bet Hilton versus Lafell. Yeah, I took Lafell. And I am still very confident in Hilton's performance in this week.

They move him around on the field. He's a different kind of player than your traditional big one right receiver. And so I think he's very hard to keep the ball out of his hands. I think he's in that Steve, you know, Steve Smith category where it's kind of like you move him around. You do unique stuff with him.