Week 18 Matchups + Wheel of Shame, Bottle Your Pain - Fantasy Football Podcast for 1/7

the low passing total. You know, you guys brought up 15 attempts from Josh Allen in that game. You know, he runs. He doesn't run 15 times. That's an indication that they were game planning away from the frigid snow. Yes. Gabe Davis, Cole Beasley, Emmanuel Sanders. 100%. I like the options. Emmanuel Sanders won't practice on Friday. So Gabriel Davis, to me, is. Sanders won't play then.

Agreed. Sanders is out. He's still dealing with the knee from last week. So Gabriel Davis is in. I would play him over Marquez Calloway. I think the touchdown opportunity in this game will be there for him. Anything to add, Mike? Nope. All right. 49ers at 9 and 7 taken on the 12 and 4 Los Angeles Rams. If the Rams win, they lock up the NFC West. If the 49ers win, they are in. If they lose and the Saints win, they are on vacation. Going golfing. Okay.

This is a matchup where San Francisco won 31 to 10 on Monday Night Football in Week 10. This was an impressive win for them. They've been on fire. San Francisco has beaten the Rams the last five times they have faced each other. Kyle Shanahan has said, take that Sean McVeigh. Who's the genius now? Well, Shanahan thinks he's the genius a little bit more than McVeigh thinks he's the genius. It's probably true. Overender's 44 and a half. DK Sportsbook Lime Rams minus four and a half. Matthew Savard has been.

an enigma to me, in fantasy, in reality, where obviously the team made it a priority to bring him in, upgrade Jared Gough, and look, as a passer, Matthew Stavro's much better. But he has a propensity, almost like a desire to throw pick sixes and to put his team in really awkward positions like he did against Tennessee on that primetime game. And last week,

struggled again. These are supposed to be matchups that, you know, you have huge fantasy outputs and he's just kind of pedestrian. It's very bizarre. The past three weeks, Baltimore, Minnesota, Seattle. Like those are matchups where Matthew Stafford, with those weapons, I would expect him to easily be a top eight quarterback on the week. Potential for the number one spot. Yeah, with that top three upside. And yet.

QB11 against Seattle has been his highest finish in the last three weeks. He has thrown six interceptions combined and five touchdowns over the past three weeks. It's very strange to see what feels like an implosion of quarterback play. They're still winning. It's not stopping the ramps from figuring it out by the end of the game. But for fantasy purposes, what is your confidence level in?

Stafford this week. It is low. You know, the fact that the 49ers have had their number and that he's he's got 15 interceptions. Like Andy said, he's leading the league in pick sixes. I would rather not start Stafford in this game. Stafford could have a great game. It's shocking that he's the quarterback six on the season. Because he has. It's just, it's the reliability. It's the week to week.

kind of steady eddy situation. It's crazy. He has 38 touchdowns and over 4,500 yards. Let me rephrase that. He's not safe. It's Cooper Cup. There you go. Cooper Cup has helped him up there. But the last month, he has not hit 20 fantasy points. I would rather play a Trey Lance. I would rather play Russell Wilson this week. I'm so excited to see Cam Acres back on a football field. Oh, man. So cool. He will get very few touches, but I agree.

I'm excited to see how he looks. Yeah. I mean, just the fact that he could come back in a calendar year, right? This is a preseason injury. Yeah, this season comes back same season. We've got to find that doctor. That doctor's got some special stuff. Well, let's see how he performs. In the meantime, you could still rely on Sony Michelle.

I'm not afraid of Kamakers coming back to bench him. He has been a really important part of the Rams offense. And then the real questions are just, how confident are you in Odell, Beckham, or Van Jefferson? They've been pretty fine options. They're both fine. I mean, Beckham seven plus targets in three or four games. I'd play him over Van Jefferson. Agreed. Where I am concerned is Trey Lance's situation because he's on the road.

It's a very important game. The Rams are a very good defense. I think that you can just pencil in two turnovers, no matter what. I don't disagree. In this game. And so then you're looking at it and saying, you know, if he does, if he runs the football, he's going to give you a bottom QB1 performance. But can he throw more than one touchdown in this game? I think he can throw a touchdown and rush a touchdown in this game. So I'm not.

too afraid of starting Trey Lance. I am worried. Mike? I don't know that I would have played. I play Stafford over. Yeah, that's where I was going to go. I think I play Stafford over Trey Lance, but Trey Lance is still in play as a top 12 optioned. I mean, he's got George Kittle destroys the Los Angeles Rams. So he has that to rely on and just for as great as Cooper Cup has been, Debo Samuel is.

almost there on the same level. So he's surrounded by talent and the wheels puts him in play, man. Yeah, Elijah Mitchell, his opportunities are outrageous. They give him the ball a ton. He is someone you've got to start. And then the last question here, because you're starting, Samuel, you're starting Kittle, is just Brandon Ayyuk and how startable he is. I'd start him over on Marquez Callaway, but I would start both other Rams, O'Dell Beckham and Van Jefferson, because passing yardage,

passing touchdowns will be more from Stafford than from Trayley. Yeah, I don't like tertiary options from a quarterback who has like very little experience and who may be, it may be to his advantage to run the football more often. So it seems risky. Elijah Mitchell will get a ton of work. Jeff Wilson's out of consideration. Patriots at 10 and 6 take on the 8 and 8 Miami Dolphins. The Patriots are 6-point road favorites on the D.K. Sports book, the overrunner is 39 and a half. If New England wins,

And Buffalo loses. They win the division. It doesn't seem like that's likely to happen just based on the Buffalo matchup. But New England is in it. Now, are these games played at the same time? Because that would have a lot of consideration to me. 425 Eastern and 425 Eastern. Okay. So they won't know that Buffalo has it put away. They will after about a quarter. Okay. That's true, though. It is true. Hold on. Hold on.

Is it over? Yeah, game's done. Okay. They'll be able to go into halftime and go, yeah, okay, we're, Buffalo is going to win that game. And so it does make it a little scary that there is potential at the end of this game to rest your starters for the Patriots. Matt Jones had a nice week. He's been kind of, he's been good when needed.

Agreed. And they don't want him to be needed. I don't think he wants, he's not gunning for trying to break records. He does what is necessary. And in this game, will he be necessary? Maybe. Yeah, I mean, the Miami Dolphins defense is solid. I know that they fell apart last week. That's what killed me because I think we all were hesitant with Deont de Foreman last week.

because of how good the Miami rushing. The Miami rushing defense had been like the number one over the last six weeks, and then Foreman goes out and beats me in a championship game. So on that front, you know, Ramandre is going to, the running backs are going to get a ton of work. I think Ramandre is a lock regardless of Damien Harris's status. Okay. Agreed. And then Damien's more worrisome because it's like, you know, they're not playing for a lot. Why would you risk the hamstring? They're going to be playing in the playoffs.

But if he's active, how do you not play him? You know, I think that's the situation with Harris. What do you guys do with him? Yeah, Damien Harris is certainly a scary start because of the hamstring and the fact that you could see them do what they did last week and bench him in favor of his hamstring and health. Yeah. Damien Harris or a lone Eno Benjamin? Alone Eno Benjamin. I'm more confident that he's playing a whole game. I agree. But I do think Remandre is going to get a...

pile of work, and I don't think Damien will play. I think you can get by with Ramandre and Brandon Bolden and company. Yeah, I think if he does, it will be limited. Jalen Waddle? You play him. Tough defense. You still play him. Mike Gassicki is going to be a free agent. This is why I brought up Hunter Long earlier, their third round draft pick, who was the tight end of the year during his senior season of Boston College. Mike Gisicki will be a dynasty named to monitor. He could go get that.

Big contract. He probably will go get a decent contract, a bigger than Trey Burton hype contract. He is an athletic freak who has shown enough. Great pass catcher. Who has shown enough to take the Greg Olson role and route of his career. Greg Olson was drafted to the Bears and was fine but mediocre. And it was when he shifted and left and went to the Panthers where he became a Hall of Fame tied in for a long time. I could see that path for Gisicki. All right.

tight-ins on the other side? I mean, you've always got the touchdown opportunity with Hunter Henry. In a championship week, I'm fine to throw him out there if you don't have better options, not touching Johnny Smith. Are you, from a dynastity perspective, just kind of, like, where's Johnny, you? From where you, you know, it goes out and gets a contract, big contract, you probably thought you had something different. You definitely did, but.

300 yards and one touchdown on the season. Yeah. Well, he missed week 10. He seems like his specialty is fair. That is fear. I will credit him 20 more yards. Thank you. He spends every game, like the game plan for Johnny Smith is they're going to give him two tight-in screens a game.

That's what it feels like when I watch him. It's just like he's going to pretend a block and catch the ball and run it for four yards. And then that's it's very, very strange. I mean, they've been great as a team. But it's strange that he was prioritized by Bill Belichick. Like early in the, was he before Henry? I feel like he's, I know it was bang bang. My memory is that John who was there before Henry even signed. And this is, it.

To come into this utilization is very strange, but at this point, it is what it is. The Seahawks at 6 and 10 take on the 11 and 5 Arizona Cardinals. The Drafking Sportsbook line here, Cardinals minus 7 at home. The overrunners 48 points. Arizona beat them with Colt McCoy in week 11, 23 to 13. Cardinals season has been a bit of a roller coaster, obviously an impressive win last week on the road against Dallas. So...

You know, we're not going into this game with a huge losing streak at home. Well, at home we are. At home we are. It is funny for the Cardinals who've lost four games at home in a row. And all five are all five of the losses this season at home? You can vet that, but they have not played well at home. So this is a game at home where they're going to try to get that monkey off their back. And if the Cardinals win.

and the Rams lose. The Cardinals can take the division, in which case... No, they lost at Detroit. Okay. They will... Oh, that's... That's right. Thank you for your mind. I know that. Yeah. So, Cardinals have not shown up very well at home, but there is a lot to play for here. Kind of. Like, I have to imagine they want to win the division and play at home against the 49ers versus going on the road against the Dallas Cowboys. But we've...

They've been so much better on the road. It's like, it's also funny because Kyler is so incredibly comfortable playing in Dallas. That is his stadium of choice. Like he has played in title games there and won so many games in that stadium. When you ever talk about, when you talk about the home issues, San Francisco scares me. They do in the playoffs. I agree as a team, but with Trey Lance there, a rookie quarterback on the road. It'll be Jimmy. Yeah.

You think? Absolutely. I think Jimmy might play this week. Wow. That would be a mistake. I mean, he plays limited in practice. I saw video of him. He looked great. So I wouldn't consider, obviously, don't play Tray Lance if he ain't playing. So there's a chance that Jimmy Garoppolo is the starter this week and into the playoff. Interesting. You said that would be a mistake? Yeah. We've seen what happens when quarterbacks go.

into an NFL game with a injured throwing hand. Well, he's playing in this game. Russell Wilson, he came back a little too early from injury with a broken finger and sucked for a while. But it looked like he was back. He had a great game last week for passing touchdowns. He's my start of the week in this matchup. Cardinals, or the last six weeks, they've just been terrible. They're the third worst against quarterbacks during that time. And I think with the resurgence of Metcalf and Lockett, Metcalf came out and talked about the fact that