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

what Rashad Penny has done for them has allowed them to see more single safety looks. And so there's not just Russell getting a little bit better, but it's the run game opening up. When Alex Collins was there doing nothing and you could really just stop the passing game. I think it's a great point because when you lost Chris Carson earlier in the year, that wasn't brought up in the same discussion as the finger for Russell. But if the offense isn't moving, it's bad for everybody. So Penny's in.

Eno, if he's by himself, is in. Chase is in if he's active. Christian Kirk, last three weeks, a ton of targets, not a lot of production, but he's a good play. And do you mess with any other of the Cardinals' wide receivers? I mean, Zach Hertz is a great play. Targets are through the roof. Zachertz is certainly, he's my tight end start of the week, 27% market share since Hopkins went down and a really good matchup against Seattle.

I'm playing both D.K. Metcalfe and Tyler Lockett. I know it's always a little bit of roulette there, but, you know, over the last six weeks, Cardinals are the worst. They're giving up almost 40 points a game to wide receivers. I don't think it's going to be, like last week I was really into Russ and D.K. I don't think it's going to be as good for them this week against Arizona on the road. And I think that's why the DK. Sportsbook line is where it's at with just 20 total points for Seattle. Yeah, I would hope Arizona would play better defense than Detroit.

They did good things last week, slowing down, causing turnovers with that as well. Carolina, 5 and 11 taking on the 12 and 4 Buccaneers, Buccaneers minus 8. That's the DK Sportsbook line. Over, under is 41 and a half. Yeah, give me your start sits in this one. Sit, Carolina. Good call. Okay, that one's done. I mean, you can. You can play Jim. No, no, you just said something out loud. Stick with it. Yeah, well, I'm just, I'm a,

Trying to move past the joke, but of like, is DJ Moore in play? No. No? No. No. He's got to be somewhat in play. If we're talking about you're willing to play Marquess Calloway, you would play DJ Moore over that tier. You'd play DJ more over some of these players. I mean, right now he's the wide receiver 20 on the year, over 1,000 yards, 86 receptions. So. Ne.

I'm not saying you should be starting DJ Moore, but he is an option. He has one touchdown since week four, and he's been real bad. So I don't think I would, I put him at the same tier as Calloway. So if you want to play him over Calloway, you can. You're playing AJ Green or you're playing DJ Moore? AJ Green. Wow. You're playing Jacoby Myers? You play in DJ Moore? Jacoby. All right.

Yeah, I mean, I don't, I mean, you're talking about Carolina going on the road with roulette quarterback play and DJ more finishing outside the top 60 last week. Your floor is really, really low. I'm not saying you could get his ceiling as a fantasy finish since week four has been 21. So that's your peak kind of situation there for him. Yeah. So I guess I am just, it depends what you need, right? I mean. And on the other side, when you look at what Tampa Bay is playing for, they're, they've already.

clinched the division. So they're playing for the two or three seed. And when Bruce Ariens was asked about the balance between winning and preventing injuries, he said there is none. There is no balance. You play to win. You play to get that second seed. That's huge. We're not resting anybody. We're playing to win. So great. They're going to, they're coming out. They're going to play the whole game. And isn't that, I know we've got matchups to get through, but isn't that such an interesting dynamic? The whole.

play players, don't play players, rest them, don't rest them, because you've got, you've got continuity, you know, to think about. You never, you never think about like, okay, you've got a nice dominating division lead halfway through the year, so we're going to give a game off or, you know, manage this week. Because you can get hurt in preseason. You can get hurt in any game of the regular season, in practice. Like, you always have the potential to get hurt. But we look at this final game of the year as like, I mean, these coaches, I don't envy that.

Because if you're Dallas and Mike McCarthy or whatever, and you go out there and you're like, you're kind of darned if you do, darned if you don't. You're 100% responsible for all injuries as a coach in Week 7th. We've seen both sides of it where you've seen back in the days of like the Colts. Yes. And they like kind of shut everything down with Peyton Manning. And then when they came back for the playoffs, they looked really rusty. You've seen the Patriots. And who? Crap.

Was it Welker? Someone. Yeah, it was Welker. Well, like someone tore an ACL in a game that they didn't need to play. And it was like, yeah, you can get hurt absolutely at any time. But I would, my guess, not a doctor, my guess is that your chance of injury is much higher during an NFL game than during practice. Yeah, it has to be. And so I am on the side of.

I also think it might be higher sometimes if you, you know, some of these players that have a buy. Like if you have a, you don't need to play week 17 and you have a buy week. You know, coming back with that amount of rest and your body's in a routine, like I don't know how it all works at all. But they'll be the Packers. Yeah. Yeah, it just seems like, okay, what are you risking with that level of continuity at the same time? Because like you said, practice isn't a game. So we do have one more matchup, but.

This is where we're going to pause for a moment and reflect on the player that won our Draft King's fantasy face-off, which was Mike. Mike took it home this year, went into the final. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We could have tied, either one of us could have tied him in the final week. If Mike had finished last, he finished first. It was a very, very close.

year-long battle. Yes, which you lost. Yes, you and I were tied going in the last week. Mike was a couple points up, and then I got crushed. My, F, DeAndre Swift was not a good play. So we do have one final Wheel of Shame to spin. Yay! Thank you, Braxton Barrios, for not making me spin it. And here we go. Wheel of Shame.

Now, before we spin it, Al is not in the studio today. Correct. But do any of us know what this final one is? I have no idea. So, Mike, even though you won, you did not have a say in this. Al decided this? Yes. So Jason's spinning it and receiving what Al has prepared for him. And he's not even here. So let's find out. Spin that wheel. I cannot wait. Farmer. Guy Fierry. Park Ranger. Mullet. And we're going with. It looks like it's Bain. We're going with.

It looks like you have to be bane for our final match. This should be real good. So do you need to throw it to me, Bruxie? What is he got? There you go. Do I have to do the voice? I imagine once you put this thing on, the voice just happens. All right. Let's see here. You're going to need to remove some clothing. Or you're just going, oh, just right over the glasses? What do you do? Take the glasses off, my man. They're struggling. They're not made to be underneath that.

Let's do the last matchup. Wow. No, go back on the Zoom camera here. Yeah, yeah, go back. Let's look. Oh, yeah, looking good. I didn't think about the glasses and then I was pot committed. Were you, though? Yeah, no, you can't really take them off. I mean, I think Bain wore contacts. That's what I think. You look impressive. Well, to give me even more time wearing the Bain mask.

We should cover Tampa Bay's side of the ball as well. Okay. All right, Bain. Who are you playing from Tampa Bay? I'm, I am playing. I am playing Mike Evans. Can you breathe in there? A little. Enough to survive. Yeah. I'm, yeah. I'm playing Mike Evans and Gronk. I agree. Gronke. I need seven receptions to get what. Oh, my gosh.

55 on the season. And they have set 55 as a threshold for 500 grand. Oh, don't talk about thresholds and money on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I was not here to react to the Antonio Brown madness with you guys. Well, it's all right because it just keeps getting weirder and weirder every single day. I mean, here's my take on that. That doesn't sound like Bain at all. No, it doesn't.

My take on the, you look ridiculous, it almost like you got a spider over your mouth. That's way worse. My take is that it's a boy who cried a wolf situation for Antonio Brown. Yeah. Because even if he's telling the truth on any of that, which I guarantee is not all of that. But if he's telling the truth on any of his story, you have set a precedent with your life over the last five years to where no one's going to believe you because you have made every other choice.

in personal and professional life that has betrayed any possibility that you're telling the truth. So it's really difficult to see that story. And like, obviously, if he was hurt, they tried to make him play and they tried to give him an injection and all this stuff, that's a problem. But that, you know, it's just hard for me to believe it. Well, if you were being sued by everybody and you've run out of every team. And I agree with that. That's where I was on Monday and just like trying to figure it out.

Let's hear what everybody is saying. I'm trying to give Antonio the benefit of the doubt. But then you had the newest update from Schefter that Antonio Brown and his agent, they tried to get the incentives just turned into guaranteed money instead of Antonio Brown having to go out there and get the production for it. They asked for it. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers said no. Antonio Brown goes out in the game. He's not getting targeted.

At halftime, according to Bruce Arients came out and said that at halftime Antonio Brown was really upset that he wanted the ball more. So it doesn't seem like that's in line with, I'm injured, I can't play. That seems like. Yeah, Bruce came out and said they calm that part of it down. I mean, it's just at the end of the day, it is fair to say that Antonio Brown is the largest possible distraction for a franchise that you can put on the team. It's, yeah.

So he wants to play next year, though. I heard you guys say on Monday he'll never play again. Have you changed that stance since this report is coming? I have not. No. Because you need a team to want you to play. Even if you have the skills, you have to have run out of chances. And it's not just the management. It's the management knowing, like, I don't remember which show I was talking about this, but like when a team sees all of that and a player quit in the middle of a game,

on a team are the, like, Antonio Brown still has NFL skills, but does a team welcome that player in knowing, well, at any given moment, when this, when things aren't going his way, he might just leave the building and walk out on this team. And this player who we're going to rely on. So he walked out of the Raiders, right? He walked out of the, yeah, he forced his way out of the Pittsburgh. He also whined his way out of the Buffalo Bills trade.

Yes, he was a Buffalo bill for like a day. So, you know. Yeah, I think it's done. It's probably done. You want to talk about Sunday night, Jason? Oh, our first playoff game of the week is the Los Angeles Chargers going to Las Vegas to play the Raiders. Both teams nine and seven. Both teams playoff bound with a win. Both teams going home with a loss. The different, if that wheel of shame had said the word muzzle.

And it would have been the exact same thing that we have here, which also if it had said be trapped inside of a mask with your glasses on, it would also be that. This is, are you going to get them out? No. Now you've just created some kind of mosaic puzzle. Don't break your glasses. Okay, he did it. All right. Now you look like Bain. Yeah. Now I can't see. Or talk.

All right, you just sit there. Andy and I will handle this. All right. This is a big game. Obviously, this is for all the marbles. The Las Vegas Raiders are at home. They have won three straight games. I didn't know the playoffs scenario immediately on Sunday being on the road and traveling with the family. Sure. But I assumed at the time when they had won again that they were in the playoffs. I didn't know what the situation was. Now we have a game where if they had both.

If they both decided to tie this game, like go out on the field and just take knees for the whole game, they'd both be in the playoffs. That is correct. Now, are you, Mike, you are the most progressive. Right. Fella, are you, is that too progressive for you to go out and just knee it out when that is the best way to guarantee a playoff spot? I think if I were an NFL coach, like I would at least call.

over and say, hey, would you? Hey, have you heard this? That if we, if we tie this game, we're both in the playoffs, I'd get a read of the room. And just kidding, just kidding, just kidding. Like, I mean, you don't think the NFL has called these teams on Sunday night football to say, you will lose all of your draft picks. Yeah, you, that's where you can't do it. Even if you got the other side to agree to it, Roger Goodell would bring the hammer.