Week 10 Matchups + Squeeze a Sneeze - Fantasy Football Podcast for 11/13

No, I'm going to wait until Jordan Reed is healthy. I do think Jordan Reed will. Is that an oxymoron if you have ever said one? Yes, it is because I'm going to be waiting until I'm dead for him to be fully healthy. But the reality is Ross Dwelly's on the field more, running more snaps because Jordan Reed was very, very limited last week. I think he'll get more and more integrated. And as he does so, it's going to take away from peanut butter dwelly time. And.

I want to see it first from Reid before I put him in my lineup. I do think before the end of the season. It could be this week. It could be next week. I think Jordan Reed becomes a thing again if he progresses towards health, which is no guarantee. Cincinnati, 25 and 1, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Are you playing real quick? Are you playing Jared Cook? Yes. Yes. And what about Emmanuel Sanders? I don't really want to play him. That's how I feel. I mean, how many weeks have we actually seen Sanders do something? So he was the wide receiver 30.

last week against Tampa Bay, and he had a touchdown. I mean, three touchdowns on the season. We have one top 20 performance from him. So this is just a start Alvin Camara, Michael Thomas Jr. Cook, and move on. Yeah, I mean, you can flex Sanders if you have to. There's worse things in the world. Cincinnati, 25 and 1, Pittsburgh, 8 and 0. The Steelers are seven-point favorites. We have a 45.5 point over under.

monitor the wins right now. It is projected to be just above the marker that starts impacting fantasy. So as of right now, I'm not going to alter my projections, but that's just something to pay attention to. I'm sure I'll get to talk about more weather on this Sunday live. If you join me on our socials this Sunday, an hour before game time. Well, you just told them to, so they will join on our socials an hour before kickoff on Sunday morning. The biggest question in here is how many touches?

Will James Connor receive this week? Oh my goodness. Because last week it was, it appeared to be game plan specific for the, for the Cowboys. We thought James Connor would have an awesome week. He was very underutilized and an extreme disappointment. Does that trend continue or did they learn their lesson by almost losing to the Cowboys?

And change. What's your projected stat line for James Connor this week? I am projecting that as a blip on the radar last week for James Connor, meaning I think he goes back to being the starter. This is, I mean, based off of week one, you had an even worse situation week one where James Connor was bad. And then he got nicked up again while the entire narrative of the offseason was James Connor's our guy, but.

He needs to stop getting hurt so much. I mean, it's a interesting thing to say to somebody. But it came to fruition week one, and James Connor got hurt, left the field. Week two, right back to James Connor. Mike Tomlin, not as much as a liar, liar pants on fire to me. I love Mike Tomlin. I love Mike Tomlin as well. And so I think that James Connor will be back and play. I'm going to play him with confidence as a running back one. On the other side of the ball, Joe Mixing.

With the not practicing, that is some sketchy stuff, but Giovanni Bernard against the Pittsburgh Steelers, it's not the matchup you were hoping for if you are filling in what Giovanni Bernard. Where is he in your confidence and your rankings, Jay? He's a solid RB2. I mean, if you look at the last three weeks where he's had the opportunity, who's the running back 20, the running back seven, and the running back two, you know, it's on the back of being a three-down.

Running back. Giovanni Bernard or D'Andre Swift versus Washington? I will go with Gio hesitantly. The talent is obviously more with Swift, but the touches should be more with Gio. You've got three receptions, five receptions, three receptions in the last three games for Gio. And while I'm pretty sure DeAndre Swift has matched those numbers.

I'm confident that Geo continues to get passes this week. The Lions can come out and, you know, Matt Patricia loves his magic, and he'll come out and switch things up. But I like both players. I think you can confidently start both of them. Battle of the backups, Giovanni Bernard against Pittsburgh or Duke Johnson against Cleveland, presuming that David is out with the concussion. I would go Duke Johnson. I think he's got more juice. Geo has not looked great on the ground.

Ben Rothensberger is in play. Brooks, what did you say about the COVID test? Are we good to go with Ben now? He's still on the list, but kind of like Stafford last week. He just has to keep testing negative. Yeah, we expect him to play. And Cincinnati has allowed at least two passing touchdowns of seven of eight games. And Ben Rothsberger is surrounded by talent at the wide receiver position. Joe Burrow, he is a bit of a tougher play.

We have him ranked right now just inside of our top 20. Do you remember, sorry to cut you off. No, you're good, please go. But do you remember when they played against the Baltimore Ravens? Yes, I do. And what happened in that game? Bad things for Joe Burrow. Bad, bad things for his future health. The offensive line versus the defensive line.

was what nightmares are made of for Joe Burrow. Yeah, that's a good point. And he finished the game with 183 passing yards and interception, a terrible game. He was the quarterback 29. And I absolutely love what I've seen from Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow is someone I want to start in good matchups. But this defensive line is about to take his lunch money.

And they're not a nice boy. And his dinner money. Yeah, they're not a night. They're giving him a straight up swirly in the toilet. I mean, they are going into the bathroom and Joe Burrow is going to have to transfer schools after this one. I'm not playing Joe Burrow. Yeah, the pressure rate of the Steelers defense against this offensive line is troublesome for Joe Burrow. Pittsburgh has the most sex. Cincinnati allows the second most sex. How is that not the owl boarland in the trenches?

whatever made up stat that Al Borland put in there so that we would talk about. Yeah, I think the owl cares more about running games. Ah, I see. I see. I see. But that news is not going to stop me from playing. Which is ridiculous because owls fly. Why would the owl care about the running game over the passing game? All right. We're getting deep in the analysis on this one. All right. It's not going to stop me from playing the wide receivers from Cincinnati. Tyler Boyd is in. He's on pace for 108 receptions.

T. Higgins, at least 60 yards or a touchdown in six straight games. Those guys are both in for me. Jay, where do you lean on A.J. Green, who? We had two high volume games. We had two very productive games. And then versus Tennessee, it all fell apart. Yeah. And that's a plus matchup for those who forget.

Right. So I would roster AJ Green. I would not put him in. I expect that the ball is going to have to come out of Joe Burroughs hands rather quickly. That to me says Tyler Boyd will get his targets. That being said, that slot matchup is not a good one. So I'm actually not very confident in any of these receiving options. So I'm going to bench AJ Green. And if he ends up being the short route, you know, eight.

targets with seven receptions and 65 yards. I could take that L. What about your boy, Drew Sample? No. Superstar. Your words. Your words. My words. Superstar. Best tight end of all time. Yeah. No, thank you. All right. Let's play the game. Rank the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers. Spin that wheel. Deontay Johnson, four healthy games this year. He's seen double digit targets in all four of them.

Chase Claypool MapleTron rookie sensation leads the team with 11.8 average depth of target. Juju Smith-Schuster, who has rose like the Phoenix, it feels like, over the last couple weeks, 29 targets. He has been a top 36 receiver in all three of those weeks. Jason, rank the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers. Oh my word.

Oh, this is disgusting. I'm going to go. I'm going to take my shot because usually when I'm ranking wide receivers, I'm going on targets first. I'm going with who's going to get the most targets. And I'm going to actually take the guy who I think gets the fewest. I'm going to put Chase Claypool up top because Cincinnati is allowing the third most 20 plus yard pass attempts. Plays, plays, not just attempts. Yes, completions. And, you know.

What's the chances Chase Claypool gets a bomb touchdown in this game? Decent. I'm putting it over 50%. Right. And so if that happens, he's going to end up as the number one. I want him in my lineups, but I think you can play all three. Deontay Johnson has the targets. Juju Smith-Schuster has been good. I would order them Chase Claypool, Juju Deontay. And the reason I do that is because the reason I do that is because Juju, I still don't think, has been very good this year.

but where he has beaten up on teams has been in the easiest of easy matchups. It's the Giants Week 1. It's the Cowboys this last weekend. I think that Cincinnati is going to be a team he can actually break some tackles on and score. All right. I want all three. All right. Sunday night. Baltimore, 6 and 2, the New England Patriots 3 and 5. We have a 43.5 point over under. The Ravens are favored by a touchdown.

Man, it's tough in the streets for the New England Patriots right now. They have been home underdog just three times in the past 15 seasons. They went three and oh. Now that was a very different situation. That was Mr. Thomas Brady had to help now. They pulled it out, Jay. The New England Patriots, they dug deep. They dug deep last week. They fought back. They were trailing. It was an unbelievable matchup. Gritty. Just so much hearts.

Yes. Against the New York Jets. They had to walk off with a field goal against the Jets. And let me tell you, the post-game press conference with Cam Newton said everything. They were so happy and relieved. And I mean, it was like they won the Super Bowl because I feel like that was the Super Bowl for them.

They're not going to compete that well against the Baltimore Ravens on either side of the ball. I would take the Ravens to cover in this game. And I don't expect a lot of points to be scored. To be honest, by, you know, right now you've got the Ravens as seven point favorites, which puts the New England Patriots at 18 points scored. I'm not sure they get there. I'm not sure they get there either. So.

Booty scooting. I mean, he scooted that booty right in the end zone. Last week against the New York Jets hasn't thrown a touchdown since week three. This is why fantasy scoring is broken for quarterbacks. He hasn't thrown a touchdown since week three and in 75% of his games since week three. So while never throwing a passing touchdown, he's been a quarterback one.

Three out of four times. That's so stupid. It's wild. Lamar Jackson on the other side of the ball, we do have him ranked as a quarterback one right now reluctantly. He's taken on the New England Patriots who have been pretty tough against fantasy quarterbacks, fourth on the season, second in the last six weeks. Are you just rolling Lamar Jackson out there? Are you actually considering, like, if you had Jared Goff, if you had Ben Rolfesberger.

Are you playing those guys ahead of Lamar? It's funny because you look at this matchup in the, you know, right here. And over the last four weeks, Cam Newton on the other side of the ball while throwing no touchdowns has been better for fantasy than Lamar Jackson has. I'm still putting Lamar Jackson out there because of his rushing baseline. But again, I expect this to be a lower scoring game. I don't think this is going to be one where the Baltimore Ravens go ham. And so.

You know, Lamar Jackson, would I play Lamar Jackson or Justin Herbert? Sure, I'll throw Herbert in. He's been on fire. I'm going to throw the Deshaun Watson. You know, the people that have been playing well, I'm going to put them in ahead of Lamar Jackson. But if you drafted him, you've got to, you know, you've got to wait until they figure that out. And maybe they won't. I mean, there's been a lot said this last week of Lamar Jackson talking about on the Rich Eisen Show.

that the defense are calling out their plays. Yes. That they know what they're going to do. They're extremely predictable right now. And the same thing happened. Yes. When the offensive coordinator was back. When Greg Roman was in San Francisco with Colin Kaepernick, where Colin Kaepernick looked like he was revolutionizing the quarterback position. And you were going, holy crap, how many Super Bowls is Colin Kaepernick going to win? And then the next year in Roman system, it kind of fell apart.