Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 17 Matchups, Starts of the Week, News

I just, I have, I have confidence starting Stafford this week. I know it's on the road and a division game, but I'm giving, I have a spot reserved in my canoe.

for Matt Stafford. Yeah, I like the Lions this week. You know, they're actually the underdog in this game. This would be my almost upset of the week. I'm not feeling the vibes of the Bears right now. Forte's up in the air. Alshan Jeffries out. Zach Miller's not at practice. And you've got the Lions who have been playing much better football on both sides of the ball, the second half of the year. So for me, I'm not a huge fan of almost all of the Bears starters. The only guy that I like would be

Langford. Forte is... Cutler, you can't start. He just doesn't have weapons, right? Yeah. No, no options to throw to, obviously, Martell's Bennett's been gone. I would say Zach Miller. Zach Miller's the one guy that I like from the Bears. And I think he will. And he had, he led them in receiving last week. On the other side, like you said, Megatron, Golden Tate's been great. What about the running backs there? Mike and I have a water bet that we made at the beginning of the year. And we said, what?

The second half of the season, we bet Abdullah Joyg Bell. And we thought both of them would be a lot better than they are. But that thing is really close. This bet, every day it reminds me a little bit more of our Dwayne Bo, Brian Hartline bet. It's just trash. Trash bet. It's a trash bet. It is a trash bet. All right. Eagles. I would start the Lions defense, though, in this game. I'm not afraid of the Bears. There you go. The Eagles.

And the New York Giants, we've talked a little bit about this in all of our starts with Mr. Jordan Matthews in this game, Eli Manning in this game. Plenty of fantasy relevant players, essentially, in this game that we see, you know, the Eagles and the Giants are bottom, you know, third in run defense, you know, the bottom, almost the worst two teams in past defense. This is just set up to be a high-scoring affair, is it not? I would completely agree with that in the...

An interesting thing to watch will be the Philadelphia running backs. Chip Kelly is gone. Pat Schumer is in. Well, he'll be taking over as the head coach. Is he going to make any kind of rocking of the boat or is it going to be the status quo? I would guess you're going to see DeMarco Murray up front. He's going to get the chance, the workload of the running back position.

But given that they haven't had a lot of time to change schemes and do those things, I don't know how much success he's going to have. And I think this game goes to the air pretty early in the game and stays there. Sure. But as far as past catchers, you know, Beckham's a start every week. I do like Ruben Randall. Zach Ertz, like I said, I have a lot of confidence in him. And I like Will Ty. He...

disappointed last week, but that's because the entire Giants offense was a disappointment. So I'm good rolling tieback out this week. Yeah, I have a hunch about DeMarco Murray this week that he's going to have a very big, big game. So I'm going to need to reflect that in my rankings because I think, I think Murray, you saw a little bit of it last week, more involvement, passing game involvement.

I don't blame you on that at all. Ertz can catch. No one else can. I believe DeMarco Murray will have the opportunity. So if he's running well, you know, if he's got a nice confidence boost based on the firing. Yeah, he could. He could. All right, Tampa goes on, goes to take on the Panthers. The Panthers are still fighting to hold on to home field throughout the playoffs. They're one game ahead of the Cardinals. The Cardinals have the tiebreaker. So this is a very important game.

This game's in Carolina, and they're heavily favored. They got a good thing they're favored so much. Ten and a half points. I think as Cardinals fans here, we'd be more excited if they weren't playing Tampa at home. Yes, correct. It would be great if they were in Tampa and go bucks. Or playing someone else. So that being said, we talked about it earlier in the week. Without Jonathan Stewart, the team looks different, in my opinion. Artist's pain is not a bad running back. He's just an inexperienced running back.

They haven't run the same system and the same play action and the same zone read type of runs. So Fossey Whitaker is still out, right? He had a high ankle spring. Yeah, he's out. He's definitely going to be out, I think. So it'll be the Artist Pain show. So I think you can definitely stream Artist Pain this week. I've got no problem with that. It's just a matter of the success of that offense. I think Cam Newton's a great start. I think we all have them at number one. And I do. I have Newton at number one right now, but I'm actually thinking about this. If Ted Ginn is not...

fully ready to go, can we really have Cam Newton as the number one quarterback? Because if you remember the first half of the year, Cam Newton was good, just good. He was solid. It was the second half of the year when Ted Ginn really started to come onto the scene. That's when Cam Newton started putting up the video game Madden-type scores. So if Ted Ginn's not ready to go, does that, do you have to adjust Cam at all?

It's a worthy thought, but I think you have other options that have risen up. Devin Funchis can perform. Jericho Cotry has been okay. I mean, you've got other weapons there. If you were talking about one of the top guys. Breaking news. Johnny Mansell will not play. Yeah. I am formally retracting my almost upset of the week. I am keeping it on the Ravens and the Bengals. All right. Sorry, guys.

That's good stuff. Yeah. So if you've got Cam Newton and another great option, then maybe you can look to that if Ginn is out. But would you say, so let me give you an example. So Cam Newton, let's say Ginn is out. Would you start Eli Manning over him? Against Philadelphia. Probably not from a confidence.

level. But I mean, that's a good comparison. How about Cam Newton or Carson Palmer? I would probably go Cam. Carson, I still think he's going to have a decent game, but he is playing against the Seattle secondary, which he carved up last time. Which he destroyed on the road last time. Yeah. But I would go. If Gen Rose out and Stewart's out, I would take Carson. But it's close. And I have no problem with anybody starting Cam Newton.

regardless of whether Ginn's in or out. Sure. Cam Newton could get you 90 on the ground in the blink of an eye and a rushing touchdown and passing touchdown and be fine. My point was not more so I'm going to sit Cam Newton if Ginn is out. It was just we all have him at number one. Can you keep him at number one if Ginn is, even if Ginn plays. I mean, he's banged up. You've got Mike Evans in this game on the other side of the ball going up against Josh Norman. We've seen him shut guys down who are much more talented.

It's interesting because I don't have the same perspective as you do on Mike Evans and the Josh Norman thing. Tell me yours. Mike Evans is humongous. That's my perspective. I think Evans is humongous and we'll be targeted a ton because it'll be down. So I don't really have any problem with Mike Evans against Norman. I mean, you saw last week, I mean, Julio Jones, Mike Evans is not Julio Jones, but he's enormous like Julio Jones. We've seen Mike Evans play against Josh Norman, though. Yeah. It did not go well. I agree. I know.

I just, when I've seen Norman play, I've seen James Jones catch passes on Josh Norman because he's big. And I think Evans is better than James Jones. He's not in, no cornerback is invincible. But the last time they played, I have no problem with doubt. I'm not saying you shouldn't have doubt. I mean, you have, if you have other options, go ahead. Stay away from Josh Norman. It's been a wise move fantasy owner. He was three, Mike Evans, last time they played Carolina was three for 32. And that was with eight targets.

Okay. So he'll be targeted again. Yeah, and I'm with you. I'm still playing him, but it's a similar thing of Julio Jones. I'm going to play Julio, but maybe I need to adjust somewhere else in my lineup because I'm expecting Evans to have a lower ceiling this way. That makes sense. Lower ceiling type of game. You know, the run defense for Carolina is fifth in the league. So Jason, how do you feel about Dougie Martin?

I'm okay with Doug Martin this week because I don't think you're going to have a better option. You know, if you were lucky enough to pick up guys like Tim Hightower, then it's an easy call. Tim Hightower will be above Doug Martin. But I think for most players, you're going to have to play Doug Martin if he's on your team, and he should be okay. I don't expect him to have a big blowup game against the number five rushing defense. But I don't think the fumble is going to stop him from getting the rock. You know, they want that rushing title.

He's close to the rushing title, and so they should get him involved in this game. Yeah, in the second half of the year, he's been great. Doug Martin, I mean, he has been playing against lower-level rushing defenses, so this will be a nice test for him, but I'm still comfortable starting him. Before I move on to the Rams 49ers game, if Ginn starts, do you play Ginn? Ooh. Because people have to be a little sour after last week, but he was on quite the role.

Yeah. And if they're going to hang on to this division lead, he's going to have to play a part. I'm guessing in your championship game that you've got better options than a hurt Ginn. That's my guess. And I would probably rank Ginn as, you know, a low-end wide receiver 2. And in a championship game, you probably have two or maybe three guys that are above. Yeah, for me, last week where I was willing to play him as my wide receiver 2 as I shoot for the moon, because I want to win.

I'm not comfortable with him there. I would flex him, though. Okay. The Rams take on the San Francisco 49ers this week. This is the Case Keenham-Gabbard Fest. America's start of the week. I mean, the over-under in this game has to be the lowest. I've never seen that. That's the lowest that I've seen this year at 37.5. 37-5. Wow. And I might take the under. So...

Really, from a fantasy football perspective, there is nobody to start in this game outside of, let me, obviously, Gurley. Gurley's in your lineup, and then I'll throw in like a maybe Vance McDonald if you need a streaming tight end. Sure. So no, uh, no Dwan Harris love after he had a, no. He had a good week. No. He had a good week. I still think he's a talented player. Rather than asking me, are you endorsing him? No.

I'm asking you. I do. I do not think I would play him, no. Yeah, there's other guys that are likely available, but let's say there is nothing and you're decimated. Yeah, at least you got a starter, right? Yeah. He is a starting running back. Cameron, Artis Payne or Duane? Artis Pain, for sure. Christine Michael or Dewan Harris. I might go Harris there. I think I'll go Harris. Andre Ellington or DeWan Harris.

Harris. Harris is going to get the ball more than Ellington, more opportunity. Charles Sims or DeWan Harris? Sims. I would go. I'll take Sims. Sims can catch. Sims does it well. I mean, he's done it all year and been valuable. But the problem is Carolina. Yeah, I would go Sims there. You've got to go a little bit more. All right, Oakland Raiders heading to Arrowhead to take on the Chiefs. Chiefs are favored by about a touchdown in this game. Should be a cold game.

Should be a game that I expect the chiefs to take care of business trying to win this division title. But who knows, really? I mean, the game has Crabtree Cooper car. We've got to talk about those three guys. Well, if I could have a double set of the week at wide receiver, it would be Amari Cooper. Watching the game last week, Amari Cooper could barely move. He was limping his routes, and he could only cut in one direction because of his foot. And now he's going up against the Kansas City secondary.

we saw him do great against them early in the year when he was healthy. And I think he could do that again. But only if he's healthy. And maybe this week he gets rest and a miracle cure on that foot. But he has looked progressively worse just physically, just health-wise, on that foot these last few games. You know, they ended up taking him out for most of the fourth quarter last week because he just looked so unhealthy running around.

I haven't seen the practice reports on Cooper specifically, but I do not have high hopes for Amari Cooper against the Kansas City team. We've talked a lot about the Raiders run defense and its improvement in the second half of the season. What does that mean for Charkandric West in this game? Because West was okay last week. Yeah, he was disappointing considering the matchup. But West is still a guy that he's getting, he's the primary ball carrier.

And he's very talented catching the ball. He's a weekly start for me. Would you play Carlos Williams this week against the Jets or Characandric West in this game against the Raiders? West. I would play Williams. Okay. And then Carr was the sit of the week for, I believe, Jason? For me. For you. Yes. The Chief's defense is bawling out, man. Now, with Smith, your, Smith was a stream? Not for me. Oh, was he? I think he was your stream. Yeah. Yes. No, you were right. Because I...