Starts of the Week, Wk 5 Matchups, Hinesquarters

Yeah. But they've been horrible, giving up 30 fantasy points a game to the running back position. And whoever's had the lead dog status in the Cincinnati backfield in every game has produced fantasy points. It's been Geo twice. It's been Mixing twice. And Joe Mixon has a little more juice. A little more juice. Geo Bernard is a sit if Mixon's active. Correct. A.J. Green, you're lighting them up. Tyler Boyd, do you like him again?

Yeah, man, Tyler Boyd has absolutely leveled up to me. The targets are there, and he's coming through with big time production. John Ross is not practicing. You saw him. He scored the touchdown, but in kind of classic John Ross fashion, he hurt himself, has a groin injury. My groin. You got me off guard there.

So it's Tyler Boyd. You have Tyler Eiffert is out for the rest of the season. I think that puts even a little bit more on Tyler Boyd's shoulders. And between Tyler Croft and CJ Usama, we still don't know. That's kind of been a hot topic this week. We just aren't sure which tight end is going to show up. You're not sure. Okay. I'm not sure. That is correct. I think I really, I will be shocked if it's not Tyler Croft. But.

You guys brought up great stats that make it seem very much that it should be Uzama. Usama. Usama. Either way, you may not want to use either of them. Yeah, that's the most likely result. That's what I'm saying. And then on the other side of the football, Kenyon Drake, make a break, final. My last straw player here, Kenyon Drake. Last week, hearing his spot on my bench officially.

This week he may earn a spot on the old drop him to the waiver. Oh, wow. I thought for a second you were going to say the starting lineup and I was. No, I'd rather be dead. My eyes got wide. You can't start Kenyon Drake right now. I mean, eight rushing attempts is not enough.

And that's over the last two games combined. So it's not enough for one game. It's not enough for a single game. It's never enough. It's crazy. He came out week one, 14 carries. He's looked great when he's been given the opportunity. But the coaching stuff does not want to give him the opportunity. You saw Frank Gore run decently last week and he's the guy getting the work. So can you start Frank Gore? I'd rather be dead.

Yeah, me too. The one I was going to bring up, you might look. Okay, the Bengals, maybe they've given up some points to running backs. Vante's Burfect is back now for the Cincinnati Bengals. He has served his four-game suspension. That's a huge boost. Bengals are going to destroy the dolphins. The Bengals are going to destroy the Dolph. Is there any dolphins you would start is the question that comes down to? And my answer is no. Not one. Not Stills, not Parker, not Amindola, not Grant, not Wilson, not Gisicki, although he would be kind of the flyer.

considering he's playing on 84% of snaps. I would still be okay playing stills. I don't want to, but I'm like a wide receiver 3. Yeah, I think that's where I lean as well. Because if you're going to play someone, play the guy who can have the 60-yard get behind him touchdown. And that's always been Kenny Stills' game. And Andy Dalton is not one of our starts of the week today. However, he was our stream of the week or my stream of the week, and I love him in this game. Sure. 40 passing attempts.

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Ballers. The 3-1 Ravens take on the 1-2-1 Browns in Cleveland. The Browns are three-point underdogs at home. The game has a 47 point over-under, and let's break it down. Divisional matchup, the Ravens have been playing very well. And we saw Joe Flacco come out. He's averaging 313 passing yards and two touchdowns per game. He's in the top 10 in passing yards.

touchdowns, completions. He's fourth in pass attempts, and we have seen this in his past, right? This team has put it on his shoulder before in terms of total pass attempts. Now, that didn't always translate to fantasy production. A lot of, what, they got four tight ends that will be active this week. Mark Andrews, Nick Boyle, Max Williams, and now Hayden Hurst should be back on the field. Somebody that, look, I've heard different fantasy analysts say, look, they buy into Hayden Hearst.

Are we blinded to the potential value of Haydenhurst because of the four-pack of tight ends, or are we just smart? Yeah, I was going to say it's not that you're blinded, it's that you're able to see that, yes, there could be production. I mean, if you started Max Williams last week, you were pretty happy. There was enough production from the tight-in group, but it's going to be a roulette. I mean, Joe Flacco is not just...

passing it to one of these guys because he's closest friends with him. He's going to pass it to whoever is open, and when you've got four tight-ins running routes, it's not always going to be the same guy. It's going to be divvied up. There's no tight-in here that you can reliably start. You could take a guess and get it right, but why do that? You avoid that. You start John Brown. I think this is a decent matchup for the Ravens. I am a little worried.

for the everyone's Cinderella story right now, the Browns this week, because the Ravens have been playing great. Big time. And then they get Jimmy Smith back. Yeah, big time. I don't want to depart real quick. I want to go back to Alex Collins though. I don't want to leave the Ravens offense. Mike, talk to Jason. Talk to the concerned Alex Collins owner. Lay out the situation. What should they expect not only this week, but what is on the table for him? What is the potential?

outcome of a good or bad performance. It's still so wide what Alex Collins can possibly do. We have, we have not yet seen the Alex Collins from last year. And all four events, Alex Collins has not cracked four yards of carry. His fumbling problems are popping back up. He's splitting more and more time with Givorius Allen. He's losing goal line work to Givorius Allen.

It's not the season that we had hoped for. Alex Collins has not seized the day. He did not open the gates. Right, but I think a lot of people are afraid to start Alex Collins because he fumbled at the goal line, which really changed the momentum last week, and then he got benched for the rest of the first half. Now, he did get back out there. Right. And then late in the game, when it was clock killing time, it was Buck Allen, which makes sense, right? You don't want to, if the whole point is.

kill the clock, hold on to the ball. You can't put the running back out there that's had fumbling problems, but you can absolutely start.

Alex Collins. Even last week he had more carries than Buck Allen with all of those things combined. He still had a touchdown because he was in near the goal line. And then he was given the second opportunity in near the goal line. Again, that's where he unfung... Yeah, but will he get the opportunity again? I do believe... Harbaugh has come out and given a vote of confidence for Alex Collins. And Buck Allen was a player that was benched by John Harbaugh for fumbling before back in 2015.

Harbaugh said, quote, Alex is a trustworthy guy. I expect him to clean it up real quick. Fumbling's always troublesome. You can't have it. It's not worth it. He'll focus on that. One thing I know about Alex is that he'll make it his job to hold on to the football. That being said, if you fumble again, you're still going to probably going to write the pine. Absolutely. That is the risk. The risk of Alex Collins is he fumbles.

Gets benched, ends the game with six carries, and you are so upset. But they were working on that this week. You know, it's not like Alex Collins with a fumbling problem. Just fumbles every week. That's no running back, you know, averages 16 fumbles. So I think he's going to be, I think he's going to be a good play this week. I don't think he fumbles. They were practicing, punching the ball out all week. And if he, you know, this is not a tough matchup. The Brown's defense is.

much improved over the previous season, but they're still 22nd against running backs and fantasy points giving up. All right, so now we can move to the Browns. Baker, Carlos Hyde, Jarvis Landry right now has the seventh most air yards in the league because they're using them downfield a little bit more. Baker, he likes to air it out. Now, it cost him to the tune of a couple turnovers last week, but can we have expectations against this Baltimore defense? Mike, Jason, you brought up, you know,

The return of Jimmy Smith. Great cornerback, and he has been such a part of this lockdown defense in the past. The fact that they've played this well without him and now are getting him back, I'll just say this, not fantasy, just football. I can't wait to watch Baker against this defense. I want to see what Baker does when he's got a great schemer across the field with great talent, and can he beat it?

If he can, that will impress the heck out of me. There's no way in the world I'm going to take that risk with these players in my lineup. I'll start Jarvis because targets, of course, but I'm not starting Calloway. I'm not starting Baker. And Injoku, I'm willing simply because of Injoku or the Browns, just because of the landscape of tight ends. I'm willing. Darren Fells got the touchdown last week. Yeah, I, you know, there's, there's.

a couple middling tight ends that I would prefer over in Joku. And are you still playing Carlos Hyde? Did I miss that? Yeah, we didn't discuss him, but I would. Now, here's a question that came up when I was at the gym this morning, and I was like, that's tough, and you've got to decide this today. Carlos Hyde versus Naim Hines. I'd play Hyde. That's what I went with as well, but that's tough. In a half?

In a full point PPR, I think I would play Heinz. But if it's half or less, that's a very tough question. Jason, you're right. I'll probably go with the volume of Carlos Hyde, though. The two one-on-one Packers take on the one-and-three lions in Detroit. The Lions, one-point underdogs at home, a 51 point over under. I'm excited about this game from a fantasy perspective, but I'm not excited.

at my lack of ability to discern who will catch the ball or be a part of this Aaron Rogers' offense. Rogers came out, criticized the play calling last week, despite winning, once again referred to his desire to go home and have a couple scotches because only 19 points for score. He thought they should have scored 40 to 50 points. If you watch the game, the Packers' offense looked bad against the bill. I mean, they still trounced them, but...