Week 5 Matchups + TNF Fireworks, Wheel of Shame - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/4

to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. It was football time. Yes, it was, baby. What a game we got. That's how you Thursday night football. Is the preseason over, guys? Maybe. Oh, is that what you're going to take it as? That's what I'm taking it as. We saw this on Monday night, right, with the Seahawks and the Lions. Some scoring was a little bit up. Now going into week five, you know, you have a month of preseason. And the sense that the NFL skips preseason, they're ready. They're ready to play ball. 36 to 30. Oh, we had some lasers out there. We did. We had the full in effect. Laser make.

Mayfield. Who was the number one quarterback going into the night and put up another 30 plus point nine? He's been for fantasy. I don't think people realize how good he's been because most people haven't been just playing. You know, they didn't draft him to play him. Maybe they streamed him for a matchup and are thrilled. But he's been fantastic. And what's crazy is like, you don't think about him as a dual threat quarterback. But he's got a game with 21 rushing yards, 34 rushing yards, 42. Does a little boot scoot and boogie from time to time. I picked up Baker Mayfield in our dynasty league a couple years ago just to have a backup. You need a backup. I forgot that he was an option for this. Genuinely, like I have Kyler Murray in that league. I forgot Baker's an option. Like if Kyler has another stinker, I've got a decision on my hands, boys. Yeah, you do.

But last night was outrageous. I mean, Kurt Cousins broke the all-time record for Falcons passers. 509 passing yards, 60 dropbacks, 58 passing attempts. This was Oprah screaming, you get a car, you get a car for almost. For most people. Everybody. We had lasers and we had phasers from Captain Kirk. Oh, okay. I like it. Come on. That's good. It's a switch. It's great. Thank you. I just, I felt like you were trying to get it in real quick. I could, because I was trying. You should have waited a minute and then brought it in, but it's great. I was trying to get it earlier. We had, we got to get the jokes in. I'm sorry. I did. If you had told me you had that ready. I didn't have it ready. It just, it just came in. Yeah, the timing might have been better, but I still appreciate. I mean, it rhymes. Yeah. It goes with nicknames. Yeah. This is great. No, we don't. Yeah, we're done with it. Okay. You know what I mean? You sure? The lasers and phasers? We're not done, brother. 16 targets for Darnell Mooney.

Nine for 105 and two. Hope you played him over Tyreek. 13 targets for Drake London. 12 for 154 and 1. Wait, one almost concussion. Drake London. Nope. That's not Drake London, baby. That's CD Lamport 2. The curse has been reversed. Oh, get ready for it because Drake London is going to be. I'm telling you. You guys, thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you for reversing the curse of my dynasty trade of Waddle for Lamb, and I have undone it, and I have turned him back into C.D. Lamb in the new form of Drake London, who is an alpha. Oh, I'm so happy. Well, I mean, I wouldn't, I wouldn't necessarily say 58 passing attempts, 500 yards is prescriptive. And the fact that you scored 36 points, put up those numbers, and we got nothing.

great out of Bijon Robinson is one of the storylines of the night because I mean I think I saw his rushing chart just before the show started I don't know if you guys looked that up I have not I don't know if there was a between the tackles run oh I think it was like like 11 of his 12 runs were like over the left side like out wide like it I would say that's dumb, but he was successful. I mean, he ran for 5.1 a carry. So it's not like their scheme was not working. It's just he's not getting the utilization that you wanted, like week one, 23 opportunities. We were like, okay, he's the dude. He was out there for 90% of snaps. It's not that way. Like Algier is very involved. He's playing 65-ish percent of snaps the last couple of games touching the ball 15, 18 times.

That's a fine baseline. Like he's been okay. He's not been a bust by any means. Seven attempts last week, 12 this week. The passing game work is fine, not great. One touchdown in five games. And I think the story with Bijan was that you would get yourself your Atlanta Chiron. You know, your Atlanta McCaffrey. You wanted. him to be the focal point. And I think if last night pointed anything out, like, Bejohn's fine as a low-end RB1. Yeah. But he is not what makes this team go. And then in a game where they needed to go, it was Kirk, it was London, it was Mooney, it was even Kyle Pitts. I mean, Kyle Pitts at eight targets in this game. I looked it up. This is like, it's funny because Kyle Pitts has very few double-digit games in his entire career.

Last night, I think he was 12.4 points in our League of Record scoring, which is half point. But this was like his sixth greatest game of all time. But like most of them are the exact same 12 points. Yeah. But it was nice to see. I mean, he got targeted. I mean, Ray Ray, Ray McLeod had nine targets in this game. Yeah, they definitely turned the phasers to murder and said, Kirk, go, go win this game. He was amazing. You can't really speak enough. We talked about like, hey, we haven't seen much from Kirk yet this season from a fantasy perspective. Being able to start or stream him. He was bottling it up. It was nice to see. I will say going back to Bijan, I had a thought. This was, I don't know, first, second quarter, a thought that made me so sad because I've got Bijon in a handful of leagues. And I really don't want it to be true. But I was like, did you think? Is Bijon the Garrett Wilson of running backs?

Where it's like, he's good. He's a good player. But we're waiting for this superstar. And eventually you've got to stop making excuses. Like, break one off, buddy. Go for 40. This is what I was going to say is like you said it's working. It's not working. It wasn't working. Like that you can appropriate the 12 carries, but he had a 28-yard run in the game, which means you had 11 carries for 3.3. So whatever the system was doing, like I think we'd all, if I bring up Rashad White's name and the fact he went 10 for 72, are you guys going to tell me Rashad White had the game of his life?

No, because he had the big... Because he had a 56-yard run. So I think something in the process right now is just different. And maybe it changes. You know, like we didn't get Drake London for four weeks. Really? I mean, we got... You're welcome. I guess it was okay. But this was like, they got it going and Bijon wasn't enough of a focal point, especially in the passing game where you would have imagined you'd get more than four targets in a game like this. I mean, Algier had the same amount of targets as Bijon. disgusting. It's, I mean... So calling him the Garrett Wilson of the running back position, a little scary to say that. Yeah, he needs one more year to be officially that. The curse of draft capital can haunt some players. When the Falcons took Bijon where they took him, it was weird, right? Like, based on the trends of what had been going on with the NFL draft, it was like, holy crap, you just spent way up. I mean, and he gets to be side by side with...

You know, like Jamir Gibbs, who, Jamir Gibbs, like in Dynasty, I think we had just talked about this, but it's like, would you rather have Gibbs over Bijan? And we could be moving that way rapidly. But also, you know, we, Arthur Smith was the fantasy football villain for years. Partly, you know, for other plays, but then partly because of Bijon, he leaves. The new coaching staff is like, no, we're still going to split the carries and we're going to split snaps here with Tyler Algier. Because Alger is good. This isn't a, we're getting a, we're forcing a backup level player out there. You're putting the player who had the, the, does he still have the rookie record, Kyle? He had over a thousand in his rookie, right? I think he has still has the rookie record for rushing yards for the Atlanta Falcons. He's good. You got to get him touches.

Yeah, let me ask you a question, Jason, because you have the most shares of Bijon. Mm-hmm. I'm going to read you the ADP of running backs five weeks into the year, and you tell me whether you would rather have these players on your team. Got it. I mean, I know the second round was hot, so give them to me. Sequin Barclay was drafted five picks after Bijon. 100% of course. Jonathan Taylor. Well, with the ankle injury, I'd rather have Bijon, but he's been better. Jemir Gibbs? Gibbs, for sure. What about Kyran? Kyron for sure. Derek Henry? Derek Henry for sure. So, and then you then you started to get into probably where you, I mean, James Cook, definitely. Yeah, I think you would take James Cook. Kenneth Walker? Oh man. From what we've seen, yeah, I would take Kenneth Walker. It is, it's, Bejon is not a bad player. He's a great asset to have, but he's not a. It's the adjustment of expectations. You want in fantasy one of those players who can be worth two players in one spot.

a guy who can go out there and put up 30, and like that's in any position, but you want those guys who can have those big monstrous blow-up games. There's no reason in the world why Bijan shouldn't be able to do that, but it doesn't matter if you're able to do it if you're not doing it. And the truth is, this is an Alger problem. Alger is good. Brees is experiencing the same thing because Braylon Allen turns out he's good. And so if you're an NFL team and you're at practice and you're going, that guy is really good. Let's utilize him. Let's use all of our good players. Well, then you put your good players on the field, and most teams don't have two running backs on the field at the same time. People need to go look at what Detroit's doing and figure it out. Yeah, the pass rate for Atlanta is rocketed.

upwards, too. It was 54% from weeks 1 through 3, 71% last week, 78% this week. They're basically making... Unless it's first and 10 under two minutes to go. Oh, boy. And then you need to run the ball with Tyler Alger. The Falcons did not in any way, shape, or form deserved to win that game. Bucks, you looked awesome. I'm sorry for your loss. Although I am happy. I always root for the home team on, you know, the people that are there. What a game to experience. Well, I mean, the... The Buccaneers did what they can't do, which is turn the ball over under two minutes. Bucky Irving with the fumble. This was the first time all year that Rashad White out rushed, Bucky Irving, believe it or not, despite the fact it's week five. Rashad White was 10 for 72. He had a 56-yard run. Bucky Irving, 9 for 44. I know that there was a lot of disappointment because the...

The fantasy output for Bucky Irving, if you tried to flex him with the fumble mixed in. Yeah, the fumble kills it. If you don't have the fumble for who Bucky is, it would have been okay. Do you know, Rashad White had three catches for negative six yards? I'm looking at that right now, along of negative two. So Evan. So he was kidding. Wait, along of negative two, that means all three of his catches had to go for negative two. Factually, right? There's no other way to get there unless every single one of his catches wasn't for negative two yards. So Godwin was a little disappointing in the landscape of, you know, Baker only threw for 180 yards. He threw three touchdown passes in about a whisper, you know, I mean, like that's not an expression. I liked it. Not at all. Three touchdowns. Thank you. Because it was really fast. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. I wanted to say that like a, yeah, we'll leave it there. But Baker Mayfield just kind of didn't do a whole lot beyond the first half.

But Evan's got two touchdowns. So you're thrilled. He's incredible. I do think we need to like prescription wise for the future. We need to really adjust what we think of Rashad White. Rashad White has been a colossal failure this season. It looked all right week one. And since then he's been pretty bad. 72 yards, that's awesome. He had a 56-yard breakaway run. We've been waiting for some kind of something good. But the issue is last year, this is a player who was on the reg getting five-plus receptions. He was just the dump-off machine. Bucky Irving, and he's always been inefficient as a running back. And so right now, you've got a guy who he hasn't had 10 fantasy points in a month. And again, another quality player in the backfield where you go and you go, book.

What did he have last night? Last night, 8.1 fantasy points, even with a 56-yard run. Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean, it's definitely, and Bucky Irving's a good player. We'll see if the fumble hurts anything. No, it's what Jason said. Exactly. He summed it up perfectly. Before you had to, he was the best pass catcher at running back last year outside Christian McCaffrey. That's what he was. He was basically the cheap CMC. Right. He's sitting at. 53% of the running back attempts and yeah they're running that's not going to get done offensive like the it's a different offensive coordinator so Chris Godwin's more involved than he was last year where Rashad White is less involved in the passing game and that's and that's what we're living with and that's effective efficient coaching too you should

Throw to a slot-wide receiver over a running back if you want yards. With Mooney being the target leader real quick here, like is Mooney moving into the must-start category at this point? Because he was right at the flex level, and it seems like he's a favorite. I mean, he's obviously a favorite of Kurt Cousins. If you had a brutal drop, would have had 10 catches in the game. If that pass rate continues, then yeah. Like, if you're seriously throwing the ball over 70% of the time. Then yes, he'll be a wide receiver too. I think he is still a matchup play. Someone that in a good matchup, you're going to see him as a must start. You have to start Mooney this week. He's been very, very good. And the targets, I mean, 16 targets. That's just. That's not an easy number to hit. No. All right. It's Friday. Put Clan Friday. The winner this week is Bucky Irving.

Oh, no, I'm sorry. It looks like it's fumbling fantasy football. Okay. See what I did there? Yeah, the winner from join the foot.com. Thank you for supporting the show. Fumbling fantasy footballs is their name. I just assume that's Bucky's like handle. $100 to fantasy champs.com and a t-shirt. Congratulations. Let's jump into the news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Well, the report we have this morning is that Jonathan Taylor likely misses time with a high ankle sprain. Mild. Mild, thank you, Mike. Whoa. Don't just say high ankle sprain. It's like when you got to remember to say the word allegedly, or you get in big trouble with the lawyers. You want to get sued? Mild was not part of the report. Well, but originally. Maybe they took the mild off. Well, he's, don't, don't get us wrong. He's going to miss the same amount of time as a high ankle sprain. Ian Rappaport, you better.

They better lawyer up. Yeah, mild. Papa Josh and I are facing one another. You got moon, Josh. I love that the falcons continue to taunt you, right? Because last week you had to dress up like a fan of the falcons. And then this week, what a loser. I darnel moonied all over you. Yeah. Yeah, that was a big, big, big preton. Big pressed ham. Andy's your face. Andy showed him that moon. So, listen, but what I was going to say is with this Jonathan Taylor news. Papa Josh has Jonathan Taylor, and he picked up Tray Sermon. I've got Joe Mixing on my team. I have Cam Acres. There's a chance that's Cam Acres, Tray Sermon, Nasty Boy Fest in our League of Record this week. First one to eight points wins, Papa Josh. Does that work? Yeah, I think, well, eight points. Six points? Okay, yeah. Yeah, Jonathan Taylor is not trending to play and terrifying if he did. He didn't practice Thursday. He has a high ankle spring. He's not going to play.

Anthony Richardson Limited. This is interesting. This is really interesting because I think yesterday I looked into this more as an Anthony Richardson manager in the League of Record. I'm like really trying to figure it out. I think at this point it's a very fair 50-50 split. Flacco in practice, even though Richardson participated and was back at practice, Flacco was taking the majority of the first team reps. So there's a legitimate chance that Flacco is the starter this week. You're going to have to monitor this and I wouldn't. Three minutes ago. Oh, all right. It looks like Colts quarterback Joe Flacco is taking most, if not all of the first team reps today, Richardson is standing behind Flackle right now and just watching him throw. Okay. That's a good, I mean, a hot tip for Richardson. You probably want to watch Joe Flacko throw. Also, no sign of. Make sure you got Josh Downs on the roster. No sign of Jonathan mild high ankle sprained Taylor. Okay, good. All right, Evan Ingram remained limited. He could return on Sunday at tight end for the Jags.

Austin Echler returned to a full practice. He's going to be back. And Brian Robinson didn't practice Wednesday or Thursday, but he was spotted at practice. I don't know more than that. I assume binoculars or is this? I mean, Joe Mixham is. Oh. Okay. You got it quick enough. Joe Mixon was spotted last week. I guess that was the bad one. That was. That was bad. If I had a button on my board, all right. I need to get some kind of busted button. What were you saying? Brian Robinson was spotted at practice, which maybe he's going to play. Mike thought yesterday he was fine. Then he missed another practice. Joe Mixing was at practice last week too. So I need more details. If the, if the Falcon is still here inducers alley, which I think he is here. Maybe he could do some research as to what spotted mint. Was he participating? Was he hanging out?

Let us know. Deontay Johnson remained limited. He's fine. Don't worry about it. Deontay says, I'm not practicing anymore. David Najoku did not practice, but it was a planned day off. They were giving him one on, one off coming back from his injury. Whether he's back, we'll find out. We also got word this morning, Mostert and O'Dowell Beckham Jr. could both play on Sunday for the Dolphins. Is Tua active? No. Then it doesn't matter. Okay. And then we also, we've got a bunch of these names coming up in the matchups, but I'll go through them really quickly. Malik Neighbors is not going to play. Devin Singletary back at practice on Friday. Just heal up, bro. Didn't practice Thursday still day to day. Take some time, man. Jason might have picked up Tyrone Tracy and I have no one else to start. Singletary. You're not going to win this game. Just rest. Joe Mixon did not practice, not expected to play.

Week three for Joe Mixin out of the lineup. Romeo Dobbs didn't practice personal issue. The Packers will take it day to day on his availability. I hate hearing these. George Kittle didn't practice Wednesday or Thursday. He seems like he's actually questionable again. There's a rib injury, but I still think Kittle will be out there. Yeah, I don't have a slant on whether he'll be active or inactive. It won't matter. They're playing the Cardinals at home. So the, if he's active, you're playing for sure, for sure. It won't matter. It won't matter. It won't matter to the Niners is my point. But yes, if you have George Kiddle, be prepared to have someone else. Juan Johnson, I think is a fine flex or a flying pivot option off the waivers. Tray McBride returned to a full practice. He'll be back. Kalis Shakir out for the Bills game against Houston. The Bills, if you look at their defensive side of the football.

Because we rarely mention that in the, you know, when we give you the news because you're not starting defensive players. But the defensive side of the football right now for the builds is unbelievable. They are, they will be without, obviously Milano they lost, linebacker superstar. Taylor Rap is gone. They have two more players questionable. Von Miller is suspended. Ed Oliver is now out. The defensive side of the football going up against Houston, it's just injured enough to make me. want to fool me thrice on Kamakers. Yeah, no. It's, it is, it is funny because the, the bills outside of against the Ravens last week, they've been a really good defense. And I wasn't sure coming into the season that they had the personnel to be a really good defense. They had in the off season before all of these injuries and suspensions, they had lost so many pieces from their previous defense that I was like, I think they're going to be bad. And then you see,

Sean McDermott just do a masterclass of coaching this defense up and they looked great. You just can't do it forever. You cannot lose half of your starters and be a top defense. So one player we didn't mention was Kenneth Walker, which I think he was limited for two practices. It was a downgrade to limited. Did you miss that? I missed that. Yeah, that was from yesterday. But. Still limited. This wasn't a downgraded to out or anything, but assuming he gets another limited practice in today, I would expect him to go. D.K. Metcalf was also downgraded to limited. All right. Rashi Rice placed on IR. He's going to get a knee scope. They're going to give more of a determination on how long he's going to be out. Can anyone tell us what's going on with Rishi Rice? They need the swelling to go down before. That is true. Get the mansum ibuprofen. What is going on? Get on it. Thanks, Mike. You're very helpful.

I'm joking. Have they tried it? Probably. Well. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com. We'll take a break. We'll jump back into the forecast. Yeah, my sources are telling me, Mike, they did hit the Walgreens. They did try the ibuprofen. They couldn't get the swelling down. Maximum strength? I don't know. Okay. I know that it seems like it's like you take two or three. You can go four if you need to rushy. Not a doctor. Not a doctor. Not a doctor. It's time for fantasy forecast presented by Draft King Sportsbook. I'm sorry to dive back into this, but if it's maximum strength, I think inherently it should be one pill only. Yeah. And it should be the max you're allowed to take. You know how big that pill would be? I mean, but why is maximum strength? You're bringing up a really good point. Is the dosage two?

Because that is, yes, that's half the maximum. That is, you're 100% maximum. Each pill is the hapsum. Yeah, that's not maximum strength. No, you should have not maximum strength. Shrinkflation at it again. Again. This economy is freaking ridiculous. All right. Yesterday we covered the jets, Vikings, Panthers, Bears, Ravens, Bengals, dolphins, patriots, Browns, commanders, Colts, Jags. So let's start with that game. Let's start with Buffalo. Three and one taking on the now three and one Houston Texans. The drafting sportsbook line, Houston minus one, the over under is 47 and a half. Jason, your start of the week with C.J. Stroud, the defensive situation for the bills only further endorses that start. You know, Josh Allen, what's your take on the Josh Allen experience without Stefan Diggs through four weeks? He's had two weeks where he looked completely.

exactly like Josh Allen. Number one and number two, fantasy finish. He's had two weeks under 10 fantasy points. He's been red light green light. I'd argue he looks great for three games. But the Miami Dolphins defense were the reason that we didn't get Josh, or the offense, I should say. That's the reason we didn't get Josh Allen good in week two. Yeah, the blowout victory against the Dolphins. kind of hurt his fantasy production, but he was good. This last week was bad. I think it's okay, but obviously he, he, Shaquille, uh, is out. Shakir, Shakir. Shaquil O'Neal is, is basically Keon Coleman in this offense. What if I told you those two fantasy finishes, the week two and week four were the worst fantasy finishes for Josh Allen in any week since week 17 of 2019. Like, he doesn't, he's played bad teams.

with no offense over the last five years and put up better weeks. So I just, I think the, what I'm trying to say is that Josh Allen is a must start always, every week. Yes. But the range of outcomes for him might have changed without digs and now without Shakir this week. You know, they can win ball games with James Cook. The reason they won 31 to 10 in week two is because they could. win the ball game with James Cook. So we should be thrilled about the defensive struggles then for the bills because I think that for the most part they want to be in games and have to throw it a lot. And Josh Allen has obviously started. So the quarterbacks are in James Cook. 58 and a half is the rushing line. First dud game of the week last week after I traded for him in Dynasty. Thanks. Thanks James. But you start him. What are you actually doing with the?

The Buffalo run defense is the worst in football, but the Houston offense without Joe Mixon is a committee. It is, I mean, the game winning touchdown last week was scored by Dara Gumba Waleigh. Press Taylor got carries. Cam Acres has been efficient enough if he was getting a lot of carries. He's not. Well, let me ask you this in a way to answer this question. How do you see this game going? Do you think that the bills who just got humiliated in Baltimore are going to have what championship caliber teams have happened to them and they come back and dominate or do you think with all their defensive injuries and no they're losing the ball game they're not winning at houston okay so they're not they're not winning if that's the case and you're wondering what's going to happen if if houston is leading and they're up and they win this game then they will be running the ball a lot and while it is a committee between how they use camakers and agumba walle when it comes to rushing attempts