Week 8 Matchups, In-or-Out, Blastoff!

very happy with Levi-on-Bel. And I mean that on a player level. So, you know, I don't, I'm less convinced that when Levi-on-Bel comes back, at least week one, he's just going to take over. I don't think that's going to happen. But we do know right now, this is James Conner's game. It's his workload. And, you know, maybe how he performs in this game could possibly dictate what happens going forward.

Well, and I think the question was, is this the last full workload for him? Yeah, it's the last full. And would you be trading him like you had advised for previous weeks if you can? Lev Bell needs to report by what, week 10, right? The trade deadline is this Tuesday. But that's the current narrative, right? First it was, it was going to be, he's coming back at the buy week. But then the buy week happened. It was, well, it's the trade deadline. He's worried about the trade deadline. The only thing that we know for sure.

is that he has to report by week 10 to have free agent eligibility. It's fair. So at this point, I don't think it's a trade deadline issue. Maybe I'm wrong on that. But even if it is a trade deadline issue, that's next Tuesday. They're going to report on Monday, and he's not going to be there. Tuesday, and he's not going to be there. So I think James Connor gets a full workload next week. Juju Smith-Schuster, right now eighth in the league and targets per game. He has dominated Cleveland in two career games, nine for one.

43 and a touchdown. And then in week one, five for 119. Feeling very cozy with Juju. Yep. Yeah. All passing members. All passing members for the Pittsburgh Steelers shall be started. The two and five Colts take on the one in five Raiders in Oakland. The Raiders are three point underdogs at home, a 50 and a half point over under. And the featureback Doug Martin makes his debut. It's a Doug Martin, Jordan, Nelson, Martavis, Brian, Jared Cook Show, Mike. Wow.

How much would you pay for that ticket? What year is it? That's a good question. Was it four years ago? This would be a hot team. Team is lit. Yeah, I mean, yes, they're at home. Yes, they're coming off the buy. But you grimace when you talk about starting anybody from Oakland, right? Do you really feel confident in Jordy Nelson because Amari Cooper's gone? I do.

There's going to be opportunity. I just think that, you know, look, the Colts are going to score because the Raiders can't stop anybody. And the Colts offense has been looking better and better. I'm a big fan of Frank Reich, the new head coach. And Andrew Luck has, I think, put to bed all the shoulder questions and worries over these first seven weeks of the season. So if they're scoring and the Raiders have to throw the ball, there's no Colts.

This is not a Colts defense. It's going to scare me where I think if Jordan Nelson gets 10 plus targets, he's going to be fantasy relevant. That doesn't necessarily mean he's a top 15 wide receiver, but he's a guy that I think should be started in most situations. Okay. All right. Got some Martavis Bryant hype coming out this morning. Greg Olson, really excited about Martavis, the hype train. Yeah, I mean, Martavis is an interesting speculative.

type of ad. If you had a burner spot and you wanted to throw him on there, because we've seen him, we've seen him be a quality fantasy producer before. He's got the speed to do it. I don't know that Derek Carr is willing and wanting to throw the ball down the field. That's the bigger problem for Martavis. If you're going to get production, it's because a wide receiver screen turned into a 70-yard play. Yes, and Martavis can do that. He has the ability, but that's a...

that's a low probability thing to be counting on. He needs a go route. Yeah, but Carr's not going to throw the goal route. Martinez had 72% snap count before the buy week with Amari Cooper, 34 routes run. That'll go up. So interesting that he was seeing that much time beforehand. We've talked enough about Doug Martin. I mean, he's averaging three yards to carry since 2016.

Is that why Mike loves him so much? Yeah, Mike loves him because it's a low, it's kind of a, you can handle that low of a yards per carry. Mike feels like he could go jogging with him and keep up. Oh, well, I probably could do that. Until your shin started hurting. Yeah. He's holding a crampus right now. You have a crampus doll. Look, we talked about desperate times when I was talking about Duke Johnson. I would rather flex Doug Martin than Duke Johnson.

Can we at least agree on that? I would rather flex Jaylon Richard over both of them. You didn't give me that option. Well, you have it now. Is he an RB2 in PPR leagues? Jailen Rashard. Yes. Colts giving up the third most receptions to the running back position. Seems like he'd be a nice DFS target too. And Richard Schard has already got 31 receptions on the year, sixth among running bags. Yeah. And then Jason loves Jared Cook. Let's say I do. He's my start of the week. You know, look, here's a good example. And people might say it's crazy.

I think Jared Cook has a better game than Eric Ebron in this same matchup. Eric Ebron has been on fire, you know, was catching all the touchdowns, but T.Y. Hilton is back. The Raiders have been okay against tight in because they've been so bad elsewhere, and this might not be an Eric Ebron game. If Marlon Mc is out, are you going Naim Hines or are you going to Jordan Wilkins? Eileen Hines. Hard pass on all. Really? Against the Raiders? If Marlon Mack is out, you're not going to start any of those running back? I guess I would flex Naim Hines, yeah.

Okay. Yeah. Jack Doyle, if he comes back, do you start Ebron? You brought him up. Like, does Jack Doyle somehow make Ebron not startable? No. Agreed. I would still say Ebron is startable. Okay. The one in six 49ers take on the one in six Cardinals. Speaking of hard pass. Can we cancel this game? They're distributing, you know, they do the giveaways. The first 20,000 fans get those devices that hold your eyes open. Oh, very nice. They automatically. Yeah.

Clockwork orange. And then the other 20,000 are given blindfolds. That is so funny that Mike thinks there's going to be more than 20,000 people. Yeah. There will be over 16,000 extra apparatus is available after the game. But those 4,000 are in four. A new offensive coordinator, right? This is the big storyline.

Mike McCoy is gone. Byron Lefich is in charge. He was the right-hand man of Bruce Ariens. He has a lot of great quotes circulating from his press conference yesterday about how he was shoulders or shoulder. A lot of nights nodding off with Bruce Ariens. He's going to incorporate everything from that system. So cute. Yeah, it is. And, you know, are we buying that hype? Because, look.

You can't do worse. It was so frustrating to watch David Johnson constantly get rushed right up the middle for no gain. So frustrating. You do anything else, and you're going to get more value. So I think there's more value here. These quotes weren't there when we brought it up on Monday. I mean, once Mike McCoy was fired, my approach was, look, Byron Lefridge was part of Bruce Ariens coaching staff. Anything that's not Mike McCoy, that's a plus. Anything that is Bruce Ariens, that's a plus.

David Johnson doing anything but running it up the middle. That's a plus. So, yeah, I was targeting him everywhere. David Johnson is a top, you know, 12 running back rest of season. Yeah, he's been a top 12 running back so far.

This season, yeah, it's a good matchup. I still do have my concerns with Josh Rosen, the interior of the offensive line, and the overall offense. They don't have a lot of great weapons. Christian Kirk is an ascending talent. Larry Fitzgerald is a descending talent, and then there's nobody else.

Larry Fitzgerald, though, there's some talk about him being more involved. Do you have any interest in picking him up off the waiver wire to see what happens or no? Yes, 100% I have interest in picking him up off the waiver wire. This is not a homer thing. I remember in the offseason. You guys criticizing me on why I hate Larry Fitzgerald so much. He's been injured. If you remember the first week of the season, right before the injury, 7 for 76, he was still involved the most targeted, the clear number one target.

And then he's been injured and hobbled, not doing well. Last week, 4-4-40 got the touchdown. He's at home. We talked about the difference in splits between home and road for Larry. I don't expect Christian Kirk to be the leading receiver in this week's game. I expect it to be Larry Fitzgerald. Would you pick up Fitzgerald over Kirk if you were trying to grab a season-long option? I would. Okay. And then on the other side of the ball, we've talked already about the burrito situation, Colonel Mustard.

uh in the conservatory but marquis good one is he a good boom play this week right now averaging fifth in the league and averaged up the target sixth among running backs or i'm sorry amongst wide receivers and fancy points per target but i you know big boom bust play yes big boom we've we've now seen big boom big bust in the past two weeks from marquis good one so if if you're going to play him you're accepting that you may receive two points well pierre garson is

He's going to, he's not going to, he's going to miss the game. So that means I think good one is, you know, more targets. More targets. George Kittle. Yes, I agree. George Kittle is really, hop upon his back and ride. And I like that George Kittle understands fantasy football. Yeah, what was that story? There was a quote about him saying how he gave some extra oomph to get into the end zone because his fantasy coaches need points. Oh, okay. Thank you, George.

I appreciate it. Yeah. I remember that replay review. I didn't think he got in and they gave it to him. All right, the three, two and one Packers traveled to Los Angeles to take on the undefeated Rams. The Rams are nine and a half point favorites, a 56.5 point over under. You know, the Packers coming off the buy week. And this is the largest line.

The biggest spread in terms of an underdog that Aaron Rogers has ever had. I was unaware of that. I did not see that stat. I was literally going to pose that question. I can't ever remember Aaron Rogers being in this situation, but that's... They're disrespecting the rocket launch record of the Packers. What is that? Three, two, one. Oh, is this blast off? Blast off. Right now?

Oh, well, that's what the record says. I got Jason good with that one. I am a fan of the record blast on. I'm going to be honest. I thought of that joke during the the Browns game. The Steelers matchup, but I didn't have time to use it. Somehow the opportunity presented itself again. I could not pass it up. Well, really, there's nothing more to cover at this point. All right. The next game, no, I mean, in some ways, that's true because you're starting Aaron Rogers. You're starting.

Goff, Gurley, Cooks, Woods. Devante Adams. Yeah, and Devante Adams. So I think the questions that I have, one is about Jimmy Graham because I kind of, like I've been offered Jimmy Graham in leagues. I've had Jimmy Graham starting against me. I always feel like I'm happy that he's starting against me, but he's kind of playing well. And, you know, he's averaging seven and a half targets per game. He's been a tied-in one in four straight games. And...

players like Jared Cook have, you know, exploited the Rams defense funneling things in the middle of the field. Is he a top five tight in this week? Yeah, I think he is. There's going to be so many passing yards in this game. And the over under is 56 and a half, which is very high. I'm...

slamming the over on this. I can't fathom these two teams not being able to both score when needed. So yeah, I think Jimmy Graham is valuable. Three of his seven games, he's been over 75 yards for a tight end. That's crazy. And coming into the season, we thought it was going to be all of his touchdown opportunities that made him special. So I like Jimmy Graham quite a bit in this game. The only breaks that I'm going to tap here for Jimmy Graham, they didn't have anyone.

I mean, you had, you had Devante Adams and then rookie wide receivers who, they held their own. But they were, but they're still rookies. And not necessarily as reliable in those third down situations. Correct. So I think that Jimmy Graham did receive an uptick of opportunity because of the injuries. And now Geronimo is back. Randall Cobb is back, at least for now. So I'm not opposed at all to calling Jimmy Graham a.

He's a tight-in one. If you have to start a running back on the Packers this week, you are starting Aaron Jones. Mike or Jason? Yeah, it would be Aaron Jones. I think there's a chance for a larger game this week from Aaron Jones, but I would rather not. I want to say I'd rather not start him, but I think he's actually going to be okay. If you have to pick one, you're picking Aaron Jones. Yes, 100%.