Week 17 Matchups + Championship Choices, Weather Worries? - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/27

Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. What was that? Oh, you're talking about the game. Welcome to the show, one and all. That's fine. You can get into it. What is happening? Look, I'll tell you what's happened. Mike is tilting his face off every conceivable way, every moment of every day.

100%. But also, the last three games that we have gotten, three primetime games, we have, like the Ravens, they put up a bunch of points. Yeah, but you had, what, the Steelers scored 10, Houston was 2, and then the Bears were 3? This was 6-3. The Seahawks whooped the Bears 6-3. This was a terrible football game and a new loser punishment for your league. If you... Don't. I thought about this morning going on to Twitter and offering up a prize for somebody that delivers me a full live stream of them having to watch this game again. Oh, man. So, you know, that's how...

That's like Guantanamo Bay stuff. Yeah. I went... This is too far, Andy. I went to NFL.com this morning and the... Where's your humanity? The main picture on NFL.com, and I tweeted it. It said, re-watch Seahawks Bears with NFL Premium. Like, because they... What an ad. You know, and I was like... I don't think I will. I dare you. I dare you to watch that again. What was that? It was another lump of coal. I think maybe players are distracted Christmas week. Well, look... The preparation... I don't know. You know, it was akin to what we saw from Houston's offense. I mean, Houston's offense scored fewer points than the Bears did.

The Bears offense scored three. Houston's offense did nothing. And they looked very similar, by the way. It was called an unmitigated pass rush. And offensive play calling and awareness by the quarterback that was... Drunk. I mean, I don't know what it was. Like, can you call a play? Like, you used to not be able to blitz good quarterbacks. It was like what they wanted you to do. Kurt Warner wanted you to blitz him. Drew Brees, blitz him. I dare you. All Chicago did all game long was throw screen passes really, really quickly to the outside where they had five defenders.

Well, don't forget the place where Caleb would hold the ball for 15 seconds and get sacked. Towards the end of that game, I kept thinking they're going to have one play. Just one play where they block someone. Like, that was... I was like, it's going to happen. Caleb's going to have someone blocked. And it was just every single play, the ball is there, and so are the defenders. Look, I feel like we are doing a disservice to this show by uttering any more words about that game. Well, there's people in the championship round that they need to hear... DJ Moore was fine enough.

We need to channel their rage and them being upset, but... I mean, no one was good. Nobody was good in this game. Charbonnet... Charbonnet to the eyeball. Like, I thought Sharps looked good. I was surprised they didn't keep feeding him the ball more and more and more, but he ends up 15 for 57. He did catch three passes, so... Ah! Fantasy-wise, it's okay. But JSN... It was JSN and Keenan Allen, man. Guys who were second-half superstars. JSN, three for 32. Keenan, five for 25. Just... If you started... Absolutely brutal. If you started Nico Collins or Joe Mixon, you sure as heck hoped your opponent had

DK Metcalf or JSN or Keenan Allen. That was... That's the balance of this week. And we walked in, and the first thing we said in the studio was like... Like, this was a rainy game. Like, this was a weather game. It wasn't the worst we're going to see this weekend. Right. Jason read off about 45 teams that have weather games this week, and it's going to blow up some games this weekend. That's going to happen. Yeah. There are going to be games where you're, you know, rolling your eyes into the back of your head because it should have been, could have been, would have been the game you expected,

and it was nothing because it's raining or windy or things of that nature. So, if you had the bad game, like if you want a glass half full it, and you had Keenan or JSN or Metcalf, you are now scanning the weather reports for your opponent's players. Yeah. And good news, it's bad for them. I am doing that right now. I am looking at Al Borland, and I'm saying, Devontae Adams is playing in the rain. Jaden Daniels is playing in the rain. Cortland Sutton is playing in the rain. May they all slip and fall. But guess what? It's Friday. Foot Clan Friday.

This week's winner of a $100 gift card to FantasyChamps.com for supporting the show. A member of the Foot Clan over at JoinTheFoot.com. This week's winner, Bicycle Bill. Oh. Bicycle Bill. Is that Buffalo's brother? Yes. I believe so. Half brother. Bicycle Bill. The winner. Congratulations. Also, we'll send you a- Don't lump me in with that guy. I want to ride my bike. All right. It puts the lotion on its head. It's Friday. But it's a good time to get that Fantasy Champs gift card. It is a good reminder for everyone who didn't win the gift card. I want to ride my bike.

That FantasyChamps.com. Get your trophies. Your rings. If you're winning your championship. Oh, Al just said he needs a Fantasy Champs gift card because he's got it in the bag. That's what he- Nice. I like it. I didn't say that. You implied it. Did you really say that? You did imply it. I might have implied it. You implied it. Oh, okay. I want so badly to have a shot on Monday night with Jameer Gibbs. And when I say have a shot, I just want to be within 35 points. 35 points is what I want to be within. And Al, do that.

What was your motion? Oh, yeah. That penalty, that's 15 yards. Oh, yeah. That's a penalty. Yeah, the thumb was up. Thumb was up. 15 yards. Oh, my gosh. We got more matchups today. We always got you covered here. That's why we're here Friday, December 27th. The final show before Championship Weekend. And very, very excited to see who can bring home that hashtag Foot Clan title. Let's talk news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Let's begin with the Tilt Fest. That is the shutdown of CeeDee Lamb. CeeDee Lamb is being shut down for the rest of the season.

It's the right move for CeeDee Lamb. It's the wrong move for Michael Wright. Dude, you got to wait one more week, Cowboys. Yeah. What's all this? I do people pay tickets to come see me play. I think that was CeeDee. This is the difference. This is why I thought, you know, when we had the quote from John Gannon about, is Connor going to play? Connor wanted to play. And he's like, we're going to do what's best for Connor and best for the team. CeeDee Lamb wants to play. But the Cowboys are actually doing what is best for the team and for CeeDee Lamb, which is protecting himself from himself.

He shouldn't be playing football for the NFL. It just stinks that it's championship week for a lot of people. If I were CeeDee Lamb and I knew they were going to shut me down, putting out a quote like, people pay to come and see me play, so I'm going to play. That's exactly what I would have done. Oh, so you look like the best. Yeah. Everybody loves me. This guy is fighting through the pain that all the team shut. It's the team, guys. Oh, man. Next level, CeeDee. There's so many fundamental elements to these decisions. I mentioned the fact that the report we have this morning is that it's looking likely the Cardinals will have James Connor on Saturday night.

For those wondering, yesterday you wanted to put me on the spot. What was I going to do? I needed more intel. As of right now, Connor's going to be in over McMillan. But part of the factor there is, well, he had a couple limited practices, seems to be doing well. The intricacies of the injuries and risk of re-injury is a factor for these teams. Like, CeeDee Lamb at any moment with an AC joint sprain, he falls on his shoulder all game long. You are risking a re-injury to a great degree. And for the Cardinals, they are in the position to play spoiler.

They can disrupt the Rams making the playoffs a divisional matchup. And so, you know, there's things that we don't know. We don't know the severity of Connor's re-injury risk. But all that stuff swirls around to these decisions. We'll know more. And I'm going to stay water. That's an expression we use all the time. I'm not going to lock in my take here on a Friday morning if I get new information. Yeah, if I get new information tomorrow, it'll be McMillan on Sunday morning. But as of right now, that's what I'm going to do. I would have, speaking of the Cowboys, I would have shut him down like a month ago.

Oh, me too. Every time he goes down on that shoulder and gets up and you just, you're like, this man is in an immense amount of pain. I was like, no. Franchise face, CeeDee Lamb, no, we're not going to do this to you. No, you're out of the playoffs. So, yeah. Unfortunately, he will not be helping you win a title. I only think they were eliminated two weeks ago. Then that's when they should have shut him down. Yeah, you're right. You're right. And Tee Higgins questionable, limited three times this week. Gus Edwards ruled out. J.K. Dobbins is still not a guarantee, but it looks like he'll be back.

I saw some less guaranteed reports. I mean, maybe you guys saw something different. I have not. Obviously, with Edwards not available, you'd think he's there. Yeah, but Gus being out gives me, should Dobbins be active? Gus Edwards is the only competition to J.K. Dobbins on this team. And J.K. Dobbins, at least what we saw for the majority of the year, is a much better player at this point. Like, Vidal Sassoon is not a real threat. No, he's a hair product. Yes. Technically, he is. But so, I mean, follow the news. But I'm, it's certainly trending like Dobbins is going to be a startable player.

It's worth saying this show isn't going anywhere just because Championship Week is over. Like, we'll be here for the most painful week of the season, week 18, where all we're doing is talking about guys getting sat down because there will be a lot of them. But then we're here beyond. You know, this show is a year-round fantasy football podcast. Oh, infinity. And we have a lot of fun in the offseason. We get to reflect on the reality, the truth of the season. We get to begin projecting so soon. I'm already watching college film, watching college tight ends. See what the next number one overall tight end will be this upcoming year.

We're going to do it twice. I mean, two times in a row. Yeah, it does appear so. Alvin Kamara did not practice, although not ruled out for the Saints. Kamara, Connor. Pride, man. Pride and being there for your team. Does this mean that, like, I haven't seen any report on Derek Carr. But, like, if Olave's practicing and Kamara's trying to make a push to play. And Olave might, yeah. That's what I'm saying. Is Derek Carr, like, are they just going to have, like, their whole team back other than Taysom just unexpectedly for no reason? Possibly. We got word yesterday. Anthony Richardson still not practicing.

First team reps going to Joe Flacco. Oh, boy. I saw a question. Superflex League. Bryce Young or Joe Flacco if Flacco plays? I went with Flacco. That matchup. Yeah, they both have very good matchups. Flacco was really bad last we saw him. It's a Giants matchup. I do lean the Flacco side. Malik, Neighbors, Tyrone Tracy both did not practice on Thursday. We're still waiting for updated reports there. Neighbors. There was a quote from Neighbors that he basically put himself as a game time decision. Neat. Yeah, I think he is very questionable. If you've got Neighbors, you need to be prepared to pivot because I, you know, as of right now,

I was looking at him in certain lineups. I'm like, no, I'm not putting him in. You need to have a pivot that works with the game time of your player this week because we've got games all over the place. So, what time is the Neighbors game? Is that a Sunday? I'll look that up. Yeah. Giants 1 p.m. Eastern on Sunday. So, if you have a bench pivot and they play on Saturday in the three Saturday games, that's not going to work. You're either going to have to make the call on Saturday and not play them. Hey, it's worth mentioning. If you're going to not play a player who plays on Saturday, if you're not going to play them,

depending on your league platforms, cut them. Cut them. Yeah. They won't be available for waivers. No one can pick them up. You don't need them next week if this is your championship. Give yourself the roster spot so that if you need to add someone, you don't even have to pick someone else up. Just cut them if you're not going to play them on Saturday. 100%. Very important. And you started saying all of that like a Dr. Seuss poem. Nice. If you're going to play a player and you play a player, player. Kate Otten did not practice. Not going to be back out there.

It doesn't look like. Jalen Hurts didn't practice. Uh-oh. Jalen Hurts probably knocked you out last week, but he's not going to be a part of your championship week, most likely. And same goes for David Njoku, Jalen Waddle. We haven't seen a practice from Toling Pollard all week. Who? Tony Pollard. Oh, I heard like Toling. Yeah, Toling Pollard. I might have been too busy looking at my listener league team where Tony Pollard is one of my starters. Oh, no, he's not. No, he's not. At all. Hypothetical situation for someone totally different than me. Tony Pollard or. I'm going to take the or.

Well, I'd say double or. Kendra Miller and Antonio Gibson are the two pivots. Oh. So, if Tony Pollard doesn't play. It's Kendra, right? I think it's Pollard. I think you're putting Pollard in there. You don't want negative points. You want that good morale. No, it's Kendra. I think it's Kendra from those. Gross, dude. And I had Jalen Warren in that league who had a nice week. Yeah. And but I felt the need to wait. Pollard. Good matchup. Spears is going to be a really good play. All right. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA insurance. Oh, did I miss the Devante Adams line?

Yeah. He did not practice again on Thursday. Al. Yeah, I know. What you going to do? I mean, if I have to start Mooney, that's the guy I got. Okay. That's your pivot. The. I hope it stresses you out. Kevin Roth from Roto Grinders, who is just he's a tremendous weather source. He's like his modeling right now. Again, we're in model season. So you got to wait on the weather. But blue steel, the Jets. I mean, he's a sharp looking fella. That's where we're going. But the model right now, he is very concerned about the Jets Buffalo game. for potential heavy rain.

To be fair, in case you need to pivot to Mooney, he is also considered about potential heavy rain for that game in Washington. Dude. There's not. Yeah, there's not a lot of. There's not a lot of games where you're not double guessing. Is that the expression I'm looking for? Oh, totally. Double guessing. Yeah, you double guessed it. I think second guessing. Second guessing. No, no, no, no. Dang it. Oh, you're wrong. Dang it. Yesterday, Jason went with the unremember, which is exactly what I wanted to do with the Chicago-Seattle game. I wanted to unremember that that ever happened. That was on the footcast.

Joythefoot.com. Oh, is that what it was? Okay, yeah. Jason threw out an unremember instead of forget, which, look, beautiful turn of phrase. With all the AI and the power of scheduling and everything. NFL. There's a lot of domes out there. Look, I want every team to play in a dome. I know that's not a realistic thing. You know the- What if we just schedule it, though, so like right now- There's more domes now. People are in domes. You're willing to make a compromise. That's right. You know that they can't build that many stadiums that fast. Just schedule. Out- Look, and outdoor football, when the weather is great, is-

It's much better. It's a beautiful, majestic- It's much better. And so much better. Yes. We don't know the seasons where weather is bad, Mike. You know who might? Jerry. Jerry Jones. Yeah. Come on! We've got the new quantum computers coming out from Google. And the magic of quantum computing is optimization of data. So if we can- That's what I'm saying. I don't care if we get anything else out of quantum computing. If we could just tell me the weather with certainty. You should be able to do that. If you're- Multiverse weather. Let's go. Okay. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance.

Learn more at usaa.com slash insurance. We'll take a break. And we'll get into the matchups. It's time for Fantasy Forecast, presented by DraftKings Sportsbook. We'll be right back. Well, yesterday we covered three Saturday games. Chargers, Patriots, Broncos, Bengals, Cardinals, Rams. On Sunday games, we covered Jets, Bills, Raiders, Saints, Colts, Giants. And we're getting into it. Dallas 7-8, Philly 12-3. Philly 7-point favorites. Over-under is 38.5. This is a game that Vegas expects Philly to win on defense, which they should be able to

do with no CD lamb. And Dallas has a 15.8 point implied point total. That's the lowest I've seen this year, I think. Yeah, I think there was one that was lower. But yeah, in the 15s is not a normal thing on a weekly basis at all. This makes it really hard to me to have confidence in Rico Dowdle. Yes, it is devastating for Rico. Rico, I mean, he's got a DK rushing line of 58.5 yards, which isn't... Under. Yeah. Give me the under. I think so as well. You've got a bad week last week. And without CeeDee Lamb against a really good Philly defense.