Starts of the Week + Week 5 Breakdown, Winkies & Twinkies

There was some talk of just skipping it and counting it as a 30 to nothing shut out. They're putting Brady in, though? Yes. You know how you sit your starters once you're up enough? That's like pretty much zero zero. We're up enough. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Washington fans. This has been rough, but it's getting rougher. The Patriots are 15.5 point favorites.

puts them at 29.3 points. The Redskins at 13.8. This is why Jason said you can't start Terry McLaren. You cannot start any player on the Washington Redskins except for the flex consideration of Chris Thompson. Jason explained yesterday he doesn't believe Chris Thompson will be that effective that they'll keep him in front of the defense. I just think it's the nature of...

targets. I just think Chris Thompson will do enough to get you. He's a PPR guy. He'll have 10 points in the flex. He'll have enough receptions to get it done. The Patriots have been helped by the most cake schedule of all time, but this continues. This isn't a zig to the zag of the season. And you look at what the Patriots, they're number one against quarterbacks, number two against running backs, number two against wide receivers, and number four against tight in. They're top five against all positions.

You're starting your Patriots defense. You don't start a single Washington anything. Maybe a Chris Thompson flex because they're going to be down 30, sure. Confidence level in Sony Michelle this week. We have them as our running back 25 on the week. We actually have James White at 24. So those two players on that fringe running back two, running back three area. So fairly confident, Mike? Fairly. A little.

cracking the voice kind of situation? Because it's, look, if you are out there with a 100% supreme confidence in Sony Michelle, then we need to have a discussion because I want to learn. Why? I want to learn your ways. Like, because you are clearly a very confident person. Sony Michelle has been put in a positive game script every single week. And he is not.

not really come through for his draft stock. We've spent a lot of time talking about why Sonny Michelle has been in the position where these should be great games. They're always winning, right, Jay? I mean, they're in the lead. But it's not been pretty for Julian Edelman. It's not been pretty for, I mean, Edelman's finished 28th, 53rd, 18th, 56th. That's not been worthwhile. Josh Gordon, since his week one, which was on the fringe.

of the top 24, 85, 3147. I am excited for Josh Gordon this week. That was the name I wanted to bring up. He's a guy that if, you know, I could have made him my start of the week in the sense that he is a friend's guy that you haven't known. Should I start him? Should I not? This matchup is perfect. Really? I think so. Yeah. Josh Norman is going to be on him. Josh Norman, if you remember the name from years ago, he was once good at football.

He is no longer. And I think he'll be exploited in this matchup at home. I like Josh Gordon as a play this week. Interesting. Yeah, I think, I think I have a hard time deciding between, you know, Gordon and Dorset. I'd rather play Edelman than either of those two guys. I can agree with that, but I think all three wide receivers are in play. Ben Watson, is he in play for his debut? No, but he's on the radar. I think you keep him in mind, maybe pick him up prior to the week, stash him. A little glance over at him on the waiver wire. Give him a little wink.

That's fine. Okay. What's up, dude? What's up? Do you wink at dudes when you say, what's up? Hey, Mike, how's this feel? Well, it feels awkward because you're not a winky type of guy. No, I've never winked. I don't even know if I'm doing it right. You're not a winky fellow. Are there winky guys? Oh, yeah. Oh, what? I'm more of a twinkie guy. Oh, yes. There are the winkies and the twinkies. There are winkers out there. And look, there are.

There are certainly... Is there an age that you get to where winking is a little bit less awkward, though? I mean... Yeah, 60. If you have gray hair and you're a winker... Yeah, there's not an age. There's just... That's a grandpa, like, good... Good job, champ. No. No, my point is you got to be able to read the situation because it just takes one bad wink and you got to get out of the game. It's good to know that Winkies and Twinkies is going to be part of the show title today. That makes me feel happy.

Thank you, talking. You're welcome. Speaking of Twinkie. I've got to leave. Got a date with Little Debbie. Are you going to wink at her? Do you wink at Little Debbie? No. No. All right. But as long as you do the finger guns. Yeah, when you go finger guns with the sound combined with the wink, then everything is okay. Yeah, all right. Nothing is okay.

Start your Patriots, Bitcher Redskins. Next game. Cardinals, Bengals. Hello, someone's got to win. Cardinals, 0,3 and 1, Bengals, 0, and 4, 47.5 point over under. Bengals are 3.5 point favorites. I'm ashamed to say, I think the Bengals win this game, and the Cardinals. Sad season continues. Kyler Murray, I think you can play him. He's always been a fringe wide receiver or a quarterback won this year. Honestly, this entire game should be full of.

fantasy goodness. The Cardinals are the, they run at the fastest pace of play. The Bengals also play at a, at that higher rate of speed. And when you combine those things, that's a lot of extra plays, a lot of extra volume for your offenses. Meanwhile, the defense on both sides of the field, these are teams who are exploiting for fantasy football. So both sides should be fantastic. I'm extremely excited for Tyler Boyd.

to bounce back after last week's dud. He has the fourth most targets in the NFL. I chase those targets. No John Ross. You got to go Tyler Boyd here. Auden Tate. I think he's in play. I mean, because you lost John Ross, it really stinks in this game that you lost Christian Kirk and you lost John Ross. Both of those guys would have been such good plays. But, Mike, you're right. Those targets are going to go somewhere. They don't just disappear and now the offenses don't work.

That's where I think Kishon Johnson on the Cardinal side and Auden Tate on the Bengal side are names that when you're in those deeper leagues and you need a flex spot start, those are guys on your waiver wire that you could do worse. They're not going to goose. Golden Tate this week in his debut or Audentate? Golden or on? I'm going to go Auden. Now, it was pointed out to me that A.U is the periodic table symbol for gold. Oh, my goodness, he's cold. There's two Golden Tates. So gold and Tate. Yeah.

Gold and then D-E-N? Odd. I mean, this is, we need to battle here. Fellas, Tate, Tate, guys, we need to work this out. This is the kind of deep. This is what the Foclan's all about. There's some scientists in that group. This is research. Yeah, this is very important. I'll take Auden Tate this week. Yeah, I'm taking the real golden Tate. Yeah, I'm taking the real golden Tate. Yeah, I've seen the Cardinals. Yeah. Which is Auden Tate. Because the real gold.

It's AU. No, you're blown away right now. Because it's A-U-D-E-N. No, no, no, I get it. Golden Tate. Yeah. Incredible work, parents. David Johnson, Joe Mixing, you're starting them both. We'll talk about Joe Mixing in a little bit. David Johnson's the RB 8 on the season, third most running back receptions. That's going to continue. That's going to continue for as long as Kyla Murray is a rookie. And for as long as that offensive line is.

a sieve. Do you guys know of any recent history of the Bengals just bleeding out to running backs catching the ball? Hmm. Like 16 times in one game with zero incompletions? Yeah. Yeah, I think that happened recently from my recollection. Goodness. So Tyler Eiffert.

Are you willing to take the shot on him? I know Jason is. I'm a no. I am definitely willing. We'll talk about him in a minute. And look, the loss of- Would you prefer me to say my anti- Tyler Eifford stance now and not ruin your- Because he's going to be my start of the week. Tell me, no, no, I don't. You shut up. I'll talk. I'll bring up the negatives that you're going to talk about. No, no, no, no. Then the ball's in your court. I'm just hesitant. Look, you could do worse.

I've heard they're trying to involve them more. I'm just not excited with 21 snaps last week. I'm not excited with the fact that, you know, you're counting on a guy that hasn't been fantasy relevant in a while. If you get a touchdown, you're going to be happy. The Cardinals, they serve them up on a silver platter. So you've got plenty of arguments in your favor. I just don't know how far the, like, depth chart of relevant tight-ins I go to give the Cardinals against the Cardinals. They give up 23 points to the fantasy tight-in. But DJ Swaranger's been released. If you watch.

What has taken place through the first four weeks, he's been solely responsible for these tight ends and he's been solely irresponsible. So I'm hoping. DJ Sweeringer has been beyond atrocious. And he has played 100% of snaps in these games. And they just flat cut him. So they are trying to make a difference against the tight end position. They obviously see their. They've been listening. They've been listening. Their flaws. But I'm going to go ahead and say the backup to DJ Swearinger not going to be the answer.

We'll see. We will see. And the counterpoint to the Eifford talking about his snaps. I mean, that's who Eric Ebron has been. And yeah, he's not on the field a ton, but he's getting at least a few targets and the matchup is so juicy. Yeah, it's just a matter of if you have limited snaps, you have limited opportunities. If you don't capitalize on them, you're at a far greater risk starting Tyler Eiffert than you are Delaney Walker of getting goose.

Yes. Your odds are much higher. So you take a risk. Now, if you don't have an option, I don't mind taking the shot. Last week, it was one play to Eric Ebron, right? Eric Ebron was the perfect example last week. He goose you the entire game. Garbage time, 48-yard touchdown. You're the happiest man in town. Yep. So, all right, I'm excited for that game, too. We'll see what defense can show up for five minutes at a time and win the game. The Jags, the Panthers. Both teams two and two.

This game is in Carolina. Carolina's a three and a half point favorite. I had a real hard time. We do a weekly at the studio here, like a pick-em, you know, an office pool. This was one of the matchups. I stared down and said, I know the Panthers are favored. This one's tough. Yeah. But if Gardner Minshu is active and I went with the Carolina Panthers, I went to the home team that's favored and the belief that.

Their defense has been so good. And I talked about Carolina being a great streaming defense. So 41 point over under. I just think that the defense is going to cause fits for Gardner Minshue. And I don't know if, you know, a couple plays in this game from Gardner is going to be enough to beat Christian McCaffrey. So it's going to be a close one. You start CMC. You start Fournette. You start to get into muddy water everywhere else for fantasy football confidence levels.

DJ Moore, Curtis Samuel, hasn't been a great start to the year. We've got them outside the top 24 this week. Curtis Samuel. I think we may have them too high. Yeah, Curtis Samuel is a guy that I am somewhat interested in in the sense that if you look at air yards and who's been really getting top level air yards that hasn't really done it yet, hasn't broken out with those targets. Curtis Samuel is getting some deep shots. And so, you know, in a matchup that.

Will they have Jaylon Ramsey? I don't know. He was not at practice again, and there's really no reason other than he's demanding a trade. So if he's basically going to sit out, then Curtis Samuel is interesting. If he's in, I'm worried about all the options because him combined with AJ Boo-ya, we know how good Jacksonville's defense can be. And we've seen DJ Moore's target share just absolutely melt.

Like the Wicked Witch since Kyle Allen took over. Weeks one and two with Cam, 10 targets, 14 targets. These past two weeks, two targets. And a game against Arizona, DJ Moore saw two targets. Yeah, he caught one for a 52-yard touchdown, but then five targets this past week as well. It's tough sledding for DJ Moore until Cam gets back. Are there other players from this game that you're interested in rolling out there?

I will play DJ Chark as a wide receiver 3 or a flex play. We're four games in. We have enough evidence that Gardner is going to throw to him, and he's a deep threat. So I think that despite the matchup, he's still a low-in play. When you got 4-3-3 speed, you can break something off. How tall is he? 6-3. I think it's 4-3-4. He's got a wingspan too. He's a good-looking player. He can fly because of the wingspan. I see.

Yeah, because birds have wings and that, yeah, no, I get it. And they span. And then they can fly with it. Not all of them, though, you know. He's also got hollow bones. We found out the other day that Jason thought otters had fins. Well, no, we found out that I thought an otter was a seal. My mind was a seal for a second. So I looked up otters and then I realized, oh, those are the cutest things on the planet. But.