Starts of the Week + Week 14 Breakdown, Mr. Irresponsible - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/10

But they've been good. And look, their defense is a problem. Their defense is not outstanding. They struggled tremendously against the pass to start the year. But over the last six weeks, they've been a lot better. They've made scheme improvements, their offense. At the end of the day, you have a very good quarterback in Kirk Cousins. You have Dalvin Cook, who is one of the best running backs in the league, and you have two of the best wide receivers in football, Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson. That's true. I mean, they're so good.

I mean, are there 10 wide receivers that are better than them in the league and they're both on the same team? Those guys are unbelievable. No, they are. Adam Thielen right now is just barely behind Devante Adams in terms of the highest graded wide receivers against single coverage. Those two players are more open than any other combination in football. And this is a very, very vulnerable Buccaneers defense in the passing game.

31st over the last six weeks against opposing fantasy quarterbacks, 32nd against wide receivers. I'm going to talk about Kirk Cousins in a little bit. All right. Well, let's talk about Davin Cook real quick. So last week against Jacksonville, Alexander Madison was out with an illness. He had the appendix out of him. Am I right? You are right. Yeah. So I can't expect that Alexander Madison is going to play this week. And it was funny because on Slack, you know, it's like, oh, man, you know,

Alexander Madison's out. We're going to see an uptick in work from Dalvin Cook. And Jason's like, you guys are really excited about these three attempts that Madison's been taking. That was his exact voice. Mike, that was awesome. Over Slack. That turned into 22 opportunities against Carolina in week 12 for Dalvin Cook to 41 opportunities. It was actually 38. It was actually 38 opportunities. Was it? It was. I know what you're looking at and that's wrong. 41 opportunities, not touches.

Oh, what is an opportunity? A target? Yes. Oh, okay. My bad. Yeah, yeah. No, because he had nine targets. He caught six. I apologize. Yes. So the opportunity. 38 touches? That number is also insane. Goodness gracious, Delvin. His quote was, I feel great. I need 38 more. I don't know that he does. I don't know that his body will handle that. Yeah. Isn't that the greatest, like, conundrum for the fantasy manager of Delvin Cook? Because I've got him in a league. You've got him in a league.

I want all I can get. Yeah. But you feel like the, it's like the risk rating rises through the game. Oh, definitely. And you're like, oh, just give them one more. Like you're about to bust. Yes. That's such a rule. Hit. Right? Hit one more. Hit one more. Sir, you have 18. Yeah. Hit me. Yeah. That's exactly right. But, yeah, I mean. This is a bad matchup and it's irrelevant. And we talked about this when we were looking at the playoffs.

In our playoff primer episode a couple weeks ago, the terrible matchups coming for Dalvin Cook, it does not matter. It's irrelevant. He's the level of player that there is no decision to be made. All right, but Ronald Jones on the other side, Minnesota is allowing the highest rush success rate in the NFL, but they don't give up a lot of rushing touchdowns so far this year. Ronald Jones, though, the comments that can never be trusted out of Bruce Ariens is that he needs 20 opportunities a game.

And he's seen 11 the last two. Yeah. Well, they came after that game. Oh. Heading into the buy week, right, Mike? They put the Ronald Jones plan into place during the buy. Uh-oh. That's trouble. But Brady, look, the matchups good for Brady. We're playing Brady. I'm playing. Ronald Jones. We talk about the Vikings have been a lot better over the last six weeks, seventh, actually, against fantasy quarterbacks. But I will play Tom Brady. Are you?

What is your confidence level in starting Ronald Jones, though? It's good. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I will say this. So I have adjusted the kind of trifective view of the wide receiving core where it seems like, you know, you might as well just start all three because you don't know who's going to be at the top. I've moved to the point now with Antonio Brown where I am moving him down a peg compared to the other two. Okay. Yeah. He's just not, he's not had the breakout game through four different weeks with the team. He's not broken the top 24 at wide receiver.

And when you have Gronkowski downfield, Evans downfield, Godwin healthy, I just don't know if you, it's worth the risk. It was really weird going up against Kansas City before the buy with Antonio Brown's utilization because what you had seen leading up to that was more and more and more involvement. He went from, you know, five targets to eight targets to 13 targets. And then all of a sudden in this.

High over under game with Pat Mahomes, three targets. So I understand your hesitation. I do think that he could be played. I think all three are worthy options. And I would start. Higgins or Antonio Brown? I would start Antonio Brown over Higgins. I would take any one of these three over the Bengals trifecta of trying to get some play with that quarterback. 51.5.5.0. Kind of excited about this game. I think that's going to be a really fun one. The Broncos at 4 and 8.

Take on the Carolina Panthers at 4 and 8. Panthers 3.5 point favorites. It's 46.5 point over under. Okay. I mean, let's talk about this one. I think there's some secret juice hidden in this matchup. All right. Number one, I like the Carolina Panthers defense against Drew Locke.

And his irresponsible ways on the football field. Isn't that the best way to put? Let's just keep that narrative going. Drew Locke is irresponsible. Oh, he's super irresponsible. He is irresponsible with the football. Who didn't flush the toilet? Drew Lock. Drew lock. Drew lock didn't flush. Drewlock has never once put the milk back in the fridge. Not one time in his life. Or the lid. Oh, the lid is over on the other. And he left the door open. You're darn right. I mean, it's. Thank goodness it beeps. If it didn't beep, it would all be bad. Yeah. He's irresponsible.

And you know what? Tough to trust people that are irresponsible with your fantasy playoffs. Tough to trust the past catching options, although I can love Tim Patrick. But you know what an irresponsible quarterback does? He can forget about. He can forget about something like Tim Patrick. So if I'm starting one, I'm starting Tim Patrick. Yeah. So I think he's okay.

It's been a top 20 wide receiver two of the last three weeks. Yeah, his last five games, he's been a top 36 wide receiver each and every single one of those with the sole exception of the game where they didn't have a quarterback. So, you know, that one is truly deleted. And I think Tim Patrick is. Oh, sorry. I think Tim Patrick is in play. I would. So here, Tim Patrick or Antonio Brown.

I would rather go Tim Patrick. I would play Tim Patrick. I'd play Tim Patrick. So that puts him ahead of the Bengals, ahead of Antonio Brown. He's just been a solid wide receiver option. Yeah, and then Noah Fant, I felt like the involvement last week was good. He's somebody that you can play. Carolina in particular has been really bad against opposing fantasy tight ends, 14.7 points per game, 29th in the league. Fant, I feel like, is fine.

I'd rather play Fant than Dalton Schultz. I'd rather play fan than Austin Hooper. Donald Schultz has a 0% chance to rip off an 80-yard touchdown. Would you play 0%? Because he's never run 80 total yards before. Yeah. Would you play Noah Fant or Eric Ebron, who's had back-to-back 11 targets? Are you asking for a friend? Maybe. I would play Eric Ebron based on the involvement red zone opportunities. Okay.

I love what I've seen from the Ebron targets. Although he is in the doghouse. We haven't brought that up with Deontay Johnson where Mike Tomlin just basically came out and then Mike Tomlin way and said in a very scary way. I was a little scared. I was like, I'm not going to drop a pass. Mike. He just said, yeah, if you don't catch the ball, I'm just going to replace you with somebody that can't. I expect routine plays to be made routinely. Yeah. Or his words. Oh, man. I mean, Mike Tomlin. I love Mike Tomlin. He might be my favorite coach in the NFL outside of like Andy Reed because of.

Yay fun. Tomlin is just, he's he's like the dad. He's like the responsible father that just has all of his children, all of his children's respect, all of them. And you know, you don't want to cross him. He's a, you know, he loves you. That heart to heart with Mike Tomlin after you, you know, you crashed the car or something. You snuck in late. You came back after curfew. And you don't want to disappoint him because you actually respect them. I agree.

I only make the mistake once when Mike Tomlin comes to talk to me. You know who needs Mike Tomlin? Drew Locke. You need the irresponsible kid to get a better father. Oh, no. Oh, my gosh. You're right. He does. You think Denver can, like, solicit just a conversation. Like, Drew Locke walks into the room and in comes Mike Tomlin. Although, I will say this. If Drew Locke has a first cousin, it's probably Mason Rudolph. And Tomlin hasn't really, hasn't really lifted him up.

All right, Teddy Bridgewater against the Denver Broncos defense, not somebody that I'm looking at this week. Especially if you got, you know, DJ Moore is a big play explosive supplemental plan for the Teddy Bridgewater fantasy numbers. We'll be figuring out whether Christian McCaffrey's out there. If he's not, Mike Davis is a must start. If McAfee's out there, you always start it. Yeah, I mean, Denver is a really good matchup right now for running backs.

So I'm really excited for Christopher McCaffrey. Please play. Titans 8 and 4, Jacksonville, 1 and 11. Titans are 7 point favorites. It's a 53 point over under. I like the Titans to cover in this one. I like our editor-in-chief Kyle. He spared no words here. Derek Henry versus Jacksonville is the bloodbath. That's what he wrote. But do we disagree? I don't think we disagree. No, we don't disagree. I'm going up against Derek Yetty.

uh in this week and and it doesn't even matter the rest of the team it's just please rest him tennessee not going to happen i know so basically this is start all your titans tana hill henry brown and davis the the paths have cleared so to speak for it for the anthony furxers and corey davis of the world where johnny smith was out last week adam humphreys is going to be out for the rest of the year

So Corey Davis confidence is at an all-time high, right? Yes, all-time high, and I think you start everybody. This isn't one of those games and one of those matchups where Derek Henry means Tanna Hill will be irrelevant. I think that Derek Henry will have a good game and Tanna Hill will have a good game. Yeah, this week I'm starting every single Titan that is relevant. I don't think I dip down to Furkser. I mean, if I would put Schultz ahead of Furkser and

Schultz isn't that high. On the other side, though, I know we talked about DJ Chark and you're taking it up to 100. James Robinson is the only must start from this team, though. Yes. DJ Chark has finished inside the top 45 one time in seven weeks. So if you want to ride, ride or die with Jason, that's fine. He's the most talented of a bunch of players that don't get consistent production due to...

limiting factors, namely changing rotating quarterbacks. So to put them on the scale of players we've talked about today, I would still start Tim Patrick over him for security, for targets, for those. But I would personally take DJ Chark over the Antonio Browns and Higgins. I'm still going to bet on the talent, and this is a huge plus matchup. Tennessee's secondary is as slow as it gets in the league, and DJ Chark is as fast as it gets in the league.

Colts at 8 and 4 taking on the Las Vegas Raiders at 7 and 5. Colts are 3 point favorites. It's a 51.5 point over under. I'm a little shocked at the line. I would have thought it would be more. Colts 6.5, something like that. The Raiders are the, they're 7 and 5, and they inspire the confidence of a 4-10 team. Now, we've been saying it for a couple of weeks. It's been true for a couple of weeks, but the Raiders have played to their competition.

They've played well against, you know, these divisional matchups against the Kansas City Chiefs, and they've played terribly against the Jets and, you know, poor teams. The Colts are a good team, so I think they'll get up for this game. And I know we brought up Clyde earlier. I was going to bring up Jonathan Taylor at that time. Oh, Johnny. I didn't know that, Mike, you had the confidence that you did with Taylor this week, but I do as well. I think Jonathan Taylor is set up for an absolute smashed week against the Raiders. Raiders are not a good defense.

29th on the year against running backs, 21st over the last six weeks. Jonathan Taylor is set up for success, and the snap counts last week got near the 50% mark, which should be enough against the Raiders. Yeah, and that's, you want Jonathan Taylor to have 65% of the snaps, but 50% in this matchup is, is all it needs. I think Jonathan Taylor is going to get a lot of people to the second round of the playoffs. I agree with you. And one of the funny things is last week I tweeted, nobody.

He's been better in football with yards after the cast and Jonathan Taylor. They just don't throw him the ball very much. And then last week, he housed one of those fourth down receptions. It's like Derek Henry. Like Derek Henry doesn't get very many receptions, but once he is moving. I mean, that's the thing. Those big guys are hard to tackle. If you can get them a head start running, nobody wants to tackle them. Do that. Just get them in space. You make a business decision. But, uh,