Week 3 Matchups + Minsh-eww, In-or-Out - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/25

much against opposing running backs either. Drew Sample somebody that's been brought up because Joe Burrow seems to target the tight-in position. Week one, he's had an affinity for it. He is, yeah, he's definitely interesting. In replacement of Uzama, he immediately saw nine targets last week. That wasn't even a full game now. It was a script where Joe Burrow had to continue to throw. But the Eagles are, look, the Eagles have been giving up points to the tight-end position.

I don't know that I'm starting. Feels like it could be a little bit of a... Drew sample this week, but I've... Trap? Well, I don't think it's a trap. It's just a... There's probably better options that you're more willing to start, but I think that Drew Sample is a good speculative ad at this point. Joe Mixing. Is he still an auto start? He's still an auto start, yeah, but... RB2 auto start.

Yeah, I mean, I would even consider, you know, in the flex range, I know a lot of people were deciding between James Robinson, Joe Mixen. Some people selected James Robinson to play, and I'm sure they're very happy today. Miles Sanders, he's an auto start. He had a great week one, tons of touches. You don't have Jaylon Rager this week. Hopefully Carson Wins can kind of lean on the running game, getting Miles Sanders the ball out of the backfield.

He has set up for success against a Bengals defense that is giving up a ton of fantasy points to opposing running backs, 35 and a half points per game. Cream Hunt and Nick Chub ran all over the Bengals last week. I think that Miles Sanders will touch the ball 20 plus times and have a phenomenal fantasy game. The thing that we need to see in the fantasy football community, this is the Zach Ertz game. It's got to happen, man. I drafted Zach Ertz in quite a few spots.

It has been disappointing that you went in on Zach Kurz because you had to take him in the fifth round. Meanwhile, guys like Noah Fant who were late round guys look like they might be. Their season long prospects are looking much better. But now you have no Alshan Jeffrey. He has been ruled out. Jalen Rager is out. Yes, Deshaun Jackson is the number one wide receiver. But Jason, are you, where are you?

Where's your confidence level with Zach Ertz and knowing that Dallas Goddard is right there to break your heart when he stands up and you thought Ertz caught a touchdown, but it is in fact Dallas God. I hate that their numbers are 88 and 86. It's like, oh, man, it's the wrong. It's always the wrong guy, no matter which one you're rooting for. My confidence level in Zach Ertz is 95%. My confidence level in Goddard is 90%.

If I have these two players, I'm playing them. I think the matchup is fine this week. They're going to be relied on. Goddard has eight plus targets and five straight games going back to the playoffs. And that does not, I mean, it does take away from Zach Ertz, especially around the goal line. But it doesn't mean that Zach Ertz isn't very valuable in his own right. You start both those guys. AJ Green leads the league in air yards, 22 targets in just two games. He talked about being a little bit rusty, had Denzel Ward in the last matchup. AJ Green to me is...

He's a play this week. Yes. Tyler Boyd, he was okay last week. Yeah, he came through with a touchdown at the end of the game. I don't want to play Boyd. You still go green over Boyd? I would still, yes. Deshaun Jackson? I'm going to follow the volume. Yeah, I mean, you say follow the volume, but, you know, Tyler Boyd had eight targets last week, seven for 72. I know the touchdown came late, but.

It looked like a good rapport, and you're going to have the number one guy on AJ Green still. The number one guy. Burrow has struggled throwing to the outside. You know, Tyler Boyd leading the league in slot routes. He's higher probability targets. Yeah, and you look at what Burrow did in college with Justin Jefferson as a slot-wide receiver, and the fact that he's using the tight-in so much, it seems like I think you can play Boyd. Deshaun Jackson, can you confidently play him this week? I believe so, yes. Yes.

His snaps went down tremendously. Or I'm sorry, he was 77% in week two, went up from 38% in week one. And then no Jalen Rager should have a deep shot in this one. Yes. The Texans take on the Steelers. Texans are 0 and 2. Steelers are four point favorites. Implied point total 24.5 for Pittsburgh, 20 for Houston. The real conversation to me in this game is whether or not you have the fortitude to bench Deshaun Watson.

Because no team in football has been worse at protecting the quarterback than Houston. And no team has been better at pressuring the quarterback than Pittsburgh. I heard J.J. Zachary Eastern say Pittsburgh is currently 44% of the time putting a pressure on the quarterback. That's a lot. And then Deshaun Watson, I think you get to the point where you're feeling the pressure regardless of whether it's there with that Houston offensive line and how it's playing.

That does not give you a great deal of confidence. Pittsburgh's defense is outstanding, and you haven't had anybody step up to make a big play for Houston. That seems to be what's missing. You had a goose egg from Will Fuller last week. The Andre Hopkins is no longer there. David Johnson disappeared last week in a tough matchup against Baltimore. It doesn't – I mean, do you have confidence on the Houston side of the ball at all this week? I don't have a ton. I mean, I'm going to play Brandon Cooks. He –

We don't know the status of Will Fuller right now. Well, he's not on the injury report. So he's going to play. That is the status. He's not on the injury report. I will still play Brandon Cooks. I don't trust that. He is not on the injury report. That seems very suspicious to me. He's likely to go back on soon. That's what I mean. So in terms of the confidence play of Deshaun Watson, I mean, at this point.

If the week you were holding on saying, I'm going to play Watson, and now you're starting to get the cold feet, your options are very limited. But let's say, would you rather play Matthew Stafford against Arizona, who might be on the waiver wire? Yep, I would play Stafford. Would you rather play Carson Wentz? No. Against the Cincinnati Bengals. No, I'll take a shot with Watson there. I'm with Jason. All right. And, look, surprisingly, he might be on your waiver wire, especially considering...

The performance, you know where I'm going? Tom Brady. Tom Brady against Denver. Who are you playing? I would play Deshaun Watson. Okay. I would look for the running ability. I'll play Brady. I think Denver's defense has been really solid. Ryan Tannahill is someone I would play over Deshaun Watson. But I'm not out on Deshaun Watson. However, ironically, I don't think I would play Brandon Cooks. Pittsburgh.

Over the last season and a half have just shut down wide receivers. There's really, outside of him, there's not a lot of options I want from the Texan side of the ball. No, this feels like Houston's heading to 0 and 3. If David Johnson does not get a touchdown this week, which let's just say that's 50-50, but if he lands on the side where he doesn't get a touchdown, does he get 10 fantasy points?

Probably through the air. He might just volume of receptions get there. Jay, I'll say this for Brandon Cooks. Pro football focus has him lining up against Steve Nelson. Daniel Jones and Jeff Driscoll with his plan combined for a passer rating of 137.5 when they targeted Steve Nelson. And that's who Brandon Cooks is at least they're projecting him to see the time against him. So that's where I have the confidence that.

The target share is going to be there for Cooks. I have no confidence in Fuller finishing this game. I think Cooks is an okay wide receiver three play with, and of course, Brandon Cooks has giant upside every week. Yeah, and he also has injury risk every week too. Yeah, I just don't have the confidence because the target share last week, there were zero targets to Will Fuller. So, I mean, right now, Will Fuller's out there. But I think you can hear us talk about Houston and draw your own conclusions. It's just the process here. Let's.

Let's start the guys on the other side of the ball. James Connor, you can play him for sure. Yep. Yeah, the Texans have been bad against running backs last year and this year. They've kept right up where they were at. So, yeah, Connor is a start. The Texans have not given up a ton of fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. If James Connor is successful, you might not see the ceiling from Big Ben that you would hope for. Is he, are you like looking to start Big Ben this week? So this is a... Big Ben or Matthew Stafford?

I would go Stafford there, but Big Ben or Deshawn Watson, which side in this matchup, I would lean Big Ben. Yeah, I would too. I lean that way too. I'm really avoiding Watson this week, which might be very impossible for you to do based on where you drafted him, which makes it tough. Deonté Johnson, of course, start of the week for Jason. He's in your lineup, which will, that means Jason's, you're hanging your hat on Deontie Johnson back-to-back weeks. He was you're taking it to a hundred player. One for one. Come on, baby.

These trends continue. If Juju did miss this matchup, is Chase Claypool an interesting shot in the dark? Would you start him over Cook's or Fuller? No. Not yet. I love him sitting on the bench and seeing if those snaps can...

continue to increase, but I'm not going to start him yet. The Jets take on the Colts. Jets are 0 and 2. Colts are 11.5 point home favorites. It's a 44 point over under. That line has gone up with James and Crowder being ruled out. Mike is enjoying every minute of it. That's ridiculous. 11 points? 11.5. Offensive genius, Adam Gase. Oh, it's hyper drive time. Number two. 32nd in points per drive, 31st in plays per game.

So he's slow and inefficient. You know, it's just kind of ridiculous. Here, let me make it simple. Don't start any jets in this game. Yeah. But Andy, no, you shut, you shut your mouth. I mean.

Sure. Frank Gore. Frank Gore if you need to. Braxton Barrios in like super deep desperation plays. Don't tell your friends about it if you do start any jets. But our recommendation to you. Change your team name. I completely hide your identity. Yeah. Not Jason Moore has started Brexton Barrios. Yeah. You know, our recommendation is don't start a jet. All right. Naim Hines only had nine snaps last week. That was insane. The team says they want to get him involved.

But they're 11.5 point favorites. This just seems like smash Jonathan Taylor. Yes. Stay away from Naim Hines. Yeah. And look, do not, do not drop Nahim Hines. No. You just put them on your bench. There will be better days ahead for Hines. But it is not in a matchup where they are 11.5 point favorites. Jason, any chance you want to play Philip Rivers this week? No. T.Y. Hilton? I think you can play T. Y. Hilton. He's.

better than what his fantasy finish has been. We've talked about the 50-yard touchdown that he missed out on. Your outlook on him if he doesn't drop that one ball that landed in his lap would be completely different. So I would start T.Y. Hilton. Through two weeks, the Colts defense, number one, in terms of fantasy points giving up to opposing quarterbacks, I think they're going to stay there. Yeah, they'll do all right against Sam Darnold. The rookie for the Colts, Michael Pittman Jr., would...

Not that we're going to start him, Andy, but I'll ask you, we know where I am on Chase Claypool. Who would you rather stash on your bench right now? Pitman or Claypool? Yeah, it's Pittman because of where he slots into the depth chart. We saw him targeted frequently last a week, which was a little unexpected. We didn't think he'd be active. But with Paris Campbell, you know, being indefinitely out probably for the year, you're looking at Pittman with more opportunity. He's also a touchdown threat.

So I lean that direction. Okay. Are you, are, is anybody starting Moe Alley Cox? Do we have the, the, the courage to do that, even if Jack Doyle is active? If Jack Doyle is active, I will start neither. If Jack Doyle is out, I would be willing to start Mo Alley Cox. He turned 27 last Saturday. He is tall. He turns 27 feet tall. He's still growing. What is that, pinched a grown inch? He's got a lot of pinches. 27 feet tall.

Carolina Panthers. Stop pinching me. You're pinching. You're down there. I just imagine he sounds like Andre the Giant when he talks. That's how Giants. I mean, you know, that's their voice. I've seen movies. That's how Giants suck. That's how Giants suck. We all know that. The authority. The Carolina Panthers at 0 and 2 take on the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers are six and a half point favorites in this one. Justin Herbert will start. No Christian McCaffrey on the Carolina side.

We know how disastrous has been on defense for Carolina in terms of the running backs. So Austin Echler, Joshua Kelly, start them both. Yep. And you can do it with more confidence than if Tyrod Taylor was out there because Echler was heavily involved. I went through and watched every snap from Echler. He looked outstanding this past week in terms of breaking tackles, the extra yard.