New Year's Eve MEGAshow + Week 17 Matchups, Motivation Levels - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/31

I've got a Mr. Ariens, Bruce, if I can call you Bruce, I have a bone to pick. I was listening to him talk. I was talking about this. This was yesterday. He's asked about Mike Evans, and he was gushing over Mike Evans. He said he's never coached a superstar wide receiver, less selfish than Mike Evans. Whoa. Whoa, Bruce. Come on. Bruce. Come on, Mr. Hyperbole.

Bruce. Larry Fitzgerald has a bone to pick. Do you forget about Larry Fitzgerald? Nah, all right. I'm off my soapbox. He is really good at the hyperbole, though. Oh, yeah, yeah. He's such a fun quote. I love Arians for that reason. Yeah. I was playing some Madden with my son. I took him down. I'm just throwing that out there. Good. No mercy. I was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the game.

went with the color rush dark jerseys looking really nice uh bruce arians is as red as a tomato in that game in that game and in real life his sideline shot was true to form they got his they got his hue correct in that game funny oh it was spectacular all right rob gruncowski who i used a lot in madden last night to much success he has the tied in seven and points per game since week six in a viable play

Once again. And then Haydenhurst has kind of shown up in the end zone in the last couple of games. I think he's fine. Would you play Hayden Hurst or Big Earv? I'd play Big Earth. I'd play Big Earth. Would you play Haydenhurst or Dalton Schultz? Haydenhurst. All right. All right. Dalton has is medium side. Yep. Yeah. But that's saying something. All right. The Green Bay Packers is 12 and 3, taking on the 8 and 7 Chicago Bears. This game.

Has a motivation level of five for both teams. The Packers need to win to lock up the buy, and there's only one buy per league or conference, I mean. So this is big and important for them, and then the Bears need to win to clinch a playoff berth. So they can also clinch with an Arizona loss. Yeah, it's ironic because both of these teams can lose this game and still have it go their way. They don't have to win, but...

winning secures it. So they are playing for the promise. So Aaron Rogers in company, I think Rogers is the MVP, by the way. I think he deserves it. His numbers are insane this year. All you had to do is draft a quarterback in the first round to get it done. If that's what got it done, then that was a good pick. Yeah, he says it. I mean, he comes out and says, of course not, you know, but the results are 44 touchdowns.

Five interceptions. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. His numbers are astronomically good. Aaron Jones, not listed on the injury report, A.J. Dillon, both of those players could have a impact in this game once again. However, if Jamal Williams was active, I would really be off of A.J. Dylan. Yeah, Jamal Williams limited on Wednesday with his quad injury. But I agree. If Jamal is out, I think AJ Dillon is in play as a flex.

Oh, yeah. Robert Tunyon did not score last week, and therefore he was disappointing, but I would still put him in your lineup. Yeah, I mean, we've talked about how touchdown giving the Chicago Bears are to the tight-end position. Tunyon is a great play this week. So this means Tunian will drop a touchdown based on the last couple of weeks? I think Tunian's good enough to catch a ball. Okay. And then the Chicago side.

David Montgomery has been unbelievable. His opportunity since week 12, 17, 21, 15, 34, 25 last week. And again, was benched because that game was out of hand. So 25 touches is almost a lock. Yeah, Montgomery in play. Did you guys realize that Tunyon was working on a five-game streak of catching a touchdown? I knew it had been pretty good. We have the nickname from Al Borland over there. Oh, yeah. TD Tunion. T.D. Tunion. T. D. T. T.

D. Tunyon. Yeah. He's been, he's been very good. But I remind you, 44 touchdowns. Yep. For one, Aaron Rogers. Unbelievable. Alan Robinson. Yep. He will have Jair Alexander for a portion of this game. It hurt Robbie Anderson. It hurt Corey Davis. So my expectations for Robinson are lowered, actually, this week. Yeah. I mean, I think he'll end the week.

probably as a solid wide receiver too, but he's not a guy you're going to sit. You just minimize your expectations, but you're definitely starting Alan Robinson. Yeah, Alan Robinson to me is, he is an elite level wide receiver. Robbie Anderson and Corey Davis, they're good, but Alan Robinson is much better. All right, the Raiders, seven and eight against the Denver Broncos, five and ten. Neither of these teams have anything to play for at this point.

So where do we go with our, is this just going to be played out like a normal game? Or we're going to see more of the young faces out on the field because you have an opportunity to give them some game time. The Raiders are two-point favorites. The Raiders smashed the Broncos in week 10. I mean, Drew Locke is going to, you still have to evaluate on Drew Locke and this offense. So I don't think that, I don't think Denver is going to do anything different than they would have if they were trying to play to win.

Okay. Jason, do you agree? Yeah, I mean, this is probably a fine game for fantasy. Even though the motivation is going to be low for both teams, neither one has anything to play for other than just personal pride and divisional matchup. The reality is these are two defenses that aren't scary. And in a game where you can kind of de-gaff, you might end up with some good fantasy options. You don't always have to be...

The most motivate, you know, a lot of times you have to win to get in and you get blown out. That happens. You know, the pressure gets to you. Here, you know, it's like there's no pressure on either team so they can go out. Maybe Drew Locke has his best performance because there's nothing riding on it. So I'm not afraid of this game regardless of the motivation. Josh Jacobs, 34 yards from 1,000. Melbourne Gordon, I started the week at the running back position. Jacobs had a huge game against Denver in Week 10. Nelson Aguilar is a play to me.

Jerry Judy had 15 targets last week. Ooh, and a lot of drops. Jerry, what's your evaluation, Jason? You are of the show. You are Mr. Jerry Judy. You have been the conductor of that bandwagon. Yeah. How do you feel about the season for Jerry Judy? I am disappointed that it was not a rookie breakout season.

But what we saw, I mean, was plenty of great tape getting open, great route runner, exactly what we expected. I think it's because of the quality of current year fantasy success from guys like Justin Jefferson, big stretches from T. Higgins and some of the other big rookies, C.D. Lamb and Claypool that Jerry Judy is a massive disappointment for fantasy, but I still think he's going to be an absolute.

excellent, excellent player. Not every rookie wide receiver comes in and just dominates year one. I do think it will be complicated in Denver because you will get Cortland Sutton back. And KJ. Hamler has flashed almost equally with Jerry Judy on that offense to me. And so. And Tim Patrick has been really the one in the absence of Sutton. There's not a clear path to that guaranteed year to jump, I think. But that is where.

The draft capital, the money, the name, all those things genuinely have an effect on going into next year. He will be the two to Cortland Sutton's one to start. And that's not to say he will retain it, but he will be given the opportunity because of where they draft them. All right. Jacksonville 1 and 14 taking on the 10 and 5 Colts. Jacksonville is motivated to lose. They want Trevor Lawrence. They're already locked. Yeah, they are locked. They don't have to do anything.

Oh, that's true. So they could play disruptor in the division. So maybe we upgrade that to a three. All right. And the Colts need to win. So what is their situation? The AFC South, they win it with a win and a Tennessee loss. And they get a playoff berth if they win and then they need either Baltimore or Cleveland or Miami to look. The Colts aren't going to make the playoffs. The Colts can win this game. And if all of the other 10-win teams win their games, which because they're not facing each other.

The Colts can win and still be out. However, they can also win their division. So they need one of, essentially they need Tennessee, Baltimore, Cleveland, or Miami to lose. I'm just not sure any of those happen. I certainly don't think Baltimore, Cleveland, or Miami are going to lose. I think Cleveland could definitely lose. Sorry, Browns fans, but the Steelers are still a good defense. You're dealing with COVID issues.

Yeah, I mean, certainly always possible. Colts are 14 point favorites in this game, 49.5 point over under. Jacksonville actually beat them in week one. Their only win of the year, kind of irrelevant to this point. Gardner was a player. Right. Wild to me in this is looking. What's the opposite of a comeback player of the year? Because I'm trying to figure out what a word to give Gardner. Like a go-away player of the year? Yep. That works. The numbers that are absolutely striking to me.

the Colts defensive numbers against fantasy positions. Because on the season, 11th against quarterbacks, 12th, running back, 17th wide receivers, six against tight ends. Those are out. That's an outstanding defense. But then if you look at recent history, 30th against the quarterback, 25th against the running back, 29th against fantasy wide receivers, they have fully collapsed in terms of becoming a plus matchup.

for fantasy purposes. So in week 17, are you taking that Darya Gumba Waleh shot, Jason? I think it's fine to put Dari out there because the volume will be there. 19 opportunities last week. Exactly. We know he's going to get the ball. I'm fine with him. Buy yourself 10 fantasy points from Dari this week. I will buy 10. I will buy 10 too. But I don't know that I would buy 12. So it's like, you know, high. Can I get you to 11?

High floor, no ceiling. He's just standing on a tall platform. All right. But what about the Colts wide receiving options? I looked at them for my starts of the week because I love the matchup in an important game. I mean, I think the Colts wide receivers are going to be great, but I don't know who it's going to be Hilton. Is it going to be Pittman? This is a matchup where Pittman could take one of his. It's going to be Pascal. Absolutely. So you don't know where, but I do think you can capitalize

on this matchup, on the motivation. And, you know, if I had to pick one, it would be T.Y. Hilton, who's still been pretty solid. I know while we were watching last week, it was like, oh, he's not on the field so much when we want him out there every week. But it's been the whole season. He played more snaps this last week than he did during his three-week great stretch. He's brought in in certain situations. I still like T.Y. Hilton a lot. I would go Hilton. And the reason last week doesn't concern me because if you watch that game.

The pressure that Pittsburgh can still put on Phillip Rivers caused the Hilton routes to be few and far between, the deep routes. So I don't think the pressure that Jacksonville puts on the Colts offensive line is going to be as significant. DJ Chark, don't know if he's going to play. I don't think you really have options on the Jacksonville side outside of Daray as a desperation play. If Chark is upgraded to he practices, you know.

Thursday, Friday, are you throwing him back in? Probably not. Even though I wanted to put him as a taking it to 100 with the injury and with what he's been this year, that was more of a shot to beat you with your own, my guy. Jonathan Taylor, 81 yards from 1,000. So he's a great play in this game. And there you go. The Chargers at 6 and 9 take on the 14 and 1 Chiefs are motivation level of 1. They don't care, and they're also going to bench all of their players. Patrick Mahomes.

Isn't going to play. I doubt Lev Bell plays. Clyde's not going to play. Tyreek's not going to play. Kelsey's not going to play. No. They're going to take a week off. And, well, two weeks. Yeah, that's true. And the Chargers, on the other hand, are divisional matchup.

They could go to seven and nine. I think that matters, you know, a little bit. It definitely does. In terms of Herbert's first year, the coach needs to try to hold on to that job, which is in question. Coach Lynn needs to win. If Anthony Lynn loses to the backups and putters out on the season, I think there's a chance you could replace him. Yeah. And now one of the issues here is Herbert struggled last week and you have to connect it to not only the absence of Keenan Allen.

but the absence of Hunter Henry, who was on the COVID list. Oh, Hunter. Hunter may or may not be back. Yeah, we'll see. What else is going on? I love Mike Williams. He's my start of the week. Yeah, I mean, the matchup is really good for Mike Williams, for Tyrant Johnson, which means Guyton's going to have a big game. But, yeah, you could take your shot on these wide receivers the same way you can on the Colts wide receivers. You're not exactly sure who it's going to be. Austin Eckler should have an...