Starts of the Week + Wk 15 Matchups, Gut Feelings

My running back start of the week is actually Dalvin Cook against Miami. I think he's going to be forced fed. You have the offensive coordinator change. The matchup looks good enough. And I think there'll be enough baseline past catching totals for him that she'll be really happy that you started him this week. Dalvin Cook, I've got him at number eight on the week. So I'm excited about Dalvin Cook this week. Jason, your running back start is... My running back start this week is Chris Carson.

It's taken me a while to believe to buy in to any Seattle running back because you just can't seem to trust them. But look, since he had the injury back in week 10, he is an absolute workhorse. 17 carries, 16 carries, 13 carries, 22 carries. He looks great. He runs the ball hard. He's used around the goal line. Three touchdowns in the last four games, and those are one apiece. And now he goes and plays the San Francisco 49ers.

On the season, they are middle of the pack against the run, a divisional game. I think Chris Carson is one of those players that's worked himself into a must start especially. I mean, I would start Chris Carson in a bad matchup. And so I'm definitely going to start him if he's playing against the San Francisco 49ers. Do you read anything into the fact that 49ers managed to be the first team to shut Philip Lindsay down last week? No. And...

I mean, it was surprising because Lindsay had been leading the league per touch, and I think he was 16 for 30. Yeah, I'm not worried about that. I mean, every player has bad games from time to time. I don't think Seattle all of a sudden magically turned it around and said, now we're the best at stopping running backs. And if you wanted San Francisco. Yes, San Francisco. And if you wanted.

to find two more opposite styles of running back? It would be Chris Carson and Philip Lindsay. One is the sneaky fast quick guy. One is the Here I am try to tackle me. I'm running straight into you. That was a quote. That was an audio clip. Wide receiver start of the week Mike is going with, believe it or not, Tyler Boyd, Cincinnati wide receiver has a juicy.

defensive back matchup against Nick Nelson, slot DB from Oakland. I can see the upside there. Oakland is vulnerable. Nelson is vulnerable. So Tyler Boyd, Mike, start of the week at the wide receiver position. Yeah, I like that. I think, you know, if you're in a multi-quarterback league, Odrisk. Oh, multi-quarterback? Yeah. If you're in a multi-quarterback league, O'Driscoll, can hang with the Oakland Raiders. Should be able to. I have Robert Woods.

in a bounce-back performance. He's my start of the week against Philadelphia. I think it's a great matchup. Obviously, Philadelphia's secondary has been struggling. Sean McVeigh wants to come back out here and perform, and I'm buying into the full rebound narrative. Nick Foles and company are not going to be able to keep up. And Jared Gomp, Robert Woods, Brandon Cooks, they're going to put together a game at home, get the W. And I think Robert Woods is going to have a monster game to the tune of...

100 plus yards in a touchdown. I've got him at 8 on the week. Big Robert Woods fan. My start of the week is Julian Edelman. I mean, I think that the Pittsburgh New England game is going to have a lot of points scored. New England right now, according to Vegas, is the fourth highest projected point total. And Julian Edelman has been back into his role. Last week, 9 for 86 and a touchdown.

When I look at the fantasy playoffs, everyone's got good teams. The people that lose are those guys that just had the huge dud week. Their players that were great just had, oh, they're going to be on this week's pooped in their big boys' pants segment. I would just be really surprised in a game like this.

if Julian Edelman is not a safety valve, a go-to guy. Him and Grunk will have a great game, and so Julian Edelman, I think, is as safe as they come. He might not have the biggest blow-up game, but he's going to put up enough points to help you win in the semifinals. So I'm rolling out Julian and Edelman in almost all situations.

All right, tight-in start of the week. Mike went with Ian Thomas, who has 19% target shared the past two weeks since Greg Olson left. Ian Thomas tied in for the Carolina Panthers. Good game last week. And Mike's wondering if Cam's shoulder is having him favor and prefer the big man Ian Thomas. So when you're at the bottom of the barrel for tight-end, Mike wants to go with Ian. Yeah, and that's the issue is the bottom of the barrel. Yeah, that's not fun down there. It is not. My start of the week.

We kind of talked about it earlier. It's David Njoku. He is not a guarantee. He could crap out like he did two weeks ago, three for eight. Or like three weeks ago, five for 63 in a touchdown. We just saw Denver torched at the tight end position. I believe in Baker. And once you're outside of those top six or seven tight ends and you're middling around with, okay, do I keep rolling out David and Joku, who you have on your lineup and you've had two bad weeks in a row? And you're going,

I think I need to pivot off of David Njoku and look to the waiver wire. I would not. I would keep rolling with David and Joku, hope for the touchdowns as opposed to going out there and, you know, picking up Chris Herndon or trying to get some. Do you like Injoku or Vance McDonald more this week? Vance McDonald's I have right now. Let me check because that's a high scoring game. And I've got Vance McDonald's.

Ironically, one spot below David Injoku. So real close, but you go with Injoku, you start of the week. I've got Jalen Samuels, you know, the running back. This is my trick last week. Well, I got to bring him to mind because if you're in Yahoo Leagues or a league format that allows Jailen Samuels to be a tight-in, which is what he practiced as at the combine, last week, you got a pretty nice day from your tight-in Jailen Samuels. So I'm going to cheat and make him by start of the week.

Bring him to mind once more because, look, you're going to play your big boys, right? Kelsey, Ebron, Erds, Grunk, Kittle. Jared Cook versus Jalen Samuels. I'm playing Jalen Samuels. I'm playing Samuels over everybody else at the tight-end position. So if you've got the cheat code, continue to roll it out there. Mike's quarterback start of the week. I guess he's buying into my Robert Woods narrative is Jared Garf. Jared Garf. Actually, I don't know if you know this.

I had Brandon Cooks in as my start of the week. And you changed it? I changed it because you went with Robert Woods. I didn't want to have both. But Woods and Cooks are both going to be great. Which speaks to Goff. Yeah. Jared Goff, here's the thing. If you have him, you might be out of the playoffs because of last week. That's very true. If you played him last week, he was not good. Pick him up off the waivers when someone rage dropped him. Yeah. But Philly secondary is, quote, just the worst, according to Mike. And he's back home. We talked about it earlier.

I love him. My quarterback start of the week, despite the almost upset prediction. Because these things are counter, they don't matter. The difference between what happens in reality and what happens in fantasy, they're very, very different for running quarterbacks. And I've got Lamar Jackson against Tampa Bay. He's the named starter. He always does enough in fantasy. I've got him over Rogers or Baker or Winston this week. Lamar Jackson, 70 plus rushing yards in four consecutive starts. It's been the same narrative every week.

He will do enough to make you happy. And then if he does extra, you will be very happy. That is the recipe for success for Lamar Jackson. Yeah, one of these weeks he's going to pop. And I agree. Even if they lose the game, he could be fine in fantasy because once again, fantasy scoring for quarterbacks are broken. I'm glad we agree. I haven't heard of this guy that you're bringing up. Well, it's the playoffs. You've got to put your best foot forward. Shake what your mama gave you. Andrew Luck.

Ever, you, I'm surprised you haven't heard of him. He was the number one draft pick. He was coming at it. You remember? Yeah. A couple years ago, he's pretty good. Vagely, vaguely. Yeah. Anyways, Andrew Luck. Linerd? Is that, is that who you're talking about? No, Matt Liner? No, Matt Linerd. I would not start him this week. Andrew Larkis.

Russell, that's the year. Has been a top 10 quarterback in nine of the last 10 games. I'm not going with start of the weeks in the semifinals, and we talked about this beforehand, I'm not looking for a guy off the waivers you're going to play. This is, this is fantasy. You have your quarterbacks. I'm telling you who's going to have a great game. And a lot of people are worried about the Dallas defense. I'm not.

It doesn't appear that Vegas is saying that Dallas defense is going to stop Andrew Luck either. I think this game will have it scoring. But to be a top 10 quarterback in nine of the last 10 games, that is rare for anyone. And his only bad game was the Putre game against Jacksonville two weeks ago. He's getting it done. I think you have to start Andrew Luck. I'm not worried about him at all, and he's going to have a huge game.

Jason Moore's Ironclad, locked and loaded, 100% guaranteed boom boom kicker of the week. I know my boom booms have been an absolute blood sucker. Okay. But this week changes everything with the Ravens Justin Tucker. Big things from Dustin Tucker. Oh, it's going to be huge. Over under 10 vehicles. Over. Over, of course. Don't be ridiculous. Otherwise, it would just be one boom.

This is a boom, boom, boom, locked and loaded, fully guaranteed. Ironclad. Yeah. Yeah, you just can't, you can't miss. Justin Tucker. Did you know that there were 18 missed field goals or extra points last week? I believe it. I mean, it was one of the worst. What game was it where? We were watching the studio and it was basically over because someone needed a field goal. Yeah. And I'm like, not this year. Yeah, it was like, I don't, this game's going to overtime. I don't trust any kickers this year. Yeah, you would have thought baby Josh was kicking these things. I mean, left, right, center, all over the place.

Center is fine. That's true. Center's where you want to be for the people. No, no, right into the center. Oh, like that would hurt. Right into the rear end of the center. It's not good. No. They kicked pretty hard nowadays. I'm trying out. I'm going to try it. Check out draft.com slash ballers if you're going to play some daily this week. And thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow. All the injury updates and the rest of the matchups. Goodbye, Footland. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast.

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