Starts of the Week, Wk 1 Matchups, Super Bowl Picks

Head to fanduel.com slash footballers. That's fanduel.com slash footballers. All right, the Ravens, take on the dolphins. Oh, dear. It's in Miami, but the dolphins are six and a half point underdogs. The Vegas line is only 37.5 points. If you look at the implied point total there, that would be 22 points for the Raven 16 for the Miami Dolphins.

Yeah, I just read an athletic article this morning. You know, there's a lot of articles coming out about projecting out the entire season and records for teams. They had the dolphins at a cool one in 15. Oh, wow. So a little generous on the wind total there for Miami. Well, they're trusting the process, man. They certainly are, and I'm trusting the Ravens in this matchup without question. I think it's easy to get put off by the over under.

number, that 37 and a half, maybe because, you know, we're not expecting this to be a barn burner. We're not expecting Miami to be able to march it up and down the field against this Ravens defense, even though they're at home. Ryan Fitzpatrick will get the start. You'll see Lamar Jackson in his sophomore season, and we'll get to see Mark Ingram in a brand new uniform. And he's got a great opportunity this week against Miami.

Mike, you're expecting pretty big things. Miami allowed the fourth most running back rushing yards and third most quarterback rushing yards last year. Yeah, the implied point total and the over under for the Ravens, it doesn't matter because I'm not super excited to start pass catchers from the Ravens. Until Lamar Jackson proves that the quarterback, that his throwing has actually improved, I'm not really interested. Mark Andrews is fine as a lower end, tight end.

Sneed, Miles Boykin, just any of the wide receivers. I have little to no interest. Yeah, you're not starting those guys, but this is a week where you want to keep your eyes on how Lamar Jackson is doing what the offense looks like. How he's doing? Oh, I got you. It sounded weird to me. I just want to know, like, you know, is his day going okay? Yeah, no, is he feeling good? Yeah. But after I know, you know, if he woke up on the right side of the bed, I want to see how Miles Boykin.

is performing on the field for football activities. I apologize. No worries. But yeah, I do. Miles Boykin is one of the guys I'm going to keep an eye on. The only, like this is a game I'm really excited about. Mark Ingram would have been my start of the week if it wasn't for the obvious real start of the week. But I would, I think Mark Ingraham's a must start. And Gus Edwards and Justice Hill.

if you're in a super deep league, you know, if you're playing with a lot of flex or 14, 16 team league, these are sneaky players where, I mean, if they're just running the ball for the whole second half, which that's what the Ravens want to do, they're going to share that around. And I think you could get a sneaky snart. I would not like, so Mark Andrews in this game, if he doesn't give you a huge performance, I'm not going to be surprised.

if they can win this game on the ground. I wouldn't overreact to past catchers on Baltimore this week. And, you know, Lamar Jackson, it will be very interesting. I brought it up yesterday. Warren Sharp talked about this. When he throws on first down, his success rate is nearly double compared to second and third down. He just, you know, when you're put in that position as a rookie, the must throw scenario, you start to see blitzes that you're not familiar with.

Defensive formations you're not familiar with. So I want to see that mature this year for him. Last year from weeks 11 through 17, here were his fantasy point finishes. And all he needed was one passing touchdown for these weeks to be a top 12 guy, 15, 20, 16, 18, 16, 18, 16, 18, 26. You never got this huge performance from Lamar Jackson last year, but you also were never let down. You were always okay to play him. I would expect something more in these.

Yes, scoring totals because he's not going to be stressed as much to throw the football. So we've talked about the Ravens. You know, Mike, you're going to talk about Mark Ingram more later. On the other side of the ball, you know, the unofficial, official, I guess it's the official depth chart that is kind of maybe put out more by a PR team than the head coach. But Kenyon Drake.

There's some positive momentum here for Kenyon Drake. He's listed as number one on the depth chart. There were some reports from beat riders that he's going to touch the ball a ton. So what do you do with Kenyon Drake in week one? Hopefully you don't have to play him. He dropped a little bit in draft so it's possible that he's your running back three or maybe even your four. So hopefully you don't have to play him. Things are going to be better for Kenyon Drake over the season.

I like how they're talking about, you know, getting him a bunch of touches. But week one against the Ravens is not very interesting to me. So Kenyon Drake, at home against the Ravens, we've got him on the running back three fringe edge. Rashad Penny above him at home against Cincinnati. Jordan Howard with the committee above him in our rankings right now for week one. Because of the game scripts where both.

Like both Penny and Chris Carson could have monster games. Both Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders could have huge games. They're in very positive matchups. The biggest over-under in the week is the Monday night game Saints Houston. Would you play Latavius Murray or Kenyon Drake? Latavis Murray. Ooh. I mean, that's close. I, and, you know, don't hear what I'm not saying because I still love Kenyon Drake. I would be willing to.

make a cheap trade offer for him. His value is very low right now. Nobody's looking to start him this week against Baltimore. And I still think he, I think the talent will win out over Belage in that backfield. And in general, you're not going to be super happy because I don't think the dolphins are going to score a lot of points all season long, but that's not to say he can't be an important flex player for your roster. What happens emotionally to you, Mike?

if Ryan Fitzpatrick comes out in week one at home and torches the Baltimore rapists and is the number one fantasy quarterback for a second straight year after week one. What would happen to my emotional state? I mean, would you come in with the glasses and the chain shirtless? Would you be happy to see this happen? Or would you be? Oh, would I would be ecstatic.

Absolutely. That would be fantastic because that's great for football. Sorry, Baltimore. Your fans, but if Ryan Fitzpatrick does it again, does it with this rag tag motley crew against the Ravens defense, then it's just, it's fantastic. It also would mean that the bird alert himself. Albert Wilson had a good game. Well, just remember last year, week one, that was against, I mean, their terrible team was against.

the unbelievably difficult to score on New Orleans Saints. And he put up 48 points. Go get him, Fitzpatrick. We're all rooting for you, buddy. We are. Except for the coaching staff, like the GM of the dolphins will be screaming. No! Get it in there. Well, I said one in 15. So week one could be that one. All right. No. Not projecting the upset.

All right, let's move on to the Bills, taking on the Jets. The Jets are three-point home favorites. Andy's almost upset of the week. I like it. I actually picked the Bills to win this game. Yeah, I think the Bills do win this game, and that's not to say I'm not optimistic about what the New York Jets have in terms of fantasy production this year. I think Robbie Anderson, we all like his future, but right now he's dealing with, you know,

barely getting back from an injury. It's a very difficult matchup for him against Radavius White, one of the best cornerbacks in football. The Buffalo Bills last year, they were so far in a way the best team when it came to, you know, fantasy points against at the quarterback position, they dominated. Fantasy quarterbacks last year, 12.7 points on a weekly basis. That was first in the league.

They were number one in terms of not giving up, you know, fantasy points to the tight-in position. And right now the Jets don't even have their best tight-in and Chris Hernden to start the year due to the suspension. They were fourth against, you know, fantasy wide receivers. This is a good defense. Yes. I think they can travel. Defense, you know, they say defense travels. And it's an interstate battle here. And I think the bills, they get this win. Josh Allen and company with his new toys at wide receiver, John Brown.

Cole Beasley. Yeah. We'll see that backfield we talked about earlier. So let's talk about the fantasy storyline number one to me, which is what happens to Levy on Bell. Yes. What kind of workload does he receive? I think there were some comments yesterday. From Bell? From Bell. Yes. Saying he literally told the team, give me as much as you can. Yeah, he's got his money. He doesn't. He wants 50 touches, guys. I want him to have 50 touches as well.

I mean, certainly. Look, this is actually a good, this is a really good matchup for him. While you brought up how great the bills were against the passing game, they weren't that good against the run last year. Now, we can't use last year's data. There's so much changeover on, you know, a team level for a defense. But some of those things still will be in play. A lot of the same players, obviously, same regime running the show. So this is a home game.

where you are projected to win. And if you lose, if you're right that the bills win, I don't expect it to be a blowout, you know, barn burner type. So that means Lev Bell's going to be able to get the ball all game long.

at home against the team that they allow you to beat them on the run. They don't want you to beat them through the air. So I think, look, I mean, obviously everyone's playing Love Bell that drafted him, but I think he gets off to a strong start this week. Yeah, I think he probably scores. I mean, the bills, they gave up 17 touchdowns to running backs last year. That is the one area that they were beatable. They are at home. Pace of play is going to be a problem for fantasy production. That's what I'm watching for is.

Did Adam Gays learn anything from this preseason when his team and specifically his quarterback looked outstanding when they were playing at a high rate of speed? Because as the head coach of Miami in his whole tenure there, they were last in pace of play, but not just last, but outrageously.

outrageously on the bottom. Outrageously last. Outrageously last. Outrageously. Outrageously. Super. Does he turn that around because he feels like he has the talent to actually run a faster pace of play? And so, Mike, you're kind of off of Robbie Anderson in week one with the matchup. What about the Bill's wide receivers? John Brown, Cole Beasley, Zay Jones, you know.

Josh Allen goes on the road in this game. He's our consensus QB 22 in week one. You know, a traveling Josh Allen, other options that we like better. Yeah. What do you expect from the bill's offense? I'm fine playing Josh Allen. In fact, I'm doing that in a few leagues. At the running back position, I'm going to let it sort itself out first. Even if you got over excited and spent the high draft pick on Devon Singletary, I'm not putting him out here in week one.

I want to see what they're going to do. And the nice thing about the wide receivers, I think John Brown could have a fine game, and we'll see if those targets actually keep going for Cole Beasley or not. But you took them so late in the draft that you aren't forced to make that decision this week, which is nice. So the only Buffalo bill player I am starting is Josh Allen. I think that the bills are a perfect wait and see situation for fantasy.

There are some teams that you have more guaranteed understanding of what's going to happen. I want to see what this wide receiver distribution looks like on this roster. So I'm not, you know, I think there are better options than Josh Allen in week one, but I'm optimistic on the season. Any other thoughts in this matchup, Jason, before we move on? No, I echo what Mike was saying. And I think because of the rushing baseline, while you might not get one of those top five performances out of Josh Allen, I think he is going to be relatively safe.

All right, the Redskins travel to Philly to take on the Eagles. The Eagles are nine and a half point favorites. It's a 45 and a half point over under in this game. Now, while I am not predicting an upset, this is the kind of game that jumps off the page to me as maybe something different happens here than we're all expecting. Because there's not a lot of positivity around the Redskins, the offense, the...