Starts of the Week + Week 11 Breakdown, Heartfelt Apologies

So I want to wait and see. Okay, D.D. Westbrook or Devante Parker against Buffalo? I'll play Devante Parker. That one. D.D. Westbrook, here's what you need from him. You need a lot. He's the lowest in the NFL averaged up the target. It's 6.1 yards. He's a PPR guy. So he has to be, he has to come back from injury and then tack on a pile of them. I don't know if he gets in the end zone. I just don't, I think the name is.

not worthy of the praise yet. It's just my opinion. Sure. He's averaged 45 yards a game, and he's talented. But Chris Connolly's there, too. Chris Connolly's been active and involved. He's been active. And Leonard Fournett has, he's going to be the main man. Leonard Fornett, RB5 on the week, that's where we have him, Marlon Mac. Where are you out with Marlon Mac? It hasn't been smooth sailing big games lately.

No, it hasn't been smooth sailing big games, but Mac has still been very good. I mean, you're talking about, you know, he's not a guy that's going to finish the week at running back 40. Andy's face is saying that he has not been good, you know. I'm just reading this line. This was a shock to me. Since week seven, he's the RB 39. Wow. Averaging 10 fantasy points per game.

Now, is that on a point per game? That can't be true. No, I don't think that's, I'm going to vet that because I think when, let me see. And the thing about it is, it's just touchdowns. He has probably, he has three rushing touchdowns, but you look back 74 yards, 89, 76 with a touchdown. He's been perfectly fine. He's just not giving you burst games like you were, you were hoping for it. That can't be right. But you're right. Yeah, I mean.

Three touchdowns on the season. He had that Monster Week 1 that really defined where his placement is on the season long totals. But I think that, you know, Jacksonville is a pretty competent defense. So I wouldn't expect a ceiling play here for Marlon Mack. Yeah, I mean, I think he could have a really good game. I do. I don't, Jacksonville isn't a, I don't think you have to be just a.

the worst defense in the world to give up a good game. They aren't a shutdown rush defense. And I think with Jacobi Berset back, the Colts offense running well, we don't expect T.Y. Hilton necessarily to be back. So I think they're going to rely on Mack, and I think he could have a fine game. How do you feel about Zach Pascal, who should be the one again? He did not come through last week, but mostly because Brian Hoyer did not come through.

against the Miami Dolphins, but now you have Jacoby Brissette. I don't have any confidence in Zach Pascal. Marlon Mack is the running back. It's still bad these last four weeks from seven on, but he is the running back 19. Yeah, I would say if you look at the season and the expectations in week one, would you say that you are disappointed in Marlon Mc? He hasn't had a top 10 finish at all since week one? I mean, sure.

He had a 36, 51, 26, 30. I mean, he had a running back 11 and running back 12. So to say top 10, it seems accurate. It seems nitpicking a narrative. He's had, you know, multiple top, running back one week. No, but you say top 12. It's not nitpicking a narrative. It's saying that like, you know, when you look at all the players that rank above him or staples of your team, you expect them to litter in some weeks that win you weeks. Sure. How do you feel about Leonard four net over? Josh Jacobs, four straight.

How about Leonard Fournette the last four weeks? Has he been? Yeah, I mean. Because he's the running back 17, whereas Mac's the running back 19 over these last four weeks. Yeah. So, I mean, they are guys where. But he didn't, he didn't really beat you up. Mac beat you up a little bit in the last six weeks. To be fair, to Marlon Mac, the last two weeks, he hasn't had his starting quarterback. Yeah, that's true. He's got him back, right? Yep.

And he's going to be played on your team. So maybe we're wasting our breath. Pascal Jason, do you have confidence in him? No. No. Okay. And Devin Funches could be returning to practice. Do we even have the drop in here, Brooks? I don't know. But I mean, Devin S. scrumptious? Maybe on the first board. Ooh. Let's see. Let's see. It's been a long time. Man, we've gotten scrumptious. Nothing.

We've got nothing. It's better that way. He's got to earn his way back out. I was trying to buy you time. There's nothing I could do. All right, Broncos Vikings. Broncos are 3 and 6, Vikings 7 and 3. Brandon Allen gets another opportunity. Kurt Cousins at home in this one and they're 10.5 point favorites. It's a 40.5 over under. And in case you're curious, that means the Broncos are not projected to score very many points in this one. We've talked a little bit about Philip Lindsay this week.

confidence. He's our RB-19 on the week, whereas Dalvin Cook on the other side, the RB2, he's been a top five running back seven out of nine games, an absolute monster this season. Do you think Adam Thielen will be back this week? Because I do not. I do not either, but I think we need more information as the week goes on to be sure about that. Did not practice on Wednesday.

Yeah, I mean, I guess I wouldn't have necessarily expected him to practice on Wednesday. Today's practice is going to be, if he's a did not participate today, then I don't think he plays. I think you might, speaking to Thielen alone, I guess it does depend on the practice reports, but if he didn't practice Wednesday, and two weeks ago he played one play and left the field, and you play a Denver defense ranked third against the pass, are you just hands off a Thielen? I mean, is there any reason that you're messing with that kind of risk in week 11?

I mean, the reason is the upside of a healthy Thielen, who is obviously a great fantasy option. But I think you're right. I think there is a David Johnson situation here where there's a lot of risk built into actually playing Thielen if he's active. All right. By the way, Vikings are still leading the league in highest rush play percentage. So they've been able to win. They're seven and three. They've been able to carry out the Mike Zimmer goal, run the football.

And then we've still had some, you know, a really efficient Kirk Cousins. Do you play Cousins at home in this game? Are you willing to mess around with that? Or is he just kind of a... I'm not willing to play Cousins at home. I think that the Denver Broncos defense is starting to click with Vic Fangio. At the beginning of the year, they were supposed to be this great defense and they were trash. And it was like, what is going on in Denver? And I think we got this...

inclination that Denver is a really easy opponent. They were losing a lot of games in general, and then fantasy-wise, a lot of, you know, huge running back games against Denver early on. But really, I think over the last few weeks, we've seen a defense that is playing very well, clicking, understanding the system, and I don't think Kirk Cousins has been good enough to warrant playing in a non-plus matchup, and I view this.

as a non-plus matchup. Now, having said that, Jason, would you play Kirk Cousins or Philip Rivers? Is it? Come on, man. Oh, fuck, man. So, Philip Rivers, who I hate now, I didn't, but last week I made him, I started the week, and he looked terrible. He looked washed. He looked awful, is, and was on my team. Any other adjectives you want to use for...

Poor old Phil. Thesaurus awful, okay? And all of them. But I am playing him this week. Oh, you're back. You're back on the horse. I'm not happy about it. But he's playing against Kansas City. And that, you know, basically I had to come down to this decision. But you're doing that over Carson Wins. I am doing that over Carson Wince. And I'm also, you could throw another name out there because it was really my only pivot. It was Kyle Allen.

And I just didn't have the confidence in Kyle. I know Atlanta, you know, they could be beat. But I would rather go with a vet in a high scoring game against Kansas City than Kyle Allen. Can I add to what you're saying and just say I'm very much looking forward to seeing how this plays out? It's a Monday night game. And one of the reasons I'm enjoying it is Kyle Allen will already have played. Yeah. And the thing is, is we're playing against each other on.

Monday night, you have my homes. I have Phillip Rivers, so it's not going to go well for me. It'll be fun. Speaking of Allen's, we got Brandon Allen. Okay, we've got Brandon Allen. I don't mind playing Cortland Sutton. He feels like a very stable, you know, slightly better Tyler Boyd situation where you know he's going to get the majority of the target share. Yeah, over 25%. Yeah, I don't mind playing him at all. Jason, you're the highest on him this week at wide receiver 15. I think it makes sense.

Philip Rivers, we have running back 19, like I said. Royce Freeman. Philip Lindsay. Yeah, sorry. Philip Rivers on the mind. Royce Freeman and RB 30 on the week. It's tough to have confidence about either of those guys because scoring opportunities should be very limited in Minnesota. And then the Vikings defense just giving up 16 total points to running backs. Both of them seem like real hesitant. I'm stuck with them plays this week. Noah Fant. Yes. Noah Fant seems.

intriguing. Last two weeks, a 27% and 22% target share. Also known as the two weeks without Emmanuel Sanders. Exactly. And it changes things a lot, just like it did on the positive side for the 49ers. Is Noah Fant somebody that you are in your streaming consideration this week, Mike? Yeah. Oh. Sorry, Jason or Mike, either one. Oh, Jason's very excited to talk about Fant. He is definitely in the streaming consideration because what you look for in a streamer.

is someone with the opportunity, right? Who is actually involved in the game plan in a passing role? And there aren't many guys out there that are available on waivers that are as involved in the offense as Noah Fanta is. The problem is he's really shown himself to be a rookie and not produce as much as you'd like on each target coming his way. And now the targets are worse. So that's the downside. The upside is opportunity.

talent and opportunity are there. So I am willing to have him in consideration. That's not to say that there are guys... I'm very curious about him. You know, last week was the break or the last game you played was the breakout. The week before he had nine targets. Right. So when you say the targets are worse, you mean that in the context of Brandon Allen's throwing them. Exactly. Which is, it's hard to call any target worse than a Joe Flacco target. Diffical, but I've done it. He also saw a...

a nice uptick in snaps throughout the middle of the season. He was basically playing on about 65%. Then once Sanders was gone, that jumped into the 80s. So he is, you need to pay attention. It stinks to have to stream him against the Minnesota Vikings. Not really because the matchup against the Vikings and the tight end is terrible. They're 14th. But for Brandon now, and this is going to be a really tough matchup, much tougher than...

his debut against the Browns. On the other side, Kyle Rudolph, I actually think you can stream him this week if no Adam Thielen. If Adam Thielen is out, I agree with you. Yeah, four touchdowns over three weeks. We'll talk about them a little bit later, believe it or not. The Texans, Ravens, 6 and 3, Ravens 7 and 2. This should be a really fun game, two of the most dynamic and best fantasy quarterbacks in the game. It is. These two guys are the future of the quarterback position. Yes, Patrick Mahomes is as well.

Deshawn Watson and Lamar Jackson. We are very lucky that they are matched up this year. One of the reasons Lamar Jackson has been so incredible for your fantasy team. Sure, he's scored a ton of points, but it's the way he's done it. He was a discount in the draft, and he's been extremely consistent week to week. He's averaging 78 rushing yards a game. That might be the dictionary definition of consistency. If you put 78 on the board as the quarterback on average, you're just not going to end up at the bottom of the

No, you won't. He's not going to ever end up in that 20s range. Six top five quarterback performances. Just for so people can understand how big that is. For normal scoring, which is, you know, dumb, for quarterbacks. But the 78 rushing yards a game, that is an average of if you were to translate it to passing yards, 200 passing yards a game baseline added to whatever he does. That's...

That's what some quarterbacks finish a game with. Right. Yeah, that's absolutely right. And when you look at him and compare him to somebody that's been very good on the season, like Russell Wilson, well, Wilson's finished, you know, kind of out. He's had like five kind of dutty weeks, five monster weeks, but Lamar is giving it to you every week. As is Deshaun Watson for the most part, five top five QB performances. I'm super excited to see what happens here. You're playing both of those guys automatically. I want pieces in this game.

wherever I can find them. Even... Wow. Even Carlos? I think I even mean Carlos. That's not saying like I'm super excited and I wish I can plug him in, but he's in that flex consideration where when I'm deciding between all these different flex options where there's reasons why they're flexible and there's plenty of reasons against them, which is pretty much all your flex decisions, one of my biggest tiebreakers is...