Starts of the Week + Week 14 Breakdown, Almost Upset(s)! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/7

Right now it looks like 32% chance of rain and about 13, 14 mile an hour wins. So this is just one of those like a lot of these more East Coast or Midwest stadium games. You've got to pay attention to make changes on Sunday based on the weather. All right. Let's turn the page. Jacksonville 8 and 4 taken on the aforementioned Joe Flacco potentially led Cleveland Browns. 7 and 5. The Browns are 7 and 5. The Draft King Sportsbook line. Oh, gosh. Yeah, we're giving tonight's game a run for the money. He's 30 and a half. That's called C.J. Bethard v. Joe Flacco. Cleveland minus three and a half. Oh, we got a weather game here? This one is looking bad. 17 mile an hour wins, expected 60% chance of rain. I want gusts at 25. Yeah, anytime you get above 15 mile an hour wins, that's where the passing game is very, very difficult. You'll see them run the ball more. You know, you could have a good Jerome Ford game, a good Travis ETN game.

Maybe, but you don't expect a lot of points here, and you don't really, you don't want to put in your receiving options in a game like this if they're questionable. Like, you know, Zay Jones, Elijah Moore, those are guys that on a normal week, I'd be like, yeah, maybe, maybe they're going to be okay. They're a spot start, but you add in the weather and you're just making bets on probability. I would bet that it's not, it doesn't go. well for fantasy for them. Yeah, I think you can play Jerome Ford. I did have a funny insight yesterday. I went back and I looked at our League of Record draft board from before the season. And I wrote a note on my whiteboard because we do our 10 things to remember. And for this year at least, like any running backs late were awful. And Jerome Ford was one of the few diamonds to be found.

In a list, like before Drumford, Bigsby, Jamal Williams, Dion Jackson, Jerich McKinnon, Kendrae Miller, Rashad Penny, Ty Chandler, Tyler Algier, Elijah Mitchell, Jeff Wilson. Those are all players that went before Jerome Ford. Yeah, you're just searching for the, you're just taking some scratchers in case there's a injury. But that's not, it wasn't that late in our draft is my point. This was just like beyond the big names of the draft. These were the scratchers people were taking. And I just read you all failures. Minus Jerome Ford. And he is one that is actually produced. But he was the beneficiary of the major injury. And he is so bizarre to me because looking back, I mean, he has been very capable for fantasy here. You know, the last five games averaging double digits in a half point scoring format. But the.

His opportunities seemed to be going down. Like last week was, if you remember, it was the 24-yard receiving touchdown. That was a little bit of a fluky play. Because if that, yes, it happened. It's in playing the game of Take a Playaway. But other than that, he was atrocious against the Rams. Nine for 19 on the ground. Some other guys, like Pierre Strong getting more involved on passing downs. So I... I have my concerns with Jerome Ford. I don't know that in the landscape that those are enough to take him out of a starting roster. He's a low-end RB2, so he's probably going to be starting. He still have an RB-2-ish? I mean, he's the running back 20 on the season, and that's about what he finishes almost every single week. Didn't he have like three straight weeks with the exact same fantasy points or something? I don't remember that, but I mean, I can tell you, I'm looking at his box scores. He was the running back 14, 23, 17, 23, 23, 17, bad week.

10, 22. He's just always like, he's not great. He's not winning you a week, but when you're needing someone that's going to go out there and score 10 points at the running back position and have PPR scoring, he seems to get the job done. There has, I mean, Kareem Hunt is. So that's worth mentioning. Yeah, it is. The groin injury for Kareem Hunt. He's only played 35% of snaps, 26% of snaps. Maybe it's not that significant if Strong's getting worked in, but worth paying attention to. Amari Cooper? Still in protocol, if Amari Cooper is available, it would seem he's a good start against a weak Jaguars wide receiver defense. Part of why I'm anticipating the Cooper to be out because of the history of this year has been far more often than not. A concussion knocks a guy out for a week. Last week we just saw Chris Oliva play. Yeah, no, I'm saying, but the majority of players have, when there's been a concussion, they've missed at least a week.

A few outliers have gotten back in. But the matchup against this Jags team, part of Browning's success last week was the fact that this defense has little interest in stopping the passing game. So Elijah Moore, with Joe Flacco, without Cooper to me, is a, I think there is some real upside. Real downside as well, but actual upside. David Najoku, last week was not the one that ended up. with the big numbers at tight end. It was Harrison Bryant. But he did have six targets. I still think there should be optimism around him. Obviously, Vegas doesn't see Trevor Lawrence playing. It's an uphill battle for Lawrence. Potentially doesn't see Cooper playing. You have injuries on both sides of the ball. So that's the landscape. It's a risky game with an over under like that. Cleveland is favored. They are at home.

In this wind, I don't believe I'm playing any Jaguar receiver. I'm not going to play. If Trevor Lawrence isn't there, C.J. Beatherd against a good Cleveland Browns. A good Cleveland Browns defense. Cleveland has played much, much better at home as well in bad weather. Like, C.J. Bethard's thrown for 125 yards. I'm not splitting that up with my pass catchers. So Travis E. T.N. is in. And then that's it for me on the Jaggs side. No, Engram. Is the end? I think I would look elsewhere from for Ingram. Are you forgetting the super weather game where Engram? Oh, yeah, yeah, baby. That was his game of the year. It was bench everybody, which was 100% right. Well, 99% correct because Evan Engram had a dominant game. I play Ingram in this game. Yeah, I don't mind that. Close to the line of scrimmage, the dump offs, the only passes that are going to work. That's, that is fair. That game last year.

Looking this up. That was when Evan Ingraham had 15 targets, was 11 for 162 and 2, and no other player did anything. Let's just throw one more thing out there. If Lawrence was activated, would it change your opinion on Zay Jones and Calvin Ridley? Yes. I'd probably incorrectly put Ridley into my lineup if Trevor Lawrence was active. So I hope he is, he makes it easy on us. Heal up. All right, the Carolina Panthers are 1 and 11, and they travel to New Orleans to take on the reeling New Orleans Saints who got booed last week, five and seven, three straight losses, the Draft King Sportsbook line, New Orleans minus five. The overrunner is 37 and a half. Did you, oh. Andy's almost upset of the wig. I don't hate it. I don't hate it. Did you follow the Michael Thomas drama?

I know he tweeted some things about Derek Carr. Yeah, he tweeted that I don't remember the exact. So I'm paraphrasing, but essentially it was when your eyes don't work, you get players hurt. Yeah, I watched. Which we've had multiple receivers getting hurt, seemingly looking like because it was a bad pass. Yeah, I did a deep dive on New Orleans kind of. situation this past week. I listened to a 10-minute interview with Alvin Camara, and he was really candid, and he was definitely secretly saying the problem is with the coaching staff, mostly just saying, like, I love our locker room, I love our players. Okay, you see what I'm saying? Like, he's such a, like, he's a good interview. He always has been. Was he like, I miss Sean Payton?

Yeah, not quite, but he did talk about Michael Thomas's comments. He's like, I know how that guy ticks. He's like, if he wants to put that stuff out there, that's cool. Like, it is what it is. I mean, at this point, Camara is, he's a lock every week. He's playing great football. He's the RB9 on the year despite missing three weeks with the suspension. You know, Camara is a player that can win people championships. If the... ball bounces the right way. Oh, for sure. I mean, so far on the course of the season, he hasn't finished outside of an RB2 a single time. He's only finished as an RB2, not an RB1, three of his games. He's been outstanding. It's a divisional game. One of the reasons I'm making it, my almost upset, Carolina played more competitively, tried some new things last week. They only lost by three points to these Saints when they were at home in week two.

I just, I don't know, the Saints are just kind of reeling. And the chance that Derek Carr doesn't play, or if he plays, gets knocked out. And if he gets knocked out is James Winston. There's just some, you know, they should win. They should win by a billion points at home against Carolina. But three straight weeks of implosions for this team, you know, they have injuries. Tasum Hill might not even be available. It's just not a good vibe for really either of these teams with the Saints are reeling. Yeah, so I think the question becomes, you know, on the Panther side of the ball, does that mean can you play anyone with confidence? Chuba, RB-11, RB6 the last two weeks. With the new coaching staff, Miles Sanders, who was being involved, you know, was getting like 14-15 carries a game. He was the backup to Chuba. And it was Chuba's, you know, show. Over the last six weeks, you know, the Saints have not been good at stopping the run.

They're 25th, giving up over 20 fantasy points a game to the running back position. I feel like Chuba is a decent RB2. It's a Chuba lock. You play Chuba. Wow. I'm okay with it. It's the first ever tuba lock. But that's it. Yeah, you can't start Adam Thiel and Mingo. Well, you can do whatever you want, man. But you hope that you don't have to. There's no rules. It's a terrible matchup for the wide receivers. It's a roulette of sadness. in Carolina at wide out. So, you know, I'm paying attention to Mingo. Like Mike mentioned at the beginning of the week, like he plays every down. He's a stash for the weekend. He just, just don't jump every time you catch the football. Yep. So are we, it feels a little gross ass, but is Olave a must play still? Yeah. He is to me for sure. Yeah. Okay. It's really tough defense here.

the Panthers third against wide receivers when adjusting for points or for schedule. Again, this is like the Texans last year where it's not that the defense is great. It's a you don't usually need to throw the ball. You just keep running the ball. It's easy to run. You've got to lead. So that's why Camara is an absolute great play. But I'm saying like if. Oliva, seven straight games of eight or more targets. If somehow it is Derek Carr, is that change your. No, either way. James or Derek Carr. Olave is locked in. Yeah. Do we know of Rashid Shaheed will be available? I see a questionable point. I doubt it. Alave or Puka this week? Puka. Alavi. Olavi. Olavi. Puka is in Baltimore. With his injury. He's fine. He said he's got no problem. Yeah, I know he's good. It's just a flesh wound. But the weather is terrible in Baltimore.

So that's a game with 19 mile an hour, sustained winds, probable rain, bad weather, great defense on the road. Maybe. Puka is. You say maybe to the weather? Yeah, I'm saying maybe to the weather. Sure, sure, sure. Maybe. Check back on Sunday. Little maybe. If Taysa misses Juan Johnson goose last week, probably not worth the gamble. That was so disappointing. Yeah, probably not worth the dance. And then I think we're done talking there. I hope so. I don't think we have any more. Alave or Sutton. Sutton. That's Houston, right? No, that was last week. Who does? Chargers. Chargers. Thank you. It's juicy. Oh, man. Yeah. Let's just, you guys just want to, like, have a moment here and accept Cortland Sutton into the... Oh, I... Do you just want to accept him into the universe? I... You accepted him before it was... Yeah, there's... Okay. All my comments about Cortland Sutton just are... He really hurt.

me personally last year. Let's be clear. The dude makes three or four ridiculously stupid plays every week. Yeah, but he was doing that last year except not having the cool plays. The one to two great plays. Yes, yes. All right, Houston at seven and five, take on the New York Jets. Four and eight. This is the game we would be talking about having a horrible over under if there weren't two other games. But Draft King Sportsbook line, Houston minus three and a half on the road. The over under is 33 and a half. Oh, yeah. All right. 33. Now we're talking. It looks like. You ever had two in one week? Andy's almost upset of the week. Sorry. Parley, parley, parley, parley. You are betting on Zachary. Yeah. I don't blame you at all. The jets are at home. You lost Tank Dell. The weather is another terrible weather game right now. 84% chance of rain.

19 mile an hour sustained winds during the game. Like that's the current projection. So if it, if it, you know, if the meteorologists are correct and the weather is that bad and you have a great defense, I, I love C.J. Stroud. He's awesome. What do you call people that study meteors? That would be, whoa. Right? I don't think anyone. Right. devotes their entire life. How dare you? Somebody has to. I'm on it. I'm on it. That's Astro something. So the, the meteorologist. Oh, man. Yeah, I don't know why. Jason's mind got blown. I don't know why other people are meteorologists. I'm just, what are people who study meat called? Al, do you have an answer here? It looks like it's a meteoritist. Oh, I stand corrected. So, so there are people who focus just on meteors? A meteoritist.

That feels weird to say. I'm not saying that. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah. Meteoridics is a science that deals with meteors and those people are meteoritisists. What are they again? Meteoridicists. That's why no one does it. Oh, just because they couldn't tell their friends what they do. Oh, hey, what do you do? I'm a meteorist. I'm a meteorist. I study meteors. Space rocks. No, I'm not a meteorologist. I'm a meteoristic. What if they were called weathermen? Yeah, seriously. The weatherologists. Let the meteorologists have meteorologists. Just give them that so that they can do their job better. Yeah, what's wrong with weatherologists? Sorry. Yeah, weatherologists. What do you do? A weatherologist. Oh, you study the weather. Okay. Sorry. I'm a meteoristic. I just, when I see problems in the world, I need to bring them up. I love it. That's what we're here for. And it was during this game. So the Texans and the jets and the weather and.

CJ Stratt doesn't have Tank Dell anymore, and it's a brutal matchup for wideouts. I mean, the Jets, week in and week out, ruin wide receiver production. And so when you're looking at pivoting from... They don't ruin running backs, though. So what do you do? What do... I mean, I have to make this choice. Pop-Wiz hot shot. Singlet Pierce or Devin Singleton. Let me finish my thought on Houston's wide outs, which is that I would normally be looking forward to trying Noah Brown out. or Robert Woods, and I'm not doing it this week against the Jets. I'm just going to watch from the sideline. I'll play Nico Collins because, come on, you got to play him the way he's producing. And I'd play the tight end that plays. If Schultz is healthy or if it's Brevin. At running back, I play Damien Pierce. I mean, over Singletary. That's my answer to the question. I don't like it. The snaps were in Singletary's favor, but the opportunities were in Pierce's favor. Just how you want it.

Keep them guessing, Houston. This is, it's a problem. It really is. And that's why I'm going to play Pierce. I hope that Pierce takes over the backfield. I think that's a possibility. Like, that could happen. Sure. If he starts running well, and this is a good matchup against the run. Like we've said, is 22 fancy points a game. They give up. What if I told you he has not run well all year? No, I know. I know. Goodness gracious. And they lost an offensive lineman again, but, oh, he's three a carry. He's averaging three of Kerry. That was just Breece Hall. He is he is sub three in games many times. No, a lot of, a lot of times. I didn't realize it was that bad. Singletary's 4.1 and he was better last week on the ground but doesn't get the goal line. But he does sometimes get targeted. So I'm back to Singletary. Thanks, Mike. The answer is I don't know. Yes. The answer is I do not know what they're going to do whatsoever.

I loved it when Pierce was sidelined and Singletary was locked. Yeah, those were good games. Are you binging C.J. Stroud? Low over under, bad weather. Yeah, I think that there are better options this week. I know C.J. Stroud is awesome. You got to visit the Smith to bench C.J. Stroud because it's like, okay, I'll give Russell Wilson. Yeah. I would play Wilson. Easily play Russell. That seems like the easy one. I play Jordan Love. Oh, yeah. That one seems easy, too, against the Giants. I'm picking them. I'm picking them easy. I would start Jack Prescott. Joshua, you're bold, Jay. Joshua Dobbs against the Las Vegas Raiders with Justin Jefferson back. Sure. Or a rookie of the year, CJ Stroud. Although Dobbs could just get benched. I'll go Stroud there. Gardner Minshew against the Bengals. Yeah, I'll play Minchu. Oh, gosh, I said that out loud. That was Jason that said that. It feels weird. It's me, Jason.

I said that. It was me. Hmm. Okay. Yeah, I mean, those, those are the Baker. Those are the choices. Those are the choices. Gino's Smith off of a really hot game against the Dallas Cowboys, but he plays on the road against the 49ers. Hey, it's me. I'm asking the weather is good. The weather is good over there. I think. Gino's played well, I lean Gino. I've got an answer. I really do. I have an answer. Your answer is wake up Sunday morning and look at the weather? No, my answer is that if you, like I don't think C.J. Straub will kill you in this game. I don't think he has upside potential. If you're a favorite with C.J. Stroud, keep playing him. If you need more than the quarterback 15 on the week or the quarterback 13 on the week, play somebody with more upside. Gardner last week wasn't that bad and had like five mistakes.

in the red zone in that game where it could have been much higher. Like I think Gardner has a higher ceiling this week. I see what you're saying. Like James Winston. Sure. If he was starting. You were sure. Yeah. Not if he's not starting, Jason. I would agree with that. That's downside. Breece Hall didn't practice due to an ankle. Is this, do we have any updates on that? Questionable? Didn't practice Wednesday. We'll go Wednesday. Give him a break. Let me check last week's. Could his yards per carry go down if his ankle's a little sore? I don't think so. Yeah, I don't think so. Can we get this game, just give the ball to Brees and then give the ball to Damien Pierce and see what happens for science? Pun, punt, pun, pun, pun, pun, pun, pun, pun, pun, pun. Let's break some records. I do like Garrett Wilson in this game. I'm okay with it. Okay. I think with the return of Zach Wilson, I can live with Garrett Wilson against a bottom third past defense. The matchup is at home. Very, very good. Garrett Wilson is very, very talented.

And sometimes we overblow the weather. You know, I think Garrett Wilson's probably someone you need to start. Same with Nico Collins. He's been too good to bench him just because of weather. Kyle is sharing a tweet here. What is this source here? Okay, so it's Zach Rosenblatt. Oh, these are back to back, fun ones. From the athletic. Nathaniel Hackett said Zach Wilson had two weeks off to quote to center himself and said the goal this season was always for him to sit and watch. and he finally got to do that. Wow. Achieving goals. Great job. Also said, I'm going to have more fun than I've ever had. Says Zach Wilson. Dude, the ball's going to be sprayed across the field. Just flying. He's going to have so much fun in that reign. This is what I'm talking about. There's a chance that he just gets lucky. Mike's face says that there isn't. Yeah, there's a, there is a chance. All right. The Breeze Hall question.

You just play him, right? Yeah, you just play him. He has the opportunities coming his way and the long speed in a game that they're probably going to be handing the ball off a lot. It hasn't been great lately, but you're still talking about 21 opportunities, 16 opportunities, 16 opportunities, 20 opportunities, 21 opportunities. He's getting the ball. We've seen several huge plays this year when he has been... you know, four times as a top 10 running back on the week. This isn't just like he's been really, really, really, really disappointing on the ground with his efficiency. But his total fantasy finishes are still okay. You still start Breece Hall. Have you guys seen the, we didn't mention it in the news, but have you seen the Brandon Staley hinting at changes for the running back room?

No. You haven't seen this, Jason? I saw him talking about Joshua Kelly. Yeah, he's basically come out and said that he can see. He's hinting at competition for carries. He says it's something that you can see happening. We're going to keep exploring, making adjustments. See if we can find that rhythm I've been talking about. And that is one way to do it. Oh, man. I'm so sorry, Austin. He's hurt. Not necessarily. He's hurt or he's lost it. Yeah, I mean, those two generally are morphed, I guess, at the back have a running back's career. Staley said we know that Austin is a good running back. We just haven't found any rhythm in the last couple weeks in the run game. He just hasn't been good the last few weeks. I honestly do think it's related to him trying to recover from the ankle spring. Yeah, I mean, that doesn't help this year. I mean, he's just doesn't matter to the reason right now. He's playing bad, so it's sad.

I'm rooting for you, Eccles. Yep. Eccles. Eccles. I call them Eccles sometimes. We're buds. Yeah. All right. One last matchup today before starts of the week. The Rams at 6 and 6 take on the 9 and 3 Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore heavy home favorite, seven points. Overrunners 40. Yikes. That opened at 44. It's gone down. The weather is pushing it down. Some are calling for sustained winds of 25 miles an hour. Gus's up to 45. Gus is up to 45? Nope, Gus. Oh. Gus doesn't get up to 45. Oh, man. The Gus bus gets up to 45. Get out of his way. So, you know, it turns everybody in the passing game into a tremendous risk in this one. Lamar Jackson has been a risk anyways. He's got one top 12 finish in five starts. He doesn't have his best pass-catching weapon in Mark Andrews.

has a 35% snap count Odell Beckham. He has an inconsistent not practicing due to illness Rashad Bateman. And he has Zay Flowers, who much like Elijah Moore, needs a billion targets to really be productive. Some people are asking the Zayflowers question earlier this week. How are you feeling about Zay? Feeling okayish that he is not what we had hoped from the beginning of the year, but he is still, It's kind of like when we were talking about Jerome Ford, which is like, I have my concerns about the player in his production, but in the field, I think that Zay Flowers is still a flex play. Yeah, when it comes to, there's four guys here that are in the passing game that I think will end up with a PPR decent game, not great with this weather. But Zayflowers, Isaiah Likely, Puka and Cooper Cup are all heavily involved in the screen games.

where the manufactured touches, and that's going to be necessary if there's 25 mile an hour winds, gusts up to 45. Obviously, the defenses are going to know that. They're not going to be playing for the deep shot, and so these screens aren't going to be super valuable. But I do think that those guys are, you know, that short area of the field where you can actually throw the ball to, the teams are going to be implementing more of that. We've seen that a lot with Zay Flowers. I trust McVeigh to get. the ball into the hands of puka however he can maybe some handoffs to these type of players as well i don't i don't love any of them if you've got a great option if you're you know loaded you know like i've got a megal bowl team where i've got puka but i've got you know five good options he'll be on my bench um but i i don't think you have to bench them because these are smart coaches that'll get the ball into the hands of their of their playmakers but the running backs

are, you know, when the passing game goes away, it's because you're handing the ball off more, more opportunities to both sides. I'm not excited for the 16.5 implied point total Rams at all in this game. Baltimore is one of the best defenses in football at home in the weather, dirty game, high upside for that defense, for Baltimore's defense. So I'm like, I'm factoring that heavily if this weather comes to fruition on Sunday morning. I, you're playing Kyron with. tempered expectations. Puka with a prayer. In Cooper Cup, I don't know, man. Cooper Cup, I would rather pivot off of. Like, I would start Puka over Cupa. Cupa, Pooka over Cupa. I would start Pooka Nakua over Cooper Cup because Cooper is still dealing with this ankle injury, hasn't completely looked himself. Puka has just been better. Drake London over Cooper Cup? I would play Drake London over both of those guys. All right.

Any, you know, Isaiah likely? Yeah. Yeah, I would play likely. The matchup, it doesn't get better than the Rams. It's just a matter of whether or not they're going to be able to exploit the middle of the field with the weather. Hopefully they aren't. And Kyle is dealing with a super important start sick question. We have to answer Lamar Jackson or Brock Purdy. Brock Purdy. Yeah, it's Purdy for me. Pretty easily. What a world. Yeah. All right. Into the starts we go. Welcome to starts of the week. Presented by Purina Pro Plan. Well, I'll go first. My start of the week is Brock Purdy. Nice. He is currently the favorite to win the league MVP, but you might be struggling to start Purdy over some other more high-profile fantasy options. Here are the quarterbacks I would start over Purdy this week. Dak, Tua, Jalen Hertz, Josh Allen. That's it.