Starts of the Week + Week 17 Breakdown, Title Time! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/28

So the idea of them playing from ahead in the majority of this game, maybe not, you know, on the road is maybe not a realistic thing. The five previous games, he was on pace for, you know, seven touchdowns, 1400 yards. He was, he was normal. I'm going to play him. I think that you're right, though, to ask the question of Cooper or Adams. We've talked so much about Cooper that I think people know where we're at with him. He's not like a must bench, but he's a take a look at your other options. If you can flex another player, like a Devin Singletary, I would.

Remember when Andy tried to tell us he was okay? I would put, yeah, the hoodie says otherwise right now. Because I didn't even have this as a possibility to be dealing with Adams decisions. I'm fine, by the way. I think Adams is right in line with Amari Cooper. Like, I would put, if I had both, I would put Adams in ahead of Cooper. Because he's not hurt. Right. And he's not playing the Jets. Exactly. As what I'm going to do. Josh Jacobs, Zemir White. Zemir White was the running back 12 and 15 over the last two weeks. Josh Jacobs didn't practice on Wednesday due to the quad. I would have liked to see a limited from him on Wednesday. Yeah, I mean, he tested it during the game last week in warmups. Before the game. Yes, before the game. And so that makes you think, okay, if he was close enough to really consider playing, obviously he didn't, that he will play this week.

He didn't practice all last week, and so it shouldn't have shocked us that he was inactive. If he doesn't practice this week, they're going to say the same thing. Oh, he's going to warm up. He's going to test it out and see. I do think it is worth trying to wait on this information. Like if you've got to hold off on a Thursday night player so that you can figure out if you've got Zemir White, like if you picked him up off of waivers, I would do that. I would look at a later week pivot. off of Zemir White if he's not starter because whoever is the starter here. If Jacobs plays, he's 100% in my lineup. If Zemir White is the starter and Jacobs isn't playing, he's 100% in my lineup. It's such a good matchup. On the other side, Jonathan Taylor. Yeah, are you playing? Michael Pittman. He is limited trying to get back from the concussion. If you missed it last week, Michael Pittman was progressing through the concussion protocol.

very rapidly was all but said. A little too rapidly. Michael Pittman's going to play. Like it's don't even worry about it. And then Sunday morning, the reports came out that the concussion symptoms resurfaced for Michael Pittman. So he was ruled out. He did get a limited practice in on Wednesday. So that, I mean, that's the trend that you want to see. I mean, if Michael Pittman plays, I'm playing Michael Pittman. But it's a just. monitor his practice reports. If Michael Pittman doesn't play, I really have a, you know, a little bit more difficult time seeing the Colts win this game. Obviously, they can run the ball well with Jonathan Taylor. They got destroyed last week by Atlanta. Yeah. Without Michael Pittman. I think, I think the Raiders are going to come in here and just completely control this game. Gardner cannot.

I don't think destroy. Without Pittman, I don't think he can move the ball well. I think that's something to watch. I think you're right about that. If Michael Pittman is out, the Raiders DST, even if Pittman plays, I think that the Raiders are a good play. But if Pittman is out, this defense is just so fired up. Yeah. And I feel like fantasy players aren't paying enough attention to how well they are playing. So. If you're struggling on your defensive options and you feel like there's nothing there, go have a peek, see if the Raiders are. Believe that they are number one in points for game since Antonio Pierce took over. For the DST? The Raiders DST. It might be in recent weeks. They're definitely number one in points per game over a handful. I mean, they had the monster game, obviously, against the charges, but they are up there. Antonio Pierce is. He's going to get the job, right? He is delightful.

Like, I love Antonio Pierce. He is the old school that I like. Whatever. I know what you're saying. Usually you hate the old school. This is like, no, we're going to run the football. But it's like, no, we talk to Antonio Pierce. And he said to his locker room, I want you to come out with hate in your heart and violence and just destroy the other team. You're like, whoa, man. What are you doing? You're playing a sport. But this is serious business to Antonio Pierce. But you're in. But you're in. Oh, yeah. Visualized slitting their throats. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, Pierce, what are he talking about? Yeah, on the, you know, win the football game. Yeah, it's a metaphor. But destroy them. But kill our families. Whoa. Whoa. Figuratively. On the field. Yeah. But yeah. Give that man the job. Castrate them. Oh, my God.

Oh, man. Did you take a second to think about saying that? Yeah, I did. I know you did. I can feel the pause. And I made the right decision. Yeah, yeah. Here's the funny thing. If you ever wonder if coaching matters in football, you've got what, 22 players on both sides of the ball? Mm-hmm. Same players. Different outcomes. Yep. And are we done with Josh McDaniels? Can we just retire that son of a gun? I mean, he won in Denver well. He was cheating. Uh-huh. Because he was cheating for a little while in Denver. He won with the Patriots with Tom Brady and cheating. When they were cheating. Yeah. I mean, you talk. And by the way, just reflecting on the Chiefs performance over the last few weeks, is that game on, are we previewing that today? Brooks, probably not, right? Tomorrow. Because that's the afternoon game. But put a pin in this, the Matt Nagy offense situation. Like, how real is that? The budget magician strikes again. Yeah. And by the way, with.

with Josh McDaniels that just reminded me a managgy. That's all I'm saying. All right, the Rams at 8 and 7 taken on the 5 and 10 New York Giants. The Rams. And this is a shout out to restore the roar over on Twitter who tweeted out, the Rams offense with Matthew Stafford, Kyron, Puka, and Cup on the field at the same time, number one in EPA per play, number one in dropback EPA, number one in dropback success rate, number one in rushing success rate, number one in points per drive, number one in yards per play. They're five and one in their last six game. The two teams to me, like I would love to see the Raiders play the Rams right now because they're both just playing so hard and on fire. And these are teams you don't want to run into right now. The Rams are playoff bound. And they've got a shot to really upset someone. So going against the Giants, I don't think they're going to let off the gas. I expect them to, I mean, they're five and a half point favorites on the road.

I think they cover that. I think they go in there and really have their way. That's the way I see this game going. Kyron Williams missed four games. Kyron Williams is number two in the league in rushing. Like what? This is unbelievable. This offense is getting right at the right time. And they are going to be a scary team to facing the playoffs. Since Kyron is back from injury. Okay, how many rushing yards do you think he's on pace for through those five games? He's averaging like over 100 a game. He was on pace and this is just rushing yards. 2043 rushing yards is the type of numbers he's put up over the last five games. My goodness. And that's adding, just add in another 60 receptions for 300 receiving yards. I would really rather have him this week against the Giants than I would. Alvin Kamara against Tampa Bay. Let me just say. Whoops and doozles. Let me just say that.

Sequin Barkley, he had a big game against Philly, scored, 23 opportunities. So Kyron and Saquan, both in your lineups, even though the matchup against the Rams is difficult. Saquan is terrifying, but yeah, I mean, when you get the, Sequin could easily have a really bad game here. The Rams have been a brutal matchup on the ground, and we've seen, you know, two weeks ago against the Saints who have a good run defense, sub five fantasy points. Now, Tyrod being there, I think is helpful. I think Saquan is just a low-end RB1, an average RB2 this week. I really like the part of the show where we go through each matchup and the players I have in each matchup. You're terrified of, don't want to play. Yeah, so that would be Sequan, Devante Adams, Amari Cooper? So far. So far. So far. Let's keep going. I mean, we'll get to Camara. Matthew Stafford, yes. Kyran, yes. Cooper Cup, big time. And Pooka Nakuwa at 9 for 164 and won last week.

Of course, you play him. You could have a desperation flex option into Marcus Robinson. It would be desperation to me. That's DFS for me. I don't think I can rely on it for a championship week. I know he's been involved. He's been great. Four weeks in a row is a top 24 guy, but also two receptions, three receptions, four receptions, total among that stretch. So I don't think he's someone you can rely on, but you're right. He's been good. For a DFS player or something. DeMarcus Robinson or Josh Downs. DeMarcus Robinson. I mean, if you're in like a 14-team league with three wide receivers, I think Robinson is. Darius Slateon on the other side are to Marcus Robinson, the third wide receiver for the Rams. I will go Robinson. I think I lean that way as well. I'm basically just picking Stafford here. Yes. I agree.

Anybody else who want to talk about in this one? Tyler Hidby. Darren Waller. Darren Waller has to be discussed. He is back on the field. It hasn't been great. You saw the snaps from 42% in his first game against the Saints up to 63%. Six targets first week, five the next. And he was targeted by Tyrod. And his Tyrod games have been pretty good. And the matchup against the Rams is okay. At least the last six weeks. You'd play him over Higby? Over Higby, yeah. Okay. But now in that Everett territory, that's a lot tougher. The Cardinals are 3 and 12. The Eagles are 11 and 4. The Draft King Sportsbook line, Philly minus 11 with their highest team implied total of the year at almost 30 points against Arizona. The overrunner is 48 and a half. The Eagles are going to like a knife through butter destroy Arizona Cardinals this week. I mean, it will be.

It will be easy work. There's, I would put, like, I don't know if there's a way you can bet whether Jalen Hurts plays in the fourth quarter. That's how I feel about this. And really? Yeah, and you won't need them. Like if, Mike, you had a different opinion. You thought this game, like you said you'd take the Cardinals to cover. Yeah, I'll take the points. Not that I, again, Cardinals are a terrible team. Just with the, the way that the Eagles are playing right now, Eagles, I think, easily win the game. So I'm not calling it almost upset or anything like that. But I think that they're.

The Cardinals can, you know, keep up a little bit and handle the 11. Well, let's put that to the test for fantasy. Is Kyler Murray a streaming slash emergency option? Like, are you playing Derek Carr, who is brought up as a streamer? Are you playing Kyler Murray? I would play Kyler. I think Kyler is an OK streamer this week. He's my quarterback 11 on the week with the Eagles implied 29 points. There's going to be some garbage time. There's going to be some rushing yards from Kyler. They're beatable and they're secondary. It's a good matchup for fantasy quarterbacks. Kyler's been scary. Kyler has been disappointing, but I do think he is an okay play this week. I would put him just behind the Justin Fields, and I'd put him ahead of Jared Gough. Kyler is one of the most popular questions brought up on the mailbag episode yesterday, people submitting questions about him. Jalen Hertz, of course, you're going to play him. He's already fifth all time in rushing touchdowns.

Thank you, Tushbush. Thank you, DeAndre Swift. Yeah. Dude, DeAndre Swift, he's the king. He goes down at the one like Jalen Hertz pays him to do it. Just like, you see this quote from Jason Kelsey? Oh, it's spectacular. Kelsey on a podcast that we're not even going to talk about. He says when Swift goes down on the one, says, I'm so sorry, man. You know exactly what we're about to do. He just tells Swift, I'm so sorry. All other running backs, you know, when they break a huge play, they get tackled at the one. They get up. They're juiced because they know. Time to score. Coach is going to reward me with an opportunity here to punch it in. The Eagles is like, thank you for your service, Swift. Can you push? Can you push Chandler-Hurts into the end zone for us? Please. Please help us. I mean, the thing is, it's a guaranteed touchdown. It's like when.

It's funny because, okay. Eagles fans. I love what you did. Can you just push him in the butt, push his butt? There's never been a time like when a player gets tackled before the one. You don't, you, you, you, you're like, darn, they didn't score. Yeah, you get upset. You're like, no, he didn't. When they, when you see an eagle as an Eagles fan, I'm not an Eagles fan, but if I was watching as an Eagles fan, When my player gets tackled at the one, I celebrate a touchdown. I go get some concessions. Yes, I put my hands up and I say we scored because the next play is a touchdown. It's crazy. Yeah, the running back in this game, though, DeAndre Swift, I love. Oh, yeah. We'll talk about him. Same with James Connor, Mike. Are you in on Connor? I am. The Eagles defense against the run. It bears out in the numbers here. On the year, yeah, they're sixth against the run over the last six weeks.

24th in fantasy points allowed to running backs. Connor's been doing it against tough matchups anyway. They don't got nobody. They got nobody else. Is Connor on the field by himself? Connor is more the reason why I think that the score is tighter. Zeke or Connor? Ooh, that's a really good question. If you're in a PPR, I'm going Zeke either way. Really? Yeah. I think PPR I might just take the five plus receptions. I know that Zeke will get. Has Connor outscored Zeke? the last three weeks? The last three? I'm curious how close to it. Curious? I've got Zeke's probably Connors. This last week, Zeke was 16 and a half. Connor was 19.7? Seven the week prior. Conner was better. 16.4. And then 23 and a half. 22 and a half. Okay. So over the three weeks, Connor has been better. Both good options. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hollywood Brown didn't practice. What's with the heel injuries everywhere? We got heels. The heels are a problem this year.

Healindex.com. Don't start. No, no. We don't need to register that. AJ Brown, Devante Smith. AJ Brown hasn't scored since week 12. I think he's going to score this week. You know what? Oh. Touchdown guarantee. Okay. AJ Brown. Get to the books. Got to get a drop. I'm sure that'll make a big difference on whether you play AJ Brown, right? The fact they made that guarantee. Philly is, they're delightful and easy of. Everyone's starting. Yeah, Goddard too. Yeah, Goddard is in. And then on the other side, James Connor is in, Trey McBride is in. The end. That's it. The end, yeah. New Orleans at seven and eight. Which really is ridiculous. Well, you like Kyler this week, too, but there's no white else to pick. Exactly. Philly 30th on the season against fantasy wide receivers. There should be someone here who gets it done. Michael Wilson has had seven targets over the last two weeks. How many has he caught?

I believe zero. Zero. Zero. That's less than. If I'm playing anyone, I'm going to put the door. Remember when I swapped Michael Wilson for Lockett in our dynasty league? Yeah. Remember when you're like, I don't know if I should do this? You didn't want to do that? I'm scared. I talked to you into it. You paid me back just like the big Waddle CD trade. That still upsets me. You guys have no idea. Every time we talk about CD Lam or every time we talk about Jalen Waddle, I'm mad at you guys. Every time. I should have CDLAM on my dynasty.

I mean, I denied the, I turned the trade down. I rejected it. Yeah. We shamed you. You shamed me and just thinking I was so wrong. You should have stayed strong. Yeah. That's on you. Okay. Courage, man. Also, Citi Lamb is, he's in the, the dynasty final. Yeah. Don't worry about it. Yeah. He would have been. He was way more expensive. For those not following at home a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, when Wada was on fire for about four weeks in a row. We may have persuaded Jason that he was a better dynasty played than C.D. Lamb, which he still could be. The trajectory of Waddle at that time was full superstardom. And C.D. Lamb was like, he looked like he was just going to plateau and rest in the, like, oh, he's really good. It's been the last year. And those things are both true in complete reverse. One of them is a superstar. And one of them is, hey, pretty good.

All right, one more matchup here before the starts of the week. The Saints at 7 and 8, 8 and 7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tampa Bay has won four consecutive games. Go Tampa. They're also favored by 2.5. Otherwise, I would have picked them. I wasn't sure where this line was going to end up, but I do like Tampa in this one. Overrunners 43. You know, there are a lot of fantasy football implications for this game. You know, you have Derek Carr, who Mike, you know, brought up on our... He's the stream. The stream of the week, and you like him more than that. It's the, we will talk about him that starts the week because I'm trying to find it just, you know, the fringe starter that I'm interested in. He is in my lineup. I'm in a CBS Expert's League that we do for St. Jude.

Gino Smith, Gardner Menshoe, Joe Flack. No, it's Derek Carr. Derek Carr is starting for me. Like my... Yeah, I know. I know. I know. I lost Herbert in that league, and I've been playing Randos every week. Where I am, you know, it's dynasty. So I'm forced to go with golf. I would love to have Derek Carr over Jared Goff this week. And somehow I'd love to play against Derek Carr, too. That's the conundrum of Derek Carr is that... But Baker's been on fire. He was the quarterback seven against New Orleans in week four. Would you rather play Carr or Baker if you had those guys? Tampa's at home. It's tough because Tampa is at home. I think I'd be playing Baker. favored, but the matchup is just so doggone good for the passing game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You just want it. You want pieces. You want whoever's playing against them. And you can't really run on them well.

So Camara is going to be a big question mark because a lot of times what's said is like, oh, you can't run on them, you can throw on them. Well, thankfully, Alvin Camara is a pass catcher. That's really not how it is. It's how they guard the running back position in totality, including the passing game. You know, Aaron Jones wasn't super involved in the passing game in one of those type of matchups. This is one where you do worry about Camara, like Sequin, to have potentially another down game. But the passing, the receivers, the tight ends. It's weird, man. I'm looking at the quarterbacks that played against Tampa the last four weeks and they've all stunk. Yeah, talk about it. Okay. All right. Let me pull this back up here. Jacksonville, you know, last week. Jordan Love, the week before. Atlanta the week before that. Carolina the week before that. I mean, you don't have strong quarterbacks. Right. Let's see. So Lawrence, yeah, I mean, Jacksonville is Lawrence got hurt.

Lawrence was already hurt and then got knocked out of the game. I don't think you've had a top 10 performance against them in quite a while, despite the fact they give up tons of points to the wide receiver. I'm just observing that right now. I think it's been a minute. Yeah, it's worth talking about. Yeah, it wasn't Desmond Ritter, the quarterback two? Was Ritter against Tampa? Yeah. Then Ritter, the quarterback 25.4. Okay. And that is his one good game. Yeah. I will say this. That's good to know. Even though Tampa has not been passed on by running backs recently. Oh, by running backs, huh? That's good. That's good. That's good defense against the running back. Passing two running back on them recently. They were faced Derek Henry, apparently. Fair. The last time that they did get smoked by a running back in the receiving game was 14 targets to Alvin Camara.

Does that give you hope? Well, yeah, I mean, I'm playing Alvin Camara and you just expect, I mean, Alvin Camara had the worst game of his season last week. Every other game of the entire season has been inside the top like 22 running backs. And most of those have been higher, much, much higher. So, you know, I think that the team made a strategic error and not involving him in the passing game early in that game. They got destroyed because of it. And so you just, you just have to put. Alvin Camara has such a high floor on a regular week that I think you just have to put him in there. Rashad White, of course, Mike Evans, of course. Godwin, the targets have been going up, and I think he's going to be a challenge for me to start this week, just because the Saints defense. I mean, if you look at their last six weeks, they've given up 13.8 points to opposing wide receivers. If you're favoring Evans, it's hard for me to look at Godwin and say. Baker has been favoring.

Chris Godwin lately, though. It's just crazy because Godwin gets all these targets, but like two of those three games where he's had over 10 targets, he ends up wider steer at 37 and 32. Yeah, I mean, no touchdowns, but six catches for 78 yards against Jacksonville. And you know who's back this week? Marchon Latimer. Wait, he back? Is that? When is that? A day ago was reported that Michael Thomas and Marshawn Latimore are expected to return against the bucks. We've seen all reports that he is 100% out. We looked on Monday. Lattimore. Maybe you read it wrong because Lattimore and Thomas are not expected to return against the Buccaneers according to the reports I'm reading. That is exactly the word. It's not. I read that report exactly the opposite. Can you re-say it? Say it again. I like Mike Evans this week because the Evans killer, Marshawn Lattimore, not expected to be back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It's a very important word in the sentence. It's three letters, Mike. I got three letters wrong.

I mean, it's not. And there was a bunch of other letters that got right. I got like percentage wise of that sentence was like 97% correct. I mean, cut me some slack. Three letters. Honestly, we thought you were breaking crazy news because Mike and I were looking that early. Yeah, because it's pretty important. Mike and I are facing each other and I've got Evans. And I was like, but I'm also facing Evans in another league. I'm like, I don't know if I want Latimore back or not. No Lattermore. No Michael Thomas. You do have Chris Oliva, who is limited, but should have a big game. The suit is not black. Oh, man. You know what? No Lattimore. There you go. Doodoo do, do, do. Are we Rashid Shaheed or Chris Godwin? See, I would go Shaheed in that situation.

Shaheed is. There's no way Derek Carr and Shaheed don't have breakfast together. But he's, dude, he either hits or he doesn't. Yeah. And he, it's far more doesn't. But this is a matchup. Last week, 82% of the snaps that was a season high, nine targets. Like, I, I wish I knew what was going on. Like, why did, I mean, I know Alave was hurting. So maybe that's why they played Shaheed a little bit more. If I knew that Shaheed was in on 70 plus percent of the snaps, that would be easy. Well, I'll take Shaid's superpowers the deep ball. And right now, Tampa Bay is allowing the fifth highest rate of 20 plus yard completions in the NFL. So I think I would take Shaheed there. I don't think he's going to be happy with Carr this week without Shaheed involvement. Yeah, it's going to take a Shaheed bomb touchdown to take him from someone that was okay to like, oh, I'm so glad I played Derek Carr this week.

Welcome to Starts of the Week, presented by Purina Pro Plan. Welcome into a very big starts of the week. Hopefully we can deliver some names that deliver for you. I am going to do something I don't want to do. Oh. Most important league, I have to face this guy. Which tells you that, unfortunately, it's just, I just believe it. Patrick Mahomes. against the Cincinnati Bengals. This has been a rough roller coaster ride of doom for Patrick Mahomes. I think a lot of you have decided to move to someone else, potentially. But he's at home. He's against Cincinnati. He's got a 25.8 team implied total. The Bengals are 25th against quarterbacks over the last six weeks. They averaged the highest yards per attempt in the NFL. And, you know, look, I don't know if teams can get it right.

this quick, you know, a lot of frustration in that offense. Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelsey throwing his helmet. They haven't figured it out. Every week you look at a team like that and say, well, they're going to figure it out. I think they're going to figure it out. I do. I think they're going to figure it out against Cincinnati. It's just the opportunity, the defense, the matchup. I'll be shocked if Mahomes doesn't give you at least a couple of touchdowns with major upside potential. Now, I don't know if you guys agree with me. I hope you don't. I agree with you because of a start of the week you're going to talk about in a minute. I will go with my quarterback start of the week. Brock Purdy. Obviously, he just had a four interception turd fest from last week, and you can forget about that thing. Put that in a brown bag, light it on fire, put it on a porch step. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Billy Madison style. Look, San Francisco.