Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 4 Fantasy Forecast, Starts of the Week, TNF Preview, News

Yes. Wow. Okay. So Marshawn Lynch is 50-50 to play. So I want to talk about this briefly. One, in the context of Lynch, and then two, in terms of the backup, because I understand a lot of people spent fab dollars on Thomas Rawls this week, but do we really know that Rawls would be the guy? I think we saw that when Lynch went out.

I believe Rawls is the guy. You might mix in a little bit of Fred Jackson, but they didn't bring Fred Jackson in to be the backup. They brought him in to play the role he's been playing. And Rawls is the clear backup, which is I believe why they let Christine Michael go, Turban go. So I would be confident with that. The issue here is it's Monday night football.

So if you don't have both Marshawn Lynch and Rawls on your team, if you've got both of those guys, then you're fine to wait it out and see. But if you picked up Rawls and you're hoping he starts, you're going to be out of luck if all of a sudden Marshawn plays on Monday. So if you don't have both, look for a different option and play somebody else. I agree completely. Devante Adams is not practicing today.

Or I'm sorry. I guess that was on Wednesday. I don't think he's going to practice today either. I read a tweet that he's in a futuristic looking walking boot. But he does keep denying the fact that he has a high ankle sprain. So we'll see what happens with Devante Adams. I would say he's probably not playing this week. Tevin Coleman is not practicing, which means Devante Freeman. Devanta Freeman. I got to get my Devantes and my Devontas. Is it really Devonta? Yes, Devonta. Oh.

Yeah. The more you know. No. Jason and I, Jason and I spent a long time looking at Devante Parker, Devante Adams, and Devanta Freeman all spelled their name differently. I know that it's the first name. I just wasn't sure that it was pronounced different. So do we like Freeman this week? Yep. A lot. Okay. Alshan and Cutler did not practice? No, they did practice. Oh, yep.

Yeah, they did. Alshan was limited, and Cutler practiced, and there's some people that are really doubting he could be ready for this week. Do you think he's going to play, though? I think Cutler had a... He had a case of the Seahawks. He had a case of the Seahawks. Yeah, I would have too. Man, that game for a second there. As a Cardinal fan, I was just hoping. Not a second. It was halftime. It was six to zero. Six nothing. All right, Eric Decker missed practice. Drew Breese practiced in a limited fashion hopes to play. I would expect Breeze on the field.

Me too. Yeah, I think so. Andrew Corliss, MCL, IR, designated to return. Richard Rogers, alert? No. Not an alert. Alert that he's the only tight end, but he is still only going to get a couple targets. What do you think about Reggie Bush coming back to full practice? He'll be taking over a third down roll. This has to impact Carlos High. For the three snaps, yeah, before Reggie Bush.

dies again. Okay, presuming health of Reggie Bush. Presuming health. Would you go sell Carlos Hyde is my question? Because Hyde has had two mediocre weeks in a row. They're getting boat raced in a lot of games, which means they'll be behind, which is why we liked Reggie Bush in the beginning of the season. I've been picking a Bush in a couple of different leagues and stashing him for this exact reason. I wouldn't necessarily sell on Carlos Hyde. In fact, I wouldn't sell on Carlos Hyde. I still believe he's going to be.

Very good if I would go buy still on Carlos. All right. Before we get into the fantasy forecast, I want to thank Stamps.com for supporting the show as a sponsor. You guys are a lot like us running a business. You don't have time to go to the post office. Time is valuable. And so with Stamps.com, you don't have to go to the post office anymore. With Stamps.com, you can buy and print official U.S. postage right from your own computer and printer.

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backed by a 100% guarantee. Awesome. I love Seeking. Before we get into the fantasy forecast. What was that? That was a very, I'm kind of scared. No, we are, we're back on Kristen Michael Watch, everybody. Oh, you, right after you say, go drop him. I said you can maybe drop him. Why? Why are we on Kristen Michael Watch? Chris and Michael officially.

Got first team reps. This is the first time he's actually gotten reps with the first team. He's been on the training squad. I've followed the beat writers very closely and they said he's been great. Are we selling Joseph Randall after a three touchdown game? No, no, no. Just hold on. As fantasy players, what we look at, three touchdown game, huge production from Joseph Randall. What the Dallas Cowboys look at is?

second half, they couldn't run the ball, and they lost. That's what they care about. They don't care about our fantasy team. So Christa Michael officially got reps, and there are beat writers on Twitter saying, it looks like we could be very close to Kristen Michael time. In fact, this Sunday close. So he's still on my bench. By a stroke of destiny, my fab, I got outbid. So Michael did not get dropped. Oh, my classic. So we're in one more week.

Yeah. Hopefully. Hopefully one more week and then we can be done with this. That's a good update. So let's get into the forecast. Fantasy forecast. All right. We got a lot of good games this week, including Thursday night's game, coming up tonight. Yeah. Are you excited about this? Joe Flacco. Versus Michael Vick. Flack of Vic face off. I'm actually really excited about it because I think it's really important that we know what we get from the Steelers with Michael Vick.

Michael Vick still has a big arm, so he's going to be able to throw the long ball. Levion Bell is going to be just the same. I believe he'll get all the dump-offs, and he's going to run no different. But it's going to be telling to see how they use them, because they said that they're going to game plan differently. The Steelers are going to run a little bit different offense to tailor it to Michael Vick, and we don't know exactly what that is at this age. So...

Jason and I have Joe Flacco very high on our weekly rankings. In fact, Jason has him at number five this week. I haven't met number seven. Mike, you have him just outside the QB1 range. So we all kind of like him to have a good week against the Pittsburgh defense. Yeah, I like him. And I think what's interesting for me this week is this is Michael Vick on a very short week of practice. So this is not the exact.

Michael Vick experiment we're going to get right now. It's a great opportunity because the Ravens passing D has just been giving it up to everybody. But this is what I'll say. If Antonio Brown has a bad game, the streak is on the line tonight, the 5 for 50. This could be the end of the situation. Yeah, this could be the end of the streak. If Antonio Brown has a lower game, I am buying.

immediately if there's a panicky owner, which they probably won't, but somewhere there's going to be an owner who panics because some people were already were. This would be validation for that mindset. This is Michael Vic on very short practice. Next week he has even more days to practice and get it together. So that's something to watch. Yeah, that's great. Justin Forsett.

I was going to say this is a, if C.J. Anderson was on the line last week, which I actually don't think he was. I'm okay on C.J. Anderson this week based on... Injuries. Based on comments from the coaches. But Justin Forset has a good matchup, and he's been getting opportunity. Really? They're ninth against the run. The Steelers are. Yeah, but Foreset, I mean, from my perspective...

I think he's going to have the carry load, and he's going to have it out of the backfield. He's had four a week. He's got to do more than 16 yards out of the backfield. What was the stat you were talking about? Last year, Justin Fawcett, every carry before he would get contacted, was over three yards. He was the number one in the league for yards before contact. It was over three yards, and this year it's only like one. So it's telling you that the offensive line is struggling.

The offensive line is struggling, or the play calling is just not fitting with their personnel. Totally different offense now. Yeah, Trasman versus Kubiak. And Eugene Monroe is, Monroe, the left tackle, was also out tonight. So I do think it will be telling, though, because if Forset has another down game, there's a point that we're going to come to where we have to say this is what he is this year under this offense. And so be watching for that. Levion Bell is an auto start, obviously. Do you think he has a good game tonight? I think he has a great game.

Yeah, I like him. I think even though it's Michael Vick is different, the offensive line is not different. And Todd Haley, for all of his failures in Kansas City as a head coach, has proven to be a spectacular offensive coordinator. We have him. Jason has Lev Bell number one. I have number two. Mike has a number two this week. All right. Let's talk about the wide receivers. Steve Smith, the only starter, I assume, from...

Baltimore? On the field, yes. Yes, that is correct. Unless you want to go crazy with Max Williams. Right. What about Kamar Aiken? Should we mention him? Deep League, any value there? I mean, if Joe Flackos... Because of the passing defense? Yeah, because Pittsburgh has been letting up a bunch of...

You know, you've got an O-N-3 Baltimore team that desperately needs a win. If Pittsburgh's putting up points somehow, they're going to be fighting back and flying. So it's just a thought. I think it's just going to get spread around. But better options. What about Heath Miller with Michael Vick coming into the role? It's interesting. Yeah. Michael Vick likes the tied end. I hate Heath Miller this week. Really? Yes. I do. I don't like Heath Miller because once again, just like I said last year with, or last week with Tyler Eiffert.

Baltimore's defense is they lock down that tight in and they give it up to the wide receivers. I see no reason. Now, with Michael Vick coming in, it does make sense. So I wouldn't be surprised if. I was almost going to water bet you. If Heath Miller were to get, you know, four or five catches, I'm not going to be shocked, but I do think they're going to be for about five yards each. I don't see him having a good fantasy week at all. In fact, I think he's ranked for me very low compared to the consensus. So I'm not a big fan of Heath Miller this week.

Okay, let's go ahead and talk about the London game. The Jets technically at the dolphins, but you're not at the dolphins, right? That sucks so much. You lose a home game to go to London. Yeah, a team that could really use a home game right now. Well, I don't know, they didn't play very well at home less. That's fair. This game, the dolphins are dogs in this one, one and a half point underdogs. Home dogs.

Let's talk about Fitzpatrick and Tannahill. Who do you like more in this game? And then who would you start? Would you start either of them? Because I probably would not right now. I would not start either one of them. The Jets passing defense is fantastic. You're not going to want to go up against that with Ryan Tannahill. And you never know. You really don't know in these London games which team is truly prepared for it. And sometimes you get what happens on that Thursday night game where there's kind of a blowout.