Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Starts of the Week, Week 11 Matchups, Boom-Boom!

has been unstoppable. You've seen the emergence of Richard Matthews? You've also seen a softening week after week of their defense. Yes. That has not looked as good. So good for fantasy purposes. It is. It is. The Titans are now ranked 24th against the past. This is not what they were in the beginning of the year. I might move Andrew Luck up to number one this week. He's in consideration for my favorite play this week in Indianapolis with Hilton, with Moncrief.

I really like Andrew Luck. I like Marioita. Well, we're going to talk about Marioita here in a little bit as my start of the week. So we'll pass the quarterbacks. You're going to start both these guys. Sure. Sure. Absolutely. The question becomes, who are they passing to? Because I do think that there's going to be plenty of production. It's very difficult on the Titan's side of the ball to determine who that's going to be. I think you're going to start Delaney Walker. He's been great. This is a plus matchup. Yep. No doubt. Are you going to stay in the flames with Richard Matthews? Yep.

Yeah, I think you have to. In this matchup, I will. The Colt of 31st against the past. Really, I don't know how many very difficult decisions there. I'm starting Hilton, starting Moncrief. Would you be willing to start Kindle Wright in a game like this? No. Okay. I mean, willing to start, yeah, I mean, but I'm going to start those other guys we've talked about earlier in the show over Kindle Wright, because what you've seen with him is in these shootouts, maybe he's lucky enough to get one of those. But Andy, remember Tajay Sharp?

Yeah, he actually scored last week. No, he looked very good for the first time. Yeah, we have Kendall Wright outside that wide receiver 3. We have him at 43 right now. I'd start Tyree Kill over him. I'd start Devonte Parker, Eddie Royal, as a sneaky start over Kendall Wright. Those are all guys that I'd much prefer. But Richard Matthews, he's right on that wide receiver 2-3 edge with the upside of scoring in 6th straight. He has the upside of being a wide receiver 1. We talked about this. I forget from what week it was on, but he was the number 5.

wide receiver just because he has been in the end zone every single week. And I do believe that Richard Matthews is a quality NFL wide receiver. So that's all coming together nicely. And I think part of the emergence of Marietta and the passing game is what is hurting to a large degree their defense that is not able to be rested up as well during the game. You know, we've seen this so much with different offenses and defenses. The defense of the Dallas Cowboys is better and better when the running game.

is the core of the Cowboys offense. You're starting to Marco Murray. I don't think you're going to start Derek Henry. No, you're not. So let's flip over to the Colts. I think we kind of... You start Frank Gore.

I don't think there's another discussion to be had on the Colt side unless you're talking Doyle Allen and I'm picking Doyle. I'm picking Doyle as my start of the week. We'll talk about that. Yeah. So let's one more matchup, then we'll get into the starts of the week and we'll have the rest of the matchups tomorrow. The Buccaneers take on the Chiefs. The Chiefs are heavy favorites in this one, seven and a half point favorites at home. I'd love to.

to write a narrative where Tampa can come in and beat the Chiefs, I don't think it's possible. I just don't. The Chiefs have played so well. Justin Houston's practicing in full. You know, this is one of those games that I just think James Winston is going to be up against it. We know we like how the end of the season looks for him. He's been on fire. I don't have the confidence to play James Winston in this matchup. How do you feel about James Winston?

I agree. The Chief's defense has been legit. They have Justin Houston back, and they are going to be nasty the rest of the way. In fact, I would say we don't usually talk about picking up defenses, but the Chiefs are... It happened last year. They were great to grab last year at the end of the year. They're one of those teams that I have seen on plenty of waivers.

They get dropped because they're a matchup type of team. I would grab the Chiefs and I would hold on to them the rest of the season and use them as a streamer off of your bench as opposed to off the waivers. And for those reasons, I agree with you. I'm not really liking a lot of the Tampa players. I mean, you're still going to start Mike Evans, but I'm, you know, tempering expectations. What do you do with Doug Martin? Well, you're going to probably end up having to start him. But.

This is, you know, this is not a great matchup. He's easing back into the rotation here. So Winston we have outside of our top 15. Where's our consensus rank for Martin as of right now? Right now we have Doug Martin at. Let me tell you. Looks like we have Martin. 20. 20. Okay. I think that's exactly where he belongs.

Yeah, so the matchups is not great. It doesn't mean that this team can't surprise. They're a pretty good offensive team, but, you know, last week they had the benefit of facing a Chicago team that was just tripping over itself on offense. You know, Cameron Brate is a good start this week. He might have been a waiver pickup for you. Travis Kelsey, you're going to lock him in and you're going to play him. Jeremy Macklin, I don't know if he's on the field. I think Macklin likely is going to be one of those game time decision type of players. If Macklin does not go.

I'm going to tell you right now, Tyree Kill is strong consideration for me. Ten catches last week, a very beatable Bucks defense that's ranked in the 20s for both pass and run. I really like Tyree Kill. You've talked all week in the office about Tyree Kill. I agree with you if Macklin is out. If Macklin is in, I'm not starting Tyreek Hill. That's how I see it. And also, just to kind of disagree with you on one other thing, I'm not liking Cameron Brayette this week.

I still like picking him up. His playoff schedule is amazing. He should be owned. He has been, you know, three weeks in a row with a touchdown. But the Chiefs against the tight end, they've been great. They've given up one touchdown on the season to the tight end. They just played Greg Olson. They've played, you know, Indianapolis and New Orleans and teams that have good tight ends and they've shut them down. So Cameron Brate, maybe he gets a sneaky touchdown.

You know, it happened, you know, Pittsburgh scored a touchdown to the tight end, but I'm not going to project that. I think camera break finishes outside the top 12. Okay. All right. Very fair. Are you ready to? And you're definitely starting where. Is Smith? Spencer Ware is a must start. Yeah. I love Ware this week. I moved him up in my rankings as well. I have Spencer Ware is my number five overall this week. You guys have them at six. You buried him at six. I bear it.

There's five people I'd start over him. Yeah. Okay. And then Alex Smith, possible streamer candidate this week. I thought about it. Absolutely he is. He just hasn't thrown very many touchdowns. My problem with him isn't actually that. My problem is he hasn't been running the ball, which is where his value has always come from. I don't like him. I'm going officially say I don't like him. Well, I mean, when we're talking streamers, if you're going deep on the waivers and our other streamers aren't available, he is at least a capable quarterback who has done it before with a plus matchup.

Fair enough. There you go. Starts of the week. All right, starts of the week from myself and Jason today. I'm going to go with Tyrod Taylor at the quarterback position, alluded to it earlier. Listen, I took a look at the numbers. If you throw out Cincinnati's game against Cleveland, which I am in full approval of throwing out anything Cleveland-related when it comes to your defense, you throw out that game. Cincinnati has given up 2.37 touchdowns to quarterbacks this year.

per game on average. That's great. Tyrod Taylor hasn't even needed throwing passing touchdowns to be fantasy relevant. He scored three straight on the ground in three straight games on the ground. Now you get a matchup of Cincinnati who has been giving it up. Tyra has been putting up consistent numbers. I really, really like Tyrae Taylor this week. He's my start. Yeah, that's a good start. I mean, he was my stream, so we obviously agree. My start of the week at quarterback is Marcus Mariotta.

There is, I mean, there's nobody on fire more than Marcus Marriota right now in the league. You want to know how good Drew Brees, Tom Brady, and Aaron Rogers have been this year. Nobody who has them is upset that they've got them. They have been on fire. And those three, Hall of Fame, incredible quarterbacks, are the second, third, and fourth placed quarterback since week five. The number one is Marcus Marietta. The first four games of the year.

When Tennessee was a defense and run-oriented team, Marcus Marietta only had, I think, two touchdowns, no, four touchdowns in the first four weeks. From week five on, listen, I'm just going to read you his touchdowns sequentially. Three, three, two, two, three, four. And that's not, yeah, and that's not including during that time two extra rushing touchdowns. He has been on fire. He's playing in Indianapolis.

If you've got them, you have to start. It's reminiscent of what we got from Russell Wilson over the second half of last year. Yeah. Where the touchdown totals were just up there. You've got the potential on the ground. He's been doing it, I think, four straight weeks without even the rushing yards that we're used to seeing from him. It's nice to have that in the back pocket, though.

Really agree with that call. Who's your running back? Who are you starting this week at running back with confidence? My running back with confidence, and it's supreme confidence, is le Garrett Blunt. You know, this might be a little too obvious for my normal taste. I like going a little bit deeper, but...

If you have Ligarrett Blunt and you worry about Dionne Lewis coming back and, you know, because he wasn't even active during the game last week, that's silliness. Last week, obviously, he had this crazy three touchdown game. This week he's playing the San Francisco 49ers who are the worst defense. I can remember seeing against the running back position and Ligarget Blunt's been on fire. For him, I will say this. Tom Brady, he wants.

to be special against the 49ers. The team he grew up rooting for a team that brought him in, one of the only other teams that brought him in for tryouts and he thought he was going to be drafted by his hometown team. And he's pretty much gone on the record talking about this game being important for him. So if Tom Brady throws for, you know, 16 touchdowns, I'm not going to be shocked. That would be a lot. It'll be a, he's going to set the record. But I do still think even with Tom Brady having an excellent pass.

touchdown game. You're going to have Legerick run a few in here. All right. My start of the week at the running back position is Theo Riddick. I beat Jason to the punch on this guy. But look, he's been over five of carry in the last two weeks, including a game against Minnesota. You know, he is just so.

crucial to the Detroit offense right now. There's nobody behind him that's going to threaten the amount of snaps that he's going to get. So I think he's a very high floor type of player. He averages more touchdown receptions per game than any other fantasy running back because Matthew Stafford is willing to look to him in the red zone. He's the third most targeted running back. Look, and we already talked about points being on the board. So I really like Theoretic and what he's done since he got back off the injury list.

You know, I have no confidence in Dwayne Washington doing much to take anything away from him. So Theoretic, my start of the week, my wide receiver start of the week is Kelvin Benjamin. And I know people, they're all over the map with Kelvin Benjamin. He started off the year on fire. I think that made some people very upset because I think they went out and traded for him. I think that they have counted on him to be a one where he's been a two. He's been a two type of player.

Eight for eighty six, the last time he played New Orleans. Last week he had seven catches. New Orleans likes to give it up to fantasy wide receivers. I just think the matchup is too good to pass on Kelvin Benjamin tonight. So I'm going to throw him out there as a confirmed start. I'm going to put him in that backing wide receiver one. Yeah, I agree. The start of the week for me for wide receiver is Larry Fitzgerald. This is a guy that if you have him, you've been thrilled with him.

But if you have him this week, you're a little concerned about whether you play him or not. There's, you know, he got an MRI on his knee. He's going to be missing practice through the week. And he's playing the number two ranked defense against wide receiver. Do you consider sitting Larry Fitzgerald against the Minnesota Vikings? It's a little trepidacious. It certainly is. And I'm telling you, don't sit Larry Fitzgerald in this game. This is a homecoming game for Larry Fitzgerald against Minnesota. Bruce Ariens came out and was like,

You know, when people were asking about, you know, are you worried? Is he going to play? Is he not? And he goes, there's no way in the world. He's not playing against Minnesota. This is one of those heart games for Larry. Plus, forget just the narrative of the homecoming game for him. You know, he grew up as a Minnesota ball boy, right? And now he's going to the new stadium in Minnesota. Great. Great for Larry. But he has two weeks in a row with.