Starts of the Week, Wk 1 Matchups, Lev Bell Saga

We haven't talked very much about Benjamin Watson tied in for the Saints. Now, outside of Michael Thomas, there's not a lot of volume guarantee in that Saints pass-catching offense outside of obviously Camara as well. But is Benjamin Watson being undervalued, underlooked at? Is there any... We have an eye looking his way this week. He's definitely being under-talked about. I don't know a better way to say that. I'm not going to play him.

I'm not rostering him right now, but you are right. I got one eye open. I'm doing a little peek ski at Ben Watson because the last time he was in New Orleans granted a very different situation when Ben Watson broke out at the, he was like 45 years old when he did that for the Saints a few years ago. They were depleted of past catchers and it had to go through Watson. I feel like Ben Watson and Frank Gore are both sharing the... Same blood? Infinity Stone.

They're both ageless, it seems. All right, without further ado, we'll get the rest of the matchups to you tomorrow. It's time for our picks. Starts of the week. I guess I'll start with my start of the week at the quarterback position since it's piggybacking on that last game. And it is Drew Brees. Drew Brees. And he's a start of the week this week because Jason and I have shared our concerns about him being a top five guy.

over the course of the season, but I am not concerned in week one, and I am not concerned as much in these weeks where Mark Ingram isn't available. And this team will rely and lean on Drew Breeze, the short passing game with Alvin Camara and Michael Thomas. And look, Tampa Bay is a great matchup for Drew Breeze. They're at home. I think this is a home run, easy start of the week. Roll them out there, get him going. Love it. Drew starts on fire. Yeah.

I'm going back to the game that I want a lot of pieces in, the Bengals and the Indianapolis Colts. And I am saying as a start of the week, hold on to yourself here. Hold on, but Andy Dalton will be a very productive fantasy player in week one. Now everyone remembers or hopefully you don't for your own mental stability. The week one performance of Andy Dalton.

last year. It was atrocious. I mean, I've tried to delete it from my memory. I think it was like a negative game. It was just the worst thing ever put out there. But this is a different team and a different team they're going against. You have John Ross instead of Brandon Lafell on the outside. You have a slightly upgraded offensive line. You have a different offensive coordinator. You have a different starting running back.

And the offense, while it struggled at times of preseason, it also showed flashes of what made me excited. And I think that this is a game where there will be points flying. I feel like you've made a tremendous mistake in this assessment. Not that you're wrong. But if I were you, I would have been talking completely about the matchup and not about the Bengals offense. Well, the thing I'm trying to convince people of, like...

Their hesitation, I think, when you're listening, is going to be the Bengals. It's going to be the Bengals office. Look, the Colts defense is bad. Their secondary is worse than bad. It is an easy, peasy matchup for Andy Dalton to just find John Ross wide open like he did in the preseason, 50 yards down the field. Same with AJ Green. And my other start of the week that we'll talk about in a second.

down near the red zone is locked and loaded. It's a great matchup. So I think Andy Dalton, you know, look, he's going to throw two touchdowns and if he rushes a touchdown and I won't be surprised. You'd play him over Jimmy G. You said it yesterday. Yes, sir. Start of the week Andy Dalton. All right. Andy Dalton. My quarterback. Just saying that out loud just so you could hear it. My quarterback started the week. Philip Rivers gets to take on the Kansas City Chiefs who their secondary is a disaster. The.

The Chicago Bears played their backups against the Chiefs in the preseason, and they were dominating them. And Philip Rivers is a fantastic quarterback. He's got the pieces around him, a superstar wide receiver, and maybe the emergence of Mike Williams over on the chief side. Eric Berry is still recovering. This is a perfect situation of great talent, great offense, versus a...

Very poor matchup as in a great matchup because they're going up against a poor secondary. So Philip Rivers is a top 10 guy easy for me this week. All right. Let's go to the running back position. I'm going with Joe Mixing. Top 10 running back this week. Guaranteed book it. Wow. Done. Wow. It's over. We talked about the Colts. The defensive front of the Colts is atrocious. This game is set up for a Joe Mixing.

volume attack. I think there's opportunity for them to have a lead. There's opportunity for them to lean on him. I will go out on a limb and say he's going to receive more than 20 carries in this game and be a force for your fantasy team, which is good news for me because I am taking on Jason in our league of record. And I have Joe Mixon. You need it. And I need him. If he gets 20 carries against this Colts defense, then

He will be very productive. I would say there's a decent chance Joe Mixon is the rushing leader after week one. So in the NFL. Yeah. Last year against the Colts who were a bad rush defense, he put up the worst line imaginable against the Colts on the ground. And I went back and I watched that game.

Because I was super high on Joe Mix, and I wanted to make him one of my guys. So I was going back and rewatching all the film. And I was like, why was he so bad in this game? And there were a lot of penalties, a lot of offensive line issues. But he torched the Colts in the passing game. I mean, he made them look a fool. So while I don't necessarily agree with the rushing leader, I think he's a great play this week. And I hope. I hope it's through the air. So it helps my Andy Dalton pitch. Sure.

All right, my running back. Get your bangles this week. That's what we're saying. That is what we're saying. That's fantasy, though. You don't have to, these things do not have to compute. This is why we say, you don't, you don't win. Don't listen to this, man. You don't win your championship at the draft. I need it to compute. What I'm saying is the fantasy side and the reality of where you think the team's heading. They don't have to.

They don't have to align. Look, if you played San Francisco, you started your running back against San Francisco last year. Because it computed. Sure. Okay. I might have used the wrong language. You were freaking me out over there. I think you were trying to say is that fantasy football is different than real football. I think that's what I was trying to say. Nailed it. Perfect. All right. So my running back was actually my number two selection. Sadly, Mike.

stole my number one who I like even better than this guy, but I want to put my confidence in a player who is, get this. He's an or. Great. Okay. Kenyon Drake. Are you declaring it? Are you declaring that Kenyon Drake is a great player. He's a great running back. Kenyon Great? Oh, I like it. Kenyon Great. Kenyon Great is my start of the week and I am not worried. I am not working. We need a ruling from the judge immediately so we can shut this down. He's shaking. Nah.

We don't even need the gavel. You know if Mike's not into it? Like Mike's never been against anything. So you know if Mike's not into it, it's not going to work. Here's the truth, guys. After week one, when he explodes, everyone's going to be calling him Kenyon Great. No. So it's up to him. No. Kenyon, this is up to you. If you want to be Kenyon Great, go out there and show that you are because he is. Kenyon Great is a. Oh, no.

is a solid running back. And I want to give you confidence because if there's, if you're worried because the trap track comes out and you're like, this B-hole is saying it's, he's not even the starter. I'm talking about Adam Gase. No, I know, but the fact that you went the censored, I've never heard. I would say the B-hole. I've never heard that either. I think that sounds way worse. It does. Well, good. It sounds worse. Well, good. Adam Gase. Double, double censored. Get your act together. But this is.

This is a game where, you know, again... Can I get a ruling on the, on B-hole, please? You're at home. I think Judge, double thumbs up. Look, that's where the, that's how they get in the hive. He's talented enough to play against Tennessee at home, week one. It's a good situation. Yes, and he's going to play, you know, he's going to get more work, more total touches than Frank Gore. He'll be a sight to B-hole. Be-hole.

Mike, your running back start of the week. My running back started the week. The one that Jason wanted is the fleet footed Alex Collins running back. What did you just call it? The fleet footed. I like it. All right. Running back for the Baltimore Ravens gets to take on Buffalo. They allowed the most points to the running back position last year for fantasy. Their secondary is actually okay. There's no, but there's no reason to throw against Buffalo. Huge favorites. Baltimore.

The game script will be very positive for Alex Collins. So I love him. He was a value in drafts. And it's time to start him with full confidence. All right. We're moving on to the wide receiver position. Chris Hogan. Yeah. He's as safe as they come this week. I really, I really feel like he is. He's a top 12 guy this week. And.

Is that the theme song from? That's Hollywood Hulk Hogan music. Oh, okay. There's no way to keep going with that in my ear. It's very difficult. Chris Hogan is locked and loaded as the wide receiver won this week. Julian Edelman's out and Hogan will be peppered with opportunity. So I love him, start him. Yeah, spice him up. I like that pick as well. My wide receiver start of the week, I am coming home. And I'm taking a guy who I think is.

He's shown over the last two years that he's got a massive home road split. And I'm going to take advantage because I was lower on him in the off season and you guys gave me so much grief. Week one, I'm taking Larry Fitzgerald at home against Washington. I think he's going to be a phenomenal start. He matches up well. This is a good pick, Jason. Thank you, Mike. This is a great thing. He's got Sam Bradford at least right now. Homer. He's got him right now.

Homer to the guy that was down on Larry Fitzgerald through the offseason. Look, I will bench Larry throughout this season in a bad matchup on the road. But at home, in a good matchup, I expect the Cardinals to succeed. He's got Sam Bradford healthy for week one. Just look at Sam Bradford week one last year. Look, if he's healthy, he's a great quarterback. I'm firing him up with full confidence. Oh, he's got a great cornerback matchup as well. Larry's going to be.

Fantastic this week. Mike, you have an interesting start of the week for week one. So my wide receiver start is, I'm going with Golden Tate from the Detroit Lions. We've got him in the slot. Of course, we know about that. But because he's in the slot, that means he gets to go against Buster Screen, who I was looking on the Quantedge.com, and they said Buster Screen gave up a pass rating of 95.7. And two of the...

heavy routes that that golden tate is utilized in the bubble screen and the dig routes where tate excels those are were particularly bad against this cornerback uh they run through the air in detroit we'll see if that changes this season but until the until i'm shown that they don't i believe that they will and golden tate i believe is a great play this week all right i'm going to go with david and joku

Tight-in for the Cleveland Browns is my start of the week. I love what I saw from David and Joku in the preseason, not just against the Giants, but all together. And he is going to dominate snaps at the tight-in position. He is one of the top athletes at the position. And I think with Josh Gordon reacclimating to the offense on a pitch count and the way that this game could go, which I think it could be a higher scoring affair.

David and Jokey's going to have a lot of opportunity to be a go-to receiver outside of Jarvis Landry for Tyrod Taylor. So I like David and Joku this week. If you saw him in the crop top, it gave you six good reasons. Yeah. I like it. With them abdominals. No, we get it. I was talking about his shredded abs. Oh, okay. I didn't understand. We still get it. Yeah. Yeah.

I alluded to it earlier. Andy Dalton's going to be throwing a touchdown to Tyler Eifert this week. He's my start of the week. I had him pretty low on my season-long rankings because I don't believe that Tyler Eifert will be healthy for 16 games. And so by the end of the year, he won't be that high. But.