Starts of the Week + Week 14 Breakdown, It’s Playoff Time!

What a poopy matchup for the playoffs. These have so many good, important players. Mostert's gotten people into the playoffs. Coleman's had big monster games. You know, Breeze and Camarin is like, these are, I don't want their defenses to be good. Matt Brita practiced in full. He should be active. So you'll probably have Brita, Coleman, Mostert, active. Shark Tank. Yes. For those reasons, I'm out. I'm out. I'm out on all San Francisco running backs. I fully.

admit and project that somebody of this team, someone of those three, will have a fantasy game of note. But I'm out. Debo Samuel? Would you play Jamal Williams over any of these three? I would as well. One player I want to move up this week, Emmanuel Sanders. Yes. Thank you. That's great. Yeah, I was going to talk about Sanders. The one place you can attack the Saints defense, it's through the slot. And that's Manny Sanders has been.

He's been in the slot a lot for the San Francisco 49ers. So he's the one wide receiver. I would trust him over Debo Samuel this week. I would too. And he played 98% of snaps last week. So it wasn't like he wasn't on the field. He just didn't have the production last week. Debo had the touchdown. But this is a game like you said, Mike, where he will be in the slot. He'll have an opportunity. And he's more weeks removed from the injury. So I actually like Emmanuel Sanders. Kiddle, you always play. Jimmy G. Not really a streaming option this week against.

San Francisco. Yeah, this sucks. Yeah, it does. Basically, start Alvin Camara, Michael Thomas, George Kittle, because you knew you're going to start them and pivot wherever else you can. Maybe in a flex world you can play a surprising Emmanuel Sanders play. Yeah, I think that's probably fair. I think it's fair.

Do you want to talk about a more exciting game? The Bengals. Yeah. Oh, yes. It actually kind of is. The Bengals at 1 and 11. This is a more exciting thing. Take on the Browns. The Browns are 5 and 7. Browns are 8.5 point favorites. It's a 40 point over under. Andy Dalton is back. And one of Andy Dalton's greatest attributes is the possibility that the Browns will have to play offense for a larger amount of this game. And that's the gift that Andy Dalton can give fantasy owners.

because the Lord knows he's taken from us. So if he wants to give something to us over these last few weeks, let's call it some competition on the field. Let's talk about... He's auditioning for his new job. Yeah, and we kind of forget because we try to forget maybe, but at the beginning of the year, even though the Bengals struggled immensely, Andy Dalton was like leading the league in Yardage. Yeah.

You know, he went into CenturyLink and for 400-something yards against Seattle. He has the ability to do that. Now, he has Tyler Boyd. That's about it. And Joe Mixon. John Ross. John Ross will be active, probably not playing a whole set of snaps. But it was funny. I read something this morning if you want to. So AJ Green. AJ Green won't play. And he probably won't play this year. But he was never put on IR. Yeah. Okay.

And he was never traded. And you asked yourself, well, why did they do that? Why are the Bengals so dumb? Well, one answer could be the fact that if you put him on IR, he still gets his money, the same he would have, if he wasn't on IR. But then you've got to give a game check to another player. Oh, my goodness. Oh, no. But if you keep him on the active roster, you don't trade him. You don't have to give another game check away. Oh, I hope that's not true.

But it could be very true. I'm not saying it's true, but I'm not not saying it's true. Joe Mixing you're playing. Yes? He's the top 15 finish for four or five weeks. No, he's not going to give you that super upside, but he just, he plays, plays hard, win or lose, and he's been giving you some decent performances. He's got a baseline. He gets the ball out of the backfield, and Dalton moves the offense better than Finley did. So maybe he gets into the end zone.

Tyler Boyd, he's seventh in the NFL in total targets. And he's got Andy Dalton back. So I think you can play Tyler Boyd. Would you agree? Yep. I agree. On the Brown side, Nick Chubb, he's in your lineup. I think both Nick Chubb and Cream Hunt should be in your lineup. I got you on board now. Yeah. I mean, this is a very plus matchup. I expect the Browns to win this game pretty handedly. And I think both running backs will have a good game. The Bengals are terrible.

against the run. When you look at them and you stack them up on the season, you say, okay, well, they're kind of bottom 10, but they're not as bad as possible. When you actually compare who they've played to the teams that have given up more points to the running back position, they are horrifically bad. So yes, Chub and Hunt, to me, are both going to have great games. Hunt is just too involved in the passing game and too talented, and Chubb is just obviously an auto start every week.

I can't imagine you're not playing Beckham and Landry in this match in this matchup at home. Agreed, but I would say Landry and Beckham. Yes. Out of respect. Out of respect. Respect the number one. Now on the season, you're right. The wide receiver 14, Jarvis Landry, wide receiver 26, O'Dell Beckham. Big bust. Big, big bad a bust. Yeah. Bada boom. Yes. No bada booms. Not enough bada booms. Now, Baker, after the number nine and number six performances,

uh not good last week dead last this week against the bengals at home we have mcuby 16 i think that's probably probably a little low now last week the bengals did slow down the sam darnald stream significantly and make him look really dumb but baker at home in this matchup other than do you have concern about the injury at all with baker i mean a little bit you saw him

stink last week, but it was also a very, very difficult matchup. I think this is a really good comp player of saying, okay, your playoffs are on the line, are you going Drew Breeze or are you going Baker Mayfield? The matchup is obviously in Baker Mayfield's favor. The talent is in Drew Breeze's favor. So when you're staring down an option like that, which direction do you go? Who, you know?

Andy, which one would you start? I would play Baker Mayfield. I have Baker Mayfield three spots ahead of Drew Breeze this week. I have them at 15 Breeze at 18. So in those cases, I'm pivoting to the likes of Tannenhill over Baker. But, yeah, I think Baker has a higher ceiling at home against Cincinnati. Yeah, I think I agree. All right, anything else from this game you guys want to touch on? No. The Bengals have allowed fewer than 20 points in three straight games.

after allowing 21 plus over the first nine. So they are playing better on the defensive side of the ball, something that you could see in our streamfinder tool. That's very true. Yeah, join the foot.com. All right, the Colts at 6 and 6 take on the Buccaneers. Buccaneers are 5 and 7. They're home, they're favored by three points against the Colts. They're playing good football. We won a couple games here in a row, and it's a 46.5 point over under.

I don't really love anyone on the cult side of the ball this week because the decision making at the running back position is very difficult with the platoon. You don't love Pascal? I do. I'm willing to play Pascal. I don't love Pascal. No. Just because a vote for Pascal is a vote for Brissette. And I don't think Brissette's going to have a very good week.

Tampa's been better against fantasy quarterbacks. They're at home and they're competing right now. I like them to win the game. So from that game script perspective, maybe Jack Doyle. I like Jack Doyle more than they do, Zach Pascal. But I don't disagree with you guys. You can flex Pascal because what are the options that he has anymore. Now, Paris Campbell could come back. I think he probably will be back. Paris Campbell is the interesting option who's coming back. To submarine Pascal.

Sure. That could be in the range of outcomes. I'm not playing Perez Campbell by any means this week, but there is a lot of buzz going around him. His last game at Pittsburgh, he had the five receptions, 53 yards. They did give him three carries as well. They want him to get involved and touch the ball. It won't surprise me to see them try to get the rookie going if he, in fact, comes back. But you can't trust him for fantasy this week. The biggest risk on the Brissette side.

you know, beyond Tampa playing better. It's just what Brissette represents in the fantasy world. I mean, last week he was 25 for 40. So 40 pass attempts last week. Tennessee was way ahead in that game. And maybe that happens again. But the previous two weeks, it was 24 and 25 passing attempts, only 15 and 16 completions. That's just not a lot to go around. If you break up 16 completions...

across that, you know, between Naim Hines and Jack Doyle and Paris Campbell and Zach Pascal, that's my only concern. Totally. There's more risk there. But, you know, if you're betting on one, it has to be Pascal.

Yeah, totally agree. I mean, and that's really been Berset for the most of the season. You're talking about how. That's why it hurts Hilton, even when Hilton was active. Exactly. How efficient he was through those first seven weeks. He was a ton of touchdown. Regression got you. Well, regression and injury got him. I mean, when you lose T.Y. Hilton and you lose Eric Ebron, we don't know what he would have been able to do with actual good weapons on the field. And Marlin, Mac, not throw a touchdown on over 8% of his passes. But in this game.

Tampa Bay, they might have gotten a little bit better over the last few weeks against quarterbacks. They still are sucking against wide receivers because they gave up touchdowns to backup quarterbacks within the same game. The reality is Tampa's terrible against wide receivers. This is a must-win game for the Colts. I trust Frank Reich as a head coach and that offensive line.

I, the bucks are favored by three. You're picking the Coles to win? Wow. They've lost four or five. Buccaneers going to right direction. I think this is going to be a very close game. I'm not, I mean, I'm going to have to. I'm taking the bucks. By two touchdowns. What? I think they do. I think they cover, though. I'll say that. I think the Buccaneers are going to go to town last week. They're playing well. James, you're playing. Yep.

Of course. Do you like the Colts in this game to win? I like it to be a close game, but I would pick the bucks to win. He just likes Frank Reich so much. Who are you taking in the game? I'm taking the bucks to win. I would not necessarily be all about them covering. I think it's going to be a very close game. Do they cover? Yes. No.

Yes. Okay. They lose by one. I was trying to just get a straight answer. Ronald Jones, Peyton Barber. Hey, Ronald Jones is still the starter, says Bruce Ariens. Wink. He's our RB 31. Peyton Barber's the RB 45. That seems about right. Yeah, because Ronald has a little more upside. Ronald Jones could be fine. The matchup is bad. The Colts are fifth against fantasy running backs. So you're not excited about that. But the Buccaneers should be able to score points.

But Ronald Jones makes one mistake. To the bench, he goes, even though he's the quote starter. I mean, I'm out. Shark Tank. Ronald Jones or Darius Geis, Mike. Geis. Nice. Ronald Jones or Adrian Peterson, Mike. Peterson. Hmm. I got to go deeper. Do I? Kenyon Drake. Kenyon Drake. Because I'm not playing Ronald Jones. I'm not going to play a guy who could, who can leave the field immediately.

For one mistake. I think he's going to have a good game. I think he's going to have a good game. It's really tough. That's completely, I mean, that's just gut. I understand just being out because you cannot trust or predict anything that's gone on in Tampa Bay's backfield this year. But he's going to get the opportunity and he's had good games whenever he's been given the opportunity. With me, I mean, he should have had a great game last week. But with me being out, I readily admit.

the opportunity for a huge game for Ronald Jones does exist. You just don't want to deal with it. Exactly. Yeah, I get it. If I'm wrong and Ronald Jones goes off on my bench, so be it. It'll just be like the rest of the season. Exactly. Whenever Ronald Jones decisions were to be. It will help my tiebreaker. There you go. Thanks, Ronald. You helped my tiebreaker this week. Let's get into the starts. Starts of the week. All right. Who wants to kick it off?

I'll jump in here. We already revealed it, but my quarterback start of the week, it's Kirk Cousins. Since week three, since week three against the Detroit Lions, only Washington failed to post top 12 quarterback numbers. And that span of games includes Chicago twice. Minnesota's at home. Kirk Cousins can get it done for fantasy. Even if Minnesota blows out Detroit, even if that happens,