Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Starts of the Week, Week 7 Matchups, News

The Chiefs are hosting this matchup. They are six and a half point favorites. Jason has already said he's sitting Drew Breeze because if you look at the... I am sitting Drew Breeze behind Andy Dalman. Correct. I'm not telling anybody to sit. I apologize. Yes. Drew Bree is coming off a 44.5 point week. So you still have some Cajonis to sit him. Yeah. In your context, you still have to step out on a ledge and say, hey, I'm going to play this Drew Breeze Home Away split game.

Yeah, and that's exactly what it is. Drew Brees has not been quite the same quarterback on the road that he is at home. He usually isn't. And that's even in plus matchups. Now you've got, you know, the fact that he's going to Kansas City. And Kansas City, look, if you just look at like, how is a team ranked? And we'll talk about this quite a bit in our starts of the week. But when you just look at like Kansas City's overall ranking on defense is blank, it's not a good way to investigate.

um, matchups because for instance, Kansas City, you know, they had that game where all of a sudden, Pittsburgh just showed up, that Levion Bell game, you know, where, uh, Drew, or, uh, Ben Rutherzberger threw five touchdowns. He was amazing. Outside of that single game, they've only given up three touchdowns to quarterbacks on the year. They've, they've, uh, they haven't given up another 300 yard game. It's,

It's, they're a very good defense. Their home field advantage is great. And that's where Drew Brees struggles. If he can't communicate as well, he is not the elite option that he usually is. I think that's a good perspective. And you have a Saints offense that is first in the league right now in points per game, but everything stacked against them this week. You have seen Cook struggle on the road. You've seen Bree struggle on the road. And you saw a very good performance from the Kansas City defense last week. So you're starting, Ingram.

Because he's Mark Ingram. Yeah, you have to. He's a starting running back. You know, Sneed has fallen out of fantasy favor at this point. I don't like him as a start this week. And Cooks, you're going to play him. But if you have, you know, a comparable better option, you know, if it's Alan Robinson or Brandon Cooks, it's not a question this week. No, it's Alan Robinson. Kobe Fleen, are you buying in? I am buying in what he did last week. Now, it's interesting to note.

He had the lowest, I believe the lowest snap percentage for himself of the season. Josh Hill was very involved. I believe that going forward, what Fleener showed is that he is really, really valuable and that he's going to have a connection, and that's good. So I am buying into Fleener. Andy and I talked about this in the office.

Fleener might put up some stinky games, right? But any time that you don't have one of those Greg Olsons or Grongs or, you know, I mean, that's it. Jordan Reed. Right. Yeah, Jordan Reed, when he's healthy, any other tight in that you have out there, you're going to have just as big an option every single week that he puts up five or less points with every tight end in the league. But Kobe Fleener's upside.

is far higher than most of those other points. There's 100 yards and two touchdowns. Exactly. And you're not going to get that out of your. Jack Doyles of the world. Right. You aren't. You really aren't. Yeah. On the other side of the ball, you have the running back circumstance here. We're going to talk about Spencer Ware in the starts of the week. Ooh.

You've got Jamal Charles. Andy Reid said he's not ready for a full workload. And, you know, look, the Chiefs don't need a full workload from Jamal Charles when Spencer Ware is playing so well. Jeremy Macklin, I told Jason this. We were kind of debating this before the game. This is, I mean, if you can't perform in this matchup, to me, you can't, you're probably not what you thought we were. Oh, the dirty cake. The dirty cake. I mean, you're going up against the 31st rank past defense and a team that should be able to put points on the board.

At least enough. I mean, 15.5 point over under, you know, you're talking about a 24, 21 game, you know, a 28, 21 game. So if Macklin's not involved this week, if Kelsey isn't involved this week, I'm punting this passing offense the rest of the season. Because I don't want to play that game anymore. I don't want to be waiting for Macklin. I mean, what's an upside game for McClain? Six for 77. Ooh. I mean, you've got to be sad about that. I'm not happy. But I also think that there, I think he will perform in this game.

Macklin was on the table for me for a start of the week. Let's put it that way. And I know Jason and I disagree on that. Yeah. And I also wouldn't punt on Macklin if he doesn't perform. Put it this way. If this game was in New Orleans, oh my goodness, Macklin would be my start of the week. I understand. Because I have all confidence that New Orleans would be going back and forth. This over under of 50 and a half, I'd take the over. Right now I'm taking the under because it's in Kansas City. And if you look at what wide receivers have.

you know, done in those games. You know, I mean, think about when it was in New York, right, when Odell Beckham. Right. He didn't, he had a terrible game and Eli Manning didn't do as much because it was surprisingly a low-scoring game. Same with Philip Rivers when it was in San Diego. You know, it... Are you willing to put a top 24 for Macklin? 24 is... Top 15? Yeah, I would do a top 15. Whoa. Waterbed. The bets are flying the day.

Yeah, I don't think he's going to be top 15. Sure. I do. I'm taking a risk. I agree that there is a percentage chance that the way you're seeing the game takes place. I don't doubt that. I just think Dodds are in his favor in this matchup. We need to move on. Got to get into the starts of the week. Need to talk about the bills and the dolphins. Are you excited about that? Very. What was? I don't know what happened right there.

Now, are you- Mike always finds it just disproportionately entertaining when I make a mistake. Because you don't get to actually see your physical reaction to it. That's true. I had no idea what was going on. There's the combination of it's startling to my ears. It's startling to your ears and you're frantically swiping trying to stop things. You know you're the only one in charge of that. I can't do anything but sit and enjoy the show. Now, I have a question. This Bill's Dolphins game, is this, were you actually excited?

Uh, no. Okay. No. No, no, certainly, certainly not. Um, so what are we expecting here? The streak to continue for the, the bills? You know, you have the dolphins win at home last week against Pittsburgh. They're at home again this week, but they're underdogs. And, uh, this game does not have a high over under, and I approve. I approve Vegas of, of your estimation here. Uh, LaShawn McCoy might miss. That is, uh,

a huge detriment to that offense. Yeah. Because Mike Gillisley may start, but you're not going to get the slippery fish. No, no. You won't get the slippery fish, but I think you'll get a fine game. If McCoy is in fact ruled out, the dolphins are the 31st ranked against the run. So they're giving up yardage. So I still think Gillisley is a fine play, but you're right that McCoy would change the team. Gillisley or Jaquiz Rogers if both guys were started. Oh, Jaquiz Rogers. Man, I love him this week.

All right, you got Robert Woods in the passing game for, yeah. Yeah, I mean, you're just not that excited about that. You can probably count on five or six catches. So you could do worse than Robert Woods. I'm vetting this real quick. I'm not sure if Woods practiced today. No. I'm going to take a look. Yeah. Look skis. You know who did practice in full? On the other side of the ball is Aryan Foster. Oh. So just when you think you got something in Jaya, Jai.

You have followed this situation because you were an Arian Foster guy before. You've been a Jayae guy. Who is it? Who can you start? Can you start Jaya Jai this week with any confidence? No, not with any confidence. Because you're facing a pretty tough defense that has been on a roll. Four straight wins, playing well. I would start a Jaya over Foster. I think that's the question. So I would start a Jaya over Foster. I would.

Let me put it this way. People are holding Foster. If this week is a full Ajai week, and you're talking five carries for Foster and 12 to 15 for Ajai, I'm fine cutting Foster at that point. Now, you might hold him to be the handcuff of Ajai at that point, but I'm buying into the fact that Ajai earned himself a workhorse opportunity in this game. So the update on Robert Woods, he did not practice today or yesterday.

He was also spotted wearing a walking boot. Rex Ryan claims he's not concerned, but I can't imagine that Woods is looking likely to play, which makes, for me, Charles Clay turns into a sneaky snart this week if you're struggling at the tight end. Yeah, I like it. Clay's had a lot of productive games on the season. The Bulls, or the dolphins are a middle of the road team against tight end, and you have to pass the ball to someone.

That's very true. Well, Tyrod Taylor doesn't have to pass very much. Yeah. So is Taylor a streamable player this week? If he loses McCoy and Woods? If he loses McCoy and Woods, I would not be starting. Not for me. Not for me. Other side of the ball, what decisions on the wide receiver core there? You're starting landry because you normally do. But that's it. Yep. That's it for me. All right. We need to move on. Let's get into the starts. Starts of the week.

Mike, I'm going to let you kick this off. You choose the position and you get us going. Well, we're going to start with the big dogs then. We're going to start with the quarterback. We referred to them a little bit earlier in this show. I'm going with Blake Bortles. Look, Oakland has to cross the entire country. It is not... One foot? Yes. They left two weeks ago, and they hope to arrive tomorrow. It should be a documentary on that, at least. Usually, and...

Speaking in very general terms, when West Coast teams have to go to the East Coast, play in the morning, it doesn't usually end up very well for that West Coast team. They're already a bad passing defense. They've had multiple games giving up four passing touchdowns. So I like Blake Bordles, the ultimate garbage man. I like him taking out the trash this week. I think he gets it done. Jason, who's your quarterback start of the week? I think there's no surprise here. It's Andrew Dalton. Look.

Could the Bengals just run the ball on the Browns and not need Andy Dalton at all? Absolutely. But could you see AJ Green having another one of those 152 touchdown games and go nuts? And Tyler Arifert come back and grab a third touchdown because I sure can. So I have no problem with Andy Dalton. I like him. I'm starting him. And I'll be so sad if he stinks.

But he's looked good to me this year. Especially if you're starting him. Yeah, I know. I will. I'm going to go with Kurt Cousins. Talked about him earlier. He takes on Detroit. Detroit is the 32nd ranked defense against quarterbacks in fantasy. The Lions defense has allowed a pass rating of 119.1. This season, dead last in the league. And at least two touchdowns per week. And that's selling it short, saying at least two touchdowns per week. Because it's actually.

2.8. So, look, great matchup for Kirk Cousins. Really like him as a start this week. There are quite a few streamable quarterbacks this week, but Cousins is on the top of my list right there. So, Mike, who's your running back? My running back, I'm going with the handcuff here. I'm going with Jack Quiz Rogers taking on the mighty San Francisco 49ers rushing defense. Did you know that the 49ers are allowing?

174 rushing yards a game. It's not been pretty ever since they lost Bowman. Bowman. Navarra Bowman. The second worst, that's Miami. And they're allowing 147. So 30 yards worse. On average is what San Francisco is allowing. We saw Jaquiz Rogers in a ultimate beast mode. Three down work roll last week. He had 35 touches. Doug Martin's out for who knows how long.

I like Jock Quiz. I know they added Anton Smith, but that's, I think, simply a depth move because you can't give Rogers 35 touches every single week, but I still like him to touch the ball very frequently and have great success. I love Roger's. Jason. Yeah, so I love Jquiz Rogers this week. I do not like my start of the week rest of season. And that is Tevin Coleman. I've said it before. I don't believe that he can keep the pace of what he's doing.

Through the air, he's never rushed for 50 yards on the season. Look, I've recommended selling Tevin Coleman, but if you have him, start him. I got no problem with Tevin Coleman this week. Here's a deal. The reason I don't like him is because he has to have like a cajillion yards through the passing game in order to be effective. And that's what he's done this year, but you just can't do that. Except this week against San Diego. If you look at San Diego and you go,

Depending on which format you look at, but let's just say you're looking at how many fantasy points they give up to the position, to running backs. And you go, oh, wow, they're terrible, right? I think they're 29th in fantasy points given up to the running back position. Here's the deal. They have not yet given up 100 yards.