Week 1 Matchups, In-or-Out, Upset of the Week

Yeah, if you're one of those two flex leagues, I feel a little bit better about it. Sure. All right, let's move on. Let's talk about another fun matchup this week. Jacksonville travels to New York to take on the Giants. Giants are three-point underdogs at home, 42.5 point over under. I'd personally take the under in this game. I did as well. Jacksonville coming off the playoff season, Blake Bortles and Company, Lennon-Fernett. We've talked a lot about the wide receivers. This week we get to see them. Are you starting up?

Keel and Col and Dante Moncrief, Mike, what decisions are you making on the offensive side of the ball for Jacksonville? So for Jacksonville, four net, easy start. And Keel and Cole, I will play him. I think he has a chance to emerge. We've talked about the range of outcomes for Keel and Cole. And when he was given his opportunity, I mean, he opened the gates and seized the date. Yeah. If you catch my drift. Oh, man, the news was breaking.

So I'm interested with Keel and Cole. Moncrief, I would give him a week to percolate, let him just sit on my bench and see what's happening with that passing attack. Jacksonville was sixth in the league last year in points per game. They faced a Giants defense that was real bad. So there's opportunity here, but it's in New York. I know, Jason, you've been more optimistic about the Giants this season, obviously compared to last year. Would you say they're your Browns?

Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, they were 3 and 13 last year. They were almost in the Browns level. Yeah, I mean, they had a top pick in the NFL draft, and I expect them to be competing for a playoff position. That being said, I think I have the Jaguars.

getting to the Super Bowl. This is going to be a tough matchup for the Giants. That's why they're home underdogs. I'm not, you know, look, Sequin's going to be okay, but this isn't going to be a huge game for him. He's going to be involved enough in the passing to be fine. You know, you're always going to start Odo Beckham, but I've got him, people have been like, dude, you've got O'Dell Beckham outside of a top 12 wide receiver. And it's like, yeah, I mean, Jaylon Ramsey has shut up guys down. I might move him up a little bit now that Ramsey's dealing with the ankle injury, but.

It's a tough, tough matchup. Reports out in New York have Sequin getting a full allotment of snaps, not going to be limited by any of the injury concerns that were there previously. And if you could beat Jacksonville anywhere last year, it was on the ground. Yeah. So he's interesting. Yeah, what were they last year? 21st. Yeah, okay. Let's move on. Chiefs, Chargers. We talked about Joey Bosa could miss the game for the Chargers defense.

The charges are at home and are three and a half point favorites against Pat Mahomes. It's an interesting game. I've been rising progressively on Tyreek Hill. I think the outcomes for him on the course of the season have moved into that top eight, top six range. Yep. Because the rapport with Mahomes is legit and Tyree Kill is a special player. That's what it comes down to, right? Talent and opportunity. Both of those exist for Tyree Kill. You start him up. You start in Kareem Hunt.

You taking any chances with Patrick Mahomes this week, Mike? I mean, are you starting Tyrod Taylor over him? Yes. Are you starting Blake Bortles over Pat Mahomes? That's a good one. That is a great question. And it depends on what I feel like I need from my quarterback position because Mahomes could explode and yet he's going against the third best passing defense from last year. And on top of that,

They were near the bottom. I'm talking about the Chargers. So they were a great pass defense, but were real bad on the ground. And Kareem Hunt, who rushed for 10 or more yards on nearly 13% of his carries. I mean, Kreme Hunt gouged. And they were a gougable defense. Yes. So it, it lines up. You don't want to be gougable. No, no, nobody wants to be gougable. Nope. It ran, this matchup is set up for Kareem Hunt.

I would try not to play Patrick Mahomes this week. The one thing going in Patrick Mahomes' favor is the Tyreek Hill bomb. It's big plays. Tyreek Hill over the last two years, his home road splits is very interesting. We talk about Big Ben a lot, but Tyreek Hill has been consistently much, much, much better on the road.

surprisingly. Then at home, he gets over double the touchdowns on the road, far more targets. That was Alex Smith, though. Yes, absolutely. It was weird. It was a weird year. You can throw that out the window from the standpoint of Alex Smith, but the play calling and the tendency to throw more than run could be an Andy Reed thing as well. Right. Sammy Watkins or Dante Moncrief this week.

Whoa, that's a very good question. And I will go. I'm going to take Dante Moncrief because of the matchup because I'd rather go against, rather take the flyer, not against the Chargers, but against the New York Giants. Looking at the Chargers side of the ball, we've talked at length about the Chiefs. Their defense does not look strong. It was, it's going to be a problem over under 10 receptions for Keenan Allen. Over. Over. Over. Yeah, I'm going to take that over. 10's a really good line because I would say about 10. So I'll take the over.

The combination of Tyrell Williams and Mike Williams, they're going to be fascinating to watch how that shakes out. Yeah, how it shakes out through the season. In this particular game, I was incredibly close to calling a real deep shot for starts of the week because I love Rivers so much. Tyrell Williams, he was in consideration for me because this is the perfect matchup where Tyrell the Gazelle.

is going to hit a 50-yard touchdown strike. I would stand a reason that Mike Williams or Tyrell Williams end up as some of the bigger ads in week two. I completely agree. Because one of these players is likely to have a big play against this chief secondary and end up on that list. So if you got room, you want to stash it before you and maybe you take your shot. You go with Mike's guy, Tyrell, or you take a shot on Mike Williams. Not a bad idea.

Are you, you're a big fan of Philip Rivers, Mike? He's your start of the week. Melvin Gordon's a no question start, so we don't need to talk about him. Jason, do you have any thoughts on the tight-in situation in Los Angeles? Yeah, don't play him. I mean, that's a strong opinion. I mean, I don't play Antonio Gates. You don't play Virgil Green. They're not going, I mean, I think best case for Gates is two receptions for eight yards and a touchdown, and then you won't be upset, but he's going to be eased back into the field. You're going to get sweaty.

Watching that game. I'm going to share something. I know we got to get into the Redskins Cardinals. I had a dream last night. Uh-oh. I had a dream last night. No joke. Goal line carry. Baltimore Ravens. Okay? For Joe. Flacco turns. Flacko. Hands the ball to Lamar. Flacco turns and hands the ball off. And in the dream, I think it's Alex Collins. And then they zoom up. Is Jason Moore?

Oh, yes. And Jason Moore. Did I score? Shimmies to the left and does this Madden style dive across the goal line for a touchdown. Doing the golf. And the jersey still says Collins on the back. That's fine. But they've let Jason take over. Nice. They've let him take over. What did you eat last night? Look, I've been on a lot of medicine lately. I'm getting over a cold. It's really entertaining in my dreams.

But Jason, good job. Thank you. More athletic than people expect. Did you know last night, Devonthe Freeman had several opportunities to cross the goal line. Failed. If you would have been in there, who knows? I got the job done. You did. And you did. The Redskins go to Arizona to take on the Cardinals. Cardinals are now one-point favorites, 44.5 point over under. Look, you have the debut of several players in this game. Alex Smith, Adrian Peterson. They're Redskins debuts.

Paul Richardson as well. Jordan Reed is back. Sam Bradford on the Cardinal side of the ball. Chad Williams gets the start. There is a lot of unknown in this game. So Mike help illuminate for our listeners where they can count on fantasy production because that's what it's all about. So count on fantasy production is David Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald. That's where you can count. And then you're just starting to get into the world of probability where,

I think Sam Bradford is a pretty decent play this week against Washington at home. Sam Bradford is just, he's a week one star. He's a good quarterback when he's actually healthy, and he's healthy right now. From the Cardinal side, Ricky Seals Jones, I also like him a lot, which I've already talked about throughout this week. So that's what I'm looking forward to on the Cardinal side of the ball.

And then just seeing how Williams, Christian Kirk, shakes out, similar to Tyrell Williams, Mike Williams, I expect whoever can emerge as the secondary option for Arizona will be a huge ad on Tuesday. All right, Jason, you, I'm imbueing to you right now, a massive love for Alex Smith. You love Alex Smith right this moment. Okay. And because of that, you are a glutton for punishment. You want to pick a wide receiver from Washington to start this week. And I know exactly who I would pick.

There's no question which wide receiver I would pick. Floppy toes? It would be floppy toes Jordan Reed, who is really a wide receiver, but at the tight-in position. You know your career is not on the right trajectory when you go from Rule 86 to floppy toes. Rule 86 is. That's when you need to look in the mirror. Rule 86 is in effect. Jordan Reed is healthy. You start him when he's in there. I have him plugged in. I was surprised. I did not think that he would be off.

the injury report and ready to go week one, but if he is, you play him. And I think that if you look at the defensive, you know, look, the Cardinals have been good against the tight end, but this is a new defense. They're shifting it around. They've changed, you know, the scheme as Wilkes has come in as a head coach. And you've got Patrick Peterson now looking forward and playing in his own scheme. Yeah, exactly. And I think that that's where.

That's where Jordan Reed and Alex Smith will have a good connection against that zone. The wide receivers, I'm not digging Doxon or Richardson. I guess you can flex Crowder and Hope, but I don't think this is a great matchup. Really the only guy I like is Jordan Reed. Last year, the Cardinals were very good against the rushing attack of opposing teams. Adrian Peterson, Mike, it's a volume play. Yeah, if you got it. Chris Carson, Adrian Peterson. Wow.

Chris Carson or Adrian Peterson. You're not liking either matchup, but you don't take a shot. I probably go, I probably go Adrian Peterson. If you think Rashad Penny is going to play and take snaps away from Carson, I think you go AP. I have him back to back in my rankings. I think that AP could have a very good game this week. I really do. I know it's a tough matchup, but he has fresh legs having the last two weeks off. He is still great when he's fresh.

They're on the road. They want to slow the game down. I think he will have enough volume to where if he breaks something or if he gets a touchdown, he's a solid play. Yeah, Peterson is my choice of those two. Cowboys, Panthers. In Carolina, Panthers three-point favorites. I would take the Panthers in this game myself. All right. I liked them at home. Cam Newton, Christian McCaffrey, Greg Olson. That's where my starts stop.

so to speak, on the Carolina side of the ball. On the Dallas side, Jason, pick yourself a wide receiver. Mike, pick yourself a wide receiver. We're going to play roulette with the wide receiving core in Dallas right now. Yeah, I want to take Gallup. Really? I don't want to start any of them. I would not start a Dallas wide receiver. If I have to start one. I would take Williams. So that's the problem.

Exactly. We just explained the problem with the Dallas wide receiver core perfectly. We picked three different guys to go with. It's a crapshoot. That's not how you want to start week one. Those are guys you want to leave on your bench and see how it develops. Find someone else to throw in there. In the fantasy forecast, we want to help you make decisions on the players you don't know if you're starting or not. To me, the only one that really leaps off the page is Dak Prescott. Yes. Look, if you drafted Cam, you're starting Cam.

You're not questioning that. But DAC is somebody that maybe you took very late. Maybe you have an option to start him or a Philip Rivers. Him or, you know, San Bradford. What's your confidence level with DAC? This new wide receiver core. No more Jason Witt. No more Des Bryant. You're on the road. Yeah. But you have the rushing floor. He's going to move, you know, he's been able to get in the end zone with his legs, five touchdowns the past two years. Is Dak somebody that you're just kind of hands off this week? You're okay with Dak? Yeah.

But yeah, I mean, you don't need to start him because there are other better options. I mean, we've talked about it. Tyrod Taylor, I think, is going to be a top 12 quarterback this week. I would rather start Sam Bradford even than Deck. Now, could Deck get that rushing touchdown and finish the week fine? He's been historically great when he's playing with Zeke. But I think you take a hands off approach right now on deck. Bradford or Prescott, Mike? Bradford. Dalton or Prescott? Dalton.