Fantasy Football 2017 - Starts of the Week, Week 13 Matchups, Boom Boom

You don't usually give the rest rookie day. You know, rookies don't get the rest day. That goes to the veterans. That one is a little bit interesting to me. Robert Wood's still not practicing. So, you know, something to monitor. Maybe, you know, I do think that if Josh Reynolds is hurt later in the week, it might be an actual downgrade for Cooper Cup.

I just think it's obviously easier to scheme. I think it's an upgrade for Cooper Cup. There you go. Just more targets? Yeah, I mean, Sammy Watkins is still there, so Cup is still the two off of Patrick Peterson. I would actually bump up a guy like Tyler Higby or Gerald Everett as a shot in the dark, deeper league play. That sounds just like the real song. All right, let's talk forecast. Fantasy forecast. Really, a lot more singing from you this week without Mike in town.

Well, I mean, you've got to do what you've got to do. And I'm not going to let people down who come for just music. A lot of people just listen to this podcast solely for the vocal musings of Mike. Yes. And so I've got to carry that torch. This week as we look into, I found a couple things interesting because it's such an important week in the fantasy forecast here. There's no major weather problems.

It does not appear that there's going to be any super duper cold games or super windy games, and that's a reprieve from the last few weeks. And yet, and yet the over unders this week as a whole, if you look at, you know, how is this week in the NFL matchup-wise lining up? Usually you look for those games that are like 55 point Vegas, you know, over under, 54.5 point, those massive games. And the highest scoring games predicted by Vegas this week are only 47 and a half.

And ironically, those two games include some of the best defenses in the league. That's Seattle and Philadelphia, as well as the Minnesota Vikings with Atlanta. Yeah, the kind of the big juggernaut games this week involve some of the best defenses in the league. That's why those numbers are pulled down for sure. The Vikings will start there, nine and two.

On a hot street. Case Keenham. Offensive player of the month. Jason's Hall of Fame inductee. Seven and four Atlanta Falcons, they're heading to Atlanta to take them on. Falcons are three-point favorites in this game. Falcons are playing well. Look at since week nine, Julio Jones, targeted 45 times the second most in the NFL. And since week nine, Matt Ryan, he's thrown for over a thousand passing yards, which is fifth most in the league. They've found themselves a little bit despite...

Devanta Freeman being out for a couple of games. Yeah, I mean, they've had good matchups. This one is going to be tough. It's nice that it's at home for the Falcons because the Minnesota Vikings defense has just been great. I mean, they started the year very good. They came in as one of the best defenses on the season. They're top 15 against the quarterback, the running back, the wider receiver, and the tight end. Now, though, over the last six weeks, they've...

improved across the board. Wide receiver's been about the same, but they're top 10 now against quarterbacks. They're number one against running back, number seven against tight in. So this will be interesting. I will say, I will say this. With Matt Ryan at home, it's a difficult matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, but I don't think you should get too scared. You know, in our dynasty league, I had Blake Bortles in ahead of Matt Ryan for a minute thinking, oh, the matchup's too bad.

I don't think the numbers you just said about what the Falcons offense has been doing. They've been on a role. They're at home. I don't think you should be, you know, terrified of starting the Falcons. No, and we saw what, you know, Xavier Rose is great, but he gave up some big yardage, a score last week to Marvin Jones Jr. And they're on a role. The Falcons is a confidence-based offense. You know, they're finding themselves. They're at home, like Jason said.

On the other side of the ball, you have Case Keenum. He's got four top six quarterback weeks. That's one more than Tom Brady on the year, believe it or not. But the question I want to ask you, let me pull out a couple of the secondary wide receivers of this game. Mohamed Sunu, big week last week. Stefan Diggs, he's been a little up and down this year. You know you're starting feeling. You know you're starting Julio Jones, but who do you have more confidence in this matchup? Sunu or Diggs?

I would have more confidence in Diggs. I mean, you've still got a really good... You're just going talent then. I'm going talent, absolutely. You know, the Falcons have been pretty good against wide receivers. But Stefan Diggs is, you know, if he's healthy, he is a top end talent, especially if you're in a full point PPR league. I would much rather go with Diggs. Okay. Just for the sake of the argument.

We have digs right now at 19. Actually, you and I both have them at 19, and we have Sanoo significantly further down at 30. So, Derek McKinnon, Latavius Murray. Are you all in on Murray over McKinnon at this point after three straight weeks of outscoring McKinnon? Yeah, I am. This is a decent matchup for McKinnon because, according to Vegas, you know, the points are going to be flowing. And so if Atlanta can get up in a lead, that's better for McKinnon. But the reason I'm Murray.

Greater Sign McKinnon, it's way more based on the play of Murray. I mean, the last few weeks, when you watch the film, you go, he looks strong. He's got good cuts. The offensive line as well has been opening up really good holes for his running style. So I'm more and more a believer in Latavius Murray more than I am a doubter in Jerich McKinnon. Who do you think wins this game? I'm going to go with the Vikings. On the road.

Give them the three points. I'm going to give them the three points. They have just been such a good, you know, all three phases of the game type of team. They will win in the special teams, the win on defense, the win. They very well might be the better offense, which is crazy because that's, you know, Atlanta's game from last year. Jerich McKinnon, Latavius Murray. Murray had 55% of the snaps last week. McKinnon had 45% of the snaps. So you had a flip last week. Both of them on the field quite a bit.

I think both might have an okay game in this one. And the Falcons defense, when you look at the past, what, six weeks, they've been, you know, not bad. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, they're really good against the wide receiver. They've gotten a little worse over the last few weeks against the quarterback and middle of the pack on running back in tight end. This is just a game where I think it's...

It's such an important game for, you know, both teams. This is the week where we have some NFL games. Forget fantasy football, but in the NFL, there's some games where you know you're going to get 100% from every player on the field because their entire season or their playoffs or their buy week or whatever is on the line. That's why I'm taking Atlanta. I'm going to take Atlanta at home to take.

Take care of business. They're playing good enough on defense. I think they'll win this game. Before we move on to our next matchup, I want to thank pristine auction. You've heard us talk about them at length. They're great. Yesterday, Evan Ingram, signed Giants jersey, $51. JSA certified. David Johnson signed Cardinals jersey yesterday. $79.17 was the final auction price. Michael Crabtree, $64. $64.

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Jason. Oh, the caramel apple tarlet of any kind. Impossible. Impossible to go wrong. The six and five lions take on the six and five ravens. Boy, I'm not excited about any ravens right now. The lions? I'm excited about their defense in general. Sure. Well, that's not going to, that's not going to help Jeremy Macklin, is it? No. That's not going to help Joe Flacco. Oh, he, someone, someone help Joe Flacco. This game's it. Hey, look.

The crowd's going to try. This game's in Baltimore. Only a 40 point over under in this one. And look, Matthew Stafford is right on the cusp of the auto start, but you have a tough matchup on the road. Are you looking elsewhere or are you confident starting Matthew Stafford? Since week nine, he's thrown for the second most yards in the league. Yeah, he's been great as close to an auto start as you can get. And if he was an auto start, then you'd start him here. And he's not and you don't. I mean, this is.

Look, the Baltimore Ravens on the season, they are the number two team against quarterbacks as far as fantasy points given up to the position. Over the last six weeks, they're number one. They are at home. They are on fire as a defense. I, you know, I realize. Three fantasy points given up to the quarterback? Yeah. That's not good. It took an otherworldly performance from DeAndre Hopkins last week to be even relevant. And.

And still, I mean, you know, if you look at three turnovers for Tom Savage did. Savage was just a train wreck. So this is a defense. That's why I say I'm excited about the Ravens defense, which is another way of saying I'm really worried about the Lions offense. You've got a team that's number one against quarterback, number five against running back, and number two against the tight end position over the last six weeks. They're just shutting people down and they're at home. You know, if I can avoid Lions.

I will. I mean, I'm going to put Marvin Jones and Golden Tate as pretty much the only two guys that I'm willing to start in this game. I think that they could be all right, but I'm still going to temper my expectations with them. You're playing a guy like Robbie Anderson against Kansas City over Marvin Jones. You're going to play somebody like Larry Fitzgerald at home against the Rams over Marvin Jones? I would. Does Brian against Washington over Marvin Jones? I would. Okay. So that gives you kind of.

Some context for what we expect out of that matchup. Like you said, Baltimore, they're on fire. Now, Danny Woodhead on the other side. Are you comfortable with him as a flex play this week against the Lions defense over the last six weeks? They're giving up a lot of points to the running back position. They sure are. I guess over the whole season they are. Yes. Over the whole season, they've been terrible against running back. I'm really not sure if this is going to be a Danny Woodhead game.

or if it's going to be more of an Alex Collins game. Alex Collins has looked great last week in a really tough matchup against Houston. Alex Collins, you know, 60 yards, a touchdown. He was very serviceable, looked strong. I would rather start Alex Collins than Danny Woodhead in this game. Even in a PPR league? Even in a PPR league, I think his usage is more guaranteed. And in a matchup that's beatable,

He has the talent to, you know, start running off six, seven, eight yards runs left and right. So I would rather have Collins than would have. Would you rather have Alex Collins this week in this matchup at home against Detroit? Or would you rather play Tevin Coleman against Minnesota? That's a perfect question. They're back to back in our rankings just for the record. I would rather have Alex Collins. I think Minnesota's run D has been great and Devonta Freeman is back. So I'm going to lean towards the Alex Collins side.