Week 9 Matchups + Bad Jokes, Luton Free Zone - Fantasy Football Podcast for 11/6

Washington is already inside of those protocols, so I'm not sure if he could be active or not. Yeah, I mean, we had that happen with Levi-on Bell, but it wasn't a... I don't think that was COVID-related. No, it was. He wasn't able to make it on the roster. So I don't believe DeAndre Washington can be active for this game. So shot in the dark for the Miami running back room. Who are you... I would take Jordan Howard, because Jordan Howard will...

at the very least still be the goal line back. And if he gets down there, you know, you can count on him for a touchdown. But yeah, I think Jordan Howard in a pinch is someone you could play this week if Preet is out. Yeah, the Cardinals are 21st against the run this year. I guess it is a shot in the dark that you could take. I almost, almost dropped Jordan Howard from a dynasty roster last week. Oh. And I was just, it's like, is he ever, is there any chance he could ever be relevant again?

And here we are. Maybe. All right. Any other news that you guys want to talk about? A reminder, Mike will be live Sunday morning. We'll have game day alerts over at join the foot.com while the injury blitz podcast later today from Matthew Betts, our injury expert, who's been extremely helpful this year. I mean, really insightful in terms of, you know, especially at the trade deadline when you're looking at players. I brought up Kenny Gallaudet. Like how long is this injury supposed to be when you deal with a hip injury? It's not a traditional.

hamstring thing, okay? And he says, okay, two to four weeks. Looks like a hip flexor type of strain. Very valuable information for informing your trade decisions. All right. No other news. Matchup time. Fantasy forecast. All right. Let's do it. We covered the Broncos, Falcons, Seahawks, Bills, Bears, Titans, Ravens, Colts, Panthers, Chiefs on yesterday's show. So we've got quite a few to get through today. So why not start with this absolute slug fest? The New York Giants.

at one in seven taking on the Washington football team at two and five. Washington, two and a half point favorites. It's a 42 and a half point over under. That's right. Washington trying to tie up in the win column with the division leading Philadelphia Eagles. They could win the division. They could. You've seen more disciplined football from Washington over the last couple of weeks. And, you know, that's not an endorsement of Kyle Allen.

This is a team that has a nice defensive front, and they're going to play a lot of divisional games against inept offenses. I mean, the Giants and Cowboys and what we've seen from the Eagles lately, who knows? I mean, who knows is going to make the playoffs from that division. But in this game, we are breaking down the fantasy implications. Week six, the Giants beat the Washington football team 20 to 19, and you should start the Washington defense in this one, or you can.

Yeah. They're allowing only 185 passing yards per game. That's fourth best in football. And sometimes I don't think we notice that when we blur our eyes staring at the NFC East, but they've been pretty good on defense. Yeah, and Daniel Jones is a turnover machine. It's interesting. Washington's, Washington's not that far away. Like from, I'm not saying they're going to compete this year. Of course, they go in the division. They're still in it.

But moving forward, like, look, just a quick peek into 2021.

Don't be surprised if Washington is one of those teams where you're like, where did this come from? Yeah. No, Washington's not that far away. They just need a quarterback, which is hard to come by, though. And I think that's the real issue. They look good on defense. They've got some good playmakers on offense. But I don't think Kyle Allen can take a step forward to, you know, even next year to be someone. Exactly. He's a Band-Aid. And whether or not they can find someone. I know a guy. Do tell.

His name is Ryan Fitzpatrick. I don't think he's played for Washington before, so it's on his list, a do list. Bucket list. Yeah. All right. But in this game, fantasy-wise, Antonio Gibson is the running back that you would play from Washington. The Giants are in the bottom third against the run. You can play Gibson. We have them at RB 12 on the week, our consensus rankings. JD McKissick, on the other hand, smooches, you know.

In a PPR league as a flex, you know he's going to get play in this game. There aren't pass catching options outside of Terry McLauran, really. So McKissick is a dart throw at best. He has a dart throw. Gibson has been the leading rusher on Washington every single game, except for one. And that was when they played the Giants a couple weeks ago. McKissick was actually the leader. That is not an indictment of saying a bench and Gibson, just saying McKissick is worth a look at a flex in a PPR.

Yeah, I agree. And then Logan Thomas did practice in full, so he's had a couple of decent weeks at tight end. He's in the dart throw category. Yes. The Washington defense that we were just talking about, they're 10th against fantasy quarterbacks, only 17 points given up on average. But they're first against fantasy-wide receivers. Only 17.7 fancy points per game given up on average. That's going to be tough to break, you know, that number up across Shepard, Slayton, Tate.

If they're only giving up a couple hundred yards in the passing game, look, I like Shepard moving forward. I think he's going to be frequently targeted. But the targets last week, you know, they weren't extremely high value. I'm a little hesitant about Shepard this week. I think he's outside that top 24 range. Yeah, this is one of those games where I like Shepard rest of season. Yeah. Because you're usually going to be down big. You're going to have to throw. And, you know, if you're slinging the ball a ton.

Sterling Shepard will get his 6, 7, 8, 9 receptions, and whatever yardage comes along with it, this game does not project to be one of those games. This is a game with, you know, a 42.5 point over under, a low-scoring slug fest of two mediocre to bad offenses and up-and-coming defenses. So, yeah, this isn't a game where I want to play any of the wide receiving options. In fact, if I had to pick one receiving option and you know how much this pains me, it would be Evan Ingraham.

Because I think, you know, the small size, that's the one place Washington has been beat. I don't want to play Evan Ingram, but that would be who I would pick out of this group of receiving options for the Giants. Yeah, I agree. There's not a, there's not a lot to break down here. I would, Shepherds in play is a low-end wide receiver too for me. And Engram, I'm with you, Jason. It's been very disappointing. We finally saw Evan Engram get a.

target that was like more than two yards down the field this past week. Maybe that's a... Well, we saw him catch one. We've seen him get those targets. I won. The one that he dropped. I get it. It was there. But on the season, it's been very bizarre how close to the line of scrimmings that they're choosing to throw the ball to Evan Ingram. Sure. Fookland, before we move on to the next matchup, want to thank Chrysler, Pacifica. They're helping sponsor the show and they make...

an awesome minivan. I am legitimately, truthfully, all about that minivan life. You are about the minivan life. I remember my wife before we had kids say she will never get a minivan. She'll never do it. And then we had three kids and we ended up looking at one and we're like, oh dang, this is awesome. The sliding doors, the movies on the back of the school drop-offs. Upgrading. It's amazing. Chrysler Pacifica.

They're America's first and only hybrid minivan, so it's awesome. They have the stow and go seating where the seats go all the way down, maximum storage. They are the ones with the UConnect Theater system with the dual 10-inch HD touch screens and built-in games and apps. And they were the 2019 IIHS top safety pick. Chrysler's offering fantasy footballers listeners an exclusive $1,000.

bonus cash offer towards a new Chrysler, Pacifica, or the Pacifica hybrid. Here's what you do. Footclan, you visit Pacifica Footballers.com, and you sign up to receive the offer updates and more from the Chrysler brand. And now with the Pacifica family pricing, your family is their family. Customers can receive Chrysler's employee price plus this extra $1,000 for being a Footclan listener. Again, that's Pacifica Footballers.com.

All right, the Detroit Lions at 3 and 4 take on the 2 and 5 Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings are 4.5 point favorites. It's a 50.5 point over under. There's a lot to break down in this game. Is Kirk Cousins, let's start there? Is Kirk Cousins a good streaming option this week? I believe he was one of your two streamers. He is my stream. When you look at, you know, rostered percentages, who's available, who's on by. Kirk Cousins is in play. I'm not calling for odd.

This is, oh, this is a smash play where Kirk Couss can finish as a top five guy, but he's someone that you can turn to. So, like, maybe you're in the Drew Brees dilemma. You can turn to Kirk Cousins and know that he's not going to tank your week. I like that. I like that. Matthew Stafford, what's the latest on his COVID situation?

His situation is this. He has not that we are aware of tested positive for COVID. He was a high risk close contact. And so as these negative tests continue, as we expect them to, he will play in this game. But the timeline says his last test that he needs will say he does not get to practice. So this will be a practiceless start for Matthew Stafford, which should be fine. I mean, it's not like...

It's not like Matthew Staff. He's played a while. He's played a, yeah, a few games before in the NFL. So he should be fine, but won't be practicing. So he's back on the streaming potential list then in this game because the defense for the Vikings is really the key cog in that stream call. I mean, they're 28th against quarterbacks, 27th against wide receivers, 27th against tight ends. Love Hawkinson in this game because of that. I think he's going to be targeted early and often. This game,

you know, it has the makings of one that can hit the over and be pretty fantasy relevant for a lot of players. Yeah, I went back and I looked at the last, you know, a couple of years of matchups between these two teams. And it seems like you get one really good game and won a little bit disappointing game per year in this divisional matchup. So we'll see which one it is this week. Without Goliday there, the line has moved down. Was that Stafford Fier's? It could be. It could be.

We know that Ghaladay will not be available in this game. He's, I guess, technically listed as doubtful. He's not supposed to be there. Delvin Cook, you play. But what do you do at the running back position if you're shooting your shot on the Detroit side? Are you just starting swift from this point forward? I mean, he's been very disappointing since he was kind of, quote, unquote, anointed the starting role.

But this is part for the course for Detroit. I mean, you just never trust the Detroit running back. Yeah, that's what it is. I mean, it's one of those things where if I had to pick one, I would pick Swift. Why? Not because he's guaranteed the workload or he's the first man up. He certainly wasn't this last week because he's the most talented. He's the one that could bait.

break a big play is used in the passing game a little bit more. That's where his value is. Four targets, five targets, four targets in his last three games since the buy. He's averaging four targets a game. Yeah. So I would say he's the one to pick, but I don't have any high hopes. Yeah, no goal at eight could mean that those target counts even go a little bit higher. And you've heard this refrain from the show from several players. When you have a murky backfield.

Seems like, you know, Jason and I, we've been talking about going with the guy that has the potential to break a bigger play because you're not going to have a ton of opportunity. So you want the player that's going to maybe make his fantasy day on one or two plays. Yeah, for that, for this particular backfield, I agree with you guys on that one because there's no, there's not a designated goal line back. It's like Peterson gets goal line carries sometimes. Carry on Johnson.

Every once in a while, and DeAndre Swift is in the mix as well. It was one of those, like, really unfortunate things of before last week against the Colts where DeAndre Swift, running back 50, super disappointing, but was on the field for 62% of the snaps. The three prior weeks, he was a top 20 running back, but on the field under 50% of the time, it's just another sign of...

the Detroit Lions coaching staff is just going to bamboozle you with their running back usage. Well, they give Kyle Shanahan a call right before the game. They're like, who should I start? And they say, well, do you have the blindfold on? And then they throw the dart and then they figure it out. Yeah, but Shanahan's like, but make sure that the starter is actually very good for fantasy. And then that's when Patricia's like, oh, can't do that. I'm out on that one. See you later, big fellow. Can you give me that playbook then, buddy? Let me, let me.