Starts of the Week + Week 2 Breakdown - Fantasy Football Podcast for 9/14

We got a huge show today, lots of news to talk about, and then we dig into the matchups, the starts of the week. Jason continues the boom, boom kicker saga, and here's a button right here. You click this button, you subscribe to the show, you get alerted when we go live on Sunday with those last minute starts eight questions and every episode we release. So click that button right there and stay with us all year. Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. It's football time. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Welcome into the show. It is football time. Thursday, September 14th. Jason Moore, Mike Wright, Andy Holloway. This week is gone by fast, gentlemen. I agree.

Like, I can't believe it's football time. I cannot believe that there's football tonight. We just finished football. It's just a two-day gap. That's the truth. There's only two days where you're not playing a game. Yeah. In between. The NFL players don't care for it. I care for it very much. So I'm sorry. But entertain me, please. With your bodies? It is entertainment. On the line. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it is, it's a sport that we love. Lots to talk about matchup previews starts of the week. We've got NFL news to talk about the boom boom kicker. And I guess an announcement this morning. Ooh, really important one. Jason no longer has no longer has Zach Moss on his team. I have a toned.

For my sins of picking up Zach Moss on waivers for 15 fab. I felt disgusting. I regretted it from the moment it happened. And so I woke up this morning and I went to our league chat and I said, someone take him from me, please. And I got a couple of offers for $1 of fab. Got an offer for $4 of fab. Nice. And then Mr. Andrew Holloway, we made a pick swap in my favorite late round, late round pick swap. and $4 a fath. Yeah. And that was enough. Get off my team, Zach Moss. Get off. Get on. Get on Andy's team. You could go start. You can be great. You can be great. Oh, that'll be the next step in this journey. I'm not, I'm not saying that he can't have a great game this week. I'm saying he cannot have a great game on my team that would, if I won thanks to Zach Moss, is that really a victory?

Or is that a loss? I think you're too far gone, I think, for sure. I'm happy that that has been wrecked. Well, we'll talk about Zach Moss in the matchup today. We do have an announcement here at the top of the show. Can I get some trumpets or something? Thank you. We have a signed CMC jersey, Christian McCaffrey, and we're going to give it away. You can go to footclan giveaway.com completely free to enter. We like doing these giveaways. Brooksie tracked down a signed Christian McCaffrey jersey. So you will receive that and it will come with at least 30 fantasy points for that week. Probably. I don't know if we package that along with the jersey. But footclang giveaway.com. Head over there. Enter. It is free to enter. Let's go ahead and hit a quick question today. Says Leanna wrote in says, hi, I just joined a work league.

I heard some trade talk between coworkers, including money. For example, I'll give you this player for that player and $100. I call major BS. Am I overreacting? If not, how would you handle this situation? Now, we are 100% sure we're not talking fab. Because some sense, like you guys traded some fab. I'm just making sure. I assume that Leanna here is writing in talking about real keesh, real money. and saying, hey, I'll give you the. Now, Jason offered me 100 to take Jack Moss from his team, but out of my integrity, I couldn't accept. Yeah, so this is, assuming that this is actual real money and not a joke, not just I overheard, hey, I'll give you this player for that player and I'll give you 100 bucks. Like, I would make that joke. But if this was real, if this was like, hey, I will make this trade and I will, to sweeten the deal, I will give you $100 if you agree to this trade. Oh, no. That is either.

wrong or an awesome league type that has previously already agreed to allow financial compensation that goes into some kind of like pot for the winner at the end or something like that. I think there's something here. I think there's something fun that you could make around being able to bribe your way through trades. What are the stakes of this league? Like more than $100, I hope. Not necessarily. Like, if I could, if I could sweeten a great trade for me in League of Record and throwing $100, you know I would do it. Yes, we don't win a dollar. But we are unhinged people, Jason. Right, that's where. We're not in the office league. Yeah, I mean, there are leagues where transactions have a cost that goes through the pot. Right. And that pot is, you know, it grows during the course of the year. And the winner of the league receives more money than.

previous buy-ins. And those can be fun if it's established beforehand. If it's not, then this is what we call collusion. Yeah. Collusion, bribery, illegal. Yeah, that's not good. No, you're not overreacting here. When you ask, is this okay? No, that is not okay. In 99.9% of leagues, you cannot sweeten a trade. with things outside of the world of fantasy football or without that league you can't be like i will do i will well hmm now let me think about this let me just say it's not financial because i just had a i just had an example that crossed my mind i was like you can't do this but then i was like i got house cleaning exactly i was thinking a car cleaning oh yeah a nice detail but like is that wrong yes it's wrong but not to make a bad trade a trade that you're close on right

Let's say you and I were close on that trade for Zach Moss this morning. And you're like, we're going back and forth. We counted a couple times. And I say, hey, you accept this trade right now. I will clean your car. I will go clean your car right now if you accept this trade. Is that really bad? But you have to clean it. You cannot hire a cleaning service. No, no, no. I would agree. I would agree. This is a service. Yes. I will do that. But is, it is. Yes. Yeah, it is. It is. But it's pretty awesome. I see Andy's face. He's struggling here. I think there's nuance.

The nuance that I'm hearing is the comedy of like the trade's done, but I'm just going to like, I'm just going to do this for the fun of it. Yeah. To make it entertaining like our fab, Zach Moss trade. I think it's not, it's not an appropriate way to make a trick. I think I saw Brooks's face was very anti. Of course. Yeah. He has morals and stuff. Yeah. Okay. Well said. All right. How would you best, and I know you're a wordsmith with this stuff, but how would you best describe why that's not okay? Man, you said it, just the morals of it, just feels dirty. I thought you were getting an awe, no. I mean, part of it is that like not everybody could potentially make.

offers that are equal to other people's offers. Right. If you're talking like money and financially, I'll throw in $100, not everyone could do that. Let's not equivocate here. This is completely wrong. Everyone can clean someone's car, right? Yeah, you can. Unless you're out of state. You can't offer a car cleaning. Let me just put it this way. Fuglan, don't do cool things like that. It needs to be in the Constitution. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Well, Kenneth Gainwell is out, ruled out for the Thursday night football game. We talked about the game yesterday, mostly with the presumption that he wouldn't play. So you're going to have a DeAndre Swift, likely active Rashad Penny, Boston Scott, ensemble against Minnesota tonight. Yeah, which the Minnesota Vikings, quote, unquote, shut down.

the Tampa Bay running game. I don't know how much of that was the Minnesota Vikings and just the ineptitude of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But I'm very excited. I ran out of breath there at the end. We both started laughing. We both started laughing. It was like you forgot how much breath you needed to talk. Oh, man. I needed to get through the thought. You didn't seem like you were in some huge, like, uh. Like it wasn't a big speech, Mike. He was a normal sentence. Yeah. How'd you run out of air? Sometimes you're thinking too far ahead. And you're like, stop talking. Buccaneers is a large word. He didn't realize how many syllables it was going to take to get that out. But I'm very excited for everyone to start DeAndre Swift as probability says you should.

only to see Rashad Penny go off for 125 and 2 tonight. Oh, get ready for Boston Scott's show. Jason? I said it yesterday when we were talking through the waivers, but I'm not starting a single Eagle running back here. That's not to say that no Eagle running back is going to get a touchdown, but I could see it being just as likely to be Kenneth Gainwell, to be Rashad Penny, to be DeAndre Swift. If you have to start one, Swift is... I don't think Gainwell is going to do much. Sorry, Boston Scott's what I meant. If you have to start one, Swift, because he projects as the pass catcher, because he's been ahead on the depth chart, he has played ahead of Rashad Penny. He's the guy that you're going to throw in there. But I think you're going to have a three-headed timeshare, and it's going to be gross for the running backs. And I personally think there are probably better options, especially with how wide the waivers were this week. I'm going to run through some quick updates on injuries for everybody out there. Rahim Mostert. It was a vet, rest, and maintenance day.

because he missed practice on Wednesday, nothing to worry about. Austin Echler is listed, I didn't see this, it's listed as ankle slash personal. His ankle means a lot to him. This is a very close ankle to him. Okay. He had a personal issue, but I don't know if you guys saw it because Echler does a show with our boy, Matt Harmon, on Yahoo, and saw a clip of Austin Echler basically saying, Joshua Kelly should be picked up in 100% of leagues. Now, I know he's he's caping for his boy. For sure. But he was caping last year for him too. Yeah, but this, we all watched a very different Joshua Kelly in week one. They also signed Jared Patterson to the practice squad. So, uh,

Echler is scary. This is a Wednesday practice report day where you're going to have a ton of names that don't practice at all. And most all of them are not scary at all. They're veteran days of rest. And even though Austin Echler is a veteran who could get a Wednesday off, we saw it at the end of that game. I believe this injury is legit. And I worry about his availability this week. All right. We have Devante Adams. Vet day of rest. Jacobi Myers, still in the concussion protocol. Christian Watson and Aaron Jones didn't practice due to their hamstrings, which the Christian Watson, the report was he was getting work on the side. I believe Aaron Jones was not seen at practice and not being seen on Wednesday for a hamstring is generally pretty bad news for availability. Yeah, we looked at this a while ago, but on a Wednesday, if you miss a Wednesday for a hamstring issue, it's like 53% of the time you miss that week. We had Brandon Cooks.

News this morning. Dealing with a sprained MCL, Mike McCarthy says he, quote, has a chance to play in week two. It's a Jets matchup. He should not be played even if he was active, in my opinion. Correct. DeAndre Hopkins ankle injury. We'll talk about that game today. I believe he was moved into questionable status. Zach Moss, my champion. listed as a full participant in Wednesday's practice. He's going to be their starting running back. Probably for the season. Evan Hull went on IR. Dion Jackson is in the doghouse. Dion Jackson, I believe I looked at it this morning. Correct me if I'm wrong, Kyle. I believe he ran the ball 12 times for 13 yards. He had a crap ton of opportunity.

Is that the right numbers? No, you are in, I'm sorry. Am I way off? I got to update you. Okay, I'm sorry. It was 13 carries for 14 yards. Okay. One extra carry for one extra yard. But he held, he protected the ball, though. Very, very poorly with two fumbles. But here's the thing for Dion Jackson. 13 to 10, just real quick. Six targets. I mean, that means that still the majority of his carries he didn't fumble on, though. Yeah, that's true. That's glass half full. Zach Moss will be their guy and he practiced in full, which is nice to see. Also, the injury that he suffered was not the kind that just recurs. It's not a hamstring or groin strain or something. It was a broken arm. I will say this. The last time that we saw Zach Moss in a starting role for the Indianapolis Colts against the Houston Texans, he was the running back two on the week.

Had 18 carries, 114 yards, a touchdown, three receptions. What a great pickup, Andy. I thought I could take advantage of your hatred. Yeah, and you did. You did. Because this is a move made out of the heart. Sometimes you just don't want. The darkness they're in. Sometimes you don't want to win with certain players. That's right. All right. Jerry Judy, close to playing last Sunday. So he could be back this week. James Connor limited with a calf injury. James Connor. will not practice in full on Wednesday ever the entirety of the season mark andrews still limited with the quad injury you're going to have to take that down to the wire mike i saw you you let go of isaiah likely in our league of record i had to because i was over uh oh my my i my roster was illegal on sleeper because mark andrews was on my i r and now he was back to questionable so i couldn't make a waiver claim so i

I wasn't sure if that was because you would rather play a different player. It was I have to be able to make some moves and it was looking at the waiver wire. There's guys who after week one's catastrophe, I'm just as confident playing them as likely. Travis Kelsey returned to a limited practice. I saw some video of this. He was landing on the injured knee. It seems very likely. I'm going to put it 80% that he's out there with a brace probably. I think that's fair, especially after losing week one. I would expect the chiefs to want to come out and go guns blazing in week two. He did look fine running around. He'll probably wear a brace and dominate. Darren Waller's hamstring situation. Welcome to the tight end injury portion of the show. We talked to Matthew Betts. He's our injury expert, DFS show.

Injury Blitz podcast over at Jointhefoot.com along with The Dynasty Show. And is this a full panic situation for you, Mike? No. This is a kind of yellow alert. I mean, Darren Waller's hamstring, it's the same hamstring that he was dealing with last year. Some details came out. You know, Matthew Betts said he doesn't think it's going away anytime soon. It increases the volatility potential for Darren Waller week to week. part of the program for him is going to be missing practice on Wednesdays every week. Yes. The yellow alert, I think, is a good way to phrase it of there is, because of how the injury is, there's a chance that he can go through the whole season. They give him maintenance days and nothing is ever wrong with Darren Wallers. Like he doesn't injure it to the point if he has to miss time. But it's not great that you have a, like,

what looks like a chronic issue that'll last the whole season and you're at any moment worried that he could pull or re-agravate the hamstring. So in that aspect, Darren Waller has gone to a pretty risky fantasy player for your roster, but he's still, I think, especially this week against the Arizona Cardinals, I'm expecting a really big bounce back for Darren Waller. So it's how much risk do you want to take on with him? Maybe you... Maybe you wait for week two and then you trade them or you look at week two and you go, yes, Darren Waller's here. Yeah, I mean, your alternate at tight end is garbage. So I would always take that chance until you don't have them out there. That was today's news notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Into the forecast we go. Fantasy forecast.

Well, we talked about it a little bit on Monday, the reaction to the weekend. But week one was down, scoring-wise, for the NFL. Twelve of the 16 games hit the under in terms of their game total. There were just 61 total offensive TDs. Yucky. I believe that's one of the lower totals we've seen in a while. And this is the part you won't like. There are eight games in week two. with a total of 40 and a half or lower. Eight games. I do not like it. I doubt that 12 of the 16 hit the under when the unders are this low. The Green Bay Packers will kick it off with this matchup. They're 1-0. They're taking on the 1-0 Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta. It's a close line here. The Drafking Sportsbook has it at Green Bay minus 1. The over-under 40 and a half.

Yeah, so before we get into the details here, I was really curious your take, Andy. If you're new here to the fantasy footballers, Andy's had a really good track record of viewing game outcomes with his stupid almost upsets of the week that are always nonsense and always work out or like 80% of the time. And this game, I was looking at it, and I really kept going back and forth. Who do you think wins this game? Green Bay. Interesting. Let me change my opinion. Yeah, I mean, it's one of those things, like I said it a couple weeks ago. I think Atlanta is a good team. You said it earlier this week as well. You agree. Like, they could win this division. I don't think they will have enough in this game on the offensive side. We'll find out. You know, Green Bay took on a hapless, is that the word? You know, less than what people hope for, Chicago defense. And then Atlanta took on a rookie quarterback.

and their free agent pickup. Why is the name escaping right now? I'd help you, but I'm looking at them. Yeah, one of Atlanta's defensive free agent pickups. Jesse Bates. Jesse Bates. Yeah, highest ranked in week one, according to PFF. But I don't think Atlanta wins this game at home. It's a close line. Were you surprised at the line, Jason? The Green Bay minus one. No, no, I wasn't surprised at the line. I mean, this is, you know, essentially a pick-em game in a game that is hard to pick-em, so it makes sense. It's a pick-um game that may not have the Packers' top two weapons. That would, yeah, that may move the line, and it may move my attitude towards the Falcons winning it. If Aaron Jones is out, if Christian Watson is out, and you've got A.J. Dylan and his 13-for-19, Dion Jackson impression last week, and Romeo Dubs and...

You know, I like Luke Musgrave taking advantage of those opportunities. I think we're talking about him later. And I liked what I saw from Jordan Love. I mean, he was really effective last week. This is going to be a really important game for Jordan Love. Your eyes should be on him. I know that you might be missing Christian Watson and Aaron Jones, but Jordan Love looked great last week. And the question has to be asked was that Jordan Love? Or was it the Chicago Bears? And the Atlanta Falcons are a perfect matchup. They are, to me, a middle-of-the-pack defense that is not, you should be able to do well against them if you're good. And if you suck against them, then that is telling. On the Atlanta side, I am curious what you are doing with past catchers. Bejohn and Tyler Algier, I would play them both this week. I don't think you guys are going to disagree with me on that. Nope. However, I'm not playing another player. I'm not either.

You're not? Like, I'm still on the side of I want to see more from what happens with this offense with Drake London because we do have, look, it's not apples to apples, of course, because Bijon Robinson's on the team now. But the end of last year when Desmond Ritter was playing, Drake London had some really good games at the end of the season. So we have to find what is the actual true middle ground for Drake London? Is it those... Good games. Yeah, last week is not the truth of Drake Line at all. It's not, he's going to get one target a week. That's not going to happen. But I'm not, I don't have the confidence to just throw him back out there of like, does that just become three or four targets? Or do we get back where we were trending at the end of last season? But until I know more, I'm going to put them on the bench if I can.

I agree with everything being said. However, the reality of the tight-in position is such that I could still see playing Kyle Pitts, recognizing that the passing volume is bad. But, you know, it's a matter of your other options. I would play Kyle Pitts over Dalton Kincaid. I would play Kyle Pitts over Tyler Higbee. What about Jake Ferguson? That is the most interesting name. I have them back to back. I'm on the Kincaid side, by the way. I think Kincaid has a good week. But I understand that one. I would play, I'd play Kincaid over Pitts too. And I think Ferguson is a tough one because you just don't have enough. Ferguson against the Jets, I would still go Pitts. But I think I think Musgrave, Musgrave to me in this same game is the most interesting name. Yeah, I would play him. You would play Musgrave over Pitts? I think I would as well. I'd play Leporto over Pitts in this week for Detroit, too. Kyle Pitts ran 20 routes last week.

And so maybe he had all the air yards. He always does. Caught a 34-yard reception. It was great. It was great. Yeah, I mean, Kyle Pitts can have a breakout game. I liked what I saw from the deep routes of Luke Musgrave. I like LaPorteur last week. I like Kincaid last week. I mean, I think that all three of those guys are viable. Drake London, just to put it to the test, Mike, you brought up Elijah Moore yesterday in the Hungry for More segment. Are you playing him this week over Drake London? Yes. What about Nico Collins' 11 targets against Indianapolis? I'd play Nico. Okay. And what about Puka Nakua? I mean... Against San Francisco. The hardest part for Puka this week is most leagues, he wasn't drafted. Now, yes, hat tip to Jason. Jason did draft him. He had all of his picks late.

And so he was kind of backed into, well, I got to take some upside here. And credit to him, he took puka. But most people paid a huge amount of fab to go get puka. And it's the question of how do you spend 20, 30% of your fab and not play that guy because the matchup is so bad. Well, and to not play him over a player that goose you. Right. I think you're probably playing puka. As concerned as I am for. What could happen to Pooka this week? I'm playing him over Drake London. Is Jordan Love in play? As like a QB2, sure. Purdy or love? Purdy. All right. Back in just a minute. The Las Vegas Raiders go into Buffalo. Take on the O-N1 Buffalo Bills. Drafking Sportsbook has Buffalo as eight and a half-point favorites. The overrunners 46 and a half. I think they're going to win by 17 points.

I think Buffalo is going to, you know, they've got wounds, they're beaten, they're battered, they got scrapes and bruises. There is no salve like Los Angeles and the Raiders on the road in my opinion. What did I say? Los Angeles. No, Las Vegas traveling to Buffalo. If Buffalo looks bad this week, sound the alarms. Sure. Because everyone wanted to talk about their demise, they will have been right. if they lose to Las Vegas at home in this game, and I just don't think that's going to happen. But here we go. The Raiders are 1-0. The bills are 0-1. Jimmy Garoppolo, I believe he was a little banged up, too. Or did he just miss practice with the maintenance day? I think it was maintenance, but he definitely went to a questionable spot day. You got to keep that. Had to get the face peel. Man, you got to keep that skin looking good. Is this a get-right game for Josh Allen?

I think so. It should be, absolutely. He's my number one ranked quarterback on the week. I don't know if he's there for you guys. I think he's my number two, but I mean, you're, you know, he's not a question. So Jimmy was limited with an ankle injury. James Cook, what did you think of what you saw in week one? It was. Just missed a touchdown up the sideline. Great defense in play. But it was almost exactly like what everybody, basically everybody was right. Like if you were in on James Cook, the talent. And you're like, I don't see a way that he's not the workhorse on this team. You were 100% right because he had 80% of the running back attempts. He had a 15% target share. He also played the Jets in week one. He also played the Jets. But if your argument was it doesn't matter if you're the workhorse for the Buffalo Bills because you still don't produce for fantasy football. And that was also true because with everything that he had, he was still the running back 29. But.