Starts of the Week + Week 11 Breakdown, Upside & Pain - Fantasy Football Podcast for 11/19

my recollection, I think three. I think one early and then two recent games, he's been good. But outside of that, you look at his game logs, it's zero fantasy points, it's negative fantasy points, it's one fantasy point. Yeah, you're certainly not basing any of your decisions this week based on historical Taysam Hill. You're basing it on upside. Last year, they definitively knew that Bridgewater was the backup quarterback. Here's the thing about, if Tasem Hill.

If they decide that something's going sour with James Winston, they can put him on the bench and suddenly you have a backup quarterback. That's fair. That's how the difference would be made. If the second half of the game, Tayson Hill is the starting quarterback because of three interceptions, yeah. It's very risky. It's completely a huge risk and a gamble. But if I was facing somebody that was favored to beat me by a lot of points, I'm going to put.

Tayson Hill as my tight end and hope for a passing touchdown or something of that nature as opposed to a low ceiling tight end. Todd Gurley has the most red zone carries in football. And he's been good with him. He's been good with them. He is tough to watch between the 20s, but he finds a way to produce. But will he this week against the Saints defense who over the last six weeks and over the course of the whole year,

Are the number one defense against opposing fantasy running backs? No, I don't think it's going to be a great week for him. If you look at his pace, he's been great. I mean, every week he's just been a solid, reliable, RB2 or better option. But when you look at how it comes, it's all in the touchdowns. He's on a 16-game pace since week three of 18 rushing touchdowns, a thousand rushing yards.

So there is a baseline there. I think this is a player you are playing, but you have to expect that he doesn't get the touchdown this week. Todd Gurley is on a month straight, so four games of averaging under three yards of carry. That is, it's so gross. Right, but during that time, 20 attempts, 23 attempts, 18 and 19. I'm playing Todd Gurley despite the tough matchup because it's, if you.

Watch Todd Gurley. I mean, basically since week two, you have known, okay, I'm putting Todd Gurley out there and I hope that he falls into the end zone, which he has been doing at a very rapid rate. If Calvin Ridley misses this game, Julio Jones should see his target share increase even more. And Hayden Hurst, you know, in week nine without Ridley, seven for 62 on eight targets, your confidence level can rise on Hayden Hurst if Ridley sits in this game. And, you know, New Orleans, they give up some points to the tight-in position.

Something to pay attention to. Yeah. And like I said, if Calvin Ridley is out there, which you better be prepared for him to not be out there. Over the past six weeks, the Saints defense has been very generous for fantasy-wide receivers. So I would play him. I would just, I would take the risk and play him. Cincinnati Bengals, two, six and one. Washington football team, two and seven. Who's ready for this one? Oh, baby.

Offensive outpouring. 46.5 point over under is just an average mediocre game. Yeah, Washington, though, one and a half point favorites. I brought it up yesterday. Alex Smith is the leader in passing yards over the last two weeks. So he's been able to do that. He's not been able to get the ball into the end zone. I think he only has one touchdown in that span. But 55 pass attempts last week. And this is the J.D. McKissick, Terry McLaurin.

Extravaganza? Yes. I would add Antonio Gibson to that as well. Gibson, McKissick, and Terry McLaurin can be started every single week. And, you know, this is a great matchup for them. So I would say if you're rostering these guys, you're super excited. This is the time to capitalize on multiple touchdowns, on an easy defense.

But Terry McLaurin specifically, he's primed in this matchup because the Bengals have been surprisingly good against running backs. If you look back at their game logs and you see, okay, they're top half in the league against running backs, but they've been playing some really good running teams, and they've impressed me, which is surprising. So I do think Terry McLaren and J.D. McKissick specifically are better options because of the passing game.

To speak to your point, on the year, they're 15th against the running back position, but over the last six weeks, they've jumped up to 11. That's one of the things that you can, if you use the streamfinder tool on the website, you can see how teams are performing in recent spans of time, not just the whole season, which is pretty important. Like, you know, Jason, you brought up in the previous matchup, the fact that.

Before the buy week, New Orleans was giving up the fourth most points to quarterbacks. They were not a good defense in that regard. Now they're the ninth fewest since the buy. So teams change over the course of the year. They kind of find their groove. Sometimes it's matchups that distort the stats, something to pay attention to, and the Bengals haven't been good against running backs. Hopefully we continue to see Antonio Gibson get more and more opportunities in the offense because of how explosive he is.

I think we will. We talked about it on a show earlier this week, the fact that they are wanting to give him more, but they're worried about the mental aspect of the game, which means getting him more and more involved in the passing game as time goes along. And he's built to be able to take that workload. This has been marked as Al Borland's between the trenches mismatch of the week, which is to say that Washington has.

They're second in adjusted sack rate. Burroughs been pressured on the fifth most dropbacks in the league. So run for your life, young man. Yeah, the Washington DST is in play. And along with the past catching weapons, you guys talked about, Logan Thomas is in play for me here. Alex Smith is the best quarterback that this team has seen all year. And he runs.

He runs a ton of routes. Meanwhile, the Bengals defense are in the last six weeks ranked last against fancy tight ends. That's not very good, Mike. No. That's 32nd best. Yeah. Oh, well, when you say it like that. Yeah, they're pretty good. No, I agree with you. I think Logan Thomas, who's almost my start of the week at tight end, and he's an absolutely fine play. If you're one of those many teams scratching and clawing at tight end, look for Logan Thomas, who is still on some waivers. Yeah, and if you.

You know, if Mixing's out, which it's not looking good, Gio's going to be back out there. He's going to be a spot start for you. Top 24 type of play. Washington just gave up 149 total yards to D'Andre Swift. So there is some opportunity there. Gio's been hot and cold in, you know, score. Yeah, he does. And then Tyler Boyd, T. Higgins.

It's between those two on a weekly basis. Higgins has been on fire. I mean, Justin Jefferson, I've given him a lot of praise. Higgins deserves the same amount. I mean, he's been putting up consistent high-yardage games. Seems to be a go-to target for Joe Burrow. Is he the start over Tyler Boyd to you, or would you still stick with Boyd? I think I want the upside of Higgins, the deeper routes, the chance at a deep ball. This is actually a really weird, bizarre.

shockingly bad matchup for wide receivers. I haven't been able to wrap my head around it, but as the weeks go on, they are a good defense, but specifically, they just, they've been locking out all wide receiver options. Now, the last three weeks, they've completely shut them down, but it was the Giants twice and Dallas with a backup. So maybe they're a little skewed, but that's where I want, I want the big play shot because.

over the, over the, the dink and dunk, Tyler Boyd. All right, let's talk about the Detroit Lions, four and five traveling to Carolina, taking on the Panthers who are now three and sevens. So they've been struggling in recent weeks. Panthers, one and a half point favorites in this one, 45.5 point over under, so that's not anything special there. Matthew Stafford.

You know, I mentioned Ghaladay limited in practice. We don't know if he'll be bad. Marvin Jones, the last couple weeks has been good, eight for 96 and a touchdown last week. And if Goladay's out, he's in your lineup. What if Goladay's back? Are you moving on for Marvin Jones? Yes. Yeah, I probably would. We had a start sit question earlier with Marvin Jones, and I guess we should have prefaced that with Marvin Jones was the answer, assuming that Kenny Gulladay is out. Yeah, we saw Marvin Hall with the touchdown last week.

Yep, it was. It was. Stafford has been pretty darn good recently. I know the thumb injury has some people concerned. I'm not one of them. Are you guys overly concerned with this injury? I mean, it's a good matchup against Carolina, and there's some opportunity here. I am a little worried. If Gulladay doesn't play, then, you know, the low over, under, and the hurt throwing hand.

I would be a little bit more concerned personally. I would look for a different option, but you're right, the matchup isn't bad, and he has been playing phenomenally. And part of his, you know, ability to do that is what we've seen from DeAndre Swift. DeAndre Swift's a great pass catcher. So it's kind of like, you know, Drew Breeze, pat and his stats with Alvin Camara. It doesn't take a great thumb to check the ball down to a running back who can get you a ton of yards after the catch, and those would go to Stafford.

Makes a huge difference. It reminds me of when Riddick was at the top of his game and he was just another weapon out of the backfield for Stafford. My concern for Stafford here is on the other side of the ball for the Carolina Panthers. Either way, you have, if Teddy Bridgewater can play, he has a hobbled Teddy Bridgewater, who has, I believe it was an MCL injury. Or maybe it might be PJ Walker. I know he was a, you know, like that XFL stud, but.

The NFL is not the XFL. You can't say for sure that PJ Walker can get it done. He might surprise everybody and be excellent in this matchup. But if it's a backup quarterback, the lions might get up huge. And then it turns into Stafford has 200 something passing yards and no touchdowns. That would be my only concern. I hear you. And at least right now, Vegas has the Panthers favorite in this game.

Most of us are expecting Bridgewater to be back out there this week. Like Mike Davis, like DeAndre Swift a lot. We'll talk about Swift and Stafford later. I'm pretty bullish on Stafford this week. DJ Moore, Robbie Anderson, Curtis Samuel. It's kind of become a swirling mix of upside and pain among those three. Yep. Robinson or Robbie Anderson, he's targeted frequently.

But listen, he has not been inside the top 30 wide receivers in over a month. So even though he's frequently targeted, there haven't been big plays and touchdowns. DJ Morris had some monster games and some disappearing acts. And then Curtis Samuel was on fire until last week when he completely disappeared. How do you possibly wade through these three?

wherever you have, you start them. Right. I mean, that's basically. That probably is the advice. I think all three are startable options. They've been pretty good on the course of the season. Both Robbie Anderson, DJ Moore are top 15 wide receivers, but they don't usually come in the same game. Sometimes they do. Week two, week five they did. But for the most part, if one has a good game, it comes at the expense of the other. But, you know, the fact that they're both top 15 on the course of the season says you need to put them in your lineup because they both have.

Big play ability. You can make the argument for Robbie Anderson because of targets. You can make the argument for DJ Moore because of athleticism. And he's got a good matchup. He's got a good DB matchup this week against Desmond Truffant. Yeah. So I think I would start whatever wide receiver I have, I would start them. Curtis Samuel will be the third option to me. T.J. Hawkinson's always in your lineup at the tight end position. Ian Thomas is not somebody to acknowledge.

in terms of fantasy existence. The Pittsburgh Steelers, 9-0, taking on the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are sitting at 1 and 8. Remember they won that first game of the year? And they were shocking. It was the Colts, right? It was a nice game. I think it was, I mean, it was. Singular. Yes, it was a nice game. They got off to a hot start and haven't won since. Yes, it was against the Colts, and it was a shocking upset.

Well, yeah, yeah. And then now we're here. Started from the top. So can they take on the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers and give them their first loss of the season? Nope. They cannot. Okay. Jake Luton is probably preparing himself for, I mean, I'd be doing the whole like you're a kid and you take all the pillows off the couch and you tape them on your body. I mean, that's the.