Fantasy Football - Starts of the Week + Week 16 Breakdown, Semifinal Time! - Podcast for 12/18

to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. It's football time. Okay. Got to get a little raspy. Thursday. December 18th, week 16 of the fantasy football world. Semi-final week. It'll start today. Unless you're in a stupid week 18 playoff league, but we'll still be here for you. Tell us how you really feel about week 18 leagues. They're garbage albatrosses that need to be cut by platforms and not even allowed to exist. Oh, my goodness. Strong feelings from Jason Moore, freshly trimmed beard. Got a little, got a little.

Got a little cut. Oh, you almost showed your hair. I mean, show what? You're like, I got a haircut. Take a look at his hair. Take a look at my hair cut. Cut all five of them. Well, welcome in one and all. We're here. We've got news for you. We got our starts of the week. We're jumping into the matchups. We got football tonight. It's go time. We had waivers run yesterday. We have Mike and Jason facing off in our League of Record. The stress is it beginning? Is it already begun? It definitely began yesterday. Right now I feel okay. Right now is like the lull. We don't have anybody in the Thursday night matchup either one of us. So it's like we get a reprieve for a few days. And then as soon as Saturday happens where we are having our company Christmas party at your house, Andy, and the that's right. The Bears Packers game will be on and help determine who moves on to the championship.

Oh, the palms will be moist. They will be flowing. Knees weak? Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, let's jump right in. We got news to talk about. News and notes from Around the League. Presented by Progressive Insurance. Devante Adams officially doubtful. He's not going to play. Good. He's not going to play. He should not. He should not play. It does make me very, like the people are asking about Stafford. We talked about it yesterday. It would be an extremely nerve-wracking start. Like I would be actively trying not to start Matthew Stafford in Seattle. One of the toughest matchups. High wins. Your touchdown master. We got wins. We got wins tonight. So a little bit rain, but rain doesn't really affect things. A lot of bit wind. A lot of it wind. So we'll have to monitor up. We'll tweet something out before the game.

Because wind is one of those things where you really need... Go get Jacobi. Close to kickoff time. But there were some reports that were like 20 miles sustained, 40 mile an hour gusts. Well, they got two running backs that are great. They lost the guy who's leading the league in touchdown receptions. Like, Devante Adams is that dude. Like Matthew Stafford, let's look at the career of Matthew Stafford. It is outlier touchdown season. a bunch of years outlier touchdown season if you took calvin away from him during that 40 touchdown year or cup you're probably yeah you're thinking a little bit differently about it it's not that he can't perform it's that seattle's a great defense they're a great defense he already would have been a questionable start in seattle with the monta adams yeah held philip rivers to one touchdown that's it that's dude these are the guys oh man i mean shut down rude woody marks didn't practice i believe what you mean is

They gave up a touchdown. Philip Rivers. His line was 0.5. Yeah, Woody Mark's not practicing. Nick Chubb was limited. Yeah, it's a, it's a little confusing right now, which sucks because there is fantasy gold, and then they're hills. I mean, Jor Jordan is like, so I. Gaur, Gaur, Gaur, Gwar, um, is a player that I, I really thought about going hard on the waivers after. I decided not to because I thought Woody was going to. play. If Woody does not play, he's got to be in your lineup. I don't think so. Not if Nick Chubb plays. I don't think so if Nick Chubb is active. I think that would be a bad decision. We know the hierarchy there. George Jordan had to be signed off the practice squad this week to be back on the roster, which might be an indication of either Chubb not being back enough or Woody Marks not being active. Now, Woody Marks didn't practice last Wednesday. And I know he got knocked out of the game.

So that didn't fully work out. I bet we have a report by today's discussion. This isn't a full panic that Woody Marks is not going to play yet. Marvin Harrison returned to a limited practice. He may be back out there. I know the question will be, do you still like Michael Wilson? Yes, I do. I still like Michael Wilson this week. It is the best matchup. Over the last five to eight weeks for wide receivers. Yeah, it's a fantastic game environment all the way around. I had people ask, I saw several questions on X about Michael Wilson. It's like, how do you go away from what he's been doing? If Jerry Rice is playing, you play him. Drake London, this is a good question. He returned to a limited practice. He could be on the prescription you were saying that Adams would be if he was active, which is.

He might not play a full allotment of snaps. They made the comment. We're excited to see what he can give us, but it impacts your Kyle Pitts. It impacts your perception of this game. Are you automatically starting Drake London if he's active? I think I would automatically start him. I'm pretty close. What has been happening with Kirk Cousers with Kyle Pitts, I mean, look at Pitts last week. And Drake London is just way better. So yeah, if Drake London is active, they need Darnel Mooney, his, his. Seriously, what happened? Has his skill evaporate? I don't know what's going on, but it seems like he's a worthless. He had all the weird preseason injury stuff, if you remember, like in training camp. Well, he broke his clavicle immediately, didn't he? Yeah, I don't remember what the full injury was, but it was like Mooney might play this year. That's where we had that point of time. And then he was just ready. I'd.

We're still in the, he might play this year. Maybe he was never ready. They just don't have. What was it? David Sills is out there running almost 100%. I would play Sills over Mooney. Sure. And if London was out, I think Sills is a weird dart throw because he's out there 80 plus percent of snaps. Tett McMillan, Teteroa, McMillan, Teteroa, Tema. Teteroa, Timmill, did not practice on Wednesday foot and ankle injury. We'll monitor that today as well. Pete Carroll said there's a good chance, Gino Smith, starts in week 16. Okay. Brock Bowers, I guess, is better off. A little bit, yeah. With Gino, but not by a lot. And then we've got big names in today's matchups that we'll talk about. But Christian Watson's one of them. We should definitely mention it at the top here. He returned to a limited practice. He came out and said, like Josh Jacobs, he said, you've got to play with stuff this time of year. That's what his comments were.

You got to deal with stuff this time of year. The direct quote, we're at the point of the season when you've got to fight through some stuff, so should be good. I mean, Josh Jacobs is the example, the leader. You're absolutely right. Yeah. How do you possibly? Oh, you're not going to play with that? Watch me. I'm playing with this. Look how hugely swollen my knee is. My leg goes the wrong direction. I'm out there running. I mean, you're making some assumptions that Josh Jacobs is going to be active. I sure am, Michael. I sure am. Roma Dunesay Luther Burden did not practice on Wednesday. DeAndre Swift added to the injury report with a groin injury. This game is wild because I really like, well, I like Caleb Williams in this game. Yep. But I don't know exactly who's catching all of the passes. So we'll see what happens. O'Donzee's probably going to miss. I would say Burden speaks the love language. Yeah, he might. That might be his love language. And a little commit action.

What? Get out of here. I was trying to find some, some sort of commit. Double entendre and I couldn't do it. Rashi Rice. It's a hard name. The best domain command command. It's very nice, Mike. It's commit. Okay. Rashi Rice. We were surprised here. Rashi Rice did not practice. Well, not surprised because. Rashi Rice got hit so hard. He's been getting exploded. But we didn't hear about a concussion until yesterday. He did not get hit in the head. He was hit so hard in the body that it just swelled the brain. That's what it's, I mean, it does. It does feel like that. He was hit so hard in the spine. That is. Yeah. It just. Yep. Cartoon style. Uh, crash test dummy. That's what he was. T. Higgins remains in concussion protocol limited on Wednesday.

And Kellamore had already ruled out Devon Neal and Devon Valé. Alvin Camara is not practicing. It's going to be Evan Hole and Odrick Estimate. Not in that order necessarily. Brady Cook will start for the Jets again this week. That was News & Note, sponsored by Progressive Insurance Quotes today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company Affilates and Third Party Insurers, not available in all states or situations, coverage subject to policy terms, limits, and conditions. Time for starts. Starts of the week. Oh, mine's Caleb Williams. That is, I spent a lot of time. Look, this is, this is high pressure starts. It is, it's very difficult. I felt like the best matchups, maybe this is encouraging. Let me start the segment like this. We've all got starts the week at every position. I felt like all the best matchups this week were legitimately the best players. So I didn't, I didn't, Jonathan Taylor.

Right. I'm talking strength to schedule stream finder tool. The best matchups, a lot of them were the auto start guys, Bijon, right? Like, you don't, I'm not going to come on here and say start Bejohn or start John than Taylor. Well, that's my start of the week. In your heart? You didn't really have Bejan, do you? No, I do not have Bejan. I'm the same as you. So I'm trying to find players that are on me. We're trying to give you alternatives should you need them. Or confidence boosts on players that you have a decision to make on them. quarterback is always a decision. We just talked about Stafford. Maybe you've got another one on the roster. Caleb Williams against Green Bay, to me, your first glance, you're like, no, I don't want to do that. I think you should do it. I think that we've seen the struggles of the Green Bay defense on the road in recent weeks against Denver and Detroit. Parsons, that's it. Devastate. That's the major, major point of this conversation, the pass rush. The offensive line, already great for Chicago.

You're at home. It is a huge game. Caleb's up over 20 fantasy points for game at home this year. He rushes the football. A good baseline there. And without Michael Parsons putting pressure on him, I do think he's going to have a very successful week. They gave up a ton of points in Denver last week. Lost Michael Parsons. Bow Nix was great. I'm going Caleb Williams for a crucial semifinal week. I like it. I like it. He is the type of quarterback that has... pretty hot and cold from a fantasy standpoint even he's been playing well not turning the ball over but when you get a good game you can have a really really impactful game so that will be exciting i'm going to go with my quarterback against mike i think he is it's it's a very good um game environment for dack prescott coming prescott what's going on with you no it's it

I mean, we have we have a city right north of us that we go to all the time. It's Prescott. It's not the same, but it's Prescott. Jason, we've done the show for 11 years. Yeah, Prescott has existed. Stop making excuses before the show. Okay, Dak Prescott at home versus the Los Angeles Chargers. He currently leads the NFL in passing yards. He's the identity of the Cowboys team. The Cowboys are averaging 59. combined points per game. You know how every we're going to go through matchups today. And whenever we hear a 50 point over under, we're like, oh, this is awesome. We want part of these game environments. They're averaging 59 combined points per game. You can't ask for much more than that. That's the most of any team since 2018. This game that they're in is already a 49.5 point over under second highest of the week. Like probably take the over on that. And at home, he's been great. So I know that the Chargers defense is very good. And

is coming off of a down week, but at home, just like when he was at home against Philly and was great. Wasn't he at home against Minnesota? Yes. So, I mean, but the thing is, is he didn't play poorly. It was the rushing touchdowns that happened. He just got like, you know, three rushing touchdowns siphon. 61% of his passes, 300 yards. Yeah, I look, it's the same as Burrow. It's the same as when we just talked about Burrow and Dak. They're in the same boat. You're not playing for something. Los Angeles is playing for something. But, you know, you make the case. All right. If you are interested in 20 fantasy points from your quarterback with the ability to go nuclear this week against the Atlanta Falcons, it is Jacoby Beef, Briscuit, Brissette. This is one of the most baffling things I've ever experienced playing in fantasy football that there is a quarterback who has just, since he has taken over, has never.

not been a top 12 option. He's scoring 20 plus points on the regular, and he is on some people's waiver wire, at least as of Tuesday when we were talking about it. Jason's stream of the week, my start of the week. Jacoby is just, he's going to chuck it so much, and you have Bam Knight is out now. You know, there are conversations of, is it Michael Carter, is it Amari Demarcato? It doesn't matter truly. It's 50 past attempts. It's Jacoby. It is Jacoby who will throw for another 250 yards and probably multiple touchdowns. Moving to the running back position. The best matchup of the week, Jason's got that guy as his start of the week, at least on, in terms of like strength of schedule. And then, like I said, a lot of the big matchups beyond that that are great. It's A-chan, it's Bejean, it's Buckey, it's Sequin. I'm going to go with a guy that I think people are waiting to...

have make a huge contribution to their lineup. Like maybe you can start him, but you don't feel like he's going to win you the week. Maybe this will be the week. He gets it done. Amarion Hampton at Dallas, 15 and 16 touches in the two games back. Quinn and Williams might be out in this game. They've been better at stopping the run. Yeah, he's in concussion protocol. So I think Amari and Hampton has the capability and the opportunity to give you a big week. All right. My running back start of the week. This is a little bit crazy. This is for those who are in need. Mike, I'm going to need second level underpants on this. You got it, my man. Let me find those things for you. Premium underpants. And these are big boy underpants. I'm with you with the pants and I'm with you on the plate. It makes sense. These are 227 pound big body back under pants. Talking about a guy that Mike, you really like to come out of college. Audrick Estime Lauder.

He is the current Saints running back, who I and many are projecting to be the starter. Now, Evan Hull is there. This is a situation. Alvin Camara has been injured. He was not at practice the last I saw. I don't expect him to play. If he does, let's just pivot to him. If he's out, then you have two running backs left because Devin Neal, who was doing great work, injured, Kendra Miller, obviously doesn't know how to not be injured. And so, Audrick Estime, he was out there. If you look at once Devin Neal went down, he got the majority of the works and snaps from that point forward. He got three targets, and he played well. The Saints are four and a half point home favorites. And the matchup is as good as matchups get right now. The Jets, since giving up Quinn and Williams, have given up monster performances every single week on the ground. How much does he weigh?

20027 pounds so based on my thick i've done some some math over here guys um ultra thin titanium underpants they would only add about two and a half pounds oh thank goodness a more rigid armor style i don't know if that's it looks like that in the video mic yeah that's about five extra pounds or as chad gbt says dramatically heavier and far less comfortable than they sound yeah i i i didn't think they sounded very comfortable to begin with mean the the thing about the titanium underpants is it's It's two purposes. It stops or like it protects, you know, your, you're sensitive. It also seals everything in. Right. For when you, when you have, if you got a, when you certainly poop in those titanium pants. Well, come on now. It stays there. But I will, I will know, I will say this. So when, when I'm talking about my starts of the week, a lot of times, you know, we always are rooting for our starts of the week to do great. And hopefully they do oftentimes. And sometimes they don't.

I'm writing on this. I am personally playing Audra Kastemae against Mike in my lineup. I'm choosing to play him over David Montgomery. And so if you're in that level of a situation, this is, I'm trying to be like, would I really do this in the playoffs? Yeah, I'm doing it. And you're doing it over David Montgomery. Yeah. Mike? All right. Mine is, it's a little up in the air right now. I have Houston running back down against the Las Vegas Raiders. I. I think it will still be Woody Marks based off of, you know, he had taken over. They at least said that he could have gone back in the game. It was just unnecessary at that point. And I think that Wednesday's just a rest. So I do believe that it will be Woody Marks. Should it not be Woody Marks? And Nick Chubb is up. I have no problem. Like an estimate type of play. Nick Chubb could go right in. If they both miss, Jaward Jordan.

He just ran for 100 yards. Is that the F-this and that, though? Yes. It's Chubb over Jordan. It is for me. It is for me, too. Yeah, it goes Woody to, and then if Woody's out and then goes Nick Chubb and then to Jordan. I think all are perfectly fine fantasy football plays. The Texans are two touchdown favorites. So here, over the last five years, here are the team rushing averages among two touchdown favors. 31 total attempts, 145 rushing yards, and one and a half. rushing touchdowns on average. And on top of that, the Raiders are a great matchup for running backs in general. It's all lining up here. All right. I'm going Michael Wilson against Atlanta from my wide receiver start of the week. The number one wide receiver in fantasy football over the last five weeks, regardless of what seems to be Marvin Harrison's return in this game. You're in a dome. It's tied for the third highest overrunner of the week. Atlanta, Arizona, 48 and a half points. Falcons, the best matchup in the last five weeks.

to wide receivers. Michael Wilson is doing too much good work. Cardinals have two few good running backs. It's the same argument that you made for Jacoby. Wilson will be on the other end of five to 15 catches and back into the end zone. And you know for certain that the Arizona Cardinals will win this game. There's no world where they don't win. There's nothing. I've thought about this, Jason. I've examined it from every angle. You're 100% right. There is nothing. They're going to ruin their draft pick. They're worse than winning this game. They're in a beautiful situation. If they lose to the Falcons, now they flip with the Falcons. And not only does that hurt their pick, but guess who has the Falcons pick, which is already top 10? Oh, man. The Rams. So it's like the Cardinals will shoot themselves in the foot. The Rams could win the Super Bowl.

I mean, wait, wait, say that again? They're shooting themselves right in the junk. This is a purposeful shot. They're so dumb. They're going to win this game. So yeah, Michael Wilson probably five touchdowns. Hey, the only potential saving grace of that argument, Jason, because that's definitely Cardinals, is that the Falcons would also screw up their pit. Yeah, this is a real who's. It's a real. Which franchise is going to franchise the most? Like. It's a two stooges situation. Yes. My wide receiver, start of the week, you fell right into my trap, is D.K. Mike. I got into the dock first. I was putting in my starts of the week. And I was like, oh, man, D.K. Metcalf against the lions. Yeah. I was like, mm-mm. You're going to make me do it. Well, Mike will be playing D.K. Mike. Which, by the way, I mean, back-to-back weeks for D.K. Metcalf in this start of the week segment. Yeah. Oh, it didn't.

I guess he scored. He did score. He had a good week? He did. He's had two good weeks in a row. The thing is with DK Mike Keff is that we want high targets. We want him to be a volume wide receiver. And it's really disappointing that he hasn't been. How about fantasy points? Can we settle on those? Fantasy points at the end are all the matters. Right now he's been doing a great job. He's the wider receiver 15 on the year. He was drafted as the wide receiver 20. That's good. He's a B inconsistency. It sucks because when you watch the games, you're like, why aren't you targeting him? But then he ends up with a touchdown. He's okay. This matchup against the Lions is just, it's the perfect semifinals matchup. They rank number one in use of man. 46% of their dropbacks are in man coverage. In that span, they've allowed the highest explosive pass play. And they're 31st in fantasy points above expectation to outside wide receivers. This is like a perfect situation.

for Mike Kaff to go off. In case you were tempted to get somebody else in your start of the week. Bad news. Marshawn Lloyd changed to doubtful. Oh. Wow. Not again. That seems like a move up. Yeah. So he's moved from out to doubtful. Outful to doubtful. Congratulations. And the last thing I'll add for D.K. Metcalfe, if you're out there, I'm playing him is the like Detroit can stop past catching running backs pretty well. And. The Steelers are doing that a ton. I mean, Kenny Gainwell is getting so many. I think he leads the team in receptions. But, oh my gosh. Arthur Smith. But the Lions can shut that down. And just like when they, when the Steelers played the team that shuts down tight ends, they're like, fine. We'll throw to our $150 million guy. Right. All right. My wide receiver started the week. It is Joanne Jennings, who is taking on the Indianapolis Colts.

quietly, I think. Since week nine, he's been a top 24 wide receiver and five of six. Six touchdowns in those games, a 23% target share. And Ricky Pearsall got his injury, his PCL. It was re-aggravated. So I expect in a plus matchup, the Colts over the last five weeks 27th in schedule adjusted points to wide receivers. It's all there. And I think that Joanne's going to have a good game. It was going to be a great game, but I downgraded him. That sounded funny. Tight-in start of the week is Dallas-Gadair. Great. Gader. Dallas-Gaudet against Washington, the tight-in four on the season, nine receiving touchdowns, six receptions from a career high. His utilization inside the five is awesome. The matchup is awesome. Washington, allowing the highest yards for pass attempt in the NFL. I'm going back to the well. I believe his projection set around 40 yards. I think he's up above that. Dallas gottered against Washington.

I'm going to Ronde Gadsden the second against Dallas. He is a wide receiver, not really a tight end. He lines up. He's your tight end. He is my tight end. And this is another one where I look, if you want to play him with me, this is who I'm playing against Mike. I lost Darren Waller in my mind. So I'm choosing to play him. He was my number one pickup over Dalton Schultz, over Parkinson, over Joanne Johnson. Other good options out there. That's wild. I chose Gadsden. He's a downfield threat, and I think that game environment against the Dallas Cowboys with huge hurt, they're going to use. He has four for 61 last year. And then Trey Harris is banged up. Did you know this? Oh, is serious? Right after we talked about it. By the way, I would love. I would normally choose this moment to make fun of Jason for having three of his players as the four starts of the week. I would love to do that. But you have to understand two of the three players were waiver wire pickups yesterday. So this was not.

This was not, they're on my team, so there starts of the week. This is, they're on the waiver wire. I sign them to play them because I believe their starts of the week. Estimate, Gadsden, both pickups, both into the lineup. What could go wrong? It's nasty. Everything. Sometimes you've got to scratch a claw in the playoffs. If you're with me, you're with me. I'm going with Brent Strange against Denver. The tight end starts sits. They are tough this week. Gadsden, I think he's a fine play. John Johnson. But I went with Brent Strange. He's being targeted on 21% of his routes. That is a very, very strong number. I know since he's been back from the injuries, averaging almost 50 yards a game. And over the last five weeks, the Broncos are 30th in schedule adjusted fantasy points to the tight end. It is a place where that excellent defense can be beat for fantasy purposes. All right. We're going to take a break and jump right into the forecast. All right.

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Fantasy Forecast, presented by prize picks. Two Saturday games this week. Philadelphia, 9 and 5 against the 4 and 10. We're done with this season commanders. Vegas line, Philly minus 6.5, over under 44.5. They shut down Jaden Daniels. Philadelphia can clinch the division with a victory and will become, if they do that, which they should, they're heavy favorites. The first repeat NFC East champions in 20 years. Wow. That just feels impossible, especially in a division like that, but wow. Yeah. So look, I feel I was close to making Jalen Hartz, Jalen Hertz, a start of the week. I feel like Jalen Hertz is going to have a very good week. You're obviously going to play Sequin Barclay. You're going to play A.J. Brown. The one player I'm feeling pretty.