Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Wk 4 Studs, Duds, Rising Stars, Injuries

I think we were the highest rated fantasy football analysts on Case Keen with him at 30. Yeah. No, you're not far off. We're probably not far off. You know, Andrew Luck, Todd Gurley, those are two guys that you look at them and you say, boy, they're being wasted right now. They're being wasted. Andrew Luck with an offensive line. You know the numbers. I think he'd be the number one quarterback. I really do. If he actually had time. If he just had time. Because when he gets out of the pocket or has a moment.

He finds people. And then they dropped the ball. The reason garbage time worked for him in that game was the fact that they went no huddle and could tire the defense a little. The defense couldn't just pin their ears back time and time and time again. I think they need to start that way next week as a way, as a method of protecting, you know, of helping their offensive line. Breaking news. Breaking news. Rashad Jennings is out tonight, O-U-T, out tonight, Orleans, Darkwood to start for the Giants.

Also, Kenneth Dixon on track to play in week number five. He saw Justin Forset get benched. We didn't even get to talk about that. Justin Forset got benched on Sunday morning. Javory's Allen started. We're going to talk about. Well, Terrence West started, but Buck Allen replaced. What did I say? You said Javory's Allen started. Sorry, he got activated. Yes. He was activated. All right. Let's talk about the running backs, the stud muffins of the week, and let's talk about the number one fantasy football running back right now.

DeMarco Murray, 25 for 95, two touchdowns, two for 24 through the air, did it in Houston, did it on the ground consistently, and this is their game plan to win. Getting it done. As of now, he's completely match-up proof, good defense, bad defense, whether they're up or down. He's super involved. Well, Derek Henry, right? Barely played. Yep, he is the centerpiece of that offense, and you always start guys like that. So we talked about the fact he doesn't go on by until week 13. That's nice. Which can be really nice.

Would you trade Ezekiel Elliott for DeMarco Murray right now in a redraft? No, no, I would not. Did you trade Melvin Gordon for him? Yes. You would? You'd rather have DeMarco than Gordon? I would, too. Longer track record of his, of, what about, okay, all right. Let's stay there. DeMarco Murray, big week. Zekeo Elliott, 23 for 138 and a touchdown. Really looked good. They came back in that game.

impressed with that offense and that team right now and what they're able to do in a game where it seemed like they were probably up against it being down a couple touchdowns in San Francisco. Yeah, it was a very strange start to that game. Matt Jones had a good game. Hey, Matt Jones. I remember you. 22. Look, Matt Jones, Isaiah Carroll, two big weeks. Both of them over 100 yards in a touchdown, caught a few passes. What do you make of this? What is the long-term?

viability of Matt Jones and Isaiah Crowell is RB1, RB2 type of guys. I like Crowell. He is impressing me. Whenever I'm watching him run the ball, he looks fantastic. He's getting carries. Matt Jones, I think that was the matchup. This is likely the best game you're going to get for Matt Jones all year. He might have one other good one, but it's going to be a matchup game as well. For Isaiah Crowell,

For me, I am not completely sold and bought in that he is going to be able to do this week in, week out. What about as an RB2? As an RB2, I do believe that. That's where he is for me. He just looks great this year. I mean, he just looks the part. He looks a lot different. He was a former, like, number one recruit. So this is not a guy with no pedigree. To me, Crowell, he looks the part 15 for 1, 12, done it for four weeks now from an efficiency standpoint. I agree with Jason. He's probably not a 1 because of the offense and the team.

but a two, a lock and loaded. And I'd be going to trade for him because I think he solidifies a fantasy roster in that two spot. Now, a guy not listed here, but we need to talk about him is Jordan Howard. I mean, 23 for 111 on the ground this week. John Fox came out and said he was, quote, outstanding and that they were going to ride him pretty heavy here on out. Yeah, very, very interesting. If you watched him play, he looked very solid. He looked immensely better than Jeremy Langford. Extra yards.

Yeah. On contact. There were several. It doesn't just fall over. There were several plays where he was stopped in the, you know, a three-yard run where he was stopped two yards behind the line of scrimmage and fought for five and ended up with a three-yard run, which normally is like, eh, you know, it's not that good. But that's what you're going to need if you're running for the bears and he's able to do it. That makes me wonder what the yard per carry of a normal running back would be in St. Louis. Because I feel like the two-point whatever that Todd Gurley's averaging is probably good.

Compared to like, because he's probably, you know what I mean? There are a couple of these plays where they got 12 in the box. Yeah, and he's breaking a tackle to get one yard. And so he's not in this section, by the way. Jason, give us your perspective on Mark Ingram, who had a great game, especially caught the ball. But then John Coon stole three touchdowns at the goal line. So is this good or bad or uglier? This is great. It's great, great, great. Look, I wish that Mark Ingram had all four of those rushing touchdowns. However.

Mark Ingram last year was valuable when he was involved in the passing game. It was one of those things where no matter what, like we were talking about with DeMarco Murray. If you're down, if you're up, you're going to be involved. He can get 50 yards on the ground, 50 yards through the air. And that's great. That's a 100-yard all-purpose game. And that's what you're seeing. Plus he scored. This is the second week in a row he's been more involved in the passing game. So I love it. Mark Ingram's looking very good from here on out.

Jordan, that's tight end time. Jordan Reed, rule 86. You skip Levi-on Bell and the Sean McCoy had monster games as well. Leveon. Leveon Bell is back. He is. Very good. He is just an incredible running back to watch. How would more people not watch him play and tried to implement his style of, and I'm watching it, and I'm trying to put into words, and I feel like this is what he does. Levy on Bell, power walks.

You know that the exercise of the lady's when you're power walking. That's Levium Bell. And he just power walks his way through the line. And then he runs. He is spectacular. His patience is unbelievable. I think that it takes a unique quickness to turn the Juts on in those moments. You know what I mean? Where there are a lot of guys that I've seen try to navigate a line of scrimmage. But his vision is better than all of them. It's like.

A perfect storm that seems easier than it is. It's ironic because who he reminds me of is like the running back version of Antonio Brown. Where, like, I feel like those guys have the same attitude when they're running. And they're brothers. They're BFFs. All right. Let's talk about tight ends. Jordan Reed, Rule 86, 9 for 73, two touchdowns. This is the game we were hoping for from Jordan Reed. The type of performance that separates him from other tight ends.

Jordan Reed is great. I don't think there's anything we need to say other than to acknowledge his great performance. Yes. You start him. Greg Olson is awesome. That catch he made for the touchdown and then he made another for the two-point conversion and it was a total like drop the mic moment where I was just get out of my way. I mean, just incredible. Great catch. It was the Derek Anderson touchdown throw. Couldn't believe he made it. Nine for 76 in a touchdown. I will say this if you are the Greg Olson owner.

And you're like, oh, man, Cam's out. It's Derek Anderson. Derek Anderson and Greg Olson is a spectacular combination. If you go back to a couple years ago, when Greg Olson had that huge breakout year, I had Greg Olson. And there was, towards the end of the year, Cam got banged up. I wanted Derek Anderson to play because his connection with Greg Olson was so great. So do not fear at all if Anderson ends up being the quarterback. I agree that you do not fear, but I want to add to that.

that Devin Funchus, who is worthless, who has not been used at all, I promise. If Derek Anderson is the quarterback, Devin Funches, if you look in preseason, he had a game where he targeted him like 10 times in a row. And when he came in this game, all of a sudden, he was targeting Funches. And so, yeah, your theory of the backup quarterback going to that wide receiver, too, I believe it. Yeah, but I would never act on it. I would. I could tell you right now. Funches who's done nothing for four weeks. You're giving advice to sign and play Devin Funches? I am saying that.

If Derek Anderson is named the starter next week, Devin Funches will be in the flex category in my own rankings. That's what I'm saying. Very interesting. And you'll be, you'll be alone. I'll be alone and I'll be right. Good luck with that. Mike, I would like you to take a few minutes and talk to, talk about Jimmy Graham. Oh. Maybe you apologize. I think we can both. Yeah, I feel like Jason has been equally, if not more harsh. But I do not mind apologizing and all. Jimmy Graham.

You look spectacular, my friend. I'm proud of him. I doubted the injury recovery for Jimmy Graham, which I thought was the medically right thing to do. But he is back, even not practicing the entire week. He looks like the good Jimmy Graham. You both were wrong about Jimmy and about Steve Smith. Yeah.

Yeah, as far as coming back off of injury. No, the injury game is very hard to play because look at Jamal Charles. He's still not back. And then you have, uh, uh, what's that guy? Aaron Foster. Yeah, that's the one. It was very, very correct on Aaron Foster. How are you very correct in Aaron Foster? That he was going to get injured again. Oh, but he's, he's back from his Achilles injury and was the starter. Well, yeah, yes. Yeah, but I'm just saying it wasn't because of that injury. Oh.

Tomato Tomato. Yeah, tomato tomato. Hunter Henry, 4-4-61 in a touchdown, and then Martellis Bennett put up 5-1-09 just so that Rob Garcowski owners could be really sad and annoyed. That's the only reason. He said it after the game. There's the only reason he put up those kind of numbers. Nobody played him because they were afraid of Gronk, and then, of course. They switched roles where Gronk was doing a bunch of extra blocking. All right.

A couple honorable mention names. Terrence West had a good game, 21 for 113, but we talked about Dixon coming back. I think West is startable next week. Jeremy Curley had a good game again, Emmanuel Sanders, and then Dak Prescott, who I think we said, you know, he was on the fence for my stream of the week. Slow start, great finish, played well, and, of course, no interceptions because he just doesn't throw interceptions. So let's move on. Raising Cains, Rising Stars of the Week.

All right, it's time for the Raising Cain's Rising Stars of the Week. Guys we saw perform well both this week and who we think will be factors, fantasy factors in the weeks to come. Who wants to start this off? I'll start it off with a man who has risen many times and he's turning back the hands of time. A very Benjamin button like year. I'm going to throw out some numbers and you tell me if these would be considered raising.

Are these going up? 1964, 87, 11. Ascension. That is a chronological performance of upward trends for Steve Smith's senior. Oh, my start of the week. He was, look, he was fantastic. Hopefully you jumped on the periscope with me on Sunday where Steve Smith's name was coming up a lot. The matchup was great. And he just, every week, it looked, it has looked like he's become more and more comfortable.

returning from his double ruptured Achilles, Joe Flacco is finding him. He just, he might even be on your waiver wire. There is a strong possibility that he's available for you to just go and grab him right now. Or you have him. He's on your bench. He's now moved into the, you should start him weekly. Yeah, he was a wide receiver one before he got injured. And if he's back and he sure looks like now after these first four weeks that he's back and he's healthy, what's to say he couldn't be?

you know, a high-end wide receiver two until he gets injured again, which, you know, he's not an injury history guy. He plays through anything that's not a double ruptured Achilles. I feel like he defeated the double ruptured Achilles with a bad attitude. Like he just attitudded the Achilles away. He is available in 40% of leagues. Yes. Insane. Michael Crabtree is my Raising Keynes, Rising Star of the Week.

It's time to stop with the Cooper hype. It's time to stop telling me that he's the number one, Amari Cooper, that is. Crabtree gets it done more often, more consistently. He's 26 for 308 and 4 now compared to 20 for 318 and zero touchdowns, including Crabtree putting up those two two-point conversions. So it seems like he's even scored more. More receptions, about the same amount of yards, four touchdowns.

To me, he's this year's Eric Decker. He should have been paid more respect, but we always love the freaking perceived upside of the super athlete, Amari Cooper. But the rapport between Derek Carr and Michael Crabtree, it's what you want. It's the red zone trust. It's the, when I need a play, guess what they've done? It's not been Amari Cooper. It's been Crabtree. Crabtree had a move on one of his touchdown.

uh receptions this week oh he made the defense beautiful look foolish yeah he made professional level athletes look like high school kids out and then up or out oh it was disgusting he put a joke on guys that i mean they they fell directly out of their pants yep right out yeah i love michael crabtree except i hated him this week on my on my bench