Week 12 Matchups + Tough Start/Sits, Wheel of Shame - Fantasy Football Podcast for 11/22

to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Friday, November 22nd. Jason Moore is here. I'm Andy Holloway, the fantasy footballer's podcast. Jay Grizz in the building. Mike will be back on Monday. Great show for you today. I think it is. I think it really is going to be a great show. We have...

The fantasy forecast part two, reviewing the matchups. Got a little start of the week pivot I got to do. Oh, yeah. Once we get to the news. Times two. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know what you're saying. We'll get to that. We also have a Thursday night game to talk about. Before we jump into that, I want to remind you the website, the fantasy footballers.com, where you find all of our weekly rankings and starts it tool. All the articles. It's where you can find the ultimate dashboard to help you optimize your lineup every week. And lots of other Foot Clan tools. And you can learn more about becoming a supporter of the show and unlocking all of those sweet treats. Foot Clan Friday today. Oh, I didn't finish the sentence. Join thefoot.com. That's where you go. Yeah. That's an important part. Like if people are like, how do I? I just kind of.

I want that ultimate dashboard. I'll be honest. What happened was I said sweet treats. Then I started thinking about Thanksgiving. And then I started thinking about treats to Thanksgiving. Well, because once I said sweet treats, I was like, what's the closest holiday where that would be relevant? Okay. And it's not Halloween anymore. So now it's pumpkin pie and cool. Is that your go-to? Cool. Yeah. Oh, for sure. If you're doing a, if you're doing pumpkin pie, you have to have a, you have to have so much cool whip. You've had questionable pumpkin pie takes them for it. That's not true. I promise that's not true. I mean, there's no way. My pumpkin pie takes have been as true as true gets. There's a pumpkin pie guy in the YouTube comments too. Well, then I like that man, assuming that his pumpkin pie take is that it's a wonderful treat. It's delicious. And you know what makes it especially delicious? It's not overdone. You ever had a pumpkin pie in April? No.

I don't think they make them. I thought you meant you cooked it too long. You meant like you just eat it during a certain period of time so you don't get burnt out. Exactly. It's like the McRib, you know what I mean? Why is it that? I mean, we've had this debate before, but why is it that there's foods like orange juice? It's a breakfast food. You know what I mean? Like you can't. Yeah. Breakfast. The whole idea of like certain foods, you can eat pancakes. Breakfast in America is so funny to me because I'm an American and I am.

locked in with you can't have regular food at breakfast but it makes no sense well it works both ways right you also can't have like oatmeal for dinner right you can't have that's nonsense you can't do that it just doesn't feel right yeah let's talk about last night's food yeah speaking of treats uh jamis winston uh jamis winston the quilt machine himself in the midst of a blizzard in the midst of dropped passes and snow flurries and Just the beauty of NFL football with weather. Okay, two things here. We got James and then we got weather. Okay. Well, let's start with James. I realized what's so special about him off the field is that his interviews, if you only listen to the audio and you just take away, you know, you're just listening on the radio and you listen to an interview. What a wild man. What a crazy. I mean, quotes galore. Things that are said that are just.

They make you scratch your head. They make you smile. They make you laugh. Now you take away all the audio. And you can't hear anything being said, but you get to watch it. And you just see his, his smile. Childlike innocence. And his hand movements. He's just like, and then you put them together. And you get to watch and hear this, this. There's no one on the planet like him. It's difficult to explain the contrast. between the likeability of James and the dislikeability of the quarterback they have. I feel like it's pretty easy to explain. I guess it's easy to explain, but the contrast between Deshaun Watson and James Winston in likeability. It's as big as anything you could find in the NFL. All right. And now we've buried the lead. Let's get to it. Yeah, the weather was awesome. The snow. The weather was awesome. The snow in that game was.

Awesome. Yeah. It was so much fun. Oh, man. It was real football. There's a crack in the dome. No, so here's the problem. There shouldn't be a crack in the dome. There should be a roof on the dome. It should be a retractable. The Arizona Cardinals built one for half a billion dollars. If they have a retractable roof in that game, there's no snow on the field. No, I am team open the roof for snow. Okay. But close the roof. It's just getting real detailed. No, have you ever genuinely? You've got to have a 500 page document to describe your weather takes. There's like three rules here, man. This is clear and like people want to argue for the weather. People want to argue against the weather. I just want what everyone actually wants, which is awesome football. A snow game can be awesome. I can remember like five unbelievable snow bowl type games. The Shady McCoy game. Like they're just so different and unique and the football's still good. Name me.

A really sloshy, windy game that was like, that was awesome. That was good football. Man, I enjoyed that windy, wet game. You can't, I know you can't think of one because they don't exist. There was the one where Justin Field slid on the water and he looked like he was, you know, belly surfing for about 30 feet. How'd the game go? I mean, that was a good clip. Probably crappy. No, probably. You don't remember because it was crappy. Weather games in football are like the pumpkin pie. You need it for a small amount of, like a small amount of the season to appreciate it. But if you had it every week, you wouldn't like it. It's just variability. It's just I'm not watching the exact same thing every single time. That's all I like about it. It was fun. And now getting into the football side of the game.

There was good football played in difficult conditions. Also, I'm so thrilled that the Browns won simply because, I mean, you want to talk about a great fan base? You're two and eight, and it's a blizzard. It's packed out. And it's packed and no one's leaving. I'm so happy because it looked like they were going to lose. There's nothing to do in Cleveland. There's nothing to do. Jalen Warren over 10 points, Jason. Oh, yeah. Not only did you have to endorse a snow game, you've got to endorse Jalen Warren. It's a wild morning. Jalen Warren got over 10 points for the first time. Who did not? Najee. Najee. Yeah. Right after I sent a message into our Slack channel or company Slack Singh so consistent. I sent the screenshot of Najee's performances over the course of the year and they were outrageously good until last night when, I mean, a lot of variables in place. Najee had been 12, 10, 10, 10, 20, 18, 16, 13, 13.

And yesterday was the worst game of his season. This was a very difficult game. You've got a good Cleveland rushing defense. You've got weather against you. And honestly, neither Jalen Warren nor Noggi were good in this game. Najee didn't get a touchdown. Jalen Warren did. And that's where like I'm just waiting for this 10 point game. I don't think he scores eight points without the touchdown. It wasn't like he had a big performance, but he did cross the threshold of an actual usable game. It took that touchdown. But. Talking about players who played well, I mean, Russell Wilson really impressed me. In poor weather, 21 to 28, 270 yards, a touchdown. They ran the ball a lot, you know, part of that. As you would expect them to try to do in that weather. But then, yeah, Russ was good. Judy was great. And Nick Chobb with two touchdowns, a week too late on the start of the week, but he scored twice.

Yeah, I mean, it was it was tough sledding for all running backs, but the touchdowns came. So that was really, really nice. Jerry Judy looked awesome. And if I could just have my man Najoku listen up for a second. Yeah, you were really. I really need you. And your team really needs you. And they designed up a super easy play. I mean, James could have thrown that thing granny style underhand because he was not far away. And I know that there was snow, but how do you not, I watched the play again this morning. Nojoku had the easiest touchdown in the history of the NFL. A free TD. Yeah. And he just dropped it. That was, thankfully, James got the rush of touchdown a little bit later. But it was a fun game. Takeaways, I would say, we talked about the difficult stretch of games coming up for James and the Cleveland passing offense. I'm officially, I don't care.

Like even in bad weather, like Jerry Judy, six for 85. This was a game they were leading for a good portion too, and they couldn't throw the ball well, and yet they still produced, sorry to cut you off. You're right. I think James is going to throw the ball a lot. I mean, obviously when the weather is not as bad as it is now as it was last night, it'll be even better. So I'm in. I was impressed by both teams. And Cleveland now with James has knocked off the Ravens and the Steelers. Two of their three total wins. It's just the same thing we say all the time. It's what makes the NFL great. Any given Sunday, any team with any record can beat the other team if there's a blizzard. It's also Friday. Put Clan Friday. Well, I don't know why the name is this, but congratulations to Andy's illegal dumpster shifts. Huh. That's the name of the user. That is.

Every Friday, we give away $100 to a supporter at Jointhefoot.com, $100 to fancychamps.com. Illegal dumpster shifts. Do you have a peeing behind a dumpster story? I feel like something in my mind. Remember some story where you might have. Yeah, I see some nods around the studio. There was one time that I peed behind a dumpster in public because. Because you had to go peepee. I had to go pee. The story got good because I was pretending to be on my phone while because there were people around. And so I was pretending to talk with one hand. Behind the dumpster where people go for private conversations. Well, I had to get away. Right. So let me go talk behind the dumpster with. I mean, that's a throwback. Yeah. Maybe that's where I don't think so. But congratulations to Andy's illegal dumpster shifts.

from join thefoot.com and I will get into the news as fast as possible. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Okay. Well, let's jump in here. Eagles wide receiver, Devante Smith, remained sidelined on Thursday. The news yesterday, I hadn't been aware of the hamstring injury. Now it's been two days. So I said to myself, self, let's pivot that start of the week to somebody that has a great matchup that I, You know, we talked about in the difference makers segments. Oh, did you? Let's go to Ladd McConkey. Oh, my little lad. The great matchup against Baltimore. And Ladd didn't practice on Thursday due to his shoulder injury. Yeah, he's missed a lot of practices for a rookie this year. I worry a little bit about his undersized nature getting beat up in these games. So who are you pivoting to next? Let's go to Cuge. Let's go to Quentin Johnston in the same game against Baltimore.

where we already liked Justin Herbert. So we'll try the pivot number three. I think it's going to work. Matchup-wise, the cornerback that he should line up against the most gives up the most explosive play rate right now in the NFL, and that's kind of what Quge has been doing. So the matchup is there. Honestly, if I had Qig and I had Lad, I would be starting Q's a huge this week. And Ladd might still play. It's a Monday game. It could be a day off of rest after a big performance last week. I expect Ladd to play, but you just don't want to take that extra risk. Why pivot from an injured guy to an injured guy? Yeah, that would be then I'd have to pivot again. And that's no fun. DeAndre Swift returned to a limit. I believe that's called a travel. Oh, you can't lift your pivot. Can't do two pivot. Can't lift your pivot. Yeah, we get one pivot.

Unless in the NBA. Or if you're LeBron James, you get like seven. DeAndre Swift returned to a limited practice on Thursday. Sam LaPorte a practice in full on Thursday. That's exciting. He's got a good matchup. Trending towards playing for sure. Mike Evans upgraded to a full on Thursday, although the comments from the head coach was we just don't know how much he'll be able to go. It's a little bit of a. I would expect to see what you saw from Nico. Exactly the same thing. That's what I was just looking up to remind people. Maybe 50% of snaps. Yeah, Nico this last week played 47% of snaps. Now, he still had seven targets. Should have had that 70-yard touchdown looked great. But I do think that, you know, when Mike Evans is on the field, it's to have passing plays where he can either stretch field or be targeted. So I'm still going to start Mike Evans, but.

I'm not going to be upset if at the end of the game it's a four for 45 and he plays 50% of snaps. I know that's in the range of outcomes. Little worried here. CD Lamb downgraded to a DMP on Thursday. It was limited on Wednesday. You never like a midweek. Downgrade for a player. No, you do not. Is he, do you remember what time his game is? Is he Sunday night football? I don't remember. I'm just trying to hope. Yeah, you're looking at your roster right now. Yes, yes, I am. It's Washington. He's in the morning. So cool. There's a legit downgrade. Pay attention. I've moved him to my flex so that if I need to pivot away, I can. The schoon man might have a big opportunity this week with a bad quarterback. Yeah, you got Brandon Cooks. We don't know if he's going to play or not, but he's, you know, potentially going to play.

Jake Ferguson remaining sideline with the concussion protocol. They got to throw the ball somewhere. And I'm still a little bit. I mean, Jason, you made this comment so perfectly yesterday. It was announced that Brock Purdy was throwing at practice. And so you were like, this is the news. The news is that you have to announce that he's throwing at practice. You got more news this morning from John Lynch saying that they did an MRI on Purdy's shoulder. They said they feel, quote, good about where it is from that standpoint. but that he's going to practice, they'll go forth accordingly, that it is tenuous, that Brandon Allen and Josh Dobbs would both be ready and that it would be Allen first. It is a legitimate concern. It sounds ominous. I believe Brock Purdy will 100% play in this game. He is a tough player. That's part of what Kyle Shanahan loves about him. He talked about the story from his rookie year when he was playing through some of these injuries. He just knew like this guy's got.

the it. He's got that football makeup that you need to be able to go out there and play tough. Brock Purdy has that. That being said, he's a human being and if he can't throw the ball well and he takes a massive blow to the shoulder, it's a risk. Bean Bay favored by three in that game. And they need it. They need Brock Purdy. They need this win. They are not a lock for the playoffs by any means. All right, that was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Let's jump into the forecast. It's time for Fantasy Forecast, presented by Draft King Sportsbook. We're in the midst of a bi-apocalypse, six teams on by. They seem to have a lot of players in a lot of lineups. Yesterday we covered the Vikings, Bears, Lions, Colts, Patriots, Dolphins, Buccaneers, Giants, Cowboys Commanders, and the Chiefs Panthers game. If you.

Want to hear those matchup breakdowns for fantasy football. You can scroll back to yesterday's show and listen to us, discuss those guys. Six more matchups to cover today. We've also got the fantasy faceoff later on in the show. Mike, while he is strolling through Disneyland, by the way, his churro count only one. Yeah, it was pretty. As of yesterday, just one churro. Pretty embarrassing. Not the kind of stats you'd expect him to put up, nor would. It's out of his control. He follows the rules. What are the rules that you follow with the churros? We both follow the same rule, which is if you are in Disneyland and you walk past a churro stand that has no line, you must get a churro. It doesn't happen often, but that which is why when you see it, you go up and you get yourself a churro. Is that rule like prohibitive of waiting in line for a churro?

It turns into being prohibitive for what, yeah. So you don't wait in line. Correct. I've shifted over to where that's how I know. I get a churro if there's an empty trot stand. Are the churro stands generally on those big wheels, like how they get them there? Yeah. So do you think you could just move it? Well, just contract one of those people to follow you around the park? That would cost a lot. You'd have to shell out big bucks for that. You'd tell me you wouldn't pay for all those churos. I don't know, man. Yeah, that's a lot of Cheros. So, yeah, hopefully the Chiro Kent gets up today. That's kind of embarrassing. You know what else is embarrassing in this Tennessee Titans going to the Houston Texans matchup? I'm looking at the Draft King Sportsbook lines and Tankdale's receiving yard line at 47 and a half yards. I just saw that and went, ugh. It's just so sad. It's the new normal, Jason. It is. He's averaging 44.8 yards per game. It's not.

acceptable. Houston minus eight. The over under is 40 and a half. That gives Tennessee just 16 points. Houston 24, uh, heavily favored. Houston has the opportunity to go to eight and four in this one. I mean, tank Dell is very much a who do you have to start option? Yeah, 100%. Like if I had, uh, huge. Or Tank Dell, I would go the huge route. Just two top 24 games this year and on pace for 62, 717 and 3, which would make him a late round picnic next year. Yeah, for sure. You know, he hasn't disappeared or been an out and out, you know, bust on the NFL field, but for fantasy football. I'd rather have Jerry Judy rest of the season. Oh, for sure. That's an easy. I mean, Jerry Judy. That sentence doesn't sound great preseason. Well, no, because he didn't have a quarterback preseason.

Well, Nico Collins should see a full allotment of routes in this one. Nico Ballins, no Ligerius Sneed gives me much more confidence because the Titans on the course of the season, they're top five against wide receivers. They don't give up a lot of fantasy points, but a lot of that is the personnel, and that's their best defensive personnel. They've also softened quite a bit, fantasy points allowed over the last six weeks, just middle of the pack in that metric. CJ Stroud's my start of the week with Nico back. I think he gets it done. He plays great at home over 300 yards a game at home, a 5% touchdown rate at home. It's not very complicated with Houston. Stroud, Mix, and Nico with Tankdale in the flex consideration. Tank, tank is in consideration. Xavier worthy or Tankdale? Tankdale. I would go there as well.

Okay, and that rhymes. Obviously, Joe Mixen is going to be a must start every week. He's the number one running back on a per game basis. I love him. So I'll bet you do. On the other side of the ball, Calvin Ridley, I feel like is a must start. I know he feels because of how low the lows were and how often they came to start the season. You know, the first seven weeks, he had one good game. And so it was like this guy's worthless. But since that time, which is exactly when Hopkins was traded away, He's been really good. I mean, you know, 17.6, half PPR points, 10 points, 22.9. Last week was a little bit disappointing, but it wasn't a bust game. And coming on this week against the Texans, that's where you beat them. It's hard to run on them. So I like Calvin Ridley quite a bit. Yeah, the target percentage went down a little bit last week. You had the 98-yard Westbrook-Kekine touchdown. You had the called back bomb touchdown to Ridley.

I'm with you on that. I think Westbrook Aquina is certainly a flex-worthy player. You know, you can't talk about Hopkins leaving without talking about the snap count difference for Westbrook Aquina. He was irrelevant, and now he's basically playing every snap. Yeah, he went from 20%, 15%, 24% to 92, 97, 185%. He is a full-time player now. He's also scored a touchdown in five of six straight weeks. I will not be betting for that streak to continue. Okay, so Tony Pollard, Tajay Spears, where are you with the backfield in Tennessee? Well, Tajay Spears right now still in the concussion protocol, which means Tony Pollard is probably a volume play, not a great matchup. You don't have high expectations, but Pollard will be in your lineup. Spears, not, I mean, he won't be. I think if Spears is cleared, then Pollard becomes a questionable start. What is the, is there anybody else in this game? Nope. Okay.

Yeah. All right. Not going to start the slowest man alive in Dalton Schultz. No. Not going to start Will Levis even in two quarterback leagues. I think he's a sit this week. I mean, by week's notwithstanding. So let's talk Broncos Raiders. Okay. The Broncos are 6 and 5. The Raiders are 2 and 8. The trafficking sports book line Denver minus 6 on the road. The overrunner is 41. Denver beat him 3418 in week 5. That was the beginning of the Bo Nix run of top 12 fantasy finishes. Five of the last seven games. He's completing almost 70% of his passes, 32 passing touchdown pace. He's your start of the week. There's a lot of momentum behind Bo Nix. This game looks like a blowout. Is there any chance we are not happy with the outcome? Las Vegas at home. Any team can win any given Sunday, really.

But it's been many Sundays since the Raiders have done that to anyone. The team seems miserably falling apart. Antonio Pierce is not a good enough head coach, and they don't have the talent. So can Max Crosby cause a sack fumble return for a touchdown and allow the Raiders to sneak out a win? Yeah, but for the most part, I think what you're seeing is a team with an upward arrow in the Broncos who are every week playing more motivated. more in sync on offense. I mean, which makes sense. This is such a young team led by a rookie quarterback. You expect them to get better and better as a season goes along while the Raiders are really trending in the other direction. A couple weeks ago, they wanted to move to Ritter. They're like, we're going to go to our third quarterback this year, and then they're like, ah, that's too far. I don't know what to do. I mean, it just feels like the tale of two completely different vibes in the same matchup.

The number one start sit question on our website for the start sit tool, Bo Nix or Kyler Murray this week. The people have heard you endorse Bo Nix as the start of the week. Kyler coming back off the buy. He's had up and down performances. He'll be in Seattle. I've still got Kyler ahead of Bo Nix this week. I will be monitoring the weather. It should be a little bit rainy in Seattle. Rain by itself does not usually affect total points scored. And really not even, it doesn't have a massive effect on the passing game. If it's really, really wet and sloshy, you'll have more drops. And then it's the wind that you've got to be concerned about. So we'll just have to, I'll be doing Sunday live this week, an hour before kickoff, you know, on all of the socials. You have your weatherman suit on? Oh, yeah. I'm going to have the green screen behind. I'm going to take us, you know, from place to place. Just be, I'm a meteorologist on Sunday.

It is getting to that time of year. A lot of people want to know what to do with the running back room in Denver. Here's what I'll tell you. DK has the rushing yard line for Giovante at 37 and for Estimate at 33. That makes it pretty darn easy. Which is neither. Which is neither. Now, I will say the Raiders are a very soft rush defense. You know, they're 25th. They give up enough points and with a six point spread. If you have to take a shot on one of these guys, I mean, you're going to, it's so hard, man, because it's gone back and forth every week for the last three weeks between Giovante and Estime, and for no rhyme or reason, call it hot hand, sure, but it seems like it started from the get-go, and the other guy didn't get a chance in either game to show how, what is the temperature of your hands? Did not, did not even test it.

No, no. What if what if it's like everybody's got cold hands? Who plays then? Well, which could very well happen. And I think then who plays is Bo Nix, hopefully finding Troy Franklin, but more than likely finding Corlin Sutton, who's been shockingly consistent. I mean, over the last month, 13.1, 19.8, 16. It shouldn't be shocking that talented players are consistent when they get a quarterback. And Sutton has been under the same suffering of McLaren and DJ Moore. And a lot of these guys that when you just get them an opportunity, it makes a difference. And it's nice to see that he can deliver on that. Giovante had 14 targets last week. I see a question here of Giovante Williams versus Tank Dell. And that is a fair.