Pump the Brakes, Playoff Q's + Collusion Confusion

Gronk is five this week for me. All right. And Jared Cook is four. Jalen Samuels is three. That's where I'm at. All right. I would play gronk. But I will say this. We are just giving our own personal advice. If you truly feel that the answer is cook, then you should go with cook. You would not say it's outlandish to pick cook, right? No, not at all. But I have grunk. Sure.

Yeah, that makes sense. Justin in Bind, Oregon. Seriously, what do I do to get going into the playoffs? Sorry, what do I do going into the playoffs with Trey Boohoo? Oh, no. With Trey Burton, only options in my league are Uzama, Ian Thomas. Not even Herndon is available. Do I just close my eyes and pray for anything? Yeah. That's what I'd be doing. Yep. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't be counting on much.

I would... If Mitch Trubisky comes back, you should be happy. Yes. Because Chase Daniel and Trey Burton haven't been... I mean, Chase Daniel has a five-five-read progression. Here's how it goes. Cohen, Cohen, Cohen. Alan Robinson. Yes, that is how he ends it. It is not involved. And wait, number six is Adam Shaheen. I think that Miss Trubisky will be back this weekend. But with those options, I would roll with Trey Burton in my starting lineup this week.

I don't mind the ad, though, of Ian Thomas to see if he can perform again with Greg Olson being on IR. Someone asked me about him this morning, and my response was... Did you give him the Welp face? It was close. I said he's in the, quote, maybe and quote shrug category of tight ends. Like, you sure, pick them up. Do what you want. Look, if you're in the situation where you're... But we've done this with Ian Thomas.

We have, but this was... Also was already out before. Right, but this was also the best game of his young career, five for 46 this past week against Tampa. No, this is the Matt LaCost repeat channel. That's what that... Matt LaCost had his best game of his career last week. But who knows, really? Hayden Brooke off of Facebook, how do you guys strategize when the playoff format is two weeks per round? Yeah, we used to have this format many, many, many years ago.

I'm guessing based on that format, you probably only have four people in the playoffs and you probably started last week. Either that or, you know, you already, maybe you only get two. Maybe. I don't know. Do you strategize differently? Maybe. That's based on the results of the first week. Sure. If you got a big lead, maybe Trey Boohoo's not your option. I don't know. I think you can play conservative. You can go prevent defense, but.

The truth is, you're just playing your best team every week. Yeah, letting the chips fall. It's not changing for me. This next question comes in off of Twitter. Cliff Lynch says, can I trust Jared Gough this week? He's been subpar on the road. He's playing at night at Soldier Field. It does not give me much confidence. And, Mike, what do you say about Jared Gurf? I got him at 9 this week. I've got him at, I've got him down at 10 now.

I don't know. I don't know what your other options are. I mean, like, nine and ten is still a one. Yeah. I mean, if I had, let's, let's play the name game. You don't have a crazy ceiling with Jared Gauff this week. Let's play the name. You do have a love floor. Jared Goff or another fellow who's been very disappointing, Matt Ryan at Green Bay. Goff. Jared Goff or Russell Wilson against Minnesota. Goff.

Jared Goff or Lamar Jackson against Kansas City. That one gets difficult. I will play Jared Goff. So sounds like yes, you play golf. Maybe you don't have confidence, but too bad at this point. You're in the playoffs. This question comes in. It's another ethics question that starts with, hey, am I a horrible person?

Oh, I like where this is going. We're here to tell you whether you are or not. This is from Debra. A person in our league was inactive for the majority of the year. But I noticed that they had a matchup that affected me getting the number one seed. I may have texted him and coached him on what to do and he won. Is this okay or should I feel horrible? Oh, man. You just talked about the... I said I wasn't a big fan of this. Yes.

I think you should feel pretty horrible. It's not against the rules. It's not against the rules. I, look, am I happy if I'm you? Probably. Am I feeling more horrible if my other league mates are throwing a fit? Yes. Would I have been happier if you had just somewhat casually posted in your Facebook group and tag? It's the same thing. And tagged everybody and said, good luck this week.

Set your lineups appropriately. Just good luck in the playoffs this week. No, I, it's a little Bush league. It is, but it's not against the rules. Yeah. I mean, if you were selfless, you would have sent that text a long time ago and got this owner coached up. Yeah, but I mean, you're playing to win the game. We, you're fine with it? You're suppressing your conscience, Mike? You flicking that little white angel off your shoulder? Yeah, I'm with it. I mean, it's.

Unless it's not against the rules. And you're... Well, it could be against the rules depending on... But how? The coaching part. What? Because it's unsolicited? Yes. Because it's... If you're coaching and basically telling an in an active person who to play, that is tantamount to running another team. Hey, I need you to do this for me. Play these guys, do this thing. That's collusion. I mean, I...

Yes, I don't really see it as collusion because they could be wrong. I mean, you could have said, hey, do all this, and then it blows up in your face, and you're like, you're only mad and only feeling slightly bad because it worked. If it had not worked. I feel like somehow this show has brought more gray area to this circumstance. Hey, let me, let me pull. Let me pull the judge. Brooks, how do you feel about the whole situation? And please use more than four words.

I was hoping you didn't ask me. That's my first saving there. Hold on. I was hoping you would. Okay, you, more than four. How do you feel about it? Like, if this happened in your league. If I was the commish, I would consider a collusion. I really would. Yeah, that's where I am. I mean, I, you want to be above board. Let the chips fall. So, okay. Your point, Mike, about they could have been wrong. That point persists into.

He could have won without your coaching, too. Yeah. So let's say that this person then, but they sought out the advice. How was that not collusion? If they sought out the advice, it's not collusion necessarily. Why? It's almost the same exact thing the way I see it, because it's helping out the team. It's me coming to you and saying, oh, dude. But we do this all the time. I see that. You go, who should I play this week? Yeah.

I'm not thinking about it in the context of how it affects me necessarily. I'm thinking about it about how it affects you. So if you say, hey, do I play Ian Thomas or Matt LaCost? I'm not going like, you know, you've opened up the door to me help you win. Sure. I just think that when you start trying to put laws on the rules on the intent of that person just having a conversation, they didn't make a trade. It was just a starting lineup.

This is why you have to have just overarching standards of conduct in a league. That's what I was about to go to. I think I'd say it's not collusion. There's no rule. Welcome back, Brooks. But if I'm not commish, I'm then thinking about that owner going forward. Yeah, I agree with that. I agree with that. It's not like some, you're not going to lay down the hammer. There's nothing you can do about it. All I'm saying is, is you want a league that's just generally respecting the spirit of the game. But this person was not respecting the game. So isn't that?

Actually, respecting the game more when you go to a dead owner and say, hey, man, let's get it together. Not in playoff week one. No. You let sleeping dogs lie in playoff week one. That's what I would have done. I'm with you. Good move. There you go. I mean, look, I'm not saying I'm... You're not above it. You would do it. I would do what I've done before, which is I might post a picture of a certain player in a Facebook group. That's collusion.

No, it's awareness. That's collusion. It's the same thing. I might run a radio ad campaign in that person's local area. Yes. I might put up a billboard and just any passerby might set your lineup. Brought to you by. Bodge you by Andy. Yeah, I might try to be more passive. Assuage my conscience. I'm with it. If there is no rule against it and you're not doing a trade, then good. I would be fear. If you did it to me.

If this situation, we're fighting for a playoff spot like in Dynasty League last week, and you texted my opponent and you told them all the good people to play against me, I would be mad. I would be mad? And you wouldn't do it. Then you should. You should be mad because I, in fact, have a podcast where I tell people. Well, okay. What I think are all the best place. But let me ask you, here's the truth. You wouldn't do it, would you? If my opponent, would you solicit? You go find him. But here's the thing. Hey, Joe.

I need you to play these five guys against him so that I get a number one seat. I don't know if I would or not. Oh, I would be mad at you. Yes. Yeah, I understand being upset about it. Yeah, Mr. Mr. What did you do that one time? You stole Calvin. Calvin freaking Johnson. And then it buried me. Karma got me. Yeah. This is an old story. You're bringing up old wounds. Only one time did I want to not speak to Mike for the rest of my life.

I spent like an entire day trying to trade for Calvin Johnson, getting his advice about my trade for Calvin Johnson. And then I went home to complete the trade. And Mike traded for Calvin Johnson right in my face. I've never forgiven you. Never. I accept. Of course you do. Didn't you win the title that year? Yeah, you're done right. I did. And I'm going to win it this year. What is this show? All right, Instagram, Cubby Carson. What round could you see Cooper Cup going in next year's redraft? Ooh. Is he a second round pick? Third round pick?

No, not coming off the ACL. No. No. But fourth round? Fourth rounder. Yeah, early four. Jabombie. Oh. Does Todd Gurley, who apparently I pronounce Gurley's name strangely. Do you notice this? With the Jim, Jim, Jam, Jam, Jim conversation yesterday. I've been told I pronounced Denver, D-I-N-V-E-R, Denver. Denver? Denver? Yeah, Denver. Denver. Denver. Denver.

You got the Jared Garber. Well, you can see this is all related. Jim, Din, Gur, I have an eye problem. Yes, you do. Right? It's probably because... Age-related macular degeneration. My eye. I have an age-related. Very nice. Todd Gurley, does he play the rest of the fantasy playoffs? I have had people bring this up. They're thinking maybe Mike in Week 16, you're not going to play Pat Mahomes and Tyree Kill when I play you. I...

I can't imagine they would rest him for two full games. You can't. It would be stupid, but he could. And then have a bye week. So you're saying that then Todd Greeley will have not played for almost an entire month, and then you're going to open up with the playoffs. I don't see that happening. Week 17? Yeah, he'll be rested. This is why week 16 championships are the way to go. Yes. Right now the Rams are 11 and 1. Is that correct? The Saints are 10 and 2? Yeah.

I don't think they're benching those guys. I don't think so either. And I don't think that's going to happen with Kansas City either, by the way. I think Kansas City, Pat Mahomes, getting as many reps as possible in year one at behind the center. Right. And their offense having to transition away from Cream Hunt. Like you need reps. Yes, I do. This one's from Facebook. Derek from Facebook. I've got a two quarterback league. Three quarterback limit. I have Winston and Stafford and Carr. Do I drop?

Stafford at this point and hope the draft is in my favor next year or keep him. This is a dynasty. Oh, I was confused. I was very, very confused. I don't know why you drop him. No. And a two quarterback. I mean, yeah. Dynasty quarterbacks, I mean, pick him one up next year. If it's a two quarterback and you have the variable that is James Winston. I was going to say you don't even know if Winston's the starter. You might not even know if cars the starter.

Yeah, you better hold on in Stafford. He's the only guy you know is going to have a job next year. 100%. Then you petition to get rid of that 3 QB limit in a 2 QB league. Yeah, for Dynasty, it's a little strict. I get it. It's strict, but I get it because you don't, you're kind of balancing the hoarding situation in a 2-quarterback dynasty league so that people can, I mean, if you didn't have a limit and you're in a 2 QB dynasty, what, teams have 5, 6 guys? If they could.

If they could, but then they're destroying their other positions. I mean, I have, I'm in a one quarterback. I got two, three quarterbacks. That's my goal. Yeah. Let's get into Thursday night. Thursday night breakdown. All right, that was the Thursday night breakdown between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans. That's it for the show. Well, don't, don't forget to bring up. This is the rematch from week three.