Fantasy Football 2017 - Holiday Awards, Week 16 Matchups, Starts of the Week

Thielen is absolutely in. Do you play Diggs with confidence? Yeah, I mean, it's always going to be relative to the other options you have, but both guys are, you know, great wide receivers on a good offense. It's going to be hard, you know, what you said is going to temper these guys is just as much as Tina. Based on what I said, it's going to be like last week, Diggs had a great game because he got a touch team. Yeah, I mean, you're talking 30 yards, 64, 32, 66, 32.

Those are his last five games. So it's if you don't get the touchdown. That ceiling has not been there. I'm not going to go as far as to say this is an almost upset of the week. But I think that the Packers will cover the spread. This is a nine point spread. Wow. They're at home with the weather, with the divisional matchup. I absolutely think that they're going to come out and they're going to play hard.

They have some disadvantages, obviously, with Hunley at quarterback and not having Devante Adams. But I wouldn't be surprised if this game actually ended up being, you know, 24 to 14. Or I guess they wouldn't cover the spread if that's 24 to 17 is all like that. Then where on the Green Bay side do you see the scoring coming from? Because Devante Adams is out.

Yeah, I think it's both of the running backs will have some production in this game, not necessarily something where you'd want them outside of a flex option. Jamal Williams first, Aaron Jones, second. Randall Cobb, again, this is just something where I think the scoring is going to be low. Brent Hunley has shown the ability to get enough done, you know, with his legs and with one or two touchdown passes that it's just my take on a game on the road for Minnesota where I think it'll be close. I think Minnesota wins it.

It'll be interesting to see where Brett Hunley goes because Devante Adams was his number one target. Randall Cobb could end up being a sneaky play, but it's just hard because we haven't seen Cobb with Hunley without Devonty Adams. In championship week to throw that coin. Yeah, I mean, we could be rolling too much narrative into this matchup. We could also just be going, you might be best off just going with what you know about Minnesota and their offense and what you know about.

Green Bay in their defense, which is given up 13 touchdown since week 12, which is the most in the league. We'll just do a quick reminder. This is the one to watch for if somehow the upset were to happen, the Eagles could be affected for Monday night. That is correct. If the Packers win, then the Eagles are locked in at number one, and you're talking about worrying about who they're going to start. You know, if somebody's banged up, they're definitely not going to play on Monday night. Anything else from this game? Nope.

Jerich McKinnon, 45 receiving yards per game since week 12. Fourth best in the league. Yeah, I love both Vikings running backs in this game. I hope McKinnon does some damage against him. Yeah, I really think that he's going to. The Buccaneers at 4 and 10 take on the 10 and 4 Panthers. Panthers are fighting to stay in the playoffs, stay in the playoff race. 10 point favorites at home, 46.5 point over and under. Do you see anything in this game?

that you're expecting to surprise you, right? You're starting Cam Newton. He's my number one quarterback on the week. Outside of Cam Newton and the auto start, Christian McCaffrey, you're auto-starting him. Do you see this game going different than Vegas has it? I think it might be a little bit closer. Just like last week against the Falcons, the Buccaneers are playing that spoiler role. They didn't, but...

But he being James Winston, looked pretty solid. So I could see a good game here, especially since the middle of the field with Thomas Davis is suspended this week. So the Carolina Panthers. They've suspended the middle of the field. Yes. There is no middle of the field whatsoever. But that's dirt. That's the Cameron Brate area. And I think that, you know, that could help open things up for Tampa Bay a little bit. But you can't really trust a running back here.

You don't know who it's going to be last week. It was nice because. On Tampa Bay side. Yeah, on Tampa Bay's, Doug Martin was inactive. But he's expected to be active, and we don't know who's going to be the starter. So you can't really trust a running back. I think you're going to start Mike Evans. I think you should. Yes. And I like Cameron Break quite a bit. And I, you know, Andy, you mentioned, is there anybody sneaky here? I don't know if.

When Christian McCaffrey had a lack of use, it was because of injury to Christian McCaffrey, and maybe that's just done. But this is a really solid matchup for Jonathan Stewart if he does get the work. And we saw a couple weeks ago, and really most of the last month, Jonathan Stewart's been pretty solid. So he might be a guy you could plug in and get a touchdown in a big run or two against his Tampa Bay defense that's pretty weak. You know?

that Jonathan Stewart will get 11 carries. I mean, you know that that's going to happen. He has had 11 carries in all but one game this entire year, including the past eight in a row, including last week. It just, you know, wasn't good with him. So you're right, 5.5 yards per carry given up by Tampa. Maybe Stewart does something with one of those 11. Would you rather start Jonathan Stewart or Mike Gillisly? Jonathan Stewart. Stewart by far. Look, I...

The Gillisley thing. Asking for a friend. We're going to get into it. We're going to talk about that. But I really don't want to draw too much attention to Gillisley. I really don't this week. That would be my fantasy approach because while he is a shot in the dark, there are a lot of those from a week to week basis and been inactive for six weeks. It just scares me. There's a chance he's used for. That's why he's called the Heart of Stone this week. He could be two handoffs. He could be two handoffs. It could be two goline handoffs. Sure.

So, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. Yes, we are. On the, is there anything else we need to cover? Mike Evans, you feel good about him this week? Yeah. Last week's kind of, uh, more traditional Mike Evans. Yeah, I feel very confident in Mike Evans. You have the Panthers defense who started the year very successfully on defense. However, the past six weeks, 31st against the quarterback, 32nd against the wide receiver position. Uh, if there were some, you know, big.

big performances that kind of have inflated those numbers, but I still think that Mike Evans is solid. James Winston, I'm forced to play him. I wish I had a better option because I have him ranked as kind of like a high-level QB2. Carolina has picked off opposing quarterbacks at home the last two weeks, three times. They picked off Aaron Rogers last week. Right. Two times. They picked off Case Keenum the week before. But those guys still had great games.

Right. On top of that. And that's like James Winston's go-to move, is throw interceptions and have a great fantasy game. And the earlier in the season when James played the Carolina Panthers, it was ugly. He was 21 of 38 for 210, no touchdowns, two picks. The last thing I would mention, because we don't talk about Cam Newton too often, but he is all three of our number one quarterback this week. He is a great play in this matchup. Usually we gloss over the best guys.

This is championship week. You're going to need the best guys. If you're going like, oh, we've talked so much about X player or Y, you know, these other quarterbacks. No, if you got Cam, play. Oh, yeah, you play Cam. In one note, I want to say about those Winston numbers against Carolina. That was during the stretch when he was struggling with the shoulder injury. Is there any risk with that injury anymore? I don't believe so. I mean, do you have that fear in the back of your mind at all? No, I would, I do not believe it as I.

risk. Would you play James Winston? Let me give you some scenarios because people are staring down that big number from last week. It's not just the last week though. I mean, James has been great since he's returning over 250 yards and at least two scores in all three matches. So James this week or Flacco against Indianapolis? James. Yeah, James. Okay. James or Kirk Cousins? That's a good one. That's the exact decision I'm looking at. He has Denver.

Right now, it's James for me. Cousins is at home. I like that about him. I think I'm a little bit up on Cousins versus James. I don't blame you. Jared Gough against Tennessee in Tennessee or James Winston. Oh, Jared Gough. Yeah, I think I'd go golf there. Talk about him. Oh, who. Yeah, you're putting your, uh, it's, it feels risky. But I do actually believe in Jared Gough. Nothing is more risky than being the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

And they're 0.14. They're taking on the 4-10 Bears. You know, this is a barn burner. It's a coach off here. 38.5 point over under. The Bears are 6.5 point favorites. And I guess that means, based on Jason's Vegas logic, at home, almost a touchdown favorite, Jordan Howard. Oh, certainly. Is locked and loaded. Yes. Now, on the bear's side of the ball, it's been.

Donchard Inman a couple weeks ago was the guy that you said, hey, I'll take a shot in the dark wide receiver. That is transition now to Kendall Wright. So if you need somebody that is going to get heavily targeted, Wright has been targeted a ton over the last two weeks. In fact, 24 times. That is a lot. In the past two weeks, two weeks ago against the Bengals, 10 receptions, 107 yards. Last week against Detroit, 7 for 81. So I'm with you, Andy, that I think Kendall Wright is in that wide receiver 3.

range where you would actually have some confidence playing him. Yeah, I've had to look at him as to whether or not I could pick him up and start him because we're in a 14 team, you know, the listener league for the championship. And my only worry here is that what we've seen is we've seen Trubisky throwing the ball a lot, which is.

you know, a little bit more rare for him. And I don't expect that this game, those last two games were on the road, one in a dome, both good weather. There could be snow in this game. I don't expect this to be one of those, hey, let's put it in the hands of Trubisky and air it out type of games that allows Kindle right to have the volume that has allowed him to be successful the last couple weeks. On the brown side, Dishon Kaiser has 19 interceptions and six fumbles lost this game.

So you've failed me. You can play the Bears D and you can play them. Oh, you love the Bears. You know, flurries, snow flurries plus the weather, plus at home, plus the Deshaun Kaiser? The Bears are a fantastic play. I mean, the Browns, this is why I like the Ravens so much last week. They're giving up, you know, over two sacks a game. They're average. Kaiser's averaging almost two picks a game. I mean, it's ridiculous. Hey, Judge, I resent the fact that you have listed the wide receivers here on our show doc as Corey Coleman.

Oh. Then Josh Gordon. Good job, Judge. There's no disrespect towards. That better be alphabetical. Do you even show you his abs? I'll do it. No, you've done that before. Many times. That's it. That's it, Brooks. Check your DMs. Check your DMs. Check your DMs. Text him. Text him some abs. That picture is in my memory. I'm good. You're good? Yeah. All right. Clearly not with the order that you have down here. It's egregious.

You'll play Josh Gordon, take the shot on him? Yes, I will. Wide receiver, too? Yeah, I got him in that range. The Bears last six weeks are 26th against the wide receiver. And Josh Gordon last week wasn't a fantastic outing, but five for 47. I don't think that's a he's let you down type of situation. So that's three games where Josh Gordon has been fully playable since returning. So yes, I would play. Josh Gordon has.

fundamentally watered Jason each and every week. I mean, that is the one objective he has accomplished without fail. We must not a water bet in week 14 then. Do keep an eye on the weather, though. Okay. I will, Mike. Thank you. The eight and six lions take on the five and nine bangles. The bangles are five-point home underdogs. I can't believe they have five wins. 43. 43 a half, sorry, 43 point over under.

This game, weather shouldn't be a factor. We've talked about our confidence levels with Matthew Stafford, with Marvin Jones. Where are we with Golden Tate and then the Detroit backfield in this one? The Bengals are giving up the absolute most points to fantasy running backs. So you want to start somebody. But that's not been something that you can do with any confidence in Detroit for quite some time. No. I love Michael. I love him. But you...

It's really tough to trust someone here. If I had to start one, it would absolutely be Theo Riddick. Theoretic is the only guy that I know is going to be involved. I thought about making him my start of the week. I was real close. I don't blame you. I just didn't do it because he could be a great play. The problem is, what if they end up giving a lot of the work to Tion Green?

Yeah, or working Abdullah back in. Exactly. I mean, and what if a lot of the work means, you know, about 13 total carries among three running backs, and they don't need to use Riddick through the air because the game script is not that way. So I hesitated, but I do like him, obviously. Right. His snaps went from two weeks ago when he was tearing it up when Abdul was out in the game against Tampa. He was at 70% snaps right back down to 52%. And.