Week 2 Matchups + In-or-Out, Pantomime Jason

pretty much throughout Cam Newton's 24 for 50 night. But Mike, you are in the 89%? Are you running far away from Cam Newton? 100%. Will you release him? I probably will. Okay. Yeah. And this is like why I'm calling them being fat liars is because I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt of saying Cam Newton is not washed. Cam Newton can still be a good quarterback in this league. And I believe.

Either he is hurt or this is the beginning of the end for Cam Newton's reign in the NFL. Much better performance from James Winston last night. 16 for 25, 208 and 1. I don't mean for fantasy. I mean, as an NFL quarterback, didn't throw an interception, took a few sacks but avoided the kind of turnover problems that had plagued this team. They were right on the edge of winning in week one. They steal this game in Carolina.

Better performance. Now, Godwin, eight for 121 and one. Sensational game. Mike Evans, four for 61. And then you had, you know, basically that was the passing game. There were only 16 receptions by the offense. My thought on Godwin and Evans briefly is those of you out there panicking on Mike Evans. I don't think that that is the appropriate way to approach his situation. At 61 yards receiving, he was targeted eight times guard.

Godwin was targeted nine times. Godwin gets the ball closer to the line of scrimmage frequently Evans downfield and, you know, they missed him on a touchdown throw in the first quarter. I'm not panicking in any way to perform about Mike Evans. You could make the argument that, you know, the possibility of him being like the one and Godwin the two, maybe that doesn't work. Maybe it's a 1B1B, if that makes sense. Okay, so let me ask you this. If you have Chris Godwin on your team right now.

Would I trade him straight up for Mike Evans? Exactly. I choose not to answer. No, I think. I have Mike Evans. I don't think I would. No. Yeah, I would not either. There's a difference between being panicked about Evans, moving on from Evans, and changing your expectations for him. And it's more like an enforcement of like Godwin's showing out. Godwin is a very reliable. He caught eight of his nine targets. And the truth is that one on the sideline, you know, if you go to the replay,

I think that one comes back a catch too, the one down the sideline off the goal line if he challenges it. So Godwin's sure-handed, and I think he's moved up, and they're 1-A-1B. What's wild to me is this is the offense that Bruce Ariens ran in Arizona. Larry Fitzgerald was the slot-wide receiver. He was the one who would have the safe games. He would put up these lines, nine targets. He would catch the ball eight times, put up over 100 yards. And then John Brown.

was the deep threat. Like Mike Evans is now John Brown. That's a great. The way that I have seen these two games and then throwing the fact that the tight end is just an afterthought in the passing attack through two weeks. Like Bruce Ariens is who he always has been. Well, let's continue that. And then Peyton Barber is Chris Johnson in that equation. Last night, Peyton Barber fulfilled the nightmares that I've had about having him and Ronald Jones on a roster.

Ian Rappaport reported right before the game, lots more carries coming to Ronald Jones's way. Well, he got four. Yeah, four or more. And last week he had 70 plus rushing yards, got four carries this week. Instead, Peyton Barber gets the rock 23 times, scores a touchdown, 82 yards on the ground. And now you don't know who to play, and you can't play any of them. Yes, I tend to. I mean, you and I were arguing about Daray.

versus Ronald Jones this week, Mike. Yes, we were. And on the series show, you were saying you were kind of ready to move on from Peyton Barber. And he comes out and gives you this 23 for 82 that he's kept going to him over and over again. Yeah. I didn't think he looked particularly great. I just think he just, he looked like a guy who took 23 carries. And that's classic Bruce Ariens. Like, it doesn't matter if his guy looks particularly great or not. If that player...

fits the mold and does the small things that Arian's wants done, he's going to be on the fields. I think if Barber is on your waiver wire, I'm going to pick him up. I'm not going to play him right away, but because it could be a nightmare situation where everything flip-flops week to week, or next week you could see Peyton Barber get another 20 carries and be ineffective but still put up fantasy points. All right, we've got to get into the news. News and notes from Around the League, presented by Sleeper.

Dan Patrick reports that Antonio Brown will not be placed on the commissioner's exempt list. Bill Belichick will not reveal whether Antonio Brown will make his Patriots debut Sunday in Miami. He says, quote, I'm not going to hand a copy of my game plan out here. We'll do what's best for the team. Jason, your eyes opened up. What were you? I had not seen the report that he was not going to be placed on the commissioner's exempt list yet, which means. Dan Patrick's reporting this, and that would be for this week.

So the NFL's meeting with the accuser next week. So there's the NFL has not said we're never placing him on the NFL's commissioner is exempt list. Okay. That's how I was taking that when he said he won't be. I felt like we already knew he wasn't going on before this week's game. All I know is this Dan Patrick report this morning. Every day it seems to change. And we don't know whether he's going to play this week. Mike, you said you wouldn't play him. Do you stick with that opinion? I do. Simply because I'm.

I'm willing to be wrong. If Antonio Brown goes out and plays a full game, goes Hamburgler, I'm willing to be wrong about that because I think the probability is he plays limited snaps. And Patriots coach Bill Belichick also said, because you've got to know who I'm talking about with Bill Belichick. He's the Patriots coach. Yes. He said he's got a long way to go and learning the team's offense as well. Generally is the case. So he's also Antonio Brown. So let's get into the injuries. What's it going to beaming fly?

Are you in or out of him? All right, Lev Bell Monday night. The MRI came back clean. He's going to play. Joe Mixing in practicing. Yep. If he's practicing on Friday, he has a think he plays. All right. Some other little ones, Hopkins? Always. Tyler Lockett. He returned to limited practice as well, so he's good to go. Mike Williams with the knee. Very concerned. Very concerned. If you are counting out right now. Sterling Shepherd with the concussion. I lean that he's going to be out as well. Marquis Brown with the hip. Place.

Okay, limited snaps again? Are we going to see a little bit more of them? I think a little more, but still limited snaps. All right, let's go on. Jordan Reed. It was trending in a positive direction, but there is less hope now. Trey Burton with the quote of the year, Trey Burton with the groin injury says, quote, every day is a different day. In some days, I feel really good, and some days I don't feel good at all. Thanks, Trey. Hmm. Out.

of my lineup regardless. All right. Mark Andrews didn't actually practice. We don't know why he didn't practice today, but we're surfacing that. We'll talk on Sunday. Mike is going to be live with you an hour before kickoff on all of our social media channels.

streaming live answering questions. We'll also have the Foot Clan Game Day alerts for those of you at Jointhefoot.com. So we'll keep you in the know with all these injuries. We'll be reacting to them with you. News and notes is always brought to you by the Sleeper app. Do not miss any of the news. In fact, if you have the Sleeper app, you'll probably get an alert about some of the availability of these players before we tell you on Sunday. So grab the Sleeper app.

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All right, we covered it on yesterday's show The Chargers, Lions, Colts, Titans, Cowboys, Redskins, Seahawks, Steelers, Vikings, Packers, Bills, Giants. Those matchup breakdowns were yesterday, so you can click onto that episode if you want to hear us break down those games. Let's start with the Jags and the Texans. This game has a 43.5 point over under. The Texans are heavy nine-point favorites at home. And we get to see whether the Secret Garden can become...

Savage Garden. Oh, man. Gardner, Minchu. If he does. Yeah. Well, then the 90s middle school dances will come flooding back, Mike. Like a chicken cherry cola, my man. Oh, my gosh. So Minchu, Watson, nobody's thinking about starting Minchu. No. Watson, nobody's thinking about benching him. Correct. He was sacked six times last week. Are you worried about that? No. I mean, that's...

I'm worried about it because this is what happens to Deshaun Watson. He was the most sat quarterback of last year, and you had parts of the season where the dude couldn't get on an airplane because he was in life danger of something happening to his lungs. He's so worried about his long-term health. Yes. Yeah. Hopefully Laramie Tunzel can protect his blind side this week. The running backs, Leonard Fernette, he's my start of the week. He's going to see volume. I don't care if he's efficient or not. Jason said something like that.

in the offseason. He said he doesn't not care about the efficiency of Leonard Fernette because of the volume. I'm in the same boat with him this week. I just think he's going to get so much work. You cannot lean on the secret garden to get you through this game. Maybe. Duke Johnson, Carlos Hyde, where are you guys at? Duke Johnson is still a weekly fringe RB2 play. It felt like he was getting beat out by Carlos Hyde, but the reality is Duke Johnson.

Almost doubled the amount of snaps of Carlos Hyde. Hyde just happened to rip off a couple chunk plays. Meanwhile, Duke Johnson had himself a good game. He was getting the target volume. He put up almost 100 yards from scrimmage. Duke is still a fine play. All right, the wide receivers, are you playing Hopkins and Fuller on the Houston side? Yes. So you're okay flexing Fuller out? Yes. No interest in. Now, Kiki could make his debut. Kiki could be out there. We'll see. There's also reports that.

The team is very, very happy with Kenny Stills, and he will be more involved in the offense. He wasn't really close to a full-time player, but when a player comes down with what should have been a game-winning touchdown in clutch time, the team is going to open their eyes and put them on the field a bit more. D.D. Westbrook, Marquise Lee, DJ, Chark, Chris Conley. Man. Would you rather play Westbrook this week with Gardner?