Week 14 Matchups + It’s Playoff Time, Bette Midler - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/11

Who lost his glasses? Matt Ryan? When Julio Jones is gone. It's just, you're right. I didn't even thought about the implications for Herbert. Yeah. It's no good. So, and the, you know, you think Calvin Ridley, he's going to get a bunch of targets. That's true. Yeah. But it still hurts the offense, not being around the red zone because they don't move the ball as well. Mike Evans was downgraded on Thursday to did not practice. It is rare when someone who gets in a limited practice then goes to a did not practice.

is like, oh, yeah, no, I'm good now. So be ready to be without Mike Evans. Yeah, unfortunately, it's not rare for Mike Evans to miss the end of a year with a hamstring problem. He did it last year. Chris Godwin practiced in full on Thursday. There was some news about him. He had some pins taken out of his hand. We weren't worried about it, and he's going to be out there. It does make it interesting. Antonio Brown, the matchup against Minnesota is a good one, and Brown could be much more involved. Also, Rob Grunkowski could be really good for your...

Your playoff run, if there's one less target there. Josh Jacobs returned to Raiders practice getting in a limited session. It's his first practice since November 29th. Wow. Practice. Okay. If Josh Jacobs is active, you're going to put him back in your lineup. I believe I would you. DeAndre Swift, trending towards playing on Sunday against the Packers. Unfortunately, and you guys weigh in. I am not as excited about Swift returning as maybe some are.

I worry about the workload. Yeah. I mean, I'm not as excited about Swift as I would have been without the weird injury and the coming back with the illness and the comments that he's not looked the same since the head injury. But at the same time, if he is active, I think against the Green Bay defense, which is great to run on, I would start him.

And I believe I would start him ahead of Adrian Peterson, but I think you could start both of those players in a pinch more as a flex option. AJ Brown missed back-to-back practices but is expected to play on Sunday. So hopefully that works out. Chase Claypool will miss practice with the illness. So we think he'll be all right. Frank Gore is going to return. So the Ty Johnson sneaky start hopes that many of you, including I know Mike, across the table from me, snuck him off of waivers yesterday.

Yeah, it was a backup plan just in case Frank Gore missed. But, I mean, not just the Frank Gore news, but we know that Denzel Mims is not going to play. He had the family emergency that he had to take care of. And now James and Crowder was limited because of a calf injury for the Jets. If all the weapons around the running back are getting hurt, then I'm out.

So that sneaky hope you had for the Ty Johnson play, I think that those hopes are gone. Well, and I think that Brashad Perryman, if he's the last man standing of sorts, I mean, James and Cratter limited at practice, Denzel Mims, like you said, could be an opportunity there. Oh, it's Chris Herndon's season.

Oh, man. Oh, good one. Oh, that was the best one we've ever had. Wow. Man, you just came up with that? That was good. Oh, man. Oh, man. I laughed to keep from crying. Yeah, DeAndre Hopkins did not practice on Thursday. Neck, back injury. Hopkins has spent.

several weeks, not practicing where he still plays. So until further notice, I mean, always have a backup plan as the playoffs, but Hopkins should be back out there. Kenyon Drake was limited. All right. A reminder of the injury blitz podcast from our injury expert Matthew Betts hits later this afternoon. You can find that at join the foot.com where you can support the show. You get game day alerts. You get the bonus podcast. You get a ton of premium tools, resources. So please check that out, join the foot.

And before we get into the fantasy forecast, we want to thank today's sponsors. Hello, Tushy is what I'm using. It's what we have. It's what you should have because look, but days are the way to take care of your butt.

It's just that simple. And bidets have cost thousands of dollars for the last many, many years. But Hello Tushy's modern bidet attachment is here to democratize the blessings bestowed by bidet's and offer a clean, a clean dairy air for you. So, Hello Tushy. It attaches to your existing toilet. There's no electricity or additional plumbing needed. It's going to clean your butt with a nice, fresh stream of water as you would clean. I don't know.

anything else in the world literally anything you clean you clean with water except for right now where you just smear things around and wipe it up and hope you're good if you had mud on your hands yeah you're gonna you're gonna use toilet paper I use a dry paper towel and I get I do my best you know I just do my best and I hope I'm not wearing a white shirt no grow up

Get a bidet right now. You can get 10% off and free shipping at hellotushy.com slash footballers. That's hellotushy.com slash footballers for 10% off at free shipping. Hellotushy.com slash footballers. Look, fellas, it's almost a new year. That's new year, new you. We always do it.

And a way you could feel better about yourself is your hygiene. And that's what we want to thank today's sponsor, Manscaped. They are the best body trimmer on the market. They have all sorts of other products to help you take care of yourself as well. Maybe you let yourself go in the quarantine, right? Yep, may. Tighten it up. Who would have done that? You see me.

And look, Manscapes here with their perfect package, 3.0. It's got all the right tools for the job. The Skin Safe Lawnmore 3.0, like I said, the best body trimmer on the market. I have one. I love it. I take care of myself. And they got other ways to freshen up. They have some deodorants, some moisturizers, that I also highly recommend. And Manscaped, they're going to throw in the shed travel bag to keep all your goodies stored safe if you get that perfect package 3.0. And right now,

You can get 20% off and free shipping with the code. Footballers at Manscape.com. That's 20% off with free shipping at manscape.com. Use the code. Footballers. Happy New Year. Happy new life. Fantasy forecast. All right. Back into the matchups for week 14. Covered a seven games yesterday, Brooks. Yes, sir. How are you doing? You got the Christmas hat on today, Brooksie. It's about time.

All December. It's that time of year. Very nice. Wait, he's had it on all December and I just now noticed. That is, that is correct. I was a little late this year. I will admit. It's kind of in the dark over there. I mean, we don't have any cameras shining over there. No lights allowed. I also try not to look at him. Right. And I tell him never look me in the eyes. Yeah, some of those computers in front of him are totally useless. We just bought the monitors to cover up the face. No offense, Brooks, but I'll lower my chair. Thank you.

Honestly, I'm surprised we gave you a chair. Oh, my goodness. We appreciate you, Bruxie. We appreciate you. All right, yesterday, Cowboys, Bengals, Chiefs, Dolphins, Cardinals, Giants, Vikings, Buccaneers, Broncos, Panthers, Titans, Jaguars, Colts and Raiders. So those matchups on yesterday's show, if you missed it and you want those broken down, we're not going to do it today. We're not doing it twice. Not going to do. No. Let's start here, though, in today's matchups. The Houston Texans at 4 and 8 taken on the 5 and 7 Chicago Bears.

Texans are one-point favorites, 45 and a half point over under. And this game has some fantasy opportunity, right? Yes, it does. And it starts with the running backs. David Johnson returned from injury last week, got 58% of snaps, 12 touches, got into the end zone. You got to imagine that snap count goes up. Second week back.

Do you like David Johnson in this game or is it kind of neutral because of the Chicago Bears matchup? Bears are 12th against the run over the last six weeks. Yeah, I mean, it's not a plus matchup. This isn't one where I'm looking at making him a smash must start play, a start of the week type. But.

He is necessary and needed for this offense. He's actually been pretty good this year. He's in that group of solid running backs who you're going to start most weeks. You're going to be okay with, but you feel limited because there's not a giant ceiling. David Johnson or Clyde Edwards-A-Layer. Ooh, that's a good one. Clyde Edwards-A-Layer versus Miami. I would go with David Johnson. I would, too. Am I crazy to worry about Clyde?

No, no, not at all. That's why this is a fair question. Okay. Or David Johnson and the presumed backup for Carolina, Mike Davis. I would play, I think I'd play Mike Davis there. Over David Johnson? Yeah. I mean, we'll talk about Mike Davis. I feel like Mike Davis is pretty necessary this week. Okay. Yeah. Which David Johnson is too, but the matchup is better for Davis. It was more of a time share last time we saw Mike Davis.

I think he was hanged up. I mean, that's true. David Montgomery on the other side of the ball, though, a must start this week. He's our consensus RB4. He's my start of the week. Houston, the matchup. Absolutely. It's gorgeous. They're 31st against the run over the last six weeks and the season. So they're very consistently bad. All right, Mitch Trubisky will be the quarterback again this week. Because why not?

Yeah, and as an Alan Robinson manager, I'm happy about it. He has. You should be. He always gets targeted. Two weeks ago, we saw Trubisky look his way in the red zone multiple times. Houston, again, it's a good matchup where Chicago should be able to move the ball on the ground and give Robinson chances to.

take advantage. Yeah, and I think those are the two pieces that you're playing from this offense. I'm not going to start Cole Comet, who is taken over for Jimmy Graham. I'm not going to really start Jimmy Graham. The only third option I might consider starting from the Chicago Bears would actually be Mitch Trubisky. Oh, I thought you were going to say Mooney. It wouldn't be Mooney. When I watched with Trubisky, I felt like...

Anthony Miller seemed to be the second read, but I'm just not trusting the secondary pieces for Mitchell Trubisky. But if I'm in a two-quarterback league, this matchup against Houston, I feel like, you know, should be a good one for him. And he's at least in consideration in a two-QB league. I agree on the Mr. Trubisky call. A note here being highlighted by Brooks that Darnel Mooney did miss practice Wednesday and Thursday for personal reasons. We don't have any update further on that.

I guess then my excitement for the potential of Mooney as a like a take it up to 100 type of guy would go away. If you got fantasy points for air yards, Mooney is a smash play. That's kind of the Mitch Trubisky experience. On the other side of the ball, though, I think the questions are it's opportunity versus matchup. The bear's defense is very good. One area where it's not very good and hasn't been all year has been against opposing tight ends. That's why I like Jordan Akins as a, you know.

Bottom of the barrel, tight end upside type of play. He could end up with a touchdown or two in this game if things went the right way. Kiki QT balled out last week. Eight for 141, are you chasing the nine targets and big performance against this Bears defense? I am chasing it, not that I expect eight for 141, but I'm willing to chase it that Deshaun Watson is playing very inspired football since Bill O'Brien left. So it's...

My trust of Kiki QT is not trusting the wide receiver. It's trusting that his quarterback will get it done. Here's a good question. QT over the alternate cowboy option. So not Amari Cooper, but Gallup and Lamb would you play QT after last week over those two players? Oh, man. Do you have a read on that?

Yeah, I would rather play the Cowboys options. I think the matchup is far better. Against the Bengals? Yeah, against the Bengals versus taking the secondary option against the Bears. Chicago's defense has been lit up recently. Week 12, the Packers, the Lions in week 13 without Gulladay and Swift. So Deshaun Watson's proven that even with a bad matchup, he can bring some fireworks. That's fair.