Starts of the Week + Week 12 Breakdown, The Walrus and the Hare

That's how the walrus run the race. Yeah. On the other side, Ryan Griffin, you know, he's been on the field. He's been running a ton of routes and he's had so many good finishes. You don't know this, Jay, but in our start to the week section coming up shortly, I had not only written in Ryan Griffin, but I had written in, you know, five or six like bullet points as to why I like him this week. Sweet.

And then I pivoted away, but it seems that you agree. He is my start of the week. Yes. So I think you can definitely play him in this matchup. Oakland has been horrendous against tight ends. I do think the game hits the over. I like more than 46.5 points in this one. 100%. And let's put it this way. All of us have a start of the week on the jet sign, despite the Raiders playing well. Sam Darnold, he's put together a few good starts. Lev Bell, he's going to be in your lineup.

So I think we think Sam Darnel can be a spot start if you need it. And then Jameson Crowder has just been a monster. His target share. He's automatic, man. Yeah, he's not top 10 super sexy, but he's great for your fantasy. Not everybody can be top 10 super sexy, Mike. I know. Look, as one in the top 10, I feel bad for you guys. Yeah, I mean, it's pronounced Crowder. Oh, bring it back, baby. It has been too long. All right, let's get into those starts.

Starts of the week. All right, let's kick it off with the quarterback position. Mike, why don't you take it? It's Sam Darnold for me from streamer to starter, back-to-back QB-7 performances for Sam Darnold. He had the four touchdowns last week. In Oakland, they're giving up the most 20-plus-yard pass plays in the league, which is, I mean, it's very interesting considering how well they've done against opposing DSTs. But look,

Sam Darnold, I think they're finally getting things figured out with focusing on James and Crowder and Levy on Bell should be able to get it done this week as well in the passing game. So I like Sam Darnold. There have been a handful of weapons that have kind of, you know, Darnold has used. Ryan Griffin is one of them. Crowder, you mentioned, Demarius Thomas. And Robbie Anderson is always a threat for the one big play, the one big score. All right, my quarterback start of the week is B.

Baker Mayfield this week against Miami. He just put up his first top 10 performance in five weeks. Yes, Baker. And he did it against the Pittsburgh defense. He's now home against Miami. Miami just got shredded by Josh Allen for a number one fantasy finish. Baker has finished 14th, 13th, 9th in the last three weeks, and that's against Denver, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh. I like where that's trending. It's going up. Well, kind of.

All right, my start of the week is going to be Matt Ryan. It has been five weeks since we have seen him inside the top 15 at quarterback. He got injured. He was out a couple games. He came back. He's been okay. Are you counting some of the weeks that he was out that we didn't see? Yeah, that's why I said he was injured. He missed the game. I'm saying it's been a while because when he came back, he's been the quarterback 15, two weeks in a row. It's just funny to be like, last week, the dude didn't even show up on the fantasy rankings. Yeah, he was on to buy week.

But he didn't do anything. Fair. My point is, you might be forgetting that before that six weeks ago, he was coming off of back-to-back.

top two games, and now you're playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home in a dome where it's been since, you know, since week three, there's only been one game where Tampa Bay hasn't given up a top 12 quarterback performance. So are you willing to, because Matt Ryan is widely started, are you willing to go on the record with like a top five guarantee? Yeah, he's absolutely a top five quarterback this week. A water bet against yourself, really. Yeah, I'll pour water on myself for first ever. Waterbet.

All right. Well, I say that because I am making the same sort of pronouncement with my running back start of the week. So I'll kick it off. It's Lev Bell against Oakland. He has yet to have this Lev Bell, this first round pick, he has yet to have a single finish inside the top eight all year long. And I am calling. So are you willing to make a water bet for top eight against yourself, Andy? For top eight?

Top five. I did five. No, no. You got it in the print. You're calling for the top five. I know, but he brought up top eight. Well, you ever hit the button? Top five. Top five. Water bet. Absolutely. Oakland is. These are such stupid bets for you. Oakland vulnerable against the run. They've given up two top five performances in the last five weeks. In the bottom half and total points given up to running back. The last three weeks, 17 carries, 18 carries, 18 carries. I think he scores a couple times in this game. I feel like.

I feel like I get a cup of water on myself no matter what. Because if I win, I want to water someone. But if I lose, I deserve to get watered. You could just do like a celebration watering then. Oh, so it's a Pepsi. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, just dump it over my head. Yeah, I'm so good. That could be your Instagram post. There you. Oh, whoa, whoa. You don't want to spoil the post. Sorry, I know it's coming soon. It's coming very soon. Check it out. Stay tuned. Look, ladies and gentlemen, I've seen him.

in a dark room just in the corner with the thinking cap on. It's going to be motionless. Because of the Instagram post. That's going to be so incredible. The pressure upon this man. It's coming. It's going to be so good. Sure it is. All right. Mike, your running back start of the week. My running back start of the week. It's Kareem Hunt. The Cleveland Browns have found their third passing option. It is Kareem.

Hunt. He's averaged eight and a half targets since coming back into the league. That's a 24% target share. He gets to take on Miami, that juicy matchup, eighth against fantasy running backs. Yes, Nick Chubb is an automatic, but I think Cream Hunt is a safe low-end RB2 start this week. All right, Jason, who's your running back? My running back, we talked about him at the top of the show. It's Philip Lindsay. I believe that he is a phenomenal running back in real life.

Buffalo is a team that can be beaten on the ground. And now the ground has to. You have to. Yeah, you have to because it's very difficult. Unless you're Devante Parker. He has to throw on the elite can beat them on Buffalo. And, you know, what happened for the Broncos coming out and saying before the game, you know, reporters saying they expect it to be the Philip Lindsay show. 16 carries to eight for Royce Freeman. You know, that's the first time.

that he had over 60% of the snap. He's been in the 40s. And then he was a 64% of snaps. Him in the league dog role against Buffalo is going to be fantasy success. All right. Mike, you want to kick off the wide receivers? I will. My wide receiver started the week. It's Tyro Williams. This is just a situation of great matchup. His quarterback Derek Carr is playing pretty well, pretty well. He gets the New York Giants. They're giving up the second most.

points to the fantasy wide receiver position is as simple as that. Okay. I'm going to go with Calvin Ridley with a wink at Russell Gage. So both of those guys startable. You know, when you're in a situation and you face Tampa Bay, you smile. Yeah. You smile. The last three weeks, receivers were first, second, and 11th in total fantasy points on the week. Eleven. Yeah, that's pathetic.

They're just the best team to stream wide receivers against. I'm playing Russell Gage in our League of Record right now. I don't know what's going on with Robert Woods. And I don't know if I care with them facing Baltimore on Monday night. I don't know if I have the luxury of waiting and seeing. So Russell Gage is going to climb into my lineup. I like it. I wish he was on waivers because then he would climb into my lineup. I am going to be starting Alan Robinson. He has had a good season.

There's been a lot of disappointing games recently, but he's still on pace for 138 targets, over 90 receptions, and the matchup against the Giants is great. They are the 31st best team at stopping wide receiver. And the Trubisky problem that is clearly the problem for Alan Robinson. I brought this up in the matchup. The splits for Trubisky, when he plays a top 10 passing defense, he averages 10.4 fantasy points per game.

When he faces a bottom 10 passing defense, he averages 26.5 fantasy points per game. And Alan Robinson, he averages over two targets more a game at home, over three more fantasy points a game at home. And Pro Football Focus has him with the number one cornerback wide receiver matchup discrepancy against DeAndre Baker. I like Alan Robinson to have a get-right game this week. All right, Mike, you're up.

My tight end start of the week is Vance. Did you already go over Tyrol? Yes. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Thanks for listening. Yeah. I've skipped right ahead. My bad. Go ahead. My tight end start of the week, it's Vance McDonald. He is a product of necessity this week against the Cincinnati Bengals who looked, Darren Waller had a fine game. Mark Andrews has absolutely dominated them. Juju is hurt. Deontay is hurt. And fellas.

Generally speaking, what happens when you three, see three sevens in a row? Uh, you win. That's called a jackpot. Yeah, buddy. Now, he's had three games with seven targets in a row. I don't want to read into that, but I'm going to do it anyways. So let's go, let's go Vince McDonald's cashes this weekend because who else are they going to throw it to? Hey, there's not a lot of options. And on top of that, honestly, the last two weeks.

97% of the snaps, 96% of the snaps. He's now, the past two weeks, he has been a full, full-time player for the Steelers. I'm going Dallas Goddert, tied in for the Philadelphia Eagles against Seattle. Back to back. He's a top 12 tight-in, three of the last four starts. I found this little red zone report stat gym yesterday. Where did you find it? On our website, the fancy footballers.com. It's a premium footclan report. Oh, nice.

Red zone targets. I wanted to look at Ertz versus Goddard, right? Both tight ends. Well, Ertz is winning. Nine red zone targets to six over Goddard. But then I dug in a little bit. I looked at those 10 zone targets. You get really down. That's a little closer. Well, Dallas Goddard's got four of those targets. Ertz only won. They looked to Goddard. You saw it last week.

in the New England game. They look to him inside the 10 zone. He's averaging 5.6 targets a game. I will suck those up as a tight-in starved person. I need those targets. Seattle's giving up the eighth most fantasy points to the tight-in position. Also, let's just throw this out there because, you know, in the offseason, I was Mr. Dallas Goddard. He's a really good player. Dallas Goddard was...

drafted to be a star tied-in. This wasn't just, oh, he's a backup. Everyone was so upset when he went to the Eagles because it's like, what? I wanted to have Dallas-Gotter as this great fantasy option. Now he's a backup. You're starting to see him more involved, and he can dominate. My tight-in start of the week's going to be the Ryan Griffin Waiverwire Wonder. Everybody's in on this week. I think there are reasons for that. He's been a top 12 guy, three of his last six weeks. I mean, look, that's...

Half the time good, half the time bad. That's basically what you get with the tight-in position. But two of those three, he was the number one tight-in. He's got big game potential, and now he plays against Oakland Raiders who are bottom five against tight-end. They often are beaten there. It's just a nice combination where Andy and I both see this game hitting the over, and Ryan Griffin should be involved if there is a lot of points scored. The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll.

It is a narrative story poem. It has also been called a nonsense poem, meaning that impossible things happen in it. That's nonsense. Bravo, Mike. Thank you. And it's also some people call this a nonsense podcast. Also, read a book. Wait, is that to us? It's just to the uncultured swine that I'm surrounded by. Oh, my goodness. The carpenter and the gardener. Oh, did you find another one so we can trickle down the road? Yes. I hope you're ready for this. The gardener at the bench you.

Jason Moores, ironclad, locked and loaded, 100% guaranteed boom, boom kicker of the week. Butker is on by and you don't know what to do. Pick up and play the Falcons, Young Hootoo. That's what we're doing in League One. We are in excellent recovery. I don't think you'll actually get to see the face because on the YouTube there was a graphic, but...

For the first five seconds of the intro, Jason's face was one of pure panning. Well, I was in the middle. It was like a man scrambling through his papers to find something. I was in the middle. The tax returns are here somewhere. I'm searching for the Gardner and when I heard the drop. And I was like, oh, I'm supposed to do something somewhere else on this computer. That's up. You did it well. I was playing Pong. By the way, what's our current record in League 1? The people want to know.