Week 9 Studs & Stinkers + Signs of the Times - Fantasy Football Podcast for 11/9

Jerry Judy, 14 targets, 7 for 1, 25. A lot of people were calling for the breakout game this week, and they got it. You like him rest of the season? Yeah, I mean, he's a talented guy. I'm still not thrilled with having to rely on Drew Locke, but coming up here against the Raiders, I think it's another good matchup, and it's nice to see a rookie continue developing, and obviously, historically, rookie wide receiver's second half of the year is where they break out more than the first half of the year.

So there's great signs here. All right, Will Fuller has scored in six straight games. He went five for one hundred and one. Brandon Cook said another great game. Before the show, we were talking about both of those players. They've been outstanding for weeks now. Yeah, I mean, week after week after week, both guys are getting it done. You can't look at one's great game and say, oh, that means the other is not, you know, that this guy's the one you want. You want both players.

Keenan Allen went 9 for 103 again. Oh, man. What about Christian Kirk here? Christian Kirk getting it done week after week, five for one, 23 and one. And this was difference, too. I mean, you had high volume, you had eight targets. You had two tremendous downfield shots as well, not just he, we're five yards away, and Christian Kirk is the one who comes away with a touchdown. So this is a very positive sign as well. Yeah, it's basically what he did against Dallas a couple weeks ago when he had the big play, the bomb. You know, they take a deep shot with him.

a couple times a game because they really don't want to do that with Andy Isabella. Yeah, it's one of them works. You know, it'd be one thing, and I know we're Cardinal fans out here, so it hurts to know that D.K. McCaff win a pick later than Andy Isabella, but it really doesn't help that there's such a size disparity between the two players. Physically or emotionally? Physically. Yeah, I mean. It's like, did you look at these guys when you drafted?

It just hurts. I mean, D.K. is sitting there chasing down Buda Baker running a 4-2-9 at 9 feet tall. And Andy Isabella's fumbling kickoffs and disappearing, running the wrong routes. Yeah, Krisha Kirk, his involvement has been great. It's back-to-back games with eight targets. He's got out-ladiously five touchdowns in the last three games. And the upcoming schedule, Buffalo and Seattle, I think you're going to want to start most Cardinals in those games.

Yeah, Kyler's just moving. I mean, the number one scoring offense in football. They've scored over 30 points, I think, four straight weeks. D.K. Metcalfe, he's on pace for 86, 15, 76, and 16 touchdowns. Woohoo. So, uh, breakout year for D.K. McLaren, great again. Seven for one, 15, and one. He just gets it done. And, uh, he'll continue to do so because Alex Smith.

Yeah, if he doesn't have it physically, he's certainly still smart, and he knows there's one player to throw the ball to. Now, what the breakout? Oh, no, that was Case Keenham. I was Case Keenom. I'm sorry. In my head, I was confusing the timelines. I get it. I get that confused. Case Keenum and Alex Smith was like, when did Alex Smith get hurt? And it was because Terry McLaurin's rookie year, he started with Case Keenum. I mean, and the truth is if Alex Smith can get.

Get his swag back. I mean, you're still talking about a player who had a life-threatening injury, a limb-threatening injury. So it's going to take him some time to work back. But if we're going to get some full weeks of practice where Alex Smith is the starter, that could turn into an upgrade here for Terry McLaurin, who has been dragging the Washington offense with him because he is so excellent.

Well, I mean, JD McKissick's helping out too. Sure. Now, the goal would be, you know, can Smith run the offense and get him into the position to score? Then you get opportunities for McCoran, for Gibson, for this office to actually get it done. So Kelsey, oh, I love Travis Kelsey, 12 targets, 10 catches, 159. He's not fair.

He's not a fair advantage. He is the, he's got the tight in one on lockdown here. He is averaging 15.5 fantasy points per game. Waller at the tight end two position 10.2. So he's literally, you know, 50% better than Darren Waller. That's a difference maker every week. Every single. Well, not every week, not next week. That, well, sure, not when he's not playing. And, and not three weeks ago.

when he was three for 31. Outside of literally that single game, he's been a top six tight end every week. He's just unfair. All right. That wasn't the weather game, was it? Yes, I believe it was. That was the one where they, yeah, that was the game where it was. So maybe don't. Don't play in the rain? Well, you're still going to play it. But in the snow, lower expectations. All right. You knew the offense wasn't going well.

for Chicago because Jimmy Graham had six targets for six catches 55 yards. Oh, man, Jimmy Grandpa. One touchdown. And you could do worse. That is the motto. That's the copywritten tagline for Jimmy Graham. You could do worse. Mm-hmm. Irv Smith? I don't know what to make of the Irv Smith game, really, because it was two. He had two catches. He got hurt.

He scored twice. So he had two touchdowns. He's a red zone option. This is what Rudolph used to be. Yeah. And this is like a, this is the, the, the, the, the, or Aiken's. I mean, this is one of those things where the, the tight end is leaks out on a play action. So I would rather have Dalvin Cook.

And what I mean by that is if you've got to get down near the goal line and that's where Irv Smith can thrive. Are you offering me Irv Smith for my Dalvin Cook? Yes, yes, I am. Yes. Oh, for sure. If you'll accept. No, my point is. Make for a good show, Mike. I don't want a tight end whose touchdown dependent that is on the same team with Dalvin Cook. Because anytime they want to just have Dalvin Cook running in, they probably can.

uh hawkinson got into the end zone again which was nice to see despite the quarterback getting knocked out evan ingram 5 for 48 in a touchdown he had a his normal assortment of great plays and mind-boggling plays you got to deal with evan angri's buffoonery he got in the face with the football sometimes you got a you're not awake you got you take a football in the face and then you make a great play oh man he's he he is so flashy has big plays has great talent and also

is he just makes so many mistakes. Sometimes he will lose you at the game if you lean on him. Sometimes he looks like a baby deer. Yeah. I get that. A little too fast for his own good. A little too fast and just he doesn't have full control of his of his limbs. Still learning. But he's still a deer, so he can be very fast. Right. It's the baby deer. All right. What do you make of Johnny Smith? He only had two targets, but he got back into the end zone.

And it was right at the, I mean, it was at the end of the game. So this will. Do you know that FERC had six targets in the same game? This is not. It's been a downward spiral here for Jono. Yeah, I agree. I mean, you know, you're happy if you score, but. It's weird to have Jono Smith here in the stud muffins and feel like he belongs in the stinkers. Right. Maybe he's a both. He's a stud and stinker. Now, I will say, didn't Corey Davis goose in this game?

Oh, I believe Corey Davis had zero. Yeah, Brooks is nodding at me. So it wasn't like, oh, man, the narrative is Corey Davis is a core part of the offense now. And Johnny was eliminated. No, it's just the offense wasn't that great in this game. Chicago's defense is outstanding. Defense is great. Andy, tell me how many completions Ryan Tannahill through. Oh, my goodness. Well, let me think. I mean, if you know that Johnny Smith and Corey Davis combined for two catches.

I'm guessing you're talking like 10 to 12. 10. That's right. So Johnny Smith had 20% of the receiving. So maybe a bit of an outlier game because it was Chicago. Yeah. But at the same time, John who is a scary play. If people, you know, we're skipping a stinkers here, but if people are dropping Corey Davis because of a goose, I would pick them up as well. All right. Let's talk stinkers.

Stinkers of the Week, presented by odor eaters. Presented by Tom Brady. Drew Brady. So the easy thing to do with Tom Brady, 22 for 38, 209, and three interceptions, no touchdowns. Kyle Allen scored more than him, and Kyle Allen was knocked out of the game. The easy thing to do is make excuses for Tom Brady. I mean, he...

He's had Dudd games before in prime time. I can remember the Kansas City game a couple years ago. He comes back out. Look, no one's more determined than Tom Brady. And look, the roster, this is like a Vince Young super team. We got going on here. This is the first time I think that you've had three Pro Bowl wide receivers on a roster in a long time with Antonio Brown's appearance.

But this is not what you hope to see when you added Antonio Brown to the mix and got Godwin back and Mike Evans is there. No, it is not. And I had a flood of Twitter action because I traded for Tom Brady and everyone was like, oh, man. Don't worry, everybody. I did not play him in this game. I had Josh Allen. So I was great. And I'm not going. I personally am not overreacting to this. The.

If this was something we had been seeing and it looks like Tom Brady has maybe lost it, you know, it's going to come. But the previous two weeks were phenomenal from Tom Brady. So I'm not, you know, he had 648 yards and six touchdowns in the two prior games. This was a trash game and he looked horrific. You should just give a.

Thank you note to the schedule makers, though, because Josh Allen, after four straight down weeks, if he's not facing Seattle this past week, after what Brady had done, I can't imagine Brady's not in there. Now, what do you make, though? Thank you, schedule makers. Out of Tom Brady, four of nine weeks has been the QB 19 or worse.

I would say, well, five of nine weeks. He's been a top ten quarterback. But that's play them. That is not a consistency metric you want with a fantasy quarterback. No, it's not. But if you look at the actual, the path, the fact that Mike Evans had been banged up, they lost Chris Godwin. He's been working with a rag tag group. Obviously, we hoped for a lot better with Chris Godwin active. Antonio Brown added to the mix. This was supposed to be the get right game. It won.

You know, but you've got to look for it. It was a get wrong game. You got to look forward. And I can't imagine just saying, well, because he had one bad game. Yeah. I'm out on Tom Brady. But you do have to just be smart. And he's not an every week start probably. Seems that way. Derek Henry, the aforementioned Chicago game. He only went 21 for 68. No touchdowns in this game. No targets in this game. You know.

Indianapolis, Baltimore, the next three games. I mean, that is a prescription for pain, but he generally gets into the end zone. Yeah, he's still getting 21 carries. You just played Eric Henry. There's not a lot, you can say. Now, this one was a shocker. If there's... What happened? If there's a stat line that I was, I mean, more shocked with, I can't think of it. James Connor, nine for 22.

against Dallas at home in a game you were favored heavily. So bizarre. We had 11 opportunities for James Connor, who up until that point, you know, since week two, this guy was averaging, what have we got? Over 20 opportunities a game. I still haven't seen any reports from Pittsburgh. 46% of snaps, tons of McFarland, tons of Snell. I don't know what happened. I apologize that I do not have an answer here. If there was an award.

that we had during the stinker's segment for a player that is the stinker of the week. The stinkiest? The stinkiest of the week. It would be Connor, and it was a shock. Yeah. And if you were counting on him, like we all were, ew. Yeah, it was a terrible, horrific game, both for James Connor and for the Steelers. I think they fell asleep, assuming they could just walk right through them boys, and they couldn't.

I was upset to see the utilization. And that's something I think we're going to have to go and listen to Tomlin's pressures and see what the rationale was in not utilizing him as a three-down back. Because the nice thing about James Connor has been, if they're up, they need James Connor. If they're down,