Week 5 Matchups + Tuesday Night Football, Dr. Mike - Fantasy Football Podcast for 10/9

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And Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. Friday, October 9th. Mike Wright. Jason Moore. I'm Andy Holloway. The fantasy footballers back with you. More matchups today. Week 5 has begun. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won by three touchdowns over the Chicago Bears last night. Is that what happened? Is that what happened?

For the podcast listeners and not the YouTubers, Mike, just threw 52 cards into the air. That was a magic trick. That's Matt Nagy, aka Job from Arrested Development. He pulled it off again. I don't know how. Look, that's magic. They never reveal their tricks. Yeah, exactly. The illusionists came through. They are four and one. Yeah, I was lying. The Bears won. The Bears took it home.

despite him doing his best Job at the end of the game. And so I, you know, I tweet out the GIF of Job. I'm trying to give him the credit while taking my shot at Matt Nagy. They're four and one. And I get some Bears fans like, it's not even accurate anymore. I'm like, so you were super into that second down deep shot when you could have just basically ran the clock out? Like, I'm all for being super aggressive. But that was like, how? I'll, I'll.

It's self-fulfilling prophecy now for Matt Nagy, though. We've established the magician, so anything he does, you're going to read the magician into it. Not if he had just ran it twice. I mean, does he deserve credit for putting Nick Foles in at quarterback after what we saw last night? Yes. Okay. Yes. I was positive they weren't going to score any points in that game at all. He does. He deserves the credit for putting Nick Foles in, but he also deserves the shame for putting Mitchell Trabisky in for multiple games this year.

despite winning. You mean former pro bowler, Mr. Biscay from two years ago? Dude, that defense, man. Legit? Yeah. I mean, it was a, you know, a tough game for Scotty Miller. Oh, no. We went into this game thinking Mike Evans was probably in worse physical shape than Scottie Miller. This dude. Oh.

I pour one out for everyone who started Scotty Miller last night. And Folkland know that Mike is pouring two out for me then because I'm with you if you started Scotty Miller. I have now. Multiple leagues. Yep. I have had to start him twice. Both times appeared to be a good start. And it was not. So you've gotten both potty? Yes, I have gotten two potty millers number two. You're going to start him next week?

No, which means he'll go off. He's going to have a fantastic week. And when we had the conversation about Jimmy Graham during the matchup breakdown of you're like, okay, I'm in on Jimmy Graham. He goes up nothing. You're like, ah, crap. Then Jimmy Graham has a great game. Okay, I'm back in. Jimmy Graham, terrible. Then did you see that catch? It was a great catch. I'm like, Footland.

This Jimmy Graham catch one-handed in the end zone was awesome, man. Yeah, no matter what touchdown he catches, he gets up and he kind of flexes and shows his, you know, manhood or whatever. But this one was deserving of it completely. It was. Grandpa string. Let's talk about some more players that actually did perform for fantasy football last night. Ronald Jones was impressive on almost every one of his carries last night. 17 for 106 had a big run in the middle of that game. If you started Ronald Jones, you're happy.

Mike Evans came down with a touchdown, five for 41, had a couple deep shots his way, nine targets. This was Mike Evans. I mean, this is a good game. Honestly, I was, I played Mike Evans in our dynasty league. After he caught another pass, though, after the two-yard touchdown, I was a little disappointed. That we didn't get another Mike Evans game of one reception for one touchdown. Oh, you actually just wanted the narrative versus the fantasy points? Yeah, you just, you don't want to watch it burn sometimes. David Montgomery.

Had a fantasy game. He scored a touchdown on the ground. He had seven catches. For how many yards, Andy? Seven, like a running back with seven receptions. Let's, if they're bad, you know, they're getting, what, seven yards of catch? About 49 yards. 30 yards on the ground.

Mike's unhappy because I started David Montgomery against him and was saved by the touchdown and the receptions. David Montgomery is going to be great. I mean, he's going to be great for fantasy because this was a terrible matchup and he was inefficient. He was ineffective. And he had a great fantasy day. So going forward when the matchups are better, if you're getting this volume, he should be solid. Alan Robinson, I think you could target him on every play.

You could. Which Foles tried to do for parts of the game, and it worked out. He had 16 targets in this one, 10 for 90, and is a must start each and every week with Nick Foles. Yes, he absolutely is. And I just wanted to highlight something that was said in our company Slack, because I've never heard it said this way, and it gave me such a delight where I think it was Mooney was, like he put a post move on and he was wide open. And Nick Foles just.

Absolutely missed him. And then Damon, our manager's like, yeah, but that ball was wide open. I mean, I thought that was super funny as well. It was some of the ugliest passes I've ever seen. Just Nick Foles was awful to start that game. No one was on that ball. He's so streaky. They highlighted the streak, but it's like, this is absolutely true. Nick Foles is like the streakiest quarterback I've ever seen. Yeah. That's, maybe that's why.

Matt Nagy's willing to say he's our quarterback no matter what because we'll just catch a streak and that'll be good enough with this defense because you weren't catching a streak with Mitch Trubisky. That's correct. News and notes from around the league. All right. We'll get there, Mike. After news and notes. I was just going to say that you catch a streak with Mitch Trubisky. Different kind of streak. It's just a different kind of streak. You're upset. I went into news without letting you make a poop joke. I.

I couldn't keep it in. What's the latest on the COVID situation with the Broncos and Patriots game, the Bills and Titans game? These have been up in the air. Do you think we're going to have them this week? So obviously this could change at any time. Right this second, everything appears to be.

on the new schedule to have football this week. Obviously, if this changes, follow us on Twitter. We'll make sure you're aware. I'm sure all of your apps will give you push notifications as well. But the Broncos Patriots are going to be playing Monday at 5 p.m. Eastern, which is going to be super weird for us on the West Coast. We'll have a 2 p.m. game going on on Monday. That'll be fun. The Bill's Titans moved to Tuesday.

So you can go to Tuesdaynight Football.com. And then hopefully the Bills Chiefs game the next week will be moved from Thursday to Sunday, assuming the Titans continue to have negative test results. So Monday is, it is a double header then? Yes. Because if that game starts at 2 or 5 Eastern, then 8 Eastern, oh, is the NFL trying to turn the lemons into lemonade here?

and get people used to the idea of doubleheaders on Monday? No, I don't. I mean, because we've had them. I mean, we've had them multiple times a year. We've done the Monday night football doubleheaders before. Let me tell you something. The NFL is not happy about what's happening. Oh, I don't know. I get that. I'm just saying, like, they didn't used to have Thursday night football either. And then they just kept like, hey, about these games on Thursday. And then now it's every single week. The Jets Cardinals, the Jets had a presumptive positive COVID test on Friday. So that game.

Right now the plans are normal, but that is another game that could see a schedule adjustment, whether it's moving to Sunday night, whether it's moving to later in the week. All triple header Monday. You might get there. At this point, I do wonder, for fantasy purposes, if you are in a position where there's one game that is in question, it's easier to do the thing where, okay, that team accommodates it on their bench, you play the alternatives. If you have three or four games that become in question,

You know, what is the solution for a fantasy commissioner to best accommodate this? Because to me, it almost feels like you almost, you need to expand the bench size. It's not just COVID-I-R. It's actual flexibility, which means if you're in a four- or five bench situation, it's very prohibitive for a fantasy football manager to prepare. If I have to prepare for three or four games that could be missed, how do you even do that with three or four bench spots? Yeah, I can speak.

From experience here, most of my team have at least the question marks surrounding whether or not they'll be able to play. So I think expanding the benches is one route. If you can, I mean, like, sure, platforms, they're not even going to let you do that. And if you can't, I think another route. And Mike, you've brought this up since before the season, right? COVID has been sucky. Don't make it more sucky in fantasy. Have, you know, the commissioners do whatever you can to.

to help the teams that are hit by this. So if that means, you know, if your league decides, hey, let's allow someone to put X, Y, or Z players onto waivers, they get to pick them back up so that they can roster replacements. I think that this is the year where you have a little bit of that grace. Is that almost like the taxi squad situation? You could just have a COVID squad roaming on the waiver wire. Yeah, it's unfortunate, but hopefully.

We get all these games this weekend. That's where I'm leaning right now. I think we'll have them. I do too. I think every game is played. All right. We have matchups to get into Focland Friday. I'm going to blitz the rest of this news. Lamar Jackson, he's expected to play. He had missed a couple of practices, one with a knee, one with a tummy ache. Yep. That's what I hear. Julio Jones did not practice on Wednesday or Thursday. Dan Quinn said they'll continue to take things easy with them. They'll have a better idea regarding his status on Friday. Be ready.

I don't think he's going to play. I don't think so either. Michael Thomas, Jared Cook, both limited on Thursday. They're a Monday night game making this even more difficult for fantasy football players. What's your gut thought right here with Michael Thomas and Jared Cook? It's not just Monday night. You have also the Saints are on by week next week. So if Michael Thomas is like, yeah, he probably could go or we can get Michael Thomas two full weeks off as we head into the main stretch. So my gut is telling me that Michael Thomas,

is not going to play. Yeah, I think if he's healthy, he's going to be out there, and that's the question. But your point stands for both Michael Thomas and Jared Cook, who was jogging last week with the groin injury. But again, you can get two weeks if you leave them out. And oftentimes we see NFL teams take advantage of that. The Saints are seven and a half point favorites as it stands right now for the Monday night game. So that could...

factor into their decision making. Debo Samuel didn't practice on Thursday due to illness, non-COVID illness, and Henry Ruggs practice in full on Thursday. That's actually notable. If Ruggs was out there, I'd be rostering him. I completely agree. Yeah, he flashed in the early part of the season, got injured, but I'm interested in seeing what Henry Ruggs could do in that offense. He's a one touchman. And then a reminder, join thefoot.com. You get access to the extra episode every week.

You get access to the Injury Blitz podcast, and that is our injury expert Matthew Betts, taking a look at the Friday practice reports, which we don't have access to this morning, breaking down all the injuries, what his expectations are for these players so that you're prepared, which that's an area you can take advantage of if you're already dealing with these COVID unknowns. Make sure you know what's going on with the injuries and get game day alerts. Michael will be live once again on Sunday morning.