Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 16 Christmas Episode Part 1, Starts, Sits, Matchups

a defense that has just completely been shutting down the run. You know, I just talked about what they did to Eddie Lacey, who had been running well. They've been doing that ever since they got gashed by Adrian Peterson. Since then, it's like they're giving up. They're like three or four, like three yards to carry. And probably under three now after that Eddie Lacey game. So I can't start, I can't start that.

I can't start that. I can't start that. All right, so like you said, the Raiders have been climbing run defense. It's 13th in the league right now. Now the Chargers have the 11th rank past defense, so that's where that kind of disparity happens. One more guy, I mentioned him as my start of the week, but do you guys agree on Latavius Murray or no? Yeah, I like Latavis Murray a lot. The Chargers can't defend the run very well, and he has been solid all year. Yeah, I don't like him nearly as much as you guys, but he's in the two conversation for me. He's a start this week. All right, let's get to the...

curiously named Thursday night football game that takes place on Saturday night. Saturday. The Saturday edition of Thursday night football. It's somebody with... It's branding, yo. It sounds like a cartoon character when you say, it's Saturday. Is that what I said? No, that's what I said. Oh, okay. Well, it is. I'm combining. It's Saturday's Thursday night football. The Redskins take on the Eagles. Humongous game with implications for the division.

So we've talked a little bit about it. I like Cousins. He's my start of the week at the quarterback position. You like to Sean Jackson. How do you not love Rule 86 right now? He is carrying. If there's somebody else, like David Johnson took the cake last week in terms of headlines, Rule 86, Jordan Reed should have been as well. If you had Jordan Reed going up against Garank, you almost doubled up on him. Yeah, Jordan Reed has been unbelievable. The Eagles have been giving it up.

through the air. And while they are good against the tight-end normally, they even had a couple of plays against the Cardinals who aren't a great tight-end team last week where they gave up a lot of yards. So Rule 86 is a guy you can bank on. Here's my worry about Kirk Cousins. This is a really important game, and it's a home game for the Eagles.

If you guys look at the splits of how Washington has been at home and on the road, they are completely different teams. I think the Eagles are going to win this game because of that home field advantage. Where do you guys stand? I know that's not necessarily fantasy, but that has an impact as far as how we think game flow is going to happen, which doesn't, you know, the team that wins doesn't normally, you can have a great quarterback performance on the losing effort. I would lean.

I would lean to Washington winning. I know they're the dogs. I just think that Kirk Cousins has been so efficient. And on top of that, you've got the Eagles run defense, which is bad. And we saw last week, Alfred Morris can take advantage of a good matchup. And between him and Matt Jones, you never really know. I like Morris this week.

I think he's an okay start in your flex position if you need it because that's, like I said, it's a desperate situation of you don't know if it's going to be Morris or Jones. But when you add all that up and just the implosion that's going on in Philadelphia with personnel and the team, I lean towards Washington winning. What running backs do you start from this game? From Philadelphia? No. From, I mean, you, Andy, you said that you're fun. I like Ryan Matthews. I do.

I like Ryan Matthews in this game. Washington's run defense is ranked very poorly, and I think Matthews makes the most of his carries and he'll have plenty to make the most of. I agree. And he's the only running back that I like on both sides of the ball here. I'm not wanting to start Darren Sproles. I'm wanting to steer clear of the Washington run. If we look at the entire year from week one on, the amount of conversations we've had over who is it, Alfred Morris or Matt Jones, it just goes back and forth.

anyone has gotten it right. It's just so difficult to trust that in a championship. I'd much rather start Cameron Artist Payne, who I know is going to get me the ball and not put up a goose egg than either Matt Jones or Alfred Morris. There's literally no upside to Alfred Morris. There has not been one game in the season in which you could say he had upside. Even his best games with 25 carries, 121 yards, no touchdowns. He peaked this year in our half-point PPR league at 14 points.

So I'm with you completely. I've taken the running back core at Washington.

And like an NFL team during the draft, I've put them on my do not list. You put them in the shoebox? Yeah, I'm putting them in the shoebox because it's not going to happen. I'm not going to guess right. It's not going to be the one game in 10 that Matt Jones catches a screen pass and takes it to the house and doesn't fumble or get himself in the doghouse. It's just not worth it to me. I do agree with Mike. He might take advantage of it. They might both take advantage of it. They'll probably both score about five or six points and Washington might win the game. I think it'll be a very close game. I think it'll be very close. It might come down to the end.

So, and the home field advantage is it's going to matter. And we like, or at least I like, I'm not going to speak for you. I like Zacherts this week. I do like Zacherts this week. I do like Zach. I think he's getting more involved and he is a weapon who can actually catch the ball. I said this before the show. I said that I had a different sit of the week in and deleted him out because I went.

back and rethought it and that was Zach Ertz. I put Zach Ertz in as my sit of the week originally because there were just some things I didn't like, but then he's just been used so much. He's obviously based on that, he's really in the middle for me. I would rather have other guys, but he has enough targets where I would much rather start him over ASJ who I put in because I think there's far more usage and potential there for a big game.

All right, so let's move on to the Colts, taking on the dolphins in this exciting matchup. Well, it's important for the... I was waiting for the laughter. I thought you all bought in. I did. You're like, oh, I got to watch it. Here's what I was doing. I was counting the amount of games that are left. And it's a lot. Did you happen to CS&L? They had done the Republican debate opening. Yes, you show... Do you remember the glasses?

that they have on Ben Carson that make him look like you're awake. Those are the glasses I put on when I flip over to this game. Trust me. I'm watching. Yeah. So Hasselbeck, Tanna Hill. You mentioned Tanna Hill as a guy you were okay streaming yesterday. I'm still not in that camp. Frank Gore, Lamar Miller, Jay-Jon. If you're desperate. All right. So the Lamar Miller story, it's the hardest one in all of fantasy football right now because he got you here in a lot of ways.

he makes you pull your hair out. He's still sitting on your bench will make you wonder if you don't play him. I mean, even though he's my sit of the week and I wouldn't play him, that doesn't mean I wouldn't play him over Alfred Morris. Right. Because his upside is so great. Or let me look at some other guys here. Let me give you some guys here, Andy, because I have Lamar Miller. As of right now... Let me give you my roster, Andy. As of right now...

I am planning to start Lamar Miller. I'm going to wait and see. But would you rather start Lamar Miller or Chris Ivory? I would rather start Chris Ivory. Would you rather start Lamar Miller or Jeremy Hill? I will take, because of the matchup, I will take Lamar Miller. Danny Woodhead. I will take Woodhead. I will take Woodhead.

James White. I will take James White and half point and full point. Okay. All right. And I am in a title game as well where I have to play Lamar Miller and I'm not happy about it. Okay. That's probably what a lot of people are in. But I'm playing him. It's not like you can force an injury on them. You know what I mean? Like there aren't a lot of options in a lot of leagues. And I'm not grabbing, I'm not grabbing.

Kristen Michael, Bryce Brown. That's the question. I'm not grabbing those guys off the wire and playing him over Lamar Miller. You wouldn't play? Okay. No, definitely not. Here's what I think is important. I know he came out and said that it wasn't because of the injury, but practice matters to coaches. And so we are over this week. Today is going to be our last recording. If you're a Lamar Miller owner and you have options, I personally think that his practice participation makes a big difference.

I have told other people this because it's what I'm doing. If I see Lamar Miller is practicing in full, I'm starting him with confidence in a juicy matchup, and I think he's going to be okay. If he's limited or missing practices, then I'm probably going to bench him inside elsewhere. So that's just a helpful tip to everybody. You can just Google NFL practice reports.

And you can find they're out there and it just says limited participant, full participant. If you don't have that in your repertoire of things you do, that's really helpful for guys like this. All right. Another guy worth mentioning, you're starting Jarvis Landry because he's Jarvis Landry. But Devante Parker is somebody who had an okay game again last week, 87 yards receiving, not a lot of targets and catches. You know, we have them outside the flex range right now, outside the wide receiver three range. I don't.

think I want him out there for my championship week. I agree. Would you like Doriel Greenbeckham or Devonzie Parker this week? I'll go with Green Beckham. He's shown it. Yeah, we have Green Beckham just inside the wide receiver 3 flex area. Anybody else from this game that's worth mentioning before we move on to the Bears Buccaneers? How do you feel about Frank Gore? I will play him. Yeah. And I will...

take my eight points. It's like Lamar Miller. I'm going to play him. I'm not happy about it, but I'm playing it. I thought that's what you were going to ask me. I thought you were going to ask me, Lamar Miller or Frank Gore. Okay, Lamar Miller or Frank Gore. Because I got both of these guys in my championship. You know, he's a little micro. He's a little focused on your own match. Everybody out there that's in the championship is a little focused right now.

Yeah, I don't board you. On your team? Oh, okay. That's what he wants. Bears at the Buccaneers. Buccaneers are favored in this game. It's at home. You've got Cutler Winston. Weather won't be an issue. There's a lot of debate right now about Matt Forte and Jeremy Langford and who's the guy you really want to start. Mike, to your credit, you have the courage of a lion. You have ranked.

Jeremy Langford, very high. You have them just outside of a running back one this week. I do? You have them at 16. Wow. That's always good. That's great confidence. I put the numbers. A lot of courageous people often say, what? Wait? Huh? Yeah, that's very courageous. So you have them very high. We have them lower. I like Forte. I take Forte over Langford. But what is your guys' kind of pulse to this situation? I have Forte over Langford. I'm just...

Okay, where do you have Forte and Langford in your room? I have Forte at 7 and Standard and Langford at 16 right now, which that's probably a bit too high for Jeremy Langford. I like the situation for the running backs. I think Forte has been playing quite well. It's just, and it's a split type of a thing. I know the Bucks are, they're a pretty good run defense. They handled Todd Gurley decently last week.

I just see a situation for the Bears where they might want to see what Langford can do. This is where they have nothing to play for in the real NFL season. They're playing for the future. Let's check it out. Do we want to extend Matt Forte? Are we comfortable with Jeremy Langford moving forward? So I'm buying into that narrative a little bit. Sure, sure. And now, to me, the big storyline of this game is I think Doug Martin eats.

I think Charles Sims has a good game as well. This is a rush defense that is polar opposite to their past defense with Chicago. They have a bad rush D. They have a great past D. We know those things kind of work together. But at home, Tampa Bay, I think they'll control this game a little bit. And I think Doug Martin has a lot of upside. Not that you're sitting in him, but start him with confidence. Yes, I completely agree.

All right. All right. No arguments there. Mike Evans, he's in your lineup. Talked about ASJ earlier. And Zach Miller is my start of the week at tight in. I like Mike Evans a lot just from a target standpoint. The bears are a top passing defense when it comes to giving up yardage. But he only throws to Evans, basically. Yeah, if you're outside of the red zone, it's like 80% of the targets go to Mike Evans.