Fantasy Football Podcast 2016 - Week 7 Matchups, In-or-Out, Bye Bye Bears

I still believe that McKinnon and Aziata are okay plays this week. I mean, you have the Eagles, they started hot. I'm not sure that their rankings are a complete story, a complete picture of their actual defense. I think they're good, but I don't think that they're great. All right. So what are the storylines from this game for fantasy owners to pay attention to? There's one guy I want to talk about. Let's hear it. Dorio Green Beckham. All right. Snap counts rising.

involvement rising i'm not saying breakout i'm saying pay attention because if he can pass aguilar which i think he can on the depth chart right all of a sudden he may be you know the target on the outside yeah i i can see you don't agree no no i i don't disagree with that but i'm not like it's i don't know that i'm even going to stash him

Maybe it's just a situation. You just keep one eye on him. That's a mental stash. You keep one eye on them. All right, the Vikings defense has tackled opponents for a loss on 7.6% of rushing attempts this season. Oh, Ryan Matthews, this is a situation. The Eagles, on the other hand, are, now is that right? Do you see those stats there? I do. They both have been, well, it says the Eagles have been better at that than the Vikings.

Yeah, the Eagles are tackling opponents for a loss on 20% of rushing attempts. I mean, that's... Yeah, I think McKinnon, I mean, he's the only guy that I think about here in this game. You don't think of Oziana? I don't want to roll out the touchdown or bust, Ozziata. He wasn't touchdown or bust, though. He was the actual efficient running back last week. Rudolph and Ertz. What do you think of those guys? I like Rudolph. I know that matchup is not great. I mean, we also haven't even touched on the revenge game.

For Sam Bradford, does he want to pour it on? Of course he wants to pour it on, but can't he pour it on? No, he can't pour it on. I mean, you got Diggs. You have Thielen coming out from last week, the big game. Do you expect anything from him? Thielen, if Diggs is active, then Thielen returns to his original role, which is he'll get a couple passes. I think what I got out of that five minutes spent on that game is that. Yeah, let's go to fun games. Yeah, there's just nothing.

Nothing there. All right, the Colts take on the Titans. You know, Marcus Mariotta has been, has vaulted into the number eight spot in fantasy leagues. He's heating up. He has a 38-point week, a 39-point week in the last, in six-point leagues in the last two weeks. Takes on Andrew Luck here at home. I'm still not sold. On Marioota? No, I like him this week because I think, you know, the Colts can score. But...

I am not sold on the fact that he's not going to crap my team. Yeah. Because he's had these matchups. He had opened at home and didn't do it. I love the running attack and the fact he's had seven carries for over 60 yards, two straight weeks. I love the idea of streaming him this week. I'm totally comfortable with that. I just think that there is more risk. I was telling Mike this yesterday. There's more risk with Marcus Marietta than there is with a guy like Blake Bortle, in my opinion, who I just feel like...

at home, Bortles against Oakland, the baseline is going to be a little higher for him than Mariotta. Do you agree with that? No, I completely agree that the potential, on the range of outcomes for Mariotta, there's a very low floor. We've just seen it too many times. So I completely agree. Right now the Titans are seventh against the run, 10th against the pass. You've got Andrew Luck coming into the building. Do you expect kind of a...

mid-level game from luck? What are you thinking here? I still think Andrew Luck will be fine. Andrew Luck is, as always, though, when he's up against a good defense, it's if you're a fantasy player, don't watch the game. Don't watch the game. Because of the pain for Andrew Luck, because it's going to be excruciating, most likely. Andrew Luck has been great at one quarter of getting your entire production, which is still fine. I mean, he's still usable for fantasy. I think he's still a good option.

Hilton, I think, is a fine play despite missing all the practice. Then you have Chester Rogers, who kind of showed up a little bit last week. But I don't think he's, I wouldn't put him as a sneaky start or anything like that. Jack Doyle was my start of the week at Titan, so I like him in this game. You're starting Gore, you're starting Murray on the other side. You're starting Delaney Walker, most likely if he's on your roster. So the question, the one other question that has come up to me this week from listeners.

is just asking about Kendall Wright and his involvement in the offense. Now, we've seen Wright be very effective when he's healthy. Now, that's been rare. Last week, he didn't play a large amount of snaps, but he did have, he caught the bomb from Mariotta. He certainly helps Marioita to have him out there. Somebody that, when Marioita started as a rookie, Wright was his guy. Right. Right was his man. So does Wright being back...

Is this another thing like Greenbeckham where you've got them in the corner of your eye at all? Or is this something that could hurt Delaney Walker? Yeah, I think it just more siphons away. I am not, I'm not looking to add them. Chargers, Falcons. We're moving on. Chargers Falcons are. Oh, I was the last thing I was going to say for the Colts is I think we're approaching the time that if you want to stash Dante Moncrief, it's not a bad idea. Yes, I agree with you.

Chargers Falcons, Falcons are six and a half point favorites at home. This is a 53 and a half point over under. Holy crap. 53? Yeah. This is a monster game. This is a game where I'd be starting my rivers, my Ryan, my Freeman, my Coleman, my Gordon, my Julio, my Henry. This sounds like a poem. I think my Ryan. Oh, Jason, my Ryan. Yeah, I think Jason's into Tyro Williams this week. He is.

gave his explanation yesterday, has to deal with Marcus Truffant, maybe covering Benjamin up a little bit more this week. I don't mind that take. This is not a good defense. The Falcons 26 against the pass. Rivers is capable of going on the road and putting up huge numbers. That's the one thing that Rivers definitely can do, and you don't have good defenses here. Now, here's one of the reasons the Falcons have been successful. Julio Jones has averaged 21.2 yards per reception that's first in the league. The 300-yard games certainly helped that.

Well, he didn't catch all 300 on one pass. 75 of it was, and then there was another large chunk. That's the point. The point is that he's chunking this year. Wow, he's Julio. No, he's not been this before. They don't go long. This was the problem. Last year, yes. With Matt Ryan last year is they're not going long to Julio enough. Now they're taking shots down the field with Julio. He's getting behind the defense because he's Julio. I'm just saying it puts you in a position where the yardage is up there for Ryan. He's leading the league. I think he's, you know, he's the number one.

Fantasy wide receiver right now, and we're not debating whether you're starting him or not. It's just interesting to see that they're going down field with him a little bit more. It has to give you confidence. Well, you have a combination of that, plus the Chargers defense are allowing almost 11 yards per completion, which is actually low. That's the something got to give matchup there. Right. So you have Julio averaging a ton. The Chargers are not allowing a lot per completion, but they've also lost pieces of their secondary, so you're confident in everybody in this game.

I don't see anybody I'd sit down other than, you know. What about the tight ends? Hunter Henry. No, I'm all aboard. All aboard. Yeah, I'd play them both. I think Henry, I like more. Henry's been hyper efficient. I'm into Henry. Oh, Henry. That's what you should have said. Oh, Henry, my Henry. Oh, the candy bar? Because that would have been made me hungry. So I, look, there's not a lot of question marks in that game. No, it's just a lot. You had Kevin Coleman started the week from Jason. Yep. You had, um,

Yeah, yeah, I think you've got everybody there. I would not disagree. All right, the Buccaneers and the 49ers, Mike, I know you're leaning on James Winston this week. I'm leaning on James, and I'm leaning on Jack Wiz Rogers. Do you think, now the 49, this game's almost a toss-up here. Yeah, in San Francisco, the 49ers only one-point underdogs at home, despite their struggles. You're not going to have...

You're going to have Mike Davis and Sean Drone in the backfield with Carlos Heidau. You're going to have Rogers and Barber in the backfield with Doug Martin and Sims out. To me, look, I think Evans has the potential to have a monster week. Yeah, I completely agree. I mean, you have, this is the weird situation where you look at the 49ers past defense. They're seventh of the league. What? What? That's because they're 32nd in rushing defense. Yeah, that's why those numbers can be deceiving. I mean, it's not like they're great. They just, no one has to pass against them.

They run against them. That being said, you know, Evans is leading the league in targets per game. 12.2 targets per game. Yeah. They're still susceptible. They can be destroyed by Mike Evans. Now, Cameron Bray, top 10 guy this week? Yeah. You have to put him back there. I know last, or the last time they played was a complete clunker. But before that, he was getting the targets. He's getting red zone targets. He's getting end zone targets.

And now they've lost Vincent Jackson. You have Humphreys pronounced with an Humphreys taking over as the wide receiver two. I think that was an upgrade for Cameron Bray. Humphreys is supposed to stay in the slot, though. Oh, is he? They're not moving them outside. Really? Really. Oh. That's what I read. So need to monitor that. Humphreys has had some good games this year. What do you make of Mike Davis in the backfield replacing Carlos High? Does he get a workload that sustains fantasy production? Would you start them? Would you flex them? If you are, if you were.

going to play Carlos Hyde. You're in a tight situation. I think Mike Davis is an okay play. I think that he will get the volume. Carlos Hyde has been very solid for fantasy and not particularly because he's been super efficient or just an out-of-this-world fantastic running back volume. We talk about on the show all the time that opportunity.

is the key to fantasy football, and I think Mike Davis has a very solid opportunity here against a middle-of-the-pack rushing defense. I think he's an okay play. And speaking of an okay play, if you're desperate at quarterback, maybe you're in a two-quarterback league, maybe your waiver wire is barren and you don't know what to do, Colin Kaepernick against a struggling pass defense, it could certainly be worse.

than this matchup at home for Colin Kaepernick. I'm just throwing it out there into the world. Well, look, I mean, last week against Buffalo in Buffalo, he still, he threw for a touchdown, and he put up 66 yards on the ground. Yep. And so then you're talking about 23 fantasy points. I also known as 125 passing yards. Right. The equivalent on the ground. Yeah, exactly. So I think Mike's explanation is the best. Oh, 150.

I did my math, what? It could be worse. It could be worse. Let's talk about the Patriots and the Steelers. The Patriots coming up against the Landry Jones Express. Beep, peep, to do it? Sounds like the Beasley. Yeah. I mean, is the air out of the sales of all Steelers owners right now? Do I need to pull crossroads back up? No. We're not at that level. We're not at that level. Let's see what Landry Jones can do another year in the system. Performed, I think, okay.

last year when he had to come in. So tell me what you're doing with those players. Sure. So Antonio Brown, he's still a must start. We have at least one great game with Landre Jones and Antonio Brown. So there's at least some history that they can get it done. Now, against the Billy B, I don't, Bill Belichick loves to scheme one guy out. Like, this is something that he does frequently. He picks what he thinks is the,

The guy that has to be removed, but the question for the Steelers is, would he consider that Antonio Brown or would he consider that Levion Bell? I mean, so that's, I don't think you could shut them both down, really, for fantasy purposes. I think Leviom Bell is a full go. I expect big workload. You have DeAngelo Williams banged up, missed in practice. Maybe we'll get some more Levi-on-Bel actually playing running back, which would be nice. I like when he played.

I like when he plays running back. But for, like, Sammy Coates, I'm not playing him. Eli Rogers, though. Eli Rogers, I think, has some sneaky PPR potential here. We saw him get some nice amount of targets last week. And if Landry Jones is... Needs the underneath. If he's not reading the defense while and he just has to get rid of the ball, that's Eli Rogers' role on this offense. So...

If you're struggling for a wide receiver 3 in a PPR situation, Eli Rogers, like I said, with Kaepernick, could be worse. Yeah, this is a game where I think the Patriots are going to find themselves ahead. And so, you know, playing defensive formations to simply prevent against, you know, coming back, it worries me a little bit about Bell. I think he's going to have to make his hay in the passing game. I think Rogers is an interesting play there. You know, the Steelers defense.

They only sacked the quarterback once out of every 31 pass attempts, which is dead last in the league. The NFL average is one in every 16. And so Brady's not going to have pressure on him. He's going to be able to go to work. And, you know, the way it's looking with Gronkowski. James White. That has to bump up the, like, Gronk and even maybe Hogan. You see Edelman used a lot. You're saying going down field. Yeah. You see Edelman used a lot when.