Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - Week 8 Fantasy Forecast, Starts of the Week, News

Speaking of butt cheeks. Speaking, uh, great. Thank you for giving me. I haven't, I'm trying so desperately. Uh, Jay Cutler. No, uh, the Vikings are going to Chicago, um, where Jay Cutty's mom is on blast. And, Joe? Well, the feedback tells me she is. Uh, Bridgewater Cutler face off in this one. It's pretty much a pickum game in terms of the Vegas numbers. So.

Who do we think comes out on top? What are the matchups you like in this game from a fantasy football perspective? The Bears are actually very good against the pass. The Vikings come in right in the middle of the pack to the upper side of the pack and defense 11 against the past 13th against the run. The Bears are finally getting healthy.

And they're at home with a team that they haven't really had for most of the year. I like the Bears in this one to surprise, surprise with offensive efficiency. Jay Cutler has been very good this year. Matt Forte has been awesome. Alshon Jeffrey is a beast. Martellus Bennett should have a good game because Minnesota has quite a porous tight end defense. So I think that the offense is going to be a lot for the Vikings to handle this week.

little bit surprising to me because the bears haven't necessarily been that great, but they also haven't been healthy. And during this time of injury, we see Marquise Wilson also coming into his own, and it reminds me a little bit of what happened, a micro, micro a little bit of what's happened with the Bengals, where they had these injuries, you know, last year and other guys kind of stepped up, and now their starters came back, and they've just got a better...

team to throw the ball to. So, you know, I like Jay Cutler in this. I like pretty much all of, you know, I like Jay Cutler. Obviously, I like Forte. Love Alshon Jeffrey. But I also like Bennett. So should be a good game. So you like, you like all the bears. I do. I like the bears in this game. That's what you just said. You'd start them all. I wouldn't start Markey's Wilson. If you heard some more audio feedback, the actual mixer's fine. That was Jim Tom Sula. Oh. Jim Tom Sula came in.

All right. Stefan Diggs, does he continue this week? I didn't. I've been telling people to start him. When I was going through the statting guys out, I thought I was being conservative on him, and he ended up very high in my rankings. How high? He was basically like a very high-end wide receiver, too. You want to know why you start him? Jason has the tip. Why do you start Stefan Diggs this week?

Because you stay in the fire. You stay in the flames. Stay in the flames. You ruined your own awesome quote by saying stay in the fire. You stay in the flames. I have him ranked 21 and you have him 19. So we're pretty much back. I think that the... Where do I have? You do not have your rankings. What really helps digs out this week is again, Adrian Peterson has he has a taste and a taste for bear.

And he needs to devour bears. Does he play good against the bear? And he, I think last time he played against the bears was when he rattled off over 200 yards, which I'm told from sources is a halfway decent game. So I look for Adrian Peterson to have success against the bears. The Bengals face the Steelers. There's not even a line right now because you don't know Big Ben's playing. This is the game that I am very excited for. Me?

Stinging to too. I am so excited. I can't wait to watch this game. I think there's going to be 100 points scored. That's my guess. I'm going to put the over under at 72. I will say this. I think the best mentality in fantasy football this week with this game is to ignore your matchup, thoughts, concerns.

mindset about the Bengals defense or anything like that. The Bengals D has not been very special. They're going to Pittsburgh. Big Ben will be back. They got weapons through the nose. I got no reason to be concerned about the matchup. In that being the case, you've got fantasy relevance from both quarterbacks. Hill, Bernard, Bell, and then Green Jones. Would you start Marvin Jones this week? Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Because I might have to if Dionne Lewis is out in one of my leagues.

And a guy who may or may not surprise you that I am returning my love for him, Mr. Jeremy Hill. I know that the Steelers are technically ranked high against running... Technically. Well, it's because... Mathematically. Yeah, thank you. Mathematically ranked high, but they're not playing any semblance of spectacular running games. And when they faced a great running game like Baltimore...

gave up 182 yards. Last week against Kansas City and Charmander West, they gave up over 125 yards on the ground. So I like Jeremy Hill to get things figured out in the by week to return to his level of being a great running back. So you got to start one. You got both on your team and the only one flex spot. Who do you start, Gio or Jeremy Hill?

As of now, it's still geo, but I believe I have them back to back in my rankings. I think they both have a successful day. I was hoping you'd go on a limb there. And start Hill over, Geo? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I... I don't think it's the worst idea in the world. Yeah, I think this... Now is the time. I'm sticking with my guns of... I said after the by-week, Jeremy Hill could emerge and be great, so I'm sticking with it. All righty. So...

Not a lot of complications in terms of start sit in this game. I think it'll be kind of a fantasy bonanza of sorts. And I'm excited. It's a divisional game. I guess there's some credence to the fact that it could be more defensive than we think because of that. But I think it's just going to be a great game. I really hope. We can't forget the Bengals are coming off of a buy. And that always favors a good defense. And so I really hope they don't come out and have a great game plan for Ben Rothlisberger coming back.

off of an injury. That would stink because I want. I don't know if you can stop those guys on it. You cannot. Yeah. Big Ben is just, I mean, this could be the week that we see more Martavis, and it puts them in that kind of top 12 discussion at wide receiver. And Antonio Brown should be back. You mentioned Martavis Bryant. Why is that? For later. Really? That's right. Okay. Oh, for later. I got you. Wink, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. All right. Last matchup we're going to go through today before we get to our starts of the week.

Starts on the way. Hint. Titans, Texans has been canceled. I was going to say that the yin and gang of the Bengals Steelers, so how excited I am for that. I am the complete opposite. Could this be, you know how you have like the opening band or the opening comic that comes out right before the main event? Can we just play Titans, Texans, one quarter right before...

the main event of Bengal Steelers and just be done with it? The way that I am watching this game, the only way that I'm going to be able to is I will have a full-on clockwork orange headset with the prongs prying my eyes open. Well, that's the kind of sacrifice you make as an analyst. I beg them to stop and they continue the eyedrops and no make it stop. The biggest contrast from the two games is the fact that you almost start no one in this game.

And so, who are you rolling out there? You know, Ryan Mallet is not one of those guys that you're rolling out there. No, no. He might, he's probably not going to make the trip because he's been cut. All right. Marcus Marietta might start. Is there a chance you'd start Marioita based on what you've seen from the Houston defense? Yep. My stream is the Tennessee quarterback, and I still feel strongly that they will be great. They will be a very competent quarterback. Based on the Houston defense, it looks like they've

given up. I mean, they really do look like a team that is just lost heart. They look like the dolphins before they fired Philbin. Like, they just don't care. Well, good news for them. J.J. Watt sat out today. Oh, very nice. And so did. You know who else did? Genevian Clowny.

So I'm actually okay. Are you serious? Yeah, but he's sick. He's still expected to play. Wow. The quarterback might be coming to Houston. Because of that, I don't mind taking a shot on Kendall Wright just to break some tackles. I think Delaney Walker is the best start of the game. Noodle arm. I'm going to go ahead and say DeAndre Hopkins. I'd rather start over Delaney Walker. On that side of the ball. Bold move. Bold move, cotton.

All right. Is there any chance you stay in the flames or other flames for Nate Washington? Not yet, huh? No. Just kindling. Yeah, that's... It's warm. That's warming up my water for my mac and cheese. It's not ready. It's not ready. All right. That's all we need to say about that game. I agree. Are you starting Aaron Foster? Oh, don't say. Oh, I will say this. I actually think Alfred Blue and Antonio Andrews have playable games. Just a moment of silence.

Where we would have talked about this game before, I'd like to just be completely silent for Antonio. I mean, for Aaron Foster. All right. Let's go ahead and get into them the starts of the week. Starts of the week. Every week we prepare docs for the show, you know, that we referenced during the show to keep us on course. You know, we like to not get too sidetracked, cover all of our bases, get every bit of information to you.

And so there is a section of our dock for the starts of the week. And we go in individually. We identify the guys that we think we should start. And we're not allowed to pick a guy that someone else has picked for these. So it's kind of a race every week is my point. To get into the dock and, you know, I got in first. I put mine in and then I sent them a note and say, don't forget your starts of the week. Don't forget your starts of the week. So I'll kick it off then with the running back. Let's start with the running back because of that. We'll go running backs. And my start of the week is.

It's Chris Johnson. Chris Johnson of the Arizona Cardinals at Cleveland, and they are 30th against the run. And Chris Johnson, even in spite of his rollover 60-yard run last week, jaunt is the word I was looking for. It was a jaunt.

I like Chris Johnson a ton this week. I know you guys do as well, so we don't have to linger there too much. I've got him as a top 12 back and really like him. He was the clear start of the week that I wanted to pick. And when I wanted to pick nobody else, I still almost picked him because I really like that pick, Andy. Instead, because he was taken, I actually have a little bit of faith.

I'm talking as an RB2. Okay, I'm not saying you're going to get the B's knees, but in Darren McFadden against, yes, the Seattle Seahawks. Good luck. Here's why. I think his baseline is very high. He's going to get another.

One for two yards. Yeah. So if he runs for, you know, a good 2.9 yards of carry as I expect him to be near, he'll get enough usage as they're committed to the run. I'm totally fine with him as a two this week. And he's also, when the game gets out of hand, he's going to catch the ball. Let me say something. If you're a half point or a full point, I like them. You need to be more like on board with your start of the week.

I mean, you need to be confident about that. I am. I think he's going to be an RB2. I'm saying that people aren't confident in him because of the Seattle defense. All right. Mike, who is your running back start of the week? My running back start of the week, because he leveled up. Last week. He came out and he was... Evolved. Evolved. Thank you. He was... He came out and he was a Charmander, and now he is a Charizard.

Okay. And that's Sarkandrick West, the running back of the Kansas City Chiefs. He was in for 87.5% of the snaps. Goal line carry? And so clearly Kansas City was not lying. They were not bluffing about this when they said that West will be the guy. He put up 110 and 1 on what was supposed to be a very strong Pittsburgh Steeler running defense. The lions are very porous against the run. And I just, I think it's a great matchup.

for West to continue on. All right, why don't you go ahead and give us your quarterback start of the week? My quarterback start of the week, I'm giving him one more chance. One more chance for Matt Ryan, because I think the matchup is just too tasty. They're going up against Tampa Bay. And Tampa Bay last week we saw him give up three touchdowns to Washington, four to Jacksonville, the previous game. I think that the Falcons moving forward,