Fantasy Football 2017 - Week 3 Studs & Duds, Rising Stars, Running Back Re-Draft

That's not what they want to do. They want a lead to hold with the Vianti Foreman and Lamar Miller. And a shoutout here, I don't know who was doing it, but the color commentator for the Texans game, he uttered these words that Bill O'Brien is one of the most aggressive play callers in the NFL. So, I mean, what's happening here? We need a better vetting process for these commentators because Bill O'Brien.

is not aggressive. And in fact, on the play where they were commending Bill O'Brien for being aggressive for going on fourth and two, they call the timeout and then they punt it. He, because he heard the broadcast. Yeah. He said, watch this. All right, look, welcome back, Jordan Howard. Welcome back to Marco Murray. Jordan Howard. I hope you bought him low when we told you to. Jordan Howard, this game looks so incredibly meaty and beefy. And just, I was.

People were bouncing off. Like a new Wendy's burger. I had told Jason, I said, this guy, he found a vial of gummy bear juice. Yeah. If you're familiar with the reference. And he drank it. And people were just bouncing off of him. I mean, not phasing him. And you want to talk about tough. I mean, the guy's got like a separated shoulder. You could tell it's hurting him. He's, you know, he's going down the left sideline. And it's his right shoulder that's hurt. And so when contact comes, he turns, you know.

180 degrees to hit him with his left shoulder. The dude's just tough, and he is really good. I think you can trust both Howard and Tariq Cohen going forward. Yeah, they don't have a lot of past catching weapons in Chicago. You've got to lean on both of those guys tremendously. It's great to see Howard come back to form. Now, I think there might have been people that didn't play him this week. A lot of people did not play him. So I would say if you didn't play him this week, but you didn't trade him, just be happy.

Yeah. Because you had to take that, I mean, you had to take a gamble that, you know, maybe he wasn't going to be involved. But look, be happy. You've got a running back. Two touchdowns, 23 carries. That's exactly how I feel about DeMarco Murray. I would have been more inclined to sit DeMarco in this game in a bad matchup against Seattle where he was, you know, out for the week. And you've got Derek Henry behind him. But at the same time, if you've got him.

He looked good. He was absolutely fine. The hamstring did not appear to be an issue, so I'd be happy he's on my roster. We've talked about Cream Hunt, huge game, 17 for 172 in a touchdown, including his third straight game with 50-plus yard. Every game. Dalvin Cook was great, 27 for 97 and a touchdown. I want to touch for a second on Chris Thompson. Okay. Look, when you look at the total touches, eight rushing attempts, six passing, or six receptions, which was great.

I'll be the first to admit. Look, I told people, you cannot trust him because the touches weren't there. Three times in his three and a half year career as he had more than five receptions. Well, it's four now, and he went for $150 and a touchdown. At this point in time, we have a saying on this show, it's stay in the flames, and the flames are burning around Chris Thompson. So with P. Ryan's injury, with clearly Rob Kelly's going to be eased back,

when he's back. I, I'll, you got to play him. Well, and I think this is also a, he is the benefactor of Terrell Pryor Stinks. And Josh Doxon is, you know, he had the one reception. It was a huge touchdown, which Josh Doxon is going to be on the Waver Wire show, uh, because he is ascending. But, but, but Cousins, he's not, he can't trust his, his wide receivers right now. I mean, Jameson Crowder has been.

He's been okay. But I mean, Chris Thompson is the safety valve and he's getting it done. Why would he not continue to dump off to Thompson? Yeah, and the big plays have earned him, you know, a guaranteed role. Yeah, when we were saying, you know, we don't like the touches. That was when he had a grand total combined touches of six. You know, if he was getting 14 touches a game like he did this last game, then you could certainly rely on him to.

You know, when he touches the ball on a screen, his probability of going 20 yards is, I feel like it's every time. He's great. So I think you stay in the flames with. Still, it's just funny because, I mean, Gurley, 33 touches, right? I mean, Howard, 28 touches. Here's Thompson with 14, which is probably upwards of his career high. And still, dynamic. Is he number three running back on the year now? Yes, on the year number three. Well, just it.

It also shows you how valuable pass catching is in the NFL, especially compared to a rush. Yeah, I mean, look at what Buck Allen was it. Not this week. No, he'll be in a different segment. But in previous weeks, if you can catch the ball out of the backfield, James White, again, not this week. Yeah. But it is valuable when it happens. Duke Johnson, a great example of that he scored on the ground with only, only had two carries, but he had six for 81 on seven targets through the air.

Duke Johnson might have been the actual biggest beneficiary of the Coleman injury and what's happening in the wide receiver course. Similar situation as to the lack of trust you have in Washington. Lev Bell bounced back, scored a touchdown. That offense is still not there. It's not what you want from Lev Bell, but it was still a good game. Let Bell's just not used to play in these early weeks.

You know, week one, week two, week three. He's like, I usually come in about week four or five. I'm normally in the suspended state. That's not a joke. So, you know. Christian McCaffrey, Leonard Forenett, good games. Christian McCaffrey had nine for 101 through the air. So we thought he might receive a ton of targets in Greg Olson's absence. And that's what we saw. Calvin Benjamin being hurt doesn't stop McCaffrey. So I think he's a target right now because I think he had a good week. He didn't score.

It wasn't an over-the-top week. I think you could probably acquire McCaffrey cheaper than what he's worth. That's my own opinion. Wide receivers. Stefan Diggs. We're going to talk about him in a minute. We've got the Raising Cain's Rising Stars on today's show. Hint, hint, hint. Brandon Cook, Sammy Watkins, T.Y. Hilton. Start your studs, right? T.Y. Hilton, seven for 153 in a touchdown.

It worked, yeah, it definitely worked out this week to start your studs of Ty. Jacoby Brissette is a good enough quarterback to at least get, you know, a great wide receiver going. Now they've had a couple of weeks together. Yeah, in a good matchup. Like Seattle. Seattle next. In Seattle. Are you going to start T.Y. Hilton? How do you not start him after 7 for 153 and 1? I think you start your studs.

Okay. I mean, wait, you want to go chase Robbie Anderson or Jermaine Curse? It always depends on who is on your bench. All right. I agree. Shepard against Tampa or T.Y. Hilton against Seattle. Seattle, they got beat up. Yeah, they've been getting beat up a little bit. They have not at home, though. Yeah, but they played the 49ers at home. Yeah. And with the 49ers, you're talking about that super juggernaut offense that we saw on Thursday? Yep.

It's the NFL crazy things happen week to week. AJ Green. Just saying that Hilton, that's going to be a tough start next week. The squeaky wheel. Got the grease. 10 catches for AJ Green. The squeaky wheel greased the offensive coordinator out of town. Yeah. 10 for 111 and a touchdown has Cleveland next week. Oh, looking good. Antonio Brown was great. Doug Baldwin was great before the injury. Chris Hogan again, two touchdowns.

When Tom Brady throws five touchdowns, all the wide receivers are going to be just fine. And then Jordy Nelson returned from injury and was outstanding. Nice to see Michael Thomas have a good game this week. He hadn't really flashed at all this season after being a high draft pick. We've talked about Garsohn on Thursday night. It was great. And then Tyreeks still has that rapport with Alex Smith. It seems to be growing. Could end up as the wide receiver won this year at the back end. I mean, five for 77 and a touchdown, eight targets. Do you have my special song for?

for my man, Devante Parker. Oh. Do we have that ready? Is that loaded up? That's great. We do. Oh, the garbage man. Yes. There's a new level of garbage in the world. If you did not watch that albatross of a Miami Dolphins, New York Jets game. No, that was a majestic performance. That was a.

The last 60 seconds of that game were incredible. I mean, you're talking about... This is your start of the week, Mike. Did you make some phone calls to the offensive coordinator? You're done right. With a minute left to go in the game, Devante Parker was a complete and utter bust. The Miami Dolphins had done nothing. They were shut out. The game was over. And for some reason, they're still on the field. And there's still, I mean, you know, pad the stats. And then it goes to Parker. And then it goes to Parker. And then it goes to Parker. And then it goes to Parker. And then it goes to Parker.

Then with six seconds left when they get stopped in bounds. And they're down 20 to nothing near the goal line with six seconds left. They call it time out. You're driving right. Because nobody. Never give up.

No, nobody wants a shutout. Then kick a field goal. No, but that's, that's the cowardly way. You at least go for it. You go big. Yeah, so he got the touchdown on the last second. You know who didn't get a touchdown on the last second, who also was great? Golden Tate, which I apologize to all Lions fans out there. If you're not aware of what happened at the end of that game, they are. To other non-Lions fans, if you're not aware what happened.

That was incredible. Golden Tate has this great game. Go 7 for 58 and a touchdown. I think probably two touchdowns, but whatever. At the end of the game, they battle back. The Lions come back and they throw a touchdown to Golden Tate as the clock is basically expiring. I think there was like eight seconds left. And they win the game. And then on further review, they look at the touchdown and they determine that he was about an inch short of the touchdown.

And due to rule, there's a 10 second runoff. The game is over. They did not score. The thing is, there was eight seconds left. I know. If they had just ruled him down, then you get up. The lions, it would have been a rush. But I think there is a great possibility that they could have at least got a play. They could have got the ball snapped. Hmm. Because they were all right there. Just saying like that's, that's got to feel like a.

An absolute hosing that you've never felt before. Tight-in studs. Rob Gronkowski once again, eight for 89 and a touchdown on 10 targets. How dare you skip the number one tight end? Yeah, Mercedes-Lewis has had three touchdowns in the last three years, and he ended up with three in this game, four for 62. Big one. No. Hopefully in your league, here's what you hope for with Mercedes-Lewis. Somebody else picks him up.

And drops a better tight in. I think we're at the point where the Jaguars, when they fly over the ocean, they go through some kind of magical portal and they turn into a real. Did you know they applied to become the London Jaguars? If they become the London Jaguars, I'm drafted all of them. Give me all the Leonard four net. Because really, it's no joke. Like every time they go to London, all of a sudden they know how to play football. Well, the announcer was even saying early in the game, he's like,

You know, Baltimore didn't get to be on this field and try their cleats out and figure out what Wimbly's like and Jacksonville has been there multiple times and played overseas. Apparently he was right. Yeah, look. Hey, Baltimore, just wear your short cleats. It's going to work out for you. Don't even worry about it, guys. Let's play football. It's a really nice field. Where are these ice skates? Where are these ice skates? Over in London, you wear ice skates on the field. Ryan Griffin had a nice game.

Vernon Davis. We talked about him. Charles Clay showed up against Denver, six for 39 and a touchdown. Ryan Griffin, I don't want to just gloss over him. I think that he is a name that's worth talking about because he's the last man standing right now. And Ryan Griffin has gotten it done before in the passing game. So five for 61 with a touchdown gets to play Tennessee. Just saying he's, he's absolutely worth keeping your eye on. Absolutely. And Zach Ertz is the second best tight in. Yeah, he's a fan of football.

Raising Cain's Rising Stars of the Week. All right. Who's your Raising Cain's Rising Star of the Week? I'm staying in those flames. We already talked about it. But Chris Thompson, we've gotten to the point where you cannot ignore it. The talent has always been there. The opportunity simply has not. But Kirk Cousins has to rely on Chris Thompson. The play that he...

that he turned into the almost near 70-yard touchdown, whatever it was. I believe that was like the third. It was third and 19. I mean, that's absolutely, absolutely ludicrous that a defense would allow that to happen, number one. But they're going to, they're going to keep going back to him. That's three weeks in a row of huge plays from Chris Thompson. He is, he is going to turn in or he is turning into their X-factor weapon. So I'm.