Week 15 Waivers + Full Stream Ahead, Good Bad Luck - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/14

It smoked. They managed the reps for Cordero Patterson. I have them on a bunch of rosters, so I was really wondering where in the world he was at the end of that game. He didn't play after the third quarter. He was on the bench. He was smiling. He was coming off an injury. They had the game in hand. And so I think you saw more of the running, like the rushing attempts for Mike Davis were inflated because of that against Carolina. He had 11. I think the week before was more indicative, four for 32, four for 37.

That reminds me of a Kenyon Drake. That reminds me of a Darrell Williams. That reminds me of, you know, eight opportunities for Mike Davis. If you don't score, you're unhappy. So for me, it is smoke. He is a desperation running back play for you because he could catch some passes. They do throw him the football. But that's where I weigh in. What do you guys think? Yeah, back-to-back serviceable weeks. And when you look at the box score and you see 17 opportunities, I think there is a temptation to say this is a guy that.

I can rely on in a flex position. And I completely agree with you, Andy. You cannot. I would put his opportunities, you know, his over under of how many targets plus rushing attempts he's going to get. I would put it at eight and a half. That's, you know.

Maybe he'll get nine. Maybe he'll get 10 opportunities, a couple of targets, a couple of carries. But yeah, if you watched that game, it really was all the fourth quarter when Mike Davis was getting that workload and Cordero was on the bench. That's not going to happen. So barring an injury to Cordero, I am not starting Mike Davis. Yeah, we'll make it unanimous. I'll go with smoke, but I'll say the thing of note is Wayne Galman is no longer there.

He is now a, he's a Minnesota Viking. Is that correct? Yes, yes, very important. Called up to the team. Yeah, we'll talk about him. And Olison fumbled last week. So maybe you see more of a time share of just the two of Mike Davis. I think he is still worth a desperation flex play against San Francisco because of the targets. But it's still desperation.

Speaking of desperation, Big Ben, smoke, fire, Big Ben, top 10 quarterback, three of the past four weeks. Start of the week. He was the start of the week. You picked your spots. He could be in contention this week for start of the week. Yeah. Yeah, it's smoke. It's smoke for me. That bar isn't, I mean, you're playing 10 or 12 person fantasy leagues, right? Right. And two of those three amazing Big Ben performances were number nine.

No, not fire. No, he's not really getting it together. No, I haven't seen stuff that makes me think he will. What if I told you three weeks ago he threw one touchdown? Ah. And two weeks ago, he threw two. Mm. And last week, he threw. No, don't do it. Oh, no. Three touches. Whoa. This week. Fellas. I mean, it's four. You know what's going to happen. Is that a guarantee? A mic right guarantee? She.

Yeah, why not? I'm nothing to lose. Yeah, I mean, it's smoke for me. Yeah, this is not going to be who he is, rest of seasons, certainly, because you watch the games and it doesn't look pretty. I mean, we were joking that this was the worst start of the week of all time when the fourth quarter was starting. And then he...

Did what he needed to do as a veteran to try to get back and win a super important game. Things went right for him. Now, this week I think you can stream him. So I'm not sure if that puts him all the way to fire. But against Tennessee, I believe this is a super important game for the Steelers. This is where you beat Tennessee is through the air. He has weapons with Deontay, who's, you know, unstoppable. The Muth.

has been luth. So I would be fine. And I know it's scary and sketchy in the playoffs. I feel like that would, I'm going to give that fire. If you think you can play Big Ben in the playoffs, I feel like you're saying fire. I believe that there are teams that could do worse than Big Ben this week. I think Big Ben will be a top 12 quarterback this week, but a back end. Okay. Yeah, I'm going with one week fire, despite the four touchdown call. They are at home. It.

It's looking at the points allowed from the defense. Going back to week 11, 41, 41, 19 against Baltimore, which 19 points allowed to Baltimore, that's like 40 points to a regular offense at this point. And then 36 points allowed to the Minnesota Vikings. This is not just Ben is playing a little bit better. This is, they don't have a choice. They can't, they're not controlling the ball enough and their defense isn't holding their own that they have to throw.

And with Julio back and some semblance of a running game for Tennessee, I think that he is a very streamable quarterback this week. Joe Burrow against Denver, Big Ben at home against Tennessee. Oh, man. Let's put it to the test. Smoke fire test. I'll still go Burrow there because of his, because Jamar Chase is elite and Higgins is fantastic. I will go Big Ben there. I think I worry about Denver's defense far more than Tennessee's passing defense. Certainly.

Okay. All right. That was where there's smoke. There's fire presented by Trigger Grills. Grilling season never ends with Trigger. Go to Trigger.com slash footballers. News and notes from around the league. Presented by Sleeper. At the top, I want to address what is trending in the NFL right now, which is what we saw. I mean, Tyler Higby, last second COVID. Mm-hmm.

protocols misses the game may have been a false positive. More players were added to the COVID list this past week than any time previously in the entire COVID pandemic. So I want to throw out there at the top here, like you have three playoff weeks coming up. You need to recognize the fact that this is probably going to be a regular occurrence and that players that you thought you had available, you know, this past week, Mike was about to start Jamal Williams.

Gone in an instant. So it's likely this is going to happen. And so fantasy leagues as a whole and players, depending on your league, need to account for this if you want your best shot at success. There's a chance that some of you out there are going to lose because of bad luck. I mean, that's the truth. Sure. Just because you have a contingency plan. You know what? I'm going to focus on some of you out there might win because of good luck. Because of good luck.

You don't call that good luck. Well, it's two sides to the coin. Right. But your opponent losing a player to COVID is not your strategy and success. But I get what you're saying. My point is that leagues should do what they can to accommodate COVID situations with COVID IR or the things that you're doing last year. And then players are going to need to take it into account. You know, if you have a Monday night football game or a Sunday night, I would say those two are the big ones where there aren't.

you know, other options or time. You know, if a Thursday night player gets knocked out, you bench them, you pick somebody up in the next few days you play them. Monday night football, you lose, if you have a key player on Monday night football or Sunday night, you need to have a key backup in that game as an emergency is my, is what I would do going forward. I totally agree with that, especially, uh, I mean, we'll report the news as we get it. But like, if a teammate, especially a positional teammate.

test positive, that's when you need to be on high alert. And Andy's eyes just went gigantic because Alexander Madison is on the COVID list. And I bring this up because look at the Miami Dolphins. Like it was Gaskin first and now Savon Ahmed, Philip Lindsay, like that entire room is now on the COVID list. Keenan Allen and then Mike Williams ends up on the COVID protocol list. Yeah, for a close contact. So they're like,

It's hard to give the advice of just be ready because you can't be prepared for the things that you cannot prepare for. But if a teammate has COVID, then really, really pay attention to try and get it back. Well, let's start with that bit of news. Vikings placed Alexander Madison on the reserve COVID list. He was reportedly unvaccinated. He will miss Monday nights. He will miss the game against the Bears no matter what. They claimed Wayne Galman off of waivers. This will be.

assuming Delvin Cook, I mean, he's that situation, right? So you could pick up a Wayne Galman or you could pick up, I will never pronounce that name right, but they have another back who plays on special teams whose name starts with an N, that I need to do the proper research to understand how to pronounce. Yeah, I think I know. Like an Ingagway or something like that. But you, that's a plan. Like Dalvin Cook's in the same room, right? So that would be one to pay attention to.

That being said, if he's active, he's getting every touch in that entire game. Yeah. He's not losing one to Wayne Goldman or a backup in the red zone like he did last week. So 300, 400 yards, right? Sure. As someone who has them on a couple of rosters. Josh Allen day to day with a sprained foot. It's been reported as a mild case of turf toe. That's what it was reported as initially. Yeah. Now it's coming out as a sprained foot.

Yeah, I mean, if Josh Allen is active and you have Josh Allen, you are playing him, this is not news to you. That matters. Well, it's news that you may want to throw a backup quarterback on your bench. Right. Right now, while waivers are running and you have more options at this point. That's fair. That is very fair. Emmanuel Sanders will miss this week's game with a knee injury. We have waivers on today's show. Gabe Davis will come up.

Lamar Jackson, what's the latest? He's got a low ankle sprain. John Harbaugh expects him to be available. That's what he has said, but you don't know if that's just coach speaks and, yeah, my guys are going to play football. But right now, they are preparing as if they're going to have Lamar Jackson. I think you should prepare for the alternative because better safe than sorry. And then you have Michael Carter.

expected to return murky jets backfield? Yeah, you have Kevin Coleman in the concussion protocol right now. Don't know if he'll be back in time. Carter was catching fire before the injury, so he is certainly someone to consider. I don't love the matchup against Miami. The matchup stinks, but I would expect Michael Carter to come back to the primary role. Kunay Nuwangu is the running back.

For the... Now, would you rather pick up him or Galman on the waivers? Nuwongo. Really? 100%. I've watched him play this year. He's outstanding. And I don't, I just don't want the news to be, like, Wayne Galman is a name you know. And the depth chart, it's, you know, not Wayne Galman. So I would pick him up because you know he's going to get some touches. For sure. It's one of those weird...

you know, things you can't really prepare for. But in my worldview, if you're worried about the COVID rationale and the breakout, you worry about all the guys who have been there, who've been in that same room. He would be one of them. So I might lean Galman if it's a COVID protection in case it goes to more than just Dalvin Cook. Definitely could have still pronounced his name completely wrong. I'm seeing about five different ways to do it. So apologies if I did.

DJ Moore day-to-day, pulled his hamstring in the loss to the Falcons. Kareem Hunt, unlikely to suit up. So that's bad news. This is why we didn't react with assurance that Echler was going to be fine because, you know, they came out and said, oh, Kareem Hunt could have gone back in the game. How many times have you heard that? I mean, you heard that about Antonio Brown's injury. He played in the game. He hasn't played since.

That is a fair point. Yeah. Not only could he have been back. He was. He can't make in, and now he's been gone for, what, six weeks or something? Maybe he shouldn't have gone back in the game. Maybe they should have sat him down. Maybe. Although he was great when he went back in. That was the craziest part. He played very well. I'm going to take another shot, guys. You ready? Oh, let's hear. Okay. Kinay Wangu. Okay.

Okay. That's from the Minnesota website now. All right. Not the college website. So I don't know if it's a swap or nobody knows. He may be the only one. We've got T.J. Hawkinson and DeAndre Swift expected or hopeful to be back this week. What? So DeAndre Swift could... They were talking about the IR. And now he's back? I always wonder about... That's I'm ready. I'm ready to play. You didn't know that?

No, I didn't know about that list. What were you saying, Brooks? I always wonder about the reports when the coaches say they're hopeful that players will be back. I mean, I guess I'm always, if I'm the coach, I'm always hopeful my guys. Yeah, exactly. Just saying that last week, the reports out of Lions Camp were the other I are, the I'm ready list.