Starts of the Week + Week 13 Breakdown, Mike's Gripes! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 11/30

It is a big week for fantasy football. Your fantasy playoffs are on the way. We've got all the matchup breakdowns. We've got starts at the week and a whole lot more. Do not miss a minute. Click subscribe. Stay with us for the rest of the year. To the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. It's football time. You got me on that one. I almost blew it. I really did. You were going to go too long? No, somehow I forgot my normal. You just forgot what you... Well, I knew Mike was bringing the football time. And so I got into the, ah, and then I was like, wait, it's football time? I mean, I almost said, ah, it's football time. That would have been a problem. Oh, yeah. We could have done it together. Then I remembered, um...

What to say. Welcome in one and all the fantasy footballers. Let's see, what do I say? Welcome. I say, ah. Yeah, yeah. I went through. Which vowel do I go? I went through a lot of vowels. I went through all of them, everything but why. Yeah, do you take any issue, Mike? You often complain of the English language. Do you take issue with the sometimes vowel of why? Oh, does that bother you? Absolutely. Yeah, it seems like a thing that would bother you. Yeah. Now, see, you often talk about the fact that you also don't do small talk. And you don't like elevator conversation. Right, right. What if you brought some of these issues that you have with the world up in those elevates? Like you could complain to people. I would love to. Been working with my youngest on what is it? Superlatives. And now I can't remember the other one where it's changing, you know, like big to bigger and biggest. And it's like, well, how do you know if it has to be more?

in front of it or at ER at the end of it. And you're like, you just have to know. You just, it's a trial and error thing. There's no real rule. You just, you just learn it. You memorize it. Yeah. Eventually, you learn it. Welcome in one and all. It is football time. It is Thursday. We have starts of the week. We've got matchup previews. We've got injuries to talk about. We got the boom boom, boom kicker. I thought we were maybe done with that. Boom boom? After last week. Boom boom. It got canceled. I thought maybe after last week that was kind of like the season finale or series finale. It felt like a finale the way that that Megalodon chomped on the dairy air of the plane. It might have been the finale for a lot of listeners. You're telling me there's more to the tail. I'm falling from the sky, brother. I was going to stay tuned. I think for the first time I actually am interested in what happens because the kicker was not.

He hadn't met his demise in the last one. Right. He saved him. So this was the first time I've, one, been able to track it at all. And two, I'm wondering what's coming next. So let me tell you, as soon as we can retire it, I'm down. But then how will anyone ever hear about McManus again? That's a good point. Yeah. I mean, maybe he has a, you know, kicker rankings somewhere. We've got a lot to talk about. Let's jump right in. News and Notes from Around the League. Presented by USAA Insurance. I did forget there used to be a Mike's gripes hashtag. So when Mike had something to complain about. It was a special channel for Slack. Yeah, because you were like filling up all the channels with your complaints. And then we made you your own. Were you the only member of the channel? No, I was in. I got to see. Yeah, a lot of people tuned in. I don't call them complaints. I call them like observations. Right. Of the world. Negative.

observations. Yeah, negative observations. Like open air stadiums and that type of thing. Oh, wait for this week. It's raining nationwide. It does seem that way. Yeah, we were talking about it yesterday. Jason was looking at the weather and it's like, is there a place there's not a chance of rain? Yeah, domes. All the domes are safe. Walked right into that one. I did. All right. News and notes. Texans wide receiver roulette, Noah Brown. Return to a limited practice with the knee injury. This one is uncomfortable. Tank Dell. Full DMP on Wednesday with a calf injury. DiMico Rines, if you saw the press conference, his head coach said, we'll see how the week continues to go for Tank. We expect him to be okay. It was said very plainly. It's a scary injury being a calf injury because this is one of those where you could get out there for the game and, you know,

Start going full speed and injure it and exit the game. So TBD will monitor the practice reports. It's good that they are saying they expect them to play, and it's only a Wednesday practice that he missed. Schultz has a hamstring injury and didn't practice on Wednesday. So another one to monitor? Not only did he not practice on Wednesday, but he didn't play the end of that game. So this is one where I, if you have Dalton Schultz, if that's who you've been rolling with, he's been great. You need to be prepared. I would be very unsurprised if he misses this week. Well, let's go right into another tight end then. Cardinals Wednesday practice report. Trey McBride didn't practice with a groin injury. There's rest. I refuse. Is he on groin index? I'm sure he is. He has a groin injury. Mike, how many times have I told you? You can't just refuse an injury. I know you would like that to be the case. Yeah, he's on, he's on groin index. Trey McGroin.

Yeah, he did not practice. Hollywood Brown did not practice. They're just resting their studs. No, no. What's the real commentary there? I mean, you've got to be on, I have McBride in a couple of leagues. I'm looking to add somebody as insurance. Yeah, the real advice is you must be aware, but it also was just Wednesday. DiMario Douglas in Concussion Protocol didn't practice on Wednesday. Bailey Zappy scheduled to start potentially for the Patriots. Who cares? Nobody cares. Travis CTN, day to day with a chest injury. We had told you on the waiver show to add to Ernest Johnson, just in case. Keenan Allen, D&P with a quad injury. I mean, this is. See, now are you worried about that? I'm not that worried about that. No. No. He, uh, he did. Because he always misses Wednesday, it seems like. Uh, not always. He, but he does from time to time. He practiced last Wednesday, uh, limited on week 11. He missed, uh, the Wednesday practice was.

full participant the week before. So, I mean, it is a real injury, but it's not surprising that they give him rest when they're making him catch 100 targets a game. Did you see, you've seen his clavicle, right? Oh, yeah, yeah. That's a wild ruined clavicle. Like that's, um, it looks like a Photoshop job that someone did a really, like where you just, you click and you, you just drag a little spot out. It looked like they added a new bone to his body just to stick up right there. Dallas got her DMP on Wednesday. Crystal Lave Limited due to the concussion. It was good that he was on the field doing drills. Yeah, being limited is a really good sign because you want basically the way that the concussion protocol works is there's a progression that has to happen. And a lot of times when you see people at practice but not out of the protocol, they have a chance to start that week. Yeah, like Douglas didn't play.

in practice on Wednesday. Olava was limited. Rashid Shaheed didn't practice, probably not going to play. And then tonight we have a football game. Throwback jerseys for the Seahawks. Those are nice. Yeah, yeah. They may solely those jerseys with the matchup, but we'll see. Kenneth Walker, doubtful, he's not going to be out there. No. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at usAA.com slash insurance. Fantasy forecast. Well, we've talked about it for a couple of weeks now, but the Bears, Bills, Giants, Raiders, Ravens, and Vikings are all on week 13 buy. You don't get those players? I'm sorry. You can't just refuse the buy? Yeah, that's true. I mean, and next week is the Cardinals and the commanders. What I mean, what are we doing here? I think not considering you enough. I think that's the problem for most things.

I'm in agreement. Yeah, yeah. The Colts are six and five, and they take on the four and seven Tennessee Titans. The Draft King Sportsbook line has Indianapolis as one point favorites. The over under is 42 and a half since the four touchdown game from Will Levis. We have an average of 201 yards per game and two total touchdowns in that span. So he is who we thought he was. He was? He is. He is. He thought he was. What he was? There we go. Got any other thoughts, Jason? Yeah. I mean, in this game, my guy, Zach Moss, he's going to be, he's going to be, you know, a very involved, important role. We saw him play this Titans team earlier this season. 23 carries, 165 yards, two touchdowns.

You know, he is who I thought he was, a great whiz. Oh, yeah. Just a really well above average running back with extremely good contact balance, soft hands, big body back. It's just a guy that I've always really loved the talent of. Right. No, for years. Forever. I mean, you do you have my guy, Zach Moss. I'm sure you got some jersey orders in, but Moss is in play. You play him. Derek Henry? You know, the Colts are favored by one. It's kind of a pick-um situation when the Titans win, which has been four times this year. He's averaged 18.8 fantasy points for a game. When they lose, he's half that. So this is a huge disparity. We do these truth episodes that come out after the season. And, you know, we focus on disparities in wins and losses. And, you know, Derek Henry this year, that's been a massive situation. So.

Tajay Spears, not a lot of opportunities in recent weeks. But also, real quick for Henry, it's not just the, it's a pickum, so I'm pretty confident in Derek Henry this week. Also, the Colts, you know, the last six weeks, 27th against fantasy running backs on the season 30th. So this is a play Derek Henry week. Gardner Menshoe, too nerve-wracking for me to stream him. I brought this up. I know that on, On paper, there's an opportunity. My concern is that there have been a few of those. And we have one touchdown, zero, zero over the last three weeks. So one touchdown in three weeks, like you're looking for 202 from Gardner Minshue, and I don't know if you can get that. No, you're hopeful if you play him that he uses his legs. He can scramble, but he hasn't been recently. And I do think that they're going to give.

A lot of work to Zach Moss on the ground. So Gardner is like a break glass in an emergency situation, but you could probably stream better than Gardner. Michael Pittman and Josh Downs. I love both players this week. Pittman is a regular in terms of PPR value, but Josh Downs had 13 targets in his return from injury. Do not miss your opportunity to put him out there against the 23rd ranked wide receiver defense in Tennessee. DeAndre Hopkins. The target sure has been fine. The targets haven't. Well, he had to, I want to bring it up because when he played Indianapolis the last time, it was one of his better games of the year. 11 targets, 8 for 140, but. That would have been Tanna Hill, right? It would have been Tanna Hill. Are we comfortable with Hopkins considering the by weeks and those situations? Yeah, yeah. I think he's, he's an okay wide receiver three type play.

Are there other names from this game that we need to look into? No. Indianapolis beat them 2316. I think they'll beat them again. Yeah, that's it. Well, if you think they're going to beat them again, then you expect that it's not snowing in Vermont? Yeah, I mean, maybe I'm not such a, I don't buy into the Vermont snow narrative as much as maybe you do. I buy into the win or lose narrative quite a bit. So I think Derek Henry, he's probably good for a touchdown in this game. Should be. The Chargers at 4 and 7 take on the New England Patriots who are 2 and 9. Saw a nice video of Tony Romo at the beginning of the year talking about how good the Patriots were going to be, that no one would ever roll over them, that they may have a game here or there that doesn't go their way, but no one's going to roll over this team. They're going to be in every game.

They're two and nine, and they're about to give Bailey Zappy a start. Oh, did we get that news? Yep, yep. All right. Zappy is expected to be the starter this week. So is Zappy starting and to Mario Douglas most likely missing this game? You are going to need a lot from Ramandre Stevenson. The matchup is pretty good. The Chargers defense. It's been better of late, but it's still a, you know, a team that you can run on. Hope that Ramandre, I mean, his opportunities have been really, really good lately. The last couple weeks has been extremely involved. 78% of snaps last week. 21 carries, five targets. So I think that's the only player here on the Patriots side that you're excited about. The drafting sportsbook line here is the Chargers minus five and a half on the road. The overrunners 40. That gives the Patriots 17.5 points. The Chargers 23 points.

It is wild how many teams are in that or how many running backs are in the Romandre situation this year. It's like, like, like, Sequin is the only talent left on that team. Right. And then you have like Brees Hall who, you know, Garrett Wellson banged up or, you know, he's the other guy that has some ability. But Brice is on an island. And, and, you know, Romandre is on that island too in a lot of ways. Demaria Douglas was the only guy giving you some signs of life. Thankfully, it's a good matchup. It's a good matchup, but it's a really, like a bad implied point total. Can you start Hunter Henry in this game? Oh, gosh, no. You don't think so? I don't like starting him ever. Okay. Like, with DeMario Douglas gone. Yeah, I mean, I understand the argument. It's just tough. I mean, like, you have two gooses on the year now for Henry? Yep, one last week. Like, I would be trying to play someone else. Okay.

There are other good options, I think, this week. Would you play the other side? Everett? Everett scored last week? I mean, would you play Everett as a favored squad or with a bad matchup? I mean. I think I would lean towards Henry, but I do believe that there are better options out there. Like Joanne Johnson, he is widely available and I think he's a good start this week. For what it's worth, I mean, the injury situation, like Quentin Johnson was benched. for Alec Erickson. They don't have Palmer. They don't have talent outside of Keenan who's now banged up. So, you know, confidence levels in Austin Eccler right now. I mean, his efficiency levels are terrible. It's low. It's, I mean, like, I'm expecting fewer than 10 points as a manager. I hate that I'm doing this. Andy's almost upset of the week.

I was just about to ask you. The line. Do you really think that the Chargers can win this game by six points? I thought it when I don't. I thought it when I read the names at the beginning and what your brain thinks about with the Chargers and what it thinks about the Patriots. But no, I don't. I mean, I don't think that. I think that knowing that might win this ball game. I mean, the Chargers are just depleted emotionally. They're depleted injury-wise. They're going on the road. I mean, their defense is horrendous. Jason's right. I mean, no, I just picked Bailey Zappy in an almost upset. Just saying he'll lose by fewer than six. I'm really pushing the limits of this thing here. I mean, I think you're okay. Chargers are they've lost three in a row. They can't win close games.

They don't hit the over. Eight of nine games, they don't hit the over. So, you know, you play Keenan. You play Echler with a blindfold on. You play Romandre. And then you play Herbert and you check out, right? I mean, maybe you dance with Henry or Everett if you're desperate. But I don't think that there's, I don't think there's much more to talk about in that one. At least for Henry, in his favor is over the past six weeks, the Chargers, 30 seconds. Yeah. Against tight ends. But. We, I mean, we all got, like, we all got tricked by the first two weeks of the season where Hunter Henry was not only, like, excellent in his opportunity. He was a focal point of the offense. And I know he over, like he had touchdowns at both of those games, but then he just, they stopped going to him. You did see Devante Parker get more involved last week. Back from injury, I mean, he had five targets. But.

Let me ask one more question from the game just because the Chargers are in a tailspin. If you had the on-fire Denver quarterback, Mr. Russell Wilson. Anyplace Houston. Would you start him over Justin Herbert? Is Herbert still a must start in that? We are down bad. Well, let me read you. I mean, last week, obviously it was Baltimore. I mean, Herbert is a really tough guy right now because he finished 8th. second and third in three of the last five games, and the other two games he was 25th and 15th against the Jets in Baltimore. I'm going to keep starting, Herber, especially the last two weeks you've seen with the lack of receiving options. He is using his legs. He needs to right now. And that is, you know, he had 73 rushing yards a couple weeks ago, 47 rushing yards last week. It's something that he has the ability to do, doesn't usually do it because he's such a good pocket passer. So.

I'm going to stick with the Brock Purdy against Philadelphia. Oh, I'd go Brock. Brock Purdy to me is a, I mean, against Philly, that's a very, very, very good play. Is Philly set up for rain? Of course. They don't have a dome. No, that one is for sure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Jason, will you be in charge of rain watch? I will be in charge of rain. Now, I'm guessing the New England game's got to be. The New England game, let me check. Anything northeast has to be getting some rain. So here's, so here's the lay of the land. across the country it's basically every single game has a around like 30% chance of rain so this isn't crazy awful terrible weather most of these games are 10 mile an hour winds so that even though it might be raining it shouldn't actually have a massive impact on fantasy production rain by itself doesn't really

affect the passing game as much as you think it would. It's only when it becomes very windy. And for the most part, most of these games, I don't see any, like, incredibly concerning game. Yeah, let's remember, like, Buffalo, Philadelphia were playing in rain the entire time. And that game was filled up with... Well, a half. They figured it out, but that first half was bad. Sure. I guess I didn't attribute that to rain as much as pass rush and stuff like that. But... Yeah, let's take a quick break and come back with another matchup. The Detroit Lions at 8 and 3 take on the 5 and 6 Norland Saints, the African Sportsbook line, Detroit minus 4. Over under 47? What are we expecting out of this matchup? Really? Are you surprised as that high? Yeah. Like, there's a good chance the Saints have no pass catchers. I'm not sure that.

The Lions Thanksgiving Day performance was encouraging to the bookmakers. You have a team that over the last six weeks is now like one of the worst teams against whiteouts and quarterbacks, which is kind of not how it felt for a while. They've actually been given the ball, giving it up on the ground a little bit more as well. I am a little surprised how high that over under is, but Detroit's like pretty heavy favorites on the road here. So. They're passing defense. Detroit's passing defense has been very, very bad. And so it's one of those things where when you've got a great offense with the lions and you've got a bad pass defense, the games can, you know, the points can flow. It's just about the Saints, you know, Rashid Shahid is out, Michael Thomas is on IR. It's positive on Oliva, like we said with the practice, but we'll see if he gets to play. I mean, if you're going into this game and it's Derek Carr's,

his primary wide receivers are A.T. Perry and Lynn Bowden. Well, it would be Alvin Camara. Yeah, but. And it would be Tayson Hill and Juan Johnson. But we've seen where games where Alvin Camara is like the primary receiving weapon. And he gets a whole bunch of fantasy points, but the New Orleans Saints do not get real life points. Well, I think I do think the tight ends are somebody that we need to talk about and recommend on the Saints side of the ball. Oh, absolutely. They are, they're going to be the primary receivers. I mean, last. Last week it wasn't much different, right? Like Rashid Shahid went down early. They don't have Michael Thomas and Olavay went out injured. He went out at half. I mean, he had 100 yards by half time. But I think he'll be back. Okay. Based on the early news. I mean, I'm not saying it's going to be good for them. I mean, watching the Saints offense is very painful. Like that is excrucied. I don't like it. I don't want to do it. It seems like a punishment. I agree. But Joanne Johnson, he will be featured later, but he ran the most routes of pass catchers for the team.

This is, it's, we're at the point of the season so far in. It's hard to remember what Joanne Johnson did last year. Like he was a very reliable weapon for them. He was just an absolute touchdown magnet to close the second half of the year. But he's been hurt. So, I mean, he's lost most of this year. This, heading into the season, the beat reporters were very high on Joanne Johnson. I think it was Nick Underhill was, you know, asking for fantasy. And he, his kind of. Comment was, I would be looking at drafting Juan Johnson. And then that plan just fell apart. Well, it could be back now. It fell apart in part because they added Foster Moreau. And he didn't start the year with any attention. Like it was, it was bad. Despite all the snaps he was playing, he didn't have a ton of production. So, yeah, I mean, I like him this week. Yeah. Would you play, I mean, I play him over Logan Thomas. I play him over Henry, like you said before. Yeah. Over Everett.

Over Everett. Yeah, I mean, and he may be a pivot for the Tram McBride manager if he's not available. Certainly. But you're not looking. I mean, are there any other sneaky plays on the New Orleans side? Not for, I mean, if you're playing DFS where you can find a crazy value, Lynn Bowden, A.T. Perry, guys that just are going to necessarily have to be on the field and don't cost anything. Sure. But in your home leagues while you're getting ready for the playoffs trying to. trying to get in. No, I'm not looking at, I'm not trying to find a diamond in the rough here at wide receiver. For what it's worth, I have moved to the A.T. Perry side of that conversation between those two as a sneaky start or a D.F. Overboden. Sure. I think he's going to be on the field a little bit more, and neither of them had big production last week. So, Detroit. Mike, you have, you have had the experience of watching Jared Goff implode. Yeah, very closely as Jared Goff has been starting for.

my main league and my main dynasty league for the past couple weeks. And it is, it's, it's ended up okay. But it's been a very strange, frustrating watch of, of a, of a player who for the first half of the season was one of the better quarterbacks in the league. And then the last two weeks, it looks like he just, he got like men and black brain wiped and doesn't know what he's doing out there. He definitely. He was on a good streak of not turning the ball over or not. And then now that's completely changed. He averages 39 pass attempts on the road. The Saints defense has not been very good over the last handful of weeks. It hasn't. This is a defense that at the beginning of the year looked dominant. They were dominant last year. And recently they just haven't been putting up strong fights. They're even middle of the pack against the run, which has been like over the last several years. You can't run on the Saints. But I think this.

Detroit offensive line should be able to win that battle against what we've seen from the Saints recently. So both David Montgomery, Jemir Gibbs are great starts. Like if you had both players, you should start both at the same time. Yeah, I would take that approach every week with both players. Their team is kind of, you know, you have your top heavy always start players. They're pretty easy. Montgomery, Gibbs, Alman Ra, and La Porta. They don't leave your lineup. No, they're in every week. This week appears to be a good matchup for them because they are favored. It is in a dome. And for LaPorta, you know, the last six weeks, the Saints have been the second worst against tight ends over the course of the season. They've been bad when you adjust for schedule. So LaPorta should have a very nice week. Would you go golf or Herbert? I think I would stick with Herbert. I'd stick with Herbert as well.

Yeah, Jameson Williams, you know he's going to get three targets. And one drop. One drop. So that means out of those three targets, there's two non-drop targets. And one of those could be a 70-yard touchdown. Yeah, I mean, that's, he's not worth, I'd be trying to find somebody else. How can he not get targets? I mean, the snaps are going up. Have you seen Amanra's targets? Yeah. I get that. Just it is, it's not. That's not great news for Jameson Williams long-term value. Ammon Ra is on 185 target pace. He's ridiculous. Which last year he had 109 with injury the year before 146. This year, 186. Yeah, with Jameson Williams, I mean, you wouldn't even realize. Like the last seven games, he's played 50% of the team snaps. You don't even realize that to be true. It's like he's not there. 50% of snaps. 50% drops.

So whatever that math equates to, that's your odds of a good game. The Falcons are five and six. They take on the four and seven New York Jets. The drafting sportsbook line is Atlanta minus two and a half. The overrunners 33 and a half. I have zero confidence in Atlanta offensive weapons going into New York outside of Bejohn. Yeah, I mean, the jets have not been good against the run. They're... as elite as it possibly gets against the past. So you've got a good game for Bijan. You could see a situation, I could see a situation where Tyler Algier gets a surprising amount of work because if the Jets really can't do anything, if Tim Boyle throws a pick six and if Atlanta hops out to a big lead, you could see the hammer being used by Arthur Sith. But...